AllSBNews: 12/04/15

Friday, December 4, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Trade Revenues Down Following Kyat’s Decline
Double Cop Killer Sentenced to Death in Rangoon
New Govt Urged to Protect Freedom of Expression
Burma Army, Karen Rebels Visit Colombia
Wa Tycoon’s Jade Ties Exposed in New Report
Govt Tables Kyaukphyu SEZ Plans in Parliament
Actress, Aid Bring Ray of Sunshine to Shan State Displaced
Thailand Draws Nearer to China with Rail, Rice and Rubber Deals
In Crowded Hong Kong, Dead Find No Space to Rest in Peace
India Army on War Footing to Rescue Survivors as Flood Toll Nears 270
Thailand Launches Regional Meet Calling for Migrant Crisis Framework
US Calls for Probe of Reports of Burma Military Atrocities

Trade Revenues Down Following Kyat’s Decline

Posted: 04 Dec 2015 04:20 AM PST

A staff member hands a stack of kyats to a colleague at a bank in Rangoon. (Photo: Minzayar / Reuters)

RANGOON — Burma's total trade volume has declined in value for the first time since the switch to quasi-civilian rule, largely a result of the long and seemingly inexorable slide of the local currency.

For the first eight months of the 2015-16 fiscal year, from April to November, total imports were valued at US$9.8 billion and total exports were $7.2 billion. The figures mark a slight decline against the same period in 2014 imports were $10.1 billion while exports were $7.3 billion, according to the ministry.

The kyat has declined significantly against the greenback since November 2014, losing 26 percent of its value in the past 12 months, and is currently trading at around 1300 to the US dollar. The figures suggest a rise in total trade volume of between 10 and 17 percent on the previous year's figures, even as headline revenues declined.

Win Myint, director of the Commerce Ministry's Department of Trade Promotion, said much of the shortfall was explained by a decline in jade sales to overseas buyers over the current fiscal year.

"Total jade export volume is significantly down," said Win Myint, "Among imported items, cooking oil, diesel and other petroleum products have also declined."

A total of $820 million in total jade exports were reported in the current fiscal year to the end of November, a decline from $1.1 billion for the same period last year. Taking into account the kyat's depreciation, the ministry's figures suggest a drop in jade export volume of at least 25 percent.

Much of Burma's jade trade takes place in the black market, outside of the government's official jade emporiums and away from the ministry's purview. A Global Witness report into the industry, released last month, alleged that members of the former military junta, tycoons connected with the previous regime and military-owned conglomerates had profited handsomely, with total industry revenues as high as $31 billion dollars in 2014.

Despite massive flooding across the country in July and August, export values held firm over the year, despite a decline in agricultural export volumes. A temporary export halt for rice lasted for more than two months in the wake of the flooding crisis, while other agricultural goods saw an export decline across the board.

Hnin Oo, senior vice president of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation and fisheries exporter, told The Irrawaddy that despite the narrowing of the trade deficit over the current fiscal year, he expected the gulf between import and export values to grow wider before the end of March.

"Business leaders are still waiting to see what happens when the next government takes office," he said. "The next government will have to make a strategic plan for promoting export items, or the deficit will get larger."

He added that local manufacturers in small and medium enterprises were still suffering from structural problems arising from lack of access to finance, lack of infrastructure, and issues with government policies.

Import volume of electronics, agricultural equipment, automobiles and other manufactured goods rose over the current fiscal year, to a total value of $4.6 billion against $4.1 billion for the same period in 2014.

Despite the local currency decline, the government is forecasting total trade volume to rise to $29 billion by the end of this fiscal year, up from $28 billion in 2014-15.

The post Trade Revenues Down Following Kyat's Decline appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Double Cop Killer Sentenced to Death in Rangoon

Posted: 04 Dec 2015 03:38 AM PST

Police officers attend the funeral for two of their fallen colleagues, Col. Aung Naing and Cpl. Thura Lwin, in Rangoon's Thanlyin Township on Sept. 4, 2015. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Rangoon's Southern District Court on Friday handed down the death penalty to a man found guilty of murdering two police officers earlier this year in Thanlyin Township, according to police officer Maung Maung Than, who escorted the accused to trial.

