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Around 6,000 villagers forced to flee township in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

Editor1 year ago04 mins

Myanmar’s military is carrying on its campaign to seize control of townships in northern Sagaing region, torching buildings and forcing around 6,000 locals to flee Khin-U, residents told RFA on Monday. An official of Khin-U township’s Right Information Group told RFA that a total of 15 villages in the township were raided by two military columns. The man, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said nearly 3,500 residents in the northeastern part and 2,500 in the southwestern part of Khin-U township abandoned their homes ahead of the military raids. A resident of Khin-U’s Ah Lel Sho village told RFA troops killed livestock and captured locals. “Four cows and two pigs were slaughtered, and five people were arrested. I think they have to carry the packs. Three people were in their 20s and two in their 60s,” said the local who declined to be named for fear of reprisals. “Now, the junta troops are burning down Yauk Thwar Aing village to the south of Ah Lel Sho. I can see the smoke in the distance but I can’t get close because of the troops.” Residents of Chan Thar Kone village said a 60-year-old man, Than Win, was shot and injured while he bumped into a military junta column on July 1. Meanwhile, residents of neighboring Shwebo township said troops shot dead two local men. They said the bodies were discovered after a column of around 40 troops withdrew on Saturday. “Two people were shot dead near a rest tent in Kawt village in the eastern part of Shwebo. That was the route the junta took when it carried out its offensive,” said a local who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, “It’s not yet known who they were or where they were from. The bodies were still there on Monday morning.” RFA called the junta spokesperson for Sagaing region, Saw Naing, on Sunday and Monday regarding the arson attacks and killings, but he did not answer. More than 1.5 million civilians have fled their homes since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to the United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), It said around 765,200 were from Sagaing region. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Hong Kong social activists brave threat of arrest to keep speaking out

Editor1 year ago08 mins

Three years after Beijing imposed a law criminalized public dissent and peaceful political opposition in Hong Kong, a dwindling band of social activists say they’re not giving up just yet. Opposition party leader Chan Po-ying, who chairs the League of Social Democrats, was recently detained by police on a downtown shopping street carrying an electric candle and a yellow paper flower on the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, commemoration of which is now banned in Hong Kong. Undeterred, she showed up a few days later outside the headquarters of HSBC Bank, protesting the closure of the party’s bank accounts — something that is increasingly happening to opposition parties and activists in the city since the crackdown on dissent began. Chan’s husband Leung Kwok-hung is one of 47 political activists and former lawmakers currently standing trial for “subversion” after they organized a democratic primary in the summer of 2020. Police also forced Chan and fellow women’s rights and labor activists to call off a march on International Women’s Day in March, in a move she told reporters was due to pressure from Hong Kong’s national security police. So why does she keep going, when so many have already left? “Why do I still want to stay in Hong Kong?,” she said. “It’s not to prove how brave we are, but because we still hope to speak out when we see political, economic, social or intellectual injustice in Hong Kong.” “Dissent must be voiced, regardless of how much room is allowed for it,” she said. “There are still some people willing to speak out, even in such a high-pressure situation.” “It also inspires other people.” Stalking street stalls Still, even a simple plan of action like handing out leaflets on the street is now fraught with difficulty. “Sometimes we set up a street stall with just four of us, and there are sometimes more than 10 plainclothes police standing right next to us,” Chan said. “They may try to charge us under laws they haven’t used before, such as illegal fundraising.” Police officers take away a member of the public on the eve 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square massacre in Hong Kong, June 3, 2023. Credit: Louise Delmotte/AP And it’s not just the national security law they need to watch out for. “The easiest way for them to prosecute us is under colonial-era sedition laws, because they can charge us for posting any opinion online that the authorities don’t like,” she said. “They are gradually starting to use a whole variety of laws to curb the freedoms granted to us in the Basic Law,” Chan said, referencing the promises in Hong Kong’s mini-constitution that the city would retain its freedoms of press, expression and association beyond the 1997 handover to Chinese rule. What’s more, the League is now having huge difficulties funding its activities in the face of bank account closures, and can only hope that its members will work voluntarily to further the party’s agenda. ‘Destroying a system’ Former pro-democracy District Council member Chiu Yan Loy has also decided to stay for the time being, to serve his local community. “District councilors spend 90% of their working hours on issues that have little to do with politics, but which serve important social service functions,” Chiu said. Until the authorities recently rewrote the electoral rulebook to ensure that there would be no repeat of the landslide victory seen in the 2019 district elections, which was seen as a huge show of public support for the 2019 protest movement and its goals, which included fully democratic elections. University students observe a minute of silence to mourn those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, in front of the “Pillar of Shame” statue at the University of Hong Kong, June 4, 2021. Credit: Kin Cheung/AP “When you destroy a system, but don’t replace it with a new system, this will only create more social problems that will start occurring in Hong Kong,” he said, adding that he is putting his own money into community-based projects to try to address these issues. “These services don’t involve the sort of politics that the government often talks about, so there is still room to keep doing this work,” he said, despite being in a financially precarious situation. Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said that while the risks have risen, Hong Kong’s activists have yet to be totally silenced. “Of course there are far more obstacles under the national security law than before,” he said. “The so-called red lines are constantly moving, and there are a lot of people watching and reporting people.” “It’s still OK to talk about issues affecting people’s livelihoods,” Lau said. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Meta’s oversight board orders removal of Hun Sen’s Facebook video

