| Burma Army Detains 14 Kachin IDPs, NGO Says Posted: 05 May 2014 06:17 AM PDT  A child carries water at Border Post 6 IDP camp in KIA-controlled area on the Burma-China border in February. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma Army units carrying out operations against rebels in Kachin State's Mansi Township detained 14 displaced villagers at a camp near Man Win Gyi town for one night, a local aid worker said. On Saturday, commanders of the 88th Light Infantry Division entered Lagat Yang camp near Man Win Gyi, a government-controlled town, as they believed there were Kachin Independence Army (KIA) fighters in the camp, said Naw Din, director of the Karuna Myanmar Social Services (KMSS), a local NGO helping displaced villagers. "They informed our camp leaders that they heard that seven members of KIA went to hide inside the camp. Therefore, they went to search inside the camp and detained 14," he said. "They were released around 4 pm yesterday. But one person has been detained again an hour after the 14 detained were released." The man, named Maru La Awng, was still in custody of the Burma Army as of Monday afternoon, he added. Lagat Yang camp in eastern Kachin State, close to the border with northern Shan State, is home to about 800 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled the Kachin conflict, which has displaced a total of about 120,000 ethnic civilians since 2011. In mid-April, when the army stepped up its operations against the KIA hundreds of IDPs reportedly fled the camp because of nearby fighting and mortar shelling. About 2,700 Kachin civilians were newly displaced by the recent escalation in fighting in Mansi Township, where clashes are frequently being reported. Some 5,000 IDPs now stay in three camps near Man Win Gyi town, according Naw Din. He said this weekend's arrests had disturbed the displaced civilians who live in fear of being detained, harassed or getting affected by the escalation in fighting. "The most difficult thing here is that the IDPs feel that they have no security as the Burma Army often comes and checks the camp. If KIA and the Burma Army keep coming in the camp, we are worried a lot for the IDPs, they will have no security," he said. Since late March tensions between the KIA and government troops have been rising in Mansi Township and northern Shan State after the army insisted on accompanying census teams that would try to carry out work in KIA-controlled areas. In early April, the situation deteriorated after an incident in which a Burma Army major-general was killed by the KIA near their area of control. The army then sent more troops to scour through the forested, higher mountain reaches in order to flush out KIA fighters. During ensuing clashes, 14 government troops and eight rebels were killed, state media reported. The KIA and Ta'ang National Liberation Army operating in nearby Shan State both lack a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government. Last week the KIA requested a ceasefire meeting with the government this month, but the meeting is yet to be confirmed. The post Burma Army Detains 14 Kachin IDPs, NGO Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Earthquake of 6 Magnitude Strikes Thailand, Some Damage Posted: 05 May 2014 05:54 AM PDT  A screen shot shows the US Geological Survey's reading of Monday's earthquake in northern Thailand. BANGOK — An earthquake of 6 magnitude struck northern Thailand on Monday causing some damage to buildings and roads and knocking goods off shelves in shops but there were no immediate reports of any casualties. The quake struck 17 miles (27 km) southwest of the town of Chiang Rai, the US Geological Survey (USGS). It was felt in the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in Burma. "There has been minor damage to buildings in Chiang Rai itself, some shops have goods scattered about and we're seeing cracks in buildings," a Chiang Rai police officer told Reuters. "No injuries have been reported so far but we're hearing that some provincial roads have sustained some damage with large cracks appearing," said the officer, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media. The USGS initially said the quake was of 6.3 magnitude but later downgraded it. It was at the relatively shallow depth of 7.4 km (4.5 miles). Chiang Rai, in the mountainous north of Thailand, is near the borders of both Burma's Shan State and Laos. The epicenter was in a largely rural area of small villages, farms and forests. The post Earthquake of 6 Magnitude Strikes Thailand, Some Damage appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| NLD, 88 Generation to Hold Rallies, Nationwide Campaign for Constitutional Reform Posted: 05 May 2014 05:41 AM PDT  A woman holds up a sign saying 'Amend Article 436 Rights Now' during a recent protest in Lanmadaw Township, Rangoon (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The popular leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Ko Naing, will jointly address large rallies in Rangoon and Mandalay this month to call on the Burmese public to back efforts to reform the Constitution, the organizations announced. The rallies signal the start of a large, nationwide push by Suu Kyi and the 88 Generation activists to force the ruling party and the military into accepting amendments to the undemocratic charter, which concentrates power with the army and blocks the NLD leader from the presidency. NLD central executive committee member Nan Khin Htwe Myint told The Irrawaddy on Monday that a nationwide campaign will kick off in the third week of May and include public rallies in Rangoon and Mandalay on May 17 and 18, respectively. "We will explain to the public, amendments of Article 436 of the Constitution, which