The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Police Allegedly Beat and Extort Villager in Arakan State
- Mandalay Will Appoint Court Ombudsman
- Philippine Death Squads Very Much in Business as Duterte Set for Presidency
- Cambodia PM Sets 2018 Election Date, Opposition Faces Legal Charges
- Dreams of Riches, Risk of Death: A Jade Miner’s Life
| Police Allegedly Beat and Extort Villager in Arakan State Posted: 26 May 2016 07:24 AM PDT  Police attend a session on ‘Service-Oriented Policing’ in Rangoon on May 21. (Photo: Moe Myint / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Four police officers allegedly assaulted and extorted 100,000 kyats (US$85) from a resident of Kyan Khin village on Phayonka Island, located within Pauktaw Township of Arakan State. The police officers beat and handcuffed the victim, Aye Thein Chay, 37, before demanding the bribe as a condition of his release, according to the testimony of a local resident and a state parliamentarian. Aung Kyaw Htwe, an Arakan National Party (ANP) lawmaker representing Pauktaw Constituency (2) in the Arakan State parliament, spoke with The Irrawaddy on Thursday. He claimed that Aye Thein Chay was not guilty of any crime, but that Lt-Corp Than Htun and three other police officers had punched him and knocked him down. At midnight on May 25, Aye Thein Chay was admitted to Pauktaw's hospital for medical treatment. A case was filed on his behalf at the Pauktaw Township police station. The ANP's Aung Kyaw Htwe said the township police had informed him that the four offending police officers had already been summoned to the station, and would be charged with unethical conduct. Aung Kyaw Htwe cited the words of Burma's police chief Zaw Win, who had held a meeting at the office of the Rangoon Division government on Saturday to discuss the policies included in the police's new 100-day plan. The police in Burma operate under the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs. In response to the recent death of a suspect in police custody in Thaton town of Mon State, police chief Zaw Win warned his junior officers against "brutally investigating" suspects—and also forbade the taking of any bribes. "Let us change and leave behind past practices," the police chief had said, acknowledging previous abuses by Burma's police force. Thein Aung Kyaw, chief of Pauktaw Township Police, confirmed that the violent incident had taken place on May 25. He said that, on May 24, the victim Aye Thein Chay had had a confrontation with his wife, Hla Khin Ye, because she had signaled her intention to divorce him. Thein Aung Kyaw said that, as the domestic quarrel intensified, four police officers arrived from neighboring Ngaratvat Chai village, where a police post is located. Aye Thein Chay was drunk and began verbally abusing the police officers in front of the assembled villagers, according to Thein Aung Kyaw. This "humiliation" suffered by the police officers may have prompted them to beat Aye Thein Chay, even though he was already handcuffed, said Thein Aung Kyaw, who played down the severity of the injuries sustained. Thein Aung Kyaw said they had recalled the policemen, but at the time of speaking they had not yet reached the Pauktaw police station—a 30 mile-distance from their sub-station in Ngaratvat Chai village. However, he would not comment on the alleged extortion of 100,000 kyats, and noted that this was not mentioned in the complaint filed on the victim's behalf with the police. Thein Aung Kyaw added that the Pauktaw Township Police had formed a committee to investigate the incident, which will begin its work soon. A local resident of Kyan Khin village, Ngwe Thein Nu, 32, spoke with The Irrawaddy over the phone on Thursday. She confirmed that the victim Aye Thein Chay is still under medical care at Pauktaw hospital. She rejected the allegation that Aye Thein Chay was drunk during the incident. Although Ngwe Thein Nu was not present, she claimed there were many eyewitnesses to the beating—which took place outside a local video hall—and the subsequent extortion of 100,000 kyats as a condition for releasing Aye Thein Chay from handcuffs. She claimed that the police officers had demanded the bribe to cover travel expenses to Kyan Khin village, although they estimated this at only 20,000 kyats (US$17). The Irrawaddy tried to contact other witnesses to confirm the various allegations, but they could not be reached at the time of publication. In October of 2015, a fisherman was allegedly killed by three police officers on Maday Island in Kyaukphyu Township, also in Arakan State. A verdict on the case subsequently filed against the police officers has not yet been reached. The post Police Allegedly Beat and Extort Villager in Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Mandalay Will Appoint Court Ombudsman Posted: 26 May 2016 07:03 AM PDT  Mandalay Chief Minister Zaw Myint Maung speaks in Naypyidaw. (Photo: Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Mandalay Chief Minister