Thursday, April 27, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

YBS Review Proposal Approved, Following Heated Parliamentary Debate

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 09:27 AM PDT

RANGOON – In Thursday's parliamentary session, 117 regional lawmakers approved the review proposal of Rangoon's new public transit system, the Yangon Bus Service (YBS), after a heated debate by 26 legislators two days earlier.

Public frustration with a lack of legal action against bus drivers for reports of aggressive driving, assault of passengers, and general unreliability led to MPs receiving large numbers of letters from angry citizens, said U Kyaw Kyaw Tun of Hlaing Township, noting that there was no other avenue set up by the government through which such complaints could be addressed.

Lawmakers said they brought the proposal forward to ask government on how they would address YBS bus drivers' misconduct, which has been described as a continuation of the problems with the old bus system, known as Ma Hta Tha.

Despite the debate session on the issue ending on Tuesday, the approval of the proposal was delayed, as several cabinet members, including Rangoon Division Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein, were conspicuously absent from the session.

Members of parliament mocked the chief minister's original slogan—"YBS for the public"—and began saying "YBS for public disappointment."

On behalf of the Rangoon cabinet, the divisional minister for electricity, industry and transportation Daw Nilar Kyaw—who is also the chairwoman of the Yangon Region Transport Authority (YRTA)—explained the government's plan for YBS.

"I don't accept the terminology of MP U Kyaw Zeya," she said, noting the slogan about public disappointment. "[It] has negative implications and determinations will be made by the public in time."

MP from Insein Township U Wai Phyo Han stated a reminder that the legislature "has the right to guide government in the right direction if it is heading the wrong way," and that arguments should not be regarded as "fighting against one's own government."

Daw Nilar Kyaw explained that the YRTA has handled over 6,500 cases of reported legal violations by drivers since the YBS system was installed in Rangoon. She said that the cases involved overcharging of passengers, physical assaults, aggressive driving, making undesignated stops, and incompletion of routes.

The YRTA has formed 10 mobile teams that regularly patrol the YBS bus gates to check whether the bus lines follow the rules and regulations of the YRTA. The government has already ordered that YBS buses be equipped with a GPS tracking system, and that CCTV be installed at more than 150 traffic lights.

Daw Ni Lar Kyaw said these operations are expected to begin in May. Officials will then monitor the buses from a traffic control center located in People's Park.

The YRTA has prohibited drivers and bus attendants and conductors found guilty of violations of working in the public transportation system. There has also been talk of working with the Union government to revoke licenses when necessary, and cabinet members are drafting an all-inclusive transport law for the commercial capital.

The divisional government plans to give vocational training to both bus drivers as well as conductors. The YRTA is also looking to hire more female drivers within the YBS, but did not elaborate on the number of employees or the timeframe in which this might occur.

Minister Daw Nilar Kyaw did not say whether there would be a changeup among the YRTA's 16 members, most of whom are government officials.

"It will be really hard to succeed [with the YBS project] unless the regional government replaces YRTA committee members with suitable experts," said U Wai Phyo Han.

The post YBS Review Proposal Approved, Following Heated Parliamentary Debate appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Locals Insist Three Men Killed in Shan State Clash Were Civilians

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 08:13 AM PDT

Sources in northern Shan State's Kyaukme Township have said that three men killed by the Burma Army were not members of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), as they had been accused, and were in fact local villagers.

The casualties included Win Kyaing, 39 years old, San Win, 37 years old, and Aike Lon, 33 years old. Locals said they often worked as drivers in the township.

Win Kyaing was ethnic Bamar, from Shwebo Township in Sagaing Division. Both San Win and Aike Lon were ethnic Shan from Kyaukme Township.

Locals have accused the Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion 502, under the control of Military Operation Command 1 and based in Kyaukme's Mann San village, of killing the three men on April 9, following fighting in the area between the Burma Army and the TNLA.

Kyaukme is located within a conflict area, where clashes are known to break out between the TNLA and the Burma Army, or with the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South. Locals told The Irrawaddy that when armed groups ask for help, civilians "cannot refuse."

