| Bagan on Course for World Heritage Listing: Unesco Expert Posted: 13 Oct 2014 05:28 AM PDT  Unesco Country Representative Timothy Curtis (third from left) and Culture Minister Aye Myint Kyu (fourth from left) join international experts during a photo session at Bagan Museum on Sunday. (Photo: Paul Vrieze / The Irrawaddy) BAGAN, Mandalay Division — The temple complex of Bagan in central Burma will become a Unesco World Heritage Site within the next few years, a Unesco expert said on Sunday, adding that Culture Ministry officials and international experts had taken the first steps toward drawing up a World Heritage nomination and a protection plan for Bagan. "I think everyone has agreed to move ahead with the process," said Kai Weise, a World Heritage expert working on the nomination, when asked whether Bagan would become a World Heritage Site. "This is an opportunity to find solutions, and Bagan is of outstanding universal value. So it's a question of going through a process. As a site you can say it should be on the World Heritage List," he said. Weise was a lead speaker during a three-day consultation meeting held at Bagan Museum over the weekend, where Minister of Culture Aye Myint Kyu, Unesco representatives and about two dozen international experts discussed how they could formulate a nomination that justifies Bagan's inclusion on the list because of its "outstanding universal value" for humanity. Completing a nomination generally takes between two and three years, while the World Heritage Committee can take up to 18 months to process a nomination, according to Unesco representatives. Bagan's listing would mobilize international funding and support for protection, management and research at the site. It would also boost tourist visitor numbers and bring socio-economic benefits to local communities, who are to be consulted on a management plan for Bagan, Unesco said. In 1996, Burma's then-military regime had tried to enlist the ancient site as a Unesco heritage site, but the bid by the regime, which was in the midst of a severe political crackdown at the time, fell flat due to a lack of international support. In June this year, Unesco accepted the first inscription of a Burmese heritage site, the Pyu Ancient Cities in Prome, on the World Heritage List. Aye Myint Kyu said Bagan's World Heritage listing would raise Burma's international prestige and strengthen its tourism sector, adding that it would be welcomed by the public. "We have the inscription of the Pyu Cities and after that the people began to ask whether we would enlist other monuments. So these inscription processes are important issues and contribute to the relationship between the government and the people," he said. The Bagan area covers about 26 square km (16 miles) and was constructed from the 9th to the 11th century, a period when some 55 Buddhist kings ruled the Bagan Dynasty. There are more than 3,000 temples in the area; 120 temples have stucco paintings and 460 have mural paintings that are in urgent need of protective measures. During the meeting, experts proposed boundaries for a preliminary World Heritage protection zone for the monuments. Weise said the proposed zone roughly overlaps with the current protection zone defined by the Archeological Department, with the exception that Unesco also recommends that an ancient stupa on a mountain top on the other side of the Irrawaddy River be included. Weise said a Bagan protection plan should not only focus on preserving the monuments, but also the landscape, agricultural settings and intangible heritage, such as local cultural traditions of worshipping and holding festivals at the temples. The rapid expansion of urban areas in the villages of New Bagan and Nyaung Oo, which fall outside of the protection zone, and the development of hotels, guesthouses and other tourism infrastructure should be temporarily halted, the Unesco expert said. "We're actually proposing a six-month moratorium on [urban] development, and that we set up a [zoning] plan for these critical areas in the next six months," said Weise. Burma has experienced a rapid increase in overseas tourist visitors in recent years and most foreign tourists visit Bagan. Apart from a rapid growth in tourism, the temples are also at risk from flooding, which happens every few years. Small earthquakes rock the region regularly, while a large earthquake in 1975 caused severe damage and led to the collapse of hundreds of temples. Controversial Restorations, Junta-Era Evictions In 1992, the then-military regime ordered a detailed survey and the start of restoration works on the historic temples, often with the help of local citizens eager to gain Buddhist merit. In many cases methods were used that have been criticized by international experts, who said little attention was paid to historical accuracy and that damage was caused to some of the structures' historical value. Hundreds of smaller temples were reportedly also raised anew from the ruins using new construction materials, and many of the temple structures seen by tourists today are no more than one or two decades old. In 2005, a Unesco expert criticized the restoration works in The New York Times saying, "A Disney-style fantasy version of one of the world’s great religious and historical sites is being created by that government. They use the wrong materials to build wrongly shaped structures on top of magnificent ancient stupas.” The Irrawaddy understands that much of the closed-door discussions during the first two days of the Unesco consultation meeting focused on how these controversial restoration works could be justified in the nomination of Bagan for a World Heritage listing. A solution was found in arguing that the practice of renovating pagodas is part of Burma's Buddhist tradition of merit-making, and that the extensive regime-era restoration works simply fit within this tradition. Asked about the discussions, Weise, the World Heritage expert, said, "The various conservation activities [for merit-making]… have always taken place, but the most recent one is always the one that people focus on." He added, "It's no use looking into the past constantly, because then you get stuck there. So now we say: 'OK, where do we stand today, in what direction can we move and what aspects need to be controlled?'" During the early 1990s, the military regime also decided to forcibly relocate a village that had developed since the 1970s within the walls of Old Bagan. Hundreds of residents were forced to relocate to a barren site some 7 km away, called New Bagan, which is outside of the Archeological Zone. However, well-connected businessmen were allowed to develop four large hotels—Tharabar, Nan Myint, Bagan and Than De hotels—inside Old Bagan. Bagan Museum was also built inside the protected zone in 1996, while the 18-hole Bagan Golf Resort and a 60-meter high glass and concrete viewing tower were built in the heart of the archeological zone. Unesco experts and government officials made scant mention of these buildings and the forced relocation during the public part of the consultation meeting on Sunday. Several local activists, however, raised the issue and said small local businesses in New Bagan were suffering from restrictions being imposed by local authorities for the supposed protection of Bagan, while