Tuesday, August 8, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Policeman Kills Two in Shan State

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 08:04 AM PDT

YANGON — Two people were killed and three more injured in a shooting by a policeman on Sunday in northern Shan State's Kutkai Township, another police officer from the area's Myoma station told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

The deceased were two men, aged 43 and 25 respectively, he said, under the condition of anonymity, adding that the shooting occurred in Kutkai's Ward 3.

"We arrested [the shooter] on the spot after we received the information," the officer said, adding that the arrested individual held the rank of 'private.'

"An investigation is continuing under Act 302/307," he added, referring to the criminal codes for murder and attempted murder.

U Kham Nyunt, a township elder and chair of the Ta'ang Literature and Culture Committee of Kutkai said that the area has long struggled with drug abuse and trafficking. Police representatives acknowledged this, however, said that no drugs were seized at the scene of the crime.

Mal Mai, an ethnic Kachin youth leader in Kutkai, said that her 20-year-old cousin was among those wounded in the shooting, and that he was in recovery in a hospital in Lashio.

She also said that she "assumed" that the violence was somehow "drug-related."

"Every household [here] suffers from drug-related problems," Mal Mai said.

Myanmar ranks as the second largest producer of opium in the world, behind Afghanistan, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The post Policeman Kills Two in Shan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Mon State Missing Out on Rubber Profits

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 01:54 AM PDT

MAWLAMYINE, Mon State — Mon State rubber, which accounts for nearly half of Myanmar's production of rubber, loses hundreds of millions of kyats in rubber exports because it is unable to produce high-grade rubber and relies solely on the Chinese market for exports, according to Mon State minister for agriculture, livestock, transportation and communications U Tun Htay.

"We are losing around 400 million kyats annually in unrealized profits as we are not able to produce high-grade rubber," the minister said.

Mon State produces more than 100,000 tons of rubber per year and possesses 30 percent of the total rubber plantation acreage in Myanmar and 49 percent of the total output.

The state, however, can only produce a small amount of ribbed smoked sheet (RSS) rubber, categorized into grades one, two, and three.

Only the Shwe Yaung Pya rubber plantation operated by Max Myanmar Co. in Kyaikto Township, and Shwe Taungtan rubber plantation in Thanbyuzayat Township can produce RSS-grade rubber and export to foreign markets other than China.

Other Mon State plantations produce low-grade raw rubber, which is refined by processing plants and produced as technically standard rubber (TSR).

The Mon State chief minister on his Japan visit last month brought some rubber samples, and negotiated with Japanese agencies to help produce high-grade rubber for export to Japan, said head of Mon State agricultural department U Kyi Soe.

"We plan to establish a central rubber market probably in October in Mawlamyine together with a private rubber growers' associations, the agricultural department and trade promotion department of the commerce ministry. We hope the government will be able to take a lead role in upgrading the quality of our rubber," U Kyi Soe told The Irrawaddy.

Until 2005, the rubber market, including exports, was managed by Myanmar Perennial Crop Enterprise, which adjusted the rubber prices according to the global market.

After the rubber market was privatized in 2005, the industry gradually declined due to reliance on China.

More than 90 percent of total rubber production of Mon State is produced as raw rubber, said the minister.

The state government has suggested to the Mon State Rubber Growers Association that it would partially fund a high-grade rubber processing plant in the state, but there are difficulties for small-scale farmers, said Nai Kyan Yit, chairman of the association.

"Individual rubber growers who operate less than 20 acres are not able to produce internationally marketable RSS-rubber because it takes at least a month to produce such quality. Small growers can't wait that long, so it is impossible," said Nai Kyan Yit.

He said small-scale growers could work together to establish a high-grade rubber processing plant, but it would be hard for them to fund it.

On Aug. 1, the Mon State government organized a two-day workshop on the production of high-grade rubber, and asked rubber growers to carefully get rid of dust, sand, and stones in rubber, and use formic acid instead of sulphuric acid for coagulation.

Rubber is one of the five sectors prioritized for development by the Mon State government to help improve the state's economic performance.

The post Mon State Missing Out on Rubber Profits appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Marching on a Diet of Marrows

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 01:46 AM PDT

In this article from 2010, Yeni, The Irrawaddy's Burmese language editor, describes surviving on the Thai-Myanmar border with the student army after fleeing the brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy uprising of 1988, 29 years ago.

I left my parents and younger sister in tears at our family home, and set out for the Thai-Burmese border after witnessing and experiencing the brutal crackdown in 1988 on the nationwide demonstrations calling for democratic change.

Like thousands of other young activists arriving at the border, I had a dream that we would set up an army to replace the ruling armed forces with one responsible for protecting Burma’s own people, not to kill and oppress.

The dream remains far from reality after 22 years, although the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) was born in the border region controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU).

First priorities for the students arriving at the border were shelter and food.

My "regiment" was based in the Three Pagodas Pass area controlled by Mon rebels. It included civil engineering students from the well respected Rangoon Institute of Technology, who set to work drawing up elaborate plans for barracks to house 30 comrades.

The plans were systematic and detailed, prescribing exactly how much bamboo was needed and how much thatch. After one week of hard work, the barracks were completed and we settled in happily.

But after a few days, the structures collapsed—and so did the reputations of our dear civil engineers! We asked some young men from the area to help us rebuild the barracks, and finally we were able to sleep soundly.

Many of us who had been living in relative comfort with our parents had difficulty adjusting—I didn't even know how to fry an egg.

We tried our best, but the results were often disastrous—rice that was either half-cooked or burnt and soup that changed its flavor with every cook.

Our only income was what we received in donations from Burmese living overseas.

A plan to grow and sell vegetables came to naught. Our leaders decided we should grow marrows and soon we were knee-deep in them. But they found no buyers in nearby markets—and marrow soup became a daily dish on our sparse and uninteresting menu. Marrows and yellow bean soup were the staples of our two meals a day and we rapidly grew tired of the diet.

We took out our frustration on the parade ground, where instead of marching to "left, right; left right," we chanted "jou, peh; jou peh" (marrow, bean; marrow, bean).

The Burmese army and disease were our two greatest enemies. Malaria, dengue fever and a variety of respiratory illnesses were endemic, and we fell victim to them time and again. This was when our medical students and qualified doctors showed their mettle—true heroes who, with very limited medical supplies, treated not only us but also local villagers, who had never before had such professional attention.

The post Marching on a Diet of Marrows appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Life and Death Behind Prison Walls

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 01:38 AM PDT

Htet Aung was The Irrawaddy's staff writer in 2010. Here he recalls the tragic death of his friend, prison mate and 1988 activist in an article originally published in 2010.

One morning in January 2001, we all were startled to hear Si Thu declare: "I’ve been infected with HIV." All at once, the optimism and good wishes we had been expressing for his full recovery and his return alive to his cell from the prison hospital changed to sadness.

Silence briefly blanketed our isolated world, where eight political prisoners were locked up in a building of eight cells in Thayawaddy prison, about 80 kilometers north of Rangoon, the former capital of Burma. All had spent more than a decade behind bars for their political beliefs.

Anger broke the silence—anger at the prison authorities, who were consigning Si Thu to a section of the prison hospital where TB patients were held. Si Thu said: "I want to die here with you, not there."

We decided to demand that the prison authorities allow Si Thu to remain with us. Yet what could we do to save Si Thu’s life in the confines of our gloomy, unhygienic cells, where little help was to be expected from the outside world?

We had no medicine, no clean water and no fresh, nutritious food. We could only give Si Thu our love, care and humane support.

We felt that if Si Thu fell ill again he would not recover. The rainy season was approaching, a time when seasonal influenza struck many prisoners.

We concentrated on caring for Si Thu and keeping him warm.

One morning, Si Thu said with a soft smile: "The junta has given me a death sentence. I have been prepared for it."

I couldn’t find any words to console him, and could only regard him with a feeling of unbearable sadness. Our efforts to get anti-retroviral drugs to combat the HIV virus were fruitless.

Finally, the day we had been dreading came and Si Thu fell ill. He died on July 12, 2001, aged only 35.

Si Thu was a prisoner of conscience because of his commitment to the struggle for democracy in Burma. He first became involved in politics as a student in the 1988 uprising.

He was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1991, but later the sentence was changed to 10 years. Although he should have been a free man in July 2001, the junta kept him imprisoned under the terms of a security law—Section 10 (A) of the Law to Safeguard the State against the Dangers of Those Desiring to Cause Subversive Acts.

The post Life and Death Behind Prison Walls appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The University Behind Bars

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 01:08 AM PDT

Kay Latt was once a contributor to The Irrawaddy and now currently works for the Myanmar State Counselor's Office. On this 29th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, The Irrawaddy revisits his article from 2010, in which he reflects on 'education' in prison.

One day in March 1988, when I was a third year student at the Rangoon Arts and Science University, the noise of loud shouting reached our classroom from the recreation center.

Our teacher left the room to investigate, and some of us followed. There was a crowd in front of the Convocation Hall, listening to speeches and shouting slogans.

That afternoon, riot police intervened and arrested a number of students, piling them into a truck. We blocked the truck's way in Pyay Road and threw stones at the police. They responded with tear gas—which I tasted for the first time in my life.

The riot police mounted a counterattack and I ran into the Pegu hostel (Pago Saung), where friends of mine lived, and hid there until the police withdrew.

Later, I learnt that some students had died on the banks of Inya Lake. Others had been beaten and arrested as they made for the Rangoon Institute of Technology.

In June, when the universities briefly reopened, students again gathered in front of the recreation center at the Rangoon Arts and Science University and protested against the suppression of the students' demonstrations by the authorities.

Like many others, I wore a kerchief over my face as a disguise, but I removed it when one student leader fearlessly took his off. But I was very nervous as I returned home that day.

In August, demonstrations broke out all over the country and I joined other students on the streets of Rangoon, shouting slogans and wearing arm bands, white shirts and Kachin longyi (sarong), the students' uniform.

Then, came the coup d'état. I didn't know what to do—whether to follow my friends to the Thai-Burmese border and join their armed struggle, or to remain inside the country and to work for change from the underground or within a political party. I decided on the latter course of action.

I joined the National League for Democracy, but not long after the 1990 election I was arrested because of my political involvement.

After about seven months, during which no charge was laid against me, a prison warden toured the cells drawing up a list of the imprisoned students. I was filled with hope that this meant we would be freed in time for the rumored reopening of the universities, which had been closed since June 1988.

On May 15, 1991, all universities across the country reopened.

The prison authorities ordered me to collect my belongings, and I said farewell to my cheering comrades, who thought I was being freed. But it was a vain hope—I was arraigned before a military court and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, along with a number of other students.

There is a saying that "he who opens a school's door closes a prison's." But that wasn't to be in my case—prison was my school and university for nine long years.

Prison is actually an exclusive university with very high admission requirements. I was admitted anyway…

The post The University Behind Bars appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Mother’s Smile in Turmoil

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 10:27 PM PDT

Kyaw Zwa Moe, editor of The Irrawaddy's English edition, reflects in this 2010 article on his arrest and imprisonment following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the 29th anniversary of which is commemorated this year.

The sway of the train woke me as the sun was rising in a mist on an endless horizon of paddy fields. What a beautiful morning! But what I didn’t know was that the train was not only taking me to Rangoon, where my mother was waiting for me, but that it was also the beginning of a much longer journey.

That night in Rangoon at my mother's home, men entered the house. They asked for my mother’s "permission" to take me for questioning. My mother merely nodded, calmly. But I knew she was crying inside. The intruders took me to a chilly, isolated and bloodstained cell. It was December 1991.

