The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Tourist Numbers Hit 3m in 2014: President
- Protests Against Letpadaung Mine Staged in Burma’s Biggest Cities
- Groups Urge Creation of Committee to Handle Letpadaung Disputes
- ABSDF Meets Govt Peace Negotiators Ahead of Presidential Dialogue
- Fire Guts Kachin IDP Camp on Chinese Border
- Bagan’s Painters Add Gritty Dimension to Their Craft
- New Bridge Joins New Year’s Revelers in Thailand’s Sangkhlaburi
- Rangoon Police Seeking Culprit Behind Independence Flag Hoist
- Speaker Shwe Mann Says President is Underpaid
- ‘A Living Hell’ for Slaves on Remote South Korean Islands
- Investigators to Use Acoustic Equipment to Search for AirAsia Black Boxes
- Stampede Leaves 36 dead, 47 Injured in Shanghai
| Tourist Numbers Hit 3m in 2014: President Posted: 02 Jan 2015 04:52 AM PST  Foreign tourists sightsee at Shwe Indein Pagoda near Shan State's Inle Lake. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Business is booming in the tourism sector, President Thein Sein said in his monthly radio address on Thursday, announcing that Burma received more than 3 million visitors and raked in US$3 billion last year. Thein Sein said that "more than 3 million tourists visited the country within 2014," slightly exceeding annual predictions by industry experts and the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. The estimated $3 billion income caught some observers by surprise: Burma earned about $926 million in 2013 and only $534 million in 2012, according to ministry statistics. A ministry representative, Aung Zaw Win, told The Irrawaddy that the number reflects a broad range of financial benefits beyond direct profits. "The 3 billion includes direct, indirect and induced effects of tourism," said Aung Zaw Win, who serves as the director general of the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism under the ministry. The new statistics also indicate a 50 percent increase in the number of visitors over the past year, up from 2.04 million in 2013. Aung Zaw Win said the ministry's goal of hitting the 3 million mark was surpassed just before the year's end. "The number of tourists reached our prediction in the third week of December," he said. "We are now calculating to get the [exact] total of tourists for last year." The ministry has stated a goal of receiving as many as 7.4 million tourists in the year 2020, as part of the government's Tourism Master Plan released in June, 2013. Aung Zaw Win said the directorate is working with private sector actors to develop the infrastructure, accommodation and services necessary to reach the goal. Phyo Wai Yar Zar, chairman of Myanmar Tourism Marketing and joint secretary of the Myanmar Tourism Federation, said the new statistics show that Burma is ahead of schedule in terms of sector growth. "If the growth keeps going at the rate it is now, visitor numbers can reach 7 million before 2020," he predicted, adding that stakeholders should keep a "positive outlook" regardless of whether the growth rate maintains its current velocity. The ministry has committed to expanding tourism development into several remote and pristine areas that were long beyond the reach of travelers. Destinations in Chin and Shan states, Tenasserim Division and the ancient cities of Pyu—which recently became Burma's first entry on the Unesco list of world heritage sites—are being targeted for development under the direction of their respective regional governments, Aung Zaw Win said. In addition to lengthening the list of destinations, he added that the ministry has prioritized capacity building and service industry training. An Asean Tourism Forum will be hosted in Naypyidaw in late January, which will unite regional industry players for skill-sharing and professional training. The total number of visitors to Burma rose sharply after power was transferred from the military to a nominally civilian government in 2011, surpassing 1 million for the first time in 2012. The industry suffered during the junta years partly as a result of a tourism boycott designed to avoid funding the oppressive regime. In early October, the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism announced that 2016 would be designated as "Visit Myanmar Year," in an attempt to revamp the tourism sector amid chronic complaints of accommodation shortages and weak infrastructure for communications and transit. A similar campaign was launched in 1996. The post Tourist Numbers Hit 3m in 2014: President appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Protests Against Letpadaung Mine Staged in Burma’s Biggest Cities Posted: 02 Jan 2015 04:35 AM PST  Rangoon activists on their way to Chinese Embassy on Thursday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Activists in Burma's two largest cities took to the streets on Thursday to show their solidarity with farmers affected by the Letpadaung copper mining project, demanding justice for 56-year-old woman Khin Win, who was killed during a clash with the police in December. In Rangoon, nearly two-dozen activists gathered in front of the Maha Bandoola Park before marching to the Chinese Embassy to attempt a protest in front of the building. Their efforts were thwarted when a column of police officers blocked their way to the embassy. Mandalay saw a relatively large demonstration when several hundred Buddhist monks, activists and farmers from nearby villages joined local protesters. The Thursday protest was the second in Mandalay related related to Letpadaung in the last two weeks. In both cities, protestors requested the Burmese Government and Wanbao, the Chinese mining firm operating the project in a joint venture, to follow the instructions from the Letpadaung Investigation Report, provide justice for the woman killed during protests and stop fencing farmland in the vicinity of the mine.3 The post Protests Against Letpadaung Mine Staged in Burma's Biggest Cities appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Groups Urge Creation of Committee to Handle Letpadaung Disputes Posted: 02 Jan 2015 04:22 AM PST  A farmer walks along a barbed wire fence erected last month at the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — More than 50 organizations and political parties this week issued a statement condemning the government for an incident last month in which police clashed with protestors at the Letpadaung copper mine, killing a 56-year-old woman, with the groups calling for the creation of a