Jailed Myanmar Banker Honoured for Humanitarian Service

Myanmar’s Central Bank

Dr Bo Bo Nge, the detained deputy governor of Myanmar’s Central Bank, has been awarded Bard College’s 2025 Laszlo Z. Bito Award for Humanitarian Service — a rare international recognition for a political prisoner still behind bars.

Bo Bo Nge, an alumnus of the U.S.-based college, was honoured for his “resistance to injustice, violence, and authoritarian threats,” according to the award committee. The recognition highlights his continued imprisonment since 2021, following Myanmar’s military coup and subsequent crackdown on the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

A respected economist and key figure in Myanmar’s financial reforms, Bo Bo Nge was arrested in February 2021 and sentenced the following year to 20 years in prison under anti-corruption charges widely dismissed as politically motivated. The junta accused him of mishandling government funds and maintaining links with the Open Society Myanmar foundation, founded by George Soros.

Colleagues and observers have long insisted on his innocence. Australian economist Sean Turnell, who worked with him in Myanmar, called the charges a “travesty” and described Bo Bo Nge as “utterly incorruptible”.

His journey is as remarkable as it is tragic. First jailed in 1988 for student activism, he taught himself English in prison. He later fled to the United States, washed dishes to survive, and rose to academic prominence, earning degrees from Bard, Johns Hopkins, and SOAS, before returning home in 2016 to support Myanmar’s democratic transition.

That choice has cost him his freedom. But from a prison cell, his reputation only grows — now internationally recognised not just for his intellect, but for his moral resolve.

Turnell, writing after the award announcement, called him “Myanmar’s bravest and greatest economic reformer,” adding that Bo Bo Nge “languishes in prison... precisely because of his integrity and courage.”

As Myanmar’s military continues its grip on power, voices like Bo Bo Nge’s — and the global honours that echo them — remain vital reminders of a democratic struggle not yet extinguished.

-2025-05-27