Ma Thida
မသီတာ
Bornc. 1966 (1966) (age 58)
Myanmar
NationalityBurmese
Occupations
Known forHuman rights works, former Political prisoner

Ma Thida (Burmese: မသီတာ; MLCTS: ma. si ta; born c. 1966) is a Burmese surgeon, writer, human rights activist and former prisoner of conscience.[1] She has published under the pseudonym Suragamika which means "brave traveler". In Myanmar, Thida is best known as a leading intellectual, whose books deal with the country's political situation.[1] She has worked as an editor at a Burmese monthly youth magazine and a weekly newspaper.[1] She has been a surgeon at Muslim Free Hospital, which provides free services to the poor.[2]

Life and works

Ma Thida studied medicine in the early 1980s earning a degree in surgery, and also took up writing at a young age.[1] She said, "I wanted to become a writer because I want to share what I observe around me, like poverty."[1] Her interest in health care developed after falling ill as a child.[1]

In October 1993, she was sentenced to 20 years in Insein Prison for "endangering public peace, having contact with illegal organisations, and distributing unlawful literature."[2] In fact, she was actively supporting Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and founder of the main opposition party in Burma.[3] She served nearly six years in unhealthy, mostly solitary conditions. She contracted tuberculosis without adequate access to medical care.[4] During this time she was awarded several international human rights awards, including the Reebok Human Rights Award (1996) and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award (1996).[1] Ma Thida said, "Were it not for vipassana (Buddhist meditation), I would not have overcome the untold hardships I faced in prison."[1] In 1999, she was released on "humanitarian grounds" after serving five years, six months and six days.[2] She was released due to declining health, increasing political pressure and the efforts of human rights organizations like Amnesty International and PEN International.[3] Later she chaired the Pen Myanmar.[5] In 1996 she received the award of year's PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write but she was still in prison until 1999.[6]

From 2008 to 2010, she lived in the US as an International Writers Project Fellow at Brown University and a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University.[1]

Her first book was The Sunflower, which was only released in Burma in 1999, as it was banned upon international release in the early 1990s.[1] The book argues that the Burmese people have high expectations of democracy icon Suu Kyi that made her "a prisoner of applause."[1] The Roadmap (2012) is a fictional story based on events in Burmese politics from 1988 to 2009.[1] The Myanmar-language book Sanchaung, Insein, Harvard is a memoir, as the title suggests, about her early life in Sanchaung, imprisonment in Insein, and time in the United States.[4]

In the month of July 2016, the English translation of her prison memoir "Sanchaung, Insein, Harvard" was published worldwide with the title of "Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein" by Silkworm, publishing house in Thailand.[7]

She was honored with the 2016 'Disturbing the Peace' award given by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, for her humanitarian values and for having suffered unjust persecution for her beliefs.[8] In 2016, she was elected to the board of PEN International at 82nd PEN International Congress held in Galician, Spain.[9]

Works

  • The Sunflower (1999)
  • In the Shade of an Indian Almond Tree (1999)
  • Sweet and spicy honey mud (1999)
  • Insight of colorful lights and beyond esthetic border (1999)
  • One, Zero and Ten for Teens (2003)
  • Message to Teen (2011)
  • Translation of Japanese Women's Poems (2011)
  • The Roadmap (2011)
  • Sanchaung, Insein, Harvard (2012)
  • A Letter for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (2013)
  • The imperishable dictum (2014)
  • Brown to Crimson, a personal memoir of experience of Brown University and Radcliff fellowship of Harvard University (2014)[10]
  • What is independent citizen's spirit?, editorials from the Myanmar Independent news journals (2014)
  • Youths who dare to live and compete, articles about youths all over the words who have some difficulties or disabilities but be capable of extraordinary works (2014)
  • Nothing to lose but your life (Translation Work @ 2015)
  • From Selfishness to Leaving from Fear, compilation of short stories, collection of 53 short stories (2015)
  • Sunflower second edition (2015)
  • Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein (Prison Memoir @ 2016)
  • Writing of Ma Thida (2016)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Kyaw Phyo Tha (January 5, 2013). "I Write Just to Be 'A Good Citizen,' Says Ma Thida". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Mita Kapur (February 27, 2010). "I write from my heart". The Hindu. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Christopher Baker (September 26, 2008). "Thida: Imprisonment a temporary death". Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  4. 1 2 Zon Pann Pwint (November 19, 2012). "Author tells of health problems, inhumane prison conditions". The Myanmar Times. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Dr. Ma Thida". International Festival of Authors. 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ STATUS: RELEASED
  7. ↑ "'Prisoner of Conscience : My steps Through Insein' launches in English". The Myanmar Times. August 25, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  8. ↑ "VACLAV HAVEL LIBRARY FOUNDATION NAMES BURMESE WRITER MA THIDA WINNER OF 'DISTURBING THE PEACE' AWARD – The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation". Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  9. ↑ Rocca, A. della (October 5, 2016). "PEN Club Trieste: 82° CONGRESSO DEL PEN INTERNATIONAL A OURENSE - SPAGNA". PEN Club Trieste. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Ma Thida | Integrity 20". Retrieved July 29, 2019.
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