| Karen Rebel Groups Plan Military Cooperation Posted: 14 Oct 2014 08:47 AM PDT  Karen National Liberation Army soldiers stationed at an outpost near the Thai-Burmese border. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) The commanders of units of different Karen rebel groups in southeastern Burma announced on Tuesday that they will begin military cooperation in order to deal with an increase in Burma Army operations in their areas in recent months. Gen. Saw Lah Pwe, the head of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and Gen. Baw Kyaw Heh, deputy commander-in-chief of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), who has support of KNLA brigades 2 and 5, agreed to work together. They are joined by two smaller rebel groups, the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO) of Col. Nerdah Mya and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council of Col. Tiger. The KNLA is the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), the largest and oldest Karen ethnic armed group, and has a total of seven brigades. The commanders said in a joint statement that they signed an agreement to begin military cooperation under the name of the Kawthoolei Armed Force. "In accordance with the wishes of the Karen people, we, the forces of KNLA, KNDO, DKBA, KNU/KNLA Peace Council, have unanimously reunified as the Kawthoolei Armed Forces," the statement read. Kawthoolei is the Karen name for the independent state that the Karen people have been aspiring to and fighting for since the 1940s. The DKBA has about 1,500 fighters and KNLA brigades 2 and 5 can field an estimated 3,000 fighters. The KNDO and KNU/KNLA Peace Council are smaller groups with several hundred soldiers each. Under the agreement, the armed groups will keep their current uniforms, insignias and flags, but they promised to cooperate and help each other in operations against the Burma Army. The groups said their agreement had been prompted by a rise in hostile operations by the Burma Army in Karen areas of Karen and Mon states in recent months. They said these actions, as well as expanding government operations against rebels in Kachin and Shan states in northern Burma, were a reason to question the government's commitment to the nationwide ceasefire process. "Though the peace process has been going on for over three years, instead of achieving the expected progress, we can plainly see that the Burma Army has been carrying out activities that undermine [mutual] trust," the statement said. "Increasing military activities by the Burmese government army like these have caused much concern with us for the nationwide ceasefire negotiations and the peace process. For that reason, and in order to be able to protect the long-suffering people, we have to reunify the Karen national armed resistance forces," the groups said. The groups said they will work together with an alliance of other ethnic armed groups to negotiate with the government for the establishment of a democratic federal union of Burma, in which ethnic minorities have the right to full self-determination. The new agreement marks a significant step towards unifying some of the Karen rebel groups, who have splintered into different groups during the past decades of rebellion. The DKBA split from the KNLA in 1994 after members of the Buddhist Karen community fell out with the predominantly Christian KNU leadership. The DKBA fought alongside the Burma Army from 1994 until 2009. The KNU/KNLA Peace Council split from the KNLA to become a pro-government Border Guard Force in 2007, until a recent outburst of fighting near Myawaddy also affected Col. Tiger and his men. KNU vice-chairperson Zipporah Sein told The Irrawaddy that the agreement was an important step towards uniting the Karen groups, adding that this had been demanded by the Karen community for many years. "The aim [of the agreement] is to reunify and work together to protect the rights of Karen people. And it is a good sign and it is necessary. They [Karen communities] also have been demanding that we [armed groups] are not divided in groups and should reunify," she said. "Based on our agreement at the [KNU] congress, we agreed that we will try to reunify the Karen armed groups. So, [the groups] now agreed to cooperate under one name." KNDO commander Col. Nerdah Mya said, "As our Karen armed forces are divided into groups, we are trying to find ways to reunify them. None of them want to give up their insignias, none of them agreed to totally join another group. "So, [military cooperation] is an idea that they all agreed to. They agreed to come under one umbrella group, the Kawthoolei Armed Forces." Despite the signs of Karen unity, however, it's understood that not all within KNU leadership are happy with the new agreement, which was only signed by Gen. Baw Kyaw Heh, whose brigades 2 and 5 are known as "hardliners" in their stance towards the government. Tensions have been steadily rising in southeastern Burma for several weeks until fighting erupted between government forces and the DKBA and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council in Myawaddy, a border town in Karen State, and in Mon State early this month. The KNLA was not involved in the fighting. The violence broke out despite the fact that all Karen groups have signed bilateral ceasefires with the government. President Thein Sein's reformist government has signed bilateral ceasefires with 15 armed groups from Burma's ethnic regions in recent years. Since last year, ethnic groups and the government have held six rounds of talks to achieve a nationwide ceasefire accord, but this has proven elusive. The newly formed alliance of the Karen rebel groups could pose a further complication for the nationwide ceasefire process. The post Karen Rebel Groups Plan Military Cooperation appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Look Beyond Burmese ‘Scapegoats’ in Thai Murder Case: Rights Group Posted: 14 Oct 2014 05:58 AM PDT  Htoo Chit of the Foundation for Education and Development speaks to reporters in Rangoon on Tuesday, while the parents of the two Burmese migrants accused of murder in Thailand listen from the corner. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Two Burmese migrant workers should not be the primary suspects in an increasingly high-profile double murder case in Thailand, a migrant rights group says, as a pre-trial hearing got underway on Tuesday. Htoo Chit, executive director of the Foundation for Education and Development (FED), said his group had interviewed the two suspects, three witnesses that prosecutors will use, and Thai and Burmese citizens living on the island of Koh Tao, where the murders took place. The Thailand-based NGO made a fact-finding mission from Oct. 4 to 9, during which they bore witness to injuries on some Burmese migrants who were interrogated that were indicative of torture, as has previously been alleged. "According to our own findings from the ground, these kids [the suspects] are not the main persons involved in the murder cases. We believe they are being used unjustly as scapegoats," Htoo Chit said at a press conference on Tuesday in Rangoon. "We will protect them under the law." The parents of the two suspects, Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin, arrived in Rangoon this week from Arakan State, and will have the opportunity to meet their sons