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Category: ASEAN

Laos rescues 11 Indian nationals trafficked to work as phone scammers

Editor09 mins

Authorities in Laos have rescued 11 Indian nationals who were lured to the Chinese-run Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in the north of the country and put to work as phone scammers, according to the Indian Embassy. The operation shines a light on the murky enclave in Bokeo province – home to the Kings Roman Casino resort – where many foreigners who were promised lucrative jobs end up held against their will by trafficking rings that exploit them under threat of violence. The Golden Triangle economic zone is a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese citizens situated along the Mekong River where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. In 2018, the U.S. government sanctioned the Chinese tycoon who is said to run the SEZ as head of a trafficking network. Last week, Lao authorities acted on a tip from the Indian Embassy to rescue 11 Indians who had been held for more than a month by traffickers in the zone.  They were recruited by unscrupulous middlemen to work as IT specialists in Dubai, Singapore and Thailand with offers of well-paying jobs and pre-arranged flights, visas and passports, according to Indian Embassy sources who discussed the situation off the record because they were unauthorized to speak to the press. Instead, they wound up in northern Laos, where they were forced to work in call centers largely unmonitored by authorities, calling people to solicit money for fraudulent investment schemes or engage in cryptocurrency scams. Rights groups estimate that at least 1,000 people from South and East Asia have been lured to work as scammers at the Golden Triangle zone, many of whom continue to be held against their will there. Extricated by Lao officials last week, the 11 workers were brought to the Lao border with Thailand and handed over to a team from the Indian Consulate in Chiang Mai, before being repatriated to India over the weekend via Bangkok, the Indian Embassy in Laos said in an announcement posted to its Facebook page. RFA Lao was unable to reach Lao authorities operating in the Golden Triangle economic zone or officials in the Indian Embassy in the Lao capital Vientiane for comment on the rescue operation. Conditions at scam centers A Lao national who previously worked as a scammer in the zone told RFA on condition of anonymity that trafficking is rife there and said several foreign nationals were being held against their will at the call center where he was located. “There were three or four Indians and as many as 20 Thais working as scammers [when I was there],” he said, adding that most foreign nationals being held at the zone at the time were Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese, although he also met Indonesians and Malaysians. The former scam center worker from Laos told RFA that if they follow orders, trafficked workers could earn U.S. $450-725 per month, depending on the number of people they scammed, while those who could speak Thai, Chinese, or Vietnamese could earn even more. But rules were strict and anyone who left the call center without informing members of the trafficking ring or escaped and was caught “would face a serious punishment,” he said. Despite the restrictions and the threat of punishment, the Lao national said that he planned to return to the zone again because “I know how to do the work and they will hire me right away.”  In addition to luring unsuspecting foreign nationals through middlemen, scam centers also “recruit” workers through other means, the Lao national told RFA. During an outbreak of COVID-19 in August and September 2021, authorities in Bokeo province temporarily closed the Golden Triangle economic zone to force employers based there to allow their workers to return home and renegotiate hiring contracts, due to the slowdown of the economy.  Instead of allowing them to return, he said, many of the centers simply “sold” their workers to trafficking rings who forced them to do the same work stipulated in their existing contracts, threatening them with beatings and imprisonment if they refused. Meanwhile, the worker said, Lao authorities cannot easily enter the Chinese-run zone, which operates largely beyond the reach of the Lao government, and are often unable to arrest ring leaders because the victims of the scams rarely report their losses to police. “Nobody takes them to court because there’s no proof,” he said. “Those who lose money dare not tell the police or take legal action.” Foreigners targeted Chinese-run enclaves in Southeast Asia have come under heavy scrutiny in recent months after hundreds of Taiwanese nationals were rescued after being lured into human trafficking and abusive jobs scams in Cambodia, with many victims taken to work in Chinese-owned casinos in the coastal city of Sihanoukville. The government has so far registered 1,267 workers in the Golden Triangle zone, only a fraction of the total, although the exact number employed there is unknown, according to Lao officials. Efforts to register workers to protect them from human trafficking and other abuses have met with limited success because workers balk at paying the fees and fear that signing up will get them sent home, sources have told RFA. In addition to the 11 Indian workers rescued last week, authorities freed 44 Pakistanis from the zone on Oct. 20 and seven Malaysians on Oct. 6. Malaysian authorities have said there are 50-100 Malaysians still being held by traffickers in the zone. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Report criticizes ASEAN, international response to Myanmar humanitarian crisis

