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Month: August 2023

Cambodia’s king signs royal decree to nominate Hun Manet as PM

Editor08 mins

Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni on Monday issued a royal decree to appoint Hun Sen’s eldest son Hun Manet as the country’s prime minister, ensuring that the transfer of power from father to son will occur later this month. According to the decree, Hun Manet will assume the office on Aug. 22, when the newly elected National Assembly adopts the new cabinet. It will be the completion of years of preparation for a transfer of power from father to son, as the 71-year-old Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985, prepares to step aside. Hun Sen did however say that he would continue to have a role in government for the next 10 years.  Hun Manet’s royal appointment comes after the country’s electoral body on Saturday announced last month’s election results, which gave Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, 120 of the assembly’s 125 seats.  The election has been criticized by the international community for being neither free nor fair, as the main opposition party was disqualified from participating. Analysts and opposition party officials have criticized Hun Manet’s appointment as prime minister, saying that dynastic rule has no place in a democracy. Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok told RFA’s Khmer Service that Hun Manet lacks the acumen to solve Cambodia’s national problems. “Hun Manet has only one policy: to follow his father. And his father, although the CPP has written hundreds of good policies, has implemented only one point: to persecute the people,” said Kim Sok.  “[Hun Sen] has destroyed the nation, selling the nation to maintain power. Therefore the chaos that is the burden of the social crisis left by Hun Sen as a father will continue under Hun Manet and will be even more serious.” Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son Hun Manet attend election campaign rallies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 1, 2023 and July 21, 2023 respectively. Credit: Cindy Liu/Reuters Cambodian legal scholar Vorn Chanlouth told RFA that under the current legal process, there are no obstacles standing in Hun Manet’s way because the CPP has effectively prepared for the transfer of power. But there is still reason to doubt the legitimacy of it. “The problem we have here is the transparency of PM candidate,” he said. “In this 7th legislative mandate election process, many political parties lack transparency, as they did not present their prime ministerial candidates to the public. For example, in the CPP, Hun Sen said he was the candidate, but when his party won, he passed the post to his son. This is not transparent.” Chanlouth said that prime ministerial candidate should have come forward to explain to the public his party’s policies, but Hun Manet said nothing other than that he would follow in his father’s footsteps. “We don’t know specifically or exactly what they are going to do to solve the national problems we face today,” he said.   ‘Not over yet’ Hun Sen, meanwhile, has assured the public that “It is not over yet” in an announcement on his Telegram social media channel.     He said that in addition to being the father of the prime minister, he will continue in other positions until 2033. Hun Sen is currently the president of the CPP, and he repeated his intention to become the president of the senate, a position currently held by CPP vice president Say Chhum. Oum Sam An, a former lawmaker for the former main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, said that Hun Sen’s intention to assume future positions in government shows that he is “afraid of his own shadow,” meaning that he is afraid to face the law after he resigns as the leader of the country. “The leadership has not changed,” he said. “Most of them are the children of members of the senior government, so the new bloods are the old blood taking on the jobs [of their parents].” Kim Sok said that Hun Sen’s rule would be remembered for its destruction of natural resources, arrest of dissenting citizens, and other rights violations. “Because the Cambodian people, the international community, and the International Court of Justice, cannot forget the story that the general public cannot forget about Mr. Hun Sen as the leader of a coup that robbed power and led a society through state terrorism,” said Kim Sok. “He used the name of the state to abuse the people and destroy them.” CPP spokesman Sok Ey San, however, denied that Hun Sen was responsible for killings or injustices on the Cambodian people in the past. He said those who dare to criticize without evidence will be held accountable before the law. Translated by Sok Ry Sum.  Edited by Eugene Whong.

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Did US falsify medal tally in the 2023 World Aquatics Championships?

