The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Rakhine Protesters Demand UN Protect Buddhist Chakma in Bangladesh
- Minister: Mon State Police Have No Budget to Fight Drugs
- Pathein Students Accused of Defamation Face Trial at District Court
- KIO Sentences Poppy Grower to Death for Killing Anti-drug Activist
- Nowhere to Go For Yangon Squatters Driven Out for New ‘Eco Green City’
| Rakhine Protesters Demand UN Protect Buddhist Chakma in Bangladesh Posted: 15 Jun 2017 07:55 AM PDT YANGON – The Arakan National Party (ANP) led 300 people, including Buddhist monks and local Arakanese, in a protest outside the UN offices in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State on Wednesday, urging the agency to protect the Buddhist minority Chakma in Bangladesh. Police Maj Kyaw Mya Win confirmed that the demonstration was granted permission by the authorities to proceed and that the rally participants went to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), located on the outskirts of Maungdaw Township, which shares a border with Bangladesh. The demonstrators held signs written in English, stating: "We want justice! Where is the UN? Where is the human right? What is UN doing?" The Chakma are locally known in Myanmar as ethnic Thet, a Rakhine sub-ethnicity also recognized as an indigenous tribe in Bangladesh. Police Maj Kyaw Mya Win told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that hundreds of Chakma homes in Rangamati Langadu in the Chittagong hill tracts were set on fire on June 2 by a mob made up of members of the Bengali majority. One 75-year-old woman was killed, 300 houses destroyed, and hundreds of people from three villages were displaced. The arson followed the June 1 murder of Bengali motorcycle taxi driver Nurul Islam Noyon, who was also reportedly an activist, according to the Dhaka Tribune. Rumors immediately circulated that Chakma men were responsible for Noyon's death, erupting in the burning of the homes of ethnic Chakma in the area. Locals described the mob violence as "communal," but noted that it had appeared law enforcement did little to halt it. Buddhist Arakanese from Maungdaw now say that the Bangladesh-based branch of the UNHCR should encourage authorities to prevent further violence against the Chakma, and protect them within existing legal frameworks. Last week, Myanmar's Union Solidarity and Development Party and 16 Rakhine civil society organizations released a joint statement demanding that the UN provide mediation to prevent attacks on the Chakma in Bangladesh, and to urge authorities to take action against the perpetrators. In response to the conflict, the Bangladeshi police have prohibited large gatherings in the region and have arrested seven individuals in connection with the acts of arson; 400 have been reportedly charged, and a three-member team has been formed to probe the incident. Atul P. Chakma, a resident from Arunacha town, near Rangamati, told The Irrawaddy that several Chakma civil society organizations will continue to protest against the authorities, demanding that they take action against the attackers. The post Rakhine Protesters Demand UN Protect Buddhist Chakma in Bangladesh appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Minister: Mon State Police Have No Budget to Fight Drugs Posted: 15 Jun 2017 05:43 AM PDT MOULMEIN — The Mon State police force has no government allocated budget to combat drug distribution in the state, Col Win Naing Oo, Mon State's security and border affairs minister, told state lawmakers during the parliamentary session on Thursday. "We don't have any budget allocated by either the Union government or the state government. We have to carry out [anti-drug activities] on our own," said the minister. This has led police to limit the crackdown on narcotics to what is possible with contributions from donors, he added. "We need a budget to address the drug problem on a wider scale," Col Win Naing Oo said, who added that last year Mon State also lacked an anti-narcotics budget. It is not clear if there such budgets were in place under the former U Thein Sein-led government. In 2016, a total of 283 drug cases were exposed and actions were taken against 425 individuals in connection with drug cases in Mon State, according to the minister. From Jan 1 to May 31, a total of 114 drug cases came to light and 81,358 methamphetamine tablets were seized, Col Win Naing Oo added. The minister said that arresting drug dealers is a risky business as police must obtain physical evidence, and, while working under cover, they often are asked to use the drugs they buy from dealers. "We have to arrest them while they are selling [the drugs]. Dealers never sell to you right away. They ask you to use it, or inhale it. Only when the buyer uses it, do they believe the seller is a drug addict and will sell to them. So, it is risky," the minister explained. He highlighted how the Mon State government runs free rehabilitation centers to address drug addiction, sponsors education campaigns for the public, and imposes harsh penalties on dealers. On Thursday, the Mon State parliament approved the proposal of U Aung Kyaw Thu from Thaton Constituency (2), which urged the state government to adopt more effective approaches in curbing drug abuse among students. His proposal was seconded by military representative Maj Thein Zaw, who said "not only students, but also people of all ages are abusing drugs in the state, which is a real cause for concern." After the parliamentary session, Mon State chief minister Dr. Aye Zan told reporters that he would make sure there was an anti-narcotics budget in place for the state in the next fiscal year, but that it would be impossible to procure such funds for the current fiscal year. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post Minister: Mon State Police Have No Budget to Fight Drugs appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Pathein Students Accused of Defamation Face Trial at District Court Posted: 15 Jun 2017 02:14 AM PDT PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Division — Pathein University students faced defamation charges at Pathein District Court on Wednesday after the military appealed last month's acquittal by the township court. The Tatmadaw sued nine students of Pathein University for defamation under Section 500 of the Penal Code after they staged a drama critical of military clashes with ethnic armed groups during a peace event in Pathein on Jan. 9 The township court acquitted seven of the students on May 12, but the plaintiff, Lt-Col Aung Myo Khaing of the Tatmadaw's South Western Command, appealed to the district court. "As the army was not satisfied with the township court's acquittal of the seven students, it appealed to the district court," Ko Min Min, one of the seven prosecuted students, told The Irrawaddy. "But the township court did not send the dossier, so the trial will continue next week," he added. Two other students—Ko Aung Khant Zaw and Ko Myat Thu Htet—are still facing trial at the township court. The court hearing for the two will be held on June 28. "The township court has already acquitted [seven of the students], but the army appealed to the district court, so, I feel like the army is keen to put us behind bars," said Ko Aung Kaung Myat. The students performed a satirical comedy in which a news agency interviewed supporters of conflict in Burma. U Tun Tun Oo, leader of the Human Rights Activists Association in Pathein, is also facing trial at Pathein Township Court under Article 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law for streaming the drama on Facebook. The post Pathein Students Accused of Defamation Face Trial at District Court appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| KIO Sentences Poppy Grower to Death for Killing Anti-drug Activist Posted: 15 Jun 2017 12:55 AM PDT YANGON — A tribunal of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) sentenced a poppy grower to death and another to seven years in jail for fatally shooting a member of an ethnic Kachin movement against opium. Lahtaw Tu Sai, 19, a member of Pat Jasan – an anti-narcotics coalition of church and community activists – was reportedly killed, as poppy growers Nsan Naw Mai and Diapha Gam shot at Pat Jasan members who tried to destroy poppy fields in Tanai Township, Kachin State, on Jan. 15, 2016. The tribunal sentenced Nsan Naw Mai to death and Diapha Gam to seven years imprisonment. Both men are from Tayawn village in Tanai Township. It is unclear whether the two men were detained throughout the trial process and when that process began. Netizens shared reports of the ruling along with photos of the trial on June 13. KIO information officer Lt-Col Naw Bu confirmed the news, but said he had not received an official letter from the ethnic armed group's leadership informing him of the verdict. "As far as I can remember, the KIO tribunal hardly ever gives death sentences. But there were cases in which death sentences were commuted after an appeal," said Lt-Col Naw Bu. Lt-Col Naw Bu said the KIO has implemented an anti-narcotics policy since 1963. The KIO has assigned staff to combat opium and drug production as well as drug deals in the state, he said. The group also punishes citizens and KIO staff involved in drug cases, he added. Naw Tawn, a Pat Jasan leader in Tanai Township, told The Irrawaddy that he heard the KIO investigated the two poppy growers after the incident, but he was not aware of the details of the case or the workings of KIO's judicial system. "I saw a post about the trial on Facebook, but we didn't receive an official letter informing us about it. I don't know exactly how the hearing took place," he said. Pat Jasan was formed in April 2014 in reaction to the state's growing drug problem. Thousands of volunteers joined the movement, motivated by leaders of the Kachin Baptist Church (KBC). The group runs awareness and education campaigns and rehabilitation centers. Its vigilante element arrests and prosecutes drug users and dealers, and destroys poppy fields. Pat Jasan's activities came under the spotlight after 30 people were injured in a clash between poppy growers, a militia and Pat Jasan in February 2016. Since then, the group's vigilante activities have quieted. Members of Pat Jasan asked the government to provide security in their plans to destroy poppy plantations in February this year, but the government did not respond, according to Naw Tawn, so it abandoned its plans. He said, however, it still runs education campaigns and rehabilitation centers for drug addicts. