Wednesday, September 3, 2014

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Shan, Pa-O Rebels Clash Over Territorial Dispute

Posted: 03 Sep 2014 05:20 AM PDT

A Shan rebel soldier guards a hill outside a mobile camp. (Photo: Reuters)

A Shan rebel soldier guards a hill outside a mobile camp. (Photo: Reuters)

A firefight between ethnic Pa-O and Shan rebels broke out over competing territorial claims in southern Shan State's Maukmae Township on Wednesday morning.

The clash between forces from the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) and the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO) began at about 6 a.m. and ended before noon, sources on both sides confirmed. There were no known casualties.

Khun Myint Tun, chairman of the PNLO, told The Irrawaddy that the fighting was due to his group's implementation of a development project for Pa-O families in the town of Maukmae.

"We have built houses for our members, as we had agreements with the government after the ceasefire talks," said Khun Myint Tun, adding that both the PNLO and the political wing of the SSA-S, the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), claim to control the area where the project is being carried out.

The RCSS sent two letters last month telling the PNLO to cease its construction of housing in the territory. The first letter, dated Aug. 3, ordered the PNLO to leave the area within five days. The PNLO did not comply, prompting a second letter on Aug. 23 signed by Lt-Gen Yawd Serk, again ordering the Pa-O rebels to vacate the territory.

An RCSS source said the PNLO's failure to heed the letters, and its deployment of three regiments to the area, escalated tensions.

"Therefore, we attacked them," said the RCSS member, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

The Pa-O are an ethnic minority that live mostly in Shan State. They have their own self-administered region covering Hopong, Pinglong and Hsi Hseng townships.

Pa-O rebels began an insurgency campaign against Burma's central government in 1949, but the ethnic minority has also enjoyed periods of peace, including the signing of ceasefires in 1958 and 1994.

After splintering into several factions, the PNLO was reunited in 2009. The group signed a Union-level ceasefire agreement in March 2013.

The RCSS signed its own ceasefire with the central government in 2011.

The PNLO claims a broad swathe of territory beyond its self-administered zone, from Maukmae and Lan Khur to Loilin and Taunggyi, the Shan State capital.

Khun Myint Tun said three PNLO members were also detained by the RCSS on Aug. 21 and had not yet been released.

The Pa-O chairman said he had discussed their release with RCSS representatives who attended a meeting over the weekend of political parties, civil society organizations and the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of ethnic groups.

UNFC leaders pledged on Wednesday to help in settling the dispute between the two ethnic armed groups. The PNLO is a member of the UNFC, but the RCSS is not.

The post Shan, Pa-O Rebels Clash Over Territorial Dispute appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Debating the Economy

Posted: 03 Sep 2014 05:15 AM PDT

The Asia World port in Yangon in July. (Photo: Reuters)

The Asia World port in Yangon in July. (Photo: Reuters)

YANGON — Myanmar must enlist the country's top tycoons and financial backing from Beijing if it wants to achieve much-needed infrastructure growth.

It might sound like a recipe for political suicide in modern Myanmar—where "the cronies" are a popular target of criticism and China is a major source of nationalist angst—but that is the prescription set out by a researcher at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).

In his July paper, "Myanmar: Between Economic Miracle and Myth," ISEAS visiting fellow Stuart Paul Larkin sets out an alternative to what he calls "the donor lovefest and the new economic narrative." He says that while foreign donors have been showering the government with money and barely solicited advice, a huge trade deficit has arisen (US$2.6 billion in 2013-14, according to official figures), mostly as the result of a "consumer imports boom."

"In so far as the donor agencies cannot resist furthering the economic interests of their paymasters they are playing the game rather well," Mr. Larkin writes, arguing that rapid economic liberalization will allow multinationals from rich countries to extract natural resources and sell goods to Myanmar consumers with minimal local gains.

Meanwhile, he argues, developing export-led industries that would create much-needed jobs has been hampered by Western countries' emphasis on good governance and competitive tendering (without much concomitant investment), which makes the necessary infrastructure projects "difficult to get off the ground."

The infrastructure challenge in Myanmar is massive. McKinsey Global Institute predicted last year that $320 billion of infrastructure investment would be needed between 2010 and 2030 to maintain economic growth of 8 percent per year. And it is indeed unclear who will stump up the cash, as illustrated by the current struggle to fund a much-needed new airport for Yangon.

Poor Priorities

Larkin criticized the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation for its approach in the country, which includes investments in real estate projects like a high-end hotel being built by tycoon Serge Pun.

"Real estate, especially at the high end, produces a very limited development dividend compared to infrastructure," Mr. Larkin writes, suggesting that the arrival of China's highly capitalized banks to the financing arena could make the IFC feel "the chill winds of competition."

But since President U Thein Sein suspended the Myitsone hydropower dam project in 2011 amid public opposition, investment from China has all but dried up, and other projects have felt the wrath of public sentiment against the country's giant neighbor.

To some extent, this has been balanced by the growing presence of Japan, which has stepped in as the major foreign financer of infrastructure, notably with the Thilawa Special Economic Zone project, in which garment producers are already waiting to set up factories.

But Mr. Larkin calls for the Myanmar-China relationship to be revived, with China hopefully taking a "portfolio approach to financing infrastructure in Myanmar." Chinese banks could underwrite loans or invest, he suggests, as an alternative to the shady deals conducted by government officials that marked previous China-backed projects.

At the same time, says Mr. Larkin, local family-owned conglomerates should be invited to "take the lead" in identifying which infrastructure projects are feasible and then be "empower[ed]with concessions."

"After all, they are headed up by the nation's most talented entrepreneurs," he writes, adding that cronyism is "a political failure and not a failure in entrepreneurship."

Mr. Larkin points out that not everyone who prospered under the old regime will continue to do so in a more open economy.

"I prefer the term 'tycoon' to 'crony', Larkin told The Irrawaddy by email. "Myanmar's power holders will require somewhat different qualities from their tycoons than in the past for this externally financed infrastructure endeavor and not all the tycoons will manage to upgrade themselves…" he said.