Editor06 mins

A screenshot taken from a broadcast of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships has been repeatedly shared in Chinese-language social media posts that claim it shows U.S. media had falsified the country’s final rank in the international championships. But the claim is false. The screenshot only shows partial results for the swimming match – one of the competition’s six disciplines, not the final ones for all events, where China ended with the most gold medals. A tweet posted by a user @ChanJoe18 on July 29 reads: “Rigging the standings, falsifying the rankings: U.S. ranks first with 3 gold medals, China only ranks third with 20 gold medals.”  The claim was accompanied by a screenshot of a medal table of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, which shows the U.S. ranked first, Australia second and China third by total medals.  The same screenshot alongside similar claims has also been shared in Chinese-language social media posts as well as state media reports in China and Russia.  The international championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan, between July 14 and 30, 2023, with a total of 75 medals awarded across six disciplines: swimming, artistic swimming, open water swimming, diving, high diving, and water polo.   Although it’s a subject of debate whether nations should be ranked by total medals won, rather than gold medals won, there was no factual error in the screenshot, which was misrepresented in these social posts. So the claim is false. A widely circulated post on Chinese social media claimed that U.S. media falsified the results of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, with Chinese and Russian official media soon claiming the U.S. was “fooling itself.” (Screenshots taken from Twitter and Weibo) Origin of screenshot Through keyword searches, AFCL found the identical screenshot published on July 28 in a tweet by the founder of swimming news outlet SwimSwam, Braden Keith. A logo and text included in the screenshot show that it was taken from a broadcast of the competition on the NBC streaming platform Peacock. NBC is the oldest of the three major traditional American television networks and covers major sporting events.  “Today, NBC and USA Swimming officially waived (sic) the white flag at the end of finals by changing their medals table graphic to a total medals sort,” said Keith, pointing out the broadcaster’s move to rank nations by total medals won rather than by gold medals won. Some netizens joined him in mocking how the medals tally was presented. According to the medals table in the screenshot, the U.S. leads the tally with a total of 25 medals, despite earning fewer gold medals than Australia and China.  Braden Keith, editor-in-chief of a swimming news outlet SwimSwam, posted the tweet which contained the screenshot later spread by Chinese netizens. (Screenshot taken from Twitter) Not final results AFCL found that the screenshot only displayed results from the first six days of the nine-day swimming match at the championships, and is clearly marked as such. The medal counts depicted in the screenshot correspond to the official tally between July 22 and July 27.   The championships concluded on July 30 with China leading the medal tally in all disciplines with 20 gold medals followed by Australia and the U.S. in second and third place, respectively.  Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang and Mat Pennington.  Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) is a new branch of RFA established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. Our journalists publish both daily and special reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of public issues.

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Chinese fire water cannons at Philippine Coast Guard in disputed sea

