A 26-year-old gym teacher from Myanmar, scene of a military-staged coup d’état yesterday morning (Monday, Feb 1), was in the midst of a dance routine to the sound of the Indonesian hit song Ampun Bang Jago (Have Mercy, Bang Jago - released in September, 2020) when she inadvertently recorded an army convoys of about a dozen vehicles including helicopters and mounted weapons riding past her en-route to the parliament building.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party were detained in an early morning raid, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy said on Monday according to Reuters.
The move came after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and powerful military that stirred fears of a coup in the aftermath of an election the army claims was fraudulent.
Following Suu Kyi’s arrest, it was reported that Myanmar state TV had stopped broadcasting. The station announced via Facebook it was "currently unable to broadcast due to 'technical errors.'"
Suu Kyi has come under criticism in recent years for her country's persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
In 2017, the US withdrew its military assistance to Myanmar, dropped Myanmar from the US visa waiver program, and considered imposing sanctions on the country.
In 2018, the US Holocaust Memorial and Museum rescinded a human rights award it gave to Suu Kyi because of her failure to oppose the ethnic cleansing and possible genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.
With the coup underway, a local woman named Khing Hnin Wai, who, according to Facebook, is a PE teacher at the Ministry of Education, was in the midst of a dance routine across from the parliament building in Naypyidaw. Suu Kyi can be seen continuing her dance while troops advance towards the government building.
Coconuts Yangon noted the irony of the situation, with Suu Kyi dancing to a song that describes a "figure of authority, before the downtrodden rise up through perseverance." The article goes on to ask: "Is the song foreshadowing another civilian revolution in Myanmar?"
San Suu Kyi continues dancing, apparently unaware of the coup taking place less than a mile of where she stood. Asked about her sudden fame, she said her focus was on the dance competition she hoped to win.
“The background scene and the music kind of match,” she was quoted as saying. “I was filming the clip for a competition before the morning’s news came out. What a memory!”
The article points out that "some of the officers gave her a smile" as they sped towards the seat of power.
Unsurprisingly, the original clip has been shared widely on social media.