The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- ILO Lifts All Restrictions on Burma
- US Diplomat, Parliamentarians Observe Govt-Karenni Rebel Peace Talks
- EU Officials Discuss Aid, Trade, But Warn Naypyidaw on Arakan Crisis
- Suu Kyi Celebrates 68th Birthday among NLD Faithful
- Loaner White Elephant to Thailand a No-Go: President’s Office
- Two Sides of the Sangha
- Burmese in Malaysia Seek Help in Open Letter to President’s Office
- The Fight to Play First Chair Heats Up
- China Setting Up First University Campuses Abroad
- Singapore Pressures Indonesia to Identify Firms behind Haze
- North Korea Nuclear Test Still Shrouded in Mystery
| ILO Lifts All Restrictions on Burma Posted: 19 Jun 2013 06:11 AM PDT  Prisoners in blue uniforms forced to work as porters by the Burmese military. (Photo: The Free Burma Rangers) RANGOON — The International Labor Organization (ILO) announced on Wednesday that it would lift its remaining restrictions on Burma, in a move that Burma's government hopes will boost trade and increase foreign investment as the country's economy continues to open after decades of isolation. The restrictions, which were imposed by the UN agency in 2000, included a recommendation that its 185 member states limit relations with Burma to avoid perpetuating forced labor in the country, a major problem under the former military regime, which ceded power to a nominally civilian government in 2011. ILO delegates temporarily suspended this restriction and lifted some others last year, but went a step further this week by voting to totally lift all remaining restrictions at their annual International Labor Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. "The resolution adopted by the conference recognizes the progress made in Myanmar and lifts all ILO restrictions on Myanmar," the UN agency, a labor rights watchdog which includes representatives from governments, employers and labor organizations, said in a statement on Wednesday. The ILO imposed restrictions on Burma in 1999 and 2000, after Burma's junta failed to follow recommendations to bring its legislation in line with the ILO's Forced Labor Convention, which calls for an end to forced labor at the hands of authorities, particularly the military. The restrictions, along with EU and US trade sanctions against Burma, isolated the impoverished country for many years. Burma's government on Wednesday welcomed the ILO's move to lift remaining restrictions, saying it would help accelerate trade and investment. "The remaining restrictions have been lifted because Myanmar carried out pragmatic measures, including legislation, for eliminating forced labor in the country, and has achieved good results," Burma's Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security said in a statement. "The lifting of all remaining restrictions on Myanmar will help the country ensure it boosts international trading, foreign investment and job opportunities for its citizens." A Burmese delegation led by the deputy minister for labor is attending the conference in Geneva, which began on June 5 and closes on Friday. At the ILO conference last year, Burma's labor minister said he was expediting a program to eliminate forced labor by 2015, and the ILO lifted restrictions on technical cooperation to reinstate Burma as a full member state, while also suspending some of the restrictions imposed in 1999 and 2000. The decision to lift the remaining ILO restrictions this year follows a string of rewards from the international community for Burma's reforms under President Thein Sein. The European Union in April permanently lifted all economic sanctions against Burma, with the exception of an arms embargo, while the United States has also suspended sanctions on investment and trade. Last week, the European Union readmitted Burma to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme, allowing the country to benefit from lower duties on exports. The EU's decision was a result of ILO reports last year that Burma had made necessary improvements to stop the use of forced labor, according to a statement by Ireland, which holds the EU presidency. However, rights activists say forced labor remains a major problem in many of Burma's border states, where clashes continue to break out between ethnic armed groups and the government's army despite ceasefire agreements. In southeast Burma's Karen State, forced labor has been imposed by the Border Guard Force (BGF), which is controlled by the government's army, rights groups say. Earlier this year, residents in two villages in Papun District were forced to gather building materials for BGF soldiers, serve as messengers, perform sentry duties and complete domestic duties in the army camp, according to a report released in April by the Karen Human Rights Group. In east Burma's Shan State, rights groups also cite continuing forced labor at the hands of government soldiers and ethnic minority militias. In April, after clashes in March between both sides despite a ceasefire, hundreds of internally displaced persons were reluctant to leave temporary settlement camps because they feared forced labor, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. In the past year, reports of forced labor have also come out of Kachin State, Chin State, Arakan State and other border states. The ILO acknowledges that despite progress, forced labor continues in Burma, and has urged its member states to provide financial support to improve working conditions in the country. At the conference in Geneva this week, it pledged to continue working with Burma's government toward the goal of eliminating all forms of forced labor by 2015, and to monitor working conditions as foreign companies rush in to take advantage of what is widely seen as one of the world's last untapped markets. The ILO's work in Burma for more than a decade has focused on fighting forced labor and the recruitment of child soldiers, but the organization is now tackling a broader scope of issues including education and ensuring employees understand proper procedures for carrying out a strike. |
