Another Shan bites the dust

Politics

Another Shan bites the dust

The Shan, who became "famous" after he was beaten and forced to resign both from his party and the National Convention in 1996, passed away yesterday at his hometown in Kachin State's Waingmaw township.

"Hso" Soe Nyunt, 50, had for years been suffering from gastric ulcer. His funeral will be held tomorrow.

On Christmas Day in 1996, Soe Nyunt reported to Rangoon-based Shan Nationalities League for Democracy headquarters he was battered repeatedly with gun butts by five uniformed soldiers on 18 December at his home, taken to the Infantry Battalion 58 post and put in stocks all night, along with two other villagers, who had quarreled with a non-commissioned officer the previous day. Sai Soe Nyunt had reportedly stepped in and mediated between the two parties.

The next day, a Maj Win Thu came to the guardhouse to meet them. "To Maung Soe Thein and Maung Hpo Tha Htoo, he said, 'Are you Bakapa (Communist Party of Burma)? ABSDF (All Burma Students Democratic Front)? Insurgent core members? I'll kill you. I have the right to kill you. The Tatmadaw has no law.' To me, he asked, 'What are you? A politician who sponges off the fringes of Aung San Suu Kyi's skirts?'"

When Soe Nyunt told him he was a legitimate representative to the National Convention, Win Thu barked, "What National Convention? There are only whores, opium eaters and opium thiefs attending it. It's totally meaningless. You just quit."

Soe Nyunt was then forced to sign his resignation that was forwarded to the township electoral commission. All of them were released afterwards.

On receipt of his complaint, the SNLD presented a formal protest to Senior General Than Shwe three days later along with a demand to take drastic action. "Soe Nyunt was visited by MI (Military Intelligence) officers who took him to the hospital," recalled Sai Nyunt Lwin a.k.a Sai Nood, Acting General Security of the SNLD. "As for Maj Win Thu, we heard he was transferred to another unit with a two year suspension to his annual increments. But that was all."

The SNLD, since then, had several of its members forced to resign from the party. The last one was Sai Htun Aung, Member of Parliament, Langkher township, who tendered his resignation in June.