| Hundred Displaced as Burma Army Shells Kachin Rebel Post Posted: 10 Apr 2014 05:06 AM PDT  A Kachin rebel at Hka Ya Bhum, an outpost of the Kachin Independence Army in Lajayang. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) MAI JA YANG, Kachin State — Heavy fighting between government forces and troops from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) displaced more than 300 local residents in eastern Kachin State on Thursday. The fighting began Thursday morning when government troops attacked KIA Third Brigade positions close to Mai Ja Yang, the second-largest town controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), aid workers operating in the area told The Irrawaddy. The KIO is the political wing of the KIA. The fighting has already displaced some 300 people from U Yang and Nam Hka villages who arrived in Man Win Gyi, a government-controlled town, on Thursday afternoon. As the fighting has continued, more are expected to arrive at the local Catholic church. Aid workers worry that the fighting will affect more than 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently staying at the Lagat Yang IDP camp, which is in KIO-controlled territory. Throughout the day on Thursday, Burma Army forces fired heavy artillery at a KIA position on Na Lung Bum mountain, less than 500 meters away from Lagat Yang. A few of the shells landed very near to the camp, according to staff from Wunpawng Ninghtoi (WPN), a local Kachin aid group. Also on Thursday, a 40-year-old Shan villager named Chit Bwe from the village of Nawng Jung, very near to Lagat Yang, was injured by a shell believed to have been fired from government positions at Nawng Lum, WPN staff told The Irrawaddy. As of Thursday afternoon, many Lagat Yang residents were preparing to head to Nan Moon, a small Shan village on the Sino-Burmese border. If the fighting spreads, they will likely try and cross into China. Chinese authorities, however, appear reluctant to allow the IDPs to cross into neighboring Yunnan province. "We are very concerned about the safety of the IDPs," said WPN's director Mary Tawm. While most of the affected IDPs are ethnic Kachin, some are also Shan and Palaung. Many of the residents of Lagat Yang were previously living at a camp in Nam Lim Pa village that came under attack by the army last November. Nam Lim Pa was seized by government forces just minutes after an aid convoy from a church group affiliated with the Burmese Catholic church entered the KIO-controlled village via government territory. In a related development, the road from the government town of Man Win Gyi to the Chinese town of Nandau was closed by Burmese government authorities, potentially complicating efforts by humanitarian groups trying to reach the newly arrived IDPs. Thursday's fighting comes less than 48 hours after a KIO delegation led by Gen. Gun Maw took part in joint talks in Rangoon involving government officials and the KIO's fellow representatives from the National Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT). Fighting has been on and off between the ethnic Kachin rebels and government troops since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire agreement between the two sides collapsed. The post Hundred Displaced as Burma Army Shells Kachin Rebel Post appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Letpadaung Trainees Go on Strike Over Pay and Conditions Posted: 10 Apr 2014 05:02 AM PDT  A Wanbao mining truck is seen parked near a Buddhist pagoda that locals claim has been damaged by work at the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division. (Photo: Nyein Pyint Sone / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Local trainees at the Chinese company working on the highly controversial Letpadaung copper mining project in central Burma are protesting for higher wages and better working conditions. The massive project in Sagaing Division—a joint venture between Chinese firm Wanbao and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd, a Burmese military company—has been hit by widespread protests from locals displaced by the project and activists concerned about its environmental and social impacts. Work resumed in November after a stoppage, which saw a parliamentary investigation into the project and led to profit-sharing terms being revised to give the Burmese government a larger stake. On Thursday, 224 local trainees from 26 villages in the Letpadaung area staged a protest along the main road leading up to Wanbao's office. The trainees, who have been receiving training for more than five months, carried placards and shouted slogans demanding proper workers' rights. The young trainees come from families who had land confiscated to make way for the sprawling mine. "Our salary is lower than the janitors," said Phyo Nyi Htwe, one of the trainees on strike. "Our work is mainly menial work such as sprinkling acid over the soil. We are not fully provided with good equipment to protect ourselves from the acid." Wanbao took on the trainees as part of its agreement to provide more job opportunities for locals. Under the terms of the trainee program, they will later have the opportunity of becoming fully employed by Wanbao. In the meantime, however, they are paid just US$120 per month. The trainees told The Irrawaddy that most are university graduates, and that they had demanded their wages be doubled, but the company refused. "We've asked the company and they said they would negotiate, but they failed to do so. That's why we went out on the street to show them what we want," said another trainee, who declined to be named. The striking trainees will demonstrate again on Friday, and are demanding a meeting with management to settle the dispute before work begins again after next week's Thingyan holiday. "If they do not agree to increase the payment, all of us will quit our jobs," the trainee said. A Wanbao representative insisted that the company had provided all necessary safety equipment and a suitable salary