The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Public Urged to Report Corruption at Latest Peace Talk
- Calling for Justice: The Prison Death of an NLD Leader
- Telecom Sector Draws Foreign Investment
- Army Legal Officers Meet KNPP Leaders to Hear Testimoney on Loikaw Killings
- $10M Land Reclamation Project in Restive Rakhine Readies for Sales
- Myanmar Drops Charges, Frees TRT Journalists
- 4 Convicted Muslims Get Additional Prison Time
- UN Rights Investigator Calls for Pressure on China, Russia over Myanmar Abuses
- Indian State Tense Ahead of Citizens List Targeting ‘Illegal Bangladeshis’
- Reuters Reporters Held in Myanmar Were Handed Papers, Then Arrested: Families
- Palaung Lawyer Detained After Gambling Den Shooting
- Year in Review: 2017
| Public Urged to Report Corruption at Latest Peace Talk Posted: 29 Dec 2017 07:35 AM PST YANGON — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged the public not to be afraid to complain if they spot any wrongdoing by ministers and civil servants during her fifth public "peace talk" on Friday in Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State. She said channels for complaints were open to the public and encouraged people to exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities. She was responding to comments from Ko Mario, a 26-year-old farmer who highlighted the public's fear of the government and Tatmadaw, the common term for Myanmar's military, in the area. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that if members of the public failed to raise their complaints they would be abetting injustice. "If the administrators do wrong, the public has the responsibility to complain," she said. "It is your right. And if we don't know, we cannot take any action. So don't be afraid." "You must value yourselves and use your authority and ability," she continued. "We, the Union government, cannot know about each one [minister and civil servant]. Only when you raise your concerns and complain can we know, so don't feel like a burden." As Christians, Mario said, they were not allowed to place crosses on their own land because the Tatmadaw would confiscate them. He shared his childhood experiences as a displaced person. "In 2008 when we returned to our homes in the hills after we fled from the fighting, we saw the signposts on our land that said it was owned by the military. We want to ask for our land back," he said. She instructed Kayah's chief minister and its minister of border affairs and security to address the issue. During the talk, which ran about 100 minutes, eight ethnic Kayah, Kayaw, Gaybar, Kayan, Inn and Shan youth representatives from the state raised their concerns about issues ranging from peace and equality to federalism, development, women's affairs and ethnic literature and culture. It was the fifth such peace talk the state counselor has hosted this year. At each one, issues of peace, development and national reconciliation dominated the discussions. The events have been generally well received as a boon for the country. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday reiterated the importance of the rule of law, warning cabinet members and civil servants at all levels to behave themselves and urging them to help move the country toward peace with compassion. She held the first peace talk in Naypyitaw on the first day of 2017 and the second on Feb 12, Union Day, in Panglong in southern Shan State. The third talk was in Naypyitaw in April and the fourth in August in a village in Mandalay Region. After her talk in August, with mostly ethnic Bamar in central Myanmar, some questioned whether the location was appropriate because residents of the area knew relatively little about war-torn regions. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledged that those who grew up in conflict zones were more familiar with the peace process than those who had not, residents of central Myanmar in particular. Friday's peace talk in Loikaw brought some hope to residents of Kayah State, which has suffered from civil war between ethnic Karenni armed groups and the Tatmadaw for the past sixty years. The Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) is currently in talk with the government about signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA); it signed a bilateral ceasefire with the Kayah State government in March 2012. "It brings benefits to our state because the state counselor and the government might now know things about the state," said Khu Peh Nyoe Reh, secretary of the Kayah National Literature and Culture Committee. He said the youth of Kayah State were able to raise some of their main concerns. "We think she came to learn about the role of youth and the public's concerns in our state," said Khu Peh Nyoe Reh. "But we still have to discuss more about culture and ethnic literature issue." Daw Olivia, another peace talk participant, discussed the need to preserve ethnic literature and culture and to empower ethnic language teachers. Ethnic languages classes have been allowed in schools since 2013 but are hampered by a lack of resources, including teachers and materials. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi promised to raise the issue with the ministries of education and ethnic affair. "Not only the ethnic language teachers, but many teachers across the nation need to be empowered and are starting to be trained in modern teaching methods," she said. Since peace and development are interrelated, she said, people "should not worry too much" about the teaching of ethnic languages because it would improve once there was peace. In order to achieve that peace, observers say, it is important to integrate public participation in the peace building process. "The role of the public is lost," lamented Khu Peh Nyoe Reh. "I think when public participation is real the pace of the peace process — whether or not the NCA is signed — will speed up." Friday's peace talk never touched on the death of three KNPP soldiers and a civilian earlier this month, allegedly executed by the Tatmadaw. Although such public interactions help raise awareness, the state counselor could do better in 2018 by having more direct contact with everyday people rather than chosen representatives, said political analyst U Yan Myo Thein. And having observed the year's peace talks, he said it was clear that the state counselor has done more talking than listening. "She told the public to be good listeners and to report any corruption by the executive, civil servants or state legislators. But she does not know that people in this area live in fear, even from the local administrators. So it is the reverse, and she should be the one who listens carefully to the public," he said. The post Public Urged to Report Corruption at Latest Peace Talk appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Calling for Justice: The Prison Death of an NLD Leader Posted: 29 Dec 2017 06:29 AM PST Monywa U Tin Shwe was born on April 17, 1930, in Monywa, central Myanmar. From 1952 to 1960 he was actively involved in the student union movements at the universities in Yangon and Mandalay. Later, he earned a living as an author and lawyer. At the height of the nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988 he served as chairman of the general strike committee in Yangon's Insein Township. He was one of the founders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and served on its central committee. His primary role with the party was as division organizer in Mandalay. When he died in June 1997, he was survived by three sons and his wife, Daw Myat Thu. The Irrawaddy spoke with one of his sons, Kaung Myat Shwe, about his father's arrest and death. Kyaw Zwa Moe: It has been 20 years since Saya Monywa U Tin Shwe passed away. It is sad that he was in solitary confinement in Insein Prison when he died on June 8, 1997. I heard he fell while he was meditating and then lost consciousness. Then he was sent to the prison hospital and died later. Could you tell me about that day? Kaung Myat Shwe: We only know what the military intelligence [MI, officially the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence] told us, and we don't know what actually happened that day. We were told that he was brought out of prison and sent to Yangon General Hospital. But when he arrived at the OPD [Outpatient Department] of Yangon Hospital he was already dead. We don't know if he had already died in prison or on the way to hospital. But apparently the government was desperate to convince us that he was still alive when he arrived at the OPD and that he died only after he arrived at the hospital. I know this because the doctor on duty at the hospital OPD that time was Dr. Moh Moh San. I heard that she told the [prison and intelligence officials] that the OPD could only accept patients who are alive, but it was a dead body and must be sent to the mortuary. Then she had a bitter argument with MI and prison officials. Then MI officials went to see the medical superintendent who came down and ordered the doctor to accept registration. Finally, my father was registered as a live patient at the hospital OPD. And we were told that he died while he was sent from OPD to Ward 1-2 around 1:30 p.m. We heard that he arrived at the OPD around 12:55 p.m. Then two prison officials came in plain clothes to our home around 4 p.m. that day. They told us that my father passed away at noon. My mother didn't expect that because she just visited him two days ago on June 6. So she asked them why, but then the two left our house saying that we were shouting at them. So my mother, one of our neighbors, Dr. Aung Thu, and I went to the hospital in Dr. Aung Thu's car. We arrived at the mortuary and we said we were the family members of U Tin Shwe and we would like to see his body. But they didn't let us in. KZM: Who stopped you? KMS: The mortuary staff didn't know us. I think they were the MI officials waiting for us there. But they all were in plain clothes. They said they had no authority to show us his body. And they also asked Dr. Aung Thu who he was and why he came with us. KZM: So, you were not allowed to see the body that day? KMS: Yes, we were not allowed to see the body that day, and we were not allowed as well when I went with my elder brother the next day. KZM: How did the MI and prison officials arrange for the funeral? KMS: We didn't know what to do after we came back from the hospital. So I went to see an MI captain who was assigned to watch over my father since he was placed in solitary confinement. The captain reported to his