Burma
Dozens of Jade Miners Detained in Kachin After Wage Dispute Turns Violent
Jade mine workers gather at the offices of the Yadana Shwe Eaik mining company to demand their wages in the Lone Khin region of Kachin State on Monday. / Ko Zaw Moe Htet / Facebook
MANDALAY — A police officer in the Lone Khin jade mining region of Kachin State said 50 miners were detained on Tuesday after a dispute over unpaid wages with their employer, Yadana Shwe Eaik, turned violent the night before.
According to witnesses, more than 100 mine workers gathered on Monday afternoon at the company’s offices to demand their wages and when tempers flared they destroyed some of Yadana’s heavy machinery and set fire to a building.
“The workers said they did not received their daily wages and salaries yet, and the arguments turned into a protest in the evening. The police were there negotiating between the workers and the company, and the company promised it would pay the daily wages and salaries on Tuesday,” said Ko Thein Han, a witness.
“We don’t know what sparked the chaos. Some angry men threw stones and destroyed the heavy machinery. Later, the recreation building for the workers was set on fire and the flames spread to the garage and nearby buildings,” he added.
Witnesses said dozens of workers rushed into the garage once it caught fire to steal the jade stored inside but were eventually dispersed by police who fired warning rounds into the air.
“We got away from there when the situation started to get bad. We heard the gunfire from afar and later learned that police opened fire to drive away the workers who tried to steal the jade from the burning garage,” said Ko Aung Moe, a mine worker.
“The fire ended at about 11 p.m. and police are searching for the suspects who stole jade from the burning garage,” he added.
A local police officer, who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said 50 mine workers were detained on Tuesday and would be sued on several counts, including vandalism, arson, theft, unlawful gathering and insulting police.
He said three civilians received minor injuries during the violence and that police were investigating reports that one man had died.
“We still don’t know about the dead person. Since the investigation is ongoing with the detained workers and the company staff, I cannot provide any more information,” the officer said.
He said police estimated the value of the stolen jade and property damage at about 114 million kyats ($84,700).
Company representatives could not be reached for comment.
Locals said security remained tight on Tuesday as police continued to search for more suspected thieves. They said wage disputes between the area’s jade mine workers and their employers were common but added that Monday night’s violence was rare.
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Burma
Ne Win’s Grandsons Charged With Assaulting Bus Driver
Kyaw Ne Win (looking toward camera) inspects a fleet of new buses delivered to Omni Focus Company at Yangon’s People’s Park in May 2017. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
YANGON — Two grandsons of former military dictator Ne Win are to appear in court on May 25 on charges of assaulting a man who worked as a driver for a company they own.
U Aung Myat, who was formerly employed as a bus driver by Omni Focus YBS Co., claims he was beaten by Kyaw Ne Win and Zwae Ne Win after the bus he was driving was involved in a minor accident with another one of their company’s vehicles, adding that he was unfairly dismissed from his job.
The brothers deny the claims and have opened their own case against U Aung Myat alleging careless driving.
U Aung Myat told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the brothers kicked him while wearing boots, and hit him on the head during the assault.
“Prior to the incident I was involved in a minor accident. I was driving out of a repair shop when another car drove in at the same time. The accident left the other car with a broken window,” he said. The vehicle he was driving was also damaged.
After the incident, he and his friend drove back inside the auto shop to have the damage to their vehicle repaired. While they were waiting, he said, Kyaw Ne Win and Zwae Ne Win arrived by car.
U Aung Myat said Kyaw Ne Win, Zwae Ne Win and their driver began beating him and his friend. Kyaw Ne Win kicked him while wearing boots, leaving him with injured ribs on his left side, he said.
“I felt pain and was unable to breathe properly after he kicked me. I couldn’t even talk for a while,” U Aung Myat said.
U Aung Myat made a complaint against the two brothers at a police station in Hlaing Tharyar Township on May 11, accusing them of assault. The court accepted the case for investigation.
The plaintiff claims Zwae Ne Win also punched him near his ear, while Kyaw Ne Win gripped him by the neck.
