[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Reuters- Military rule in Myanmar -



Subject: Reuters- Military rule in Myanmar -- a writer's tale 

Military rule in Myanmar -- a writer's tale
06:37 a.m. Aug 25, 1999 Eastern
By David Brunnstrom

BANGKOK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Until July, Maung Tha Ya had spent all his 69
years in Myanmar. Now he is seeking asylum from a military-ruled existence
he calls a ``living death'' for authors.

On July 3, disguised as a gemstone trader and despite a weak heart, he began
an arduous and nerve-racking 10-day journey by bus, train, ferry and foot to
the Thai frontier.

One of Myanmar's best-known novelists, Maung Tha Ya's works have been banned
at home for the past 10 years and his publishing business shut down. Most of
his writer friends are in jail.

Fearing arrest himself, he fled with his youngest son but without his seven
other grown-up children. He says he can never return and wants the chance to
write freely before he dies.

Even after a month in Thailand from where he hopes to obtain political
asylum in the United States or Australia, Maung Tha Ya says he hasn't become
used to the freedom to speak his mind.

``You might not believe me that it frightens the hell out of me to air my
views and share my thoughts,'' he told journalists.

``You must understand that I come from a society where freedom of any sort,
let alone opening one's mouth, could land a person in deep trouble...I am
still trying to get over this fear of yapping my head off in public.''

Maung Tha Ya's troubles really began when he published short stories after
the military killed thousands to crush Myanmar's 1988 uprising for
democracy, comparing life in the country to that of a dog which has been
severely beaten to keep it quiet.

The message from the military was ``keep your mouth shut if you want to stay
safe and secure'' he said.

Given this atmosphere, he doubted a call by dissidents in exile for a mass
uprising for democracy next month would result in more than scattered
protests.

``In my country restrictions are too tight. People dare not move and it will
be very risky for those who demonstrate.''

Earlier this year, Myanmar began issuing publishing licences again -- not to
Maung Tha Ya but to relatives and friends of the generals who began
denouncing him and his work as ``dirty realism.''

``It's the usual way -- to isolate socially those who are prominent, and
afterwards they would arrest me,'' he said.

Maung Tha Ya estimated about 20 prominent writers were in jail, many of them
friends, and at least one had died in custody.

One friend, Win Tin, a senior member of the opposition National League for
Democracy, has been held for ten years.

``What has he done? -- He has done nothing except to try to work for his
country. I don't want to be like him. Why should I spend my life in
prison?''

Real writers had given up and looked for other ways to earn a living so
creative writing had more or less disappeared.

``Nowadays all there is are love stories, martial arts stories, business
stories and religious and astrological articles,'' he said.

He joked that people bought the rigidly controlled state newspapers for
``recycling or for packing material'' and read backwards, starting with
obituaries and personal advertisements.

Those wanting to get a clear idea of what was going on politically had to
rely on reading between the lines in the state press and on foreign radio
broadcasts.

Recognising the popularity of the British Broadcasting Corporation and the
Voice of America, authorities aired movies at the same time as their
Burmese-language transmissions, he said.

Restrictions on writers sometimes bordered on the absurd -- when the gaffes
of senior figures like former military strongman Ne Win became part of the
language, by official decree.

``It is nonsense, but say you wanted to right ``once upon a time'' you
couldn't -- you would have to write ``once upon one time'' because he had
said that. If the wrong thing got published then you would have to pay a
fine for each error.''