I first met him in 1988 at an underground meeting to coordinate with parallel groups in Rangoon. We were taking part in a nationwide uprising, but we didn’t know it at the time.
The neighborhood chosen for that first clandestine meeting was Hledan in the former capital, Rangoon. Could we trust each other?
We reached the meeting point on foot – an old factory compound owned by a Chinese businessman. All of us were nervous but we were trying our best to look relaxed. The cloak-and-dagger rendezvous was the only option in the days before texting and Facebook.
We exchanged smiles, jokes and small talk in the huge compound, but nerves still jangled.
It was only when we sat down together in the small factory room that we finally got to know each other.
Ko Win Thu was taking part in the 88 Generation student uprising – a common bond that gave birth to a lifelong friendship between us.
A gentle presence, he would welcome and comfort you with smiles but insist that while the uprising was necessary, it must also be peaceful. I noted he was studying for a master’s in geography at the renowned Rangoon University.
In June 1988, we were back on campus and excited as Rangoon University reopened – the atmosphere was pregnant with anticipation. We all knew that something was happening but didn’t know what. Students were preparing a new wave of activism to reignite the uprising that had started in March 1988.
A few days later, the protests broke out. I saw Ko Win Thu near the stage where student leaders were giving speeches. He was wearing a mask and raising his fist.
In September 1988, following the brutal crackdown by Ne Win’s troops, I fled to the Three Pagoda Pass in Sangklaburi on the Thai-Burma border. We were staying in a deserted village where Burmese student activists were seeking refuge.
One night, we heard screaming and then a battering on the door of our hut. People poured into the hut seeking our doctor, who had been a medical student in Rangoon and was now a physician in the United States.
I was surprised to see a familiar face among the crowd. My old friend Win Thu was there – his beaming smile lighting up our hut. We were reconnected in our common destiny of struggle against tyranny.
We have been stuck to each other ever since.
Whether on the border, in Bangkok, or anywhere, Win Thu never lost his temper or his smile. The same could not be said for me, but fortunately he was never far from my side.
We moved to Bangkok in the early 1990s, where he always took care of me and our friends.
A year after I launched The Irrawaddy, I was traumatized after losing my mother in Burma and reached out to Ko Win Thu. That was in 1994. Without hesitation, he offered his wholehearted support.
I soon discovered Ko Win Thu was a skilled manager, finance officer, and eventually even IT technician. I realized that I had found a gifted person for our media organization. I had been working full-steam controlling the editorial department for the last decade, but Ko Win Thu took over the helm in almost everything else. He backed me up.
Gentle, flexible, professional, political, pragmatic, and passionate, he has demonstrated leadership skills like the rest of us, but also been a great manager in providing full support to our team.
Without him, we would never have reached this milestone. We owe him.
Ko Win Thu is a former 88 Generation student activist from Rangoon University who now lives in Melbourne. He is still a member of the finance and digital departments in the Irrawaddy team.
