VOCR
10 September, 2009
Kuala Lumpur
By Salai C C

Mr. Ni Cung (40) was arrested with others four Chin fellows on 15. 08. 2009 and detained for two months in Ayemyakantha township councilor office in Kawhtaung. In his detaining period, the authorities did not provide commodity and enough food. He was suspected as ceasefire arm group even though he has Burmese national identity card. After detaining at township councilor office in Kawhtaung, they broke the office wall and ran away to Malaysia for safety and he arrived at Malaysia on 6th September, 2009. .


VOCR: Could you tell me your name and which part of Chin state are you from?
NC: My name is Ni Cung. I am from Belhar village, Thantlang Township, northern part of Chin State.


VOCR: Where did the Myanmar Immigration arrested you? How long and where were you detained?
NC: I was arrested when our plane from Yangon landed at Kawhtaung airport and I was taken to Ayemyakantha township councilor office for further investigation. I had been detained for almost two months in that office.

VOCR: While in detention, did the immigration provide you commodity and enough food?
NC: No, absolutely not. They didn’t provide anything. They told us to buy food ourselves. If we begged them to buy us food, they scolded us and kicked us.

VOCR: If the authorities did not provide you food, how did you survive in your detention period and what actually did you eat?
NC: As we have no relatives in Kawhtaung to come and visit us, we bought food with our own money. Food also was very expensive that we could eat only one time per day.

VOCR: If you don’t have any relatives in Kawhtaung, to whom did the authorities inform that you are under arrest?
NC: I think that the authorities did not inform to anyone because we were isolated and were being suspected as (MNLA) Mon National Liberty Army which made ceasefire with the military regime recently.“Even though they recognized us as Chin ethnicity which also is shown on our Identity card, we were suspected and questioned like insurgent group”.

VOCR: You said that four Chin fellows also were arrested at the same time. Consequently, do you know where they were taken to and were detained? Do they have Burmese identity card?

NC: They also detained with me including seven years old child. We all have identity cards but the captain who questioned us denied our identity cards. In questioning room, the captain also said that our identity cards were invalid and lured us to show MNLA cards.

VOCR: In your detention period, did you see other ethnic minorities like Kachin, Shan etc. who were detained under such cases?
NC: Yes. Many other ethnics also were arrested but they detained for only two or three days. After three days, the authorities demanded them to pay 55,000 kyat for their release. If they could pay the demand, they were repatriated. But we were not demanded to pay money for our release. Even if we tried to explain that we were able to pay 55,000 kyat like other ethnic detainees, the authorities refused our claims.

VOCR: Can you explain me how did you escape?
NC: After we had been detained for almost two months, I explained all my friends that we would be detained for a long time since we were subjected as insurgent case. I also suggested them to find out the way to escape. One night, we broke the office wall and ran away to monastery which is located on the hill. The monks did not allow us to stay in the monastery. At that time, it was raining heavily but we stayed under the heavy rain because we got no place to take refuge. After two days in the forest around Kawhtuang, we headed our journey to Malaysia and arrived on 6th September, 2009.

VOCR: Thank you very much for giving us your time. May your dream come true!
NC: Same to you.