Japanese zoo urged to reject elephants from Myanmar's junta over propaganda value

An appeal by a group of Myanmar nationals living in Japan for a zoo to not be taken in by the "elephant diplomacy" of the military junta in their homeland appears to have fallen on deaf ears, raising concerns that the transfer would be used to give the junta legitimacy amid accusations of dire human rights abuses.

Myint Swe, a labour union official who has lived in Japan for 20 years, was one of three Myanmar nationals who visited Fukuoka City Zoological and Botanical Gardens on June 25 to ask zoo officials to delay taking delivery of four elephants from Myanmar later this month.

The elephants are part of an exchange programme arranged by the State Administration Council, the official name for the military junta that seized power following a coup in February 2021, "to promote everlasting friendship between the council and Fukuoka City and Japan".

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In a statement provided to This Week in Asia, Myint Swe said: "We, Myanmese people in Japan, are shocked and outraged by this news.

"Since the military coup of 2021, serious human rights violations have been committed in Myanmar, including the military council's repression of civilians' rights and relentless air strikes against civilians.

"According to a civil society organisation, more than 5,200 people have been killed by the military council and 26,800 people have been wrongfully detained. In addition, the number of internally displaced persons has risen to more than 3 million due to the violent civil war."

While Myint Swe conceded that the agreement to send the elephants to Fukuoka was reached with the Yangon Zoo in 2019, under the previous democratic regime, he said the situation "has changed dramatically".

"The Burmese have used the gift of elephants as a means of diplomacy since the dynastic period of our history and, once the elephants have been accepted from the State Administration Council, they will be able to say that they have friendly relations with Japan and that Japan supports the rule of the military government," he added.

"The elephants will be used to the maximum extent as a political tool."

An official of the Fukuoka zoo said she was not aware when the elephants were due to arrive and declined to comment on the issue to This Week in Asia. A spokesman told the Asahi newspaper, however, that opposition over the issue would not delay the transfer.

"Accepting the elephants at this time is an interaction between our countries aimed at breeding and the biological research of elephants," the official said. "Many people, including children, are telling us that they want to see the elephants soon."

Myint Swe said he feared visitors to the zoo would get the wrong impression of the situation in his homeland.

"We are concerned that the public will only think that the elephants are 'cute' and they will not know of the tragedy that is happening in Myanmar," he said. "We are also concerned that there are no guarantees that the funds from Fukuoka City for the transfer will not be used for human rights violations."

While the elephants are being given to the zoo for free, Myint Swe believed Myanmar's state-run companies would profit from the arrangement and the funds would find their way to the junta.

Private companies and the Japanese government have long-established ties with Myanmar that have endured even after the 2021 coup, largely because Tokyo believed it was important to keep lines of communication open with its counterparts in Naypyidaw, a Japanese defence ministry official told This Week in Asia.

While Japan may have believed its historic "special relationship" would enable it to influence policy and bring Myanmar closer into Tokyo's sphere of influence in a bid to fend off China's sway over the region, it did not appear to have happened so far, said the official, who declined to be named as he did not have clearance to speak to the media.

Bilateral government and private sector links have remained in place in the past few years. One of the most contentious aid programmes provided by Tokyo was the training of junta military officers in Tokyo. Since 2015, cadets and officers from Myanmar have undergone training at the National Defence Academy, with four military personnel accepted in 2021 - after the coup - and again in 2022.

There was also criticism in early 2023 when it was learned that riverboats donated by Japan to help students and seasonal workers move around Myanmar had been used by the junta to transport troops and military equipment.

After Tokyo expressed its anger over the use of the riverboats, and Myanmar authorities said they would no longer use the vessels to transport troops, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in February 2023 said he would "appropriately handle" the flow of government aid to Myanmar.

Beyond the public sector, a report published by the Tokyo office of Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed that construction giant Yokogawa Bridge Corp has made payments to the military-owned Myanmar Economic Corp (MEC) for an aid project.

MEC has been sanctioned by the US, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and Australia for its role in generating significant revenues that help fund military abuse, HRW reported.

Myint Swe has called on the Fukuoka city government, which operates the zoo, to issue a statement making it clear that by accepting the four elephants from Myanmar, it does not condone human rights abuses by the military government.

He has also proposed that signs be erected alongside the animals' enclosure explaining "the tragedies of Myanmar".

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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