I was arrested as a result of my actions during, and after, the 1988 pro-democracy uprising: on Aug. 7, 1988, I was in a street protest in Rangoon, eye-to-eye with a soldier whose bayonet was pointed at my body; in the following days, we marched in the streets, we ran from the soldiers when they fired their weapons; later, we secretly published a political journal and clandestinely distributed it; in secret military training, we practiced with wooden rifles; I traveled as a messenger to the Thai-Burmese border where my colleagues trained as a student army.

My work after the uprising caught the attention of local authorities and military intelligence units and our home was seen in their eyes as a "rebel" location. Four times, the house was surrounded and searched by army troops and military intelligence officers. On two occasions, they were looking for my older brother. Two times, they were looking for me.

That December night, they found me. A secret military court handed down a 10-year prison sentence. I was not allowed to present a defense.

My mother visited me in jail. She brought me the gift of smiles—no sad face or teary eyes. But again, I knew what she was feeling inside.

Eight years later, when I was released from prison, I returned home. I could only remember the smiles she so bravely gave me, because she had passed away during my third year in prison.

But the price I paid was small compared to some of my colleagues in 1988 and to some of my fellow prisoners. Tun Sein, Bo Ni Aung, Kyaw Theik, Htet Moe, Myint Aung and many others paid the highest price—death—during the 1988 protests or in prison, or following their release, or in exile.

Their sacrifice affected Burma's history and has taken us to where we are today. Without their sacrifice during the 88 movement, late dictator Ne Win's authoritarian socialist regime would not have been swept away. Without the movement, the junta wouldn’t have held the 1990 election, and the opposition National League for Democracy wouldn't have been the clear winner. Without the movement, the junta wouldn't have signed ceasefire agreements with ethnic armed groups, and they wouldn't be where they are today. Without it, the junta wouldn't have planned to hold elections this year. Without it, there would be no political parties to challenge the regime's candidates. Without it, the exiled media wouldn’t have grown to be a reliable source of news and information about what goes on inside the regime's closed, insular world.

We all recognize that the 88 generation and the following generations have paid a high price to get us where we are today, and about 2,100 political prisoners, including former student leader Min Ko Naing, still languish in jails. We must never forget that the road we go down today was built on the sacrifice of thousands of lives and souls.

The post Mother's Smile in Turmoil appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Inmates Pass Matriculation Exam, Receive Pardon

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 10:10 PM PDT

MANDALAY — Five inmates of Mandalay's Obo Prison who passed Myanmar's matriculation exam with honors in June were released on Monday under a Presidential pardon.

"I want to say thanks to the president and other authorities, including the prison superintendent and teachers, for making our dreams of attending university come true," said one of the prisoners 19-year-old Ma Shun Lae Wai Kyaw.

"I also want to tell everyone, especially young people, to stay away from drugs, which will affect your life goals," she added.

In total, seven Obo Prison inmates passed the matriculation exams for the 2016-17 academic year.

The five who passed with honors—four males and one female—were pardoned.

"I was so surprised and cried with joy when the warden told me I will be released," said Ko Hlaing Min Oo, a Kayah man from Loikaw, who passed the exam with one distinction.

Ko Hlaing Min Oo, 18, was charged under Myanmar's narcotics law and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. He had already served more than two years.

"I called my mother and she was overjoyed. She is now on her way to bring me back home," said Hlaing Min Oo. "At the same time, I feel sad for my friends who have no chance to get out of the prison yet," he added.

Superintendent of Obo Prison U Cho Win Tun thanked President U Htin Kyaw and other officials who had shown concern for the prisoners' future.

"I am so happy, [the inmates] are like my own children," he said.

Two other inmates from Insein Prison in Yangon who passed the exam with honors also received a presidential pardon and were released on the same day.

According to figures from the Ministry of Education, 41 inmates from Obo, Insein, Tharyarwaddy and Hpa-An prisons took the 2016-17 matriculation exam, and 16 of them passed.

This was the first academic year in which Obo Prison inmates could sit the exam at the prison—before, they had to travel to Insein Prison for the exam.

According to prison officials, in Obo Prison alone, there were 38 inmates studying from grade 6 through matriculation this year. The classes were mainly taught by teachers who were also imprisoned. Teachers from local high schools helped prepare them for the matriculation exams under a program run by the education ministry.

The post Inmates Pass Matriculation Exam, Receive Pardon appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘Power is a Dangerous Thing’

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 08:58 PM PDT

Kyaw Zwa Moe: I am at the monastery of Sayadaw U Khaymar Nanda, who is better known as the 8888 Sayadaw, in Taunggyi. He served as the chairman of the Young Monks' Union during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, and was arrested immediately after the military mounted a coup and imprisoned for six years. Today, he still believes—as he once said in a speech—that cows are the only creatures that don't want democracy, and he has continuously supported the cause. I will discuss his confidence in democracy, the involvement of authorities in the Depayin Massacre, and his views on today's political landscape. I'm Irrawaddy English editor Kyaw Zwa Moe.

You are widely known as the 8888 Sayadaw in Taunggyi, and for the time being, I think you are the only person in the country who dares to claim that title. You served the cause of democracy long before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government came to power. Would you explain how you became known as the 8888 Sayadaw?

Khaymar Nanda: During the 88 uprising, young monks from every monastery in Taunggyi gathered and formed the Shan State Young Monks' Union. The union had 11 executive committee members. We decided to serve our country and told ourselves that politics was not about getting power for ourselves; we monks had to take part in issues of livelihood, health and education for the people. I said, "If we get engaged in politics, we will die or be jailed. If we are unlucky, we die. If we are lucky, we're jailed." So, we prepared for the worst. As soon as we formed the young monks' union, we occupied the office of the Burma Socialist Programme Party in Taunggyi. So, [party cadres] had a grudge against us. They threatened and swore at us over the phone.

KZM: At that time, the government was the Burma Socialist Programme Party.

KN: Yes, it was the BSPP. They swore at us and we let them swear, telling ourselves that they would stop when they got tired. Then, BSPP party members from the entire township handed us their party membership cards, saying they were no longer party members. We accepted the cards. We actively engaged in the 1988 democracy uprising in Shan State and my name became known as the chairman of the young monks' union.

As chairman, I had to advise junior monks. I told them that we were Buddhist monks and that there are both commandments of the Buddhist Order as well as secular law, and that we must not break those laws. We took actions that would not breach either of these laws.

The whole country wanted democracy. In a speech I said blatantly that "only cows don't like democracy." Every human likes democracy. The junior monks avoided breaking the laws, and they listened to me. The [BSPP] party cadres treated people unfairly while they were in power. And when they were about to give up their power, they didn't dare to sleep in their own houses. They asked us to protect their lives and property. I told people: "What we want is democracy. We don't want violence, death or torture. Democracy has to follow laws and discipline." There must be respect for these values in a democracy. So, none of their homes were destroyed and none of the party cadres were attacked during the 1988 uprising

Shan State was peaceful at that time. I dare to say that Shan State enjoyed real democracy then. So, it was convenient for us to do our tasks. At that time, soldiers were not allowed to leave their camps. Some of the soldiers had been outside the camps [before the order was issued], and we members of the young monks' union systematically brought them back to their battalions. We walked on the path to democracy with optimism.

KZM: So you have the title 8888 Sayadaw. But you were arrested immediately after the military staged a coup on September 18 after the 1988 pro-democracy uprising.

KN: Soldiers came to our monks' union building on September 19 and opened fire on us. We had blocked the gate. When I heard the shooting, I told my junior, including Maung Ottara, who is in London now: "When we formed the young monks' union, we already knew the two outcomes. Lucky, we're jailed. Unlucky, we die. We knew the ending. So, if I am lucky, I will be jailed because many people have already been killed on the roadside."

It was about 6 a.m. We turned ourselves in and said, "You may arrest us now." But, the commander of that military column, Lt-Col Aung Hsan of Light Infantry Battalion 17, said he didn't want the other monks, he only wanted Sayadaw Khaymar Nanda.

KZM: They wanted to arrest only you.

KN: Yes. So, I said, "It is me." I don't eat meat during the Buddhist Lent and at that time I had a small blanket draped over my shoulders and was counting Buddhist prayer beads brought from Bodh Gaya [the site of the Buddha's enlightenment, in India]. Cpt Myint Lwin and Lt Naing Oo [of the Myanmar Army] pointed their guns at me. I still remember their names although I don't know their service numbers. I asked them why they were pointing their guns at me when I had no weapon. I undid my robe and only then did they put down their guns. Then, I saw a boy named Yin Maung Than dying in front of us. He ran errands for our young monks' union. He was shot from the right side and the bullet tore through his left cheek.

KZM: Was he shot in front of you?

KN: Yes. He was in ninth grade, I think. I was sad to see him dying, blood pouring out of his cheek. But I could do nothing, as I had been arrested. Then, soldiers took me. Lt-Col Aung Hsan walked in front of me and Cpt Myint Lwin and Lte Aung Naing Oo were behind.

We had a monk, U Pinnavumsa, who was responsible for security in the monks' union. Monks in the union had different duties. U Pinnavumsa was an ex-military officer; he understood military affairs and guns. So, we assigned him the responsibility of security.

At that time, police were not allowed to take their guns when leaving their stations. But the previous night, a policeman named Ko Nu took a B-52 Sten gun. My disciples in charge of security were suspicious of him, so they arrested him and seized his gun, which they handed over to U Pinnavumsa. He knew nothing about my arrest but there were many people on the street. So, when he saw the soldiers, he told them that there was a brawl between some young men and the police last night, and asked them if he was to give the gun back to the policeman or to the soldiers. Lt-Col Aung Hsan took the gun and when we got near the Shan Mintha Teashop—today it is called Shwe Keinnar—Lt-Col Aung San told the military intelligence official that I was found with a gun and arrested.

I said, "You are a military official, why do you lie? I engaged in the democracy uprising because I don't like dishonesty. Don't lie. You brought the gun. I had nothing to do with it. Tell him the truth." The intelligence official said he would handle it, and put me into a prisoner transport vehicle. Then, there was an announcement on the radio that the chairman of the Shan State Young Monks' Union was arrested with B-52 Sten gun. I can't accept lies, so I pushed back aggressively. They didn't like it. At that time, the commander was Maj-Gen Maung Aye.

KZM: Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye who retired with Snr-Gen Than Shwe? He was the commander there then? How was he involved in your arrest?

KN: Yes, he was primarily responsible for my arrest. He was the most accountable person in Taunggyi. I was put into a prisoner transport vehicle along with Dr. Tin Win, the leader of the strike [in Taunggyi], U Cho of the EPC, bank manager U Win Maung, and teacher Ko Myint Than. They had been arrested before me. Their heads were covered in bags.

KZM: They were covered in balaclavas?

KN: Yes, but I recognized them from their clothing because they were familiar to me. U Win Maung heard my voice and asked, "Sayadaw, is that you?" I said yes, and he told me that he could not breathe. I removed his balaclava and a soldier on guard asked me why I did that. I said, "Because it is humane. He'll die if it isn't taken off. You can arrest and imprison people but you should not treat them like this."

We were brought to the Eastern Command [of the Myanmar Army]. When we arrived, they covered my head with a bag used to pack dried fish. And the balaclavas of the others were also changed. A soldier asked his senior if he had to cover the head of the monk, and he replied that I was no longer a monk after getting on that vehicle. The bag they put over my head smelled so bad that I could not breathe. Whenever I see dried fish, I remember that day. If I am offered fish curry, memories of that day come flooding back.