for trainees. "We've provided them with what they deserved," said Myint Thein, the company's administrative manager. "It would be more appropriate to complain if they were permanent workers, but we will think about it. Since they are just the trainees, not yet employees of ours and they are not skilled yet, it is hard for us to increase their pay level." He said the workers appeared not to appreciate that they were not yet full employees of Wanbao. "We have no intention to oppress them with the lower salary. I think there is some misunderstanding about the term 'trainee' and I think someone is stirring up problems without understanding the nature of their employment," he said. He said the trainees would have to complete a test in order to become permanent staff, and then they would be entitled to higher pay. "We will provide a better salary to whoever passes the test to become a permanent worker. The pay level will vary, depending on their skill as well," he said. "We will, however, negotiate with the protesting trainees for a positive result." The post Letpadaung Trainees Go on Strike Over Pay and Conditions appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burmese Military Accompanies Census Enumerators in Conflict Area Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:57 AM PDT  An enumerator fills out a census form in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burmese military troops accompanied census enumerators into 46 villages in northern Shan State where the government is still vying for control with ethnic Kachin rebels, state media said. The Kachin Independence Organization said in the run-up to the nationwide census, which began on March 30 and ends Thursday, that it would not cooperate with the process, leaving out tens of thousands of people in areas hit by conflict, and in camps for the displaced within rebel territory. The state-run Mirror newspaper said Thursday that the census had, with the help of troops, been successfully taken in some areas that act as buffer zones between the front lines of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burma Army. "The census was able to be collected from April 2-9 in 46 out of 54 villages, with the security protection of the army, where census collection had not been possible [previously] because of the restrictions of the KIA in northern Shan State, Kyaukme District," the report said. "The census will proceed in the remaining eight villages." Previous state media reports complained that threats and disruptions from the ethnic Kachin armed group were preventing enumerators, who are volunteer civil servants, from collecting data on parts of northern Shan State and Kachin State. Officials at the National Census Agency refereed a reporter's questions to the Census Hotline—a telephone service for citizens to ask for information about the UN-backed census—where operators were also unable to provide detailed information. Doi Be Za, a member of the KIO's central committee, said that in some areas of Kachin State where the army and enumerators tried a similar approach, many villagers left their homes when they saw troops approaching. "When about 40 people, soldiers and a few enumerators, come into a village, the villagers run away. They have been running away when a column of the military comes into the village for more than 50 years. It's not because they want to deny the census but because of the military," he said. "I heard they were able to collect only for three household in one village in Lwal Kyal Township [Kachin State]," he said, adding that the village has 20-30 households in all. Doi Be Za, who is also the officer in charge of the KIO's IDPs and Refugees Relief Committee, estimated that 200,000 people were living inside KIO-administered areas. State media said data on more than 10 million households had been collected up to Tuesday. The post Burmese Military Accompanies Census Enumerators in Conflict Area appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Mon State to Allow Ethnic Language Classes in Govt Schools Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:49 AM PDT  The Mon national school in Durae, in Ye Township, Mon State. (Photo:Kaowao) RANGOON — The Mon State Parliament has passed a bill to allow the teaching of ethnic languages in government schools for the first time in more than half a century, state lawmakers say. The state legislature voted on Wednesday to allow primary school students to take classes in Mon language and literature. Students can also elect to study ethnic Pa-O or Karen languages. All other classes will be conducted in Burmese language, according to national policy. The law will be effective during the upcoming academic year, which begins in July. Mon State will be the first state in the country to allow the teaching of ethnic languages at government schools. Elsewhere, students must study ethnic languages on their own time, outside of school hours. "Our parliament passed the bill already. Nobody was against it. Teaching Mon will happen once daily at the government schools," Nai San Tin, a state lawmaker for the All Mon Region Democracy Party, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. Students will start Mon language classes when they begin primary school and will continue until fourth grade. The classes will focus on grammar, writing and literature, as well as Mon culture. Lawmakers said they would wait for the results of national education reform efforts before extending Mon language classes to secondary schools in the state. Ethnic education departments around the country are continuing to push the central government for greater freedom to teach ethnic languages. Nai Banyar Aung Moe, an MP in the Upper House of Parliament in Naypyidaw, said he would submit a proposal to allow university-level classes focused on Mon language. He praised the state legislature's decision to pass the new education bill. "We are worried our Mon children cannot read their language. This is great news for our Mon because