A ward administrator in Nan Mar town in Kachin State’s Mohnyin Township submitted his resignation on Friday after a former administrator from the area was recently killed.
Aye Min, a member of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and a Nan Mar administrator from 2005-2012, was shot dead by a bullet to the back on June 1. Three days later, Myo Yarzar, the administrator for Nan Mar’s Myoma Yan Aung ward, stepped down from his position.
Myo Yarzar took on the role in June 2020 under the former government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), but continued working in the post after the military staged a coup on February 1.
He told Myanmar Now that he was elected as the ward administrator, and he had submitted his resignation out of respect for the people’s movement against the coup regime’s administration.
“The people do not want to live under military rule. We must put the will of the people first. I cannot work under a government that the people do not like,” he said.
Myo Yarzar also expressed concerns over the successive assassinations of administrators appointed by the junta.
In addition to Aye Min, an administrator appointed by the junta was shot and killed in Taze, Sagaing Region on Wednesday morning. Later that day, a village administrator in Khin-U Township, also in Sagaing, resigned.
“Ward administrators have been killed, so I am concerned because I have a family. It is one of the reasons for my resignation. I did not incite my community [to commit violence]. I did not create trouble for the people. I firmly stand with the people,” Myo Yarzar said.
A Nan Mar resident who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity described Myo Yarzar as having worked actively on community issues and pointed out that he did not have any political affiliations.
“He is not notorious. He is not hated by the people. He just works for the welfare of his community. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he worked as a volunteer in Covid-19 treatment centres. He is neither red nor green,” the resident said, referring to the NLD and the USDP, respectively.
Myo Yarzar has been the only administrator from Nan Mar’s five wards—Shanzu, Myoma Yan Aung, Nam Thaya, Chaung Tar and Nyaunggon—to resign in the wake of attacks against regime officials across the country.
