KUALA LUMPUR— The newly appointed ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar Erywan Mohd Yusof must be given full access to all parties in the country in the effort to help address the current situation there.
Malaysia’s Senior Minister of Foreign Affairs Hishammuddin Hussein in welcoming the appointment of Erywan, who is Brunei’s Foreign Minister II, said it is an important step towards the implementation of the consensus adopted at the ASEAN leaders meeting on April 24.
“In implementing the five-point consensus mandated by ASEAN leaders, Malaysia is pleased with the consensus in appointing Erywan.
“Malaysia fully supports the appointment of the special envoy as he undertakes this role,” he said in his tweet.
Hishammuddin said the special envoy will also be working with ASEAN Secretary General in sending humanitarian assistance through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre).
The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres also welcomed the appointment of Erywan and looks forward to continuing the international body’s cooperation with ASEAN on a coherent response to the crisis in Myanmar.
Since the military coup on Feb 1 that outsted the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has been facing compounded political and public health crisis as the COVID-19 infection surges.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group claimed more than 900 people have been killed while nearly 7,000 people have been arrested since the coup. However, the military said the number of protesters killed is far lower.
In finding a solution for Myanmar, ASEAN had come up with five point consensus; 1. the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and all parties to exercise utmost restraint; 2. constructive dialogue among all parties concerned to commence to seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people; 3. a special envoy of the ASEAN Chair to facilitate mediation of the dialogue process, with the assistance of the Secretary-General of ASEAN; 4. ASEAN to provide humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre; and 5. the special envoy and delegation to visit Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned.
Myanmar’s military junta has begun a nationwide vaccination campaign as the country struggles under a third COVID-19 wave, but many people are avoiding the jab as they mistrust not only the junta, but also vaccines of Chinese origin, sources in the country told RFA.
The civilian government that was ousted by military coup on Feb. 1 had launched a program to vaccinate everyone over the age of 18, but the army takeover disrupted that plan. In a recent speech, the junta’s leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said about 50 percent of the population of 54 million would be vaccinated by the end of the year.
While the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine has been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) with an efficacy of 79% against symptomatic COVID-19 infection, the junta’s brutal crackdown on people protesting its rule and its stranglehold on media in the country have made citizens hesitant to get vaccinated.
People in Myanmar are also cautious about the vaccine because products manufactured in their giant northern neighbor China have a poor reputation in the country of 54 million people.
“Mainly I don’t want to have the vaccine because it is Chinese. Second, I don’t trust it since these vaccines are administered by the military council,” Kyaw Myo Lwin, a resident of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
“If the elected civilian government had administered these vaccines, I would definitely get it, but I won’t under the military council. I reject it. I believe this vaccine will not make any difference for us,” he said.
Kyaw Myo Lwin, who said his family and friends also mistrust the military’s vaccine scheme, will continue to wear facemasks, avoid crowded places, wash his hands frequently and stay indoors to protect himself, he added.
A doctor who requested that RFA not reveal his name or location for security reasons said that mistrust of the military runs deep among most people.
“Judging from their actions, there is nothing trustworthy about them. They have, after all, terrorized the population by arresting, torturing and persecuting them. How can the people trust them?” the doctor said.
“The vaccines they are providing come from China and Russia, countries the junta is aligned with politically. These are all reasons that damage public trust in them,” the physician said.
“People already have their opinions of Chinese products as being of a lower quality,” he said, but advised people to get the Chinese vaccine if there are no other choices available.
Vaccination is the only long-term solution for containing COVID-19, Than Naing Soe, a spokesperson for the junta’s Health and Sports Ministry, told RFA.
“Realistically speaking, it will be hard to maintain measures like wearing face masks, washing hands or keeping distance. The best solution is to vaccinate, so we will get it done,” he said.
The vaccines the junta will provide are not only Chinese, which are among 11 distributed by the World Health Organization’s COVAX program, Than Naing Soe said. Vaccines made in Russia and India will also be administered, he said.
A Yangon doctor who requested anonymity to speak freely told RFA that any of the vaccine options were better than nothing.
“Prevention is better than cure. No matter which vaccine, whether it is 10, 20 or 50 percent effective, it would benefit the host and is a better choice than not having any protection at all,” the Yangon doctor said.
“Many people got hit very hard in this third wave of the pandemic. This is because people were not vaccinated during the second wave. So, vaccination is good for you,” said the Yangon doctor.
The ousted democratically elected government prior to the Feb. 1 coup had announced a program to vaccinate all 38.35 million people older than 18 in Myanmar, using a combination of 30 million purchased and 27 million donated vaccine doses.
Immunization began Jan. 27 with the Indian made AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine and 2.75 million people were fully vaccinated when the program was suspended following the coup.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing told Russia’s RIA news agency that the program had been suspended due to supply problems in India, but he said Myanmar was trying to purchase two million doses from Russa and was in negotiations to buy seven million more from China.
According to WHO statistics, Myanmar has confirmed nearly 320,000 COVID-19 cases and close to 11,000 deaths.
