Burmese Family Escapes Bangladesh

Narinjara News

March 11, 2008 - Cox’s Bazar: A family of four escaped to Bangladesh from Burma on Monday to apply for refugee status with the UNHCR after the Burmese military authority tried to arrest them for their involvement in the Saffron Revolution, reports one of the family members.

"We have come here to avoid arrest by the authority because I was involved in the Saffron Revolution," said Ma Moe Sanda.

Ma Moe Sanda, aged 41, hails from Yan Kin Township in Rangoon and was the selling manager of a company that had close associations with high-ranking officials in the Burmese military government.

Ma Moe said, "I am Buddhist, how can I be silent without any voice over the authority's killing of the monks. So I was involved in the demonstration to protest the government authorities that killed the monks."

Ma Moe San was transferred to Sittwe from Rangoon by her employer after the Saffron Revolution ended due to her involvement in the protests.

"The company wanted to fire me from my job but this was impossible in Rangoon because there are some human rights defenders there, and the media is also more active there than any other place in Burma. The company was also afraid of damaging its reputation, to the authorities transferred me to Sittwe," Ma Moe said.

When Ma Moe arrived in Sittwe to serve at her job, the company managed to take action against her by lodging false accusations.

"I was fired from the job a few days after I arrived in Sittwe and the company authority complained to the police station with false charges against me. So I left Sittwe for Bangladesh in a machine boat to find refuge in the neighboring country," she said.

Ma Moe, who is a Burman national, came to Bangladesh with her three-year-old son, eighteen-month-old son, and her husband Hla Tun Naing.

The family is currently staying in the district border town of Cox's Bazar and they will travel to Dhaka in the next few days to apply to the UNHCR for recognition as refugees.