16.07.2006
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A Visit to "Moscow Museum" of Mae Sot
In downtown Mae Sot, there is a small exhibition hall hosted by a group of expatriates from Burma which should be a must-see on any traveller's guide book. I had read about this hall from an internet article and Nic Dunlop, the famous photographer, took me there. A young lady called Aye Aye Moe, a Yangonthu (native of Rangoon), gave me a tour of the exhibits. She was an Economics student and had been imprisoned for having taken part in a demonstration and had first-hand knowledge of what it meant to be a political prisoner in Burma.
First of all was a large wall-map of Burma, pinned with the locations of all the prisons in Burma, 43 in all. There were different coloured thumb-tacks which my tour guide explained were the Kah Gyi (A), Kha Gway (B), and the Ga Ngair (C) categories in which the Kah Gyi (A), colored red, was the worst and Ga gair (C) was the -- for the lack of a better term -- least worse of the three. Unfortunately, most of the prisons are now Red, the Worst Kind.
There were aerial photos of various other prisons and the common factor was the circular design that they each had. Moscow aka Insein Prison just north of Rangoon, of course, was a Kah Gyi (A) prison, the most notorious of them all and a large table-top model had been made to show its various components. The main part of the prison within the great circular walls was occupied by Ward No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and so on. The women were kept in a separate building in an adjacent compound to the northwest of the great circle. To the south of the circle was another adjacent compound where foreigners such as Thai fishermen captured in Burma waters, were kept.
Next to this model was a set of pictures labelled, Poun Zan (Position) No. 1, 2, 3, and so forth. Aye Aye Moe explained that these positions were the ones that the prisoners had to assume according to the situation given at hand. For instance there was the position of attention, a standing position. Position No. 2 is the squatting position with the heads bowed; this was done whenever an inspection was being made. The prisoners were not allowed to look up. What if someone fail to assume a specified position to fit the occasion? My guide showed me a black baton, about almost 2 feet long, which was used to beat anyone who did not cooperate well enough. Then she showed me the other positions, like the hideous "motor-cycle", where a prisoner had to pretend as if he was riding a bike, but stand on his toes, and make continuous motor-engine noises. Then there was the airplane, where one stands on one leg with the other leg held straight up at 90 degrees horizontally and the hands outstretched to simulate the wings. All these positions were very difficult to maintain, at the most, just a few minutes, and then one would collapse, instantly inviting more beatings. To prevent one from seeing these tormentors, one had to wear a cloth hood that covered the head completely. It was usually very dirty with dried blood and other secretions, nasal and oral, and also mouldy and dusty. As if this were not enough, the crocodile crawl was where one was forced to crawl on a bed of sharp gravel, usually resulting in bloody cuts all over the body.
On another part of the wall was a collection of prisoners who had died. These were students and instructors in the prime of their youth who were offered only two choices when they became sick, either to die of their disease, or to take "the injection" as the treatment was known. Those that entrusted themselves to the prison clinic were injected with the same needle over and over again, resulting in the spread of AIDS. Some of the deaths were attributed to this deadly disease. There were also pictures of women and monks also, and my guide pointed out each one and described how each one had suffered, all for the crimes of having participated in political activity.
One collection of exhibits was the prison uniform, consisting of a white shirt and a white longyi, a set of hand-and-leg shackles and a black baton. These were next to a set of hand-made bags, hats, table mats and other handcrafts made from intricately woven cord. They did not seem remarkable until the guide explained that this cord was made from the discarded plastic shopping bags that were used to bring in prison food packages. These plastic bags were carefully saved and twisted by hand into cord which was used for embroidery and weaving bags and baskets, as seen here.
Below these exhibits, on a low table by themselves, were a set of small buildings, replicas of the prison cells. There was a row of such cells that resembled the olden style of lion and tiger cages in the zoo, i.e., a small outer area that had an open wall and an open roof all lined with bars. Prisoners were allowed a short time outside and then had to spend most of their time in the indoor cells. A different type of cell had no openings in the roof or walls. It was just a single cell room in which one or more people were crowded in to, with nothing on the floor and only having one large earthenware bowl that served as a common toilet. At the doorway was a tall water pot that was used for both drinking and washing by all members of that cell.
Next to these models was a replica of the large prison doors which were opened only for the prison officials to go in and out of prison at will. The prisoners, however, were permitted only through a very small door, yet another device used to humiliated them. There was often the tragic accounts of a prisoner being freed at the end of their sentence, and allowed to step out of this door while the family was ordered to stay and watch from a distance. Then, after the prisoner had left the door and began to move toward his waiting family, the prison officials would pounce on him and drag him back into prison for a few more years without any charges.
