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Don’t pay electricity bills: Myanmar’s anti-junta activists to nation

Monday, 26 April 2021 5:34 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 26 April 2021 5:34 PM ]

Protesters hold up the three-finger salute as they take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Tarmwe township in Yangon on April 26, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

Activists opposed to Myanmar’s junta have called for refusal to pay electricity bills and agricultural loans as part of a larger civil disobedience campaign in the wake of the February 1 coup.

Khant Wai Phyo, a pro-democracy activist, said in a speech at a protest in the central town of Monywa on Sunday that parents should keep their children away from school.

“All of us, people in townships, wards and then regions and states must work together to make a successful boycott against the military junta.”

“We don't participate in their systems, we don't cooperate with them.”

International aid agencies have warned that the campaign has crippled the economy and raised the prospect of hunger.

The social movement also raises new doubts about a recent bid by a regional bloc to end the post-coup crisis.

Activists are against a deal recently reached between the junta chief and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to end the turmoil.

Leaders of the 10 ASEAN member states met with Min Aung Hlaing at a summit in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on Saturday.

ASEAN reaches consensus on ending Myanmar crisis

To anti-junta activists, the ASEAN accord lacked any timeline for ending the crisis; it does not reflect the will of people, either.

The junta chief has not yet submitted to calls for the release of political prisoners, including the leader of the ousted civilian government, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The summit was the first coordinated international effort to ease tensions in Myanmar since the junta deposed Suu Kyi and imprisoned her along with other political leaders.

The military government has so far detained about 3,500 people in connection with the coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The junta justifies the coup by alleging widespread fraud in the November 2020 elections.

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