• Burmese
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
25 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Stories That Shaped Us

Military Regime Can’t Defeat Myanmar’s Brave Hearts

Kyaw Zwa Moe by Kyaw Zwa Moe
March 5, 2021
in Stories That Shaped Us
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0 0
A A
Kyal Sin before she was shot dead by security forces (left); Tens of thousands mourned at her funeral (right).

Kyal Sin before she was shot dead by security forces (left); Tens of thousands mourned at her funeral (right).

18.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Recent days have seen our beautiful Myanmar transformed into a killing field: Peaceful protesters shot dead through the head and chest; streets stained with blood; cities echoing with the booms of gunfire, the air laced with gunsmoke; rescue workers brutally beaten; security forces equipped as if for a battleground, ready to take the lives of yet more unarmed people.

This unwanted killing field is highly likely to see more bloodshed.

Before Feb. 1, Myanmar’s cities were peaceful and the country stable. All of that suddenly vanished when, early that morning, the military coup led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing plunged the country into a prolonged, deadly instability.

RelatedPosts

Timeline: Key Events in the Life of Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Updated Timeline: Key Events in the Life of Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

June 17, 2025
5.5k
Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

June 13, 2025
1.7k
How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

June 11, 2025
1.2k

The coup smashed the political transition to democracy the country had warily cultivated over the past 10 years. Its aim was to expunge the result of Myanmar’s general election of Nov. 8, 2020—a landslide victory for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD)—and dissolve the new Parliament, whose first session was to be convened just hours later. The new military regime arrested the NLD’s leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, both of whom had been re-elected.

The immediate consequences: The country’s economy, which had been showing great potential in recent years, was suddenly thrown into reverse; the schedule of public COVID-19 vaccinations worked out by the NLD government with international organizations went up in smoke; the simple pleasures of daily life have vanished for everyone; the future, for both young and old, is gone.

Anti-regime protesters in defensive mode as security forces approach in Yangon’s Thaketa Township on Feb. 5. / The Irrawaddy

It did not take long for Myanmar people, particularly students and other young people, to throw themselves into the streets to retake the rights they had so recently enjoyed, and to restore for themselves a bright future under an elected democratic government. Hundreds of thousands of people have since joined them. Before long, it was a genuine, nationwide uprising against the military dictatorship.

Then the shooting began, and the country became a killing field. We can only expect this situation to go on. Because killing unarmed civilians—along with every other type of oppression and political persecution used by the military regime—has not been able to frighten away the brave protesters, especially young people, at all. Proof of this courage can be found in the history of Myanmar—and in the DNA of the people of this country.

On Sunday, five days ago, when a general strike was organized, the regime’s soldiers and riot police killed at least 15 people across the country. On Wednesday, two days ago, the security forces killed at least 31 more protesters in many cities across the country.

All of the protesters who were killed were well aware that there was a very real possibility that they would be killed once they stepped out of their homes.

Kyal Sin, 19, was among the bravest. She was fatally shot dead in the head, right behind her ear, in her hometown of Mandalay on Wednesday. Aware of the risks to her life, she had posted her blood type details on Facebook and pledged that her organs be donated if she were killed. For demanding her rights as a teenager, to a bright future, and to make her political choice, she paid with her life. In last year’s election, she cast her first-ever ballot, voting for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. On Facebook, she proudly and happily posted a picture taken with her father showing their ink-soaked fingers after visiting the ballot box on Nov. 8.

A combination of images showing Kyal Sin before she was shot dead by security forces.

Like Kyal Sin, many young protesters in cities across Myanmar have been writing their emergency contact phone numbers and their blood types on their arms before taking to the streets since the regime started cracking down against the protests.

Kyal Sin is one of at least 54 protesters to have been killed by the regime’s troops and police in many cities and towns since Feb. 1.

The regime’s tactic of having troops kill Kyal Sin and her fellow protesters in cruel execution style has done nothing to discourage the protesters. On Thursday, the number of anti-coup protesters on the streets in Mandalay was even bigger, as they paid their final tribute at the young woman’s funeral. Kyal Sin, “pure star” in Burmese, is now a martyr for many. Her killing hasn’t simply failed to kill the courage of her many thousands of fellow protesters; it has only made them bolder.

On Friday, we were amazed to see photos of still bigger crowds of protesters taking to the streets in Mandalay. One more young man was shot dead, too. But the people showed no sign of fear. Across the country, Myanmar citizens are proving again in this 21st century that they were born with the DNA of their ancestors.

Their fight will go on. Consequently, the killing will go on. And the killing fields won’t vanish anytime soon.

