The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Indonesia Election Commission Confirms Jokowi as Next President
- Media Group Criticizes Deportation of Burmese Journalists
- Ne Win Scions Plan Takeover of Tay Za’s Bank
- NLD Urges Less Restrictive Campaign Rules for 2015 Elections
- Landslide Kills 5 Civilians in Kachin Camp
- Clashes Continue Between SSA and Burma Army
- Investigator Meets With Thilawa Residents Over JICA Complaint
- Photo of the Week (July 22, 2014)
- Burma May Build Nuclear Reactors for ‘Research’: Minister
- Thais Find a Spiritual Home in Yangon
- Burmese Refugee Headcount Begins, Sparking Fears of Forced Repatriation
- US Turns Blind Eye on Burma’s North Korea Connection
- NLD Says 5 Million Sign Petition to Change Constitution
- Malaysia Given Black Boxes From Ukraine Crash Site
- Indonesia to Declare Winner of Hotly Contested Presidential Election
- Thai Media Call on Junta to Ease Restrictions
| Indonesia Election Commission Confirms Jokowi as Next President Posted: 22 Jul 2014 08:34 AM PDT  Indonesian presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo gestures during a rally in Proklamasi Monument Park in Jakarta July 9, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) JAKARTA — Indonesian election officials said on Tuesday that Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo would be the next president of Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The Elections Commission, known as KPU, said Jokowi beat ex-general Prabowo Subianto by 6 percentage points in the July 9 presidential election, the closest ever in Indonesian history. The main party backing Jokowi claimed victory in Indonesia’s presidential election earlier on Tuesday, despite last-minute accusations from his rival that allegations of mass vote fraud had not been properly investigated. "I want to declare that we, the party that supports and puts forward Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla (for vice president), has won," party chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri told a news conference. Jokowi will take office in October to serve a five-year term. Prabowo will not go to the Constitutional Court to challenge the results of the ballot announced, his lawyer said. "It is not the domain of the Constitutional Court to handle procedural disputes," Mahendradatta, Prabowo’s lawyer, told reporters. It was not immediately clear, however, whether Prabowo would appeal to a lower court. He has refused to concede defeat and has withdrawn from the vote counting process. The move will have no impact on the result. "The presidential election process done by the KPU is problematic and not democratic," a combative Prabowo told reporters in Jakarta. Allegations of Mass Cheating The Prabowo camp alleges mass cheating in the July 9 ballot, enough, they say, to overturn Jokowi’s victory. But unofficial counts suggest that this would require as many as seven million votes switching over to Prabowo, which analysts say is highly unlikely. The KPU has been widely praised for the way it has conducted the vote in the world’s third largest democracy and home to its biggest Muslim population. "It’s reflective of a man who has dedicated the past 10 years to his candidacy," Douglas Ramage, Jakarta-based political analyst, said of Prabowo’s reaction to the result going against him. "This was his last shot and … he has failed to achieve his life’s quest. He’s disappointed." The Prabowo camp earlier demanded the commission delay its announcement for two weeks so that the alleged cheating could be investigated. Confusion over Prabowo’s position regarding the election count was enough to rattle Jakarta shares, which had been rising on expectations of a win by Jokowi who is seen as more investor friendly. At one stage the main index was down two percent on worries that the increasingly shrill dispute could spill over into violence. Prices later recovered. There have been no reports of major unrest since the election. Hundreds of thousands of police and military personnel are on heightened alert across the vast archipelago of 240 million people. Companies cancelled events and sent their employees home due to fears of potential unrest, and Jakarta’s normally congested roads were quiet at the start of the afternoon rush-hour. "There are a lot of rumors of instability and unrest, but cautiously I’m confident that it is implausible," said Tobias Basuki, a political analyst at the CSIS think-tank. Both sides had claimed victory in the closest ever presidential election in Indonesia. Admit Defeat Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged whoever loses to quickly acknowledge the outcome to avoid violence. "Admitting defeat is noble," the president told reporters on Monday, in a clear reference to Prabowo. Jokowi, born into poverty but now governor of Jakarta, has risen up the political ladder with a clean image and a reputation for competence in local government, in contrast to the autocracy, corruption and power politics that have weighed down the country for decades. Prabowo’s reputation as a strongman and his vow to reverse the indecisiveness of the outgoing government won him a large following among voters yearning for a return to old-style rule. Candidates can lodge complaints with the Constitutional Court, as did the losers of the previous two elections since strongman ruler Suharto was forced to step down in 1998 after more than three decades in power. The Court must return a verdict on any challenge within two weeks and it cannot be appealed. "It is going to take a lot to push this to the Constitutional Court. Prabowo’s camp has to prove there was massive, systemic fraud," Basuki said. Election officials said reports of irregularities had been investigated, but the number of disputed votes is limited to thousands of cases. The post Indonesia Election Commission Confirms Jokowi as Next President appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Media Group Criticizes Deportation of Burmese Journalists Posted: 22 Jul 2014 05:25 AM PDT  A newspaper vendor sits under pictures of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her father, the country's independence hero General Aung San in central Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A Southeast Asian press watchdog has raised concerns over Thailand's deportation of two Burmese media professionals to Burma, where they face prosecution after publishing an article that upset their government. The publisher of Rangoon-based Bi Mon Te Nay journal was detained in the Thai border town of Mae Sot last week along with his wife and an employee. They fled from Burma because they faced charges for publishing an article based on a statement by an activist group that mistakenly claimed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had formed an interim government. Eight members of the journal, including the publisher and employee caught in Thailand, are accused of violating the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, which prohibits disruptions of law and order. If convicted, they could face lengthy prison sentences. The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) on Tuesday decried the charges. "SEAPA is disappointed that the Thai authorities handed over the Burmese journalists given the threats of what we believe are unjust persecution," Gayathry Venkiteswaran, executive director of the Bangkok-based press group, told The Irrawaddy, adding that the punishments allowed by the Emergency Provisions Act were too severe for the case. "The Thai authorities should have weighed the circumstances facing the three, and not sent them back." Burmese journalists are facing increasing pressure from the government. Earlier this month, four journalists and the chief executive of another Rangoon-based journal were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor after publishing an article alleging that a defense factory was producing chemical weapons. Their imprisonment was also criticized by press watchdogs and activist