The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Electricity Supply Is Improving, Officials Assure Rangoon’s Residents
• Burmese Meditation Guru Goenka Dies at 90
• Mon Leader Says Equality Key to Peace in Burma
• Refuting the Argument That the NLD Is Weak and Without Capacity
• Suu Kyi, Singapore and the Ties That Bind
• Protesters Attempt March from Mandalay to Copper Mine
• Burma’s Old Guard Clings to $8B Jade Empire
• Filipino Troops Kill 7 Rebels After Hostage Crisis
• Xi Jinping Hopes Traditional Faiths Can Fill Moral Void in China
• Gods Forbid: India’s Temples Guard Their Gold From Govt
• No Soft Touch
• Sectarian Tensions Flare in Thandwe, Arakan State
• Exhibition Captures ‘Vanishing’ Ethnic Traditions

Electricity Supply Is Improving, Officials Assure Rangoon’s Residents Posted: 30 Sep 2013 08:28 AM PDT Residents of Rangoon held large-scale protests in May 2012 against the frequent power cuts. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Senior officials said the government is working with the private sector to improve energy supply in Rangoon, Burma's largest city, although they acknowledged that the country faces a huge energy supply shortfall for years to come. Minister of Electric Power Khin Maung Soe and Aung Khine, chairman of Yangon Electricity Supply Board (YESB), held a press conference on Saturday during which they discussed Burma's energy supply situation, according to state-owned newspaper The New Light of Myanmar. The officials, who held the press conference ahead of the oncoming dry season, which usually sees an increase in power blackouts in Rangoon, said the government stood for a daunting task to more than the double energy supply in the next two years. Khin Maung Soe said currently energy supply stands at about 2,000 megawatt per day, while energy demand far outstrips supplies and is set to grow annually with 15 percent to 4,900 megawatt per day by 2015. Rangoon represents more than half of the nation's energy demand. "As we need more electricity supply nationwide, we need to produce more electricity through various ways of production, hydropower, gas turbines, as well as cleaner coal power plants," he was quoted as saying by the state newspaper. The minister told reporters that the Myanmar Investment Commission was in talks with private investors to develop energy projects, although he stopped short of providing details about the projects and the firms involved. Naypyidaw has previously announced that it intends to rapidly increase power supply and reach universal access to electricity for its citizens by 2030. Tun Kywe, deputy chief engineer of the YESB, told The Irrawaddy that the board was improving electricity supplies to Rangoon and he tried assuage concerns among the city's inhabitants about the onset of the dry season. "The blackouts and shortage won't be as [frequent] like last year. We expect that we can supply more power than last year," he said. Burma's power supply becomes more infrequent in the course of the dry season, as water levels in hydropower dam reservoirs drop and the dams' output falls. During the hot season, from March to May, YESB struggles to supply Rangoon's approximately 5.3 million inhabitants and it is forced to ration electricity supply to different parts of the city, with some parts receiving only 6 hours of power per day. Some Rangoon residents, however, are skeptical about the government's pledges that electricity supply to the city will significantly improve the coming dry season. "It's been several years that we have been facing that problem in Rangoon," said Khine Su, a 30-year-old resident of Kyauktada Township in downtown Rangoon. "It is so terrible. We always have to walk through the dark at night in the cool season. "It is really terrible for me as being a girl, there are no even street lights on at this time," she said. Although Burma is rich in energy resources, with large oil and gas reserves, and vast hydropower potential, only a quarter of all Burmese have access to reliable electricity, according to the World Bank, which has said that improving this supply "requires large investments from both the public and private sectors." The lack of reliable power supply is also considered a major hurdle to attracting foreign investment to the country. Since reengaging with Burma last year, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have prioritized the development of the country's energy sector. Last week, the World Bank announced it was providing Burma with an interest-free US$140 million loan to develop a power plant in Mon State, the bank's first international investment project since reengaging with Naypyidaw. China has already gained direct access to Burma's plentiful resources and will soon begin to pump oil and gas from the offshore Shwe gas field through the controversial Shwe Gas pipeline, which runs from Burma's Arakan State coast to Kunming, the capital China's Yunnan Province. Under a deal cut with Burma's previous military government, Chinese firms will pump energy reserves worth US$45 million per day through the pipeline when it comes online in the coming months, according to Reuters, energy that will bypass Burma's citizens. The post Electricity Supply Is Improving, Officials Assure Rangoon's Residents appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burmese Meditation Guru Goenka Dies at 90 Posted: 30 Sep 2013 05:24 AM PDT Satya Narayan Goenka, a leading Vipassana meditation teacher, passed away on Sunday at the age of 90. (Photo: http://www.events.dhamma.org ) Burmese national Satya Narayan Goenka, a leading lay teacher of Vipassana meditation and the highly respected founder of an international network of meditation centers, died on Sunday in India. He was 90 years old. Goenka "passed away peacefully" at his residence and the funeral will be held on Tuesday in Mumbai, according to the Vipassana Research Institute's website.Famous for his nonsectarian approach to meditation, his teachings attracted people from across the globe, of all backgrounds, and of countless religions and creeds. A Burmese citizen of Indian descent, Goenka was born in Mandalay, Burma's second largest city, in 1924. After joining the family business in 1940, he became a leading figure in Burma's influential Indian community and led business groups including the Burma Marwari Chamber of Commerce and the Rangoon Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He often accompanied government trade delegations on international tours as an advisor. After receiving 14 years of Vipassana meditation training from his mentor U Ba Khin, Goenka traveled to India in 1969 and held his first 10-day meditation course. Thanks to its nonsectarian nature, the training was widely accepted in a country divided by caste and religion. In 1979, Goenka began travelling abroad to introduce Vipassana to other countries. He personally taught tens of thousands of people in hundreds of 10-day courses around the world, in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan, the United States, Canada, Europe, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. He trained more than 800 assistant teachers and each year more than 100,000 people attend Goenka-inspired Vipassana courses. More than 70 centers devoted to the teaching of Vipassana have been established in 21 countries. Goenka once said Vipassana, though originally a teaching of the Buddha, was not only confined to Buddhism. "Everybody from any religion and society can practice it easily, for Vipassana is universal and [concerns] the art of living," he said. Among his efforts to spread Vipassana meditation, one of the most remarkable may be his bringing the practice into prisons, first in India, and then in other countries as well. The Vipassana Research Institute estimates that as many as 10,000 prisoners, as well as many police and military personnel, have attended the 10-day courses. In Burma, the courses were first taught in prisons in 2008. Asked during a workshop whether he believed peace was possible in armed conflicts that had been raging for decades, Goenka offered no assurances, but stressed personal responsibility. "There are no problems that come from outside," he said, explaining that individual inner peace would help prospects for a more far-reaching world harmony. "All trouble comes from inside. Go down deep inside and find the root cause of your suffering. Remove it and you will be free." The post Burmese Meditation Guru Goenka Dies at 90 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Mon Leader Says Equality Key to Peace in Burma Posted: 30 Sep 2013 04:22 AM PDT President's Office Minister Aung Min, right, sits alongside New Mon State Party chairman Nai Htaw Mon, center, and Mon State Chief Minister Ohn Myint, at a conference on Saturday in Moulmein, Mon State. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy) MOULMEIN — Burma's ethnic minorities will not attempt to secede from the union if granted equal rights, according to the ethnic Mon pro-democracy leader Min Ko Naing, who spoke during a landmark Mon peace conference over the weekend. Min Ko Naing, who was born in Mudon Township, Mon State, made the assertion at the Mon National Conference on Saturday. Hundreds of ethnic Mon from the southern part of Burma were in attendance for the three-day conference in the state capital Moulmein, marking the first time that the government has allowed ethnic Mon activists to host a gathering to discuss the ethnic minority's political aspirations. "They [the Burmese government] should consider why our ethnic people want to split from the country. They should ask themselves why the people do not want unity," said Min Ko Naing, who is also a leading member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society. For more than six decades, the Burmese military has waged war against armed rebel factions of the country's ethnic minority groups. There were, at times, more than 50 non-state armed groups operating in the country's border areas. Allegations of widespread human rights abuses by both government troops and armed rebels have accompanied the fighting. "Look at Asean or the European Union. Many countries wanted to be members of them because they believed that by joining, they would benefit from it," said Min Ko Naing. "Similarly, for our ethnic people, no one would want to secede from a federal union if they saw benefit. … All ethnic people would stay with the Union government if they could get equal rights." More than 300 ethnic Mon leaders attended the conference, where discussion focused on how to achieve permanent peace and stability in the region, and accelerate development in Mon State. Two Mon political parties and one armed group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), sent representatives and were joined by Mon civil society groups. Min Ko Naing and Aung Min, the government's chief peace negotiator, were in attendance for the first day of the conference. Senior Mon Buddhist monks and even some Mon living in exile in the United States, Australia and other countries were also present, including a sizeable contingent of ethnic Mon living in Thailand, which shares a small stretch of border with southeastern Mon State. "This is an historical event for our Mon because this is the first time all our Mon could gather in one place officially to discuss our political plans," said Nai Htaw Mon, who is chairman of the NMSP and was one of the conference's speakers. Political reforms enacted by President Thein Sein over the last 18 months have rejuvenated peace talks with many ethnic armed groups. Amending or completely redrafting the 2008 Constitution is also being discussed, with many of the nation's ethnic minority groups pushing for any revision to include greater regional autonomy within a federal state. The NMSP signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in February 2012, but there remain political differences that the party has repeatedly asked the government to address. "There have been political reforms by the government, but there is also ongoing fighting," said Nai Htaw Mon. Two soldiers from the NMSP