Month: January 2024

In mid-January, Kim Aris received a letter from his mother, Aung San Suu Kyi, the former de facto leader of Myanmar and Nobel laureate who is serving a 27-year prison sentence. 

It was the first public communication from her since late 2022, when the junta barred her legal team from visiting her in prison, and the first time he had heard from her since before the Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat that removed the democratically elected government from power.

After the coup, the ruling junta sentenced Suu Kyi to 33 years in prison on 19 charges, including corruption. In August, her sentence was reduced to 27 years after she was pardoned for five cases.

Suu Kyi, 78, is suffering from medical and dental problems, including gingivitis, sources have told Radio Free Asia, but the junta has denied her outside medical treatment.

On Jan. 21, Myanmar’s Supreme Court ordered the auction of her family lakeside villa in Yangon, where she spent more than 15 years under house arrest. The starting price is US$90 million. There is a decades-long ownership dispute between Suu Kyi and her estranged older brother, Aung San Oo, who says the house is his.

Last year, Aris, 47, who is based in the United Kingdom, began a new campaign to free her by trying to draw worldwide attention to her incarceration.

In an exclusive interview, RFA Burmese reporter Soe San Aung spoke with Aris. The content has been edited for length and clarity.

RFA: What is your reaction to the junta’s plans to auction off your mother’s house at 54 University Avenue Road in Yangon? 

Aris: I was sorry to hear that. This auction is going to go ahead. I know my mother was wanting to use that property for her charities in the future, but at the moment she has no say in what’s happening since she’s locked up, and she’s not even allowed to see her lawyers. So, I know that in the past, she has contested my uncle’s claim on the property, and I know that she would still do so if she had freedom.

RFA: How was Suu Kyi planning to use the property for charities?

Aris: I don’t know exactly what she was going to use it for, but she set up the charity in her mother’s name, the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation. I knew it was going to be used for that, but I believe the military has stripped her of all the assets that she has built up for those various charities. So, I don’t know what’s going to happen there.

RFA: Can you recall any memories you have of the house?

Aris: I have many memories of that house going back to before my grandmother died. And then, obviously, I was there when my grandmother was dying and for her funeral. When [my mother] was first put under house arrest, I was there as well. And I’ve been back since she was freed from house arrest. So, I have good memories of that house. 

Even though some of those memories may not sound that good, they’re good memories for me. For instance, being with her when she was put under house arrest. It may not sound like a particularly good time, and it wasn’t a good time, but it’s still a good memory for me.

RFA: Have you heard anything about the care package that you sent to your mother last year?

Aris: I sent a care package last year when we heard that she was not well, and I was given the go-ahead to send a care package. She finally received that at the end of last year, and I received a letter back from her this month. This is the first I have heard from her since before the coup.

RFA: What did the letter say?

Aris: It’s just to do with family and to say that the care package arrived safely. There’s really very little to say. It’s just sending love to the rest of the family and saying that she’s in good spirits. Her spirit is strong, even if her health is not as good as it was in the past.

RFA: Has the junta contacted you about your request to meet with your mother?

Aris: No, they haven’t contacted me at all. I’m still trying to have contact with her regularly, hopefully. But, so far we have only managed to have this one communication.

RFA: Is she in good health?

Aris: I believe she is in reasonable health. I think she has ongoing issues with her teeth and with problems with her neck as well. So, I know she has some of the ongoing health concerns.

RFA: How did you get the letter?

Aris: Through the British Foreign Office.

RFA: When did you receive it?

The date when I got the letter was about two weeks ago, so in mid-January.

RFA: What was written in Aung San Suu Kyi’s handwriting?

Aris: Yes, it was photocopied, and they emailed me the photocopy. I now have the hard copy in my hands as well.

RFA: It’s almost been three years since the military coup d’état and the subsequent fighting between junta and resistance forces and ethnic armies. Where’s this heading?

Aris: Well, I hope that the fighting will stop. It’s been going on for far too long as it is. I know that my mother would be desperately sad to see the situation the country is in at the moment. It’s very hard to say from the outside. It’s very hard to see what’s happening in Burma, really, on the ground. I’m sure even the people inside Burma don’t actually know what’s happening because there are so many different factions involved. So, we can only hope that things will get better sooner rather than later.

RFA: What’s your message for the Burmese people?

