A Promise Written in the Dust: Burma’s Unfinished Revolution
Nway is a Burmese activist and key figure in the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. His activism spans decades, beginning with his role in the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1999. He is featured in the book, Rebel of Rangoon, by Delphine Schrank, which chronicles his life as an activist. Nway's political engagement was influenced by his family, particularly his mother, who strongly supported Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy. Over time, Nway became deeply involved in the resistance movement, even sneaking messages to Aung San Suu Kyi while she was under house arrest. Despite facing imprisonment and torture, Nway has remained committed to fighting for democracy, contributing to the resistance against the military coup of 2021, and supporting the armed struggle from exile. He appeared on the podcast earlier this year.
“Our family had a deal: if one of us is involved in politics, the rest of the family members will support him or her financially until Myanmar achieves democracy.”
“I didn’t understand politics as a child. I don’t know the meaning of democracy nor human rights. Like most people in their youth, I just followed the normal doctrine of life – go to school, have friends, have fun, and obey the authority. However, my mother was different because she has always actively taken part in the Myanmar politics. After my father died in prison in 1996, my mother became a single mother caring for four young boys. When the youngest one of us graduated from high school, my mother sat us down and told us that one of us must help Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Not knowing what politics involved and wrongly assuming it was fairly easy, I volunteered to help Suu Kyi and join the NLD.
Our family had a deal: if one of us is involved in politics, the rest of the family members will support him or her financially until Myanmar achieves democracy. This is because in Myanmar at that time, if any family members are involved in politics, the government would shut down the family businesses of that member. So, families had to cut off connection with the person. Plus, that person is deprived of receiving any heritage from their families. Since I volunteered, we agreed that I would not work in the family business and that they would support me secretly while I work in politics.
In 2010, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. This was when my two brothers in Yangon complained about supporting me when, according to their belief, the democratic struggle for Burma is over once Suu Kyi was freed. I said to them, ‘No! We still need to amend the 2008 constitution, so I still need to work for NLD to push for democratic causes in Burma.’ My brothers simply replied that everything is fine now because Suu Kyi was free; She will soon enter the parliament and run the government. I explained to them that the 2008 constitution has always been occupied by the military; The military requested 25% of the seats in the constitution, including a few important positions. This means the state of governmental elections is still under control of the military and we are nowhere near democracy. We must continue fighting. However, my brothers were not convinced and they decided to cut me off from family support in 2012, after I insisted on continuing my work in politics, supporting Suu Kyi, being a NLD member and working for Burmese citizens. My personal journey was different from others’ situation. Most people had problems before Suu Kyi was released, and when Burma was being rebuilt by Suu Kyi between 2010 and 2020, many people’s lives were improving from better economic flow and increasing job opportunities.”