| University Teachers’ Association Boycotts Talks on Burma Education Reform Posted: 22 Jan 2014 04:32 AM PST  Freshmen students attend a chemistry class in Yangon University in Yangon Dec. 5, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Representatives of Burma's University Teachers' Association (UTA) are boycotting talks this week to discuss a government-drafted law that is supposed to free higher education from central control. A five-day seminar, which began Monday at Rangoon University's Diamond Jubilee Hall, is being held in response to various groups' rejection of a draft of the Universities' Central Council Law, which is supposed to legislate for a new council to replace the Department of Higher Education as the agency responsible for universities. The UTA, as well as the Students' Union and the National Network for Education Reform (NNER) argue that the proposed law does not do enough to free up the country's stifled education sector. The secretary of the Dagon University branch of the UTA, Zaw Myo Hlaing, said the organization had decided to boycott this week's seminar because the organizer, the Department of Higher Education (Lower Burma), did not give enough recognition to the UTA's role in discussing education policy. Specifically, he said, the invitation extended to the UTA was worded in a way that suggested the association was not a central player in the talks. "The wording from the invitation from [the Department of Higher Education] says, 'We are inviting you as we have come to know that university teachers want to attend the seminar,' and that they will 'allow [teachers] to attend if it does not affect their duties.' That's why we boycott," Zaw Myo Hlaing told The Irrawaddy. "Our original duty is to teach. We devote our personal time toward future higher education policy, without financial support. There's no recognition, and they belittle us with the invitation saying they can 'allow' us to attend the seminar as long as it doesn't affect our duties." The UTA has in the past notified the department to address such invitations to the association, instead of naming an individual, as it has done in this instance, he said, adding that the wording seemed to indicate a lack of willingness for officials to engage with teachers. "If they can't even recognize the existence of the association and forming of the association by writing 'the University Teachers' Association,' we can guess the mentality of those who claim themselves as reforming the education policy," said Zaw Myo Hlaing, who is also an assistant lecturer at Dagon University. About 30 university teachers left the meeting Tuesday announcing that they have boycott it and the results of the seminar will not reflect UTA involvement. Teachers from the state universities will no longer join the seminar and are joined in the boycott by students from the All Burma Federation of Students Unions (ABSFU). The replacement of the Department of Higher Education is part of broader reforms, and a new National Education Law, that are meant to see the education sector released from central government control. That control grew over the period of Burma's military regimes, with the junta in the 1990s dismantling universities that were seen as a hotbed of political opposition. Thu Thu Mar, a member of NNER, said the content of the proposed National Education Law had not been distributed for participants to study ahead of the seminar. She added that the seminar's formal agenda included discussion of the "education principles," and the presentation of the results of the work of an education reform implementation committee, which has 18 working groups. But the seminar was not designed to encourage open discussion, and instead mainly involved participants listening to presentations, she added. "We can't study the National Education Law, [we got it] one day before the meeting. There are some basic principles that conflict with the educational policy drafted by NNER," she said. The principles at issue include the decentralization of control over education; academic freedom for schools, teachers and students; and educational philosophy," she said. Thu Thu Mar said the draft states the approach of educators to be, "'To raise citizens with the right thoughts,' which conflicts with our philosophy, 'To raise citizens who can think freely.'" Pyae Soe Kyaw, assistant lecturer at Rangoon University's archaeology department, said the draft Universities' Central Council Law was just another way for the government to control education. "When they don't want centralized [education], they just try to control it with a different form," he said. "It's not useful to have dialogue and discuss reforming education unless those who have authority have good will and the courage to do so." The Ministry of Education recently distributed the Universities' Central Council Law draft to universities, but did not consult with teachers or other groups before drafting it, opponents say. "[At present], education policy makers are not those who are representing the fields that they are related to, but the professors and director generals," said Zaw Myo Hlaing from Dagon University. "It is not realistic if someone who is rarely out of Yangon is drafting education policy for migrant education, for example. Also with non-formal education, where someone who has never been working on the issue is drafting the policy from an office." He added that national education policy should be the priority, before the details of the new council are discussed. The post University Teachers' Association Boycotts Talks on Burma Education Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Negligent Homicide Charge Against Kachin Politician Dropped Posted: 22 Jan 2014 04:21 AM PST  Bauk Ja, shown during a visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in November 2012, continues to be detained in Kachin State. (Photo: Seamus Martov / The Irrawaddy) A key charge against Bauk Ja, a well-known ethnic Kachin land rights activist turned politician, was withdrawn last week by prosecutors in Kachin State's Hpakant district, her lawyer tells The Irrawaddy. Bauk Ja (also spelled Bauk Gyar, Bawk Ja and Bawk Jar) was arrested in July of last year for charges relating to the death of a sick person she had attempted to assist several years ago. Prosecutors alleged that the patient had died because of Bauk Ja's actions. The charges, which fell under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code covering "causing death by negligence," were dropped at the request of the deceased person's family, the activist's lawyer told The Irrawaddy. "A family member directly applied to the court to withdraw the case. We don't know why," lawyer Law Tong said on Thursday. Bauk Ja still faces two lesser charges under the Medical Council Act relating to the improper use of needles and