The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Arakan Unrest May Tarnish Burma’s Image: Vice President
• Kachin Rebels Requests Ceasefire Meeting After Recent Clashes
• Villagers in Southern Burma Protest Against Chinese-Backed Oil Refinery
• A Conversation With Indonesian Presidential Front-Runner Jokowi
• A DJ Returns to Mix Things Up in Burma
• Through Win Tin’s Looking Glass: Insights From 2012
• To Bagan by Boat
• Health Crisis in Arakan after Aid Groups Forced Out
• Obama Vigorously Defends Foreign Policy Record
• Investors Wary as Anti-Vietnamese Feeling Grows in Cambodia
• Plans for Coal-Fired Power Plant Face Opposition in Mon State
• Arakan National Conference Gets Underway in Kyaukphyu
• Chinese Nationals Caught With Illegal Weapons in Northwest Burma
• Burma Govt Denies Report of Former Dictator’s Generous Pension
• Thilawa SEZ Shares Sold Out Following Strong Demand
• Obama Travels to Asia, But Future of Trade Pact Is Uncertain
• Desperate Rohingya Kids Flee Alone by Boat
• US, Philippines Sign Deal on Military Accord
• North Korea Says Army Must Develop To Be Able To Beat US
• Bad Weather Hinders S. Korea’s Search for Ferry Dead

Arakan Unrest May Tarnish Burma’s Image: Vice President Posted: 29 Apr 2014 05:30 AM PDT A house burns in the background as a man carries makeshift weapons during communal clashes in Arakan State in June 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Burmese government has acknowledged that communal unrest in Arakan State is not only a domestic issue, but also has wider ramifications and requires ongoing humanitarian assistance from international organizations. Burmese Vice President Sai Mauk Kham said on Monday that violence between Buddhists and Muslims in western Burma was threatening to tarnish the country's image on the world stage despite other political and economic reforms since 2011. "It is not a matter for Rakhine [Arakan] State alone," he told government officials, including the Arakan State chief minister, during a meeting in Naypyidaw, according to state-run media. Previously, government spokesmen have insisted that the Burmese government is capable of handling unrest in the western Burmese state, which has seen anti-Muslim riots that have left more than 140,000 people homeless since 2012, as well as attacks against international NGOs recently that have interrupted access to vital health care services. Earlier this month, presidential spokesman Ye Htut reportedly accused Britain of interfering in Burma's domestic affairs after the British foreign minister summoned the Burmese ambassador to discuss ongoing restrictions of aid organizations in Arakan State. But Sai Mauk Kham—after hearing reports presented by union ministers, the Arakan State chief and other officials—acknowledged the importance of aid from UN agencies and other international organizations in the state, saying the government lacked the resources to support victims of communal unrest by itself. "The Rakhine issue," he added, "has made democratic government difficult and has turned the international community's positive view [of Burma] into a negative view." Calling on officials to take steps in the future to avoid conflicts such as "the ones in Du Chee Yar Tan village and in relation to Médecins Sans Frontières," he said further unrest could hinder the nation's future with the United Nations, member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The vice president was referring to allegations—which the government has denied—that a Buddhist mob killed dozens of Rohingya Muslims in Duu Chee Yar Tan village in January. He was also referring to the government's decision to suspend the operations of MSF Holland in Arakan State following allegations by local Arakanese Buddhists that the aid group had been providing preferential treatment to Muslims. Sai Mauk Kham called on aid groups to provide assistance to all victims of violence, to follow agreements with the government, and to ensure greater transparency in their operations. He also urged the Ministry of Health to ramp up its services following the closure of MSF operations. The meeting in Naypyidaw came one day after US President Barack Obama warned in a speech in Malaysia that Burma will not succeed in its political reforms "if the Muslim population is oppressed." Pierre Peron, a spokesman for UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said he welcomed the Burmese vice president's acknowledgement that aid from UN agencies and international organizations was crucial in Arakan State. "We support the Emergency Coordination Center as a consultative forum for the exchange of information and closer engagement with the authorities and community leaders," he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, referring to a newly established body which must approve requests by aid groups to travel and provide services in the state. "We look forward to engaging further with the government and communities through the ECC, while continuing to provide information on ongoing operations in the spirit of transparency," he added. "However, given the urgent humanitarian needs in Rakhine, we need to resume operations as soon as possible. The impending rainy season will only aggravate the impact on vulnerable people." The post Arakan Unrest May Tarnish Burma's Image: Vice President appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Kachin Rebels Requests Ceasefire Meeting After Recent Clashes Posted: 29 Apr 2014 05:25 AM PDT NCCT committee members Pado Kwe Htoo Win, Nai Hong Sar and Gen. Gun Maw (from left to right) at a meeting in Chiang Mai on Tuesday. (Photo: Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy) The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on Monday sent a letter to the Burmese government requesting a meeting on May 10 in order to lessen tensions between the sides, after a number of deadly clashes in recent weeks. The KIO sent a letter to the government chief peace negotiator, Minister Aung Min, asking for a bilateral meeting in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina. The Kachin rebels and government officials have not had such a meeting since October last year. Kachin Independence Army (KIA) commander Gen. Gun Maw told reporters in Chiang Mai, Thailand, that the KIO requested a bilateral meeting "as we want to ensure [progress] in the ongoing nationwide ceasefire discussion." "The fighting in Kachin and northern Shan State could cause tension during the nationwide ceasefire talks," said Gun Maw. "We need to rethink of our role and participation in the process," The KIO also suggested that Vijay Nambiar, the Special Adviser on Burma for the UN Secretary-General, Chinese Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Wang Yingfan and central committee members of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) should attend the May 10 meeting. The KIO and an ethnic Palaung group, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), are the only two armed groups that have not yet signed a bilateral ceasefire with Naypyidaw. The Shan State Army-North has also been engaged in recurrent clashes with the army, despite the fact that is has a bilateral ceasefire with Naypyidaw. The KIA and TNLA have been engaged in deadly fighting with government troops in the mountains on the border of Kachin and northern Shan states. The Burma Army has launched a number of offensive operations in Kachin State's Mansi Township that has reportedly caused about 5,000 Kachin civilians to flee in recent weeks, with 1,000 of them fleeing across the border into China. Burmese state-owned media have reported that 14 government troops and eight rebels were killed during the operations on April 4. The TNLA claimed it killed 10 Burmese soldiers during attacks on army columns in Namkham Township last week. The NCCT, which represents 16 ethnic armies, including the KIO, held a meeting in Chiang Mai on Monday and Tuesday, where they proposed another round of nationwide ceasefire talks with the government in the last week of May. In early April, the NCCT, government negotiators and senior Burma Army commanders started a new approach to the talks, by attempting to jointly draw up a single text for a nationwide ceasefire. The army reportedly told the NCCT it was committed to completing a deal before August 1. However, the work was complicated by new demands by the Burma Army for the incorporation of its own six-point statement into any future nationwide ceasefire deal, ethnic leaders have complained. The statement repeats demands the army has made earlier, such as that all ethnic armed groups come under central command of the military and that all parties respect the 2008 Constitution. Nai Hong Sar, the head of the NCCT, said Tuesday that it wants to "meet with the government to learn the government's views, as the military's proposal [in the last meeting] is unacceptable." "We are not still clear on how the government views the military's statement for the single text, and our proposal on federal policy and autonomy for our states to be included in the draft [nationwide ceasefire]," he added. Any nationwide ceasefire agreement is supposed to be followed by a political dialogue in which ethnic groups' demands for autonomy and a share of natural resources and other complicated issues would be discussed. The dialogue process is expected to take years to complete. The NCCT has said it wants guarantees that this dialogue will start shortly after the accord is signed. The post Kachin Rebels Requests Ceasefire Meeting After Recent Clashes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Villagers in Southern Burma Protest Against Chinese-Backed Oil Refinery Posted: 29 Apr 2014 04:42 AM PDT Villagers in Tenasserim Division's Laung Lone Township rallied to protest again a massive oil refinery project Tuesday. (Photo: Facebook/Tun Tun Win) RANGOON — About 500 ethnic Dawei villagers from Tenasserim Division's Laung Lone Township staged a protest on Tuesday against the construction of a huge oil refinery complex, which is being planned by Burmese tycoon Tay Za, a military-owned conglomerate and Chinese investors. Local villagers in the coastal region in southern Burma said they were informed by authorities last year that more than 100 households in two coastal villages will have to be relocated to make way for the sprawling project. Residents have yet to be officially consulted about the compensation that they will be offered. The project would cover 2,626 acres and include an oil refinery, a 270-megawatt power station, a water reservoir and a deep-sea port, according to project documents and a 2010 memorandum of understanding signed by Tay Za's Htoo Group, Guangdong Zhenrong Energy Co. Ltd. (GDZR) and the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEHL). In recent months, workers have been clearing government-owned land and began digging a canal near the villages leading to concerns among local residents, who decided to organize a protest this week. "We protest as we don't want the oil refinery project in our area," Nay Win, a resident from Nyin Maw village told The Irrawaddy. "The project is big. Though the initial area required is over 1,000 acres, they will need more land after production starts. Over 100 households need to move for now." "We demand an end to this project. We don't want this oil refinery industry," the 53-year-old farmer said, adding that the community also feared that the old home of Gen. Ba Htoo, a famed leader during Burma's independence struggle, would be demolished during project construction in the area. Last week, about 40 ethnic Dawei villagers held a religious ceremony calling on spirit of the local Lat Khat Mountain to curse any forces intend on harming the village and its religious sites. According to project documents, obtained by The Irrawaddy, the 30-year project will require $2.5 billion in investment, 70 percent of which will be funded by unnamed Chinese state-owned banks, while Guangdong Zhenrong Energy Co. Ltd will invest about $680 million and Tay Za's Htoo Group will invest about $120 million. UMEHL, a Burma Army-owned conglomerate, will arrange the land and necessary government permits in return for a 20 percent equity stake in the project and at least 10 percent of its profits. The oil refinery, planned at a site located about 20 kilometers south of the stalled, Thailand-backed Dawei Special Economic Zone, would be able to annually refine 5 million metric tons of oil, which would be supplied by tankers carrying crude from the Middle East and Asia. Thant Zin, an activist with the Dawei Development Association, a NGO that has been campaigning for community rights in the fast-developing region of Tenasserim, said the project was likely to have heavy social and environmental impacts. He doubted that authorities and investors would offer proper compensation for the households forcibly displaced by the project. "The villagers can now make a peaceful living. They will not have any benefit from losing their lands," he said. "What they have to give up is more than they can get" in compensation. Thant Zin said he also feared the massive complex would cause environmental pollution all along Tenasserim's coast, where numerous communities depend on fishing. "The company doesn't look like it will back down. They have decided to do this, whether the public agrees or not," he said. "More tension will occur since both company and villagers are not backing down. They need to give provide correct information and negotiate with villagers." Thant Zin added, "This project will offer little benefit to the state and only benefit a small group of people." Large Chinese investment projects have given rise to popular protests in Burma in recent years, where many view the projects with suspicion as China was the former military regime's most important backer and cut deals with Naypyidaw that mostly benefitted Beijing and the army. The deal for a Chinese-backed copper mine in Sagaing Division was restructured last year after it attracted large-scale protests in 2012, while China's Myitsone dam on the Irrawaddy river was suspended in 2011 following nationwide protests. Chief executive Xiong Shaohui of Guangdong Zhenrong Energy Co. Ltd, an oil and commodity trader largely owned by state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, told Reuters in 2012 that he was confident the refinery would not encounter any opposition. "The way we run our business will be different from many other companies investing in Myanmar. We want to make inputs first," he said. "First of all, we want to train hundreds of local workers, bring in the first-class refining technology and make sure our partners are happy working with us." The post Villagers in Southern Burma Protest Against Chinese-Backed Oil Refinery appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

