2008 Woodie Awards
Professor recalls living in fear in her native Burma
Patrick Burgess
Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: College News
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In an interview, the advisor to the Burmese Student Association and professor in the IUPUI English Department described her own terrifying experiences and flight from a country where, during her childhood, democracy was merely a dream.
Duerksen described living in fear and terror of reprisal by military dictators who decided to follow the Burmese Way to Socialism as their political ideology. Under this system, she says, those who were educated were always under surveillance and suspicion. Her father was one of the founders of the Institute of Technology in Rangoon, which made the family a target.
Early in life, Duerksen had a taste of freedom and, in time, it lured her back.
As a child, she moved to the United States with her parents and attended elementary school in Bethlehem, Pa. Her father decided to return to Burma to continue his professorial career at the faculty of engineering. One year later, in 1962, the military junta took control of the nation. Her family was in effect held hostage as the coup took hold, she said.
"All of the phones in Burma were tapped, especially those who were educated," Duerksen remarked. After she got a secondary education and bachelor's degree in English at Rangoon University, she won a scholarship to study linguistics in Sydney, Australia. Upon completing her master's degree, she returned to Burma and served in the ministry of education for 10 years. "They would have harmed my parents and siblings if I did not fulfill that demand," the professor wrote in an e-mail.
She reached the pinnacle of her career, she says, when she was named the head of the English department at Rangoon University. She later won an opportunity to do a doctoral program in the United States. She wanted to live in the heartland of the country, she said, so she chose Ball State University where she received a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages" in 1994.
Earlier, in 1990, with great misgivings, she returned to Burma for two reasons: All the scholars were recalled by the military junta, who came to power after the uprising in 1988, and her father was old and ailing, she says. "Many scholars took refuge [in America] but I returned as I was concerned that there would be severe repercussions on my family if I ignored their command and threats," Duerksen said in an e-mail.
All the while, she feared not being able to return to the United States. "My husband and I were concerned because we knew that my phone lines would be tapped. When I arrived, I was detained. I was interrogated, long enough to forget the code phrases he and I set up for our calls," she said. "My father never gave up hope and saw the 1990 election as a chance to change his homeland."
The 1990 election was a victory for the National League of Democracy, the opposition party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The Junta did not accept the results and has since been imprisoning and torturing opposition party leaders since. Aung San Suu Kyi has spent years under house arrest. It was a particularly dangerous time for Duerksen and her family as they voted for the NLD and attended campaign events and meetings.
She remembers the horror: "During that year to my consternation, I was interrogated twice, undergoing both mental and physical torture. I was denied a passport, though many appeals were made to exit the country." Her final appeal coincided with a visit from the human rights commission from the United Nations that intervened on her behalf. Out of fear, she did not return to Burma when her mother died in 1994 or when her brother died last year of kidney failure.
Of the situation in Burma, Duerksen said "At least two generations of Burmese people have endured the rule under the Junta, though the leader's name was changed from time to time, it was essentially the same result.
"It got to the point in Burma that video tapes of children's cartoons and teaching aids were taken by the government under suspicions that it was 'subversive.' To this day, I have not seen any of them returned to me. Even backpacks and personal property could be taken with almost no real reason."
Duerksen chose to return to America's heartland and start her career over. "I took refuge here and though I am still at the bottom rung of my academic career, I take pride in contributing to this academic community," she wrote in an e-mail. "Moreover, I can and do help the many Burmese refugees in Indiana, and students of Burma at IUPUI as their faculty advisor."
Duerksen credits local churches for helping to get refugees out of Burma and to Fort Wayne, Indiana. There are a number of Burmese refugees in Indianapolis, she says, Chin Burmese, who are mostly Baptists, and Karen Burmese, those who have been routinely on the run from the junta and have no formal education. Most refugees arrive in Indiana from various camps along the border of Thailand.
At the end of the ceremony on Oct. 3, Buddhist monks from Fort Wayne led a chant to show their pacifism and love for the Burmese people - even for those within the junta. "It is our hope that our voices can reach their ears and their eyes will open to the suffering brought on by their rule over Burma," Duersken stated at the end of the vigil that night. "It is easy for us to gather and protest like we are now, but those in Burma protesting are indeed brave hearts."
The Candlelight Vigil for Peace and Democracy/Solidarity in Burma was organized by the IUPUI Burma Student Association.
"We invited various politicians, activists, organizations and officials from IUPUI," said Ki Gei Shing, president of the BSA. "We also extend our invitation to various media outlets but only a reporter from the Democratic Voice of Burma attended." The Democratic Voice of Burma is a non-profit media organization based in Olso, Norway.
The recent wave of anti-government protests in Burma is linked to a move by the military government to remove fuel subsides, raising gasoline and food prices in one of the world's poorest countries.
The number of deaths resulting from the crackdown on the protesters remains unknown. The Burmese government places the official death toll at 13. Western news organizations say it is more likely to number more than 100.
Thousands, including Buddhist monks who led the protests, have been arrested, imprisoned and tortured during the junta's crackdown.
For more information, visit the Democratic Voice of Burma's website at http://english.dvb.no/.
Contact Patrick Burgess at pkburges@iupui.edu.
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