| Govt Complains to Bangladesh Over Rohingya Op-ed Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:00 AM PDT  A makeshift Rohingya camp in Arakan State last year. (Photo: Reuters) Burma's government has been irked by a recent op-ed in a Bangladeshi newspaper suggesting that Rohingya-majority parts of Arakan State should hold a referendum on whether to secede from Burma. State-owned media reported that the government summoned the Bangladeshi Ambassador on Monday to hand over a memo expressing Naypyidaw's displeasure over the opinion piece, which appeared in the Dhaka Tribune on March 20. The President's Office director Zaw Htay told The Irrawaddy that it was important that the government reacted to last week's op-ed as it touched upon the ongoing inter-communal tensions between the Muslim minority and Buddhist population in Arakan State. "The stability of our state outweighs the freedom of the expression of foreign media writing about our domestic affairs," he said. "The conflict in Rakhine [Arakan] State is still in a sensitive condition and we do not want any public anxiety on the ground because of the article," Zaw Htay added. In strife-torn Arakan State, tensions remain high between Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists, after recurrent outbursts of inter-communal violence since 2012 have displaced 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, and left almost 200 dead. Bangladeshi journalist Zeeshan Khan claimed in the Dhaka Tribune op-ed that Crimea's recent attempt to secede from Ukraine through a Russia-backed referendum—widely condemned as flawed by European nations, the US and Japan—provides an example on how to resolve the inter-communal conflict in western Burma. The writer argued that Arakan's Sittwe and Maungdaw districts could vote to secede from Burma in order to join Bangladesh's Chittagong Division. Further down in the article, he adds another alternative into the mix by suggesting "they should have the option of forming an independent country between Bangladesh and Myanmar." Arakan State has been part of the Union of Burma since independence in 1947, prior to which the region was part of the British Raj, a colonial empire administration that included India, modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, and Burma. The stateless Muslim minority call themselves Rohingya and say they have lived in northern Arakan State for generations, and are therefore entitled to Burmese citizenship. Burma's government, however, denies the group citizenship and terms them "Bengalis," to suggest most are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The UN and international researchers accuse the government of large-scale human rights violations against the Muslim group and of backing the local Buddhist community during outbursts of inter-communal violence. In recent months, nationalist Buddhist monks of the 969 movement of U Wirathu have been raising these tensions by spreading anti-Muslim messages in Arakan and fanning fears of a takeover of Burma by South Asian Muslims. The inter-communal conflict in Arakan State is highly sensitive in Burma and the recent article drew some angry reactions on Burmese social media sites and in local media outlets. Mya Aye, an 88 Student Generation leader and Muslim, said in a reaction on his Facebook page "the article is just incitement and inflames the current racial and religious conflicts in Burma." "I want to tell the writer that we, the Islam in Burma, have never betrayed our country and are not accepting any kind of violence or terror acts and strongly object to any outside interference," he wrote. The Myanmar Journalists Association, for its part, also condemned the article saying it "intends to incite religious and racial hatred and conflicts in Myanmar, violates journalistic ethics, interferes in Myanmar's domestic affairs and infringes on Myanmar's sovereignty." In the past, Bangladesh has been forced to accept Rohingya refugees on to its territory after Burma's then-military junta launched army operations in northern Arakan in the late 1970s and early 1990s that set hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas fleeing across the border. The group is also not welcome in Bangladesh, however, and in the late 1990s Burma's government agreed to let many return to Arakan State. The post Govt Complains to Bangladesh Over Rohingya Op-ed appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| New Property Tax Expected to Spur Demand for Low-end Real Estate Posted: 25 Mar 2014 05:53 AM PDT  A view of the traffic on Sule Pagoda Road in downtown Rangoon, where property prices are among the highest in the city. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Burma's government is expected to introduce a new property tax system next month that will reduce tax rates, in particular for lower value properties. Realtors said the move will stimulate demand for the latter market segment, but warned that high-end property demand will remain sluggish. A proposal for the new property tax was sent to Parliament earlier this month, which adapted the bill before sending it back to President Thein Sein, who is expected to approve it soon. According to reports in state-owned media, the draft law would set a 3 percent tax rate for buyers of property valued at less than 50 million kyat (about US$51,000), 10 percent for properties under 150 million kyat and a 30 percent tax rate for real estate worth more than 300 million kyat (about $306,000). Sellers of property pay a flat 10 percent tax rate. In addition, property sales in Burma are subject to so-called stamp duty for buyers, set at 5 percent of value in Rangoon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw, and 3 percent in other cities. Under the current system, introduced in 2012, buyers pay a flat 37 percent rate on property transfers, while sellers pay 10 percent. "We expected that the new tax system will begin in April 1, so under the new system the low-cost properties will be in demand. We are not sure about high-end properties," said Than Oo, managing director of Mandine real estate agency in Rangoon. He said demand for properties on the outskirts of Burma's commercial capital Rangoon, such as in North Dagon, South Dagon, North Okkalapa, Shwe Pyi Tha, Hlaing Tharyar, Dagon Seik Kan townships, was rising in anticipation of the new property tax system. "Especially in remote townships, with properties valued between 50 million to 200 million kyat, there will be demand after Thin Gyan water festival [in mid-April]," he said. The new government tax system is coupled to an improved property valuation method introduced in October. The new measure has contributed to rising property tax revenues allowing the government to lower rates. The new valuation system found the highest property rates in Rangoon's Bahan Township—known locally as the Golden Valley, where many wealthy Burmese own homes—with an average value of 325,000 kyat ($331) per square foot. Other expensive townships include Dagon, Mayangone, Kamaryut, Hlaing and Sanchaung, where land is value at 275,000 kyat. Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Pazuntaung and Botahtaung townships come in at average of about 240,000 kyat per square foot. Since the new valuation was announced property owners began to expect higher tax bills. As a result, Rangoon's property market has cooled, in particular for high-value properties, according to realtors. Real estate prices have boomed in the former capital since Thein Sein's government took over in 2011 and introduced a raft of economic reforms. The new tax plan, realtors say, will keep downward pressure on high-end property prices, but make lower value real estate more attractive as tax on these properties will be significantly lower per April 1. Zaw Zaw, manager of Unity real estate, said demand for expensive property had effectively stagnated since October. The new government property taxation system created "a burden for buyers," he said. "So investors are looking to invest in low cost properties at Rangoon, those valued under 200 million kyat are in demand in some remote townships." "I expect that the real estate market will be shaken again after the new tax rate changes," Zaw Zaw said, before adding, "[But] market demand for high-end properties rate is going down." The post New Property Tax Expected to Spur Demand for Low-end Real Estate appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| In Burma President, Some See Change From Reformist to Nationalist Posted: 25 Mar 2014 04:56 AM PDT  Burma's President Thein Sein attends a session of the 21st Asean and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh in 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — As the 2015 national elections near, changes in President Thein Sein's political approach have led to speculation that the former general may be positioning himself to run for a second term in office next year. The latest tack he has chosen is to prioritize the "protection of race and religion," evincing a nationalistic impulse that would appear at odds with the reformist mantle he has cultivated since taking office three years ago. On Feb. 25, the president sent a formal message to the Union Parliament, requesting that four laws—related to religious conversion, marriage, monogamy and population control—be enacted with the purpose of protecting race and religion, and safeguarding the national interest. Thein Sein said he was sending the request in part at the urging of the monk Tilawka Biwuntha, who chairs the Organization for the Protection of National Race and Religion (OPNRR), and was further prompted by a petition in support of such legislation that was signed by more than 1.3 million people in Burma. A number of Burmese politicians have asserted that the move was politically targeting nationalists in order to garner support from Buddhists and ultimately win their votes. Thein Sein has given no public indication as to whether or not he will put himself forward for re-election next year, but that has not stopped others from claiming to speak for him on the matter. Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann has made his own interest in the presidency clear, and his assertion in October that Thein Sein would not seek a second term elicited a sharp rebuke from presidential spokesman Ye Htut. Lawmakers over the last year have spoken of a growing rivalry between the two most powerful members of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Interestingly, Thein Sein's request to Parliament was sent right back by the speaker, who insisted that drafting the bills was the responsibility of relevant ministries. In sending the proposal back to the administration, Shwe Mann seemingly assured that the president would take ownership of the controversial issue. The government's recent trumpeting of the "race and religion" buzzwords coincides with protests calling for amendments to the 2008 Constitution, a campaign being spearheaded by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party and its chairwoman, Aung San Suu Kyi. Some parliamentarians allege that the administration's intention is to divert attention and muffle the growing chorus in favor of amending the charter by engineering competing political noise that plays to the country's potent nationalist movement. "Our Burmese people are still strong and not so weak yet that we have to enact a law to protect our race and religion," Sandar Min, a lawmaker from the NLD, told The Irrawaddy. "To safeguard them has been in our mind since we were young, so we don't need to enact a law. "I want people to know that this is a political trick," she added. "The state Constitution prohibits any attempt to use religion for political purposes." While a Lower House committee actively considers amendments to the Constitution, the president, in his monthly speech to general public on March 1, said all citizens must respect the current, controversial charter. Meanwhile, eyebrows have been raised over the relationship between Thein Sein and Aung Thaung, a USDP leader and former industry ministry who is known as a hardliner. Aung Thaung, who told local media last year that Shwe Mann would be due for a shot as the USDP's standard-bearer in the 2015 presidential election, was more recently seen in public with Thein Sein. The president accompanied the USDP power broker on a trip by the latter to his constituency in Taungtha, Magwe Division, on Feb. 28, where the duo reportedly traveled to inspect ongoing development projects and meet with local residents. Despite ongoing rancor and mud-slinging between Parliament and the government, Aung Thaung, who is also close to U Wirathu, a leading monk within the OPNRR, publicly thanked Thein Sein for development opportunities in his native Taungtha. Their appearance together in Taungtha has fueled speculative links between Thein Sein, the OPNRR and Wirathu, who has publicly proclaimed his opposition to amending the Constitution's Article 59(f), which prohibits Suu Kyi from becoming president. Htay Kywe, a leader of the prominent activist group that now calls itself the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, said that regardless of alliances past or present, Thein Sein's push to enact laws on the protection of national race and religion would complicate Burma's political landscape and threatened to muddle the country's ongoing reform process. The post In Burma President, Some See Change From Reformist to Nationalist appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Arakan Officials Ask Rohingya to Leave Census Race Question Blank Posted: 25 Mar 2014 04:49 AM PDT  Rohingya women are pictured at a schoolhouse outside of Sittwe in May 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Arakan State government has asked Muslim leaders in Sittwe to urge their fellow followers of Islam not to identify their "race" in Burma's upcoming census, with authorities worried that allowing Rohingya