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Category: ASEAN

Amnesty International blasts new proposed social media regulations in Vietnam

Editor010 mins

An international rights group condemned the Vietnamese government’s plan to adopt new regulations to tighten control over social media platforms in the communist one-party country where leaders already have little tolerance for public criticism or dissent. The planned amendments to existing law will require social media companies like Facebook and TikTok to remove content and services deemed illegal within 24 hours, block illegal livestreams within three hours of notice, and immediately remove content that endangers national security, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Companies that do not comply with the requirements risk having their social media platforms banned in Vietnam, the report said, adding that it is expected that Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will sign the new regulations in May. The Vietnamese government is finalizing the amendments for June 2013 decree on the management, provision and use of internet services and online information for both domestic and foreign companies and individuals. The government has been using the decree to ask companies that run popular social media platforms in Vietnam to take down “anti-government” content. Human rights organizations expressed concern that the restrictive internet environment in Vietnam will become worse under the new regulations. “In Vietnam, social media, including Facebook, is one of very few places for local people to express their opposition,” said Ming Yu Hah, deputy regional director of campaigns in East and Southeast Asia for London-based Amnesty International. “They face the risk of being imprisoned for years if their posts are deemed to violate the law. “Such harsh laws are an existential threat to the freedom of expression in Vietnam,” she added. Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter are popular foreign social media platforms in the Southeast Asian country, used by citizens to express their opinions of and dissatisfaction with the government and politics. However, many Vietnamese have been sent to prison for their expressing their opinions via social media. In March, for instance, RFA reported that a court in Hanoi sentenced independent journalist and activist Le Van Dung to five years in prison for discussing political and socioeconomic issues in livestreamed videos on social media. Reuters said that Vietnam’s communications and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment. Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc., which owns YouTube and Google, and Twitter Inc. declined to comment. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., said it will continue to comply with applicable local laws and would remove content that violates platform guidelines. For years, the Vietnamese government has demonstrated its desire to control foreign social media platforms via the decree passed in 2013 and a cybersecurity law that entered into effect in 2019. In November 2020, Facebook announced that it had been forced to increase content censorship as requested by the Vietnamese government, after being threatened with a ban if it did not comply. The move drew heavy criticism from rights groups that have accused social media companies of putting profits before human rights and the freedom of expression. Amnesty’s Ming Yu Hah called on social media companies to protest the forthcoming regulation and “put human rights above profits and market access rights.” About 60 million-70 million Vietnamese use Facebook, generating about U.S. $1 billion in annual revenue for its parent company, according to the Reuters report. YouTube has 60 million users in the country, while TikTok has 20 million. Open letter to Biden In a related development, more than 40 NGOs and 40 individuals signed an open online letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, calling for him to raise concern with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chinh at a U.S.-ASEAN Summit in mid-May about the government’s antagonistic policies toward religions that do not submit to government control. “Of particular concern is the intensifying state-directed and state-supported propaganda that promotes hate speech and incites violence against religious and lay leaders with real and deeply disturbing consequences,” the letter says. The letter says organized mobs known as Red Flag Associations have used social media to slander Catholic priests, characterize respected monks of the Unified Buddhist Church’s Sangha as “bad forces” who “distorted the nature of religious freedom in Vietnam,” and call on the government to eliminate the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ in Dak Lak province. “So far, Red Flag members have enjoyed complete impunity,” the letter says. “Their messages promoting hatred and violence have rapidly multiplied throughout Vietnam’s society.” Certain government units also have incited hatred against ethno-religious minorities, including the Department of Public Security of Gia Lai Province, which characterizes Montagnards who have converted to Catholicism as a cult and in December 2020 declared that it had completed the heretical religion. The United Nations Human Rights Committee singled out the Red Flag Associations as a source of incitement to hatred and violence following a review of Vietnam’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2019. “In light of this worrying trend, we ask that you communicate directly to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam and urge his government to comply fully with both Article 18 of the ICCPR, which guarantees the right to religious freedom or belief, as well as with the requirement of Article 20 that incitement to violence be prohibited by law,” the letter says. On Monday, a coalition of Vietnamese NGOs and individuals issued an open letter to U.N. member states, asking them not to elect Vietnam to the U.N. Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term. Among the organizations that signed the letter were the Vietnam Human Rights Network, Defend the Defenders, Assembly for Democracy of Vietnam, Humanistic Socialist Party, the Great Viet Party, Vietnam Democracy Federation, the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, and Vietnam Democracy Radio. They noted that Vietnam voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution on April 7 to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council over its invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands of people. “Before looking for membership of the council, the Vietnamese government must improve its human rights record, strictly enforce international human rights…

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Biden nails down a date for ASEAN summit but not a full invite list

