A shopkeeper in Myanmar has been jailed for increasing his employees’ wages amid the country’s soaring inflation. According to a report by the New York Times, the military government’s soldiers arrested Pyae Phyo Zaw and shut down his three cellphone shops due to this act.
Pyae Phyo Zaw is not alone. At least ten other shopkeepers in Myanmar have faced similar fates. They could be imprisoned for up to three years under a vaguely-worded law that aims to suppress dissent.
Why are employers in Myanmar being jailed for giving raises?
A legal expert clarified that wage increases have not been banned in the country. However, the current regime accuses business owners of “undermining the regime by making people believe that inflation is rising,” the expert told the New York Times.
The military junta views wage increases during severe inflation as incitement to unrest.
A notice outside one of Pyae Phyo Zaw’s shops states it was closed 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 employees, speaking anonymously. “Ordinary people like us are suffering from high prices, almost to the point of despair.”
In 2021, Myanmar’s democratically-elected government was overthrown by the military, the Tatmadaw, transferring power to the military junta. Since then, the country has been grappling with an economic crisis worsened by public uprisings 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.