At that time, in 1988, I was a first year university student. So at that time, we didn’t know much about politics. We just knew that we have a very difficult economic problem. And you may have heard that there was a – how can I say that? Many illegal – the government announced that the money – about 100 kyats notes and 50 kyats notes [Burmese currency] are illegal or like that. So there are many complaints about being announced like that. And there are many other cases who felt that they don’t – they didn’t satisfy their government, but we have no ways to express our feelings. [The Burmese leader at the time, General Ne Win, compounded years of economic mismanagement by suddenly cancelling certain currency notes. He wanted only 45 and 90 kyat in circulation because they were divisible by nine, which he considered a lucky number.]
But in 1988, at the Yangon Institute of Technology School, there was conflict – there was fighting – we can say that – between the university students and the young people who lived in that ward – so there was a conflict. And according to the conflict, the government solved this problem by favoring the ordinary young people who are living in the ward. So he is one of the son of the chairman of this – “wardship” [township] – that’s why the government favored that youth group. That’s why the university students, engineering students, very – got angry and they fought each other. And the government cracked down very seriously.
That’s why one of the most prominent leaders, student leader, Phone Maw, died on the spot [he was shot dead during clashes with the military]. From that – this is the spark– and after that, there were any uprisings and many demonstrations, not only in the engineering university, but also in other regional colleges and the main university, we call Yangon University. So there were many uprisings that happened. And also, it is one of the most important one is the international radio channel, like BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation], VOA [Voice of America] – at that time, there was only two channels. So they also announced the uprising news, updated news so people knew about this news. And also they like to join in the protest, and after that – and they call that date 8/8/88 [August 8, 1988]. So there would be – the whole country would be in a protest at the same time on 8/8/88. So, on that time, there is a big march, a big protest happened in the whole country.
You know, we have seen many bad images and many bad things in the 1988 student uprising. Because we were –I was one of the students who make protests among the students. So we know very well how the military generals treated the students, not only the students but also the public who peacefully demonstrated without any arms, or without any weapons. So yeah. For the security reason, we have a – we were very afraid of being in jail or being shot by the soldiers. But for our future and for our country, it’s really – we are the very important people to continue to fight the military regime, because, you know, after – on that date, you know, 2000 to 2010, the new generation came out. Young people are very afraid to deal with – to engage with politics. You know, new generations never had or never even seen the 1988 uprising.
They don’t have any experience and no idea because although most of the state-owned media and newspaper – never allowed to express the news of the 1988 uprising. So the new generation, next generation never knows what was happened in the past. That’s why they are a little bit hesitant to join in politics. But for our generation, it is a 1988 so we know very well about the situation. And we – I myself regarded as we should do – at least in our family one people, one of the family members should do – should participate in politics to get the democracy in the first steps.
Khin Lay is a Burmese civil society and political activist. She was born in Yangon in 1971.
She pursued a career in education, hoping to be a university professor. That ambition changed after Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s democracy movement, inspired Khin Lay to take an active role in freeing her country. In 1995, Khin Lay joined Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
As a member of NLD, Khin Lay endured constant surveillance by the regime. In 2000, she was arrested by authorities for her involvement with the party. After five days of interrogation in which she was blindfolded and deprived of sleep, Khin Lay spent four months in Insein Prison, a facility notorious for its deplorable conditions and use of torture. She was released in 2001.
More recently, Khin Lay has focused on strengthening women’s rights and building a more robust civil society. She founded the Triangle Women Support Group, an organization dedicated to empowering Burmese women, developing their political and professional skills, as well as encouraging greater participation in public life. She believes that fostering a new generation of strong, female leaders is a key component to Burma’s democratization.
Burma, a Southeast Asian country with about 57 million people, is ruled by a military regime that seized power in 1962. Although the reformist National League for Democracy (NLD) won overwhelmingly in a 1990 election, the country’s military rulers ignored the results and arrested NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 “for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights.” The military government held a referendum on a new constitution in 2008 and a parliamentary election in 2010, neither of which was regarded by international observers as free or fair, and both of which resulted in overwhelming majorities for pro-government positions and candidates. The military regime has committed widespread and systematic human rights violations, including extrajudicial killing, torture, rape, and denial of freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion.
Throughout its existence, the regime has been at war with a number of Burma’s ethnic minority groups. Ethnic minority voters overwhelmingly supported the NLD in the 1990 election, and after the suppression of the democracy movement several of these groups continued or resumed armed resistance to the de facto government. Although the government signed cease-fire agreements with several of these groups ostensibly granting them autonomy within their respective regions, the Burmese military has used a range of brutal techniques, including the killing of civilians, forced labor, rape, and the destruction of homes, crops, and villages, in cease-fire zones as well as in areas where there is still armed resistance.
In 2007, as on several previous occasions, there were mass demonstrations throughout the country demanding freedom and democracy. The 2007 demonstrations were led by Buddhist monks and eventually became known as the “Saffron Revolution” after the color of the monks’ robes. The armed forces brutally suppressed these demonstrations—estimates of the number of protestors killed range from 31 to several thousand—and intensified popular dissatisfaction with the government by the killing, beating, and public humiliation of monks.
The nominally civilian government resulting from the 2010 election has been widely regarded as a façade for continuing military rule. However, in October 2011, the government released 206 of Burma’s estimated 2,000 prisoners of conscience. The next month, the government announced that it would soon release all remaining political prisoners. The NLD, which had declined to participate in the 2010 election, registered to participate in the next election and announced that Aung San Suu Kyi would be among the NLD candidates.
Although the military regime announced in 1989 that it had changed the English name of the country from Burma to “Myanmar,” the United States government and other international supporters of democracy in Burma have generally continued to call the country Burma because this is the name preferred by Aung San Suu Kyi and other democracy advocates who won the 1990 election.
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