large hotels continued to operate and expand without any restraints. "When the Bagan people get a little money, they want to be allowed to invest that money in New Bagan… that place is outside of the zone, therefore we [residents] believe we should be allowed to build small hotels and a small guesthouses to support ourselves," said Ye Myint, one of a small group of local activists called the Bagan Lovers' Association. "We want equal rules and regulations. I want to build a small hotel near my house, but I'm not rich, I'm not a crony that's why I can't do it yet." "They kicked our people out from the Bagan City walls, but after that they allowed the Tharabar, Nan Myint, Bagan and Than De hotels to be built there," said Ye Myint, a former Bagan tourist guide. "I think that if they want to get World Heritage List [for Bagan], these bigger hotels have to also be slowly removed from Archeological Zone." The post Bagan on Course for World Heritage Listing: Unesco Expert appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Press Council to Meet Burma’s Commander-in-Chief Posted: 13 Oct 2014 05:00 AM PDT  President Thein Sein poses for a photo with members of Burma's Interim Press Council following a meeting on Aug. 1. (Photo: Facebook / Mm.presscouncil) RANGOON — Burma's Interim Press Council will meet with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday, when the former is expected to press the commander-in-chief on improving journalists' access to military officials, as well as highlight what many members of the media say is a shrinking space for freedom of expression in Burma. Min Aung Hlaing agreed to the meeting some three months after the Press Council requested to meet with him, as well seeking an audience with President Thein Sein, the country's top magistrate and the parliamentary chairman. Zaw Thet Htwe, a member of the Press Council, said the media delegation would urge the commander-in-chief to facilitate a more cooperative relationship between the military and journalists. "Everyone who is reporting has been facing this [limited access to military representatives]," Zaw Thet Htwe said. "If there is a battle, [we] get statements from ethnic armed forces but do not get statements from the army. Even if there is a quote, we can only write that it's from an anonymous officer. We would like to reform this situation. "We want to confirm from an official army website or a contact person and then write the stories. Then, it will be safer for us [journalists]. We would also see a more transparent army." The six-member Press Council delegation will also discuss the jail terms of five journalists from the Unity weekly journal, who were originally sentenced to 10 years in prison for alleging that the government was running a chemical weapons factory in Magwe Division. The government has maintained that the facility is a conventional ordnance factory. The journalists, charged under Burma's State Secrets Act, saw their sentences reduced to seven years on Oct. 2. "We will also discuss how both sides can negotiate and what principles to set so that journalists don't face danger when covering similar dangerous contexts involving the army," said Zaw Thet Htwe. In addition to the Unity case, other journalists have been imprisoned in recent months, and two publications are currently being sued for defamation by Burma's Ministry of Information. The Press Council held a closed-door meeting with members of the media and delegations from the executive, judiciary and legislative branches in Naypyidaw on Oct. 4 and 5, with journalists securing an agreement for all government ministries to hold a monthly press conference individually or jointly. The media representatives also requested that ministries more regularly release press statements and allow members of the media to cover court trials. Press Council members have met with President Thein Sein twice, once in July and again on Aug. 1. Also in August, a statement from the press body said that it had reached an agreement to meet with Information Minister Ye Htut once a month. The post Press Council to Meet Burma's Commander-in-Chief appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| 53 Migrants Detained After Thai Trafficking Bust Posted: 13 Oct 2014 04:54 AM PDT  Detained trafficking victims sleep on the floor of a detention center in Thailand's Phang Nga province. (Photo: Htoo Chit) RANGOON — Scores of refugees are in detention after being rescued by Thailand's anti-human trafficking police from a rubber plantation just north of Phuket in Thailand's Phang Nga province. The 53 men were found by police in an early morning raid on Saturday. Two male Thai nationals have been arrested on charges of human trafficking. Many of the victims were Rohingya Muslims who lived in refugee camps in Bangladesh after fleeing communal violence and other forms of persecution in western Burma's Arakan State. Some of the victims, however, said that they were from Bangladesh. The group was reportedly intercepted by human traffickers after setting off by boat to seek jobs in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Htoo Chit, executive director of Thailand-based migrant rights group Foundation for Education and Development, met the trafficking victims in a Phang Nga detention center. "When I went to meet them," said Htoo Chit, "some of them showed me their cards from UNHCR [the United Nations refugee agency], which prove that they are from Myanmar [Burma]. They moved to the Bangladesh border because they could stay there as refugees, as they had many difficulties [in Burma]." The men were taken into police custody at around 4 am on Saturday morning, he said, adding that another group of about 30 refugees were also discovered and detained on the same day. Thirty-seven people—including an unknown number of women—were detained earlier this month in a similar operation. Most of the victims will remain in police custody until they can be repatriated, said Htoo Chit, but those who have identified themselves as Rohingya may face longer detention as they are not citizens of either Burma or Bangladesh. Victims said that they had initially left Bangladesh on a small boat, after being promised jobs in Malaysia by an employment broker. The risky voyage across the Andaman Sea is common this time of year, as the monsoon season winds die down and waters are less volatile. The journey can be deadly nonetheless; many migrants and refugees die en route as the small, poorly equipped boats frequently capsize or run out of supplies. Those that complete the journey run other risks, such as being intercepted by human traffickers. Some of the victims detained on Saturday told Htoo Chit that they were transferred from their small boat to a bigger one, which idled in the sea waiting for the refugees to arrive. "They told me that it took them 19 days to get from Bangladesh to Thailand. They had to stop several times along the way. They spent five days on a small Thai Island, and then they went to the plantation where they were supposed to be taken by car to Malaysia," he said. While the dangerous voyage has become increasingly common over the past two years—after communal violence tore apart communities, claimed hundreds of lives and displaced more than 100,000 people—Saturday's incident had some alarming