‘The army insists we give up our weapons, it’s a major obstacle’

Brigadier-General Tun Myat Naing, leader of Arakan Army rebel group operating in some parts of Rakhine State in western Myanmar. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn/Myanmar Now)


By Htet Khaung Linn

LAIZA, Kachin State (Myanmar Now) - The Arakan Army (AA) was formed in 2009 in the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) stronghold of Laiza, on Myanmar’s northern border with China, where the Arakan ethnic rebels received training and arms.

They have fought alongside the KIA, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Kokang’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance (MNDAA) in Kachin and Shan states.

In March 2015, AA forces first clashed with the Myanmar army in Rakhine, their western home state, where they have considerable popular support. Fighting has since spread throughout the townships of Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung and Mrauk-U, where some 2,000 civilians have fled.

Myanmar’s powerful military demands the AA, TNLA and MNDAA disarm before they can participate in the nationwide ceasefire process, but all rebels say a ceasefire should be inclusive and begin without such conditions.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) government has been handed the difficult task of bringing all sides on board for a much-touted “21st Century Panlong Agreement” within the next few months. Its lead negotiators have reached out to various rebel groups.

AA leader Brigadier-General Tun Myat Naing spoke to Myanmar Now reporter Htet Khaung Linn in Laiza and discussed the Arakan fighting, the ceasefire process and the NLD government’s actions so far.

Question: Can you tell us about the current conflict situation in Rakhine State?

Answer: Clashes have stopped at the moment, despite some fighting earlier this month. We have ordered our troops to avoid further complicating the situation of the displaced people during the rainy season. But the army frequently launches offensives. So, we fought against each other… some injuries occurred on both sides.

Q: Is the AA invited to join the 21st Century Panlong conference?

A: Not yet, but it was informally proposed (by lead negotiators). The army insists we give up our weapons. This is a major obstacle for us to join the peace talk - it’s totally impossible. We need to address this problem first before we can go forward to the next phase.

Q: Rakhine people protested recently to call for a halt to fighting in the region. Who should respond to their demand, the military or AA?

A: Recently, there were between 70 and 80 armed clashes in Rakhine. We started the fighting in less than 10 cases. Most offensives were initiated by the military. We don’t want to say we are not responsible for these fights, but we retain a right to defend ourselves.

Q: The new NLD government has pledged to secure a nationwide ceasefire accord. How does the AA view this process?

A: Although the NLD promises peace, we have some opposing views between us. The government peace negotiators are asking us to abandon all our weapons before the peace talks start, but we demand that political dialogue should come first. There is also some confusion over (the content of) a ceasefire deal.

Q: Some ethnic leaders believe peace talks can be successful during the Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD government. What is your opinion?

A: We are cautious about believing in a peace deal during her government, as the military’s influence continues to play a crucial role in the peace process.
Moreover, currently the central government is not managing the states in a federal manner. I am referring to the (NLD) government’s ways of controlling the peace and development initiatives in Rakhine State. (The NLD angered the Arakan National Party, which has most Rakhine parliament seats, by appointing its own state chief minister.)
We see such missing points with the NLD government. So, we are not fully confident that a peace deal could be signed during the term of this government.

Q: Why is the AA preparing for peace talks and fighting at the same time?

A: We still have some doubts about the peace talks. Although we had many (ceasefire) discussions (under the former administration), in the end some ethnic armed groups fell into the trap set by the previous government. After learning lessons from this process, we are very cautious about our steps during the ceasefire process. (Eight groups in the Southeast, including the Karen National Union, signed a joint ceasefire with the government last year.)

Q: Amending the Constitution to grant more powers to states and regions under a federal union could be difficult given the military’s veto powers in parliament. Do you think this will remain a problem?

A: That is right. … The previous government send a message through their state-owned media raising the possibility of amending the Constitution in parliament but they never followed up on their promise. So our doubts (about constitutional reform) became stronger from this experience.

Q:  What role can the military play in the future of Myanmar?

A: The military commander-in-chief must be under the authority of the Minister of Defence. The country’s president must have total authority over the military. The current Constitution should not in every discussion refer to the military as holding the highest authority and allowing it to serve its own interest. The Constitution is totally unfair and we do not accept it.

Q: Can ethnic groups and the military have successful discussions on key issues?

