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Year: 2022

Journalists go into hiding after threats by Myanmar’s military junta

Editor010 mins

Local reporters from two media outlets in Myanmar went into hiding after the country’s ruling military junta threatened to sue the news agencies for reporting that regime troops killed three civilians and wounded 19 others near a Buddhist pagoda in Mon state last week. BBC Burmese and The Irrawaddy online news journal reported that military soldiers allegedly fired random shots into crowds at the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Mon state, one of the most famous Buddhist sites in Myanmar, on Oct. 12.  The regime blamed the attack on an anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) allied with the Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA) Brigade 1, the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) and its parliamentary wing. It said three were killed and 19 injured in the incident. Irrawaddy and BBC reporters went into hiding after the junta issued a statement on  state-controlled Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) at 8 p.m. on Oct. 14, threatening to take action against their news outlets for “incorrectly” reporting on the incident.  “It is reported that The Irrawaddy and BBC Burmese news agencies, the blatant liars and the pessimist’s stooges, are going to be sued under the Electronic Communications Law, News Media Law, and the state defamation law for their accusation that the security forces randomly fired shots into crowds of pilgrims, a shameless act of violating media ethics,” the junta said in the broadcast. A relative of a BBC Burmese reporter told RFA that all local BBC journalists, including the head of the news agency, are in hiding because of the junta’s threat.   “He [the reporter] won’t be able to stay here anymore since the junta started threatening to sue them all,” said the relative, who declined to be named for safety reasons. “He is afraid of being arrested, so he had to run away and hide.” The reporter’s family members also went into hiding out of fear that the junta would hold them accountable, she said. Three civilians were killed and more than 10 others were wounded when fighting broke out at a junta inspection station at the foothill of the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda on the morning of Oct. 12, local social workers and aid groups said.  Members of an unidentifiable armed group dressed in civilian clothes attacked the facility, which is part of the Myanmar military’s 44th Light Infantry Division in the Kin Mun Chaung village, they said.   “At this moment, they are all in the hospital, three dead bodies included,” said one aid worker who declined to be named for safety reasons. “We cannot go near them. I heard 13 were wounded.” More than 100 bullets and five artillery shells were fired during the battle which lasted over an hour, a local told RFA. He also said that there were casualties on both sides. After the fighting, pro-military channels on the Telegram instant messaging service accused the PDF and KNLA of being responsible for the attack.  RFA has not been able to independently identify or confirm which forces were involved in the incident and was unable to reach for comment the leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU), the KNLA’s political wing, in Kyaikto township. Devotees pray before a huge rock covered with layers of gold at the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda on Mt. Kyaiktiyo, a popular Buddhist pilgrimage site and tourist attraction in southeastern Myanmar’s Mon state, in a file photo. Credit: AFP ‘Threats have worsened’ In a public letter to senior officials of BBC Burmese, the junta’s Ministry of Information said their Oct. 12 report on the shootings intentionally attempted to defame the military by alleging that security forces shot civilians.  A senior official at BBC World News headquarters in London said the head office was “aware of the Burmese authorities’ concerns, and we have been in contact with them to discuss this.” The Irrawaddy reported on Monday that an Oct. 14 statement from the KNU said the deaths were caused by random fire from junta forces responding to a PDF attack, citing testimony from a resident of the village where the fighting occurred.  Ye Ni, an editor at The Irrawaddy, said his news outlet’s coverage of the shooting was based on three sources.   He said that freedom of the press has been under attack since the February 2021 coup in which the military seized power from the democratically elected government. “Threats by the junta against the news media have worsened, and [we’re] already at the brink of total collapse with their brutal persecution of reporters and unlawful abolishment of news agencies since the coup,” he said.  Ye Ni also questioned why the junta threatened to sue only The Irrawaddy and BBC Burmese when several news agencies also issued similar reports on the shooting.  Kyee Myint, a high court lawyer and legal expert who lives in Myanmar, said the rule of law had disappeared under the junta. “The junta itself are the rebels who broke the law to seize power,” he said. “These rebels kill, sue and do anything else to stay in power. It’s no surprise. Since they are on the wrong side, they try to find fault with those who stand with the righteous people against injustice.” Myint Kyaw, former secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, told RFA that it is getting more difficult for journalists in Myanmar to do their jobs. “In this difficult time of collecting news, to sue a news agency only because what it covers is considered untruthful is the junta’s direct threat against the media,” he said. He also said that because The Irrawaddy is no longer based inside Myanmar, the junta’s threat would not have a serious impact on the news organizations.  “As for BBC Burmese, this is the junta’s act to pressure the BBC to self-censor and adjust its editorial policy in favor of [the junta], Myint Kyaw said.  The junta has abolished 15 news agencies, four book publishers and two printing presses in the more than 20 months following the coup. Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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China’s Xi opens CCP congress stressing security, pressure on Taiwan