distinctions. At least one victim said that he was neither an asylum seeker nor an economic refugee. A man wishing to be referred to simply as Mohamed told Htoo Chit that his hands were bound and he was forced to get on the boat, indicating that some of the victims may have been kidnapped. Other media reports have cited similar accounts. Agence France-Presse cited an anonymous Thai official saying that, "Some of them were knocked out with anesthetic and taken to the boat, some were tricked … but they did not intend to come to Thailand." Htoo Chit described the victims, who still face an indeterminate detention in the crowded Thai facility, as malnourished and weak. "All of them look very tired, like their bodies have not had enough food," he said. "They were lying on the floor when we got there." More than 140,000 people, mostly stateless Rohingya Muslims, were displaced by several rounds of communal riots that began in Arakan State in June 2012. Most are still living in crowded displacement camps where they are systematically denied access to basic health care, education and other resources. Chronically dire conditions for displaced persons have led many to flee again; some seek asylum in Bangladesh, while many others head south to seek refuge in Malaysia. The United Nations estimated in June 2014 that more than 86,000 people had attempted the perilous route across the Andaman Sea since June 2012. Newer UN data claims that more than 20,000 have made the trip since the start of 2014 alone. The post 53 Migrants Detained After Thai Trafficking Bust appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Four Civilians Killed in Myawaddy Shelling Posted: 13 Oct 2014 02:55 AM PDT  An injured man is treated at a hospital in Kawkareik, Karen State, on Saturday. (Photo: Dawna Aungtoe) Four civilians were killed and several others injured as fighting continued over the weekend in Karen State, southeastern Burma, where several hundred people also fled their homes amid the conflict. On Saturday, an artillery shell landed on the road that links the town of Myawaddy and Kawkareik village at about 11 am, killing four people and injuring several others at a small eatery where a group of travelers had stopped for lunch. Maj. Saw Zorro, a liaison officer from the Karen National Union (KNU) in Myawaddy, said it was unclear who was responsible for the deadly incident. "One shell landed in the village [Kawkareik] and hit travelers. But we don't know who fired it. Four died and at least five got injured. Those who got injured have been hospitalized at the local hospital in Kawkareik," said Saw Zorro, whose KNU is the largest Karen armed group in Burma. Other media put the number of injured as high as 10. Three people, including a boy, were killed on the spot, while a fourth victim succumbed to his injuries in hospital, according to Saw Zorro. Meanwhile, separate fighting also continued on Saturday in the Mae Tha Waw region of neighboring Hlaingbwe Township, with the Burma Army trading fire with the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), forcing hundreds to flee their homes. The fighting broke out on Friday, and continued into the weekend. More than 200 people in Mae Tha Waw, a border village across from Thailand's Tha Song Yan District, crossed the Moei River and into Thailand seeking safety. The Thai army provided food and temporary shelter to the villagers, but sent them back across the border on Saturday despite the on-and-off nature of the conflict. "They [DKBA and the government army] fired artillery at each other's bases. The villagers were afraid of it, so they fled to the Thai side on Saturday and were sent back in the evening," said Saw Zorro. Fighting between the DKBA and government troops has been taking place intermittently since late September in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, and farther south in Mon State's Kyaikmayaw Township. One DKBA and one KNU soldier have been killed in separate standoffs with the Burma Army and government-aligned militants around the town of Myawaddy. Despite bilateral ceasefire agreements having been signed between the government and almost all of Burma's ethnic armed groups since 2011, tensions between rebel armies and government forces in areas of Karen and Mon states have been rising since September. Recent fighting has also been reported in Shan and Kachin states, in Burma's east and north, respectively. The post Four Civilians Killed in Myawaddy Shelling appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| First KFC Restaurant to Open in Burma Next Year Posted: 13 Oct 2014 02:31 AM PDT  People walk past a KFC store in downtown Shanghai, China. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — American multinational Yum! Brands Inc. and Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd of Burmese businessman Serge Pun will work together in opening up the first Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant in Burma next year, the firms announced on Sunday. "The announcement of the first KFC coming to Myanmar reflects our ongoing strategy of global expansion in emerging markets," Micky Pant, CEO of KFC, said in a press release. "We're excited to work with such a well-respected franchisee to bring the great taste of KFC to Myanmar, an important emerging Asian economy with a population of 50 million people." "Chicken is a staple protein in Myanmar and our people recognize the KFC brand and Colonel Sanders' secret Original Recipe of 11 herbs and spices," Pun, Yoma's executive chairman said. "[W]e are proud to be KFC's franchise partner to help fulfill its growth ambitions in Myanmar. Bringing KFC to Myanmar is an important step to achieving Yoma Strategic's goal of being a key player in the country's food and beverage sector," he said in a release. Several international restaurant chains that sell fried chicken have opened up in Burma recently, with South Korea's Lotteria and Malaysia's Mary Brown starting establishments in Rangoon last year. Yi Mon Oo, a regular customer of Lotteria Fried Chicken, said she and her friends would like to compare the flavors of KFC with the other fried chicken restaurants. "When Mary Brown opened up, there were a lot of people coming to the restaurant. After Lotteria opened, many people moved there. So if KFC is here, we will decide which one has the best taste," she said. Yum! Brands is a American firm that owns a number of global fast-food restaurant chains, such as KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. KFC has more than 18,000 restaurants in 118 countries, with US $23 billion in global sales. Pun said Yoma's partnership with Yum! Brands marked an important move towards tapping to Burma's consumer class, which he said was expected to grow from 2.5 million today to 19 million in 2030. Pun is one of Burma's most prominent businessmen and has built up a vast business conglomerate since the early 1990s. His firms, which include Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings and Serge Pun & Associates, cover real estate, banking, agriculture, the consumer market, automotive and luxury tourism business. Unlike many of other Burmese tycoons, Pun's firms have not been included on the United States Treasury's blacklist, making him a favored local partner for overseas investors. The Treasury