Kyaw Ne Win dared him to attempt to take legal action against the pair, he said.
“I told them [the collision] was an accident, and that I had not intended to do it, but they hit me while I was speaking,” U Aung Myat said.
As a result of the incident, U Aung Myat said, Kyaw Ne Win and Zwae Ne Win had him fired from Omni Focus YBS. They also confiscated his driving license and refused to pay him salary he was owed, he alleged.
Kyaw Ne Win denied U Aung Myat’s claims against him and his brother, telling Burmese-language newspaper 7Day Daily in an article published on Monday that he will fight for justice.
Police charged the brothers with violating Article 202 of the criminal code. The brothers opened their own case against U Aung Myat accusing him of violating Article 277 by driving carelessly.
All three are due to appear in court on May 25, according to U Aung Myat.
“As an employer, he should not beat a worker like this. He could have docked my pay or [taken proper steps to] dismiss me from the company,” he said. Such a physical assault is illegal, he said.
Relatives of Ne Win, including his grandsons, have been in trouble with the law in the past, and have drawn accusations of using their grandfather’s name to shield them from prosecution.
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News
Tatmadaw Continues Attacks in Kachin State
A KIA outpost. / The Irrawaddy
YANGON — The Myanmar Army launched three air attacks on Battalion 6 under the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)’s Brigade 2 on Monday morning, said Major Awng Ja, the Battalion 6 commander.
“[The military] dropped bombs around the hill where Battalion 6 is stationed. Clashes are quite fierce,” the major told The Irrawaddy.
The attacks caused neither civilian casualties nor damaged villages, he added.
Monday was the third day of attacks carried out by the Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, against Battalion 6. The government troops are also currently launching attacks on KIA outposts elsewhere in Kachin State, said U Hsan Awng of the Kachin Peace-talk Creation Group (PCG).
“[The military] has been attacking several [KIA] battalions,” he told The Irrawaddy.
The Irrawaddy was not able to obtain comments from the Defense Ministry regarding the attacks.
The commander of the Northern Command Major-General Teza Kyaw in a meeting with local and foreign media on Friday said the Tatmadaw has to carry out attacks for regional stability in Kachin State as well as in response to ambushes by the KIA on Tatmadaw troops.
“In fact, we are only carrying out counterattacks against the KIA,” said Maj-Gen Teza Kyaw.
Clashes are likely to continue in Hpakant and Tanai, as the Tatmadaw has brought in reinforcements, said KIA Major Awng Ja.
“Their troops are growing, and we therefore try to avoid clashes as much as possible. But clashes could break out anytime if their troops advance,” said the major.
“We would like to mediate, but the Tatmadaw doesn’t seem to want to. So, we will wait and see. Only when both sides are willing can we mediate. We’ve asked both sides to negotiate repeatedly, but have received no reply. So, we wait,” said U Hsan Awng of the PCG.
The Tatmadaw launched attacks on gold and amber mines that it said were being illegally operated by the KIA in Kachin State’s Tanai in June 2017.
Clashes stopped for a while after KIA Battalion 14 retreated from its headquarters in Hukawng Valley in Tanai on March 14. But on April 6, KIA Battalion 6 attacked the Tatmadaw soldiers providing security in Hpakant, which was followed by military attacks in a number of places including Tanai and Hpakant, forcing thousands of people from their homes.
With the assistance of China, a Tatmadaw delegation led by Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung and a KIA delegation led by its chairman General N’Ban La met in Yunnan Province on Feb. 1. No agreement was reached at the meeting.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
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News
Gap Apologizes for Selling T-shirt With ‘Incorrect Map’ of China
Bags and clothes are seen at Hong Kong's first Gap Store before its opening in the financial Central district, November 25, 2011. / Reuters
SHANGHAI — US retailer Gap Inc apologized on Monday for selling a t-shirt which it said had an incorrect map of China, adding it would implement “rigorous reviews” to prevent a repeat mistake.
