YANGON — When Ma Lai Lai saw a man pass her mother’s house on a motorbike, a seven-year-old trauma painfully resurfaced.

It was the same man, U Yan Naing Soe, who had abducted and raped her when she was fourteen years old, she said. He had, on paper, been a fugitive ever since.

Except, rather than spending years in hiding, Yan Naing Soe had served as an administrator of Ward 140 in Yangon’s South Dagon Myothit Township, where he had earned respect for his “tough” approach to local criminals.

But recent news spread on Facebook has prompted police in Yangon to belatedly hunt for a man who became a prominent community member despite Lai Lai’s alleged rape.

“I was very shocked and told my mother he was the runaway who raped me,” said Lai Lai, who works in an industrial zone in East Dagon Myothit Township. His house was found to be close to her mother’s, where Lai Lai was staying with her child.

(Ma Lai Lai is not the woman’s real name. Her identity has been protected.)

Lai Lai recalled the night of 3 November 2011. Angry with her mother, she had run from home at 10 pm and jumped in a sidecar, or trishaw, to visit her boyfriend across the Pazundaung Creek in Thingangyun Township. On nearing Shwe Yi bus stop on Than Thu Mar Road, five men threatened the sidecar driver and forced Lai Lai into a car.

Something suspected to be a knife was held to her back as they drove to Aye Hostel in South Okkalapa Township, where Yan Naing Soe raped her, she said.

Lai Lai filed a case at Thingangyun Township police station the next day, but only four of the five men were formally charged. Of these, one was eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence; the other three were each sentenced to two years in prison for assisting the rape. The actual rapist remained at large.

Lai Lai got married a year later and moved in with her husband in East Dagon Myothit. She didn’t tell her husband about the rape, but when he found out about it, soon after she’d given birth to their first child, he left them both.

Lai Lai hadn’t graduated from school and struggled to find a job that would sustain her and her son, so she returned to her mother’s house.

A “good reputation”

After seeing Yan Naing Soe pass on the road, the 21-year-old Lai Lai conferred with her mother, who told her he was the hardline administrator of the local ward.

But Lai Lai and her mother held back from telling others right away. “We were afraid for our lives,” Lai Lai said, given the man’s power locally and the ease with which his associates could find and attack them.

When Myanmar Now travelled with Lai Lai to a safer location to interview her, a car with a black license plate followed for about half an hour.

According to police records, Yan Naing Soe, also known as “Kayin” or “FRC”, is now 38 years old and formerly lived in Nga Moe Yeik ward in Thingangyun Township.

Most locals refer to him by the nickname “Kayin,” after the Karen (or Kayin) ethnic group, though he is recorded as being “Bamar” in his official documents.

Yan Naing Soe, though ostensibly wanted by police, was elected ward administrator last year and held the position till he absconded on 4 June, as news of his link to the 2011 rape began to spread online.

He had moved with his wife and child to Ward 140 in late 2014, according to U Toe, the former ward administrator. Before becoming administrator himself, Yan Naing Soe made a name for himself as a local 100-household leader. Though a “quiet man,” Yan Naing Soe took an active part in the community and was “ruthless” in dealing with “bad men.”

“If the outlaws didn’t heed our warnings, Kayin would beat them up without me having to ask. Sometimes, I even had to stop Kayin. A man like him is useful in an administrative position. Since the outlaws knew what a fighter Kayin was, they didn’t dare try anything,” Toe said.

A resident of Ward 140, who asked not to be named, said there were fewer criminals around since Yan Naing Soe took over as ward administrator.

Locals told Myanmar Now they hadn’t seen Yan Naing Soe since the beginning of June. They refused to say more about his supposed whereabouts out of fear of his associates, who still live in the ward. Some expressed surprise that a ward administrator with a “good reputation” should be wanted for rape.

“I don’t know his background but he speaks politely and is very active in the community,” said one resident who asked not to be named.

Yan Naing Soe’s wife and child are still living in his house despite his absence.

As news spread and police began to circulate “wanted” pictures, a press conference was held on 9 June, where Yan Naing Soe’s aunt Daw Thein Thein Htike said he had merely gone off to serve as a monk for a while and would return afterwards to clear his name.

She said Yan Naing Soe was innocent of the rape, which was instead committed by friends of his. “They are just accusing him,” she said of the recent reports. “We are now discussing with lawyers. He is not on the run. He submitted an official leave notice to the township office in order to become a monk.”

She added that, after the 2011 incident, she received neither a police visit nor a court letter at the house she was then sharing with Yan Naing Soe.

Nonetheless, she confirmed that the man in a photograph now on the Myanmar Police’s website is her nephew.

Since May, Yan Naing Soe has called Lai Lai several times from an unknown location, promising to divorce his wife and marry Lai Lai.

Lessons to be learnt

The police website now cites Yan Naing Soe as a fugitive wanted for rape, and lists his particulars. But locals say this move is highly belated.

A former 100-household leader recalled that, several years before, a police officer had shown him a warrant for the arrest of Yan Naing Soe.

A local man, who asked not to be named, said he phoned South Dagon Myothit Township police station three times earlier this year to inform them about Yan Naing Soe but observed no follow-up. He showed Myanmar Now his call log.

“He will be acquitted if he is innocent,” the main said. “But, he is a wanted man, and the police are responsible for a wanted man becoming an administrator.”

However, the police now appear to be mounting a wide search, seemingly in response to news spreading on Facebook.

Thingangyun Township Police Captain Ko Ko Oo said in late May that the district office had sent notices with Yan Naing Soe’s photograph to police stations across the country, with orders for his arrest.

“A friend from the district police told me to check news on Facebook about a man wanted in a rape case filed at my police station. I checked and this was correct,” he said.

He said he sent a subordinate to Yan Naing Soe’s house but he was gone. “The Facebook news was posted two days before, so it gave the man time to escape,” he said.

Captain Ko Ko Oo admitted police had not done background checks on those vying for ward administrator positions last year, though this had been done in previous years.

He said there were lessons to be learnt and encouraged people to cooperate closely with police to “uphold the rule of law.” He said citizens were welcome to submit complaints to higher levels of the police if officers failed to perform their duty.

U Thein Naing, who represents South Dagon Myothit in the Yangon Region Parliament, said local police had told him they were trying to arrest the fugitive.

Lai Lai, meanwhile, has moved out of the neighbourhood for her own safety, but said she would not feel secure till Yan Naing Soe is caught.

“I can continue with my life once he is arrested,” she said. “I moved out from the ward because I am afraid of him but I am constantly worried that [he and his associates] could follow me to my new place, break into my house and attack me.”