groups. "We are very concerned that the Bi Mon Te Nay journalists will be subject to unfair trials in the country. Handing them over to Burmese authorities to be jailed for reporting may be in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, given the government seems to be clamping down on critical media," Venkiteswaran said. Non-refoulement is a principle of international law that prevents governments from sending victims of persecution back to their persecutors. Instead, according to the norms of international humanitarian protection in democratic countries, people fleeing persecution should have the right to seek asylum abroad. Thai and Burmese authorities often cooperate on the border to detain fleeing criminal suspects, especially drug traffickers and human traffickers. But critics point out that the Burmese journalists from Bi Mon Te Nay are facing political charges, not criminal charges. The Thai junta announced over the weekend that it would shut down media organizations that criticized it or published reports threatening national security. On Monday, however, the junta said it would allow media to make "honest criticisms" of its operations, according to a report by the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper. The post Media Group Criticizes Deportation of Burmese Journalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Ne Win Scions Plan Takeover of Tay Za’s Bank Posted: 22 Jul 2014 05:18 AM PDT  Zwae Ne Win (far left), Kyaw Ne Win (center left) and Aye Ne Win, grandsons of the late dictator Ne Win, are pictures at their Rangoon home shortly after their release from jail last year. (Photo: Khin Maung Win / Shwe Inn Thar) RANGOON — One of the grandsons of Burma's late dictator Gen. Ne Win claims his family's firm, which is being backed by a Chinese state-owned company, has agreed to buy a majority stake in Tay Za's Asia Green Development (AGD) Bank. Grandson Aye Ne Win provided details to The Irrawaddy of the bid, which would likely see Tay Za—the prominent tycoon and head of Htoo Group who is still under US Treasury Department sanctions—divest himself of his share in the bank he founded in 2010. A director at the bank, however, said that only that a minor change of share ownership was taking place at AGD Bank this week, with one of Ne Win's grandsons set to take a stake of 1.5 percent in the bank. Aye Ne Win said that Tay Za had on Monday agreed to sell 60 percent of the bank to the family's company, Omni. The company would later take an 85 percent stake in the bank, according to Aye Ne Win. Ne Win stepped down from the leadership of Burma's single political party in 1988 and, after falling foul of the junta that replaced him, died in house arrest in 2002. Kyaw Ne Win and Aye Ne Win were only released from Rangoon's Insein prison last year after they were convicted in 2002 of high treason for an apparent plot to overthrow the then military regime. The family is known to own a number of luxurious properties in Rangoon, and through Omni is planning to invest in the power, transport and serviced apartment sectors in Burma. "When we were released from prison, we were deeply touched by the trust and support exhibited to us by our friends in the international business community who intended to invest in this country," Aye Ne Win wrote in an emailed response to questions from The Irrawaddy. Part of this good will, he said, was the opportunity to invest US$4.9 billion from the China National Corporation for Overseas Economic Cooperation (CCOEC) in various sectors in Burma. According to CCOEC's website, it is part of China General Technology Group (Genertec), a Chinese government-owned conglomerate. "After careful evaluation, it was brought to our knowledge that the said amount is legitimate and clean," Aye Ne Win said of the Chinese money, also rejecting any suggestion that his family's wealth derived from ill-gotten gains. "In this day and age of WikiLeaks, it is highly unlikely that any fortune that is accumulated as result of some wrongdoing will go unnoticed." He said AGD Bank was chosen partly due to the family's close relationship with Tay Za, whose father, Col. Myint Swe, was a trusted officer under Ne Win in the 4th Burma Rifles. "Highly reputable and prestigious though some other banking institutions in this nation undoubtedly are, we chose to establish a strategy alliance with U Tay Za and AGD Bank because we have personal connections between our families and the bank in question can provide us with an assurance of a promising future," he wrote. Aye Ne Win said the future owners of AGD Bank had not yet decided if they would go ahead with a previous plan for the bank to be listed on Burma's new stock exchange in 2015. Despite the confidence of the dictator's grandson, news of the grand takeover plan had apparently not filtered down to everyone on AGD Bank's board. Soe Thein, executive director of the bank's share department, said that while a transfer of shares was going on this week, only 15 percent of the total 601,746 shares were changing hands. And only 9,000 shares—or a 1.5 percent stake in the bank—were being transferred to Kyaw Ne Win at a value of 60,000 kyat ($61.72) per share, he said. The stake would be worth more than $555,000. "Among the 15 percent of shares [being transferred], U Kyaw Ne Win is not the major shareholder. U Yin Htwe from Mikko Group purchased 10 percent of them. After we transfer this percentage, there will be 19 major shareholders on the board of directors list," he said, declining to say whether Tay Za was selling his stake in the bank. "I don't know about the further discussion between shareholders U Tay Za and U Kyaw Ne Win. They might have had further discussions. That might be why they said this," he said. Asked about the apparent lack of information on the deal within the bank itself, Aye Ne Win said, "First of all, there is no this side and that side anymore. Everyone is together. "Having said that AGD is a large institution [and] not everyone in the chain of command is aware of the developments. Today [Tuesday], they will make an official statement to clarify everything. It's better if the bank does the explanations. For us, we reconfirm what we stated before." The post Ne Win Scions Plan Takeover of Tay Za's Bank appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| NLD Urges Less Restrictive Campaign Rules for 2015 Elections Posted: 22 Jul 2014 05:03 AM PDT  Thousands of NLD supporters gather to hear Aung San Suu Kyi speak at a rally for constitutional reform on May 17, 2014, in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The National League for Democracy (NLD) has called on Burma's Union Election Commission to change the campaigning rules it approved earlier this month, saying the current strictures may not allow for free and fair elections when voters go to the polls next year. The Union Election Commission (UEC) approved the campaign rules on July 1, but opposition parties have been quick to condemn them, saying certain restrictions, such as limiting the official campaigning period, would hamper parties' ability to reach out to voters and get their message across. A requirement that all political rallies be approved by local officials in advance has also been criticized as an affront to candidates' ability to freely campaign. The UEC stated in the directive that parties may begin campaigning no sooner than 30 days before the election and may not undertake campaign activities on the day before the election. A date for the general election has not yet been set, but the poll is expected sometime in late 2015. The rules also call for candidates in every constituency to submit an application to their local election commission office at least 15 days prior to any planned political rally. Applications must include the place, date, time and duration of the rally, details on any scheduled speakers, and information about the applicant and whether vehicles will be used in the event. In a statement released Monday, the NLD urged the commission to allow for a campaign