| Women Seek Historic Wins in Landmark YCDC Election Posted: 10 Dec 2014 05:00 AM PST  Candidate Susanna Hla Hla Soe speaks to constituents at a YCDC municipal elections campaign event. (Photo: Facebook / Susanna Soe) RANGOON — Rangoon's historic municipal elections will see women constitute just over 10 percent of the 293 candidates competing in a poll that will be held on Dec. 27, for the first time in more than five decades. Thirty-two female candidates will vie for some of the 115 total seats that the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) has opened up on committees at the divisional, district and township levels of Burma's biggest city. Since a military coup in 1962, these 115 seats had been appointed by the country's former military regimes. While marking a notably more democratic approach to the city's leadership structure, the elections will not bring a fully representative government to power: Five seats of the nine-member Divisional Municipal Committee—the decision-making body of YCDC—will still be appointed, including the mayoral post, which also acts as the committee's chairmanship. Additionally, the municipal voter rolls will be limited to one vote per household. Three women will contest the four seats up for grabs in the Divisional Municipal Committee, along with 35 male candidates. Five women will compete for 12 district-level seats and 24 women will compete for 99 township-level seats, according to the YCDC election commission. "There has not been a woman on the YCDC committee in the past or currently," said an official from YCDC's engineering department, who requested not to be named. The December election will result in an expansion of the Divisional Municipal Committee, which had previously been made up of only five appointed members. The poll will also usher in committees at the district and township levels that have not existed in the past. Mae Ohn Nyunt Wai, 63, is one of those 32 pioneering women, competing for a seat on the nine-member Divisional Municipal Committee in Rangoon's West District constituency. She said that although the female political aspirants represented an unprecedented advance for women, at just over 10 percent of the total candidates, she is not yet satisfied. "I want 50 percent of women candidates to run in elections. There are a lot of women who are capable. But only 10 percent are running in this election," she said, adding that the low figure may have been due to a lack of awareness among women about their right to compete for seats in the historically male-dominated YCDC leadership. The country's national Parliament does not fare much better than the municipal committee, with women currently accounting for about 5 percent of parliamentarians. Mae Ohn Nyunt Wai said that in campaigning thus far, she has at times faced dismissive attitudes from voters and even some fellow candidates. "Most men don't want to pay attention when women try to speak. I found that while campaigning. They are not interested when a woman comes and speaks to them, so I need to take more time to get them to listen to my words," she said. Aye Min, also a candidate for the Divisional Municipal Committee, said women's representatives within YCDC would produce better policy outcomes. "Sometimes, the opinions of men and women are different. If we have different views in the committee, we can approach problems from varying angles and that can help to solve them," he said. Susanna Hla Hla Soe, also a candidate for the Divisional Municipal Committee and director of the Karen Women's Action Group (KWAG), told The Irrawaddy that if women were to win YCDC committee seats, they could raise the profile of women's issues such as how to better ensure a safe environment for the city's women. The post Women Seek Historic Wins in Landmark YCDC Election appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Rangoon Parliament Proposes 12-Party Constitutional Talks to President Posted: 10 Dec 2014 04:51 AM PST  President Thein Sein greets opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw in later October. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Rangoon Division parliament on Wednesday approved a proposal urging the president, army chief, Aung San Suu Kyi and other political players to hold "12-party talks" on constitutional reforms. The proposal will now be sent to President Thein Sein, who can decide to refer the proposal to Union Parliament with added remarks or to reject it. Rangoon Division's Karen Nationalities Minister Tun Aung Myint took the initiative on Tuesday to submit a proposal to Rangoon Divisional parliament to hold 12-party talks that would include the president, the army chief, the speakers of both Houses of Parliament, Suu Kyi and representatives from the seven major ethnic groups represented in Burma's ethnic states. On Wednesday, 14 lawmakers discussed it and it was later approved in a vote. "As the parliament has passed the proposal, we'll put it forward to the union government and then to the national Parliament step by step," said Rangoon Division Parliament Speaker Sein Tin Win. Tun Aung Myint said he had submitted the proposal for 12-party talks on constitutional reform as he believed that the involvement of more ethnic representatives would make the discussions more inclusive and therefore more likely to succeed. In Sagaing Division parliament on Tuesday, one lawmaker also submitted a proposal calling for multi-party talks involving a number of ethnic representatives, including two from Sagaing Division, in order to resolve the charter reform issue. The Rangoon Division parliament's move is an attempt to address a looming deadlock on