Muslims to self-identify as such could spark a violent backlash from Buddhists in the troubled region. State authorities including police Col. Tun Oo met Muslim community leaders on Tuesday morning and told them that the request was intended to defuse tensions in the state, which has seen protests by Arakanese Buddhists against the census in recent weeks that continued in Sittwe on Tuesday. The census, Burma's first in more than 30 years, will officially begin next week. The protestors oppose the UN-backed census because it allows Rohingya to identify themselves as they wish, conferring legitimacy on a term that many Arakanese Buddhists—and Burma's government—do not recognize. The government refers to Rohingya as "Bengalis," implying that they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Tun Oo said state authorities were concerned that the security situation could further deteriorate in a state that has been wracked by several bouts of intercommunal violence since June 2012. "We are really worried about it leading to more violence, as there is tension and a lot of protests here against the census," he said. "This is why we requested at the meeting that Muslim leaders tell their people not to fill in a race type for the census." Tun Oo said that because they did not have the authority to make an official statement regarding the census procedure, state authorities had sought out the leaders as a means of "indirectly" coaxing Muslims into compliance with the omission request. "Our government and even Immigration Minister Khin Yi cannot officially state [a request] not to put the name 'Rohingya' on the census because this is an international-standard census. This is why we tried to negotiate an indirect way with Muslim leaders, but we were not successful," Tun Oo said. Some Muslim leaders expressed disappointment at the state authorities' request, which contravenes an assurance given by Khin Yi that Rohingya would be allowed to identify themselves as members of the contested term. Aung Win, a Rohingya rights activist who attended Tuesday's meeting, said a handful of Muslim leaders stood up at the gathering and questioned the state authorities' request. "I found a lot of our people here talking a lot about how they are not happy about it. Whatever happens, they will fill in 'Rohingya,'" Aung Win said. "They told us to leave the race section blank—that now we cannot say what our race is on the census. But Khin Yi and people from UNFPA [the United Nations Population Fund] told us before that we can do it freely," Aung Win said. Meanwhile, Arakanese community leaders have threatened to boycott the census if their grievances are not addressed—specifically, that the state's Muslim minority should only be allowed to identify as "Bengalis" in the census. Nyo Aye, an Arakanese activist who helped organize the protests in Sittwe, said last week that the Arakanese community would reject the census unless its data collection methodology is changed. "If there is no response from the government … we are ready to boycott the census," she said. The 12-day census, organized with UNFPA assistance, is scheduled to begin on March 30 and requires respondents to select their ethnicity and religion. They can choose an ethnicity from a classification list of 135 minorities drawn up in the 1982 Citizenship Law by the then-military government. The Rohingya are omitted from the list and set apart as a group without citizenship, despite claims from many among the Muslim minority that they have lived in Arakan State for generations. The UNFPA has said respondents who do not identify with one of the 135 ethnicities can describe themselves as "other" and orally report their desired ethnic affiliation to the enumerator. These responses would later be sub-coded during data processing, allowing an option for Rohingyas to register their ethnic identity as they wish. Minister of Immigration and Population Khin Yi reportedly told Arakanese MPs that he could not change the census procedures, but assured them that it would not change the government's position regarding the Rohingya. Government data from 2010 put Arakan State's population at about 3.34 million people, of which the Muslim population accounts for 29 percent. Many Arakanese fear government recognition of the Rohingya population would precede an eventual shift in Arakan State's demographics that would threaten Buddhist predominance. The post Arakan Officials Ask Rohingya to Leave Census Race Question Blank appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s Govt Drafting New Film Law Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:15 AM PDT  People walk in front of a cinema in Rangoon in 2007. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Burma's Ministry of Information (MOI) is hoping to have a draft Motion Picture Law submitted to Parliament by the end of this year, with the country's erstwhile film censors saying the proposed regime "will not have serious limitations." "We are drafting the new law focusing on the interest of all of the people from the movie world, such as artists, technicians and producers, as well as concerned businessmen and investors. We will also focus on their rights and to promote the movie world," Thein Htun Aung, director of the MOI's Myanmar Motion Picture Enterprise (MMPE), told The Irrawaddy on Monday. The law is being drafted by the Myanmar Motion Picture Organization (MMPO), a sister organization to the MMPE. "For the last two months, we are discussing the draft every Friday," said Lu Minn, president of the MMPO. "The target for a first draft is the end of the May, but maybe it will take longer, as many of our members are not experienced in making laws," Lu Minn told The Irrawaddy. Film censorship in Burma remains in place, though in practice, many restrictions dating from the military era have been allowed to lapse, with censors making no objection to documentaries and movies shown at several high-profile film festivals held since 2011. "Since 2011, things have changed markedly," Lindsey Merrison, director of the Yangon Film School, told The Irrawaddy, recalling a time when some of the school's graduates were jailed—victims of a former military regime whose repression she sees as a vestige of the past. But it seems, nonetheless, that the Burmese government still envisages a paternalistic role for itself, hinting that MOI officials will remain watchful for content that might, in the eyes of bureaucrats, cause a fuss. "We just give advice to them, to review and edit the unnecessary parts that are not appropriate within our culture and religion," said Thein Htun Aung. And setting what might be a precedent for the upcoming film bill, newly passed media laws include a provision that allows the MOI to review publication licenses annually—assessments that could be based on whether newspapers breach hazy, catch-all prohibitions on writing deemed offensive to religion or in contravention of the country's 2008 Constitution, which is itself