Burma Link | July 31, 2015

Aung Than is 26 years old, enthusiastic and positive young Arakanese man from the Chin State, whose determination of acquiring an education has kept him going through difficult and challenging times in his life. When Aung Than was only six years old, he and his family had to leave everything behind and flee to India, due to the brutal Burmese military oppression in his village. Although his biggest wish had always been to gain good education, it somehow always seemed to be out of reach, and moving away from him. Fleeing from Burfouma to India, and India to Bangladesh, Aung Than grabbed onto every study opportunity, attending school in Mizoram language in India, as well as being taught by Buddhist monks, Muslims, and an American teacher in Bangladesh. After years of hard work and fleeting study opportunities, Aung Than had a chance to complete his studies on the Thailand-Burma border, where he worked as the secretary for AHREM (Arakan Human Rights and Environmental Movement), and taught young Arakanese about environmental issues and human rights. Always keen to give back to his people, Aung Than now dreams of running an orphanage where he can help children whose dreams seem out of reach, just as his were one day.

 

Even
[if] you pass grade ten, you still have to work in the field

I was born in Chin state in Palawat Township in the village Ponnynwa. My parents were Arakanese (Rakhine) and working as farmers. We lived in a house, built with bamboo and wood. We have a big family, nine siblings. Including parents, eleven family members.  I was number eight.

[My] parents were farmers but not working in the field like here [in Thailand where there is] flat land. Their farming was shifting cultivation. They cut mountain, forest, they grew paddy and other crops. We had to help. But when I was with the family, I was just a little baby, around four, five [years of] age, so my brothers and my sisters, they had to help my parents.

When our parents lived in the village, that time was really nice and beautiful and peaceful. Because in the beginning when they started the village, at that time there were no Burmese soldiers, just only villagers. They lived peacefully. They worked freely and they had a good life.

In our families, we are usually rural people, live in a country side, and they don’t really focus on the education, they just focus on work. If we work, we can get food, money and we can survive. If we study, even if we finish grade 8, 9, 10 it becomes useless, we cannot use this education. So even [if] you pass grade ten, you still have to work in the field.

Young people want to go to school, but their parents just say, even if you go to school, we have to waste the money and when you graduate you will not get any legal or professional job. So it is like wasting money.

I did go to school, but I did only grade two, I attended grade one to two and during that time the village had a problem with Burmese soldiers.

 

I remember when they came, they set the camp, like barracks in our village and since then, they didn’t do anything, they just asked for food, everything from village

As I remember, at that time we had Arakan army in the village. They usually came to Indian and Burmese border, and they came to our village. The villagers gave them food. Later on Burmese soldiers got information that Arakan army was coming to the village and since then, the Burmese soldiers started to come to the village. And when they came, they asked the villagers to porter, so the villagers had to follow and carry their backpacks, their food, their ration, everything. They (soldiers) were just with the gun and with small backpack, very relaxed. It was forced portering. If the villagers didn’t want to porter, they had to pay money, or they had to pay with chickens and cows.

At that time I didn’t really know, deeply about Burmese soldiers, because I was just a little kid. Anyway I remember when they came, they set the camp, like barracks in our village and since then, they didn’t do anything, they just asked for food, everything from village, they collected food and money from every house. The girls couldn’t go outside by themselves. They had to go with a group, with family or with brothers, because if the Burmese soldiers met them on the way and the girls were walking alone, they could rape them.

Also, when the Burmese soldiers came to our village, they called beautiful girls and at the night time they made a fire. The leader, the general, was sitting next to the fire. It was winter season and the girls had to walk and they had to dance around the fire, and everyone looked at the dance. It was like entertainment for the Burmese soldiers.

 

Whenever I saw my brother in the trap (wooden stock) I thought, if my brother dies, what would happen with our family

At that time I stopped going to school, because we had to flee to India. That was because of the Burmese soldiers. When they came to our village, they tortured people and they asked for money and food from villagers and they didn’t even allow them to go to their fields. One person form each house in the village had to go and meet with the soldiers and help them.

