Life Story for the Special Initiative “Living the Coup: Collective Diary of Daily Life in Myanmar” by SEA Junction and Partners.
| Title: | Three Days in Yangon in 2023, Three Years after the Military Coup |
| Storyteller: | Anonymous |
| Date: | September 2023 |
I am 32 years old who left Myanmar in 2021 after the military coup.
Going back to Yangon was exciting and terrifying at the same time. I have read many news about #whatshappeninginmyanmar in the ground through social media. Cutting off electricity became common after the coup. It makes me remember my childhood by the time we shouted out loud “Yayyyy….electricity is coming back!” to get access to electricity. We have already forgotten these kinds of things because we have got the situation to be able to forget that kind of insecurity in the last 10 years from 2010-2020.
1st Day.
I arrived around 7 pm in Yangon. I took a rest for 30 minutes in the bed. Then, I tried to order food around 8 o’clock via Grab apps, but it showed on apps that almost all restaurants are closed at 7 pm while people in other countries might prepare to hang out with their beloved ones at 7 pm to have fun and eat delicious food. It was not easy to hire the taxi after 7 pm, since both drivers and passengers are afraid of each other for the sake of security and safety measures. Therefore, if you want to go visit Myanmar these days, you need to prepare to finish everything before 7pm. Otherwise, you might sleep with an empty stomach or take unexpected risks by riding taxis for food.
2nd Day
The next day, I went out to meet with my friend. On the way, I saw a very long queue and asked the taxi driver for the reason of the long queue. He said that those people are queuing for palm oil which is essential for cooking meals for poor people, since price of palm oil is the cheapest. As you know, Myanmar food is popular as oily curry, and you can imagine how important getting this palm oil is. The truck carrying palm oil controlled by the military sells 1 liter of oil for every household who can show the household list to the seller at half the market price. In addition, the military arrested the leaders of Palm Oil and Cooking Oil Association as the regime struggled to quell the soaring price of edible oil. I read the news that the chairman of Myanmar Edible Oil Dealer’s Association was arrested along with five other merchants in raids on their homes conducted by the Office of the Chief of Myanmar Security Affairs (OCMSA) and the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI) under the junta’s Home Affairs Ministry. The five are accused of violating price controls set by the junta. As a result, palm oil cannot be bought at the local market. People from grassroot level cannot afford to buy peanut oil and sunflower oil which are more expensive compared to palm oil and not easily accessible in the market. People are saying that they are going back to the Cooperatives era in 1989 where only cooperative shops could sell rice, oils and other commodity. It’s very disappointing to see with my own eyes deteriorating everything built and established by democratic government.
When I arrived at the restaurant, I found out the price of food on the menu are crazy high while the salary people get is the same. Mont Hinn Gar (Fish soup with noodles), which is the national dish for breakfast, is 2000-2500 Kyats per bowl whereas it was maximum 1000MMK before I left Myanmar in 2022. The prices of rice, oil, eggs, and vegetables were more than double all over the country. When I arrived back in the foreign country I live in, I told my friend who lives with me that we should not complain the price of food anymore, since everything is worth paying for here because of the quality.
3rd Day
I went downtown by bus to observe the ground situation in Yangon. Before I left the place I was staying in, my family reminded me to behave very well in front of soldiers if I was stopped and asked questions on the way. I saw very few people in Yangon Railway Station and Highway bus station which is opposite Yangon Railway Station, although they are important for providing transportation services to every part of Myanmar from Yangon. I saw some tall bankers built by the military to monitor people. I heard that news when I was in a foreign country but I saw with my own eyes when I went back to Myanmar. I saw new Yangon where it is full of people who are trying to adapt to the current situation created by the military after the coup without choices. I could not have a chance to take the photo since I have to protect myself from getting arrest for taking photo.
The whole trip was filled with things that cannot be seen or heard in another part of the world. Although I prepared my mind before I went, seeing the suffering of people still made me feel guilty for not being able to contribute a lot to the fighting against the military dictatorship. However, listening to Myanmar people’s spirit and determination makes me believe more that we, Myanmar people, will get back the taste of democracy we are hungry for.
“People queueing to buy palm oil in Yangon (Source: Mizzima News in Burmese Edition)
Organizers
“Living the Coup: Collective Diary of Daily Life in Myanmar” is a special initiative of SEA Junction in collaboration with Asia Justice Rights (AJAR) to document how people are living in present-day Myanmar and their coping with daily security, economic and health challenges. We are asking for short stories in the form of written, photo essays or art illustration, in Burmese Language (to be later translated into English) or in English. For more background and other stories click here.
SEA Junction
SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organization Foundation for Southeast Asia Studies (ForSEA), aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions- from arts and lifestyles to economy and development. Conveniently located at Room 408 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium), SEA Junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. For more information see www.seajunction.org, join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/1693058870976440/ and follow us on twitter and Instagram @seajunction
Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
AJAR is a non-profit organization, based in Jakarta, Indonesia, whose aim is to contribute to the strengthening of human rights and the alleviation of entrenched impunity in the Asia-Pacific region. Its work focuses on countries involved in transition from a context of mass human rights violations to democracy, where it strives to build cultures based on accountability, justice and a willingness to learn from the root causes of human rights violations to help prevent the recurrence of state-sanctioned human rights violations. For more information, see https://asia-ajar.org.
