Burma News International (BNI) released a statement on April 21, expressing condolence at the passing of U Win Tin. U Win Tin died of organ failure at 6:30am on April 21 at the Rangoon (Yangon) hospital. The last day of his funeral was April 23, after which he was cremated. U Win Tin was 84 years old.
Nan Paw Gay, BNI Development Officer, said, “Saya U Win Tin is not only a journalist but also a well-known person in media industry. U Win Tin was also a strong activist and fighter for democracy in Burma. Everyone at BNI is mourning his death.”
In the statement, all BNI member groups expressed sorrow at the death of U Win Tin, saying that he was a guiding light in Burma's oft-gloomy media industry who fought for media freedom as a key element of the struggle for democracy. The statement went on to say that U Win Tin was an one-of-a-kind journalist, and that Burma media's will never be the same now that he is gone.
At U Win Tin's funeral many domestic and international media groups sent messages of condolence and offered flower-chains in honor of their late colleague.
In addition to his prolific writing, U Win Tin was the co-founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a former political prisoner. U Win Tin founded NLD along with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and for his involvement in this opposition party he was imprisoned in 1989 for nearly 20 years. Despite suffering torture and other hardships in prison, U win Tin continued his activism and was sentenced to an additional seven year sentence while in jail.
In early March 2014, U Win Tin sent a video message to the 2nd Ethnic Media Conference - organized by BNI in Shan State capital Taunggyi. U Win Tin's words to the Conference are as follows:
“We can only make peace when there is no sound of gun-fire. For any ceasefire agreement to be successful there must be political will to engage in follow-up peace dialogue. It is good to change naturally but not with corruption. The problem is the army, which comes to intervene, oppress and bribe. This is what has happened in the past, and I am very concerned that it will happen again now. I do not know if the process of peace dialogue is moving forward or backward but it does seem to be moving unusually.”
BNI was founded in January 2003. It is currently comprised of 12 ethnic media groups. BNI aims to strengthen independent media organizations from Burma, and to share Burma-related news within Burma, regionally, and around the world.