Editor08 mins

Manila on Sunday protested the China Coast Guard’s use of water cannons against a Philippine Coast Guard vessel escorting civilian supply boats delivering goods to a military post in the South China Sea. The Filipino vessels were on a mission Saturday to deliver food, water, fuel and other supplies to troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre when the incident occurred near Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal). The World War II-era naval ship was deliberately run aground in the shoal in 1999 to serve as the country’s military post there. Manila “strongly condemns the China Coast Guard’s (CCG’s) dangerous maneuvers and illegal use of water cannons against the PCG vessels escorting the indigenous boats chartered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines yesterday, 05 August 2023,” Commodore Jay Tarriela, the coast guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said in a statement.  Tarriela said the action disregarded the safety of Filipino sailors and violated international law, including a 2016 arbitral award in favor of Manila that nullified China’s claims to the South China Sea. “The PCG calls on the China Coast Guard to restrain its forces, respect the sovereign rights of the Philippines in its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, refrain from hampering freedom of navigation, and take appropriate actions against the individuals involved in this unlawful incident,” he said. The Philippines also demanded that Beijing “cease all illegal activities within the maritime zones of the Philippines,” Tarriela said. Armed forces spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said that because of the Chinese harassment, the second Filipino supply supply boat was unable to unload its supplies and could not complete the mission. “We call on the China Coast Guard and the Central Military Commission to act with prudence and be responsible in their actions to prevent miscalculations and accidents that will endanger peoples’ lives,” Aguilar added. The Chinese Embassy in Manila has not responded to reporters’ requests for comment. But Chinese media reports quoted the Chinese Coast Guard as confirming the incident and saying the two Filipino supply ships were carrying “illegal building materials. “CCG carried out necessary management and control in accordance with law and blocked the Philippine ships carrying illegal building materials. China urges the Philippine side to stop its encroachment in the sea area immediately,” Global Times quoted CCG spokesperson Gan Yu as saying. The U.S. Department of State said that Chinese ships clearly interfered with the Philippines’ “lawful exercise of high seas freedom of navigation.” It noted that the action was the latest in a string of “repeated threats” to the status quo in the South China Sea. “The United States calls upon the PRC (China) to abide by the arbitral ruling as well as to respect freedom of navigation – a right to which all states are entitled,” the department said in a statement late Saturday. “The United States reaffirms an armed attack on Philippine public vessels, aircraft and armed forces – including those of its Coast Guard in the South China Sea – would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty,” it said. China’s action came after lawmakers last week unanimously adopted a resolution condemning China’s continued harassment of Filipino fishermen and its persistent incursions in the contested waters. The resolution, which expresses the sentiment of the upper chamber but is non-binding, also urged the Philippine government “to take appropriate action in asserting and securing” the country’s sovereign rights, and “to call on China to stop its illegal activities.” “This bipartisan effort tells the Filipino people that when it comes to matters of national sovereignty, we will never be bullied into submission,” said Sen. Risa Hontiveros, one of the senators who filed the resolution. On Sunday, Hontiveros called on the international community to condemn the latest incident. She also said that it may be high time for the Philippines, as well as other claimant countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, to work together on joint patrols against China. Indonesia has a separate dispute with China, while Taiwan is also a party to the South China Sea wrangling. Just weeks earlier, the Philippine Coast Guard accused its Chinese counterpart of dangerous maneuvers that could have caused a collision during a resupply mission also on Ayungin Shoal. In that incident, two China Coast Guard vessels intercepted Philippine patrol boats and “exhibited aggressive tactics” and at one point, the Chinese vessel came to just 50 yards of a Philippine vessel. On April 21, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel with the bow number 549 crossed paths with Philippine vessels near Pag-asa Island, while in February another Chinese Coast Guard ship directed a military-grade laser light twice at a Filipino ship, causing temporary blindness to the crew at the bridge.

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Plenty of blame to go around in Vietnam’s COVID repatriation flight bribery scandal

