BBC-East Asia Today: February 11th

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Subject: BBC-East Asia Today: February 11th 1999 

East Asia Today: February 11th 1999


BURMA - High-profile political activist freed from prison

Burmese Authorities Make Human Rights Gesture?

This release could be seen as a human rights gesture to the West

The Burmese writer, Ma Thida, has been released from jail after serving five
years of a twenty-year sentence. She was jailed in October 1993 after being
found guilty of illegally distributing materials published by
anti-government groups. A government statement said she was pardoned on
humanitarian grounds. Ma Thida is a former associate of pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi. East Asia Today's Larry Jagan has this report:

Sources close to the writer's family told the BBC that Ma Thida, who was
released on Thursday, is very happy and in good health. There have been
grave concerns about her health since she was imprisoned five years ago.
According to her family, she'd been hospitalised several times during her
imprisonment. A doctor by profession, Ma Thida is one of Burma's most famous
contemporary writers. She started writing short stories portraying the harsh
realities of Burmese life while she was an undergraduate in Rangoon fifteen
years ago. They were widely read and her distinctive style earned her a
national reputation almost overnight. But it was Ma Thida's political
association with the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, that finally led
to her imprisonment. During the election campaign a decade ago, she toured
the countryside with Aung San Suu Kyi, campaigning for the National League
for Democracy.

After Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest in June 1989, Ma Thida
continued to be politically active. The Burmese authorities say she's been
pardoned for humanitarian reasons. But analysts believe that her release may
also be part of the government's attempt to improve its international image
and deflect criticism of its human rights record. In the past few days, the
European Union has urged Rangoon to make a human rights gesture if it hopes
to participate in the EU-ASEAN meeting scheduled to take place in German
capital Berlin at the end of next month. Burma's generals will not want to
be seen to be making concessions to Western pressure, but there is no doubt
that they will be hoping for some reward after the release of such a

high-profile prisoner.