Editor09 mins

President Joe Biden, keen to showcase American interest in Southeast Asia, has secured a date to celebrate 45 years of U.S. ties with the far-away region, but not all of ASEAN’s leaders are coming to the party. Myanmar’s junta chief, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, won’t be welcome because of the military coup he launched a year ago. And Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who leaves office in June, is also expected to be a no-show. He has not visited Washington during his six years in office that have been characterized by turbulent relations with the United States. The May 12-13 summit between the U.S. and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is an opportunity for Biden to forge a closer bilateral partnership with ASEAN and counter China’s influence in the region. The White House is keen to advance its vision of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific. The summit will mark U.S.-ASEAN relations, which began in 1977. It will be only the second such summit with Southeast Asian leaders hosted by an American president in the United States. Barack Obama welcomed ASEAN leaders to Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., in February 2016. While next month’s meeting will therefore carry heavy symbolic value, it will make for some unusual diplomatic bedfellows for Biden. Cambodia’s foreign ministry says that Prime Minister Hun Sen – whose government has faced U.S. sanctions for its suppression of democracy – will be there. Cambodia is the current rotating chair of the 10-nation bloc. “Of course, Samdech Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen, as the ASEAN rotating chair, will co-chair this summit with the president of the United States,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesman Chum Sounry told Radio Free Asia (RFA), the parent company of BenarNews. He was using the honorific adopted by Hun Sen, who has ruled for 37 years. It translates roughly as “glorious, supreme prime minister and powerful commander.” But officials indicated that Min Aung Hlaing – who recently awarded himself two of Myanmar’s highest honors for services to his country despite the current, violent chaos there – won’t be invited to Washington. “The consensus among ASEAN is (that) Myanmar should be represented by a non-political representative,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah of Indonesia, which is the bloc’s coordinator for U.S.-ASEAN ties. He told BenarNews on Tuesday that Indonesian President Joko Widodo plans to attend.  In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah confirmed that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri will also join the summit. He further noted: “I don’t think Myanmar should be represented. I am not so sure if Washington invited Myanmar.” However in Bangkok, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the prime minister and ex-junta chief, was “considering the journey” to Washington. ASEAN has been grappling with a 14-month-old crisis in Myanmar, where the Burmese junta’s forces have bombed and burned swathes of the country to quell resistance to the military’s overthrow of an elected government in February 2021. In late March, the junta blocked ASEAN envoy Prak Sokhonn, who is Cambodia’s foreign minister, from meeting with deposed Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, setting back efforts to forge a political resolution – and backtracking on a commitment the junta chief made to ASEAN to allow access to all stakeholders in the country. ASEAN itself has excluded Min Aung Hlaing from its own summits. The Myanmar military council’s spokesman said on Tuesday that Myanmar has not been invited so far to the Washington summit, and they would only attend anyway if they had equal representation. “If, as in the past, we could only attend with someone who does not hold political office, we absolutely would not attend any meeting. Our position is to engage only at equal rank,” the spokesman, Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun, told RFA. Myanmar has been subject to U.S. asset seizures and sanctions since the coup – including restrictions levied against Min Aung Hlaing himself. No such restrictions are faced by Duterte. The Philippines is a U.S. treaty ally, meaning the two nations are committed to each other’s defense if they come under attack. The U.S. is bound to Thailand by a similar treaty. But Duterte, who has sought closer relations with China despite recurring disputes in the South China Sea, has sworn repeatedly that “he will never go to the U.S.” At one time he even called America “lousy.”  BenarNews asked an aide to Duterte whether that position has changed in view of the upcoming summit, and was told it had not. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to media about it. There’s another reason for the Philippine leader to skip the Washington summit: The two-day meeting falls just three days after May 9 elections in the Philippines. It is customary for any Filipino leader to avoid foreign travel during an election season, particularly when the election is for the position they will be vacating. Jason Gutierrez in Manila, Tria Dianti in Jakarta, Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok, Nisha David in Kuala Lumpur, and RFA’s Cambodian and Myanmar Services contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news service.

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2 children among 6 Rohingya killed after escaping Malaysian detention center

