Wednesday, April 11, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

AA Leader Dismisses ‘Ridiculous’ Claim that His Group Has Ties to ARSA

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 07:59 AM PDT

The Chinese delegate who is brokering negotiations between the government and the Federal Political Negotiation Consultative Committee (FPNCC) has warned the latter's members, including the Arakan Army (AA), not to associate with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in Rakhine State.

AA commander-in-chief Major-General Tun Myat Naing talked to The Irrawaddy's senior reporter Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint about the results of the recent FPNCC meeting, the prospects for peace in Myanmar, and whether or not the AA has any links with ARSA.

China reportedly told the FPNCC not to associate with ARSA and warned that it would face harsh action if it did so. What is the stance of the FPNCC on this?

Chinese security officers came to us and enquired about ARSA. They told us not to support it. So we said that none of us would support jihadists who fight for religious causes. Ethnic armed organizations are fighting for their national demands. We assume that the other side [the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw] has misled China into thinking that ethnic armed groups may be connected with ARSA. In fact, it is our Rakhine State and Arakanese people who have been directly impacted by ARSA. We therefore have concerns. China has also concerns, and we can say we have the same stance. It is good for us that China has concerns.

Local political analysts speculate that the AA may be secretly supporting ARSA. What would you say to that?

It is ridiculous. It is either ignorant speculation or a deliberate provocation.

What would you like to say about Rohingyas identifying themselves as one of the ethnic groups in Rakhine State?

It is quite a complicated issue. I avoid answering this question as much as I can. Regarding the question of whether they are an ethnic group or not, it depends on the government's definition of ethnicity concerning their racial identity, language, literature, customs, foods, religion and how they came to be living in Rakhine State. You can learn that from the records of the colonial period.

The reality is they are people of Bengali race living in Myanmar. And we see that the [National League for Democracy-led] government is taking steps to repatriate them after they fled to another country. 'Repatriation' means bringing somebody back to their own country. So according to my understanding, [the government] accepts that those who fled are Myanmar citizens.

If they are accepted as Myanmar citizens, they should have equal citizenship rights under existing laws. Repatriated refugees should not be kept in places like detention centers. If they are accepted, they should be treated in line with the law as Myanmar citizens. They should be allowed to travel freely throughout the country, and they should also be presented with job opportunities and rights to trade and education. If they want to go to foreign countries, Myanmar passports must be issued. Those people for their part need to respect the law and should be loyal to the country.

It is not wise for the government to address this problem superficially in response to pressure from the international community. But the government should lay down a clear policy first to solve the problem.

The international community views ARSA as a group fighting for the rights of Rohingya people, while the majority in Myanmar consider it an insurgent organization. What is your personal view of ARSA?

I don't see how their stance can be separated from religion. Assessing their earlier activities, it has acted like a jihadist movement. Ethnic armed organizations have not accepted it as a revolutionary group. The international community is overly concerned with human rights in those cases that do not directly affect their interests.

No matter how much the international community accepts them, it is more important that Myanmar people accept them. It is more important that they harmonize with Myanmar people. Whether the international community accepts them or not is only one part of the problem. It is in Myanmar that the conflict is happening, so their acceptance by Myanmar people is what matters. Ethnic armed organizations have not recognized it as revolutionary group.

What did the FPNCC discuss regarding the NCA [Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement] at the recent meeting?

We discussed what we were doing before the meeting as well as the current situation regarding the NCA, the government's view on non-signatories, its relations with signatories, and progress in implementing the NCA. We want to negotiate with the government collectively, but the government wants to hold separate talks with individual members. The government held separate talks with the Wa and Mongla [who are also members of the FPNCC]. They also presented what they discussed with the government. The government told them to sign the NCA, saying that no agreement in the world is unchangeable. We also exchanged views on it.

The FPNCC previously said that it would find an alternative approach other than the NCA to the peace process. So why did you discuss the NCA this time? Is it because of China, or some other factor?

