| Drop in Chinese Investment Could Hurt Burma Economy, Reform: US Report Posted: 17 Sep 2013 07:20 AM PDT  Construction going on at the Myitsone Dam in 2010 before President Thein Sein ordered a suspension on the project. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON—Chinese investment in Burma has sharply declined since President Thein Sein's reformist government took over from the military junta in 2011, says a US-based think tank. It warns that this fall in investment could hurt Burma's economic development and the success of its nascent democratic reforms. Burmese public opposition against China's Myitsone Dam and the Letpadaung copper mine, and the government's decision to suspend the projects, have seriously affected economic relations between the two countries, according to a report by Yun Sun, a researcher with the Stimson Center, a foreign policy research institute in Washington. "[P]olitical reforms since 2011 have substantially impacted Chinese projects, causing the rapid decline in Chinese investment," Sun wrote. "China perceives that Myanmar is now a more unfriendly and risky place to invest and is displeased that the Myanmar government is not doing more to protect Chinese interests." Chinese investment in Burma fell from about US$12 billion in 2008-2011 to just $407 million in 2012-2013. Non-Chinese investment failed to make up for the shortfall and overall foreign direct investment (FDI) plummeted from $20 billion in 2010-2011, to $4.6 billion in 2011-2012, and only $1.4 billion in the last fiscal year. The report warned that this trend not only threatened Burma's economic development, but also its democratic transition. It added that attracting foreign investment in infrastructure was pivotal to Burma's development. "The economic success of the new democratic system in Myanmar is critical to the sustainability of the nation's political transition," Sun wrote. "[T]here is a need for both Chinese investors and Myanmar to recalibrate their positions to reduce distrust and hostility, and assume mutually beneficial cooperation." Chinese Embassy spokesman Gao Mingbo confirmed in a reaction that Chinese FDI had fallen sharply since 2011, adding "The [FDI] situation was bad last year, but it might improve a little bit this year." Gao Mingbo echoed some of the report's findings, saying there was a strong need for both Burma and China to address the concerns surrounding Chinese investments, so that the suspended projects can resume. "It's important that the two sides step up their efforts," he said. "Obviously, we are trying very hard… We have to increase the risk awareness among the [Chinese] operators. We also need more outreach efforts to local communities and the media" about investment projects. During the past two decades, Burma's former military regime relied heavily on China for political and economic support. Around 2008, Beijing began to step up large-scale investment in Burma and it reached agreements with the generals in Naypyidaw for the implementation of three mega projects—the $3.6-billion Myitsone hydropower dam, the $1-billion Letpadaung copper mine and the $2.5-billion Shwe oil and gas pipeline. Sun said China had "consciously pushed to ink these deals before the 2010 elections to maximize its holding of Myanmar natural resources." Most of these investment funds, she added, had since been disbursed in Burma by the Chinese state-owned companies involved. However, after Thein Sein's nominally-civilian government took office in 2011, it suspended the Myitsone Dam until 2015. The Letpadaung mine was suspended in November 2012. Both decisions were taken following a popular backlash among the Burmese public against the projects, which were perceived as having heavy social and environmental impacts on local communities, while mostly benefiting China and Burma Army-affiliated companies. The oil and gas pipeline, which runs from western Burma's Arakan coast to Kunming, the capital of southern China's Yunnan Province, has encountered fewer problems, according to Sun, because it is a joint enterprise involving six firms from four countries, China, Burma, India and South Korea. In recent months, Burma's Parliament launched an investigation into the Letpadaung mine, which concluded that it should resume if Burma's government gains greater benefits from the project and if concerns about its local impact are addressed. Since then, a new project agreement has been reached that provides far greater income benefits to the Burmese government, while the Chinese project investor and Burmese Army-affiliated Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings took a large cut in project incomes. The Stimson Center report said this new agreement was potentially a significant development as "it creates the legal, political and bilateral precedent for renegotiation on profit-sharing and for how Chinese investors should address the inadequacies of their projects" in Burma. The post Drop in Chinese Investment Could Hurt Burma Economy, Reform: US Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Proposed High-Rise Tower Stirs Tension in Rangoon Posted: 17 Sep 2013 06:14 AM PDT  The plot of land beside the Indian Embassy in Rangoon where developers would like to build a high-rise office tower. A ship propeller mysteriously stands near the entrance. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON— A heritage conservation group in Burma's ex-capital has slammed the planned construction of a US$100 million high-rise office tower directly next to a century-old heritage building in the center of a downtown heritage zone. "A high-rise building at 555 Merchant Street absolutely cannot be allowed," Thant Myint-U, chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust, told The Irrawaddy, "because we have billions of dollars' worth of Asia's last remaining early 20th century landscape, and any high-rise projects in the middle of the old historic district will ruin it." The proposed 38-story "555 Merchant Street Office Tower" would stand beside the Indian Embassy, a 100-year-old heritage building at the corner of Merchant and 36th streets in Kyauktada Township. The signing ceremony for the $100 million project was held in early November last year between Singapore-based Kawa Oil Company and the two owners of the property—Khin Maung Aye, chairman of The Co-operative Bank, and Htay Aung, chairman of the National Group of Companies—according to a report by The Myanmar Times newspaper. Khin Maung Aye is known among local businesspeople as a close friend of Burma's reformist President Thein Sein. "We haven't approved the project yet," said Toe Aung, deputy head of the Department of City Planning and Land Administration for the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), the city's administrative body. Toe Aung told The Irrawaddy that the Indian Embassy had complained about the project, and that the YCDC was negotiating with the land owners over the office tower's height. He added that plots of land neighboring heritage buildings were off limits for the construction of high-rise towers. "We don't want to allow the construction because the tower could easily dominate heritage buildings like the Indian Embassy and the former US Embassy building nearby," he said. Both buildings are on the Rangoon City Heritage List, designated by YCDC. More importantly, the planned tower falls within the "Old Administrative Buildings Core," one of Rangoon's seven heritage zones designated by a draft zoning plan that was "blessed" by Thein Sein and Rangoon Chief Minister Myint Swe as a measure to protect the former capital's century-old buildings and rich colonial architecture. Within the zone, and a stone's