BOOKSHELF: Moe Aye’s “Ten years on”

 

_ By Raluca Enescu

“I have been brought here because I spoke the truth”, dissident journalist and prisoner of conscience Moe Aye had courageously said when arrested by the Military Intelligence agents. Coming from someone with such an attitude and approach to life, no wonder his book, “Ten years on”, a recollection of articles he has published in “The Nation (Thailand) is a strong manifesto for freedom and justice, refusing obstinately any form of censorship or alteration of the sheer truth. 

“Ten years on” is a book which impresses greatly through sincerity. The most astonishing aspect about it is that the story of Moe Aye or of the ones he is talking about could be the story of any political dissident, of anyone refusing to conform to the absurdity and injustice of the system, of any free thinker in a place where thinking freely is forbidden by law.

He speaks about his mother-his “guiding star” as he calls her, and you can recognize the hope, the wishes and torment of any political prisoners’ family. He writes about his dialogue with “the devil” (the military intelligence agents who interrogated him in prison) and you can recognize the mighty defiance of sheer force by political dissidents worldwide. He writes about U Win Tin, U Sein Hla OO and about Aung Htun, who wrote a history of the movements for democracy in Burma, all of them imprisoned, just like him, for speaking the truth. Along the way, Moe Aye makes observations: about the poor quality of education, caused by the restrictive system, about the continuous propaganda, about how former political prisoners are systematically excluded from the society, about listening to the BBC while being aware that, simply by this, you become author of a punishable act of dissent, about being denied human dignity and about alienation,; and he succeeds in making all these observations with great good sense and with a shocking sincerity.

“Ten years on” is a book about the very meaning and essence of political dissidence. We can define the dissident as someone who is using non-violent, intellectual means to oppose to an unfair political system. Actually, the term dissident appeared in the Soviet Union during the period of 1965-1985, referring to citizens who criticized the totalitarianism of the Communist party. The people who used to write, tear and who distributed non-censored non-conformist literature were criticized in the newspapers. It was common to criticize an author in newspapers without publishing any of his works. Then, many people accepted the term dissident with respect to themselves; this radically changed the meaning of the term: instead of criminal, who opposes the society, the term got meaning of non-conformist, someone who dares to speak up and challenge facts that you are supposed to take for granted.

In this acceptation of the term, Moe Aye’s “Ten years on” is a book about political dissidents. At times, it ressembles Adam Michnik or Soljenitsin, yet remains unique, through all the true stories that he tells, sometimes with an acid lucidity, sometimes with sensitivity.

_ “Ten years on” can be read on-line at http://www.aappb.org/publications.html