Begging for help as sham election looms
Since last Friday, the military regime has been using newspapers it controls to urge government employees who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to report back to work. In exchange, it promises to remove their names from the arrest blacklist.
Hundreds of thousands of government doctors, nurses, teachers, rail workers and others joined the CDM after the 2021 coup. The junta retaliated by blacklisting, arresting and jailing them.
The regime complains that the strike has drained the country of human resources and caused hardship for strikers.
The junta has sought to plug the gaps by recruiting new employees or transferring military personnel to fill the vacancies. However, the frequent appearance of job advertisements in junta newspapers suggests that the substitutes lack the experience and expertise to fulfill their tasks.
Strikers doubt that the regime has good intentions in recalling them. Many suspect it wants to exploit them for its benefit, pointing to junta preparations for an election scheduled next year. The election has been dismissed widely in Myanmar and abroad as a bid to legitimize rule by a military that ousted the elected National League for Democracy government in 2021.
The regime made a similar plea to striking teachers just before the academic year started in 2022.
Barring Suu Kyi from Martyrs’ Day
For the fourth year in a row, jailed civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been barred from attending the national commemoration of Martyrs’ Day, which honors her father – independence hero General Aung San – and marks the day he and his colleagues were assassinated in 1947.
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s predecessor, Than Shwe, permitted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to attend the annual event and lay a wreath at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Yangon even after he placed her under house arrest at her family home for 15 years.
Friday’s event marking the 77th Martyrs’ Day was attended by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s estranged elder brother, U Aung San Oo, who has been called a surrogate of the junta. The regime sent its No. 3, General Maung Maung Aye.
U Aung San Oo won a lawsuit to auction off their family home, the historic 54 University Avenue residence in Yangon’s Bahan Township, in January while his 79-year-old sister was serving 33 years in jail on charges fabricated by the regime. The auction subsequently failed after receiving no bids.
Yangon activists marked Friday’s commemoration with anti-regime slogans and banners, defying tight security in the commercial capital. Anti-junta groups organized similar activities in resistance strongholds.
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