committee to resolve the long-running dispute at the project site. Tun Win Nyein, a communications officer from the Sayar Gyi Takhin Ko Taw Mine Peace Network, told The Irrawaddy that the groups are urging the government "to establish a committee that includes local people, professionals, the Letpadaung report implementation committee, Wanbao and UMEHL companies to find a solution. If not, the demonstrations will not stop, they will happen again and again." The Chinese firm Wanbao and the Burma Army-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd (UMEHL) are responsible for operations at the mining site. The Letpadaung report implementation committee refers to a body that was created to carry out recommendations made by a parliamentary committee tasked with finding solutions to the problems that have plagued the mining project, which is located in Sagaing Division. The 58 organizations on Tuesday called for a suspension of project activities until durable solutions are found. Last week, Aung San Suu Kyi, who chaired the parliamentary committee on Letpadaung, accused the government of failing to act on the recommendations of the report. Tun Win Nyein said that because Wanbao had signed its project contract with UMEHL, he considered UMEHL to be primarily responsible for resolving outstanding contentions. Wanbao has made attempts to address affected residents' complaints about the project, including an agreement to put 2 percent of profits toward corporate social responsibility projects and spend $2 million each year on environmental protection. The groups this week also called for an investigation and that charges be brought against those responsible for the deadly incident on Dec. 22, and are advocating for full implementation of the parliamentary committee's report. Sitt Myaing, secretary of Burma's National Human Rights Commission, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that an investigation into the incident was launched by the commission this week. The 58 organizations and political parties include the Sayar Gyi Takhin Ko Taw Mine Network, Kayan New Land Party (KNLP), the Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), the Farmers Union and the Karen Women's Organization. Maj. Saw Lwin, an associate secretary of the KNLP, told The Irrawaddy that they would stand behind the farmers affected by the Letpadaung mine. "The people who cruelly shot and killed the farmer Khin Win continue to operate beyond the rule of law, but Naw Ohn Hla and other people who protest against the unfair event are arrested and sent to Insein Prison and we also condemn this," he said, referring to the arrest of activists this week in Rangoon. The 58 groups' statement follows a similar denunciation by more than 200 civil society organizations, including CSOs in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). On Dec. 22, Wanbao began fencing in disputed land, leading to clashes between police and locals that resulted in the death of Khin Win. Several others involved in the protest were also injured. The post Groups Urge Creation of Committee to Handle Letpadaung Disputes appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| ABSDF Meets Govt Peace Negotiators Ahead of Presidential Dialogue Posted: 02 Jan 2015 04:14 AM PST  Than Khe, the chair of ABSDF (right) with Minister Aung Min (second left) and Minster Khin Ye (left) at the meeting in Naypyidaw on Friday. (Photo: ABSDF) NAYPYIDAW — The All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) and peace negotiators have held high-level talks ahead of a meeting of ethnic armed group leaders and President Thein Sein, more than a year after the government and the once-outlawed student army brokered a ceasefire. Present at the discussions in Naypyidaw on Friday were members of the ABSDF central committee led by chair Than Khe, the Burmese government's chief peace negotiator Aung Min, and representatives of the Burma Army. Dr Min Zaw Oo, the director of Ceasefire Negotiation and Implementation at the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center, said that the meeting reviewed agreements made with the ABSDF as part of the ceasefire negotiated in Aug. 2013, which include collaborating in efforts to establish a nationwide ceasefire agreement and political dialogue between the government and other factions. "We both share the belief that the effort towards a nationwide ceasefire agreement is moving forward," Myo Win, the vice-chairperson of the ABSDF, told The Irrawaddy, adding that his organization is dedicated to fostering a stable political environment for the nationwide ceasefire agreement and the coming general election. Myo Win added that the ABSDF does not believe there should be any preconditions for parties to a future nationwide ceasefire agreement, for which the Burma Army has contentiously demanded that insurgent groups abide by the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, and ethnic armed groups have demanded consideration for a federalized army. The nationwide ceasefire agreement has stalled after the army's deadly attack on a Kachin Independence Army academy on Nov. 19. Despite a meeting between the government and the National Ceasefire Coordinating Team, which represents ethnic armed groups, at the end of December, nothing concrete arose from discussions. President Thein Sein is planning to meet with leaders of ethnic armed groups on Jan. 5, and the ABSDF will be present on the occasion. Min Zaw Oo said that "the government intends to use discussions to make progress towards the nationwide ceasefire agreement," and he intends to discuss the concerns of ethnic armed groups not yet party to bilateral ceasefire agreements. "We hope to raise their political viewpoints with the President when we meet him," he said. The post ABSDF Meets Govt Peace Negotiators Ahead of Presidential Dialogue appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Fire Guts Kachin IDP Camp on Chinese Border Posted: 02 Jan 2015 03:16 AM PST  More than 100 households have been razed in a devastating fire at the Sin Kyaing camp for internally displaced persons. RANGOON — A camp for internally displaced persons in Kachin State suffered a devastating fire on Monday that has gutted at least 100 households, according to local reports. About 1000 IDPs live in the Sin Kyaing camp, located in Wine Maw Township, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) east of the state capital Myitkyina on the China-Burma border. While there were no