• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Democracy at Risk

Myanmar’s Democracy Veterans, Once Again Political Prisoners

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
02/06/21
in Democracy at Risk, Featured, World
Myanmar's military regime have arrested many pro-democracy activists following this week's coup.

Myanmar's military regime have arrested many pro-democracy activists following this week's coup. Photo: STR AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Carrying just a small bag, Mya Aye was escorted from his home in the dead of the night by Myanmar soldiers just as an internet blackout shrouded the country and a dawn coup ousted its civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military takeover stunned the world and brought a decade-long democratic experiment to a shuddering halt, but for the lifelong democracy activist and other veteran critics of the country’s generals, this week’s events were all too familiar. 

“He prepared a little backpack by the door with clothes and toothpaste,” said Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, the daughter of Mya Aye, of her father’s contingency plan in the event that whispered rumors of an imminent putsch proved true.

“He was arrested twice before so it’s something he is used to.” 

Mya Aye is one of the leaders of the 88 Generation, a veteran pro-democracy group that came of age during an uprising against junta rule in 1988. 

That protest culminated in a brutal crackdown that saw thousands gunned down by soldiers and the rise of Suu Kyi as the national avatar of resistance to military rule.

Now 54, Mya Aye has been in and out of prison for his activism ever since. 

He is among more than a dozen activists and pro-democracy figures who have been detained by the new regime this week, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The Yangon-based monitoring group says more than 130 officials and lawmakers have also been nabbed, with other arrest reports yet to be confirmed. 

It is unclear whether more detentions will follow, but news of the arrests has already cast a pall of fear over the country. 

“Activists and independent journalists have fled their homes and are now in hiding after receiving tip-offs that… they could be arrested at any time,” said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch. 

‘Going backwards’ Before the generals loosened their grip on the country in 2011, Myanmar had been ruled by the military for 49 consecutive years.

Its tentative move to democracy and opening to the outside world meant a sudden flood of cheap SIM cards, giving an information-hungry people access to mobile internet at the same time as decades-old censorship laws were relaxed. 

But by Saturday, Myanmar had been plunged into its second internet shutdown of the week, almost completely halting the frenetic flow of news out of the country. 

Relatives of prominent dissidents are also scared to fall afoul of the new military administration, making it difficult to confirm other rumored arrests. 

For the nephew of Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, a filmmaker previously jailed for criticizing Myanmar’s military-drafted constitution, it is clear his uncle was nabbed the night of the coup because of his high standing with the public.

“I think they arrested all dissidents who could share the right information to the public,” said Khaung Satt Naing, adding that authorities refuse to share his uncle’s whereabouts. 

Po Po, the wife of a former prominent student union leader who was detained on Monday, said she had not heard from her husband and was worried about his health. 

But she told AFP she fully supported Min Thway Thit‘s championing of the democratic cause. 

“A military coup means we’re going backwards… I want to call for the immediate release of (all) who are currently arrested,” she said. 

‘Not the life we want’

Her calls have been echoed by the international community, including US President Joe Biden who have demanded the generals “relinquish power”. 

Wai Hnin Pwint Thon — herself an activist with the Burma Campaign UK lobby group — says Western countries need to impose new targeted sanctions to military-linked institutions and businesses. 

She says she does not want other Myanmar people to live through the imprisonment of their loved ones. 

“The first time I saw my dad was when I was four years old through iron bars at Insein prison,” said the 32-year-old, who still has no idea about her father’s current whereabouts. 

“The next generation (could) live through this again,” she added. “Children will go see their parents behind bars — this is not the life we want.”

Myanmar’s Military Stages Coup, Detains Aung San Suu Kyi
ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Top view of the US House of Representatives
National

Chaos as US House Adjourns Without Choosing Speaker

by Staff Writer
January 4, 2023
Myanmar school attack
World

Myanmar School Attack Could Be ‘War Crime’: UN Probe

by Staff Writer
September 27, 2022
Toru Kubota
Media Freedom

Myanmar Junta Charges Japanese Journalist With Encouraging Dissent

by Staff Writer
August 4, 2022
gavel
National

Court Blocks Biden Lifting US Border Expulsion Policy

by Staff Writer
April 25, 2022
Myanmar meeting
Democracy at Risk

HRW Slams Australia for ‘Unacceptable’ Myanmar Junta Meeting

by Staff Writer
April 8, 2022
Rohingya Muslims
National

US Says Myanmar Committed Genocide Against Rohingya

by Staff Writer
March 21, 2022
Next Post
Britain is conducting its biggest ever vaccination program against COVID-19.

Illegal Immigrants Can Receive COVID Vaccine Without Status Checks, Says UK

Air pollution shortens lives by more than two years on average worldwide.

Fossil Fuel Pollution Causes One in Five Deaths Globally: Study

Recommended

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 21, 2023
participants of an artificial intelligence conference

How AI Could Upend the World Even More Than Electricity or the Internet

March 19, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
Heavily armed police inspect the area near a Jehovah's Witness church where several people have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg, northern Germany

Eight Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Germany

March 10, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

March 8, 2023
A flooded road in Batu Berendam in Malaysia's southern coastal state of Malacca

At Least Four Dead, Tens of Thousands Evacuated in Malaysia Floods

March 6, 2023

Opinion

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 21, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post