medicine, for which she had a court hearing on Monday of this week. She is set to have more hearings for these charges later this month. According to her lawyer, who recently met Bauk Ja, the activist is in good health at the Hpakant police station where she remains in detention. Bauk Ja had originally been charged in relation to the case shortly after the death occurred, but these charges were dropped and then reintroduced last year. The peculiarities of Bauk Ja's case have given rise to suspicion among many Kachin that the case was a thinly veiled attempt to keep the internationally renowned activist out of the spotlight. Until her arrest, Bauk Ja was the Kachin State chairwoman for the National Democratic Force, a party created by a breakaway faction of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Kachin National Organization (KNO), a prominent Kachin exile association, told The Irrawaddy that the case was the product of a corrupt legal system. "The legal system in Kachin State and Burma overall is controlled by the military," said Hkanhpa Sadan. Sadan, who is UK-based, believes that Bauk Ja was charged due to her outspoken criticism of land seizures in the Hukaung Valley and her denunciation of cronies of the former military regime who she claimed took part in the land-grabbing. "A crony culture is deeply embedded in Burma," Sadan explained. Sadan said he was also concerned that a conviction resulting from the other charges Bauk Ja faces, which he described as baseless, would effectively bar her from further political activities when she is eventually released. According to Sadan, millions in Burma regularly violate the outdated and rarely enforced health laws by using medicine from Thailand and China that is not imported through official channels. "The health system in Burma has failed completely, so all in Burma are guilty of improper use of medicine," claimed Sadan. Bauk Ja's continued detention has drawn widespread concern internationally. A motion calling for her immediate release was introduced in Britain's Parliament last September by Labour Party MP Valerie Vaz. A Rise to National Prominence Bauk Ja became a national figure some five years ago following her involvement in helping to organize a legal action brought by 150 farming families against the Yuzana corporation and its chairman Htay Myint (currently an MP from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party) for confiscating farmland in western Kachin State's fertile Hukaung Valley. Although Yuzana was able defeat the suit, it shed light on large-scale land-grabbing that had been going on in the Hukaung. During the November 2010 election, Bauk Ja ran as a candidate for the NDF in the jade-rich Hpakant district. She lost to a candidate from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) after election authorities controversially declared 13,255 votes invalid. Although Bauk Ja initially contested the final vote tally, which gave USDP candidate Ohn Myint 29,426 votes over her total of 21,633, Bauk Ja later dropped the challenge when Ohn Myint vacated his seat to take a Union-level cabinet position. Ohn Myint and Bauk Ja had been at odds before. When Ohn Myint served as northern regional commander, he approved Yuzana's land seizures in the Hukaung Valley, despite the fact that the land was in an area that the Burmese government had officially declared the world's largest tiger reserve. Bauk Ja's vocal criticism of Yuzana and the disputed 2010 election count in her district brought the ire of Burmese authorities. In January 2011, an arrest warrant was issued against Bauk Ja by Ohn Myint's successor as northern regional commander, Brig-Gen Zeyar Aung. The arrest warrant forced Bauk Ja to go underground temporarily until it was withdrawn. Until she was detained last year, Bauk Ja had been an outspoken critic of the Hukaung Valley tiger reserve, which was created in 2001 with the assistance of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an American environmental NGO. Bauk Ja and other critics have contended that the reserve has failed to protect any actual wildlife because Burmese authorities and the reserve's American backers are afraid to challenge Yuzana's land-grabbing for plantations. During an interview with this correspondent in November 2012, Bauk Ja said she had observed a sharp decline in the Hukaung's environment since the tiger reserve was created. The deterioration was a direct result of Yuzana's land-grabbing, logging and other crony-related gold mining projects operated with the approval of government authorities, she said. Her bleak assessment about the lack of tigers in the reserve was made after numerous local animal trackers told her they hadn't seen tiger paw prints or other signs of big cat life in the valley for several years. "The hunters have told me there are no more tigers left," she told The Irrawaddy. The post Negligent Homicide Charge Against Kachin Politician Dropped appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Govt Not Recognizing Scale of Land-Grabs in Burma: Lawmakers Posted: 22 Jan 2014 04:07 AM PST  A woman points to land which, according to the sign, is now owned by the Burma Army. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Burmese government has acknowledged just a fraction of more than 6,000 land-grab complaints filed with a parliamentary committee, lawmakers say, with a cabinet official telling Parliament this week that total complaints numbered less than 800. Ohn Than, the deputy minister for agriculture and irrigation, told Parliament on Tuesday that there were only 745 cases of land rights abuses, and claimed that the government had already resolved some 423 of the complaints. Members of a parliamentary land investigation committee are not satisfied with Ohn Than's math, and are urging the deputy minister to explain in detail how the government intends to address the thousands of outstanding cases. "We will have a meeting with all our committee members. We will discuss what we should do next. We should send a letter of objection to the government over this," said Mi Myint Than, a lawmaker from the All Mon Region Democracy Party. The parliamentary land investigation committee was formed in early 2012, and committee members have since been collecting data on the ground in all 14 of Burma's states and divisions. Mi Myint Than, who is also a member of the committee, said Ohn Than was grossly underestimating the scale of the problem. "We proposed over 6,435 letters to them for cases of land abuse, but they said they only received over 700 letters. So, how we can trust them?" he said. "Where are the rest of our proposed letters?" Pe Than, an MP for the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) and another member of the land committee, said more specifics were needed on the 423 complaints purportedly solved as well. "They