It is because we want to review the interests of the country and all possibilities, as well as because of China. Our view is that a ceasefire and political dialogue should involve separate agreements. Even if we sign a single agreement, ceasefire and political agreements should be separately stated. They said provisions in the agreement can be changed later, and we want to make sure it is not just a gentlemen's agreement. We have previously submitted general policies and detailed demands. If they would recognize and accept them, there may be a way forward.

What stage have the FPNCC's peace talks with the government reached?

It is difficult to say for the time being. If the NCA can be changed, we will try constructively to accept it. But then, challenges remain. The government has excluded the Ta'ang, Kokang, and AA from the NCA. But China is pushing for the acceleration of Myanmar's peace process. We at the FPNCC want to move forward together as a group. If the government does not compromise, the peace process will get nowhere. But if it is willing to negotiate with us as a group, there might be a way forward.

So, the FPNCC will hold talks with the government based on the NCA?

Though China is pushing us, we will sign only when it is acceptable to us. It depends on how much the Myanmar government is willing to change [the NCA]. If they echo the military and insist the NCA can't be changed, it is finished.

What is the stance of the FPNCC on China's Silk Road project?

It is a big project for the 21st century. We believe the project can contribute to the development of the whole region and that benefits will be shared by the countries. So, the FPNCC welcomes it, and we AA also welcome it. We will see how we Arakanese people who have lagged behind can connect with the world through this project. We were forgotten in resource extraction projects including the Kyaukphyu [special economic zone] project. We will try to advance the interests of our region. We have now better military and political foundations, and will make greater efforts for the interests of our region.

The post AA Leader Dismisses 'Ridiculous' Claim that His Group Has Ties to ARSA appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

ADB Sees More Growth for Myanmar Economy, Pushes for Reforms

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 06:11 AM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar’s GDP growth rate jumped from 5.9 to 6.8 percent last year on the back of a strong agriculture sector, export growth and robust private consumption, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its Asian Development Outlook 2018.

It expects the economy to maintain that pace through this year and even top 7 percent by 2019, so long as the government can manage reforms to improve the business environment.

According to the ADB, last year’s economic acceleration was aided by a turnaround in agriculture thanks to better weather and the highest rice exports Myanmar has seen in half a century. International demand for the country’s garments also stayed strong last year, while tourist arrivals grew 18 percent to 3.4 million visitors.

It noted that the latest outbreak of violence in northern Rakhine State, which has driven some 700,000 Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh in search of refuge since late August, has had little economic effect so far.

But it said investment growth may have softened as investors awaited clarity on a pending company law.

Looking ahead, the ADB expects the agriculture sector, which accounts for 30 percent of the country’s GDP, to continue to pick up pace if drought conditions remain at bay.

It said exports would also continue to grow, but not as fast as imports, owing to continued Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the huge demand for public investment in infrastructure. Combined with rising oil prices, Myanmar’s current account deficit is forecast to keep growing and hit 5.5 percent of GDP by 2019.

All told, the ADB forecasts the country’s GDP growth rate to reach 7.2 percent next year, but warned that continued growth would depend on a full suite of reforms.

“The positive economic outlook depends on Myanmar augmenting limited public resources by effectively engaging development partners, foreign investors, and the domestic private sector to help finance its staggering infrastructure requirements, narrow regional socioeconomic disparities, and support the long-term development agenda. This will require legal, regulatory and institutional reform to create a more enabling environment for doing business,” it said.

“Although measures have been introduced to deepen the capital market and better regulate banks, a substantial agenda of economic, social and institutional reform remains.”

The ADB said Myanmar’s youthful workforce would continue to attract FDI to labor-intensive, export-oriented industries but added with concern that the government’s FDI regulations were, despite some recent liberalization, still more restrictive than most of its peer economies in the region.

“Encouragingly, progress in December 2017 toward enacting a new company law can assure foreign investors that corporate reform will continue,” the bank said.

“Similarly, a government initiative to formulate a 238-point economic policy agenda, set out in the draft Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan, should keep investors engaged.

