A shopkeeper from Myanmar has been jailed for giving his employees a raise amidst the country’s soaring inflation. According to a New York Times report, soldiers of the country’s military government arrested Pyae Phyo Zaw and shut down his three cellphone shops for the crime of giving his workers a raise.
Pyae Phyo Zaw is not alone in this predicament. At least 10 other shopkeepers have been put behind bars in Myanmar for similar crimes. All of them face up to three years in prison under a vaguely-worded law used to silence any signs of dissent.
Why are employers in Myanmar being jailed for giving raises?
According to one legal expert, wage raise has not been outlawed in the country. However, the current regime has been charging business owners with “undermining the regime by making people believe that inflation is rising,” one legal expert told the New York Times.
The military junta believes that wage raise in the face of crippling inflation amounts to incitement to unrest.
In fact, a notice outside one of Pyae Phyo Zaw’s shops says it was shuttered for disturbing “the peace and order of the community”.
“We were very grateful for the salary increase, but now the shop is closed and I don’t get paid,” said one of Zaw’s employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Ordinary people like us are suffering from high prices, almost to the point of despair.”
In 2021, the democratically-elected members of Myanmar’s ruling party were deposed by the country’s military, the Tatmadaw, and the power vested with its military junta. The country has since been been battling an economic crisis, exacerbated by public rebellions against the regime.
“Myanmar’s economy post-2021 has moved on from crisis, journeyed through chaos, and now arrives at what is surely its near collapse as a formally functioning, developing entity,” Australian economist Sean Turnell told the publication.