Editor1 year ago09 mins

Meta’s oversight board on Thursday ordered the removal of a video posted on Facebook by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in which he threatened violence against his political opponents and called for an immediate suspension of his accounts. The ruling, reversing a previous decision, marks the first time the oversight board has instructed Meta to shut down an account run by a government leader, and suggests that the company may be shifting its stance on how it deals with content posted by users who have otherwise enjoyed impunity in what they say on its site. Hun Sen didn’t immediately comment on the ruling, but called on his social media followers to switch to rival platforms TikTok or Telegram. The Cambodian leader, who has ruled the country since 1985, has regularly taken to social media to deliver lengthy tirades against his opponents, warning them of consequences if they defy him. Such threats are often acted on by judicial authorities, security forces, and supporters of his ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP. On Thursday, Meta’s oversight board of independent experts said that in one such speech, live streamed to Facebook in January, Hun Sen ranted about claims that the CPP had stolen votes in prior elections, offering his accusers the choice of “legal action or a club.” He warned that he would send thugs to beat them up or arrest them in the middle of the night. While he did not name the target of his ire, Hun Sen’s “stolen votes” comment was widely viewed as a reference to opposition Candlelight Party Vice President Son Chhay, who was convicted of defamation last year after saying that local commune elections in Cambodia had been marred by irregularities. Intimidating opponents Cambodia is preparing to hold a general election on July 23, but observers say that the ballot is likely to be neither free nor fair. Image grab of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s newly created TikTok page, following Meta’s oversight board on Thursday reversed the social media company’s decision to leave up a video Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen posted to Facebook threatening violence against his political opponents and called for an immediate suspension of his accounts. Credit: TikTok/@hunsenofcambodia Meta initially reviewed the speech after receiving complaints that it violated Facebook’s guidelines on inciting violence, but decided to leave the content up because of its news value. However, the company referred the content to its oversight board, saying it had created “tension between our values of safety and voice.” On further review, the board found that the content had indeed run afoul of Facebook’s guidelines prohibiting incitement, citing “the severity of the violation, Hun Sen’s history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats.” The board ordered that the video be removed, and called on Meta to suspend Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts for six months. While the call for the account suspension is non-binding, Meta is obligated to take down the video and issue a statement to the public on its reasons for doing so within 60 days. ‘Finally called out’ Hun Sen has yet to comment on the oversight board’s ruling, but on Thursday, he posted a message to his Facebook page calling on his 14 million followers to switch to the Chinese video platform TikTok for future updates. Hun Sen’s TikTok account, set up on Wednesday, currently has nearly 22,000 followers. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany wave during the Southeast Asian Games Closing Ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia May 17, 2023. Credit: Cindy Liu/Reuters Later, the prime minister wrote on the Dubai-based Telegram messaging app that he had found Telegram “more useful than Facebook” and told his 85,000 followers on the app that he will be posting content there going forward. “This will allow me to easily communicate with people while I am traveling to countries where Facebook is not permitted,” he said. “I will keep my Facebook account but I will suspend using it so that people can get information from me through Telegram.” Hun Sen said his newly created TikTok account would allow him “to more easily connect with the youth.” ‘The stakes are high’ Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, issued a statement on Thursday dismissing Hun Sen’s reason for leaving Facebook. “Hun Sen is finally being called out for using social media to incite violence against his opponents, and he apparently doesn’t like it one bit,” he said. “That’s the real story about why he’s running away from Facebook, which dared to hold him accountable to their community standards, and into the arms of Telegram, the favored social media messaging system of despots ranging from Russia to Myanmar.” Robertson said it was high time for tech companies such as Meta to confront world leaders who violate human rights on their platforms. “The stakes are high because plenty of real world harm is caused when an authoritarian uses social media to incite violence — as we have already seen far too many times in Cambodia,” he said. Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Myanmar military arrests 10 workers for garment factory strikes

