Showing 151 - 160 of 162
Fields of lost dreams
Spectrum, Published on 22/07/2012
» Farmer Lamung Tang Gun's chokes up as he retells the story of how his land was confiscated and razed by the Yuzana company. The 50-year-old's 20 hectares of farmland is five kilometres from Jahtu Zup village in Kachin State's Hpa Kant Township. He claims his farm was destroyed and seized by the Yuzana company in April, 2009, along with the land of hundreds of other farmers who were then evicted from their villages.
Land reform an unkept promise
Spectrum, Tunya Sukpanich, Published on 03/06/2012
» On June 6, the Supreme Court will decide the fate of three village leaders who are among more than 100 people arrested in 2002 for trespassing on private land in Lamphun's Ban Hong district. The villagers say they were justified in taking over the idle private land for cultivation, as the pledge of successive governments to distribute such land to the poor has not been fulfilled. So far, 35 villagers from Ban Hong, including the three village heads, have gone to court and 23 have been sentenced to jail.
Development drive sees ethnic groups displaced by land grabs
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 22/04/2012
» At the ramshackle Ei Tu Hta camp more than 4,000 displaced people fear not just the the Myanmar military downstream on the Salween River, but also a constitution that will ''legally'' dispossess them of the land they were forced to flee.
Army deserters in dire battle to hunt for homes abroad
Spectrum, Published on 08/04/2012
» Ko Aung is worried. He's read and heard about the reforms in Myanmar. The by-elections are over, and Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy (NLD) won 43 of 44 seats. The international community, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, welcomed the result.
In his own words: the rise and fall of Khin Nyunt
Spectrum, Published on 08/04/2012
» The quiet narrow street leading to our destination is lined with big houses and mansions once inhabited by some of Myanmar's former ruling military elite. Most of them, including the now officially retired Senior General Than Shwe, have moved to new homes in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw, many with new civilian jobs. However, one formerly very high-ranking member of the old military regime, former prime minister General Khin Nyunt, is still living in Yangon. No new house has been built for him in Nay Pyi Taw; in fact until recently he was under house arrest at his home in Yangon.
Mother Suu brings excitement and hope to campaign trail
Spectrum, Songpol Kaopatumtip, Published on 25/03/2012
» Clutching a bouquet of roses and a small red flag, Min Min Oo stood in the hot afternoon sun along with about 500 other people, many of them in red T-shirts with the National League for Democracy (NLD) logo. ''We started our trip at 6am. It's exhausting but we don't want to miss this once in a lifetime chance to welcome Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,'' said the 28-year-old graduate student from Kyaikhto town.
Dawei feeling pains of development and displacement
Spectrum, Published on 18/03/2012
» Thi Cho had been having sleepless nights since a small fishing community not far from her home was relocated a week earlier to make way for the multi-billion-baht Dawei development project.
Uphill fight means 'people's bills' remain a pipedream
Spectrum, Supara Janchitfah, Published on 04/03/2012
» In 2005, Prue Odochao and 90 other forest dwellers made the long march from Chiang Mai to Bangkok's parliament building to voice their opposition to a bill that they had first submitted in 1999. They said the amendments to their community forest draft bill by MPs and senators violated the spirit of the draft, which was intended to formalise community management of forests, a way of life in forested areas for centuries.
Grime and punishment: deluge victims still bailing out battered homes
Spectrum, Published on 04/03/2012
» There is a line scarring almost every building, post and fence along the northern and western outskirts of Bangkok. Brown, filthy and marinated in mould _ it jumps across highways and canals, staining walls, poles, pillars and fences, stretching across 30 of the capital's districts. It is the water mark of last year's floods, and often the only physical reminder of the fears continuing to reverberate throughout affected communities.
Is it 'Alien' or 'Avatar' in Kaeng Krachan?
Spectrum, Supara Janchitfah, Published on 19/02/2012
» Last July the mysterious crashes of three military helicopters in the space of a couple of weeks riveted the country's focus on Kaeng Krachan National Park, the nation's largest in Phetchaburi province. Much less attention was given to another dramatic series of events around the same time affecting ethnic Karen-Thai inside the park. These culminated in raids by park officials in which a total of 90 of their homes and rice barns were burned down. The ethnic Karen and their advocates say the National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation Department is conducting a campaign to drive them out of the park.