Documentation for Swan Arr Shin (Masters of Force)
May 29, 2003
World News Connection
Union Solidarity andDevelopment Association who had been summoned to come to Monywa by the Township Peace and Development Council.
They have brought in people from different townships. xxxwas saying it would resort to violence. Thesepeople call themselves the "Swan Arr Shin" The Strong Ones . So, the monks calling themselves, "TagoShin" The Ones with Magical Power
Nov. 28, 2004
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
contacts at the Home Ministry said the directive also ordered respective authorities at the various states, divisions, districts, and townships to mobilize and explain to the members of .. the pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Association and the Pyithu Swan Arr Shin a militia-like organization to implement the directive.
June 18, 2005
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Burma Oslo radio reports ammunition seizures in Mandalay
people from the ward peace and development council and "Swan Arr Shin" [local militia] force and others have been posted there. Police, including local police, are also there. They have been posted for about 10 days in the area, and boats were used in the search but nothing more was found.
Aug. 31, 2007
The Toronto Star
Military uses gangs as troops;
The broom-wielding gangs that broke up fuel price protests in Burma were taking direct orders from the ruling junta, which now appears to favour them as a way to crush dissent, rights groups and diplomats say.
The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said it had documents proving military and civilian officials had explicit guidelines on how to mobilize and run the Swan-ar Shin heavies used to quash this month's rare outbreak of protests.
In one of the documents, a military officer talks of the need for proper training to ensure "more effective and systematic use" of the Swan-ar Shin, which translates as Masters of Force.
Aug. 31, 2007
The New York Times
The government .. has created the civilian gangs that have beaten and arrested demonstrators this month. Wielding brooms and hoes, they pose as members of the public, chiding the demonstrators before beating and seizing them, according to wire service reports.
Known as the Swan-ar Shin, or Masters of Force, they appear to have taken the place of military intelligence enforcers in combating protests.
Sept. 30, 2007
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
When the protesters arrived ..the road was blocked with a police vehicle and a military jeep with soldiers and policemen. Among them were about 50 Swan Arrshin [pro-government militia] members ready to crackdown on protesters.
Oct. 3, 2007
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
"Last night at about 11 p.m. (local time), five vehicles came to our ward. In the first truck there were soldiers with red arm bands, the next had police, the third vehicle was full of security forces, the fourth was covered with shields and soldiers pointing their guns outside and the last was a light vehicle and carried members of USDA [Union Solidarity and Development Association] and Swan Arrshin [pro-junta militia group].
Oct. 4, 2007
The Times (London)
At 11.30am, after the official delegation left, the soldiers and police returned, accompanied by members of an official militia called Masters of Force, which is frequently used by the Government to terrorise its political opponents.
Oct. 20, 2007
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
The Swan Arr Shin, like the USDA, is a government-backed group comprised of civilians. But Swan Arr Shin members, in particular, are mainly hired thugs and former convicts.
Nov. 1, 2007
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Pakokku, a centre of Buddhist learning on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River a few kilometres north of the ancient heritage site of Pagan, was one of the flashpoints in early September. At the time, monks marched in solidarity with groups of civilians in Yangon and elsewhere, protesting against a severe overnight fuel price increase on Aug 19.
The protests were broken up violently by the pro-junta, civilian Union Solidarity and Development Association and the Swan Arr Shin, another civilian group set up by the junta and comprising mainly thugs for hire.
The monks were attacked and brutally beaten. The day after, in retaliation, several monks attacked government officials, torched their cars and briefly took some of them hostage. During the skirmish, soldiers fired warning shots and rumours spread that one monk had been killed.
Dec. 8, 2007
Press Trust of India
(USDA), a mass-based social welfare organisation ..It operated alongside the Swan Arr Shin (Masters of Force) militia, soldiers and riot police in beating and detaining protesters, the watchdog alleged.
Dec. 12, 2007
States News Service
xxxof Human Rights Watch, said that the mistreatment and torture of many of those arrested in Myanmar had been documented and there was grave concern for their safety. Most alarming was the role played by militia forces known as Swan Arr Shin (Masters of Force), which used extreme violence to detain peaceful protesters and to deter future peaceful dissent.
Jan. 7, 2008
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Swan Arr Shin members in New Dagon and Hlaing Tharyar townships, Rangoon division, have been taking part in riot control training, while military deployments to Rangoon have increased, locals said. (…)
"The riot control training is being given to local Swan Arr Shin members secretly during the night," the Dagon resident said.
"We have seen them being trained with sticks.
May 14, 2008
Targeted News Service
During the September 2007 mass protests in Rangoon, USDA militia groups, and their connected militia, the Swan Arr Shin ("Masters of Force"), were used widely to detain, beat, and intimidate peaceful protesters. UN agencies have refused to work with the USDA on past developmental projects because of their involvement in such abuses and repression.
