Radio Free Asia
2021-04-20
Major Hein Thaw Oo in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of Major Hein Thaw OoMajor Hein Thaw Oo from the Myanmar military’s 99th Light Infantry Division recently went AWOL from his army base in Meiktila, Mandalay region, to join anti-junta protesters in northeast Shan state. He is the highest-ranked known military defector who has rejected the army amid bloody crackdowns on demonstrators and other civilians in the aftermath of the military’s coup on Feb. 1 that overthrew the democratic government of country leader Aung San Suu Kyi.