were killed and two others were detained in July after government troops attacked them in Tavoy, an area under NMSP control. "It was sad as our two soldiers were killed and two more have been detained even though they [the government] say they are undertaking political reforms," said Nai Htaw Mon. Aung Min, who is also a President's Office minister, said at the conference that Burma needed peace in order to achieve stable development. Fourteen ethnic armed groups have signed ceasefires toward this end, according to Aung Min. Peace talks between the government and Kachin and Paluang ethnic armed groups are ongoing, with neither having yet committed to a ceasefire. "My work in the peace process is just one part," Aung Min said. "A political dialogue is necessary to have a permanent peace." Despite more than two years of peace negotiations between the government and ethnic armed groups, fighting has flared up from time to time, most notably a government offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) that began late last year and carried on into early 2013. "We need to have a nationwide political dialogue. Before we do this, we need to have a nationwide ceasefire agreement," Aung Min said. "The government will invite 16 ethnic armed groups to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement." Aung Min said there would be no discrimination against any of Burma's ethnic armed groups at the ceasefire signing, which is planned for October. Min Ko Naing said the peace process was being hindered by a lack of transparency and insufficient representation of civilians at the negotiating table. "If there is no transparency, peace talks will not achieve anything. Most peace talks have not been fruitful because they have not brought in the voices of civilians," he said. The case of the Myitsone dam in Kachin State could serve as a template for civilian involvement in the peace process, Min Ko Naing suggested. "We can say we had success with our [Myitsone] movement," he said, referring to protests by local communities that ultimately led Thein Sein to suspend construction of the dam, which would have flooded large tracts of land at the confluence of the N'mai and Mali rivers. "Similarly, if a lot of civilians get involved in this peace process, we will have success." The post Mon Leader Says Equality Key to Peace in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Refuting the Argument That the NLD Is Weak and Without Capacity Posted: 30 Sep 2013 03:56 AM PDT National League for Democracy chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi at the party's 25th anniversary celebrations on Sept. 27, 2013. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) It has become popular to criticize Aung San Suu Kyi for the weaknesses of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The following arguments are used: "Uncles" have not been replaced by the younger and more dynamic leaders. The party lacks policy expertise. It lacks internal democracy. It is a one-woman show. But is the NLD really as weak as it is claimed by some diplomats, pundits, "experts" and political opponents? There are several strong reasons to claim the opposite. First of all, the NLD is the only genuinely mass party in Burma. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has a lot of members, but the overwhelming majority of them joined the USDP for opportunistic reasons or because of fear, or a combination of both. The USDP is massive only because it is the ruling party offering privileges, patronage, advantages and a layer of security. With the prospect of electoral defeat the USDP will be massively deserted, as has happened in former state-parties during many other countries' democratic breakthroughs. The NLD is genuinely popular and supported by a significant segment of population. The USDP is genuinely unpopular. All other parties are thin and weak. That is the underlying bottom line which many "Burma/Myanmar experts" have a tendency to overlook. Second, it is important not to forget the timeframe. Elections took place on Nov. 7, 2010, and have been rightfully described as fraudulent by the UN, the United States, the European Union and many others. A week later, on Nov. 13, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest to divert the negative international media coverage of the elections. Since her release from the house arrest in November 2010 until August 2011 (9 months) Aung San Suu Kyi was repeatedly reminded by the authorities that she is set free, but that she was not allowed to engage politically, that she was allowed to be only "a private person." In this initial phase Aung San Suu Kyi was, with reason, behaving in very cautious way. She was still largely isolated, blocked from action and uncertain about the real intentions of the government. Big numbers of the NLD and other activists, senior and mid-level leaders were still in jail. The NLD as well as many other parties and pro-democracy civil groupings were still banned. Burma's notorious oppressive laws were still unchanged. Only in August 2011 things started to change. Aung San Suu Kyi is for the first time allowed to leave Rangoon on a political visit and she was invited to have a dinner with President Thein Sein and his wife. A few more meetings between Aung San Suu Kyi and government interlocutors took place. Thein Sein' s government was requiring from Aung San Suu Kyi to help them improve the relations with the United States and to have Western sanctions lifted. Suu Kyi has accepted to negotiate. In that particular moment Aung San Suu Kyi' s was internationally and domestically popular, but in terms of real political power, she was extremely weak. One of the few real power assets she possessed was unwillingness of the United States to remove the sanctions unless Suu Kyi agrees or at least does not actively oppose. She basically decided to exchange her trump card to buy for herself, her party, and for other democratic forces, a way out of the corner into which they had been pushed. She was ready to not actively oppose the lifting of sanctions, and in return she required the release of political prisoners (including activists of her own party as well as many others); the right to re-register and re-activate the NLD and the right to become politically active herself. Suu Kyi has got what she asked for. The Party Registration Law has been amended and the NLD was allowed to re-register as a political party in December 2011. The government announced its intention to hold by-elections in April 2012 ,and the revived NLD announced its intention to contend them. A significant number of political prisoners were released in three waves, in October 2011, in January 2012 and in middle of 2012. Parallel to that the banned list was removed and that enabled the return of many exiles. In April 2012, the NLD took part in elections for the first time since 1990 and overwhelmingly won 43 out of 45 seats. Aung San Suu Kyi got herself, her party and other democratic forces out of the corner. The government also got what they wanted. The United States eased their sanctions and the EU has gone even further by suspending almost all sanctions and by opening its representative office in Rangoon. Those who are quick to criticize the NLD for its weaknesses ignore this timeline. They ignore the fact that just two years ago the NLD has been banned, a large number of its experienced and respected activists were in jail, and the country's laws allowed the authorities to put in prison anybody who did anything publicly under the banner of the NLD. Starting from such a disadvantageous position, the NLD has in the meantime achieved quite a lot. It has swept to victory in by-elections. It has quickly revived as the mass membership party with branches all around the country. The NLD foothold in ethnic territories might not be too strong—but even there it has some foothold and it remains to be tested the popularity of the NLD is compared to the other parties. We still do not have data from any reliable opinion surveys. The revived NLD has marginalized small and split-away parties which have been partly manufactured and promoted by both "GONGOs" (government organized nongovernmental organizations) and some foreign political foundations as the alleged "third force." The main intended role of the "third force" has been to help legitimize fraudulent elections and to help marginalize NLD. The opposite has happened; the NLD has reinstated itself as the main opposition party. It has developed a media and information department, which is publishing a daily newspaper that has the biggest circulation from all print media in Burma. It held internal, bottom-up elections for the representatives participating in the first party congress. The party has successfully avoided internal rifts over leadership and seniority. There has been a strong external pressure by the self-proclaimed experts and opinion makers to replace the senior leadership with a younger one. Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD made the right move. They have kept respected elders in the Executive Committee and have expanded it to take on board also new and younger leaders. The stage was successfully set up for gradual change of the leadership which is much more appropriate for Burmese socio-cultural habits. The NLD has a group of members of Parliament, some of them pretty active, and they are learning the lessons of parliamentarianism. In addition to that, and no less important, in Parliament, the NLD members and more so Aung San Suu Kyi herself, are in a position to engage current and former military officers and to reduce mistrust, fear and zero-sum-game-type animosities. In the extraordinary personality of Aung San Suu Kyi the NLD has strong, charismatic leader who is highly popular and capable of setting the agenda and of firmly controlling any internal factional disputes. It has a leader who enjoys fully loyal support from the NLD's army of the grassroots activists. And all that was achieved in just two years, in a legal and political environment which was not favorable and with strong budget limitations. Is that signs of weakness? I would not say so. The NLD is also often criticized for a lack of political program. Yes, that is truth. It is still not visible what the NLD political program is on the economy, energy, health, social affairs etc. But we should put that in context as well. Who else in Burma has a policy program? Who else has capacity? Recently, the top ranks of the government and their technocrat advisory teams are showing the signs of some policy expertise. Nobody else in the country has the needed capacity and that is the consequence of decades of military dictatorship. Instead of dismissing the NLD for the lack of elaborate policy planning, it is a more sound assumption that the NLD has time to develop policy teams and policy plans. There are two more years until the elections. In post-authoritarian situations, long suppressed democratic opposition groups often win the first free elections by having simple and effective messages and by the popularity of their leaders and candidates. Once in power, capacity will quickly develop with a responsibility. Advisers, educated exiles and donor-funded technical assistance will flock even more into the Aung San Suu Kyi led government than has happened with Thien Sein's cabinet. It is very probable that many mistakes will be made—some for the reasons of the lack of capacity and knowledge; some because of wrong decisions, and some because of some specific interest—but that will be far from a total lack of capacity. It is genuinely unfair and hypocritical that many diplomats and pundits now criticize the NLD for the lack of expertise and capability and declare it incapable of taking over responsibility for the governance. The long proven lack of capability on the side of government is on the other side labeled as lack of capacity which requires patience and generous technical and financial assistance. A specific handicap on the side of opposition is used to argue why the NLD and opposition are not ready to take over the