July 2, 2008
BBC Monitoring
Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has called in a statement for the release of NLD members arrested for praying for Aung San Suu Kyi on her 63th birthday on June 19. The arrests were illegal, the NLD statement said.
The NLD members were attacked by pro-government thugs belonging to the paramilitary Swan Ah Shin and the Union Solidarity and Development Association while they were taking part in a prayer ceremony for Suu Kyi. Police looked on as the thugs beat the participants, the NLD statement said.
May 28, 2009
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacifc
About 500 members of the paramilitary group Swan Arr Shin and the government-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) are reportedly being paid to strengthen security around Insein Prison, where Aung San Suu Kyi stands trial. (…)
The hired force includes several women. "I came here because I will get 2,000 kyat and a free lunch," said one 28-year-old woman from Shwe Lin Ban village in Hlaing Thar Yar Township. She was assigned by Swan Arr Shin to join other women in patrolling the Insein market area and watch for any outbreak of trouble there.
Nov. 13, 2010
The Independent
But by yesterday evening, hope was starting to turn to disappointment as members of a government-created militia, the Swan Arr Shin, arrived at the NLD office close to the gleaming Shwedagon pagoda, and started to threaten people. Many supporters, some wearing T-shirts saying "We stand with you", began to drift away and jump on battered buses for the journey home. "She will not be released tonight," one of her lawyers, Nyan Win, said last night. "We are hoping that tomorrow [today], she will be released."
June 7, 2011
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Whenever Burma's military authorities tried to repress political activists in the past, they were reported to have used not only armed security forces but also civilian thugs known as Swan Arr Shin.
After the new government led by President Thein Sein was sworn in, Swan Arr Shin was reportedly re-consolidated and formed as the People's Security Force (PSF). Aung Thaung, a secretary of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, is said to lead the PSF.
Dec. 10, 2014
Democratic Voice of Burma
A group of 20 Muslims on trial for undermining state security in Shan State capital Taunggyi are being constantly threatened and harassed by Buddhist monks and local Swan Arr Shin members, says their lawyer.
Defence lawyer Khin Moh Moh, who is also the local chairwomen of the National League for Democracy, said, "A group of monks have been showing up outside the court house when the hearings have been taking place. They initially distributed leaflets. Then a bunch of Swan Arr Shin members joined in and began verbally harassing the families of the defendants."
Swan Arr Shin is a civic paramilitary group, renowned for bullyboy tactics and thuggish attacks, allegedly at the bidding of the military.
March 6, 2015
Democratic Voice of Burma
A presidential spokesperson has denied that the notorious pro-government mob Swan Arr Shin is still in existence, after anonymous men wearing red armbands emblazoned with the word "Duty" were pictured assisting police in the crackdown on labour and student protests in Rangoon this week.
Ye Htut, speaking to DVB by phone on Thursday evening, insisted that only local government overseers of the police action may know the identity of the thugs.
"That word 'Swan Arr Shin' does not exist nowadays. The Rangoon Division government, as a regional administration, carried out the necessary measures to maintain security and the rule of law within their jurisdiction. You should ask them which groups the men in civilian clothing belong to, and what kind of policy determines their operation," he said. (…)
"The strange thing I saw today is that some of the Swan Arr Shin members are very young - as young 16 or 17. They're younger than any Swan Arr Shin I've seen before. They must be the new generation."
March 15, 2015
US Official News
The police had recently used unnecessary force against student protesters, Human Rights Watch said. On March 5, police backed by alleged members of the infamous Swan Arr Shin (“Masters of Force”) auxiliary, many wearing red armbands stenciled with the Burmese word for “duty,” violently assaulted students and activists who had assembled outside Rangoon’s city hall to express solidarity with the Letpadan student group.
March 27, 2015
Thai News Service
When pictures and amateur videos of the crackdown emerged, social media in Myanmar lit up with speculation about the re-emergence of Swan Arr Shin, or Masters of Force. Swan Arr Shin was a band of thugs-for-hire bankrolled by previous dictatorships in Myanmar. The group became notorious for its role in crushing the monk-led Saffron Revolution in 2007 and leading a deadly 2003 attack on the convoy of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. None of its members have ever been held accountable.
Responding to the widespread rumors, a government spokesperson quickly stated that Swan Arr Shin was defunct, but provided no further explanation for the identity of the red-armband assailants involved in the recent unrest. A Yangon Region official was quick to point out that the police force retains legal authority under the Myanmar Criminal Procedure Code to require the assistance of any male person to help put down protests
