Pro government propaganda in Mandalay

Sitting in a Yangon park, over glasses of Mandalay Rum and soda I met with three men for insight into the current state of affairs of Myanmar.  All three have reason to fear the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which is the re-branding of the authoritarian dictatorship ruled by the military, the Tatmadaw.  Despite understandable apprehensions and the occasional look over the shoulder checking for eavesdroppers, these men have hope in the future and believe that educating the people is the most important way to make a difference.

First meet Sein Lwin, an entrepreneur and businessman operating out of Yangon who helped arrange the interview with his friends Thet-Naung and Aung. Thet Naung hails from the country’s new capital Pyinmana and fled to Yangon shortly after the 1990 election due to his involvment in student government at the time. At 17 he was expelled from High School and at 18 was arrested and prisoned for 3 years for his involvement in the 1988 demonstrations.
Aung is a former member of the Democratic Party for Youth Society (DPYS) which joined with 1990 election winners, the National League for Democracy (NLD) shortly after the 1988 student riots. Anticipating problems with the election results when the NLD took 82% of the popular vote, he fled to Thailand as a refugee, working as a correspondent for a Thai publication.  After three years in exile, he returned home on the SPDC’s promise of amnesty but upon crossing the border was detained for over 2 weeks for questioning. 6 months later he was arrested and jailed for 2 months for being in the proximity of a university.

“The students in 1988 were having a peaceful protest.” Aung remembers. “I was not involved and was trying to leave the university campus.  The government officials bottle necked the students and forced us towards armed police.  We were just trying to go home. Some got angry and agitated for being denied exit.  Some got scared and ran into the water of the nearby lake.  Police ran after them into the water and bashed their skulls with their sticks.  Some police held the students heads under water until they drowned.” He was lucky, led to safety by some other students who knew a way around the roadblock.  At least 20 students were murdered on that day. “The government controlled media portrayed the event as a terrorist act.  It was not, it was a peaceful protest.” After this event he became much more involved in student politics and in 1989 was one of the founders of the DPYS.

All three men seem worn.  Tired of fighting for the peaceful Buddhist population of the country. “I don’t see a better future, they (SPDC) will never give up and are very powerful and rich, so are their relatives who will be their successors.” Aung-Sen’s opinion is echoed by all three, “The people get the government they deserve.”

This frustration is largely attributed to the passivity with which the people react to the current political situation, partially for religious reasons and partially in fear. “People accept their lives and situations because they never learnt any differently. They believe it’s a matter of luck,” said Aung who points out that it’s not luck, it’s politics.

Fishermen on Inle Lake with a government guest house in the background