General Aung San statue demolished and removed by junta forces with excavators at midnight

AYEYARWADDY TIMES July 5 Locals reported that the statue of General Aung San in Lekone village, Maubin Township, Ayeyarwaddy Region, was demolished and taken away by the interim government forces using backhoes (excavators). Members of the interim government forces came and destroyed the statue of General Aung San, which was erected at the entrance of Lekone village on the night of June 30, using force and transported it away by motor vehicles. "They came with backhoes in the middle of the night when the village was quiet and demolished it. There was no official statement as to why they came to destroy it like this. The villagers were also worried and did not dare to go and look, and because they were scared, no one reported the news," a local told the Ayeyarwaddy Times. Similarly, in July, locals reported that the statue of General Aung San in Aung San Ward, Kunpyaw Township, Ayeyarwaddy Region, was also demolished and removed by the interim government army and civilians. The interim government, which has transformed into a military junta, has been carrying out such demolitions and removals of General Aung San statues not only in Ayeyarwaddy Region but also consecutively in Yangon Region and Bago Region. The military junta has been removing statues of General Aung San ahead of Martyrs' Day on July 19, and ground intelligence indicates that at least nine statues of the General have been removed in just a few days. On the night of July 2, General Aung San statues in Myakkantar Park in Taungnyo Township and Sakate Township, Yangon Region, were demolished and removed after the electricity was cut off. Similarly, on the night of June 27, the General Aung San statue in front of the Ye-U Township police station in Sagaing Region was demolished and removed by the municipality with a backhoe. On the night of June 9, the 15-foot-tall General Aung San bronze statue on Kan Road in Taungoo Township, Bago Region, was demolished after the entire town's electricity was cut off. The military junta has also been carrying out consecutive secret removals of General Aung San statues in Naypyidaw's Pubathiri Township, Pathein City, and Mandalay Region's Sagaing Township in previous years, during midnight or dawn hours when there were no people around. The intentional destruction and clearing of memorial statues and features of General Aung San, the father of the nation's independence and a great national leader, constitutes the offense of malicious mischief to public property under Section 425 of the Penal Code. The Bar Association of Myanmar (BLC) issued a statement on July 2, protesting the interim government army's act of destroying history, stating that malicious mischief causing damage to any public property is a serious offense punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years. Photo: Submitted