| Travel Agency Launches Overland Trips Between Rangoon and Bangkok Posted: 30 Jan 2014 04:06 AM PST  The Tachileik-Mae Sai border crossing between Burma and Thailand. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Travelers will soon be able to make a single-ticket overland journey between Bangkok and Burmese cities. A Bangkok-based travel agency will launch its first trips on Saturday from the Thai capital to Rangoon as well as Mandalay, Bagan, Pa-an in Karen State, Dawei in Tenasserim Division, and Moulmein and the Golden Rock in Mon State. The agency, Vega Travel, also plans to begin trips departing from Rangoon, Pa-an and Moulmein to Bangkok later in February, with an option to travel onward to the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. It will be the first travel agency to offer single-ticket overland trips from Burma all the way to Bangkok. Currently, buses from various cities stop in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, and travelers must book separate tickets from there to Bangkok. "The trips are planned to start in February, and we are already accepting reservations," says Thant Zin, ticketing manager at Vega Travel Myanmar. Passengers will need to book tickets two days in advance. Vega Travel can assist with Thai visa applications for a 5,000 kyats fee (US$5), in addition to the visa cost of $40. Passengers to Cambodia can apply for a visa on arrival. A ticket to Rangoon from Bangkok will cost 1,500 baht ($45). From Burma, tickets to Bangkok will cost 55,000 kyats from Rangoon, 45,000 kyats from Pa-an, and 40,000 kyats from Moulmein. The trip from Rangoon to Siem Reap will cost 60,000 kyats. The journey from Rangoon to Bangkok will take about 24 hours. Travelers will depart Rangoon at 6 am and arrive at the Burmese border town of Myawaddy at about 4 pm or 5 pm. After checking in with immigration across the border in Mae Sot, a double-decker bus will depart about three hours later, at 7 pm or 8 pm, and arrive in Bangkok the next morning. From there, travelers can continue on for another eight or nine hours to Siem Reap. Vega Travel says it will schedule trips on days when buses are allowed to pass the Dawna mountain range to Myawaddy. In August, Burma's Ministry of Immigration and Population announced that foreign visitors with Burmese visas would be allowed to enter and leave Burma overland through four gates along its eastern border with Thailand. In the past, travelers could only go between the countries by plane. For decades earlier, international road travel was restricted by the former military regime, which was wary of foreign visitors and wanted to limit access to the conflict-ridden ethnic areas along the border. President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government has signed ceasefires with most major ethnic armed groups since 2011, and peace talks are ongoing. Officials and ethnic representatives said last year that the decision to open the border for overland travel would boost tourism and facilitate foreign investment in ethnic areas and the rest of Burma. The post Travel Agency Launches Overland Trips Between Rangoon and Bangkok appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Families Relocated for Thilawa SEZ Seek Meeting With ‘Unresponsive’ JICA Posted: 30 Jan 2014 03:58 AM PST 
RANGOON — Dozens of families from a community displaced by the Thilawa Special Economic Zone have called for a meeting with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to spell out their concerns regarding the project, after demands put to the Japanese development agency last year went unanswered.
The families, who now reside in Myaing Thar Yar after being relocated from an area where work on the Thilawa SEZ in Rangoon Division has begun, sent a letter addressed to JICA and the Japanese Embassy on Monday, requesting a meeting next month to discuss the situation. "There are already people affected by the Class-A Area Project," a translation of the letter states, referring to the first phase of the project covering 400 hectares of land, "some of whom are already suffering due to a lack of livelihood after moving to the relocation site in Myaing Thar Yar without appropriate compensation measures." A group of the affected villagers met with JICA representatives in October 2013, where they aired grievances about compensation, transparency and what they said was coerced relocation. "We sent a letter on October 29, asking what they had done after our meeting on October 15. There has been no response so far. So, we want to know about it," said Mya Hlaing, a member of the Thilawa Social Development Committee, formed by the affected families. "The compensation is quite low. There is some deviation from the principles of JICA." A provision of the Japanese development agency's "Guidelines for Environmental and Social Consideration" states that "host countries must make efforts to enable people affected by projects to improve their standard of living, income opportunities, and production levels, or at least to restore these to pre-project levels." "So far, the developer and the government have failed to comply with several provisions of JICA's guidelines. And also, JICA has failed to make the government follow the guidelines," the Tokyo-based NGO Mekong Watch told The Irrawaddy via e-mail. "With the current compensation measures that the authority is pushing through, it is very difficult for most of the affected villagers to improve or restore stable livelihoods," Mekong Watch added. The letter submitted this week also claimed that problems stemming from the SEZ extended beyond the initial 400-hectare project area. "We would like to reiterate that some farmers, who have tilled their rice fields outside of the 400 hectares, are also suffering from loss of income in the dry season as the authorities stopped providing irrigation water from the Zamani reservoir in December 2012," states the letter submitted on Jan. 27. Mya Hlaing said the committee would seek to allow local farmers to continue to work the land outside of the phase-one project zone. "The remaining 2,000 hectares [of the SEZ project works] will not be implemented during the current government's term," Mya Hlaing told The Irrawaddy. "We would like to request permission to farm this land before the [second-stage] project starts. We would like to discuss with JICA how they can help concerning this." Contacted by The Irrawaddy, a representative from JICA declined to comment on the relocated families' request for consultation. Mya Hlaing said the compensation offered to those relocated to Myaing Thar Yar consisted of a house on a 25-foot-by-50-foot plot of land worth US$2,500. Additional payment included just over $250 for relocation and other miscellaneous expenses, and about $500 per acre of farm land, deemed by authorities to be the value of six years' worth of harvests per acre. The compensation package, according to Mya Hlaing, paled in comparison to the amount given to residents displaced to make way for another SEZ planned for Dawei in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division. The letter sent by Mya Hlaing's committee to JICA on Oct. 29 of last year called on JICA to carry out its operations in Thilawa in accordance with its social and environmental guidelines. "We believe that the current situation regarding the project fails to comply with JICA's guidelines, specifically the provision regarding involuntary resettlement," it said. "When JICA confirms and reviews the situation, we highly recommend that JICA talk directly and independently to the people, without