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On November 7, 1990, I went over to
Myint thu's apartment on 38th Street, Kyauktada Township, Rangoon,
to sleep the night. Myint Thu was my classmate at the Rangoon Institute
of Technology (RIT) and had finished his engineering degree. He
had set up his own television and radio repair shop and he would
sometimes help me with food, clothing and a place to stay. When
I arrived at Myint Thu's apartment, there was an elderly woman and
a girl about 16 years old from up-country staying there.
'I think I should sleep outside tonight,' I told Myint Thu. 'I can
see you have other guests here.'
'Don't worry,' he replied, 'they're my aunt and niece. They've never
been to Rangoon and they want to see me. They'll sleep in the attic.'
I took a shower and lay in my friend's bed reading the book Thebaik
Hmauk Kyaing Tha, The Student Boycotts, written by Thein Pe Myint.
Myint Thu came into the room around 10 pm and we discussed the current
political situation. We were still talking at midnight when we heard
someone knocking on the front door.
'We want to check the guest list1!' Someone shouted.
Both of us looked at each other. We instantly knew it was the notorious
military Intelligence service (MIS) at the front door and I sensed
that the time that I had always dreaded had finally come.
Suddenly, I turned to Myint thu. 'You only know me as an ordinary
classmate, 'I said. 'You don't know anything else about me.'
I was really worried about my friend who even though he had his
own business, also helped people like me and therefore faced the
possibility of being arrested by MIS. Myint Thu stared at me for
few seconds and went to the front door. His aunt and niece were
also woken up by the noise and we all watched Myint thu as he moved
toward the door. When he opened the door a man wearing a blue jacked
and a blue Arakanese sarong pointed a pistol at Myint Thu, while
a military corporal in uniform entered the apartment armed with
a rifle.
'Where is Moe Aye? 'the man in the blue jacket asked Myint Thu.
'I want to see him.'
'What's going on here?' Myint Thu replied.
The man in the blue jacket shouted back, 'Tell me what I asked you!'
More people then entered the room. Two military intelligence officers
in plain clothes and three in uniform came in holding G4 assault
rifles.
'It's me, I'm Moe Aye,' I interrupted.
'Handcuff this mother fucker!' a plain-clothed officer ordered the
man in the blue jacket.' And carefully search the bedroom and the
attic,' he continued.
'Why do I need to be handcuffed?' I asked. 'I haven't committed
any crime.'
'Shut up! Do you want to die?' shouted one of the plain-clothed
officers.
Two soldiers holding G4 assault rifles then came over to me and
one of them twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me. I
heard low sobbing coming from the attic and then some noises in
the bedroom that sounded as though the soldiers had found something
incriminating.
I turned and looked at my friend Myint Thu. I could clearly see
sorrow and bitterness in his eyes. One of the plain-clothed men
seemed to be the leader of the group and I later discovered that
he was Captain Kyaw Zin Thet from Military Intelligence Unit 7(MI-7).
He sat down in a chair in the living room.
'Put a hood over his head,' the captain ordered the three soldiers
still in the room.
A soldier holding a rifle then placed a military green-coloured
hood over my head. I could still hear their voices but I couldn't
see anything. I could also hear the noise of military boots going
up to the attic and Myint Thu's aunt crying. I was hoping that my
friend Myint Thu wouldn't be arrested. If he was arrested, his aunt
and niece, who had never been to Rangoon before, would be in trouble.
Then I heard Myint Thu's aunt weeping louder and louder.
'Please don't do anything to my friend,' I pleaded. 'He's an ordinary
businessman. He's not a political activist.'
'Shut up,' said an MIS officer. Whack! My check was smashed with
a rifle butt.
Myint Thu's aunt was crying and pleading with the officer, 'Please
sir! My nephew is just a businessman. If he's guilty of something
please tell me.'
I was then pushed out of the apartment by one of the soldiers and
put into the back of a truck. I noticed that someone was sitting
beside me in the vehicle. After that I heard some noises which sounded
like someone was being forced into the truck and I thought it was
my friend Myint Thu. Then we drove off and I didn't want to think
how much Myint Thu's aunt and niece would be suffering.
'Myint Thu, are you also in the truck?' I asked.
'You son of the bitch! Shut your fucking mouth!' someone shouted.
After driving for about 15 minutes the vehicle stopped. Someone
ordered me to stand up in the truck and bow my head. They grabbed
my shoulders and I was slowly pushed along. After taking five steps
I was pushed out of the truck and felt my heart miss a beat as I
fell on the hard ground. Someone pulled me up by my shoulders and
shouted 'Stand up!' They then pushed me in the back to make me start
walking. I walked for about ten minutes, turning left and right
many times, and was forced to bow my head again. I stooped when
I hit a wall and my handcuffs were then removed, but I still had
the hood over my head.
'Stand against the wall and hold your hands up!' came the order.
The officers searched my clothes and my body. My sarong was also
taken off. When they were satisfied with their search, I got my
sarong back. One of them then twisted my hand and then told me to
walk slowly. I had to bow my head many times and I walked like a
blind man. The hood had been on my head for a few hours now and
I felt like I could hardly breathe. I told them I was suffocation
but they didn't answer. Instead they hit me violently across the
head. After a few minutes walk I was taken into a room.
