| Govt Rejects ‘Rohingya’ Census Classification, Causing Problems Among Muslim Communities Posted: 31 Mar 2014 08:06 AM PDT  Police officers and national census enumerators walk in a Muslim Rohingya village in Sittwe, Arakan State, on Monday. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Burmese officials said the government has made a last-minute change to its position on registering the ethnicity of the Muslim minority in northern Arakan State during the current national census, saying enumerators would refuse to register any respondent who identifies themselves as Rohingya. The decision means the government is backing away from earlier promises that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-funded census would be implemented in accordance with international standards, which allow any respondents to identify their own ethnicity. The move was welcomed by Arakanese Buddhist leaders, but immediately led to problems during census operations among Rohingya households around the Arakan State capital Sittwe on Monday. Thousands of census registration teams, comprising school teachers, began conducting interviews among households all across Burma on Sunday to implement the first national census in the former military-run country in decades. But Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said of the registration teams, "If we ask a family about their ethnicity and they say Rohingya, we will not carry out, [or] accept it." "If they say Bengali or any other ethnicity it's fine, but if they say Rohingya we will not register it," he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting between President Thein Sein and political party leaders on Saturday. Zaw Aye Maung, the Rangoon Division Minister for Arakan Affairs, a function occupied by an Arakanese national representing the Arakanese in Rangoon, said Immigration Minister Khin Yi had made similar promises to Arakanese community leaders. "Our people do not need to do a boycott anymore, because Minister Khin Yi came and personally told me that his president agreed to some of the measures that our people asked for," he said Saturday. Arakanese Buddhists had threatened to boycott of the census because Rohingya would be allowed to register their own ethnicity under the UN census methodology. The UNFPA told The Irrawaddy on Monday that government's decision worried the organization, which has reportedly covered most of the US$75 million in cost of implementing Burma's census. "UNFPA is deeply concerned by what’s going on and it doesn’t conform with the expectations that we had about how the census would be conducted," UNFPA spokesman William Ryan said when asked about Ye Htut's remarks. The UK Embassy also said it was troubled over the government's new approach to implementing the census. "The government has committed to run the census in line with international standards, including allowing all respondents the option to self-identify their ethnicity. We are concerned by recent reports that this commitment may not be met," the embassy said in a statement released over the weekend. Northern Arakan State has been the scene of tensions and outburst of bloody violence between local Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. Shortly before the census was due to start last week Buddhists mobs attacked the offices of the United Nations and international NGOs, apparently in relation to anger over the census methodology. The Arakanese community and the Burmeses government object to the Muslim group calling themselves native Rohingya and refer to them as "Bengalis," to suggest most are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Over the weekend, Minister Khin Yi and President's Office Minister Aung Min visited Sittwe to assuage the Arakanese community's concerns. Nyo Aye, an Arakanese women's activist who has been campaigning against the census and international NGOs that support the Rohingya, said the Arakanese welcomed the government's change of position and had cancelled their boycott of the census. "Aung Min promised us that we do not have to worry about the Rohingya having their name on the census," Nyo Aye said, adding that Arakanese authorities sent an official letter stating that census teams would not register any household that self-identifies as Rohingya. She said enumerators had successfully carried out household interviews in among Sittwe's Buddhist residents on Sunday and Monday. Among the Muslim minority, however, the government's new approach to the census immediately caused problems, as dozens of Muslim households intent on registering as Rohingya were immediately passed over by census teams, a local Muslim leader said. "They went by the houses one by one and asked what type of race are you? They did not carry out the census [questionnaire] when households said they are Rohingya," said Aung Win, a Rohingya community representative, adding that he had joined government officials on Monday to observe census teams in Bume and Ma Gyi Myaing, two Muslim-majority villages on the outskirts of Sittwe. "Everybody in these two [villages] said they are Rohingya," he said, adding that only two Kaman Muslim households were successfully registered in the villages. Aung Win said the census teams had arrived early Monday morning in the company of about 300 armed policemen who were brought in with about 10 army trucks to carry out interviews among the roughly 1,500 Muslim inhabitants of the two villages. Aung Win predicted the census teams would encounter the same problems in the coming days as they attempt to register household information, including ethnicity, in the camps in northern Arakan State, which hold some 140,000 Rohingya, as well as in Muslim-majority townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung. "Our people are saying that if they let them fill in Rohingya on the census [questionnaire] they will sit down and do it. If not, they will boycott it," he said. Hla Maung, a Muslim resident of Maungdaw town, said, "Today, some census officials came to our town, and we, the community leaders, told them: 'If you don't allow us to fill in Rohingya we will not join the census.' But they said that the township authorities do not allow this." The 12-day census began on March 30 and requires respondents to select their ethnicity and religion. They can choose an ethnicity from a classification list of 135 minorities drawn up in the 1982 Citizenship Law by the then-military government. The Rohingya are omitted from the list and set apart as a group without citizenship, despite claims from many among the Muslim minority that they have lived in Arakan State for generations. The UNFPA has said respondents who do not identify with one of the 135 ethnicities can describe themselves as "other" and orally report their desired ethnic affiliation to the enumerator. These responses would later be sub-coded during data processing, allowing an option for Rohingya to register their ethnic identity as they wish. Many Arakanese fear government recognition of the Rohingya population would precede an eventual shift in Arakan State's demographics that would threaten Buddhist predominance. Government data from 2010 put Arakan State's population at about 3.34 million people, of which the Muslim population accounts for 29 percent. Additional reporting by Simon Lewis. The post Govt Rejects 'Rohingya' Census Classification, Causing Problems Among Muslim Communities appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| As Census Kicks Off, Questions and Criticisms Persist Posted: 31 Mar 2014 07:52 AM PDT  A census enumerator marks the answers provided by a respondent living Rangoon's Pabedan Township on Monday, March 31. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's nationwide census began in earnest on Sunday, accompanied by plenty of controversy but also reports of the population-counting exercise proceeding smoothly. The census, which is the first attempt at a proper accounting of Burma's population and demographics in more than 30 years, is set to conclude on April 10. As enumerators fanned out across the country this week, questions continued to surround the methodology and motivations of the survey, which has been supported by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and financially backed by a handful of foreign governments. Critics say the census went forward on Sunday despite objections from many ethnic groups, who had lodged a number of complaints including concerns that ethnic subgroups were incorrectly categorized or misspelled. Others lobbied for the omission of questions on race and religion altogether, fearing their inclusion might stoke tensions or lead to violence. On Monday, ethnic representatives said their requests for consultation and corrections were ignored, with the census proceeding unrevised. Saw Kyaw Swar, secretary of the Karen Affairs Committee, said suspicions remained that the results of the census might be used for political purposes, despite assurances from the government and the UNFPA that the exercise is a "purely statistical" undertaking. "The two ministers are conflicting themselves," said Saw Kyaw Swar from Hpa-an, the capital of Karen State. "As [Immigration and Population Minister] Khin Ye said, it [the census] is not to be used for political reasons. But [Union] Election Commission [chairman] Tin Aye says the voter list will be compiled based on the results of the census. "It is clear that the census has political motivations." Language barriers could also be a problem in ethnic areas like Shan State, according to Saw Than Myint, cofounder of the Federal Union Party. "They [the government] have said they will ask help from language experts from the respective areas," he added. The FUP cofounder said Shan leaders had already urged the Shan population in Rangoon to identify themselves as their main ethnicity, Shan, as well as their sub-ethnicity. Officially, the census lists more than 30 sub-ethnicities under the Shan umbrella. Census data collectors have not reached to his home yet, but Nai Ngwe Eain, a resident of Thanbyuzayat Township in Mon State, told The Irrawaddy that enumerators had collected his neighbor's household information, including questions pertaining to the