Fort Wayne Refugee Hails & Questions Release of Myanmar Political Prisoners
By Max Resnik
October 14, 2011
Updated Oct 14, 2011 at 7:15 PM EDT
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – Myo Myint, an outspoken local Burmese political refugee, says the release of nearly 6,400 hundred prisoners in what is now Myanmar is misleading.
In a humanitarian effort, the country formerly known as Burma, released 6,359 prisoners. According to Myint, who has documentation of those released, just 206 are actually political prisoners. He says Myanmar’s government is trying to fool the international community into believing they are making strides to move toward a democratic system of government.
He says the prisoners chosen to be released by the former Burmese government were already on their way out of incarceration because their sentences were ending.
“Most of these political prisoners who are released in two days are very close to being free because their prison terms were almost done."
Myint has the documents to prove it. He is a part of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), comprised of 300 former political prisoners. Myint’s documents have the names, sex, father’s names, section of law violated, prison sentence, occupation, prison location and birthplace of all 206 prisoners just released.
One of those prisoners, Nay Min, number 86, was just released. According to the documentation, Nay Min’s sentence was 15 years. He is a renowned reporter, lawyer and political prisoner. Nay Min and Myint were behind Burmese bars together.
“"He and I spent time together in same prison from 1990-1991. I have the information that he was released two days ago. I’m very happy, but at the same time I have the opposite feeling because most of my friends are still in prisons.”
Myint says there are currently 2,073 political prisoners in Myanmar. He says of the 206 released, he knows at least 26 prisoners. In Fort Wayne, Myint says 20-25 are political refugees like he who might have connections to the 206 just released. He says Fort Wayne residents will not see outcry from newer refugees because they do not understand the power of possessing a political stake. Having grown up under a military regime, newer refugees are just beginning to understand the importance and privilege of possessing voting power.
“Some of them are I.D.P.: Internally displaced persons. They were never involved in politics. They never heard about politics. What is politics? What are human rights violations? Through all of their lifetimes, they’ve received human rights violations, and they don’t know anything about Burmese politics. It is not unusual that they are not involved in Burmese politics.
For this reason, Myint says, Americans need to realize the power they possess. He says Americans cannot recognize what it means to be a political prisoner because of the freedoms every American is granted. He says Americans need to remember how powerful a political stake can be.
“You are the voter. You are the most important people. You have the right to choose the people who govern you.”
Myint says his work is not finished until all Burmese political prisoners are released and the government moves to a system of democracy.
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