Editor1 year ago04 mins

Myanmar’s junta authorities have arrested 10 workers from Yangon region for incitement to riot, state-controlled newspapers reported Thursday. Reports said two members of the outlawed Action Labor Rights group were arrested along with workers from two garment factories between June 14 and 17. The Action Labor Rights members were identified as Thandar Soe Lin and Pyoe Myat Thin. The workers came from Shwepyitha township’s Hosheng Myanmar garment factory and Sun Apparel Myanmar in Hlaingtharya township. The factory workers were fired and arrested for taking the lead in demanding a 17% pay rise to the equivalent of U.S.$2.70 a day. An Action Labor Rights union official, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, told RFA the arrests of workers on political charges when they were only calling for better pay is a violation of labor rights. “These workers were not doing anything political, and they were demanding their rights because the wages are low,” the official said. “Junta arrests of protesters demanding their rights is a violation of the rights of weak grassroots workers, and protects oppressive employers.” Newspapers reported that two more union members, Thuzar – who goes by one name – and Thurein Aung have gone into hiding and authorities are trying to find and arrest them. Thuzar is accused of inciting workers to riot and organizing a protest at the two factories on June 12 and 13. The union official told RFA the two fugitives do not plan to leave Myanmar. Action Labor Rights is a Yangon-based union that has been calling for protection of the rights of workers who have been suffering from various problems since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup. Another trade union leader, who also declined to be named, said the junta had already clamped down on other trade unions. “The workers were charged with Article 505 only. But those who are part of groups declared to be illegal organizations are charged with Article 17 (1),” he said, referring to a law on membership of illegal groups that carries a maximum three year prison sentence. “Ït becomes alarming to the other [unions]. It hits many birds with one stone.” On March 1, 2021, a month after the military coup, the junta’s Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population declared 16 trade unions and organizations active in labor issues to be illegal groups. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Myanmar junta uses Telegram as ‘military intelligence’ to arrest online critics