family's possessions and what kind of phone line they had. Respondents will be asked a total of 41 census questions. Primary school teachers have been enlisted to serve as the backbone of the enumeration team, which in total comprises more than 80,000 people. Sai Aung Myint Khaing, a senior member of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, said some local residents in rural Shan State were afraid that they might be putting family members at risk of criminal prosecution if they responded to the census honestly, as one question asks about whether any household members are currently working abroad. Those fears are the result of the fact that more than a million Burmese nationals are estimated to be working illegally in Thailand alone. Others are worried that they will be subject to additional taxation if they fully reveal the extent of their property holdings. Sai Aung Myint Khaing said many among the nation's rural population did not understand the census process, and he anticipated that given the length of the questionnaire and potential language barriers between enumerators and respondents, the census process "might take some time to get through." Separately, enumerators told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the census questionnaire, which they were told would take about 10 minutes to complete, was taking 45 minutes on average. Thant Zin, a resident from Dawei in Tenessarim Division, said most people in his town would identify themselves as Dawei, thanks to a recent campaign by the Dawei Nationalities Party. Though ethnic Dawei speak a different language than Burmese, they have long been officially placed under the majority "Bamar" ethnic group. "Most Dawei will answer as Dawei," he told The Irrawaddy. Such a response would tally the individual under code No. 502 as ethnic "Tavoyan," a synonymous appellation that the Burmese government officially recognizes. "We heard that they put a Dawei from Rangoon under 'Bamar.' They corrected it when someone called and complained. We haven't seen any strange cases here yet," Thant Zin said. Aung Naing Oo, an MP from Chaung Sone Township, Mon State, said a campaign was underway to consolidate ethnic Mon representation in the tally. "We are doing a campaign by public announcement, by car, stickers and vinyl in our township [Chaung Sone] to identify themselves as Mon, [code No.] 601, in the census's ethnic category, even if they no longer can speak or write Mon but descended from Mon ancestors," he said. "Some Mon are timid to identify themselves as Mon since they are listed as 'Bamar' on their national identity card or household registration card," the parliamentarian added. Census bylaws do not permit any questioning of a respondent's answers, and enumerators are required to list the responses as they provided. Individuals who do not identify as one of the 135 official ethnicities and sub-ethnicities listed on the census form have been told they ask enumerators to mark them under code No. 914, "Other," which provides for a write-in blank that allows for self-identification. In Arakan State, at least, the principle of self-identification appears to have been overridden in recent days, however, with Rohingya Muslims in the state being told they will not be able to identify as they wish. In the wake of violence in Arakan State, where pre-census tensions have been highest, the UNFPA released a statement on Friday affirming the principle of self-identification. "In accordance with international standards and human rights principles, and as part of its agreement with the UN and donors, the Government has made a commitment that everyone who is in the country will be counted in the census, and all respondents will have the option to self-identify their ethnicity," the statement read. "This commitment cannot be honored selectively in the face of intimidation or threats of violence." On Monday, UNFPA spokesman William Ryan said the agency was "deeply concerned" over recent indications by the government that Rohingya would not be allowed to self-identify, a restriction that "doesn't conform with the expectations we had about how the census would be conducted." The violence last week prompted a call from the US-based Human Rights Watch for postponement of the census. In a separate UNFPA press release, also on Friday, the UN agency said a team of 46 national and international observers would witness the census data collection to make sure it met international standards. "A widely accepted and accurate census will enable evidence-driven planning and policy making for the first time in Myanmar's history and help push forward its ongoing socio-economic and political reform process," the agency's statement read. The post As Census Kicks Off, Questions and Criticisms Persist appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| With Anticipation, Rangoon Youths Prepare for Water Festival Posted: 31 Mar 2014 05:06 AM PDT  Burmese youths enjoy the water festival in 2012. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Young people in Rangoon are eagerly gearing up for Thingyan, a four-day Buddhist water festival that begins in two weeks to celebrate the Burmese New Year. This year's festival is expected to be the biggest yet, with more platforms known as pandals from which to drench passing pedestrians with water cannons and hoses. "Since the middle of March, my friends and I have been preparing for the festival by buying new clothes and pandal tickets," says 20-year-old Su Pyae Honey, adding that she always prepares in advance for her favorite festival. "All tiredness from the year goes away after playing in the water festival." Wai Yan Linn, a 19-year-old in Mandalay, Burma's second-biggest city, plans to spend two days playing at a pandal and the rest of the festival riding around town on a motorcycle. "I'm really excited. As soon as I hear Thingyan music and songs, I want to dance," he says, adding that he enjoys the camaraderie and playfulness of the festival. The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), the municipal body that manages the festival, has permitted 57 large pandals and 36 medium pandals this year, up from 34 large pandals and seven medium pandals last year, according to YCDC official Myo Lwin. "People can play with water at more pandals this year," he says. Last year, security concerns kept some people home. Just weeks before the festival, anti-Muslim riots in the central Burma town of Meikhtila led to fears of the possibility of further unrest in Rangoon. Some worried that pandals could be targeted by bomb attacks, but the festival proceeded without incident. In 2010, a deadly bomb went off at a pandal near Kandawgyi Lake during the water festival. Since then, the government has ordered pandal organizers to set up at least four CCTV cameras and hire private security guards, but the turnout of festival goers has been smaller. "Last year, pandals near Kandawgyi Lake were not crowded because of the rumors. There are no rumors this year, so I hope the Rangoon water festival is more massive than last year," Myo Lwin of YCDC says. Each pandal has a name and different decorations. Aung Myat Phyo, an organizer of the Black Culture pandal, says people will be charged 37,000 kyats (US$37) for a ticket to play on the pandal throughout the festival, with lunch and refreshments included. He added that the costs of operating a pandal were increasing year by year. A large pandal—about 120 feet long and capable of holding up to 1,500 people—costs around 40 million kyats to operate, not counting the additional costs of decorations, CCTV cameras and security guards. It takes five to eight days to finish construction of a large pandal, and organizers must pay a deposit of 7.5 million kyats to the YCDC. That money is not returned if organizers break certain rules, such as operating the pandal after 6 pm, or if damage is done to the surrounding environment. "Although organizing a pandal isn't profitable, I like the atmosphere that our pavilion creates. The place is empty at first, but when the festival comes the pandal brings decorations and lights, and people are dancing onstage. It's really amazing," Aung Myat Phyo says. "Everyone wants to have fun in Thingyan," he adds. "If there's less worry, people will be happier." The post With Anticipation, Rangoon Youths Prepare for Water Festival appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Aid Workers in Arakan Should Be More Sensitive to Local Customs: Official Posted: 31 Mar 2014 04:26 AM PDT  Presidential spokesman Ye Htut talks to reporters on Saturday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Presidential spokesman Ye Htut has said that international aid workers supporting communities in strife-torn Arakan State should be more sensitive to local customs, after a rumor that an aid worker improperly handled a Buddhist flag sparked attacks on the Sittwe offices of foreign aid organizations last week. The medical aid organization Malteser International, whose employee stands accused of handling the flag in a disrespectful way, denies any wrongdoing. Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting between President Thein Sein and political party leaders on Saturday, Ye Htu said, "People, both local and foreigners, working at international organizations should have a good understanding and be aware of local culture, customs and sensitive issues of the places where they are working." Last Wednesday, a Malteser International staffer removed a Buddhist flag from a building that the organization was renting as medicine warehouse in Sittwe. Some Arakanese Buddhist residents claim to have witnessed the foreign woman tuck the flag in the pocket of her pants—a move that would have been offensive to Buddhists, who believe that religious objects should not touch the lower part of the body. The allegations swirled through Sittwe town and quickly proved an excuse for the residents to attack all international aid offices, while some mobs also went in search of the private residences of foreign staffers in order to try to break into their homes. Aid workers were brought to safety and stayed at Sittwe police station. "It's true that she took down the religious flag but, if whether she improperly handled the flag is still controversial," Ye Htut said, adding that the aid worker should have explained to the Arakanese landlord that Malteser International does not allow religious or political symbols on its offices. "What happened is the consequence of the fact that she wasn’t aware of the sensitive issue in the area," he said, before adding, "[But] people shouldn't attack an organization just because of an act by one of its staff." "Now they responded in their own ways that lead to unnecessary consequences that damaged the country and its people," Ye Htut said. Most Sittwe residents have put up Buddhist flags to signal their boycott of the UN-backed census, which they reject because it would allow Rohingya Muslims to self-identify their ethnicity, in accordance with international standards. Malteser International on Friday denied its staffer had made any mistake, adding that the flag was an expression of political and ethnic partisanship and was therefore removed from its office building. "[A]bsolute ethnic and political neutrality of our work is our highest priority … That is the reason why our program coordinator has removed the Buddhist flag which – in the local context – might be seen as a symbol for a political positioning," Ingo Radtke, Secretary General of Malteser International, said in a statement "She did not act in any degrading manner or express any cultural misconduct. As she noticed the population's disapproval, she has immediately handed over the flag to the owner of the warehouse." Last week's violence prompted President Thein Sein to set up a five-member investigation team led by the deputy minister for border affairs, state-owned media reported. The team will question staffers from international organizations and local people as well the Arakan State government about the violence, Ye Htut said. The findings must be sent to the president by April 7. "So far no one has been arrested yet as security forces prioritized taking care of dispersing the mob and controlling the violence. But we have video footage and pictures of people involved. So the commission could find anyone involved," he said Saturday. "We roughly know that the people involved were not from Sittwe but from villages nearby," he added. Offices, residences and a warehouse of nine UN and international NGOs were destroyed by Arakanese mobs on Wednesday and Thursday, and 147 aid workers, both foreign and local, were forced to flee Sittwe, state-owned newspaper The Mirror reported. Aid organizations, which use Sittwe as their hub for aid programs in northern Arakan, were forced to shut down aid operations. An 11-year-old Arakanese girl was killed by a stray bullet after police fired warning shots to disperse a mob attacking an office building on Thursday. Sittwe's predominantly Buddhist community is virulently anti-Rohingya—a stateless, impoverished Muslim minority living in northern Arakan State—and oppose any international humanitarian aid support for the group, which suffers from malnutrition and a range of other health problems. The post Aid Workers in Arakan Should Be More Sensitive to Local Customs: Official appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Rangoon Land Protesters Undeterred by Late-Night Eviction Posted: 31 Mar 2014 04:15 AM PDT  Men apparently employed by the Yangon City Development Committee forcibly dismantled a protest camp at Mahabandoola Park in the early hours of Sunday. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Evicted former residents of Thingangyun Township have vowed to continue their sit-in protest in central Rangoon, despite an attempted forced eviction in the early hours Sunday. A group of hundreds of people, who were kicked out of Michaungkan village by the Burma Army in the early 1990s and moved to townships on the city's outskirts, set up their third protest camp last week. They have been demonstrating for more than a year to get their land back, but promises from authorities to find a solution to their demands have not been kept. Hundreds of people have since March 24 been spending nights in makeshift shelters by Mahabandoola Park—which is surrounded by Rangoon's High Court, the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) building and the Sule Pagoda—and loudly protesting during the day. Nwe Ni Than, a leading protester, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the protest involved about 300 people, many of whom are older women. "Early Sunday morning, at 3 am, about 600 to 1,000 people came and destroyed our huts, roofs and bamboo walls in the protest area. They said they are from YCDC, but I don't think they were all from the department. They might be [pro-government] thugs," Nwe Ni Than said. Nwe Ni Than said the crackdown happened immediately after YCDC told demonstrators they had 15 minutes to vacate their camp. Before the 15 minutes was up, men began violently tearing apart their shelters, she said. "Because of this crackdown, nine people from our protest have been injured. One of them is 65 years old. He has a heart problem," she said, adding that the man refused to leave the protest camp go to hospital. An ambulance from the nongovernmental Kyaw Thu Free Funeral Service is standing by in case the demonstrators need medical attention. No one was arrested during the clearance, she said, but a number of the protesters fled. However, a group of protesters was still at Mahabandoola Park on Monday. "There is nothing left to be destroyed by them. They [the villagers] will come again to protest tonight," said Nwe Ni Than. "We want the government to solve the problem soon and fairly. That's our main request. "Also, 28 protesters from our group have been charged with Article 18 since the second protest, we want [the charges to be dropped] too," she said, referring to the article in Burma's Peaceful Assembly Law that requires anyone holding a public gathering—including protests—to attain prior permission from the authorities. The protesters first set up a camp at their former land just north of downtown Rangoon a year ago, and say the authorities have refused to deal with them fairly as a single group of former residents. A second protest camp at the site in November ended after a promise to investigate the case from Aung Thein Lin, a ruling-party lawmaker and a member of Parliament's Land Investigation Committee. But the Burmese military has refused to give back the land, and has declared, in a letter to another lawmaker, that it plans to build homes for veterans at Michaungkan. Wai Lu, an activist helping the land dispute protesters, concurred with the account that as many as 1,000 people arrived to break up the protest camp Sunday morning. He said he hoped there would be negotiations with the authorities on Monday, but that YCDC had shown no sign of engaging with the 200 or so protesters who remained at the park. Win Cho, an activist who has been detained several times in recent years for taking part in protests, said the authorities justified their actions by labeling the protesters illegal squatters. But he questioned the use of non-uniformed men to dismantle the camp. "I believe that the YCDC destroyed the camp because the protesters were breaking municipal rules, but I wonder why so many people came there to destroy the huts. I have questions: Are they all YCDC employees?" he said. The group's previous sit-in camp was similarly attacked in November by thugs reportedly belonging to the pro-government Swan Arshin youth group. Also on early Sunday, a separate protest camp in Tamwe Township in front of the Myanma Gone Yaung housing development—where former residents similarly removed from their land have been protesting since December—was also dismantled by YCDC. The protesters want compensation from the Wah Wah Win construction company that has built condominiums on their former land, and have also remained in place despite the attempted eviction. The post Rangoon Land Protesters Undeterred by Late-Night Eviction appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Myanma Freedom Daily Newspaper Suspends Operations Posted: 31 Mar 2014 03:29 AM PDT  The Myanma Freedom Daily is an English-language Rangoon-based daily newspaper that launched last year. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Myanma Freedom Daily, one of two English-language private daily newspapers in Burma, has temporarily suspended its operations, the publication's founder says. Thiha Saw, a veteran Burmese journalist who founded the Rangoon-based daily last year, said the newspaper suspended its operations on Monday and would resume publishing within the next couple of months. "We temporarily suspended the paper because we need to reorganize our operations and move our office. It could be one week, one month or up to two months. We can't say certainly, but it won't take long," he told The Irrawaddy. "If we want to go for long term, we need to reorganize our current daily operations system. We have capacity challenges. We don't have many well-trained journalists." Thiha Saw, who is also a member of the Interim Press Council and vice president of the Myanmar Journalists Association, said human and financial resources contributed to the decision to suspend the daily, but that pressure from the government was not a factor. He added that the newspaper's subscribers continued to grow. He said the newspaper reached 97 countries, with a circulation of about 10,000 copies daily. It targets expats, officials at embassies and airlines, NGOs, tourists and other English-speaking readers. The Myanma Freedom Daily and the International Herald Tribune were the only two English-language newspapers among 10 private dailies that received publication licenses from the Ministry of Information on April 30 last year. A total of 26 English- and Burmese-language dailies are now operating with publication licenses from the government, including 7Day News Journal, the Yangon Times, Mizzima, The Voice, Myanmar Newsweek and the Standard Times. Prior to April 2013, private dailies had been banned for decades under the former military regime. Over the past year, owners of private dailies have struggled financially to manage their operations. Many publications rely on