being accompanied by any Myanmar government officials. And when the relevant authorities in Myanmar are not able to comply with the guidelines, JICA should reconsider this investment due to violations of the guidelines." There are 68 families that have been relocated to Myaing Thar Yar and remain unsatisfied with the compensation they have received. Mekong Watch has urged JICA not to rely on the government and private developers to provide information on the situation on the ground in Thilawa and to make sure the government authority and companies follow JICA's guidelines. "We do hope that JICA officials will come to the local communities to listen to their voices, given that most of the local people are still afraid to raise their concerns or are actually not aware of their right to raise their voices due to the long-standing oppression of the [former] military regime. "And JICA must make sure the Myanmar authority and the companies follow JICA's guidelines, by providing necessary advice, technical assistance, and capacity building, so that the affected villagers can sustain their lives as they wish." The post Families Relocated for Thilawa SEZ Seek Meeting With 'Unresponsive' JICA appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| British Minister Defends Burma Army Training Posted: 30 Jan 2014 03:35 AM PST  British Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire speaks at the British Council in downtown Rangoon on Thursday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — British Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire has defended his government's decision to re-engage with the Burma Army amid continuing concerns about human rights abuses committed by troops and the retained political "veto" held by Burma's military. The UK has been quick embrace the reformist government of President Thein Sein, and was the first Western nation to re-establish military-to-military ties in the form of a training program for Burmese officers, which took place earlier this month. During a speech Thursday in Rangoon, Swire referred to the "intense interest" in the UK in the re-engagement. Rights groups have criticized the UK government for assisting the country's notorious military, which is still fighting ethnic armed groups in border areas and is regularly accused of rights abuses. About 40 officers in the Burma Army, known as the Tatmadaw, attended the classroom-based course in Burma this month entitled "Managing Defense in the Wider Security Context." The training covered "the role of the military in democracy, security sector reform, governance, accountability and the rule of law," the minister said. "It did not enhance the Tatmadaw's military capacity or capabilities." But Swire said he shared concerns over sexual violence committed by troops, humanitarian access to war-torn areas, and the use of child soldiers. A women's group said this month that more than 100 women and girls had been raped by soldiers since 2010; aid agencies have been unable to reach many of the estimated 100,000 people displaced since fighting broke out in Kachin State in 2011; and the army is still thought to use underage troops, despite recent discharges of child soldiers. "The fact that we are engaging with the Tatmadaw does not mean we will shy away from raising very real and continued concerns," Swire said, insisting, however, that "cautious engagement with the Tatmadaw is the right thing to be doing, and that now is the right time to be doing it." Swire arrived in Burma on Tuesday. He has met with armed forces Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and visited Kachin State, where fighting is ongoing between the government army and the Kachin Independence Army. Thursday's speech was scheduled to be delivered to students at Rangoon University, but the venue became unavailable "at the last minute, for reasons beyond our control," Swire told a small audience, made up mostly of media, at the fall-back venue, the British Council in downtown Rangoon. No reason has been given, but the minister suggested that the speech was canceled to avoid controversy. "I hope that one day, people like me will be able to give speeches there, at the university, that provoke and give cause for debate," Swire said. "This is after all the first duty, it seems to me, of any university." During the speech, he said that Burma was at a "critical juncture" in two areas—democratic reform and the process to bring peace to Burma after more than half a century of ethnic conflicts. On the peace process, he reiterated Britain's support for efforts to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement, with the next round of talks between the government and ethnic groups set to take place in Karen State on Feb. 20. "[The nationwide ceasefire] is of course, only a first step. But it is an essential first step towards building trust and creating conditions for the political dialogue that must follow," said Swire, a former officer in the British Army. He said he backed efforts by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) to have Burma's military-drafted Constitution amended in order to ensure elections in 2015 are fair. "Speaking to people throughout my visit, it has been absolutely clear to me that there is overwhelming support amongst ordinary people for constitutional change," Swire said. "Change that brings the Constitution in line with international democratic standards. Change that delivers greater devolution of powers to states and divisions through a strengthened federal system. Change that cements the independence of the judiciary. Change that removes the military's veto over democratic reform and gives citizens greater control over their own destinies." Swire highlighted the importance of the Burma Army coming under the control of a civilian government rather than wielding power, as it currently does with a constitutionally guaranteed 25 percent of seats in Parliament. He challenged Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing "to secure a unique legacy—to be the commander-in-chief whose courage enabled his army to break free of the shackles of the past." He also highlighted the "very simple, and very important" amendment of clause 59(f), which blocks Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD's chairperson, from becoming president because she has two adult sons who are British citizens. "I can only assume that the restriction was written into the 2008 Constitution in order to prevent one particular individual from ever becoming president. This is surely no way to write a Constitution," he said. He also addressed communal violence in Arakan State, which has seen scores killed and more than 140,000 people displaced—the majority of them stateless Rohingya Muslims—since mid-2012. He said that in more than a year since he visited Arakan State, also known as Rakhine State, "there has been little progress in addressing either the humanitarian situation or underlying inter-communal relations." "I have been appalled to hear of further tragic deaths this month in northern Rakhine and we have called for an investigation into this," he added, referring to allegations that more than 48 Rohingyas were killed by police and Arakanese Buddhists in Maungdaw Township two weeks ago. The government has denied the deaths, saying only that a police officer was abducted and probably murdered by a Rohingya mob. The government this week said Burma's human rights commission would investigate the incident, but has rejected calls for an international presence in a probe into the incident to ensure its