Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Burma Struggles to Ditch Its Military Masters

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 06:33 AM PDT

presidents of burma

Burma’s last five presidents have all hailed from military backgrounds.

Since the country's first military coup in 1962, Burma has lacked a real civilian president. More than 50 years on, all five presidents and two other leaders have come from the military ranks, a record of martial headship that is likely to continue at least until 2020.

Five presidents were appointed after the late dictator Gen. Ne Win staged a coup in 1962. Ne Win himself assumed the presidency from 1974 to 1981 after ruling the country under repressive law as leader of the Revolutionary Council. After Ne Win, his deputy Gen. San Yu held the office from 1981 until 1988, when a popular uprising toppled Ne Win's Burma Socialist Programme Party along with its government.

During the '88 uprising, Brig-Gen Sein Lwin—known as the "Butcher of Rangoon" because he had issued the firing order against student demonstrators on the campus of Rangoon University soon after the 1962 coup—was appointed as president. He lasted just 17 days, as the street demonstrations gained momentum and led to his ouster.

After the Butcher, Dr. Maung Maung, a Ne Win's loyalist, served briefly as president until Sept. 18, 1988, when the military assumed power from him. Among those presidents, Maung Maung was the only scholar, but had also served as a second-lieutenant at the War Office for years in the pre-independence Burma of the early 1940s.

From 1988 to 2011, the two leaders of the 1988 coup, Snr-Gen Saw Maung and his successor Snr-Gen Than Shwe, did not hold the title of president, and instead served as chairmen of the military regime. In March 2011, a former general, Thein Sein, was chosen president.

More than three years later, as Burma approaches elections in 2015, it looks increasingly likely that the next president will not emerge from the leadership of Burma's storied pro-democracy movement, and will instead arise from the same old political elite. That is, the military establishment.

That scenario is not wholly unexpected, but many Burmese had optimistically expected to see a different outcome following the upcoming legislative election, which is likely to be held in late 2015.

Supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were hoping to see her as president, despite the fact that the current 2008 Constitution bars her from the office on the grounds that she was married to a foreign national. Those aspirations are looking more like wishful thinking by the day, as the chances of amending the Constitution before the election appear increasingly slim.

Recent political developments have not been promising in Burma, where the unofficial battle for the presidency began many months ago.

Last year, Suu Kyi publicly said that she was eyeing the presidency. And in mid-2013, Shwe Mann, the Lower House speaker and chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), also told The Irrawaddy that he was keen to succeed Thein Sein.

Kyaw Zwa Moe is editor (English Edition) of
the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at kyawzwa@irrawaddy.org.

Interestingly, Thein Sein has said little of substance to indicate whether or not he is interested in serving another term. His silence has been interpreted by some as a sign that he must be seriously considering or has already decided to go for it.

The push from Suu Kyi and her supporters to change a constitutional provision guaranteeing the military a veto over amendments to the charter must be understood as a stepping stone to further revisions to that document—including the clause disqualifying the opposition leader from the presidency.

Positive political developments in 2012 and 2013 created a public perception that constitutional change was likely to happen before 2015.

Shwe Mann, who has by all accounts forged a more amicable relationship with Suu Kyi than Thein Sein, has been seen as likely to agree to some changes to the Constitution. He even once told media, "I would personally be glad if Ama Gyi [referring to Suu Kyi as a big sister] becomes president."

But that was last year. The changing political dynamics of 2014 are not promising for Suu Kyi, whose candidacy for the presidency could arguably be called a pipedream at this point. There has been almost no other name civilian name put forward—by the National League for Democracy or other opposition parties—as a possible presidential contender.

Observers are, however, also watching the commander-in-chief of the military, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

Last November, Brig-Gen Wai Lin, who is a military representative for the Lower House, told The Irrawaddy that military MPs expected Min Aung Hlaing to be a leading candidate for the presidency. The Constitution reserves 25 percent of seats in Parliament to military representatives, who are directly appointed by the commander-in-chief.

Brig-Gen Wai Lin added, "The current commander-in-chief will make a good civilian president."

But the commander-in-chief has not yet stated publically that he has any ambitions to hold the top post.

Each body of the Presidential Electoral College, which is comprised of the Upper House, the Lower House and the military representatives, is given the power to appoint a vice president. The Presidential Electoral College will then vote to determine which of these three people will become president.

Even if all of these frontrunners miss the boat in 2015, another rising star from the military or the ruling USDP stands the best chance, with the incumbent party citing the need for continuity amid Burma's reforms.

Hla Swe, an MP-elect for the Upper House from the USDP, recently told The Irrawaddy that the USDP party will choose Thein Sein or Shwe Mann as president in 2015. "We have no problem regarding who will be president out of those two. But we have to have a president from the USDP so that the country's current transition will be smooth," the former lieutenant-colonel said.

Members of his party no doubt share this view. The political elite, comprised of the military, the current government and the USDP, will do everything in their power to make sure the reins of power stay in the family.

Looking at the way Burma's three vice presidents were chosen in 2010 is instructive in understanding the coy maneuvers that the political elite are capable of executing.

Two vice presidents were former generals and one was an ethnic loyalist to the military. While Thein Sein, a former general, was chosen as president, another general, Tin Aung Myint Oo, was selected as a vice president. (Tin Aung Myint Oo was replaced by Vice Admiral Nyan Tun two years later.)

The third vice president, Sai Mauk Kham, was a token ethnic selection, but even then the Shan doctor was a loyal member of the USDP.

Following precedent, one ethnic minority candidate will again likely get the nod. This time, the vice president may come from the ranks of one of Burma's many ethnic parties rather than the USDP, and the candidate is likely be an from an ethnic minority that is not Shan, allowing the ruling government to claim two consecutive gestures to the country's ethnic diversity.

Though Burma has seen dramatic political changes over the last three years, it likely won't be until at least 2020 before we see a break from the leadership tradition that has endured for more than 50 years. Like it or not, the Burmese people may well be forced to accept another general-turned-president at the helm.

The post Burma Struggles to Ditch Its Military Masters appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma’s Election Commission Rejects Opposition Call for Longer Campaigns

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 04:22 AM PDT

Aung San Suu Kyi campaigns during by-elections in 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

Aung San Suu Kyi campaigns during by-elections in 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

The Union Election Commission (UEC) has rejected a request from the National League for Democracy (NLD) and ethnic parties to double the length of time parties will have to campaign for Burma's crucial 2015 elections.

The official election regulations will continue to restrict campaigning to 30 days before the polls, according to an election official, although exceptions may be made in remote states where the logistics of campaigning are expected to be difficult.

The UEC met on Wednesday with representatives of the NLD—Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party—and five ethnic parties, which proposed amendments to the election rules laid out by the commission last month.

Thaung Hlaing, a director at the UEC, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the parties' proposal to allow 60 days of campaigning before voting day would not be adopted.

"Our chairman has discussed it," said Thaung Hlaing, referring to the UEC's chair, Tin Aye, a former military official who was elected as a lawmaker for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) before stepping down to head the supposedly impartial commission.

"The NLD and the ethnic parties asked to extend the date to 60 days but we have set it out to international standards."

Thaung Hlaing added that candidates in states like Chin or Arakan, where travel is difficult, can ask for more time to campaign.

"We don't want the political parties to have to spend more [money] due to a long campaign period. It will also prevent any unnecessary problems which might occur amongst rival parties," he said in explanation of the decision.