"I do not think the Myanmar tycoon-Beijing nexus need be 'politically toxic' provided it yields broad-based benefits that are explained to the general population in advance."

Kyat Depreciation

But the political flack for any Myanmar government planning to adopt Mr. Larkin's approach would not end there.

Mr. Larkin also recommends that the government depreciate the kyat in order to incentivize industries like the garment sector, where he sees current levels of investment as too low to create the export-led growth that has successfully pulled other Asian nations out of poverty.

He calls for the currency to be devalued "early even if the measure will be unpopular in the short term," dismissing the significance of the "inflationary surge" that would follow as fuel and electricity prices go up.

Andrea Smurra, an economist with the Myanmar Program of the London-based International Growth Centre (IGC), countered that depreciation would make it more expensive to import those things needed to upgrade infrastructure and bring in the technological improvements needed to increase rice exports, and could actually be detrimental to the garment sector as well.

"This industry [garments] currently imports everything, from thread to sewing machines," said Mr. Smurra.

"Depreciation will make all these inputs more expensive and, by generating inflation, will eventually push the government to increase nominal minimum wages, nullifying the impact of the depreciation policy on this industry."

Mr. Smurra also argued that inflation could trigger social unrest, pointing to the large-scale street demonstrations that have taken place each time a fractional increase in the already highly subsidized price of electricity has been proposed.

"The government does not have the fiscal resources to absorb the impact of depreciation and people will perceive their welfare as being sacrificed on the altar of the elite's profit," said Mr. Smurra.

"People are waiting for the famous 'transition dividend,' and inflation will erode all the gains accrued over the last few years. No political leader will support such a policy, and no political leader should do so."

None of this, to Mr. Larkin's mind, is good enough reason not to do what is economically necessary.

He characterized the concerns about the possible political fallout of his proposed policies as a question of leadership, arguing that difficult and unpopular decisions would have to be made.

"[T]he country's politicians must rise above the temptation to pander to the prejudices of an undereducated population who are now empowered through the ballot box," he told The Irrawaddy.

"Populism is a very real threat to Myanmar's polity. Third rate democracies … are often worse than authoritarian regimes."

This article was first published in the September 2014 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

The post Debating the Economy appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Mong La’s Moveable Feast of Endangered Beasts

Posted: 03 Sep 2014 03:43 AM PDT

A market stall in Mong La, Shan State, sells endangered animal parts. (Photo: Nang Seng Nom / The Irrawaddy)

A market stall in Mong La, Shan State, sells endangered animal parts. (Photo: Nang Seng Nom / The Irrawaddy)

MONG LA, Shan State — A small elephant tusk will cost you 800 yuan (US$130). A snakeskin is 1,000 yuan, and leopard skin can be bought for 4,000 yuan per kilogram. Despite wild tigers being extremely scarce, you can buy a pair of the big cat's feet for 1,000 yuan, and live ones are said to be sold occasionally for 1 million yuan ($160,000).

This is the wildlife market in Mong La, an enclave on the Chinese border in the far east of Burma's Shan State. The international trading bans signed by Burma's government are not applied here, and endangered animals and their parts are openly sold and bought—in the Chinese currency—for traditional medicine, ornaments, and, often, food.

In the restaurants, the meat of the muntjac, or barking dear, goes for 300 yuan per kilo. Gecko is 1,600 yuan and a rare anteater-like pangolin costs 600 yuan.

Animals in tiny cages sit in front of restaurants, giving the impression of a particularly inhumane zoo. The creatures endure poor treatment only to eventually be selected for the cooking pot by hungry passers-by. One of the caged animals, a baby monkey, cowers fearfully away from the humans checking him out.

Hundreds of visitors from mainland China come to Mong La daily. They come to play in the casinos, visit prostitutes and enjoy the "wild" cuisine—at prices that most in Burma could not afford.

The public market in Mong La gets busy at about 4am, when traders from the surrounding countryside come to deliver their wares. Goods sold by weight are priced by the jin, the Chinese measure that is equivalent to 597 grams.

"Most of the traders are Chinese. They have good connections with people in China to export the wildlife there," said a local resident, Min Thu, explaining that many of the animals are sold live, but killed and skinned in the market for easier transportation.

He said he once saw a tiger sold at auction in one of the town's casinos. "It was very big tiger. In the auction, a Chinese man bought it for 1 million yuan," Min Thu said.

An ethnic Shan woman selling wildlife in the market, who refused to give her name, displayed in her stall two deer heads with horns; leopard skins; tiger bones and paws; monkey penises and teeth; and the skins of a bear and a pangolin. These rare items are used in Chinese traditional medicine, but also in home décor or for magical amulets.

She said most of the wildlife on sale comes from traders in the nearby semi-autonomous Wa region.

"I got these things from Tangyan [a town in the Wa region]. I bought it from the local people. We can't find it here anymore," she said. "Some animals we also get from different parts of Shan State."

The market has birds as well: parrots and the Indian grackle, a species similar to the myna bird that can be trained to mimic speech.

There is also chopped up elephant skin—50 yuan for a small piece. The skin is burned, and the ash mixed with water to create a medicinal drink.

"You can use it when you have stomach problem," said the ethnic Palaung girl, about 16, selling the skin. "After you take it, you will feel better."

Most of the wildlife traders in the public market did not allow reporters to photograph their trade. One woman said they could face punishment from local authority—the National Democratic Alliance Army.

The armed group runs the town outside of Burmese government rule, and requires that traders apply for permission, likely earning dues from the lucrative trade in endangered species.

The post Mong La's Moveable Feast of Endangered Beasts appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Why Did the KNU Withdraw From the UNFC?

Posted: 03 Sep 2014 03:14 AM PDT

Leaders of the UNFC pledge allegiance to the alliance in Chiang Mai on Tuesday. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy.)

Leaders of the UNFC pledge allegiance to the alliance in Chiang Mai on Tuesday. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy.)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A power struggle seems to be behind the sudden withdrawal of the Karen National Union (KNU) from the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) this week.

