Interviews with Zin Mar Aung

I was born in Rangoon. And my township is North Okkalapa. And I was born in 1976. And I was raised also in Rangoon. And I’m engaged in politics, especially the student movement in our university. And also in my third year as university student, I was arrested and sent to prison in 1998, September. Actually, I studied botany. In our education, the government did not allow us to study political science. At the time of General Ne Win they teach the political science. And so-called political science, just socialism – they prefer socialism.

That’s why after 1988 in the university, our education did not allow to study us political science anymore. That’s why we study ourselves through books that are outside our education. We go to the American Center library [A library and resource center run by the U.S. Embassy] and we go to the bookshelves and we read magazines and newspapers, especially from any foreign country. We try to get very difficult studies, of the articles and books during this period. And we studied ourselves, you know, what is politics, what is democracy, what is the difference between the dictatorship and the democracy, like that.

Firstly, you know, our country is under a dictatorship for such a long time. And in 1988, I have experienced the military treatment of the civilians and of the students. I made up my mind when I have time and opportunity to attend the university, I will engage in politics as a student – as long as the military governs our country. That’s what I engaged in politics in the past. And that’s why I engaged in politics. I was arrested in 1998 and after 11 years I was in prison, I’m released. And what I was thinking in the prison is, you know, we need to strengthen the democratic society.

We need civil society also. And at the same time, as a political activist and a politician, it’s not very easy to stand up, to show what we believe. So that’s why civil society is another option we can play during this period. And also to be a sustainable democratic society, to strengthen civil society is also important. That’s why I engage both in politics and also in civil society.

Zin Mar Aung is a Burmese civil society and political activist and a former prisoner of conscience. She was born in 1976 in Rangoon.

While a university student in the 1990s, Zin Mar Aung became active in the opposition to Burma’s military government. In 1998, she was arrested at a peaceful protest rally for reading a poem and statement calling on the military government to respect the results of elections. She was detained and convicted before a military tribunal, which did not permit her to be represented by an attorney. Zin Mar Aung was sentenced to 28 years in prison. She spent 11 years as a political prisoner, nearly nine years of which was in solitary confinement. In 2009, she was suddenly released from captivity and she resumed her civil society activities.

Zin Mar Aung has founded a number of civil society groups dealing with democratic development, women’s empowerment, ethnic tolerance, and providing assistance to former prisoners of conscience. The Rainfall group encourages greater women’s participation in public life and the Yangon School of Political Science educates young Burmese about politics and democracy.

In 2012, she was recognized by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as a recipient of the annual “International Women of Courage” award.