Yangon’s foreign residents received a nice surprise over the weekend as they found notices posted on their apartment buildings titled ‘FOREIGNERS TO BE FOLLOWED.’ Woah, that’s some 1984-level stuff.
The flyers — which were really just a few sheets of A4 paper — warned foreigners of the consequences that they might face were they to be found residing in the city with an expired passport or visa, the incorrect visa, a criminal conviction, and/or doing any illegal businesses.
According to the Burma Immigration Emergency Provisions Act of 1947, foreign residents found guilty of breaking any of these rules could face six months to five years in prison, or a fine of MMK1,500, and be put on a ‘blacklist’ and deported.
Images of the flyers were uploaded to Facebook, primarily by foreigners who were disconcerted by the badly worded yet seemingly official notices.
However, as many Myanmar users were quick to point out, the notice was mistranslated, leading to the English version sounding much more menacing than its Myanmar counterpart. The heading of the English version ‘Foreigners to be followed,’ for instance, is really supposed to be along the lines of ‘Regarding foreigners.’ That’s what you get for using Google Translate.
Additionally, as one commenter noted, “It is just to cover his [the ward’s administrator] back in case of complaint from ‘concerned citizens’.” After all, the fact that there exists a procedure that foreign visitors can follow were they to overstay their visa — US$3/day for up to 90 days, and $5/day afterwards — kinda proves that this 1947 law is moot.
If you are a foreigner residing legally within the city and are still worried about being thrown in Insein Prison, just make sure you’re registered with both immigration and your local township and you’ll be fine.
We also recommend that authorities shell out a few thousand kyats for a professional translator the next time they want to put up ‘official’ notices like these around town.
Now the question is, if we were a foreigner, and had a choice between a prison sentence of six months to five year and a fine of K1,500, which would we opt for? Hmm… decisions, decisions.
