Burma Voices - People of Burma in Their Own Words by Burma Voices

BurmaVoices People of Burma in Their Own Words

Elke Kuijper

Burma Voices

While you live in peace and safety in your normal everyday life, there is a country in a certain part of this world where people are still ﬁghting for the chance to simply live like you. Please pass this message to those who are not aware of the suﬀerings of the Burmese people. — Zayar Thaw

Burma Voices

My first trip abroad after my release from prison in 2011 was to Bangkok. I noticed the faces of the young Burmese people there. I saw self-confidence in their eyes, very different from the faces inside Burma. In our country, the eyes of the young people are blocked and obscure. The Burmese people inside Burma have lost their self-confidence. Due to the decades-long military rule, our country is downtrodden... — U Thura (Zarganar), 2012

Burma Voices Copyright © 2012, Elke Kuijper photos by Elke Kuijper photos of Ashin Kovida and Zarganar © Jorn van Eck/Amnesty International; photo on page 12 by James Mackay, courtesty of Nyi Nyi Aung; photo on page 88 courtesy of Thee Lay Thee and Full Colour All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted without permission from the authors. www.burmavoices.com Printed by 54 Project Printing in Mae Sot, Thailand First edition: December 2012

Burma Voices

Burma Voices People of Burma in Their Own Words collected by

Elke Kuijper

Burma Voices

‘These voices are like a blast’

Foreword Burma Voices — voices from our country. These voices have appeared from our country. Voices of anger, of sorrow, of crying, of indignation, of emotional suffering. Today our country is like a prison. I myself was in prison for twenty years. Soon after my release, in the evening, I talked to the media. I was speaking out about my time in Insein Prison, but also about how all the people are living as if they are in a prison. The whole country is like a prison. This side of the fence facing Insein Prison is no different from the other side of the fence. Both sides are the same. All people—ethnic minorities, men, women, adults, youngsters, workers, farmers, students, monks, nuns—all are imprisoned. Students are prisoners of a bad educational system. Workers and farmers, merchants, people who live on the breadlines—are all living under the abuse of those in power and their selfishness. They are prisoners of corrupted government officials. Sick people are prisoners of a bad health care system. Government officials are prisoners of those in command. Soldiers are prisoners of those who crave power. To tell you the truth, dictators, their cronies, and the people who steal with them are all culprits of history. They are prisoners of the international justice system. So logically, these voices have appeared from the people of our country. The voices of anger, of sorrow. The voices in this book are from the hearts of people of different ethnicities from Burma. The voices of anger, sorrow, indignaVII

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tion and crying. You may say there are not many stories, but these people are raising their voices and speaking out on behalf of the whole country. These voices are like a blast. There is a saying in Burmese: Thaung hteik ka kyar zay thar, ‘May the universe hear the voices’. This collection is a growl of words, and may the universe hear the voices. According to the Burmese saying, I pray that the voices in this book—the voices of anger, of sorrow, of indignation, of crying—may be heard by the universe. Hantharwaddy U Win Tin Rangoon, 2011

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Burma Voices

Contents Foreword by U Win Tin Glossary of Acronyms and Terms Introduction Map of Burma

IIV XI XIII XVII

The Voices Ashin Nandathiri Nyi Nyi Aung U Win Tin Ashin Kovida Yu Yu Hlaing Ashin Issariya Daw Ta Ta Ashin Nandaciriya Kyaw Win Shwe U Lin Lin Me Lay Nyi Nyi Hlaing Tar Yar Zaw Moe Thee Lay Thee and Full Colour Thein Zaw Win Hlaing Ashin Naymeinda

6 12 18 26 32 36 46 50 54 58 64 68 76 84 88 94 100 102

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Contents, continued Chan Nyein Naing Ko Tun Daw Khin Khin Leh Generation Wave Daw Hnin Pan Ein and U Ne Oo U Zawana Daw Nwe Nwe Win Thet Naing U Janaka Su Su Win Aung Zaw Shar Ko Aung Pan Ko Zaw Htoo Ko Soe Myint Aung Ko Kyi Toe Ko Kyaw Zaw Ko Moe Kyaw Aung Ashin Sopaka Su Su Nway Ko Nyo and Thanda Tun Zayar Thaw Bo Kyi U Win Htein Zarganar Acknowledgements

106 110 116 128 136 148 154 160 168 172 178 183 190 196 202 208 212 218 226 232 236 242 252 256 267

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Glossary of Acronyms and Terms ABFSU All Burma Federation of Student Unions ABMA All Burma Monks Alliance AAPPB Assistance Association for Political Prisoners - Burma BPPU Burmese Political Prisoners Union BLA Burmese Lawyers Association DVB Democratic Voice of Burma, Burmese exiled media IBMO International Burmese Monks Organization (Sasana Moli) ICC International Criminal Court ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ILO International Labour Organization The Irrawaddy exiled Burmese media organization KNU Karen National Union MI Military Intelligence MISB Muslim Information Service of Burma Mizzima exiled Burmese media organization MPO Ministry of Public Order, U.S. governmental department that makes decisions on admissibility of refugees NGO nongovernmental organization NLD National League of Democracy, Burmese democracy party under the leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi OPE Overseas Processing Entity, established by U.S. government to process refugee resettlement applications XI

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RFA

Radio Free Asia, broadcasts uncensored news in Burmese SPDC State Peace and Development Council (previously SLORC, State Law and Order Restoration Council), Burma’s ruling party from 1988–2011 TBBC Thai Burma Border Consortium UG underground movement U.N. United Nations UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the U.N.’s agency for refugee aﬀairs USDA Union Solidarity and Development Association, civilian association of Burma’s former ruling regime, the SPDC USDP Union Solidarity and Development Party, formerly USDA, participated in the November 2010 elections; currently holds majority in both houses of parliament VOA Voice of America, broadcasts uncensored news in Burmese

Burmese and Pali terms: dhamma the teachings of the Buddha kamma Buddhist teachings about cause and eﬀect kyaung monastery longyi Burmese sarong naga snakelike dragon nats traditional Burmese ancestral spirits nga phi ﬁsh paste pattanikkujjana alms boycott, monks’ act of refusing to accept alms; literally ‘overturning the monks’ bowls’ pongyi monk sangha the community of monks teacher, respected monk sayadaw thanaka traditional Burmese cosmetic made from ground sandalwood bark XII

Burma Voices

The voices start to speak...

Introduction The book you are holding began as a few casual conversations with people from Burma living in the Mae Sot area of Thailand. One day in early 2010, we were invited to visit Nu Po Refugee Camp, a camp close to the Burmese border that houses more than 15,000 refugees from Burma. After a six-hour drive over bumpy roads through a mountainous and forested area, we finally arrived at the camp in the evening. As the Thai authorities do not usually allow guests to spend the night, we had to first visit the camp authorities and ask their consent. After receiving permission, we were led to a Buddhist temple where we were warmly welcomed with tea and snacks. We spent our nights at the house of a very accomodating family that moved around and about to make room for us. We slept in front of the house altar on the floor, under a mosquito net, looked over by the guarding face of the family’s Buddha. The monk we travelled with spent the night next to the large Buddha statue on the adjacent temple’s floor. We had a very impressive time in the camp, being introduced to the different ethnic sections, visiting schools and training programs, and distributing food and other gifts at an orphanage. But most of our time was spent in the temple, on the floor, listening to the people queued up to tell us their stories. Interrupted only by short breaks to eat and drink or stretch our legs, these conversations lasted late into the night, when the camp would be bathed in darkness, and nocturnal sounds took over. Candles would be brought in and we would try to sit comfortably for another session. People cooked for us and watched us eat. Women would bring in tea and thanaka to decorate my face. XIII

Burma Voices People from all walks of life came to talk to us. People who had fled their country, whose safety was no longer guaranteed at home. Who had run away because of one or another ethnic conflict. Whose human rights had been violated. Who had been tortured. People who had been through more than we could imagine. People who only wanted a safe life, for themselves and their families, and who wished to talk and share their experiences. These people asked us to publish their stories so that other people, both inside and outside of Burma, would read about what was happening in their country. They were not afraid. They had been afraid for too long, and were finished with that now. They wanted to tell the world about how decades of life under a military regime affects people. What effects a lack of education, basic amenities, and human rights have on a population. We started by collecting their experiences and publishing them online. The Burma Voices website site became a database of voices that grew into one large voice over a period of two years. A powerful voice. A voice that existed to testify to the world about the situation in Burma. A voice that hoped to encourage all people to support the peaceful struggle for freedom and democracy in the country. With the assistance of many people, nearly fifty interviews were conducted. Most of the people who talked with us are refugees, some of them are former political prisoners and activists. All with their own stories, wishing to speak out and share these stories with the world. Burma Voices consists of the voices of a wide variety of people: a former child soldier and an ex-army general; a famous politician and an underground rapper and activist. All expressing their opinions freely—many for the first time.

Background Burma Voices is a project that stems from the organization The Best Friend (founded in Burma in 1999 by Buddhist monks). Burma Voices’ main contributors are Burmese monk Ashin Kovida, who ﬂed his country in 2006, and Elke Kuijper, a Dutch supporter of the struggle for freedom in Burma. Burma Voices is an independent project and does not receive funding from any governmental or political organization. All costs associated with the project, such as travel and XIV

Burma Voices publishing costs, are donated by individual supporters. The stories in this book appear in chronological order of their collection, and most reﬂect the people’s evolving opinions about the situation in Burma from 2010–2012, including the commonly-held belief that the 2010 elections would not change much in the country.

Voices that will remain Since the beginning of the Burma Voices project, more developments and changes than anyone could have expected have taken place in Burma, and the country has become more open and free. Media laws have changed, and many political prisoners have been released. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been freed from house arrest and been able to travel abroad. President Thein Sein is negotiating with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has taken up seats in the Parliament with her party, the NLD. Economic sanctions against Burma are being lifted, and some former political prisoners and activists have visited foreign countries for the first time. Despite these reforms, a deep poverty, lack of education, and respect for human rights remains. Ethnic conflicts continue to rage, and the average Burmese person still faces a struggle for their survival. The voices of the people in Burma Voices will never be silenced. They will always be here. If not to tell the free world of the atrocities and sufferings that took and continue to take place in Burma under decades of strict military rule, then to be future testimonies of what once was. So as not to forget. And to make sure that times like these never happen again. Although not all interviews took place during our visits to Nu Po Refugee Camp, the conversations with the people there left a profound mark on us. When I cycle to work some days and find myself annoyed once again by the rain, I think back to the people I met there. I hope they are doing well. And that they will be able to return home in safety one day and lead lives in freedom. Just as I do. And then I am happy to be cycling in the rain. In freedom. Elke Kuijper, November 2012 XV

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Burma Voices Burma, also known as Myanmar, is bordered by China, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India. The population is estimated to be approximately 60 million, of which roughly 60 percent are Bamar. The Shan, Karen, Chin, and �� Mon are some of the other �� major ethnic groups.

��

Since achieving independence from Great �� Britain in 1948, the �� country has been �� engaged in decades�� long civil wars with �� many of the country’s �� myriad ethnic groups. �� From 1962 to 2011, the coun�� try was ruled by a succession of oppressive military regimes. �� The military junta was official�� ly dissolved in 2011 following a �� general election in late 2010. A �� nominally civilian-led government has been installed, though the military retains enormous influence. Burma is an extremely resource-rich country. However, the Burmese economy is one of the least developed in the world. Despite a series of major reforms under President Thein Sein’s administration since 2011, human rights violations, political prisoners, and ethnic and religious conflict continue to be of major concern.

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‘If there is no democracy and dhamma, things go very wrong’

Ashin Nandathiri’s Voice Ashin Nandathiri is 30 years old when he speaks in February 2010. He is a Buddhist monk originally from Minbya Township in Arakan State. I was 7 years old when I entered the monastery in Rangoon as a novice monk. I later moved to Mandalay. When I was 14 years old, I first got exposed to political ideas, and three years later, I became a leader in the Free Arakan Movement. We strived for an independent homeland for the Arakan ethnic minority. It is my opinion that although being politically active is not acceptable for a monk, being active for freedom in Arakan State is. Being involved in a movement for freedom and peace is a good thing. I did not actively take part in the marches of the Saffron Revolution in 2007. I took pictures, however, and distributed these around the country. The authorities found out, and I was no longer safe. On my way back to Sittwe, I met two monks who helped me flee to Bangladesh. All three of us were arrested by the Burmese authorities on the border. I was captured and was immediately sent to a labor camp. I spent two weeks there, during which I was tortured. My toenails were ripped out. The authorities wanted to know who the leader of the Free Arakan Movement was, whom I was associated with, when I became a leader in the movement, and where the weapons were. I was not given any food during this period. One day, I was interrogated again, and the policemen in charge were drunk. I saw my chance and beat them with a plate. They fired shots at me, but I

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managed to escape. I managed to get to Bangladesh and proceeded into India, where I stayed at a Burmese monastery until 2008. From there, it took me one month and fourteen days to walk with a guide to Tachilek, in the Golden Triangle, the border region of Burma, Thailand, and Laos. The Burmese Army found out that I was there and raided the monastery where I was staying. The monastery’s abbot was arrested, but it turned out he was a fake monk and really a bandit: they conﬁscated 63 guns and three million Thai Baht from the monastery! Early in the morning, I managed to cross the border into Laos, where I slept in a jetty house used for storing boats for a month. I met three drug traﬃckers who asked me to join them on their way to Cambodia. I took my chance. In Cambodia I lived at a Burmese Mon monastery for two months. Later, I found a way into Thailand and stayed at a Thai temple in Bangkok for three months. Because I was eager to learn more about the political movement and the involvement in the struggle for peace by the monks, I decided to go to Mae Sot. At the moment, I am staying here, waiting for a place to live, or a third country to take me in. In what way does Buddhism play a role in Ashin Nandathiri’s struggle for peace and freedom? Dhamma – the Buddha’s teachings – is all about democracy. Democracy is a Greek word, but in Buddhism we know the concept. If there is no dhamma and democracy, things go very wrong. The monks’ struggle is purely nonviolent. Does Ashin Nandathiri think it might at some point be necessary to use violence in Burma’s struggle for freedom? When it comes to political freedom and monks, violence is not an option. As a monk, violence is never an option. What are Ashin Nandathiri’s opinions on the elections, planned by the military regime to take place in late 2010?

Burma Voices

I believe there are two ways forward: there is a monk’s way, and there is a civilian way. If the elections happen, then I fear all people will go to the cemetery. Everybody will continue to suffer, because the outcome of the election will only be good for onethird of the country – the regime itself. The other two-thirds of the people will not be any better off. What does he think should happen instead of the elections? I believe in the tripartite solution: first, we need dialogue with all political parties and ethnic groups. Second, all political prisoners and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi need to be released. Third, I believe that monks should be advisors in the dialogue. Does he still strive for independence for his home state of Arakan? Because there is currently no freedom in the whole of Burma, it is not possible for Arakan to be a separate country. I want Arakan to be a federal state under a central government, but with the power to decide certain issues for itself. Ashin Nandathiri feels that ethnic minorities in Burma suffer more than the Burmese (Bamar) majority. The policy of our current regime is bad: they have a divideand-rule policy. The Saffron Revolution started near Arakan State, in Pakokku. Students in Arakan have to take the bus to school, but because of the high fuel prices, there were no buses. That’s why students began marching in the streets to protest. What can people from outside of Burma do to support the monks and the movement for freedom and democracy? We need you to give us advice, mainly about educational programs. When people are educated, they are more open and realize when things are wrong. Education is the key. Apart from that, we also need financial support for many different things.

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I would like to call on all of you out there to help us improve education! If there is no education, we can have no true abilities. The more knowledge we have, the more we are able to do for our country.

Burma Voices

‘You can kill me, but you cannot shut my mouth’

Nyi Nyi Aung’s Voice Nyi Nyi Aung was born in Rangoon in 1970. He went to the United States as a refugee in 1993. According to his fiancée, he became restless in the U.S., as all he really wanted was to be active in the struggle for democracy in Burma. He began frequently traveling between the U.S., Mae Sot, and other places in Thailand to develop and support activities directed at bringing about freedom and democracy in Burma. During a trip to Burma in September 2009, he was arrested at the airport in Rangoon. He was on his way to visit relatives – some of whom were imprisoned themselves – and to observe the situation inside the country. In March 2010, he was released and returned to America. He currently works as a computer engineer and political activist in the U.S. At the moment, I am recovering from my time spent in prison in Burma. I take medication for my back problems. I suffer from severe back pains, as my spine was dislocated because of torture and my time in solitary confinement. I was in solitary confinement for one month. I was released after six months in prison, without any explanation. But that is normal in Burma. I was not given any explanation or reason for my arrest, interrogation, or detention, either. I feel I was released because of pressure from the outside. Not only from the U.S. or other governments, but also from the inter-

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national community and the Burmese exile community calling for my release. I do think even Than Shwe is sensitive to international pressure. However, what we see is that the EU and the U.S. are always ‘demanding blah blah blah’. This does not work. They should state clear demands and set time frames. Than Shwe knows very well how to play and scheme with the international community. That is why I am so focused on telling the international community and the U.S. Congress about Burma. I am busy going to many places and informing people about what is happening inside Burma. I want the international community to understand that we can do it. At the moment I am busy with treatment for my back, but I am also meeting many people. There is a sense of urgency. Since 2005, I have gone inside the country many times. I want to get a good sense of what keeps the people occupied, and the actual political work on the ground. I want to see for myself what the situation in my country is like, and I want the international community to understand. I share this information with organizations that work on Burma. In September 2009, I went to Burma again. I was arrested at the airport and taken straight to an interrogation center. I kept asking them questions and kept asking to see a lawyer and to see my embassy, but they were not interested. You can kill me, but you cannot shut my mouth. I do not want to get hurt, but I prepare for it. You can get caught anytime. But my fear for Burma’s people and future is bigger than my own fear. They tortured me. This is normal in Burma. They beat and punched me and tortured me mentally. I was deprived of food and sleep and had to sit on a chair for long periods of time. They asked me: ‘What is your plan? Who are your contacts? Where are you hiding your stuﬀ? Who supports you? Is there a terrorist connection?’ According to the U.N. Convention on Torture, I should not have been tortured at all, but it happened. They kept me in isolation, too. It’s a place where you can talk with other prisoners, but you cannot see each other. Other prisoners can talk and see each other. I was on my own. I could hear

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people shouting in the distance. We communicated like that. They also put me in the dog cells for one month. And later again, for one day. What is Nyi Nyi Aung’s plan for the future? My plan is to tear down the regime and promote human rights and democracy everywhere it is needed. I am working to do this by lobbying and raising awareness, both inside and outside Burma. We need international help to do this. I also want to tell people about the non-violent way and how to use it. I want to motivate people to believe and to trust themselves. They have to stand up for their rights. The Burmese people have suﬀered under several military regimes since 1962. They have had no chance to practice democracy. The people do not fully know what ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’ mean. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said that because she has lived in free countries, she feels she is less fearful. After living in the U.S. for nearly 20 years, can Nyi Nyi Aung relate to this sentiment? When I got caught last September, they asked me, ‘Are you afraid?’ I said: ‘No, I have the right to do this. I am aware of my rights.’ I feel very sorry for the Burmese people inside the country. Many of them do not know they have rights. They do not know what their rights are. We need to teach them to stand up for their rights. What can people in the free world do to support the struggle for freedom in Burma? Ask your governments to put more pressure on the regime. This is the only way to get peace: pressure by sanctions on the regime and its cronies. The current policy does not work: it is just words. We need real actions. Do not just say sanctions, but boycott!

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I do not agree with the current engagement policy of the United States. The regime does not understand the language of freedom. It must be a stick-and-carrot policy. Does Nyi Nyi Aung have a message for people in the West or in Burma? Think deeply about what you really want for the future, for yourself, and for your own life. If you love peace, justice, and equality, go and create it by yourself! Trust yourself. Do it! Do not wait for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to ďŹ x everything. Do it. Everyone has to work if they want peace and freedom! There is a lack of motivation. There is a culture of corruption that is deeply rooted in Burma: it threatens peace and the international community. People are selling their dignity and morality for their food. They keep their mouths shut and let the regime do what they want. We have no education for the people. Mental development is very important. If this continues for another ten years, it would be disastrous for the international community. If this regime stays on much longer, Burma will become one massive humanitarian crisis.

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‘We are nonviolent, all the time’

U Win Tin’s Voice U Win Tin, one of Burma’s most prominent journalists and an advisor to opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is well-known inside and outside of Burma. Around the world, many people campaigned for his release during his time in prison. He is known as Burma’s longest serving political prisoner. He does not agree with this distinction, however: ‘There are many young people who spend more than twenty years in jail and who are hardly known’. In 1989, U Win Tin was sentenced to prison for the first time without any valid proof of having committed a crime. He was released in September 2008, almost twenty years later. He did not want to be released out of pity for his old age, but only on the baseless foundation of the charges against him. This is one of the reasons why he still wears his blue prison shirt to this day. He may be outside the prison walls, but he is still not free to do as he wants in his country. Twenty of his years were spent in Burma’s most notorious prison: Insein Prison, not far from Rangoon. He was kept in isolation, and even in dog cells, for long periods of time. He kept himself sane by writing poetry and by solving mathematical problems in his head. He is now 80 years old and his health is not strong. Due to a lack of proper medical care during his incarceration, his existing medical complaints worsened. He suffers badly from asthma, underwent a heart operation in August 2009, suffers from spondylitis in his spine, has had dental problems after his teeth were bashed out of

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his mouth and he was refused dental prostheses for years, and his eyesight is poor. But from the moment he was released, he resumed his previous duties for the NLD. U Win Tin, who is one of the Central Executive Members of the National League For Democracy (NLD), speaks by telephone from Rangoon in November 2009. I am not bedridden, so I can walk. But anyhow, I work everyday, I meet people, and I talk with the media. Sometimes I am tired. But I continue. Does U Win Tin think that at some point violence may be necessary to bring about change in Burma? I do not think it is necessary to use violence because people in Burma are very — because of their religion — mild and very docile. Their will, their desire, is not to use the violent way. Even to use a violent word is frowned upon in Burmese society. The people like to be very polite and very quiet, and they do not express their will in a violent way. I think the nonviolent way is possible. There might be some violence, or a violent phase in our struggle. Of course the ruling power in the country is too big: there is a very strong army, and they have modernized and spent a lot of money on the military. They have built up their military power over the years. One army regiment is like 1,000 people, or something like that. They are very modernized, they live in big houses, own plantations, and inside their compounds there might be some factories. So they are very strong, you see, compared to the people. Of course the soldiers themselves are suffering too. But they are suffering much less than the ordinary people. They earn more money and they can use more facilities. He elaborates on the violent suppression of the 2007 Saffron Revolution. The military is very strong, and suddenly they shot at the

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people, even at the monks. All the people were giving homage to the monks, but they shot them. In 2007, monks were shot for no reason. Even in the time of colonial rule there was political movement by the monks, political demonstrations and so on. But nowadays, say for instance in 2007, the monks are nonviolently and nonpolitically rallying against the government by just reciting the metta sutta, which is about loving kindness. And still they are shot. We are still unsure how many monks were killed. People believe more than 100 were killed. People are shocked by this and do not like it. We are nonviolent, all the time. We go out to the streets, but we never use violence. I just think it is not in the Burmese people’s will to use violence. It is not their style of expressing their will, political thinking, or their opinions. People are very nonviolent now, but maybe tomorrow, I don’t know... At the time of speaking, U Win Tin has no permanent place of residence. During his detention, the authorities repossessed his house, and are now putting pressure on landlords not to rent to him. He is forced to stay with various friends. However, he retains his eloquence and his energy. He is witty and sharp and talks a lot. He has no fear that his conversations with colleagues or the international media might cause him problems. I am not afraid. You see, in Burma you cannot speak like this because some action or something you have done cannot bring danger for you at the present time, but it may be dangerous for you at a later time. They keep a record of your actions, and then when you are sent for trial these things will become the evidence of you being guilty. But I do not mind. I am always talking to the media—VOA, BBC, DVB, Irrawaddy. I am very outspoken and I have no restraints about my opinions. Recently, I was telling everybody that Burma at this moment is like a jail, like a prison. The whole country is in prison and people are suﬀering. We talk about human rights violations and about the 2,000 political prisoners in the jails now, but actually all people are prisoners. They are prisoners in their own

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country. In their own towns. In their own homes. Whenever I go out to the town and to my office or to my friend’s house or even to a funeral, there are some two or three motorcycles following me. It is almost impossible to see a free man in Burma at this moment. What does U Win Tin think about the recently announced pattanikkujjana, the boycott of monks against receiving alms from members of the military and their families? This pattanikkujjana is very effective. For a Buddhist, if you are boycotted by the sangha when you are under a pattanikkujjana, you are no longer a Buddhist. For the government, it is very effective. They are Buddhist — in name only of course — and the pattanikkujjana has a very bad effect on them, that is one thing. As Buddhists, they have a big influence in the country. They play the religion card: they assume they are the guardians of the religion. They are the promoter of the religion. They build big pagodas and give support to the kyaungs [monasteries]. Although it is effective, in order to move or to make a big action and to have a more pronounced way of change, more is needed. The monks, according to the Buddhist teaching, do not act as politicians. Some Western newspapers wrote that monks are never permitted to vote in elections. Burmese monks are always out of politics because they are religious people, so they are not concerned with voting. However, they have a very high tradition of political activity, even as long ago as colonial days and as leaders in the movement. Although the government promotes the religion so that people will regard them as the guardians of the religion, they try too hard. Then you see, this pattanikkujjana action happened and they were very shocked. In a situation like this, the monks could make a movement if they were a political party, but they are not. They are not a political party, so they have to wait and just provide people with information and tell the people that this government really has no authority and that the monks are suppressed. U Win Tin does not believe that things have changed for the bet-

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ter since the peaceful demonstrations by the monks were violently suppressed in 2007. Every week we hear news about monks being arrested and taken from their kyaungs. For instance, even if I want to ask a pongyi [monk] to accept some offerings at my house, his monastery will ask him not to go to my house. The government’s suppression of religious people will not go unnoticed, because in the foreign press and media, people are reporting about these incidents. So although there is not so much activity by the monks as a political force, they are still there, the force is going on every day, and they work every day. Although they are not a political organization and they have no real political activity, the monks do visit many houses every day because they have to collect their meals, so they have to go around in the streets and they talk to the people. They are in contact with the people. In that way, they are more political than us, because we do not go to people’s houses every day. They have to go out and collect their meals early in the morning or in the daytime. They get one spoonful of rice from this house, and one from that house, and so on. They are in close contact with the people, and can easily exchange ideas and opinions. Their influence on the people is very high, because they are their friends. They go out every day to the houses and collect alms, and they talk and talk. And in those talks there might be some political matters or talks about their suffering in life. So Burmese people are always ready to support the monks. How does U Win Tin feel about the United States’ recently revised policy of dealing with the Burmese junta: engagement coupled with sanctions? According to him, a lot of the sanctions are not very effective, but he feels engagement with the military regime will not be very effective, either. It has been proven: sanctions are not effective, and they [the U.S. and other western countries] know that, but they will keep them as long as there is no improvement in the current situation.

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Engagement is not effective either, because it has already been tried by other countries, such as Russia. Political engagement has not been effective with the Burmese government. Nowadays, the U.S. government uses this engagement and sanctions approach together. They are attacking the regime with one gun, and when that gun proves to be not effective, they use another gun, which is also not very effective. They have two guns and they shoot two times, but neither is very effective. Whether they have one gun or two guns, it does not matter. Although I do not think this American action of engagement coupled with sanctions will be very effective, we are still hopeful, and if there is no improvement with sanctions, we will be disheartened and we can do nothing. At least now there are two weapons and they are starting action in Burma, so people in political parties, political forces, are encouraged, and we are hoping for something, for anything, to happen. He switches to the subject of the upcoming elections in 2010. Without political dialogue, the upcoming elections will be nothing. They will be a sham. These elections are built upon the framework of the 2008 Constitution, which will be enacted after this election. This constitution will prolong military rule for many years. There are no people’s rights, no democratic rights, nothing at all. For instance, according to this constitution, Article 6, the military is the leader of the politics. I cannot agree with that. Another difficulty is that there is no political will on the part of the junta—no political will at all. They have no idea of the country’s problems and are only thinking of their own will, which is to prolong their rule. They have no plans at all to make any contact, to make any dialogue, with political forces or ethnic nationalities. So we use this American initiative as a tool to move and go through the election. The election will be a sham without any participation of the ethnic nationalities and opposition parties. We need to have political dialogue before the election, with nationalities and with ourselves and opposition forces. That will be the only way.

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One of the demands of the United States’ government, and also one of the conditions for the NLD to take part in the upcoming elections, is the release of all political prisoners. Amnesty International estimates there are currently more than 2,000 political prisoners languishing in Burma’s prisons (2010). Many of them were involved in the 1988 student uprisings and the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Nearly 200 monks and nuns are believed to be among those imprisoned. U Win Tin feels the U.S. might have some influence on the release of these prisoners. If the U.S. shows some positive thinking and initiative, the military will know how to react to this. One of these reactions can be the release of political prisoners. As a sign of good will, they might release some students or so, but they will not release all political prisoners, because they will need to keep them as hostages. By releasing some prisoners, they want to show the world that they are not that bad. When I was released in September 2008, they released many prisoners, most of whom were criminals and not political prisoners. U Win Tin believes the junta is not interested in the political process. According to the current electoral law, a person with ties to a foreign country cannot participate in the election. This article was invented to prevent Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose husband was British and whose sons live abroad, from playing a legitimate role in politics. The government has no intention of giving her a role to play in Burmese politics. She is a very good leader. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has many activities and much influence, but still she is restricted. She can do a lot, and she can make use of her experience for the people. But, if she is not allowed to go outside of Rangoon or to meet the press or something, then it is almost impossible for her to play a very big role in politics.

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‘We will win!’

