The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- NLD Official Condemned After Buddhism Speech
- Residents Group Slams Report on Thilawa Evictees
- Students Pause Protest, Demand Govt Response on Education Law
- Inquiry Into Journalist Killing Could ‘Soon’ Wrap Up: Commission Member
- Military MPs Object to Constitutional Change
- As Fears Rise in Burma, Rohingya Exodus Grows
- Photo Of the Week (November 17, 2014)
- Japan slips into surprise recession, paves way for tax delay, snap poll
- China wants Uighur refugees back from Thailand
- China, Burma Sign $7.8 bn of Deals: China Daily
- Hong Kong Student Leaders Blocked From Taking Democracy Fight to Beijing
- Rohingya Relatives Say Thousands Missing in Boats en Route to Malaysia
| NLD Official Condemned After Buddhism Speech Posted: 17 Nov 2014 05:35 AM PST  Author and NLD information officer Htin Lin Oo last month. (Photo: Htin Lin Oo / Facebook) RANGOON — Columnist and National League for Democracy (NLD) information officer Htin Lin Oo has been widely condemned on social media after speaking against religious nationalism in a public speech last month. The Patriotic Buddhist Monks Union released a statement on Saturday denouncing a speech the prominent author gave to over 500 people at a literary event in Sagaing Division's Chaung-U Township on Oct 23, leading to an avalanche of online criticism. In the statement, the group urged opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to take responsibility for Htin Lin Oo's speech and to prevent community conflicts from disgracing the NLD's image. "In the past, NLD was the party which all Burmese citizens relied upon, supported and respected," read the statement. "But deliberately offending people who do not support the NLD anymore for various reasons would lead to a great blow to the NLD's image." The group could not be reached for comment on Monday. In a speech spanning two hours, Htin Lin Oo criticized the use of Buddhism as a figleaf for prejudice and discrimination. "Buddha is not Burmese, not Shan, not Karen—so if you want to be an extreme nationalist and if you love to maintain your race that much, don't believe in Buddhism," he said at the time. A 10-minute excerpt of the speech has been widely shared on social media in the wake of the Patriotic Buddhist Monks Union statement. Htin Lin Oo said that stripping this portion of the speech from the rest of his remarks has led to widespread misunderstanding about his intent. "In our country, the race and religion issue is very sensitive," he told The Irrawaddy on Monday. "I talked about that in my speech, and there was coherence in my speech at the start and the end, but the uploaded video is excerpted." He said he was contacted by monks saying they had seen the excerpt and were offended by its content. "I explained on my Facebook page about my speech. If the monks want me to speak further to them on this matter, I will join them," he said. Htin Lin Oo said that on Monday afternoon the NLD informed him they will form a team to investigate the speech. During the course of the investigation, he will be banned from public talks under the auspices of the NLD. While there was fervent criticism online after the Patriotic Buddhist Monks Union statement was released, other members of the religious fraternity were more conciliatory. "We need to listen to the full speech," said Sayadaw Ashin Issariya, a Mandalay-based monk and former political prisoner. "I have only seen and listened to the excerpted version from his speech. All he said was truth. In choosing the words, it is a little rough—I think it might be because he chose words for his audience to be able to understand easily." Although the Patriotic Buddhist Monks Union claims it is based in Rangoon, it remains unclear whether the organization is actually based in the city, who belongs to the group, and whether it is legally registered. The nationalist monk U Wirathu was among those who shared the group's statement on social media. The post NLD Official Condemned After Buddhism Speech appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Residents Group Slams Report on Thilawa Evictees Posted: 17 Nov 2014 05:05 AM PST
The report by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which owns a 10 percent stake in the Thilawa SEZ, has been criticized by the Thilawa Social Development Group, a local NGO, for presenting an overly optimistic portrait of the current status of residents relocated to Myaing Thar Yar Village last year. "[Thilawa residents] mortgaged their houses and bought motorbikes for taxi businesses, because they don't have any job opportunities and they have nothing to eat," said Mya Hlaing, a representative of the Thilawa Social Development Group. "But it was written [in the JICA report] as if people bought motorbikes because they got extra cash." In June, three residents filed a formal complaint with JICA, the government agency tasked with overseeing Japan's overseas development assistance, over the eviction and relocation of 81 households forced to make way for the first 400-hectare phase of the Thilawa development. The following month, in accordance with the organisation's grievance policies, JICA Examiner for Guidelines Dr Sachihiko Harashina travelled to Rangoon to meet with the complainants and determine whether JICA had defied its own guidelines for taking environmental and social considerations into account with the project. The investigation, compiled by Dr Harashina and fellow examiner Dr Junji Annen and released on Nov. 