a charter that many in Burma want revised. Separately, laws likely to enhance the primacy of Buddhism as the de facto state religion are being drafted by a commission appointed by President Thein Sein, seemingly at the behest of Buddhist supremacists such as the controversial monk U Wirathu, who has been accused of stirring up anti-Muslim violence in Burma. Officials, however, claim that the forthcoming Motion Picture Law will lay the bedrock for an aesthetic flourishing. "We encourage them [filmmakers] to produce films that can give knowledge to the audience with artistic sense, through creative industry," Thein Htun Aung said. A more supportive government attitude toward filmmaking might not be enough in itself, however, to help revive Burma's film industry, which thrived prior to a military coup in 1962. Lowbrow, badly produced tearjerkers are a staple of Burma's film output—a creative malaise that is in part due to the restrictions put in place during military rule. "The environment has changed but the mindset of the people in the industry has not changed so much," said Swe Zin Htike, a popular former actress turned director and producer. Some official backing could, however, bolster the higher echelons of a sector that is finding it tough to gain commercial recognition. The Yangon Film School's Merrison, whose school produces a mix of political documentaries and narrative films, said Burma's TV networks are not always keen to pay for highbrow output. "We'd like to lobby the government to support filmmaking rather than be wary of it," she said. The post Burma's Govt Drafting New Film Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Anti-Genocide Group Sounds Warning About Burma Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:20 AM PDT  A Rohingya woman and her child at Bawdupha, a camp located several kilometers east of Sittwe, Arakan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) WASHINGTON — A former US congressman who visited camps housing tens of thousands of people displaced by communal violence in western Burma is warning that minority Rohingya Muslims face a life-threatening lack of medical care and live in fear of attack. Tom Andrews, president of the US-based activist group United to End Genocide, was issuing a hard-hitting report on Monday after a month-long trip to the country. The former Democratic lawmaker is calling for President Barack Obama to use his leverage with Burma's government to demand protection for the stateless Rohingya. "Clearly the danger signs are very present and growing that we could be seeing a catastrophe. There's been significant loss of life already," Andrews told The Associated Press. "It's not because of anything these people have done. It's because of who they are, their ethnicity and the God they pray to. That's why they are being targeted." "The building blocks of genocide are there, and the warning signs of mass violence are there," he said. Since mid-2012, close to 280 people, mostly Rohingya, have died in Buddhist-Muslim clashes in Arakan State, casting a shadow over Burma's rapid transition toward democracy after five decades of direct military rule. Some 140,000 Rohingya have been forced into overcrowded camps, and tens of thousands have fled by boat. Andrews said the rate of departure by sea has doubled so far this year, despite the hazardous voyage and bleak chances of winning asylum elsewhere. Burma considers the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya to be immigrants who moved to the country illegally from neighboring Bangladesh, though many were born in Burma in families that have lived there for generations. Last month, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders was forced to stop working in Arakan State, where it provided health care to about 700,000 people, including almost 200,000 displaced people living in camps and isolated villages. The government accused the Nobel Peace Prize-winning aid group of providing more care to Muslims than Buddhists. Andrews said he spent four days at the camps near the state capital, Sittwe. He said that according to camp inmates, guards turn a blind eye if they choose to flee by sea but inmates wanting to reach Sittwe general hospital must pay bribes for their security. He said acutely sick people were running out of medicine, and some had resigned themselves to dying. Doctors Without Borders has also expressed fears that shutting down its operations could endanger lives. Its chief last week visited Burma, and in a statement Monday the group said that high-level discussions were continuing with the government on restarting medical activities, beginning with life-saving services such as emergency hospital referrals and treatment of HIV and tuberculosis patients. The Burmese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The government has said its priority is law and order in Arakan State. The United States, which has led the international diplomatic effort to encourage Burma's democratic transition over the past three years, has called for unfettered humanitarian access and for the government to address Rohingya demands for citizenship. Andrews said there's little domestic pressure on the Burma government to address the escalation in ethnic and religious tensions, amid rising Buddhist nationalism ahead of elections in 2015. But he said foreign governments, particularly the United States, retain important leverage because of Burma's desire for integration into the world community. Andrews served in Congress from 1991-95, representing a district in Maine. His visit to Burma was unofficial, his second trip there since last June. United to End Genocide also campaigns on Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The post Anti-Genocide Group Sounds Warning About Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| A Tale of Retail Success Posted: 24 Mar 2014 07:38 PM PDT  Under Daw Win Win Tin's leadership, City Mart has become Myanmar's leading retail business. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) As Myanmar's leading retailer, City Mart Holdings has made great strides since the opening of its first outlet in the north wing of Bogyoke Aung San Stadium in Yangon in 1996. It now has 15 supermarkets in Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw, and has expanded its business to include a wide variety of other retail stores.
