The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- The Grammar Police Spell-Check Rangoon Restaurants
- Authorities Supported ‘Outsiders’ Who Incited Mandalay Violence: Rights Group
- Police Release 20 Detained During Student Protest Crackdown
- Govt to Support Domestic Airlines as Asean ‘Open Skies’ Takes Effect
- In Thein Sein’s BBC Interview, the Apology That Never Was
- More Publishers Join Campaign Against Mistreatment of Journalists
- Burma to Invite Western Observers for General Election
- Police Reject Lawsuit Against Burma’s Home Affairs Minister
- Indonesian Leader Says China’s Main Claim in South China Sea Lacks Legal Basis
- ADB President: China-led Bank Potential Partner, Not Rival
- All Roads Lead to Singapore: Asians Study Lee Kuan Yew’s Mantra
- On a Mission: Destruction of Opium
| The Grammar Police Spell-Check Rangoon Restaurants Posted: 24 Mar 2015 05:16 AM PDT  A sign advertising the Rangoon Tea House, a hip new eatery in the heart of downtown, has been mysteriously removed. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Confused and famished, restaurant-goers could be wandering the streets trying in vain to find the Rangoon Tea House, a hip new eatery on Pansodan Road. Unlike many of the city's treasures, it was relatively easy to find until late last week, when the sign outside suddenly disappeared. Curiously, a rash of similarly named restaurants has recently opted to alter their insignia as well. The Rangoon Bar, tucked away in downtown's Union Business Center, is planning to rebrand in the near future. A staffer told The Irrawaddy that his boss simply "didn't like the name." In Hlaing Township, the newly opened Rangoon Grill & Chill also had a sudden change of heart, taking down its newly-minted signage and replacing it with Burmese script which, when read aloud, spells out "Yangon." Will the Rangoon Kitchen Brasserie, seated in Naypyidaw's luxurious Kempinski Hotel, follow suit? It's still unclear why Rangoon's restaurants are having a collective identity crisis, but the rumor mill has begun to churn. Some suspect the clandestine meddling of a mysterious lot that is believed to have stalked the nation since roughly 1989. Burma's grammar police appear to have struck again, after lying low in the months following a bungled attempt to strong-arm this publication into changing its name to conform to transliterations preferred by the former military regime. Business owners have been conspicuously quiet on whether they had been pressured to rebrand, but some sources told The Irrawaddy that orders came from the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC). An administrator at the YCDC office in Hlaing Township, Kyaw Linn, said that while they do not "deal with sign-post issues," the YCDC does sometimes request that shops include Burmese script if their signs are written only in English. Who could it have been? The Kyauktada Township administrative office, which operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs, did not respond to two days of inquiries as The Irrawaddy tried to solve the mystery of the namesake schizophrenia. We even appealed to Naypyidaw, where an officer from the capital's General Administrative Department assured us there was no existing order related to changing business names, but that the Adaptation of Expressions Law, enacted in 1989 by the then-ruling junta to prohibit the use of some English-language terminology, was still on the books. For now, restaurateurs are tight-lipped about why they made the sudden adjustment. But whatever the reason, said Nay Lin of the Myanmar Restaurant Association, a business owner should be able to name their shop to their liking, so long as it is not deliberately offensive. After all, he said, "a name is just a name." The post The Grammar Police Spell-Check Rangoon Restaurants appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Authorities Supported ‘Outsiders’ Who Incited Mandalay Violence: Rights Group Posted: 24 Mar 2015 05:07 AM PDT  Angry mourners follow the casket of Tun Tun, the Buddhist victim of the 2014 Mandalay riots. The group would later go and destroy the Muslim part of a cemetery near the city. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A new report released on Monday said it found evidence to suggest that the 2014 outbreak of inter-communal violence in Mandalay was caused by a group of outside thugs who operated with tacit support from authorities. Based on more than a dozen interviews with eye witnesses, Mandalay community leaders and family members of victims, the report by the Justice Trust paints a picture of the events in early July 2014 when clashes erupted between the city's Buddhist residents and its Muslim minority. At the time, a Buddhist man named Tun Tun was killed, as was a Muslim man named Soe Min Htwe. Tensions between the communities remained high for days and authorities responded with heavy police deployment. During a funeral for the Buddhist victim, the Muslim part of a cemetery on the outskirts of Mandalay was destroyed by angry mourners. The Justice Trust, an international rights organization supporting local lawyers and activists, worked closely with the multi-faith alliance of the Mandalay Peace Committee to reconstruct the events through a six-month investigation. It concluded that the violence was orchestrated by elements from outside of Mandalay. Several eye witnesses told the Justice Trust they noticed a group of around two dozen men on motorbikes enter Mandalay and make their way through the city while exhibiting rowdy behavior. "I saw a group of around 25 people, on motorbikes, yelling, singing the national anthem, throwing stones and damaging parked cars," Mindin, Editor-in-Chief of the Mandalay Khit Journal, was quoted as telling investigators. "By then there were 200 or so riot police within view down the street, they could not have been more than 10 meters away, doing