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The Documentary Podcast

The Watermelons: Myanmar's military moles

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.32.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2024

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

***This program contains distressing content. The voices of all active Watermelons have been changed for security reasons*** The Myanmar military is now riddled with soldiers betraying their colleagues. Military green on the outside, rebel red within. They are known as the Watermelons. BBC Eye goes inside the Watermelons unit to reveal how these spies are helping the armed pro-democracy resistance achieve the unthinkable. Nearly four years since seizing power in a coup the Myanmar military now only has full control of less than a quarter of the country.

Transcript

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0:00.0

We're in a cell. There is six metal beds.

0:07.0

There's no window to see, but it's night.

0:11.0

A knife is being pressed to a woman's neck.

0:17.0

The Myanmar soldiers surrounding her want her password, access to her phone.

0:23.4

She's refusing.

0:25.3

In the corner watching is a young officer.

0:31.9

Very brave.

0:33.8

She wouldn't break.

0:35.3

She was prepared to die.

0:44.3

They kept pressuring her with different wards, along with the knife, and they started using a gun. Various tactics to torture her her.

0:47.3

At one point, they even said to me, hey, you come and hit her.

0:52.3

But I said, I didn't have the stomach to do it.

0:58.8

What so did have the stomach to do was quietly pull out his phone and hit record.

1:05.2

A warning is disturbing what he captures.

1:09.1

Come on.

1:10.3

You know, I don't know. disturbing what he captures. The soldiers. The soldiers eventually get bored and so walks out,

1:26.5

looking over his shoulder, his phone in his pocket.

1:30.8

Back in the barracks in the early hours of the morning, when he thinks it's safe, hands shaking,

1:37.4

he opens Facebook.

1:43.1

I looked for people I could trust.

1:46.0

I didn't dare to give it out to anyone.

1:49.2

It could back fire, you know, and put me in grave danger.

...

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