throw from the proposed tower, lies Lower Pansodan Street (formerly Phayre Street), which is famous for the old office buildings of HSBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Irrawaddy Flotilla Company and Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation. Nearly all of these buildings were used as government offices before the former military regime moved the capital to Naypyidaw in 2005. Thant Myint-U of the Yangon Heritage Trust is at the forefront of efforts to save as many of the city's moldering colonial edifices as possible. He said a high-rise building at the planned location would oppose a commitment by the president and Rangoon chief minister to prioritize conservation in urban planning. "The government has made considerable progress and shown a real commitment, and that's why it's so important not to go ahead with this, as it would overturn all the good work so far," he said. The respected historian warned that if the planned tower were built at the proposed height, it would make a mockery of the city's nearly finished draft zoning regulations. The regulations were prepared by experts from the YCDC, the Ministry of Construction's Department of Human Settlements and Housing Development, the Yangon Heritage Trust, Mandalay Technological University, the Association of Myanmar Architects, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Htay Aung, co-owner of the property, said the project was waiting for YCDC approval. He said developers were still trying to meet local government requirements for the project, including by asking residents in the neighborhood for permission to build. "The Rangoon divisional government has urged YCDC to quickly give us approval if the project meets their requirements," he said. "If we don't get permission from the neighborhood, the divisional government has ordered us to submit the case to the Union [national] government." He told The Irrawaddy that authorities in Rangoon's divisional government had encouraged the construction of more high-rise buildings. While the original plans called for a 38-story tower at 555 Merchant Street, he said the municipal body approved six months ago a tower of 33 stories, at a height of 127 meters. "If they can't approve the current height, we need to follow whatever the permit allows," he said. Thant Myint-U thinks and hopes the developers will run into problems. "It's very unlikely that all the neighbors will agree," he said. "If it goes up to the Union level, I hope the government will not only fully protect this heritage area, but also help the companies involved find a good alternative site." Why is he so bitterly opposed to the tower, while several other construction projects are also ongoing in the downtown area? Because the site is not only next to a heritage building, but in the middle of the city's principle heritage zone. He said Rangoon's skyline was already dominated by Traders Hotel and the Sakura Tower, but that the addition of other high-rise buildings along Bogyoke Aung San Road at the same approximate height could be acceptable. "But we should set overall standards within a proper zoning plan," he said. "There are many areas downtown where the government could encourage high-rise development, even just half a mile away from the proposed site." Apart from Traders Hotel and Sakura Tower, Rangoon currently has few high-rise buildings, but more are likely on the way in coming years. The construction of a 20-story Traders Square is now in progress beside the hotel, while two other high-rise buildings are being constructed nearby. Architects agree that without smart management, high-rise buildings in the city center would likely have negative consequences not only for heritage sites, but for residents in the city of more than 5 million people. "From an urban planning point of view, we don't want to have that kind of high-rise in the city center, if possible," said Dr. Kyaw Latt, an urban planning expert. He said a tower with a large floor area would likely attract many people, making the area more crowded. Moe Moe Lwin, general secretary of the Association of Myanmar Architects, added that high-rise buildings could block important views and require more services such as parking spaces. "Downtown Rangoon has colonial architecture and still reflects the original urban landscape—we should keep that," she said. Thant Myint-U acknowledged that Rangoon urgently needed new modern office buildings, and he said the government should encourage local companies to find international partners and build new commercial spaces. But those spaces should be in an appropriate place, he added. Meanwhile, with a weed-choke compound and rickety fence, the 7,000 square meter plot of land at 555 Merchant Street remains little more than an eyesore. Near the entrance, a ship propeller mysteriously stands like a work of installation art, leaving curious passerby puzzled. "The only new building that could be allowed there would be at a height no taller than the Indian Embassy, with an appropriate setback [the distance a building is set back from the street] materials and a design that complements the immediate environment." The post Proposed High-Rise Tower Stirs Tension in Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Sanctioned Firms Listed Among Burma’s Top Taxpayers Posted: 17 Sep 2013 05:39 AM PDT  The Internal Revenue Department is pictured in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A new listing of Burma's top 100 corporate taxpayers has thrown up a few surprises, not least the appearance of several companies founded by some of country's top tycoons—businessmen who remain blacklisted by the United States for links to the former military regime and, in some cases, over allegations of drugs trafficking and arms trading. "Some of the companies were not included on last year's list so they inquired about this and have complied for this year," said a senior official at Burma's Internal Revenue Department (IRD), who asked not to be named. Companies run by well-known "cronies"— the collective nickname for businessmen deemed to have made their money through opaque deals with the Burmese military—such as Tay Za's Htoo Trading Company and Steven Law's Asia World, both featured on the lists of Burma's top business taxpayers published by the IRD. Other companies and conglomerates on the lists include Max Myanmar, run by high-profile tycoon Zaw Zaw, as well as Myanmar Brewery, which is part-owned by the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL), a shadowy, military-run conglomerate that has not paid taxes in the past. The criteria for listing, the IRD official told The Irrawaddy, were two-fold: having filed tax returns by March 31, 2013, and to have cleared all tax arrears up to that cut-off date. Kanbawza Bank, the biggest private lender in Burma, was listed second from top—a ranking that came as something of an eye-opener to Than Lwin, Kanbawza's vice chairman. "We did not expect to hear we were one of the highest payers," he told The Irrawaddy. Kanbawza was previously under US sanctions but is now partnering with Western financial giants such as MasterCard, Visa and Western Union. Citing "irregularities in the system," Than Lwin said significant potential tax revenue is lost to the Burma government through corruption. "There is a lot of illegal border trading, for example, that is multiples of the legal trade," he said. Swathes of Burma's borderlands have been run for decades as fiefdoms by ethnic militias fighting on-off wars with the Burmese army, while Burma has consistently featured near the bottom of global corruption indices. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated Burma's tax revenue at 6.4 percent of GDP for 2012-13. The revenue official who spoke to The Irrawaddy conceded that "Myanmar's tax-to-GDP ratio is low," but could not give a precise number. According to US government statistics, Burma's tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was 4.3 percent for 2012, compared with 16 percent for Cambodia, 22 percent for Laos, and just shy of 30 percent for Vietnam. Tax figures in Burma are compiled across an array of ministries, with the IRD responsible for only four of 14 taxes levied, though these taxes, which include commercial and income taxes as well as stamp duties, account for about 90 percent of all revenue, the IRD official estimated. Lending agencies working with the Burma government have said that tax reform is key to modernizing the country's economy. The IMF, stressing "the importance of establishing a well-administered and broad-based tax system," reported in August that the Burma government intends to bring in a full value-added tax (VAT) in the future. Improving overall tax administration and collection should help boost government coffers going forward, but that will likely mean getting more of Burma's well-heeled businesses to pay up, as well as levying taxes on consumption. A 2012 report on the Burma economy published by the Brookings Institute, a left-of-center US think-thank, said "taxes on corporate and personal income generate a negligible amount of revenue." The post Sanctioned Firms Listed Among Burma's Top Taxpayers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Kachin Rebels to Hold Ceasefire Talks Next Month Posted: 17 Sep 2013 05:33 AM PDT  An international aid convoy, organized by the UN, WFP and MSF, is on its way to Jae Yang IDP camp near Laiza on Tuesday. (Photo: Naw Naw) RANGOON—Kachin rebel leaders are scheduled to meet with government peace negotiator Aung Min for another round of ceasefire talks early next month, a senior member of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) said on Tuesday. San Aung, a KIO peace mediator, said technical teams of the KIO and the government's Union Peace Working Committee held a two-day meeting in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina, where they discussed plans for high-level ceasefire talks, military affairs and issues pertaining to displaced Kachin villagers. "The two parties agreed today to hold a meeting between the KIO and the governance peace negotiation team in early October," San Aung told The Irrawaddy. Burma Army Col Than Aung, Security and Border Affairs Minister Lt-Col Aung Naing of the government's Northern Command, and members of the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) attended Tuesday's discussions, he added. Hla Maung Shwe, of the MPC, confirmed that another round of ceasefire talks would held early next month, adding that the meeting would probably take place in Myitkyina. The KIO and the Burma Army have been involved in occasionally heavy fighting after a long-standing ceasefire broke down in 2011. From December 2012 to early February this year, fighting escalated in the strategically important mountains surrounding Laiza. The sides have met several times for ceasefire talk since then and the fighting has died down, although skirmishes continue. International aid agencies are now slowly gaining more access to the displaced villagers staying in KIO-held areas. This week, the second international aid convoy to reach Laiza since December 2011 arrived, according to KIO sources. "They arrived on Monday and they met with refugees in Laiza, and are leaving again tomorrow," said the KIO member, who declined to be named. "There were 17 trucks; they delivered humanitarian aid to the refugees." The convoy provided aid to displaced Kachin staying in Jae Yang IDP camp in Laiza. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UNHCR the World Food Program and Medecins Sans Frontieres organized the convoy, according sources in Laiza. The aid workers also met with the KIO leadership. In early September, an 11-truck UN convoy delivered food, medicines and other items to 4,300 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Woi Chyai camp in Laiza, a small town on the Burma-China border where the KIO is headquartered. It was the first time that an international aid convoy was able to reach KIO-controlled areas since December 2011, when Naypyidaw began blocking international aid to the areas. According to the UN, about 100,000 ethnic Kachin villagers have been displaced by the conflict in northern Burma, some 53,000 of who stay in KIO-held areas. A substantial number of Kachin refugees have also sought in China's Yunnan Province. According to sources in Laiza, some of these refugees, who are staying an area known locally as "6 border posts," have recently come under pressure from Chinese security forces who are demanding that they return to Kachin State soon. The post Kachin Rebels to Hold Ceasefire Talks Next Month appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| On Cusp of FDI Boom, Mon State Still Struggling to Lure Investors: Lawmaker Posted: 17 Sep 2013 05:25 AM PDT  A motorcyclist rides past the main market in Moulmein, the Mon State capital. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Investors are showing interest in Mon State, but concerns about the quality of local governance and the region's not-so-distant history of ethnic conflict may be holding foreign businesses back, according to a lawmaker from the Mon State Parliament. Aung Naing Oo told The Irrawaddy that a culture of state-level corruption remains entrenched in Mon State despite the political and economic reforms that have swept Burma in the last two-and-a-half years. That, combined with weak rule of law, has left prospective foreign investors hesitant to commit to the state in southern Burma. The ethnic Mon lawmaker said many companies' representatives had visited his state, but concrete investments had yet to materialize. Though a breakthrough ceasefire was signed between the central government and the Mon National Liberation Army in 2012, a long-term political solution to the ethnic conflict has yet to be reached. The region's economic prospects and trade potential are significant. Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, has border links to Thailand through Karen State, and plans have been drawn up for a deep-sea port and special economic zone (SEZ) in Dawei Township. "We ever welcome foreign investment in our region. This will go toward the development of our area. But I have found that most foreign investors want to see rule of law, peace and security in the region, to have protection for their investment from the government," Aung Naing Oo said, adding that Mon State's natural resources endowment was also drawing interest. Foreign firms considering investments in the region are keen to see connectivity boosted by the planned Dawei deep-sea port, which has struggled to secure investment despite the Thai government's backing and the port's potential to serve as a new hub of international trade in Southeast Asia. Various foreign investors have paid visits to Mon State since the ceasefire was inked, with the Thais and South Koreans showing particular interest. Offers to rebuild a road between the townships of Thanbyuzayat and Dawei, and proposals for golf courses, an airport and other tourism-related infrastructure have all been proffered. The Nation, a Thai English-language newspaper, reported on Saturday that 10 Thai firms were eyeing investments in Mon State. The report said one of them, Imac Assets, had already put money on the table in Moulmein after winning a 60-year concession from the state to develop property and industrial