Editor09 mins

A new report by lawmakers from Southeast Asia and other regions criticizes what they describe as a timid response to the post-coup crisis in Myanmar by countries and international blocs that claim to support democracy. The Final Report by the International Parliamentary Inquiry, or IPI, into the Global Response to the Crisis in Myanmar, which was released in Bangkok on Wednesday, specifically took aim at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ahead of the regional bloc’s summit later this month. “The struggle of the Myanmar people for democracy is also the struggle of all people who love democracy and justice everywhere,” the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, or APHR, said in the report, according to BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. ASEAN’s five-point consensus reached with Myanmar junta leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in April 2021 has been “an utter failure,” Charles Santiago, a Malaysian lawmaker and chairman of the APHR, said in a news release announcing the 52-page report. Myanmar is one of the 10 members of ASEAN. “Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has shown an absolute contempt for the agreement he signed and for ASEAN’s member states, and the regional group has been unable to adopt a stance to put pressure on the junta,” Santiago said in a press release accompanying the statement. “Meanwhile, most of the international community has hidden behind ASEAN in order to avoid doing anything meaningful. It is past time that ASEAN ditches the five-point consensus and urgently rethinks its approach to the crisis in Myanmar,” he said. The consensus called for an immediate end to violence; a dialogue among all concerned parties; mediation of the dialogue process by an ASEAN special envoy; provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels; and a visit to Myanmar by the bloc’s special envoy to meet all concerned parties. “A common theme often repeated by our witnesses has been that, in the face of such a horrible tragedy, the countries and international institutions that claim to support democracy in Myanmar have reacted with a timidity that puts in serious doubt their alleged commitment to the country,” the report said. In its recommendations, the report called for ASEAN to negotiate a new agreement with Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government, or NUG, making sure the new accord has enforcement mechanisms. As recently as last week, ASEAN leaders announced they would continue efforts to implement the 18-month-old consensus. The ministers “reaffirmed the importance and relevance” of the consensus, “and underscored the need to further strengthen its implementation through concrete, practical and time-bound actions,” Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said in a statement after the Oct. 27 meeting. Cambodia, which chairs ASEAN this year, will host the summit in Phnom Penh from Nov. 10 to 13. While some ASEAN members, including Malaysia, have sought to hold the Burmese junta accountable, members such as Cambodia and Thailand are among the nations who “have persisted as junta enablers,” the report said. And because ASEAN makes its decisions consensually, some analysts don’t foresee much progress being made at the summit in Phnom Penh. Against Myanmar participation Meanwhile, Malaysia’s outgoing top diplomat has put forward a proposal to prohibit the Myanmar junta from all ASEAN ministerial-level meetings. “All ASEAN ministerial meetings should not have Myanmar political representation. That is Malaysia’s position,” caretaker Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday. “We know two more countries share this view, and we are very hopeful it will be considered at the leaders’ summit next week.” Saifuddin is a caretaker minister because Malaysian leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved parliament when he announced a general election, which will be held later this month. The first ASEAN foreign minister to publicly meet with the NUG’s foreign minister, Saifuddin is seen as one of the shadow government’s biggest allies. IPI said that throughout its hearings while compiling the report “participants, even those that also expressed a level of criticism toward the NUG, overwhelmingly called for the international community to recognize it as the legitimate government of Myanmar and engage with it instead of the junta.” The IPI held six public hearings along with several private hearings and received dozens of written submissions. Malaysia’s Santiago and Indonesian House member Chriesty Barends traveled to the Thai-Myanmar border in August to gather information. The IPI investigation team included officials from African countries, the Americas and Europe. Heidi Hautala, vice president of the European Parliament, served a chairwoman, and United States Rep. Ilhan Omar served as a member. Thai MP Nitipon Piwmow served on the team as well. The report blamed the international community for encouraging “a sense of impunity within the Myanmar military,” the news release said. It pointed to an October airstrike at a Kachin music festival that killed at least 60 civilians. “Myanmar is suffering a tragedy words cannot describe. The global community should urgently step up the delivery of humanitarian assistance and it should work with local civil society organizations that know the terrain well, have ample experience and are trusted by the population,” Barends said. “Millions of Myanmar citizens suffering the most grievous hardships cannot wait for long. International actors should leave politics aside and help the Myanmar people immediately.” BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

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More than 550 doctors fired by Myanmar junta for refusing to work in protest

