Saturday, April 21, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

A Day of Disgrace for Myanmar’s Already Tarnished Police Force

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 02:17 AM PDT

What a disgrace for the Myanmar Police Department! On Friday, a court was told that two journalists arrested in December had been targeted in a police plan to entrap them by offering them "secret documents".

Police Brigadier-General Tin Ko Ko allegedly threatened police officials with extrajudicial imprisonment if they did not arrest Reuters reporter Wa Lone after offering him purported secret officials documents, saying: "If you don't get Wa Lone, you will go to jail."

The assertion was made as part of court testimony given by Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, a prosecution witness in the case against the reporters, on Friday morning.

The police captain was himself detained, along with Police Lance-Corporal Khin Maung Lin, on Dec. 12 — the same day Wa Lone and his colleague Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested —for illegally interacting with the Reuters reporters the previous month.

The reporters were arrested on the evening of Dec. 12 soon after receiving purported secret official documents from Police Lance-Corporal Naing Lin. Brig-Gen Tin Ko Ko gave the junior officer "secret documents from Battalion 8" with which to carry out his order to secure the journalists' arrests.

Since January, the court has been holding hearings to decide if the detained journalists are to be charged under the Official Secrets Act, legislation enacted during the British colonial era. The journalists were investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims in Inn Din village in Rakhine State's Maungdaw Township during an Army clearance operation. The Army operation was launched after a militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, attacked police outposts in the area in August last year. Seven soldiers were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for the killings of the Rohingyas, according to the military.

In fact, many people, including journalists, have suspected from the start that the two reporters were set up by authorities. Acting as a whistleblower, Capt Moe Yan Naing has now confirmed these suspicions.

The police captain told the court that Brig-Gen Tin Ko Ko's actions were "unethical and damaged the integrity of the country on the international stage." During a break in the hearing, he told reporters, "I am revealing the truth because police of any rank have their own integrity. It is true that [the Reuters reporters] were set up."

Such a revelation of the truth by a police officer is quite rare in this country. Many will see the police captain's actions as praiseworthy. But he has taken this step at great personal risk; something he clearly understands, as he appeared nervous when talking to reporters yesterday. The police captain could face unexpected consequences for his revelations against his supervisor, and perhaps even from the Home Affairs Ministry, which supervises the Police Department.

Soon after the arrests in December, the Home Affairs Ministry said it would take action against Capt Moe Yan Naing and LC Khin Maung Lin for their roles in passing government documents to the journalists.

Now we will have to wait and see how the ministry reacts to the revelations that the whole affair was a plot hatched by Brig-Gen Tin Ko Ko, a senior officer. Many wonder if the brigadier-general acted alone. Did some big fish order him to act?

All security forces in Myanmar retain infamous reputations—the Police Department is not exceptional at all. This set-up of two journalists has brought more disgrace upon an institution that is already tarnished in the public's eyes.

Handling this issue is the responsibility of Home Affairs Minister Lieutenant-General Kyaw Swe, who is an appointee of the military commander-in-chief.

Myanmar President U Win Myint has an important role to play here. In his inaugural speech on March 30, he said, "I wish to urge the media sector, which serves as the ears and eyes of the public, to understand the seriousness of their duties and to hold in high regard the public sector that they serve."

Given the importance he appears to ascribe to the role of the media in society, President U Win Myint must not neglect this case. The country's integrity will be further damaged if unethical or crooked officials continue to pursue this case, which violates any reasonable standard of ethics, accountability and responsibility.

The post A Day of Disgrace for Myanmar's Already Tarnished Police Force appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

U Win Tin: Myanmar’s Revolutionary Journalist

Posted: 20 Apr 2018 10:43 PM PDT

Four years to the day since Myanamr lost one of its leading intellectual figures, U Win Tin, The Irrawaddy looks back on his enduring legacy. A beloved democracy activist, journalist, founding member of the National League for Democracy and a former political prisoner, U Win Tin lives on as an emblem of persistence and bravery for those seeking true democratic change in Myanmar.

U Win Tin spent 19 years in prison for his opposition to the former military regime, but his principles never wavered. With this article from The Irrawaddy archives, originally published on the day of his death, we revisit what it was he stood for and his relevance today.

Burmese journalist U Win Tin was a true believer in democracy and press freedom. He never hid his disdain for the repressive military regime and continued to challenge Myanmar's current nominally civilian government.

U Win Tin spent seven thousand nights in Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison, but he had no regrets and continued to boldly carry the flag of democracy and helped keep the opposition movement alive. "The dictators can only detain our bodies, not our souls," he once said while in prison.

The way he confronted Myanmar's repressive rulers was so uncompromising and inspiring that the generals feared him, and with good reason. In Myanmar and beyond, many loved and respected the man who, together with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has become a symbol of the country's long struggle for democracy.