estates. The company is seeking to take advantage of incentives offered by the Myanmar Investment Commission to develop industrial zones there. If approved, it will be granted a corporate income tax holiday for five to eight years. Duties on machinery imported to develop industrial zones in two locations will also be waived. The company expects that it will need to invest at least 4 billion baht (US$126 million) on developing the smaller of the two zones, and is still calculating an estimate for the larger plot. The state government recently enlisted a private Burmese company to construct a 230-megawatt power plant in the Mon State capital, in a bid to assure a 24-hour electricity supply and in the process make the city more attractive to prospective investors, according to Kaung Sein, managing director at the Moulmein-based Mon Thanakorn Company. In line with Aung Naing Oo's observations, Kaung Sein said that despite the many foreign investors visiting the region, few had signed Memoranda of Understanding yet. "We found here that there are only two companies that have signed MoUs with the state government. More companies have explored the region, but I heard that one Korean company, which proposed building a road from Thanbyuzayat Township to Dawei, they got a concession from Naypyidaw already. They only need to sign an MoU with the state government for the project," Kaung Sein said. Meanwhile, Siam Cement Group (SCG) and the Zay Kabar Company have won separate contracts from the Burmese government for cement-producing ventures in Mon State. Zay Kabar has faced allegations of unlawfully confiscating significant tracts of local residents' lands for its cement project in Kyaikmayaw Township. SCG, meanwhile, plans to build a cement plant in Moulmein, to be completed in mid-2016. In a statement on its website, the company said it would invest 12.4 billion baht in a facility that will include a 40-megawatt power plant for internal use, supporting port facilities and other infrastructure. Last month, Thailand's Emerald Grand Hotel Co signed an MoU with the Ministry of Transport's Port Authority in Naypyidaw to undertake a feasibility study for another deep-sea port on Kalargote Island, which lies between the Mon townships of Ye and Moulmein. The post On Cusp of FDI Boom, Mon State Still Struggling to Lure Investors: Lawmaker appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Strict Lending Rules Limit Growth of Hire Purchase in Burma Posted: 17 Sep 2013 05:12 AM PDT  Yangon's landmark Shwedagon Pagoda can be seen in the distance from a Yadanar Myaing construction site on the Kandawgyi ring road. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Hire purchase is failing to catch on in Burma due to strict Central Bank rules limiting the length of credit agreements and demanding large amounts of paperwork from consumers, observers said this week. After private banks began to prosper in the country once again in 2010, there were signs a hire purchase market would take off, but progress appears to have stalled. Banks operating in Burma have formed links with the housing, automobile and electronics retail sectors and hire purchase is available in the major cities, allowing consumers to take home goods immediately but pay in installments. But Than Lwin, vice chairman of the Kanbawza Bank, said it was important for the banking sector that use of hire purchase is expanded from its current size. "The hire purchased system is a part of the banking system, it needs to develop more in future," he said, insisting that Kanbawza is the bank in Burma that has the most ties with trading companies that mean it can offer credit on goods. He said government restrictions were holding the development of hire purchase back. "The central bank only allows us to hire cash for 36 months at the maximum," he said. The Central Bank also requires consumers hoping to buy goods on hire purchase to provide numerous documents and at least two guarantors, with proof that these sponsors could cover the debt, to show their creditworthiness. Than Lwin said an awaited condominium law, that will clarify how ownership of properties above ground level, is required to make it clear how hire purchase agreements—three-way exchanges between seller, bank and buyer—can work. "Most customers want to buy apartments or condos that are more popular than other types, but the problem is the condominium law is in process. We have to talk about ownership if we're going to make a hire purchased system here," he said. Ye Min Oo, managing director of Asia Green Development Bank (AGD), also said that a three-year limit on hire purchase agreements was limiting the demand for such agreements. "If the Central bank allows a long-term hire purchased system, we're ready to do it," he said. As well as the short terms of hire purchase, AGD asks customers to stump up 30 percent of the cost as a downpayment. Although hire purchase may be partly responsible for the growth in car showrooms and new cars on Rangoon's streets, observers say its use is decreasing in the property sector. The ungenerous terms mean middle-incomes people in Rangoon—usually those who benefit most from hire purchase—may be priced out of the market. "How can we buy an apartment priced 100 million kyat [about US$104,000] over three years?" asked Ko Kyaw Naing, a trading company employee who earns 200,000 kyat, or about $208, each month. "We have to pay a 30 percent downpayment. That means 30 million kyat first, then 1.9 million kyat a month for three years without bank interest included. How can we buy this kind of condo here? I can't even imagine." A senior advertising manager at Naing Group Construction, who declined to be named, said property developers had been using hire purchase to sell apartments and draw in cash during construction, but credit through this method had dried up, leading to projects stalling. "We had a sort of hire purchased system in some construction projects, but now it stopped because most projects have not been completed yet," said the manager. "In my experience, developers need money before the construction, that's why they're selling with this system, but now you can see Rangoon developers don't sell with hired purchased recently." The post Strict Lending Rules Limit Growth of Hire Purchase in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Flooding Displaces Hundreds in Burma Posted: 17 Sep 2013 04:52 AM PDT  A village near Taung Tha Man Lake, Amarapura Township, is flooded. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Hundreds of families have been forced to relocate in central and northwest Burma due to flooding of the Irrawaddy River and the Myitnge River. Flooding has displaced more than 500 households in Mandalay Division and Sagaing Division, according to a resident and village administrator in Mandalay's Amarapura Township. He said villages along the riverbanks had relocated to areas with temporary tents but faced a shortage of clean water and food, as parts of the road leading to Mandalay, a commercial hub, had been blocked by water. "Flooding began in the villages on Saturday, and the water has since risen to six feet [1.8 meters] high, so nobody can live here," the administrator, from the Shwe Lay area, told The Irrawaddy, asking to remain anonymous. "Some donors came and gave us water and food, but we still need to get clean water. We have moved from the village to temporary tents on higher land, while others have gone to stay with relatives." In the temporary tents along Sagaing-Mandalay Road, flood victims said their fields have been flooded and they worried that poor sanitation at their temporary shelters could lead to illness. "It is very difficult for