A: We cannot imagine this change of attitude (of the army). While they are asking for peace, they also insist on the total clearing of all ethnic forces. The NLD government should be aware of this. The military may want to fight every ethnic rebel that exists. So hopes for reaching a ceasefire for our people are not very high.

Q: What do you think of the achievements of the NLD so far?

A: We expected more from NLD by now, maybe we had too high expectations. They tried the best in their first 100 days in office. However, they need to make more politics changes to please the public. Reform processes inside government projects only cannot cure chronic problems. The 100 day period is too short to judge things… (but) they need to develop effective policies for the long term.

Q: What will be the most important task for the Rakhine State government?

A: The NLD government should try to understand the Bengali (Rohingya Muslims) issue better. The 1982 Citizenship Law is held up as the norm to solve this problem (of Rohingya’s citizenship status). It will not be easy to please all stakeholders. But they need to be open to proper ideas in seeking an appropriate solution. The government must take responsibility and accountability for this.

Exhausted by war, Kachin IDPs in rebel areas see aid dwindle

Za Hkawng, right, was forced to leave his village a few years ago amid the fighting between government forces and the Kachin rebels and has since been living in N-Hkawng Pa IDP camp in Kachin State. (Photo: Htet Hkaung Linn/Myanmar Now)


By Htet Khaung Linn

N-HKAWNG PA IDP CAMP, Kachin State (Myanmar Now) - Za Hkawng, a 70-year-old ethnic Kachin man, prepares some tea in his small bamboo hut situated on a windy mountain ridge and recalls how he used to live off the land as a farmer.

Though his farm in Mahn Taung Village is only a half day’s walk away from his shelter here in N-Hkawng Pa IDP camp, he hasn’t grown any crops in five years.

His village is now a frontline position of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has fought a grinding war with the Myanmar military in the mountains of northern Myanmar’s Kachin State since June 2011, when a longstanding ceasefire collapsed.

Za Hkawng said he was tired of living in a hut and relying on food donations that are supplied to his camp in Waimaw Township. It is one of 29 sites under KIA control that provide refuge to some 40,000 internally displaced civilians.

“Every day, I’m not happy here,” he murmured, while looking out over the surrounding mountains, some of which were capped with snow and shrouded in dark clouds during a visit by this reporter in early June.

EXHAUSTED BY CAMP LIFE

KIA forces control small, mountainous areas on the Myanmar-China border and are headquartered in Laiza town. The IDPs have lived in these remote, rough areas for five years now, cut off from government services and reliant on the KIA’s civilian wing and several aid NGOs for food, shelter, education and healthcare.

N-Hkawng Pa IDP camp houses 1,708 people and is situated along a creek that demarcates the border with China. The site is isolated and the vicinity of the frontline adds a sense of danger to the helplessness felt by many camp residents.

“We don't even dare to go into forest around here to find firewood or vegetables - it’s very dangerous as the army might suspect we are KIA members,” Za Hkawng said, adding that civilians caught by soldiers are often tortured.

Only the elderly, women and young children stay at the camp. Most of the young people have crossed into nearby China to look for work and many have become farm labourers.

Za Hkawng stays here with a wife and members of his extended family who live in five other huts clustered on the mountainside. He and his wife had three children, but all passed away before the war.

Camp residents rely on increasingly infrequent food rations from the UN World Food Program (WFP) and other aid support from the Metta Foundation and Kachin NGO Wunpawng Ninghtoi.

“It's not really enough for us,” Za Hkawng said of his food ration, adding that his family rarely gets to eat meat.

Khon Ra, a Kachin Baptist preacher and medical worker from Lashio, Shan State, runs a small medical clinic in N-Hkawng Pa camp.

“I’m now working for my Kachin people. I can provide treatment only for minor cases, such as fever,” she said, adding that serious cases are sent to a KIA-run hospital in the larger Maija Yang City , or to the Myanmar border town of Muse in Shan State, which can be reached via China.

“About 50 persons have died here in the last five years, and many suffer from serious mental trauma caused by civil war,” she said.

Local aid workers have warned that a prolonged stay in the camps also causes social problems, such as domestic violence, divorce and substance abuse, while a lack of education and poverty affects children’s development.

REDUCED AID FOR KIA-RUN CAMPS

As the Kachin conflict enters its sixth year, clashes between the KIA and the army continue. Some 100,000 civilians have fled the fighting and about 80,000 are registered camp residents - about half of the displaced stay in KIA-controlled areas.

