| Burma’s NLD and 88 Generation Team Up to Push for Charter Reform Posted: 10 Feb 2014 06:10 AM PST  88 Generation leader Jimmy (left) and National League for Democracy member of Parliament Nyan Win. (Photo: National League for Democracy / Facebook) RANGOON — Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and a major group of former students who led the country's 1988 uprising have agreed to work together toward constitutional reform before elections next year. NLD Chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi has been leading a campaign to have the military-drafted 2008 Constitution amended. The charter guarantees the military a role in national politics and 25 percent of parliamentary seats, bars Suu Kyi from becoming president and is opposed by ethnic leaders who want a federalist system in Burma. Suu Kyi will now have the help of The 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, a political organization born out of the student-led uprising of 1988 that almost toppled the government and brought Suu Kyi to prominence. In a joint statement Monday, the NLD and the 88 Generation said they had been working together toward democracy for 25 years, and would join their efforts to ensure a transition to "real democracy" by amending the charter. While the association between the two groups is not new, they have not formally cooperated in political activities since a program of democratic and economic reforms was begun by the government of President Thein Sein in 2011. But two meetings between leaders recently have brought about a combination of the two groups' efforts. Jimmy, an 88 Generation leader, said the groups were combining forces because constitutional reform is vital. "Actually, we've had a relationship since 1988, now we're increasing our activities by agreeing to work together to amend the Constitution because many people are indicating that it should be amended right now," he said. He sought to clarify that the 88 Generation would remain separate from the NLD, but would simply work toward the same end. "Our group and the NLD central executive committee member will be discussing in more detail how we're going to work toward amending the Constitution, but now I still can't give detailed plans," he said. Both groups wanted to work with "peace and justice" to amend the Constitution, he added. Nyan Win, a member of the NLD's central executive committee said it made sense to work together since the groups have a shared goal. "We can't still talk about detailed planning because we have to wait and see what the Parliament's review committee for the Constitution does, and what the Union Parliament will decide for this," he said. Parliament's Joint Constitutional Review Committee reported in January that most of the more than 28,000 responses it received from the public, civil society, political parties and government departments were in favor of reforming the most controversial articles of the 2008 Constitution. The committee's report also, however, noted that it received a petition with more than 100,000 signatures opposing the changes. A new implementation committee has now been formed by Parliament to decide on what should be changed in the Constitution, if anything. Moe Thway, the leader of youth activist group Generation Wave said he welcomed the cooperation between the NLD and the 88 Generation. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is trying inside the Parliament and other groups are doing activities outside, so its means both groups are campaigning for amending the Constitution," he said. "In my view, this 2008 Constitution must be amended because it was written without the voices of various groups, including the ethnic armed groups, the NLD and other opposition parties." The post Burma's NLD and 88 Generation Team Up to Push for Charter Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s Ethnic Minorities Decry Census, Jostle for Advantage Posted: 10 Feb 2014 05:59 AM PST  Burma's Minister of Immigration and Population Khin Yi points to a graph as he speaks at a news conference about the upcoming census in Rangoon on Sept. 15, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) RANGOON — Members of Burma's largest ethnic minority groups and smaller ethnic subgroups are voicing concerns over a census due to be conducted late next month, with the survey's system of classification criticized as inaccurate by some, and unnecessarily divisive by others. Major ethnic groups like the Karen, Chin and Kachin have complained that they are being robbed of some subgroups, claiming they owe lineage to the larger respective ethnic identities but have been incorrectly placed elsewhere under the current categorization scheme. Other voices from among the ranks of Burma's biggest ethnic minorities have called for categorizing the scores of ethnic subgroups under the primary ethnic groups rather than giving an individual code number to each. That recommendation has not won the endorsement of some of Burma's ethnic subgroups and tribes, however. The Palaung, also known as Ta'ang, as well as ethnic Zomi, Pathi and Rohingya, have all expressed a desire to maintain a distinct ethnic classification with their own designated code number on the upcoming census. The Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) last week issued a statement rejecting the census's categorization of the Ta'ang people as being one of 33 Shan subgroups. "The Ta'ang are of Mon-Khmer ancestry—Mon, Khmer and Palaung [Ta'ang] belong to this group. We are not derived from Shan. We migrated to the Shan region for various reasons, among them climate and war," said Mann Aik Kyaw, a communications officer for the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the PSLF's armed wing. The PSLF statement said: "The Palaung State Liberation Front objects to the fact that eight main ethnic groups have been specified by the Burmese government led by President Thein Sein in the collection of nationwide census data, placing the Ta'ang under one of the main ethnic group's 33 subgroups." Similarly, ethnic Zomi peoples are officially listed as a subgroup of the Chin, but Zomi representatives say they cannot accept the government's decision to group them among the 53 designated Chin subgroups. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and a handful of foreign governments are assisting Burma in the lead up to the census, which will be the first to be conducted in the country in more than three decades. In a letter to parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann, 23 Kachin civil society groups have called for postponement of the census, to allow for a discussion of its system of categorization. Absent a resolution to the various groups' concerns over classification, the letter urges census administrators to drop "Question 8," which asks for ethnic or tribal identification. "The problem is the promulgation of 135 ethnicities in 1983 by Gen. Ne Win under one-party rule. [It was] the grouping of ethnics without consulting any ethnics at the time. That system has been reapplied now, under the democratic system, which creates problems," Thet Ko from Minority Affair told The Irrawaddy. "The respective ethnic groups have questioned this," said Thet Ko, the director of Minority Affair, a civil society group that conducts research on Burma's ethnic minority groups. "The list of ethnics should be compiled again after consulting with ethnic groups through a democratic procedure." The Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF), an alliance of 20 registered ethnic political parties, has also called for a review of the census classification system in negotiation with ethnic groups. The NBF fears that requiring Burmese nationals to identify as one of the 135 listed ethnic groups could lead to disunity among ethnic groups, the coalition said in a statement released on Feb. 2. Thet Ko said the government had never adequately explained the basis for its accounting of Burma's ethnic groups, which officially listed 144 different ethnic groups in 1973. Ten years later, the nation's ethnic composition was announced to have been reduced to 135 ethnic groups. "They have never explained the reason why they repealed the nine ethnic groups," he said. Some, like Myint Swe of the Peace Cultivation Network, have speculated that—as is believed to have guided other policy decisions by the superstitious Ne Win—the change in the ethnic tally was the product of yadaya, the practice of following an astrologer's advice on what one must do to avert an impending event, or realize one's desires. "We were no longer on the official ethnic list after Ne Win removed us as 'koe-na-win,'" Myint Swe said, referring to the practice of acting on the number nine, widely believed by Buddhists to be auspicious. Many of Burma's Muslims are also organizing to try to secure favorable representation in the census. A support committee for followers of the Islamic faith has issued an announcement encouraging Muslims who trace roots to the ethnic Pathi to identify themselves as such in the census. Kyaw Khin, of the United National Congress Party, says Pathi Muslims want a separate code number for their identity. Failing that, Kyaw Khin and others are instructing people who identify as Pathi to mark themselves under the census's 'Other' designation, where they can write in "Pathi." Myint Thein, also with the Peace Cultivation Network, says self-identifying Pathi will continue to push for official recognition, which they were given in the government's 1973 reckoning, but was rescinded in the 1983 tally. "Khin Yi, the Union minister of immigration and population, told us that the 135 ethnics might not be the same after the census. It might be fewer and new ethnic groups might appear too," he said, adding that the minister had advised them to submit the issue to Parliament. The post Burma's Ethnic Minorities Decry Census, Jostle for Advantage appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Security on the Agenda at Upcoming Arakanese Conference Posted: 10 Feb 2014 04:50 AM PST  Ethnic Arakanese leaders Kyaw Han, Thar Ban, Hla Saw and Khaing Thu Kha (from left to right) give a press conference in Chiang Mai on Feb. 10, 2014. (Photo: Nyein Zaw / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand – Ethnic leaders in western Burma's troubled Arakan State are planning to hold a major conference in April, which will include discussions of the security situation in the state. At a press conference following a meeting of Arakanese politicians, women's advocates and civil society groups in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Sunday, organizers announced that the conference will be held from April 27 to May 1 in Kyauk Phyu. Head of the organizing committee, Thar Ban, said the conference would
promote "unity, equality and justice for the Arakan people, and foster a peaceful and developed Arakanese society." "[We] will discuss safety and security for the Arakanese and the root cause of the religious and communal strife in Arakan society," said Thar Ban—who is also the patron of the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD). He said leaders would also discuss demands that the local population benefits from the major development projects underway in Arakan State that could bring large revenue to the government. "We will also talk about resource sharing for the local residents from the economic development projects such as Kyauk Phyu's special economic zone and the Shwe gas pipeline," he said, referring to a major port development and a natural gas project that, along with a parallel oil pipeline, will open up a route for China to import transport fossil fuels directly from the Bay of Bengal. He said representatives from all seven recognized ethnic sub groups in the state— Arakanese (Rakhine), Kwe Myi, Daingnet, Maramagyi, Mro (Wakim), Thet and Kaman Muslims—would be invited. Rohingya Muslims, who are not a recognized ethnic group in Burma and are therefore barred from citizenship, will not be represented at the conference, despite making up a large proportion of those killed or displaced by inter-communal violence in the state since mid-2012. In the most recent reported violence, a police officer went missing during a clash in Maungdaw Township in January. Dozens of Rohingya