Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Govt Postpones Talks on Education Reform

Posted: 03 Feb 2015 05:47 AM PST

Student demonstrators rally in front of a university building in Magwe, central Burma, on Feb. 3, 2014. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Student demonstrators rally in front of a university building in Magwe, central Burma, on Feb. 3, 2014. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma's government postponed quadripartite talks on education reform that were due to recommence in Naypyidaw on Tuesday after questioning whether student participants truly represented their fellow protesters.

Upon an order from the president, the talks between the government, lawmakers, education advocates and student representatives were postponed until after Feb. 12, with the government claiming they will be busy preparing for a meeting with ethnic leaders in Naypyidaw on this date during which they hope to conclude a nationwide ceasefire agreement.

Student demonstrators reached an eight-point agreement during talks with educational and political stakeholders in Rangoon on Sunday, outlining pre-conditions for further discussion of education reforms. A formal agreement was signed by participants that the talks would continue in Naypyidaw on Jan. 3—a pledge now broken.

Banya Aung Moe, an Upper House lawmaker from Mon State, told The Irrawaddy that there was uncertainty about how many representatives would attend the four-party talks, and which groups they represented.

"The president's order to postpone the talks came because there are many things that need to be done [in the coming] days," he said.

According to Ye Paing Thu, a member of the Action Committee for Democratic Education (ACDE), the government called on all student protest groups to convene in Rangoon and prove that the 15-member committee participating in the talks is representative of the student protesters.

"The government questioned whether we really represented the protesting students and asked for a recommendation letter from the students," Ye Paing Thu said.

Widespread student demonstrations against the National Education Law gained traction after the legislation was passed by parliament in September 2014. Critics of the law contend that it centralizes authority, restricts the formation of student and teacher unions and curbs curricular freedoms.

On Jan. 20, hundreds of students set out on a march from Mandalay to Rangoon to protest the law, with the government eventually acceding to their demands for dialogue.

At a press conference convened by students and the Network for National Education Reform (NNER) in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, Thein Lwin of the NNER defended his role in the group after the National League for Democracy—where he serves as a central executive committee member—warned on Monday that it may take legal action against him for violating party rules.

President's Office Minister Aung Min reportedly quizzed the NNER representative over the issue on Tuesday.

"It is a problem between me and the party [the NLD]," Thein Lwin said. "I will stay in the NNER and I will continue [to work] together with the students. Negotiating to find answers is the best way for reforming education. But I am not satisfied that the meeting has been postponed."

He added that the NNER was made up of different groups, including NGOs, political and advocacy organizations, and was simply trying to push for education reform.

Students due to attend the meeting on Tuesday said they arrived in Naypyidaw at 2am and were forced to sleep in their cars after the government reneged on an earlier promise that they could stay in the Municipal Hostel.

Before the postponement was announced, students had contested the government's decision to only allow 15 student representatives to participate in the meeting.

President's Office Director Zaw Htay wrote on his Facebook page that government and parliamentary representatives had waited from 9am until noon on Tuesday, but there was disagreement over the framework of the meeting.

"To make sure of the representatives is important," he wrote. "[Even] if the government fulfills the demands of the students' committee, the protests may continue and we are afraid the committee is not related to the protesting students."

Min Thwe Thit, a member of ACDE, said "Today the government postponed the meeting without our agreement so we will continue the protests that had halted for the meeting and [now] increase our protests."

There are at least six separate student protest groups that plan to converge on Rangoon, including the marchers that began in Mandalay and a group of university and high school students that are marching from Pathein in Irrawaddy Division.

The post Govt Postpones Talks on Education Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

New Perspective of Famed Viaduct on Offer

Posted: 03 Feb 2015 04:04 AM PST

A view of the Goteik Viaduct in Nawnghkio Township, Shan State. (Photo: Wikipedia)

A view of the Goteik Viaduct in Nawnghkio Township, Shan State. (Photo: Wikipedia)

RANGOON — State-owned Myanma Railways is opening up a new way for sightseers to take in one of Burma's lesser-known treasures, offering the opportunity to charter a rail gang car (RGC) across the Goteik Viaduct, a towering bridge that spans more than 2,200 feet of a canyon in western Shan State.

The RGC, which is normally used for railroad track repairs, has been modified to allow tourists to better experience the journey across the viaduct and the picturesque panorama of the surrounding Shan hills.

Myanma Railways is charging 100,000 kyats (US$100) for a one-way trip in the 20-seat RGC, according to reports in state-run dailies last week. Sightseers are transported more than 2,200 feet between the stations of Naung Cho to Naung Pain, located at the two ends of the viaduct.