Editor1 year ago010 mins

Telegram is becoming the messaging platform of choice for fans of Myanmar’s junta, who are using it to report on critics – some of whom have gotten arrested or even killed. For example, actress Poe Kyar Phyu Khin recently posted a video entitled “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Our True Leader)” to the TikTok social media platform ahead of the jailed former state counselor’s June 19 birthday, prompting several users to post photos of themselves bedecked in flowers and express their best wishes. Incensed by the post, supporters of the military junta – which took control of the country in a February 2021 coup – took toTelegram to demand that Phyu Khin and those who responded to her be arrested. On the night of Suu Kyi’s birthday, junta security personnel showed up at the door of Phyu Khin’s home in Yangon and took her into custody. Pro-junta media reported the arrest and said that some 50 people had been detained that week alone for “sedition and incitement.” This is the new reality in post-coup Myanmar, where backers of the military regime regularly scour the internet for any posts they deem critical of the junta before using Telegram to report them to the authorities, activists say. Telegram has become a “form of military intelligence,” said Yangon-based protest leader Nang Lin. “It may look like ordinary citizens are reporting people who oppose the military, but that’s not true,” he said. “It’s the work of their informers. It’s one of the junta’s intelligence mechanisms. In other words, it’s just one of many attempts designed to instill fear in the people.” ‘Online weapon’ In a similar incident, rapper Byu Har was arrested on May 24, just days after being featured on pro-military Telegram channels for a video he published on social media in which he complained about electricity shortages and said that life was better under the democratically elected government that the military toppled. Pro-junta Telegram channels published a photo of hip hop singer Byu Har in handcuffs after he was arrested and allegedly beaten by military authorities on May 25, 2023, Credit: Myanmar Hard Talk Telegram Additionally, authorities arrested journalist Kyaw Min Swe, actress May Pa Chi, and other well-known personalities after pro-junta Telegram channels posted information about them changing their Facebook profiles to black to mourn the more than 170 people – including women and children – killed in a military airstrike on Sagaing region’s Pazi Gyi village in April. “Military lobbyists and informers go through these comments and … report the owners of the accounts to Han Nyein Oo, who is a major pro-junta informer on Telegram,” said an activist in Yangon, who declined to be named out of fear of reprisal. “Then, because of a small comment, the poster and their families are in trouble.” London-based rights group Fortify Rights also recently reported on the junta’s use of Telegram as an “online weapon” against its critics. “We can say that they are increasingly using Telegram channels as an online weapon as one of various ways of instilling fear in the people so that they dare not speak out,” the group said in a statement. RFA sought comment from Telegram’s press team but was forwarded to an automated answering system, which said that the company “respects users’ personal information and freedom of speech, and protects human rights, such as the right to assembly.” The answering system noted that Telegram “plays an important role in democratic movements around the world,” including in Iran, Russia, Belarus, Hong Kong and Myanmar. The founder of the Telegram channel is Russian-born Pavel Durov. In 2014, he was forced to leave the country and move to Saint Kitts and Nevis, a small Caribbean island nation, because he refused to hand over the personal information of Ukrainian users to Russian security services during the Crimea crisis in Ukraine. Myanmar authorities arrested journalist Kyaw Min Swe [left] and actress May Pa Chi after pro-junta Telegram channels posted information about them changing their Facebook profiles to black to mourn Pazi Gyi victims in April. Credit: RFA and Facebook Telegram headquarters is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun regarding the regime’s use of pro-military Telegram accounts to arrest people went unanswered Wednesday. Arrests violate constitution Thein Tun Oo, the executive director of the Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, which is made up of former military officers, told RFA that claims the junta uses Telegram to track down its critics are “delusional.” “If you feel insecure about Telegram, just don’t use it,” he said, adding that “such problems” are part of the risk of using the app. But a lawyer in Yangon, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns, told RFA that even if the junta isn’t gathering information about its opponents on Telegram, arresting and prosecuting someone for posting their opinions on social media is a blatant violation of the law in Myanmar. “It’s not a crime to post birthday wishes for someone on Facebook, whether it’s for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi or anyone else,” he said. “These arrests are in violation of provisions protecting citizens’ rights in the [military-drafted] 2008 constitution.” Pro-junta newspapers often state that action will be taken against anyone who knowingly or unknowingly promotes or supports Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw made up of deposed lawmakers, and any related organization under the country’s Counter-terrorism Act, Electronic Communications Law, and other legislation. According to a list compiled by RFA based on junta reports, at least 1,100 people have been arrested and prosecuted for voicing criticism of the junta on social media or sharing such posts by others since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat. Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Monk killed in Myanmar junta air raid on Sagaing region monastery

