COMMENT | We stand by as the carnage in Myanmar continues

Phoe Kaung says that he can still vividly remember Feb 1, 2021, like it was only yesterday. “When I heard the news early in the morning that the military had staged a coup and detained leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, it was surreal,” says the Yangon resident. “I looked outside my window but it seemed like the usual morning with people commuting. But the first thought I had since that day has stuck with me: ‘Our future is done for.’”

In the following months, Kaung says, he saw Myanmar’s democratic progress in the last decade go down the drain. “It’s utterly devastating to witness people losing their friends and loved ones to either the third wave of Covid-19 or killings by the junta,” he says. “You have to fear for your safety when going out as you can be arrested by the military.”