• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

• YMBA: Back to politics? • The ethnic minister race • Digital art and copyright • Op-ed: Thant Myint-U AUGUST 13, 2020 // VOLUME 6, ISSUE 7 The anger inside Why the death of a farMer in Shan State proMpted thousands to march in protest THE LEAD PAGE 10 Published every second Thursday www.frontiermyanmar.net The Lead The Lead By Hein Thar and Andrew Nachemson is coming,” she said. Like Nang Shwe and Loong Hsu, Nai Hsai was aware that troops were in the area. She had packed a small hen Nang Shwe recalls the It was June 29, and they knew soldiers bag the night before in case she had to ‘This was not war’ morning her husband was were patrolling in the area. In recent days quickly flee. But when she went to grab it, killed by the Myanmar mil- there had been several clashes between a bullet tore through her house and struck itary, she speaks of her re- government forces and the Shan State her in the hip. gret.W Army-South, the armed wing of the Res- Initially too shocked and terrified to feel For years, residents of a confict-blighted area of Shan State had ‘kept their anger “That morning we talked about going to toration Council of Shan State. Nang Shwe the pain, she managed to walk with help inside’, but after the Tatmadaw gunned down a farmer, more than 10,000 villagers the farm to separate the corn. I wish we and her husband, Loong Hsu, thought they from one of her grandchildren to nearby marched in protest. had gone because then we could have es- would be safer in the village than going out Yae Hsan village. From there, she was tak- caped, but we were afraid of the Tatmad- to the farm. They certainly didn’t expect the en by car to a nearby hospital. The bullet aw soldiers,” she said. Tatmadaw to open fire on civilian houses. had passed through her leg and healthcare workers were able to stem the bleeding, saving her life. Nang Shwe, 56, inside Back in Pang Kyin village, Nang Shwe, her home in Pang Kyin Loong Hsu and her aunt hunkered down village on August 4. Her husband was shot in a concrete room at the school. Two sol- and killed by Tatmadaw diers banged on the door, demanding that soldiers on June 29 after taking shelter in the village they open it. school. PHOTO: HKUN LAT Nang Shwe recalled these events while The soldiers asked me if sitting on the floor of the monastery there was a man in the where she and Loong Hsu had first met, school. I said there was 35 years earlier. They were students – she no man in there because I was 19 and he was 24. She had come from didn’t know, but when they neighbouring Wo Long village to study in Pang Kyin, as many in the area did. They found U Hsu, they beat me. married soon after and lived in Wo Long, LOONG MAUNG KHAY where Hsu eventually served as a village Man who was ordered at gunpoint chief and they had six children. But the to take Tatmadaw soldiers to Pang eruption of brutal fighting in 2016 took Kyin village on June 29 a harsh toll on Wo Long, with villagers killed and homes burned as the Tatmad- aw shelled the area and shot down from helicopters. After the fighting subsided, Nang Shwe and Loong Hsu moved back to Pang Kyin, where they hoped for a fresh start. “When we first heard the sound of gun- The day the Tatmadaw opened fire on fire, I said we should stay in the house and the village, Loong Hsu was 59. He was hide, but he refused and said we should dressed in civilian clothes. Nang Shwe run to the school because it is a safer said her husband was just an “honest” and building made of concrete,” Nang Shwe “ordinary” corn farmer. Because he had remembered. no connection to the RCSS, she said, they It was a reasonable suggestion. The had no reason to believe the Tatmadaw homes in Pang Kyin village are mostly soldiers would hurt him. made of thatch and thin wood, which bul- But when Loong Hsu opened the door, lets can penetrate easily. As Nang Shwe they shot him. Trying to escape, he stum- and Loong Hsu fled to the school, the bled out of the room into a field, where home of a neighbour, Nai Hsai, was ripped the soldiers shot him twice more, killing apart by gunfire. him. Frontier saw at least half-a-dozen bullet Loong Maung Khay was standing on the holes in the walls of Nai Hsai’s home. One road, about 10 metres from where Loong had hit a cooking pot; another had shat- Hsu was shot dead. He had been detained tered her solar panel. by the Tatmadaw