Editor1 year ago03 mins

Junta air raids on two Sagaing region villages killed 12 civilians including a monk, locals told RFA Wednesday. They said 11 people from Pale township’s Nyaung Kone and one from Pi Tauk Kone village died in Tuesday’s attack. A school teacher from Nyaung Kone, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, told RFA the air force dropped three 500-pound bombs around the village monastery, killing one monk and 10 locals. “It happened when I was teaching children at school,” the teacher said. “I used to hear the plane approaching but this time I didn’t hear it until the bomb exploded. The bomb’s fragments and dust flew towards our school. Some people were already dead when I arrived at the scene of the explosions. Some are injured and receiving emergency medical treatment.” The monk was named as 55-year-old Kay Mar. Six men and two women, aged between 41 and 70, died on the spot. Four of the dead were relatives of the monk. An 18-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man were critically injured and died in Pale Township Hospital on Tuesday night. All the bodies were cremated on Tuesday night. Residents said six more people were injured and receiving treatment in the village. The aftermath of a junta airstrike on Nyaung Kone village, Pale township, Sagaing region Jun 27, 2023. Credit: Pale township People’s Defense Force A member of the People’s Administration Group of Pale township said that the junta attacked the village with Russian-made Yakovlev Yak-130 jet, destroying the monastery and 13 houses. Locals said a woman died and another was injured in a separate air raid on Pi Tauk Kone village on Tuesday night. The names and the ages of the dead and injured are not yet known because it is difficult to contact Pi Tauk Kone by phone. RFA called Sagaing region junta spokesperson Aye Hlaing on Wednesday but nobody answered. There were 454 airstrikes across Myanmar between January and April 2023, according to independent research group Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, resulting in 292 deaths. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Junta arrests 51 people for alleged dollar, gold speculation

Editor2 years ago07 mins

Myanmar’s junta has arrested 51 people for allegedly trying to cash in on the sudden spike in the price of gold and U.S. dollars, according to the regime-controlled central bank. In a statement released Friday, it said foreign exchange speculators in Yangon and Mandalay, foreign currency dealers, people transferring money and officials from three companies had been prosecuted. The Central Bank of Myanmar said its gold and currency market monitoring team took action in accordance with the anti-money laundering and foreign exchange management laws. Dollar and gold prices have been rising in the country since last Wednesday’s announcement by the U.S. Treasury Department that it was adding the junta-led Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB) to a sanctions blacklist in connection with the Myanmar military’s purchases of arms from foreign sellers “including sanctioned Russian entities.” The exchange rate on Wednesday was 2,890 Myanmar kyat to the dollar before the announcement, rising 7.3% to 3,100 kyat the following day. Last Friday, the central bank announced measures to control forex levels, including an order to conduct dollar transactions between the Authorized Dealer and business people through the Online Trading System. It set the exchange rate for online trading in a range of 2,920-2,922 kyat per dollar and said that U.S.$4.81 million was traded. A foreign currency dealer in Yangon who did not want to be named for security reasons told RFA that some of those who were arrested last week, especially some businessmen close to the junta, had been released, but small forex dealers were still under arrest. “How can I say this? Some were arrested, some were released by [paying] bribe money,” the dealer said. “But some could not afford it, and small dealers are still being held.” The price of gold also rose suddenly in the space of a day, up 6.6% to 32 million kyat (U.S.$1,528) for 16.331 grams of 24 karat gold. A gold shop owner in Yangon said that if the military junta wants to control the rise in gold prices, it will need to allow the forex trade to continue. “Everything is related. The world price of gold went up. Local gold traders also didn’t trade because the price wasn’t stable and they kept the gold for a while,” said the shop owner, who also requested anonymity. “ “The gold price can be controlled if the right to use foreign currency dollars is free. Currency flows between domestic and foreign [markets] and the money used for overseas exports should be properly verified.” One market watcher, who also declined to be named, told RFA that if the junta arrests traders and charges them with currency speculation, it still won’t be able to control the dollar market and will only cause difficulties for those who need dollars. “Some businesses will stop,” he said. “The ones who will face difficulties are those people who need to go abroad for medical treatment as soon as possible. It will also be difficult to buy money for people who are going to travel abroad with their families. The large market among the dealers will not disappear.” A lawyer, who also declined to be named for security reasons, said that if the junta could not control the value of the dollar soon, the price of basic food items could rise and the situation could worsen. “What will happen next will be speculation on the fuel prices. And next, if it comes to basic food, the country will be unstable and it could turn out very badly,” said the lawyer, adding that the U.S. government’s blacklist, which bans U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with Myanmar’s Ministry of Defense, has hurt the junta badly. Junta Deputy Information Minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told state-controlled media that the U.S. move is aimed at triggering a political and economic crisis in Myanmar. RFA called the Central Bank of Myanmar’s Financial Management Department Director General, Aung Kyaw Than, but he did not answer. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Local dealers decry influx of illegal Chinese traders to Myanmar jade town