The regulations will govern the 2015 parliamentary election, which is expected to be the first national vote the NLD has contested since Burma moved to a nominally democratic form of government. The rules will also decide how by-elections expected late this year are conducted. The UEC says it will announce the date of those elections three months before the polling day.

Tun Tun Hein, an NLD executive committee member, said the party would follow the commission's decision.

Ten political parties, including the NLD, suggested amendments to the electoral guidelines published by the UEC in July. On Wednesday, only six parties joined the meeting—the Zomi Democratic Party, the Human Rights and Democracy Party, the Mon National Party, the Wa National Unity Party, the Kaman National Progressive Party and the NLD.

Tun Tun Hein said the UEC still had to clarify regulations on parties meeting with the media; the definitions of campaigning and rallying; and the time campaigning can begin.

"The commission said an unclear media section has been removed in their amended guideline," said Htun Htun Hein.

He said that some proposals made by opposition parties had been agreed by the UEC, and that Chairman Tin Aye had promised elections would be free and fair.

"He [Tin Aye] said: 'Don't look just back to the 2010 experience, but wait for the 2014 by-election,'" said Tun Tun Hein.

May Sitt Paing contributed to this report.

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Screening of ‘Bengali’ Citizenship Bids Begins in Arakan State

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 04:16 AM PDT

A family of Rohingya Muslims at a camp for internally displaced persons in Arakan State. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

A family of Rohingya Muslims at a camp for internally displaced persons in Arakan State. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The local government in Arakan State's Myebon Township has begun examining the citizenship applications of nearly 1,100 residents who have self-identified as "Bengalis" under a controversial pilot program covering Muslims in the state known internationally as Rohingya.

Khin Soe, an immigration officer who participated in the screening process, told The Irrawaddy that the vetting began on Tuesday and had processed 34 people in its first three days.

"Our committee members are checking them. This is to gain citizenship," Khin Soe said on Thursday, adding that the screening was an initial, township-level stage in which applicants were asked to present evidence of ancestral lineage in Burma.

The township committee tasked with screening applicants will forward its findings to the state government, which will in turn submit recommendations to the central government.

The basis for the decision will be Burma's 1982 Citizenship Law, which designates three categories of citizenship: full, associate and naturalized.

"Our immigration will issue identity cards to the people based on the decision of the central government on who will be granted citizenship," Khin Soe said.

Hla Myint, a Muslim in Myebon whose preferred self-identification is Rohingya, said he had nonetheless applied for citizenship as a "Bengali."

"I went to the checking because I do not want to have any problems with them. Indeed, we are not Bengali, but they forced us to accept it," said Hla Myint, who added that he was born in Myebon.

Estimated to number around 1 million, Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State face systematic discrimination, including the Burmese government's refusal to recognize their preferred term of self-identification. Earlier this year, the government declined to count any people self-identifying as Rohingya in a nationwide census.

Like the census, the Myebon pilot program has also required these Muslims to identify as Bengali in order to have their citizenship application considered.

There were 1,094 "Bengali" Muslims in Myebon Township who had applied for citizenship, according to Khin Soe, who said that the committee would continue to accept applications. The local government began taking applications in June.

Hla Myint, a father of six who said his own father had served as a civil servant in Rangoon, estimated that about half of Myebon's Muslim population had not applied under the pilot citizenship verification program.

"There were two Arakanese community leaders who observed the checking. If we can provide credible facts, they told us that we will become citizens," said Hla Myint, who added that some were expected to be granted full citizenship, while others were likely to get only one of the lesser forms of recognition.

The government has said it intends to expand the citizenship verification program to other townships in Arakan State where Rohingya Muslims reside.

Arakan State was the scene of deadly communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012. More than 140,000 people were displaced from their homes, the majority of them being Rohingya Muslims who continue to live in camps outside the state capital, Sittwe.

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Yangon Heritage Trust to Survey How Residents Benefit From Conservation

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 03:45 AM PDT

A man walks past the Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue on 26th street in downtown Rangoon. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

A man walks past the Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue on 26th street in downtown Rangoon. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The Yangon Heritage Trust announced on Wednesday that it will conduct a survey among residents of colonial-era buildings in downtown Rangoon to determine how communities could benefit from conservation of the buildings.

The organization's program manager Kyan Dyne Aung announced during a press conference that in three selected areas residents would be interviewed about their use of the heritage for residential, business and religious purposes, and about their views on the future of the buildings.

"After we learn about those facts, we would be able to take them into
our consideration when we implement heritage conservation," he said, adding that the study is being funded by the European Union and would start in September or October.

The trust's founder, historian Thant Myint-U, said the study would help determine how residents view new urban development and heritage conservation, and how such plans could benefit local communities.

The survey will focus on part of Bothathaung Township's Bogalay Zay Street (between Merchant and Maha Bandoola streets), Pabedan Township's 26nd Street and part of Latha Township's Latha Street (between Merchant and Maha Bandoola streets).

The areas were selected as urban heritage there has the "ideal character" because it performs a mix of functions and represents much of downtown Rangoon, said the trust's director Moe Moe Lwin. "So we selected these areas for our project zone because they fit with these criteria."

She said the survey areas also represent different cultures, with 26nd Street being a predominantly Indian-origin community, while Latha Road is considered part of Rangoon's 'China Town'. Bogalay Zay Street has a number of historic buildings that have retained their original architectural features and social functions, such as the Young Women's Christian Association building.

Lower Pansodan Road, an area famous for its concentration
of large British colonial-era administrative buildings and banks, is excluded from the survey, she added, as most historic buildings there house government offices.

The Yangon Heritage Trust was founded in 2012 following the introduction of political reforms in Burma, and is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of Rangoon's rich architectural heritage. It advocates heritage protection and provides urban planning advice to the government.

Rangoon has one of the largest colonial-era city centers in the whole of Asia but many of the buildings are dilapidated after decades of neglect and mismanagement under the former military regime. A real estate boom has sparked a building frenzy across the city of five million in recent years, and in downtown old buildings are regularly being knocked down to make way for real estate development.

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More Burmese Gas Pumped Over the Border as Thai Reserves Dwindle

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 02:24 AM PDT

natural gas

Workers are seen awaiting customers behind a PTT logo at a fuel station in Bangkok. (Photo: Reuters)

As the newest offshore natural gas field in Burma's territorial waters begins pumping gas to Thailand, operator PTTEP said it will soon extend its drilling activities in the field to "support long-term production levels."

Thailand now imports about 25 percent of its annual gas consumption demand from Burma, and this is rising as Thai domestic production slowly declines, said industry analysts.

Under the terms of an agreement signed by Burma's former military regime, Thailand will take 80 percent of the gas in the newly producing Zawtika field in the Gulf of Martaban.

PTTEP began supplying small quantities of gas from Zawtika to its partner Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in March, but the bulk of the daily production of 240 million cubic feet began flowing to Thailand via pipeline through Tenasserim Division on Aug. 5, said the Thai firm in a statement.

State-owned PTTEP said Zawtika is its biggest foreign offshore production field among operations in nine countries, but did not disclose the field's size.

However, proven reserves in the field are at least 1.76 trillion cubic feet—50 billion cubic meters—and this is likely to grow with new exploratory drilling, said industry magazine Asian Oil & Gas Monitor.

