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Uphill battle for the NLD
This appeared in The Irrawaddy in 1998
If the Burmese military had respected the May 1990 election result,
this year would be the last one of the second parliamentary term
and the political parties would be busy organizing for the next
election. But it is only a dream at the moment.
After the election, rather than making decisions about the future
of the country, all of the elected MPs have experienced great trouble.
Some elected MPs died, in prison and outside. Most of the jailed
MPs were dismissed from their posts. Over thirty MPs are still behind
bars. Many were forced to resign from their parties and as MPs for
economic reasons. Many political parties were banned. Many members
of the NLD, students, monks and workers have been held in prison.
Some died prematurely in custody. Some political prisoners were
given further extensions of their sentences. Some receive second
prison terms under the junta.
Nobody knows how many people have been killed since the 1988 uprising.
There are many refugees in neighbouring countries and many illegal
Burmese workers who have been sent back from Thailan. Who created
this situation?
Before the election, the military regime took steps to restrict
the power of the NLD. Most of the members of the pary's Central
Executive Committee (CEC) were arrested: Daw Suu was placed under
house arrest in July 1989, and was banned from running as a candidate
in the election.
Restrictions placed on the NLD included a limit of 50 people at
any political meeting. The MIS had to be advised two weeks in advance
of all political meetings. They were to be provided with a list
of people attending, along with the speeches to be delivered. The
MIS also censored publications of the NLD.
The junta seemed to believe that holding the election under such
circumstances would deny the NLD victory. In fact, the SPDC (SLORC)
underestimated the Burmese people. In spite of threats, repression
and restrictions by the regime, the NLD won a landslide victory,
taking 392 of 485 seats contested-more than 80 per cent of the constituencies.
The junta was unwilling to accept the result of the election and
relinquish its grip on power, and from July 1990 the MIS began detaining
elected MPs and political activists. In July over 40 MPs were detained.
Some are still in detention now, some have died in detention, and
some have died since their release.
At the end of july the junta issued Order 1/90, which clearly stated
that the duty of the elected representatives was merely to draft
a state constitution. This indicated that the junta was systematically
trying to eliminate the election result. After issuing Order 1/90,
the MIS ordered the central Executive Committee of each political
party to agree in writing with Order 1/90. Those who refused to
sign were detained and sentenced to long prison terms.
In the first week of September, the SLORC launched a major campaign
to annihilate the NLD. This took the form of blanket arrests of
80 MPs and supporters of the democracy movement.
Some MPs had to flee to the liberated area and formed the parallel
government. The junta accused many elected MPs of also trying to
form a parallel government inside Burma and gave long prison terms
of 10 to 20 years to the 80 people arrested.
U Maung Ko, a member of the Central Committee of the NLD, was one
of those arrested and he died in the interrogation center. In a
press conference, Senior General Saw Maung, the former chairman
of SLORC, said that ko died not because of torture but from suicide.
However, there was much evidence that he died from physical torture.
Two or three weeks after his death I was arrested for my activities
with the student movement. While I was in the interrogation center,
the MIS officer asked me whether I knew about U Maung Ko's death
in the interrogation centre. Then, he threatened that I must tell
the truth if I did not want to end up just like ko.
Worst of all, the junta had a major crackdown on the monks in October
1990. Many senior monks (Sayadaws) were arrested and given ten years
imprisonment for their involvement in Thepaikmauk Kan Saung Pwe.
This was a monk's protest, in which all monks unanimously refused
to receive alms from the military because of its mistreatment of
monks. The junta accused the Sayadaws of being communists. The junta
initially labelled everybody who participated in politics a communist,
neo-colonialist and terrorist by the junta. The junta later re-labelled
them as CIA agents rather then communists or terrorists.
In prison, the best time for political prisoners was after announcement
of the election result, between the end of May and beginning of
July 1990. This was because the prison authorities believed that
the SLORC would abide by their promise and respect the election
result.
Just after the election, the chief warden told the political prisoners
that they would be released soon because the NLD had won the election.
He asked them to tell the prison authorities of everything that
they needed. He said it was the duty of the prison to take care
of them. "It is the MIS, not us, who sent you here. There is
no problem between you and us."
After receiving Order1/90 by the SLORC, the prison authorities
understood what the real situation was, and that the junta would
not be relinquishing power.
On 18 September 1990, a prison hunger strike occurred, lead by
the political prisoners, who demanded that, the junta respect the
election result and transfer power to the winning party. In prison,
it is known as Black September. Many political prisoners were rudely
beaten and injured. Many were unconscious. Since then, the situation
of political prisoner within the prison has been lower than that
of criminals.
Prior to Black September, the political prisoners were able to
communicate with prison authorities, for example to seek medicine,
blankets or clothing. Since Black Septembers, who have the discretion
to ignore their needs.
After Black September occurred, the chief warden said to the prisoners
that there were no political prisoners in the prison. All inmates
were criminals, and all were to be treated the same under the prison
manual rules. Nobody had the right to make requests of the prison
authorities, for medicine, blankets or anything else.
Since November 1990 the prisons have become the parliament, universities
and monasteries, as they have filled with MPs, students and monks.
According to the prison law, every new political prisoner must
be asked why they were arrested, what their charges are and which
organizations they belong to. Most of the elected MPs replied to
the authorities, "We, the NLD, were arrested because we won
the election, that's all."
When the prison authorities reported these answers to the MIS,
the angry MIS officers came and met with the MPs in prison. The
officers threatened "You were arrested not because the NLD
won the election but because you have committed high treason. According
to the law, we have the right to punish you with the death penalty."
Some MPs retorted, "Since 1962 all Burmese people have been
punished with a type of death penalty. We have had our potential
destroyed. We don't care about your threats." The MIS held
a grudge against those MPs, who refused to say what the MIS wanted
to hear.
In January 1991, U Tin Maung Win (the NLD MPs of Kayan Township,
Rangoon) died in prison. He was refused proper medical treatment.
Why?
At that time, every political prisoner near U Tin Maung Win knew
what the chief warder said to win. He said, "If you sign a
confession that you really committed high treason and resign from
the NLD, you will be sent to Rangoon General Hospital and may be
released from prison soon."
Win replied, "I was arrested because I am an NLD MP. Does
this mean high treason? Only resigning from being an NLD MP means
high treason, because I was elected by the people."
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