Zaw Myint Maung said he would submit a proposal to appoint an ombudsman to the local courts after seeking approval from the regional parliament and central government. The move highlights just one of the reforms discussed during an event held on Thursday where he met with local political organizations, lawyers and rights activists. The idea was proposed by lawyers representing the Independent Lawyers' Association of Myanmar as part of their mission to promote an independent judiciary in the country. "The ombudsman won't pressure or influence the courts," said lawyer Thein Than Oo, adding that the individual in the role would monitor the judiciary during a transitional period and help promote access to justice. "We can monitor whether the courts issue fair charges," Thein Than Oo said. "There are cases in which the courts can drop charges but don't [do so] because of outside pressures, and other cases where defendants are let off with sentences that are too lenient." According to the lawyer, the position is not intended to monitor all court cases but only cases pertaining to political issues, press freedom, land rights, human rights, drug abuses, public tranquility and other proceedings that were handled unfairly in the past. Local activists used Thursday's meeting to voice their complaints about other local government institutions as well, which they say have remained unchanged. "In Meikthila Township, most government offices lack transparency," said a representative of Mandalay Division's Meikthila's 88 Generation Student group. He said people had hope for the new National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government, which took office in March, but that change had not yet been delivered as they had expected. He urged the chief minister to put more effort into reforming government institutions. During the meeting, local civil society representatives and activists asked the regional government to prioritize environmental preservation and the livelihoods of local farmers when considering development plans, reminding officials that many local farmers have had their land confiscated in the past and currently face severe weather and natural disasters. As part of the regional government's 100-day plan, Zaw Myint Maung has held a series of meetings with local administrators, police, civil society organizations and activists. He said he plans to collaborate with them to promote change, but asked for understanding regarding the challenges of solving deeply rooted issues. "To uproot bad behavior and undemocratic practices, we need time and patience," the chief minister said, adding that he would need the people's help, as he anticipates many problems will need to be addressed in Parliament. Zaw Myint Maung also met with a local committee to take up the issue of squatters in Mandalay, saying he would register the squatters and investigate who legitimately needed housing and who could potentially be fabricating such a need in order to take advantage of the government's new relocation plan. He said that under the former government, some squatters were given land and housing which they sold for a profit before returning to live on private or government land illegally. The chief minister added that after a complete record is made of the squatters, the government would have a better idea for a proper solution. The post Mandalay Will Appoint Court Ombudsman appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Philippine Death Squads Very Much in Business as Duterte Set for Presidency Posted: 26 May 2016 02:07 AM PDT  Gil Gabrillo, 47, lies in an open coffin in his house after he was shot by motorbike-riding gunmen in Davao, Philippines, on May 16, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) DAVAO, Philippines — On May 14, five days after voters in the Philippines chose Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as their next president, two masked gunmen cruised this southern city's suburbs on a motorbike, looking for their kill. Gil Gabrillo, 47, a drug user, was returning from a cockfight when the gunmen approached. One of them pumped four bullets into Gabrillo's head and body, killing the small-time trader of goods instantly. Then the motorbike roared off. The murder made no headlines in Davao, where Duterte's loud approval for hundreds of execution-style killings of drug users and criminals over nearly two decades helped propel him to the highest office of a crime-weary land. Human rights groups have documented at least 1,400 killings in Davao that they allege had been carried out by death squads since 1998. Most of those murdered were drug users, petty criminals and street children. In a 2009 report, Human Rights Watch identified a consistent failure by police to seriously investigate targeted killings. It said acting and retired police officers worked as "handlers" for death-squad gunmen, giving them names and photos of targets—an allegation denied by Davao police. But a four-year probe into such killings