Thingyan has turned into a tussle between the Myanmar junta and the Spring Revolution resistance forces.
The annual Water Festival that is held every year in the heat of mid-April is typically a chance for Myanmar citizens to let their hair down, throw water, dance, drink too much, and throw off the tensions that build in the hot season.
This year – over two years after the Myanmar military illegally grabbed power in a coup – the battle lines have been drawn with the junta pressuring the populace to make merry and the National Unity Government and Spring Revolutionaries calling for a boycott and warning of attacks.
The military junta wants people participation to help “rubber stamp” their rule, as they prepare to hold a national election later in the year or possibly next year.
The Myanmar crisis has put a dampener on the Water Festival that has grown from a quiet few days for Buddhists to make merit and sprinkle water on friends and family into a raucous slew of five days of mayhem, particularly in the major cities of Yangon and Mandalay.
The military junta is pulling out the stops to encourage or even force the population to attend events as “pandals” are set up for singing and dancing.
POST-COVID, POST-COUP
In 2020 Thingyan was cancelled because everyone had to socially distance because of the restrictions imposed during the COVID 19 pandemic. In 2021 and 2022, many people boycotted Thingyan celebrations in protest at the military junta’s coup and illegal takeover of the country.
This year the junta is trying to force the populace to celebrate Thingyan. Normally stages are sponsored by businesses, but this year companies have shown a reluctance to register to sponsor stages. The junta is building Thingyan stages in Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyidaw. The junta is also urging hotel and bar owners to have parties during Thingyan in a desperate attempt to show to the outside world that everything is running as normal in Myanmar.
But, after the devastation the junta has wreaked on the country over the last two years there is limited public support for Thingyan celebrations, especially military-sponsored celebrations.
WARNINGS
Local People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) have issued strong public warnings to the population telling them not to attend Thingyan celebrations. They are warning that there may be attacks on military-sponsored celebrations and they will not be responsible for any injuries suffered by members of the public caught up in such attacks.
Bomb attacks punctuated the celebrations over the last two years.
As most members of the public approve of the Thingyan boycott, once again the Water Festival could prove to be a damp squib of an affair in line with the somber mood of the country as it continues to suffer under draconian military rule.
