Interview with Aung Kgaw: Aung Kgaw has spent 14 years in prison, because he was a member of a democratic party in Burma.

AAPPB (2006) Eight Seconds of Silence:
The Burmese government, like most dictatorships, does it best to hide the crimes it commits against its people. Perhaps on some level it knows that what it does is shameful. But more likely, it views secrecy as another means to torment its persecuted opponents. It tells them: “Not only will we harm you physically, but no one in the world will know we did this to you. No one will know that you suffered. No one will know that you even excisted. And if they do not know, they will not care.”

Aung Kgaw works for the organization AAPP(B), Assistence Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
After he fled to Thailand in August, 2007 he currently helps out in the organization.

Aims and objectives of AAPP:
1. To report on the number of political prisoners held by the military regime, and on human rights violations carried out against them in various detention centers, prisons and labour camps.
2. To secure the support of governments and international organizations to put pressure on the Burmese military regime to stop the further persecution of political prisoners, and release them all.
3. To provide political prisoners with basic necessities such as food and medicine.
4. To protect political prisoners from harassment and intimidation by the military regime upon their release from prison, including when they are looking for employment, continuing their studies, associating with friends and colleagues, and especially to protect them from persecution if their political activities are resumed.
5. To aid in the reconstruction of ex-political prisoners’ lives, including both their mental and physical well-being.

Aung Kgaw, can you tell me who you are and what you are doing right now?
Yes.. my name is Aung Kgaw, I have spent in prison for 14 years, before I fled from Burma to Mae Sot 6 august 2007. I now work for AAPP(B).

At AAPP our most important job is assistance, we assist political prisoners and especially their children. In 2007 we assisted 200 children of political prisoners. .

We collect data and facts about political prisoners situation in our office and put them on our website www.aappb.org If you visit our website you can find out how many political prisoners are locked up and how many monks and students are locked up.

We also have here next to our office a small exhibition.
In march 2007 we’ve launched our campaign “free Burma political prisoners now”
We work together with alliance organization US and UK campaign for Burma, Amnesty International, Human right Watch.

What was your life like in Burma?
I was born in Theingyaung Township, Yangoon.
I had a common family life in Burma. My father was a government servant when I was a child.

What for job did you have?
I was a first year economic bible student in 1988.

How was your childhood when you where younger.
When I was 20 years old my father passed away so I had to move to my grandparents. I helped them with their business and also for my own school intuition.

Was it a nice place to live?
I don’t think it is a really nice place to live, because when I was a child, when we wanted to play in my township I didn’t see any playfields, we couldn’t play football or basketball because we didn’t have any fields.

Why did you come to Thailand?
Because I wasn’t safe anymore in Burma, Whenever I go, where ever I go, intelligence followed me. Also whatever I did, Intelligence followed me… watched me. So it was very difficult to stay in Burma.

Why did they follow you?
After I was released from prison, I tried to join a NLD student group, led by Min Ko Naing . He is well known in the 1988 democracy uprising as a student leader. After his release  in 2004 he founded a NLD student group. I joined the campaign.
Especially in 2006 we had a white color campaign. Every Sunday we whore the white color clothes and then visited the political prisoner families. The intelligence really hated our movement and arrested our group leaders including Ming Ko Naign in September 2006. So we started a campaign to release our leaders and all political prisoners and release Aung San Suu Kyi.

The regiment released our five leaders in jauary 2007, but they ignored our other demands. We where also under watch. I think all our families where also under watch.

Why where you arrested in 1988?
I participated in the 1988 democracy uprising as an economic university student.
At the time we had a economic university union so we.. I participated in my union especially for our freedom. Marching on the road. And we had speeches demanding to be free and to get democracy in Burma.
But  I was not arrested in 1988 but in 1991. In 1990 our  NLD party won the election, but the regime didn’t want to have NLD in the parliament, so they arrested the prominent leaders.

At the time we stayed hiding and working, to make a big demonstration in burma again, but then me and others where arrested.

Did you get a fair trial and did you get a lawyer?
No, uhh they put me through the military code, military code means the judge came from the army and  he gave me 12 years of imprisonment within 1 hour, without any defense lawyer or any public in the Insein compound.