is important to [allow for] changes to the whole Constitution," Nan Khin Htwe Myint said. Ant Bwe Kyaw, a spokesperson for the 88 Generation activists, said the organizations were seeking a venue and government permission for the rallies in Rangoon and Mandalay. "Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Ko Naing will be the main speakers of public talks," he said. "They will speak together on the same days." In a statement released Monday, the NLD said it formed a central joint committee with the 88 Generation activists to organize public rallies across the nation and start a large campaign to petition the public for support for constitutional reform. The petition campaign will be organized from the NLD's offices in states and divisions across the country. The committee comprises six members of the NLD—Win Htain, Nyan Win, Ohn Kyaing, Win Myint, Han Thar Myint, Tun Tun Hein—and five members of the 88 Generation activist, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Mya Aye, Jimmy and Pyone Cho, the statement said. "We have discussed preparations for holding public talks on amending Article 436 of the Constitution and gathering public signatures," Ant Bwe Kyaw said. Last year, Suu Kyi began public efforts to advocate for constitutional reforms and held talks with the ruling Union Development and Solidarity Party (USP), which contains mostly former junta generals. The USDP has, however, dragged its feet on any moves toward reforms, while the military has indicated that it is intent on keeping its political privileges. Since November, Suu Kyi has become increasingly vocal on the issue, raising the issue in speeches and teaming up with the 88 Generation activists in February this year. Small rallies calling for constitutional reform have been held a number of towns and cities in recent months. Nan Khin Htwe Myint said the NLD and the 88 Generation activists—popular organizations which have been leading the struggle for democracy in Burma for decades—expect to mobilize widespread public support for constitutional reforms. "We expect that at least 75 percent will support us. But, as we cannot have much time to explain it to the public, they might not all sign [the petition]," she said. Asked if she expected the ruling party and government to oppose the nationwide campaign, Nan Khin Htwe Myint said, "It is not that they [government] don't want to change. There are those who also want to change the Constitution." In a sign of concern among the government over the public campaign efforts of Suu Kyi and the 88 Generation activists, President Thein Sein issued a secret directive in February, warning top government officials of to prepare for the possibility of mass protests and violence this year caused by disagreements over constitutional reform. Thein Sein's nominally-civilian government was installed by former junta leader Than Shwe as part of the current democratic transition, which is supposed to lead to free and fair elections in 2015. The Constitution was drafted in 2008 by the military junta and pushed through during a flawed referendum held almost exactly six years ago, just a few days after Cyclone Nargis killed about 138,000 people in Burma's worst-ever natural disaster. The charter is unpopular and undemocratic as it contains provisions giving the military sweeping political powers, such as control over a quarter of Parliament, immunity from crimes committed during junta rule, while it prevents Suu Kyi from holding the presidency because her sons are British nationals. Article 436 requires more than 75 percent of Parliament to support amendments to key articles in the Constitution, giving the military an effective veto over such reforms. The post NLD, 88 Generation to Hold Rallies, Nationwide Campaign for Constitutional Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Virtual Modeling to Help Save Mandalay’s Golden Palace Monastery Posted: 05 May 2014 05:33 AM PDT  Experts from Florida University explain the process of laser scanning by which a three-dimensional virtual model of Mandalay's Shwenandaw Kyaung monastery is being produced. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — American and Burmese experts are set to produce a three-dimensional virtual model of a 19th-century teak monastery in Mandalay, as part of a project to preserve the ornate structure. The Florida-based World Monuments Fund, which is implementing a project to conserve and renovate Mandalay's Shwenandaw Kyaung monastery, said it had finished a high-tech laser scanning process at the site on Friday. The project to renovate the "Golden Palace" monastery will cost US$500,000, and is being conducted together with Burmese specialists and the government's Department of Archeology. Jeff Allen, program director for the World Monuments Fund, told The Irrawaddy that a major study should begin in September on how water is affecting the teak structure, but that it was important to conduct the scanning first. "Moisture is a major destroyer for wooden buildings," Allen said. "It very, very much depends on the process of 3D pictures by the scanning team. It is very important for us. If we don't have these pictures, we cannot start. From the pictures, we can understand the structures of this building. We cannot start without understanding the structure." The laser technology is being used in Burma for the first time, and scanning at the monastery began in late April. Technicians said they faced challenges—the hot weather in Mandalay meant the scanning equipment could overheat, and slow internet speeds restricted their access to online tools. Despite these difficulties, however, more than a thousand high-resolution images of the Shwenandaw Kyaung monastery were successfully