YANGON – He’s the star of hundreds of films in military-dominated Myanmar, but these days Kyaw Thu is more likely to be found carrying coffins or driving a hearse at funerals for the poor.
In the decade since he founded the Free Funeral Services Society, the organization has helped more than 100,000 families pay their last respects to late relatives, without charging a single kyat.
“I want someone’s final journey to be good enough,” said the 51-year-old, who with his long silver hair and moustache still retains some of the movie star looks that helped to propel him onto the silver screen.
With 80 paid employees and 115 volunteers, his group provides free services at about 50 funerals a day using 18 hearses and two boats to transport the deceased and relatives, relying on local and overseas donations.
It is one of a growing number of local civil society groups that have sprung up during almost half a century of military rule to fill the void left by an underfunded public sector and a relatively low inflow of foreign aid.
Despite abundant natural resources, Myanmar remains one of the world’s least developed countries, with nearly a third of the population living below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures.
Rampant inflation has made it even harder for people to scrape by.
When 12-year-old Pyae Phyo Tun drowned in a lake his parents could not afford the funeral costs, so they turned to Kyaw Thu for help.
“You are our savior. Without your help, my son’s last journey could not be smooth,” his 33-year-old mother Aye Maw told the one-time movie star at her son’s funeral in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon.
Funeral ceremonies are steeped in tradition in the country, also known as Burma, where the majority Buddhists believe that the journey to the next life should be smooth and without delay.
It is typical for relatives to build a temporary pavilion that stands for a week in front of the family home for people to gather in.
Usually on the third day mourners go to the cemetery where monks chant sutras before the body is cremated. Those who can afford to do so buy land at the cemetery for a grave.
A few days later a memorial service is held at which mourners and monks are invited to pray for the deceased to help guide them to the next life.
But for many families it is a struggle to organize such an elaborate final send-off, and these are busy days for Kyaw Thu.
“I feel both happy and sorry. My son didn’t cause us trouble even though he’s dead because the Free Funeral Service Society helped us to cremate him without any cost. We have many difficulties for his funeral,” said Aye Maw, her voice trembling and tears running down her cheeks.
Her husband Zaw Tun, a 34-year-old construction worker, said it would be impossible for them to pay for their son’s funeral themselves.
The cremation alone can cost more than 35,000 kyats (about $43), about 10 times time his daily wage — when he can find work.
“I have borrowed 45,000 kyats at a 15 percent interest rate as I needed the money when I sent my son to hospital and to hire a boat for the funeral,” Zaw Tun said sorrowfully after he returned from the cemetery.
“Our neighbors cannot help us because they are also casual laborers.”
Although Kyaw Thu’s group is not the only organization offering such services for poor people, its activities have brought it under the scrutiny of the authorities in Myanmar, where power was handed to a nominally civilian government in March following the first election in 20 years.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party, the military’s political proxies who swept a November election marred by complaints of cheating and intimidation, has also been competing by offering its own funeral services.
The one-time film star has briefly been detained twice by the authorities because of his activities in student and monk-led uprisings in 1988 and 2007.
“I’m not interested in politics. But the people rely on us and believe in us because of our activities. They donate to us. It might worry the authorities,” Kyaw Thu said, adding that he and his group have been under the watch.
He gave up acting as his work was banned after his release from his most recent spell in detention.
Kyaw Thu said he will continue providing free funeral services while fighting old-fashioned beliefs related to death, which have led some of his former friends to shun him.
“I’m lonely compared with an actor’s life. But if I think of myself as social worker Kyaw Thu, I have many more friends now. Not only living people, but also ghosts,” he said.