When I took to the streets in the 1988 nationwide uprising as a high school student, I remember one of our mottos: “They die, or we die!” in the fight for democracy against the then dictatorship, which was as brutal as the current one. We were serious, and meant exactly what we said: If they died, we would win; if they won, we would die.

That motto has been repurposed with characteristic wit by the younger generation for this new “Spring Revolution”, which strikes a note of dark humor: “They die, or they die!” The motto has a Generation Z ring about it. One way of interpreting it is that they are so determined to see the death of the military dictatorship, there is simply no way their movement can die. Their determination to annihilate the mighty and cruel military dictatorship knows no bounds. The only conceivable outcome is victory.

Retreating anti-regime protesters are tear-gassed in Yangon’s Thaketa Township on Feb. 5. / The Irrawaddy

It has been one month and five days since the coup. But the regime is still not in control of the country. It has failed to end any of the many forms of resistance against it—a momentous mass movement on the streets mainly organized by Generation Z; the Civil Disobedience Movement, or CDM, launched by civil servants and some private workers; political and diplomatic offensives by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, or CRPH, formed by elected members of Parliament after the coup; and social punishment campaigns targeting members of the military regime and all of their various supporters, organized by unknown groups.

Of course, this is a war between a mighty military regime and an unarmed populace. Tragically, the usual formula is that military power combined with evil spirits spells defeat for unarmed people.

But Myanmar’s brave hearts are made even braver, though their compatriots be killed, tortured and arrested. The killing field may well claim more Kyal Sins, but brave hearts will continue to demonstrate with their determination and resilience to finish this struggle according to their motto: “They die, or they die.”

You may also like these stories:

Criticized, Myanmar’s Influential Monk Close to Coup Leader Breaks Silence on Killing Protesters

Security Forces Exhume Body of Woman Slain in Myanmar Protests

Your Thoughts …
Tags: CoupCrimeDemocracyMilitaryProtestViolence
Kyaw Zwa Moe

Kyaw Zwa Moe

Executive Editor of the Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Myanmar’s BGF: A Family-Run Criminal Enterprise With Friends Across Asia
Burma

Myanmar’s BGF: A Family-Run Criminal Enterprise With Friends Across Asia

by The Irrawaddy
May 22, 2024
37.3k

A new report by JFM spotlights the organized crime empire of junta-allied Karen warlord Saw Chit Thu and his family,...

Read moreDetails
Notorious Myanmar Arms Broker Convicted of Cash Smuggling in Singapore 
Burma

Notorious Myanmar Arms Broker Convicted of Cash Smuggling in Singapore 

by The Irrawaddy
January 8, 2024
28.8k

US-sanctioned Kyaw Min Oo and two accomplices were caught at Changi airport with over half a million dollars.

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Arrests Thai Condo Buyers, Realtors as Currency Crashes
Business

Myanmar Junta Arrests Thai Condo Buyers, Realtors as Currency Crashes

by The Irrawaddy
June 4, 2024
27.6k

Monday’s arrests follow reports that Myanmar has become one of Thailand’s most lucrative markets for selling condos since the 2021...

Read moreDetails
China-Backed Illegal Rare Earth Mining Surging in Northern Myanmar
Burma

China-Backed Illegal Rare Earth Mining Surging in Northern Myanmar

by Yan Naing
July 15, 2022
34.7k

A Myanmar military-backed militia in Kachin State is protecting Chinese-run mines that produce coveted rare earth minerals used in hi-tech...

Read moreDetails
AA Urges Myanmar Junta Troops to Surrender as Western Command Burns
War Against the Junta

AA Urges Myanmar Junta Troops to Surrender as Western Command Burns

by The Irrawaddy
December 18, 2024
25.3k

Ethnic army reportedly poised to capture regime’s last stronghold in Rakhine State.

Read moreDetails
New Year Message From Myanmar: Dictator Shows he is Forever Falling Short
Analysis

New Year Message From Myanmar: Dictator Shows he is Forever Falling Short

by The Irrawaddy
January 3, 2024
24.9k

Min Aung Hlaing kept this year’s speech brief – just long enough to blame everyone for the disaster he created...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Despite recent bloodshed, Mandalay residents continued to take to the streets and demonstrate against the junta.

One More Killed as Myanmar’s Military Continues to Escalate Violence Against Protesters

Ma Aye Myint and her baby in front of their rented room in Kyautaw Township’s Mahamuni Village in Rakhine State in September 2019. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

Forecasting the Coming Century for Myanmar—Without a Crystal Ball

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

5 days ago
1.3k
China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

2 days ago
1.2k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China’s Bet on Myanmar Junta Risks Backfiring

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Updated Timeline: Key Events in the Life of Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Defusing the Thai-Cambodian Border Row

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.