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W W W . M O H I N G A M A T T E R S . C O M

F E B R U A R Y 2 8 V O L 1 . I S S U E 1

Sule AreaAt the heart of Yangon, the Sule area is a historic and sacred place for Myanmar people. The signif-icant golden stupa at the inter-section plays a monumental role in Myanmar people’s revolutions since the colonial time. The area has witnessed the unity of Myan-mar people, the bloodshed for freedom and democracy, and the brutality of security forces. Again in 2021, thousands of peo-ple came together at the Sule area to protest against the mili-tary coup.

Perspective: Military-Coup hit us hardand out of the blue. Pg-5

The painting (above) was drawn by Artist Htoo Aung Kyaw only with his fingers, no brush used. The painting was sold at a fundraiser for the Civil Disobedience Move-ment to support the civil servants.

Coup Timeline. Pg 3

Finding the Shore-through the Storm.Pg 8

Detaintees list. Pg 10

Follow us on @mohingamatters @mohingamatters @mattersmohinga

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Mohinga Matters started out as a mere digital platform for amateur writers in Myanmar who have few friends and tons of complaints. We used to pub-lish one post every fourteen day and we were pretty happy with our traffic of handling ten read-ers per week.

However, since the military coup, we have fully dedicated our blog as a platform for send-ing information out to the world. We document and publish daily entries under the name of Free-dom Memoirs and this newslet-

Wake up

Brush Teeth

Shower (Optional but strong-

ly recommended)

Support or join CDM

Support or join street protest

Bang pots and pans at 8 pm

Guard streets at night

Fake News Alert

Note from the Team

Daily Agenda of a Myanmar Citizen

Fake News have become the norm since Day 1 of the Coup. We believe that fake news does not come from any truth-loving individuals and denounce these acts as being counterproductive towards peaceful civil disobe-dience movement and non-vio-lence movement.

We encourage fellow democra-cy-lovers to not to fall for their rouse by:

Verifying news evidence (and if possible, source)

Photos and videos evidence can-not be trusted as these can be faked, however having no such proofs means whatever such news are even likelier to be fake. Verifying source, we highly rec-ommend if we can but in this current environment it is under-standable while it is not viable.

Verifying with local and international main-stream media.

Mainstream media, due to their need to be held accountable are among the most trust-worthy sources, however there is a need to verify the ownership of the papers (e.g. Union Daily is owned by USDP). Typically, international sources such as Asia Section of any major news sources will clar-ify fake news if you are patient enough to wait. (e.g., https://edi-tion.cnn.com/asia, https://www.bbc.com/news/world/asia). For local news, we suggest news agencies like Myanmar Now. (https://www.facebook.com/myanmarnownews, https://www.myanmar-now.org/en)

Verifying with knowl-edgeable and trusted friends

In fact, while internet connec-tions are slow, this would be the only option. Embassies, UN orga-nizations have dedicated profes-sionals who are trained to verify fakes news from real ones and share the reliable news with their colleagues. Checking with a close friend working for an embassy could be a solution. Plus, circle yourself and your inbox with only people you trust. For example; if you have or know someone who has a direct family member working/studying overseas, ask them to call your mobile phone if they come across “big news” from trusted international me-dia. If you don’t hear from them, don’t trust any news. Period.

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ter is our lastest attempt of cu-rating contents in another digital format. We hope our daily and monthly wrap-ups will have con-tributed even in the tiniest way during this significant episode of our country’s fight for democracy.

Although we miss the days of gossiping about colleagues in satires, or sharing rather too personal anecdotes, everything can wait until the putschists are kicked out of this land eventually. At the end of the day, we would not like to look back in agony and think we could have done more.

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2020 Timeline of Military

Coup

2021

August 14, 2020

November 30, 2020

January 26, 2021

February 1, 2021

February 3, 2021

February 5, 2021

February 7, 2021

November 8, 2020

December 24 , 2020

January 30, 2021

February 2, 2021

February 4, 2021

February 6, 2021

34 political party including Union Solitary and Development Party (USDP) met with Min Aung Hlaing, asking support from the Military Chief if the election is not free and fair.

