‘A New Generation Carries On’

After the Burmese junta seized power on Sept. 18, 1988, its soldiers brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrators, including many young students and monks, resulting in thousands of civilians dead and injured. 

Among those who died was a 16-year-old female student, soaked in blood, caught in a photograph while being carried by two doctors. The girl was Win Maw Oo, who later died in a hospital. The photograph of her appeared in the international media and became an iconic image of the 88 demonstrations. 

Doctors carry Win Maw Oo who was fatally wounded in the crackdown that began after the military seized power on September 18, 1988.

Win Maw Oo’s parents live with the loss of their daughter. Each year they offer food to monks on the anniversary of her death. Her father said he doesn’t want monks to bestow merit on her soul because of her good deeds, because he knows her soul doesn’t want to be free until democracy comes to Burma. The Irrawaddy talked to her father, Win Kyu.

Question: You are offering food donations at a ceremony for your daughter Win Maw Oo. Are you allowed to hold the donation ceremony freely?

Answer: Yes. Some of government agents may be nearby during the occasion. But they are working on other business. They don’t interfere with us. There will be no problem, because our friends are coming to pay respect for her deeds, and we are just talking peacefully.
  
Q. You are not calling for merit to be bestowed on her soul because of her last words, is that true?

A. Yes. When my daughter was shot, she was kneeling and holding a picture of Gen. Aung San. Her friends told her to lie flat to avoid the bullets, but she replied that she would not bend down. She said she would continue to fight until we have democracy even if something bad happened to her. She said please don't let her soul be freed. Her friends told me this. As her parents, we respect her wishes, and we have followed her wish for 21 years. We won't call her name to bestow merit on her soul. I will call her name loudly on the day when her wish for democracy is fulfilled.   

Q. Can you recall the event for us?

A. I can never forget it. She had an indomitable spirit and a strong will. On that day, I tried to stop her from going. Her grandparents also tried to stop her. We said the situation was dangerous, and she shouldn't go. She said she was a committed activist at her school, and she must go. She said she was a leader and responsible to help with the protest. She said she would return soon. Actually, when she met with her friends she became more energetic and followed along with the group.  
   
She held up Gen. Aung San's photo during the demonstration. They walked along Maha Bandoola Street and then to Pagoda Street. When they turned on Merchant Street, the troops opened fire. 

At the beginning, the shots were low, around their knees. She was hit first in her left calf. She was shot again in her left thigh. When she was shot in her knee, she partially fell to the ground holding the photo. 

The kids who marched with her said they asked her to lie down on the street. She said that would mean she was letting down the cause. She was trying to stay in an upright position when another bullet hit her in the right arm and went through her chest. 

A medical team saw her and she said, "Please help me." The doctors who carried her in the photo told me that.

She was still alive when she arrived at the hospital. The hospital called about 3 pm, but we couldn't go then because the streets and roads were blocked with barbed wire and other barriers.

We got to the hospital around 4 pm and found her in intensive care. When I saw her, I felt confused. She was receiving oxygen to breath, and she was under anesthesia. She died that evening. I never had a chance to talk to her, and she may not have known her father was there.

She was born on Oct. 15, 1972 and was 16 when she died. When I returned home, I didn't want to tell her mother and grandmother she was dead, but I had to.