Chinese Jade Scam Hits Myanmar Dealers

Hundreds of people, including jade dealers from Myanmar, saw their fortunes vanish overnight in a scam involving up to 1 billion yuan (US$160 million) worth of jade treasures taken by a Chinese conman, according to police in the country’s Yunnan Province.

According to a preliminary police investigation, 33-year-old Zhong Xiong approached dealers with offers to help them find wealthy clients in Shanghai and Beijing.

“He presented himself as a rich man to approach potential dealers who were desperate to sell their products,” according to one jade dealer surnamed Xie, who said he was approached by Zhong.

Every year, a large number of raw jade stones are shipped to Yunnan from neighboring Myanmar, which produces the world’s highestquality jade. The jade trade between the two countries— much of it illicit— was estimated at $8 billion in 2011 by the Harvard Ash Center.

Revelations of the scam come amid a sharp downturn in China’s jade market, which police believe may have prompted jewelry traders and individual lenders to be duped by Zhong’s promises that he could help them sell off their surplus stock.

Xie said jade dealers would most certainly be more cautious in the future, but the trader remained optimistic about the jade market’s future prospects.

“Twenty years ago, only people who lived in affluent areas like Hong Kong, Taiwan or Guangdong bought jade, but now there are buyers from every part of China,” he said.

—Echo Hui

Police under Siege after Clash with Villagers

Dozens of police officers were forced to barricade themselves inside a village school in Mandalay Region on Aug. 14 after firing shots at protesters attempting to reclaim land seized by Myanmar’s armed forces.

Three protesters were injured, one of them seriously, when about 50 police officers confronted the protesters in the village of Nyaung Wun, Sint Gu Township. Witnesses said the police opened fire when the villagers, who had begun plowing land that had been confiscated by the military, demanded to know why they were there.

The police then fled to a local schoolhouse, which the angry villagers surrounded to demand the release of a villager who had been arrested and an explanation for the use of force by the authorities.

The incident ended peacefully after the police were allowed to leave the school unharmed following negotiations at the local monastery.

The villagers later said they would press charges against the police officers responsible for the shooting.

“We want justice for what happened here. We believe there will be rule of law and the police who opened fire will be punished for what they have done,” said U Tin Naing, one of the villagers who submitted the case to the Sint Gu Township court. —Zarni

Mann

Five Million Sign Petition Calling for Constitutional Reform

Myanmar’s main opposition party and a leading activist group submitted a petition to Union Parliament Speaker U Shwe Mann on Aug. 13 with the signatures of five million people supporting calls for constitutional reform.

The petition, organized by the National League for Democracy and the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, calls for a review of provisions in the country’s 2008 Constitution that guarantee a leading role for the military in Myanmar’s political affairs.

“We want the public’s demands to be heard,” said 88 Generation leader U Ko Ko Gyi, calling on Parliament to seriously consider the political implications of the call of millions of citizens for reforms to the undemocratic 2008 charter.

However, a senior ruling party member was dismissive about the petition.

“There are few people who actually read the Constitution and are aware of the benefits and disadvantages of it,” said lawmaker U Tin Maung Oo of the militarybacked Union Solidarity and Development Party. —Nyein Nyein