Military announced that they would cross check on voters list as they suspected fraud.

Military Spokesman Zaw Min Tun refused to rule out a coup during press conference.

Military staged a coup, arresting President U Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and declared a one-year state of emergency.

Myanmar police filed charges against Aung San Suu Kyi by import act and President Win My-int for violating covid restrictions. Soldiers and police forces raided NLD offices in several re-gions. Junta blocked Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp services.

Teachers and some government workers joined CDM. USDP and other 22 parties announced that they would cooperate with the military. NLD parliamentarians formed a 15-person commit-tee called Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) with elected MPs, 2 more ethnic representatives joined later on making 17 mem-bers in total and ethnic balanced.

Tens of thousands of people took the streets to protest as a first major movement across the country. Internet was restored at 2:00 PM.

NLD won a landslide in General Election

Military issued a statement on findings in scrutiny of voter lists for the first time.

Military issued a statement saying that they would protect 2008 constitution.

State Administrative Council (SAC) was formed with 11 members and Min Aung Hlaing chaired the council. Doctors from Mandalay initiated Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). People started banging pots and pans across the coun-try at 8 pm.

A group of protesters from Mandalay took the streets as the beginning of peaceful protests.

Junta banned the entire internet access. People from Yangon and other cities joined peaceful protests against military coup. A fake news spread out across the country that Aung San Suu Kyi was released, sending thousands of people on the street to celebrate.

February 8, 2021Junta imposed 8 PM to 4 AM curfew in Yangon, Mandalay and other townships, and banned gatherings of more than five people. Junta lead-er Min Aung Hlaing made his first appearance on live broadcast TV after coup and promised to hold new election in a year.

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February 11, 2021

February 13, 2021

February 17, 2021

February 15, 2021

February 22, 2021

February 25, 2021

February 27, 2021

Ming Aung Hlaing urged government employ-ees to return to work.

Min Aung Hlaing signed a directive that ordered 23,000 prisoners to be released across the country. People around the Yangon city formed their own night watch forces to protect CDM staffs and to prevent convicts from creating chaos. Western Ambassadors issued a joint statement addressed to Military Junta to refrain from vio-lence against demonstrators and civilians.

Demonstrators in Yangon initiated car broke down campaign, leaving their cars in the middle of streets and bridges with the hooks up as if they were broken to prevent government staffs going to work and to block police trucks.

Judge extended Aung San Suu Kyi’s two-week detention by two days.

Millions of people joined 22222 movement across the country. Nearly 200 protestors were arrested in Nay Pyi Taw, Pyinmana.

Police and military used excessive force in Tam-we Township, cracking down the residents who were protesting in their own township against military’s appointed general administrative offi-cers.

Nationwide crackdown carried out of police, soliders and plain clothed thugs in Yangon, Mandalay, Monywa, Myeik.

February 12, 2021

February 14, 2021

February 16, 2021

February 20, 2021

February 23, 2021

February 26, 2021

February 28, 2021

Police arrested citizens at night without proper legal procedures, targeting civil servants who were taking parts in CDM. Myint Thu, Myanmar’s rep to UN spoke at Human Right Councils and sided with Junta before quitting from his post a couple of days later.

Internet access was cut from 1 am and restored at 9:30 am across the country.

Police filed a second charge against Aung San Suu Kyi for allegedly violating the country’s Nat-ural Disaster Law.

Military and Police forces opened fire on strik-ing workers and other protesters at Yadanarbon shipyard, Mandalay, killing at least two people; Ko Wai Yan Tun & Ko Yar Zar Aung and wounding 20 more.

CRPH in Myanmar announced the appointments of U Htin Lin Aung as Special Representative of CRPH and Dr Sa Sa as the Special Envoy of the CRPH to the UN.

