Myanmar's top UN envoy takes firm stand against junta
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Myanmar's envoy to the UN, Mr Kyaw Moe Tun, flashing the anti-junta salute after a speech calling for international action last month.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON • He knew his voice was quavering.
But Mr Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar's top envoy at the United Nations, kept going.
The military rulers who had overthrown Myanmar's elected government and gunned down peaceful protesters were illegitimate, he said. "We will continue to fight for a government which is of the people, by the people, for the people," he said.
Mr Kyaw Moe Tun, a 51-year-old diplomat in a sombre suit and tie, raised his hand in the three-finger salute of defiance from the Hunger Games films, which has come to symbolise Myanmar's millions-strong protest movement against the coup-makers.
The UN General Assembly meeting in New York resounded with applause on Feb 26.
When the generals seized full power in Myanmar on Feb 1, they surely did not expect that it would ignite so much resistance among those responsible for the functioning of society: diplomats, teachers, doctors, even police officers.
As young, unarmed protesters have poured onto the streets every day, defying bullets and arbitrary detention, others have sustained a civil disobedience movement, known in Myanmar as CDM, by refusing to work for the military overlords. Much of the state has stopped operating.
And in the rarefied confines of Myanmar embassies around the world, diplomats are struggling with whether to represent a military that has locked up their elected leaders.
"I decided whatever I will do, I will resist," Mr Kyaw Moe Tun said. "I will never accept the military regime."
In October, he presented his credentials as Myanmar's permanent representative to the UN.
Back home, rumours of a coup simmered before the November elections, which the National League for Democracy won by a landslide. The military cried foul, and talk of a putsch escalated.
On Feb 1, the military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, arrested the nation's civilian leadership, later charging democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and the nation's president with obscure crimes.
Dozens of Foreign Ministry officials were detained after participating in the civil disobedience movement.
In New York, Mr Kyaw Moe Tun was fired by Myanmar's military rulers and accused of high treason. But he refused to go, and the diplomat who was chosen to replace him quit.
The UN itself has declined to recognise Mr Kyaw Moe Tun's dismissal.
For now, at least, he is staying.
"I'm a civil servant and I take instructions from the government, but the military illegally took state power," he said.
"This is the time to express our true colours, our real desires. It's our duty to Myanmar people."
NYTIMES, REUTERS