senior commanding officer, Captain Yan Naing Soe, or maybe Yan Naing Oo. Then he took me to Insein Prison and let me talk to prison officials about my father's funeral. I was asked to do two things. I had to write the obituary notice for my father there. KMZ: In the office of the prison governor? KMS: Yes. And our family was asked to sign a document to guarantee that political disturbances will not happen at the funeral. I had to sign it on my family's behalf. They asked us to make sure nobody made trouble at the funeral. KZM: Did they place any restrictions on the wording of the obituary? Were the restrictions applied by both MI and prison officials? KMS: Mainly the prison officials spoke to us. MI Captain Soe Maung Maung and the prison governor were drinking on the other side of the office. They were in the same room with us as I was talking to other prison officials. KZM: So they were watching you. So what kind of obituary were you asked to write? KMS: Mainly they didn't allow me to mention the NLD in the obituary. And they didn't allow me to mention that he died in prison. I was only allowed to mention his profession, lawyer, and when he died. KZM: And his age, 67. KMS: Yes, his age and the names of his parents and family members. I was asked to write a simple obituary. KMZ: So they asked you to write the obituary in front of them. But what about sending the obituary to the newspaper to publish it? KMS: They gave me a copy of it, and I took it to the newspaper. Another copy kept by the MI and the prison officials had already been sent to the newspaper. And [newspaper staff] checked the two copies to see if they matched before approving it for publication. They did it for fear that I would have made some changes to the obituary. KZM: Speaking of his health, he survived seven years in prison. That is a long time. He could endure it. What disease was he suffering from? What was the cause of his death? KMS: He died of atherosclerosis, which blocked his arteries. This was the cause of his death. But before that he was not allowed to go out of his cell very much during the seven years. He was only allowed to go out for an hour a day. But he did exercise regularly when he was in the cell. He took good care of his health. But in November 1995, 45 political prisoners were interrogated for allegedly publishing journals and newspapers and of sending letters to the U.N. And they were placed in solitary confinement, and my father was one of them. KZM: So he was alone in the cell? KMS: Yes, he was alone. He was put in cell 6. It has an abandoned basement and groundwater permeated it. So his cell had water underneath, and coupled with Yangon's cold season…. KZM: Those cells were used for punishment. KMS: Yes, they were. Because that cell had water underneath, it was too cold for a 60-year-old man. And he had access to neither blanket nor bed. This negatively affected his health, and his health started to deteriorate. KMZ: Was he already suffering from health problems when he was arrested? KMS: He was fine and had no health problems at the time of arrest. KZM: He was arrested in November 1990 and put behind bars in 1991 and stayed in prison until 1997. So when did you find out about his heart condition? KMS: We found out about it in April 1997. He was hospitalized on April 5 because of poor health. KZM: Was it the prison hospital? KMS: Yes, it was the prison hospital. He was discharged a few days later. Then we went to visit him and learned about his health condition. KZM: What did you arrange for his health then? He was ill and around 67 years old. KMS: He told us about the condition of the prison hospital. He said he wanted to receive medical treatment at an outside hospital because there was nothing [medicine or medical equipment] at the prison hospital. So we wrote a request letter to General Khin Nyunt on April 21. We asked him to allow my father to receive medical care at a well-equipped hospital in Yangon. There was no reply. We sent the request in April and he died two months later in June. KZM: As far as I know, NLD Chairman U Aung Shwe also sent a letter to Senior General Than Shwe, the chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) on April 23, 1997. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has written about it in an article. U Aung Shwe's letter reads: 'This is to inform that authorities will be responsible if U Tin Shwe dies as a result of having no access to necessary medicines and foods and hospitalization as a patient.' This is the letter written by the NLD for one of its leaders. You said you visited your father two days before his death. So what did he say during that visit and before that? KMS: The news of his deteriorating health had spread beyond the prison. Major General Tun Kyi had brotherly relations with him because both of them were Monywa natives. KZM: He was a member of SLORC, wasn't he? KMS: Yes, he was. So Maj-Gen Tun Kyi asked after my father through his brother-in-law. So we asked if he could help him receive medical care. He replied that it was a political case and all political cases were handled by General Khin Nyunt and he could not help us. He said he was close to General Maung Aye, but even if he asked him he would not be able to help. KZM: Gen Maung Aye was second in rank [after Snr-Gen Than Shwe] at SLORC. KMS: Yes. Even the second top brass could not intervene, and he said he was sorry that he couldn't help. KZM: So he meant that you had to submit a request to Gen Khin Nyunt. KMS: He said all the decisions about political issues were made by Gen Khin Nyunt and other [SLORC] members; even the vice chairman could not step in. KZM: Did your father know about the request letter? KMS: At first he had some expectations. He was in the prison hospital in May, almost the whole month. Later, he told us that our efforts would be in vain. He said conditions at the prison hospital were not very good. There were two large rooms on the upper floor of the prison hospital. And people from one room were cleared out, and he was put alone in that room. He was placed there alone so that he could talk to no one. And there was no doctor to do daily checkups on him. Since he was sent to the prison hospital, a fellow inmate who was assigned to work in the prison hospital nursed him. KZM: So an inmate nursed him and there was no nurse and medic? KMS: There was none. He said if authorities were concerned about security even while he was in the prison compound, they would surely not allow him to go to an outside hospital. They would not let him go outside even though he would not be able to do anything considering his age and his health condition. So he told us not to try anymore because it was useless. KMZ: Could you tell me about how he was arrested? He participated in the NLD relentlessly. He was one of the central committee members nominated by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He also took charge of the NLD Mandalay chapter. How was he arrested? I heard that police declared him a fugitive. KMS: After the Gandhi Meeting [the meeting of NLD representatives elected in the 1990 poll, whose results SLORC rejected], the 5/90 meeting of the central committee was held on August 30-31 in 1990 in Yangon. Many NLD leaders were arrested on the night of Nov. 30 such as Uncle U Kyi Maung, Uncle U Thein Tan of Mandalay and Uncle U Ohn Kyaing. On the morning of Nov. 30, my eldest brother drove my father to the central committee meeting. At the head office, my father told my brother that circumstances were not good and that he would not come back home in the evening and that he would contact us later and asked us not to do anything until he contacted us. So when [MI] came to our house, they didn't find my father. They interrogated us from [midnight] to 5 a.m. Around 5 a.m, they asked my mother to tell them five houses where she thought my father was likely to go to. So my mother named five places where she thought my father was unlikely to go and some good friends who would not be upset by being woken up early in the morning. When they came to search for my father, I was detained at Insein Prison for participating in a protest at my university. And police from the Special Branch came and met me at the prison. They asked me where my father usually stayed when he came to Yangon. KZM: They came to dig up information. KMS: They asked me if I knew the five houses my mother had told them about. Maybe because of luck, my father was at one of the five houses that my mother had named. KZM: So he was arrested, wasn't he? KMS: No, he wasn't. They were late. My father really was at one of the houses. We found out later. But my mother thought that he was at another house. Luckily, he escaped. Then he went to Mandalay from Yangon. There, he hid in monasteries such as Ma Soe Yein and Mya Taung with the help of monks. He then went into hiding from places to places. Finally, he went to the house of my mother's brother. He hid there once in 1989. When [the military] arrested Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 1989, they also attempted to arrest him in Mandalay. Luckily, he escaped that time too. KZM: When did the military regime issue the warrant for him? How? KMS: I think the warrant was issued for him on Nov. 28, 1990. The warrant was published along with his photo on the newspaper. He saw the newspaper on Nov. 29. He thought he had been on the run for quite a while and he was concerned that the people who were helping him would get into trouble if he was arrested. And since he was a lawyer, he decided to face SLORC in accordance with the law. So the day after he got the newspaper, he went to the Mandalay Region SLORC Office and handed himself in. That evening an MI official came to the house of my mother's brother, and he said they would bring my father to Yangon by plane and that we would have to pay for the plane ticket. KZM: So it was not paid by the government? KMS: Yes. He said we had to pay for the plane ticket. He came at noon and my aunty was alone at the house. She said there was nobody else and she had no money. So she told him to come back in the evening for the money. But he didn't come back. KZM: So one has to pay out of his own pocket to be arrested. KMS: It can be said so. Maybe they wanted to inform us that my father was being brought to Yangon. They might have had other intentions. KZM: Was he tortured during interrogation? KMS: He didn't say. It was quite difficult to talk freely with him when we visited him at the prison. Whenever we visited him, there was a person sitting next to us who wrote down everything we