advertisements, while others are backed by private investors. Most do not earn enough from the profits of their circulation, with the price of domestic publications ranging from between 200 kyats and 500 kyats (US$0.20 to $0.50) per issue. "So far, there is no private newspaper that has profited from circulation sales," said Thiha Saw. The post Myanma Freedom Daily Newspaper Suspends Operations appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Win Tin Admitted to Intensive Care Unit in Rangoon Posted: 31 Mar 2014 03:23 AM PDT  Win Tin poses in one of his prison issued shirts as he shows another one of the blue shirts at his home in Yangon on April 9, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) Veteran journalist and outspoken democracy activist Win Tin has been transferred to the intensive care unit of Rangoon General Hospital for respiratory problems and hip pain. The 85-year-old Win Tin, a co-founder of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was admitted to a private hospital more than two weeks ago and moved to Rangoon General on Saturday after his health failed to improve. He was reportedly put on oxygen therapy after losing consciousness. "He has been breathing with the help of an oxygen tube for 48 hours, and the doctor said his condition is improving," said Min Thukha, a family friend who is caring for the activist. Min Thukha added that Win Tin had regained consciousness and that the tube would be removed soon. Win Tin was a political prisoner for almost two decades under the former military regime, until his release in 2008. Since then he has been hospitalized frequently for heart problems and other health concerns. Ohn Htun, another close friend of the activist, said the doctors were still unsure what was causing the hip pain. "He got an X-Ray scan. The doctor suggested an operation, but it didn't happen because he has a pacemaker which could be affected," Ohn Htun told The Irrawaddy. Win Tin was first admitted to Greencross Hospital overnight on March 12 and moved to Victoria Hospital last week on Thursday. Doctors recommended transferring him to Rangoon General because the public hospital has better medical equipment. After Aung San Suu Kyi, Win Tin is one of Burma's best-known opposition figures. Since his release from prison in 2008, he has continued to wear his blue prison-issued uniform as a sign of solidarity with other political prisoners. He refused to return the shirt in April last year when the police demanded it back. The post Win Tin Admitted to Intensive Care Unit in Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Whose Army? Posted: 31 Mar 2014 12:26 AM PDT 
Bogyoke Aung San during a visit to England in 1947 (Photo: Getty Images)
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi shocked many of her supporters and admirers when, in a BBC interview in January of last year, she expressed support for the Tatmadaw, saying: "The truth is that I am very fond of the army, because I always thought of it as my father's army." She also admitted that "there are many who have criticized me for being what they call a poster girl for the army." But as if to reinforce that impression, last year, on March 27, she attended the Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw and watched soldiers marching in perfect formation past the grandstand where she sat, tanks thundering past, helicopters buzzing by and fighting jets flying overhead. While it is understandable that she does not want to antagonize the military, which is still the key to any fundamental change in Myanmar's political power structure, her references to "my father's army" have been questioned by many. Although her father, Bogyoke Aung San, did form the Burma Independence Army (BIA) under Japanese auspices in Bangkok in December 1941, little of that force remained when Myanmar became independent in 1948. Ironically, there have actually been more veterans from the Second World War in various insurgent organizations than in the government's army since independence. Almost the entire People's Volunteer Organization (PVO), a paramilitary force made up of thousands of veterans from the BIA and its successors—the Burma Defense Army, the Burma National Army and the Patriotic Burmese Forces—went underground at independence. Other Myanmar regiments in the government's army mutinied, formed the Revolutionary Burma Army, or joined the insurgent Communist Party of Burma (CPB). The Kayin battalions went underground as well, while ethnic Kachin units remained loyal to the government—at least for a while. Of the legendary Thirty Comrades, who went to Japan for military training before the Japanese invasion of Myanmar in 1942, two—Bo La Yaung and Bo Taya—commanded the PVO rebellion. Three—Bo Zeya, Bo Ye Htut and Bo Yan Aung—joined the CPB when the communist insurrection broke out shortly after independence. Of the Thirty Comrades, only Brig. Kyaw Zaw, Gen. Ne Win and Maj. Bo Bala remained in the army in the 1950s. Four of the others—Bo Let Ya, Bo Yan Naing, Bohmu Aung and Bo Setkya—rallied behind the right-wing resistance, which former Prime Minister U Nu organized on the Thai border in the 1960s. And, in late 1976, Brig. Kyaw Zaw, once the most popular commander in the army who had been pushed out by Gen. Ne Win in 1957, went underground and joined the CPB.  Ne Win On Sept. 6, 1988, nine out of the 11 survivors of the Thirty Comrades denounced Gen. Ne Win and called on the army to join the pro-democracy uprising of that year. Only Brig. Kyaw Zaw, who then was still with the CPB, was unable to join the appeal against their erstwhile comrade-in-arms, Gen. Ne Win. Later, Brig. Kyaw Zaw also expressed his support for the pro-democracy movement. The power base of the military regime that seized power in 1962 was actually a very narrow one. It consisted mainly of officers from Gen. Ne Win's old regiment, the 4th Burma Rifles, and nearly all officers who became prominent in the 1960s came from this particular unit. When the Revolutionary Council (RC) was set up in 1962, it was popularly referred to as "the Fourth Burifs Government." Number two in the RC, Brig. Aung Gyi, came from this regiment, as did the two other most prominent members of the post-1962 junta, Brigadiers Tin Pe and Kyaw Soe. More ex-4th Burma riflemen rose to power in the 1970s and 1980s as other officers were gradually weeded out of the top military leadership: U Sein Lwin, who served as president during the stormy events of August 1988; stalwart Col. Aye Ko of the only legally permitted political party from 1962 to 1988, the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP); Gen. Kyaw Htin, who served as chief of staff of the army from 1976 to 1985, and defense minister from 1976 to 1988; and U Tun Tin, deputy prime minister and finance minister from 1981 to 1988. When socialism was discarded after the one-party system was abolished in 1988, the BSPP was renamed the National Unity Party (NUP), with U Tha Gyaw, also a former 4th Burma rifleman, as its first chairman. Even Gen. Ne Win's personal cook, an ethnic Indian called Raju, had served in the same capacity in the 4th Burma Rifles. It is fair to say, then, that the economically and politically powerful military machine that emerged in the 1950s and, especially, after 1962, was in terms of organization as well as personalities entirely different from the army that Bogyoke Aung San had founded during World War Two. Dr. Maung Maung, Myanmar's official historian during the pre-1988 regime, estimated that there were maybe 2,000 soldiers at Gen. Ne Win's disposal when he took over as commander-in-chief in 1949, but they were all scattered in decimated, weak battalions and companies. The army that was rebuilt after independence was not Bogyoke Aung San's army, but Gen. Ne Win's army, with the 4th Burifs at its core. In October 1958, officers from across the country met in Meiktila, and, for the first time, the army formulated its own policy. A document entitled "The National Ideology of the Defense Services" strongly resembles the old dwifungsi concept of the Indonesian army, i.e., that the military have to play a role in a country's social and political development, as well as its defense. The Myanmar and Indonesian armies are the only armies in non-communist Asia that have developed their own ideologies. Today, almost all those who served with the 4th Burifs have passed away, but the legacy remains. Gen. Ne Win created an army that was predominantly Myanmar rather than multi-ethnic—and a financially strong and ideologically motivated military machine over which civilian, or even pseudo-civilian, governments have virtually no control. Even the 2008 Constitution stipulates that "all the armed forces in the Union shall be under the command of the Defense Services"—making them, in effect, autonomous and not answerable to any non-military authority—and that the Tatmadaw shall also "lead in safeguarding the Union against all internal and external dangers." Chapter One of the 2008 Constitution enables "the Defense Services to be able to participate in the National political leadership of the State"—a principle far from that envisaged by Bogyoke Aung San when he led the struggle for independence. In a speech in Yangon on May 23, 1947, he said "the defense of a free Burma is a national responsibility entrusted to the State. The State alone will shoulder this responsibility." The highest organs of the state, of course, would be the elected Parliament and the government. The 1947 Constitution stated very clearly that "the right to raise and maintain military, naval and air forces is vested exclusively in the Parliament." It remains to be seen whether Myanmar can shake off the legacy of the 4th Burifs and the authoritarian system that was introduced by its erstwhile commander, Gen. Ne Win. But let us be very clear: Bogyoke Aung San's army disintegrated after the Second World War. And the new Tatmadaw that emerged after independence, and, especially, after the 1962 coup, is an entirely different entity. The post Whose Army? appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| ‘Many People Are Interested to Invest in This SEZ’ Posted: 31 Mar 2014 12:18 AM PDT  The Thilawa port is located less than 20 miles southeast of Rangoon and is a key part of the Thilawa SEZ project's infrastructure. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Shares in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Rangoon are on sale as of this month, with Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Ltd hoping to put the capital raised toward the first phase of the project. The Burmese and Japanese governments, together with a consortium of Japanese firms and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers and Commerce Industry (UMFCCI), are spearheading plans for the sprawling industrial complex-to-be, located about 20 kms south of Rangoon. Win Aung, the owner of Dagon Group and chairman of the UMFCCI, also serves as chairman of the SEZ's holding company, and spoke to The Irrawaddy about the industrial venture last week. Question: Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kushida visited the SEZ earlier this month. Do you think the minister's visit will spur Japanese investment in the project? Answer: Yes, I believe many Japanese will come here. This is an international standard special economic zone, and if we see it from the developer's point of view, this development is a very transparent project. I believe all investors here have confidence that the project will be a success. As we say about the opportunity, what we have prepared for investors is industrial estate prices in the Thialawa SEZ that will be reasonable—competitive prices, rather than as is the case with other local industrial zones' prices. So I do expect that real investors will come and invest here. Q: How is this share sale being conducted, and can anyone buy into the SEZ? A: We're selling shares as of now, prices are starting at 10,000 kyats [$10] per share. I have been surprised that there are some people buying only one share. Many people are interested to invest in this SEZ. It is about 200 shareholders right now who hold only one share. Q: What is the Japanese stake in Thilawa at this time? A: The Japanese share percentage is 49 percent and our Holdings [along with the Burmese government] own 51 percent now. Q: When will the first phase of the SEZ be finished? A: We expect to sell out the plots around the first phase to factory owners this coming May. So from May, the owners will be able to operate their factories within a year. Q: How much capital do you hope to raise? A: We are calling for a total of 2.1 million shares to be sold to the public. One share in the company is valued at 10,000 kyats, so it would be 21 billion kyats [$21 million] in total capital. Q: Are there any plans to list the SEZ on the stock exchange that is expected to be up and running next year? A: We're going to discuss this with our shareholders to find out whether they are interested to get involved in the stock exchange at that time. The post 'Many People Are Interested to Invest in This SEZ' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Why Burma Is Heading Downhill Fast Posted: 30 Mar 2014 11:45 PM PDT  Buddhist monks at Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda protest in November 2013 against an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) delegation visiting Burma. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) For the past few months, I've been unable to escape an ominous sense that the political situation in Burma is on the wrong track. There are two main reasons for my anxiety. First, Burma is undergoing a leadership crisis. Second, the possibility of large-scale social unrest is increasing. Eight months ago, I wrote a post explaining why the deepening divisions within the country's political elites were undermining my previous feeling of cautious optimism. I tried to describe a general state of anxiety caused by rising communal violence, widespread hate speech against religious minorities, worsening poverty and intensifying political rivalries. Back then, however, the substantive reasons for the disagreements within the troika of President Thein Sein, House Speaker Shwe Mann, and democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi weren't entirely clear. But now the contenders have taken off their gloves, and their fundamental political differences are starting to come out into the open. Suu Kyi and the ruling parties managed to work well together during the initial reform period. In 2011, a historic meeting between the Lady and Thein Sein paved the way for Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to run in the 2012 elections. That dramatic development encouraged the countries of the West to lift their sanctions on Burma. But now the two have fallen out, quite publicly, over whether and how to reform the 2008 constitution, which was written by the then-ruling military junta. In 2012, Suu Kyi made constitutional reform one of her party's priorities, although even then it wasn't entirely clear what changes she wanted to make. In June of last year, she announced that she wanted to run for the presidency in the 2015 elections, noting: "For me to be eligible for the post of the presidency, the Constitution will have to be amended." Suu Kyi was clearly referring to Article 59(f) of the military-drafted Constitution, which states that the president or vice president cannot have a spouse or children who are foreign nationals. Suu Kyi had two sons with her late husband Michael Aris, and both are British citizens. So far, Thein Sein has not deigned to respond to Suu Kyi's reform demands. In November 2013, Suu Kyi made an official demand for a meeting with key political players, including the president, the speaker, and Commander-in-Chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, to discuss constitutional reform. The president rejected her request, however, and his move seems to have sharpened the sense of lingering antipathy toward him that the Lady has been expressing in her meetings with foreign dignitaries and local political elites ever since late 2012. In his latest speech to Parliament on March 26, Thein Sein urged parliamentarians to pursue constitutional reform delicately and gently in order to avoid a political deadlock. Though he did not mention any possibility of top-level dialogue, the president noted, "The army still needs to be present at the political roundtable talks where political problems are solved by political means." If by these talks he means something more substantive than the usual parliamentary formality, it could signal that he is, in fact, open to the dialogue Suu Kyi requested, as long as members of the army are also at the table. Suu Kyi will need the military's support to get the amendment through Parliament, and she believes Thein Sein is the only one who can persuade the military to bring its representatives to the table. In a press conference following the president's speech, the Lady insisted that "only the president can make it [military cooperation] possible." Organizing top-level talks might allow Thein Sein to win public points without having to strike a deal with Suu Kyi directly. Political heavyweight Shwe Mann—who is not only House speaker but also chairman of the ruling party and, reportedly, one of Suu Kyi's allies in the establishment—has said that amending Article 59(f) is not "the only priority" that his party will pursue. The ruling party has also proposed dozens of changes to the Constitution, including Article 59. Meanwhile, Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing remains tight-lipped, though many insiders believe that the army agrees with the president. This unresolved situation presents the risk of a leadership vacuum as Burma heads toward the 2015 general election. Who will qualify—both in terms of constitutionality and popular support—to run for president? As long as the constitutional barrier remains, Suu Kyi's chances are slim. The incumbent, Thein Sein, also doesn't stand much of a chance, since his party appears to be under the complete control of his rival, the strong-willed Shwe Mann. More importantly, the ruling party is not likely to win enough seats to nominate a presidential candidate (whether it be Thein Sein or Shwe Mann) in the first place. Under the current Burmese system, the people do not directly elect the president: Parliament does, in a complicated procedure that gives disproportionate power to the military. Even though the current ruling party is unlikely to win both houses of Parliament in the 2015 elections, the military members of Parliament can still nominate its leader as their candidate for the presidency. So it's entirely possible that army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who reaches retirement age next year, will enter politics and become the military's nominee for the presidency. And that, obviously, is a problem. The military has dominated politics in our country for the past half-century. As long as the military continues to control the presidency rather than handing power over to a civilian leader like Suu Kyi, the legitimacy and stability of the political transition will be incomplete. The looming leadership vacuum raises an important question for the country's troubled transition. To be sure, Burma has plenty of other constitutional problems that need to be addressed. (Foremost among them: the broad, veto-wielding power of the military and the lack of ethnic rights.) But it is the question of reforming Article 59 that inspires the most passion these days, precisely because of Suu Kyi's continuing popularity among the majority of the population. People tend to believe that having the Lady as president will automatically lead to the resolution of all the other problems that the Constitution poses. The uncertainty surrounding the 2015 elections has created a sense of insecurity among the top players, prompting each of them to regroup, mobilize their own constituencies, and prepare for the fights that lie ahead. Suu Kyi has become increasingly vocal in her criticism of the president. In so doing, she has resorted to her time-honored strategy: pushing for change by wielding international and domestic pressure. She continues to urge her Western supporters to pressure the government for constitutional reform. Since early 2013, she has been using her foreign trips