nothing as these rioters went on a rampage," he added. A youth community worker named Harry told investigators that he observed the group for a while and noticed they were trying to read road signs and maps to find their way. "Almost everyone interviewed described the roving mob responsible for the death and destruction in Mandalay as comprised of men from outside Mandalay," the report said. "Many witnesses reported that they actively tried to recruit monks and community members from Mandalay employing a variety of appeals and misinformation tactics." It remains unclear who killed the two victims, but the report suggests that both were killed in separate crimes by a group of several dozen men in the early hours of July 2. A Mandalay District Court in October sentenced four men to 10 years' imprisonment for being accomplices to the murder of the Muslim man. In December, it sentenced 11 Muslim men to 10 to 13 years in prison for aiding and abetting the killing of the Buddhist victim. The convicted men and their lawyers in both cases have insisted they were innocent. No one has been charged with murder over the two deaths. Mandalay Division Police Chief Col. Han Tun declined to comment when asked about the report's findings, saying the violence occurred before he took the post. Mandalay Chief Minister Ye Myint said he was too busy to talk a reporter. Senior officials at the national police headquarters in Naypyidaw could not be reached. Attempts to contact Information Minister Ye Htut by email and phone on Tuesday were unsuccessful. U Dama, a senior abbot at Moe Khaung, one of two Mandalay monasteries visited by the gang of supposed outsiders, told investigators that he turned them away when they tried to agitate and recruit his monks. "A crowd of about 30 men came to our monastery around 12:30 am on the first night of the riots," he said. "I went down with 10-15 senior monks to meet with the mob. I noticed the men were quite drunk and out of control. I told them that they needed to leave as they were disrupting our peace." The report said the fact that Mandalay community leaders acted promptly to discourage residents from joining the outside agitators had helped prevent a larger outbreak of communal violence. It advised Burmese civil society groups to study the success of Mandalay community organizations in foiling attempts at inciting unrest. Latent religious divisions have historically been present in Burmese society and attempts at fomenting inter-communal violence were long used during the former military regime to distract from calls for democratic reform, Justice Trust said. Now, the group alleged,the tactic is being used by former regime "hardliners" to control and slow down the pace of Burma's democratic transition. In 2012, inter-communal violence erupted between Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists in western Burma; 2013 saw eruptions of inter-communal unrest in more than a dozen towns in central Burma. The Mandalay violence is the most recent occurrence of such violence. "This report shows what most Burmese have known for a long time—that religious hatred between Buddhists and Muslims is being stoked by hidden hands and manipulated as a pretext for maintaining their grip on power," Thein Than Oo, a Mandalay lawyer who serves on Justice Trust's steering committee, said in a press release. "We have seen this script many times before." Justice Trust stopped short of making specific accusations as to which actors with ties to the former regime would stand to benefit from organizing the unrest. Senior Union Solidarity and Development Party lawmaker Aung Than, who has his power base in Mandalay Division's Taung Tha Township, has been accused by some of involvement in the unrest and of supporting nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu's 969 movement. The Justice Trust said it identified a five-step pattern in attempts to orchestrate unrest: claims by nationalist groups on social media alleging that Muslim men raped Buddhist women, riots carried by outside violent gangs, failure of law enforcement to stem unrest in a timely manner, failure of the legal system to properly investigate perpetrators, and timing ofriots to divert attention away from calls for democratic reforms. Justice Trust noted that the riots occurred days before opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was due to address a National League for Democracy rally in Mandalay calling for constitutional reform. Since the violence occurred, Mandalay authorities have arrested at least two dozen men on accusations of participating in the violence and violating a curfew. Many of them were handed long prison terms in recent months. The Justice Trust alleged that authorities were going after young men who had been incited by outsiders, while police failed to properly investigate who had tried to orchestrate the unrest. "They acted on false, wrong information and they damaged the Muslim cemetery; they broke the law," Thein Than Oo said of those detained following the violence. "But the authorities did not arrest the real perpetrators, those who incited the violence." Additional reporting from Mandalay by Zarni Mann. The post Authorities Supported 'Outsiders' Who Incited Mandalay Violence: Rights Group appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Police Release 20 Detained During Student Protest Crackdown Posted: 24 Mar 2015 04:59 AM PDT  Yi Moh Moh Aung, a student at the Eastern University of Rangoon, is released from Tharyarwaddy Prison on March 12, 2015. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Pegu Division police said they released 20 people from Tharawaddy Prison on Tuesday who had been detained since the brutal police crackdown on the Letpadan student protest on March 10. "We released 20 out of 100 remaining detainees today since there is not enough evidence to sue them," Pegu Division Deputy Police Chief Win Sein told The Irrawaddy, adding that those released were local residents. "We checked with the video recordings of the crackdown, statements from eyewitnesses, and we questioned them during the investigation. We found that they weren't involved in the protest. They were just watching the crackdown and ran away when the protest was dispersed. So we freed them," he said. Win Sein said police would announce the various charges against the remaining detainees on Wednesday. The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners has been documenting the detention and legal process against the students and it has said most are charged with offenses such as incitement, harming a public servant and rioting, charges that carry punishments of up to several years' imprisonment. A total of 127 people, including students and their supporters, were arrested when riot police violently dispersed and beat participants in an effort to end a week-long student protest calling for an overhaul of the Education Law. Seventeen of the detained were conditionally released on March 12; another 10 demonstrators and two journalists were released on March 13. The post Police Release 20 Detained During Student Protest Crackdown appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Govt to Support Domestic Airlines as Asean ‘Open Skies’ Takes Effect Posted: 24 Mar 2015 04:29 AM PDT  Domestic airlines like MAI are being forced to cede territory to more competitive regional carriers. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's government will seek to protect its airline industry and initially keep most domestic airports off limits for regional airlines as it implements Asean's Open Skies policy, which started this year, a senior official said on Tuesday. Win Swe Tun, director general of the Department of Civil Aviation, told The Irrawaddy that Burmese airlines would struggle to compete with regional airlines when it comes to running international flights to the country as the Open Skies policy takes effect in the coming years. "We will look at our national carriers' interests in the competition with regional operators," he said. "We will not allow other regional airlines to fly to other cities except to Yangon and Mandalay. If they want to fly to other cities they can run charter flights by working with domestic airlines." Win Swe Tun said another reason for Burma to limit the number of international carriers flying to the country was a lack of modern airport capacity. "Yangon international airport couldn't afford to accept all international airlines flying here, for example, we have only four gates for flights to land at the same time. So we will have to wait until the new Hanthawaddy airport [in Pegu Division] is finished in 2020," he said. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Open Skies policy is also known as the Asean Single Aviation Market and would allow airlines of member states to fly freely throughout the region by liberalizing air services under a single, unified air transport market. The plan is being implemented gradually in the coming years and Asean members will have some leeway to accept degrees of opening up their aviation market to outside competitors. Since Burma's economic opening up under President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government the number of international flights to the country have rapidly increased to 24, almost all of which are operated by regional carriers. The only local carriers flying international routes in and out of Burma are state-owned Myanmar Airways International and Golden Myanmar Airlines. Until recently, Air Mandalay and Air Bagan used to operate flights to Chiang Mai, Thailand, but these were suspended. Aye Mra Tha, assistant general manager of Myanmar Airways International, said the company was concerned about the potential impact of the Open Skies policy on its operations. "I can say we're still not ready to compete with other regional operators," she said. "We don't have any worldwide national carriers like Thai Airways or Singapore Airways. So what we need to know now is how our government will protect us when we compete with others." Aye Mra Tha said the government could use local rules and regulations to afford certain benefits to local airlines. "For example, I think the government can offer protection for us if we have priority for landing times while we compete with other regional operators," she said. Myanmar Airways International operates flights to seven countries in Asia. "We have many competitors, not only powerful airlines, also other budget airlines. So this is the time to prepare [for competition], for example by extending our network, increasing flights and improving services," she said. The post Govt to Support Domestic Airlines as Asean 'Open Skies' Takes Effect appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| In Thein Sein’s BBC Interview, the Apology That Never Was Posted: 24 Mar 2015 04:20 AM PDT  A screengrab of an interview by the BBC's Burma correspondent Jonah Fisher. (Photo: BBC Burmese) Ten days after the public was shocked by images of police brutality in a crackdown on student protestors northwest of Rangoon, Burmese blood pressures rose again this week. This time the source of the anger was Burma's president, Thein Sein. In a BBC interview, the president defended the March 10 crackdown, in which dozens of student protesters were injured and 127 people were detained in Letpadan, Pegu Division. Saying police did not breach international best practices in crowd control, he added that "there are worse riot control [practices] in Western countries today," according to a Burmese-language transcript posted on the BBC Burmese website. "Even though you say [the police] violently cracked down on the protesters, it was just a response because they [protesting students] beat the police first," he told Jonah Fisher of the BBC, in reply