Ashin Kovida’s Voice Burmese monk Ashin Kovida was born in 1973 in Magwe Division, close to Sidoktaya Township. He grew up in a small village without electricity or running water. When he was 15 years old, he joined his village monastery. This is his story, told at the end of February 2010 in Mae Sot, Thailand. I wanted to be a farmer. Grow rice, sesame seeds, vegetables, and have animals, just like my parents. My father wanted a better life for me. He told me he wanted me to become a monk. He thought a monk’s life is more peaceful than family life. Being peaceful is a mental state, though. When I was 20 years old, I left the village monastery and went to Mandalay. Contrary to many other monks, who change monasteries a lot, I stayed in one monastery. In 2001, I became more ‘politically involved’. I met an educated monk who ‘enlightened’ me. One day, I was complaining to him about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi: ‘She keeps on going on about wanting democracy, but she does not educate the people about it.’ The monk asked me: ‘Do you think she even has an opportunity to do that?’ That made me think. ‘Ability is of little account without opportunity,’ the monk told me. I was working as an English language teacher at a school in Mandalay when I met a Belgian man. I asked him to bring me one of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s books, Freedom From Fear. He organized the delivery. He had torn away the cover and removed

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the pictures, and the book was smuggled in via other foreigners. It was a true eye-opener. I learned a lot from her book. Soon after, Ashin Kovida met another monk called King Zero. They were introduced to each other by Ashin Kovida’s students. We talked a lot about many things. We were free to talk openly, because my abbot lived alone and could not control us. What was Ashin Kovida like as an English teacher? In Burma, many teachers are very distant and strict. I wanted to have many friends, and was a very easy and friendly teacher. I used to eat and drink with my students. Officially, it is not allowed to learn a foreign language in a monastery. I learned English anyway, secretly, by self-study, by visiting other monasteries and private schools. After all, the Buddha himself spoke another language, too. Ashin Kovida had more and more interaction with foreigners. He spoke to tourists and gave them information about the situation in his country and the real life of his people, which many tourists never witness. Together with King Zero, we reformed The Best Friend Group of Literature — the group had ceased to exist a few years before. After reforming The Best Friend, we organized many activities and were very busy. At one of King Zero’s birthday parties, there were many people. We had organized a poem and article writing competition, and there was a debating contest. King Zero’s birthday was a good reason to organize something like this and get many people together to talk and discuss. The officials were suspicious. We were being watched. We visited several monasteries, and we knew it had become more dangerous. They knew about our secret discussions about politics, also in my English classes. I was invited to go to Switzerland by a Swiss family, and took up their offer. Via friends and other con-

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tacts and bribes, I managed to get a passport. I have been living in Europe since 2006. Here, I cannot do for my country what I would like to do, so I also spend a lot of time in Thailand. I can only do a little bit in Europe. In the West, the situation in Burma is pretty unknown. I give information to the people: I visit schools and speak to people. Children are especially interested in my life as a monk and ask many questions. I also speak to them about education. The biggest difference between the Swiss and Burmese cultures is that the Swiss people are more open in different ways. There are no other Burmese Buddhist monks in Switzerland, so my position there is very different from inside Burma. In Switzerland, they do not know how to treat monks the Asian way. And they are not interested in learning, either. What does Ashin Kovida think about the upcoming elections in his country? If the elections will happen in 2010, the people will suffer more under the same dictator. I do not expect any change for the better. I usually say: ‘We will change from General Than Shwe to Mr. Than Shwe’, meaning Than Shwe will take off his uniform and lead as a puppet master from the background. The members of the regime are only trying to find security for themselves. Burmese monks are known for their nonviolent struggle for peace and democracy. This struggle has been ongoing for decades, and so far, change still seems elusive. What is Ashin Kovida’s opinion on the nonviolent approach? Nonviolence is good, but do I think in some cases violence is necessary. At the time of the Buddha, the Buddha was trying to teach the dhamma to a naga [dragon] called Nandopananda. The naga, though, was too big. The only option to defeat him was to create an even bigger naga. One of Buddha’s disciples changed into an enormous naga and victory was theirs. I believe it will be necessary at some point.

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What can people abroad do to help? Western people should make an effort to learn about Burma. Unfortunately, only a few people visit my country, and when they do, then mostly only for their own pleasure. When you visit Burma, make an effort to speak with the locals. Ask them about their sufferings and their opinions. Inside the country, people are very eager to express themselves to the outside world! I believe tourists have an obligation: they should be free messengers to the outside world. Apart from that, they can also open up eyes and ears of the Burmese people by telling them about the outside world. It works two ways. Many tourists, however, are reluctant to talk about politics once they are inside the country. They are afraid of putting people at risk. Understandable, but Burmese people know they will have to pay a price, and they are ready to pay for their freedom. Nothing comes for free. I would also like to call on people to support education, organizations like The Best Friend. We desperately need higher education in Burma, even after we will have achieved democracy. The Best Friend was founded by monks and started as a friends’ literature group. Its main activity is to establish and run libraries. Why is The Best Friend also involved in other activities, such as political activism? Do not forget The Best Friend was founded inside Burma, where we could not openly practice political activities. This made us focus on libraries. This way we could bring about change. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said, ‘Politics is the everyday life of the people.’ So education is also part of politics. Like working on a farm is as well. Her father, Bogyoke Aung San, once said: ‘Politics is simple. Some say it is dirty. It is not. It is only politicians who can be dirty.’ We do not see The Best Friend as only practicing politics; we want to bring about change in Burma. A change for the better. In any way possible. Many Western people ask me about the organizational struc-

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ture of The Best Friend, and about who is the boss. I can tell you, nobody is the leader. Everybody is a leader. We do everything by discussion. We decide and discuss together. What is The Best Friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future plan for Burma? The Best Friend works for Burma. At the moment, we work both for the people inside the country, as well as Burmese people outside. Even if we achieve democracy, The Best Friend will be needed. Many things will still need to be done inside the country: education, health programs, and many other things to help and develop the people. Many people ask me, what is it like to live as a Burmese Buddhist monk in a western country in Europe? People ask me who gives me food in my country. They think I came to Switzerland because I did not want to work or went hungry in Burma. Many Swiss people do not know anything about Buddhism or monkhood. The biggest problem is that they are not willing to learn about it either. When asked about his message to the Burmese people, Ashin Kovida is loud and clear: We will win! We will win! We WILL win!

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‘I call on women from other countries to help us’

Yu Yu Hlaing’s Voice Yu Yu Hlaing is 26 years old and lives with her family in Nu Po Refugee Camp in Tak Province, Thailand. In Burma, the authorities attempted to arrest her husband because he was involved in political activities. Unable to apprehend him, the authorities arrested Yu Yu Hlaing instead, and she was sent to prison. Following her release, she crossed the border into Thailand illegally and has since been reunited with her husband. In 2000, I was arrested and sent to a prison in Tenasserim Division. They were after my husband, but took me because they could not find him. I had not done anything wrong. I just married a man who was politically active. I was sentenced to two years in prison. When I was sent to prison, I was pregnant. I delivered the baby under very difficult circumstances in prison. It was a difficult delivery. My cellmates helped me. There was no medical help; we had to do it all ourselves. There were only the other prisoners to assist me. The baby stayed with me in prison. I managed to get out of prison after six months because I was able to bribe the officials. Like most other people in the refugee camp, she is waiting for approval to be sent to a third country. And, also like most other people in the camp, her family’s application is currently ‘on hold’. My husband used violence in the struggle for freedom in Bur-

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ma. That is a complicating factor in the application process for resettlement to a third country. We arrived in Nu Po Camp in 2005. Our second child was born here. What keeps Yu Yu Hlaing going? We have no future inside Thailand. We are not allowed to work here in the camp, and outside of the camp we are illegal. My only hope for my family is being accepted as refugees by a third country. That is what I wish, for the future of my children. My husband spent six years in prison and was tortured there. He was in Tavoy, in Tennaserim Division. We left Burma after he was released. I never got involved in politics, I just happened to marry a man who did. Does she have a message for people abroad? I call on you, women from other countries, to help us! You can help me and others. I am depressed. I ask you to encourage your governments to allow us into your countries as refugees. We have absolutely no future here. It is hopeless. We cannot go back to our own country, and there is not enough aid to live on properly here in the camp. We just want to be free. Our current situation is like house arrest. We are not free to go where we want when we want. We have no education. We cannot work. Please, do everything you can to help us!

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‘We must win one day!’

Ashin Issariya’s Voice Ashin Isssariya, also known as King Zero and Minthu Nya, was born in 1975 in Kungyangon Township, Rangoon Division. Along with Ashin Gambira, he is one of the primary organizers of the 2007 uprising that became known as the Saﬀron Revolution. This is his story as told at the end of February 2010 in Mae Sot, Thailand. I went to a government school, but the school was closed in 1988. My father asked me if I wanted to go to the monastery, because he wanted me to be educated. I did, and joined the monastery. I became a novice at the age of fourteen. I stayed at the village monastery for three years, and studied the dhamma and Pali language. I then went to another monastery, where I stayed for four more years. After that, I moved to Pegu Monastery, where over 1,000 monks live. I lived there for three years. I then started studying at the Rangoon State Sasana University. This is a university for monks. Apart from the dhamma and Pali, we also studied subjects like philosophy and history. I was keen on achieving a higher education. King Zero studied at this university for two years. I met another monk, Ashin Sopaka, at university. We started a library to encourage education and to speak about the [political] situation in our country. We felt this was necessary, as many monks did not know about it. I have always been interested in

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reading and writing articles. Some of my friends were members of the NLD. I spoke about all of this to my fellow monks. Many of them were afraid and thought it was dangerous to be involved in these sorts of things. We started our ﬁrst library at Sasana University in 1999. Many people were afraid to join the library, though. I secretly gave information about politics and publishing, and sometimes I visited the NLD oﬃce. In 2000, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited our area and we went to meet her in Dala town, but we were stopped and blocked from seeing her. I was there with Ashin Sopaka. We went back to our university. The authorities discovered our library and closed it. People had talked about it — that is how we were discovered. We had to sign an agreement that we would stop running our library. At university, there is a rule that when you fail to take your exams, you are expelled. We chose not to take our exams, and left university. King Zero went back to his village and set up another library there. He then moved to Mandalay and stayed at Masoyin Monastery. This is a well-known monastery with over 3,000 monks in residence. I studied Pali language there. I wanted to go to a private Buddhist university to study, and I met a professor who agreed to help me. At a private university you have more freedom, as it is not so government-controlled. If I would go there, I could organize more activities. I went and studied English and Sanskrit, among other subjects. I studied there for seven years. King Zero began publishing booklets and articles, and continued to collect many books and CDs about politics. In 2000, I met another monk called Ashin Kovida. We discussed politics and became friends. He became my English teacher. In January 2003, King Zero opened a new library in Mandalay. The Best Friend Group of Literature, as it was originally founded by

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Ashin Issariya and Ashin Sopaka at Sasana University in Rangoon, became known at this time as The Best Friend Library. The library had many books, and also provided free language classes in English, Japanese, and French. Both monks and laypeople utilized the library. In 2004, a second library was opened in Mandalay, near the Eindawya Pagoda. Soon after, another was opened in Sagaing Division. Every library oﬀered classes on diﬀerent subjects and political discussions. In total, the monks opened twelve libraries across Burma. In January 2007, my friend U Lin introduced me to a monk named Ashin Gambira. This was in Rangoon. We met in secret. Ashin Sopaka was in Mae Sot at the time. We sent messages and tried to meet. I went to Mae Sot secretly and talked about the organization of a movement from the inside and outside. We organized a ‘Stop Sign’ sticker campaign for democracy. These stickers were put up secretly inside the country. Many people were interested. People even drew the stop sign on banknotes! We also had stamps made with the design. In March 2007, I visited Bangkok and India to meet more people. I met many political leaders and read many books. I took back many books and information. I went back to Burma and started to meet and talk with friends. We went on organizing an uprising. In September of that year, Ashin Gambira came to Mandalay to meet us. This is when the monks were beaten by soldiers in Pakokku. We discussed what to do, and issued an open statement to the authorities. We requested an apology from the junta for the treatment of the monks. If this apology would not come by a certain date, a pattanikkujjana would start. King Zero was being watched by the authorities. He moved to Rangoon where it was easier to avoid detection in the large city. I shared information and talked to people in the monasteries in Rangoon, Sagaing, Pegu, etc. Every night, I visited monasteries and put up more stickers. Many people were enthusiastic. Ashin Gambira spoke with the foreign media a lot.

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We knew we had to prepare for something to happen. We issued a statement saying we wanted an apology by September 17. If not, the alms boycott would start. Many monasteries joined in this call for a pattanikkujjana. We did not get an apology. On September 18, we recorded a Pali version of the call for a pattanikkujjana on MP3. We sent this to Ashin Sopaka in Thailand and told him it had to be distributed to the foreign media, such as RFA and BBC. The media should be told that the monks had started their boycott. And they had. Tens of thousands of Burmese monks started to march through the streets of Burma chanting the metta sutta, a Buddhist verse on loving kindness. Many laypeople began joining the monks. The peaceful protests became known as the Saﬀron Revolution. A senior monk we knew had contacts with the army and knew they were planning to shoot us. From the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, one group of monks went to the Sule Pagoda. They shot at the monks at the Shwedagon Pagoda. Many monks were shot and sent to jail. We had people take photographs and send the images to the media. There was one group at the Sule Pagoda and one group in the monastery. I went to the monastery. Everything was blocked by the soldiers. We could not march any more and were forced to withdraw. The loudspeakers of the troops screamed: ‘Stop walking! We will shoot! Go back to your kyaungs!’ We entered monasteries. There had been many beatings. Monks had been tortured. Everything was destroyed. On September 26 and 27, many of the students who had joined in the peaceful demonstrations were arrested, too. On September 28, my brother came to the monastery where I was staying. It was evening. My mother had sent him. She told me they were looking for me, and that I had to leave. I moved to another place and stayed there in secret. This was in seaside Rangoon. I listened to the BBC news and heard what was happening:

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my friends Ashin Pannasiri and Ashin Gambira had been arrested. One month later, I was at an Internet café. Many people I met were surprised I had not been arrested yet. I am lucky. I am still free to this day. My friends told me not to come to Mandalay. ‘They asked us for photographs of King Zero, but we did not give any to them,’ they said. Many people were interrogated about King Zero. At the time, they did not know exactly who King Zero was. It is a nickname. Throughout 2007, King Zero avoided detection and stayed active inside Burma following the crackdown on the Saﬀron Revolution. He joined forces with the 88 Generation Students, and with a new underground youth organization called Generation Wave. New leaders emerged as many of the former leaders had been imprisoned. They organized new activities, distributed information, and put up many stickers, all at great personal risk. I was warned that I was being watched. I went to Mandalay twice secretly. They did not know. U Lin was in the forest hiding at that time. In 2008, the country was struck by Cyclone Nargis. I went to the delta region, and we helped the victims. In October 2008, eight members of Generation Wave were arrested. One of them was Ashin Gambira’s student. They were tortured and were asked about King Zero. They wanted names, family members, details about activities. I was warned not to come to Rangoon and to the library there anymore. At that time, the police nearly got me. The authorities visited King Zero’s village. They spoke with his brother. He did not tell them anything. I secretly met my brother and other family members. They told me that if I would be arrested, I would go to jail for a very long time, like Ashin Gambira. They told me I had to leave. They said: ‘Don’t worry about your family. Go.’ I used my brother-in-law’s ID card and changed into layman’s clothes. I went to Rangoon and then Pegu. Via Karen State, I arrived in Mae Sot, in Thailand. This

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was October 21, 2008. My brother had to go into hiding as well. I met Ashin Sopaka again in Mae Sot. I wanted to talk to the media. They knew I was there. Two weeks later, I heard that my brother had arrived back home safely. At the moment, King Zero receives many visits from monks and students who want to learn about the struggle for democracy and human rights. It is diﬃcult to get money and information to those inside Burma. I teach them how they can organize themselves, how to connect with others, about the 2008 Constitution, our underground ‘UG’ movement. We share information on stickers, spread them inside, etc. Some of our Best Friend members are in prison. We help them as best as we can: we organize money, food, and hire lawyers for them. Some are in prison because they came to see me here, and I taught them things. I also spread the dhamma to migrant workers and to Burmese people inside the prison in Mae Sot. I teach them to be good people. Many people believe in kamma: I am not good now, but will be in a next life. The Buddha, however, taught that the present time is very important. Do not wait for your next life, that is in the future. If you are bad now, do not worry, you can change and be good. Ashin Issariya explains about The Best Friend organization and its focus on education. The Best Friend started in 1999 at a university. In Burma it is diﬃcult to read books. There are no free libraries. There are not many books around. I bought and borrowed books from friends and collected them. I have always had a dream of opening up libraries everywhere to educate the people. If people read, they develop themselves and know more, including about the situation in Burma, and what they can do to change it. Many people do not think about the present. They are just waiting for a new chance in the next life.

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The educational system in Burma is about learning facts and being able to reproduce these. We do not learn how to think. We learn how to memorize facts. I have always been interested in philosophy and books, and I do a lot of thinking. I have met many educated people. I asked them how to think and asked many questions. During colonial times, education was actually good in Burma, but under Ne Win, most educated persons left the country. Nowadays, monks in Burma do not study Burmese. Many of them cannot write properly. It is the same with other students. The regime wants us to have a low level of education. The Best Friend teaches the Burmese language, too: how to write an article, and things like that. I think that especially for monks — being in a leading position and being role models in society — it is very important to be able to write properly. On the role of Buddhism in the struggle: Buddha’s way is democracy’s way. To understand each other, to forgive. Do not kill. Do not steal. It is about the peaceful way. Nonviolence. The regime is very cruel, and they do not follow the Buddha’s way. The regime is not peaceful. Buddha told the people: ‘You need a good leader, a good king.’ We have the responsibility to get a good leader. Why the name King Zero? My pen name — writer’s name — is Minthu Nya. Min means king, or leader, in Burmese; thunya is zero, nothing. In Burma, we never have a good leader. We are trying to get good leaders. I am interested in the concept of zero. I write about it in articles. Zero is very interesting: we have to strive in our lives to be zero, to be empty. Only then can we put new things and information in. It is like a glass: when it is full, nothing can be added. When it is empty, a lot can be put in. I have read a lot about the concept of zero. If you are not zero, you cannot learn more. You are done.

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Will General Than Shwe ever be reborn? He will be reborn in Hell — from Buddhism’s point of view, at least. All people have both good and bad characteristics. It is like dirt: you can wash off a little bit, but when there is a lot, you cannot wash it off anymore. A lot of dirt cannot be cleaned in water. Everything Than Shwe does is dirty. He cannot be pure anymore. King Zero addresses people in the West: Do not forget that Burma’s people are also human beings. We want freedom. We are not animals. We need to help each other. My countrymen are trying to get a simple thing like freedom. If we get freedom, we can share the peaceful way of doing things. We cannot do that now, because our country is not free. Our lives are difficult. In the west, many people are only talking. They are not actually doing anything. It is like the French oil company Total: they associate and cooperate with the regime for their business, and are only talking about respect for human rights without doing anything to help the people of Burma. We need direct support for the people. Many groups pretend to help, but are only showing off. Many NGOs are like this too. We need money for the people, for libraries and education. If people are educated and have general knowledge, they can do a lot for themselves. Help people and organizations who directly help the Burmese people – many NGOs don’t know much about our country and spend money uselessly. At the moment we are trying to build more libraries inside under a new name. Also primary schools. We continue our activities. Before the planned elections in 2010 happen, we are busy telling the people how to go about it, how to organize themselves, and how to demonstrate. It is important to show we do not agree with the 2008 Constitution. After the election, which the military will win, there will be a need for more organizing and more libraries. We must win one day!

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‘We gave our babies sleeping pills to survive’

Daw Ta Ta’s Voice Daw Ta Ta is the wife of a well-known Karen leader. She has one daughter, Wah May Say, who is 33 years old. Together they live in Nu Po Refugee Camp in Thailand. Hla Shwe, a friend of the family, 39 years old, joins in the conversation. Daw Ta Ta wishes to tell us the story of Nu Po Camp and the organization she works with. This refugee camp was established in 1997. The current population is almost 10,000 people. Most people in the camp are registered as refugees. There are two high schools and many primary schools. Many NGOs and aid organizations provide assistance for the people in the camp. One of them is the KEDP, the Karen Economic Development Programme, which has established two schools. Because of the support of NGOs, Daw Ta Ta and her family members lives are quite good. They want to go back to Burma or stay in the camp — they do not want to be resettled to a third country. Hla Shwe continues about the KEDP: The two schools have been open now for three months and were funded by two people. They provide training for ethnic people on subjects such as computer courses, painting, language skills – Japanese, Korean, Karen, Burmese, English. Everybody can attend these schools. Our aim is to establish peace and understanding between the diﬀerent ethnic groups in the camp. We strive for

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cultural and educational cooperation. Daw Ta Ta: We also run a school and boarding house for children [orphans] from Burma. It is run by the Karen Women’s Organization. Some of these children go back to Burma, but most of them stay inside the camp. There is a committee. The orphanage is run from Asin Village in Karen State. This village became part of KNU territory later. In 1997, the army attacked our Karen village. Most people fled to Thailand. Many people were not allowed to go and stay inside Thailand. Many of us were suffering. These refugees were the first people to arrive in Nu Po Refugee Camp. By listening to the radio, we knew where the army troops were, and we knew when we had to move. We have lived in the jungle for a long time. Some people still stay in the jungle. Others live in Thailand. Still others managed to get to the U.S.A. Many villages in Karen State get attacked by the army. Soldiers come and burn whole villages. Some villages have been completely destroyed. People are hurt, or killed. Many people are suffering now because they are forced to live in the jungle and forest. We used to travel at night when we were on the run. If you had a baby, you had to make sure it would not cry, for the soldiers would discover us. We gave the babies sleeping pills. We had to in order to survive and not get killed. There were many injured people. We were always far from medical help. There was no help... What do Daw Ta Ta and Hla Shwe think about the 2010 elections in Burma? I am hopeful it will bring change. The Karen people – through the KNU – are cooperating with the Shan and Chin people. We all want a federal state. This [Thailand] is not our land. We live under Thai authority. At the moment, we cannot be politically active. We are, however, active in schools and work on educational and cultural issues in our ethnic training center. We want to teach the pupils about human rights, but we do not have enough financial support.

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Wah May Say works with one of the Backpack Health Worker teams. Leaving from towns in Thailand, these brave medical volunteers stock up on medical supplies and embark on week-long trips to the jungle areas inside Burma to provide much needed medical assistance to the people who are forced to live in hiding in the forests. Dr. Cynthia Maung, the founder of the well-known Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, is the chairwoman of the teams. Wah May Say wants to say something to people abroad and to those reading this story, their story. I have a message for the people abroad: we need your support, by activity or movement. We need ďŹ nancial support for our ethnic learning centers. And we also need people to raise awareness and spread advocacy for the situation of ethnic people. Also, please help us by lobbying your governments. Not many people know about Burma and the situation of the ethnic groups. Please tell our story around the world!

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‘The Burmese people must do it themselves’

Ashin Nandaciriya’s Voice Ashin Nandaciriya is 25 years old and from Yezagyo Township, Magwe Division. At the time of this conversation at the end of February 2010, he was living in Nanti Monastery, in the vicinity of Mae Sot, Thailand. Ashin Nandaciriya was 10 years old when he entered the monastery as a novice. He became aware of politics at an early age. In Arakan State, where the abbot of his first monastery was from, there is a prominent Muslim minority called the Rohingya. The abbot held strong anti-Muslim sentiments. I was not very politically active, but more concerned with Buddhist activism because of the anti-Muslim sentiments of my abbot. Ashin Nandaciriya’s face is well-known: he was one of the monks who appeared in pictures in the media worldwide during and following the Saffron Revolution of 2007. He is the flag bearer in many photographs. After the marches in 2007, Ashin Nandaciriya returned to Pakokku, but it was not possible for him to stay there due to security issues following his involvement in the monks’ uprisings. He decided to go to Mandalay. Because he did not have an ID card, he went to apply for one at the local immigration office. He provided the officials

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with all the necessary details and a photograph, but they refused to issue him an ID card. They did not provide him with an explanation for their denial, and after many unanswered questions, Ashin Nandaciriya lost his temper and threw a table on the ground. Yes, I was angry at the immigration office, but despite this anger I am committed to a nonviolent struggle for my country. At first, his anger seemed to work in his favor: he was told that he would be issued the card. He was told to pick it up from the office of the Sangha Council, which is the regime’s hand-picked council of pro-junta monks. However, when he went back to his monastery he was advised not to go and collect the card for fear of an arrest-trap. Ashin Nandaciriya decided to flee, and left Mandalay. I went to a monastery in Rangoon, but the senior monk told me to leave. He knew the officials were after me and did not want to take the risk of taking me in. I did not have any money and did not know where to go. Luckily, the abbot gave me some money, and I managed to get to Moulmein. There I disrobed and changed into normal clothes. I arrived in Myawaddy, which is a town on the Thai border. Entering Thailand was not very difficult or adventurous: because monks are not checked at borders, I could just walk across the bridge into Thailand and Mae Sot. And I got the telephone number of a woman who helped me. I went to a local monastery, but they also refused to accept me. In Mae Sot, I lived with an NGO for the first three months, but I could not stay there any longer. I went to the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] to register as a refugee, but they could not help me. I do not know why exactly. The Burmese monk King Zero helped me, and I have been living at Nanti Monastery in the Mae Sot area for over one year now. I cannot go back to Burma; I would be arrested and put in jail. But Thailand is not a completely free country for us Burmese, either: I am not recognized as an official refugee, and am therefore here illegally. I would like to go to a third country as a refugee and

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be truly free. As far as the planned elections are concerned, Ashin Nandaciriya sees no role for the Sangha as advisors in any political dialogue. I believe monks should not get involved in politics. I only want to help the people because they are suďŹ&#x20AC;ering. This is what monks should do. Change for Burma must come from within. There is not much outsiders can do to really help us; the Burmese people must do this themselves. Update 2012: Ashin Nandarciriya has left Thailand and is currently staying in India.

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‘I am pretty stuck here’

Kyaw Win Shwe’s Voice Kyaw Win Shwe was born in Burma in 1971. He suffered considerably during his time in Burmese prisons, and still suffers from mental and physical health complaints. He fled the country in 2007 and is now living in Nu Po Refugee Camp in Thailand. I was a student activist in 1988. In 1998, I was sentenced to seven years in prison in Mandalay. I was in prison from 1998 until 2004. Before I went to jail, I was tortured by the MI [Military Intelligence] during interrogation. I was also tortured while in prison by the jail officers. They put me in a dog cell for five months. I was beaten with rubber batons because I was active for prisoners’ rights. Kyaw Win Shwe shows the scars of the torture he was subjected to in prison. I was treated for some of my injuries in the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot. I still have many medical complaints. I have kidney problems and need to urinate many times a day. According to him, it was ‘meditation and physical training’ that kept him going while in prison. Kyaw Win Shwe was released from prison in 2004. After my release I was questioned again by the police intelli-

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gence. I lived inside Burma for two years, but did not feel safe and left for Rangoon. I decided to leave the country, and ended up in Thailand, in Mae Sot. I stayed in Mae Sot for four months, before coming here to Nu Po Camp in December 2007. I cannot do much for my country here. I want to go to a third country. I am not recognized as a refugee by the UNHCR because I came to this camp by myself. I was told that after 2006, they stopped accepting new applications. They are dealing with all the old pending cases ďŹ rst. I do not want to stay in this camp, but I do not have a choice. I came here just to see if I had a chance to go somewhere else. But now there are not many options left for me. I am pretty stuck here. I am a bachelor. I have no family. I have no house here in the refugee camp. Because I am alone, I only have one room to live in. I wish to get an education, but I have no help or support. I would like to help other people. I would like to teach children. Kyaw Win Shweâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message to people in other countries: Please write about human rights in Burma in your country. Please tell your fellow countrymen what is happening in my country!

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‘A fighter should first fight himself’

U Lin Lin’s Voice U Lin Lin (not his real name) is 59 years old and an NLD member from Pakokku, Magwe Division. He would like to talk about many important events in Burma’s modern history — the U Thant uprising, the 8-8-88 protests, and the 2007 uprising. After deliberation, he decides to talk about the Saffron Revolution and his role in it. It all started in 2006. Three friends were secretly discussing their ideas and plans about democracy in Mae Sot, Thailand. I was there. We decided an uprising should start in Rangoon, because there was already a big political movement there. Every Thursday, I met with King Zero and other monks to discuss matters and to make plans. Monks who are now part of the All Burma Monks Association (ABMA), such as U Obasa, U Kheminda, and others, began distributing leaflets containing information about human rights. I traveled to Mandalay to attempt to start a movement there. Apart from distributing information, the monks also participated in metta chanting and putting up stickers of the fighting peacock throughout Burma. One of the stickers said: ‘If there are students, there must be a union for them.’ This sticker was destroyed. We also put up ‘stop sign’ stickers around the country. We produced and distributed pamphlets about the definition of politics, the strategy of nonviolence, and a nonviolent political transition, like in South Africa and in India with Gandhi. We were busy preparing the least risky strategy for change in the country.

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Some trustworthy people from inside were sent abroad, to Mae Sot, for training. They learned how to develop the movement. On February 22, 2007, the 88 Generation Students started to demonstrate for a reduction in fuel prices. I secretly introduced the monks Ashin Gambira and King Zero to each other. I knew them both, and I connected them to organize the uprising. Min Ko Naing’s students started it. We supported them. Both monks and laypeople distributed leaflets in secret. First, the people were active, and then the monks started with their metta chanting in the streets and more laypeople joined. Then the incident in Pakokku occurred: monks were beaten by the military’s soldiers, which caused an outrage. King Zero, Ashin Gambira, Ashin Kheminda, and I were in Mandalay and formed the Sangha Thameggi [Sangha Union]. We issued a statement to the media demanding the regime offer apologies for the beatings of the monks in Pakokku. On September 9, 2007, the ABMA was founded. This association consists of the AB Youth Monks, Rangoon Youth Monks [Ashin Gambira belonged to this organization], and Student Monks. The ABMA issued a warning to the authorities: the junta must apologize for the Pakokku beatings by September 18, or a pattanikkujjana would be called for. A pattanikkujjana is an alms boycott: monks would refuse to accept alms or offerings from anyone related to the military regime. The authorities did not apologize, and on September 18, 2007, the monks started to march and chant the metta sutta of loving kindness. The alms boycott also started: monks refused offerings given to them by members of the junta or the military or their families. In Mandalay, Ashin Gambira was our spokesperson on behalf of the ABMA. He spoke to the media: RFA, DVB, etc. I was busy encouraging the people to support and follow the monks, but many people were afraid at the time. I visited monasteries. We also needed financial support for Gambira’s movements. On September 26, I had to go to Rangoon for business. That is when the authorities first shot at the monks.

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U Lin Lin was the organizer behind the connection between the monks, the NLD, and students. He phoned and visited people, and introduced people to each other to make the movement stronger and better organized. He also supported Ashin Gambira and helped him to travel, to stay secretly in places, and to meet with others. The Military Intelligence knew about our activities. I traveled around a lot with U Gambira, and every night we had to stay in a diﬀerent place. We were hiding in the forest and in the mountains. They were after us. When the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the military, U Lin Lin and Ashin Gambira secretly traveled to Mae Sot, Thailand. They wanted to meet people and discuss what had happened, and what the next steps should be. Ashin Gambira talked to the media frequently and was forced to go into hiding. I had a satellite telephone, because a normal phone can easily be listened in on. I went back to Mandalay to talk about the future and what we could do. I went back and forth between Mae Sot and Mandalay and traveled a lot. All of this being on the road made me very skinny. At one point, I carried about three million Kyat – nearly 3,000 U.S. dollars – for U Gambira. I could not put this in a bank, for it would be traceable. On November 4, 2007, an article Ashin Gambira had written about the situation in his country was published in The Washington Post. He was arrested by the Burmese authorities that same day. I had to disappear and went into hiding. I lived in the jungle and caught malaria. I pretended to be digging for gold in the forest. Because I got so ill, I had to go to Mae Sot again for treatment. They oﬀered me to go to a third country as a refugee, but I refused. I could not give up my political activities, or my struggle for freedom for my country. Then a huge natural disaster hit southern Burma: in early 2008,

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Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. Hundreds of thousands of people perished, lost their possessions, and became homeless. I sent friends to go and help the victims of the cyclone. Ten of these friends were arrested. At the moment, I cannot go back inside to start and organize another movement. It is too dangerous. I have to try to organize things from here. If the opportunity arises, we will do something again. We must. I have no contact with my family. I am also advising the NLD from here about the underground and opposition activities. What does U Lin Lin think about the Obama administration’s modified approach to dealing with the regime: sanctions coupled with engagement? No other country can get rid of the junta for us. It can only happen from the inside. We need more confidence. The ethnic groups have to join, and there needs to be harmony. I believe it can be done by a combination of the nonviolent approach to struggle with the support of the people—more people have to join us—and the UG [the underground movement]. In 2007, there was only the nonviolent movement. We need the armed groups, such as the ethnic groups, to join this movement too. Many people do not believe in nonviolence. We need more confidence. At the moment [early 2010], all our real leaders are in prison. The NLD leadership mainly consists of older people. Recently, many younger members have joined. Will new leaders come forward from these new NLD members? New leaders just have to emerge, like Ashin Gambira did. The present leaders cannot win the hearts of the people. Before the Depayin Massacre in 2003, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi formed a youth group and was arrested. The NLD finds it hard to organize another group like this, because their leader Aung San Suu Kyi is gone. In 2007, not many NLD members took part in the demonstra-

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tions. At present, the NLD is not very strong. The party lacks charismatic leaders. Because of this, they have to accept their limitations, and are not strong enough to make big demands. Does U Lin Lin think violence will be necessary to create change inside the country? We have been talking with different armed groups, such as students and the KNU, since 2006. The original idea was that once there was a strong nonviolent movement, the armed groups would back us up with violence if necessary. But when it came to it, they were not strong enough. Right now, it will take time to get ready again for something like this. People are trying to be patient, but many have lost their confidence. We have been waiting for so long. Ashin Gambira was transferred to Khamti Prison. Human rights organizations are campaigning on his behalf. One of the ways they are doing this is by sending letters to the authorities, calling for his release. Does U Lin Lin think such activities can be effective? No. It is even better not to do it. Some organizations just issue statements and do not do much else. A fighter should first fight himself. Our movement tries to avoid such organizations. Does he have a message for the people? I am very sad that the Burmese people do not know about human rights. We need more campaigns for Burma, to raise awareness. I want the international community to put pressure on the junta. We need campaigns to let the Burmese people know what human rights are, and let them know that they are supported and people are aware of their situation. Then they will be more secure and confident. Update 2012: Ashin Gambira was released in an amnesty on 13 January 2012.