The apology came after a person posted pictures of the t-shirt on Chinese social media network Weibo, saying that Chinese territories, including south Tibet, the island of Taiwan and the South China Sea, were omitted from the map. The user said the photo of the t-shirt was taken at an outlet store in Canada.
“Gap Inc. respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. We’ve learned that a Gap brand t-shirt sold in some overseas markets failed to reflect the correct map of China. We sincerely apologize for this unintentional error,” it said in a statement posted on its Weibo account on Monday evening.
It added that the products had been pulled from the Chinese market and destroyed.
Gap’s apology comes as China has been ramping up efforts to police language used to describe Chinese-claimed territories such as Taiwan. Other US companies which have issued apologies for similar incidents include Delta Air Lines and Marriott International Inc.
Earlier this month, the White House sharply criticized China’s efforts to force foreign airlines to change how they described Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau on their websites as “Orwellian nonsense.”
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News
Malaysia's Mahathir Vows to Investigate Toppled Government
Malaysia's newly elected Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, attends a news conference in Menara Yayasan Selangor, Pataling Jaya, Malaysia, on Saturday. / Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad vowed on Monday to investigate faults that may have been committed by the government toppled in last week’s general election, and said all ministries had been instructed not to destroy any documents.
Mahathir announced that he would appoint a new anti-corruption commission chief and replace the attorney-general who had cleared former Prime Minister Najib Razak of wrongdoing in a multi-billion-dollar scandal linked to the 1MDB state fund.
He also told a news conference that his government had a rough idea of the whereabouts of Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, who is accused of links to a plot to siphon billions of dollars from the fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Najib set up 1MDB in 2009 and previously served as chairman of its advisory board. He and the fund have denied wrongdoing.
Asked about other possible crimes, Mahathir said: “We cannot do everything at the same time at one go.”
“We have to take time. There are many faults committed by the previous government, but we cannot do everything in one day, so you have to be patient.”
Mahathir, who was Malaysia’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003, led his four-party alliance to victory against Barisan Nasional in last week’s general election, ousting a coalition that had ruled the Southeast Asian nation for six decades.
Moody’s Downbeat
Malaysia’s stock market fell sharply after opening on Monday, the first day of trading since Mahathir’s stunning triumph in the May 9 election. But it later recovered to close the day slightly higher.
Some analysts are concerned over populist promises that Mahathir’s alliance made during the election campaign, including plans to remove a goods and services tax, scrap toll fees, reinstate fuel subsidies and review Chinese investment deals.
Ratings agency Moody’s said on Monday that there was “little clarity” on the new government’s economic policy agenda and that if it fulfilled its campaign promises without adjustments it would be credit negative for the economy.
The main share index was initially dragged lower by falls in financial, telecom and airline shares, especially those with links to the former government, but closed to end the day 0.21 percent higher.
Shares in AirAsia Group Bhd fell as much as 10 percent after its chief Tony Fernandes apologized for endorsing former Prime Minister Najib Razak in the election.
The ringgit currency hit a four-month low of 3.9850 per dollar but stabilized off those lows.
Mahathir said last week that there was enough evidence to investigate Najib’s links to the 1MDB scandal and that authorities had moved to prevent his predecessor from leaving the country.
News broke in 2015 that about $700 million allegedly stolen from 1MDB had made its way into Najib’s personal bank accounts. Najib has said the deposit was a donation by an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family that had been largely returned.
Earlier, state news agency Bernama and other media reported that a former official of the anti-graft agency, MACC, had lodged a report against Najib on suspicion of blocking probes in cases involving 1MDB and a government pension fund.
Mahathir said he would appoint a new MACC chief on Tuesday.
The attorney-general who cleared Najib of wrongdoing in the 1MDB affair, Mohamed Apandi Ali, would be put on leave and replaced by the solicitor-general, he said.
Mohamed Apandi did not respond to a request for comment.
The government has also transferred the top bureaucrat in the finance ministry while the chairman of the state palm oil plantation agency, Felda, has resigned.
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