Before suspending its membership in the ethnic bloc on Monday, the KNU submitted a proposal calling for a review of the bloc's policies and structure. The proposal was opposed by many of the UNFC's 11 other member groups and finally rejected by the bloc's chair, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

A Burmese-language version of the 10-page proposal, obtained by The Irrawaddy, criticized the UNFC administration for limiting the independence of member groups. Specifically, it accused bloc leaders of forbidding member groups to individually sign bilateral ceasefire deals with the government.

However, Saw Mutu Say Poe, the chairman of the KNU, who walked out in the middle of the UNFC congress in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Sunday, later clarified that his group had no intention of signing the ceasefire accord alone.

The 10-page proposal added that UNFC leaders dominated talks with the Burmese government about political concerns, and that all financial support and humanitarian aid for the ethnic groups had to be channeled first through the bloc. It described the UNFC's administration as top down and called instead for a "parallel cooperation structure."

The KNU also warned the bloc to "be aware of activities that may slow or delay the peace process," referring to a series of bomb attacks in several cities of Burma last year, including at a luxury hotel in Rangoon. The proposal said the UNFC should be aware of the bomb blasts because there are allegations that the UNFC was responsible for them. However, the police blamed a Karen businessman for masterminding the attacks, and one of the businessman's associates who allegedly orchestrated the bombings was arrested and is still facing trial.

Khun Oo Reh, vice-chairman of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), who was elected at the congress to serve as the UNFC's new general secretary, defended the bloc's administration. "We don't feel that UNFC leaders control all the authority," he said. "But the KNU might feel that way because different organizations have different opinions."

Sources inside the UNFC, requesting anonymity, said the UNFC was not consistent in policies to recruit leaders. Members of its central committee are supposed to also be on the central committees of their respective organizations, but this is not always the case, the sources said.

Rivalries?

Some ethnic Karen sources say the KNU is not satisfied with the UNFC leadership, which is dominated by the KIO as well as the New Mon State Party (NMSP).

The sources—both from within and outside the UNFC—say KNU leaders have painful memories of when the Kachin and Mon groups signed bilateral ceasefire accords with the government in the mid-1990s, leaving the Karen to bear the brunt of the government's large-scale military offensives. At the time, the KIO and NMSP were accused of signing the accords to benefit from lucrative business deals. The KNU has faced similar accusations since agreeing to its own bilateral ceasefire in 2012, one year after the KIA went back to war with the government.

The KNU proposal questioned whether UNFC leaders believed in cooperation with other ethnic groups within the bloc, or whether they preferred to dominate without debate. "The decision to suspend our participation in the UNFC resulted strictly from our disagreements over sovereignty of decision-making authority," Mutu Say Poe, the KNU chairman, said in a statement.

Saw Kwe Htoo Win, general secretary of the KNU, said the Karen had fought for too long to give away their decision-making power so easily. "Karen policy has been based on the tenet that the Karen people will decide their own political destiny," he said. "We will not give that authority to another organization or people. This isn't something new—this has been a guiding principle in Karen politics since Saw Ba U Gyi's presidency in the late 1940s."

The KNU has not made a final decision about whether to permanently withdraw its membership from the UNFC. The KNU's vice-chairman, Naw Zipporah Sein, and her followers want to remain a part of the bloc, and discussions between both sides are ongoing.

The UNFC, which elected 12 new leaders during the congress over the past week, says it will reserve two leadership positions for the KNU, should the Karen decide to assume them.

Ceasefire Politics

Khaing Soe Naing Aung, vice-chairman of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), which is not part of the UNFC, speculated that the KNU was considering withdrawing from the bloc to speed up negotiations for a nationwide ceasefire accord with the government.

"The Karen National Union wants to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement [NCA] as fast as possible. They worry the NCA will never be achieved. They think the government is giving us a chance that we didn't have in the past. But we want the NCA to happen only when our ethnic demands are met," he told The Irrawaddy.

Mutu Say Poe denied these claims. "The KNU does not intend to sign a separate nationwide ceasefire accord with the [Burmese] government," he said in the statement. "The NCCT will continue to negotiate the terms of the NCA, and when ethnic armed organizations are ready to sign the NCA, then we will move forward together."

Nai Hong Sar, elected as vice-chairman 1 of the UNFC, said he did not believe that the KNU wanted to sideline the UNFC and promote the NCCT instead. "They said they needed to discuss their [proposed] cooperation strategy among their leaders because a majority [of UNFC members] did not accept their proposal," he said.

Asked about the KNU's criticism of the UNFC leadership, N'Ban La, the new chairman of the UNFC, and vice-chairman of the KIO, said, "It is just a disagreement within the organization."

"If we are like a dictatorship, our members would have also resigned from the alliance. The majority [of UNFC members] are united. And the KNU didn't resign—they just suspended their membership," he added.

The post Why Did the KNU Withdraw From the UNFC? appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Dethroned Burmese Beauty Queen and Pageant Officials Tussle Over Tiara

Posted: 03 Sep 2014 02:23 AM PDT

May Myat Noe holds a press conference about the Miss Asia Pacific World 2014 controversy at the House of Memories restaurant in Rangoon on Tuesday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

May Myat Noe holds a press conference about the Miss Asia Pacific World 2014 controversy at the House of Memories restaurant in Rangoon on Tuesday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — South Korean organizers of the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant threatened to call in the police on Wednesday in their row with dethroned Burmese beauty queen May Myat Noe, demanding she return a gem-studded tiara from her home country.

Pageant founder Choi Youn accused May Myat Noe of absconding with the tiara, which media have said is worth US$100,000 and which she won in South Korea in May, becoming Burma's first international beauty queen.

She was dethroned because she was ungrateful, untrustworthy and had lied, the pageant organizers said in a statement reported by Asian media.

"It is now a matter of national image and reputation and she should be held accountable for [the tiara]," Choi told Reuters in Seoul.