in Thailand at the arrangement of the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok and FED. Britons Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were murdered on Koh Tao in Thailand's Surat Thani province on Sept. 15. In the weeks since, Thai authorities have faced criticism for their handling of the case, and Htoo Chit is not the first to use the word "scapegoats" in reference to the two Burmese defendants. Htoo Chit said bringing the parents to Thailand might be helpful for the case as the suspects might be more willing to reveal any important information that they have not yet divulged. The Bangkok Post reported on Monday that three witnesses to be used by Thai prosecutors didn't witness much, and were not likely to provide incriminating testimony. One of the witnesses, Maung Maung, told Htoo Chit that his friends, the accused, did not commit the crime. The other two witnesses, Aung Zaw Lin and Ni Ni Aung, gave pre-trial testimony before a judge on Tuesday. When asked how lawyers for the migrants were preparing to defend them, Htoo Chit said they would request an 800-page report that has been compiled by Thai investigators. "After studying that report, we will find witnesses [to support the defendants]." The parents of both suspects say their sons are not "delinquent types" and were earning wages as migrant workers to help feed their families back in Burma. The father of Win Zaw Htun said he did not believe his son was capable of committing the crime. "It's not possible," Htun Htun Htike, the father of Win Zaw Htun, told the press on Tuesday. "He is just this short. The British citizens were so tall. We know just by sight that it's not possible to kill these two people. My son is well-behaved, respects his elders." The post Look Beyond Burmese 'Scapegoats' in Thai Murder Case: Rights Group appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Rangoon Tax Department Completes Annual Property Valuation Posted: 14 Oct 2014 05:20 AM PDT  A bank and office buildings are seen in downtown Rangoon. Companies are struggling to find affordable office space in Burma's biggest city, with property in short supply and rental prices high. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Rangoon Division's Internal Revenue Department has completed its annual evaluation of real estate prices as part of its new property sales tax system, a department official said on Tuesday. Myo Min Zaw, the department's assistant director, said the department had brought its estimation of the value of properties in Rangoon in line with market prices. "From this year onward, we're going to set the property values annually following market prices. If market prices go down, our estimates will go down too," he said. The Revenue Department's survey found that land prices remain high in Burma's biggest city, which has been experiencing a property boom following the introduction of reforms by President Thein Sein in recent years. Myo Min Zaw said the highest land prices were found in Bahan Township, an area known locally as the Golden Valley where many wealthy Burmese own homes, with land on sale for about US$400 per square foot. Similar prices levels were found on prime locations in downtown townships of Kyauktata, Botataung, Pazundaung, Pabedan, Latha, Lanmadaw, as well as in Dagon and Mayangon townships. In October 2013, the government introduced an improved property valuation method in order to estimate the value of sales on Rangoon's booming property market and tighten tax controls. The government also reformed and lowered its property sales tax in order to encourage more buyers and sellers to register transactions. Previously, many buyers and sellers agreed not to register the change of property ownership in order to avoid taxes. In April this year, the government set a 3 percent tax rate for buyers of property valued at less than 50 million kyats (about US$51,000), 10 percent for properties under 150 million kyats and a 30 percent tax rate for real estate worth more than 300 million kyats (about $306,000). Sellers of property pay a flat 10 percent tax rate. Myo Min Zaw said the new valuation that is used to levy tax on property sales was helping to increase tax revenues as the process had become more transparent. "Tax payers can easily know how much they have to pay after buying a home. Before there were no exact rates on how much tax they had to pay, so we hope this is progress," Myo Min Zaw said. He added, however, that authorities did not expect that the new property tax methods would put significant downward pressure on land prices. Zaw Zaw, a manager at Unity real estate agency, said Rangoon land prices had plateaued in recent months and that the number of property transactions was falling, in particular for residential properties. "There were only few deals in Rangoon's commercial areas in these months, only for business purposes. For residential areas, most luxury property deals are in very low demand," he said, adding that a number of deals had also taken place in low-value areas on Rangoon's outskirts, such as in North Okkalapa and North Dagon townships. Zaw Zaw did not expect, however, that property prices would begin to fall any time soon. The high property prices present a major problem for prospective local house buyers, with lower and middle class families struggling to buy a house or apartment. Su Ka Byar, managing director of SECCA Products Myanmar Co Ltd, said she had been searching in vain for a modern apartment that she could afford with her salary, which she described as "good." "I tried to buy a condo with my budget in Yankin Township but I would have to pay 4 million kyats [about $4,000] per month for a 100 million kyat condo [$100,000], so how can I buy it?" she said. "Middle class families, with less than a 1 million kyats [$1,000] salary, could not even buy low-cost housing in Rangoon, because they will have to pay at least 300,000 to 400,000 kyat [$300-$400] per month to buy an apartment," she said. "We need better a government policy than the current one, so that people can afford to own an apartment," Su Ka Byar said. The post Rangoon Tax Department Completes Annual Property Valuation appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Minority Language Classes Get Boost With Burma Govt Stipend Posted: 14 Oct 2014 04:48 AM PDT  Mon children study their mother tongue at a school in Panga village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State. (Photo: Facebook / Nai Wona Mang) RANGOON — The Union government will provide a stipend for schoolteachers who teach ethnic minority languages in Burma, according to ethnic leaders, in what they say would be a major win for ethnic minorities' cultures and rights. Ethnic leaders told The Irrawaddy that the Ministry of Education had asked them to put forward lists of schoolteachers who teach ethnic languages at state schools, with the government in Naypyidaw to pay the instructors 30,000 kyats (US$30) monthly. If true, it would be the first time the Union government has offered to compensate teachers for dedicating a portion of their instruction to ethnic language study. In Mon State, a pioneering curriculum that included Mon language instruction has been taught since July, making schools in the state the first to teach an ethnic minority language in a government school in more than 50 years. An ethnic Mon parliamentarian