Editor016 mins

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which convened in Beijing on Oct. 16 for a week, is expected to grant an unprecedented third five-year term to Xi Jinping, the CCP general secretary and state president. In the run up to the congress, RFA has examined the 69-year-old Xi’s decade at the helm of the world’s most populous nation in a series of reports on Hong Kong, foreign policy, intellectuals, civil society and rural poverty. Ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping touted his record in fighting COVID-19 and suppressing political protests in Hong Kong on Sunday, as he launched the CCP’s 20th National Congress amid a heavy focus on security and a renewed threat of military force against democratic Taiwan. Xi, 69, is widely expected to be endorsed by congress delegates for a third term in office, breaking recent party norms and becoming China’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. Xi told delegates to “prepare to stand the major test of turbulent, even stormy waves,” warning the nearly 2,300 delegates inside the Great Hall of the People that the next five years would be critical to his attempts to build a “self-confident” China that could hold its own on the world stage. “Faced with rapid changes in the international situation, particularly external blackmail, containment, blockades, and extreme pressure, we continued to make our national interests and domestic politics the priority,” Xi said. “We will maintain strategic focus, carry forward the spirit of struggle, and … safeguard this country’s dignity and core interests.” Xi gave no indication that the centralization of power in the hands of the party leadership would ease any time soon. “We must uphold and strengthen party leadership in all things,” Xi said. “We must take political security as the foundation, economic security as the foundation, and military, technological, cultural and social security as the guarantee,” he said. Xi hailed as successes Chinese policies that have caused friction with the United States and other Western countries, such as the crushing of Hong Kong’s democracy movement after 2019 protests in the city, and the intensification of military threats to underscore Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan. He appeared to signal that the authorities would continue to rein in political expression in Hong Kong, saying the Beijing-backed political system installed by the CCP in the now tightly controlled city is still “incomplete,” and to insist to the 23 million inhabitants of democratic Taiwan that “unification” under the CCP was the only option. Ethnic minority members wave national flags as they watch the opening session of the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress on a screen in Danzhai, in Chinaís southwestern Guizhou province, Oct. 16, 2022. Credit: AFP ‘Wheels of history’ The Chinese government had turned Hong Kong from “chaos to governance,” and carried out “major struggles” against “independence forces” in Taiwan, Xi said. Meanwhile, there was more work to do to ensure everyone accepted Xi’s personal brand of ideology, he said. “Some deep-seated systemic … problems have become apparent; some people lack self-confidence in the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics,” Xi told delegates. “There are many people within party ranks who still have a hazy conception of party leadership … leading to weak … implementation,” he said. “Party leadership is the highest political principle,” he said, saying the CCP must ensure “unity” among its 96 million members. He said China would “strive for peaceful reunification” — but repeated a longstanding threat to the democratic island. “We will never promise to renounce the use of force and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.” “The wheels of history are rolling on towards the unification and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Complete unification of our country must be realized,” Xi said to long, loud applause from the delegates. A spokesman for Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen said the island, which has never been ruled by the CCP, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, is a “sovereign and democratic country.” Attendants serve tea for delegates before the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Oct. 16, 2022. Credit: Reuters ‘Lack of new thinking’ Tsai’s national security team is closely monitoring the congress, and that the island’s 23 million citizens had rejected China’s proposed “one country, two systems” model for ruling Taiwan. “The consensus of the Taiwanese public is that territorial sovereignty, independence and democracy cannot be compromised and that military conflict is not an option for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Xavier Chang said in response to Xi’s speech, repeating Taiwan’s offer of peace talks amid growing military tension. Beijing is unlikely to respond, as it insists on treating Taiwan as a “regional government” rather than agreeing to government-to-government negotiations. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) lamented a “lack of new thinking and proper judgment” in Beijing’s Taiwan policy. “The Taiwanese people alone have the right to determine their future, and they will never accept China’s proposals … as outcomes,” the MAC said. Xi used the terms “security” or “safety” 89 times during Sunday’s report, up from 55 times in 2017, while his use of the word “reform” declined to 48 from 68 mentions five years ago, Reuters news agency reported. Analysts told RFA that Xi’s keynote speech effectively pointed to a reversal of previous policies and toward harsher political controls. “This report has only talked about reform and opening up a few times–indeed very few. It mainly replaces reform and opening up with the words of self-confidence and self-improvement,” said independent scholar Wen Zhigang. “Struggle and security are included in this so-called self-confidence and self-improvement,” he said Wen. “Struggle seems to have replaced reform, and security has replaced openness.” The congress is widely expected to reconfirm Xi as party general secretary, China’s most powerful post, as well as chairman of the Central Military Commission, as well as ushering a new generation of leaders…

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Elderly suicide rates mar Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s ‘victory’ over rural poverty

