Burma closed down the democratic reform in December 2014

Citizens of Burma or Myanmar remain skeptical of political transformation
under the existing President Thein Sein's regime that claims itself as a
reformist government. The reason is that the regime just changes its clothes
rather than its undemocratic mind-set. People believe country's sovereignty has
been dishonored by the Chinese state-owned Wanbao Company hiring Myanmar police
as a tool.

Recently on 22 December 2014, a village-woman, Daw Khin Win,
56, was lethally shot by police as villagers made an effort to avert a land
seizure in the vicinity of the Letpadaung copper mining project as stated by
media reports. Daw Khin Win joined a crowd of around sixty villagers trying to prevent
Chinese company's attempting to put up a fence in the neighborhood of disputed
farmlands. Daw Khin Win was killed on the spot as police opened fire at the protesters
following villagers hit back the police and Chinese workers. Several other
villagers were also injured, private media said.

Looking back into the past, the government has unveiled its
true character during the crackdown on the peaceful anti-copper mine protesters
including several Buddhist monks in November 2012. On November 29, 2012, in Monywa, Sagaing
Division, riot police brutally run over six protest camps at the Letpadaung
copper mine, arrested an indefinite number of protesters, and injured at least
100, including many with severe burns.

The worst was that the riot police have used inflammable
bombs while they raided the camps where monks peacefully slept at early hours
of the full-moon day. The regime used
riot police equipped with harmful weapons, although there was no situation of
riot or disorder in those sites where monks recited Mitta Sutra. Actually, the
anti-copper mine protesters were just exposing their citizens' rights that the
mine has severely damaged their livelihoods, environments and cultural
heritages without sympathy.

The controversial copper mine in Sarlingyi Township in
Monywa District is being accused of widespread land confiscations and
environmental degradation, including mountain top abolition. The Lapadaungtaung
copper mine project is jointly run by the military-owned UMEHL and China's
Wanbao Mining Limited, a subsidiary of the Chinese arms manufacturer
NORINCO.

During the protests against the Letpadaung copper-mine, the
riot police are responsible for breaching common human rights abuses including
arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, and inhumane treatment that allow
running free inflammable bombs into the crowd, as said by witnesses who joined
the protest. That kind of act is
more than an ordinary rights abuse. It's a violation of crime against humanity
since nearly a hundred monks have been suffering severe burns all over their
bodies.

Meanwhile, Notification No. 92/2012 appeared on the
president's office website on 1 December 2012.
The announcement said the President had set up a 30-member
"Investigation Commission" chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to look
into whether copper mining should be continued and to find out the true
situation about the recent containing of protest in Letpadaungtaung Copper
Mining Project in Salingyi Township.

But, two days after the Notification No. 92/2012 prepared
the 30-member commission, president's office released additional Notification
No. 95/2012 on 3 December that the commission has been cut up to 16 members
without stating any reasons for the cutback of the body. The closing date for
the commission's report has also been postponed by a month, to 31 January,
2013.

The U-turn in the Presidential Notification No. 95/2012
dated 3 December is the latest inconsistency of government statements on the
topic of the controversial Monywa copper mine tragedy. However, the 16-member
commission has no authority to investigate unlawful crackdown done by the riot
police equipped with harmful weapons and inflammable bombs.

A comment is scattering in the public that inquiry
commissions have been frequently set up in this country. However, the
government doesn't regularly scrutinize how the commissions do their duties and
compile practical findings. That means people do not trust the work of such
commission. People believe the
commission's findings were exploited by the military-owned UMEHL and China's
Wanbao Mining Limited, a subsidiary of the Chinese arms manufacturer
NORINCO.

In contrast, people were disturbed by the information when
the President assigns their charismatic leader Aung San Suu Ky as commission
chair. As they distrust the quasi-civilian regime practicing the old repressive
conducts upon the citizens by abusing the law, people scared that Burma's Nobel
laureate might perhaps be exploited by the immoral authorities.

Despite much talk about needed economic reform, President
failed to mention the corruption and unprofessional conduct of officials from UMEHL
and MEC. Without officially recognizing the well embedded corrupt practices in
society, there can be no means to adequately address the issue.

The country's citizens are very poor not because the country
has no resources, but because the country's leaders, including the current
semi-elected government, refuses to acknowledge the extent of corruption and
wealth amassed by the select few.

Without changing the functions and ownership of the
military-run extra-large businesses, the President's reform process will be of
little real benefit to the general population. As foreign investment increases,
the same military affiliated businesses and crony associates will be the
biggest beneficiaries, not the average citizens. ///

According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, local villagers
and activists have been calling for the shutting down of the Latpadaung Copper
Mine, a joint-venture between the military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic
Holdings and Wanbao, a subsidiary to a Chinese arms manufacturer, which they
claim is responsible for the confiscation of about 7,800 acres of farmland in
total and has displaced farmers from 66 villages.

If President Thein Sein thinks himself of a true reformist,
he should give sufficient authority to the copper-mine commission chaired by Aung
San Suu Kyi along the lines of the international values in order to settle down
the crisis before tragic situation took place.

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http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/burma-closed-down-the-democratic-reform-in-december-2014/