{"id":1586,"date":"2025-07-09T03:58:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T03:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/?p=1586"},"modified":"2025-07-31T06:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:47:28","slug":"when-a-teenager-challenged-burmas-socialist-elite-my-luyechun-camp-encounters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/2025\/07\/09\/when-a-teenager-challenged-burmas-socialist-elite-my-luyechun-camp-encounters\/","title":{"rendered":"When a Teenager Challenged Burma\u2019s Socialist Elite: My Luyechun Camp Encounters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1966. I was just sixteen.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alongside my friend Than Win<\/strong> (now Dr. Than Win, former Rector of the University of Medicine Mandalay and later an NLD MP), I was selected as a Luyechun<\/strong> (Outstanding Student) from Mandalay. We were both from St. Peter\u2019s High School<\/strong> and had the distinction of being selected five times each. He was short and plump; I was tall and thin. At the camp, people teased us as the Burmese cartoon duo “Pho Wa and Ingar Jaw” or likened us to R2-D2 and C-3PO from Star Wars<\/em> \u2013 a strange pair, but inseparable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We were part of a national program initiated by General Ne Win\u2019s Revolutionary Government<\/strong> to mold top-performing students into loyal socialist youth leaders. The camps, held in scenic places like Nga Pali\u2019s Shwe War Chaing<\/strong> and Inlay\u2019s Khaung Daing<\/strong>, were meant to indoctrinate bright young minds. But instead of being brainwashed, I began to question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LYC Camp in Inlay. I took this photo with my Yashica camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Expired Medicine Incident and U Win Tin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During my early school years, I purchased a bottle of Waterbury Compound<\/strong>, a vitamin syrup, from a government-run People\u2019s Drug Store<\/strong>. After taking it, I suffered severe stomach upset and consulted our family doctor, Dr. Mazunda, who discovered that the medicine had expired<\/strong> and had black deposits inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote a letter of complaint to Hantharwaddy<\/em>, the state-run newspaper in Mandalay. When it wasn\u2019t published, I called their office. Eventually, I was connected to the Chief Editor U Win Tin<\/strong>, who would later become a leading figure in the NLD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite his reputation, U Win Tin gave unsatisfactory responses. He claimed there was no space for my letter and said my complaint was a “sensitive issue.” I pointed out that his newspaper regularly published mundane complaints about potholes and broken pipes. I had provided my name, registration number, address, and even kept the receipt and the bottle. But he still refused. When I asked whether he followed the model of editors in the Soviet Union, who escalated unresolved public issues to authorities, he said no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I raised this incident again during our Luyechun camp session, illustrating how government-appointed editors<\/strong> were ignoring serious health hazards while amplifying trivial municipal problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr TW was at the front, I was far away behind and half covered. Col. Tin Oo (later NLD)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BSPP CEC and the Appointed Youth Leaders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At one of our Luyechun camps, BSPP CEC members including U Min Htwe<\/strong> were preparing to launch the Lanzin Lu Nge<\/strong> (Youth Cadre Organization). They explained that youth leaders would be appointed from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stood up and objected. I said that appointment from above fosters sycophancy<\/strong>, stifles genuine feedback, and creates a culture where leaders hide problems to protect their positions. I gave the U Win Tin incident<\/strong> as an example, saying that if even a chief editor did not dare to publish the truth, how could we expect honesty from youth leaders who fear their superiors?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U Min Htwe dismissed my argument in front of the class, calling it irrelevant. But the tension was clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Challenging Their Ideology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In one lecture, U Min Htwe<\/strong> claimed that mission schools had forcibly converted students to Christianity. I stood up and said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMy friend Than Win and I are from St. Peter\u2019s. He\u2019s still Buddhist, and I\u2019m still Muslim. We weren\u2019t forced to convert or change our names.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Another time, while discussing historical systems of governance, I questioned the idea that socialism was the final stage of human progress. I said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAccording to both Buddhism<\/strong> and dialectical materialism<\/strong>, everything is impermanent. Socialism too will decay one day. We must imagine and prepare for a better system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

His reaction was one of outrage. But I had made my point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another session, U Min Htwe said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIn capitalism, the boss is always right. In socialism, the worker is always right\u2014even if he is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

No one dared respond\u2014except me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWe should look at things fairly. Yes, we should support workers, but if they\u2019re wrong, we must say so. Otherwise, we\u2019re just replacing one injustice with another.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He snapped back:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn socialism, the worker must be right\u2014right or wrong!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Yet when workers protested in reality, Ne Win\u2019s army shot them down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marked as a Dissenter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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After one such debate, a BSPP Central Committee member<\/strong> unexpectedly visited my dormitory at Tagaung Combined Luyechun Camp<\/strong> at dawn. He tried to explain away the 1962 student massacre<\/strong>, saying the government was inexperienced at the time. It was only later I understood: I was being monitored<\/strong>. I had been marked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though they had promised that Luyechuns would become national leaders, I was never offered any leadership role. When Lanzin Lu Nge<\/strong> was finally launched, I was only a regular member\u2014and I never participated in their activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Final Reflection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was just a teenager, full of questions. But those questions unsettled seasoned ideologues and top editors alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While others from our camp became ministers<\/strong>, generals<\/strong>, rectors<\/strong>, and professors<\/strong>, I took a different path\u2014as a doctor, a witness, and a quiet dissenter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never made it into the Socialist leadership. But I kept something far more valuable: my integrity and my voice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rohingya Dr Kamal Hussein got LYC from BESH Maungdaw<\/a> studied at Institute of Medicine 2, Myanmar<\/a> and got MSc Computer Science from UKM, National University of Malaysia. He is now in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Asso. Prof. Daw Win Win Myint<\/a>, Chief Physician. Medical Ward. Muslim Free Hospital. YANGON<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslim Luyechuns or Outstanding Students<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1966. I was just sixteen. Alongside my friend Than Win (now Dr. Than Win, former Rector of the University of Medicine Mandalay and later an NLD MP), I was selected as a Luyechun (Outstanding Student) from Mandalay. We were both from St. Peter\u2019s High School and had the distinction of being selected five times each. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,16],"tags":[102,105,104,106,103],"class_list":["post-1586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-history","category-opinion","tag-bspp","tag-cadre","tag-general-ne-win","tag-lanzin-youth","tag-socialism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1586"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1604,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions\/1604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}