| Appeal Filed in Unity Journalists’ Case Posted: 21 Jul 2014 05:18 AM PDT  The Jan. 25, 2014 issued of the Unity journal is pictured in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Lawyers representing the four jailed journalists and manager of Unity journal on Monday submitted an appeal against their conviction, one of the lawyers told The Irrawaddy. The newspaper's CEO, Tint San, and reporters Lu Maw Naing, Sithu Soe, Thae Yarzar Oo and Aung Thura were sentenced to 10 years in jail with hard labor on July 10 by the Pakokku Township Court in Magwe Division. They were found guilty of publishing state secrets and trespassing after the President's Office filed a lawsuit against them following the January publication of a story alleging that chemical weapons were being produced at a military facility in Magwe. Robert San Aung, representing the four journalists, said the application to appeal was accepted, and the case would now be heard at the Magwe Divisional Court. "We have to wait about 45 days for the court to hear the appeal," he said. "Since the district court in Pakokku did not judge the case fairly, we decided to submit an appeal to the higher court. We believe the divisional court will judge fairly for these journalists." The five people are currently being held at a prison in Pakokku. The post Appeal Filed in Unity Journalists' Case appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| New UN Rights Rapporteur Meets With Rohingya, Arakan Leaders Posted: 21 Jul 2014 05:05 AM PDT  A family of Rohingya Muslims at a camp for internally displaced persons in Arakan State. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Yanghee Lee, the new UN rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, visited the Arakan State capital Sittwe and has met with leaders of the Arakanese Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim communities in the troubled region, local sources said. "She only told us that she wanted to hear about our concerns regarding the situation," said Than Thun, a leader from an Arakanese NGO who participated in Sunday's meeting with Yanghee Lee. "Our community leaders gave her a letter to explain why we have conflict in our region between our Rakhines [Arakanese] and the Bengalis. The letter is explains the history of the conflict and the current situation," he said, while referring to the Muslim minority as 'Bengalis' to suggest that they are immigrants from Bangladesh. Than Thun said it was too early to determine what the Arakanese leaders thought of the new rights rapporteur, adding, "She will have a press conference at the end of her trip. Let's see what she will say and then we could know what type of person she is." South Korea's Yanghee Lee is making her first visit to Burma as a rapporteur and succeeds Argentina's Tomás Ojea Quintana. He wrote numerous reports on the crisis in Arakan State and warned that the stateless Rohingya minority were facing persecution and a range of serious rights violations at the hands of the authorities and the Arakanese community. The government, Arakanese authorities and Buddhist community leaders dismissed his reports as biased. The new rapporteur announced last week that she would be visiting Naypyidaw, Rangoon, Mandalay and Arakan and Kachin states from 17-26 July to gather first-hand information on the rights situation in Burma. She said she planned tohave "frank and open exchange of views" during meetings with government officials, political, religious and community leaders, NGO representatives, as well as victims of human rights violations and members of the international community. State-run media reported that the new rapporteur met with the Burma Human Right Commission last week and several prisoners held in Rangoon's Insein Prison for political reasons, before heading off to Arakan State. Aung Win, a Rohingya rights activist living in Sittwe's Muslim quarter Aung Mingalar, said he and other Rohingya leaders met with Yanghee Lee on Sunday, adding that the rapporteur visited Aung Mingalar and a camp for displaced Rohingya, as well as two camps for displaced Arakanese. "I told her about how our children could not go to [Sittwe] university. I said everyone has the right to education, according to the UN, but our children cannot get it," he said. "One of our leaders told her that we need to have a program to be resettled [in former homes], while another said we needs rights under the 1982 Citizenship Law," Aung Win said, referring to a Burmese law that has rendered the Muslim minority stateless. Aung Win said leaders also complained about the lack of medical care in the Rohingya camps. "There is no 24 hour-service. They only provide 2 hours a day of medical treatment through a mobile clinic that visits the camps. So, we told her we have lost our rights [to access to care]." Roughly 140,000 Rohingya displaced by the outbreak of deadly inter-communal violence have been living in squalid, crowded camps since 2012. Authorities prevent them from leaving the camp and are limiting humanitarian aid and basic government services such as health care, education and food, for the displaced. Aung Mingalar is considered a ghetto as authorities are preventing its approximately 6,000 Muslim residents from leaving the area in central Sittwe, and families inside lack access to basic services. Since the outbreak of violence in 2012, tensions have remained high and the government has come no closer to resolving the conflict. International aid groups' access to needy Muslim communities has been restricted in recent months, and the government blocked two major medical charities helping the Rohingya from operating in the state. The post New UN Rights Rapporteur Meets With Rohingya, Arakan Leaders appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thai Authorities Hamper Food Deliveries to Burmese Refugee Camp Posted: 21 Jul 2014 04:30 AM PDT  A truck carrying humanitarian aid from Channel 3 Thai television is temporarily blocked by the Thai military from entering Ban Mae Surin refugee camp in Mae Hong Son Province on Sunday. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing/The Irrawaddy) Thousands of Burmese at the Ei Htu Hta refugee camp in eastern Burma are struggling to feed themselves as monthly food supplies from non-governmental organizations have been interrupted by Thai authorities, according to an aid worker. Ei Htu Hta, located on the western bank of the Salween River in Burma's Karen State, across from Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province, houses about 4,000 Burmese refugees. Saw Htoo Klei, the secretary of the Karen Office of Relief and Development (KORD), said refugees who live in the camp have seen food rations dwindle beginning late last month, as supply lines to the camp, which come from Thailand, have been monitored and sometimes interrupted by Thai authorities. "Food for this month should have arrived by late last month, but we were not able to transport it in time as we faced some difficulties from Thai authorities," said Saw Htoo Klei, whose organization provides assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Karen State and at the Ei Htu Hta camp. Eh Doh, an Ei Htu Hta inhabitant, told