Watch Workers Keep A Watch on Myanmar
From their home assignment in the States, a couple of our missionaries anxiously watch and pray for their friends caught in the military coup in Myanmar. First a disclaimer, there are so many facets to Myanmar, and this is only one perspective on the events that are unfolding there. History flashes before our eyes as we watch in horror as the military retakes power in Myanmar after a period of some sort of democracy and freedom. The reactions of the Burmese people are understandable when one comprehends the kind of tight control—economic, religious and political—that gripped this country for 50 years until 2010. As we witnessed the opening of the country to foreign companies and their involvement, the average person gained more opportunities to work and to receive an education. People freely expressed their political opinions. Hope was very high for change for the better. Now, all hope is being dashed as the military remains closed to any kind of negotiation. Meanwhile people have resorted to creative protesting. Before coming to Myanmar, I was familiar with protests that involved blocking roads, being a nuisance, parading along the streets and making demands. In Myanmar, people protest in creative ways. It started with banging pots and pans at 8 p.m. every night; then came civil disobedience: doctors not going to work at government hospitals, civil servants not working, taxis “breaking down” en masse in the middle of the street, large groups walking in circles at intersections and not allowing cars to get through, groups “picking up” onions off the ground and putting them in plastic bags with holes so that they would fall back to the street. Recently, in one face-off with the police and military forces, the protesters glued a large poster of the leading general on the street, slowing the police advance because they had to take great pains not to step on their leader’s face (culturally, to step on your leader’s image is more insulting than not advancing quickly). Emotions continue to run high. To have all hope of political freedom and economic success crushed and then protesting in desperation, people are becoming discouraged. Aung San Suu Kyi has long been viewed as the liberator and the hope of the nation. With COVID restrictions, the economy was already severely depressed. Many people live hand to mouth literally.
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Day laborers spend almost their entire day’s wages on food just for the day. During this month of protests, business has ground to a halt, and basic services are affected: banks, grocery stores and electricity. People are hungry and desperate. In many ways the coup has made people suspicious and fearful of each other. Neighborhoods have organized community watch groups to patrol at night when many police/military raids occur. Other neighborhoods have become places where a kind of justice is dealt out by citizens, such as shaving the heads of women informing to the military or police. The unpredictable nature of the protests can turn any street in any of the major cities into a clash between police and protesters. The churches, many of which already had been broadcasting services on YouTube or Facebook, are in difficult circumstances and feeling isolated and fragmented. Many Christians are part of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the hugely popular political party of Aung San Suu Kyi that had won the election. Christians are selling personal possessions and giving the money to the church to provide for one another’s needs. They are handing out food and water to people in the streets to alleviate their needs. This is a highly unstable situation that could quickly turn for the worse for any reason. This is a call to pray. • Pray for a nation that has not had much political or economic hope in many years. • Pray for a nation that is filled with spiritual darkness and without the true hope. • Pray that the Lord would intervene in this impossible situation that, from a human standpoint, is certain to end in more bloodshed and tyranny. • Pray for the church, that God would call his people to true worship and trust in him alone. • Pray for the largely Buddhist people who are so proud, that the Lord would call these people out of the darkness and into his marvelous light. • Pray for provision of basic needs for the people. • Pray for workers who are still there, sharing the good news with those who are perishing.