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‘This is the truth. My truth.’

Me Lay’s Voice Me Lay is 52 years old and comes from Karen State in eastern Burma. Me Lay fought in the jungle as a soldier for the Karen National Union (KNU) for 20 years. He was lucky; he was never arrested. He has been living in Nu Po Refugee Camp for four years now. Like many other refugees, his application for asylum in the United States has been put on hold. He cannot stay inside Thailand because it is not safe for him, due to his activities with the KNU. In 2003, thirteen Burmese immigrants were killed in Mae Sot. Me Lay worked on investigating and reporting on the case for a radio program of the Muslim Information Service of Burma (MISB). I was threatened by relatives of the murderers for investigating the case of the killed migrants, so Thailand is not safe for me. I just want to go somewhere where it is safe. Any country that is safe will do. My family consists of three people. I have had to change my appearance for safety reasons: sometimes I have a beard; other times I shave it oﬀ. I have been in Nu Po Camp for several years now, but still I do not feel safe. I did not feel safe in Mae Sot, either. The relatives of the murderers are after me. My application for refugee status in the United States was put on hold. I do not really know why. I do not understand. I am not an enemy of the Americans.

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It is reading and writing that sustains Me Lay in the refugee camp. I teach children about Islam. I want to pass on my knowledge to the children. I do not want to die and take all my knowledge with me. There are Muslims in Karen State, too. My grandfather was a Karen, my grandmother came from Bangladesh. My wife is Karen. My family are all Muslims. I really want to help other people. But I feel very useless with my situation now. I just sit around and cannot do anything. I am a Muslim, but I do not support bin Laden or other fundamentalists. I do not believe in suicide; it is against the teachings of Islam. I have absolutely no respect for suicide bombers. I am a supporter of the nonviolent approach. And I believe that that is the way to bring about freedom and change in Burma. There needs to be a dialogue â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the tripartite approach. I want to be the ďŹ rst person, if possible, to leave this camp and to be invited to a safe country. Like most other people in the refugee camp, Me Lay is not allowed to work, and his family barely gets by on the small amount of rations and aid (rice, oil, charcoal) they receive from international organizations. I ask friends for money sometimes to buy vegetables. Some friends from abroad also send some money every now and then. I am speaking to you from the heart. My stories are not invented. This is the truth. My truth.

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‘We need missiles to be dropped on Naypyidaw!’

Nyi Nyi Hlaing’s Voice Nyi Nyi Hlaing is a 39-year-old lawyer. He left Burma, where defending political prisoners in court was a primary part of his work, eight months prior to sharing his story. He arrived in Thailand and stayed with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners - Burma (AAPPB) in Mae Sot for two months, where he studied via the Internet. He then lived with the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABSFU) for one month. After that, he was able to visit the Philippines to attend the second Southeast Asia Legal Media Defense Litigation Conference, a conference for lawyers. The conference is designed to allow lawyers and media practitioners from Southeast Asia to share their experiences on legal

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threats to freedom of speech and of the press and to formulate new legal strategies responsive to the current situations in their respective countries. The conference drew participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and East Timor. In addition to participants and experts from within the region, speakers included experts from the U.S.A., U.K., Germany, Australia, and elsewhere. Every country has its suffering. At the conference, we held presentations about these subjects. Burma has faced the most difficult situation of all, I have to say. I went to this conference on behalf of Burma’s lawyers, but once there, I found myself unable to speak out. This was my first international trip. After the conference, I went back to Mae Sot. I decided I had to learn more English. This will enable me to participate more effectively in international lobbying activities. Before, it was not possible for me to lobby. After the uprisings in 2007, many monks, nuns, and political activists were arrested. Their interrogations were carried out hastily. According to Section 3.3.2 of the Burmese law, somebody who is arrested needs to be brought before a court within 24 hours. With most of these cases, it took over a year. Before 2008, many political activists were arrested. No lawyers were hired to assist them in their trials. Because the demonstrations in 2007 led to so much media attention, the regime organized all the trials. International pressure was the cause of this. But many lawyers were too afraid to defend the activists. According to Burma’s official statistics from its own Supreme Court, the country has around 32,000 lawyers. Most of these lawyers cannot practice because of a lack of education. They simply lack the confidence to properly defend clients. In every city there is a university, but often it is merely a building: there are teachers and students, but they are unqualified. Because of their meager salaries, teachers need to earn an extra income, and need to go abroad to study to get a better level or degree. Every sector in Burmese society is like this: we need

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improvement and more qualified people. The court is afraid of political prisoners due to international attention and pressure. One time, 200 cases were started in a court at the same time. This was an unfair trial. There are two stages to a trial: in the first stage, the prosecutor sues the client, which leads to a cross-examination. In the second stage, the court charges the defendant and the defense becomes active. All the 200 cases are still in the first stage. A lot of cross-examination is needed because of a lack of evidence. It takes forever. It is our duty as lawyers to defend the issues and facts. We need to ask questions. Sometimes, clients choose to defend themselves. This is amazing, because most people fear the courts and the prosecutors and judges. Many political prisoners want to defend themselves. Because of a lack of time, they can often not speak. There is no freedom of expression in Burma, no freedom of speech. Why did Nyi Nyi Hlaing choose to start defending political prisoners? Many of my lawyer friends stopped talking and associating with me after I started to defend political prisoners. For me, it is a big opportunity to defend them. Before, we were not allowed to defend political prisoners. Now we can, and I feel it is a chance we have to take. I risk losing my lawyer’s license, but I love risks and challenges. Another reason for me to do it is to prove the justice system wrong: if you say our justice system is bad, you need to prove this. That is why I defend them: to prove that our justice system is unfair and bad. During one trial period of three months, six lawyers were arrested on charges of contempt of court. I have been lucky. Some of the prosecutors sued me. With other lawyers, this did not happen. I was disturbing the trial, they said. They sued me for contempt of court. I had the chance to defend myself and the judge was flexible. So I was lucky. In my country, the judges are appointed by the SPDC [State

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Peace and Development Council]. They follow the SPDC and are not independent. Amazingly, I have won many of my cases. One, in 2007, was about the new student generation and its leader, De Nyein Lin, whose name means Democracy Peace Light, a 19-year-old student. The day after we won the trial, all of the defendents were sued on the same charges again in a different court! That is how it goes. Nyi Nyi Hlaing was one of the lawyers of Ashin Gambira, the young monk who was one of the leaders of the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Ashin Gambira was sentenced to more than 60 years in prison in remote Kalay Prison. He was released as part of a general amnesty in early 2012. I will give you an example. People are often charged under the Electronic Transmission Act for unauthorized Internet use, etc. On the basis of this act, you can get sentenced to prison for fifteen years. Ashin Gambira was also charged under this act. He allegedly used the Internet three times, so he was sentenced to 45 years (3 x 15) in prison! Of the five lawyers who defended Ashin Gambira, three were arrested. Ashin Gambira used the Internet to send emails and statements. One of his statements was shown in court. They asked many questions about it: ‘What is this? Who printed it? Which printer was used?’ It was actually printed out with the printer in my office! Ashin Gambira was also charged under the Penal Code section 295A for ‘insulting religion’. After the Saffron Revolution in 2007, we received a lot of support from religious and other leaders. Both the Dalai Lama and the Pope sent messages of support to the Sangha. We also received emails from Nobel Prize winners, and [George W.] Bush met with the opposition in Bangkok. All of this support was useful in court. Other laws that are frequently used to silence the opposition and

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political activists include the Printer and Publishing Act, Unlawful Associations/Organizations Act, and the Immigration Act. Our government says that we do not have political prisoners in Burma, only criminal offenders. I never had to go to prison, I was lucky. My intention is not only to fight during trials, it is bigger than that. I know some officers are just ‘pawns’. I objected during court cases many times. I was insulted a lot, and sometimes I forgave them for insulting me. Then I just told that person that he is still wet behind the ears. My ambition is to prove them wrong by getting proof with their own laws. There is a lot of injustice in our country, many completely unfair trials. I want to be a good lawyer. When I started practicing, I noticed every single case was corrupt. I did not like that one bit. When I got my lawyer’s license, I mostly defended people voluntarily. These cases were mainly about injustice, and the clients were poor people. Because I needed to earn an income, too, I did civil cases to earn money. I specialized in international business law, but I ended up mostly defending common criminals. Nyi Nyi Hlaing was involved in the 1988 students’ uprising as a high school student. He went into hiding shortly after that. He was also involved in the 1990 elections as an activist and had to hide again for a short while. However, he was never a political prisoner. He became a lawyer after the 1990 elections. He originally studied science, but decided to study law instead. In Burma, students who have high grades automatically study science. They must. I did not want to study science, though, so I did not sit the exams. I eventually passed my high school exam in 1996. After that, the universities were closed from 1996 until 1999. There was a student uprising. In 2003, I finally got my master’s degree and started a post-graduate degree. I applied for a new lawyer’s license – an advocate license. The Burmese Supreme Court has been moved to Burma’s new capital, Naypyidaw.

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As a lawyer, you have to go there to pick up your lawyer’s license. I do not want to go to Naypyidaw to go and get my lawyer’s license, so I currently do not have a license. You have to collect your license in person. I do not want to do that, because it is dangerous. Because he does not practice as a lawyer, he does not have a steady source of income at the moment. I write articles for the DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma], and get some money for that. It is the people’s responsibility now, to write for the media. I want to go to university in another country, and study. I do not want to apply for asylum as a refugee or a political asylum seeker: I do not want to be a second-class citizen in another country. I want to be able to do something for my own country. I have visited Laos, the Philippines, and Cambodia. I really crave development for my country. When Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in 2008, we helped the people in the Delta region. We provided them with clothes and organized help. There were many foreigners there to help. Many of them were surprised by the backwardness of the area: bodies of the deceased were hanging in trees, people are poor — they were surprised by this ‘ancient’ Burma. When these same people visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia, they admire the ancient temples and circumstances. This inspired me to write some of my current stories. One of them is about Burma going back in time, to the time of the great kingdoms. There will be no televisions, and all people take part in farming. What is his opinion about the planned elections in 2010? We do not even know yet when the elections will be. The junta needs to announce the exact date, the electoral laws, etc. ‘We must be pure Myanmar,’ the prime minster said in a speech recently. What he meant was, do not mix with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It was a clear hint at her marriage to a foreigner. If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi cannot participate in these elections... The

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regime might announce that she will not be able to, and then they will announce the elections for tomorrow, so the parties and politicians will have no time to prepare. What is needed, according to Nyi Nyi Hlaing, to bring change to Burma? We need missiles to be dropped on Naypyidaw. And I would love to ďŹ&#x201A;y the ďŹ ghter jet! Update 2011: A few months after this interview, Nyi Nyi Hlaing was struck by a brain hemorrhage and spent several months in a Thai hospital. At the moment, he is slowly recovering.

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‘You cannot destroy my life further’

Tar Yar’s Voice Tar Yar (not his real name) is 19 years old and a former child soldier. He is from Pegu, Pegu Division. He arrived at Nu Po Refugee Camp in 2008. Tar Yar is living alone in the camp. He has no contact with his relatives for safety reasons. This is his harrowing story. In 2005, I was ‘persuaded’ to join the army. I was watching a football match at a teashop in the evening. After the match, I walked home. I was alone, and it was dark. Two soldiers approached me in the street and asked me, ‘Where are you going?’ I told them I was on my way home. ‘No, you have to come with us’, they said. They told me they would take me to see a sports team. Because I loved football so much, I thought that would be great. However, I told them I would have to talk to my mother about it ﬁrst. ‘No’, they told me. ‘If you want to go to your mother, you do not trust us, and we will arrest you for being suspicious of us.’ They took me with them. I was 15 years old. Tar Yar was taken to the Rangoon Sports Stadium, where many other young boys and men were being forcefully held. Soldiers told him he would be taken to an army training school. He was given no further explanation. He could not contact his mother or anyone else.

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In the morning we got some very bad coffee and bad food. Burma has ten training schools for soldiers. They told me I was too small and skinny to be selected to become a soldier. You have to weigh at least 100 pounds, and I did not. I was sleeping on the floor. There were many bedbugs, and I was bitten a lot. I did a lot of thinking, too. I smoked a lot, because I wanted my face to look older. I wanted to leave the place where they were keeping me, and thought I might go to a better place if I could become a soldier. I was kept in a prison-like place, locked up with other people, so I tried to eat a lot to gain weight. During the next soldier-selection, Tar Yar begged the officials to take him to the training school, and they did. He was taken to Pyinmana – a town close to the new capital, Naypyidaw – and started soldier training. He stammers as he continues his story. The training was very hard: I had to vomit often from all the hard exercise. It was extremely demanding. One day, I saw somebody who wanted to escape, but was caught. He was tortured. They bound his arms and legs and beat him until the skin came off his legs. It was terrible. Tar Yar was in the training course for four-and-a-half months. After that, he was transferred to Rangoon, to the Hlegu Soldier Camp. At Hlegu Camp, I was forced to work in a rubber plantation and grow vegetables. I got some salary, 12,000 Kyat [$15 U.S.] a month. I managed to escape, and went to Pegu. I visited my mother and told her the whole story. My grandfather was a policeman, so it was not safe for me at home. My mother knew they would be looking for me because I had escaped. Eventually, my mother advised me to hand myself in. The earlier you do this, the shorter the prison sentence you receive. We knew I would be sent to prison if I handed myself in, and that is why my mother wanted me to do this sooner rather than later. He was not sent to a normal prison, however, but to a prison in a

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soldiers’ camp. I was kept in leg chains and had to sleep outside. I could not sleep at all there, and was exhausted. I had to eat leftover food, and the drinking water was dirty. The circumstances there were terrible. I lost a lot of weight and became very skinny. At some point, I asked them to send me to a normal prison. I thought the circumstances there would be better. Tar Yar was taken back to Hlegu Camp, where he had received his soldier’s training. The general in the camp told me I should not have run away and asked me if I wanted to be a soldier. I told him I did not want to become a soldier. That is when they sent me to Insein Prison. He was sentenced to one year in Insein Prison. I had no leg chains, I could play ball and watch TV. I could also buy food there. The prison was better than the soldiers’ camp. But after ﬁve months, I was sent to a labor camp in Shan State. That is what the authorities do to short-term prisoners: you either become a porter to carry soldiers’ gear, or you are transferred to a labor camp. They could not use me as a porter, because I had had soldier training and knew how to use a gun. Because I did not have any money, I could not bribe anybody. I did not want to cause any problems for my parents either. Tar Yar struggles with words as he continues his story. It was worse than prison. The labor was extremely hard. I was forced to wear leg chains. I worked in sugarcane irrigation channels. On the count of ten, we had to ﬁnish a certain amount of work. It was very hard. My hands were injured and bleeding. They beat me. My legs were injured and bleeding, too. My back and arms ached constantly. We never got enough food. They only gave us rice to eat.

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Because of this, he became so hungry that he ate all the raw vegetables and sugarcane that he could scavenge. We had to dig out irrigation channels from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. When you were tired and stopped working, you were beaten. There was never enough food. I was very weak. Once, there was a washing bowl with water for hand washing. Because people washed their hands after eating, there were some bits of rice in the bowl. I was so hungry, I ate the rice I could pick out. I also stole little bits of salt from the kitchen and drank it with water, just because I was so hungry. Tar Yar was released after five months in the labor camp. He made his way to Mandalay, but was once again approached by soldiers looking for new conscripts. They asked me, ‘Where are you going?’ and ‘Let us see your ID card’. I told them: ‘I am an ex-soldier. I am an ex-prisoner. My life was destroyed by you already.’ The soldiers forced him into their car. I told them, ‘I do not care what you do to me. You cannot destroy my life further.’ They let me go. I went back to my home in Pegu. My mother warned me not to do anything wrong. She told me I was notorious, and would get arrested again. One day, the police came to our house. I did not want to see them. I did in the end, and showed them my release certificate from prison. They wanted to take me for interrogation. I took a stick and beat the police. I managed to run away and get into a car. I went to Mae Sot, Thailand. It was a very long trip. I stayed in a monastery on the way. On arrival in Mae Sot, I slept in a phone booth. I knew my cousin’s sister was in Mae Sot, but I could not find her. I heard stories about Thai police arresting illegal Burmese immigrants, but I managed to evade them.

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I worked in the construction business in Mae Sot. Our boss was Thai. He looked down on the Burmese workers and treated them badly. He used to hit people. I could not accept this, and one day I threw bricks at the boss. It was a so-called accident. I said sorry, and left the construction site. Tar Yar got in contact with an aid organization called GISCorps. They helped him, and he came to Nu Po Refugee Camp in 2008. He was 17 years old at the time. I now have a godmother in London. GIS found her for me. This woman is helping me. I want to help other former child soldiers. The woman from the U.K. has visited me twice so far. She is in her 40s, I think. She stayed in Mae Sot with me for a year. She organized an English teacher for me so that I could learn English. I do not know how my family is doing. They do not know I am here. It is too dangerous to contact them. I do not want to put them in danger. My godmother from England helped me study in Mae Sot, but she had a motorbike accident there and had to go back to the U.K. She rented an apartment for me, but I stayed with the monk King Zero. He taught me a lot. About Buddhism, computers, communication. He gave me more self-esteem. The Englishwoman advised Tar Yar to go and stay in the refugee camp. He does not know whether he is officially registered as a refugee with the UNHCR. I still suffer from problems due to the bad treatment in the past. I have bad vision and think this is due to ammonia vapors from the toilets in the prison cells. I also suffer from stomach problems. I get medicines for my eyes: glasses and eye drops. I am in the camp alone. I have no place for myself. I sleep in kyaungs or with friends. I read and study during the day. I do not get any therapy or psychological help — only from King Zero and the others. At the moment, I am waiting for whatever will be organized

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for me. How does Tar Yar survive and deal with all he has experienced in his short life? King Zero told me to encourage and trust myself. He increased my self-esteem. I also met an author and somebody else who told me I had to be strong. I do not want to think about what happened to me, but it is in the heart â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not in the mind. Update 2012: Tar Yar has left Nu Po Refugee Camp and has worked at several jobs in the Mae Sot area. He has also started studying.

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‘They were orders. I followed whatever I was told.’

Zaw Moe’s Voice Zaw Moe (a pseudonym) is a 44-year-old ex-army officer of the Tatmadaw. He is a Karen from Rangoon. Zaw Moe went to school like any normal boy until he was 16 years old. He was eager to enter the armed forces, although he was technically still too young. He lied about his age in order to be admitted. He shares his story in Thailand in early 2010. I wanted to be in the army, because I enjoyed fighting. The army is very tough: the conditions there are rough, and life is not easy. You are trained to receive orders and to obey, to respect. They use violence to achieve this in pupils. Pupils are being drilled to obey. When they do something wrong or something that is not allowed, everybody gets punished. This way you feel very bad: you are not only punished yourself, but everybody else suffers because of your mistake. In 1981, Zaw Moe was sent into the jungle to fight the Burmese Communist Party. They had camps in the jungle, in eastern Shan State. The Burmese Army was successful: the Burmese Communist Party was defeated, and is now gone. They are in China now with the Kuomintang. I was a captain in the army, of the riflemen. At one point, I was in love with a Chinese woman. We got engaged. In the Burmese

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Army, however, it is not allowed for a high army officer to be married to a foreigner, so I was forced to leave her. What does a former army general think about the nonviolent movement in Burma? I no longer support violence. I think we need a dialogue between all the different parties. Many people from inside the army, such as myself, want change too. Soldiers want to be soldiers and have to obey the rules. But they suffer, too. Their wages are very low and their families are poor. Army life is tough. People inside the army want a better government, too. Many generals higher up in the ranks are unhappy as well. Everybody wants change in Burma. Many people in the army do not have much education or knowledge, so they believe all the propaganda that is being thrown at them. And the junta only knows one language: violence. Does Zaw Moe believe there is a possibility of significant members of the armed forces turning against the junta? The Burmese Army is trained according to the Japanese Army system. This system is very much based on simply following orders and not asking any questions or having an opinion of your own. Our soldiers are brainwashed. It is therefore very difficult to turn against the system. Despite this, about 30 captains from the Burmese Army have so far fled the country. These men had so-called ‘jump-promotions’: they were put in their positions, instead of working themselves up from lower ranks. I did work myself up from the bottom, and that is why I know what it is like to be a simple soldier, because I was one myself. That is also why I understand how to control the soldiers. Many of the jump-start captains do not know, because they were never soldiers themselves and do not understand what is going on inside them. I am the only captain who has fled the country who was not jump-promoted. This Japanese Army system is currently only employed in Japan and Burma. That is also why Japan is always hesitant with

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sanctions against the Burmese regime. How often has Japan said no to the junta? Zaw Moe left the country in 2006. I had lost a battle in the jungle against the Shan State Army and was sent to a military court. As a captain in the Burmese Army, you get punished when you lose a battle. I would have been sentenced to seven years in prison. With help from officers of the same rank, I managed to escape, and arrived in Mae Sot. In Burma there are many captains in prison for losing battles or for disobeying orders. Thousands of them. Zaw Moe mainly fought against insurgents: armed ethnic groups that the junta claims are out to destroy the country. Many of his battles were fought in Shan and Karen States. When I was still inside the country, I saw these people as rebels. Once outside of the country, I read books and newspapers and learned more. It was propaganda which made me believe all these things. Does Zaw Moe feel remorse for the atrocities he committed as a member of the Burmese military? When we used to fight the ethnic rebels, the outcomes of the fights depended on the leaders. Sometimes I felt very sorry for the people involved. Sometimes a leader would announce that we would burn down the entire village, and warned the villagers in advance, so that they could leave on time. Some other generals were ruthless and would just burn everything down. When I was a company officer [general], I would give warnings to the villagers if possible. Do experiences like these continue to haunt him? I have no feelings about it. They were orders. I followed what-

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ever I was told. At the moment I do not have any plans for the future. I just wait and see. I help other army officers who flee the country. I do not want to cooperate with NGOs or other organizations in Mae Sot because they might misunderstand me. As a former army officer, I keep a low profile. Only close friends know I was in the army. How does he believe change can be brought about in his country? My personal belief is that there will be an uprising. The military will suppress this. Then we need someone respectable to negotiate between the soldiers and the people. There is a role for the media, too. They have to educate the soldiers, and tell them not to kill. Some media doubt the necessity of this. I want the media to inform the military. Soldiers have no time to listen to foreign media, and they are not allowed to. It is a long-term plan. They will maybe need things like stickers and pamphlets to spread the information. Many ground soldiers — they make up more than 80% of the army — are uneducated. They cannot distinguish between right and wrong. The regime’s propaganda is their only truth. After living in the army for so many years and being used to following orders, does he find it hard to make his own decisions now? I became used to obeying without question as a ground soldier. Because I was a captain later, I had to take all the decisions myself, and had to deal with many other people and many different situations. Now I feel I have freedom. To bring change to Burma, a people’s uprising alone is not enough. We need to mobilize support for change within the army. The USDA needs to support the people’s movement for freedom. Violence is necessary in this, but in combination with other things. It is like with boxing: we need a balance. Only when power is in balance, will discussions be possible.

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‘We are in contact with Zarganar in our hearts’

The Voices of Thee Lay Thee and Full Colour Thee Lay Thee and Full Colour are a well-known Burmese comedy troupe, trained by one of Burma’s most famous and respected entertainers, Zarganar. In 2008, Zarganar was sentenced to prison for his jokes and criticism of the junta, and for his support of the victims of Cyclone Nargis. He was sentenced to 59 years in prison, which was later reduced to 35 years. Thee Lay Thee and Full Colour consist of the following seven members: Sein Thee (Diamond Fruit), Pan Thee (Apple), Zee Thee (Plum), Kyal Thee (Star or Button), Gaw Zilla, Chaw Su Myo, and Mya Sabai Ngone. There are ﬁve male comedians and two female dancers in the comedy troupe. All of them are around 30 years old and come from Rangoon. They share their voices during a visit to Thailand, where they are shooting a ﬁlm with the cooperation of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). In our performances, we use humor to make jokes about the regime. Outside of Burma, our humor is much more political. Inside, there is less freedom, so the political bit is played down. We use more hidden jokes inside the country. Foreigners sometimes do not understand these inside jokes. We left the country and now perform abroad for foreigners and Burmese alike. We want the world to know what is happening

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inside Burma. At the moment, we are busy working on a film, in collaboration with the DVB. This film is about current news issues, such as the upcoming elections, and about our performances in Asia. We are planning to perform in Europe and the United States, too. We have no contact with international comedians – we could maybe cooperate in order to reach more people and raise awareness about the situation in Burma. We are always watching other comedians’ shows, though. Members of Thee Lay Thee do not expect any change from the planned elections in 2010. There will be no change. The regime has set plans for this election. Not everybody is able to join and be involved. This way, real change is not possible. They were trained by famous comedian Zarganar, who is serving a long prison sentence for his jokes about the government and his help to Cyclone Nargis victims. Do they think humor has a role to play in Burma’s prisons? Oh, yes! Even when Zarganar was on trial in prison, he never gave up on jokes and humor. After having appeared in court over and over again, he once told the judge, ‘You can treat me like a regular customer now.’ Is humor a useful tool for them to deal with the difficult situation in their country? Yes, definitely! Humor is very important in dealing with things. Also in our private lives, and for the people as well. One of the members tells a joke: President Obama, the President of China, and General Than Shwe pay a visit to the leader of the nats [Burmese spirits] to ask

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for his advice. Obama asks him: ‘My country, the U.S.A., is in crisis. When will this crisis be solved, dear spirit leader?’ The nat leader answers, ‘In one hundred years, everything will be fine again.’ Obama is somewhat disappointed by this answer. He knows he will not live this long, and it will take too long. The Chinese president asks the nat leader: ‘The Chinese population is growing very quickly and this might lead to problems for my country. How can I reduce the population growth?’ The nat leader answers: ‘Do not worry, in one hundred years, everything will be fine.’ The Chinese president is disappointed. One hundred years is much too long and he will not live to see everything be fine. Then Than Shwe asks the nat leader for advice: ‘When will my country Burma get democracy?’ The nat leader answers Than Shwe: ‘Do not worry, you will not live long enough to experience it!’ Back to the real world and the struggle for peace and democracy in Burma. Do they think violence will be needed at some point to bring change to Burma? No. Nonviolence is the way. As comedians we do carry weapons, though: our art is our weapon. How can outsiders help? We use our art as comedians to educate people inside Burma. We need financial support to do this, and to strengthen our reach. Their messages to the world: ‘We fight injustice with humor and art!’ ‘We want democracy for the people inside Burma.’ ‘My dream is to one day perform for the people together with our teacher, Zarganar.’ ‘Although there is no contact possible with Zarganar, we are in

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contact with him in our hearts.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Update 2012: Zarganar was released from prison on October 12, 2011. He immediately resumed working for democracy in his country, and also took several trips abroad, both to perform and to meet with politicians, human rights activists, and many others. Thee Lay Theeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kyal Thee, Pan Thee, and Mya Sabai Ngone returned to Burma in December 2011. They joined the other members of the comedy troupe, who had returned to Burma earlier. Thee Lay Thee have reunited with Zarganar and are once again performing inside Burma.

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‘Refugees are not terrorists’

Thein Zaw’s Voice Thein Zaw was born in 1966 in Arakan State. He worked as a magazine reporter in Burma, often writing about freedom and democracy. He also contributed to Radio Free Asia (RFA) programs in which the government was criticized. Thein Zaw now hopes to make a film about the regime and his feelings about Karen State. He is currently living in Nu Po Refugee Camp. Many of the refugees in the camps register with the UNHCR. This way they can apply for asylum in a third country. Most want to go to the U.S.A. My wife and I had a so-called OPE [Overseas Processing Entity, an official who assists persons seeking entrance into the U.S.A. as refugees] interview in April 2005. On June 3, 2008, our fingerprints were taken; this is part of the procedure. It turned out that my wife’s details – including the fingerprints! – matched those of a woman already in the U.S.A. Every time the procedure’s officers visit the camp, I ask them about the status of our application. But every time, they tell us they do not know. In the beginning of 2010, the UNHCR visited Nu Po again. I asked them about the status of our procedure. The UNHCR woman told me she was surprised my wife’s fingerprints matched those of another person. She said fingerprints are unique. Names can be the same, but fingerprints cannot. I am confused now. The OPE told us in November 2009 that the fingerprint issue was resolved. But on January 6, 2010, the OPE said again that the name and fingerprints of my wife were the same as those of another woman.

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Two of their officers told us a different story. I do not know what to believe anymore. We do not trust them anymore, and are suspicious of whatever decision they will make. All refugees should also have the right to refuse to go to a certain country, even just a moment before they plan to board the plane taking them there. We were pushed into applying for the United States. The U.S.A. claims to have open doors, but this is not true. I am very disappointed and cannot do anything now. I have to wait for their decision, and that can take another few years. In the meantime, I cannot even start application procedures for other countries. I am stuck. In theory, we can withdraw our application for the U.S.A. But we will not get proof of this withdrawal. Without cancellation papers, however, we cannot start the procedure to apply for refugee status in another country. Here in Nu Po Camp, there are many people who are in a similar situation: they are stuck in their application procedures. I even know of other people who were also told their fingerprints and names match those of other people. Many people are stuck in their procedures. On January 10 of this year, around 80 people demonstrated in front of the UNHCR office in the camp against all these procedures which are put on hold. We were promised an explanation by January 27, 2010. It is now more than one month later, and we are still waiting. We have not heard anything. What is there left for Thein Zaw to do? I believe in a democratic system and country. This issue should be solved. Many refugees here have big problems because they are in similar situations. They cannot go back to Burma. Thailand will not accept or recognize them as refugees. Their only option is being accepted by a third country, so that is our only hope. If you then get stuck in the application process for this and are kept waiting for years, you lose hope... This insecure situation leads to relationship breakdowns and divorces. Some political prisoners suffer from illnesses that were

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left untreated in prison, and are still left untreated here in the camp. Some of them have died while waiting for treatment here. There are even some people who were involved in the struggle who were so hopeless here because of the deadlock they found themselves in, that they went back to Burma, despite all the dangers involved. Apart from that, we have many conflicts between people, and even between friends and neighbors. Many people turn to alcohol because they feel useless and cannot do anything to change their situation. By keeping refugees here for too long, this will become a larger problem. What about NGOs that offer assistance? The aid organizations cannot explain what the exact problem is, or why it takes so long. OPE and UNHCR are responsible for these situations. They do not practice what they preach. The UNHCR told me: ‘Refugees have nothing to do with human rights; we did not invite you here, you came here yourself.’ And: ‘Refugee rights are not human rights.’ I checked the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and I believe it was article 30 which deals with refugee rights. [It is actually Article 14 on Asylum.] So, when I fled Burma, I did have rights as a refugee. I took part in the student uprisings of 1988. After that, I was a monk for five years. I left Burma in 2003. I walked, and had to hide, and managed to get out via the north of the country. At the end of 2003, I reached Thailand. I took part in a demonstration in Bangkok, in front of the South Korean embassy. At the time, the Korean car manufacturer Daewoo was cooperating with the Burmese company Shwe Gas. We demonstrated against this. I was then sent to this refugee camp. That was in 2006. I registered with the UNHCR in 2005. What is Thein Zaw’s opinion on the upcoming elections in Burma? As far as I am concerned, it is like this: from General Than Shwe to General Than Shwe. There will be no change through

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these elections. The next day, Thein Zaw returns to the temple where he began sharing his story the previous day. He asks to add something to his interview. Last night I slept really well for the ﬁrst time in ages. I am so happy to have spoken to you and to have told my story. It felt really good to vent my feelings to somebody who listened to me. He wishes to add something to his story about his asylum application to the United States. I believe that within the U.S. resettlement agency, there is a misunderstanding about our political activities inside Burma. I believe that this is the reason why so many cases are put on hold. In Burmese we call it ‘UG’, which means underground, secretly giving information. Americans translate this into terrorism, and associate it with security issues. That is a misunderstanding. The United States should diﬀerentiate between real enemies and friends. Refugees are not terrorists.

