Activists to launch global campaign against Shwe Gas Skip to main content

Activists to launch global campaign against Shwe Gas

Narinjara

Dhaka: A global campaign against the Shwe Gas Project in western Burma’s Arakan State will be held on the 1st of March, said Ko Won Aung, the coordinator of the Shwe Gas Movement based in Thailand.


Global action day Shwe Gas
“We will carry out three main activities that make up our global campaign against the Shwe Gas Project. First we will demand the foreign governments and stake holders in the project to temporarily suspend the project withdrawing their respective investments from the project in consideration of social suffering, environmental damage and human rights violations impacted by the project in our region, and second a signed petition by over 100 organizations will be sent to President U Thein Sein, and third we will hold demonstrations in a number of countries that include stake holding countries in the project”, said Ko Won Aung.

He said they have to demand the suspension of the project because the locals rights and benefits are being neglected in the project.

“We have not found any conditions that guarantee the rights and benefits for our local Arakanese as well as the whole Burmese people in the project and the government is also not transparent about the project. That is why we have to continue to demand the suspension of the project until the gas for domestic use and the rights and benefits of local peoples are guaranteed in the project”, he said.

Ko Won Aung said the petition letter they will send to president U Thein Sein for the suspension of the project will be signed by the local Arakanese and international organizations that are working for social welfare, the environment and human rights.

He said they have written in the petition to the president that the natural gas from the project is very important for the energy sector in the country and should be sold to foreign countries after fulfilling domestic demand and that the government should temporarily suspend and continue the project after ensuring the rights and benefits of the local people and the necessities of gas in the country.

The offshore Shwe gas reserve in Arakan coast was found by the joint explorations of the Burmese regime’s oil and gas enterprise and the Daewoo International Corporation in 2004 and is now being developed to produce and export gas to China through the pipeline. The Burmese regime will earn an estimated $29 billion USD from gas exports from the reserve.

As the project is not transparent and has been troubling the local people with rights violations such as forcible land confiscations and relocations since it was started, the local peoples have risen to voice and demand their rights from the project including 24-hour electricity in their region to be supplied from the power generated by gas from the project as well.

The Burmese regime still reluctant however and neglecting to listen to and meet the demands of local people, and continuing the project in partnership with international governments and companies.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...

Three Dead, Seven Injured by Artillery Shells in Two Incidents in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U

By MIN AUNG KHINE 2 December 2019 Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m. A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital. He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.” Details of what occurred were not yet known. A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung. Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have...