Thakin Dobama Asiayone ( my, တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins ( my, သခင် ''sa.hkang'', lit. Lords), was a Burmese national ...

Ohn Myint ( my, သခင် အုန်းမြင့်) was a notable Burmese journalist, best known for his political involvement in British Burma. In 1933, he joined the

Dobama Asiayone Dobama Asiayone ( my, တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins ( my, သခင် ''sa.hkang'', lit. Lords), was a Burmese national ...

, an indigenous anti-colonial organization where he earned the

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...

"Thakin," (lit. "master"), which was used in protest of British colonialism (since it was customary practice to address the British as "Thakin"). After passing the matriculation exam in 1934, he went on to the Rangoon Medical College (now UM-1 Yangon). However, he dropped out and pursued journalism instead. Throughout his journalism career, he wrote for the ''

Kyipwayay ''Kyipwayay'' ( my, ကြီးပွားရေး, , lit. "Growth") was a pre-World War II Burmese language monthly magazine, closely identified with the ''Khit-San Sarpay'' movement, the first modern literary movement in the history of Burmes ...

'' ("Growth") magazine, and the ''Totetyay'' ("Progress"), the ''

Journal Kyaw A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' (along with

Chit Maung Journal Kyaw U Chit Maung (; 1913–1945) was a journalist and patriotic writer of Burma / Myanmar. He worked for ''Bogyoke'' Aung San, the father of Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi. He was Chief Editor of '' New Light of Burma' Later his own ...

), and the ''

New Light of Burma ''The New Light of Myanmar'' (, ; formerly ''The New Light of Burma'') is a government-owned newspaper published by the Ministry of Information and based in Yangon, Myanmar. ''The New Light of Myanmar'' is often viewed as propaganda on part of th ...

'' newspapers. In 1958, soon after Ne Win first declared emergency martial law, he was imprisoned in the

Coco Islands The Coco Islands ( my, ကိုကိုးကျွန်း) are a small group of islands in the northeastern Bay of Bengal. They are part of the Yangon Region of Myanmar. The islands are located south of the city of Yangon. Coco Island gr ...

for two years, under the Public Order Protection Act, for his leftist political activism. In the mid-1960s, he was detained again in

Insein Prison Insein Prison ( my, အင်းစိန်ထောင်) is located in Yangon Division, near Yangon (Rangoon), the old capital of Myanmar (formerly Burma). From 1988 to 2011 it was run by the military junta of Myanmar, named the State Law an ...

. Ohn Myint is widely considered to have influenced

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...

, and the two had a close friendship. In 1989, he was arrested for another 5 years and once again in 1998 for allowing himself to be interviewed by researcher Aung Htun, who was writing a book on the history of Burma's student movement. Although he was sentenced to 7 years of hard labor, his sentence was commuted the following year, after the visit of American congressman

Tony P. Hall Tony Patrick Hall (born January 16, 1942) is an American politician, businessman, and diplomat who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 3rd congressional district from 1979 to 2002. Hall had previously se ...

. He was cremated at the

Yayway Cemetery Yayway Cemetery ( my, ရေဝေးသုသာန်, also spelt Yeway Cemetery) is a cemetery located in North Okkalapa Township, Yangon, Myanmar. The cemetery is the final resting place of many prominent Burmese. The cemetery is maintained ...

in Yangon.

References

{{Authority control Burmese journalists Burmese people of Chinese descent People from Bago Region 1918 births 2010 deaths