The continued imprisonment of Reverend Dr Hkalam Samson is proof that no one is safe in Myanmar

By Benedict Rogers

When I heard that my friend Reverend Dr Hkalam Samson, one of Myanmar/Burma’s most senior and internationally renowned Christian pastors, had been arrested at Mandalay airport on 5 December as he attempted to travel to Bangkok, several thoughts went through my mind.

On one level I was not surprised, because the current illegal military junta, which seized power in a coup on 1 February 2021, has been even more brutal, ruthless and inhumane than any of the succession of military dictatorships that have ruled Myanmar for most of the past six decades.

On another level, due to his international connections, I thought his arrest might simply lead to a brief detention, for the purposes of interrogation. I half expected him to be released within a matter of days. This is a man, after all, who has met the President of the United States in the White House, a Minister of State in the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, parliamentarians around the world and has attended international fora including the International Ministerial Conference on freedom of religion or belief in Washington, DC in 2019.

Within Myanmar, he is among the country’s most senior, high-profile and respected religious leaders. He has served as President – and previously General Secretary – of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), and – until his arrest – as Chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly.

Surely that profile would give him some protection? In normal times it would. In the past, even in Myanmar, it did. But today, under this regime, it didn’t. And that means no one is safe in Myanmar.

The third dimension of my feeling was deeply personal. I first met Reverend Dr Samson when I visited Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in northern Myanmar, in 2012 – just over ten years ago. We met one evening at the KBC offices, and he invited me to visit a Baptist seminary to have a discussion with the students. From then on, we met several times – whenever I was in Myitkyina, and on a couple of occasions in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon (Rangoon).

In November 2018, Reverend Dr Samson came to London and Brussels as part of a delegation of religious leaders, women’s rights activists and civil society groups from northern Myanmar, hosted by CSW. The delegation was multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-generational, bringing together Kachin, Shan and Ta’ang representatives, a Catholic priest, two Buddhists, and women and youth activists. For the best part of 10 days I had the privilege of hosting them, and was with them all day, every day, meeting parliamentarians, policy-makers, media, religious leaders and the diaspora community in London and at the European Union’s institutions in Brussels.

What struck me so strongly was just what a man of profound humility Reverend Dr Samson was. He played a full part in the delegation, but as an equal. At no point did he ‘pull rank’. In cultural and hierarchical terms, he was the most senior – in age, and in status and position. But he never flaunted that. On the contrary, he often deferred to the young activists, the female activists and the members of the delegation of other faiths and ethnicities, and made his own contribution to the discussions with confidence and authority that was combined with modesty. It was inspiring; his commitment to human rights, human dignity, freedom of religion or belief for all and peace, justice and reconciliation was obvious.

Over the past decade, Reverend Dr Samson became my friend. Several times in recent years he would contact me for help. Two months after the coup, he requested my assistance in disseminating a call for prayer for Myanmar to the international community. CSW published the appeal he and his colleague, the new General Secretary of the KBC, had written, in April 2021. He was courageous.

But now my friend is in jail. Instead of being released after an interrogation, as I had hoped, on 7 April 2023 – after four months in prison – he was sentenced by a court in Myitkyina to six years, charged with unlawful association, defaming the State and terrorism.

How could this man of peace and prayer be a ‘terrorist’? How could this man who simply seeks justice and reconciliation be accused of ‘defaming’ a State that is ruled by a criminal regime which overthrew the country’s democratically elected government? How could a man whose vocation as a pastor is to meet with different people, of various opinions, as part of his efforts to contribute to the search for a resolution to years of conflict be convicted of ‘unlawful association’?

The arrest, sentencing and imprisonment of Reverend Dr Samson amount to an outrageous travesty of justice. He is a completely non-violent Christian pastor, jailed simply for speaking the truth about the Myanmar military’s barbaric atrocities perpetrated against the people of Myanmar.

The international community must speak out strongly, to demand his immediate release from prison – and to intensify the application of targeted sanctions against Myanmar’s illegal military regime until all political prisoners are freed, the military ceases all attacks in the ethnic states and Myanmar is placed on a path of genuine federal democracy. We must cut the lifeline to the illegal regime – and provide a lifeline of help and hope to the people of Myanmar.

That is why CSW has launched a new campaign to free Reverend Dr Samson. I hope you will support us, by writing to the UK government to urge action, and by writing to Reverend Dr Samson in prison to encourage him and let the prison authorities in Myanmar know the world is watching. Please pray for Reverend Dr Samson and all political prisoners in Myanmar, please tell others and spread the word, and please join us in our efforts to seek their release. Please help me free my friend.

---

Benedict Rogers is CSW’s Senior Analyst for East Asia, and has worked on Myanmar/Burma for over 23 years, visited the country more than 50 times, and is the author of three books on Myanmar, including “Burma: A National At the Crossroads”.

Click here to join CSW’s campaign to free Reverend Dr Samson.

---