Share for you all.... MELANCHOLY-TRIP BACK HOME A long-distant dedication to my closest sibling U Aye Maung. A premature, that is usual feeling of relatives to the deceased and sudden death of my elder brother U Aye Maung, aged 81, Deputy General Manager, State Timber Board pushed me to go back home soon after he passed away on 11th May2013 without entry visa because a person from the Myanmar Embassy, Canberra told me that it would be much easier and quicker to get visa on the way to Myanmar in Bangkok in the Myanmar Embassy, without wasting precious time. Again my daughter Jennifer also rang to the Myanmar Embassy in Canberra to ensure and again she was told the same thing that it would be a lot quicker to get visa on the way in Bangkok, 11th and 12th May being Saturday and Sunday. She lost no time because she bought the plane ticket and travel insurance, thinking that it would be convenient and faster to get the entry visa on the way to Bangkok. Knowing that it would be risky to go without visa, I left Melbourne at 11:30pm by the Thai Airways on 13th May2013, arriving Bangkok the next morning at 6:45am, hoping to meet a person whom I did not know because my nephew requested her to meet me there to assist me in getting the visa from the Myanmar Embassy to which she willingly agreed to come and help me holding a placard with my name at the exit. I was so hopeful to meet my helper at the appointed place with my name on so I checked those people raising their name tags as high as possible to see for those who arrived looking for help. I went up and down looking for the person holding my name tag all the way from the start to the end which is about 100 yards. I went over 7 times carrying my heavy suitcase and hand carry-bag for nearly an hour and half without any success. Finally after thinking all sorts of uncertainty and predicament of being not able to attend my brother’s funeral in time a sort of tug or war something like race against time, I came to my decision to give up and surrender of not going to attempt any further like a warrior surrenders before the battle has been fought. In addition to that I have no mobile phone with me, no phone numbers of anyone that I know in Bangkok, also most Thais do not speak English so I thought seriously the other alternative of changing my flight back to Melbourne as it would take a couple of days in Bangkok to get visa from the embassy and to find hotel while I was weighing up all sorts of possibility, pros and cons. Only at that last moment in a split of a second out of the blue I met that person who came straight to me and I also asked her name. She said to me that she was looking for me more than an hour and I also said that I was totally disappointed and frustrated without any hope to find her. She explained to me in detail that she was not allowed to wave the name tag because she was not registered like those holding their placards name tags. Now I felt like a big heavy burden was just lifted from my shoulder. Then we went in a taxi to the Myanmar Embassy which is about an hour drive from the airport, arriving at 7:30am. To my surprise there were already more than 500 people were waiting in the queue including many foreigners. I asked some of the foreigners why they were in the queue, telling them that for foreigners visa on arrival is already written in the Yangon International Airport. They said they did not trust about that because Myanmar regulations were very funny. The Embassy opened at 9:30am and we were told that for emergency the visa fee was about Bhat2500 instead of the usual one Bhat810. We agreed to pay but then again we were told that we must produce a letter of intimation about my brother’s death. I said I came with phone and Email message only so I did know how to solve the problem as I have nobody who could help me. I was having a hard time facing this impossible predicament. The woman said she knew both pastor and his wife from the Burmese Baptist Church. Accordingly she requested for the necessary papers that they were so good that those papers were provided by the pastor’s wife which made us possible to lodge in the application for visa together with the fee according to their demand and the letter of intimation. We were told to come back at 3:40pm so we went to that pastor’s house and freshened up and had meal together with the family. After awhile we went to the airport but my helper woman went to the Embassy to get the passport. We constantly rang several times to her to see the progress and she replied that the Embassy hasn’t open until 3:30pm even though they were supposed to open at 3:00pm. She got the passport with visa endorsement only at 4:40pm and she rushed off to the airport as soon as possible. The trouble was my plane would leave at 5:40pm without being checked-in yet. She only arrived at 5:15pm and checking was made and I had only a few minutes to run to the departure gate which is pretty far from the check-in area. After saying good bye to those at the airport including Daw Aye Saw I rushed off and got into the plane in time fortunately before the departure and finally I arrived in the Yangon International Airport where my nephew and niece were on hand to welcome me. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to those Rev. U Htun Than, Daw Aye Saw and Mon Mon Latt for their timely help and hospitality. Before I forget I would like to mention a brief story of my brother’s life with all his exceptional qualities in education and in work and also awkward behaviour toward his siblings while we all were being brought up at home. He was a big bully in the family and never gave in to anyone. Hence he became a black sheep in the family. Once we moved out of the house for employment we all become so close with care and concern until to this date. Both our parents are of medical professional, father being a doctor and mother a nurse and a midwife. We are six siblings and before the eldest was ten our father died so my mother became our father and mother to take care of our food, clothing , shelter and education so she worked 24/7 day in day out sacrificing her life putting our well-being and welfare before hers. Thus we all obtained sufficient education for our livelihood because of our mother’s sacrifice otherwise we won’t be in this situation. Heartfelt thanks and appreciation from our bottom of our hearts for her risk and sacrifice for all of us until today and her name is mentioned every time we have her memorial service. My brother passed matriculation after getting twice double promotion; even though he would like to pursue further education in university he joined the Government Technical Institute (AGTI) in Insein, Yangon because he wanted to help ease our mother’s burden. Once he passed his diploma he joined the State Timber Board as junior assistant engineer. He was very good at practical things that he was very successful in constructing many saw mills all over the country; to name a few about four in Yangon – Bohtathoung, Kyimyintaing, Kamayut, Ahlone, Moulmein, Aunglan, Tachi Leik, Myitkyina, Monwya etc. Because of his hard work and perseverance he was promoted to assistant engineer, manager, deputy project director, project director and his last position was deputy general manager, the second in command in the timber industry. Also many times he was given opportunity to lead as deputy and leader of the timber marketing promotion to many foreign countries like Singapore, Manila, Copenhagen, China, the Philippines and India etc on many occasions. He got the authority to sign and sell timber to people and organisations without any bias, prejudice and misappropriation. At that time there was a saying, “It is easier to buy gold but not timber”. As far as I know he never accepted bribe from anyone and in one time I even witnessed that one contractor came to his residence with money in the envelope that he drove him out. In due course many people from the department became jealous of him and anonymous letters were sent to MI (Military Intelligence) who without proper investigation, he was taken from his office to the Insein notorious prison and his house was thoroughly searched many times and every time he was taken to court he was in hand cuffed, what sort of treatment to a high official, I would like to know. In the eyes of the law everyone is deemed innocent until proven guilty. He suffered humiliation, shame and disgrace in the hands of those irresponsible MI which was the most degrading and unfortunate incident in his life. Not only he suffered that much the whole family was put in that awkward and disgraceful situation in the suspicious eyes of the neighbours. It so happened that I was about to return home for the first in ten years on 15th Dec1991. Many knew it was a set-up and so many members of churches all over the country were praying for his release including me. My prayer was,” God I would like to see my brother at the airport when I arrived from Australia”. After 156 days in the prison those MI personnel couldn’t find any evidence from many places and people who they interrogated, finally he was released and I came to understand that those MI got the boot for their absolute blunder. Every decent citizen would not be happy to see such abuse of power. I remember that because of rule of law was missing in the country as the way Daw Aung San Suu Kyi stressed in many of her speeches. When I got down from the plane at the Yangon International Airport he was right there to welcome me. I gave thanks to God for answering my prayers and others. He got his job back, he got his back pay and other entitlements in full. After 36 years of service he retired from the workforce sometime in Sept1992. Many of his colleagues have brick houses whereas his house was built of inferior timber not even teak and pyinkado. When I arrived back I saw many walls and floor falling apart because of white ants. We have memorial service for my brother every night at 7:30pm and many attended the service including my two sisters from Toungoo and Tha Hton, many relatives together with over 800 friends and family who came and showed their love and respect to my brother. The service was first held in the Mon Baptist Church on 18th May with many speakers one of them was U Win Tin, his high school classmate and the president of the World Church Council (Myanmar) and I also talked on behalf of the family about our intimacy with love and attachment because we met everyday in my residence in RIT for nearly 20 years on his return from office and also he brought his children to meet my children every weekend as we both lived in Yangon whereas the other siblings lived in different towns in country side. He