International attention for the conflict has been flagging, however. Meanwhile, other humanitarian crises in Myanmar - such as last year’s flood disaster and increased fighting in Rakhine and northern Shan states - have also required international aid support.

As a result, WFP has reduced aid in Kachin State. Since early 2016, it has changed support for some 28,000 Kachin IDPs in government areas from food baskets to monthly cash transfers of around 9,000-13,000 kyats per person (about US$7.5-11).

Another 9,000 ‘vulnerable’ IDPs continue to receive WFP food rations, but half of these households have seen their monthly food rations cut to 11.5 kg of rice, 1 kg of pulses, 450 ml of cooking oil and 150 g of salt.

The situation of IDPs in the remote KIA areas is even tougher. Their camps suffer from a lack of aid access and though WFP said it would not reduce food rations there, aid delivery is irregular and hindered by conflict.

In the month of May, WFP said it “delivered two-three month food rations for over 8,400 IDPs in five IDP locations” in KIA areas, while “delivery to Laiza has been postponed due to volatile security situation.”

Yanghee Lee, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar, noted in her end-of-mission statement last week that ongoing conflict had further reduced humanitarian access to KIA-controlled areas.

“Previously there was access, albeit subject to some limitations, to the more than 40,000 IDPs in non-government controlled areas. However, access has been blocked in recent months, with a proposal made to deliver assistance to neutral or government controlled areas – a 1.5 day walk for many of those affected,” she said.

Lee added that her planned visit to Laiza to look into this situation was refused due to security considerations.

A HOPE FOR PEACE

The National League for Democracy (NLD) government controlled by Aung San Suu Kyi has pledged to resume ceasefire negotiations and to hold a nationwide conference within months, dubbed the 21st Century Panglong Conference.

It hopes to broker an all-inclusive accord that brings on board half a dozen armed groups, including the KIA, that are still embroiled in clashes with the army in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states.

It remains unclear, however, whether the NLD can bring the rebel groups and Myanmar’s powerful military together for an accord in such short term.

Za Hkawng knows of the change to a democratic government - though none of the IDPs in KIA areas were allowed to cast their vote last November - and he is aware of the plans to resume peace talks with the KIA.

He said he does not expect that peace will come soon, adding, “We hear a ceasefire deal remains elusive and meanwhile conflicts are happening almost every day.”

Yet, hopes he spent to his last years on his farm. “I don’t want to take shelter anymore. I have become old and want to spend my remaining life in my native village,” Za Hkawng said.

(Editing by Paul Vrieze)

Isolated and lacking labor rights, housemaids toil in silence

Photo caption: This photo of an eight-year-old housemaid in Yangon’s Bahan Township being tortured by her employers went viral on Facebook in 2015.)


By Ei Cherry Aung

YANGON (Myanmar Now) - Khin Htar Kyu was in her late teens when she left her village in Ayeyarwady Region’s Wakema Township with a younger sister to find work in Yangon in order to help her indebted family.

Upon arrival she took the first job she was offered and began work as a live-in housemaid with a family in Sanchaung Township. Four years have passed and the 23-year-old has rarely had a day off since. She usually works from 4 am to 10 pm to cook, clean and take care of the young children. With this gruelling work, she earns US$85 per month and free meals and lodging.

“Sometimes, I want to take one day off during the week but I can’t,” Khin Htar Kyu said, adding that she even cares for her employer’s baby in the middle of the night. “I was happier as a farmer, I had a lot of quiet and freedom. I need not care about anything except my crops,” she said wistfully.

Across Myanmar, there are tens of thousands of girls like Khin Htar Kyu who leave their poor families to become a domestic worker for wealthier households.

They usually receive little pay and lack labor rights protection, according to women and child rights activists, who said the maids are often are young - or underage - and vulnerable to various forms of abuse by their employer.

Naw Aye Aye Hlaing, programme manager with Yangon-based NGO Women Can Do It, said workers usually don't complain about their situation as they are isolated in their employers’ homes and lack support when they want to report abuses.

“Myanmar has no special support group to help housemaids as they are seen as unimportant workers,” she said, adding that more must be done to ensure proper treatment of workers.

“Housemaids should be set reasonable tasks… [and] employers should be responsible for creating a safe working environment,” said Naw Aye Aye Hlaing, whose organisation promotes women’s education and involvement in politics.

