From the mountains of northwestern Sagaing Division to the industrial outskirts of Yangon, public pressure is rising on Myanmar’s government to deal with an issue that many say could make or break the country’s economic reforms: land grabbing.
A woman walks her dog past a fountain in Maha Bandoola Park opposite the Yangon City Hall (right) and Sule Pagoda.
The former military government spent decades selling off huge swathes of farmland and valuable mining areas to connected business cronies and military conglomerates. And while the generals have given up some of their power since 2011, reports of land seizures persist, with new protests seemingly every day. A prominent general even drew headlines recently for pointing a gun at farmers occupying land he acquired years ago.
A legacy of poor property records has made the question of land ownership in Myanmar an even bigger mess. For many average citizens, it’s a question of more compensation or the return of land they say is rightfully theirs. For some foreign investors, it’s become a tricky obstacle to doing business in Myanmar. And for elected officials navigating a newly democratic system, and facing protests from farmers and civil society groups, it’s a political liability.
Hundreds of farmers descended on Yangon on Aug 19 and 20 to discuss land confiscation issues, and demand amendments to the 2012 land law.
Shwe Thein, chair of the Land Core group —part of a broader network of non-government organisations called the Food Security Group — said the transition from military rule had emboldened some farmers to speak out.
“There were no complaints from farmers under the previous government, and I don’t need to tell you why,” he said in an interview in his Yangon office. But with the transition to democratic rule, he said, “the issue is now arising”.
The question is whether in a Myanmar still testing the waters of democracy, public pressure is enough.
“Land ownership issues, for example, are extremely complex,” President Thein Sein said in a July 15 speech at Chatham House during a visit to London. “As part of our drive to foster growth for all the people of Myanmar, we will develop clear, fair and open land policies.”
The government created a high-profile commission to look into land confiscation, but while it has issued multiple reports on the subject — and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann say it’s a high priority — minimal action has been taken.
Civil society groups say the policies already developed — including a 2012 law reform law — have done little to address the issue, particularly as foreign companies move into Myanmar’s Wild West economy and many of the former and current government’s “cronies” look to hang on to their assets in a fast-changing country.
Land redistribution issues have vexed many countries looking to emerge from years of authoritarian or colonial government — just look at Zimbabwe and South Africa, and regional nations such as Indonesia.
The protests here have been particularly loud when it comes to Myanmar citizens displaced by mining projects, such as the one at Letpadaung Mountain in Sagaing Division, which borders India. The government confiscated nearly 8,000 acres of land from nearby residents in 2010 to expand a Chinese-backed copper mining project. While Aung San Suu Kyi urged villagers to go along with the project earlier this year, clashes between protesters and authorities have gone on.
Land rights are critical to the slowly progressing peace process with many of Myanmar’s minority groups in resource-rich parts of the country. They are also a hot topic among the international institutions and non-government organisations currently fixated on Myanmar’s reform effort.
“Ending violent confrontations with groups protesting against extractive industries will require improved natural resource management and strengthened protection of land ownership rights,” wrote Anders Engvall of the Stockholm School of Economics and Soe Nandar Linn of the Myanmar Development Resource Institute in a recent article.
The government took ownership of all land in the country starting in 1963, as General Ne Win moved toward a socialist economic model that ultimately left the economy in ruins.
The Land Core group’s Shwe Thein, a 57-year-old former civil servant in the Forestry Ministry, notes that when the government began opening the country up to the world economy in the early 1990s, the priority was too focused on quick economic growth, and not enough on food security. As a result, the government prioritised giving away millions of acres of land for large-scale agriculture between 1991 and 2012.
Under the previous government, people in this heavily agrarian country — where many farmers are still itinerant — had little recourse. The 2012 land reform law, enacted by the civilian government, set up a process for farmers and others to seek compensation. But it’s complicated — and depends on the farmer having paperwork showing that he or she was using the land. In the absence of paperwork, someone else has to vouch for them.
“This is a very complicated business,” said Aung San Suu Kyi at a news conference in June. “The keeping of papers is also not part of our tradition.”
The government, she said, needed to “sort out how the land was illegally transferred”.
Last month, Defence Minister Lieut Gen Wai Lwin told parliament that the army would return 18,300 acres of land confiscated during the years of military rule — not enough to satisfy anyone.
Beyond China and its controversial resource projects in the country, the confusing land rights dynamics are a complicating factor for other foreign investors seeking to secure property. Civil society advocates worry that foreign businesses will exploit local villagers. But even companies with more benign intentions may be viewed with some suspicion, given the history.
Shwe Thein notes that when he takes trips overseas, he asks foreign companies to “respect the rights of citizens of Myanmar when they come and do business in this country”.
“At the same time, we are also concerned especially about ‘cronies’ in this country who possess large-scale land through the land acquisition process under the previous government.”
In some cases, business tycoons have responded. For instance, Zaw Zaw, the owner of Max Myanmar group, recently pledged to returned unused land that had been acquired through the government, according to media reports.
The issue also is a source of increasing debate among members of Myanmar’s parliament, where some lawmakers have pressed the government to do more — and some MPs appointed by the military have gone on the defensive.
The chairman of the land investigation commission, Tin Htut, warned lawmakers last week that various groups were looking to exploit farmers “by persuading them to protest. So all MPs, including me, should avoid [using land issues] to win votes for personal or political gain”, the Myanmar Times reported.