us to find a toilet, so we are afraid we might face an outbreak of diarrhea," said Aung Kyaw, another resident from Shwe Lay. "Our croplands are also under water, so we're worried about our livelihoods. We don't know how long this flooding will last. If all the water recedes, it will take at least four months to rebuild our homes and our lives." Local residents say the rivers have not flooded on such a scale since 2003, when water levels rose to more than three meters. Many blame a nearby dam project for the current flooding. "Since the Ye Ywar dam was constructed, water flows with force when we have heavy rains," Aung Kyaw said. The flooding has also affected professors and students at Yadanabon University in Mandalay's Tadaroo region. The road leading to the university is partially covered with water, as is the university compound, creating problems for students who are currently sitting for exams. "The road is blocked terribly and it's difficult to move around," a student said. "First we thought the exam date would be changed, but now we have to go to the exam room by walking through dirty water, and we have to sit through the exam all wet so we can't concentrate." The road to Taung Tha Man Lake in Amarapura Township has also been blocked. Meanwhile, travelers have been urged to stay away from the ancient city of Inwa, a major tourist attraction in Mandalay Division, until flooding recedes. "For days we have not been able to send tourists to the area," a Mandalay-based tour operator said. "All the roads in Inwa were flooded—even horse carts can't get around. We need to apologize to travelers and all the sightseeing trips to Inwa that have been canceled for at least two weeks." Meteorologists say heavy rains in Upper Burma are the main reason for the flooding. "Heavy rains in Kachin State, Shan State and Upper Sagaing Division, as well as heavy rainfall in Mandalay Division, increased the water level of the Irrawaddy and Myitnge rivers", said Dr. Tun Lwin, former director-general of Burma's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH). "Although monsoon season is about to end in the country, there will be still more rain. Since this year is the year of flooding for the country, we need to be on alert until the first week of October. Flooding will seriously affect the delta." According to the meteorology department's official website, the water level of the Irrawaddy River in Sagaing Division rose 38 centimeters above the official "danger level" last week. Water levels also rose past the danger level in Pakokku in Magway Division and Nyaung Oo in Mandalay Division, as well as in Hinthada and Ngathaing Chaung in Irrawaddy division. The department has forecast heavy rainfalls for the next 48 hours in Mandalay Division, Rangoon Division, Irrawaddy Division, Mon State and Tenasserim Division, as well as isolated showers in Magway Division, Pegu Division, Arakan State and Karen State. Flood warnings are also in effect for the next 48 hours for Minbu and Magway city in Magway Division, and for Prome and Aunglan in Pegu Division. The post Flooding Displaces Hundreds in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| School in Thailand Provides Haven for Burmese Children Posted: 17 Sep 2013 12:03 AM PDT  Children play in the no man's land on the border between Thailand and Burma at Mae Sot. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) MAHACHAI, Thailand—It was 6:30 in the morning. School wouldn't be starting for another two-and-a-half hours. Yet there I was, on the back of a pick-up truck as it bounced along bumpy roads. Despite the early hour, the two dozens kids we were picking up were fresh-faced and very chirpy. Dressed in white tops and an eclectic mix of bottoms—an attempt to copy the white- and green-uniformed students in Burma—they ran up to the truck with big smiles on their faces. Some tried to nap on their friends' shoulders but most chatted and played during the hour-long trip as the truck weaved in and out of neighborhoods of Burmese migrant workers. "He's always late," one boy commented as we waited outside a multi-storey apartment block. "You should be up at 6 like the rest of us," he scolded the latecomer, half-jokingly, when he jumped into the truck. The new arrival grinned sheepishly. This particular pick-up—one of three that happen over the course of a morning—starts early for a reason: the driver, a Burmese migrant worker, is a volunteer. He rushes to work after dropping the kids off. Transport is free at this primary school, the only school so far to teach the Burmese national curriculum in the Burmese language. So is lunch, prepared by Burmese migrant workers. There are no school fees, only a one-time registration cost of 500 baht (around $17). The school has been operating for eight weeks solely thanks to the concerted efforts of migrant workers from Myanmar—who donate money, time and materials—and the generosity of a Thai monk. Missing Out on Education Under Thai government policy, all children have a right to primary education, regardless of their nationality or status. But in reality, only a fraction of the estimated 200,000 children of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are enrolled in public schools, mainly due to financial and language barriers, rights groups say. Some attend learning centers operated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). “In our eyes, children should start school around age 5. But because the parents can't afford it, they end up just staying at home or sometimes working," Aung Kyaw, head of the Migrant Workers' Rights Network (MWRN), which first had the idea for the school, told me. "So for these children, if they were to go back to Myanmar, they'd have difficulty getting an education or being employable," he said. That would have been the fate of Kyaw Lin Tun (video here), a lively 12-year-old who lives near the school. In the five years since arriving in Thailand, he went to school just once. It was too far and his mother couldn't afford it, he said. Now, despite having to start again at kindergarten, he relishes learning. "I want to be educated," he told me. "I'm happy now." MWRN lobbied the Burma government to give its blessing to a Burmese-language, Burmese-syllabus school. There are also plans to request official recognition from the Thai government, which none of the migrant schools has at present. Huge Needs On July 1, the school, offering classes from kindergarten to the end of primary (known as fourth standard in the Burmese education system), opened in the grounds of a Buddhist temple in Mahachai on the outskirts of Bangkok. MWRN says there are around 300,000 Burmese migrant workers in Mahachai, mainly working in the seafood industry, and about 8,000 to 10,000 migrant children. The number of students jumped from 41 on its opening day to 115 in six weeks, underlying the huge need and desire for education. The school has no signs outside advertising its existence and the students share an open room on the first floor of a building. Statues of Buddha sit on one side. On the day I visited, droppings from pigeons that have settled on the ceiling beams prompted the kindergarten students to move away from their low tables and practice their writing standing up. But the boisterous atmosphere remained, punctured by the three teachers telling the kids to behave. Tin Htay Yi, a veteran teacher with 18 years' experience in Myanmar, is the principal, handling the older kindergarten students and the second and fourth standards. Five years ago, she came to Thailand to work in a factory processing sardines. The teachers receive $230 a month as an allowance—without a permit yet, the school cannot call what the teachers receive wages—but it wasn't the money that attracted them. They could make the same amount working in a factory for 15 days with overtime. "It's like a footballer who can't resist kicking when there's a ball in front of him," the principal told me. "We want to teach when we see a school and students," she said. "We want to use our skills to nurture them." The post School in Thailand Provides Haven for Burmese Children appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Mazda to Start Selling New Cars in Burma, CEO Says Posted: 16 Sep 2013 11:44 PM PDT  Rangoon's roads have become increasingly congested after car import restrictions were relaxed in October 2011. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) TOKYO—Mazda Motor Corp will start selling new vehicles soon in Burma, its chief executive said, as carmakers rush to get a foothold in the country that until recently was under international economic sanctions. As a part of a plan to sell cars in all member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Mazda plans to send a range of vehicles to Burma rather than only sell low-grade models, Chief Executive Masamichi Kogai said. "The purpose is to build our brand and create Mazda fans," he told Reuters in an interview this month. He added that the start of sales "won’t be so distant in the future" and the number of vehicles it will sell there will be small. Burma’s new car market started to bloom around 2011, after the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein took over and overturned imports restrictions of the military government. There are around 340,000 passenger cars registered in Burma, government data shows, shared among a population of more than 60 million people. Most of the cars are Japanese. About half a dozen companies from Japan, India, South Korea and the United States are currently manufacturing cars or have showrooms in Burma. Nissan Motor Co plans to start a complete knock down production of its cars in Burma with a Malaysian partner Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd, an individual close to the company told Reuters this week. Nissan is expected to announce details as early as Friday. In July, Nissan and Tan Chong Motor, with whom Nissan already works together in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, opened Nissan’s first showroom in Burma, selling a pickup truck and a commercial van. Earlier this year, Suzuki Motor Corp resumed production of vehicles in Burma for the first time in three years, manufacturing about 100 small trucks a month. Ford Motor Co opened its first showroom in Burma in April, while General Motors is preparing to open its first Chevrolet showroom later this year. The post Mazda to Start Selling New Cars in Burma, CEO Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| More Than 6,200 Evacuated After Volcano Erupts in Indonesia Posted: 16 Sep 2013 11:40 PM PDT  Villagers wait to be evacuated to safety as Mount Sinabung spews ash and hot lava during its eruption in Karo district, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, on Monday. (Reuters: Photo) MEDAN, Indonesia — More than 6,200 people were evacuated from their villages following the eruption of Mount Sinabung in western Indonesia, an official said Monday. The 2,600-meter volcano in North Sumatra province erupted early Sunday after being dormant for three years, sending thick ash into the sky with small rocks pelting neighboring villages. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said a total of 6,259 people have been evacuated as of Monday afternoon, and were being sheltered in eight locations. No damage was reported. The official Antara news agency reported that five people were hospitalized in Kabanjahe, the capital of Karo District. It quoted Jhonson Tarigan, a spokesman of the local disaster mitigation agency, as saying the five were having difficulty breathing after inhaling volcanic ash. Most of the displaced were from six villages within 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) of the mountain in Karo district, Nugroho said. Local authorities prepared 2,000 blankets and distributed masks to displaced people. They also have set up a health command post, Nugroho said. He added there was an urgent need for cooking ware, food for babies and medicine. On Monday, grey smoke still billowed from the peak of North Sumatra's tallest volcano, carrying ash eastward. Authorities asked residents to remain alert for other potential eruptions. Mount Sinabung's last eruption in August 2010 killed two people and forced 30,000 others to flee. It caught many scientists off guard because they had failed to monitor the volcano, which had remained quiet for four centuries. There are more than 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation. It is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called "Ring of Fire"—a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. The post More Than 6,200 Evacuated After Volcano Erupts in Indonesia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| South Korea: New Beacon for Refugees Posted: 16 Sep 2013 11:35 PM PDT  North Korean defectors pray during their prayer meeting at Durihana church, which has helped the refugees escape and settle in South Korea, in Seoul, on Dec. 23, 2011. (Photo: Reuters / Kim Kyung-Hoon) Near South Korea's main international airport, the national government is constructing a type of building never seen before in this country—a large complex capable of accommodating more than 1,000 refugee applicants. As South Korea becomes more developed and better-known, with its TV shows and pop music appreciated around the world, the country is receiving more refugee applicants, and the government is still figuring out how to handle them. South Korea also receives many escapees from North Korea—more than 1,000 per year in the past, which complicates relations with Pyongyang and Beijing. Between 1994 and 2003, South Korea received only 251 refugee applications from non-North Koreans. That number jumped to 1,143 in 2012—with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal being the three most common countries of origin. A fairly low portion of those applicants is being accepted: Between 1994 and 2003, 14 were accepted; 60 applications were successful in 2012. In contrast, fewer North Koreans are arriving in Seoul nowadays. After increasing steadily for years, the number of defectors went down sharply in 2012, the lowest level in seven years, believed to be because leader Kim Jong-un has tightened border security. As a country that thinks of itself as ethnically homogeneous, South Korea doesn't have a strong culture of welcoming outsiders, but as a developed power, it has signed international agreements and enacted its own law that promises fair treatment for refugees and acceptance of applicants deemed to be deserving. South Korea became the first country in East Asia to enact its own refugee law when last year it passed its Refugee Act, which took effect July 1. The act details the process for refugee status application and processing, as well as criteria for acceptance. It stipulates the provision of assistance for applicants, including translation services. The law was enacted partly in response to pressure from civic groups who argued that refugee applicants did not have a fair chance to make their case for staying in South Korea, often lacking consultation on how to navigate the country's legal system. The new refugee center is in Yeongjong Island in Incheon, an out-of-the-way location far from public transit and much commercial activity, which will make it difficult for applicants to integrate into local life. Civic groups have argued