independence. "In order for it to be a credible investigation, we must have credible people, respected by all parts of the community here involved in that investigation. We need to get to the bottom of these facts," Swire said. "Clearly the international community watches the situation in Rakhine extremely closely, so it is incumbent, I believe, on the government to answer fully any accusations of this kind." The post British Minister Defends Burma Army Training appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| US Ends Group Resettlement for Burmese Refugees on Thai Border Posted: 30 Jan 2014 02:46 AM PST  Bamboo huts with leaf roofs, built by refugees, dot the hills of Mae La Oon camp southwest of Mae Sariang in northern Thailand. (Photo: TBC) RANGOON/CHIANG MAI — One of the world's largest resettlement programs, providing Burmese refugees living on the Thai border with an opportunity to start life anew in the United States, has officially come to a close, the UN said on Wednesday. Last applications for the group resettlement program were accepted on Friday, in a discontinuation that was a year in the making and has seen more than 73,000 refugees resettled to the United States since 2005. "We expect several more thousand to arrive in the coming year as the program winds down," said Assistant Secretary Anne C. Richard of the US Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, in a press release from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)'s regional office in Bangkok. "This successful resettlement program has reached its natural conclusion following the January 24, 2014 deadline for Burmese refugees to express their interest in resettlement to UNHCR." The program's final year saw nearly 6,500 refugees apply for resettlement, 2,500 more applicants than in 2012, "an indication that many refugees had been waiting for the last chance before making a final decision to resettle or not," the UNHCR said. Burmese refugees on the Burma-Thailand border, some of whom have been living in camps there for nearly 30 years, form a displaced population of more than 120,000, residing across nine camps in Thailand. The first camp, Mae La, was informed that the group resettlement program would be coming to an end in January 2013, and a staggered notification of the impending termination had been implemented across the nine camps in the year since. Three camps in Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province were the last to have a shot at applying for the program, and were notified of this in October. "The end of this chapter does not mean that resettlement is closed completely," said Mireille Girard, the UNHCR's representative in Thailand. "UNHCR will continue to identify and submit refugees with specific protection needs on an individual basis to various countries." Vivian Tan, UNHCR's regional spokeswoman, explained to The Irrawaddy that the end of group resettlement meant that future applicants for third-country resettlement would not benefit from "simplified procedures in interviewing and screening" that the US program offered, but she added that the UNHCR would continue to make family reunification a priority in future applications. "In some exceptional cases where a family has been resettled but for some reason left behind an immediate family member, we work with the Thai authorities and resettlement countries to try and reunite them," Tan said. Beginning in the mid-1980s, a stream of refugees have fled Burma across the Thai border, largely driven out by Burmese government military offensives, and the former junta's persecution of ethnic minorities and suppression of political dissent. Ethnic Karen refugees make up the majority of the Thai camps' inhabitants. A series of ceasefire agreements inked between the government of Burmese President Thein Sein and ethnic minority rebel groups since 2011 has brought hopes that an end to six decades of civil war in Burma may be within reach. But the "peace dividend" for refugees on the Thai border has taken the form of decreasing international humanitarian support—including a reduction in refugees' rice rations—amid a growing sense that the displaced should be repatriated to their homeland if the situation in Burma continues to improve. That potential return is not in the line with the wishes of the majority of refugees in at least one Thai border camp, according to a survey taken last year. Conducted at the Mae La camp, Thailand's largest, the survey found that 90 percent of refugees said they would prefer to resettle in a third country or remain in Thailand over repatriation to Burma. In explaining their reluctance, survey respondents cited reasons ranging from safety concerns to doubt over their ability to sustain a livelihood back in Burma. The UNHCR reiterated on Wednesday that it did not feel the time for an organized return was yet at hand. For the remaining refugees in the border camps, a spokesman for the Thai Border Consortium (TBC), which provides humanitarian aid to the camps, said the need for "urgent and ongoing humanitarian and development assistance" persisted. "The greatest needs for those in the camp continue to be basic humanitarian protection; that is to say, funding for food, shelter, health, education and camp management services," Mike Bruce told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, highlighting the fact that some 40,000 refugees in the Thai camps had not registered with the UNHCR and thus were ineligible, except in rare circumstances, for the US group resettlement program. The United States is by far the world's largest third-country recipient of refugees from Burma. Australia has resettled the second-most, according to the UNHCR, accepting 10,220 applicants for resettlement from 2005 through August 2013. The post US Ends Group Resettlement for Burmese Refugees on Thai Border appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Asian Wings Launches Mandalay-Chiang Mai Flight Posted: 30 Jan 2014 02:39 AM PST  Asian Wings CEO Kyi Win (3rd from right) and Tourism Authority of Thailand, Chiang Mai office director Wisoot Buachoom (3rd from left) welcome the new flight on Wednesday. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) Asian Wings has become the first airline in six years to operate direct flights between Thailand's second-biggest city, Chiang Mai, and Burma's second-biggest city, Mandalay. The airline's new flight to Chiang Mai touched down on Wednesday, marking the first time that the small Burmese carrier operates an international flight, after it began domestic flights in 2011. The new route will fly twice per week, on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, according to Yin Yin Nyo Myint, commercial director of Asian Wings, who added that Saturday flights will begin on Feb 15, 2014. She said the new route was launched because more tourists are visiting as a consequence of "Myanmar's economic development along with the political changes." Air Mandalay used to have direct flights between Mandalay and Chiang Mai, but the route was suspended in August 2008 because the route had become unviable. Yin Yin Nyo Myint said she expected Asian Wings' flight to Chiang Mai to attract enough passengers despite growing competition in the Burmese aviation industry, adding that the company was working hard to promote the new flight in both countries. "Unlike in the past, we now have more competitors, but we expect our seats to be full on our route," she said. "More visitors are coming in despite [the fact that] our market is being shared." The number of domestic and international flights in