The TNLA's Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw told The Irrawaddy that the three victims were in fact civilians, but that TNLA troops had asked them to drive trucks to transport their soldiers. Fighting then began while they were en route to their destination, he explained, during which members of the Burma Army killed the drivers.

Burial of the Victims

Sai Htun Nyan, a Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) lawmaker in Kyaukme town, told The Irrawaddy that once the fighting had ceased, Burma Army soldiers asked locals to bury three members of the TNLA killed in the clash.

"When we went to bury the three bodies, we found that those victims were villagers, not members of the TNLA," he said. "We asked the Burmese army to let us bring back those three bodies to our town, but they did not let us. They just told us to bury them. We did not know what to do, and buried the bodies there," adding that, "many people here are afraid to talk about it."

However, Sai Htun Nyan said he did not know why the three deceased men were wearing uniforms from the TNLA when they were brought for burial.

The Irrawaddy witnessed video footage reportedly taken just before the burial, showing the three victims' bodies—all of whom had head wounds and wore camouflage shirts bearing the TNLA logo, but longyis typically worn by civilians. However, despite the head wounds, there appeared to be no blood visible on the clothes.

Family members and friends of the victims came to the burial. U Thein Tun, who owns the tea factory where Win Kyaing worked, helped make merit on behalf of his deceased worker, said Sai Htun Nyan.

The Irrawaddy attempted to talk to U Thein Tun, who he said that the police were investigating Win Kyaing's death, but did not want to comment further, fearing his own security and safety.

Police Response

SNLD lawmaker Sai Htun Nyan said that he informed the police about the three men's deaths, but that he was not able to initiate a new case looking into the incident, because he could not transport the bodies to the hospital in Kyaukme town so that autopsies could be performed.

The Irrawaddy asked police Col U Win Khaing, stationed in Kyaukme town, about a potential investigation, but he said that the deaths had occurred in a warzone where even the police are not safe.

"Their death was in a conflict area. It was in the jungle. There is no security for our police there—no one dares to go there," Col U Win Khaing admitted. "No one even came to file charges at our police station."

"It is hard to know whether they were civilians or not, as their death was in a fighting zone. It is hard to even investigate it. But, we heard that they were Palaung," he said, using another term for the ethnic Ta'ang—a reference to the TNLA armed group.

U Hla Kyaw, a Kyaukme resident who was a neighbor of the late San Win, said that the 37-year-old had often stayed at his agricultural plot outside of the town, but that he would return to his house in Kyaukme to visit his wife.

San Win had a child, he said, adding that as an ethnic Shan man, he could not have been a member of the TNLA.

 

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Lending Firm To Return More Than One Billion Kyats to Magwe Govt

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 08:04 AM PDT

RANGOON — The chairman of a lending firm said the business would return 1.57 billion kyats transferred to it from regional development funds under the previous government.

Chairman of Shwe Thukha Microcredit Association, U Kyi Tun, who also chairs Magwe Division Development Foundation, said the association would return the money "raised as capital" for the company.

"We have given loans to people with that money, and we have to ask them to pay them back," he said. "I have verbally told this to the secretary of Magwe divisional government."

He added that the money would be repaid as soon as the association gets it back from borrowers, but that it was "difficult to set a time frame" for the repayment.

Lower House lawmaker U Tun Tun of Magwe's Pwintbyu Township asked Parliament in May 2016 about the alleged embezzlement of regional development funds collected as taxation from small-scale oil producers in Magwe Division by the previous divisional government.

The Bureau of Special Investigations under the Ministry of Home Affairs launched an investigation and found that missing funds amounted to 7.5 billion kyats, and more than 3 billion kyats were spent on then-ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The Union government sent letters dated April 18 to former Magwe Division chief minister U Phone Maw Shwe and chairman of the Magwe Division Development Foundation and Shwe Thukha Microcredit Association U Nyi Tun asking them to answer for the missing funds.