Editor015 mins

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which convenes in Beijing on Oct. 16, is expected to grant an unprecedented third five-year term to Xi Jinping, the CCP general secretary and state president. In the run up to the congress, RFA has examined the 69-year-old Xi’s decade at the helm of the world’s most populous nation in a series of reports on Hong Kong, foreign policy, intellectuals, and civil society. In the summer of 2022, a Chinese video blogger had a viral hit with what he intended as an inspirational tale of his great uncle, a resourceful elderly relative who made a living as a carpenter, and was still working well into his eighties. But the narration also carried a sting in the tail: “Second Uncle really wants to earn a little retirement money for himself … but my grandmother can’t take care of herself any more, even telling me ‘I don’t want to live any more,’ and that she once hung up a noose ready on the doorframe.” As ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping gears up to seek an unprecedented third term in office at the 20th party congress on Sunday, he will be claiming among his achievements the “eradication” of extreme poverty in China. China declared in November 2020 that it had eliminated extreme poverty, claiming success for one of Xi’s key policy goals ahead of the CCP’s centenary the following year. Yet as government-backed employment schemes have focused on getting younger people to seek jobs in cities, elderly people in rural areas have been left to eke a meager living from government subsidies, without the younger generation around to help, and without enough money for decent medical care. Many are deciding such a life isn’t worth living any more. New research published in July 2022 and cited by state news agency Xinhua showed that the suicide rate among elderly people in rural areas has risen fivefold over the last two decades “When you go to the countryside, you often hear that someone died, and when you ask about it, they often tell you it was pesticides [which means] suicide,” former NGO worker Yao Cheng, who has researched women and children’s rights in rural China, told RFA. A scene from the film “Second Uncle,” which is about a man in his 80s still making a living as a carpenter. Old bachelors “In 2011, a German journalist and I went into a mountainous area of Hunan, where basically everyone in the village had left,” Yao said. “It took two hours walking through the mountains to get there.” “The younger people in the village had all gone to find work … and everyone left behind were old bachelors in their 60s and 70s,” he said. “A lot of them were living on monthly subsistence payments from the government of less than 100 yuan [currently 170 yuan/month].” “They didn’t want to die in pain; I heard that they would hoard extra sleeping pills because they wouldn’t have the strength to hang themselves if they were sick,” he said. “Another common suicide method is drinking pesticides.” “They don’t feel that they can carry on living any more.” A resident of a village in the eastern province of Anhui, who gave only the initial L, said at least two elderly people from his hometown have ended their lives during the past three or four years, often because of illness. “The most urgent need in rural areas is medical care: general medical care; chronic disease care and treatment for serious illnesses,” L said, adding that his mother-in-law currently struggles to find money for her glaucoma medication. While her medical insurance once reimburse half of the 3,000 yuan annual cost, now she gets nothing at all, prompting L to wonder whether the funding has been taken up by the constant COVID-19 tests required under Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy. U.S.-based rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who has represented rural residents trying to defend their rights through legal channels, told a similar story. “Elderly people in rural areas are actually forced to choose suicide by their circumstances,” Chen said. “They are ultimately still dependent on the small amount of food they can produce from the land.” “Without mobility, they have nothing,” he said. Lack of economic security Yu-Chih Chen, an assistant professor in social work and social administration at the University of Hong Kong who researches healthy aging, said China’s elderly are fundamentally insecure. “There’s a saying in rural China that goes ‘put off the small stuff, suffer through the big stuff, and don’t go to hospital till you’re at death’s door’,” Chen said. “This is a reflection of the general lack of economic security and people’s inability to meet their medical needs.” Data from China’s 2020 national census found that nearly 24 percent of the rural population is now over 60, with more than 100 million elder people now living alone in the homes where they once raised their families. Social isolation is also a major driving force behind suicide in this group, according to Chen Yu-Chih. “Social isolation has been proven to drive mortality in academic studies,” Chen said. “The impact on health is similar to the effect of smoking 15 cigarettes a day.” Conversely, a 2021 study by population researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that the suicide rate among older adults fell by 8.7 percent during the Lunar New Year holiday, when grown children return to their parental home. Chen Guangcheng says the issue could be solved by better government policies. “The CCP shouldn’t misallocate its social resources,” he said, adding that there is a huge imbalance in government spending across rural areas and cities. More than 500 million people currently live in rural areas, around 36 percent of the population. Yet they depend for their healthcare on just 1.35 million rural clinics, of which only around 690,000 are staffed by certified doctors and healthcare workers, a ratio of one healthcare worker to more than 700 people….

