Benedict Rogers: Hong Kong and Myanmar: two battles, one fight

Hong Kong was where I began my working life. And it was from Hong Kong that I began my lifelong commitment to Myanmar. And now freedom in both places lies in tatters, but the battle by the two for liberation is joined.

It was while living in Hong Kong that I started to visit refugees, internally displaced peoples and exiled dissidents from Myanmar on the country’s border with Thailand.

It was in Hong Kong that I spoke in churches, in the media and in places like the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) about Myanmar.

Indeed, in 2009 – seven years after I left Hong Kong – I visited the city and was invited to speak at the FCC. My talk is still available on the club’s website.

And it was from Hong Kong that I led groups from Hong Kong’s churches to visit the refugee camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border.

Hong Kong and Myanmar are the only two places in the world from which I have been deported – once from Hong Kong in 2017 and twice from Myanmar, in 2011 and 2012. The bonds in my heart between me and these two beautiful but benighted places are deep.

When I left Hong Kong in 2002, there were two things that I would never have expected. The dramatic dismantling of Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy just under two decades later; and the faltering liberalization and quasi-democratization of Myanmar a decade later. But now, as Hong Kong’s freedoms are trampled on, Myanmar’s infant democracy has been aborted by a military coup, and both places face a future under ruthless dictatorship.

Myanmar’s decade of reform has been precarious. It started with great hope – the release of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi after years of house arrest, a dialogue between her and Myanmar’s then President, former military general Thein Sein, and the release of political prisoners, the establishment of ceasefire agreements with many of the country’s ethnic armed resistance groups and an expansion of space for civil society and media. I met Suu Kyi in person five times, something I never imagined would happen during all the years I campaigned for her release during her house arrest.

I witnessed that period first-hand. I travelled inside the country many times from 2012-2017, giving workshops for civil society and inter-faith activists, training future Parliamentarians in human rights advocacy, contributing to Myanmar’s blossoming media. One of my most sensitive books – a biography of Myanmar’s previous military dictator, Than Shwe, titled Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant – was even translated, without my knowledge, published and sold at traffic lights and on street corners in Myanmar’s former capital Yangon. I was thrilled – never mind a breach of copyright, I quickly adopted the phrase “In Myanmar, copyright means the right to copy”.

That first opening led to the first credible, free elections in a quarter of a century, held in 2015, overwhelmingly won by Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD), and a seemingly smooth transition of power to a civilian-led government with Suu Kyi as its de facto head. Suddenly many of my friends, previous participants in my workshops, were sitting in Parliament.

Of course, by design the military still retained real power, controlling three key ministries under the constitution which it wrote – home affairs, border affairs and defense – as well as a quarter of parliamentary seats. A fragile accommodation between lifelong democracy campaigners and soldiers was established, which came at a cost. When the military unleashed a genocidal campaign against Myanmar’s Rohingyas, Suu Kyi did not just stay silent. She went to the Hague to defend the army against charges of genocide, and shredded her international reputation as a result. She went from heroine of democracy to guardian of the army with inexplicable speed.

Now, all her compromises have come to nothing, as she is once again placed under the army’s lock and key. Yet the coup this week is not about her, and those who have understandable criticisms of her record in recent years must resist the urge to turn a blind eye because she disappointed us. No, this coup is an all-out assault on democracy itself and should concern us all.

First, the military has overturned the legitimate results of last November’s elections in Myanmar not because, as they falsely allege, they were fraudulent, but because the elections didn’t deliver the result which the Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, desired. That’s what it’s really all about. Min Aung Hlaing wants to be President, and if he can’t be elected fairly through the ballot box, he decided to seize power by force.

Second, so many of those arrested had little or no connection to Suu Kyi. Besides her government ministers and regional chief ministers, those arrested include dissidents, writers, film makers, journalists, civil society activists and Buddhist monks. Many of my friends have been arrested or are in hiding or on the run. This is a crackdown on any and every critic of the military.

And third – and this is where it should be of interest to Hong Kong – there is a common thread with China.

Last month Min Aung Hlaing met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. It would stretch credulity to believe that they did not in some form discuss his plan of action. Although we do not know the content of the conversation, we have a good idea about the content of the character of both men and both regimes. If Beijing thought the coup was a bad idea, it would have made that clear – and it is unlikely that Min Aung Hlaing would have acted if he had not been assured that Beijing was not averse to the idea.

China’s behavior in recent days has reinforced that. Chinese state media describes the coup as “a major cabinet reshuffle”. Well forgive me, but even when Carrie Lam reshuffles her cabinet, it results in sackings and resignations, not mass arrests of her officials. At least not yet. And at the UN Security Council, China vetoed any statement or action. If the regime in Beijing wanted to show it was not behind this coup, why would it block a UN statement of concern?

In the past few days, I have received several enquiries from Myanmar friends asking to connect with Hong Kong activists, to learn from them about rescue and resistance. And I have received messages of solidarity from Hong Kong friends offering support.

Myanmar’s coup came a day after the United Kingdom’s offer to Hong Kong’s British National Overseas (BNO) status holders opened. It came just over a month after 55 Hong Kong democrats were arrested for having held a ‘primary’ election to choose their candidates for the Legislative Council elections never happened. And of course, Britain was the colonial power in both Hong Kong and Myanmar, and as a country our bonds with both places run deep. The ties between the two causes are strong.

In the midst of all this, earlier this week I interviewed the co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), the former Conservative Party Leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, who is heading up an amendment in the British Parliament to establish a genocide determination mechanism in British courts.

Sir Iain’s family ties with China go back several generations and far deeper than I realized, and the interview is really worth watching on Hong Kong Watch’s YouTube and social media channels. But he ended the interview with a message of hope, which is one which Hong Kongers and the peoples of Myanmar should hold on to. He referred to the example of the British hero Captain Sir Tom Moore – whose story and example is now legendary. Captain Sir Tom, who fought in Myanmar in the Second World War, used to constantly say, even in the midst of dark times, that “Tomorrow will be a good day”.

He’s right, but to make sure of it, all of us who believe in and fight for freedom, wherever we are, need to stick closer together, support and learn from each other, and co-ordinate our efforts. Hong Kongers and the people of Myanmar should join forces – and as someone whose life, love and commitment are intertwined with both peoples, I will always fight for you all. I am heartbroken by what has happened in both Hong Kong and Myanmar. But yes, if we keep at it, tomorrow will be a good day again.