Major news in Burma on June 28: Farmland laws should be amended: committee

Major news in <BangkokPost > :  Farmland laws should be amended: committee

Volume 32, No. 632 June 25 – July 1, 2012 By Sandar Lwin

Volume 32, No. 632 June 25 – July 1, 2012 By Sandar Lwin

<Top N> Major news in Burma on June 27: Farmland laws should be amended: committee

A MEMBER of a parliamentary committee on reform has announced plans to amend two recently promulgated land laws following a spate of complaints over land confiscation and ownership disputes.

The Pyithu Hluttaw’s Reform and Development Monitoring Committee will take the “necessary measures” to amend the land laws, the committee’s chairman, U Aung Thein Linn, said on June 21 following a fact-finding trip to the dry zone.

U Aung Thein Linn, the former mayor of Yangon and a senior member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, said at a press conference on the committee’s June 16-20 trip that the Farmland Law and Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law – both passed by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in March – contained “mistakes, weaknesses and were incomplete”.

“We will revise the two land laws. We missed some matters that need to be discussed thoroughly when the parliament approved the two land laws. But every law is evolving – necessary amendments can be made to any law,” he said.

“So further prescriptions can be added to the land laws that have been approved by the parliaments. Amendments can be made or sections cancelled. We will do them.”

He said the tour, the purpose of which was to monitor agricultural development and the living standards of farmers, had reinforced the need to amend the laws.

“I’m not an expert on land rights issues but as far as I could see during this tour, we need to add some sections for landless people in the [virgin land law],” he said.

The original landowners in some areas had lost control of their land and been forced to become tenants, said U Aung Thein Linn, the Pyithu Hluttaw representative for South Okkalapa in Yangon.

“Our farmers are severely suffering because of this,” he said. “I also saw plenty of land in that region that had been grabbed for particular projects but nothing had been implemented. I know there are similar things happening in Yangon Region too.

“We have received piles of complaints from thousands of farmers from 61 villages in Salin and Pwinbyu townships in Magwe Region.

“From them I realised that there are four serious issues among farmers, namely land use rights, arable water accessibility, problems concerning issues such as the tenancy system and the [government’s] preference for large-scale investors when it comes to assigning ownership of virgin land.

“We will … use two channels – the parliament and regional government – to help resolve these issues,” he said.

The Farmland Law bill was submitted to the parliament by former Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation U Htay Oo on behalf of the USDP, while the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law bill was submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

While U Aung Thein Linn would not comment on what specific amendments to the laws the committee would recommend, it seems they could address some of the concerns of activists and land rights experts, who have argued that the bills were inadequate and could facilitate land grabs, leading to increased landlessness and poverty.

While the bills were still before the parliament, international experts also weighed into the debate. Speaking at a seminar at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in February, Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz said that while it was “absolutely essential” to have a farmland law, “if it is not the right law, it could really be very, very troublesome”.

“The rule of the game can have a very big effect on creating inequality and poverty or creating a more equal society. And this is an example of a rule of the game; if you don’t get it right, you can wind up with more people in poverty, more inequality and a few people at the top becoming much wealthier,” Professor Stiglitz warned.

Amendments proposed by the committee should have little trouble getting through the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, said Colonel Tin Maung Oo (retired), the Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Shwe Pyi Thar in Yangon Region, where several “land grab” cases have occurred in recent months.

“There is no difficulty to make amendment to the land laws because the USDP has a majority in the parliaments,” said Col Tin Maung Oo, a USDP representative.

He said the party was aware of the importance of getting land laws right.

“I discussed [the bills] 26 times during the discussion session in the parliament. We will keep amending the laws as necessary based on whatever new developments take place.”

U Kyaw Swar Soe, a member of the central executive committee of the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics and the organiser of the June 16-20 mission to the dry zone, said he was satisfied with the trip because it would likely bring about resolutions to some of the issues raised by the farmers.