As I learned the news of his passing this morning I thought of his determination, intellectual steadfastness and the principles he upheld, and, most importantly, his contribution to the democracy movement.

Among his fellow political activists and contemporaries, U Win Tin stood out as a bit different and, though it was not his intention, he outshone many other opposition figures.

One reason for this was his unbending stance and sharp reading of the political situation during the repressive regime and the current democratic transition. He remained very critical and cautious of the ongoing political reforms—a healthy and welcome approach in my view.

U Win Tin was always ready to express his opinions to the media, he was eloquent and precise, and unlike many other opposition members he didn't shy away from criticizing his party leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Devoted to Political Life

U Win Tin was never married, but devoted his life to books, newspapers and politics. Many adored him as an example of a completely selfless man who cared about Myanmar's people and showed particular concern for the younger generation.

Even when he became older and suffered from increasing health problems, he would not bother people around him with his ailments; instead he would ask them to leave him while always thanking them for their visit.

Right up until the end he was quick to offer his witty or harsh criticism of the former junta leaders, the current government, while also occasionally criticizing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Last year, he said that the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has been too reconciliatory toward the current government. "Some of us would like to push the military into the Bay of Bengal," he told The Washington Post, "She only wants to push them into Kandawgyi Lake," a reference to a lake in central Rangoon.

During my first visit back to Myanmar in 2012, I went to meet him and asked whether it was the right decision for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to enter the by-elections that year and enter Parliament.

He paused, looked at me with smile and said, "You know she enjoys a Hollywood star status and she is a really popular figure."

After he was released from prison in 2008, we spoke on the phone and he outlined some of the differences between himself and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Suu Kyi is a VIP prisoner—we spent our times in dog cells and we were treated inhumanely. Our feelings and sentiments towards the generals is not the same as Aung San Suu Kyi. She always looked at them with some understanding and she sees the military as her father's army. But we don't," he said.

Despite such frank remarks, he never expressed any doubt about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's leadership of the NLD and maintained she was the only political figure capable of leading Myanmar to democracy.

Nearly Two Decades Imprisoned

In 1989, U Win Tin was a journalist when he backed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for the leadership of the NLD that she had formed.

The same year he was thrown into prison under trumped up charges and accused of being "a communist" by the military regime that had taken power in a coup. He would spend almost two decades in prison.

I had a chance to speak with U Win Tin shortly before the 1988 uprising began during a literary talk of the kind that were regularly held in a discreet manner in the old socialist Myanmar of former strongman Gen Ne Win.

At a friend's house in downtown Rangoon, some 30 writers had gathered to hear the bespectacled U Win Tin speak about the increasingly tense political situation.

I noticed he was outspoken but calm, and he voiced concern over the fate of Myanmar's youths and students in those difficult times.

Looking back, I've wondered if he foresaw the uprising at the time or that he would soon face decades in detention and become one of the most prominent and longest serving political prisoners in Myanmar.

The regime would later find out that it had been wrong to put the iron-willed U Win Tin in prison. Unable to break him physically or psychologically, the generals finally gave up and ordered him released in September 2008.

He continued to oppose them even then and refused to sign a form outlining conditions that he should follow upon his release. Prison officials dragged him from his cell and dropped him at his friend's house.

While in prison, he was often visited by foreign diplomats, US congressmen, International Red Cross officials and UN Human Rights investigators. He became one of Myanmar's most well-known political prisoners and reports of his ailing health regularly appeared in the international press.

Western governments, human rights organizations and press freedom groups repeatedly tried to intervene in order to free him. U Win Tin pressed on in spite of his health problems and maltreatment in prison, where he remained politically active.

In the 1990s, he asked Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to stay the course when the regime applied a divide- and-rule strategy against the NLD in order to pressure the party into joining a military-backed national convention to draft a new constitution.

At one point, he and his prison inmates secretly compiled an 83-page human rights report and smuggled it out through a visiting UN special rapporteur.

Enraged prison officials raided cells and dug up books, papers, news bulletins, two radios, and publishing materials. U Win Tin and dozens of political prisoners were punished with solitary confinement in tiny "dog cells" and received extended jail sentences.

His former inmates recalled how U Win Tin always encouraged them to unite and stand up against any unjust treatment imposed on them in prison.

Ironically, he also spent time with some members of the former regime who were imprisoned after Snr-Gen Than Shwe ordered a purge of U Khin Nyunt's powerful Military Intelligence (MI) units in 2004. Several high-ranking MI officers, including one who had been in charge of U Win Tin's case, were thrown into prison and shared a cell next to his.

Win Tin also spent time in prison with the grandsons of former dictator Gen Ne Win, who were convicted on high treason charges in the early 2000s by Snr-Gen Than Swhe's regime. Late last year, when they were released, one of Gen Ne Win's grandsons immediately went to see the old political activist.