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‘I want Burma to be free’

Win Hlaing’s Voice Win Hlaing was born in 1969 in Pegu. He became a political prisoner in Burma after he began helping with the distribution of a banned Burmese newspaper via networks in Mae Sot, Thailand. He was visited by the ICRC while in Thayet Prison in 2000. He was released in 2005. He shares his story in 2010 from No Po Refugee Camp. After my release, I went and stayed at my home for three months, but I wanted to leave. The Mojo Newspaper [a small exile news service that covers Burmese politics from Thailand] oﬃce helped me to leave. They had supported me throughout my time in prison, too. I managed to get to Thailand, and registered with the UNHCR. This was in 2006. I applied for asylum in the United States. Like many people here in the camp, my procedure is now ‘on hold’. I believe they are checking my eligibility again. Win Hlaing decided not to wait, and has cancelled his application for resettlement to the U.S.. I now want to start a new procedure for another country. I joined the demonstration in the camp last January. I am very disappointed with the UNHCR and the U.S.A. At the moment, I am very depressed. I need medicines, but do not get all the medical help I need. Many people here unfortunately have a similar story.

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My family keeps me going. I also read and try to help other people who are down and depressed. This gives me some distraction. What does he want for his family? It is simple: I just wish for them to be healthy and have enough to live comfortably. From the TBBC [Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an NGO that helps refugees and displaced people from Burma], we receive rice and cooking oil. This is our food ration. If you are lucky, like us, friends from abroad will send some money so that you can buy extra vegetables or meat every now and then. I just wish for my friends who are still imprisoned in Burma to be free. I want Burma to be free. What can people who read Win Hlaingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story do to help him and others like him? The most important thing is democracy. We want and need democracy. People from the West can help us by helping inside the country: we need education and good health care. Humanitarian aid is needed as well. What can outsiders do for people inside the refugee camps? Europe should start inviting more people to resettle. The United States invites about 10,000 people a year. To compare, Europe does not invite many refugees at all. European countries do not invite new people; they just do family reunions.

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‘I would go back anytime to lead, despite all the dangers’

Ashin Naymeinda’s Voice Ashin Naymeinda is 34 years old and comes from Nawmo Township, Rangoon Division, Burma. He became famous worldwide after photographs and video footage of his involvement in the Saﬀron Revolution appeared in the media. He is one of the two monks who are often seen in photographs speaking to the crowds with a loudspeaker. In 1994, Ashin Naymeinda was imprisoned in Mandalay for two months. Up until this day, he does not know what the exact reasons for his imprisonment were. He relates his story in 2010. Together with Ashin Thaura and Ashin Gawsitha, I was one of the leading monks in the uprisings. Because of this, I was not safe in Burma anymore, and was forced to leave my country. I had to go into hiding for a long time and had to disrobe and put on layman’s clothes. I managed to get to Thailand and have been living in Nanti Monastery, close to Mae Sot, for one year now. I am not happy at the moment. I want to do something for my country and go back, or go to a third country as a refugee. I do not take the upcoming elections seriously, as they will only serve to keep the junta in power. As a monk, my struggle is always purely nonviolent, and I would never approve of violence as a way to reach my goal. Ashin Naymeinda was born in 1976 and entered monastic life as a novice at the age of 12. I went to Mandalay when I was 16 years old. Four years later, I

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became politically involved. I do not like to call it politics though. I just want to relieve the suďŹ&#x20AC;ering of the people and the monks. I am not a politician. According to him, the outside world cannot do much to help the Burmese in their struggle. I am convinced the Burmese people have to do it themselves. It has to come from within. People from other countries can, however, encourage us and give advice on how to conduct our struggle for freedom. He wonders whether there really is a solution for the situation in Burma. I do not believe in violence. I believe nonviolence is the only way to bring change and peace worldwide. This world is for its people to live peacefully, and we have to do all we can to enable that. How can you ďŹ ght such a strong enemy that has so many weapons in only a nonviolent way? Nonviolence is the only way. Metta (loving kindness) is much stronger when more people unite. We need more people to join our movement, but this will take time. We also need brave and fearless leaders. Practical leaders, those who take action and are not afraid. I would go back anytime to lead, despite all the dangers involved. The NLD, the main opposition party in Burma, is currently reforming: its aging leadership is being joined by younger leaders. Might they play a role as the brave leaders who are needed? I have no opinion on the reforms within the NLD. I want to see leaders who are ready to sacriďŹ ce themselves. Brave people like this can come from anywhere, and be any rank. Most of the people

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have big mouths and are only talking. But when it comes down to it, they do not do anything. It can take a long time though, maybe more than twenty years, for this to happen. At the beginning of the SaďŹ&#x20AC;ron Revolution, many monks had big ideas and were talking a lot. When things really happened, they failed to contribute any action. If everybody had followed their own words and had done what they were talking about, Burma would already be free.

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‘I see education as the cure for Burma’s problems’

Chan Nyein Naing’s Voice Chan Nyein Naing is 30 years old from Mogok in Mandalay Division. He ﬂed Burma and traveled to the United Kingdom. He was deported from the U.K. after it was discovered he had used a fake ID card to gain entry to the country. He has been living in Switzerland since December 2006, in its capital city Bern. Chan Nyein Naing is a political refugee. His father is a physician. Chan Nyein Naing studied architecture. He is currently jobless. He does voluntary work as a cashier in a shop, and he attends German language classes at a language school. He wishes to speak about education.

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The educational system in Burma is absolutely unstable: every few years, they change the subjects and courses. After I finished university, they closed it for two or three years. But Than Shwe’s grandson wanted to attend a course at that particular university, so they opened it again. The university may just be closed again as soon as he finishes his degree. At the moment, 80 percent of the education system is closed down. Private schooling and self-studying in Burma are of good quality. Rich people can use these options and call a teacher to come and do home schooling. But the government education is outdated and very poor. I finished my degree in 1996. Two years later, they changed the syllabus, and then it got much worse. Many of the problems are due to a lack of management. The salaries of the teachers are very low, and most of the teachers think only about how they can improve their lives, not about education. Teachers need a second income to get by and survive. I believe we need education to improve the situation in our country; it’s the best way to improve things. We can teach people about the right way. We can teach our people the differences between right and wrong. I have seen big differences in education between Burma and Switzerland. Here in Switzerland, people are being taught how to think, and they are stimulated to think for themselves. The main system is about the kids, the students. The teacher functions as a guide. In Burma, the teacher is the main ruler — like a dictator. As a student, you must follow your teacher. If you have an exam, for instance, in Switzerland you analyze and think in your own way and write down your personal opinion about the material you have studied. In Burma, you have to write down the teacher’s opinion. If you don’t, you will not pass the exam. Each education system suits its particular society. We cannot change such a system overnight. It will take time to reschedule things. Most parents, and also students, accept these ways. In Burma, we are not used to expressing our opinions freely. Education is the easy way: if you don’t know something, you just ask the teacher. You learn and read by heart and just reproduce the material you have studied.

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What other differences between Burma and Switzerland has Chan Nyein Naing noticed? In Switzerland there is electricity 24 hours a day! In Burma, there is a constant struggle with the electricity supply. Apart from that, the salaries here in Switzerland are much higher and people have much better living standards. But I find the Swiss people very closed. They go to work and keep very much to themselves. However, when you are inside their homes and are staying at their home, you feel at home, because then you are part of their family life. How does Chan Nyein Naing see his future? I see education as the cure for Burma’s problems. At the moment, I’m following a German language course. I would like to earn a master’s degree in architecture and maybe work in education. I did some teaching after I left university, but I argued too much with the other teachers; they did not appreciate my new ideas. There is a big difference between being a university graduate and being wise. In Buddhism, the emphasis is on improving one’s knowledge. The educational system used to be very strong in Burma. Now it’s miserable due to mismanagement. Before 1960, Rangoon University was one of the best in the world. What can people in the West do to support positive change in Burma? We need to work together to change the situation in Burma. People have to push their governments. ‘Outside influence’ is what they call it inside Burma. I would suggest people outside support organizations like The Best Friend. Don’t only give money; this can lead to corruption, and due to corruption, money will not go where you want it. Support technology and education. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is very popular in the West, because of her Nobel Peace Prize and her long house arrest. People here

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know her. Also the uprisings in 2007 are known; people saw the images of the monks marching on TV. The media is strong now. In 1988 when the uprisings took place, the media inside the country was completely controlled by the military. Hardly any news got out of the country. In 2007, this was diﬀerent. The junta does not educate the people about new technology. They teach old systems at university. Computer labs are never open. Why they are closed? Because the teachers don’t know how to use the computers. They are afraid something bad will happen when they touch a computer, like it will blow up or something! But now people can communicate with the outside world via the Internet. This was very important in 2007. I took a friend to a computer shop and instructed him how to use the computer and the Internet. He learned how to chat and wanted to learn more. He studied possibilities to learn more. Internet is a big revolution in the system. People ﬁnd alternative ways to bypass the system and its restrictions. Computers are like nonviolent weapons: they spread information. That’s why it’s important for people to speak good English, not only so-called ‘Burglish’ [Burmese English]. People can improve their English by chatting and using computers and the Internet. What does Chan Nyein Naing want to say to the world? We need help! Help means support. Push your governments to ease the situation in Burma. I do not mean a sudden change. But we need gradual improvements in people’s lives. Democracy, I feel, is not the only solution. We need a lot more for things to really improve. Democracy alone is not going to change everything.

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‘My family was ﬁnally reuinted’

Ko Tun’s Voice Musician Ko Tun is 35 years old. He is married to 27-year-old Aye Thu Khaing, and together they have two children: Ye Yint Tun, 7, and Ei Kyai Zin Tun, aka Agu, 3. The family currently lives at a school for migrant children outside of Mae Sot where the parents work and children study. It was not so long ago that they did not live together at all. This is Ko Tun’s story. We lived in Mandalay. On August 30, 2009, police came to my home at around 11 a.m. They tried to arrest me and took me to their headquarters, which was situated near my home. Ko Tun was taken for questioning because of his activities with The Best Friend, a political and educational organization founded by Burmese monks. I was a student of the monks U Kovida and U King. I worked at The Best Friend Library in Mandalay. I also supported the monks. After Ashin Kovida had to leave Burma in 2006, I assisted Ashin Issariya [King Zero] with political activities, so the authorities were after me. The policeman who came to my house was a friend of a friend. I knew him. He told me to come to a café with him. He came to my house in plainclothes. He took me to the café on his motorbike. I saw there were two more policemen at the café. The police who took me said they

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were Special Police. ‘We want to question you’, they said. I then realized they were after me and they wanted to arrest me. I said: ‘OK, I’ll come with you.’ The policeman took his mobile phone to call his headquarters. I saw a chance to escape and ran away, but he followed me. He grabbed me and we had a fight in the street. Later, I managed to get away from him again. He ran after me. I screamed, ‘He’s a thief!’ ‘No, I’m a policeman’, he shouted. He then tried to hit me in the face. I blocked his blow with my hand and punched him in his stomach. He fell to the ground. I ran away and reached a junction. I took the left turn and ran into someone’s house. Two more policemen came after me, but they lost track of me. Local people directed them in the wrong direction. I ran through three houses and reached a fishing lake. I jumped into the lake to hide. I was hiding in that lake the whole day. It was only at night when I finally came out of the water. I went to a friend’s house. He took me to his mother’s place and I spent the night there. The next day, I was taken to the countryside. My friend dropped me there and gave me some money. I had no shoes, and my clothes were very dirty. Relatives hid me in the countryside for one month. I phoned a cousin using a nickname, so they knew it was me and I could tell them about my whereabouts. My sister visited me there secretly. She then went back to Mandalay. The second time she came, she gave me some money and told me I had to leave the country and go to Thailand. I went to Mae Hong Son, in the north of Thailand, because it was easier to cross into Thailand from there than via Mae Sot. I took short trips to reach the Thai border: on motorbikes, buses, trains, etc., so as to not raise too much suspicion. I went to the border by boat and went through the jungle to avoid Thai checkpoints. I eventually crossed the border together with some Karenni people.

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It was during this same time that my friends Ko Nyo and Thanda were arrested in Mandalay because of their work with The Best Friend and the monks. It could have been me. When I arrived in Loikaw, I could use the Internet, and I sent an email to Ashin Kovida. This is when I found out Thanda and Ko Nyo had been arrested. This was a big blow. I received King Zero’s phone number, and contacted him when I was in Thailand. I lived in Mae Hong Son for one month. I stayed with an organization that helps refugees. I lived with a lawyer who worked for them. By then, my wife knew I was in Thailand. His answer to the question of how he eventually arrived in Mae Sot, seems somewhat remarkable: I came to Mae Sot with the Thai police! If you have the money, this is a good option and it is quite common. I paid them 8,000 Baht [$266 U.S.] and was taken to Mae Sot in a police car. I left with some ethnic Pa-O soldiers and they got oﬀ about half-way. I arrived in Mae Sot on December 1, 2009. I stayed at The Best Friend Library and taught English there. On June 22 of this year, I moved to The Best Friend’s Relocation Center, where I teach at the migrant school now. My family and I had been separated for one year. My wife and two children left Mandalay because they were being harassed by the authorities because of me. My wife, her family, and her colleagues were all regularly questioned and bothered. My wife ﬂed to Rangoon and Kokray by motorbike. She then crossed the river into Mae Sot by boat. I knew they would be arriving there and went to meet them at the border by car. They had already crossed when I got there. I was so happy to see them! I ran to them and embraced them. I had not seen my family for one whole year. I had missed them so much. On August 15 we were reunited. We all live at the Relocation Center now. I’m a teacher, and Aye Thu Khaing is the school cook. Despite everything, I’m very happy to be with my family again. How does Ko Tun see his future?

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It’s very diﬃcult: I cannot decide. I want the best for my family. Most of all, I want to go home. I want to be a registered refugee and acquire UNHCR status, but in order to get that, we must live in a refugee camp. It’s very diﬃcult to stay in a camp. You cannot do anything, you cannot work. That would be like staying in prison. I am waiting for what will happen now. If the SPDC will release the political prisoners, I can go back home. Update 2011: Ko Tun and his family left their living quarters in the countryside and moved to stay and work in Mae Sot. Like many other Burmese refugees in Thailand, they were illegal. His children went to school in Mae Sot. At the end of 2011, Ko Tun managed to return to Burma with his family. They are back home and living together in Mandalay. Ko Tun is working as a musician again.

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‘I must work for my people. Taking my life is not an option.’

Daw Khin Khin Leh’s Voice Daw Khin Khin Leh is 49 years old and comes from Pegu Division. She relates her personal story in Mae Sot in 2010. In 1999, I was a teacher at a secondary school. My husband was involved in political activities. We have three children. They arrested me because of my husband’s involvement in politics. He ﬂed the country around that time. We knew he would be arrested at some point. He was involved in the 9-9-99 demonstrations [marking the anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprisings]. That’s why he decided to ﬂee the country. We talked about this, and I told him to go and leave the country. He went to Mae Sot, Thailand. He left me behind with our three children. I was arrested shortly after my husband left the country. I wanted to take my youngest child, who was two years old at the time, with me, but decided not to. It’s not good to have a child with you during interrogations. I left my children behind with my parents. The police took me to an interrogation center. They kept me there for nine days. I heard about this later. At the time, I had no idea what day it was or how long I had been there. The light was on for 24 hours a day and I was disorientated. I had no idea what day it was; I thought the interrogations had lasted only one day. Tears well up in her eyes as Daw Khin Khin Leh talks about how she

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was tortured in the interrogation center. They forced me to stand for very long periods of time. I had to stand up straight, up on my toes. My face was covered with a veil and I could not see anything. I was not allowed to sit. I was forced to stand like that, on my toes, for a long time. They put nails under my feet, so when I got tired and had to put my feet down, the nails pierced the soles of my feet. They did not give me any food. Later, I got some food from a policewoman who sympathized with me. She shared some of her own food with me. But I never got any proper food, only leftovers. Later, the MI officers found illegal papers with pictures of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Ko Naing that I had handed out. Upon my arrest, I had thrown these pamphlets out of my house. A young boy, who was peeing outside, found them. He was arrested too, and interrogated about these pamphlets. I knew they had caught him and did not want him to suffer. He had nothing to do with these pamphlets. I admitted they were mine. They tortured me after this confession. I received no food, and they did not allow me to sleep for nine days. On July 31, 1999, I was sentenced. At first, they told me I was going to be sent home, but they sent me to Pegu Prison instead. When I got there, I saw the prison authorities mistreat another woman. She did not respond to their questioning quickly enough, and was kicked severely in her face. I was sentenced to 29 years in prison. I spent 10 years in prison, mostly in Insein. I was in Pegu Prison for three months before I was transferred to Insein Prison. There I was sentenced in a special prison court, together with 29 other people. We had to stand in the so-called ‘motorcycle position’ during the court sessions. This is torture. You stand like you are riding on a motorbike, bent at the knees. We were forced to make a motorcycle noise constantly. We had to do this for hours on end. If we stopped, they would beat us. During my prison time, I often complained about the way we were treated. This only meant they treated me even worse and

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kept me locked up for even longer. But I did not care; I had to open my mouth. One day, I saw a few young boys being mistreated. They had to stand with poles between their legs. Their mouths were gagged and their eyes were covered with tape. They stood on wet ground, on tiptoe. Nails were placed under their feet. Their hands were handcuffed with rope. They tortured them more by beating their faces. I could not stand this, and complained to the prison officials about their treatment. This resulted in a big argument with the authorities. They did not like me because of things like this, because I dared to raise my voice. How did Daw Khin Khin Leh find the strength to cope with prison life? At first, I did not have family visits during my time in prison. My children stayed with my parents. They could not finish their school. My parents and family were also put under pressure and harassed by the junta. My eldest daughter is handicapped; she suffers from epilepsy. Nobody visited me for a long time. In 2000, the International Committee of the Red Cross visited us and they handed information about me to the NLD. The NLD supported me. They encouraged my father to visit me, and also supported my children. I am very thankful for that. Because of their financial support, my father and family could visit me. But my parents were afraid; they were intimidated by the military junta because of me. So, I eventually had to ask them to stop coming, and their visits stopped. What happened after her release from prison in February 2009? When I was released, after having spent ten years in prison, I could not go anywhere. I went to stay with my family, and was happy to finally see my children again. But I was questioned continuously. Police followed my every move. I heard the police had come to my house and they had questioned my father about me. I told them, ‘Ask me directly if you

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want to know something about me.’ My father was even forced by them to give information about me. I was very upset by this; I did not want my family to suffer like this because of me. This had an impact on my relationship with my family, unfortunately. I could not do anything. I was free, but had no freedom, I was constantly followed and questioned. My relatives were so heavily pressured by the authorities that at one point, I even thought about committing suicide. I actually thought about that more than once. It is terrible to see your loved ones suffer because of you. And I knew I had not done anything wrong. But in the end, suicide was not the option for me. It is a weak way out, and I would not do it. I did not have many choices left, other than leaving the country, which is what I did. It was a very difficult choice as I had only just been reunited with my children after ten years. Daw Khin Khin Leh left Burma for Thailand in June 2010. At the moment, she has no contact with her father or children. Her mother passed away in 2007, while she was still in prison. I have no contact with my family. I am afraid to cause them more problems. I do social work for an organization called SAW [Social Action for Women] now, in Mae Sot. In the beginning I was in contact with my husband, too. He is in America now, and has married again. He never supported us. My first husband passed away. What has motivated Daw Khin Khin Leh to persevere? During my time in prison, I tried to commit suicide, too. It was all too much to handle. But it was not possible to die: I have three children, and I have a lot of work to do. I could not simply step out of life. Many of my colleagues and friends were very afraid to contact me during my time in prison. Many of them were put under severe pressure by the authorities and were intimidated. I contemplated suicide again at some point, but again I thought, ‘I cannot do it, I must work for the people. I must work for my coun-

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try. Taking my life is not an option.’ Even now that I am outside my own country, thoughts like these have crossed my mind again. I was not welcomed here [in Thailand] warmly and did not receive much assistance. One organization even asked me to return and go back inside to Burma. They did not want to help me. What keeps me going now are dhamma talks. I read a lot about Buddhism, and I have a friend here who helps me a lot. I was teaching somewhere. I have a major in Burmese, and I was a teacher before my time in prison. But the school found out I was a former political prisoner, and then they did not want me anymore. I met Ashin Sopaka, and he invited me to teach at his Relocation Center. But then my friend contacted me and told me she would look after me. I’m now staying with SAW and I am working there. I especially enjoy working with the children because I missed out on being with my own children for so long. I can teach Burmese, but I really need to update my degree. I want to take computer lessons, and Thai lessons also. My friend is helping me with this. I am a student myself now, and I am also helping other students and children. As a mother, I am very happy to work with kids. I will do whatever is necessary. Do you have a message for women in the West? To all women: wherever you are, whoever you are, try to engage yourself and do good for the welfare of others. That is very important. No matter how big the world is, honesty and enthusiastic effort are most important. Do you feel safe and comfortable in Mae Sot? I am confident. I believe in justice, in truth, and in honesty. I feel safe anywhere because I believe in myself. Bogyoke Aung San, the father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was like that too. He had the self-confidence that he had not done anything wrong. But he got assassinated anyway. Nobody knows what will happen to me. If I die, it will have

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been for good reasons. Have all your sacriﬁces been worth it? Do you ever think maybe you should not have taken some of the chances that you did by being politically involved? To be in prison was not easy—not at all. During the interrogations, I was often sick of listening to all their questions. I often thought: ‘Whatever you want to do to me, just do it.’ But I have never regretted anything. I was depressed then, and sometimes now, too. When I am, I sing songs and recite poems written by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They give me inspiration. I always think about a better situation. All political prisoners should be released. This would be very useful for our country. I want to actively do a lot more for my country. I wish to live in Burma, my own country. Here in Thailand, I am still not free to go where I want, because I am illegal. Daw Khin Khin Leh wishes to say something about the November 2010 elections in Burma. These elections are not free and fair. Two-thirds of all the candidates are supported and propped up by the regime. All the intelligent and able people are locked up. All educated people are in prison. The educational system in Burma under the junta has deteriorated. Education at the moment is very bad and of low quality. The junta is always above everything, including helping the students of the country. Even if students are qualiﬁed, they will not be able to study computers because they have to buy their own computers. What are her hopes for the future? I don’t think about the future a lot. I just try to do good today. If I do good today, the future will be good or better. Can she elaborate more about what inspires her?

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Why is there no democracy in Burma yet, despite the many sacriﬁces made by so many people? With the qualities like action, knowledge, and honesty, everything is possible. We have not succeeded in attaining democracy, so something must have been missing. We have had actions, but we have also missed opportunities. In the end, justice will prevail. Just before the elections, two youths were killed in Pegu. Even before this government can be legitimized by the elections, they do whatever they want. If the Burmese people refuse to vote, maybe then they can change something. If people refuse to vote, at least then they will have to recognize the 1990 election results. For the whole country to refuse to vote—that’s what I wish for. Do you wish to resettle in a third country? I would if I get the chance, yes. I would do it for the Burmese people. I can live anywhere. I just want to help and do something for the welfare of the Burmese people. Daw Khin Khin Leh adds some ﬁnal words: After these elections, there will be even more Burmese refugees. Our country might get lost. Many people will not be happy under the military dictatorship in its new disguise. I would like to ask the international community: Please, do not recognize the results of these elections. They are a sham! The international community may support Burma, but the junta takes it all; the people get nothing. A second interview was arranged to discuss more about Daw Khin Khin Leh’s prison experiences. Was she aware of the fact that for many years, human rights organizations had campaigned for her release?

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Yes. I was told this in prison. When I heard about this, shortly before the Depayin Massacre in 2003, I was happy. It encouraged me. I felt more backed-up. The fact that people in other countries were aware of my situation and supported me gave me more courage and strength to continue. Do you have a message for these people? Chezutinbadeh! Thank you so much! I am so happy to hear you helped me and my colleagues. I would like to ask all of you to please continue to support my colleagues who are still in prison. Your support and encouragement mean the world to them. Now that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m outside of prison, I will continue my struggle for a free Burma. Does she have any suggestions about how the prison conditions in Burma could be improved? During my time in prison there were visits from NGOs, like the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross]. I would suggest that NGOs like this should visit Burmese prisons more, and also provide water, food, and improve the living conditions. They should speak with political prisoners and write down their biographies. After they leave, political prisoners who spoke with them will often be tortured or transferred to another prison. If this is the case, by writing down their stories and all the details, they can be followed. The NGOs should follow their cases closely. Is it really possible for NGOs to do this? Will the prison authorities not simply conďŹ scate the food and water given? And can NGOs really follow the cases of political prisoners? Yes, this is possible. If they know for certain who the political prisoner is, and what he or she is charged with and is in prison for, then they can follow him or her. They can then meet them too. How can outsiders support political prisoners inside Burmese prisons?

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People inside prison have an enormous hunger for information. If they hear voices from the outside, they feel very supported. These are the happiest times for them. At times like these, they feel what they do is indeed right and they feel very encouraged and backed up. Have you ever received mail from the outside? I once received a letter of encouragement from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Somebody from the NLD wrote her words down and this letter was sent to me. The NLD also encouraged and supported my father to come and visit me. Prisoners also wrote each other secret messages on pieces of clothing, ripped oﬀ from longyis [Burmese sarongs]. We also wrote secret messages to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Sometimes my father would write short messages to me on banana peels. I was handing out the bananas, but did not know there was a message for me. Once, I received a little piece of a letter from my mother. It was hidden in the food she brought me. It said, ‘Look after your health, and do not worry about your children. I’ll look after them.’ Daw Khin Khin Leh found an envelope and draws a rose:

We also drew roses. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is often compared to a rose: very vulnerable, but protected by thorns. I was very active in drawing these roses. We also wrote in numbers—not using

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our names, but always the numbers of years we were sentenced. Daw Khin Khin Leh likens herself to a so-called tumbling kelly or billiken toy. In Burmese, this is called a pyit taing htaung, and it is a traditional toy. It means ‘that which always rights itself when thrown down.’ In Burma, a person who rises up again and again in the face of all kinds of hardships in life, is likened to a pyit taing htaung. I drew a lot of these pyit taing htaung while in prison. I compared myself to them. You can push me down, but I’ll always come back up. What were her children’s feelings towards their mother being in prison for so long? They were never angry with me for not being there for them. They worried a lot about me and were afraid that we would be separated again when I was released. They did not want me to be imprisoned again. Nobody blamed me for my political activities. After my release in February 2009, I was continually harassed by the authorities, and they harassed my family too. I knew if I stayed in Burma I would be arrested again at some point because I would not stop ﬁghting for democracy. I was also hiding other activists in my house. Daw Khin Khin Leh wished to conclude her interview with an expression of gratitude: I want to say thank you to the international community, especially now at this time, with the bad situation inside Burma, for your support for us. At this moment, the NLD is not stable. It is very important to encourage the political prisoners now.

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Update 2012: A lot has happened in the life of Daw Khin Khin Leh. She has received support from several diďŹ&#x20AC;erent organizations, and has learned more English and how to use computers and the Internet. She still hopes to be reunited with her children again, and to be resettled in a third country as a refugee. She is currently living in Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp with her son.

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‘As the young generation, we have the responsibility to do something’

The Voices of Generation Wave Bobo, 22, and Kyaw Oo, 49, are both from Rangoon. They are members of the underground activist movement known as Generation Wave. They share their voices in Thailand just before the elections are held in Burma in November 2010. Bobo talks about the founding of Generation Wave, and the difficulties the organization has faced: We founded Generation Wave in 2007, during the Saffron Revolution. There are many students and artists among our members. During the uprising in 2007, 21 of our members got arrested. They got sentences ranging from five to 37 years. Out of our initial four founders, two are currently in prison. We are in contact with them through their families. Still, many of our members are being harassed. Many of us were hiding inside Burma. We made plans to protest the 2008 Constitution, but I had to flee the country first. Now some of our members have been forced to flee the country because their lives would be in danger or they would risk very long prison sentences if they stayed inside. We could not stay at home anymore. We have around five members in Thailand now. Generation Wave is active on many fronts: we publish and spread leaflets and papers, but also use music and graffiti to distribute our messages to the people. We are spreading messages to the people inside, to

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the regime: ‘We don’t like you’, and ‘Change the government’. It is very risky work, so we use the underground system to be active. We have a number of networks with our members. These are separate cells, but they are in contact with each other. Not a lot, though, because the more contact, the higher the risks involved. We have solid members. There are some links among them, but they are separately operating cells. What is Generation Wave’s primary aim? Our goal is to overthrow this military regime and for Burma to become a democratic country. We try to achieve this by using and spreading pamphlets and graffiti. But, if there is no people power, we cannot achieve this goal. We try to motivate people to join us—through music, for instance. Do Generation Wave members also experience problems in Thailand when it comes to their security? Just like most other Burmese refugees in this area, we are illegal. We have no ID cards. Our organization, like many other organizations, faces problems, and it’s difficult to stay here in Thailand. We have to keep a low profile and be careful when we go outside. It is possible that the Thais pass information to the Burmese authorities. There are many spies around here. And the Thai authorities put pressure on freedom movements and activists. Sometimes, the Thai authorities come and ask us questions, but we have not had any big problems so far. What led Bobo to decide to join Generation Wave [GW]? Before I joined GW, I was active with my friends. We distributed CDs and things like that. I decided to join GW for two reasons. After 2007, I watched a video of Than Shwe’s daughter’s wedding, and was really shocked. It was so unfair: our people are poor, but they spent a lot of dollars on this wedding. This made me want to get involved in politics.

