“Rest in freedom”: Zaw Myint Maung’s family, colleagues honour his memory

“Father, you were arrested when I was only one year and five months old,” wrote Su Wai Pon, the daughter of the Dr Zaw Myint Maung, 72, former chief minister of Mandalay Region and vice-president of the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. “You weren’t released until I was studying in my final year of university. The word ‘father’ itself felt very strange at that time,” she recalled. Soon after Zaw Myint Maung—who worked as a physician and academic for years before his involvement in politics—passed away early Monday morning, his daughter published a post on Facebook sharing her memories of him. Recalling how her mother used to say she was estranged from her father, Su Wai Pon said she refused to visit him in prison for long stretches, choosing instead to go to Yangon. “Before we left the prison, all I can remember is touching your hands through the rusted bars of your cell. I knew the man in Myitkyina prison was my father. I can barely remember though,” she said. Following his initial arrest in 1990, Zaw Myint Maung was incarcerated for 19 years, during which military authorities sent him to prisons in Yangon, Mandalay, and Myitkyina. A close supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, he was a member and eventual vice-president of the NLD, winning a seat in parliament three years after his release and becoming Chief Minister of Mandalay Region following the NLD’s landslide victory in the 2015 elections. In her father’s absence, Su Wai Pon felt deprived of the kind of relationships her friends had with theirs, she remembers, especially admiring how her friends’ fathers were always ready to help their children. “It was in my thoughts that my father would do the same if he was with his family,” she says. After his release, she said, he tried his best to show love and be a friend to his daughter, Su Wai Pon said, adding that he never raised his voice with his children. Her father became ill as she was coming to understand and accept his love, Su Wai Pon says, but he was soon imprisoned again in 2021 when the military deposed the NLD’s civilian government following another decisive electoral victory and arrested its leaders. He remained in Mandalay’s Obo Prison until the military released him for medical reasons just before his death. He died at the Mandalay General Hospital. “Father, rest in freedom. I pay my respects to you. Father, you are dearly loved,” Su Wai Pon wrote. From left to right, senior NLD leaders Win Myint, Dr Zaw Myint Aung, Win Htein and Aung San Suu Kyi meet during a session of parliament before the military’s 2021 coup (Supplied) Prison weakened Zaw Myint Maung as he battled illness, sister says Zaw Myint Maung was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2019 and travelled to Thailand for treatment. In the two years before he went back to prison, his condition was improving, according to his younger sister Dr Yu Yu Chit. “The treatment was quite successful,” she told Myanmar Now. “Despite the prognosis at that time being much worse than the last, he was noticeably better within ten days.” However, he deteriorated rapidly after being imprisoned again in Mandalay in 2021, she said. “For two years, he was put in a small cell, which was very hot, where there was no fan,” she added. “He looked pitiful. In a small, hot room, even a healthy person can’t tolerate the heat, let alone a patient in his condition.” The poor conditions and malnourishment the doctor suffered in Obo Prison weakened him both physically and mentally, his sister recalled, but he fought as hard as he could to survive. Alongside other high-profile political prisoners—including Aung San Suu Kyi and president Win Myint—Zaw Myint Maung was serving time on a raft of charges brought by the military against the civilian leaders it deposed in 2021. His sentence was 29 years. According to Yu Yu Chit, the form of cancer he had is often treatable in other countries, where it is relatively easy to access medicines that might have kept him alive for five to ten more years after his sentencing. “Ko Zaw was a tough man,” she said. “From the first year of his illness, even though it was very serious, he tried to stay alive by getting a bone marrow transplant. He persevered.” “They made him weak,” she added, referring to the military authorities who imprisoned him. “A few days before he died, his lungs got infected. I don’t think he died from the leukaemia itself… I daresay his death was because of them.” She also noted that the authorities repeatedly denied Zaw Myint Maung’s family permission to visit him when his illness was at its worst. “When they allowed us to see him on one rare occasion, it was only for five to ten minutes,” she said, also recalling how the authorities kept his family waiting for hours at the hospital entrance before letting them see him. However, she remembered, “Every time he could see his siblings, he was overjoyed and couldn’t stop smiling.” According to Yu Yu Chit, her brother was not even aware of his own release, as he was already unconscious by the time prison officials read out the decision to free him. “They read an official letter of reprieve over his deathbed,” she said, “While he was unconscious and we were sobbing nearby… His soul was freed from their cruelty, but he wasn’t even able to hear about his own release.” Zaw Myint Maung had the chance to see his siblings before his death, but he could not see his wife, daughter, and son because they had fled the country, his sister said. Zaw Myint Aung seen at an NLD party conference held in Yangon in October 2019 (EPA) The hard road of politics Zaw Myint Maung’s sister noted that despite the status and wealth he enjoyed from being a doctor, he was not content with a life of ease and instead chose to take the ‘hard road’ of involvement in politics. Feeling he had helped forge a hopeful path for the people of Mandalay despite the difficulties in his own life, “he passed away smiling,” Yu Yu Chit said. “Dr Zaw was a good leader and an aspirational figure for Myanmar, the NLD, and Mandalay Region,” said Dr Myo Nyunt, a spokesperson for the NLD. “I am hearing some are suggesting that we ‘resolve political problems by political means’”, he added, referring to recent appeals for the military and anti-junta armed groups to meet at the negotiating table rather than continue to fight. However, he said, Zaw Myint Maung would not have died in this way, with this disease, if these “political means” were what the military practised or believed in. Zaw Myint Maung’s passing is a “devastating loss” for the country, said Win Mya Mya, a fellow former political prisoner and senior member of NLD, who added: “Despite suffering from leukaemia, he never failed in his duty to the NLD and the country.” “He will be missed,” she said. A funeral letter released by Zaw Myint Maung’s family announced his cremation at 10am on Tuesday morning at a cemetery in Mandalay. Dozens of cars and motorbikes brought mourners to the ceremony to see him for the last time and pay their respects.

“Rest in freedom”: Zaw Myint Maung’s family, colleagues honour his memory

Dr Zaw Myint Maung, a longtime political prisoner and leading figure in Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) party, died of cancer on Monday after the Myanmar military imprisoned him again for three years

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