MYANMAR

Myanmar’s deep mine of old troubles

A brutal crackdown on monk-led protesters at a giant copper mine raises questions about the future of Myanmar’s historic reforms

By Andrew R.C. Marshall MANDALAY, Myanmar, DecEMBER 28, 2012

yinyananda was chanting with dozens of fel- said Pyinyananda, 19, nursing his bandaged arms. low Buddhist monks when an object landed He was one of at least 67 monks and six other Pin the folds of his orange robes and blew up. people injured on Nov. 29, when riot police raided The canister contained tear gas, the police later camps set up by villagers protesting against a $1 bil- said, but the explosion flayed so much skin from his lion expansion of the Myanmar Wanbao copper mine arms and legs that he remains in hospital weeks later. in northern Myanmar. “The police gave no warning before they fired,” The raids sparked nationwide outrage that dented

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the reformist credentials of President Thein Sein, a former general whose quasi-civilian government replaced a decades-old dicta- torship in 2011. They also underscored how, after a year of often breathtaking change, the bad old Myanmar still looms over the new. “Our leaders haven’t kicked their dictato- rial habits,” said former monk Nyi Nyi Lwin, better known as Gambira, who was jailed for his role in 2007 pro-democracy protests. “We’re no longer an absolute dictatorship, but we’re not yet a genuine democracy.” Few ordinary Burmese have felt the im- pact of reform, but most have high expec- tations and feel emboldened to speak out. The mine dispute suggests that while 2012 was Myanmar’s year of hope and change, 2013 has the potential to be a year of pro- INVESTIGATING: leader is heading a special investigation commission tests and crackdowns. into the crackdown on protesters at the Wanbao mine near Monya. ASKING FORGIVENESS: (front The copper mine sits at a crowded inter- page) Myanmar local police apologise to Buddhist monks for a brutal crackdown on a protest against section of grievances and interests - local, a giant copper mine near Monya, in the northwest of the ocuntry. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun national and international; political, eco- nomic and religious. Myanmar Wanbao is a unit of China We’re no longer an absolute U.S. military would invite Myanmar coun- North Industries Corp, a Chinese weap- dictatorship, but we’re not yet a terparts to observe war games in neigh- ons manufacturer. It operates the mine genuine democracy. bouring Thailand in January 2013. The - the country’s largest - with the Union invitation was a powerful symbolic gesture of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd Gambira toward a Myanmar military that has yet to (UMEHL), a vast holding company be- Activist and former monk acknowledge its well-documented human longing to the powerful Myanmar military. rights abuses. Villagers say the expansion at giant neighbour that had armed and supported The mine crackdown now has some Letpadaung, a set of low hills on the west it during decades of Western sanctions: China. wondering if the U.S. rapprochement is bank of the Chindwin River, involves the Amid nationwide street protests by monks, too hasty. In a paper published Dec. 12, unlawful confiscation of thousands of acres Thein Sein cancelled a state visit to Australia the Heritage Foundation, a conservative of their land. Monks say it has destroyed and New Zealand to focus on damage con- Washington think tank, said the Obama or damaged the holy sites of a famous trol. Police and ministers apologised to the Administration’s policy “lacks sufficient Buddhist teacher who died in 1923. monks, and a commission was established to protections against Burmese backsliding on Their months-long protest ended in a investigate local grievances about the mine. It reforms.” It urged Congress to re-impose pre-dawn, military-style operation remi- is headed by Nobel Peace Prize-winning op- major U.S. sanctions if Myanmar’s progress niscent of the suppression of monk-led position leader Aug San Sul Kyi. was insufficient. protests in 2007. Back then, Thein Sein, a The crackdown came just 10 days af- DENTED OPTIMISM former general, was the loyal prime minis- ter Myanmar basked in a visit from U.S. ter of retired dictator . President . His Nov. 19 ap- Myanmar’s reforms have not stalled. But The November crackdown triggered a pearance in the former pariah state lasted they have entered a complex and less public-relations nightmare. A government just six hours, but for many Burmese it headline-grabbing phase that could test the headed by an ex-general and filled with former heralded their re-entry into the world after nerve of Thein Sein’s reformers and the pa- soldiers had used force to protect the business decades of isolation. tience of his long-suffering people. interests of the Myanmar military and of the Obama’s trip followed news that the This year the government has held a free

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and fair by-election, all but scrapped media Mine battles The hole is surrounded by towering heaps of censorship, reformed Myanmar’s antiquat- Locals are protesting the $1 billion copper ore which, with every new truckload, ed currency, and set in motion a crowded planned expansion of Myanmar’s largest inch their way towards surrounding villages. legislative agenda to tackle rural poverty copper mine near Monywa, saying it The company’s compound in and encourage foreign investment. involves unlawful land confiscation and Letpadaung is a neat grid of bungalows But there have been setbacks. A year that destruction of holy Buddhist sites. surrounded by a fence topped with barbed began with the release of hundreds of po- wire and security cameras. Outside the gate litical prisoners ended with activists alleging CHINA is a singed and threadbare lawn where the that the government is arresting dissidents main protest camp once stood. Inside, riot almost as fast as it is freeing them. In the days Monywa mine police march back and forth, shouting and INDIA The mine is run by after their crackdown at the mine, police de- banging riot shields with their truncheons. the still-powerful tained at least eight activists in . “Regular training,” said Police SAGAING Myanmar military The government still has the trust of the STATE and a unit of a Lieutenant Colonel Thura Thwin Ko Ko, people, said , minister of the presi- Chinese arms maker. 49, one of commanders on duty the night dent’s office and one of Thein Sein’s top re- Mandalay of the crackdown. He is a former army formers. “It was not a crackdown. It was crowd major decorated for bravery during bloody control,” he said, adding that the government MYANMAR jungle campaigns against rebels in Karen has already apologised for the injuries. State. (“Thura” is a military honorific mean- The year also started with a slew of cease- ing “brave.”) fires with ethnic insurgent armies. Several Bay of Thwin Ko Ko said police had been pa- are now looking shaky, and a 20-month Bengal tient with the demonstrators, who had no conflict in Kachin State between govern- legal permission to protest. “They are not ment troops and Kachin rebels is escalating. our enemies,” he said. “They are our broth- And a relationship once considered essen- THAILAND ers and sisters. They are not educated and tial to the reform process is showing signs of don’t understand the law.” strain. Suu Kyi speaks privately with increas- Andaman But he said this patience wore thin as peo- Sea ing bitterness of Thein Sein, say diplomats ple from other areas joined the protest, along and other visitors to Suu Kyi’s semi-fortified with “outside groups” whom Thwin Ko Ko 0 200 miles lakeside home in Yangon. Her spokesman, didn’t identify. “Our country cannot stand it Ohn Kyaing, denied there is any rift. Source: Reuters. forever,” he said. “So we had to take action.” The mine protest also capped a year in On the evening before the crackdown, which Myanmar’s monks returned as a major “we asked them to go back to their homes political force - for good and for bad. Monks and monasteries at least 15 times,” he said. have been famed for years for their pro-de- check for foreign investors eyeing business “Nobody wanted to make violent action.” mocracy stance. This year, some of them were opportunities in one of Asia’s last frontier More warnings were made at 3 a.m. on shown to have an anti-Muslim stance as well. economies, some Myanmar watchers say. Nov. 29, before police used water cannon Monks have held street rallies to oppose The reform process will be lengthy and and threw tear-gas canisters. the mostly stateless Rohingya Muslims of “very hostage to events,” said Sean Turnell, The order to clear the protest sites, he Rakhine State in western Myanmar. There, an expert on the Myanmar economy at said, came from “our superiors” in the two eruptions of sectarian violence this Macquarie University in Australia. “The Ministry of Home Affairs, which over- year with Rakhine Buddhists left hundreds mine illustrates the sort of event that could sees the police, and from the office of the dead and tens of thousands homeless. send things off the rails.” prime minister of Sagaing state, of which In an October outbreak, monks openly Monywa is the capital. “THEY ARE NOT OUR ENEMIES” incited Rakhine mobs to attack Muslims. Police were told not to fire rubber bul- The ethnic cleansing that followed has left You could fit Yankee Stadium into the lets or even to use truncheons, said Thwin Muslims elsewhere in Myanmar fearing for Myanmar Wanbao copper mine. Twice. Ko Ko. “We only used water cannon and their own safety. Giant trucks look like toys as they as- tear gas.” This action was “in accordance The setbacks should serve as a reality cend on switchback curves from its depths. Text continues on page 5