4, addressed six specific complaints filed by the residents, including loss of access to farmland, loss of livelihood opportunities, impoverishment caused by the forced relocation, loss of educational opportunities, substandard housing and loss of access to clean drinking water. While the report conceded some negative impacts on residents with respect to loss of access to farmland and employment opportunities, the examiners were more reluctant to attribute other complaints to the resettlement. In a section addressing impoverishment caused by the relocation, the examiners reported that some displaced residents used monetary compensation to buy home appliances or motorbikes, concluding that the resettlement was not the sole cause of the impoverishment suffered by the householders. According to Mya Hlaing, the JICA report was too general does not take into account the complexities of the displaced residents' situation. "What the examination team has done is not impressive," he said. Seventeen of the 68 homes in the relocation village have already been sold due to the economic hardships faced by residents, and others have been mortgaged by householders struggling to support themselves, Mya Hlaing added. Mya Hlaing also said that the JICA report glossed over the issue of drinking water quality in the resettlement. The initial complaint stated that only two of four water pumps in Myaing Thar Yar Village were fully functional, both of which were drawing muddy water from their wells, while two other open wells had algal blooms on the surface. The examiners' report concluded that while a lack of consultation with residents about the placement of wells resulted in poor water quality, the construction of deep wells in consultation with JICA experts and the Myanmar government had led to improvements in the following months, as confirmed by Dr Harashina's field visit. "Even the Ministry of Health has issued that the water are not suitable to drink as there are bacteria," Mya Hlaing said. A report released last Thursday by New York-based advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), in cooperation with the Japanese NGO Mekong Watch and the Thilawa Social Development Group, has criticized authorities for its methods in evicting Thilawa residents. "The Burmese government violated international standards when forcibly displacing families from the Thilawa Special Economic Zone by threatening many residents with court appearances and imprisonment, giving them inadequate compensation for land lost, and failing to provide training or other means of income to those who lost their jobs." "The Thilawa project exemplifies how devastating forced displacement can be on local communities when governments completely disregard human rights laws for the sake of a business development," said Widney Brown, PHR's director of programs. "The Burmese and Japanese governments should work to improve the living conditions for those displaced by this misguided venture, and ensure that this disaster is not repeated when hundreds of other families are relocated for future development projects," he added. The JICA report, for its part, has found no evidence that Thilawa villagers were intimidated into relocating from the SEZ construction site. "JICA has found no fact of alleged coercive measures and threats used by the Myanmar government, and has judged that it is appropriate to conclude that the officials of the Myanmar government well listened [sic] to the requests and demands of the PAPs [project affected persons]," the report concluded. Four Japanese companies, including the JICA, hold a joint 49 percent stake in the Thilawa SEZ. The Burmese government holds 10 percent, while a joint venture between nine Burmese companies holds the remaining 39 percent stake. The post Residents Group Slams Report on Thilawa Evictees appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Students Pause Protest, Demand Govt Response on Education Law Posted: 17 Nov 2014 04:50 AM PST  Students protest the National Education Law in Rangoon on Sunday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Hundreds of students protesting a controversial education law have suspended their demonstration and will give the Burmese government 60 days to respond to their demands, with the student activists threatening to turn out in even greater numbers if they don't hear from education officials in that time. More than 300 representatives from students' organizations across the country began their four-day protest against the legislation on Friday. "Starting today and for the next 60 days, if the government and responsible persons will not come and negotiate with students, we will increase our protest strength," read a statement released by the students on Monday. Police wagons were parked on Monday near the monastery in Rangoon's Thingangyun Township where the protestors spent the night, but authorities did not interfere as the students marched to Maha Bandoola Park. Phyo Phyo Aung, a protest leader, said the decision to pause the protest marked a shift in tactics. "During these 60 days, we will go to the rural areas and persuade the public and students to join the boycott," she said. "If the government doesn't negotiate and respond to us, we will hold a nationwide protest." Organizations including the University Teachers' Association (UTA) and the 88 Generation & New Generation Society (Malaysia) have issued statements in support of the students' demands, and urged the government to sit down at the negotiating table with the