He said organizers planned to file a complaint with police.

May Myat Noe told a packed news conference on Tuesday in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city, that she was still queen when she returned home with the tiara. It was only after arriving back home that she received a letter informing her she had been dethroned.

May Myat Noe added that she would give back the tiara only after receiving an apology from organizers who she said had spread lies about her that "damaged the integrity of my country."

"Once such remorse becomes apparent, I shall return the crown willingly, without trace of reservation," she said.

May Myat Noe accused the pageant's organizers in Burma of falsifying her age from 16 to 18. She said organizers in South Korea attempted to coerce her into having breast augmentation surgery, but she refused.

Among other allegations, May Myat Noe said organizers told her she would need to "escort some business tycoons whenever they require my company" in order to raise money to produce her music album.

Choi denied the allegations.

"It is flat no," he said. "It is not true."

Choi said the former beauty queen had chosen to undergo surgery in Busan on Aug. 20 and was legally allowed to do so despite her age, because her mother had consented.

He accused May Myat Noe of lying about her age on her application, but said organizers allowed her to participate anyway once they discovered she was actually 16.

Fans of the former beauty queen have posted messages of support on her Facebook page.

"Sue them for defaming sis!" posted Vivienne Wang. "You are naturally gorgeously beautiful! You do not need a single plastic surgery whatsoever!"

"The truth is on your side," posted Lwan Chit Wai.

Some Facebook users were less supportive.

"Just return the tiara and stop all this nonsense in your life," posted Mi Mi Naing.

The post Dethroned Burmese Beauty Queen and Pageant Officials Tussle Over Tiara appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

US Takes Steps to Restart Business Relations With Burma

Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:00 PM PDT

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a news conference at the Lake Garden Hotel, outside the venue of the 47th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting, in Naypyidaw August 10, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a news conference at the Lake Garden Hotel, outside the venue of the 47th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting, in Naypyidaw August 10, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — With religious tensions, the threat to press freedom, the peace process in limbo and continued human rights abuses, the political and economic reforms put in place by President Thein Sein's government have been stalling. As a result, the United States-Burma relationship is yet to improve as expected, and the complete lifting of sanctions is still far away.

However, last Thursday, a positive step was made toward better ties between the two countries. The two agreed to work together to strengthen labor rights and improve work conditions in Burma. The International Labor Organization (ILO) welcomed the agreement made during US Trade Representative Michael Froman's recent visit to Burma. The US trade representative held talks with Asean economic ministers in Naypyidaw.

The agreement paves the way for the adoption of a strategy to reform Burma's outdated labor laws with the participation of US and Burmese government officials, willing governments and businesses, workers and labor organizations. The agreement is aimed at helping build the capacity of Burmese workers and Burma carry on its reforms in line with international norms.

For example, trade unions are allowed in Burma and there are many trade unions, but unfortunately there is little understanding of how to interact between government, employers and employees. To put it in a nutshell, even basic salary still can't be negotiated. The agreement is believed to help solve the basic salary problem.

The agreement is also viewed as an effort by the United States to make the Burmese government and businessmen see that ensuring human dignity and respect for employees is an important business value in the 21st century.

Meanwhile, US-based ACO Investment Group last Thursday signed a US$480 million deal with Burma's Ministry of Electric Power to build two solar power plants in Nabuine in Myingyan District and Wundiwn in Meikhtila District in Mandalay Division. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2016 and will account for 10-12 percent of national electricity demand, providing electric power to the Myotha Industrial Zone and Myingyan and Meikhtila District.

The Obama administration suspended sanctions and re-built ties with Burma because of an open-door policy after Thein Sein's government took office. US officials have made continuous visits to Burma this year with likelihood of military engagement and the lifting of more sanctions. US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Burma recently and President Obama is set to visit Naypyidaw in November.

US corporations are optimistic about Burma. The Bangkok-based The Nation newspaper quoted an Asean Business Outlook Survey, conducted at the Asean Economic Ministers meeting in July, saying that US businessmen are optimistic about establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, and expect expansion of their business and profits in the region.

The survey was designed and conducted by US Chamber of Commerce and Association of US Chamber of Commerce in Asean, formed with 588 US companies doing business in the 10 Asean countries. Some 91 percent of the respondents said they are thinking of expanding their business in Burma.

The outlook says that Burma is favored most among Asean countries for business expansion, said president Mariano Vela of American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand.

Ninety-one percent of foreigners working in Burma are satisfied with their jobs and 77 percent said they want to stay longer but described rent, infrastructure and scarcity of trained staff as a problem.

However, Burma remains a tough place for US investors. US businessmen that invest more than $500,000, or enter the oil and gas sector, have to report their business plans and due diligence reports to the State Department.

Coca-Cola set up its bottling plant in June 2013 and its major rival Pepsi has also entered Burma. San Francisco-based Gap Inc. is now buying from two garment factories in Burma. Gap in its statement said "as the first American retailer to begin sourcing from Myanmar, we understand that we have a responsibility to ensure that our vendors provide a safe, healthy and fair workplace for workers."

The post US Takes Steps to Restart Business Relations With Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Young Rohingya Woman Chases Dream of Peace and Justice in Burma

Posted: 02 Sep 2014 05:00 PM PDT

Activist Wai Wai Nu at her office in Rangoon. (Photo: Thin Lei Win / Thomson Reuters Foundation)

Activist Wai Wai Nu at her office in Rangoon. (Photo: Thin Lei Win / Thomson Reuters Foundation)

RANGOON — Wai Wai Nu is a diminutive 27-year-old with pro-democracy activism in her genes and a quarter of her young life spent behind bars.

The former political prisoner is now working to end the persecution faced by her people, the stateless Rohingya Muslims in western Burma.

The mistreatment she and her family have suffered is just one example among many of abuse aimed at the Rohingya, a minority of around 1.33 million living mainly in Arakan State. Most are denied citizenship despite having lived in Burma for generations.

Wai Wai is one of Burma's brave, articulate and clear-sighted women working on countering the extremist views that tend to dominate the dialogue over religious intolerance and communal violence.