Editor011 mins

The junta’s Ministry of Health has fired 557 government-employed doctors who left their jobs to protest against the military government, revoking their licenses at a time when medical professionals are in short supply, sources in the country’s medical community said Tuesday, citing an official list. The striking doctors joined other government workers in what has come to be known as a nationwide “Civil Disobedience Movement,” or CDM, refusing to do their jobs to take a stand against the military government that took power in a February 2021 coup. A doctor who has been in hiding for more than a year after the junta issued a warrant for her arrest on charges of “incitement” told RFA that she and others on the list have no intention of ending their commitment to the anti-coup movement, regardless of the suspension of their licenses. “We knew the junta would take this step,” she said, adding that she only learned of her suspension after being informed by a medical colleague. “Revoking my license won’t make things any worse for me now and it won’t change my stance.” The first group of doctors to join the Civil Disobedience Movement did so in Mandalay on the day after the coup and gained a following so large that junta-run hospitals and clinics were unable to function. The movement has had such a large impact that it was listed as a nominee for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize by the Nobel Prize Committee. But news of the dismissals comes amid a shortage of doctors in the country due to those participating in the movement and stretched by COVID-19 and widespread conflict. That’s prompted the junta to relax requirements for applying to medical school this year.  As part of the dismissals, the junta-controlled Myanmar Medical Council began issuing one-year suspensions of the doctors’ licenses to practice, known as the Sa Ma certificate, beginning in February – one year after the Feb. 1, 2021 putsch, the sources told RFA’s Burmese service. A physician who joined the CDM movement told RFA that while suspensions began nearly nine months ago, there had been no public announcement and the affected doctors only learned of the move after the list of names went viral on social media. “They are revoking the licenses of doctors, phase by phase. Sometimes they revoke 20 [at a time], sometimes 25. But the lists came out sporadically and most of these doctors were not aware of the change,” said the physician, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal. “Many of them are still providing treatment and running [private] clinics. They were all surprised to learn about the news because the ministry never notified them.” Of the approximately 60,000 doctors who joined the movement since the coup, around 45,000 remain, according to a group called the CDM Medical Network. The Ministry of Health said it had suspended the licenses of 14 doctors in February, 50 in March, 41 in April, 66 in May, 60 in June, 61 in July, 80 in August, 87 in September, and 98 in October – the list of which included several veteran medical practitioners. Targeting ‘the people and their profession’ The doctor-in-hiding acknowledged that those on the list are “facing hardship” now that the junta has also distributed it to private hospitals and clinics and begun conducting impromptu inspections, however. RFA requests to Myat Wunna Soe, the director general of the junta’s Ministry of Health, seeking comment on the suspensions were referred to the Myanmar Medical Council, but calls to the council went unanswered Tuesday. A document circulated internally at the medical council – a copy of which was obtained by RFA – states that the doctors were suspended for violating Article 45 (D) of the Myanmar Medical Council Act, citing “a failure to abide by the code of medical ethics” and “patient abandonment.” However, a Civil Disobedience physician who gave her name as Olivia noted that suspending the licenses of medical professionals for their political beliefs impacts both doctors and their patients. “The suspension also seriously affects the well-being of their patients and patients’ family members … This impacts both the people and their profession,” she said. In this March 16, 2021 photo, medical students mourn as others flash the three-fingered salute at the funeral of a fellow medical student who was shot in the chest two days earlier by junta security forces during a protest against the military takeover in Yangon, Myanmar. Credit: AP Photo Lowered application requirements Amid the dismissals of CDM doctors, the junta lowered the requirements for applicants to medical school in 2022, citing the need to fill the gap created by large numbers of physicians joining the anti-coup movement. A second-year medical student who dropped out of school to protest the coup told RFA that becoming a doctor requires several years of training, and questioned the junta’s plan to replace Civil Disobedience physicians by offering applicants a shortcut. “They are trying to show that we are dispensable and they can replace us easily … with new people who will submit to their rule,” said the medical student, who also declined to be named. But he suggested that few of the applicants would be willing to provide care in Myanmar’s remote regions, while in urban areas, where many doctors practice, patients will simply “flock to a handful of high-quality doctors.” Movement impact Lwan Wai, a doctor from a branch of the movement known as the Yangon Medical Network, said that with the number of medical professionals already unable to meet demand in Myanmar, the suspension of nearly 600 physicians will have a serious impact on access to healthcare in the country. “The ratio of medical staff to patients is already lopsided,” he said, noting that the number of casualties from armed conflict has skyrocketed in recent months, while people are still dying from COVID-19 and other diseases. “This decision won’t benefit anyone. The patients will become more hopeless. I expect that many people will die because they…

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Opposition officials in Cambodia refuse to denounce Sam Rainsy

