The Diplomats Without a Country
NEW YORK—The Hunger Games–style salute Kyaw Moe Tun held in the air during perhaps the defining moment of his life was not exactly correct, his teenage daughter chided him later: His three fingers, she noted, were meant to be together, not spread apart, as he had raised them. His voice had also quivered and cracked as he spoke, the words tumbling out as he glanced nervously down at the text of his prepared statement again and again.
He could be forgiven for his imprecise pop-culture references and imperfect rhetorical skills: Five months ago, Kyaw Moe Tun had made a decision that he knew would upend his life and that of his family. It would cost him his career and, potentially, his freedom.
On February 26, Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations, denounced the military coup that had been carried out in his country earlier that month and the junta that had seized control. “We will continue to fight for a government which is of the people, by the people, for the people,” he said before the UN’s General Assembly, the biggest of global stages, throwing his support behind the ousted government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and protesters who had taken to the streets.
