Myanmar parents disown their dissident children amid junta’s threats

Notices in state-owned newspapers announcing families have cut ties with their anti-coup relatives have become a frequent occurrence in conflict-torn Myanmar

It follows the junta targeting families of opposition activists, with the army earlier saying it would seize properties and arrest anyone sheltering protesters

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Lin Lin Bo Bo, whose parents cut ties with him, shows a picture of his mother’s wounds that he said were caused by Myanmar military supporters beating her. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:22pm, 7 Feb 2022Updated: 3:01pm, 7 Feb 2022

Every day for the last three months, an average of six or seven families in Myanmar have posted notices in the country’s state-owned newspapers cutting ties with sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren who have publicly opposed the ruling military junta.

The notices started to appear in such numbers in November after the army, which seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government a year ago, announced it would take over properties of its opponents and arrest people giving shelter to protesters. Scores of raids on homes followed.

Lin Lin Bo Bo, a former car salesman who joined an armed group resisting military rule, was one of those disowned by his parents in about 570 notices reviewed by reporters.

Lin Lin Bo Bo, whose parents cut ties with him, talks during an interview at the Thai-Myanmar border last month. Photo: Reuters

“We declare we have disowned Lin Lin Bo Bo because he never listened to his parents’ will,” said the notice posted by his parents, San Win and Tin Tin Soe, in state-owned newspaper The Mirror in November.

Speaking from a Thai border town where he is living after fleeing Myanmar, the 26-year-old said his mother had told him she was disowning him after soldiers came to their family home searching for him. A few days later, he said he cried as he read the notice in the paper.

“My comrades tried to reassure me that it was inevitable for families to do that under pressure,” he said. “But I was so heartbroken.”