"PTTEP is progressing with the construction of four additional wellhead platforms at Zawtika to support the production plateau, and plans to drill 10 appraisal wells between 2014 and 2015 to increase petroleum reserves and support long-term production levels," analysts Platts quoted the Thai firm saying.

"Drilling of these appraisal wells is scheduled to begin this month," said Platts.

PTTEP holds an 80 percent share in the joint venture with MOGE, which holds the remaining 20 percent.

"[The Zawtika] success marks as another important milestone for PTTEP in supplying natural gas to ensure energy security for both Thailand and Myanmar," said the Thai company's chief executive Tevin Vongvanich in a statement on August 6.

The Zawtika field agreement signed by PTTEP was the last made under the former Burma regime and the current government is on record pledging that large-scale exports from future oil and gas discoveries onshore and offshore will not be permitted until Burma's domestic energy needs are fulfilled.

PTTEP has been coy about how much it is investing in the Zawtika field, but some industry media reports have said it could eventually total US$1 billion if additional discoveries are made. The Thai firm sought but failed to find international partners to invest in the project to share costs, said a recent report by Asian Oil & Gas Monitor.

The Zawtika field is approximately 300 kilometers south of Rangoon and 300 kilometers west of Dawei.

PTTEP is the majority stakeholder in five other exploration and production projects in offshore and onshore locations in Burma, plus minority interests in the long-operating Yetagon and Yadana fields which ship most of their gas to Thailand.

PTTEP's offshore M3 and M11 Blocks, also in the Gulf of Martaban, cover a sea area of 11,700 square kilometers and hold prospects for more gas and some oil, said PTTEP on its website. They are still at the exploration and assessment stage and no indication of the size of recoverable hydrocarbon reserves has been given.

Earlier this year Tevin described Burma as PTTEP's second home, which is not surprising given that Thailand now depends on Burma as the source of nearly 25 percent of its annual gas demand. Gas fuels 70 percent of Thailand's electricity generation.

In 2013, Thailand consumed almost 4 billion cubic feet of gas per day, of which 990 million cubic feet per day was imported from Burma, said Reuters quoting the Bangkok Energy Policy and Planning Office.

The Burmese Ministry of Energy and several government agencies including MOGE are still negotiating exploration and production terms on 20 other offshore blocks provisionally awarded to a clutch of large international and smaller foreign oil companies last March. Thirty offshore blocks were originally offered for bidding, but it has never been explained why ten were dropped at a late stage in a process which began in the first half of 2013.

The provisional winners include Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhillips, StatOil of Norway and Eni of Italy.

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Burmese Tycoon Tay Za to Set Up Journalism Foundation

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:10 PM PDT

Tay Za talks to the media after President Thein Sein met with Burma's top tycoons earlier this year in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Tay Za talks to the media after President Thein Sein met with Burma's top tycoons earlier this year in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burmese tycoon Tay Za will donate US$1 million to help establish a journalism foundation in the county's fledgling media market.

The US blacklisted businessman will use an initial amount of $1 million from his Asia Green Development Bank to set up the foundation.

"U Tay Za wants to help create genuine media and [to allow] young journalists to be able to work on a global scale, instead of being limited to Burma. Our assistance does not mean that the media would have an obligation to write only the good side of us. There are no strings attached," Bo Than, who is part of the team helping to start the foundation, told The Irrawaddy.

The idea for the foundation was born out of a promise made by Tay Za to 14 journalists traveling with him to Putao, northern Kachin State, in February, Bo Than added.

Tay Za is listed by the United States as a specially designated national (SDN), preventing US companies from doing business with his sprawling Htoo Group of Companies conglomerate. One of Burma's wealthiest businessmen, he has been accused of aiding—and being enriched by—the country's former military regime.

Late last year, Tay Za announced he would sue the Sun Rays weekly journal for defamation, after the publication ran a front page story with his photo accompanied by the headline "Cronies should jump into the Andaman Sea."

"It is good if they are [starting the foundation] with a good purpose. There is a lot to be done," said Thiha Saw, a member of Burma's interim Press Council. "I think it might be a little hard in practice. Who is going to teach? Who is going to attend the courses? It will be good if they teach journalism without bias."

On Tuesday, Tay Za told the Union Daily newspaper that media outlets in Burma lacked impartiality and were not up to the standards of a genuinely democratic country. He said he planned to establish the foundation in order to help elevate industry standards.

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Rights Group Urges Kerry to Address ‘Backsliding’ in Burma

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:04 PM PDT

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Burmese President Thein Sein at the Asean Summit in Brunei last year. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy)

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Burmese President Thein Sein at the Asean Summit in Brunei last year. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Human Rights Watch has called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to press Burmese government officials on what the group calls a "deteriorating rights situation" in the country.

Kerry arrives in Naypyidaw on Saturday for regional meetings taking place during Burma's chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but is also scheduled to meet with government leaders.

Last week, more than 70 US lawmakers said President Barack Obama's administration should take a harder line with Burma's government, and community groups in Burma's Shan State are urging Kerry to express disapproval of recent Burma Army aggression.

In a statement from New York on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said it had written to Obama in July highlighting growing concern that the human rights reforms initiated by President Thein Sein "have stalled or are backsliding."

"During the past year the number of political prisoners has risen with increased arbitrary arrests of peaceful protesters and prosecutions of journalists," the group's statement said.

"Efforts to reform the justice system and enforce the rule of law have achieved little progress. And the military has been involved in widespread abuses linked to land grabbing and continued fighting in ethnic minority areas."

The statement said Burma's government had not taken a public stand against Buddhist leaders fomenting anti-Muslim sentiment, and said Kerry "should press the government to demonstrate genuine progress in ending the persecution of the Rohingya, preventing further sectarian violence, and abandoning discriminatory legislation."

Kerry should also press for the prosecution of Burmese military officials and members of ethnic armed groups involved in human rights abuses, and urge the government to reform the 2008 Constitution, it said.

Also on Thursday, a group of more than 14 Shan community-based organizations issued an open letter to the secretary of state calling for him to raise with Thein Sein concerns about "escalating military operations by Burmese government troops in central Shan State, which are destabilizing the current peace process, and threatening the lives of innocent civilians."

The groups said about 3,000 troops have been deployed in Ke See, Murng Hsu and Tangyan townships since June in an operation against the Shan State Army-North that is terrorizing and displacing hundreds of civilians.

"This aggressive expansion into Shan ceasefire areas, endangering and displacing civilians, throws further doubt on claims by the Burmese government that it is seeking a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict," the letter said, also calling on Kerry to suspend the nascent military-to-military engagement offered by the US to Burma's reformist government.

The US has embraced Thein Sein's leadership, suspending most economic sanctions against Burma, and Obama is expected to visit Burma for the second time during another regional summit in November.

"While the United States continues to spin a positive story about reforms in Burma, the reality is that the reform process has not only stopped but is going into reverse," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement.

"Kerry should use his visit to deliver a clear and public message of deep concern about serious human rights problems, including continued persecution of the Rohingya, continued military abuses against ethnic groups, and the need for constitutional reform."

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Hundreds of Pegu Residents Affected by Floods

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 10:42 PM PDT

A woman drinks a Heineken beer while swimming through the floods on an inflated tire on Wednesday. Hundreds of residents of Pegu Town have been suffering from severe flooding in recent days following heavy downpours. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

A woman drinks a Heineken beer while swimming through the floods on an inflated tire on Wednesday. Hundreds of residents of Pegu Town have been suffering from severe flooding in recent days following heavy downpours. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

PEGU Town — The riverside town of Pegu has been affected by severe flooding after heavy downpours hit much of lower Burma in recent days, causing the Pegu River to swell and burst its banks.

