Over 6,000 people from 1181 households in Jadetaw Village in Thandwe Township have no housing and they are protesting so that the president hears of their plight said U Kyaw Thein Naing the protester’s leader.

He said: “We have been living here for between 10 to 40 years. We do not own any housing, so we rent it and live in other people’s homes. The rents range from a minimum of 20,000 [approx $20 USD] kyats to 40,000 kyats [approx $40 USD] a month. If we pay rent annually it costs 200,000 kyats [approx $200 USD] to 400,000 kyats [approx $400 USD]. Since land costs from 50 million kyats [approx $50,000 USD] to 1 billion kyats [approx $1 million USD] an acre it is impossible for us to buy land. That is why we are protesting.”

“The authorities of the previous military government seized most of the land in Thandwe Township and some of this land was bought by their close friends. This means that there is not enough land for local people to build their houses on”, said a woman from Jadetaw Village during the protest.

Most of the residents of Jadetaw rely on the sea for their livelihoods. Nowadays the authorities and local business people own not only the beach area but also the mountain areas, meaning that people cannot establish farms in the mountains.

Protesters shouted slogans like: “There is no place in Arakan State for Arakan People to Live”, “The U Thein Sein government must establish more housing”, “We want business cronies to disappear”, “If you love Arakan State you should respect the Arakanese,” and “Take immediate action to get us housing.”

U Aung Win the Arakan state parliament member for Myebon Township plans to submit a proposal in the next session of the Arakan parliament that housing in Jadetaw Village should be allocated to local residents and people who have been resettled in the area from other places.

Around 800 protesters marched from Jadetaw Village to Mya Pyin Hotel from noon to 2pm on 19th January. The protest, which was officially permitted by the authorities was jointly organised by Arakan community based organisations (CBOs) and homeless people.

Arakan people from different areas in the state go to Jatedaw Village for work as they find it hard to find work in other areas. Though Arakan State has many natural resources it is still the second poorest state in Burma.

The person in authority responsible for the resettlement of people in Arakan State is Col. Htein Lin, the Arakan State Government Minister of Border and Security.

The Thandwe Township Administrator said he would report to his superiors and carry out their subsequent orders.

Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI