‘A comedy show’: Myanmar youth in exile slam military-run ‘sham’ election

Mae Sot, Thailand – On the outskirts of this small Thai town on the border with Myanmar, a tattoo artist’s gun buzzes alongside a blaring punk music soundtrack.

“Punk means freedom,” says Ng La, his face and body covered heavily in tattoos.

“It’s more than just music or fashion – it’s a way of life,” he tells Al Jazeera while tattooing a fellow Myanmar national-in-exile at the back of his “punk bar” in Mae Sot, in Thailand.

To live free was one of the reasons Ng La fled his home in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

But the 28-year-old now lives precariously as an undocumented Myanmar national in Thailand, though that is, he says, better than being captured by the military regime that he first resisted, fled from and then fought against.

“The biggest fear was that if I got arrested, I would be deported back into the hands of the Myanmar military,” Ng La said.

“We are no longer afraid of dying,” he said, but getting caught by the military would be worse than death.

Ng La’s journey into exile in Mae Sot is not uncommon for many young people from Myanmar who have fled the civil war back home.

His journey began when he joined demonstrations in February 2021 after Myanmar’s military toppled the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The coup overturned the results of Myanmar’s 2015 and 2020 elections, which were considered the first fair elections in Myanmar’s history and were easily won by Aung San Suu Kyi – a longtime democracy activist and hero to many in Myanmar.

The military takeover also triggered a civil conflict that has killed thousands and seen horror engulf much of the countryside, including air strikes on rural populations, the use of landmines, oppressive conscription laws enacted by the military regime and widespread political oppression – including executions.

“When the coup first began, the fascist military ordered the people not to go outside or protest for 72 hours,” Ng La recounted.

“During that 72-hour period, me and two of my friends protested on the street with handmade banners,” he said.

Fearing arrest, Ng La fled to the jungle along Myanmar’s border with Thailand to join the People’s Defence Force (PDF), one of the many armed groups that emerged to fight military rule.

But, after heavy clashes in February 2022 between the PDF and the Myanmar military, Ng La was forced to flee once again and secretly crossed into Thailand, where he eventually set up his punk-themed bar and tattoo parlour, helped by his partner.

“Because I came in illegally, I had no documents. I couldn’t go anywhere, and it was very difficult to find work to survive,” he said of his new life in Thailand.

Struggling with the day-to-day challenges of living undocumented in a foreign country, and being a new father, Ng La told how payments must be made to the relevant Thai authorities and how there was the ever-present fear of deportation.

“So we pay a ‘licence’ fee and try to live and earn a living,” he said.

‘Destroyed all our hopes and dreams’

The Myanmar military’s official justification for the 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was that her National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s win in an election just months before was the result of electoral fraud and therefore illegitimate.

Now, the military will hold its own election on Sunday, which is widely seen as lacking any credibility and primarily an attempt by the regime to legitimise its power grab through the pretence of holding and winning a vote.

The independent news outlet Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reports that dozens of parties have registered for the polls – yet notably, Aung San Suu Kyi’s hugely popular NLD is barred from registering.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, has labelled the election a “sham”, stating the “elections cannot be free, fair or credible when held amid military violence and repression, with political leaders detained and fundamental freedoms crushed”.

Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng reported recently that notable artists, musicians and filmmakers in Myanmar were being arrested for criticising the election, causing many to flee into exile – like Ng La.

The Irrawaddy magazine has also reported that rebel groups who are in control of significant populations not under military control say they will not recognise the election’s results.

Ng La said the military-run election matters little.

“The election is just like a comedy show,” he told Al Jazeera.

As Myanmar’s post-coup conflict looks set to enter a fifth year, any hope for a quick return home is rapidly fading for those in exile.

The United Nations e