earlier that day and or- “When the soldiers came to the village, a dered at gunpoint to guide them to Pang young woman shouted that the Tatmadaw Kyin. 10 | August 13, 2020 // Volume 6, Issue 7 www.frontiermyanmar.net | 11 The Lead The Lead Agreement, still intends to attend the Nang Shwe holds a family upcoming Panglong peace conference portrait at her house planned for August 19-21. “We really want in Pang Kyin village in peace and hope this case will not affect the Kyaukme Township, Shan State. PHOTO: HKUN LAT peace process,” she said, calling the re- cent fighting a “misunderstanding”. Still, she warned the Tatmadaw not to make the same mistake, or the RCSS would not hesitate to fight again. “If the Tatmadaw comes into the forest or our area without informing our liaison office in Kyaukme, there will be more fighting,” she said. Sannimar said the military and RCSS engaged in their first small skirmish on June 25, after they failed to reach an agreement on the planned drug burning ceremony. When the RCSS went ahead with the event the next day anyway, the Tatmadaw’s presence in the area quickly A villager prepares felds increased, and so did the fighting. Sol- for planting in Pang Kyin diers arrived in He Kwi and began calling on August 4. PHOTO: HKUN LAT in villagers to question them about the drug burning ceremony. “They stayed for three nights. Every day in the morning, they went out and fought “The soldiers asked me if there was a Frontier passed another convoy, smaller madaw apparently felt was a challenge to with the RCSS and then came back here to demonstrators – estimates range from killing provoked such a strong reaction. man in the school. I said there was no man than the first but more heavily armed. its authority. Adding flames to the fire, the sleep,” Sanni Mar said. “One day a bullet 10,000 to 15,000 – marched from their vil- “There was no apology or investigation so in there because I didn’t know, but when About 10 cars carrying five or six soldiers RCSS put up posters claiming that many even hit the monastery. I took the bullet and lages into the town of Kyaukme on July 10, if we did not protest, nobody would know they found U Hsu, they beat me,” Maung snaked through the mountainous switch- of the drugs it planned to destroy had been confronted them and asked, ‘Do I need to where authorities initially tried to prevent the military was violating human rights Khay said. backs near Nawngkhio Township. Some confiscated from soldiers and police offi- flee?’ But they said there is no danger here.” them from entering, before eventually like this,” said Sanni Mar, who helped Maung Khay quickly lost consciousness. of the cars had been modified and were cers, said Sannimar. After the attack in Pang Kyin village relenting. organise people from Hai Kwi to join the He woke later in a small pond, where he mounted with turrets. One local resident with close ties to the and the killing of Loong Hsu, thousands Kyaukme residents had a variety of protest. “For a long time, almost every presumes the Tatmadaw dumped his limp Frontier did encounter at least two RCSS Tatmadaw, who spoke on condition of an- turned out to protest. A large crowd of reasons to explain why Loong Hsu’s village has faced this experience, and body, and spent the next five days recov- soldiers in Pang Kyin village. After we had onymity, told Frontier that the RCSS had many people have kept their anger inside, ering in Kyaukme’s hospital. been conducting interviews for about used the drug burning ceremony as an but this time people were brave enough “I still have trouble eating because my three hours, two young men arrived and excuse to increase its presence in the area. to protest.” jaw is injured,” he said, opening and clos- began listening in on conversations and He claimed the armed group sent 500 sol- Others said they were particularly up- ing his mouth gingerly in demonstration. following us around town. We were later diers into Kyaukme for the event, far more set by the killing because it was a blatant The attack on the village took place told by villagers that they were RCSS sol- than was necessary. attack on an innocent man, and could not against the backdrop of increased tension diers sent to observe us, but they did not The Shan Human Rights Foundation be explained away as the accidental result between the Tatmadaw and RCSS, and interfere with our work.

Load more

  4

Copy Link