Whether the discussion is about the Rohingya or women's right to marry men of their choice, firebrand Buddhist monks and nationalists have successfully stoked Buddhist-Muslim tensions.

"Right now, the Buddhists are becoming more afraid of the Muslims and vice versa. Everybody feels insecure," she told Thomson Reuters Foundation in her sparsely-furnished office at the top of a six-story building in Burma's main city, Rangoon.

"There is little contact, trust or relationship between the communities at the moment so it's easy for an agent provocateur to incite riots and hatred."

Wai Wai's ambitions are long-term: peaceful co-existence of different groups in Burma, especially in her home state Arakan, also known as Rakhine, and an end to injustice.

"We would like Rakhine State to be a fair, developed and prosperous state for everyone, regardless of their race or religion," she said.

Her organization, Women Peace Network Arakan, conducts training to promote better understanding between the communities. She is also one of the few advocating for the rights of Rohingya women, who suffer multiple layers of discrimination.

Election to Imprisonment

Wai Wai was 18 and studying law when she was arrested in 2005. Her crime was to be the daughter of Kyaw Min, a Rohingya who was elected as member of Parliament in the 1990 elections, the results of which were ignored by Burma's military rulers.

A former state education official in Buthidaung in northern Arakan State, Kyaw Min was also a member of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament, a group of MP-elects from the 1990 vote led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The family had moved to Rangoon in the early 1990s after Kyaw Min faced repeated harassment from the authorities.

More than a decade later, the whole family was rounded up—Kyaw Min first, the rest two months later—and charged under state security and immigration laws. Activists say the junta wanted to silence Kyaw Min's championing of labor rights.

"Ever since I was young, I wanted understand law to make sense of the injustices that were occurring in the country," Wai Wai recalled.

"When we were jailed, my mother said, 'Well now is the opportunity to do so in a real, practical way,' so I guess I was lucky," she added, laughing.

The trial was held behind closed doors, without their lawyer, and the judge refused to listen to them, she said. Kyaw Min was sentenced to 47 years, and the rest of the family—the wife, two daughters and a son—got 17 years each.

"We were shocked into silence. My father was already 60."

"I remember turning to the judge and saying, 'Thank you for the sentence. Our grandmother lived a very long life so we will be ok.' I also told my dad not to feel bad," she said.

"I only burst into tears when I got back to my cell," she added, losing her composure for the first time and wiping tears from her eyes.

The Prison Years

Wai Wai spent seven years in Insein Prison, notorious for its harsh regime and squalid conditions.

She found the mental anguish of imprisonment the most difficult thing to deal with, and kept herself busy. One way was to talk to other female prisoners. Most were arrested for prostitution, running small-scale gambling businesses or drugs.

"They were very young. Some were even younger than me," Wai Wai said.

"They had to do these jobs because there is no other choice. Is it their fault they don't have opportunities?"

Hearing their stories turned her into a feminist and made her want to help marginalized women, she said. "I couldn't wallow in self-pity after meeting them. Insein Prison was my university about life."

Still, the privations of prison life left long-lasting scars on the family. Her father's health deteriorated and her sister contracted liver disease that almost killed her.

All the family members were released in January 2012, together with hundreds of other political prisoners, under the new government of President Thein Sein, which took power in 2011 and embarked on a series of political and economic reforms.

Conditions for the Rohingya in Arakan State, however, have only got worse.

Being Stateless

Kyaw Min won the 1990 elections as a Rohingya politician. The term has always been debated but it was not the political lighting rod that it is now, made worse after religious clashes in June and October 2012 left 140,000 people homeless, mostly Rohingya.

The government and ordinary Burmese use the term Bengalis, implying they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

"The Rohingya used to lead dignified, respectful lives. They were not always stateless. My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were citizens," Wai Wai said.

A citizenship law enacted in 1982 back-paddled history, took away the Rohingya's citizenship, and imposed restrictions on travel, education and jobs, she said.

"Not having this little ID card affects the whole community. It allows the violation of basic human rights and takes away people's dignity and mental well-being," Wai Wai said.

On Sept. 15, the world's first forum on statelessness will open at The Hague, focusing on the estimated 10 million stateless people worldwide. Wai Wai hopes it will raise the issue of Rohingya.

"How is it that our fathers were in the government service and able to run in and win elections but that is no longer possible during our time?" she asked.

She blames the negative perception towards the Rohingya—which stereotypes the group as polygamous and criminal—on decades-old propaganda by the military.

The United Nations has said the Rohingya are "virtually friendless" amongst Burma's other ethnic and religious communities. Even human rights activists, including Aung San Suu Kyi, have failed to speak up on the Rohingya's behalf.

"We too sacrificed many things for the same cause—democracy—and we too are working towards a better future for our country," Wai Wai said.

"So it really hurts when human rights advocates say Rohingya shouldn't have rights.

"But then, our history has been erased by the junta so it's not their fault. It's the system's fault," she added.

The post Young Rohingya Woman Chases Dream of Peace and Justice in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Junta Forces Rights Group to Nix Presentation

Posted: 02 Sep 2014 10:29 PM PDT

Thai soldiers stand guard along roads blocked around the Victory Monument, where anti-coup protesters gathered in Bangkok in May 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Thai soldiers stand guard along roads blocked around the Victory Monument, where anti-coup protesters gathered in Bangkok in May 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — Thailand's ruling military junta forced a human rights group on Tuesday to cancel a presentation on the precarious rights situation in the Southeast Asian country three months after the army staged a coup.

The military told Bangkok-based Thai Lawyers for Human Rights in a written letter that if it has concerns about lack of freedom of expression or access to the justice system it should report them instead via a government hotline at the Interior Ministry.

The group condemned the army pressure, saying in a statement that it "creates the atmosphere of fear in society" and deprives people of their rights.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights had been scheduled to host a panel discussion on the subject and release a report titled "Access to Justice in Thailand: Currently Unavailable."

