Myanmar’s coup leaders have called on hundreds of thousands of civil servants – doctors, garbage collectors, electricity workers – to put aside their “emotion”, drop their protest against the military and go back to work.
But on Monday, even after the army put armored vehicles in a nocturnal display of power in the street, the workers showed little interest in returning to their jobs.
The work stoppage, which appears to be undermining the ruling generals as they try to assert their authority over the population after taking power two weeks ago.
The outings were particularly notable among civil servants, including at the nationwide power supply ministry, tax offices and the General Administration department, which oversee a wide range of public services and government functions.
“There is no way we can work under a dictatorship,” said Dr. Kyaw Zin, a surgeon who led one of the country’s first hikes in Mandalay General Hospital. “I’m pretty sure we can drop the regime.”
The civil disobedience movement, or CDM, as it is known, has widespread support throughout the country. It is aimed at the army’s extensive business interests and government functions essential to military rule, as well as street demonstrations and a noisy new evening ritual to strike at pots and pans.
The huge outpouring of support is all the more impressive given the military’s brutal history of repelling pro-democracy protesters in 1988 and 2007. One expert on the government’s public service system estimates that the country has about one million civil servants and that about a quarter of them have resigned from their jobs. Much is essential to keep the country going.
On Monday morning, soldiers appeared in the streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, and Mandalay in place of police officers in prominent places, including near Yangon’s headquarters.
Overnight, the army stationed armored vehicles in downtown Yangon, apparently to intimidate the protesters. Instead, people placed posters on the vehicles with slogans such as ‘We Do Not Want Military Government’, and posed with them for group photos.
To prevent police from coming to one protest site on Monday, motorists parked their cars in the street and lifted the hoods to show they had engine problems and were causing a traffic jam.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the February 1 coup, called on government workers to return to work last week, saying they had been incited by “unscrupulous people”.
“We will never go to work again before he retires,” said Dr. Kyaw Zin, the surgeon who led one of the first hikes, said. “He has no right to tell us to go to work because no one recognizes him as the leader. He must retire. This should be the last coup in Myanmar. We will fight for it. ”
The doctor also noted that his patients could visit him for free in a private hospital.
Yangon residents began taking their household rubbish to the garbage cans in the area themselves after the garbage collection was stopped.
Consumers have also begun boycotting military-owned businesses, including once popular Myanmar Beer and a chain of gold and jewelry stores owned by a member of the military’s new governing body, the State Administration Board.
At the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, the country’s power provider, about 60 percent of employees joined the movement and left their jobs, said U Pyae Zone Ko Ko, a linebacker who stopped working.
He noted that a large number of employees are meter readers and if they do not do their job, the ministry cannot send out bills.
Some ministry workers who stopped working stationed them at their offices at night to prevent the authorities from shutting down electricity before leading them during the raids and arrests.
Other ministry workers are encouraging customers not to pay their bills, noting that the ministry cannot legally turn off their electricity for three months.
“We must join the CDM to stop the regime and take down the dictatorship,” he said. Pyae Sone Ko Ko said.
Similarly, many workers at private banks stepped off the track in hopes of bringing the regime to its knees by hampering transactions and slowing down the economy.
“If we stop going to work, the economic sector will stop working,” said Daw Thandar Kyaw, a bank employee who joined the strike. ‘Little Aung Hlaing and the military dictators care about the economy because they like money. I strongly believe that we can destroy the dictators if all bank staff join the CDM ”.
On Monday afternoon in Mandalay, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the offices of the state-run Myanmar Economic Bank, urging employees to join the march. Soldiers and police officers broke up the protest, chasing and beating some protesters in nearby houses.