government, and the same handicap on the government side is regarded as the call for liverish support and assistance. Another often repeated complaint and criticism of the NLD is that it has put its candidates in by-elections against ethnic party candidates. This is often used to argue that ethnic do not and cannot have trust in the NLD as "yet another Burman only party." But we should be careful with the credibility of this argument. First of all, it is mostly used by the leaders of the small ethnic parties who are simply afraid of NLD competition. They are (over)critical of the NLD because they are aware that in 2015 elections the USDP cannot take votes in "their" ethnic territories, but the NLD maybe can. Ethnic leaders are a highly disparate group of people and it remains to be seen who will really prove to have the support of ethnic voters. There are now many self-declared leaders with very shallow or totally untested support bases. There is a lot competition between different ethnic leaders. It is still too early to make any final judgment. An NLD-ethnic parties alliance could still emerge. It is almost certain that prior to the 2015 elections we will also have the USDP or some Thein Sein-led "reform" party surrounded in a pre- or post-election coalition by a group of ethnic and small "democratic" parties. Second, and more important, is the big and complex question of what is better for the future democratic prospects of Burma. Ethnic parties, particularly the smaller ones, would like to see the NLD withdrawing in the role of the Burman-only party, in order to clear the space for them to compete (and win) in "their" ethnic territories. Such withdrawal would surely be good for the ethnic parties because it would eliminate one serious competitor and make victory easier. But would that be good for the future democratic and development prospects of the country? Democracy needs free and fair multiparty competition, it needs real alternatives for voters to choose. Neither democracy nor development can thrive under cartel deals that divide the spheres of political and territorial influence. Yet another argument often used to criticize Aung San Suu Kyi is the one which says that she has stopped acting as the opposition leader and has become the junior partner and tacit endorser of the post-junta government. Again, that criticism lacks an in-depth understanding of the Burmese political dynamic. What can take Burma out from the poor state in which it found itself after decades of the military rule and mismanagement is the negotiated transition pact similar to one that was struck by the Nelson Mandela and Frederick de Klerk in South Africa. Aung San Suu Kyi has so far rightfully and politically bravely accepted the hard historic mission of helping move transition ahead by taking a conciliatory stand. She has accepted to undergo the serious political risk of alienating and disappointing her core support base in order to give a chance to Thein Sein's government, the military and the USDP-dominated Parliament to move the country toward democracy. Smooth, non-violent transition needs a give-and-take conciliatory and compromise-seeking approach which will not produce losers and winners, but will create a situation in which all sides will need to make some tough sacrifices of their important and long-standing demands, in order to reach a solution that is acceptable for all key players. A negotiated transition is possible only if all sides are ready to give up something in order to gain something else and Aung San Suu Kyi has shown significant political maturity as well as self-confidence by credibly playing her conciliatory role in spite of criticism from many sides. She has been ready to endanger her popularity in order to give a chance to national reconciliation. She stubbornly stuck to her part of the deal even in the moments when President Thein Sein was either unwilling or unable to fulfill his part of the deal. Now, again, the ball is in the court of the government and the military. They need to prove through concrete reforms and not through words and photo-op ceremonies without underlying substance their willingness to undertake fundamental changes and not just time-buying half-reforms. In the article A Recipe for Freedom (which was translated into Burmese and posted on the Irrawaddy site) De Klerk gave good advice for all countries and leaders who want to take their countries away from dictatorship, repression, violence, injustice and discrimination. "The departure point is to convince leaders that fundamental change is necessary", he said and continued: "We had to change fundamentally, to make a 180-degree turn. We could not improve apartheid. We could not make it more acceptable. We had to abandon the concept of separateness and we had to embrace a new vision of togetherness, of one united South Africa, with equal rights for all and an end to discrimination." Thein Sein still needs to prove that his project is a project of the genuine and fundamental change, and is not just an effort to improve old military rule and to make old military and Burman dominance more acceptable. Igor Blazevic is a researcher at the Czech-based Centre for Democracy and Culture and a teacher at the Burma Educational Initiatives The post Refuting the Argument That the NLD Is Weak and Without Capacity appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Suu Kyi, Singapore and the Ties That Bind Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:15 AM PDT Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to the Burmese community living in Singapore on Sept. 22, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Edgar Su) Burma and Singapore have a shared history of colonial occupation and a long relationship as Southeast Asian neighbors. As relations between Burma and Western nations continue to thaw and some bilateral ties are forged for the first time, Singapore and Burma are merely entering a new phase in their sometimes complicated but nonetheless enduring relationship. Due to the strength of that bond, activists and dissident leaders have had a hard time over the years viewing Singapore as a friend of the democracy movement. But ideological principles aside, they quietly or openly admired the Lion City's success story—a tiny island city-state that became one of Asia's economic powerhouses. With democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's landmark visit to Singapore last week, the relationship has the potential to enter a new, more dynamic phase, cementing deeper and more mutually beneficial bilateral ties. Perhaps, as Suu Kyi suggested, the two nations can learn more from each other. But what we learn from Singapore, I pray, will not be all about Asian values, censorship, cyber warfare, authoritarian rule and Singapore-style "democratic elections." Rather, Burma would be best served if it took a page or two from Singapore's book on city planning, tourism, trade, and banking and finance. Perceptions of Singapore as a nation that doesn't pass muster on true freedom and democracy metrics are widely held, but in Burma they have a more personal resonance. Many Burmese still remembered elder Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew's controversial remarks on Burma and Suu Kyi. Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at aungzaw@irrawaddy.org. In April 1996, Lee said the Burmese Army was the only institution capable of "keeping the country stable and preventing civil war," and questioned the ability of Suu Kyi "to govern if ever she came to power." Indignant Burmese held protests outside various Singaporean embassies in the region and burned effigies of Lee, Singapore's first prime minister. Some angry dissident leaders advised the "father of Singapore" to mind his own business, and refrain from insulting the Burmese people. The National League for Democracy (NLD), co-founded by Suu Kyi, was more diplomatic in its response. In a curt statement, the NLD replied: "Mr. Lee is a smart man, but he is not always right." The flak Lee took was substantial, but perhaps he was simply offering a pragmatic assessment of the political landscape that the much-admired Suu Kyi was up against when he said the Nobel Peace laureate should "face the reality of military rule and start cooperating with the regime." The irony is that Suu Kyi is the one today being accused of being "too pragmatic" in cooperating with Burma's nominally civilian government, which is an offshoot of the previous regime. Since 1988, when much of the world condemned Burma's military government for its brutal suppression of pro-democracy protestors, Singapore has remained important to Burma not just as a trading partner, but also for its friendly relations with the regime. The island state has been accused of supporting the brutal and repressive junta in Burma, as were many other Asian governments who failed to even feign concern as Burma's government gunned down or beat to death thousands of its own citizens. That silence stood in contrast to Western governments that vocally denounced the regime and its abysmal human rights record. Singapore has defended its stance toward Burma by aligning itself with countries that backed a "Constructive Engagement" policy toward the regime that also locked up dissidents and waged decades-long war against its ethnic minority groups. The Lion City is also known to have taken in several prominent Burmese nationals, among them the former dictators Gen Ne Win and Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who have sought medical treatment at Singapore's first-rate facilities. Tycoons and cronies in pursuit of leisure or hospital care have also been warmly welcomed by the island, which has long been a home away from home to those Burmese who can afford it. From the medical tourism of dictators and cronies to drug lords buying up luxury condos for holiday getaways, Burma's well-to-do few have in their own small way helped fuel the economic success story of Singapore. On the lower rungs of society, Singapore is also a haven to many young Burmese who emigrate there seeking low-wage jobs or an education, perhaps settling down into a stable existence that allows them to support families back home. You can find these blue-collar workers in Peninsula Plaza, also known as "Little Burma." Recent reports that billions of dollars were being held in Singaporean bank accounts were just the latest allegations to highlight the special banking relationship that the two nations have. A widely held assumption among Burmese is that any time rumors swirl of state funds gone missing, a Singaporean bank is likely at the end of the money trail. A well-connected businessman in Rangoon recently told me that several bank accounts have been opened in Singapore to procure weapons and hardware for a Burmese military that is still hindered by US and EU sanctions. But where is the evidence? I asked. He just laughed. Singaporean banks have been repeatedly accused of serving as money laundering vehicles for Burmese narcotics traffickers as well. Robert Gelbard, former US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, made the observation in February 1997 that, "since 1988, over half of [the investments from] Singapore have been tied to the family of narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han," a Burmese drug kingpin known as the "Godfather of Heroin." Lo Hsing Han passed away earlier this year. His son Steven Law, who is managing director of Asia World, was put on a US blacklist in 1996 for suspected drug ties. I still remember when, in the early 1990s, regional publications including the now defunct Far Eastern Economic Review began reporting on private companies in Singapore that were allegedly arranging for the sale of weapons to Burma. Several regional papers reported that Singapore's role as a major arms supplier to the regime began in October 1988, when Allied Ordnance, a subsidiary of Chartered Industries of Singapore, the arms branch of government-owned Singapore Technologies, shipped hundreds of boxes, believed to contain mortars, ammunition and raw materials for Burma's