They made a mistake - laughs U Win Tin. - They thought I will die soon.

U Win Tin: Journalist, one of the most important politicians of the opposition, founder of the NLD (National League for Democracy) and main advisor to the Nobel Laureate  politician Aung San Suu Kyi who, although elected by a sweeping majority twenty years ago, is under house arrest to this day. Than, in 1988 U Win Tin was arrested for participating in the rebellion. After twenty years in jail he was released  - a year and a half ago  - because of his frail health. He turned 80 on the 12th of March. He is under constant surveillance. "They" are watching him.

Organizing and holding the interview was not unlike a spy movie.

The night before, we waited for the phone call... is the "Old Man" going to receive us? All important people in Burma have a alias or nickname - whichever we might choose to call it - as one cannot speak freely of the ruling power or the opposition or politics in general. Other forbidden topics are the monks who were shot nearly three years ago and the media organization that smuggles videos took in secret to the outside world called the Democratic Voice of Burma. Those who speak of these issues in public are considered either agents or idiots. The entire opposition operates underground and since the e-mail filters set by the military dictatorship are triggered by certain words, the burmese have developed their own "dictatorship slang". U Win Tin is the "Old Man", Aung San Suu Kyi is "The Lady" the generals are "They", the monks "the oranges" and so on.  As soon as we arrived in Burma we had to memorize the "dictionary" so we would understand what is happening when and to not put anyone in danger.

So we got the phone call at night, the "Old Man" will receive us. Great. He has been out of jail for a year and a half and, as we found out, he has not met with any international TV crew as they are not allowed in the country and he is also under constant surveillance by the secret service. Maybe not so great after all... We spent four days organizing this interview only to find out that we are taking the biggest risk setting up this meeting as we pretended to be backpacking tourists all this time, touring the country with a camera, smiling. So why would backpackers meet with the "Old Man"?

With the help of our local helpers we went through our plans again and again, through - as we found out later - nearly all minute details. We tried to plan everything perfectly so neither us or the "Old Man" would get in trouble. "Trouble" can mean a lot of different things for all involved here, sometimes it catches up with people later, in hours or days or even moths. Only one thing is certain - the risk is high.

Finally, we had a plan: Eszter would stay in our hotel with the material we shot so far, Andris would get a room in another, smaller, cheaper hotel, checks in in the early afternoon and waits for the next call. When the call comes, he gives the room number that would be forwarded to our contact and to a friend who later also had an important role. The contact person forwards the number to the people of the "Old Man" and they will let us know wen he would get there. Eszter waits, Andris waits, contact waits, friend waits - all of us at our designated location while watching out if they are being watched. The "Old Man" arrives, we call the the contact that all is well. Interview. After interview call the contact that the friend can come by. Friend comes to room, knocks in a certain fashion we agreed on beforehand and hides the tape in his underwear, waits a few minutes than leaves with a guidebook in his hand, as if that were the reason he came. The old man also waits a few minutes until friend is at a safe distance, than leaves as well. Andris stays in this hotel. Eszter in the other one. Our friend and the contact meet at yet another hotel, where the contact keeps and eye out if "they" are following them. If so, friend goes to restroom, washes hands and throws the tape - wrapped in paper towels - in the bin, leaves. Connection picks it up and leaves. Andris leaves his hotel in a few hours as if going for dinner, but in fact he never comes back. Flight out at dawn.

ALL THE ENGLISH BLOG PAGES WERE TRANSLATED BY ZSUZSA JOHNSON, THANKS A LOT!

window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '217136951693260', autoLogAppEvents : true, xfbml : true, version : 'v10.0' }); }; -->

A bejegyzés trackback címe:

Kommentek:

A hozzászólások a vonatkozó jogszabályok  értelmében felhasználói tartalomnak minősülnek, értük a szolgáltatás technikai  üzemeltetője semmilyen felelősséget nem vállal, azokat nem ellenőrzi. Kifogás esetén forduljon a blog szerkesztőjéhez. Részletek a  Felhasználási feltételekben és az adatvédelmi tájékoztatóban.