we have struggled for this for a long time," he said. The Mon State Education Department will be responsible for hiring Mon-speaking teachers. These teachers will be paid a lower salary than other government teachers, earning only as much as Mon-language teachers at non-state schools, according to Aung Naing Oo, a state lawmaker representing the All Mon Region Democracy Party. Under the democratically elected U Nu government of the 1950s, all schools in Burma's ethnic areas were permitted to teach ethnic languages, but the military regimes that ruled the country from 1962 enforced monolingual education in all state schools. As a result, in Mon State, as in other parts of the country, only schools run by ethnic rebel administrations have taught local languages. Amid political reforms initiated after President Thein Sein came to power in 2011, ethnic lawmakers have made requests for mother-tongue teaching to be reinstated. Since 2012, teaching ethnic languages has been permitted, but only outside of school hours, and without any state funding. The New Mon State Party (NMSP), an armed group that has a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government, has since 1972 run its own schools under its Mon National Education Department. It runs 156 schools, employing 800 teachers and serving 17,000 students. At these schools, students learn in the Mon language at the primary level. A mix of the Mon language and Burmese is used during middle school. The post Mon State to Allow Ethnic Language Classes in Govt Schools appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Displaced Villagers Defy Govt, Resettle in Karen Rebel Territory Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:17 AM PDT  DKBA soldiers families who were resettled in rebel-held area in eastern Karen State after they were evicted from their homes on Rangoon's outskirts. (Photo: Facebook/ Yamoun Nar) RANGOON — About 160 villagers who were forcibly evicted from their homes on the outskirts of Rangoon have been resettled in rebel-held territory in eastern Karen State in recent days, despite earlier attempts by local authorities to prevent the group from relocating there. Col San Aung, a commander in the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), said the displaced families had moved to a village called Kyauk Khet, located in a DKBA-controlled part of Karen State near the border town of Myawaddy. "We are building bamboo houses for them. We could build three to four houses a day. We offer them [dried] leaves for the roofs of their houses and bamboo for the structure of the houses. We used bulldozers to clear the ground," he told The Irrawaddy by phone on Thursday. San Aung said the DKBA, together with a small ethnic Arakanese rebel group and Karen activists had donated 100 bags of rice, clothes and medicine to the group, adding that medical staff from Dr. Cynthia Maung's Mae Tao Clinic, located at Mae La refugee camp in nearby Thailand, had come to provide free medical care for the new arrivals. "There were some donors. They donated to the people what they can. Yesterday, Dr Cynthia's clinic donated medical treatment to the people," the commander said. In February, about 200 ethnic Karen villagers from Thameegalay, Innpatee and Pawkali villages in Hlegu Township, Rangoon Division, were evicted and their homes were bulldozed by local authorities, which claimed that the impoverished families had been illegally occupying military-owned land. Soon after, DKBA commanders invited the group to move to their area of control where each family could receive a 40-by-60-feet plot of farmland and a simple home—an offer that the villagers accepted. The families temporarily moved to Aungtheikhti monastery in Pegu Division before travelling on to Myawaddy Township last week. However, when the group attempted to travel there Karen State authorities blocked their way on the grounds that the DKBA-area would supposedly be unsafe to live. State-run media ran an article claiming that the group would face livelihood, social and health problems if they moved there. The villagers, who were supported during their travel by the DKBA and Karen activists, then turned back and temporarily stayed at a Buddhist monastery in Karen State's Kawkareik Township. About 40 people decided to abort their attempt to resettle in DKBA area. In recent days, the remaining villagers and the DKBA defied the Karen State authorities and the group reportedly snuck into rebel-held territory. DKBA commander San Aung said that the government's objections had not stopped his rebel group from helping the displaced families. "We are fighting for freedom through armed struggle for those who are oppressed. We need to help these victims as they were oppressed," he said, before adding, "By helping these victims, it does not mean that we are competing with the government." Karen human rights activist and political parties helped the families during their trip from Rangoon to Karen State, according to Naw Ohn Hla, an ethnic Karen activist from Rangoon. She said the government had failed in its obligations to take care of the impoverished, displaced families, adding that the group had the right to travel to DKBA-controlled area in order to seek a better life. "This is shameful for the government, as they abandoned the people after destroyed their properties," Naw Ohn Hla said. The post Displaced Villagers Defy Govt, Resettle in Karen Rebel Territory appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| New Book Documents the Struggle of Burma’s Student Army Posted: 10 Apr 2014 01:30 AM PDT  The cover of a new book launching on Thursday in Bangkok that tells the story of the All-Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF). (Photo: CPCS) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A book about the once-outlawed student army of Burma, entitled "Struggle for Peace: The 25 Year Journey of the ABSDF," will launch on Thursday evening in Bangkok. The ABSDF, or