Accusing the Military: An Internal Battle
Thinzar Shunlei Yi is from a military family. Yet she quite critically views the Myanmar military, with a deep understanding of the privilege that surrounds military families, and the systemic oppression it perpetuates. Thinzar is committed to using her understanding and position to advocate for change, emphasizing the need for acknowledging and confronting those privileges to create a more equitable society. She sees this awareness as essential for driving genuine democratic transitions in Myanmar.
“When I went out in the public in the small town, civilians would give an immediate priority to me, just because I’m a daughter of a soldier. My father showed up with a military car and we went to a public clinic. Everybody would just give way to us, everybody.”
“I remember the first protests that I was leading were in 2012. In 2012, we organized the first public marching for peace, in that we called for an end of the civil war. It was on the International Day of Peace. It was the first ever commemoration of the International Day of Peace, September 21st. I was a part of it, and I remember. We were protesting the civil war in Chin State, and we were calling the military to stop the offensive.
Before that, of course, even way before the 2012 first public marching, in 2011, in 2010, I heard a lot of debates and a lot of thinking. It was all a kind of challenge. I challenged myself as well, ‘Why am I being really sensitive when I hear they are accusing of military? Why am I defending the military?’ And also, ‘Why do I feel ashamed? Why guilt?’ I tried to analyze myself and internally, it's like an internal battle. Yes, that's true. I have to go through a lot of internal battle. That was not new to me. Because when I started reading books, in the books, when you read, there is a silence, but in your head, there's a lot going on. And you think, through the books and the text. So, I used to do that a lot.
When I read books, I read for many hours, and I stayed silent. I was processing in my head what is going on, and what the story gave me lessons about. It is that kind of training in my head that gave me more room to have better insight. So, when people accused military, I remember, I was defensive at first. Later, I felt, I decided to look for information, especially from in-person accounts. So, when a person tells me directly, saying, ‘My father was jailed.’ And I felt, ‘Oh, your father is already in jail. Is he a bad guy, like a drug person or trafficker?’ And he was like, ‘No. Oh, no. Not all the people in prison are bad people.’ And I was like, ‘Why?’ And then somebody said, ‘No, we are political prisoners.’
I was like, ‘There is a word called “political prisoner”?’ Friends telling me how their families are living, how it is so personal, so emotional, and I trust that person; I don't even need to look for like more information. And I realize that is happening. Even that one event gave me more thinking, and I can imagine how it would be, based on that little story. The reason why they were persecuted, the reason why the families are living in fear, the reason why civilians always submit to us, that all makes sense when I know that.
When I went out in the public in the small town, civilians would give an immediate priority to me, just because I'm a daughter of a soldier. My father showed up with a military car and we went to a public clinic. Everybody would just give way to us, everybody. And I felt like, ‘This is because military is doing great things; that's why they gave respect.’ But it's ultimately out of fear, you know? That gave me a reason. ‘Oh, that makes sense why people are reacting that way.’ They may or may not know why they are reacting that way. ‘That could be fear; that could be respect. I don't know.’ Fear could be a big thing. So, I process [within] myself and I try to make sense of what is happening. And I felt like, ‘Oh, I always consume the news from one side only. I need to be fair. So, I need to learn from other sides.’
In a way, I open up myself and I don't take it personally. They are talking about the whole institution, the whole institution, not me. I try to divide [it] into different pieces. And I want to become a civil society activist, a civil society role. I really like the concept behind civil society; they try to check and balance those in power. So, check and balance those in power, regardless of who they are. Those in power could be your father; those in power could be your mother. They could be your relatives; it doesn't matter. Whatever, whoever is in power positions should be held accountable. That concept gave me a sense, ‘Oh, if my father is doing a bad thing, I need to hold him accountable. If people arrest him for what he did, I should be happy, like, the rule of law is working.’ For myself, this mindset gave me freedom. I don't have any attachment to anything. It should more on principle, impersonal.
It's not just about me. It's about what I believe, too. So, that kind of lead up to other things. I felt, as someone who was raised inside military, as someone who knew more about the military, that I should be speaking out [about] the military more. That's my reason. I feel like we should be doing more. I felt like that military was doing so many bad things. And I feel really bad. I felt I should be doing more, that I should be taking more risks. The same thing with the Burmese people, the Burmans. There is Burmanization that different minorities have pointed out; there is a Burmanization system. And I felt like, ‘Yes, as a Burman myself, I should be speaking out more about it, against it.’
I am also surprised why people don't do that, especially for the majority ethnicity, why they don't stop what the majority is doing? I can’t understand it. Even today, I find even in the revolution, I was trying to mobilize other soldiers’ family, like soldiers’ daughters and sons, to be more active, more like public figures and speaking out against the military, but I don't see many others. I mean, there should be more people from the military side, speaking out about military perpetrations. Only the soldiers are doing that now, former soldiers, the defectors, and I support them to speak up more about military penetrations. But what about family members? The children, they have power over their parents, actually. If they tell their parents to stop doing things, I think that will work. I was mobilizing for it, but I don't see a lot of other people doing that.”