Editor09 mins

Hundreds of Rohingya detained for two years in northern Malaysia escaped Wednesday following a pre-dawn riot, but six were killed by vehicles as they tried to cross a highway, in a tragic turn of events highlighting conditions at the country’s secretive immigrant detention centers. Close to 400 people had been recaptured by evening, officials said, while human rights groups called for a probe into what had provoked the unrest. They also demanded to know how many detention centers, where immigrants are held indefinitely and incommunicado, were operating across the country. “I have instructed the Royal Malaysia Police and the Immigration Department to conduct a detailed investigation of what caused them to act in such a way,” Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin said of the escapees late Wednesday. Multiple agencies from two states were working to track down more than 100 people still at large, he said. “All 528 detainees who escaped were ethnic Rohingya refugees transferred from a camp in Langkawi after being arrested for trespassing in Malaysian waters and violating the Immigration Act in 2020,” he said. Langkawi is an island group in the Strait of Malacca, off the coast of the northern Kedah state. Police in Bandar Baharu, Kedah were alerted to a riot and escape at the Sungai Bakap Temporary Immigration Depot at around 4 a.m., according to the state police chief, Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad. Prior to the riot, 664 people were housed there – 430 men, 97 women, and 137 children, he said. He told reporters that no serious injuries were reported during the riot and that its cause was under investigation. Detainees smashed a door and fence at the depot before making a run for it, he said, adding that the 23 security personnel on duty were quickly overwhelmed. “Because there were so many of detainees in a cramped space, things got out of control and the detainees took the opportunity to break out,” he told a press conference in Kedah. “The fatal accident involving the escapees happened about six to seven kilometers from the depot. Two men, two women, and two children (a boy, and a girl) were killed after being hit by vehicles when they tried to cross a highway while fleeing,” he said. Villagers living near the immigration facility said they were afraid to leave their homes with escapees still at large. “The detainees were everywhere, running out from the depot, and they headed to our village before they went into the bush,” a man who gave his name as Hashim told BenarNews. Another villager, Ahmad Husin, said they could be hiding in nearby palm oil plantations. Earlier, “some of them came to us looking for water because they were thirsty but no one dare to give them any because they were afraid of any untoward incident,” he told BenarNews. The Kedah police chief warned residents of nearby villages against helping the escapees, saying to do so was an offense punishable by law. ‘Traumatizing’ Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries to escape persecution in Myanmar, their home country, and dire living conditions in cramped refugee camps in Bangladesh. Malaysia, however, does not recognize refugee status. Since 2020, the country has rounded up thousands of refugees and housed them in crowded detention centers, in what the authorities say are measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. An estimated 180,000 UNHCR cardholders currently live in Malaysia, much higher than the estimated 38,000 in 2013. Jerald Joseph, a member of the Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), called on the country’s immigration authorities to allow representative from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to meet with the detainees. “The Immigration Department has to give access to UNHCR so they can determine whether the ones detained were really Rohingyas. If so, they should be freed like the 150,000 Rohingyas who are here in the country,” he said. For its part, Amnesty International Malaysia demanded the government fully and transparently investigate the events “including the desperate circumstances within Sungai Bakap immigration detention center that led to detainees trying to escape, resulting in the loss of six lives.” Suhakam should investigate how many temporary immigration detention centers are in existence across the country, Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia, said in a statement. “Conditions at these immigration detention centers should be documented, given past incidences of human rights violations in immigration depots in Malaysia,” she said. She called indefinite detention “traumatizing.” “The government therefore needs to answer not only on the deaths of the six individuals but also why so many refugees, including children, are being detained,” she said. Yusof Ali, chairman of Kedah Rohingya Association, also appealed to the Malaysian government “to look into the Rohingya issue detained at the Immigration Depots in the country.” Asked why the breakout occurred, he said, “Maybe because they have been in there far too long. Some of them have temporary documents and UNHCR cards, but when they showed it to the authorities, the office in charge will arrest them and allege that the document or the card are fake. No other countries want to accept our ethnic group. It is now up to the Malaysian government’s discretion,” he said. Zul Suffian in Penang, Malaysia and Iskandar Zulkarnain in Kedah, Malaysia contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news service..

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Landless Lao farmers are caught growing crops in state parks and forests