Burma is expected to expand in coming years due to economic reforms and the opening up of the long-isolated country, which is now experiencing a rapid growth in tourist and business visitors. International investors are eyeing the Burmese airline industry and Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced last year that it would buy a 49-percent stake in Asian Wings. Asian Wings has a small fleet of four planes and operates flights to 16 domestic destinations. Last year, it also offered charter flights to Bodh Gaya, India, a Buddhist pilgrimage site. Recently, the airline announced it planned to set up flights between Rangoon and southern Thailand's Phuket, as well as flights to Cambodia's Siem Reap and Vietnam. Since 2010, Air Bagan, owned by tycoon Tay Za, operates the only direct flights between Chiang Mai and Rangoon. Other airliners, such as Air Asia, also fly directly between the Thai capital Bangkok and Mandalay. Mandalay's old Royal Palace and former royal capitals in the surrounding countryside make it a major tourist attraction in Upper Burma, while it also located several hundred miles from to the famed temples of Bagan. Chiang Mai is one of Thailand's most important international tourist attractions. The city in northern Thailand has also long been home to a large Burmese community, many of who moved there in recent decades in search of economic opportunities and to escape political repression in their home country. Wisoot Buachoom, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand, Chiang Mai office, and Asian Wing's CEO Kyi Win welcomed the new flight on Wednesday. "We are very pleased to welcome the first flight of the Asia Wings Airways, flying from Mandalay to Chiang Mai, which will boost the Chiang Mai and Mandalay tourism," Wisoot Buachoom told The Irrawaddy. "We like to have more flights, such as Air Asia and Bangkok Air, from Chiang Mai to Mandalay. If the marketing is going well with Asian Wings, there will be more flights from Asian Wings Airways as well as other Thai flights." He said he hoped that tourists from both countries would use the new flight. "Actually Chiang Mai people know about Mandalay, I think many people of Chiang Mai will fly to Mandalay for their vacation," said Wisoot Buachoom. "On other hand, I'd like to invite Myanmar people, especially from Mandalay, to visit us in Chiang Mai." The post Asian Wings Launches Mandalay-Chiang Mai Flight appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| UK Official Talks Development Aid, Military Ties in Burma Posted: 30 Jan 2014 12:57 AM PST  Gavin McGillivray, head of the Burma office for the UK Department for International Development (DFID), says his department plans to help the Burma government with financial management. (Photo courtesy of Gavin McGillivray) NAYPYIDAW — This week top officials of the Burma government met with lawmakers, foreign diplomats, and representatives from civil society groups, UN agencies and other development partners in Naypyidaw to discuss ways of accelerating international development assistance into the country. Among those at the Myanmar Development Cooperation Forum was Gavin McGillivray, head of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Office in Burma. The DFID, a government department that provides international aid for more than 25 countries, contributed about US$100 million in assistance to Burma in the 2013-14 fiscal year. On the sidelines of the forum, McGillivray explained how those funds are used and what projects are in store for the future, while also sharing more details about a training course held earlier this month for members of Burma's military. Question: Can you briefly explain the DFID's main activities in Burma? Answer: We've been here since 2004, and our largest programs have been to support health care, as well as livelihoods—working with farmers to promote rural livelihoods, including through microfinance. We support humanitarian work—we had a big program after Cyclone Nargis—and then more recently we have worked with internally displaced people in Kachin and Rakhine [Arakan] states, and refugee camps in Thailand. We've got a reasonably small program in education. With the reforms—so after late 2011, when we began to realize the reforms were really sticking and that we should be backing them—we kept that lot going, but we have also backed the peacebuilding. We fund a foundation called InterMediate, and InterMediate has people with experience with the Northern Ireland peace process and people with experiences of peace processes all over the world. They advise both the ethnic armed groups and the government on how to structure the peace process. We're also supporting the Myanmar Peace Support Initiative. Q: And the UK is offering a training course on human rights for the Burmese military. Can you tell me about the course that started in January? A: It's part of the UK government's work, and actually it's completed. There was a course earlier this month, led by the UK Defence Academy, for about 40 Tatmadaw officers and a few civil servants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was training in how an army operates as the servant of the people, how a modern army fits in—so, talking about human rights, talking about accountability mechanisms, talking about responsibilities of the armed forces in a modern democratic society. Q: Who funded the course? A: It wasn't DFID funded, it was Ministry of Defense funding from the UK. But both the Ambassador [Michael Patrick] and I spoke at it. I went up and gave a session on development, and I spoke to them about what we understand development to be. We understand development to mean that every single person in Myanmar [Burma] has opportunities for health care, for education, to get a job, to be treated equally under the law and to be safe. Q: Was the course well received, and do you think there will be future trainings? A: I can't say about future trainings—as I said, this wasn't funded by the DFID—but I do think it's essential for anybody who is aspiring to work for the development of Myanmar to engage with the Tatmadaw. The Tatmadaw have such extensive political interests through the Parliament, through their rights under the Constitution. They have such extensive interests in terms of whether the ceasefires hold, and they have very large commercial interests as well. We need to make them aware of how the armed forces, the security forces, operate in a democratic country. Q: Other local media have reported that the training course included modules on the "art and science of war." Can you clarify on that? A: I can try, but I would prefer if you spoke to our Defense Attaché. The course is called "Managing Defense in the Wider Security Context," and it's a course that the Defense Academy has given in many different countries. Here it was customized for the situation in Myanmar, and no element of it had anything to do with combat capability. Q: Will there be any changes to DFID funding or programs in Burma in the coming year? A: We have increased funding: It was about 30 million pounds last year, and this current year—our year runs until the 31st of March—it's 68 million pounds, or about US$100 million. And we've doubled our staff. We were 12 people last year, now we've got about 26. So there's a very significant scaling up of our presence. We've backed the government quite heavily on something called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, or EITI. It has a very simple premise, that if the extractive industries publish what they pay to government, and if the government publishes