"Foreigners are already visiting the Goteik Viaduct by ordinary train, but they are not very satisfied," said Htein Win, manager of Myanma Railways No. 3 Division (Transport). "It is also dangerous for them to take pictures out of the windows. That's why we have arranged a special vehicle to attract them."

Guardrails have been fixed to the RGC to ensure the safety of tourists, he said.

The bridge is located in Nawnghkio Township, part of a set of railway tracks linking the towns of Pyin Oo Lwin, the summer capital of the former British colonial administrators of Burma, and Lashio, the principal town of northern Shan State. It is the tallest bridge in Burma and, at the time of its completion, was the largest railway trestle in the world.

Construction of the bridge was overseen by Sir Arthur Rendel, an engineer for the Burma Railroad Company. Work on the bridge began in 1899 and was completed in 1900, consisting of 16 steel towers and 2,260 feet in track length. Its tallest tower is more than 800 feet high.

In line with an overall increase in the number of tourist arrivals to Burma over the past three years, more foreign visitors are visiting the viaduct, said Htein Win. On average, there are 50 foreigners visiting the viaduct by train monthly. Some travelers take the train from Pyin Oo Lwin, while others begin at Lashio, he said.

"I welcome the move targeting foreign travelers. It is good for foreigners who come in groups," said Tin Tun Aung, chairman of the Myanmar Travel Association.

"However," he said, "they should get a level of service equal to the amount they pay; otherwise, they will choose something else."

The Asean Tourism Forum was held on Jan. 25 in Naypyidaw and was attended by President Thein Sein, tourism ministers from Asean countries, senior figures from the World Tourism Federation and Word Tourism Council, and tour operators from the Asia-Pacific region.

Thein Sein in his speech stressed the important role of the tourism industry in job creation, income generation and economic development, calling for "responsible tourism" to ensure environmental and cultural conservation.

The number of foreign tourists to Burma has risen steadily over the last three years, with over 1 million arrivals in 2012, about 2.14 million in 2013 and more than 3 million in 2014. Burma's government is targeting more than 5 million foreign tourists in 2015.

The post New Perspective of Famed Viaduct on Offer appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ethnic Bloc Calls for Agreement on Federalism to Mark Union Day

Posted: 03 Feb 2015 03:26 AM PST

Soldiers march in formation on Union Day in 2013. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Soldiers march in formation on Union Day in 2013. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) has called for the signing of an agreement on Union Day, Feb. 12, related to the establishment of a federal union, while maintaining that it is "too soon" to sign a nationwide ceasefire accord.

According to a briefing paper issued by the ethnic alliance on Monday, the proposed agreement would help advance the commitment to establish a federal union "based on democratic rights and ethnic-based states, with full national equality and self-determination."

If signed, the "Agreement Relating to the Establishment of a Federal Union" would also help build confidence in the peace process and hasten the signing of a nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), the UNFC said.

"We have sent our proposal [to the government] and are waiting for a response," UNFC general secretary Khu Oo Reh told The Irrawaddy on Monday. "We cannot tell whether it will happen or not as we have not yet met with government representatives [mediated through the Myanmar Peace Center]."

In its briefing paper, the UNFC affirmed its determination to sign the NCA and initiate a process of political dialogue with the government. However, the group said that the accord would not be finalized on Union Day due to outstanding issues in the draft text and a lack of trust caused by ongoing Burma Army offensives in the northern part of the country.

Ethnic leaders have cited ongoing conflict in Kachin and northern Shan States, including the Burma Army's deadly attack on a Kachin Independence Army training camp on Nov. 19, as setting back negotiations.

On Jan. 21, the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), an alliance of 16 ethnic armed groups, also rejected President Thein Sein's call to sign the NCA on Union Day, referring to a loss of mutual trust due to ongoing military offensives.

Observed annually on Feb. 12, Union Day marks the signing of the Panglong Agreement by Gen. Aung San and ethnic representatives in 1947, a document seen by ethnic groups as embodying ideals of equality, decentralization and self-determination that were never fully implemented.

Hla Maung Shwe, a leading member of the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), told The Irrawaddy that MPC representatives would travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Thursday to meet with representatives of the NCCT and discuss a date for the next round of official talks with the government.

"If we are able to negotiate, an agreement could be signed, not [necessarily] limited to the nationwide ceasefire agreement," Hla Maung Shwe said.

