Burmese DemocraticFutures Working Group

Khun Saing

Khun Saing was a medical student at Rangoon University when he was faced with his first major wave of protests. These protests began due to the death of famous Burmese UN diplomat U Thant. While celebrated by the students of Myanmar as a world leader, the government refused to give U Thant a state funeral, as the President and military dictator of the country, Ne Win, disliked him. When a smaller, private funeral was held for U Thant, student protestors interrupted the funeral, stole U Thant's coffin, and brought him to their compound at Rangoon University. Khun Saing, like many others, was swept up in the protest and pursuits of activism. The situation was ultimately broken by the military, resulting in as many as 100 deaths - luckily, Khun Saing happened to be visiting his home at the time. Despite this failure, Khun Saing continued to engage in the protest movement, breaking curfew, spreading pamphlets, and organizing his fellow medical students in the cause. For these reasons, he ended up being arrested by the government. After being held for eight days in a military compound, Khun Saing was given a one-day trial with no questioning and sent to Insein Prison. While he would only stay for two years out of his seven-year sentence, being let out due to the prisons being overcrowded, Khun Saing would still remain determined to fight for what he believed in, resulting in him ending up in prison two more times for a total of nearly 15 years of his life behind bars. While imprisoned, Khun Saing wrote a song about Nelson Mandela titled "Echo for Mandela," which he would secretly teach to his fellow inmates in a quiet act of rebellion against the prison guards. Khun Saing put himself to work for the sake of his fellow prisoners, whom he believed were enduring terrible conditions. By his words, there was not enough medicine, nor enough doctors in the prisons Saing experienced - resulting in many prisoners dying. To rectify this, Khun Saing smuggled in stashes of medicine to treat any prisoner he could help, nearly dying from tuberculosis himself from exposure to sick prisoners. After being let out of prison and despite being banned from working as a doctor by the regime, he founded the Nightingale Special Clinic - named after his personal hero - which gave free and cheap medical treatment to the poor, political activists, and members of the National League for Democracy. In 2007, Khun Saing applied for asylum in the UK. His request was granted, and he resides there today in a Sheffield bakery. His wife and son, however, are still waiting for their chance to join him and are currently refugees in Thailand.