Spirits undeterred despite harsh punishments: NLD youth

by Solomon

Friday, 14 November 2008 22:41

New Delhi - Despite the recent sentencing of dissidents to long prison terms, youth members of Burma's main opposition party – National League for Democracy – said they are undeterred in their beliefs and that their commitment to fight for democracy remains undeterred. Over the last week, Burma's military junta has sentenced numerous detained dissidents – students, activists, monks, writers, journalists and even poets – to lengthy prison terms. On Monday, a special court in Rangoon's Insein prison handed down verdicts to fourteen "88 Generation Students" of 65 years of imprisonment each, while sentencing several other activists, including members of the NLD, from two years to 20 years. The Insein court and several other township courts in Rangoon, throughout the week, continued to sentence youth members of the NLD as well as other activists, with at least another 14 sentenced from two to 16 years on Friday. Ko Pauk, an NLD youth member in Rangoon, said the junta's decision to sentence several of his colleagues to long prison terms is a big blow to the democracy movement, but that it will not deter him and his other colleagues, who are still free, from continuing activities that they believe will help to restore democracy in Burma. "We have been prepared for this kind of situation, we knew it would happen one day so we have nothing to worry about because it cannot overrun our spirit," Ko Pauk told Mizzima by telephone. He said that despite the government's continued repression, he and his colleagues are ready to carry on the fight internally, and are prepared to face the consequences that they might have to pay if arrested by the junta. Following the junta's bloody crackdown on protestors in September 2007, the junta stepped-up its crackdown on activists, arresting hundreds of activists and detaining them over the course of the past year. Though the junta had previously charged many acitivist under various acts, including an electronic act to the most popular act of inciting people to threaten national security, until recently it had not sentenced most activists. Ko Pauk said the sentencing of several activists to long prison terms in recent days could be a move to isolate key activists before its planned election in 2010. The junta previously announced that it is moving forward on its roadmap to democracy and will conduct a general election in 2010. But critics and opposition groups speculate that the junta is determined to win the election by any means possible in an effort to legitimize its rule. One of the junta's strategies, along such lines, is to determine the results of the election through the elimination of opposition forces, critics say. "By sentencing activists to long prison terms they [the junta] want to weaken the opposition so that there will be no obstacles for them," said Ko Pauk. According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP-B), at least 400 members of the NLD are languishing in prisons across the country. The list of political prisoners drastically increased following the monk-led demonstrations in September 2007, from a previous population of some 1,100 to presently over 2,100. Myint Myint Aye, secretary of the NLD in Meikthilar in central Burma, said they are praying at the pagodas for the release of political prisoners, fearing for their lives. "They [the junta] are acting in exact opposition to what they claim about reforming the country," she said. She said the NLD needs to reconstitute itself as a stronger force to continue its fight for democracy, as the party has a responsibility to bring change to the country. A one-time political prisoner, she said she knows the difficult situation that she had to go through in the prisons, but, she said, she is ready to go on with the fight and her spirit is stronger than ever. Another youth member of the NLD said despite the junta's continued repression they are not dismayed and will continue to do whatever actions they can do. "When we talk about the recent events [sentencing of activists to long prison terms], I can see that none of us feels depressed, but instead all of us are angrier and more determined to continue the fight," a youth from Rangoon, who wished not to be identified, said. He said, "The government is proving its injustice and people have witnessed it. So, we are not afraid and will continue…come what may." < Prev   Next >