The convicted killer, Tin Myint, stabbed Col. Aung Naing and Cpl. Thura Lwin to death on the outskirts of the commercial capital on Sept. 2.

"The judge sentenced him to hang this morning, I transferred him to Insein Prison [afterward]," Maung Maung Than told The Irrawaddy.

The defendant was found guilty of all three charges brought against him, including Article 302 covering murder, which carries with it a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or death by hanging.

Citing police records, local media reported that Tin Myint was born in Waw Township, Pegu Division, and from a young age ran repeatedly afoul of the law, including a 1990 murder conviction that earned him a life sentence.

He was granted an amnesty in 2008, according to local reports, but found himself behind bars again three years later, convicted of multiple criminal offenses including robbery, theft and attempted rape. Serving a 20-year sentence for those charges, he was again released in a 2014 amnesty.

Though capital punishment remains on the books in Burma, it is considered "abolished in practice," according to Amnesty International, with no known executions having taken place since 1988.

According to Amnesty, a total of 55 death sentences were nonetheless handed down by Burmese courts from 2007-2014. President Thein Sein in January 2014 commuted the sentences of all convicted killers on death row to life imprisonment or lesser prison terms.

One man has received the death penalty since the blanket commutation, according to Myat Soe, a police officer with the Southern District Police's criminal department, who said the sentence was meted out over the brutal slaughter last year of a woman in Rangoon's Twantay Township.

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New Govt Urged to Protect Freedom of Expression

Posted: 04 Dec 2015 03:33 AM PST

Journalists in Rangoon stage a protest over curbs to press freedom in Burma near the Myanmar Peace Center. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Freedom of expression has declined in Burma over the past two years, according to a new report by the PEN American Center, which urged the incoming government to cement steps to safeguard rights.

"Unfinished Freedom: A Blueprint for the Future of Free Expression in Myanmar," published on Friday, said that violations related to freedoms of the media, assembly and digital rights have steadily risen since 2013, despite improvements made since the start of Burma's reform process.

The report highlights a number of weak protections, restrictive laws and intrusive bureaucratic structures—including prosecution and physical attacks on journalists, the arrest of Facebook users and the current government's failure to contain religious hate speech.

PEN urged the new government, which is set to assume power early next year, to protect and expand the space of free expression.

"The legal and regulatory framework must be strengthened, with repressive laws that criminalized speech and association either abolished or reformed to meet international standards," the report read.

"Given the particular challenges of dealing with dangerous speech in the context of rising Buddhist extremism and ongoing conflicts in Myanmar's ethnic states, the new government also needs to adopt an affirmative agenda to promote tolerance and healthy speech, fostering dialogue across societal lines and enabling a diversity of voices to flourish, especially in ethnic languages."

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Burma Army, Karen Rebels Visit Colombia

Posted: 04 Dec 2015 02:06 AM PST

A joint delegation of the Burma Army, Karen rebels and representatives of the Myanmar Peace Center before departing for Colombia. (Photo: Min Zaw Oo / Facebook)

A joint delegation representing the Burma Army, ethnic Karen rebels and the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center arrived in Colombia this week to study the country's peace process.

The delegation from Burma included senior Burmese military officials Lt-Gen Ye Aung and Maj-Gen Tun Tun Naug; Tu Tu Lay, an advisor for the Karen National Union (KNU); Maj. Paw Doh of the KNU; and Maj-Gen Saw Moses, second-in-command of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA).

At least one representative of the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, a breakaway faction of the Karen minority's dominant rebel group, as well as members of the MPC also joined the study mission, according to MPC official Hla Maung Shwe.

"It was the first time that Burma Army officials and armed ethnic groups have joined a delegation together. They will study the peace process and conflict resolution in Colombia," Hla Maung Shwe said.

Asked why Burma's other non-state armed groups were not represented in the delegation, the MPC official said the Karen groups had a closer relationship with the government and have made considerable progress on trust-building through regular bilateral conferences.

"Other ethnic rebels will have the chance to participate when the trust is stronger," Hla Maung Shwe said.

