Burma's most prominent former political prisoner yesterday urged the younger generation to risk losing their own freedom in the fight for their country's liberty.
In an impassioned call to his people ahead of an election on Sunday that has already been decried as a sham by international observers, U Win Tin called for a boycott of the vote.
"It is the only thing left to us: there is no hope to come from voting for this party or that party. This government aims to win, and it is so detested that it is impossible for us to do anything but boycott," he said. "Of course it is not safe to stay at home and not go to the polling stations and people will be worried that they will be punished, but the military junta wants to claim this election as free and fair and so we have to reduce the legitimacy of that claim by not taking part at all."
Win Tin, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy, spent 19 years behind bars for "anti-government propaganda" which included efforts to inform the United Nations about human rights violations in his country. He was released in 2008 and, now 81 and in poor health, he remains a vehement opponent of the military, urging young Burmese to not fear jail.
"The most important thing is that we are not afraid, not daunted. We must not be afraid of such things. It is not illegal not to vote even if the government is trying to tell people it is."
Speaking to the Observer from Rangoon, Win Tin said the regime was feeling international pressure and that the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be released before her prison sentence ends on 13 November.
It is thought that in an effort to muffle calls for a boycott the authorities were closing down phone lines in some townships across Burma on Saturday while cyber net attacks, closing down internet access, have been reported. Other ballot rigging has been already seen, with reports of villages and barracks being called out to "pre-vote" for the government-backed Union and Solidarity Development Party.
British, German, French and Italian diplomats based in Rangoon on Saturday issued a statement on behalf of the EU declining to visit polling stations.