Editor09 mins

National parkland and protected forests have been shrinking slightly in southern Laos, not the work of the usual culprit — illegal loggers — but because residents are encroaching upon the land to grow cassava and other crops. In the provinces of Sekong, one of the most impoverished areas of Laos, and neighboring Saravan, farmers desperate for land are turning up soil in national parks and forests despite laws and campaigns to protect the tracts in a country suffering rapid deforestation. The surface areas of national parks and national protected forests in Sekong province’s Tha Teng district have diminished to 36.8% from more than 40% in 2016 partially due to encroachment by local residents, Viengsamone Chanbengseng, deputy director of the district’s Agriculture and Forestry Department, said at a meeting on deforestation on April 5. Since 2016, about 75 families, including retired state employees in 12 villages in the district, have been encroaching on about 37 hectares of state land, especially in Sayphouluang National Protected Forest, Phouchoum National Protected Forest and Houei Ped National Protected Forest, according a Tha Teng district official. The province’s Agriculture and Forestry Department has ordered them to stop occupying state land and stop cultivating land in protected forests after the November harvest. An official at the Sekong Provincial Administration Office, who like other sources in this report requested anonymity for safety reasons or to be able to speak freely, told RFA on Monday that authorities have taken action against those caught encroaching upon protected land. “We’ve reeducated them,” he said. “Most of them have been booked, many others have been disciplined, and some have been detained from three days to one week for grabbing state land.” A Tha Teng district police officer said that the rising price of cassava, now 2,200 kip (U.S. $0.18) a kilogram, has prompted poor villagers to grab land to plant the starchy root vegetables. “Many villagers who are poor and landless grow cassava and coffee to make ends meet,” he said. “However, we, the authorities, insist they stop encroaching upon state land. They should grow crops on their own land for which they have title. The government doesn’t allow people to use state land.” The Tha Teng district official provided a similar explanation. “These people don’t have land to farm,” he said. “They don’t have money to do anything. They grow cassava, so that they can have some income or some money to buy food.” District officials are discussing a plan to provide villagers with capital, about 10 million kip (U.S. $826) per family, so they can invest in growing vegetables in their own gardens instead of on state land, he said. “The Lao government wants to protect and preserve these forests for future generation,” said the Tha Teng district official. “The district authorities will be monitoring these people closely. If they encroach upon the state land again, they’ll be charged according to the law.” The satellite image shows an area of Phou Xieng Thong National Protected Forest in Lakhonepheng district, southern Laos’ Saravan province, where villagers have encroached upon state land. Credit: Google Earth ‘I don’t have land’ A Tha Teng district resident who grows cassava said locals feel unfairly targeted by the government. “All land is occupied, so we’re going to where there is land,” he said. “A lot of land is occupied by Chinese and Vietnamese investors from here in Sekong province all the way to Saravan province. Why are the authorities cracking down only on us but not on the foreigners?” Another farmer who lives in the district voiced a similar complaint: “We clear the forest to grow crops for our survival, not for commercial purposes. If the government wants to protect the forest, the government shouldn’t give land concessions to foreigners and shouldn’t limit land for its own people.” In Saravan province, more than 100 families have grown cassava and mango on up to 600 hectares of land in Xebang Nouane National Protected Forest and Phou Xieng Thong National Projected Forest, a provincial National Park Service official told RFA in March. “Just this year, 16 more families have occupied 10 more hectares in these two protected forests to grow cassava,” he said. “We’re beginning to seriously protect the forests because some villagers just disregard the law. Our [Lao People’s Revolutionary] Party and government want to protect the forests.” Authorities had allowed farmers to grow crops on state land because they only occupied a small part of the protected forests, about 600 hectares of land, or about 2-3% of the total area, a Lakhonepheng district official in Saravan said. “However, we, the provincial authorities, now want to stop it and to prevent people from expanding their cultivation,” he said. A cassava grower from the Phoukasy village in Lakhonepheng said he is growing more of the tuber this year because of the higher prices. “The problem is that I don’t have land,” he said. “I grow cassava in the protected forest and pay taxes to the district. We’re still allowed to grow cassava this year, but I don’t know about next year.” Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Vietnam court jails 12 on subversion charges in trial described by lawyer as ‘flawed’

Editor05 mins

A court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on Monday sentenced 12 Vietnamese to prison terms of from three to 13 years on charges of supporting an exile group accused of attempting to overthrow the government in a trial described by defense attorneys as violating legal principles. Nine of the cases were drawn from separate parts of the country, jeopardizing standards of fairness in the trial, defense attorney Nguyen Van Mieng told RFA in an interview after the sentences were handed down. “This trial violated legal procedures, as it gathered nine cases from different provinces and cities and then combined them in a single trial,” Mieng said. “These 12 people had no relationships or links with each other,” he added. Defendant Tran Thi Ngoc Xuan, who received a 13-year prison term and was described by prosecutors as the most active member of the alleged plot, was acquainted with only two of the others brought to trial, Mieng said. “However, she had no close ties with either of them. They simply knew each other and did not work together as members of a team,” he said. Prosecutors had charged the group with “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the government” under Article 109 of Vietnam’s Penal Code and with recruiting others to join the Provisional Government of Vietnam, a U.S.-based opposition group described by Vietnamese authorities as a terrorist organization. Speaking to RFA, Mieng said however that the defendants had only thought they were joining projects aimed at helping the country’s poor. “In general, these 12 defendants are all poor and not well-educated,” Mieng said. “Therefore, when hearing from an online source about 18 programs providing land and houses carried out by the U.N. in cooperation with an ‘interim government,’ they registered their names and encouraged others to participate.” “And then they were arrested,” he said. Only Xuan declared her innocence at trial, with the others pleading guilty and asking for leniency from the court, Mieng said. Only Xuan had been able to hire a lawyer, while the other defendants were represented by lawyers assigned by the court, he added. Xuan, who has already spent two years in pre-trial detention, will now consider filing an appeal of her sentence, which must be filed within 15 days, Mieng said. Based in Orange County, California, the Provisional Government of Vietnam was founded in 1991 by former soldiers and refugees loyal to the South Vietnamese government that existed before the country’s takeover by North Vietnam in 1975. The group was designated a terrorist organization by Vietnamese authorities in January 2018 after group members in Vietnam were charged with a plot to attack Tan Son Nhat International Airport with petrol bombs ahead of a major holiday the year before. At least 18 Vietnamese have been jailed in recent years for alleged involvement with the group. Repeated attempts by RFA to contact representatives of the Provisional Government of Vietnam for comment have gone unanswered. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Bangladesh extends road near Myanmar, NE India to combat cross-border smuggling