Daw Win Win Tint, 39, has been at the helm of the company since 1997, shortly after she returned to Myanmar with a degree in business management from Singapore. She spoke recently with The Irrawaddy's Kyaw Hsu Mon about the challenges she has faced as one of the country's leading woman entrepreneurs. Question: How many kinds of retail shops do you have under your supervision? Answer: In addition to our 15 supermarkets, we have five Ocean Super Centers, 19 Season Bakeries, three City Baby Clubs, three Popular Book Stores, and many other retail stores. They are all organized as modern retail stores, which is quite rare in Myanmar, where only around 10 percent of retail shops are organized in this way. Most people here are more familiar with shopping malls like Yuzana Plaza, Sein Gay Har and Super One, whereas we are set up more in the supermarket or hypermarket style. Q: So was it difficult to win over consumers when you first entered the market? A: Actually, we were not the pioneers in this market. There were already a couple of local supermarkets operating here, as well as a Singaporean chain. But when we started out, the biggest challenge was that we were perceived as expensive, so it was difficult to compete with small wholesale shops. But we invested a lot in this style of supermarket, so eventually we were able to gain wider acceptance. Q: Does that mean that at the time you could only sell to high-end customers? A: Well, initially our sales were very poor and we were losing money, but that gradually began to change after we opened in the Junction 8 shopping mall in 1998. After that, our customer base started to expand. We can say that people's purchasing power is still quite weak here, but that is slowly changing. Q: Roughly what percentage of the population goes to supermarkets, as opposed to traditional wet markets? A: At the moment, only around 10 percent of the people here use modern supermarkets. But we expect that to change as incomes rise. Q: How have things changed since 1996 for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Myanmar? A: In 1996, the market economy in Myanmar was still young, so there were a lot of people starting new businesses, even though they didn't have much knowledge at that time. We were actually a bit late coming into this market, since the economy started opening up in 1992. When we came in, the economy was facing a crisis because the government had changed the import and export law. Then in 2003-4 there was another crisis, the banking crisis. That's why there are only a few companies that started out when we did that are still around. Now that the government has changed, we're seeing many more SMEs emerge. But now the amount of capital you need to start a new business is much higher than before. Q: How much were you affected by the US and EU sanctions imposed in the 2000s?
A: Well, some of our regular suppliers were no longer able to get certain products because of the sanctions. We relied on small suppliers, so that was really a struggle for us. Also, we had trouble developing our IT services because all of the software came from the West. We couldn't buy directly from the original developers. And there had no direct trade [for other products] between Myanmar and Western countries, so we had to source goods from Thailand or Singapore, which meant a lot of additional costs. Q: In 2005, there were bomb blasts at two City Mart outlets. How did this affect your business? A: We've experienced a few crises like this, including the flooding in 2007, in which we lost almost everything at our outlet in the Dagon Center, and during Cyclone Nargis in 2008. But the bombings at the Dagon Center and Junction 8 in 2005 were the worst. At the time, I felt completely helpless. Customers and staff were both injured by the blasts. We did our best, and after closing for a month for renovation, we reopened. But it took time to win our customers' trust again. Since then, we have paid serious attention to security issues. Q: City Mart was recently among a number of businesses that were inspected for illegal liquor imports, even though you are not an importer. What is your reaction to this? A: I am satisfied that the government is handling economic reforms well, because we have seen a real improvement in the business environment. However, during this transition period, there are bound to be some mistakes. We just have to let them [the government] know that they need to consider all points of view before they decide to do something. And they should also listen to the advice of economists to improve their trade policy. Q: Do you face any particular challenges as a woman entrepreneur? A: This has never really been an issue for me. Compared to other countries, Myanmar women have a lot of opportunities. There is almost no discrimination. The real problems I face stem from the unstable trade policy and the lack of coordination among the different government ministries. We never get any assistance from the government. Sometimes I think this lack of assistance has made me more capable as a businesswoman. Q: What is the secret of City Mart's success? A: From the beginning, our priority has been serving our customers. We are always looking for new ways to offer them better services and quality at a fair price. This makes me confident that we can continue to keep our position as a market leader. Q: Do you plan to open any new branches this year? A: We are going to open some new branches in the 2014 fiscal year. The main challenge we face right now is the skyrocketing price of property, but we will do what we can to continue expanding. We also have to prepare for the influx of foreign investment that we're expecting after the establishment of the Asean Free Trade Area in 2015. Q: What should the government do to support local businesses before then? A: We need to strengthen our ability to compete, so the government should make it easier for us to get financial backing. We also need access to better locations, and more technical support. Human resources could also be improved.
Q: Do you have concerns about the future? A: Competition will be very tough, so we are going to have to work harder. Perhaps the most important thing the government can do to help us succeed—even more than giving loans—is to create a more transparent trade policy. This article first appeared in the March 2014 print edition of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post A Tale of Retail Success appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Abe Faces Push-Back in Aim to Free Japan Military From Constitution Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:36 PM PDT  Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) is led by a Shinto priest (R) as he pays a customary New Year's visit at Ise shrine in Ise, central Japan, in this photo. (Photo: Reuters) TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hitting a speed bump in his drive to ease constitutional limits on Japan’s ability to fight abroad, as members of his own coalition put up obstacles that could force him to delay or water down the move. Abe has made clear he will press on with changes to free the military from the constraints of the pacifist constitution, but members of his own party are urging caution and his coalition partner is dubious about the wisdom of the historic – and unpopular – change. Allowing the Self-Defense Forces to aid the United States or other allies under attack would mark a turning point for Japan’s military, which has not fired a shot in conflict since World War Two. It would increase the chances of involvement in wars