The letter instructed the two to return 1.7 billion kyats, four cars, a digger, and two boats donated to the USDP through the Magwe Division Development Foundation, as well as more than 1.57 billion kyats of funds transferred to the microcredit association.

USDP spokesperson Dr. Nandar Hla Myint denied allegations that U Phone Maw Shwe misappropriated more than 1.7 billion kyats from the divisional development funds.

"In fact, U Phone Maw Shwe donated nothing to the USDP," he told The Irrawaddy. "We have already said officially that he gave nothing to us and we had accepted nothing. But, time and again we were targeted, and this tarnishes the dignity of our party. We will release a statement soon to respond."

He also urged the NLD government to question the former Magwe Division chief minister and handle the situation according to the law as soon as possible.

Dr. Nandar Hla Myint highlighted that U Phone Maw Shwe was also chairman of the USDP's Magwe Division chapter while he was chief minister.

"I think he spent those funds on regional development works in line with his authority as a chief minister over financial affairs," he said.

"It is only U Phone Maw Shwe and the previous divisional government who can answer this. If the current government is not happy with this case, it can summon U Phone Maw Shwe. Then, this can be settled."

Magwe Division chief minister Dr Aung Moe Nyo told The Irrawaddy that legal action would be taken against the former government if missing funds were not returned.

"Yes, they have denied it," he said. "But it is not a rumor, and it is not the speculation of journalists. It was found by the Bureau of Special Investigations under the Ministry of Home Affairs, so it is undeniable," said the chief minister.

While the USDP has denied the allegation, former chief minister U Phone Maw Shwe has not made any public comment on the matter.

The post Lending Firm To Return More Than One Billion Kyats to Magwe Govt appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Controversial Bridge Opened to Public Under the Name of Gen Aung San

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 05:18 AM PDT

RANGOON — The controversial bridge across the Salween River linking Moulmein and Chaungzon townships in Mon State was put into service on Thursday, under the contested name "Gen Aung San Bridge (Belu Island)."

Mon State Chief Minister Dr. Aye Zan confirmed the opening of the bridge to the public.

"A total of 129 vehicles from Chaungzon crossed the bridge and 50 from Moulmein so far," Dr. Aye Zan told reporters on Thursday afternoon at a municipal guesthouse in Naypyidaw.

"I was not at the bridge as I had a meeting [in Naypyidaw] this morning, but I will attend the official opening ceremony of the bridge. The Union government will set a date for it," the minister added.

Mon locals have opposed naming the bridge after Burma's independence hero Gen Aung San, preferring names like "Chaungzon Bridge" or "Yarmanya," which means "Mon State" in the ethnic Mon language spoken in the region.

"We heard that they [the government] put the signboard up at around 4:30 a.m. I saw them still fixing the signboard after 6 a.m. But, I didn't see an inauguration ceremony," U Naing Aung Mon, spokesperson for the committee demanding a name change, told The Irrawaddy.

The committee was formed with local community elders, women leaders, monks, youth leaders and human rights and political activists who oppose the name approved by the Lower House in March.

The committee is preparing to submit a petition to the President, State Counselor, the Parliament and ethnic affairs ministry and has so far garnered over 120,000 signatures.

"As they have put up the signboard, we can do nothing now. We view this as a violation of ethnic rights. We will continue fighting against this," said U Nai Aung Mon.

He added that by putting up the signboard in spite of opposition from thousands of locals, lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD) have breached the provisions of a law adopted in February 2015 to protect ethnic rights.

Provision 3(c) in Chapter 2 of the law states that languages, literature, arts, culture, customs, national identity, and historical heritage of ethnicities shall be preserved and promoted.

On April 24, the committee also issued an open letter, saying that the naming of the bridge would disrupt unity, friendship and support between ethnicities. The letter also demands that the bridge be named according to the wishes of the locals.

Amid the controversy over the naming of the bridge, former chief minister of Mon State U Min Min Oo resigned from his post in late February, and Dr. Aye Zan has replaced him.

The chief minister defended the name choice for the bridge, saying it was intended to remind people of democracy and federalism, which Gen Aung San promised in Panglong Agreement.