told The Irrawaddy that he had been told the monthly stipend would be paid retroactively from July. "We asked for 40,000 [kyats], but they agreed to provide 30,000 for one person," said Aung Naing Oo, a lawmaker from Moulmein. "We got our right to let our children study their mother tongue. We need to say thanks to the government. But we want to say to our Mon people, we have not achieved our political goals yet. It is just the beginning, just a little progress," he said. In Mon State, literature is highly valued, and Buddhist teachings are taught from a young age from Mon-language texts. "It is important for our Mon children to be able to read their language," said Aung Naing Oo. "Our children will understand the value of their literature when they can read in their mother language." Kachin Literature and Culture (KLC) told The Irrawaddy that the organization had also been informed that government schools in Kachin State would receive money from Naypyidaw for instructors who teach the Kachin language in schools. Currently, there is not an ethnic Kachin language component to government schools' curricula in Kachin State. Lum Nyoi, who is the joint secretary from KLC, said her group is helping to prepare government schools to teach the Kachin language. "They [the Union government] told us to teach [the Kachin language] at schools. We have ongoing talks about the amount of teaching time," she said. Sai Maung Tin, a Union-level parliamentarian, said that ethnic Shan schools would also be allowed to incorporate the minority group's language into the curriculum. "Our schoolteachers may be provided money in the coming year's budget," he said. "We provide our own money to our schoolteachers at the moment." The Shan language is not currently taught during the school year, and children are most often given linguistic instruction over the summer months when class is not in session. Asked about the importance of preserving the Shan language and literature, Sai Maung Tin said the matter was existential. "Without Shan literature, the Shan people would disappear. Shan people will exist as long as their literature survives." Under the democratically elected U Nu government of the 1950s, all schools in Burma's ethnic areas were permitted to teach ethnic languages, but the military regimes that ruled the country from 1962 enforced monolingual education in all state schools. As a result, most ethnic groups in the country, as in other parts of the country, only schools run by ethnic rebel administrations have taught local languages. Amid political reforms initiated after President Thein Sein came to power in 2011, ethnic lawmakers have made requests for mother-tongue teaching to be reinstated. Since 2012, teaching ethnic languages has been permitted, but only outside of school hours, and without any state funding. The post Minority Language Classes Get Boost With Burma Govt Stipend appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Controversial Hat Gyi Dam Blamed for Karen Conflict Posted: 14 Oct 2014 03:04 AM PDT  Soldiers from the Thai army prepare to send refugees who fled fighting in Karen State back across the border to their homes on Oct. 11. (Photo: Facebook / Karen Share) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Ongoing fighting in southeastern Burma between the government and Karen rebels is linked to a planned hydropower dam nearby on the Salween River, according to an environmental watchdog. Salween Watch, a Karen organization monitoring developments on the river, released a statement on Monday saying that the recent escalation of clashes between the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and the government was linked to plans by the latter to "wipe out" DKBA troops near the site of the planned Hat Gyi dam. As fighting continued over the weekend in Karen State's Myawaddy and Hlaingbwe townships, four civilians were killed and several others injured when an artillery shell hit the road that links the town of Myawaddy and Kawkareik village. Paul Sein Twa, a spokesman for Salween Watch, told The Irrawaddy that the planned hydropower project was behind the violence. "They [the Burma Army] need to push the DKBA troops out of the areas near the dam site in order to start the [construction] work. They also need to clear KNLA [Karen National Liberation Army] Brigade 5. They need to build roads [to carry construction materials] and stations for security," he said. "They can only start the project when they complete these requirements. So, we understand that the dam project is behind the incidents." Paul Sein Twa added that other development projects such as the Asia Highway—a super highway that will link Thailand's Mae Sot with Burma's commercial capital Rangoon—as well as special economic zones in Myawaddy and Hpa-an, the Karen State capital, are also helping to fuel the recent hostilities. "In the bigger picture, there are business interests and development plans behind the conflicts," Paul Sein Twa said. Clashes between the government and the DKBA began late last month in Myawaddy and Kyaikmayaw Township in Mon State. The conflict has since spread to Karen State's Hlaingbwe Township, where the Hat Gyi hydropower dam is to be built. The area is controlled by a mix of ethnic Karen armed groups such as the DKBA and KNLA, as well as the Burmese government army and its militias, known as Border Guard Forces. Companies including Thailand's Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand (EGAT) have deals to help with the construction of the dam, which will produce up to 1,300 megawatts of electricity, much of it going to Thailand. The US$2.6 billion project is being planned by China's Sinohydro Corporation and EGAT, which signed a deal for the project with Burma's Ministry of Electric Power in 2006. The Thai and Burmese governments have been trying to build the dam since then, but construction has not yet begun amid opposition from Karen armed groups such as the KNLA and the DKBA. Opponents of the dam fear the project is a recipe for human rights abuses and negative environmental impacts. Citing sources from the DKBA and the KNLA's political wing, the Karen National Union (KNU), Salween Watch said the Burma Army had sent nine truckloads of troops to the area since Oct. 8. "We were told that the Burma Army has been sending more troops to the site of the dam by both trucks and boats. They fired artillery to where the DKBA was stationed to clear out the area," said Paul Sein Twa. The DKBA and government troops reportedly fired on each other's bases on Friday and Saturday, forcing more than 200 villagers in nearby Mae Tha Waw village, Karen State, to flee into Thailand. The Thai military later pushed the displaced villagers back into Burma. The Hat Gyi dam is one of five hydropower projects proposed on the Salween River, which passes through Burma's conflict-riven Karen, Karenni and Shan states. Dam projects on the Salween are opposed by many local communities, which are urging that the projects only be reconsidered when there is genuine peace in Burma, according to the Salween Watch statement. Paul Sein Twa said Burma's ethnic conflict would continue to have transnational repercussions. "The escalation of conflict and militarization is not only a domestic problem. … As conflicts have broken out, refugees have fled across the border. There is no safety for civilians. I even worry that the conflict will be expanded and affect the current peace process," he said. "Salween Watch condemns this recent escalation of conflict by the Burma Army, which is further evidence that building dams in war zones only exacerbates conflict and militarization," read the group's statement. "Especially during this time of nationwide ceasefire negotiations in Burma, we demand that the Burmese government immediately ends this military offensive and pulls back its troops from the area." The post Controversial Hat Gyi Dam Blamed for Karen Conflict appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Civil Society Makes Demands in Lead-up to Resource Transparency Conference Posted: 14 Oct 2014 02:58 AM PDT  Civil society stakeholders met in Rangoon from Oct. 11-13 to discuss implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Civil society representatives urged corporate and government stakeholders to take additional measures in preparation for implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a resource revenue reporting protocol. Burma became a candidate for EITI membership in July 2014, and must now meet the initiative's seven requirements in order to become fully compliant. The most fundamental requirement is a fully functioning tripartite "multi-stakeholder group" (MSG) comprising civil society, corporate and government representatives who share decision-making power about how the country will report on and regulate the extractive industries. Burma's civil society stakeholder group—led by a diverse, nine-member board of activists, academics and other figures—convened in Rangoon from Oct. 11-13 before a major EITI conference to be held in Naypyidaw this week. The civil society meetings concluded on Monday evening with a list of demands that the Burmese government must address before implementing the protocol and enjoying the benefits that come with it, such as legitimacy in the global marketplace. A group of civil society stakeholders collectively known as the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) issued a six-point ultimatum to their counterparts, claiming that Burma's civil society does not yet have enough protections and therefore cannot participate freely in implementation of the protocol. "A good comprehensive EITI report with public consensus can come out only when there is space for the people to participate freely," read a statement issued by the group on Monday. MATA said that they plan to raise their concerns in Naypyidaw as the EITI board meets for the first time in Burma. The biggest concern, they said, was a lack of protections for civil society at the regional level. MATA demanded that the government take immediate steps to establish regional awareness programs and stakeholder dialogue. Some representatives claimed that individuals who carry out resource-related activities on the ground—such as workshops about free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and resource policy—often face harassment and restrictions on movement and assembly. These threats, some said, have come from local authorities and even employees of some corporate stakeholders. MATA representatives said that most cases of harassment occurred in Mandalay Division and Shan State, and almost all of the reports were related to activities geared towards raising awareness about commercial mining. Win Myo Thu, a member of Burma's EITI civil society steering committee and director of an organization called EcoDev, said that harassment is on the rise as the population becomes more informed about natural resources. "There are many mining activities in these areas [Mandalay Division and Shan State] and there are many civil society groups that are becoming more aware about what the EITI means, so there are more cases [of harassment] as people become more active on these issues," he told The Irrawaddy. MATA suggested that the best way to solve this problem is to focus on implementation at the regional level, demanding that the government commit resources to strengthening and properly training local multi-stakeholder groups to liaise about specific projects and issues on the ground in affected areas. While the main representatives on each stakeholder group have a nuanced grasp on transparency norms and international best practices, local stakeholders aren't necessarily as aware of their rights and responsibilities. "Because of restrictions on EITI awareness, regional authorities and companies don't know exactly how to implement the EITI," said Tun Myint Aung, also a member of the steering committee as well as the activist group 88 Generation Peace and Open Society. "If the government can organize tripartite representation in every region, each place can deal with its problems better and move forward on creating a successful work-plan," he said. Becoming EITI compliant is a crucial reform for Burma, which has long had a reputation for shady and corrupt business deals, particularly with regard to extractive projects in ethnic areas. The EITI standard, which was last revised earlier this year, requires full and free civilian participation in overseeing revenues generated by extraction of resources like gas, oil and minerals. Some countries opt to include forest and fisheries in their reporting requirements. Members produce an annual revenue report that enables citizens to see how much money their government is making from extractive projects. EITI is a Norway-based initiative established in 2002. It is a voluntary protocol that has been endorsed by the G-8 and currently has 29 fully compliant members. An additional 17 countries, including Burma and the United States, now have candidate status. The post Civil Society Makes Demands in Lead-up to Resource Transparency Conference appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Ministry Sells Property of Closed Factory, Promises Pay for Workers Posted: 14 Oct 2014 02:29 AM PDT  Workers seen in front of Master Sports Factory in this file photo. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Ministry of Labor said it has auctioned off the property of closed down South Korean factory Master Sports in Rangoon and that it plans to use the money to pay some 650 laid-off workers who have been waiting on severance pay and unpaid salaries for four months. Maung Maung Hlaing, an official at the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, said factory properties were sold on Oct 9 for about US$290,000, adding that the ministry expected to receive the payments this week. "Workers that worked in the factory for more than a year will get a severance pay equal to three months of their salaries. Those that worked more than three months will be given a severance pay equal to two months of their salaries, and those that worked less than three months, a severance equal to their one-month salary," he said. "But, we have yet to receive the money from the auction." At Master Sports, workers received an hourly wage of between 150 kyats and 170 kyats (about $0.15-$0.17), and were paid a monthly allowance of about $20. They could earn overtime payment at 300 kyats per hour. The factory closed abruptly in late June and workers were dismissed without receiving their salaries for that month. About 700 workers marched to protest in front of the South Korean Embassy on July 17 to demand the payments. In August, the Rangoon Division Labor Tribunal decided that the factory should provide a severance pay and outstanding salaries to the workers by Sept 16, but the Korean factory owner had left the country and the Labor Ministry resorted to seizing his property in order to pay the workers. A group of several hundred former workers went to the factory for a meeting with Labor Ministry officials in the hope of collecting their pay on Sept 16. Officials told them, however, to wait until November, sparking anger among the workers, most of whom are poor women with families. Hundreds of police were called to the factory compound and workers alleged that they were beaten, and that about a dozen workers sustained injuries. According to Mar Mar Oo, a labor affairs activist from the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, many of the 650 workers have been facing hardship since the factory closed down because other garment factories are hesitant to hire them because they protested to demand outstanding payments from Master Sports. "They [factory workers] are indebted. They will only be able to pay their debt when they get severance pay. Meanwhile, other factories are not willing to hire them because of their negative image with Master Sports. In fact, the workers did nothing wrong. They were just demanding their rights," said Mar Mar Oo. She added that the ministry had requested factory owners to hire the laid-off workers, but to no avail. U Htay, a lawyer specialized in labor disputes, said the money from the sale of factory property should be able to cover the workers' payments, adding, "The Labor Ministry has calculated that a severance of 210 million kyats [about $220,000] shall be paid to over 650 workers." He added that laborers faced a challenge in finding new employment. "The workers are in real trouble, just only over 100 workers have gotten new jobs," said U Htay, who has been helping the workers during their dispute. Tens of thousands of workers are employed in labor-intensive industries at 14 industrial zones around Burma's commercial capital. Garment and footwear factories are the biggest industrial employers, with about 100,000 workers total. A survey of factory workers in Rangoon released last year said factory workers suffer from a range of labor rights violations, such as long working hours, unsafe conditions and intimidation for joining labor unions, while most are paid "extremely low" basic wages of between US$25 and $37 per month. Under the previous military regime labor activism and unionization was banned, but with the start of political reforms in 2011, a labor movement has been slowly growing, mostly among the predominantly female industrial workforce. Strikes over salaries and labor rights have become more common and last year alone, there were reportedly about 900 cases of labor disputes. The post Ministry Sells Property of Closed Factory, Promises Pay for Workers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Britain Summons Thai Envoy Over Backpacker Murders Posted: 13 Oct 2014 10:37 PM PDT  A policeman stands beside the bodies of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, British tourists killed on Koh Tao island, as they arrive at Bangkok's Police Forensic Department on Sept. 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Athit Perawongmetha) LONDON — Britain has summoned the Thai charge d'affaires in London to raise concerns over the police investigation into the murder of two British backpackers in Thailand, the Foreign Office said on Monday. Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found dead on a beach on the island of Koh Tao in September. Miller, 24, had died from drowning and a blow to the head while Witheridge, 23, died from head wounds. Police in Thailand have defended the arrest of two Burmese men over the murders amid concern the pair may have confessed under duress. Thai police say they have concrete evidence linking the men to the killings. A British Foreign Office statement on Monday said that minister Hugo Swire had summoned the Thai diplomat Nadhavathna Krishnamra to express his concerns about how the investigation has been handled by the Thai authorities. "He said that it was crucial for the investigation to be conducted in a fair and transparent way," it said. The post Britain Summons Thai Envoy Over Backpacker Murders appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Hundreds of HK Police Use Sledgehammers and Chainsaws to Dismantle Protest Barriers Posted: 13 Oct 2014 09:59 PM PDT  Police remove a barricade at a protest site in Admiralty near the government headquarters in Hong Kong on October 14, 2014. (Photo: Carlos Barria /Reuters) HONG KONG — Hundreds of Hong Kong police used sledgehammers and chainsaws to dismantle pro-democracy barricades near government offices and the city's financial center on Tuesday, a day after clashes broke out as anti-protest groups tried to reclaim roads. The police operation was the latest in two days to dismantle barricades after two weeks of protests, with the stalemate fuelling frustrations in the Asian financial hub and draining public support for the pro-democracy movement. Police, criticized for using tear gas and batons in the first 24 hours of the protests, have adopted a more patient approach, counting on protesters to come under public pressure to clear some of the city's major arteries. Some of the city's most powerful tycoons had warned prior to the protests that any moves to occupy the heart of the city could undermine Hong Kong's stability. They have remained largely silent since the protests kicked off. Tensions are expected to escalate further on Wednesday when taxi drivers, who say business has dropped by around 50 percent, have threatened to remove barricades if protesters have not cleared them by then. Taxi and truck drivers were among those who tried to dismantle barricades on Monday. Hundreds of people, some wearing surgical masks and armed with crowbars and cutting tools, dismantled barricades and scuffled with protesters on Monday after police removed some barriers to relieve traffic congestion. Police say the removal of barricades is aimed at easing congestion and that protesters can stay, but many students believe Monday's clashes were co-ordinated and involved triad criminal groups and people paid to cause trouble. They said some police stood by or did not act quickly enough. Student protesters reinforced barricades late on Monday, erecting bamboo scaffolding four meters high along one major thoroughfare, while others mixed concrete to pour over the foundations of their road blocks. Makeshift spears made of bamboo protruded from some of the barricades. On Tuesday, police with chainsaws cut down the towering bamboo structures and used sledgehammers to smash cemented barricades outside the Bank of China's Hong Kong headquarters and next to the office of Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing. "We will rebuild them after the police remove them," said protester Bruce Sze. "We won't confront the police physically." Scores of office workers streamed out onto the streets to watch as police tore down the barricades. The protesters, mostly students, are demanding full democracy for the former British colony and have called on the city's embattled leader, Leung Chun-ying, to step down after Beijing in August ruled out free elections for Hong Kong's next leader in 