and meetings with foreign leaders at home to ask them to urge the Burmese government to accept reform. Recently, she teamed up with the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, the most influential force in Burma after Suu Kyi's party, to use the "people's power" to change the Constitution. In a speech at a mass rally on March 22, 2014, she called on the public to join nationwide protests for constitutional reform. There is, however, a growing Buddhist nationalist movement that could serve as a counterweight to Suu Kyi's reform attempt. Radical Buddhist monks have now succeeded in pressing the government to enact laws that prohibit interfaith marriage. Though Thein Sein might not be responsible for organizing the movement, he adopted its cause by asking Parliament to consider the interfaith marriage ban a few weeks ago. Reliable sources tell me that Thein Sein is in regular contact with the nationalist movement, including Ashin Wirathu, a self-styled "Burmese bin Laden" who is one of the movement's most controversial leaders. Some of the movement's leading monks have indicated that they would not support amending Article 59(f), fearing that it might make Burma vulnerable to the threat of a Muslim or other non-Buddhist president in near future. Of course, these monks urge their followers to vote for Thein Sein instead of Suu Kyi, since they view her as too weak in her defense of nationalism and Buddhism. It is ironic to see Thein Sein, who was once reportedly tipped to win a Nobel Peace Prize for his reform efforts, slip into the embrace of ethno-nationalists. None of this seems to impress Burma's ordinary citizens much—which hardly comes as a surprise, given their continuing poverty and lack of rights. They are left to cope with the daily reality of unemployment, illegal land grabs, official corruption, ethnic tension and the inevitable outbursts of violence when government forces step in to suppress the resulting protests. Given the general atmosphere of tension, it is not hard to imagine how power struggles at the top might lead to partisan political protests, religious riots, or even terrorist attacks. Since the general level of trust and tolerance is so weak, and the capacity of the state so fragile, society could easily find itself in a situation even worse than Thailand's recent bout of political polarization. No wonder the Economist projected that Burma is at high risk of social unrest in 2014. Unless Burma's leaders manage to reach a basic consensus about the speed and character of the transition, these risks will only mount. A few weeks ago I described the current situation in our country to some of my friends as a "slow-motion train wreck." As one of those listening put it: "Yes. And we, the people of Burma, are inside the train." Min Zin is the Burma blogger for Foreign Policy's 'Democracy Lab,' where this article first appeared on March 28, 2014. The post Why Burma Is Heading Downhill Fast appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Shan Yoe Yar Raises the Bar Posted: 30 Mar 2014 11:31 PM PDT  Quality Shan cuisine is served in pleasant surroundings in a new addition to Rangoon's burgeoning restaurant scene. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Billed as "the first Shan-style fine dining restaurant in Myanmar," Shan Yoe Yar, owned by the Asian Sun Group of companies, is part of the growing wave of investment in Yangon's restaurant industry. Opened in June 2013, this popular eatery produces tasty, attractively presented fare. "The food is authentic here. You can get Shan tofu and noodles outside, but here is the real cuisine," says Sai Htun Myo Thant, the restaurant's director, an ethnic Shan who hails from Taunggyi but is a long-time resident of Yangon. "Everything is authentic. You can still get noodles, but there's much more to Shan cuisine. And it's healthy, not oily food." Sai Htun Myo Thant gained his restaurant experience working in Japan, and from 2002 to 2007, he ran a Japanese restaurant called The Planet on Bo Aung Kyaw Street. Now, with Shan Yoe Yar, he is returning to his roots and hoping to win a wider appreciation for his native cuisine. As director, his main task is overseeing the entire operation. Occasionally, however, he will also get very hands-on in the kitchen. "I'm sometimes the chef, when I feel like it," he says. The kitchen, spread over two floors, is unusual in its design. Hot meals are cooked on the ground floor, while soup, salads and appetizers are prepared upstairs. Surrounded by plate-glass windows, the modern kitchen stands in striking contrast to the traditional architecture of the rest of the building, itself heavily renovated with new wood. "The old house was always here. There used to be seven colonial villas occupying this whole stretch of the road. Here we kept the frame and transformed the inside into a Shan-style restaurant. The managing director wanted it to become like a Shan palace. We took inspiration from those places," explains Daw Ingyin Zaw, the restaurant's business development manager.
Upstairs, there are four private rooms themed according to different parts of Shan State and decorated with black-and-white photos of famous people and places—including, of course, pictures of Sao ShweTheik, the first president of Myanmar and last Saopha of Yawnghwe (Nyaung Shwe). A central hall connects the rooms, which are perfect for meetings, workshops and celebrations. Downstairs is clean and comfortable, but decidedly less cozy, with bright fluorescent lighting, strong air-conditioning and two large TVs for entertainment. Shan food is known to be less oily than other cuisines in Myanmar, making it an enjoyable alternative to the standard local fare. For 10,000 kyat, the vegetarian set—consisting of stir-fried okra, a delicious eggplant soup, stir-fried mixed vegetables, cute potato croquettes, and crispy fried leek root, served with rice, coffee and fruit—will leave you with a satisfied, "clean" feeling at the end. Other specialties include a traditional beef salad called Sa Kone for 14,500 kyat and Sa Ta Lu (Shan-style pork salad) for 13,000 kyat. There's also deep-fried sea bass with tamarind for 13,500 kyat, crispy fried fish tail with tomato for 8,000 kyat, a Shan-style red curry with winkles for 5,000 kyat, fried bamboo shoots stuffed with seaweed for 5,000 kyat and Mine Tauk, an eggplant curry, for 4,000 kyat. Other highlights of the menu include the appetizer of Inle Hinn Htoke (steamed chicken and Shan vegetables in banana leaf) for 2,000 kyat and the wonderful salad selection of Shan tofu, papaya, pennywort, cucumber, seaweed and spinach. And yes, they have the famous Shan noodles. For 2,200 kyat, you can try their Kyaing Tong Meeshay (eastern Shan-style noodles with pickled mustard, dried soybean powder soup). Shan YoeYar does corporate functions, private events, tour groups and deliveries in the area. "The clientele is approximately 50-50 locals and internationals. Business is good, and picking up," says Sai Htun Myo Thant. Shan Yoe Yar
Wa Dan St, Lanmadaw Township
01-221524
Monday to Sunday, 6 am – 10 pm This story first appeared in the March 2014 print edition of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post Shan Yoe Yar Raises the Bar appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thousands March in Thai Capital Against Government Posted: 30 Mar 2014 10:49 PM PDT  An anti-government protest at the Democracy Monument in central Bangkok in November. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters marched through the streets of Thailand's capital Saturday, reviving their whistle-blowing, traffic-blocking campaign to try to force the resignation of the country's prime minister. The protest came after a lull in anti-government rallies and amid growing concern of violence between opponents and supporters of embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It also came a day before a key vote to elect a new Senate. Yingluck's opponents have tried a variety of tactics for the past four months to force her ouster. They have blocked Bangkok's major intersections, stormed government offices and most recently transformed the city's sprawling Lumpini Park into a messy protest headquarters overrun with tents and sleeping bags. Saturday's crowds marched from Lumpini Park, in the central business district, to the city's historic quarter to press demands that the government yield power to an interim appointed council to oversee reforms before new elections. Protesters say Yingluck is a proxy for her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power. "We march today to call for an end to the Thaksin regime, and show that the power truly belongs to the people," said a protest leader, Thaworn Senniem. A group of several hundred protesters forced their way into the prime minister's office compound, Government House, in a symbolic show of defiance. The compound has been largely deserted by officials since the protests started. The march was the first major rally since Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled March 21 to nullify last month's general election, a ruling cheered by protesters and criticized by Yingluck's supporters as the latest sign of judicial bias against her. "The fact that the election has been nullified means that our campaign is successful," Thaworn said. "Now we must finish the job with reforms." Yingluck has refused to resign and had called the Feb. 2 early elections to receive a fresh mandate. Her ruling Pheu Thai party and its predecessors have easily won every national election since 2001. It had been expected to win again in February, especially because the opposition Democrat Party boycotted the election. Election officials say it will take at least three months for a new vote to be held, prolonging Thailand's political paralysis. Yingluck's supporters, known as the Red Shirts, have generally kept a low profile during the anti-government protests. However, as Yingluck's government comes under greater threat of legal action that might force it from office, they have said they are prepared to respond with force. On Monday, Yingluck is due to submit her defense to the National Anti-Corruption Commission for a case her supporters call politically