Different Views of Darkness

While political activists spent their time in fear of the prison authorities, MI prisoners spent their time in fear of the prisoners whom they had helped land behind bars. As soon as the former MI officers arrived in prison, they felt threatened by an “invisible man” and were afraid of everyone they saw.

When struck with the storms of life, these former MI tough guys were at a loss about how to survive on their own. Sometimes the stress left them in tears and crying “They shouldn’t treat us like that.”

But in fact, MI prisoners were treated much better than ordinary political prisoners. Although some were sent to remote prisons, they were never tortured. And since most prison authorities were former military officers themselves, MI prisoners were sometimes even treated as if they were still in power. At minimum, most of them received special privileges such as long family visits and the chance to recieve parcels. Despite this, they rarely assisted other prisoners.
 
Based on fundamental ideology, MI and political prisoners viewed and faced their dark days in prison much differently. Most political prisoners struggled courageously and accepted their current circumstance, an attitude which gave them the strength to overcome their difficulties. But jailed MI personnel refused the situation and courted favors from authorities, which left them weak and subject to psychological neurosis and physical disease.

From a human standpoint, it is hard not to agree with many that say these former MI hardliners “deserved what they got,” and “their past sins came back to haunt them.” But political prisoners are more aware than anyone that if Burma is going to solve its political problems, national reconciliation must be achieved. And to achieve reconciliation, every citizen, including the former MI officers who now languish in prison, must be part of the solution.

One of the lessons learned in “Life University” is that harmony and unity, rather than bitterness and division, is the best way to escape our national nightmare.