came and opened up his chest with all his troubles and anxieties regarding his office work, labour problem, promotion and demotion of labours etc. Thus my brother and I became so close that everything was opened nothing was secret between us. He had high impression on me because he thought I have advanced education and on the other hand I am totally impressed with his ability to do enormous responsibility of constructing saw mills more than 20, achieving promotion from lower rung of ladder to upper with his perseverance and hard work and many times of his overseas trips and tours. When I left for Australia in Oct1980 he was nearly broken down because as if his tower of strength was removed. Again in Dec1984 our beloved mother who lived with him for a long time passed away. He was broken-hearted again because our mother loved him so much as he was our mother’s blood donor, twice blood transfusion she got from him. He was nearly collapsed when MI wrongly arrested him in early Sept1991 without any tangible evidence for 156 days in the Insein notorious prison. The final blow was that his beloved wife Daw Than Tin of 51 years passed away in 6th May2012 to whom he married with the consent of both sides of the family on 22nd May1961 by the Rev Nai Ba Shin in the presence of God and people. When he got transferred to Yangon sometime in June 1961 they stayed briefly with me in the RIT compound before being moved to Insein. They have five beautiful children, a son and daughter in Singapore, one in Australia and two daughters in Insein, all of them are very polite and respectful to parents and elders. He was much involved not only in the Mon church and his neighbours but also in so many other places helping and building churches, monasteries and poor family huts wherever and whatever needs to be repaired with his expense . Since then he became a dead-man walking like a robot, oblivious of everything in life that life seemed to him absolutely nothing attractive and in his letters to me he mentioned that he felt fearful of something that was bothering him like a ghost behind his back haunting and hounding that made him weak and nervous. During my visit in Dec2012, I noticed that he was weak and nervous and all the time he visited his doctor for medicines but did not take much healthy food because he lost appetite. I encouraged him to read Bible and listened to gospel songs, thinking about his success in life such as promotions one after the other and frequent visits to foreign countries as leader of the delegation etc for inner well-being and peace of mind but of no avail. He looked like one very sick and weak old man acting like a robot. I felt every sad and sorry for my brother because he was hardest hit by that brutal treatment that he received in that hands of MI. In foreign country if someone is arrested wrongly large sum of compensation can be demanded in court. After all what amount of money can bring that priceless and happy life. I should say he was fairly good until 10th May that he complained that he had trouble with passing water and scarcely lifted his leg. The family took him to the Thiri Sandar Clinic at 9am without any specialist but left with junior staff and later they thought he must be suffering from kidney failure so saying they sent him on an ambulance to the Aisha Tawwin Clinic in the city again with no specialists. They came to the conclusion that he must be suffering from heart attack. Again they sent him back to the Thiri Sandar Clinic in an ambulance which was going a bit fast on bad road which added more suffering to the patient. He was quite normal talking to his children even to one daughter Lwin Mar Aye from Australia on the phone. The children said he was normal until 3am but later on he became tired and passed away at 5:37am on 11th May. To my surprise I was told that both clinics asked the family their affordability to pay the expenses before giving their dedicated service which is really undesirable and despicable. The whole family is mourning for the loss of their loved one and prayed that his soul rest in peace as we all stand tall with our beloved sibling. In my eyes he was one loving son to his parents, one proud loving bother to the siblings, one good husband to his wife and one good father to his family, one faithful and loyal public servant to the country and people, one religious and devoted person to his belief and a humble friend to his neighbours. Then the coffin of my brother was taken to the Yei Way Christian cemetery. I am sure that his death was a great loss to the family, brother and sisters, kith and kin, and neighbours from near and far; everyone was with sorrows and tears thinking of his benevolence because he was like one philanthropist helping and building many poor people houses hiring carpenters with his expense, many churches and monasteries without discrimination, bias and prejudice. In my last visit in Dec12 my relatives from Toungoo took me to Thundaungyi and Thandaungalay which are about 40 miles from Toungoo which is in the Karen State. The road all along is pretty hard to drive even for any skilful driver with all the way zig-zag, twists and turns even with elbow joints up to the mountain which is about 3000 feet above sea-level. The scene from the maintain top is breath-taking and there are resting places for pilgrims for a couple of