the discussions over charter reform. Late last month, President Thein Sein and Burma Army chief Min Aung Hlaing rejected a proposal, endorsed by the Union Parliament, for six-party talks on constitutional reform. The plan would have seen Suu Kyi meet with Thein Sein, Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the speakers of both Houses of Parliament, and one representative of the ethnic parties. For many months now, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy has been calling for talks on reforming Burma's undemocratic and unpopular charter, which guarantees the army considerable political powers and blocks Suu Kyi from the presidency. However, despite some parliamentary discussions there has been no progress and it now appears that the Thein Sein administration and Burma Army are intent on blocking significant charter reforms. A meeting between Thein Sein, Suu Kyi, the army chief and 11 other key political players was hastily organized shortly before US President Obama's visit last month, but no concrete issues were discussed. The post Rangoon Parliament Proposes 12-Party Constitutional Talks to President appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Kachin Rebels Suspend Monthly Meetings With Burma Army Posted: 10 Dec 2014 04:38 AM PST  A Kachin rebel at Hka Ya Bhum, an outpost of KIA in Lajayang. in January 2013. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said it has decided to cancel its monthly meetings with local Burma Army commanders in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina, as the government and army have made no effort to properly explain its deadly surprise attack on a KIA training school last month. The Central Committee of the Kachin Independence Organization, which is the KIA's political wing, recently decided to suspend the meetings between local KIA and army commanders, said a captain with the KIO Technical Advisory Team based in Myitkyina. "The troops that shot and killed our troops were under control and command from [army headquarters in] Naypyidaw. [So] we are asking the union government to solve this problem. But we found that the union government still did not solve it. This is why we decided not to have a monthly meeting with them in December," said the officer, who declined to be named as he was unauthorized to speak to the media. "Our meetings are held with the aim of reducing conflict and preventing future conflict, but they shot and killed our troops even though we have ongoing meetings," he added. On Nov. 19, the Burma Army fired a number of artillery rounds into the grounds of a KIA training camp where dozens of young cadets were exercising. The surprise attack injured more than a dozen cadets and killed 23, most of them from rebel groups allied to the KIA, such as the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army. "We postponed the monthly meeting with them [the Burma Army] because the current problem is big and the local senior army commanders who are on the ground could not talk to solve this problem," said Lamai Gum Ja, a spokesperson from the KIO Technical Advisory Team. He said the Myitkyina meetings could resume if the issue of the attack is sufficiently addressed at an upcoming high-level meeting between the government ceasefire team of Minister Aung Min and the National Ceasefire Coordination Team, which represents an alliance of 16 ethnic armed groups, including the KIA. "We are waiting to see the future result of the meeting… we hope this problem will be solved," said Lamai Gum Ja, referring to the high-level meeting scheduled in the days before Christmas. Hla Maung Shwe, an advisor at the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center, said he was not surprised by the KIA's decision to postpone monthly meetings with the army, saying that the group wanted to raise the issue of the attack at the highest government level first during the upcoming meeting. "U Aung Min has prepared a reply to their questions about the case [of the training school attack] at the upcoming meeting," he said. "Postponing the monthly meeting, I think, will not affect the peace talks." Tensions in northern Burma have risen since the attack. The nationwide ceasefire process has suffered a setback as trust between the ethnic armed groups and the government and army was shattered. In recent months, the process had already hit a deadlock as differences over key issues, such as political autonomy for ethnic regions, could not be bridged. After a nominally-civilian government took office in Burma in 2011 it signed bilateral ceasefires with more than a dozen armed groups and initiated a nationwide ceasefire process in mid-2013. However, the KIA and the TNLA have no bilateral ceasefire and the groups, along with other rebel groups, continue to clash with the army in Kachin and Shan states. A TNLA officer said clashes between the Burma Army and the allied forces of the TNLA, KIA and ethnic Kokang rebels occurred in recent days in Kutkai Township’s Tarmoenye Sub-Township in northern Shan State. "Fighting broke out early [Wednesday] morning and it has continued the whole day," TNLA spokesperson Tar Ban Hla told The Irrawaddy. The post Kachin Rebels Suspend Monthly Meetings With Burma Army appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Disgraced Former Religion Minister’s Appeal Rejected Posted: 10 Dec 2014 04:21 AM PST  Former Religious Affairs Minister Hsan Hsint attends a meeting of the state Sangha in Rangoon in May. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Mandalay Divisional Court has rejected the appeal of former Religious Affairs Minister Hsan Hsint, who was sentenced in October to 13 years in prison on charges of corruption and sedition, according to his lawyer. Tin Tun, the ex-minister's lawyer, said the court did not indicate why the appeal had been turned down. "The court should provide a reason when denying such appeals cases. … The court said the case has been denied 'in brief' rather than listing the broad facts and reasons [for the rejection]," he said of the court's decision on Tuesday. "The court has the right to reject the appeal, but we will further appeal to the Supreme Court in Naypyidaw," Tin Tun said, referring to the nation's highest tribunal. On Oct. 17, the Dekkhinathiri District Court in Naypyidaw sentenced Hsan Hsint to three years in prison under Article 409 of the Penal Code—criminal breach of trust by a public servant—and 10 years and a 100,000 kyats (US$100) fine under Article 124(a), which covers "attempts to bring hatred or contempt … or disaffection toward [the government]." The former minister was transferred from Yamaethin Prison to Taunggu Prison on Oct. 31. Hsan Hsint's fall from grace began on June 19, when President Thein Sein dismissed him as head of the Ministry of Religious Affairs for "not performing his duties efficiently." Local media reports subsequently claimed that he had also been accused of misappropriating millions of kyats from his ministry's budget for personal interests. While he was charged for the alleged misuse of public funds under Article 409, the bulk of his sentence was handed down under Article 124(a), a sedition charge that was added by prosecutors in July. His firing in June followed a controversial raid on a monastery in Rangoon by the state-backed Buddhist clergy, which had been in an ownership dispute with a group of monks who refused to leave the monastery. The raid led to the arrest of five monks who have since been released on bail. Local media reported that Hsan Hsint and other cabinet members had disagreed over the plan to clear the monastery. The post Disgraced Former Religion Minister's Appeal Rejected appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Restaurateurs Face Rent and Tax Woes Posted: 10 Dec 2014 03:39 AM PST  Rising rents, higher taxes and foreign competition are challenges for local restaurants, says Nay Lin of the popular Sein Lan So Pyay Garden. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) Restaurants in Yangon are continuing to adjust as the hospitality industry expands to meet rising demand. Among several challenges facing locally-owned restaurants are sky-high rental prices, commercial tax hikes and the arrival of international chains. Despite the hurdles, Sein Lan So Pyay Garden restaurant—located near Yangon's famous Inya Lake—continues to do a roaring trade. Nay Lin, managing director of Sein Lan Ka Bar Co. Ltd. and vice-chairman of the Myanmar Restaurants Association (MRA), spoke with The Irrawaddy's Kyaw Hsu Mon on the outlook for the local industry. Question: When did you open Sein Lan So Pyay Garden restaurant? Answer: I opened this restaurant in 2004. At that time, we had only decided to create the garden and we leased the land from the Yangon City Development Committee on a short-term contract. Then, we began selling my sister's homemade tea leaf salads and fresh fruit juice and coffee. After customers asked us for more variety, we began selling many different kinds of food. In the past, this area [where the restaurant is located] was untouched, but there were some drug users and crime. That's why former government officials wanted to develop the area and assigned us to design a better garden. Since then we have managed to create a beautiful 3.6 acre garden. Q: What are the major challenges in managing an outdoor garden restaurant in Myanmar? A: Most of our clients want to sit by Inya Lake, so we need more waiters to serve them. We are always caring for our clients across a wide area. We have 110 staff. To be successful, we have to carefully manage our work. In peak season, about 3,000 people come here per day. We're always careful to manage security, food quality and service. We have a big lawn which has overhead cover for 250 people and a small lawn which has cover for 100 people, so clients can hold events here. The rainy season in Myanmar lasts about six months, so we have to rely on the other six months for the bulk of customers. Q: Why are there relatively few outdoor restaurants? A: The main challenge is that the government has not allowed many outdoor restaurants to set up in public areas like this. We need more public spaces for people, but if the government only allows these areas for building condos, or housing projects, it will be hard. As you know, land prices in Yangon are rising. Developers will only focus on building infrastructure, not public spaces. There are only a few public spaces for residents in Yangon to relax—Kandawgyi Park, People's Park and my garden. There are public parks in every single ward in other countries. Here, the number of garden restaurants is very small—I can count them—only two or three in Yangon. Q: What is the situation for indoor restaurants in Myanmar? Is business declining? A: The business model remains strong. But revenue is declining because employees' wages are getting higher, the price of raw materials is increasing and—the biggest challenge that we're facing now—rental costs have skyrocketed. Businesses normally rent land on a three-year contract, and we have to construct buildings and create designs during those three years. But it's hard to get returns on the investment, that's why earnings are declining. In terms of business development, now we can use new technologies and create new designs, as we are learning from