PHOTO: TEZA HLAING / THE IRRAWADDY
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Centennial Celebrations for Gen. Aung San
Govt Backtracks on Voting Rights
Addressing the crowd, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called for unity and responsibility among the nation’s citizens, urging them to follow in the footsteps of her father and push for peace. “Not only the government, but also the Crowds of revelers gather in General Aung citizens, need to fulfill San’s hometown of Nat Mauk, Magwe Division their own duties,” she on Feb. 13, 2015. said, asking listeners to be discerning about leadership and to support those who Adoring crowds turned out “rule with love and faith.” at the birthplace of the late “Remembering my father Gen. Aung San on Feb. 13 to and honoring him by trying mark the 100th anniversary of our best to have unity, peace his birth at an event attended and honesty, to be a country by his daughter, opposition with genuine democracy, is leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. better than paying tribute at Some estimated that a mausoleum,” she said to the more than 10,000 people sea of flag-waving supporters. gathered in the small town of Celebrations began in Nat Nat Mauk, in Magwe Region, Mauk on Feb. 7, with sermons shuffling in from various parts by some of the nation’s most of the country to honor the revered monks, including late independence hero, often Sitagu Sayadaw and Ashin affectionately referred to as Sanadika. —Zarni Mann “Bogyoke.”
Just over a week after Myanmar’s Union Parliament passed a law granting temporary identity card holders the right to vote in a constitutional referendum slated for later this year, the government revoked those rights on Feb. 11. According to a president’s office statement, temporary identity cards, popularly known as white cards, will expire on March 31. President’s Office Director U Zaw Htay said in a Facebook post that “according to the announcement, the white card holders’ right to vote in the constitutional [referendum] is automatically revoked.” The move came only hours after hundreds of people gathered in Yangon to protest the passage of a law on Feb. 2 that would have allowed all citizens, foreign registration card holders and white card holders over the age of 18 to vote in the national referendum. On Feb. 16, Myanmar’s Constitutional Tribunal also ruled that the law was in violation of the Constitution—a moot point after the president’s Feb. 11 directive. The majority of white card holders are Rohingya Muslims, residing in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, who were mostly stripped of citizenship after the passage of a 1982 law. Many were awarded white cards more than two decades ago. —Nyein Nyein
Amnesty: Investigate ‘Illegal Activity’ at Monywa
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TheIrrawaddy
“Since its inception and throughout its various changes in ownership the Monywa project has been characterised by serious human rights abuses and a lack of transparency,” said the report. “Thousands of people have been forcibly evicted by the government with the knowledge, and in some cases the participation of foreign companies.” The Letpadaung mine, a joint venture between the military-backed Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited and Wanbao, a subsidiary of China’s state-owned defense manufacturer Norinco, has been an ongoing source of conflict between local farmers, authorities and project workers for more than two years.
PHOTO: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Amnesty International has called for an investigation into two international firms over their conduct in three adjoining copper mine projects, including the controversial Letpadaung mine. A new report from Amnesty, released on Feb. 10, documented forcible evictions, health impacts and the excessive use of police force in quelling protests. The report also suggested that Canadian company Ivanhoe Mines deliberately circumvented economic sanctions in divesting its stake in the Sabetaung and Kyisintaung copper mines, while accusing Chinese company Wanbao of directly engaging in evictions and crop destruction in collusion with authorities.
Police and villagers face off at the Letpadaung project site late last year. “The Letpadaung mine is increasingly being perceived as a test case of the government’s commitment to its own reform process,” Meghna Abraham, Amnesty’s deputy director of global thematic issues, told The Irrawaddy. —Sean Gleeson & Saw Yan Naing March 2015