Sham Census Counts for Nothing
“Now is…the time for the international community to fully support Myanmar’s home-grown and locally-led genuine peacebuilding initiatives and efforts in this people’s revolution, to lay the foundations for a transitional governing process and to build a new Myanmar.”
The Myanmar military junta is desperately clinging to its decades-old tactics of terror and surveillance, kicking off a so-called “census” while still bombing civilians countrywide. This sham census has been coupled with a completely disingenuous “proposal” for resistance groups to engage in “political” dialogue—the Myanmar military’s divide-and-rule strategy to counter the democratic movement and attempt to deceive the international community. To ensure they’re not trapped in the junta’s game, world leaders must shun the junta’s grasps for an exit plan from its failed coup and align with the Myanmar people’s efforts to build a new, inclusive federal democratic Myanmar.
With the 79th UN General Assembly underway and the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits beginning, the illegal junta claims to be conducting a “nationwide census” from 1–15 October—an implausible proposition from a collapsing institution lacking stable control over townships covering 86% of Myanmar’s territory and including 67% of the national population.
This sham census already began in September, rife with intimidation of civilians. Yangon residents reported that since 1 September, junta census takers have been compiling household lists, including individuals recently deceased and those outside of the country. On 1 October, armed with guns, junta troops, police, and members of Pyu Saw Htee, a junta-affiliated militia, intimidated locals into participating in the sham census in Tarmwe and Kamayut Townships, Yangon Region.
In Mandalay Region, residents of Pyin Oo Lwin Township reported that junta census taking had started. On 30 September, armed groups of junta census workers—including immigration staff, soldiers, police, and local administrators—were checking hotels and hospitals. Junta census takers have been asking for each individual’s name, age, occupation, and address, as well as questioning whether they hold a national ID card and demanding information about their recent activities. On being forced to participate, one Pyin Oo Lwin local told Myanmar Now, “I felt very uncomfortable…Although only one person was asking questions, about ten people were watching. And there were soldiers with weapons at the ready, standing guard.”
What’s more, despite Super Typhoon Yagi’s devastation, the junta demanded individuals to return to their flood-devastated communities for the census. The junta’s illegitimate, doomed-to-fail census is not only fraught preparation for a sham election, but also a blatant surveillance tactic to target more youth for forced conscription and further crack down on the people’s democratic resistance movement.
In the same breath, on 26 September, the collapsing junta announced a “proposal” to resistance groups to give up arms, “communicate” with the junta, and form political parties for the junta’s sham election. The Interim Executive Council of Karenni State (IEC) rejected the junta’s proposal as “a political ploy” that “attempt[s] to cause separation among revolutionary and pro-democracy forces through a bogus peace invitation.” Likewise, a spokesperson for the Presidential Office of the National Unity Government (NUG) called the junta’s proposal a “bogus offer” to shore up false legitimacy internationally. The Karen National Union also rejected the statement as “just a continuation of its old tactics aimed at prolonging the military dictatorship’s existence.”
The illegal junta’s proposal cannot and must not serve as a springboard for ASEAN, neighboring countries, and other international actors to impose so-called “inclusive dialogue” and attempt to force a return to “normalcy.” Externally imposed solutions have no place in Myanmar people’s Spring Revolution, which is already building federal democracy from the ground up.
Significantly, on 19 September, nine ethnic resistance organizations and councils representing states/nationalities released a joint statement announcing their plan to implement bottom-up federalism “in pursuance of strong federal democratic union through strengthened state-level structures” in Myanmar.
The Myanmar’s general election—free, fair, and legitimate—already took place in 2020, and now, those elected Members of Parliament, together with leaders of ethnic resistance organizations, are governing Myanmar through the NUG and other people-led governance bodies, with the support of civil society leaders. In sharp contrast, the junta has no mandate nor legitimacy to conduct any census, election, or dialogue.
The international community must end all engagements with the military junta, including any support for its sham census, illegal election, and fraudulent proposals for dialogue. In particular, ASEAN must denounce the junta’s sham census and election plan at the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits. ASEAN Member States must follow up by cutting their ties with the junta—including any financial, military, or technical support—once and for all.
ASEAN, China, India, Russia, and the wider international community must recognize and support the people’s ongoing efforts to build a new federal democratic Myanmar. The people have repeatedly made clear that the path forward must be one of genuine systemic change—not a return to the pre-2021 charade of democracy. In this context, the junta’s sham census and its deceitful proposal count for absolutely nothing and must be denied any semblance of support.
Going forward, the world must learn from the failed so-called peace process of the past decade, wherein “The rush to negotiate settlements with the military inherently prevented the process from being genuinely democratic and inclusive while causing more lack of trust or divisions among those in opposition to the military.” Accordingly, the world must stop all initiatives pressuring the people of Myanmar to agree to quick, short-term fixes that will allow military dictatorship to recur in Myanmar.
In the words of Khin Ohmar, Chairperson of Progressive Voice, “Now is…the time for the international community to fully support Myanmar’s home-grown and locally-led genuine peacebuilding initiatives and efforts in this people’s revolution, to lay the foundations for a transitional governing process and to build a new Myanmar.”
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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
ASEAN Foreign Ministers must denounce executions of civilians in Myanmar, Southeast Asia MPs say
By ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Statement on the Rejection of the Military Regime’s proposal for Talk
By Interim Executive Council of Karenni State
တရားမဝင် အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်တပ်၏ ဖိတ်ခေါ်ချက်နှင့် စပ်လျဥ်း၍ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်
By Interim Executive Council of Karenni State
Carrying out death sentences may constitute a serious international crime
By Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Statement on aid to the people in flood-affected areas of Kawthoolei
By Karen National Union
By Karen National Union
By Milk Tea Alliance – Friends of Myanmar
အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ တရားမဲ့ သေဒဏ်ချမှတ် သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများ အပေါ် ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
By National Unity Consultative Council
By National Unity Government and Ministry of Human Rights
By Myanmar National Organizing Committee
By Women’s Peace Network
Reports
Myanmar: Flood Situation Report #3, 27 September 2024
By UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”