own arms factories, to Rangoon. Since then, it is believed that firms based in Singapore have continued to supply weapons directly to Burma, and Singaporean brokers have facilitated arms sales from other sources, including Belgium and Israel. It is said that Singapore's armed forces have also cooperated closely with the Burmese military to provide training, while Singapore Technologies has provided the regime with a state-of-the-art "cyber-war center." Singaporean leaders' deep interest in Burma remains evident today. It is different from the Thais, perennially prone as they are to misgivings about their neighbor to the west and perhaps mindful of the unpleasant historical memory of Burmese troops' 18th century sacking of the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. And because Thailand is a refuge for many dissidents and exile advocacy groups, a mutual distrust from Burma's former military regime was understandable. It is no wonder, then, that the Singapore bond is arguably one of Burma's tightest. While Western nations were putting the squeeze on via economic sanctions, Singapore increased its assistance and trade with Burma. The late dictator Gen Ne Win was a friend of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew. But Ne Win didn't listen to his old pal, who since the 1970s had attempted to persuade the general and his ministers to open up the country and promote tourism. The late dictator instead shut the door. Lee saw Burma's potential—that it could one day count itself among the ranks of the "Asian tigers," but Ne Win missed all that. With the Burmese general's death, Lee's visits to Burma stopped, but his disciples kept coming—and the message they carried was the same. Backing the regime was costly to Singapore as Burma's "domestic affairs" increasingly became a headache for Asean diplomats and heads of state. Asean leaders including Singapore condemned the brutal crackdown on monk-led uprising in 2007. In 2008, the regime was accused of ignoring the plight of victims of Cyclone Nargis, a catastrophic disaster that caused some 140,000 fatalities in the Irrawaddy delta. Western governments including the United States anchored warships off Burmese shores to provide humanitarian relief and disaster assistance, but the generals refused the offer. Asean finally had to step in to provide humanitarian aid. While the southern part of country was under water and still reeling from Nargis, the regime forcibly approved a military-backed Constitution. Trouble did not stop there. In 2009, Suu Kyi had to stand trial in a kangaroo court after she was accused of allowing an American, John William Yettaw, to swim across the lake behind her home in Rangoon, coming ashore on her property in an act that Suu Kyi had no control over. It was this incident that prompted Goh Chok Tong, Singapore's senior minister, to fly to Burma with a message. In meetings with Burma's top brass, Goh acknowledged that the Suu Kyi trial was a domestic affair, but he pointed out that there was an international dimension to it that should not be ignored. Goh then stressed that the upcoming 2010 elections must be inclusive and that the opposition NLD and Suu Kyi must be part of the process of national reconciliation. Goh was the first foreign leader to meet then Snr-Gen Than Shwe since the trial began, and he used the occasion to deliver a political message to the leaders. "I don't believe any Singapore investors would come in a big way before the picture is clear, before this move to democracy is seen to produce results." Burmese leaders received the message. But then Goh, like his compatriot Lee before him, took a jibe at Suu Kyi. Goh told reporters at the Asia-Middle East Media Roundtable in Singapore that while the West sees Suu Kyi as the solution to Burma's problems, she is also "part of problem" because she believes she is the government. He also suggested that the NLD needed to seek a fresh mandate in the 2010 elections, saying Suu Kyi should not dwell on the fact that her party's victory in the 1990 elections was not recognized by the junta. "That was 19 years ago, that's history. If she realizes she has to be part of the solution, she has to offer some concessions, such as to publicly say that she would be in favor of the lifting of sanctions. "Myanmar [Burma] has the potential to boom in the next 10 years and it can be like Thailand's today in 20 years' time," Goh said. Many hope Goh was right about the future. Last week in Singapore, Suu Kyi met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several chief executives from some of the world's biggest companies, along with visits to two universities and Singapore's successful anti-corruption bureau. Reflecting on her trip, Suu Kyi offered praise for her hosts, but also got in a dig of her own. "I want to learn a lot from the standards that Singapore has been able to achieve, but I wonder whether we don't want something more for our country," she told reporters as she prepared to return home. She added: "Perhaps Singapore could learn from us a more relaxed way of life." As this latest chapter in Burma-Singapore relations unfolds, "something more" might also include a more principled stance on democratic values. Suu Kyi's fight for a government beholden to its people propelled her to international fame, and it's a Lion City shortcoming that Burma's pro-democracy forces have long felt the bite of.   The post Suu Kyi, Singapore and the Ties That Bind appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Protesters Attempt March from Mandalay to Copper Mine Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:56 AM PDT Police intervene to try to stall a protest march as it begins in Mandalay on Sunday. (Photo: Tay Za Hlaing / The Irrawaddy) About 60 protesters on Sunday began a peaceful march from Mandalay to the controversial Letpadaung copper mining project in Sagaing Division, calling for the Chinese company developing the mine not to destroy an ancient religious building. The demonstrators on Monday agreed to cancel their march after authorities promised to meet their demands. But the agreement only came after a confrontation as the march began on Sunday. About 100 police followed the protesters closely and briefly detained several people involved in walking to the mining site, which is about 95 miles by road. The mostly female protesters, including five monks and activists, are from Letpadaung, Mandalay and Rangoon. They launched the march to demand protection for an ancient ordination hall and temple—established by an influential Buddhist monk, Letti Sayadaw—which is under threat of being destroyed to make way for the massive copper project. On Sunday, the protesters had a verbal confrontation and minor clashes with police, after several of the marchers were detained. The protesters were soon released after negotiations. Si Thu, one of the group's leaders, told Irrawaddy that the attempt to crackdown the peaceful march is against the freedom of expression. "We are peacefully marching to ask them not to destroy the temple of Letti Sayardaw. We do nothing against the law." He said. "Trying to treat us brutally is shameful for the government as this shows we do not have freedom of expression while we are going on the path to democracy." The protesters stayed at a Buddhist monastery in Sagaing on Sunday night and engaged in negotiations Monday morning. On Monday, local authorities and representatives of the demonstrators, including monks, signed an agreement that the authorities would meet three demands of the protesters if they stop their march. Authorities pledged to ensure the hall is not destroyed, that none of the marchers will be prosecuted and that local residents in Latpadaung will be allowed to worship at the Buddhist temple. The demonstrators were to be escorted back to their homes by police on Monday. The Letpadaung copper mine is a multi-million dollar project by Chinese-backed Wanbao Mining Ltd in partnership with the Burmese military-backed Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL). Operations were suspended at the US$600 million project in November after authorities violently cracked down on peaceful demonstrators opposed to its environmental and social impacts. Following an investigation by a parliamentary committee, a new deal was announced in July with the government saying local communities would now benefit from the project. Under the new terms the government will take a 51 percent stake in the mine, which is expected to produce 40,000 tons of copper per month. This story was updated at 4:20 p.m. Monday, September 30, 2013.   The post Protesters Attempt March from Mandalay to Copper Mine appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma’s Old Guard Clings to $8B Jade Empire Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:33 PM PDT Hand-pickers search for jade through rubble dumped by mining companies at a jade mine in Hpakant Township, Kachin State July 8, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) HPAKANT, Kachin State — Tin Tun picked all night through teetering heaps of rubble to find the palm-sized lump of jade he now holds in his hand. He hopes it will make him a fortune. It's happened before. "Last year I found a stone worth 50 million kyat," he said, trekking past the craters and slag heaps of this notorious jade-mining region in northwest Burma. That's about US$50,000—and it was more than enough money for Tin Tun, 38, to buy land and build a house in his home village. But rare finds by small-time prospectors like Tin Tun pale next to the staggering wealth extracted on an industrial scale by Burma's military, the tycoons it helped enrich, and companies linked to the country where most jade ends up: China. Almost half of all jade sales are "unofficial"—that is, spirited over the border into China with little or no formal taxation. This represents billions of dollars in lost revenues that could be spent on rebuilding a nation shattered by nearly half a century of military dictatorship. Official statistics confirm these missing billions. Burma produced more than 43 million kg of jade in fiscal year 2011/12 (April to March). Even valued at a conservative $100 per kg, it was worth $4.3 billion. But official exports of jade that year stood at only $34 million. Official Chinese statistics only deepen the mystery. China doesn't publicly report how much jade it imports from Burma. But jade is included in official imports of precious stones and metals, which in 2012 were worth $293 million—a figure still too small to explain where billions of dollars of Burmese jade has gone. Such squandered wealth symbolizes a wider challenge in Burma, an impoverished country whose natural resources—including oil, timber and precious metals—have long fueled armed conflicts while enriching only powerful individuals or groups. In a rare visit to the heart of Burma's secretive jade-mining industry in Hpakant, Reuters found an anarchic region where soldiers and ethnic rebels clash, and where mainland Chinese traders rub shoulders with heroin-fueled "handpickers" who are routinely buried alive while scavenging for stones. Myint Aung, Burma's Minister of Mines, did not reply to written questions from Reuters about the jade industry's missing millions and social costs. Since a reformist government took office in March 2011, Burma has pinned its economic hopes on the resumption of foreign aid and investment. Some economists argue, however, that Burma's prosperity and unity may depend upon claiming more revenue from raw materials. There are few reliable estimates on total jade sales that include unofficial exports. The Harvard Ash Center, which advises Burma's quasi-civilian government, has possibly the best numbers available. After sending researchers to the area this year, the Harvard Ash Center published a report in July that put sales of Burmese jade at about $8 billion in 2011. That's more than double the country's revenue from natural gas and nearly a sixth of its 2011 GDP. "Practically nothing is going to the government," David Dapice, the report's co-author, told Reuters. "What you need is a