bans US firms from doing business with blacklisted firms because of their close ties to the former military regime. The post First KFC Restaurant to Open in Burma Next Year appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Rangoon to Host Burma’s Premier LGBT Film Fest Posted: 13 Oct 2014 02:26 AM PDT  The &Proud LGBT Film Festival will be held at the French Institute in Rangoon from Nov. 14-16. (Image: &Proud) RANGOON — Burma's first ever film festival devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues will take place in Rangoon next month. The "&Proud LGBT Film Festival" will be held Nov. 14-16 at the French Institute in Rangoon's Sanchaung Township, featuring about 30 films, discussions with filmmakers and a related art exhibition. Program details are still pending, but all screenings will be free of charge. The event organizers, which include Colors Rainbow, YG Event, Equality Myanmar and several other gender-oriented organizations, said that the main purpose of the event is to increase awareness and tolerance of sexual identity issues through more public exposure. "We hope that festival will help the public to change their views about the LGBT community, or at least give them ideas that those views can be changed," said Hla Myat Tun of Colors Rainbow, speaking to The Irrawaddy last week. One of the difficulties for Burma's LGBT community, he said, is negative representation in popular culture. Alternative gender and sexual identities are often portrayed insensitively in movies, magazines and other popular media, worsening public perceptions of an already alienated group. "We want to make a point that members of the LGBT community should be proud, and we wish to correct wrong messages that are being spread throughout the community by popular media," he added. While the full program of events is not yet locked in, organizers told The Irrawaddy that they have selected a diverse line-up of films, mostly produced in Asean countries including Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand. At least five of the showcased films are from Burma. A program of three short films made by 10 young members of Burma's LGBT community will also premier at the festival, showcasing work made during an intensive training course held in the lead-up to the event. Hla Myat Tun expects that the festival will not be embraced by everyone, but that now is as good a time as any to begin bringing gender identity into public discourse. "Some people will say that this is a bad idea, but it's better than not saying anything about LGBT rights," he said. While gender equality movements have been on the rise in Burma since political reforms initiated in 2011 ushered in unprecedented freedoms of expression, the LGBT community still suffers discrimination. Even at the level of the family unit, Hla Myat Tun said, those with unconventional gender- or sexual orientation are often made fun of, ostracized or otherwise tormented. This discrimination often extends into classrooms, social circles and workplaces. "In the past, we couldn't talk about LGBT issues. Since 2012, however, political reforms have made us more confident and able to speak out for the LGBT community," said Hla Myat Tun. While mainstream society is slowly becoming more tolerant, much of the population remains unexposed and apprehensive about the gay and transgendered community. Making matters more difficult, Burma's penal code outlaws same-sex relations and sodomy, carrying fines and even possible prison sentences of up to 10 years. In recent years, there have been several instances of authorities singling out members of the LGBT community and subjecting them to humiliation and sometimes arbitrary detention. Burma hosted its first ever public celebration of LGBT identity as part of a global initiative—International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia—in May 2012. The post Rangoon to Host Burma's Premier LGBT Film Fest appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| In Burma’s Parliament, What’s on Your Head Matters Posted: 13 Oct 2014 04:11 AM PDT  Members of Burma's Parliament wear the traditional clothes of some of the country's ethnic groups as they pose for a picture during the opening of a joint parliamentary session on July 4, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) NAYPYIDAW — The only question opposition lawmaker Win Htein asked Parliament last session was for permission to remove his silk turban, saying it was causing him headaches and hair loss. The 72-year-old, known for his irreverent sense of humor, admits he was just teasing. But the speaker shot him down just the same. The civilians elected to Burma's legislature are required to wear hats when taking the floor. The appointed military members are not. Hats hold meaning here, embodying political allegiances, accomplishments and failures of a nation transitioning from a half-century of dictatorship to democracy. The dress code in Parliament's two chambers, based on old laws of the bygone king's courts in Mandalay, reflects the major political camps and the legislature's ethnic makeup. Military members distinguish themselves from their civilian counterparts with a conspicuous absence of both headwear and elections. Men in uniform are appointed to a quarter of the 664 seats by armed forces chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. The Burman majority don a silk-wrapped, cane-frame turban known as a gaun baung, which has come to symbolize the nascent civilian government. Ethnic minorities wear everything from feathers and claws to tea towels on their heads. The most famous legislator, Aung San Suu Kyi, wears simple white flowers. Like the hats, political allegiances in Parliament are as complicated as they are colorful. Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition and Nobel Peace laureate, spent decades under house arrest. She now sits alongside her former captors, in turns scolding or praising the military. It concerns some members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, who quietly observe her tone shifting with her presidential prospects, which were never bright thanks to a law that was designed to keep her out of office. Meanwhile, the military is even better represented than the 166 hatless heads would suggest. Many of those wearing the gaun baung of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) are retired men of uniform. But while the heavy influence of the armed forces has drawn cynicism, the party has not always voted in lockstep with the military. The military, viewed abroad as being responsible for driving the country into decades of poverty, war, and dysfunction, sees itself as the glue that binds the country and, perhaps counterintuitively, the arbiters of peace in the world's longest running civil war involving a number of armed ethnic groups. The posting to Naypyidaw's Parliament is seen as unglamorous, as it's not well-paid and offers no chances for promotion. The most brightly colored headgear belongs to ethnic politicians from conflict-stricken states. Previously marginalized, they now find themselves with a little bargaining power and are seeking greater autonomy. President Thein Sein, a retired general, has promised a ceasefire ahead of the 2015 election. Ethnic armed groups have proven tough negotiators