Category: ASEAN

Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s verdict to sentence a 70-year-old activist affiliated with a dissolved political opposition party to jail for seven years for treason, the man’s lawyer and relatives said. Kong Sam An was arrested in September 2020 for an alleged plan to bring Sam Rainsy, the exiled former leader of the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), back to Cambodia. The Tboung Khmum Provincial Court handed down the original sentence to Kong Sam An, who was the CNRP chief for Memot district. He has been detained in Prey Sar Prison in Phnom Penh since 2020. Critics said Kong Sam An’s sentence is part of the government’s efforts to stifle opposition before local elections on June 5 and the general election in 2023 to ensure that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s party remains in power. Sam Sok Kong, the activist’s lawyer, called the Supreme Court’s verdict unjust. “I am very saddened by the Supreme Court’s decision,” he told RFA about presiding Judge Kong Srim’s ruling. Kong Sam An’s daughter, Kong Moly, told RFA that her father did not commit any crime. She called for the charge against him to be dropped. “I urge the government to talk and don’t regard us as enemy,” she said. “He is a gentle man, [and] he shouldn’t be unjustly detained. Please release him.” In April, Eap Suor, Kong Sam An’s wife, visited her husband in prison and later told RFA that he is very ill from confinement in a crowded prison cell and from malnourishment. Soeung Sengkaruna, spokesman for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc), said the court’s verdict was politically motivated intended to persecute the opposition party. “Justice has not been given to Kong Sam An,” Soeung Sengkaruna told RFA. “NGOs urge the ruling party, which is leading the government, to decrease the tension to avoid international criticism and open up the political space and human rights.” The Tboung Khmum Provincial Court sentenced six other activists along with Kong Sam An on treason charges. They all received sentences of five to seven years in jail in February 2020, though some were released on bail, while others fled. The Supreme Court banned the CNRP in November 2017 for its supposed role in an alleged plot to overthrow the government. Key party figures were arrested as others fled into exile as part of a crackdown by Cambodia Hun Sen on his political opposition, NGOs and independent media outlets. Hun Sen’s CPP went on to win all 125 seats in the country’s July 2018 general election. Since then, the government has continued to target activists associated with the CNRP, arresting them on arbitrary charges and placing them in pretrial detention in overcrowded jails with harsh conditions. Meanwhile, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court postponed the hearing of former CNRP leader Kem Sokha, who is accused of conspiring with a foreign power to topple the government, for one week. The new date for the hearing is May 11. The former CNRP president was arrested in September 2017 over an alleged plot purportedly backed by the United States to overthrow the government of Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years. The country’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP two months after his arrest. Kem Sokha’s trial resumed in January after two years of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge Koy Sao granted the delay based on a request from government attorney Cheng Penghap, who cited a previous business commitment as the reason. NGOs criticized the court’s move saying the postponement would also delay the deliverance of justice to Kem Sokha. Soeung Sengkaruna of Adhoc said the government lawyer did not provide details about his request for the delay, and that if the trial continues to drag on, Kem Sokha will not be able to participate in the upcoming commune elections. “The delay has caused concerns over his right to get justice and political rights,” he said. “It will affect Kem Sokha’s freedom as a politician.” Am San Ath of the Cambodian rights group Licadho urged a political solution though national reconciliation. “If politicians have goodwill, then they can seek a way out of this deadlock to end political crisis for the sake of the country,” he said. Translated by Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Capt. Khin Pa Pa Tun, a nursing captain at the Myanmar Military Medical Academy, and her husband, retired doctor Capt. Thin Aung Htwe, left the military, took their two children and fled to an opposition-controlled area of Myanmar recently to join the pro-democracy movement.  