Other ethnic armed groups outside the UNFC also met recently to discuss the country's peace prospects. On Jan. 30, representatives of the Karen National Union (KNU), the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) gathered in Mong La, Special Region 4 in Shan State, to discuss the NCA, according to SSA-S spokesperson Col. Sai La.

The KNU suspended its UNFC membership in September last year after criticizing the bloc for limiting the independence of individual member groups.

—Additional reporting by Khin Oo Tha

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MPs Demand Parliament Considers Violence Against Women Measures

Posted: 03 Feb 2015 03:19 AM PST

A sign at Shwedagon Pagoda during an event to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 2013. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy)

A sign at Shwedagon Pagoda during an event to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 2013. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON —Lower House lawmakers in Naypyidaw have accepted a resolution calling on the government to urgently finish drafting violence against women measures and table a workable bill, noting that the proposal has been stalled for a year without any legislative action.

Introduced by Hpa-an lawmaker Nan Say Owa, a member of the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, the resolution was accepted unanimously on Monday.

"I want this law to be drafted urgently. In our country, we have seen murder and sexual violence against women in [Arakan State]. At the moment there is the case of the two Kachin teachers," she told The Irrawaddy, referring to last month's suspected rape and murder of two Kachin teachers in the Shan State village of Kaung Kha. "If the law is effectively enforced and the obvious punishments are given out, these cases will happen less."

Nan Say Owa added that she wanted the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement to finish drafting the bill and submit it for discussion before the end of the current parliamentary session, in order for the law to be given a chance of enactment after this year's general election.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Brig-Gen Kyaw Zan Myint told parliament on Monday that eleven of the violence against women bill's 20 chapters had been completely finalized by the ministry. Naw Tha Wah, the director of the Social Welfare Department said that the remaining nine chapters were still the subject of consultations with political parties, experts and NGOs, and the ministry hoped for a draft bill to be introduced by the end of the current fiscal year on Mar. 30.

One of the participants in draft consultations, Gender Equality Network director May Sabae Phyu, said the delay was necessary to ensure a rigorous draft was presented to parliament.

"This is not something we can just write down and submit," she said. "We wanted to have public discussion on what kind of measures should be in the law. That's why we are taking some time with the drafting process."

Thin Thin Aung, advisory board member of the Women's League of Burma, said that the yearlong drafting process highlighted problems arising from the relatively rapid introduction of the so-called "protection of race and religion" laws, a legislative package aiming to restrict interfaith marriage, population growth, polygamy and religious conversions.

"The laws to protect race and religion were quite quick, while the drafting of laws to stop violence against women have taken about a year," she said. "When a new law is enacted, the effects of the law should be considered. The law on population control impacts women and the religious conversion law has an effect on all religions. The government needs to consult and negotiate."

Thin Thin Aung said the law to protect violence against women should be enacted before the protection of race and religion laws were considered, stating that it was imperative that the four bills are subject to consultation with women's groups and religious organizations.

Additional reporting by Zu Zu.

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‘White Card’ Holders Eligible to Vote on Constitutional Reform

Posted: 03 Feb 2015 03:05 AM PST

A woman in a displacement camp in Arakan State's Myebon Township holds up her white card, October 2014. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

A woman in a displacement camp in Arakan State's Myebon Township holds up her white card, October 2014. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma's Union Parliament on Monday passed a law granting temporary citizens the right to vote in a constitutional referendum slated for later this year.

The 2015 referendum law automatically enfranchises about 1.5 million "white card" holders, who live in Burma but do not enjoy full citizenship rights.

A 328-vote majority approved the legislation, while 79 lawmakers voted against it. Nineteen seats abstained.

Critics of the law, while heavily outnumbered, expressed their disappointment over its passage claiming that it could threaten national stability.

"If people who are not citizens of the country are able to vote, it will hurt our national sovereignty," warned Pe Than, a member of the Lower House representing the Arakan National Party (ANP), suggesting that the government "is trying to use these people."

The lawmaker was referring to a block of 700,000 potential voters in his home state of Arakan, in western Burma, where many members of the Rohingya Muslim minority were issued white cards more than two decades ago. "There would be no problem if these people had real citizenship cards," he added, though a Citizenship Law passed in 1982 precludes that possibility unless they forego their ethnic identity.

Burma's roughly 1 million Rohingya Muslims were stripped of citizenship when the law was passed by the former junta, and they are largely viewed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. A citizenship verification program piloted in mid-2014 sought to integrate some members of the population who met stringent criteria outlined in the law, but it controversially required applicants to identify as ethnic Bengali.