Editor08 mins

Bangladesh officials on Tuesday announced an extension until 2024 for a road-building project in the remote Chittagong Hill Tracts and Cox’s Bazar, saying the improved infrastructure would help combat illegal smuggling across the nearby frontiers with Myanmar and India, among other uses. An army-run initiative, which was to have wrapped up in June 2021, is being extended to June 2024 and will more than double in price, to 38.6 billion taka (U.S. $448 million), they said. Bangladesh’s southeast has 210 km (130 miles) of land border with Myanmar and 330 km (205 miles) with India. Insurgents, such as the Arakan Army from Myanmar, have slipped across the porous borders, according to an analyst, even attacking Bangladeshi border guards on at least one occasion.    On Tuesday, the National Economic Council Executive Committee, headed by the prime minister, approved the updated proposal for the road system in the hilly and largely inaccessible southeastern region, Shahedur Rahman, the planning ministry’s spokesman, told BenarNews. He said the project, approved at an earlier committee meeting, was supposed to finish by 2021, but would end in June 2024 after the extension approval. The system is to connect all roads along the bordering areas of four southeastern districts and ultimately link with the region’s existing road system. According to a copy of the updated proposal obtained by BenarNews, the roads and highways department is to build a 317-km (197-mile) border road in three districts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts – Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban – and Cox’s Bazar district along its frontiers with Myanmar and northeastern Indian states. The hills and dense forest in the region hamper Border Guard Bangladesh efforts. In 2020, the government for the first time acquired two helicopters for the BGB along the southeastern border. “There is no road in this highly inaccessible and hilly region; our soldiers need to walk at least eight hours to cross 1 km. The distance between two BGB border outposts in this region ranges between 4 and 6 km, depending on terrain,” Lt Col. Foyzur Rahman, the BGB operations director, told BenarNews. “Construction of the border road would enable our soldiers to reach one outpost to another very easily and quickly, making guarding the border[s] an easier task. The smuggling of arms and narcotics would stop,” he said. ‘Many security considerations’ The original timeline for the road ran from January 2018 to June 2021 and set the project cost at nearly 17 billion taka ($197 million), according to the document. But that deadline passed before the project was finished – the government estimates more than 30 percent of the project has been completed. The new timeline runs through June 2024 and increases the cost. A.K.M. Manir Hossain Pathan, chief engineer of the roads and highways department, said his department had been constructing the border road system with assistance from the army’s engineering corps. “The border road involved many security considerations which the roads and highways department engineers are not supposed to be involved with. Therefore, we have been implementing the project through the Bangladesh Army,” he told BenarNews. “The inaccessible hilly terrain has slowed the implementation of the border road project. Getting machines, construction materials and the engineers and workers [to] the site is a herculean task so the project’s deadline has been extended to June 2024,” he said. In addition to the road project, the proposal calls for establishing improved communication links in Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Cox’s Bazar districts and “establishing government control in the bordering areas through heightening security measures.” Such measures would be used to combat the smuggling of illegal arms, narcotics and human trafficking at the border, it said. The proposal also says construction of helipads and security enclosures have been added to the original project. Cross-border infiltration Separatist groups have taken advantage of the rugged and remote terrain. On Aug. 25, 2015, a group of Arakan Army insurgents from the other side of the Myanmar border attacked BGB in Bandarban district, injuring two soldiers. The border road would benefit Bangladesh, said retired Maj. Gen. K. Mohammad Ali Sikder, a security analyst. “The terrain along the border in Chittagong Hill Tracts and Cox’s Bazar has been very tough and inaccessible. Exploiting this tough hilly terrain, the cross-border criminal syndicates carry out smuggling of arms, narcotics and other contraband while different separatist groups move freely between countries,” he told BenarNews. “The members of the Arakan Army very often enter Bangladesh territory from Myanmar as the BGB members cannot guard all the time, and the anti-Bangladesh groups easily cross into Myanmar,” he said. “After completion of the road, the movement of the criminals and separatist groups would stop.” BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

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Rewards for jets, helicopters will test loyalty of Myanmar military: former soldiers