overseas – and almost certainly strain already fraught ties with neighbors China and South Korea. After parliament last week enacted Abe’s budget for the coming fiscal year, so-called collective self-defense looks set to dominate the remaining three months of this session. Other aspects of Abe’s agenda, which seeks a more muscular military and a less-apologetic foreign policy, have also run into trouble. His December visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan’s wartime militarism, upset not only Asian neighbors China and South Korea but security ally the United States, which expressed "disappointment". Abe has had to back away from any attempt to revise a 1993 government statement apologizing for government involvement in forcing Asian women to serve as prostitutes for Japanese soldiers in World War Two under U.S. pressure to repair frayed ties with Washington’s other key Asian ally Seoul. The government is not making a direct assault on the constitution to allow collective self-defense, but instead aims to reinterpret the charter to authorize the use of force to help allies abroad. But even some of Abe’s political allies are wary of that approach. "I think it is wanton for the government to change overnight the interpretation of the constitution to allow the exercise of the right of collective self-defense," Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of dovish coalition partner New Komeito, said over the weekend in one of his strongest statements on the topic. Sidestepping Constitution Given such obstacles, Abe now "realizes that it is not so easy as he expected two or three months ago", said Hokkaido University Professor Jiro Yamaguchi, a member of a group of about 30 academics opposing the change. "It will take longer." The need to compromise, especially with the New Komeito but also with less hawkish members of Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party, could limit the scope of eventual changes. Abe says there is no deadline to decide. But failure to adopt a cabinet resolution and seek needed legal changes in an autumn session of parliament would make the new interpretation too late to include in an upgrade of U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines, which the allies want to complete by the end of the year. The push-back from the New Komeito could force Abe to whittle down the scope of reinterpretation, perhaps to allow aid only for the United States and only in conflicts close to Japan. Abe chafes at Article 9 of the constitution, in which "the Japanese people forever renounce war" and the "threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes". Japan also gives up the right to maintain land, sea and air forces, as well as other "war potential". Conservatives argue the charter was imposed by the United States on a defeated Japan and should be rewritten, although it has long been stretched to allow armed forces purely for self-defense. Japan’s military is on a par with that of France. But formal amendments must be approved by two-thirds of both houses of parliament and a majority of voters, a hurdle lawmakers have never attempted to clear since the constitution took effect in 1947. Abe and his advisers say security tensions, including China’s growing military clout and an unpredictable North Korea, mean Japan can’t wait. Critics counter that lifting the ban through a simple cabinet resolution for example would undermine the foundations of the constitution, making a mockery of amendment procedures. A weekend poll by Kyodo News found that 58 percent of the public oppose revising the interpretation while 34 percent support the change. Nazi 'Tactics' Some see a disturbing echo of Adolf Hitler evading Germany’s constitution by passing a law that gave the cabinet the power to decree legislation. "If this is achieved, any cabinet could change the interpretation of the constitution by adopting a resolution and passing laws," said Seiichiro Murakami, a veteran lawmaker and a rare outspoken critic of the prime minister in Abe’s party. "In the same way that the Nazis passed a law and twisted the Weimar Constitution, there is a danger that Japan could again tread a mistaken path," Murakami told Reuters. Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso sparked outrage in July by appearing to suggest the government do just that. The Nazis changed the constitution "before anyone was aware", he said. "Why don’t we learn from that technique?" Aso later retracted the widely vilified remarks, saying he had caused misunderstanding. Abe’s advisers have been planning to issue a report next month recommending a reinterpretation of Article 9 to allow collective self-defense. Abe appointed an ex-diplomat who shares his views to head the government’s constitutional watchdog, the Cabinet Legislation Bureau. The prime minister then plans to discuss the proposal with the ruling parties, adopt a cabinet resolution and submit necessary revisions to current laws to parliament. But the New Komeito is resisting the timeline. "This notion of the prime minister lacks the most critical element of listening to the voice of the people, and I can by no means agree," wrote New Komeito executive Yoshio Urushibara on his website late last month. Potentially more troubling for Abe are calls from his own party for more debate. Few would risk a frontal attack on Abe as long as he remains popular, the LDP’s Murakami said. The premier’s ratings are above 50 percent, high for a Japanese leader, buoyed mainly by hopes for his "Abenomics" recipe for fixing the economy. But Murakami said that internal party dynamic could change as time goes by, making it harder to revise the interpretation of the constitution. Yukio Edano, a former top government official who heads the opposition Democratic Party’s panel on constitutional matters, predicted Abe’s government "will find ways, without changing the overall interpretation, to explain that some things that were previously not possible are possible under the constitution". Even a limited reinterpretation, critics say, could give the government a foot in the door to make broader changes later. "It is a very simple truth, and as scholars and political scientists, we should keep saying that Abe’s project is a challenge to the constitutional system," said Hokkaido University’s Yamaguchi. The post Abe Faces Push-Back in Aim to Free Japan Military From Constitution appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| New-Style Indonesian Leader Takes on World’s Oldest Profession Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:27 PM PDT  A woman uses a calculator as prostitutes wait for customers in the Dolly district in Surabaya March 24, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) SURABAYA, Indonesia — She has revamped its parks, kickstarted its port development and given free health and education to its poor. But for Tri Rismaharini, the celebrated mayor of Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya, one big