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U Sein Hla Oo
…..Whose term of imprisonment in the notorious Insein prison
has been extended for a second time.
U sein Hla Oo studied at Rangoon University and then in the United
States where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma
of Journalism. While he was student in Rangoon he participated in
the July 1962 demonstrations. After he finished his study he worked
as the editor of the Botahtaung newspaper and was a film critic
under the pen name of Maung Ngwe Oo. He wwas forced to retire as
editor of the Botahtaung for his participation in the 1988 uprising.
He is an MP and a Central Executive Committee member of the NLD.
To date he has been arrested by the SLORC twice; the first time
in November 1990 and again in August 1994. Many people lovingly
refer to U Sein Hla Oo as 'U Pyaun Gyi' which means 'Uncle Bald'
in English. U Sein Hla Oo is a Former journalist and close friend
of U Win Tin, one of the NLD's top leaders. During 1989, U Sein
Hla Oo participated in the academic or intelligentsia group 'Htet
Thi Pyinya Shin' with other prominent academics and journalists-such
as U Win Tin, U Moe Thu, U Soe Thein (aka Maung Win Tha), U Khin
Maung Swe and U Kyaw Min. The academic group was one of the founders
of the NLD.
In the lead up to the 1990 General Election in Burma, U Sein Hla
Oo was selected as a candidate for Insein Township and won the seat.
In July 1990,the NLD held its first major party conference after
the election at Gandhi Hall in Rangoon. Many SLORC troops were deployed
to the area in anticipation of the establishment of a parallel government.
U Sein Hla Oo was the first person interrogated by the MIS after
the conference and he was detained and interrogated for over one
week. After Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo were arrested and
detained by the military, U Kyi Muang and U Chit Khaing assumed
the key leadership positions in the NLD. U Kyi Maung and U Chit
Khaing were themselves arrested after the Gandhi Hall congress,
along with U Sein Hla Oo, who was taken for a second term of interrogation.
Other NLD members taken for investigation at the time included U
Khin Maung Swe, U Chan Aye (aka Maung Suu San) and U Kyaw Min. At
the time, U Sein Hla Oo came to realise that imprisonment was inevitable.
Sure enough in August 1990 U Sein Hla Oo was arrested by MIS officers
along with U Khin Maung Swe, U Chan Aye, U Kyaw Min, U Soe Thein
(aka Maung Win Tha), and Dr. Zaw Myint Maung. The MIS officers took
him to the central interrogation center at 'Yeikyi Aie' where he
was interrogated for one month before being transferred to Insein
Prison. In Insein, he was detained in isolation Cellblock No.1.
A great number of elected NLD MPs were detained in the seme way
including U Khin Maung Swe, U Soe Thein, U Hla Than (who has since
passed away), U Saw Naing Naing, Sie Ohn Maung, U Saw Chit Than,
former Lt.Col. U Soe Thein, U Khin Maung Htun, U Tin Aye, U Soe
Nyunt, U Ba Paw, Dr Zaw Myint Maung, U Kyaw Min, U Chan Aye, and
UR.P.Thoung.
During his terim of interrogation MIS officers asked U Sein Hla
Oo whether he was involved in the arrival of MP Dr. Sein Win to
the liberated area along the Thai border; whether he or the NLD
were involved in the "Sanhga" or Monks non co-operation
campaign; and how he was involved in the NLD's three Strategies
of political defiance, working within the current laws of Burma,
and compromising with the military regime.
While U Sein Hla Oo was being interrogated, he heard U Maung Ko
die under tinterrogation in the next room. Prominent NLD Youth Wing
member, Yan Aung (aka Myint Soe) was also interrogated in a room
near U Maung Ko's. While U Sein Hla Oo was also in Insein prison
he met many monks, students and NLD MPs. Although there many MPs,
monks and students in prison, only four people were given heavy
punishments-U Sein Hla Oo, U Khin Maung Swe (San Chaung), U Saw
Nai Nai (pazundaung), and Ko Ko Gyi (NLD Youth Wing).
In the end of March 1991 MIS officers took U Sein Hla Oo to a military
court in Insein Prison where he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
In April 1992, SLORC issued a selected and conditional amnesty to
some political prisoners, known as Order 11\92, under which U Sein
Hla Oo was released on the condition he not involve himself in politics.
In August 1994 U Sein Hla Oo was again arrested by the MIS who
accused him of attempting to translate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's book
Freedom from Fear. He was sent to an Insein Prison isolation cell
and given a seven year sentece with hard labour. U Sein Hla Oo was
arrested with U Khin Maung Swe, Dr. Khin Zaq Win and two woment,
Tharrawaddi San San New and her daughter. Dr. Khin Zaw Win had studed
in Singapore and had recently returned to Burma to complete a research
thesis on Burmese politics. U Khin Maung We was sentenced to seven
years in prison and Dr.Khin Zaw Win was sentenced to 12 years. tharrawaddi
San San New and her daughter were each sentenced to seven years.
