Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of the then military regime’s deadly organized attack on a convoy carrying National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo in Upper Myanmar in 2003. It serves as an ugly reminder that justice for the victims remains elusive, and of the violent persecution of the NLD by successive military regimes, up to the present day.
The Depayin Massacre, as the attack is known internationally, saw at least 70 people killed after a mob directed by elements of Myanmar’s former military regime attacked the NLD convoy, which included now ousted State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as it traveled through Sagaing Region in northwest Myanmar on the night of May 30.
The attack was carried out by a pro-junta armed group consisting of members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and the Swan Ah Shin militia, who blocked the road to attack the convoy. The USDA was later transformed into a military-backed political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which formed a government in 2011 after a rigged election in 2010.
Many more NLD members and supporters were seriously injured during the attack, with some later being jailed for many years.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo and some other NLD members narrowly escaped the massacre, but were later arrested as they entered nearby Ye-Oo and imprisoned there. She was later sent back to Yangon and placed under house arrest.
It is still unclear who masterminded the massacre. The then spy chief General Khin Nyunt writes in his 2015 autobiography that then dictator Than Shwe summoned senior military officials, including Khin Nyunt, and gave them instructions to block Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade “by all means.” The spy chief recalled that when he insisted he was not in favor of using violence to block the convoy, the dictator overruled his objections and had then Secretary-2 Lieutenant General Soe Win lead the mission.
It has long been speculated that Soe Win masterminded the Depayin massacre from the headquarters of the Northwestern Regional Military Command. He died of leukemia in October 2007. Also thought to have played a key role is U Aung Thaung, who at the time was among the leadership of the USDA and is the father of current Navy chief Moe Aung. U Aung Thaung died in 2015. Khin Nyunt is now suffering from Alzheimer’s, leaving only Than Shwe, among the senior leaders believed to have been involved, still alive and kicking in Naypyitaw.
The regime downplayed the massacre, describing it as a brawl between NLD supporters and opponents. Its official statement simply said that no more than five people were killed in the attack, but dissidents claim that about 70 people lost their lives in the May 30 massacre.
Survivors recalled how bloody the attack was and the large number of USDA members involved.
“To kill and mutilate was their purpose. So much so that if they saw a body moving they went for it saying, ‘There is still sign of life—beat, beat,” said Zaw Zaw Aung—an NLD survivor of the massacre.
However, no action has ever been taken against the perpetrators—not even during the period when the NLD led the government in 2016-21.
Despite her brush with death that day, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said in 2020 when she visited Depayin for the first time since the massacre that for the sake of stability and national reconciliation with the country’s military, she would not seek vengeance for the incident, of which she was the main target, even though some victims said they wanted the perpetrators to face justice.
However, the military coup staged in 2021 by Than Shwe’s successor, Min Aung Hlaing, showed that her approach of seeking national reconciliation was in vain, and attacks on the NLD have resurfaced since the takeover. With the military regime in power, justice for victims of the Depayin Massacre seems more elusive than ever.
Since the day of the takeover, on which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested, the NLD has been targeted by the regime. At least 1,235 party members have been detained, withy 26 dying during interrogation or in detention, and 63 others being killed unlawfully since then, according to a statement released by the NLD in March. Many others have gone into hiding, not to mention the destruction of the party’s offices. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself is now serving a sentence of 33 years in prison handed to her by the regime, raising fears among many that she will spend the rest of her life behind bars. The current treatment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD members simply reflects the fact that the generals’ attitude toward the party’s leaders and members has not changed since the then junta’s failed attempt to slaughter them two decades ago.