Editor014 mins

Following a two-week trial, a Hanoi court last month convicted 54 defendants, including senior diplomats, for collecting over $7.4 billion in bribes to arrange government flights home for Vietnamese citizens stranded overseas during COVID pandemic lockdowns. The COVID-19 repatriation flight scandal is not Vietnam’s largest corruption case in monetary terms, but it involved 25 officials from five different ministries, and the country’s tightly controlled state media were given relatively free rein to cover a case that captured public attention and affected many citizens.  Nearly 200,000 Vietnamese are reported to have returned on some 1,000 Vietnamese government-organized charter flights from 62 countries during the 2020-21 peak of the pandemic. The scandal toppled three Vietnamese ambassadors and other diplomats for skimming from repatriation funds. In the July 28 sentencing of 54 people, four officials received life sentences, while 45 officials and businesspeople were jailed for between16 months and 20 years. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for one official, but the courts held back. Of defendants, 21 were charged with receiving bribes, 24 for  giving bribes, and the remainder for abuse of power, brokering bribes, or fraud.  The 24 businessmen and women spoke in court about Vietnam’s “envelope culture”. Prosecutors described a “well-oiled” system put in place for companies that sought government contracts, with amounts correlated to the number of flights and repatriates.  Tarnished diplomats There are six takeaways from the case that prosecutors said showed “extremely dangerous levels of corruption” that “betrayed the efforts of the whole country.” First, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is now tarnished in the eyes of the public. Thirteen of the 54 convicts – almost a quarter – were from the MFA, which prides itself on being a very small and elite institution. Vietnam’s diplomats are usually highly regarded. Yet the case displayed tawdry corruption, historically more common in other ministries.  In a time of crisis, these diplomats preyed on common overseas workers whose remittances play a key role in supporting the home economy, and they did so in a crisis when people were desperate. The media were filled with stories of people who missed the deaths of parents and other cases of loss that resonated with the public. Four people in the embassy in Malaysia alone received 10 billion dong ($423,000) in bribes. Defendants [front row, standing] appear in court for the repatriation flight trial in Hanoi, Vietnam, July 11, 2023. Credit: Vietnam News Agency/AFP The scandal brought down a deputy foreign minister, To Anh Dung, who was found guilty of accepting 21.5 billion dong ($908,000), as well as ambassadors to Japan, Malaysia, and Angola, and the consul general in Osaka.  In addition, the head of the consular affairs office, Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, received a life sentence for receiving 25 billion ($1.06 million). She refused to admit that they were bribes, but rather “thank you gifts” from companies that she took “out of respect.” Repayment brings clemency Second, the Supreme Court determined that repayment of three-fourths of the pilfered funds would make defendants eligible for a degree of clemency.  For example, prosecutors had sought the death penalty for a secretary of a deputy minister of health, but upon repayment of the full 42 billion dong ($1.8 million), the court handed him a life sentence, saying “There is no need to remove from society.” While it’s important for the government to recoup the proceeds of crime and ensure that people do not benefit from corruption, the ruling also creates a sense that justice can be bought. Local media raised the question of whether filling state coffers was more important than punishing people who extorted bribes from citizens during the pandemic. Third, only three senior officials of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security were found guilty, a figure that looks inexplicably small given the ministry’s reach. MPS investigators were focused on Vu Anh Tuan, the former head of the immigration management department, and seemed keen to close ranks and redirect the investigations outward.  Vietnamese nationals wearing protective suits are seen aboard a repatriation flight from Singapore to Vietnam, Aug. 7, 2020. Credit: Mai Nguyen/Reuters But one defendant received considerable media scrutiny. Hoang Van Hung was in charge of Department 5 of the MPS Investigation Security Agency, the office that was investigating the businesses that paid the bribes, tipping them off in return for his own illicit payments.  Though caught on video receiving a briefcase that prosecutors alleged contained $450,000, the former MPS investigator was defiant, claiming that the attaché held four bottles of wine. He denied meeting anyone under investigation despite significant evidence. Prosecutors noted that given his position, he knew all the steps to take to cover his tracks, including relying on burner phones.  His defiance throughout the trial reminded people that the people charged with investigating corruption tend to be tainted by it the most. His sentence was longer than prosecutors had asked for.  Health ministry graft Fourth, the trial served up another reminder that corruption is endemic in the Vietnamese Ministry of Health. The secretary of a deputy minister of health, Pham Trung Kien, was caught taking some 253 separate bribes within a year.   In addition to this scandal, the ministry was also rocked by the Viet A test kit scandal, and in a separate corruption case in July, a Ho Chi Minh City businessman was accused of selling $3.2 million in non-resistant latex gloves. The investigations into so many senior level ministry officials have had real impacts on the healthcare sector. So scared of being caught up in a corruption investigation, no one was willing to sign off on imports of key medicines, leaving serious shortages in early 2023 and causing the delays of thousands of surgeries.  Healthcare workers spray disinfectant on Vietnamese nationals after their repatriation flight from Singapore landed at Can Tho airport, Vietnam, Aug. 7, 2020. Credit: Mai Nguyen/Reuters Fifth, Vietnamese analysts that I spoke to noted that there was a distinct difference in levels of contrition. The older figures who had been in the system for years…

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More than 16,500 homes and buildings destroyed by Myanmar junta since coup