were killed in a subsequent crackdown, according to accounts cited by rights groups and the United Nations. In September and October, the Kaman Muslim population in southern Arakan's Thandwe Township was also hit by violence, when villages were attacked by mobs of Arakanese Buddhists. Hla Saw, vice chairman of the conference organizing committee and secretary of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), said the state's ethnic conflict had a long history that was often overlooked in the discussion of violence during the past two years. "We need to discuss how to develop a specific strategy for the future of Arakan State, as we are now facing with great challenges…. [The challenge] of communal conflict is deep rooted," he said, stressing that the problem could not be solved hastily. "The international community and some media have been biased as they are not aware of the long history of conflict. Then radical Bengalis outside of the country have taken advantage of the political and media openness. The two Arakanese political parties, the ALD and RNDP, are set to merge to form the Arakan National Party. The merger is awaiting official approval, but that is expected to come this month. Hla Saw said the organizing meeting was held in Chiang Mai because some groups, like the Arakan Army, were still armed and could therefore be labeled unlawful associations by the Burma government. He said he hoped all groups would be able to attend the conference inside Burma. "We will have to discuss with the Myanmar Peace Center because of the participation of the exiled groups, such as those in Thailand or Bangladesh. We will have to talk with minister U Aung Min about their safety, to ensure legal action will not be taken against them as they have been outside of the country," he said. The conference will be the first meeting of all Arakan State's recognized ethnic groups since a large conference in Myebon Township in 1946, two years before Burma's independence. In September last year, about 300 Arakanese from 17 townships across Arakan State attended an Arakan State Public Meeting in Rathaetaung Township, where inter-communal strife in the state was also discussed. The post Security on the Agenda at Upcoming Arakanese Conference appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Wa Rebels to Send Fighters to China for Pilot Training: Reports Posted: 10 Feb 2014 04:45 AM PST  A Z-9G helicopter mounting the TY-90 lightweight air-to-air missile. (Photo: http://china-defense.blogspot.com) RANGOON — The largest ethnic armed group in Burma, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), has selected 30 soldiers to receive pilot training in China, according to members of other ethnic rebel groups who recently visited the Wa headquarters in Panghsang in northern Shan State on the Burma-China border. The claims are likely to fuel further speculation over whether or not the heavily-armed UWSA have acquired helicopters, as was first reported last year. A senior officer of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) who visited Panghsang last month told The Irrawaddy that he had been informed of plans to send ethnic Wa fighters to China for pilot training. "They [UWSA officials] said that they had selected 30 professionals. They will provide them with aviation training. They didn’t say why they will train their soldiers. But, I think they have big plans for military purposes," said the KNLA officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A military official of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), who also visited Panghsang recently, said the UWSA leadership had made similar remarks indicating that Wa rebels will receive aviation training in China. The Karen and Karenni rebel sources said they believed that the Wa were in possession of two helicopters, adding that they had seen helicopter landing grounds at UWSA’s headquarters. Both sources, however, said they had not observed any helicopters during their visits. According to these sources, the UWSA also owns surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles, and a weapons-making facility that produces AK-47 rifles, explosive devices and other military hardware. In April last year, Jane's Intelligence Review reported that China had delivered several Mil Mi-17 ‘Hip’ medium-transport helicopters armed with TY-90 air-to-air missiles to the UWSA. Veteran Burma journalist Bertil Lintner reported in June 2013 that "two helicopters are reportedly stationed at a remote location near Pangwei in the northeastern Wa Hills, far from prying eyes." In August, a member of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) said that he had seen the helicopters at an UWSA base. The KIO officer said at the time that they were "simple helicopters" to be used for transport purposes and likely to be operated by China-trained Wa pilots who were sponsored by the UWSA to study at Chinese universities. Both Beijing and the Wa rebels, however, dismissed the report in reactions to the media. Aung Myint, a spokesman for the UWSA in Rangoon, said the claim was groundless as no one in the UWSA could fly a helicopter. Last October, Sai Sam, deputy commander-in-chief of the UWSA, said, "We don't have such helicopters. But, we do have one helicopter and a small aircraft without engine in a public park for show." UWSA is the largest ethnic rebel group in Burma with an estimated 25,000 soldiers. It signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in late 2011. When the Burma Army launched airstrikes on KIO positions in late 2012, it was reported that the UWSA supported the Kachin rebels with missiles in order to counter the government air attacks. The UWSA mainly relies on funding from the regional illicit drug trade for its long-running insurgency. Due to financial connections with UWSA commander Wei Hsueh-kang, 11 individuals and 16 companies in Thailand were labeled as "specially designated nationals" and "blocked persons" by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in November 2005. The post Wa Rebels to Send Fighters to China for Pilot Training: Reports appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Photoshopped Thein Sein Prompts Media Ethics Discussion Posted: 10 Feb 2014 03:35 AM PST  A man holds a copy of the Feb. 12, 2014, issue of The Right Time weekly. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A front-page mash-up of Burma President Thein Sein portrayed in traditional Burmese dancing garb and published in a local newspaper has drawn the ire of officials and some local media, who feel the image oversteps ethical boundaries. "Let's cultivate union spirit," ran the headline on the image—an apparent attempt to satirize Burma's state media and official speeches, which regularly feature similar invocations. Zaw Htay, a President's Office official who posts on Facebook and Twitter under the nom de plume Hmuu Zaw, took to social media to ask, "Is it press freedom?", referring to the image. The post has since been deleted, and when contacted by The Irrawaddy on Monday, Zaw Htay said "I have no comment on this publication," but added, "journalists in Myanmar must obey the existing law." The row comes as Burma's government has taken an increasingly critical approach to foreign and local media, particularly over coverage of violence in Arakan State in the country's west. Win Tin, a former journalist and a senior member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma's main opposition party, said that the newspaper's portrayal of Burma's president was improper. "It is not appropriate to create an image like this, it appears disrespectful and the connection between the image and the other content on the page is not clear," he told The Irrawaddy. The offending image appears to have generated as much confusion as it has ire. Myint Kyaw, a journalism trainer, said that "I don't know exactly what the editors are getting at, but it seems to suggest that the president is the key actor in the peace process, and wonders how he will play his role in the drama of developing federalism." Calls to The Right Time office were referred to publisher Nyunt Min Lwin, whose mobile phone was out of service on Monday. Myint Kyaw, a member of Burma's Press Council, told The Irrawaddy that he did not see the image as offensive, but Win Tin's viewpoint seems to be shared by some other Burmese journalists, who have taken a high-handed view of The Right Time's allegedly low-brow transgression. Ko Ko, editor of The Yangon Times and another member of the Press Council, said he had just returned to Rangoon from Magwe Division, where he discussed media ethics with local journalists. The image, he said, sets a bad precedent for less well-trained reporters outside Rangoon. "We are trying to promote ethics among journalists, so I am upset by this," he added. But Shawn Crispin, the Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said some of the reaction to the image was overwrought. "In countries with genuine press freedom, portraying national leaders in traditional dress or other out of the ordinary wares is par for the editorial course. Burma's leaders need to be more open to criticism and less prickly about their portrayals in the press," he told The Irrawaddy. The Photoshopped image appeared in The Right Time alongside a scan of the Panglong Agreement, a 1947 deal signed by Gen. Aung San and three of Burma's main ethnic groups. Talks about a proposed "nationwide ceasefire" between the Burma government and most of the country's ethnic minority militias have been postponed several times since late 2013. While the image was juxtaposed with a historical reference to Burma's fraught inter-ethnic relations, it comes also after the early February jailing of five journalists from the weekly Unity journal over a report alleging that Burma has a chemical weapons factory in Magwe Division, and the December imprisonment of a reporter who was covering a corruption story in Karenni State for Eleven Media. Burma Campaign UK Director Mark Farmaner told The Irrawaddy that "in the context of recent arrests of journalists, it is worrying for the future of free media in Burma that there is so much controversy about this image." Press Council member Ko Ko is concerned that the mocking of the president could affect upcoming media legislation. "I worry that the government can lobby to say the Myanmar media does not deserve the press freedom." A press law drawn up by the Council is being discussed in Burma's legislature and is set to go before a joint sitting of Parliament's 224-member Upper House and 440-strong Lower House. "The Upper House is on our side but the Lower House wants to change our clauses," Ko Ko said, adding that the Lower House would have the upper hand, due to weight of numbers, when the press code goes before the joint house—which is expected during the current sitting of Parliament. Myint Kyaw said that the image was adding to consternation among Burma's media because "people are nervous about a possible backlash against press freedom." The post Photoshopped Thein Sein Prompts Media Ethics Discussion appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s Former Political Prisoners Offer Counseling for Trauma Posted: 10 Feb 2014 03:30 AM PST  A group of students in Rangoon work together to order flash cards with steps of a counseling model for victims of trauma, as part of a course conducted by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners with support from US universities. (Photo: Samantha Michaels / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A group of former political prisoners in Burma are undergoing training to offer mental health counseling to others who were imprisoned under the military regime. Over the weekend, 14 students in Rangoon wrapped up a 12-day course about a method of counseling that was developed in the United States for use in countries around the world where communities have experienced high levels of trauma but lack resources for treatment. Thousands of people in Burma were imprisoned for political reasons under the former regime. Since a nominally civilian government came to power nearly three years ago, a majority have been released, but many face challenges reintegrating back into their communities. They say the government has offered