“Building on these initiatives, policy makers should implement reform expeditiously and effectively to buoy investor confidence and attract sizable FDI in the years to come.”

The post ADB Sees More Growth for Myanmar Economy, Pushes for Reforms appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Tatmadaw Claims Killed Karen Community Leader Was a Plainclothes Fighter

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 04:43 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – The Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, has denied wrongdoing in the killing of a man in Ler Mu Plaw area, Papun district, Karen State, claiming he was a rebel fighter dressed in civilian clothes.

In a statement released early Wednesday, it said Tatmadaw troops "shot at two fleeing plainclothes men who were suspected of being involved in sabotage attacks and planting mines," adding that it "captured one of the men dead."

However, according to a tribute by the Karen Environment and Social Action Network on Monday, Saw O Moo, 42, was an indigenous community leader working in environmental preservation, providing support to recently displaced people in his community. He was shot dead late in the afternoon of April 5, while giving a lift to a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier as he made his way home on his motorcycle.

The KNLA soldier, Saw Hser Blut Doh, escaped after the shooting. He had been assigned to provide security and protect Karen civilians in the Ler Mu Plaw area, the network said.

The family and friends of Saw O Moo have demanded to be allowed to retrieve his body.

The statement from the Tatmadaw's True News Information Team said that Saw O Moo, who it identified as Saw Ka Lo Par, in line with his ID card (although it is the same person), tried to flee when security forces demanded he stop for an inspection. It did not say when the incident happened. The Irrawaddy contacted the Defense Ministry about the case on Wednesday, but the spokesperson was unavailable to comment..

The military said Saw O Moo was found to be in possession of a video camera, memory cards, a recorder, and grenades.

Saw Soe Doh, a spokesman of the Mutraw (Papun) Emergency Assistance Team, told The Irrawaddy that Saw O Moo "is just a Karen indigenous community leader," who unfortunately gave the KNLA soldier a lift on his motorbike on his way back home. He was returning from a meeting to organize humanitarian assistance for some 2,300 people who have been displaced as a result of recent fighting, he said.

"As the Karen National Union and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, are no longer unlawful associations after signing the NCA in 2015, we don't think (Saw O Moo) was violating any laws," he said, adding that locals in the area do not believe they are dong anything wrong by hanging around with the KNLA soldiers.

On a related topic, the Tatmadaw's statement said there had been a misunderstanding among locals about the Tatmadaw's reconstruction of a 15-mile-long road from Khay Mu to Ler Mu Plaw, as the work was intended to provide for more convenient use of the road for locals and to ease military administrative tasks. It also claimed the Tatmadaw Southern Command had issued prior notification to the KNLA on 11 occasions before starting to re-build the road on Mar. 4.

Tensions have escalated in the last month in the area controlled by the KNU/KNLA's Brigade 5.

As it is one of the bigger ethnic armies, the KNU/KNLA's relationship with the Tatmadaw is seen as an indicator of the health of the peace process.

The Tatmadaw also blamed the KNU/KNLA for releasing a statement on Apr. 2 about the postponement of a planned meeting between KNU/KNLA and Tatmadaw representatives in Bago region, late last month.

The military said the ethnic armed force had been so worried that the road work was part of preparations to launch military operations that it attacked the troops first. It said some Tatmadaw soldiers had been killed by mine explosions and in attacks launched by KNLA units, but it did not reveal the number of fatalities.

On Wednesday, the network of Myanmar human rights defenders urged the government and the international community "to effectively protect" civilian rights workers, especially those who are providing assistance to displaced people in armed-conflict areas.

A joint statement by the Human Rights Defenders Forum (HRDF) and Rights for All expressed their condolences over the death of Saw O Moo, who, they said, had been an active peace and environmental activist since 2006.

"Protection of human rights defenders working in armed-conflict zones is really necessary, as there could be arbitrary arrests and killings," said U Aung Myo Win, a director of Equality Myanmar and a steering committee member of the HRDF.

