Appendix 9

When the pro-democracy uprising broke out in 1988, I was a teacher of mathematics to 4th grade students. I became a member of the Teacher’s Organization, North Okkalarpa Tsp. I was one of the teachers responsible for students during the demonstrations and marches. I participated in politics not because of other’s organizing, but because of my own political beliefs. Later, I was fired because of my participation in political movements. When the National League for Democracy was founded, I joined the party and became the secretary of the township level women’s branch and the township level organizing committee of the NLD.
I was arrested in 1998 while I was performing my party duties. A group of military intelligence personnel from MI Unit 7 and police, including two women led by police officer Soe Naing, came in two vans to my house and arrested me at about two in the morning on November 9, 1998. When I was arrested, I was not beaten, but my house was thoroughly searched. The two women even searched in my bedroom for the documents they wanted. I was ordered to take my own towel and was blindfolded with it when I was taken.
I was taken to the Aung Thabyay interrogation center. First, I was put alone in a cell, and later my casemates, Lae Lae Nwe and Thawdar Tun, were put into my cell. I was interrogated by male intelligence personnel. I was not beaten, but I was ordered to stand from 8 in the morning until the evening for two days because my answer could not satisfy them. I could not stand any more when the time had passed. I was not verbally insulted, but they insulted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to make me angry. There were two female guards in rotation outside of my cell both day and night. I did not have any time to rest and sleep because I was interrogated by four groups in alternation. I was offered water but no food for one and half days. I was not allowed to take a bath, and was also not allowed to clean my face.
The MI mainly interrogated me about my relationship with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. I was arrested because I was one of the group which had sent the leaflet “Request to the People,” legally published by the National League for Democracy (NLD), to the remote country sides. Also, we had tried our best to send the leaflets to the armed forces. The MI accused us of doing this by the direct order of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We intercepted a message from a Japanese labor organization to Senior Gen. Than Shwe via fax. We translated this message to Burmese, copied and distributed it to the people. In this message, the Japanese labor organization urged the SPDC to accept the dialogue, to release all political prisoners and to work towards the prosperity of the country. We wanted our people to know that international organizations like this one were interested in the Burmese political situation and we wanted our people to read, to know and to be encouraged. The MI accused us of illegal publishing under the Printers’ and Publishers’ Act.
Also, many young people joined the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) because USDA members were never arrested and never sent to the front areas as porters. Almost all of them did not know about politics and the purpose of the organization. Therefore, we composed a verse. In this verse, we explained to them that one day the SPDC would blame the USDA members for their own wrongs.
The interrogation lasted for two weeks. After the interrogation, at the end of November 1998, I was sent directly to Insein prison. I was put in solitary confinement and I did not have any contact with others. I was only allowed to go outside for fifteen minutes a day to take a bath. During my bathing time, other ordinary prisoners near my cell were ordered to lie down and face the floor in order not to see me.
After nearly four months in this lock-up cell in Insein prison, 26 casemates, including me, were put on trial. I was sentenced to 21 years in prison under the Emergency Provision Act, Section 5 (J), and the Printers’ and Publishers’ Act, Article 17 (20) by the Thingangyun Special Court situated in the Insein prison compound on January 21, 1999. The court room where I was put on trial was in the main gate of Insein prison. I was taken to the court five times and when I was taken there, I was veiled. My female casemates were Cho Mar Aye, Aye Myint Than, Lae Lae Nwe, Zin Mar Aung, Hnin May Aung, Thawdar Tun. Thein Htay, Than Htay, Soe Myint, Kyaw Min, Mg Mg Kyaw Aye, Mya Sein, Kyaw Kyaw, Aung Soe Min, Lin Lin, Pho Lapyae and Ko Ko Maung were the male casemates of mine. Some of them were NLD members and some were students.
At the court, we were ordered to confess our guilt, but none of us confessed because we were not guilty. We were imprisoned even though we did not confess. We were not allowed to get our basic rights, such as our own lawyers to defend ourselves, and our families, friends and comrades were not allowed to present at the trial. My family did not even know my whereabouts at this time. The trial lasted nearly ten days. After the sentence, I was sent back to the same cell as before. Two months after, I was moved to another cellblock.
Before my family visits, I had to live on the prison food, paunsan. The rice lacked nutrition and was very bad, and also the dish was only boiled vegetables, Tarlapaw. Later, many casemates, including me, fainted and fell down because of the lack of nutrition. Therefore, Hla Maung Htay, the head of the prison hospital offered us hospital rations. This ration was an egg and a bowl of rice, which was a little bit better than prison food.
I was only allowed to go outside to take a bath for fifteen minutes a day, but was not allowed to walk. We were allowed to go out one by one and when it was one’s turn, the other cells were closed. Later, we were allowed to go out for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon. After the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) visits, we were allowed to be outside longer, an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. When the ICRC first visited Insein prison, we were hid in the Dog Cell in Insein prison. We were informed by the ordinary prisoners that the ICRC would visit inside the prison the next day. We, Tint Tint Han, Ma Cho, Khin Mar Yee, Dr. May Win Myint, Ma Swe, Nge Ma Ma Than, Myat Mo Mo Tun, her mother San San Newh and I, all from the same cell block, were ordered to go out in the evening a day before the visit. The prison authorities chose those female political prisoners related to the NLD to hide. We were veiled and taken with a car to a new place and later we came to know that this was the notorious Dog Cell. There, I was put into a cell. The cell was urgently decorated so that the paint on the walls was still wet and everything was new. We were put in different cells in this cellblock. There was a male prison officer, a female prison officer and five wardens guarding us. Two weeks later, we were taken back to the cell where we had been.