no help and that mental health services are not widely available. "We passed terrible events and very hard times in prison, and after we were released many of us experienced depression," says Kyaw Soe Win, a former political prisoner who now works as the chief clinical supervisor at the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an advocacy group that is leading the counseling project with support from US universities and funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). On one of the last few days of the course in Rangoon, Kyaw Soe Win stood before the 14 students in an upstairs room at the local YMCA, reading out different scenarios that counselors might encounter while meeting with clients who are dealing with trauma. In one hypothetical scenario, a man explains a memory from the past, about the day he and his wife were attacked by a group of soldiers. He says three of the soldiers captured, injured and restrained him, forcing him to watch as his wife was raped. Now he says he can never again trust another man. "What is the problem, what's his behavior, and what do the doctors need to do?" Laura Merchant, a social worker and therapist from the University of Washington in Seattle, asks the students as they determine how a counselor should respond. The students are learning a sort of checklist to move from some of the earliest stages of counseling—including introducing clients to the therapy approach—to more advanced stages, where they shift negative thinking habits to more positive thoughts. "They follow step by step how to do it," Merchant tells The Irrawaddy, adding that counselors receive supervision from the US-based trainers. The evidence-based psychotherapy approach, known as the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA), was developed by researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and the University of Washington, who say the therapy is easy to learn and implement by people who do not necessarily have formal schooling in social work. It has been used to help trauma victims in Iraq, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, countries which, like Burma, lack clinics, funding and human resources for mental health services. Last year, Johns Hopkins provided the first round of training in Burma to members of the AAPP, who are now leading their own trainings to the new batch of students. After completing their coursework, counselors focus on a couple of pilot cases first, with heavy supervision, before taking on more clients. Since last year, nine counselors have met with a total of 84 clients in Rangoon and Mandalay. Over the border in northwest Thailand, where many Burmese refugees live, a team of five counselors is also offering services. The AAPP has an office in Rangoon but is based in Thailand. The 14 new students in Rangoon are all former political prisoners or family members of former political prisoners. They represent not only the AAPP, but also the Former Political Prisoners Society, the Ex-Political Prisoners Network of Upper Burma, and opposition parties including the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Democratic Party for a New Society. Among them is Hnin Pan Ein, a 48-year-old writer based in Rangoon. "When I was 7 months old, my father was arrested. I saw my father for the first time when I was 7 years old," she says, recalling how her husband was also imprisoned for political reasons six years after their marriage. "In my whole life, the people of Myanmar have experienced a lot of stress because of the pressure of the government. … The people like me, who have similar life experiences and have also suffered trauma, I would like to help them." The counseling is free and open to former political prisoners and their family members. "The biggest challenge for us is that the word 'counseling' is not familiar with our society in Myanmar," says Saw Thet Tun, AAPP's deputy chief clinical supervisor. "Many people misunderstand counseling—they think it's for HIV patients or for crazy people." He adds, "Most former political prisoners have a strong mind, they fought against the military regime, so we think we don't need counseling." Saw Thet Tun said he joined the training because he was frustrated by a lack of assistance from the state. "The lives of former political prisoners are neglected by the government," he says. "We spent so long in prison—for me it was 19 years—but after prison they neglected to rehabilitate us." The government does not have social welfare programs specifically for former political prisoners, says Aung Tun Khaing, deputy director general of the social welfare department at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. He says the ministry provides medical assistance to women criminals who are diagnosed with HIV behind bars, but not for political prisoners. After political prisoners are released, he says, they can seek services like any other Burmese citizen. "Our policy is that if any Myanmar citizen has social problems and social needs, they can contact our department and we can provide some social assistance," he tells The Irrawaddy, saying the government can, for example, help provide microcredit or job training for families that lack enough income. In the absence of any dedicated government help for the country's former political prisoners, AAPP hopes to expand its counseling services in the future, but for now its mandate is limited. "We can't give counseling to ordinary people because they are not former political prisoners or family members," Saw Thet Tun says. "But really these are our citizens, too. Lots of people have been in areas with civil wars, or in [Cyclone] Nargis-affected areas, or areas with religious conflicts. There are a lot of people who have experienced trauma." The post Burma's Former Political Prisoners Offer Counseling for Trauma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Shan Celebrate National Day as a Leader Steps Down Posted: 10 Feb 2014 02:20 AM PST  Shan State Army soldiers march during a ceremony to celebrate the 67th Shan State National Day in Loi Tai Leng. (Photo: Brennan O'Connor) Wearing his signature tinted glasses, Lt Gen