Not an Uncommon Story

09/15/09 5:04pm

Last night my intentions were pretty simple, I was going to go out to dinner then go back and relax until another day of work but as it goes, sometimes life doesn’t deal you out exactly as you have planned.

On this simple quest I encountered a Burmese man who had quite the incredible story. I don’t want to give too much detail with how exactly we encountered each other, out of respect of his sensitive situation, but I would like to share with you what he has been through as a perfect example of how this seemingly extreme story really is just common place here. It is also a perfect demonstration of the injustices that are happening every day in Burma. Here is his story:

At a young age this Burmese man had a dream to join the SPDC (name the Burmese military gave themselves, stands for State of the Peace and Developing Council, pretty ironic). He was a bright boy so it was only a short matter of time before he was able to pass the appropriate tests and join. He said that very shortly into it, it became clear how corrupt the military was. Killing at will if it benefited their “cause”, taking peoples land, you name it. It hit close to home when his officer told him that they needed to reach a quota of people to arrest and he hadn’t reached his, so he needed to find those who had disobeyed the laws and if he couldn’t, then pick any five people, make up something they did that was illegal and arrest them anyways. He did not like this obligation so he refused to do it. When it became apparent he wasn’t obeying his orders they gave him another chance, but he still wouldn’t obey his orders. He realized that the military wasn’t for him so he wanted out. It’s not that easy in Burma, you just can’t quite the military. With lots of tugging and pulling he was able to leave by his parents paying a fine of $1500 US dollars (which can be a lifetime of money here).

There is a lot more that goes to his story, unfortunately I can’t remember all the details but here are the remainder highlights. After leaving the military he attended university for a science degree. When he was at school he met other students who were political activists who were also against what the military was doing. He joined their cause and helped an organization to advance this cause. During the time he was a student was the same time the Saffron Revolution occurred in 2007. For those who don’t know, the Saffron Revolution was when up to a hundred thousand people, lead by about thousands of Buddhist monks wearing saffron colored robes, protested the fact the military had removed fuel subsidies causing the prices to go up significantly (500%) and therefore caused all products to skyrocket. This protest lasted around two weeks and caused lots of bloodshed where approximately hundreds of people were killed, including 30-40 monks. This was a monumental event because it was the first one of its kind that had happened since the 1988 military take over. *side note: it continues to be a shock that the Burmese militia killed monks since Burma’s foundation is Buddhism which, as a staff member said in my office, by killing the monks you are literally killing your god* So this Burmese man took part in the protest and was beaten by the military and arrested. One of his friend soldiers lied and told the militia they had arrested the wrong man so he was set free before nearly being sentenced to 40 years in jail. Soon after this, the military discovered footage of him protesting and came to him again. This time they told him that he is an “old officer” who they value, and that he needs to consider coming back to work for them and not fighting this trivial political stuff. He postponed as long as he could by making excuses but when push came to shove and he wouldn’t serve, he was arrested again. This time his parents needed to pay $2000 to let him out, not even knowing what he did wrong, and they had to sell their home and all major belongings in the process to do this.

After this he tried leaving to another country but the military found out before his departure so they claimed that because he continues to defy the SPDC he would be punished so they took his passport away and told him that he is not allowed to leave the country and to make sure he doesn’t leave, every day he needed to go in and sign to prove he is still in the country. He did this for a while until he made the decision to leave and enter Thailand as a refugee which is where he is at today. His family continues to be interrogated by the military attempting to find out the location of his whereabouts but they haven’t found out yet. He is trying to be resettled to another country through the UNHCR but he currently does not have registered refugee status, he is working on that now. Until then he lives in fear of the Thai police discovering him and sending him back.

I know that each refugee has devastating stories, which is the cause for them to leave, but I have never heard one where a person initially worked for the oppressors until they made the conscious decision to stop oppressing and in the process became the oppressed. This is an incredibly powerful story, and a pretty impactful evening having the honor of hearing it.