Several other lawmakers—notably ANP Chairman Aye Maung—voiced similar opinions about extending voter rights to those without full citizenship, though the new law's supporters pointed out that white card holders were allowed to vote in the past.

Parliament's Joint Bill Committee, a powerful drafting body comprising members of both houses of Parliament, wrote an initial version of the referendum bill that conspicuously took away the right of white card holders to vote, expressly granted in a 2008 referendum law approved before the 2008 Constitution was adopted.

President Thein Sein sent the bill back to the committee recommending that it reinstate voter rights before reaching the floor for a vote. The committee accepted the change, resulting in a version that allows all citizens, foreign registration card holders and white card holders over the age of 18 to vote in the national referendum.

The referendum is expected to be held in mid-2015, when the public will be asked to approve amendments to Burma's military-drafted charter. A constitutional review committee has recommended a total of 95 revisions, though they have yet to be approved by Parliament or the president.

In its current form, the charter reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military, and amendments to many articles require more than 75 percent parliamentary backing and a 50 percent approval by referendum.

Several lawmakers expressed concern that the bill committee may have been pressured by the president and the ruling party into changing their position on voter eligibility.

Ba Shein, an Upper House member of the ANP who served on the committee, told The Irrawaddy that the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) asserted its dominance for political gain, resulting in a law that did not reflect the desires of lawmakers.

"The [bill] committee met three times, and we did not all agree to let white card holders vote," he said, "but the committee changed its position yesterday because of the president's remarks on the draft.

"They are USDP, and this is a USDP government. They are doing whatever they like," he added. He and several other Arakanese party members expressed concern that the USDP had initially extended voting rights to white card holders in an effort to secure their support in general elections.

When allowed to vote in the 2008 referendum and again in 2010 general elections, white card holders overwhelmingly supported the USDP agenda.

Shwe Maung, an ethnic Rohingya lawmaker and member of the USDP, was among the supporters of the new law, though he declined to address the media about the issue.

The post 'White Card' Holders Eligible to Vote on Constitutional Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Chinese Firm Joins Local Rice Miller to Bolster Industry

Posted: 03 Feb 2015 02:38 AM PST

Workers at a rice mill in the town of Kyaiklat in Irrawaddy Division take a break from the day's labor in May 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

Workers at a rice mill in the town of Kyaiklat in Irrawaddy Division take a break from the day's labor in May 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — A Burmese rice milling company and the Chinese firm CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd. have signed a joint venture Memorandum of Understanding to improve the quality and capacity of rice milling operations in Burma, according to Thaung Win, the secretary of the Myanmar Rice Millers Association.

Members of the Myanmar Rice Millers Association formed the Myanmar Rice Mill Company in 2012 with the aim of supporting the development of Burma's rice milling industry. Both the Myanmar Rice Mill Company and its Chinese partner enter into the joint venture aiming to boost Burmese rice exports, in part by improving the quality of its rice as well as the milling process.

"It [the Myanmar Rice Millers Association] is only a nonprofit organization so we can't do it [joint ventures] directly, that's why rice millers formed the company—so that they can work with foreign companies," said Thaung Win, who is also the director of the Myanmar Rice Mill Company.

"We're going to discuss the details of how we can form the JV company in line with the Myanmar Investment Commission's rules," he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, adding that the MoU was signed late last month.

Under the terms of the MoU, the joint venture will also provide loans to rice millers and work to upgrade rice storage facilities that currently leave a large portion of the nation's harvest susceptible to spoilage through exposure to humidity and other elements, Thaung Win said.

"If we can form the JV, we will invest equal shares and we can support local rice millers. That will include loans, technical support and rice quality control," he said.

"As we have very old mills in our country, we need technical improvements from foreign investors. We do expect that if we can control the quality of rice, the price of exported rice will also increase," Thaung Win said.

According to a World Bank report in June, Burma could greatly increase its agricultural exports if it improves the quality of rice by investing in the expansion and upgrade of domestic rice mills. The report said that since economic and political reforms began in 2011, rice exports have significantly risen, but in the past two years export volumes have leveled off at about 1.3 million tons annually.

The World Bank said much of the rice grown in Burma is of low quality and unfit for export to high-value markets such as the European Union, where Burmese products are exempt from import tariffs under a preferential trade scheme linked to Burma's "least developed country" status.

Chit Khine, chairman of the Myanmar Rice Federation, said he welcomed the MoU.

"Chinese companies have been very interested to work in the rice industry for years, CAMC has also worked here for years. That's why they have mutual understanding and believe they can improve the rice industry," Chit Khine said.