Aris: I hope that they can stay strong and keep fighting. Do not give up. I know that it seems like the rest of the world isn’t thinking about what’s happening in Burma, but it’s not true. Just because the media doesn’t show what’s happening doesn’t mean that other people aren’t thinking about what’s happening, and they’re trying to do everything they can to help. So, I hope the fighting will stop soon, and in the meantime, keep on staying strong.

RFA: What’s your message for the junta and your uncle regarding the auction?

Aris: I would say that my uncle has never had any rights to that property since he’s an American citizen, and according to Burmese law, people who are not Burmese citizens can’t hold property or profit from the sale of any property in Burma. The fact that my mother has lived in that house for many years and looked after their mother while she was dying, means that she has more claim to that property than anybody else. 

And I hope that she will be able to use it for the purposes that she intended it for — in other words, to benefit all of Burma. I’m sure that if the property gets sold, that money will disappear because the military will take anything that belongs to my mother, and my uncle will take the rest of the money, and it won’t be used for anything within Burma.

Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Vietnam has been getting tougher on drunk driving the past few months, and that’s led to a drop in alcohol consumption, emptier streets at night and lower sales at major beer companies. 

Drivers with even trace amounts of alcohol in their blood have been charged with driving under the influence, local media outlets reported.

The crackdown enforces 2019 laws with zero tolerance for drivers with alcohol in their systems.

VnExpress reported that in the last two months of 2023, Ho Chi Minh City launched the largest- ever anti-drunk driving campaign, deploying stronger than normal traffic police teams near the city’s nightlife areas.  

 More than 40,000 people die annually in Vietnam from alcohol-related causes, statistics from the Department of Disease Prevention under Vietnam’s Ministry of Health said. 

A freelance laborer in Ho Chi Minh City, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said he had to forgo drinking with his friends on the weekends.

He said that it was right to punish drivers who are clearly drunk, with very high alcohol levels in their blood, but the current rules, that slap a DUI on someone who had one or two beers, are simply too strict.

“In my opinion, there should be some kind of means to check the sanity of drivers,” he said.
“For example,  after asking them to breathe into a breathalyzer, if the level is high but the subject can walk for ten steps in a straight lane or zigzag one without falling, or driving  normally, he or she should not be penalized.”

Sales down

The crackdown is hurting companies’ business. The Hanoi-Thanh Hoa Beer Company said fourth quarter sales fell 11% from a year ago, as total consumption during the three months declined by 2.9 million liters (766,100 gallons).

The Saigon-Hanoi Beer Corp.’s revenue dropped 3%, and its after-tax-profit decreased by 25% to 43.4 billion dong (US$1.8 million), the Tuoi Tre online reported. 

Even with the Tet holidays coming soon – Vietnam’s New Years – sales of beer and wine are slow, the owner of a drinking establishment in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest city.

A resident of the city said that many of the streets that would normally be busy at night time are now deserted.

“The fact that traffic police set up points right at the bistros to check blood alcohol-level right when you leave, that’s why all the bistros are empty. And they used to be crowded from lunchtime to midnight,” he said.

A Hanoi resident said things were similar in the capital: aggressive checkpoints, empty streets and hurting restaurant owners.

In recent months, provincial police began implementing blood alcohol-level checks at all interprovincial and provincial roads.

Police in small villages are also checking between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

‘Overly excessive’

Retired military senior official Nguyen Quang Vinh, from Hanoi, said the laws passed in 2019 were “abuse of power by the Ministry of Public Security.” 

“The provision that the driver’s alcohol level be at zero is excessive,” he said. “I know a case where a driver had only eaten a crab soup bowl with vinegar in it. He was then tested and found to have alcohol in his system and he was fined and his driving license withheld. Thus, the citizens were bothered. It must say that [the law] is inappropriate.”

Hoang Cuong, another resident, said he was against drunk driving, but opposed the harsh penalties.

“Any law made without sociological research and opposed by the people is unconstitutional,” he said. “Since all have the rights to look for personal happiness at any time and anywhere.”

Translated by An Nguyen. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

Vietnam has been getting tougher on drunk driving the past few months, and that’s led to a drop in alcohol consumption, emptier streets at night and lower sales at major beer companies. 

Drivers with even trace amounts of alcohol in their blood have been charged with driving under the influence, local media outlets reported.

The crackdown enforces 2019 laws with zero tolerance for drivers with alcohol in their systems.

VnExpress reported that in the last two months of 2023, Ho Chi Minh City launched the largest- ever anti-drunk driving campaign, deploying stronger than normal traffic police teams near the city’s nightlife areas.  