the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, formed after the 1988 uprising in Burma to wage an armed struggle in support of democracy. The armed group signed ceasefire agreements with the Burmese government in August 2013. "Struggle for Peace," which took more than a year to compile, tells the stories of 36 ABSDF members and was published by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS), a Cambodia-based NGO. The ABSDF and the CPCS will also hold a panel discussion during the book launch at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand on Thursday evening. Emma Leslie, head of the CPCS, told The Irrawaddy that the book helps to explain how the ABSDF "carried their ideals, visions and values through their struggle." "The other reason we produced it was to be able to tell the next generation about the horror of war and how they can journey toward peace," she said. The book discusses some dark moments in the group's history, including a mass killing in 1992 known as the "Kachin Massacre." In February of that year, dozens of ABSDF members in northern Burma's Kachin State were murdered by their own comrades after being accused of serving as spies for the junta. Since 2011, family members of the victims have decried the killing and called for justice. "The book talks about all the stories the ABSDF went through. Of course the northern case is an important part of their history," said Leslie. "They have apologized for that part of their history." "Struggle for Peace," will be available in both English and Burmese languages for US$20. A separate book launch ceremony will be held in Rangoon on April 29. The post New Book Documents the Struggle of Burma's Student Army appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Mandalay Prepares for a More Modern Water Festival Posted: 09 Apr 2014 09:15 PM PDT  The float of Burmese band Myo Ma is seen during the water festival in Mandalay last year. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Mandalay, the cultural capital of Burma, is preparing to celebrate Thingyan next week, but some local residents fear that longstanding traditions of the annual water festival are quickly becoming less popular. Thingyan begins on Sunday and ends on Wednesday ahead of the Burmese New Year, and as part of the festivities people across the country will head out to the streets to enjoy musical performances and douse each other with water from elevated pandals. In Mandalay, popular traditional band Myo Ma will lead a procession of floats through the city, performing on a truck decorated with the band's mascot, a flying silver goose. The band, which formed over 75 years ago and today has more than 20 members, is known across the country for its songs about the water festival and has entertained crowds during the holiday for many years. This year Myo Ma will perform newly composed songs featuring mainly saxophones, trumpets and traditional drums, with other celebrities and traditional dancers contributing to the show. "Veteran singer Mar Mar Aye will join us, as will the young star Pho Thaukyar," Zaw Win Than, the band's manager, told The Irrawaddy. Keeping with tradition, the band will make its first stop at the Mahamuni Pagoda when it begins the float tour on April 14, the second day of the festival. In the evening they will head to the pandal of the city's mayor, where floats will compete for the best decoration award, and over the next two days they will go around the city to entertain the crowds. Traditionally, it is a great honor for pandal owners to host a performance by Myo Ma. But this year the band says only a couple pandals have invited them to play their traditional music, as many of the young festival-goers prefer DJ music, techno and hip-hop. "Youngsters believe those songs are merrier than traditional ones. And there are no more traditional pandals like there were in past years, where we could entertain people with traditional songs and dances at night. They just prefer night club-like entertainment that can draw a big audience," Zaw Win Than said. "We're not disappointed because we can't stop the currents of change. We will just go around the city and entertain those who love to hear our songs and those who have invited us to play at their homes and pandals. We believe there will always be someone, old or young, who loves tradition." Around the city's ancient moat, water cannons and hoses are currently being installed at pre-constructed pandals that are decorated with vinyl sheets promoting various advertisements. The pandals are lit up at night as techno and hip-hop songs blare out. Young men with dyed hair and young women in miniskirts and spaghetti-strap tank tops hand out promotions for their pandals, encouraging pedestrians to buy tickets and join them during the festival. This year, ticket prices for pandals in Mandalay range from 10,000 kyats to 150,000 kyats per day (US$10 to $150), depending on whether the pandal is ordinary or VIP. More expensive pandals offer better food, drinks and ferry services. "Over the past 10 years, Mandalay's water festival has become more commercialized," Hsu Mget, a famous writer and local resident, told The Irrawaddy. "In the past, pandals were decorated with traditional arts and there was a competition. But that culture is fading with the practice of decorating pandals with ads on vinyl sheets." The writer said that a decade ago more than 20 floats competed in the festival, but that now no more than 10 floats participated, and only with much encouragement from the mayor. "The water festival nowadays is nothing more than people getting wet, singing, dancing, getting drunk and going back home. We are so sad to see the veteran floats—like Myo Ma's—no longer have a chance to entertain around the pandals like before," he said. He said he worried the traditions would be completely gone in a few years. "We need to move along with the modernizing world, but we also need to understand the value of tradition, to maintain these traditions so we can hand them over