In our family, when they called my brother to porter and if he refused, our parents had to give chicken or money. Sometimes we didn’t have money, so we could not give the chicken and money. At that time my brother had to go there and he had to sit under the sun with like trap (wooden stock) around his legs. He had to sit under the sun the whole day. They didn’t give him any water and when our parents went to meet him, they were not allowed, because they (army) said, that this is a punishment. They said, ‘Why don’t you respect us? Why he refused our command?’

I remember, I was really scared at that time. Whenever I saw my brother in the trap (wooden stock) I thought, if my brother dies, what would happen with our family, because he was the eldest one, and he worked for the family. They also punished other brothers. For example, they also beat them with sticks, my brothers and my father and whoever refused in the village. If the villagers refused, they had to be punished.

 

[I]f the Burmese soldiers heard that, they would come and they would kill [us]

After one day my brother was free, but it happened many times and he got very angry with Burmese soldiers and he found a way how to [go] against them. I didn’t know how did he got a contact with Arakan army but one day he just disappeared. We were looking for him. We asked for information from the neighbor village, but they also didn’t know. He didn’t tell us anything, not even to [our] parents, he just disappeared. At that time, he was our eldest brother, he was around 25 years old.

After that, we asked information from other people and finally we heard that he is in Arakan army, he became a comrade. When we heard that, we were really scared for our family, for our lives. Because, if the Burmese soldiers heard that, they would come and they would kill. Sometimes they came and ask for portering and they asked, ‘Where is your eldest son?’ So we had to lie. Our older brother kept lying, ‘Oh he went to other village, he has got job there.’ We had to lie.

We stayed for one more month and then we started to move to India. First we moved our things, our belongings. Our clothes, some money and some properties, we sent to the jungle. But we couldn’t go in the day time. We had to carry our backpacks in the night time, because it was risky, if the Burmese soldiers would see, they would arrest us.

 

We walked, walked, walked. The whole night we walked

At that time I didn’t feel happy. I had seen my brothers and my father being treated brutally by Burmese soldiers. That is why we started to move to other areas. We moved at night time, but we couldn’t move our rice, paddy, and other heavy things. We left them at home. We just ran with a small backpack and we carried some valuable things. At that time I was around six year old.

Me, my younger sister and my mom, we fled, first in our family. We left at the day time. We were just pretending that we were going to field to work and we just used a small backpack.

When we got far away from the village, I saw my uncle, already waiting for us. Then we waited for our brothers and sister and for our father. They all came at night time and we met there. At that time I knew, ‘oh, we are running now.’ We walked on foot to India. Usually we walked at night time and it took long days, like four days. We started to walk when the sun went down. We walked, walked, walked. The whole night we walked, and even [though] we couldn’t use the light in some areas, because older people knew that at the areas were risky and dangerous, we had to be quiet and we didn’t use torch light so we walked in the dark.

I hit my head against the tree three times. On the way, we heard the footsteps and at that time, our uncle, he stopped all of us to be quiet. That time it was not only our family, also three other families we fled at the same time. Even the other family had a small baby, but it was like, he didn’t cry at that time. He was sleeping. And when we were quiet, we saw many torch lights. Some said that they were Burmese soldiers and some said that they were other villagers, but we couldn’t know. When they passed us, we started to walk again.

Sometimes we had to climb the mountain very high and we had to use legs, hands, like crawling. At that time, you know, even though I was a little child, I wasn’t afraid to go in the jungle, because I had my parents, brothers, sisters and other people as well. But sure, I was tired and other people were also tired.

At night time we didn’t eat. We just stopped at the day time and we cooked and we ate before we started moving. We eat bamboo shoot, rice and banana flowers. In the jungle we could get many wild vegetables, leaves, food.

 

We had really shortage of food, because we couldn’t carry anything, we couldn’t carry [our] rice paddy from our home.

As soon as we crossed the Indian border the Arakanese soldiers welcomed us. Before we arrived to India, they had already set a village. They set it for people who fled Arakan or Chin state. In that area there were two villages. One was a little bit far. We had to walk 40 minutes to get to the other village. More and more families fled [from Burma].

When we arrived to India, our family had to struggle with food. We had really shortage of food, because we couldn’t carry anything, we couldn’t carry rice paddy from our home. So when we got there, we couldn’t even have a garden, we just started growing seeds that we bought from the market. Like carrot, tomato, potato. We suffered for three months with lack of food. We had to find vegetables, food from jungle.