Police and military used forces to break protest scenes in Yangon and Mandalay. U Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s rep to UN spoke at informal UN general assembly and expressed his standing with the people of Myanmar

2021 Milk Tea Alliance movement was cracked down brutally, at least 20 people were killed across the country.

February 9, 2021Police conducted a violent crackdown in Naypy-idaw, using live rounds for the first time since the coup. CRPH signed a directive that extended the term of state counselor for another five years.

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Military Coup hit us hard and suddenly. While the old-er generations still have simi-lar scars and have warned of its possibility, it is just absurd for the younger generations. Who would do such irrational thing when 2008 Constitution protects the interests of the military so well? Why would they risk of throw-ing away such vast economic empires and shielding of civilian government from any nasty thing they have committed. In past 5 years, the civilian government lost a lot of its image and trust, both domestically and interna-tionally, due to its shielding of military from international pres-sure and inability to reduce their impunity (NLD got their top legal advisor murdered in public, and still cannot deliver proper justice, so why should people trust their capabilities?), while the military nor its supporters has shown no remorse.

However, domestically, even with tainted image, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party won yet anoth-er landslide election. The military might not be rational, but the people are, and we know there is no good in removing her and her party in efforts to bring a demo-cratic and developed Myanmar, despite NLD’s all too many short-comings and utter stupidities. So the people made their choice and the rest is history. The generals, particularly the top dog Senior General Min Aung Hlaing could not take it well, and spent next 3 months claim-ing election fraud, a claim widely dismissed by election observers,

Spring Revolution Has Already Changed Us, and we will use it against them

the public and international com-munity alike. However, the army is used to claiming what they want as “the only truth” and pro-ceeding it to defend that truth in a righteous manner, and for all those times, it works perfectly well for the army. For example, in the referendum to legitimize 2008 Constitution, although most of the population couldn’t vote, didn’t vote or voted no, the result showed 94% of the peo-ple are in favour of the constitu-tion. Since then, any attempts to change current military-favoured constitution has faced rebuttal by the armed forces citing some-thing 94% of country’s population agreed should not be changed. Even naming the new capital city, Naypyitaw, while original-ly attracted massive resistance by the public because it is an ar-chaic term for “Capital City” and have no place in modern world except in stories about ages old, eventually grows on the people. The junta’s time-tested tactic of claiming things they want as truth and proceeding to benefit themselves have worked really well. So, they deploy that tactic again in 1st Feb 2021, claimed massive election fraud, claimed election results invalid and took control of the country, as per the duty

of the righteous guardian. They think their tested and trusted tactic is sure to work, with their military muscle instilling fear to the people and their rumour-mill working overtime to get people distracted and divided, particu-larly along ethno-religious lines. The army thinks locking away hundreds of elected officials, prominent activists and artists will keep the people in line.

But, they have completely un-derestimated the people they seek to control and manipulate.

The people organized each oth-er to show resistance. Now world-renowned banging of the pots and pans began at the 2nd day of the coup, who sow the idea? who carried it along? who made that happen? and who keep it ongoing? THE PEOPLE. Small protests begin within few days of the coup, and while some member of the public are skeptical at the beginning due to military rumour-mill, we the people learnt each other’s voice, screened it as genuine and now those small protests have grown into large ones consisting mil-lions to defend what we voted in 8th Nov 2020, and to demand what the military thugs have sto-len from us for a long time, a life

“ For the first time in my life, people across ethno-religious divide are commu-nicating without being defensive or antagonistic. ”

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to create our own destiny, with-out fear. We all are joining to-gether in the fight that will give us the right to be free.

The army’s tactic and mentali-ty have not changed since 1988 Revolution. Sure, unlike 1988, the current “Spring Revolution” is yet to see massacres where scores are shot and killed. But that’s not because they are unwilling, and only because they are worried of international repercussions at a time when they are portray-ing as guardians of democracy. This is reflected in their narra-tive of defending and promoting peace, even for the times where they raided civil servant housings and neighbourhoods in a military campaign manner, unprovoked. Violent cracking downs of peace-ful protestors are just too many.