to the next generation," he added. The post Mandalay Prepares for a More Modern Water Festival appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s Clunkers Scrapped in Rush for ‘New’ Cars Posted: 10 Apr 2014 01:58 AM PDT  Cars are piled high at the government-run junkyard in Insein Township, Rangoon, which takes used cars from across Burma and turns them into scrap metal. (Photo: Sean Havey / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Mike Shwe Hlaing has a lot full of used SUVs and a potentially huge market to sell them to if Burma manages to spread some of the affluence blooming in its biggest city to a poor and still mostly road-less countryside. One of the quaintest of many anachronisms in Rangoon, a city of moldering colonial villas and gleaming golden pagodas, used to be the decades-old Toyotas, Chevys and other clunkers wheezing down its mostly empty roads, a visible sign of sanctions and economic isolation. Now, the streets have filled with a flood of newer used cars, mostly from Japan. As Burma's reform-minded leadership opens the economy after the former military rulers allowed elections in 2010, automakers are seeking pole positions in what might become one of the world's fastest growing markets for new and used cars. Burma has only 2.3 million registered vehicles, nearly 2 million of which are motorcycles that are popular in the countryside but banned in Rangoon. Most of the 300,000 registered cars are in Rangoon and a few other cities. Mike Shwe Hlaing works at Big Boss Brothers Service Co., one of scores of companies that branched into auto sales after the government revised its regulations in 2011, allowing Burmese citizens to sell 40 year-old junkers and get import licenses for newer, mostly used cars. Rangoon's streets are lined with used car lots. But Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co., Chinese and Korean automakers are among many that have opened showrooms and are setting up distributorships. They hope to cater to growing numbers of wealthy businesspeople, international agencies and diplomats with the means to pay import and sales taxes that nearly double the sticker prices for imported vehicles. Cars are still out of reach for most people in Burma, where annual incomes average US$200. Even a modest used compact from Japan such as a Toyota Corolla costs over $10,000 once shipping, taxes and other costs are included. "I'd like to have a car someday," said Shwei Hlaing, who at 22 is starting a career as a car salesman. "But I can't afford one now." A short walk up bustling Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, Toyota's new showroom has just two vehicles on display: a shiny silver Prado Land Cruiser SUV and a sparkling white HiLux pickup. The dealership plans to eventually also offer Camrys and Corollas, said marketing manager Soe Mar Shwe. A brand new Prado Land Cruiser costs $150,000, including the import license fee and taxes, said Soe. A HiLux pickup sells for $78,500. At Big Boss Brothers, a 1997 Prado sells for a still-hefty $35,000. Across the parking lot, the Toyota service department is buzzing as staff rush to answer phone calls and deal with waiting customers. Toyota set up its service department in Burma in 1996 and only opened the Rangoon dealership last month. Though it's just emerging from a half century of economic stagnation, Burma is drawing intense interest from automakers: further down the street is an outlet for BAIC, or Beijing Automotive Industrial Co. Further out, a Mazda distributorship. Chevrolet also recently announced an exclusive local distributor. Online car sales may also be booming. There's no official data, but over a dozen such websites are operating. There's huge room for growth in a country of over 60 million with only 38 vehicles per 1,000 people. That's far less than the United States, where the ratio is 800 per 1,000 people, or even China, where it's 60 per 1,000. Soe, who has been with Toyota for 17 years, said she's ready to trade up from her Nissan sedan. Rangoon's traffic is a hassle, she admits, but she still likes driving. "We cannot afford to have a driver, so we have to drive anyway," she said. Because of the abysmal state of public transport in Rangoon, a city of 5 million, those who can afford to drive, do. Those who can't cram into ancient buses perched precariously on huge tires or hitch rides on pickups outfitted with benches and makeshift roofs. For now, the market is mainly about used cars. Toyota Beltas, Honda Fits and Suzuki Swifts are among the popular smaller-sized cars favored for navigating packed roads and squeezing into tight parking spaces. For the countryside, high-riding SUVs are the wheels of choice. Win Lai Aye, manager at parts supplier Aung Thein Than Co., said sales of lubricants and auto parts have slowed because the newer cars now on the roads require fewer repairs than the ancient vehicles they replaced. But it's just a matter of time before business picks up. Burma's roads are in a rugged state, with only a fifth paved. The rest are dirt tracks that melt into mud during the five-month monsoon season. "We expect that in two or three years, the demand for parts will rise again," Win said. Win Lai Aye's own new car, a Toyota Mark II, she said proudly, is black, the same color favored by government officials in Burma. Most of Yangon's cars are white, since that's the color Japanese prefer. Win Lai Aye was thrilled to get the sedan, but she's not so crazy about driving it in Rangoon. "The traffic jams. Everywhere, traffic jams," she said, shaking her head. Until recently, the oldest of Burma's clunkers were stacked 20 meters (60 feet) high in the "car cemetery" north of the city, waiting to be scrapped by a military-run steel plant. Now, they're being kept near a port outside the city, in row after dusty row. Nearby are parked hundreds of newly arrived cars, ambulances and other vehicles waiting to clear customs and hit Rangoon's increasingly jam-packed roads. The post Burma's Clunkers Scrapped