scanned. A team back in Florida will compile these images into a 3D virtual model, including detailed measurements of the structure. The work was especially necessary before renovations could be attempted, said Allen, because very little information was held about the structure. "Since there is not enough information about Shwe Kyaung, so we decided to spend this year collecting information. It's the way you do things in international standard. You must do your documentation," he said. "Since we need to work on international standard, those well documented data are important to understand the structure for restoration and to leave behind these for future. For future restoration, these will help for future restoration works." The complete virtual model and data will be available to the public online, and important data will also be kept by the Department of Archeology, he added. US technicians are also inspecting the pillars of the monastery to check for signs of decay, weathering and termites. This involves digging into the ground to inspect the base of the pillars, which are driven deep to support the monastery. "If all these data are ready, we will resume the restoration work. We are going to use only compatible materials and take care not to harm the original structure and sculptures," he said. The project to restore the Shwenandaw Kyaung monastery is expected to take about two years. The monastery was originally covered with gold leaf, inside and out, with glass mosaics inside. It was decorated from roof to floor with wood carvings showing Buddhist myths. It was originally a royal chamber of Burma's King Mindon and was first located inside the Mandalay Palace compound. After King Mindon passed away, his son, King Thibaw, moved it out of the palace compound to become a monastery. This meant it escaped damage from the aerial bombardment of Mandalay by the Japanese during World War II, in which most of the historic buildings of Mandalay Palace were razed to the ground. The post Virtual Modeling to Help Save Mandalay's Golden Palace Monastery appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma Launches New Insurance Policy for Highway Travelers Posted: 05 May 2014 05:27 AM PDT  A number of unconventional warning signs can be found along the highway linking Rangoon to Naypyidaw and Mandalay. (Photo: Aung Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — As the number of accidents on Burma's roads appears to be rising, drivers and passengers from this week will have to purchase a new insurance policy specifically covering them in case of accidents on the country's highways. On the Rangoon-Naypyidaw road alone, 66 people died and more than 300 people were injured in the first four months of this year. The busy stretch of poorly built road has become a hotspot for accidents in recent years, and has been dubbed the "death highway." In an announcement in state media on Monday, the Insurance Business Supervisory Board said that government-run Myanma Insurance and 11 private insurance companies will from Thursday begin selling a policy named Special Travel Insurance for Express Ways. Aung Soe Oo, general manager of IKBZ Insurance Company, one of the firms that will be selling the policy, told The Irrawaddy that it will be compulsory for Burmese and foreigners traveling more than 100 miles on Burma's roads. The policy will cost just 300 kyat, or about US$0.30, for one unit, with individuals only permitted to buy up to two units at one time. The terms of the policy, which are fixed across the different providers, include a payout of up to 3.5 million kyat, or about $3,500, in the event of death and up to 2.4 million kyat in medical costs, Aung Soe Oo said. "It is good for passengers since they can prevent losses if unavoidable accidents happen on a trip," he said. "Myanma Insurance was selling travel insurance already, which compensates at most 1 million kyat, but this new travel insurance is especially designed for highway passengers." The policy can be bought along with bus tickets, or directly from insurers for those in rental vehicles, he said, adding that bus companies will get a 10 percent commission for selling the policies. Most insurance in Burma is provided by the government's insurer, but now seven types of insurance have been opened up to private companies. "Although there is travel insurance for travelers currently, to be covered more efficiently, this new Special Travel Insurance for Express Ways is being implemented," the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper quoted deputy finance minister Maung Maung Thein as saying. In 2013, there were 259 accidents on the Rangoon-Naypyitaw highway, with 113 deaths and 625 injuries resulting, according to the police office for the highway. From January to April this year, there were 167 accidents on the highway. The post Burma Launches New Insurance Policy for Highway Travelers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Journalists’ Arrest ‘Not Good’ for Media Environment: Information Minister Posted: 05 May 2014 04:00 AM PDT  Information Minister Aung Kyi gestures during a press conference in Rangoon in August 2013. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Minister of Information Aung Kyi said this weekend that the recent detention of several journalists has created "not a good situation" for Burma's fledgling free media, but he added that additional press regulations would soon improve protection for journalists. Aung Kyi attended a Unesco-supported event in Rangoon to mark World Press Freedom Day Saturday where The Irrawaddy asked about the case of Zaw Pe, a reporter with Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), who was sentenced on April 7 to one year's imprisonment for trespass and disturbing a civil servant during his reporting work. "It is not a good situation for journalists in the country. I hope the court investigated this case thoroughly before sentencing him," said Aung Kyi. "The main reason that these cases happen is because there is a small [legal] gap before the country completes [regulations for] the press law…. After the country has completed the press law, the press freedom will move a step ahead." The minister referred to additional regulations which are yet to be drawn up for the Press Law, which was adopted by Parliament after some amendments on March 4. Although the Press Law was welcomed by media organizations, which helped draft it, the organizations were taken aback when Parliament simultaneously adopted the Printers and Publishers Registration Law proposed by the Ministry of Information. The latter law, although it carries no prison terms, gives the ministry the power to withhold or revoke publishing licenses unilaterally, while it contains vaguely defined bans on reporting that could "incite unrest", "insult religion" and "violate the Constitution." The previous military regime used to invoke similar types of concern to use blanket bans on critical reporting. A recent spate of arrests of journalists has further heightened concerns over a roll back on media freedoms by President Thein Sein's reformist government, which since 2011 has lifted military-rule media restrictions, abolished censorship, released jailed journalists and allowed for the publication of daily newspapers. On April 25, Yay Khae, a reporter for Mizzima, was arrested in Prome for leading an unauthorized protest calling for greater media freedom. He was charged and released on bail. Four journalists and a CEO of Unity Journal were arrested in January and charged with violating the State Secrets Act and trespassing after they wrote a story on an alleged chemical weapons factory at Magwe's Pauk Township. They could face up to 14 years in prison. In December, Naw Khine Khine Aye Cho, a reporter of Eleven Media, was sentenced by the Loikaw Township Court in Karenni State to three months imprisonment on charges of trespassing. Ko Ko, chairman of the Myanmar Journalist Association, issued a statement Saturday calling for the release of the detained reporters. "There are some journalists in our country who are facing trail and serve in prisons after being arrested while they were covering news. Our group would like to urge the authorities to kindly review the actions against those journalists," it said. Late last month, Burmese media organizations announced that they will plan a large campaign advocating for greater media freedom and protection of journalists in response to the recent arrests. Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of US-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Saturday that the recent arrests amounted to "serious backsliding" on media freedom in Burma, while "new laws could allow the government to exert subtle control over the media through vague yet dangerous provisions." Myint Kyaw, from the Myanmar Journalists Network, said reporters remain at risk because various laws, not just media laws, were being used against them, noting that the two recent cases involved charges of trespassing. He added that the repressive, junta-era Electronic Transactions Law remains on the books. "They did not yet abolish the Electric Transactions Act. They only reduced the sentences. They could charge opposition parties or journalists when they do not like them by using this act," he said. Thiha Saw, editor-in-chief of The Myanmar Freedom Daily and a Myanmar Press Council member, said the government's repressive habits and Burma's lack of an independent judiciary will remain a challenge for the media sector for some time to come. "They are the government. They have a duty to inform all citizens but they still have the old mindset. They view the media as troublemakers," he said. "And when there is a problem, the court here is not independent and we could not get justice. There is influence at the court from the president and government administration. This is a problem." Additional reporting by Sanay Lin and Htet Naing Zaw. The post Journalists' Arrest 'Not Good' for Media Environment: Information Minister appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Landmark ‘Lost Kingdoms’ Show Gets Warm Reception Posted: 05 May 2014 02:15 AM PDT  The sandstone Khin Ba Relic Chamber Cover from central Burma. (Photo: Thierry Ollivier / Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) The landmark exhibition "Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century," which includes treasures from the Pyu civilization in Burma, has been earning accolades since it opened at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art last month. "It will be hard to cap this: it may well be the exhibition of the year," wrote Louise Nicholson in Apollo, one of the world's leading international art magazines, based in London. The Wall Street Journal called the exhibition, which collects together for the first time some of the finest sculptural art of the region, a "monumental show in about every sense of the word." Writing on the blog Art Eyewitness, US reviewer Ed Voves said, "To grasp the magnitude of the quality and number of the masterpieces of Asian art on display in Lost Kingdoms, one would have to conceive of an exhibition of Renaissance art featuring the Louvre's version of Leonardo's The Virgin of the Rocks, The Birth of Venus from the Uffizi and Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne from the National Gallery in London." The exhibition opened on April 17 and is open to visitors until July 27. It is the first of two