The Irrawaddy that as a result, refugees were having to look elsewhere for food, and do more with less. "Because we have had problems receiving rice on time, we have had to buy rice from local merchants," he said. "Some people say they have been eating boiled rice soup since early this month as they don't have enough rice." Food supplies for Ei Htu Hta are transported by boat through the nearby Thai village of Mae Sam Laep, upstream on the Salween. Thai military checkpoints are positioned along the river, which demarcates the Thai-Burma border. There are nine refugee camps on the Thai side of the border, where some 130,000 refugees live. A May 22 military coup brought the National Council for Peace and Order to power in Thailand, and with it have come changes that have restricted refugees' movement and sent tens of thousands of migrant workers back to their home countries, fearing detention or worse. At the same time, NGOs' support to Burmese refugees in Thailand has declined since the beginning of 2012 as peace negotiations between Naypyidaw and ethnic armed rebel groups have ramped up. The prospect of an end to the decades-long armed conflict in Burma has spurred discussions between the Thai and Burmese governments about repatriating refugees. In an interview with The Irrawaddy, Nyar Hter, chairman of Ei Htu Hta refugee camp, said food supplies have been declining annually. "We only get rice and salt. We don't get other additional foods such as yellow bean, cooking oil, canned fish and other nutritious foods like before," Nyar Hter said. According to a press release from Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a recent visit to Thailand by Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Burmese armed forces, included a meeting with Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, head of the ruling Thai junta. Both sides touched upon the repatriation issue, according to the press release, and the Burmese side reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with Thailand to prepare for a safe future return, in accordance with humanitarian and human rights principles. The discussion was in general terms with no specific timeframe under consideration, the release stated. Even as NGO support has declined and talk has increasingly turned to repatriation plans, it is clear that many refugees are not ready to return home. "There is no safety for us to return as government troops are still occupying our village," Nyar Hter said. The post Thai Authorities Hamper Food Deliveries to Burmese Refugee Camp appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Mandalay Curfew Shortened by Two Hours Posted: 21 Jul 2014 04:19 AM PDT  Security forces in riot gear line up in Mandalay on July 5. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy) After two people were killed and 14 others were injured in the clashes, authorities declared a curfew on July 3, from 9 pm until 5 am. During those hours, gatherings of five people or more were prohibited. Now, a shortened curfew will go into effect, from 9 pm to 3 am, according to an officer from the Mandalay Divisional Information Department, who said the situation in the city had calmed. "We are preparing to release the curfew reduction announcement. We will announce it to the public at about 5 pm today," he told The Irrawaddy on Monday afternoon. The curfew covers all seven townships of Mandalay The Committee to Restore Peace and Stability in Mandalay, an interfaith group that includes community leaders, submitted a request to the divisional government last week to reduce the curfew hours because life was returning to normal in the city. The change is welcomed by many Mandalay people. "Until this morning, lines of lorries loaded with goods, overnight highway buses and greengrocers from neighboring towns had to wait at checkpoints until the curfew time was over," said a resident. "With the curfew reduced by two hours, they no longer need to waste their time at toll gates," she added. The post Mandalay Curfew Shortened by Two Hours appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burmese University Students Protest Education Bill Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:59 AM PDT  Freshmen students attend a chemistry class in Yangon University in Yangon Dec. 5, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) MANDALAY — Students at Yadanabon University in Burma's second-biggest city staged a protest against the national education bill on Monday, urging the government to amend it after consulting with teachers and students. About 50 students holding placards lined the front gate of the university compound in Mandalay. They criticized the bill for giving the government too much control over universities. "We do not agree with the one-sided draft bill because it still has central control, no academic freedom and no rights for students. If the drafted bill is enacted, our country's education will remain unchanged," said Nyan Htein Lin, a second-year student. The protesters said the draft bill neglected the right to learn ethnic languages at universities and at the basic education level, while also prohibiting student involvement in political movements. "The bill still includes the system whereby we have to choose a university depending on our matriculation marks. With that system, we cannot freely choose a major that interests us or our university," added Aung Myo, another second-year student. "We strongly urge the government to rewrite the bill after taking suggestions from teachers and students. Now the bill has been written by one side and clearly shows the government still controls academic freedom." The students also called on Parliament to be more transparent in their dealings with the draft bill. "We do not know what is going on with the drafted bill in Parliament. If the government forced lawmakers to enact the bill, neglecting the teachers' and students' desires, there will be no future for better education," Aung Myo said. The National Education Bill—drafted by the government's Education Promotion Implementation Committee (EPIC)—was submitted to Parliament in early March. The bill has been widely criticized since then, including by the National Network for Education Reform (NNER), a network of civil society groups. Students from Shwe Bo University in Sagaing Division also staged a protest against the bill last month. The post Burmese University Students Protest Education Bill appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Plan for Burma-China Train Link Derailed Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:40 AM PDT  Rail coaches in Rangoon. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A proposed railway to link the planned industrial hub in Arakan State with China has been abandoned due to concerns over the potential cost and environmental impact of the project, according to a Myanma Railways official. In 2011, Burma signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Chinese state-owned enterprise to construct a railway from Kyaukphyu, on the Bay of Bengal, to the Chinese border and on to Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan Province—also the route of Chinese-built oil and gas pipelines. Since the announcement of the initial agreement, however, no progress has been made on the rail project. The gas pipeline is up and running and the oil link is thought to be nearing completion, and a road along the vaunted economic corridor has also been proposed. "We haven't had any detailed agreement to implement this railroad since [2011]," said a senior Myanma Railways official in Naypyidaw, who asked not to be named because he is not permitted to talk about the project. "We just made a memorandum of understanding between the two parties. Now, we haven't made any new agreement to start operations, so what I can say is that we aren't working on this project." China's state-owned Railways Engineering Corporation was to spend US$20 billion building the 1,215-kilometer railway, which it would then operate for 50 years before handing the infrastructure over to the Burmese government, according to the terms of the original MoU. "Actually, the cost proposed by China for the project was not sufficient to construct the long railroad, and, also, there are other environmental impact issues that we would have to consider along the railroad," the official told The Irrawaddy. At the planned terminus of the now-abandoned railway, Kyaukphyu, preparations are going ahead for a special economic zone, with a tendering process currently underway to find developers for a deep-sea port, industrial zone and residential development. The post Plan for Burma-China Train Link Derailed appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Martyrs’ Day Observed on a Grand Scale Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:26 AM PDT  Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham, center left, walks with Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann, center right, and House of Nationalities Speaker Khin Aung Myint, far right, during a Martyrs' Day ceremony on Saturday in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burmese across the country paid tribute on Saturday to fallen independence hero Gen. Aung San and his comrades, with the government taking a greater role in commemorative activities than it has in decades. Responding to requests by the public, state-run media played the sound of sirens at 10:37 am on Martyrs' Day, observed annually on July 19, to commemorate the assassination of Aung San and eight of his comrades 67 years ago at 10:37 am. The state-run Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) also broadcast a documentary about Aung San well as a speech he made about Burma's independence struggle from the British. In Naypyidaw, President Thein Sein and Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing showed their support by donating meals to Buddhist monks. Neither the president nor the military chief has participated in public Martyrs' Day activities in the past. After the 1988 popular uprising against the military regime, the government downgraded the ceremonies on Martyrs' Day and declared that the Martyrs' Mausoleum would be off-limits to ordinary people, fearing a public gathering at the burial site would spark more unrest. Thereafter, the only visible commemoration on July 19 was the state flag flying at half-past. But since Thein Sein took office in 2011, some of the decades-long Martyrs' Day traditions seem to have been resurrected. The quasi-civilian government has allowed some public tributes at the mausoleum, and in 2012 government officials attended a state-level ceremony to mark the holiday for the first time in five decades. This year, a state-level ceremony in Rangoon was attended by Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham, Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann and House of Nationalities Speaker Khin Aung Myint. Cars across the city could be heard honking their horns at 10:37 a.m. At the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD), party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, urged supporters to honor the martyrs by pushing for democracy. "To me, Martyrs' Day is not about shedding tears, but about taking a vow," she said. "I take a vow to march toward an independent, democratic union that the fallen heroes dreamed of. The country is, at present, far from a strong democratic union. Much more remains to be done, and we are responsible for doing it." Despite heavy rain, thousands of people gathered at the Martyrs' Mausoleum near the north gate of Shwedagon Pagoda, while others went to General Aung San Museum on Natmauk Street. "In these years I always come to pay tribute," a student from Thanlyin Technical University told The Irrawaddy at the mausoleum. "But this is the first time I have seen such a large crowd paying tribute—and with much enthusiasm, even in the rain." "This shows that he has never died in our minds, no matter how his history was erased in the past," he said of Aung San. The nine comrades who were killed by a political rival on July 19, 1947, while meeting at the minister's office of the Secretariat building, also included Didoke U Ba Cho, U Ba Win, Thakin Mya, Mahn Ba Khaing, Mongpawng Chief Sao San Tun, U Razak, U Ohn Maung and U Razak's bodyguard Ko Htwe. The minister's office in the Secretariat, one of the most historically important buildings in the country, was opened to the public for a few hours on Saturday. The post Martyrs' Day Observed on a Grand Scale appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thailand Arrests 3 in Burma Newspaper Trial Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:10 AM PDT  In state media, the government warned that it will take action against Rangoon-based Bi Mon Te Nay newspaper. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Thai authorities in the border town of Mae Sot have arrested the publisher of Burmese journal Bi Mon Te Nay together with his wife and an employee, according to local officials and media reports. They were detained last week and handed over to Burmese authorities for allegedly avoiding a court summons in a trial over an article that upset the government. Rangoon police told The Irrawaddy on Monday that a total of eight members of the Bi Mon Te Nay are being prosecuted for charges that carry lengthy prison sentences. Zaw Maw Aung, an administrator for Myawaddy Township, located in eastern Burma's Karen State, said authorities on both sides of the border had collaborated to apprehend the publisher Kyaw Min Khaing, his wife Ei Ei San and newspaper office manager Yin Min Htun, who were hiding in Mae Sot according to media reports. "They have been arrested because they are run-away suspects and the Thai police helped the Myanmar police," he said, adding that the defendants had been taken to Rangoon to testify in the trial on July 16. "Some of the detained are the main people in the case but they left their homes [after they were summoned], so the police followed them to make them appear at the trial," Zaw Maw Aung said, adding that the arrests had been in accordance with court procedures. Burmese and Thai border authorities occasionally collaborate to deal with cross-border crime, such as drug smuggling, and to apprehend suspects fleeing across the border. DVB reported that the couple had