Speeches by beauty contestants rarely make headlines.
But when Han Lay, Miss Grand Myanmar, spoke last week against the alleged atrocities committed by his country’s military, his speech turned heads.
“Today in my country, Myanmar … there are so many people dying,” she said at the Miss Grand International 2020 event in Thailand. “Please help Myanmar. We need your international help urgently now.”
Just over a month ago, Han Lay, 22, was on the streets of Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, protesting against the military.
The unrest in Myanmar began two months ago, when the military took control of the country, undoing a democratic election in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by an overwhelming victory.
When tens of thousands of people took to the streets across the country to protest the coup, the military used water cannons to disperse them. After a week, the response escalated to rubber bullets and live ammunition.
The deadliest day of the conflict occurred last Saturday, when more than 100 people were killed. A local monitoring group estimates the total death toll to be over 500. According to Save the Children, 43 of the dead were children.
Han Lay, a psychology student at the University of Yangon, decided to use the contest as a platform to talk about his homeland in an international setting.
“In Myanmar, journalists are being held … so I decided to speak openly,” she told the BBC in a telephone interview from Bangkok.
She is concerned now that her two-minute speech could have put her on the military’s radar. She said she decided to stay in Thailand for at least the next three months.
Han Lay said he knew before leaving for Thailand that he was potentially putting himself at risk and that he would need to stay there for a while.
“I am very concerned about my family and my security because I have talked a lot about the military and the situation in Myanmar. In Myanmar, everyone knows that there are limits to talking about what is going on,” she said.
“My friends told me not to go back to Myanmar.”
Their fears are not unfounded. Security forces issued arrest warrants last week for 18 celebrities, social media “influencers” and two journalists under a material law “designed to get a member of the armed forces to riot or disrespect his duty,” state media reported. . They all spoke out against the coup.
Han Lay said she was not contacted by the military or any other officer after her speech, but she said she has received threatening comments on her social media accounts.
“On social media, they threatened me, saying that when I return to Myanmar … the prison is waiting for me,” she said. She does not know who is behind the threatening comments. The vast majority of comments on social media were supportive, she said.
Many of Han Lay’s fellow students with whom she protested in the first few weeks after the coup were arrested, she said. According to the activist group of the Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 2,500 people were arrested in the military repression.
And one of your friends was killed, Han Lay said.
“He didn’t even protest. One night he went to a restaurant for coffee and someone shot him,” she said.
Han Lay’s family is safe, she said, but communication with them is sporadic because the internet is being cut off regularly in Myanmar. She asked the BBC not to publish the name of their hometown, to protect them.
Han Lay’s public political comments, including direct criticism of the Myanmar military and calls for an interview with fans on the contest’s official channel to “win the revolution”, are not common among contestants, who often prefer to remain apolitical.
Speaking before the competition, Lyv Chili, Miss Grand Cambodia, asked fans to stay out of politics.
But Han Lay sees speaking openly as his “duty,” she said. She called Ms. Suu Kyi her “greatest inspiration”. The deposed democratic leader was accused last week of violating Myanmar’s official secrets law, a charge that carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
Han Lay previously planned to train to be a flight attendant after graduation, but she said she was not sure which way to go. Some have tried to persuade her to enter politics, she said, but she does not think it is for her.
In the meantime, she plans to continue using her voice to speak.
“These are crimes against humanity, which is why we want the UN to act urgently,” she said. “We want our leader back and we want real democracy back.”