Guest contributor
Séan Donal Barry
Myanmar’s refugee community in Malaysia held a protest at a community centre in Kuala Lumpur’s Pudu district on Friday against the military regime elections set to begin Sunday.
“Our assembly may be stopped, but our voice shall not be silenced,” said organiser James Bawi Thang Bik, the chairperson of the Alliance of Chin Refugees (ACR).
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) states that 190,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar – including a significant Rohingya population – are registered in Malaysia. But acknowledges the true number is likely far higher.
Organisers said permission was not granted by Malaysian authorities, which would have left those attending exposed to risk of arrest and possible deportation due to legal status.
The Dec. 26 protest in Kuala Lumpur brought together members of Myanmar’s Bamar, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Arakan, Karen, Karenni and Mon community.
A joint statement by organisers Coalition of Burma Ethnics in Malaysia (COBEM) and the Myanmar Affairs Alliance (MAA) condemned and rejected the military elections as lacking any legitimacy, citing the regime’s seizure of power on Feb. 1, 2021.
They cited the ongoing violence across Myanmar since the 2021 coup, and the detention of the country’s political leaders, including National League for Democracy (NLD) State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who’ve been held in detention by the regime since 2021.
Attendees urged the international community not to recognise the results of the elections, which are meant to entrench military rule via its proxy political parties.
“We come from different places but our target is the same. We come together to reject the military,” a man from Kachin State, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told DVB,
He added that the protest reflected unity among Myanmar’s ethnic communities in Malaysia.
“I’m worried a lot for [my family inside Myanmar],” he told DVB.
Seán Donal Barry is an independent journalist covering Myanmar.