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The other reason was the 2007 uprising. Many monks were marching in our streets, and they were walking peacefully. They did not use any violence, yet they were attacked and shot by the military regime. This really angered me. I decided I wanted to get more politically involved and actively do something for my country. As the young generation, we have the responsibility to do something. Kyaw Oo adds his reasons for joining: When I was young, I did not know anything about politics. It was during the 1988 student demonstrations that I became aware of it. The shootings of the student demonstrators angered me. A year later, during the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;88 anniversary, NLD youth members went on a hunger strike. I was arrested in that year and spent six years in prison. This led to a stronger involvement and a bigger commitment in me to do something. I was arrested a second time in 2008. We had been planning a 90-day protest after the 2007 uprisings. I was sentenced to eight years in prison, but I got released under an amnesty. I am an older member within Generation Wave, and I function as an advisor. I have experience and have been involved in many activities. I share this with the younger members. We worked together before my arrests. After my release, I kept on working for GW, to encourage the youth. What are the criteria for membership in Generation Wave? Our members should be from inside Burma. Some are now out, as we explained, due to the fact that they had to ďŹ&#x201A;ee the country. The criteria are: you have to be Burmese, reside inside the country, join with our activities, and be aged between 18-and-35 years. Generation Wave is based inside Burma. We are not based in exile. We call on the people inside. Burmese people in exile have their own organizations. Do Bobo and Kyaw Oo believe the nonviolent approach is the best

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way to work for change in Burma, or will violence be needed at some point? People have different views about this; some people believe in different ways. I am not saying we don’t need any violence. It can be necessary at some point. According to our policy, however, we only go for the nonviolent way. We are not terrorists. We want peace and a democratic country. In the world, there are many differences and changes when it comes to using the violent way. I’m thinking about South Africa, where violence was brought into the struggle at some point. In our own history, students have also used violence. But so far, it did not get them to their goal. We don’t use violence, but we are not only artists. We use different activities and different ways. Are other members of Bobo and Kyaw Oo’s families politically active? Bobo: No one in my family is involved in this. My family did not know I was involved in political activities at first. I did not tell them. It was only when the police came to my house that they found out. I had to flee the country and go to Thailand. My family was worried about me. They did not speak to me about it. Now they like it, they like what I’m working for, but they worry about me. Kyaw Oo: My father and my brother are also involved in politics. My brother has spent time in prison, too. They both suffer from bad health. My family did not like the fact that I was getting politically active. They tried to stop me, but I continued. They could not stop me. Are most of Generation Wave’s members from Rangoon and other large cities, or are there also members from the ethnic areas? Bobo: Our members are not only from Rangoon; we have many members from many different places. We mostly publish our CDs

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and everything in Burmese, because that is the common language that most people speak. I’m Karen myself. Our main goal is to overthrow the government. After that, we may take a next step and pay more attention to ethnic issues. Do they have a message for readers of their story? Bobo: I want to say to the international community that I appreciate your kind support for our cause and for our movement. Thank you! I also want to urge you to take more action: lobby your governments. Speak with government representatives. They should take action, and put more pressure on the Burmese junta. They should also impose more sanctions, together with the EU and the U.N. Kyaw Oo: Please do not recognize the 2010 election results. The elections will only lead to an illegitimate government. They are using the 2008 Constitution to try and stay in power. I also want to ask you to lobby your governments. Economic sanctions have an effect on the regime. Keep pushing for sanctions! Do they have a message specifically for the younger generation? Bobo: I use Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s quote, ‘Please use your liberty to promote ours.’ You are free in the West—use that freedom. Organize campaigns like global actions, protest actions, and ask your government to help free Burma’s political prisoners, and things like that. Raise awareness of the situation in Burma by demonstrating. Relatives of our military regime study in some foreign countries. If you live in a country like that, go to the authorities of that school or college and tell them you don’t like it. What are their plans for the future? Bobo: Of course, I want to go back home. But it’s difficult to go back to Burma. I risk being arrested. We will take the risk to go back if it is necessary though.

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Kyaw Oo: I am willing to go back for change. But it is risky. Even if we want and plan to go back, we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell you. Bobo and Kyaw Oo share their voices just before the November 2010 elections in Burma. What activities are Generation Wave organizing around these elections? Kyaw Oo: We have organized poster campaigns, and explained to people about their right not to vote. We have also called for an election boycott. And we released songs about this. Bobo: The focus on the elections is good, but it is better to highlight the unfairness of it all. Many bad things happen in Burma: rape, torture, human rights abuses, and we have ethnic problems. Highlight those issues. Once the regime has become the legitimate government, after the elections, it will only get worse. After the election, if we vote, we will license them to kill, to violate human rights. Kyaw Oo: We should focus on the current situation, and the plans for another Panglong Agreement. The elections will not bring any change. To be honest, people are sick of all the attention there currently is for the elections. It is much better to focus on the NLD and the current statements that are being issued. Highlight the violations of human rights and the abuses and the Panglong Agreement. Focus on freeing political prisoners. Update 2012: Bobo has gone back to Burma to continue his activism there. He was part of a peaceful campaign and march through Rangoon in September 2012. He was arrested together with other activists and is awaiting the outcome of his trial. He could face a prison sentence.

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‘We have suﬀered from this system, now and in the past. We want democracy.’

The Voices of Daw Hnin Pan Ein and U Ne Oo Daw Hnin Pan Ein, 44, also known as Ma Thandar, is a well-known writer and broadcast journalist from Rangoon. Her husband, U Ne Oo, 46, had to ﬂee the country due to his political activities with the NLD, and she followed him in November 2008. They now live together with their son in Nu Po Refugee Camp on the Thai-Burma border. Daw Hnin Pan Ein is an active supporter of political prisoners and their families and has helped many people over the years. This is her story. When I was six months old, my father was sent to a prison on what we call Ko Ko John, the Coco Islands in the Andaman Sea oﬀ the Burmese coast. He was active in peace groups. In 1963, Ne Win [military leader of Burma from 1962–1988] called for peace, but afterwards, he arrested all people working for peace. My father was one of them. He was sent to Insein Prison for three years. He also spent four years on the prison island. Once, he took part in a hunger strike. Eight people died because of it. After this hunger strike, the authorities closed this prison island. My father’s human rights were abused. He was allowed to reunite with his family, but it was not in a good place for the family to live. So he went on a hunger strike. When I was seven years old, my father was released from pris-

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on. I did not recognize him. I could not remember him. He was wearing a moustache and a beard. I could not remember him. Another author in Burma, who has had similar experiences to mine, told me she felt exactly the same. I was hiding when my father came. I did not want to meet him. I did not know who he was. People told me, ‘This is your father.’ It did not mean anything to me. Under Ne Win’s regime, many families were torn apart like this. Many more people have similar experiences. When I was 14 years old, my father was arrested again. This time, he spent three years in a detention center, not a prison. He could not meet his family during this time. When he was released in 1993, he went into hiding. I have not seen him again to this day. I was raised by my mother. I am the oldest child; I have four younger brothers and sisters. I looked after them, together with my mother. I had to stop my education in order to care for the family. Daw Hnin Pan Ein became politically active in 1988 as a student. She became a member of the NLD. She married U Ne Oo in 1992. My husband was arrested in 1998 and was sentenced to prison for 14 years. It was his first time in prison, and he was sent to a faraway prison: Kalay Prison in Sagaing Division, almost 700 miles from Rangoon. Together with some others, he was one of the first prisoners in this new prison. I did not have enough money to visit him. I was forced to sell my house and my gold so I could go and see my husband. It took me four nights and five days of travel to get there. And once inside the prison, we were only allowed 15 minutes together. A trip of 12 days for just 15 minutes with my husband! Things like this make up some of the worst human rights abuses in the world. I had to leave my four-year-old child behind every time I went to visit my husband. I had to travel by train, bus, and boat. It was a very long trip every time. I tried to visit him once a month. I had to because the prison food was so bad, animals wouldn’t even eat

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it, so I had to take food for my husband. Every time we met and spoke, there were eight policemen standing around us: four behind him, and four behind me. We were only allowed to speak about our families. No other subjects were allowed to be discussed. We could not speak about politics. Not about the NLD—Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s name was not allowed to be mentioned. My husband was imprisoned for his political activities. In 1998, during the independence anniversary, he participated in the events and interviewed people about the students’ history. He released articles and statements about this. He was sentenced, like many others, under Act 5 (J) to eight years in prison. He spent his prison time in Insein, Mandalay, Monywa, and Kalay Prisons. Afraid her child would become estranged from his father much like she had been from her own, Daw Hnin Pan Ein sometimes took her son to meet his father in prison. I wanted them to kiss each other, but this was difficult because of the bars between them. Once, my child tried to put his head through the bars to give his father a kiss, but his head got stuck. We could not get him out, and the police came to cut the bars with a saw. I did not want this. If something went wrong, we would have had big problems. The prison was so remote that in case of an emergency it would take a long time to get to a hospital or to get medical help. I did not want anything like this to happen to my son. Luckily, we managed to get him out in the end. It was also because of Ludu Daw Ama, another well-known author, who encouraged me to take my child to prison, that I took him to meet his father. I did not want him to forget who his father was. Daw Hnin Pan Ein always suffered emotionally when she met her husband. It was always very difficult to see my husband under those circumstances, and also the other political prisoners. Before 2002, there was no medical treatment in prison. If a prisoner fell ill, it

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took a long process of reporting to the authorities in Rangoon. Because of this, many political prisoners died simply because they did not get the medical aid they needed. The military junta is cheating the international community by saying there are no political prisoners in Burma. I saw them myself. Many of them! It is not only the political prisoners they are torturing, but also their families. Political prisoners are used by the junta to set an example to the people: ‘This is what happens to you when you get involved in politics.’ Some prisoners in very remote prisons, like in Putao and Khamti prisons, hardly get any family visits. Even if their families have money, it is extremely difficult to reach those places. These places are really remote; they are very hard to reach by normal transport modes. For example, if you want to fly to Putao, you can only do so twice a month. It was always very difficult to meet my husband. He was so far away, the trip took a long time, and I did not have the money to visit him often. I discussed these difficulties with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We decided I would set up a business and sell nga pi [fish paste] to earn an income to be able to meet him. This way, I was also able to meet other political prisoners and bring much needed food and other things they needed. The MI were suspicious. They came and interrogated me. Captain Saw Myint threatened me by putting his gun on the table in front of me, and asked, ‘Who supports you? Is it Daw Aung San Suu Kyi? How is it possible that you can come here to this prison?’ I answered, ‘You imprisoned my husband. Now you want to torture me mentally, too? You cannot do that.’ They requested a list of all the customers I sold fish paste to. I refused to submit to this. They eventually left me alone. Like many other political prisoners, Daw Hnin Pan Ein’s husband U Ne Oo was asked to sign a ‘401 Agreement’ prior to his release. This agreement is often presented to political prisoners, offering them the possibility of an earlier release if they promise not to engage in further political activities in the future. If they do, they will be resentenced, and will have to serve their new sentence plus the remaining years of the earlier sentence.

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My husband refused to sign the 401 Agreement. ‘I am a politician’, he said. ‘It’s my job to be politically active.’ He was immediately taken back to his cell, and was not released. I am very proud of him. He is helping people who are in trouble. I am also trying to do my bit. These past 10 years, together with other ex-political prisoners, I have supported their families with food, transportation, etc. My husband was finally released in 2005. He was released from Kalay Prison and resumed his activities for the NLD. He was involved in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, and provided help to the victims of the 2008 Cyclone Nargis together with Zarganar and others. I have never heard of people in other countries getting arrested simply for helping other people, like Zarganar, who helped victims of the cyclone. He recovered dead bodies, handed out drinking water, and was then imprisoned. Also Aung Kyo San, and Dr. Ne Win and his daughter—they did nothing against the military government. They just helped the people after Nargis hit. The husband of my husband’s niece was also arrested shortly after that, and we learned that they were after my husband, too. He had to go into hiding again. It was not enough; he was forced to flee the country. Because of continuous harassment by the authorities, my son and I followed him to Thailand in 2008. At the time, I was assisting U Aung Than’s daughter. U Aung Than is quite well-known as the lonely demonstrator at the beginning of the documentary film Burma VJ. He was imprisoned in Kalay Prison, and I helped his daughter to visit him. The military junta had organized a fake demonstration. So-called 88 Generation students, backed up by the regime, staged a demonstration in front of the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, against U.S. sanctions. Nothing happened, and the demonstrators were not arrested by the authorities. U Aung Than wanted to expose if the junta was honest, and staged a similar demonstration in the same place, but with a different demand: release all political prisoners. He was arrested and sentenced to 65 years in prison. Daw Hnin Pan Ein explains that many human rights abuses are

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committed by the Burmese junta, and prisoners are commonly mistreated. Ma Sandar was a female political prisoner who was imprisoned in Insein. She was ill after suffering a heart attack. The toilet pipe was broken, and she asked the prison authorities to come and fix it, or to transfer her, but they would not do anything. They told her it was her own fault she got arrested and was in prison with a broken toilet. They would not do anything, even if she died. They then sent 20 men to beat her up. Some time later, her roof leaked and rain came into her cell. Again, she asked the prison authorities to fix the problem, and again they refused. To punish her, they attacked her with a spear and stabbed her. She told me this story when I visited her. ‘Don’t tell the media’, she was told by the authorities. But she told me, ‘We suffer, we have to speak out.’ So I told the media about it. Many families of political prisoners have no courage to speak to the media. They are afraid. Zarganar’s family spoke with the media, and they are not allowed to visit him now. Daw Hnin Pan Ein explains about the different types of prisons in Burma: There are three kinds of prisons in Burma: A, those for longterm prisoners, like those serving a death sentence; B, those for prisoners with sentences longer than ten years; and C, those for prisoners with sentences of under ten years. The type A prisons desperately need hospitals and medical treatment on-site. Right now, the authorities only maintain these places as places-to-kill. Prison cells measure eight square feet [approximately two square meters]. This is one cell. In this cell, sometimes up to four people are kept. They all have to eat, sleep, and use the toilet in this small room. When there are four prisoners in such a cell, one may be using the toilet while the others are eating right next to him. When they need injections, only one needle is used for all prisoners. As a consequence, there is a high prevalence of new

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HIV/AIDS infections in prisons. In new prisons, hospitals are being built. Mostly only for ICRC inspections, to show off. There are no doctors, and the hospitals are not really functioning. When the ICRC comes to visit, they will use prisoners who are imprisoned on drug charges to pose as doctors because they know how to handle syringes. Daw Hnin Pan Ein uses the following example to illustrate that a political prisoner’s life is not worth much in Burmese prisons: All prisons have so-called ‘development programs’ where prisoners keep animals such as cows, goats, and pigs. Whenever one of these animals dies, a lot of paperwork and forms have to be filled out: what exactly happened, how did the animal die, etc. In contrast, whenever a political prisoner dies, only one sheet of paper has to be filled out. She continues with her personal story. After 2002, the ICRC supported us with travel expenses. But it was still not easy to meet other political prisoners and to help them. The NLD also supported us. They used to give 1,500–2,000 kyat. Now they give 5,000 kyat. Whenever I met my husband, my child was with my mother. Ordinary people helped me by buying my fish paste. I named my fish paste ‘Democratic Fish Paste’! I was the first person to visit a political prisoner in Kalay Prison. Dr. Thein Win from the NLD offered his house to stay whenever I visited my husband. This house is still offered to families who visit their relatives in the remote Kalay Prison. Now, U Gambira’s mother stays there whenever she visits her son. Because of the dangers involved whenever I visited my husband, I became a writer. The trips to prison were very hazardous: parts had to be done by speedboat, and sometimes these went too fast and capsized. People died during accidents like these. We also had to travel through the jungle. So I decided to write. When I wrote about my husband, I could not mention where he was kept. This was not allowed.

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I always carried a fake smile. Behind my smile, I cried a lot. My husband once said, ‘Don’t come and visit me with a fake smile.’ ‘I’m fine’, I used to say. But I was suffering a lot and had many debts. The way back home from the prison was also dangerous, and we both worried about each other constantly. What has been the best source of motivation for Daw Hnin Pan Ein and U Ne Oo to survive all these years? U Ne Oo replies: My faith in the truth. I believe in justice. Democracy is necessary for our country. Daw Hnin Pan Ein adds: When my father was in prison, I suffered. Then my husband was imprisoned too. I do not want the younger generation to experience the same thing. I have to act and stand up now to prevent this. I do not come from a rich family. When my father got arrested, the military told us, ‘Cooperate with us and you will have money.’ My father gave my younger brother the name of a Mon leader. He refused to cooperate with the regime. If we had worked with them, we could have been rich and could have led a good life. We have suffered from this system, now and in the past. We do not want the next generations to suffer like this. We want democracy. How is change possible in Burma? Only when we all speak in one voice, all the ethnic groups together, can we bring about change. If we really work and continue with one united voice, there will be change in Burma. At the moment, there are too many different organizations and parties with too many different voices. We need one party. We need to be united. What can the international community do to help?

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The junta is now transforming into a civilian government—a civilian government, but with a military spirit. As long as this military spirit exists, we have to ﬁght them. The international community sent troops to intervene in the Darfur region in Sudan. We have enough documents and proof of human rights abuses in Burma. Why don’t they come to help Burma? What can average people inside Burma who are hesitant to be politically involved do to oﬀer support? Anybody can support us. When people were demonstrating in 2007, there was always somebody who handed water or something to the demonstrators. That is support. Other people were afraid to do this, but waved from their houses out of encouragement instead. That is also support. Still other people were afraid to even wave, but they prayed for the demonstrators inside their homes. That is also support. Everybody can always do something. Do Daw Hnin Pan Ein and U Ne Oo have a message they want to convey to people outside Burma? U Ne Oo: You, as people in the West, are lucky because your ancestors fought for your freedom. You are free now because of that—like in France, during the time of Marie Antoinette. The people were starving and were asking for bread to eat. They were told, ‘If you don’t have bread, then why don’t you eat cake?’ The rich people did not even have a word for starving, because they did not know what it was. I would like to use a quote from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in this regard: ‘Please use your liberty to promote ours’. Daw Hnin Pan Ein: We are afraid in Burma, afraid of enduring persecution. But we had our dignity. Now that we live as refugees here in the refugee camp, we have lost even this dignity.

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U Ne Oo: We don’t own our own futures. We are stateless now. Thailand is not our country. We are unregistered. Illegal. We are not even oﬃcial refugees yet. I would like to go to a third country, at least for my son’s education...

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‘When the Burmese people and the international community take real action, change can come’

U Zawana’s Voice U Zawana is a 50-year-old Buddhist monk from Pegu Division. He became politically involved during the unrest and demonstrations in Burma in 1988. Two years later, a pattanikkujjana was announced. This is a powerful gesture by the Buddhist clergy towards the military regime. In calling for this boycott, Buddhist monks literally overturn their alms bowls and refuse alms offered by people associated with the junta or the army. I first got arrested during the 1990 pattanikkujjana. Then, in 1992, a U.N. special envoy with Yozo Yokota [United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar from 1992 to 1996] visited Burma. I went there to meet them and give them information about the situation in the country. After that, I was re-arrested. How were you treated in prison? I was immediately disrobed in prison. Even though they took my monks’ robes off, other prisoners still treated me like a monk. They were ordered, however, not to use the honorific vocabulary when addressing me. After 1990, it became pretty much a standard procedure to disrobe monks in prison. This makes it possible and easier for the authorities to torture and ill-treat monks. I was also mistreated: they beat me, they put me in isolation, and they

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tortured me. U Zawana spent a total of 16 years in prison. How did he survive these years? I used my time in prison to practice meditation, and I also shared my knowledge with other people inside prison. Instead of focusing on how bad the situation was, I tried to view it as a positive experience. I was there because I was actively working for the good of my country. After his release, he faced many difficulties in his ‘free’ life. People who contacted me were questioned and harassed by the authorities. Apart from that, the current Religious Affairs Department refused to give me permission to be a monk again, so I was not able to lead the life of a monk inside Burma anymore. These are some of the reasons I had to leave my country. I came to Mae Sot, Thailand, in December 2009. I continue working for my country from Thailand, and am the contact for Sasana Moli [International Burmese Monks Organization] in Thailand now. What does U Zawana think about the November 2010 elections? I am often asked my opinion about this at the moment. The military junta that rules Burma has all the confidence to do what they want to do. They want the international community to see them as a legitimate government, so they hold elections. These elections, however, are only a show for the outside world. They will not lead to any improvement inside the country. They just want the outside to think they are good. But after the elections, it will be the same government, only with new clothes. It is not for the good of our country. The elections are no solution for Burma’s problems. They are only a clever tactic to cheat on the people. The regime knows what they are doing.

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What is U Zawana’s take on the difference in opinion that exists among Burma’s opposition, both inside the country as well as among exiled Burmese groups, about whether it is best to boycott or take part in the elections? I am not against elections as such. But if we hold elections, they must be free and fair, and there should be international observers allowed into the country during the electoral process. This is necessary. Elections are also necessary. But if they are not free or fair, are they necessary? Burmese Buddhist monks are somewhat unique for their participation in the struggle for freedom and democracy in their country. Their methods are nonviolent. Does U Zawana feel this is the way to achieve genuine change in Burma, or might violence be needed at some point to bring down the regime? Violence is not needed, in my opinion. If the world supports the will of the Burmese people, then it is possible to bring change without the use of violence. At the moment, the U.N. Security Council cannot solve our problems because of recurring opposition from China and Russia. We need support from the entire U.N. Security Council. If our actions are supported by the world, then we are strong. How does U Zawana see the future of his country? Unless the military dictatorship changes its attitude, our country will not see change. The suffering in Burma will continue. I believe that when the Burmese people and the international community really take action, change can come. I believe the international community definitely has some impact on the regime. Just look at what happens when the international community pressures the junta: they always react to this, by releasing some prisoners as a sign of good will. The international community does have an influence. Another example is the ILO [International Labour Organiza-

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tion]. They started taking action inside Burma. At first, their demands for improvement were ignored by the regime. But at some point, they had to listen to the ILO’s demands and had to give in. There were even some prisoners with death sentences who were released because of ILO actions. The international community should act like the ILO. Speak out and really do something and act. The ICC [International Criminal Court] recently issued a strong statement about bringing General Than Shwe to court. Things like this could encourage some change. Does U Zawana have a message for the people? Burma has been suffering under this present junta for over 20 years. And the situation is getting worse and worse. Do not ignore the Burmese suffering. Help Burma. And support the Burmese people any way you can. Even normal people can do something. If you know about our situation and understand it, encourage and pressure your government to do something. Update 2012: U Zawana was invited to live in the Czech Republic by the late Vaclav Havel, and was granted official refugee status in 2011. He currently lives and travels in Europe freely.

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‘How can I ever stop my political work?’

Daw Nwe Nwe Win’s Voice Daw Nwe Nwe Win is 56 years old and comes from Rangoon. She currently lives in Nu Po Refugee Camp. She wishes to share the following story: I was active as a member of the NLD’s Women’s League in Rangoon Township. I worked myself up from township level to district, and later divisional level. I have been active in the NLD for more than 20 years. I was first arrested in 1988, and spent eight months in a detention center. There was no reason for my arrest. They just took me and kept me there. Eventually, they released me. But I continued my activities for the NLD. I was arrested again in 2007. I spent one month in three different detention centers. I was then taken to Insein Prison. They asked me to sign the so-called ‘401 Agreement’: they would set me free, but I would be arrested again should there be another movement, even if I was not involved. I had to promise not to be involved in any political activities again. I signed and got out of prison. In 2008, I was actively involved in aiding the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Daw Nwe Nwe Win speaks about the Saffron Revolution of 2007: At first, I was not involved in the actual marching during the 2007 Saffron Revolution. At the time, I was working at the NLD headquarters in Rangoon. We helped and hid people in our of-

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fice who got injured during the peaceful demonstrations. I later joined them and marched in the streets, too. On September 24, 2007, police were waiting for me. I knew this would happen at some point. I would normally only fall asleep after 2 a.m., because police are known to knock at people’s doors around midnight, so I always used to wait until after midnight to fall asleep, thinking if they hadn’t come for me yet, I would be safe for that night. That September 24, I had been waiting to sleep until after 5 a.m. My husband said, ‘Go to bed. They won’t come anymore.’ Then there was a knock on the door. Someone said, ‘There is a visitor.’ Among Burmese political activists, this means the police are there. ‘Where are you from?’ they asked me. I asked for their names. They did not tell me. Instead, they took me to a detention center for questioning. I was there until 1 p.m. I refused to answer any of their questions. They showed me images on TV. I did not react or say anything. ‘Are you hungry?’ they asked me. They offered me food, but I did not take it, and did not eat anything. I even did not drink their water. While the policemen changed—in total she was questioned by four different officers—the questioning continued. One of the officer’s wives asked if I wanted to go to a small detention center, together with other women. I felt upset, because it was a small place. But I also felt I had to surrender. The other women who were transported with me were told I was some bad rebel, and they were ordered not to look at me or to speak with me. They put me in a corner, covered in a blanket. It took hours until any of these women dared to approach me. Because I was covered, the women could not see my face and were afraid of me. They wanted to know who I was and where I was from. I told them, ‘I am from the NLD, from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.’ They asked me if I had taken part in the demonstrations. They were disobedient; they were not allowed to speak with me, but

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they did. They respected me. One of the women gave Daw Nwe Nwe Win food and water. The woman was also an NLD member. I was then taken to a military department for further interrogations. They questioned me from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. After that, I was transferred to another place, in Mawpie Township in Rangoon. There, they left me without food or water for three whole days. The place we were kept was a former police officer’s house, which was empty. The place was isolated and blocked. We only had a dirty pillow to sleep on. The sofa in the house was dirty. The water they gave us was not clean—there were leeches in it! We did not drink it. When they took us in for more questioning the next day, we were too exhausted to answer. There were many of my NLD colleagues in this military department building. We spoke together, but the authorities found out about this and separated us. I spent ten days in this place. They also kept a USDP [then USDA] member, a spy, who was arrested by mistake. They did not release her. She was separated from the rest. We did our best to encourage and help this female spy, as she was terribly afraid of what they would do to her. I do not know what happened to her. After some time, six of the women were taken to Insein Prison, among them the USDP spy. One of the women was six months pregnant at the time. The pregnant woman was separated from the rest and kept isolated. I met an older woman who had also been arrested. But she had not done anything; they just arrested her for nothing. The older woman lived close to a monastery. One day, the monks had dropped a flag and she picked it up. She was taken by police and beaten up for this. She suffered from mental problems due to this mistreatment, and also because she did not have any experience of prison life. It was much harder for her because of this. I was interrogated again for nine days in a row. I had one hour a day to wash and shower. I used this time to walk around and find colleagues to talk to. I had to take medicines daily. Some police-

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women were friendly and treated me well. Because I was part of the NLD, I was special in prison. Therefore, they treated me well at the time. I was offered special food. But one day, it looked very red in color. I was suspicious and did not eat it. I did eat the rice they offered me. I took the bright red food they gave me and gave it to the crows and rats. They also left it untouched. Even the flies did not stop to check it or sample it. Since her time in prison, Daw Nwe Nwe Win’s respect for political prisoners has grown. Some of the political prisoners are never allowed family visits, because they are not convicted yet. Some of them have even died while in prison. Some died simply because doctors could not visit them. In many cases it takes such a long time for political prisoners to be convicted, and during this time, they cannot have any visits. This is a big problem. My family asked me to stop my political activities because of my age. But I want to continue. I was in prison for one month. I highly respect people who have spent very long times in our prisons. How can I ever stop my political work? The situation in my country is not improving. On the contrary, it is getting worse and worse every day. My husband has now passed away, and my family and friends were afraid to accept me into their families. It became very difficult for me to live in Burma. I could not sleep. I was working in the NLD office every day, and thought, ‘If they arrest me again, I might never come out of prison again.’ I decided I had to flee the country in order to continue my work from the outside. But here, too, it’s like inside. Every Tuesday, we pray for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners. We are trying hard to persuade the people to unite. We need all the different nationalities to unite. What can people outside of Burma do to support the struggle for freedom and democracy?

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My leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has said: ‘Do not expect too much help from the outside. We must rely on ourselves.’ The international community gives lip-service only. We must rely on our own people. How can positive change be brought about in Burma? The 2010 elections are not the problem. There is a lot of international focus on them, but the real problem is the 2008 Constitution, which is highly undemocratic. We need the right effort, energy, and unity among the different ethnic groups and all people to bring change. After these elections, the junta will be legitimized and may rule for another 50 years or so. Before the elections, they ruled and oppressed the people illegally and unofficially. After the elections, it will all be legal, so they will be in an even more secure position.

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‘We need to open their minds, their eyes, their ears’

Thet Naing’s Voice Thet Naing is the founder of the education center Knowledge Zone in Mae Sot, Thailand, where many migrants and unoﬃcial refugees study English, computers, literature, and other subjects. He is 47 years old, and is originally from Pegu Division in Burma. In 1986, I got a degree in mathematics, and I became a primary school teacher in 1987. I became politically active and was involved in the 1988 student uprising. I was a student leader in Pegu. We had to go underground with this movement. Nine of us including myself got arrested. In 1990, I was sentenced to four years in prison, and a year later they sent me to Insein Prison. I was released in 1993, and got a job as a supervisor in a garment factory. Thet Naing did not stop his political activities following his time in prison. In 1997, 1,300 of our workers demonstrated for labor rights. In December of that year, I was arrested again. I went back to Insein Prison to serve a seven-year prison sentence. They transferred me to Mandalay Prison in May 1998, and later they took me to Myitkyina Prison in Burma’s northern Kachin State. The authorities are afraid of political prisoners, because they will always continue their activities and smuggle letters out of prison to organizations like Human Rights Watch. Some political prisoners can connect

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with the media and smuggle information out of prison. That’s why the MI doesn’t want political prisoners to be imprisoned in Lower Burma: because of its proximity to the media. They put political prisoners in remote prisons. Thet Naing was released from Myitkyina Prison after serving sixand-a-half years of his prison sentence. He talks about his life in prison: The first time I went to prison, I was forced to sleep on the floor. There was no bed, and not a lot of food. I contracted scurvy, like many others, which is due to a lack of vitamin C. This was caused by a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables. I also got scabies, a skin infection. At some point, I had three different types of lice: on my head, in the pubic area, and all over my body in general. For the lice and the scabies, there was no medication. You just had to live with it. Sometimes, the jail authorities would even change the real medicines for fake ones. They were not allowed to hand medicines directly to the prisoners. We could only get them through the hospital. We had to use our own feces to grow plants and vegetables. I was forced to do hard labor. They also tortured me. I was given electric shocks a number of times. After you are sentenced, they hand you over to the jail authorities. Whenever you protest against something or go on a hunger strike, they put you in dog cells or punish you in different ways. I was allowed outside for only 50 minutes a day. We used to protest for things like having more time to go outside or getting more water to wash ourselves. How did Thet Naing survive his time in Burmese prisons? I meditated a lot. I managed to smuggle in money so I could buy books to read. In 1993, I tried to publish a magazine in prison, but the prison authorities discovered my pencils. Thet Naing describes the ways prisoners manage to circumvent the

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authorities. Sometimes we even managed to have big things smuggled in, like radios or magazines. We did this using bribes. Thet Naing describes how prisoners managed to smuggle pencils hidden inside brooms into the prison, and other covert activities. We dug holes in our prison cells so we could hide things. I made a hole in the wall, using a needle. It took me a long time. I used to cover the hole with a blanket. We also used signals among us to communicate. We were not always able to talk, so we used ticking sounds to warn others that prison oďŹ&#x192;cials were on their way or something. We also used sign language: A = one, B = two ticks. This way we could communicate slowly, letter-by-letter, word-by-word. I was kept in special conďŹ nement, in a place near Insein Prison, together with many Thai prisoners. The Thais washed our clothes; we paid them to do this. We paid them with MSG [a food ďŹ&#x201A;avoring] or food. Thet Naing was released from prison in 2004. I did not stop my activities, and joined the 88 Student Group in South Okkapala Township in Rangoon. We rented a building inside the police station! In August 2005, some of my friends were arrested for using satellite phones. We were preparing for the 2007 uprising. There was a bomb blast, and 80 people were killed. One of these nine friends was accused of organizing the bomb blasts. He was involved in many underground activities. In May, I was interrogated about this friend by the SPDC. My friends were sentenced to 29 years each in prison. At the moment, seven of these nine men are still in prison. One of them died in 2008. He was HIV-positive. We organized many political prisoners and monks to stage a protest to bring the SPDC down. They were after us. In Novem-

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ber 2005, the government started to move their offices to the new capital, Naypyidaw. The government and police officials were busy moving, so this was a good time for me to escape. Out of fear of new arrest, I fled the country and came to Mae Sot in Thailand. I fled Burma together with my niece, who has spent four years in prison. Her name is Thin Min Soe. She is now staying in Umpien Mai Refugee Camp. What is Thet Naing doing now? I am living in Mae Sot, Thailand. I’m not a registered refugee. I worked for the BPPU, the Burmese Political Prisoners Union. I was their secretary. I resigned in 2007, and went to the HRDP - the Human Resource Development Programme. I founded Knowledge Zone in 2008. This is an educational organization. We give language and computer classes, mainly to [unregistered] Burmese refugees. We receive support from ABMA [All Burma Monks Association] and WE [World Education], an American NGO. At the moment, times are tough: due to the economic crisis in the West, some organizations withdrew their funding. We desperately need financial support to keep our educational programs going! We are working with 18-year-old computers here at Knowledge Zone. For the next year, 2011, so far, I have no funding for my building, organization, classes... Thet Naing shared his voice just before the Burmese elections in November 2010. What is his opinion on these elections? These elections are failed elections already. The ruling SPDC wants to hybridize authoritarianism. These are fake elections. It’s a strategy for them. They only want to legitimize their power. Most people inside the country are not interested in these elections. The junta pushes people to vote. Most people do not want to vote because of 1990 [when the military refused to recognize the results of the general election and hand over power to the NLD]. I worked for a polling station during the 1990 election. They forced teachers to work in polling stations then. Now they do this again.

