'No regrets' for Myanmar dissident after record jail sentence

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YANGON (AFP) — With the colour fading from his hair and lines wrinkling his face, Myanmar's newly freed political prisoner, Win Tin, still manages to defy his 79 years.

Despite suffering numerous serious ailments while locked away for 19 years in Yangon's notorious Insein prison, the former journalist remains spry and said he has never regretted his move into politics.

"I never regret leaving journalism to become a politician," Win Tin told AFP in an interview at his friend's home where he is staying.

"The passion for informing people, for wanting their prosperity and to free them of problems is the same. Both require sacrifice. So I have no sorrow at all," he said with a smile.


Win Tin was Myanmar's longest serving political prisoner when the military junta released more than 9,000 inmates from its jails on September 23 in an amnesty ahead of elections promised for 2010.

He became a newsman in 1949, aged 19, working as a reporter and sub-editor for national and international newspapers, and turned to politics during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising against the ruling military that has governed the country since 1962.

Win Tin was one of the founders of the pro-democracy opposition National League for Democracy party together with Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains detained at her lakeside home.

But he never witnessed the party's landslide victory in 1990 elections -- a win never recognised by the junta -- because he was imprisoned in July 1989 for his role as Aung San Suu Kyi's advisor, and for his letters to the then-United Nations envoy to Myanmar.

Nineteen years locked away have taken their toll on Win Tin's health. He now suffers from heart disease, a hernia, and has lung and eye problems, yet he said he will continue to work for the NLD.

"I have no health problems recently. I have to keep my spirits strong," he said.

He said he was tortured in prison -- hooded during long interrogations, deprived of sleep and subjected to beatings. He had been kept in solitary confinement since 1996, only seeing his family for 15 minutes every fortnight.

On his release last month the NLD welcomed him to their 20th anniversary meeting, chanting "Long Live U Win Tin" as he arrived.

The NLD ruling committee invited him to rejoin the board, and while he has not yet decided to accept, he said he will stay in politics.

"I'm now a politician. I have to continue my duties inevitably," he said. "I have my duty as I founded a political party, I cannot leave it. I had to apply my beliefs and spirit during my 19 years in prison."

Campaigners say around 2,000 dissidents remain in Myanmar's prisons and Win Tin now wants to focus on their release.

"Many people have sacrificed their lives. Many people are still in prisons. I can not tolerate my sorrow for these people," Win Tin said.

"We have to continue our mission. We have to acknowledge their gratitude, sacrifice and fighting," he said.

"I have told the authorities they can re-arrest me if they do not like what I am saying."

But Win Tin believes dialogue between the authorities and the pro-democracy group is the best way to secure the prisoners' release and pursue democratic reforms ahead of 2010 elections.

The junta won a widely-criticized national referendum in May, allowing the government to change the constitution and paving the way for 2010 elections that bar Aung San Suu Kyi from standing. She has been under house arrest for most of the past two decades.

Win Tin said he would seek the help of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon in pushing for the prisoners' release and securing talks with the junta, when he visits Myanmar in December.

"Dialogue is the only way forward ahead of 2010 (elections). If the elections go ahead as planned, it cannot be a success," he said.