Tens of thousands across Myanmar staged mock funerals and guerilla protests, condemning junta leader Min Aung Hlaing with happy “death-day” wishes on his birthday on Saturday.
Photos of Min Aung Hlaing were torched on Myanmar’s streets as protestors chanted curses. Coffins bearing his name were also set on fire while protestors carried banners wishing him a speedy death.
Young activists in Yangon held a mock funeral for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in protest at the coup leader, who reportedly turned 65 on Saturday.
(Photo: CJ) #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/2UkZ2kxXMt
— The Irrawaddy (Eng) (@IrrawaddyNews) July 3, 2021
“May death comes faster to you from this birthday onwards.”#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #July3Coup
#July3RevileStrike pic.twitter.com/mbTpj0rmLv— Me Me Khant (@Me_Me_Khant) July 3, 2021
Throughout Yangon and Mandalay, protestors left behind fans and packets of Mohinga, both common features of Burmese funerals, in public spaces as a symbolic gesture wishing the junta leader a speedy trip to the grave.
Some protestors even posted pictures on social media of them urinating on photos of the general’s face, in a defiant act of deliberate disrespect and humor. In Burmese, to urinate is phonetically similar to the word flower. The Flower Strike was popular throughout the Spring Revolution as an act of defiance against the military junta.
Activists also launched a #WokCampaign to highlight the sins that the junta leader has committed and to “condemn his existence and send his soul to hell.”
https://twitter.com/GeorgBauer8/status/1411451513067687941
https://twitter.com/ThetHtarThet1/status/1411236160421068802
“We wanted to highlight Min Aung Hlaing’s birthday because it was the day he was supposed to retire and leave politics along with the fact that this man is responsible for a huge list of atrocities,” Georg Bauer, a PhD Candidate at the University of Vienna and #WokCampaign campaign creator told Coconuts Yangon.
The senior general was set to retire last Saturday at the age of 65 but the compulsory age of retirement was removed after the Feb. 1 coup. Instead of retiring, Min Aung Hlaing made himself a “dictator-for-life.”
“If you look at the crimes defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, he basically ticks off all war crimes, crimes against humanity and potentially even genocide,” Bauer added.
“We started out with the idea of the funeral, but there were people who were like if we do actual funerals, it would be like Yadayah-chay,” Me Me Khant, Myanmar activist, poet, and campaign organizer said.
“Yadayah-chay,” a traditional Burmese tradition of “outwitting fate by prompt action,” is practiced by ordinary Burmese to generals alike who believe in the practice’s power to change one’s fate through rituals.
“Dal-O (Wok) represents hell, and sending him to hell straight also doesn’t conflict with Yadeyah apparently. Wok, pots, and pans already have significance,” Me Me added.
For Bauer, his worst offence is the continued blockade of humanitarian aid to internally displaced persons.
“I personally remember how Kachin IDPs told me how they were used as human minesweepers by the Tatmadaw; then the soldiers gave them some rice bags – but only for a photo-op. The actual rice they gave the IDPs was already spoiled and inedible.”
The “death day” celebrations stand in stark contrast to the outpouring of love and support on deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday when tens of thousands in Myanmar and around the world donned flowers to commemorate her birthday.
Five months into Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, street protests have occurred almost daily with an ongoing civil-disobedience movement that have paralysed large parts of the country’s economy.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma, 890 people have been killed by security forces since the Feb. 1 coup, with more than 5,086 still detained.
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