Lawyers in the Kachin state believe that the law is being persistently mis-used. U Nwang Mung Sen Tu, president of the Kachin lawyers group in Kyitkyina, told the Myanmar Times that each time he had seen the law used it had been totally without merit.

Not transparent

In a current case, a group of four farmers were arrested as they were moving cattle and have been detained for the four months since then under the terms of the Act. U Mar Lihar, a lawyer acting for the four, said: 'I always explain to my clients that the law is not transparent, that it does not always work the way it is supposed to, but I will try my best.' Both lawyers believe that the constitution of Myanmar will have to change before any reform of the Act can work - but they do not expect such changes to happen soon. Source Myanmar Times