Editor2 years ago08 mins

Burmese gemstone dealers are frustrated over the influx of Chinese jade traders who have set up shop in a northern mining town in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup, residents say. The traders are purchasing gems illegally at lower cost, making already tight margins razor thin for brokers in Hpakant township in Kachin state, driving some out of business out of business, they say. Myanmar’s Law for Gemstone Trading, enacted by the country’s parliament in 2019, limits foreign nationals seeking to buy stones to gem fairs in Mandalay and Naypyidaw. The illegal export and sale of jade is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but the junta has held few offenders accountable in Kachin – nestled between India to the west and China to the east – since coming to power. A resident of Hpakant told RFA that, in the past, only Myanmar nationals bought raw stones directly from township mines and then washed, cut, or transported them for resale in the country’s official gem fairs. “But these days, Chinese buyers use the WeChat messaging app and come to buy everything, including loose soil, directly from the mines,” said the resident who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns. “It’s only natural that the prices directly offered by major traders are better than local dealers in the sale of any goods, including rice, beans and other crops,” he said. “The price gap is hurting local dealers.” According to a report by international rights group Global Witness, from 2014-2017, the annual revenue from the legal sale of jade and other gemstones in Myanmar ranged from US$346 to $417 million, while the illegal jade market netted US$1.73 billion to $2.07 billion annually. Black market The situation presents a conundrum for Myanmar’s jade dealers, who rely heavily on demand from China’s domestic market for their gems. That demand has led to entrepreneurs seeking to eliminate the middleman by going straight to the source of the jade, to the point where approximately half of the people traveling to Hpakant to buy gemstones are Chinese, residents said. Aung Hein Min, a former lawmaker who was elected to represent Hpakant in Myanmar’s 2020 election, told RFA that it is critical for authorities to enforce the ban on the illegal purchasing of gemstones. Jade night market in Hpakant in Kachin state, in July 2020. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP “The jade and gemstones purchased directly from jade-mining towns by Chinese nationals will not be transported via legal routes, they will arrive in China through the black market,” he said. “That’s why it doesn’t do any good for our country or our people.” However, junta Social Affairs Minister and Kachin state spokesman Win Ye Tun told RFA that foreigners are restricted from traveling to Hpakant, and that those caught skirting the ban are arrested and deported. He also noted that not all of the Chinese using WeChat in Hpakant are foreign nationals. “They may be [ethnic] Chinese Myanmar nationals,” he said. “We carefully inspect the situation and take action against them in accordance with the law, rather than criticizing baselessly … And it isn’t just Chinese – we do not accept any foreign nationals in those areas and we have always taken action accordingly.” Jade night market in Hpakant in Kachin state July 2020. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP Win Ye Tun said that some Chinese nationals had been arrested and deported during the more than two years since the military coup, although he could not provide an exact number. He claimed that the junta has not granted any extensions or new permits for jade mining in Hpakant since the takeover. ‘Industry is hurting’ Meanwhile, traders in Hpakant told RFA that the domestic jade market has declined since the coup and that only bright, translucent jade is selling in China, adding to the pressure faced by local brokers. “If you buy stones for resale, you can only earn money for a day’s worth of meals and you won’t make a living to provide for your family,” one local trader said. “The gemstone industry is hurting. There is no longer demand for the opaque stones that used to sell and could earn us an income.” Complicating matters further, Myanmar’s military and a joint force of anti-junta Kachin Independence Army and paramilitary People’s Defense Force fighters have been locked in a standoff in Hpakant since early this year. Imports of food and fuel from Myanmar’s heartland are regularly blocked from entering the region by military checkpoints. But despite the conflict, jade traders said Chinese nationals are “freely entering and exiting” Hpakant and illegally shipping jade from the area back home. Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Getting rich during China’s boom – then fleeing as prospects darken