modern system of public finance in which the government collects some part of the rents from mining this stuff." Hiding Stones Chinese have prized jade for its beauty and symbolism for millennia. Many believe wearing jade jewelry brings good fortune, prosperity and longevity. It is also viewed as an investment, a major factor driving China's appetite for Burmese jade. "Gold is valuable, but jade is priceless," runs an old Chinese saying. Jade is not only high value but easy to transport. "Only the stones they cannot hide go to the emporiums," said Tin Soe, 53, a jade trader in Hpakant, referring to the official auctions held in Burma's capital of Naypyitaw. The rest is smuggled by truck to China by so-called "jockeys" through territory belonging to either the Burmese military or the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), both of whom extract tolls. The All China Jade Trade Association, a state-linked industry group based in Beijing, declined repeated requests for an interview. Hpakant lies in Kachin State, a rugged region sandwiched strategically between China and India. Nowhere on Earth does jade exist in such quantity and quality. "Open the ground, let the country abound," reads the sign outside the Hpakant offices of the Ministry of Mines. In fact, few places better symbolize how little Burma benefits from its fabulous natural wealth. The road to Hpakant has pot-holes bigger than the four-wheel-drive cars that negotiate it. During the rainy season, it can take nine hours to reach from Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital 110 km (68 miles) away. Non-Burmese are rarely granted official access to Hpakant, but taxi-drivers routinely take Chinese traders there for exorbitant fees, part of which goes to dispensing bribes at police and military checkpoints. The official reason for restricting access to Hpakant is security: the Burmese military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have long vied for control of the road, which is said to be flanked with land-mines. But the restrictions also serve to reduce scrutiny of the industry's biggest players and its horrific social costs: the mass deaths of workers and some of the highest heroin addiction and HIV infection rates in Burma. There are also "obvious" links between jade and conflict in Kachin State, said analyst Richard Horsey, a former United Nations senior official in Burma. A 17-year ceasefire between the military and the KIA ended when fighting erupted in June 2011. It has since displaced at least 100,000 people. "Such vast revenues—in the hands of both sides—have certainly fed into the conflict, helped fund insurgency, and will be a hugely complicating factor in building a sustainable peace economy," Horsey said. The United States banned imports of jade, rubies and other Burmese gemstones in 2008 in a bid to cut off revenue to the military junta which then ruled Burma. But soaring demand from neighboring China meant the ban had little effect. After Burma's reformist government took power, the United States scrapped or suspended almost all economic and political sanctions—but not the ban on jade and rubies. It was renewed by the White House on August 7 in a sign that Burma's anarchic jade industry remains a throwback to an era of dictatorship. The U.S. Department of the Treasury included the industry in activities that "contribute to human rights abuses or undermine Burma's democratic reform process." Foreign companies are not permitted to extract jade. But mining is capital intensive, and it is an open secret that most of the 20 or so largest operations in Hpakant are owned by Chinese companies or their proxies, say gem traders and other industry insiders in Kachin State. "Of course, some [profit] goes to the government," said Yup Zaw Hkawng, chairman of Jadeland Burma, the most prominent Kachin mining company in Hpakant. "But mostly it goes into the pockets of Chinese families and the families of the former [Burmese] government." Other players include the Union of Burma Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL), the investment arm of the country's much-feared military, and Burmese tycoons such as Zaw Zaw, chairman of Max Burma, who made their fortunes collaborating with the former junta. The China Connection Soldiers guard the big mining companies and sometimes shoot in the air to scare off small-time prospectors. "We run like crazy when we see them," said Tin Tun, the handpicker. UMEHL is notoriously tight-lipped about its operations. "Stop bothering us," Major Myint Oo, chief of human resources at UMEHL's head office in downtown Yangon, told Reuters. "You can't just come in here and meet our superiors. This is a military company. Some matters must be kept secret." This arrangement, whereby Chinese companies exploit natural resources with military help, is both familiar and deeply controversial in Burma. Last year, protests outside the Letpadaung copper mine in northwest Burma triggered a violent police crackdown. The mine's two operators—UMEHL and Myanmar Wanbao, a unit of Chinese weapons manufacturer China North Industries Corp—shared most of the profits, leaving the government with just 4 percent. That contract was revised in July in an apparent attempt to appease public anger. The government now gets 51 percent of the profits, while UMEHL and Myanmar Wanbao get 30 and 19 percent respectively. China's domination of the jade trade could feed into a wider resentment over its exploitation of Burma's natural wealth. A Chinese-led plan to build a $3.6 million dam at the Irrawaddy River's source in Kachin State—and send most of the power it generated to Yunnan Province—was suspended in 2011 by President Thein Sein amid popular outrage. The national and local governments should also get a greater share of Kachin State's natural wealth, say analysts and activists. That includes gold, timber and hydropower, but especially jade. A two-week auction held in the capital Naypyidaw in June sold a record-breaking $2.6 billion in jade and gems. But jade tax revenue in 2011 amounted to only 20 percent of the official sales. Add in all the "unofficial" sales outside of the emporium, and Harvard calculates an effective tax rate of about 7 percent on all Burmese jade. It is, on the other hand, highly lucrative for the mining companies, whose estimated cost of production is $400 a ton, compared with an official sales figure of $126,000 a ton, the report said. "Kachin, and by extension Myanmar, cannot be peaceful and politically stable without some equitable sharing of resource revenues with the local people," said analyst Horsey. The Pecking Order At the top of the pecking order in Hpakant are cashed-up traders from China, who buy stones displayed on so-called "jade tables" in Hpakant tea-shops. The tables are run by middleman called laoban ("boss" in Chinese), who are often ethnic Chinese. They buy jade from, and sometimes employ, handpickers like Tin Tun. The handpickers are at the bottom of the heap—literally. They swarm in their hundreds across mountains of rubble dumped by the mining companies. It is perilous work, especially when banks and slag heaps are destabilized by monsoon rain. Landslides routinely swallow 10 or 20 men at a time, said Too Aung, 30, a handpicker from the Kachin town of Bhamo. "Sometimes we can't even dig out their bodies," he said. "We don't know where to look." In 2002, at least a thousand people were killed when flood waters inundated a mine, Jadeland Myanmar chairman Yup Zaw Hkawng told Reuters. Deaths are common but routinely concealed by companies eager to avoid suspending operations, he said. The boom in Hpakant's population coincided with an exponential rise in opium production in Burma, the world's second-largest producer after Afghanistan. Its derivative, heroin, is cheap and widely available in Kachin State, and Hpakant's workforce seems to run on it. About half the handpickers use heroin, while others rely on opium or alcohol, said Tin Soe, 53, a jade trader and a local leader of the opposition National League for Democracy party. "It's very rare to find someone who doesn't do any of these," he said. Official figures on heroin use in Hpakant are hard to get. The few foreign aid workers operating in the area, mostly working with drug users, declined comment for fear of upsetting relations with the Burma government. But health workers say privately about 40 percent of injecting drug users in Hpakant are HIV positive—twice the national average. Drug use is so intrinsic to jade mining that "shooting galleries" operate openly in Hpakant, with workers often exchanging lumps of jade for hits of heroin. Soe Moe, 39, came to Hpakant in 1992. Three years later, he was sniffing heroin, then injecting it. His habit now devours his earnings as a handpicker. "When I'm on [heroin], I feel happier and more energetic. I work better," he said. The shooting gallery he frequents accommodates hundreds of users. "The place is so busy it's like a festival," he said. Soe Moe said he didn't fear arrest, because the gallery owners paid off the police. Moving Mountains Twenty years ago, Hpakant was controlled by KIA insurgents who for a modest fee granted access to small prospectors. Four people with iron picks could live off the jade harvested from a small plot of land, said Yitnang Ze Lum of the Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association (MGJEA) in Myitkyina. A 1994 ceasefire brought most of Hpakant back under government control, and large-scale extraction began, with hundreds of backhoes, earthmovers and trucks working around the clock. "Now even a mountain lasts only three months," said Yitnang Ze Lum. Many Kachin businessmen, unable to compete in terms of capital or technology, were shut out of the industry. Non-Kachin workers poured in from across Burma, looking for jobs and hoping to strike it rich. The mines were closed in mid-2012 when the conflict flared up again. Burma's military shelled suspected KIA positions; the rebels retaliated with ambushes along the Hpakant road. Thousands of people were displaced. Jade production plunged to just 19.08 million kg in the 2012/13 fiscal year from 43.1 million kg the previous year. But the government forged a preliminary ceasefire with the Kachin rebels in May, and some traders predict Hpakant's mines will re-open when the monsoon ends in October. When operations are in full swing, the road to Hpakant is clogged with vehicles bringing fuel in and jade out. Such is the scale and speed of modern extraction, said Yitnang Ze Lum, Hpakant's jade could be gone within 10 years. "Every Kachin feels passionately that their state's resources are being taken away," a leading Myitkyina gem trader told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "But we're powerless to stop them." The post Burma's Old Guard Clings to $8B Jade Empire appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Filipino Troops Kill 7 Rebels After Hostage Crisis Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:12 PM PDT A government soldier takes a position with a machinegun during fighting with Muslim rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga city last month. (Photo: Reuters) MANILA — Philippine troops killed seven more Muslim rebels in gunbattles in the coastal outskirts of a southern city they were clearing of bodies, bombs, weapons and possible booby traps following a three-week standoff with insurgents who held scores of people hostage, officials said Sunday. Army troops and special police forces killed six Moro National Liberation Front rebels who were hiding in a house in Zamboanga city’s Santa Barbara community Sunday and refused to surrender. Another rebel was slain by troops in a clash Saturday in nearby Rio Hondo, one of five communities occupied by nearly 500 insurgents on Sept. 9, military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said. Troops recovered seven assault rifles and a grenade launcher used by the slain rebels, he said. “Definitely the worst is over,” Zagala told reporters, but added that it would be dangerous for residents to return until government forces have finished a two-week inspection of the battered communities. Defense and military officials declared the rebel standoff and hostage crisis over Saturday, saying 195 residents seized by the rebels as human shields had been rescued safely, escaped or were freed. More than 4,000 troops and police killed 190 rebels, while 292 other insurgents were either captured or surrendered out of exhaustion and after running out of food and ammunition. While troops remained as a backup force, police took charge Sunday of the house-to-house inspections in search of any more rebel holdouts and the dangerous leftovers from the standoff, which paralyzed the port city of nearly a million people. Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said Zamboanga’s city hall would be reopened Monday. A tribute will be given to the 18 soldiers, five police officers and about a dozen civilians who died in the rebel siege in the bustling port, which has crawled back to life after the fierce clashes that displaced about 130,000 people — more than a tenth of the city’s population. Zamboanga officials were working on a plan to rebuild hard-hit communities, where nearly 10,000 houses were burned by the rebels or got destroyed in the fighting. Officials will have to continue feeding and tending to tens of thousands of displaced residents who remained in 32 emergency shelters and have to be relocated to temporary settlements at some point, Climaco-Salazar said. Authorities were trying to determine whether Habier Malik, the most prominent of seven rebel commanders who led the siege, was dead. Troops found Malik’s rebel identification card in one of the clothes of a slain rebel who resembled him, sparking speculation that he may have been killed. A military official, however, said the slain rebel was Malik’s aide, who also kept his international driver’s license and temporary resident’s certificate in Saudi Arabia, where the rebel commander once lived with his wife. The official, who was involved in efforts to identify the slain rebels, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. President Benigno Aquino III ordered an offensive that began on Sept. 13 after the rebels refused to surrender and free their hostages. The rebel faction involved in the fighting dropped its demand for a separate Muslim state and signed an autonomy deal with the government in 1996, but the guerrillas did not lay down their arms and later accused the government of reneging on a promise to develop long-neglected Muslim regions. The faction’s leader, Nur Misuari, has not surfaced since the siege began, but will be prosecuted along with captured guerrillas for rebellion and violating international humanitarian laws that forbid the taking civilians hostage for use as human shields, according to government prosecutors. The post Filipino Troops Kill 7 Rebels After Hostage Crisis appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Xi Jinping Hopes Traditional Faiths Can Fill Moral Void in China Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:56 PM PDT Worshippers pray during the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival at a temple in Hong Kong August 25, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — President Xi Jinping believes China is losing its moral compass and he wants the ruling Communist Party to be more tolerant of traditional faiths in the hope these will help fill a vacuum created by the country's breakneck growth and rush to get rich, sources said. Xi, who grew up in Mao's puritan China, is troubled by what he sees as the country's moral decline and obsession with money, said three independent sources with ties to the leadership. He hopes China's "traditional cultures" or faiths—Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism—will help fill a void that has allowed corruption to flourish, the sources said. Skeptics see it as a cynical move to try to curb rising social unrest and perpetuate one-party rule. During the early years under Communism, China's crime rate was low and corruption rare. By contrast, between 2008 and 2012 about 143,000 government officials—or an average of 78 a day—were convicted of graft or dereliction of duty, according to a Supreme Court report to Parliament in March. Xi intensified an anti-corruption campaign when he became party and military chief in November, but experts say only deep and difficult political reforms will make a difference. Meanwhile, barely a day goes by without soul-searching on the Internet over what some see as a moral numbness in China—whether it's over graft, the rampant sale of adulterated food or incidents such as when a woman gouged out the eyes of her six-year-old nephew this month for unknown reasons. "Xi understands that the anti-corruption [drive] can only cure symptoms and that reform of the political system and faiths are needed to cure the disease of corruption," one of the sources told Reuters, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions for discussing elite politics. Government agencies would moderate policies towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in the hope these faiths would also help placate the disaffected who cannot afford homes, education and medical treatment, the sources said. "The influence of religions will expand, albeit subtly," a second source said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. "Traditional cultures will not be comprehensively popularized, but attacks on them will be avoided." Skeptics described such tactics as a ploy to divert blame away from the party for the many problems that anger ordinary Chinese, from corruption to land grabs. "Buddhists accept their destiny and blame their predicament on the bad deeds they did in their previous lives," said Hu Jia, an AIDS activist and Buddhist who has been intermittently under house arrest since his release in 2011 after serving 42 months in prison for subversion. Genuine Religious Freedom Religious freedom is enshrined in the Constitution but the officially atheist Communist Party has no qualms about crushing those who challenge its rule. The party is paranoid and would remain vigilant against cults and feudal superstition, the sources added. China banned Falun Gong as a cult and has jailed hundreds, if not thousands, of adherents since 1999. Former president Jiang Zemin also defrocked and put under house arrest a six-year-old boy anointed by the Dalai Lama as the second holiest figure in Tibetan Buddhism in 1995. "Relaxation and suppression go hand in hand," said Nicholas Bequelin, of New York-based Human Rights Watch. "In China, religion must serve the state," Bequelin said. "There is greater religious freedom in China…but to what extent is the party ready to allow genuine religious freedom?" Washington will also need convincing. In its 2012 report on international religious freedom, the US State Department said Chinese officials and security organs scrutinized and restricted the activities of registered and unregistered religious and spiritual groups. The government harassed, detained, arrested or sentenced to prison a number of adherents for activities reportedly related to their religious beliefs and practice, it said. Indeed, conservatives in the party still frown on what they see as "religious infiltration." Zhu Weiqun, a vice chairman of the top advisory body to Parliament, warned in an interview with China Newsweek magazine in June that party members should not even practice any religion. Others think change is in the air. "This is for real," Lin Chong-Pin, a Taipei-based veteran China watcher and former government policymaker, said by telephone. "To save the party and the state from the current crises, Xi must fill the spiritual void." A 'Spiritual Civilization' In a sign of the changes Xi wants, Zhang Lebin, deputy director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, wrote a commentary in July in the party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily, that said "treating religions well should become a common consensus…and the right to practice religions should be protected." The following month, Xi called for building both a "material and spiritual civilization"—Communist jargon for growth and morality. Back in February, Xi met Taiwan's top Buddhist monk, Hsing Yun, in Beijing along with a delegation of dignitaries from the self-ruled island which Beijing claims as its own. Meetings between top Chinese and religious leaders are rare. Hsing Yun was banned from China in the early 1990s for giving sanctuary to a senior Chinese official at his temple in the United States after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. He is now a bestselling author in China. "President Xi and his family have feelings for Buddhism," said Xiao Wunan, executive vice chairman of the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, a Beijing-backed non-governmental organization. In yet another sign, Yu Zhengsheng, ranked fourth in the Communist hierarchy, visited five temples in Tibetan areas in July and August and a mosque in western Xinjiang province in May—unprecedented for such a senior leader in terms of frequency. Mao Purged Confucius, Posthumously China estimates it has 50 million practitioners of Buddhism and Taoism, 23 million Protestants, 21 million Muslims and 5.5 million Catholics. Independent experts put the number of practitioners of Buddhism, Taoism and folk religions at between 100-300 million. Chinese emperors embraced Confucianism for centuries, encouraging the philosopher's teachings of filial piety and respect for teachers and authority. Mao then posthumously purged Confucius in the early 1970s. Confucianism has since made a comeback, although not a smooth one. A 9.5-metre (30-foot), 17-tonne statue of Confucius was erected in 2011 outside a Beijing museum adjacent to Tiananmen Square, not far from a portrait of Mao which overlooks the area. It vanished weeks later with no official reason given. Conservatives celebrated its removal, which came on the heels of an online uproar about the statue's location. Buddhism was virtually wiped out during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution when temples were shut and Buddhist statues smashed. It has crept back although China maintains tight control in Tibet where monks and nuns have been jailed for their loyalty to the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule. About 120 Tibetans have set themselves alight in protest against Chinese rule since 2009. Most have died. Taoism, or Daoism, a philosophy-turned-religion preaches living in harmony with nature and simplicity. Nevertheless, despite the emphasis on fostering more openness for traditional faiths, one thing in the world's second biggest economy will remain the same. "Economic development is still the No. 1 [priority]. Moral development is No. 2," the third source said. The post Xi Jinping Hopes Traditional Faiths Can Fill Moral Void in China appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Gods Forbid: India’s Temples Guard Their Gold From Govt Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:40 PM PDT Hindu devotees leave Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala. (Photo: Reuters / Danish Siddiqui) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India — India's Hindu temples are resisting divulging their gold holdings—perhaps nearly half the amount held in Fort Knox—amid mistrust of the motives of authorities who are trying to cut a hefty import bill that is hurting the economy. The central bank, which has already taken steps that have slowed to a trickle the incoming supplies that have exacerbated India's current account deficit, has sent letters to some of the country's richest temples asking for details of their gold. It says the inquiries are simply data collection, but Hindu groups are up in arms. "The gold stored in temples was contributed by devotees over thousands of years and we will not allow anyone to usurp it," said V Mohanan, secretary of the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad organization in Kerala state, in a statement. Indians buy as much as 2.3 tons of gold, on average, every day—the weight