Yawd Serk, the youthful looking 55-five-year-old leader of the Restoration Council of Shan State and Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA), addressed a gathering to mark Shan State National Day in Loi Tai Leng for the last time as party chairman. His resignation from the group that he formed 18 years ago was announced last month. But there was little mention of this during his keynote speech in the large dusty field at the RCSS/SSA headquarters on the Burmese-Thai border, where crowds gathered for the Shan holiday on Friday. Instead, Yawd Serk chose to reflect on the past. There was talk of the decades of suffering the Shan ethnic group has endured under previous successive Burmese regimes. Burma President Thein Sein was praised for reforms paving the way for a nationwide ceasefire, which is currently under negotiation. The president can be trusted, Yawd Serk later affirmed. In June, Yawd Serk met with the president in Naypyidaw, marking him the only Shan leader in recent history to have personally met with an official at the top of the Burmese government. During a short press conference following his speech, Yawd Serk provided little more elaboration for his stepping down in the midst of peace negotiation, a move that has shocked the Shan community. The party will be holding leadership elections, he told The Irrawaddy. "I won't run in it to make room for the younger generation," Yawd Serk said. An RCSS/SSA leadership forum is scheduled from Feb. 11 to 14. Last week, hundreds gathered in Loi Tai Leng for a three-day conference on a draft constitution for Shan State. The post Shan Celebrate National Day as a Leader Steps Down appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Conservatives Push Agenda at Japan’s Public TV Posted: 09 Feb 2014 10:48 PM PST  TOKYO — Minutes of a recent governing board meeting of Japan's public broadcaster NHK seem to back up suspicions that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, despite his denials, is trying to use Japan's news giant to promote his nationalist agenda.
The minutes, posted on NHK's website but not widely reported, show conservatives appointed to the board by Abe voicing their opinion on coverage at the Jan. 14 meeting. One of the four new members favored by Abe proposed that NHK should do more to educate the public about Japan's territorial claims on islands at the center of a dispute with China, its wartime history as well as the problems with the post-World War II, US-led tribunal that prosecuted Japanese war criminals. "I think there should be room for programs that provide the most basic knowledge about history and the challenges Japan is faced with," said Naoki Hyakuta, the author of a bestselling book on a wartime suicide fighter pilot. Another new board member, Abe confidante Michiko Hasegawa, stressed the need to promote "correct education" for the public. It's unclear whether their statements are affecting coverage, and NHK denied any political influence over its editorial decisions. The board members' comments reflected their personal views, NHK said in a statement, responding to inquiries by The Associated Press. Hyakuta, according to the minutes, then made sure if it was OK for board members to comment on programming. He was told they can't make comments that influence specific programs, but they can express their preferences as "personal impressions." Experts say anything board members say could easily cause compromise and self-restraint in coverage. "Apparently NHK is leaning toward the government, and increasingly neglecting its responsibility to check authority," said Yasuhiko Tajima, a media law professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. "I even feel democracy is at risk." NHK, the country's most respected radio and television network, has been buffeted by a series of developments in the past two weeks that have thrust concern over Abe's influence on the appointments into the headlines. First, the new NHK Chairman Katsuto Momii infuriated South Korea and China by saying Japan was unfairly criticized for the use of Asian women as military prostitutes, which he argued was common in countries at war. The board picked Momii to head NHK late last year after his predecessor abruptly announced he would resign, following Abe's ruling party criticism of NHK's news coverage as too liberal. At his inaugural news conference, Momii also said, "We cannot say left when the government says right," suggesting NHK would be loyal to the government's policies, including the territorial disputes. His comments triggered criticism that he contradicted NHK's mission to serve the public's interest without bias. Of 12,700 responses from viewers, about 70 percent was critical of NHK, the broadcaster said last week. Days later, a professor quit an NHK radio program on which he had been a regular guest for 20 years after being told not to discuss nuclear energy before Sunday's Tokyo governor elections. The developments are "part of Abe's plan to achieve his nationalistic agenda," said Takaaki Hattori, a media and communications professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. "As he pushes for stronger military and patriotic education, his nationalism angers South Korea and China, fanning animosity here and helping to drum up support for his agenda. NHK is part of the process." The NHK controversy was further fueled last week by public comments attributed to the same two board members who spoke out on programming at the board meeting. In a speech supporting a conservative Tokyo gubernatorial candidate, Hyakuta said the 1937 Nanjing massacre of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers by Japanese troops was a fabrication. He also accused the US forces that occupied Japan after the war of brainwashing the population with a self-denigrating view of Japan's wartime history. Two days later, the Japanese newspaper Mainichi revealed that board member Hasegawa, a professor of Japanese culture, had written an essay last fall praising a right-wing extremist who committed suicide in 1993 to protest a liberal magazine article. Abe acknowledged that the four new board members are