KZM: Were you put behind bars immediately? How many years were you imprisoned?

KN: I was released in 1993 and imprisoned for about six years. I had many troubles while in prison and during the interrogation process. I heard that military officers didn't use force on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the interrogation process in consideration of her father.

KZM: It has been almost 30 years since 1988, and the eras have changed – the Burma Socialist Programme Party, two military regimes, and U Thein Sein's administration, which was a government of ex-generals. Now, the government is led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who you supported. What is your assessment of the political situation today? Do you find it satisfactory?

KN: No. Many reforms remain to be done in respective sectors of our constitutional democracy. We've only seen the dawn of democracy; the light has yet to come out.

KZM: Which parts need reform and how can those changes be introduced? As everyone knows, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the State Counselor and U Htin Kyaw is the President, proposed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. But three ministries – home affairs, defense, and border affairs – are still held by the military. Looking at the overall administrative mechanism, only the top positions are held by the NLD and the rest are the old guard. Where do you think that change should start?

KN: Of the many things to be changed, the Constitution should come first. Only after that happens, can other changes be introduced according to the new Constitution. Otherwise, the results will not be good.

KZM: Like the fact that 25 percent of seats are reserved constitutionally for the military in Parliament?

KN: Yes, we are building a democracy and it should be democratic.

KZM: I'm afraid it won't be that easy or practical. The Tatmadaw [Myanmar Army] is a powerful institution that has engaged in and taken control of all sectors including politics and the economy. It used to have complete control of these. It has reduced its control but still maintains a large hold due to the Constitution. It's not easy, is it?

KN: Rather than thinking about whether it's easy, we have to work for what we want. The Tatmadaw maintains its grip on key sectors, but I believe that it will let go and transfer it someday.

KZM: But how long will it take?

KN: It is difficult to predict. We will have to wait and see. Sometimes unexpected things happen. For instance, [NLD Muslim legal adviser] U Ko Ni was assassinated. It was an extremist act. As a Buddhist monk, I don't discuss race or religious issues. They have their faith and I have mine.

A ritual was held here to mark the seventh day after U Ko Ni's death. Most of the attendees were Muslim. The ritual involved pouring water into a container [done in the manner of sharing merits for the deceased], and I asked Muslim attendees to recite after me. I told them that I was not asking them to recite the five precepts of Buddhism, but to pray and share merits, and therefore followers of any religion could do it. They were satisfied with my explanation and recited willingly after me.

There will be harmony when there is an understanding of each other. U Ko Ni was Muslim. But his death means that we lost a legal expert in our country and we regret this because he could have contributed greatly. This has nothing to do with race or religion. How smart ambassador U Pe Khin was, and how smart U Ko Ni was! We've lost the scholars who the country could use. This is a loss for the country.

KZM: U Ko Ni continuously talked about amending the 2008 Constitution. And he was also a legal adviser to the NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. His assassination raised questions. The assassin was arrested, but people speculate that there was a mastermind behind it. What do you think?

KN: As soon as I heard about the assassination, I told my laypeople that the killer was a contract killer, paid to kill U Ko Ni. This is something that requires caution in our country. I have always wanted to urge Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to take caution. She loves people and people love her.

We Myanmar people have a habit of giving away gifts and flowers as a token of love. But this is worrying from a security perspective. U Ko Ni's assassination is an example. He was shot during the day at the airport in Yangon. This is concerning. There must be a mastermind and he needs to be held accountable to avoid such cases in the future.

KZM: In our country, there were assassinations in successive periods, Gen Aung San and his colleagues were assassinated in 1947. Karen ethnic leader Saw Ba U Gyi was killed and there were also reciprocal killings between split communist groups. In 2008, Karen National Union (KNU) leader Padoh Mahn Sha was killed, and nine years later U Ko Ni was killed. Is this inclination for assassination really linked with political extremism? It has persisted for a long time. When do you think it will end?

KN: Myanmar people are not inept, but they are naïve. We need to be able to distinguish between incompetence and naivety. Ko Kyi Lin killed U Ko Ni and Galon U Saw and his accomplices assassinated Gen Aung San. They were not incompetent people, I assess. I'm not praising them. They were competent people but they were extremists. Regarding the question of how to end this inclination, I've always said that the majority in our country is Buddhist. Our first commandment is to abstain from killing, even insects. Killing is shameful to us. Followers of Islam did not call out when U Ko Ni was assassinated, but what would have happened if a Buddhist lawyer was killed instead of a Muslim? Our people need to have a mature mentality. Unless they are enlightened, this inclination will continue.

KZM: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo visited your monastery in 2002. It was before the Depayin Massacre in which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade was attacked. What did you know about the attack, and what did you talk about with her prior to it?

KN: The political storm was quite strong at that time because military intelligence was so powerful. I was quite pleased that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited me. I warmly welcomed them. There was a Union Solidarity and Development Association office near my monastery. I heard them say they would attack her if she came to the ward. The person I heard say that is still alive. I was not shocked by what he said. They had their own views. But, I tried to provide security for her.

Some police and military intelligence officials were my disciples. They told me that her visit was worrying. I asked why, and they told me to think about it but that they could not provide details. I understood but I said there was nothing to worry about because she served the people.

Police were conducting drills with sticks and shields and I asked the police chief what they intended to do. He said they were following orders from the home affairs minister. I said she had been allowed to leave Yangon freely; what would they do to her in Taunggyi? Police said she could leave Taunggyi safely. But I told her and U Tin Oo that I was worried for their safety. Then, I heard about the attack in Depayin.

A junior monk from Amarapura Township called and asked me if anything had happened in Taunggyi. I said no. He said some 100 monks were asked to gather in his township to attack Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. I was shocked and told him not to join or else history will remember him badly. I asked when the attack would occur and he said on the Sagaing Bridge.

KZM: So, they were asked to gather by the authorities?

KN: He said that authorities from the township peace and development council asked the monks to gather. Think about it. If someone was attacked on the Sagaing Bridge, he would die falling off the bridge, if not from the beating. Those in power used even monks in this way. Power is a dangerous thing. Those who indulge in power do not care about Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, or their parents and teachers. They do not hesitate to exploit the Sangha to maintain power. This is evil and unacceptable.

KZM: Thank you.

The post 'Power is a Dangerous Thing' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Blood Stained My School Courtyard

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 08:28 PM PDT

Former Irrawaddy reporter Min Naing Thu was a child when anti-government demonstrations of 1988 reached Monywa, Sagaing Region. In this Aug. 6, 2010 article he describes his experience of leaving classes to join the demonstrations, and their bloody end.

When I first heard the word "Tha-beik-hmauk [protest]," in broadcasts by the Burmese service of the BBC, the expression was completely new to me, a 10-year-old living in Monywa. My parents tuned into the service every night, and I often heard that word used in the news programs without knowing what it meant.

It wasn’t long before I got to understand what Tha-beik-hmauk meant when the students’ demonstrations broke out in August 1988. By that time, I had moved on to the fifth grade of high school in my home town, Monywa.

My school had only reopened one month earlier when the demonstrations broke out. Students from Rangoon University and 10th grade pupils gathered at the school and raised the fighting peacock flag—the first time I had seen the emblem.

The teachers did nothing to stop the demonstration, advising students to listen attentively to the speeches being made. They were full of declarations like "Soldiers rape female students … Our country is impoverished … We have to overthrow Ne Win’s government … We have to rise up against the evil BSPP system."

The following day, the teachers joined the demonstrations and the school closed.

Happy that lessons were over, I joined friends as they gathered by the school’s flagpole.

I was given three pieces of ba-yar-kyaw [an Indian style snack of fried mashed beans and spices].

"To avoid bay-ba-yar ["danger"], let’s eat Ba-yar-kyaw and march," said a teacher in a play of words that got us laughing as we paraded through the streets, chanting slogans and accepting gifts of food, water and sweets from the town’s residents.

In mid-August, a central camp was established for protestors in Monywa. We gathered at the camp at the end of each day of demonstrations and engaged in discussions and political speeches. Civil servants had also now joined the protests, which we learnt from BBC broadcasts were countrywide.

After one month, in late September, army units took up positions in Monywa and our teachers told us to return home and stay there.

One night we heard gunfire and my uncle, who was visiting us, identified it as the noise of automatic weapons.

"Are students being killed?" he exclaimed. "I can’t just sit still. I must go." And he disappeared into the night.

There were reports that troops had raided our camp and high school. In the morning I accompanied my mother to market and saw bloodstains on the streets—including in our school courtyard, where a discarded green school sarong was additional evidence of the night of violence.

The post Blood Stained My School Courtyard appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Awestruck by the Men in Uniform

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 07:58 PM PDT

In August 2010, when he was working with The Irrawaddy, Ba Kaung, a pseudonym for Myanmar Now's chief editor Swe Win, wrote about the people he met connected to the 1988 Uprising. The Irrawaddy republishes the story to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the '88 Uprising in Yangon, then known as Rangoon.

Armed with an army knife, my father went out in search of my two elder brothers lost among the protesters at the peak of the 1988 uprising. My aunt, wielding a bunch of bananas, also left the house and I followed her because I’d heard the soldiers were coming.

"Members of Tatmadaw must support the people," was one of the slogans the soldiers were shouting in stirring unison. Now it became clear why my aunt had carried out a bunch of bananas—people were giving food to the soldiers, who didn’t break their stride as they marched.

I was 10 years old and awestruck by the long column of soldiers, who seemed to tower above me.

Ominously, however, they wore uniforms of only two colors—navy blue and khaki, identifying them as members of the navy and the air force. I didn’t see a single soldier in a green uniform, the color worn by most members of the Burmese armed forces.

I was aware that something was missing from this protest march, but I couldn’t know then how the absence of the "greens" would change the whole scene.

The forced social contract of 26 years had collapsed, followed by fearless criticism of societal ills and the formation of associations of every variety.

All were enjoying the enthusiasm of anarchy, united and sharing what they had. Life was beginning to resemble Rousseau's natural state. Students, government employees or trishaw drivers—all seemed equal and anxious stakeholders in the future of their country.

Soon, however, a few anarchists turned out to be not that benevolent.

"To win democracy is our cause! Our cause!" was the rallying cry of a mob in our neighborhood of Rangoon. The group was rumored to be under the leadership of a mysterious swordsman called Yaung Gyi Bwe, which means Mr. Hair-knot in English.

Brandishing samurai swords and scarlet peacock flags, they also held spikes crowned by the burnt, severed heads of suspected Socialist government agents.

Ten years later, in late 1998, in a cell block in Rangoon’s Insein Prison, I found myself a neighbor of Naing Lin, a former army corporal jailed for two years for participating in the 1988 protests. After his release from a prison labor camp, he spent several years as a primary school teacher in a remote village in Shan State.

In August 1998, Naing Lin gave up his teaching job and returned to Rangoon to participate in another round of anti-government protests. He was arrested and sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment on charges of instigating public unrest. He joined the younger set of dissidents jailed in 1996 and 1998.

Another of my prison comrades, Aung Swan, was a former fighter, a member of the militant All Burma Students Democratic Force, which he joined after taking part as a student in the 1988 uprising. He was arrested in 1994 while traveling secretly from his jungle base to visit his family in Tavoy.

In prison, Aung Swan was thought to be insane because he no longer spoke with anybody after he was beaten up by a group of criminal trusties because prison guards found a fellow political prisoner throwing food to him.

Both Naing Lin and Aung Swan have now been released. I recently discovered that Yaung Gyi Bwe, the mysterious swordsman, is living in the United States making Japanese sushi for a living. And my two brothers survived the crackdown unscathed.

The post Awestruck by the Men in Uniform appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ten Things to do in Yangon This Week (Aug. 8 – Aug. 14)

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 07:27 PM PDT

Inter Milan Friendly Tour | Aug. 11 & 13

The Myanmar U-18 team will play against Inter Milan U-18 in two friendly matches.

August 11 and 13, 6:00 pm. Thuwunna Stadium. Tickets available on entry.

International Youth Day | Aug. 12

International Youth Day will be celebrated around the theme of youths' role in the peace process, and youth organizations in the country.

August 12, 9:00 am. Yangon University of Education

Smart Living Expo and Asean 50th Anniversary | Aug. 11 – 13

This expo will feature decoration and building materials, electronics, furniture, cars and local and international small and medium enterprises plus seminar, business matching, entertainment and lucky draw programs.

August 11-13, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Tatmadaw Hall, U Wisara Road.

International Education Exhibition 2017 | Aug. 12

This exhibition provides information about academic opportunities at universities around the world.

August 12, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Eureka Room, 4th Floor, Novotel Hotel.

Eternity Love Fashion Show | Aug. 12 – 13

The event showcases the modern fashion designs of well-known designers.

August 12-13, 6:30 pm. Novotel Hotel, free admission.

 

Monsoon Sales and Promotion | Aug. 11

Cosmetics, mobile phones, cameras, printers and many more items will be on sale with special discounts. Games will also be available.

August 11, 9:00 am – 9:00 pm. Hledan Center.

Musical Variety Show | Aug. 11

Classical musicians and traditional Myanmar musical troupes will perform at this event.

August 11, 7:00 pm. National Theater, Myoma Kyaung Street. Tickets are between 5,000 kyats and 20,000 kyats at 09-5132279.

Sculptures | Aug. 7 – 9

Modern artist Maung Di's exhibition will showcase two paintings and seven sculptures.

August 7-9. Ahla Thit Art Gallery, No. 17, University Avenue Road, Bahan Tsp.

To the Sea | Aug. 1 – 28

Artist San Myint's exhibition will showcase 25 acrylic paintings depicting the lives of people in Rakhine State.

August 1-28. Eternal Art Gallery, Yuzana Housing.

Autokinetic Drawings | Aug. 1 – 15

Artist Po Po will showcase 20 paintings created between 1990 and 1995 in his art studio.

August 1-15. No. 186. Theingi Street, 5th Ward, Thaketa Township.

The post Ten Things to do in Yangon This Week (Aug. 8 – Aug. 14) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Confessions of a Bogus Monk

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 06:58 PM PDT

In commemorating the 29th anniversary of the 1988 Uprising, The Irrawaddy revisits the personal account of its founding editor-in-chief Aung Zaw on how he avoided the arrest of authorities by living as a monk in Kayan on the outskirts of Yangon, then known as Rangoon. It was originally posted in August 2010.

When my mother visited me in Kayan that day in June 1988, I could see she was nervous and that something had made her afraid. As we sat down in the living room of our relatives’ house, where I was temporarily staying, she whispered: "They came and looked for you last night at our house."

"They" were military intelligence officers. A friendly local official had already tipped me off about a possible visit after the officers showed him my photograph and asked him if he knew my whereabouts.

I had taken part with student comrades in a week of campus protests. The regime had shut down all colleges and schools again after clashes in which scores of students were killed. My friends and I decided to go into hiding—it was a choice between going underground and probably returning to Insein Prison, where I had been briefly detained and roughly interrogated in March.

I sought shelter with my relatives in Kayan. But I still felt insecure, and concerned about my relatives, particularly after the news my mother had brought.

By chance, a respected abbot from Day Pauk village was visiting my relatives’ house when my mother called. When he heard that military intelligence were after me he immediately offered to accommodate me at his monastery, the well-known Day Pauk Kyaung. I gratefully accepted the offer.

Within the hour, I was aboard a boat with the abbot, heading along a small creek to the monastery. As we passed people on shore or in other boats respects were paid to the revered abbot.

Day Pauk Kyaung sits in a beautiful location, in the midst of paddy fields, a few kilometers from Day Pauk village.

The abbot was excited to have a new guest at his rundown monastery, which housed only a few student monks. The morning after my arrival, he shaved my head, gave me set of monk’s robes and I breakfasted on the alms we had received.

"You are now koyin gyi," he said with a broad smile, "Don’t worry, I will protect you. Just don’t say who you are and where you come from." Young novice monks danced around me as my hair was cut, welcoming a new friend to the monastery.

The abbot offered me a mantra to chant every morning to keep danger at bay and avoid capture by military intelligence. He was clearly political although he kept his thoughts much to himself.

When news of the bloody suppression of the student protests in August reached the monastery, however, the abbot told an assembly of local villagers openly that they had to fight for justice.

I felt lonely and restless at the monastery, and meditation offered no help. A visit by my mother and relatives cheered me up briefly.

My mother told me that some of my former student comrades were also in hiding in Upper Burma and that a number of them were in monasteries. Some had been caught and were in prison. Student activists were still holding small, sporadic protests in Rangoon, my mother said.

I yearned for news from Rangoon and elsewhere in the country and rejoiced when a local man brought to the temple an old radio on which I was able—after repairs by one of the monks—to hear broadcasts by the Burmese service of the BBC.

There were very few radios in Day Pauk and most villagers wanting to hear news of outside events gathered at the house of the village headman to listen to his. In candlelit corners of his home, they sat and puffed on their cheroots while reports came in of the bloodshed in Rangoon.

I joined them once when my radio needed repair, and while the villagers greeted me with respect the village headman seemed suspicious.

I suspected that they had seen through my disguise and I certainly gave them cause. At one religious ceremony attended by monks and abbots from other monasteries, I was unable to join in the chants. Villagers stared at me and began to whisper and laugh.

The abbot seemed unconcerned by the possibility that I might be exposed as a bogus monk—and the next day a woman and her young daughter came to the monastery and handed me a meat dish, a pleasant change from the daily diet of beans.

The owner of my old radio visited me most evenings and puffed away on a long cheroot.

I was sure he wondered why a young monk was so interested in listening to BBC broadcasts and never talked about monastery life, but he never asked.

The abbot also followed the news from Rangoon very closely and he often engaged in heated political debates with other monks.

When the abbot was absent, I sometimes joined an assistant monk on boat trips to other villages. We often arrived just as families were settling down to their evening meal and my companion asked them to prepare some tasty dishes for his hungry young activist friend—unable himself to partake of the food because of his monastic routine.

I wanted desperately to return to Rangoon when I learned news of the shooting and violence there but all roads leading to the city were blocked. I set out, nevertheless, leaving the monastery without informing the abbot.

Before I left, and still in my monk’s robes, I addressed rallies of students and villagers in Day Pauk, where a school principal and a teacher were organizing a mass protest. I finally confessed that I was not real monk.

The owner of the old radio set on which I had been kept so well informed smiled and applauded. He had known of my disguise all along. Evidently, the uprising had spread everywhere…

The post Confessions of a Bogus Monk appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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National News

National News

Former outspoken MP establishes political school

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 02:57 PM PDT

A former outspoken member of parliament has established a political school for individuals interested in the art and science of law and politics.

Newspaper editor accuses authorities of not respecting News Media Law

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 02:54 PM PDT

An editor of a daily newspaper accused the government of not respecting the News Media Law, which was passed by the Hluttaw and signed by the president, as it has been prosecuting journalists under the penal code without going through the proper procedures.

Students protest against unfair appointing system

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 02:52 PM PDT

Hundreds of students from education universities in Yangon and Sagaing Regions on Sunday took to the streets to protest against unfair system of appointing teachers and called on the education ministry to come up with an employment framework to ensure transparency.

Government to launch campaign to understand life in conflict areas

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 01:58 PM PDT

The Ministry of Information will launch a campaign to raise the awareness of the general public about how it is to live in conflict areas, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said.

Rakhine NLD demands security for the people

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 01:53 PM PDT

Rakhine National League for Democracy (NLD) called on the Union Government and Rakhine State Government to provide effective security for the people from northern Rakhine.

Chicken consumption drops 20pc in Mandalay

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 01:49 PM PDT

Chicken consumption has dropped 20pc in Mandalay Region and it has been affecting poultry businessmen although there is no link between H1N1 seasonal flu and chickens according to Mandalay Region Livestock Breeding Federation chair Dr. Kyaw Htin.

Young monks urge tighter security in Maungdaw

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 01:32 PM PDT

A young monk's organization on Monday urged the government to implement tighter security measures in Maungdaw to prevent conflicts in the area, adding that they will launch a protest "soon" to dramatise their demands.
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Monday, August 7, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Human Rights Commission Inspects Shan State Prisons

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 08:38 AM PDT

YANGON — Members of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) arrived in northern Shan State to carry out an inspection of jail cells in police stations and courts in Lashio and Hsipaw, as part of countrywide prison reforms in Myanmar.

During their five-day trip, the inspection group, led by the MNHRC's U Yu Lwin Aung, is scheduled to meet with three journalists detained in Hsipaw after being charged with violating Article 17(1) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act for having contact with the ethnic armed group the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

On August 4, the Hsipaw Township court judge rejected the journalists' appeal for bail, saying he did not have enough details about the case to make a judgment.

The military arrested seven people in total—The Irrawaddy's Lawi Weng, also known as U Thein Zaw, as well as U Aye Nai and U Pyae Bone Naing from the Democratic Voice of Burma—on June 26 in Namhsan on their way back from covering a drug-burning ceremony in TNLA territory.

"We inspected 14 prisons already. The special report of the Commission, which includes the findings of the inspections and recommendations, will be submitted to the government," U Yu Lwin Aung said.

The MNHRC investigation aims to ensure human rights law is not violated in Myanmar's prisons and that the UN's standard minimum rules are met concerning the treatment of prisoners.

There are 46 prisons in Myanmar in total. The prison population—including pre-trial detainees and those remanded during their hearings—was 74,000 as of Dec. 2016, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

On July 14, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners met with the MNHRC and discussed options for prison reform.

The post Human Rights Commission Inspects Shan State Prisons appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Elephant Killed by Poisoned Bolt in Irrawaddy Region

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 06:27 AM PDT

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region — A wild elephant was hunted and killed with a poisoned bolt—an arrow shot from a crossbow—in the village tract of Tin Chaung in Irrawaddy Region's Ngapudaw Township.

Following a report from locals, a combined team from the Forestry Department, Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, police, forestry police and administrative authorities searched the forest and found the dying elephant near the village of Yawn Yin on Friday.

"After it was reported, we searched for and found the poisoned elephant. It had not died yet and the poachers were likely waiting for it to die. We had to flee at one point when it tried to attack but it died later in the evening," head of Ngapudaw Township Forestry Department U Tin Soe told The Irrawaddy.

The black female elephant was 26 years old, 7.6 feet long, 15 feet in circumference, and its trunk was 4.8 feet long. A 16-inch poisoned bolt was found in its shoulder.

Nine elephants have been killed by poachers in Irrawaddy Region as of January, all by poisoned bolts, according to the Irrawaddy Region Police Force.

Forest reserves in Pathein, Ngapudaw and Thabaung townships in Pathein District are home to wild elephants.

Poachers take the tusks, hide, flesh, and tails from hunted elephants and sell them to smugglers along the Pathein-Mawtin road. From there, smugglers take the items via the Pathein-Monywa road to Mandalay Region, where they smuggle them into China via the Mandalay-Muse road.