"If we compare the quality of mills here and in Thailand, it's quite different. We only have very low-quality mills in Myanmar," he said.

The Myanmar Agribusiness Public Co. Ltd. (MAPCO), whose chairman is Chit Khine, is also working with a foreign firm to improve the rice industry's competitiveness, entering into a joint venture with Japan's Mitsubishi to build more rice mills, improve quality control measures and increase exports.

According to Myanmar Rice Millers Association figures, there are more than 2,000 mills nationwide, most of which operate at a capacity of 30 tons to 50 tons per day, with few mills capable of outputting at the 200- to 300-ton level that is typical of more competitive rice exporters.

Burma's agriculture sector is the country's largest employer and 70 percent of all Burmese live in rural areas, but under the previous military regime agricultural productivity languished and rice exports fell sharply compared with the 1960s.

The post Chinese Firm Joins Local Rice Miller to Bolster Industry appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

After Locals Block Coal Plant Survey, Mitsubishi Promises Japan Study Trip

Posted: 02 Feb 2015 09:48 PM PST

Gawyingyi Beach, the site of a proposed coal power station in Nga Yoke Kaung, Irrawaddy Division. (Photo: Salai Thant Zin / The Irrawaddy)

Gawyingyi Beach, the site of a proposed coal power station in Nga Yoke Kaung, Irrawaddy Division. (Photo: Salai Thant Zin / The Irrawaddy)

PATHEIN — Residents of Irrawaddy Division's Ngapudaw Township blocked a land survey for a planned coal-fired power station over the weekend, prompting a senior executive involved in the project to promise villagers a trip to Japan as guests of Mitsubishi Group, revealing one of the previously unnamed Japanese conglomerates backing the project.

Employees of the A1 Group of Companies were met by more than 200 residents of the coastal region of Nga Yoke Kaung and left the area before completing survey work, after being told the project did not have local support.

"People from our village told the people from A1 not to conduct a survey without the consent of local people, after we saw them conducting a survey on the sandbank near our village," said Nga Yoke Kaung villager Saw Kaw. "More than 200 locals gathered there and pressed the demand, then the company stopped their work and went back."

A1 Group managing director Kyaw Kyaw said that the survey was just an initial feasibility study and not a comprehensive land assessment to build the coal plant.

"We are just conducting a survey on geographical location, terrain, houses, forests and plantations. There is plenty of work to be done before building the plant," he said.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, Kyaw Kyaw said that A1 Group and Japan's Mitsubishi Corp would send representatives of the Nga Yoke Kaung community to visit and study coal-fired power plants in Japan in an effort to build support for the development.

"We'll meet locals and explain the project to them. In addition, we are arranging to send Nga Yoke Kaung locals, probably five from each village in the region, to Japan to study coal power plants there," he said.

The Ministry of Electric Power, the A1 Group of Companies and a consortium of Japanese companies announced in September that they would partner to build the Nga Yoke Kaung coal power plant, with a total installed capacity of 300 megawatts.

No details were provided about the Japanese companies involved in the project during a September meeting of Irrawaddy Division officials and A1 Group with Nga Yoke Kaung villagers. A Mitsubishi spokesman from the company's Rangoon office confirmed the organization's membership of the consortium and the Japan junket to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

"We will send them to understand the project," the spokesman said. "We want to show them the coal-fired power plants there, which are built in towns and near houses without negative effects."

Mitsubishi's general trading arm, Mitsubishi Corp, has in recent years made a number of investments in regional coal power generation. Last October the company announced its partnership with two Thai companies to build a 1,800-2,000 megawatt plant in the Dawei special economic zone, and is currently involved in joint venture coal power station developments in southern Vietnam and the Philippines.

Local partner A1 Group has a diverse portfolio in manufacturing and construction, including a garment factory in Rangoon and an optical fiber factory in Pyin Oo Lwin. Its subsidiary A1 Construction built the Sakura Tower, Kanbawza Bank headquarters and the Chatrium Hotel in Rangoon, a raft of ministerial buildings in Naypyidaw and a number of rubber and teak plantations.

The Japanese consortium and A1 Group will fund 30 percent of the twin turbine power plant, with the remainder to be funded by loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, according to A1 Group chairman Yan Win. Neither organization has publicly committed to funding the project since the September announcement.

Coal for the plant will be imported from Indonesia and Australia, with A1 announcing that a deep sea port catering to bulk carriers of up to 80,000 tonnes capacity will be built next to the power station. India-based Ta Ta Co has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Burmese government to build another coal plant nearby, with a total installed capacity of 270 megawatts.