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How can a positive change be achieved in Burma? I believe we need both ways, both nonviolent and violent. Like the ANC, the African National Congress, in South Africa. The South African apartheid government negotiated with Nelson Mandela, while at the same time his armed branch of the ANC [Umkhonto We Sizwe] took action. We do not believe in the armed struggle. First, we have to organize the Burmese Army. Our army people are very poor, they have no chance to make money. Their families are poor. We should help them. Then they may come and support us. The soldiers, I mean, not the generals. How does Thet Naing see the future for Burma? I’m sure we will have to improve the people’s capacity. Inside Burma, students cannot use computers or the Internet like in the free world. There are no native English speakers. We have to improve education. Burmese education is ‘going to the dogs’, as they say. In 2010, so far, 5,000 young Burmese have come here, to Thailand, to study. They leave their country because the educational system is very bad. They want to be educated. There are currently more than 67 migrant schools here in Mae Sot. Education is very important. Some parents cannot support their children’s education. Their children come here, alone, to study and learn something. I told you, the funding from some countries has stopped. Some funding from the United States stopped, and this led to 36 schools being closed. They needed the funding and could not stay open. It’s very sad. Does Thet Naing have a message for the people of the world? The international community needs to urge the SPDC to make reconciliations. If the SPDC do not want this, the international community should take action. They should pick out some people and improve their capacity. Leaders who live inside can hardly use computers, for instance. They need support!

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What can average, normal outsiders do to assist? Most Europeans and Westerners are free to travel, use hightech materials, and have a good education. Please improve our people with education, computer knowledge, etc. Then we can overthrow our government. Our country relies on our own people. Our country’s future depends on our own Burmese people. If we want democracy, we must struggle. There is no other way. But the international community also has an obligation to help our movement. Many people are involved in the underground movement. It should be more open. Many people come to Mae Sot to gain knowledge, and then go back inside to apply it and achieve something there. We need to open their minds, their eyes, their ears. Books with information about the struggle and topics like that are being smuggled inside. Thet Naing’s opinions are clearly expressed by one of the signs hanging on the walls of Knowledge Zone: ‘Democracy is not a spectator sport.’

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‘If there is a middle way, we can move forward’

U Janaka’s Voice U Janaka is a 31-year-old Buddhist monk from Burma’s Sagaing Division. He currently resides at Wat Tamaoh in Lampang, not far from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. I wish to call on people in the West to think from their hearts. I wish for them to help the Burmese people, especially with issues like education and business. I highly respect the desire to help others. When Westerners help the Burmese people, they often do this by supporting the opposition. I believe this is not enough. They don’t see everything in detail. They do not know all the facts. They believe what they are being told. Some opposition groups misuse the situation in Burma for their own interest. I wish to warn Westerners: please be careful when supporting the opposition. I want to say something about my personal feeling between the opposition and the junta: I believe this should not be too extreme. Many people only see two extremes: it’s either the junta, or the opposition. People say the junta is bad, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is good. I think it should not be too extreme; if there is a middle way, we can move forward. I personally feel love for both sides. Than Shwe and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should both reduce their selﬁshness. I believe in the middle path: to accept the good side, and to change or amend the bad side.

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How can Than Shwe and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, for example, reach this middle way? I give you the example of sila, morality in Pali, and the three actions to be fulﬁlled: verbal, mental, and physical actions. From this follows samadhi. It leads to wisdom. What can people outside Burma do to help improve the situation in the country? The most important thing at the moment is to support education inside the country. In 2007, monks spoke out to the media and led peaceful demonstrations. They spoke on behalf of the Burmese people, who are oppressed by the junta and mostly cannot speak for themselves. According to Buddhist dhamma, we have the concepts of lokatthacariya, for the good of the world, and nyatathacariya, for the good of the people. The Burmese people and monks are interdependent and interrelated. That’s why many people believe it is the monks’ duty to do good on behalf of the people. What are U Janaka’s thoughts about this? I believe in reaching the middle way. To Burmese people, monks have the highest position. We have gained a lot of respect. Monks will not misuse the people’s trust. Again, I think it’s important to speak in the three characters properly: to make sure verbal, mental, and physical actions are correct. Now, everything is mixed: blessings, good, and bad. As a human being, we should always try to help each other.

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‘People should publish about our lives, get our stories out into the world’

Su Su Win’s Voice Su Su Win is 42 years old and was born in Rangoon. She now lives in Nu Po Refugee Camp along the Thai-Burma border. This is her story. In 1988, I was a ﬁnal year student of mathematics at university in Rangoon. During the student uprising of that year, I joined the Rangoon Union as a member, and I participated in the demonstrations. In 1991, on May 31, I was arrested for the ﬁrst time. I had been distributing pamphlets with information about human rights and students’ rights. The universities were closed after 1988, and we demanded the authorities to reopen them. On May 31, at midnight, they came to my home and took me. I was taken to Detention Center 14 and was interrogated for two days. I could not see where I was; they kept me blindfolded for those two days. I was then taken to another place, which does not exist anymore now. I was kept there for two weeks, and was interrogated all the time. I had no food, no clothes. They did not beat me yet; they must have received answers to their questions from other people. After Su Su Win had been detained for nine months, she was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with hard labor.

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They took me to Insein Prison. I spent one year there. I was released on parole in 1992. It was May 20. I returned to university and graduated in 1994. We published books, and I tried to distribute books about the student movement. We finished a book about this in 1998. In that same year, I was arrested again. I spent another three months at an interrogation center. They sentenced me to seven years. I spent nearly seven years in Insein Prison. On July 12, 2004, I was released again. What sustained Su Su Win during all her years in detention? The first time I was in prison, I was together with other political prisoners. The second time, they kept us in separate cells. There were ten rooms in one cell block. One room, one cell, measured 7 feet by 9 feet (2 meters by 2.7 meters). They kept two people in each cell. In the morning, we had 40 minutes for bathing, washing and walking. In the evening, we had another 20 minutes for walking outside of the cells. The rest of the day, the two of us would be locked up. In 2000 and 2002, the ICRC came to meet with us. We felt somewhat better after their visit. The year after that, 2003, they did not come and visit us, and we felt somewhat demoralized again. We were only allowed family visits two times every month. Our families brought us extra food and medicines. I kept my spirits up by meditating. I could not talk to other prisoners, as we were kept in separate cells. The ICRC had brought books during their visit to us in 2000, but we were only allowed books about religious subjects. What was her life like after she was released from prison? I had health problems after my years in prison: I suffered from allergic pains due to a reaction to sunburn. Because I had been locked up, my skin had become too sensitive to the sunlight. It was not an easy time. It was difficult to survive, as companies did not want to hire me because I was a political prisoner. My family supported me at the time. I managed to survive because of

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my family’s support. They helped me and enabled me to go on. In 2005, I went to the American Center for Schooling, where they offer free education. I came in contact with some old comrades, and we gathered at a place to try and organize new generation student activities. Some of the people of this new student generation participated in the 2007 Saffron Revolution. I did, too. At the end of that year, it all started again, and some of my friends got arrested again. In January 2008, a close friend of mine was arrested. That’s when I decided to flee. I left in February and went to Mae Sot, Thailand. I worked at the AAPPB [Assistance Association of Political Prisoners - Burma] for a while. They supported me, and had also done so secretly when I was still in prison. I decided to go to a refugee camp after two people I knew were arrested by the Thai police in Mae Sot. I gave them money. We have no choice. If I were to be arrested by Thai police and they sent me back to Burma, I would have gone to jail directly. The refugee camp seemed like the safest place for me. What are Su Su Win’s plans for the future? I want to go to a third country now. There is no chance to work here. I do not speak Thai. I am waiting for the MPO [Ministry of Public Order], then I can apply for resettlement in a third country. Does Su Su Win have a message for people in other countries? International help is very important for Burma. An example is the ICRC; their visits improved things in prisons. The generals always say international support is not important for them, but really, it is very important for us. The international community should also put more pressure on our government. Normal people should publish about our lives and our people, get our stories out into the world. How can change come to Burma?

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I don’t believe in the upcoming elections of November 2010. After the elections, it will be the same people who rule, with the same rules. There will be nothing special, maybe only some small changes. I do not like violence. Discussing things — that’s the right way to bring change. So far, it hasn’t happened yet. But it’s negotiations that we need. What can women abroad do to help women in Burma? Most Burmese women in the villages and rural areas do not have much knowledge. Knowledge and education are very important for them. They are very poor. It is difficult for them to even survive. They struggle to earn a living by working long hours all day. Support these women with education. During my second time in prison, I stayed in a separate cell on my own. Two women used to help me when we had to clean the latrines. I used to carry the bathwater, and the other ones cleaned the latrines. These women were prostitutes. Most of them were over 18 years old, but some lied about their age. Women like these need education so that they have more options for their lives. What does Su Su Win do now in the refugee camp? At the moment, I read a lot of English language books to improve and upgrade my English. I cannot find a job easily. For the Karen people it is easier: they get more support, also from international NGOs. We have never had a stable life in our whole lives in Burma. Now we are here, and we have no chance. Our future situation is up to fate. We should wait and see, we cannot do much ourselves here in this camp. Whether I can ever go to a third country is not certain. This uncertainty is a big cause for depression among the people in this camp. Many people here suffer from depression, and there is no one to speak to about this professionally. Many people cannot speak about it, and they have nothing to do the whole day. Some people turn to drinking alcohol the whole day.

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If I get a chance to go to a third country, I will have more hope again. If I work hard, I will have money and can support my friends who are still in prison inside Burma. Now, I have no money and cannot do anything. I am a Buddhist; I worship and pray and I visit monks. I also read and take walks for exercise. You have to be strong to keep depression at bay. We are only allowed outside of this camp once every week. I receive some support from friends who were taken in by third countries. My husband works in Singapore. I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen him in many years.

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‘We want democracy Burmese-style, not in the Western way’

Aung Zaw Shar’s Voice Aung Zaw Shar is 45 years old and comes from the Burmese town of Pegu. He shares his story in Nu Po Refugee Camp just before the elections in Burma in November 2010. In 1988, when I was a Pegu college student, I became involved in politics. Many students and student leaders got arrested after student leader Paw Maw was killed in Rangoon. As Pegu students, we demanded the release of all students who were arrested, and a compensation and financial support for all students who were killed by the regime. Students were barred from going to university at the time. We demanded the regime reopen the universities. On June 22, people demonstrated again. Seventy students were killed by government troops. Two hundred and fifty students were arrested. People all over the city were so angry about this, they joined the students in their protests. They burnt down government offices and police cars. This was the first time so many people were killed in Pegu. I was arrested too. On July 7, 1962, Ne Win had all of the student unions destroyed. Many people were arrested and killed then. On July 7, 1988, he released all students. He admitted that he had made a mistake by arresting them. This was an indirect sign of surrender to the students. It was an acceptance of their importance. In 1988, we demanded a regime change. We were fighting for our lives. Now people want reconciliation and the release of political prisoners. They want a dialogue now. This is only possible

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when the ruling junta agrees with that. In 1988 we were ready to sacrifice our lives. We still are now. Aung Zaw Shar shares his thoughts about democracy. Democracy is like practicing meditation: the Buddha gave people many forms and different ways to do this. There are also many forms of democracy. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Tin have their way. I want my own way. Everyone must practice his or her own way. Democracy means action. It is not only words. Politics must be practical. I will illustrate this with an example: it has been against the law for a long time to mention Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s name. Now people can do this. In the West, people may eat things like pizza, cakes, nice food. They suggest we eat it, too. Theoretically this is good, but in Burma we may not have the ingredients to make and eat pizza. We may have something like jaggery [unrefined cane sugar]. It is not that we do not want pizza. We may want a different type. It is the same with democracy: in Burma we may need an adapted form of democracy, our own version of democracy. The West may recognize this junta as a legitimate government [following the elections]. I believe violence will never bring change in Burma. The junta is too strong. We have had an armed struggle for a long time. The way to change is to practice democracy. How does Aung Zaw Shar think the international community can help? I would like to give you the example of the U.S.A. and U.K. governments. They put sanctions on Burma, but their citizens did not follow this. Many companies still invested in Burma. The same with the U.N. Security Council. They release a lot of statements, like they did after Cyclone Nargis in 2008. They had a statement with six articles. Five of these were good, like ‘release all political prisoners’, and things like that. One said ‘free and fair elections’. Before the generals had recognized their own constitution, the U.N. in 2008 had announced they had to hold free and fair elec-

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tions. By this, they recognized the junta. If the international community wants to put sanctions on the regime, they must put it on everybody. If they want to engage with Burma, they must engage with everybody. Not only with the regime. The international community can help in effective ways. The famous Burmese actor Ko Kyaw Thu helps people with Free Funeral Services, an organization he started. Everyone must try to find their own way to do something. Find ways to help people. I feel you should support Burma as a whole. Don’t only support particular ethnic initiatives. It is all so divided now. We must be united. When we are not, the military is much stronger and will manage to hold on to power much longer. Aung Zaw Shar elaborates on the topic of official statements. When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi releases announcements, it is called a statement. In 2007, [U.N. Special Envoy] Gambari visited Burma and met her. She released a statement for the international community. Only when Gambari was back in Singapore did he release his statement. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said in her statement that she wanted to be the representative of all ethnic groups. At the same time, the ethnic ceasefire groups announced that she was not their representative. They were ordered to do this by the junta. The ethnic groups in exile were silent; they supported Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s stance. How did Aung Zaw Shar land in Nu Po Refugee Camp? After the 1988 uprisings, I left and fled to India. I came back to Burma in the 1990s, and was arrested again. I was sentenced to prison for three years. I came to Thailand in 2005. I lived in Mae Sot. I have been in Nu Po Camp for four years now. I stay here with my family. I long to go back to Burma. Does he have a message for the people?

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To the Western people, I would like to say: there are many ways to help, but help educate the Burmese people in the Burmese way. Burmese people love football and football players like Arjen Robben from Holland. If somebody like Robben could come and educate the people, that would be great, they would love it. This is much better than all those professionals. People relate to people like Robben more. People like to listen to their heroes. This is important â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we want it Burmese style. Not in the Western way. It is also important that we take it step-by-step, in a manner that is suited to Burmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ways and our culture.

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‘We need to organize the army so that they are on our side’

Aung Pan’s Voice Aung Pan is 40 years old and comes from Monywa in Sagaing Division. I joined the student demonstrations in 1988 and assisted in the foundation of the Student Union of Monywa. I was involved in a poster campaign against the military government. We supported all the opposition parties. I was later forced to continue my activities underground. I had to run away. One year later, Aung Pan was arrested. I was on the way to Mandalay. The MI arrested me at a checkpoint. I had promotional material and statements from the NLD with me. I also carried with me my NLD membership card from Monywa’s NLD oﬃce. They took me and two friends of mine to the MI oﬃce in Monywa. We were interrogated and tortured there. They asked us questions like: ‘Who is your leader?’, ‘What are your future plans?’, ‘Do you have plans for an armed struggle?’. They kept us there for three days, then we were taken to the police station. From there, we had to go to court and to prison. When the universities were reopened again, friends from our organization demonstrated at the local court. We stayed in prison for four months. They released me on bail. Two days after my release, I decided to escape and went to India. My friends were released in 1997.

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It took me one week to get to India. I stayed in a refugee camp on the border. In November 1998, the authorities closed the border for Burmese refugees. But I was recognized as a refugee, and the Indian government provided all refugees with food and other things we needed. In 1991, I was living in New Delhi. In 1996, my mother and my sister visited me on the border. But when they went back inside Burma, my mother got arrested. The authorities asked me to come back and surrender, and they would then release my mother. She was being held hostage. I promised I would come back to Burma, and I did. My mother was released. Because she worked as a government servant, they asked her a lot of questions about her visit to me and about my case. Aung Pan had many cases being investigated against him. The authorities were busy working on many cases that I was involved in: escaping the country, founding organizations, illegal border crossing, etc. When I went back to Burma in 1996, the investigations lasted more than a month. They kept me in detention during that time in an army camp. After that, they sent me back home and told me all my cases were clean and solved. But I still had to report to police stations frequently and was followed for two years. I wanted to be able to speak to foreigners without getting into trouble, so in 1997 I applied for a tour guide license, but this was rejected. I applied again a few years later, and ďŹ nally got it in 2001. I lived in Rangoon at the time and was doing a tourism training course. From 2002 I worked as a tour guide for ďŹ ve years. This enabled me to speak with tourists. Most of them were package tourists, mainly from the United States. They were only interested in our story a little bit. What does Aung Pan think about a boycott of tourism to Burma? I fully support economic sanctions, but I also believe tourists have to come to listen and speak with the Burmese population. I

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always had to be very careful when speaking to tourists. I could do so safely in my own bus when we were driving around. Sometimes during this time, I was being watched. A few tour guides founded a group and collected money to help orphans. During the rainy season, when tourists would not visit Burma, we used to do social work. What happened in the years after that? In 2003, the MI left [the existing Military Intelligence establishment was disbanded following the arrest of General Khin Nyunt] and a new MI came. All our records were deleted. Two years later, most of my friends who were still in prison were released. Then 2007 came. There were many journalists in Rangoon to cover the peaceful demonstrations. I led a Korean journalist around the city; he was making a documentary. This documentary was later shown to Ban Ki-Moon. Some of my friends did similar work and helped journalists from the BBC and other companies. After the Japanese journalist [Kenji Nagai] was killed in the streets by the soldiers, my house was being watched. My mother told me my colleagues had been questioned about me and my activities. I had to go into hiding. And so I ran away again. During the Saﬀron Revolution, Aung Pan did not sit still. I joined the demonstrations around the 12th of September. Together with a group of people, we supported the monks and handed out water and medicines to the demonstrating monks. My mother was worried and told me it was too dangerous to do this. She wanted me to go to India again. In November 2007, I went back to Rangoon and noticed my telephone was being listened in on. I then knew I had to leave the country. I arrived in Mae Sot, Thailand, in March 2008. I used a diﬀerent ID card to cross the border. What is Aung Pan’s opinion about the 2010 elections in Burma?

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I don’t believe in these elections. The elections are already finished, even before they have taken place. They are not free. There’s no chance anything will change for the better. Most people inside Burma struggle. They are not interested in these elections. Most activists are in jail. Some people are afraid. Many opposition members have been sentenced to long prison terms. There is no support from neighboring countries for our opposition groups. The West is not interested either. And the Burmese government does not care about the western countries. Does Aung Pan think violence is needed to bring change to his country? During the 1990 elections, people were strong and high in spirit. They knew what to do and whom to vote for. They understood it. Now, it’s different: people are struggling for their daily lives and are not learning about the election. It is a ‘package election’. Even if everybody votes for the opposition, they will not win. The regime will change the votes. Some of my friends are in favor of an election boycott. Some support the NDF [National Democratic Front, a break-off group from the National League for Democracy]. Many others don’t like the NDF. But people do not have much choice: they do not want to give their vote to the USDP [the military-backed party]. I do not believe in violence. Most people do not like it either. We need to organize the army, so that they are on our side and can take power. Does Aung Pan have a message for the people who read his story? We need more action from the international community, more pressure from the United Nations. The U.N. only issues statements, they never take any action. I believe the international community should pressure the ASEAN countries and the U.N. more to take action. What can normal people in the West do to make a difference?

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You can do little things. Everybody can do something. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think you are powerless. Like two months ago, the daughter of an army general went to Australia to study. People did not like that, and came into action. She was sent back. The same goes for America, relatives of the regime work and study there, too. People can do things like this. You can always do something.

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‘I want my teashop to be a place of unity’

Ko Zaw Htoo’s Voice Ko Zaw Htoo is 46 years old and was born in Maymyo, eastern Mandalay Division, Burma. He now runs a bustling teashop decorated with many posters of Aung San Suu Kyi inside Nu Po Refugee Camp, where he now lives since leaving his country following his involvement with the 2007 Saffron Revolution. I left Burma for the first time in 1988, when the economic situation became bad. I worked in Thailand and Malaysia, and then had a chance to go to Japan. I lived in Tokyo for 10 years. I saved money and planned to start my own business when I could go back home to Burma. In 2006, I went back to Burma. A lot had changed in the country while I was away. It was very difficult for me. The standard of living had gone down, and many people were very poor. When the 2007 Saffron Revolution took place, I wanted to help, because I respect the monks. But it was difficult to actively help because I do not understand much about politics. I owned a truck, and used this as a means of transportation for the monks. With this truck, we transported monks from their kyaungs to the Shwedagon Pagoda and back after the demonstrations ended every day. After a while, my car’s number plate was written down by police and detectives. The MI were out looking for my truck. I had not been driving it myself. They found my truck two months later and took it. They asked, ‘Who’s the owner of this truck?’ I knew the police wanted to arrest me.

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I moved out of my house and went to another city. People asked me what had happened. I did not want to get arrested. Friends advised me to flee the country. I arranged to leave in January 2008, and went from Rangoon to Myawaddy on the Thai-Burma border. I crossed the river by boat, unofficially. In February 2008, I arrived in Mae Sot, Thailand. I met a friend and we discussed about safety in Mae Sot. An NGO advised me to go to Nu Po Refugee Camp, as the camp would be safer for me. I went by public transport, and arrived here in March 2008. I now live in Section 16 of this refugee camp. Many of my friends have left for resettlement in the U.S.A. I want to go, too. I want to improve my life, and any other country will do. After I had been here for six months, I wanted to have something to do, so I started my teashop. I managed to borrow some money from friends. My teashop is called D.U., which means Diaspora Unity, because so many Burmese people live abroad in so many different countries. I wanted this teashop to be a gathering place in this camp, a place of unity. What are Ko Zaw Htoo’s future plans? I am waiting for my refugee registration to be completed. Then maybe I can go for resettlement in a third country. I have email contact with my family in Burma every now and then. I want to go for resettlement in another country, as I do not expect change inside Burma anytime soon. The elections will not bring any change. In fact, the elections have already finished. It is already clear what will happen. There is not much hope for change in the near future. I want to have a stable life in a stable country. One day I want to be able to help people inside Burma. Now it’s not stable. I want a stable life, I want to be like a tree that can grow strong by itself. Once it’s old enough, it has many branches and many birds can rest on it and depend on it. How does Ko Zaw Htoo see Burma’s future?

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I am no politician. I do not understand much about politics. I do not trust the current junta, so I do not trust the elections. I do not expect any change. I don’t expect the military power will change soon. What is needed for change? Elections should not be led by a military junta, but by a civilian caretaker government and mediator, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They should lead elections. The main problem, of course, is the unfair 2008 Constitution. Is violence needed to bring change in Burma? We tried two, three times in a nonviolent way, but nothing happened. I do think we need violent action. The military generals should maybe be assassinated, for the good of the people. The people are suﬀering a lot. The high-ranking generals should be taken out. I do not trust the U.N. or foreign troops. They all seem not to have helped at all so far. The U.N. is very weak: Russia and China always use their vetoes. Nothing changes. As a Buddhist, does Zaw Htoo believe Than Shwe will be reborn? I do not think so. Than Shwe is not a Buddhist. In Buddhism, we believe it is not easy to be reborn as a human again. It depends on your good actions in your current life. Does he have a message for the people? Please put pressure on the Burmese government. We need to pressure them for democracy and change. The military government is saying they are making a change for democracy. We don’t believe it. It is all fake. We need real change and freedom. Foreign governments should pressure the Burmese regime much more. How can average people help to improve the situation in Burma?

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Most people inside Burma are poor: they cannot even let their kids go to school. Education is very important. Help children to go to school, and support NGOs that help build schools, for example. Many 10-year-old children cannot even attend school because their parents are too poor. They have go to war instead.

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‘When my friend died in my arms, I understood the cruelty of the dictatorship’

Ko Soe Myint Aung’s Voice Ko Soe Myint Aung is 39 years old and comes from Rangoon. We meet in Nu Po Refugee Camp on the Thai-Burma border. During the ‘88 student protests, I was 16 years old and I did not understand much about politics. Every morning, I used to buy beans from a street vendor. Then there was the sudden inﬂation with the monetary denominations cancelled by the junta, and many people became bankrupt from one day to the next. My street vendor was upset, and I saw her cry. I felt sympathy for her, and from that moment I started to understand the cruelty of this regime. So, I decided to take part in the demonstrations. One year later, in 1989, during the one-year anniversary of the 1988 protests, I was involved in leading some demonstrations. I was arrested the very next day. I spent two months in an interrogation centre. They hung me up, with my hands tied above my head, and gave me electric shocks. They also dripped water on my head continuously. My friend was shot in his stomach. He died in my arms. I then completely understood the cruelty of the dictatorship. At one point, they put insects into my navel. These bit me. They left them there for one week. I was tied to a bed. I stopped breathing from shock. They kept me in Insein Prison for three years. As political prisoners, we were not allowed to look up into people’s faces. We had

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to always look down. Even under the British colonial rule, they did not treat prisoners like that. So we demonstrated. Together with 200 prisoners, I was eventually moved to Thayarwaddy Prison. We were all handcuďŹ&#x20AC;ed and put on transport. I was at Thayarwaddy for two months. They held 94 prisoners there. The junta always wants to show the international community that there are no political prisoners in Burma. We were sent to forced labor camps. We demonstrated against this as well. As a punishment, we were all put in lines of four. Thirty criminal prisoners were then given alcohol and encouraged to beat us, the political prisoners. Can you tell us something about the conditions at the forced labor camp? They kept us inside one room for two months. Every hour, somebody would come to beat us up. There was no proper toilet; we had to use cups. We had insects in our excrement and lice in our wounds. It was an eight-feet-square room, and there were three persons kept there. At night, bugs from the toilet would creep out into the room. So there was always one of us awake to keep watch against them. Whenever one of us was sick, we would vomit blood. Seven of us went blind, because of the beatings we received. After we demonstrated against this bad treatment, they let us out of this room. After two months, they allowed food from our families to be brought in. We were not allowed personal visits, though. We could not keep water in our rooms, but had to take water out of water pots. This was always very smelly water, and one day, there was a rotten rat inside the pot. This was our drinking water! The political prisoners there were treated very badly. The year 1991 was the hardest time. There was no ICRC, and there were so many political prisoners. Many young people, many doctors, teachers, engineers. By arresting these young people, the junta wanted to teach people a lesson: not to get involved in politics again. But we were ready to sacriďŹ ce our lives, even despite this. Some of us died in prison.

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Ko Soe Myint Aung was released from Thayarwaddy Prison in 1992. After my release, I was not actively involved in politics, but still involved. In 2004, Min Ko Naing and other student leaders such as Htay Kywe and Mie Mie were released. I married the younger sister of Min Ko Naing’s friend from Bagatha. My brother-in-law was the spokesperson of Burma’s Student Union. He died after he was released from prison. Min Ko Naing said, ‘Don’t be upset, let’s work together.’ So we worked together. I worked with Min Ko Naing along with Mie Mie, Ko Htay Kywe, and Su Su Nway. In 2007, we were marching in the streets to the activists’ homes. Min Ko Naing and the others got arrested again. They are still in prison now. [Min Ko Naing and many other prominent political prisoners were finally released by Thein Sein’s regime in 2011 and 2012.] What happened to Ko Soe Myint Aung in 2007? I was in hiding. During the 2007 monks’ uprising, I had supported the monks with the students and NLD members, but I had to go into hiding. I have a wife and two children, but I could not go back home. It was not safe. I had to keep moving all the time. In 2009, I fled to Mae Sot, Thailand. I did not have any contact with my family. Now, I can contact them again, via the Internet. On January 29, 2009, I arrived here at Nu Po Refugee Camp. I now want my family to come here, too. But at the moment, it’s too dangerous for them. I want to find a safe place for us all in a third country. Does Ko Soe Myint Aung have a message for the people? I would like to ask families abroad to help Burmese families. I want to see democracy in Burma. Do not support the junta. Help us in any way you can. Does he have specific ideas for how members of the international

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community can help? The international community should put more pressure on the military junta. Sanctions are not eďŹ&#x20AC;ective enough because of leakages and loopholes. People suďŹ&#x20AC;er a lot inside. The international community should help people directly. Go inside, give education, tell the junta to provide education to the people. Tell people about human rights and things like that. There are many injured prisoners inside the prisons who die. Nobody cares about this. There is no ICRC to record these deaths. They do not care. Humans just die there in prison.

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‘I heard voices from the trucks screaming, ‘We are still alive!’’

Ko Kyi Toe’s Voice Ko Kyi Toe is 40 years old and comes from Rangoon. On March 16, 1988, my sister started marching with other students at the Tada Pyu [White Bridge]. They marched peacefully, but the military regime blocked the streets. The students said: ‘We are peaceful, we can avoid the military’, but they were beaten and tortured. Their clothes were taken oﬀ and many were drowned in the river. My sister was not beaten. She managed to escape and tell me about it all. I have been interested in politics since that day. Ko Kyi Toe speaks more about the student protests in 1988. It was June 1988, and the students started marching into Rangoon. At night, there were more arrests. In my street, the stray dogs would bark, so we would be warned and usually could see the troops coming. I ran away when they came. I went to my brother’s house, which was close to Rangoon, and stayed there. I went back home in August. I saw many students killed. Many bodies were in the streets. Everybody who got caught was injured or killed by the soldiers. The students were put in trucks. I heard voices from those trucks, screaming, ‘We are still alive!’ They just threw everybody in the trucks with the dead bodies. Many people were buried alive. People who were injured, but alive, were all buried together with the dead people.