said. So we could talk about nothing except family matters. KZM: He was a lawyer and you said he wanted to plead for himself. Was he allowed to do so? KMS: He wasn't. The military tribunal sentenced him in the absence of the family. He was charged in two cases. On August 8, 1990, students in Mandalay offered rice to mark the anniversary of the 1988 uprising. And soldiers and police beat the students who offered rice. And monks and students were injured in the beatings. The Mandalay Region NLD issued a statement about it, and monks subsequently staged a protest against the military regime. So the military accused the Mandalay Region NLD of causing the monks to protest and my father was sentenced to eight years in prison for this. Another thing is that after the Gandhi Hall meeting the NLD formed three teams, and each team submitted a list of recommendations about how the NLD should move forward. My father, together with other members, submitted recommendations. And he was given ten years in prison for this. Uncle U Kyi Maung was also imprisoned in this case. KZM: The MI even placed restrictions on the obituary notice in the newspaper. What else did they restrict? KMS: MI officials said that Buddhist rituals for the funeral would be conducted at Yangon General Hospital, and then the body would be sent to Yayway Cemetery [in North Okkalapa Township] for the funeral. We wanted to entomb him, but prison authorities wanted to cremate him. They seemingly wanted him to disappear into ashes. So I had an argument with him. KZM: Who did you talk to? KMS: With the prison governor. He recommended cremating my father as if he were doing so for our own benefit. But I insisted on entombing, saying that one of my brothers was abroad and there must be a place for him to pay respects to his father when he came back. Originally, they said that the Buddhist rituals would be conducted at Yangon General Hospital. But at about 8 or 9 a.m. that morning, an MI official came and said that the ritual would not be conducted at the hospital but that a hall would be arranged at Yayway Cemetery for it instead. Those who didn't know about it went to Yangon Hospital. Some colleagues of my father and his junior lawyers arranged two buses and waited at Yangon Hospital. Then they came to Yayway Cemetery from there. And we had an argument with authorities again when they barred the funeral procession from going to the tomb from the rest house after the Buddhist rituals were completed. They only allowed the family members to go and barred the others. KZM: So were there NLD members there? KMS: Yes, nearly 1,000 NLD members, lawyers, writers and politicians came to his funeral. KZM: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not under house arrest at the time. Did she come to the funeral? KMS: She couldn't. She fell down a staircase at her house before my father died. Her leg was injured, so she couldn't go outside. KZM: What about other leaders? KMS: They came. Uncle U Tin Oo and other CEC [Central Executive Committee] members came. MI officials said that only the family members would be allowed to go to the tomb. Then Uncle U Tin Oo told them not to impose restrictions and violate the human rights of the deceased. So everyone in the funeral procession was allowed to go to the place where my father would be entombed. But the authorities played dirty. They ordered all the buses we rented for the funeral to leave. So when the funeral procession arrived back at the rest house all the buses had gone. So, many had to walk to the nearest bus stop in North Okkalapa Township. KZM: His funeral was held under the eyes of the MI to the end. According to the photos I've seen, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and your father seemed to be close. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wrote an article about his death in a Japanese newspaper. Did she contact your family? KMS: When my father died, Aunty Suu couldn't go outside [because of her injured leg]. So she asked [her aide] Daw Khin Khin Win to go to our house on her behalf to ask about his death. We have held anniversaries of his death almost annually. Sometimes we sent invitations and sometimes we didn't. When Aunty Suu was not under house arrest she always came to the anniversary and met us. At that time it was quite difficult for political activists to gather and they could only gather when there were funerals. They gathered partly in order to show their strength. We held anniversaries of his death to show that we, his family, supported what he had done even after his death, and partly so that political activists could gather at the anniversaries. We tried as much as we could to hold an anniversary every year. KZM: What restrictions did the MI impose on family members? Usually they imposed stricter restrictions on political prisoners, especially party senior leaders. What restriction did you face? KMS: They kept an eye on me while I was studying. I experienced things that wouldn't usually happen to normal students. After I matriculated, I went to GTI (Government Technical Institute). At that time my father didn't have a national registration card. He was serving in Mandalay for the NLD, and one of his visits to Yangon coincided with the government issuing national registration cards. So he went to the office and applied for the registration card. But he was not in Yangon when the government issued his card. Later he became a fugitive and was imprisoned, so he had no registration card. So I had to explain this whenever I was to take an exam [students must show a copy of their father's ID to take exams]. And after I passed GTI, my name was not on the pass list because my father had no national registration card. So I told the GTI authorities that my eldest brother is a doctor, because people can only study medicine when both of their parents are citizens. And I had to submit a lot of other documents, and only after that did they give me the degree certificate. KZM: NLD chairman U Aung Shwe released a statement in 1997 that said, 'This is to inform that authorities will be responsible if U Tin Shwe dies as a result of having no access to necessary medicines and foods and hospitalization as a patient.' Your father did die. Who do you think is responsible for this? KMS: Chief of Intelligence General Khin Nyunt. As far as I know, he took charge of all the political issues for SLORC. So I'd say he is responsible. And according to a post-mortem test of my father, the cause of his death was atherosclerosis. It was not a difficult disease to cure. If my father had access to medical checkups with ECG his death could have been prevented, we think. KZM: As the NLD has said, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has written in her article, he was denied fundamental human rights. It has been 20 years now since his death. Sixty-seven is not too old. As a writer, lawyer and NLD leader, he could still do a lot. Now we have seen a democratic government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. What do you want to say about the injustice your father faced? KMS: We don't hold a grudge and don't want to take revenge. But our family wants responsibility and accountability for what happened then. We want the true history to be revealed. Especially General Khin Nyunt. He is shifting the blame by saying he was assigned to do so. We want everyone to know that he is responsible. And he should take responsibility. KZM: What would you like to say to General Khin Nyunt through this interview? KMS: I want to tell him to be brave and take responsibility for the truth. The post Calling for Justice: The Prison Death of an NLD Leader appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Telecom Sector Draws Foreign Investment Posted: 29 Dec 2017 04:25 AM PST YANGON — The Telecommunications sector has become the top destination for foreign investment under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA). "Under the previous governments, most of the foreign investments went to the energy and electricity sectors. But foreign investment in the telecommunications sector has surged under the current government," said deputy director-general U Than Kyaw Aung of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC). However, the increase does not come from new investors, but existing telecom operators that have increased their investment due to market rivalry. Myanmar currently has three key operators—Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), the government-run operator that monopolized the country's telecom industry for decades and now runs in partnership with KDDI, along with Qatar’s Ooredoo and Norway's Telenor. As the three operators compete for bigger market shares, they are pouring more money into equipment and services, and investment in Myanmar's telecom industry has increased as a result, U Than Kyaw Aung explained. From April to the end of November in the 2017-18 fiscal year, Myanmar saw an increase in both foreign and citizens' investment in transport and telecoms, manufacturing, hotels and tourism, and mining sectors, compared to the same period last year. During that period, transport and telecoms attracted US$633 million, followed by manufacturing with more than $350 million, hotels and tourism with around $155 million, and mining with $1.3 million. According to the statistics section of DICA, foreign investment is larger than that of citizens' investment in the telecom industry. Real estate development, services, electricity supply, transport and communications, agriculture, livestock and fishery, hotels and tourism and industrial zones have drawn foreign investments in the current fiscal year. However, there was no investment in oil and gas extraction or construction. The directorate expects to draw an annual foreign investment of $6 billion until 2020, and from 2021 to 2025, it expects $8 billion annually. According to a statement from DICA, Myanmar received more than $5billion foreign direct investment including $237 million in the Japan-backed Thilawa Special Economic Zone from April to the third week of December in the current 2017-18 fiscal year. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post Telecom Sector Draws Foreign Investment appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Army Legal Officers Meet KNPP Leaders to Hear Testimoney on Loikaw Killings Posted: 29 Dec 2017 04:18 AM PST Three senior legal officers from the Myanmar Army met leaders of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) at the Regional Operations Command in Loikaw yesterday to hear testimony about the alleged murder of four people, including three Karenni soldiers, by a Myanmar Army unit two weeks ago. Gen Aung Khine Soe and two other army officers from the Army Tribunal Court in Naypyitaw met a group of four KNPP leaders, said Khu Nyay Reh, one of the senior KNPP officials at the meeting. "I told them that there was no fighting. Our troops did not even resist when they came to raid our base. But they arrested them and murdered them," Khu Nyay Reh said, recounting his testimony. He said the Mynmar Army officials had promised to present the information to their seniors. "They told us to tell all the truth about the incident, and that they would submit this testimony to their superiors. Then, their leaders would decide what to do with it," Khu Nyay Reh said. In the wake of the killings, the KNPP asked the government and army to form an investigation commission to look into the incident. The army has denied allegations by the KNPP that the four were executed. In a statement released earlier this week, it said they were killed during a firefight between the two sides following a dispute over illegal timber. According to a witness, a KNPP official named Maung Lar, the four men were gunned down on the morning of Dec. 20. The army soldiers had told them to line up for a photo, but instead shot them. Maung Lar fled as the soldiers were preparing to shoot. Maung Lar said the Myanmar soldiers were from Infantry Battalion 54, which is under the control of the Regional Operations Command in Loikaw. The KNPP is currently holding meetings to discuss the formation of the investigation commission and who should participate in it. The ethnic group signed a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government and the military in March 2012, but has not yet inked the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). The KNPP is a member of the UNFC and is involved in negotiations to sign the ceasefire deal. However, this incident has caused the KNPP to lose trust in the Myanmar Army and it was now reluctant to sign the NCA, said U Shwe Myo Thant, secretary No. 2 of the KNPP. "We discussed the NCA within our party. But we did not get a signal to sign it anytime soon. Our leaders have lost trust in them [the Myanmar Army], and they have not done anything to restore our confidence. Instead, they have just done things to make us lose faith in them. Therefore, it will be more difficult to convince our leaders to sign the NCA," U Shwe Myo Thant said. The post Army Legal Officers Meet KNPP Leaders to Hear Testimoney on Loikaw Killings appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| $10M Land Reclamation Project in Restive Rakhine Readies for Sales Posted: 29 Dec 2017 04:12 AM PST YANGON — A $10 million land reclamation project by South Korea's BXT International and the Rakhine State government in the state capital Sittwe is now half complete and will be ready for land sales next month, a local cabinet minister said. The project update came at a press conference in Yangon organized by realtor iMyanmarHouse and joined by Rakhine's minister for finance, revenue and economy, Kyaw Aye Thein, and BXT Managing Director Steve Park. With a population of some 150,000 people, Sittwe has been segregated since 2012 communal riots between ethnic Arakanese and Rohingya that displaced tens of thousands of Muslims. The government ranks the state as the least developed in the country. The Myanmar Investment Commission approved the reclamation project, which will add 90 acres of seaside land next to the Sittwe jetty, in 2016. "We all know Myanmar has experienced a little turmoil, especially in the Rakhine region, and I'm really sad for what has happened there," Mr. Park said in his opening remarks, referring to the latest outbreak of violence in the state's far northwest. Minister Kyaw Aye Thein told journalists that BXT controls a 70 percent stake in the project and that the state holds the rest. The Korean firm is providing 100 percent of the capital and technical support. BXT estimates that the project will cost about $10 million. "We are not asking Rakhine or the central government to give their lands. We make new land with our own money, no investment from government or local people." Mr. Park said. "It can bring other investors to this area. I'm very confident this project will succeed." iMyanmarHouse Managing Director Nay Min Thu said the reclaimed land will go for 10,000 kyats ($7.35) per square foot and up. In downtown Sittwe, he said, a square foot can go for anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 kyats. Mr. Park told The Irrawaddy that some Korean, Chinese and Japanese logistics companies were interested in investing in the project with warehouses, cold storage facilities and fish processing factories. He said some local entrepreneurs were also keen to build hotels, restaurants and shopping centers. "We are still negotiating as the price of land has not been confirmed yet. Maybe at the end of this month we will come up with the prices and will discuss further with interested investors," he said. The project partners also hope to see the land used for housing. Kyaw Aye Thein said that before starting on the project BXT carried out environmental and social impact assessments that were then reviewed by both the government and a private engineering company, Kaung Kyaw Sein. In order to avoid future land erosion, BXT will build a retaining wall. The project was opposed by the Arakanese Patriot Party, which said it learned that BXT was digging up beach sand from elsewhere in Sittwe for the reclamation. Some local residents also objected to the government's plans to seal off creeks and canals, which they use to dock their schooners, in order to prevent bad smells from reaching the project site. Kyaw Aye Thein said the company bought sand from Pauktaw Township. But he said some locals claiming to work for BXT were digging up beach sand in Sittwe for themselves, fooling people into blaming the company. Mr. Park said BXT was founded in 1959 and has focused on investing in land, property, infrastructure and gold mines with projects in the Middle East, Korea and the United States. He said the company owns the second largest highway bus terminal in Korea, operating for over three decades and serving more than 12 million people a year. The post $10M Land Reclamation Project in Restive Rakhine Readies for Sales appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Myanmar Drops Charges, Frees TRT Journalists Posted: 28 Dec 2017 11:45 PM PST YANGON — Two foreign journalists and two Myanmar nationals who were sentenced to two months in prison for attempting to fly a drone near Myanmar's Parliament in Naypyitaw were released on Friday, after police withdrew additional charges. The four—Turkish state broadcaster TRT World producer Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia, freelance camera operator Lau Hon Meng from Singapore, and their interpreter Ko Aung Naing Soe and driver U Hla Tin from Myanmar— were arrested on Oct. 27 and sentenced to two months in prison on Nov. 10 under the 1934 colonial-era Myanmar Aircraft Act for filming with a drone. At a Dec. 26 court hearing, the plaintiffs, police officer Tun Tun Win and immigration official U Htay Win, withdrew the additional charges under the 2012 Export and Import Law for illegally bringing the drone into the country and Section 13 (1) of the 1947 Immigration Act. The latter was brought separately against the two foreign journalists after their visas expired while in custody. The crew was given remission as their two-month prison terms were due to be served on Jan. 9. The plaintiffs said on Tuesday that they withdrew the charges so that Myanmar could maintain good relations with Malaysia and Singapore and because authorities didn't find any intent on the part of the accused to harm the country's security. Ko Aung Naing Soe, the local interpreter, said that the four would like to thank the officials for withdrawing the case. He said that they were treated well in prison and also during the interrogation, adding that they admitted they were guilty of Article 10 of the Myanmar Aircraft Act and they would now take caution to that effect. "Unexpectedly, we were jailed and we were also released unexpectedly today. We are really happy," he told The Irrawaddy on Friday. The post Myanmar Drops Charges, Frees TRT Journalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| 4 Convicted Muslims Get Additional Prison Time Posted: 28 Dec 2017 11:24 PM PST MANDALAY – A district court in Mandalay sentenced four Muslim men to between seven and 15 more years in jail for their alleged links to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), adding to related sentences they received last year. The four, including well-known local artist U Zaw Min Htwe, were arrested in 2014, accused of working with the KIA to establish an Islamist fighting force. In 2016, a court in Amarapura Township sentenced U Zaw Min Htwe, U Myint Thein and U A. Ra Mahn to 25 years in prison for incitement, high treason and having contact with an illegal association. At the time, U Khin Maung Shwe was sentenced to 27 years in prison. On Thursday, facing related charges under the Counter-Terrorism Law, U Zaw Min Htwe, U Myint Thein and U A. Ra Mahn were sentenced to an additional seven years in prison. U Khin Maung Shwe was sentenced to another 15 years. "We've told the court for years that we had no connection with the KIA and had no intention of forming such an army," said U Zaw Min Htwe. "However, we've received several years in prison without concrete evidence of having relations with the KIA or trying of form an army." "We think that we were being accused like this because we are Muslims. We hope the president and the government will turn their faces to people like us who are being accused and excessively punished," he added. The families of the men said they would appeal the sentences and also ask State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to intervene. U Zaw Min Htwe's lawyer, U Thein Than Oo, said there was no evidence to prove the charges against his client. "Although I have nothing to say about the sentences, I have to point out that there were too many charges against my client, who is only an artist. When he was arrested, no evidence or documents related to the accusations were found," he said. "We have to ask if there are two faces to the law depending on who the accused person is. The assassins of lawyer U Ko Ni were arrested with a gun and charged with a few laws while people like my client are charged