Missing people from Mandalay

DVB ( July 10, 2003 )

Although it has been more than a month since the Dipeyin incident occurred, it is reported that the people in Mandalay are still finding it difficult to find out the exact conditions of missing and detained people.

As the NLD members of Mandalay have been actively participating in pro-democracy activities, many of them became the victims and hostages of the 30th May Dipeyin assault, a Mandalay Division NLD leader.

So far, only eight people from the Mandalay who accompanied Daw Aung San Suu Kyi have been released and it is still difficult to estimate the exact number of people detained and missing, said one of the NLD divisional leaders U Ko Ko Gyi as follows:

U Ko Ko Gyi : It is impossible to estimate the number. Impossible. They are all scattered everywhere. Impossible to estimate. They haven’t released all the people. They have released only eight people the other day. These eight people seemed to be ordered to say that they knew nothing about the incident. They released people like these. Some people were knocked out early during the assault and never knew what had happened. Some regained their consciousness in the next morning and know nothing about what had happened the previous night. Some people have returned home but they dare not go out and say that they are released. Some people really still haven’t returned home. It is not good to see the people who have returned in the current situation and people are not meeting one another. We are all listening to the tone of the situation.

U Ko Ko Gyi’s daughter, Ma Thanda Soe is among the missing people and his son, Ko Kyaw Soe Linn who drove Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car on the day of the incident is now being detained in Khanti Prison [northern Burma].

He said that he tried to see him son twice but the plan had to be cancelled due to weather condition and other difficulties. When asked how he feel about losing both his son and daughter thus in the assault on the 30th May, he answered:

U Ko Ko Gyi : Well, naturally, we even don’t want a blue bottle to touch my son or my comrades. It’s the same. I don’t want them to be harmed. But they are working for the country and we are proud of them all the same for sacrificing their lives like other NLD members.