A Conversation With Indonesian Presidential Front-Runner Jokowi Posted: 29 Apr 2014 04:09 AM PDT Jokowi, right, speaks with reporters at his office in Jakarta in March. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) JAKARTA — For Indonesia's presidential front-runner, a campaign to alleviate poverty in the Indonesian capital is largely personal, stemming in part from his own experiences as a child. Joko Widodo, better known by his nickname Jokowi, is the governor of Jakarta and a likely contender for the Indonesian presidency, but he traces his roots back to the small Central Java city of Solo, where he grew up as the son of a furniture maker and lived with his family in a rented shack. He later earned an engineering degree and entered the family furniture business, before shifting to politics and making a name for himself as mayor of Solo from 2005 to 2012. "When I was a small boy, I was not part of the elite, not from a rich family," Jokowi said last month during a roundtable discussion with reporters in Jakarta. "Around my house there was garbage, and there was no water, there was no well. This is my story." As mayor in Solo he focused on making health care and education more accessible to low-income families, while also building low-cost apartments. "Now I'm here, as if by accident," he said with a laugh, referring to his climb in 2012 to become the governor of Jakarta, where he is employing many of the same strategies to help low-income families in the chaotic metropolis of some 10 million people. But many political observers say his success was far from accidental and can be credited in part to his hands-on approach. "Many people have said that I'm different because the other governors, they like to stay at the office. For me, I stay at the office only a maximum of one hour [per day]," Jokowi said. "Mostly, I go to see people on the ground, in the markets, and I ask people what they want and what they need. The people, they want to see leaders working." As a result, Jokowi has won the hearts of many voters in Jakarta and far beyond in this archipelagic nation. His popularity led his party to announce in mid-March that he would be its candidate for the presidency. Inspiring hope for change in a country that has long been plagued by corrupt officials, he has been compared with the 2008 version of US President Barack Obama, who championed the slogan of "change we can believe in." Jokowi’s victory for the Jakarta governorship in 2012 was widely seen as reflecting popular voter support for "new" or "clean" leaders rather than the "old" style of politics in Indonesia. During legislative elections this month, posters with his portrait could be seen in public areas of downtown Jakarta, while buskers with guitars sang songs calling him their "life and hope." As part of his poverty alleviation efforts in the capital, Jokowi has focused on making health care more affordable. To do this, he has delivered "Jakarta health cards" to 3.5 million people in the city. With the cards, he said, "they can go to public clinics, they can go to the hospitals, totally free of charge. I worked out this program because people asked me for this when I met them." Access to education is another major concern. Nining, a 40-year-old bookseller in Jakarta, said she could not afford to attend university when she was younger. "Education costs are very expensive in Indonesia. I think the government hasn't done enough for the people," she told The Irrawaddy. Jokowi said his administration was working on that. "We also have what we call 'Jakarta smart cards.' This is for education," he said. "When I would go to see the people and I asked about education, they asked the government to cover the cost of school uniforms, school vans, boots [and] shoes for the poor," he said. He added that Jakarta's annual budget had increased from 41 trillion rupiah (US $3.5 billion) last year to 72 trillion rupiah this year. The Indonesian presidency will be decided in July by direct election. Candidates will be nominated by parties that hold at least 20 percent of seats in the legislature, or parties which have formed a coalition representing that percentage of seats, or those that took 25 percent of seats in the previous election. Jokowi's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), only won 19 percent of seats in the legislative elections on April 9. Since then it has started forming coalitions with other parties, including the National Democrat Party (Nasdem) and most recently the National Awakening Party (PKB). Despite earning popular support on the coattails of Jokowi, the PDI-P is not immune to the negative voter sentiment that has affected many of the established political parties in a country where corruption stories are a regular feature of newspapers' front-pages. But Jokowi hopes he can continue earning voters' trust. "When I see people protest, I invite them to my office. We discuss, and sometimes I go directly to the demonstration places," Jokowi said. "I have opened city hall, and now people like to come here because they can meet with me and tell me their complaints." "People want to see their leaders working," he said. "If we build a good system for them, people will trust the government." Saw Yan Naing is a fellow of the East-West Center's 2014 Jefferson Fellowship and this story is published under the fellowship program. He met with Jokowi during the fellowship program in Jakarta in March. The post A Conversation With Indonesian Presidential Front-Runner Jokowi appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

A DJ Returns to Mix Things Up in Burma Posted: 29 Apr 2014 03:22 AM PDT Burmese-Australian DJ Kieran C Way, also known as DJ K.C., mixes at the 5 Network Stage during Water Festival celebrations in Mandalay this month. (Photo: Supplied) RANGOON — Burmese-Australian DJ Kieran C Way—also known as DJ K.C., or by his Burmese name Nay Myo—lives in Melbourne, Australia. Born in Burma in 1969 with show business in the family—his grandmother Winnie was an actress and singer in the 1950s—he left the country for Australia in 1977. Kieran C Way is now an accomplished DJ, and runs the United DJ Mixing School. He is now planning to return to the country of his birth and open DJ schools in Rangoon and Mandalay. He spoke to The Irrawaddy's Kyaw Hsu Mon last week about his aspiration to train upcoming DJs in Burma. Question: When did you start your life as a DJ in Australia? Answer: It's been 25 years since I started as a DJ in 1987-88 in Australia. Q: What is the life of a DJ in Australia like? And how does your business work? A: I grew up with a lot of music through my grandmother in my childhood life. She always listened to music with cassette tapes, recorders with big record collections, playing music 24/7. Music was always around me. After I start to study in university, I started pursuing music by myself. I just started mixing, DJing in parties then more and more parties invited me. I stopped the university student life and started doing music more because demand was getting bigger. Then I'd get invited to more parties to DJ then slowly I just got involved full-time as a DJ. I started my DJ school in Australia after winning the first Australian DMC National DJ competitions in 1992, 1993 and 1996. I placed 5th in the world and a lot of people asked me to teach them, I thought maybe I can start to open a school. At that time there was no DJ school in the world and I had nothing to follow at that time. Then three or four years later of experimenting and trying different ways of teaching, it became a success and I saw good results with my students. In the early 1990s there were no DJ schools anywhere in world. But in 1998-1999, when turntables outsold guitars, many schools started opening and DJ schools become popular, the UK and US included, many students appeared. So I changed my school from part-time to full-time. Q: Why do you want to open a DJ school in Burma? A: I came here for first time in 30 years in 2007. I visited a few night clubs and I had an idea to do something like a school here because I didn't meet many DJs and felt I need to help the Burmese music scene and help create more Burmese DJs. I didn't open a DJ school at that time, but made plans for the school with my family, friends and sponsors here. I came back last year, 2013, and DJed at water festival [at the 5 Network Stage]. I also came last November to DJ at GTR Club [in Rangoon] and organized a Hip Hop 40th Anniversary Seminar with many Myanmar Hip Hop artists. This time, I met many DJs and was surprised to see so much talented DJs here of such high international standards. I wanted to do something for them because I felt the world is closed from them and they are not known outside Burma. So this time I had the idea to organize the DMC DJ Competition in Burma so they can compete on a world stage and other DJs from around the world will recognize that Burmese DJs have talent and we can put Burma on the map. And eventually maybe Burmese DJs can tour the world and be famous like the European and US DJs. The DMC DJ Competition started in London 1986 and it operates in 40 countries, having a competition worldwide every year. Many super star DJs first started from this competition including DJ Q Bert—the world's best Scratch DJ from San Francisco—Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys), Roc Raida (X-Ecutioners), Craze (Miami), and so on. There are so many popular DJs that became famous because of this competition. It is like the Olympics of DJing. This is why I want to bring this competition here to Burma for the first time. I do really want those [Burmese DJs] to be on the world stage, and let people know that Burma can be at the top with the world's best. To have this outlet for the established DJs and a school for the upcoming DJs is a dream of mine. I really want to help expose Burmese talent to the world. Q: When and where will your DJ schools open in Burma? A: As we are planning, the DJ school will open on November this year; the locations will be Yangon and Mandalay. Q: Who is eligible to attend your DJ school? How much will the course fee be? A: The course is open for all ages and the fee is still to be decided but will be based around the same structure we have used in Australia. There will be approximately 12 sessions included, that's two sessions a week. I want to use the same structure we have used in Australia for the last 20 years and has proven results with many ex-students working all over the world. As I have a lot of teaching experience, I know how to teach the beginners step by step. We will work together with the Tin Moe Lwin [who runs a talent and modeling school], she has offices in Yangon and Mandalay. Q: How can you guarantee your attendees that they will succeed after attending your school? A: Basically, at the end of the course, they will receive the United DJ certificate, which is recognized around the world because we were the first DJ School. We will use a very similar formula to what we use in Australia. So they have to finish 12 curriculums. After that we will give them extra time to practice with our equipment. We don't rush them until they are ready. When they are ready we will get them to perform together on stage to graduate. We will then pick the best student and we will take him to Australia for him or her to perform in the night clubs we operate there. We have a big agency there so we can really promote the top student there with media and exposure through our large networks. It will mainly be in Sydney and Melbourne where we are based. So basically we are offering a guaranteed job placement overseas [to the top student]. The post A DJ Returns to Mix Things Up in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Through Win Tin’s Looking Glass: Insights From 2012 Posted: 29 Apr 2014 01:36 AM PDT Reid Lidow meets with Burmese democracy activist Win Tin on July 9, 2012. (Photo: Reid Lidow) When I landed in Rangoon on an independent research trip in July 2012, I did not expect to be sitting across from Win Tin within 24 hours. But that's precisely what happened. After walking into the National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters and asking to speak with Win Tin, also known as Saya (the Wise One), I was referred to the D Wave newspaper offices across town. It was there that I met a senior staffer who rang Win Tin and said that a 20-year-old university student from the United States hoped to speak with him about the reforms taking place in Burma. With Saya on the line, the staffer gave me the phone and a 7:30 pm interview at Win Tin's home was booked. Just like that. There is a saying that "luck" is when preparation meets opportunity. The opportunity to interview Win Tin was realized, yet I felt decidedly unprepared. How could I, with only several months of Burma research under my belt, hold my own with the state's longest-held political