Claiming to have seen no local dividends from large-scale Chinese development projects, southern Rakhine State fishermen and residents are preparing to roll out the picket lines via motorboat.
On May 22, the residents plan to launch a protest via 200 boats. They say they are demonstrating against two planned deep sea ports in Kyaukphyu, but mostly are taking aim at a Chinese oil pipeline they allege is ruining their fishing industry.
Protest leader Ko Tun Tun from Maday Island said the residents submitted a request to hold the protest on May 18.
“Local motorboats including the ones from Maday Island will arrive at Kyaukphyu’s Japanma jetty in the morning on May 22 and will navigate along the river to the oil port together with the fishermen from Kyaukphyu,” he said. “I want to invite the Arakan people to join us.”
The protesters also plan to march on foot to the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation’s (CNPC) office in Kyauktan Village on Maday Island after the demonstration at the oil port.
Their demands include requesting CNPC to restore the fishing plots destroyed by the oil tankers, build roads around Maday Island’s coastline, and carry out regional development.
The local residents claim the number of oil tankers has slowly increased. Before the oil tankers arrive, they are asked to clear the way, which halts their fishing operations. Often, they said they have to wait a long time unsure of when they can resume work, as they are not given an departure times for the tankers.
However, Kyaukphyu township administrator U Nyi Nyi Lin told Narinjara News that fishing is restricted along the ship path for only one and a half hour during the entry and exist of ships. He said otherwise, fishing is allowed at all other times.
The residents claim over 100 people working along the river route have been affected by the new oil tankers, and said the change is taking a toll on their income.
The first oil tanker arrived at Maday Port on April 9 laden with over 100,000 tonnes of crude oil from the Middle East and Africa. The new 478-mile pipeline, which cuts across Myanmar to China’s Yunnan Province, is anticipated to carry up to 22 million tons of oil a year, equal to almost six percent of China's total oil imports last year.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by Laignee Barron
