People of Myanmar raise their voices against military leadership

A growing number of Myanmar citizens have risen in revolt against its military coup across the nation. Medical practitioners do not provide medical service to those associated with the military regime, and the honks of cars resonate urban areas in defiance. While their protests are also going viral across social media, the Myanmar government has declared that it will get them punished.

Doctors and nurses across the nation's medical centers said that they will not work under the military regime starting from Wednesday, said the Guardian. They not only put a stop to their medical assistance to leadership that caused a military coup d'état, while some of them refuse to work. Such resistant voices spread across around 20 national and public medical centers and a hospital with more than 1,000 beds in the capital city of Naypyidaw.

According to ABC News, the total number of COVID-19 patients in Myanmar reached 140,300 while 3,100 people lost their lives due to the coronavirus as of Tuesday. The military regime may get in trouble if the medical system gets paralyzed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Back in 2015, health workers in Myanmar started "Black Ribbon Campaign” to stand against the military regime.

The reason why Burmese citizens chose such movements over massive street protests is that they may have been concerned of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to major foreign news agencies. If they upset the military regime by taking to the streets and getting involved in violence, Aung San Suu Kyi may be pushed in danger. The military coup seems to keep its guards up with a sense of urgency. The Myanmar Times reported on Wednesday that the government's public relations department said that those who disseminate false information are subject to harsh punishment.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday presided over a closed virtual meeting on short notice to adopt a statement to condemn the Myanmar situation. However, the meeting failed to reach an agreement as China and Russia showed a tepid response.


Eun-Taek Lee nabi@donga.com