No Political Prisoners in Burma

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No Political Prisoners in Burma?

By Saneitha Nagani

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.

Khalil Gibran

This ludicrous claim that, there are no political prisoners in Burma have

been repeated ad nauseam by those from in the military and the military regime

itself. Unless these people considered those who were found guilty of corruption,

misappropriation, theft and extortion as political crimes, then there are no

political prisoners in Burma. These are mostly crimes committed by those in the

military and maybe a few civilians as exceptions. As the saying goes, If one

were to lose his or her sense of smell, then there is nothing to stop that person

from eating excrement? (nakhaung ma-par-hlin chi-daung-hma-sa-me) then it is

quite understandable that they were just obeying orders and thereby they haveto say what they were ordered to say. Isnt it the maxim of the military that,

We dont want to hear about a leaking water bottle, we only want the water

(yebupauk-htar maloe-chin-bu, ye-par-dar-be loe-chin-de). If I were the one to

fetch the water, then for sure I would give him some of my mellow yellow

instead.

Was it because they are ignorant that unlike them there are people who chose to

live within the truth? Or unlike some people, they may chose to live like the

greengrocer in Vaclav Harvels book, The Power of the Power, that ..he

declares his loyalty (and he can do no other if his declaration is to be accepted)in the only way the regime is capable of hearing; that is, by accepting the

prescribed ritual, by accepting appearances as reality, by accepting the given

rules of the game. In doing so, however, he has himself become a player in the

game, thus making it possible for the game to go on, for it to exist in the first

place.I can accept the military at the lower ranks acting in such blinded

obedience but what I could not understand to this day was how my relatives in

their relatively high positions also could be blinded by fear as well. They dare

not even question their superiors even when they knew what they were going to

do were against their conscience and were wrong in any sense. That is the

military in Burma for you, dont ask anything, be content with the scraps wethrown your way.

I was not foreign to the ways the military families lived. Compared to what we as

civilians faced, the lives of the soldiers rank-and-file were much worse, not more

than serfs and landlords. It would worst if the wives and children were cruel too.

The soldier who had to drive the car for his masters family did not have breaks

to get a decent meal. The two lives, between the military bosses and the civilian

staff, came head to head on collision course when those high ranking military

officials became ambassadors at the Burmese missions abroad. One ambassador

that I had to work with literally took the accreditation as Plenipotentiary

Extraordinary to the fullest. He considered himself that he directly accountableto the President who appointed him and no one else. It was his license steal and


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to do whatever he liked. Like most government departments embassies too have

financial rules and regulations to follow and like idiots we were made to learn

them by heart at the training we were given before we got our assignments.

Depending on who you got as the ambassador your life at your posting became

either heaven or hell- I got the latter.

Corruption and misappropriation must have been in their veins. Who are they to

have an iota of self-respect when all the personalities that they have to look up

to were themselves morally bankrupt? The posting they got as ambassador itself

was a kind of fringe benefits or the golden handshake given to them before

their retirement. It was a kind of double o 420- license to steal (I was told that

in the Indian Penal Code, code 420 is for stealing kya-hto-beast). As

Plenipotentiary what did they do for their own country? Not much, almost

nothing. They kept themselves occupied with some news clippings (it was worse

if most newspapers were not in English) to file their monthly reports. The rest

was up to the second man in charge to take care of whether it was workcoveror medical insurance for local engaged staff or others office management. The

diplomatic bag became their personal mail and the wives and children became a

nuisance at the office. At the state expense they would buy as much as to feed

the whole family for months if and when they had to entertain delegations with

dinners or lunch. Then at the state expense presents were given to the delegates

from office stores as if they were given out of their pocket. Let alone a Third

World country like Burma, even the Developed country like the United States and

Japan could went down to the state of bankruptcy if not an LDC the Least

Developed Country.

How can it be otherwise? Ever since you came out of either officers training or

defense academy as a leader you learnt to skim off the money from the

allowance that you had to pay for porterage. These poor souls dare not open

their mouth to such injustice their lives were at stake. I did not believe that

such misappropriations could take place until one of my relative told me about

the incident he experienced. Once at a camp in the front a porter requested to

see my relative and he was then shown the letter from the then President who

assigned an undercover agent to inquire into the military officers skimming off

money from porters in military campaigns.