challenge remains: shutting down Dolly. That's the name of a brothel complex established in the 1970s in what is now central Surabaya. Each of Dolly's 60 or so brothels hosts up to 100 sex workers, according to Yayasan Abdi Asih, a local NGO. A thousand more women work at hundreds of smaller brothels in neighboring Jarak. The two areas combined are often described as Southeast Asia's largest red-light district. Most of the women hail from impoverished rural areas of East Java, a region of Muslim-majority Indonesia famous for its Islamic boarding schools. Previous mayors have vowed but failed to close the area. Rismaharini, 52, who was elected in 2010, has not only revived the fortunes of a once-struggling city. She has also joined the pantheon of new Indonesian leaders known for clean, can-do governance. Their apogee is Jakarta's popular governor, Joko Widodo, better known as "Jokowi," who recently announced he will run for president in July. But can even a new-style leader prevail against the world's oldest profession? Rismaharini believes so. She has already closed down three of Surabaya's smaller red-light areas, and has set a deadline of June 19 to close Dolly. "I knew Dolly would be hardest and that's why I've tackled it last," Rismaharini told Reuters. Surabaya city government provided training in cooking, hairdressing and other skills to 650 sex workers in 2010-13, said its public relations department. Some were given 3 million rupiah (US$264) to encourage them to return home and start small businesses. The scheme, which aims to reach 900 sex workers in 2014, allows women to escape exploitation and "choose the life they want," said Rismaharini, Surabaya's first female mayor. Life in Dolly Gang Dolly ("Dolly Alley"), as it's known locally, occupies a residential area. At dusk, the call to prayer from a neighborhood mosque is drowned out by music booming from competing brothels. Its narrow streets are grim but bustling. Pimps wave down passing men into smoky rooms where young woman sit in glassed-off areas, playing with their cellphones until chosen by a customer. Meme, 27, started working at Dolly three years ago after her husband died in a traffic accident. She takes her customers to a dimly lit room just big enough for a grubby mattress. A tap and plastic bucket serve as a bathroom. She has seven to 10 customers a night, who each pay the equivalent of $11. Of this, she gets less than half; the brothel owner gets the rest. Meme uses her share to pay for the education of her six-year-old daughter, who lives with her parents in Madiun, a four-hour drive south of Surabaya. She rejected the mayor's offer of 3 million rupiah, which couldn't match her current earnings, although she longed for a change of profession. "What I want to do is open a grocery store and for that I need at least 100 million rupiah," she said. Like Meme, many women are reluctant to give up sex work because they have children to support, said Lilik Sulistyowati, 56, the director of Yayasan Abdi Asih, which counsels Dolly's women and trains them to find alternative jobs. It was not only sex workers who opposed the mayor, she said. Dolly has a thriving ancillary economy of food and drink stalls, minimarts, parking lots and laundries. "A lot of people depend on the sex trade, and they're the ones who are mainly protesting the closure," Sulistyowati said. Some women who worked at Surabaya's other red-light areas were now plying their trade in guesthouses or vehicles. This took them away from localized outreach programs designed to tackle the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, she said. "When the commercial sex workers are all in one place, they have a routine of getting tested once a month at the local clinic," said Sulistyowati. "Now many of them have ended up on the street or in hotels with no support system." Learning to Walk Residents claim Surabaya's religious leaders are pressuring the mayor to shut Dolly. But Rismaharini says it is not a "heaven or hell" issue. "As a leader, I have to show [sex workers] there is nothing contemptible about what they do," she said. "It's a matter of securing their children's future." Children were the "biggest victims," said Rismaharini, who wept during a recent television interview while talking about Dolly. Girls were sucked into underage sex work and boys into pimping, she said. She rejected reports that sex workers from brothels she had closed were moving to towns and cities elsewhere in East Java. To prevent HIV cases from rising, city hall planned to increase surveillance of workers selling sex in cars and guest houses, and boost free contraception and public awareness programs, said its public relation department. Rismaharini, who has two grown-up children, still keeps a motherly eye on former sex workers who have undergone retraining. "It's not possible to just let them go," she said. "They're like babies learning to walk." The post New-Style Indonesian Leader Takes on World's Oldest Profession appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Officials: Missing Plane Went Down in Indian Ocean Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:16 PM PDT  A family member of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 waits on a bus before heading to the Malaysian embassy, outside Lido Hotel in Beijing, March 25, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) KUALA LUMPUR — After 17 days of desperation and doubt over the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, the country's officials said an analysis of satellite data points to a "heartbreaking" conclusion: Flight 370 met its end in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean, and none of those aboard survived. The somber announcement late Monday by Prime Minister Najib Razak left unresolved many more troubling questions about what went wrong aboard the Boeing 777 to take it so far off-course. It also unleashed a maelstrom of sorrow and anger among the families of the jet's 239 passengers and crew. A solemn Najib, clad in a black suit, read a brief statement about what he called an unparalleled study of the jet's last-known signals to a satellite. That analysis showed that the missing plane, which took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing early on March 8, veered "to a remote location, far from any possible landing sites." "It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean," he said. His carefully chosen words did not directly address the fate of those aboard. But in a separate message, sent to some of their relatives just before he spoke, Malaysia Airlines officials said that "we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived." Officials said they concluded that the flight had been lost in the deep waters west of Perth, Australia, based on more thorough analysis of the brief signals the plane sent every hour to a satellite belonging to Inmarsat, a British company, even after other communication systems on the jetliner shut down. The pings did not include any location information. But Inmarsat and British aviation officials used "a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort" to zero in on the plane's last direction, as it reached the end of its fuel, Najib said. In a statement, Inmarsat said the company used "detailed analysis and modeling" of transmissions from the Malaysia Airlines jet and other known flights to describe "the likely direction of flight of MH370." Najib gave no indication of exactly where in the Indian Ocean the plane was last heard from, but searchers have sighted possible debris in an area about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth. High waves, gale-force winds and low-hanging clouds forced the multinational search to be suspended for 24 hours Tuesday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement. Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss, who is responsible for the search coordination, said Tuesday in Canberra the determination that the plane had crashed shifts the search to a new phase, but that it would be a difficult and long one. "The Malaysian announcement is purely based on the satellite imagery that's available, the calculations about fuel and capacity of the aircraft to stay in the air, so it's really a long, long way away before much can be done by way of physical examination," he said. He said that under international agreements governing air travel "Malaysia needs to take control" and decide how to proceed. Truss said the Australian naval supply ship HMAS Success had been in the area where objects had been spotted Monday, but its crew had been unable to find anything. He said he did not expect the search for debris would be scaled back in the short term. "Obviously, recovery of any kind of debris that may be related to the aircraft will be important for the investigative stage," he said. "So it's still important for us to try and find as much of the aircraft as possible." There is also a race against the clock to find any trace of the plane that could lead them to the location of the black boxes, the common name for the cockpit voice and data recorders, whose battery-powered "pinger" could stop sending signals within two weeks. The batteries are designed to last at least a month and can last longer. The plane disappeared March 8. Some of the relatives who gathered to listen to Najib, met the news with shrieks and uncontrolled sobs. Others collapsed into the arms of loved ones. "My son! My son!" cried a woman in a group of about 50 gathered at a hotel near Beijing's airport, before falling to her knees. Minutes later, medical teams carried one elderly man out of the conference room on a stretcher, his face covered by a jacket. In Kuala Lumpur, screams came from inside the Hotel Bangi Putrajaya, where some of the families have been given rooms. Selamat Omar, father of a 29-year-old aviation engineer aboard the flight, said in a telephone interview that he and other families were waiting for word about whether they would be flown to Australia, closer to where it is believed the plane went down. "We accept the news of the tragedy. It is fate," Selamat said. But Sarah Bajc, the girlfriend of an American passenger, Texas-native Philip Wood, said that the announcement based only on data, without any recovered wreckage put resolution beyond reach. "I need closure to be certain but cannot keep on with public efforts against all odds. I STILL feel his presence, so perhaps it was his soul all along," she wrote in an email. "Now Philip's family and I will need some time for private grief." After Najib's announcement, some of the relatives of the Chinese passengers went before cameras to criticize the Malaysian officials who "have concealed, delayed and hid the truth" about what happened to the plane. About two-thirds of the passengers on board were Chinese. "If the 154 of our loved ones lose their lives, then Malaysia Airlines, the government of Malaysia and the military are really the executors of our loved ones," said a spokesman for the group who, like many Chinese, would give only his surname, Jiang. But the announcement does nothing to answer why the plane disappeared shortly after takeoff. More specifically, it sheds no light on investigators' questions about possible mechanical or electrical failure, hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board. Malaysia's police chief reiterated Monday that all the passengers had been cleared of suspicion, but that the pilots and crew were still being investigated. He would not comment on whether officials had recovered the files that were deleted a month earlier from the home flight simulator of the chief pilot. US deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes stopped short Monday of saying the US had independent confirmation of the status of the missing airliner. He noted the conclusion of Malaysian authorities and said the US, which has been aiding the search, was focused on that southern corridor of the ocean. The search for the wreckage and the plane's recorders could take years because the ocean can extend to up to 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) deep in that part of the ocean. It took two years to find the black box from an Air France jet that went down in the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009, and searchers knew within days where the crash site was. An Australian navy support vessel, the Ocean Shield, was expected to arrive in several days in the search zone, a defense official said. The ship is equipped with acoustic detection equipment that can search for the black boxes. Without them, it would be virtually impossible for investigators to say definitively what happened to the plane. "We've got to get lucky," said John Goglia, a former member of the US National Transportation Safety Board. "It's a race to get to the area in time to catch the black box pinger while it's still working." The US Pacific Command said before Najib's announcement that it was sending a black box locator in case a debris field is located. The Towed Pinger Locator, which is pulled behind a vessel at slow speeds, has highly sensitive listening capability that can hear the black box pinger down to a depth of about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), Cmdr. Chris Budde, a US 7th Fleet operations officer, said in a statement. He called it "a prudent effort to pre-position equipment and trained personnel closer to the search area." The US Navy has also sent an unmanned underwater vehicle to Perth that could be used if debris is located, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. The Bluefin-21, expected to arrive in Perth on Wednesday, has side-scanning sonar and what is called a "multi-beam echo sounder" that can be used to take a closer look at objects under water, he added. It can operate at a depth of 4,500 meters (14,700 feet). The post Officials: Missing Plane Went Down in Indian Ocean appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