Hundreds of residents of the town have seen their neighborhoods flood, forcing some to leave their homes and take shelter in local monasteries, while others have to wade through deep water or use boats to move around.

At least a dozen villages along the Pegu River and the nearby town of Tanatpin have also

been affected by serious flooding.

Authorities have warned that the Pegu, Sittaung and Salween rivers are likely to remain dangerously high until Friday and could cause further flooding in Pegu, Mon and Karen states.

In northern Mon State, roads were inundated with two feet of water on Wednesday, bringing traffic from Mon State to the rest of the country to a halt.

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For a Photographer, Looking Beyond the News Cycle

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 05:30 PM PDT

Two very different families near Rangoon's Sule Pagoda. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

Two very different families near Rangoon's Sule Pagoda. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Since early last year, The Irrawaddy's photographer Sai Zaw has captured the human condition in the places he visits. He takes pictures of the people he meets as he goes about his work, whether in Rangoon, Inle Lake, Naypyidaw and Arakan State.

In images that go beyond the press photography he has practiced for years, the lensman has managed to record a sense of place and contradiction among his subjects in his street photography.

He relies heavily on background, shadows and lines to make a normally boring subject more

interesting. He might spend hours standing on a bridge after finding a backdrop that he likes, waiting for a subject to enter the frame.

"It's quite difficult to practice street photography as you have to make a boring subject more interesting. It's a challenge for me to get a strong, meaningful image," he said.

But why use black and white for his pictures?

"I just want to show my subjects together with lines, shadows and patterns or backgrounds. Sometimes I make a comparison between my subjects in an image. If the picture is in color, viewers are enchanted by colors and they won't notice what I really want to show," he said.

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Cambodia Tribunal Convicts Khmer Rouge Leaders 

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 10:30 PM PDT

Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea,

Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, "Brother Number Two," is one of two former regime leaders sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday by an UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia. (Photo: Reuters)

PHNOM PENH — Three and a half decades after the genocidal rule of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge ended, a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal on Thursday sentenced two top leaders of the former regime to life in prison on war crimes charges for their roles during the country’s 1970s terror.

The historic verdicts were announced against Khieu Samphan, the regime’s 83-year-old former head of state, and Nuon Chea, its 88-year-old chief ideologue — the only two surviving leaders of the regime left to stand trial.

The tribunal’s chief judge Nil Nonn asked both men to rise for the verdicts but the frail Nuon Chea, wearing dark sunglasses, said he was too weak to stand from his wheelchair and was allowed to remain seated.

Nil Nonn said both men were guilty of "extermination encompassing murder, political persecution, and other inhumane acts comprising forced transfer, enforced disappearances and attacks against human dignity."

There was no visible reaction from either of the accused, both of whom have denied wrongdoing. The rulings can be appealed, but Nil Nonn told the court that "given the gravity of the crimes" both would remain in detention.

The case, covering the forced exodus of millions of people from Cambodia’s towns and cities and a mass killing, is just part of the Cambodian story.

Nearly a quarter of the population — about 1.7 million people — died under rule of the Khmer Rouge through a combination starvation, medical neglect, overwork and execution when the group held power in 1975-79.

Tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen called it "a historic day for both the Cambodian people and the court. The victims have waited 35 years for legal accountability, and now that the tribunal has rendered a judgment, it is a clear milestone."

Many have criticized the slow justice, however, and its cost.

The tribunal, formally known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and comprising of Cambodian and international jurists, began operations in 2006. It has since spent more than $200 million, yet it had convicted only one defendant — prison director Kaing Guek Eav, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2011.

The current trial began in 2011 with four senior Khmer Rouge leaders; only two remain. Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary died in 2013, while his wife, Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, was deemed unfit to stand trial due to dementia in 2012. The group’s top leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.

Khieu Samphan has acknowledged that mass killings took place. But testifying before the court in 2011, he claimed he was just a figurehead who had no real authority. He denied ordering any executions himself, calling the allegations a "fairy tale." Instead, he blamed Pol Pot for its extreme policies.

Nuon Chea, who is known as Brother No. 2 for being Pol Pot’s trusted deputy, had also denied responsibility, testifying in 2011 that Vietnamese forces — not the Khmer Rouge — had killed Cambodians en masse. "I don’t want them to believe the Khmer Rouge are bad people, are criminals," he said of those observing to the trial. "Nothing is true about that."

Because of the advanced age and poor health of the defendants, the case against them was divided into separate smaller trials in an effort to render justice before they die.

Both men now face a second trial that is due to start in September or October, this time on charges of genocide, Olsen said. That trial is expected to take years to complete.

Speaking before the verdict, Suon Mom, a 75-year-old woman whose husband and four children starved to death during the Khmer era, said she is keen to see justice finally served, even if it is generations late.

"My anger remains in my heart," she said. "I still remember the day I left Phnom Penh, walking along the road without having any food or water to drink … Hopefully the court will sentence the two leaders to life in prison."

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Philippine Peace Deal in Jeopardy as Muslim Rebels Cry Foul

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 10:22 PM PDT

Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferer shakes hands with Moro Islamic Liberation Front chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, right, as they exchange peace agreements in Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 25, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferer shakes hands with Moro Islamic Liberation Front chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, right, as they exchange peace agreements in Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 25, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

MANILA — An historic peace settlement in the southern Philippines is at risk of breaking down as Muslim rebels accuse the government of going back on its word over a proposed law to create self-rule for the war-torn region.

The two sides, who signed the deal in March to end nearly five decades of conflict, are holding urgent talks this week to try to iron out the unexpected obstacles to what had been seen as one of President Benigno Aquino's landmark successes.

A breakdown would risk a return to violence and a blow to hopes for an economic revival for resource-rich Mindanao island as potential investors in sectors such as agriculture and mining wait on the sidelines for the peace deal to be implemented.

Large companies such as food processor Del Monte Pacific Limited, which has a pineapple plantation in Mindanao, had said they were considering expanding operations after the deal. But most major foreign companies have held back pending evidence of a lasting settlement.

Under the pact the main rebel group—the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)—agreed to disband its guerrilla force and rebuild communities in exchange for wider powers to control the region's economy and society. A joint government-MILF panel agreed details of the region's powers and relations with the central government this year, submitting a draft law for approval by Congress.

But the hitherto smooth progress has stalled after Aquino's legal team made surprise, sweeping changes to the draft law which the MILF says contravene the earlier agreement and would place unacceptable limits on their autonomy.

"We cannot accept this proposed law as it is," Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF's chief negotiator, told Reuters.

"We will lose face if we agree to this. Their version clearly departed from the letter and spirit of the peace agreement, which was the basis in crafting the proposed law."

Iqbal's comments to Reuters are the first public indication that the agreement is close to collapse.

Iqbal said about 70 percent of the nearly 100-page draft "Bangsamoro" law was either deleted or revised by Aquino's lawyers, who reviewed the document for two months after it was submitted in late April for vetting. A copy of the revised legislation seen by Reuters showed entire sections of articles on territory, resources, and government structure had been deleted or revised.