2017. China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that accords the former British colony a degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage set as an eventual goal. Leung has vowed to remain in office and warned that there was "zero chance" that China's leaders in Beijing would change an August decision limiting democracy in Hong Kong. Media groups and journalists have also been targeted by people opposed to the protests, triggering a statement by five press unions late on Monday condemning harassment against them. Apple Daily, controlled by media magnate Jimmy Lai, a key supporter of the democracy movement, said the entrance to its offices was blocked, preventing distribution, and its website paralyzed for two days. A spokeswoman at the International New York Times told Reuters on Tuesday that the distribution of its newspaper had also been disrupted due to a blocked road at the compound of Apple Daily, where it is printed. The post Hundreds of HK Police Use Sledgehammers and Chainsaws to Dismantle Protest Barriers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| North Korean Leader Reappears in Public With Cane Posted: 13 Oct 2014 09:52 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, looks through a periscope of a submarine during an inspection in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on June 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / KCNA) SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, smiling broadly and supporting himself with a cane, appeared Tuesday in state media for the first time in nearly six weeks, ending an absence that fed global speculation that something was amiss with the country's most powerful person. The sudden resumption of the "field guidance" tours that had been a regular part of Kim's public persona before he stopped showing up in media reports for 40 days allowed the country's massive propaganda apparatus to continue doing what it does best—glorifying the third generation of Kim family rule. And it will tamp down, at least for the moment, rampant rumors of a coup and serious health problems. Kim, while touring the newly built Wisong Scientists Residential District and another new institute in Pyongyang, "took necessary steps with loving care," a dispatch early Tuesday from the official Korean Central News Agency said in typical fawning style. The North didn't say when the visit happened, nor did it address the leader's health. The recent absence was, in part, "probably an attention-getting device and it certainly works," Bruce Cumings, an expert on Korea at the University of Chicago, said in an email. "The North has been on a diplomatic offensive in Europe and elsewhere, it feels isolated and is, if we're talking about relations with Washington. All this puts them back on the front page." Before Tuesday's dispatch, Kim had last been seen publicly at a Sept. 3 concert. Foreign media had no trouble filling the void that followed. From "Saturday Night Live" spoofs to the wild theories of journalists across the globe trying to parse his growing absence from the public eye, Kim captured nearly as many headlines as he did when he threatened to nuke his enemies last year. This ability to command attention by doing nothing says a lot about the North's propaganda focus on Kim as the center of everything. Remove for 40 days the sun around which that propaganda spins and the international media, both traditional and social, exploded with curiosity. And while there was plenty of informed analysis from experts and frequent visitors to Pyongyang that said it probably wasn't anything that serious, there seemed to be even more thinly sourced speculation. Kim was, by turns, reported to be suffering from gout, from diabetes, from a brain hemorrhage, from a heart ailment, from a leg injury that required surgery from a French doctor, from mental illness or, according to a head-turning British report, from a cheese addiction. There were rumors of a coup. The speculation was partly a result of Kim missing several high-profile events that he normally attends and his description in an official documentary last month as experiencing "discomfort." Archive footage from August showed him overweight and limping. The South Korean government, however, saw no signs to indicate any major problems. At a South Korean parliamentary hearing Monday, Choi Yoon-hee, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a lawmaker that whatever health problems Kim might have, they "are not severe enough to disrupt his status as the ruler of the country." No unusual troop movements or other signs of a possible coup have emerged. Diplomacy at the highest level has continued: Three members of his inner circle made a surprise visit to the South, something analysts say would be impossible without the leader's blessing. Foreign tourists and aid workers are still traveling to the North, and there have been no reports of new restrictions or warnings for diplomats. There's also nothing particularly unusual about North Korean leaders laying low for extended periods. Kim's grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and father, Kim Jong-il, both took long, unexplained breaks from work, often leading to similar rumors in Seoul and beyond of coups and sudden death. Kim Jong-un, who seems to genuinely like being at the center of things, took off without a word for three weeks in 2012. Part of the interest in Kim's absence also stemmed from worries about what would happen to the country if the leader died without securing a succession. Kim Jong-un's two older brothers, for whatever reasons, were deemed unfit to rule by Kim Jong-il, and little is known about Kim Jong-un's sister. Kim reportedly does have a direct heir who may one day extend the Kim dynasty into a fourth generation. Probably not soon, though. She's believed to be a toddler. The post North Korean Leader Reappears in Public With Cane appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| More Bangladeshis Found in Thailand on Human Trafficking Route Posted: 13 Oct 2014 09:47 PM PDT  In a similar incident in 2008, a group of sea-faring refugees were detained on the Thai island of Koh Sai Baed. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Thai police found scores of sick and exhausted boat people hiding on a remote island on Monday, and all but one of the 79 suspected human-trafficking victims were from Bangladesh, according to local officials. The discovery brings to more than 130 the number of people found since Saturday in the province of Phang Nga to the north of the famous resort island of Phuket, officials said. The first group discovered in a rubber plantation in Takua Pa district on Saturday comprised 38 men from Bangladesh and 15 Rohingya, a mostly stateless Muslim minority from western Burma. They have been moved to a shelter in neighboring Ranong province while their cases are investigated by Thai authorities ahead of possible repatriation. The remainder were discovered on Monday, and of those 79, one was a Burmese national and the rest from Bangladesh. They are now in the local district office. The high proportion of Bangladeshis cropping up on smuggling routes once plied mainly by Rohingya is consistent with what a leading Rohingya advocacy group says is an alarming rise in "forced departures" from Bangladesh. "We are finding more and more cases like this," said Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which plots migration across the Bay of Bengal. "A huge chain of people is involved." She said the group had learned that brokers in Bangladesh were abducting men and boys, or luring them by false promises of work, then shipping them to Thailand and Malaysia. There they are held in jungle camps or houses until relatives secure their release by paying the traffickers a ransom – usually several thousand dollars each. Reuters has not spoken directly to the people found by Thai police over the last three days. But according to an official who heads the group that interviewed them, some said they had been forced or tricked into boarding a boat for Thailand. Others may have left Bangladesh voluntarily in search of work overseas. Officials in Bangladesh were not immediately available for comment. Reuters reported last year how thousands of Rohingya were held and sometimes tortured by traffickers at jungle camps in southern Thailand until their families secured their release with ransoms of US$2,000 or more. Trade Still Thriving The discovery of the boat people, along with the detention of dozens more Rohingya last month, suggests that smuggling routes are still thriving in Thailand. It has been downgraded to the lowest category in the US State Department's annual ranking of the world's worst human trafficking centers. The State Department demoted Thailand to its "Tier 3" category less than a month after the military seized power in a May coup, toppling the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The army chief who led the coup, Prayuth Chan-ocha, quickly vowed to "prevent and suppress human trafficking," although rights groups said his words had not yet translated into action. In August, Prayuth was elected prime minister by a national assembly packed with serving or retired military officers. Neighboring Malaysia was also downgraded in June to Tier 3, a level it shares with countries including North Korea and Syria. 'Unprecedented' Number of Bangladeshis Regional trafficking routes have been forged by misery, cruelty and market forces. Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma's Arakan State since 2012, when violent clashes with ethnic Arakanese Buddhists killed hundreds and made about 140,000 homeless. Most were Rohingya, who now often live in apartheid-like conditions with little or no access to jobs, schools or healthcare. Some opt to leave with the help of brokers, who ferry them to smuggling boats moored off the coast of neighboring Bangladesh. Rohingya think the boats are heading for Malaysia, but they are waylaid in Thailand and held for ransom at camps. The same route is now routinely plied by Bangladeshis leaving their homeland in search of jobs. In January, two police raids in southern Thailand freed 636 people, about a third of them Bangladeshis—an "unprecedented" number, said police. Little Food or Water There are now so many boats and brokers vying for business in Bangladesh that some are resorting to abducting passengers to sell to traffickers in Thailand, the Arakan Project's Lewa said. "There are always five to eight boats waiting in the Bay of Bengal. And the brokers are desperate to fill them." The voyage across the Bay of Bengal to Thailand takes about five days, but many people were held for weeks before setting sail, with little food or water, while brokers found enough passengers, Lewa added. The first group of 53 males was found on Saturday at a rubber plantation in Thailand's Phang Nga province. Police arrested two Thai men on suspicion of transporting them. "Some were fooled into thinking they could find work, some were coerced, some were threatened," said Churin Kwanthong, head of the Phang Nga office of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, which interviewed the group. Four members of a second group of 72 were hospitalized, said Manit Phianthong, district chief of Takua Pa, the area of Phang Nga where they were found. Some looked as if they had not eaten for days or bore signs of abuse, he said. "They took off their shirts to show marks of being beaten and tied up," he said. A separate group of seven men was discovered later on Monday in the same district, Manit added. All three groups arrived in Thailand on a boat carrying about 200 people, said Manit. The authorities were scouring nearby islands for the remaining passengers, including women. The post More Bangladeshis Found in Thailand on Human Trafficking Route appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Polishing Myanmar’s Colonial Gem Posted: 13 Oct 2014 05:00 PM PDT  A man walks past Rangoon's iconic High Court building. (Photo: Hpyo Wai Tha / The Irrawaddy) At a time when the country is faced with so many different priorities, I would like to argue two things: first, that the proper urban planning of Yangon city needs to be one of our top priorities, and second, that urban conservation is absolutely essential if Yangon is to be a truly great 21st century city. These are my thoughts: 1. Yangon will remain Myanmar's biggest and most important commercial city for decades to come. With rapid urbanization the city's population will grow by several million. Getting Yangon right is critical for the future of the entire country. Yangon can be either a driver of economic growth and one of the most livable cities in Asia, or it can easily descend into an urban disaster that will drag down the rest of Myanmar. 2. Because of isolation and low-economic growth for many decades, Yangon became a city "frozen in time." This has left Yangon with an unparalleled collection of 19th and early 20th century architecture, from old teak homes to downtown buildings that once housed multinational corporations like Standard Chartered and HSBC. We have streetscapes and views that no longer exist anywhere else. This provides a tremendous opportunity that no other city in Asia has—to combine old and new in a way that makes Yangon unique. If we destroy this now, it will never come back. 3. Downtown Yangon in particular is an extraordinary global heritage area. Within its few square miles are dozens of different religious sites of all faiths. Its architectural collection is special. It's the single most important landscape in Myanmar history, where our anti-colonial movement was born and where the country's greatest political leaders, artists, and writers lived and worked. Global history was made on its streets. 4. Over the coming 10-15 years, what Yangon will need most is infrastructure, including electricity, Internet connections, airports, ports and roads to move its economy forward. But hopefully, 15 years from now, we will become a medium-income country. We will then be competing with Hanoi, Jakarta, Chennai and Chongqing, to attract talent, grow creative businesses, and make Yangon a center of innovation. At that point, a beautiful old downtown with bookstores and cafes and galleries as well as centuries-old communities and religious sites will be an incredible asset. It will be worth tens of billions of dollars. It will make all the difference for Myanmar's future. 5. And what is important to preserve is not just downtown Yangon. Yangon is first and foremost the city of the Shwedagon. The area around the Shwedagon and views of the pagoda should also be rigorously protected. It will be a World Heritage Site. It is already Myanmar's great treasure and must be central to any urban planning process. 