AP
Detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was excluded by the military junta from annual Martyrs’ Day observances Monday honoring her father, Gen. Aung San, who led Myanmar to independence from British rule, while opponents of army rule staged protests in several big cities.
The ceremony honors Aung San and eight other members of his pre-independence interim government who were assassinated by a rival political group on July 17, 1947. Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, had attended the event throughout her long stints of house arrest under a previous military junta.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is being detained by the military regime that overthrew her democratically elected government on Feb. 1, was neither invited to nor informed about the ceremony, which was broadcast live on television by junta, her lawyer told RFA.
AFP
A small number of Myanmar military officers have made a risky decision to quit the armed forces and join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) of striking workers who abruptly left their jobs to protest against the coup that seized power from the elected government on Feb. 1, citing voting fraud in the November 2020 elections. Three military officers who recently left their posts at a defense equipment factory became the latest servicemen to join the CDM. One of the officers, a graduate of the Defense Services Technological Academy, fled to the Indian border after going AWOL. He spoke to reporter Soe San Aung of RFA’s Myanmar Service about his views on the protests and his military experience. The officer asked that his name, rank, and personal information not be disclosed so as to ensure the safety of the two other officers and their families. The following Q&A has been edited for clarity.
Myanmar s military deploys digital arsenal of repression in crackdown bdnews24.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bdnews24.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Myanmarâs Military Deploys Digital Arsenal of Repression in Crackdown
The generals who staged a coup last month use surveillance drones, iPhone cracking devices and hacking software, some of it from Western countries that bar sales of such technology to Myanmar.
A group of people leaving their neighborhood to join protests in Yangon in February.Credit.The New York Times
Published March 1, 2021Updated March 12, 2021
During a half century of military rule, Myanmarâs totalitarian tools were crude but effective. Men in sarongs shadowed democracy activists, neighbors informed on each other and thugs brandished lead pipes.
The generals, who staged a coup a month ago, are now back in charge with a far more sophisticated arsenal at their disposal: Israeli-made surveillance drones, European iPhone cracking devices and American software that can hack into computers and vacuum up their contents.