Burma Media Watch 2003: January

Burma Media Watch 2003: January - March

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21.03.2003: BMA - White elephant affair ends up in harsher media censorship in Burma
18.03.2003: Irrawaddy - Junta Bans Historian's Articles
17.03.2003: RSF/BMA - Military junta bans reporting on banking crisis
14.03.2003: Statesman News Service - Myanmar national alleges govt push in hijack case
14.03.2003: The Hindu - Burmese dissident worried
14.03.2003: The Telegraph - Hijack trial after 12 years
13.03.2003: AP - Exiled Myanmar group calls for release of ailing prisoners
11.03.2003: RSF/BMA - Leading journalist Win Tin "celebrates" 73rd birthday in detention
18.02.2003: DVB - Memorial Monument for author Mya Than Tint
11.02.2003: RSF - Journalist Christine Ockrent gives Aung San Suu Kyi the 1999 RSF Fondation de France Prize to pass on to winner San San Nweh
14.01.2003: AFP - Myanmar hijacker of Thai flight charged in India
14.01.2003: Mizzima News - Mizzima editor may face life imprisonment
07.01.2003: DVB Interview - Interview with Daw Shwe Zin-U Sein Hla Oo's wife

21.03.2003: BMA - White elephant affair ends up in harsher media censorship in Burma

By Ko Nyo and Maung Maung Myint, Burma Media Association (BMA)

A renowned historian's comment over the assertion made by ruling junta in connection with the recent "discoveries" of white albino elephants in Burma has sparked a harsher repression on media which has already been crippled by a clampdown on news reporting concerning the country's ongoing financial crisis.

Three white elephants were captured by the Ministry of Forestry during last two years. The junta claimed that the emergence of the white elephants is a good omen for the country and because of them the entire nation will be peaceful, prosperous and free from all the dangers. It went on to say that white elephants only emerge at the time of the kings and governments who ruled the nation in accordance with the ten royal precepts.

The captured elephants were declared "sacred" and offered white umbrellas that are traditionally reserved for royals and venerated monks. They were also honored by special titles at the ceremonies attended by junta leaders, cabinet ministers, prominent monks and members of the state-controlled Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).

A 79 year old prominent historian Dr. Than Tun rebutted last month in an interview with the US-based Radio Free Asia (Burmese Service) by saying that elephants, either black or white, are just animals and thus they deserve no extraordinary reverence. He also said that there is no link between white elephants and the development of the country.

Disgruntled by his comments, the junta banned his regular contributions from being published in three local magazines, Sabepyu, Kalya, and Beauty. During a telephone interview with BMA, one of the editors said, "We were not explained why his articles were banned. Many of us are now worried that the authorities would also ban a planned publication of a book which contains his research papers and other articles. The book organized by his colleagues and former students is intended to honor his 80th birthday which falls on 6 April this year".

Another magazine editor from Rangoon told BMA that the interior ministry's censorship organ, the Literary Works Scrutinizing Committee (LWSC), has since February been practicing much heavier restrictions over all literary works and this new practice is creating serious holdup in various types of publications. "They are now scrutinizing not only the contents but also the ways of presentation. If our explanation does not satisfy them, they simply ban the article," he said.

"The authorities are making our lives more miserable than ever. Previous to this crisis, we could resubmit an amended article at the same level of LWSC where it was rejected. Now, we have to resubmit it from the very bottom. It causes unnecessary delay and occasionally we have to pay-off," said another editor.

Burma's military regime was listed last year by Reporters sans frontiers (RSF) as one of the world's worst violators of press freedoms. A month-old news blackout imposed by the military regime on a crisis in Burma's banking system was recently condemned by the RSF and BMA as a flagrant violation of the right of the Burmese people to be freely informed.

By Kyaw Zwa Moe

Articles from a respected Burmese historian have been prohibited from being published in local magazines, sources in Rangoon said today. In addition, the Burmese government's Press Scrutiny Board (PSB) is continuing to impose a news blackout on business reporting amidst the country's ongoing private banking crisis.

Pieces written by historian Dr Than Tun have been banned from Klaya, a Rangoon-based monthly magazine, after he refuted comments made by the military government in reference to the discovery of white elephants having a positive affect on the economy. White elephants have long been considered a treasured, even sacred, sign of good fortune.

"There is no connection between white elephants and the development of the country. Elephants are animals whether they are white or black," Dr Than Tun told the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (Burmese Service) last month. He says that there is no reason for anyone to pay respect to an elephant.

