• Burmese
Saturday, July 19, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
19 °c
New City
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home From the Archive

Activist Who Embodied Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Dies of COVID-19

The Irrawaddy by The Irrawaddy
July 17, 2021
in From the Archive
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Now in his 70s, Hla Shwe became a widower five years ago after spending more than half his married life behind bars.

Now in his 70s, Hla Shwe became a widower five years ago after spending more than half his married life behind bars.

11.6k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Longtime political activist and writer U Hla Shwe died of COVID-19 at the age of 84 at his home in Yangon’s North Dagon Township on Thursday.

He was one of the many COVID-19 victims who have died after not being able to access medical oxygen amid Myanmar’s ongoing third wave of coronavirus infections. 

“My father passed away after having the last breath [from] an oxygen cylinder. He objected to the military dictatorship until his death,” his daughter Ma Nay Chi posted on Facebook on Thursday night. 

RelatedPosts

The Nation Where Brave Hearts—and Martyrs—Dwell

The Nation Where Brave Hearts—and Martyrs—Dwell

July 19, 2025
93
Conjuring an Election Illusion in War-Torn Shan; Raiding Offshore Gas to Stay Afloat; and More

Conjuring an Election Illusion in War-Torn Shan; Raiding Offshore Gas to Stay Afloat; and More

July 19, 2025
124
Myanmar Junta Airstrikes Protecting Irrawaddy Flotilla Kill 20

Myanmar Junta Airstrikes Protecting Irrawaddy Flotilla Kill 20

July 18, 2025
1.1k

He was cremated at Kyesu cemetery on Friday.  

Long considered a living embodiment of Myanmar’s democracy struggle, he was arrested six times for his activism against successive military regimes and spent about 25 years in prison between 1959 and July 2005. 

The Irrawaddy remembers him by revisiting this profile published in 2012. 

RANGOON—When his wife died five years ago, Hla Shwe said goodbye after too little time together. The political activist had spent more than half his married life alone, living decades in Burmese prison cells, rather than at home with his spouse of 45 years.

“Imprisonment is no longer extraordinary for me. It’s become part of my life,” said the six-time former political prisoner on his 75th birthday last month. He was 22 years old when he was first arrested for his activism against the country’s former military junta.

Hla Shwe married when he was 24 years old, at the time a secretariat member of Rangoon University’s Student Union and editor of its Owey magazine.

But on July 7, just two days after the wedding, Burma’s ex-dictator Gen Ne Win’s troops raided the university campus, opening fire on students demonstrating against the military coup and harsh dormitory rules. The next day, at dawn, the soldiers used dynamite to blow up the Student Union building, assuming communists were being harbored inside.

“With the demise of the [Student] Union building in 1962, my life started to collapse,” said Hla Shwe, the Student Union’s last surviving secretariat member. “After the July 7 crackdown, I went underground to avoid arrest for nearly a year, until the government granted us general amnesty.”

The threat of imprisonment was a strain on his marriage.

“As a newlywed, I wasn’t able to spend much time with my wife, and we couldn’t even go on a honeymoon,” he said with a laugh, five decades later at his flimsy wooden home on a backstreet not far from downtown Rangoon.

Ne Win’s crackdown cemented Hla Shwe’s condemnation of the regime, prompting him to join the underground communist movement for six years after receiving amnesty. His life has since been punctuated with prison sentences. With his latest release in 2006, he had spent a total of more than 24 years behind bars.

Hla Shwe came from a poor family in a village seven miles from Bogale, in Irrawaddy Division, where he worked as a food vendor during primary school. Thanks to his progressive father, who believed education was crucial to escape poverty, Hla Shwe passed his university exams with five other candidates from the delta town.

“He wasn’t a well-to-do man, but my father asked me if I wanted to study in university. I said: ‘Of course, I do, dad!’” said Hla Shwe, now a bespectacled man with cropped gray hair.

At university in the late 1950s, Hla Shwe got involved with student organizations at different campuses in Rangoon. His pursued a bachelor’s degree in political science and history, with ambitions to eventually become a lecturer of law.

In 1961, he became editor of Owey magazine, the student union’s annual publication. The magazine was first edited in 1935 by national hero Aung San, the father of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and it became a breeding ground for some of the country’s most influential writers.

“With Ne Win’s dictatorship and the destruction of the union, the magazine came to an end, and I became the last editor,” he told The Irrawaddy.

With the 1962 coup, the Student Union’s secretariat member became an underground communist operative, arrested seven years later by the government for his affiliation with the outlawed party.

Released after three years, he saw turbulent years again in the 1980s: He was detained three times and released in 1995, serving 13 years total for his political activities. In 1998 he was arrested again for compiling a history of the Burmese student movement.

“I’ve been a political animal my entire life,” he said. “I’ve rarely had a chance for happiness. It can’t be helped.” Due to his frequent prison sentences, he had little time at home with his sons.

“I couldn’t take care of them properly, so they’ve become wayward children,” he said. “It makes me really sad.”

The longtime dissident remains skeptical about Burma’s quasi-civilian government under reformist President Thein Sein.

“I think the current government is a bunch of generals in suits. They’ve never been honest with the people,” he said before offering a warning to young activists. “You guys need to be very careful, because they have a lot of experience oppressing us.”

These days Hla Shwe lives with his grandchildren, spending most of his time writing. As a columnist for several local weeklies and magazines, he offers commentaries on international affairs and philosophy.

Under his pen name, which is dedicated to his late wife, he writes about the good old days at Rangoon University, where he met the woman who stood by him through thick and thin for more than four decades.

Sometimes he and his wife discussed politics, he said, remembering her on a rainy day five years after her death. “We were like comrades,” he added. “Now I’m lonely.”

Your Thoughts …
The Irrawaddy

The Irrawaddy

...

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.5k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
90.4k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87.1k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
47k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.8k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Unsung Hero of Myanmar’s ’88 Uprising Dies of COVID-19

Unsung Hero of Myanmar’s ’88 Uprising Dies of COVID-19

Yangon’s cemeteries are overflowing with bodies amid the third wave of COVID-19 in Myanmar. / CJ

Yangon’s Major Cemeteries Report Unprecedented Influx of Bodies Amid COVID Surge

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

What the ‘Snake Charmer’ Analogy Gets Wrong About Myanmar

What the ‘Snake Charmer’ Analogy Gets Wrong About Myanmar

4 days ago
1.5k
Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

1 week ago
3.5k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Airstrikes Protecting Irrawaddy Flotilla Kill 20

    Myanmar Junta Airstrikes Protecting Irrawaddy Flotilla Kill 20

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • More Than 20,000 Displaced As Myanmar Junta Burns Homes Around World Heritage Site

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Indian Top Brass Visit Myanmar After Cross-Border Drone Attack

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta’s Recapture of Nawnghkio Shows Strategic Missteps by TNLA

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Using Conscripts as Cannon Fodder, Defectors Say

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.