| US Diplomat, Parliamentarians Observe Govt-Karenni Rebel Peace Talks Posted: 19 Jun 2013 05:10 AM PDT  Representatives from the Burmese government's peace delegation, right, and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) hold union-level peace talks in Loikaw on June 19, 2013. (Photo: Hla Maung Shwe / Facebook) Observers including an official from the US Embassy and members of Parliament were present on Wednesday at union-level peace talks between the government and Karenni rebels, where the two sides discussed military affairs. The talks took place in Loikaw, the capital of Karenni State, and were attended by senior government officials including Minister Aung Min of the President's Office, Energy Minister Than Htay and Karenni State's Chief Minister Khin Maung Oo, as well as members of the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center (MPC). High-ranking military officials including Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut, the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations-2, and Col Kyaw Soe Win from the Burmese armed forces' office of the commander-in-chief were also present at the meeting. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday from Loikaw, Hla Maung Shwe, a leading member of the MPC, said government officials and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) leaders "talked about military affairs in a private meeting. We were not allowed to attend that. But it was a good meeting overall." According to Hla Maung Shwe, American diplomat Erin Webster-Main and 10 religious and community leaders were also present at the meeting, at the invitation of the KNPP. Several members of Parliament were also invited by the government delegation. "They also discussed the formation of a peace monitoring committee and its duties," Hla Maung Shwe said. "Opening more liaison offices was also discussed in the meeting as usual." Other sources said the government's peace delegation and leaders of the KNPP also discussed health, education and development projects, including land mine clearance in Karenni State. Business projects, drug eradication and humanitarian aid to internally displaced persons (IDPs) are also believed to be on the agenda for the ongoing talks. "Today, we agreed to cooperate with the government to form a committee to provide assistance to the IDPs," said KNPP Secretary 2 Shwe Myo Thant. Other leaders in attendance from the ethnic Karenni rebel KNPP included deputy chairman Khun Oo Reh, military chief Gen Bee Htoo and Secretary 1 Aung San Myint. Wednesday marked the third official meeting between the government and KNPP leaders. Naypyidaw's peace delegation and the KNPP held their first official talks in March 2012, when the two sides signed a ceasefire agreement. They met again in June 2012. Hla Maung Shwe said he was optimistic that the peace talks would bear further fruit and expected that the two parties would sign additional agreements in the following days. They will continue their discussion on Thursday and conclude talks on Friday. The latest round of talks come as the government in recent weeks has voiced its desire to hold a nationwide political dialogue with Burma's many rebel ethnic groups. "The government delegation has proposed a nationwide ceasefire agreement. We agreed with it in principle, but we think the government must amend some of its work plans," Shwe Myo Thant said. |
| EU Officials Discuss Aid, Trade, But Warn Naypyidaw on Arakan Crisis Posted: 19 Jun 2013 05:08 AM PDT  Burma's President Thein Sein shakes hands with European Commission President Manuel Barroso in Brussels, Belgium, in March. (Photo: screen grab from video www.ec.europa.eu) RANGOON — Senior EU officials said they met with Burmese government officials this week to discuss the development of EU-Burma trade and investment relations, and the implementation of the union's large aid program in the coming years. The officials, however, also warned Burma's government that its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim population in Arakan State was being viewed as "a test case" of its commitment to reforms and rule of law. Earlier this week, both sides held the first Burma-EU Forum in Naypyidaw and set up two technical working groups to coordinate the EU programs planned in the country. David O'Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer of the European External Action Service, told reporters that the EU was throwing its full weight behind Burma's development and democratic transition process. "Our overall view of what is happening is extremely positive… what has been achieved in the span of two years," he said. "There has been a lot of progress in terms of labor standards, child labor, [and] what is happening in the peace process is very encouraging." O'Sullivan said the EU would roll out an extensive aid program over the next few years to support Burma's development. "This will be the largest aid program we have anywhere in Asia… This of course, is all grant aid so it's completely without costs to Myanmar," he said, without detailing how much aid money would be spent. The EU has been quick to re-engage with Burma after President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government began introducing reforms in 2011. It suspended all EU sanctions against the country in April 2012, before completely lifting the sanctions in April this year. European Commission President Manual Barroso visited Burma in November and President Thein Sein visited Brussels in March, when the EU promised to implement a multi-year aid program, which includes US $195 million to support democratic reform. Last week, the EU readmitted Burma to the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) and allowed it to join the EU's Everything but Arms initiative, under which products from least-developed countries can be imported to the EU market duty- and quota-free. In 1997, Burma was banned from the GPS scheme because of its poor democratic and rights record under the then military junta. The EU's rapid re-engagement with Burma's government has also been met with criticism, however. The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said in April that the EU's scrapping of its sanctions against was "premature and recklessly imperils human rights gains made so far." The US has only suspended some of its trade sanctions against Burma. O'Sullivan said the restoration of preferential EU market access would provide a strong boost for Burma's economic development. "It not only means that all sorts of Burmese products, textile, agriculture products, can gain full duty-free, quota-free access, but it also means that anyone investing here is able to send their products to Europe quota-free and duty-free," he said. O'Sullivan added that the EU had set up a $13 million fund to assist companies looking to export Burmese products to the EU through the scheme. He said the union would also seek to boost foreign investment in Burma and introduce European business leaders to the country. "I know that quite a few companies might want to relocate production from elsewhere in Asia to Myanmar, given that you have a considerable wage cost advantage for at least a few years to come," O'Sullivan said. But amid the discussions of the positive prospects for Burma's economy, O'Sullivan noted that the EU delegation had expressed serious concerns over the Arakan crisis. "I made it very clear to the authorities that seeing from the outside, how Myanmar deals with this issue is very much a test case of the government's commitment to human rights and a rule-of-law based society," he said. Some 140,000 people have been displaced by inter-communal violence between Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists that broke out one year ago. Burma's government has since segregated the communities and imposed a range of restrictions on the Muslim population that has affected their freedom of movement and access to education, income and health care. O'Sullivan said the government should take steps to restore communal harmony. "We would not want the temporary situation of displaced people to become permanent, to create a sort of permanent segregation," he said. Rohingya leader Abu Tahay, of the Union Nationals Development Party, said the EU officials had jointly met with Rohingya and Arakanese Buddhist leaders on Thursday and urged the opposing communities to open a dialogue. "They said we need a dialogue together to solve this problem," Abu Tahay said, "They warned that if there is an ongoing conflict in Burma, not many foreign businesses will comes to invest." Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze. |
| Suu Kyi Celebrates 68th Birthday among NLD Faithful Posted: 19 Jun 2013 05:05 AM PDT  Opposition leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi cuts the cake at her 68th birthday party celebration in Rangoon on June 19, 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — It was a cloudy June morning in Rangoon, but the people gathered outside the National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters were in a sunny mood to celebrate the birthday of Burma's democracy icon, Aung Sun Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi turned 68 on Wednesday and, unlike last year when she was touring Europe on June 19, this year she was able to celebrate her birthday with hundreds of her supporters at the NLD's office in Rangoon. "The birthday wish I want most for this year is, 'May all our NLD comrades have mutual loyalty, respect and understanding until we reach our goal,'" the Nobel laureate told an audience made up of diplomats, politicians, NLD members and journalists. Suu Kyi said she wanted to mark her birthday by thanking people, in Burma and abroad, for their love, kindness and support for the NLD's cause. "I feel sorry that I can't say thank you to anyone personally who has prayed for us," she said. In remarks to the assembled revelers, NLD senior patron Tin Oo wished Suu Kyi "successes for her cause. "Here's my birthday wish for her: That all her ambitions for the country succeed." Tin Oo added that he saw no harm in Suu Kyi's presidential ambitions, which were aired explicitly by the opposition leader for the first time two weeks ago. "We all need to understand the fact that she needs a position that will enable her to work for the good of the country," said the former military chief of the Burmese Army from 1974-76, attracting a big round of applause from the audience. "So, I want to plead to the army as an ex-commander-in-chief—please support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to make it [her eligibility for the presidency] possible," Tin Oo added. Suu Kyi is currently barred from running for president, due to a clause in the 2008 military-drafted Constitution that prohibits anyone from running for the post whose spouse or family members are foreign nationals. Her deceased husband was a British citizen, as are her two sons. Meanwhile, at about noon on Wednesday nearly 200 people, among them Buddhist monks and women, gathered at the National Blood Department in Rangoon to donate blood in commemoration of Suu Kyi's birthday. "We are just honoring our chairperson on her birthday," said Khin Maung Win, president of the NLD in Lanmadaw Township, who organized the event. The Irrawaddy reporter Htet Naing Zaw contributed to this report. |
