A Facebook post that begins “My name is Sann Minn Paing…” has touched the hearts of many netizens in Myanmar this week, with more than 5,000 people sharing it so far.
The author writes that the 2021 military coup turned his life upside down, with his opposition to military rule leading to his arrest in August of that year.
After spending more than a year at three interrogation centers and four police stations in Yangon, the All Burma Federation of Student Unions member was sent to a juvenile prison in Thanlyin, as he was just 17 at the time of his arrest.
After spending more than eight months behind bars, he and 13 other young prisoners managed to escape Thanlyin Prison on Sept. 23, 2022. Less than a week later, however, junta troops gunned down both of his parents, who were in their 50s, inside their house at around 6 p.m. on Sept. 29.
Neighbors organized Buddhist rites for the slain couple at a different location for fear of junta retaliation if they were performed in the house.
Friday marks one year since Sann Minn Paing’s parents were killed, but the psychological wound is still fresh.
He decided he needed to do something that would enable him to express his pain to others—regardless of their race or religion—while also serving as a cry for justice on behalf of his parents. The result was a hip-hop song.
“I still suffer from mental trauma. But I try to keep going. I don’t know when I will die. So, I want to create a piece of art that will last and that demands justice for my parents, in case I die before the revolution succeeds. So, I created this song,” Ko Sann Minn Paing writes in the post.
The title of the song is “The Day The Sun Disappears Before The Sunset.”
“The impact [of the events since the coup] has been huge. In the past, I would wake up in the morning, and go anywhere I liked. My mum was there to feed me when I came back home. I have lost that life. But I am not alone. There are many people like me, and some are even younger than me,” he adds.
In the post, he admits that he is consumed by guilt over what happened to his parents. He has gone into seclusion, and remains concerned that the release of the song will provoke the regime to target other of his relatives in retaliation.
“Their deaths have inflicted a serious psychological scar on me. I feel totally lost. I haven’t contacted my relatives. I don’t want to. I can’t face up to seeing them,” he said.
He continues to fight injustice as a member of a revolutionary organization. His friends and comrades helped him create a music video for the song, which was scheduled to be released at 6 p.m. on Friday night on the “Sann Minn Paing” Facebook page.
“I could never repay them. This is the first thing I have done for my parents. If we bow to every act of oppression, we won’t be able to stand up in this life. I hope my song will encourage families who have been affected by the fascist military to demand justice in the future.”