The Burmese government achieved a landmark peace accord with eight non-state armed groups on Oct. 15, but fell short of its goal of securing a nationwide pact. Seven groups involved in the negotiations did not sign the agreement, some out of solidarity with armed groups that the government did not include.

Signatories to the pact included ethnic Arakan, Chin, southern Shan and Pa-O rebel groups, as well as the Burman opposition All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF). Only those representing Karen rebel groups were included in this week's delegation to Colombia.

The South American nation is undergoing a hard-fought resolution to internal conflict that has been ongoing since the mid-twentieth century. The Colombian peace process has been described by some as a new model for conflict resolution.

The Colombian government began holding peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2012 in the Cuban capital of Havana. The two sides are near to reaching an agreement, which is expected to be penned by a March 2016 deadline. The agreement stipulates that the FARC must disarm within 60 days of signing the final document.

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Wa Tycoon’s Jade Ties Exposed in New Report

Posted: 04 Dec 2015 02:01 AM PST

Miners search for jade stones at a mine dump at a Hpakant jade mine in Kachin State, November 25, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

A new report published by the London-based NGO Global Witness alleges that a group of individuals long associated with Burma's largest and richest armed group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), are heavily involved in the jade trade. The report, titled "Lords of Jade" and released on Thursday, alleges that Wei Hsueh Kang, often described as the UWSA's chief "bankroller," continues to operate an extensive network of jade mining firms, despite being subject to US sanctions and extradition attempts.

The report is a detailed follow up to Global Witness' lengthy expose on Burma's jade trade released in October, which revealed that companies controlled by the families of several key figures from the previous military regime—including Sen-Gen Than Shwe, and former Northern Command chief Ohn Myint—were making millions from the jade trade, an industry that remains mired in secrecy and rampant corruption.

Global Witness' latest report alleges that Wei Hsueh Kang and his associates "have used a web of opaque company structures to build, and disguise, a jade empire." The NGO says that its research indicates that Wei Hsueh Kang, who has had a US$2 million dollar bounty on his head stemming from what US authorities allege was his central involvement in the trafficking of drugs to the US, has—in collaboration with his associates from the drug trade—set out to dominate jade mining in Kachin State's Hpakant Township.

"Wei Hsueh Kang's grip on parts of the jade trade shows just what a dirty business it is, and the levels of impunity enjoyed by the elites whose operations bring death and misery to the people living near the jade mines," Global Witness Asia Director Mike Davis said in a statement.

According to Global Witness, both the military, which controls most of Hpakant, and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), which has clashed with government forces in and around the area since their ceasefire with the central government collapsed in June 2011, give the Wa-connected firms a wide berth so as not to upset the country's strongest armed ethnic group. Global Witness alleges that Wei and his clique employ the "UWSA name as political leverage over the government army (Tatmadaw) and the KIA/KIO and as a means of intimidating competitors."

After US authorities targeted what they alleged was a UWSA front company, Hong Pang, with sanctions in the early 2000s, the firm morphed into a series of interrelated companies whose names often change. Global Witness alleges that a firm called Myanmar Takaung is the most important in the stable of UWSA-affiliated jade firms. The firm works closely with four other firms identified as by Global Witness as part of this group of jade firms, Ayeyar Yadanar, Yar Za Htar Ne, Thaw Tar Win and Apho Tan San Chain Hmi (also known by its English name Value Standard). All five firms are staffed by businessmen known for their prior affiliations with Hong Pang.

Citing interviews with jade industry sources, business partners and drug control experts, the Global Witness report alleges that "Wei Hsueh Kang is a beneficial owner of the jade mining ventures of the five companies and exercises ultimate control over them."

According to jade businessmen interviewed by Global Witness, the Wa-affiliated firms' business practices frequently involve heavy-handed tactics. Rival firms are offered protection in "exchange for payment or a share of production." Global Witness research found that a number of firms including Myanmar Naing Group, an entity Global Witnesses says is controlled by the family of retired military strongman Than Shwe and Yadanar Taung Tann, under crony tycoon Steven Law, have entered into such agreements with the Wa firms. Other companies have been compelled to go along with the Wa firms demands after road access to their mines was deliberately blocked, claims jade businessmen interviewed by Global Witness.

