Outrage Redux

The definitive account of the events of Myanmar’s 1988 pro-democracy uprising finally reaches the country’s readers, in their own language

By KYAW PHYO THA / YANGON

Over the last two decades, any young person living in Myanmar who wanted to learn about the nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988 was hard-pressed to do so.

If you were tech-savvy enough to circumvent strict controls over the Internet, you could search online for information about this historic event, which nearly toppled the country’s military dictatorship. But that option was available to only a tiny handful of people, leaving most others unable to learn more about a crucial moment in Myanmar’s modern history.

Of course, it was also possible to ask those who had lived through the events of 1988 what happened that year. But with each passing year, first-person accounts assumed an increasingly ahistorical quality, becoming almost the stuff of legend.

Now, however, the mists that have hung over the 1988 uprising have finally begun to clear, with the publication of a Myanmar-language edition of “Outrage: Burma’s Struggle for Democracy,” by veteran journalist Bertil Lintner.

Mr. Lintner, who is the author of six books on Myanmar, wrote “Outrage” more than 20 years ago, when the events he describes were still fresh in the minds of those who witnessed them. Using numerous sources, he painstakingly reconstructed many key moments in the so-called 8/8/88 0r “four-eights” uprising, when the country’s people declared on Aug. 8, 1988, their determination to oust a hated dictatorship.

Using brutal force, and killing thousands of protesters, the military Bertil managed to hold onto power. But even a quarter of a century later, the spirit of 8-8-88 lives on in Myanmar, and memories of those days loom ever larger as the country opens up and finally has an opportunity to reexamine its tragic past.

For U Lwin Oo, the publisher of the Myanmar-language edition of Mr. Lintner’s book, the time was ripe to return to a chapter in Myanmar’s history that the former junta had long tried to suppress.

“I’ve just made the most of the country’s ongoing democratic transition and the demise of literary censorship,” he said, noting that even two years ago, a book like “Outrage” would never have been permitted to go to print under the country’s draconian censorship laws.

U Lwin Oo said he published the book in honor of the students and other pro-democracy activists who were involved in the uprising, many of whom sacrificed their lives or spent years in prison for their political convictions.

The fact that this August marks the 25th anniversary of the uprising makes the release of “Outrage” in Myanmar especially timely.

“I really appreciate the publisher’s effort to make the book see the light of day in advance of the ’88 Silver Jubilee,” said U Jimmy, a member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society (formerly known as the 88 Generation Students group), an activist group made up of former students who were actively involved in the uprising.

September 1988 and declared the formation of a new junta to replace the former socialist regime, thousands of students fled to neighboring Thailand. Some sought shelter at the Swedish journalist’s home in Bangkok, giving him a chance to widely discuss the events with dissidents who would sleep in his living room, according to the introduction to the Myanmar-language edition of “Outrage.” Mr. Lintner also interviewed more than 100 refugees in Thai-Myanmar border camps.

“The people who told me their stories were the major drivers to write ‘Outrage,’” the 60-year-old journalist recalled. “I felt I had to give them a voice, to let them tell others what they had been through. The book is based entirely on first-hand accounts of the events of 1988.”

Mr. Lintner said that when he was researching the book, many of his interlocutors urged him to “tell it as we saw it,” as the new regime was actively working to re-write history in the wake of the uprising. He said he followed “this advice as much as possible.” where it—and its author—were banned for decades.

“I’ll leave it up to the readers to decide which account of the events of 1988 is the most accurate,” he added.

The publisher U Lwin Oo said he chose “Outrage” for its vivid portrayal of the uprising and the credibility of its author.

“Every time I read the book, I can visualize the scenes, and I feel I am in 1988 again,” he said, adding that Mr. Lintner was one of the people who helped to raise international awareness of Myanmar’s struggle to end military rule.

Mr. Lintner, who visited Myanmar in late June for the launch of the book after being banned from entering the country for nearly three decades due to his reporting, also said he was glad that Myanmar readers would finally have a chance to read about the historic protests in their native tongue.

“It’s very important that the young generation gets to know what happened in their country 25 years ago,” he said, adding that the 1988 uprising changed Myanmar forever.

When the military crushed the protests in

U Lwin Oo said that the author did much to help make the Myanmar translation of his book possible, granting publishing permission, providing pictures and asking for nothing in terms of royalty payments.

Meanwhile, another book by the journalist, “The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Burma,” has also been translated into Myanmar and is now being serialized in The Voice daily newspaper. It is expected to appear in book form later this year.

Mr. Lintner said that he would also like to see “Land of Jade,” his acclaimed account of his travels through rebel-controlled northern Myanmar, translated into the Myanmar language. It might, he said, help people to “get a better understanding of what is happening, and what has happened, in the country’s frontier areas.”