Day: February 2, 2022

Former Myanmar lawmakers who operate as a shadow government since a military coup a year ago said they now accept the authority of the top international court to decide if a 2016-17 campaign against Rohingya Muslims in the country constituted a genocide.

The National Unity Government (NUG) said in a statement Tuesday that that it would withdraw all preliminary objections in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case over Myanmar’s military operations against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017, a scorched-earth campaign that forced 730,000 Rohingya to flee Rakhine state, mostly to neighboring Bangladesh.

The parallel government asked that it and not the ruling military junta that took over Myanmar in the Feb. 1, 2021 putsch represent the country before the court.

In 2019, then-leader Aung San Suu Kyi staunchly defended the Myanmar military against genocide and crimes against humanity charges in 2019 at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the case brought forth by Gambia.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her spokesman insisted at the time that no genocide had occurred in Rakhine state, and said that a Myanmar government investigation found war crimes and serious human rights violations had occurred during counter-terrorism operations in the area, but there was no “genocidal intent.”

The Gambia case charges that Myanmar violated the 1948 Genocide Convention during the alleged expulsion of Rohingya to Bangladesh. The hearing on the objections was scheduled to begin Feb. 21.

In Tuesday’s statement, the NUG’s acting President Duwa Lashi La said the group was the “proper representative of Myanmar” in the case, urging the court not to recognize the junta that deposed the government.

“It would set a dangerous precedent and be inconsistent with the position of the U.N. General Assembly for the ICJ to accept the military junta as the representative of Myanmar. The NUG strongly believes that it would also be detrimental to the interests of Myanmar and the people of Myanmar and to the cause of justice for the Rohingya people,” the statement said.

“Should the ICJ recognize the military, it would embolden the junta to continue and escalate its daily atrocity crimes,” it said.

The statement is a good sign, Tun Khin, a Rohingya activist from the London-based Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

“The military council has been committing killings and atrocities in other ethnic states including Chin, Kachin or Kayin states. I think conditions are heading toward committing genocide against these ethnic groups. So, I think NUG’s reversal on the objection of genocidal charges earlier is good for the future,” Tun Khin said.

“I think NUG’s decision to cooperate with international legal body is a sign of optimism.” 

But the NUG lacks the power to withdraw the objections, Nandaw Thar Ba, a Buddhist monk from Sittwe, Rakhine state, and chairman of the nationalist group Ma Ba Tha, told RFA.

“The NUG cannot recant its earlier position because NUG is not a legitimate government,” he said. “The military is now ruling party of the country. The military council has more authority on this issue. No country has formally recognized NUG so far.”

Nandaw Thar Ba noted that Aung San Suu Kyi has never formally relinquished her rights as Myanmar’s legal representative in the case and might not even be aware the NUG is recanting her arguments.

Recanting of arguments at the ICJ breaks new ground, Min Lwin Oo, a human rights attorney, told RFA.

“The NUG has abandoned the option for the defense entirely and wants to restart the entire trial from the beginning. It is up to ICJ on whether they will allow it or not,” he said. 

RFA contacted the junta’s spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the NUG’s human rights minister, Aung Myo Min, and the NUG-endorsed ambassador to the U.N., Kyaw Moe Htun, but none were available for comment as of Wednesday evening.

Rohingya activist groups in Bangladesh also welcomed the NUG statement.

“Aung San Suu Kyi’s National Unity Government’s withdrawal of its previous objection to the International Court of Justice is an encouraging development for us,” Md Jubair, secretary of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service Wednesday. 

“This withdrawal, I think, would bring the verdict in favor of the Rohingya. … It would formally establish the fact at the international level that the Myanmar military has been carrying out systematic torture, persecution and genocide against the Rohingya,” said Jubair, adding that the decades-old persecution of the Rohingya could finally cease if the case goes their way.

Dil Mohammad, a Rohingya leader living in the frontier land along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, told BenarNews that the withdrawal of the objections could expediate a trial.

“If everything goes in the right direction, the Rohingya will get justice through the ICJ,” Dil Mohammad said.

But he said support from the international community was more important.