been with their young children during the time of arrest and that Burmese authorities had taken them to their grandparents in Rangoon. Thein Min Aung, a senior reporter at the now-defunct Bi Mon Te Nay in Rangoon, said he heard of the arrests but knew of no further details. Lt. Aung Naing Myint, the Pabedan Township Police Station chief in Rangoon, said the Special Branch police were handling the Bi Mon Te Nay trial and were bringing charges against seven men and one woman who worked at the journal. "The prosecution is led by the Special Branch police and we accepted the case opened by them [in Pabedan Township]. They are being prosecuted under the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act articles 5(d) and 5(j)," he said. Aung Naing Myint said four would appear in Pabedan Township Court on Tuesday, while other defendants would appear on Wednesday. "Tomorrow the court will consider whether to accept the case or not," he added. The Emergency Provisions Act articles 5(d) and 5(j) set out punishments for affecting conduct of the public or undermining law and order. The draconian law was often invoked during the previous military regime to imprison dissidents and each charge carries a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment. Three editors and a reporter of Bi Mon Te Nay have been detained since early July, after the weekly journal ran a front page story on a statement by an activist group, which mistakenly claimed that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had formed an interim government. Shortly after the story appeared, government mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar ran an article claiming that "the news story may cause misunderstanding among readers and defamation of the government, undermine the stability of the state and damage public interest." The trial against Bi Mon Te Nay journalists is the latest in a number of legal cases by authorities against Burmese journalists, and appears to be part of wider effort by the government to reign in and intimidate local media, which had been enjoying a period of relative freedom after President Thein Sein lifted junta-era media restrictions in 2012. On July 10, a court in Magwe Division sentenced four journalists and the CEO of Unity journal to 10 years in prison with hard labor after the newspaper ran a story alleging that the Burma Army was developing a chemical weapons plant in central Burma. In the days following the verdict, which drew widespread local and international condemnation, some 50 reporters held a spontaneous silent protest in Rangoon. Local authorities later announced that they plan prosecute all reporters involved for holding an authorized protest, an offense that carries a three-month prison sentence. The post Thailand Arrests 3 in Burma Newspaper Trial appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Two Civilians Killed in Renewed Clashes in Northern Shan State: TNLA Posted: 21 Jul 2014 12:04 AM PDT  TNLA soldiers from Battalion 527 at Lwel Khan village in Kyauk Mae Township in northern Shan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Two civilians were killed and at least 10 children were wounded as fighting broke out over the weekend between government troops and rebels in northern Shan State, according to an ethnic Palaung armed group. Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) deputy spokesman Tar Parn La told The Irrawaddy that there were four clashes across Saturday and Sunday around Mang Poe village, in the western part of Namkham Township. He said two people were killed on Saturday, including a woman aged over 70 who was found dead at her house and is thought to have died from the shock of artillery landing nearby. The woman was disabled and unable to flee the fighting along with her family, he said. The other victim was a 50-year-old man who was hit by an artillery shell, the spokesman said. "More than 10 children were wounded from artillery and two people were killed. Within 16 hours, we had clashes four times with them [government troops]. Our troops were based at a remote site away from the village, and their troops surrounded us and attacked our troops," said Tar Parn La. The clashes appear to have broken out when government troops heard rebel soldiers were in Mang Poe village. Tar Parn La said TNLA troops went to the village to talk to local people about the group's opium eradication policy, since the village is known as a site of poppy cultivation. Mang Poe has about 400 houses. More than 100 people have fled to a nearby Buddhist monastery to avoid the fighting. Others have fled into the jungle or to stay with relatives, according to Tar Parn La. Casualties on the government side from the clashes are unknown, but the TNLA last week said it had killed 178 Burma Army troops in more than 100 clashes since January. The TNLA—along with the larger Kachin Independence Army—does not currently have a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government. Government negotiators have been attempting to reach a nationwide ceasefire agreement with all of Burma's ethnic armed groups, but efforts have been marred by frequent reoccurrences of fighting in northern Burma. The post Two Civilians Killed in Renewed Clashes in Northern Shan State: TNLA appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Drowning for a Lack of Drainage Posted: 20 Jul 2014 10:40 PM PDT |
| Authorities Find Rape Case Causing Mandalay Unrest Was Faked Posted: 20 Jul 2014 10:03 PM PDT  A crowd joins a funeral procession in Mandalay for a Buddhist man who was killed during clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in early July. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The alleged rape of a Buddhist woman by two Muslim men that triggered religious violence in the central Burmese city of Mandalay was fabricated, authorities said Sunday. A Home Ministry announcement published in the Myanma Ahlin newspaper said a third Muslim man had sought to frame the two owners of a tea shop because he blamed them for his being charged earlier with the rape of one of his female employees. The unrest earlier this month was tamped down after a few days, but demonstrated how volatile ethnic and religious tensions remain in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, where several hundred people have been killed since 2012 in sectarian violence. Rumors that the tea shop owners had raped one of their employees set off attacks on Muslims and mayhem over several days that left one Buddhist and one Muslim man dead, 14 other people injured and property damaged. A nighttime curfew was imposed, and 49 people were charged with murder, grievous hurt, arson and disrupting public order, while a few hundred others received warnings for breaking curfew-related regulations. The Home Ministry’s report said the woman who filed the rape complaint with police and claimed to have been employed by the tea shop owners confessed that she was promised $1 million kyat ($1,000) and carefully coached to make her rape claim. It did not identify her religion, and said she never had worked at the tea shop. It said the middlemen who organized the affair were also believed to have arranged