period of at least 60 days, with Burma's largest opposition party saying 30 days was "not enough." Hla Maung Cho, director of the UEC, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the commission based its decision to limit the campaign period on an examination of electoral practices in other Asean member states and European countries. Requiring the submission of a detailed application for political rallies 15 days ahead of the event would be impractical, the NLD's statement said, adding that five days' advanced notice should be sufficient. "We ask this to avoid any overlap in venues where parties want to hold the rallies or give public speeches," Hla Maung Cho said in defense of the rule. "There are currently 67 parties. We will not reject all applications, it is to have time for negotiation if the parties' rallies overlap." The NLD, whose chairwoman is Aung San Suu Kyi, also said members of the UEC should not have had ties to any political party in Burma for at least five years to ensure the commission's independence. That would appear to be a direct challenge to the UEC chairman, Tin Aye, who was a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) until 2011, when he took over the commission chairmanship. "There is nothing in the Constitution stating that members of the commission must have no dealings with any parties for five years before the election," Hla Maung Cho said, adding, "There is no circumstance under which we would change the campaign rules." The NLD, however, said the 2015 general elections' credibility would hinge on whether the rules are amended. "The commission must change the rules and directives if they really want to ensure a free and fair election," the NLD statement said. The post NLD Urges Less Restrictive Campaign Rules for 2015 Elections appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Landslide Kills 5 Civilians in Kachin Camp Posted: 22 Jul 2014 04:22 AM PDT  A makeshift camp for internally displaced persons, in the grounds of a church in Muse, northern Shan State, was flooded by rains in May. (Photo: Namhkai Hka / Facebook) RANGOON — Five people were killed in a camp for displaced Kachin civilians near the rebel-held town of Laiza on Tuesday after their shelters were buried by a landslide, according to Kachin rebels. They said the disaster occurred after several days of heavy rains hit the mountainous region in Kachin State, northern Burma. Doi Be Za, an officer in charge of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) IDPs and Refugees Relief Committee, told The Irrawaddy that two families were buried alive inside their huts at Je Yang camp during the mudslide and instantly killed. "There has been a lot of rain here. A landslide from the mountain occurred this morning around 7 am and two shelters were destroyed; two older people and three children were killed," he said, adding that a funeral would be held for the victims around 4 pm on Tuesday. The victims include a 50-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman and three teenage boys, aged between 14 and 15 years, according to Doi Be Za. Three days of downpours in the KIO-controlled parts of Kachin State, which include the town of Laiza and mountainous areas along the Burma-China border, had caused several landslides in the area that have blocked roads and put internally displaced person's (IDP) camps at risk, he said. Je Yang refugee camp, located south of Laiza, is home to some 8,000 Kachin who have been displaced by the fighting between the Kachin rebels and the Burma Army, which began in mid-2011. More than 100,000 ethnic civilians have been displaced by the conflict and the majority live in KIO-controlled areas, where their situation is precarious because the rebels and local Kachin NGOs struggle to support the camps. UN and other international aid groups have only been able to offer some support for several IDP camps in rebel-held areas. In May, several Kachin NGOs warned that the impending rainy season would bring problems for the displaced as their tents were unsuitable for the heavy downpours that often lash northern Burma. The conflict quieted down after intense fighting occurred in early 2013, but it continues to fester as attempts to negotiate bilateral ceasefire between Kachin rebels and government have failed. In recent months, skirmishes have become more frequent and a government offensive in southern Kachin State in April displaced another 2,700 villagers. Ethnic Palaung and Shan rebels have also increasingly clashed with the Burma Army as fighting has spilled over into northern Shan State, where hundreds of villagers fled their homes in recent weeks. The post Landslide Kills 5 Civilians in Kachin Camp appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Clashes Continue Between SSA and Burma Army Posted: 22 Jul 2014 04:07 AM PDT  A government soldier stands outside a primary school in Wan Wap village in Kyaethee Township on July 16. (Photo: Hsenpai News Journal / Facebook) More fighting has erupted between ethnic Shan rebels and the Burma Army near a village in eastern Shan State where hundreds of displaced people have taken shelter for about two weeks. Gunfire could be heard for many hours on Sunday and Monday in Kyaethee Township, according to local residents. "The clashes began on Sunday afternoon at about 2 pm near Pang Sel village," said Sai Hlaing Kham, a Shan resident in Kyaythee town. "It continued into the night, and artillery could be heard again on Monday between 7 am and 3 pm." The Burma Army and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) could not be reached for comment. The Shan Herald Agency for News reported that the SSA and government troops from Infantry Unit 248 clashed about eight miles east of Kyaethee town. SSA frontline commander Sai Pha Hlat was quoted as saying that government troops attacked an SSA-N camp with artillery on Sunday. "We heard some artillery shells even fell into Pang Sel village," a resident from nearby Hah Wan village told The Irrawaddy, adding that her own village was spared from the fighting. "We keep staying in our homes," she said. Residents were forced to flee their homes in Pang Sel, Wan Kyaung, Pa Tit and two other villages, according to Sai Hlaing from Kyaethee town. He added that the government troops had left Pang Sel and were returning to Kyaethee town on Tuesday. The clashes were also seven miles away from Wan Wap village, where about 300 people have been taking shelter at a monastery since fleeing their homes due to fighting earlier this month. They fled from Pha Saung village, where government troops and the SSA-N have clashed near Tah Pha Hsawng bridge since June 26. The situation around the strategic bridge remains tense. Aid workers said the fighting this week has prevented them from reaching the displaced people in Wan Wap village. They plan to attempt to resume aid on Wednesday. Meanwhile, two civilians were killed in separate clashes west of Namkham Township, northern Shan State, between government troops and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) over the weekend. The post Clashes Continue Between SSA and Burma Army appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Investigator Meets With Thilawa Residents Over JICA Complaint Posted: 22 Jul 2014 03:04 AM PDT  Thilawa residents held a press conference on Monday about the JICA Examiner's investigation into their complaint. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — An independent Japanese investigator has met with local communities displaced by the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to carry out an inquiry into a complaint filed by the villagers over the Japan-backed investment project near Rangoon. On June 2, three residents filed a formal complaint under the objection procedures of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) over the compensation and relocation of 81 households who had to make way for the first 400-hectare phase of the Thilawa project. Local NGO Thilawa Social Development Group and Japanese NGO Mekong Watch, which are supporting the complaint, said JICA Examiner for Guidelines Sachihiki Harashina visited Rangoon last week and met with Thilawa residents, NGOs, representatives of the Rangoon Division government and the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee. A Mekong Watch spokesman said the inquiry would assess whether JICA had violated its own guidelines for environmental and social considerations during the project, and if it had facilitated proper dialogue between government and residents during forced resettlement. JICA, Japan's international aid body, has a 10 percent stake in the SEZ and offer technical support, while three Japanese companies hold 39 percent stake. The Burmese government and a joint venture of nine Burmese companies have invested the remaining 10 percent and 41 percent, respectively. The Thilawa SEZ is Burma's most advanced economic zone involving foreign investors, and it is at the center of Naypyidaw and Tokyo's expanding political and economic relations. Mekong Watch said it expected the first part of the examiner's report to be publicly released and sent to the JICA president by September. "Mekong Watch will keep monitor the report by the examiner and how action are being taken in accordance with report ['s recommendations]," the group said. "We mainly want the villagers to have living standards that are not lower than what they used to have" before relocation. The complaint against JICA outlined damages occurred by villagers during the first project phase and the potential damage that is likely to happen during implementation of the next 2,000-hectare second phase. "These damages included loss of farmland and access to farmland, loss of livelihood opportunities, impoverishment, loss of educational opportunities for the villagers' children, substandard housing and basic infrastructure in the Myaing Tha Yar resettlement site and loss of access to clean water," the NGOs have previously said of the complaint. Local villagers told The Irrawaddy that after the complaint was filed there had been some positive developments. "Some piles of brick and sand have been brought in to reconstruct the drainage system," Aye Khaing Win, one of the relocated villagers, said during a press conference on Monday. Villager Myint Myint Thein said authorities recently also built four new wells, but construction had been so poor that only one produced clean water. She added that toilets were full due to a lack of a proper sewage system, while the relocation site was also prone to flooding as it is a low-lying area. The villagers stressed that they were seeking JICA's support for long-term solutions to restore their livelihoods, which were lost after their farms were taken. "Without land, our lives are dead," villager Kyaw Kyaw said, adding that without the same amount of farmland the villagers could not reach income standards as before. Villagers requested higher compensation for their loss of land during a July 8 meeting with the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee, the Rangoon Divisional government and the Thilawa Social Development Group. The displaced Thilawa residents expect to have a meeting with the Rangoon government and JICA next month. Villagers have said that the only received compensation for the loss of six years' worth of harvests and that no money was paid for the land, the value of which had risen sharply in recent years. Authorities have argued that the land was already confiscated by the military regime during the 1990s and that villagers were compensated. The communities have said they received a paltry compensation sum at the time. Lawyer Myint Thwin, who provides legal counsel to displaced villagers, took issue with the authorities' claims, saying that the 1990s confiscation did not comply with Burma's laws at the time. He said farmers were still forced to pay land ownership taxes until 2012, and that a new notification of land confiscation was issued in 2013. "That means they haven't confiscated the land. So they have to negotiate to compensate for taking the land," Myint Thwin said. "I like to request the government to compensate them according to the law." The post Investigator Meets With Thilawa Residents Over JICA Complaint appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Photo of the Week (July 22, 2014) Posted: 22 Jul 2014 01:02 AM PDT
The post Photo of the Week (July 22, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma May Build Nuclear Reactors for ‘Research’: Minister Posted: 22 Jul 2014 12:49 AM PDT  Science and Technology Minister Ko Ko Oo speaks in the Upper House of Parliament in Naylyidaw. (Photo: New Light of Myanmar) RANGOON — Burma is preparing to build nuclear reactors for "research purposes" at some point in the future, according to the country's minister for science and technology. The state-run New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday that Minister Ko Ko Oo was asked about Burmese government plans for nuclear research during a session of the Upper House in Naypyidaw n Monday. He responded that the country "might build nuclear reactors for research purposes at an appropriate time," according to the report. "Myanmar is carrying out tasks for human resources development in nuclear technology and will build nuclear reactors when the required infrastructure has been built," the newspaper paraphrased the minister as saying. Ko Ko Oo, while admitting that nuclear energy can be dangerous, reportedly claimed that "correct application of it can be beneficial as the technology can be applied in various fields including health, agriculture, livestock breeding etc." "The union minister added that it is necessary to build a nuclear reactor in order to conduct nuclear researches more effectively but the government at present is still trying to implement measures for protection against nuclear radiation, drafting laws for nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, building infrastructure for nuclear technology and development of human resources in nuclear technology," it said. During the former military regime, Burma was suspected of developing nuclear technology with help from North Korea, raising fears the country's military rulers could gain access to nuclear weapons. Concerns were also raised overseas when Russia announced in 2007 it would build a nuclear reactor in Burma. The current quasi-civilian government signed a key nuclear nonproliferation agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency in September last year. The post Burma May Build Nuclear Reactors for 'Research': Minister appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thais Find a Spiritual Home in Yangon Posted: 21 Jul 2014 06:00 PM PDT  A Thai worshipper at the shrine of Amagyi Mya Nan New at Yangon's Botataung Pagoda. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) YANGON — If you happen to be visiting Botataung Pagoda one day and suddenly notice a lot of Thai being spoken around you, don't be surprised. The pagoda, which is one of Yangon's most important Buddhist sites, is also home to a nat, or spirit, shrine that has recently begun to attract a growing number of tourists from neighboring Thailand. The shrine's fame has increased dramatically since it was featured on a Thai TV program that told the story of Amagyi (Sister) Mya Nan Nwe, a devout Buddhist famous for her devotion to the pagoda, located just south of the Strand Road in Botataung Township. Amagyi Mya Nan Nwe, who was born on Dec. 22, 1897, and had family ties to Myanmar and Shan royalty, dedicated her life to making merit. A Following her death in 1957, Amagyi Mya Nan Nwe became a revered figure in her own right. In 1990, a shrine containing a statue of her According to Ma Sagawah Soe, a Thai interpreter, no effort was made to introduce Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi to visitors from Thailand. "They just saw the crowds of people who gathered at the shrine, and we explained about Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi and how