watershed art shows set to mark Burma's cultural "coming out" to international audiences. In 2015 the New York-based Asia Society is due to present another ground-breaking exhibition of early Buddhist art from Burma. The "Lost Kingdoms" exhibition showcases ancient civilizations that are still emerging from the shadows as scholars and archaeologists uncover new clues and offer fresh interpretations of polities long hidden in history's mists. The exhibition draws attention to the Pyu civilization, which flourished in Burma before it was absorbed by the Bagan Empire, as well as the Funan, Zhenla, Champa, Dvāravatī, Kedah and Śrīvijaya civilizations in neighboring countries. This month the Metropolitan Museum will host a day-long symposium on the exhibition, including two talks relating to the Pyu in Burma. On May 17 scholar Janice Stargadt of Cambridge University will present a paper on "The Great Silver Reliquary of Sri Ksetra: Where Early Epigraphy and Buddhist Art Meet." Robert Brown of the University of California, Los Angeles, will discuss "What Was the Impact of Indian Art and Culture in Southeast Asia? Pyu and Mon Art Under the Looking Glass." The exhibition includes some 160 sculptures of singular aesthetic accomplishment in stone, gold, silver, terracotta and stucco from Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. More than 20 items from Burma are on display. Together the collection illuminates through art and imagery the emergence of the early kingdoms in the region in the first millennium, and how these embraced many influences from early Buddhism and Hinduism (Brahmanism), grafting the new ideas on to older animistic belief systems based on the worship of nature. At the center of a display called "Arrival of Buddhism" are a silver Buddha, warrior plaques, miniature silver stupas and a spectacular stone slab from the oldest undisturbed Buddhist relic chamber in Southeast Asia, the Khin Ba stupa mound at the Pyu city of Sri Ksetra, dating from the late fifth to sixth century. The longest Sanskrit inscription known from ancient Burma can also be seen. A section called "State Art" focuses on the patronage of the Mon rulers of the Dvaravati Kingdom of central Thailand and includes some of the most monumental works in the exhibition: several large-scale sandstone standing Buddhas, sacred wheels of the Buddha's Law, and steles depicting stories from the present and past lives of the Buddha. Other masterpieces of exceptional beauty include an ascetic Ganesha from the 8th century religious sanctuary of My Son in central Vietnam and a spectacular Krishna Holding Mt. Govardhana from the hill shrine of Phnom Da, in southern Cambodia. "Lost Kingdoms" marks the first time the Burma government has loaned national sculptural treasures for an international loans exhibition. The government will also loan items to the Asia Society event next year. In return, the American institutions will assist with training Burmese conservators. The latest spotlight on the Pyu comes as Burma is seeking to gain World Heritage List status from Unesco in mid-2014 for three Pyu sites: Sri Ksetra, Beikthano and Hanlin. There is also a 336-page hardback catalog for the exhibition, featuring contributions from prominent scholars, photography shot on location, maps and a glossary of place names. It is co-published in this region by River Books in Bangkok, with Yale University Press, and costs around US$70. Images of the sculptures can also be seen in The Irrawaddy print magazine's May issue, on newsstands now. The post Landmark 'Lost Kingdoms' Show Gets Warm Reception appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Wanted: Immediate US Aid Air Drop Posted: 04 May 2014 11:51 PM PDT  Made homeless by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, survivors lined the highway to Dedaye hoping that passers-by would throw food or supplies to them. (Photo: Reuters) On Friday, 2 May 2008, Cyclone Nargis made landfall in The Irrawaddy Delta, sending a storm surge 40 kilometers into the densely populated agricultural area. On the sixth anniversary of Burma's worst-ever natural disaster, which killed at least 138,000 people, The Irrawaddy is republishing a comment from May 9, 2008, that argued for US humanitarian aid intervention as the then ruling junta did little to help the affected population. A US air drop of humanitarian aid to the desperate survivors in the Irrawaddy delta—with or without Burma's permission—is the only way to save lives that hang in the balance with each passing hour. Unilateral humanitarian intervention is justified, because the Burmese junta has been given a chance to cooperate with dozens of international offers of aid, and it has failed miserably. But so far—as expected—the junta is demanding humanitarian aid be shipped to Burma, but it doesn't want any foreign aid workers to enter the country. On Friday, the junta seized all food and equipment that the World Food Program had flown into the country for relief aid. Later, the UN announced that it was suspending all aid shipments to Burma. Four US navy ships, now located in the Gulf of Thailand, are positioned with relief supplies that could be air dropped into Burma or shipped on the ground, if the foot-dragging junta gives the go-ahead. The US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday the US is seeking the junta's permission for an air drop, and it respects a sovereign's state air space. There would be no air drop without permission, he said. The fact is that it may be days or weeks before sufficient humanitarian aid gets to the survivors in the delta. Or, knowing the regime, the aid may never get there. Much of it could end up in junta warehouses. If you think this is a harsh, distorted, cynical