another fake rape incident against a court official against whom they bore a grudge. The woman knew them because they had offered to help get her husband acquitted of a drug charge. The past few years of sectarian tensions originated with another rape case in 2012 in the western state of Arakan. Although some details of the rape remain murky, it set of a wave of rioting that has left up to 280 people dead and 140,000 others homeless, most of them Muslims attacked by Buddhist extremists. Tensions remain high in the area. The post Authorities Find Rape Case Causing Mandalay Unrest Was Faked appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| US Says Burma Journalists’ Sentences ‘Send Wrong Message’ Posted: 20 Jul 2014 09:53 PM PDT  Journalists protest in front of the Myanmar Peace Center in Rangoon on July 12, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) WASHINGTON — The United States, which has made a priority of improving relations with Burma, said on Friday it was "very concerned" by reports that four journalists and a newspaper boss were sentenced to 10 years' hard labor there this month. The sentences sent "the wrong message about Burma's commitment to freedom of expression, including for the press," a State Department spokesman said. "The Burmese government has made tremendous progress in the last three years, working to develop an environment conducive to free, fair and independent media," said the US spokesman, who did not want to be named. "This is a critical element of a vibrant and well-functioning democracy. We urge the government of Burma to continue that trend and respect the rights of all journalists." The four journalists and the chief executive of the Unity newspaper were sentenced on July 10 for reporting about an alleged chemical weapons factory, legal and media sources said. They were arrested this year under Burma's 1923 Official Secrets Act after reporting that a factory under the control of the Ministry of Defense was producing chemical weapons. The government denied the allegations. Amnesty International called it "a very dark day for freedom of expression in Myanmar." Burma's two-year experiment with press freedom at first moved rapidly under President Thein Sein, a former military commander whose reforms since 2011 have helped persuade Europe and the United States to roll back crippling trade sanctions. However, a string of arrests over the past seven months has reversed the trend and has appeared to hark back to the decades of tough military rule that preceded Thein Sein's government. The United States has been seeking to encourage reforms in Burma, a strategically important country in Asia, where Washington is competing for influence with an increasingly assertive China. US President Barack Obama has sought to present Burma as a foreign policy success, but the Asian country's handling of ethnic and religious tensions and other human rights issues has been viewed in Washington with growing concern. The Republican chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, called this month for new sanctions on Thein Sein's government and a halt to military cooperation until persecution of minorities ends. His Democratic counterpart, Eliot Engel, said Thein Sein's government needed to show real progress on rights before receiving any new US policy concessions. The post US Says Burma Journalists' Sentences 'Send Wrong Message' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| A Sanctuary for Burmese Elephants in Green Hill Valley Posted: 20 Jul 2014 05:30 PM PDT  Five-year-old elephant Ko Chit toots his trunk in happiness while getting a bath from Pui and a mahout. (Photo: Christopher Ian Smith) SOUTHERN SHAN STATE — Far out of earshot of the honking vehicles that whine their way down the teak tree-lined Golden Highway, deep in southern Shan State's Green Hill Valley, the river is almost all I hear as it rushes past. That is until Ko Chit, the youngest of the bunch at the Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp lifts his trunk out of the water and lets off a few loud toots.
"He's happy," smiles Pui—who takes care of the elephants at the camp across from Magwe village, Kalaw Township—before rattling off a seemingly unending stream of elephant facts, statistics and history. I turn back to the 4 ton bull and take advantage of his calm demeanor to get a close look at his aged and smooth tusks. Ko Chit has a lot to be happy about. He's been dubbed the luckiest elephant in Burma by Ba Kyaw Than, the camp's veterinarian. Trappers hunting for a white elephant in northern Burma accidentally snagged Ko Chit instead, and, under Ba Kyaw Than's supervision, relocated him to Green Hill Valley. Soon after arrival, one of the older female elephants adopted him as her own, and at a mere 5 years old, Ko Chit will never have to work a day of hard labor in his life. Aside from Ko Chit, Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp's other six elephants are all retired loggers. In 2011, Ba Kyaw Than's niece Tin Win Maw and her husband Htun Htun Wynn opened this camp with animal ethics as their top priority. Having worked in the tourism industry for decades as tour guides, they had seen firsthand the physical, political and tourism changes that were shaping Burma. From the patio of their solar-powered, eco-friendly, community cooperative camp and re-plantation center, Htun Htun Wynn explains how, with the opening of the country, lots of different kinds of tourism will become available in the coming years. He believes that there's lots of room for different sectors to grow and operate in a variety of different ways, but if the country is really going to benefit, then it is essential for the industry to adopt ethical and sustainable standards. The Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp hopes to show how adhering to these standards is possible in Burma, with the aim of ultimately influencing the tourism industry as a whole. It's an ideal that is welcome as Burma's logging laws are currently evolving. Recent cutbacks on the amount of logging permitted will leave an estimated 15-30 percent of elephants in Burma unemployed. It is assumed that NGOs and the private sector will move to fill the gap by creating elephant sanctuaries and other acceptable alternatives for these elephants. Nonetheless, these efforts are currently far smaller and more isolated than the illegal animal-trafficking industry. The trade is particularly active along the Thai-Burmese border, as highlighted by a recent report from wildlife campaign group TRAFFIC. Since many elephant camps in Thailand have not avoided criticism for their own ethics and the living standards of their animals, Htun Htun Wynn strongly believes there is a need for Burmese authorities to closely monitor the companies and organizations that will be starting up camps in the coming years. "We won't use elephants as entertainment. We will not do demos or have them play football or paint things…. We invite people to participate in giving care to the elephants. They can feed and bathe them, have a short ride on their back from the river, even hug and kiss them, but no circus things," explains Pui. Alongside hope of influencing