In the past two years, the military regime has discovered three white elephants in western Burma's Arakan State and has insisted their discovery is an omen for peace and prosperity.

Than Tun's regular contributions to Klaya magazine are mostly about the affairs and administration of the Burmese dynasty in the 18th century. Some say his articles may have contained facts relevant to the present situation, and the current regime, which PSB officials found too sensitive. Speaking today from his home in Rangoon, Than Tun said he was not sure why his articles have been banned.

Meanwhile, newspapers and journals are still being blocked from reporting on Burma's continuing private banking crisis. A weekly journal editor told The Irrawaddy that editors and journalists had been told not to write about the issue since the crisis began in February.

"So far magazines and journals haven't been allowed to run any stories about the financial crisis, and the PSB has closely scrutinized each journal for reports on the issue," he said.

The bank crisis has caused anxiety among customers who have rushed to banks to withdraw their savings. With a shortage of currency, banks have since imposed withdrawal limits and junta leaders were concerned that media reports would fuel the panic.

But the journal editor says the blackout has only resulted in more rumors and what the country now needs is more transparency.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said recently that without transparency in Burma the real reasons behind the crisis remained unclear, therefore, no one had the information needed to help find a solution.

"Our job is to provide people with true and accurate information on events that happen around the country," the editor said. "But as journalists we can't do that because of government interference."

Last year the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières listed Burma's military regime as one of the world's worst violators of press freedoms.

A month-old news blackout imposed by the military junta on a crisis in Burma¹s banking system is flagrant violation of the right of the Burmese people to be freely informed, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) said today. Newspaper editors have been threatened with reprisals if they violate the ban.

"The Burmese government, one of the few in the world to impose prior censorship on privately-owned publications, has yet again shown its inability to accept the free flow of economic news," the two organisations said, reiterating their call for an immediate end to news censorship.

The Literary Works Scrutinising Committee (LWSC), the interior ministry offshoot responsible for censorship, summoned the editors of Burma¹s main privately-owned newspapers to a meeting on 19 February at which they were threatened with reprisals if they published any reports about the serious banking crisis. This news blackout would prevent the crisis from being exacerbated and put a stop to rumours, officials said.

Journalists based in Rangoon told Reporters Without Borders and the BMA in the past few days that it was still impossible for them to report on the banking crisis. "I wrote three stories on the subject and they were all rejected. It¹s very frustrating," one said. No report has appeared on the crisis, not even in the privately-owned English-language Myanmar Times.

The banking crisis was set off by the government¹s decision to close a dozen savings and loan institutions that were offering better interest rates than the banks. On 20 February, the central bank limited transfers and cash withdrawals from the country¹s 20 banks. Hundreds of Burmese line up outside banks every day, especially the Asia Wealth Bank, in an attempt to make cash withdrawals on their savings.

A serious financial crisis in 1988 set off the first demonstrations that led to the emergence of the pro-democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burmese language foreign radio stations meanwhile reported that the authorities had banned the publication of any reports about the death on February 17 of 14 students in a bus crash on the road from Syriam to Rangoon.

NEW DELHI, March 13. A Myanmar national, who is living in exile in India and was arrested for hijacking a Thai Airlines plane in 1990, has alleged that the case which was "lying in the dust" has resurfaced at the "instance of some-one either in Indian or Myanmar government."

Soe Myint, a pro-democracy journalist who is living in India for more than a decade was arrested last year for the hijacking incident. He is charged under the Anti-Hijacking Act and if found guilty will be punished for life-imprisonment. In a meeting with members of the Press, Myint who is running a news agency Mizzima since 1998, said, " I am proud of what I did (hijacking). It was all to gain international attention towards the military rule in Myanmar, which has given no freedom of expression to the press. But people in Myanmar have now realized that democracy is the best form of government" Trial of the case is scheduled in April in a Kolkata court.

Myint and his accomplice-Ye Htinayaw-had hijacked a Thai Airlines plane in November 1990, which was diverted to Kolkata from where both were arrested. A case was filed against them two days later on 12 November. They were later granted bail on the condition of personal appearance.

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI March 13. He's now 33 years old. Back in November 1990, Soe Myint and a friend ``hijacked'' a plane using soap cases and brought it from Bangkok to Calcutta, as it was known then.