Aquino's Capital Fades

The peace deal—including provisions on revenue-sharing between the new region and the national government—was the product of more than 17 years of negotiations, brokered by Malaysia since 2001.

Analysts say the law appears to have fallen victim to recent legal and political setbacks suffered by Aquino, whose approval ratings have dropped after his flagship economic stimulus fund was declared illegal by the Supreme Court last month. He faces three impeachment complaints in Congress.

That has made Aquino, whose presidency has two years to run, wary of a new battle with the top court that could arise if the self-rule law contravenes the constitution.

"The president could have easily persuaded Congress to approve the Bangsamoro law if he still enjoyed a high popular rating. But he is facing a serious credibility problem because of his economic stimulus package," said Julkipli Wadi, a professor at the University of the Philippines.

The government's chief negotiator, Miriam Coronel Ferrer, denied the government had reneged on key pledges but said the proposed law had to be in line with the constitution.

"Let's not point fingers at each other," she said. "There were difficulties in the drafting of the law but the president is not afraid to gamble his political capital for this issue."

The revisions by Aquino's team seek to bring crucial elements such as resource sharing and taxation in line with the constitution, making the proposed new autonomous region more dependent on the central government for economic policy and law making. A higher degree of autonomy for the region could require Aquino to push for amendments to the constitution, which he is unwilling to do despite having large enough majorities in Congress.

Aquino has promised the autonomous region would be in place by January 2015. Following that, a referendum on whether to accept the new law will be held in Muslim Mindanao.

"The president should agree to amend the constitution and grant full fiscal autonomy, otherwise the rebels will reject this arrangement," said an independent lawyer who is involved in discussions to resolve the problem.

"The talks are getting harder. I am afraid the rebels will go back to war if this process fails."

Big Investments on Hold

There have been no clashes between the MILF and the army since 2011, but tension remains high in a region that is rife with poverty, guns and extremist Muslim splinter groups that have resisted joining the peace settlement.

"Challenges on the ground are very real," Rommel Banlaoi, director at the Center for Intelligence and National Security Studies, told Reuters, saying some MILF commanders are getting impatient and unhappy with the delay.

More than 120,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced by the conflict in western Mindanao, a Muslim majority area in the mostly Roman Catholic Asian nation.

Renewed violence would wipe out the goodwill and increased business confidence since the March peace deal, said Ishak Mastura, head of the regional board of investments.

About 2.5 billion pesos (US$57 million) in investments were registered in Muslim Mindanao in the first half of 2014, the highest in its history, Mastura said. Investments rose to nearly 1.5 billion pesos in 2013 from 569 million pesos in 2012.

Mindanao's mineral reserves include gold, copper, nickel, iron, chromite and manganese and account for about two-fifths of total reserves in the country. The Sulu Sea and Cotabato Basin, both within the conflict zone, have combined reserves of 411 million barrels of crude oil, equivalent to more than three times the country's annual consumption, and 2.3 billion cubic feet of gas.

"As long as there's no shooting on both sides we're still OK but if fighting resumes that's an entirely new ball game," Mastura said.

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Indonesian Court Begins Hearing Election Dispute

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 10:09 PM PDT

Indonesia's losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto addresses the Constitutional Court in Jakarta August 6, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Indonesia's losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto addresses the Constitutional Court in Jakarta August 6, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

JAKARTA — Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Wednesday began hearing a challenge of the result of the country's July 9 presidential election, in which Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo was declared victor.

Losing candidate Prabowo Subianto filed a complaint with the court last month, alleging that "structural, systematic and massive fraud" by the Election Commission had destroyed his chances of leading Southeast Asia's largest economy.

On July 22, the commission declared Widodo, widely known as Jokowi, the winner with 53 percent of the votes, more than 8 million more than Subianto, a former general under longtime dictator Suharto.

Subianto's representatives walked out before the final tally was completed. The former general did not concede and called on supporters to reject the results, saying they were flawed and violated the principles of democracy.

Lawyer Makdir Ismail told the court Wednesday that millions of votes cast across the archipelago were invalid due to irregularities at more than 55,000 polling stations in eight provinces, including Jakarta, East Java, Papua Barat and all 14 districts in Papua. He alleged that poll officials inflated Widodo's results, voters used improper registration cards and recounts were performed inconsistently.

Subianto's initial court documents showed his camp's own count putting him narrowly ahead with more than 67 million votes, or 50.25 percent, and Widodo with nearly 66.5 million, or 49.74 percent. It questioned the validity of 2.7 million votes.

"We feel very, very hurt by irregular, dishonest and unjust practices that have been shown by the election organizers," Subianto told the court.

Several hundred Subianto supporters gathered outside the court building in central Jakarta, shouting, "Long live Prabowo Subianto! The real president!"

More than 1,500 policemen were deployed to protect the court and its nine judges.

Later, Subianto's supporters rode motorbikes to the Parliament building, waving colorful flags and banners lambasting the election results.

In Surabaya, the country's second-largest city, police used water cannons to disperse more than 500 Subianto supporters, some of whom tried to force their way into the Election Commission's local office. One was hospitalized with head wounds, said Surabaya Police Chief Col. Setija Junianta.

The July 9 race was Indonesia's third direct presidential election after emerging from three decades of dictatorship under Suharto, who was once Subianto's father-in-law.

Indonesia, the world's third-biggest democracy with more than 240 million people, was energized by the campaign. Turnout was around 71 percent in a poll that was polarized by two very different figures.

Subianto, who comes from a wealthy, well-connected family, harkened back to Indonesia's past with nationalistic calls for a stronger country. Widodo rose from poverty to become a furniture exporter before going into local politics and gaining popularity as a "man of the people."

The election, and the current court proceedings, have played out with fury in the social-media crazed nation. There has been a frenzy of "unfriending" on Facebook of users who supported opposing camps.

There were 200 million interactions — likes, shares, posts and comments — about the election leading up to the event in a country with 69 million regular users, said Andy Stone of Facebook's policy communications.

That compares to India, which has 100 million regular Facebook users, where 227 million interactions were seen prior to recent elections there.

The Indonesia court is to hold its next hearing on Friday. Its ruling, which cannot be appealed, is expected Aug. 21.

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Cambodia Moves On, But Still Yearns for ‘Killing Fields’ Justice

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT

Kheang Khun, a Khmer Rouge labor camp survivor, speaks to Reuters during an interview in Phnom Penh July 29, 2014. (Photo: Samrang Pring / Reuters)

Kheang Khun, a Khmer Rouge labor camp survivor, speaks to Reuters during an interview in Phnom Penh July 29, 2014. (Photo: Samrang Pring / Reuters)

PHNOM PENH — Kheang Khun was 21 and training to be doctor when he was forced into a Khmer Rouge labor camp, where he was routinely beaten and forced to watch executions of people accused of theft, or simply of falling in love.

Now a businessman, he recounts memories from 39 years ago with anguish, but has moved on and made a success of his life. With a war crimes tribunal deciding the fate on Thursday of "those most responsible" for the horrors of the infamous killing fields, Cambodia, he says, finally has a chance of closure.

"I hope the court will provide justice to the victims regardless of the verdict," he said.

"I don't bear grudges, I just moved on. I'd like to forgive. I have a peaceful mind, I want to be happy so I have to have an open heart."

Kheang Khun is now a wealthy entrepreneur who saw opportunities in the rebuilding of an impoverished country torn apart by the Khmer Rouge's murderous 1975-1979 reign and battered by the more than a decade of war that followed.