prisoner? My youth and inexperience turned out to be the icebreaker that set a positive tone for the interview. Win Tin was so pleased to see a student taking a risk—leaving the comfort of a library—and getting out into the world where issues come to life. And for nearly two hours, he brought to life the issues that defined Burma's past, influence its present, and will shape its future, as seen in the following topic-based sound bites from our discussion. On ensuring the NLD's long-term viability: "Up to now, we have no form of tangible young leadership. When we choose candidates, our first priority is women. We want to bring up the women's community. Our second priority is youth, third is ethnic people, and fourth is incumbent leadership." On China's influence in Burma: "There are many people in the military and ruling class who know that it is not very good to be under the Chinese influence. Most of the people in Burma are concerned with this Chinese menace. The Chinese can be quite interfering. They will play very cleverly, deftly, because they are much more developed." On the US "pivot" to the Asia Pacific, and what that means for Burma: "The US presence in Asia is very tangible and rather great. So I think the US can help. We don’t know economically what the US effect will be. [The] US nowadays is not the great industrial nation [it once was], but helping democracy in this area [is possible]." On Burma's Asean chairmanship in 2014: "I think Burma's rule [in] Asean will not be that effective. Asean is a machine—it has structure. Politically, we won't change much." On the potential for a democratic Burma: "Burma will be democratic. Maybe there will be no more [opposition leader] Aung San Suu Kyi or NLD or whatever it is, but today the people are much more awakened politically. They are bolder. They have more embracement of their rights—political, human, and so on." On Burma's Constitution: "Even if the NLD wins a landslide victory in 2015, we won't change the whole Constitution. When we become democratic, we will change parts, not the whole. We can't change the whole." Since I spoke with Win Tin nearly two years ago, Burma's landscape—politically, ethnically and economically—has been reshaped. The reforms that left me enamored with Burma in 2012 seem like a distant memory today. Now that the low-hanging reform fruit has been picked, President Thein Sein's government seems unwilling, and unlikely, to go after meaningful political reforms that have benefits beyond the Rangoon nucleus. Ethnically, the picture has gone from bad to worse. Our July 2012 interview came less than one month after the alleged rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by a group of Muslim men. In the two years since this atrocity, ethno-sectarian violence has erupted, resulting in a human security crisis where, according to Tom Andrews, president of the US-based activist group United to End Genocide, "the building blocks of genocide are in place." And economically, Burma seems committed to a path of collecting natural resource rents rather than pursuing a holistic economic growth story. The picture is changing, and I am afraid it is for the worse. As I understand it, Win Tin looked forward to Burma's bright future, and not back to its dark past, in the time since we last spoke. The next two years will be pivotal for Burma as it is forced to confront many of the challenges Win Tin explored with me, from constitutional revisions ahead of the 2015 elections, to ensuring a meaningful Asean chairmanship. As all this happens, observers must resist the urge to abandon the conventional understanding of "success" and declare Burma a success story. With Win Tin's death should come a moment of national introspection. Ultimately, Burma will have to write its own story, a task made all the more difficult by Win Tin's passing. Reid Lidow is an undergraduate researcher at the University of Southern California where he studies international relations and political science. He has conducted research in Burma on three occasions. He is a Gates Cambridge Scholar-elect and will pursue a master in philosophy degree in development studies at the University of Cambridge beginning this fall. The post Through Win Tin's Looking Glass: Insights From 2012 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

To Bagan by Boat Posted: 28 Apr 2014 07:59 PM PDT Seeing life on the riverbanks is the highlight of boat rides down Myanmar's mightiest river. (Photo: Dani Patteran / The Irrawaddy) BAGAN — As the morning light hits the bow of the boat, I huddle in my seat, swaddled in scarves and towels. Underneath this bundle of fabric I am wearing a hat, three t-shirts, a sweater and a jacket, and leggings under jeans. It is the hot season in Myanmar, but it is cold, so utterly and bitterly cold that beyond the bag-lady getup, I have been driven to that most grievous of crimes: socks under sandals. This wasn't exactly expected. My parents and I had set off on what we anticipated would be a luxurious 10-hour cruise south down the Ayeyarwady River from Mandalay to the ancient temple city of Bagan. With visions of lying on deck reading my book under a tropical sun, I had packed sun block, a bikini and sunglasses. But a freak storm blew in from the Indian Ocean overnight, and we drove out of the Shan Hills into Mandalay in a howling gale. Our boat, the Myanmar Golden River Group (MGRG) Express, left the jetty in the early morning, and the 7 am start was wet, cold and gray; as the boat set off it got increasingly wetter, colder and grayer—until everyone sitting up on deck was shivering under layers of sweaters. The boat was one of a number that ply the busy currents of the Ayeyarwady, ferrying tourists and locals daily between Mandalay, Bagan and smaller towns. For those seeking a more adventurous journey, the government "slow" boat is the local option, taking villagers, merchants and their goods to towns along the riverbank. This is notoriously unreliable and can take anything from 15 hours upwards—but can give a vibrant and rewarding taste of Myanmar life for those willing to forgo Western comforts. At the extreme other end of the spectrum, those prepared to pay can spend days aboard luxury river cruise ships such as those owned by Orient Express, which boast swimming pools and spas. We pass a couple of these boats—hulking double-decked expanses of polished teak, replete with uniformed staff. It was a magnificent and somewhat colonial sight—but notably empty, with only a smattering of tourists knocking about the vast decks. All looks peaceful on the Ayeyarwady River—but appearances can be deceptive. (Photo: Dani Patteran / The Irrawaddy) Our vessel lies in the mid-range, one of the so-called "express boats" that charge a premium of around US$50 for the 10-hour journey between Mandalay and Bagan. We chose MGRG Express, but most, according to our hotel owner, are very similar—another major company is Malikha River Cruises. Despite the price, it is a basic set up: Two meals are included (egg for breakfast, rice for lunch), but the boat stocks no other snacks for the long journey and by the end, even the soft drinks run out. Rattan easy chairs face out towards the river, under a tarpaulin awning to protect from (eventual!) sun. A raised deck at the stern caters to sun worshippers and photo opportunities. Below, a long dark cabin with rows and rows of airline-style seats offers an escape from the weather. Clean and functional, but not exactly atmospheric. And now adequately wrapped up against the elements and reconciled to a chillier-than-expected passage, we and other passengers finally settle into our journey. We are richly rewarded. Barely out of Mandalay, we pass Sagaing, an important religious center. Hundreds of golden pagodas and monasteries decorate the hills and riverbank, brilliant golden spires glinting in the morning light. The ferry motors in a wide loop close to the bank, and passengers are able to catch glimpses of red-robed monks between the temples. The boat cruises under the famous Ava Bridge, an impressive cantilever bridge built by the British in 1934 (later rebuilt after World War II), and shortly afterwards, the huge arches of the New Sagaing Bridge. Travelling by water rather than road introduces a unique perspective: We are able to watch life both on the riverbank and on the river itself. It is dry season, and farmers use exposed stretches of fertile land to plant tomatoes, eggplants and gourds, painting the shores in colorful strips of green. Fishermen in slim wooden boats slip between sandbanks and occasionally grin and shout "Hallo!" We pass numerous ships loaded high with teak timber on their way south. The hundreds of dark tree trunks make an awe-inspiring sight. The Myanmar Golden River Group Express. (Photo: Dani Patteran / The Irrawaddy) Huge barges carrying industrial cargo trundle up and down the river, and despite their valuable loads and the serious danger of running aground on the many sandbanks, none appear to use basic navigational equipment and rely instead on men sitting on the bows, using long bamboo poles to test the river depths and navigate the channel. Water levels also impact tourism—the best time to come is right after the rainy season, from October to January. Later than this, the falling water levels regularly disrupt river traffic. Despite travelling late into the season, we are lucky and navigate the shallow channel without trouble. After our gloomy start, the skies finally clear after lunch and the sun beats down with all the fury of Myanmar's dry zone: Wind chill is rapidly replaced by savage sunburn. It is early afternoon by the time the ferry pulls into Bagan, and there are shouts of excitement as people spot the ruddy spikes of Bagan's legendary two thousand temples. It is a remarkable voyage, and well worth the time and expense for the fascinating glimpses of Myanmar that such a trip offers. Prospective travelers should come prepared, though, for weather of both extremes and the long journey. The bare-bones approach (despite the price) is a bit of a disappointment, but overall, the experience far outweighs any gripes over facilities. As the country's largest and most important waterway, the Ayeyarwady is the geographic and commercial heart of Myanmar, and traveling part of its length is a unique opportunity that is not easily forgotten. More information Boat trips can be booked through most Mandalay hotels, and prices for "express" ferries range from $40-50 and can include or exclude meals. Boats depart at 7 am daily and take around 10 hours. It is recommended to arrive early as ferries are often crowded, and seats fill up fast. The government "slow" boat can also be booked through most hotels (or they can help you purchase tickets through an agent) and cost 10,000 kyat. Boats depart at 5 am twice a week, and take between 14-17 hours, though this can change. Travel website Go-Myanmar has further information about travelling by boat in Myanmar: http://www.go-myanmar.com/by-boat. This article will appear in the May 2014 print edition of The Irrawaddy. The post To Bagan by Boat appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Health Crisis in Arakan after Aid Groups Forced Out Posted: 28 Apr 2014 10:51 PM PDT Rohingya women and their children wait to receive treatment at a makeshift clinic in the Thet Kae Pyin camp for internally displaced people in Sittwe on April 24, 2014. KYEIN NI PYIN CAMP, Arakan State — As three-month-old Asoma Khatu approached her final, labored breaths, her neighbor Elia, a 50-year-old former farmer, dug through the strongbox holding some of the last medicines in this camp for Burma's displaced Rohingya. First, some paracetamol for the severely malnourished girl’s fever and a wet towel for her forehead. Then some rehydration salts for her diarrhea. There was nothing else left. The death of Asoma in a dusty, stifling hot camp a two-hour boat ride from Sittwe, capital of Arakan State, is part of a growing health crisis for stateless Muslim Rohingya that has been exacerbated by restrictions on international aid. "I think my child would have made it if someone was here to help," Asoma’s mother, Gorima, told Reuters, as she cradled the girl’s shrouded, almost weightless body in her arms. In February, Burma's government expelled the main aid group providing health to more than half a million Rohingya in Arakan State –Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland (MSF-H)—after the group said it had treated people believed to have been victims of violence in southern Maungdaw Township, near the Bangladesh border, in January. The United Nations says at least 40 Rohingya were killed there by Buddhist Arakanese villagers. The government denies any killings occurred. Attacks on March 26 and 27 on NGO and UN offices by an Arakanese mob angered by rumors a foreign staffer for another group, Malteser International, had desecrated a Buddhist flag led to the withdrawal of aid groups providing healthcare and other essential help to another 140,000 Rohingya living in camps after being displaced by Buddhist-Muslim violence since 2012. The government had pledged to allow most NGOs to return to full operation after the end of Buddhist New Year celebrations this month. But so far only food distribution by the World Food Programme has returned to normal, and Arakanese community leaders in the state government’s Emergency Coordination Center have imposed conditions on others wanting to go back. NGOs will only be allowed to operate if they show "complete transparency" in disclosing their travel plans and projects and are not seen to favor Rohingya, said Than Tun, an Arakanese elder who is part of the center. Neither MSF-H nor Malteser are being allowed back in, he said. "Concentration Camp" With foreign aid largely absent, every day of delay is measured in preventable deaths. No one is there to count them