Mawlamyine, April (4)
The junta-appointed administrators are collecting money in the neighborhoods and villages to attract huge crowds to the upcoming Thingyan Festival, the residents told Than Lwin Times.
The administrators are trying to raise funds from entrepreneurs and shops ranging from 50,000 to 200,000 kyats in order to build pavilions and serve food to revelers.
Residents say that the administrators are forcing businessmen to make contributions to the Thingyan Festival.
A Mawlamyine resident, ” People are requested to refrain from attending the military council’s Thingyan Festival. The military regime attempts to show the international community that the country is peaceful. They use entertainment to divert youth’s attention away from the revolution and politics.”
Meanwhile, the junta-appointed Mon State Chief Minister U Aung Kyi Thein met with business owners on March 28 and pressured them to build pavilions in order to make this year’s Thingyan Festival more crowded with people.
In addition, the minister urged the businessmen to set up pavilions and serve food to the revelers along the Mawlamyine Kannar road, as well as to set up departmental pavilions and celebrate Walking Thingyan.
An official of the Urban Guerrilla Group urges the public not to enjoy the Thingyan Festival to be held by the junta with a sense of humanity, but to participate in the revolution. People are being unjustly killed in Sagaing; villages are also being set on fire. He said, “At a time when the whole country is in distress, I would like to call on the people not to enjoy the event. I want you all to cooperate with us by not participating in this Thingyan”.
Currently, the military council is building a central pavilion on the Mawlamyaing Kannar road to make the Thingyan Festival more crowded and has pressured the officials to build pavilions in the neighborhoods as well.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mawlamyine Thingyan Festival could not be held in 2020, and after the military coup in 2021 and 2022, people did not participate in Thingyan.
Currently, the military council is preparing for the Thingyan Festival, but the revolutionary forces are urging the people not to participate in it.
News-Than Lwin Times
Photo- TLT
Thanlwintimes