He became an engineer and is deputy director of a state-run institute that grooms students to work in the power industry. He ran a firm that has built roads and installed electricity in city homes and he now owns a company that provides clean water to households.

Among the 200 staff he employs are the children of the camp guards who beat him to within an inch of his life for stealing a bamboo cane that he used to catch fish in order to survive.

"They said people who behaved immorally must be destroyed," said Kheang Khun, who was bestowed the royal title "Oknha" for his contributions to society. "They beat me up for everyone to see. I know them and I even know their children."

Kheang Khun, now 60, is emblematic of an increasingly dynamic Cambodia that is moving on and embracing with gusto the kind of capitalism the Khmer Rouge tried to eradicate during Pol Pot's "year zero" quest for a peasant utopia, which claimed at least 1.8 million lives.

About 70 percent of Cambodians today were born after that era. Though the country remains one of Asia's poorest, it has a swelling urban population that buys smartphones and imported motorcycles, studies at universities and uses a growing network of banks to save money, or seek loans for property ownership, both of which were abolished under the late Pol Pot's rule.

Troubled Tribunal

Cambodia's young population is very aware of its grim history, with almost every family suffering losses, including that of Kheang Khun, whose father, uncle, grandmother and cousins perished.

Most Cambodians still want justice and to see the UN-backed court find the recalcitrant Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right-hand man, and ex-President Khieu Samphan, guilty of crimes against humanity.

The verdict will be only the second by the tribunal since it was set up nine years ago. The court split the complex case into two parts to ensure the elderly and frail Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, the only surviving heavyweights of the largely French-educated regime, receive judgment before they die.

The court has been mired in disputes, resignations, funding shortages and accusations of political interference and has to date delivered just one verdict, a life sentence to Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, who ran the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, a converted school where as many as 14,000 people were tortured and executed.

Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan reject all charges and will remain on trial for genocide long after this week's verdict. There were initially four defendants, but former foreign minister Ieng Sary died in 2012 and his wife and ex-minister Ieng Thirith has Alzheimer's and was ruled unfit for trial.

Anne Heindel, co-author of a new book on the troubled tribunal, said Thursday's verdict would be largely symbolic, but enough to give some semblance of justice.

"There will be only two judgments against three people for the deaths of nearly two million people," Heindel said.

"Based on the reaction to the verdict in the first case, most victims will be satisfied if they receive a life sentence."

With widespread disillusionment over the efficacy of the tribunal making international funding harder to secure, there are doubts as to whether there will be more cases beyond that of Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge soldier himself, has made his disdain for the tribunal clear and with remnants of the regime still in politics—like Parliament president Heng Samrin and Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon—many Cambodians accept that the truth about what motivated the leadership to wipe out a quarter of the population might forever remain a mystery.

"We know the verdict won't please everybody, but the verdict is important," said Youk Chhang, who heads the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has investigated Khmer Rouge rule and has provided evidence for the tribunal.

"We can close the darkest chapter of Cambodia's history. We can close it, and then we can move on."

The post Cambodia Moves On, But Still Yearns for 'Killing Fields' Justice appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Pegu and Mon States Hit by Severe Flooding

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 06:32 AM PDT

The road near Thaton town in Mon State has been severely flooded following several days of downpours. (Photo: Hnin Maung / Facebook)

The road near Thaton town in Mon State has been severely flooded following several days of downpours. (Photo: Hnin Maung / Facebook)

RANGOON — Heavy downpours in recent days have caused severe flooding in Pegu and Mon states, where hundreds of residents have been forced to flee their homes and traffic has been hindered by inundated roads, local residents and officials said on Wednesday.

Karen state, Irrawaddy and Rangoon divisions have reportedly been affected small-scale flooding.

A Department of Hydrology official said the Pegu, Sittaung and Salween rivers had risen above danger levels since Tuesday and warned that levels were likely to remain dangerously high until Friday and could cause further flooding in Pegu, Mon and Karen states.

The Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers have seen no rapid rise in water levels so far, according to officials.

Pegu River levels have risen sharply in recent days and flooding has occurred in Pegu, said Ye Min, a local reporter based in the riverside town, adding that parts of the highway connecting Pegu with Rangoon to south and Naypyidaw to the north were flooded with about two feet of water.

Flood levels had reached so high in Pegu town's Kyun Thar Ya quarter that about 20 houses on stilts had been flooded and dozens more were at immediate risk, he said, adding that some 1,000 residents were forced to leave their homes and take shelter at several local monasteries.

Myo Khaing, a Lower House MP from Pegu Division's Kawa Township, said the Pegu River broke its banks last week, inundating at least half a dozen villages in Pyay, Wat Htee Kan and Kawa townships and causing hundreds of villagers to seek shelter in local monasteries.

"There has been flooding since about a week ago. Water reached till the floors of home and some people went to stay at the monastery," he said. "We haven't heard of any other townships [in Pegu] that are as badly affected as us."

Thiha, a resident of Tanatpin, located southeast of Pegu, said flooding had severely affected the town. "Water has reached our rice mills. The whole Tanatpin town is flooded, including surrounding farms," he said.

"The water has risen with another six inches compared to yesterday. Though not all houses are completely inundated with water, some have been, and people there had to stay in the monastery.

An Irrawaddy photographer in Pegu town said he observed many residents fleeing their homes by boat, adding that the Myanmar Red Cross had arrived in the town to begin aid deliveries to the displaced families.

A Mon State official, who declined to be named, said the northern half of state had been hit by severe floods that had inundated roads, hampering traffic from Mon State to Rangoon and Pegu.

"We have formed committees in every township to help and provide rescue support in emergency cases. Currently, the water is still rising on the highway," he said, adding that five feet of water covered the road between Thaton and Moulmein at mile stones 131 to 139.

Between 30 and 40 cars were trapped in the floods, the official said.

Staff at the offices of Yaun Ni Tun and Talamon bus companies in Rangoon said bus services to Mon State had been disrupted and were temporarily suspended on Tuesday.

Tun Lwin, a well-known independent meteorologist, said in a daily forecast on his Facebook page on Wednesday that heavy rains will continue in many of the already flooded areas, as well as in northern Arakan State, southern Chin State and southwestern Magwe Division.

Two low-lying villages in Hlegu Township, located on the eastern outskirts of Rangoon, have suffered from severe flooding for about two weeks. Several thousand residents in Bar Lar and Ngwe Nant Thar villages have struggled to cope with the waters, which have risen to just below the floors of the wooden houses on stilts.

Kay Wonn Tha, the abbot of the Buddhist monastery in Bar Lar Village, said residents were receiving some food support, but lacked access to clean water.

Local farmer Maung Maung said his rice crop had been destroyed, adding, "There has been 15 days of flooding. Our farm are under water just before we have planted that the rice are destroyed, we have to plant our rice again."

Additional reporting by May Sitt Paing.

The post Pegu and Mon States Hit by Severe Flooding appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

NLD Urges Parliament to Hear Millions of Voices for Charter Change

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 05:51 AM PDT

A woman signs a petition in support of constitutional reform. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy)

A woman signs a petition in support of constitutional reform. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma's main opposition party and the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society on Wednesday urged Parliament to seriously consider the millions of signatories to a petition calling for changes to the constitutional article that gives the military a veto over amendments to the charter.

