11/22/22, 4:44 PM ‘Watermelon suppression’: doxing campaign targets pro-democracy soldiers and police | Frontier Myanmar As of December, a group encouraging defections said 2,000 soldiers and 6,000 police officers have left the regime, although not all have gone on to join resistance groups. Most who desert claim there are many others in the ranks sympathetic to the pro-democracy movement. Captain Kaung Thu Win, who served as a camp commander in Sagaing Region’s Monywa Township, told Frontier he decided to defect after hearing stories of the military burning and looting villages in neighbouring Magway Region. But he had a problem: his wife was pregnant. He waited for five months – until his wife and their newborn were well enough to travel – before they fled. They spent days travelling from Monywa to Kalay, passing through security checkpoints while hiding the ammunition he had brought with him. Eventually, he met up with “revolutionaries” who took him to “liberated territory”. “Anyone who is aware of the military’s acts of terrorism will join CDM,” he said, referring to the mass strike of civil servants known as the Civil Disobedience Movement. On December 5, a Facebook account that apparently belonged to Police Lieutenant Colonel Zaw Win Ko condemned an attack on peaceful protesters that involved a military vehicle ramming into the demonstration and killing five people. The post compared the soldiers to “savage animals”. The lieutenant colonel was then reportedly arrested on February 8. Kaung Thu Win warned other soldiers and police not to speak out until after they reach a safe area. “If you are still working under the military council, you should not express your feelings… For now, be patient and keep your emotions in check,” he advised. Less than a week after Zaw Win Ko’s arrest, infamous Telegram account Han Nyein Oo began taking credit for it. “He was invited to Insein Prison for dinner. He also lost his pension and was imprisoned,” Han Nyein Oo wrote to his 100,000 subscribers on February 14. “If you have any remaining watermelons, please bring more to @Hannyeinoo969.” The username appears to contain a reference to the 969 Movement, an anti-Muslim Buddhist extremist movement associated with ultranationalist monk U Wirathu. The term “watermelon” refers to members of the security forces who are “green” on the outside and “red” on the inside. The colour green is typically associated with the military, while red represents the National League for Democracy, which the military overthrew in a coup in February last year. Han Nyein Oo’s account became inaccessible late on Friday March 11, with a notice saying it “can’t be displayed because it violated Telegram’s Terms of Service”. But secondary accounts remain active and are growing fast. Another Han Nyein Oo channel had around 37,000 subscribers at the time the main account was blocked but has since grown to over 48,000. A new channel that was created after the block quickly garnered 26,000 subscribers. Daw Wai Phyo Myint, a digital rights activist with Access Now, said she was “glad to see” the main account taken down, but added that it was “too late and too little” given activists had been begging for action for months. “Taking down just one account is not necessarily addressing the issues of Telegram we have been raising,” she said. Many other problematic accounts remain active. One called Hpayethi Hnein Hnin Yay or “watermelon suppression” in Burmese, posts screenshots of Facebook posts by soldiers and police criticising the military, demanding that action be taken against them. Another account, the name of which Frontier is withholding to limit its reach, has launched a bounty system offering payment for assassinations. In one post, the account offered K500,000 (around US$280) to anybody who kills a social media user that accuses someone of being dalan, a term for a military informant. If a target claims to have actually killed a dalan, the bounty goes up to K700,000 (around $390). The post also promised payment if the target is seriously https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/watermelon-suppression-doxing-campaign-targets-pro-democracy-soldiers-and-police/ 2/10