Those in the jade trade have also told Global Witness that Wa-related firms have made less-than-subtle references to the UWSA eliminating people it was unhappy with. "The Wa use money, power and weapons; they even kill people. Local people cannot confront them," said one businessman interviewed by Global Witness.

Such claims have been denied by representatives of the Wa related firms. Li Myint, a former Hong Pang group managing director who acknowledged being in charge of jade concessions in Hpakant for the firms Ayeyar Yadanar and Yar Za Htar told Global Witnesses that the allegations are false.

"We neither force other businesses into making a partnership nor demand payment from these other businesses. We only work with those who are willing to work as our partners depending on the situation of the business. We built the roads in the vicinity of our mine sites after consulting with our neighbouring miners. Some were difficult to consult with," Li Myint said in a letter sent to Global Witness, responding to questions about his firm's business practices. Li also denied any association with Myanmar Takaung.

Another Hong Pang veteran, Zaw Bo Khant, who now serves as Myanmar Takaung's managing director has been identified by Global Witness a key front man for Wei Hsueh Kang's jade empire. According to Global Witness "official and industry sources identify Zaw Bo Khant as the person responsible for the jade mining operations in Hpakant" for all five of jade firms identified by Global Witness as being part of the Wa group. Zaw Bo Khant is also the director and shareholder of Myan Shwe Pyi Mining, whose sister firm Myan Shwe Pyi Tractors, bills itself as "Myanmar's premier Caterpillar dealership." Combing through Zaw Bo Khant's Facebook account, Global Witness determined that the alleged Wei Hsueh Kang front man visited Caterpillar facilities in Australia, France, Germany, Spain and the UK.

Global Witness says that Caterpillar, by hosting Zaw Bo Khant and doing business with his firm, the world's leading manufacturer of earth moving equipment, has suffered from an "apparent failure to do adequate due diligence on the owners of its dealership in Myanmar." The US-headquartered firm has defended itself by saying that is has employed a "Robust Screening" process to ensure that it is not doing business with anyone or any entity that is subject to sanctions. Despite his previous association with Hong Pang, Zaw Bo Khant has yet to be added to the US sanctions list, though Global Witness says there are plenty of other red flags Caterpillar should have seen.

"Zaw Bo Khant's previous role as manager for Wei Hsueh Kang's Hong Pang companies is well known and should be grounds enough for a responsible company to make further enquiries," the report read.

According to Global Witness' research, the extent to which the UWSA-connected firms are mining and operating on behalf of the entire UWSA as an organization or just Wei and his network remains unclear. The group's research suggests that many people in the jade trade see the firm as part of the UWSA.

"Whether or not their companies are a financing vehicle for the UWSA/UWSP, it is clear that they are exploiting the Wa name to intimidate peers and competitors in the business," the report concludes.

Other senior figures connected to the group—including Aik Haw, the son-in-law of UWSA chief Pao Yu Hsiang (also spelled Bao Youxiang)—have also been identified by Global Witness as playing a role in the jade trade.

"Aik Haw also appears to be the key deal-broker when it comes to arrangements between the Wa-related companies and other jade mining firms," the report read.

According to a jade businessman interviewed by Global Witness, Aik Haw negotiated the Wa firms buying of mines from both Burmese tycoon Tay Za's Htoo Group and Kyaing International, another firm identified by Global Witness as being controlled by the family of Than Shwe.

It remains unclear how much Wei and the UWSA have profited from the trade. According to Global Witness, companies affiliated with Wei and the UWSA made pre-tax sales totaling US$100 million at government-run jade emporiums in 2013 and 2014. This is likely only a fraction of the jade revenue earned by these firms, as most of the jade is thought to be smuggled directly across the border to China.

The UWSA was formed in 1989 following the demise of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). The CPB, which was the largest armed group in Burma at the time, collapsed on itself after a purge of junior officers led by the Wa and other ethnics in the CBP cadre, who were largely left out of the CBP's senior ranks. The UWSA's ceasefire deal with the central government, brokered by military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, gave the group a significant amount of autonomy over territory it controlled along the Chinese border.

