MoeMaKa, July 26 2022
Political Debt and Personal Debt
Ko Jimmy @ Ko Kyaw Min Yu and Ko Phyo Zeyar Thaw @ Maung Kyaw, who were arrested in October and November last year, were hanged at In Sein Prison in the early morning of the previous Saturday. Together with them, Hla Myo Aung @ Wat Kyi and Aung Thuya Zaw @ Ga Tone were executed about the same day with death penalty with the accusation of murdering by stabbing a woman of non-CDM governmental staff a few days after declaring the Military Rule in Hlaing Thayar last year. There’s not much known detail about that two people from Hlaing Thayar who were sentenced to be hanged.
In Myanmar, the death penalty is worded “hanged” in common saying and it is executed by hanging. Ko Jimmy and Ko Zeyar Thaw were allowed to meet online with their family members on Friday, the day before they were hanged and neither the victims nor their families knew about their execution plan on that day and both of them asked their family members to deposit some money at the prison gate. But on the next day, they were hanged early morning in secret. The junta did not recognize human rights and did not respect them, but gave priority to maintaining power under the veiled word of national security and did not even follow the prison manuals and procedures related to the prison. The prison staff tricked or lied the families into coming to the prison on Monday when the office would be opened, to hand over the money. Then without following the procedure of complying with the wishes of the person on death row before the execution according to the prison manuals, they only allowed them to meet with their families without knowledge of execution.
The press release in the newspaper on Monday morning surprised their family members, the whole country and the World. For the first time since their arrests, they had one and only (last) chance to talk to their family members on video and after 2 nights, their family members acknowledged that their beloved ones were no longer in the world. Even date and time of death were kept hidden and after repeated inquiries by the family members, they found out that it was Saturday and the body had already been cremated. Family members were not allowed to cremate them, and they erased the remains without leaving any trace.
In fact, the reason for what happened is because they have worked firmly on their own faith based on the political belief and for the good interest of the Myanmar people. So the country owe them a political debt. It is neither a personal debt nor a political party’s debt. It is not animosity between one leader and another, nor is it between one group and another. It is a conflict between militarism, the military dictatorship and pro-democracy, pro-federal forces.
It is important to be more clear and more mindful on building federal unions, political goals of democracy, a future foundation of the country after overthrowing the military dictatorship. The Myanmar people should be more focused to achieve their goal with more unity. The hanging of four revolutionaries including Ko Jimmy and Ko Zeyar Thaw, who were portrayed by the military council as having directed and supported the assassination plot against Myanmar regime, should only be served as empowering moment to the anti-dictatorship forces not discouragement. It is also important not to turn it into individual revenge or retaliation. It is important to fight the system that is causing this kind of incident, as the military dictatorship is to be abolished completely from Myanmar’s land.