She says the takeover was totally unexpected for many people, given that the Suu Kyi party got around 80 percent of the vote. “Everyone has already voted for that, and after that there will be a coup by the army, by a party that didn’t really have votes. Yes, I think there’s a tremendous depression.”
The student and youth movements also joined the movement. The ambassador believes that this group is very affected. “Many young people have already said, ‘We’ve looked back years. We were working on a not always easy transition to democracy and that is now over suddenly. The question really is: Will we return to the dark days of the military regime?
Prevent rejection of the UN Security Council
A crisis team was formed at the embassy to monitor and indicate all developments. Luyima: “We have a lot of contacts with our colleagues in the European Union, with colleagues from various UN organizations, and with our local partners to inform The Hague of the situation as much as possible.” The army, the National League for Democracy, or Aung San Suu Kyi has not yet been contacted.
Meanwhile, many countries, including the Netherlands, are vehemently against the coup and are calling for sanctions. Last night, an attempt to condemn the coup unanimously by the UN Security Council failed. China and Russia blocked a statement to this effect. The G7 countries (Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union) have voiced their concerns this morning.
The Dutch embassy believes that there are still about a hundred Dutch people in the country, which is far fewer than it was before the global outbreak of the Coronavirus. According to Luwema, these are basically people who have been working in Myanmar for quite some time. It supports them with information, for example when the internet is down, like yesterday. Dutch citizens who are still in the country are required to register, so the embassy can keep in contact with them.
A fitness coach snapped the coup photos:
