Myanmar Constitution Allow Military Coup. How Come?

General Min Aung Hlaing (True News Information Unit via myanmar-now.org)

JAKARTA - The arrest of Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar President Win Myint, as well as a number of political figures of the National League for Democracy (NLD) by the Myanmar Military on Monday, February 1, has drawn criticism.

Announcing the takeover of power, the military went on to say named Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as interim leader and imposed a year-long state of emergency.

As reported by Reuters, a military coup in Myanmar is not unusual, given the more than 50 years of military rule in the country, to be precise since the coup led by General Ne Win in 1962.

In 2008, the Burma Constitutional Referendum was held with the aim of democratizing Myanmar politics. The Myanmar military also "owns" a party called the Union Solidarity and Development Party. As the designer of the Myanmar Constitution in 2008, the military has special privileges.

To perpetuate their political role, they have a 25 percent quota of parliamentary seats, unelected and outside the party seats. This is supported by the power to exercise veto in case of unfavorable policies.

The military leadership has the right to determine the Minister of Defense, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Border. There is also a clause that allows the military to carry out a 'coup' based on the provision that the military can take power if the military is deemed dead.

The Myanmar Constitution underlines that the takeover of power by the Supreme Commander of the Military can only be carried out in a precarious situation, which can lead to loss of sovereign power and division of the nation. However, this emergency condition must be declared by the Civil President.