Where on one side, incentives and salary hikes are a need in several coutries, Myanmar is witnessing a different scenario.
In spite of the skyrocketing inflation in the nation, a number of business owners in Myanmar have been imprisoned for raising wages for their staff. Pyae Phyo Zaw, whose three mobile phone stores were closed by military government soldiers, is one of at least ten company owners who have been detained. He also raised his employees’ wages. Inciting public disorder was another indictment against him, the New York Times said.
One of his stores had a sign outside stating that it was closing because it was “disturbing the peace and order of the community.”
According to a legal expert, raising wages is not illegal in the nation. However, by leading people to assume that inflation is rising, salary increases are perceived as undermining the regime. Each of them might spend three years behind bars.
“We were very grateful for the salary increase, but now the shop is closed and I don’t get paid,” stated an unnamed employee of Mr. Zaw. The exorbitant costs are driving regular people like us to the verge of despair.”
According to the Bangkok Post, critics claim it’s a desperate attempt to control the narrative around the nation’s economic collapse as inflation soars.
It is against the law to arrest store owners due to price increases. Human rights attorney U Kyee Myint stated, “Everything the junta is doing is absurd from a legal standpoint because the law only exists in name in Myanmar.”
Notably, the country’s economic growth following ten years of quasi-democratic governance was reversed by the military’s seizure in a coup in 2021 and the popular rebellion against its authority that followed.
A World Bank research claims that poverty in Myanmar has increased to levels not seen in almost ten years, while the country’s economic production has decreased by 9% since 2019. Nowadays, one-third of the population is impoverished.