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Mercurial and combative Solomon Islands leader reaps benefits where he may

Editor012 mins

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has maneuvered himself to the center of U.S.-China rivalry in the Pacific, stirring debate about his aims.  To some, he’s an autocrat in waiting, and to others, a smart operator seeking to maximize aid for his volatile and economically-lagging nation. A Seventh-Day Adventist who has a martial arts black belt, Sogavare is also a political brawler whose fortunes have fluctuated over the years alongside the frequent strife of Solomon Islands politics.  After rising through the civil service in the 1990s, he is now in his fourth stint as prime minister. His first term, from June 2000 to December 2001, followed a coup, though he was elected by parliament – part of a chaotic period that resulted in a years-long military intervention in the Solomon Islands led by U.S. ally Australia. Over time, Sogavare has become more adept at marshaling the levers of power in his favor, researchers say. Earlier this year he pushed a constitutional amendment through parliament that allowed elections, set for 2023, to be delayed on the basis the country couldn’t afford a national vote and a major sporting event – the Pacific Games – in the same year. “He is totally driven by the desire to remain PM forever,” said Matthew Wale, leader of the opposition in the Solomon Islands parliament. “He grants the demands of anyone who will help him achieve that.” Sogavare, 67, has increasingly tilted the government of the South Pacific archipelago of some 700,000 people towards China. In 2019, he switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan – an unpopular move in the country’s most populous province, Malaita – and earlier this year, he signed a security pact with Beijing.  China is helping to bankroll the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara next year and is training the country’s police. Last weekend, more than 30 Solomons police officers headed to China for a month’s instruction in policing methods.   Meanwhile, Sogavare signed up to a pact between Pacific island nations and the United States at a summit in Washington last month, in what one observer described as a pragmatic move. “Solomon Islands, and Sogavare himself, needs good relations with traditional partners, despite Solomon Islands’ growing security ties with China,” said Mihai Sora, a Pacific analyst at the Lowy Institute and former Australian diplomat in the Solomon Islands. “It’s not zero-sum for Sogavare, rather it’s about maximizing the potential benefits he can bring to his country. So pragmatism is the main driver, but there is also a personal element when push comes to shove.” Mercurial and perplexing Sogavare can seem a mercurial and perplexing figure to outsiders, and even for researchers and others who have spent years in the Solomon Islands. His office didn’t respond to a request for an interview. At a regional meeting in July, Sogavare effusively greeted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with a hug following months of tensions with Australia, the largest donor to the Solomon Islands.  But within weeks, Sogavare was threatening to ban foreign media from the Solomon Islands, after critical Australian coverage of its China links, and lashing out at perceived Australian government interference. Canberra had offered, clumsily, some analysts say, to pay for the Solomon Islands elections. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) meets with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum, in Suva, Fiji July 13, 2022. Credit: Pool via Reuters In his address to the United Nations General Assembly last month, Sogavare said the Solomon Islands had been vilified in the media for joining most other countries in recognizing China. He also urged the United States to end its embargo on Cuba and thanked the Cuban government for training Solomon Islands medical students. Sogavare credits his formative political ideas and skills to Solomon Mamaloni, a charismatic Solomon Islands leader who died in 2000. A staunch nationalist and man of the people who chewed betel nut and drank heavily, Mamaloni distrusted the West, Australia in particular, and U.S.-dominated institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.  Sogavare became Mamaloni’s protege in the late 1990s. Sogavare believed he was in contact with Mamaloni after his death, according to a biography of Mamaloni by Christopher Chevalier, and other sources. “He was like a father to me, I was like his son and he taught me many things,” American anthropologist Alexis Tucker Sade quotes Sogavare as saying of Mamaloni in her 2017 doctoral dissertation on the Solomon Islands.  Seances with spirits In an interview with Tucker Sade, Sogavare described a four-hour encounter in his government office with Mamaloni’s spirit, one of a number of supernatural encounters with the former prime minister that Sogavare claimed to have had in the decade following his death.  He also acknowledged being a heavy drinker around the turn of the century. Nowadays, he is widely said to abstain from alcohol.   Sogavare’s seances are not out of the ordinary in the Solomon Islands, where strong traditional beliefs are mingled with Christianity’s emphasis on the afterlife, said Chevalier. “He is his own man. But I don’t think he has forgotten the lessons of Mamaloni,” Chevalier said. “He has obviously learned how to strategize and how to bring people on board in the very complex horse-trading that goes on.”   Not everyone in the Solomon Islands views the connection with Mamaloni positively. The former leader sought a strong and independent Solomon Islands, but his legacy, which at the time of his death included a country mired in corruption and ethnic strife, is debated. “Some people may say Mamaloni is some kind of a political savior to them,” said Celsus Irokwato, an adviser to the premier of Malaita province. “I see him as one of those who have set the stage for the failures of Solomon Islands.”  Sogavare stands out because he is unpredictable and doesn’t conform to local cultural norms for leadership, based on respect earned from constant community involvement, said Clive Moore, an emeritus professor at the University of Queensland and…

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Business bad for Bagan’s buggy drivers as pandemic and coup keep tourists away