that refugees should be allowed to live and work freely in South Korea while their cases are under consideration. As of now, they're not permitted employment. No state funds are provided for basic living expenses, meaning applicants generally must rely on donations to survive. South Korea is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Refugees, but there's no binding pressure on the government to adhere to the convention's dictates. The refugee and genocide conventions are two UN human rights treaties that don't have an independent monitoring committee or a court that assesses state compliance. Legal experts say this lack of oversight has hampered the treaties' effectiveness. North Korean refugees can also arrive in South Korea at Incheon International Airport, but upon arrival are taken to a more comfortable location. Technically, Seoul does not treat the North Koreans as refugees. Unlike refugees from anywhere else in the world, North Koreas are handled by the Ministry of Unification, while the Ministry of Justice handles immigration, including refugees from other countries, with wholly different procedures. More than 25,000 North Koreans have left North Korea and settled in the South since the combat phase of the Korean War ended in 1953. Most come from the northeastern provinces of North Korea that share borders with China, making a risky trip by foot over mountains and across the Tumen River into China, where they try to blend in with a sizeable Korean minority before making their way via a third country to South Korea. After an official interrogation to determine they aren't spies or ethnic Korean Chinese nationals posing as refugees, North Koreans are taken to the Hanawon resettlement center, south of Seoul. At the center, the refugees undergo a three-month education and adaptation program with psychological counseling, job training and education on how to live in a modern, capitalist country. The refugees are then given citizenship and financial assistance in starting life in South Korea. People who flee danger or poverty in other countries, however, aren't entitled to the same benefits. South Korea's program for integrating and assisting North Korean refugees is the most generous program of its kind anywhere in the world, and some South Koreans see it as a drain on public resources. Others see it as necessary assistance for ethnic brethren who suffered under North Korea's repressive regime. The issue of North Korean refugees is a point of contention among North Korea, China and South Korea. China, also a signatory to the UN refugee convention, argues that the North Koreans who flee into its territory are not refugees on the move for humanitarian reasons, but economic migrants seeking work. It therefore argues that the Chinese state has no obligation to care for them and repatriates them to North Korea where they face harsh punishment, including death. The case of nine young North Korean refugees apprehended in Laos in May of this year illustrates the complexity of refugee status. The nine had fled North Korea months earlier via China and were taken into custody by Laotian police for entering the country without documents. They were then held for a couple of weeks while South and North Korean authorities both made requests for them to be handed over to their diplomatic missions. Laotian authorities eventually transferred them to the North Korean Embassy for flight back to North Korea via China on the grounds that they were North Korean citizens. In June, the nine appeared on North Korean television, pledging allegiance to Kim Jong-un, expressing joy at being back in the North. North Korea pursues its own refugees most energetically, as the refugees' desperate wish to live elsewhere is a loss of face for the Pyongyang regime. South Korea was criticized domestically and internationally for making only what were seen as tepid diplomatic efforts to gain custody of the refugees. In response, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs promised to better coordinate with refugee rights groups and the governments of transit countries to prevent refugees from being handed over to North Korean authorities. Details of these new efforts were not provided, reportedly out of concern for protection of refugees and relations with transit countries. The refugees' plight is complicated by the fact that China, the only country with which North Korea has a traversable land border, has a history of alliance with North Korea, dating back to 1950. In addition to wanting to placate Pyongyang by repatriating North Korean refugees, part of China's motivation is presumably to avoid attracting a larger number of refugees. If China was a safe destination, more North Koreans would likely flee. South Korea's policies on handling North Korean refugees and its own refugee act are exceptionally generous for a country that just decades ago was a developing country itself. Following through with these policies for citizens of other countries and providing refugees the room to make comfortable lives for themselves would reconfirm South Korea's commitment to human rights. South Korea has emerged as a modern technology leader and a welcoming land for refugees, which adds to the nation's status and may also encourage the arrival of technologists. Steven Borowiec is a journalist based in Seoul and a regular contributor to Asia Sentinel among other publications. This first appeared in YaleGlobal, the publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. The post South Korea: New Beacon for Refugees appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| The Strange Birds behind the ’88 Coup Posted: 16 Sep 2013 09:18 PM PDT  Birds of a feather? Gen Saw Maung, left, was the first to go, after being forced to step down in 1992; Gen Khin Nyunt, center, followed 12 years later. Of the founding members of the junta that seized power in 1988, only Gen Than Shwe, right, survived until a quasi-civilian government was formed in 2011. (Photo: Dominic Faulder) Retired Gen Kyaw Win is a keen observer. These days, he devotes what's left of his failing eyesight to his two passions: photography and bird-watching. But in the past, when he served as number two in Myanmar's once dreaded spy agency, he was regularly witness to far more intriguing things. In April 1992, when Gen Saw Maung, the leader of the military regime formed in 1988 to "restore order" after crushing pro-democracy protests in a bloody coup, was informed by then military intelligence chief and junta Secretary One Gen KhinNyunt that he had been "permitted to retire due to health reasons," Gen Kyaw Win was there. "Don't abandon us," the visibly shaken Gen Saw Maung said to Gen KhinNyunt, fearing that he and his family were about to be placed under house arrest. Long before Gen Saw Maung lost his hold on power, he seemed to be losing his grip on reality. Gen Kyaw Win recalled how Myanmar's top general once started engaging in a conversation with a Buddha image at a famous shrine in Upper Myanmar. After that, he began declaring himself the reincarnation of the 11th-century warrior-king Kyansittha and claimed he could see into the future. "He didn't sleep at all," Gen Kyaw Win said of his former boss, who was clearly suffering from a nervous breakdown and had become dangerously paranoid (on one occasion, Gen Kyaw Win said, the senior general brandished his revolver at some soldiers who had come to welcome him and his wife to a reception). At one point, then Col Kyaw Win saw Gen Saw Maung summon regional commanders based in northern Myanmar to Mandalay to demand to know if they still supported him. In fact, Gen Saw Maung owed his powerful position to Gen Ne Win, the