More than 200 bank staff fired for participating in Civil Disobedience Movement

Striking staff members say that the announcement that they had lost their jobs came without sufficient warning or negotiation

Myanmar Now

Published on Apr 30, 2021

Two protesters supporting the CDM are seen near a military tank in front of the Central Bank of Myanmar on February 15 (EPA-EFE)

More than 200 striking staff at the Myanmar Oriental Bank (MOB) were fired without advance notice, some of the ousted employees told Myanmar Now.

Staff members reportedly received a letter on April 28 stating that due to violations of the bank’s rules and regulations, they had been removed from their positions.

The bank’s employees had been participating in the nationwide general strike in accordance with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which aims to topple the junta that seized power in Myanmar in the February 1 military coup.

“The bank branches received an email. We did not go to the bank to get it, but we already knew—the bank called us and informed us,” a now-fired MOB staff member in Mandalay told Myanmar Now of how the news was delivered.

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Some of the staff received the update that they had lost their jobs from other colleagues who had heard the news.

“I have heard that all the employees have been fired. I haven’t received anything,” a junior staff member from another MOB branch in Mandalay said. “The reason given was that they couldn’t contact us. My phone is always switched on. They didn’t contact me.”

The bank leadership initially announced in mid-March that it would allow employees who were not present to take unpaid leave. Many staff members therefore thought their jobs were secure, or that there would be a warning before further action was taken.

“They should have at least negotiated first. They should have called the staff and asked them to come back to work by a certain date and if they were facing any difficulties in returning to work,” a staff member from MOB’s head office said.

Among the 200 staff fired were 55 in the Yangon head office, notified on April 27, and 124 staff from other branches, notified on April 28.

“Now that my colleagues have been fired, it is impossible for me to continue working. They do not respect the staff. They are acting like they can fire us anytime they want. This is not how it should be,” the head office staff member told Myanmar Now.

The staff members who spoke to Myanmar Now said that they had been participating in the CDM’s general strike since February.

MOB bank has more than 50 branches across Myanmar and around 1,500 total staff. Some 80 percent of the employees initially participated in the CDM, but after not being paid in March and facing subsequent financial difficulties, most returned to their jobs in April, vowing to re-join the strike at the end of the month.

This left only 200 workers still on strike in April, according to staff members.

Some of the employees who returned to work at the bank reportedly did so because they were required to pay back loans taken out from MOB, and feared their debt would be placed on their guarantors.

MOB’s leadership is listed on its website, and is headed by President Kyi Kyi Than and CEO Kyaw Soe Min. Its board members include Kyaing Kyaing Sein, Than Win, Hla Kyi, Hla Thaung, Nyo Myint, Mya Bu, Aung Than, Zin Win Htet, Kyaw Kyaw San and Myint Swe.

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Junta troops kill three civilians in shootout over arrest of local villager

Around 80 villagers in Ayeyarwady Region clashed with soldiers as they tried to prevent the arrest of a man accused of transporting weapons

Myanmar Now

Published on Jun 5, 2021

A Google satellite image shows the location of Kyonpyaw Township in Ayeyarwady Region.

Three civilians were shot dead in Ayeyarwady Region’s Kyonpyaw Township on Saturday when locals tried to confront troops as they arrested a resident of their village.

U Kyay, an elderly man from Hlay Swel, a village about 5km northeast of Kyonpyaw, was taken into custody early Saturday morning. The regime’s authorities accused U Kyay, who sells bananas to Yangon, of transporting weapons.

After learning of his arrest, about 80 Hlay Swel villagers, some of whom were armed with air guns, gathered outside the village to ambush the soldiers as they left.

However, soldiers acting as sentries spotted the crowd and opened fire, resulting in a shootout between the two sides that lasted about an hour.

“Some of the regime troops stayed outside the village to keep watch and our group had a head-on clash with them. They shot at us first,” said one villager who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.

“Even though it was a shootout, our guns only had a range of about 200 feet. Most people around here had never heard gunfire before, so they were startled by the sound as the soldiers fired continuously,” he added.

Three men were shot dead before the crowd dispersed as three military vehicles arrived with reinforcements.

“We had three groups—frontline, middle line and last line. The first person who was shot was from the frontline. He was only 20-something years old,” said the Hlay Swel villager.

“The next one was that young man’s father. When his son was shot, he raised his head as he shouted, ‘Don’t leave my son!’ He was shot in the shoulder and then in the head,” he continued.

The third victim was identified as a 19-year-old man from the village.

At the time of reporting, regime soldiers had taken control of Hlay Swel and residents of eight neighbouring villages had fled their homes, according to Kyonpyaw locals.