with several acts," the lawyer added. U Ko Ni, a legal adviser to the NLD, was gunned down outside Yangon International Airport on Jan. 29. The gunman, Kyi Lin, was arrested after failing to escape. He and three alleged co-conspirators are on trial for murder. The post 4 Convicted Muslims Get Additional Prison Time appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| UN Rights Investigator Calls for Pressure on China, Russia over Myanmar Abuses Posted: 28 Dec 2017 09:01 PM PST SEOUL — The United Nations' independent investigator into human rights in Myanmar has called for international pressure on China and Russia to try to get them to oppose human rights abuses in Myanmar. UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee, who was last week barred by the Myanmar government from visiting the country, singled out China and Russia because they had failed to back some moves in the UN aimed at trying to halt the Myanmar military's crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim community in Rakhine State. "I'd like to ask the international community to continue to work with China and Russia to persuade them to stand on the side of human rights," Lee told Reuters in an interview. Neither has joined the United States, the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in condemning the crackdown that has led to the exodus of what aid agencies estimate to be 655,000 refugees into Bangladesh. In response to Lee, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that "external actors" adding pressure over human rights will not help to resolve the issue, and may make it more complicated. This would not be in the interests of Myanmar, its neighbors or the international community, she said at a regular news briefing in Beijing on Thursday. "We hope that countries or individuals external to the issue can create a positive environment that is more conducive to Myanmar resolving the issue for themselves," Hua added. The Russian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Russian government has previously warned against interfering in Myanmar's internal affairs. Russia's ambassador to Myanmar, Nikolay Listopadov, has said it is "against excessive intervention because it won't lead to any constructive results." Barrier to ICC The Myanmar armed forces are accused by members of the Rohingya community and human rights advocates of carrying out killings, rapes and village burnings, in what top officials in the United Nations and United States have described as ethnic cleansing. The Russian and Chinese stance is particularly important because either of them can block the UN Security Council from referring allegations of crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The ICC cannot act against Myanmar without a referral because Myanmar is not an ICC member. Myanmar has denied human rights abuses, saying its military is engaged in a legitimate counter-insurgency operation. The military exonerated itself of all accusations of atrocities in an internal investigation, which published its findings on Nov. 13. Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry has said Lee was not objective or impartial in a report she issued in July, and it wanted a fair investigator. Lee said there had to be a fair, partial and independent investigation. "The families of the victims have a right to know what happened, and I think the people of Myanmar need to know what happened, because we're seeing, in front of our eyes, the worst humanitarian crisis." Surveys of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by aid agency Doctors Without Borders have shown at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine State in the month after violence flared in late August, the aid group said last week. The special rapporteur also criticized recent government crackdowns on media in Myanmar, including the arrest this month of two Reuters journalists who had reported on the crisis in Rakhine. She said the authorities were creating "a national gag" that would prevent journalists from reporting what they see. "That will have consequences on the general public too — people will not be able to speak as freely." Myanmar has said the reporters "illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media." The post UN Rights Investigator Calls for Pressure on China, Russia over Myanmar Abuses appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Indian State Tense Ahead of Citizens List Targeting ‘Illegal Bangladeshis’ Posted: 28 Dec 2017 08:52 PM PST GUWAHATI, India/NEW DELHI — India has mobilized around 60,000 police and paramilitary troops in a sensitive border state ahead of the publication of a list of citizens it says will be used to detect and deport illegal immigrants – mainly Muslims – from neighboring Bangladesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in the eastern state of Assam for the first time last year, vowing to act against illegal Muslim residents who take away jobs from local Hindus. On Sunday the state government will release a draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) after a census carried out for the first time since 1951. The exercise could lead to communal tensions in Assam, which has the second highest percentage of Muslims of any Indian state. Muslims leaders have called the NRC a tool to make them stateless, likening themselves to Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya minority. "The NRC is being done to identify illegal Bangladeshis residing in Assam," Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam's finance minister who is also in charge of the citizenship register, told Reuters. "All those whose names do not figure in the NRC will have to be deported. We’re taking no chances and hence all security measures have been taken." Sarma said Hindu Bangladeshis who faced persecution there would be given shelter in India, in line with federal policy. A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi had no immediate comment. Bangladesh's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Dhaka had no knowledge of any plans to deport people. "We didn’t receive any information from the Indian government, neither formally nor informally," he said. It is estimated that there are more than 2 million Muslims in Assam who trace their roots to Bangladesh. To be recognized as Indian citizens, they must be able to produce documents proving that they or their family lived in the country before March 24, 1971. "My grandparents and my parents were all born in India but today we are finding it difficult to provide documents to support our claims that we are Indians," said Asiful Rahman, a teacher at an Islamic seminary in a Muslim-majority district of Assam. "Our parents and grandparents were illiterate and did not keep any legal documents, and for that we are facing the test of proving our Indian nationality now." Tens of thousands of people fled to India from Bangladesh during its war of independence from Pakistan in the early 1970s. Most of them settled in Assam, in India's north-east, and the neighboring state of West Bengal, where there are similar demands to send back illegal Muslim immigrants. "Bags Packed" When Modi's BJP swept to power nationally in 2014, the election was marred by sectarian violence in Assam that killed more than 40 people. During that campaign, Modi told illegal immigrants in states bordering Bangladesh to have their "bags packed" ready to be sent home should he win. Since taking office, meanwhile, the government has been making it easier for Hindus, Buddhists and Christians from Bangladesh and Pakistan to gain citizenship in India. Proposed changes to the law would mean no Hindu or other minority from those countries who arrived in India before the end of 2016 would be considered illegal immigrants. Modi's administration also plans to nearly halve the number of years Hindus and other minorities from the neighboring countries need for naturalization to six years, in line with a long-held belief on the religious right that India is the home for all Hindus. A pilot project to update the NRC in Assam in 2010, under the previous Congress government, had to be stopped due to what the government called "law and order problems." The current process is being monitored by the Supreme Court and it could be months or years before the list is finalized. The Assam government has stepped up security after a senior Muslim leader told a news conference last month that any registration of citizens on the basis of religion would be "devastating" for the country and there could be "unrest." "One needs a number of documents to prove the family lineage and nationality," said Rafiqul Ali, a college student in the Muslim-dominated Barpeta district of Assam. "I know many of my friends and relatives who were unable to submit all the documents required to get names enlisted in the NRC." The post Indian State Tense Ahead of Citizens List Targeting 'Illegal Bangladeshis' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Reuters Reporters Held in Myanmar Were Handed Papers, Then Arrested: Families Posted: 28 Dec 2017 08:43 PM PST YANGON — Family members of two Reuters reporters detained in Myanmar said on Thursday the pair had told them they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some documents by policemen they had gone to meet. Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested on Dec. 12 on suspicion of violating the country's Official Secrets Act. The Ministry of Information has cited the police as saying they were "arrested for possessing important and secret government documents related to Rakhine State and security forces." The two journalists had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in the western state of Rakhine, where an estimated 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a fierce military crackdown on militants. In the first account of the circumstances of the arrests from the journalists themselves, Wa Lone's wife, Pan Ei Mon, told a news conference her husband said that he and Kyaw Soe Oo had a meeting at a restaurant on Dec. 12 with two police officers they had not met before. The policemen handed them two rolled-up papers and said they could take the documents home and open them there, Pan Ei Mon said, quoting her husband. "They took the two rolled papers and paid the bill and went out from the restaurant," she said. "They were immediately grabbed by around seven or eight policemen who handcuffed them and arrested them. He told me that." Nyo Nyo Aye, Kyaw Soe Oo's sister, told the news conference that her brother had given her a similar account of the incident. Police were not immediately available for comment. On Wednesday, Lieutenant Colonel Myint Htwe, a senior staff officer from the Yangon Police Division, said: "We took action because they committed the crime. It needs to be solved in court." The government has said that two policemen were arrested along with the two journalists, but has not given any information since on what has happened to them. It was not clear whether the two policemen arrested were the same two men the reporters met. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were remanded for a second two-week period in custody by a court on Wednesday and sent to Yangon's Insein prison. During the court hearing, they were allowed to meet their families and a lawyer for the first time since being arrested. The families and lawyer Than Zaw Aung, who has been retained by Reuters, were also allowed to meet the journalists for about half an hour at the prison on Thursday. Than Zaw Aung said at the news conference that the two journalists told him they were being held in the same block as prisoners facing murder and drugs charges, and were afraid to leave their cells. On Wednesday, the reporters said they had not been mistreated in custody. "The situation is okay," Wa Lone said. "We will face it the best we can because we have never done anything wrong. We have never violated the media law nor ethics." The British colonial-era Official Secrets Act carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Government officials from some of the world's major nations, including the United States, Britain and Canada, as well as top UN officials, have previously called for the release of the two journalists. Several NGOs and journalist organizations have called the arrests an attack on the freedom of the press. On Wednesday, a Reuters spokesperson reiterated demands that the journalists be freed. "These two journalists are being held for simply doing their jobs and have done nothing wrong. It is time for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to be released," the spokesperson said. The post Reuters Reporters Held in Myanmar Were Handed Papers, Then Arrested: Families appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Palaung Lawyer Detained After Gambling Den Shooting Posted: 28 Dec 2017 08:40 PM PST An ethnic Ta'ang (Palaung) lawyer has been detained by police in Muse Township in northern Shan State in connection with a shooting in Lashio in Kaung Mu Tong quarter on Dec. 22, Ta'ang Legal Aid (TLA) reported yesterday. Police accused Mai Myo Aung of involvement in a Dec. 22 confrontation in a gambling den that escalated and left one person shot dead and another injured. He is being held at a police station in Muse's Kaung Mu Tong quarter, the TLA said. The aid group and the man's wife allege that the police have physically abused the lawyer and refused to release alleged video footage implicating him. "He was not at the location of the shooting. He was not even aware there had been a shooting. He was at another location on personal business, but the police have accused him of involvement," said Mai Shein Htun, a TLA committee member who is assisting the lawyer. In a statement, the TLA said Mai Myo Aung had been beaten while in custody. His only contact with the outside world was through visits by his wife, it said. "He told us that [police] wearing boots had kicked him and struck him with their guns while interrogating him," Mai Shein Htun said. TLA alleged that police assaulted Mai Myo Aung while demanding he provide information about a group of armed men who attacked the gambling den in the 105 Economic Zone in Muse Township. Mai Shein Htun said this was not the first time the man had suffered at the hands of police. "Whenever there is fighting near Muse, the police beat him [for information]," the TLA official said. TLA representatives were allowed a brief meeting with Mai Myo Aung on Dec. 26 at the police station. Mai Shein Htun said the man showed signs of having been beaten, including bruises on his face. According to police, on Dec. 22 three people arrived at the gambling den and got into a dispute with security guards. The three people in the car drove away, but returned later on motorbikes and shot the security guards, the police said. Police allege that Mai Myo Aung was among the three, and that the other two suspects escaped. Police Captain Aye Myint told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Muse police have CCTV camera footage showing Mai Myo Aung and the other two suspects, Mai Kyaw Hein and Mai Aie Ohn, in a car. "Firstly, these three got into a quarrel with security guards near the scene," he said. "The three suspects were upset with the guards, and went home. They returned to the gambling den on motorbikes and shot the victims," Aye Myint said. Police have not provided any evidence to Mai Myo Aung's family or his lawyer from TLA, despite having detained him based on the alleged CCTV footage. He was arrested at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 after being stopped while driving to another village on personal business. The shooting incident occurred at 11 a.m. that day, police said. Police have not formally charged the lawyer, but said he would be prosecuted under Penal Code sections 302 and 307. The TLA said the police were treating the suspect as if he had already been convicted, even resorting to physical abuse in an effort to force him to admit involvement in the crime. Mai Myo Aung is a lawyer who helps TLA provide legal assistance to ethnic minority people who cannot afford their own. Ei Awa, Mai Myo Aung's wife, told The Irrawaddy that the police lacked evidence to back up the accusation, adding that he had been arrested some distance from the scene of the shooting. Furthermore, the police initially said the shooting had occurred at a pawnshop, rather than a gambling den, she said. Ei Awa added that the police insisted she communicate with them in Burmese, rather than in her own Palaung language. She was not allowed to ask her husband for any details about what had occurred, or how he had got to the gambling station. "I was only allowed to ask him about what he wanted to eat. I was not able to ask him about other issues," she said. Police were present and monitored her conversation with her husband. She said she saw a bruise under Mai Myo Aung's left eye, and added that it was possible he had other injuries elsewhere on his body. The post Palaung Lawyer Detained After Gambling Den Shooting appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2017 06:29 PM PST From the tragic death of prominent lawyer U Ko Ni to the worst disaster in the country's aviation history, an H1N1 outbreak, and the latest deadly attacks in Rakhine State, 2017 has been a troubled year for Myanmar. Here, The Irrawaddy takes a look back at significant events throughout the year. January Jan. 16 — The Yangon Bus Service launched with 70 routes and more than 3,700 buses, replacing the Yangon Motor Vehicles Supervisory Committee, or Ma Hta Tha, which was more than 50 years old.  Jan. 29 — Prominent lawyer and NLD legal adviser U Ko Ni was shot dead at close range outside Yangon International Airport. Taxi drivers at the scene managed to catch the gunman, Kyi Lin, but one of them, U Ne Win, was killed in the chase. The assassination shocked the nation. It was later revealed that former military officers were involved. Though most of the suspects were eventually arrested, the suspected mastermind, retired Lieutenant General Aung Win Khine, was spotted afterward in Naypyitaw but remains at large. February  Feb. 12 — The 70th Anniversary of Union Day was held in the town of Panglong in Shan State. During the ceremony, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi joined peace talks with ethnic people beside the Panglong monument. She urged non-signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) to join the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference. Family members of 23 ethnic representatives who signed the historic Panglong Agreement in 1947 with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San, also attended the anniversary and expressed their support for the coming conference, which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will lead. March Mar. 6 — Eleven civilians including a teacher were killed in an attack by members of the ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army on residential houses and police stations in Laukkai, the administrative capital of Shan State's Kokang region. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, chairwoman of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center, issued a statement calling for an end to armed clashes and the beginning of peace negotiations. Mar. 10 — State Sangha authority Ma Ha Na banned ultranationalist Buddhist Monk U Wirathu from delivering sermons across the country for one year because of his religious hate speech. Mar. 14 — The Lower House voted to name a bridge across the Salween River in Mon State's Chaungzon Township after Myanmar's independence hero General Aung San despite objections from ethnic Mon locals who wanted a name that would reflect their ethnic identity. Mar. 24 — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs objected to a UN resolution calling for the dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate the crisis in Rakhine State. "The establishment of an international fact-finding mission would do more to inflame rather than resolve the issues at this time," the ministry said in a statement. Mar. 28 — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, for the first time since her government took office, visited camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myitkyina and Waingmaw on an official visit to Kachin State, where she met with Kachin religious leaders and civil society groups. She urged the Kachin State government to create jobs for IDPs and asked Kachin leaders to urge the Kachin Independence Army to sign the NCA. April  April 1 — By-elections were held for 19 vacant constituencies. The ruling NLD won only nine seats and lost most of the races in heavily ethnic areas including in Shan, Rakhine, Mon and Karenni states. The USDP beat the NLD to win a Lower House seat in Mon State's Chaungzon Township after months of controversy there over the naming of a bridge. April 7 — Approximately 30 people died after a ferry with 70 people on board capsized on the Ngawun River in Irrawaddy Region after colliding with a boat carrying gravel. April 25 — The Union government ordered former Magwe Region Chief Minister U Phone Maw Shwe to return missing funds after an investigation found that he had embezzled some 7.5 billion kyats ($5.5 million), which he collected in taxes from small-scale oil producers and earmarked for regional development projects. U Phone Maw Shwe has since paid back over 3 billion kyats. The Magwe Regional Auditor-General's Office is investigating whether the other 4 billion kyats was actually allocated to development projects. April 28 — Two madrasas in Yangon's Thaketa Townshhip were sealed off by a Buddhist nationalist group that alleged the Islamic schools were operating as mosques without official permission. May May 5 — The Tatmadaw condemned senior NLD member U Win Htein for saying that the military was among those who have been involved in spreading false rumors circulating on social media claiming that President U Htin Kyaw had resigned. In a statement, the military said "the groundless reply based on suspicion seriously harms the military's dignity" and "could harm national unity, especially during a time when the government is committed to national reconciliation." The military said it would "make the necessary responses."U Win Htein later claimed that his comment was a slip of the tongue.  