VULNERABLE AND UNPROTECTED

Aung Myo Min, executive director at NGO Equality Myanmar, said many maids are children from poor families who cannot care for them. They are placed with wealthier households and provide free labor in return for a roof over their heads.

“Some of these children have a lower status than domestic workers - they just get a meal and shelter, not money, for their work,” he said, adding that such issues also relate to Myanmar’s longstanding problems with ensuring child rights and preventing child labour.

Maung Maung Soe, a lawyer in Yangon, told Myanmar Now that maids are often poorly fed, lack proper sleeping quarters and are regularly beaten. Yet, court cases against abusive employers are very rare as maids lack legal avenues to complain.

“They have little legal protection as there are no (labor) laws to protect housemaids against employers. But if they are accused of stealing money from their employer they can easily be prosecuted,” said Maung Maung Soe, who has provided legal aid to abused workers.

Files at Yangon Regional Police Headquarters obtained by Myanmar Now show authorities recorded only eight cases of criminal abuse of maids by employers in the whole country between 2011 to 2015, four cases of which were in Yangon.

In only one case an employer was sentenced. Kyi Hla Myint, a man from Yangon’s Bahan Township, received three years in prison with hard labor in February 2014 for beating a 14-year-old girl, burning her hands with cooking oil, and locking her up in a room without food.

In 2013, a 14-year-old housemaid managed to file a complaint with police over beatings on her head, back, arms and chest by members of a family in North Dagon Township who employed her for four years. Three of them are now facing criminal prosecution at the township court.

The victim’s uncle, Myo Oo, said his niece will never work as a housemaid again. “She has trauma from that job,” he said, adding that he hoped the perpetrators will face serious criminal punishment.

LEGAL PROTECTION NEEDED

Rights activists said the cases are merely a tip of the iceberg as many abuses go unreported because victims lack strength or knowledge to stand up to their employers, or because issues are quietly settled by employers.

“Only if housemaids have major injuries on their bodies can they have enough proof for a police complaint. Otherwise, it is very difficult for them,” said Maung Maung Soe.

Aung Myo Min, of Equality Myanmar, said the government should draw up legal protections for domestic workers and inform them of their rights. “Housemaids need to know how and where they can file complaints against abuses by employers,” he said.

Nyunt Win, deputy director-general at Factories and General Labour Laws Inspection Department, told Myanmar Now that the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Manpower has held discussions with civil society organisations over drafting a law that would set a minimum age for domestic workers and provide basic labor rights, such as working hours and holidays.

He acknowledged the workers’ situation was currently poorly regulated.

“There are many controversial issues regarding housemaids, including working hours and off-days,” Nyunt Win said, before adding that maids “should not refuse to prepare meals or wash clothes at the time when their employers come home.”

Myanmar Now contacted several National League for Democracy lawmakers, but none had knowledge of the draft law to protect domestic workers.

IMPROVING RECRUITMENT

Bringing poor girls from rural areas to work as housemaids in wealthier households in cities and
towns is a longstanding practice in impoverished Myanmar.

The process often involved relatives or neighbours of the girls who would connect them with wealthier families, but these days most maids are placed with an employer by recruitment agencies or unregistered brokers.

One informal broker in Yangon named Moe Moe said she had helped ten families find a housemaid in recent years, earning about $30 in commission per worker.

She said she ensures that both maid and employer are suitable and trustworthy. “I will have to face any follow-up problems, so I avoid strangers in this business,” Moe Moe said.

Khin Swe Win said her family in Yangon’s South Okkalapa Township had found a maid through her relatives. “Most housemaid brokers do not take responsibility for their work, so I relied on close family members,” she said.

The Yangon Kayin Baptist Women’s Association has created an organisation called Protection for Women in Household Services that tries to ensure that girls are employed by families who treat them well.

Naw Phaw Wah, the director of the organisation, said her staff have helped about 100 maids find safe jobs and carry out regular visits to check on their working situation.

“The employers are warned once if housemaids are found to be treated badly. If they neglect our suggestions the organisation withdraws its housemaid,” she said.

Khin Htar Kyu said she desperately wanted to quit work as a maid, but she needs to send cash to her family and help them save up to $1,000 to regain control of their farm in Wakema Township, which they pawned to a wealthy neighbour.

“I cannot foresee the day when our family can get back their land and I can go back to the village,” she said.