Editor09 mins

  Pyinmabin village in Yangon’s Mingalardon township, seen in this April 2022 image [left], was razed on orders from Myanmar’s junta on Nov. 25, 2022. The area is seen at right on April 29, 2023. Credit: Maxar Technologies [left] and Airbus Myanmar’s military junta has evicted families and destroyed more than 16,500 homes and other buildings in large cities and towns across the Southeast Asian country, claiming that the structures “encroached on land owned by the state,” according to data compiled by Radio Free Asia. The data is based on residents’ testimonies and notices from local authorities, compiled since the military seized control of the country from the elected civilian-led government in a February 2021 coup. The actual figure may be higher, however. The junta has removed the buildings under the pretext of “encroachment,” claiming the land belongs to the railway department, the irrigation department, or the military, or that it has been zoned for municipal infrastructure. The junta also has forcibly evicted people living in informal settlements as part of a bid to increase its land holdings, RFA reported in February. Families who have lost their homes say they are now facing hardship. The remains of homes demolished by Myanmar junta forces are seen in Ward 3 of Mayangon township in Yangon region, Nov. 19, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalist The military has leveled nearly 11,700 houses and buildings in Yangon region, home to Myanmar’s largest city and former capital, and the area with the greatest concentration of buildings. Of that figure, the junta has demolished more than 4,100 houses and buildings in Mandalay, the second-largest city by population, while smaller cities and towns, such as Magway, Naypyidaw, Taungoo, Sittwe and Ann have seen between 75 to 200 demolitions each. The military removed residential houses in Magway, saying they were too close to an Air Force base, demolished civilian homes and buildings in Mandalay on the grounds that the inhabitants were squatting on regional government-owned land, private land or land too close to a railway, and tore down homes in Naypyidaw, claiming they were situated too close to the Yan Aung Myin Forest Reserve. Enter the bulldozers A resident of Myo Thit Ward No. 4 in Mandalay who had lived in a home there for 17 years, said the junta leveled 200 homes in the ward, including his. “There was no deadline in the notice that the authorities sent to us,” he said. “It just said that we must move out as soon as possible, so we started collecting our property and disassembling our homes.” “But yesterday bulldozers arrived and started bulldozing our houses around noon,” said the resident who declined to be identified out of fear of retribution. “Right now, I have rented a house to live in.” A resident who was evicted from Manadalay’s Pyigyitagun township told RFA that he could not afford to buy another dwelling because of high commodity prices. “We had to pinch pennies with a lot of difficulty to save up and buy our house,” he said. The location of a razed neighborhood (light brown in center of image) in Myanmar’s Mandalay region is seen on April 16, 2023. Credit: Airbus Patheingyi township administrators under the control of the military issued notices this June to nearly 10,000 households that their homes would be removed on the grounds that they had been built on farmland without permission. Similarly, in Yangon region, the junta demolished homes it claimed were built on lands owned by public parks, the regional government or the military. In November 2022, soldiers knocked down about 100 houses in Yangon’s Mayangon township they claimed was on land owned by a stadium, forcing nearly 300 people into homelessness. A resident who refused to be named for safety reasons told RFA he had to rent a house to stay on the outskirts of the city because he could not afford to buy a new one. “No one could buy another house again after the evictions,” he said. “All of them have to live as tenants now. Some had to go back to their villages.” Human rights violation Rights activist Zaw Yan of the Yangon People’s Welfare Network told RFA that the junta’s demolition of civilian homes under the pretext of encroachment is a violation of human rights. “From a human rights standpoint, it is a violation of Article 13 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he said. “Also, they’ve violated [Myanmar’s] constitution which says that every citizen has the right to live in any region within the country according to the law.” In a statement issued on Dec. 2, 2022, U.N. human rights officials said the junta’s act of removing houses by force was a violation of basic human rights and a war crime. Homes demolished by Myanmar junta troops are seen in Pyigyitagon township in Mandalay region, Feb. 28, 2023. Credit: Citizen journalist Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for Myanmar’s State Administration Council, the official name of the regime, told RFA in March 2022 that the junta had to focus on encroachment issues because previous governments did not resolve them. A Yangon-based attorney who knows about the demolitions told RFA that previously the removal of homes was usually suspended or postponed through negotiations with administrative officials, though that’s no longer possible under current military rule. Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Myanmar prison guards torture inmates marking Martyrs’ Day

