Since last year’s military coup in Myanmar, an Australian embassy has spent more than $ 750,000 on a Yangon hotel with links to the country’s board, according to FOI documents.
Key points:
- Hotel Lotte is built on land owned by the General Office of the Intendant of the Ministry of Defense
- This office has been sanctioned by the US, UK and Canada for supplying ammunition to the board
- More than 2,000 Myanmar citizens have died since taking military power
Activists say Australian taxpayer dollars should not be spent on the hotel, which is built on land owned and rented by the country’s army.
In February 2021, the Myanmar army overthrew the democratically elected government, citing electoral fraud, and has since violently repressed protests against the regime.
More than 2,000 people have been killed and more than 14,000 arrested, according to the Political Prisoners Assistance Association.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) issued the bills under the Freedom of Information revelations to the Justice for Myanmar activist group.
These documents detail spending at the luxurious Lotte Hotel since the coup and have been provided exclusively to the ABC.
Tickets include payments for hotel rooms and serviced apartments, which in some cases cost taxpayers more than $ 60,000 for six months of luxury accommodation with lake views.
A receipt among the documents shows that $ 46 was spent on a chocolate cream cake. The ABC understands that this was a personal expense that was not borne by the government.
The five-star Lotte Hotel in Yangon is built on land owned by the Army General Office, which has been sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
In imposing its sanction, the UK said the Office of the Superintendent General “plays a crucial role in the procurement of equipment for the Armed Forces of Myanmar and is responsible for overseeing a campaign of violence and rape. of human rights throughout Myanmar “.
Lotte investors pay $ 1.87 million ($ 2.71 million) a year in rent, which goes to the Ministry of Defense, according to records from the Myanmar Investment Commission.
“It is appalling that Australia is spending taxpayer money on the Army-linked Lotte Hotel, ignoring the recommendations of the UN Fact-Finding Mission to end business with the Myanmar army,” he said. say the spokesman for Justice for Myanmar, Yadanar Maung.
“Lotte Hotel funds the Myanmar Army, paying rent to the Office of the Superintendent General, which buys army bullets and bombs used in its indiscriminate attacks on the people of Myanmar. The Australian embassy I should have known. “
The hotel overlooks Yangon’s Inya Lake. (Reuters)
Chris Sidoti, a human rights expert and UN specialist who was part of the fact-finding mission to Myanmar, said embassy spending goes against the advice to financially isolate the army.
“Ultimately, the money goes back to the military. And our recommendations were very specific that we need to reduce cash flow,” he said.
“We specifically identified land agreements where the military somehow acquired land, often forcibly taking it from the original owners, and then, with foreign investors, built hotels or shopping malls or ports on that land and n ‘ they were earning income through rents. And that is precisely the situation here. “
Chris Sidoti says that if Australian money flows into the military, even indirectly, there should be a human rights obligation to cut ties. (ABC: four corners)
Greens Senator Janet Rice, who has raised the issue of Commonwealth funds flowing into the military in Senate estimates, said FOI revelations were “shocking.”
“Not only has … the previous government not introduced sanctions, but we now find that we have indeed been funding the war in Myanmar,” he said.
“It is shocking and extraordinary and completely unforgivable.
“It is absolutely urgent that the new Australian government completely and utterly sever its ties with any trade deal that results in money fueling the board.”
DFAT says staff need secure accommodation
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the ABC that it is hosting embassy staff in Yangon in “a small number of apartment and house complexes assessed as adequately secure.”
“The safety and security of embassy staff in Myanmar is a high priority,” a DFAT spokesman said.
“There are currently limited secure hosting options available beyond these facilities. Accommodation options are constantly being reviewed.
“Australian government operations in Myanmar do not directly fund the Myanmar army.”
Sidoti said the control of the army economy was once so extensive that it was difficult to find companies that did not have the participation of the army, but that was no longer the case.
“The economy has diversified a lot in the past 20 years and it is now possible to stay in hotels that have no military ties,” he said.
Activists have long called for a boycott of the Lotte Hotel and other businesses that benefit from the army, also called Tatmadaw.
Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) – the self-proclaimed alternative civilian government in exile – recently criticized the Hong Kong government for planning a major event at the hotel, calling it “reprehensible”.
Amnesty International says the Myanmar army has laid landmines that have killed and injured people in villages in Kayah, near the border with Thailand. (AP: Amnesty International)
Dr Tun Aung Shwe, the NUG’s representative in Australia, said he was surprised by the FOI’s revelations as the government downgraded its diplomatic relations with the board earlier this year by failing to appoint an ambassador.
He said he thought that by not appointing a new ambassador, embassy officials showed that they were carefully considering their steps in Myanmar and that they were trying not to engage in army-related business, but now he feared that the money from the embassy seeped into the Tatmadaw.
“We all know that the militia board [is] it will use that kind of revenue to kill its own people, ”he said.
When asked about calls to boycott the Yangon hotel, a spokesman for Korea-based Lotte Hotels Group, a subsidiary of Posco International Amara, said the hotel was aware of human rights issues and hoped that the current situation normalizes soon.
The spokesman said the rent of the hotel plot was “attached to the national budget of the government of Myanmar due to the financial law of Myanmar” and that the nature and beneficiaries of the allocation of the national budget of Myanmar was beyond the fiduciary obligations of the company.
Sanctions calls were renewed to force the release of Sean Turnell
Australia has not imposed new sanctions on Myanmar’s military generals since their coup.
Professor Sean Turnell, photographed with his wife, Dr. Ha Vu, has been in custody since February last year. (Supplied)
“After 18 months of the military coup, the country’s economy [has] totally collapsed. More than a million people are internally displaced due to the atrocities of the military junta, “Dr. Tun said.
Last month, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong pointed to possible sanctions against the board.
Sidoti said this was encouraging and that there had been a need for sanctions from the start of the coup. So far, Australia has only suspended a small military co-operation program.
“But we have not taken any other action at all. And I think the old government is rightly criticized for its inaction in Myanmar,” Sidoti said.
He said the sanctions should start with Tatmadaw’s highest generals, the top officials responsible for the coup, and extend to other members of the top leadership.
He said it was crucial not to forget detained Australian economist Sean Turnell, an adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is facing a trial under the Official Secrets Act.
“After 18 months, there has been no progress in the case of Sean Turnell. We have seen other foreigners who have been released, including a U.S. citizen, and the United States is imposing very significant sanctions,” Sidoti said.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with at least 18 offenses, involving a combined maximum prison sentence of nearly 190 years. (Reuters: Yves Herman)
“I think the lesson is that Burmese generals are not interested in cooperation, they are only responding to pressure.
“Sean can’t be forgotten. Sean must be Australia’s top priority. But the policy adopted by the old government is a patent failure. And we need to move on to something that is more effective.”
Senator Rice echoed the calls for sanctions.
“This is a real and urgent call to the new government because it immediately imposes sanctions on the Myanmar junta and all those involved in the coup,” he said.