other countries. We can update our businesses and the market is improving. Now, restaurant owners know how to manage their businesses. Q: What is the impact of international investment in the industry? KFC will enter the market soon and other international food franchises have already opened shops here. Can all of them compete in the future? A: It will have little impact on the market because, although when the international chains first step in, consumers will go and try them, in the long-term, people can't regularly eat fast food. It will impact the local market [but] we have our own customers. We have to maintain [high standards of] food hygiene to compete with them. The MRA has about 400 members, from Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan, although this is not the total number of restaurants in Myanmar. Q: Do you have any plans to advocate for food hygiene in Myanmar, since many foreign visitors complain about standards in the country? A: We're considering this issue. Many foreign visitors will continue to visit. MRA is recognized by the government but we're not an official authority, just volunteers. So we need to work with the government. What we can do is create awareness [of the issue]. We can't take action and push them. Q: Do you agree that the government's support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has been weak? What does the government need to do to support SMEs? A: We face many challenges just to survive in this industry, for example, high rental costs. In Yangon, the better locations go to car showrooms now. They pay more money, which we can't afford. Actually, these showrooms should be on the outskirts of the city. We can't compete with them to pay higher costs. And the government should create food stalls for clients in every single township. So customers can have whatever they want in one place. The MRA members could run these food stalls. Another challenge we're faced with is high commercial tax rates [30 percent of revenue]. We pay 25 percent and 5 percent is effectively paid by consumers. This percentage is a lot for us, and consumers don't want to pay it either. When we import raw foods for the restaurant, we are charged again, so it is almost a case of double taxation. Ultimately, the consumers will carry this burden, that's why we're speaking with the government about the issue. Food prices in Myanmar are among the most expensive in Southeast Asia and prices are always increasing. Q: Can local entrepreneurs compete with foreign traders after implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area in Myanmar next year? A: I am worried about that. We local businessmen manage our own budgets, but foreign investors are backed by food chains that have a strong budget. We will definitely lose out, for example, over high rental costs—we can't pay, but they can. So we will eventually disappear if this occurs [unchecked]. This interview was first published in the December issue of The Irrawaddy Magazine. The post Restaurateurs Face Rent and Tax Woes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| UN Urges States to Save Boat People as Record Numbers Take to Seas Posted: 10 Dec 2014 03:24 AM PST  Counter protesters are silhouetted under a banner during a demonstration called by anti-immigration group PEGIDA, a German abbreviation for 'Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West,' in Dresden on Dec. 8, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) GENEVA — Governments must focus on saving lives rather than keeping foreigners out at a time when more people than ever are embarking on risky sea crossings in search of asylum or a better life, the United Nations' refugee agency said on Wednesday. UNHCR said at least 384,000 people, including a growing number of asylum seekers, had taken to the seas since the beginning of the year. The bulk of the arrivals has been in Europe, where more than 207,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean since the start of January—about three times the previous high of about 70,000 in 2011 during the Libyan civil war. Despite the increase, the international community's response has been marred by confusion over to how to tackle the problem. Some governments are more concerned about keeping people out than treating them as individuals who may be fleeing war or persecution, UNHCR said. "This is a mistake, and precisely the wrong reaction for an era in which record numbers of people are fleeing wars," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said in a statement. "Security and immigration management are concerns for any country, but policies must be designed in a way that human lives do not end up becoming collateral damage," he said. Guterres made his comments as UNHCR opened a two-day debate with government officials, aid workers, coastguards, lawyers, academics and other experts on the matter. It comes less than two months after Italy announced it would halt a sea rescue mission—Mare Nostrum—that had saved the lives of more than 100,000 migrants from Africa and the Middle East since it began over a year ago. Italy said the mission would end to make way for a smaller European Union scheme. UNHCR said for the first time, people from "refugee producing countries" have become a major source of those leaving their homelands by boat, accounting for almost half the individuals undertaking sea journeys. Most are from Syria, where conflict has raged for nearly four years, and Eritrea, where human rights experts say national service, an indefinite conscription, amounts to forced labor. UNHCR said besides the Mediterranean, there were at least three other major sea routes being