| Loaner White Elephant to Thailand a No-Go: President’s Office Posted: 19 Jun 2013 04:00 AM PDT  Two white elephants stand near a pond as they bathe at an elephant camp near Uppatasanti Pagoda in Burma's capital city Naypyidaw on March 1, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) The government in Naypyidaw will not honor a proposal reportedly floated last week to loan a white elephant to Thailand in commemoration of more than six decades of bilateral ties. The website of Burma's President's Office posted a message on Tuesday explaining the refusal, which it said was due to the logistical difficulties of transporting one of the revered pachyderms. Citing the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the website said the white elephant request was originally made by Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul to his Burmese counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin while the two were attending the Forum for East Asia and Latin American Cooperation (FEALAC) last week in Indonesia. To mark 65 years of bilateral relations between the two countries, Surapong last week told the Bangkok-based newspaper The Nation that Thailand would borrow a Burmese white elephant, which would be moved to the Chiang Mai Zoo for six months. However, Wunna Maung Lwin was quoted by the President's Office website as saying it would be too difficult to transfer a white elephant to the northern Thai city. The Burmese government would instead make arrangements for Thai citizens wanting to visit and see a white elephant in Naypyidaw, the minister added. White elephants are considered auspicious in the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia, where they are said to be powerful bringers of good fortune. Burma currently has five white elephants in captivity, which were caught during the military dictatorship of Sr-Gen Than Shwe. |
| Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:54 AM PDT The now ubiquitous emblems of the radical anti-Muslim 969 campaign glare at you from Burma's shop fronts and taxi windscreens. Bootleg DVD sellers hawk discs featuring the sermons of prominent 969 monks alongside the bestselling Korean soap operas. But despite the obvious prominence of the campaign, its radical teachings promoting segregation of Buddhists and Muslims are far from being embraced by everyone. The Irrawaddy spoke to a 969 leader, MyananSayadaw U Thaddhamma, and an anti-969 monk, U Pantavunsa, to learn more about this controversial movement.
'It's naïve to say 969 is behind the unrest' An Interview with MyananSayadaw U Thaddhamma
 Myanan Sayadaw U Thaddhamma (Photo – JPaing / The Irrawaddy) What is the 969 movement? The central tenet of Buddhism is the Three Gems—Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. If they are not in the hearts of Buddhists, the faith will be gone. 969 represents all three. We've invented the numerical logo as an emblem of Buddhism, just as a reminder to all Buddhists to contemplate the attributes of the Three Gems, and to promote the religion among those who are not very interested in it. How long have you been promoting the 989 movement? I've been working on propagating Buddhism for a long time, but just six months on 969. It's the brainchild of Buddhist scholars who have been studying and teaching the Buddha's doctrine to hundreds of monks in Mawlamyine. After several meetings and thorough discussions, we launched our mission. Your 'mission' is widely regarded as anti-Muslim. Do you have any comment to make about this? It's just speculation. We have nothing to do with saying "no" to other religions. We are just working for Buddhism. People may have different views on what we are doing. We are not trying to defeat other faiths, just strengthen our own. During recent anti-Muslim riots, 969logos were sprayed on the walls ofdestroyed buildings. Was 969 behindthis? You should keep in mind that it depends onhow people use our emblem. There mightbe some people who use it as a pretext topromote their cause. But our goal is not likethat. Let me remind you that 969 originatedin Mawlamyine. If we masterminded allthose conflicts, Mawlamyine would havebeen the flashpoint. No religious conflictshave been reported so far in southern Burma and the Irrawaddy delta, where we gave our talks about 969. Given all thesefacts, we are guessing that some peoplemisused our logo. If people are misusing your logo, doyou have a message for them? Three Gems is like water that can bringpeace of mind to people. We are likesomeone delivering that water. But if somepeople mix it with poison, it has nothing todo with us. I have to say they've misusedit. We have to blame their stupidity. It'sreligiously inaccurate to use our emblemimproperly. It's also naïve to say that 969 isbehind the unrest. I want to warn them notto use religion as a pretext for their interests.They will only end up with bad results. Have you ever thought that yourcampaign may spark religiousconflicts? Honestly, no. It has never crossed our minds. As I've mentioned before, we are likewater deliverers. If you impose a ban on thedelivery due to its negative consequences, itshows how unwise you are. What happenedduring the unrest was something thatshouldn't have happened. During your 969 sermons, you urge Buddhists to shop only at Buddhist-ownedbusinesses. Don't youthinkthat is an act of discrimination? I've never urged my followers not to tradewith people of different religions. I onlyencourage Buddhists to help and take care ofeach other. Since members of other religionsoften only patronize their own businesses,why shouldn't we support our Buddhist-ownedbusinesses? If they [Muslims] havethat kind of discipline, we should have ourown discipline for ever-lasting Buddhism. Is Buddhism under threat? Burma is the only country in the worldwhere Theravada Buddhism flourishesvery well. When our Buddhists are lessinterested in the faith, our religion will beunder threat. Apart from Buddhists, whoelse will take care of Buddhism? That's whywe are working hard to make people moreinterested in the religion. Do you have any response for thosewho say 969 is religiously narrow-minded? They are just saying that without studyingour mission closely. Since the campaign isled by scholarly monks, you can take forgranted that our vision isn't religiouslynarrow-minded. It's not mastermindedsinglehandedly. What I want to tell the worldis that, like the example I gave, we are justdelivering water, the water of the ThreeGems.We havenothing to dowith saying'no' to otherreligions.We are forBuddhism. 'Monks are being used' An Interview with U Pantavunsa
