Myanmar Spring Chronicle – August 28 Scenes
MoeMaKa, August 29 2022
A day with heartbreaking news
The news that a 20-year-old mother living in Pyay City jumped to her death from Nawaddy Bridge on the afternoon of August 28th with her 3-year-old daughter, shocked readers on the media pages. Another incident occurred in Malaysia where a Chin father threw his 3 children from a bridge onto the road and then, he jumped himself. Another incident happened recently where a former CDM school teacher in Tamu City hanged herself after signing a divorce paper from her husband.
In a news media, it was reported that more begging by whole families were seen on the streets of Yangon. If we look at all these news, we must conclude that in Myanmar, which is facing major political problems and economic problems, people at the bottom are no longer able to hold on, and more people are giving up their lives. I think we have to conclude that an incident in Malaysia was the incident where a mentally ill father committed suicide with his children, and the rest of the cases were because they could not bear the impact of the domestic economic crisis and decided to give up their lives and end their children with them.
In the old MaSaLa era, when rice trade and transportation was restricted, rice prices rose, and jobs were scarce, I heard stories of whole families died from drinking poison. It was a time when it was difficult to buy rice and money was too scarce, and I have heard such suicide cases more than once.
Now, more than a year and a half after the military coup, the incident of a 23-year-old mother and her 3-year-old daughter jumping off a bridge is an incident that can be directly concluded that it was due to an impact of increasing commodities prices on a daily or weekly basis and scarce job opportunities for lower class people.
I think it is an example of a family that has decided to give up and leave the human world because it is difficult to survive due to daily rising basic food prices and job shortages. Not everyone who faces difficulties commits suicide. This kind of incident does not happen often, and it can be guessed that an emergency situation is approaching in the community because of the frequent occurrence of such incidents that we don’t usually hear at this time.
Today, the news reported that 4 Myanmar nationals were killed and 9 injured in an accident on the highway after entering Thailand, when they came to work illegally due to the scarcity of domestic employment opportunities. The news of being arrested for breaking in frequently, and the news of people losing their lives due to car accidents are becoming common news.
The question of how they will overcome this crisis and socio-economic disaster also arises.
They will probably answer that all of this can be solved if the political problem is solved. This answer is unquestionably correct, but I think it will be necessary to find a short-term solution before the long-term problem, which is the political problem, is solved later.
It is true that the political problem is the root cause of everything, but while trying to solve this problem with military and political means, it will be necessary to think about how many heartbreaking incidents we will bear and face. It is true that before the solution to the political problem comes out, there needs to be a system where the people can help each other, take initiatives, and support each other.
While we are working to remove the root cause, I think people who are able to live without struggling should help people who are suffering desperately the consequences and also to those who are considering giving up as there is no way out of the crisis.
I think that political organizations should instigate and encourage charity organizations and charity workers to work properly. People helping each other does not mean postponing the political problem, but it means that before the problem can be solved till the end, they will help each other with an equal common ground and work together towards the intended social order.