casualties from the blaze, which started from an electrical fire, the Kachin Baptist Church says that the camp's residents are now in dire need of warm clothes, food and accommodation to see through the winter months. "There is no place for refugees to sleep now," said Lamang Yaw, a communications officer from the church said of those Sin Kyaing camp residents who lost their homes in the fire. "The neighbors are helping with food… [but] it's important to build huts for them to live, urgently." Doi Be Za, the head of the Kachin Independence Organization's IDPs and Refugees Relief Committee, told The Irrawaddy that the camp fell outside of his organization's jurisdiction. "It's not at in our area of control. But we are compiling a list on the loss of property lost in the fire. Then, we will continue to do what we need to for the refugees." The nearby village of Kambaiti is reportedly under the control of Border Guard Force unit led by Zahkung Ting Ying, a parliamentarian representing a territory previously controlled by the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDAK). The NDAK's predecessor organization split from the KIO in 1968 and merged into the Border Guard Force in 2009, two years before the outbreak of renewed hostilities between the KIO and the Burma Army. Another Kachin IDP camp on the Chinese border suffered a fire in March last year, which claimed the life of a 13-year-old girl after a tarpaulin tent provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees burnt to the ground. The post Fire Guts Kachin IDP Camp on Chinese Border appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Bagan’s Painters Add Gritty Dimension to Their Craft Posted: 02 Jan 2015 03:04 AM PST  Sand-painting and -carving artist Maung Pa showing off his "sand-sculpture." (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) BAGAN, Mandalay Division — Bagan is a destination with many draws, from ancient temples to quaint horse-drawn carriages that whisk visitors through an almost magical landscape. One attraction, in particular, is on the rise as tourism develops in the central Burma locale: fine, hand-crafted artworks. The subtle yet captivating art of sand-painting is blooming in Bagan, as craftsmen become more skilled and the costs of producing the area's famed lacquer-ware become prohibitive. The practice of sand-painting originally evolved out of the much more intensive lacquer-ware production. Many craftsmen took up painting because it was popular among tourists and was a more mobile way to make a living; a painter can simply roll up his or her merchandise and set up shop at the feet of any interested buyer. Sand paintings, which are typically representational acrylic images painted over a sandy surface layered onto a cotton cloth, are a great medium for local artists because they appeal to both foreign and domestic tourists, said 49-year-old painter Maung Pa. "We are seeing more interest in hand-made things, not only among the foreigners but also the local tourists, since about 2010," said Maung Pa. He used to work as a lacquer-ware seller, but for the past 15 years he has honed his own skills with the brush. His hopes that it would be a better source of income seem to have paid off recently, he said. "We can feed our family well." Maung Pa now runs a small shop at the Gu Byauk Kyi temple near Myin Ka Ba village in Old Bagan, the part of town known for its dense cluster of beautiful and extravagant archaic structures. Every day he opens his shop by hanging each painting one-by-one in the early morning light. Business wasn't always booming, he admitted. It wasn't until about 10 years ago that people started to notice the style emerging. The early methods of sand-painting were first explored by an artist named Sandar Khine, according to Burmese contemporary artists. Sandar Khine, who now focuses on nudes, became enamored with mural painting after visiting Bagan and experiencing the breathtaking wall paintings spanning the ancient, faded interiors. In the late 1990's, she began trying to recreate the traditional motifs on canvas. She tried for years to capture the spirit of the murals, but her materials failed her. "I tried to express the art of the mural in sketches, at first," she recalled, "but it didn't work." After years of experimenting, she finally found that one surface was able to recreate some of the aesthetic qualities and tactile seductiveness of Bagan's enchanting walls. By 2003 she had mastered the art of sand-painting, and she introduced her technique to local artists who were already taking their craft to the canvas. The method quickly took hold among the artistic community, as painters continued to sharpen their skills and attempt to recreate the images of their kingly ancestors. Myo Thant peddles his own creations in a makeshift shop at the Thatbyinnyu temple. He said he strives to achieve the proficiency of Bagan's masters. "Our creations are inspired by the original Yun [lacquer-ware] and from murals inside the temples," he told The Irrawaddy. Born in Old Bagan, 30-year-old Myo Thant has been refining his art for the past 13 years. He grew up surrounded by the art of one of Burma's most magnetic cultural attractions, but he received no formal training. With more than a decade of experience—and with a sudden spike in vistors—Myo Thant said he now makes a steady income from his vocation. "We made less money from sand-paintings during the politically complicated years, around the Saffron Revolution and cyclone Nargis. Foreign tourists were banned at that time," he recalled. Now, he said, it has become a more stable profession. Not only is sand-painting in high demand, but the production costs are lower than creating lacquer-ware. "As lacquer prices became higher, most people couldn't keep doing it," echoed Maung Pa. He said he had tried to earn a living in several different mediums, including plain-canvas painting and sand-sculpture. Sand-sculpture, or sand-carving, is an intensive technique using at least three types of sand sourced from the Irrawaddy River and nearby streams. Sand-sculpture is also adhered to canvas, but adds depth and dimension to the image. While many artists sell their own paintings, some are sold on commission by shopkeepers, and more still are shipped to Rangoon for sale in larger markets. A sand-painting typically goes for US$8 to $20, sometimes as high as $50 for a sand-sculpture. Local buyers, however, still get the best deals. The post Bagan's Painters Add