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post KIO Sentences Poppy Grower to Death for Killing Anti-drug Activist appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Nowhere to Go For Yangon Squatters Driven Out for New ‘Eco Green City’ Posted: 14 Jun 2017 10:04 PM PDT RANGOON – A mother of two small children, Daw Tin Mar Win gazed on as a group of men demolished her bamboo thatched house with chainsaws, and cut down the mango trees that had surrounded it. On Monday, nearly 400 tenants saw their shelters destroyed by authorities who deemed them "landlord squatters"—local property owners who unlawfully—and often unknowingly—purchase and then live on, government land. The destruction occurred in Kyauk Aing village of Hlegu Township, located near the Yangon-Naypyitaw highway. Although Daw Tin Mar Win's family has been living for almost two decades near Kyauk Aing, her house was labeled as a "new arrival." She was allowed little time to pack her household goods before the house was taken down. Her family begged the police officer overseeing the operations to spare the home, but the police carried out what they said was an order from the government. "My child will return home from school in the next few hours. Where should we sleep, when the rain is coming?" she said, looking up at the clouds gathering in the sky. Eco Green City Project This removal is not the squatters' first such experience. In 2015, Yangon's then chief minister U Myint Swe bulldozed the entire slum, but as a long-term resident, Daw Tin Mar Win's house was allowed to remain. Thousands of dwellers fled to neighboring villages. But the problems persisted, as vacant land in Hlegu filled with new arrivals. When the National League for Democracy (NLD) government took office in April 2016, newly appointed Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein vowed to relocate the squatters to appropriate places elsewhere in Yangon after completing the documentation of a "real squatter" list. The government promised to take action against those who were occupying the land "dishonestly." In 2016, the regional government sent warning letters to Hlegu squatters asking them to leave state-owned land to make room for new buildings. The squatters' location on more than 1,450 acres of land has been designated for the development of the "Eco Green City" project by the Alliance Stars Group of Companies. The Ministry of Construction and the private developer signed a profit-sharing contract in 2016 lasting eight years, laying out plans for an affordable housing project, an international school, hospital, and golf resort as well as a rest area, according to a director within the construction ministry, who asked to remain anonymous.  According to him, the company will set up 4,000 units of housing, but the government and the company have reportedly not yet discussed shareholding arrangements. U Yu Khine, director general of the housing department in Yangon Division, said that the project is likely to begin after the squatters have been removed from a designated two-mile area. "Most of the people living here are landlord squatters," he said. The process of "landlord squatting" can involve local property owners leasing government land to new arrivals in the area who are homeless. The regional government deployed nearly 200 police and hired more than 1,000 people from various villages in Hlegu in order to demolish the homes of 4,000 unlawful residents on the land on Monday. Some villagers said that they were offered 100,000 kyats per day to assist the police in tearing down the squatters' homes. The police allowed the use of machetes, axes and crowbars, as well chainsaws, in the demolition. The Irrawaddy learned that some tenants' houses were empty when forces came in to tear them down. Villagers from Kyauk Aing also acknowledged that many people bought the land at a low price and built up huts in fields, without living in them full-time. Police Brig-Gen Mya Win supervised the crackdown and ordered the police to open fire if the squatters responded aggressively to the destruction efforts. In the afternoon, four men and one woman were detained by police for obstructing the clearance of homes. U Aung Tun, a villager who accompanied the authorities to remove squatter huts, told The Irrawaddy, "we are commanded to carry this out by the government. So we have to follow orders." Some police officers said that they were upset by the removal of houses of "real" squatters, referring to those families who had been living for decades on the outskirts areas of Kyauk Aing village.
