Days after a military coup in Myanmar, the army’s army general virtually blocked the internet when pro-Democracy protesters took to the streets.
The largest rally to date against the overthrow of the government on Monday was in the city of Yangon, where protesters past the police were equipped in equipment and with a call ‘Military dictator, failed, failed; Democracy, win, win, “while holding banners with the caption” Against military dictatorship. “
The protests came when the general, Min Aung Hlaing, blocked access to Twitter and Instagram and then virtually shut down the internet – an attempt to stop the spread of ‘fake news’.
New York’s robust Burmese community is watching the protests minute-by-minute. For Thi Ha, 37, the takeover sounded the death knell for democracy. David Khin is more optimistic, believing that his fellow Burmese citizens – to beat their protests and pans – will one day retake their hard-fought freedoms.
But the New Yorkers unequivocally agree that this is a scary time, even for them, because their words can be difficult for their parents back home in the country that was once known as Burma.
Min Aung Hlaing justified his seizure of power by claiming that the National League of Democracy, the ruling party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, stole the November parliamentary elections. The US condemned the takeover.
“Democracy is dead. It’s 100%, ”explains Ha from Brooklyn. “We have now lost our freedom in Burma. They keep to whom they will without law. ”
Ha (37) knows the intimidation. He and his wife, MyatMon Thinn, fled the country two years ago, tired of being harassed by soldiers over their pro-democracy efforts to transport NLD leaders to marches and stage protests.
“We’re trying our best to get real democracy with NLD,” Ha told The Post. “And that’s why the military is trying to get me and my family.”
Ha and Thinn abandoned their businesses, a car dealership and a travel agency. Now he works in a grocery store and she works in a beauty shop.
Khin, 35, is also worried about his existence as he owns a PR / marketing agency in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. Before the coronavirus pandemic, he split his time between his orphanage and Queens, where many of the 6,000 Burmese citizens live in New York.
Like Ha, Khin has been a pro-democracy activist for years – but in the US, where he came in 2007 to go to university. 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 they are just as committed to keeping their country free.
“We want change,” Khin told The Post. ‘That’s why discord is on the rise. Therefore, civil disobedience is increasing. That’s why I differ here in my own way. ”
And yet, even though he and Ha are halfway around the world, they think the military can make them pay for their words by repaying their parents.
“They are OK now, but they are very upset, very worried about what might happen in the future,” Khin said. “Of course I’m worried.”
But both men have grown up in families where democracy is embraced – and they are willing to take the risk to speak out.
“I will do what I can to free my country from the coup,” Ha said.