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Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram
By C. Maya
A Member of Parliament of the National League for Democracy, the political party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, which went on to win 82 per cent of the seats in the elections held in May 1990, Dr. Swe has never been able to go back to his homeland. ``I cannot go back, because I was sentenced to prison for 25 years and my clinic and my house was sealed by the military regime. Several of my friends and party workers are still in jail. I lost my mother during my exile and could not see her,'' he says. Dr. Swe was on a visit to the city, along with two other Burmese exiles, Nyo Htun and Phyo Phyo Kyaing, as part of a tour of south India, sponsored by Amnesty International, seeking solidarity and support for the cause of the Burmese people. Dr. Swe, who had been working with the socialist government in Myanmar for over 15 years, had to quit when the military regime ordered all those who were involved with political activities to quit. In the elections held in May 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) went on to win a landslide victory. Dr. Swe had also won a seat, from the Pale constituency. ``But even after three months, the junta refused to convene the People's Assembly (Parliament) and we organised a series of secret meetings to discuss the situation. But the intelligence agencies came to know about this. My house was surrounded by the military, but I managed to go underground for 15 days and then six of us crossed the Indo-Myanmar border,'' he says. He managed to flee but the regime targetted his family in Myanmar. His wife, who had been working with the women's wing of NLD, was jailed on a false charge of theft. His younger brother too was put in prison for a three-year term, for `helping his brother escape'. It was only in 1995 that Dr. Swe managed to bring his wife and four children to India. Meanwhile, the elected representatives of NLD managed to meet on the Thailand-Myanmar border on December 18, 1990 and formed a Government-in-Exile. They established offices in Washington in the U.S., in Thailand and in India. These groups have been doing the lobby work, meeting Governments, pressure groups and NGOs, soliciting support for the repressed people of Myanmar. Today, there are about 2,000 exiles, including four of NLD's MPs, in New Delhi and about 200 on the Manipur-Mizoram border, doing intelligence work. They are subsisting on the meagre aid given by UN's Refugee Commission. Dr. Swe no longer has his practice, but has been running a free medical service for refugees. ``In Myanmar, the situation is changing every day. Suu Kyi is officially free, but the regime is now targetting her supporters. The economic situation has worsened, there are the very rich on one side, while the ordinary people are mired in poverty and starvation.'' ``There is so much frustration, that we fear further unrest. Our country cannot stand another uprising and chaos, which is why we are pressing for dialogue. We believe in Gandhiji's philosophies,'' says Dr. Swe.
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