Myanmar Interview

Making sense of the news - what’s happening in Myanmar?

“If we follow this path, Myanmar will end up like China or North Korea”.

Image credits: @burmesebae. Instagram.

CONTEXT

In the early hours of February 1st, 2021, shocking news broke out about Myanmar - the democratically elected government, as well as prominent politicians from the democratic parties were under arrest. The coup d’état of the Burmese military was, according to military spokespeople, caused by the military’s claims that the November elections were undemocratic.

For context, in November 2020, the National League for Democracy (NDL), the party led by Ms. Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory in the national elections, while the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) fared rather poorly. Humiliated by the result, the USDP alleged that the election was subject to widespread fraud. However, international observers, including the Carter Center, the Asian Network for Free Elections and the European Union’s Election Observation Mission, all declared the elections a success. The European Union’s preliminary statement noted that more than 95% of the observers had rated the process “good” or “very good”.

The aim of the interview is to be able to thoroughly understand what’s happening in Myanmar, as well as how the nation’s citizens are doing their part in dealing with the national political and social crisis they are facing. This interview has been conducted in an effort to see through the looking glass of a Burmese teenager and to raise awareness about the military regime in Myanmar.

1. Where are you from? How old are you?

I am an 18-year-old from Mandalay, Myanmar. It’s the second-largest city in the country, the former capital, and has recently been home to some of the largest protests in the nation against the recently instaurated military dictatorship.

2. What do you plan to study for university? How have the recent events affected your plans for university?

I planned on studying Computer Science or related fields for university in Singapore. Unfortunately, as all flights have been shut down since February 1st, I have to rethink my university plans if the regime will persist. It’s really sad that so many young people have had to radically change their future plans - it’s even worse for the ones that got accepted into their dream universities, as I have, because of all of the plans, commitments and dreams we will have to abandon if the dictatorship doesn’t fall.

3. Now, for the question that most people have been asking themselves since the shocking news broke in the early hours of February 1st - what’s happening in Myanmar? What happened during the military coup d’état?

‘What’s happening in Myanmar’ is a very broad question, so I’ll begin unpacking it with the account of the events since the coup. We first found out that politicians from the democratic parties had been arrested across the country, including the president and the state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi. This was terrifying to hear, as the Internet went down and the only TV channel that was still broadcasting was the military-controlled station. On the second day, CDM started (editor’s note: CDM is the acronym for the Civil Disobedience Movement, a movement that gained popularity as labour strikes began).

Since February 7th, protests rejecting the military coup have been going on every day. Today (editor’s note: February 22), had the largest protests yet. People organised them so that the date would line up like the 8888 protests (editor’s note: the 8888 protests - The 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests or the People’s Power Uprising were a series of protests, marches and civil unrest that culminated on August 8, 1988, in Myanmar, which was then known as Burma).

Internet services have been regularly cut down every day from 1 am to 9 am since February 14th; there have been several occasions when the Internet was cut out well before the designated time frame. The civilian response up till now has been in the form of the CDM, as well as peaceful protests and the 8pm ‘Pots and Pans’ campaign.

The response from the military to the civil unrest throughout the country has mostly been a message of hate, abuse of power and fear-mongering, constituting of night raids, hiring hooligans to incite anarchy and violence during the peaceful protests, psychological warfare, censorship of information and the inhibition of the CDM movement by threatening the employees on strike.

4. What’s your opinion on the recent events? What would you like to tell the readers of this article?

As anyone could imagine, I’m standing in solidarity with the protests and I hate that this is happening to my country. If the military dictatorship goes on, we’ll be drawn back to “the dark ages” - we are most likely going to end up like another China or North Korea. Right now, CDM seems to be the most effective method of resistance. People are now also against paying taxes in order to cut off the government budget. Boycotting brands associated with the military started as early as the 2nd of February.

EDITOR’S NOTE

The interview was conducted on February 22nd, 2021. Due to security concerns caused by the recent arrests and the brutality that the military uses to enforce its undemocratic and barbaric regime, the name of the Burmese teenager whose interview we have taken will not be published. The sole purpose of this interview is to shed a light on the gruesome acts taking place in Myanmar since February 1st, as well as provide a platform for the Burmese voices that are being ignored by mainstream media and silenced by the regime.