just say they've solved cases already, but how? They should give details to us case by case, about when and where they solved them. We were not made aware of it [the land dispute resolutions]. Why not?" he asked. "We've found that they [the government] does not want to give back land to the people because they know the land has a lot of value and will be good to sell in the future." The issue of land confiscations has made it to the floor of the legislature in the course of every session of Parliament since President Thein Sein came to power in March 2011, with more and more lawmakers feeling pressure from constituents and emboldened by the democratic reforms of the nominally civilian government. The military, which ruled Burma with an iron fist for more than 50 years, has often been the target of land-grab complaints, prompting one unelected military MP to put the kibosh on discussion of the issue in August, during the last session of Parliament. "Repeatedly saying that the Army confiscated land is creating a divide between the Army and the people," Kyaw Oo Lwin complained at the time. But speaking before lawmakers on Tuesday, Ohn Than acknowledged the disproportionate culpability, reporting that 565 of the 745 complaint cases recognized by the government involved land confiscations by the military. Countless cases of farmers and other landowners having property seized by the military, private companies or used for national projects over the last half-century have made the issue a priority for parliamentarians. Ever since the 1963 Land Acquisition Act, which nationalized ownership of all land across the country, confiscations have be widespread for various reasons—including project construction, urban expansions, establishment of industrial zones and building army bases. The issue, which governments across Southeast Asia have grappled with in recent years, poses a particularly acute threat to livelihoods in Burma, an agricultural country where the majority of people are farmers. No one has had the right to protest land seizures during the last five decades of military rule in Burma, but recent political reforms mean that many victims have begun to speak up in an effort to get confiscated land returned. "There are persons from the government who are rich after selling land confiscated from the people. But the land-grab victims are still poor and they want their land back," Pe Than said. The post Govt Not Recognizing Scale of Land-Grabs in Burma: Lawmakers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burmese Child Soldier Imprisoned for Leaving Military Posted: 22 Jan 2014 03:58 AM PST  A billboard promoting a "No Child Soldiers" campaign in Rangoon. (Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) A former child soldier who is under the coordinated protection of the International Labor Organization and Burmese authorities has been sentenced to one year in prison for deserting his unit, a local rights group says. Ye Myat Oo, who served the military in Bassein Township, Irrawaddy Division, was arrested by a joint force of the army and the police and then sentenced by a military tribunal, according to the Bassein-based Human Rights Watch and Defense Network (HRWDN). Before the sentencing, he had received a protection letter from the ILO, the HRWDN says. "A copy of the ILO letter was sent to the army bases, police stations and administrative offices, but he was still apprehended and jailed," said Myint Naing, a leader of the rights group. Ye Myat Oo was arrested in late December and sentenced on Jan. 7. He is currently being held in Bassein prison. "Both of his parents are dead. He only has one brother, and they live in his uncle's house. They were not in good shape for their survival—that's why he joined the army. Now, his brother has to visit him in jail," a neighbor of the former child soldier told The Irrawaddy. Ye Myat Oo lived in Bassein and reportedly joined the army in 2009, when he was 17 years old. "A complaint was filed that Ye Myat Oo was recruited to the army before he reached the official age limit for service," the ILO wrote in the protection letter, dated August 27, 2013, and signed by Steve Marshall, the ILO liaison officer in Rangoon. "The Burmese Government and ILO are in the investigation process for his case." The ILO letter said that legal charges would be filed if anyone harassed, threatened, arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned Ye Myat Oo or his family members during the investigation period. In 2012 Burma's government signed an action plan with the United Nations to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers in the country. The military has announced through state-owned and military-owned news media that it will discharge any soldiers which were found to have been serving while underage. "The army, in fact, should have released Ye Myat Oo from service since the government and the ILO have agreed not to allow any minors to serve in the armed forces," said Htun Shwe, a member of HRWDN. Since its formation four years ago, the Bassein-based rights group has helped free over
30 child soldiers from army units. With help from HRWDN, the ILO office in Rangoon has given protection letters to eight former child soldiers. On Saturday the army held a ceremony in Rangoon to hand over 96 child soldiers to their parents. It was the fifth ceremony of its kind since a reformist government took power in 2011 after decades of military rule. The army has freed a total of 272 underage soldiers since 2012, according to a statement from the office of the army's chief of staff. According to the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP), a network covering human rights-related issues in 157 townships across Burma, the army mainly recruits child soldiers in the divisions of Rangoon, Irrawaddy, Mandalay, Pegu and Magwe. The post Burmese Child Soldier Imprisoned for Leaving Military appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Min Aung Hlaing’s Comments Raise Concerns Among Ethnic Leaders Posted: 22 Jan 2014 03:43 AM PST  Soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) stand guard for security purposes at the conference in Law Khee Lar, Karen State. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) LAW KHEE LAR, Karen State — Ethnic leaders and observers at an ongoing conference of ethnic armed groups in southeastern Burma say their confidence in the peace-making process has been shaken by recent reports that the commander-in-chief of the government army declared his troops had only ever acted defensively against the rebels. Building trust with the government is a major concern moving forward, they say, after Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing reportedly defended his army's operations in Kachin State and cast blame for violence on ethnic rebels, while also saying his troops were "afraid of no one." "There is very little trust between them," Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, director of the Rangoon-based Karen Women's Action Group (KWAG), a civil society group, told The Irrawaddy, referring to the government and ethnic rebel groups. She is attending the conference as an observer, and said ethnic rebel leaders including members of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) were "very concerned about the comments made recently by the commander-in-chief." According to local media reports, Min Aung Hlaing made the comments in a November speech while addressing a group of officers in Naypyidaw who had completed a training course. Local newspaper True News broke the story earlier this month, saying it had obtained a transcript of the speech. The newspaper's story was later shared on the official Facebook page of the Burmese-language state run Mirror newspaper. A conference of most of Burma's ethnic armed groups began on Monday in Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled territory near the Burma-Thai border, with an ethnic Karen leader affirming his support for ongoing talks with the government toward a nationwide ceasefire agreement. The conference at the KNU's Law Khee Lah base is taking place ahead of more talks with government negotiators in the Karen State capital of Pa-an next month, Observers on Wednesday said poor trust with the government was not the only obstacle on the path to peace. Than Khe, head of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), said disagreements within and between ethnic armed groups were also slowing negotiations. "Overall, they agree that political problems must be solved through political means. But I think there is major concern that they will not be able to commit to what the government has asked of them, based on their histories and backgrounds," he told The Irrawaddy. One debate concerns terminology. Some ethnic leaders want to refer to themselves as ethnic "revolution" armed groups in any future nationwide ceasefire agreement, to indicate that they have been fighting for a political purpose, but the government rejects this term. Col. Sai Hla, a spokesman for the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), said that despite some disagreements, his group would follow the desires of the majority. The RCSS did not initially sign up to terms agreed by other ethnic armed groups at an earlier conference in Laiza, Kachin State, at the beginning of November. "The idea that has been raised in the meeting—to hold negotiations on a nationwide ceasefire agreement, followed by the framework of political dialogue—is close to our policy. So even though we did not sign the agreement with the NCCT [in Laiza], we will sign it at any time when the government agrees to it." The post Min Aung Hlaing's Comments Raise Concerns Among Ethnic Leaders appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Accelerating Burmese Economy Risks Inflation: IMF Posted: 22 Jan 2014 01:44 AM PST  Piles of Burmese kyat currency are counted in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said Burma's economic outlook was favorable, but warned that rising inflation loomed for the Southeast Asian nation amid ongoing economic reforms. Matt Davies, team leader for an IMF delegation that wrapped up a 13-day visit to Burma this week, said at a press conference in Rangoon that real GDP growth for the fiscal year 2012-13 reached 7.3 percent, led by services and manufacturing. The IMF expects the country's economy to grow a further 7.5 percent in 2013-14 and 7.75 percent in 2014-15. However, Davies said in a statement that inflation is expected to exceed 6 percent by the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year and remain elevated in 2014-15. The inflation rate last year was 6 percent, according to the World Bank. Maw Than, an economist and economic advisor to President Thein Sein, said that the IMF's inflation prediction was reasonable, adding that Burma's much-lauded reforms over the last few years were partially responsible for the rise. "The main reason why the inflation rate is increasing in these years is rapid money flow and government expenditures, because now the government has raised its health and education sectors' budgets this year, and also production costs in Burma have also increased," Maw Than told The Irrawaddy. "If the government can cut out some expenses, it can control the increased inflation rate." The economist said Burma's economic growth could be harnessed by enforcing a more stringent tax regime, explaining that improved collection of tax revenues would have the dual benefit of reducing government deficits and curbing inflation. "If the government receives more tax by businessmen and the public, it can spend more money on its projects, monetization won't occur. Now, if the government does not have enough money, it can easily produce more money by itself," he said, referring to the practice of the national mint simply printing more money to make up for revenue shortfalls, a common precursor to inflation. Khin Maung Nyo, an economist and editor in chief of the Burmese-language World Economic Journal, said that the predicted inflation was manageable and marked a significant stabilization of the country's economy compared with the 1990s, when inflation rates stood at 20 to 30 percent. "I don't think 6 percent inflation would have a big impact on country's economy growth, it [the government] can control that," he said. The IMF said that in addition to growth in credit and depreciation of the kyat, possible electricity rate increases could contribute to inflationary pressures. The IMF delegation, part of a Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Burma, visited the country from Jan. 9-21. Overall, the team said "good progress" had been made in implementing an SMP economic reform program, citing the establishment of a newly independent central bank and Burma's adoption of a floating exchange rate as positive developments over the last two years. The mission met with Central Bank of Myanmar Governor Kyaw Kyaw Maung, Union Finance Minister Win Shein and other senior government officials, as well as representatives of the private sector and donors. The post Accelerating Burmese Economy Risks Inflation: IMF appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Investment in Burma’s Building Industry ‘Modest’ Until After Elections Posted: 22 Jan 2014 01:04 AM PST  Laborers work at a construction site in downtown Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters) Burma's building industry will grow only modestly before the end of 2015 because of hesitant foreign investment in the sector due to concerns about political stability leading up to the national elections, a business study said. The country potentially offers "significant project