One of Myamar’s highest-paid actresses, she has been offering financial help to striking staff who have given up their jobs to take part in the growing civil disobedience movement, known as CDM.
But on Thursday, the Myanmar Academy Award winner and her director husband, Na Gyi, went into hiding after his name appeared on an arrest list, along with a number of other celebrities who have been accused of using their platform to oppose the coup.
A police statement on Wednesday said Na Gyi, two other prominent directors, two actors and a singer, were wanted for “using their popularity and encouraging responsible civil servants to participate in CDM, encouraging civil servants to participate in protests.”
The notice from the governing State Administration Council said information on the whereabouts of the actor Payeti Oo, Director Ko Pauk, actor Lu Min, director Wine, director Na Gyi and singer Anatga was needed by the Myanmar Police Force.
Section 505a makes it a crime to “hinder, disturb, damage the motivation, discipline, health, conduct” of government employees and military personnel and “and cause their hatred, disobedience, or disloyalty” toward the government or military.
Paing Phyo Thu said that while “we know that it’s very dangerous to speak out like this,” she won’t stop — despite the arrest warrant and being forced into hiding.
“We can talk about our opinions, we don’t mind because since day one of the military coup, we’ve been talking about it on our social media platforms because we want the audience to know that we’re with them and nobody likes this. It’s such an unfair thing,” she said.
“There’s no turning back. We’ve decided we’re going to do this, we will fight to the end.”
“Everyone can see the development. For example, all the roads and education — everything was going towards a brighter destination. We’ve been ruled by the dictators for so long,” said Paing Phyo Thu. “Then there was a military coup and we felt like we lost our freedom, and we lost our democracy, and we just don’t want to go back to the dark age.”
In Mandalay, security forces opened fire as they confronted railway workers who had stopped trains running as part of the civil disobedience movement, Reuters reported. Residents said one person was wounded but it is unclear what type of munitions were alleged to have been used, the report said.
The mass march was called in response to a second charge filed against Suu Kyi Tuesday. Her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said that she had been charged in relation to a national disaster law, in addition to an earlier count under the country’s import and export act.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/18/asia/myanmar-protest-celebrities-arrest-intl-hnk/index.html
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