despite clashes between them and government forces, which have continued throughout the stalling peace talks. Win Htein typifies Parliament's web of paradoxes. A close friend of Suu Kyi and a member of her party, he, too, was a soldier, under socialist dictator Gen. Ne Win. Win Htein was erroneously accused of being an accomplice in an assassination plot against Ne Win and forced to retire in 1976. In 1988, when a student uprising shook the government before a military crackdown that left thousands dead, Win Htein joined Suu Kyi's party and was soon imprisoned. His transition is not dissimilar to Thein Sein's, from military uniform to gaun baung. The jovial politician says he tries to avoid meetings with the top leadership, explaining that their relationship is complicated enough. "I was senior to them when I was in the army," he says with a mischievous smile, referring to the president and other major players in government. "They call me ako gyi [big brother] when we meet." If history had gone only slightly differently, Win Htein might himself be a powerful general. Or at least in Parliament, he would not have to wear his dreaded hat. The post In Burma's Parliament, What's on Your Head Matters appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| As Nuclear Waste Piles Up, South Korea Faces Storage Crisis Posted: 12 Oct 2014 11:39 PM PDT  The Shin Kori No. 3 reactor of state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp is seen in Ulsan, about 410 km southeast of Seoul, on Sept. 3, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Lee Jae-won) SEOUL — Among the usual commercials for beer, noodles and cars on South Korean TV, one item stands in marked contrast. A short film by a government advisory body carries a stark message: The nation faces a crisis over storing its spent nuclear fuel after running reactors for decades. The world's fifth-largest user of nuclear power has around 70 percent, or nearly 9,000 tons, of its used fuel stacked in temporary storage pools originally intended to hold it for five or six years, with some sites due to fill by the end of 2016. It plans to cram those sites with more fuel than they were originally intended to hold while it looks for a permanent solution, suggesting little has been learned from the Fukushima disaster in neighboring Japan. In the Fukushima crisis in 2011, the storage of large amounts of spent nuclear fuel in elevated pools posed a threat of massive radioactive release on top of meltdowns at three reactors. Spent fuel rods heated up after a quake knocked out water-cooling pumps, underlining the dangers of holding troves of radioactive material in relatively exposed cooling ponds. "We cannot keep stacking waste while dragging our feet," said Park Ji-young, director of the science and technology unit at respected think tank the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. "If we fail to reach a conclusion [on how to manage spent fuel], it would be time to debate if we should stop nuclear power generation." With South Koreans still spooked by Fukushima and a scandal at home over fake safety certificates for nuclear equipment, the commission has its work cut out to come up with more than a temporary fix to the storage crunch in a report due by year-end. Buying Time The 23 nuclear reactors in Asia's fourth-biggest economy add a total of 750 tons of spent fuel every year to the 13,300 tons that filled 71 percent of its wet and dry storage capacity as of last year, according to reactor operator Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd, owned by state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. That means storage could fill by 2021, with some pools in danger of reaching capacity by the end of 2016. Seoul hopes to win time by stacking spent fuel more densely in those concrete-covered pools next to reactor buildings, and by moving waste to pools at 11 new power plants that are set to be built by 2024. But experts warn that leaving spent fuel in water could be fraught with danger, even in a country that is not anywhere near as seismically active as Japan. They note that the buildings that house pools are typically not as strong as those that hold reactors, which have steel vessels inside concrete domes. "Spent fuel in a concrete building next to reactor buildings is vulnerable to missile or other attacks from the outside," said one expert, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. He said that stacking fuel more densely would compound any risk as it would reduce air circulation. "Air circulation helps lower chances of spent fuel meltdown if water drains or water-cooling pumps are broken when hit by natural disaster or terror attack." Out of Favor A permanent solution remains elusive, with experts dismissing as unrealistic hopes that Seoul will be able to revise a 40-year-old nuclear agreement with Washington so it can reprocess spent fuel. US and South Korean government officials declined to comment on the issue. Reprocessing is a costly and technologically challenging solution that has fallen out of favor in Britain, France and elsewhere. It is also diplomatically thorny given concerns about nuclear proliferation, especially on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea is trying to develop nuclear weapons. A medium-term, safer solution could be to store spent fuel in metal and concrete-covered dry casks, which could hold it for up to 100 years. Building casks for the country's existing spent fuel would cost up to US$2.6 billion, according to Reuters calculations based on industry figures. But persuading people to live next to such facilities would be a huge task in an Indiana-sized country with a population of 50 million, with many already bitter about the presence of reactors. "As a resident, we are concerned as we live near such dangerous materials," said a woman who runs a sushi restaurant 10 km (6 miles) from the country's oldest nuclear reactor near the southeast coast. She did not give her name. "It is hard to know the situation at the reactor as we usually learn of any developments via media reports." Underlining the difficulty authorities face winning over the public is the case of a new site to store low- and medium-level radioactive waste such as contaminated clothing and tools. The facility, in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, is yet to open after years of delay as opponents questioned its safety. In Samcheok, another southeastern city, 85 percent of nearly 29,000 participants in a non-binding ballot last Thursday voted against plans to launch a new reactor, emphasizing anti-nuclear sentiment in the country. Longer-Term Solution So-called pyroprocessing could offer some relief further down the line, with the United States and South Korea working together to develop the technology to produce nuclear energy without separating plutonium, meaning any waste would be burnt away in special reactors. But that remains a distant prospect. The two nations plan to finish a technological feasibility study by 2020, with commercialization in 2040, said officials at South Korea's science ministry. "With more nuclear power plants down the road, the government should have plans for spent fuel management by now," said Lee Heon-seok, a representative of activist group Energy Justice Actions. "We have no place and technology to dispose of spent nuclear fuel, while residents are asking that it be taken out." A spokesman for Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power said it had not been given policy guidelines for spent fuel management in a country that gets a third of its power from nuclear. The energy ministry declined to comment. In the ad running three times a day on TV, Public Engagement Commission Chairman Hong Doo-seung strikes a calm and engaging tone as he urges public consensus on working toward a solution to the storage crunch. "We can no longer delay. We should prepare measures for spent nuclear fuel," he warns. The post As Nuclear Waste Piles Up, South Korea Faces Storage Crisis appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Beijing to Tap Water From Thousands of Kilometers Away Posted: 12 Oct 2014 10:23 PM PDT  The Jianwai SOHO residential and commercial complex in Beijing. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — The water coming out of Beijing taps later this month may have travelled more than 1,400 kilometers, transported along a series of canals and pipelines that form part of the world’s biggest water transfer project. The $62 billion undertaking – dreamed up by former Communist Party leader Mao Zedong in the 1950s – is designed to supply China’s parched and pollution-ridden north, home to more than 300 million people and countless water-intensive businesses. For global companies that rely on Chinese factories and farms to supply clothing, food, electronics and a host of other products, it’s crucial that China gets this right. Some provinces in Northern China have less freshwater per person than the desert countries of the Middle East. Of the country’s total, water-intensive industries such as clothing and electronics manufacturing consume a quarter – a share the think-tank 2030 Water Resources Group expects to grow to a third by 2030. "There is no doubt that cities [in] the rapidly growing powerhouses of regional economies would be seriously compromised without additional water supplies," said Simon Spooner, a China water expert with consultancy Atkins Global. The government could keep water flowing into industry by taking it away from agriculture, with crippling consequences for the latter. By transporting water from the south, the government can avoid having to make such a choice, Spooner said. Reuters is hosting a global summit on climate change this week, interviewing executives across a variety of industries about changes they are making now to cope with effects such as dwindling resources and extreme weather. Securing adequate water is among the biggest issues. Parts of Northeast China endured the worst drought in more than 60 years this summer, damaging crops and forcing factories to close down operations several days a week. The economic cost in one province amounted to 7.3 billion yuan ($1.19 billion), state-run Xinhua news agency cited local authorities as saying. Changing Ways The first stage of China’s south-to-north transfer brought water to the industry-heavy northeast, but it was barely useable when it reached Tianjin because it picked up pollutants and sediments while flowing north through polluted soil. That has raised concerns about the latest phase – a decade in the making – bringing water to Beijing and surrounding regions via a different, less polluted route. Some experts have also voiced concern that the project’s extensive tapping of water from the Yangtze River and its tributaries may damage one of China’s most important water ways. At the same time there are fears that sending so much water north will harm the development of the regions from which the water is drawn. Concerns have even been voiced at the high levels of the central government. In February, Qiu Baoxing, the vice minister of housing and urban-rural development, said the water diversion project was unsustainable and that Beijing would be better off relying on desalination technology and saving rain water. Some critics have said the project is yet another example of China trying to engineer its way out of a problem that could be largely solved through better policies, such as a tiered pricing system for water and better monitoring. "The water that will be transferred is about the same as the water deficit, so it will offset some of the problems," Richard Hardiman, a water expert with the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme, told Reuters. "But the fundamental conclusion is that better management is needed." The post Beijing to Tap Water From Thousands of Kilometers Away appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Cyclone Hudhud Blasts India’s East Coast, at Least 5 Dead Posted: 12 Oct 2014 10:17 PM PDT  VISAKHAPATNAM, India — Cyclone Hudhud blasted India's eastern seaboard on Sunday with gusts of up to 195 km per hour (over 120 mph), uprooting trees, damaging buildings and killing at least five people despite a major evacuation effort.
The port city of Visakhapatnam, home to two million people and a major naval base, was hammered as the cyclone made landfall, unleashing the huge destructive force it had sucked up from the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal. Wreckage was strewn across Visakhapatnam, known to locals as Vizag. Most people heeded warnings to take refuge, but five were killed by falling trees and masonry, and thousands of homes were damaged, emergency officials said. The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, the state that bore the brunt of Hudhud's onslaught, said the extent of damage would only become known after the storm abates. "We are unable to ascertain the situation. Seventy percent of communication has totally collapsed … this is the biggest calamity," N. Chandrababa Naidu told Headlines Today television. "We are asking people not to come out of their houses," Naidu said, adding that damage assessment would start on Monday. "We are mobilizing men and material immediately." Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Naidu and promised "all possible assistance in relief and rescue operations", his central government said in a statement. The low toll reported so far followed an operation to evacuate more than 150,000 people to minimize the risk to life from Hudhud—similar in size and power to cyclone Phailin that struck the area exactly a year ago. After a lull as the eye of the storm passed over the city, winds regained their potency. Forecasters warned Hudhud would blow strongly for several hours more, before wind speeds halve in the evening. "Reverse windflow will be experienced by the city, which will again have a very great damage potential," L.S. Rathore, director-general of the state India Meteorological Department (IMD), told reporters in New Delhi. The IMD forecast a storm surge of one to two meters (three to six feet) above high tide that could result in flooding of low-lying coastal areas around Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam. Terrifying Wind A Reuters reporter in Visakhapatnam said the storm had smashed his hotel's windows and flooded the ground floor. It was difficult even to open the door of his room, he said, as wind rushing through the corridors drove it shut again. "I never imagined that a cyclone could be so dangerous and devastating," said one