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By THOMAS FULLER, Published: February 21, 2012 ....
Adam Ferguson for The New York Times: Myat Thu, left, and his wife,
Khemitsara Ekkanasingha, in Mae Sot, Thailand. She said she may now turn
her attention from reforming Myanmar to economic inequality.
For more than two decades they were symbols of defiance against Myanmar’s military dictatorship, campaigning tirelessly in foreign countries for regime change. Now that the Myanmar government is earning plaudits for its program of reforms, hundreds of dissidents living abroad may need career counseling.
“It’s becoming difficult to find things to complain about,” said Aung
Naing Oo, deputy director of the Vahu Development Institute, a
Thailand-based organization formed by Burmese student activists who fled
Myanmar in the late 1980s.
Such exiles, as they are known, watched from afar in recent months as
Myanmar released hundreds of political prisoners, media censorship was
relaxed, and the icon of Burmese democracy, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, began
campaigning for elected office.
“Things are moving on the inside,” said Mr. Aung Naing Oo, who traveled
back to Myanmar in early February. “Everyone is basically hoping that
they can go back.”
During the years of military rule and diplomatic isolation, Burmese
exiles were key liaisons between Myanmar and the outside world. They
successfully lobbied Western governments to punish Myanmar’s government
with sanctions. A range of exile publications supplied opinionated but
often valuable news and intelligence from sources inside the country.
A diplomatic cable written by a U.S. diplomat in Bangkok in 2008
estimated that there were 200 Burmese exile organizations in Thailand
alone.
But the global Burmese-dissident business may soon be out of business.
Funding for seminars is drying up, and foreign diplomats would rather
fly into Myanmar than have lunch with exiled dissidents, as former
President George W. Bush did during a visit to Thailand in 2008.
If the changes in Myanmar have surprised many observers of the country,
they have been particularly bewildering and disorienting for exile
groups, many of which are based here in Mae Sot, a Thai city on the
Myanmar border that became a sort of headquarters for Burmese dissidents
living abroad.
“I’ve spent half of my life with the revolution,” said Myat Thu, a
former student activist who came to Thailand more than two decades ago.
He lit a cigarette and recounted his escape through the jungles of
eastern Myanmar after the military quashed a popular uprising in 1988.
He and his Thai wife, Khemitsara Ekkanasingha, run a cafe adorned with
“Free Burma” stickers and pictures of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi.
Last year, before many of the reforms in Myanmar were announced, Ms.
Khemitsara introduced a campaign for the release of female political
prisoners in Myanmar, printing postcards and organizing marches and
vigils.
Of the 200 women she campaigned for, all have been released. Ms.
Khemitsara said she was now considering championing other causes,
mentioning the inequalities of the global market economy.
“We are going to put up a new banner,” she said, pointing to the wall. “Stop the dictatorship of capitalism!”
Other dissidents here say they want to continue working on
Myanmar-related issues — many have a lingering mistrust of the
government — but they are not sure how long they can stay in exile.
Naing Aung, a former student activist, helps run the Forum for Democracy
in Burma, a group partly funded by the U.S. government that in recent
years had held seminars on democracy and human rights. Now long-term
funding for such meetings looks uncertain, he said.
“Donors are saying, ‘If you are just doing seminars in Thailand and
printing publications, we won’t finance you,”’ he said.
Life is comfortable for many dissidents living in Thailand, Mr. Naing
Aung said, and it’s hard to imagine leaving. “People have children and
mortgages,” he said.
The Burmese diaspora spans the globe. In addition to Mae Sot, the
northern city of Chiang Mai is home to many dissident organizations.
Other prominent dissident groups are based in London, Washington and New
Delhi.
The Democratic Voice of Burma, an organization that was instrumental in
illicitly gathering and broadcasting images of the 2007 military
crackdown in Myanmar, is headquartered in Norway. Some journalists
working undercover for the group inside Myanmar were imprisoned (and
have since been released). Now, Aye Chan Naing, the organization’s
executive director and chief editor, says he is negotiating with the
government about opening an official branch office inside the country.
“I think within one or two years, if things keep moving in this
direction, a lot of dissidents will move back, and the funding will dry
up,” he said. “Some groups have been warned that this is their last year
of funding.”
The government of President Thein Sein has been trying to lure exiles
back. Aung Min, a government minister, traveled to Thailand earlier this
month to woo dissidents, according to Mr. Aye Chan Naing, who met with
him.
“Ultimately if you’re an activist, you want to be where the action is,”
said Mr. Aung Naing Oo of the Vahu Development Institute, which is based
in Chiang Mai. “If that action is not where you are, you have to move.”
But a number of dissidents say they are unconvinced by the changes and are not considering returning home.
“I don’t believe,” said U Bo Kyi, the co-founder of an association based
in Mae Sot that keeps a database of political prisoners.
Mr. Bo Kyi, who fled Myanmar 13 years ago, says he is waiting for
Myanmar’s leaders — many of whom were top generals during the days of
military rule — to acknowledge and make amends for imprisonments,
torture and many other abuses.
“We do not want revenge,” he said. “But we need recognition and
reparations by the government.” He is, above all, looking for an
apology.
“Confession is very important for national reconciliation,” he said.
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