Thursday, September 5, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Chinese ‘confident’ Burma will re-open Myitsone dam

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 05:28 AM PDT

The Chinese company pushing to restart the controversial Myitsone dam in Kachin state is confident that Burma's new democratic leadership, including Aung San Suu Kyi, will back the project.

In an exclusive interview with DVB, China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) Chairman Li Guanghua insisted that the new regime led by President Thein Sein has "guaranteed to honour agreements made with the past government".

"Moreover, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has mentioned that in order to become a credible country in the world, Burma should respect agreements made in the past," he said, referring to her comments about the Latpadaung copper mine, another China-backed natural resource venture which provoked a backlash from locals. "So we assume the citizens of Burma are trustworthy and [will follow up on the agreement.]"

CPI has been lobbying to re-open the US$3.6 billion project ever since it was suspended by Thein Sein in 2011 following a public outcry against its social and environmental impacts. Activists say the project will displace up to 15,000 villagers, submerge an area the size of Singapore, and ultimately pump 90 percent of its electricity output into China's Yunnan province, even though three quarters of Burma's population live in darkness.

"CPI does not respect the views of the people in Burma, because [Burmese people] have already said clearly that the dam is unacceptable," Ah Nan, spokesperson for the Burma Rivers Network (BRN), told DVB. "I think that CPI should listen to the will of the people about the Myitsone dam."

Ah Nan added that the dam, which is located in Burma's volatile Kachin state, is likely to fuel further conflict between government forces and ethnic minority rebels who are fighting for greater self-determination. She also highlighted Burma's woefully inadequate regulatory framework as a key obstacle to responsible investment.

But CPI says it has been "misunderstood" and continues to step up a PR offensive in the Myitsone area, aimed at convincing locals the project will bring socio-economic benefits.

"The most important question is whether Burma wants the dam or not. If they don't want it, we won't go ahead," said Li, adding that CPI would work to address local grievances until an agreement was reached.

"If the citizens of Burma don't want to have electricity, make use of the Irrawaddy River and don't want improvements to their lives and economy, then we would not continue the dam project."

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But locals say that construction on the project has continued over the past two years, and villagers living in "temporary" displacement camps nearby are still being denied the right to return. Ah Nan said that most villagers are sceptical of CPI's motives and "don't want the dam to be built".

An environmental impact assessment conducted by CPI in July 2011 also concluded that "there is no need for such a big dam to be constructed at the confluence of the Irrawaddy River."

But Li insists that "step-by-step assessments" were carried out to determine whether the project would be beneficial for Burma. China continued to rev up its pressure on the government this week during the 10th ASEAN-China Expo in Nanning.

The Myitsone dam is one of several hydropower projects planned for Burma's Irrawaddy River, which is the country's most important commercial waterway and a lifeline for millions. During years of Burmese military rule, Chinese investments have led to mass land confiscations, human rights abuses and pollution, especially in Burma's ethnic minority territories.

Burma's renowned pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi previously denounced the project, but since entering parliament last year she has taken an increasingly conciliatory approach towards China.

The project is backed by Burma's Asia World, led by Steven Law—a notorious regime crony who remains on the US sanctions list and is the son of the late drug kingpin Loi Hsing Han.

Additional reporting by Myo Zaw Linn

Muslim youth sentenced for rape following Htan Gone riot

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 04:19 AM PDT

A court in Burma has jailed a Muslim teenager for seven years for the attempted rape of a Buddhist woman that triggered recent religious unrest, an official said Thursday.

Hundreds of people were left homeless after about 1,000 anti-Muslim rioters tore through villages in Kanbalu, in the northwest region of Sagaing, on August 24, torching Muslim property.

The rampage started after a mob surrounded a police station to demand the suspect be handed over after he allegedly tried to rape a 25-year-old Buddhist woman.

A township court on Wednesday sentenced 18-year-old San Min Oo to seven years in jail, a local police officer said requesting anonymity.