Was it simply because of ignorance or whether they been conditioned likePavlovian dogs to blind obedience that they said time and again that there are

no political prisoners in Burma? I can confidently say it must be both. No where

in the world that a country like Burma claimed herself to be a country where a

very large majority is Buddhists. Like Daw Suu said, I think most Burmese

regard themselves as Buddhists but a lot of us are Buddhists by inheritance,

because our parents were Buddhists. I think there are a lot of Burmese who have

not really studied Buddhism very deeply, beyond the basic Five Precepts, and

take it very much for granted. I think it would be a great idea if we all took a far

deeper interest in our religious heritage and be serious about practising our

Buddhism, not simply professing it.


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Daw Suu was very generous when she said that most of those who regard

themselves as Buddhists did not go beyond the basic Five Precepts. Not many of

them are able to keep the Five Precepts intact. How can they when their lives are

overwhelmed by greed? Like Harold Lasswell said, Politics is about who gets

what, when and how. For the military regime and the military in Burma state

power is also about which generals got whatever they wanted legitimately ofillegitimately; whenever they wanted now and ever; and however they might

be able to lay his hands on things they wanted.

Like Daw Suu said in her conversations with Alan Clements in, The Voice of Hope,

Corruption exists everywhere throughout the country. You have to pay to get

the most ordinary things done such as renewing a car license. You even have to

bribe hospitals workers to perform necessary little services for patients.

Corruption is endemie. Whoever has the authority can do whatever they want. At

the village level the authorities refuse to do what they should do, unless they are

bribed. But that does not apply to everybody. I know that there are some Villageor Ward Law and Order Restoration Councils that are honest and try to help the

people. This is why we need democracy. We need a system that does not depend

on whether an individual wants to do what is right or not. The system should

have checks and balances that prevent him from going the wrong path.

Corruption watchdog such as Transparency International (TI) must have got it

wrong when they listed Burma second to the bottom among 176 countries

surveyed worldwide in its Corruption Perceptions Index Report for 2010. It

should have been worse than that if the index were taken for this year, 2011.

Could this be a surprise when the President of the eight month old civilian

government in his address to his newly formed government was for cooperation

in fighting corruption? If one is to believe that there are no corrupt officials in the

Burmese military then one has to believe there are no political prisoners in

Burma as well. END

Appendices.

Military Factions Join Opposition to Demand Amnesty

By KO HTWE Monday, August 29, 2011

Opposition parties within Burma's Parliament hold out some hope that generalamnesty orders proposed by minority members will be passed, although thematter has been sent to the National Defense and Security Council led byPresident Thein Sein for more discussion.

Thein Nyunt, Rangoon MP for the Lower House, submitted proposals on Thursdaythat the Hluttaw (Parliament) requests the president to continue issuing generalamnesty orders and provide necessary arrangements for submitting a bill for aPrisons Act which is agreeable to the 21st century and guarantees humandignity, according to The Mirror(Kyemon) newspaper.


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Two delegations from the Burmese Army also support the proposals and urgedthe new government to set their comrades who are serving prison sentencesfree. Some members from the regime-backed Union Solidarity and DevelopmentParty (USDP) planned to propose a general amnesty for all prisoners, but theUSDP remains reluctant to acknowledge the existence of prisoners of

conscience.I also support the proposals but I do not hold out hope that the government willallow amnesties for political prisoners. In the recent trip of UN Special Envoy

Tomas Ojea Quintana, they refused again to admit that there are any politicalprisoners, said an MP from the Lower House who asked to remain anonymous.

During his trip to Burma, Quintana met with several top officials in the capital ofNaypyidaw. Upper House Speaker Khin Aung Myint recently said that politicalprisoners would be released when it is certain doing so would not disrupt thenation's peace and stability.

However, I don't want to urge the government to allow an amnesty orotherwise. I'm hoping patiently although it may take a long time, said Thein

Nyunt.

Burmese Army delegates encouraging general amnesty orders clearly shows thatthe power shift between the military and Parliament has become more intensesince Thein Sein's adoption of his political role, claim observers.

Htay Aung, a Burmese military researcher, said that he is surprised that twoarmy delegations support the amnesty, and that the self interest amongstgovernment groups and within Parliament can now be clearly seen.

The emergence of state and region ministerssome of them former militarycommander-in-chiefshave blocked the authority of the current commander-in-chiefs of the regions. Recently, the duties of some commander-in-chiefs have

been suspended in relation to the ministers for those particular states andregions. They see movements against each other in the measures taking place,said Htay Aung.

The two delegations are expected to be referring to ex-spy chief Gen Khin Nyuntand his officers who were arrested in late 2004 and are currently serving prisonsentences, he added.

The Constitution guarantees the army one quarter of parliamentary seats. Low-ranking officers fill 25 percent of seats reserved for the military in the country'snational, state and regional legislatures.