The May 22 coup deposed Thailand's elected government, and the junta that has ruled since has showed no tolerance for dissent. Martial law is in effect, political assemblies of more than five people are banned, and the army has silenced hundreds of once-thriving political opponents, briefly detaining them and threatening jail terms if they speak out and disturb public order.

Sutharee Wannasiri, a campaign coordinator for Amnesty International in Thailand, which was helping organize Tuesday's discussion, told The Associated Press that soldiers had phoned more than 30 times on Monday requesting the event be called off "because the situation is still not normal."

Several participants showed up at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand anyway, "to read a statement to say that there were threats and harassment from the military," Sutharee said.

A statement issued by the lawyers' group said the letter from the military was phrased as "a request for cooperation." But officers said verbally that if the event went ahead, the group could face prosecution, according to the statement.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights was set up about a week after the coup to monitor rights abuses and help provide legal advice to victims.

The post Thai Junta Forces Rights Group to Nix Presentation appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Malaysian Law Professor Charged in Crackdown on Dissent

Posted: 02 Sep 2014 10:17 PM PDT

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks at an event as part of the Federal Territory Ministry's Nur Ramadan program in Kuala Lumpur July 20, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks at an event as part of the Federal Territory Ministry's Nur Ramadan program in Kuala Lumpur July 20, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian prosecutors charged a high-profile law professor with sedition on Tuesday for an opinion he voiced on a political crisis that occurred five years ago, extending a recent crackdown on dissent from opposition politicians to academia.

Lawyers said the charge against Azmi Sharom, a lecturer at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and who writes a regular newspaper column, could have a chilling effect on freedom of speech as the government wavers on its pledges to expand civil liberties.

Four opposition politicians have been charged and another convicted this year under the Sedition Act, a relic of the British colonial era intended to keep a tight lid on racial tensions and social unrest in the multi-ethnic country. Four sedition charges have been pressed in the past nine days.

"There clearly now appears to be an attempt to create an environment of fear and self-censorship such that people now no longer take it upon themselves to comment on what is going on," said Andrew Khoo, co-chairperson of the Malaysian Bar Council's human rights committee.

Khoo and Azmi's lawyer Gobind Singh said they could not recall the last time an academic was charged under the 1948 law.

Prime Minister Najib Razak pledged in 2011 that the law, which criminalizes speech with an undefined "seditious tendency" against the government or which could upset racial harmony, would be repealed and replaced by new legislation.

Three years later, after a weak election result for the government last year that fanned racial divisions and emboldened conservatives in Najib's long-ruling party, the proposed new National Harmony Bill remains far from being passed into law.

Critics say Najib has caved in to calls from within his majority ethnic Malay party to get tougher on the opposition, which has gained in the past two elections, and on online news sites that carry strong criticism of government policies.

The flurry of sedition charges comes six months after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to five years in jail, in what rights groups said was a politically motivated case aimed at ending his career.

The government says the new bill is taking time because of extensive consultations with civil society groups and that it expects to present a draft to parliament by the end of 2015.

"Like other countries, we are working to find the right balance between freedom of speech and national harmony in the age of online media," a government spokesperson said last week.

Fading Promise

Najib made civil liberties reform a hallmark of his leadership after becoming prime minister in 2009, saying Malaysia needed to adapt to the modern era. His government repealed the draconian Internal Security Act, but human rights groups have said that the replacement legislation is in some ways just as repressive as the old law. Detention without trial powers were restored under a penal code amendment last year.

Azmi, a ponytailed British-educated academic, has been a commentator on legal and political issues in Malaysia for years. He pleaded not guilty and requested a trial on the charge, which carries a maximum penalty of a 5,000 ringgit ($1,600) fine or three years in prison or both.

The charge against him relates to an Aug. 14 article on the Malay Mail Online site in which he was quoted as saying that the collapse of an opposition state government in 2009 was "legally wrong" and resulted from a "secret meeting".

The opposition has long disputed the role played in that crisis by the Perak state sultan, who declined an opposition request to dissolve the state assembly for fresh elections and accepted a new government led by the ruling party. A senior opposition politician, the late Karpal Singh, was convicted in February for his comments on the Perak crisis.

Azmi said in a statement after posting bail that he was shocked by the charge, adding that his comments had been based on established case law and democratic principles.

"They were given in my capacity as a law lecturer of 24 years standing," he said.

Singh, Azmi's lawyer, said more sedition charges would likely be laid in the coming weeks. At least two other opposition members of parliament are being investigated for remarks they made.

"We have not seen the last of it and there are going to be many others," he said.

The post Malaysian Law Professor Charged in Crackdown on Dissent appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Surrogate Offers Clues Into Man With 16 Babies

Posted: 02 Sep 2014 10:11 PM PDT

Surrogate babies that Thai police suspect were fathered by a Japanese businessman who has fled from Thailand are shown on a screen during a news conference at the headquarters of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok August 12, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Surrogate babies that Thai police suspect were fathered by a Japanese businessman who has fled from Thailand are shown on a screen during a news conference at the headquarters of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok August 12, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — When the young Thai woman saw an online ad seeking surrogate mothers, it seemed like a life-altering deal: US$10,000 to help a foreign couple that wanted a child but couldn't conceive.

Wassana, a lifetime resident of the slums, viewed it as a nine-month solution to her family's debt. She didn't ask many questions.

In reality, there was no couple. There was instead a young man from Japan named Mitsutoki Shigeta, whom she met twice but who never spoke a word to her. This same man—reportedly the son of a Japanese billionaire—would go on to make surrogate babies with 10 other women in Thailand, police say, spending more than half a million dollars to father at least 16 children for reasons still unclear.

The mystery surrounding Shigeta has riveted Thailand and become the focal point of a growing scandal over commercial surrogacy. The industry that catered to foreigners has thrived on semi-secrecy, deception and legal loopholes, and Thailand's military government is vowing to shut it down.