by the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippines' equivalent of the FBI, hasn't led to a single prosecution, and one senior NBI agent told Reuters it will probably be shelved now that Duterte is set to become president. The nation's kustice secretary last week told reporters the probe may not be able to proceed. Such impunity, and Duterte's demands in recent weeks for more summary justice, could embolden death squads across the country, say human rights and church groups. Already there has been a spate of unsolved killings in nearby cities, with other mayors echoing Duterte's support for vigilante justice. "We've seen it happen in Davao and we've seen copycat practices," Chito Gascon, chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), an independent Philippine watchdog, told Reuters. "Now can you imagine he is president and the national model for crime-fighting is Davao?" Ask Clarita Alia, 62, who still lives in the Davao slum where her four sons were murdered, and she gives a mirthless chuckle. "Blood will flow like a river," she says. Denies Directing Killings Duterte, who has been Davao's mayor or vice-mayor for most of the past 30 years, has denied any involvement in the murders. "I never did that," he said on the campaign trail in April, responding to allegations he had directed the killings. An Office of the Ombudsman investigation also found there was no evidence connecting Duterte to the murders. He has, though, repeatedly condoned them. For example, in comments to reporters in 2009, he warned: "If you are doing an illegal activity in my city, if you are a criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of the city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are a legitimate target of assassination." And more recently he has vowed to wipe out crime in six months across the country by killing criminals, drug pushers and "sons of bitches" after he takes office on June 30. "Do not destroy my country, because I will kill you," the 71-year-old former prosecutor told a news conference in Davao on May 15. He has also promised to restore the death penalty in the Philippines, warning he will hang the most heinous criminals twice: once to kill them, then again to "completely sever the head from the body." People here remember pre-Duterte Davao as a lawless battleground for security forces and Communist rebels. The city's Agdao district was so violent it was nicknamed "Nicaragdao" after the then war-torn Central American nation. Today, thanks to Duterte's campaigns against drugs and crime, Davao feels much safer, say the locals. But it still ranks first among 15 Philippine cities for murder and second for rape, according to national police. On Watch for Assassins Reuters interviews with the families of four Davao victims, one of whom was a 15-year-old, showed that murders continued even as Duterte campaigned for the presidency. All four killings occurred in the past nine months and bore the hallmarks of a loose-knit group that the locals call the Davao Death Squad. The victims were shot in daylight or at dusk, three of them on the same street in a riverside slum seething with people. The killers rode motorbikes with no license plates, their faces hidden by helmets and masks. Reymar Tecson, 19, was executed last August while sleeping at the roadside. A week later, Romel Bantilan, 15, was shot dead while playing a computer game less than 30 paces away. Tecson's family said Reymar was a drug user, but Bantilan's family insisted that Romel was clean. Romel had a twin brother, and their father, Jun Bantilan, said he had heard "rumors" that the other boy would be next. Most days Jun sits at the end of the street, watching out for assassins. Nearby, in her tumble-down shack, Norma Helardino still wondered why her husband Danilo, 53, was shot dead in January. He didn't use drugs, she said, although "maybe his friends did." The police filed a report but Helardino said she saw no sign of an investigation: "No witnesses came forward." When asked who her husband's killers were, she pointed to her tin roof and said: "Only God knows." The three dead males in the slum were "noted drug dealers," said Maj. Milgrace Driz, a Davao police spokeswoman. "It is their destiny to be killed because they choose to be criminals," she said. "The mayor has already said there is no place for criminals in the city." Driz described 15-year-old Bantilan as a "recidivist" with a "criminal attitude" who had been repeatedly warned to mend his ways. She said he had delivered drugs for a gang which had probably murdered him over a money dispute. Lack of witnesses meant the three murders remained unsolved despite diligent efforts to investigate, Driz added. Responding to the Human Rights Watch allegations that the police conspire with the death squads, Driz said the police get the names of local criminals through a public hotline but don't kill them. Closed and Terminated Human rights activists say official investigations of death-squad