Military arrests brother of NLD MP, confiscates money and car

The 40-year-old was also an independent parliamentary candidate in Pyin Oo Lwin in the 2020 election, but had reportedly ceased his political activities

Myanmar Now

Published on Jul 20, 2021

Lin Htin Soe campaigning for the 2020 general election (Supplied)

A 40-year-old man who is the brother of an ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentarian was arrested at his home by military personnel on Sunday.

A group of junta soldiers arrived at the home of Lin Htin Soe in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region, in a military vehicle at around 8pm, arresting both him and a neighbour who was visiting the residence at the time, according to a relative.

“They searched the house and took them, saying they had something to ask them,” the relative told Myanmar Now. “They took everything, including a car, cash and even pocket money from the kids’ wallets. They even took the neighbor that was at the house to watch TV with them.”

A friend of Lin Htin Soe speculated that his arrest may have been related to the role held by his brother, Kyaw Soe Lin, who was an NLD MP representing Pyigyidagun Township in Mandalay. He is reportedly wanted by the military.

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“I think he got caught up in the crosshairs because of his brother,” the friend told Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity.

Lin Htin Soe had competed in the 2020 general election as an independent candidate trying to represent Pyin Oo Lwin’s Constituency 2 and had also served as chair of the Takhun Farmers Association of Myanmar. However, the relative that spoke to Myanmar Now said that Lin Htin Soe had stopped his political activities after losing his electoral race.

At the time of his arrest, he was living with his wife, son and daughter in a house still under construction and trying to run a convenience store.

The troops reportedly also threatened to detain Lin Htin Soe’s family.

“They told him he’d have to give them his car if he didn’t want them to take his wife and children. They took the car,” the relative said.

The family was forced to flee their home following Lin Htin Soe’s arrest.

Myanmar Now tried to contact the military council’s information ministry on Monday afternoon for further information on his arrest, but was unable to make contact.

The junta soldiers also shot at men in a house in Pyigyidagun on Sunday evening, leading to one death, two injuries, and two people arrested, according to local news reports.

On Saturday, the military attempted to arrest an NLD party member near Sein Pan ward in Mandalay. Unable to locate him, they took his father into custody, according to locals.

Arbitrary Arrests

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Pyu Saw Htee members surrender to resistance fighters in Yaw and hand over weapons

The Yaw Defence Force says it is monitoring the detainees and does not trust them

Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 15, 2021

Muskets confiscated from Pyu Saw Htee members who surrendered to the YDF (YDF)

About 30 members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee group surrendered to resistance fighters in upper Myanmar’s Yaw region on Thursday and handed over muskets given to them by the military.

The group surrendered in Htilin Township, Magway Region, after coming under attack from the Yaw Defence Force (YDF) and receiving no protection from the military, said an officer from the Htilin branch of the YDF.

“We’re still monitoring them as we can’t trust them yet,” he told Myanmar Now. “They came from nearby villages.”

The Pyu Saw Htee collective was formed with supporters of the military in the wake of the February 1 coup with the aim of undermining anti-dictatorship forces with threats and violence.

Pyu Saw Htee members have issued death threats against civilians in Sagaing Region’s Mingin and in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan.

Those who surrendered in the Yaw region have signed a pledge promising to stand with the people, the YDF officer said.

On Sunday Htilin YDF fighters intercepted Pyu Saw Htee members carrying weapons on motorcycles near the village of Zee Taw, killing one Pyu Saw Htee member and confiscating 20 muskets.

The military offered no help to Pyu Saw Htee in the wake of the attack and so the Pyu Saw Htee members decided to surrender, the YDF officer said.

“The military council did not show at all and the Pyu Saw Htee members realised that the military could not provide protection for them. So they came to us,” he said.

The muskets that the Pyu Saw Htee members surrendered with were originally confiscated from resistance fighters by the military, he added.

“They were given those weapons by the military to fight back against the PDF,” he said, referring to the People’s Defence Force.

The Pyu Saw Htee members who surrendered to the YDF have threatened local resistance fighters and passed information about them to the military, he said.

“They even requested weapons from the police. They’re still in the preparation phase. No regular civilian would have access to weapons from the military council. But they claimed that they became members of the Pyu Saw Htee unknowingly,” said the YDF officer.

Locals are also suspicious of the intentions of those who surrendered.

“They formed the group because they did not like the defence forces in the first place. It appears that they were only surrendering because they were afraid for their lives as the military council units closest to Htilin cannot provide them protection,” said a Htilin resident.

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The remains of a house burned by soldiers in Htanpinkone village on September 28 (Supplied)

Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun claimed during a press conference on September 15 that Pyu Saw Htee was not formed by the military and did not receive any training or weapons from it.

Late last month junta soldiers set fire to five houses in the village of Htanpinkone, in Htilin, because they suspected resistance fighters were staying there, according to the YDF.

Local resistance groups clashed with soldiers in Htilin in May and June.

The junta has deployed thousands of troops to Chin State and Sagaing and Magway regions in recent weeks in what appears to be preparation for major offensives against resistance groups, which have inflicted severe casualties against junta forces since the coup.

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Coalition of Chin resistance fighters attacks soldiers who torched villages

It is unclear if any junta soldiers were killed in the clash

Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 15, 2021

The village of Rialti seen burning on Thursday morning (Supplied)

A coalition of resistance fighters from the Chin National Army (CNA) and the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) launched an attack on Thursday against a military unit that had been burning down homes in the north of the state.

It is unclear if anyone was killed or injured in the fighting but the resistance fighters say they suffered no casualties.

Junta soldiers stationed along the road connecting the towns of Falam and Hakha burned down every one of the roughly 10 houses in the village of Rialti, as well as a church, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, CNDF spokesperson Salai William told Myanmar Now.