In the late 1990s, under the encouragement of the Burmese military, the UWSA waged a campaign to capture territory along the Thai border that had previously been held by Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army (MTA). It was there that the group established the 171st Brigade and its southern command, which was led by Wei Hsueh Kang. His brother ,Wei Hsueh Ying, later took over as head of the 171st Brigade, a territory populated by survivors of a group of more than 100,000 ethnic Wa who were forcibly relocated by the group to southern Shan State as part of 1999 to 2002 campaign to colonize the newly conquered territory. A third Wei brother, Wei Hsueh Long, has also served in the UWSA hierarchy.

Although he is widely believed to still be living in UWSA territory, Wei Hsueh Kang is rarely seen in public. In 2007, he relinquished his role serving on the UWSA's politburo as the group's financial affairs chief. According to Merchants of Madness, a 2009 expose of the UWSA penned by Bertil Lintner and Michael Black, despite his resignation he continued to play a key role in the group's finances. Unlike many of his peers in the UWSA leadership, the ethnic Chinese Wei Hsueh Kang did not serve in the CPB and was previously affiliated with Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army. After a falling out with the Shan in 1985, he and his brothers joined forces with a smaller group Wa group, the Wa National Council (WNC) on the Thai border before eventually joining with the UWSA and its similarly named political wing the United Wa State Party (UWSP).

Senior UWSA officials have long disputed reports about the group's involvement in the drug trade and claim the organization took strong measures to eliminate drug production in its territory more than a decade ago.

"We, the UWSA, are wholeheartedly engaged in the fight against drug-dealing," the group's spokesperson, Aung Myint, told The Irrawaddy in 2013. "For seven years since 2005, there have been no poppy fields and no poppy plants in our region. This has finished. That's why the world should recognize us."

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Govt Tables Kyaukphyu SEZ Plans in Parliament

Posted: 04 Dec 2015 01:53 AM PST

A jetty for oil tankers on Maday island, Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, October 7, 2015. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters)

Burma's government is seeking parliamentary approval to begin the first phase of the Kyaukphyu special economic zone (SEZ) in Arakan State, lawmakers said on Friday.

Myint Thein, deputy minister for Rail Transportation and head of the Kyaukphyu SEZ management committee, outlined the long-mooted project, billed as the country's western economic gateway, to Lower House lawmakers on Thursday.

MPs were told to register by Monday for debate on the project in Parliament next week, with the government seeking the legislature's approval to use the land earmarked for the zone.

The Kyaukphyu SEZ would "be set up on 4,289 acres of land," Myint Thein informed lawmakers, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar. The project is slated to include an industrial zone, a housing estate and two deep sea ports, on Ramree and Maday islands respectively, according to the deputy minister.

Tender bids for development of the zone closed last November, with a total of 12 proposals submitted by one local and 11 international firms. However, the opaque tender and evaluation process has been beset by delays, with no successful bidder yet announced, despite official assurances that the process was nearing completion.

Singapore's CPG Corporation was awarded the US$2.5 million consulting contract for the project in March last year.

Ba Shein, an Arakan National Party (ANP) lawmaker, said the government should explain the project's impact on local residents and ensure they are properly informed.

"Now we do not know anything. What will be done for the residents? Will they need to move? How will the compensation be done? And so forth," Ba Shein said.

"It looks like the current government just wants to go ahead with the project as planned, rather than for the region's benefit… It seems they want certain companies to have a go."

Dual oil and gas pipelines—the latter of which became operational in 2013—which run from Kyaukphyu overland to China's southwest Yunnan province, attracted the ire of locals over issues including displacement, inadequate compensation and environmental degradation.

Myint Thein told the Lower House on Thursday that the management committee had been transparent in their dealings on the project and had heeded public opinion.

"The boundary posts for the project were set to avoid the villages," he said. "And the project has been implemented in accordance with current laws, bylaws and regulations."

The Global New Light of Myanmar quoted Myint Thein as telling lawmakers on Thursday that a team had been founded "to monitor the possible social, economic and environmental impacts the construction might have on the area."

According to the SEZ management committee, the project's industrial zone will be built in the first phase of the project in a plot 8.5 km south of Kyaukphyu across five village tracts from February 2016.

Banyar Aung Moe, a lawmaker with the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP), said "honesty is the key" to successfully implementing the project.