Thin Aung Htwe retired from a 500-bed military hospital in Meikhtila in 2009 because he no longer liked the military. The couple spoke to Khin Maung Soe of RFA’s Myanmar Service from an undisclosed about their motives and experiences in the army that overthrew their country’s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021. RFA:  Please tell me why you joined the anti-junta movement? Khin Pa Pa Tun: I was serving in the hospital when the coup was staged. I knew that the coup was wrong but I had to continue my work because of family reasons.  RFA: Can you further explain why you left now, over a year after the coup? Khin Pa Pa Tun: The reasons they gave for the coup were not logical and I was not happy about the violence in the crackdowns and the atrocities that followed. I couldn’t help shedding tears every time I saw in the news young protesters beaten up and killed. But I had to carry on with my work because it was not easy to leave and I have a family to think of. Finally, I couldn’t go on working for them. RFA: How do you see the current situation of the country? Khin Pa Pa Tun: I have to say our country has become a failed state. Everything is falling apart in the health, education and economic sectors.  People are being arrested unlawfully and there have been extrajudicial killings.  RFA: How many other people like you are in the military? Khin Pa Pa Tun: There is a lot of discrimination in the army. Lieutenant Colonels and higher ranks have a lot more benefits than officers below them. They have become ‘specially privileged’ people. They have abused authority for their own benefit and we in the lower ranks are being used as their pawns. RFA: How many officers like you think the junta is doing wrong? Khin Pa Pa Tun: There are many who pretend not to see the reality and there are some who keep on working in the interests of their families. RFA: Who do you think are greater in number: those who oppose or those who support the junta? Khin Pa Pa Tun: I think there are more officers who do not like the junta than those who support them, though they do not express their views openly. RFA: What are your future plans? Khin Pa Pa Tun: I feel a lot better now as my conscience is clear. I was quite unhappy then wearing that uniform because my conscience was not clear. RFA: Why do you think the coup was launched and what do you think of the reasons they gave for their act? Khin Pa Pa Tun: I think it was carried out in the interests of one person. And the excuse they gave was not logical. I have been in the military service for over 20 years and I have never voted in elections. I realized they fixed votes in advance because officers added in the lists names of those who are not even in the camp. That’s why I cannot accept the (junta’s) excuse that the voting lists were erratic. I know their wrongdoings.  RFA: You must have heard about the burning of villages and the killings of innocent people in several regions and states. Who do you think is responsible for all these atrocities? Khin Pa Pa Tun: It’s the leaders who gave the orders as well as those who committed the acts. The perpetrators had a choice. They didn’t have to follow the orders to the letter. RFA… Do you have anything to say to your fellow officers and colleagues? Khin Pa Pa Tun: Among the Four Oaths we have to say aloud at roll call every morning, there’s one that says ‘we will always be loyal to the country and our citizens’. I refused to say that aloud later because my conscience was not clear. I don’t think we should be saying this oath if we are wearing these uniforms and serving these leaders.  RFA: Can you tell me why you left the military service? Thin Aung Htwe: There are many reasons I left the service. To be honest, I am more interested in the politics of the country. I always ask myself why our country is so poor and backward. Is it because our people are not intelligent or is it because of the system? Our country has been suffering for the past 70 years because of mismanagement of a group of people. These people have not managed well. Frankly speaking they do not have the management skills. They don’t have the education or experience or goodwill for the country. They only made us work for them and their families. Our education levels have gone down so badly. Our universities and colleges were once among the top in Southeast Asia but now we, even doctors, cannot get a proper job in a country like Singapore. Our local degrees are useless and we need more college degrees to be able to work there. We got into this situation due to mismanagement. RFA: What would you like to say about your decision to leave the military? Thin Aung Htwe: To speak frankly, we are very happy now. First, because we can now participate in the struggle for democracy, and second, because of the knowledge that we are no longer on the opposite side of the people. We will do whatever we can to help the people’s cause. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. 