nights and prayer rooms for meditation and contemplation. There is a church up on the mountain but the path is very treacherous to climb without any rail before. My brother donated generously a sum of money even though he was a pensioner, sufficient enough so that the people in charge could erect hand rails made of steel from the bottom to the top for easy climbing. As a matter of fact my brother was also to come along with us to see his hand-rails built but he couldn’t because he was bitten by a dog on the previous day. So I took many pictures of the hand-rails from the bottom to the top for him to see. The church is about 200 ft from the top of the mountain and many religious people come to pray and meditate on that rare site for their inner peace. Nightly we have memorial service attended by many who showed their love and respect for his love and passion who was so compassionate to poor people, at 7PM and also memorial service a week later on 18th June. Some of his children, son Ye Naung Aye and daughter Htwe Mar Aye’s families from Singapore left for their respective destination a week later as they have to do their job soon after the service and his sibling’s two sisters Daw Daisy Than Yi and Daw San San Yin also left for their respective towns in different parts in Myanmar. I stayed back because I know that my two nieces, unmarried Daw Khin Mar Aye a state high school teacher and the other one Daw Than Than Aye is responsible office manager with one foreign company would be so lonely and also as the house has a lot of repairs to be done. Later I first called two carpenters and fixed up all windows on the ground floor as they were very hard to close and bolts and hinges were tight with rust. Then I told the carpenters to fix up the timber floor as they were eaten up by white ants and also I asked one worker to apply crude petroleum all over the timber covering to prevent further damaging from white ants. Again as the two electric meter boxes were inside the house it made very hard for the workman to come and read meter reading monthly as both my nieces are away at work the whole day. I applied to the electricity department to remove them outside where the man can read easily without any difficulty when my nieces go to work daily. Also I fixed up many places up-stairs for security reason. I was allowed to stay 4 weeks only but I intended to stay a bit longer to help my nieces so I need my visa extended. My visa was extended by one good Samaritan who happens to live a few houses away. With the help of that good friend U Khin Maung Chit(World Vision) of the family the visa was extended to 6 weeks so that I could stay legally up to the day 24th June, the day I left for Australia. Thanks and appreciation to U Khin Maung Chit from the bottom of my heart. I spent about ten days visiting my sister and niece’s places in Toungoo which is about 150 miles from Yangon that they came down in their car to fetch me. Almost every day they had interesting program to take me here and there to a number of different places including Nay Pyi Taw the country’s capital where you can find hotels everywhere you drive, Buddha Gaya a small replica soon going to be built like the real place where Lord Buddha gained enlightenment under the Banyan tree including more than 100 photos of real Buddha Gaya. Many people came on their pilgrimage to that spot with family and friends because most of them Buddhist are very religious and pious; I also visited another spot about six and half miles from Nay Pyi Taw up north where many people came out of curiosity in their cars and tested under their own eyes because there is one magnetic field something like anti gravitational force is pulling upwards. It is a slope downward on the traffic from Nay Pyi Taw about 10-15deg gradient and cars coming downhill towards that spot and if suddenly stopped and freed the gear disengaged without any intervention, the car moved backwards by itself (upward) for about 70feet. We tried twice on the concrete road and then once on the gravel side-shoulder the same phenomenon happened. Some people did not believe but with a comment they said it is something like illusion. I came to know from the people around there who said that there are 4 different places in the world namely one in Meisod, Thailand, Israel and Brazil including Myanmar. I hope soon the place would be a tourist attraction well established with buildings to the interest of tourists and foreigners in away to find extra income for the people residing in that locality. I wonder how on earth some of my old students got the news that I was once again in Yangon because, many of my old students mostly mechanical and electrical came to pay their love and respect to whom they haven’t seen for more than 45 years as I left the Institute in Oct1980 with a brief visit in Dec2012 after 10 years when my last visit was in Dec2002. On 13th June one group led by U Win Khaing, the president of MSME and 10 other including Saya U Win gave me lunch in my honour in the Golden Duck Padauk Hotel where we all reminisced and talked about our experiences of work and the time we spent together in the Institute. I would like to mention those attended that mini union are U Hla Win, U Aung Maung, U Myat Soe, U Htay Mg, U Swe Than, U Tin Soe, U Maung Aye and U Zaw Min. Not only that U Aung Maung called me