"This [promise] could not be materialized after the general was assassinated. Therefore, we still see instability in our country, even today. So, we named the bridge after Gen Aung San to remember this pledge," said Dr. Aye Zan.

"We ethnicities could not celebrate our national identity in our townships and regions under successive governments [in the past]. And we can't accept that the democratic government has done this, despite our objections," Mi Sandi, an engineer from Moulmein, told The Irrawaddy.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

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Rangoon Lawmakers Demand Action from Officials over Lost Billions in Business Dealings

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 04:44 AM PDT

RANGOON — Rangoon Parliament's bill and public accounts committees on Wednesday urged the regional government to take action against officials responsible for billion kyat losses in state-private joint ventures under the previous government.

Parliamentarians discussed joint venture projects that favored certain companies by offering reduced leases on government land and other mismanagement following the committees' reviews of the 2015-16 fiscal year report submitted to Parliament by Daw Khin Hla Than of the Auditor General's Office for Rangoon Division.

According to the auditor general's 2015-16 fiscal year report, the divisional government lost 13 billion kyats in leasing commercial space to construction companies and suffered a whopping 58 billion kyats loss from long-term reduced rent leasing of public lands and parks.

Leader of the bill committee U Tint Lwin pointed out that the construction ministry had mismanaged 40 million kyats of loans and neglected to provide a detailed report of projects with the military-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation.

The government should investigate the mismanagement as it dented the treasury, he said.

He also suggested the regional government review the long-term profit sharing projects that were established by ex-Rangoon chief minister U Myint Swe, which gave private companies very favorable leases.

Some projects were allocated by the Yangon City Committee Development (YCDC) without approval from the regional cabinet, he said.

Lawmaker for Kyauktada Township Daw Kyi Pyar said: "We understand that the new government cannot terminate contracts which were signed by the previous government, but to fill gaps in the country, the government can negotiate new terms and conditions of joint venture projects with private companies."

Lawmakers criticized the fact that the majority of public land leasing and profit-sharing projects were given to Burma's notorious tycoons and cronies, calling instead for transparent processes.

Lawmaker U Kyaw Zeya of Dagon constituency suggested that the government consult experts and introduce new rules and regulations for the concerned companies.

Hlaing Township lawmaker Daw Khaing Mar Htay said: "I am shocked that joint venture partners were leased land very cheaply."

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Burma’s Police Chief Retires

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 04:32 AM PDT

RANGOON — After more than a decade serving the force, Burma's police chief Maj-Gen Zaw Win announced his retirement on Wednesday.

He made the announcement that he would step down next month at the police force headquarters in the capital Naypyidaw. It came three years and nine months after he was promoted to chief by then President U Thein Sein.

Maj-Gen Zaw Win said he was transferred from the army to become deputy chief in the force in 2004. His successor has not yet been revealed.

He tried to reform the force to become "a dignified institution with professional and skilled members," he said in the announcement, adding that the reform process would "never end and never be enough."

"The reform mainly depends on a genuine desire for change at an individual level," he said.

Despite efforts to improve the force, including training from the European Union that began in 2014, it still struggles to secure public trust.

The institution, which comes under home affairs, one of three military-controlled ministries, has been criticized because of its brutal crackdowns on protests.

It has also attracted criticism for failing to uncover or arrest perpetrators of several high-profile murder cases including a 2016 quadruple murder in Rangoon's Mingalardon Township, while Aung Win Khaing, one of the suspects in the assassination of the prominent lawyer U Ko Ni, remains at large.

In October last year, a series of attacks on the force's border guard outposts near Bangladesh in northern Arakan State led to a resumed crisis affecting Muslim Rohingya in the region.

In the same month, the police started to draft the first National Crime Prevention Strategy to reduce crimes and violence across the country with the assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

During a workshop for the crime prevention strategy in late March, Maj-Gen Zaw Win recognized that crime prevention efforts "had fallen behind" in Burma due to the country's political history and "what [the police force] has been doing so far is not enough."