Editor07 mins

Local commune councilors affiliated with Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party on Tuesday walked out of a meeting where they were asked to publicly condemn Hun Sen’s exiled political rival Sam Rainsy, the party told Radio Free Asia. Commune chiefs from Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, summoned several of the Candlelight Party’s commune councilors from Kandal province and demanded they sign and add their thumbprints to a petition which said they denounce the opposition figure.  Sam Rainsy is a co-founder of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was the previous main opposition party before the country’s Supreme Court dissolved it in 2017. He has been living in self-exile in France since 2015, when he fled a series of charges his supporters say are politically motivated. Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, threatened last month that he would dissolve any party that associates with Sam Rainsy and accused those who support him of being against Cambodia’s king. The Candlelight party then attempted to distance itself from Sam Rainsy by condemning those who insult the king, without naming any specific person. This statement should have been enough to ease any and all concerns, the Candlelight Party’s Kong Narith, who is the second deputy chief of a commune council in Kandal’s Takhmao city, told RFA’s Khmer Service. Kong Narith said that he has maintained his position and has acted in accordance with the law, especially in respecting the will of the voters who elected him and others in the party. Long Seng Bun, who is the first deputy of another Takhmao commune, said that forcing him and other members of Candlelight to sign these types of petitions is illegal and a violation of political rights, and that is why he refused. “I told them that I won’t do anything against the law,” he said. “The voters voted for me so I will serve my constituencies.” Commune councilors from the Candlelight Party have been pressured by their colleagues from the CPP four separate times to denounce Sam Rainsy not only in Takhmao, but also several other Kandal province districts, sources said. The CPP officials threatened the opposition party commune councilors, saying that if they don’t do what they are told, they will be punished according to law. Illegal coercion Candlelight’s vice president Thach Setha told RFA that any coercive, threatening or persuasive action by the ruling party officials is a serious illegal act. He said that his party’s statement against those who are against the king has already been accepted by Hun Sen, so there is no reason for the CPP officials to continue to intimidate the Candlelight members of commune councils. He urged the Ministry of Interior to take action against anyone who engages in coercive activities against Candlelight party members. “We are representatives from a legitimate party and have already issued a letter of condemnation,” he said. “Why are they not recognizing that?” RFA was unable to contact the ministry’s spokesman Khieu Sopheak or Kandal province governor Kong Sophorn for comment as of Tuesday. Anyone who refuses to sign the petition that condemns Sam Rainsy is a traitor and has ties with the exiled political figure, the ruling party’s spokesperson Sok Ey San said. Social development researcher Seng Sary said that the local ruling party officials are acting beyond their superiors’ orders. He added that local officials should recognize the decisions and orders of their superiors without exacerbating the political situation. “I believe that the political situation in Cambodia can’t be resolved by law, so it is necessary to resolve it through political negotiations,” Seng Sary said. “And more importantly, easing the political heat in this situation is one way to resolve it.” The Candlelight Party, which has more than 2,000 commune council seats across the country, last week issued a letter calling on authorities to stop acts of political intimidation and coercion.  Their statement said that these actions violate Cambodia’s constitution and the people’s civil rights, political rights, and their rights to freedom of expression. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Myanmar junta bans Irrawaddy news agency after months of harassment

Editor010 mins

Myanmar’s junta has officially banned online news outlet The Irrawaddy and charged the outlet’s registered publisher for violating national security laws, state media reported over the weekend, following months of legal harassment. The ban is the latest on at least 20 media groups – news agencies, publishing houses and printing presses – since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup and began a crackdown on press freedom in Myanmar. The Irrrawaddy, founded in 1993, is known for its breaking news coverage and investigative pieces that shed light on government abuses in both Burmese and English. Its editorials were critical of the military rule, and it had ceased operations in Myanmar after the February 2021 coup, moving production and editorial staff outside the country.  Because of that, the practical impact of the ban on The Irrawaddy was limited, although Ye Ni, the executive editor of The Irrawaddy’s Burmese language section, called the ban yet another example of “the many tragedies affecting Myanmar since the military coup,” in an interview with RFA’s Burmese service. In a statement carried by pro-junta news outlets on Saturday, the military regime’s Ministry of Information said the outlet is now prohibited from publishing on any media platform in Myanmar, online or otherwise. But the news agency vowed to continue to publish online. The junta also said it had charged the news agency’s former director, Thaung Win, arrested on Sept. 29, with violating the Publishing and Distribution Act by reporting news that “negatively affected national security, rule of law and public peace.” “Thaung Win is facing troubles because he lent his name to his journalist friends, but he has nothing to do with”  the editorial decisions of the Irrawaddy, Ye Ni said. ‘Relentlessly prosecuted’ Since taking power, the junta has moved aggressively to shut down media outlets. It has also detained more than 140 journalists, 60 of whom remain in prison and four of whom have died in custody. A Myanmar-based journalist, who declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, told RFA on Monday that reporters are facing unprecedented challenges in the country since the coup. “While you can say that the ban has no effect on its exiled journalists or the organization itself, those who are still in the country working for them are being relentlessly prosecuted and are likely to endure more severe punishments,” the journalist said. “The arrests are still going on. Local journalists aren’t being released as often as in the coup’s early days. They are all being indicted and sentenced to severe punishments.” One month after the coup, authorities abolished local outlets Mizzima, the Democratic Voice of Burma, 7 Days, Myanmar Now, and Khit Thit.  In total, the military regime has banned 14 news agencies, four publishing houses and two printing presses in the last 20 months since the coup.  They include the Myitkyina Journal, 74 Media, Tachileik News Agency, Delta News Agency, Zeya Times News Agency, Kamayut News Channel, Kantarawaddy Times, and Mon News Agency. Irrawaddy News reporter Zaw Zaw covers a story in Thibaw, Shan state, Myanmar on Aug. 18, 2017. He has since been arrested and sentenced to three years by a junta court. Credit RFA No surprise The Irrawaddy’s management told RFA that the order came as no surprise, following a series of unannounced lawsuits, raids, arrests and other moves targeting the outlet since the coup. In March 2021, the regime brought a lawsuit against the Irrawaddy for “disregarding” the military in its reporting on anti-coup protests, making it the first news outlet to be sued by the junta. Authorities raided the Irrawaddy’s office in Yangon twice later that year. In August, a special court inside Mandalay’s Obo Prison sentenced former Irrawaddy photojournalist Zaw Zaw to three years in prison for “incitement,” while another staff member was temporarily detained earlier this year and the home of one of the outlet’s editors was recently raided. Thaung Win, a member of the 88 Generation student activist group, applied for a publishing license for The Irrawaddy following a pledge by former President Thein Sein to implement democratic reforms through his quasi-civilian government, which ruled Myanmar from 2011 to 2016.  The Burmese journalists who founded the outlet in exile relocated to Myanmar in 2012 and began operations there after the publishing license was granted. The status of Thaung Win remains unclear, a source close to his family said Monday. Saturday’s announcement followed a vow by the junta only two weeks earlier to take action against the Irrawaddy and BBC Burmese for airing what it called “fake news” about the military. Targeting the media ‘out of embarrassment’ Soe Ya, the chief editor of the Delta News Agency, which shut down its operations in Myanmar following a crackdown by the junta last year, told RFA that the military regime is targeting all of the country’s independent news outlets. “It seemed that the military thought early on that the media would be on their side once they were in power after the coup. But quite contrary to their expectation, civil disobedience movements broke out and the media covered the truth, so the junta began to speak out against it just as much as its political enemy the [shadow National Unity Government] NUG,” he said. Soe Ya noted that even former journalists are being arrested and punished, and said the people of Myanmar have lost their right to the truth, as the media can’t even report the news out of fear of persecution. “They accuse us of being ‘subversive media outlets aiming to destroy the country.’ I think they target the media even more out of embarrassment, since they haven’t been able to run the country as they had hoped.”  Translated by Myo Min Aung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Southeast Asia remains world rice bowl as pockets of region suffer crop disasters