"The deputy minister's explanation was not that detailed, so we will listen to other lawmakers' presentations [next week] and give our vote," he said.

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Actress, Aid Bring Ray of Sunshine to Shan State Displaced

Posted: 04 Dec 2015 12:41 AM PST

Click to view slideshow.

WAN HAI, Kyethi Township, Shan State — On a day that also saw several humanitarian aid convoys arrive in the region surrounding this besieged Shan rebel headquarters, well-known Burmese singer and actress Dr. Chit Thu Wai made a morale-boosting visit on Thursday to several camps for civilians displaced by the conflict.

Along with a number of small national and regional NGOs, members of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, and donors from Mon State and Rangoon, Chit Thu Wai paid visits to some of the thousands of people displaced by fighting in central Shan State that began on Oct. 6, pitting the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) against the Burma Army.

The International Red Cross and UN organizations including the World Food Program and Unicef joined the actress-physician in delivering aid in the form of clothing, food, medical supplies and educational materials to the many IDPs at the Wan Wa and Haipa displacement camps, as well as offering moral support and occasional medical advice as needed.

Lee Chuin Chang, an ethnic Kokang businessman, and the 88 Generation group have opened and supplied a medical center at Haipa to assist the IDPs.

Dr. Moe Myint Kyaw, a volunteer medical practitioner from Irrawaddy Division, told The Irrawaddy that some patients in the camps are beginning to suffer from ailments often associated with living conditions in which hygiene standards are low. He described rising cases of diarrhea, skin allergies and rashes caused by poor hygiene, as well as an uptick in cases of influenza and a few isolated cases of malaria.

Camp sanitation and hygiene officer Min Kyaw, who works with PKU Rescue, an NGO, said the camp at Haipa currently houses almost 1,500 people, with more arriving every day.

Discussing her motivations for making the trip this week, Chit Thu Wai said she felt moved to reach out in a show of solidarity with her compatriots.

"This is our land together, so this is like my family suffering. I wanted to come and show the people here that I do care for them and will always be here for them."

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Thailand Draws Nearer to China with Rail, Rice and Rubber Deals

Posted: 03 Dec 2015 09:37 PM PST

Wang Xiaotao, deputy head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, and Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, right, raise their hands during the Ninth Meeting of the Joint Committee on Railway Cooperation signing ceremony in Bangkok on Dec. 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — China and Thailand agreed to build an ambitious 900 kilometer (559 mile) railway line on Thursday in the latest sign of closer ties between them after Bangkok's links with Washington have cooled.

The two countries agreed in a memorandum of understanding to build a long-mooted railway from the Thai-Lao border to Bangkok, said Thailand's transport minister.

China has ambitious infrastructure plans for the region to build rail links from Kunming in its southwest through Laos to Thailand.

China also agreed to buy rice and rubber from Thailand at the meeting in Bangkok, said the Thai commerce ministry.

"We want this project to take shape soonest, especially in terms of construction and we are trying to speed up construction by middle of next year," Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told reporters.

China has said it is supportive of Thailand's military rulers who took power following a May 2014 coup that ousted an elected government.

Since then, Thailand's generals have sought to counterbalance ties with Washington and launched a charm offensive toward China.

Thailand is one of Washington's oldest partners in the region but following the coup, Washington downgraded diplomatic and military ties.

The agreements signed between China and Thailand could help boost the sluggish growth rate of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.

Construction of the railway was previously expected to begin in September. Arkhom said the design of the railway had delayed the start of construction.

The two countries did not agree on a price for the rail project at the meeting, he said.

China has offered to finance the project with a loan with 2.5 percent interest but Thailand wants 2 percent.

China agreed to buy 1 million tons of white and jasmine rice and 200,000 tons of rubber from Thailand.

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In Crowded Hong Kong, Dead Find No Space to Rest in Peace

Posted: 03 Dec 2015 09:26 PM PST

Worshippers clean the graves of their ancestors at a cemetery during Chung Yeung festival in Hong Kong on Oct. 22, 2004. (Photo: Kin Cheung / Reuters)

HONG KONG — In tightly packed Hong Kong, the dead are causing a problem for the living.