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At first, they buried them all in mass graves. Later, they dug them up with machines and burned all the bodies. Thousands of them. Every five minutes trucks came carrying people and bodies. First, they would drive to the military camp, and then to the cemetery. I lived close to the military office and saw everything. From that day, I saw and realized that the military regime just causes problems. Only when we kick them out will we have peace. What happened to you during that time? On July 19, 1989, it was Martyr’s Day, and we remembered Bogyoke Aung San’s assassination. I was a member of Akhatha, the basic student union. We marched to the Shwedagon Pagoda. We were attacked by the military. We dispersed. There were 19 students left. They marched on, but were caught. Sixteen boys and three girls were arrested, including me. I was sent to an interrogation center, and from there to Insein Prison. Inside Insein Prison there are ‘private prisons’: rooms used as interrogation rooms. I was interrogated there on July 20. I did not suffer like some of the others. We were not tortured because it was an emergency situation. They simply did not have enough time for that. We had to stand in the so-called motorcycle position [crouching down with legs bent and arms raised]. If we moved at all, they beat us. But we did not get any electrical shocks or anything like that. On July 29, 16 of the 19 students were sentenced. Three boys, they were all about 13 years old, were released. Three girls and 13 boys were sentenced to five and seven years in prison. I was sentenced to five years in Insein Prison. Can you tell us more about your time in prison? In January 1990, I was transferred to Thayarwaddy Prison in Pegu Division. We were forced to work in a forced labor camp. We refused, and as a result, were beaten up. I lost my consciousness. They took me to a room where many leprosy patients were

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held. Ninety people were beaten. We had to crawl on all fours, in lines of five. We were later ordered to paint the prison, in summer. We refused again. We did not want to paint, because we were not criminals. We did not want to decorate the place where innocent people were being kept. So they beat us again. A colleague of mine was punched by a prison officer. Others stood up for him and demonstrated against this kind of treatment. The prison officials took 10 of us and beat us up. We had to stand in this position: on our heels, bent at the knees, with our hands in our necks, heads down. Then they beat us. I pretended to be unconscious, but they just continued and kicked my head and face. All my body parts were broken. When I was released, I showed my injuries and my back to my mother. She had a heart attack when she saw my injuries... Some prisoners were beaten until they died. This can be a problem for the authorities, so they have to be careful. Ko Kyi Toe stands up and demonstrates walking in leg chains: the chains are carried around the ankles and keep the feet about thirty centimeters apart. He wriggle-walks slowly as if he is still chained. I used to wear leg chains, so I could not walk properly. I was very weak and had to be supported by prison officers when I was moved. Upon reaching my cell, they would kick me to the ground. At night, the wind came in my cell. It was very cold. I could not sleep because I was afraid of the cold and paralysis. I slept on the ground, without a mattress. There was no toilet. I could not move because of my injuries. Later, as a form of exercise, I did sit-ups with my legs. When I had gone to the toilet, I would check my feces. Often, there was blood in my stool. At times like that I would be depressed: I knew I was bleeding again inside and that I was unhealthy. There were maggots that came out of the toilets. They bit me. Every morning, I would get one cup of water. This was for washing, brushing teeth, etc. In total, they gave me five cups of water each

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day. But I found a dead rotting rat in this drinking water. There was no toilet paper, and we would tear little bits of our longyis to use for cleaning ourselves. We could not wash these. They were dirty, but we did not have enough water to do this. Everybody suďŹ&#x20AC;ered from scabies. There were too many people. It was dirty and the circumstances were terribly unhygienic. There were more scabies in Insein than in Thayarwaddy. When they wanted to medically treat us, they just injected us with a needle. Many people had HIV. The needles were not clean, and they used the same ones on many people. Ko Kyi Toe was released on October 10, 1992. In 1996, he moved away from the city and hid in the countryside. During the 2007 uprisings, he distributed statements with student leader Min Ko Naing and was forced to escape the country. He left Burma in January 2008. On February 15, Ko Kyi Toe arrived in Nu Po Refugee Camp in Thailand. I am here with my wife and my child. They came a few months after I escaped. I want to resettle with my family in a third country now. Do you have a message for the people of the world? I want to ask the international community not to accept this military regime in Burma. Their elections are no solution. As long as this regime is there, there will be no peace. The civil war will not stop.

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They said, ‘You did not know how to train your child, so we did it for you’

Ko Kyaw Zaw’s Voice Ko Kyaw Zaw, aka Aung Kyaw Hein, is 37 years old and comes from Rangoon. We speak in Nu Po Refugee Camp. I was imprisoned for my activities with the student movement. In May 1989, I was arrested for the ﬁrst time. I was 16 years old then. I was too young for prison, I did not have any experience or survival skills. I was beaten. Later, they gave me a warning not to get involved in politics again. I was released and sent back to my parents. I got involved with the ABFSU, the All Burma Federation of Student Unions. I was arrested for the second time in October 1990. They kept me detained for one month. They arrested me on the street. I had expected them to come to my house and take me, so I had been avoiding my house. On April 16, 1991, they arrested me for the third time. This time, I was sentenced to three years in prison and was moved to Insein Prison. During this third arrest, they tortured me a lot. But this was not diﬀerent from anybody else. It’s normal to be tortured. I lost consciousness because of all the beatings, and they threw water at me to wake me up so that they could continue their beatings. I did not get any food or water. I had to ask permission to go to the toilet. When I was given this permission, I used the water in the toilet to wash and drink. The worst thing was the day Military Intelligence brought my

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parents to come and look at me. They told my father and mother: ‘Look, you did not know how to train your child properly, so we did it for you.’ They showed me to my parents, full of injuries and bruises from the beatings. I suffered a lot from this, also mentally. They had beaten me up freshly, just before my parents came. So I had a lot of blood on my face. They also hung me up, by my arms. When my parents came, I expected to go back home with them, but they kept me there. Ko Kyaw Zaw was transferred to another interrogation center, where the MI interrogated him for 10 days. I spent a total of 11 months in the detention center. After that, they took me back to Insein Prison. After my release, I contacted ABFSU again and continued my work for them. In 1998, on January 13, they arrested me again. I was kept in a detention center for one month. After that, they kept me for another two months. This was the hardest time. They beat me in the hot sun. My face was covered with a cloth and my hands were handcuffed behind my back. I had no food or water for a whole week. Sometimes I was too weak for questioning, and it was very difficult to concentrate on their questions and not give the wrong answers. They sentenced me to 14 years in jail. Together with U Ne Oo, Hnin Pan Ein’s husband, I was sent to Kalay Prison. My father, who is the poet U Kyi Tin Oo, also spent time in jail. He was arrested for political activities and spent ten years in prison. Both U Ne Oo and I were released after eight years. One year before my release, my father was released from prison. With help from the ICRC, my father visited me. When my father went back home, he died. I heard this when I was still in prison. On July 6, 2005, I got out. In January 2006, Ko Kyaw Zaw fled to Thailand and arrived in Mae Sot. He received some money from AAPPB and lived at the organization’s office for awhile.

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How does Ko Kyaw Zaw cope with everything he has been through? You cannot see obvious injuries on me, but I have many invisible scars. Before I left Burma, Min Ko Naing and others helped me to go and see a doctor. Here in the refugee camp, I see a doctor too. This is for ailments resulting from my time in prison, like stomach problems. There is, however, no help for psychological problems here in the camp. Only physical. I had some help for psychological problems in Burma, before I left, and I got some medicine. Right now, I live alone here in the camp. I am single. My mother is still alive. She is inside. I have no contact with my brothers or sisters. What gave Ko Kyaw Zaw strength during his time in prison? I always believed I was struggling for justice. What I did was right. I have no regrets. I am not afraid. Naturally, I was very weak physically. And I suďŹ&#x20AC;ered after spending a long time in prison. The prison authorities did not tell me my father had passed away. They feared I would get more deďŹ ant if they told me. I learned from my mother during a visit. But what could I do? I had expected it to happen. My father was not the only one. Many political prisoners died. I did not suďŹ&#x20AC;er more because this happened. I decided to tell you my story, not because I am complaining, but because I want my story to be told to people in the outside world.

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‘People may think our stories of cruelty are only myths, and not true’

Ko Moe Kyaw Aung’s Voice Ko Moe Kyaw Aung is 47 years old. He originally comes from Rangoon. He was active in the armed struggle against the military regime in Burma for many years. I was part of the ABSDF, the All Burma Students Democratic Front [formerly ABSFU] and the Democratic Union Solidarity, the Da Nya Ta. Both organizations were active in the Thai-Burma border areas, fighting for democracy. In 1988, I left for the border area to fight with the student armed group. I went back inside in 1991 and was arrested. They arrested me for contact with exile groups. I had contacted Ko Soe Myint, who was in India at the time. They interrogated me and released me after three days. In December of that year, they arrested me again for meeting with various groups. My friends and I formed SATAPALA, an armed group, to fight for the people. In January 1993, I was arrested again and questioned for one month. Five years later, I was taken and sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison. I served five of these, in Insein and Thayarwaddy Prisons. Ko Moe Kyaw Aung was deeply involved in the armed struggle to bring an end to military dictatorship in his country. Does he think violence is the way to bring change in Burma?

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At the time, I thought so, yes. Later, I learned that it is not impossible to bring change without violence. Since the end of 1988, it is not impossible to get change without violence. How, then, can change come? There are two conditions: the ďŹ rst is, there must be an uprising. The second is, there must be more pressure from the international community on the junta. I believe these two conditions together can bring change. What can people on the outside do to support people in Burma? We need more pressure from the outside. Western governments must put more pressure on the regime. At the same time, ASEAN is supporting this regime. Change can only come when all the governments support change at the same time. Activists on the inside need support too. What does Ko Moe Kyaw Aung think about the 2010 elections? The elections are not that important. The biggest problem is the 2008 Constitution. Twenty-ďŹ ve percent of the seats in Parliament are reserved for the military. The USDP has many members from the military. After the elections, at least ďŹ fty percent will be taken by the junta. The Parliament will still be ruled by the military. According to this constitution, the military is allowed to take power at any time. This constitution and the sham elections will lead to the same regime before and after these elections. The socalled multi-party election only serves to legitimize the regime internationally. How is his situation at the moment? I am living here in Nu Po Refugee Camp with my wife, who has been here since 2008. We are waiting for our MPO registration and want to apply to be resettled in a third country. The Thai

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authorities, and recently the Thai Foreign Minister, have said they want to deport us refugees back to Burma. Because of this, many people in this camp are now afraid and depressed. The Thai authorities said that all people who have been here for more than 10 years will get a citizenship card. All children born after 2008 as well. However, this hasn’t happened yet. What will happen if the Thai authorities repatriate Burmese refugees? I can speak only about my personal situation. I was released from prison early, after serving ﬁve years of my 15-year prison sentence. They let me go because I signed their agreement: if I ever got involved in politics again, I would have to serve the remaining 10 years of my sentence. I did get involved in politics again, so if they would send me back to Burma, I believe I would be sent back to prison immediately. When they released me, the MI told me that if I would ever be arrested again, not for political activities but for criminal activities, the punishment would be even heavier. Ordinary criminals are not monitored by international organizations. This happened to a colleague of mine, Htet Naing Oo, who was killed by the USDP. Police caught him in 2006, called him a thief, and beat him up badly. Htet Naing Oo was arrested. He was sentenced as a criminal instead of a human rights defender. I was too. If people like him are deported back to Burma, they will be arrested and reimprisoned by the Burmese authorities. What is Ko Moe Kyaw Aung’s message to the people? Does my opinion count? Is it not better when organizations like Amnesty International say something about Burma? I do not have a long message. Only people who have been living under dictators know how cruel they are. People who do not know, may not even believe our stories of cruelty. They may think it’s all a myth. I want the international community to know that Burma’s dictators are much worse than some Western ones. No words can describe

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how bad and cruel they are. I want to call on people to help us with democracy and human rights. Not only for Burma, but every country. All democratic countries should help. Speaking about the ďŹ ne line between armed struggle and terrorism: Terrorism is killing innocent people intentionally, like the junta did with the monks in 2007. Any person or government who does this is a terrorist. The Burmese junta uses soldiers to suppress and kill the people. Why does the world regard this junta as a government? When a government uses soldiers to kill innocent people, the international community does not regard this government as a terrorist. But when an individual kills another, he is a terrorist. Why? Even Nelson Mandela is sometimes by some people regarded as a terrorist. Is this because he killed white people, or because he fought for his own freedom?

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‘In my dreams, I see my people dancing, celebrating freedom’

Ashin Sopaka’s Voice Ashin Sopaka is 34 years old when he shares his story in Amsterdam in March 2011. He is originally from Tha Bye Aye Village in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Division. Ashin Sopaka is one of the founders of Burmese organization The Best Friend, and has struggled for freedom and democracy in his native country and around the world for many years. He starts by speaking about his background. I was born in Tha Bye Aye village in Yinmabin Township. I went to school there for two years, but when I was 10 years old, my family moved to Mandalay. We did not live in the city itself, but outside of Mandalay, about one hour from the city, in a village. My father died when I was only two-and-a-half years old. I never knew him—never knew who he was, what kind of person he was. It was my mother who gave me both a father’s and a mother’s love. I had no idea about real father’s love. My mother married again, and I got another sister and brother. My stepfather has now passed away too, and my mother is alone now. In 1988, all schools were closed down by the government when the students began their movements and became active. Because I could not go to school anymore, my mother and uncle decided I was to pursue my education at a monastery. I went, but my uncle forced me to come back home after one year. He needed me to work in the family’s ﬂower garden. I was working, but also thinking: ‘This is not my choice, doing this. I cannot learn anything

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from this particular work.’ I wanted to learn for my life. I asked my mother if I could go back to the monastery to continue my education. I wanted to learn more. She agreed, and I became a novice again at the age of 13. When I was 17, I went to Rangoon. I had no teacher there, so I went to Pegu to study. There were about 125 monks studying there. During the summertime, we had to go out to collect uncooked rice donated from the villagers. We used to collect quite a lot, but our abbot did not cook it all. We were sent out twice a day to collect this rice, but the rice was actually being sold by our abbot. I did not like this, and I wrote a letter about it. That was my first protest! The abbot and the teachers were not pleased with this, and I was sent away from the monastery. I was very unhappy and disappointed, and I wanted to disrobe and step out of the monkhood. At that point, I was very unhappy with Buddhism. I decided I wanted to learn to speak English. This would be a very good preparation for my layman’s life, because I planned to become a teacher. Normally, it is not allowed for a monk to learn English. I started to read the dhamma, the Buddha’s teachings, in English, and I learned more and more. I found out more and more valuable teachings. Slowly, I changed my mind about being a monk, and I decided to remain a monk because it gave me a lot more options to help others and myself. How did Ashin Sopaka first get politically involved? In 1997, I took the entrance exam for the State Pariyatta Sasana University, a university for monks. That’s where I met U King [King Zero, Ashin Issariya, co-founder of The Best Friend]. At university, I also met other monks who had traveled abroad. I was very impressed by their stories. Even at that time, monks were repressed and driven away from university. We wanted to change this, and we formed a group: The Best Friend Group of Literature. We opened up libraries and held discussions. In 1999, The Best Friend was founded. We deliberately chose this neutral name, without any influence, political affiliation, or religious connotation. Our aim was to change the system

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and ﬁght against injustice. What was The Best Friend like in the beginning? The Best Friend Group of Literature started with 10 monks. In 2000, U King, somebody else, and myself went out to try and meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She would be coming to a place near us. We wanted to talk to her. But we were followed by the secret police. They pressured us to sign an agreement not to be involved with politics, or we would not be allowed to continue at our university. We all decided to leave university. U King left university immediately. I had to stay to sort some things out, like organizing my books. But they did not let me do even that: I was dragged out of the university by other monks. After that, I went from monastery to monastery. I managed to leave my country in 2001. I left because I wanted to ﬁnd activities and new contacts abroad. I had a passport, so I could take a plane to Bangkok. I then went and visited Laos and returned to Burma again. In 2002, we restarted The Best Friend in Mandalay. U Kovida [Ashin Kovida] and nearly 20 other monks joined us at this time. I left Burma again in 2003 and visited Singapore and Germany. I was invited to Germany by friends. I went on a student visa. In the same year, the event that came to be called the Depayin ‘Black Friday’ Massacre took place. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD colleagues and supporters were attacked by governmentsponsored thugs while on a trip to the town of Depayin in Sagaing Division. At least 70 people associated with the NLD were killed. It is commonly believed this attack was a premeditated attempt on the life of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by Burma’s military rulers. I had no option but to speak out. I openly spoke about our regime and demonstrated in front of the Burmese embassy in Berlin. It was then that I applied for political asylum in Germany. I received this in the same year, 2003. I had to start studying the German language. Ashin Sopaka lived in Germany for several years. How did he spend

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his time there? In 2005, the KBC [Kölner Buddhist Center] was founded. I founded it with the help and support of German friends in the German city of Cologne. With help of German friends, we also managed to build a new library in Mandalay. I sent money inside Burma to help U Kovida and U King with their work. But this was not enough. Ashin Sopaka wanted to do more. I had to raise awareness of the situation in my country, of the atrocities my people were facing, of the human rights abuses that were taking place. In 2006, I organized a Peace Walk. Friends and supporters walked with me from Cologne to Berlin. The walk started on August 3, 2006. Our aim was to bring my country’s long struggle for freedom to the world, and to create awareness of the situation inside Burma, because not many people know what is happening there at all. I wanted to do more Peace Walks, so I contacted King Zero, and we arranged to meet secretly in Mae Sot, Thailand. It had to be secretly because he was still in Burma at the time. He traveled to the border to meet me there, and we planned for our movement. I dreamed about Peace Walks happening in my country, in Burma. I started a Peace Walk in Thailand: we walked from Bangkok to the Thai-Burmese border at Mae Sot. We started this walk on January 30, 2007. Our aim was to get media attention: we wanted to send a message to the people through the media. It worked, and monks inside the country started to participate and spread the message. In 2007 during the Saﬀron Revolution, it was my duty to spread the monks’ message via the media. Other monks spread the message inside, on the ground. It was the message of the metta sutta, of universal loving kindness. In September 2007, years of preparation and coincidence came together. It all started with an uprising in the town of Pakokku. Students started to march after petrol prices rose precipitously and

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they could not afford to travel anymore. In Pakokku, monks started to demonstrate as well. Their peaceful protests were met with violence from the regime’s soldiers. King Zero and Ashin Gambira issued a statement to the media. They demanded an official apology from the regime for the violence committed against the monks in Pakokku, as well as a reduction in oil prices. They also urged the regime to release all political prisoners, and to start a dialogue with all parties involved. They received no reply from the government. So, in late September 2007, the Burmese monks started their marches throughout Burma. People sometimes state that the 2007 demonstrations just happened spontaneously and lacked planning. The 2007 marches were planned. The organizers had been planning this for years. Planning and preparation is important and very powerful for our movement. Does Ashin Sopaka think violence might be necessary to bring change to Burma? I love nonviolence very much. Burma’s situation is very difficult, though. This regime has no mercy. That is the problem. Look at Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. They advocated nonviolence, and their governments had a human spirit. Ours does not. This is a big challenge. We still believe nonviolence is the way to bring people together. Violence brings suffering and it costs human lives. Freedom is important, but human lives are more important. We strongly support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We stand on the people’s side and do not want our people to get hurt. When it comes to my personal belief, I believe in nonviolence. The people also believe in it. We need to protect the people, and our country needs an army for that. We need a force to protect the nonviolent believers. The United Nations could do this, but they are always too late. We need to make a force to protect the people. We need protection.

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Does Ashin Sopaka have a message for the people? Generally, I want people to see that all people, in and out of Burma, are all human beings. We are all human. The world becomes smaller: whatever happens somewhere, has an effect somewhere else. We have a duty to take care of each other, just like brothers and sisters. I would like to quote from the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘All are equal.’ We should see each other as equal, as brothers, as sisters. The world will be peaceful if we can practice this. There is a lot of discrimination still going on, even in rich and developed countries, in everyday human society. International governments say, ‘What happens in Burma is Burma’s internal affairs.’ China and India say this. They use this to protect themselves. But what happens inside Burma is not only internal affairs. It is also international. An example: a husband kills his wife. Neighbors in the area see and hear the crime. So it’s not only the man’s internal affair. It has become their affair, too. It is a human affair. And as good neighbors, you have an obligation to report something like this. The same goes for a country that kills its own citizens: neighboring countries need to take action. What are Ashin Sopaka’s visions for the future? All I can say is, we have a plan. I cannot speak about this very openly. Preparing is important. If another occasion arises, we will strike. A lot of people simply cannot stand it anymore. I want my people to enjoy freedom in a free country. I see them enjoying this in my dreams. I see my people dancing, playing Burmese traditional drums, celebrating freedom...

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Su Su Nwayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Voice Su Su Nway was born in 1971 and comes from Htan Ma Naing Village, Kawhmu Township, in Rangoon Division. She is a well-known activist in Burma, having been actively involved in issues relating to labor rights, child soldiers, and forced labor. One of her public protests on the streets of Rangoon, and the swift crackdown by the authorities that ensued, can be seen at the beginning of the documentary Burma VJ. In 2007 she was sentenced to eight years in prison for treason. She was released early as part of a government amnesty in October 2011. She shared her voice a few days after her release. Su Su Nway, ne kaun thala? [how are you?] And how have you been doing since your release on October 12? Generally, I am doing ďŹ ne. My health is okay. I was checked by Doctor Tin Myo Win and received an ECG [electrocardiogram]. But I have not had a blood test yet.

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Where are you staying now? Are you living with your family or friends? My parents have passed away, and my brother and sister are living with their own families. I am alone. So I am currently living in Rangoon with some NLD members. Do you need support or help in any way? At the moment, I am ďŹ ne and do not need help. Did you know beforehand that you were going to be released early from prison? When did the authorities inform you? Yes, I knew I would be freed. I was told by the jail authorities that I would be released ďŹ rst before some others, before October. They had been telling me since August that I would be released, and so I should take care of my health. But this was not an order from above, they were just guessing. How long did you stay in prison? I stayed in prison for almost four years. I would have completed four years on November 13 of this year. Were you mistreated or tortured by the authorities? I was not tortured physically, but mentally. My human rights were not respected, and I was treated inhumanely. Were there many other political prisoners in your prison? Yes, there were. There were 17 political prisoners kept there, including myself. Six of them have been released now, so 11 are still there. Among them is one Buddhist monk from Mandalay. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. I do not know his name, however, and no one ever visits him. So I shared things with him and sup-

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ported that monk. I was a supporter of that monk in prison. Did you receive family visits in prison? My family used to visit me every two or three months. My brother-in-law was not allowed by the authorities to see me; only my sister was allowed to visit me there. Can you describe a normal day in prison? What did you do during the day? When I was in prison, I used to get up at 3:30 or at 4 a.m. to pray. At 6 o’clock, I would pray, and wish for all to acquire the benefit from my meritorious deeds. After that, I would do some exercise until 7 o’clock. At 7 a.m., I would eat breakfast, and when I had finished I would clean my plate. I would then apply thanaka. From 8 o’clock, I would recite traditional Pali stanzas and read newspapers. At 9 o’clock, I would take my bath. After 10 a.m., I would eat lunch and walk a bit and read. From 11:30 until about 1 p.m., I usually took a nap before meditating until 2. I would then recite Pali verses again, and read from 2:30 until 4. I would eat dinner and take a stroll until about 5:40 p.m. By 6:10 p.m., one should be back in one’s cell, so before that time I used to pray for the well-being of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and for other political prisoners across the country to be free. After 6 p.m., I had to be back in my place. This is the way I spent my days in prison. How did you cope with your time in prison? What gave you strength to go on? I want the students, farmers, and everyone in Burma to have justice and human rights. I stand and work for justice and human rights. When I was in the hands of the authorities, I had fear, but I still struggled for human rights and democracy. Different human rights organizations campaigned for your release. Did you know that people in the West were actively working

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for your release? And did you notice that anything came of these actions? I did not know anything and did not hear anything. I did not receive any information about the outside world when I was in prison. My sister is an innocent village girl. She was instructed by the jail authorities not to talk about things happening outside of prison whenever she visited me. I knew and heard about it only after my release from prison. I really would like to thank all those people who support us and who struggle for us. I really want to thank them on behalf of all other political prisoners as well. I appreciate their support hugely. What do you think of people writing letters for political prisoners, and sending them to the Burmese authorities, or to Burmese prisons? Do you think it helps? I believe it is really helpful. I was released now because of international support and pressure like this, and because of the international media. Do you have a message for all those people who were active for your release? I really want to say to all these people and organizations: thank you so much for your support, for your warm and selďŹ&#x201A;ess help for my release while I was in prison. And I want to ask you again to help and encourage the authorities to release all of the rest of the political prisoners. How do you think people in the West can help promote human rights in your country? To promote human rights in our country, I would like people in the West to keep an eye on what is happening. What we need is awareness of what is going on in Burma. If you in the West want to help my country, you need to know what is happening here in

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Burma. And I want you to address the government and put pressure on them to change. A few days ago, for example, I was interviewed for a [Burmese] journal. I just told them about my experience in prison, but my interview was not allowed to be published. So I want you to encourage the Burmese government to also allow free press and media. What are your plans for the future? Aung San, the father of Burma’s independence, sacrificed his life for democracy. In order to have human rights, which is the essence of democracy in Burma, as long as I live, I am not afraid of being arrested again. I will be ready to stand in front of the people or behind them—anywhere I am needed for human rights and democracy. I promise the people in Burma and outside that I will continue my struggle to achieve democracy and full human rights in Burma. How do you think freedom and democracy will come to Burma? To achieve democracy and freedom in Burma, struggling politically and through political parties alone is not enough. Everyone must personally be involved in this struggle to achieve our goal. Only when we fight in unity, will we gain democracy and freedom and human rights. Only then will we get what Bogyoke Aung San sacrificed his life for. If we are afraid of punishment, we will not gain genuine democracy and human rights. We are struggling for human rights within the law, according to the law, we do not break the law. But the authorities break the law, which they themselves made. They, for example, confiscate land from the farmers, to work on it with forced labor. And they also claim that there are no child soldiers in Burma, but there are still many child soldiers. I want to encourage all people of Burma to please struggle for your own rights. Do you have a special message for the women of the world?

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I want to tell all of you who are struggling for women’s rights that we women in Burma lost women’s rights. I have seen many women and young girls in prison. I am very sad about this. I don’t want these things to happen to women. I want to urge women who are struggling to promote women’s rights to please keep struggling for women’s rights. I also want to promise that I will also keep ﬁghting for women’s rights.

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‘I want to share what I know, the teachings that I have learned’

The Voices of Ko Nyo and Ma Thanda Tun On Friday, January 13, 2012, many political prisoners were released by the Burmese authorities as part of a large amnesty. Among those released were Ma Thanda Tun and Ko Nyo. The two were arrested by Special Branch Police in Mandalay in August 2009, accused of having traveled to Thailand to meet with members of an ‘outlawed organization’. They were each sentenced to a ﬁve-year prison term. Their crime? Contact with members of The Best Friend organization in Mae Sot, referred to in court documents as ‘a Buddhist monks’ group that is in opposition to the military dictatorship in Burma.’ Thanda Tun, 27, and Ko Nyo, 32, were punished for their social work and their desire to help the people. They were both involved in supporting victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Thanda Tun worked as a tour guide, and Ko Nyo as an English teacher in Mandalay. The police did not have proper evidence to link them to the ‘crime’, but took them to an interrogation center where they were kept illegally for over one month. They were tortured to elicit false confessions. They were later transferred to Insein Prison, where they were put on trial. According to the law, they should have been tried in Mandalay, where they were arrested. The couple shared their story shortly after their release from prison.

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How are you both, and how is your health? Ko Nyo: My health is in good condition. I feel very happy. Thanda Tun: I am ďŹ ne. When did you hear that you were going to be released? Ko Nyo: I only knew for sure that I was going to be released when one of the prison security guards told me to get ready to go home. Thanda Tun: I did not know in advance, because I was in a meditation course. I knew only when the authorities took me out to be released. How were you treated in prison? Ko Nyo: I was treated well as a prisoner of conscience. Thanda Tun: I was given rice gruel for breakfast, and rice and sour tasting soup prepared with vegetables for lunch, sometimes beans, and rice and an egg for dinner. On Wednesdays and Sundays we were given meat for dinner. Were you interrogated and tortured? Ko Nyo: I was not tortured during my time in prison, but I was interrogated and tortured in a cell at the investigation center of the Special Branch Police. After that, I was kept in a cell at the investigation center for 15 days until I was sent to Oldbo Prison. In Oldbo Prison, I stayed in a cell for one-and-a-half months. Thanda Tun: I was not tortured physically because I am a woman. But I was interrogated for ďŹ ve days nonstop, and I was not given enough food or allowed to sleep. Were you kept in a prison cell alone? Ko Nyo: I stayed in Ward No. 3, which consists of eight rooms in which there are 850 to 900 people.

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Thanda Tun: Yes, I stayed in a cell alone. Can you describe a normal day in prison? What would you do from the moment you woke up until you went to sleep in the evening? Ko Nyo: I woke up at 4:30 a.m. At 5, everybody had to get up, and then at 5:15 most of the people would pay homage to the Buddha and share metta for all beings. At 5:30 we would sit in a line of ďŹ ve and prison security guards would come to count to check with the total number of people listed the day before. At 6:15 the doors were opened so we could get out and wash our faces and brush our teeth and take a bath. And then I would have a cup of coďŹ&#x20AC;ee with a snack. After that, I would cook curry for lunch. In the morning, I used to talk with my friends and read journals or books, as I had a lot of free time. At 10:30 we ate the lunch which I had cooked, with bean soup that was served by the prison. From 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. it was closing time for a rest or sleep. During the day closing time I was usually outside the room reading or talking with friends or taking a nap. At 2:30 I would cook curry for dinner. At 6 p.m. we all had to get back in the room. Before 9 I would read books or watch TV news. At 9 p.m. we all had to sleep. Thanda Tun: I spent my days eating, sleeping, reading, praying, and meditating. How did you survive your time in prison? Ko Nyo: I was supported by the NLD. I got a parcel every two weeks, and got some money for food that I needed. Thanda Tun: The NLD paid me a visit every two weeks and brought food. I thank them for this. What do you plan to do now? Ko Nyo: I have not planned to do anything yet. But I want to say: Thank you all for helping us. Thanda Tun: For the future, I want to be a tour guide again, and I want to share what I know, the teachings that I have learned.

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‘We strongly believe that our destination will be reached one day’

Zayar Thaw’s Voice Ko Zayar Thaw was born Kyaw Kyaw on March 26, 1981. He is a well-known hip-hop artist in Burma, and together with Yan Yan Chan founded the group Acid, which released Burma’s first hiphop album Beginning in 2000. After the 2007 Saffron Revolution, Zayar Thaw and others founded the underground activists’ collective Generation Wave, using creative ways to peacefully oppose the military regime in Burma. In 2008, Zayar Thaw was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison for ‘forming an illegal organization’ and the ‘illegal possession of foreign currency’ (upon his arrest, he had a few U.S. dollars in his pockets). He was released in May 2011 as part of an amnesty for prisoners by Thein Sein’s government. Some members of Generation Wave remain behind bars. Zayar Thaw spoke of his experiences shortly after his release. While we, five friends and I, were discussing and having a meal in Gold Feather Restaurant on Sayarsan Road in Rangoon, some Military Security agents from Unit 1 suddenly came in and arrested us without any warrant. They took us to the nearest police station at Bahan Township. Then in the evening, I was blindfolded and taken to an unknown place for interrogation. After the violent interrogation that lasted a few days, I was taken to Insein Prison via the Bahan Township Police Station. I received my verdict at Insein Prison, and was then transferred to Kawthaung Prison.