Gritty Dimension to Their Craft appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| New Bridge Joins New Year’s Revelers in Thailand’s Sangkhlaburi Posted: 02 Jan 2015 02:25 AM PST  The Thai border town of Sangkhlaburi counts a host of ethnic minorities among its population. (Photo: Hsu Wanna) SANGKHLABURI, Thailand — In Sangkhlaburi, a border town that has long been a bridge between Thai and Burmese cultures, residents appear to be benefitting from the reconstruction of a literal bridge, after a portion of its predecessor collapsed in July 2013. Locals attribute a rising number of visitors to the new wooden bridge, which was completed in September of this year. Local businesses were affected when the link was severed, though some enterprising residents did later manage to build a floating bamboo bridge in the shadow of the broken structure. Shops, cafes and restaurants have since sprouted up to cater to a growing number of visitors. The town's revival was on full display for New Year's festivities this year, with hundreds of people drawn both by the bridge and a Mon Culture village in southern Thailand's Kanchanaburi province. The village, which is under Thai sovereignty, was established in 1984 and is home to more than 5,000 people who rely on the bridge to link them to the rest of Sangkhlaburi. The diverse population of Sangkhlaburi—which sits across the border from the Burmese town of Payathonsu—also includes a smattering of ethnic Karen, Dawei, Chinese, Arakanese and Bangladeshis. Crowds on Wednesday thronged the wooden bridge, Thailand's longest, with celebrants lining its planks and the river it spans to welcome 2015. On Thursday, the people rose early to donate food to Buddhist monks at a monastery nearby. A shortage of accommodation in the town was to the benefit of some entrepreneurial homeowners, who opened their doors to visitors for the night—at a price of 300 baht (US$10). The Mon Culture village was established by U Uttama, an ethnic Mon Buddhist monk who also had the wooden bridge built. Fleeing civil war in Burma, U Uttama migrated to Thailand in 1949 with about 60 followers. He had a strong spiritual influence over Mon, Karen and Thai people, and helped establish Sangkhlaburi and Three Pagodas Pass, the latter of which serves as an important border crossing between Thailand and Burma. The village land controlled by U Uttama is not for sale and anyone who wants to can build a home on it. U Uttama passed away on Oct. 18, 2006. His legacy lingers on, however, perhaps best encapsulated in these words, spoken by the monk: "You can live here as long as you like, if you live with a peaceful mind." The post New Bridge Joins New Year's Revelers in Thailand's Sangkhlaburi appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Rangoon Police Seeking Culprit Behind Independence Flag Hoist Posted: 02 Jan 2015 01:47 AM PST  The State of Burma flag, flying from the mast of the former High Court building in downtown Rangoon on Thursday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — To the embarrassment of Burmese authorities, a flag representing the country's aspirations to independence in the 1930s and '40s was hoisted on the mast of Burma's former High Court building on Thursday afternoon. The appearance of the flag coincided with a protest against the Letpadaung copper mining project at Maha Bandoola Garden Park, a few meters away from the court building and Sule Pagoda. Authorities lowered the flag a few minutes after it attracted the attention of those nearby. The identity of the person responsible for raising the flag remains unknown, and officials at the building, which now houses the Rangoon Division High Court, were not available for comment. The flag hoisted on Thursday is similar in appearance to the one currently mandated by the Burmese Constitution, with a yellow, green and red horizontal tricolor design, but a green peacock replaces the white five-pointed star in the flag's center. Used as an anti-colonial motif during the 1930s, the green peacock standard became the official flag of Burma during the final two years of World War II, during a time in which the country became nominally independent from the United Kingdom and was notionally governed by a Burmese cabinet, in tandem with the presence of the Imperial Japanese Army. The green peacock was a traditional symbol of the Burmese monarchy, which was abolished in 1885 after the Third Anglo-Burman War established British sovereignty over the entire country. According to Kyauktada Police Station chief Tin Win, the deputy director of the Rangoon Division Legal Affairs Administration has filed a complaint at the station under Article 16 of the 2010 State Flag Law and the offender, if found, faces a three-year prison sentence and 300,000 kyats (US$290) fine. "So far, we haven't arrested anyone yet as we have just started looking for the culprit," he told the Irrawaddy. The State Flag Law prohibits defacing the official Burmese flag, allowing it to touch the ground, hoisting it half-mast without approval, hoisting another flag in a place designed for the official flag, and using the flag at funerals not deemed state or military occasions. Additional reporting by Nan Lwin Hini Pwint. The post Rangoon Police Seeking Culprit Behind Independence Flag Hoist appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Speaker Shwe Mann Says President is Underpaid Posted: 02 Jan 2015 12:51 AM PST  Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann recommends that the presidential salary be raised during a meeting with civil society leaders in Rangoon on Tuesday. Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann recommended that the presidential salary be raised during a meeting with civil society leaders in Rangoon on Tuesday. The Speaker, who is also chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and expected to be a contender for the next presidency, said the current 5 million kyat (US$4,800) salary is not enough pay for the responsibilities of the post. "Five million kyats is small," said Shwe Mann, contrasting the stipend with salaries offered to foreign experts entering the country on temporary consultancy contracts. "We have to pay at least $25,000 to hire a foreigner who understands banking and financial systems. That's equivalent to about 25 million kyats. Just compare his responsibility and accountability to that of the president." Lawyer and activist Robert San Aung warned that raising the salary—especially shortly before an election scheduled or late 2015—could lead voters to distrust Burma's leadership. While the presidential salary has been set at 5 million kyats, Thein Sein only received 1.5 million until April, 2014, because of a government budget shortfall. "Five million kyats is more than enough. People will disrespect the administration if they keep doing this again and again," Said Robert San Aung. "In fact, 5 million kyats is too much. He should take less. A township judge can hardly make ends meet with his monthly salary of 200,000 kyats. Is this fair or not? You just think about it." Upper House lawmaker Phone Myint Aung countered that 5 million kyats is low in the context of other leaders, and that other Burmese officials are receiving stipends that dwarf the president's income. "For a head of state, 5 million kyats is very small. Even retired Snr-Gen Than Shwe receives 10 million kyats as his monthly pension," he said. Phone Myint Aung added, however, that the expenditures of the president's office are vast and unaudited. At present, Burma's vice president is paid 4 million kyats per month, while the Speaker and ministry heads receive 3.5 and 3 million kyats, respectively. The post Speaker Shwe Mann Says President is Underpaid appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| ‘A Living Hell’ for Slaves on Remote South Korean Islands Posted: 01 Jan 2015 10:29 PM PST  South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye, pictured on November 13, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) SINUI ISLAND, South Korea — The summer sun beat down on the shallow, sea-fed fields where Kim Seong-baek was forced to work without pay, day after 18-hour day mining the big salt crystals that blossomed in the mud around him. Half-blind and in rags, Kim grabbed another slave, and the two men—both disabled—headed for the coast. Far from Seoul, the glittering steel-and-glass capital of one of Asia's richest countries, they were now hunted men on this tiny, remote island where the enslavement of disabled salt farm workers is an open secret. "It was a living hell," Kim said. "I thought my life was over." Lost, they wandered past asphalt-black salt fields sparkling with a patina of thin white crust. They could feel the islanders they passed watching them. Everyone knew who belonged and who didn't. Near a grocery, the store owner's son came out and asked what they were doing. Kim broke down, begged for help, said he'd been held against his will. The man offered to take them to the police to file a report. Instead, he called their boss— who beat Kim with a rake—and it was back to the salt fields. "I couldn't fight back," Kim said, in a recent series of interviews with The Associated Press whose details are corroborated by court records and by lawyers, police and government officials. "The islanders are too organized, too connected." Nowhere Else to Go Slavery thrives on this chain of rural islands off South Korea's rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea. Five times during the last decade, revelations of slavery involving the disabled have emerged, each time generating national shame and outrage. Kim's case prompted a nationwide government probe over the course of several months last year. Officials searched more than 38,000 salt, fish and agricultural farms and disabled facilities and found more than 100 workers who had received no—or only scant—pay, and more than 100 who had been reported missing by their families. Yet little has changed on the islands, according to a months-long investigation by the AP based on court and police documents and dozens of interviews with freed slaves, salt farmers, villagers and officials. Although 50 island farm owners and regional job brokers were indicted, no local police or officials have faced punishment — and national police say none will, despite multiple interviews showing some knew about the slaves and even stopped escape attempts. Slavery has been so pervasive that regional judges have shown leniency toward several perpetrators. In suspending the prison sentences of two farmers, a court said that "such criminal activities were tolerated as common practice by a large number of salt farms nearby." The AP findings shine a spotlight on the underbelly of an Asian success story. After decades of war, poverty and dictatorship, South Koreans now enjoy a vibrant democracy and media, and an entertainment industry that's the envy of the region. But amid the country's growing wealth and power, the disabled often don't fit in. Soon after the national government's investigation, activists and police found another 63 unpaid or underpaid workers on the islands, three-quarters of whom were mentally disabled. Yet some refused to leave the salt farms because they had nowhere else to go. Several freed disabled slaves told the AP they will return because they believe that even the salt farms are better than life on the streets or in crowded shelters. In some cases, relatives refused to take the disabled back or sent salt farmers letters confirming that they didn't need to pay the workers. Kim's former boss, Hong Jeong-gi, didn't respond to multiple requests for comment through his lawyer, but argued in court that he didn't confine the two men. Hong is set to appear next week in court to appeal a 3½-year prison sentence. Other villagers, including paid salt workers, say farmers do the best they can despite little help from the government, and add that only a few bad owners abuse workers. Farmers describe themselves as providing oases for the disabled and homeless. "These are people who are neglected and mistreated, people who have nowhere to go," Hong Chi-guk, a 64-year-old salt farmer in Sinui, told the AP. "What alternative does our society have for them?" 