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Dance Dance Revolution: Viral coup video unwittingly spotlights Indonesia’s affinity to Myanmar
When a Burmese woman uploaded an aerobics dance video on Facebook, she inadvertently recorded something peculiar in the background. Little did she know that her viral video sent ripples through Indonesia, a country bearing uncanny similarities to her own.
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Khing Hnin Wai, a physical education teacher from Myanmar, dances through a military coup in front of the parliamentary building in Naypyidaw on Feb. 1. The video shows armored vehicles driving behind the instructor, accidentally capturing the military coup-in-progress. (Twitter/@VonKoutli)
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o:p>A day after Myanmar’s armed forces, the Tatmadaw, shocked the world by overthrowing the country's civilian government on Monday, an absurd video appearing to capture part of the coup in the making went viral on social media.
In the video, a Burmese woman does a morning aerobics routine to the beat of a lively tune, apparently oblivious to the military convoy that is storming toward Myanmar's parliament building in the background.
The irony did not stop with the woman’s unawareness of the coup unfolding behind her. Indonesian netizens quickly pointed out that the song she was dancing to was oddly fitting.
The woman in the video, Khing Hnin Wai, was dancing to an Indonesian song titled "Ampun Bang Jago", which roughly translates to "Ease up, Mr. Hotshot" – a phrase that is used as a retort against arrogant or self-righteous authority figures.
The tune was recently elevated to the status of a protest song, carrying with it a message of resistance against the establishment as waves of demonstrations against what is now the Job Creation Law spread through Indonesia last year. Activists and watchdogs documented hundreds of cases of alleged police brutality during the riots in October.
The phrase has transformed drastically from its humble beginnings as video game jargon and an expression to dismiss self-importance.