students and refrain from forcibly clearing the protest. Mee Mee, a member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, told The Irrawaddy that she attended the protest to support the student activists. "The students are protesting the law because the government forced the bill to be approved without [considering] the desires of the students," she said. On Sunday, the director general of the Department of Higher Education (Lower Myanmar), Zaw Htay, and a group of university professors met with a 15-member Democracy Education Initiative Committee set up last week to represent the protesting students' interests. Nanda Sit Aung, another protest organizers, told The Irrawaddy: "They told us to negotiate the rules and regulations of the education bill, but we want to change the mother law of the national education bill and we didn't reach an agreement." Protestors say the current law would fail to raise education standards in Burma, restrict local autonomy in favor of centralized government control of education institutions and prevent the official recognition of student unions. The National Education Law was passed by Parliament in July and sent back to the floor by President Thein Sein, who suggested 25 amendments to the legislation. Despite strong criticism from education activists, Parliament passed the Education Law in September, approving 19 of the president's amendments and rejecting six. In the coming months, Parliament will discuss a number of so-called "sectoral laws" that will supplement the Education Law and outline further education reform details. The post Students Pause Protest, Demand Govt Response on Education Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Inquiry Into Journalist Killing Could ‘Soon’ Wrap Up: Commission Member Posted: 17 Nov 2014 04:27 AM PST  The body of Aung Kyaw Naing, a journalist allegedly killed by the Burma Army, was exhumed from the grave on Nov. 5, 2014. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission has questioned dozens of witnesses, including members of the police and Burma Army, as part of its inquiry into the killing of journalist Aung Kyaw Naing and the probe could wrap up "soon," a commission member said. Sitt Myaing, secretary of the commission, said it was currently awaiting laboratory results from soil tests of the site where the journalist, also known as Par Gyi, was buried after he was shot dead while in custody of the army in Mon State's Kyaikmayaw Township in early October. Sitt Myaing said the commission had collected testimonies from some 45 people, among them civilians, policemen and military officers. He said it would soon interview the journalist's wife, Ma Thandar, and another journalist, who was among one of three plaintiffs who filed a missing persons report after Aung Kyaw Naing disappeared in late September while covering ethnic conflict. "We are trying to get everything ready, including the results of the soil tests and the meeting with Ma Thandar and the journalist," he said. "We are hoping to issue a statement very soon, but we don’t know how long will it take." Commission members and authorities exhumed the body of the slain freelance reporter in the presence of his family and rights activists on Nov. 5. Witnesses of the exhumation and photos of his body suggested that he suffered multiple severe injuries, including bullet wounds to the skull. Sitt Myaing declined to go into details of an autopsy ordered by the commission, but added, "We just can say roughly that the autopsy results found that he died from a bullet wound. We will issue the report after we reviewed the whole case and receive approval at a [commission] meeting." Ma Thandar told The Irrawaddy last week that she had been informed by the commission that the autopsy found her husband sustained five bullet wound, including one in the bottom half of his face. She questioned the military's statement from October that claimed that Aung Kyaw Naing was killed because he seized a weapon from a soldier while trying to escape; she said it was unlikely he could be shot in the face if he was trying to escape. Ma Thandar has also said that her requests for an independent autopsy of her husband's body had been turned down by authorities. Aung Kyaw Naing was laid to rest in Rangoon on Nov. 7. The commission's final report will be closely watched as the commission is considered to be lacking in independence from the President's Office, which funds the commission and can influence the appointment of its members. Human rights groups have said the commission has failed to successfully investigate the cases submitted to it since it was founded in 2011. The post Inquiry Into Journalist Killing Could 'Soon' Wrap Up: Commission Member appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Military MPs Object to Constitutional Change Posted: 17 Nov 2014 03:09 AM PST  Military representatives attend a parliamentary session in Naypyidaw. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Military representatives in Parliament have signaled that they will not support amendments to Burma's controversial Constitution, dimming prospects for substantive change to the charter ahead of national elections due late next year. The military parliamentarians late last week objected to a proposal to change a key provision of Burma's Constitution entrenching their political power, and on Monday a colonel in the legislature indicated that the entirety of the document was off limits, as far as his colleagues were concerned. National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Win Myint put a proposal before Parliament on Thursday suggesting that parliamentarians amend Article 436—a provision restricting further amendments to the military-drafted Constitution—only to face the objection of military representatives. Article 436 requires that 75 percent of lawmakers approve proposed amendments to much of the 2008 Constitution, a high hurdle to clear in a Parliament that guarantees 25 percent of seats to the military. "The military came out against the NLD's proposal for amending Article 436, whereas the Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP] spoke ambiguously," Upper House lawmaker Phone Myint Aung told The Irrawaddy. Win Myint proposed that Article 436 be amended as well as Article 59(f), which bars NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency. He also demanded that Article 6(f), falling under the "Basic Principles of the Union," be changed. That section grants the military a leading role in national politics. Military representatives not only objected to the Article 436 proposal, but also made charter amendment recommendations of their own, including one that would allow the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) to play a part in dissolving Parliament, Win Myint told The Irrawaddy. The military representatives' recommendations included a proposed expansion of the role of the NDSC, assigning five additional powers to the 11-member council, which is chaired by President Thein Sein and dominated by former and active military officials. One of the new duties would give the NDSC the power to advise that the president dissolve Parliament if one-third of the seats or more in either house of Parliament are vacant for any reason. A total of 146 lawmakers have submitted their names to offer their input on amending the Constitution. Discussion is continuing this week, with reports indicating that that the debate is likely to wrap up by Nov. 25. On Monday, a military parliamentarian told his fellow lawmakers that the Constitution should not be amended in order to protect the so-called "three national causes" put forward by Burma's former military regime. The three national causes—non-disintegration of the Union; non-disintegration of national solidarity; and perpetuation of sovereignty—were promulgated in 1988. "In order to realize benefits for citizens, for political parties, we should leave our Constitution [as it is] originally, and should not amendment it," Col. Tin Soe said on Monday. During a visit to Burma last week, US President Barack Obama called for inclusive, free and fair elections in 2015, after meeting with Thein Sein and key lawmakers in Naypyidaw. Obama told the press that charter amendments would be key to Burma's democratic transition after visiting the opposition leader Suu Kyi in Rangoon. He also said Article 59(f) "doesn't make much sense to me." Article 436 has been put to the public as well, with an NLD-led petition earlier this year garnering nearly 5 million signatures in favor of change. Though there have been calls for amendments to the Constitution from within and outside Parliament, the fact that military representatives hold a 25 percent bloc in the legislature continues to hamper efforts to change the charter. "The changing of Article 436 will have an adverse impact on the military and restrict its role. So, the military is sensitive about it and therefore we have a long way to go before we can amend Article 436," said Phone Myint Aung. Addition reporting by The Irrawaddy's Lawi Weng. The post Military MPs Object to Constitutional Change appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| As Fears Rise in Burma, Rohingya Exodus Grows Posted: 17 Nov 2014 02:30 AM PST  About 74 Rohingya refugees from Burma sit on a wooden boat as they wait for transportation to a temporary shelter in Aceh Besar after arriving at Lampulo harbor, Indonesia, in April 2013. (Photo: Reuters) SITTWE, Arakan State — The captain of the small fishing vessel has spent most of his life helping fellow Rohingya Muslims escape persecution and hatred in Burma, but now even he is worried about the panicked pace the exodus has taken in recent weeks. "Everyone is going now," Puton Nya said. "I'm afraid that soon, no one will be left." Bouts of vicious violence, together with discriminatory government policies, have sent an estimated 100,000 Rohingya fleeing the Buddhist-majority nation by boat in the last two years, according to the Arakan Project, a human-rights group that monitors the Rohingya. Director Chris Lewa said the pace is accelerating, with more than 15,000 people leaving since Oct. 15 — twice the number that fled during the same period last year. Lewa said soldiers and border guards in northern Arakan State, where most of the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya live, are engaging in a "campaign to create fear and to get them to leave." She said that in the last six weeks: — At least four Rohingya men were tortured to death in northern Arakan State, in western Burma. Lewa said security forces broke one victim's leg and burned his penis during interrogation, and that the pummeled body of another Rohingya was found in a river. — Young men have been grabbed off the streets and brutally beaten by border guards and soldiers without any clear explanation. One photo snapped by a cell phone shows a man after he was allegedly smashed with the butt of a gun in the jaw, cheekbone and stomach. — More than 140 people have been arrested in two dozen