Editor010 mins

A reward program offered by Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) to junta soldiers who defect with jets, helicopters and other vehicles is likely to test the loyalty of the military’s lower ranks, according to former servicemen. Earlier this month, the NUG announced that it was offering cash rewards of up to U.S. $300,000 equivalent to any soldier who destroys an army, navy or air force assault vehicle or aircraft, or up to U.S. $500,000 to anyone who defects to the opposition along with one. Naing Htoo Aung, the permanent secretary of NUG’s Defense Ministry, said at the time that the rewards program is intended to provide “guarantees in life” for those soldiers who turn against the junta. “We have learned that there are many soldiers who want to defect from their units and join the people’s forces,” he said, adding that the military vehicles are being used to “attack the public.” “We hope this announcement will encourage them to defect more. We believe the rate of defection will increase every day.” Capt. Kaung Thu Win, a military officer who joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), agreed that rank and file soldiers are likely to jump at such an opportunity, although he acknowledged that it would be difficult for them to abscond with the vehicles intact. “It could be challenging to bring aircraft or fighter jets to another location. For example, fighter jets need a [special] landing strip. The helicopters are also limited in their range, depending on their capacity. Even tanks are difficult to take long distances,” he told RFA. “It is more realistic to expect them to destroy them. And they should only receive the rewards if they can show evidence that they have destroyed the vehicles and defected.” According to the NUG announcement, soldiers are eligible for cash rewards equal to U.S. $100,000 for destroying fighter jet fuel tanks, as well as weapon factories and storage facilities. Repeated calls to junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the rewards program went unanswered. Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, a group of former military officers from Myanmar, called the offer impractical and unrealistic. “There are several measures in place that make it difficult to steal military vehicles, let alone destroy them. There are hierarchies of command that monitor the members of each unit,” he told RFA. “To be frank, this announcement is just for propaganda purposes. When the opposition forces take up arms to fight, they will do anything to defeat the enemy, regardless of whether it is right or wrong. As for whether these tactics will work or not, it depends on their purpose and the impact they have.” Capt. Lin Htet Aung said that regardless of its impact on the outcome of the conflict, the NUG’s reward offer will cause soldiers from all levels of the military to question their loyalty to the junta. “This announcement could stir up the members of elite forces. Those who are operating the vehicles will have thoughts to consider. It will also stir up distrust among the members of the military,” he said. “The military is already facing a moral crisis and losing loyalty among its members. The top ranking officers will strictly punish any infraction that occurs after this announcement.” According to Pyithu Yinkwin (People’s Embrace), a group of CDM members made up of former military personnel, nearly 3,000 soldiers have joined the CDM since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup that saw the junta seize power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) party.  Junta tanks take part in an Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2022. AFP Misuse of public property In a recent interview, NUG Defense Minister Yee Mon told RFA that the announcement of the rewards program was justified under Myanmar’s Public Property Act of 1947, which prevents against the “misuse of public property.” “The junta is currently misusing military facilities, which are public property, to wage violence against and kill the people,” he said, adding that the president of a new civilian government would put new laws into place to ensure such violations do not happen again. Yee Mon responded to critics who doubt the feasibility of NUG’s announcement by noting that “helicopters don’t need landing strips,” and suggesting “airports will be under PDF control sooner or later” to accommodate any stolen fighter jets. In the meantime, opposition forces — comprised largely of People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries — are being armed with “factory-made standard arms and IEDs that we made ourselves,” as well as weapons bought using a budget of U.S. $34 million, and others seized from junta troops. “We have enough weapons to meet the minimum requirements for the PDF forces,” he said, without providing further details. Yee Mon said that the armed opposition now numbers “between 50,000 and 100,000” soldiers from the PDF and other allied anti-junta groups formed into 259 military battalions, as well as fighting units based in 250 townships across the country. RFA was unable to independently verify the minister’s claims. “The majority of these groups are working with NUG … and we are ready to defeat the military junta,” he said. “Now we are working on the next step in terms of surrounding and controlling some towns.  The defense minister said that the NUG has no plans to negotiate with the junta, “as long as it upholds an authoritarian system and mindset.” “With regards to the future of the military, which is under its control, it is up to their soldiers to decide,” he said. “They can choose either to completely disband the military or reform it into forces that comply with the command of a civilian government. If the latter, the window for negotiations remains open.” Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Cambodian minor party leader on the run, wanted on fraud charges

Editor06 mins

The president of an unrecognized Cambodian political party who is on the run, facing an arrest warrant for forgery of documents for June local elections, is in a safe location, his lawyer told RFA Tuesday.  Critics said his charges were trumped up amid a government crackdown on the opposition. Seam Pluk, president of the National Heart Party, is in hiding in an undisclosed place, his lawyer Sam Sok Kong told RFA’s Khmer Service. His flight was revealed Monday, the same day a prominent activist fled to safety after receiving a death threat for joining street protests. Sam Sok Kong said his client is willing to appear before the court but fled because he didn’t have time to prepare for a hearing by April 25. He is waiting for the warrant to expire and the court to issue a new one. “He is planning to consult with lawyers about his legal issues and he is seeking to testify before the court. When he has a date, he will make it public so we can clarify before the court against the charge,” Sam Sok Kong said. Phnom Penh Municipal Court Investigative Judge Li Sokha on April 4 ordered police to bring Seam Pluk in for questioning over allegations of the use of fraudulent documents to register his party for local elections. If he is convicted, he could face up to three years in jail. RFA was not able to reach Seam Pluk for comment but previously he said the court’s warrant is political intimidation against non-ruling party politicians and has nothing to do with enforcing the law. Soeung Sengkaruna of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc) said Seam Pluk was targeted for political reasons, the latest in a series of such cases. “The court is being criticized for lacking independence over politically motivated cases. It is rare that politicians and conscience activists are spared. They are charged and convicted,” he told RFA. Thach Setha, the spokesperson of a small party called the Candlelight Party, told said Seam Pluk was targeted because of his previous support for Candlelight, which has recently been gaining steam. Its leaders believe it could challenge Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party in the upcoming elections. After  the Ministry of Interior banned Seam Pluk’s party, Thach Setha urged all its members to join the Candlelight Party.  “Since he supported [the Candlelight Party] he was charged. This case is politically motivated more than being about the law,” Thach Setha told RFA. RFA reported Monday that Seam Pluk joined the Candlelight party after the Ministry of the Interior refused to recognize the Cambodian National Heart party but Thanch Setha said Seam Pluk never joined. The Candlelight Party, formerly known as the Sam Rainsy Party and the Khmer Nation party, was founded in 1995. It merged with other opposition forces to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in 2012. All opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) have been targeted in a five-year-old crackdown that has sent CNRP leaders and landed scores of supporters in prison. Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017 in a move that allowed the CPP to win all 125 seats in Parliament in a July 2018 election. Sam Rainsy, 72, has lived in exile in France since 2015 and was sentenced in absentia last year to 25 years for what supporters say was a politically motivated charge of attempting to overthrow the government. CPP spokesman Sok Ey San told RFA recently that Seam Pluk received thousands of dollars from Sam Rainsy, but Seam Pluk has denied the allegation. Translate by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Russia says military drills planned with Vietnam

