The schoolteacher had just got out of bed when four Myanmar army soldiers pounded on her door. Her electricity payment was overdue, they said, and ordered her to pay it immediately at the government power company office.
Thida Pyone asked what would happen if she refused. “One soldier pointed his gun at me and said, ‘If you choose your money over your life, then don’t go pay the bill,'” she recounted.
She was so frightened, she got goosebumps. She grabbed her money and went straight to the payment office, not even taking time to change out of her yellow and pink pyjamas.
After the military seized power in a Feb 1 coup, millions of people walked off their jobs in protest. Millions also began refusing to pay for electricity,…