opportunities due to its severe shortage in buildings and infrastructure," the assessment of Burma's redevelopment by Business Monitor International (BMI) said. However, in the near-term, building construction will "remain close to the modest levels seen in 2012" because many investors remained skeptical of stability, it predicted. "We believe that the majority of investors could wait for greater political clarity before carrying out capital-intensive works in the construction sector," the construction sector assessment said. Burma is scheduled to hold elections for a new Parliament and president in November 2015. President Thein Sein is reportedly not planning to seek re-election, and the Constitution currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from standing, although the rules might be amended. Foreign investment is seen as essential for the major infrastructure development necessary to modernize the country's economy, from roads to ports, housing to industry. "We are forecasting real growth for the [construction] sector to reach 9.4% in 2013 and 9.7% in 2014. These relatively robust growth rates are primarily because the country continues to possess strong fundamentals for construction activity," said BMI's study, titled "Construction Boom Not a Guarantee." "However, we believe that the [Burma] construction sector is unlikely to maximize its growth potential and achieve double-digit growth rates. In fact, it is our opinion that the sector could see a dip in growth in 2015, falling to 8.5%." This prediction is due to two factors, it says: Limited foreign investment and "sizeable" potential for domestic political instability. Investors from the European Union, China and the United States will be hesitant because of the fragile economic recovery in their own countries. "Given this uncertain business climate, companies are likely to maintain a cautious outlook and could scale back on fixed investment in markets with high levels of business risks such as [Burma]," said BMI which is based in London with offices in New York and Singapore.
It said these uncertainties present a "major threat" to the revival of Burmese construction "as the sector is heavily reliant on FDI [foreign direct investment] inflows to spur activity." Burma lacks the funds and technical expertise to finance its construction needs itself, said BMI, estimating that the country's foreign reserves in 2013 stood at about 8 percent of GDP for the year. But despite the report's cautious forecast for near-term construction growth, it thinks post-2013 prospects are bright if political stability remains. "We are forecasting real growth for the sector to average 10.8% per annum between 2016 and 2023, making it one of the fastest growing construction markets in Asia." This bullish outlook for the medium term is primarily because Burma is starting out from a low economic base, it says. A combination of low wages and high resource wealth will continue to attract investment. Workers' pay in Burma is "significantly lower" than in China—until now the workshop of the world—and other countries of Southeast Asia. The rising growth of tourism will be a major driver of infrastructure construction in transport facilities such as roads, airports and more hotels. But bigger than tourism for the construction sector will be urban growth, said BMI. "With rising economic development and better paying jobs in major cities, we expect [Burma's] urban population to increase from 34% of total population in 2013 to 39% by 2022," it said. "This will further boost the demand for residential and non-residential buildings. As it is, the country is already suffering an acute shortage. This has led to a sharp increase in property and land prices." Another important infrastructure deficit that urgently needs improvement is Burma's strategic position on the Asia-Europe trade routes, said BMI. The country's international surface transport links, primarily roads and ports, are among the worst in Asia, the World Bank Logistics Performance Index said recently. Again, an improvement in these links seems likely to depend on foreign investment, primarily from neighbors Thailand, China and India. "Despite these downside risks, our base-line scenario is for political stability to persist in [Burma] and reforms in the country's business environment to continue. Should this view play out, we believe that the growth prospects for [Burma's] construction sector beyond 2015 are bright," BMI concluded. The post Investment in Burma's Building Industry 'Modest' Until After Elections appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Bagan’s Tourist Growth a Double-Edged Sword for Lacquerware Trade Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:57 PM PST  A woman decorates a lacquerware vase at Tun Handicrafts in New Bagan. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) BAGAN, Mandalay Division — With 200,000 tourists visiting in 2013, a 20 percent jump from the year before, according to Burmese Tourism Ministry statistics, it should be boom time for Bagan's lacquerware businesses. The region's lacquerware trade increasingly depends on visitors, coming to amble—and spend— in the ambience of the region's 2,500 redbrick Buddhist temples, all sitting on a sun-baked plain by the Irrawaddy River. "Mostly our business now is depending on tourism, maybe 80 percent," said Maw Maw Aung, who runs the Bagan House Lacquerware Co in New Bagan, one of three towns in the region. It's much the same for Maung Maung and his three decades-old Ever Stand Lacquerware Workshop, nestled on a temple-dotted roadside between Old Bagan and Nyaung-U, Bagan's other two main towns. But there's a downside to that growth, he said: an exodus to more high-paying jobs in the tourism industry that could stymie the revitalized lacquerware trade. "Yes, business is increasing along with tourist numbers, but we've lost around half our staff over the past year or so," said Maung Maung, sitting lotus-legged on a wooden bench and smiling through a more-salt-than-pepper, Hulk Hogan-style handlebar moustache as he spoke. Maung Maung pays a fully trained worker 4,000 kyats (US$4) a day, with a trainee getting 75 percent of that amount. "It takes three years to train someone, so it is money gone if the people keep going to other jobs," he said. Similarly, Maw Maw said it can take at least two years for a trainee to become skillful at lacquerware-making. "I can tell quickly if the person will be good or not, but to become skilled takes time," she explained. Making lacquerware is a time-consuming and elaborate job, where carved strands of bamboo are woven into shape and then layered with the resin of a lacquer tree. The process is repeated seven or 10 or 20—sometimes even 25—times, all followed by painting or embossing, depending on the piece. "We paint many times, wash, sandpaper, put