Myanmar dissidents fear 8888 struggle forgotten
YANGON: Ko Shell had his teeth knocked out during torture sessions and spent 14 years in six jails, but as the 30th anniversary looms of the famed Myanmar prodemocracy uprising that led to his incarceration, he says those sacrifices are being forgotten.
Sitting in a tea shop here, he worries history is not being taught to the younger generation, a frustration mirroring wider disappointment with the government among many jailed for opposing the junta which ruled for four decades.
“All the true stories were not shared with the public,” the 49year-old said.
Military regimes in Myanmar imprisoned nearly 10,000 people since the army first seized power in 1962, sending the country into decades of isolation.
Most were jailed in the years after nationwide strikes on Aug 8, 1988, better known as the “8888 Uprising”, which is part of broader anti-junta demonstrations that catapulted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi into the spotlight.
The daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, Suu Kyi was swept up in the revolt shortly after returning from a cozy life in England to care for her sick mother.
But despite then spending a combined 15 years under house arrest by the paranoid regime, Suu Kyi has emphasised reconciling with the generals after winning landmark elections in 2015.
While a third of members of parliament in her party have served time for activism, prominent members of the 1988 protests were passed over when candidates for Parliament were chosen to run.
The lack of compensation, monuments or other forms of redress for victims have caused angst, while many can’t get the work they seek due to the stigma of jail.
“Most of them face difficulties,” said Ko Shell, a taxi driver.
Frustration with Myanmar’s government under Suu Kyi has risen since she took office more than two years ago.
The country has faced global ire for its bloody handling of the Rohingya crisis — which the United Nations and Washington have described as ethnic cleansing — while conflicts burn in remote borderlands and the military still controls 25 per cent of parliament.
Suu Kyi has also been singled out for lacklustre economic reforms and top-down management.
The next national elections are due in 2020 and a group of veteran 1988 leaders have announced plans to launch an alternative to Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.