Editor2 years ago016 mins

As President Xi Jinping began a third term in office pledging “Chinese-style modernization” in October 2022, commentators expected him to steer China further in the direction of a state-dominated, planned economy. Xi’s ideology sounded an ominous note for the private sector, as well as for private individual wealth and influence. Meanwhile, three years of China’s zero-COVID policy sounded the death knell for many private companies, prompting an exodus of wealthy and middle-class Chinese who had previously benefited from the post-Mao economic boom. Meng Jun, a former vegetable salesman-turned-flight charter agent-turned-rubber factory boss who now lives in Florida, was one of them. “When the pandemic hit, I started to reflect on things, and to watch what was happening,” Meng Jun, who once headed up three companies turning out rubber goods in Guangxi, Chongqing and Beijing with a total turnover of 300 million yuan a year, told Radio Free Asia. “And I found that the actual problem was with the system as a whole, which made people bad,” he said. “I figured that if I carried on much longer, I’d get dragged down with some official, because, as someone who gave bribes, I would be implicated.” Meng in his heyday was a smooth operator, cashing in on relationships cultivated with local officials in his main stamping ground in the southeastern region of Guangxi. In 2000, officials in Guangxi’s Beihai city let him get his hands on an unfinished property, thanks to a total lack of transparency around government property deals, and a 200,000 yuan kickback to a local official. Meng Jun bought this unfinished government-owned building in Guangxi’s Beihai city in 2000 and then flipped it for a profit. Credit: Provided by Meng Jun “I moved very quickly, and made a million in less than six months,” Meng said. “I just packaged it up to some kind of rough standard and sold it on.” “There were so many unfinished buildings around at that time, more than a million square meters, all of them owned by [the local government].” ‘Total U-turn’ Former tech CEO Hu Liren knew as early as 2018 that it was time to leave. “Nobody wants to leave their home country,” Hu, who also lives in Florida, where he has become friends with Meng, told Radio Free Asia. “But I had no choice.” “Things had gotten so bad in China, and there was no way they were going to get better,” he said, in a reference to Xi Jinping’s renewed emphasis on state-owned assets and a planned economy. “In the four years since I left, there has been a total U-turn, exactly the way I thought there would be at the time.” It’s a far cry from the economic boom-time of the 1990s where both Hu and Meng made their fortunes. Back then, in 1994, China was putting out more than 2% of global economic output, while the number of private companies grew from zero in 1978 to 1.76 million by 2000. Hu Liren and his team when he was the CEO of an internet company in China in 2000. Credit: Provided by Hu Liren “It was great, very prosperous,” Meng said. “As long as you worked hard and gave it your all, you could make a lot of money.” “Everything was plain sailing, and it was possible to succeed at anything you did, and make money at it, too,” he said with a sigh. The private sector was booming so hard back then that the catchphrase “56789” was born, the first and last digits reminding people that it was contributing around 50% of government tax revenues, and was the source of around 90% of new jobs. ‘To get rich is glorious’ Deng’s golden era of market liberalization and breakneck economic growth spawned other catchphrases too, like “To get rich is glorious,” giving the go-ahead to an emerging generation of private entrepreneurs, freed from the political orthodoxies of Maoist China. Hu and Meng were among them. Born in the northeastern province of Jilin to working-class parents who were made redundant during the mass layoffs of the late 1980s, Meng started working various jobs straight out of high school in 1989. “I would sell vegetables and do other seasonal stuff with my friends, all across Jilin, Yanji, Changchun and Mudanjiang,” he said, referring to cities in northeastern China. His search for work took him to the southern island province of Hainan, where he eventually saved enough money to open up his own seafood restaurant in 1993. Meng Jun in 2010. Credit: Provided by Meng Jun “During that period from 1993 to 2000, I started my own seafood restaurant, and also got into chartered flights,” Meng said. “That was very profitable because at that time I had a monopoly.” “Then I started doing cross-border trade, because I knew Vietnam, which was really actually smuggling,” he said, adding that he raked in nearly 500 million yuan at that time. Raking it in Hu was born in Shanghai to a family of intellectuals and started working in a research institute focusing on television technology in the mid-1980s. When the institute was shut down in 1991, he found work at a foreign company. By the time the internet was changing the face of business in 1997, Hu was also raking in the money, working for a company owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, Mei Ya Online. “I became the director and executive vice president of this Mei Ya Online, and I had equity in it.” he said. “The annual income at that time was 400,000 to 500,000 yuan.” Boosted by stellar connections with He Xingtong, grandson of Communist Party elder He Long, and invited to lecture to officials in Shanghai and Beijing, Hu went on to run an investment research and credit ratings company, as well as founding a green tech company making air-conditioning systems for factory shop floors. Hu Liren during his entrepreneurial era. Credit: Provided by Hu Liren “We were growing at a rate where we were doubling our profits annually,”…

