An Unlikely Prisoner

With special guest:

• Sean Turnell
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

It is a special welcome to our guest today Sean Turnell. Sean survived for 650 days in Insein prison under the orders of the military Junta of Myanmar. In Sean’s new book An Unlikely Prisoner we hear how this unarmed University Professor who weighs 50kg wringing wet became a dangerous prisoner to a foreign government needing armed escorts wherever he went.

We hear from Sean that he was summarily arrested in his hotel before being confined to a small cell he shared with an enormous rat. Nothing could prepare a person for this ordeal and Sean did not see it coming. Yet as you will hear in this interview Sean maintained his faith in humanity, his sense of humour and mostly his health.

Perhaps the worst aspect was the uncertainty. Sean first thought that he would not be a priority for the authorities, that he would be fairly swiftly deported. It seemed that detention for a month would be the likely horrible outcome. But as the months went by there seemed to be no progress. Was he ever going to be released?

Then came the sham trial where the judge found Sean guilty, not because he had broken a law of the land but because he was guilty under the “spirit” of the law. So it was back to prison with a sentence of hard labour. Fortunately for Sean there were some advantages in being a foreigner from a Western country. He did not have to share a cell with other prisoners and the hard labour order was not enforced.

Sean also was befriended by some wonderfully inspiring locals who looked after him as well as they could. He also had the support of the Australian Embassy and most importantly the love and support of his family anxiously waiting at home. Then when he was at his lowest point after a false report that he had been freed he got the news he had been waiting so long for. He was free and he had ten minutes to pack his few possessions. How did he feel right then?

This is an inspiring story of how Sean coped in adversity and how the goodness in others kept him going. In particular we get a personal glimpse of the “The Lady”, as Aung San Suu Kyi is known.

And believe it or not there are even some funny stories emanating from the depths of the Myanmar prison system.

Sean Turnell

Sean Turnell is Honorary Professor of Economics at Macquarie University. In 2009 he published an influential book on Myanmar’s financial system, Fiery Dragons, which made him an internationally recognised expert on the subject and one of Aung San Suu Kyi’s most trusted advisers. He was arrested in Myanmar in 2021 following a military coup and imprisoned for 650 days in some of Asia’s worst prisons.

Sean lives in Sydney with his wife, Ha Vu, who campaigned tirelessly for his release.

Song selection by our guest: Theme song from the movie Battle of Britain (1969)

Podcast (mp3)