May 9 — Police fired two warning shots to break up a confrontation between Buddhist nationalists and Muslims in Yangon's Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township. Buddhist monks led nationalists into the Muslim neighborhood before midnight, claiming Muslim Rohingya were staying there illegally. The police arrested seven people, including two monks. May 20 — More than 4,000 Buddhist monks and nationalists — including members of the Patriotic Myanmar Monks Union from Yangon, Bago, Irrawaddy regions and Karen and Mon states — staged a protest against Religious Affairs Minister Thura U Aung Ko for his alleged failure to protect Buddhism. The protesters were demanding his resignation and the repeal of a ban prohibiting U Wirathu from delivering sermons. May 23 — The Ma Ha Na banned Myanmar's largest religious nationalist group, Ma Ba Tha, from operating under its current name and ordered that its signboards be taken down across the country by July. Ma Ba Tha responded by rebranding itself as the Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation, though some of its chapters in Mandalay Region and Karen State have defied the order. May 24 — The second session of the 21st Century Panglong Union Peace Conference was held in Naypyitaw over six days. During the closing ceremony, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said agreements reached at the conference marked a significant step forward on the path to peace, national reconciliation and the emergence of a democratic federal Union. On the eve of the event, 259 prisoners, including former Religious Affairs Minister U Hsan Hsint, were released from jail to mark the conference. June June 2 — Police detained The Voice Daily Chief Editor U Kyaw Min Swe and satirist British Ko Ko Maung after an official with the Tatmadaw's Yangon Region Command brought charges against the two for publishing an article in March that satirized the country's civil war and peace process. The pair faced charges under Article 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law and Section 25 (b) of the Media Law. The army dropped the charges on Sept. 1.  June 7 — A Chinese-made military transport plane with 122 soldiers, family members and crew on board flying from Myeik to Yangon crashed into the Andaman Sea. The military concluded that the crash occurred because of bad weather. There were no survivors. June 20 — Yangon South District Court sentenced a witch doctor to seven years in jail and to be hanged for beating three children to death in a purported exorcism ritual in Twante Township, outside Yangon City. June 26 — A senior reporter for The Irrawaddy and two reporters for the Democratic Voice of Burma were arrested by the Myanmar Army on their way back from a reporting trip to an area of northern Shan State controlled by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army to cover a ceremony marking a UN-designated day against drug abuse. The military filed its lawsuit against the journalists under Article 17 (1) of the Unlawful Associations Act. After detaining the journalists for more than two months, the military withdrew its case against them on Sept. 1. July  July — Myanmar was rocked by a seasonal H1N1 influenza scare throughout July and August and forced to seek help from the World Health Organization. The death toll continued to rise until the second week of August. Approximately 400 cases and 38 deaths were recorded in all. At the same time, H5N1 avian flu cases were reported in Tanintharyi Region's Dawei Township and Yangon Region's Mayangone Township. July 7 — Ten people were killed and more than 30 were injured when two YBS buses collided on Pyay Road in Mingaladon Township in Yangon's deadliest ever road accident. July 30 — Myanmar Now Chief Editor Ko Swe Win was arrested at Yangon International Airport on his way to Bangkok for a short work trip ahead of a scheduled court hearing in Myanmar. He had two related cases filed against him nationalists for insulting U Wirathu by sharing a Myanmar Now news story quoting a senior abbot who said U Wirathu was no longer in the monkhood because he had praised the assassins who killed NLD legal adviser U Ko Ni in January. Ko Swe Win was released on bail the next day and the case filed in Yangon was dropped. August  Aug. 2 — Hundreds of nationalist monks and laymen staged sit-in protests near the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon and the Maha Muni Pagoda in Mandalay, accusing the NLD-led government of failing to protect Buddhism and Buddhists and calling on it to step down. Far from attracting broad support, the protesters' calls elicited public condemnation and their numbers quickly dwindled to few more than a dozen. After the government's crackdown on a protest camp in Mandalay, protesters in Yangon and Shan State shut down their own camps. On Aug. 6 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi' office released a statement thanking citizens for their stance against the anti-government nationalist protesters.  Aug. 13 — Former Brigadier General U Aung Shwe, one of the founders of the NLD and a former party chairman who took charge while Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo were under house arrest in the 1990s and 2000s, died in Yangon at the age of 101. Aug. 24 — The Parliament passed changes to sections of the controversial Telecommunications Law that had been used to stifle dissent. The amendments require prosecutions using the law to be conducted directly by the "defamed" individual rather than a third party, unless the third party has been granted legal power by the individual. They also allow the defendant to receive bail. The maximum prison sentence was cut from three years to two. However, the law's most contentious clause — Article 66 (d) — remains in place. Aug. 24 — The Kofi Annan-led Rakhine State Advisory Commission released its final report, which criticizes several aspects of Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law as failing to meet international standards. The report also encourages the government to accelerate the national verification process in Rakhine State in line with the Citizenship Law and create a transparent strategy and timeline for granting citizenship to those eligible. The government said it would implement the report's recommendations "within the shortest timeframe possible." However, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing claimed that the commission's report included some factual errors and questioned its partiality during his meeting with Mr. Annan.  Aug. 25 — Within hours of the Rakhine State Advisory Commission report's release, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched attacks on 30 police posts and an army base in the north of the state in which 10 police officers, one soldier and one immigration officer were killed. The attacks prompted large-scale counter-insurgency operations by the Tatmadaw, with hundreds of Muslim militants and dozens of security personnel reportedly killed in the fighting that ensued. The counter-insurgency operations triggered the mass exodus of more than 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh and brought on widespread allegations of extrajudicial killings, rape and other human rights violations by the military. Top UN and US officials have accused the military of ethnic cleansing. September Sept. 10 — A nationalist mob of approximately 400 people, some armed with swords and bamboo sticks, attacked a mosque and property owned by Muslims in Magwe Region's Taungdwingyi Township. The mob was dispersed by police with rubber bullets and an attacker was arrested. Sept. 19 — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi delivered her first public address about the government's position on the crisis in Rakhine State since violence flared up there on Aug. 25. She condemned any human rights violations and unlawful violence in the state, acknowledging that there had been "allegations and counter-allegations" of human rights abuses. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also cancelled her trip to the UN General Assembly in New York in order to concentrate on domestic issues. Sept. 19 —Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing arrived in the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe for the first time since militant attacks on security forces in late August. His visit came amid international condemnation of the military's response. Sept. 20 — The Tatmadaw said it would never again send officers to Britain for training after the UK government announced it was suspending its training program with Myanmar's military in light of government operations in Rakhine State dogged by allegations of human rights abuses against Rohingya.  