MP urges judges to defend farmers' rights

“As far as we can see, punishments are being given not according to the law but to keep order. The Union Supreme Court should focus on the legal procedures of judges dealing with in Nay Pyi Taw Council area so as to hand out fair judgments,” Min Thu said.

“Prisoners have so far totalled about 100 in Nay Pyi Taw after facing trials regarding farmland disputes. Farmers are facing about 300 charges.

“All cases of farmland disputes should be terminated and so should the arrests and the imprisonment. After that the land use management committee should rule whether the land grabs are lawful or not.”

An advocate, who asked not to be named, said: “We can see whether administrative bodies influence the cases. Nay Pyi Taw traffic rules enforcement committee decided to fine at least Ks 50,000 for offences as of May 2013. It can be seen that the court has to follow the orders of the township development affairs committee and the authorities. A notice board reading ‘motorcyclists will face a fine of at least Ks 50,000’ can be seen in the township administrative offices. The court follows these announcements. A fine for such an offence is Ks 1,500 only, according to the law. In fact, the court can even fine Ks 1, according to the law. The court has a mandate to fine up to Ks 100,000. But, a fine decided by the court goes against the law. Therefore it can be clearly seen that the authorities have an influence on the court.”

Farmers in many areas are staging protests, to retrieve their illegally-taken land plots. 

Villagers from Michaungkan also camped in front of the City Hall in Yangon since December 11. During the meeting with their leaders, Lower House MP Khaing Maung Yi, a member of Farmland Investigation Commission, pledged that he would forward the case to the Parliamentary Speaker as the Union Government remained ignorant.

 “The investigation commission submitted a report and the Union Parliament approved it and forwarded it to the government. The government has a constitutional duty to answer the problems submitted by the Union Parliament, according to section 228,” said the MP.

The government, however, did not respond and therefore the MP is considering sending a message to Parliamentary Speaker Thura Shwe Mann about the demonstrators in the coming parliamentary session.

“This is a confrontation between the people and their government and it goes beyond the pay-grade of regional governments. I want to request that you do not hold camps here as it is illegal,” Khaing Maung Yi added.

The protests by residents from Michaungkan, Thingangyun Township, were on and off. The third one, starting in March this year, lasted over seven months.