of a small elephant—and what they don't give to the gods is mostly hoarded. Jewelry is handed down as heirlooms and stored away with bars and coins as a hedge against inflation or a source of quick funds in an emergency. That is costing the economy dear. Gold imports totaled $54 billion in the year ending March 31, 2013, the biggest non-essential item shipped in from overseas and a major factor in swelling the current account deficit to a record in 2012-13. Guruvayur temple, in Kerala, one of the most sacred in India and boasting a 33.5-metre (110-ft) gold-plated flagstaff, has already told the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) it won't divulge any details. "The gold we have is mostly offered by the devotees. They would not like the details to be shared with anybody," said V M Gopala Menon, commissioner of the temple's administrative board. The World Gold Council estimates there are about 2,000 tons of gold locked away in temples—worth about $84 billion at current prices—which Indian devotees have offered in the form of jewelry, bars, coins and even replicas of body parts, in the hope of winning favors from the gods or in thanks for blessings received and health restored. Curbing gold imports and getting the gold squirreled away back into circulation has become a priority for the government and RBI this year. Import duty is at a record 10 percent and the latest new rule—that 20 percent of all imports must leave the country as jewelry exports—caused confusion that dried up buying for two months. The head of the Hindu nationalist main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala state, V Muralidharan, said the RBI wanted to "take possession" of the gold and maybe sell it for dollars. Data Collecting? The central bank said there was "no proposal under its consideration to convert idle gold into bullion at this juncture." But its letters, sent to leading temple trusts in Kerala, were prompted by a report looking at "issues related to gold imports" and loans outside the banking system in February, which zeroed in on temples and domestic hoards for fresh supplies. Under the heading "supply-related measures," the report looks at recycling domestic gold and notes: "Temples in India hold large quantities of gold jewelry offered by devotees to the deities." Subha Unnikrishnan, a clothes shop owner worshipping at one of the temples in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram, said whatever had been given to the temple should stay there. "We have given it to the god with a purpose," he said. "Nobody can take them away." Of the three major temple boards in Kerala, which administer more than 2,800 temples, Cochin board has also decided against providing details of its gold, while another has yet to decide and a third says it has not yet received a letter from the RBI. Some of them cite security reasons for their reticence—and the wealthiest temples do have tight controls and metal detectors at gates to keep their assets safe. There has been no inquiry from the RBI yet at the centuries-old Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, where two years ago treasure then estimated to be worth over $20 billion—more than India's education budget—was discovered in secret subterranean vaults. But its hoard is already being checked by the Supreme Court to make sure it is adequately protected. There are some, for sure, who feel the temples should divulge their centuries of gold offerings. "Everything the temple gets should be known to the devotees," said Shankaram Kutty, head of an advertising firm based in Cochin, who goes at least once a year to Guruvayur with an offering. "I feel every temple should declare their assets." Mumbai's Shree Siddhivinayak Ganpati temple, often visited by Bollywood celebrities, had already put 10 kg (22 lbs) of its gold into a bank deposit scheme. It still has 140 kg in its vault. "The gold we have is the nation's property, we will be proud if the nation can benefit from it," said Subhash Vitthal Mayekar, chairman of the temple's administrative trust. He has not yet received an inquiry from the RBI. It is not alone. The Tirupati temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, considered one of India's richest, has lodged 2,250 kg of gold with the State Bank of India, which pays it interest. As the central bank ponders its options, it could take heart that the temples themselves are already doing their bit to circulate the gold. "We use some of it for making gold lockets that we sell in our temple counter. For making the lockets, we send some gold to the Mumbai mint through the State Bank of India, which is one of our bankers," said a source at the Guruvayur temple's administration. The post Gods Forbid: India's Temples Guard Their Gold From Govt appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

No Soft Touch Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:11 PM PDT In this cover story first appeared in Oct, 2007 print issue of The Irrawaddy Magazine, Kyaw Zwa Moe, the editor of the magazine (English edition), writes about women's forefront involvement to combat and promote democracy in Burma. The women of Burma have always been a force to reckon with As the mother of a four-month-old baby, Nilar Thein should be at home now, caring for her little daughter. Instead, she's a fugitive with a price on her head, in hiding from Burmese government forces desperate to silence her and other outspoken activists. For Nilar Thein, 35, it was a clear choice—whether to remain silent in the interests of her family or to join in the movement to bring democracy to Burma, knowing she risked jail and separation from her baby. She took the second course of action, believing that in the long run it would benefit her daughter far more than if she had done nothing. By working for democratic change in Burma, she hoped to "bring about a bright future for my daughter," Nilar Thein told The Irrawaddy from her hiding place. "Only if we end this bad system will the future of Burma's people, including my daughter's, be bright," she said. "I love my daughter. I had to leave her, but I believe she will later understand why." Nilar Thein fled into hiding when authorities rounded up leaders of the recent demonstrations against the government's latest round of severe price increases. Her husband Kyaw Min Yu (aka Jimmy), was arrested and imprisoned, along with more than 100 other activists. The young mother wasn't the only woman to risk the wrath of the authorities and to place her family and her livelihood in jeopardy. Dozens of women from the 88 Generation Students group and the opposition National League for Democracy braved the taunts and brutality of thugs who broke up their peaceful demonstrations. Among them was Mie Mie, mother of two children and a member of the 88 Generation Students group, as well as HIV/AIDS activist Phyu Phyu Thin, labor rights leader Su Su Nway and Naw Ohn Hla of the NLD. Women have always been in the forefront of efforts in Burma to combat oppression and promote democracy, but their involvement has grown deeper and stronger since the late 1990s. They have shown themselves ever more ready to confront the authorities and defy successive crackdowns. Their place in the pro-democracy struggle took on new importance when thousands of Burma's menfolk were imprisoned or forced to flee the country at the time of the 1988 uprising. With compassion and total dedication they stood by their families while reinforcing the leadership of the weakened opposition movement—a truly heroic undertaking. "An idea or action tends to come out of a feeling or suffering," said respected Burmese author Kyi Oo. "They [Burmese women] have faced hardships and lengthy imprisonment. Their unusual dedication and sacrifice came out of such hardships." The 83-year-old veteran author of several books on Burma's women expressed admiration for the efforts of Nilar Thein and her fellow activists, Phyu Phyu Thin, Mie Mie, Su Su Nway and Naw Ohn Hla. Nilar Thein's struggle for a just society is rooted in her experience of the 1988 uprising, when she witnessed how government soldiers killed, beat and arrested demonstrators outside her Rangoon home. "I still hear those voices in my ears and see those scenes in my mind," she said. "I desperately want to get rid of this evil system." During a 1996 demonstration, Nilar Thein was prompted to slap Rangoon's police chief, who repeatedly ordered his troops to beat her. The police officers at first ignored the order, but when she slapped the police chief she was thrown into a vehicle and driven away to jail. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment for slapping the police chief and to a further seven for her political activities. Nilar Thein spent eight years and nine months in two notorious prisons, Insein and Tharawaddy. She emerged from jail with her spirit unbroken and her determination to work for democracy as strong as ever. "The benevolence of those young women towards the country is invaluable," said Kyi Oo. Nilar Thein also appears to be invaluable to the authorities, who have offered a reward of several hundred thousand kyat for her capture. Photographs of her and other wanted activists have been widely distributed by the security forces, whose lack of success in tracking most of them down speaks volumes for the amount of popular support the fugitives enjoy. The wanted activists were even able to continue their campaign by telephone from their hiding places until the authorities blocked their numbers and those of their activist contacts. In one phone conversation, HIV/AIDS activist Phyu Phyu Thin, 35, explained why young women with families to care for were so actively engaged in the struggle. Their feminine nature, their "sympathy and emotion," drove woman to "sacrifice," she said. Phyu Phyu Thin was first arrested in September 2000, along with 30 women members of the NLD, when they gathered at Rangoon railway station to say farewell to party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was heading to upper Burma. The group spent the next four months and four days in an annex of Rangoon's Insein Prison. Like Nilar Thein before her, Phyu Phyu Thin's resolve to fight official misrule and injustice remained unshaken after her time in prison. She determined to devote her entire life to the pro-democracy movement. The junta's attempt to break her spirit had misfired—"That's their mistake," Phyu Phyu Thin laughed. Before her arrest she had worked only occasionally at the NLD headquarters. After her prison experience, she rarely missed a single day. That prison experience transformed her feminine compassion and emotion into a stronger commitment. She recalled such injustices as the case of three sisters who played no part in politics but who had been sent to prison because their brother had participated in an anti-junta demonstration in Japan. Phyu Phyu Thin has won many sympathizers because of her work with HIV/AIDS patients, and when she was arrested again last May they demonstrated successfully for her release. During last month's demonstrations she was sheltered by one patient, who told her: "You shouldn't be arrested." Over the past five years, Phyu Phyu Thin has cared for about 1,500 patients who were neglected by the state. The number of women political prisoners in Burma exceeds 50, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). The association estimates that since the 1988 uprising, more than 500 women have served prison terms because of their political involvement. The roots of women's involvement in politics and power-wielding in Burma go very deep, reaching back several centuries. In the Pagan era, from the 11th to the 13th century, Queen Pwa Saw's just reign won the affection and respect of male rulers. Queen Shin Saw Pu, who ruled the Mon Kingdom from 1453 to 1472, was also famous for her effective governance. Two queens of the Konbaung period (1752-1885)—Nanmadaw Me Nu and Sin Phyu Ma Shin—won respect for their strong will and effective involvement in government. Burma's last queen, Supayalat, exercised great power over King Thibaw and worked closely with