Burma: Comedian Par Par Lay describes time in prison

Does  anyone know whether this is Ohbo Prison near Mandalay? I was hoping to find an image for it as I did for the aptly named Insein Prison, which is visually striking in a very sad way. There doesn’t seem to be  as much ‘culture’ of stories around Ohbo Prison because of its newness. But here is one account…

Burmese comedian Par Par Lay told jokes mocking the government at an Independence Day celebration held by the opposition party, the National League for Democracy, in 1996. For that, he was imprisoned for seven years and was sent to a prisoners’ work camp in Myitkyina, and was released in 2001. He was later detained during the recent anti-junta protests on the streets of Rangoon and other major cities. This time, he was kept and interrogated at the Security Guard Compound, in Shwe-sayan, Mandalay. He told RFA’s Burmese service about his time there:

U Par Par Lay (UPPL): The main thing is that they thought I was involved in the monks’ activities. They thought the monks consulted with us about which monastery would march on which days and how they would go about marching. They wanted that sort of information. I told them the whole truth. I told them that it wasn’t so. We just respected and paid homage to the monks who were marching and reciting prayers of loving kindness. They…asked me if I handed them water bottles. I said, “I did not.” They asked, “Did you offer betel mix?” I said, “I did not.” So they said, “Well, get some rest, get some rest.” It went on for one or two days, and all of us had to suffer a lot for about two to five days.

 … Four people interrogated us. It was worse than being beaten. Actually, no one was beaten. We went back to our sleeping areas, and the SB would come. The SB would interrogate us for one-and-a-half hours to two-and-a-half hours. They would interrogate us and leave. We had no sweaters or anything. We couldn’t even wash our faces. There wasn’t enough water. The drinking water pot was really tiny. Some of us had to take some sips and just wipe the faces with water. Someone would come and take us away as we prepared to sleep. The food wasn’t nutritional.

It was really cold, and we had to suffer the cold. We didn’t get enough sleep. Everyone had to suffer this condition along with me. They didn’t give us anything. There weren’t any walls. There was a partition only about 18 inches tall. There were two rows of barbed wires. The roof from above wasn’t giving enough shelter. Speaking from experience, it was like a prisoners’ work camp.

Later, Par Par Lay was moved from the Shwe-sayan Interrogation Camp to Oh-bo Prison, Unit 6, in Mandalay:

UPPL: As for the meals in the prison, I’m not exaggerating here. There were unhusked grains of rice, and also, the rice we had was very tough. There were also tiny rocks in it. Also, a sour soup called “talapaw” was served, and there was food coloring in it. When we drank it, we would cough, and cough up blood. We had to have the soup, and we were close to death. All of us contracted diseases.

And then, there was fish paste sauce. What was that? They poured hot water on a lump of fish paste and put some coloring on top. If you look at it from afar, it looked so pretty. But when you took a spoon of it, it was fish paste sauce. If you had it for two or three days, you’d have skin rashes between your fingers. People started to itch. There were four or five among us who suffered from this. Did they give us any medicine for our health? Let me tell you. When we had rashes, they gave us paracetamol [acetaminophen]. When we had headaches, it was also paracetamol. If we had diarrhea and became weak, it was also paracetamol. How much did they give us? One pill in the morning, one pill at night. The medicine had nothing to do with the illness.

UPPL: When I was released, I wasn’t able to sleep for one or two nights. My health isn’t too good. I suffered from the cold there. We were in a brick building, and also, the security guards in Shwe-sayan were … the injury that I had sustained from the chains on my legs when I was in the prisoners work camp started to ache. I’m still suffering from that.

And for aficionados of the Burmese language and the highly subtle humour it makes possible:

NWA: U Par Par Lay also recounted the joke he had told in the Oh-bo prison, in Mandalay, on four a-pehs [Translator’s Note: Nether worlds], three kats [Note: Catastrophies], and the eight yappyits [Note: places unfavoring to the realization of the dharma leading to nirvana].

UPPL: On the seventh day, the security guard at the Shwe-sayan, probably he was the chief, the G1, arrived on his motor cycle. I saw him getting off his bike, and he was smiling and looking glad. He said, “Well, I was told to welcome you warmly, so I boiled a big pot of water in the back.” Well. He was told to welcome us warmly, so he had boiled a big pot of water. So I, the comedian Par Par Lay, thought even if he could start tellling jokes, I would also tell some jokes. So, I said, “It’s good, G1. There are five benefits to water.” And suddenly U Maung Maung Than, like a true comedian, prompted me by saying, “It’s 10, U Par Par Lay.” So, I said, “Yes, but five have not come back yet to the monastery.” [Translator’s Note: It's a pun on the measure word for benefits and monks, "ba"--one "ba" of benefit and one "ba" of monk, as in "three pieces of cake" and "three pieces of chalk", and just saying "five pieces" and it could apply to either one.]

 

UPPL: They say there are four a-pehs, three kats, and the eight yappyits. The monks are marching five in a row, reciting prayers of loving kindness. When we checked, there were many rows of monks, five in a row. But, in the last row, there were only four of them. So, I thought, it would be a problem if there were two or three. So, I went to these four monks myself with my palms together in a prayer position. I said, “Please remain at the monastery for sentry.” So, since I omitted four of the monks, there are four a-pehs. [Translator’s Note: It's a pun..."to omit" in Burmese and "the nether world" have the same sound "peh"] Then they continued marching, five in a row. The gunshots went, “Bang, bang, bang.” So, three of the monks stayed close to the brick wall to take cover. So, there are three kats. [Translator’s Note: It's a pun..."to stay close" in Burmese and "catastrophies" have the same sound "kat"] So four a-pehs and three kats. Then they continued to march, five in a row. While they were going in this manner, there was a loud bang. It was a bomb of tear gas. Oh, there were clouds of smoke. So, eight of the monks threw away their fans and ran away. So, there were eight yappyits. [Translator’s Note: It's a pun..."throw away the fan" in Burmese and "unfavorable places" have the same sound "yappyit"] So, there are four a-pehs, three kats, and eight yappyits.