Local media has reported that Maj-Gen Zaw Win will continue as an adviser to the Home Affairs Ministry for one year after his retirement. The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm this at time reporting.

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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Rejects National-level Political Dialogue in Arakan State

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 03:11 AM PDT

RANGOON — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has again rejected the Arakan Liberation Party's (ALP) request to hold an ethnic-based national-level political dialogue in Arakan State, saying it is a sensitive region.

Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin, member of the ALP central executive committee, told The Irrawaddy that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is disregarding their request.

"When we say we are ready [for political dialogue], it falls on deaf ears. What Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said is not acceptable to Arakanese people," said Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin.

The national-level political dialogue is a mandatory step of the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), where regional stakeholders discuss suggestions at large-scale public consultations, the results of which are shared by representatives at the Union Peace Conference or 21st Century Panglong.

In February, the ALP—which is one of eight NCA signatories—proposed holding ethnic-based national-level political dialogue in Arakan State, but Burma's de facto leader turned down the request, saying the ALP was not yet ready.

The ALP has made necessary preparations and has submitted letters three times to request approval to hold the dialogue. But the government has not replied, and at the Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) on Monday in Naypyidaw, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi again declined the request, citing sensitive issues involving the Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State.

"We think we can hold political dialogue in any of the 17 townships that are not sensitive areas. We wonder what she is talking about. There are many places where we could hold political dialogue," said Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin.

Leaders of other NCA signatory groups backed the ALP's request at the JICM meeting, but Daw Aung San Suu Kyi focused the meeting on the second 21st Century Panglong Conference, which is slated for May 24.

"We ethnic groups are honest and unwilling to offend people. We have suffered throughout the course of history. If we continue to be unwilling to offend, and if we do as the government says, I doubt we will ever see a federal Union," said Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin.

Vice Chairman U Khaing Pyi Soe of the Arakan National Party (ANP) said his party would summon a central executive committee meeting during the first week of May to determine whether or not to attend the second Panglong.

As national-level political dialogue has not been held in Arakan State, local ethnic parties have nothing to discuss at the Panglong Conference, he said.

The national-level political dialogue in Arakan State is to be supervised by the Arakan State government, ALP and ANP, and although the two parties have selected members to organize the dialogues and informed the state government, it has not replied, said U Khaing Pyay Soe.

"The Arakan State government has not replied. The ANP and ALP are ready. I think it is the government that is not yet ready," he said.

Of eight ethnic armed groups that have signed the NCA with the previous government, six have already held national-level political dialogues in their respective regions.

Besides the ALP, the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-South) has not held ethnic-based national-level political dialogue, as the government has not allowed them to hold it in their proposed towns of Taunggyi or Panglong.

However, the Shan State government organized helter-skelter region-based political dialogue in Shan State on April 23 in Taunggyi. Attendees were only informed on April 21 and have criticized the government for giving limited time for preparation.

 

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International Community Calls on Govt to Cooperate with UN Fact-finding Mission

Posted: 27 Apr 2017 01:11 AM PDT

RANGOON — International organizations called on overseas governments to engage Burma in allowing unfettered access to a UN fact-finding mission into human rights abuses by authorities in Arakan, Kachin, and Shan states in an open letter released Thursday.

The letter, signed by 23 organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Fortify Rights among others, argued that "sustained international engagement" would be needed to ensure the team of UN experts was granted full access by the Burmese government.

Matthew Smith, chief executive officer at Fortify Rights, told The Irrawaddy that accepting the mission was the "responsible" thing for the government to do and that it was "good for Myanmar, for victims and survivors, and for the authorities."

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution—adopted at its 34th session in Geneva, Switzerland in March—provides a mandate "to establish the facts and circumstances of the alleged recent human rights violations by military and security forces," but has been consistently rejected by the Burmese government.

"The fact-finding mission is in the interests of the government of Myanmar [Burma]," the letter read, arguing it would "demonstrate the government's willingness to uphold the rule of law, work collaboratively with the international community to help establish the facts, identify perpetrators, and deter future crimes by all parties to the conflict."