Sept. 25 — Security forces unearthed the corpses of 45 Hindus, including six children, near Ye Baw Kya village in northern Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State. In a statement, the government said members of ARSA abducted some 100 men and women from several Hindu villages in the Kha Maung Seik village tract on Aug. 25 and killed the majority of them. October  Oct. 10 — The country's first mass interfaith rally with tens of thousands of participants was held at Yangon's Aung San Stadium. Myanmar's religious leaders called for peace and unity and improved relations between the followers of different faiths after an outbreak of deadly violence in August that inflamed communal tensions between Buddhists and Muslims. Following the event, interfaith rallies were also held in other large cities across Myanmar. Oct. 12 — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi announced the establishment of the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine. The enterprise, led by herself, was assigned three main tasks: repatriating and aid for those who fled to Bangladesh; the resettlement and rehabilitation of returnees regardless of their race and religion; and establishing peace and bringing development to the region. Oct. 15 — Phyo Ko Ko Tint San, chairman of the ACE Company and son of the sports minister during the previous administration, U Tint San, was detained by police after guns and drugs were found in his backpacks at Naypyitaw Airport. In the course of their investigation, authorities found another 20 firearms, bullets and drugs at his house, office and hotel in Yangon and Naypyitaw. Police arrested 15 people including Phyo Ko Ko Tint San who were then charged with illegal possession of firearms and other crimes under the State Secrets Act, Export and Import Law and Telecommunications Law, according to the Homes Affairs Ministry. The military warned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi that she could be in danger. Oct. 16 — The European Council said it and its member states would suspend invitations to Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and other senior military officers. The council said it would also review all practical defense cooperation with Myanmar and consider additional measures if the situation in Rakhine State did not improve.  Oct. 19 — Two foreign tourists died in a massive blaze at the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel in Yangon. The blaze damaged about 80 percent of the teak building, which started out as the British Rangoon Rowing Club in 1934 and is now owned by tycoon U Tay Za. State-owned Myanmar Insurance paid 692 million kyats ($508,000) in compensation for losses. October — The case of Khun Tan, who reportedly posed as the next Buddha in order to seduce young girls in Mon State's Thaton Township, gained national attention. The religious affairs minister said he was planning to take action against Khun Tan under Article 295 (A) of the Penal Code, which covers malicious acts "intended to outrage religious feelings" and carries a maximum prison sentence of two years. Oct. 27 — Turkish state broadcaster TRT World producer Mok Choy Lin, from Malaysia, freelance camera operator Lau Hon Meng, from Singapore, and two Myanmar citizens — their interpreter Ko Aung Naing Soe and driver U Hla Tin — were detained for attempting to fly a drone near Myanmar's Parliament in Naypyitaw and sentenced to two months in jail on Nov. 10 under the colonial-era Myanmar Aircraft Act for filming with a drone. They were also charged under the 2012 Export and Import Law for bringing the drone into the country illegally. The two foreign journalists were also charged with violating Section 13 (1) of the Immigration Act on Nov. 27 for overstaying their visas, which expired while they were in custody. Oct. 27— Lashio Township Court in northern Shan State sentenced two Kachin pastors— Dumdaw Nawng Latt, 65, and Langjaw Gam Seng, 35— to two and four years in prison, respectively, under three charges including unlawful association. They were arrested and charged for helping journalists visit the site of a church reportedly destroyed by rockets fired from a Myanmar Army fighter jet. Oct. 31— Despite opposition from military representatives and opposition lawmakers, Myanmar's national fiscal year was amended to run from October to September starting in 2018. The Union Parliament passed the presidential proposal. November November — Fighting between the Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw escalated in the first week of November, forcing more than 300 villagers to flee their homes in Paletwa, Chin State.  Nov. 2 —State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi flew to conflict-torn northern Rakhine State for the first time since the violence in late August. She met both Arakanese and Rohingya communities on an unannounced one-day visit to the region. Nov. 6 — The United Nations Security Council issued a presidential statement calling on the Myanmar government to end the use of excessive military force and stop inter-communal violence in Rakhine State. In the statement, the council also condemned ARSA's Aug. 25 attacks on Myanmar security forces while strongly denouncing the violence and abuses during the military's subsequent clearance operations that displaced the vast majority of Rohingya.  Nov. 15 — Marking one of the largest public health interventions ever conducted in Myanmar, a Japanese Encephalitis vaccination campaign got underway. The campaign targeted 14 million children aged nine months to 15 years old.  Nov. 15 — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw regarding the crisis in Rakhine State. During a joint press conference after Mr. Tillerson's meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, they said the United States and friends around the region were committed to helping Myanmar and its people work through the crisis with urgency, sensitivity, and openness while remaining dedicated to the country's successful transition to democracy. After leaving Myanmar, Mr. Tillerson issued a statement calling the situation in Rakhine State "ethnic cleansing" and used the charged term "Rohingya," which he avoided while in the country. Nov. 17 — Parliament approved a motion to reinstate the image of the late independence hero General Aung San on the country's currency despite universal opposition from the Lower House's military appointees. Nov. 20 — President U Htin Kyaw proposed to Parliament to replace the existing commissioners of Myanmar's anti-corruption body, which was formed under the previous administration. He proposed replacing Chairman U Mya Win with former Information Minister U Aung Kyi, who is currently in charge of the government's peace commission and has served in the military and government for over 50 years. Nov. 20 — President U Htin Kyaw proposed establishing two new government ministries in Parliament, a Government's Office and a Ministry of International Cooperation, to be overseen by National Security Adviser U Thaung Tun and Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Tin, respectively. The proposal was later approved. Nov. 21 — Military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing travelled to China for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior officials.  Nov. 21 — A court in Yangon's Kamayut Township sentenced nationalist monk U Parmaukkha to one month in prison for violating the Peaceful Assembly Act last year for staging an unauthorized protest in front of the U.S. Embassy. He was also charged under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code. Nov. 23 — Amid mounting international pressure and concern over the crisis in Rakhine State, Myanmar reached an agreement with Bangladesh for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh since the latest outbreak of violence in the state's north in late August.  Nov. 27 — Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar for a four-day visit, becoming the first pontiff to visit the Buddhist-majority country where Christians make up less than 6.2 percent of the population. Coinciding with mounting international pressure on Myanmar over the crisis in Rakhine State, Francis studiously avoided the term "Rohingya" during his stay. The pope received Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing in Yangon before meeting with President U Htin Kyaw and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi the next day in Naypyitaw. The Vatican acknowledged that the order of the pope's meetings breached protocol. Nov. 27 — The government and eight ethnic armed organizations that signed the NCA agreed to convene the third session of the 21st Century Panglong Union Peace Conference during the last week of January. Nov. 30 — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi left for Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese government to deliver a speech "as a special guest" at a forum of world political leaders hosted by the Communist Party. It was the state counselor's second trip to China in a year; she attended the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in May. December Dec. 12 — Two Reuters journalists, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, were detained in Yangon for allegedly violating Article 3 of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. Dec. 15 — After more than a year of testimony in the high-profile abuse case of two teenage maids, Yangon's western district court sentenced four members of a family that owns the Ava Tailor Shop to 13 years in prison and up. They were convicted of torturing the girls and causing grievous harm. Two other family members were acquitted. December — Fighting in Kachin State between the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization and the Myanmar Army intensified during the second and third weeks of December. The latest round of clashes erupted in late November, driving more villagers from their homes and deterring existing IDPs from returning home. Dec. 19 — 88 Generation student activists registered a new political party, the Four Eights Party, with the Union Election Commission in Naypyitaw. Dec. 19 — Ten unidentified bodies were found near a graveyard in Inn Din village in southern Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State. Dec. 20 —The Myanmar government banned U.N. Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee from returning to the country and informed the United Nations that it would not cooperate with her for the duration of her term. The government accused her of being biased.  Dec. 21 — The United States imposed sanctions on Maj-Gen Maung Maung Soe for overseeing military operations in Rakhine State responsible for widespread human rights abuse against Rohingya civilians. The Tatmadaw had already removed him as head of its Western Command, responsible for Rakhine State, without explanation the previous month. He was replaced by Supply and Transport Directorate chief Brigadier General Soe Tint Naing. The post Year in Review: 2017 appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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