'He Said I Should Be Thankful' On the night of July 4, 2012, a stranger approached Kim in a Seoul train station where he was trying to sleep; Kim had been homeless since fleeing creditors a decade earlier. The man offered him lodging for the night and promised him food, cigarettes and a "good job" in the morning. Hours later, Kim stood in the muck of a salt farm owned by Hong, who had paid an illegal job agent the equivalent of about $700 for his new worker, according to court records. Kim, visually disabled and described in court documents as having the social awareness of a 12-year-old, had no money, no cell phone and only the vaguest idea of where he was. The afternoon of his first full day on the farm, Hong erupted as Kim struggled with the backbreaking work, according to the prosecutors' indictment that a judge based Hong's sentence on. The owner grabbed him from behind and flipped him onto the ground, screaming, "You moron. If I knew you'd be so bad at this, I wouldn't have brought you here." In the next weeks, Hong punched him in the face for not cleaning floors properly. He beat him on the buttocks with a wooden plank for raking the salt in the wrong way. "Each time I tried to ask him something, his punch came first," Kim told the AP. "He told me to use my mouth only for eating and smoking. He said I shouldn't question things and should be thankful because he fed me and gave me lodging and work." It was just as bad for the other slave, Chae Min-sik, a tiny man whose disabilities are so severe that he struggles even with basic words. Only a week after his first capture, Kim began to plan another escape. Slave Islands "Angel Islands," the regional tourist board calls the 1,004 islands clustered in the sun-sparkling waters off South Korea's southwestern tip, because the Korean word for "1,004" sounds like the word for "angel." Local media call them "Slave Islands." Parts of the region have been shut out from the country's recent meteoric development. On many of the 72 inhabited islands, salt propels the economic engine, thanks to clean water, wide-open farmland and strong sunlight. Sinan County has more than 850 salt farms that produce two-thirds of South Korea's sea salt. To make money, however, farmers need labor, lots of it and cheap. Around half of Sinui Island's 2,200 people work in salt farming, according to a county website and officials. Even with pay, the work is hard. Large farms in Europe can harvest salt once or twice a year with machines. But smaller Korean farms rely on daily manpower to wring salt from seawater. Workers manage a complex network of waterways, hoses and storage areas. When the salt forms, they drain the fields, rake the salt into mounds, clean it and bag it. The process typically takes 25 days. Sinan salt, which costs about three times more than refined salt, is coveted in South Korea, found in fancy department stores and given as wedding gifts. "Everyone makes money from the farms," said Choi Young-shim, the owner of a fish restaurant in Mokpo, the southern port city that's the gateway to the salt islands. Not Everyone The second time they ran, Kim and Chae again tried to find their way to the port. But they had to pass the grocery store to get there, and again the store owner's son, identified by officials only as Yoon, rounded them up and called Hong. After another beating, it was back to work. The few hours they weren't in the fields, they slept in a concrete storage building filled with piles of junk and large orange sacks of rice. Kim despaired of ever escaping. Hong was an influential man, a former village head. He was linked by regular social contact and family ties with other salt farmers and villagers, some of whom volunteered to patrol the island for escaped workers. Although Kim lived only 3 kilometers from a police station, he never thought about asking for help. He believed he'd be ignored or, worse, returned. Kim ran again at the end of the month. Hong quickly called members of the volunteer patrol, and, again, Yoon spotted the slaves as they tried to reach the port and brought them to Hong. Furious, the owner issued an ultimatum: Run again, and you'll get a knife in the stomach. Hong beat Kim so badly he broke Kim's glasses, leaving him nearly blind. He worked Kim so hard the slave was too tired to think about escape, even if he hadn't been terrified to try. "It just drove me deeper into despair," Kim said. "I never had a chance." Treated Like Dogs and Pigs The exact number of people enslaved on the islands is difficult to determine for the same reasons that slavery lingers: the transient nature of the work, the remoteness of the farms and the closeness — and often hostility — of the island communities. "It's like a game of hide-and-seek," said Park Su-in, an activist. "What we are finding is just the tip of the iceberg. It's hard to comprehend how bad it is for the disabled people who are forced to work out on these isolated islands." Activists believe many slaves have yet to be found, as some salt farm owners sent victims away or hid them from investigators. They say others coached disabled workers about what they should say in interviews. While island police officers were moved to different posts on the mainland as part of annual personnel changes, authorities found no collusion, according to a Mokpo police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules. "If the recent investigation was done properly, then pretty much everyone on the island should've been taken to the police station and charged," said Kim Kang-won, another activist who participated in the recent investigation on Sinui. "The whole village knew about it. The local government office, and the police as well. It is clear negligence. And the problem hasn't been resolved yet." Provincial police vowed to inspect farms and interview workers regularly. Choi Byung-dai, a police officer on Sinui Island when Kim was freed, expressed regret about Kim's treatment but also noted the difficulty of monitoring so many salt farms and a flood of seasonal workers. Salt farmers blame illegal job agencies in Mokpo, which see mentally disabled workers as better bets because they're less likely to complain or run away. "They're treated like dogs and pigs, but people in the community are used to it," said Kim Kyung-lae, a Mokpo cab driver who regularly drives local employment agents and disabled workers to the ferry port to meet with farm owners. Others familiar with the island confirm that slavery is rampant. A doctor who worked at the Sinui Island public health center from 2006 to 2007 said most of the workers he treated were abused or exploited. "The police chief would tell me that I'd eventually come to understand that this was how things on the island worked," said Cho Yong-su. "For decades they'd exploited workers in this way, so they couldn't understand that this was abuse." An outsider might cringe at what's happening on the island, said Han Bong-cheol, a pastor in Mokpo who lived on Sinui for 19 years until June. "But when you live there, many of these problems feel inevitable." He sympathized with farmers forced to deal with disabled, incompetent workers whom he described as dirty and lazy. "They spend their leisure time eating snacks, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. They are taken once or twice a year to Mokpo so they can buy sex. It's a painful reality, but it's a pain the island has long shared as a community," Han said. 