Coups, couriers and COVID: The Big Story 2021 Hall of Fame
From the Tokyo Olympics to Myanmar, a year through the eyes of Nikkei Asia’s cover story writers

{1st Photo Caption: Editors and writers of Nikkei Asia’s Big Story take a look back at some of their favorite pieces from 2021. © Nikkei montage/Source photos by Jun Michael Park, Getty Images, Reuters, Paula Bronstein, Illustration by Hiroko Oshima}

The Big Story
Coups, couriers and COVID: The Big Story 2021 Hall of Fame
From the Tokyo Olympics to Myanmar, a year through the eyes of Nikkei Asia’s cover story writers

Nikkei staff writers and editors
January 5, 2022 06:00 JST

The Myanmar crisis (Feb. 3, April 14 and Sept. 15)
The Big Story ran a series of three articles covering the 2021 Myanmar military takeover.

GWEN ROBINSON, Nikkei Asia editor-at-large, DOMINIC FAULDER, Nikkei Asia associate editor, and MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondent

The takeover on Feb. 1 and its tragic consequences were one of Asia’s most consequential stories of 2021. The situation offers an illustration of how quickly a nascent democracy can be dismantled and a vibrant economy can be thrown into reverse gear. The country today is a near-failed state. Internationally, reverberations from the takeover have divided the region and sharpened differences over the respective roles of China and the U.S.

Nikkei Asia’s three cover stories highlighted turning points in Myanmar’s downward spiral: “Myanmar: Inside the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s government” (Feb. 3), “Failed state: Myanmar collapses into chaos” (April 14) and “Myanmar, a violent tale of two governments” (Sept. 15). By utilizing insights across the spectrum of Myanmar-related business, politics and society, each article showcased the strengths of Nikkei Asia’s reporting and editing teams in the region.

From the moment news broke early on Monday, Feb. 1, that security forces led by military chief Min Aung Hlaing had arrested leaders of the National League for Democracy government and declared emergency rule, our team worked around the clock to meet a Tuesday night final deadline for the cover story.

There was little sign back then of the shocking, state-sponsored violence that would follow. Some sources told us it was “business as usual” and expressed hope that a military-led regime would be more business-friendly than the ousted NLD administration. But even as protesters took to the streets in the hundreds of thousands, we could detect palpable fear among activists and pro-NLD figures.

Protesters with slingshots take cover behind a barricade in Monywa, in the Sagaing region of Myanmar, on March 29. © Reuters

By April, after thousands were arrested and hundreds of unarmed civilians killed by security forces, it was clear the regime was determined to stamp out all resistance. It was also clear the economy was in free fall, with World Bank predictions of an 18% annual contraction for 2021.

As hope faded that the takeover could be reversed, it seemed the right time to report on the “failed state” scenario. This time the Big Story was about a country that had passed the point of no return — economically, politically and socially — as it lurched toward civil war. For this report, our team interviewed a range of activists, ethnic minorities, business people, diplomats, military experts and politicians. We gained a devastating picture of the breakdown of order across all fronts, combined with international paralysis.

By September, the emergence of an armed civilian resistance marked another turning point. This was underpinned by the opposition National Unity Government’s declaration on Sept. 7 of a “people’s defensive war” and its efforts to expand its role as a “parallel government.” This article was one of the first to compare the two sides and their efforts to portray themselves as the country’s legitimate government.

With the civilian death toll as of Dec. 22 approaching 1,350 and more than 11,000 arrested since Feb. 1, the focus now is on the breakdown of local government structures amid an escalation of the “people’s defensive war,” the flailing economy and renewed diplomatic moves to address the deepening crisis.

Source Link: NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW

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