“Unless there is international pressure on the Myanmar government, the Rohingya will never be able to return to our homeland, even if the judgement from the ICJ goes in our favor,” Dil Mohammad said.

The military junta has been trying to get recognition from the international community. It has been engaging with the ICJ by every six months, submitting reports on the Rohingya situation, Reuters reported.

If it regains power from the military, the NUG in June 2021 pledged to grant citizenship to the Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya. But it said “more discussion” would be needed to determine whether the Rohingya community will be recognized as a national ethnic group.

Additional reporting by Sunil Barua in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, and Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

As trade between North Korea and China begins to reopen, demand for illegal Chinese cellular phones is skyrocketing in areas near the Yalu River border, sources there told RFA.

Mobile phones that are sold legally in North Korea cannot make international calls, creating a huge market for phones that can get a signal from Chinese cell towers on the other side of the border.

The phones were particularly popular with people who made their living by importing Chinese goods. But demand dropped precipitously when the border closed and trade stopped in January 2020 as a prevention against COVID’s spread.

Now that rail freight between the two countries has resumed, the Chinese phones are once again hot-ticket items in Sinuiju, a North Korean city that lies across the Yalu River from China’s Dandong.

“No new Chinese mobile phones have come in since the start of the pandemic,” a resident of Sinuiju told RFA’s Korean Service on Jan. 29.

“There is suddenly a large market for older mobile phones that were imported before the pandemic. Depending on the year of release and how well the phone works, prices can range from 4,000 to 10,000 yuan [U.S. $630-$1,570],” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

With fewer people trying to call China over the past two years, Chinese phones could be bought relatively cheaply up until the end of 2021, the source said.

“Even phones on sale for less than $300 on the black market did not sell,” he said. “But when news spread that trade between our two countries would soon resume, traders and smugglers were now looking to get their hands on a Chinese phone, so now the price for the cheapest used one is more than like $650,” he said.

The steep price increase was jarring for a trader who visited Sinuiju from South Pyongan, the next province to the south.

“Demand for illegal Chinese phones shot up. Things had been quiet for a long while in the Sinuiju area,” the trader said on condition of anonymity.

“The crackdown on these illegal phones has not been relaxed at all, but so many people are looking for them because freight trade has resumed,” she said. The source confirmed the approximate price range as quoted by the first source.

South Korean phones that work on the Chinese towers are also available, the business traveler from South Pyongan said, but prices are even higher, ranging from $1,700 to $3,000.

“If they find a South Korean mobile phone in a crackdown, people may be subject for severe punishment, because they are using South Korean products. Traders and smugglers, though, prefer the South Korean phones over the Chinese ones because they have various additional functions and better call quality,” she said.

“Telephone brokers are starting to resume their business. They have several Chinese mobile phones and North Korean escapees contact them from abroad to get in touch with their families still living here, and they act as go-betweens when the escapees wire money to their families,” she said.

The resumption of trade between North Korea and China can’t come faster for North Koreans who have struggled under their country’s dire economic circumstances over the past two years, the trader said.

“Once trade is normalized the lives of the people will get better. Trade in smuggled black-market goods will increase and people will be able to receive overseas wire transfers thanks to these illegal mobile phones. People are eagerly awaiting,” she said.

While the exact number of illegal phone users in North Korea is unknown, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, which interviewed 414 North Koreans in the South, reported that 47% of them were in constant contact with their families in the North in 2018. Of those, about 93% said they called their families on the phone.

In the same survey, 62% said they had sent money to North Korea. Based on their answers, the center estimated that refugees in the South send about 2.7 million South Korean won (U.S. $2,260) back home about twice per year.

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, about 33,000 North Koreans have settled in South Korea since 1998.

Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Millions of long-suffering soccer fans in China took to social media to berate their national team after a 3-1 defeat to underdog Vietnam in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers ended any hope they had of reaching the 2022 World Cup. The quip “National team, give us a refund” received hundreds of millions of views after the loss in Hanoi to Vietnam, which had never beaten China, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a major holiday in both countries. President Xi Jinping has said China should host and even win the World Cup one day, but the team rarely advances out of Asian qualifiers.

