COMMENT | Myanmar's young demand their future

COMMENT | Half of Myanmar’s population is under the age of 30 and many of these young people have benefited from their country’s fragile, imperfect democratic transition over the past decade.

They know the military’s return to power could reverse hard-won gains in human development and fundamental freedoms. Their future is at stake.

So are their lives. On March 27, General Min Aung Hlaing used the occasion of Armed Forces Day to claim that the military would protect the people and promote democracy. In fact, this turned out to be the bloodiest day since the military coup on Feb 1.

And yet, as a father clutching his dying son poignantly noted, “On this day, both lives and futures are being lost.” With their prospects vanishing before their eyes, tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets across Myanmar. They are refusing to live without hope.

But the country’s backsliding is already being felt acutely. In addition to Covid-19, Myanmar is confronting a compounding economic crisis.

The World Bank’s recent regional forecast shows GDP on track to shrink by 10 percent in 2021, compared to 6.8 percent growth in 2019 and 1.7 percent growth in 2020, when the country was reeling from the pandemic.

Late last year, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Household Vulnerability Survey signalled that poor households are being pushed further below the poverty line, while many vulnerable households are being dragged toward it.

Even previously financially secure households are facing massive shocks from business closures and loss of employment.

On the streets of Yangon, Mandalay, and other cities, Myanmar’s citizens have ...