Episode #632: “I was not political at all until 1988,” says Dr. Maung Maung Myint, the National Unity Government’s (NUG) representative to Norway. He describes how dictatorship, exile, and decades of activism have shaped his conviction that Myanmar’s military regime will eventually fall.

Born in 1958, he grew up under military rule. After General Ne Win’s 1962 coup, his family’s home and business were seized. He became a dentist in 1983, but the 1988 uprising changed everything. Angered by poverty, propaganda, and the killing of two students, he led a student union, organized protests, and published an underground newsletter. After the crackdown, he was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison; in 1989, he fled to Norway.

In exile, he joined the Norwegian Burma Committee (NBC), helped establish the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and later worked for Radio Free Asia (RFA). He credits Norway’s early support, including its hosting of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) and funding of DVB, as “the biggest thing that happened for us.” He appreciates Norway’s post-coup policies, in particular its shift to bypassing the junta and funding local civil society directly for humanitarian needs.

Maung Maung Myint feels that today’s opposition to the military is more hopeful and far more committed than during the transition period, when the military was able to entrench its influence in government. Unlike in the past, it no longer revolves around a single figure such as Aung San Suu Kyi. Instead, a younger generation is taking a leading role, with broader participation from ethnic minorities in a genuinely inclusive way. This, he says, gives him hope.

Despite decades in exile, his resolve remains firm: “We just have to keep going. Because this is the only way. We cannot give up.”