Wassana's story, which she shared with The Associated Press on condition that her last name not be used to protect her family and 8-year-old son from embarrassment, offers clues into an extraordinarily complex puzzle that boils down to two questions: Who is Shigeta and why did he want so many babies?

Shigeta is being investigated for human trafficking and child exploitation, but Thai police say they haven't found evidence of either. The 24-year-old, now the focus of an Asia-wide investigation, has said through a lawyer that he simply wanted a big family.

He has not been charged with any crime and is trying to get his children back—12 are currently in Thailand being cared for by social services. His whereabouts are unknown; he left Bangkok after police raided his condominium Aug. 5 and discovered nine babies living with nine nannies. Police say he sent DNA samples from Japan that prove he is the babies' father.

Key to unraveling all of this are the women Shigeta paid to bear his children. And Wassana, whose account has been corroborated by police, was his first.

An Answer to Eviction

Wassana's Bangkok is not the city of skyscrapers and spas that most visitors see. The petite, soft-spoken 32-year-old with a ninth grade education has spent her life in a trash-strewn slum, scraping by selling traditional Thai sweets from a food cart and sharing a mildew-stained tenement with seven relatives. At $6 a day, it was affordable until her late father's medical bills drained the family's savings. They couldn't pay rent for a year and faced eviction.

So when her sister stumbled upon an ad seeking surrogates in 2012, Wassana didn't hesitate.

"I thought that any parents who would spend so much money to get a baby must want him desperately," she says. "The agent told me it was for a foreign couple."

She assumed it was customary to keep the biological parents' identities confidential. In a country where deference to authority is expected—especially for poor, uneducated women—she didn't probe.

She wondered, though, who the baby's mother was.

"I don't know if the doctor used my eggs or another woman's," she says. "Nobody told me."

During the pregnancy, she developed pre-eclampsia, a condition that causes dangerously high blood pressure. She was rushed into the delivery room two months early and on June 20, 2013, she underwent a cesarean section, giving birth to a boy. Wassana's family came to visit, but, she says, Shigeta did not.

The infant was placed in an incubator and after six days, Wassana returned home. She's not sure when the baby was released from the hospital to Shigeta's custody.

Two months later, she finally met Shigeta for the first time at the New Life fertility clinic, which had posted the Internet ad.

He was tall, with shaggy, shoulder-length hair, and was dressed casually in jeans and a wrinkled, button-down shirt he left untucked. His lawyer had accompanied him to the meeting, where he and Wassana signed a document granting him sole custody.

He wasn't personable. There was no "thank you" for carrying his child, she says. There was, in fact, no communication at all.

"He didn't say anything to me," she says. "He never introduced himself. He only smiled and nodded. His lawyer did the talking."

Perjury Allegations

A month later, the same lawyer, Ratpratan Tulatorn, called and told her to go to the Juvenile and Family Court to finalize the custody transfer. Under Thai law, a woman who gives birth is the legal mother, and, if she is married, her husband is the legal father. A court approval is required to transfer custody, which experts say often involves perjury.

Police Col. Decha Promsuwan, who has questioned five of Shigeta's surrogates, said several of the women told police Ratpratan had instructed them to tell the court they'd had an affair with Shigeta, resulting in a child their husbands did not want.

Ratpratan said he is no longer Shigeta's attorney and declined to comment on the women's statements, saying, "I don't want to touch that point because it's a legal matter."

During the hearing, Shigeta told the judge he owned a finance company in Japan.

His story is being intensely followed in Japan despite legal threats against the press. After his case made headlines, a group of prominent lawyers sent letters warning Japan's mainstream media not to report Shigeta's name or the names of his family members, according to news organizations that received the letter.

However, several Japanese magazines and online publications have identified him as a son of Japanese tycoon Yasumitsu Shigeta, founder of mobile phone distributor Hikari Tsushin.

Yet even his heritage is shrouded in mystery. The company says it can neither confirm nor deny the father-son relationship, calling it "a personal matter," and Thai police and Interpol say they are investigating his family ties. Multiple stock filings, meanwhile, show the elder Shigeta has a son named Mitsutoki and his company has a shareholder with the same name. The stock papers show that Yasumitsu's child was born Feb 9, 1990, the same birthdate as the Mitsutoki Shigeta at the center of the surrogacy scandal, according to Thai media that published his passport page.

Yasumitsu Shigeta did not respond to a request for an interview and Mitsutoki Shigeta's current lawyer did not respond to requests for interviews with his client, who has multiple addresses throughout Asia. Phone calls to a Hong Kong mobile number listed for the younger Shigeta went straight to voicemail, and he did not answer text messages. No one answered the bell at his Hong Kong condo, and the doorman said he could not recall ever seeing him there.

'10 to 15 Babies a Year'

In early August, barely a year after Wassana's court date with Shigeta, she saw his face again—this time, on television. She almost didn't recognize him; his hair was now neatly trimmed.

The Thai media was calling it the "serial surrogacy" case. It had broken just after another scandal involving an Australian couple who paid a Thai surrogate to carry twins, then left behind the one with Down syndrome.

Wassana was floored. What was happening?

Police wondered the same thing. So intricate was Shigeta's quest for children that they crafted a flowchart to keep track of how he did it.

The 9-step diagram starts with Shigeta's picture and traces the steps he took to get his babies, from hiring surrogacy clinics and nannies, to registering apartments in the infants' names and completing legal paperwork required for birth certificates and passports. The deliveries were spread out at nine Bangkok hospitals.

Shigeta's acquaintances offer varying accounts of his motives.

The New Life clinic, which is currently closed pending investigation, stopped working with Shigeta after two surrogates got pregnant and he requested more, said founder Mariam Kukunashvili.

Shigeta told New Life "he wanted to win elections and could use his big family for voting," Kukunashvili said. "He said he wanted 10 to 15 babies a year, and that he wanted to continue the baby-making process until he's dead."

Kukunashvili said she reported his requests to Interpol in an April 8, 2013 fax to its French headquarters, but never heard back. Thailand's Interpol office said it never saw the warning.

