Post-Coup Neon Noir Leads to Prison and Out Again
Nway's relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi exemplifies a critical intersection in Burma's prolonged struggle for democracy. Emerging from a period of prolonged political repression, Nway aligned himself with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) as a response to the socio-political currents that shaped modern Burma. Nway’s story epitomizes the broader resistance movement against the Burmese military junta. Nway’s journey, influenced by his family's political legacy, intertwined with Suu Kyi’s leadership at pivotal moments of national upheaval, underscores the dynamic interplay between individual agency and structural forces. Their collaboration reflects a struggle between authoritarianism and the quest for democratic governance that continues to shape the historical trajectory of Burma.
“To be honest with you, the people of Burma do not like NLD very much but their hatred for the military is stronger; many people are supporting NLD in order to get rid of the military.”
I am not an expert in sneaking into places, but I had took advantage of sone opportunities to surreptitiously enter the Inya Lake compound where she was under house arrest. I was able to make contact with some trustworthy workers there, and had some messages smuggled in to Suu Kyi.
Here is another interesting story about smuggling messages. Before the outbreak of the Saffron Revolution in 2007, there were already talks among the citizens of Burma to implement some kind of resistance. As you know, the Saffron Revolution was a grassroots movement. The young people working in the NLD, including me, were in contact with different revolutionary groups. We all wanted to send a message to an imprisoned, elderly monk in the infamous Insein prison in Yangon to inform him that the monastic community had decided to lead the revolution. But in order to get this message through, the carrier had to deliberately get arrested; my friend, Myint Khaing, volunteered. We thought of an idea for him to get arrested: he should stand in a shadow at night. In Burma, the police could arrest people for up to three days if they were seen hanging around in a seedy area at night. For 9 days, Myint Khaing tried hard to get picked up in this way, but had no luck. Then he decided to try going to the Kyi Min Daing fish market, a notorious place for crimes, and hang out there hoping to get picked up for the same reason, but still, he did not get arrested. After that, he visited some illegal massage parlors because the military would arrest people there in order to shake them down, but it turns out that those parlors were military-run, so they wouldn’t arrest people frequenting there. Finally, he just hauled off and hit a policeman, and only then did he get arrested, and able to deliver the message to that monk. (Sadly, Myint Kaing was murdered after the 2021 coup.)
Like during the Saffron Revolution, some secret messages needed to be delivered to imprisoned politicians in the Insein prison after the outbreak of the 2021 revolution. I volunteered, and managed to get arrested in April 2021. However, I realized I had made a miscalculation! Once I was in the jail, I remembered how dispersed the revolution groups were outside of the prison. The members of the parliament leading the current NLD government were hiding at the Mercy house while young people preparing for armed resistance were living at another safe house. Unknown of each other’s location and future plans, they were operating separately. I was the only one who knew all their locations and can help them find each other. But in jail, I couldn’t help! So I immediately tried to get out of jail. During his interrogation, I tricked the guards into thinking they could trust me so that they would release me. I lied that the revolutionary groups would negotiate with all parties, including the military, for a win-win situation in the country, and that I was an important go-between. They must have thought I was a spineless and flexible politician, but because they believed my story, they let me go.