(Editing by Paul Vrieze)

“Myanmar is still the third-most malnourished country in SE Asia”

A man holds food collected from local donors at a village in Kawlin township, Sagaing division, Myanmar, July 21, 2015. Heavy rains caused flooding over 20,000 acres of rice field and in about a hundred villages, killing at least eight people, according to local media. (PHOTO:- REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun)


By Thin Lei Win 

Jade miners’ hopes of fortune often become tragedy of addiction

Jade miners gather to use drugs at a trash- and syringe-littered camp near Sai Taung Village in Hpakant Township. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)


By Htet Khaung Linn

HPAKANT, Kachin State (Myanmar Now) - On a hill overlooking the scarred landscape of the Hpakant jade mines, five sit men huddled together in a dirty makeshift hut made from tarpaulins.
In hushed tones they help each other tie their forearms and inject heroin. Then they wait for the drug’s high to kick in and slip into oblivion.
In another ten huts at the site, which is located Sai Taung Village and littered with trash and used syringes, dozens more miners are gathered to spend their hard-earned cash on opium, cheap methamphetamine and low-quality heroin.
One of them is a 23-year-old, frail-looking man nicknamed Ko Shan Shei - or Brother Long Hair - for his long unkempt locks. He left his poor village in Sagaing Region’s Ye U Township for the mines in northern Myanmar’s Kachin State five years ago and worked here until drugs took over his life.
“Now I am addicted to drugs and I also sell it to others,” said Ko Shan Shei. “I buy two small tubes of opium the size of a fingertip and then I take a small amount to sell to other users so I can buy food.”
He is one the estimated 300,000 migrant workers who have come from across Myanmar to scavenge through mining waste in the hope of finding jade stone. Daily income levels are good in Hpakant, but living conditions are harsh and deadly landslides are common. Yet, the biggest threat to the men’s health is drug addiction.
Though there are no official estimates on narcotics use in Hpakant, local community leaders, such as Reverend Sai Naw, think that up to half of the miners use drugs.
Tint Soe, a National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentarian from Hpakant Township, said there are a number of drug users camps spread out among the mines.
Across the whole of Myanmar there are about 83,000 injecting drug users, estimates the United Nations Office and Drugs and Crime. There is, however, a dearth of data and the organisation is currently conducting the first nationwide survey on the issue.

‘DRUG IS AN EASY CHOICE HERE’
Opium, heroin and meth are easily available in Hpakant and produced by ethnic rebel groups, pro-government militias and criminal gangs in lawless parts of Kachin and Shan states.
Like many of the men doing hard work at the mines, Ko Shan Shei said he began using drugs to relax and relieve physical pain - in his case he smoked opium to ease a persistent cough. But soon he found himself spending much of his daily income - around US$ 7 - on heroin, which is far more addictive due to the strong high when injected.
“The hard work makes labourers want to relax with alcohol, drugs and sex workers. Drug is an easy choice for the men here.” he said. “Illegal drugs can be purchased easily and money can be earned without much difficulty, so, there is more chance for drug addiction.”
One of the greatest risks for injecting drug users is HIV infection, which can happen when users share needles. A government service and several NGOs, such as the Asia Harm Reduction Network, provide methadone, clean syringes, as well as counselling and HIV testing for thousands of users in Hpakant.
Médecins Sans Frontières said it runs a clinic that provides antiretroviral drugs and other medicine to nearly 2,000 HIV/Aids patients in Hpakant, while it helps another 8,000 patients in four clinics in Kachin State.
Some NGOs organised into the Drug Advocacy Group have called on the new NLD government to scale up such services and shift to a rights- and healthcare-based approach to drug abuse problem.

CORRUPTED AUTHORITIES
While there are harm reduction services for the miners, law enforcement by authorities is largely absent and users at the site near Sai Taung Village made no effort to hide drug abuse. Some walked around with needles still hanging from their veins so they could easily shoot up again later.
Tint Soe, the MP, said drug dealers operate freely as they pay off local officials, police and military officers, while local authorities also lack capacity to control the vast mining area.
“Law enforcement cannot reach remote areas where there are (jade) scavengers, who are the regular customers for illegal drug dealers,” he said.
Pat Ja San, the vigilante anti-drug movement set up by the Kachin Baptist Church, is also active in Hpakant and has deployed its hardline tactics of sending groups of volunteers to apprehend dealers and users.
“We normally arrest drug dealers. When we find drug abusers, we seize the drugs and release them,” said Khu Lwam, a local Pat Ja San member.
He said last October the group nabbed a female member of a local drug-dealing ring who carried a ledger that recorded nearly half a million dollars in bribes paid to top officials, police and army commanders in Hpakant over the course of 58 days.
Pat Ja San has held on to the ledger out of distrust of local authorities and Tint Soe raised the allegations in the Lower House in February.