future elephant tourism, the camp is taking a more direct approach to address environmental issues by asking each visitor to plant a tree. The camp has explained that the re-plantation is not for the purpose of a future harvest, but rather to establish a secondary forest. This is all very fitting, since in 1975 Ba Kyaw Than worked for the Myanmar Timber Enterprise, which in the past employed more than 20 elephants to heavily logs this exact area. The camp administration believes there's no more appropriate place for re-foresting than the land they're working on and that which they call home. Teak and silver oak sprout in the center's nursery, just down the stony path that leads to housing for mahouts. Since 2011, more than 6,000 trees have been replanted in the area. Htun Htun Wynn also talks about how the small village of Magwe has noticed. With 350 villagers living at the base of the camp's entrance, the potential for local gains from the tourism industry was clear from the beginning, when the elephant camp donated a school to the village. Like the camp, the school has been growing, and Htun Htun Wynn hopes this will show how ethical practices can benefit not only the business side, but the community, too. He also hopes the ideas of conserving and protecting the environment will spread with a cultural exchange. When the villagers see foreigners drawn from across the world to plant a tree, it helps to emphasize the need to take care of the land, the community and the future of Burma. The ultimate hope is that businesses across all industries, fueled by a coming tourism boom, will see the same sustainable benefits both in terms of profits and nurturing the country. The post A Sanctuary for Burmese Elephants in Green Hill Valley appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| ‘The Shift From Offline to Online’ Posted: 20 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT  Kian Moini is cofounder of Lamudi, an online property portal that launched House.com.mm in Burma. (Photo: Kyaw Hsu Mon / The Irrawaddy) Germany-based property portal Lamudi entered Burma two years ago by establishing House.com.mm, which has since become the country's largest online real estate marketplace. On the website, sellers, buyers, landlords and renters can advertise and find homes, land and commercial properties. Recently, Lamudi cofounder Kian Moini visited Burma to meet with developers and real estate agents. He spoke with The Irrawaddy about how a low Internet penetration rate affects his business, and how House.com.mm plans to expand in the future. Question: Can you describe your presence in Burma? Answer: House.com.mm arrived as part of Rocket Internet [the parent company of Lamudi] in Q4 2012, because Rocket Internet saw potential in Myanmar [Burma] at a very early stage. We have been established as one of the top 100 websites in the country already, which is very strong for a real estate platform. It's always a larger challenge to establish yourself in a market where Internet penetration is still low, but we are doing very well in educating the market in the shift from offline to online. Now if you look at House.com.mm, we already have more than 17,000 listings online, and an accordingly high number of agents and brokers who trust us with providing them a value. We have many thousands of visits per day. We're still at a very low rate, but Internet penetration is increasing through computers and more so through mobile phones. Q: Of the 60 million or so population in Burma, only about 8 million people are mobile phone users. Even so, do you expect your website to continue growing? A: Very much. Our business is driven by Internet penetration and smartphone penetration. The infrastructure first has to be built to make Internet available across the country. The same goes for smartphone penetration—infrastructure must be built so that people have connection to 3G, and then smartphones must actually be in the market. There's an increasingly high number of affordable smartphones in the market, and I'm sure smartphone penetration will grow exponentially over the next one or two years. We have responded by launching an Android application. Q:Do you have plans to work with developers, in addition to real estate agents? A: Absolutely, we have been focusing the first part of operations on agents and brokers, and now we are also increasingly targeting developers. Our website will tailor more to the needs of developers, which is following the trend in general in developing markets. New developments make up a big part of the market. Q:What is your business model? A: It's very straightforward. For agents, brokers and developers, our website is a marketing channel for them to offer their properties, so we charge for them to use this advertisement channel, depending on the number of listings they want to advertise or the number of products the developer wants to advertise. Then we also have a classical online advertisement channel, which is the banner space that we have on our website, we offer those for a fee. The user will never be charged—for people who come to the website, it will always be for free, and the application is free to download. Q: You have traveled a lot in Southeast Asia. Can you compare Burma's market to the market elsewhere? A: It's aligned with the Internet penetration rates. For instance, in Indonesia, competitors of ours were in the market for a couple years, which meant they had already shown how to shift from offline to online. In Myanmar, we are driving the shift. There have been a few more challenges in the first few months, but now in the last few months we've really grown tremendously. In Yangon, we have signed eight out of 10 of the biggest brokers, if it's not even 10 by now. Q:What is your biggest challenge working here? A: The biggest challenge is educating the clients, not only about how to use online [portals], but also how to use the Internet. We explain the the website, how it works and what value we have. …The second step is getting the agents to understand that the better the quality of their listings online is, the better the user experience, and thus the more likely the user is going to call and make an appointment. What I mean is, when you have a listing online, how many pictures do you have, what is the quality of the pictures, and do you clean up the place before you take the picture? There are many things that people just don't think of, and we're here to help. We're not only here to sell a service—I see us as an online marketing consultant. Q: Your focus currently seems to be properties in Rangoon. Any plans to expand your reach? A: We have already started in Mandalay as well. Since the Internet penetration is still difficult outside Yangon, we are probably not going to take the next steps too quickly. Eventually we want to be across the market, across the country, but this only makes sense if we have Internet across the country. Q: Are you eager for Telenor and Ooredoo to launch their operations in telecommunications? A: This is most likely going to give us a big push as well, yes. Q: Do you cater more to foreigners or to local clients? A: Our focus is on the local market because most