accurately, but the average of 10 daily emergency medical referrals before aid groups left are no longer happening, said Liviu Vedrasco, a coordinator with the World Health Organization. Extrapolating from that how many people could be saved is impossible, Vedrasco said. "It was not ideal before March 27. NGOs were not providing five-star medical care. But they were filling a gap." Government medical teams have been making limited visits to Rohingya areas, but foreign aid groups say they are inadequate. Most of the slack has fallen to under-qualified Rohingya using whatever is at their disposal. In Kyein Ni Pyin, nearly 4,600 Rohingya live under police guard and their movements are restricted. They are classified by the government as illegal Bengali immigrants. One foreign aid worker described the area to Reuters as "a concentration camp." Elia is one of eight people given seven days’ training to assist in an MSF-H clinic, which now sits empty. The only medicines he has are those he used on little Asoma and some iodine. Government doctors have made three visits of about two to three hours each, he said. Eight people, including six infants, have died since the aid group left, he said. The night before a recent Reuters visit, one woman lost her baby during delivery. "They Refuse Treatment" Win Myaing, a spokesman for the Arakan State government, dismissed the notion that there is a health crisis in the camps. "There is a group of people in one of these camps that shows the same sick children to anyone who visits. Even when the government arranges for treatment they refuse it," he said. The United States, Britain and other countries have called on the government to allow aid groups to return to Arakan State, to little effect so far. Appeals by the international community for Burma to do more to end persecution of the Rohingya have similarly made little impression on a government that sees them as illegal immigrants and denies them citizenship. US President Barack Obama, speaking during a visit to Malaysia, said on Sunday that Burma would not succeed if its minority Muslim population was oppressed. He may visit Burma towards the end of this year, when it is due to host a regional summit, and he could come under pressure from lobby groups to restore sanctions that have been softened since the end of military rule in 2011. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the fight for democracy while the military ran the country and now sits in Parliament, has faced rare criticism abroad for her failure to defend the Rohingya. Getting Worse Visits by Reuters to the remote Kyein Ni Pyin camp, as well as several camps near Sittwe, reveal a widespread struggle with illness. In low-slung huts, dozens of mothers showed their emaciated children. There is no data to compare malnutrition rates to when NGOs were forced to leave. Along the bustling main street of the Thae Chaung camp outside Sittwe town, thatched bamboo stalls that sell a limited selection of drugs have become makeshift clinics. Mohammad Elyas, a 30-year-old who sold medicine in Sittwe’s market before he was driven out by marauding mobs in 2012, displays his laminated qualifications near the front, including a degree in geology and a certificate in traditional medicine. Medicine is sporadically supplied by sympathetic Arakanese Buddhists in Sittwe, but they run the risk of retribution from their own community for doing so. At least 20 to 30 people come each day seeking treatment, Elyas said. "Week by week it’s getting worse." "I’m just trying to save as many lives as possible. Even though I don’t have the proper qualifications, if I don’t do this work, people will die," he said. The post Health Crisis in Arakan after Aid Groups Forced Out appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Obama Vigorously Defends Foreign Policy Record Posted: 28 Apr 2014 10:42 PM PDT US President Barack Obama, left, gestures during a joint news conference with Philippine’s President Benigno Aquino at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila on April 28, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) MANILA — President Barack Obama vigorously defended his foreign policy record on Monday, arguing that his cautious approach to global problems has avoided the type of missteps that contributed to a "disastrous" decade of war for the United States. Obama’s expansive comments came at the end of a weeklong Asia trip that exposed growing White House frustration with critics who cast the president as weak and ineffectual on the world stage. The president and his advisers get particularly irked by those who seize on Obama’s decision to pull back from a military strike in Syria and link it with virtually every other foreign policy challenge, from Russia’s threatening moves in Ukraine to China’s increasing assertiveness in Asia’s territorial disputes. "Why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force after we’ve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget?" Obama said during a news conference in the Philippines. Summing up his foreign policy philosophy, Obama said it was one that "avoids errors." White House advisers argue in part that Obama’s approach puts him on the side of a conflict-weary American public, some of whom voted for him in the 2008 election because of his early opposition to the Iraq war. Yet the president’s foreign policy record of late has provided plenty of fodder for his critics. It was Obama’s own declaration that Syria’s chemical weapons use would cross his "red line" that raised the stakes for a US response when Syrian leader Bashar Assad launched an attack last summer. The Obama administration’s own drumbeat toward a US strike only fueled the narrative that the president was indecisive or didn’t have the stomach for an attack when he abruptly pulled back, first in favor of a vote in Congress, then to strike a deal with Syria and Russia that aimed to rid the Assad regime of its chemical weapons stockpiles. The Syria scenario has trickled into Obama’s relationship with Asia, where anxious allies spent much of the last week seeking assurances from the president that he would have their back if China used military force to take the advantage in the region’s numerous territorial disputes. And Russian President Vladimir Putin’s flouting of Western sanctions in response to his alleged provocations in Ukraine has stirred fresh criticism that the president’s strategy lacks teeth. That line of thinking was evident on Monday after the Obama administration announced new sanctions on seven Russian officials, as well 17 companies with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire who has been a frequent Obama foreign policy critic, called the measures "tepid," "incremental" and "insufficient." Other GOP lawmakers have called on Obama to provide lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military, a prospect he roundly rejected once again on Monday. "Do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into Ukraine could potentially deter the Russian army?" Obama said. "Or are we more likely to deter them by applying the sort of international pressure, diplomatic pressure and economic pressure that we’re applying?" While Obama did not call out any of his critics by name, the White House has often been frustrated with two sets of foreign policy critics: Republican lawmakers like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who takes a more hawkish position than Obama on nearly every issue, and foreign policy commentators who use their platforms on television or editorial pages to push the president to take a more aggressive approach. "Frankly, most of the foreign policy commentators that have questioned our policies would go headlong into a bunch of military adventures that the American people had no interest in participating in and would not advance our core security interests," Obama said. He added that he’s not inclined to make policy decisions because "somebody sitting in an office in Washington or New York think it would look strong." Obama spoke on the final full day of his four-country Asia swing. The centerpiece of his president’s trip was a 10-year security agreement signed with the Philippines on Monday that will give the US military greater access to bases on the Southeast Asian nation, which is struggling to bolster its territorial defense amid China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea The president arrived in the Philippines on Monday afternoon following visits to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Despite Obama’s warm welcome from President Benigno Aquino, the increased US military role drew consternation from some Filipino activists, who say the agreement reverses democratic gains achieved when huge US military bases were shut down in the early 1990s, ending a nearly century-long military presence in the former US colony. Some 800 of those activists burned mock US flags and chanted "Nobama, no bases, no war" on the road leading to the gates of the palace where Obama met with Aquino. Others burned an effigy of Obama riding a chariot pulled by Aquino, depicted as dog. The president was to depart for Washington on Tuesday morning after speaking to US and Filipino troops. He was also scheduled to lay a wreath at the Manila American Cemetery, which has the largest number of graves of fallen US military personnel from World War II. The post Obama Vigorously Defends Foreign Policy Record appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Investors Wary as Anti-Vietnamese Feeling Grows in Cambodia Posted: 28 Apr 2014 10:30 PM PDT Tran Yaing Chang, 32, shows a picture of her brother Tran Van Chien, who was killed by a mob on February 16, 2014, at her house in Phnom Penh March 11, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) PHNOM PENH — It took just one word to fire up the mob that beat Tran Van Chien to death after a minor road accident in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. The 30-year-old carpenter was standing among onlookers on Feb. 16 when someone shouted "yuon," a term widely seen as derogatory to the hundreds of thousands of ethnic Vietnamese who call Cambodia home. Seconds later, the crowd turned on Tran Van Chien. "There were so many people I couldn’t help," recalled his sister, Tran Yaing Chang, shuffling through photos of his funeral. "He was killed instantly." Cambodians have long borne a grudge against the Vietnamese. For centuries Cambodia was caught between more powerful Thai and Vietnamese kingdoms and for generations, many Cambodians have believed Vietnam wants to take over their land. At various times, Cambodian politicians have found it useful to play up that fear. In late 1978, Vietnamese forces invaded to overthrow the Khmer Rouge who vilified Vietnam and launched cross-border raids. Vietnam occupied Cambodia for the next 11 years. Recently, the resurgent opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has stoked anti-Vietnamese sentiment, seeking to capitalize on long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen’s association with Vietnam. Hun Sen first came to power in a government installed by the invading Vietnamese and his enemies have long played that up in a bid to undermine his legitimacy. The opposition tried to exploit the distrust of Vietnam in an election last year some observers called racist, with party leader Sam Rainsy routinely using the term "yuon," an old word for Vietnamese that many find offensive, to refer to Vietnamese. Kem Sokha, deputy leader of the CNRP, accused Vietnam of sending immigrants to occupy Cambodian land and promised to cancel contracts with Vietnamese companies if the CNRP won. The CNRP has used anti-Vietnamese rhetoric since the vote last July, which Hun Sen’s party won amid allegations of cheating. In a March meeting with supporters, Sam Rainsy said the government planned to colonize Cambodia with "neighbors from the east"—meaning Vietnamese. Companies from Vietnam are growing increasingly concerned. "I’m afraid if this kind of sentiment becomes stronger, we might struggle doing business here," said a Phnom Penh-based representative of a Vietnamese company producing fertilizer in Cambodia. "Some people, including government officials, have said Vietnamese businesses are taking advantage of Cambodians and don’t bring any benefits to their country," said the executive, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Vietnamese businesses have been targeted during anti-government rallies since the disputed election. Vietnam’s investments in Cambodia are worth US $2.5 billion, with bilateral trade at $3.5 billion, according to the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh. A Cambodian government survey of foreign direct investment from 1994-2011 put Vietnam sixth on a list topped by China. "A Lot of Violence" A prominent human rights activist said the opposition’s rhetoric was irresponsible and dangerous. Ou Virak, the former director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, who has received death threats for speaking out against racism, said once stoked, anti-Vietnamese anger could be difficult to contain, and could raise tension with other ethnic groups in Cambodia such as ethnic Chinese or Cham Muslims. "All it needs is a spark," he said. China is the country’s biggest investor and aid donor, and its firms have snapped up land concessions for mining, agriculture and tourism. Ou Virak said blaming Vietnamese for evictions or the destruction of forests was a "perfect excuse" for those who did not want to upset the big-spending Chinese. Sam Rainsy declined to comment on the issue of anti-Vietnamese sentiment. In an April 12 statement, the CNRP said accusations the party was anti-Vietnamese were "groundless," and it insisted the word "yuon" was not derogatory or racist. About 700,000 ethnic Vietnamese live in Cambodia, said Ang Chanrith, director of Minority Rights Organization, basing his estimate on interviews with Vietnamese community leaders and Cambodian authorities. Cambodia has a population of about 15 million. Bearing the brunt of anti-Vietnamese feeling are ordinary people like Tran Van Chien who lived in a ramshackle stilt house in a 400-strong community of ethnic Vietnamese—most of them very poor—on the bank of the Tonle Bassac River. Cambodians call it "Yuon Village." His sister, Tran Yaing Chang, 32, said her brother and seven other siblings had left Vietnam 10 years ago to seek a better life in Cambodia. She owns a small shop and, until her brother’s death, felt Cambodia had treated her well. Her brother was married to a Cambodian woman, who was about to deliver their first child. "I’ve seen a lot of violence against the Vietnamese since the election," she said. "I dare not complain about anything, even though they treat us like this, because we are living in their country." Many ethnic Vietnamese families have lived in Cambodia for generations, said community leader Sok Hor, 70, who moved to Cambodia in 1981. He said many people now say verbal abuse is so common that he tells people to "stay at home and sleep" rather than go out at night.   