to a question about his thoughts on the police action. "Police just took preventive measures as they were pelted with stones." Well said, Mr. President! Except that this portrayal of the events that day does not appear to match the reality on the ground, where pictures and video taken as police moved to forcibly break up the protest paint a different picture. Thein Sein's denial of wrongdoing didn't impress many, and critics say the response hardly sounded presidential. Yan Myo Thein, a Rangoon-based political commentator, said the president sounded "childish." "It is a government-sponsored crime. The way he responded to the crackdown that everyone had witnessed [via video and pictures posted online] is shameful," Yan Myo Thein said. Indeed, the president sounded like he was dusting off the "eye for an eye" ethos of Hammurabi's Code to justify the crackdown: In Thein Sein's adaptation, that means, "If a student protester beats the police, the police shall beat the student." The president's remarks to the BBC stand in stark contrast to the trademark signoff he employs in his monthly national address to the country: "Wishing you all mental and physical well-being." According to reports from journalists on the scene, it's very unlikely that students launched an attack on police first. At the very least, the students would not have been capable of a level of hostility that would justify the heavy-handed response, equipped as they were with only megaphones, banners, smartphones and perhaps a few admittedly menacing selfie sticks. The police sent in to handle the protestors, in comparison, were armed to the teeth, with batons, riot shields, helmets and even slingshots. The notion that police were responding to a "threat" posed by the students doesn't hold water. Additionally, journalists present said they did not see students hurling stones at the police, as was claimed. Following his defense of the police, Thein Sein went on the attack: "One more thing: You are one-sided in saying how the police behaved. Thanks to the attack from the protesters, policewomen were hit on their heads by stones, windshields of police vans were smashed, barricades were destroyed. So many things. You should be balanced." Sadly, there is no evidence to support this statement. The Letpadan crackdown was witnessed and documented by journalists from both local news outlets and international wire agencies. In their pictures, there is little if any proof that might corroborate his accusations. Instead, the photos vividly portrayed a cringe-inducing degree of police brutality. In one photo captured by both The Irrawaddy and Reuters photographers, an unarmed protester is running for his life while several riot police beat him from all directions. In another picture taken by one of The Irrawaddy's photographers, a helpless protester is shown cornered by four policemen who are attacking him with batons as if he were their arch-enemy. These moments—these snapshots of reality—are hardly reflective of "preventive measures," as Thein Sein put it. In the aftermath, questions have arisen. Where were those baton-wielding riot police during the onset of communal violence between Buddhists and Muslim in Mandalay last year? When they finally showed up, it was too late. Two men had been killed, and ties that had bound the two communities for centuries were frayed. Similarly, if they had been deployed earlier to the streets of Meikhtila to take "preventive measures" to protect civilians in 2013, more than 40 people might still be alive but instead were added to the roster of victims of communal violence. Where was the decisive police action then? Indeed, a focus on suppressing those who propagate hate speech instead of cracking down on peaceful student protestors might have helped prevent the diminished status of Burma's Buddhists, a radical minority of whom have managed to create the impression internationally that Burma is a nation of intolerant Buddhist extremists. Why are students beaten into silence, while agitators are allowed to foment religious tensions uninhibited? Mr. President, as head of the country, could you take those questions, please? The post In Thein Sein's BBC Interview, the Apology That Never Was appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| More Publishers Join Campaign Against Mistreatment of Journalists Posted: 24 Mar 2015 12:16 AM PDT  Several local publishers have joined a campaign denouncing the mistreatment of journalists by authorities during a recent crackdown on protesters in central Burma. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON – A campaign against the mistreatment of journalists is gaining steam among Burma's private publishers, with six more media outlets joining a boycott of government-related media and press events. The campaign, spearheaded by the Myanmar Journalists Network (MJN), began in response to the beating and detention of journalists covering a police crackdown on student demonstrators in Letpadan, central Burma, in early March. Some participating media outlets have vowed not to report news items published by the President's Office, the Ministry of Information or the Ministry of Home Affairs during some publishing cycles. MJN general secretary Myint Kyaw told The Irrawaddy that all participants in the movement will boycott the upcoming International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress and Assembly and will not report any government-related information published in state media for the duration of the conference. The event, titled "On the Path to a Free Media," will be held in Rangoon from March 27 to 29 and has a registration fee of around US$1,300. Minister of Information Ye Htut is scheduled to address attendees. The Messenger, Eleven Media Group, Myanmar Post, Burma Age, Tomorrow and Venus Journal have joined the boycott. MJN director Myint Kyaw told The Irrawaddy that the group will