villages on what Lewa said appeared to be trumped-up charges, ranging from immigration violations to alleged links with Islamic militants. National Minister of Information Ye Htut did not immediately respond to the allegations. Denied citizenship by national law, Burma's Rohingya are effectively stateless, though historical records indicate some members of the ethnic minority arrived in the country centuries ago. Many more arrived from neighboring Bangladesh in the 1900s when the country was under British rule. Almost all settled in Arakan State, creating tensions with Buddhist locals who for centuries considered it their duty to prevent an eastward Islamic spread into their nation and beyond. Soon after Burma began transitioning from a half-century of dictatorship to democracy in 2011, newfound freedoms of expression fanned the flames of hatred. Violence by Buddhist mobs left up to 280 people dead—most of them members of the religious minority—and chased another 140,000 from their homes. Most Rohingya now live under apartheid-like conditions in camps outside Sittwe or in restricted villages. They cannot leave without paying hefty bribes to police and face constant threats of violence from Buddhist Arakanese neighbors. Often, their proximity to their old homes is "tantalizingly short," Hugo Slim of Oxford University said in a report for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Many are just a few hundred meters from the fields they used to till, the schools their children used to attend, and the communities that attacked them. Rohingya have limited access to schooling and health care. Médecins Sans Frontières , a key medical provider for Rohingya, was expelled from Arakan State eight months ago after the government accused it of bias. The government said in July that the group could return, but it has yet to make good on its invitation. Arakan State spokesman Win Myaing said the organization will be allowed to return "soon," but offered no clear timeline. US President Barack Obama, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and several other heavyweights visiting Burma last week for a series of summits called on the government to solve the crisis. The government has put forward a "Rakhine [Arakan] Action Plan," but that also has drawn criticism. Under the plan, only those who can prove they lived in the country since 1948 can qualify for citizenship. Few can fulfill the requirement, in part because few hold any documents. Those who don't comply would be classified as "Bengali," a term that implies they are illegal migrants and could subject them to internment camps and eventual deportation. Now Rohingya are leaving the country in numbers rarely seen before, bound for countries including Malaysia and Indonesia. Many pass through Myin Hlut village, where they hide in houses before wading into the midnight waters and clambering into fishing boats. Shabu Kuna, 23, watched Rohingya from every corner of Arakan State make that journey from the dark, tiny hut she shared with her ailing mother, her unemployed father, her younger sister, brothers and several nieces and nephews. Then she decided to join them. "I can't stand living here anymore," she said before leaving in September. She said she is aware of the risks—including being held for ransom in a jungle camp, sold into the sex trade, or beaten or killed—but that nothing could be worse than staying in Burma. The escalation of the exodus has left Puton Nya, the boat captain, gripped with sorrow and guilt—both by the numbers of Rohingya leaving and by the way many of them are treated at sea. The 59-year-old is among many captains who have ferried Rohingya from the rocky shore of Arakan State to giant ships bobbing in the Bay of Bengal. A neighbor of Puton Nya made the trip and later told him that the brokers—who like the vast majority in the smuggling racket are Rohingya—were raping women on the giant cargo boats and brutally beating the men. "I felt so disgusted," said the captain, whose once-dark hair is now streaked with gray, and his strong face is deeply lined by his many years on ships beneath the tropical sun. He said he has stopped hauling people to the ships as the numbers started to swell several months ago, even though it was his sole means of income. He understands why so many people are fleeing, and says he, his wife and son might one day follow. With each departure, he says, those left behind become more vulnerable. "I don't know how we are going to stand on our own," he said. The post As Fears Rise in Burma, Rohingya Exodus Grows appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Photo Of the Week (November 17, 2014) Posted: 17 Nov 2014 01:30 AM PST
The post Photo Of the Week (November 17, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Japan slips into surprise recession, paves way for tax delay, snap poll Posted: 16 Nov 2014 09:44 PM PST  Japan’s economy unexpectedly shrank an annualised 1.6 percent in July-September after a severe contraction in the previous quarter, likely solidifying the view that premier Shinzo Abe will delay a second sales tax hike next year and call a snap election for next month. (Photo: Yuya Shino / Reuters) TOKYO — Japan’s economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter, setting the stage for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay an unpopular sales tax hike and call a snap election halfway through his term. Gross domestic product fell at an annualised 1.6 percent pace in July-September, after it plunged 7.3 percent in