his trusted people, but denied any intention to exercise influence over NHK. The four joined the board as part of its partial membership renewal. The 12-member governing board, which approves NHK's budget, is made up of outside experts, including academics and business leaders, and their ties with ruling lawmakers often raise eyebrows. Board members must be approved by parliament and the prime minister. Experts say political influence is a longstanding problem at NHK. The broadcaster was criticized for altering a 2001 program on wartime Japanese sex slavery, allegedly after Abe and another ruling party lawmaker complained, although both sides denied political pressure caused the change. The post Conservatives Push Agenda at Japan's Public TV appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Arrest of Indonesia’s First Woman Governor a Blow for Coalition Posted: 09 Feb 2014 10:03 PM PST  Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, center, wearing a KPK orange vest, walks as she is detained at the national anti-graft agency (KPK) office in Jakarta on Dec. 20, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) SERANG, Indonesia — Indonesia's first female governor, smiling broadly, looks down from billboards that line the pot-holed roads of Banten, the country's fifth-most populous province that she has ruled for almost a decade. Except she's not actually there. Ratu Atut Chosiyah, 51, is in jail in the capital Jakarta, 90 km (55 miles) away, facing charges of bribery and extortion. After years of support from national politicians, Islamic clerics and jawara—street gangsters reputed to have magical powers—Chosiyah's empire is crumbling, the latest in a series of scandals weighing on Indonesia's ruling coalition ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections. Graft scandals have dramatically eroded for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party-led alliance in the country that has the world's biggest population of Muslims and is Southeast Asia's largest economy. The scandals, accompanied by rising prices and a slowdown in growth, have opened up support for the main opposition PDI-P party of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, who lost Indonesia's first direct presidential poll to Yudhoyono in 2004. "For us, Banten is one of the most important provinces because it's one of the biggest provinces in Indonesia," said Hasto Kristianto, vice secretary-general of PDI-P, which several polls predict will come out on top in April's general election. They also show it is now the front runner in Banten. "So we are focused on consolidating that support and building it up, because the public is very disappointed with Ratu Atut." The national anti-graft agency, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, accuses Chosiyah of bribing a judge, who is also in jail, to favor her candidate in an election dispute. It has seized her family's fleet of luxury cars, including a Lamborghini and a Rolls Royce, while local media has published details of a US$500,000 renovation of the governor's private residence and overseas shopping sprees. Chosiyah, also known as Ibu Atut, has not commented on the case against her but her lawyer maintained she was innocent. "In the context of the bribery case, Ibu Atut is absolutely not involved and does not know about the money transfer that was carried out," said her attorney Tubagus Sukatma, referring to the money reportedly paid to the judge. Always dressed in the headscarf and neck-to-toe gown of an orthodox Indonesian Muslim woman, Chosiyah heads a political dynasty that for years has dominated Banten, a hardscrabble province two hours' drive from the gleaming skyscrapers of Jakarta. Her father won a series of construction contracts from former autocrat Suharto and then became a regional political chieftain. Chosiyah has built on the relationship, forging links with Golkar, a political party promoted by Suharto that is part of the ruling coalition. In 2002, Chosiyah eased into the vice governor's chair when Banten was carved out of West Java province. She became governor in 2005. Seven members of her family, including her son, sister, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law, currently hold political positions in the provincial government. Asked about the family's wealth, Chosiyah's sister-in-law, Airin Rachmi Diani, who is also being investigated by the KPK, told media last month: "One's job, wealth and challenges all come from Allah and belong to Allah." Family spokesman Fitron Nur Ikhsan denies allegations of nepotism and voter intimidation, saying the family's rise to power is based on genuine public support. "The public assumes that several family members are [in government positions] by design but it's not like that," he told Reuters. "How can the governor stop her family members from exercising their constitutional right to stand for public office?" The headline-grabbing corruption case against Chosiyah is a stumbling block for Golkar, which is clawing its way back to the political center stage after falling from public favor when Suharto was ousted from power nearly 16 years ago. Opinion polls conducted in the wake of the scandal showed over a third of Banten's 10 million voters support deputy governor Rano Karno, who is from the PDI-P. He is scheduled to be named acting governor by the federal government because of Chosiyah's arrest, which would give PDI-P control of three out of five provinces in densely populated Java, the country's political and economic heartland once dominated by Golkar. The scandal also reflects a wider malaise in the decentralized political system that emerged in Indonesia when Suharto's iron grip over the country was ended in 1998. In some regions, greater autonomy led to positive reforms and the rise of a new generation of leaders. But Banten appears to shine a light on the unwelcome side of the new freedoms given to local leaders and bureaucrats, who are now less answerable to the central government. More than half of Indonesia's 539 local leaders are currently under investigation for corruption, according to a joint survey by the Home Affairs Ministry