When we arrived to India, since then we ate only twice a day, but when we were in Burma, we ate three times a day. At ten in the morning and five in the evening and that was all. We had to wait for our crops and vegetables [to grow]. So when we got our crops and vegetables we sold [them] to other villagers and we got some money and then we started buying other materials and we grew paddy and we started our family [livelihood] like that.

I also went to school in India. We lived in Mizoram state. There was a school, Mizo school, close to our village, but we still had to walk for one hour on foot. Me and my elder brother, we both strongly wanted to study. I asked my father, ‘we would like to go to school,’ and he found that school. He talked with the school principal and he welcomed us. Because we were kind of refugees, because we fled to India, and they felt pity for us.

We just went there to school and we didn’t need to pay school entrance fee. We just had to pay for notebooks, pens. The school was in Mizoram language. At the beginning it was a little bit hard, but the letters are English.

 

I started going to school. I was extremely happy. But only four months I went to school and then […] had to run to Bangladesh

I joined [school] only for one year. My brother, at that time, he was still at AA, so he wanted me to live in an army camp, because there was a school for the comrades’ children. AA was good for refugee people who fled Burma. So they built a school and he (brother) called me to attend the school. So I followed. I went there with my brother and with some soldiers.

The camp was also in Mizoram state, but far away. From our village to the camp we walked about two days. When I got there, I saw children who were going to school and I felt like sad, because […] I had done only two years [of schooling] in Burma and I couldn’t read as they did. One day my brother talked with the teacher and he accepted me and I started going to school. I was extremely happy.

But only four months I went to school and then Arakan army, they had to flee from those areas and all the soldiers’ families they all had to run to Bangladesh. At that time I didn’t know, but later on I heard what happened… The Arakan army and Indian government had agreement [regarding the] Andaman Sea. The Indian government allowed [them] to settle the army camp at the Andaman Sea for Arakan army. At that time they were close [partners]. One day the Indian soldiers called all the higher leaders of Arakan army and they went there. They trusted the Indian government.

They went with uniform but when they arrived Arakan army leaders were offered by India soldiers to have peaceful discussion and no need to worry. Then they trusted them so they didn’t bring weapons to the meeting. At that time, India soldiers surrounded them with weapons and arrested all. The Indian soldiers asked them to surrender. They (Arakan army) came with the helicopter, and they landed and they were all arrested. They (Indian soldiers) killed all the [Arakan] leaders and the other comrades were all put in custody, in the prison for over 10 years. (Bo Raza and other revolutionary leaders were assassinated by the Indian army in 1998).

 

Where ever I went, I had a chance to study and few months later it happened something

Then we couldn’t stay [there] longer. We had to flee to Bangladesh. When we had to flee to Bangladesh, at that time my parents were still living in the village. When we fled, [it was] only me and my brother-in-law’s family and some other soldiers. My parents didn’t know what happened with the Arakan army camp and I didn’t have any contact with my parents. We just directly went to Bangladesh from the camp. Later on my brother went to their village and informed them.

Soon after I arrived to Bangladesh I become a novice. I shaved my head and I wore a novice dress. I was around ten years old. I wore a novice dress and I lived in a monastery and I studied with monks.

Where ever I went, I had a chance to study and few months later it happened something. My faith (destiny) is really bad (laughing)…

At monastery there was a monk, he taught villagers’ students after their school. Monk taught us basic English and also Arakanese Language. It was really good because I learned fundamental English skills and Arakanese, how to write and how to read. I studied with the monk for one year and then finished. And the rest I practice by myself and after that I went to Bengali school.

At that time, even though I was wearing a novice dress I did go to Muslim school. I joined grade three. Directly I jumped to grade three. After grade five I quit the school, because they didn’t allow me to wear the novice dress. If I would like to study grade six or seven I would need to change my dress. I would have to quit the novice dress and I didn’t want, so I quit the school.

I lived in the monastery and went to school and I came back to monastery [every day]. Like, monastery was my home. I ate there, I slept there, because I had no house, I had no family in Chakaria. So the monk, he took care of his pupils like his own children. He was really nice with the students.