businessman who was staying in the hotel. "The noise it is making would terrify anyone." An operations centre in state capital Hyderabad was inundated with calls from people seeking help, including 350 students stranded in their hostel without food or water, said K. Hymavathi, a top disaster management official. Visakhapatnam port suspended operations on Saturday night, with its head saying that 17 ships which had been in the harbor were moving offshore where they would be less at risk from high seas. The city airport was closed and train services suspended. The IMD rated Hudhud as a very severe cyclonic storm that could pack gusts of 195 kph and dump more than 24.5 cm (10 inches) of rain. The cyclone was strong enough to have a "high humanitarian impact" on nearly 11 million people, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS), run by the United Nations and the European Commission, said. The evacuation effort was comparable to one preceding Cyclone Phailin, credited with minimizing fatalities to 53. When a huge storm hit the same area 15 years ago, 10,000 people died. Hudhud was likely to batter a 200-300 km stretch of coastline before losing force as it moves inland, forecasters said. According to the IMD, peak wind speeds will drop to 60 kph by Monday afternoon. Hudhud is expected to continue to dump heavy rains in northern and northeastern India and, eventually, snow when it reaches the Himalayan mountains. The post Cyclone Hudhud Blasts India's East Coast, at Least 5 Dead appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Hong Kong’s Leader Warns Protesters as Tent City Sprouts Up Posted: 12 Oct 2014 09:40 PM PDT  A pro-democracy protester rests in front of students studying on makeshift desks blocking a main road leading to the Central financial district in Hong Kong October 12, 2014. (Photo: Bobby Yip/Reuters) HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s embattled leader Leung Chun-ying vowed on Sunday to stay in office, warning students demanding his resignation that their pro-democracy movement was out of control. Leung said the blockade of key parts of the Asian financial hub—now entering its third week—could not continue indefinitely. Speaking in an interview with the local TVB television station, Leung said his government would continue to try to talk with student leaders but did not rule out the use of "minimum force" to clear the area. The last few weeks had "proved that a mass movement is something easy to start, but difficult to stop," he said. "And no-one can direct the direction and pace of this movement. It is now a movement that has lost control." Leung also warned that there was "zero chance" that China’s leaders in Beijing would change an August decision limiting democracy in Hong Kong. The former British colony was promised that its freedoms would be protected under a "one country/two systems" formula, when Britain handed its old colony back to China 17 years ago. Beijing has said that only candidates screened by a nomination committee will be able to contest a full city-wide vote to choose the next chief executive in 2017. The official People’s Daily in Beijing described the so-called Occupy Central movement as "unrest" in a front-page editorial published on Saturday—language some analysts said reflected the growing unease among China’s leaders. Leung’s comments came as the protest center outside government head offices in Admiralty took on the feel of a festival campsite in a canyon of skyscrapers. "In here, it is like a piece of green land," said Maggie Cheung, a 27-year-old kindergarten teacher, who added that she would leave to start work tomorrow. "People are caring and we are sharing the same goal – we fight for a better future. It is like utopia here." Some 200 tents now line Gloucester and Harcourt roads on what had been one of Hong Kong’s busiest thoroughfares leading to the glittering Central financial district. Hundreds of protesters, young and old, slept overnight in what some protesters described as the most peaceful, relaxed night yet. Some strummed guitars between speeches, others played cards or read. Some students studied in a makeshift classroom, complete with desks and power sockets set up on the highway. Walls and overpasses have been festooned with thousands of notes, signs and banners, some depicting Leung as a mafia chief and others warning "Taiwan beware" of accepting a one country/two systems formula in any reunification deal with Beijing. Many family groups visited the site on Sunday, taking advantage of balmy autumn conditions. Not everyone was happy with the carnival atmosphere. Construction workers and a drivers’ union challenged the students to end their protests, and warning them to dismantle the barricades as it was affecting their work. "Democracy is very important but people’s livelihoods are also very important," said Chan Tak-keung, one of a group of angry taxi drivers who shouted at the students in Admiralty. Leung Under Pressure Protests escalated late last month after police used tear gas and batons on demonstrations and key streets in Central, Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Kowloon remain blocked. Numbers dropped significantly last week, rising again on Friday night as 10,000 people turned out to hear protest leaders urge the public to prepare for a protracted struggle. Despite the festival atmosphere in Admiralty, the situation remains tense on the streets of the gritty district of Mong Kok, with scuffles reported between police and protesters overnight. Though talks with student leaders were called off last week, Leung said on Sunday that the government had to take account of the students’ demands, while adding that both their demands and actions had to be lawful. "If we need to clear the area, I believe that police will use their professional training…using minimal force. We don’t want to see our people and our students get hurt," he told TVB. Leung is also under pressure over lawmakers’ calls for anti-corruption investigations into a US$6.4 million business payout. The deal involved a payment to Leung from listed Australian engineering firm UGL after it bought an insolvent firm, DTZ Holdings, that Leung represented in Asia. While it was struck in 2011 before he took office, it involved on-going obligations and payments. "It doesn’t (involve) any conflict of interest," Leung said on Sunday, saying the deal did not violate any legal or ethical issues. The two students’ groups and the democratic activist movement behind the protests formally rejected Leung’s statements, demanding "full accountability" for the use of tear gas and for failing to fully reflect to Beijing Hong Kong’s desire for democracy, and described him as "beset by scandal". The three groups said in a statement: "We cannot allow one person, Leung Chun-ying, to destroy the Hong Kong core values we so cherish!" Additional reporting by Clare Jim, Clare Baldwin, Elzio Barreto, Diana Chan and Twinnie Siu. The post Hong Kong’s Leader Warns Protesters as Tent City Sprouts Up appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| The Muslims of Myanmar Posted: 12 Oct 2014 05:00 PM PDT  U Bo and S.A. Ginwalla, leaders of the Burma Interfaith Relief Committee, which delivered supplies to poor neighborhoods in Yangon after the uprising in 1988. (Photo: Gaye