Around 200 acres of land will be required to build the power plant and compensation will be paid to affected villagers for farmland that needs to be relocated, said A1 Group, which issued a guarantee that the project would not harm the environment as it employed "advanced technologies".

Despite the preliminary nature of the project, Nga Yoke Kaung locals have already voiced their concern about potential damage to the environment and the possibility of land confiscation and eviction.

"Every village along the coast has put up posters to say 'we don't want coal-fired power plant and we won't move our village'," said Mying Thaung, a resident of Kyaw Chaing village. "They stick them up at their houses, along the roads. I also stuck them up at my house and so has the rest of the village, so that anyone who reaches here knows our viewpoint."

In November, Irrawaddy Division Chief Minister Thein Aung and Saw Mya Thein, the divisional minister for electricity and industry, told audiences in Pathein and Nga Yoke Kaung last November that the coal power plant would not be built if the local community opposed the project.

Additional reporting by San Yamin Aung.

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Casino City Macau in Flux as China Squeezes High Rollers

Posted: 03 Feb 2015 01:39 AM PST

Croupiers and casino employees walk past the Grand Lisboa casino as they march to demand better working conditions last year. (Photo: Reuters / Tyrone Siu)

Croupiers and casino employees walk past the Grand Lisboa casino as they march to demand better working conditions last year. (Photo: Reuters / Tyrone Siu)

HONG KONG — The Asian gambling capital of Macau's winning streak is cooling after a decade of red hot growth that transformed the city from a neglected former Portuguese colonial outpost into the world’s number one casino market.

A flood of money from mainland China boosted Macau casinos, both local and foreign owned, which now rake in about seven times more than those on the Las Vegas Strip. But the tide has turned as the Chinese economy slows and President Xi Jinping’s high-profile corruption crackdown deters high-rolling mainland gamblers from lavish spending on baccarat and other games of fortune.

Casino revenue fell for the eighth straight month in January, declining 17.4 percent over a year earlier, according to data released Monday. Last year, revenue from the city’s 35 casinos fell 2.6 percent to US$44 billion.

That marked the end of a decade of supercharged growth which began when the government of the Chinese territory ended a 40-year casino monopoly, opening the door to foreign operators such as Sheldon Adelson. Analysts and government officials forecast the contraction will last until mid-year.

Macau now faces the tough task of pivoting to a new model of growth, as dictated by Beijing. The authorities want to wean the city off so-called VIP high rollers: wealthy patrons wagering staggering amounts in smoke-filled private rooms brought over from China by junket agencies. The junket middlemen facilitate travel and help clients get around China’s capital controls by lending them money to gamble.

Instead, the focus is now on family-friendly resort developments to attract China’s burgeoning middle class. Junkets are reportedly consolidating as funds dry up amid the crackdown while casinos are busy adding theme rides and boxing matches to resorts as they prepare for Macau’s new reality.

"There’s a big chunk of that [VIP] market that’s simply disappeared largely in the wake of the anticorruption crackdown," said Grant Govertsen, an analyst with Union Gaming Research in Macau.

"The challenge for the operators this year and next and beyond will be trying to find out what does the customer want other than the table game," he said.

Xi, who visited Macau last month to mark the 15th anniversary of its handover from Portugal to China, reminded leaders of Beijing’s wish to pursue "appropriately diversified and sustainable economic development."

He said that "certain deep-seated problems formed over the years have surfaced" and called on Macau authorities to step up governance.

Earlier this month Macau police carried out one of the city’s biggest ever prostitution busts, arresting 102 people including Alan Ho, the nephew of Stanley Ho, the aging billionaire who held Macau’s sole casino license for four decades. Local media outlets published photos of Alan Ho taken away in handcuffs by plainclothes police.

The arrests startled Macau because the ring had operated blatantly for years out of the Ho family’s Hotel Lisboa, where Alan Ho worked as a manager, leading many to believe it had tacit support. Judiciary Police said the syndicate had 2,400 prostitutes on its books and "illegal earnings" of $50 million.

"We were all surprised because they were in a group of people that usually the government doesn’t dare to touch, but I guess it’s a direct response to Xi Jinping’s instructions," said Jason Chao, one of the leaders of the Macau Conscience activist group.

Xi’s warning also underscored fears that Macau, population 630,000, faces increased social tension over rising inequality as pay for residents, many of whom work in casinos, fails to keep up with costs, especially housing. Casino staff held an unprecedented series of strikes last year to demand better salaries and working conditions.

Wages have tripled since 2003, said Eric Sautede, a former professor at Macau’s University of St. Joseph, "but if you look at everything else it’s times 10, times 11."

