Being a female star in Myanmar can have its downsides. In the immediate wake of the 1 February 2021 military coup, actresses, models and social influencers became targets of the junta if they spoke out against the military power grab.
Burmese actress May Tone Khine was one of the first to use social media to make her point.
“We are fighting until the end. This will be a long journey. Please don’t pray for us instead let the world know about this!” she said on Twitter in February 2021, reflecting the sentiments of most of the Myanmar people after they saw their democratic choice Aung San Suu Kyi and many of her National League for Democracy politicians arrested and the arrival of troops and security forces on the street.
Women have been in the frontline of the protests over the last 15 months since the putsch dashed the hopes of a country that had been emerging from decades of military rule.
But it soon became clear that Myanmar’s female stars who spoke out would receive no quarter from the brutal military junta, intent on snuffing out prominent voices flashing their “Hunger Games” three-finger salute calling for freedom.
What we have seen is female stars using their celebrity status to rail against the illegal power grab. What this has meant, though, is stars have been arrested and jailed, or they have been forced to flee abroad or stay abroad to avoid the dangerous clutches of the brutal junta that on many occasions has tortured women in their custody.
Besides May Tone Khine, another actress has confronted the junta.
Myanmar Academy Award winners Eaindra Kyaw Zin, affectionately known by her fans as “Au Wel”, is a two-time Myanmar Academy Award winner, mother of two and married to four-time Myanmar Academy Award winning actor, Pyay Ti Oo. Both were arrested in their home in Myanmar on 10 April, according to Women Activists Myanmar (WAM).
Eaindra Kyaw Zin, who last year won the Seymour Cassel Award for Outstanding Performance at the 28th Oldenburg International Film Festival, starred with Paing Phyoe Thu both star in director Na Gyi’s second feature film What Happened To The Wolf? that had its world premiere on 16 September2021 at the festival known as “the European Sundance.” Indeed, the festival is one of the most important European film festivals for independent cinema.
As WAM points out, the film’s creatives are among over 100 celebrities, entertainers and influencers who have been issued arrest warrants under Section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s penal code by the Myanmar military dictatorship. The reason: speaking out against the months of human rights abuses that followed the military coup.
Many are on the run with an arrest warrant outstanding or forced to live abroad. In May 2021, Myanmar’s Miss Universe contestant Thuzar Wint Lwin used the pageant platform to increase awareness about the crisis in Myanmar. She urged the world to raise their voices in support of the citizens of Myanmar, and speak up against the military junta, according to The Quint.
Thuzar Wint Lwin won the award for Best National Costume based on the ethnic costume of the Chin people from northwestern Myanmar. While she walked the ramp in her costume at the Miss Universe pageant, she held up a placard that read, 'Pray for Myanmar'.
Thuzar Wint Lwin remains abroad.
Myanmar model Han Lay was clear with her opinion on the coup. The Miss Grand International beauty pageant contestant gave an emotive speech in Thailand where the 22-year-old model pleaded for “urgent international help” for her country, the same day in April 2021 when 141 demonstrators were killed in a crackdown by military rulers she said were selfish and abusing their power, reports Reuters.
“I can say one thing, that we Myanmar citizens will never give up,” she told Reuters. “They told me that they will fight on the street and I'm also fighting my way on the stage now. So, I think that if they will not give up, we will win.”
Recalling the beauty contest, she said her speech, during which she fought back tears, triggered deep sorrow that she has been unable to contain.
“I controlled my feeling at that time because I need to speak out during two or three minutes to all the world,” she said.
Han Lay said she needed to speak out, noting that beauty queens are supposed to smile, but she can’t be happy with so many people dying in Myanmar.
The competition’s founder, Nawat Itsaragrisil, told Reuters that Han Lay’s decision to speak out against the junta means she will have to stay overseas.
“If she (is) going back to Myanmar right now, she is not going back home, she is going to jail,” he said. There are some female celebrities who have taken a decidedly militant stance.
Myanmar model and television and film actress Mya Hnin Ye Lwin, 34, gained widespread recognition for her roles in popular TV drama series and 10 movies, including the 2016 legal drama “Angel of Eden” and the 2018 romantic comedy “Yee Sar Ta Won Kwal.”
Last year she swapped being an actress to take up a “real-life role” as an armed fighter in the jungles of Myanmar, reports RFA.
Mya Hnin Yee Lwin denounced the coup at anti-junta rallies and on social media. In response, the military government in April issued a warrant for her arrest for inciting the public to disturb the peace and stability of the nation. Although she has fled Yangon and sought refuge in a rebel-controlled “liberated” area, she vowed to keep up the fight against the junta.
“I took part in the protests after hearing the shocking news about the coup that morning on February 1,” she told RFA. “I felt that it was an injustice against the people and decided to join the protests. In the beginning, I did not have much fear because there were so many people, thousands of us trying to peacefully express what we wanted for the country. Later on, when arrests were made and a warrant was issued against me under Section 505(a) [of Myanmar’s Penal Code], I became a little frightened of what might become of me if I was arrested. I went into hiding at first and decided later to join the resistance, despite the fear in my heart.”
Mya Hnin Yee Lwin told the news agency that she misses home and finds the conditions in the jungles difficult.
Some people have commented that Mya Hnin Yee Lwin looks like a younger version of Aung San Suu Kyi in her social media posts – though not in the photos of her holding an assault rifle.
“The hardships we face each day are nothing compared to the lives of those who gave up life and limb and those who have been imprisoned. With such thoughts in my mind, I will carry on this fight until we have victory,” she told RFA.
Similarly, Myanmar beauty queen Htar Htet Htet turned rebel, promising to bring down the brutal military junta in Myanmar or die fighting it.
Htar Htet Htet represented Myanmar in the first Miss Grand International beauty pageant in Thailand in 2013. Eight years later, the 32-year-old fitness instructor, who contested against 60 participants, has joined an ethnic armed group in the border regions, reports Sentinel Assam.
The former beauty queen posted her pictures with an assault rifle in her Burmese Facebook page, in which she wrote: 'The time has come to fight back. Whether you hold a weapon, pen, keyboard or donate money to the pro-democracy movement, everyone must do their bit for the revolution to succeed.'
Her friend, another beauty queen, who preferred to remain anonymous said: 'Htet Htet is quite an icon among the Burmese youth, beautiful and sexy but very political and socially conscious.'
Her friend told the newspaper: 'She is quite a draw and very courageous. I wish I could do what she did.'