“He was sent straight to Mandalay prison,” the officer said, adding the situation was “calm” in the area.

Some 325 Muslims are still sheltering at a school after their homes were set ablaze during the unrest, the policeman added.

Attacks against Muslims—who make up at least four percent of the population—have exposed deep rifts in Buddhist-majority Burma, casting a shadow over widely praised political reforms since military rule ended in 2011.

Religious violence has left about 250 people dead and more than 140,000 homeless in Burma—mostly Muslims—since last year.

Pilgrim express set for Kyaiktiyo

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 04:07 AM PDT

State-owned Myanmar Railways is to launch a new express train this weekend connecting the former capital Rangoon to Kyaiktiyo in Mon state, the site of the famous Golden Rock Pagoda.

Tun Aung Thin, lower Burma general manager of Myanmar Railways, said the newly refurbished train, bought from Japan, will make travel more convenient for tourists and pilgrims who wish to travel to Kyaiktiyo.

The air-conditioned train is scheduled to run one return journey every weekend, leaving Rangoon on Saturday and returning from Kyaiktiyo the following day, a four and a half hour journey each way with stops at Pegu, Waw and Theinzayat. Tun Aung Thin said this service could be expanded in the future.

One-way tickets, which must be booked one week in advance, will be 3,500 kyat (under US$4) for locals and $10 for foreign travellers.

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Tun Aung Thin said Myanmar Railways had negotiated with local bus services to link the train station to the foot of Kyaiktiyo hill.

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda sits atop a giant gold-leaf encrusted boulder at the top of a hill. Appearing to defy gravity, legend says it is balanced by a hair relic of the Lord Buddha. Pilgrimages to the rock are immensely popular among Buddhists from around Burma and elsewhere.

The town seems set for a large influx of foreign tourists: in addition to the new train service, several new flights have recently been announced to Rangoon, as well as a new Nok Air service from Thailand's Mae Sot to the Mon capital Moulmein. Kyaiktiyo is also situated on the Asian Highway route which will eventually link Rangoon to Bangkok.

Para Games athletes slam ‘unfair’ conditions

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 03:32 AM PDT

Burma will host the ASEAN Para Games for the first time this December but many athletes aren't happy with the training facilities.

The 7th ASEAN Para Games will be held just after the Southeast Asian Games in Naypyidaw.

At the Aung San stadium in Rangoon athletes have been training round the clock in preparation.

But many are not satisfied with the condition of the facilities. They say they are being unfairly treated and claim the able-bodied athletes have been given all the advantages.

"We lack facilities such as weights and training equipment for shot-putting, discus-throwing, and other field events," said Aye Nwe, a track and field coach.

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The dormitories that house the athletes while they train are dank and not equipped to cater for people with disabilities.

"Sometimes we have to fetch the water ourselves to have a bath or wash our faces," said discuss thrower Ann Naung Khun, "The conditions don't accommodate our needs."

At the track, athletes vented dismay about the disparity in funding between able-bodied and disabled athletes.

"I know some abled-bodied athletes who get paid over 100,000 kyat (US $100) as a salary, but we get nothing, said an athlete from Rangoon. "For me, I was only given a training uniform, but some disabled athletes didn't even get a pair of shoes."

Aye Nwe said if disabled sports were more recognised, it would raise the profile of the athletes.

"If other sports would get the same amount of support as events like football, the athletes' lives would be much improved," she said.

While much attention is focused on getting ready for the SEA Games in early December, athletes competing in the Para Games risk being overlooked.

New prisoners, same cages

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 03:20 AM PDT

When President Thein Sein promised in July that Burma would release all political prisoners by the end of 2013, he was widely taken at his word. After all, not only was the country striding forward in an economic sense, but its parliament was functioning with the active participation of the country's most famous former prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Of the conditions laid down for the lifting of western sanctions – an end to the civil war; a halt to human rights abuses, especially in ethnic areas; a humane resolution to the Rohingya crisis; and the release of all prisoners of conscience – it was the latter requirement that should have been easiest to fulfill.

