Civil Servants Given Deadline to Stop Work: NLD Appointee

By The Irrawaddy 4 March 2021

Yangon — A minister appointed by Myanmar’s elected parliamentarians has set a deadline for all civil servants to join the civil disobedience movement (CDM). Those who continue to work will be defying the will of the people.

Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who is the education, health and sports, labor, immigration and population minister appointed on Tuesday by the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), representing elected members of the Union Parliament from the National League for Democracy (NLD), has called for lists of civil servants who are and are not participating in the CDM by midnight on March 7.

Civil servants who chose not to join the CDM will have ignored the public interest, he warned.

“This is the final request. The CDM door will shut. The truth and lies, justice and injustice and good and evil will be distinguished. Decide if you will stand by the people or by the dictators and killers,” Dr. Zaw Wai Soe posted on Facebook.

He said the CRPH will order offices to close for 10 days to mourn the civil servants and civilians killed in the revolution. CDM staff will take control of offices, schools and universities and join the protests for the people’s government, the NLD’s minister said.

He also urged civil servants participating in the CDM to send their phone numbers and emails along with support plans to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] by 12am on March 7.

Health workers started the CDM in response to Myanmar’s military coup on February 1. Dr. Zaw Wai Soe refused to work under the regime as rector of the University of Medicine in Yangon. But many civil servants have not joined the CDM.

The military-run State Administrative Council has threatened striking civil servants with prosecution as the movement slows the workings of government and the banks have closed.

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