Revolution of the Spirit

By Tettoe Aung
The slogan of activists of my father’s era was, ‘Your mother may gave birth
to you but it’s the prison that will feed you’ (amae-ka mwei; htaung-ka kywei). For
our generation it’s more like ‘Your mother may gave birth to you but it’s the NGOs tha
t will feed you’ (amae-ka mwei; NGO-ka kywei). We need to change our mindset and f
or us the revolution has to begin with ourselves.
Even though there are many in my family who were involved in politics I was not.
As a public servant I was ‘apolitical’. It is very hard to stay indifferent when so
many injustices were happening around you. Like Daw Suu said, “You can stay away
from politics, but politics will not stay away from you.” She is right.
It was with a mixture of fear and indifference (and also so as not to worry my p
arents for the sake of my involvement) I stayed away from politics. Through my e
xperience I wasn’t very keen to put my neck out for someone else.
One the very first day that I went to work at a factory in Burma I was caught up
in a campaign run by graduates to fight for workers rights - the right to be dr
iven to work in a bus with cover and seats, the right to send and receive mail r
egularly and so on. Ever since we were recruited the management of the corporati
on made sure that we were not recruited as a ‘big group’. The reason being that my c
lassmates from the same discipline and those who graduated from the university t
he same year were sent to another factory where they, as a ‘unified group’, have mad
e their demands and the management have no choice but to comply.
Then we were the ‘cogs and wheels’ in the Burma Socialist economy. Everything must n
ot just meet the quota but exceeded it by multiple times. One day we decided tha
t we have enough and so we took off to see the minister to find some certainty f
or our future. Without us the factory was shut down and they have to give in to
our demands.
However, when some of us, like most humans have put ‘self interest’ ahead of everyth
ing else. Once I was with a colleague who mentioned that he did not step in to h
elp another work-mate when that person was being treated unfairly. I asked him w
hy he didn’t and all he said was that was something that did not affected him. Fro
m then on I decided that I will fight my own battle and I will not stick out my
neck for anyone else. I will not fall for that ‘group solidarity’ nonsense.
After working there for four years I was fortunate to get into the Foreign Servi
ce as a ‘provisional officer’. As we were under probation then we have to put up wit
h a lot of bullying from our superiors. But for me, standing up against such bul
lies, was a way of ‘teaching myself to be free from fear.’ I have to thank Dale Carn
egie for that. After I’ve read his book, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” I’ve le
arnt how to overcome fear - fear of losing my job. Being in the Foreign Service
was then ‘something to die for’. In his book Dale Carnegie said that if you can acce
pt the worst that you could think of, then you could stop worrying and start liv
ing. I could lose my job but it would not be the end of me. From then on I becam
e a fighter.
If it is for the right cause, I can look straight into the eyes of my superior,
whether he’ll be an ambassador or a director, I will tell him of what I think of h
im. I will fight for those who did not have the courage to stand up for themselv
es.
That was the kind of experience that I have to go through when I was caught up i
n the events of 1988. On that fateful day I consulted with some of my colleagues
at the embassy that we should take a stand. We have to make ourselves clear wh
at we stands for and who we sided with. The event that came to our mind was the
split between East and West Pakistan and the ultimate birth of a new nation - Ba
ngladesh. We discussed the issue with the ambassador that evening to sound out h
is opinion. But like most Burmese he was of the view that even if we did express
our opinion we should not be the first to stick our necks out. Let the others t
ake the lead and we will follow. Then and there I knew it was the opportune mome
nt for us to take action.
What I’m trying to say here is that behavioural change in a person cannot be insta
ntaneous and sudden. It has to be a ‘gradual and conscious’ change. If we are to suc
ceed in our fight against the tyrant like Than Shwe then we have to seek change
in ourselves first. Like Steven Bantu Biko said, ‘We have to first liberate the mi
nd.’ The people have to discard their fear and gain some courage to stand up to in
justices. The public servants must have to courage to defy ‘unjust and ridiculous
policies’. The farmers must have the courage to protect their hard earn crops. And
the least, not the last, rank and file soldiers must have the courage to defy o
rders from their commanders when they are orders to kill innocent and unarmed br
ethren of their own.
The last time they obeyed such orders, shooting and killing unarmed civilians (i
ncluding children in their school uniforms) it was twenty-three years ago and al
l they’ve done was to protect a group of generals who put themselves and their fam
ily ahead of the country and its people. Those who benefited most were themselve
s, Chinese of all ‘shapes and hews’ and some unethical businessmen from neighbouring
countries. Meanwhile the man-made miseries of all kinds have to be borne by the
ir families and ordinary people. The soldiers have to change their mindset. If a
dog can be taught to learn some tricks within a short time, twenty-three years
is long enough for anyone to change their mindset. If they do, we could all have
a successful ‘padauk revolution’ soon. Very soon, indeed. END