Bells are Ringing

Bells are Ringing

By Aung Din

http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=36&z=10

December 27, 2002—Christmas Bells are ringing. The New Year is a few days away. Houses are decorated with Christmas trees, lights and flowers. City sidewalks, buildings, shopping malls and parks are festively decorated. Parents are impatiently awaiting the return of their sons and daughters who are away at work or school. Their family reunions are definitely coming. This is the time for gathering of the relatives and friends and meeting loved ones.

In Burma, which has been under military rule for over four decades, the phrase "family reunion" is meaningless for many families—especially for those of the more than 1,300 political prisoners. They have been waiting every Christmas, every New Year and every day with little hope since 1988. Even though they suffer the hardships and countless struggles of the economic crisis in Burma, they still long to have their family members back. They would cherish any precious little time they could spend with their loved ones. They would even pay any ransom to the jailer—Burma’s military regime, which killed thousands of peaceful demonstrators in 1988—to bring them back home.

Some political prisoners will never return. They have died in prisons. Torture, harassment, depression and lack of health care made them say good-bye forever to their loved ones. So far this year, 82 prisoners have died in detention and in interrogation centers. U Aung May Thu, chairman of the Min Hla Township Organizing Committee of the National League for Democracy (NLD) died in Tharawaddy prison on Sept 17 as number 80. U Sai Phat, Central Committee Member of the NLD died in a detention center on Oct 9 as number 81. U Maung Ko became number 82 when he died in the Tharawaddy prison on Nov 15.The numbers keep growing as their prison terms become longer. The prisoners’ hope for freedom is lessened, and their health deteriorates day by day. Senior leaders of the NLD, U Win Tin, Dr Than Nyein, U Khin Maung Swe, U Sein Hla Oo, U Ohn Kyaing and Myint Soe are suffering from serious health problems in the prisons. Other activists, U Thu Way and U Htwe Myint of the Democracy Party, Dr Min Soe Linn of the Mon National Democratic Front, Dagon University student Phone Thet Pyine, and many others are also in bad shape.

What did they do to be in the prisons? Are they terrorists? Are they criminals? Are they murderers? No, their only crime was expressing their desire for democracy and human rights, as many people around the world enjoy. They took to the streets and expressed their desires peacefully, unarmed. Their actions were completely non-violent, but the response of the military regime was entirely violent. Thousands of peaceful demonstrators were gunned down in the streets. Thousands more were forced to flee from the country and thousands of others were imprisoned and continue to suffer. According to the International Committee for the Red Cross and Paulo Sergio Pinherio, Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights, there are still more than 1,300 political prisoners in Burma including 18 elected Members of Parliament.

Look at Dr Salai Tun Than. He was 72 years old in 2001 when he made a solo protest in front of the Rangoon City Hall. He was a former rector of the Agricultural University in Burma. He graduated from the University of Georgia and University of Wisconsin in the 1950s. He has had a beautiful and successful life—but he couldn’t stay away from the suffering of the people. He decided to do something about it. He dressed up in a professor's gown. He wrote his sincere demands on paper, which were to release all political prisoners and to start the political dialogue between the generals and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democracy movement. He stood in front of City Hall and distributed pamphlets with these demands to passersby. He spoke to the audience that formed around him of his demand for less than 15 minutes before he was brought forcibly into the City Hall compound by the security. Now he sits in the notorious Insein prison serving a seven year jail term. As a Christian, he will miss celebrating this Christmas with his family and for many more years.

In August of this year, Rangoon University Law students Thet Naung Soe, 20, and Khin Maung Win, 18, followed Dr Salai Tun Than’s lead. They made their peaceful protest at the same place he did. They also were arrested within 15 minutes. Now they are in prison with 14-year and seven-year terms respectively. They all will miss this Christmas, this New Year and many more, unless the military regime releases these political prisoners as encouraged by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and Razali Ismail, the UN Special Envoy to Burma.

Since taking over the duties of the special envoy, Razali always brought the news of the possible release of the political prisoners after his periodic trips to Burma. Our expectations were high whenever he returned from Burma, but each time the regime had only released a few. Razali could claim that he has helped secure the release of more than 450 political prisoners in two years. But 300 of them were already due for release soon anyway having nearly completed their prison sentences. Only about 150 were granted early release.

After his ninth visit to Burma in Nov 2002, Razali said that he strongly urged the regime to free more than 200 political prisoners by the end of this year. During his third visit to Burma in October, Pinherio urged the regime to release all political prisoners by the end of the year. According to Pinherio’s report to the UN General Assembly in November, the military regime told Pinherio that it was not possible to release all but the releases will continue.

A few weeks ago, the military regime made a surprise announcement through their Washington, DC-based lobby firm DCI Associates, that they would release 115 "security detainees"—their euphemism for political prisoners—in one day, on Nov 22, 2002. As a Burmese who has witnessed and experienced the ways the regime cheats and lies all too often, we greeted this news with skepticism. Our suspicions were confirmed again when they only released 60 political prisoners in five days, not 115 in single day as they had promised.

We have no doubt that the release of political prisoners has been at the top of the agenda whenever Razali and Pinherio have met with the generals. We believe that both Razali and Pinherio will try their best to persuade the regime to release all political prisoners, at least as a special gesture to encourage more official visits. But it seems that by releasing a small number of political prisoners—always right before or after the official visits, the regime is convincing them to believe that Burma is moving in the right political direction. This deception is necessary for the regime to prolong their rule for at least another decade. The regime is using the political prisoners as hostages to demand ransom from the international community, and they are using Razali and Pinherio as their messengers, hoping to convince the world that they only release political prisoners like Suu Kyi because of engagement and cooperation, not because of pressure.

It is easy to see the discrepancies between what the regime says and what they really do, and it is imperative to apply strong and consistent pressure so that the regime will not continue to cheat the world again and again. International pressure—economic and political—is required now more than ever. We can’t let the regime continue their slow and insincere homegrown process as they declared. We must make political progress a reality. We must make the reunion of these unfortunate people and their loved ones happen as quickly as possible by throwing every kind of pressure we have at the regime.

As Razali and Pinherio are still playing important role in the conflict of Burma, they have to ensure that they are not being used by the regime. While they may relay the messages of the regime to the world, while they make people expectant by sharing their optimism, they have a duty to hold the regime accountable when it fails to keep its promises. The end of the year is almost here. We hope both Razali and Pinherio will try their best to secure the release of 200 political prisoners in the next few days to justify their previous optimism.

The families of Burma’s political prisoners will keep a candle lit everyday and night because their expectation for their heroes’ return will never fade away. Reunions between these democracy supporters and their loved ones will not seem too late, because this is the life that we have grown accustomed to under the military regime over four decades.

Aung Din is a former political prisoner in Burma. He was in prison between 1989 and 1993. He is currently working at the Washington, DC-based Free Burma Coalition as a Director of Policy and Strategy.