The post Investors Wary as Anti-Vietnamese Feeling Grows in Cambodia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Plans for Coal-Fired Power Plant Face Opposition in Mon State Posted: 28 Apr 2014 03:46 AM PDT Toyo-Thai Group plans to build a coal-fired power plant near this beach in Inn Din village, Ye Township. (Photo by Mon Kyae) RANGOON — Plans to build the first coal-fired power plant in Mon State have come under fire by local residents, who say they worry about pollution and potential health ramifications. The Thai-based Toyo-Thai Group held a consultation meeting on Friday with local residents to explain plans to build a 1,280 MW power plant in Inn Din village, Ye Township, at a cost of US$2.7 billion. Mi Myint Than, a member of Parliament from Ye Township, said the company suspended planning for the project due to public opposition expressed last week. "Some groups objected. They said charcoal is poisonous," the lawmaker told The Irrawaddy, adding that Toyo-Thai plans to call another meeting with local residents in the future. "We won't encourage the plan if it's dangerous. But our area also needs electricity. From a development standpoint, the project should proceed." Ye Township is off the grid of the government's power supply, with most residents accessing electricity from large private generators at a cost of about 500 kyats to 1,000 kyats ($0.50 to $1) per unit. If plans proceed, Toyo-Thai will sell electricity from the coal-fired plant to the Burmese government. The plant will be built on 500 acres of land and will become operational in 2017. The coal will be imported from Australia, South Africa and Indonesia. Thant Zin, an activist who has led campaigns against coal-fired power plants elsewhere in Burma, warned of the project's potential environmental consequences. Pollution from a coal-fired plant in Kaw Thaung, a border town in the activist's native Tenasserim Division, has killed off fish species in the area and led to respiratory related diseases and other health problems among local residents, he said. "Some people suffer from itchy skin, some have rashes. The dust particles from the power plant reach the houses," he said. Ni Mar Oo, a resident and NGO worker in Inn Din village, said that despite public opposition to the proposed project in Mon State, some land owners were eager to sell their land to Toyo-Thai. "Some people are scared after learning about the effects of coal. They are worried," she said. "We will try to object and find concrete proof that it is dangerous." Mi Myint Than, the lawmaker, said she hoped Toyo-Thai would take steps to reduce the environmental and health impacts and proceed with the project in Mon State. "If they cannot do it here, they will build it somewhere else. Maybe in Dawei or somewhere else in Tenasserim," she said. "Since the government cannot invest in this kind of [billion] dollar project, we want it to go forward in our areas, if not here [in Inn Din]. But we need to make sure there are reduced side effects or no side effects." Toyo-Thai Corporation Public Company Limited (TTCL) was incorporated in 1985 by a joint venture of Italian-Thai Development, one of the biggest contractors in Thailand, and Toyo Engineering Corporation, an international engineering company in Japan. TTCL signed a memorandum of understanding with Burma's Ministry of Electric Power in 2012 and opened a joint-venture gas-fired power plant in Rangoon the following year. The post Plans for Coal-Fired Power Plant Face Opposition in Mon State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Arakan National Conference Gets Underway in Kyaukphyu Posted: 28 Apr 2014 03:35 AM PDT Buddhist monks are among the audience at this week's Arakan National Conference in Kyaukphyu. (Photo: Nyi Nyi Maung/ Arakan National Conference) A five-day conference on the future of western Burma's Arakan State got underway in Kyaukphyu Township on Sunday, with thousands of people, including government officials, in attendance. The Arakan National Conference's stated aims are to ensure peace, security and development in the conflict-torn state. It is the first gathering of its size in Arakan State for 68 years. President's Office Minister Aung Min and the Arakan State chief minister attended the opening of conference, together with members of the state administration and the Union Parliament in Naypyidaw, Buddhist monks, civil society representatives and members of exiled Arakanese armed groups who are in peace talks with the government. During a speech, Aung Min, the government's chief peace negotiator, called for ethnic Arakanese people "to collaborate together with other ethnics in the country's political reforms." At the conference Monday, a panel discussed the role of international NGOs in Arakan State, a controversial subject in the region, where aid groups have been accused by the Buddhist Arakanese of bias in favor of Muslims in Arakan State. "The panelists who have expertise in INGO issues discussed the role of the international organizations and the advantages and disadvantages of them," said Oo Hla Saw, a leader of the Arakan National Conference Organizing Committee and one of the founders of the Arakan National Party (ANP). The ANP was recently formed in a merger between the Rakhine National Development Party and the Arakan League for Democracy. Local complaints about international NGOs led to doctors group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) being banned from Arakan State in March. Later that month, riots against NGO and United Nations properties in the state capital of Sittwe led to local and foreign staff seeking police protection and fleeing the town. Amid concerns of a growing humanitarian crises in the state—where about 140,000 people, mostly Rohingya Muslims, have been displaced by inter-communal violence in the past two years—some aid groups have been allowed to return. The riots were sparked by an aid worker for Malteser International allegedly mishandling a Buddhist flag, and that group has not been allowed to return to the state due to safety concerns. "Township representatives asked how to deal with those INGOs who have no transparency, have no respect for the locals' feelings, and discriminate against the locals," said Oo Hla Saw, who added that the state could not cope without help from outside. "The abandonment of NGOs is impossible." Panel discussions were also held on democracy in Burma, on federalism and on the sharing of natural resources and environmental preservation, Oo Hla Saw said. Ethnic Arakanese from all 17 townships in Arakan, one of Burma's poorest regions, also shared concerns about health and educations needs, farmland issues and electricity shortages, he said. He said the results of the discussions would be drawn up into a policy statement at the end of the conference. Ba Shein, an Arakanese lawmaker in the Lower House of Burma's Parliament, said the Arakanese people were paying close attention to the conference, which will decide upon strategy for the state's future. "I believe it will yield good results for the future of the Arakanese, as the participants are both the public inside the state and the exiled Arakanese activist groups," he said. On Wednesday, parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann is expected to visit and address the conference, according to Oo Hla Saw. The post Arakan National Conference Gets Underway in Kyaukphyu appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Chinese Nationals Caught With Illegal Weapons in Northwest Burma Posted: 28 Apr 2014 03:30 AM PDT Indo-Burmese crossing point at Moreh-Tamu. (Photo: NEFIT) MANDALAY — Eight Chinese nationals have been detained for questioning at a prison in Monywa, Sagaing Division, after authorities caught them illegally carrying weapons near the Indian border. The suspects were arrested on Friday in the border town of Tamu while carrying eight pistols, 31 grenades, 1,860 bullets, five walkie-talkies, three combat knives, eight military uniforms, a pair of binoculars, four mobile phones and a map of Burma, according to the government administration office in Tamu. The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that one of the suspects admitted through a translator that the group had been receiving military training in the Kokang self-administered region, which is located in northern Shan State and shares a border with China's Yunnan Province. The suspects were arrested by the police at a checkpoint in Tamu after a 15-minute car chase, the newspaper reported, adding that they had driven off with the car after allegedly killing an officer in Mainekyat, a village in the Kokang region. "We haven't been able to confirm yet the reason they came to this area because they each gave different answers to an interpreter," a spokesman at the Tamu administration office told The Irrawaddy, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They have been handed over to Sagaing divisional authorities and are currently being detained at Monywa Prison for questioning." Three of the suspects came from China's Sichuan Province, two came from Anhui, and the rest were from Guangxi, Hubei and Buizhou, according to the New Light of Myanmar. Insurgency groups from India are known to travel through Tamu, and there have been many cases of illegal weapons seizures in recent years. However, local officials told The Irrawaddy that they had never before seized weapons from Chinese nationals in the area. Local residents said they feared insurgents might increasingly use the border town as a channel for transporting weapons around the region. "Since Tamu is a border town, we have always been worried about Indian insurgents. Now, again, it's the Chinese. We just want to live peacefully," Pu Liang, a shopkeeper, told The Irrawaddy. The post Chinese Nationals Caught With Illegal Weapons in Northwest Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Govt Denies Report of Former Dictator’s Generous Pension Posted: 28 Apr 2014 02:29 AM PDT Then head of Burma's military regime, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, right, is seen arriving on an official visit to Indonesia in 2005, where he was accompanied by now-President Thein Sein. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — A Burmese government spokesperson has denied a report claiming that the former head of the country's military regime is enjoying a monthly pension of 10 million kyat, or more than US$10,000. Snr-Gen Than Shwe was the highest-ranking member of the junta until it handed power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011. Last week, local Burmese weekly the Myanmar Herald reported what it says are details of the "pensions and benefits" received by Burma's former military leaders, including Than Shwe and his 2nd in command, Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye. "Since March 31, 2011, the Pension Department [in the Finance Ministry] allowed Snr-Gen Than Shwe 10 million kyat per month and Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye was allowed 8 million kyat," the Burmese-language weekly said, without giving a specific source for the information. It also said Than Shwe was paid a one-off gratuity of 230 million kyat, about $230,000. Ye Htut, the deputy information minister and spokesman for President Thein Sein, denied that the former ruler's pension was as generous as reported. "It's not true," he told The Irrawaddy by email. "Senior General Than Shwe only enjoys his pension and gratuity—based on his years in service—like any other military service personnel, since he retired." But Ye Htut declined to say how much the retired dictator was drawing as a pension. "The amount you said is not true. I can't disclose the exact amount as it's a personal matter," he said. Than Shwe joined the Burmese military in 1953, serving for 58 years before he passed the reigns to Thein Sein, himself a former general reportedly hand-picked by his predecessor. Since retirement, Than Shwe has kept a low profile, but is widely suspected to remain influential over Burma's government. The Irrawaddy understands that before his retirement, Than Shwe's salary was 1.4 million kyat per month. Based on his years of service, the former supremo would have been entitled to a gratuity of more than 81 million kyat. A retired Lieutenant- Colonel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said his pension was worth just 150,000 kyat (about $150) per month, with a gratuity of 7 million kyat. The former soldier said Than Shwe's gratuity would likely be in the tens of millions of kyat, based on his senior rank and years of service. The Myanmar Herald also reported that parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, who was a deputy senior general and ranked third in the military regime up to 2011, enjoys a pension of 5 million kyat. According to the Burmese Constitution, Thein Sein is entitled to a monthly salary of 5 million kyat. Pe Than, a parliamentarian from Arakan State, said it was unlikely that the government would have approved such a large pension and gratuity for Than Shwe, and that no such payments had been approved by Parliament. "If they allowed it without mentioning it in the budget, it's an act of dishonesty—something they shouldn't do," he said. The post Burma Govt Denies Report of Former Dictator's Generous Pension appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thilawa SEZ Shares Sold Out Following Strong Demand Posted: 28 Apr 2014 02:20 AM PDT The Thilawa port is located less than 20 miles southeast of Rangoon and is a key part of the Thilawa SEZ project's infrastructure.. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Demand for shares in Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Limited has been higher than expected and the firm has reached its goal of raising US $21 million in capital after shares went on sale in March, a government official said. Thilawa SEZ Management Committee Chairman Sett Aung told reporters during a press conference on Friday that the company had received requests to buy shares worth about $40 million—almost twice the amount of capital it had sought to fund initial development of the Thilawa SEZ. "We just aimed to sell out 21 billion kyat [$21 million] in shares, now demand has been greater than 40 billion kyat, about 19 billion kyat more demand than [there are] shares. That's why we can't sell shares in accordance with demand right now," he said. The shares are being sold at $10 and each buyer can acquire no more than 500 shares. Sett Aung, who is also deputy governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar, said about 9 percent of all interested buyers had, nonetheless, attempted to buy more than 500 shares. Shares had been available for sale at the Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings' office and at Ayeyarwady Bank Ltd, Myanmar Apex Bank Ltd, Co-Operative Bank Ltd, Yoma Bank Ltd and Kanbawza Bank Ltd. Sett Aung said in February that funds raised by share sales would be used to finance construction of part of the first 400-hectare phase of the SEZ project, which would cost about $180 million to complete. Thilawa SEZ is being planned by the Burmese and Japanese governments, together with a consortium of Japanese firms and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI). The industrial complex, located about 20 km south of Rangoon, will include a deep sea port, Japanese factories, and large housing projects. The Burmese side owns 51 percent of the project and is responsible for developing a 2,400-hectare core zone. The Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Limited was formed by nine Burmese companies and owns 41 percent of the project, while the Burmese government owns the remaining 10 percent. Win Aung, who chairs the UMFCCI and Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Limited, said last month that he expected sales of plots in the first phase of the industrial zone to begin in May, adding that the first factories might open within a year after plots are procured. Construction work on the ground began in Thilawa in December last year. The Thilawa project is the most advanced of several huge, foreign investment-driven SEZ projects around the country, which are part of Naypyidaw's strategy for attracting investment in Burma and increase industrial productivity in the impoverished nation. It remains unclear how much money the owners of Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Public Company will invest in the development of Thilawa, or how much has been spent on the initial ground work. Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public's is owned by Golden Land East Asia Development Ltd, Myanmar Sugar Development Company Ltd, Myanmar Edible Oil Industrial Public Corporation, First Myanmar Investment Company Ltd, Myanmar Agricultural & General Development Public Ltd, National Development Company Group Ltd, New City Development Public Company Ltd, Myanmar Technologies and Investment Corporation Ltd, and Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation Ltd. The post Thilawa SEZ Shares Sold Out Following Strong Demand appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Obama Travels to Asia, But Future of Trade Pact Is Uncertain Posted: 28 Apr 2014 01:00 AM PDT U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative Town Hall inside the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur April 27, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) President Barack Obama's trip to four Asian nations is aimed in large part to reassure skeptical partners that the announced US pivot to Asia is real. But squabbling among America's Asian allies apart, the fate of a long-gestating trade pact might prove a serious indicator of the success or failure of US policy. The trade pact has drawn criticism from various quarters, not to mention suspicion that it's designed to isolate China. This lends the pact a centrality that was perhaps not intended. The trade pact at issue, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, grew out of a 2005 initiative, when four small nations – Singapore, New Zealand, Brunei and Chile – initiated a trade agreement aimed to increase their economic integration. TPP has since grown to include a group of 12 nations from the three members of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement – Canada, the United States and Mexico – as well as Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia and Vietnam. Others have expressed interest in joining negotiations, including Taiwan and South Korea.  India, Bangladesh and most other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations may join negotiations eventually. TPP aims to lower barriers to trade, which are already fairly low except for specific goods in agriculture and a few other areas, and provide uniform treatment for foreign investment and regulatory issues. Nothing has been concluded in the larger group, though negotiations – mainly secret, even to the US Congress, except for leaks – suggest that corporate interests in finance, pharmaceuticals and media have lobbied heavily to get an agreement that advances their agendas. The administration claims that Congress was consulted. Critics of TPP are diverse. Some represent public health groups who fear that generic drug availability will be curtailed, raising costs of life-saving medicines.  Others argue that legitimate national regulations on tobacco, large gas-hungry vehicles, financial flows or national culture could be over-ridden, giving industry the right to sue against national governmental rulings. The critics can be classed in various groups: Many members of the US Congress complain they know little or nothing of TPP negotiations. Several from both Democratic and Republican parties have opposed fast-track authority for the TPP – allowing debate of modification of provisions rather than an up-or-down vote. The trouble with this approach is that arduous negotiations among member nations would then have to be re-opened, making it all but impossible to reach universal agreement. Much of the opposition is from the left, fearing damage to labor and the environment regulations, even though provisions have been inserted to allay fears of a "race to the bottom." There is also opposition from conservatives who fear giving the executive, especially President Obama, too much authority. Many environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resource Defense Council and World Wide Fund for Nature contend that combatting climate change with national regulations and protection of land or species could be compromised. WikiLeaks leaked a chapter on the environment, arguing it was essentially a public relations document with no enforcement mechanism. Academics such as Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and Noam Chomsky are critics too, though varying in intensity and message. Krugman suggests there is no compelling case for TPP and no political consensus and it would not be a problem if it just faded away. Chomsky argued TPP puts corporate interests ahead of workers, and Stiglitz argues it aims to remove national regulatory control on businesses that "serves the interests of the wealthiest." If viewed mainly as another trade and investment agreement, TPP would probably face tough opposition as fewer centrist politicians seem committed to such agreements. Tariffs are already low, and many of the provisions seem to address narrow corporate concerns and sacrifice national autonomy, as least according to many critics. The secrecy surrounding the negotiations feeds this perception. However, in a post-Ukraine world, there may be another angle to TPP. Some see it as a riposte to China and a way of implementing the Asia "pivot." In this framework—as some in China have done despite US denials—weakening President Obama also weakens the US position in Asia. Such arguments could convince members of US Congress who typically support national-security initiatives to support TPP. Ellen Frost of the East-West Center wrote last year in the Asia Pacific Bulletin about the strategic implications of TPP and notes that China's initial reaction to the US joining TPP was hostile—analysts seeing it as a way to exclude or encircle China. Since nothing in the TPP charter would exclude China, the nation could possibly join at some point though the restraints on subsidies and other internal policies would complicate such negotiations. Some Chinese argue, Frost observes, for lowering TPP standards so that China could more easily join. She rejects this and suggests that joining TPP on its present terms would push the Chinese economy in a direction it must go anyway. Frost does see US policy on TPP as part of the pivot to Asia, though it's unclear if this is enough to persuade critics to pass on a fast-track basis. Others in Asia see the TPP as undermining ASEAN. Frost also rejects this argument and observes, correctly, that Indonesia—a key member of ASEAN—is not even on the list of negotiating members and none of the very poor countries such as Laos, Myanmar or Cambodia is even close to joining TPP. It is axiomatic that as any planned trade group increases in size the lesser role that special interests can easily play by excluding competitive products from other sources. So if the TPP eventually morphed into a very large trade pact that included China and India, it would approach a WTO scale, although presumably exclude Europe. Of course, ongoing negotiations are underway over an Atlantic trade pact, which faces similar opposition. Frost argues that TPP might help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan push through unpopular reforms. Similar arguments apply to Vietnam, which also finds reform difficult without foreign pressure. If strategic considerations are of only moderate weight, the question comes back to how important the lower tariffs and investment and intellectual property protections are relative to the concerns about health, environment and national autonomy. In a world in which trade growth has slowed to less than the growth of national income – reversing a half century trend – and increasingly concentrated income distribution has raised fears about the stability of the middle class, TPP will be a difficult proposal to sell. If a country wants labeling for food grown from genetically modified seeds, few would support an agreement that restricted the ability of national legislatures or courts to implement such a law – certainly not in the United States and probably not in many other nations. The secrecy surrounding the negotiations raises suspicions that the lack of transparency is due to corporate pressure rather than simply negotiation prudence. Given these impediments, the outlook for an agreement and its approval is uncertain. While some good may be lost, it just may be that more people are worried about losing national control. Perhaps there are limits to globalization, and this may be one of those examples where popular support is too slim to achieve agreement. On the other hand, corporate lobbying after the November elections may create a narrow majority in favor. A floundering TPP faces an uncertain future as Obama tries to save his landmark foreign policy initiative—an Asian pivot. This article first appeared on Yale Global on April 21, 2014. David Dapice is associate professor of economics at Tufts University and the economist of the Vietnam Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The post Obama Travels to Asia, But Future of Trade Pact Is Uncertain appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Desperate Rohingya Kids Flee Alone by Boat Posted: 27 Apr 2014 10:54 PM PDT Marmet Harlu (2nd L), Nokair (C) and Argit (2nd R), the children of Mohammad Edillet (L), stand near their room at the Bawdupa IDP camp outside of Sittwe August 11, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) SITTWE — The two children stood on the beach, at the end of the only world they knew, torn between land and sea. They couldn’t go back to their tiny Muslim village in Myanmar’s northwest Arakan because it had been devoured in a fire set by an angry Buddhist mob. In the smoke and chaos, the siblings became separated from their family. And after seven months of searching, they had lost hope of finding anyone alive. The only way was forward. Hungry and scared, they eyed a rickety wooden fishing boat in the darkness. Mohamad Husein, just 15, dug into his pocket and pulled out a little wad of money for the captain. He and his 9-year-old