Episode #118: Progressing Towards Victory
On March 28th 2021, we released a conversation with Kyar Phyu about her emerging leadership role in the developing Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). In that conversation, she explained how her ten-year career training civil servants had put her in a mentoring position, so that when CDM began to grow, many of them turned to her for guidance and assistance.
Now, over one year later, Kyar Phyu returns to the Insight Myanmar Podcast to update listeners on how eventful the past number of months have been. Before filling us in on her recent activities and impressions, Kyar Phyu reflects on her past interview, confessing she couldn’t believe how naïve she was at the time.
“I thought the revolution wouldn’t take so long!” she admits. “I thought we would finish in just like two or three months. But now it's been a year and it would be even longer, like two or three more years, and then in rebuilding the country again, at least four or five years! Myanmar will suffer.”
Because Kyar Phyu was so active in supporting workers and their families who chose to step away from their government offices, her file reached the desk of military intelligence, who promptly issued a warrant for her arrest and began searching for her throughout the city. She was forced to go deep into hiding. She found accommodations in a safe house alongside other activists who had taken refuge. This would be her home for the following eight months, with supporters secretly dropping off food, medicine, clothing, and other items. During that entire time, she only ventured outside twice, both times out of necessity: once when she contracted COVID, and the other when her safe house became compromised, and she had to move to another. Throughout that entire time in hiding, she continued to support the revolution.
To maintain her mental balance amid all the stress and challenges, she took up ānāpāna meditation in her spare time, following the instructions of pyit-pyet (ဖြစ်ပျက်), or the arising and passing away of breath from the nostrils. “It made me be more compassionate to myself,” she says. “It made me more peaceful, so I can accept anything that happens. At first, even if I was very angry or shocked, after the meditation, I could accept what happened, and that those things would also be overcome.”
Still, Kyar Phyu has to admit that balancing Buddhist meditation with a concerted effort to defeat an evil enemy is no easy to task. “One day I'm supporting the PDF, donating money for the weapons to kill the SAC! But the next day, I'm like, ‘Oh, no, you're killing people, and supporting them to kill people.’ So it's very difficult for me. But the military is killing people, and if we are not killing them, they are going to kill us! I was very angry with the SAC. They're greedy with the destruction of our country. We have to stop them! If we cannot stop them in this generation, then our next generation will suffer.”
During her time in hiding, Kyar Phyu found herself marveling at how Aung San Suu Kyi had persevered through so many years of being confined to her home while under house arrest. Kyar Phyu also had ample time to consider the decisions that had led her to her predicament. Expressing amazement that she herself has been able to overcome limitations that she would not have imagined was possible before, she is clear about one thing: she has no regrets.
“No, no, no, I never regret my decisions! I even feel better about them and my resolve is even stronger to fight for democracy. I face the regime now and I am really standing up to fight them! So my belief is stronger, and I never regret it. And there are many other who have given their life.”
Eventually, Kyar Phyu realized her options were narrowing and it would only be a matter of time before she was captured, as some of her other colleagues had been when their safe house was informed on and subsequently raided. So she traveled to an ethnic camp, only to find out soon after arriving that soldiers were raiding nearby camps on a regular basis, and she realized she could not stay there either. Eventually, she crossed into Thailand, ultimately settling in Mae Sot.
Laughing, Kyar Phyu admits she is now an illegal immigrant—as an educated professional who once traveled the world for various conferences and programs, this was certainly a situation she never expected to find herself in. Although she has an American visa, she is unable even to travel from Mae Sot to the airport without the danger of being arrested. Thai authorities have certainly been no friend of the democracy movement in Myanmar, as even NUG officials without proper documentation have found themselves behind bars.
Turning to developments in the democracy movement over the past year, Kyar Phyu first addresses the role of CDM. While she still sees CDM as essential in having made the country ungovernable for the Tatmadaw, she recognizes that it could not be sustained, financially or otherwise; many had to leave hiding and return to the office due to financial hardships, while many other workers were either pressured to return to work or arrested and found themselves in jail. Kyar Phyu also supports soldiers who have decided to defect, which she calls the “highest revolutionary group.” She explains that those who defected earlier than others routinely recall their date of departure as a point of pride. Police defectors are included in this mix, and Kyar Phyu points out that there are so many in Karenni State that many townships now have their own dedicated force of defector police.
Speaking honestly, Kyar Phyu expresses some frustrations with NUG leadership. “Their communication strategy is weak… I wish we had stronger leaders like the Ukraine president [Zelensky].” Kyar Phyu feels the NUG should be more streamlined and responsive, with clear goals and strategies; it should strictly be a revolutionary leadership, to be dissolved as soon as democratic elections can be held. Specifically, she wishes the NUG did a better job of motivating and organizing the people.
And Kyar Phyu minces no words in describing the People’s Defense Forces as really the most important component of the movement now. Particularly inspired by leaders like Bo Nagar, she has been impressed overall by the commitment and prowess shown by the resistance forces. “I'm working with the Sagaing and Chin leaders who are leading the battalions. I really admire them! They make quick decisions and they inspire their people…. They have many challenges, but they're still working. Even when they don't have proper weapons, they find ways how to make them. So that makes me really inspired that leaders like them are taking control of the revolution, and winning the revolution.”
She also calls attention to the emerging woman soldier divisions, and is in awe of the brave, young Burmese females who are putting their lives on the line. This is no small thing in traditional Burmese society, with its heavily circumscribed gender roles. Kyar Phyu credits technology, along with the greater openness experienced in the transition period, for this stunning development.
Finally, she says, “The momentum was very high in the earlier stage of the revolution, but now it's low.” Yet she remains confident that the SAC is closing. “We are winning, but still, we have to be more systematic and have stronger communication. But still I feel we are in very good situation now.”