Cambodia approves election law amendment aimed at preventing boycott of July 23 vote

Editor2 years ago05 mins

Cambodia’s National Assembly on Friday unanimously approved an amendment to the election law that prohibits those who don’t vote in next month’s elections from running for office in future elections. The change appears to be aimed at preventing a large-scale boycott of the July 23 vote by supporters of the main opposition Candlelight Party. A boycott would be a way of expressing public anger over the National Election Committee’s decision in May to ban the party from running in the election – essentially blocking the only major party that could challenge Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party. The committee blamed the ban on inadequate paperwork, but opposition activists said it was politically motivated. They pointed out that they were allowed to compete in last year’s local commune elections with the same documentation. The ban, which was upheld by the Constitutional Council on May 25, means that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party won’t have any major challengers on the ballot next month. More than a dozen minor parties have also qualified for the ballot. Cambodian lawmakers welcome President Heng Samrin as he arrives for a session at the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on June 23, 2023. Credit: Heng Sinith/Associated Press Not a surprise The result of Friday’s vote in the Assembly, which is made up only of members from the CPP, was not a surprise. All 111 parliamentarians who participated in the session voted to approve the amendment without objections. Anyone who doesn’t vote next month won’t be able to run as a candidate in next year’s Senate, district and commune elections, according to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng. They also won’t be able to run in the next general election scheduled for 2027, he said. The amendment also allows for the prosecution of individuals and parties who discourage people from voting, he said in a speech at the Assembly before the final vote. “The amendment will regulate those who want to run for offices. It won’t affect voters’ rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said. Hun Sen first proposed the change to the law earlier this month. Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, said earlier this month that Hun Sun is trying to pressure people to vote because he thinks a high voter percentage will bring legitimacy to the election. Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok said Friday’s amendment will affect opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has been living in exile in France since 2015, and many of his supporters, who also live outside of Cambodia and won’t be able to return to vote in person. “The amendment doesn’t serve the country’s interest,” he said. “It is being done according to one person’s wish.” Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Category: ASEAN