During a funeral in Rangoon in October, former spy chief U Khin Nyunt walked up to U Win Tin to shake his hand. U Win Tin showed no anger, but later told The Irrawaddy that the MI officers should apologize to the nation for what they had done.

U Win Tin was a keen, unrelenting government critic to the very end, intent on taking down all the obstacles on Myanmar's long road to democracy.

Without his guiding light, it's hard to imagine how the democracy movement will treat the many challenges ahead during this unpredictable democratic transition, where there are still many wolves in sheep's clothing.

The post U Win Tin: Myanmar's Revolutionary Journalist appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Still Waiting for an Apology

Posted: 20 Apr 2018 08:31 PM PDT

To mark the fourth anniversary of National League for Democracy co-founder U Win Tin’s death on April 21, we republish this interview with the long-time political prisoner, conducted by Irrawaddy senior editor Kyaw Zwa Moe. The interview, conducted in December 2013, concerns the imprisonment and torture of political activists (including himself) and U Win Tin’s view that Myanmar’s former military rulers, starting with ex-Military Intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt, owe the nation, former political prisoners — and even themselves — an apology. Also interviewed is Hnin Hnin Hmway of the Democratic Party for New Society.

The discussions were recorded for Dateline Irrawaddy and broadcast on DVB. The video, with English subtitles, can be found here. The following text is an English translation of the transcript of the discussions with Win Tin.

 Kyaw Zwa Moe: Former Chief of Military Intelligence Unit General Khin Nyunt once said that he is not accountable for the arrests and imprisonments because he was just following orders and thus he can't apologize to anyone.

U Win Tin, you were arrested in 1989 by the Military Intelligence and underwent torture that resulted in loss of your teeth and you spent 19 years in prison. How do you want to respond to General Khin Nyunt's remarks?

Win Tin: I met him by chance at the funeral of Guardian [journalist] U Sein Win [in November 2013]. He told me to let bygones be bygones. I didn't reply anything because there were many people around and I didn't want to argue with him. However, our brief meeting was photographed and the news spread across the media and online.

When the media interviewed me how my response would be on his remarks, I answered in three points. Point one is that these Military Intelligence personnel, including their seniors and those who ordered them, must apologize to us, former political prisoners, the people and also themselves.
Because what they did was wrong. Point two is to correct the wrongs and prevent any transgressions in the future. The intelligence personnel might still be active in current governance mechanisms, so we must prevent intelligence personnel from committing any such deeds; they must apologize and correct their transgressions.

Point three is related to rehabilitation of the former political prisoners, which is what we have been doing already. Those former generals with their enormous treasure troves, obtained either from the state or through their powerful roles, should consider contributing to the rehabilitation activities for former political prisoners or establish funds for that. These are the points I mentioned to the media. However, Khin Nyunt said, "To whom should I apologize?" in another case. So my response for that was first: The political prisoners, former intelligence prisoners, and exiles, and second: The people, and third: themselves.

KZM: Can you tell me about your experience of the interrogation and torture you endured in prison?

WT: They used a lot of torture methods and there are many people who have experiences like me. I want to tell you about an exceptional experience. They interrogated me on my first night in the prison. They interrogated me for six days and I had to scream when they tortured me. While they were doing this they wore masks, so that we didn't know who they were. I strongly objected to that because I am a politician and a leader of a political party. I lost all of my teeth within a year because of the torture. In 1991, when they started to release some prisoners, they had people with missing teeth receive implants and receive medical service. By then, I had no more teeth and I had to eat with just my gums.

KZM: Was the rice served in prison hard?

WT: The rice was hard and I couldn't even chew it with my gums. My suffering lasted for 7 years and they only implanted my new teeth in 1998. That was an exceptional experience. There might be people who underwent similar or much worse experiences then my own. No one can bear such torture and no one is willing to endure torture.

KZM: U Win Tin, who do you consider responsible for the [1988] coup? Was it General Khin Nyunt, Senior General Than Shwe, or Senior General Saw Maung? Was General Khin Nyunt the right hand man of General Ne Win at that time?
 
WT: I don't know what exactly was going on in the army at that time. But there is a word I always use in talking about the coup, which is that the bones will crow one day and tell the real story, because the truth can't be hidden all the time. It will be revealed one day. I didn't know what the military intelligence were doing back then, but now we are getting some picture of what they were doing from what they say now in the media from people like General Khin Nyunt, or the grandsons of U Ne Win who were just released from prison.