Of course, this was intended to cause excruciating pain for both the prisoner and his/her family. In addition was the problem of having prison visits. Ordinary criminals were entitled to one visit each week, but political prisoners had to deal with only one visit every two weeks, limited to only 15 minutes.
To make it even worse, prisoners were often moved to far away places, e.g., someone from Rangoon would be sent to Shan State, as in the case of Aye Aye herself, and someone from the Shan State, such as the ranking leadership of the Shan National League of Democracy, Hkun Tun Oo, General Hso Ten, men in their sixties, were moved to remote parts of the nation such as Putao. This was done to ensure that families would have extreme hardships travelling to visit their loved ones. As such, they were not able to visit every two weeks and the cost of travel far outweighed the value of the prison food package.
If the family could not visit for a couple of months and then showed up, they were allowed to bring only one food package although the prisoner should have been entitled to receiving packages that were missed during those two months.
Those whose loved ones showed up regularly to send in food packages were kept in the same prison cells while those who never had any family visits were kept in another prison cell. Every package was very precious and meant a huge deal for the receiver as it would have food, medicine, and other necessities, but most of all, the fact that someone on the outside cared for them. The ones receiving no visits and no packages were kept together, thus increasing their common miseries. Some of them became so depressed that they committed suicide. How? E.g., by slashing the wrist with a piece of scrap metal picked up from trash.
Everything that could be obtained for the prisoner was precious, even a needle or a bar of soap. The latter would be carved into little creatures, or chess pieces and prisoners in adjacent cells would create their own chess sets and then play, each player with his own playing board, and shouting out what his move was to his neighbour and vice versa.
It was very important for each person to keep occupied, and each resorted to stratagems to stay active. For instance, they would write diaries, notes, and poems -- as seen in the wall exhibits. But no pen, pencil, or paper was allowed, so how did the prisoners write? Again, the ubiquitously used plastic shopping bags were secretly taken inside and stretched out. A nail was used to scratch the prison notes and poems, like in ancient days when scribes used sharp Kanyit, or pointed metal pieces to scratch their literary compositions on Payza, or leafy pamphlets. Then, the prisoner would memorize it and later destroy the plastic sheet to avoid getting caught with it, which would result in very severe punishments.
Life was extremely difficult for the prisoners, but their families did not fare better. Family members would lose their jobs and would not be able to find work. Even when the prisoner was finally released, the Military Intelligence (MI) agents would shadow their movements to make sure they were not re-participating in political activities.
When a prominent student leader was released as a result of ill health, he would have to sign a pledge not to re-enter politics, but that was very loosely applied, much to the detriment of the exprisoner. For instance, in the case of this particular student leader, he was closely shadowed and when he was found to be going for treatment with a physician of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who worked free of charge, that was considered getting involved in politics and hence prohibited.
That particular student had been mistreated so badly in prison that he became depressed with psychotic symptoms, talking to himself and continuously biting his tongue. When he was finally released from prison he could not afford any doctor and so the ex-prisoners' gave him support and tried to rehabilitate him, but only with partial success as there was no psychiatric treatment available readily. One thing he needed very much was to have someone to listen to him and give support; a counsellor was found and this provided him with some improvement of his depression.
What hopes did Aye Aye Moe and her fellow ex-prisoners have for their brethren back in Burma? In closing, she stated that the purpose of their exhibition hall was to raise awareness of the ongoing plight of those who were still in prison; to help them as well as to help those who had been released. With that, she presented me with a number of publications and a CD of songs written by the ex-prisoners.
To those who are able to visit Mae Sot, this exhibition hall should be one travel item they should not miss, and just as I was inspired to visit this hall, I hope that my article would also inspire others to visit.
Dr. David Law
["Moscow" is the derisive and cynical name people have given to the Central Insein Prison and this name has been arbitrarily chosen by the reporter for this article]
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Comments
Feraya said _
Dear David, thank you very much for visiting the Moscow Museum, and for letting us know how shockingly terrible life for prisoners are. It is very clear that the world should know about this and we are grateful that you gave us this very good account.
All the very best to you and hope to hear from you regularly.
Your Comments here_
Request: If you can kindly volunteer to translate BURMA DIGEST English articles into Burmese, please let us know BDeditors@tayzathuria.org.uk .
Please download from http://www.tayzathuria.org.uk/BD.pdf a simple, portable and printable version of BURMA DIGEST and send it to all your Burmese friends.
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