I will keep on doing my duties insists U Khin Win, the chairman of Yenangyaung NLD

DVB ( July 23,2003 )

The DVB has reported that 4 NLD members from Yenangyaung Township have been released by the authorities recently after two weeks detention.

They are the NLD chairman U Khin Win and the secretary U Maung Maung and NLD Youth members Ko Than Aung and Ko Aung Thein Oo.

They were arrested with the charge of trying to rally the MPs to put their signatures to a petition letter to be sent to the SPDC chairman General Than Shwe in connection with the May 30 Dipeyin incident. U Khin Win insisted that the NLD is a legal party and all the members have the right to take part in what they did:

U Khin Win : They asked us why we did that. They thought that we did that to rally and agitate. We have no intention to agitate. Our party is not outlawed. It is in the situation of being shut down only. All party members have the rights to take part in political activities, that is what I believe. And another thing is our country is a signatory of the UN Human Rights declarations. In these declarations, there are rights to organise, to gather freely, to express our opinions and the like. That’s why we are doing this.

DVB : If the people concerned (NLD leaders) give you more responsibilities, what would you do?

U Khin Win : Yesterday, when I was released from the detention centre, the first thing I did was to telephone my chairman U Han Zaw. I reported to him as follows: ‘I am now released from prison. I am ready to resume my duties given to me by the NLD’. He told me that I had done my duty in concerning with the letter and he would contact me if he had more duties for me in the future. I promised to him that I am ready to do my duties. He is the chairman of the division and I am the chairman of Yenangyaung Township and I have to do the duties given to me. We are doing our legal duties in accordance with the legal party’s rules. I have to do my duties. I can’t ignore my duties.

DVB : What are your views on being arrested for writing the letter?

U Khin Win : In the letter, there are five demands. First, release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Release all central NLD working (CEC) members including U Aung Shwe who are being held under house arrest. Another thing, issue the precise list of the people who were wounded, arrested and killed in the Dipeyin incident. The third demand which they don’t like at all is – to recognise and implement the results of the 1990 general elections. They don’t like that but the reason why we repeat that demand is the election was held in accordance with the people’s parliament election law, namely the edict of 14/89 which was issued by them on the 31st of May 1989. We will keep on demanding that because of the fact that the people of Burma, the world and the UN all said that the election was free and fair. We will keep on demanding that.

The SPDC has been releasing some of the people detained recently but more people are being arrested at the same time. At Bassein, Irrawaddy Division some people were arrested on the 5th of July for demanding an enquiry into the Dipeyin incident. Among the arrested is the NLD township chief organiser U Aye Win and he was sentenced to 4 years in prison. U Aye Win was denied the right to hire a lawyer to defend himself and he is not allowed to see his family members, the NLD members in Bassein told the DVB.

Similarly, the MP of Mogok, Daw May Hnin Kyi was arrested last week and her family members are still not allowed to see her to this day. When she was arrested, they were told that she is detained in Insein Prison but when they went to find her there today, they were disappointed by the lack of information about her, said her daughter as follows:

Daw May Hnin Kyi's daughter : We have no contact with her. We were not allowed to see her. There is no news from her. When I went to see them today, they told me that they are at a meeting and the like. So, I went to the prison and asked for the prison governor…we don’t know whether she is in Insein Prison or not. They stopped us at the gate of the prison…the governor was not there. They asked me why I was there. I told them my business… The guard rang the office of the governor. The people from the office said that they knew nothing about her. They didn’t know her name and they are unable to verify it either, they told me.