in Rush for 'New' Cars appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Russia Says Long-Sought China Gas Supply Deal Is Close Posted: 09 Apr 2014 11:02 PM PDT  Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (C) and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping walk into a hall as they meet at the Kremlin in Moscow March 22, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) MOSCOW — Russia said on Wednesday it was close to signing a deal to sell natural gas to China, a long-sought agreement which President Vladimir Putin could use to show Western sanctions over Crimea cannot isolate his country. The deal is the Holy Grail for Russia after at least 10 years of talks and Moscow hopes it can be signed when Putin visits China next month. There was no immediate comment by China, whose negotiating position has been strengthened by Western threats to impose more sanctions on Russia if Moscow sends its armed forces into eastern Ukraine following its annexation of Crimea. As talks between state-controlled Gazprom and Chinese officials continued in China, Arkady Dvorkovich, a deputy prime minister, said the sides were close to sealing a deal that would also involve construction of a pipeline to carry 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year. “Regarding Gazprom’s gas contract, the sides are close to agreement … The only issue remaining is … the price,” he was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency in Beijing. “We really hope that the contract will be signed in May.” Gazprom said separately that there had been progress at the talks on the price China would pay for the Russian gas and that it expected the contract to come into force by the end of 2014. It gave no further details of the negotiations. Industry sources said before the latest round of talks that Gazprom could try to secure a deal by proposing a lower price for the gas in exchange for China handing over billions of dollars in upfront payments. The sources said Gazprom was hoping for a price of $10-$11 per mmBtu (million British thermal units) from China. China is believed to pay $9 per mmBtu to Turkmenistan, the former Soviet state in Central Asia that beat Gazprom to the Chinese market. The deal would help Gazprom reduce its dependency on exports to Europe, which gets around a third of its gas needs from Russia. Half of this amount comes via Ukraine, which is at odds with Moscow over gas payments as well as being locked in a political standoff over the Crimea region. Ukraine owes Gazprom $2.2 billion for gas and failed to meet a deadline this week for paying its March gas bill. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a government meeting there were grounds to make Kiev pay in advance for its gas, but Putin suggested holding off on such a move for now. Gazprom has increased the gas price for Ukraine by 80 percent since the neighboring former Soviet republic ousted Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich on Feb. 22 and installed a Westward-looking government. Kiev said the price rise was a politically motivated move to punish it for pursuing closer ties with the European Union. Russia Looks East The crisis in relations with Kiev has made bypassing Ukraine by using different pipelines, or reorienting trade to the East, priorities for Putin, and Russia has been working hard to develop relations with Asia. Russia’s desire to find new markets has also strengthened Beijing’s negotiating position on the price at talks involving China National Petroleum Corp. Gazprom has been in painstaking talks over the last 10 years about shipping gas to China and has been unable to agree on pricing. Russia ships around 16 percent of its crude exports to Asia, while gas volumes are small, limited only to super-cooled seaborne gas. By 2035, Moscow plans to double the share of oil flows and send a third of its gas exports eastwards, though its plans are constrained by the lack of necessary infrastructure. Russia, which extracted an average 10.56 million barrels of oil per day last month, exports around 4.4 million bpd of oil in total. It is gradually reducing west-bound flows in favour of Asia. Sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea are mainly limited to individuals but the EU has stepped up discussion of options to reduce its dependence on Russian energy. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that Moscow planned to expand its East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline to 80 million tonnes (1.6 million barrels per day) by 2020, as part of plans to diversify away from Europe. The post Russia Says Long-Sought China Gas Supply Deal Is Close appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Indonesia Election Count Suggests Tougher Ride for Presidential Hopeful Jokowi Posted: 09 Apr 2014 10:57 PM PDT  Jakarta governor and presidential candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Joko Widodo, and his wife Iriana cast their ballot papers during voting in the parliamentary elections in Jakarta on April 9, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Beawiharta) JAKARTA — Indonesia's likely next leader may have a bumpier-than-expected route to the presidential palace after early counting in Wednesday's parliamentary vote suggested his party will have to cut a deal with other parties to get him there in a July poll. Early counts by pollsters show that the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) failed to win enough votes to nominate on its own the hugely popular Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for the powerful presidency. News that PDI-P did not fare as well as opinion polls predicted, even though it was still in front, put pressure on the rupiah in late offshore trading. The prospect of a Jokowi presidency has helped lift both the currency, Asia's best performer this year, and shares. In another surprise, Islamic parties looked to have picked up more support than expected. Though Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population, many