It was the next day that we received a phone call from our father saying he was coming back. It was from an unknown number and his voice was on the other side, declaring he would be coming back home for an hour.
The hidden compartments
My mother panicked. She started going around the house putting all his work-related documents into large tote storage bags. She thought they were coming for work documents to be used for incrimination. The second thing she did was open all the secret compartments in her customized storage cupboards and hid his laptop in one of them, along with all the petty cash and valuables present in the house. I never knew our home had such precautions until then. Needless to say, all items have since been moved to securer and more obscure locations.
The family history
My mother said,"This isn't the first time a coup has taken place. You know your great-grandfather was a carpenter. That cupboard on the left was made by him- here, that's where the hidden compartments are. We'll need pliers to pry those open. It took a lot of effort to make that nook unnoticeable. During those times, soldiers were no better than robbers with authority to do they pleased. People without powerful families or connections had to adapt and prepare for inevitabilities. My side of the family used to consist of carpenters and tailors back then with no money or power to speak of. Everything we have today, we worked for. So, we continue this caution by building our own hidden compartments in our own furniture. Evidently, we were right to." The insides were dusty and made my nose itch, but we had to rush placing our valuables inside. By the time my father made it back, our home was as prepared for inspection as it could be on short notice.
The visits
Fortunately, dad was truly just back to visit. It was a reprieve provided by the Bureau of Special Investigations ("BSI"), a domestic intelligence agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs that mainly investigates financial crimes, as everyone knew this investigation was a sham- an aftermath of a coup, rather than of actual criminal allegations. My father said he was sent to the Insein Prison compound, but not in the prison itself (yet). He and the others under investigation were placed in a special accommodations dorm for visitors, where they were individually interrogated for parts of the day. He, along with some others, were moved to the BSI headquarters shortly after. He maintained that the nature of the questions were predictable and it seemed that they were looking for sources of funding. And basically anything else to incriminate the overturned administration. He answered as truthfully as possible. No crime was committed; there was nothing to hide. This pattern of questioning continued for the better part of the month, along with his daily hour-long visits back home.
The caution of being hopeful
He said he would often hear protestors denouncing the military coup leaders from his quarters and felt hopeful. He may be detained, but it was evident that there were still so many people fighting for what was right. Though he knew things would only get worse from here on out, he felt cautiously hopeful that democracy would not truly be lost.
This was until they started asking of funds from Organization of Islamic Organization ("OIC") of all things, as well as details regarding fundings of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation (a national level charity foundation set up by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the former State Counsellor), among other completely irrelevant topics, in no way under his jurisdiction or awareness. My father relayed that he felt nervous. It had nothing to do with him. He was the Deputy Minister of Planning, Finance and Industry. The nature of his role meant responsibility over operations could not simply be taken over by another without any proper handover support, as was the case here. His recent abrupt dismissal meant incredibly large gaps in the management of the economy, but this did not mean he was privy to such matters so outside of his jurisdiction. We knew these calmer times we've enjoyed so far for the better part the month were not meant to last.
The return to reality
We shared a peaceful dinner together as a family on 6th March 2021. On 7th March 2021, we received a text in the morning, stating he was to be questioned by the Criminal Investigation Division ("CID"), a special intelligence department known for morally ambiguous interrogation means. In the afternoon, we received a last text relaying he was being convicted and going to prison.
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