Myanmar people believe in Common Ground Although Myanmar and Thailand have a long history of enmity, nat worship—like Buddhism—is one thing they have in common. And as Myanmar opens up after decades of isolation, many Thais are now finding it easier than ever to explore this shared spiritual heritage. Despite the fact that Thai nationals (unlike citizens of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines) still need a visa to visit Myanmar, more than 600,000 of the 1 million tourists who came to this country in the first four months of 2014 were from Thailand, according to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. When visa-free travel for Thais—expected to be approved by Parliament later this year—becomes a reality, that number will likely rise even further. For many Thais, Myanmar's reputation as a country where people still take nat worship very seriously makes it a natural destination for "A colleague told me about Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi after visiting Myanmar," said a Thai woman who identified herself only as Fah. "That's why I'm Ning Ning, another Thai woman who was traveling with Fah, expressed similar faith in Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi's wish-granting powers. "I believe in her. I will pray to her for my health and economic well-being," she said. According to U Kyaw Win, the person in charge of caring for the shrine, Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi seldom disappoints. He added that many Thais who come to the shrine are repeat visitors. "They often come back to offer money and pay obeisance to her when their wish to overcome some difficulty has been fulfilled." Steady Traffic Thanks to her newfound status as a nat, Amagyi Mya Nan Nwe continues to be a boon to Botataung Pagoda more than half a century after her death. Her shrine alone receives more than 600 visits a day, including at least 30 from foreign—mostly Thai—visitors, according to U Kyaw Win. Supplicants typically offer baskets full of flowers, fruit and incense, available at the shrine for 2,000-12,000 kyat (US$2-12). Many also pay an extra 500 kyat for soy milk—Amagyi Mya Nan Nwe's favorite drink—or make cash donations. Those with a request to make lean in closely to the statue to whisper their prayers into Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi's ear while rubbing her hands and Of course, Myanmar being Myanmar, there is also a shady military connection to this story. When the country was still under direct army rule, the former dictator, Snr.-Gen. Than Shwe, reportedly had the statue of Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi handcuffed at night after she appeared to him in a dream, warning of "bad consequences" for his brutal suppression of the country's people and monks. No strangers to military rule themselves, Thais might find this bizarre side note yet another reason to feel that the people of this country are their kindred spirits. In any case, if Mya Nan Nwe Htayyi can help bridge the differences between these two neighbors, she will surely have more than earned her place among the pantheon of the This article first appeared in the July 2014 print edition of The Irrawaddy Magazine. The post Thais Find a Spiritual Home in Yangon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burmese Refugee Headcount Begins, Sparking Fears of Forced Repatriation Posted: 21 Jul 2014 05:30 PM PDT  A Karen refugee with her child in Mae La Oon refugee camp in Thailand. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) MAE LA REFUGEE CAMP, Thailand — Thai soldiers launched a headcount of refugees here, as authorities restricted movement in and out of this sprawling camp near the Burmese border, raising fears among refugees that they would soon be forcefully repatriated to Burma. The headcount early Monday morning at Mae La—home to 43,000 and the country's largest refugee camp—comes a week after the junta announced it would send home an estimated 120,000 people living in nine refugee camps straddling the Thai-Burma border. "The National Council for Peace and Order [the ruling military body] is trying to control and check the number of migrant workers in Thailand… some of [the refugees] sneak out to work in the agricultural sector," Colonel Terdsak Ngamsanong, commander of the 4th infantry regiment, said, noting that government and non-governmental agencies have varying figures. He said the headcount would be completed by July, but did not say when refugees would be sent back. "So now we will try to count the number of people who have been affected by the conflict and separate them from the migrant workers. There will also be a benefit in the long-term because we will be able to use this data for repatriation." Local authorities said they would enforce Thai government rules forbidding refugees from leaving the camp. Many go out to work in nearby villages, risking arrest and extortion. "If the refugees leave the camp area, they will be considered illegal migrants. We will process them according to the law by sending them to the police and they will be pushed back," said Preeda Foongtrakulchai, permanent secretary of Tha Song Yang district, where Mae La is located. 'We Don't Want to Go Back' Many of the Burmese refugees fled persecution and ethnic wars, as well as poverty, and have lived in the camps for up to nearly three decades with no legal means of earning an income. Thailand's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday noting that "a possible return of these displaced persons has always been raised," and the most recent discussion "was in general terms with no specific timeframe." However, as the Thai military, army rangers and refugee volunteers organized hundreds of families for the headcount on Monday, the refugees were uneasy. Under a steady rain, elderly couples with walking sticks and young families with babies wrapped in colorful fabrics sat on wet tarpaulin sheets, waiting for their house numbers to be called. "We heard that they may be sending us back, but we don't want to go back," said a 61-year-old ethnic Karen man from eastern Burma, who gave his name as Saw. "We have no family there, no jobs or land. There's nothing left. What are we to do?" said the man, who has been living in this camp for almost 20 years and fled Burma because he had been a forced laborer for the Burmese military too many times. Thailand stopped registering new refugees in 2007, and the United States—which has taken in more than 70,000 Burmese refugees from Thailand—ended its group resettlement program. Now, as Burma garners praise for democratic reforms, and financial support to the camps dwindles, there has been more talk of repatriation—stirring fear among refugees who say they will be persecuted if returned to Burma. They worry the headcount is part of a plan to close the camps. As families are called forward, their household registration papers are used for roll call to see if each family member is present. They then line up to have their pictures taken, each person holding a number, under a banner that says, "The survey of refugees from war in the Mae La temporary shelter, Zone A, 21 July 2014." The refugees say aid agencies have similar headcounts, but none include taking pictures, fueling concern. "Quite a few people—if I have to guess, about 500 people—lost hope and left over the weekend immediately after the military made their announcement," said a refugee in Umpiem Mai camp, who declined to be named for fear of repercussions. "We don't know what to do. People are worried because they don't know what's going to happen." The post Burmese Refugee Headcount Begins, Sparking Fears of Forced Repatriation appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| US Turns Blind Eye on Burma’s North Korea Connection Posted: 21 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT  Burma's then foreign minister, Nyan Win, second from right, makes an official visit to Pyongyang on Oct. 29, 2008. (Photo: Reuters) US President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at