A fishing community in Indonesia’s Aceh region is demanding protection from prosecution after three fishermen were sentenced to prison last year on immigration offenses linked to helping bring Rohingya ashore.

That court case, the first of its kind, has made fishermen in Indonesia’s westernmost province more hesitant about helping the persecuted minority from Myanmar as they make perilous boat journeys in search of work and safe haven.

In June, a court in North Aceh regency sentenced fishermen Abdul Aziz, Faisal Afrizal and Raja bin Husen to five years each in prison after finding them guilty of smuggling dozens of Rohingya into Indonesia in return for payments of 1.5 million rupiah (U.S. $104) each.

According to a copy of the verdict obtained by BenarNews, Faisal received 7 million rupiah ($487) from a smuggling ring and used some of the cash to rent a boat for picking up the Rohingya.

“The fishermen received a payment, took the money and they were told: ‘Please bring my people ashore,’” said Miftach Cut Adek, a leader of the Acehnese fishing community.

“It was wrong that they took the money, but should they be jailed for five years just for taking 5 million rupiah ($348)?” he told BenarNews. “They are just poor fishermen.”

Close to 800 of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority have ended up stranded in Indonesia on their way to third countries, according to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.

In December, months after the three were sentenced, Acehnese fishermen were anxious to rescue more Rohingya who were found in a damaged boat drifting off the coast, but were afraid they could be arrested for doing so, local activists said.

“How can we bear to see women and children drifting on a boat without food or drink, and being ill? We’re talking about humanity,” said Badruddin Yunus, the leader of the fishing community in Bireuen.

Local authorities initially refused to allow the boatload of 120 Rohingya to land, but let them in on Dec. 28 after UNHCR and human rights groups appealed to Indonesia to permit the Rohingya come ashore. 

Badruddin said his fellow fishermen have done what they could to assist their three colleagues who are in prison.

“We tried to help because we sympathize with their families and children. They wanted to help people but were punished instead,” Badruddin said.

Miftach said the community had appealed to the authorities to show leniency, arguing that their main motivation was to save lives.

“We talked to the police … asking them not to be punished harshly. We accept that they are guilty, but they should not be severely punished,” Miftach said.

“When corrupt officials get caught, their children have everything they need, but when [fishermen] are in jail, their children and wives may die of starvation,” Miftach said.

Families’ breadwinners

The jailed fishermen were their families’ only breadwinners, according to Thariq Fharline, who heads Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT), a charity group in the North Aceh town of Lhokseumawe.

“They [families] are now struggling, especially economically. We help them with food and there are other NGOs that donate to them,” Thariq told BenarNews.

Since a brutal August 2017 crackdown by security forces in Myanmar’s Rakhine state against the Rohingya, hundreds of people from the stateless ethnic group have paid traffickers to transport them by sea to Thailand and Malaysia.

The Rohingya hope to find work away from Myanmar or crowded refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. The crackdown led about 740,000 to flee to the camps in and around Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, now home to about 1 million Rohingya.

Over the years, groups of Rohingya have packed into boats and sailed off in search of asylum in other countries where they have often been refused entry.

Indonesia is not a party to the U.N. 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. It prohibits refugees from obtaining jobs and attending formal schools.

Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International in Indonesia, urged countries in Southeast Asia to immediately address issues involving Rohingya.

“There will always be potential for people smuggling in border areas and this must be investigated effectively and transparently,” Usman told BenarNews.

“All countries, including Indonesia and neighboring countries, have an obligation to provide assistance to people found at sea who are in danger of drowning and are in distress,” he said.

Badruddin, meanwhile, said Acehnese fishermen would step up despite fears of prosecution.

“Our fishermen are 100 percent ready to help. Not only will we bring them ashore, but we’ll also provide food for them,” he said. “But we hope that they will not run away from their shelters.”

Rohingya flee

On Sunday, four Rohingya escaped from a shelter in Lhokseumawe, said Marzuki, a spokesman for the local task force caring for Rohingya. This followed an incident where eight Rohingya fled from the same camp two weeks earlier.

Marzuki, who goes by one name, said he worried that they would be victims of human trafficking.