The signature campaign organized by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party in collaboration with the 88 Generation group, which calls for a change to Article 436 of the Constitution, began on May 27 and ended July 19.

"We have collected nearly five million signatures from 308 townships. But we are still counting signatures from some townships in Shan and Kachin states because they have had transportation and security difficulties in sending them back to us," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy.

In Shan State, signatures from 28 townships remain to be counted out of 54 townships in total. In Kachin State, only signatures from 12 townships have been tallied out of 21 in total. Signatures from one township in Chin State and Mandalay Division also have yet to be counted, according to the NLD.

"When we submit them to the Union Parliament, we expect that the millions of people's desire in signing the petition will be deeply esteemed and also each lawmaker and party will take into consideration a change to Article 436," said prominent activist Ko Ko Gyi of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, at a joint press conference in Rangoon on Wednesday.

The current Constitution was written by Burma's former military regime and guarantees the military a role in national politics, as well as bars NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president. It is also criticized by ethnic minority groups who demand more autonomy from the central government.

Just days after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in 2008, the military government reported that 92 percent of the population had voted in support of the new Constitution in a referendum. That vote was widely seen as a sham.

"[We are] not here to argue over the percentage of the population that supported it [in 2008], but during the campaigning period, it was clearly revealed that there was no explanation to the public about the Constitution—people were not informed about the Constitution," Ko Ko Gyi said.

He said that his group and the NLD had held rallies in cities across the country during the signature campaign in order to explain the Constitution's contents to the public.

"I think that is a huge benefit of the signature campaign. We got the chance to explain about the Constitution's provisions, which were drawn up one-sidedly, and we raised the public's political awareness," he said.

Article 436 states that constitutional reform can only take place with the support of more than 75 percent of lawmakers. This gives effective veto power to the unelected military lawmakers who are guaranteed 25 percent of seats in the legislature.

"Article 436 will change someday, it is only a matter of time, because everyone understands that it should be amended," said NLD spokesperson Nyan Win.

Burma's Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann told reporters during a press conference in Naypyidaw last month that the Parliamentary Constitutional Amendment Implementation Committee would discuss possible reforms in accordance with instructions provided by Parliament and would therefore not consider the results of the NLD's signature campaign.

"They are collecting [signatures for a] petition as they want. [But] this action won't affect the implementing committee formed by Parliament," he said on July 3.

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Shan Minister Orders Halt to Environmentally Damaging Mining

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:05 AM PDT

Farmers say the Namkham stream, which is the main source of water in the Loi Kham hills, has become shallow and poisoned due to gold mining activities. (Photo: Shan Farmers' Network)

Farmers say the Namkham stream, which is the main source of water in the Loi Kham hills, has become shallow and poisoned due to gold mining activities. (Photo: Shan Farmers' Network)

The Shan State Minister of Mining and Forestry Sai Aik Pao on Tuesday ordered gold-mining companies in eastern Shan State's Tachileik Township to halt operations and compensate local farmers, whose land and water sources have been destroyed and polluted by waste from mining.

Maj. Min Htun Aung, an assistant to the minister, said firms mining for gold in an area near Na Hai Long village were informed of the order on Tuesday.

The minister announced the suspension during a meeting with affected villagers, state lawmakers, state administration officials and company representatives, he said, adding that Sai Aik Pao, who also heads the Shan Nationalities Development Party, visited the area on Wednesday.

"The minister is at the Na Hai Long area now to observe how much of the land has been destroyed, and he has instructed the local administrators to tackle the issue seriously," Min Htun Aung said, adding that authorities had been warning the firms to halt operations for several months.

According to local Shan farmers, 10 ten different companies have been carrying out gold mining in the Loi Kham hills since 2007. They said the operations of four companies—Shwe Taung, Sai Titt, Sai Sidepyoyae and Loi Kham Long companies—had affected their farms and villages.

The firms pump water from Namkham stream and blast it at the hill sides during their mining operations, washing down huge amounts of waste and polluted water on to farmland and into streams.

Ethnic Shan villagers from Na Hai Long, Weng Manaw and Ganna villages in Talay sub-township have said that more than 300 acres of farmland can no longer be cultivated as they are covered in mining waste.

Some 90 households had lost much of their income because their farms had been damaged, they said, adding that streams used for drinking water, fishing and irrigation have been polluted.

In July, the farmers, with the help of the Shan Farmers' Network, launched a complaint with Shan State authorities, demanding an end to mining operations, financial compensation from the firms and restoration of their farmlands.

Nang Lar, a Na Hai Long villager who attended Tuesday's meeting, said the minister had listened to the communities' concerns and instructed company representatives to end mining operations and compensate affected farmers.

"The minister told us that the police would take action against them" if mining is not halted, she said, adding, however, that it remains to be seen whether the firms would follow the order as they had repeatedly ignored government warnings to do so in recent months.

"I visited the areas on Monday and I saw they [the companies] were still working in those mines," Nang Lar said.

The Shan Herald Agency for News reported on Wednesday that the mining firms had been ordered to pay about US$670 in compensation to villagers for every acre of completely destroyed farmland. The report said Tachileik Township administration officials would measure how much land each farmer had lost.

Minister Sai Aik Pao could not be reached for comment.

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Burmese American Ex-Dissident Deported by Magwe Authorities

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 02:25 AM PDT

Maung Maung Wang, a former community leader in Yenan Chaung town during the 1988 uprising, was deported on Tuesday for violating his visa conditions. (Photo: Maung Maung Wang / Facebook)

Maung Maung Wang, a former community leader in Yenan Chaung town during the 1988 uprising, was deported on Tuesday for violating his visa conditions. (Photo: Maung Maung Wang / Facebook)

A former Burmese dissident with an American passport said on Tuesday that he was being deported by Magwe Division authorities because he violated his visa conditions by teaching English in Yenan Chaung town.

"[Magwe Immigration Department] told me that with my visa I could not do any education project, and they took me to the airport for deportation," Maung Maung Wang told The Irrawaddy from Rangoon airport shortly before his deportation.

He added that he had been on a social visa, which allows former Burmese citizens to stay in country for one month in order to visit friends or relatives.

Information Minister and government spokesman Ye Htut said in emailed response that Maung Maung Wang was not being deported because of his teaching activities. "I learned from immigration [authorities] about his case, and that his visa expired on Aug 2. This is why the immigration deported him," he wrote.

Maung Maung Wang said he had been treated unfairly as he should be allowed to provide free teaching and to overstay his visa term for a few days. He said he felt he was being harassed because of his past political activities, adding that as soon as he began his English lessons early last month Yenan Chaung Township authorities had warned him to stop.

Maung Maung Wang was a community leader in Magwe Division's Yenan Chaung town during the 1988 uprising, which saw protests erupt in numerous towns and cities across Burma. He fled to the Thai-Burma border following the military's brutal crackdown and lived in a refugee camp, before being accepted for resettlement in the United States in 2008.

"I used to be in politics as an activist during the 88 uprising, but now I feel like I would rather focus on education instead," he said. "It is very sad. I came from America to help our people for education but they did not let me do it," he said. "They used their own laws and repress people like me, who they do not like."

Burma does not allow dual citizenship and many dissidents that fled during decades of repression were forced to seek citizenship in other countries. They are required to obtain visa to return and stay or work in the country.