"As the conflict zones lack the rule of law, we have heard of civilians and rights defenders being arrested as well as arbitrary killings, such as the case of the freelance journalist Ko Par Gyi [who was killed by the Tatmadaw in 2014]," he added.

Myanmar also lacks the laws and mechanisms to protect rights defenders, U Aung Myo Min said. "Therefore, it is as if armed forces in these areas have a license to freely kill civilians, humanitarian workers and rights defenders."

At present, only local organizations can individually gather evidence while institutions like Myanmar National Human Rights Commission need to work with them, added the human rights educator.

Despite viewing the MNHRC as lacking the capability to deal with complaints related to the armed-conflict zones, U Aung Myo Min added that, "We can now send our complaints to the MNHRC, but the question remains as to whether we will see any effective action taken in such cases."

The post Tatmadaw Claims Killed Karen Community Leader Was a Plainclothes Fighter appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Wa State and Rakhine Aside, Survey Finds Living Conditions Improving Across the Country

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 04:11 AM PDT

Nay Pyi Taw—The Ministry of Planning and Finance was not able to conduct surveys in the Wa Self-Administered Division or northern Rakhine State while doing its Myanmar Living Conditions Survey 2017.

The ministry held a workshop in Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday to publish key indicators from the draft report of the survey.

"We can say that the report covers the whole country except Wa State and northern Rakhine State. We were not able to conduct the survey in seven survey areas in Wa State and two townships in Rakhine. But we have expanded the coverage area in other places and it is fair to say that the report covers the whole country," said Daw Khin Hset Yi, assistant director of the Central Statistics Organization and the leader of the survey team.

Though there are no ongoing armed conflicts in Wa State, the area is not under the executive jurisdiction of the Myanmar government. Meanwhile, northern Rakhine State is beset with sectarian strife.

The survey offers a comprehensive study of how people everywhere in Myanmar live. It collects data on the occupations of people, their income levels, and how they use this to meet the food, housing, health, education and other needs of their families. The data collected will be used to formulate responsive policies for the future development of the country.

"The survey covers education and health conditions of families. Consumption patterns and lifestyles have changed and living conditions have also improved, according to the survey," Daw Khin Hset Yi said.

The survey, conducted from December 2016 to November 2017, is representative of the entire country and was based on input from nearly 30,000 people from over 13,000 households in all regions and states, she said. The final report is scheduled to be published by December.

According to the survey, motorcycles have largely replaced bicycles in Myanmar, while mobile phone density has also increased throughout the country since 2010. Phone ownership is now almost at the same level in rural areas as in urban areas.

"Looking at the possessions of households, the use of mobile phones and motorbikes has increased, which indicates an improvement in living conditions," Daw Khin Hset Yi said.

The survey was conducted by the Central Statistics Organization with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.

The post Wa State and Rakhine Aside, Survey Finds Living Conditions Improving Across the Country appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Court Rejects Request to Dismiss Charges Against Reuters Reporters

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 03:47 AM PDT

MANDALAY — Yangon’s northern district court on Wednesday rejected a request to dismiss the charges against two Reuters reporters accused of violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

Lawyers for the two reporters — Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo — submitted the request in late March, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support the charges.

"The court gave no concrete reason but said it will proceed with the lawsuit and hear from the plaintiff’s witnesses, so it rejected our proposal. We were all saddened by the decision of the court," said U Than Zaw Aung, one of the lawyers representing the reporters.

"Because there was not sufficient evidence to support the charges and because the army has already taken action against the soldiers involved in the massacre at Inn Din, the court's decision shows that the accuser and the court want to put the reporters behind bars," he added.

The reporters’ lawyers said they planned to appeal the decision.

The next hearing is scheduled for April 20, at which the court will hear from the plaintiff’s remaining witnesses.

After Wednesday’s session, Ko Wa Lone told media outlets gathered at the court that he wanted to ask the government and judiciary whether they thought the charges he and his colleague were facing were fair.