view, consider this: The majority of 1.5 million homeless people are living without safe drinking water and sufficient food six days after the cyclone; thousands of people are injured or ill from bad water, helplessly waiting for treatment. Tens of thousands of corpses, including many children, are floating in ponds, creeks and rivers. The photographs are heartbreaking and too grim to publish. Aircraft loaded with relief supplies have been sitting on tarmacs for days, waiting for a green light. International aid workers have been waiting for days to get visas. We wouldn't be surprised to see Burmese officials take Saturdayand Sunday off, ignoring the desperate calls to speed things up. Small shipments of aid have started trickling into Rangoon's airport, but only after the generals have captured their propaganda pictures designed to make them look responsible and caring. So far, aid has been allowed in mainly from close friends Thailand, India and China. Few planes from the Western world have been allowed into Rangoon. It's xenophobia and hubris politics, totally ignoring the welfare of people. "The Burmese regime is behaving appallingly," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in an interview on Thursday. US Ambassador Eric John told reporters in Bangkok on Thursday, "We are in a long line of nations who are ready, willing and able to help, but also, of course, in a long line of nations that the Burmese don't trust." Relief workers, he said, "are ready to go in to help. They are not going in to overthrow the government. They are not going in to spy. They have specific skills for immediately responding to disaster." The junta is still telling the country through its state-run media that 22,997 people died and 42,119 are missing, when reliable local sources and US embassy estimates say more than 100,000 people are dead; the UN estimates at least 1 million people are homeless. The junta boasted that it has seven helicopters dispatching food aid. In fact, hundreds of airplanes and helicopters and thousands of skilled relief workers will be needed to organize the distribution of food, shelter, medicine and create temporary camps to house the homeless. Mobile hospitals will be needed to treat the injured and the sick and to prevent the outbreak of serious, communicable diseases. One of the first tasks will be to gather up the tens of thousands of corpses from water and land so that the water system can return to its normal, non-contaminated state. On Tuesday, US President George W Bush said: "We're prepared to help move US Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing and to help stabilize the situation." Sadly, there is no chance the junta will allow US assets on Burmese soil. The man making that decision is Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who should be held responsible for humanitarian crimes by blocking the world's relief efforts. The US—and other willing nations—must act unilaterally. Act now, knowing right is on your side. The people in villages and towns of the Irrawaddy delta are looking up at the sky waiting for relief supplies, local sources told The Irrawaddy. It started after shortwave radio broadcasts said the US navy was ready to help supply aid. It's time for immediate US-led air drops to help save the lives of thousands of helpless people in the Irrawaddy delta. The post Wanted: Immediate US Aid Air Drop appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| “It’s OK, I’ve Got Him!” Posted: 05 May 2014 03:27 AM PDT  On Friday, 2 May 2008, Cyclone Nargis made landfall in The Irrawaddy Delta, killing at least 138,000 people. As international aid groups rushed to help survivors, the military chiefs held them back.On the sixth anniversary of Burma's worst-ever natural disaster, The Irrawaddy is republishing a cartoon from 2008 that portrays the hostile reaction of the Burmese junta toward donors and volunteers in the wake of the storm.
The post “It’s OK, I’ve Got Him!” appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thai Opposition Leader Wants Election Delayed to Allow Reforms Posted: 04 May 2014 10:11 PM PDT  Thailand’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva speaks during a news conference at a hotel in Bangkok on Saturday. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Saturday urged that a general election planned for July be delayed by up to six months to allow time for reforms aimed at ending a protracted political crisis that threatens to explode. Protesters have been trying to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra since November, part of a long-running crisis that broadly pits Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted by the military in 2006 and now lives in exile to avoid a jail term handed down in 2008 for abuse of power. His opponents accuse him of corruption and nepotism. Thailand's Election Commission and Yingluck agreed on Wednesday to hold a general election on July 20, but anti-government protesters who disrupted a vote in February said they still wanted electoral reforms before a new poll. Former Prime Minister Abhisit, who launched a mediation effort on April 24, told a news conference the vote should be delayed by five or six months while a committee thrashed out reforms that would be put to a referendum. While that was being done, he wanted the country to be run by a neutral interim government with limited powers. The panel should include representatives of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), the protest group led by Suthep Thaugsuban, who was a deputy prime minister under Abhisit until 2011. "I have said from the start that no side will get what they want 100 percent from what I am proposing. But … the government will see an