sister, Senwara Begum, climbed on board, cramming themselves tightly between the other ethnic Rohingya in the small hull. As the ship pushed off, they didn’t realize they were among hundreds, if not thousands, of children joining one of the world’s biggest boat exoduses since the Vietnam War. They only understood it wasn’t safe to stay in a country that didn’t want them. Mohamad had no idea where they were headed. And as Senwara looked back in tears, she wondered if she would ever see her parents again. Neither could imagine the horrors that lay ahead. From Malaysia to Australia, countries easily reachable by boat have been implementing policies and practices to ensure that Rohingya Muslims don’t wash up on their shores — from shoving them back to sea, where they risk being sold as slaves, to flat out barring the refugees from stepping onto their soil. Despite pleas from the United Nations, which considers the Rohingya to be among the most persecuted groups on earth, many governments in the region have refused to sign refugee conventions and protocols, meaning they are not obligated to help. The countries said they fear adopting the international agreements could attract a flood of immigrants they cannot support. However, rights groups said they are failing members of the religious minority at their most vulnerable hour, even as more women and children join the increasing mass departure. "The sense of desperation and hopelessness is growing," warned Vivian Tan of the U.N. Refugee Agency. About 1.3 million Rohingya live in the predominantly Buddhist country of 60 million, almost all of them in Arakan state. Burma considers them illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, though some families have lived here for generations. When the country was under military rule, young men took to the seas on small, dilapidated boats every year in search of a better life. But since the bumpy transition to democracy in 2011, sectarian violence has killed up to 280 Rohingya and forced more than 140,000 others from their homes. Now people of all ages are fleeing, many on massive cargo ships. Women and children made up 5 percent to 15 percent of the estimated 75,000 passengers who have left since the riots began in mid-June 2012, said Chris Lewa of the nonprofit Arakan Project, a group that has tracked the boat journeys for a decade. The year before, around 9,000 people fled, most of them men. It’s a dangerous voyage: Nearly 2,000 Rohingya have died or gone missing in the past two years, Lewa said. Unaccompanied children like Senwara and her brother are among the most at risk. The Associated Press reported from Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on their plight, interviewing family members, witnesses and aid groups. Data were collected from the U.N., government agencies, nonprofit organizations and news reports at the time. The relief the two children felt after making it safely away from land quickly faded. Their small boat was packed with 63 people, including 14 children and 10 women, one seven months pregnant. There were no life jackets, and neither sibling could swim. The sun baked their skin. Senwara took small sips of water from a shared tin can inside the hull piled with aching, crumpled arms and legs. With each roiling set of waves came the stench of vomit. Nearly two weeks passed. Then suddenly a boat approached with at least a dozen Burmese soldiers on board. They ordered the Rohingya men to remove their shirts and lie down, one by one. Their hands were bound. Then they were punched, kicked and bludgeoned with wooden planks and iron rods, passengers on the boat said. They howled and begged God for mercy. "Tell us, do you have your Allah?" one Rohingya survivor quoted the soldiers as saying. "There is no Allah!" The police began flogging Mohamad before he even stood up, striking his little sister in the process. They tied his hands, lit a match and laughed as the smell of burnt flesh wafted from his blistering arm. Senwara watched helplessly. As they stomped him with boots and lashed him with clubs, his mind kept flashing back to home: What had he done? Why had he left? Would he die here? After what seemed like hours, the beating stopped. Mohamad suspected an exchange of money finally prompted the soldiers to order the Rohingya to leave. "Go straight out of Myanmar territory to the sea!" a witness recalled the commander saying. "If we see you again, we will kill you all!" The Burmese government denied that the Navy seized any ships during that period. The refugees plodded on, but the boat was falling apart. A sarong stuffed in a hole could not stop water from bubbling through. The sticky rice and bits of bread Mohamad had brought for his sister were gone. When they finally floated ashore, someone said they were in Thailand. Senwara didn’t even know where that was. Thailand is the first stop for almost all Rohingya fleeing by sea, but it does not offer them asylum. Up until a few years ago, the country had a "push back" policy of towing migrants out to sea and leaving them, often with little or no food, water or fuel. But after photos leaked of the military dragging one such boat in 2009, the government changed course. Under its new "help on" policy, Thai authorities give basic supplies to migrants in its waters before sending them on. Other times, however, they direct the boat to traffickers who hold the asylum seekers for ransom, according to human rights groups that have interviewed scores of escapees. Those who cannot get money are sometimes sold as slaves to work on fishing boats or in other industries without pay. Others flee, usually back into the hands of agents, where the cycle continues. Royal Thai Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Karn Dee-ubon denied cooperation with traffickers and allegations of boats being towed out to sea. He insisted the navy always follows humanitarian principles, but added that other Thai agencies could be involved in such activities. After the children’s boat entered Thai waters, all of its passengers were marched into the jungle where their hands were tied and they were told not to leave, survivors said. They were given rice and dry fish crawling with bugs. Days later, they were put on another small boat without an engine. Then, survivors said, Thai troops pulled them far out to sea, cut the rope and left them to drift without food or water. The boat rolled with the wind and currents. Senwara drank sea water and ate a paste of ground-up wood. She vomited, and diarrhea poured out of her. The next day, someone spotted what looked like a shadowy tree in the distance. The men used a little boy’s mirror to flash signals in its direction. When the boat came near, Indonesian fishermen smiled and spoke a language no one understood. The Rohingya could only make out that the crew was Muslim. Indonesia has been sympathetic to the Rohingya, and its president has sent a letter to his Myanmar counterpart calling for an end to the crisis. Protesters in cities across the world’s most populous Muslim nation have condemned the violence. Yet Indonesia has not opened its doors to the Rohingya. It only allows them to stay until they can be resettled elsewhere, which can take years. In the meantime, they are kept in overcrowded detention centers and shelters, and no one can legally work. The Indonesian and Malaysian governments fear that letting the Rohingya stay could lead to a greater influx of illegal migrants. "At stake is national interest," said Yan Welly, an Indonesian immigration official. "Let alone a flood of immigrants could affect efforts in coping with problems of our own people." The number of Rohingya housed in Indonesia jumped from 439 in 2012 to 795 last year. About 20 percent of the children who arrived were traveling alone, according to U.N. data. Some go the official route: They register with the U.N. Refugee Agency when they arrive and wait to be resettled in another country. However, no Rohingya in Indonesia were referred for placement last year. Ultimately, it is up to accepting nations, with their own policies and criteria, to decide whom to accept. To avoid the long delay, many asylum seekers run away and never get recorded. In the past, thousands paid smugglers to take them by boat across a deadly stretch of ocean to Australia’s Christmas Island. But that country recently took a hard line, transferring everyone arriving by sea to impoverished Papua New Guinea or the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. Australia’s new policies also include towing vessels back into Indonesian waters, which has left the two governments sparring. The boat carrying Mohamad and Senwara only made it as far as Indonesia. After nearly a month and hundreds of miles at sea, they were rescued off Aceh’s coast in the west. U.N. and news reports confirm the rickety ship arrived in late February 2013 and was towed because it had no engine. The asylum seekers were transferred to a filthy detention center with about 300 people — double its capacity — including more than 100 Rohingya. They soon clashed with 11 Buddhists from Myanmar picked up for fishing illegally in Indonesian waters, according to a police report obtained by The AP. The Rohingya complained the Buddhists were harassing their women. A riot broke out in April 2013, and the nightmare the children thought they had escaped began replaying itself. Men threw splintered chairs and spewed rage into a darkness so black, it was impossible to see who was fighting whom. Eight Buddhist fishermen were beaten to death. Senwara slept through the brawl in a separate quarter for women. But when she awoke the next morning, her brother was gone. She was now all alone. After a few months in jail with other Rohingya arrested for the fight, Mohamad was released due to his age. He soon left for neighboring Malaysia on a small boat to find work and avoid further trouble. For many fleeing Rohingya, Malaysia, is the preferred destination. Around 33,000 are registered there and an equal number are undocumented, according to the Rohingya Society of Malaysia. Those numbers have swelled with the violence in Myanmar. But increasingly, migrants risk getting caught up in group arrests and sent to detention centers. Up to 1,000 have been detained in a nationwide crackdown, the Society said. Those who arrive in the Muslim-majority country are not eligible for free health care or education, relying mainly on help from the U.N. and aid groups. But it usually doesn’t take long to get illegal work on construction sites or in factories. Mohamad found a job as a street sweeper in the city of Alor Setar, earning about $70 a month. He now lives in a tiny hovel with about 17 other Rohingya men sleeping on every inch of floor. For the first time, he is earning a living on his own. But he remains tortured with guilt for leaving his little sister behind. Soon after the detention center riot, Senwara was registered as an asylum seeker. She was moved to temporary U.N. housing in Medan that’s made of small concrete dorm-style rooms with a large play area in front. A Rohingya woman who knew Senwara’s parents from childhood took the girl in. Although Senwara smiles around her new foster parents, she remains hurt and angry that her brother left. Mostly, her heart aches for home. Senwara’s parents didn’t learn the children were safe until more than eight months after their village was burned. On that awful night, rioters lit bottles and lobbed them into the mosque. Panicked Rohingya raced outside, slicing their bare feet on shards of broken glass left to make them bleed. Senwara’s mother, Anowar Begum, and father, Mohamad Idris, fled with two babies into a lake. They used bamboo stalks to guide them through the muddy chest-high water in the darkness. Later, they searched frantically and found five more of their nine children. But Senwara and Mohamad had vanished. Everyone feared they were dead. After moving from place to place, the family ended up in a squalid camp with tens of thousands of other homeless Rohingya on the outskirts of Arakan state’s capital, Sittwe. They had given up hope for Senwara and Mohamad by the time an unknown Rohingya called from Indonesia to say they were safe. Today, 22 months after their separation, it’s only through technology that the family, now scattered across three countries, can remain in touch. Mohamad, in Malaysia, watches a video clip of his sister playing soccer in Indonesia. While the other young men in his simple, two-room flat sit on the floor chatting and scraping curry from their plates, the teenager retreats into silence. Even as he breaks down, he cannot look away from the little girl on the screen. Back in Myanmar, a Skype video call pops up on a laptop. From inside the camp, Anowar stares at her daughter and sobs quietly into her headscarf. In Indonesia, Senwara quickly wipes away her own tears. Two birthdays have passed since she left home. As her father asks how she’s been, his weathered face trembles. They then go through the questions every parent wants to know: Is she well? How is she doing in school? Is she getting enough to eat? "It’s really good to see you here and healthy," her father says, balancing a baby on his knee. Soon her favorite sister, who looks just like her, starts making jokes. The whole family laughs, breaking the sadness for a few minutes. "I’m fine," Senwara says, trying to sound upbeat. "I’m with a family that is taking good care of me. They love me. I’m learning things, English and religion." Her father reminds her to be a good girl. He is desperate to see his children again, but believes they are better off far away. The family often goes hungry, and there’s no money for medicine. When it’s time to say goodbye, Senwara keeps staring at the screen even after the faces disappear. She still doesn’t understand why her village was burned or what forced her to leave home. She only knows one thing. "I don’t think I will ever be able to see my parents," she says, softly. "For the rest of my life." The post Desperate Rohingya Kids Flee Alone by Boat appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