Editor013 mins

Rice crops in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have taken a hit from flooding and conflict this year, casting a shadow on a mostly sunny outlook for Southeast Asia’s output of the key grain as the region deals with other potential longer term supply troubles, farm officials and researchers say. Poverty and hunger are stalking some rural communities in peninsular Southeast Asia, also called Indochina, as a result of lost crops, hitting populations still struggling to recover from lost income and other fallout from widespread economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the poorest Southeast Asian nations, are not major players in rice production in a sector dominated by Thailand and Vietnam, which lead the world in exports of the grain. Southeast Asia accounts for 26 percent of global rice production and 40 percent of exports, supplying populous neighbors Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Africa and the Middle East, according the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. But their harvest shortfalls have to be made up from other suppliers, and any serious deterioration in rice output could have ripple effects on import-dependent countries in Asia. The challenge is more acute at a time of deepening worries over food security and rising food prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has removed those countries’ key grain exports from global supplies. A man transports bags of rice in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oct. 17, 2019. Credit: AFP Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management reported early this month that floods inundated some 770 villages in 22 provinces, including Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Preah Vihear. More than 150,000 hectares of rice paddies were flooded more than 100,000 families were affected by the floods, a committee official told local media. Banteay Meanchey farmer Voeun Pheap told RFA that floods destroyed more than four hectares of his farm and brought immediate hardship to his family as it wiped out his crop and the hope of paying off what he borrowed to plant. “I couldn’t make much money, I lost my investments, and I am in debt,” he said. In Laos, an agriculture and forestry official in Hua Phanh province told RFA that flooding in two districts had wiped out rice crops and left 200 families with no harvest to eat or sell. “Sand is covering the rice fields all over due to heavy rain, which destroyed both rice paddies and dry rice fields,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “Families that have been affected will go hungry this year. The damage is so enormous that villagers will have to seek food from the forest or sell other crops that were not affected,” the official added. People reach out to buy subsidized rice from government officials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 27, 2008. Credit: AFP Fear, fighting leave fallow fields More than 18 months after a military coup toppled a popular civilian government and plunged Myanmar into political and military conflict, the country of 54 million faces security threats to its rice supply on top of the environmental and economic problems faced by its neighbors. “I am too afraid to leave my home,” said Myo Thant, a local farmer in the town of Shwebo in the Sagaing region, a farming region in central Myanmar that has been a main theater of fighting between ruling army junta forces and local militias opposed to army rule. “I can’t fertilize the fields and I can’t do irrigation work,” he told RFA “The harvest will be down. We will barely have enough food for ourselves,” added Myo Thant. Farmers groups told RFA that in irrigated paddy farms across Myanmar, planting reduced due to the security challenges as well as to rising prices for fuel, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Growers are limiting their planting to rain-fed rice fields. “Only 60 percent of (paddy) farms will grow this year, which means that the production will be reduced by about 40 percent,” Zaw Yan of the Myanmar Farmers Representative Network told RFA. Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar junta chief, told a meeting August that of 33.2 million acres of farmland available for rice cultivation, only 15 million acres of rainy reason rice and 3 million acres of irrigated summer paddy rice are being grown. Brighter regional outlook This year’s flooding has caused crop losses and concern in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, but so far it doesn’t appear to have dented the regional outlook for the grain, thanks to expected big crops and surpluses in powerhouse exporters Thailand and Vietnam. World stocks have been buoyed by India’s emergence as the top rice exporter of the grain. In this June 5, 2015 photo, workers load sacks of imported Vietnam rice onto trucks from a ship docked at a port area in Manila, Philippines.Credit: Reuters Although Myanmar is embroiled in conflict and largely cut off from world commerce, Cambodia exported 2.06 million tons of milled and paddy rice worth nearly $616 million in the first half of 2022, a 10 percent increase over the same period in 2021, the country’s farm ministry said in July. Laos was the world’s 25th largest rice exporter in 2020. A report released this month by U.S. Department of Agriculture saw continued large exports from Thailand and Vietnam likely into 2023, offsetting drops in shipments of the grain from other suppliers. While the USDA has projected that Southeast Asia’s rice surplus will continue, a research team at Nature Food that studied rice output in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam suggested the region might lose its global Rice Bowl status. The threats include stagnating crop yields, limited new land for agriculture, and climate change. “Over the past decades, through renewed efforts, countries in Southeast Asia were able to increase rice yields, and the region as a whole has continued to produce a large amount of rice that exceeded regional demand, allowing a rice surplus to be exported to other countries,” the study said. “At…