motivated that could lead to her impeachment. If the commission decides to indict Yingluck and forward the case to the Senate for an impeachment vote, government supporters have vowed to rise up in her defense. The case accuses Yingluck of dereliction of duty over the government's flagship rice subsidy program, which has run up huge losses. The current Senate is pro-Thaksin, but that could change in Sunday's election to fill 77 seats in the 150-seat Senate. The remaining seats are appointed, and a government attempt to make the Senate a fully elected body was one of the triggers for the unrest that started in November. Yingluck's Red Shirt supporters have vowed to stage their own mass rally next Saturday, though they have not yet said whether it will be held in the capital, which many fear could lead to clashes between the two sides. The sporadic violence over the past four months has left at least 23 people dead and hundreds hurt. Thailand has seen political conflict since 2006, when Thaksin was ousted by a military coup. Thaksin's supporters and opponents have since taken to the streets for extended periods in a power struggle. The post Thousands March in Thai Capital Against Government appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Myanmar Tourism’s ‘Crown Jewel’ Feels Strains of Growth Posted: 30 Mar 2014 10:40 PM PDT  At the entrance to many old temples in Bagan, hawkers parade their wares. (Photo : Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) With several dozen A4-sized paintings weighed down with stones on the cobbled forecourt of the ShweguGyi pagoda, artist U Aung Aung offers visitors to the shrine an affordable souvenir of their visit—a commissioned painting of the temple for a fee of 10,000 kyat or less. He and brother U SoeLwin run an impromptu gallery and art shop outside one of the bigger temples making up Bagan's panoply of around 2,500 mostly red- and brown-bricked pagodas—a renowned tourist draw pulling in around 200,000 visitors in 2013, up from 160,000 the year before. The brush-wielding brothers depend on the tourist season, which runs from around mid-November to mid-February, with numbers dropping sharply around March or April when temperatures in Bagan, situated on a river bend in Myanmar's parched dry zone, hit toward 40°C (104°F). "Some days five, some days 10, some days maybe one or two," U Aung Aung said, discussing how many paintings the siblings sell each day. But the presence of the brothers—along with other hawkers around this and other landmark temples in Bagan—is a reminder that visiting Bagan has its downsides, for some. Women selling lacquerware souvenirs and men propped up on parked bicycles shout entreaties at passersby, or, unsolicited, provide tour-guide services around the temples, after which the expectation is that the visitor will repay their expertise by purchasing some of their wares. Unwrapping a palm-sized sheet of white paper, one man who gave his name as "U TunTun" whispered, "I have orange sapphire, ruby, jade. The ruby is for US$120." Some might say such in-your-face bartering is part of the charm of visiting a long-closed former military dictatorship. But Dr. Donald Stadtner, author of Sacred Sites of Burma, a book about Myanmar's religious buildings and locations, is among those who are put off by the hawkers around Bagan's temples. The buildings themselves—Bagan's main attraction—are compromised, Mr. Stadtner feels, by shoddy renovations carried out during Myanmar's period of military rule, partly to replace pagodas damaged in a 1975 earthquake, and partly to modernize the ruins in a display of piety. "Thousands of temples have been restored at Bagan but with little attention to historical accuracy. [Changes are] based far too much on conjecture, and temples and stupas no longer preserve their original appearance," he said. Visitor numbers are increasing, and if the government's hopes of attracting 7 million tourists a year by 2020—more than three times the 2 million foreign visitors who came during 2013—come to fruition, Bagan will likely see around 1 million visitors a year within that time. As things stand, the area's three small towns—Old Bagan, New Bagan and Nyaung-U—might struggle to cope with such an influx. Brett Melzer, co-founder of Balloons OverBagan, whose hot-air balloons give tourists a chance to see the temple-studded plain below in all its dusty, ethereal glory, reckons tourism development in Bagan should not focus on just numbers of visitors. "As it currently stands, there isn't the capacity to deal with a greater influx," he said. Describing the region as "a crown jewel for Myanmar," he suggested that in future Bagan tourism focus "on quality rather than just growth." Land prices are going up, as demand for sites to build hotels, shops and restaurants grows in tandem with the tourism upsurge and in anticipation of lucrative future yields. U Hla Min, manager of the Seven Diamond travel agency branch in Nyaung-U, said that business has gone up "by around 60 percent" since 2010, the year before Myanmar's government began a series of reforms that have facilitated increased tourist arrivals. But, he says, hotels are too expensive, something he fears will put visitors off, just as much as Bagan's flawed renovations or pushy hawkers. "Minimum is 50, 60 dollars a night," he says, putting the costs down to land prices. "One square meter is five lakhs [500,000 kyat] in Old Bagan, for Nyaung-U maybe a bit less," he said. Building in the region requires a permit, meant to ensure that the proposed new structure does not add to the ill-advised eyesores built during military rule—termed "blitzkrieg archaeology" by renowned Myanmar historian U Than Tun. The upshot of putting hotels and golf courses in among all those temples was that a bid to have Bagan listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site fell flat, though there is a chance that it could yet receive the prestige-laden accolade if another application is made. Elizabeth Moore, professor of Southeast Asian art and archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, believes that Bagan is worth putting forward again for this top-tier recognition of its world-class cultural status. "It is unique, perhaps complements Angkor, but is a classic Buddhist royal center of learning. The dispersed villages and royal enceinte make an ancient and living cultural landscape in my view," she told The Irrawaddy. But with elections coming up in 2015, winning Unesco's imprimatur is probably less of a priority for the government than speeding up the business side of Bagan's tourism development. Jobs are still scarce in what remains one of Asia's poorest countries, with the unemployment rate estimated at 37 percent, so tourist draws such as Bagan have to be brought into the government's job-creation thinking. But U Tun Aung, the general manager of the Riverside Hotel, which sits on a hill overlooking the Ayeyarwady River and a busy dock where boats take piles of the renowned local lacquerware to be sold in Mandalay, said that there is a tension between those who focus on preserving Bagan's archaeological purity and others whose first priority is business. "The Culture Ministry says it wants to protect the zone, but the hotels and tourism sector wants to build the hotels," he said. He added that people in the hotel business understand the need to preserve the look of the region, but at the same time don't like the delays imposed by the government. "We would like to follow the regulations, but too much is a waste of time, as we need to move quickly," he said. This story first appeared in the March 2014 print edition of the Irrawaddy Magazine. The post Myanmar Tourism's 'Crown Jewel' Feels Strains of Growth appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Geopolitical Games Handicap Malaysia Jet Hunt Posted: 30 Mar 2014 10:10 PM PDT  Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein shows two maps with corridors of the last known possible location of Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane as he addresses reporters in Kuala Lumpur on March 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Damir Sagolj) The search for flight MH370, the Malaysian jetliner that vanished over the South China Sea on March 8, has involved more than two dozen countries and 60 aircraft and ships but been bedeviled by regional rivalries. While Malaysia has been accused of a muddled response and poor communications, China has showcased its growing military clout and reach, while some involved in the operation say other countries have dragged their feet on disclosing details that might give away sensitive defense data. That has highlighted growing tensions in a region where the rise of China is fueling an arms race, and where several countries including China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are engaged in territorial disputes, with the control of shipping lanes, fishing and potential hydrocarbon reserves at stake. The Malaysian Airline jet, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was last officially detected hundreds of miles off course on the wrong side of the Malaysian peninsula. As mystery deepened over the fate of the Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers and crew, most of them Chinese, it became clear that highly classified military technology might hold the key. A reluctance to share sensitive data appeared to harden as the search area widened. "This is turning into a spy novel," said an envoy from a Southeast Asian country, noting it was turning attention to areas and techniques few countries liked to publicly discuss. With the United States playing a relatively muted role in the sort of exercise that until recently it would have dominated, experts and officials say there was no real central coordination until the search for the plane was confined to the southern Indian Ocean, when Australia largely took charge. Part of the problem is that Asia has no NATO-style regional defense structure, though several countries have formal alliances with the United States. Commonwealth members Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia also have an arrangement with Britain to discuss defense matters in times of