Maung Maung is the President of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar (CTUM). Since the military coup, trade unionists have been persecuted, jailed, forced into hiding or exile, and stripped of their citizenship.

The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee has delivered one of Australia’s most definitive assessments of the situation in Myanmar. Its findings are clear: the junta’s 2025–26 election was neither free, fair, nor inclusive.

In a move widely condemned as a farce, Min Aung Hlaing, architect of Myanmar’s 2021 military coup and former leader of the military junta, formally assumed the country’s supposedly civilian presidency in April following a sham election

Australian Karen Organisation Inc. (AKO) and Burmese Community Development Collaboration (BCDC) are honoured to co-host a Gala Dinner with Dr. Cynthia Maung, internationally respected physician, humanitarian leader, and recipient of the 2013 Sydney Peace Prize.

As we mark the fifth anniversary of Myanmar’s military coup in February 2021, the country remains gripped by repression, conflict and economic despair.

The Myanmar military junta concluded its controversial three–phase election and was internationally condemned as a sham orchestrated to entrench military rule under a democratic facade rather than restore genuine civilian governance.