An interview conducted by the Asian Human Rights Commission. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the AHRC.
Burma — A woman speaks out against bad policing and torture
Noveline is a young Burmese woman involved in promoting democracy and human rights in her country. She made the following comments in answer to questions posed to her.
What is your opinion on the Burmese policing system?
When we compare Burma to many other countries first we need to understand the difference between a democracy and a military dictatorship. In a democratic country, the function of the police is to maintain the rule of law but in Burma, this is not what the function of the police.
Burma is under a military dictatorship and within that the police stations are very subordinate places. The important people are the military, and the duty of the police is to help and assist the military. The police control the society; they carry out surveillance on the people and try to stop any kind of political activity.
Besides that, they are also very corrupt, for example, when people buy the lottery in my town they have to pay the police because buying the lottery is illegal. You can do any illegal things by bribing the police.
But the most significant problem is that they do not know the rights of the people. In my country, people do not have rights; therefore the police do not respect any kinds of rights. If the police arrest people, they would do so whenever and however they please.
The military dictatorship system is more terrible than the problem of corruption. Once the police arrest people they conclude any charges, sometimes even charging an innocent person for a crime he did not commit, particularly if people are political dissidents they can charge them and put them into the jail.
So, the police are constantly helping the military. By giving various reasons, people are being put into jail.
When you look at the function of the police, it could be seen that it is very terrible.
In other words, when we talk about the Burmese police, you must always remember that Burma is a country that has been under military dictatorship since 1962. The people, including the police, have never been exposed to the idea of democracy. The police will do anything for the military because the military is more powerful.
In other countries the police is controlled by the judiciary but in Burma our judicial system cannot control the police. The police is more powerful than judiciary and there is no protection for the people by judges. This policing system is much more terrible, as the judges protect the military instead of the people and it puts a burden on the people. There is not the way for people to maintain any kind of security. This is what we should try to understand.
Our military system trained people to obey. If a senior officer gave a wrong command, the junior officers are ready to obey without thinking whether the act is right or wrong. Even if the junior officers know what is wrong or right, they are afraid of losing their properties, their power and their positions if they do not obey, so they would keep silent and just obey. Besides, as the top seniors are corrupt, the junior officers would not consider corruption as a wrong thing or action, so they would follow the examples demonstrated by the senior officers and would follow suit.
I think the policing system in Burma would destroy the people spirit.
Why is torture practiced in Burma?
The police use torture as a means of getting money, extracting information, and to punish political prisoners, which creates fear for anyone who criticizes the military government.
Political prisoners: There are more than 2000 political prisoners in various prisons and some are at risk of tortures during the initial detentions when they are often interrogated for hours.
Torture and ill-treatment occur in a variety of detention centers, Military Intelligence headquarters, military outposts, prisons. For example, Dr Wint Thu was accused for his involvement in praying for the release of political prisoners, and was tortured by the police during the investigation.
Ethnic minorities: Torture and ill treatment of ethnic minority occur in the context of a pattern of persecution against non-Burmese groups and in the context of enforced portering because ethnic minority groups are often deprived of their economic, social and cultural rights. The military forces mortar villages and destroy crops to obliterate the livelihoods and burn homes. The ethnic minority quit their villages because of forced labour, forced relocation of homes, torture, rape and so on.
Child soldiers: Recently, a 15 year old child was shot dead because he refused to join the army. Two children refused and as they tried to escape one was shot and the other now suffers from mental problems.
Civilians: Two teenage girls were accused of stealing money and were tortured by the police. During the investigation, the police squeezed their fingers and bent them. Another two men accused of alleged robbery were tortured by the police during the investigation before they were taken to the judge. The wife of one of the men had to pay the police in order for her husband not to be tortured by them.
What are your views on the public relations of the police?
The relationship between the public and the police is very poor. When I was in Myanmar, before I went to Yangon for my university studies, I lived in my home town in Ayeyar Waddi Division. Near my town, there were many villages where farmers could only rely on their farms for a living. Every year, the police force them to sell their crops at very low prices. Even though the farmers were very angry they dare not say anything because they fear the power of the police. But people become rich because of their involvement in illegal actions when they have good relationship with the police.
I have been in Hong Kong since mid-February; I think people in Hong Kong are not afraid of asking the question “why” if something seems to be unreasonable. But in Burma, people are afraid to even ask the police the question “why” because people would be psychologically affected by military rules.
What do you think about the use of torture?
I do not agree with the idea of using torture for any reason. If they use torture when dealing with suspects, they might also torture innocent people and torture can generate false confessions. Innocent people would then be sent to jail according to their false confessions. I have seen many political prisoners who have to admit to things they had not done during the interrogation because of tortured.
If you have a problem would you go to a police station to get help?
My answer is “No” because I don’t have money to bribe the police. On the other hand, if I complain about corruption, I could be sent to the jail. For example, Ma Sandar who had complained against the situation of corruption among the police was imprisoned for one year and one month in 2008. You can understand more about her case through the Urgent Appeals Program.
Is there a domestic violence law in your country and what is your opinion of it?
There is no specific law against domestic violence and Burmese woman have a moderate degree of protection for their physical integrity. But violence against woman such as political imprisonment, forced labor and sexual abuse of minority women by the armed forces is one of the terrible problems in Burma which would not be solved easily.
