Jakarta – Scores of people from the Urban Poor People's Network (JRMK) and the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) held a solidarity action in front of the Burmese Embassy in Jakarta on Friday February 5. During the action they condemned the military coup in Burma and called for the restoration of democracy.
The solidarity action began with the banging of cans, the reading of a statement and ended with the release of doves as a symbol of Burma's freedom from the military coup.
JRMK Coordinator Enny Rochayati said that aside from Jakarta, similar solidarity actions are being held in several other Asian countries.
"We from the JRMK and the Urban Poor Consortium, we are part of the LOCOA (Leaders and Organizers of Community Organizations in Asia). Aside from here in Indonesia, today there are simultaneous actions in several countries including the Philippines, Korea, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand", said Rochayati in front of the Burmese Embassy in Central Jakarta.
During the action they also demanded the release of those detained in Burma, an end to the military coup, the return of all political authority to the civilian government, guarantees of civil and democratic rights and for the Burmese military to accept the results of the November 2020 elections.
"The armed forces have never been able to maintain peace and protect human rights. The military must be dedicated only to the interests of the ordinary people and to maintain peace in a country", said Rochayati.
As has been reported, a military junta is in power after the Burmese armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, arrested de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup on Monday February 1.
Aside from Suu Kyi, on Monday the Tatmadaw also arrested a number of civilian government officials including Burmese President Win Myint and leaders of the ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
The coup took place after the military rejected the results of the November election which they deemed to be fraudulent. The Burmese military said that the coup was because of "the failure of a free and fair general election process". (yoa/ugo)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Demo di Kedubes Myanmar, Massa JRMK Kecam Kudeta Militer".]