killings have been hampered by a lack of witnesses, bureaucratic apathy and political influence. The Human Rights Watch report called on the CHR to investigate whether Duterte and other officials had been involved or complicit in the deaths. A CHR report three years later confirmed the "systematic practice of extrajudicial killings" by the Davao Death Squad. It, in turn, was successful in getting the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate whether Duterte was criminally liable for inaction in the face of evidence of numerous killings. But in a January 2016 letter seen by Reuters, the Ombudsman told the CHR its investigation was "closed and terminated" because it had found no evidence that Duterte or the police were involved in the killings. The letter also dismissed the death squad as a product of "rumors and other gossips." The CHR report also triggered a probe by the NBI. Four years later, it is still ongoing, an agency spokesman said. However, Secretary of Justice Emmanuel Caparas, who oversees the NBI, told reporters on Friday that the status of the investigation was unclear because a key witness, a former gunman, had left protective custody. "It's really just a question now if the witness will surface," he said. And another NBI source, who requested anonymity because he wasn't allowed to talk to the media, said the probe was now likely to be halted. "Who will investigate the president?" he said. The post Philippine Death Squads Very Much in Business as Duterte Set for Presidency appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Cambodia PM Sets 2018 Election Date, Opposition Faces Legal Charges Posted: 25 May 2016 10:16 PM PDT  Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen looks out from a car as he arrives for a Russia-Asean summit at Sochi International Airport in Russia on May 18, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's next election will be in July 2018, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Wednesday, as leaders of the opposition face legal charges they say are politically motivated to stop them challenging the veteran premier in the vote. Long before the Southeast Asian nation goes to the ballot box, political tension has risen. The last election in 2013 marked self-styled strongman Hun Sen's toughest challenge in three decades of rule. The opposition, led by Hun Sen's longtime foe Sam Rainsy, accused the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of cheating its way to victory and boycotted parliament for a year. Hun Sen said in a televised speech on Wednesday the next election would be held on July 22, 2018. "I hope there won't be any reason to reject the election results then and make allegations that 1.2 million or 1.5 million votes are missing," said Hun Sen, referring to accusations by Sam Rainsy's Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in 2013 that millions were missing from voter lists. The CPP won the election with a greatly reduced majority and Hun Sen has since reshuffled his ageing cabinet. Critics say Hun Sen is following a two-track strategy: trying to woo back CPP voters while using the judiciary to weaken the opposition. Rainsy has been in exile since November to avoid jail on charges for which he had previously received a royal pardon. Kem Sokha, Rainsy's deputy, faces charges for defamation and procurement of prostitution after recordings of a telephone conversation purportedly between him and a woman were leaked. Legal cases have also been filed against prominent CNRP members and rights workers related to the Kem Sokha case. Last year, two CNRP lawmakers were beaten outside parliament during a pro-CPP demonstration. Hun Sen's bodyguards were tried for the attacks. After the shock of the 2013 vote, Hun Sen had reverted to the legal and physical intimidation tactics used in the 2008 and 2003 elections, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. Authorities have also cracked down on civil society groups. Rights group LICAHDO says there are 29 political prisoners in Cambodian jails, up from none a year ago. "This is all a variation on how Hun Sen has run Cambodia since the early 1990s," said Sebastian Strangio, author of the book, "Hun Sen's Cambodia." "A mix of populist appeal and strongman threats, sweetened with a dollop of political patronage," Strangio said. The post Cambodia PM Sets 2018 Election Date, Opposition Faces Legal Charges appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Dreams of Riches, Risk of Death: A Jade Miner’s Life Posted: 25 May 2016 08:18 PM PDT  Maung Aye, a miner who has worked in Hpakant for many years, carries a piece of low-grade jade. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now) HPAKANT, Kachin State — For much of the past two decades, Maung Aye's life has revolved around a daily routine that mixes the hope of finding sudden riches with constant danger and back-breaking work. Every morning, the 36-year-old jade laborer gets up in the bamboo shack that he shares with other workers and walks down from the heap of mining waste on which it sits. He goes down into one of the many mining pits that scar Hpakant's mountains and takes out a small hammer mounted on a stick. One by one he taps rocks in the rubble dumped by mining companies, carefully listening to see if the sound could indicate precious jade mineral inside. At the end of a recent, hot April day, he returned to his miners' camp with a rock half the size of a football, which he inspected with a special flashlight and valued it as low-grade jade worth around 30,000 kyats (around US$26). "To get good quality jade depends on luck. Sometimes it is hard to find a jade stone worth 10,000 kyats in a week," said Maung Aye, thin and muscular, wearing a traditional bamboo hat and shorts. Though the money made in treacherous jade scavenging might seem small to some, it represents a good income to the tens of thousands of men who migrated here from poor, rural communities across Burma. "Life is too hard for us in our home village, we can't earn enough income, while we can easily get 5,000 to 10,000 kyats per day here," said Maung Aye, who left his family home in Magwe Division's Gangaw Township, in central Burma, in 1996. He recalled how he decided to go to Hpakant after fighting with his father. "At the time, I told my mother: I don't want to live in this house, please give me money and I will go away. She gave me 25 kyats," he said, adding that he followed his older brother who was already working at the mines. According to a recent state-run media report, there are some 300,000 men like Maung Aye toiling in the jade mines in northern Burma's Kachin State. Local journalists and activists said the numbers of men who migrated here has probably doubled since 2010, perhaps because stories of jade mining opportunities have spread more easily to remote communities in recent years as mobile phones and internet connectivity have become more widely available. An increase in large-scale mining by companies using dynamite and heavy machinery has also increased the amount of rubble available for scavenging. Those who own the companies that dump the waste on which Maung Aye and many like him live, make enormous, unregistered profits. Burma's opaque jade mining industry has been estimated by resource corruption watchdog Global Witness to be worth up to US$31 billion per year and is controlled by hidden license holders mostly linked to the military elite. Dangers and Dreams of Fortunes The migrant miners are aware of the risks they take by working and sleeping near unstable piles of waste. These are dumped by the companies which have little regard for the largely unenforced safety regulations. The new National League for Democracy (NLD) government has pledged to improve safety in Hpakant. Maung Aye is stoic about the dangers and confident he can stay safe after many years in the mines. "I have got a lot of experience and know how to keep away from the falling waste. I was never injured," he said. Deadly accidents are a regular occurrence. A night-time landslide last November buried 114 migrant miners, according to the official death toll. Several accidents have killed groups of workers since then. Most recently, on May 23, at least 13 miners died in a pit collapse. Maung Aye said the November accident occurred near his camp and he saw the aftermath, adding that the number of deaths was probably several times higher than official figures as authorities had stopped searching for buried corpses after two days. "Scavengers and machinery drivers from mining companies died, maybe 300 in total, under waste dumped near the site of Mya Ya Mone Company," he said. The poor men are willing to face such deadly risks as many dream of finding a large, valuable jade stone that will lift them out of poverty. Maung Aye got his break in 2002, making a small fortune by Burmese standards when he and his friends found a jade boulder worth around $7,000. Maung Aye said the gem find turned his life around and he went back to his home village to enjoy his newfound riches and to kick a drug habit he had developed a few months before. Heroin and opium are easily available and used by many workers. "I was so happy at home as I could save and bring a certain amount of money for my family. I drank alcohol almost every day with my friends and forgot about the [withdrawal symptoms] I got from quitting drugs," he said. Yet, he struggled to use his savings to set up a profitable business in his impoverished village and after eight years at home, he returned to Hpakant. He now plans to stay until he feels he has enough income. "I feel life is more meaningful here than in my village; I can expect to make a lot of money. This is our dream as scavengers," Maung Aye said. "I can send money to my family and stay here with friends—but I am lonely." The post Dreams of Riches, Risk of Death: A Jade Miner's Life appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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