"If you look at the profits of the casinos," he said, worker disgruntlement "was bound to happen." Sautede was fired from the university in June for his views critical of the government.

Macau’s transformation is set to accelerate over the next three years, putting more strain on labor and resources. Eight casino resorts are scheduled to open along with big infrastructure projects including a light rail system and a 30-kilometer (19-mile) bridge to nearby Hong Kong and Zhuhai on the mainland.

The new casinos on the Cotai Strip, Asia’s version of the Las Vegas Strip, include significant non-gambling attractions aimed at drawing a more wholesome class of visitors.

US billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp., for example, will launch its $2.7 billion Parisian resort, complete with replica Eiffel Tower, in 2016. Melco Crown Entertainment’s Studio City project, opening later this year, is a Hollywood-inspired gambling and entertainment complex with a Batman virtual reality ride.

It’ll take years for Macau’s to complete its transition, but when it’s done, "ultimately everybody wins," said Govertsen.

"The government gets to say, Hey, Macau has been cleaned up, there’s a lot less VIP, there’s a lot less corrupt influence," he said. "And there’s something for the average Chinese guy now."

The post Casino City Macau in Flux as China Squeezes High Rollers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UN Official: North Korean Human Rights, Cult of Kim Can’t Coexist

Posted: 02 Feb 2015 09:26 PM PST

Kim Jong-un gives field guidance during his visit to the Wonsan Shoes Factory in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang on Jan. 31, 2015. (Photo: Reuters / KCNA)

Kim Jong-un gives field guidance during his visit to the Wonsan Shoes Factory in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang on Jan. 31, 2015. (Photo: Reuters / KCNA)

TOKYO — A campaign within the United Nations to haul North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before an international court for crimes against humanity has touched off a defensive fury in Pyongyang, where it's being treated like a diplomatic declaration of war—an aggressive act aimed not only at shutting down prison camps but also at removing Kim and dismantling his family's three-generation cult of personality.

More paranoia?

Actually, according to the UN's point man on human rights in North Korea, that is not too far off the mark, though he stressed no one is advocating a military option to force regime change.

"It would be, I think, the first order of the day to get these 80,000 to 100,000 [prisoners] immediately released and these camps disbanded," Marzuki Darusman, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But that can only happen if this cult leadership system is completely dismantled. And the only way to do that is if the Kim family is effectively displaced, is effectively removed from the scene, and a new leadership comes into place."

Such blunt words from a high-ranking UN official are unusual, although common among American officials.

Darusman said previous proposals submitted to the United Nations trying to persuade or force North Korea to improve its human rights record were mostly "rhetorical" exercises.

But he said this resolution, passed by the General Assembly in December, is more significant because it holds Kim responsible based on a 372-page report of findings presented last year by the UN-backed Commission of Inquiry that detailed arbitrary detention, torture, executions and political prison camps.

"This is a sea change in the position of the international community," Darusman said during a recent visit to Tokyo. The North Koreans "are in their most vulnerable position at this stage, whenever the culpability and responsibility of the supreme leader is brought out in full glare of the international public scrutiny."

North Korea's intense response has included threats of more nuclear tests, mass rallies across the country, a bitter smear campaign against defectors who cooperated in the UN report and repeated allegations that Washington orchestrated the whole thing in an attempt at speeding a regime change. Its state media last week railed yet again against the UN findings, saying "those who cooked up the 'report' are all bribed political swindlers and despicable human scum." It called Darusman, the former attorney general of Indonesia, an "opportunist."

In a rare flurry of talks, North Korean diplomats at the United Nations lobbied frenetically to get Kim's culpability out of the resolution without success. The proposal is now on the agenda of the Security Council, which is expected this year to make a decision on whether the issue should be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Just before the resolution passed the General Assembly, the North Korean diplomatic mission to the United Nations sought a meeting with Darusman to get the wording deleted. During the meeting with Ri Hung Sik, North Korea's ambassador-at-large, the North Koreans indicated their future was at stake, Darusman said.

"They said that other people will take over, and the hardliners will be taking over," Darusman said, suggesting a schism may already be forming between factions scrambling to prove themselves more loyal and more effective in protecting the leadership. "They wouldn't have to mention that to us, but I don't know. I'm taking it at face value."

But here's the reality check about the resolution: The likelihood of criminal proceedings against Kim is minuscule. It would likely be shot down by China or Russia, which have veto power on the Security Council. Also, while more than 120 countries support the International Criminal Court, the United States isn't one of them, so it is somewhat awkward for Washington to push that option too hard.