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Local officials linked to Cambodia’s opposition party forced to condemn Sam Rainsy

Editor06 mins

Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party on Friday called on authorities to stop trying to force local officials to publicly condemn Hun Sen’s exiled political rival Sam Rainsy. In a statement, the party urged the Ministry of Interior to advise local authorities to stop “intimidating activities” to ensure that the upcoming 2023 general election can be free and fair. Sam Rainsy is a co-founder of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was the previous main opposition party before the country’s Supreme Court dissolved it in 2017. He has been living in self-exile in France since 2015, when he fled a series of charges his supporters say are politically motivated. Cambodia has convicted and sentenced Sam Rainsy in absentia several times during his exile, including handing him a life sentence this month on bogus claims that he attempted to cede four Cambodian provinces to a foreign state. Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, threatened last week that he would dissolve any party that associates with Sam Rainsy and accused those who support him of being against Cambodia’s king. Several Candlelight Party members who were elected to local commune council seats in elections this summer were then told to sign petitions declaring they rebuke Sam Rainsy. “This is a serious violation against the constitution and universal declaration on civil and political rights and freedom of expression,” the Candlelight Party statement said. The party is gathering evidence and will file an official complaint, vice president Thach Setha said. RFA was unable to reach Ministry of Interior Spokesman Khieu Sopheak for comment Friday. One Candlelight Party commune councilor told RFA’s Khmer service that when he refused to sign the statement, he was asked by his colleague from Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP to appear at the commune office to declare his stance in regards to Sam Rainsy. “I told  [the commune chief] that I am waiting on orders from the party but he said he also received his orders from the top,” said Sorn Meang, who sits on the council of Da commune in the southeastern province of Tbong Khmum.  “This is a threat against another commune councilor,” he said Chhoyy Mao, the commune chief told RFA that he did ask Sorn Meang about Sam Rainsy but denied he forced him to sign or say anything. “Only the CPP councilors placed their thumbprint next to their names, but none from the Candlelight Party did,” he said. “I explained the reason but [Sorn Meang] said he was waiting for orders.” On Thursday, the Candlelight Party said that political dialogue between Hun Sen and the party has resumed after the party issued a public statement to distance itself from Sam Rainsy by condemning those who insult the king, without naming any specific person. Hun Sen posted that statement on Facebook with a comment saying he appreciated the party for following his request. CPP spokesman Sok Ey San denied that the party had instructed party activists to threaten the Candlelight Party. However, he said those who refuse to condemn Sam Rainsy are insulting the king. “There is no threat,” he said. “People nationwide have condemned [Sam Rainsy] and those who disagree have revealed their stance on the nation, our religion, and our king.” Local authorities have abused the Candlelight Party’s commune councilor rights, according to Soeung Seng Karuna, spokesperson for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association. He said allegations over the king stemmed from political conflict between the CPP and the dissolved opposition party.  “In a democratic countries they value free thoughts, ideas and political affiliations,” he said. “The authorities are abusing people by preventing them from making free decisions and trying to affect their political will.” Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Top Vietnamese leader heading to China on Sunday to meet Xi