Myanmar freelance photojournalist Ta Mwe, a pen name he uses to protect his security, the pseudonym named for his security, has won awards for his news photos of the crackdown on anti-military junta protests following the Feb 2021 coup that ousted the country’s elected civilian government. To mark World Press Freedom Day,  Ye Kaung Myint Maung of RFA’s Myanmar Service spoke to Ta Mwe about his work on the conflict. RFA: Can you tell me about the award you won? Ta Mwe: I have won the jury’s choice for honorable mention in Southeast Asia and Oceania category of the World Press Photo awards. (I submitted) a series of 10  black and white photos about the Spring Revolution in Myanmar. My photo series covers the scenes from the early days of protests after the military coup in 2021. The contestants in this category are required to submit their ten best photos from their work that depict the story. So I picked my ten best photos taken in four months, from February to May of last year. RFA: Can you tell me about your career as a photographer? Ta Mwe: I started my career in photo journalism as a citizen journalist. Around 2007, I started taking photos using my phone and uploaded them anonymously to Burmese language blogs on Blogspot.com. Around 2011, I started working as a full-time photographer. I had worked as a full-time photojournalist for a local weekly journal, then became a freelance photographer.    RFA: What can you tell me about the situation of press freedom in Myanmar at the moment? Ta Mwe: The situation has become extremely difficult for journalists now. When we cover news activities on the ground, we first need to find a route to flee from the scene and escape arrest, before we start doing anything like taking photos or interviewing people. We have to figure out how to ensure our own security before we hit the ground. As I have covered flash mob protests in Yangon, I have planned carefully which streets to run away on as soon as I finish taking photos. It has become very challenging. When I grab a taxi on my way back from the coverage, I don’t do it in the streets close to the scene. I walk a few blocks to hide the traces of my identity before I take a taxi. Before, there were several news media and several photographers working at the scene. They now have either been arrested or gone into hiding. RFA: We have seen that informants for the military authorities are everywhere. How risky it is for the journalists to do their jobs under those circumstances? Ta Mwe: As when I was covering the flash mob protest in Yangon, I have to be at the scene before the activities happen and check the surroundings if there are authorities in plain clothes near the scene. There could be informants at the scene. If I think it is not safe to cover the activities closely, I have to take photos from a distance. It has become very unpredictable. I think the chances of spotting the informers are 50/50. Sometimes, I can easily distinguish the informants from the crowd because of their appearance. But other times, I cannot distinguish them. I hear that sometimes they suddenly come out of a parked car to arrest people. It has become very risky for me to do the job.   RFA: Now you are at a safe location. What do you expect to do to continue your work? Ta Mwe: I am now at a safe location. But I will keep doing the journalism work by recording the happenings in Myanmar and disseminating them to the world, because we are witnessing a historic turning point in Myanmar. For someone of my age, it is very significant. I will keep covering the news happening in Myanmar from a distance. If it is possible, I will go and cover it on the ground.   RFA: What kind of message do you want to pass to concerned leaders around the world, working to restore peace and democracy in Myanmar? Ta Mwe: As a journalist, I am risking my life to report news about Myanmar so that the concerned leaders around the world can make the right decisions. It is their job to make an informed decision. I believe it is my job to send out the correct information, regardless of the risks. I hope they will make the right and unbiased decision based on the information received from us. I also would like to implore them to work harder to secure the release of journalists in detention. Without journalists working on the ground, the people in Myanmar will be under an information blackout, and concerned leaders around the world will have many blind spots in their decision making and they will not make the best decision. I would like to appeal them to try hard for the release of journalists in prison and support those who are in hiding or evading arrest.