Speaking to presspersons at the Indian Women's Press Corps today, Soe Myint, now editor of Mizzima News, a news agency which maintains an active website on Burmese (Myanmar) news and analyses, comes across as articulate and informed.

For nearly 12 years after the ``non-violent hijacking'' of the Thai Airways aircraft, Soe Myint lived and worked in New Delhi, part of the time being spent at the residence of the Defence Minister, George Fernandes. Since April 2002, when he was re-arrested in the hijacking case, Soe Myint is a worried man.

The Burmese dissident, who has no qualms in admitting what he did and is ready to face punishment, is looking for reasons about why he has been arrested for an old case. The trial begins in Kolkata on April 3 and there is every possibility that he may be sentenced to life imprisonment for the ``political act'' of bringing attention to the cause of democracy in neighbouring Myanmar (Burma).

Though arrested after addressing a press conference at the Calcutta airport along with his friend (who now lives abroad and is not named in the chargesheet), Soe Myint believed for many years that the case against him was dead. Released on bail three months after the hijacking, Soe Myint met the then West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, at the Writers' Building. The West Bengal Government called upon the Centre to withdraw the case. So, why has the case suddenly come to life? ``We were desperate to focus international attention on the Burmese cause,'' he stated, adding that the Government of India was ``very active in supporting the pro-democracy movement'' at the time.

Soe Myint feels that his journalistic activities may have caused the active pursuit of the hijacking case. ``I was arrested a week after the then External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, visited Burma.'' India-Myanmar relations since the time he landed in India have been on the upswing and New Delhi does not want to do anything that might jeopardise its relations with the military Government, he points out.

He stressed that he had interviewed the vice-chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Maung Aye, and the Myanmar Foreign Minister, U Win Aung, when they visited the capital. He is clear that Burma has to move towards reconciliation in a spirit of compromise and is optimistic about the prospects of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the military Government working together. To a barrage of questions from curious presspersons, Soe Myint said unambiguously: ``I am proud of what I did. I did it for a political cause.'' In any case, he claimed it was not a ``hijacking'' but a drama. None of his co-passengers filed a complaint in the case.

Many of them were sympathetic to their cause. One Japanese passenger on board even explained to some other passengers in Japanese what the hijacking was all about. He's asked what Mr. Fernandes thinks about the Burmese cause today. ``He (the Defence Minister) came to my book release recently,'' Soe Myint said. ``Personally, he still supports the pro-democracy movement.''

Mr. Fernandes has promised to speak to the Home Minister, L.K. Advani, about the case, but Soe Myint is waiting to see what happens next. Will he be sentenced to life imprisonment for a clearly political act? Or will he be allowed to live with his Burmese wife and carry out journalistic activities in India?

Soe Myint, who was studying international relations in Yangon and was preparing for a career in the foreign service, speaks almost as if the case involves somebody else and not him.

But, still, a withdrawal of the charges against him would be welcome as he prepares to leave for Kolkata for the trial.

New Delhi, March 13: This hijacking case has virtually been resurrected from the grave.

Twelve years ago, Soe Myint and Htin Kyawoo, pro-democracy student activists in Myanmar had hijacked a Thai Airways Bangkok-Yangon flight. Desperate to catch the attention of the world to the gross violations of democracy in their country, the duo diverted the flight to Calcutta airport armed with nothing but a stuffed toy.

Myint and Kyawoo were arrested and later released on bail. Neither the Centre nor the West Bengal government thought it fit to press for trial. Thai Airways also let them off.

However, giving a fresh twist to the case, charges were framed against Myint in January this year. The trial is scheduled to begin next month and, if indicted, he will face life imprisonment.

"The governments at the Centre and in the state assured me the case will be dropped," Myint said in an informal interaction with the media today.

In another strange move, charges have not been framed against Kyawoo, who left India and is now settled in Europe.

Since 1998, Myint has been living in Delhi and running Mizzima, an Internet news service set up by Burmese pro-democracy students in exile. "There were several opportunities for me to go abroad. But I decided to stay on," Myint said.

Defence minister George Fernandes whose house has been a refuge for many pro-democracy Burmese students has, however, assured Myint that he would speak to the home minister and try to withdraw the case.

"So far, we have not heard from him," said Myint. Hoping to mobilise political support in his favour, Myint has even started speaking to MPs cutting across political lines.