“They torched seven houses in Rialti last night… and then torched the remaining houses this morning,” he said on Thursday. “Even the church was not spared. They also torched six houses in a village called Talanrawn, which was a mile away from Rialti.”

Both villages are about 10 miles from Falam and have just a few dozen residents.

Salai Htet Ni, a spokesperson for the CNF, told Myanmar Now the junta soldiers also fired shells.

“The military units heading towards Hakha from Falam were stationed there and they started torching houses and firing shells. Our troops went there in cars today and intercepted them,” he said on Thursday.

“The clash lasted around 30 minutes. They also started firing shells from Falam township. There were no casualties on our side but I haven’t heard anything about their side.”

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Two armoured trucks seen passing through Falam on October 12 (Supplied)

Salai Willian said soldiers from the junta’s 268th Infantry Battalion in Falam fired three rounds of 122mm shells towards the area of the clash at around 11am on Thursday.

The military has been sending reinforcements to Chin since the beginning of October, with resistance forces launching frequent ambushes in response.

On Wednesday the coalition of Chin groups said it killed five junta soldiers when it attacked a separate military column travelling from Hakha in the direction of Falam.

On the same day, a convoy of two armoured vehicles and over 80 military trucks arrived in Mindat from Pakokku in Magway Region, while over 40 trucks and hundreds of soldiers were seen heading from Kalay in Sagaing Region towards Falam on Tuesday.

On Monday soldiers raided the village of Tiphir, on the road between Kalay and Falam, forcing residents to flee into surrounding forests. Two days later two villagers were found dead with bullet wounds, a villager there said. Locals are convinced junta soldiers killed them.

The victims were Thawng Lun Mang, a 29-year-old father of two, and Salai Salai Thawng Nei Mawi, aged 34. Their funerals were held on Wednesday.

The junta has sent thousands of troops to Chin, Sagaing and Magway in preparation for what many fear will be massive offensives against resistance fighters. Every township in Chin except Hakha has been under a junta-imposed internet blackout since September 23.

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Junta reportedly eyeing November reopening of schools

Striking teachers dismiss a plan to reopen schools as an attempt to normalise military rule, and vow to continue their resistance to the junta

Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 15, 2021

People in Mandalay protest against a ‘dark age of education’ under the military on March 22 (EPA)

The military council is reportedly planning to reopen primary, middle and high schools as early as November despite continued threats of Covid-19 and ongoing teacher strikes and student boycotts in accordance with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) aimed at toppling the junta.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most schools were already closed at the time of Myanmar’s February 1 military coup. The junta attempted to reopen them nationwide on June 1, the start of Myanmar’s academic year, but more than half of the country’s 400,000 teachers were on strike and just 10 percent of the estimated 9 million students nationwide opted to enrol. More than 100 striking teachers have also been charged under the Penal Code’s Section 505a for incitement, according to the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation.

Those schools that did reopen in June were later closed again on July 9 when the third wave of the pandemic hit the country.

However, a photo of a military council notice in Ayeyarwady Region’s Yegyi Township has recently gone viral online instructing the township education officer to prepare the schools to reopen in November.

While an official date for reopening has not been announced, the junta’s information team alluded on Wednesday that such an event was approaching but had been obstructed by anti-coup entities.

They accused “political extremist members and supporters” of the National League for Democracy, the National Unity Government and the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw of committing arson in schools, inciting violence, and threatening education staff into joining the CDM “while officials made preparations for the reopening of schools.”

A spokesperson from the strike committee of a union for basic education staff—and a striking teacher himself—said his group is against any move by the military to reopen schools, and dismiss it as an attempt by the generals to normalise military administration.

As the people’s resistance war against the military and the “revolutionary momentum” continues to gain strength, he said that neither he nor his colleagues could break away from the movement.

“It is just impossible for us to become non-CDM [staff] again because we have stayed strong even under their rigorous oppression. In this current situation, we don’t care if they reopen schools—we will continue our resistance,” he said.

Presumably in connection with the reopening of schools, the military council also declared on its newspaper on Wednesday that it was launching a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination program through October 25 for students over the age of 12 using the Chinese-manufactured Sinovac. However, they provided details only for how those vaccines would be administered in the capital, Naypyitaw.

Education staff across the country confirmed to Myanmar Now that they had been told the same announcement by local junta authorities that school would open following the vaccination scheme.

Vaccination rates are low among adults, with rates unknown except for statistics released by the junta’s health department on Tuesday suggesting that just 4.2 million of Myanmar’s more than 50 million people have received two doses of any jab.

Khant Lu Aung, the father of a high school student from Mandalay who would be eligible for re-enrolment and vaccination, said he did not send his son back to school after the military seized power and would continue to keep him out of the junta’s education system.

“Under a dictatorship, I am not interested in whether the schools open or close. Even if they are really going to reopen, I won’t let my kid go there. Under their rule, whether it is healthcare or education, nothing is reliable,” Khant Lu Aung told Myanmar Now.

Nilar Win, a primary school teacher taking part in the CDM who chose not to reveal her location for security reasons, told Myanmar Now she was concerned about the safety of possibly bringing students back to school next month, given the health crisis and the ongoing instability in the country.

“It is very questionable that they are reopening schools for the children’s well-being,” she said, adding that the junta has even talked to teachers about “squeezing two school years into one” to make up for learning time lost during the pandemic.

Teaching modules are typically divided into 36 weeks of lessons, she explained, adding that no information had been shared with teachers about the upcoming curriculum.

Khant Lu Aung told Myanmar Now that he had prepared for his child to study some academic subjects online during the current school year but that he did not have a long-term plan for their education amid the unrest.

Myanmar Now tried to contact executive director of the junta’s education department Ko Lay Win to comment on the planned reopening of schools, but the calls went unanswered.