the second quarter following a rise in the national sales tax, which clobbered consumer spending. The world’s third-largest economy had been forecast to rebound by 2.1 percent in the third quarter, but consumption and exports remained weak, saddling companies with huge inventories to work off. Abe had said he would look at the data when deciding whether to press ahead with a second increase in the sales tax to 10 percent in October next year, as part of a plan to curb Japan’s huge public debt, the worst among advanced nations. Japanese media have said the prime minister, who returns from an Asia tour on Monday, could announce his decision to delay the hike as early as Tuesday and state his intention to call an election for parliament’s lower house, which ruling party lawmakers expect to be held on Dec. 14. An economic adviser to Abe termed the economic slide “shocking,” and urged the government to consider steps to support the economy. “This is absolutely not a situation in which we should be debating an increase in the consumption tax,” Etsuro Honda, a University of Shizuoka professor and a prominent outside architect of Abe’s reflationary policies, told Reuters. No election for parliament’s powerful lower house need be held until late 2016, but political insiders say Abe wants to lock in his mandate while his ratings are still relatively robust, helping him push ahead with economic and other policies such as a controversial shift away from Japan’s post-war pacifism. Facing a divided and weak opposition, Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to keep its majority in the lower house, but it could well lose seats. As election talk heated up last week, a poll by NHK public TV found that Abe’s voter support had fallen 8 percentage points to 44 percent from a month earlier. A senior LDP lawmaker said the data made Abe’s decision to postpone the tax hike certain and that he expected the premier to call a snap poll, arguing that his “Abenomics” strategy to re-energise the economy was working but needed more time. “For sure, minus 1.6 percent is not good, but if you look at individual indicators, things are beginning to turn up,” the lawmaker told Reuters. “The prime minister feels strongly that he wants to make certain of the economic trend so I think he will put off the sales tax rise from next October,” he said. Even before the GDP announcement, Abe appeared to suggest he was leaning toward delaying the tax hike, telling reporters travelling with him in Australia that raising the tax rate would be meaningless if deflation returned. The yen slipped on the poor GDP reading, with the dollar briefly pushing to a seven-year high above 117 yen. The benchmark Nikkei stock average fell 2.6 percent. Sluggish growth and downward pressure on inflation due to sliding global oil prices prompted the Bank of Japan to unexpectedly expand its massive monetary stimulus last month. Abe inherited the sales tax plan when he took power in December 2012, pledging to revive the economy with his “Abenomics” mix of ultra-easy monetary policy, spending and reforms. The LDP, its smaller ally and the then-ruling Democratic Party enacted the legislation requiring the tax to be raised unless economic conditions were judged too weak. Economy Minister Akira Amari said the GDP data showed the April hike to 8 percent from 5 percent had made it harder than anticipated for the public to shake off their deflationary mindset. Household spending is stagnating, with housing investment and corporate capital spending down, Amari said, while finding a bright spot in strong corporate profits. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy shrank 0.4 percent in the third quarter, following a contraction of 1.8 percent in the second quarter. Recessions are typically defined as two or more consecutive quarters of economic contraction. Private consumption, accounting for about 60 percent of the economy, rose 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, half as much as expected. Some economists, however, said growth could improve in the October-December quarter. “If you look at other fundamental indicators, they’ve shifted over to an increasing trend, so if this continues…the next quarter should be better,” said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities Japan. The post Japan slips into surprise recession, paves way for tax delay, snap poll appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| China wants Uighur refugees back from Thailand Posted: 16 Nov 2014 09:40 PM PST  Suspected Uighurs are transported back to a detention facility in the town of Songkhla in southern Thailand after visiting women and children at a separate shelter in March. (Photo: Andrew RC Marshall / Reuters) BEIJING — More than 200 refugees detained in Thailand earlier this year are believed to be Chinese Uighurs and should be repatriated, a Chinese consul said, dismissing concerns they will be mistreated. The refugees’ claim to be Turkish cannot be confirmed and they refuse to cooperate with Chinese authorities on proper identification, said Qin Jian, the consul in Songkhla. “They have been uncooperative and refused to communicate at all,” Qin said. The refuges are likely fearful of being mistreated in China if they are returned, although Qin said such concerns are unwarranted. “If they do not have criminal records back in China, there will be no prosecution,” the consul said. Tensions between minority Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese have left about 400 people dead in the