{"id":9187,"date":"2024-05-13T18:04:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=9187"},"modified":"2024-05-13T18:04:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:04:49","slug":"exile-is-a-temporary-state-of-mind-for-burmese-writer-ma-thida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=9187","title":{"rendered":"Exile is a temporary state of mind for Burmese writer Ma Thida"},"content":{"rendered":"


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<\/p>\n

\nBerlin \u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Burmese writer Ma Thida doesn\u2019t like to think of herself as exiled.<\/p>\n

She left Myanmar in 2021, just a few months after the military seized power in a coup that overthrew the civilian-led government.<\/p>\n

And while Ma Thida says it would not be safe for her to return anytime soon, exile implies a permanence the writer isn\u2019t quite comfortable with.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy aim is not to be exiled \u2014 just to keep away from the country. And as soon as I get a chance, I would definitely go back,\u201d she said, speaking with VOA in Berlin, where she is currently living.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Myanmar\u2019s largest city, Yangon, Ma Thida studied medicine in the 1980s and became a physician. She worked as an aide and medic for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and wrote her first novel in 1992.<\/p>\n

Titled \u201cThe Sunflower,\u201d the book explored the population\u2019s expectations of Suu Kyi, who at that time was under house arrest. <\/p>\n

But the book was banned shortly before being published in 1993, and Myanmar\u2019s junta sentenced Ma Thida to 20 years in Insein Prison for \u201cendangering public peace, having contact with illegal organizations, and distributing unlawful literature.\u201d<\/p>\n

International pressure led to her early release in 1999. \u201cThe Sunflower\u201d was finally published, and Ma Thida started writing again.<\/p>\n

Her latest book \u201cA-Maze,\u201d published in May, explores Myanmar\u2019s struggle for democracy and the post-coup Spring Revolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to understand what\u2019s going on right now and why it happened,\u201d Ma Thida said. \u201cSo, this is my attempt to understand the whole situation, but at the same time, my attempt to convince the readers to understand what our struggle is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ma Thida, who is chair of the Writers in Prison Committee run by the free expression group PEN America, said her jailing in the 1990s made her realize it was too dangerous to stay in Myanmar following the 2021 coup.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of writers were already at risk or were already being arrested,\u201d she said, recalling how anxious she felt at Yangon Airport the day she left.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s military, known as the Tatmadaw, has detained thousands of people, including journalists and writers. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to silence all forms of dissent,\u201d said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, a Myanmar expert at PEN America in New York. \u201cMany people are still either underground and hiding within Myanmar, or in exile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some writers were among the prisoners released at the beginning of 2024 in an annual mass amnesty. But several remain behind bars.<\/p>\n

Their cases show that the military has not wavered on its aversion to free expression, Karlekar said.<\/p>\n

Karlekar cited the case of filmmaker Shin Daewe<\/a>, who covered environmental issues and human rights. Authorities sentenced her to life in prison earlier this year for buying a drone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose sentences are really, really extreme and are a signal to anyone else in the writing and creative community that if they step out of line in any way, in terms of even just expressing criticism of the junta, that this is a possibility,\u201d Karlekar said.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s military did not reply to VOA\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

For now, Ma Thida is grateful to have the freedom and safety to continue her work.
Her latest book, published in English, is primarily intended for an international audience. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome people think this is just war \u2014 not the revolution, not the resistance,\u201d she said about what she hopes readers take away from the book. \u201cIt\u2019s more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her situation and the years already spent in prison, laughter is still instinctive for Ma Thida. She pokes fun at her own misfortunes, including her passport troubles.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s embassy in Berlin has resisted renewing Ma Thida\u2019s expired passport, which she believes is in retaliation for her writing.<\/p>\n

The embassy did not reply to VOA\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

Ma Thida has faced this problem before. After her release from prison in 1999, she was unable to obtain a passport for five years. \u201cI have so many problems with passports,\u201d she said, chuckling.<\/p>\n

Withholding travel documents from exiled dissidents is something PEN America is seeing more frequently as a method of control, Karlekar said.<\/p>\n

For now, the German government has given Ma Thida a passport reserved for people unable to obtain a passport from their home country.<\/p>\n

And while Berlin is safer for dissidents than Yangon these days, Myanmar will always be home for Ma Thida.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at my country as my own home because I got my education there. I got my understanding of life there. I got my belief in freedom there,\u201d she said. \u201cI always want to go back home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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