It's no joke; Myanmar comics jailed

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New Statesman (1996)

September 11, 2000

It's no joke; Myanmar comics jailed over political humor; Brief Article

WILLIAM COOK on two Burmese comics imprisoned for spreading "false news"

Humour is a serious business, but at least British comics can crack jokes 
about their government
without ending up in jail. However, there are countries where wisecracks 
about reactionary juntas
aren't just right-on rhetoric, and where Big Brother is more than the title 
of a dreary docusoap --
countries such as Burma (or Myanmar, as it has been called since 1989), 
where two comedians
are serving seven-year prison sentences.

U Pa Pa Lay and U Lu Zaw belong to an Anyeint troupe called Myo Win Mar, or 
Our Own Way.
Anyeint is a Burmese performance genre that blends classical dance and 
music with skits and satire.
The tradition dwindled after Myanmar's State Law and Order Restoration 
Council (now called the
State Peace and Development Council) seized power in 1988, but latterly it 
has been revived by a
celebrated Burmese comic called Zargana, who has also done time for 
cracking jokes during
Anyeint shows.

On 4 January 1996, the 48th anniversary of Myanmar's independence, Our Own 
Way performed for
2,000 members of Myanmar's opposition party, the National League for 
Democracy, at the Yangon
(Rangoon) home of the NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Daw Aung 
San Suu Kyi, who
has spent most of the past decade in prison or under house arrest, since 
the government ignored an
NLD election victory in 1990. Our Own Way sang songs about the generals, 
satirised state
repression and told gags about government cooperatives: "In the past, 
thieves were called thieves.
Now they are known as co-operative workers."

"The jokes they made about the military were extremely mild," says Donna 
Guest, Amnesty
International's researcher responsible for Burma, who has followed events 
in Myanmar for the past
11 years. Burmese humour has to be indirect, because there is such 
extensive censorship. "There is
so much intense surveillance in that country, it's hard for us to imagine," 
she says. "People have to be
extremely guarded."

In a land without an independent press, live performers can reach an 
illiterate and technologically
disenfranchised audience without access to television or the internet. "The 
dance troupe will tell the
truth," said Our Own Way. "People call us jokers, but now we're going to 
achieve democracy; we'd
rather be called comedians for democracy." Their aim: "To open the eyes and 
the ears of the people.
That is our job."

Pa Pa Lay and Lu Zaw were arrested, denied legal representation, and not 
allowed to call or
question witnesses. They had called NLD members, including Aung San Suu 
Kyi, but these witnesses
were not allowed to travel to the trial in Mandalay; they were told that 
their train had broken down.
When NLD members reached Mandalay, they found the courthouse closed. The 
trial took place in
prison. Pa Pa Lay and Lu Zaw were given seven years each for spreading 
"false news", and sent, in
shackles, to break rocks in a labour camp. Prolonged sleep deprivation was 
reportedly used during
their interrogation. Their case is far from unique. "Anybody voicing 
peaceful dissent is arrested in
Burma," says Guest. "The government is intent on crushing any kind of 
objection to its policies, so
they are among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who are in prison for 
their peaceful political
beliefs."

Lu Zaw is now believed to be held in Mandalay, where it is thought he is 
being made to work on an
airport construction site. Pa Pa Lay, who was also imprisoned for 20 months 
in the early 1990s, is in
a prison camp in the far north of Myanmar. "He's had a rough time there, 
but we do know that he has
been keeping his spirits up," says Guest. "He is finally able to receive 
visits from his family." But his
circumstances remain bleak. "Prison conditions are appalling. They don't 
get enough food, they get
almost no medical care and, if they get medicine, it usually has to be 
their families who provide it."
Poor health is typical. "They are in very cramped quarters. They are often 
tortured for breaking
arbitrary prison rules." Even prisoners who escape such punishment don't 
receive proper care. NLD
members, students and ethnic minorities are all vulnerable, but it isn't 
just native Burmese who suffer.
James Mawdsley, a UK-Australian joint citizen, is serving 17 years in a 
Myanmar jail. "He didn't do
anything wrong in terms of international law," says Guest. "He was just 
protesting peacefully." He
recently lost his latest appeal.

But where there's life, there's hope. Since last year, the Red Cross has 
been able to visit Burmese
prisoners and, although restrictions remain, Amnesty has met with Myanmar 
diplomats. Although
dozens of elected NLD MPs remain in prison, five have been released 
recently. Amnesty has found
that polite letters from ordinary people across the world have proved very 
powerful in improving
conditions and securing releases from regimes that, however repressive, 
know how worldwide
opinion can influence foreign tourism and investment. "The government hopes 
that the world will
forget about them," Guest says of these two truly alternative comedians. 
"It is good for the
government of Burma to realise that people in the outside world are 
concerned."

Civil letters, asking for the immediate and unconditional release of U Pa 
Pa Lay and U Lu Zaw, as
well as medical care while they remain in detention, should be sent to: 
General Than Shwe, Chairman,
State Peace and Development Council, do Ministry of Defence, Signal Pagoda 
Road, Yangon, Union
of Myanmar. Letters should begin "Dear General"

Amnesty International can be contacted on 020 7814 6200; 
www.amnesty.org.uk. James
Mawdsley's website is www.insideburmafreeisp.co.uk/index.html