Myint believes the military dispensation in Myanmar has exerted pressure on the Indian government to revive the case. At the time of the hijack, neither the flight crew nor the passengers on board felt themselves under any kind of threat. "We told the passengers and the crew that our objective was to draw attention to the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, who won 81 per cent of seats in the Burmese government. But the military regime refused to hand over power," he added.

The passengers, Myint said, were extremely sympathetic as was then Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu. He met the Burmese students at Writers' Buildings. The special CID superintendent, who was the first to meet the hijackers, said: "I was literally bowled over by their pleas for restoration of human and democratic rights in Burma."

"Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, who then ruled at the Centre, was sympathetic to our cause," Myint said. "So was Rajiv Gandhi, with whose support Chandra Shekhar was running the government," he added.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, March 13 (AFP) - An exiled Myanmar rights group called on the United Nations Thursday to pressure Yangon's military rulers to release more than 100 ailing political prisoners held throughout the country.

The All Women Movement Committee of Burma (AWMCB) said in a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Commission that 129 political prisoners in Myanmar's jails need urgent medical treatment for conditions such as severe hypertension, arthritis, malaria, mental illness, heart disease and paralysis.

"The ruling military junta needs to release those prisoners immediately and the AWMCB solemnly urges the United Nations Human Rights Commission to take action effectively on the junta's human rights violations," it said.

"Some of these political inmates have been charged not only with political acts but the military regime has also labeled them with criminal charges and other penalties," it said.

Among the ailing prisoners are 11 opposition MPs, four journalists, 11 women and two men over 80 years old, it added.

The letter was released to the media March 13, which was named Myanmar human rights day in 1989 by Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's pro-democracy leader.

On that day in 1988, General Ne Win's socialist regime was accused of killing a student during a street protest, sparking nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations which were brutally suppressed.

Myanmar, formerly called Burma, has endured frequent criticism about its poor human rights record and has been urged repeatedly to release its political prisoners, which Amnesty International says number between 1,200 and 1,300.

Last week exiled representatives of Myanmar's Mon ethnic group urged the UN to pressure Yangon to release three ailing Mon leaders jailed on political grounds.

And on March 9 a Thai-based rights network blasted the junta for using the suffering of women to solicit aid while doing nothing to tackle the mountains of abuse heaped on them.

The Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (Altsean) said 22 of the 30 articles of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights were being violated in Myanmar under the ruling State Peace and Development Council.

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) today reiterated their call for the release on medical grounds of detained journalist Win Tin, who will celebrate his 73rd birthday tomorrow (12 March) in Rangoon General hospital, where he has taken for treatment for heart problems three and half months ago.

One of the country¹s best-known journalists and a member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), Win Tin has spent the last 13 years of his life in prison. Reporters Without Borders and the BMA fear his already fragile health would get worse if he were sent back to prison from hospital, and they therefore hope the Burmese authorities will show some compassion.

The two organisations stressed that they oppose any lifting of political or economic sanctions against the Burmese government until all political prisoners are released and press censorship ends.

Win Tin was transferred from prison to Rangoon general hospital on 22 November 2002 and since then has been confined to one of the 15-square-metre rooms for political prisoners in the hospital¹s basement. A doctor examines him every day and he receives medicines that are appropriate for his condition.

A delegation from Amnesty International, making its first ever fact-finding mission to Burma at the military junta¹s invitation, visited Win Tin in his hospital room on 5 February. They were able to talk for more than an hour. On its return to Europe, the delegation reported that Win Tin¹s morale was excellent and that his state of health was reasonable. He is nonetheless also suffering from urinary problems.

The former editor of the newspaper Hanthawadi and vice-president of the Association of Burmese Writers, Win Tin has been detained since 4 July 1989. He has been convicted and sentenced three times to a total of 20 years in prison. One of the convictions was for sending the UN special rapporteur for Burma a report on the conditions of detention and the ill-treatment of inmates in Insein prison.

A Buddhist memorial service for the fifth anniversary of the death of the author Mya Than Tint was held and a memorial monument in his memory was erected at Ko Pinnya-Amarapura's Taunglaylone Monastery situated on the bank of Taungthaman Lake at Amarapura, Mandalay at around 9.30am.

Thaik Tun Thet acted as master of the ceremony and Ko Pinnya (Amarapura), Ko Aunt Maung, Ko Ne Win Myint and Soe Naing (Mandalay University) each gave speech on Mya Than Tint. 40 authors from Rangoon and authors from Mandalay; all together 130 people attended the ceremony.