 More than 40,000 people die annually in Vietnam from alcohol-related causes, statistics from the Department of Disease Prevention under Vietnam’s Ministry of Health said. 

A freelance laborer in Ho Chi Minh City, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said he had to forgo drinking with his friends on the weekends.

He said that it was right to punish drivers who are clearly drunk, with very high alcohol levels in their blood, but the current rules, that slap a DUI on someone who had one or two beers, are simply too strict.

“In my opinion, there should be some kind of means to check the sanity of drivers,” he said.
“For example,  after asking them to breathe into a breathalyzer, if the level is high but the subject can walk for ten steps in a straight lane or zigzag one without falling, or driving  normally, he or she should not be penalized.”

Sales down

The crackdown is hurting companies’ business. The Hanoi-Thanh Hoa Beer Company said fourth quarter sales fell 11% from a year ago, as total consumption during the three months declined by 2.9 million liters (766,100 gallons).

The Saigon-Hanoi Beer Corp.’s revenue dropped 3%, and its after-tax-profit decreased by 25% to 43.4 billion dong (US$1.8 million), the Tuoi Tre online reported. 

Even with the Tet holidays coming soon – Vietnam’s New Years – sales of beer and wine are slow, the owner of a drinking establishment in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest city.

A resident of the city said that many of the streets that would normally be busy at night time are now deserted.

“The fact that traffic police set up points right at the bistros to check blood alcohol-level right when you leave, that’s why all the bistros are empty. And they used to be crowded from lunchtime to midnight,” he said.

A Hanoi resident said things were similar in the capital: aggressive checkpoints, empty streets and hurting restaurant owners.

In recent months, provincial police began implementing blood alcohol-level checks at all interprovincial and provincial roads.

Police in small villages are also checking between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

‘Overly excessive’

Retired military senior official Nguyen Quang Vinh, from Hanoi, said the laws passed in 2019 were “abuse of power by the Ministry of Public Security.” 

“The provision that the driver’s alcohol level be at zero is excessive,” he said. “I know a case where a driver had only eaten a crab soup bowl with vinegar in it. He was then tested and found to have alcohol in his system and he was fined and his driving license withheld. Thus, the citizens were bothered. It must say that [the law] is inappropriate.”

Hoang Cuong, another resident, said he was against drunk driving, but opposed the harsh penalties.

“Any law made without sociological research and opposed by the people is unconstitutional,” he said. “Since all have the rights to look for personal happiness at any time and anywhere.”

Translated by An Nguyen. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

Three years after Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup that ousted the democratically elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, citing unsupported claims of electoral fraud, Myanmar is in a state of war, chaos and economic ruin and the junta rules less territory than it did at the start.

The Civil Disobedience Movement, the early civilian uprising of street protests against the return of military rule after a decade of reforms, was met by the junta with mass arrests and gunfire. 

The military and its proxy militias  have arrested more than 25,000 people in three years. In addition to being arrested for protesting on the street, people have been detained for wishing for for wearing flowers. In urban areas, authorities arrest fathers of targets if they cannot not find the son.

According to the Burmese Women Union,  nearly 400 women politicians and activists  have punished with long-term prison sentences – including Suu Kyi, who’s been sentenced to decades in jail, and documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe, who received a life sentence.  At least 16 women have received the death penalty.

After street protests were quelled, resistance took the form of local militias known as People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) that fought back against the far better-equipped Myanmar army across large swathes of the country.

The junta’s response to the PDF forces was a mix of air attacks and organized arson campaigns against villages suspected of housing anti-regime militias.

From Feb. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2023, nearly 80,000 houses, were burned down across the country, according to the NGO Data for Myanmar. Of these, nearly thirty thousand houses. were burned down in 2023.

The brunt of military arson—with nearly 60,000 houses burned—has been borne heavily by the Sagaing region of northwestern Myanmar, where PDF fighters staged notably daring attacks on junta forces, drawing retribution from the junta.

The most common form of arson involved junta columns raiding villages and torching dwelling house by house, often slaying and burning residents.

At the time of the coup, Myanmar had an estimated 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPS), the result of conflicts between ethnic armies and the central government, some of which  date back the the former Burma’s independence from Britain in 1948. 

After three years of conflict, the IDP population has swelled to 2.6 million people. Many suffer a lack of shelter, food and water, while there is no access to education, health care or jobs. 

 In Shan, Rakhine, Chin and Kayah states, where fierce fighting have been raging, displaced people face food shortages because roads and waterways are blocked. Areas of Sagaing region, Rakhine, Chin, Kayah, Kayin and Kachin states go long periods without communication because internet connections have been shut down. 