on the last day whether I need lift to the airport which showed that my old students are so willing and genuine. Also from the bottom of my heart I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to each and every one of them but sad and sorry for my inability to thank them individually and hope and look forward to have such meeting in future. On 14thJune Daw Tin Kyi Oo form the Mon Church invited me to the librarian of RIT in her house 16B where I lived with my family 50 years ago where I met about 10 post graduate and doctorate students to whom I shared my past experience for a couple of hours. The campus was neglected in maintenance grass growing wild along path and buildings were the same. A couple of times once on 26May and another time on the Father’s Day, I was given opportunity to take part in sharing of God’s words when the Elder Daw Cho Cho Aye, invited me in the Mon Church. Again I would like to say thanks to each and everyone for their interest and friendliness. On 17th June a group of women students mostly electrical led by Daw Yi Yi Pyone together with Daw Tin Mya, came to my house and invited me to come to one Golden Duck 8th Miles Hotel with Sandy Hlaing and her husband U Kyaw Myint who himself is a Textiles graduate from the same Institute; this time Daw Aye Win(EE) who is also one of them joined in the gathering but Daw Nar Ni was absent this time; when I visited last time inDec2012 they all came to my house and we all had a good time sharing together with those memories while they all were students; we have a wonderful time together reminiscing our past at the Institute with laughter and smile. They also presented wonderful gifts to their revered teacher whom they met when they were students spending almost every evening in my house playing with my children. We did not see each other once they left after graduation. I do like to acknowledge their sincerity and integrity that they showed the same love and respect unabated to their one time teacher is incredible and for me it is speechless. I am really honoured and humbled to meet them again during my visit. On 17th June my former head of department Professor U Ba Than invited me to come to his residence with two other old students U Hla Win and U Aung Maung at 9:30am. Later U Ba than called Saya U Tun Shwe to join us. It is a memorable time because U Ba Than brought his family-tree album produced with blurb on computer explaining his ancestors namely his parents’ parents, his parents and siblings, his siblings and their spouses their off-springs etc after the lunch till 3:30pm with patience, pointing to each and every episode with his sharp memory and his narrative skill was really interesting and marvellous and we all truly enjoyed his way of entertaining his guests and how I wish such album of my own family tree at that very moment. Also I do appreciate his gentlemanly behaviour and comradeship even though we have been separated for a long break. On 18th June I got a surprise visit from an old classmate, who is a Supreme Court lawyer U Khun Win Hlaing and his wife, was at the door early in the morning and he took me to see his friend at his residence who was a commissioner where we talked for a while. Then he asked everyone who were in the neighbourhood to come in the evening to his residence over pot luck for a small reunion. We met at his residence with many of other old classmates in Dec12 in my last visit. Some of them are U Aye Thaung, CE, Dr Win Cho Surgeon, U Tin Hla Accountant, U Myo Aye General Manger, Col Aung Myint etc. We had a wonderful time reflecting on our past time in high school and university. On 23rd June another old student U Win Htein Oo(M72) together with two his friends from the Institute U Win Myint and U Myo Thaw came and took me to one the Air Port Million Coins where we have a good time and talk over some delicious food, reminiscing about our old time at RIT. The next day 24th June in the morning another old student U Khin Maung Cho (car-company) rang that he too would like to come and meet his old teacher. I told him that I was so busy packing all my things ready to go to the air port and promised him that we could meet in Dec13 and have a good time to look forward to. I find that the majority of the people of the country are enjoying the real freedom and democracy, initiated by the President U Thein Sein and the peace laureate the opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the freedom of press and media with different news papers and magazines venting out all their views and grievances without any bias and prejudice that they have been missing and have been deprived off for nearly fifty years under the military. In conclusion I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to many people including my two sisters, daughters and son, nieces, nephews, relatives near and far, neighbours, all my old students and some of my colleagues for their floral tributes, phone calls, sympathy cards and condolence, treating me like one adorable person and making my stay most comfortable. On my last day on 24th June many well wishers together with my two nieces saw me off at the Yangon International Airport for smooth flight back home. Sincerely, MaungMWin(M61)
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 10:58:44 +0000
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