analysts thought Islamic parties were on the wane because of graft scandals and the greater popularity of more pluralist parties. "Parliament is likely to be very fragmented because many parties have gotten a relatively big share of votes, and their bargaining power will be pretty much the same," said Philips Vermonte, political analyst at Jakarta-based think-tank CSIS. "This will have a big influence on the new president because he'll have to pay attention to the situation in parliament and the many political players there." A party needs 25 percent of the national vote, or 20 percent of seats in parliament, to nominate a presidential candidate on its own. Less than that and the PDI-P will need to form a coalition with one or more of the other 11 parties in Wednesday's election to nominate Jokowi. After 80 percent of vote results were compiled by CSIS from 2,000 polling booths across the world's third largest democracy, PDI-P had just 19 percent of the vote. The election commission has not released any vote counts. The way seats are apportioned means PDI-P could still end up with enough seats to nominate a presidential candidate without being forced into trade-offs with other parties. "Now [PDI-P] will have to think harder about building a coalition," said Douglas Ramage, political analyst at Bower Group Asia consultancy. "The disappointing thing for observers and investors who are looking for more certainty is that an unwieldy coalition might not give them that." But he added: "Far and away Jokowi still the most popular candidate. Some polls still saying he has 40 percent support. So it's definitely still his [presidential] election to lose." Party officials put on a brave face. "Hopefully … PDI-P will able to meet target of above 20 percent, so we can nominate Joko Widodo as presidential candidate," said Puan Maharani, daughter of party chief Megawati Sukarnoputri. The quick count also showed that the five Islamic parties in the race had won 32 percent of the vote, up from 29 percent for the eight such parties that contested the 2009 election. Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, has about 500,000 polling stations and more than 186 million registered voters. Indonesia's embrace of democracy since the downfall of former authoritarian leader Suharto 16 years ago has seen four different presidents and repeated change of the leading party. Campaigning has been notable for its lack of policy initiatives to give the economy a boost. Growth is expected to be a little more than 5 percent this year, but has weakened partly on the fall in prices for commodities that still form a backbone for the resource-rich economy. Jokowi has offered little clue to his policies but his popularity rests heavily on his no-nonsense style in running the capital, demanding his bureaucrats perform their jobs properly and by focusing many policies on improving the lives of ordinary Jakartans. The two main parties behind PDI-P were Golkar, one-time parliamentary vehicle of the long-serving Suharto, and Gerindra, which is led by ex-general Prabowo Subianto. Early results suggest both will struggle to meet the threshold to contest the presidency, suggesting there will be intense horse-trading to form coalitions. Backing for the ruling Democratic Party of outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has fallen to single digits after it was hit by a series of graft cases last year. Yudhoyono is limited by the constitution to two terms. Yudhoyono is Indonesia's first leader to be chosen by direct election. "Even though we are still fixing and perfecting the system of holding these [elections], once again Indonesia can be grateful because our democratic journey is going the right way," he told reporters. Voters, nearly a third of them under 30, chose between 6,600 candidates vying for national parliament seats. Elections were also held for 19,007 provincial and district legislative assembly seats. Most Indonesians view parliament as among their country's most corrupt institutions, according to a 2013 Transparency International survey. Under the presidential system, however, the executive branch has the authority to overrule it. Additional reporting by Anastasia Arvirianty, Fergus Jensen. The post Indonesia Election Count Suggests Tougher Ride for Presidential Hopeful Jokowi appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Philippine, Vietnamese Navies to Unite Against China Over Beers and Volleyball Posted: 09 Apr 2014 10:49 PM PDT  Members of the Philippine marines are transported on a rubber boat from a patrol ship after conducting a mission on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, last month. (Photo: Reuters) MANILA/HONG KONG — The Philippine navy will soon return to a South China Sea island it lost to Vietnam 40 years ago to drink beer and play volleyball with Vietnamese sailors, symbolizing how once-suspicious neighbors are cooperating in the face of China's assertiveness in disputed waters. Diplomats and experts describe the nascent partnership as part of a web of evolving relationships across Asia that are being driven by fear of China as well as doubts among some, especially in Japan, over the US commitment to the region. When US President Barack Obama visits Asia this month he will see signs that once-disparate nations are strategizing for the future, even though he will likely seek to shore-up faith in America's "pivot" back to the region. Among the new network of ties: growing cooperation between Japan and India; Vietnam courting India and Russia; and Manila and Hanoi, the two capitals most feeling China's wrath over claims to the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, working more closely together. The Philippines and Vietnam are also talking to Malaysia about China. "We are seeing a definite trend here, one that is likely to accelerate," said Rory Medcalf, a regional security specialist at Australia's independent Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. "It