Myanmar's military junta released five high-profile dissidents yesterday that it arrested in September at a time of intensifying international pressure on the ruling generals to take concrete steps on the road to democracy.
Their release by the military rulers, who also freed 40 political detainees last week as part of a mass prisoner release to mark the 59th anniversary of independence from British rule, was sudden and unexpected.
"We were all sent back home at about 1:30am this morning," said Min Ko Naing, a leader of a pro-democracy student uprising in 1988.
PHOTO: EPA
He confirmed that he and his colleagues were in good health.
Asked why he thought they had been released, he said: "As we all know, it is mounting pressure at the UNSC," referring to US efforts to have the UN Security Council put pressure on the generals.
Anti-junta pressure groups agreed the release was timed to deflect attention from efforts by the US to get the Security Council to press Myanmar this week into easing repression and beginning a promised transition to democracy.
"This looks like nothing but a cynical ploy to stop the UN Security Council from taking action," said Aung Din, policy director of the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma.
The US on Tuesday introduced a draft resolution to the Security Council urging Myanmar's rulers to initiate democratic reforms, release all political prisoners and stop using rape as a weapon of war.
The other freed activists are Ko Ko Gyi, Ko Htay Kywe, Ko Pyone Cho and Ko Min Zeya, all of whom played prominent roles in the nationwide 1988 protests in which several thousand people were killed after the army moved in to quell the dissent.
Since 1988, each has spent between nine and 15 years behind bars. Within the country, they are viewed as the most prominent anti-junta figures after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate who is under house arrest.
"Ko Htay Kywe and I were kept at the same place but in different buildings. We came to know that we were there together only after our release," Naing said.
"The rest were kept somewhere else. But we all were treated well," he said.
"We are determined to keep on working for the emergence of national reconciliation and democracy in our country through dialogue. We will continue all our campaigns," he said.
The present junta suffered a landslide election defeat to Suu Kyi's National League Democracy in 1990, but ignored the result.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
RSS