used by migrants and asylum seekers. In the Horn of Africa, more than 80,000 people, mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia, crossed the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea between Jan. 1 and end of November en route to Yemen or Saudi Arabia. In Southeast Asia, an estimated 54,000 people have taken to the sea so far this year, most of them leaving Bangladesh or Burma and heading to Thailand or Malaysia. In the Caribbean, nearly 5,000 people took to boats between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, hoping to flee poverty or in search of asylum, UNHCR said. Many travel in rickety, unseaworthy boats. Others die or fall victim to human traffickers. Worldwide, UNHCR said it had received information of 4,272 reported deaths this year. UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told a press briefing on Friday that ethnic tensions in Burma and little prospect of integration in Bangladesh were driving more Rohingya, a mostly stateless Muslim people, to the open seas than before. The vast majority use smugglers, who typically charge them very little, to make the crossings. Once they arrive they are held for ransom in secluded camps, he said. "In some cases these people stay there for months under terrible conditions," Spindler said. "We know of beatings, torture, rape against these refugees and migrants." Guterres called for all players to address the root causes of why people are fleeing and how to crack down on the criminal networks profiting from desperate would-be migrants. He also highlighted the importance of having systems to deal with arrivals and distinguish real refugees from migrants. The post UN Urges States to Save Boat People as Record Numbers Take to Seas appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Irrawaddy Salt Farmers Ordered to Pay Debt or Face Jail Posted: 10 Dec 2014 02:07 AM PST  A salt field in Irrawaddy Division. (Photo: Sai Zaw / Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Salt producers in Irrawaddy Division who fail to repay government regeneration loans granted after Cyclone Nargis could face jail as early as January of next year, an official said. Soe Myint, the divisional minister of forestry and mines, told The Irrawaddy that the current grace period will extend through the end of December, but that the government will take legal action against producers who have not begun repayment by January 2015. "We will wait until the end of December," the minister said, adding that borrowers will be required to pay back a portion of their debt or face legal action in January. Failure to pay could result in up to three months in prison. Burma's former military government offered loans of 300,000 kyats (US$300) per acre to salt producers whose farms were damaged in Labutta and Ngapudaw townships during the storm. More than six years later, the government said it is time for those funds to return, demanding that each borrower who has not begun payback hand over a premium of 770,000 kyats. Remaining debt and interest will be forgiven, Soe Myint said. Those who have already repaid more than 50 percent of their debt have been forgiven their remaining balance, a write-off worth around 10 billion kyats. Of 395 borrowers whose debts remain, 188 may be sued if they do not make an initial 770,000 kyat payment within the coming weeks. Many of them, however, are unable to make the payment because the start-up cash wasn't enough to regenerate their businesses, according to Irrawaddy Division lawmaker Htein Linn. "They would repay if they had money, but the problem is that they are in genuine hardship. They couldn't restart their salt businesses," he said. Some of the indebted salt-producers may seek private loans to avoid jail, he added, but others, having "no way out, just have to face the music." Minister Soe Myint said that failure to pay back the loans violates laws governing the salt industry, and that until recently a violation would result in a fine of 300,000 kyats. Following a meeting in early December, he said, the regulations were amended to allow for a three month prison term in lieu of or in addition to the fine. According to statistics provided by the divisional government, 75 percent of the division's salt is produced in Labutta and Ngapudaw townships, where about 900 salt producers work on more than 30,000 acres of field. The Irrawaddy Delta is one of Burma's most abundant sources of the mineral, but business has faltered since the cyclone—considered the most devastating natural disaster in Burma's recorded history— lashed the coastline in May, 2008. The post Irrawaddy Salt Farmers Ordered to Pay Debt or Face Jail appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| India, Russia to Set Out Energy Vision, Siberian Deals Eyed Posted: 09 Dec 2014 09:23 PM PST  Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza July 15, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) NEW DELHI/MOSCOW — India and Russia will strike an energy partnership when Prime Minister Narendra hosts President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to prepare the way for two Siberian oil deals and chart a route for a first pipeline between the two countries. But a joint 'vision' document is likely to lack hard details, with terms still being thrashed out for India’s ONGC Videsh to acquire an interest in Rosneft’s Vankor and Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye oilfields, officials and industry sources on both sides say. There are doubts over the viability of proposed oil and gas pipeline routes that would either cross conflict-ridden Afghanistan and Pakistan—India’s arch enemy—or mountainous