On Sunday night, a group of citizens took the initiative in setting up an Ayeyarwady bank account for donations that would go directly towards supporting the family of Ne Win — the grave taxi driver who was shot and killed earlier that evening while trying to stop the gunman who attacked Ko Ni. The account’s details were shared on Facebook, and it didn’t take long before donations came pouring in.
Speaking to 7Day yesterday, one of the organizers said, “We opened the bank account around 10 pm yesterday and at 2 pm today, our records showed that MMK 32.3 million had come in. Most of the donations were from within the country. The biggest donation was from the Ayeyarwady [Bank] Foundation, which donated K10 million. In total, there have been 195 donors so far.”
Ne Win left behind a wife and three kids. The main purpose of the fund is to go towards supporting Ne Win’s young children, one of whom is only 45 days old.
“We’ll withdraw all the money at some point. However, we’re not just going to say ‘here you go’ and drop it off. We also want it [the money] to be a longstanding source of funds to support the children until they’re older.”
The organizers have said that the account will be closed after 10 days. If you’d like to donate, bank transfers can be made to Ayeyarwady Bank account number 0080.2.02.01.018000.4.
Correction: An earlier version stated that the total amount of donations within the first 16 hours was MMK323 million and that the Ayeyarwady Foundation had donated K100 million. The total amount was K32.3 million, with the Ayeyarwady Foundation donating K10 million. We apologize for the error.