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MONK POWER: (above) Buddhist monks led protests in Decmeber in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital over the Monya mine crackdown. FORCIBLE EVICTION: (below, left) Villagers say the expansion of the Chinese-invested Wanbao mine involves the confiscation of thousands of acres of their land. NURSING WOUNDS: (below, right) A Buddhist monk recovering in a hospital after the police crackdown. Monks have often been at the forefront of anti- government protests in Myanmar. REUTERS/Soe Seya Tun

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with the law.” The president’s office issued members and remains a powerful force in a statement on the day of the crackdown Myanmar. CDs with sermons by celebrated which used similar language. 400,000 monks take pride of place on street stalls The burn injuries of dozens of monks Approximate number of monks that also sell pirated Hollywood movies. still recuperating at Mandalay General in Myanmar A key monk in the mine protest was Hospital tell a different story. Wirathu (his holy name), a short, shav- According to Western diplomats in en-headed abbot at New Massoyein in Yangon, two types of munition were found At her request, four children with men- Mandalay, a vast monastic complex hous- at the protest site. One was a canister bearing tal disabilities aged from one to 16 years ing almost 3,000 monks. the letters “CS” - an abbreviation for the active were sent to Yangon Children’s Hospital, Wirathu, 44, lives in a monastery whose chemical in tear-gas. The other was a smaller, after locals claimed they had been poisoned walls are decorated with larger-than-life bullet-like munition with no markings. by emissions from a sulphuric acid factory photos of himself. In an interview, he said The munitions were standard-issue po- in the area that’s owned by UMEHL. he dispatched 170 monks to Monywa - not lice weapons for dispersing crowds. If the Doctors found “no symptoms of exposing to demonstrate, he stressed, but to safe- police had known what kind of impact the [sic] to acid,” said a government news release guard the protesters. The police crackdown munitions would have, they would never printed on the front page of the state-run enraged him, he said. have deployed them, said Thwin Ko Ko. New Light of Myanmar on Dec. 14. “Honestly, I felt I wanted to fight weap- “We were really surprised what kind of ons with weapons,” he said. BURMESE BIN LADEN smoke bomb it is,” he said. Wirathu is also one of the most promi- Why did tear-gas canisters explode like The state-run media also has been running nent articulators of Burmese resentment incendiary grenades? That’s one mystery photos of Thein Sein making offerings at against the country’s Muslims, whom he opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s com- Buddhist temples. With the monk-led refers to by the pejorative “kalar.” mission investigating the incident hopes to of 2007 so recent a He blames Muslim Rohingyas for recent solve by the end of December. “When we memory, the president seems at pains to sectarian violence in Rakhine State, despite can find enough evidence, then we will an- persuade his people that the mine crack- evidence, first documented by Reuters, of nounce who is guilty and why,” she said at a down was an aberration. ethnic cleansing by Buddhist Rakhines Dec. 6 news conference. The monkhood has about 400,000 in October. He alleged that Muslims de- liberately razed their own houses to win a place at refugee camps run by aid agen- cies. Wirathu said his militancy is vital to counter aggressive expansion by Muslims, who he says marry and forcibly convert Buddhist women. “I am a Burmese bin Laden,” he grinned. Valerie Amos, the United Nations hu- manitarian chief, visited the refugee camps in December and described conditions as among the worst she had ever seen. Thousands of Rohingya men, women and children are cramming onto ramshackle fishing boats and setting sail for other Southeast Asian countries. Former political prisoner and monk Gambira said monks are less anti-Muslim than Wirathu’s views suggest. In a nation where a third of all people live below the LIKE TOY TRUCKS: You could fitY ankee Stadium into the Myanmar Wanbao copper mine. Twice. poverty line, the monkhood will inevita- REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun bly reflect the beliefs of an ill-educated

