KUALA LUMPUR – Mr Ben Za Min was working as a junior government clerk in Myanmar when the military seized power nearly five years ago, setting off a chain of events that would lead to his death 2,092km from home.

He quit his job in a small town in western Chin state and joined nationwide protests. When the junta cracked down and violence erupted throughout the country, he fled, first to India and then, in 2023, to Malaysia, where he worked illegally in construction, making a modest living.