But even without bringing Kim to court, Darusman said, the placement of North Korean human rights on the Security Council agenda means Pyongyang will face increasing scrutiny from the international community. He said ally China will be under pressure to either distance itself from Pyongyang or lose credibility.

"It may seem remote, but at some stage it is conceivable that China cannot afford to be continuously associated with a regime that is universally sanctioned by the international community," he said. "Something will give."

Washington, meanwhile, is turning up the heat following the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

"We are under no illusions about the DPRK's willingness to abandon its illicit weapons, provocations, and human rights abuses on its own. We will apply pressure both multilaterally and unilaterally," Sung Kim, Washington's special representative for North Korea policy, testified in Congress last month. "The leadership in Pyongyang faces ever-sharper choices."

North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Extricating North Korea from the personality cult of the Kim family would be a genuine challenge under any circumstances.

The country's founder, Kim Il-sung, and his son and successor, Kim Jong-il, permeate every facet of daily life. Citizens wear Kim lapel pins everywhere they go. Portraits and statuary of the father and son are everywhere. In Pyongyang at midnight every night, a ghostly dirge commemorating the elder Kim blares from loudspeakers through the darkness.

According to the UN commission's findings and the testimony of many defectors, North Koreans who dare criticize the Kim family are punished severely and face horrific treatment in prison camps around the country. North Korea says that isn't true, and routinely accuses defectors of being "human scum" and criminals.

Officials vociferously deny speculation of disunity within their ranks.

In an interview with the AP in Pyongyang in October, two North Korean legal experts attempted to discredit the UN campaign and its findings—which they called an "anti-DPRK plot"—and defended the prison system that has long been the core area of concern.

"In a word, the political camps do not exist in our country," said Ri Kyong-chol, director of the international law department at Pyongyang's Academy of Social Sciences. "The difference between the common and the anti-state criminals is that the anti-state criminals get more severe punishment than the common criminals."

But Ri said common and anti-state inmates are not segregated.

"I think every country has prisons to imprison those criminals who have committed crimes against the state," he said. But in North Korea, "there are no different prisons for that."

The post UN Official: North Korean Human Rights, Cult of Kim Can't Coexist appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thai PM Tightens Security After Mall Bombs Rattle Bangkok

Posted: 02 Feb 2015 09:22 PM PST

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha gestures during a news conference at The Army Club after the army declared martial law nationwide in Bangkok last week. (Photo: Reuters)

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha gestures during a news conference at The Army Club after the army declared martial law nationwide in Bangkok last week. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered security to be tightened in Bangkok on Monday after two small bombs rattled a luxury shopping mall and stoked tension in a city under martial law since a coup in May.

Two people were slightly hurt but the blasts caused little damage on Sunday evening. They were the first to shake the capital since the military seized power to end months of sometimes deadly street protests.

"I have ordered security to be tightened because this case involves the well-being of the people," Prayuth told reporters.

"This case shows that we still need martial law… there are still bad people disrupting the peace. We must find ways to severely punish them."

There was no claim of responsibility for the blasts and police have not identified any suspects but Prayuth said he was confident the bombers would be found through CCTV footage of the area.

The explosions went off in the heart of one of Bangkok's busiest shopping districts.

Political tension has been high since last month when a national assembly hand-picked by the junta banned former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from politics for five years.

The decision angered supporters of Yingluck and her self-exiled brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, although there has been little sign of a return to the street protests that have dogged Thailand for years. The military has been tough on dissent since the coup.

Thailand has weathered turbulent politics for a decade as former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin and his allies, including Yingluck, have vied for power with the Bangkok-based royalist-military establishment that sees the Shinawatras as a threat and reviles their populist policies.

The bombs were just a few hundred meters away from the site of a military crackdown on "red shirt" supporters of the Shinawatras in 2010.

Occasional attacks with crude bombs similar to those used on Sunday kept the capital on edge for months after the 2010 crackdown.

The motive for the Sunday blasts appeared to be to create panic rather than take lives, said junta spokesman Winthai Suvaree.

The bombs were placed behind power transformers on a walkway linking an overhead rail line to the Siam Paragon mall, police said.

Sporadic violence during the six months of protests that preceded the May 22 coup claimed almost 30 lives.

Thailand's Muslim-dominated south has also been racked by violence over the past decade, with an insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives. There was no indication that the Sunday explosions were linked to problems in the south.

The post Thai PM Tightens Security After Mall Bombs Rattle Bangkok appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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