After Chui Yuen-sing's mother died in April, she was cremated and her ashes put in storage while he tried to find a final resting place. He was willing to wait up to 18 months for a pigeonhole-like "niche" in a memorial building. If none was available, he was considering putting them in mainland China, where his father's ashes are already stored, or taking an even more drastic step that conflicted with Chinese tradition.

"Maybe I would have scattered my mom's ashes in a public park," the retired university lecturer said. "But if I used this method then in my heart I probably wouldn't feel very good. Chinese people think that you should be buried in the ground to find peace."

Chui's choices highlight the long-running struggle to find enough space to accommodate both the living and the dead in the cramped southern Chinese city of 7.2 million. Limited land to build on and soaring property prices are colliding with a tradition of visiting grave sites on "tomb sweeping" holidays to burn incense and pay respects to venerated dead ancestors.

Hong Kong's aging society means the problem will get worse. The number of senior citizens is expected to rise from 15 percent of the population in 2014 to nearly a quarter by 2024. The number of deaths each year will rise from 42,700 in 2010 to 50,300 by the end of the decade, according to government forecasts.

In the 1960s, administrators of Hong Kong, which was then a British colony, began encouraging cremation to ease the strain of a fast-growing population on space-starved cemeteries. Now, the cremation rate has risen to about 90 percent.

To store the ashes, the government builds large structures known as columbaria that have tens of thousands of niches for urns as well as furnaces to burn paper money and other offerings. But supply hasn't kept up with demand.

"There's undoubtedly not enough," said Lam Wai-lung, chairman of the Funeral Business Association. Official attempts to encourage local councils to build more face fierce opposition, he said.

"When the government holds consultations, residents of every district oppose building it in their neighborhood. Every area says no," Lam said.

Part of the reason is that columbaria draw huge crowds of people during tomb sweeping holidays, causing big traffic jams and air pollution from the paper offerings being burned.

Families face a waiting list of up to six years for a government-provided niche, so some turn to private providers, including more than 120 that have been deemed illegal.

But private niches can be too expensive for many families, with prices at one temple ranging from 73,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$9,500) to HK$890,000 ($115,000).

Since 2007, authorities have also been promoting "green" burials by scattering ashes at sea or in 11 gardens of remembrance. But such practices conflict with Chinese traditions that hold that burying remains in an auspicious spot on a mountainside or near the sea are vital for a family's fortunes.

The government has been trying to change attitudes with educational videos and seminars at retirement homes. It's even set up an electronic memorial website where families can post photos and videos of the deceased and send electronic offerings of plums or roast pork. Interest remains limited, with green burials rising from a few dozen in 2005 to 3,553 last year.

Some companies are offering more creative solutions.

Sage Funeral Services started offering a service three years ago through a South Korean laboratory that uses ultrahigh heat to turn ashes into memorial gems.

"In the first year everybody said I'm crazy," said Betsy Ma, Sage's sales director, who had her father's ashes made into gems that she wears in her earrings and necklace.

Many Chinese believe that carrying human remains as jewelry or storing them at home will attract ghosts, said Ma. Still, in the past year the procedure has gained popularity, she said.

Government auditors said this month that Hong Kong faces an "acute shortage" of niches over the next three years because of project delays and a government plan to regulate private operators.

The new law, expected to take force next year, is aimed at better managing private operators, which frequently violate land-use rules or safety codes. Some entrepreneurs spot an opportunity to modernize a market dominated by small, old-fashioned operators.

"There will be a new generation of high-class columbaria coming up," said Francis Neoton Cheung, an urban designer and chairman of Life Culture Group, which invests in columbarium projects.

One company he has worked with, Kerry Logistics, is proposing converting a 15-story waterfront warehouse into a modern columbarium.

The HK$2 billion ($260 million) project will have 82,000 niches opened by smartcards and video screens showing photos and movies of the deceased, and high-tech air filtration to cut pollution from burning joss sticks and paper offerings. However, the company has yet to secure planning approval after local residents objected.

Chui, the retired lecturer, compared waiting times for public urn spaces to demand for public housing.

"There's never enough supply. For some people it causes great hardship," he said.