ministers in managing the affairs of state. Women took to the battlefield in early military encounters with British colonialists. At the time of the First Burma War in 1824, the courage of ethnic Shan women won the admiration of a British officer, Major Snodgrass, who wrote about the 1825 battle of Wethtikan in his book "Narrative of the Burmese War": "These warrior women wore armor and as they rode their horses bravely, spoke words of encouragement to the soldiers…one of the fair Amazons also received a fatal bullet in the breast." At the start of the 20th century, the anti-colonial movement was strengthened by the participation of educated women. In 1919, female intellectuals established Burma's first national women's organization, Konmari, and one year later student members of the group joined in the first university boycott against the British. Opposition to British colonialism was also the agenda of other women's organizations, such as the Myanmar Amyothamii Konmari Athin (Burmese Women Association) and the Patriotic Women's Association. Taking a lead from their menfolk, who adopted the honorific Thakhin, meaning master, in an act of open defiance to the British, women came to call themselves Thakhinma. A number of women were jailed for their political activity. Thakhinma Thein Tin achieved fame for her defiance of the British and was among the first group of five women to be imprisoned. As opposition to British rule grew, Burmese women began to claim a place in the international arena. The National Council of Women of Burma, founded in 1931, successfully pressured the British government to admit a Burmese woman delegate to a special Burma roundtable conference in London. The council's choice was Mya Sein, an author, teacher and mother, known as M.A. Mya Sein because of the master of arts degree she had obtained from Oxford University. Earlier in 1931, she was selected as one of the two representatives for women across Asia for the League of Nations, the world organization that preceded the United Nations. At the London roundtable, Mya Sein called on the British government to enact a law guaranteeing equal rights for women in Burma. In 1929, Hnin Mya was elected Burma's first woman senator. Another distinguished female senator, Dr Saw Hsa, elected in 1937, was made a Member of the British Empire, a prestigious civil honor. In 1953, five years after Burma gained independence, another leading woman politician, Ba Maung Chain, was chosen as a minister to represent Karen State, Burma's first (and only) woman minister. The role of women in Burmese politics diminished following the 1962 military coup that brought Ne Win to power. Women became little more than puppets in the male-dominated administration. The period between 1962 and 1988, when Ne Win relinquished power after a national uprising, can be seen as a feminine "dark age" in Burma. Under the current military regime, women haven't fared much better, and none occupies any high position in government. The year 1988, however, did see the arrival on the political stage of a charismatic female leader—Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung San. She became the focus of a nationwide movement for political change and was adopted as a role model for progressive young people in Burma. Nilar Thein and Phyu Phyu Thin both name Suu Kyi (or "auntie," as they affectionately call her) as their role model. Like them, Suu Kyi sacrificed family and a secure home life for the cause of justice and freedom. Suu Kyi declined the opportunity to live abroad with her British husband, Michael Aris, and their two children, choosing house arrest in Rangoon instead. When her husband died she declined to leave the country to attend his funeral, fearing that she would not be allowed to return. She hasn't seen her two sons for a number of years. "The dawn rises only when the rooster crows," Suu Kyi declared in a video-recorded speech to an NGO Forum on Women in Beijing in 1995, quoting an old Burmese proverb. "It crows to welcome the light that has come to relieve the darkness of night." Then she added: "It is not the prerogative of men alone to bring light to this world.  Women with their capacity for compassion and self-sacrifice, their courage and perseverance, have done much to dissipate the darkness of intolerance and hate, suffering and despair. "Many of my male colleagues who have suffered imprisonment for their part in the democracy movement have spoken of the great debt of gratitude they owe their womenfolk, particularly their wives, who stood by them firmly, tender as mothers nursing their newly born, brave as lionesses defending their young." Suu Kyi referred to the results of scientific research to argue that women were perhaps better able than men to solve issues without conflict. One study found that women were better than men at verbal skills, while men tended towards physical action. "Surely these discoveries indicate that women have a most valuable contribution to make in situations of conflict, by leading the way to solutions based on dialogue rather than on viciousness or violence," Suu Kyi suggested. Women like Suu Kyi and those now in hiding from the authorities can certainly claim the moral high ground in the current political crisis in Burma. Their compassion for the victims of a male-dominated, repressive regime is seen as an important political weapon. "I love my daughter, but I also need to consider mothers fleeing with their children and hiding in jungles, such as in Karen State because of the civil war," said Nilar Thein. "My suffering is very small compared to theirs. "Compared to their children, my daughter still has a secure life with her grandparents, even though I'm not there." By allowing concern for one's own family to divert attention from the hardships of others "we will face more terrible suffering in the future," Nilar Thein said. "And then my daughter will not be able to enjoy a good life." The post No Soft Touch appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Sectarian Tensions Flare in Thandwe, Arakan State Posted: 29 Sep 2013 09:58 PM PDT The burned remains of a Muslim-owned house in Thandwe, which was destroyed during a flare-up of inter-communal tensions in July. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Tension was high in Thandwe, southern Arakan State, late Sunday after Buddhist mobs torched two homes belonging to Muslims and security forces were placed on high alert. Win Myaing, a government spokesman in the restive state of Arakan, said the trouble started in the coastal town of Thandwe on Saturday after a Buddhist taxi driver told police he had been verbally abused by a Muslim small business owner while trying to park in front of his shop. Police took the Muslim man in for questioning. But when he was released soon after, people became angry and started throwing stones at his home. Myaing said at least two houses had been burned down by Sunday night. Security forces were trying to restore order. "The situation is under control but very tense." Myo Min a Muslim resident of Thandwe contacted by phone told The Associated Press, adding that residents were fearful because they were hearing rumors that more Buddhists in Arakan would come to Thandwe to destroy Muslim houses. A similar incident occurred in Thandwe, 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Rangoon, three months ago when two Muslim houses were burned down after rumors circulated that a woman had been raped by Muslim men. Burma, a predominantly Buddhist country of 60 million people, has been gripped by sectarian violence since June of last year. Most of the 250 people killed have been Muslims and 140,000 others have been displaced. The latest flare-up will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein’s government can or will act to contain the violence. The post Sectarian Tensions Flare in Thandwe, Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Exhibition Captures ‘Vanishing’ Ethnic Traditions Posted: 29 Sep 2013 09:36 PM PDT Richard Diran speaks at the opening of his photo exhibition, which was officially opened by Aung San Suu Kyi, at Inya Lake Hotel on Saturday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A photography exhibition documenting Burma's "vanishing" cultural heritage was opened by Aung San Suu Kyi over the weekend, with the democracy icon celebrating the country's ethnic diversity and thanking photographer Richard Diran "for bringing beauty into my life at an unexpected time." "The Vanishing Tribes of Burma," an exhibition based on a 1997 book of the same name, showcases 70 photographs that Diran says include at least 40 distinct ethnic groups, documented over more than 25 years and constituting "the most comprehensive study of Burmese ethnography since [Sir George] Scott more than 100 years ago." Suu Kyi, who received a copy of Diran's book while she was under house arrest in Rangoon 15 years ago, later penned a letter to the photographer in which she thanked him for his work. "I was struck by the beauty of our people, and the beauty of diversity," she said on Saturday at the exhibition opening in Rangoon's Inya Lake Hotel. "This is what we have to recognize: that diversity is beauty, it is beautiful." Both Suu Kyi and the American Diran expressed hope that the exhibition would help further efforts at national reconciliation. Many of the faces on display belong to the ethnic minority groups that have waged decades-long wars with the central government in Burma's border regions. Diran said the portraits are a chance to humanize people whose ethnic identities were in the past linked by the military government to insurgent terrorists. "I would say that 99 percent of the [ethnic majority] Burmans who are living here in Rangoon have never laid eyes on the people that I've photographed," Diran told The Irrawaddy. Originally traveling to Burma in 1980 as a gemologist in search of the rubies, jade and other precious stones that the country remains known for to this day, Diran said he was side tracked by the ethnic diversity and unfamiliar cultural practices that he observed as he ventured into the country's hinterlands. "I just thought, 'Boy, these people are really amazing looking, I gotta get this on film,'" he said. With globalization and Burma's increasingly open orientation to the rest of the world, Suu Kyi acknowledged that much of the traditional dress and practices of the country's hill tribes faces extinction in the face of cultural assimilation. "We must preserve the memory of that heritage," she said. "And these photographs manage to do that beautifully." A stone-faced Naga warrior sporting a helmet with protruding wild boar tusks; elderly Chin women, faces covered in tattoos and sharing a pipe smoke together; three Yinset Riang bachelors from Karenni State, looking proud in their colorful, turban-like headdresses and racquetball-sized, fuzzy earrings. This is the cultural mélange that Diran says today is "gone." "I have friends with the same sorts of ethnographic interests that have tried to go out and duplicate a lot of my work and they've been stymied because it's gone. NHK, the Japanese television broadcaster, sent a crew into Kachin State, it was about 1998 maybe, to see if they could find even one Hkahku woman left. They couldn't find one." Asked if there was one experience in particular that stands out during his 25-year foray documenting people and customs largely unknown to the rest of the world, Diran said there were many, including "watching hundreds of Naga warriors stream over the top of the hill screaming, with ox-hide shields and spears, running over the hills toward me like ants. “With human-hair hats and tiger claw necklaces and wild boar tusks and dyed monkey fur, glazed eyes. That was stunning. It was like being in the Wild West in 1880." It was the Naga New Year, 1996. The exhibition runs through Monday. All of its photographs will then be donated to Burma's National Museum. The post Exhibition Captures 'Vanishing' Ethnic Traditions appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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