US, Philippines Sign Deal on Military Accord Posted: 27 Apr 2014 10:41 PM PDT US President Barack Obama waves before boarding Air Force One at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang, outside Kuala Lumpur, as he departs for the Philippines on Monday. (Photo: Reuters) MANILA — The US military will get greater access to bases across the Philippines under a 10-year agreement signed Monday in conjunction with President Barack Obama's visit in a deal seen as an effort by Washington to counter Chinese aggression in the region. US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin signed the agreement at the main military camp in the capital, Manila, ahead of Obama's stop and portrayed it is as a central part of his weeklong Asia swing. The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement will give American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships. Obama arrives in Manila later Monday on the last leg of a four-country Asian tour, following stops in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Goldberg said the agreement will "promote peace and security in the region," and allow US and Philippine forces to respond faster to disasters and other contingencies. A Philippine government primer on the defense accord that was seen by The Associated Press did not indicate how many additional US troops would be deployed "on temporary and rotational basis." It said the number would depend on the scale of joint military activities to be held in the camps. The size and duration of that presence has to be worked out with the Philippine government, said Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian affairs at the White House's National Security Council. Medeiros declined to say which places are being considered under the agreement, but said the long-shuttered US facility at Subic Bay could be one of the locations. The defense accord will help the allies achieve different goals. With its anemic military, the Philippines has struggled to bolster its territorial defense amid China's increasingly assertive behavior in the disputed South China Sea. Manila's efforts have dovetailed with Washington's intention to pivot away from years of heavy military engagement in the Middle East to Asia, partly as a counterweight to China's rising clout. "The Philippines' immediate and urgent motivation is to strengthen itself and look for a security shield with its pitiful military," Manila-based political analyst Ramon Casiple said. "The US is looking for a re-entry to Asia, where its superpower status has been put in doubt." The convergence could work to deter China's increasingly assertive stance in disputed territories, Casiple said. But it could further antagonize Beijing, which sees such tactical alliance as a US strategy to contain its rise, and encourage China to intensify its massive military buildup, he said. Hundreds of American military personnel have been deployed in the southern Philippines since 2002 to provide counterterrorism training and serve as advisers to Filipino soldiers, who have battled Muslim militants for decades. The agreement says the US will "not establish a permanent military presence or base in the Philippines" in compliance with Manila's constitution. A Filipino base commander will have access to areas to be shared with American forces, according to the primer. Disagreements over Philippine access to designated US areas within local camps hampered negotiations for the agreement last year. The agreement will increase coordination between US and Filipino forces, boost the 120,000-strong Philippine military's capability to monitor and secure the country's territory and respond more rapidly to natural disasters and other emergencies. While the US military will not pay rent for local camp areas, the Philippines will own buildings and infrastructure to be built or improved by the Americans and reap economic gains from the US presence, the primer said. The presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, a former American colony. The Philippine Senate voted in 1991 to close down US bases at Subic and Clark, northwest of Manila. However, it ratified a pact with the United States allowing temporary visits by American forces in 1999, four years after China seized a reef the Philippines contests. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, hundreds of US forces descended in the southern Philippines under that accord to hold counterterrorism exercises with Filipino troops fighting Muslim militants. This time, the focus of the Philippines and its underfunded military has increasingly turned to external threats as territorial spats with China in the potentially oil- and gas-rich South China Sea heated up in recent years. Chinese paramilitary ships took effective control of the disputed Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground off the northwestern Philippines, in 2012. Last year, Chinese coast guard ships surrounded another contested offshore South China Sea territory, the Second Thomas Shoal, where they have been trying to block food supplies and rotation of Filipino marines aboard a grounded Philippine navy ship in the remote coral outcrops. China has ignored Philippine diplomatic protests and Manila's move last year to challenge Beijing's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea before an international arbitration tribunal. It has warned the US to stay out of the Asian dispute. The post US, Philippines Sign Deal on Military Accord appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

North Korea Says Army Must Develop To Be Able To Beat US Posted: 27 Apr 2014 10:30 PM PDT North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes a shelling drill of a long-range artillery sub-unit in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on April 27, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged the army to develop to ensure it wins any confrontation with the United States, the reclusive country's news agency said on Sunday, a day after US President Barack Obama warned the North of its military might. Kim led a meeting of the Central Military Commission and "set forth important tasks for further developing the Korean People's Army and ways to do so," KCNA news agency said. "He stressed the need to enhance the function and role of the political organs of the army if it is to preserve the proud history and tradition of being the army of the party, win one victory after another in the confrontation with the US and creditably perform the mission as a shock force and standard-bearer in building a thriving nation." Obama said on Saturday on a visit to Seoul, where the US army has a large presence, that the United States did not use its military might to "impose things" on others, but that it would use that might if necessary to defend South Korea from any attack by the reclusive North. North and South Korea are still technically at war after their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a mere truce. The impoverished North, which routinely threatens the United States and the South with destruction, warned last month it would not rule out a "new form" of atomic test after the UN Security Council condemned Pyongyang's launch of a mid-range ballistic missile into the sea east of the Korean peninsula. North Korea is already subject to UN sanctions over its previous three atomic tests. Recent satellite data shows continued work at the nuclear test site in North Korea, although experts analyzing the data say that preparations do not appear to have progressed far enough for an imminent test. "We don't use our military might to impose these things on others, but we will not hesitate to use our military might to defend our allies and our way of life," Obama told US forces at the Yongsan garrison. "So like all nations on Earth, North Korea and its people have a choice. They can choose to continue down a lonely road of isolation, or they can choose to join the rest of the world and seek a future of greater opportunity, and greater security, and greater respect—a future that already exists for the citizens on the southern end of the Korean peninsula." The post North Korea Says Army Must Develop To Be Able To Beat US appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Bad Weather Hinders S. Korea’s Search for Ferry Dead Posted: 27 Apr 2014 09:56 PM PDT Police officers stand guard at a pier, as yellow ribbons dedicated to missing and dead passengers on board the capsized Sewol ferry are tied to its handrails, at a port where family members are waiting for news from the search and rescue team in Jindo, on April 28, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) JINDO, South Korea — Divers on Monday renewed their search for more than 100 bodies still trapped in a sunken ferry after weekend efforts were hindered by bad weather, strong currents and floating debris clogging the ship's rooms. Officials said they have narrowed down the likely locations in the ship of most of the remaining missing passengers. Divers found only one body Sunday after a week that saw an increasing number of corpses pulled from the ship as divers made their way through its labyrinth of cabins, lounges and halls. The number of dead from the April 16 sinking is 188, with 114 people believed missing, though a government emergency task force has said the ship's passengers list could be inaccurate. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members. Senior coast guard officer Kim Su-hyeon said that most of the remaining missing passengers are believed to be in 64 of the ship's 111 rooms. Divers have entered 36 of those 64 rooms, coast guard officers said, but may need to go back into some because floating debris made it difficult for divers to be sure that there are no more dead bodies. Ko Myung-seok, an official with the emergency task force, said Monday that 92 divers would search the ferry. He also said that the government was making plans to salvage the ferry once search efforts end but that details wouldn't be available until officials talk with families of the victims. On Sunday, South Korea's prime minister resigned over the government's handling of the sinking, blaming "deep-rooted evils" in society for the tragedy. South Korean executive power is largely concentrated in the president, so Chung Hong-won's resignation appears to be symbolic. Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said President Park Geun-hye would accept the resignation, but did not say when Chung would leave office. Chung's resignation comes amid rising indignation over claims by the victims' relatives that the government did not do enough to rescue or protect their loved ones. Most of the dead and missing were high school students on a school trip. Officials have taken into custody all 15 people involved in navigating the ferry Sewol, which sank April 16. The seven surviving crew members who have not been arrested or detained held non-marine jobs such as chef or steward, according to senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin. The arrested crew members are accused of negligence and of failing to help passengers in need. Capt. Lee Joon-seok initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and took half an hour to issue an evacuation order, by which time the ship was tilting too severely for many people to get out. Lee told reporters after his arrest that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for passengers' safety in the cold, swift water. In video released Monday by the Coast Guard, the captain, Lee Joon-seok, wearing only a sweater and underpants is shown leaping from the sinking ferry, which is tilted about 45 degrees, onto a rescue boat. According to Kim Kyung-il, a coast guard official, the ship's crew members did not tell rescuers that they were crew members. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said it would soon change its ferry monitoring systems so that passenger, vehicle and cargo information is processed electronically. There is not only uncertainty about how many people were on the Sewol, but a huge discrepancy regarding the amount of cargo it was carrying when it sank. The ferry was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo, according to an executive of the company that loaded it. That far exceeds what the captain claimed in paperwork—150 cars and 657 tons of other cargo, according to the coast guard—and is more than three times what an inspector who examined the vessel during a redesign last year said it could safely carry. Yang, the prosecutor, said that the cause of the sinking could be due to excessive veering, improper stowage of cargo, modifications made to the ship and tidal influence. He said investigators would determine the cause by consulting with experts and using simulations. Yang said that a crew member called the ship's owner, Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd., as the ferry was listing, but declined to disclose whether the caller was the captain. Local media reported that the captain called for company approval of an evacuation. Prosecutors said they are analyzing the content of communications between the ship and the company. Students from Danwon High School in Ansan, a city near Seoul, make up more than 80 percent of the dead and missing; they had been on their way to the southern tourist island of Jeju. Lee reported from Mokpo, South Korea. Associated Press writers Jung-yoon Choi and Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report. The post Bad Weather Hinders S. Korea's Search for Ferry Dead appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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