what it receives from extractive industries, that will allow the public to hold both sides to account. Hopefully within the next few months Myanmar will officially submit its application to become a member of the EITI. We are also working on economic growth and private sector development. The UK program strongly believes private sector led growth is one of the principle ways for people to get out of poverty through getting jobs, through earning an income for themselves, so we've been funding advice to the Myanmar Development Resource Institute, which is a sort of think-tank quite close to the president on economic policy. We've helped set up the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, which provides advice to businesses and the government on decent standards, so how businesses should treat their workers, how they should treat the environment, and on governance arrangements. We've just backed the Business Innovation Facility, which funds advice to companies on how to go about their business in ways that create jobs for poor people. Something else we're about to do is public financial management. This isn't finally approved, but I think it's likely to happen: We're going to be working with the World Bank to help the government raise more money—it's got one of the lowest tax collection rates in the world—to allocate that money better, and then to spend that money more wisely. That includes funding civil society observation of how the government uses money, and holding government to account. Q: In the past three years or so, the government has undertaken reforms that have encouraged more international development assistance. In the next year, what are some things the DFID will be looking out for that could affect aid, either positively or negatively? A: I do want to clarify that at the moment we give no direct aid to the Myanmar government. We work through UN agencies, through the international banks like World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, and through NGOs. There are two fantastic challenges and opportunities ahead. One concerns political transformation, and the other concerns economic transformation. The political transformation that is needed is to have a state and a government that serves all its people, not predominately one ethnic group. It's easily said but it's going to be tough. In some states, ethnic authorities are often heavily involved in service delivery, and it's not just a question of the government taking over—it's a question of coming to arrangements about who's better placed to serve the people of that state. The right solution is going to be different in different parts of the country. The second is an economic transformation. The economy of Myanmar is driven by the extractive industries, and the extractive industries tend not to create very many jobs, not to pay very many taxes and not to add very much value—the gas or the jade is exported without being worked. And the extractive industries tend to be pretty opaque—contracts and licenses are allocated in a way that is not transparent. That needs to change, to a growth path that involves a whole range of sectors. We need to have businesses investing in and becoming successful in manufacturing, tourism, construction, agribusiness, and small- and medium-sized enterprises. There needs to be serious reform of the banking and finance sector—businesses here are capital starved. And then you need a huge investment in infrastructure. The post UK Official Talks Development Aid, Military Ties in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Refugees From Burma’s Chin State Face Indian Dilemma Posted: 29 Jan 2014 11:59 PM PST  A young refugee from Burma's ethnic Chin minority holds a placard during a protest rally to mark World Refugee Day in New Delhi on June 20, 2011. (Photo: Reuters / Parivartan Sharma) Expatriate refugees from the poverty-stricken nation of Burma have begun filtering back, partly as their country of origin has democratized and more ominously because they are feeling the heat from host countries like Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia to leave. But so far, the Chin, an impoverished Christian minority that has been likened to the persecuted Rohingya, who have been set upon by majority Buddhists unmercifully, have yet to join the exodus. About 100,000 thousand of them are just across the border in India's Mizoram State, where they fled in the wake of 1998 riots. Chin State, on the country's southwestern flank, is one of Burma's poorest. Nearly 75 percent of its 500,000 population live mired in poverty, deprived of support from the successive Burmese regimes in Rangoon or the new administrative capital of Naypyidaw. Initially the refugees were either political activists or student leaders who were targeted by the then military rulers. But even with a quasi-democratic regime in Naypyidaw, the influx to India continues, with people entering India not to escape dictators or authority, but for a better life. In some cases the Burmese Army may have already confiscated their lands and destroyed their properties. Finding difficulties in surviving inside India as well, the Burmese refugees are now seeking resettlement to a third country. The majority of the Chin complain about discrimination from the Buddhist-dominated federal government. The 1988 movement against the then military rulers of Burma was crushed, leaving thousands dead across the country. "Like other ethnic communities in Myanmar, the Chin people bore the brunt of severe poverty and military rule, prompting many to flee across the 1,463-km border into India's Mizoram State," according to a 2011 report by Physicians for Human Rights. The refugees feel somewhat comfortable in Mizoram as it is one of the India's few Christian-dominated states. The Chin and Mizo people, share ancestry, physical appearance, food habits and language accents. In some occasions, the highly influential churches also play an important role in propagating the sense of brotherhood between the two communities. Nonetheless, asylum seekers often face the problem of finding livelihoods. Mostly they work as cheap daily wage earners in construction sites, agriculture fields, market areas and also in local Mizo households. "Our people frequently face rights violations here [Mizoram] even though they are reluctant to go back to their native places in Burma. We are actually afraid the situation in Chin State is yet to be favorable us," said Pu Win, a Chin activist based in the frontier town of Saiha in Mizoram. The activist added that the Chin are worried about medical care and education for their children. So ignoring the troubles in Mizoram, most of the Chin refugees prefer to stay in India until their country develops a little more, he added. Unlike those in Mizoram, Burmese asylum seekers in Delhi face more trouble as they are physically different, as is their culture, religion and language. As they are not comfortable in Hindi, the primary language, the refugees find it extremely difficult to communicate with their short-time employers and authorities. India's national capital gives shelter to over 8,000 registered Burmese refugees, but New Delhi is also home to another 10,000 asylum seekers, half of them women and children who have to travel over 2,200 kms from Mizoram to Delhi to enroll with the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). India, which supports a few hundred thousand refugees from Tibet, Burma, Sri Lanka etc., has yet to adopt a specific refugee protection policy, resulting in persistent confusion about the refugees