Editor07 mins

Vietnam’s top leader Nguyen Phu Trong will travel to China on Sunday to visit President Xi Jinping, the first foreign leader to do so since Xi’s re-election to a third five-year term last weekend. The two countries have had territorial disagreements in the South China Sea but are generally considered allies. The two men are expected to discuss strengthening ties and underscore their will to cooperate on a variety of issues. The three-day visit will also be Trong’s first trip abroad since he suffered a stroke in 2019.  Xi’s re-election last Sunday at the Chinese Communist Party’s national congress signals that there will be little change in China’s foreign policy, and it is an opportunity for Vietnam to reaffirm that it has no intention to counter China by allying with a third nation, such as the United States, Vu Xuan Khang, an International Security Ph.D. candidate at Boston College, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service. “Despite territorial disagreement in the [South China] Sea, the Communist Party of Vietnam attaches significance to its comradeship with the Communist Party of China and hopes that the two sides can maintain their good relationship in the future,” said Khang.  China, meanwhile, extended the invitation to make sure the Asian neighbors continue their dialogue and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Khang said.  “China doesn’t want to have conflicts with Vietnam as the Taiwan issue is way more important,” he said. China may use the meeting to draw Vietnam closer and deter Hanoi from getting too close to Washington, Nguyen The Phuong, a marine security expert, told RFA.  Vietnam needs China more than China needs Vietnam, especially when it comes to economic issues,  said Phoung. But he said Xi chose Trong to be the first leader to visit since the end of the congress as a gesture to show that China does value the relationship.  Containers are transferred from a truck to cargo ship at the international cargo terminal of a port in Hai Phong city, Vietnam, Aug. 12, 2019. Vietnam’s import-export activities heavily depend on China, says researcher Nguyen The Phuong. Credit: AFP “Recently, Vietnam’s relations with western countries, especially with the U.S., have improved rapidly,” he said. “From China’s perspective, letting Vietnam freely get closer to western countries is also a strategic threat.” Beijing has several tools at its disposal to prevent Hanoi from falling into Washington’s orbit, Phoung said. “Economically, Vietnam’s import-export activities heavily depend on China, especially in terms of raw material imports and border trade,” he said. “Therefore, by creating economic pressure only, China would already be able to send the message that Vietnam should not go too far.” Additionally, China would be able to put pressure on Vietnam by increasing military presence in the South China Sea. It can also persuade the Vietnamese Communist Party that a closer relationship can help maintain the party’s power, Phoung said.   Ironing out disagreements The two countries have also tangled over the Mekong River, as China has built a series of dams in the Upper Mekong that have adversely affected Vietnam and other downstream countries in Southeast Asia. But the visit will likely seek to avoid any overt conflicts as the two sides try to smooth over relations, a researcher who requested anonymity for safety reasons told RFA “Vietnam will perhaps not mention the Mekong very much. However, it will try to put forth the Eastern Sea issues to resolve differences through negotiation by the two countries,” he said, using the Vietnamese term for the South China Sea. Phuong said these issues would be secondary to maintaining their harmonious relationship. “If mentioned at all, the two sides would still emphasize dialogue and cooperation and not promote an image of insurmountable challenges in Vietnam-China relations,” said Khang.  Instead, the two sides will likely play up strategies for building the party and fighting corruption. They may have differences in foreign policy, “but the two countries have many things in common when it comes to domestic policy,” he said. These commonalities include the mechanism of party leadership, state management, a socialism-oriented market economy, and economic development based on export and foreign investment, Khang said. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Wife of slain Cambodian activist accepts compensation, but still demands justice

Editor03 mins

The widow of a slain Cambodian opposition party activist said she received compensation for her husband’s death, but had not agreed to withdraw charges against the assailant as court officials claimed she had. Wen Kimyi, whose husband Po Hin Lean was shot on his way to go fishing early on the morning of Oct. 16 in the southeastern province of Tbong Khmum, told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday that she received $12,000 in compensation from a Cambodian court. But when she received the compensation, court officials read a document stating that she had withdrawn her criminal complaint and agreed not to press charges against her husband’s killer.  “They read me a letter saying that my husband resisted arrest, and so the police shot him, according to the police officer,” said Wen Kimyi. ”I don’t allow the police to release my husband’s killers. I want to find out: who is my husband’s killer?” She said she accepted the compensation money to pay for her husband’s funeral. The court in Tbong Khmum province only said that a security guard named “Vet” was detained for the killing and charged with involuntary manslaughter. RFA was unable to confirm if he was released after the victim’s wife accepted compensation.   A court spokesperson discussed the case with a local radio station in Cambodia and said that the matter is being handled by an investigative judge. Po Hin Lean’s killing was part of a series of attacks targeting opposition activists across Cambodia, especially those linked to the relatively new Candlelight Party.  Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party has had a firm grip on Cambodia’s government since 1997. In the most recent communal elections, several opposition candidates and activists reported being harassed and targeted in the run-up to the vote.  Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Nawar Nemeh.