A close comrade of U Sein Hla Oo's teased him by saying he returned
to Insein Prison because he missed his friends so much, but U Sein
Hla Oo replied that he had returned because his four year parliamentary
term was over and that he was keen to undertake a second term!
I did not get a chance to tlak with U Sein Hla Oo when he was in
Insein the first time because we were in different rooms, but this
time we were detained together in Cell Block No. I where we had
plenty of time to share our thoughts and experiences. According
to U Sein Hla Oo, MIS officers came to inquire after him regularly
after he was released in 1992. They had attempted to lure him into
doing business with them, while threatening him to quit politics.
U Khim Maung Swe and U Sein Hla Oo were at the time working together
in a company and attended many embassy functions. Each and every
time they returned from an embassy function MIS officers took them
for interrogation and threatened them. The authorities, additionally,
did not like their connections with international organizations.
Finally, the MIS could not tolerate their activities any longer
and Deputy Director of the MIS, Col. Kyaw Win, took them to 'Yeikyi
Aie' interrogation centre and gave further threats and warnings.
U Sein Hla Oo was taken to 'Yeikyi Aie' with U Khin Maung Swe, Daw
San San, U Thu Wai and U Hway Myint from the Democracy Party.
Before his second ferm of imprisonment, U Sein Hla Oo ofter visited
Dr. Sein Win's wife and son and listened to Dr.Sein Win's interviews
on the BBC World Service and the Voice of America (RAdio Free asia
was not operating at the time that time). U Sein Hla Oo often told
Dr.Sein Win's son that it was his father who was speaking on the
radio and urged him to remember him and to listen carefully because
when Dr. Sein Win left the country his wife was pregnant with their
son. Later MIS officers warned U Sein Hla Oo not to visit Dr. Sein
Win's wife any more. U Sein Hla Oo told them to arrest him if they
so wanted, but he would continue to visit his friends as if was
not a political activity, but a scial one. The MIS officers did
not like his answer.
In July 1994, MIS officers accused U Sein Hla Oo of assisting in
the preparation of anti-government documents and for arranging for
Dr. Khin Zaw Win to meet some people before he left for Singapore.
Dr. Khin Zaw Win was subsequently arrested at RAngoon airport just
before he was due to leave for Singapore. He was carrying some documents,
including a draft translation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's book Freedom
From Fear. During U Sein Hla Oo's second perisod of interrogation
MIS officers asked him why he had translated Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
book and whether he accepted Suu Kyi as the leader to the NLD. He
was also asked what hethought of the prizes that were conferred
upon Suu Kyi and whether he thought these prizes were suitable for
her. The MIS officers attempted to negotiate with U Sein Hla Oo
saying that they would release him if he signed a document stating
that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was no longer the leader of the NLD and
that she was wholly unqualified to receive the priszes conferred
upon her by the international community. He refused, point blank,
to sign such a statement.
The MIS officers reminded him of how long he was sent to prison
the first time he was arrested and asked him to think about the
kindness of the state in releasing him under an amnesty. They told
him that the years that he failed to serve in his first sentence
could be added to a new sentence for his current political activities.
During his court appearance in Insein Prison, a special judge stated
that U Sein Hla Oo failed to understand and recognize the compassion
of the government in releasing him from prison in 1992 and pronounced
him guilty. He ruled that U Sein Hla Oo was to serve the remainder
of his first sentence in addition to a second, current sentence,
totaling a 16-year prison term.
During U Sein Hla Oo's long, second term of imprisonment, the prison
authorities have not allowed him any visitors. U Sein Hla Oo was
kept in Cell Block No.1, while U Khin Maung Swe was kept in Room
No.3.Dr. Khin Zaw Win was detained in U Sein Hla Oo's former room,
No.7. In June 1995, U Sein Hla Oo and Dr. Khin Zaw Win were transferred
to the Special cells of the main prison after being accused of engaging
in political discussions. In November 1997, he was being kept in
isolation in Cell Block No.1. Room No.6. I don't know which room
he is being kept in at the moment. He has now spent over four years
in prison.
U Sein Hla oo has not changed much mentally, but physically, he
has changed a great deal. During NOvember 1997, his health was in
a critical condition and he suffered greatly from high blood pressure
and stomach problems. In addition, whenever there are rumors of
political movement or something similar inside the jail, the authorities
always suspend the visiting rights of key people such as U Sein
Hla Oo. He is very often interrogated in prison on such matters.
There are many people who are languishing in Burma's prisons, and
those who have sacrificed their lives for the greater good of the
country. I pray that U Sein Hla Oo, who love very much, should not
be on of them.
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