'I Am Going to Live' After a year and a half as a slave, Kim made one last bid for freedom. He wrote a letter to his mother in Seoul that he never expected to be able to send, calling himself her "foolish" son. He got a break when Hong's wife let him go alone for a haircut. Walking slowly without his glasses, he ducked into the post office and mailed the letter, which gave directions to the farm. Kim's mother was stunned. She brought the letter to Seo Je-gong, a police captain for the Seoul Guro district. "A vanished person had suddenly reappeared," Seo, now retired, told AP. Seo then hatched an extraordinary plan. Because Kim's letter noted collaboration between local police and salt farm owners, Seo and another Seoul officer ran a clandestine operation without telling local officials. Carrying fishing rods, they walked around like tourists who had come to fish and buy salt, and surreptitiously took photos of Hong's house and farm. After they watched Hong board a boat, they told Hong's wife they were Seoul police who had come to free Kim. The officers found the slaves sitting on a mattress in the back room of a storage building with no heat or hot water. Kim wore thin, dirty clothes, slippers and socks with big holes. He looked, Seo said, like a person who had been homeless for a very long time. Kim was frightened and baffled at first, then relieved. "I am going to live," he said. When Seo took Kim to a local police station to give an official account, an indignant policeman asked, "Why didn't you leave this to us?" Villagers, unaware that Kim's escorts were Seoul police, harassed him at the docks, asking where he was going. Some even called Hong. When Kim met his mother the next day, they both wept. She stroked her son's face. "Everything is all right because you've come back alive," she says in a police video of their reunion. Chae initially refused to leave Sinui. After Seo later found a 2008 missing person's report for Chae, police returned and rescued him. Chae, who'd spent five years as a slave, now lives in a Seoul shelter. Hong was convicted of employing a trafficked person, aggravated confinement, habitual violence and violating labor laws. Yoon, the man who captured Kim and Chae three times, was fined $7,500. Two illegal job brokers hired by Hong to procure workers are appealing prison sentences of 2 years and 2 ½ years. Kim, who lives in Seoul and occasionally works construction jobs, still seems amazed that his escape plan worked. He settled with Hong for about $35,000 in unpaid wages, but is furious that Hong is appealing his prison term next week. Kim will face him in court, and has been preparing for the moment. His body aches, and he gets treatment for lingering pain in his neck, legs and spine. "Now all I want is peace," Kim said. "I still get nightmares, still wake up in the middle of the night." His time as a slave has even changed the way he feels about salt. He gets flustered when he talks about it, disgusted when he sees it. "Just thinking about it makes me grind my teeth." The post 'A Living Hell' for Slaves on Remote South Korean Islands appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Investigators to Use Acoustic Equipment to Search for AirAsia Black Boxes Posted: 01 Jan 2015 09:01 PM PST  A map with the mark "TKP," believed to indicate the possible location of the wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501, is seen onboard SAR ship Purworejo at Kumai port in Pangkalan Bun district on Jan. 1, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) PANGKALAN BUN / SURABAYA, Indonesia — A specialist multinational team armed with acoustic equipment will arrive at the suspected crash site of a sunken AirAsia jet off Borneo on Friday, bolstering the search for the plane's black box flight recorders. Bad weather has hampered the search, keeping divers from looking for the wreck of the Airbus A320-200, which was carrying 162 people when it crashed on Sunday en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. France's BEA crash investigation agency said late Thursday a ship with two hydrophones, or underwater acoustic detection devices, was due to arrive at the scene early on Friday with French, Singaporean and Indonesian experts aboard. The Indonesian-led search for the wreck of Flight QZ8501 is centered in the northern Java Sea, close to the Karimata Strait, where search teams have recovered bodies and pieces of the plane. Previous reports of a sonar image showing the plane body in the water have not been confirmed, officials said. Officials earlier said it may take up to a week to find the black boxes, which investigators hope will reveal the sequence of events in the cockpit and in the heavily computerized jet's systems. The BEA team attends the crashes of all Airbus planes. Even in bad weather, the search for the AirAsia jet is unlikely to be as technologically challenging as the two-year search for an Air France jet that crashed into deep Atlantic waters in 2009 or the so far fruitless search for Malaysian Flight 370 which disappeared last year. Given that Flight QZ8501 crashed in shallow seas, experts say finding the boxes should not be difficult if the beacons, with a range of 2,000 to 3,000 meters (6,560 to 9,800 ft), are working. Tatang Kurniadim, the head of Indonesia's National Committee for Transportation Safety, said late Thursday that rescuers would use five ping locators—two from Indonesia, two from Singapore and one from Britain—once bad weather had eased and the waters had calmed as expected within five days. Investigators are working on a theory that the plane stalled as it climbed steeply to avoid a storm about 40 minutes into the flight. So far, at least seven bodies have been recovered from waters near the suspected crash site, along with debris such as a suitcase, an emergency slide and a life jacket. The bodies are being taken in numbered coffins to Surabaya, where relatives of the victims have gathered, for identification. Authorities have been collecting DNA from relatives to help identify the bodies. Most of those on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found. Relatives, many of whom collapsed in grief when they saw the first television pictures of the plane debris on