She rejected Wassana's account that the New Life agent had portrayed the parents as a couple and withheld Shigeta's identity.

"At New Life, surrogates are always informed fully and never treated this way," she said.

The Medical Council of Thailand, meanwhile, spoke with Wassana's doctor, Pisit Tantiwattanakul, before he closed his All IVF fertility clinic and emptied it of all patient files after the scandal broke. His whereabouts are unknown, but he has vowed to present himself for a police interview in early September.

Pisit told the council Shigeta said he had businesses overseas and wanted a large family because he only trusted his own children to take care of them.

Interpol has asked its regional offices in Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong and India to probe Shigeta's background. Police say he appears to have businesses or apartments in those countries.

Japan has no law banning surrogacy, but the medical industry has issued orders against it that are strictly followed, which could explain why Shigeta flew to one of the few places in Asia where it is openly practiced. Since 2010, he has made 41 trips to Thailand and police say he traveled regularly to Cambodia, where he holds a passport and brought four of the babies. Cambodian police have refused to comment on the case.

One of the babies in Cambodia might be Wassana's—a prospect that leaves her riddled with guilt.

"What if they've done something bad to the baby?" she says. "Did I deliver him to some terrible fate?"

Today, her own fate is uncertain. The money she received for bearing Shigeta's child cleared the family debt but was not enough to drag them out of the slums. She still lives in the same derelict tenement.

She has held the boy just once, when Shigeta handed him to her briefly in court. But she told police that she would be willing to raise him if he is being mistreated.

"I thought he would be with a good family that would love him," she says. "That's what I thought."

The post Surrogate Offers Clues Into Man With 16 Babies appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

HK Activists Say Beijing ‘Brutally Strangled’ Democracy, Vow Action

Posted: 02 Sep 2014 09:51 PM PDT

Founders of the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement (right to left) Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, academics Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man hit drums in front of Chinese characters

Founders of the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement (right to left) Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, academics Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man hit drums in front of Chinese characters "disobedience," during a campaign to kick off the movement in front of the financial Central district in Hong Kong on August 31, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

HONG KONG — A pro-democracy movement that has threatened to blockade Hong Kong's financial district has said Beijing "brutally strangled" its fight for full democracy and vowed to take action.

On Monday, Hong Kong police used pepper spray to disperse pro-democracy activists after China's parliament had rejected democrats' demands for the right to freely choose Hong Kong's next leader at an election in 2017.

"We Hongkongers won't accept failure in our road to democracy," the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement said in a statement emailed to reporters late on Tuesday.

Pro-democracy activists had threatened to lock down the city's financial district on an unspecified date unless China grants full democracy.

A Bloomberg report on Tuesday quoted Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement founder Benny Tai as saying support for the group had dwindled after Beijing's decision to rule out direct elections in 2017.

It also quoted Tai as saying the group might not be able to draw the expected 10,000 demonstrators to lock down the heart of the Asian financial center—home to global companies and banks such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered—because of the "very pragmatic thinking" of Hong Kong people.

However, the Occupy movement said that was not the case.

"It is not correct to say that we have less support from the community after Beijing has made the decision," the latest statement said.

"Although some pragmatic supporters may leave, new supporters are joining us because they are angry about the Chinese government's decision," it said.

Occupy Central has launched a campaign of civil disobedience in recent months, calling for full democracy with an unofficial referendum, marches and sit-ins. There have been clashes with police.

Beijing has responded by saying Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, subject to Communist Party rule. Beijing has said it will permit a vote for Hong Kong's next chief executive, but only among a handful of pre-screened candidates.

Reporting by Anne Marie Roantree, Clare Baldwin and Farah Master.

The post HK Activists Say Beijing 'Brutally Strangled' Democracy, Vow Action appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Students Get High on Cough Medicine in Burma

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 10:43 PM PDT

Students in Pathein Township are taking a cough suppressant to get high, according to the police.

Students in Pathein Township are taking a cough suppressant to get high, according to the police. (Photo: Salai Thant Zin / The Irrawaddy)

In the poppy fields of Burma's hinterlands, farmers are growing the world's second-biggest source of opium, and just this week police officials boasted of their biggest-ever drug bust, but in some cities, the problem of substance abuse lies closer to home.

For a cheap, easy high, some students in Pathein Township, Irrawaddy Division, are turning to a popular cough medicine, police officials say.

This month, township police warned shops near urban schools not to sell tablets of Dextro Cough, which contains the active ingredient dextromethorphan and is often stocked at shops that specialize in betel nut, a popular stimulant. A 14-day warning period went into effect on Aug. 14, after which the police have pledged to act in accordance with the national drug law against any betel nut shop found to be selling the cough medicine.

Urban chemists have also been warned not to give Dextro to students.

"A small proportion of university students abuse it. Mainly, high school students abuse it, as do some students at the government technical college," Myint Aung, platoon commander of the Pathein-based No. 49 anti-drug squad, told The Irrawaddy. "It's a flu and cough medicine. Youths take many tablets at once, which is harmful to them."

Imported from Thailand, Dextro is reportedly a registered household drug in Burma. A bottle containing 1,000 tablets costs 15,000 kyats (US$15), while individual tablets sell for 25 kyats at betel shops, kiosks and some chemist shops in urban wards.

"Dextro makes the abuser sleepy and tranquil. Not only university students, but also youths in the wards, abuse it," said a 21-year-old from Pathein's Ward No. 9. "They use it during festive events. Recently, I went back to my native village to visit a pagoda festival and found that youths were abusing that drug."

In addition to use for the common cold, the cough suppressant is often prescribed to ease symptoms of serious illnesses including tuberculosis, HIV, pneumonia and lung cancer, according to a general practitioner in Pathein.

"Dextro stabilizes lungs and dissolves phlegm, and only one or two tablet should be given to TB, lung cancer and HIV patients, even under a doctor's prescription. If children take more than 10 tablets at one time, it may harm their nerves and lungs in the long run," he said.

The post Students Get High on Cough Medicine in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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