The regime stated on Wednesday that it had arrested a man in Yangon’s Mayangone Township for allegedly criticizing a new Myanmar language film on social media by claiming it mocks the country’s Indian and Hindu communities.
A police station in Hlaing Township charged Shine Htet Aung (aka Her Sal Yon), 32, with violating Section 505(A) of the Penal Code, accusing him of spreading “false news” with the intent to “destroy national stability” on Oct. 26.
“His family members asked about his whereabouts at the station but he wasn’t there at that time as he was being interrogated by the military,” a source close to the police station told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
The military frequently uses Section 505(A) of the Penal Code to criminalize expressions of dissent against its rule on social media.
Shine Htet Aung went missing from a school for the blind, where he was volunteering, shortly after he received a call from an unknown number on Oct. 26. Pro-military Telegram channels had been calling for his arrest over his criticism of the film, claiming he was instigating racial animosity in Myanmar.
He had criticized the film Gyitcarsiphoothala (Have you ever Rode a Jeep?) by sharing the movie poster, which depicts Burmese movie stars wearing traditional Indian dresses, and accused the film of mocking Myanmar’s Indian community and culture on Oct. 24.
He also made reference to the film’s use of a pejorative term, considered hateful towards South Asians and Muslims in Myanmar. The film premiered on Oct. 29 and was released in theaters nationwide today, which coincides with the Deepavali (Diwali) festival, the most important religious celebration in Hinduism.
“Coincidentally, the name of a recently released movie seems like a nationwide public announcement of a derogatory term that neighborhood youth often use to demean and look down upon people of Indian descent. I even suspect this was deliberately timed to cause some incident during the upcoming festival,” Shein Htet Aung, himself a Hindu, shared on social media.
His post went viral and sparked online discussions of how Myanmar movies frequently mock the Indian community in the country. Many other netizens criticized the film on social media.
The Myanmar Hindu Union issued a statement on Oct. 29 condemning the film, claiming that the movie not only demeans Hindu culture but also demeans Myanmar’s Indian community.
People of South Asian heritage in Myanmar have been subject to discrimination since the country gained independence in 1948, with Myanmar nationalists at times accusing them of being outsiders. Activists launched a campaign to raise awareness about prejudice against the community in 2020.
“Racism and xenophobia have deep roots in Myanmar, and it’s disheartening to see films that perpetuate harmful stereotypes rather than fostering unity and respect,” Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a pro-democracy activist involved in the 2020 anti-hate campaign, told DVB.
“The junta’s arrest of the whistleblower for critiquing this reflects not only their intolerance toward free speech but also their failure to address the underlying issues of prejudice in our society,” she concluded.
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