‘I DEEPLY REGRETTED MY SITUATION’
The Baptist Church-led movement also operates a rehabilitation centre near Hpakant called Uru Htwe San, a spartan camp with simple sleeping quarters that are surrounded by barbed-wire fences to prevent addicts from running away.
Rev. Sai Naw leads the camp where he tries to help about 50 men and women end their addiction solely through bible teaching - a method that has been criticised by groups promoting harm reduction.
“We have a difficult task to provide for all of them. We need land, food and accommodation - we cannot afford everything. There are so many needy (users) in the Hpakant area and we can help a small number of them,” he said.
A 29-year-old Kachin woman named Gar Lew said her husband, who earns about $8 per day from jade trading, sent her to the camp to end her opium addiction after she failed to care for their two children.
“I was willing to do so but could not control myself. I was angry when they brought me to the rehabilitation centre, but I am okay now,” she said.
Ko Shan Shei said he had returned to his native village twice to end his addiction, but relapsed every time he came back to Hpakant. He said he felt ashamed of life as a homeless addict.
“During the Water Festival, I saw some people happily celebrating but I was in dirty clothes,” Ko Shan Shei said. “I deeply regretted my situation when I compared myself with ordinary people.”
He added, “As I am still young I think I have enough strength to quit drugs. Hopefully, I will succeed this time.”

(Editing by Paul Vrieze)

In Mon State, expanding quarries threaten farms

Dust rises as rocks are broken into gravel at Yarmanya Company’s quarry in Paung Township, Mon State. (Photo: Phyo Thiha Cho / Myanmar Now)


By Phyo Thiha Cho

PAUNG TOWNSHIP, Mon State - On a recent afternoon in May, the farmers of Ohn Titbin Village Tract were tending to their betel nut and rubber plantations when a loud blast erupted at the foot of Kalama Mountain and shook the ground.
Workers had set off an explosion in a local quarry located about 10 km away and a cloud of dust drifted out from the area towards the plantations here in Mon State, southeastern Myanmar.
Farmer Nyan Htay said several blasts occurred every day after quarrying had increased in the area in recent years. The resulting increase in pollution, he said, has affected the local environment and the harvest of his 6-acre rubber plantation.
“I earned about 6 million kyats (about US$5,000) in previous years, but it has declined to just 3 million kyats,” complained the ethnic Karen villager.
Farmers in the area, which comprises six villages with Bamar, Karen, Pa-O and Mon residents, said that since 2011 authorities had allowed companies to rapidly expand the extraction of rock stone to make gravel, while paying little attention to its environmental impact.
Waste and dust has polluted air and water sources, they said, while explosions have disrupted the underground water table and caused cracks in the walls of local homes and Buddhist pagodas. Swathes of forest around the quarries that were used by villagers to collect firewood and food, such as bamboo shoots, have been fenced off.

POLLUTED CREEKS, EMPTY WELLS
Khin Hla Cho, a woman from Ywakalay Village, said access to drinking water had become problematic. “We have to dig new wells as the old ones have dried up due to the explosions,” she said.
Htein Lin, a 55-year-old farmer in Pa-O Su Village, said he relied on a now polluted local creek and sediments in the water had gradually covered 5 out of his 6.5 acres of land. “I could only complain to the village administrator about the damage to my land, but nothing else happened,” he lamented.
Anger has long been building among the communities. In 2014, they sent a petition with 1,200 signatures to the President’s Office but received no reply. Recently, they sent letters to the National League for Democracy (NLD) government in Naypyitaw and Mon State government demanding actions against the quarries.
On June 5, desperate farmers staged a protest calling on Long Life Aggregate Mining Company to cease quarrying.
Shwe Thaung, the Ohn Titbin Village Administrator, acknowledged the environmental problems, but said he was powerless to stop the companies as they had received long-running licenses from the previous government
“A creek that was a 100 feet wide in the past has now narrowed to about six feet because heaps of waste (from the quarries) were dumped in it,” he told Myanmar Now, adding that pollution had also affected his rubber plantation.