The majority of the elephant poachers have been from Minbu, Ngape, and Sidoktaya townships in Magwe Region, according to the Irrawaddy Region Police Force.

"We've opened a case at the police station, and we are working to find the poachers," said U Tin Soe.

Locals have suggested conducting routine security patrols around the forest and installing inspection gates along the route to prevent poaching.

Last year, poachers killed 13 wild elephants in the region and police arrested hunters in four of the cases. They are still investigating six cases and closed three cases, as they could not identify the poachers.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

The post Elephant Killed by Poisoned Bolt in Irrawaddy Region appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi Touts Peace Efforts in Visit to Myanmar Heartland

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 06:21 AM PDT

MYAETINEKAN, Mandalay Region — Myanmar leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told villagers at the heart of the country on Monday that talks with ethnic rebels must be a priority, after putting peace negotiations ahead of economic reforms in her first months in power.

Suu Kyi inherited the long-running ethnic conflicts when she came to power last year amid a transition from decades of military rule that wrecked rural economies.

The Nobel laureate has come under criticism for putting the complicated talks with myriad armed groups—expected to last years and unlikely to bring tangible results soon—over the economy which has suffered from a drop in foreign investment.

She has hosted two rounds of talks with rebel leaders in the capital Naypyitaw, but significant progress has been elusive.

"I want all my citizens to consider that the peace process is a matter for everybody… We can maintain development only when we get peace," Suu Kyi told a crowd of hundreds in Myaetinekan village, Mandalay Region.

"We don't have peace in our country because there is no mutual trust, love and [there is] conflict among our citizens or ethnicities."

Local and international media were invited by the government to follow Suu Kyi's visit and watch the event dubbed a "peace talk," the third such exchange with villagers she has held. The event was simultaneously broadcast on state television.

Suu Kyi declined several opportunities to answer reporters' questions.

"Our national priority is peace," Mandalay Region chief minister Zaw Myint Maung told Reuters. "It's a peace talk… The context is peace, and then development."

Those who had the opportunity, however, asked Suu Kyi about agricultural concerns like irrigation and the recent electrification of some parts of the village, which had left out some villagers.

Aung Tint, 64, told Reuters he supported Suu Kyi's decision to prioritize peace, but said life had changed little in the 16 months since Suu Kyi took office.

"To tell frankly, we are farmers," he said. "She can't do anything for us so far, because the crop prices are not good."

Suu Kyi passed off specific questions to senior officials also in attendance. Zaw Myint Maung said Myaetinekan was chosen for the visit because it lies approximately at the geographical center of Myanmar and was a typical Myanmar village.

Most residents are rice farmers and belong to the country's ethnic Bamar Buddhist majority.

Suu Kyi's party won handsomely here and elsewhere in the Bamar heartland in the 2015 elections that propelled her to power.

On a short tour of the village, she viewed a Japanese-made transformer that was installed in March to connect the village to the national power grid for the first time.

At weaving factories with machines running off the power, Suu Kyi joked with villagers who offered her homemade snacks and, in one instance, bowed at her feet.

The post Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi Touts Peace Efforts in Visit to Myanmar Heartland appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Getting it Right: A Response to ‘Death, Lies and Videotape’

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 05:19 AM PDT

In a July 24 post on Tea Circle, "Death, Lies and Videotape," David Scott Mathieson aptly notes the dangers of "misreporting and over-dramatization of events" in Myanmar through the circulation of unauthenticated, "unfiltered information." As a human rights organization, we know these perils all too well and the importance of "getting it right."

Credibility is the bedrock of human rights documentation work and the dissemination of inaccurate information not only distracts from the most severe violations, but can also impugn human rights organizations publishing reliable and accurate information. As eloquently put by Mr. Mathieson, "Disinformation plays into the hands of government deniers and conflict actors wanting to divert blame."

Ironically, while cautioning against the dangers of "fake news," Mr. Mathieson got it wrong when he pointed to graphic video footage disseminated by Fortify Rights in his attempt to demonstrate "the perils of unfiltered information on social media."

The footage in question shows Myanmar Army soldiers beating, punching, and kicking civilians in northern Shan State. A short film we produced about it went viral, and within four days, the office of Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar military—the very institution implicated in the footage—issued statements agreeing to investigate the incident.

In making his argument, Mr. Mathieson not only missed the point that this case represented a positive use of film, but also misrepresented key facts. Firstly, he writes that "[r]ights groups quoted in The New York Times claimed the footage was taken in recent days or weeks, yet it was determined subsequently to be two years old, pointing to the perils of premature social media posting of conflict reports."

The referenced New York Times article only quoted Fortify Rights, and nowhere in the article or elsewhere did we claim that the footage was filmed "in recent days and weeks." On the contrary, we explicitly stated in our film that "details of this footage are still emerging." We told The New York Times and other news outlets that we believed the footage was likely filmed during the recent ongoing armed-conflict in Northern Shan State, which is true.

But regardless of whether the footage was filmed two days ago or two years ago, the actions of the soldiers are no less wrong and demand no less than an immediate investigation and prompt accountability. That was the point.

While Mr. Mathieson argues on the one-hand that the footage was outdated, he confusingly goes on to suggest it was publicized "prematurely" and in service to "the rapid-fire demands of Facebook and Twitter."

This footage is sadly not "fake news" or an example of "stovepiping"— a term Mr. Mathieson describes as "the elevation of primary reports to prominence without the necessary verification and contextualizing." Before taking the tact of the Myanmar government and dismissing credible reports of human rights violations simply by labeling them "fake news," it is advisable— as Mr. Mathieson suggests— to subject all reports of abuse to rigorous analysis.

And that is exactly what we did.

The team at Fortify Rights— including the two present authors, two Myanmar human rights specialists, a multimedia specialist, and our legal director— watched the 17-minute-long footage dozens of times, analyzed it at various speeds, translated the audio, and consulted with our civil society partners in northern Shan State.

We established a few facts right from the start. We established that more than two-dozen Myanmar Army soldiers and at least four militiamen appear in the video, menacing more than 18 men and one woman in civilian clothes. We established that the six victims bound and beaten by soldiers in the film were Ta'ang— an ethnic minority group predominantly from Myanmar's northern Shan State. Importantly, we also established that the incident likely occurred in Kutkai Township, Shan State.

We counted 32 kicks, four punches and slaps, and three violent blows with a helmet, delivered by Myanmar Army soldiers to three of the unarmed, bound men, while they were being questioned. Two victims bled from their faces and mouths. Insignia patches visible on the right shoulders of the perpetrators indicated that they were with Light Infantry Division (LID) 88.

We published these important facts in a news release on May 28, less than 24-hours after we published the 86-second film on the incident, calling upon Myanmar authorities to investigate.

The film not only prompted a rare and almost-immediate response from the government and the military, it also prompted journalists to dig deeper into the incident, exposing new facts. For example, three days after we disseminated the film, now-jailed The Irrawaddy reporter Lawi Weng helped confirm that the incident occurred in June 2015. We also received welcomed news that the Myanmar Army released four of the men featured in the film after detaining them for several months.

Far from an example of misreporting or exaggeration, this case demonstrates the responsible use of video and film to establish the facts, promote and protect human rights, and prompt government action.

Mr. Mathieson's article also references the situation in Rakhine State with regard to "fake news" and "fabricated video." He correctly acknowledges "harrowing reports of widespread abuses" against Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar Army and that the Myanmar authorities use inaccurate media "as a shield […] to reject reports of abuses" against Rohingya.

Since 2012, a variety of actors have disseminated online photos and videos originating from other countries while alleging—or rather, assuming—that they represent evidence of human rights violations by the Myanmar Army against Rohingya men, women, and children in Rakhine State.

On this issue, Mr. Mathieson shares a common misunderstanding regarding the situation in Rakhine State when he says that "[m]uch of the fabricated video and photos are desperate measures to raise awareness and compel greater pressure for intervention in the international community." Here he suggests "Rohingya activists and their allies" deliberately disseminate "fabricated video and photos."

In our experience working with Rohingya human rights defenders as well as conducting in-depth interviews on the ground with hundreds of Rohingya survivors in Rakhine State and on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, false information in this context is rarely shared deliberately or maliciously.

Rather, survivors of horrific and unspeakable atrocities often see graphic videos and footage depicting appalling events from other times or contexts that so closely represent their own experiences that they genuinely believe that it has evidentiary value. They circulate these photos and videos because they want the world to know what the Myanmar Army did to them. They want accountability.

No good can come from blaming Rohingya for circulating unverified or "false" images and videos without probing deeper as to why and how false information spreads. It's not as simple as it seems.

Let us be clear: there is no excuse for the deliberate dissemination of false media. However, as BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher and others have noted, there are far-more photos and videos coming out of Rakhine State that are disturbingly real rather than "fake," thanks in large part to the hard work of Rohingya human rights defenders.

It's time to get it right and use all the tools at our disposal to end human rights violations, including film and social media platforms.

Matthew Smith is CEO of Fortify Rights and Amy Smith is Executive Director of Fortify Rights. This article originally appeared in Tea Circle, a forum hosted at Oxford University for emerging research and perspectives on Burma/Myanmar.

The post Getting it Right: A Response to 'Death, Lies and Videotape' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Plaintiff in Myanmar Now Lawsuit Arrested at Trial

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 05:03 AM PDT

MANDALAY — The plaintiff in a lawsuit against an esteemed investigative journalist was arrested when he arrived at the journalist's trial in Maha Aung Myay Township Court, Mandalay on Monday.

U Kyaw Myo Shwe was detained for participating in an anti-government protest of nationalist monks and laypersons in Mandalay on Friday. He will appear at Chanmyathazi Township Court under a charge of incitement, according to police.

In March, U Kyaw Myo Shwe filed a lawsuit against Myanmar Now chief editor U Ko Swe Win under controversial Article 66(d) of Burma's Telecommunications Law, accusing the reporter of insulting ultranationalist monk U Wirathu in a Facebook post.

U Kyaw Myo Shwe was late by a few hours to the court hearing of Ko Swe Win on Monday. When he arrived, the defendant's lawyer asked the court to call off the trial, as the plaintiff, who was included on an arrest warrant on Friday, was a fugitive.

"We could not accept that the fugitive showed up to the court freely. We are not trying to stop his right to be the plaintiff, but we have to question the judicial system and the police for not taking action against the fugitive," said U Khin Maung Myint, the legal adviser of Ko Swe Win.

Ko Kyaw Myo Shwe had remained at home since the announce of his arrest warrant, according to his lawyer, causing the defense of Ko Swe Win to question why the police had failed to take action sooner.

The next court session in the trial of Ko Swe Win was set for August 21. Ko Kyaw Myo Shwe will testify from his detention in Mandalay's Obo Prison.

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Myanmar Army Bars Military Dress for Mon Revolution Day

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 02:33 AM PDT

MOULMEIN, Mon State — The Myanmar Army has told the New Mon State Party (NMSP) not to hold military parades in uniform at locations other than the party's headquarters to mark the 70th Anniversary of Mon Revolution Day on Monday.

The 19th Military Operations Command in Ye Township summoned NMSP officials on Saturday in order to inform them about the instruction, said Nai Pin, liaison officer of the township's NMSP office, on Sunday.

The order means the NMSP will be barred from holding parades in Dawei, Thaton, and Moulmein, as well as the area of the Three Pagodas Pass.

The day marks the occasion when about 30 Mon leaders stole guns from a police station in Sarthapyin village, Kyaikmayaw Township, on the full moon day of Wagaung in 1948, forming a resistance against the government.