Editor09 mins

As fighting rages across Ukraine, Russia and Vietnam are planning to hold a joint military training exercise, Russian state media reported Tuesday, a move that analysts described as “inappropriate” and likely to “raise eyebrows” in the rest of the region. It comes amid international outrage over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the mounting civilian death toll there. It also coincides with U.S. preparations to host a May 12-13 summit in Washington with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam. Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said the initial planning meeting for the military training exercise was held virtually between the leaders of Russia’s Eastern Military District and the Vietnamese army. The two sides “agreed on the subject of the upcoming drills, specified the dates and venue for them” and “discussed issues of medical and logistic support, cultural and sports programs,” the news agency reported without giving further details. Col. Ivan Taraev, head of the International Military Cooperation Department at the Eastern Military District, was quoted as saying that the joint exercise aims “to improve practical skills of commanders and staffs in organizing combat training operations and managing units in a difficult tactical situation, as well as developing unconventional solutions when performing tasks.”  The two sides also discussed what to call the joint exercise. One of the proposed names is “Continental Alliance – 2022.” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, right, and his then-Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich, left, reviewing an honor guard in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. Shoigu was on a visit to Vietnam to boost military ties between the two countries. Credit: AP ‘Inappropriate decision’ Vietnamese media haven’t reported on the meeting, nor the proposed exercise. Vietnamese officials were not available for comment. “This is a totally inappropriate decision on Vietnam’s part,” said Carlyle Thayer, professor emeritus at the New South Wales University in Australia and a veteran Vietnam watcher. “The U.S. is hosting a special summit with Southeast Asian leaders in May,” Thayer said. “How will the Vietnamese leader be able to look Biden in the eye given the U.S. clear stance on the Ukrainian war and the Russian invasion?” “This is not how you deal with the world’s superpower,” he said. Earlier this month, Vietnam voted against a U.S.-led resolution to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Before that, Hanoi abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. General Assembly. “As Russia’s closest partner in the region, Vietnam wants to demonstrate that it still has a firm friend in Southeast Asia,” said Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “But this joint exercise is likely to raise eyebrows in the rest of the region,” Storey said. Vietnam and Russia have a long-established historical relationship that goes back to the Soviet era. Russia is Vietnam’s first strategic partner, and one of its three so-called “comprehensive strategic partners,” alongside China and India. Moscow was also Hanoi’s biggest donor until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. “Vietnam’s nuanced approach to the Russia-Ukraine war and its refusal to single out Russia’s invasion suggest introspection in Hanoi over its foreign and defense policy calculations,” wrote Hoang Thi Ha, a Vietnamese scholar at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. The Russia-led war in Ukraine “presented a hard choice for Hanoi between preserving the fundamental principle of respect for a sovereign nation’s independence and territorial integrity and maintaining its good relations with Russia — a key arms supplier and a major oil and gas exploration partner in the South China Sea,” Ha said. Political message That explains Vietnam’s moves but there are distinctions between casting votes at the U.N. and holding joint military activities. The latter would send a wrong message about Vietnam’s intention to work with the West and raise its profile among the international community, analysts said. In particular, the past decade or more has seen a notable growth in ties between the U.S. and Vietnam, which share a concern over China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea. Details of the proposed Russia-Vietnam exercise have yet to be made public, and already some observers are expressing doubts that it would take place. A Vietnamese analyst who wished to stay anonymous as he is not authorized to speak to foreign media said the Russian side announced similar exercises in the past which didn’t materialize. The Press Service of Russia’s Eastern Military District also said back in 2015 that the first bilateral military drill between Russia and Vietnam would take place in 2016 in Vietnamese territory. The supposed drill was rescheduled to 2017 but in the end didn’t happen at all. Vietnam has, however, taken part in a number of multilateral military exercises with Russia. The latest was the first joint naval exercise between Russia and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last December. The Eastern Military District, headquartered in Khabarovsk, is one of the five operational strategic commands of the Russian Armed Forces, responsible for the Far East region of the country. The district was formed by a presidential decree, signed by the then-President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010.