election, people will get to vote in the next five to six months. The PDRC protesters will get their neutral government," Abhisit said. He said he would not be part of the reform committee and that no politician should sit on it, but he gave few details on its likely composition. He also said he would not take up a political position in future if his plan was accepted, although his medium-term intentions are unclear. "I would like to ask Yingluck: is there any part of my proposal that damages the country?" he said. There was no immediate comment from Yingluck on his plan. But Jarupong Ruangsuwan, leader of the ruling Puea Thai Party, told Reuters that the government could not accept Abhisit's proposal and that the cabinet will deliberate a draft royal decree for the July 20 election date on Tuesday. "The government cannot accept Abhisit's plan because it is outside the framework of the constitution. Abhisit's plan will only increase divisions in Thai society," Jarupong said. "Asking the government to resign is tantamount to ripping up the constitution. We will push ahead with preparing the draft [election] decree." Uphill Task Abhisit faces an uphill task to get his idea implemented, given that supporters of Yingluck distrust him. When he was in power in 2010, Abhisit sent in the army to end a pro-Thaksin protest. Also, he sided with the protest movement last year and his Democrat Party boycotted the general election in February. Government supporters will see his proposals as reflecting the PDRC platform. And protest leader Suthep has shown no willingness to compromise, saying he will pursue the fight until Yingluck has been ousted and the influence of the Shinawatra family is finished. Supporters of Suthep planned a big gathering in Bangkok on May 5. The pro-government "red shirts" have said they will rally on May 10 on the outskirts of the capital. Anti-Yingluck protests attracted more than 200,000 people at their height late last year but numbers have dwindled over time. However, hard-core demonstrators say they will continue to harass the government until Yingluck is forced out. She also faces threats from the courts, most immediately from a charge of abuse of power for allegedly removing a national security chief for party political reasons. The Constitutional Court could hand down a verdict on that charge this month and she would have to step down if found guilty. The National Anti-Corruption Commission is also probing allegations of dereliction of duty relating to a failed rice intervention scheme. If it decides there is a case to answer, she faces impeachment by the Senate. Her supporters have said they will take to the streets if she is removed by what they say are politicized judges. The risk of confrontation with anti-government protesters lends urgency to mediation efforts. Yingluck has led a caretaker government with limited fiscal powers since dissolving parliament in December. The crisis has damaged business confidence, and the central bank has warned of shrinkage in the economy in the first quarter. Some economists fear the country could slip into recession unless the deadlock is broken soon and a new government installed. The post Thai Opposition Leader Wants Election Delayed to Allow Reforms appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Police Hunt Rebels After Anti-Muslim Violence in Northeast India Kills 31 Posted: 04 May 2014 10:01 PM PDT  Villagers from Muslim communities wail upon seeing the body of a woman at a relief camp in Narayanguri village in Baksa district in the northeastern Indian state of Assam May 4, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) GAUHATI, India — Police said Sunday they killed three suspected rebels and arrested eight forest guards for alleged involvement in the killings of 31 Muslims in the worst ethnic violence in India’s remote northeast in two years. In dense forest near Tejpur, four suspected insurgents hurled a grenade and fired at policemen who ambushed them, said police officer Sanjukta Prashar. Police killed two in an exchange of gunfire and two suspects escaped, she said. The town is nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the region where Muslims were attacked on Thursday and Friday. In Udalguri district, police killed a third suspect in an exchange of gunfire and recovered one revolver and one hand grenade from him, said regional police inspector general L.R. Bishnoi. He said police suspect two who fled were on their way to attack a village with a mostly Muslim population. Police also recovered two bodies floating in a river in Barapeta area, Bishnoi said, raising the death toll in last week’s violence to 31. Police said they have arrested eight forest guards following complaints by the victims’ relatives that they were involved in the brutal killings. The 22 people arrested earlier face charges they either burned homes or provided shelter to insurgents. On Sunday, army soldiers patrolled the curfew-bound districts of Baska and Kokrajhar for a second day to defuse tension. Relatives, who earlier refused to bury 18 victims in Baska unless Assam state’s top elected official visited them, relented and performed the last rites after state Planning Minister Prithvi Majhi met them and assured security to thousands of people hit by the ethnic violence. The wrapped bodies had remained on the road for two days. Authorities have said the attackers belonged to a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, which has been fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic Bodo people for decades. The rebel group denies it. The Bodos are an indigenous tribe in Assam state, making up 10 percent of the state’s 33 million people. Rights group Amnesty International India said in a