Editor09 mins

For 50 years, Maung Maung has been a horse-and-buggy driver in the ancient city of Bagan, ferrying tourists around to its soaring spires and iconic Buddhist pagodas and temples.  But tourists have dwindled to a trickle, thanks to the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic that reached Myanmar in March 2020 and military coup the next February. “Recently, a few tourists came back but not as many as before,” said Maung Maung, who’s 70. “Now there are very few. Some days, I don’t make a single dime (what word did he use?). Others, I make only a little money.” Making matters worse, rising inflation has eroded his spending power.  When business was good, he typically made 20,000-30,000 kyats (U.S. $6-10) a day, but that’s dropped sharply. He said he charges 1,300 kyats (about U.S. $0.40) per hour for pleasure rides around Bagan and dedicated prices to specific temples pilgrims want to visit. Since the junta took power, a year-and-a-half ago, Myanmar’s economy has tumbled. Last year, its GDP contracted by 18 percent, and the International Monetary Fund estimates that 1.6 million jobs were lost in 2022, or around 7% of the workforce.  Economic growth estimates for 2022, including the World Bank’s forecast of 3% growth, seem overly optimistic now that about 40 percent of the population is living under the poverty line. Soaring Inflation, Plunging Currency Inflation was 14 percent in mid-2022 and accelerated to more than 18 percent by mid-September, with rice prices up 35-50% and gas prices spiking amid shortages. That‘s impacted all kinds of businesses, as many rely on generators due to frequent electricity shortages.  Myanmar’s currency, the kyat, lost 60 percent of its value against the dollar in 2022. The kyat briefly traded at a record low, below 4,000 kyat to the U.S. dollar, while the official conversion rate is 2,100. The son of farmers, Maung Maung’s father bought him a buggy when he was just 20 years old. He told RFA Burmese that the vehicle had provided him with a steady stream of income for many years behind a mare named Mi Chaw. Bagan, in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region, has long been a cultural capital and a major tourist hub that’s home to the remains of more than 2,200 Buddhist temples and pagodas, mostly dating from between the 11th and 13th centuries. The former capital of the Bagan kingdom that would unify the regions that collectively became known as Myanmar, the city was officially recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2019.  Despite dwindling income and few visitors, Maung Maung continues running his business because driving horse-drawn buggies is what he knows, and is one of the few jobs he can do at his age. When he was younger, Maung Maung would farm during the tourism off-season, but he no longer has the strength for agricultural labor. Kyi Kyi Swe, Maung Maung’s daughter, told RFA that he cares deeply about the horses he has bred and taken care of their whole lives, and would never think of abandoning them. “Before, he asked his son to drive the buggy while he worked on the farms,” she said. “As he has grown old, he can’t do farm work and is back in buggy driving.” “He takes good care of [Mi Chaw]. He doesn’t want to see her lean. He feeds her all the time. Even at night, he gets up to feed her,” she said. “The horse also knows him well. She whinnies for more food at night. My dad leaves home around 5:30 a.m. every morning to drive to the buggy station and wait for his turn to drive.” Dwindling tradition Other buggy drivers in Bagan told RFA that the city council has granted licenses to around 300 people to operate horse-drawn carts, but only around 100 of them are actively working due to the decrease in tourism. One driver, named Soe Tint, said horse drawn buggies are as much a symbol of Bagan as the landscape and temples, and are often seen together in promotional material for tourists. But even prior to the pandemic and the coup, the number of buggies in Bagan had declined as they were replaced with modern vehicles. “I want to sell my horse since I have farm work. I paid around 1,500,000 kyats for them, but now they are worth only 700,000-800,000 kyats. I would even sell them for 600,000 kyats only, he said. “If things get better and the visitors return, the buggy business would grow again. Touring Bagan is most enjoyable by horse-drawn buggy. But they won’t come back if the good times don’t return.” Maung Maung acknowledged that if business conditions don’t improve, he will have to give up his business and depend on his family. “My business is so bad that I have been struggling to make ends meet. I just want to make enough for food and other necessities, like rice, cooking oil or salt,” he said. “If I get just a few more visitors [than average], I can make just enough to cover necessities. If I don’t have any, I have to buy them on credit. If the business doesn’t improve, I will have to sell my horses and live on my children’s income.” Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Riverboat ferrying students home from school in Cambodia sinks, killing 10

