Junta charges education officer with funding Arakan Army

By DMG 12 Oct 2022

DMG Newsroom
12 October 2022, Minbya 

Myanmar’s military regime has filed a charge against the deputy head of the Minbya Township education office under Section 17(1) of Unlawful Associations Act for allegedly funding the Arakan Army (AA) with money that he is accused of deducting from the salaries of teachers. 

U Tin Myo Zaw, 42, was detained on September 27 after he was summoned to the Arakan State Education Department in Sittwe. 

“We haven’t heard any news about him since his detention,” a teacher from Minbya told DMG. 

DMG was unable to obtain comment from the head of the Arakan State Education Department, U Ba Htwe Sein, and Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura. 

Rakhine Daily, a mouthpiece for the military regime in Arakan State, reported on its Facebook page that U Tin Myo Zaw, also known as Pwa Gyu, had used money allocated for monthly teacher salaries to fund the AA for two years. 

Myanmar’s military regime has detained and opened cases against multiple people in Arakan State over recent months, including philanthropists and civil servants, under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and the Unlawful Associations Act. Those detentions have come amid renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army. 

A teacher from Maungdaw said he was worried that more teachers might be detained and prosecuted. “It is unacceptable that teachers are detained and prosecuted. We have concerns,” he said. 

Six people including an Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) member, two village administrators from Buthidaung Township, and Dr. Kyaw Thura Tun from Taungup have been charged under the Unlawful Associations Act since the hostilities flared anew.