Time to Embrace the Truth

OCTOBER, 2008 - VOLUME 16 NO.10
The Irrawaddy News

The release last month of Burma’s longest-serving political prisoner, 79-year-old journalist Win Tin, must have briefly brightened up the restricted life of Aung San Suu Kyi, confined to her home for more than 13 of the past 19 years.

But, while more than 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars, Win Tin’s newly won freedom is unlikely to have given her much hope that her ordeal would also soon be over.

Suu Kyi has described Win Tin as a “man of courage and integrity”—qualities these two champions of democracy share in equal measure.

In the eyes of Burma’s military regime, Win Tin was Suu Kyi’s “puppet master,” although he has rejected any suggestion that he was her mentor or the chief strategist of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

His wholehearted engagement in the pro-democracy struggle, however, earned him 19 years of incarceration in Rangoon’s infamous Insein Prison, which ended on September 23 when he was freed along with at least seven other political detainees in an amnesty cynically described by the state media as an act of “loving kindness.”

The regime said the amnesty—which also gave freedom to nearly 9,000 convicted criminals—was part of its plan for a “peaceful modern discipline-flourishing democratic nation.” Its true purpose, however, was clearly to deflect international criticism at a critical time, as the country marked the first anniversary of the September 2007 uprising and as the spotlight again fell on Burma at a UN General Assembly session.

The UN record on Burma also came under scrutiny, as the UN’s “Group of Friends of Burma,” which includes the US, the EU, China and Southeast Asian countries, again called on the junta to release all its political prisoners and open talks with the opposition. There was talk of a return to Burma by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, whose missions so far have achieved virtually nothing.

For all his ineffectiveness, Gambari is the victim of a capricious regime, which has treated him like a whipping boy because of its outrage at what it sees as UN bias and international pressure.

Apart from this pressure, the impact of Cyclone Nargis has led many Burmese government officials to realize that change is long overdue.

It’s still far from clear, however, whether relief efforts being conducted by the Tripartite Core Group, consisting of representatives of the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Burmese junta, are making any significant headway.

The group’s so-called experts, handling aid money from international donors, have naively come to believe that a “humanitarian space” has opened up in the country—with some international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), UN agencies and regime apologists claiming that this presents a window of opportunity for the 2010 election.

The regime view of this is contained in the minutes of a briefing Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo received from Than Shwe in July, in which the UN and INGOs were described as “puppets” of the US and the CIA.

Maung Oo accused the relief organizations of providing aid to the victims “just for show,” alleging that they spent humanitarian aid money on themselves and not, through regime channels, on the cyclone victims.

The US, the UN and INGOs were also accused by the minister of pushing Burma to the top of their agendas.

If a “humanitarian space” has been opened up in the Irrawaddy delta it can be closed at any time because the regime retains the sole power to do so, at any time it chooses.

It’s the same power that enables the regime to suppress the truth and imprison those who venture to speak out. Under the brutal totalitarianism of Burma, telling the truth requires great courage and brings fearful consequences.

Win Tin and Suu Kyi are victims of this perverse power. So is the activist Nilar Thein, who was hunted for more than a year, separated from her infant daughter, before being found and jailed, like her husband, for her role in the September 2007 uprising.

The release of Win Tin and a handful of other political prisoners is welcome news, but it isn’t going to change the image of the Burmese regime while Suu Kyi, Nilar Thein and more than 2,000 other pro-democracy activists remain confined.

If Burma’s generals want to show the world that they are sincerely interested in improving the country’s repressive political climate, they should set a timeframe for the release of all these prisoners. They should also make their seven-step political “road map” more inclusive, giving freedom to all political stakeholders to participate in the process and sharing power with opposition forces who were elected in the 1990 election.

No one expects that to happen anytime soon.

But there is a general belief that it’s time for the UN and the international community to push the generals to accept the words of Win Tin: “We have always believed in solving problems through democratic dialogue.”

One Down, 2,100 To Go

(VOA) 26 September 2008 - The military junta that rules Burma has released its longest-serving political prisoner, journalist U Win Tin after 19 years in jail. The United States welcomes the news and urges the government there to free all prisoners of conscience and begin a dialogue with pro-democracy and ethnic minority leaders to begin the work of rebuilding the country.

Burmese state news media said that Win Tin's release, and that of about 9,000 other prisoners, was granted to allow them to take part in voting in the general election, scheduled for 2010.

It would be the country's first election since the National League of Democracy won the vote overwhelmingly in 1990, the results of which the ruling junta has never honored. The party’s leader and Burma’s most famous political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years. She was not granted freedom by this latest amnesty.

Win Tin was arrested in 1989 and sentenced to a long term for agitating against the military government and allegedly writing anti-government propaganda. His release is a positive development and long overdue. Showing that he lost none of the crusading spirit that got him in trouble with authorities in the first place, he said soon after leaving jail, "I will keep fighting until the emergence of democracy in this country."

An estimated 2,100 other political prisoners languish in Burmese jails and the regime continues to imprison those with differing political views. Authorities recently arrested Nilar Thein who has been hiding since the crackdown on democracy demonstrations last year.

It is hoped that if authorities are setting the stage for a fair national election in two years, these political prisoners be released as part of the process too. The U.S. urges that Aung San Suu Kyi and all others be freed and that the government move the country down the path toward genuine democracy.

U Win Tin Hospitalised

Original Report: Htet Aung Kyaw - Democratic Voice of Burma
Translated by: Nai Chi U
January 16, 2008

Rumours of the famous political prisoner U Win Tin being hospitalised, are spreading among the families of fellow prisoners, it is reported.

He was admitted to the hospital, not long after Ko Hla Myo Naung, 8888 Generation Student Leader, who has been suffering from the damaged eyes, was sent there, according to the families. However, U Maung Maung Kin, who regularly visits U Win Tin, denied knowing anything about the news. He insisted that U Win Tin was not in bad health, when he last visited him in prison, on Saturday.

U Win Tin just asked for more medicines as prescribed by a leading senior doctor but except for the tingling sensation around his stomach, where an operation has yet to be done, he was generally in good health, according to U Maung Maung Kin.

"He told me he was alright and there was nothing wrong with him, quite cheerfully."

However, U Maung Maung Khin promised to make inquiries after the concerned shown at the news of the hospitalisation of U Win Tin, as it emerged only yesterday.

U Win Tin, 78, known as master or teacher among his associates, is a well-respected and famous journalist, and also a leading figure of the National League for Democracy Party. He was arrested in 1989 by military intelligence and has been serving nearly 20 years in prison, sometime in a prison dog kennel. Lately, his health has deteriorated and he was admitted to hospital often.

He famously refused frequent offers by the military junta - his freedom in exchange for a signed promise to give up all political activities.

He commented on the meeting held between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta liaison minister :

"The good news is that the communication minister was in the meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The bad news is that nobody knows what they are talking about, not even the agenda ! "

To sign the petition for the release of Saya U Win Tin, please click here.