 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Behid the Iron Door |
|
Close
the door! It's windy! These are not the words of a normal person. The person who cried like this was San Tun. He was a second year mathematic student before his arrest. He was put alone in an 8'x13' cell for years with no one to talk to. Everyday since arriving in Myingyan prison, he had been suffering from fear and want. Now, this man who was born a bright, normal person had become abnormal. When I was thinking about him in my cell, the sound of beating came from his cell. A high-ranking prison staff shouted at him, "Hey man, why are you shouting? This is not the residence of your mother's partner! This is special jail. Do you want to die?" San Tun was not the only one suffering from mental illness in Myingyan prison. Almost all activists who experience daily torture and ill-treatment are susceptible to mental illness, of which there are varying degrees. Naturally a human being is not accustomed to torture, harshness and cruelty. So, the life of a prisoner in a Burmese prison is unnaturally controlled and manipulated. This treatment can affect a person's mind. Political prisoners are forced to sit in the poun-zan position, which is used to destroy a person's dignity, for one or two hours while the rest of the criminals sit for no more than half an hour. Bathing time in Myingyan prison is set by the prison authorities and can vary from day to day. We were also forced to perform meaningless tasks such as: polishing the iron bars to make them as bright as platinum; polishing the ground as smooth as concrete; and catching flies. We were given only unhealthy food. If we talked to the prison staff, we had to bow to the ground. Again, this was an attempt to degrade us. We were not allowed to talk to our fellow prisoners in neighbouring cells. Moreover, we were not allowed to share meals and or anything with them. All activists are placed in prisons very far away from their hometowns. As most political prisoners' families are poor, this means they receive very rare visits and hardly any support from their families. We were brutally beaten if the authorities found us talking and sharing things. They wanted to destroy the political way of life such as cooperation and working together for the sake of others. They wanted to divide us. That is why political prisoners in Myingyan prison bathed one at a time. Moreover, the rest of us had to sit with our backs to our cell doors so that we couldn't see the other prisoners going to bathe. They searched our cells every day. If they found a piece of paper or even a rice seed in our cells, we were beaten and our legs were put in iron shackles. When we asked for more food, we were beaten. These were the terrible conditions of our daily life. Don't do anything without approval. Stay at the place you are ordered to. In prison, we activists were regarded as animals under the control of the authorities. This is one of the reasons the activists suffer from mental illness after being in prison for years. Whether intentionally or not, it affects our psychological condition. An example is when we sat in the poun-zan position, they shouted, "It's not low enough!" "Your dressing style is not tidy, fix it right now!" "Polish the iron bars again, it needs some brightness!" "Clean the cells they are not perfect!" Like San Tun, another activist who became mentally ill in Myingyan prison was Aung Naing. He was accused of blowing up the Tanyin petrol refinery, outside the capital Rangoon. He went insane, after experiencing the tortures of Myingyan prison. I recall a regretful event involving him and another prisoner. One day, one of the activists in a nearby cell threw a snack bag to him. He unintentionally cried, "The big bag is falling! The big bag is falling!" Both of them were beaten. Aung Naing's mental illness was not left in the prison when he was released. It followed him throughout his whole life like a black shadow. His condition deteriorated outside prison. In his house, he behaved like he was still in prison. He slept on the floor and when his family served him a delicious meal, he asked to have a prison meal. His family members said in tears that he refused the meal they had prepared. He cried, "I will have the same meal as my fellow activists in prison." Now, he is not in the world any more. He passed away as a result of the mental sickness he got in prison. Like him, another activist who died after release from Myingyan prison was Mayanthee, a Hindu man. He was in good health before his arrest. Ko Khin Maung Shwe of Monywa and Ko Aung Lin of Rangoon are still in the lunatic asylum after their release. Recently, there has been bad news that a prominent activist Dr. Zaw Min has been suffering mental illness in Mandalay prison. He became well known for his political intellect. He is still imprisoned even though his prison period has already been completed. As far as I know, Ko Kyaw Lwin, Ko Thiha and Ko Than Htut a.k.a. Balagyi have had the same experiences as him - Ten years in prison and mental sickness. When things like cars or houses are destroyed, they can be restored or replaced. However, we can't re-establish our lives in this way, no matter how much money we spend. Some members of the international community are dealing with the Burmese military government despite the ill treatment and psychological torture of its political prisoners. These governments and organizations shouldn't neglect the stories of these men who have lost, or are losing, their sanity at the hands of this military dictatorship.They should consider this as they continue to water a poisonous plant. The current media sometimes mentions prisons in Burma. However, the media is not able to cover the whole experience of an activist in the infamous prisons of our country. Some sections of the media neglect to mention the continuing torture and ill treatment, which happens daily in Burmese prisons. We feel hot when a coal from the fire drops on our feet. This kind of culture cannot attack the injustice in this world. It also cannot afford for the sake of peace in the world.
|
 |
 |
|
About the Author However, despite his youth, he was able to participate by shouting slogans. He survived this period, even though many people were shot to death. Two years after the uprising in 1990, he was detained for one month for distributing pamphlets. After his release, he was still secretly involved in the student movement and unfortunately, he was arrested again in 1994. This time he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with hard labor. He was released from prison in 1998. While in prison, because of his active participation in fighting against the unjust, he was brutally tortured. In 2000, he fled to the Thai-Burma border and is now a member of AAPP. |
