“To Whom Do We Report?”: Land Seizure by MOGE for the Expansion and Straightening of the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay Gas Pipeline

April 18, 2011

For the past four months, the government owned company, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, has administrated extensive repairs and expansions to the gas pipeline from Kanbauk, Yebyu Township, in Tennaserrim Division to Myaing Kalay, Karen State. Repairs include the substitution of old parts of the pipeline, the straightening of the curved pipeline, as well as digging new roads for bulldozers and cranes to carry equipment to the pipeline areas.  When expanding the pipeline, and paving new roads for the bulldozers, MOGE has cut through cultivator’s land and plantations, splitting up their plots and destroying their crops and livelihoods. Local landowners have expressed frustration and upset that not only has their land been destroyed, or broken into multiple parts, but that this acquisition of their land is the second time locals have lost their landholdings, whether it be rubber plantations, paddy land, or other farmland.[1] Download report as PDF [352KB] Read more

The New Government Must Respect Freedom

April 18, 2011

On the 31st of March, when the new government leader and former military commander, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, took office in Naypyidaw, the capital of Burma, he promised a clean and good governance. This was his promise, but in practice, if he and his government do not allow various freedoms inherent in a democracy, the people will never believe that the government will bring them toward democracy. Read more