Opinion: A year on, Australia’s most unlikely political prisoner remains in jail | MelissaACrouch
It has been one long year since Australian academic and economist Sean Turnell was arrested by Myanmar’s military regime. Economics adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi and associate professor at Macquarie University, Turnell remains under detention in Myanmar.
I told him to contact me if I could do anything. I desperately called other Burmese friends that day. I told them to make sure their families were safe and if they were at risk to plan to get out of the country as quickly as possible. COVID-19 travel restrictions and lack of access to vaccination at that time meant that leaving the country quickly was difficult.
The Australian government failed to get Turnell out of the country quickly enough. As a result, Australia’s most unlikely political prisoner is in Myanmar.Turnell is known as a person of deep optimism, bubbling enthusiasm and infectious warmth. He believes in the potential of the people of Myanmar despite the enormous challenges the country has faced, not the least being the pervasive role of the military. His personable nature means that many people count him as a friend.
From 2011, and more specifically since 2016 when the National League for Democracy took office, he worked tirelessly with local Burmese economists and politicians to rebuild the economy. The cost of living has escalated as the economy has contracted by nearly 20 per cent. This means that daily life is significantly harder for everyone, especially the poorest. The COVID-19 global pandemic is almost secondary to the priority of navigating life under military rule.
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