Byu Har, Myanmar’s biggest hip hop star has been arrested for criticizing the military government, which is also referred to as junta. On Tuesday night, the rapper posted a video on Facebook in which he criticized junta’s way of handling the power outrages that have hit the country in the past months. Not only this, he also called the electricity minister, “a fool” and “incompetent”. Before the arrest, he received warnings from authorities for producing songs that were critical of the junta.
Since the 2021 coup, the Southeast nation has faced shortages of supplies for electricity plants, making lives difficult for ordinary citizens. Myanmar’s crackdowns on critics have also affected the freedom of speech and expression of the citizens and anyone who criticizes the junta is detained by the regime.
Byu Har’s detention is one of the several arbitrary detentions that have taken place in Naypyidaw since the arrival of the military government. He is the son of Naing Myanmar, who is considered as one of the most prominent musician of the Southeast Asian nation.
About the 2021 Myanmar coup
Myanmar has a long history of military rule followed by the victory of a democratically elected government in 2015 led by Aung San Suu Kyi. She campaigned to restore democracy in Myanmar and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. However, Myanmar’s transition to democracy was halted, when a coup d’état took place in the country in February 2021. This coup was led by Myanmar’s military under the control of General Min Aung Hlaing.
Since then, the military has been ruling the country and has detained Aung San Suu Kyi along with other ministers and members of Parliament by levying baseless charges on them. It has also executed various activists for their protests against the junta.
Atrocities by the junta on the people
Since the coup, Myanmar’s security forces has killed hundreds of people and attacked the ethnic minorities in the country, which include the Rohingya. There have been reports of human right violations and atrocities in the country. All the democratic processes have been suspended and prison sentences are announced through secret trials.
Last year, Kyaw Min Yu, a democracy activist was sentenced to death by the junta. Indiscriminate airstrikes, village raids and burnings, arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, attacks on schools have been reported from Naypyidaw in the past two years. Organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the junta for all these acts of violence.
After immense sufferings and pain, opposition activists have come together to form Campaign for Civil Disobedience (CDM) which regularly organizes protests and mass strikes against the military government. Not only this, the youth and pro- democracy activists have come together to form an armed wing known as People’s Defense Forces (PDF) to fight against the junta.
International Community’s Response
Myanmar’s military government has received international condemnation for their role in suppression of human rights. Various countries like US, European Union and UK have also imposed sanctions on the junta. UNSC has also passed a resolution against the Southeast nation’s military rule.
Despite all this international condemnation, Myanmar’s junta has refused to give up the power and restore democratically elected government. It is time for the international community to be vocal in condemning military’s atrocities and work together to bring back democracy in Myanmar.