6. We also have a waterfront with amazing potential. Yangon is a city surrounded by rivers yet the public have very little access to the waterfront. If the ports can be moved in a phased manner to Thilawa, the waterfront can be remade into a first-class destination for both residents and tourists. There could be convention centers, restaurants and shops, and most importantly areas for sports and recreation. The city would be a much healthier and happier place.  U Thant Myint-U is chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust 7. What will also make Yangon a much healthier and happier place is to protect and expand public spaces generally, especially green areas, and to broaden the pavements and make walking easy. The Inya and Kandawgyi lakes should also be central to the vision of the city going forward and the areas around them will require careful management and protection from commercial development. Walking downtown is now becoming increasingly difficult and the narrowing of pavements is a mistake that needs to be reversed. 8. Downtown Yangon can become a top tourist destination, not just in Myanmar but in all of Asia, perhaps in the world, within just a couple of years with the right policies. The number one thing that's needed beyond the protection of its architectural heritage is the widening of pavements and making the area walkable again. Tourists now spend a night in Yangon. With a proper plan, downtown Yangon alone could add another night or two to their itinerary. This alone would bring hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the economy. It's important though that we find schemes through which ordinary residents can benefit and the downtown area not become a sanitized "tourist zone." 9. In thinking of tourism, we should remember that there are dozens of possible tourist sites that remain virtually unknown. Places like the Armenian Church on Merchant Street or Ching Tsong Palace or the Pegu Club would be top destinations in other cities. We should remember too that what tourists (especially high-end tourists) want is to see culture and ordinary life. Making downtown livable for people living downtown should be the cornerstone of a tourism strategy. 10. Nothing I have said so far should suggest that I am against high-rise development. On the contrary, I think very dense development is essential. I would rather keep Yangon compact than see an urban sprawl. Areas just east and west of the old downtown and the area around the railway station could easily see high-rise development. 11. Urban transport will be an enormous challenge going forward. The priority should be pedestrian and public transport, buses in the short-term, rail in the longer term. New roads will be essential but prioritizing private car traffic at this time would be a big mistake. It is already worsening daily life for millions of people. 12. One of the questions I am often asked on conservation is, "Who will pay?" That is the easy part. There is tremendous international investor interest. We could easily attract a billion US dollars for the renovation of the old buildings downtown. The challenge is in directing this investment in a way that will benefit not just the city as a whole but also the families who live downtown. There are many possible schemes and public-private partnerships. For example, investors leasing a building long-term could be required to fund the renovation of many other medium- and low-income owned buildings nearby. The move of the government to Naypyitaw means that dozens of government-owned buildings are now only partly used or empty. This provides a tremendous opportunity but it also requires a plan. 13. The biggest challenge to downtown renovation is not actually financial but legal. As in the rest of the country, ownership issues are extremely messy. But some progress in clarifying ownership of buildings downtown will be essential for moving forward. 14. Over the past few years the Japanese government has drafted a "master plan" for Yangon. They should be commended for this. But this is primarily an infrastructure plan, it does not incorporate what is unique about our city and offer a comprehensive vision for the future. In early 2012, I founded the Yangon Heritage Trust (yangonheritagetrust.org) to try and work with the government to protect the old colonial buildings downtown. But over the past two and a half years, I have realized that what we need is a much broader urban plan that integrates our architectural heritage into a vision of a 21st century Yangon. There has been considerable progress. Through the actions of government, very few new demolitions of pre-1960 buildings have taken place downtown. This is compared to the hundreds of demolitions that have taken place the previous 10 years. A few inappropriate new developments have also been stopped. This is an enormous achievement and the government should be commended. Many foreign observers have remarked that the government has shown great foresight compared with others at the same stage in development. But now is the time to build on this achievement and agree on a broader plan going forward. There needs to be three components: 1. An integrated strategy for the reuse of government-owned buildings. Some (like Yangon General Hospital or the High Court) should remain government buildings. Others could be leased on a long-term basis. But what is extremely important is that before they are leased there is a Conservation Management Plan that states clearly what can and cannot be done with the building as well as a mechanism to monitor compliance. We are extremely pleased that the Yangon government has asked us to work on a CMP for the Secretariat and hope that this might be a model for the future. What is also important is that decisions on the future use of government buildings are placed within an overall strategy that matches need (for example, for more hotels or apartments) to building design (not all are suited, for example, to be a hotel). 2. A tourism plan for downtown Yangon. The immediate economic benefits to residents downtown and to the Yangon economy generally would be considerable. It is a "Quick Win." The Yangon Heritage Trust is starting to place blue plaques on buildings of historic importance. We are offering new tours (free in the Myanmar language). What is critical for tourism is to make downtown walkable again as well as clean up as many of the streets and alleys and upgrade market and restaurant hygiene as much as possible. Again, making downtown livable for the people who live downtown is what will make downtown a great destination. 3. A "Special Development Plan" for the old downtown. This would unite a strategy for government-owned buildings downtown with schemes from privately owned heritage buildings , a tourism plan, and other components to improve the quality of life for the people who live downtown. Yangon is at a crossroads. What is at stake is billions of dollars in investment, tens of billions in future income, and the very way in which people will live and work. The decisions made over the coming months will shape the city and the country for the rest of the century. Thant Myint-U is founder and chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust. The post Polishing Myanmar's Colonial Gem appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