The NMSP signed a ceasefire with the then ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in 1995, but the truce broke in 2010. It then signed state- and Union-level ceasefire agreements with former President U Thein Sein's government in February 2012, but has opted out of signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

According to Nai Pin, the ban shows the National League for Democracy (NLD) government is pressuring the NMSP to sign the NCA.

Mon people will mark the annual event as usual, laying wreaths at the tombs of Mon leaders in the leaders' villages and gathering at the Mon Martyrs' Mausoleum in Mudon Township.

"We'll pay tribute to leaders in the morning and gather at the mausoleum at 1 p.m.," said Mi Sandar Nom of the event's organizing committee.

The NMSP was allowed to stage military parades in uniform under the previous government, she said, adding that it was "unacceptable" that it is now banned under the current government.

The NMSP was also told by the Myanmar Army not to hold a military parade in military dress on Mon National Day in February this year, resulting in tensions between the two sides.

NMSP officials based in Moulmein told The Irrawaddy they had received the instruction from the Myanmar Army 1st grade tactical commander of the command, but had not yet received an official letter. They declined to give further comment.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Govt Thanks Citizens for Not Supporting Nationalist Protests

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 02:23 AM PDT

YANGON — The government on Sunday thanked Myanmar citizens for their stance against anti-government nationalist protesters, including monks, who staged sit-ins at religious sites in Yangon and Mandalay as well as in Taunggyi in Shan State last week.

A statement titled "Thank You Message to the People" released by the office of the State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday said: "People have not supported or participated in the demonstrations … We express heartfelt thanks to the people for their stance and conviction that serve the long-term interest of the State."

Protesters camped near the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon and the Maha Muni Pagoda in Mandalay last week called for the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government to step down as it had failed to protect the country's race and religion.

Hundreds of nationalist monks and laypersons gathered in Yangon and Mandalay from Wednesday last week while 10 protesting monks joined the Taunggyi camp on Friday.

Rather than attracting support, the protesters' calls earned public condemnation for inflaming nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment and threatening to derail the government's reform process in the country.

The number of protesters in Mandalay and Yangon quickly dwindled to little more than a dozen at each site.

Following the government's crackdown on a camp in Mandalay early morning on Saturday, protesters in Yangon and Taunggyi also shut down their camps.

The post Govt Thanks Citizens for Not Supporting Nationalist Protests appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Women of 1988

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 02:05 AM PDT

Of all the social and political upheavals that Myanmar has experienced since 1962, the popular uprising of 1988 is seen by many as the most prominent in the country's modern history. Over a period of six months—reaching a peak on the auspicious day of August 8, 1988—people across Myanmar took to the streets to defy the dictatorship that had oppressed them for 26 years.

Despite an end to the struggle in a bloody military coup, young people kept the spirit of the '88 pro-democracy movement alive—in prisons, in exile, and on borders— by defying the regime using whatever means possible. It is believed that their efforts, power and commitment made way for the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government today.

When Myanmar marks the 29th anniversary of the uprising on Tuesday, we will honor those who dared to sacrifice their lives for the good of the country and their fellow citizens. In commemoration, The Irrawaddy chose to profile seven women who were involved in or inspired by the events of 1988, so as to represent the many more who fought alongside their male counterparts at the forefront of the democracy movement. Most of those featured below continue to be politically active in different sectors, fighting against injustice or serving people in need, and fulfilling legacies 29 years in the making.

 

Ma Win Maw Oo: The Martyr

When Myanmar Army soldiers indiscriminately opened fire on protesters on September 19, 1988 in downtown Yangon, Ma Win Maw Oo was at the forefront of the column. Witnesses recalled that despite her bullet wounds, the high school student did not drop the picture she held of Gen Aung San until she fell to the ground. Later, her blood-soaked body was carried away by two doctors for emergency treatment, captured in an iconic photograph taken by a foreign journalist. The picture appeared in the Oct. 3, 1988 issue of Newsweek's Asia edition, and 16-year-old Ma Win Maw Oo soon became an icon of the brutality of the crackdown, which cost her her life.

Apart from her sacrifice, Ma Win Maw Oo's last words reflected the unbowed spirit of the participants of the '88 uprising. In Myanmar, a deeply rooted traditional belief has it that a person's soul cannot rest in peace until his or her name is called out by the family so that the merit of the living can be shared with the deceased. Her final request was to her father, whom she told not to perform these last rites until her country had become a democracy.

Twenty-eight years later, in May 2016, one month after the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led democratically elected government came to power, the last Buddhist funerary rites for Ma Win Maw Oo were performed by her family, to put her wandering soul to rest. Despite her untimely death, she will be remembered along with the other young students who put their lives before the barrels of loaded guns when they took to the streets to defy the dictatorship 29 years ago.

– By Kyaw Phyo Tha

 

Ma Thandar: The Lawmaker

Twenty-nine years after she took the streets to protest against the authoritarian regime, Ma Thandar finds herself sitting in the Lower House of Parliament, making laws and participating in Myanmar's democratic transition.

In 1988, she was a leading student activist in Irrawaddy Division's Einme Township. After a bloody military coup on Sept. 18, 1988, a warrant was issued for her arrest because of her participation in demonstrations. Ma Thandar had to flee her home and go into hiding. Later, she joined the NLD.

In 2007, she was arrested for her pro-democracy work. She was tortured during interrogations and jailed for six years in Insein Prison.

The long-time activist co-founded the Democracy and Peace Women's Network with other female former political prisoners as a mechanism to fight for justice, women's rights and speak out against land grabs.

Three years ago, Ma Thandar lost her husband Aung Kyaw Naing, a journalist who wrote under the name Par Gyi and who had once served as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's bodyguard. She was in Bangkok to receive a United Nations award for her work when she learned that he had been killed by the Myanmar Army during an interrogation.

Though two soldiers initially implicated in her husband's death were acquitted by a military tribunal, Ma Thandar's call for answers prompted the army to make an unprecedented statement admitting the journalist had been shot in custody.

Following the 2015 election, the 48-year-old became the representative for her home region, Irrawaddy's Einme Township, and a member of the Lower House's Citizens' Fundamental Rights Committee.

"We faced human rights violations and justice has never been done. But if we can protect the next generations from suffering as we did, I would see it as a success. That's what I want," she said.

– By San Yamin Aung

 

Hnin Pan Eain(center) pictured with her family. (Hnin Pan Eain/Facebook)

Hnin Pan Eain: The Supporter

It would have been unimaginably more difficult to survive in Myanmar's prisons under the military regime without the moral and physical support of people like Hnin Pan Eain.

Like many other family members of political prisoners who struggled to care for their jailed loved ones, she long supported her husband, Nay Oo, who was imprisoned for eight years for his role in Myanmar's pro-democracy movement of 1988.

Hnin Pan Eain's preparation for this role unknowingly began in 1969, when she was just three years old, and she first visited her father in jail. He was a journalist and peace activist who was arrested by Gen Ne Win's regime in 1966. It marked the first of hundreds of prison visits that she would make in her lifetime.

Between 1998 and 2005, the years during which her husband was jailed, she made more than 200 visits to the remote Kalay prison where he was held. The journey there was long and arduous, and allowed for just a 15-minute visitation period. She traveled 400 miles by train from Yangon to Mandalay with her five-year-old son. From there, they continued by bus for another 160 miles, through dense jungle to Kalay. Along the way, they had to cross the wild Chindwin River by boat.

After seeing her husband incarcerated in deplorable conditions, Hnin Pan Eain decided to stay in Kalay so that she would be able to make regular visits to the prison and bring him and others food, medicine and necessities every fortnight. She sold fish paste in the town market in order to survive.

She considered family visits a form of physical and mental sustenance for the political prisoners, who she saw as freedom fighters on the front line. In addition to visiting her own husband regularly, she helped family members of other political prisoners make trips to remote prisons.

In 1999, she transformed the hardship of her visits into a series of stories based on her experiences and those relayed to her by other prisoners. Originally called Daw Thandar, she wrote under a pen name—Hnin Pan Eain—under which she continues to be known.

Now a well-known 52-year-old writer, she continues helping former political prisoners and their families.

She has facilitated counseling for former political prisoners, their family members, and women in vocational schools, under the outreach programs of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, in order to heal the trauma, depression, and anxiety that haunts the past of so many who survived this era.

– By San Yamin Aung

Nan Khin Htwe Myint: The Legacy

In the same office building once run by her father, Dr. Saw Hla Tun, former head of the Karen State Council under the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), Nan Khin Htwe Myint serves as the Karen State chief minister under the NLD civilian government.

The 63-year-old has made many sacrifices due to her activism and family history of opposing military rule.

A participant in the political movement since an early age, she was detained for the first time in 1975 for taking part in the student movement. She continued to be imprisoned multiple times throughout the 1990s, including in Insein and Moulmein prisons.

She became a dedicated member of the NLD upon its formation in 1988, following the 1988 uprising. She contested and won a seat in the 1990 general election, in Hpa-an Constituency, the same constituency she represented in the 2015 general election.

Being the daughter of a politician, Nan Khin Htwe Myint fostered a homegrown knowledge of federalism, politics, and ethnic history, and fully committed herself to the movement for a democratic Union.

Her father was a supporter of the federal movements of the 1960s, in which Myanmar's ethnic minority representatives suggested amendments to the 1947 Constitution. Later, in the 1962 military coup, AFPFL ministers and active ethnic leaders from the Shan, Kachin, Karenni, Karen and Chin communities were, among others, arrested.

Nan Khin Htwe Myint's own family became targets for persecution under the military regime.

A strong believer that women are highly capable of coping with challenges, she has urged other women to increase their participation in politics and current affairs.

"We, as women, should never feel nor think that we are weak and cannot do things like others can. I want every woman to think that we can keep abreast of everything," she told The Irrawaddy earlier this year.

– By Nyein Nyein 

Dr. Cynthia Maung and Daw Aye Aye Mar: Those Who Bridged the Border

Often referred to as Myanmar's own Mother Teresa, Dr. Cynthia Maung has served as a source of strength for vulnerable communities on the Thai-Myanmar border, including migrant workers and ethnic minorities displaced by civil war.

In the aftermath of the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations, Dr. Cynthia Maung left Karen State and opened a clinic in a dirt-floor building on the outskirts of Mae Sot, on the Thai side of the border. Today the Mae Tao Clinic she founded boasts a staff of 700 and sees more than 300 patients each month, treating a range of issues, from landmine injuries to facilitating safe childbirths to providing HIV counseling.

Today, Dr. Cynthia, as she is widely known, has been honored with dozens of humanitarian awards, and remains a powerful advocate for decentralized and community-based healthcare in Myanmar's ethnic states.

The renowned ethnic Karen physician has inspired many, including Daw Aye Aye Mar, the director of the Social Action for Women (SAW) Foundation, also based in Mae Sot. Following Dr. Cynthia's suggestion, she started with a safe house, in order to provide shelter to some of Mae Tao's patients and orphans, and then co-founded SAW in 2001, along with other 88-generation women, including Dr. Cynthia.

Daw Aye Aye Mar (Photo: SAW)

The organization provides shelter and 24-hour support to orphans, domestic violence and rape survivors, as well as trafficked women and their families. SAW has helped provide in-house care to nearly 300 women and children, runs a learning center, and facilitates health awareness trainings. Some 90 orphans from SAW's shelters receive formal education at Thai schools.

Daw Aye Aye Mar, now 48, had been involved in Myanmar's democracy movement since 1988, and was detained in the notorious Insein Prison for one month in 1989. She left her home in March 1990 and joined the once-outlawed student army, known as the All Burma Students' Democratic Front.

