WORLD BRIDGE BLOG

In the surprisingly orderly offices of an international aid agency in Burma, Dr. Thant Zin Myint (name changed to protect his identity) took a brief break from the relief and recovery work for communities afflicted by Cyclone Nargis. Amidst white boards detailing the latest statistics of how many baskets of rice had been delivered and the number of villages reached, the doctor told me his story.

Dr. Thant Zin Myint became a political activist after the Burmese army opened fire on peaceful pro-democracy protestors on August 8, 1988 and killed more than 1,000 people. The uprising ended a month later with a bloody military coup, and the new government used the army to suppress the demonstrations by killing some 3,000 and forcing over 10,000 students to flee. After these incidents, the doctor became a human rights and political activist.

In 1993, he successfully applied for a Masters in Public Policy abroad. Near the end of his third term, he returned to Burma to conduct interviews for his thesis, but as he returned to his university, he was arrested at the airport. He was sentenced to fifteen years of prison.

During his imprisonment, he was held for many months in a compound at the back of a prison that also held enclosures for military dogs. He was forced to sleep on bare concrete floors without any bedding, and denied all family visits. Yet, while he was in prison, he had frequent discussions with other political prisoners. He heard news reports from a radio source and he became frustrated as he listened to opportunities slipping away for dialogue between the government and the political opposition.

The doctor served eleven years of his fifteen-year sentence. In 2005, the government agreed to a massive release of more than 240 political prisoners and the charges against him were revoked. When he got out, he saw that things had only gotten worse in his country. He continues to be concerned that the political system is moving in a very extremist direction, and said he voted against the new constitution in May.

Dr. Thant Zin Myint was glad to see Refugees International in Burma and supported our efforts to advocate for more aid inside the country. He was well aware that many Burmese activists argue that international assistance only supports the military regime that imprisoned him. He disagrees.

As he wrote a few years ago, “attempting to keep the country poor and undeveloped is not the way to any kind of political solution, democratic or otherwise.”

The doctor noted that international aid agencies have been able to operate in dramatically more areas in the last five years. In particular, he could see how much the government had opened up to international support after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy delta. He believes that this assistance has an important role to play, not just in meeting the vast needs of the people in border areas and elsewhere, but in developing his country into a more free and open society.

He pointed out that the assistance “lays the foundation for a more plural society.” It can help community groups and volunteers build leadership skills and increase their capacity to help others. It also allows for more information to be collected and shared on atrocities committed by government soldiers.

“We are not doing this [providing aid], because we like this government,” the doctor told me that day. “But we must prepare a new generation for the future.”

-Megan Fowler

Labels: Burma, Refugee Voices