In late 2023, an alliance of ethnic armies that had long fought the military united to push the junta out of strongholds across northern Myanmar. Operation 1027, launched on Oct. 27, 2023, has displaced 628,000 people as junta-held towns fall to the rebels.

Three Brotherhood Alliance—which comprises the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)–and other resistance forces have seized 32 towns and district-level cities.

In a fast-growing tally of junta surrenders, six brigadier generals surrendered, and another one was captured, while there were reports that entire battalions with hundreds of soldiers surrendered or fled.  Rebel groups say as many as 4,000 soldiers have surrendered.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s response to the unprecedented setbacks has been to reshuffle the junta leadership, arrest and imprison top military leaders on corruption charges, and mete out death sentences or life imprisonment for generals who surrendered.

Reported by RFA Burmese. Translated by Aung Khin. Edited by Paul Eckert.

U.N. and other humanitarian organizations are evacuating their workers out of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state amid intensifying fighting between junta troops and the rebel ethnic Arakan Army near the state capital and in several other townships.

Officials from U.N. agencies and international NGOs cited security concerns to Radio Free Asia but also travel restrictions and disconnected internet and mobile phone networks as the reasons for moving workers to the commercial capital of Yangon.

“We have some teams and projects that cannot carry out their work. So, we decided to relocate them for their own safety,” an international humanitarian organization official who wishes to be anonymous told RFA.

“We will return once the situation becomes stable again,” the official said. “It is temporary. For now, we are prioritizing our staff’s safety. It does not mean we are exiting from Rakhine state permanently.”

The move came as the military junta’s National Defense and Security Council on Wednesday extended its state emergency order for six more months, according to a report from junta-affiliated Myanmar Radio and Television.

Min Aung Hlaing cited the country’s unusual and unstable situation in his request, which came a day before the third anniversary of the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup d’etat.

The shadow National Unity Government and ethnic armed resistance groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they will continue to work together toward ending military dictatorship and building a federal democratic union.

The statement included six political objectives, including the ending of the armed forces’ involvement in politics and ensuring that all armed forces operate solely under the command of a civilian government elected through democratic processes.

The statement also vowed to institute a system of transitional justice to address injustices inflicted upon innocent parties throughout the three-year conflict.

Fresh U.S. sanctions

The United States, meanwhile, imposed new sanctions on four individuals and two entities – the Shwe Byain Phyu Group and the Myanma Five Star Line shipping firm.

The sanctions are aimed at depriving the military regime “of the resources it needs to conduct its attacks against its own people,” Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson said.

There are around 40 humanitarian organizations, including U.N. agencies, in Rakhine. Most NGOs have offices in Sittwe, the state capital, where many residents began leaving last week as recent fighting moved closer to the city. 

The organizations also have branch offices in Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Rathedaung and several other townships. Those offices are being shut down because of the heavy fighting, several NGO staff members told RFA.

Renewed attacks by the Arakan Army in November on police outposts and junta convoys prompted the military to set up security checkpoints on roads and waterways throughout Rakhine. 

Junta officials have also banned staff from humanitarian agencies from traveling around the state to deliver aid to hungry and shelterless residents. That has halted the flow of medicine, fuel and other basic commodities throughout Rakhine, which has struggled to recover from Cyclone Mocha in May. 

‘There will be famine’

People in the Nghat Chaung internally displaced persons camp in Pauktaw township are facing severe food shortages, according to one resident.

“We haven’t received any food aid for over two months,” the resident said. “We live without food for a while. And we are not allowed to go out of the camp. We are having extreme health problems.”

Similarly, Rohingya from Sittwe, Buthidaung and Maungdaw also told RFA that they are no longer receiving aid from international agencies.

An official from an organization helping the displaced in Rakhine also said that there are many people in the camps “who are barely surviving and living without any food.” He urged the UN and international humanitarian agencies to put more pressure on the junta to allow aid shipments.

“If the situation doesn’t change, there will be famine in many areas,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Volunteers and officials helping the displaced in Rakhine told RFA that there are as many as 300,000 displaced persons in the state. 

RFA called Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesperson for Rakhine, to ask about the blockage of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of NGO staff, but his phone was turned off.

Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed.

Chinese state hackers are targeting U.S. civilian infrastructure, including the electrical grid, water treatment plants and transport systems, and are waiting to “wreak havoc” when ordered by Beijing, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress on Wednesday.