More laughable is their tactics. Military propaganda machine tirelessly (and brainlessly) pro-duce materials on their power, their righteousness and others wrongs, only to be ridiculed and disgusted by the public. Their projection of military might by massive soldier’s presence and rhetoric to avoid public gath-ering as it risks “loss of life” fails to deter massive protests. Ar-my’s impudence, at a time when everyone has a camera in their phones allows people to witness their crackdowns in largest cities and smallest villages alike and help unite the people, while un-doing their rhetoric of peaceful and democratic army in the in-ternational community.The people, on the other hand, are showing compassion and un-derstanding to each other. Peo-ple of different ethnics, religions, socio-economic status and geo-graphic locations are increasingly bonding with one other. We are realizing each other’s challenges, background and differences. For

the first time in my life, people across ethno-religious divide are communicating without being defensive or antagonistic. Such kindness has allowed people to understand better and facilitated sincere apologies for past igno-rance. And this compassion and understanding made us brave in the struggle against the military dictatorship that has divided and oppressed us for so long. Now, ethnic minorities are witnessing that Bamars are as much vic-tims of military dictatorship and Bamars are finding increasingly relatable of the horrors ethnic minorities are facing for decades. Even towards the Rohingya peo-ple, public display of sympathy has grown substantially. In the past, even the people who un-derstand atrocities committed against the Rohingyas had little window to speak up, out of fears that they might be attacked of being unpatriotic or worse; even private conversations reflecting such sentiments are bound to get rejected. But now, opportu-nities to open discussions and open minds are expanding. With improved tolerance and compas-sion, people are building bridges among themselves. It’s nowhere near satisfactory obviously, we still have a long way to go. How-ever, the signs are promising. ‘Us-against-them’ mentality has blurred considerably among the people.

That would be the key difference between us the people and the military junta and his lackeys. With this courage and compas-sion:We are willing to reflect our-selves; they do not.We are willing to amend; they do not.We see repentance as a sign of courage. They see as a sign of weakness.We seek to unite while acknowl-edging diversity; they seek to di-vide while eliminating diversity.We seek to show the facts, both of ours and theirs; they seek to distort it, both of ours and theirs.And many more.

The sincere and candid attempts to understand each other has opened new doors for us. This is the seed we sow in this spring. This will be the bane of military dictatorship.

I have longed gutted about how we are living under an outdat-ed mentality and shrouded by clouds of fear and distrust. That cloud is now receding and we are starting to see more light. We will fight to be free of myopia, ig-norance, hatred and prejudices, and we will uproot the Military Dictatorship.

Join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!You, me, us, the people, TOGETHER!

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We only have each other, nowWe have to fight this time. Until the end, until we win.We must win, there is no turning back.We will win, because we have each other.Our strength is in our numbers, it makes us stronger than them.

With Victory we win the new world.

No military raping us.No police shooting us.No cronies robbing us.Politicians who work for us.Civil Servants who work with us.

With this battle won, we can stand proudly as a peoplewho struggled out from under the death-weight of dictatorshipto grasp freedom and the power it brings.

So, let’s fight today. For each other.

To the New World

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February 22, 2021, I find myself one among this human ocean finding democracy that we have lost overnight on the morning of 1st February. My voice joins the strong waves of this ocean to reach to the shore of beloved democracy where it will protect our basic rights and free-dom. It seems like a long endless journey. The storm we are facing now is rough and frightening, but with our small currents com-bined together, we will become a stronger wave that will over-come this appalling storm. That day will come again.