Before and during the ICRC visits, the prison conditions were changed. The food and health care system improved, but only temporarily. Because these improvements were just for show, the prison conditions became as they had been when the ICRC left.
Some female wardens had sympathy for us, as they knew we were not guilty and were put in prison unreasonably. But there was a warden in prison who suppressed us female political prisoners. She was a corporal, Ma Thet Mon. She rudely swore at us almost all the time. I had never heard any swearing like hers before.
I felt nothing special about my imprisonment because I had known if I participated in politics, I would be arrested sooner or later. I had also known that many activists and politicians had been arrested prior to my arrest.
I was allowed a family visit for 15 minutes, once a month. I had to ask my family for the medicine I needed. I had to write down the name of the medicines I needed and report this list to the prison doctor, prison officers, prison superintendent and the MI step by step. Because the process was very long and complicated, I could not get the medicines I needed in time. I was very upset. And also, I was not allowed to keep my own medicine. When I needed some medicine, I had to report to the medical officer to get it. Because the prison authorities kept my medicine, I lost many of my medicines to the authorities.
Regarding the health conditions in prison, I suffered from gout because I had to sleep on a concrete floor in a murky cell. I also suffered from glaucoma. Many prisoners suffered from heart disease and hypertension. The prison doctor did not make rounds regularly. Instead, a medic came to us once a week. When we were in bad health, we had to use our own medicine because of the lack of prison medicine. Therefore, we had to share our medicine with our comrades in need. It was very hard to ask for the prison doctor and almost no way to do so at night.
I lived in Insein prison for over four years and two months. I was released under Article 401(1) on November 22, 2002. In 2001, the MI personnel came to see me and asked me some questions. I was not released then because I answered I would participate in politics again if I was released. The MI Capt. Kyaw Kyaw Ohn came to see me again in September 2002. He explained to me the meaning of Article 401(1). My sentence was 21 years, but I had spent only 4 years in prison, so there was 17 years left. I was released, but the rest of the years would be regarded as debt. If I participated in politics again or was arrested under any charges, either criminal or political, my next sentence would include the remaining 17 years. This meant I could do nothing.
When I was released, 12 casemates out of 26 were still in the prisons. Soe Myint, Lin Lin and Aye Myint Than were in bad health.
The day I was released, Capt. Soe Nyunt Aung and Corporal Tint Lwin from the MI Unit 12 came to the prison at about 8 in the evening and took me to my home. My mother knew about my release in advance. A day before I was released, the MI Capt. Soe Nyunt Aung went to my house and told my mom, “Take care your daughter and tell her not to participate again in politics. If she participates in politics, she may be arrested again.”
The day after my release, the local MI personnel came to me and took me to my township police. The police officer told me to think about doing business. If I agreed, I would receive a fabric shop to run as my own. They all knew about my family secrets. They pressured and lured me because they knew even of the bad relations between my husband and me. They offered to rent me a flat or a house. They also told me that their superiors ordered them to offer me such things. Nevertheless, I answered that I never thought of doing business and instead would participate in the NLD political movements.
Therefore, my younger brother, who was a government servant and an engineer, was transferred to a remote city, Mergui in Tenasserim Division. The reason was that I was a former political prisoner. Therefore, he was in trouble.
I was threatened and warned whenever I went to the NLD headquarters. They also pressured me to inform them of where I went and whom I met. I answered that I could not inform them of anything, and if they wanted to know something they could investigate themselves. Therefore, the MI tried another approach. They gave my family and me USDA membership application forms and told us to join this organization. I went and met the MI. I told them that I could not join the USDA, not because I was a NLD member, but because I did not want to join any of their organizations. I knew they had tried to organize me indirectly. I was watched by the USDA members in my quarter as well.
I was put under duress by the MI about one thing. My ID was taken when I was arrested. I tried to get my ID card after I was released, but failed. The ID Department did nothing, and only replied that they would report to their superiors. I had to live in my mom’s house with the overnight guest list submitted to the authorities. My mom’s house was the only one whose guest list was frequently checked in this quarter. I knew that the MI would harass and trouble me in my social, political and economic life.
I could not stand doing nothing when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo were arrested after the Depayin massacre. We tried to organize NLD members from townships and sent letters to some places such as the Security Council of the United Nations. We gathered in Hlegu once in two weeks. Later, the regime took notice of our movements. The regime released some members of the Central Executive Committee, NLD to appease us. The MI personnel were always behind us, like our shadows. If we stepped wrong, we would be arrested and imprisoned at this time.
Four days after the 7 step political roadmap of Gen. Khin Nyunt, the MI Capt. Soe Nyunt Aung came to me and asked me about my standing and point of view. I answered that I would stand as a member of the NLD as long as the NLD stands. He warned me to take care about my own situation. As far as I heard, I was on the list of the twenty people the regime might arrest. I could be arrested regardless of the effectiveness of my political activities. I did not want to be arrested needlessly, but could have accepted arrest if I been able to effectively do my political activities. I could not do any of the political movements that I wanted to, though, because I could not trust anyone. Therefore, I came here.