U Tun Oo, the owner of Tun Oo Literature House fed the guests with vegetarian biryani and offered sustenance to the monks. And, Mandalay Publishers owned by U Tun Oo also gave away 140 books with a raffle ticket system.

Mya Than Tint died on the 18th of February 1998. He won the national literature award five times and 'Dataung ko kyaw ywe, Mee Pinle ko phyat Mi' (I will cross mountains of knives and the burning sea) is his most famous work. He is the only author who was sent to Coco Island (Prison Camp) twice among the authors and he wrote with ten pen names.

Since his childhood, he believed that writing is the most honourable job and honour doesn't mean material wealth, but honest and truthful dignity, he said. He also said that he wouldn't exchange his job as a writer for anything. 'I wouldn't do now and I won't do in the future', he stated in a literary interview and he died with this belief.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 18 Feb 03

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11.02.2003: RSF - Journalist Christine Ockrent gives Aung San Suu Kyi the 1999 RSF Fondation de France Prize to pass on to winner San San Nweh

Well-known French TV journalist Christine Ockrent has presented Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi with the 1999 Reporters Without Borders / Fondation de France Prize to pass on to winner San San Nweh.

Ockrent, who is also a member of the board of Reporters Without Borders, handed over the prize at a meeting on 31 December 2002 at the opposition politician¹s home in Rangoon, where they discussed the fate of other journalists imprisoned in the country, including 73-year-old Win Tin, who has been in jail for the past 13 years.

The prize has been awarded every year since 1992 to journalists who through their work, beliefs or attitudes, have shown devotion to the ideal of press freedom. San San Nweh won it in 1999 while she was in prison serving a 10-year sentence imposed in 1994 for ³putting out news harmful to the state.² She was freed in July 2001 but not allowed to leave the country.

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) reiterates its call for the release of 16 journalists still held by Burma¹s military rulers.

CALCUTTA, Jan 14 (AFP) - An activist from Myanmar accused of hijacking a Thai Airways flight in 1990 was charged Tuesday by an Indian court and could face life in prison, officials said.

Soe Myint, who had edited the independent Mizzima news agency out of New Delhi until his arrest last year, is accused of diverting a Thai jet bound for Yangon on November 10, 1990 and landing it in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta.

Soe, then a student, and an associate allegedly threatened the crew with soap, saying it was a hand grenade. No one was injured in the hijacking, which activists said was meant to draw attention to the excesses of Myanmar's military regime.

Soe appeared in a courtroom Tuesday in Calcutta where he pleaded innocent to hijacking, a charge that carries life imprisonment, said prosecutor Probodh Kumar Roy.

The activist, now 32, will be tried starting April 2 at a court near Calcutta, Roy said. He will remain free on bail until then.

Soe was jailed after the hijacking but was released on bail after three months following protests by Indian parliamentarians critical of the Myanmar junta.

His alleged accomplice, Thin Ye Mynh Khine, was also released and is believed to have left India. Soe, however, operated openly as a journalist in New Delhi and was arrested in April 2002.

Activists charge that India took action against Soe under pressure from Yangon, noting that the arrest came just after a trip to Myanmar by India's then foreign minister, Jaswant Singh.

"I think basically there is pressure from the Burmese government," Soe said in comments carried Tuesday by Mizzima.

"The Burmese government does not like what I'm doing. Basically I'm exposing the human rights situation inside the country and I run a news agency that specialises in Burma and related issues," he said.

Paris-based watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) said last year in a statement that it was "justified in asking whether the arrest of this journalist, reputed for his reporting on human rights violations in Burma, has a direct relation with the diplomatic rapprochement between New Delhi and (Yangon)."

Soe's lawyers have also pleaded that the journalist enjoys refugee status.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that Myanmar's people, particularly ethnic minorities, faced ongoing rights abuses in 2002, despite the May release from house arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

KOLKATA, India- Soe Myint, the Chief Editor of the Mizzima News Group, an Internet news and feature service, could be sentenced for life imprisonment if he found guilty by West Bengal Government, India.

Newspapers and T.V channels across West Bengal in India ran stories on their flesh stories carried interviews of Mr. Soe Myint, a Burmese student activist who had diverted a Thai airways plane to Kolkata in November 1990. Without exception, the reports stated that it would be unjust to put Mr. Soe Myint on trial after 12 years specially when the Government had been so sympathetic.

