She fled Myanmar to escape the violence. Now this pro-democracy activist has disappeared

Rights group raise alart over disapperance of democracy activist and family in Malaysia

Myanmar pro-democracy activist Thuzar Maung with husband Saw Than Tin Win (Screengrab/ Buletin TV9)

Malaysian authorities have opened an investigation into the alleged abduction of Myanmar pro-democracy activist Thuzar Maung, her husband, and three children.

Ms Maung, 46, her husband Saw Than Tin Win, 43, their 16-year-old daughter and two sons aged 17 and 21, were allegedly abducted "in a planned operation" from their home in the Malaysian state of Selangor earlier this month.

All members of the family are UN refugee card holders, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

Local police have opened a missing persons inquiry after receiving a report on the family's disappearance, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar said. Without providing much details, he said the officers would "investigate any element of crime, including kidnapping".

According to the rights organisation, CCTV footage showed a car entering the gated community where her family lived on 4 July.

The driver told security guards they were police, but authorities later identified the license plate of the car as fake. About two hours later, a friend who was talking to Ms Maung on the phone heard her telling her husband that unknown men were entering her home, HRW said.

The same car and two cars belonging to the family were seen leaving the compound at about 7.10pm. Ms Maung and her family members' phones were also turned off, it added.

The last post on Ms Maug's Facebook account was at 5.07am local time on 4 July.

Ms Maung heads the Myanmar Muslim Refugee Community and has been a staunch critic of general Min Aung Hlaing-led junta that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 February coup.

She fled to Malaysia in 2015 from Mandalay in Myanmar to escape the growing violence against Muslims.

“The Muslim community in that area were heavily accused. I was frightened and decided to flee the country. Because I had a passport at that time, I was able to book a flight and get to Thailand," she told BenarNews in September 2022.

Thailand granted a visa on arrival, and then she went to Malaysia where she pleaded her case before the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

While Kuala Lumpur has been one of the most vocal nations against the state-sponsored violence against pro-democracy supporters in Myanmar, Malaysia has also been criticised for deporting refugees.

Malaysia has deported more than 1,000 people back to Myanmar, defying a court order and appeals from human rights groups, according to The Irrawaddy.

Malaysia deported 150 Myanmar nationals in October last despite the alarms over military defectors being sent back to the civil-war-torn nation.

“We fear that Thuzar Maung and her family were abducted in a planned operation and are at grave risk,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW, said, urging the Malaysian government to urgently investigate the disappearance.

Ms Pearson called on foreign governments to press Malaysian authorities to quickly uncover the location of the family. "Myanmar activists are apparently at risk even when they criticise the military junta from a country where they have sought asylum," she added.

Nearly 1.2 million people have been internally displaced in Myanmar and over 70,000 have left the country in the two years since the coup, the UN estimates.

Nearly 3,000 people have been killed by the military government since it took power and more than 23,700 have been arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a non-governmental organisation that tracks killings and arrests.