continue to round up support in the coming weeks. Kyaw Soe Lin, editor-in-chief of the Myanmar Post Journal, said he joined the movement because violence against and detention of journalists "is a concern for the entire media." "We are running this campaign to denounce the deliberate beating of journalists during the Letpadan crackdown," Kyaw Soe Lin said. The Myanmar Post was an early participant in the initial campaign, publishing a large black box on the front page of its March 16 edition. Several other journals have since followed suit with similar blacked-out covers. At least two journalists were detained during the violent dispersal of student protests on March 10, and many others were hit by police batons, rocks and other objects. The two detained journalists have since been released. The post More Publishers Join Campaign Against Mistreatment of Journalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Burma to Invite Western Observers for General Election Posted: 24 Mar 2015 12:09 AM PDT  Burma's President Thein Sein, right, casts his ballot in the country's by-elections in Naypyidaw on April 1, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — A senior member of Burma's government has said members of the US-based Carter Center and the European Union will be invited to monitor a general election later this year, the first time in at least 65 years that the country will call in Western poll observers. "We'll allow the Carter foundation and EU to observe the upcoming general election independently to ensure the election takes place free and fair," Soe Thein, a senior minister at the President's Office, said at a forum on Monday. "It will be the first general election held under a democratically elected government in many years," he said. Foreign observers were not allowed in the 2010 general elections that ushered in Burma's first semi-civilian government after almost half a century of military rule. Only observers from Southeast Asian nations were invited to the 2012 by-elections, which brought democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to Parliament. Before 2010, the last general election in Burma was held in 1990, but the military did not allow Parliament to convene. At the election before that in 1960, it was not clear if foreign observers were invited. The Union Election Commission (UEC) has set end April as the deadline for political party registration for this year's polls, likely to be held in the first week of November. The post Burma to Invite Western Observers for General Election appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Police Reject Lawsuit Against Burma’s Home Affairs Minister Posted: 23 Mar 2015 10:54 PM PDT  Tikha Nyana, left, and other monks who were injured in a crackdown at the Letpadaung mine, hold a press conference in Rangoon on March 16. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Police in northwestern Burma have rejected a lawsuit filed by two Buddhist monks against the country's home minister and police chief, saying they are protected by law. In declining to accept a first information report, which is needed for a lawsuit to proceed, the police said no lawsuit can be brought against any officer who carries out acts in good faith. Human rights lawyer Aung Thein said Tuesday that the two Buddhist monks, among scores seriously burned during a 2012 police crackdown on protests at a Chinese-backed copper mine, registered the first information report at the Salingyi police station. Aung Thein, who works with Justice Trust, said a letter was also sent to President Thein Sein asking that the lawsuit to be opened against government ministers. He said the purpose of the lawsuit was "to fight for justice and to highlight human rights violations and the lack of rule of law in Myanmar." More than 100 monks suffered serious burns from smoke bombs that reportedly contained white phosphorous when police dispersed the protesters at the Letpadaung copper mine in northwestern Burma. The protest in November 2012 drew international attention. Authorities say police used only tear gas and smoke grenades. This past December, a villager was shot dead during a confrontation as police and Chinese workers erected a fence on land that villagers say is theirs. The Letpadaung mine is a joint venture between a Burma Army-controlled holding company and China's Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd., a unit of weapons manufacturer China North Industries Corp. Villagers say the mine causes environmental, social and health problems, and want it closed. The post Police Reject Lawsuit Against Burma's Home Affairs Minister appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Indonesian Leader Says China’s Main Claim in South China Sea Lacks Legal Basis Posted: 23 Mar 2015 10:48 PM PDT  Indonesian President Joko Widodo (L) shakes hands with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the start of their talks as Abe’s official residence in Tokyo March 23, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) JAKARTA/TOKYO — Indonesian President Joko Widodo said one of China’s main claims to the majority of the South China Sea had no legal basis in international law, but Jakarta wanted to remain an "honest broker" in one of Asia’s most thorny territorial disputes. Widodo’s comments in an interview with a major Japanese newspaper came as he embarked on a visit to Japan and China, and was the first time he had taken a position on the issue since coming to power in October. China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan lay claim to parts of the sea, where about $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes every year. The territorial dispute is seen as one of Asia’s hot spots, carrying risks that it could spiral out of control and result in conflict as countries aggressively stake their claims. "We need peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. It