Police avoid more violence in Maubin

Police avoid more violence in Maubin

By Shwe Gu Thit Sar   |   Sunday, 18 August 2013

Officials in Ayeyarwady Region's Maubin district say they are treading carefully to avoid a repeat of clashes in February that saw a policeman killed and more than 40 people injured.

A policeman stands guard in Maubin township, Ayeyarwady Region, on February 27, one day after a policeman was killed and up to 40 people wounded during a protest over land ownership. Photo: AFP

Arrest warrants have been issued for nine people over the clashes but only two have been arrested and sources say police are afraid to approach the men.

They face nine charges each, including murder, with the two in custody due to appear in Maubin district court on August 9.

U Aye Thaung, the head of the Maubin district administrative office, said no effort is being been made to bring the other seven people into custody as "it is dangerous to go and arrest them where they live".

"Farmers involved in the land dispute in the Palaung villages in Ma Let Toe village tract have been charged and warrants issued but some are still on the run," he said.

"They didn't appear in court when they were summoned, and are living in the fields … But we didn't make any police go and arrest them because we don't want to see a repeat of the violence earlier this year."

On February 21, villagers from the Ma Let Toe area launched a protest over the confiscation of 550 acres of farmland in the mid-1990s by a private company, Orchard Co Ltd. The 550-acre tract is part of a larger, 2000-acre parcel that the company acquired for a fish farm.

However, violence broke out on the sixth day of the protest. One policeman was killed, while 29 were injured along with 11 civilians. The protesters allege that members of the police force sparked the clashes by assaulting some women in the crowd.

U Aye Thaung said the farmers that the police have charged are also illegally cultivating between 30 and 40 acres at the centre of the dispute and could face further charges.

"They are growing paddy on the restricted area, on the land that is owned by the company," he said.

One of the charged farmers who is still on the run, U Kyaw Min, told The Myanmar Times that they were growing as much as 50 acres of paddy illegally.

"We have not been asked to appear in court but we have heard that they will come and arrest us," he said.

Efforts to resolve the dispute through negotiation have so far been unsuccessful, he said, with farmers rejecting the company's compensation offer of K25 million (about US$25,600) for all of the land.

U Aye Thaung said the most recent round of talks was held on June 2 at the Maubin township administration office and included the township administrator, farmers, officials from Orchard and a prominent monk, Shwe Nya War Sayadaw.

"The negotiations failed because only half of the farmers agreed to accept the compensation. The rest want to get their land back because the company confiscated [550] acres of land for fish farming but didn't implement this business," he said.

No further negotiations are planned and the farmers have submitted letters of complaint to the president and relevant government departments. Orchard declined to answer questions last week.

U Kyaw Min indicated farmers would not accept compensation and said the offer of replacement land "was a decision by the company, not the result of negotiation".

"We just want to grow on our ancestral land," he said.

But the company could potentially face challenges to its ownership because of its apparent failure to develop the fish farm. Under the Farmland Nationalisation Act, known as La Na/39, the state can take back land if the owner does not implement the stated business within six months. The Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Act, which came into force in 2012, sets a time limit of four years.

U Maung Win, secretary of the Agriculture and Farmer Federation of Myanmar, which was officially established in September 2012 and has members in more than 60 of Maubin's 88 villages, said just 15 acres of the land confiscated by Orchard have been developed. The bamboo grown on these fields is "just for show", he added.

U Maung Win said the confiscation had consigned the farmers to poverty and the violence in February was a sign of their desperation. He said the demand to give the land back was "a fair one" and criticised "rich people" in Myanmar for wanting to take land from "poor farmers" for their businesses.

"The farmers' lives will recover if they get back their land that was unfairly confiscated by the company," he said.

However, Ko Htaik Htaik from the Pyo Khin Thit Foundation, which was formed in 2012 and runs development programs in Maubin township, said the lack of ownership documents made it hard to assess the farmers' ownership claims.

"Only 21 farmers can show evidence that they previously owned the land. There are a lot of people who are saying they own the land but do not have any documentation," he said.

"The company offered compensation of K25 million. The farmers can ask for more than that if they want but they are just demanding to give back their land."

Translated by Thiri Min Htun

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/08/19/police-avoid-more-violence-in-maubin/