What we understand from these is that on September 17, one day before the coup, U Kyawt Maung and Colonel Tin Hlaing, I am not sure if it was him, put General Khin Nyunt in charge and they went to meet General Ne Win to present the [88 Uprising] situation and push for a coup. Ne Win replied them that they must inform the leaders before the coup as it is a military procedure and asked them to inform the leaders like Colonel Aye Ko, U Than Oo and Colonel Kyaw Soe. When they came back the next day after informing these leaders, General Ne Win asked them to do what they have to "go and arrest who you need to arrest", even him if they have to. By saying this, General Ne Win gave them permission to arrest anyone they wanted and stage a coup. What I understand from this is that it was General Khin Nyunt who pushed for the coup and General Ne Win gave the order.

KZM: As you have lived through different ages like the Japanese occupation and the like, I would like ask: Do you consider the era of General Khin Nyunt after the 1988 coup the most terrible period in Burmese history?

WT: It can be said it was the most terrible, the cruelest and the worst period in our history. At the time of Japanese occupation, I was very young and I can't remember the atrocities of Japanese Kempeitai. What I can say is that I have lived through that era, [the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League] era and the following eras; so of all the eras I have lived, the era of the Military Intelligence Unit was the harshest, the most lawless, and the worst among all these eras.

When they put me on trial at the Military Court, they produced some witnesses whom I didn't know and they didn't know me either. I objected to that at the trial. When they brought me at the court, they handcuffed me tightly and I screamed. After sentencing me to 10 years, the military intelligence officers who were there called the judge to leave the trial for a while. When the judge came back, he added one more year to my sentence, because I screamed. The total sentences I received amounted to 21 years, not just 20 years. There were a seven-year sentence, a three-year sentence and an eleven-year sentence handed to me. And they reduced a year from my total sentence only later. The Military Intelligence Unit was behind the Military Court in sentencing me, including sentencing me to a year more for screaming at the court.

KZM: What about your experience U Win Tin? You had an operation while you were in prison?

WT: Let me explain a bit about what Ma Hnin Hnin Hmway just mentioned about sleeping on the concrete floor with just a mat. When I was in the interrogation camp it was January, during the winter. They didn't provide us mats. Because Ko Thet Khaing tried to commit suicide by slashing his veins with a blade the authorities tried to suppress the news for fear that they will face blames from superiors and told them that he used the bamboo slats instead.

As a result, they took all the mats from us to prevent any more cases like that. That's why we had to sleep on the bare concrete floors. Although General Khin Nyunt said he was acting in accordance with the orders from above, he himself was among those who gave such orders to those below him. He must apologize for that as well. I went through operations for hernia and was hospitalized for heart problems and benign prostatic hypertrophy, but they delayed the operation many times. In January 1990, while I was suffering from hernia and lying in my bed, they just gave me some shots instead of sending me to the hospital. I suffered from these problems for five years and only in 1995 they sent me to hospital.

Than Shwe alone is not responsible for all these violations. Khin Nyunt and his underlings also played their roles in ignoring cases like these, as they wished us to die. So Khin Nyuint and others are responsible for these and they can't just blame the top man Than Shwe.

KZM: They played a major role in crushing political activists?

UT: They all are responsible.

KZM: There are 162 recorded cases of death in custody after 1988 as far as I know. And during the years 1988, 1989 and 1990, there were about 3,000 to 4,000 political prisoners. How many political prisoners do you think they held through their reign? Can it be about ten thousands political prisoners during their reign until 2004?

WT: I don't know about this statistically because I am not responsible for political prisoners' affairs institutionally. But I always tell the media that there could have been about 10,000 political prisoners. And there will be hundreds of thousands of family members related to these political prisoners. Those who are responsible for these deeds must also take care of them and apologize to them. I am happy to see that my estimation of the numbers of political prisoners is close to the assumptions of institutions working for the affairs of the political prisoners.

KZM: There were people imprisoned from all walks of lives, starting from 14, 15 year-olds to educated doctors, lawyers, engineers to people like you who are political party leaders and journalists. That's why some people are accusing them of committing crimes against humanity. What do you think about this accusation?

WT: Accusations like these emerged around 2009 in places like United States, at the United Nations and among human rights organizations.  And they are suggesting to prosecute those responsible. I've also commented that they committed crimes against humanity. By 'they' I mean people like General Khin Nyunt, Than Shwe and even Thein Sein. He was also a member of that group that committed such crimes.

KZM: But he released many political prisoners under his administration.
 
WT: They can't compensate for their crimes so easily. It depends on the severity of the crimes. I think these two are not related. There were those in the international community who were working back to prosecute them in 2009, like Ko Aung Din from the US, and people in about 13 countries, including the US. The army knew that and they had to change their course or face the consequences. They benefited from the change they carried out and tried to free themselves from the accusations.

However, they are still responsible for what they did and they will still be recorded in history as those who committed crimes against humanity. History is not a judge and it can't give them any punishments. However, history will never forget what they did; their atrocious crimes against humanity will remain in history. That's what I want to say.

The post Still Waiting for an Apology appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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