Farmers in Mandalay’s Patheingyi township are understandably upset.
According to them, they lost more than 600 acres of land in the late 1990s to make way for a golf course, and now, the Mandalay City Development Committee, in partnership with a private firm, wants the rest of the parcel to expand the project into a resort.
So far, so bad.
But it gets worse.
The geniuses behind the resort thought it was a brilliant idea to offer farmers jobs as caddies in lieu of direct compensation, the Myanmar Times reported.
“They said they would hire us as golf resort staff once the upgrade was complete. We don’t want to be golf caddies on land that we own. We want our land back,” Ma Khin Tint, a resident of the affected village Yaykyi, told the paper.
The report says that the company, Phwit Phyo Thit, which wasn’t able to respond in the article, wants to expand the 27-hole Yetagun Taung course by going up to 36 holes and adding luxury hotels and yada yada yada you get the idea.
To those teeing off on the new resort, make sure you tip your caddy. It’s a small price to pay for golfing on what could be his land.
Photo / Wikicommons / Lotus Head