West Point on May 28. In his speech, Obama commended Burma on, among other things, its "movement away from partnership with North Korea in favor of engagement with America." Obama is right in stating that, thanks to US "diplomatic initiative," America is forging a friendship with Burma. What's less clear is if Burma is in fact distancing itself from the DPRK, global juggernaut of oppression. A multitude of leaked US Embassy cables reveal long-held concerns about North Korea-supported weapons projects inside Burma. In August 2009, then-top US diplomat to Rangoon Larry Dinger came to the conclusion that "Something is certainly happening; whether that something includes 'nukes is a very open question which remains a very high priority for Embassy reporting." Now more than ever, that "very open question" demands an answer. For a while now, the US has been aware of a certain suspicious facility in a town called Minbu in western Burma's Magwe Division. An embassy cable from August 2004 quoted a Burmese engineering officer saying surface-to-air missiles were being built at the site: "Some 300 North Koreans are working at a secret construction site….They are forbidden from leaving the construction site and…Outsiders are prohibited from entering…The North Koreans, aided by Burmese workers, are constructing a concrete-reinforced underground facility that is '500ft from the top of the cave to the top of the hill above.'" (Note: The cable expressed doubt at the large number of North Koreans stated to be at the site) Embassy cables of yesteryear are now reverberating with alarming vibrancy. In February, four journalists from Burmese media Unity Journal published a front-page story detailing a similarly suspicious (and visually, nearly identical) compound in the township of Pauk, Magwe Division. The article ran complete with photos and local testimonies detailing what was described as a secret chemical weapons facility complete with foreign staff, uber-heavy security measures, and senior military helicopter visits (check out a full breakdown of the complex here). The Burmese government's response? Confiscate all copies of the journal and jail all the journalists involved. The Unity journalists, along with their CEO, are sitting in jail right now on charges of violating the State Secrets Act. UPDATE: On July 10, the five Unity employees were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor. If that doesn't reek of uranium, or at least weapons, then I don't know what does. The man behind the Minbu and Pauk sites is Gen. Thein Htay, director of the military's Directorate of Defense Industries (DDI). The United States knows Thein Htay is a shady character; he is individually sanctioned on the Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list—specifically for engaging in "the illicit trade of North Korean arms to Burma." So it's reasonable to assume that the United States suspects Burmese military goons like Thein Htay are up to no good with these hidden factories. Yet Washington chooses to distinguish between Thein Htay and the government he serves, noting that the Thein Htay sanctions "[do] not target the Government of Burma." The renewed Burma-US relationship is clearly not deterring Thein Htay, as nonproliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis points out: "Since the Obama Administration began to engage Burma to encourage a transition to democracy, the Directorate of Defense Industries has expanded." When it comes to nonproliferation, Burma repeatedly pays lip service to the international community. The government has been saying for years that it's "preparing" to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) that Burma signed in 1993. Two decades seems like enough time to ratify a document. For comparison, the United States and China (among others) signed the CWC on Jan. 13, 1993 and ratified it in 1997. Despite Burma's failure to ratify the CWC, the first US/UK Nonproliferation Dialogue, "Myanmar and the Nonproliferation Regime: Sharing Perspectives," held in Rangoon in February, was met with generally positive reviews. Some 45 participants, including nuke specialists, military officials and the like from Burma, the United States and Britain found that: "Myanmar's interest in opening to the world and in endorsing international rules and norms is real… [They have] begun and [are] fully committed to the process of ratifying and implementing the CWC…While other countries attack or condemn various 'noncompliance' lists, Myanmar focuses on how to get off these lists. The willingness is there; what's needed is the capacity." Poor Burma. It wants to ratify the CWC and comply with international standards so bad; it just doesn't know how. The biggest takeaway from the talks should've been what the Burmese didn't say: "Myanmar participants did not comment on Myanmar-North Korea relations, even though the subject was raised several times by US and UK participants." Burma might not be great at ratifying international conventions, but they sure are good at misleading a crowd of Western countries. It helps when many in the West are bent on seeing the Burma that works best for them. President Thein Sein and his military-backed government threw out a little bait and the United States and others took it. The United States needs to focus on ensuring that Burma makes good on its commitments, one of which should be that Burma ratify the CWC. This is especially important as the US military seeks to increase ties with Burma's military, known as the Tatmadaw. Engaging with the Burmese military now would serve to embolden and legitimize the Tatmadaw; the United States should not endorse what it cannot see. The notion that alleged democratization in Burma will magically answer the "very open question" of Burma's nuclear ambitions is sorely mistaken. What compounds this miscalculation is the fact that, so far, Burma's marshmallowy "transition to democratization" has been at best minimal and at worst farcical. We've seen Burmese journalists thrown in jail for asking the wrong questions. The United States needs to step up and ask the Burmese government those very same questions: What are you and the North Koreans building up there in the hills? Dan McDevitt is the communications and development coordinator for the US Campaign for Burma. A version of this article first appeared on the USCB blog on May 28, 2014. The post US Turns Blind Eye on Burma's North Korea Connection appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| NLD Says 5 Million Sign Petition to Change Constitution Posted: 22 Jul 2014 04:34 AM PDT  Aung San Su Kyi gives a speech on constitutional reform in Rangoon to thousands of supporters on May 17. (Photo: JPaing/Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma’s main opposition party says it has collected about five million signatures seeking reduced powers for unelected military members of Parliament as the country, which emerged from dictatorship in 2011, moves towards an election next year. The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has spearheaded the campaign, which ended on Saturday, to rescind Section 436 of the Constitution. That clause requires a 75 percent vote in Parliament to amend most sections of the Constitution – all but impossible for an opposition party to achieve. But the NLD’s efforts are unlikely to make much of a difference. Shwe Mann, speaker of Parliament, said this month that the petition would not influence the work of a parliamentary committee tasked with recommending constitutional amendments. Shwe Mann is also chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), made up mainly of former officers. Striking down clause 436 has been the focus of the drive, which has gained widespread support in the former Burma for a second goal—to enable Aung San Suu Kyi to run for president. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her pro-democracy efforts and spent most of the next two decades under house arrest where she continued to resist military rule. Although she remains popular, she is ineligible for the presidency under a constitutional provision which bars candidates with a foreign child or spouse – her late husband was British as are both her sons. Tun Tun Hein, an NLD official responsible for the petition, told Reuters the party was still counting signatures and predicted the total would likely surpass five million. He said the party would decide how to present its petition to the government once the number was established at the end of July. The NLD canvassed the country of 60 million for almost two months, tapping into discontent among many who say the military should withdraw from politics after ruling for 49 years. "Things just went from bad to worse under the rule of the military. Enough is enough," said Kyaw Win, a civil servant who stood in drizzle waiting to sign the petition at a streetside booth in Rangoon, the country’s largest city. Under the current Constitution, 25 percent of the seats in Parliament are set aside for the military. And more than half of the rest are held by the USDP. Burma’s former ruling junta, which repeatedly cracked down on pro-democracy protests, stepped aside in March 2011. A semi-civilian government has since introduced reforms, including the release of political prisoners. While the military ceded nominal political power to civilians, including former officers who retired to join the USDP, it cemented its role in government through the Constitution it drafted in 2008. "The present government is related to the previous government and that’s why they made this law," said Htay Myint Oo, a sea captain, referring to clause 436, as he added his signature. "We need to amend this law quickly." The post NLD Says 5 Million Sign Petition to Change Constitution appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Malaysia Given Black Boxes From Ukraine Crash Site Posted: 21 Jul 2014 09:41 PM PDT  A representative, front left, from pro-Russian separatists shakes hands with Colonel Mohamed Sakri of the Malaysian National Security Council after handing over of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17's black boxes, in Donetsk on July 22, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Maxim Zmeyev) DONETSK, Ukraine — The remains of some of the nearly 300 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine were making their way to the Netherlands on Tuesday as a senior Ukrainian separatist leader handed over the plane's black boxes to Malaysian experts. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a news conference on Monday that a train carrying around 200 body bags was on its way to rebel-held Donetsk and then to Kharkiv, which is in Ukrainian government hands, from where the bodies would be taken back to the Netherlands to be identified. The train left the crash site after the Malaysian prime minister reached agreement with the separatists for recovered bodies to be handed over to authorities in the Netherlands, where the largest number of victims came from. Early on Tuesday, senior separatist leader Aleksander Borodai handed over the black boxes in the city of Donetsk. "Here they are, the black boxes," Borodai told a room packed with journalists at the headquarters of his self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic as an armed rebel placed the boxes on a desk. Colonel Mohamed Sakri of the Malaysian National Security Council told the meeting the two black boxes were "in good condition." The handover of the bodies and black boxes, and reports by international investigators of improved access to the wreckage of the airliner four days after it was shot down, occurred against calls for broader sanctions against Russia for its support for the rebellion, although Western leaders are struggling to agree on a united response. Shaken by the deaths of 298 people from across the world, Western governments have threatened Russia with stiffer penalties for what they say is its backing of pro-Russian militia who, their evidence suggests, shot the plane down. At the United Nations, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution demanding those responsible "be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability." It also demanded that armed groups allow "safe, secure, full and unrestricted access" to the crash site. "We owe it to the victims and their families to determine what happened and who was responsible," said Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who traveled to New York to negotiate the UN resolution. Australia lost 28 citizens in the crash. The Kremlin said in a statement late on Monday that Vladimir Putin spoke to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on the phone, with both giving a "high assessment of the resolution passed by the UN Security Council on the investigation into the catastrophe." Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers were scheduled on Tuesday to discuss further penalties against Russia, but the most they are expected to do is to speed up implementation of sanctions against individuals, and possibly companies, agreed in principle last week before the plane was brought down. But Western leaders struggled to come to a united response against Moscow. France came under pressure on Monday from Washington and London over plans to deliver a second helicopter carrier to Russia. Diplomats say more serious sanctions against whole sectors of the Russian economy will depend largely on the line taken by the Dutch, because of the high number of Dutch victims. "It is clear that Russia must use her influence on the separatists to improve the situation on the ground," the Dutch prime minister said. "If in the coming days access to the disaster area remains inadequate, then all political, economic and financial options are on the table against those who are directly or indirectly responsible for that," said Rutte. 'What Are They Trying to Hide?' US President Barack Obama said it was time for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia "to pivot away from the strategy that they've been taking and get serious about trying to resolve hostilities within Ukraine." He said Putin and Russia had a direct responsibility to compel separatists to cooperate with the investigation, and that the burden was on Moscow to insist that separatists stop tampering with the probe, he said. "What are they trying to hide?" Obama said at the White House. US Secretary of State John Kerry laid out on Sunday what he called overwhelming evidence of Russian complicity in the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane, and expressed disgust at how the bodies of the victims had been treated at the crash site. But Russia's Defense Ministry challenged accusations that pro-Russian separatists were responsible for shooting down the airliner and said Ukrainian warplanes had flown close to it. The ministry also rejected accusations that Russia had supplied the rebels with SA-11 Buk anti-aircraft missile systems—the weapon said by Kiev and the West to have downed the airliner—"or any other weapons." Putin said in a televised address that the downing of the airliner must not be used for political ends and urged separatists to allow international experts access to the crash site. Recovery Efforts European security monitors said gunmen stopped them inspecting the site when they arrived on Friday, and Ukrainian officials said separatists had tampered with vital evidence, allegations echoed by Obama. But the spokesman for the European security monitors said they had unfettered access on Monday, and three members of a Dutch disaster victims identification team arrived at a railway station near the crash site and inspected the storage of the bodies in refrigerated rail cars. Peter van Vliet, whose team went through the wagons dressed in surgical masks and rubber gloves, said he was impressed by the work the recovery crews had done, given the heat and the scale of the crash site. "I think they did a hell of a job in a hell of a place," he said. As they went about their work, fighting flared in Donetsk, some 60 km (40 miles) from the site, in a reminder of the dangers the experts face operating in a war zone. The government in Kiev denied sending the regular army into the center of Donetsk, which pro-Russian separatists captured in April, but said small "self-organized" pro-Ukrainian groups were fighting the rebels in the city. Four people were killed in clashes, health officials said. The rebels' military commander Igor Strelkov said on his Facebook page up to 12 of his men died in Monday's fighting. Donetsk is at the heart of a rebel uprising against rule by Kiev, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vowed to retake the city as part of what Kiev calls its "anti-terrorist operation" against the separatists. Television images of the rebel-controlled crash site, where the remains of victims had lain decomposing in fields among their personal belongings, have turned initial shock and sorrow after Thursday's disaster into anger. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said an Australian investigation team was in Kiev but had been unable to travel to the site. He said there had been some improvement with the Ukrainian government offering access. "But there's still a hell of a long way to go before anyone could be satisfied with the way that site is being treated," Abbott said. "It's more like a garden cleanup than a forensic investigation. This is completely unacceptable." The post Malaysia Given Black Boxes From Ukraine Crash Site appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Indonesia to Declare Winner of Hotly Contested Presidential Election Posted: 21 Jul 2014 09:36 PM PDT  Indonesian presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo gestures during a rally in Proklamasi Monument Park in Jakarta. (Photo: Reuters) JAKARTA — Indonesian election officials were expected on Tuesday to officially declare Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo the winner of a hotly contested presidential election in which his rival has alleged mass cheating. Private tallies show Jokowi beat former special forces chief Prabowo Subianto by about five percentage points. Prabowo has refused to concede defeat and is expected to challenge the result in the Constitutional Court, though experts say such an appeal is unlikely to succeed. A spokesman for the Election Commission said the announcement would be made by 6 p.m. (1100 GMT). Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged whoever loses the closest presidential race in Indonesia’s history to acknowledge the outcome to avoid violence in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. "Admitting defeat is noble," the president told reporters on Monday, in a clear reference to Prabowo. Hundreds of thousands of police and military are on heightened alert across the vast archipelago of 240 million people, the world’s third largest democracy. There have been no reports of major violence. "There are a lot of rumors of instability and unrest but cautiously I’m confident that it is implausible," said Tobias Basuki, a political analyst at the CSIS think-tank. Markets have largely brushed off the uncertainty in Southeast Asia’s largest economy and have rallied on the likely Jokowi win. A protracted wrangle over the election outcome could undermine confidence. "The possibility of overturning the election result is very slim. Investors will instead focus on the presidential cabinet, which the new president should announce by October," said Sebastian Tobing of Jakarta-based brokerage Trimegah Securities. Clean Image The Jakarta Stock Exchange is trading near a one-year high, closing up nearly 1 percent on Monday. The rupiah has also strengthened against the dollar, gaining 0.4 percent to 11,567. Jokowi has a film-star following. Born in poverty, he has stormed his way to the top rungs of leadership with a clean image and a reputation for competence in local government, in complete contrast with the autocracy, corruption and power politics that have weighed down the country for decades. Prabowo’s reputation as a strongman and his vow to reverse the indecisiveness of the outgoing government won him a large following among people yearning for a return to old-style politics. Candidates can lodge complaints with the Constitutional Court, as did the losers of the previous two elections since strongman ruler Suharto was forced to step down in 1998 after more than three decades in power. The Court must return a verdict on any challenge within two weeks and it cannot be appealed. "It is going to take a lot to push this to the Constitutional Court. Prabowo’s camp has to prove there was massive, systemic fraud," Basuki said. Election officials said reports of irregularities had been investigated, but the number of disputed votes is limited to thousands of cases. Analysts believe a reversal of up to seven million votes would be needed to overturn Jokowi’s lead and hand victory to Prabowo. The post Indonesia to Declare Winner of Hotly Contested Presidential Election appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thai Media Call on Junta to Ease Restrictions Posted: 21 Jul 2014 09:26 PM PDT
 Thai soldiers take up a position on a main road in Bangkok on May 20, 2014, as a bystander takes a photo. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Thai media organizations called on the military government on Monday to ease restrictions after the junta said it would shut down news outlets putting out what it considers critical coverage. The military seized power in a May 22 coup and has been intolerant of criticism of a takeover it said was necessary to restore stability after six months of sometimes violent protests against an elected government. The military said in an order late last week it could shut down any media that disseminates information that "could harm national security" or criticizes the work of the ruling military council. Media executives met senior military officials on Monday to get clarification on the order. "There's a positive signal. There might be changes to the announcement especially the section that gives authorities the power to close media," Thai Journalists Association chairman Pradit Ruangdit told reporters after the meeting. "We'll have to wait and see if the military acts on its promise." The Friday order compounded difficult conditions for media since the military overthrew the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. As well as briefly detaining Yingluck and hundreds of other politicians and activists, the military shut down about 3,000 independent radio stations and 14 television channels. It has allowed some to reopen on condition they do not broadcast what it deems inflammatory material. Junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has promised to install a government by September and hold elections by late 2015. The military has also set about tackling various rackets from illegal taxi to drugs. Thai journalists are no strangers to censorship. The country has some of the toughest laws against lese-majeste, or insulting the monarchy, in the world. Insulting the king or top members of the royal family is punishable by up to 15 years in jail. Thailand's media frequently ranks near the bottom of press freedom indexes and there is no sign of an imminent improvement. "We are approaching two months after the coup but there is no relaxing of press restrictions. In reality it is the opposite," Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher on Thailand for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters. "It is clear that the military has very thin skin and even a very mild form of dissent is not tolerated. Clearly we are not heading towards democracy but a mirror-image of what happens in military barracks—top-down rule." Additional reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat.
The post Thai Media Call on Junta to Ease Restrictions appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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