Myanmar Spring Chronicle – May 08 Scenes
MoeMaKa, May 09 2023
Child rape (Statutory rape) in Mae Sot & A test for the NUG
While political and military affairs are happening all over Myanmar on a daily basis, in Mae Sot, Thailand, where the National Unity Government is generally assumed to be based, news of the rape of a minor among Myanmar nationals who fled for political reasons has become public in the past few days.
A complaint to the Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs of the NUG government that the 5-year-old daughter of a CDM university professor living in Mae Sot was sexually abused by the secretary of the township office of the NLD party, who also fled and took refuge in Mae Sot, was circulated on social media.
It was heard that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration of the National Unity Government arrested and detained the person accused of committing the crime, but it is not known exactly how he was detained yet. If you look at the family of the victim of the incident, which is believed to have been committed by the township level secretary of a political party supported by the public who fled for political reasons, the situation where they could not rent a safe house, such as an apartment, after fleeing for participation in CDM also caused them to be victimized.
It is certain that this incident will be propagandized by pro-military supporters. As for the NUG, they shouldn’t ignore this incident and keep silent for fear of it being propagandized. They should avoid any kind of expression that may have further implications for the victim’s family. In order to achieve justice, the NUG needs to show that it cannot be allowed to commit such acts by taking advantage of the difficulty of living safely due to insufficient income under the situation of fleeing from the danger of the military dictators.
This incident can also be said to be a test of the NUG government’s performance. It is also an incident that highlights the difficult situations of CDMs, where they are struggling to make ends meet. Crime can happen in any environment where people live. It can happen either in areas governed by military councils or in areas controlled by PDFs, and it can also happen in the community of Myanmar political forces that are sheltering under the territorial administration of neighboring Thailand.
However, I would like to say that how such crimes are dealt with is important. It is important to have justice, to raise awareness so that this kind of incident does not happen again in the future, and to deal with the difficulties of the CDM families, which cause such a situation to happen. In order to prevent such cases from happening again, it is necessary to remove the situations that caused them to happen along with the punishment.
Now, the perpetrator and the victim are living in Thailand according to the territorial situation, so it should be noted that NUG has no legal jurisdiction, and since this is a case that happened in the Myanmar community, complaining to NUG also involves a sense of trust. So, it is important to be able to respond to such trust.
Another important news for today is the incident where an armed group opened fire on a convoy of diplomats from Indonesia and Singapore assisting in ASEAN humanitarian aid on the road between Hsi Hseng and Hsig Khaung in southern Shan State. The car was reportedly damaged, but no one was injured.
In the past few days, a convoy of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management, also known as the AHA Centre, came under fire by an unidentified armed group on the road connecting Taunggyi in southern Shan State and Loikaw between HsiHseng and Hsig Khaung.
This region is generally said to be dominated by the PNO militia group led by U Aung Kham Hti. An official from the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation (PNLO), which is based in areas related to this region, predicted that the culprit might be the PNO militia group. ASEAN is coordinating with the military council to provide humanitarian aid to the local people in the conflict area.