"The soldiers responsible for the Inn Din massacre were already sentenced to 10 years in jail. But we, who reported about it, are facing 14 years in jail. Is that fair?" he asked. "We report to unearth the truth and we are being sued. Where is the truth for us? Where is the democracy and freedom?"

The families of the two reporters said they were hopeful that the court would decide to release them on Wednesday but were left deeply disappointed.

"Ko Kyaw Soe Oo's wife believed that her husband would be released and that her family could enjoy the New Year festival together. But the court decision saddened her and everyone else in the family who had high hopes,” said the reporter’s sister, Ma Nyo Nyo Aye.

According to the family, Ko Kyaw Soe Oo was recovering from jaundice but still in poor health.

"Although our brother said he is getting well, we still want to have a proper medical check to make sure he is in good health. But the prison still bars us from doing so," said Ma Nyo Nyo Aye.

Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in Yangon on Dec. 12.

They are accused of possessing confidential government papers and face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison if found guilty.

The post Court Rejects Request to Dismiss Charges Against Reuters Reporters appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In Ageing Thailand, Developers Race to Supply Locals and Elderly Expats

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 12:06 AM PDT

BANGKOK — At 79, Thai businessman Boon Vasin’s latest $500 million venture is a bet on a market he knows well — looking after Thailand’s rapidly growing population of old people.

Not only is Thailand ageing faster than its neighbors, but it is also becoming an increasingly popular retirement option for foreigners attracted by its agreeable climate, low living and health costs and culture of service.

“We will look after them from their waking hours until they go to sleep,” said Boon, chairman of the Thonburi Healthcare Group Pcl. “This group has big spending capacity.”

His Jin Wellbeing County is a “medical city” for Thai and foreign retirees being built across more than 2 hectares on the outskirts of Bangkok

The first of nearly 500 housing units being sold in an initial phase are being marketed for nearly $130,000, plus additional fees of 7,000-8,000 baht ($224 – $385) a month for meals and services ranging from fitness sessions to excursions.

Boon predicts care services will yield recurring profits of up to 240 million baht each year from the project, plus unit sales and medical services.

Together with China, Thailand is aging much faster than its regional neighbors. By 2040 it is expected to have the highest share of elderly people of any developing country in East Asia, according to the World Bank.

Thailand has 7.5 million people aged 65 and over, a figure projected to swell to 17 million by 2040 — more than a quarter of the expected population.

That’s partly due to improving medical care extending life expectancies, but also a fall in birth rates from an average of more than six children per woman in 1960 to 1.5 in 2015.

In the past, generations of the same Thai family lived under the same roof and elderly were cared for by their offspring. But the changing population balance as well as a shift from the countryside to towns means that’s increasingly impractical.

Real estate developers are already tapping the market.

A residential project worth $160 million by developer Magnolia Quality Development Corporation, which is scheduled to open in 2022, will include a wellness center offering elderly care services with specialists in areas such as dementia, said chief executive Visit Malaisirirat.

All the homes in SC Asset Corporation Pcl’s $350 million luxury brand are equipped with designs aimed at the elderly, the group’s marketing head, Nattagit Sirirat, told Reuters.

This includes shock absorbent floors and wheelchair access.

“We worked with Siam Cement, which designed a shock absorbing compound to use in flooring,” he said. The company was “closely studying retirement homes and communities” and was considering a partnership with a local private hospital operator to build a retirement community, he added, while declining to divulge predicted returns.

A Place In the Sun

For his care home, Boon is focusing on people with an income of over 100,000 baht a month — and not just Thais. The aim is to sell at least 20 percent of the project to foreigners, who are targeted along with locals in marketing materials.

“We have Chinese and Japanese buyers who are interested,” he said.

Boon has partnered with a Chinese agent, Shanghai Losen Sale, to sell 90 units worth 671 million baht to Chinese customers.

Thailand did not make the top ten list of International Living’s 2018 index for the best places to retire for U.S. expats. Costa Rica was at number one and neighboring Malaysia at number five.

International Living described Malaysia as “easy, English-speaking and First World.” English is still not widely spoken in Thailand, particularly outside of the major cities.