She also has had a career as a radio broadcast reporter for 19 years, with the Democratic Voice of Burma, then Radio Free Asia, and Voice of America's Burmese service. She became particularly involved in documenting the plight of female migrant workers.

The political transition over the past five years has contributed to major funding cuts in cross-border aid and has forced many community-based groups on the Thai border to return to Myanmar. Despite financial difficulties and security challenges, migration patterns persist, and Daw Aye Aye Mar continues to provide social services to women and children, just as Mae Tao Clinic founder Dr. Cynthia continues to offer lifesaving healthcare support.

– By Nyein Nyein 

 

Ma Phyoe Phyoe Aung with student protesters at the standoff in front of a monastery in Letpadan March 3. 2015. ( Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Ma Phyoe Phyoe Aung: The Next Generation

Having been born in August 1988 at the height of student-led democracy movement, Ma Phyoe Phyoe Aung said she feels "close" to the struggle.

"It can't be separated from me," she told The Irrawaddy earlier this month, adding that it is important to remember the people's power, unity, and struggle for democracy associated with that era. These events, she explained, helped to create her own political commitment a generation later.

Ma Phyoe Phyoe Aung was an active leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) organizing committee from 2007 and until November 2016.

She was detained in June 2008 with her father U Nay Win for helping to bury the dead who were scattered after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta region in May, killing more than 140,000 people. She was imprisoned for four years after a closed trial in 2009, in which she was charged under sections 6, 7 and 505(b) of the country's Penal Code, accused of forming an illegal organization, contacting unlawful groups and "intent to commit an offense against the State."

Ma Phyoe Phyoe Aung faced a trial and another jail term of 13-months for her involvement in nationwide protests against the national education law in March 2015. She was released in April 2016. She remained a member of the National Network for Education Reform (NNER) and said she would continue pursuing change in the sector.

She is also a 2014 alumnus of the George W. Bush Institute's Liberty and Leadership Forum in the United States.

As the ABFSU elected new leadership in Nov. 2016, she no longer possesses official responsibilities with the organization.

Now a mother of a five-month-old son, she is dedicating her time to her family while contributing to a youth capacity building school called the "Wings Institute," cofounded by ABFSU colleagues. Her work focuses on peace building and reconciliation, and discussions of federalism and transitional justice.

– By Nyein Nyein 

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Revolutionary Paintings Tell Myanmar’s Story

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 12:32 AM PDT

YANGON — For years, Myanmar lived under dictatorship and authoritarianism. But for artist Thoe Hteine, Myanmar has never been a victim of oppression, rather it is a society of revolution.

An ongoing exhibition at the Bo Aung Kyaw Art Gallery on Bo Aung Kyaw Street reflects his perspective of the country. Titled S8it, the exhibition features the works of eight artists, including Thoe Hteine, until Tuesday, priced between US$100 and $1,000.

Thoe Hteine, a 37-year-old artist from Yangon, was mentored by Myanmar's influential contemporary artist Kin Maung Yin.

He is showcasing a series of eight paintings at the exhibition which he says "tell a story" of Myanmar's revolutionary attitude.

Revolution-inspired paintings by Yangon artist Thoe Hteine (Photo: Thet Tun Naing)

The first painting depicts a chair in an old, cobwebbed room. A chair is a metaphor for the position of power in Burmese language, and the painting shows a dictator who is unwilling to leave his "chair."

The second painting shows a prisoner in shackles and a newborn baby. "Despite the fact that [dissidents] are arrested, the new generation of revolutionaries continues to emerge," said Thoe Hteine.

The third shows poisonous snakes watching a tied Pyit Taung Htaung or Tumbling Kelly—a traditional Myanmar toy figure that wobbles, but always returns to an upright position.

The fourth painting depicts a pinball machine, which the artist compares to Insein Prison. "There are ups and downs, and entry and departure in a revolution," he said.

"The ball will get in when the player pushes it in, but it will find its way out. But then, the player will push the ball in again. So, the ball gets in and gets out in an unending circle," the artist said, comparing it to the prison life of so-called dissidents.

The fifth painting shows people protecting themselves rather than being protected by the police while the sixth exhibits the flags of victory in spite of oppression.

A painting titled "The Last Hope—The Last Drop of Water" comes from Thoe Hteine's belief that there is one hope left for Myanmar's 50 million people in search of democracy. "We need to drink, when there is only one drop of water left," the painting reads.

The final painting shows Myanmar society engaged in a revolution under a vigorous fighting peacock. "Myanmar has been a revolutionary country all the way. But it is mainly the fighting peacock that fought the revolution since the struggle for independence," he said.

The other artists featured in the exhibition are: Ang Banang, Ba G, Han Sann, Lwin Oo Maung, Myint Soe Oo, Thu Myat, Wunna Aung.

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How Can Burma Begin to Heal the Scars of ‘88?

Posted: 06 Aug 2017 08:00 PM PDT

Phone Maw was the first of thousands of martyrs killed during the military crackdown of the '88 uprising.

Twenty-five years after the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement began, this piece, in 2013, demands an answer to the still salient question: who were really responsible for ordering the deaths?

YANGON — On March 13, 1988 Phone Maw was gunned down by government security forces in a compound of Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT). The 21-year-old engineering student became the first martyr among an estimated 3,000 people killed when the so-called 8888 pro-democracy uprising was brutally crushed by the military regime.

The incident in Burma's history is commemorated by opposition politicians and rights activists as the county's national Human Rights Day, also known as Phone Maw Day. There are religious and political ceremonies held to mark the slaying of the student. But the question remains: who were really responsible for ordering the killing of Phone Maw and thousands of others in 1988?

"Until now, there is no proper investigation in Phone Maw's case. We still want the government to take action," says Myo Win, a friend of Phone Maw in the RIT, who is now Vice Chairman of All Burma Students' Democratic Front, a dissident political group founded on the Thailand-Burma border after the '88 uprising.

Such demands for an official investigation into the former junta's wrongdoing come not only from political activists but also from human rights lawyers.

"They must respond to the crimes committed by the former junta," said Min Lwin Oo, a Burmese lawyer at Hong Kong-based Asia Human Rights Commission. "But it is not easy at the moment. There are no signs of interest [in an investigation] from the government and neither from the opposition, activists and any other stakeholders," the lawyer said.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma Tomas Ojea Quintana said accountability for decades of rights violations is crucial for healing the wounds in Burmese society and to solidify the country's reforms, according to a Reuters' report on a UN human rights meeting in Geneva.

But he said, "This is not on the agenda of any of the stakeholders. It's not on the government agenda, it's not on the other political parties' agenda and it's not on the ethnic minority groups' agenda."

Soe Thein, a Minister of the President's Office, addressed the issue in Oslo, Norway, during President Thein Sein trip to Europe in late February. "We don't want to put this agenda in the priority lists while we are heading for democracy," he said. "If you make it a priority the speed of our journey may be delayed. So let's think about it later," he warned.

When the military drafted the controversial Constitution in 2008 it included article 445, which provides immunity for all acts taken by members of the previous military government councils. "No proceeding shall be instituted against the said Councils or any member there of or any member of the Government, in respect of any act done in the execution of their respective duties," it states.

And so, is there then no way to hold former junta officials responsible for the crimes they committed? Perhaps Burma needs to follow a South Africa-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

This commission invited victims of rights abuses under the former apartheid-regime to give statements about their experiences. Perpetrators of violence could also testify and request amnesty from prosecution.

South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, who played an important role in the successful truth and reconciliation process, visited Rangoon recently. He met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 88- Generation Students activist Min Ko Naing and former political prisoners to explain his experience.

But so far, neither the government nor opposition politicians have reacted to his suggestion.

In this situation, what can activists do to hold a meaningful commemoration of Phone Maw and the 3,000 '88 martyrs at tomorrow's ceremony? Can they just pray for them to rest in peace? Can they just recall the memory of '88 uprising?

This activity is not new. Burma's exile community has marked Phone Maw Day for many years and last year, for the first time in decades, activists commemorated this event in Burma.

However, this year would be the first time that it will be held in Burma in open view of the government, which is led reformist President Thein Sein who has welcomed Suu Kyi into Burma's military-dominated Parliament.

At this year's ceremony the activists should discuss whether they want to push for prosecution of crimes committed against the '88 martyrs, or whether they want Burma to organize a truth and reconciliation commission to address the abuses.

Secondly, the activists should rebuild the monument for Phone Maw, which the students built the day after he was killed in the RIT compound. It was later destroyed by the army. If the authority will not allow it to be rebuild the activists should explain that the monument is needed to help heal the emotional wounds of the surviving '88 victims and their families.

Thirdly, they should urge the government to allow for the construction of monuments for the victims of the '88 uprising who were killed in Burma's other states and divisions in March, June, August and September 1988.

The government and Parliament should at least allow these monuments to be erected in order to provide an initial source of solace for the uprising's victims, before it is decided how to officially address the gross rights violations of 1988.

It would also be a good sign if the government could send some officials to tomorrow's commemoration event in order to pay their respects to Phone Maw and other 88 martyrs, and to meet with their families.

These initial steps should not delay Burma's important journey to democracy, but should be part of a larger effort to implement speedy democratic reforms and reconcile the country. Providing treatment and support for the victims of the Burmese government's past abuses is an important part of any reconciliation plan.

Htet Aung Kyaw is a former student activist who fled to Burma's ethnic rebel-controlled areas in 1988. He is now a freelance journalist.

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An Unsung ’88 Hero Gets His Due

Posted: 06 Aug 2017 07:26 PM PDT

This month marks the 29th anniversary of the nationwide protests in 1988 that launched Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. For four months that year, and at great personal risk, U Nay Min served as an unofficial stringer supplying information about the ongoing protests and government crackdowns to foreign journalists. In commemoration of his contribution to the struggle, the The Irrawaddy revisits a profile of U Nay Min published in 2014.

RANGOON — To an old telephone at his home in Rangoon, for four months he received four calls a day, at specified times. Already knowing who was on the other end of the line, Nay Min picked up the receiver to dictate information that he had from newsgathering in a country hardly welcoming of such activities. Outside, students were staging protests against the government of Gen. Ne Win and his heavy-handed tactics to suppress their pro-democracy demonstrations. It was late July, 1988.

For all his efforts to inform the world about demonstrations that would culminate in a nationwide protest known as the "8888 Uprising" on Aug. 8, 1988, Nay Min is not among the canonized pro-democracy crusaders who helped topple Burma's single-party rule system more than 25 years ago.

"At that time, I had to keep my identity secret for fear of government retribution," the 68-year-old told The Irrawaddy. "Plus, I feel embarrassed to say, 'You see, that's what I did.'"

But his preference for anonymity suddenly came to an end during a panel discussion at the East-West Center International Media Conference in Rangoon on Monday, when he was surprised by a trio of fellow journalists who honored him with a certificate recognizing his courage and conviction in 1988. For four months that year, and at great personal risk, Nay Min served as an unofficial stringer supplying information about the ongoing protests and government crackdowns to Christopher Gunness from the BBC's World Service, who was based in neighboring Bangladesh as an international correspondent.

Veteran journalist Bertil Lintner, who writes extensively about Burma and was one of the three journalists who honored Nay Min this week, told The Irrawaddy that he felt the Burmese who supplied news from within the country to journalists on the outside should be remembered and honored.

"We would not have been able to do our job without their support," Lintner said. "U Nay Min was the one who had to suffer the most because of the job he did, therefore we wanted to honor him and the work he did."