is important to have political and security stability to build up our economic growth," Widodo was quoted as saying in an interview with the Yomiuri newspaper published on Monday. "So we support the Code of Conduct [of the South China Sea] and also dialogue between China and Japan, China and ASEAN." But in a Japanese version of the interview published on Sunday, Widodo rejected one of Beijing’s main claims to the South China Sea. "The ‘nine-dashed line’ that China says marks its maritime border has no basis in any international law," said Widodo. Maritime lawyers note Beijing routinely outlines the scope of its claims with reference to the so-called nine-dashed line that takes in about 90 percent of the 3.5 million square kilometers South China Sea on Chinese maps. The president was not speaking on China’s overall claim on the South China Sea, but only its nine-dash dotted line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia, his foreign policy adviser Rizal Sukma told Reuters on Monday. "In 2009, Indonesia sent its official stance on the issue to the U.N. commission on the delimitation of the continental shelf, stating that the nine-dotted line has no basis in international law," said Sukma. "So, nothing changes." China’s Foreign Ministry appeared to downplay the remarks, repeating its standard line about Chinese sovereignty and that the dispute needs sorting out between the countries directly involved. "The core of the South China Sea dispute is because of some countries’ illegal occupation of several islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters has caused overlapping maritime claims," spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing. China recently expressed its anger at the Vietnamese head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) when he rejected Chinese claims based on the nine-dash line. This vague boundary was first officially published on a map by China’s Nationalist government in 1947 and has been included in subsequent maps issued under Communist rule. Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has been a self-appointed broker in the myriad territorial disputes between its neighbors and China over the South China Sea. "Indonesia’s willingness as an honest broker remains the same," Sukma said. In his first trip to Japan as president, Widodo met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday and their defense ministers signed a defense pact to promote dialogue and cooperation. The agreement is the latest effort by Tokyo to forge closer security ties with Southeast Asian nations and build a counter-balance to China. Besides the defense pact, Japan agreed with Indonesia to strengthen cooperation in maritime security and development of marine-related industries. Japan also announced 140 billion yen ($1.17 billion) in official development assistance to help build Indonesia’s railway network. Japan has already bolstered partnerships with the Philippines and Vietnam, the two countries most at odds with China over the South China Sea. Japan itself is embroiled in a bitter dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, further to the north. Widodo will visit China after Japan. Indonesia and China have a more developed military relationship and Jakarta has bought Chinese-made missiles and other military hardware. The post Indonesian Leader Says China’s Main Claim in South China Sea Lacks Legal Basis appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| ADB President: China-led Bank Potential Partner, Not Rival Posted: 23 Mar 2015 10:00 PM PDT  China's President Xi Jinping, front center, poses for photos with guests at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank launch ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 24, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — The president of the Asian Development Bank says a proposed Chinese-led regional bank is a potential partner rather than a rival and the ADB is talking with Beijing to share its experience. Takehiko Nakao's comments came after Washington softened its opposition to the Chinese-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and suggested it work together with existing entities such the World Bank. The Manila-based ADB is ready to collaborate with the AIIB if it meets environmental, social and other standards for lending, Nakao said in an interview ahead of Tuesday's release of his bank's regional economic outlook. US officials worry the bank might become an instrument of Chinese foreign policy and undermine the World Bank or other institutions by offering credit with few conditions. "I think we can complement each other," Nakao said. China proposed the bank in 2013 to finance construction of roads, ports and other infrastructure. It has pledged to put up most of its initial US$50 billion in capital. Britain broke with Washington last week to announce it wanted to join the Chinese-led bank. France, Germany and Switzerland followed. The ADB has talked with Chinese officials to share its "knowledge and experience" based on its 50-year history and staff of some 3,000 throughout the region, said Nakao, a former deputy Japanese finance minister. In its economic outlook, the ADB said this year's overall growth in developing Asia-Pacific countries should hold steady at last year's 6.3 percent. China should slow to 7.2 percent from last year's 7.4 percent as the communist government tries to steer the economy to a more sustainable expansion and reduce reliance on trade and investment, the bank said. It said growth should decline further to 7 percent next year. Growth in India, the region's other economic giant, should accelerate to 7.8 percent from last year's 7.4 percent following regulatory changes aimed at removing "structural bottlenecks," the bank said. It said that should rise further to 8.2 percent next year. The ADB says developing Asia-Pacific economies need some $7 trillion in investment in roads, ports and other infrastructure in the decade through 2020. On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal cited a US Treasury official as proposing that the new bank work in partnership with Washington-backed development institutions such as the World Bank. "The US would welcome new multilateral institutions that strengthen the international financial architecture," the official, Nathan Sheets, was quoted as saying. On Saturday, Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei tried to ease foreign concern, saying the AIIB would complement institutions such as the World Bank and enable Beijing to shoulder more responsibility for development. Meanwhile, the ADB plans to step up its lending to as much as $18 billion a year from the current $13 billion. Nakao said plans call for increasing credit for the poorest countries, such as Cambodia and Afghanistan, by some 70 percent and lending and investing more in industries such as renewable energy. The post ADB President: China-led Bank Potential Partner, Not Rival appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| All Roads Lead to Singapore: Asians Study Lee Kuan Yew’s Mantra Posted: 23 Mar 2015 09:53 PM PDT  People pay respects to the late former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in the constituency that he represented as a member of Parliament, in Singapore on March 23, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) SINGAPORE — Dozens of Asia's best and brightest government officials each year join what has become known as the "Mayors' Class"—studying good governance, economic management and how to make their countries work like Singapore. Their mentors at two of the city-state's top universities are high-flyers from Singapore's political, government and financial sectors, who reveal the secrets of what it takes to make a country efficient, competitive, and rich. Equally, many of the students are drawn by Singapore's "managed" democracy, a system forged in the image of its first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who died on Monday aged 91, that extols one-party rule, keeps a tight rein on the press and rewards politicians with executive-level wages. For countries such as China and Burma, experimenting with granting their citizens more freedom while maintaining a tight grip on power, the vibrant but heavily controlled state built by Lee could be the answer. The city-state boasts one of the highest proportions of millionaires in the world, and an economy that is the envy of many developed, let alone emerging, nations. As a result, dozens of countries are sending civil servants to study the Singapore way. The bulk of the students are Chinese, and many have progressed to become mayors, governors and vice ministers—hence the Mayors' Class moniker for the course run by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). Wang Zhenping, head of research at the standing committee of the provincial legislature in the northern Chinese province of Hebei, studied at NTU from 2005-06 and wrote a book about his experiences. "For a developing country, Singapore's advantages are its highly efficient government, good infrastructure, stable political environment … and stable economic growth," he said. "For China in particular, Singapore is geographically close, culturally similar and has a wealth of experience at managing markets." The model that drew the likes of Britain's Tony Blair to the tiny Southeast Asian state seeking ideas for welfare reform has lately come under strain at home, as some Singaporeans have complained it favors the privileged and wealthy. But developing states across a region where poverty and graft are widespread remain wowed by Singapore's clean streets, low levels of corruption and dynamic economy. Rowena Tan, a judge in the Philippines, is among thousands of graduates of training programs in public administration and governance in Singapore, and said its bureaucracy was still the model to emulate. "The program gave us the best training from both worlds—the East and the West," she said. "We were told that this is one of the reasons for the success of Singapore—it studies and learns what is best in other countries and tweaks it, adapts it to local conditions." After 49 years of military rule, Burma is eyeing the Singapore system as it transitions to democracy. A senior official from the President's Office in Burma said that the country had been sending its senior and middle-level officials to Singapore, as well as other countries. "This is the president's idea to carry out capacity building for government officials at all levels and to learn the experience of these countries in good governance … and public administration," said the official, who attended one of the schools in Singapore. Wealthy Singapore has long fascinated Beijing's leaders for its ability to combine popular elections and a British-style parliamentary system with decades of unbroken rule by the People's Action Party co-founded by Lee. Though a recent anti-corruption campaign has affected the number of Chinese government officials allowed to travel overseas for training, Singapore's allure has not diminished. Despite doubts among some in the ruling Communist Party over whether many of Singapore's economic and social policies are meaningful for a much larger and more diverse country, traces of Singapore can be seen dotted throughout China. Industrial parks have sprouted around the country, after the first of its kind was developed by Singapore in the city of Suzhou more than 20 years ago. Some cities have lined their boulevards with wide green belts—a nod to Singapore's "Garden City" campaign. "The rapid urbanization in China means that many things Singapore, as a city-state, has done are worth learning," said Mao Shoulong, a professor at the School of Public Administration and Policy at Renmin University in