of the transactions are local. But at the same time, we have a global brand, our Lamudi.com, which House.com.mm is part of, is in 30 countries. Q: Do you have any competitors in Burma? A: To be honest, there's no competitor that we consider a true competitor here. There are a few smaller property portals but they don't match in expertise. Q: Are real estate prices relatively higher in Burma than elsewhere in Southeast Asia? A: That's difficult to say. I wouldn't be able to comment now on a price average or on a specific price range compared to other countries. Across most Asian countries there's been an increase in very upscale developments, very expensive apartments and houses. At the same time, affordable housing is growing on a very large scale. Now in Myanmar we are probably more at this stage where there's a larger increase in developments for upscale, but I'm sure it will not take long until the medium and lower scale ranges will come in as well. The post 'The Shift From Offline to Online' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| China Warns Officials Against Aping Western Morality Posted: 20 Jul 2014 10:09 PM PDT  Police stand at Tiananmen Square in front of the portrait of China's late leader Mao Zedong. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — China's ruling Communist Party will step up ideological education of officials to prevent them from aping Western moral standards and strengthen their faith in communism to help in the fight against pervasive corruption, state media said. "Profound social-economic changes at home and abroad have brought multiple distractions to officials who face loss of faith and moral decline," the official Xinhua news agency cited a statement from the party's powerful Organization Department, which oversees personnel decisions. "The conviction and morals of officials determine the rise and fall of the Communist Party and the country," Xinhua added, in a report late on Sunday. "Officials should keep firm belief in Marxism to avoid being lost in the clamor for Western democracy, universal values and civil society," it said. The party has warned repeatedly that its members should not be lead astray by Western concepts of human rights and democracy, saying that China has the right to promote its own interpretation of such ideas to better suit its national condition and level of economic development. President Xi Jinping has mounted a sweeping campaign against deeply-rooted corruption since assuming office last year, warning, like others before him, that the party's rule could be threatened if it does not stop the rot from graft. The party has sought to curtail everything from bribery and gift-giving to lavish banquets to assuage public anger over graft and extravagance, and state media has published lurid accounts of officials with multiple mistresses and illegally amassed wealth. However, the party has shown no sign of wanting to set up an independent body to fight graft, and Xi has also overseen a tough crackdown on those who seek to challenge the party's right to govern or push for more freedoms. Xinhua said that party officials would have to receive education that "strengthens their political, ideological and emotional identity in socialism with Chinese characteristics." Officials will have to be "noble, pure and virtuous persons who have relinquished vulgar tastes," it added. "Chinese officials should safeguard the spiritual independence of the nation and avoid becoming an echo of western moral values," Xinhua said. The post China Warns Officials Against Aping Western Morality appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Anti-Russia Sentiment Running Deep in Malaysia Posted: 20 Jul 2014 09:49 PM PDT  A monk performs a prayer during a special vigil for victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, inside a Buddhist temple in Kuala Lumpur on July 20, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Samsul Said) KUALA LUMPUR — Many Malaysians are urging their government and world leaders to take a tough stance against Russia after pro-Russia rebels allegedly shot down a Malaysia Airlines jet, with some calling for economic sanctions and a boycott of Russian goods. While the rebels and Ukraine blame each other for Thursday's downing of Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, Russia's government is being accused of not doing enough to ensure that authorities have proper access to the crash site. Much of the Malaysian anger toward Russia stems from the inability for family members of Muslims who were aboard the plane to perform burial rites as quickly as possible, according to Islamic custom. Of the 298 people aboard the plane, 43 were from Muslim-majority Malaysia and 12 were from Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. The plane crashed in rebel-held territory, and the separatists—who are being blamed for shooting down the plane by much of the international community, including the United States—have been accused of preventing emergency workers from retrieving the victims' bodies. The issue has caused deep resentment in Malaysia, where many have blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even politicians, who on Friday were careful not to point any fingers, seem to be losing patience. "Pro-Russian terrorists have not handled #MH17 victims with dignity. Putin promised PM @NajibRazak he would help. He hasn't," Malaysian Youth and Sport Minister Khairy Jamaluddin tweeted Sunday, referring to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. As people headed to Kuala Lumpur shopping malls on Sunday, their minds were still reeling from the horrific images of the crash site that have inundated television screens here. Many were calling for tough economic sanctions and an international boycott of Russian goods and services. "Our government and the whole world have to do something about this case," said 27-year-old Nur Zehan Abu Bakar, who works in the education sector. "If not, what will happen to our country? What will happen to [Malaysia Airlines]? To show that we are angry with Russia and if they still continue not to help us, I think the best way is for all Malaysians to boycott Russian products." Charles Foo, a retiree who was spending time with his family outside a mall, echoed Nur Zehan's sentiments. "They [Russia] are a big country. We are a very small country, so how much can we do, unless all nations in the world stop buying their goods and whatever," he said. Malaysia is one of Russia's main trading partners in Southeast Asia. Russia also is a key supplier for Malaysia's military, delivering 18 Sukhoi fighter jets to the Malaysian air force over the past decade. James Chin, a professor at the political science unit of Monash University in Malaysia, said he believed it was unlikely that Russian-Malaysian relations would be seriously harmed as a result of the incident, though he added that a lot would depend on the outcome of the official investigation. "The Malaysian government really can't do much," Chin said. "The Malaysian government takes the position that it cannot antagonize the Russians now because they hold the key to the investigation." Some Malaysians said it was important