Editor07 mins

Prison guards at Myanmar’s Thayarwady (Tharyawaddy) Prison have beaten 31 inmates for marking the country’s Martyrs’ Day and four are being treated for their injuries in the prison hospital, sources told RFA Friday. Prisoners held a saluting ceremony on July 19, while women inmates wore black ribbons, said the sources close to the prison who didn’t want to be named for security reasons. They said 16 men and 15 women have been locked up since then. Martyr’s Day marks the July 19, 1947 assassination of nine Myanmar independence leaders, shot dead by members of a rival political group while holding a cabinet meeting in Yangon. The victims were Prime Minister Aung San, Minister of Information Ba Cho, Minister of Industry and Labor Mahn Ba Khaing, Minister of Trade Ba Win, Minister of Education Abdul Razak, and Myanmar’s unofficial Deputy Prime Minister Thakin Mya. Less than six months after the end of British rule, the date of their assassination was designated a national holiday. It is marked annually by both the military regime and pro-democracy groups. The prison ceremonies are thought to have been organized by Than Toe Aung, head of Yangon region’s Thanlyin township Youth Group of the National League for Democracy, the party which won a landslide victory in 2020 elections before being ousted by the military. Than Toe Aung was hospitalized after interrogation, along with three others, Thaik Tun Oo, an official of the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network told RFA. “Three days after Than Toe Aung was admitted to the hospital, three more were also admitted,” he said. “We can confirm that they were severely beaten. Than Toe Aung is in critical condition. I heard he would be put in a locked cell after medical treatment.” He added other political prisoners who have been locked in dark, cramped cells after interrogation include male dormitory inmates Yan Naing Soe; Hla Soe; Sote Phwar Gyi; Tarmwe Ko Zwel; ‘Dr Joe’; O Be; and a Letpantan township Civil Disobedience Movement captain who wasn’t named. Women’s dormitory inmates who are still locked up after interrogation include Hnin Lae Nanda Lwin; Shun Ei Phyu; Nilar Sein; Su Yi Paing; Wut Yi Lwin; Aye Thida Kyaw; Yi Yi Swe; Lwin Lwin Nyunt; Sandi Nyunt Win; Aye Thet San; Shwe Yi Nyunt; Ya Min Htet; Htoo Htet Htet Wai; Myo Thandar Tun; and Moe Myat Thazin, according to the prisoners network official. Another source close to the Tharyawady Prison told RFA other political prisoners are protesting against the locking up of their fellow inmates by boycotting the prison shop. RFA contacted the Naypyidaw-based Prison Department by phone to get its comments on the case but there was no response. The entrance to Tharyawady Prison is seen in this file photograph. Credit: RFA There has been a series of brutal beatings and killings by prison guards since a jail break three months ago at the prison housing Myanmar’s ousted president, Win Myint. On May 18, nine inmates escaped from Bago region’s Taungoo Prison, grabbing guns from prison guards and escaping into the jungle where they were met by members of a local People’s Defense Force. Since then, political prisoners at Bago’s Thayarwady and Daik-U Central prisons and Myingyan Prison in Mandalay region have been beaten to death during interrogation or killed during ‘prison transfers’, according to family members and sources close to the prisons, who all requested anonymity to protect prisoners and their relatives. More than 24,000 people, including pro-democracy activists, have been arrested since the Feb.1, 2021 coup, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). It says almost 20,000 are still being detained across Myanmar. On August 1, 254 prisoners, including some political prisoners in Tharyawady Prison were released by the junta’s amnesty. But sources close to the prison say as many as 900 political prisoners are still being held there, awaiting trial. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Missing trafficked Lao teenager determined to be alive in Myanmar casino