and local NGO Regional Autonomy Watch. "I think that right now PDI-P benefits overall from the perception that the ruling parties are deeply mired in massive corruption scandals," said Douglas Ramage, a Jakarta-based political analyst at Bower Group Asia consultancy. "Banten is not immune from national trends and the implication of the governor and other senior Golkar officials just feeds into that overall public perception." The post Arrest of Indonesia's First Woman Governor a Blow for Coalition appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Starry Eyed Budget Carriers in Southeast Asia Stare at Overcapacity Posted: 09 Feb 2014 09:48 PM PST  AirAsia airplanes sit at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2010. (PHOTO: AP) SINGAPORE — Low-cost carriers are flying high in Southeast Asia on the back of sharp growth in air travel, but as hundreds of new jets swarm into the region concerns are rising about its ability to absorb the record numbers of planes on order. Southeast Asian carriers have been devouring as many new airplanes as planemakers can sell, gambling that low fares and rising disposable incomes will drive the region's 600 million-strong population to keep flying to new destinations. An aircraft buying binge fueled by cheap interest rates and backed by Western export credits shows few signs of halting, with Vietnam's VietJetAir and Thailand's Nok Air both expected to place orders at the Singapore Airshow this week. But after years of explosive growth, the region's budget carriers are now facing fears of overcapacity as deliveries accelerate, airlines expand into each other's markets and currency weakness threatens to puncture economic growth. "This is the only region in the world where airlines have more orders than current fleet and there's more to come," said Brendan Sobie, chief analyst at industry consultancy CAPA. Airlines in Southeast Asia are estimated to have a fleet of 1,800 by the end of this year, he said, while their order book is set to surpass the 2,000 mark. Asia-Pacific planes on order make up 36 percent of the world total and the figure is rising, says Airbus. Already last year, available capacity grew faster than passenger demand in countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, putting pressure on yields or the average revenue per passenger for every kilometer flown. That could extend further in 2014 as carriers in Southeast Asia take delivery of about 230 aircraft worth over $20 billion this year, at a rate close to one new jet every working day. One such aircraft is a short-haul Boeing 737 now making its way to the region and due to reach Singapore's SilkAir in time to be shown off at the Feb. 11-16 air show. The arrival of the airline's first Boeing symbolizes a price war between planemakers generated by Asia's order boom, after SilkAir ditched its previous supplier Airbus. Order Now, Pay Later One reason many airlines have been ordering at once is that engine improvements now allow significant fuel savings. Ample liquidity provided by money-printing central banks has also made it easier to fund the relatively small upfront payments needed to place headline-grabbing plane orders. But bankers warn the race to buy efficient aircraft in anticipation of high demand could spell trouble for the sector. "When you run an airline, for reasons which are both economic reasons and prestige, you want a new kit, so you order an aircraft. And if your neighbor orders aircraft, so you order aircraft," said Bertrand Grabowski, who heads German bank DVB's aviation and land transport finance divisions. "I wouldn't call it irrational exuberance but clearly everybody in Asia is ordering aircraft more than they really need," Grabowski told Reuters in an interview. Most of the aircraft orders come from the region's two fastest growing airlines—Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd, run by entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, and Lion Air, co-founded by Indonesian businessman turned politician Rusdi Kirana. Both carriers have placed orders for hundreds of Boeing and Airbus aircraft valued at tens of billions of dollars as they race to get Asians flying in a region set to overtake the United States as the biggest aviation market. Others ordering aircraft include Cebu Pacific, Tiger Airways, 40-percent owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd, Garuda Indonesia's low-cost unit Citilink, and the Qantas Airways Ltd-owned Jetstar and its affiliates such as Singapore-based Jetstar Asia. In the event that any airline cannot complete an order, there are others waiting in the wings to take their slot. New Deals While Fernandes has dismissed speculation of an aircraft order bubble in Asia, AirAsia's profits have taken a knock due to a grueling price war in its home market, stoked by Lion affiliate Malindo and competition from Malaysian Airlines. AirAsia has termed competition in Malaysia and Thailand as "irrational." Kirana, the head of Lion Air, which does not disclose profits, believes consolidation in the sector is "inevitable" given the large number of companies in the low-cost market. Recently, Tiger Airways agreed to sell its Philippine operations to dominant carrier, Cebu Pacific, and AirAsia's Philippine unit bought into smaller Zest Air. Such concerns are unlikely to get much of a public airing at this week's aerospace event, where deals may be signed for between 100 and 200 jets worth $10-20 billion—albeit far below the record $200 billion seen in Dubai in November. Manufacturers are perennially upbeat and Boeing is expected to reiterate confidence in long-term Asian demand this week. "Nobody is going to place a future order unless they know that whatever they are taking in today is being absorbed in the market at a reasonable yield and a reasonable load factor level," said Dinesh Keskar, Boeing Commercial Airplanes' vice president, Asia-Pacific and India sales. "I wouldn't say the party is ending in the near-term but the rate of growth will slow down." The post Starry Eyed Budget Carriers in Southeast Asia Stare at Overcapacity appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
