Bombs Over Burma

A 'thought revolution' is unfolding in Myanmar after a century of war

- Rakhi Bose

IT was just another winter morning in February, three years ago, for physical education (PE) teacher Khing Hnin Wai, as she set up her apparatus outside Myanmar's Parliament at the Raised Lotus Roundabout in the capital city of Naypyidaw to film her daily aerobics routine. It was around 6:30 am. Just an hour later, she had danced her way into a surreal moment in the nation's history.

As she bopped to the beats of a techno-pop Indonesian protest song for a government fitness campaign video, a convoy of armoured SUVs approached the checkpoint behind her. Unknowingly, she captured the early moments of Myanmar's 2021 military coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government. Shortly after, the military detained Suu Kyi and senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders, declared a state of emergency and seized power. The surreal juxtaposition of the lively aerobics with a coup unfolding in the background stunned viewers worldwide.

Looking back on that morning, Wai, seen dancing nonchalantly in the viral video, seemingly oblivious, says she had noticed the SUVs in the background, but assumed it was just another security exercise. “I did not know I would become a global meme,” she laughs. Living in a suburb of Naypyidaw, Wai declines to comment on how the coup has affected her life. Following the video and the global fame it brought, Wai faced criticism, with some accusing her of “mocking” the coup. “I was simply filming an aerobics video for work,” she said.

That morning, about 250 kilometres away in Yangon, American art curator Nathalie A. Johnston had just emerged from COVID-19 quarantine at a local hotel when she heard about Suu Kyi's arrest. She immediately knew life was about to change forever.