COMMENTS (1)

RECOMMEND (713)

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PLUSONE

MORE

E-MAIL

PRINT

TEXT SIZE

Phyu Phyu Thin (Photo: Myat Moe Maung)

Phyu Phyu Thin, a member of Social Assistance Committee of the National League for Democracy, has worked with people living with HIV/AIDS for the past 10 years. more than 100 people now live in the shelter in South Dagon Township in Rangoon. On Nov. 17, Aung San Suu Kyi visited the shelter.
The next day the authorities ordered the patients to be transferred to a similar facility run by the government in Thaketa Township. The authorities later  temporarily suspended the order. The Irrawaddy reporter Aye Chan Myate talked with Phyu Phyu Thin about the closure order.

Question: What are the most recent developments regarding the order to transfer the patients under your care? 

Answer: We won't move. But of course we are being pressured. As a citizen, every person living here can lawfully stay according to their rights to be issued an overnight-stay pass [required by the law]. That is a right which Snr-Gen Than Shwe himself endorsed.

Q: How were you informed about the transfer order?

A: They said the government has arranged for the patients to be in the hospital. But I heard there are only six patients in Thaketa Hospital. They said we must move and will not be allowed to stay here any longer. No one wants to move. They want to stay. For the time being, we do not have a plan to move out. They also said that patients who carry infectious disease should not  live within the community and asked community members to sign a petition, but they refused.

Q: When was the transfer order issued? And when was the petition circulated?

A: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited here on Nov.17 and the order was issued on Nov. 18. The petition was prepared on Nov. 19.

Q: What do you think prompted the sudden government order to transfer the patients?

A: It was coincident with the visit of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We faced an order to transfer before, but this time it was different. I assume that they think they can do whatever they want. In my view, the government should not pressure these vulnerable people. We need to help them. We need to work together for them. I can work with either NGOs or the government, but it must be based on good intentions. They are not well-intentioned. What they are doing right now is intimidating the patients rather than helping them.

Q: What is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's view on what happened?

A: She is well informed. We are preparing to face it in the legal arena. She is upset because she wanted to do many things for the patients. She promised during her visit that she would try to seek assistance including medicine and other logistics. So she is sad that she can not deliver on her promise right now. The patients were excited, and they expected a lot.

Q: Have you experienced similar harassment before, the claim that infectious diseases could endanger the community?

A: Yes, we have. Landlords were intimidated to withdraw our lease or they could face arrests. In one case, we had to move out before our lease expired for the sake of the landlord. We know the landlord was sympathetic to the patients and our work, but they couldn't resist the pressure. In some cases, patients were forcibly taken to government-run hospitals on the account of  a government order. We have experienced such events before. Our current residence is not a rental property, but our own house. So since they can't find a way to intimidate the landlord, they are trying to intimidate the patients who, nevertheless, don't want to comply.

Q: Would it be better for the patients in the hospital in terms of medication?

A: Here I want to say something. I was not around during the 2007 Saffron Revolution.