SUPPLYING EXPANDING INFRASTRUCTURE
More than 100 quarries have sprung up in recent years near the easily accessible mountains in Mon State, 22 of which are located in Paung and 48 in Kyaikhto township, according to Aye Zan, an NLD Mon State lawmaker who is studying the industry’s environmental impact.
On the eastern and western sides of Kalama Mountain, which dominates the region, six companies - Yarmanya, Long Life Aggregate Mining, Shwe Myint Moh Tun, Tun Tauk Sa, Azami and L.M. Jewellery - are extracting rock stone.
At the noisy, dusty quarries, dynamite and heavy machinery is used to break off large chunks of rocks from the mountainside, which are then crushed into gravel or smaller rocks that are loaded on to trucks.
The construction material is supplied to Myanmar’s growing number of road and infrastructure works, as well as government development projects, such as deep-sea ports and special economic zones at Thilawa near Yangon, and Kyauk Phyu Island off Rakhine State.
Tin Ohn, general manager of Shwe Myint Moh Tun Company, said it held a 30-year license to quarry 50 acres of mountainside, adding that the firm produced around 400 tons of rocks per day destined for Thilawa SEZ.
“We operate quarries at a rocky mountainside that is not suitable for agriculture. We have approval of the Mon State government,” he said.
Tin Ohn downplayed the quarry’s environmental impacts, but added that affected farmers would be paid around $80 if they can show that a young rubber tree was destroyed by the company.

GOVERNMENT ACTION?
Tin Hla, a senior member of the Agriculture and Farmers Federation of Myanmar, which is supporting local communities, said some companies were breaching environmental rules by operating in the vicinity of farms, but authorities failed to act against them.
“According to the rules, quarries must be set up about 4 miles (6.7 km) away from villages,” he said, adding that the companies made no effort to consult villagers or accept complaints about their operations.
Aye Zan, the NLD MP, said, “We can say for sure that these mining activities have negative environmental and social impacts, but we are still in the process of surveying all these mining sites in Mon State.
“After that we will table a bill in the Mon State parliament about this issue.”
Tun Ming Aung, a Paung Township state lawmaker with the NLD who raised the problems in the state legislature on June 2, said he would call for regulating the quarries when the complaints were properly documented.
“If people really suffer from these quarries we will try to stop them,” he said.
Min Kyi Win, the state's Minister for Environmental Conservation and Natural Resources, told Myanmar Now that the environmental impacts were a concern, but added that the quarries were an important source of state government revenue.
“If our country has sufficient revenue… we don’t need to break up these mountains,” he said.
Htun Ko, a 35-year-old farmer from Ook Tatar Village who has been protesting against Long Life Aggregate Mining Company, said residents’ livelihoods suffered greatly and he vowed they would continue to fight against the mining.
“Our campaign will continue until the companies moves away from this area,” he said.

(Editing by Paul Vrieze)

Abandoned babies indicate single mother, sex education problems

Shocked by-standers gather around an abandoned newborn found in Mingalar Taung Nyunt, and a lactating mother immediately breast-feeds the baby, on May 12. (Photo: The Voice Daily)


By Ei Cherry Aung

YANGON (Myanmar Now) - During a power blackout on a hot night in May, Thidar Han heard a baby crying at around 9 pm in back lane of Yangon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township, where she works as a ward administrator.
Thidar Han ventured into the dark alley and saw no one, but the crying continued. As she moved closer she was shocked to find an abandoned newborn, lying face down and with its umbilical cord still attached, in a plastic bag.
“The baby was fortunately alive and without breathing problems,” she said, adding that shocked by-standers gathered around and a lactating mother among them breast-fed the poor newborn. The baby, weighing 4 pound and 12 ounces, was brought to Yangon Central Women’s Hospital just in time and survived after receiving intensive medical care.
According to officers at the Yangon Police Headquarters, it was the second baby to be abandoned by its mother in Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township in May. The other sadly died while it was being treated in hospital.
Records kept at the headquarters show the recorded cases of abandoned newborns nationwide. Though these are likely to be far from complete, they indicate a rise from 6 cases in Myanmar in 2011, to 4 in 2012, 9 in 2013, 12 in 2014, and 20 cases in 2015.
“Only unsolved child abandonment cases are reported to the police. So there might be other, unrecorded cases,” said an officer who asked not be named. Most cases occurred in Shan State and in Yangon, Mandalay and Magwe regions.
Some cases involved newborns who were left at back streets or at door steps, while most often new mothers left their babies behind in hospital after giving birth. Yankin Children’s Hospital recorded 5 such cases in 2015, 4 in 2014 and 2 cases in 2013, according to police records.