A pro-junta militia that recently claimed responsibility for the slaying of opposition party members is now openly threatening to kill journalists and their families over content the military regime has dubbed “destructive to the state.” Last week, eight members of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) and their supporters were found brutally murdered with badges or cards on their bodies displaying the insignia of a group calling itself the Mandalay branch of the Thway Thauk, or “Blood Comrades,” militia. A social media post on the group’s Telegram account last week also called for the deaths of reporters and editors working for news outlets in Myanmar including The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and The Irrawaddy Times — as well as their family members. Khit Thit media editor Tha Lun Zaung Htet, who was among those named in the Thway Thauk’s list, said he believes the group is acting on the orders of authorities, despite junta claims to the contrary. “This group is surely linked to the military because the victims were taken away by police or military vehicles and the bodies were later dropped by these same vehicles,” he said, adding that he is in possession of “photos taken by witnesses.” Photographs obtained by RFA show leaflets or cards bearing the group’s logo of crossed swords over the image of a man from Myanmar’s royal era left near the victim’s bodies — the same logo seen posted on the social media accounts of junta supporters and nationalist activists. Junta deputy minister of information, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, said during a press conference last week in Naypyidaw that the military has no ties to the Thway Thauk, adding that the only pro-junta militias active in the country formed independent of the regime in rural areas. At the same press conference, he accused seven media outlets of being “destructive elements” in Myanmar, including RFA, Khit Thit Media, The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, DVB and The Irrawaddy Times. “Ten local and foreign media outlets wrote around 55 inciting reports meant to disrupt Thingyan,” he said, referring to Myanmar’s April 13-16 New Year Water Festival, he said. “We saw seven media outlets reporting possible bomb threats during the week of Thingyan, and also publishing articles telling people not to participate in the festivities as a way of protest.” 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). ‘A new low’ for press freedom Days ahead of International Press Freedom Day, veteran journalist Myint Kyaw said that the junta’s calling out of media outlets, combined with threats by groups such as the Thway Thauk, constituted “a new low” for Myanmar’s media environment. “We can say that [the junta and the Thway Thauk] have the same views because they think the media supports the opposition,” he said. “It’s not new that they would accuse us of such things when they think we are writing against them. But it’s unprecedented for them to threaten us and our families.” Sein Win, executive editor of Mizzima News, said the military and pro-junta armed groups are targeting and suppressing the media and journalists who report negatively on the junta, and expects the situation to continue while the military remains in power. “They don’t want people who criticize the military, who seek the truth or who value freedom of the press,” he said. “People will be arrested, imprisoned, and even killed. So long as there are military coups, democracy will remain dormant. Evil will reign if democracy cannot be given space to thrive.” An observer of the media, who declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, warned that a lack of legal protection for journalists in Myanmar will cripple the country’s development. “In short, freedom of the media is not protected in accordance with the law or international standards in current times,” they said. “Some are threatened, some are arrested, and some have died. … Journalists are seen as criminals and are constantly threatened. We are going back to the Dark Ages.” More than 50 journalists have been arrested on charges under Myanmar’s Penal Code since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, rather than for violations of the country’s media law. The business licenses of outlets including Myanmar Now, DVB, Khit Thit, 7 Days, Mizzima, Myitkyina Journal, The 74 Media, Tachileik News Agency, Delta News Agency, Zeyar Times and Kamaryut Media were revoked shortly after the military seized power. Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Myanmar 140th out of 180 countries in its annual Press Freedom Index and says the media environment is now at a danger level following last year’s coup. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has urged Myanmar’s military junta to allow the ASEAN special envoy to visit and meet deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. In a phone call Sunday, Hun Sen called on Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to allow the meetings and take other steps to implement a five-point agreement the junta leader reached between ASEAN’s foreign ministers in April 2021. Cambodia is the current rotating chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Hun Sen visited Myanmar in January and met Min Aung Hlaing and urged steps to resolve the political crisis sparked by his Feb. 1, 2021 coup. Hun Sen requested “further cooperation in facilitating the second visit to Myanmar by the ASEAN Chair’s Special Envoy special chairs envoy, possibly at the end of May,” the ministry said. “He reemphasized the importance of access for the Special Envoy to meet all parties concerned in Myanmar, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint, for creating (a) conducive environment to start an inclusive political dialogue,” the ministry said. Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint are in detention and undergoing trial in military courts for what supporters say are politically motivated charges. The Cambodian leader also urged the junta chief to release political prisoners, “avoid excessive use of force in maintaining law and order” and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance particularly in conflict areas, it said. There was no immediate comment from Myanmar, but the Cambodian statement said Min Aung Hlaing had “pledged to facilitate meetings with other parties concerned.” Hun Sen is set to attend a May 12-13 summit between the U.S. and leaders of ASEAN, where the White House is keen to advance its vision of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific and discuss efforts to counter Chinese influence, but the Myanmar conflict is likely to be discussed. No progress has been made on the five-point agreement, which included an end to violence, the provision of humanitarian assistance, an ASEAN envoy’s appointment, all-party dialogue, and mediation by the envoy. Min Aung Hlaing has escalated the military’s attack on the people of Myanmar, and continued to target and detain political opponent. Nearly 1,800 people, mostly pro-democracy protesters, have been killed by Burmese security forces, since the coup.