Maungdaw, Arakan State: Local traders in Maungdaw municipal market are being pressurized to pay tax for their business by the newly appointed Deputy Director of the Border trade Association, according to trader.

Thein Htun Oo, Deputy Director, and a retired military officer, called traders from the municipal market for a meeting in Daywanawdee hall of the Border trade Association on September 24, 2010, the trader said.

At the meeting, the Deputy Director ordered the traders to pay tax for their business to the Border trade Association, the trader added.

The officer called more than 200 traders for the meeting but 20 traders attended including a Rakhine trader, said an official of the Border trade Association.

The officer did not call any border trade company in Maungdaw. There are 14 border trade companies in Maungdaw, the official said.

At the meeting, the traders the officer told them to pay tax as they are selling goods which come from Rangoon through Akyab. The traders said they are selling the goods after buying from wholesale traders in Maungdaw.

“We are not exporting or importing goods from Bangladesh so why do we have to pay tax to the Border trade Association,” said another trader from Maungdaw municipal market.

“The goods sold in the municipal market are all from Maungdaw, Akyab and Rangoon and we know that there is no need to pay any border trade tax. Why is this officer ordering us to pay tax to him,” the trader asked.

In Maungdaw, most traders belong to the Rohingya community and any officer on duty in Maungdaw try to get easy money from this community, said a school teacher from Maungdaw.

“The retired military officer Thein Htun Oo had served as a District Peace and Development Council Secretary in Maungdaw and know how to make easy money from this area,” the teacher said.