For six years I didn’t have any contact with my parents. After I quit the school, I just thought ‘what should I do?’ At that time I was already turning 17 years old. In the village most young people learned to be a mechanic, or gold smith, or fixing mobiles. I was interested to learn, how to repair the TV, VCD, and I asked my monk, ‘Monk, I would like to learn, how to fix this.’ He said, ‘Why do you want to learn this? I will send you to Arakan State, you can study there,’ he said. I thought, ‘ha, that is fine, if I go to Arakan State, I will have a chance to study.’

And I waited, waited, waited, almost one year gone and no more information. And then again I asked monk, ‘I will become a layman (civilian) and I will learn how to fix things.’ At that time he said, ‘Ok, if you want to do that, you can.’ Then I learned how to fix electric, how to set wires, and fix TV. I worked for one and a half years. But the boss never taught me in detail, I just had to watch and ask, he never taught. Then I decided, if I keep learning at that shop, I have to stay for more years to learn how to fix things and I decided it is not good.

 

That time I decided strongly, that I will never ever work with any organisation

I was lucky and I got a contact with AASYC (All Arakan Student and Youth Congress). At that time from 2002 to 2006, they were famous in Bangladesh. They worked with the most Bengali student youth groups. And also they went to Burma and they did a documentary about human rights abuse, land confiscation. They also needed one or two who could communicate in Bengali language.

So the first time, me and Zaw Zaw (co-founder of AHREM) and one more

, we went to this organisation and when we arrived there, they taught us how to use a computer. They also thought us English grammar. I had to communicate with Bengali people, because the rest, who were working in the organisation, could not communicate in Bengali as I could. Where ever they needed I had to follow and had to talk.

Then the situation at the AASYC got really terrible, because the donor […], they stopped the funding. AASYC headquarter is in Thailand but in Bangladesh was just a branch office. In Thailand is still existing and in Bangladesh side, no more. After that time the founders were not really interested with the AASYC, so they had to change to another movement. Shwe Gas Movement.

We worked [for the Shwe Gas Movement] for one year and for some reason they stopped the funding, they cut the funding again. The other members just spread around. I was thinking what should I do and I found another organization. Mizzima news agency.

I worked with the Mizzima news agency in Cox’s Bazar. Whenever I heard that accident or murder happened, I had to go and I had to take a picture, [like a] photojournalist (laughing). […] [One time I had to go] directly to the police station. My friend was afraid and said, ‘Hey don’t go to police station, if they see that you are taking pictures, they will arrest you.’ And I said I didn’t mind that. Actually, if we took the pictures directly, they would arrest us. So I was also clever. I just walked with small camera and I put the camera under my elbow and I walked along and took pictures and video [secretly].

After that, they also had a problem between the [boss’s] family and the family broke up. Then again I decided to go to Dhaka again. That time I decided strongly, that I will never ever work with any organisation.

 

Life was really hard […] we had to work until two, three [in the morning]

I went to Dhaka and I worked in a factory sewing trousers, t-shirts, and I worked there for two years. And all the community were Muslims. I was the only Arakanese. Life was really hard. All workers had to sit the whole day in front of the machine and keep sewing. We started to work at nine. Then from twelve to one was break for lunch. Then again form one to five and then we had a break from five to six and then again to ten o’clock, sometimes midnight had to work.

Sometimes if they had to give the order in a period of time, we had to work until two, three. Sometimes I was really fed up with that job. I didn’t have any other options to go and work in other areas, so I kept doing it. I knew that if I still kept working there, I would not improve my English, or my education, knowledge. I worked and I saved some money, for if I found some kind of a chance, than I could leave with that money. So I saved money.

We worked every day, and day off was only Friday. And sometimes the company employer gave very low salary. Then workers demonstrated and they broke the table, they broke the machines. They blocked the highway route. Good thing was that most of the workers had a phone, and if in one factory happened something, they called other factories and then other factories also made demonstrations.

[…] When we demonstrated we said, ‘You have to give us a day off today, otherwise we will burn the whole thing down.’ And they had to give a day off. They (workers) also demanded to increase the salary and they (employers) had to listen to the workers. Per day I earned 130 taka (about 1.6 USD). Per month I earned sometimes 5000 or 6000 taka (5000 taka is about 64 USD).

This story is based on Burma Link’s interview with Aung Than. Read PART 2 here.