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populace, he said. Gambira also noted that Buddhist monks in Yangon recently held an interfaith meeting with Muslim, Christian and Hindu religious figures. ANTI-CHINESE SENTIMENT The copper mine is not the first Chinese project to become the target of popular anger. Thein Sein stunned Beijing after suspending the $3.6 billion Chinese-built in Sep. 2011 after fierce public opposition to its construction. In the aftermath of the mine crackdown, the fear now is that simmering resentment PUBLIC RELATIONS NIGHTMARE: A government headed by an ex-general and filled with former could spark protests over Myanmar’s largest soldiers used force against a monk-led protest to protect the business interests of the Myanmar project, also Chinese-built: a twin oil and gas military and China. REUTERS/Minzayar pipeline being built across the country into China’s energy-hungry Yunnan province. In most of Myanmar, Chinese popula- Still, Suu Kyi feels that Thein Sein re- He was charged with trespassing and tions are long-established and well-inte- neged on promises to release all political vandalism, then released on bail after spend- grated. Not so in Mandalay and the north, prisoners, said activists who have spoken ing 10 days in the notorious Insein Jail. where the copper mine lies. Here, hundreds with her recently. Fifty-one dissidents were Gambira believes he was arrested to pre- of thousands of Chinese migrants have set- released on Nov. 19, just as Obama arrived vent him from organising anti-mine pro- tled in the past 20 years, often with citizen- on the first visit to Myanmar by a serv- tests. He admits to meeting with “angry” ship papers obtained illegally. ing U.S. president. But at least 200 remain Mandalay monks just after the crackdown. Their access to credit and business net- behind bars, according to the Assistance “The monks won’t budge until the whole works in China gives them an advantage Association for Political Prisoners, a (mining) project is cancelled,” he said. over existing native-run businesses, which Burmese human-rights group. The opponents of the copper mine seem has raised tensions with locals, reported the Obama spoke at Yangon University of “a unfazed by the government’s tactics. As of Brussels-based think tank Crisis Group in future where a single prisoner of conscience is two weeks ago, half a dozen monks and about November. “There is clearly a risk of in- one too many.” Listening from the front row 60 lay people, mostly from surrounding vil- tercommunal violence, something that the was the former monk Gambira, a lantern- lages, had set up a new protest encampment Chinese government has long been con- jawed 33-year-old with thick-rimmed glasses. east of the mine’s Letpadaung expansion. cerned about,” it said. He had been sentenced to 68 years “Every crackdown creates a new genera- Suu Kyi’s investigation of the mine in prison for his leading role in the 2007 tion of activists,” Gambira said. crackdown will likely be highly critical of Saffron Revolution protests by monks. He the Myanmar police. But it’s unclear how was freed in January 2012 with many other Editing by Michael Williams and Bill Tarrant far she will risk antagonizing either of the prominent political prisoners. He says he mine partners, Myanmar Wanbao (mean- suffers from poor mental health due to tor- FOR MORE INFORMATION ing China) or the military-run UMEHL. ture and abuse while in custody. Andrew R.C. Marshall, Special Both Beijing and the military are powerful On Dec. 1, less than two weeks after Correspondent, Thailand & Indochina supporters of Thein Sein. Obama’s speech, Gambira was arrested for [email protected] “There will never be an answer with which an act of civil disobedience. Soon after his Bill Tarrant, Enterprise Editor everyone will be satisfied,” she said at a Dec. January release, Gambira broke the padlocks [email protected] 6 press conference in Yangon. “But our com- on monasteries shut down by the former jun- Michael Williams, Global Enterprise Editor mission’s only mission is to reveal the truth.” ta, so that monks could occupy them again. [email protected]

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