Back in 1988, Burma was known as one of the most reclusive countries in the world, and press freedom was nonexistent. Foreign journalists were barred from entering the country.

As much of the outside world remained in the dark on happenings in Burma, public discontent over the regime's mismanagement of the national economy was mounting. University students took to the streets en masse and were brutally suppressed.

"The country's situation at that time was on the brink of explosion," Nay Min recalled.

Trained as a lawyer, Nay Min found himself in early months of 1988 serving as a volunteer advocate for students unlawfully arrested by the regime for their participation in anti-government protests. He had no journalism background, but showed an uncommon aptitude for newsgathering—and discretion.

"U Nay Min is also a man of great integrity and would often say, 'I heard this, but don't use it until I have checked it,'" the BBC's Gunness told The Irrawaddy.

As anti-government protests gathered steam in late July, Nay Min was contacted by Gunness and managed to send information to him via a land-line telephone. Prior to Aug. 8, and based on Nay Min's work, the BBC reported that there would be a nationwide demonstration against the Ne Win regime on that fateful day, and the predicted protest came to fruition.

As a result, more and more people in Burma tuned into the BBC to glean the latest information on the protest movement. Nay Min even got a personal call from Aung San Suu Kyi, who rang him to clarify rumors that she was leading protests on the streets of Rangoon.

"She told me, 'Please say in your report that I'm not taking part in the protests,'" he remembered.

Gunness acknowledged that Nay Min's eyes and ears on the ground in Rangoon a quarter-century ago were "pivotal" to the BBC reports closely followed by the Burmese audience in 1988.

"When I was in Burma in August [for the Silver Jubilee celebration of the 8888 Uprising last year] people kept telling me about my own role, but the true hero of 1988 is U Nay Min," he told The Irrawaddy in an email.

"Of course there were many students and activists of all ages who were brave beyond imagination, but U Nay Min's role was pivotal, as I told journalists and others repeatedly when I was in Burma and as I now say again," the former BBC correspondent said.

But when the government staged a bloody crackdown on demonstrators on the night of Aug. 8 in downtown Rangoon, Nay Min said he faced a moment of deep moral uncertainty.

"When I learned about the crackdown, I broke into tears as I felt guilty because it was me who broke the news that there would be a huge protest on that day," he said.

"If I hadn't said anything, people wouldn't have known and they wouldn't have joined it."

For his reporting he was arrested twice, spending 16 years in prison and suffering severe torture at the hands of authorities. During stints in solidarity confinement, he slept on a concrete floor and used a plate as a pillow.

"I no longer have my molars. They are gone not because of my old age but because of interrogation sessions I went through," he said.

These days, in his late 60s, Nay Min spends most of his time meditating, and said he holds no grudge against the former military government for what its leaders did to him. But, like most other former political prisoners, he insisted that "the military government has to admit to their wrongdoing."

Asked to consider the ethics and impact of his actions nearly 26 years ago, he said he believed he had done the right thing, helping to show the world what was happening inside Burma and contributing to the country's transition from single- to multi-party rule.

"Nobody can deny that the single-party rule was toppled by the 88 Uprising," he said.

And all these years later, is Nay Min pleased with Burma's political landscape today?

"No. So far we've only got what the government wants to give, from political prisoners' [release] to constitutional amendment issues. It's quite despairing."

The post An Unsung '88 Hero Gets His Due appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Heroic Medics of the 8888 Uprising

Posted: 06 Aug 2017 06:27 PM PDT

Twenty-nine years ago, demonstrations across Myanmar (then Burma) demanded an end to Gen Ne Win's military dictatorship. After government troops opened fire on the 8888 Uprising in Yangon (then Rangoon), hundreds were seriously injured. Many doctors and nurses worked around the clock to save the injured.

Win Maw Oo is remembered from the iconic picture of a blood-soaked young woman being carried away by two medics during the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Yangon. She begged her father not to perform the Buddhist last rites until "Burma enjoys democracy." In May 2016, those funerary rites were performed, after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party assumed power.

YANGON — Twenty five years ago, the streets of Rangoon swelled with hundreds of thousands of protestors demanding an end to Burma's military dictatorship. After government troops opened fire on them, hundreds were seriously injured. Many would have died if it had not been for Dr Myat Htoo Razak and Dr Win Zaw.

Like many doctors and nurses, the young house surgeon and medical student worked around the clock to save the lives of injured protestors during the hectic days of the 8888 Uprising.

Myat Htoo Razak recalled the unforgettable scenes that he witnessed on August 9, 1988, one day after popular, nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations started in Rangoon and other cities across Burma.

"Some of them were shot in their chests, arms and legs," he said in a recent interview with The Irrawaddy. "Two of them were seriously injured; one was shot in his head and another one shot in his eye."

The then 24-year-old house surgeon and his team had arrived at the Maternal and Child Welfare Association in Rangoon's North Okkalapa Township shortly before troops began to fire on crowds of peaceful demonstrators, who had gathered nearby.

One monk who made a speech urging protestors to keep marching was fatally shot. Many protestors ran into the building to flee the gunfire, some were bleeding from bullet wounds in their torsos, arms and legs.

The medical team, which came from North Okkalapa Hospital, had already prepared emergency treatment facilities as they feared that authorities might launch a violent crackdown on the demonstrations. Myat Htoo Razak and three other house surgeons (young doctors who are still undergoing practical training) and nurses started treating the many wounded.

But soon, soldiers surrounded the Maternal and Child Welfare Association and two captains entered building to intimidate the demonstrators. "We just used rubber bullets. Or else, you would have all been dead," one of them said looking at injured protestors.

The captain's heartless words infuriated Myat Htoo Razak but he tried to cope with his anger for the sake of his patients. The would-be doctor then asked the officers to transport two seriously wounded patients to North Okkalapa Hospital.

In the meantime, more injured people were coming into the building. Myat Htoo Razak and his small team kept treating the injured until late afternoon. When he got back to North Okkalapa Hospital, the troops were shooting right in front of the building.

"We didn't even need to go too far to carry patients as they were shooting in front of the hospital. The injured people were just carried into the hospital. Inside, we treated many of the injured people," he said.

While the doctors like Myat Htoo Razak worked ceaselessly to operate on the many wounded, pools of blood covered the hospital floors and numerous bodies arrived at the mortuary. "It was a tragic scene to see the dead bodies of our brothers and sisters," he said.

For 10 days, government violence continued and wounded pro-democracy demonstrators filled the wards of hospitals and clinics in Rangoon and across Burma.

When Dr Maung Maung, a civilian, became interim president on August 19 the shootings ended and people from all walks of life joined the demonstrations, which had now spread nationwide, from Burma's big cities to tiny villages throughout the country.

On September 18, the military staged a coup d'état and the crackdown worsened. Troops shot down many more demonstrators, including schoolchildren, students, civil servants and housewives. An estimated total of 3,000 people were killed and many more protestors were injured in August and September of 1988.

For the injured, doctors, nurses and house surgeons like Myat Htoo Razak, provided life-saving care at a critical moment in the country's history.

The 88' pro-democracy movement was the biggest people power uprising that Burma had seen since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. It toppled the country's oppressive authoritarian regime of military strongman Ne Win and his Burma Socialist Programme Party, which had ruled the country for 26 years.

The military coup and subsequent crackdown on the 8888 Uprising, however, would leave the army in charge for two more decades.

Another medical student who helped treat Burma's brave protestors at the time was Win Zaw.

Doctors, nurses and medical staffs not only treated the injured, but also took part in the demonstrations, and 23-year-old Win Zaw joined a group of medical students who staged a hunger strike on September 18 at Rangoon's University of Medicine.

After the army staged a coup at 4 pm that day, it announced that all demonstrators should disperse and leave their camps and the streets.

Win Zaw and his fellow students went to Rangoon General Hospital and spent the night helping doctors in treating hundreds of demonstrators who had been shot by troops as they tried to clear the streets of Rangoon.

The next morning, at about 10:30 am, Win Zaw and doctors got news that the troops had again opened fire on protestors. Win Zaw quickly joined a small team that included a surgeon named Win Ko, two doctors and another house surgeon by the name of Dr Saw Lwin.

They drove through the streets collecting the wounded, putting as many as 15 patients into their small ambulance. After two runs to pick up the victims, they heard that shots had been fired at a demonstration near Sule Pagoda in central Rangoon

As they reached the pagoda, it became clear that the troops had committed a massacre.

"It is a scene that I can never forget for the rest of life. There were a lot of bodies and injured people on street," Win Zaw recalled in an interview. "A photo of our Bogyoke [Aung San] was on the street, our fighting peacock flag [the symbol of students' movement] was also down, sandals were scattered and pools of blood were everywhere."

As they looked among the numerous bodies for protestors who were still alive, Win Zaw noticed one young girl who was breathing faintly. He approached and heard her murmur, "Brother, help me."

Win Zaw lifted the girl by her arms while house surgeon Saw Lwin held her legs. Wearing white physician duty coats, they carried her to the nearby ambulance. At that time, he noticed a flash of a camera and heard one of the soldiers bellowing: "Don't take pictures! Or else, we'll shoot!"

At that time, Win Zaw had no idea the picture would become an internationally well-known, historic picture that symbolized just how brutal the army's crackdown on innocent protestors had been. Later, he found out that the young girl's name was Win Maw Oo, a 16-year-old high school student.

On that dark day, September 19, 1988, Win Zaw's team made seven runs to collect the wounded from Rangoon's blood-covered streets. Another ambulance team of Rangoon General Hospital conducted a similar number of emergency rescues.

By the evening, he learned Win Maw Oo was being treated at the intensive care unit and that she was still alive after having suffered gunshot wounds in one arm, one leg and a lung. At 5:35 pm, however, she died.

The medical staff also risked their lives by going out and collecting wounded protestors from Rangoon's streets. Myat Htoo Razak remembers that at least one medical student was shot and killed, while another required a life-saving operation.

Myat Htoo Razak and a senior surgeon, Dr Kyaw Myint Naing, operated on final-year medical student Moe Thu Win for six and a half hours after a bullet had shredded the main artery in his arm. The doctors thought they might have to amputate the limb, but eventually the operation was successful.

During 10 days of bloody repression in 1988, the doctors continuously treated injured protestors, although some of the wounded didn't dare to come to hospitals out of fear that the military would arrest them there.

For some medical staff, their work would have repercussions later. The military had taken note of Win Zaw and Saw Lwin after the photo of their rescue of the young girl Win Maw Oo became famous the world over.

Four years later, the notorious Military Intelligence's unit-6, better known as MI-6, detained Dr Win Zaw for five days and asked him about the details of the events of that day.

For his colleague Dr Saw Lwin the consequences would be far greater, however. The military authorities forced Saw Lwin's father to retire from his position as the director of a government department. This pressure on his family caused Saw Lwin to sink into a deep depression. Years later, he committed suicide.

Until this day, Win Zaw said, Saw Lwin's family cannot bear to watch the tragic picture of their rescue attempt.

For both Dr Win Zaw and Dr Myat Htoo Razak the events of 1988 were life defining moments, and all these years later both say they are still dedicated to establishing genuine democracy in Burma.

"The 88 uprising shaped our lives," said Myat Htoo Razak, who now lives in the United States and has worked on HIV/Aids research and strengthening health care systems in Asia and Africa.

Win Zaw, who is now secretary of the Myanmar Medical Association's General Practitioners Society, said, "In fact, we are still waiting to get what we demanded 25 years ago."

The post The Heroic Medics of the 8888 Uprising appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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