to remain rational and wait for the investigation to be completed. "For now, I will calm myself down and not listen to all the noise," a 36-year-old dancer, who wanted to be identified only by his family name, Wong, said at a popular Kuala Lumpur shopping district. "There is no point for me to get emotional at the moment. I encourage everyone to stay calm." Tricia Yeoh, chief operating officer at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a Malaysian think tank, said while she could understand why Malaysians are so upset, people need to wait for a thorough investigation to be completed before reaching any conclusions on who is responsible for the disaster. "People need to be cautious in a geopolitical climate and environment in which not all information is being revealed," Yeoh said. "We certainly do not know all there is to know, and for that reason I would have to wait. Having said that, of course all governments should be cooperating to ensure investigations are thoroughly done. This includes Russia." The post Anti-Russia Sentiment Running Deep in Malaysia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Indonesia’s Democracy Faces Test as Tally Comes In Posted: 20 Jul 2014 09:44 PM PDT  Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, left, stands beside presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto, center, and Joko Widodo during a meeting at the presidential palace in Jakarta on July 20, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Beawiharta) JAKARTA — After an ugly presidential election campaign, Indonesia is set to declare the winner on Tuesday—but that may not settle a simmering dispute between the two candidates, both of whom claim victory. Unofficial counts by eight polling agencies of the July 9 election have given Joko Widodo, the popular and sneaker-wearing former governor of Jakarta known as "Jokowi," a slim lead. But Prabowo Subianto, a former general with a checkered human rights record who has drawn voters with his thundering nationalistic rhetoric, insists he has polling data showing he has won, raising speculation that he might may not accept the results if he loses. The tension could threaten Indonesia's fragile transition to democracy 16 years after it emerged from the long and brutal Suharto dictatorship. The country of 240 million is experiencing a slowing economy—the largest in Southeast Asia—and needs leadership to tackle a rapidly crumbling infrastructure. Once the Election Commission announces the winner, it is highly likely the losing candidate will appeal to the Constitutional Court, the country's highest. Judges there will have two weeks to rule on any complaints before deciding who won. However, some experts worry that Indonesia's endemic corruption could affect that decision. Last month, the court's chief justice was sentenced to life in prison for taking a bribe to adjudicate in favor of a plaintiff in a case related to a disputed provincial election. "That will be a challenge for the Constitutional Court, whose image has already been ruined," said Mohammad Qodari, a political analyst. Subianto, who has declared assets of US$140 million and is on his third bid for the presidency, denies any intention to attempt to buy the vote. The results could trigger social unrest such as clashes between supporters of the two candidates. Indonesia has experienced frequent outbreaks of political, ethnic and separatist violence during its transition to democracy. The security situation across the country's 18,000 islands has improved markedly in recent years, but the unprecedented rancor of the campaign, the first between just two candidates in the country's history, means that tensions are running high. There were significant smear campaigns in the run-up to the election, and supporters of both men used social media for personal attacks. "On the Jokowi side there are too many parasites, they are a danger to the country," Subianto supporter and lawmaker Fahri Hamzah tweeted recently. "After the 22nd we will 'deal' with them. Just be patient," he said, using language that could easily be interpreted as menacing. Widodo, a former furniture maker, is widely seen as untainted by the often-corrupt military and business elite that have run Indonesia for decades. He likes to wear casual plaid shirts, listen to heavy metal music and make impromptu visits to the slums. Subianto, late dictator Suharto's former son-in-law, is seen by some as providing stronger leadership and was endorsed by Islamic-based parties, hardline Islamic groups and outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's political party. He was trailing behind Widodo for months before the polls but caught up on the back of a well-organized, well-funded campaign that was supported by most of the country's establishment political parties. His supporters also spearheaded a smear campaign against Widodo, spreading unfounded rumors he is not a Muslim—which could undermine his standing in this Muslim-majority nation. Voters for Subianto chose to ignore his links to past human rights abuses. He admits taking part in the abduction of pro-democracy activists during the dying days of the Suharto dictatorship when he was head of the army's strategic command, saying he was following orders. He was fired from the army as a result, and spent several years in self-imposed exile in Jordan. Unofficial "quick counts" carried out by eight agencies, which tally a sampling of votes around the country, have given Widodo a lead of around 4 percent, or roughly 6 million votes. The counts have been highly accurate in forecasting the results of previous elections. Independent analysts say there is no reason to think otherwise this time around, and that anything but a Widodo victory by about 4 percent would be highly suspicious. Four polling firms with links to the Subianto campaign produced tallies that showed him in the lead by differing margins. Earlier this week, the Indonesian Association of Public Opinion Surveyors dismissed two of them from the grouping after they refused to reveal their research methods. The two other pollsters were not members of the association. The Electoral Commission has needed about two weeks to collect and tabulate votes from nearly a half-million polling stations across the country's 33 provinces. The commission's national leadership is mostly seen as professional and impartial, but the same can't be said for its official and local or provincial levels. Once the formal results are announced, it might be difficult for Subianto to keep up his campaign. The political coalition that supported his bid might abandon him, preferring to try and get positions in a Widodo administration. Public and media support could wane. "My suggestion is that the two [Subianto and his running mate, Hatta Rajasa] should have a reality check," Abdillah Toha, a leading member of a political party that supported the pair, wrote in an open letter this week. "I know that deep in their hearts, they know they have lost. They should be just resigned to the results, as gentlemen and statesmen." The post Indonesia's Democracy Faces Test as Tally Comes In appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