Editor08 mins

A missing Lao teenager trafficked to Myanmar to work and who was beaten by Chinese men in a Chinese-owned casino in Myanmar earlier this week has been found alive, her mother told Radio Free Asia on Thursday. The girl, whose name is being withheld to protect her from further harm because she is still in Myanmar, is one of dozens of teenagers and youths from Luang Namtha province in Laos who have been trafficked to neighboring Myanmar. Many have ended up in a place the workers call “Casino Kosai” in an isolated development near the city of Myawaddy on Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand, where they are held captive in nondescript buildings and forced to participate in cyber-scams for criminal groups. One scheme involved pretending to be a lonely heart in Thailand looking for love, striking up a conversation and establishing a phony online relationship, RFA reported in April. Laotians, along with Filipino, Chinese and young people from African countries, were forced to work up to 16 hours a day. Lao authorities say efforts to help the youths have been hampered by a lack of access due to heavy fighting in Myanmar’s Kayin state, one of the epicenters of intense conflict between pro- and anti-junta forces. But anti-trafficking experts and Lao youths who have been trafficked accuse Lao authorities of complicity. One mother whose son is still trapped at the casino told RFA that authorities she contacted made “no progress at all” after receiving her request for help freeing him. Following the beating, the men took the girl, 17, to work in a nearby casino, where she believed she was the only Asian worker. The girl still had her own cell phone, so she texted her parents about her whereabouts. After they received news that their daughter was still alive, the parents informed Lao government officials and asked them to intervene, but so far, they have done nothing, the parents said. Photos of the girl obtained by RFA show her thighs and lower legs covered in purple bruises. Her mother requested that RFA not publish the photos so as to not put the girl in further jeopardy. A 17-year-old Lao girl working at the Chinese-owned ‘Casino Kosai’ (shown) in Myanmar near the Thai border was beaten, according to her mother. Credit: Citizen journalist Workers’ parents file complaint Eight parents of trafficked Laotians signed and submitted a two-page complaint on July 31 to the Anti-Trafficking Department, Office of the People’s Council, both in Luang Namtha province where they reside, and to Lao police headquarters in the capital Vientiane. The girl’s situation came to light on Aug. 1, when RFA received text messages from a Lao worker’s parents in Luang Namtha province saying that seven Lao workers had been harassed, beaten and subjected to electrical shocks by Chinese men on July 25 because they failed to meet their work quotas. The Chinese men beat the 17-year-old more than the others and until she collapsed because they found out she had sent a text message to her mother on the boss’s cell phone while working. The other workers didn’t know what had happened to the girl after the men took her away, so her parents feared she was dead. “On July 25, her daughter sent a text message to her using the boss’s telephone,” said another parent of one of the casino workers. “When he found out, he beat her and [subjected her] to electrical shocks many times until she collapsed.” The men then told casino security personnel to carry her outside, the woman said. “But at that time, the Laotians who worked with her didn’t know where they were carrying her to, making them concerned for her life,” she said. The woman also said she wanted the Lao government to help her child leave the Myanmar casino as soon as possible and that all other parents who have their children stuck there also need help. “All of the parents of the workers want the government to help because we don’t know what to do to help them out of there now,” the person said. “We sent all the documents they needed in order to get them out from there almost a year ago already but nothing [has been done].” After other Lao parents in Luang Namtha province who have sons or daughters trapped at the casino in Myanmar heard about the beatings, they submitted written requests for help to various Lao authorities. Another parent of a Lao worker at the casino told RFA that the group of adults delivered another letter to authorities in Luang Namtha province in northern Laos as well as sent a copy to police in Vientiane on Tuesday. An official from the Anti-Trafficking Department in Vientiane who is aware of the situation told RFA on Wednesday that authorities in Myanmar informed his office that they tried to search for the Lao workers, but could not access the casino due to ongoing armed conflict in the area. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Myanmar military arrests Sagaing region villagers, torches homes

Editor02 mins

Junta troops detained six villagers and burned homes in a township in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, locals and anti-regime forces told RFA Thursday. Residents of Ayadaw township said troops fired heavy artillery and then raided Baw Kone village around dawn on Wednesday. They took six villagers as human shields when they withdrew, the locals said. “They entered the village firing heavy artillery and handguns and burned 10 houses,” said a resident who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals. “Six villagers were taken hostage. They have not been released yet. Their names are still unknown as we were on the run for safety. And no one knows if they are alive or dead …. We can’t expect anything until they get back.” The local added that the hostages were taken in the direction of Naung Gyi Aing village where the troops are temporarily stationed. A member of Ayadaw township People’s Defense Force said his militia fought with troops a few hours before the village raid. “The clash broke out for only a few minutes. But we had to retreat because they had more weapons,” he said. “We easily outnumbered them but we didn’t have the firepower.” Locals said nearly 8,000 residents from nine villages, including Baw Kone, had fled junta raids. RFA’s calls to the junta’s spokesperson for Sagaing region, Saw Naing, went unanswered Thursday. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Christian deacons presumed dead after abduction by Myanmar military in Chin state

