Posts Tagged ‘Burma’

Tourism has seeped in to almost all but the most far-flung and remote cultures of the world.  As London Student Travel Editor I celebrate the fact that it is relatively easy to visit each and every country my itchy feet should take me.  Yet I’ve often wondered if there is ever a time when the conscience should rail-in the wanderlust; is acceptable to visit a country whose government is rife with human rights abuses or corruption?

In spite of lengthy cautions found under the travel advice section of the British and Foreign Office website, Burma is not ‘officially’ off-limits to British tourists.  The most recent figures record that 3,700 British nationals visited the country in 2007.  When asked if visiting Burma was condoning the regime, London Student travel writer Zoë Tipler said, “I don’t think so.”  She added, “To boycott a country and punish its people who have incredible strength and courage in the face of such enormous adversity is not the way to solve a problem.”

Although Lonely Planet (whose majority share-holder is BBC Worldwide) produces a guidebook for Burma, the guide makes a point of not listing any government run transport companies or hotels.  For some however, this does not go far enough and in February 2008 Tourism Concern along with The Burma Campaign UK and the New Internationalist led a campaign to boycott Lonely Planet unless it withdrew its Burma title.   Tricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern said, “Given the appalling human rights situation in Burma, we don’t believe it is possible for any company, including BBC Worldwide, to adopt a neutral position on the issue of travel to the county.”  She continued, “The BBC should stop sitting on the fence and send a clear message of condemnation to the regime by withdrawing the Burma edition of its book.”

The Burma Campaign UK, an NGO fighting for human rights, democracy and development in Burma enlisted over seventy high profile celebrities and politicians to put their name to the campaign to boycott Burma.  Actress Anna Friel made the statement, “The best role in the world wouldn’t get me to Burma” whilst famous faces such a Sir Ian McKellen, playwright Tom Stoppard and Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas joined the campaign.

But if we choose to boycott Burma and listen to our ethics rather than follow our itchy-feet, at what point do we draw the line?  In August 2008 the Foreign Office lifted its ban on travel to Zimbabwe but should the intrepid traveller feel totally comfortable visiting a country still in the grips of Mugabe‘s dictatorship?  And what of the human rights abuse reported in backpacker’s favourites such as Sri Lanka, China and beyond.  Can the line be drawn there or would some travellers feel they ought even to boycott US states that practice capital punishment or should we give Italy a miss in protest at Berlusconi’s seemingly undemocratic grip on the countries media?

On the other hand some have argued that visiting a country oppressed by its government can not only bring respite to its people, but such travellers can highlight the state of the regime, helping to campaign against the abuses they have witnessed once they return home.  Amnesty International does not actively dissuade travel to Burma or any other country.  Niall Couper said, “Amnesty International will never tell people to not travel to Burma or anywhere. However, if you do want to go to Burma you should try and keep an open mind. There are numerous human rights issues there and a large number of restrictions placed on the Burmese people. Repression is wide spread. Human rights defenders there put their lives at risk every day by challenging the ruling military junta.”  Couper warns travellers, “If you do go be sensible. If anyone does talk about the persecution in Burma they are doing so at a great risk to themselves.”

My political involvement

In March of 1988 I was involved in a protest march on Rangoon University campus, which ended with the arrest of many students, including myself. During the week of interrogation I was badly beaten and tortured, before being transferred to Insein jail for a month of incarceration.

Upon my release, I joined the ‘All Burma Federation of Students Unions’ (ABSFU) as the Secretary to the Finance Committee and to the Security and Discipline Committee. Four days after the military seized power in 18th of September 1988, the student union was informed that some demonstrators in Pegu had weapons; a situation which I was asked to investigate. However, my five companions and I were captured upon arrival, and taken to a detention centre. There we were interrogated and beaten for three days and nights without sleep. After that ordeal I was taken to Rangoon, where I was detained, interrogated and tortured in several ‘Military Intelligence Service’ (MIS) centres.

My detention, interrogation and torture

I still cannot believe that humans can inflict such Terror and pain on other human beings. At MIS-6, the special military intelligence and interrogation centre, I was bound to a chair, badly beaten with a rubber rod, burnt on the chest with cigarettes and constantly interrogated for three days. I was then taken to MIS-7, where the same pattern of ill treatment and interrogation was repeated for another two months. At these MIS centres a typical interrogation session with beatings took place in a room, with MIS officers taking turns, working two hour shifts, while I was seated in a chair, blindfolded and handcuffed. The room was dark except for one light shining
directly into my face. They asked me again and again about my life and political activities, and about the background of the ABSFU student leaders, such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Gyi, Moe Thee Zun and others.
During the following month, they used torture techniques such as “helicopter” – I was tied to the ceiling and spun round, and “riding a motorbike” – I was forced to crouch over animaginary motorbike for long periods of time.