and their legitimate rights. Moreover, India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN refugee convention or a 1967 refugee status protocol. "As there is no procedural mechanism for protecting the refugees in India, the Burmese refugee women have to struggle for their basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter in New Delhi," said M Kim, a Burmese exile based in New Delhi. "In addition to this, they battle with the constant fear of sexual assault and physical abuse." Quoting a report titled Doke Kha Bon with the accounts of 20 Chin women refugees in New Delhi, which was sponsored by the Burma Center Delhi and released recently, Kim asserted that the capital city remains universally unsafe for asylum seekers. According to the UNHCR office in New Delhi, persecution due to minority ethnic race, religion and political opinion are cited as the main reasons for their seeking asylum in neighboring countries. "The most frequent complaints reported to UNHCR include difficulty in communicating with local health and education service providers," said the BCD-sponsored report. Prepared by the Pann Nu Foundation, the report includes case studies relating to Chin refugee women now living in west Delhi. "Those women, many of them widows and single mothers, have bared their hearts during the interaction. In fact, every woman has a pathetic story to tell. Originally hailing from some remote areas of Chin, the refugee families were once dependent on Jhum [shifting] cultivation. But due to land confiscation practices adopted by the Burmese Army, the Chin villagers gradually lost their livelihood and left for India," said Alana Golmei, founder and president of the Pann Nu Foundation. Often the women and girls were compelled to serve the Burmese military as porters and laborers, made to serve food, and camp in the jungle with no proper shelter, without even knowing when they could return home. "Needless to say, they all lack proper education. The interviewees can only read and write in their local Chin dialect. All these women, who are Christians, had no respite from the Buddhist dominated military personnel, who even barge into their houses and demand food time to time," Golmei said. "They said the continued sexual assault by the Burmese soldiers is their worst nightmare there." But their lives in New Delhi are turning into another nightmare. "They allege that they become victims of physical abuse, molestation, sexual assault and discrimination everywhere they go, be it at their rented apartments, workplaces, public spaces or even the roads for that matter," Golmei said, adding that they keep mum about sexual assaults due to the fear of social stigmatization and shame. Now voices have been raised for reviewing the existing foreign policy of the Indian government, taking into consideration the Burmese refugee women and children in the country. Understanding that the refugee women are more vulnerable and are easy targets, the activists appealed to New Delhi to continue supporting the asylum seekers. "The new difficulty for the Burmese refugees has started with the news of democratization of Burma. Now most conscious people of India argue that the refugees should leave the country, as India has enough problems to deal with," said Dr. Tint Swe, a physician and an exile in India for decades. Tint Swe however admitted that Indian people in general remain merciful. Of course they are lately starting to believe that if Burma becomes comfortable and safer, they should leave. "But the question arises here if the changes in Burma have prepared the ground for returning the refugees. In reality it has not. So we have urged the Indian government to review its existing foreign policy with an aim to continue safeguarding the refugees here for some more years," he added. Following the call from Burma President Thein Sein's government to exiles taking shelter in different countries to return, many refugee families have already responded and have left India. Others, however, remain apprehensive about their future. In some cases it is understood that the Burmese Army might have already confiscated their lands and destroyed their properties. Finding difficulties in surviving inside India as well, the Burmese refugees are now seeking resettlement in a third country for a dignified life. The post Refugees From Burma's Chin State Face Indian Dilemma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| North Korea Warns of Tensions Over US-South Korea War Games Posted: 29 Jan 2014 11:17 PM PST  North Korean soldiers look to the South as they patrol at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone separating the North from South Korea in Paju, on March 19, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Lee Jae-Won) SEOUL — North Korea's propaganda machine is churning out near-daily denunciations of the United States and South Korea for a series of soon-to-start military maneuvers, warning nuclear war could be imminent and saying it will take dramatic action of its own if further provoked. Sound familiar? North Korea's increasingly shrill opposition to the annual joint drills named Foal Eagle looks very similar to the kind of harsh language that preceded the start of the same exercises last year and led to a steep rise in tensions on the Korean Peninsula. That round of escalation culminated in threats of a nuclear strike on Washington and the flattening of Seoul before the maneuvers ended and both sides went back to their corners. It appears the first stages of this year's battle have already begun—though some experts say they don't think it will be as high-pitched as last year's. In the latest of North Korea's increasingly frequent salvos against the exercises, it said through its state-run media that the United States is building up its military forces in Asia so it can invade the country—formally called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK—and take control of the whole region. "It is the strategic goal of the US to invade the DPRK, bring its neighboring countries under its control with it as a stepping-stone and, furthermore, dominate the whole Asia-Pacific region," the ruling party's Rodong Sinmun said in an analysis on Monday. "The US is working hard to kick off large-scale joint military drills this year, too, for the purpose of mounting a pre-emptive nuclear attack upon the DPRK." The invectives against the exercises began earlier this month, when North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission proposed the rivals halt military actions and "mutual vilification" to build better relations. The North, however, strongly hinted it would maintain its nuclear weapons program while urging South Korea to cancel the drills with the United States, set to begin in late February. North Korea's ambassador to key ally China offered a somewhat less caustic line at a rare news conference on Wednesday. Ji Jae Ryong told international media that North Korea wants to reduce tensions to allow steps toward reconciliation and eventual unification between North and South. "First, we propose taking preparatory measures in response to the warm call for creating an atmosphere for improving North-South ties. In this regard, we officially propose the South Korean authorities take critical measures of halting acts of provoking and slandering the other side from Jan. 30," Ji said. But Ji reiterated that North Korea had no intention of abandoning its nuclear weapons program. Seoul-based analyst Daniel Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group, said that although some experts saw the