dictator who had been forced to step down after massive protests calling for his ouster took place around the country. Gen Saw Maung, who was then serving as commander in chief of the armed forces, was called to the former dictator's residence along with his deputy Gen Than Shwe and Gen Ne Win's trusted spy chief Gen KhinNyunt. Their orders were to stage a coup. After the military seized power on Sept. 18, 1988, Gen Saw Maung triumphantly declared that he had "saved the nation", but the sullen Gen ThanShwe didn't utter a word. From the beginning, Gen ThanShwe was aloof from the other members of the junta, preferring the company of loyal subordinates. Among them was Gen Kyaw Win, who had served under the taciturn general in Shan State in the early 1980s, and stayed close to him throughout the remainder of his military career. During all their years together, however, Gen ThanShwe never discussed politics with Gen Kyaw Win. But in a sign that even early on he did not trust Gen KhinNyunt, he assigned Gen Kyaw Win to act as the spy chief's deputy. Reporting back on Gen KhinNyunt words and actions was not difficult: All of the top leaders slept at the War Office from 1988 until the capital was moved to Naypyitaw in 2005. Gen Kyaw Win and other trusted aides would often massage Gen ThanShwe in his bed until he fell asleep. The powerful general also liked listening to their gossip and jokes, and sometimes, even after it seemed that he had already drifted off to sleep, he would laugh out loud at some amusing anecdote the officers were sharing among themselves. Gen Kyaw Win also knew that his boss had a deep-seated distrust of intellectuals and didn't like having educated people around him. Despite being a graduate of Yangon University, however, Gen Kyaw Win seemed to have won his trust. Another thing he knew about Gen ThanShwe was that he regarded Myanmar, a nation wedged between the world's two most populous countries, India and China, as uniquely vulnerable. For this reason, he believed that it needed a special military budget to build a strong army and acquire nuclear weapons. With money from state-owned enterprises and the sale of natural gas, he moved the capital to central Myanmar and built tunnels and launched a nascent nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, Gen KhinNyunt and his feared Military Intelligence Service were busy running torture chambers and chasing after dissidents. This part of their operation was sanctioned by Gen ThanShwe; but the dossiers they were collecting on corruption within the regime apparently wasn't. In the early days, Gen ThanShwe was regarded as quite clean. But from around the early 2000s, several ministers and powerful generals had begun seeking favors. Usually, they just paid visits to his home, where they could count on a friendly welcome if they came bearing gifts for his family. This has been called "kitchen politics"—currying favor with Myanmar's top family through the back door. Gen Kyaw Win's disapproval of this development made him and other aides who believed it was part of their job to "keep the businessmen at bay" less than popular with Gen ThanShwe's wife DawKyaingKyaing and other close relatives. But the senior leader continued to entrust him with important missions, such as maintaining contacts with intelligence agencies in neighboring countries and acting as a messenger between himself and opposition leader DawAung San SuuKyi, who was then under house arrest. His most important duty, however, was to continue monitoring Gen KhinNyunt. Once regarded as a natural successor to Gen ThanShwe, the spy chief never imagined that he would one day be removed from power, despite warnings from his subordinates that he was vulnerable to just such a fate. The trouble came as powerful generals and commanders in the army's infantry units learned that they were secretly being investigated. Infantry and intelligence units were always at loggerheads, and it became clear that Gen KhinNyunt's intelligence unit was building a state within a state. For years, Gen Than Shwe was urged to put the spy chief in his place—something he had probably wanted to do all along. Of course, Gen Kyaw Win played a role in Gen KhinNyunt's downfall, making sure that all of his reports on his immediate superior reached his real boss via Gen Shwe Mann, the current speaker of Myanmar's Lower House of Parliament, who was then the joint chief of staff of army, navy and air force and the third most powerful member of the junta. To neutralize Gen KhinNyunt, Gen ThanShwe appointed him prime minister and asked him to hand his duties as spy chief over to Gen MyintSwe, one of Gen Than Shwe's loyal subordinates and now chief minister of Yangon Region. But Gen KhinNyunt refused to play along, and later, Gen ThanShwe learned that he had threatened at a cabinet meeting to expose corruption among military commanders and ministers. In the end, Gen ThanShwe didn't have to do a thing. "Do what you have to do," he said, and soon the problem was taken care of. The infantry commanders, who had a plan in place and had long waited to hear these words, moved swiftly. They arrested Gen KhinNyunt and threw everyone close to him into prison. Within hours, Gen KhinNyunt's spy network was dismantled. That was in October 2004. When Gen KhinNyunt, who had been summoned to the office of the junta's number two Gen Maung Aye shortly after getting off a plane in Yangon, was told to "go home," he replied sarcastically that he was "delighted" to do so. He knew he had no choice: All of the other senior junta members—except Gen ThanShwe—were there. He was escorted back to his home, and after years as one of Myanmar's most feared men, he became just another prisoner of one of the world's most repressive regimes. Although Gen ThanShwe left the dirty business of dealing with Gen KhinNyunt to his subordinates, he was in full control of what came after. He reinforced his own power base, locked up more dissidents, and pushed ahead with drafting a constitution that would cement the military's role in Myanmar politics. Finally, after holding a rigged election in 2010 that delivered a landslide victory to the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, he stepped out of the limelight and remains comfortably retired in his fortress-like mansion in Naypyitaw. During his tenure as Myanmar's supreme leader, Gen ThanShwe also placed Gen Ne Win under house arrest. Unlike Gen KhinNyunt, Gen ThanShwe was not close to the former dictator. After Gen Saw Maung, who died of heart failure in 1997, was forced to step down, Gen ThanShwe never bothered to visit the mastermind behind the 1988 coup. Perhaps he had hated him all along. Gen KhinNyunt, once dubbed Myanmar's "prince of evil" by the foreign media, was released from house arrest in early 2012, and now lives as a private citizen. When asked to account for some of the things he did when he was still in power, he insists he was just following orders. Those orders came, of course, from Gen ThanShwe. Gen Kyaw Win witnessed all of this and more. Now more interested in his avian friends, however, he says he has nothing to say about the current role, if any, of his former boss in Myanmar's political affairs. But for those of us who have watched Gen Than Shwe eliminate his rivals one by one over the past two decades, it's difficult to imagine that he isn't still keeping an eagle eye on everything from his safe, secluded perch, ready to swoop down on anyone who threatens his talon-like hold on power. This story first appeared in the September 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post The Strange Birds behind the '88 Coup appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