statement that authorities in Assam state must take action to protect the rights of all communities and bring those responsible for the attacks to justice. The violence comes during India’s multiphase general election, with voting concluding this month. Tensions have been high since a Bodo lawmaker in India’s Parliament criticized Muslims for not voting for the Bodo candidate, said Lafikul Islam Ahmed, leader of a Muslim youth organization called the All Bodoland Muslim Students’ Union. The country’s multiphase general election concludes May 12, with results for Parliament’s lower house announced on May 16. Over the weekend, local television reports showed hundreds of Muslim villagers fleeing their homes with belongings on pushcarts or in their hands. Most were headed to nearby Dubri district, which is near the border with Bangladesh. Nearly 400 people have fled so far, Bishnoi said. Police said that in the third and most recent attack on Friday evening, militants entered a village in the western Baksa district and set at least 40 Muslim homes ablaze before opening fire. Assam’s additional director general of police R.M. Singh said 11 bodies, all of them shot to death, were recovered. Another seven bodies were recovered Saturday, Bishnoi said. Police also rescued three children hiding in a forest in Baksa district, he said. The first attack took place in the same district late Thursday night when at least eight rebels opened fire on villagers sitting in a courtyard. Four people were killed and two were wounded, police said. The second attack happened around midnight in Kokrajhar district when more than 20 armed men, their faces covered with black hoods, broke open the doors of two homes and sprayed bullets inside, killing seven people, witnesses said. Crying inconsolably, 28-year-old Mohammed Sheikh Ali said his mother, wife and daughter were killed. “I will curse myself forever because I failed to save them,” Ali said in a telephone interview from a hospital where he was waiting for doctors to complete the autopsies on his family. “I am left all alone in this world. … I want justice.” In 2012, weekslong violence between Bodo people and Muslims killed as many as 100 people in the same area. Dozens of rebel groups are active in seven states in northeast India. They demand greater regional autonomy or independent homelands for the indigenous groups they represent. At least 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Assam state in the last three decades. The post Police Hunt Rebels After Anti-Muslim Violence in Northeast India Kills 31 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| China Hunting Family Members of Xinjiang Bombers Posted: 04 May 2014 09:56 PM PDT  Armed police patrol at the entrance of the South Railway Station, where three people were killed and 79 wounded in a bomb and knife attack last week, in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — Police in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang are looking for the family members of one of the men who died in an apparent suicide bombing at a train station last week, a state-run newspaper said on Monday. The Chinese government has blamed religious extremists for carrying out a bomb and knife attack at a train station in Urumqi, regional capital of Xinjiang, on Wednesday evening that killed one bystander and wounded 79. Both attackers were killed in the blast, according to the government. In an embarrassing security lapse, the attack happened just as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up his first visit to Xinjiang since becoming president last year. The newspaper identified one of the attackers as Sedirdin Sawut, a 39-year-old man from Xayar county in Xinjiang's Aksu region. The man is a member of the Muslim Uighur minority, judging by his name. The Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, said police are now looking for Sawut's wife, father, two cousins and his father-in-law, who seem to have gone missing after the attack. They are all suspected of helping Sawut in the attack, the newspaper said, citing anonymous Xinjiang police officers. Police are also looking for two other men who may have been involved in making the bombs, both of whom knew Sawut and also come from the same county, the report added. Resource-rich and strategically located Xinjiang, on the borders of central Asia, has for years been beset by violence blamed by the Chinese government on Islamist militants and separatists, but suicide attacks have been extremely rare. There have been suicide bombings before in China, mostly by people with personal grievances, but it has generally not been a tactic employed by Uighurs. "Previously the attackers would try to leave after they planted the bomb. This time they obviously stayed to be killed," the newspaper quoted another unnamed security official as saying. In October, a car ploughed into tourists on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing the car's three occupants and two bystanders, in what the government believed was a suicide attack by people from Xinjiang. Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest in Xinjiang is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Uighur people. Unrest in Xinjiang has caused the deaths of more than 100 people in the past year, prompting a tougher stance against the Turkic-language speaking Uighurs, many of whom resent government controls on their culture and religion. In March, 29 people were stabbed to death in the southwestern city of Kunming, far from Xinjiang and on the borders of Southeast Asia. The government blamed that attack on Xinjiang extremists. The post China Hunting Family Members of Xinjiang Bombers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
