‘Lost my future’: Myanmar’s ‘charade’ election dims hopes of diaspora

Taya says her life was looking up as Myanmar crept out from decades of isolation. She had a job in marketing, enough money to shop in Yangon’s new malls and fuel her quiet dreams of opening a small bakery, as her generation enjoyed unprecedented economic and personal freedoms. But that was before Myanmar’s short-lived experiment with greater democracy ended in a coup in 2021. With the military once more in charge, the economy is in free fall, and inflation has surged to well over 20 per cent....