'When you hear someone knocking on the door,' I was told by an MIS
guard, 'put the hood on your head. If you want to the toilet, knock
on the door three times.'
The door to my cell then slammed shut. I kept quiet for a while
and gave my hands a shake now that they were free of the handcuffs.
I then took off the hood. The cell was about six feet by eight feet
and the ceiling was quite high. There was one four-foot neon light
on the ceiling and a two-foot neon light on the wall next to the
door. There was also a big five-foot-long mirror beside the door,
a small table and an ugly ten-inch-high wooden bed. I was sure this
was one of the notorious MIS Interrogation Centres that I had been
hearing about for such a long time. I sat on the bed and looked
into the mirror while combing my hair back with my hand. Suddenly,
I heard a voice from the mirror.
'Moe Aye what are you doing?'
I then realised that this was probably a one-way mirror. I didn't
reply to the question, but instead sat down on the bed and tried
to gather my thoughts. I wondered what kind of questions they could
ask me and how I could best answer them in terms of the safety of
my friend Myint Thu. A guard then knocked on the door four or five
times. I didn't move and I tried to calm myself down. The khaki
hood was lying beside me on the bed. Then I heard an angry voice.
'Don't you know to put the hood over your head when you hear knocking
on the door?'
I didn't move.
'Can you hear me mother fucker?'
Finally, two MIS soldiers in plain clothes and military boots opened
the door and ran to me. They covered my head with the khaki hood
and kicked me six or seven times in my abdomen and on my shins.
'Remember mother fucker, next time I'll beat you more than that,'
one of them said.
I was dragged out of the cell between the two soldiers. We walked
for two minutes turning left and right many times and then we stopped.
The two soldiers had stepped away from me for I could feel that
both my hands were free. When I tried to step forward something
like a wooden stick pressed into my stomach, and so I stepped back
again. I couldn't hear anything. Everything was very quiet.
I thought I was in a big room and sensed that the MIS soldiers were
watching me. I felt downhearted and angry, but more courageous than
before. My shin, which had been kicked five minutes ago, suddenly
became very painful. I tried to bend down to massage my shin when
suddenly I heard a very loud voice that seemed to come through a
microphone.
'Hey you!'
I didn't know where the voice was coming from. My whole body was
bathed in sweat, I felt suffocated, my leg was in pain and I was
feeling very dizzy, as though my upper body was circling like a
fan.
'SALUTE!!' someone bellowed, and I heard the sound of soldiers standing
to attention with their guns.
I guessed that one of the MIS officers had entered the room. Then
I heard some footsteps and the sound of tables and chairs being
moved. However, I wasn't able to judge whether they were in front
of me or behind me. My palate became dry and my whole body was chilled
from sweating too much. Ten minutes later, the MIS officer spoke
in a slow and heavy voice.
'Rangoon is a big city with many people. Do you know why we have
selected you, you mother fucker Moe Aye?'
While he was speaking I heard a few people move closer to me and
I realised that the interrogation had begun. I told myself not to
panic and I simply replied, 'Yes, I know.'
'Okay then, if you know, you should answer our questions correctly.
If you try to tell lies, you will not get out of here. That's what
you need to understand.'
'I have been brought here because I spoke the truth,' I told him.
'I have no lies to tell.'
'Mother fucker, we brought you here because you disturbed and destroyed
the stability of the state. Hands up!'
Suddenly a soldier came behind me and pulled up my hands. 'Spread
your legs,' the soldier ordered. Both my hands were raised and both
my legs were spread. Two bamboo or wooden sticks were then placed
between my feet so my legs would stay apart. I could feel the sticks
touching g my ankles. The MIS officer who had spoken before continued.
'What did you do in 1988?'
He was obviously referring to what I did during the 1988 pro-democracy
uprising. 'Nothing strange, I did what the people did.'
'No! I am asking you which organisation you joined at the time and
what you did in pushing the country into an abyss!'
'We never pushed the country into an abyss,' I replied. 'We did
the right thing for the country.'
'Do you guys understand politics? You students are exploited by
opportunist politicians, don't you know that? Tell me which organisation
you joined in 1988.'
'Throughout our history, students have always been at the forefront
of politics. Nobody coaxed me into politics. I joined the All Burma
Federation of Student Unions.' Then I added, 'I'm thirsty, I'm suffocating
and I want to sit down.'
'If you want a drink, tell me the truth,' replied the MIS officer.
'Who are your closest friends in the ABFSU?'
I told him I knew all of them, and the truth,' replied the MIS officer.
'Who are your closest friends in the ABFSU?'
I told him I knew all of them, and the officer then became angry.
'I am asking you how many student leaders you know from the ABFSU!'
Then another voice interrupted, 'Don't be evasive, we only want
to know the truth.'
I had to think quickly. If I told them the names of those I knew,
my friends would soon be in trouble. 'Yes, I know Min Ko Naing-I
met with him twice. 'Min Ko Naing is the chairman of the All Burma
Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and is serving a 20-year jail
term. 'But for the others,' I continued, 'I can't remember their
names because I haven't seen them since joined the National League
for Democracy which was a year ago.'
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