Beijing. "[Singapore's] high-standard municipal management, high-quality public administration is worth something to almost all Asian cities." Courses on urban planning and governance, as well as anti-corruption, are among the most popular, said Louise Beehag, head of the executive education department at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS. Students are also watching how Singapore tackles pressing issues of its own—from the rapid influx of foreigners to a widening income gap—that have upset its citizens and cost the ruling party a record number of seats at the last election. "Every country will have policy challenges, and the important thing is how countries respond to these challenges. Singapore has a strong civil service, and its responses to policy issues are quite thoughtful," said Beehag. Tan, one of about 130 alumni from the Lee Kuan Yew School in the Philippines, said Singapore's draw as a model is because "it's a country that delivers." "It keeps on improving its services and never lets up. And, it walks the talk." The post All Roads Lead to Singapore: Asians Study Lee Kuan Yew's Mantra appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| On a Mission: Destruction of Opium Posted: 23 Mar 2015 05:00 PM PDT  A woman pleads with soldiers not to destroy her opium crop. (Photo: Niels Larsen) NAMKHAM, Shan State – After a three-day trek from their jungle base in Kutkai Township, Battalion 101 of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) finally reached their destination: the mountainous region around Namkham in northern Shan State that is largely under the control of the government-backed Pansay militia. Straddling the borders of China and Kachin State, the territory is a patchwork of poppy fields and clandestine drug laboratories; a major source of the heroin and methamphetamine that is fueling widespread drug addiction among local Palaung (also known as Ta'ang) communities. In its annual "Southeast Asia Opium Survey," the UN Office on Drugs and Crime warned that the use of opium more than doubled and the use of heroin and amphetamine-type stimulants tripled in poppy-growing areas of northern Myanmar from 2012 to 2014. "Our village looked like a graveyard," a monk from a remote village close to Tar Moe Nyae in Kutkai Township said. "No men were working in the fields and the rate of robberies and domestic violence increased." Shan State—where the vast majority of opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar takes place—is home to an array of armed groups, including those that transformed into Border Guard Forces (BGF) under Myanmar Army control since 2009 and People's Militia Forces (PMFs). Some of these government-backed militias, which often take part in military operations alongside the Myanmar Army, are reportedly heavily involved in drug production and trafficking. Without government support, the TNLA, which is one of only two major ethnic armed groups yet to sign a ceasefire agreement with Naypyitaw, has made drug eradication a priority. But while destroying poppy grown by independent farmers has been relatively easy, the fields in the Pansay militia's area are a different story. The influential Pansay militia, reportedly led by Kyaw Myint, also known as Li Shau Yung, a state-level parliamentarian and a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, is said to control 20,000 acres of remote and largely deforested territory in which poppy cultivation is rife. A Myanmar Army battalion permanently stationed in the area has apparently turned a blind eye. "Our objective is not to destroy the headquarters of Pansay or to fight, we just [want] to destroy the opium," explained Tar Now, deputy commander-in-chief of the 3,500 to 4,000 strong TNLA. "We know that the Tatmadaw and the militias will never let us eradicate the poppy without a fight. So we are ready." Following Palaung national day celebrations on Jan. 12 in Mantong Township, the TNLA leadership resolved to launch a coordinated attack on the Pansay-controlled region, using four different battalions (400 men in total), under the leadership of Tar Now. Previous TNLA sorties in the area had been thwarted by the militia and the Myanmar Army. At around 3 pm on Jan. 24, this reporter accompanied the lead TNLA battalion—Battalion 101—as it crossed a ridge and entered Pansay territory, engaging in a few short firefights with militiamen in the valley below. For the rest of the afternoon and throughout the following day, TNLA soldiers set about destroying poppy fields in the valley. The group also forced Lisu and Chinese farmers living in the valley to destroy the crops; no soldiers were observed using physically abusive methods to do this. On the evening of Jan. 25, the Myanmar Army stepped in. An army unit based in the area fired rocket-propelled grenades from higher ground at the farms where TNLA soldiers had taken shelter for the night. The TNLA soldiers managed to escape alive, leaving terrified Lisu farmers behind. Fighting resumed the following morning and raged for two hours, leaving several Myanmar Army soldiers dead. When the army began strafing TNLA positions with mortar fire, the ethnic armed group finally withdrew, abandoning their poppy eradication mission. The TNLA forces were pursued by Myanmar Army units throughout the three-day journey back to their Kutkai Township headquarters. In their attempt to intercept the ethnic armed group, the government army passed through territory controlled by other TNLA units, as well as the Shan State Army-North and the Kachin Independence Army, triggering more clashes. Following the mission, the Battalion 101 commander, who asked that his name be withheld, resolved to return. "We will go back there again until there is no more opium." The post On a Mission: Destruction of Opium appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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