MP and member of the Farmland Investigation Commission is calling for changes in handling land disputes which he says will make the process faster and more effective.
Pyithu Hluttaw MP U Aung Thein Lin (Union Solidarity and Development Party, South Okkalapa, Yangon Region) told Mizzima on April 27 that his suggestion involved the adoption of an arbitration-based system.
U Aung Thein Lin said he would be recommending to the commission’s chair, U Tin Htut, that the government-appointed Land Use Management Committee host meetings that bring together each side involved in land disputes as well as the local MP.
U Aung Thein Lin said he would be making the recommendation because he doubted whether the committee would meet its deadline to resolve the 745 cases referred from the commission by a September 2014 deadline.
"They are still in the process of discussions between state and regional and the township level and I don't believe they can complete the process in time", said U AungThein Lin.
He said most land dispute cases in Yangon Region remained at an initial reporting stage, in which the commission has heard arguments from each side and reported to the Union Hluttaw.
In three of the 19 cases in Yangon, there had been no progress at all, U Aung Thein Lin said.
U Aung Thein Lin said the slow pace in resolving disputes had resulted in the Hluttaw suggesting last November that the committee submit progress reports every two months.
He said the government had responded that process of settling land disputes was slow because the cases had to be resolved in line with the law.
U Zaw Yann from the Myanmar Farmers’ Association (Ayeyarwady Region) said one reason why the disputes were taking so long to resolve was because “the authorities themselves are involved in land grabbing cases”.