Desperate single mothers
Ma Htar, director of Akhaya Women, a women’s rights NGO in Yangon, said the tragic cases probably involved desperate women who had an unplanned pregnancy and felt they could not care for their babies due to poverty or because the father had abandoned them.
She said being a single, unmarried mother carries great stigma in Myanmar’s conservative society, while there are few services, either government or NGO, available that support such mothers.
“Single women are blamed for their fatherless child,” said Ma Htar, adding that services to help them “will emerge when Myanmar people have more knowledge about human rights.”
Ma Htar said old laws that punish abortion probably also put women in a situation of continuing an unwanted pregnancy, adding that politicians should reflect on the impacts of these laws.

Illegal abortion
Under the Penal Code, abortion can lead to 10 years imprisonment, though court cases are rare and usually result in a two- or three-year sentence. Due to such penalties, Myanmar has no official abortion clinics, forcing women wanting the procedure to do so through secret, unregulated medical practices.
Abandonment of a child younger than 12 year is also punishable and carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Nyein Nyein, 45, a widow and mother of four from Yangon’s Latha Township, said raising children was hard for poor women in Myanmar. She believes better contraception and legal options for choosing an abortion should be made available to women and girls.
“Abortion should be allowed systematically, as it is now being carried out illegally,” she said.
Under Myanmar’s civil law, a women who bore a child from a man who abandoned her can file a complaint to demand financial support.
A police officer in Panzundaung Township, who declined to be named, said such cases were rare. “Women do not file lawsuits against their irresponsible partners as they feel ashamed for the pregnancy. But actually, these men must be ashamed for their lack of care,” he said.
Kyee Myint, a Yangon-based lawyer who works on child rights cases, said more government funding should be made available to support vulnerable children and single mothers.

Government measures
The phenomenon of abandoning babies, either to be found or left to die, is sometimes called ‘baby dumping’, and occurs in many countries. It often involves unprepared young women, teenage pregnancy, and children born out of wedlock.
In Southeast Asia, the issue has reportedly become increasingly common in Malaysia in recent years, with 517 babies found abandoned between 2005 and 2011, often for reason of stigmatisation associated with having illegitimate children born outside of marriage.
In some Western countries, authorities have installed so-called ‘baby box’ or ‘baby hatch’, where a baby can be anonymously abandoned while ensuring that the child will be cared for.
Phyu Phyu Thin, a National League for Democracy Lower House lawmaker from Yangon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township, said sex education and family planning programs would help address the issue of unwanted pregnancy in Myanmar, adding that such measures should precede discussions on legalisation of abortion.
“The main cause of this problem is that young people don’t have sufficient knowledge about sex. Since they don’t understand it, they have to cope with unwanted pregnancies. That’s why we have cases of abortions and newborn babies abandoned on the roads,” she said. “I think sex education and family planning would help decrease these cases.”
Aung Kyaw Moe, director of the Department for Child Care at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, said poverty and the lack services for single mothers should be addressed, adding, “Educative programmes on reproduction should be conducted for young people to reduce abortion and child abandonment.”
Aung Kyaw Moe added that abandoned babies would be cared for at state orphanages.
According to the ministry’s website, there are five government child care centres for orphans and abandoned children in Yangon, Mandalay, Magwe, Mawlamyine and Kengtung. Children administered here are supported to complete primary school and are then sent to two centres in Yangon, where they can stay until the age of 18 and receive vocational training.
In Yangon, at the Shwe Gone Dine Orphanage Center, principal Khin Yu Dar Yee said the regional government’s Ministry of Health and Directorate of Social Welfare had put 128 children under her care in the past five years, 45 of whom were later adopted by families.
She said she could not comment on how many children there were abandoned, but stressed that regardless of particular background all are in dire need of care.
“I hope that kind and good parents can adopt them,” she said.

(Editing by Paul Vrieze)