proposal as an overture or part of a "charm offensive" by North Korea, it was intended more as a means of setting the stage for more heated actions ahead—since the North has no reason to expect that Washington and Seoul would seriously consider nixing Foal Eagle. "It feeds into the propaganda cycle again," he said. "It's a way of showing the domestic audience that, 'we made a serious overture. We tried to bend over backwards. But they showed their true colors.' I don't see any cooperative measures or charm offensive at all." Seoul and Washington have essentially ignored North Korea's proposal. Seoul instead demanded that North Korea take "practical" action for nuclear disarmament if it truly wants peace on the peninsula. But Seoul has proposed working-level talks on Wednesday to discuss allowing Koreans separated by the 1950-53 Korean War to reunite. North Korea didn't immediately respond to Seoul's proposals. The fighting between North and South Korea ended six decades ago with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically in a state of war. North Korea remains highly sensitive to all military activity in the South, and sees Seoul as a puppet state because nearly 30,000 US troops are based on its soil. This year's drills, in which troops will train on land, sea and in the air, are expected to last until about April. Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korea studies at Korea University in South Korea, said he doesn't expect as much tension as last year. "North Korea is maintaining its nuclear weapons program but hasn't launched any fresh provocation, so this year's drills would be more like the routine ones they conducted in previous years," he said. Associated Press writer Kim Hyung-jin contributed to this report. The post North Korea Warns of Tensions Over US-South Korea War Games appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Malaysia Navy Chief Denies Chinese Incursion Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:54 PM PST  A warship launches a missile during a live-ammunition military drill held by the South China Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in the South China Sea on July 26, 2010. (Photo: AP) KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s navy chief has denied a report that three Chinese navy ships patrolled an area claimed by the Southeast Asian country, saying the Chinese exercise took place hundreds of miles to the north in international waters. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that an amphibious landing craft and two destroyers patrolled the James Shoal on Sunday, 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of Malaysia’s Sarawak state, and held a ceremony in which they swore to safeguard Chinese sovereignty. The reported activity at the southernmost tip of Beijing’s sweeping claims over the South China Sea appeared to be the latest sign of its territorial assertiveness that has boosted tensions with claimants such as the Philippines and Vietnam. Royal Malaysian Navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar, in comments published by the New Straits Times on Wednesday, said the Chinese exercise, involving its newly commissioned aircraft carrier and a submarine, took place 1,000 nautical miles away from Malaysia’s 200 nautical mile economic exclusion zone. He said Malaysia and the United States had been informed of the exercises beforehand. "There has been no act of provocation on the part of the Chinese or threat to our sovereignty as they are conducting their exercise in international waters," the pro-government newspaper quoted him as saying. China’s aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, completed its first sea trials and returned to port on Jan. 1, according to Xinhua, an apparent contradiction with the Malaysian navy chief’s reported comments. Low-Key Approach Compared to the Philippines and Vietnam, Malaysia has taken a low-key approach to its overlapping claims with China, its largest trade partner. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak agreed, during Xi’s visit to Malaysia last year, to elevate ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership". The two nations are to hold their first joint military exercises this year. But there are signs that Malaysia’s approach could shift as China presses huge claims in the oil and gas-rich maritime area. Malaysia protested to China last March against the incursion by four Chinese warships in the James Shoal, which Beijing calls the Zengmu Reef and which lies about 1,800 km (1,120 miles) south of the Chinese mainland. In April, a Chinese maritime surveillance ship returned to James Shoal to leave behind steel markers to assert its claim. Malaysia’s defense minister announced in October that the country would establish a marine corps and set up a naval base in the coastal town of Bintulu near the James Shoal. China upset the Philippines and the United States this month when rules went into force demanding fishing boats seek permission to enter waters under the jurisdiction of China’s southern province of Hainan, an area the provincial government says covers much of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines claim parts of the South China Sea. China has a separate dispute with Japan in the East China Sea. The post Malaysia Navy Chief Denies Chinese Incursion appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thailand Braces for Violence as PM Yingluck’s Charm Runs Out Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:45 PM PST  Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra leaves the Army Club after meeting the Election Commission in Bangkok Jan. 28, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Six unmarked vehicles with pitch-black windows threaded quietly through Bangkok's northern suburbs on a recent Thursday afternoon. Inside one sat the curiously unruffled figure at the heart of Thailand's latest political maelstrom: caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Four months ago, police cars with wailing sirens would have whisked her through the city. That Yingluck's convoy is now so keen to avoid attention—it even stopped at some red lights—is a small victory for the thousands of protesters who first poured onto Bangkok's streets three months ago to try to topple her government. For them, Yingluck, 46, is the hated puppet of her billionaire elder brother Thaksin, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 military coup and now lives abroad to avoid a two-year jail sentence for corruption. For her supporters, however, Yingluck's low-key convoy shows the tactical brain of a former business executive who had proved surprisingly adept at negotiating Thailand's cut-throat politics until anti-government protests erupted in November. Yingluck was a political neophyte when she swept to power in a July 2011 election on the back of support in Thailand's vote-rich rural north and northeast. Despite being sometimes dubbed the "reluctant prime minister," she had been groomed for office longer than many people realize. Once there, she deployed formidable personal charm to preside over two of the most peaceful years in Thailand's turbulent recent history. The economy motored along, but there were signs of the rampant corruption that would later fire up the protesters. In 2011, Thailand ranked 80 out of 182 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index; two years later, it placed 102 out of 175. Game of Attrition Interviews with government officials, diplomats, relatives and the prime minister herself reveal a resolve that suggests