2014 - The year in review

In football lingo, Myanmar could have been described as being in “injury time” in 2014. 

The political and economic reforms launched in 2012, as the country is geared towards democracy, have been continuing but on a bumpy road. 

The Michaungkan protest camp – supposedly the longest camp-in demonstration in Myanmar history – is still on the streets. The demonstrators, many of whom are elderly, staged a sit-in this year and blocked the entrance to the Yangon City Hall to protest the government’s failure to protect them from land-grabbers. The authorities, as usual, dealt with the demonstration using force and sued the people involved.

Meanwhile, Tin Aye, chairperson of the Election Commission, recently warned – or perhaps threatened – that if there was instability in the country, particularly during the 2015 elections, the military will have to mount a coup.

Very recently, a confrontation between residents of Letpadaungtaung and the security guards around the local copper mine broke out, leaving one dead and about 40 injured. This somewhat sparked the need for land reforms in the country where land disputes have led to arrests and imprisonment. 

The ceasefire negotiations that have been held since 2013 have shed some ray of hope. However, much of the optimism about the peace process faded when the Myanmar Armed Forces shelled a military training academy run by the Kachin Independence Army in November, killing 23 trainees.

Here are our top 5 news, to shed some light on how Myanmar fared in 2014. 

 

Asean Chair

In 2011, it was announced that Myanmar would serve as Asean Chair in 2014. It was a big step for the country, which had been under a dictatorship for six decades and had just welcomed a quasi-civilian government in 2011.

Through the year, it presided over and hosted major Asean meetings and related ones. Despite concerns about infrastructure, the meetings went well. But just as leaders of Asean countries, Australia, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the US landed in the country, it put Myanmar in the spotlight. 

The world was fed with plenty of news and photos from Nay Pyi Taw, where most of the meetings took place. The momentum brought optimism to local people and foreign investors alike. 

As the government handled maritime disputes in the South China Sea with difficulties, the international audience also refocused their attention on local affairs, particularly following US President Barack Obama’s comments on the 2015 national election. 

All eyes will continue to be on Myanmar though the baton has been passed on to Malaysia, the next Chair.

 

Election/Constitution

The Union Election Commission announced that the national election –the first in six decades aside from the by-election in 2010 - would take place either in October or November 2015. The election is hailed as a major step to show Myanmar’s commitment towards democracy. 

The confirmed election date, however, came with a twist. Myanmar Armed Forces – the Tamatdaw – refused to amend the 2008 Constitution, despite the months-long campaign by the National League for Democracy (NLD) and political activists for public support. Nearly 5 million signatures in support of the amendments were submitted to parliament. 

The refusal meant the military would further control at least 25 per cent of parliamentary seats and that democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi could not join the presidential race. A section in the constitution bars any individual with a foreign spouse or children from contesting for the presidency. 

Suu Kyi conceded to the move while Union Parliamentary Speaker Thura Shwe Mann, also a former general, promised to push through constitutional amendments.

 

Ceasefire accord 

The government and ethnic armed groups this year embarked on intensive talks to reach a nationwide ceasefire agreement, believed to pave the way for widespread reforms and development in areas where the union military cannot reach.

The final talks this month yielded a satisfactory result, as both sides expected the accord to be signed some time in February, two years since the negotiations started in 2013. 

The timetable was announced despite skirmishes. According to Myanmar Peace Monitor, 12 clashes were reported in December alone.

Fighting was reported in the vicinity of Shan State and Kachin State. The latest and most serious one took place in November, when the Myanmar Armed Forces shelled a military training academy run by the Kachin Independence Army, killing 23 trainees. 

Prior to the December meeting, several ethnic leaders expressed concern that such shelling may derail any good faith. 

It is the government’s intention to have the agreement signed before the election. Some infrastructure projects are now planned in the areas controlled by armed resistance groups.

 

People of concern 

The United Nations expressed concern for 1.2 million Myanmar people who fled their homes due to armed conflicts and negative sentiment towards Muslims. It estimated that some 800,000 people are identified as stateless while some 372,000 are identified as internally displaced persons (IDPs).

In 2012, violence in Rakhine State forced around 140,000 people to flee their homes. The majority live in government-designated IDP camps near the state capital, Sittwe, and in surrounding townships, the UN said. Most of them fled due to the anti-Muslim sentiment and there are fears that the sentiment is rooted in society, following the fresh violence in Mandalay in August.

International agencies also came under attack. Assisting patients for years, Medecins Sans Frontieres Holland (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, was forced to leave. The word “Rohingya” can now stir wide displeasure. Myanmar also drew much attention with its law that bars interfaith marriage and aims to control the number of Muslim population.

In Kachin State and northern Shan State where armed conflicts continued, more than 100,000 IDPs are displaced and in need of continued humanitarian assistance. 

Armed conflicts also blocked the first census in 30 years in some areas.

 

Political prisoners, press freedom, transparency

Activists and media made huge complaints about lack of freedom.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) recorded the charges against 17 activities in November and seven of them were imprisoned. This brought the total number of “political prisoners” still behind bars to 72 and the number of activists facing trials to 136.

Several were sued under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, which attacks those staging protests without official permission. In these areas, the arrested involved farmers who are calling for the return of their land from government agencies or the army, students who protested against the controversial National Education Bill, and journalists who fight for press freedom.

The year ended with two tragic events, as people call for greater accountability from the government and the army: The army announced that Ko Par Gyi, a freelance reporter arrested after his news coverage in Mon State, was shot dead as he “attempted” to flee. 

Khin Win, a villager, was shot dead during a protest against a China-backed copper-mine project.