Kay Khine Tun, 22, took blood tests, her hearing and vision were examined, and she gained a medical certificate declaring her eligible for work in Japan.
“But we didn’t let her go through with it,” said Sein Mya, 53, who was fearful of the dangers lurking in a foreign country for his youngest daughter.
Since her arrest on April 19 for criticising the military in a satirical performance, he has lived with the bitter irony that the real menace came from his own country, in the shape of his former employer.
Now a taxi driver and construction contractor, Sein Mya served as a warrant officer in the Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, for nearly two decades until 2007.
“I regret not letting her work abroad,” he said. “If she had been allowed to go, she wouldn’t have taken part in this performance and then these bad things would never have happened to her.”
On April 15, lieutenant colonel Than Tun Myint of Yangon Regional Command filed a defamation complaint against his daughter and four other members of the troupe Peacock Generation under section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law.
Days before, over the Burmese New Year, the troupe had stood outside a teashop and poked fun at the military in the centuries-old tradition of thangyat, a form of poetry and dance set to music.
Kay Khine Tun, a recent graduate of the University of Nursing in Lanmadaw township, was arrested on April 19 during a shift at Yangon Children’s Hospital where she had been working for three months.
After being granted bail for three days, the charge was changed to section 505(a) of the Penal Code, a non-bailable offence carrying up to two years in jail that criminalizes statements which might cause military officers to “disregard or fail in their duties.”
Another two performers were arrested and since then all seven troupe members have been detained in Insein prison. Their next hearing is scheduled for Monday (June 24) at Botahtaung township court.
Sein Mya, who lives with Kay Khine Tun’s older sister and mother in Mingaladon township, said the military complaint was “unjust” and has caused some relatives who still work for the Tatmadaw to break contact with the family.
“We want her to live a peaceful life,” he said. “She is smart and has the courage to stand up and point out when she finds something unfair, even in small matters happening in our neighbourhood.”
Holding free classes for poorer children in her area, she has "always helped others," said Sein Mya, who expects the verdict of her case to take at least four months. In the meantime, he is allowed to visit his daughter from 15 to 20 minutes twice per week.
When she is released, he said, she would be free to pursue her dreams in Japan.
“She will do well, whatever the time and wherever she is,” he added.
Translation by Rita Shan