 U Pantavunsa, leader of the Saffron Monks Network, which works to prevent the spread of racial and religious conflicts. (Photo – JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Do you believe in the 969 campaign? I no longer believe in it. If the campaignis just for meditation or to propagate Buddhism, it's OK. But what is happeningnow is some people staged religious attacksusing 969 as a pretext, and sparked racialand religious conflicts. This totally deviatesfrom its mission. We still have four majorreligions all over the world. It's nonsensein this globalized world to encourage peopleto discriminate against one religion in favorof another. That idea also diverts from ourdemocratization process. It will prevent uscatching up with the rest of the world froma human rights point of view. According toTheravada principles, we just have to followwhat the Buddha taught. He never taughtanything like what the 969 campaignersare saying now. Did the Buddha instruct his followersto support Buddhism? Never. He had some rivals with verydifferent convictions, but he never spokeagainst them. There is a well-known storyof a rich man who previously supported oneof the Buddha's rivals, but who later becamea lifelong disciple of the Exalted One afterhearing his teachings. But even then, theBuddha told his new follower to continuesupporting his old mentors. It shows thathe never lectured his disciples to be againstothers who have different beliefs. Although the 969 campaign is spearheadedby monks, I'm sure they have no intentionto see destructive consequences sparkedby their sermons. They are just scapegoatsused by some people who want to destabilizethe country. If they are being used, who is usingthem? It's beyond my knowledge, but if you studythe patterns of recent riots, you can't deny the fact that they were well organized andthere must have been someone behind them.Thirty-thousand copies of a DVD with 969talks in Mon State have been distributedin Rangoon. So, it's very evident that theyhave a sponsor to distribute them on a largescale. There are several possibilities: cronieswho would be comfortable doing businesswith the former military regime or somehardliners reluctant to undergo reform whomight secretly finance them. Who knows? But don't you think that what themonks are preaching is fueling anti-Muslim sentiment? Of course, I do. Their actions are againstthe instructions issued by the SanghaMahaNayaka, the state-controlled monasticcouncil. What we are not pleased with isthat the government used excessive forceto crack down on protesters, includingmonks, of the Chinese-backed Letpadaungcopper mine, while they are not botheringto open fire on rioters who were looting,torching and beating Muslims right beforetheir eyes. That makes me feel very uneasy.On the other hand, what those 969 monkspreach makes it more difficult for peacefulco-existence between the two communities.In the past, they banned some monks whospoke out about democracy and AungSan SuuKyi from speaking in public. Whydon't they take action this time, too? Why has the 969 campaign becomeso popular? Because the authorities concerned haven'ttaken the necessary action. Plus, eventhough most of the Burmese are tolerant,there is underlying anti-Muslim sentiment.It's quite similar to what happened in thepast when we heartily supported anyonewho said anything bad about the military. Why has the government failed to stopthe spread of the violence? They might have thought the violencewould not have spread that much. Maybethey didn't take 969 seriously. In spite ofthe president's request for all-inclusiveapproaches to prevent unrest, we havefound that, to our dismay, some officialsworking on the ground are still reluctant toimplement them. They keep complainingthat they are just waiting for orders. Inshort, I blame the mismanagement of thegovernment. This story appeared in the June 2013 print issue of the Irrawaddy magazine. |
| Burmese in Malaysia Seek Help in Open Letter to President’s Office Posted: 19 Jun 2013 02:52 AM PDT  Children wait for their relatives to return from Malaysia at Rangoon International Airport in Rangoon on June 15, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) An advocacy group for Burmese communities in Malaysia has sent an open letter to President Thein Sein, calling on the government to provide better protection and assistance to its citizens in Malaysia after a series of violent attacks there that targeted Burmese nationals. The letter was sent to the President's Office by a Kuala Lumpur-based Burmese rights group known as the Myanmar Nationalistic Social Network Committee (MNSNC) on Tuesday. Separate letters were also sent to the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Myat Ko, a leading member of the MNSNC in Kuala Lumpur, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the return process for many Burmese people seeking to return home from Malaysia had faced unacceptable delays. Some will have to wait as long as three months before being granted a "special pass" in order to fly back to Burma. Despite reduced airfare offers and the assistance of some Burmese businessmen, who have provided financial support to help their countrymen in Malaysia return home, Burmese communities in the fellow Asean nation say they still face obstacles and restrictions to repatriation. Among the