past 20 months. Beijing has blamed the violence on terrorism, separatism and extreme religion and has harshly cracked down in the Uighurs’ far northwestern home region. But human rights groups say the heavy-handedness is further alienating the Uighurs. In March, Thai immigration officers rescued 220 men, women and children held by presumed human traffickers at a remote camp. Qin said there has been no confirmation of their Turkish identity after staff from the Turkish embassy met with the group. Dozens of men have been identified as Chinese Uighurs and the others in the group are believed to be based on their physical features, habits and customs, Qin said. He declined to elaborate. The Washington-based Uyghur American Association has called upon the Thai government not to return them to China but allow them access to the United Nations’ refugee agency for asylum requests. “Uyghurs have been forcibly returned into the hands of their persecutors in the past with dire results,” said Alim Seytoff, president of the association in a statement. Seytoff said China’s economic and political leverage with other governments leaves genuine refugees unprotected and that the increasing numbers of Uighur refugees is an indication of Beijing’s repression of the Muslim minority. Thai officials have said their investigation is not yet complete. The post China wants Uighur refugees back from Thailand appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| China, Burma Sign $7.8 bn of Deals: China Daily Posted: 16 Nov 2014 09:05 PM PST  Burma President Thein Sein gestures beside Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the East Asia Summit in Naypyidaw on Thursday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) BEIJING — China and Burma signed deals worth $7.8 billion for energy, agriculture, telecommunications, infrastructure and finance during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to the Southeast Asian country, state media reported on Saturday. The deals made on Friday include an agreement to build natural gas power plants, as well as $300 million in small-scale loans for agriculture, said the official China Daily newspaper. China and Burma also agreed to set up an electricity cooperation committee, with the aim of keeping energy projects on track. In 2011, President Thein Sein suspended the $3.6 billion, Chinese-led Myitsone dam project, some 90 percent of whose power would have gone to China. The project has not been resumed. China and Burma have traditionally had close ties, with Burma relying on its powerful northern neighbor for economic and diplomatic support when it was under wide-reaching Western sanctions, before embarking on political reforms four years ago. Since taking power in March 2011, Burma’s reformist government has sought to decrease its dependence on China, which was cemented during years of Western sanctions put in place in response to human rights abuses carried out by the ruling junta. China has watched nervously as the new government has courted the United States, and Beijing has been stung by criticism that it is only interested in Burma for its natural resources and that its investment has come at a huge cost, with criticism focused on a gas and oil pipeline and hydroelectricity projects. The post China, Burma Sign $7.8 bn of Deals: China Daily appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Hong Kong Student Leaders Blocked From Taking Democracy Fight to Beijing Posted: 16 Nov 2014 08:58 PM PST  Hong Kong Federation of Students leader Alex Chow (C), committee members Nathan Law (L) and Eason Chung are surrounded by Occupy Central protesters as they arrive at Hong Kong International Airport to attempt to board a flight to Beijing on Saturday. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — Three Hong Kong student leaders were stopped from boarding a flight to Beijing on Saturday to take their fight for greater democracy directly to the Chinese government after airline authorities said their travel permits were invalid. The students, led by Hong Kong Federation of Students’ leader Alex Chow, had planned to go to Beijing with the intention of meeting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as efforts to reach agreement with officials in Hong Kong had failed. A Cathay Pacific spokesman told local media that Chinese authorities had told the airline the students’ travel permits were invalid. He did not elaborate, though the representatitve of a student body did comment. "Cathay has confirmed that their (students’) return home card has been cancelled by the mainland authorities, so they could not get the required certificates to get on to the plane," Yvonne Leung, the representative of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, told reporters. The student leaders left the airport shortly after. Protesters have occupied key areas of Hong Kong for more than six weeks, camping out in some of the world’s most expensive real estate and paralyzing parts of the financial center to demand free elections for the city’s leader in 2017. Local media had speculated that the students would be turned back once they landed in Beijing. China has refused entry before to activists who speak out against Beijing. About 300 supporters, some with yellow umbrellas that have become a symbol of the democracy movement, showed up at Hong Kong airport where they were greeted by a media pack amid chaotic scenes. Beijing has declared the protests illegal and said law and order must be maintained in the Chinese-controlled