Editor07 mins

Three Christian deacons abducted by Myanmar junta troops in mid-July on allegations that their church was involved in supporting an anti-regime armed group are believed to be dead, while a pastor detained with them escaped and is receiving treatment for his injuries, a local official said Wednesday. On July 16, soldiers from the Khalaya 274 Battalion based in Mindat, a town in western Myanmar’s Chin state, abducted pastor Htang Kay On, and the three clergymen — Chai Kay, Hon Chway and Hon Kay — from the nearby Presbyterian Christian church compound in the town’s western quarter. Yaw Man, a spokesman for the Mindat People’s Administration Team, told Radio Free Asia that he received information that the three deacons died during interrogation by soldiers. Mindat residents set up the team because they do not recognize the authority of Myanmar’s military government. The troops also interrogated, beat and tortured the pastor. Believing him to be dead after he passed out, the soldiers threw him into a ditch near the military base two days later. When he regained consciousness, the pastor ran away.  Htang Kay On now is receiving medical treatment in a safe place, Yaw Man said. Largely Christian Chin state, along with Sagaing region in the north and Kayah state in the east, have been hotbeds of armed resistance since the military illegally seized control from the elected government in a February 2021 coup. The regime has been unable to control these areas since then. Visits to military base Relatives of the three missing deacons held a prayer service for them on July 30, said a local resident close to the families.  “As we are Christians, we pray for them in our ways, trying to console the families that they will return to them in good health,” the person said. Soldiers allowed a temporary refugee camp to be opened inside the church, which is near their military base, locals said.  But when troops saw motorcycles in the church compound, they believed that the clergymen were supporting the Chinland Defense Force, or CDF, a rebel group formed in response to the 2021 coup to protect Chin state from the military junta. Other religious leaders and city elders went to the military base to ask about the three deacons, but soldiers said they had been detained for questioning, Yaw Man said.  During another visit, the soldiers said the deacons were no longer there, according to local residents.  “Everyone saw they had been abducted by them and taken to their base,” he told Radio Free Asia. “People who live near the military base overheard the sound of them being tortured. What did they mean that they were no longer there?” When people requested that the soldiers give them the bodies of the deacons for funeral services if they had died, the troops insisted they were no longer there. “If we consider the situation, I will have to say that they have died,” said Yaw Man. “But we haven’t heard anything about them so far.” ‘Peaceful religious leaders’ RFA asked the deacons’ relatives about the situation, but they declined to answer questions for fear of their safety and because they were grieving for the clergymen.   The military has not released any information about the pastor or the three deacons. Thant Zin, Chin state’s military spokesman and social affairs minister, did not respond to phone calls from RFA. An official for Mindat’s multi-Christian churches told RFA that the illegal arrest and torture of the clergymen were “unacceptable in terms of human rights, the existing laws or religion.” Salai Mang Hre Lian, program manager of the Chin Human Rights Organization, also said the arrest of the civilian church leaders was a flagrant violation of human rights. “There is no proof that they were members of the CDF or an armed militia,” he said. “They were peaceful religious leaders who were helping war-torn refugees in the church designated for them by the military council.” “Religious leaders and unarmed people should not be arrested and killed for any reason,” he said. Soldiers have killed seven Christian ministers in Chin state since the coup, arrested 14 people, and damaged or destroyed over 70 Christian religious buildings, including churches, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization.  Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Junta captures 17 civilians in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region

Editor03 mins

Junta troops have detained 17 civilians from a village in Myanmar’s southernmost Tanintharyi region, locals told RFA Wednesday. They said the 12 women, two men and three children were arrested five days ago as they returned to the village in Kyunsu township and accused of supporting a local People’s Defense Force (PDF). RFA has been unable to confirm the names and ages of those detained because phone and internet links are unreliable in the region. The villagers were in a motor boat, returning from market, when they were stopped by junta troops, locals told RFA on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. A Kyunsu resident said the 17 are being held in the township’s police station and denied access to their families. “They were arrested on the way home after buying rice, cooking oil and salt from Bait [Myeik city], and were accused of supporting PDFs near Tha Zin village by the police,” the local said.  “It is said they were arrested because they allegedly bought the rice and cooking oil to support the PDFs.” Another local resident told RFA that troops and police have been patrolling in speedboats near the coastal city of Myeik to check passengers in other vessels. “They are collecting information like names, registration numbers and where people are heading from the jetty,” he said. “Every single boat from Myeik and Kyunsu heading to villages has to report to the junta security forces.” On July 25, a local People’s Defense Force attacked a police station in Kyunsu township and exchanged fire with the police, according to a Kyunsu township PDF statement. The military junta has not released any statement about the situation.  RFA called the junta spokesperson for Tanintharyi region, Yin Htwe, but he said he was in a meeting and turned off the phone. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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