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Dozens of ethnic rebels killed alongside civilians in Myanmar airstrike

Editor011 mins

An ethnic rebel group said Wednesday that dozens of its personnel were among those killed along with 17 civilians, in what is believed to be the bloodiest single airstrike in Myanmar since last year’s military coup. The revelation comes as top diplomats from Southeast Asia prepare for emergency talks on Myanmar after more than a year of diplomacy has failed to end the country’s political crisis and halt widespread violence. Col. Naw Bu of the ethnic Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) told RFA Burmese that on Tuesday evening, a KIO staffer succumbed to injuries he sustained in the Oct. 23 attack on Kachin state’s Hpakant township, bringing the death toll from the incident to 63. Of the dead, 46 were KIO officers, including the commander of the 9th Brigade of the Kachin Independence Army, the group’s military wing. “According to the list sent to me yesterday, there were 62 bodies and 62 injured,” he said of the tally prior to the additional death on Tuesday evening. “The death toll may continue to rise.” Of the remaining 61 injured, 33 are KIO officers and 28 are civilians, Naw Bu said, adding that rescuers continue to search for people missing after the attack and are working to identify those on the list of casualties. Sunday’s carnage was the result of military jets dropping munitions on a concert celebrating the 62nd anniversary of the KIO’s founding.  Among the 63 dead were two KIA officers, members of the Kachin business community, religious leaders, prominent Kachin vocalist vocalist Aurali Lahpai, keyboard player Ko King, and a Myanmar-born Chinese national named Kyar Kyo, residents said. Injured seek to circumvent military roadblocks As rescue efforts continued on Wednesday, residents told RFA that the military had yet to remove roadblocks set up in the aftermath of the attack. They said no traffic was allowed to come in or out of the area from Hpakant, around 15 miles away, leaving them short of the medical supplies they need to care for the injured. “There are too many injured patients and too few nurses here,” said one resident assisting the wounded, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Some have died because they didn’t get the treatment they needed … The medication we already have is barely sufficient either.” Meanwhile, family members have been unable to claim the bodies of their loved ones because junta authorities are refusing to allow vehicles through checkpoints to carry them home, sources said. A resident of Hpakant told RFA that some of those in need of medical treatment are taking huge risks to leave via footpaths in the jungle. “Some people walked very risky and dangerous paths through jungles and over several mountains to return home – I think three or four of them. They carried some seriously injured people with them, but they couldn’t bring all of them,” said one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There aren’t enough people to carry them out through the mountains. Some are still in the jungle getting what little medical help they can. They have no access to clinics or hospitals.” Win Ye Tun, the junta’s spokesman for Kachin state, told RFA he had no way to organize assistance for the injured amid ongoing tensions between the military and the KIA. “When the situation is safer here in the Hpakant area, we are going to start helping,” he said. The junta has said it was justified in its airstrike on the KIO gathering as a response to attacks on military bases and boats by the KIA and anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitary groups, which it calls “terrorist organizations.” It maintains that the only casualties in the attack are members of the KIA and PDF. The U.N. and foreign embassies have condemned the attack for causing mass civilian casualties in statements the junta foreign ministry dismissed on Tuesday as fabricated claims meant to interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs. Special envoy The latest reports from the military attack in Kachin state came as the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar told the U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee in New York that the political crisis in the nation is taking “a catastrophic toll on the people.” Speaking to the assembly on Tuesday evening, Noeleen Heyzer said that more than 13.2 million of the country’s 54.4 million people lack enough food to eat, while 1.3 million are displaced by fighting and raids by a military using disproportionate force, including arson and the killing of civilians. The address marked Heyzer’s first at the U.N. in New York since visiting Myanmar in August and meeting with junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who she said she had urged to end aerial bombing and the burning of civilian infrastructure, as well as non-discriminatory distribution of aid. Heyzer said that she has been working with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, to restore stability in the country, despite the junta’s failure to uphold its end of the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus, agreed to in April 2021. The plan calls for an immediate end to violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation of the dialogue process by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels and a visit to Myanmar by the bloc’s special envoy to meet all concerned parties.  ASEAN foreign ministers are planning to hold an emergency meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday to discuss the status of the agreement ahead of the bloc’s annual summit on Nov. 10 in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh. ASEAN has not extended an invitation to junta Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin to attend Thursday’s meeting. Kyaw Zaw, the spokesman for the office of the president of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, said that the meeting will likely discuss actions that can be taken against the junta to ensure that it implements the Five-Point Consensus, “because there is no positive outcome, no progress.” He also urged ASEAN to extend negotiations to the National Unity Government and all opposition parties…

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