Interview with dissident Han Lay | “No one is safe in Burma”

Wanted by Myanmar’s military junta, model Han Lay narrowly escaped forced deportation to her home country last week to seek refuge in Canada. The Press spoke to him.

Nicolas Berube
The Press

Sitting on the plane that brought her from Bangkok to Toronto last week, Thaw Nandar Aung, better known by her professional pseudonym of Han Lay, did not relax for a single minute.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. I thought someone was going to get up and arrest me. »

It wasn’t until she arrived in Canada that immense relief came over her. “I was very emotional. »

It is that Han Lay, a 23-year-old Burmese model, has become the most important international voice of criticism of the military junta which seized power in violence in the spring of 2021.

On March 27, 2021, during the Miss Grand International beauty contest that took place in Bangkok, Han Lay took the floor to denounce the military government that had just overthrown democracy. The country was torn apart by daily violently suppressed demonstrations.

“Today in my country, Burma, so many people are dying; more than 100 people died today, she told the cameras, wiping away tears.

“Every citizen of the world wishes for the prosperity of his country and to live in a peaceful environment. Leaders should not use their power and selfishness. »

“I didn’t know where to turn”

After this exit, Han Lay could not return to Burma, under penalty of being arrested and imprisoned. So she stayed in Thailand on a tourist visa, and applied for refugee status in Canada.

On September 21, after a short round trip to Vietnam to renew her visa, she was refused entry to Thailand at Bangkok International Airport customs.

Han Lay said she was detained one night in a cold and dirty cell. “I was terrified, I didn’t know where to turn,” she says.

After contacting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hotline, the young woman learned that she did not have to obey the order to return to Vietnam, from where she could be deported to Burma.

“The next morning, the airline staff guided me to my flight, but I refused to take it and sat outside the gate. They were angry, but I didn’t listen to them. »

Han Lay then stayed in the international area of ​​the airport, where she took a hotel room while waiting to meet the UNHCR people.

A salutary decision: Burmese police arrived at Bangkok airport to apprehend him. “Thai officials called me to see if I wanted to meet the Burmese police, but of course I refused. »

A few days later, the young woman received a message from the UNHCR informing her that Canada accepted her as a refugee. She flew the same day.

His life in Canada

Since arriving in Canada, Han Lay has been transferred to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where she is in confinement for two weeks due to health measures.

His wish is to settle in Toronto or London, two places in the country with a strong Burmese community.

For the time being, she is giving interview after telephone interview with international media about her misadventure and the situation in Burma.

“Since the coup, the economy is really bad in Burma,” she said. Prices are exploding and wages are very low. Demonstrators and politicians have been killed, and thousands of people are imprisoned. I myself have friends from university who have been imprisoned for a year and a half, and we haven’t heard from them. I am very worried for my country, and also for my family who is there. »

A friend of his was killed by the Burmese army while he was in a cafe. “A soldier shot him and killed him, for no reason. No one is safe in Burma. It’s awful. We ask the international community to help us. »

The regime says it intends to hold elections, but elections are constantly postponed. “Nobody trusts them,” she said.