Flashback to a month ago, it felt like there will never again be a rough storm that would have shaken us, the currents. I took ev-erything for granted. And though with its odds and challenges, the shore of democracy we called home seemed to be taking little progresses to be as solid as rock and to safeguard us. Little did I know that this shore could sud-denly be eroded over this power-ful storm attacking and sucking all the nutrients. Yet, no matter how brief, it felt great to have met this shore. We, the people, know that this shore of democ-racy had tried to safeguard our basic rights of freedom and had taken socio-economic progress. And we want it back. This period was what the so-called experts and analysts called our unique experiment with democracy that technically lasted 10 years.I truly appreciated those 10 brief years of democracy though in its imperfect shape, it felt great to taste a freedom— a freedom from fear. A brief 10-year of free-dom to express without fear. A

Finding the shore through the storm

brief 10-year of freedom to as-sembly without fear. A brief 10-year of freedom to what it meant to be free of fear against those in uniforms. But, recently, the lit-tle me who had traumatic years of living with fear has found me back once again —a childhood living under constant fear.

Those memories came right back. I remember now the conversa-tions my father spoke in a whis-per with his group of friends that are no more than five in a little tea shop at the corner. I remember now that the radio news that we listened to in silence with doors shut. I remember now the years of discrimination I faced in state schools just because I don’t be-long to a certain class of wealthy and of generals. I remember now those years where my politically active grandmother was under constant watch of intelligence who often dropped by our house. I remember unwelcoming guest knocking at our doors. I remem-ber that state-sponsored lies and propagandas were part of our daily lives. I remember how it was normal to have no electricity and frequent power blackouts. I remember now there were cer-

tain sites we couldn’t access to. Certain papers, books, films we couldn’t read and watch. Certain names we couldn’t call.

I remember seeing the unjust but couldn’t speak out as fear knocked me out. I remember fear is our default. Fear is our sys-tem. And I hate it now that fear, my old unkind friend, has come back with the morning of 1st Feb-ruary. Now I find myself here to get rid of that friend again in this human ocean, and trying my best to safely return to the shore together with stronger waves. I know that day will come.

The day we will all safely return to the shore.

We write everyday to

document the coup, to

share our experience,

and to contemplate.

The daily entries can be

read here:

https://mohingamatters.com/

freedom-memoirs/

“ I remember seeing the unjust but couldn’t speak out as fear knocked me out. I remember fear is our default. ”

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Conversations withMy 64-year-old Mom“I can’t believe we have to go through this again.” – this was the first thing my mother said to me when I woke her up at 6:30 am on February 1 to tell her the military has staged a coup. It was a chaotic day, and I didn’t then grasp the magnitude of the words she said. I was born in 1992, so growing up I was already living in Myanmar that was under the military re-gime. The only revolution I have experienced was the 2007 Saf-fron Revolution, and even then I was just 15, and I barely under-stood what was happening. Politics was something that my parents never discussed in our household also... Now that I think of it, it’s probably because of the background they came from. My mom is a devout Christian Kachin woman, and my father was a freethinking Buddhist Bur-mese. They grew up under the Ne Win government, and their union was probably frowned upon.

While my parents were just or-dinary small business owners, I learned that my grandparents have deeper links to Myanmar than my parents or I could ever have had. My mother is the youngest daughter of six to a parent who was a former nurse in the Alliance Army and a for-mer Captain of British Allied Forces who was spying on the Japanese Army during WW2. My maternal grandfather later on transferred to Civil Service, and he was a Deputy Commissioner for Kachin State when my moth-er was growing up in Myitkyina.

My father is the second eldest son of five to a parent of a home-maker and a former Chief of Na-tional Intelligence Bureau who also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for a year under Ne Win government. When I asked my mom how hard it is to adapt in a predominantly Buddhist Burmese community in Yangon, she just said, “I survive, and still, here I am.” One of the conversation topics between my mom and I since February 1 has been her experi-ence of going through the 8888 Uprising, and her point of view on the peaceful protests that are happening across Myanmar to-day. “Could we win this?”

You would believe that a 64-year-old Christian Kachin woman who lived through nationalist era of Myanmar would be more bitter and negative about the future of Myanmar, but her answer sur-prised me. “It’s the 21st century. There is just no place for a totalitarian regime. They can try and suppress us. But the most important thing is we have to endure and resist as much as we can.”