Did your friends know what happened to you? Or your family?
No my family didn’t know… When intelligence arrested me.. at that time my family didn’t know what happened to me.
After the sentence my family got the information from other sources, not the police or intelligence.

How was your life in prison?
It is a really how do I say it.. a cruel situation. It was bad situation, so bad, it was a really bad situation. Especially when I, in January, went to Insein Prison,  Authorities treat all prisoners as pets or as their enemy.
We have to do whatever they want, we have to obey what every they want. That’s all in the prison.

How was it as a first time in the prison?

Yes first time in the prison, they call interrogation a prison custom, since I arrived in the prison I was covered with a blanket over my head and was beaten a lot.. but It’s a prison custom. We have to pay money to the prison guards. They introduce us with a beating.

What for food did you get?
2 Times a day we got rice and fishpaste and then one times a day we can get bean soup and a little bit vegetables.

Where you hungry?
Yes… the food was not enough.. Hungry and weakness. Our resistance was getting weaker.

Did you had a bed to sleep on?
No,we had to sleep on the concrete on a bamboo mat.

Was it cold or hot?
It was cold, wet and not clean.
We always asked the authorities, we want to clean our cell but they didn’t allow.

I can imagine you can get easily sick?
Yes.. I was sick many times, food not enough and not clean, water not enough and also not clean and so often I was suffering..

Did you get any medicine?
In the prison whenever you’re sick, they only give you Burminton and paracetamol. Burminton is to recover from allergic reactions and itching and paracetamol only for headaches, that is all they had.
And when you want to get some treatment then you have to buy it. Sometimes when your family is visiting they can get you medicine.

Did they interrogate you often?
Yes in my 14 years of imprisonment they interrogated me 6 times.

What did they want for you?
They want me to surrender, that I get out of my party.
Also they want me working together with them as a informer.

Where you scared?
No, because before.. we already discussed this with my colleges . we had to sacrifice our lives. We have to meet with the poverty, killings.. with the imprisonment..

Was the prison only for political prisoners or also normal prisoners?
In our cell compound, there where 6 cell blocks, but almost all where political prisoners, but some where criminals..

Did they treat you different then the criminal prisoners, was there a difference?
For criminal prisoners, when they arrive to prison they have to work, also they can go to places in the prison,  but they have to follow the rules.
Political prisoners are not allowed to do anything, we have to just stay in the cell.
We always try to protest our rights..

Your family can easily visit you?
When my mother always tried to visit one time in 2 weeks, but when I was moved to Thauwei prison, but then my mother could only visit me one time a month because I was so far away from home.

Where you afraid they would do something to your family?
Yes sure, when they visited to prison, they often ..
One time my sister kept her identity from the guards, but after meeting from me, the guards knew my sisters identity, so he dismissed my sister so she was really angry with the guard, she complained they should do something about my situation.

When you are so long in prison, how did you survive it mentally?
It must be really hard, because of injustice you can get really angry or lose control?
Yes.. maybe sometimes I was really angry, but we could meditate or we could make a many things , making a plastic bag or make chess pieces. Writing on a plastic sheet with a stick, also we also tried to write on the concrete.. a song or a poem.

Now you’re here.. Do you still dream about that time? Do you think about it many times?
Yes ..here I have to explain my experience about my situation. So always I remember about that, but not angry , we can learn on how to survive in prison, also we can stop repeating this in our country. We are safe, we are telling the truth to the world about our experience, so that is okay..

But sometimes we have nightmares or..

Now you’re here in Thailand are you safe here?
Yes I am safe so far, but I cannot see my future..

What will your life look like in 10 years?
In 10 years I want to have a peaceful life with a peaceful family…
In Burma..
Yes especially in my motherland.

Background information:
Ming Ko Naing – Student 1988 leader, on 11 November 2008 Min Ko Naing was sentenced to 65 years imprisonment, as 22 others had been for their role in the August 2007 demonstrations.
8888 Uprising – 1988 uprising for democracy. By the end of September, there were around 3,000 estimated deaths (mostly students) and unknown number of injured.
AAPP.org – Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma
1990 Burmese General Election – The elections were won convincingly by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, who took 392 of the 492 seats. However, the military junta refused to recognize the results.

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