'A Cruel Crackdown' Daw Khine Su Yin—mother to a one-year-old child—displayed a document stating that she had bought a plot of land for 1.2 million kyats from a Kyauk Aing villager three months ago, issued by a Kyauk Aing administrative official. She has since heard that the land is owned by the government. She constructed a house on the plot with bamboo poles and roofed it with thatched sheets. "I did not think such a cruel crackdown would happen in Mother Suu's administration," she said, referring to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de-facto leader. Daw Khine Su Yin is originally from Karenni State. She came to Yangon to find a job and later got married. In past years, they lived in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, but monthly rental fees increased significantly in recent years, leading them to purchase cheap land near Hlegu in order to save money. Daw Khine Su Yin's situation is unfortunately not unique. Stories of resellers "cheating" the poor through the false sale of government land is frequent along the highway, where tens of thousands of houses have been built, making up such villages as Yadana Aung, Aung Yadana, Sein Lan, Gant Gaw Kyun and Aung Thu Kha. Two months ago, this The Irrawaddy reporter met with the head of the village development committee in Yadana Aung, U Pyone Cho, who was issuing land ownership documents to new arrivals. He admitted that they are trespassing on government property, but said that they were providing land for homeless people at affordable prices. According to him, the buyers need to bring a recommendation letter from the quarter's administrative official to be granted land. The committee sold a 40-by-60-foot plot for between 100,000 and 500,000 kyats in early 2017. "We are helping those who really need space to live," said U Pyone Cho. At the time of The Irrawaddy's visit, some squatters had been building a steel structure market and preparing to build a school. Hundreds of houses were empty during the daytime hours. The committee has requested several times that the Union government allow them to establish a new village on vacant land. U Pyone Cho said, "Actually, this is vacant land and the government has developed nothing, but, when the place is little bit good to live on, then the authorities force us to leave. It has happened twice in past."  Plans for Resettlement During a press conference on Tuesday marking achievements of the first year of the NLD administration, Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein told reporters that they had heard that some people were selling government property rights beside the main entrances roads in the commercial capital. Some assumed, he said, that the land would become developed, like a city "I would like to say that that will never happen," U Phyo Min Thein said. He added that the establishment of a new city could only occur in line with existing laws, and that his government would take action against those illegally selling state assets. From May 2016 to June 2017, the regional government has surveyed 423 places in 19 townships. According to U Phyo Min Thein, the authorities have been documenting the total squatter population and estimate that there are around 400,000 such individuals in Yangon. The divisional government plans to spend 64 billion kyats on resettlement projects. A securitization body will examine the background of applicants for new housing, to determine whether they are "real" squatters. UN agencies will also reportedly provide assistance in the relocation process. It remains unclear whether some squatters from Hlegu—who have lived this way for decades—would also be recognized in the scheme. U Phyo Min Thein made a promise in last year’s press conference that squatters who trespassed on government land or in company compounds after May 25 would not be eligible for resettlement. The houses of some such squatters were removed on Monday. At the time of publication, The Irrawaddy was not able to make contact with cabinet members regarding the demolitions.  Practical Solutions Former deputy director of the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development, U Myint Mo Swe suggested that in order to prevent similar problems in future, the government should publicly declare its land as state property and punish brokers who cheat vulnerable people by selling it off illegally. Bringing the squatters to a new area, or forcing them to all live together would not work, he speculated, pointing out that they have settled on land near factories and their places of employment. U Myint Mo Swe compared the problem to one experienced by neighboring Thailand, whose government constructed buildings for squatters and offered apartments with zero-deposit long-term leases, and eliminated banks' interest rates on the project. Another option would be to lease roadside land to squatters with an agreement. He recommended that the Yangon regional government categorize the types of squatters, and prioritize the projects accordingly. He added that the government should decrease bank interest rates for squatters if housing is provided, in order to ease barriers. Currently, government and private banks add 13 percent interest housing loans. "That would be a big burden for poor people," U Myint Mo Swe said. Moreover, even profit sharing projects of the government are selling low-cost apartments with a down payment 30 percent of the property's total value, placing such purchases out of reach for squatters. The monthly payments, he said, should consider the family's earning potential, which is around 200,000 kyats per month. To fully resolve the issue of squatting, the Union government, U Myint Mo Swe added, should increase state capital in a long-term investment in low-cost housing, as neighboring countries have done. For now, at least, the problem of squatting is going to continue in Yangon. Recently-displaced Kyauk Aing villagers like Daw Khine Su Yin were forced look for unoccupied land nearby. "I don't know what to do now. I have nowhere to go. [The authorities] should punish the sellers who did this to us…I will collect things to rebuild my house for a temporary living arrangement," she said. The post Nowhere to Go For Yangon Squatters Driven Out for New 'Eco Green City’ appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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