When Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo of Reuters stepped out of Yangon’s Insein jail on Tuesday, their walk to freedom signified the momentous triumph of a free press.
It is a triumph that must seem all the greater not the least because it has been achieved under a remarkably insensitive leader called Aung San Suu Kyi, who as a proclaimed “lodestar of democracy” has kowtowed to the repressive military junta ever since she assumed power.
It is a triumph that was reinforced when Wa Lone ~ for the first time ~ embraced his daughter as a free man. Thet Htar Angel was born while he was behind bars and the first meeting has reaffirmed the truism that laughter and tears go together.
The emotional bonding between a father and his first-born cemented the liberty that has eventually been granted to the two intrepid reporters who had to spend more than 500 days in jail for their reporting on the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims ~ the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II in the reckoning of the United Nations. Both were awarded the Pulitzer prize for their reporting on the massacre of Rohingya civilians.
In a wholly contrived charge, both were accused of breaching the colonial Official Secrets Act. It is fervently to be hoped that the release will signal a renewed commitment to press freedom in Myanmar. Viewed through the prism of the persecuted, it is a moral victory for the Rohingya no less. “I can’t wait to go to my newsroom,” is the consummation that both devoutly wished for on Tuesday… almost in chorus.
The wish was couched in Wa Lone’s assertion that “I am a journalist and I am going to continue to be.” Since their arrests 511 days ago, they had become symbols of the importance of press freedom around the world. The release is a milestone. The message is grim but it does emit a glimmer of hope. It is part of an amnesty for 6,520 prisoners, granted by President Win Myint. Markedly, the release order was issued exactly a fortnight after their joint appeal for pardon was turned down by the court.
Ergo, it is fairly obvious that the junta, that has been calling the shots from behind a democratically-elected facade, has responded to the overwhelming outcry for their release. Ever since their imprisonment in December 2017, Wa Lone (33) and Kyaw Soe Oo (29) had become an international cause celebre ~ the symbol of a struggle. Further incarceration would have sullied the standing of the dispensation in Naypidaw even more.
Nonetheless, it shall not be easy to dispel the dominant impression that the certitudes of democracy have been trashed. Happily, there is hope yet in the thought that the press is free though it is still unclear whether the government is committed to a proper transition to democracy. Myanmar showcases an anathema to the concept.