However, the state decided to press for a trial and the Public Prosecutor framed Changes against Mr. Soe Myint who is now a journalist of international repute. Soe Myint is being Charged under Section 3 and 4 of Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982 which could sentence him life imprisonment if he found guilty. The Court in West Bengal has fixed April 2, 2003 for the trial and the Public Prosecutor has told the Court that he would provide 29 witnesses.

Ms. Nandita Haksar, Advocate for Mr. Soe Myint, said it was indeed a sad day for Indian democracy that a Burmese journalist fighting for the restoration of civil rule and human rights should face the prospect of life imprisonment.

" Mr. Soe Myint may well become a victim of Indo-Myanmar politics in which India is moving closer to the Burmese military rulers instead of supporting the movement for democracy under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi" said Ms. Haksar.

WB reopens hijacking case against Burmese refugee

Monideepa Banerjie (http://www.ndtv.com), Tuesday, January 14, 2003 (Kolkata):

On November 10, 1990, a Burmese student camouflaged soap cakes as bombs and forced an aircraft - on its way from Bangkok to Rangoon - to divert to Kolkata instead.

His aim was to highlight the military excesses going on in Burma at that time. He was arrested, released on bail and has since then been living in India as a refugee and working as a journalist on current affairs in Myanmar.

Now, 12 years later, the hijacking incident has suddenly come back to haunt him. The case against him has been revived and a West Bengal court will frame charges against him today.

"I think basically there is pressure from the Burmese government. The Burmese government does not like what I'm doing. Basically I'm exposing the human rights situation inside the country and I run a news agency that specialises in Burma and related issues," said Soe Myint, the Burmese refugee.

"The time at which he was re-arrested in April was the same week that Jaswant Singh (then Foreign Minister) met Burmese generals in Thailand. So in the Burmese government there is not so much concern about the prosecution or non-prosecution of a hijacker as there is about supressing journalists," said noted lawyer Nandita Haksar.

Rallying behind the Burmese journalist, a number of leading human rights activists have petitioned the West Bengal government for the withdrawal of the case. The public prosecutor can do that if he is so advised by the government. However, no such advice has reached him yet.

"I have to propose that charges be framed against the accused before the court. I can assure at least one thing - we never consider any law above the patriotic cause and democratic cause of the people," said Probodh Roy, the public prosecutor.

Clearly, one man's hijacker is another man's freedom fighter - and Soe Myint is caught in that cleft stick.

U Sein Hla Oo was an editor of 'Botahtaung' newspaper and he was elected in 1990 General Election as the MP of No.2. Insein Constituency for the NLD. He was first arrested in 1991 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and in 1994, he was re-arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The charge against him was trying to translate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's book,'Freedom From Fear' into Burmese. Thayawaddi Daw San San Nwe who was arrested at the same time with him was released last year but U Sein Hla Oo and Dr Khin Zaw Win are still languishing in Myikyina Prison. U Sein Hla Oo's wife Daw Shwe Zin was allowed to see him on the 2nd of January. She explained to the DVB her experiences and her husband's condition as follows:

Daw Shwe Zin : The plane ticket cost me 35,000 kyats at official rate. I got there on the 1st of January and as the Secretary No.1 was there for the Harvest Festival, I was not able to see my husband that day. I only met him on the 2nd. I returned yesterday. I had to buy the plane ticket on black market for 65,000 kyats. Altogether, it cost me 100,000 kyats for plane fares. It's not easy to see my husband.

DVB : I have heard that it's very difficult to get a plane ticket?

Daw Shwe Zin : Yes. It is very difficult to get a ticket. His birthday is on November the 17th and I tried to get a ticket for that date. I applied seven times and I didn't get it. I was very depressed and confused. So, I sent only the money to him. In December, I applied with Daw Khin Myo Myint, the wife of Dr Khin Zaw Win and I was told that we have to apply 12 times and I gave up at the 3rd time and I sent 20,000 kyats to him.

DVB : The ICRC refunds your expenses?

Daw Shwe Zin : Usually, the ICRC refunded the expenses. Now that the prices have gone up, I hope they will refund me. I would only get 70,000 kyats.

DVB : How much have the prices of plane tickets gone up?

Daw Shwe Zin : Compared to the previous one, the price has gone up four folds. It was 7545 kyats. Now, 35,000 kyats. That is official price. In 2003, the prices of train, car and plane fares have all gone up.

DVB : What is his health condition?