Tuesday, held prayers at a crisis center at Surabaya airport. The plane was travelling at 32,000 feet (9,753 metres) and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid bad weather. When air traffic controllers granted permission for a rise to 34,000 feet a few minutes later, they received no response. A source close to the probe into what happened said radar data appeared to show that the aircraft made an "unbelievably" steep climb before it crashed, possibly pushing it beyond the Airbus A320's limits. "It appears to be beyond the performance envelope of the aircraft," he said. The source, who declined to be identified, added that more information was needed to come to a firm conclusion. Online discussion among pilots has centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow, and that it might have stalled. The Indonesian captain, a former air force fighter pilot, had 6,100 flying hours on the A320 under his belt and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, according to Indonesia AirAsia, which is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia. Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country's aviation industry and spooked travelers. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline's Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French. The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002. The post Investigators to Use Acoustic Equipment to Search for AirAsia Black Boxes appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Stampede Leaves 36 dead, 47 Injured in Shanghai Posted: 01 Jan 2015 08:25 PM PST
 People lay down flowers during a memorial ceremony for people who were killed in the stampede at Shanghai's Bund on Jan. 1. (Photo: Aly Song / Reuters) SHANGHAI — Grieving relatives identified the bodies of loved ones a day after a stampede during New Year’s celebrations along Shanghai’s historic waterfront area killed 36 people. Some families lashed out at authorities, accusing them of being unresponsive to their plight and failing to prevent the disaster. The chaos began about half an hour before what was supposed to be a joyful celebration of the start of 2015. In the end, dozens were dead and 47 people were hospitalized, including 13 who were seriously injured, according to the Shanghai government. Some of the victims had suffocated, said Xia Shujie, vice president of Shanghai No. 1 People’s Hospital. Seven of the injured had left hospitals by Thursday afternoon. The stampede’s cause was still under investigation. It happened at Chen Yi Square in Shanghai’s old riverfront Bund area, famed for its art deco buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. Throngs of people often jam the area during major events. A day after the tragedy, some criticized the government, blaming it for failing to keep order at the city’s most popular site and for miscommunications with victims’ relatives. "We were told my sister was still being rescued the minute before we were taken to the morgue, where she had been lying dead—clearly for a while," said Cai Jinjin, whose cousin Qi Xiaoyan was among the dead. "There she was, cold and all by herself." Other victims' relatives complained that authorities failed to notify them of the deadly stampede and had been unresponsive to their requests for information. In one case, relatives of 24-year-old victim Pan Haiqin said they were alarmed after Pan’s employer reported a no-show at work on Thursday, and after traveling hours to Shanghai, got no answers from authorities before they finally were able to confirm Pan’s death. At one of the hospitals where the injured were being treated, relatives tried to push past guards, who used a bench to hold them back. Police later allowed family members into the hospital. A grieving mother dragged a low-ranking municipal official out from a government compound, demanding answers. Police at one hospital brought out photos of unidentified dead victims, causing dozens of waiting relatives to crowd around. Not everyone could see, and young women who looked at the photos broke into tears when they recognized someone. A saleswoman in her 20s, who declined to give her name, said she had been celebrating with three friends. "I heard people screaming, someone fell, people shouted 'don’t rush,'" she said. "There were so many people and I couldn’t stand properly." She added that she still could not contact one of her friends. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted a woman with the surname Yin who was caught with her 12-year-old son in the middle of crowds of people pushing to go up and down steps leading from the square. "Then people started to fall down, row by row," Yin said. When her son was finally brought to safety, he had shoe prints over his clothes, "his forehead was bruised, he had two deep creased scars on his neck, and his mouth and nose were bleeding," she said. One Taiwanese was among the dead, and two Taiwanese and one Malaysian were among the injured, the Shanghai government information office said. On Thursday morning, dozens of police officers were in the area and tourists continued to wander by the square, a small patch of grass dominated by a statue of Chen Yi, the city’s first Communist mayor. Steps lead down from the square to a road across from several buildings. "We were down the stairs and wanted to move up and those who were upstairs wanted to move down, so we were pushed down by the people coming from upstairs," an injured man told Shanghai TV. "All those trying to move up fell down on the stairs." Xinhua quoted witness Wu Tao as saying some people had scrambled for coupons that looked like dollar bills bearing the name of a bar that were being thrown out of a third-floor window. But police dismissed speculation that the coupons had triggered the stampede, saying they were thrown after the tragedy. Last week, the English-language Shanghai Daily reported that the annual New Year’s Eve countdown on the Bund that normally attracts about 300,000 people had been canceled, apparently because of crowd control issues. The report said a "toned-down" version of the event would be held instead but that it would not be open to the public. The stampede appeared to be near that area. The city apparently did not expect that so many people would assemble there and was not adequately prepared.
The post Stampede Leaves 36 dead, 47 Injured in Shanghai appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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