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Schoolchildren in Tibet are being forced by Chinese authorities into programs of military training during summer vacation in a move aimed at weakening their ties to their own culture and further indoctrinating them in the ideology of China’s ruling Communist Party, Tibetan sources say.
Children aged 8-16 are now being sent from Tibet’s capital Lhasa and other areas to attend two training camps set up in southern Tibet’s Nyingtri, also called Kongpo, region, not far from the China-claimed Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Attendance at the two camps, called the Young Tibetan Snow Hawk Military Summer Camp and the Tibet Rong He Military Training Center, is depriving Tibetan schoolchildren of the few opportunities still available to them to learn their own Tibetan language in private settings outside of school, sources say.
“Coinciding with school break now in Lhasa, Tibetans are not permitted to hold private classes to learn Tibetan, and so the Chinese authorities are forcing Tibetan children to attend these military programs where they give political education instead,” a Tibetan living in the region told RFA in a written message.
Also speaking to RFA, Karma Tenzin—a researcher at the Dharamsala, India-based Tibet Policy Institute—agreed that training at the military camps is denying Tibetan students the freedom to learn their own language, a crucial support to Tibetan national identity.
“Tibetan children who usually attend Tibetan schools and monasteries during their summer and winter breaks are now left with no choice but to attend these military training programs,” Tenzin said.
“This is China’s attempt to brainwash young Tibetans through a strategy of carrying out programs like this,” Tenzin said.
“The Chinese Communist Party is implanting its own ideology and Chinese nationalism into young Tibetans during their school break, and eventually this will become a threat to the Tibetan language,” he added.
Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns typically deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say.
The new military training camps’ proximity to China’s politically sensitive Tibetan border with India, with which China clashed in skirmishes in Ladakh last year, raises other concerns, Tenzin said.
“If we observe the way the Chinese government is setting up these military camps along the border area, it seems certain they will be using these camps as future military shields and the children as soldiers,” he said.
Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago.
Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.
Reported by Sangyal Kunchok for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Workers at a special economic zone (SEZ) in northern Laos that caters to Chinese gamblers are desperate to return to their homes amid an outbreak of the coronavirus that triggered a lockdown earlier this week, saying they haven’t been paid in months and can no longer afford food or rent.
Up to 5,000 workers of different nationalities are employed at the Golden Triangle SEZ in Bokeo province, which lies along Laos’ shared borders with Thailand and Myanmar. Bokeo is a hotspot for coronavirus transmission and the SEZ’s main tourist draw—the Kings Romans Casino—has seen business plummet during the pandemic.
Lao migrant workers at the SEZ told RFA’s Lao Service that most of them have been out of a job for months because of the downturn and have no money to pay for necessities, but restrictions on movement aimed at preventing the spread of the virus mean they cannot leave the area.
“Because of the lockdown, only a few of us are working, while most of us are laid off and want to get out [of the SEZ],” one worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“It’s difficult to live here, as we have had no income … for more than four months. We’ve requested help from the [provincial government] but received no response.”
The worker said that he and around 50 of his fellow nationals had registered requests with the SEZ office to return to their families but had yet to hear back.
Another worker, who also declined to be named, said all he can do is wait for a green light to leave.
“We don’t have money to pay for rent and all the food is getting more expensive,” he said. “Everybody wants to get out.”
A third worker told RFA that even those with money are finding it difficult to buy goods during the lockdown because most of the stores and markets are closed.
“We just stay in our rooms all the time; we can’t go out,” he said.
“The SEZ is guarded by Chinese security guards. If we’re caught going out, we have to pay 300 yuan (U.S. $46) to get tested for COVID-19.”
Designated ‘red zone’
Last month, Thailand’s Manager Online news website reported that most of Bokeo province’s transmissions have occurred within the SEZ, with the rest occurring in nearby Tonpheung district.
The high infection rate and the recent discovery that two Lao workers who returned home from the SEZ had tested positive for COVID-19 prompted authorities this week to add the area to a list of “red zones” in the country that are subject to even tighter restrictions.
Thipphakone Chanthavongsa, the Vice-Minister of the Lao Prime Minister’s Office, announced Tuesday that the lockdown for red zones had been extended to at least Aug. 18, as the virus continues to spread within Laos, as well as in Thailand and Myanmar.
An official from the Bokeo provincial government confirmed that no one will be leaving the SEZ any time soon.
“The workers can’t get out right now; they have to wait until the lockdown is over,” they said.
“As for money or food, the government and the companies they work for are responsible for that; they must take care of their workers,” they added, without providing details about what that relief would look like, or how it would be enforced.
Reports of the challenges facing workers at the Golden Triangle SEZ came as the number of COVID-19 infections continued to mount in Laos.
Dr. Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh, director general of the Communicable Disease Control Department, told a press conference that of nearly 2,700 people tested on Wednesday, more than one in 10 had been confirmed positive.
As of Wednesday, Laos had 7,015 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths attributed to the disease. Nearly 4,800 infections and four deaths occurred in the past month.
Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
As the death toll mounts from an outbreak of COVID-19 infections that Myanmar’s junta has done little to control, volunteers in the country’s largest city Yangon have stepped into the breach to provide funeral services to the poor and are putting their lives at risk to do so.
Efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus in Myanmar were dealt a serious blow when the military seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government on Feb. 1. The country’s healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed third wave of COVID-19 that has killed nearly 7,000 people since the start of July.
The official number of infections rose Wednesday to a total of 311,067 since Myanmar’s first recorded case in March last year, with at least 10,373 dead, although the actual numbers are believed to be substantially higher, based on reports by aid groups.
The country’s public hospitals are operating at maximum capacity and have been turning away all but the most seriously ill. Other patients are being forced to settle for treatment at home amid shortages of basic medical necessities, including oxygen supplies critical to mitigating hypoxia, when oxygen fails to reach bodily tissues.
Tens of thousands of people, including many healthcare professionals, have left their jobs to join a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in opposition to junta rule. Many have faced arrest for voicing criticism of the regime.
One of the groups that has picked up the slack amid Myanmar’s political upheaval is the Metta Thingaha Free Funeral Aid Association in Yangon’s Dagon Myothit (East) Township, run by founder Min Din and around 20 volunteers. The group has been providing daily free transportation for bodies to area cemeteries using its five hearses since early July, when COVID deaths began to spike.
Min Din told RFA’s Myanmar Service that prior to July 11, Metta Thingaha had carried only two or three bodies of patients who had died of COVID-19 each day for households in a handful of neighborhoods.
“But the third wave of COVID has been the deadliest,” he said.
“Since July 11, we have had to carry between 20 and 30 bodies a day. As more and more deaths occurred and the number of corpses increased, we had to begin loading three or four in one vehicle.”
That number peaked on July 21, he said, when the group transported 34 bodies in a single day.
While the death toll has dropped slightly, Metta Thingaha is no less busy. Min Din said obtaining certificates to deliver bodies to cemeteries is one of the group’s biggest challenges, in addition to the backlog of bodies to be buried.
“Even with the proper papers, the bodies are not allowed to be laid to rest right away at the cemetery,” he said, noting that volunteers are often required to wait between 90 minutes and two hours for their turn.
At the peak of COVID deaths, Min Din said, Metta Thingaha volunteers took care of bodies left unattended at Yayway Cemetery in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township for an entire day without a break.
A volunteer named Nay Myo Aung told RFA that he rests only when he falls ill, but then quickly resumes work without even being tested for COVID-19.
“I wear PPE (personal protective equipment) for almost the entire day,” he said.
“You can’t breathe easily while wearing it and the dead bodies we transport don’t smell good. Sometimes, they have already been dead for two or three days, making it very difficult for us to breathe.”
Nay Myo Aung said that at one point, he and nearly half of his fellow volunteers became sick, but carried on with their work, even while feverish or after losing their sense of smell—symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19 infection.
“When we got better, we’d get up and do it again. Positive or negative—we didn’t care,” he said.
“Of course, we took precautions to keep ourselves safe. But what could we do? The work needs to be done.”
Monks seen after a funeral sermon at Yayway crematorium in Yangon, Myanmar, as smoke rises from a chimney on July 12, 2021. Credit: Bo Sein
Barely keeping pace
Another young volunteer from Metta Thingaha named Zaw Moe Naing said he was concerned about potentially spreading the coronavirus to his family, but said the work is important to him as a member of the community.
“Whether we contract the virus or not, we’ve got to help others who are suffering,” he said. “Some of my fellow volunteers do not even want to go near their parents, who are elderly.”
Zaw Moe Naing said he had transported as many as six bodies at a time to the cemetery for burial and expects that demand for his services may grow, as the outbreak continues unchecked.
Last week, the junta said it would build 10 new crematoriums in Yangon that can handle a total of more than 3,000 bodies each day, but the announcement drew criticism from members of the public, who say authorities should be spending money to control the spread of the coronavirus, rather than on measures to deal with the dead.
Min Din said the regime is barely keeping pace with the health crisis, calling the move “the wrong medicine for the wound.”
“We already see about 3,000 cremations a day at the cemeteries,” he said, adding that if the outbreak becomes worse, “the number of deaths might double.”
“Frankly speaking, there are only so many people left to die.”
According to Min Din, aid groups had presented a plan for screening infected patients to district authorities during the first week of July, before the death toll began to rise, but the measures were never implemented because higher-level officials never gave their authorization to do so.
“The authorities are wrong [about how they are dealing with the problem],” he said. “And in the current political situation, where people cannot act freely, there will be more mismanagement.”
Vaccinations needed
Meanwhile, volunteers urgently need to be vaccinated against the highly contagious coronavirus because of their regular proximity to patients with COVID-19, as well as those who have died from the disease, Min Din said.
Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Unit for Myanmar’s Ministry of Health and Sports, recently told the media that volunteers would be prioritized for vaccine distribution after health workers and the elderly, noting that they “play a significant role in immunization, as well as the transportation of COVID-19 patients, both living and dead.”
But Min Din told RFA he had yet to receive an offer from the junta to inoculate Metta Thingaha volunteers.
“Our volunteers are on the ground but, so far, no offer has been made and no one has been notified,” he said.
“We haven’t heard a word on this. They might have a plan. We don’t know.”
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