Under Burma's 2008 Constitution, 110 seats in the Lower House of the UnionParliament, 56 in the Upper House and 222 in the State and Regional Parliaments

are reserved for military appointees selected by the country's armed forceschief.

Burma's second parliamentary session convened in Naypyidaw last week. Thesecond session of Burma's Union Parliament included representatives of both theUpper and Lower Houses. The first session of Burmas Parliament convened forthe first time in 22 years on Jan. 31.

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Five Military Generals under Investigation in Naypyidaw

Thursday, July 28, 2011


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Five top military generals from the Burmese army, suspected of corruption andexploiting their positions, are currently being questioned by Commander-in-ChiefGen Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw.

According to the military sources in the capital, those under investigation are:Maj-Gen Kyaw Phyo, the adjutant general of the army; Maj-Gen Khin Zaw Oo, the

chairman of the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd; Maj-Gen Myint Soe,one of the commanders of the Bureau of Special Operations (BSO); Brig-Gen

Than Tun Oo, the commander of the Triangle Regional Military Command; andBrig-Gen Khin Maung Htay, the commander of the Coastal Regional MilitaryCommand.

Myint Soe was involved in corruption regarding the sale of land when he wascommander of Northwest Regional Military Command. At that time, Thar Aye, thecurrent prime minister of Sagaing Division, complained about the matter in aletter to the president, said a military source.

"I heard that complaints had been received about commanders both former andcurrent for the coastal and triangle regional commands, he added.

The generals under investigation are still in active duty, however. A secondmilitary source said that if no strong evidence emerges, he expects the generalswill get away with just a warning.

On 22 July, Maj-Gen Tin Ngwe of the BSO was dismissed from duty accused ofinvolvement in a multi-million-dollar land deal in Mandalay. The current primeminister of Mandalay Division, Ye Myint, who is the former central regionalmilitary commander, reportedly produced strong evidence against Tin Ngwe.

Following Min Aung Hlaing's appointment as commander-in-chief of the armedforces, the first military general to be dismissed was Maj-Gen Tun Than, thecommander of Rangoon Division Military Command.

Military observers said that, if the accused generals are dismissed, Min AungHlaing will probably hand their positions to generals close to him.

As commander-in-chief, it is expected that he will offer important positions tothose he trusts, an observer said. Building power and mandate is a traditionwithin the Tatmadaw [Burmese armed forces].

According to the military sources who spoke to The Irrawaddy, Min Aung Hlaingis working under the direct instruction of Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

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Thein Sein Calls for Clean Government

By KO HTWE Friday, April 1, 2011In an address to his newly formed government on Thursday, Burma's newpresident, ex-Gen Thein Sein, called for cooperation in fighting corruption andurged the country's authorities to respect the rights of citizens.

The most important task of the new administration is to work together to creategood governance and clean government, Thein Sein was reported as sayingby The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper.

To achieve this, he said, all levels of government must be transparent,accountable and consistent with the constitution and the existing laws.

For many observers, however, his words offered little in the way of reassurance,

as Burma remains one of the world's most corrupt and oppressive nations.


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Thein Sein said that judicial affairs should be handled openly, but in fact thereare still cases being tried behind closed doors at Insein Prison, said Nyan Win, alawyer for Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, speaking to TheIrrawaddyon Friday.

Aung Thein, another prominent Rangoon-based lawyer, agreed that corruption

and a lack of transparency remain the norm in Burma.It exists in every government department, and will take a lot of effort to solve,he said, adding that every new government decries corruption when it assumespower, but few actually do anything about it.

Part of the problem, he said, was that the new government is in fact powerless todo anything without the approval of the generals and ex-generals who haveruled Burma for the past 22 years.

In his speech, Thein Sein also said that administrative bodies must be carefulnot to obstruct the fundamental rights of a citizen while dealing with the lawsand procedures.

What he said is true, but what's important is whether the authorities actuallyfollow his words. Words without actions are meaningless, said a lawyer fromNaypyidaw.

Pho Phyu, a lawyer who has represented Rangoon farmers in land seizure cases,welcomed Thein Sein's speech, but also stressed that major reforms would beneeded to combat abuses in the judicial system.

Right now, the courts are not really places where people can expect a fairhearing. If the government wants to create a just and straightforward legalsystem, it will have to guarantee the rights of lawyers, said Pho Phyu.

Burma's Bar Council Act abolished the right of lawyers to organize and formassociations, and other rights and freedoms are also limited, he added.

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No Political Prisoners in Burma