Paterson) Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri could not have done a greater disservice to the Muslims of Myanmar when, in early September, he claimed that he was going to "raise the flag of jihad," or holy war, across South Asia. That would, he said, include actions in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and in the Indian states of Assam, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir. Not surprisingly, the London-based Burmese Muslim Association issued a statement shortly afterward, saying that "the Muslims in Burma will never accept any help from a terrorist organization, which is in principle a disgrace and morally repugnant." Mr. Zawahiri, a 63-year-old former Egyptian eye surgeon, is known for issuing long-winded video clips, but the al-Qaeda he now leads has lost most of its muscle since its founder and former leader Osama bin Laden was killed inside his residence in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by a squad of US naval special warfare troops on May 2, 2011. Since then, al-Qaeda has become more or less irrelevant, and statements such as Mr. Zawahiri's should be seen as a desperate attempt by the group to show that it is still alive and kicking—especially in view of the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS). Or, as the BBC reported on Sept. 4, the once-feared terrorist group has withered while ISIS "has grown into everything al-Qaeda tried—and failed—to be." It is highly unlikely that Mr. Zawahiri, who is also most probably holed up in a safe house in Pakistan, would be able to carry out his threats. The only proven link between al-Qaeda and Muslims in Myanmar goes back to the early 1990s, when the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) had a camp in Ukhia between Cox's Bazar and Teknaf in southeastern Bangladesh. At that time, Afghan militants visited the camp and RSO did arrange for some Muslim refugees from Rakhine State to be sent to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban. Tellingly, among the more than 60 videotapes that the American cable television network CNN obtained from al-Qaeda's archives in Afghanistan in August 2002, one marked "Burma" showed Muslim "allies" undergoing weapons training. But the RSO has never had any camps inside Myanmar, only across the border in Bangladesh. That was where the tape was shot—and among the purported RSO fighters were militants from the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the fundamentalist Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. The activities at the now closed Ukhia camp had more to do with Bangladeshi politics than any ethnic or religious conflict in Myanmar. In more recent years, a Muslim firebrand calling himself Abdul Kuddus al-Burmi and claiming to be from Myanmar issued video clips with himself speaking in the Myanmar language, followed by footage of armed Muslim fighters on parade. But he is based in a madrassa in Karachi, Pakistan, and the footage was either shot in Ukhia in the early 1990s or in a camp run by Indonesian militants from Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid on Gunung Biru, or the Blue Mountain, in Poso on the island of Sulawesi—thousands of kilometers away from Myanmar, or Bangladesh for that matter. Apart from such anomalies, Myanmar's Muslims have never been of the rebellious kind in a religious sense. According to Moshe Yegar, an Israeli academic and former diplomat, Muslim seamen from the Arab world first reached Myanmar in the 9th century. Some became traders while others served as horsemen for Myanmar kings, among them Anawratha. Most of them were men, so they usually married local women and became integrated into society. In the 19th century, King Mindon made sure his Muslim soldiers were served halal food and many helped clear the land for buildings in the new capital, Mandalay. Mindon also appointed a Muslim called Kabul Maulavi to be a judge in charge of Muslim affairs. Apart from being soldiers, many Muslims were traders and shopkeepers. During the British time, many Muslims emigrated from British India, but they also took part in the independence movement. The most prominent was M.A. Raschid, a close friend of Gen. Aung San's. Mr. Raschid was born in Allahabad in India but grew up and was educated in Myanmar. In 1936 he became the first secretary general of the Rangoon University Students' Union and later its president. During the parliamentary era, 1948-1962, U Raschid, as he was then known, served in several ministries under Prime Minister U Nu. Like other state leaders, he was interned for some time after the 1962 coup. And two Muslims were among the martyrs who were assassinated along with Gen. Aung San on July 19, 1947: U Abdul Razak, a native of Meikhtila and a cabinet minister, and his young body guard Ko Htwe. U Kha, another prominent member of Yangon's Muslim community, served as minister of education in the 1950s. And who would forget Maung Thaw Ka, the former naval officer turned popular writer and poet, who was one of the original founders of the National League for Democracy? He was arrested in July 1989, beaten and tortured and died in Insein Jail on June 11, 1991. He is buried in Yangon's Sunni cemetery beside his brother, U Ba Zaw, or U Gholan Marmed, a Myanmar army captain. During the darkest weeks after the massacres in August and September 1988, people of different religious persuasions got together and formed the Burma Interfaith Relief Committee. In a unique show of inter-religious harmony, they delivered supplies to Yangon's poor neighborhoods in a battered, World War Two-era truck with a banner displaying symbols of their respective faiths: the Buddhist dhammachakka wheel, the Christian cross, the Muslim crescent and star, and the Hindu om symbol. Although it was never registered as such, the group could be seen as one of modern Myanmar's first community-based NGOs. Among the leaders were S.A. Ginwalla, a Muslim, and U Bo, the head of the well-established Young Men's Buddhist Association. According to Chris Lamb, Australia's ambassador to Myanmar at the time: "They did not come from particular designations within their faiths, but rather everyone wanted to make sure that the IFRC had the capacity to reach the most vulnerable irrespective of their religion or other status." Piety, not fanaticism, was the guiding principle of those NGO pioneers. On the more humorous side, everyone in Myanmar loves U Shwe Yoe, the jolly dancer with his broken umbrella and ill-fitting longyi who for almost a century has been a major figure in any pwe (traditional dance troupe performance). The character was invented in 1923 by Ba Galay, a prominent Myanmar actor, comedian, dancer and cartoonist. Ba Galay was a Myanmar Muslim, born in Pathein, and his other name was Mohammed Bashir. And is there anyone who would seriously suggest that U Shwe Yoe was or is a jihadist and a proponent of shariah law? Zawahiri may be fooling himself, but nobody else, when he issues silly videos like the one recorded from his hideout in Pakistan in early September. There is no fertile ground for that kind of gobbledygook in Myanmar. This story first appeared in the October 2014 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post The Muslims of Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