city, where scenes of police firing tear gas and violent clashes have grabbed global headlines. China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that accords the city a degree of autonomy and freedom not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage an eventual goal. But Beijing said in August only candidates screened by a nominating committee will be able to contest a city-wide vote to choose the next leader in 2017, triggering widespread condemnation and protests. Local media have reported that authorities are preparing to start clearing the key protest sites of Admiralty, which lies next to government buildings, and across the harbor in the bustling, gritty district of Mong Kok as early as Monday. The protests drew well over 100,000 at their peak but that number has now dwindled to hundreds. The Hong Kong government has branded the movement’s occupation of streets illegal and has repeatedly said open nominations are not allowed under the city’s laws. The post Hong Kong Student Leaders Blocked From Taking Democracy Fight to Beijing appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Rohingya Relatives Say Thousands Missing in Boats en Route to Malaysia Posted: 16 Nov 2014 08:26 PM PST  Rohingya people perennially leave their homes and families in Burma and Bangladesh, where they face extreme discrimination and are denied citizenship. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Thousands of Rohingya boat people who have left Burma in the past month have yet to reach their destinations, say relatives and an advocacy group for the persecuted minority, raising fears their boats have been prevented from reaching shore. About 12,000 Rohingya, a mostly stateless Muslim people, have left the western Burma state of Arakan since Oct. 15, said Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which plots migration across the Bay of Bengal. Another 4,000 boat people, both Rohingya and Bangladeshis, left neighboring Bangladesh during the same period, said Lewa. The boat people are headed for Malaysia, but most transit through Thailand, where smugglers and traffickers hold them at jungle camps near the Malaysian border until relatives pay ransoms to secure their release. About 460 boat people were found and detained by the Thai authorities in November, but thousands more have not made landfall or contacted relatives after what is usually a five-day voyage. "Where are they?" said Lewa. "We have become very concerned." The last time so many boat people went missing was in 2008, said Lewa. Hundreds of Rohingya, many of them starving and dehydrated, were later rescued from Indonesian and Indian waters, while others were feared lost at sea. Thailand's prime minister later said there were "some instances" in which Rohingya boats had been pushed out to sea to "let these people drift to other shores," but that they had adequate food and water. Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were displaced in 2012 after deadly clashes with Buddhists in Burma's Arakan State. Many Rohingya now live in squalid camps with little or no access to jobs, healthcare or education. Prejudice against the minority group is widespread in Burma, which says they have no right to citizenship, despite having lived in the area for generations. On Friday, US President Barack Obama stepped up international criticism of such discrimination and called on Burma to grant them equal rights. Right To Block Two senior Thai military officials told Reuters that measures were in place to deter boats from coming near the country's shores. Banpot Phunpian, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), said its army officers were trained to warn boats and their crews not to anchor near Thailand's coast and that Thailand had a right to block boats in seas it patrols. "If people are trying to come into our country illegally, do we have a right to block? If they are in the sea area that we patrol we can stop them from coming in," said Banpot. The boat people who left Burma in the past month might be "hiding on islands near Thailand," fearful that authorities are getting tough on illegal migrants, he said. Thailand's territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles from the coast, according to ISOC and the Royal Thai Navy. Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Kan Deeubol said he was unsure whether a "push back" policy was still in effect, but added that Thailand had a right to interdict illegal boats. 'Crazy With Worry' Sajeda, 32, lives in Thae Chaung, a once-sleepy fishing village near the Arakan capital Sittwe that has become a teeming camp for Rohingya displaced in 2012. She said goodbye to her 13-year-old son Mubarek on Oct. 18. He then boarded a fishing boat with 62 other Rohingya, among them woman with young children hoping to reunite with husbands in Malaysia. The boat set sail for a larger people-smuggling ship moored far offshore, waiting to sail across the Bay of Bengal. Sajeda, who uses only one name, has heard no news from Mubarek. "I'm going crazy with worry," she said. Concern about the fate of the boat people appears to have slowed but not halted the exodus from Burma. Reuters witnessed Rohingya gathering to board a boat at Ohn Taw Gyi village, not far from Thae Chaung, and learned that at least one other boat had departed in the previous two weeks. The post Rohingya Relatives Say Thousands Missing in Boats en Route to Malaysia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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