tracts of inner China. Russia, isolated by the West over its annexation of Crimea and backing of an armed uprising in eastern Ukraine, has a friendship with India that dates back to the Soviet era. "In the present circumstances, when Europe is trying to isolate Russia, Putin wants to show that he has friends in the world," said Gulshan Sachdeva, head of the Centre for European Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "Modi and Putin are similar leaders. They like to announce big schemes," Sachdeva added. "It might make sense to do so—whether or not they come to fruition is another matter." New Delhi explicitly rules out joining Western sanctions against Russia although Modi has struck up an increasingly warm friendship with President Barack Obama since winning power in May, and will host the U.S. leader in January. Putin has been a regular visitor to India since becoming president in 2000 but the trip will be a one-day affair. A proposal for him to address India’s parliament was quietly dropped. Russo-Indian trade, at $10 billion, is only one-ninth of the volume between Russia and China. New Ties Indian and Russian officials say the strategic declaration will encompass issues from defense to nuclear power and even diamonds, with state monopoly Alrosa keen to ramp up exports to India. "The visit will solidify the political relationship; confirm Russia as India’s principal purveyor of arms; and expand ties in other areas, such as nuclear energy," said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. State-controlled Rosneft, the world’s largest listed oil firm by output, is strapped for cash due to Western sanctions, and is showing increased willingness to offer upstream projects to India. But wrangling continues over the interest ONGC Videsh would get in Vankor, which is expected to reach peak output of 500,000 barrels per day in 2019. Indian government sources say that Rosneft has offered a 10 percent stake in the Vankor operating company, but that New Delhi is pushing for a 25 percent interest that would allow ONGC Videsh to book equity barrels. India is also seeking tax breaks on a proposed 49 percent stake in Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye, a greenfield project in eastern Siberia, because under Russia’s existing fiscal regime the field would lose money. State oil firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s overseas arm partners Rosneft and U.S. ExxonMobil in the Sakhalin-1 offshore energy project. ONGC also owns struggling Siberian producer Imperial Energy. The aspiration to build a pipeline passage to India will be "there" in the joint Indo-Russian statement, a second Indian official said, but details remain sketchy. Russia’s ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, told reporters that an export route via China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang was under consideration but needed to be studied further due to challenging terrain. Indian officials have pushed the idea of a $40 billion pipeline to pump Siberian gas to India, but even if it is practicable it would struggle to compete with tanker-shipped liquefied natural gas. India imports 80 percent of the 4 million bpd of crude that it consumes daily, making an oil link a more promising option, yet proposals have so far failed to get off the drawing board. Russia’s Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline has a capacity of 1.6 million bpd, while state natural gas monopoly Gazprom is working to finalize a $400 billion deal to pump gas to China. The post India, Russia to Set Out Energy Vision, Siberian Deals Eyed appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Nobel Peace Winners Stress Education for All Posted: 09 Dec 2014 09:15 PM PST  Nobel Peace Prize laureates and Malala Yousafzai (left) and Kailash Satyarthi at a news conference in Oslo on Tuesday. (Photo: Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters) OSLO, Norway (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India on Tuesday stressed the importance of uniting people across borders and religions by educating children and freeing them from poverty. The 17-year-old Malala, who was shot in the head two years ago in Pakistan for insisting that girls have as much right to education as boys, says it is "not only the right but the duty of children" to be educated. Sitting alongside Malala, the youngest Nobel winner ever, the 60-year-old Satyarthi told their news conference that even if a single child is denied education "we cannot say we are enlightened." The Nobel laureates, who split the US$1.1 million award, were cited for working to protect children from slavery, extremism and child labor at great risk to their own lives. They reiterated that the prize was not only for them but for all the children of the world. "It is very important for millions and millions of our children who are denied their childhood,” Satyarthi said. "There are children who are bought and sold like animals, who are made hostages…who are made child soldiers. This is an honor for them all." Malala said she is disappointed that the prime ministers of their two rival nations have not accepted her recommendation to attend the award ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. "Countries do have borders. It doesn’t mean that you should hate each other," she said. "If they were here, I would have said to them to make education the priority together." The visit by Malala and Satyarthi has drawn hundreds of people into the freezing streets of Oslo hoping to get a glimpse of the laureates. Martin Slotnes, a Norwegian living in Australia who was visiting the city with his wife and