restrictions, the Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur limits the number of people to whom it issues a "certificate of identity," which is required in order to leave the country. The embassy grants CIs to no more than 20 people wanting to return to Burma each day, according to the letter from the Burmese rights group. "A lot of people went to the embassy yesterday, but only 20 of them were granted the CI," Myat Ko said on Wednesday. "Before there was no limit. It started yesterday. So, we sent the letter to the President's Office [to seek help]." He also said that many Burmese migrants had delayed their returns because they were ordered by Malaysia's immigration authority to return to its office for further processing in three months' time. "People have to wait for three months. They can't go home as soon as they want. So, these people are also vulnerable to arrest. Some are in tears because they can't return sooner," Myat Ko explained. The rights group also accused the embassy of providing inadequate assistance to Burmese nationals wanting to return to Burma. Officials were blamed for poorly handling the repatriation plans, failing to clearly announce how and whom Burmese nationals should contact about returning to Burma. According to Myat Ko, some agents at the Burmese Embassy were able to arrange everything for those seeking to return home, but that assistance was only provided to Burmese migrants willing and able to pay between 1,400-1,500 Malaysian ringgit (US$440-$475) to the agents. Those who pay are guaranteed flights back to Burma within two weeks. On Friday, Burmese state-run media reported that a total of five people were killed in attacks that began on May 30 and targeted Burmese nationals in Malaysia. Several others have been hospitalized. The violence has been linked to recent religious strife in Burma, where attacks by the Buddhist majority on the nation's minority Muslims have left hundreds dead and more than 150,000 displaced over the last year. Several of Burma's richest businessmen, including Aung Ko Win, chairman of Kanbawza Bank, Zaw Zaw, the managing director of the Max Myanmar Group, and Tay Za, founder of the Htoo Trading Company, have recently pledged financial assistance and employment opportunities to Burmese migrants in Malaysia wishing to return home. |
| The Fight to Play First Chair Heats Up Posted: 19 Jun 2013 12:23 AM PDT
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| China Setting Up First University Campuses Abroad Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:14 PM PDT  Students attend a class at the Oxford International College in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, on January 10, 2013. China has long been on the receiving end of the globalization of education, with Western institutions rushing to China to set up shop, but now it is setting up its own schools abroad. (Photo: Aly Song / Reuters) BEIJING — In the capital of tropical Laos, two dozen students who see their future in trade ties with neighboring China spent their school year attending Mandarin classes in a no-frills, rented room. It's the start of China's first, and almost certainly not its last, university campus abroad. "There are a lot of companies in Laos that are from China," said 19-year-old Palamy Siphandone. She said she chose the Soochow University branch campus after hearing it would offer scholarships to students with high scores. "If I can speak Chinese, I get more opportunities to work with them," she said in a telephone interview during a trip to the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou—the home city of Soochow University. Education officials in China are promoting the notion of the country's universities expanding overseas, tapping new education markets while extending the influence of the rising economic power. China so far has been on the receiving end of the globalization of education, with Western institutions rushing to China to set up shop. Now it's stepping out. In addition to the emerging Laos campus, there are plans for what may become one of the world's largest overseas branch campuses in Malaysia and an agreement by a Chinese university to explore a joint campus with a British university in London. "The Chinese government and its universities have been very ambitious in the reform and internationalization of Chinese higher education," said Mary Gallagher, director of the Center of Chinese Studies at University of Michigan. "This is partly about increasing China’s soft power, increasing the number of people who study the Chinese language and are knowledgeable about China from the Chinese perspective." Chinese universities historically have offered language lessons in foreign countries but usually to serve the overseas Chinese population. In recent years, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes around the globe to promote Chinese culture and language. But full-fledged campuses that can confer degrees are a new experiment. China’s Education Ministry declined The Associated Press' request for an interview on the issue, saying the effort was too nascent to discuss yet. The Laos branch of Soochow University, based in Vientiane, is now looking to raise money for a full-fledged campus of 5,000 students, university official Chen Mei said. "The national policy wants us to go out, as the internationalization of education comes with the globalization of economy," she said. The Lao campus started as part of an economic development zone between Laos and Chinese governments, then continued after the larger project fell through. China's Xiamen University, based in eastern Fujian province, announced plans early this year to open a branch in Malaysia by 2015 and have annual enrollment of 10,000 by 2020. In May, China's Zhejiang University and Imperial College London signed an agreement to explore options for a joint campus, though the scope and