is quite a creative dance as countries hedge and try to cover themselves for multiple possible futures." While it was unlikely the new-found relationships would become military alliances, there was an intensity to their strategic discussions, including the sharing of assessments about China's rise and influence, Medcalf said. Regional diplomats confirmed increasing levels of trust at a working level, as countries find that China's projection of naval power into Asia's waters is driving them together. Tale of Two Parties That trust will be on display in early June on Southwest Cay, a Vietnamese-held island in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea. In early 1975, forces from then South Vietnam took Southwest Cay by stealth when its occupiers, a Philippine naval detachment, sailed a couple of miles to Northeast Cay, which was under Manila's control, for a party. The South Vietnamese were soon displaced by the communist forces of a victorious Hanoi and the new Vietnam and the Philippines found themselves on opposite sides of the Cold War for many years. A 40-strong Philippine naval delegation will return to Southwest Cay to party—this time to mark budding naval cooperation between Hanoi and Manila even though both still claim the island, Philippine and Vietnamese military officials told Reuters. They said a day of beach volleyball, drinks and music was being planned in a celebration unprecedented in the recent history of the Spratly islands. The precise date of the party on Southwest Cay, which is almost equidistant from Vietnam and the Philippines, has yet to be finalized, the military officials said. The Chinese navy had not been invited, they added. "We actually had this scheduled last year but Typhoon Haiyan intervened…. We are lining up more activities in the future," said a senior Philippine naval official who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly. While the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each claim some of the Spratly islands, China, Taiwan and Vietnam lay claim to the entire chain. China also claims 90 percent of the 3.5 million sq km (1.35 million sq mile) South China Sea, its reach displayed on its official maps with a so-called nine-dash line that extends deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. China has a separate dispute with Japan in the East China Sea over uninhabited islets that are administered by Tokyo. Doubts about Washington's future willingness and ability to defend Japan simmer beneath the surface in Tokyo, although Japanese and US officials routinely say the US-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of regional security. China, for its part, accuses the various claimants of stirring up trouble. Defense Minister Chang Wanquan, at a news conference with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in Beijing on Tuesday, called on Washington to restrain Japan and chided the Philippines. Watchful Eye From Beijing Diplomats and experts believe Beijing will be watching the Manila-Hanoi rapprochement closely, having earlier protested the prospect of Philippine-Vietnamese exercises around Southwest and Northeast Cay when they were first mooted in 2012. The two navies recently agreed to expand cooperation in disputed areas and a Vietnamese guided missile cruiser will soon visit Manila, Philippine naval officials said. The head of the Philippine military, General Emmanuel Bautista, plans to visit Hanoi next month, Philippine officials said. Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told Reuters on Monday that both Manila and Hanoi were also reaching out to Malaysia to swap notes on how best to deal with China. He said he hoped the three could eventually settle their own South China Sea disputes amongst themselves, something that would strengthen their hand in responding to China. "If we get there, we get there," he said. "That's a good opportunity for us." The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said it did not yet have information on the planned Spratlys party. Vietnamese envoys and sources close to the Malaysian government said both Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi, meanwhile, were watching Manila's move to challenge Beijing's claims to the South China Sea at an international arbitration tribunal. Manila filed the case late last month with the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. China has refused to participate. Patrick Cronin, director of the Asia and Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, said cooperation among the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam was likely to grow, although it would remain modest. "Together, they may be able to convince China that it needs to stop using risky and unilateral coercive means to change the facts on the ground and the sea," he said. The Limits of Cooperation Medcalf, of the Lowy Institute, said that for all the new alignments, there were clear limits. Countries wanted improved relations with China even as they hedged against trouble ahead. To that end, no-one was talking about new actual alliances beyond existing US treaties with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. "China is not involved in these conversations, that is clear…. But would the other partner take strategic risks over China on behalf of one of its new friends? I don't think we are there yet," Medcalf said. China was concerned, but not overly so, said Zhang Baohui, a mainland international relations expert based at Hong Kong's Lingnan University. "China knows it is the most important economy in the region and that means it is important for other countries to improve relations with it," Zhang said. "And aside from perhaps Japan, no other country sees China as an outright threat to its national security, even though they might be worried about its military rise." The post Philippine, Vietnamese Navies to Unite Against China Over Beers and Volleyball appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