In the end, after failing to give the answers they wanted, or sign a confession, I was blindfolded and taken to ‘Ye Kyi Aing’, where I was interrogated for a whole week non-stop, without sleep or rest. During the interrogation I was handcuffed and blindfolded so that I couldn’t see the interrogator. The blindfold was briefly taken off only for eating and drinking. Whenever I dozed off during interrogation I was beaten. If I didn’t give the proper answers, the MIS officer beat me again during and at the end of the session. Hour after hour they repeatedly asked me the same questions. I just wanted to rest. Once, I got angry and shouted to them that I wanted to rest, but they just cursed at me and asked ‘You want a fight me? Blindfolded and handcuffed?’

One night, I was blindfolded by an MIS officer and pulled with an iron chain down a path into a ditch, about 20 foot deep and 8 foot wide, containing a corpse. During the day the corpse began to decompose and stank hideously under the tropical sun. But during the night when it turned cold, I shivered and couldn’t sleep sitting next to the decomposing corpse. Each day the MIS officer lowered a container of rice and some water, telling me that if I answered his questions I would be freed. I couldn’t eat because of the unbearably foul smell of the corpse. This torture lasted for six days, after which I still hadn’t given the answers they wanted. I had become so weak that I couldn’t even speak; I completely lost my voice.

Three days or so after this horrific experience – I don’t remember exactly – I became weak and delirious, started screaming. My mind went blank. I think I must have answered their questions about my political activities and other ABSFU members because the MIS officers showed me a confession I had signed. After almost a month of this dreadful torture, when they succeeded in forcing a confession out of me, I was taken to a suburb of Rangoon, where the infamous Insein Jail is situated, known as the darkest hellhole in Burma.

The life of a political prisoner in in Insein jail

On the 9th April 1990 I was charged and tried by a tribunal without due legal procedures. The trial proceedings were little more than the recitation of the charges and the announcement of the verdict as guilty. I was charged under various sections of the 1950 Emergency Provision Act, and found guilty of association with and being a member of an unlawful organisation. I was sentenced to seven years of hard labour.

I was sent to block no.5 of Insein Jail, together with various kinds of criminals, thieves and rapists. People like me, who were imprisoned for political reasons, were treated even worse than the criminals.
On my first day I was put into the ‘Lesson’ or ‘Example’ Room – a room twenty-six by one hundred feet, crammed with over two hundred prisoners, common criminals and prostitutes, and kept there for two days. The room was used by the prison authorities to ‘give lessons’ that is, to punish and demoralise the political prisoners. Every prisoner was beaten without reason. To intimidate and abuse political prisoners like me, the guards used foul language whenever they slapped, kicked and beat the criminals. I felt as if my ears were being raped with the filthiest name-calling I had heard in my life.

Soon after my arrival in prison, other student political prisoners and I started to demand our legitimate rights. We went on hunger strike on the 1st of May 1990 (Labour Day). We asked to be allowed to read newspapers and other literature, and for an end to the beatings of all prisoners and the use of humiliating poun san (positions of deference all prisoners must perform for wardens). Just one hour after we had started our hunger strike we were taken out of the block, told that we were breaking prison rules and ordered call off our strike. We refused. The guards then put hoods over our heads, and between our ankles they fixed eighteen-inch leg irons with chains, so that we could hardly walk. Finally they beat us and put us in solitary confinement. I was given additional torture for asking for prisoners’ rights.

On the 8th August 1992 I received two more months’ special punishment. That time my ‘crime’ was singing political songs with other political prisoners in neighbouring cells to mark the anniversary of the people’s uprising in 1988. Nine of us were punished with twenty-four inch leg irons. These are the worst of all, after one month in twenty-four inch leg irons I felt as if my hips had been dislocated. I couldn’t walk for a month after the irons were taken off.

I was arrested in 1988, sentenced to seven years in prison and released in 1994, after serving five years and seven months and twenty-four days. With full remission I could have been released after four years and eight months, but I had continued to fight for rights within the prison. For this, I was punished with leg irons three times and kept in solitary confinement for a total of three years.

But I am an activist, not a victim. I want to restore dignity, justice, freedom, equality and peace to Burma. That’s why we have being fighting for democracy; we give our lives to achieve it. So many people have already died for it.