Editor04 mins

Ten students drowned and another remains missing after a boat ferrying them home from school sank Thursday in the Khouk River in Cambodia’s southern Kandal province, sources in the country told RFA. The Kandal police confirmed Friday that authorities rescued four students from the Khouk, a tributary of the Mekong River, and are still searching for the missing student. They found the bodies of the other 10 students who drowned and estimated that they were all about 10 years old. Kandal Provincial Police Commissioner Chhoeun Socheat told RFA’s Khmer Service that the boat was very small and that it sank at around 7 p.m. on October 13. According to preliminary conclusions, the boat likely sank due to overcrowding, he said. Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his condolences over the incident on Facebook, but stopped short of calling for an investigation. “The relevant authorities must continue to search for the victims and help with the victims’ funerals and offer services needed,” he said.  “To those who live along the rivers, please be vigilant, especially during flooding.” Cambodia is in the final weeks of its rainy season, which lasts from May to October. Coffin of a child, a victim of a boat accident, is transported in a ferry during a funeral procession in Koh Chamroeun village, east of Phnom Penh, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Ten students drowned and another remains missing after a boat ferrying them to school sunk in a river in Cambodia’s southern Kandal province, sources in the country told RFA. Photo:AP Kandal Provincial Governor Kong Sophoan told RFA that as of Friday night, the missing victim has not yet been found. He blamed the boat operators for their carelessness and said the boat was very old. “The boat operators lack experience, he said. “Authorities are investigating the incident.” Though authorities must ensure a boat is in good condition in order for owners to legally operate it, he acknowledged that loopholes exist. The 10 students were kind, smart and diligent, and were working hard to learn both in Khmer and English, Rong Chhun, the former president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association and president of the Cambodian Trade Union Confederation, told RFA.  “Those were active children who really paid attention to their studies. They had to cross the river from their houses to study on the other side,” he said. “They were dedicated hard-working kids. I am deeply saddened.” UNICEF wrote a message of condolence on Facebook that also called on the public to refrain from sharing pictures and video of the incident on social media because it could cause distress for friends and family. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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More than 200,000 children displaced in three states since Myanmar coup

Editor010 mins

More than 200,000 children have been displaced by fighting in Myanmar’s war-torn states of Kayin, Kayah and Rakhine since the military took control of the country in a February 2021 coup, according to data compiled by rights groups, NGOs, and anti-junta forces. Beyond the psychological trauma they experience, children are vulnerable to military airstrikes and at risk of capture by junta troops, who press them into forced labor, use them as human shields and sell them as sex slaves to human trafficking rings, the Karen Human Rights Group, or KHRG, said in a report released Tuesday. Pregnant women and babies are also caught up in the conflict. “Pregnant women fleeing the war have no choice but to give birth in caves in the forest, unsheltered from the elements out in the open, or along riverbanks,” said Saw Nanda Soo, a spokesperson for the group. “Since they are on the run, they are entirely deprived of health care and supplies such as diapers, baby formula and medicine,” she said. All told, the fighting between junta military forces and various rebel groups has created more than 350,000 people who are internally displaced, more than half of them under the age of 18, the group said. And of those minors, more than half are girls. The vast majority of the displaced children, or about 175,000 of them, have fled their homes in Kayin state, which borders Thailand in southeastern Myanmar, the KHRG report said. Aid groups said that a combined 50,000 children have been displaced in Kayah, just north of Kayin state, and in Rakhine, in the west, near Bangladesh. No concrete numbers have been provided for the number of children displaced since the coup in Sagaing region in the northwest, which has seen some of the worst fighting between the military and anti-junta groups. The United Nations recently announced that at least 500,000 people have fled conflict in Sagaing in the past 20 months. ‘Running and Learning’ A member of the Kayah State Basic Education Teachers Union told RFA that more than 30,000 children have become displaced in the region since the military takeover, and are forced to study in makeshift camps or while sheltering in the jungle. “Artillery shells hit us every day and you never know when another one will come,” the union member said. “Our children were denied [proper] education for an entire year due to COVID-19 [school closures] and then another because of the [insecurity following the] coup. We can’t just stop learning, so we must teach them on the run.” The union member said that they are constantly on the move, and when they reach somewhere deemed temporarily safe, they resume teaching. “We’re stuck in a cycle of running and learning.” In the western state of Rakhine, the rebel group Arakan Army reports similar numbers. In just the past two months, at least 20,000 children have become displaced since fighting resumed with the military after a two-year lull. That’s on top of the 82,000 children who had already been driven from their homes. The rebel group said that the internally displaced people in Rakhine are housed in more than 150 different camps, where some 10,000 children attempt to continue their studies despite the regional violence. Two refugee children are seen in Taungoo, Bago region, Myanmar, on Sept. 25, 2022. Credit: RFA ‘Biggest loss in our children’s education’ Zaw Zaw Tun, a humanitarian volunteer in Rakhine, said the junta soldiers fire artillery into their villages and then sweep into the villages, arresting residents. “Many of us are constantly on the run due to regional insecurity, rather than any specific battle,” the volunteer said. “The biggest loss is our children’s education. Meanwhile, food is scarce and we are dealing with health issues such as the seasonal flu now that it is turning to winter.” Regional support groups say it has become increasingly difficult to gather accurate statistics for the number of people displaced by fighting throughout the country since the coup because the junta is actively blocking international humanitarian groups from assisting them. The junta has yet to respond to reports of the scale of displaced children and the risks they face while on the run. On Oct. 10, Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told the U.N. General Assembly that since the coup, the junta has killed at least 2,338 civilians, including 91 children under the age of 14 and 209 children between the ages of 15 and 18.  He said that children in Myanmar have been particularly affected by the conflict under military rule and are regularly deprived of their rights. According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, there are 89 million refugees worldwide, 36 million of whom are children. In Myanmar, the refugee agency said, at least 1.3 million children have been displaced since the coup, compared to around 300,000 beforehand. Meanwhile, in the central Bago region, 2,000 people have fled the conflict between the military and Karen National Union (KNU) since this February. The physical and mental health of those who are displaced are rapidly deteriorating, said Saw Maung Maung, a volunteer in Taungoo, adding that aid groups are facing shortages as donations dry up. “The donors are running out of patience,” he said. “There is a scarcity of food and other necessities needed for the refugees. We are in a difficult situation and have had to find ways to connect with other organizations to meet our long-term needs,” he said. Saw Htoo Htoo, a displaced 9-year-old in Taungoo, said he was forced to flee his village in Kyaukkyi and take shelter in the jungle for about a week after “fighter jets roared overhead, shooting at us repeatedly.” “I was barefoot from the start… In the rain, I was nearly eaten alive by the mosquitoes … Soldiers were always hunting us as we ran and we were constantly shaking with fear,” he said. “We had to run for our lives, but at least now…