in the ground to set, take out, and do again and again," explained Tu Tu, who helps run the Shwe La Yaung lacquerware shop, another long-established family business. "It is a long process, sometimes," he exhaled, proudly opening a 1973 edition of National Geographic magazine featuring photos of his grandfather and shop founder Ba Kyi. Maw Maw explained that a lacquerware table and chair set is a year or more of work and can cost the buyer upwards of $6,000. Smaller pieces that can be carried home in tourists' luggage go for anything from $20 to several hundred dollars—again depending on the size of the piece and the intricacy of the design or decoration. Input costs can be a substantial chunk of the price of large pieces, said Maw Maw Aung, who estimated that the tally for the lacquer resin alone for a table and chair set can be over $1,000. "It takes up to 25 layers [of resin] to finish," she explained. "Tourists don't buy those, they prefer the smaller pieces," Maw Maw Aung said, explaining that most of her local or Burmese customers are hotels and government departments—clients who commission big pieces to decorate lobbies and offices. But for tourists to Bagan, a visit to a lacquerware workshop is on most to-do lists. And if not, tour guides and taxi drivers working for a commission often nudge the visitor to a particular lacquerware shop or factory, offering an air-conditioned break—sometimes with free Wi-Fi—from traipsing around temples under a hot Burmese dry zone sun. There, lacquerware workers become the attraction, demonstrating the various stages of the lacquerware process while busloads of sturdy and not-so-sturdy middle-aged Europeans coo and whisper in awe. There is even a lacquerware museum, founded in 1972, if the visitor to Bagan doesn't get enough out of guided tours to living lacquerware workshops. "Our Myanmar lacquer is different to other lacquer in the region," explained Ei Ei Han, the museum curator, pointing out some lacquerware artifacts rescued from centuries-old temples around the locality. Some of the lacquerware in the museum dates to the 12th century, with other pieces from pre-colonial Burma's latter years of independence, prior to the British takeover. The allure of the local lacquer offers another dimension to Bagan, which is renowned for its panoply of temples glowing brown and red in dusty, hazy sunsets. And though Bagan's tourist traffic is still small compared with the 2 million or so annual visitors to Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex, it nonetheless means more jobs in hotels, travel agencies and construction—sectors on the up where tips and service charges boost incomes over the lacquerware rate. Maung Maung, speaking while craftworkers on lunch break chatted in nearby groups of three or four, or played chinlone, a rhythmic Burmese take on keepie-uppie, said that those who jump to hotels in the expectation of tips seemed to forget that they too are dependent on the same seasonal tourism trade as the lacquerware shops. "When the summer comes, Bagan is so hot, and tourists don't come so much, so no tips then, " he said, adding, "I pay the same salary all year round." One worker who has no plans to make the move, however, is Htin Lin, a 21-year-old who has spent the past two years training and working at the Tun Handicrafts lacquerware shop in New Bagan. "After another three years I will be a master [lacquerware craftsman]," he said. "Many have gone to another job, but I don't want to go for another job," Htin Lin affirmed. He doesn't want to break a family tradition, he explained. "My father is a lacquerware worker for 20 years, so I want to keep in this work." Htin Lin's boss, Ohn Ma Tun, hinted that there was good reason for the young worker wanting to stay on, lineage and prestige aside. "We have increased selling by 50 percent in the last year," she said. "It is down to the tourists coming." But as is the case for Maung Maung and other factory owners in Bagan, the tourism boom has some downsides for Ohn Ma Tun. "I have a worker problem," she conceded. "Some go to the hotel, some to other jobs." Her solution? "I will have to give more money to the workers, maybe half more," she explained, holding a shiny black lacquerware pen-holder up to a beam of sunlight lasering through the half-open shop door. The post Bagan's Tourist Growth a Double-Edged Sword for Lacquerware Trade appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Indonesian Jailed for Plan to Attack Embassy Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:48 PM PST  Muslim activists protest outside the Burma Embassy in Jakarta in this Aug. 9, 2012 file photo. (Photo: Reuters / Supri) JAKARTA — An Indonesian court sentenced an Islamist militant to 7.5 years in prison on Tuesday for masterminding a plot to bomb Burma's embassy in the country's capital, while police elsewhere arrested two extremists they said were poised to launch an attack on officers. The developments highlight the resilience of extremists in Indonesia despite a sustained crackdown by authorities over the last decade that has severely weakened them. Militants with links to al-Qaida were responsible for a series of bloody and spectacular attacks against Western civilian targets in the 2000s. Sigit Indrajit was the third person to be found guilty in the foiled attack last year on the Burma Embassy, which he and other defendants have said was intended as an act of retaliation against Buddhist-majority Burma for attacks there on ethnic Rohingya Muslims. The attackers had prepared rudimentary explosives and practiced very poor operational security, for example using Facebook to communicate and post threats against the embassy. Nevertheless, the plot has stoked fears in Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia that violence against Rohingya in Burma is energizing extremists, who highlight the sufferings of the Rohingya extensively through online media. Indrajit, 23, showed no remorse after judges at the South Jakarta District Court sentenced him to 7.5 years for violating anti-terror laws. "I accept this," Indrajit told The Associated Press when contacted on his lawyer's cellphone on their way back to jail after Tuesday's trial. "I will continue my fight, my jihad in Allah's way if one day I'm free." Judge Hariono said the plot was Indrajit's idea. According to earlier court testimony, the group practiced bomb making at his house and he handled the financing for the attack. Indrajit was captured in May, days after police arrested two other militants on their way to the embassy in downtown Jakarta and seized five homemade bombs from a backpack they were carrying. Other explosive materials were found later at their rented house in southern Jakarta. Two others were arrested months later. The foiled attack was planned for a few days after the country's most prominent