children, said it was the first time he had taken an interest in the peace prize. "Her story moves me," he said of Malala, after showing his sons the picture he snapped of her from behind the barricade. "It was bitter cold, but it was worth it." The post Nobel Peace Winners Stress Education for All appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| China Worries May Boost Indonesia Defense Spending to $20Bln Annually Posted: 09 Dec 2014 09:02 PM PST  Indonesian military and police forces gather in a park before deployment ahead of the presidential election in central Jakarta on July 8, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — Indonesia's defense spending could grow to US$20 billion a year by 2019 to protect its sovereignty, including an area of the South China Sea near China's claims, an adviser to new Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Tuesday. Luhut Panjaitan, a former commander of Indonesia's special forces, said Jakarta had no plans to use force to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea and would continue to promote dialogue between Beijing and its regional rivals. But he said it was important to strengthen the Indonesian military to protect national interests, including Natuna—a scattering of 157 mostly uninhabited islands off the northwest coast of Borneo that are rich in oil, gas and fish. Officially, China and Indonesia agree the islands are part of Indonesia's Riau Province. But in April, Indonesia's armed forces chief accused China of including parts of Natuna within its so-called "Nine-Dash Line," a vague boundary used on Chinese maps to lay claim to about 90 percent of the South China Sea, including territory claimed by other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). "Regarding Natuna, we understand very much that this is the territory of Indonesia," Luhut told Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. Indonesia's joint gas exploration in Natuna with US oil firm Chevron should be "a signal to China that you cannot play a game here because it's also the presence of the US," he said. Lahut said Indonesia had a role to play in maintaining the balance of power in Asia and planned to increase its defense spending to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product over the next five years. "We link to economic growth of about 7 percent … so by 2019, the national defense budget can go to around $20 billion per annum," he said. "If you look at now the Chinese armed forces—much stronger—and you look at India and Indonesia … Indonesia can play a role to balance the power in this region." Lahut said the government wanted to strengthen Indonesia's navy to enable more sea patrols and to increase its three squadrons of C-130 transport aircraft to five. He also said drones would be an important part of Widodo's border-protection strategy. Indonesia's special forces, meanwhile, would concentrate on the fight against Islamic State, a radical Muslim organization in the Middle East that about 300 Indonesian nationals have joined. The post China Worries May Boost Indonesia Defense Spending to $20Bln Annually appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Lessons from Cambodia? Posted: 09 Dec 2014 04:30 PM PST  Prime Minister Hun Sen greets members of his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) during a new parliamentary session in Phnom Penh last year. (Photo: Reuters) When Mr. Hun Sen became prime minister in 1985, Cambodia was under Vietnamese occupation, internationally ostracized and gripped by an ongoing Khmer Rouge-led guerilla war. Almost three decades later, the 62-year-old strongman remains in power and a measure of stability has been achieved under his Cambodian People's Party (CPP). But despite the ruling party's oft-stated claims to have defended—to paraphrase Hun Sen—peace, order and sovereignty, dissatisfaction with the status quo is rising. In mid-2013, the CPP won a narrow victory in national elections, its worst electoral performance in 15 years. What lies behind this veneer of peace and political stability? In "Hun Sen's Cambodia," Phnom Penh-based journalist Sebastian Strangio offers an unflinching assessment. Tracing Cambodia's precarious emergence from the disastrous reign of the Khmer Rouge (1975-79), Strangio methodically dismantles the "mirage" of democracy and development assiduously constructed by the CPP and its backers. The country he depicts is ensnared by patronage politics, pervasive corruption and appalling, impunity-fueled violence. Strangio is highly critical of international interventions—from the UN peace-keeping force (1992-93) that failed to demobilize the various fighting factions to the ongoing trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders that have been plagued by dysfunction and interference. He also takes aim at the empty apolitical development jargon of many local and international NGOs and their inclination to focus on short-term results. Cambodia today, argues Strangio, is trapped in a "development complex." Continued lack of state capacity is matched by ongoing disbursals of international aid, enabling the government to continue "ignoring its most basic responsibilities." He coins the term "Hunsenomics" to describe the system of patronage, graft and shameless nepotism that enriches a small circle of elites and their families and leaves systemic poverty to fester. At the center of this destructive but enduring social and political order, Mr. Hun Sen rules on a diet of force and fear-mongering, intimidation and bribery. Strangio paints a perceptive portrait of the former Khmer Rouge cadre as the quintessential political animal; as comfortable