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How was he treated in prison? At the interrogation center, they—I don’t know who they were or what they were—tortured me and beat me while asking many unreasonable questions, and there was some blood shed. However, I do not want to go into detail about that because I don’t want to bear any grudges against those who brutally treated me. How did he survive his time in prison? Life in Burmese prisons is very hard, very difficult, and very bad. Prison has its own rules and regulations that every prisoner must follow. Whatever hardship we faced in prison, the prisoners of conscience, including me, tried to get through these days by firmly holding on to our own beliefs and convictions, and also focusing on our goals. We strongly believe that our destination will be attained one day. That belief always motivated us to overcome those hard days in prison. Several international human rights organizations campaigned for his release. Does he have anything to say to these groups? During my family visits, we were allowed to talk about our family affairs only. I did not know about these campaigns for my release. After I was released, I got some information about that from my colleagues. I deeply appreciate their kindness for me, and I appreciate this a lot. I also want to show my gratitude in person, and to have contact with these organizations in the future. Although I have been released, there are many artists and musicians still behind bars. I would like to do something for their release with your help, as well as with our friends abroad. How does he see the future of Burma? Our country has been ruled by a political dictatorship for more than half a century now. We desire to make a change. I have

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been trying to create awareness among the people of their existing unhealthy socioeconomic conditions and low standard of living so that they will become active and improve their lifestyles. I am determined to continue with my beloved people, including all other nationalities, to reach our desired goals, and I am sure that we will deﬁnitely reach our goal in the near future. How does he see his own future? As a Burmese citizen, my future is the people’s future. We are trying to construct a new democratic country with our faithful beliefs and convictions, working together to achieve a better and brighter future for our new generation. While in prison, did Zayar Thaw hear anything about the elections last year, or about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release? In prison, we could only read government-produced newspapers and censored journals and magazines. We only had limited information through these limited media. So I heard about last year’s elections only as a news fact, not in detail. I read about the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in newspapers and journals. What can NGOs or people outside Burma do to improve the human rights situation in Burma? First of all, I want NGOs to put pressure on the current government to release all political prisoners in Burma, because this is the basic and most urgent need of our country. Second, please try to expose the current human rights violations caused by our government upon the Burmese nationalities to international governments, and the people inside our country as well. And last, but not the least, I am afraid to say, but when international organizations like Amnesty International, ICRC, ILO, and Freedom House handle Burmese aﬀairs, they usually recom-

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mend ‘criticisms, blame, proposals, and warnings’. Burmese activists want you all to make more decisions to take specific actions, decisions to do something, with some regulations and by-laws, and act effectively. How does he view politics as a singer and artist? Any person, whoever or whatever he may be, if he lives in a country and is a citizen of that country, he has the right to see, to feel, and to expose his beliefs to other people, especially when he sees and feels the unlawful things in front of him. Does Zayar Thaw want to be a politician or a singer, or both? I will continue to create music as my hobby for my fans, and also to continue observing my country’s affairs in politics. Apart from that, I want to be active in improving the situation of the people in my country. What influenced Zayar Thaw to become politically involved? The voices, noises, and opinions of the people had been building up inside their hearts for a very long time. I wanted to express these feelings on behalf of them. How does he feel about other artists who may be reluctant to be involved in politics? I accept that all artists are professionals. If somebody bans or forbids or controls him in the creation of his arts, his and his family’s life have been broken into pieces and they cannot survive. The government knows this, and uses this strategy to control the artists to keep them away from politics. That is why we, as active artists, fight against the oppression of man’s birthrights for everybody, including other artists. Does Zayar Thaw have a message for people outside of Burma?

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I would like to say thank you all for your interest and long lasting support for our activities to get democracy. Our way to fight for it is not over yet. May I request you to continue your support, and allow me to say that we are looking forward to get more specific and effective support for our way to democracy. What can people outside Burma do to support the people inside? I would like to say to the people from abroad that we are fighting for basic human birthrights, which you all already have. We want to have a normal standard of living for every Burmese citizen. We also want to live peacefully and safely, like you. But we are still fighting to attain that basic sort of life. Thus, you have to keep in mind that although you all are staying peacefully and safely in your normal family lives, there is a country, in a certain part of the world, where the people are still fighting for the chance to live simply like you. Please convey this message to others who are not well aware of our existing sufferings. Update 2012: Ko Zayar Thaw has been actively involved in the struggle for democracy in Burma since his release from prison. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the NLD in the April 2012 by-elections. In June 2012, he traveled abroad to accompany Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on her trip through Europe.

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‘For the time being, the international community is giving too much to the Burmese government—too much, too soon’

Bo Kyi’s Voice Ko Bo Kyi, 47 years old, is from Thingayut Township, Rangoon Division. In 1999, he fled to the Thai-Burma border and set up an organization, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners - Burma (AAPPB), with other former prisoners of conscience. He shares his story in Amsterdam during an informational tour for the documentary Into The Current, which includes his story. When did you first get politically involved? On March 16, 1988, I became politically involved in the struggle with the student demonstrations of ’88. At the time, I was a final-year student at Rangoon University. I was doing a major in Burmese literature. At the time, I was in the government service. My intention with my study of Burmese literature was to be in the government office. But I lost my job prospects in 1988 because I was involved in the student movement. When and why were you first sentenced to prison? I was first arrested in 1990, on March 16. I had led a demonstration at the time, calling for the release of all student detainees from prison following the ’88 protests. As a result of that, we demanded to have our student union recognized as a legal organiza-

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tion. I was arrested because of that, and given a three-year prison sentence with hard labor. At first, I was kept at Insein Prison, then I was transferred to Mandalay Prison. And your second time in prison? In July 1994, I was arrested for the second time. I was given five years in prison that time. Before I was rearrested, I had had several discussions with some of the officers. During these discussions, they asked me to become an informer for them. I proposed two demands: one was to release all political prisoners. Second was to have a dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They declined my proposals, so I also declined their proposal. Therefore, I was arrested again, and sentenced to five years imprisonment. I was released from prison in 1998, on October 2. In total, I spent seven years in prison. Can you describe a typical day in prison in Burma? During our time in prison, we were not allowed to read or write or study anything. Nowadays, political prisoners are allowed to read and write, so it’s a little bit different. We used to wake up around 6 o’clock. We then had to line up, so they could count heads. We had to line up, sit. I was staying in a tiny cell. Alone. After the counting, we could sleep again. For 23 hours and 40 minutes a day, I had to stay in that small cell alone. I could only go outside for 20 minutes a day, to take a shower and wash. So it was very boring. There was nothing to do. So I had to think of what I should do. I studied English by myself when I was in prison. Even though I was staying there alone, in the cell next to me there was a professor. He could speak English, Chinese, and Japanese. I chose to study English. Even though I could not see his face, whenever the prison guard was away, he would speak one or two sentences. I noted this down on a concrete piece of brick. That’s the way I could study when I was in prison. I tried to keep myself busy by studying, walking, doing

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exercise. I also memorized things, things from my past. I created things, like articles, in my mind. Losing hope is your individual choice. I did not lose my hope. They could arrest my body; they could not arrest my spirit. I could think of many things. I could create something. Another thing is, if you do not do anything while in prison, you will go crazy. So therefore, I was trying to do something to keep myself occupied. Besides, I was only given three years in prison. But what would I do after those three years? I needed to think of that, I needed to prepare myself. If I had not prepared myself during my time in prison, I would not be here now. I would have gone crazy. I would not be doing all the things I do now. Therefore, I tried to prepare for my future. You work with AAPPB, a prominent and influential organization, with former political prisoners. What was it like for yourself, after your release? How did you reintegrate? Could you find a job, and how were you treated? It was really difficult after I was released from prison. The problem is age differences before I was arrested and after I was released. Before I got arrested, I was a student. Because of my young age, it was suitable to ask for money from my parents. After my release, I was older and it was impossible to ask others for money. So I did not have a regular income. I did not have a job. And at the time, I did not have enough education to have a good job. There was also pressure from the government. They do not want us former political prisoners to be professionals in society. They really hate us. They put us in prison, and then they place us in isolation and do not allow us to read, write or study. They want to control our intellectual thinking. But we train our brains to defy such kinds of killings and stay alive. I tried to study English after my release. I regularly went to the United States information agencies in Rangoon. I borrowed books and listened to the English language, so that was the way. Finally, I found a part-time job at a photocopier shop. I got some income, and even though it was not enough, it was really helpful. But Mili-

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tary Intelligence personnel put the owner of the shop under pressure not to hire me. So, therefore, I lost my job again. So it was a little difficult for me to get an income. But I did not give up. I was a private teacher for high school students. I taught English. English grammar and reading and writing, not speaking. So I got some income out of that. Intelligence personnel told me not to work as a private teacher, because I had been one of the student leaders of 1988. Therefore they disliked the fact I was dealing with students. I told them, I was working for myself. They offered me the chance to write an article in their newspaper so I could earn some money. I told them I would write if they would not censor it. Otherwise I would not write it. They negotiated with me to become an informer. But, as I mentioned before, I declined that. Then they said to me, three years imprisonment had not been enough for me. Therefore they sentenced me to five years more the second time. I received a parole, so did not have to stay the full five years. I was in prison for four years and three months the second time, I believe. And then I was released. Do Burmese people know about human rights? Compared to previous years, nowadays there is slightly more information about what the international community is doing. How can human rights organizations influence a government like the one in Burma to change for the better? We need to monitor, and we need to constantly tell the Burmese regime what they should do, or what they have done wrong. For example, we need to tell them to stop human rights violations across the country. We need to remind them of it every time. We also need to remind them to stop torture, and to take action against those who commit it. We need to give them such pressure consistently. Even though they do not want to listen, they have to. That’s what we need to do. Another thing is, we need to put pressure on the international

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community, not only to the Burmese government, about the human rights violations that are happening in Burma. We should not call it ‘human rights violations’, we should speak about ‘crimes against humanity’. This, the international community also neglects. We need to put pressure on the international community not to neglect what is happening in Burma. They are talking about holding the next World Economic Forum in Burma in 2012. That’s premature. The Burmese government has not managed to improve the economic situation in Burma. They also have not managed to improve the human rights situation in Burma. They were also speaking about a human rights meeting in Burma. The Burmese government does not deserve such an honorary meeting. If they would stop human rights violations, it would be a good place to hold a human rights conference or seminar in Burma. For the time being, the international community is giving too much to the Burmese government. Too much too soon. What can normal people in the West do to support Burma? They can learn about Burma. About what is happening in Burma. Without knowing anything, it is really diﬃcult to help. If you know something, you can do something. I really want all people to learn more about the situation in my country. And then, individually, they can help. What I am doing, for example, is to provide assistance to political prisoners who are still in prison. But we also provide scholarships for them. People can support organizations like ours. We also support political prisoners after their release because they face a lot of problems when they get out of prison. They do not have money, no jobs, cannot aﬀord education. We are trying our best to help them. And people abroad can join us. How does your organization manage to get information about political prisoners, and how do you support them in a country like Burma?

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Nowadays, we can work more openly than before. The Burmese people are willing and ready to take risks. They want to do something. They know if the authorities dislike it, they will be arrested, but they are happy to take risks to help the needy people. We have people working for us inside Burma. We can send money to our people inside, and they can go to the political prisoners or their families. Because our people are ready to take risks, it’s easier to work. Can you give us your reaction to the recent developments and reforms in Burma? Recent changes have not reached people on the ground; people do not benefit from the changes. Only the government’s cronies benefit from the changes. Look at what is happening in Kachin State. There is a war with the ethnic people there. Women and children are killed and injured, women are raped, children cannot go to school — such kinds of miserable things are still happening in Burma as we speak. Land confiscations by the government are big challenges to the farmers. Because of recent government and business investments, farmers are losing their lands and are not being compensated. There is a problem. Human rights violations continue. What is happening in Burma is not only human rights violations, but crimes against humanity. I feel really sad that the international community neglects this. Changes should benefit the people. The changes that are taking place now do not benefit the majority of the people. That is really sad. Another thing is, I do not see any sign of the rule of law. That is very important for peace and development in Burma. Without rule of law, how can we do business? All the cronies and the government will take all the benefits. There is a labor movement now, and they are asking for simple things: more wages. Wages in Burma are very low: 120 Kyats for one hour of work. This is about twenty cents! That is nothing. How can people survive on such a wage? We want to warn the international businessmen: if they want to invest in Burma, they need to think of things as providing more

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wages to the people. And more facilities. Otherwise, they will face a lot of demonstrations. What’s also important, we need to release all remaining political prisoners, stop war in the ethnic areas, stop human rights violations across the country, and to take action against those who have committed the violations. Those three things are needed immediately. Without taking action towards those who committed human rights violations, how can we promote and protect human rights in Burma? We do not want to put the perpetrators in the International Criminal Court or put them in jail. What we want is for them to confess. Admit what they have done wrong. They should take responsibility for those who were tortured. The government must set up a plan to establish a rehabilitation program for torture victims. Such kinds of things are needed. Do you want to go back to Burma with your family? I do want to go back to Burma and contribute to my country. But the problem is, the government must release the remaining political prisoners. And they must allow us to carry out rehabilitation programs or reintegration programs for torture victims and former political prisoners. Otherwise, I will not be ready to return to Burma. At the moment, I need to stay in Mae Sot, Thailand, to advocate for the release of the remaining political prisoners who are still in jail. That is really important. I have two children. The eldest is 10 years old, and the younger one is one year and nine months. They were both born in Thailand. I hope for a future for them in Burma, but I do not know for the time being. What is your life like, as a refugee living in Thailand? Actually, I’m not a refugee in Thailand. I am living in exile. What I’m doing there is to help my colleagues in prison and help my society to develop. Those are my intentions. I’m not disturbing the peace and stability of the country. I feel that I am doing a good

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job, even though I face some dangers. I have no bright future in Mae Sot. We cannot get a pension, for instance. We cannot think of our future, and we can be kicked out of the country at any time by the Thai government. So our future is not so clear or secure there. What do you hope for this life, and for your next life? Next life? I don’t know, but I am doing my best. My future will be based on what I am doing now. I do not have the right to choose what I want for my next life. If I have done good things in my life, I will have a good life in the future. ‘Future’ meaning the near future, or the next life. Being a Buddhist helped me overcome my time in prison. It helped me a lot. When I was in prison, I listened to Buddha’s teachings. When I was in prison, I really tried my best not to speak rude words. I wanted to control myself. Buddhism also taught me not to fear. I could practice some things like this in prison. That was really helpful to me.

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‘I will not go to prison again!’

U Win Htein’s Voice U Win Htein is an elected Member of Parliament from the NLD who was never allowed to take oﬃce. He is 71 years old and comes from Rangoon. He was imprisoned for over 20 years for his part in the long struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma. He was released in 2008, but re-arrested shortly afterwards. He was set free again in 2010, and won a seat in the new Parliament in 2012. U Win Htein shared his story during his visit to The Netherlands in June 2012.

U Win Htein suffered from many health problems during his long stay in prison. How is his health now? I can go on and serve the people, but my health is fragile. I have a weak heart. I cannot work a long time without taking a break. I suffer from migraines, too. I had this during my time in prison as well. It feels terrible, like a metal clamp is being tightened around my skull. I use traditional medicines for this. I also suffer from spondylitis. I have been suffering from this for a long time. And due to playing ball in prison, I have a knee injury. Sometimes, my knee swells very badly. How does U Win Htein see his future?

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I am an NLD member. I work with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It’s due to her leadership and patience that we are where we are now. We are currently aiming for the 2015 elections. At the end of the year, there will be a national convention of the NLD—the first time something like this has ever been able to take place. We will choose our new grassroots leaders. What gave him strength during his time in prison? I believe in myself. In crucial times, I had this belief in myself. I also believe in my leadership, in the good leadership of the NLD. Apart from that, I practiced Vipassana mediation. There are many forms of meditation in Buddhism, over 40. I practiced Viapssana in prison every day to keep myself calm and to keep my mind and body in sound condition. The Buddha described meditation as follows: ‘The mind is like a bull without a rope. If the bull is not kept on the rope, it will run away. Tighten the rope and keep the bull under control. Train the mind and make sure it does not run away.’ U Win Htein in quotes: ‘I just don’t care. I spent about twenty years in jail. I can be compared to an overripe fruit: I can fall off the tree any time. So why would I care? I am not afraid.’ — on whether it would be a problem for him to return to Burma after his trip abroad ‘When I was handcuffed and in leg-chains, I was a jailbird. Now I am sitting in Parliament!’ ‘My wife suffered most during the time I was in prison. She had to travel long to see me and bring me food. Political prisoners in Burma rely heavily on their family to bring them extra food.’ ‘Activists in exile were angry when we did not go into Parliament after the by-elections. They asked me, ‘Why the hell do you

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not go and take your seats in Parliament?’. This anger was part of our decision to go. The will of the people.’ ‘They are more afraid of me than of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi! I spent a long time in jail. I know their language.’ ‘Personally, I am convinced that struggle from within the country is the key. That’s why I stayed in Burma. But I do not blame the people who went outside.’ ‘I encourage the Burmese in exile to be friendly towards each other. There is a lot of hostility and misunderstanding between activists in exile.’ ‘It’s essential that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is involved with the diﬀerent ethnic groups. They trust her.’ ‘I will not go to prison again!’ ‘To tell someone they have to vote is a breach of law.’ — on vote rigging and people being forced to vote in the April 2012 by-elections ‘Of course something has happened; for more than twenty years we have struggled to reach this stage.’ — about the recent reforms in Burma ‘Instead of asking us about our experiences in prison, I suggest you go and stay there for a few weeks!’ — following questions about his prison experience ‘In Buddhism, you have the Triple Gems: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. We have our three gems, too: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Win Tin, and U Tin Oo.’ — after mentioning U Win Tin ‘In the end, we will prevail.’

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‘The government received a lot of pressure. That pressure slowly, slowly attacked their hearts’

Zarganar’s Voice U Thura, or Zarganar as he is more commonly known, is a famous Burmese comedian, actor, film director, and outspoken critic of the military government. He grew up in Rangoon. He shares his voice during his visit to Amsterdam in September 2012. Zarganar has spent a total of 11 years behind bars for speaking out against the Burmese military regime. He was last arrested in 2008 for organizing aid efforts to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis and speaking to international news agencies about the authorities’ inability to coordinate sufficient relief efforts. Following major international campaigns calling for his release, he was set free in October 2011 in one of the government’s prisoner amnesties. How is he doing now, one year after his release from prison? I think I am well now. I have never had an official medical check-up, so I do not know what is happening inside my body. When I visited the United States, all my friends told me I should go and see a doctor, but I have no time. I actually feel very alive and active. My feelings are very good. My friends recommended me to take some medicines daily, and I do that. They gave me five kinds of medicines and I take them every day.

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What are Zarganar’s first impressions of Amsterdam? When I received the invitation to come to Holland, I was very happy because I had never been here. I am interested in Holland, because ever since 1980, I have visited the country in my dreams. There is a popular and famous Japanese movie in our country. It is called The Princess and The Photographer. The movie is about a Japanese photographer and a princess from The Netherlands. They meet on a canal in Amsterdam. At night, the princess comes out of her mansion. She wants to be an independent woman and go out. She does so secretly; no one knows she leaves her house at night. She spends her time in clubs and beer pubs, and then meets the photographer on a canal boat. That movie was filmed all over Amsterdam. I was young at the time, and my friends and I liked the movie a lot. So, in my mind, I was in Amsterdam already. So when the Prins Claus Fund, which made me a laureate, invited me to come to Amsterdam, I was very happy. But actually, this is a very busy time for me, because I was appointed as a Rakhine [Arakan] Commission Investigation member and I spend a lot of time in Rakhine State. I only got two days leave, so I came here. Today I will go back to Burma, and tomorrow I will go to Rakhine State. Many individuals and organizations campaigned for his release when he was in prison. What are his thoughts about this? These actions had two effects: the first is, that they directly hit me. For example, when I was in prison, I got a lot of postcards from London, the U.S. Some were from children. They wrote ‘Free Zarganar’ and ‘Release Now’. When I got those postcards, I felt very energetic, and I also felt I was not alone. They supported me. I got a lot of energy from that. The other effect is that the government also received a lot of pressure. That pressure slowly, slowly attacked their hearts. In January 2010, a senior police officer visited my cell. He gave me some books to read, and some coffee, a toothbrush, soap. He said to me, ‘I always listen to the radio, every night, and I heard about you. Some Amnesty [Amnesty International] people, I

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think from London, were demonstrating with your photo in a ‘Free Zarganar’ campaign. I think you should be released. And I sympathize with you.’ I think their mentality was terribly attacked by this international pressure. When I was released from prison, that same police officer welcomed me in front of the prison. Even some senior ministers, who are now appointed as ministers for the President’s Office, told me, ‘We got a lot of messages from abroad, from the embassies. Parcels and letters with the message to please release political prisoners, Zarganar, Min Ko Naing, etc.’ They got a lot of mail, they told me. Political prisoners need this support. They really need it. I had a meeting with Human Rights Watch when they visited our country. One of the mothers of a political prisoner visited our office at the time, and Human Rights Watch had a chance to meet with the family. The mother cried. She felt sorry for her son [Ei Aung from Kalay]. After that, Human Rights Watch wrote a letter directly to President U Thein Sein and the Minister of Internal Affairs, General Ko Ko. Ten days after that, the son was released. So, pressure can be very effective. All political prisoners who still remain behind bars need real pressure from the outside. Does Zarganar have a hero, someone he looks up to or is inspired by? According to our Burmese history, there are a lot of heroes. One of the greatest heroes in our country is General Aung San. He is one of my role models. Another one is General Secretary U Thant from the United Nations. And the third one is —I very much like him, he is a very flexible man, a very brave man and has now passed away, he was a poet — Tin Moe. He passed away in the United States. These three are my role models. Whether he likes it or not, Zarganar has become an inspiration to other people. What does he think about being a hero to other people?

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[laughing] They call me that, but I think I am not a hero. People always tell me they get a lot of inspiration from me, but I think it is just my duty. Every artist has a duty for the country and the people. We have to share our experiences and have the responsibility to lead the people, to stand in front of the people. This is the duty of the artist. So this does not make me a hero, I think. Can he point back to a decisive point in life when he realized, ‘I have to stand up and do something’? In 1980 I ﬁrst got an idea. I had read a lot of books, according to our Burmese history and traditions. I attended the Institute of General Medicine, but I was not interested in becoming a dentist. I instead focused on the history of our comedians. In the kings’ era [prior to the British colonial era] there were a lot of comedians. They could criticize the government and the king and queen, everybody. And also, they were free from punishment. So I liked that tradition of the comedian and wanted to revive it in our country, but we were under the military regime [Ne Win’s Burmese Socialist Programme Party, BSPP] at the time. We felt disappointed by the government, but were not sure how to attack it. We had no weapons. So I decided to criticize the corruption and bribery cases and the government’s malfunctions. I was only 19 years old. I shared my decision with my friends. [laughing] They did not like the idea. I waited for three years. In 1983, I got new friends who were from another university. I told them, ‘We need to criticize the government, because this is very important.’ This was twofold: we criticized and satirized the government, and we could open the people’s eyes. We had to petition the government to give permission because at that time, the Myanmar Television Department was operating. It was the beginning of our Burmese TV programs, and we saw that we could use the Burmese TV programs to reach people, but we had to get the trust from the government. At ﬁrst, we used that media only to entertain, editing our jokes about corruption, electricity, education, malfunctions. The government thought ours was a very good performance, so we got a chance to visit many

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parts of our country and meet with many people. People had been wanting to say these things, and now I was saying, ‘Enough!’ They felt I was their representative, their loudspeaker. But after, when the government understood my strategy, they arrested me. Zarganar laughs as he talks about this, but life in prison was not easy. He was imprisoned several times, for a total of 11 years. He was arrested after the 1988 student uprisings and 2007 Saffron Revolution. In 2008 he was sentenced to 59 years in prison for distributing aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis and for talking to the international media about the failure of the government to help the victims. His prison sentence was later reduced to 35 years. Zarganar was released in October 2011. I was tortured when I was in prison. That is normal in Burma. One day, they dug a hole in the ground and put me in it. Only my head was above the ground. One of the prison guards drove towards me in his jeep and said, ‘I’ll crush your head.’ That was a decisive moment for me. I was so scared, but thought, if he drives on, I will be dead and it is all over. If he does not continue, I will go on fighting this regime. So it did not matter what would happen. That moment changed a lot for me. Later, when I was in another prison, I met that same prison guard. He was in prison now too, and he had nothing, so I gave him some food. He was shaking and thought I would want revenge. I told him it was okay. Zarganar is certainly ‘alive and kicking’ now, but what does he wish for in his next life? I think that this life, when I die, will end. I never look forward to the next life. When I die, my life has ended. That is all. Those are actually some of the misinterpretations of our Lord Buddha’s recitations. Our Lord Buddha spoke, in his first dhamma talk, about the Four Noble Truths. In those Four Noble Truths, we can escape from this life with help of the Eightfold Path, so there is no ‘another life’. Our Buddha already explained this. Some people

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want reincarnation into a next life; this is not Buddhism. I think I am not in a bad life now. Life is a struggle. And so I think this is a struggle. ‘Life is a struggle’, but it’s a bigger struggle for some than for others. Zarganar himself has experienced a lot of suffering. When I am experiencing suffering, I try to control my mind and think about how I can overcome these sufferings. This can be a practical solution. I used my own ways for this, in prison too, not according to Buddhist practice. I am a practical Buddhist. What does he think of his nickname, ‘The People’s Loudspeaker’? People call me this. Since 1988, they have called me that. During the 1988 uprisings, my jokes were used by the people. The Burma Socialist Programme Party government was ruling, and people retold my jokes to attack the government. One of my jokes was widely spread among the people. It was about three brothers. According to these brothers, our country was going down to the poor. These three men were called Peta, similar to the English name, referring to Party, there was only one party in our country, Eimar, similar to an Indian name, referring to the army, and Kesaun, like a Chinese name, referring to the National Council, which governed the country. According to these three brothers, our country was going down the drain. So the people always said: ‘We don’t want Eimar, Peta, and Kesaun.’ They said, ‘This is Zarganar’s joke, and he is our loudspeaker’. So when I came up to the stage, they called me their loudspeaker. First I did not like that name. What is that, ‘our loudspeaker’? In Burmese, it is so bad. Law gyi. Gyi denounces respect, like my name is Zarganar, but some of my friends call me Zar Gyi. Tha Me Da is the president. They call Tha Me Da Gyi. Law means loudspeaker. So at the time I did not like that name. U Win Tin, an NLD executive member, walked the streets of Amsterdam as a young man in the 1950s and remembers walking

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around like a free man. Is that something Zarganar can relate to? U Win Tin used to be a very good reporter, correspondent, and a very good editor for our country. Now he is very old and sometimes he does not remember some of the facts and dates well. When I was released from prison last year I got a passport for the first time. My first trip abroad was to Bangkok. I saw all the faces of Burmese people there. Young people. Their faces looked very secure. Their faces showed me they have a lot of self-confidence. It was very different from the faces inside Burma. I saw it in their eyes. I thought about that, those eyes, the feeling. The Burmese faces outside the country showed me self-confidence and security. Why? In our country, all of the young men, their eyes are blocked, obscure. They have no confidence. They feel insecure. Why? In the last few days here, I got a chance to meet my friends from Holland. They traveled here to meet me. They think there is a lot of change in Burma. They are now citizens of Holland, and they feel their lives have a lot of security here. That is the big difference between their lives in our country and here, in Holland. They are very satisfied with their lives here. They do not want to come back to Burma. They want to visit Burma, but they do not want to live there. Also, when I visited the United States and Europe, I invited all my friends to come back to Burma, from all the exile groups. Now they have returned to Burma, a lot of people returned. But actually, they cannot live in Burma. They think there are a lot of changes in our country. No. The changes are only superficial, and not in the mindset of the people. We are in a dream like that. So this a quite a difference. I now get a lot of exposure when I visit other countries. And I was thinking, how can I strengthen the spirit of our people? Our people, the Burmese people, inside people, have lost their selfconfidence. They always want to depend on what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi or U Thein Sein say. They never depend on themselves. I do not understand this. The mindset of our Burmese inside people is totally wrong. It is because of the dictatorship. This is all due

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to the military regime we have had for 49 years. Our country is severely downtrodden. Zarganar himself is in a similar situation: his wife and children are living in the United States. Do they want to go and live with him in Burma? [laughing] This is very diﬃcult, too. My son wants to come back to Burma. My daughter does not. My wife does not want to come back either. I do not want to interfere with their decision. It would be nice, after all these serious questions, to ﬁnish a bit more light-heartedly. What does Zarganar consider to be his best joke? All of my jokes are the best jokes! [laughing] No, I am not so sure about this. Sometimes I ask my friends to collect my old jokes, because I cannot remember all. Sometimes when I tour around the country, some of my friends or some of the audience tell me, ‘You told this or that joke last time when you visited our township’, but I do not remember it... Many people are very happy to tell my jokes. This is a joke from last April that spread among the people, in Burma and also among the Burmese people abroad: Three men are on an airplane. American President Obama, Chinese Hu Jintao, and Burmese U Thein Sein. A dragon, naga, wants the airplane, so the men are afraid. Obama says to the naga, ‘I will send my navy, and they will shoot you.’ But the naga is not afraid. Hu Jintao tells the naga, ‘I will send our Chinese people’s army to come and get you.’ But the naga is not afraid. Then U Thein Sein says something and the naga immediately runs away. The two other men want to know what U Thein Sein said. U Thein Sein tells them, ‘I told him this airplane will go to Naypyidaw!’ [laughing]

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Acknowledgements This book was made possible with the help of many people. First, I would like to thank Ashin Issariya (aka King Zero) who arranged and organized many of the interviews for this book. Second, I want to thank U Lin, in Nu Po Refugee Camp, who helped us with many things. Third, I am extremely glad to express my gratefulness to the people who generously shared their stories with us, including the terrible experiences about the prices they have had to pay for freedom and justice and democracy in Burma. I am happy to thank Elke Kuijper who gives attention to Burmese peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; struggle for freedom and the nonviolent movement. I am glad to thank Garrett Kostin for thoroughly editing the text. Without going into inďŹ nite detail, I especially thank the people throughout Burma and abroad for their unwavering support. Lastly, I would like to dedicate this book to my parents for always being there for me. May peace, freedom, justice and democracy prevail in Burma and in every corner of the world.

Ashin Kovida

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Acknowledgements Burma Voices would not have been possible without the help of many people. Some of them are mentioned here. We greatly respect the people who wanted to talk to us and share their voices with the free world. They are brave and courageous for having done so, and it is our hope that many people will hear their stories and encourage others to read them and do something to enable and continue positive change in Burma. Thank you very much for your participation, our dear friends. A big chezutinbadeh goes to Ashin Issariya (King Zero), whose endless network of contacts and silent organizational skills enabled many conversations. Without his support – almost always behind the scenes – we would not have met many of these incredible people to begin with. Burma Voices would not have been possible without the help of Ashin Kovida. As a tireless interpreter and motivator he encouraged me to meet everybody and listen to their stories. He would call me at the strangest times, telling me to get ready because someone wanted to speak with us. His humor put people at ease and made many a diﬃcult situation easier to bear. We are grateful to ba ba U Lin Lin and friends, who set up many of the interviews in Nu Po Refugee Camp and made our stays there pleasant ones. Thanks to Ashin Sopaka and Nay Satkyar Naing for helping with two interviews.

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We are fortunate to have had the assistance of Peter and Matthijs, both of whom designed the website. Thank you Garrett Kostin for all your hard work, and for motivating and pushing me. Thanks for the time you put it in to editing the texts, doing the layout, assisting creatively, and generally making the publication of this book possible. Thank you everybody who made this book possible by making a small donation towards the printing costs. Thank you, my beloved family, for allowing me so much time away from home to work on this project. And thank you, reader, for reading these stories. Thank you for being interested in this subject. And thank you for your attention. Even though some things have changed for the better in Burma, there is still a long way to go. The stories in this book both serve as testimonies of what is still happening and as reminders of an era we all hope will be completely ended soon.

Elke Kuijper

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is a collection of experiences told by Burmese people of varied walks of life: from a child soldier to an ex-army general, from a former political prisoner who is now a Member of Parliament to the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most famous comedian. All expressing their stories and opinions freely, some for the first time.

During numerous visits to the areas around the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot, and later encounters elsewhere in the world, Dutch citizen Elke Kuijper collected the voices that are included in this book. One of the interviewees requested, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Please get our stories out into the world!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; May these voices now reach people around the world as testimonies of the resilient and inspiring lives of people from Burma who suffered tremendously from living under a military dictatorship for far too long, and are just now finally encountering a bit of hard-won freedom.

BurmaVoices.com