In new trend, Myanmar families disown kin fighting military rule to avert oppression

A new trend has come up in Myanmar recently. Since November 2021, around six to seven families every day can be witnessed posting notices in the state-owned newspapers of the country.  

What’s special about these notices is that the families have been declaring to have cut ties with their family members, such as daughters, sons, nieces, nephews and grandchildren, who have publicly opposed the ruling military junta.  

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The trend seems to have picked up after the army, which has seized power after a coup, announced that it would take over the properties of its opponents. It also said that it would also arrest people, giving shelter to the protesters. Numerous raids on homes had also followed the announcement.  

A former car salesman Lin Lin Bo Bo, who has joined an armed group resisting the military rule, has been disowned by his parents in one such notice.  

The notice, which was posted by his parents, San Win and Tin Tin Soe, in state-owned newspaper ‘The Mirror’ in November, said, "We declare we have disowned Lin Lin Bo Bo because he never listened to his parents' will."   

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The 26-year-old said he cried on reading the notice in the paper. "My comrades tried to reassure me that it was inevitable for families to do that under pressure. But I was so heartbroken," he told Reuters.   

The notices seem to be primarily intended to send a message to the authorities that they should not be held responsible for the actions of their children.   

In a news conference in November, while commenting on these notices, military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said that people, who have made such declarations in newspapers, could still be charged if found to be supporting opposition to the junta.   

(With inputs from agencies)