crisis. "There is … a pressing need for regional security structures to take a few leaps forward," said Air Vice Marshal Michael Harwood, a retired Royal Air Force pilot and former British defense attaché in Washington. The risk, he said, was that the search instead became seen as a national "test of manhood" and driver of rivalry. Already, several governments have been openly competing in announcing findings and satellite images. Radar Poker Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also the country's defense minister, has defended the international effort to find the jet. "All countries involved are displaying unprecedented levels of cooperation, and that has not changed," he said. But while Kuala Lumpur has been forced to reveal some of the limits and ranges of its air defenses, the reluctance of Malaysia's neighbors to release sensitive radar data may have obstructed the investigation for days. At an ambassadorial meeting in the ad hoc crisis center at an airport hotel on March 16, Malaysia formally appealed to countries on the jet's possible path for help, but in part met with polite stonewalling, two people close to the talks said. Some countries asked Malaysia to put its request in writing, triggering a flurry of diplomatic notes and high-level contacts. "It became a game of poker in which Malaysia handed out the cards at the table but couldn't force others to show their hand," a person from another country involved in the talks said. It was not until a week later that Malaysia announced a list of nations that had checked their archives. Beijing, meanwhile, was dramatically upping its game. Its ability to deploy forces deep into the southern hemisphere is particularly striking. Beijing has sent several deployments into southern waters in recent months, including warship visits to New Zealand and South America, while its icebreaker "Snow Dragon" helped rescue personnel from a trapped Russian icebreaker in the Antarctic late last year. "China are deploying because that's what great powers do, and there must be a political expectation for them to [do so]," said one former Western military officer. "How well they do it, only the USA will currently know [through surveillance and signals intelligence], and time will tell." With five Chinese ships heading to a new search area in the Indian Ocean on Friday, experts say China is revealing military capabilities it lacked just a handful of years ago. Chinese officials have also spoken of the growing number of satellites it has put to the task, a sensitive topic nations rarely disclose. "A decade ago, China wouldn't even have been in this game at all," says Christopher Harmer, a former US naval aviator and search-and-rescue pilot, now senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington DC. "It really shows how far they have come, much, much faster than most people expected." Ultimately, the only country with the technical resources to recover the plane—or at least its black box recorder, which could lie in water several miles deep—may be the United States. Its deep-sea vehicles ultimately hauled up the wreckage of Air France 447 after its 2009 crash in the South Atlantic. So far, Washington has sent two Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft to the southern Indian Ocean search as well as an underwater drone and its Towed Pinger Locator, specifically designed to detect the signals from black boxes. As in the northern Indian Ocean, where Chinese forces operate alongside other nations to combat Somali piracy, current and former officials say all sides are almost certainly quietly spying on and monitoring each other at the same time. Military secrets, meanwhile, remain the last thing on the minds of those still hoping for news of missing relatives. "I don't care about the secrets. I just want my son to return," Liu Guiqiu, mother of missing passenger Li Le, told China Central Television. Additional reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi. The post Geopolitical Games Handicap Malaysia Jet Hunt appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Nationalism Takes Center Stage in Indonesia’s Election Campaign Posted: 30 Mar 2014 09:52 PM PDT  Prabowo Subianto, presidential candidate from the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, shouts slogans to supporters during a campaign rally at a stadium in Jakarta on March 23, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Beawiharta) JAKARTA — Dressed in the style of Indonesia's first leader, even using replica 1950s microphones, presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto roared to thousands of supporters at a recent rally in the capital: "Indonesia cannot be bought." It is a nationalistic tone that has been on the rise in campaigns by the major political parties ahead of elections to choose a parliament on April 9 and a new president on July 9. The question of whether Indonesia is souring on the foreign money that helped bankroll much of its growth was thrust into the spotlight this year with a new law that aims to boost the country's profits by banning the export of minerals unless they have been processed first. That threatens the fortunes of some of Indonesia's biggest investors, notably two major US mining companies with large operations in the country—Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Newmont Mining Corp. To continue exporting, mining firms must now either pay 20-25 percent tax from this year, rising to up to 60 percent by the second half of 2016, or invest hundreds of millions of dollars on new smelters. The more prickly language, and its occasional echo of the jingoistic rhetoric of founding President Sukarno, who famously told the United States in 1964 to "Go to hell with your aid!", comes as record foreign direct investment looks to be peaking. In part, that reflects investor concern over muddled government policy, barely functioning infrastructure and a sharp rise in labor costs in the world's fourth most populous country. Approved foreign investment outside the oil, gas and banking sectors last year was around US$22 billion, roughly the same as 2012 in dollar terms. "In dealing with globalization, Indonesia should have a stronger position … We should ensure that we are independent, not relying only on foreign investment," said Budiman Sudjatmiko, a member of parliament of the PDI-P party. Opinion polls suggest that PDI-P, currently in opposition, will win the most seats in parliament and easily grab the presidency with its hugely popular candidate, Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. He has won national approval for his straight-forward leadership style but has yet to detail any economic policy. Behind PDI-P are Prabowo's Gerindra party and also Golkar, the parliamentary vehicle for autocrat Suharto's 32-year rule, which has managed to resurrect its fortunes in the 16 years since its patron was forced from office and Indonesia became a democracy. Several political analysts expect PDI-P to team up with the pro-business Golkar for its vice presidential candidate. All major parties favor keeping the law banning mineral ore exports despite criticism from the World Bank that it will damage the economy. "Indonesia has to be nationalistic … But it doesn't mean that if national interest is at the forefront of our policy then foreign companies cannot come to our country," said Burhanuddin Abdullah, a former central bank governor who chairs the council of experts at Gerindra. However much the election speeches are tinged with xenophobia, all the top parties promise to address more fundamental economic challenges. That includes a large current-account deficit that threatens confidence in the currency and the budget-sapping cost of huge fuel subsidies at a time when the outlook for economic growth has softened to barely 5 percent this year. "Raising fuel prices, but gradually, will be one of the options. We will let the people choose, cheap fuel prices but poor roads or paying a higher price and getting good roads," said Harry Azhar Azis, a senior member of Golkar's economic team. Investors who commit to broader economic development would win favor. Others may find Indonesia less welcoming, he said. "It will be a bit tougher … Particularly investors who only play in the portfolio market, unless the investment has a strong correlation to industry development," Azis said. The director of PDI-P's Megawati Institute think-tank, Arif Budimanta, said the country should develop infrastructure and lure investment into adding value to the country's natural resources, much of which are exported unprocessed. "There has to be synergy. With better competitiveness, the current-account deficit will improve gradually," he said. PDI-P wants to spend around 20-30 percent of the budget, from about 11 percent now, on infrastructure, whose weakness is a major factor in keeping economic growth below its potential. "We will prioritize the quality of growth, not just growth but also in terms of even distribution," he said. About 11 percent of Indonesia's 240 million people live below the poverty line. Another 30 percent are barely above it, many of them in the rural sector. Gerindra says the government needs to return to the 1970s emphasis on agriculture to lift the economy and has repeatedly warned that the ever yawning gap between the rich and the have-nots threatens social stability. "The focus of our program is agriculture and education … If we want to develop our industry, it has to be agri-based industry," said Abdullah. His party wants to boost budget spending on agriculture to 5 percent in 5 years, from around 2 percent now. It will also press banks to lend more to the agriculture sector. The front-running PDI-P has also stressed education for an exceptionally young population— about half is under 30—whose classrooms churn out workers barely able to compete with neighboring economies. Skill levels had to rise so locals could compete against outsiders coming into Indonesia's growing job market, said Budimanta. Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor and Jonathan Thatcher. The post Nationalism Takes Center Stage in Indonesia's Election Campaign appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