The aim is to prepare for an “everything, everywhere, all at once” attack that also shuts down hospitals, cell phone networks and air traffic to shake public support for strategic objectives like the defense of Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, another official said.

Wray told the hearing of the House Select Committee on China that the growing risk of such a widespread attack required more attention from lawmakers and the American public alike, given the stakes.

“There has been far too little public focus on the fact that PRC hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure: our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural-gas pipelines, our transportation systems,” Wray said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

Gaining control of such infrastructure would allow the hackers “to wreak havoc and cause real world harm to American citizens,” he said, “if and when China decides the time has come to strike.”

He also said China was specifically not just targeting military or government infrastructure, and that “low blows against civilians are part of China’s plan” in the event of a confrontation with the United States.

“I do not want those watching today to think we can’t protect ourselves, but I do want the American people to know that we cannot afford to sleep on this danger,” Wray added. “We’ve got to remain vigilant and actively defend against the threat that Beijing poses.” 

Call for funds

The FBI director said such efforts were already well underway, with U.S. authorities recently shutting down a Chinese program known as “Volt Typhoon” that successfully compromised thousands of internet routers used by Americans and allowed access to their data.

But he said more funding was needed from Congress to “sustain and build on the gains” made against a very large hacking program.

“To quantify what we’re up against, the PRC has a bigger hacking program than that of every major nation combined,” Wray said. “If you took every single one of the FBI cyber agents and intelligence analysts and focussed them exclusively on the China threat, China’s hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to one.”

“As we sit here, while important budget discussions are underway, I will note that this is a time to be keeping ahead of the threat,” he said.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly said the threats raised by Wray were “not theoretical,” with her agency having “eradicated Chinese intrusions in multiple critical infrastructure sectors including aviation water, energy and transportation.”

She said it was “Chinese military doctrine to attempt to induce societal panic in their adversary” and that any future invasion of Taiwan would likely be coupled by widespread attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure to “incite societal panic and chaos” and break “civilian will” to help Taipei.

“A major crisis halfway across the planet could well endanger the lives of Americans here at home, through the disruption of our pipelines, the severing of our telecommunications, the pollution of our water facilities and the crippling of our transportation modes,” Easterly said.

No legitimate reason

Beijing “got a little bit of a taste” of the chaos in the wake of the May 2021 ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline on the eastern seaboard of the United States, Easterly said, noting that it shut down gas supplies to much of the eastern United States for nearly a week.

“Americans couldn’t get to work, they couldn’t take their kids to school, get folks to the hospital; it caused a bit of panic,” Easterly said, adding that a multi-pronged attack would be similar but on a “massive scale.” 

“Imagine not one pipeline, but many pipelines disrupted, telecommunications going down so people can’t use their cell phone, people start getting sick from polluted water, trains get derailed, air traffic control systems … are malfunctioning,” she said.

“This is truly an ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’ scenario,” she added. “And it’s one where the Chinese government believes that it will likely crush American will for the U.S. to defend Taiwan.”

U.S. Cyber Command chief Gen. Paul Nakasone said there were no legitimate reasons for Chinese hackers to target civilian infrastructure in the United States and that there were no comparable American efforts to target civilian infrastructure in China.

“There’s no reason for them to be in our water, there’s no reason for them to be in our power,” Nakasone said. “This is a decision by an actor to actually focus on civilian targets; that’s not what we do.”

But he said that more had to be done by U.S. authorities to fight against such potential attacks in the face of the growing threat.

‘Could be an act of war’

The role of advanced technology in conflict is already a growing focus of the U.S. military, with the Pentagon on Wednesday also adding more than a dozen Chinese tech companies to a list of firms it says are working to advance Beijing’s military modernization efforts.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois who is his party’s ranking member on the House Select Committee on China, said he believed that the world may need to get used to state-backed hacking attacks on civilian infrastructure as a part of modern warfare.

He noted a recent Russian cyberattack on Ukraine cut off internet access for “tens of millions of Ukrainians” and was followed by a cyber-attack on Ukraine’s electricity grid, which left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without power in the middle of winter.

“I just want to send a message to anybody who’s paying attention here, whether it’s the [Chinese Communist Party] or anyone else who would intend to put malware into our critical infrastructure: First, we will attribute it back to you if it’s activated. Secondly, that could be an act of war. And third, we will respond decisively,” Krishnamoorthi said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington had not responded to a request for comment about the claims at the time of publication.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.