အန္တီေဒၚျမင့္ျမင့္ၾကည္
— with ဘရာဇီး ငွက္ရိုး, Ko Lin Wai Aung and Nang Aung Htwe Kyi.
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- Nang Aung Htwe KyilAfter 20 years, mother ends silence on ABSDF ordeal
ShareBy Ma Thanegi
Volume 32, No. 638
August 06 - 12, 2012Daw Myint Myint Kyi at her home in Yangon.
Pic: Ma ThanegiDAW Myint Myint Kyi, 62, runs a small parikkara (monk utensil) shop out of the front room of her ground floor flat and is a devout Buddhist. It was her strong faith that saw her through 1992: a year of unimaginable terror.
“At times, I even wanted to kill myself,” she told The Myanmar Times in a recent interview. “The only thing that kept me alive was that I knew I must save my son at all costs.”
After 20 years, the story can finally be told.
Her youngest son Bo Bo was involved in the 1988 uprising as a 14-year-old ninth-grader and soon after fled across the border to join the Northern Burma branch of the armed student group, All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF-NB), based just inside Myanmar near Sama, a border town with China. The camp was in a Kachin Independence Army-controlled area and inaccessible from the Myanmar side. The only possible route was to cross from Muse to Ruili on the China side of the border in northern Shan State, where supporters and members of the ABSDF lived, and re-enter Myanmar further north with their guidance.
In early 1992, U Maung Maung of Mandalay – an older brother of one of Bo Bo’s colleagues – heard disquieting news about conditions at the ABSDF camp and had managed to visit. (See related story).
He learned that his brother, Nyi Nyi, was among the students that had been accused of being officers of Military Intelligence (MI), arrested and tortured in order to extract confessions. On February 12, 1992, 15 ABSDF (NB) members-turned-prisoners, including Htun Aung Kyaw, a former “chairman” of the group, were executed. In a camp of about 300, more than 100 were accused of working for MI.
Bo Bo, who went across the border at barely 15 years of age, was accused of being an MI captain.
U Maung Maung talked several times about his brother’s situation with Thangyaung, the ABSDF (NB) “chief of staff”, his deputy, Myo Win, and Ronald Aung Naing, the group’s former “general secretary” who became “chairman” after Htun Aung Kyaw was conveniently removed from office.
However, Nyi Nyi was not released so U Maung Maung stubbornly stayed on in the camp. - Nang Aung Htwe KyiFinally Myo Win agreed that U Maung Maung’s brother and the other prisoners who had confessed would be released to their parents along with their letters of confession, which were to be delivered by U Maung Maung. If the parents did not come within one month to collect their children the prisoners would be executed.
Six other prisoners, including Bo Bo and a girl, Nan Aung Htwe Kyi, confessed and wrote to their parents; too many of their comrades had died under the brutal torture handed out by ABSDF (NB) leaders.
U Maung Maung went back and made another trip with five mothers and one father; they agreed that it would be less dangerous for women than men. Apart from U Maung Maung and Daw Myint Myint Kyi, there was Daw Khin Hnin Kyi, mother of Nan Aung Htwe Kyi; Daw Than Sein, mother of Ye Lin; Daw Yi Yi Khin, mother of Wunna Zaw; Daw Khin San, mother of Nyi Nyi Aung; and U Aye Naing, father of Kyaw Naing Oo.
The anxious party arrived at camp on the evening of March 19, 1992. Myo Win was conveniently away and Aung Naing, the “chairman”, was in charge. After two days of waiting the parents were allowed to meet their children.
While the other parents were soon hugging their children, Daw Myint Myint Kyi had to wait for more than an hour to see Bo Bo.
“I found out afterwards that they could not find the key to the shackles and had to cut him free … he told me later that when the chains were finally off, he thought he would float away, he felt so light,” she said.
The chains were made of links as thick as a man’s thumb.
When U Maung Maung saw Nyi Nyi on his first trip to the camp, his brother had been wearing blood-encrusted clothing. Perhaps the camp leaders were savvier this time because when Daw Myint Myint Kyi finally saw Bo Bo, he was in a brand new uniform. But, unwashed, the signs of the torture remained: his face was bloated, black and blue with bruises, there was still encrusted blood on his nostrils and ears, and he was barely able to walk after months in shackles.