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Passengers Checked for Fever at Burma’s Airports Amid Ebola Fears

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 01:40 AM PDT

Thermal imaging equipment is seen being used to test for the H1N1 virus in Sydney in 2009. (Photo: Reuters)

Thermal imaging equipment is seen being used to test for the H1N1 virus in Sydney in 2009. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — Passengers arriving at Burma's international airports are being checked for signs they have the deadly Ebola virus, an official said, as authorities around the world attempt to prevent an outbreak of the disease in West Africa from spreading.

Doctors and health administrators were appointed last week to carry out checks, involving infrared thermal scanning, according to Kyaw Kan Kaung, the deputy director of the Center for Infectious Diseases in Burma, which oversees the airport health administration.

Ebola has never been found in Burma, and the Ministry of Health has quashed recent rumors that a boy in Arakan State had contracted the virus.

The virus is most likely to enter the country via the airports, said Kyaw Kan Kaung. Rangoon International Airport is the largest point of access into Burma, with about 20 international airlines flying routes to the city. Checks are also being carried out at Burma's two other international airports, Mandalay and Naypyidaw, he said.

Since last week, other Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have also been screening international travelers for Ebola.

The Ebola virus can be contracted by direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. The early symptoms of the disease are similar to the symptoms of a common cold but as the disease progresses, an infected person can experience internal bleeding.

The virus first emerged in 1976 and occurred primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa. Since the current outbreak began in March 2014, more than 800 people have died from the disease in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Every passenger arriving at any of Burma's three international airports now has to go through an infrared thermal imaging scan, which checks their body temperature. "We mainly test whether each passenger has a fever or not," Kyaw Kan Kaung said.

No traveler suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus has been found yet, he added.

If suspected of being infected, a traveler would be sent to receive appropriate treatment at a designated hospital in Burma. The hospitals include the Rangoon General Hospital, Thingangyun Hospital and the Infectious Diseases Hospital of North Okkalapa in Rangoon. Hospitals in the border cities of Myawaddy and Tamu are also equipped with special prevention methods, according to Kyaw Kan Kaung.

In the past, Burma has taken similar prevention measures against infectious diseases including SARS, H5N1 and H5N9 to prevent them from entering the country.

The preventive screening of travelers is expected to continue as long as the rates of Ebola infection remain high elsewhere in the world. "For now, we are going to carry out these preventive measures nonstop," said Kyaw Kan Kaung.

The New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday that a 6-year-old boy in Arakan State, who was admitted to Sittwe General Hospital on July 24, does not have Ebola, contrary to "[r]umour spread on the internet." The boy has in fact been diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a potentially deadly skin disease, the report cited the Ministry of Health saying.

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A Sculpted Homage to Burmese Hero Win Tin

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 05:30 PM PDT

Jim McNalis' sculpture of the late Win Tin is seen in his US studio. (Photo: Supplied)

Jim McNalis' sculpture of the late Win Tin is seen in his US studio. (Photo: Supplied)

RANGOON — Over the years, Jim McNalis has made sculptures of dissidents and political prisoners in Burma, and circulated photographs and postcards of those works in order to draw attention to his subjects' struggles for freedom and democracy.

In the early 2000s, he created a sculpture of Min Ko Naing, a well-known leader of the 88 Generation former students group. Later, the former art director at the Walt Disney Company was blacklisted by Burma's military regime because of some unflattering caricatures he made of former junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe. But in 2012, the artist was able to travel to Burma to personally deliver a bust of the country's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Now, the US-based sculptor has a new work: Win Tin, the National League for Democracy (NLD) co-founder and former political prisoner, who died in April this year.

"If there was ever a noble human being deserving of the attention of artists, it is U Win Tin," McNalis said.

He said the late Win Tin was a great challenge as a subject because of the depth of his character.

"As I worked on my sculpture I found myself trying to shape the aspects of integrity,

courage, intelligence and persistence exemplified in the behavior of this inspiring man," the artist told The Irrawaddy.

Reaching the age of 84 before his death, Win Tin was a veteran journalist known for his relentless activism against the former military regime.

For McNalis, Win Tin is not only one of the principle heroes of Burma's struggle for democracy but he will always stand as an example to people everywhere.

"He reminds us that we can be better than we are…that we should expect a lot of ourselves and deliver on those expectations," he said.

The post A Sculpted Homage to Burmese Hero Win Tin appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

For Businesses in Myanmar, Be the Change We Want to See

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT

Workers use their mobile phone in a vehicle on their way home in Rangoon on Jan. 18, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

Workers use their mobile phone in a vehicle on their way home in Rangoon on Jan. 18, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

Most of us have heard this old story, but there is no harm in refreshing our collective memories. So here goes:

Many years ago two salesmen were sent by a British shoe manufacturer to Africa to investigate and report back on market potential. The first salesman reported back, "There is no potential here—nobody wears shoes." The second salesman reported back, "There is massive potential here—nobody wears shoes!"

One wonders, and even shudders to imagine—in today's times of downsizing—the outcome if the businessman had sent only the first salesman. Fortunately, businesses today have good market researchers to analyze situations and submit reports that can help them make better decisions.

Coming back to the story—it is so simple and yet so effective in illustrating the difference in positive and negative thinking. But, as a market researcher I would use the same story to illustrate how every seemingly challenging fact has a potentially attractive opportunity hidden beneath.

And Myanmar is one such market where some opportunity lurks behind every challenge. For instance, the following data on how Myanmar people live throw up some interesting points for discussion.

According to data gathered, monitored and updated regularly by Nielsen-MMRD, only 73 percent of metro households mention electricity as their main fuel type! Even in urban areas, 41 percent of households mention charcoal as their main fuel type, while 70 percent of households in rural Myanmar use firewood as their main fuel.

For someone coming from another country it is impossible to imagine life in a small town—let alone a metro—without access to electricity. How do we watch our sports and soaps on television? How do we study at night? How do we charge our mobile phones? The last one is probably of specific interest to the latest entrants to the Myanmar telecom market, including those who are waiting at the gates.

And it is completely up to them on how they react to this tiny piece of data. Will they focus on those homes that have electricity? In other words, will they target low-hanging fruit? Or will they, like the second salesman in the story, identify an opportunity that is not evident at first glance?

What if, either of or both, these companies install free mobile phone charging kiosks across the country? These kiosks, like the ones we so often find in airports, could be powered by a 12-volt battery and have fixed chargers of the most common mobile phone brands. Of course, for areas that are sparsely populated one could even think of a mobile kiosk.

The new telecom service providers could even explore the option of a PPP (public-private partnership) wherein such kiosks are provided, owned and installed by the government at every bus stop and operated and managed by the private players.

A lot of companies that foray into emerging and underdeveloped markets would consider this to be a risky expenditure, a waste of money. But then, not a lot of companies can claim to be great companies. Can they? Moreover, with a mad rush among companies to portray themselves as responsible organizations, there is huge pressure to launch CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives—many of which are irrelevant, non-sustainable, poorly planned and ill-managed. In this context, the concept of a free-charging kiosk could well emerge to be just what the doctor ordered for all stakeholders.

To conclude, while a good company strives to be the favorite of every customer, a great company strives to make every customer feel that they are the company's favorite. And it is in this endeavor that great companies become the change they want to see rather than wait for the change to happen. Time will tell which company is aiming for greatness in Myanmar.

Krishna Jambur is an associate director at Nielsen-MMRD, a leading information and insights company in Myanmar.

The post For Businesses in Myanmar, Be the Change We Want to See appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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