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Cultivate compassion, Dalai Lama urges, and use technology to benefit humanity

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Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama called for people to train their minds to cultivate compassion and cautioned that digital technology should be used only to benefit humanity, at a two-day gathering in northern India that ended Thursday. About 180 people attended the two-day Mind & Life Conversation on Interdependence, Ethics and Social Networks in the audience hall at the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamsala, a hillside city in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh that is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile. About 100 attendees were Western scientists and scholars and members of the Mind & Life Institute, an organization whose mission is to inform and advance the emerging field of contemplative science and its application to real-world challenges.   Among the other attendees were Tibetan monks and nuns who have participated in science programs at Emory University, students of science from the Tibetan Medical & Astro-Science Institute, the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, and lamas and abbots from the centers of learning at monasteries in South India. Training the mind in cultivating compassion involves developing thoughts of even-mindedness, or equanimity, the Dalai Lama said.   “We’ve held a lot of Mind & Life dialogues, and I feel they’ve been very important,” he said on the first day of the event on Oct. 12, according to a report on the Dalai Lama’s official website. “In the world at large, a great deal of attention has been paid to physical things, but much less to the mind. And yet, when we talk about happiness and suffering, they are inner, mental experiences. If we have no peace of mind, we won’t be happy.” “Many of the conflicts we see in the world are about physical things, material resources and power,” the Dalai Lama went on to say. “Therefore, we need to look at what went on in the past and learn from it so that we can construct a future based on peace, happiness and togetherness.” “The root of peace of mind is compassion,” he said. “As soon as most of us are born, our mothers take care of us and give us our first lessons in compassion. Without this we would not survive. This is how our life begins. As children we grow up in an atmosphere of compassion.” The Tibetan spiritual leader also said that technology should be used to benefit humanity. “Generally speaking, whether or not technology can be thought of as good or bad depends on how it is used,” he said on the second day of the gathering, according to a report on his official website. “We human beings should not be slaves to technology or machines. We should be in charge.” When humans are too materialistic, they regard human values as being of secondary importance, he said. “We must remember that we are human beings and we need to apply human values, whatever we do,” the Dalai Lama said. “Principally, we need to be motivated by warmheartedness. Technology is supposed to serve human needs; therefore, it needs to be guided by human values.” It also needs to help protect the environment, he said. The Mind & Life Institute was founded more than three decades ago by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th and current Dalai Lama, Chilean scientist and philosopher Francisco Varela, and American lawyer and social entrepreneur R. Adam Engel.  While science relies on empiricism, technology, observation, and analysis, the three believed that well-refined contemplative practices and introspective methods could be used as equal instruments of investigation.      Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Cambodian Supreme Court orders retrial for autistic teen son of opposition activists

