By ALI FOWLE

In the run up to the South East Asian Games, due to be held in Burma at the end of this year, locals in Irrawaddy division are being forced off their land once again. Hotel zones in Ngwe Saung and Chaung Tha resorts on the west coast of Burma have led to over 5000 acres of land taken over two decades for little or no compensation and handed over to military families and government cronies.

And now, as the country prepares for the biggest tourism event to date, people are finding themselves homeless and jobless as their coconut farms are destroyed in preparation for sailing events, to be hosted in Ngwe Saung.