funding are still to be spelled out. Philip G. Altbach, an expert on international higher education at Boston College, warns that Chinese universities might be venturing out too soon. "I think that China’s top universities have sufficient work to do at home that they do not need to expand into the risky and often expensive world of branch campuses outside of China," Altbach wrote in an e-mail. "China’s global influence and prestige in higher education is best served by strengthening its universities at home and offering a 'world class' education to Chinese students and expanded numbers of overseas students." Starting in the 1990s, China—aiming to graduate more college students—began to build new campuses, encourage privatization of higher education and expand enrollment. The rush has been accompanied with criticism that quality has been overlooked by quantity and that Chinese colleges have failed to prepare their students for the job market, or to deliver a well-rounded education. The changes have helped draw international students, whose numbers in mainland China are growing and topped 290,000 in 2011. China also has encouraged its youth to seek education abroad and has invited foreign universities—especially top institutes—to set up joint programs and branch campuses to help meet the demand for quality education. The city of Kunshan in Jiangsu province is building a $260 million campus for Duke University, and New York University will open an outpost in Shanghai with classes to begin in this fall. "Many people in higher education in China who are committed to educational reform hope that these moves overseas and also the move of foreign universities to China will create more pressure for reform within Chinese universities," Gallagher said. China maintains a highly specialized approach to university studies that has its roots in the Soviet model, but many Chinese educators want to blend in more liberal education to encourage social morals, civic responsibility, innovation and critical thinking. In Malaysia, where British universities have expanded in recent years, the plans by China’s Xiamen University have been lauded by the government, with Prime Minister Najib Razak calling it "historic." The branch campus will likely attract many among Malaysia's large ethnic Chinese minority for courses that will range from economics to chemical engineering and Chinese literature. Ethnic Chinese comprise more than one-fifth of Malaysia's 29 million people, and some of them have complained that their children face difficulties securing places in Malaysian state-backed universities because of affirmative action policies that favor the ethnic Malay majority. Xiamen has roots in the country, in a sense: The university was founded in 1921 by Tan Kah Kee, a business tycoon who made his fortune in Southeast Asia, including what is now Malaysia. "It's a giveback from history," Xiamen University President Zhu Chongshi said, as quoted by the national party newspaper People’s Daily. The government is squarely behind the efforts by Chinese universities to expand abroad: The signing in China of the Zhejiang University agreement with London’s Imperial College was attended by a provincial governor. But universities say they must find the funding for the branches on their own from tuition revenue and private sources. That is in contrast to the Confucius Institutes, which are directly subsidized by Beijing, said Chen of the Laos branch campus. But despite funding challenges, she said she is optimistic about the future of the branch campus in Laos, where she noted there is a growing middle class eager for quality education and keen to do business with China. "We do not have to worry about finding students," she said. "There’s a huge demand for education here." AP writer Sean Yoong in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report. |
| Singapore Pressures Indonesia to Identify Firms behind Haze Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:12 PM PDT  A tourist wearing a face mask passes the hazy skyline of the Marina Bay Sands casino and resort in Singapore on June 18, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Edgar Su) SINGAPORE — Singapore's worst air pollution in 16 years sparked diplomatic tension on Tuesday, as the city-state urged Indonesia to provide data on company names and concession maps to enable it to act against plantation firms that allow slash-and-burn farming. Singapore's environment minister made the request to his Indonesian counterpart by telephone as air pollution on the island hit unhealthy levels for a second straight day, with some of the worst readings since a 1997 regional haze crisis. "We need to exert commercial pressure against companies causing the haze," Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on his Facebook page, without saying what measures Singapore might take. "We are also waiting for Indonesia to publish the concession maps. The combination of satellite photos, which are updated daily, and these concession maps would enable us to pinpoint the errant companies," he added. Indonesia’s environment minister could not be reached for comment, but senior official Sony Partono told Reuters, "Foreign parties should not be interfering with our domestic affairs." He added, "The most important thing is that we have attempted to control the damage resulting from the forest fires," and said fire trucks had been dispatched to affected areas. Plantation companies with land concessions in Indonesia include Wilmar International Ltd, Golden Agri-Resources Ltd and First Resources Ltd. Singapore's pollutant standards index (PSI) rose to an unhealthy 155 on Monday night, prompting the US Embassy to advise Americans planning a visit to consult their doctors about the effects of air pollution. Visibility improved slightly on Tuesday and the PSI score slipped back to a "moderate" level of 85 after peaking at 123 in the morning. A map on the site of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (Asean) Specialized Meteorological Center showed dozens of satellite-detected fires on Sumatra island on Tuesday with winds blowing east toward Singapore. The haze has also enveloped some parts of neighboring Malaysia, with four regions suffering "unhealthy" PSI levels above 100 for a second day. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak took to his Twitter page on Tuesday to advise people to reduce outdoor activities and drink plenty of water, warning that the haze was expected to worsen. Images of smog-shrouded Southeast Asian cities this week have highlighted the limited progress the region has made in fighting the problem since 1997, when the haze caused an estimated $9 billion in economic, social and environmental losses. The illegal burning of forests to clear land for palm oil plantations is a recurrent problem in Indonesia, particularly during the annual dry season from June to September. Yet Indonesia is the only Asean member not to have ratified a 2002 pact on preventing haze pollution. "Without the [Indonesian] republic, especially since the hotspots are found mainly there, little can be done," Malaysia's New Straits Times said in an editorial on Tuesday. Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has vastly expanded its palm oil plantations in the past decade, overtaking Malaysia to become the world's biggest supplier. In doing so, it has cleared huge swathes of forest and peatland areas. Corruption and Indonesia’s decentralized political system have hindered efforts to stem the haze problem, said Jackson Ewing, a researcher at the Center for Non-Traditional Security at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. "Burning is quick, efficient and requires very little labor to clear land," he said. "Government actors at the local level are colluding with private interests and central government authorities have difficulty influencing what is happening on the ground." Additional reporting by Dhea Renaldi in Jakarta and Stuart Grudgings in Kuala Lumpur. |
| North Korea Nuclear Test Still Shrouded in Mystery Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:08 PM PDT  Models of North Korean Scud-b missiles at the Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul. (Photo: Reuters) VIENNA — The outside world may never find out what type of fissile material North Korea used in its nuclear test four months ago, leaving a key question about the explosion unanswered, officials and experts said on Tuesday. The isolated northeast Asian state is believed to have tested plutonium bombs in two previous such blasts, in 2006 and 2009. Any switch to uranium would increase international alarm as it could enable Pyongyang to greatly expand its arsenal. A global nuclear test monitoring agency said in April it had detected radioactive xenon gases that could have come from the Feb. 12 underground explosion. But the measurement gave no indication of which material was in the bomb. "We would very much like to know whether it is plutonium or highly enriched uranium," US nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who has visited North Korea, told a news conference. "But in the end—unless the xenon people get very lucky, very soon—we just don't know. There is no other way to tell," he said, referring to the analysts of such radioactive traces. Large amounts of xenon gases are produced in fission, an atomic reaction occurring both in nuclear arms and reactors. To distinguish between plutonium and uranium, it helps if the detection is made soon after the test and the amount of gases released is large, experts say. "The sooner, the better," said Mika Nikkinen of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the Vienna-based monitoring body that registered the February blast virtually instantaneously via seismic signals around the world. Speaking at the same event, he suggested the fissile source in the device detonated by the North would not be known "until somebody is able to get" to the test site and see what is there. Anders Ringbom, deputy research director at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, said it was not possible to determine the material on the basis of the gases picked up two months ago. "If we look at the [isotope] ratios you cannot distinguish in this case because the release was so late," he said. North Korea abandoned plutonium production six years ago following international pressure but later acknowledged that it had built facilities to produce enriched uranium, which can also be used in bombs if refined to a high degree. Experts say plutonium, a by-product of nuclear reactors, can be difficult to use as bomb material because specifications have to be precise. It could be relatively easy for North Korea to make large quantities of highly enriched uranium. Hecker, former head of the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, estimated the North had enough plutonium left for four to eight weapons. It was possible that it had "mastered both the plutonium bomb and the highly enriched uranium bomb." The February test yielded a stronger blast than the North's previous explosion four years ago and Pyongyang said it had made progress in miniaturizing an atomic weapon, essential to fitting it into the cone of a missile. But Hecker of Stanford University said: "I don't believe it can reliably mount a nuclear warhead on a missile yet." The test ban treaty was negotiated in the 1990s but has not taken effect because some holders of nuclear technology have not yet ratified it, including the United States and China. However, the CTBTO already monitors possible breaches, deploying about 290 stations worldwide to look out for signs of atomic tests, including seismic waves and radioactive traces. |
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