Daw Shwe Zin : I met him on the 2nd of January after the authorities have gone. He doesn't seem to be in a bad situation at all. I was able to see him in a guest room just after the ICRC was there. He was not expecting me and it was in the afternoon when I went there. I rang him after the authorities have gone. I knew that I would be wasting time if I met him on other days and so I went see him in the evening of the 2nd. I arrived on the 1st and I didn't tell them that arrived on the 1st because they might try to find problems. When I got there on the 2nd, I told them that I arrived that day and I was meeting him that day.

DVB : Dr Zaw Myint Maung's wife told us that you have to get permission from the MI before you go and see your husbands. Is that true?

Daw Shwe Zin : Yes. I had to. As soon as the plane landed, I wanted to meet my husband and I rang the MI office and they told me that the authorities [General Khin Nyunt and co. from Rangoon.] are in town and they are responsible for his security and they are not able to listen to our conversation. Wait until they go, I was told. They told me that they were meeting me on the third and the third is Karen New Year's Day and prisons are closed. So, I rang the MI on the 2nd when the authorities were gone. They told me to see my husband the next day and I pointed out to them that prisons are closed on that day. So, they asked me to arrange with the prison authority and I rang them and they told me that I could see him that day and I rang the MI and they sent their representatives to accompany me. I didn't have to wait at the prison. My husband is a bit hard of heard of hearing and when people shouted for his name he could hear properly. I had to wait 45 minutes and we fetch a higher official in the prison and the man told us that no one told him of my arrival. Maybe my husband didn't hear it.

DVB : If the authorities visit a place, can't normal people go about their business? Do the authorities know?

Daw Shwe Zin : Even hawkers and vendors are not allowed to ply their trades. I don't know whether the top leaders know it. These are done at the bottom level. My visit coincided with the Harvest Festival and the authorities also visit a pagoda. I didn't know that General Khin Nyunt was going there and I had to travel there when I got my plane ticket.

DVB : The health condition of U Sein Hla Oo..?

Daw Shwe Zin : Normally, he is very thin with only skin and bones. Now, he is not that thin. It's not bad to look at him. He takes medicines once in three days and I told him not to do that and to take medicines regularly and I would send money to him. Now, he is not that bad despite his age. He doesn't look that old. When I saw him last time I was so depressed. I had to go all the way to the edge of Burma to see him and when I saw him he looked like an ancient man with only skin and bones and I was not very happy.

DVB : The prospects for his release? Dr Yu Yu May said that they signed 401 and they might be released soon and the like.

Daw Shwe Zin : I asked him that some people were not released because they didn't sign 401 and he told me that he had signed that since October but they haven't released him. I asked him when he was coming home and he asked the prison governor. The governor could not answer his question.

DVB : How many days left for him to serve his sentence? Could you tell me what his charge and the like?

Daw Shwe Zin : He is paying his 'DEBT'. After the election, all the MPs were arrested and he was one of them. He was sentenced to 10 years. When Senior General Than Shwe gained power, he was given amnesty and released. We thought that he had served his terms. He stayed at home for two years. And in 1994, he was re-arrested again. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. His sentence was supposed to end at 2000. He told me to send money for his return journey and I did. I waited and waited but he never turned up. When I went to see him in August [2001?] I asked him why he didn't come home, he said that the authority told him that he had to pay his DEBT. What debt, I asked? He told me that he had to also serve his first sentence in 1991. That is the debt he has to pay. For how long you have to pay for that and he said that he doesn't know that either.

DVB : So, we don't know when he will be released?

Daw Shwe Zin : Yes. He has served two years of his debt and if we are told how many years for him more to serve, it would be better. Some people who have paid their 'debts' are not released either. He puts in the hand of God. He will be released when the time comes. He still has to suffer to pay his 'debt'.

DVB : He is imprisoned twice now and he is now paying his 'debt'. What is his attitude on him for his activities? Are you proud of him?

Daw Shwe Zin : Some people are ashamed of their husbands for going to prison. There is nothing to be ashamed about it for his political activities. I am proud of him. My nieces and nephews encourage me to do whatever I have to do and not to worry.

DVB : The international organisations are urging the authorities to release writers and journalists like U Win Tin. What is your feeling on that?

Daw Shwe Zin : As a wife, I want him to be free. I don't know why he is not still released after the shouts from the outside and our best efforts from the inside. Maybe, it's my fate or his fate.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 GMT 7 Jan 03