“They are refugees, not prisoners. They are looking for a better life like us. But, it looks like there’s a group behind their escape because someone saw a car that looked like it was waiting for them,” he told BenarNews.

Marzuki said the task force had met with UNHCR representatives, immigration officials and the International Organization for Migration to discuss building a permanent shelter for Rohingya in neighboring North Sumatra province.

“They won’t have to worry. There will be plenty of food and decent beds,” he said.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Chinese team coach Li Xiaopeng has apologized to for the Chinese team’s “humiliating” defeat to Vietnam in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Hanoi, amid a chorus of criticism from soccer fans online.

Vietnam beat China on Feb. 1, the first day of the Lunar New Year, by three goals to one after a match in which the Chinese players were “nervous,” Li said in a statement on the team’s official Weibo account. Both teams had already been eliminated from the finals in Qatar.

“I apologize to all of our fans and also to the players,” he said. “The main reason for this loss was that there was a problem with game strategy dating to before the match, that couldn’t be corrected in follow-up.”

“The … players tried their best, but may have been super-nervous due to being over-motivated,” Li said. “[But] the score was unacceptable.”

Fans piled onto the post with scathing comments on Wednesday.

“Behind the skyscrapers, everything is in ruins, and tears behind all the song and dance,” user @freedominside wrote, while @Yang_Tracy called on the team to disband.

“You don’t respect football, then football won’t respect you,” @herdingwhale opined, while @Flower_Gardener_SYSY called Chinese men’s soccer the “rat shit” polluting national sport.

Vietnamese fans took to social media to burn China on the loss, often while acknowledging their own team’s inadequacies.

“It’s unsure whether we can beat anyone else, but this win over our ‘golden friend’ is hilarious,” one fan said in a message posted to RFA’s Facebook page, referring to a term used by state media to describe China and its relationship to Vietnam.

Another fan, who identified themself as @Van Vu, also congratulated his team on the victory.

“The Vietnamese Football Team beat ‘the golden friend’ team. I wonder whether they should get an award from Vietnam’s president or what,” they wrote.

Call for reforms

Rather than lambast their team, some Chinese supporters suggested it was time for a rethink on China’s national soccer program.

@Moyu Moyu called for a fairer approach: “We fans … know how to criticize, but not many of us can play football,” they wrote, while @Shen_Jing_Boya_2020 called on the government to “rectify” Chinese men’s soccer and cultivate fresh, young talent from among the nation’s youth.

“The best thing the Chinese soccer team has ever done is to open comments under its official Weibo account!”, @herdingwhale wrote, while @Yang_Tracy said the national soccer establishment under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was “hopelessly rotten from top to bottom.”

@bluesism said they wanted to “break up” with the team. “I’m totally speechless,” the user wrote, while @Fai Tsai GOAL said all the Chinese Football Association ever did was “spout slogans in Mandarin, rather than following the rules of football.”

“What has it actually achieved in the past decade?” they wrote.

@Wandering fish in the air 2121 appeared to agree: “You are more of an embarrassment than the rulers of the late Qing dynasty!” they wrote.

Hong Kong soccer coach Chan Yuk Chi agreed with the fans’ criticism of the state soccer establishment.

“China certainly doesn’t lack talent when it comes to soccer; the problem is the lack of an organized approach,” Chan told RFA. “Even a country that is fairly sparsely populated like Iceland can put up a national team.”

He said Chinese athletes tend to excel more under the CCP-backed sports development system at more individual sports like table tennis.

“In football, you need tactics and teamwork [as well as skill],” Chan said.

Even CCP leader Xi Jinping has complained, calling five years ago for reforms of China’s soccer coaching and selection processes, in a centralized and organized manner used by other national sports development bodies to bring in young talent.

Scrutiny on training

Chan said youth training was the key to a successful national soccer program.

“You have to do a good job at the grassroots level before you can build on that,” he said. “We need to set up and improve our youth training system — problems with the youth training plan … were made apparent during the match.”

He compared China’s selection and training processes with Japan and South Korea, where young players are continually emerging at the highest levels of the sport.

“I think Japan and South Korea play to fixed tactical strategies, and more importantly, they are obedient to team tactics,” he said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.