Thailand's seemingly intractable and often violent eight-year political crisis could endure well past Sunday's election. The protesters have already forced Yingluck to abandon her central Bangkok offices and shuttle discreetly between desks at a half-empty military building and a heavily guarded air force base on the city's outskirts. But while opponents say she is on the defensive, up close she appears less a leader on the run than a player in a brutal game of attrition, quietly confident she can win any election. The protesters, drawn mainly from Bangkok's middle classes and the wealthier south, want Parliament replaced by an unelected "people's council" to reform politics before any election. They also want the resignation of Thailand's first female prime minister and the exile of her rich and influential clan, who they accuse of corrupting politics through widespread vote-buying in their poorer but populous northern heartland. The Shinawatra family came 10th on a 2013 Forbes list of Thailand's richest with a combined fortune of US$1.7 billion. Yingluck refuses to resign and sees herself bound by duty and by law to guide a troubled nation to its next election. "I stand for democracy not for politics," she told Reuters. "The people would like me to continue work. The election will be the final judge[ment] by the people of Thailand." Family Business Yingluck's serene exterior can't hide Bangkok's increasing instability. On Tuesday, shots were fired at protesters besieging an army facility where she was meeting election officials. One man was wounded by a bullet and another badly beaten by protesters. Last month, in an attempt to defuse the crisis, Yingluck dissolved Parliament and called an election for Feb. 2. But protesters have vowed to disrupt the poll, while the opposition Democrat Party is boycotting it. Meanwhile, Thailand's anti-graft commission is fast-tracking an impeachment investigation into Yingluck's role in a wasteful and opaque rice subsidy program. Opponents say the multi-billion-dollar scheme is riddled with corruption and benefits landowners and local politicians more than poorer rice growers, while farmers who haven't been paid are blocking provincial highways in protest. "She's under unimaginable pressure, but she's coping very well," said Suranand Vejjajiva, Yingluck's chief of staff. "She feels she is elected by the people and has to protect their rights and liberties." Yingluck hails from a wealthy and sprawling ethnic Chinese family in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai. Like Thaksin, 64, she was steeped in politics since childhood, accompanying her father Lert, a businessman and member of Parliament, when he visited rural constituents. Her cousin Chaisit Shinawatra, a former Thai army chief, said Yingluck's patience was a "family principle" inherited from their grandfather, a silk merchant, who knew the painstaking process by which thread was woven into cloth. "Our strength comes from our lineage," said Chaisit. Yingluck first chose business, not politics, although she remains untested outside the family's corporate empire. In 1991, after graduating in political science and administration, she took her first job as a trainee at a Shinawatra telephone directory business. She then joined cellular operator Advanced Info Service Pcl (AIS) in 1999, and was made president three years later as Thailand's mobile phone market become one of Asia's fastest-growing. Yingluck left AIS after Thaksin sold its parent company Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, in a 2006 deal worth $3.8 billion that helped precipitate years of political instability. The controversial, tax-free sale fueled anti-Thaksin protests until the army intervened in September 2006. Yingluck then took the helm of SC Asset Corp, the family's property development firm. But politics beckoned after her brother was convicted in 2008 and left the country to avoid imprisonment. She was not a natural politician. In 2009, even Suranand, now a top advisor, remained "dismissive of her political prospects", according to a US diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks. By the time she declared her candidacy in May 2011, Yingluck had become an influential figure within the Puea Thai Party. She was mobbed by adoring voters while campaigning in the north and northeast, where her brother's populist policies such as cheap healthcare and microcredit had won widespread support. "She gained more confidence when she visited rural areas," said a close advisor, who requested anonymity. Three months later she was prime minister. Clone No More Her first big test was the devastating floods that engulfed swathes of Thailand's central plains and Bangkok soon after she took office. She was widely criticized for mismanaging the disaster, and pilloried on social media for wading through flooded areas in luxury rubber boots. But according to her cousin Chaisit, a retired general, the disaster helped Yingluck forge good relations with the Thai military. Flood-relief was part of the military's effort to repair its image after a bloody crackdown on pro-Thaksin protesters in 2010. "They worked together for the people during the floods, and that's why they understand each other better," said Chaisit, likening the relationship to two friends bound together by a life-changing experience. Before, he said, "the prime minister and the army sat at different tables." Thaksin once famously boasted that Yingluck was his "clone." When pressed, her advisors admit she speaks to Thaksin, although they're coy about how often. "She consults a lot of people," said Suranand. Big brother is influential, agreed Thailand scholar Duncan McCargo, but Yingluck is no meek proxy making decisions on his behalf. With cabinet appointments, for example, her refusal to "reshuffle on demand" and accept all Thaksin's choices showed Yingluck setting her own agenda, he said. Yingluck could not have survived nearly 30 months in office without striking what McCargo calls "an elite deal" with the establishment to paper over Thailand's deep political divides and establish a kind of peace. That deal was shattered by Puea Thai's disastrous bid to pass a sweeping amnesty bill that would have pardoned Thaksin, he said. But its "residual strength" helps explain the coup-prone military's reluctance to intervene in the ensuing chaos. "Yingluck's diplomatic skills and personal charm have been invaluable assets in her efforts to restore and then maintain good relations with the military and other key actors," said McCargo, a professor of Southeast Asian politics at the University of Leeds. Wishful Thinking? Yingluck moved out of her Bangkok home after it was targeted by protesters. Uppermost in her mind, said advisors, was the safety of her nine-year-old son. Yingluck insisted to Reuters that protest numbers were dwindling. "People see that the requests of the protesters are impossible under the [law] and Constitution," she said. "That's why the number of supporters is getting less." In fact, protest numbers fluctuate, with a diehard few camping out in Bangkok's streets and parks. If re-elected, said Suranand, Yingluck will stay on for a year or more with a mandate to reform Thailand, before holding another general election. She is number one on Puea Thai's roster of party-list candidates and has no plans to leave politics. "The ballot box doesn't solve everything—and she knows that," he said. "But at least it's the right step." The post Thailand Braces for Violence as PM Yingluck's Charm Runs Out appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