“Really, I did not recognise him at first,” Daw Myint Myint Kyi said. “His face was so bloated and covered with bruises, his lips pale, his hair scraggly and he was tottering with weakness. He had also grown much taller than the 14-year-old I last saw. I was nonplussed, not sure if it was him, so I took his hand in mine and gently bent his fingers backwards … you see, my son could bend his fingers to touch the back of his hand! When I did that, he knew why and he smiled … and I knew that smile; it was my son.”
She later found out from someone else that fish hooks had been inserted into his nostrils and ears and the lines pulled up so high that he had to stand hours on tiptoe to avoid having his flesh torn off; it was just one of the many inventive torture methods he endured. He never said anything about it to his family after the first time he casually brought it up in conversation because it caused his mother to break down into uncontrollable sobs.
At the sight of their parents, the students broke down in tears and begged to be taken home, asking the parents to “do whatever the camp officers ask then to do”. In the flowing days there was no definite answer from Aung Naing and the parents repeatedly said to him and anyone within earshot that they would not leave without their children.
One day the parents were shown a video of their children being politely interrogated and the accused, wearing good clothing and unchained, immediately confessing to their crimes; it was so obviously a sham and after the show, Aung Naing announced there had been a change of plans and that he was not going to release the children. There was an instant uproar of anger and protests from the parents. - Nang Aung Htwe KyiWhile they were still arguing, Aung Naing’s face brightened. He said that he was sure their children would not want to go back. The parents replied that their children had begged to be taken home at which Aung Naing told them to “ask them again tomorrow and let’s see what they say”.
The next day the parents met their children and predictably they all said they wanted to remain at camp and, with some urgency, kept asking the parents to leave.
Daw Myint Myint Kyi suspected something was amiss.
“I put my arms around Bo Bo’s neck, kissed his cheek and whispered into his ear: did they threaten you? … And he murmured yes.”
Later she found out that Aung Naing had told them he “would not take responsibility for the safety of the parents if they stayed”.
A few days later the parents were shown statements signed by their children that they were MI officers and the parents were made to sign prepared statements saying they knew their children to be MI officers. Before she signed Daw Myint Myint Kyi stared Aung Naing in the face and said: “I am signing this statement only because I am being coerced to do so; my son is not an MI agent.”
Aung Naing said that as Nyi Nyi Aung, Wunna Zaw, and Bo Bo (who had managed to bargain his alleged rank down to sergeant) were non-officers they would be released if the parents came back for them in a few months time.
On April 3 the parents were, for the first time, allowed to meet their children without supervision. Then the stories of the torture and executions came out; those who had not confessed to the accusations were murdered in cold blood. One was Khin Cho Oo, who was gang-raped and spikes driven into her vagina. The torture went on for weeks until Thangyaung threatened to behead her and she grimly replied, “CS, just shoot me in the head.” He did.
The parents, in tears, went home two days later. In June, 55 prisoners escaped and Daw Myint Myint Kyi realised her son would be in greater danger. In September, she and Daw Khin San, the mother of Nyi Nyi Aung, went back again but their attempts to reach the camp were unsuccessful. In March 1993 they went back again and, this time with great difficulty, reached the camp.
Daw Myint Myint Kyi and Daw Khin San asked for the release of their sons, as well as Wunna Zaw, whose mother had begged them to also bring her son home. But Aung Naing still refused to free the boys for some days, giving one excuse after another.
Finally, one morning Aung Naing agreed but said the “paperwork” would not be finished until 5pm. He suggested they stay the night in the camp but the two mothers and three sons left immediately; they were not going to spend one more minute in that hellhole.
“The story needs to be told,” Daw Myint Myint Kyi said. “Our children, over 100 of them, were branded as traitors, tortured and many were massacred. They deserve vindication and justice.”5 hours ago · · 3 - Nang Aung Htwe Kyi အေပၚက comment အေၾကာင္းအရာေတြက သတင္းစာထဲက ေရးသားခ်က္ေတြကို copy လုပ္ျပီးတင္ထားေပးတာပါ။ က်မေရးတာမဟုတ္ပါ။4 hours ago · · 4
- Htay Tint ကူးသြားျပီ3 hours ago · · 1
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