The state has tried to address this by promoting English as a second language.

Many parts of Thailand away from the well-known expatriate enclaves also fall decidedly in the developing countries category.

But it is becoming an increasing draw for retirees.

The number of foreigners over 50 who have applied for retirement visas to stay in Thailand almost doubled to nearly 73,000 in 2017 from fewer than 40,000 in 2013, according to immigration bureau data.

At the top of the list are Britons — and last year the government launched a campaign to specifically attract British pensioners once Britain leaves the European Union and closer destinations such as Spain become less attractive.

Bryan Walker, 78, is one of those retirees attracted by Thailand’s food and climate.

“It’s just so good,” said Walker, a former humanitarian aid worker who is considering a number of retirement facilities in the north of Thailand.

“I’ve lived and worked in so many countries. Here the cost of living is wonderful, the climate is superb, although it’s a bit hot at times. But the range of food is like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” Walker told Reuters.

Peter Brown, owner of the Care Resort Chiang Mai, a care facility in the northern Thai city, set up his business after seeing his mother in a care home in Britain.

“I found problems in how they do care. Basically, not enough nursing staff,” he said. “I decided on a better way to do this.”

The resort began operation in 2012 and around half the guests are now from the United States, he said. An all-inclusive stay, not including medicine, costs around $1,500 a month.

“A lot of Americans are not getting healthcare free,” he said, emphasizing the importance of Thailand’s service culture as a draw.

“You can see it everyday in the way the staff interact with the elderly.”

The post In Ageing Thailand, Developers Race to Supply Locals and Elderly Expats appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Vietnam Activists Question Facebook on Suppressing Dissent

Posted: 10 Apr 2018 10:07 PM PDT

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnamese human rights activists and independent media groups have written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioning whether the social media platform was helping suppress dissent in the communist country.

The letter, released on Tuesday by US-based human rights group Viet Tan and signed by nearly 50 other groups, said Facebook’s system of automatically pulling content if enough people complained could “silence human rights activists and citizen journalists in Vietnam.”

Despite sweeping economic reform in Vietnam, and increasing openness toward social change, including gay, lesbian and transgender rights, the ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate criticism.

Vietnam last year unveiled a 10,000-strong military cyber warfare unit, named Force 47, to counter “wrong” views on the internet.

The open letter to Zuckerberg called Force 47 “state-sponsored trolls” whom it accused of exploiting Facebook’s community policies and disseminating fake news about the activists.

“Our community standards, which outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook, seek to encourage expression and create a safe community on the platform,” a Facebook spokeswoman said in response.

“We will remove content that violates these standards when we’re made aware of it,” the spokeswoman added, in an email statement which said the company’s policy in Vietnam was in line with that elsewhere.

“There are also times when we may have to remove or restrict access to content because it violates a law in a particular country, even though it doesn’t violate our community standards,” it added.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not offer any immediate comment on the letter.

Vietnam previously said Facebook had committed to work with the government to prevent illegal content from appearing on its platform and would also remove fake accounts and fake content about senior government officials.

Activists said the frequency of takedowns had risen and Facebook had been unhelpful in restoring accounts and content, after its head of global policy management, Monika Bickert, met Vietnam Information Minister Truong Minh Tuan in 2017.

Vietnam’s government cited Facebook as having said at the time of the meeting that it would set up a separate channel to directly coordinate with the communication and information ministry on reports of illegal content.

Facebook’s process and policies for government requests did not change as a result of the meeting, the firm said on Tuesday.

“We appreciate Facebook’s efforts in addressing safety and misinformation concerns online in Vietnam and around the world,” the activists said.

“Yet it would appear that after this high-profile agreement to coordinate with a government that is known for suppressing expression online and jailing activists, the problem of account suspension and content takedown has only grown more acute.”

Vietnam this month jailed human rights lawyer and activist Nguyen Van Dai for 15 years on the charge that he “aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration,” with six more activists jailed for seven to 13 years.