UN Special Rapporteur to Burma Yanghee Lee reported numerous allegations of human rights abuses committed by Burmese authorities to the UNHRC in March and recommended a UN Commission of Inquiry—a more thorough UN-mandated investigation into human rights abuses than the adopted fact-finding mission.

Yanghee Lee drew particular attention to allegations of arson, torture, extrajudicial killings, and widespread sexual violence against the minority Muslim Rohingya population in northern Arakan State during Burma Army "clearance operations" begun in response to insurgent attacks on police border guard posts on Oct. 9 of last year.

"I encourage the Myanmar government to cooperate with the fact-finding mission as far as possible and for the fact-finding mission to seek such cooperation in the spirit of constructive engagement and open dialogue," the UN expert told the Irrawaddy earlier this month.

Both Burma's de facto leader State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's military commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing have rejected the team of experts, who are expected to be appointed by UNHRC president Mr. Joaquín Alexander Maza Martelli soon.

In her State of the Union address last month Daw Aung Suu Kyi said she did not accept a fact-finding mission into Arakan State. "It does not mean we disrespect the UN," she added, "it is just that it does not correspond with our country's [situation]."

On the occasion of the 72nd Anniversary of Armed Forces Day last month, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing reiterated that the Rohingya population did not belong to Burma, but were interlopers from Bangladesh—and that any international political intervention on the pretext of assisting refugees from this community would threaten Burma's sovereignty.

Matthew Smith called government claims that the UN mission would inflame tension between ethnic groups in northern Arakan State "a shameless political ploy to avoid scrutiny."

Among international players, the EU has a special role to play, having drafted the resolution that mandated the mission, but Asean states and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation need to step up in advocating investigations of Burma's human rights violation, Smith said.

He noted that ground-level push back and obstructions from the military were likely but that "if the government denies the experts access to the country, it will raise international alarm bells and only intensify the pressure."

"This is a critical moment for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government and military leadership," the human rights expert said. "Any failure to cooperate with this mission could signal more atrocities and impunity."

Independent analyst on Burma David Mathieson welcomed the fact-finding mission, particularly its broad scope that would also cover the north of Burma, but noted that it was unlikely to unearth anything new in northern Arakan State.

"After two UN reports [by the UNOHCHR and Yanghee Lee] and so much media coverage, what will the fact-finding mission find out that we don’t already know?" he asked.

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Women and War: A Karen Leader’s Account

Posted: 26 Apr 2017 07:52 PM PDT

MAE SARIANG, Thailand — Longstanding Karen National Union (KNU) leader Naw Zipporah Sein, 62, begins to cry, as she recalls the fate of her old classmate at the hands of the Burma Army in Mon Township, Nyaung Lin Bin District, in May 1975.

"They stripped her and kept her in the heat for days," she says. "She was pregnant. They raped her and took out her eyes one by one. Then they finally killed her."

Burmese military troops had shot the woman's husband, a KNU soldier, in a gunfight before dragging the 20-year-old schoolteacher into the middle of Mee Ya Tar Village in the KNU's Brigade 3 territory, witnesses told Naw Zipporah Sein.

"My eldest and youngest sisters' boyfriends died in battle. My boyfriend also fell in battle when I was 19," she says.

Naw Zipporah Sein was born in Karen State, where a 60-year-long conflict between the Burma Army and ethnic groups fighting for independence has left hundreds of thousands dead or displaced, with many Karen fleeing to neighboring Thailand.

Memories of war are painfully fresh for the former KNU vice chairperson.

"If men die in battle, it is over. If they don't die, they win. For them, it sounds simple, but for women, the suffering remains like a wound. It is traumatic.

"Their fear of war is like a clear picture that doesn't fade away easily," she tremors, reclining on her wooden chair.

Struggling to hold the strength of the memories, she stops and takes a sip of water.

"Women worry whether their children will die or their husbands will be killed. They always live in fear. It takes time to heal those traumas," she says.

