Days after a military coup in Myanmar, the army’s top general virtually shut down the internet as pro-democracy protesters took to the streets.
The largest rally to date against the overthrow of the government on Monday took place in the city of Yangon, where protesters passed policemen equipped in riot gear, chanting: “Military dictator, fail, fail; Democracy, win, win “, while holding banners that read” Against the military dictatorship “.
The protests came as General Min Aung Hlaing blocked access to Twitter and Instagram, then virtually shut down the Internet on Saturday – a move to stop the spread of “fake news”.
The robust Burmese community in New York follows the protests minute by minute. For Thi Ha, 37, the takeover signaled the death of democracy. David Khin is more optimistic, convinced that his Burmese compatriots – hitting their pots and pans in protest – will one day snatch their fought freedom.
But New Yorkers unequivocally agree that now is a frightening time, even for them, because their words could mean trouble for their parents at home, in the country once known as Burma.
Min Aung Hlaing justified his power by claiming that the National League of Democracy, the controlling party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, stole the November parliamentary elections. The US has condemned the takeover.
“Democracy is dead. That’s 100%, “said Ha, of Brooklyn. “We have now lost our freedom in Burma. They detain anyone they want without law. ”
Ha, 37, knows intimidation. He and his wife, MyatMon Thinn, fled the country two years ago, tired of being persecuted by soldiers for their pro-democracy efforts, transporting NLD leaders to rallies and organizing protests.
“We are working hard to achieve real democracy with the NLD,” Ha told The Post. “And that’s why the military is trying to bring me and my family.”
Ha and Thinn abandoned their businesses, a car shop and a travel agency. Now she works in a grocery store, and she has a job in a cosmetics store.
Khin, 35, is also worried about his existence because he owns a PR / marketing agency in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Before the coronavirus pandemic, he split his time between his childhood home and Queens, home to many of New York’s 6,000 Burmese citizens.
Like Ha, Khin has been a pro-democracy activist for years – but in the US, where he came in 2007 to go to college. He and his wife May marched in front of the Burmese embassy on the East Side of Manhattan long before Suu Kyi won her first parliamentary election in 2012 and are as determined as ever to keep her country free.
“We want change,” Khin told The Post. “That’s why dissent is on the rise. Therefore, civil disobedience increases. That’s why I’m a dissident in my own way here. ”
And yet, even though he and Ha are in the middle of the world, they believe that the army could make them pay for their words by taking revenge on their parents.
“I’m OK now, but I’m very upset, very worried about what might happen, the future,” Khin said. “Of course I’m worried.”
But both men have grown up in families where democracy has been embraced – and they are willing to take the risk to speak out.
“I will do everything I can to make my country free from the coup,” Ha said.