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Junta pledges ‘year of peace’ after Thingyan, but opposition says fight just starting

Editor015 mins

Junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing marked the end of Thingyan on Sunday by declaring the Myanmar New Year a “year of peace,” even as the military continued an offensive in nine of the country’s 14 regions and armed resistance groups vowed to fight harder than ever. “This year is the eve of the diamond anniversary of our Independence Day. Therefore, we must all strive hard to fully enjoy the fruits of independence and the essence of democracy,” the coup leader said in an address in the capital Naypyidaw at the close of the April 13-16 New Year Water Festival. “That’s why we are doing our best to make this year a ‘year of peace’ and bring stability to the whole country.” Min Aung Hlaing did not elaborate on how the military regime, which rights groups say has killed at least 1,769 civilians since its Feb. 1, 2021, coup, intends to carry out his vision. Thingyan — normally a bustling and jubilant holiday — was eerily silent in Myanmar’s main cities of Yangon and Mandalay, as residents chose to boycott junta-led festivities and heed warnings by armed opposition forces that the areas could become the target of attacks. An RFA investigation found that authorities arrested nearly 100 people in the two cities, as well as Myawaddy township in Kayin state, in the first 10 days of April as part of a pre-Thingyan crackdown. Some of those detained had joined anti-coup protests, while others were accused of being members of Yangon-based anti-junta paramilitary groups, including the People’s Defense Force (PDF). Meanwhile, armed clashes between the military and joint anti-junta forces were in full swing through the New Year in Kayin, Kachin, Kayah, Chin and Rakhine states, as well as in Sagaing, Magway, Bago and Yangon regions, according to Karenni National Progressive Party. Khoo Daniel, first secretary of the ethnic Karenni National Progressive Party, predicted that the fighting will get even worse in the new year with an expansion of war zones. “The military situation is going to get worse as each and every group is preparing in their own way,” he said. “The [shadow National Unity Government (NUG)] itself has openly said it will launch military operations everywhere. So, it’s likely to be very tense.” In 2021, the clashes were relatively minimal, he said, because there was “a lack of unity among the armed groups to fight the military junta.” But Khoo Daniel said that the nation’s politicians and public now have a better understanding of why ethnic groups have taken up arms against the military and are more likely to throw their support behind them. People’s Defense Force fighters in Kayah state’s Loikaw township, in an undated photo. Credit: Loikaw PDF ‘Sacrificing’ for democracy One group that has benefitted from such an alliance is the Karen National People’s Party in Kayin state, which has linked up with the Karen National Defense Force (KNDF) paramilitaries and other PDF units in neighboring Kayah and Southern Shan states to fight the military. A member of the KNDF, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said the group hopes to open new fronts in the new year. “As resistance fighters, our focus this New Year is to fight the junta together,” she said. “We hope to open several fronts across the whole country.” The Free Tiger Rangers, a group loyal to the NUG’s Ministry of Defense that is attacking junta targets in Yangon, also said in a recent statement that its New Year resolution is to “defeat the military.” Observers told RFA they expect the military to heavily crack down on the armed resistance this year if it hopes to find a solution to the country’s political crisis and hold a general election in 2023. “What is special about this New Year is that we are seeing a lot of intense fighting between the military forces and the PDFs, as well as the ethnic armed groups. The clashes have intensified,” said Myanmar-based military analyst Than Soe Naing. “I think both sides are hoping for a decisive situation and the armed conflict will likely intensify in the mountains, in the plains, and in the cities — in both rural and urban areas.” Even if the military achieves its objectives, it is unlikely the country will be in any sort of state to hold a general election next year, he added. Hein Thiha, a former high school teacher who has worked as a farmer since joining the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement, told RFA that the people of Myanmar showed how much they want a return to democracy by abstaining from celebrations for Thingyan, which he called the nation’s “most cherished festival.” “The world can now see how our people are willing to sacrifice in the hope that democracy will one day flourish again,” he said. NUG acting President Duwa Lashi La, meanwhile, vowed in a New Year’s address on Saturday to reclaim territory under military control and said he would do everything in his power to free the people from junta rule. “The NUG has redoubled its efforts to build a peaceful federal democratic union and to provide people with the services they need with help from international organizations,” he said. “I can see a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, and we will make the people’s dream come true.” The NUG said in a statement over the weekend that it is affiliated with 354 PDF units fighting the military and that more than 100 of them are working under its control. It said PDF and armed ethnic groups are now in control of “nearly 50 percent of the country.” Family members of inmates wait in front of Insein Prison in Yangon, April 18, 2022. Credit: RFA Prisoner amnesty The end of Thingyan also saw the junta release more than 1,600 inmates from jail in a general amnesty on Monday, none of whom were political prisoners or journalists, according to observers and family members. The junta pardoned 1,619 people, most…

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