Tin Ma villagers twice submit letter seeking home return but as yet no reply

By DMG 27 May 2021

DMG Newsroom
27 May 2021, Kyauktaw

Although residents of Tin Ma village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, submitted a letter to the Arakan State Administration Council for a second time seeking to be able to resettle in their home village, the council has not yet replied, according to the villagers.

The villagers have demanded seven points in the letter, including to remove landmines from farmlands and forests they rely on for their livelihoods; to rebuild houses that were destroyed by fire in their village; and to provide basic items to restart their lives when they return to the village.

Other demands are to rebuild or repair the educational, medical and religious buildings that have been destroyed or damaged; to be allowed to travel freely between Tin Ma village and Kyauktaw town without being unnecessarily questioned by authorities; to remove a military camp deployed near their village; and to investigate the case of 18 missing Tin Ma villagers.

The seven-point letter was submitted twice, on April 26 and May 10, but the council has not replied so far.

U Than Tin, a Tin Ma villager, said IDPs have faced difficulties in recent months because they have not been provided as much as in the from donors, who are themselves facing economic pressures due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Myanmar’s post-coup political crisis.

“The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement has now provided two cans of rice per day for a person. The World Food Programme (WFP) has provided K500 per day per person. It doesn’t cover our daily expenses,” he said. “If we were in our village, we could grow peas and paddy and earn money. Currently, we’re jobless and it is not easy to find a job,” he said.

U Soe Thein said as an IDP family, there is no hope or future for them.

“If we were at our village, we could have purpose and hope, such as to send our children to schools, or hold novitiation ceremonies for them. Now, we are hopeless and living meaninglessly. I have a daughter who will have to attend distance university this year, but I have no money to send her to university,” he said.

DMG phoned U Than Tun, a member of Arakan State Administration Council, to seek comment on the demands of the Tin Ma villagers, but he did not respond to the call.

The villagers had to flee their Tin Ma homes due to fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army (AA) in March 2020, and their houses were burnt down shortly thereafter, according to the villagers.

Currently, Tin Ma villagers are temporarily sheltering at Nyaung Chaung IDP camp in Kyauktaw Township and other IDP camps in Kyauktaw town.

Photo: The abbot of Tin Ma village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State.