On Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Birthday, Recalling the Cake That Rattled the Junta

The Myanmar military’s propaganda channels on Telegram have been busy inciting the surveillance and arrest of people planning to hold a flower strike and wear blue shirts to commemorate detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s 80th birthday on Thursday.

Many people believe the social media campaign reflects the junta’s fear of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who still enjoys widespread public support despite having been in detention by the regime since the coup.

As she turns 80, the Nobel laureate is in her fourth period of detention since 1989. She has been held since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, which ousted her National League for Democracy (NLD) government. The junta sentenced her to 27 years in prison on charges she denies, and she has since been held incommunicado, with her family and legal team barred from seeing her.