extremist leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, called from prison for jihad and urged Indonesian Muslims to go to Burma to fight. Bashir was the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network, some of whose members carried out the attacks in the 2000s, including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. The two extremists were arrested by police in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city, on Monday evening. Police said in a statement that officers seized bombs and bomb-making equipment from a rented house where the men were staying. They said the men admitted to planning an attack on a police post in the city on Tuesday morning. Other possible targets included a large prostitution complex in the city, they said. Indonesia has more Muslims than any other nation, many of them devout, but in general the practice of the faith is less rigid than in parts of the Middle East and South Asia. But an extremist fringe has long existed, and has been energized over the last 15 years by global jihadi trends. Lawyers for the arrested men weren't available. The post Indonesian Jailed for Plan to Attack Embassy appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Delhi Chief Minister Ends His Anti-Police Protest After Clashes Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:48 PM PST  A supporter of Aam Aadmi Party removes a poster with a portrait of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal from the site of a protest after Kejriwal called off the sit-in protest on Jan. 21, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Anindito Mukherjee) NEW DELHI — Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told his supporters to end anti-police protests that erupted in violence on Tuesday, saying the force had promised to take action over his accusations of negligence by officers. A two-day sit-in led by Kejriwal in the heart of the capital triggered clashes between demonstrators and police and drew attention to the radical street politics of the former activist who is now shaking up a national election. Delhi police said they had agreed to send two officers on leave who were at the center of his allegations, to defuse the situation. "The people of Delhi have won," Kejriwal told reporters, though his demands for the suspension of officers and shifting the central government-run force to his control were not met. Earlier, television images showed a group of police punching and kicking one man after protesters toppled a barricade and surged through police lines. Other officers beat fallen protesters with sticks. The clashes subsided quickly but prompted criticism that Kejriwal's style of campaigning was irresponsible and inflammatory. The standoff has been a headache for the central government as it prepares for a military parade on Sunday near the protest site, close to where top ministries are located. The former anti-corruption activist was elected in December on promises of fixing a strong of problems faced by residents of the chaotic city of 16 million people. The sit-in came just over a year after thousands of Delhi residents took to the streets to protest against the gang-rape of a trainee physiotherapist. Kejriwal's one-year-old Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man Party, is trying to take advantage of its success in Delhi to build a national presence ahead of a national election due by May. Kejriwal launched the sit-in demonstration to protest against alleged inaction against crime by the city's police force, and spent the night sleeping outside at the protest site. One of the officers sent on leave was in charge in the tourist area of Delhi where a Danish woman was allegedly gang-raped last week. "This is an important step towards making the Delhi police accountable to the people of Delhi and the elected government of Delhi," Kejriwal told reporters. In the first three weeks in office, Kejriwal has transferred dozens of officials accused of graft, slashed electricity and water prices and refused the high-end housing and security that traditionally comes with the job. But he has also been criticized for his style of governing, after a near stampede earlier in January blighted a meeting where he called on Delhi residents to air their grievances and one of his ministers was filmed shouting at police. The anti-police sit-in divided opinion. Opponents called it anarchic and unseemly for an elected leader of a major city. "Delhi aspires to becoming a global city," said Arun Jaitley, a leader of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. "This kind of behavior that leads to anarchy, where there is complete rejection of the rule of law is totally unacceptable." But the protest also tapped into deep anger with alleged police corruption and inaction in a city plagued by an epidemic of sex crimes. "This kind of effort will increase the Aam Aadmi Party's chances nationally by increasing its visibility," said Arvind Gupta, a telecommunications engineer who took a day off work to go to join supporters at the protest site. Kejriwal on Monday said he embraced the sobriquet of "anarchist" used by his critics, saying he wanted Delhi's political elite to feel the kind of anarchy that lawlessness brings to the lives of normal citizens. His dispute with the police started last week, when one of his ministers was filmed arguing with officers during a night raid in a neighborhood popular with African immigrants. Police refused to search a house the minister claimed was being used as a brothel, saying they did not have a warrant to go in. Additional reporting by Malini Menon and Rajesh Kumar Singh. The post Delhi Chief Minister Ends His Anti-Police Protest After Clashes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thai Capital Under State of Emergency as Protesters Dig In Posted: 21 Jan 2014 09:33 PM PST  A riot policeman peers cautiously from behind a tree amid protests in Bangkok last month. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) BANGKOK — Thailand's capital was under a state of emergency on Wednesday after the government moved to tighten security as protesters trying to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra threatened to disrupt an election she has called for early next month. Bangkok was calm and early commuters traveled to work as normal. There were no troops on the streets, as has been the case throughout the crisis since November, and even the police presence was light. No overnight curfew was enforced. Announcing the 60-day emergency late on Tuesday, ministers said they had no plans to clear the camps that protesters have set up at seven major road junctions in the city. Rather, they said they wanted to prevent an escalation of violence after deaths and injuries caused by grenade attacks on demonstrators over the weekend. The protests are the latest episode in an eight-year political conflict that pits Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poorer supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by the military in 2006. The decree, which covers Bangkok and surrounding provinces, allows security agencies to impose curfews, detain suspects without charge, censor media, ban political gatherings of more than five people and declare areas off-limits. Yingluck has called an election for Feb. 2, which she will almost certainly win and which the opposition plans to boycott. The Election Commission said it would seek a ruling from the Constitutional Court on Wednesday on whether it can delay the vote. It is worried about violence on polling day and says the protests have prevented some candidates from registering, meaning there will not be a quorum to open parliament. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has rejected the election outright. He accuses Thaksin of corruption and nepotism and wants to change the electoral system to eradicate the influence of Thaksin, who lives in exile in Dubai to avoid a jail term handed down in 2008 for abuse of power. Nine people have died since November in the worst political violence in Thailand since 2010. Suthep, at that time a deputy prime minister, sent in troops to end mass protests by pro-Thaksin supporters. More than 90 people died in the 2010 unrest. The crisis has hurt tourism and business confidence. As a result, the central bank could cut interest rates when it meets on Wednesday to boost the economy. Adding to Yingluck's problems, farmers, who are part of her core constituency, have threatened to join the protest if they do not get paid for the rice they have sold to the government under a controversial intervention scheme. Her government guaranteed them an above-market price for their rice but the scheme has run into funding difficulties. The government has sold a bond and is seeking loans to tide it over, but the Election Commission, which has to approve such action by the caretaker government, has declined to give its support. The post Thai Capital Under State of Emergency as Protesters Dig In appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| China Puts Prominent Activist on Trial Posted: 21 Jan 2014 09:02 PM PST  Supporters of Xu Zhiyong, one of China’s most prominent rights advocates, shout slogans near a court where Xu's trial is being held, in Beijing Jan. 22, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — When dozens of activists unfurled banners across the country last March and April calling for officials to disclose their assets, they did so at the urging of one of China's most prominent rights advocates, Xu Zhiyong. Through his online essays and Twitter account, Xu criticized the government's efforts at fighting corruption and prescribed democracy and the rule of law as the solution. "When more than 90 percent of the officials are corrupt, who will counter who? The social movement of asset disclosure is an effort for gradual change to the system." Xu, 40, stands trial on Wednesday on a charge of "gathering a crowd to disturb public order" punishable by up to five years in prison. His case will almost certainly spark fresh criticism from Western governments over Beijing's crackdown on dissent. The government has waged a 10-month drive against Xu's "New Citizens' Movement," which advocates working within the system to press for change. The campaign against the movement exposes shortcomings in Beijing's bid to root out corruption, even as the authorities claim greater transparency. China has detained at least 20 activists involved in pressing for asset disclosure, though not all are from the New Citizens' Movement. Six will stand trial in Beijing and the southern city of Guangzhou on Thursday and Friday. Three stood trial in December and face more than 10 years in prison if convicted. "The Communist Party does not accept pressure, the party does not accept challenges," said Chen Min, a writer and friend of Xu's. "Anything that the party can't control, independent and non-governmental forces—no matter how gentle the force—it has to combat." Friends of Xu, whose wife gave birth last week, say he remains unafraid. In a video-taped message from a detention center issued last August, Xu, wearing handcuffs and an orange vest, urged the Chinese people to fight for their rights. Xu's case will be China's highest-profile dissident trial since 2009, when Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo went on trial for subversion after he helped organize the "Charter 08" petition urging the overthrow of one-party rule. Liu was jailed for 11 years. Dissidents Warned Xu's trial is expected to draw many supporters. Hu Jia, a prominent dissident, said state security officers told him and five other activists not to leave their homes. Rights groups have criticized the crackdown on anti-corruption activists and called for Xu's release. "I think this crackdown on him and other activists who have been associated with the New Citizens Movement is really a very hypocritical step of the government itself that says its goal is to crackdown on corruption," Roseann Rife, head of Amnesty International's East Asia department, told Reuters in Hong Kong. US-based Human Rights Watch, in a statement linked to its annual report issued on the eve of the trial, said China had "yet to embark on fundamental reforms that adequately respond to the public's increased demands for justice and accountability." Xu taught law at a Beijing university and ran in a local election. He became prominent over a drive to abolish "custody and repatriation" powers, a form of arbitrary detention used by local governments to sweep homeless and other undesirables from the streets. The government scrapped the system in 2003. Xu has also campaigned for the rights of children from rural areas, who lack the required residence permit, to be educated in cities where many live with their migrant worker parents. The Chinese leadership is nervous about Xu's writings, which "have become part of the mainstream opinion," Chen said. Xu has more than 50,000 followers on Twitter, which is blocked in China but can be accessed by virtual private networks that can bypass China's Internet blocking mechanism. His name is blocked on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. In 2009, Xu was briefly arrested on tax evasion charges his defenders said had been trumped up in a bid to stifle his work. The charges were dropped after a public furor. "He is a person with very pure ideals, he is very resolute about his ideals and will disregard his own personal interests for them," said Xiao Guozhen, a lawyer and a longtime friend of Xu's. "He is carrying a cross for the Chinese people." The post China Puts Prominent Activist on Trial appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