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Cambodia’s Supreme Court ordered the Court of Appeals to retry the case of Kak Sovanchhay, the autistic teenage son of opposition activists, who was last year sentenced to eight months in prison for incitement and insulting public officials. Kak Sovannchhay, 17, is the son of Kak Komphear, a jailed senior official of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).  He was arrested at his home in Phnom Penh on June 24, 2021, over a Facebook post and voice messages in which he was critical of the government in response to someone calling his father a traitor. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced him on Nov. 1, but credited him four-and-a-half months for time served and commuted the remainder of his sentence, thereby allowing his release a little more than a week later. Additionally the court ordered he remain under judicial supervision for two years. He appealed the conviction but it was upheld on March 14, 2022. The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the facts from the appellate trial but rejected the conviction and six conditions set on Kak Sovannchhay while under judicial supervision. Prum Chantha, Kak Sovannchhay’s mother, told RFA’s Khmer Service that her son’s imprisonment was a threat from the government because her family continues to promote democracy. She said the Court of Appeals should drop the sentence because her son, who was only 16 at the time of his arrest, was a child. Additionally the sentence leaves a mark on his record that could seriously affect his future. “First, it affects his opportunities to learn, second he gets discrimination, and third, when he goes to find work, his name will be associated with the conviction, so it is a very serious punishment,” said Prum Chantha. “He is just a minor and he has a disability,” she said, referring to his autism. “He is very young.” Kak Sovannchhay’s lawyer Sam Sokong told RFA he believes the verdict is a violation of his client’s human rights. “I urge the authorities as well as the Royal Government to consider the case of this child and to consider the interests of the child as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other rights related to children’s rights,” he said. Based on Cambodia’s Penal Code and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Cambodia is a party, judges should be highly considerate and refrain from convicting children, opting for rehabilitation or education instead of imprisonment, Sam Sokong said. Am Sam Ath of the local Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho), a local NGO, told RFA that he believes the Supreme Court handed the case back to the appellate court because it is skeptical about certain aspects of the law and how they were applied in Kak Sovannchhay’s case. He urged the Court of Appeals to retry the case as soon as possible and drop all charges. “We look at first the interests of the child,” he said. “Secondly, this child has a chronic disability called autism, and thirdly, if we look at the dialogue in social media used to convict him was a private conversation,” he said. Kak Sovannchhay had been previously arrested in October 2020, then in April 2021, two men attacked him with bricks while he was driving a motorbike, leaving him with a fractured skull. Police never found either attacker. The conviction and sentence of an autisitic child was neither necessary nor proportionate,  a May 2022 report on the trial by the American Bar Association said. “Sovannchhay’s conviction further shows the lengths to which the Cambodian government will go to silence dissenting voices as well as the urgent need to reform Cambodia’s ‘incitement’ law, which has been a crucial tool in the authorities’ crackdown on civil society,” the report said.  Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Hong Kong police say cartoonist’s art damages their image

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Hong Kong police have expressed “strong concerns” to the city’s Ming Pao newspaper over what a spokesman called a “misleading” cartoon by political satirist Zun Zi that lampooned authoritarian education policies, media in the city reported. Zun Zi’s cartoon, published on Tuesday, shows a police officer fully-clad in riot gear at a school asking “What have the students done today, headteacher Chan?”  The teacher lists the students’ various offenses including losing erasers and talking back to teachers.  The cartoon was published in the wake of A widely-publicized case in which 14 secondary school students were suspended for three days for  failing to show up to a flag-raising ceremony at St Francis Xavier’s School in Tsuen Wan district. Under a national security law imposed by Beijing in mid-2020, authorities in Hong Kong have conducted a wide-ranging crackdown on pro-democracy activists, many of whom are students at universities and other educational institutions.  Students are among the dozens of activists arrested, campus activism has been banned, and schools are under pressure to adjust their curriculum to inculcate nationalism and fealty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Zun Zi’s cartoon could give readers the misleading impression that Hong Kong police would be deployed to handle small campus issues, police spokesman Joe Chan wrote to Lau Chung Yeung, Ming Pao’s executive chief editor, reports in the city said. “The false descriptions in [the cartoon] might make the public misunderstand police work. They not only damage the Force’s image, but also harm the cooperation between the police and the public, as well as our effectiveness on cracking down crimes,” said Chan’s letter, quoted in the Hong Kong Free Press. The cartoon  remained on Ming Pao’s website on Wednesday, while Ming Pao’s editorial board issued a statement saying that the paper would “continue to provide accurate and credible news content to readers in a professional spirit and support columnists in providing professional work.”  Hong Kong has plummeted in global press freedom rankings following a citywide crackdown on dissent under the national security law. Speaking to RFA Cantonese when Hong Kong’s national security law was first enacted in 2020, Zun Zi said that the local Hong Kong government cooperated with Beijing to pass the national security law, which had a chilling effect on society.  “Now we have to be careful when we laugh. We need to be skillful when laughing. We can’t draw fists or point fingers everyday,” he said. “Only when you integrate politics, incidents, with people’s life stories and the culture of the society, can you create top-rated and inspiring works of art,” Zun Zi said, vowing to keep drawing despite the crackdown. “As to when is the time to stop, if someone holds a knife, and puts my hand on the chopping board and tells me that he will cut off my hand if I continue to draw. If this happens, I will stop. This is the only way (to stop me).” Zun Zi is the pen name of Wong Kee-kwan, a 40-year veteran cartoonist who initially contributed to the pro-Beijing New Evening Post and Takungpao publications before moving to Ming Pao.  His cartoons have also appeared in the pro-democracy Apple Daily, which has been shut down by national security police since the passage of Hong Kong’s national security law. At least three Hong Kong cartoonists who published their work  in Ming Pao, Hong Kong Worker, vawongsir and Ah To, have announced their plans to leave the city amid the crackdown. Translated by RFA Mandarin. Written by Nawar Nemeh.

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0