“The difference between the 8888 Uprising, even the 2007 Saf-fron Revolution, and the Spring Revolution that the youths are leading today?”

She said all of the dirty tactics that the military is using right now are the same tricks they had done before – imposing martial laws, amending laws and regu-lations as they see fit, releasing thousands of prisoners as ‘state pardon’, and using the ex-con-victs to cause chaos and panic amongst people, and arresting anyone and everyone they be-lieve are a threat to their power. “But the difference is… we have the technology on our side, we have better means to unite peo-ple, and get everyone on the same page. We have better ways to communicate and expose the military’s dirty doings to the in-ternational community also… and because of all these, we are in a whole new different time.” “Where were you during the 8888 Uprising?”

“When the beheading began, your father’s family asked us to go and live with them in the same compound as U Ne Win’s estate.” It was a mind-blowing piece of

“ It’s the 21st century. There is just no place for a totalitarian regime. ”

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information that I did not expect to hear. From what I knew before, after serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1980-1981, my grand-father was just a member of the People’s Attorney under U Ne Win’s government. But I learned that my grandfather was a sim-ple and honest man who never asked for anything to the point that U Ne Win trusted with his life to allow my grandfather’s family to live in the same compound as him where only his bodyguards and families resided.

It’s been almost a month since the military has staged the coup, and all these conversations with my mom would not have hap-pened under normal circum-stances. Ever since February 1, my mom and I have been talking more than normal, and we have been discussing the state of our country, the revolutions that she had seen growing up, my her-itage – she’s been helping me understand where I come from, and what she wishes to see for Myanmar. If I am looking for a silver lining out of this nightmare that we are

living through right now… it’s the fact that this is allowing me to recheck my privilege, and to un-derstand the history of Myanmar from the perspective of a devout Christian Kachin woman living in predominantly Buddhist Bur-mese community in Yangon. These conversations with my mom have managed to open up my eyes wider, and it’s making me realize that all of us should be conversing more with our parents and older generation to understand our history better so that history can’t be repeated for the future of Myanmar.

DetaineesNearly 1,000 people have been arrested arbitrarily since the coup on February 1. 2021 that in-cluded the president, state coun-sellor, union level and states/region level ministers and parlia-mentarians, prominent writers, activists and artists, not knowing their whereabouts.

Union and states/regions government members

Civilians who led or joined the protests against the coup

Journalists and reporters

NLD senior leaders party members, township chairs and

members etc

Union Election Commission chair, members, sub commission

members and staffs

States/regionsparliamentarians

Civil Servants who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement

Lawyers

85

279

6

84

148

37

31

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The Ones We Lost

# Date Name Age Region Case

1. 8 Feb 2021 Ko Ko Oo 32 Mandalay Hit by a police car

2. 9 Feb 2021 Mya Thwae Thwae Khaing

19 Naypyidaw Shot in the head with a live round, went into coma and passed away on 19 Feb

3. 15 Feb 2021 Nay Nay Win Htet 18 Myeik Hit in the head during night guard duty

4. 20 Feb 2021 Wai Yan Tun 17 Mandalay Shot in the head

5. 20 Feb 2021 Kyi Soe 48 Mandalay Hit in the head

6. 20 Feb 2021 Thet Naing Win @ Min MIn

37 Mandalay Shot in the chest with a live round

7. 20 Feb 2021 Tin Htut Hein 37 Yangon Shot in the head with a live round during night guard duty

8. 20 Feb 2021 Yar Zar Aung 24 Mandalay Shot in the leg with a live round and detained by po-lice despite fresh wounds, passed away with injuries on 24 Feb

9. 22 Feb 2021 Myo Min Tun 44 Bago Fainted during street pro-test, passed away mo-ments later

*The above list doesn’t include today’s fatalities which will be updated once we can verify each info. Here’s what we can confirm so far;

Township Number of Fatalities

Yangon 4

Mandalay 3

Myeik 7

Bago 3

Pakkokku 1

Dawei 5

Mawlamyine 2

Lashio 1