The Burmese president was of course speaking in London at the time and his words were mostly targeted at countries which were looking for any excuse to call an end to sanctions and allow their national entrepreneurs access to Burma's abundant but largely untapped markets.

“By the end of the year there will be no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar [Burma],” said Thein Sein on 15 July following a meeting with British Premier David Cameron. He was immediately lauded at home and abroad. A week later 73 political prisoners were released.

Yet despite the presidential guarantee and the formation of a commission to adjudicate each of the 200 individual cases, progress has been painfully slow.

Burma's security forces appear particularly recalcitrant to change. Arrests continue, mostly of peaceful protestors. Ironically they even detained demonstrators who were protesting for the right to protest just a few weeks ago.

But while riot police have no hesitation in viciously attacking unarmed monks and activists at Latpadaung, they sit idly by while individual Muslims are lynched to death in the street. Such attitudes make a mockery of the institution of policing. Burma's government must make a sustained effort to call officers and superiors to account for the actions of their subordinates in the field.

The most recent high-profile arrest was that of veteran activist Naw Ohn Hla, a former political prisoner who was detained for leading a demonstration against the controversial Latpadaung copper mine. Last week she was sentenced to two years for sedition – a draconian judgement that echoed of some barbarous bygone age.

In May, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), based in Thailand, listed the names of 183 political prisoners across Burma. The organisation's joint-secretary, Bo Kyi, updated those numbers to DVB on Wednesday – 122 political prisoners already sentenced, another 120 awaiting trial.

What is immediately clear to everyone is that even if the Burmese president grants amnesties to each and every one of those detainees before the year's end, he will not have fulfilled his promise if he simply refills those jail cells with other activists, especially peaceful demonstrators protesting for the rights of others, such as in the case of Naw Ohn Hla who was supporting displaced farmers.

"Naw Ohn Hla's sentencing is a disgraceful example of the still oppressive legal system in Burma, the distortion of the rule of law by the authorities, and vested interests, and how local authorities have contempt for the everyday grievances of the people," said David Mathieson, the senior researcher on Burma for Human Rights Watch.

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Of the 183 individuals considered political prisoners by AAPP, at least 57 belong to ethnic militias. This poses a fresh question – should captured armed insurgents with rifles be listed alongside street protestors with placards? AAPP tends to think so, saying that they regard both peaceful demonstrators and ethnic freedom fighters as political prisoners.

Mathieson offers a slightly different stance. "Human Rights Watch doesn't include members of armed groups in our definition of a political prisoner, which we see as people involved in peaceful political activities around basic freedoms, but that doesn't mean we don't call for their release if it is part of a process of national reconciliation."

Therein lies an appropriate solution for the Burmese government – the fact that they can offer the release of detained Kachin, Shan and Karen insurgents as a gesture towards a peace process or as a concession when signing a ceasefire with the various armed groups.

Either way, the Burmese government must fulfill its obligations, and it must desist from re-arresting those it releases or replacing them with other politicians and activists, no matter how outspoken or how reprehensible and shrill their words are to Naypyidaw's ears.

As for the prisoners themselves, they should be afforded compassion and funding to help them rehabilitate when they finally see the light of day again.

As a reminder, take the case of Gambira, the charismatic former monk who was one of the leaders of the Saffron Revolution in 2007 and later sentenced to 68 years in prison for his role in the movement.

According to the Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund: "Whilst in detention he [Gambira] was tortured both physically and psychologically. In the evenings the prison guards would come to his cell, put a black bag on his head, stuff a cloth in his mouth, handcuff his wrists and chain his feet to the floor, then hit him repeatedly over the head with wooden batons. He would then be interrogated all night under harsh spotlights."

These barbaric practices need to be ended once for all. Security forces must be ordered to practice control but not brutality. If a need arises to detain activists or break up protests for security reasons, it must be exercised in a humane manner. Never should innocent persons of conscience and compassion such as Naw Ohn Hla see the inside of a courtroom, never mind a prison cell.

Thein Sein must proclaim unconditional releases and assure dissidents that their civic rights will be protected. By showing himself to be magnanimous, Thein Sein can take large strides towards national reconciliation.

Countdown to the SEA Games

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 12:52 AM PDT

With less than 100 days to go, the countdown is on until the opening ceremony of the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Burma on 11 December. Competitors and officials alike are busy preparing for an event will undoubtedly pose a logistical challenge for the capital city, Naypyidaw.

The fact that the Southeast Asian Games Federation Council decided to award Burma with the hosting of one of the most popular and important sports competitions in the region indicates that the new government has won acceptance and trust among its counterparts.

From a sports point of view at least, it appears that Burmese officials are self-confident. The last time they hosted the games in 1969, Burma won 149 medals. Speaking earlier this year, Minister of Sports Tint San was quoted saying: "Although we target more gold medals at the 27th SEA Games, we will compete in the games with dignity."

A total of 33 sports will be contested with 11 nations participating. However, even before the stadiums had been fully constructed, Burmese games officials were criticised for manipulating the sports in a way that favours domestic athletes. Burma opted to exclude popular sports such as tennis, badminton, gymnastics and beach volleyball—the latter, reported to be for reasons that the sportswear was "not suitable for Myanmar culture".

Meanwhile, substitutes were found in traditional but rare disciplines such as vovinam (a martial arts form, originally Vietnamese) and chinlone (an acrobatic Burmese rattan ball game). This led to letters of complaint from Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Paired with the sports minister's words about targeting as many medals as possible, it's clear Burma got off to a bad start in the game of public relations.

The SEA Games were held for the first time in Thailand in 1959, promoted as a summit to enhance understanding and cooperation between the participating countries. The theme for the SEA Games this year is "Green, Clean and Friendship", a motto that sounds modern and environmental. But it is a difficult task to prepare a new city such as Naypyidaw for such a massive influx of people in a sustainable way, with infrastructure and tourism facilities remaining below par at best.

"I think it's very difficult to have responsible tourism when the aim is to have three million tourists by 2015," said Andrea Valentin, founder of Tourism Transparency, speaking to DVB

A wide range of sporting facilities—among them the main arena Wunna Theikdi Stadium, which seats 30,000—have been built over the past year. The majority of the competitions, plus of course the opening and closing ceremonies, will be held in Naypyidaw, but events will also take place in Mandalay, Rangoon and, for sailing, Ngwe Saung Beach.

According to data in 2012, Burma has more than 28,000 hotel rooms available in 787 hotels across the country. Those numbers are rapidly expanding, but even so, it is not enough to meet demand and hotel prices have risen steeply.

The minister of tourism has warned that many visitors may be put off staying in the capital, and has urged that regulations be imposed to put ceilings on hotel prices.

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Another issue that has not gone unnoticed is whether Burmese sports fans are mature enough to host an international event. During a soccer match a month ago and also at a World Cup qualifier match in 2011, wild brawls broke out and many spectators began throwing bottles. Security arrangements were proved woefully inadequate. Concerns have been raised about sports fans reacting aggressively to disappointment.

To meet these challenges, Burma's Vice-president Nyan Tun requested collaboration between the government and the various sports federations. To meet the comfort of visitors, athletes, officials and media, ATMs are due to be installed close to the venues, and several new roads and airport facilities should open before the games begin.

In the lead-up to the opening ceremony, pre-games and qualification events are being held in Naypyidaw. Last Wednesday, Vice-president Nyan Tun presided over an opening ceremony for qualifying rounds of karate. He presented the competitors with gifts and everything went off without a hitch. Of course it's still early days, but if the SEA Games of 2013 go well, it will be a prestigious boost for the country.
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