Naw Zipporah Sein served the KNU as a schoolteacher, women's rights activist, general secretary, and vice chairperson. She failed in her bid for the group's leadership in its recent election due to an internal power struggle.

Naw Zipporah Sein speaks during a meeting with former President Thein Sein. (Photo: Supplied)

She takes a cautious approach to Burma's peace process, an attempt at national reconciliation between ethnic armed groups and the Burmese government begun in 2011 during President Thein Sein's government.

Because of this approach, Burmese peace negotiators and some observers brand her as a "hardliner," which she finds surprising, as her experience has molded her into an advocate for peace.

Lamenting on what war means for women, she says, "We are the ones who suffered. When I was only two years old, our family began moving from place to place for our safety.

"My mother gave birth while fleeing the war—that's how long I have experienced the suffering of war, since I was a child."

While husbands fight, she reflects, mothers take care of the children, and worry.

"They have a hard time," she says. "I have been dreaming of peace since my childhood, searching for the peace we lost."

In her experience, men approach the path to peace differently from women; her own approach is careful and exhaustive, she says, ensuring the safety of civilians—especially women.

"Men think superficially because they don't suffer like women do," she says. "Women think with more detail. When they fight, men kill each other, but the fighting stops when they strike a deal. When they reach a deal at the top level they think war is over."

Remembering the sexual abuse women have endured during conflicts, and incidents when they are forced to porter—and while doing so, sometimes killed and rape—she concludes that war is worse for women.

The prevalence of sexual abuse against women in Burma has been fueled by decades-long civil wars. In 2002, a report titled "License to Rape," released by Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) and Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) attracted international attention to the issue.

It highlighted 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence involving more than 600 girls and women committed by the Burma Army in Shan State between 1996 and 2001.

"Men only know how to wage war," she says. "They fight and stop fighting depending on their wants, but they don't understand how women suffer."

But women are not necessarily passive: the leader has witnessed incidents where women serve as village heads, as men feared being tortured by Burma Army troops. Men or not, the troops would often still intimidate, torture, and kill the village heads, she adds.

Tatmadaw representatives for the peace process see her as a "hardliner" because her past strongly influences her negotiations, she judges.

Hosts welcome Naw Zipporah Sein with flowers during an overseas trip. (Photo: Supplied)

"The ceasefire does not only mean stopping the fighting. There should be safety for civilians, including women, which is why we pointed out that Burma Army troops should move away from villages," she says.

"Civilians have witnessed their houses burned down by the troops, and their belongingness looted."

While serving as general secretary and vice chairperson in the KNU, Naw Zipporah Sein met with Burmese government peace negotiators several times in Naypyidaw, Rangoon, and Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

Before joining the KNU's top leadership, she was the chairperson of the Karen Women's Organisation (KWO).

People in Karen State have been displaced by war for more than two decades. There are more than 120,000 refugees living on Thai-Burma border, the majority ethnic Karen.

The KNU signed a bilateral ceasefire with the former Burmese government in 2012 and the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 2015. However, the Burma Army did not withdraw their troops from the KNU's controlled territories.

As Burma's longest running ethnic armed organization (EAO), the KNU has been fighting for autonomy and self-determination against the Burmese government since 1949—a year after Burma declared independence from the United Kingdom.

It is one of the bigger EAOs, and one of the eight that signed the NCA. In the peace process, the Burma Army's withdrawal and repositioning should be prioritized, says Naw Zipporah Sein, also emphasizing a need for the military to earn trust from civilians.

Most displaced people dare not return to their villages after experiencing brutal treatment from Tatmadaw troops. Women are particularly vulnerable, despite the Burma Army ensuring their safety.

"Bad memories still linger," says Naw Zipporah Sein. "The Burma Army and our leaders should think about the safety of women."

It is inadequate, she says, that the wagers of war—the Burma Army and the KNU leadership—now say they understand each other.

"They might say they love each other now," she says. "They militaries might reconcile, but it is important that they show evidence they care for the safety of civilians."

 

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