Myanmar Spring Chronicle – August 14 Scenes
MoeMaKa, August 15 2022
In recent days, according to reports, military council troops entered and attacked Yin Paung Taing village in Yinmarbin Township in Sagaing Division by helicopter, and began to surround and attack the PDFs in the village after dropping soldiers from the helicopter. It was assumed that the military council troops received information about some members of the Chin Defense Forces, coming down from Kachin State to return to their areas, and the attack was made while they were resting on the route. The Chin Defense Forces and the local PDFs resisted and attacked, some PDFs were killed and some villagers were arrested. A few days later, when the census was taken, the news reported that about 8 villagers, including PDF, had lost their lives. It is said that some of the PDFs were found alive and some of the villagers were taken away by military council troops in a helicopter.
At the outbreak of the civil war, the military council troops were not only fighting from the ground, they were using the airspace in southern, central and northern Myanmar almost every day, attacking the PDF armed groups and sometimes the IDP camps with airstrikes. Before the military coup, there were only Karen and Kachin states with airstrikes, but, after the military coup, the PDF resistance attacks occurred, and many regions were attacked by airstrikes, and in an incident like the one in Yin Paung Taing Village, the soldiers were dropped by helicopters and attacked the villages. The civil war becomes intensified, and the military council is using military force and money power to crush the PDFs.
It is also seen that excessive financial power has been used for the costs of the war. According to publicly available statistics, military expense has increased more than the previous year in 2015-2020, and in 2021-22, it has reached more than 4,000 billion Myanmar Kyats.
There are battles going on almost every day, and the air forces are being used almost to their full potential. And on the other hand, during war and conflict, the economy of Myanmar is declining significantly due to the decline in the production of agricultural industries and manufacturing industries, the increase in fuel prices and the effects of international sanctions on some sectors. The current dollar price and gold prices show signs of the worsening economic situation.
Difficulties in buying foreign currency to import fuel and the consequence of the Junta’s order to force to sell at a fixed gas price has caused a shortage of fuel and the situation in the towns is getting worse. In Yangon, you can still queue up to buy it in one place or another, but the stations in local towns like Lashio and Muse, and the whole city has stopped selling because there were no fuel. Even in a big city like Mandalay, there is a situation where people have to line up around the city to buy fuel.
The situation has worsened during these months and weeks, from the place where these implications had been happening sporadically since last April.
It is well known why these things happen, as it began with the military council’s control orders over dollars from private exports, also on international remittances and the money that will be used by international organizations.
During these days and weeks, rises in commodity prices have become more obvious. Not just gold and dollar prices, but food prices, daily travel expenses, medicine prices and consumer good prices rose prominently. At a time when job opportunities are scarce, the dramatic rise in commodity prices is also becoming a reason for the rise in crime. The weakening of the rule of law is the main reason for the increase in crime, as well as the increase in the price of goods, and the lack of job opportunities is like fanning the flames.
Cases like gold chain snatching while standing in front of houses or from passers-by are now happening in some townships of Yangon, during the day, not at night. The public is feeling more insecure, and on the other hand, they are also facing more pressure to overcome hardships in their livelihood.
When the country is facing such a crisis, even ordinary civilians understand that 80% of these difficulties and crises will be relieved if the party, leaders and representatives, elected by the election, are handed back to power and let them rule the country. Even so, we only see signs that the Military who took the power by brutal coup are still blinded by power and selfish-interests will continue tight gripping with their eyes closed.