Their sentences prompted responses from representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and the European delegations and rights groups.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said, “There is no such thing as people being arrested for freely expressing opinion” in Vietnam, however.

The post Vietnam Activists Question Facebook on Suppressing Dissent appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Seven Myanmar Soldiers Sentenced to 10 Years for Rohingya Massacre

Posted: 10 Apr 2018 09:59 PM PDT

YANGON — Seven Myanmar soldiers have been sentenced to “10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area” for participating in a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in a village in northwestern Rakhine State last September, the army said on Tuesday.

The military said in a statement published on Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing’s office Facebook page that seven soldiers have had “action taken against them” for “contributing and participating in murder.”

The massacre was being investigated by two Reuters journalists — Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 — who were subsequently arrested in December and are still behind bars facing charges of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act.

The authorities told Reuters in February the military opened an internal investigation independently and that it is unrelated to the Reuters reporters who are accused of obtaining unrelated secret government papers.

The Rohingya men from the northern Rakhine village of Inn Din were buried in a mass grave in early September after being hacked to death or shot by Buddhist neighbors and soldiers. Reuters published its story on the murder in February.

The murders were part of a larger army crackdown on the Rohingya, beset by allegations of murder, rape, arson and looting, unleashed in response to Rohingya militant attacks on security forces in late August. The United Nations and the United States described it as ethnic cleansing — an accusation which Myanmar denies.

“Four officers were denounced and permanently dismissed from the military and sentenced to 10 years with hard labor at a prison in a remote area. Three soldiers of other rank were demoted to the rank of ‘private,’ permanently dismissed from the military and sentenced to 10 years with hard labor at a prison in a remote area,” read the military statement.

It added that legal proceedings against the police personnel and civilians “involved in the crime” are still underway.

On Jan. 10, the military said the 10 Rohingya men belonged to a group of 200 militants who had attacked security forces. Buddhist villagers attacked some of them with swords and soldiers shot the others dead, the military had said.

The military's version of events is contradicted by accounts given to Reuters by Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim witnesses published in the February story.

Buddhist villagers reported no attack by a large number of insurgents on security forces in Inn Din. And Rohingya witnesses told Reuters that soldiers plucked the 10 from among hundreds of men, women and children who had sought safety on a nearby beach.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine State and crossed into southern Bangladesh since August, creating one of the world’s largest refugee camps.

A court in Yangon has been holding preliminary hearings since January to decide whether the two Reuters reporters will be charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

On Wednesday, the judge will rule on a motion by defense lawyers for dismissal of the case.

The post Seven Myanmar Soldiers Sentenced to 10 Years for Rohingya Massacre appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Vows to Work Harder to Block Hate Speech in Myanmar

Posted: 10 Apr 2018 09:48 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday his company would step up efforts to block hate messages in Myanmar as he faced questioning by the US Congress about electoral interference and hate speech on the platform.

Facebook has been accused by human rights advocates of not doing enough to weed out hate messages on its social-media network in Myanmar, where it is a dominant communications system.

“What’s happening in Myanmar is a terrible tragedy, and we need to do more,” Zuckerberg said during a 5-hour joint hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee.

More than 650,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State into Bangladesh since insurgent attacks sparked a security crackdown last August.

United Nations officials investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar said last month that Facebook had been a source of anti-Rohingya propaganda.

Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said in March that social media had played a “determining role” in Myanmar.

“It has … substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict … within the public. Hate speech is certainly of course a part of that. As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook, and Facebook is social media,” he said.

Zuckerberg said Facebook was hiring dozens more Burmese-language speakers to remove threatening content.

“It’s hard to do it without people who speak the local language, and we need to ramp up our effort there dramatically,” he said, adding that Facebook was also asking civil society groups to help it identify figures who should be banned from the network.

He said a Facebook team would also make undisclosed product changes in Myanmar and other countries where ethnic violence was a problem.

The post Facebook’s Zuckerberg Vows to Work Harder to Block Hate Speech in Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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