wooing international aid donors as he is publically threatening opponents. Any individual or institution that may rival his impervious influence is ruthlessly brought to heel. Mr. Hun Sen's self-regard manifests itself in the thousands of schools that bear his name and the countless CPP billboards across the country that feature him waving benevolently, as Strangio recounts, in "Dear Leader" mode. After refusing to pass a law in 2002 on regulating the royal succession, the prime minister asserted: "I have no right to be the king. But I have the right to create a king." The book introduces a raft of other powerful figures. Tycoons such as Teng Bunma, who once shot out the tire of a grounded airliner in a fit of rage; the businesswoman Keat Kolney, who hoodwinked villagers in Kong Yu into parting with their land to make way for a rubber plantation; and, of course, the enigmatic former king Norodom Sihanouk, who maintained a curious relationship of rivalry and respect with Hun Sen until his death in 2012. But the book is at its most poignant when drawing on the voices of ordinary Cambodians. Garment factory workers such as Yem Sreyvy who works long hours for a barely livable wage. Or Loun Sovath, a Buddhist monk evicted from his monastery for protesting against land confiscation. Many others relate stories of suffering caused by the scourge of land grabbing that has accompanied "economic development" in the country. Noch Chhoun was one of several hundred residents violently evicted from Borei Keila in Phnom Penh in 2012. "If I didn't wake up I would have died there," she says of the bulldozers that razed her home. As Myanmar embarks on its own stuttering transition from decades of conflict and military rule, "Hun Sen's Cambodia" provides a sobering reminder of pitfalls that may lay in wait. The "development complex" mentioned above may be an example. Or the "licensed graft" that accompanies the privatization of state land and enterprises, to the benefit of government-aligned cronies. But perhaps the book's most pertinent note of caution for Myanmar is this: that the journey toward greater rights and freedoms is far from inevitable. It is always vulnerable to subversion by those with traditional means of power: wealth and weapons. Hun Sen's Cambodia is published in this region by Silkworm Books in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This review originally appeared in the December issue of The Irrawaddy Magazine. The post Lessons from Cambodia? appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Nuts! Korean Flight Delayed by First Class Spat Posted: 09 Dec 2014 04:00 PM PST  The international arrival terminal at JFK airport in New York October 11, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) SEOUL — Forget dust-ups over reclining seats in economy class. There's a new and exclusive twist on in-flight anger: Nut rage in first class. A recent Korean Air Lines flight was delayed when its chairman's daughter, who was also vice president responsible for cabin service at the airline, ordered a senior crew member off the plane. The crime? Allowing her and other passengers in the pointy end of the aircraft to be served bagged macadamia nuts instead of nuts on a plate. The executive, Cho Hyun-ah, resigned Tuesday amid a storm of public criticism in South Korea. The airline had earlier excused her behavior even as it apologized for inconveniencing passengers. South Korean media reported this week that the flight from New York City to Incheon, South Korea returned to the gate after Cho told the head of cabin crew to leave the plane. The reports said Cho quarreled with crew in the first class cabin and the flight departed 20 minutes late. Cho, 40, is the oldest child of Korean Air's chairman, tycoon Cho Yang-ho. Her two siblings are also executives at South Korea's largest airline. The incident caused uproar in South Korea where it was seen as an example of over-mighty behavior by the offspring of the moneyed elite. The South Korean economy is dominated by family-controlled conglomerates known as chaebol. Family members often wield greater influence over major companies than shareholders and executives with no blood ties to the founding family. The Cho family owns about 10 percent of Korean Air Lines, part of a business empire than spans the travel, logistics, hotel and leisure industries. Korean Air Lines confirmed that Flight 86 was delayed at John F. Kennedy airport on Dec. 5 due to the nut incident. But the company said the decision to disembark the crew member was made by the flight's captain. South Korea's government said it is investigating whether Cho violated aviation safety law. Cho could face legal action if the probe shows that she interrupted the flight or endangered safety by using threats, her status or violence. Korean Air Lines Co. said Tuesday before Cho's resignation that it was "natural" for her to fault the crew's ignorance of procedures. The airline's cabin crew are required to ask first class passengers whether they want nuts, partly to avoid serving them to people with allergies. The nuts also should have been served on a plate. The airline said it will step up training to improve customer service and safety. Cho was not available to comment. People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a civic group, said it would file a complaint against Cho with prosecutors. "The anger and the concern from the public were so big because safety and procedures related to important services were simply ignored" due to Cho's status, the group said. The post Nuts! Korean Flight Delayed by First Class Spat appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