Saturday’s clash was the first in Kyonpyaw Township, where some locals have started arming themselves with handmade guns to resist the military’s attacks.

Villagers in many rural parts of Myanmar started using hunting rifles and other light weapons in late March to fight back against junta troops using lethal force against peaceful protesters.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 845 civilians have been killed by coup regime since it seized power on February 1.

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Cartoonists use art to oppose TotalEnergies’ business with junta

The winning cartoon in a competition organised by a French campaign group shows blood dripping from a Total oil container and forming the shape of Myanmar

Myanmar Now

Published on Jun 5, 2021

The Surreal McCoy's winning cartoon in the TotalCartoonChallenge, organised by French campaign group Info Birmanie to protest #TotalEnergies' business with the Myanmar junta

UK-based cartoonist Carol Isaacs, also known as The Surreal McCoy, has won the #TotalCartoonChallenge, a competition organised by French campaign group Info Birmanie to protest oil company TotalEnergies’ business with the Myanmar military junta.

Carol’s winning cartoon shows blood dripping from a Total oil container and forming the shape of Myanmar.

It was horrifying to hear that Total has been continuing to fuel the oppression by doing business with and protecting the military dictatorship. Total are profiteering from the misery and the people of Myanmar are paying the price with their blood,” Carol told Myanmar Now.

Carol has deep ties to Myanmar, as her family fled the country as refugees during the Second World War. She has visited several times and is currently working on a graphic novel on her family’s history.

Info Birmanie launched the #TotalCartoonChallenge on social media 10 days before TotalEnergies’ May 28 annual shareholder meeting. The challenge aimed to increase TotalEnergies’ reputational risk because of their continued business with the military junta. The winning prize is publication in Myanmar Now.

“We know the challenge is symbolic and does not carry much weight by itself, but we hope that the sum of actions, such as the letter co-signed by more than 40 elected members of parliament in France, will generate enough momentum and visibility to force Total to stop financing the junta,” Info Birmanie assistant coordinator Arjuna Lebaindre told Myanmar Now.

The cartoon challenge is part of a series of creative actions to oppose the Myanmar coup. The Raise Three Fingers campaign, which Carol is part of, is a Myanmar initiative that calls on artists to create a three-fingered salute, the symbol of pro-democracy movements in Myanmar, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Info Birmanie is continuing its campaign against TotalEnergies’ business with the junta. They are now running an online petition calling for TotalEnergies to “block any payment to the military junta until the country is ruled by the democratically elected civilian government,” receiving almost 3,800 signatures since its launch.

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Ward administrator in Mohnyin Township resigns after predecessor assassinated

Myo Yarzar steps down as a ward administrator in Nan Mar, Kachin State, days after a previous local administrator is shot and killed

Myanmar Now

Published on Jun 5, 2021

Myo Yarzar, the administrator for Nan Mar town’s Myoma Yan Aung ward in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State

A ward administrator in Nan Mar town in Kachin State’s Mohnyin Township submitted his resignation on Friday after a former administrator from the area was recently killed.

Aye Min, a member of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and a Nan Mar administrator from 2005-2012, was shot dead by a bullet to the back on June 1. Three days later, Myo Yarzar, the administrator for Nan Mar’s Myoma Yan Aung ward, stepped down from his position.

Myo Yarzar took on the role in June 2020 under the former government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), but continued working in the post after the military staged a coup on February 1.

He told Myanmar Now that he was elected as the ward administrator, and he had submitted his resignation out of respect for the people’s movement against the coup regime’s administration.

“The people do not want to live under military rule. We must put the will of the people first. I cannot work under a government that the people do not like,” he said.

Myo Yarzar also expressed concerns over the successive assassinations of administrators appointed by the junta.

In addition to Aye Min, an administrator appointed by the junta was shot and killed in Taze, Sagaing Region on Wednesday morning. Later that day, a village administrator in Khin-U Township, also in Sagaing, resigned.

“Ward administrators have been killed, so I am concerned because I have a family. It is one of the reasons for my resignation. I did not incite my community [to commit violence]. I did not create trouble for the people. I firmly stand with the people,” Myo Yarzar said.

A Nan Mar resident who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity described Myo Yarzar as having worked actively on community issues and pointed out that he did not have any political affiliations.

“He is not notorious. He is not hated by the people. He just works for the welfare of his community. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he worked as a volunteer in Covid-19 treatment centres. He is neither red nor green,” the resident said, referring to the NLD and the USDP, respectively.

Myo Yarzar has been the only administrator from Nan Mar’s five wards—Shanzu, Myoma Yan Aung, Nam Thaya, Chaung Tar and Nyaunggon—to resign in the wake of attacks against regime officials across the country.