Chui was one of about 9,480 people who applied for 3,256 new niches offered in October from the Board of Management of Chinese Permanent Cemeteries, a private group.

He got lucky, winning a family niche. He plans to bring his father's ashes back from mainland China so that his parents can be together.

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India Army on War Footing to Rescue Survivors as Flood Toll Nears 270

Posted: 03 Dec 2015 09:20 PM PST

People wade through a flooded road in Chennai, India, December 3, 2015. (Photo: Anindito Mukherjee / Reuters)

CHENNAI, India — The Indian military evacuated more than 2,000 residents stranded in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on Thursday as the death toll from flooding rose to 269 after the heaviest cloudburst in over a century.

Forecasts of more rain over the next 48 hours forced the army to work on a war footing to rescue survivors trapped in inundated parts of Chennai.

India's fourth most populous city saw only slight rains on Thursday, but water levels had not receded since a day earlier, when a massive release of water from a brimming reservoir swamped low-lying areas of the city.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has blamed climate change for the deluge, traveled to Chennai to get a first-hand view of a rescue effort that has so far been halting.

"The government will stand by the people of Tamil Nadu in their hour of need," Modi told reporters, promising US$150 million for rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Even as the weather cleared, waters rose in many residential areas, fed by spills from 35 lakes that have risen to dangerous levels.

After auto manufacturers and IT outsourcing firms suspended operations on Wednesday, state-run Chennai Petroleum shut down its 210,000-barrels-per-day oil refinery due to heavy flooding. The cloudburst earlier this week dumped as much as 345 millimeters (14 inches) of rain over 24 hours.

"We live in a city expecting that we will have access to basic facilities. But today, we have no drinking water, no fresh food and no control over our lives," said Sudha Raman Murthy, a mother of two teenage daughters.

Resurrecting a City

Soldiers set up 25 temporary shelters and community kitchens and installed portable toilets. "We will have to resurrect an entire city," said Abhijit Shaw, an army officer who was setting up a makeshift maternity ward in a government building.

Floods cut off more than three million people from basic services and hampered rescue efforts by the army, which has so far evacuated 18,000 people from rooftops and outlying villages.

City authorities were deploying bulldozers and bags of concrete to repair collapsed roads and bridges.

Train services and flights to Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, were washed out and the navy has pressed fishing boats into service to evacuate people from the worst-hit suburbs to temples, schools and wedding halls.

A senior federal official said more than 1,000 people had been critically injured and were rushed to government hospitals by paramilitary forces.

Additional rainfall of 100 mm to 200 mm (4 inches to 8 inches) was predicted from Thursday through Sunday, keeping the situation critical for several more days.

The federal government also pledged an additional $141 million in immediate relief and began to assess losses to life and property. Assocham, an industry lobby, estimated that financial losses from the floods could exceed $2.25 billion.

Experts said haphazard construction, faulty drainage and a build-up of garbage had contributed to the disaster.

"Chennai is stinking and it is shocking to see how it has collapsed in the last 48 hours," said Anant Raghav, 56, a professor at the University of Madras.

More than 5,000 houses were under water with many people still trapped on rooftops, while others crowded in relief camps.

About 30 families have been sleeping rough under a flyover in central Chennai for the last week, after their huts and small concrete houses were washed away.

Seema Agarwal, from the central district of Alwarpet, said she had seen many angry people queuing at bus stops to leave town.

"There are people who haven't eaten for days," she said. "They have seen their possessions float away from the house. Food, clothes—all gone."

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Thailand Launches Regional Meet Calling for Migrant Crisis Framework

Posted: 03 Dec 2015 09:15 PM PST

A Burmese military officer gestures from a navy ship toward a boat packed with migrants, off Leik Island in the Andaman Sea, May 31, 2015. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters)

BANGKOK — Thailand's foreign minister called on Friday for concerted action to tackle irregular migration in the Indian Ocean, as regional nations met for talks aimed at preventing another "boat people" crisis.

Representatives from Southeast Asian countries are meeting in Bangkok to hash out a framework to deal with tens of thousands of migrants, most from Burma and Bangladesh, who make perilous voyages across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea every year.

"It's clear that we need an explicit and efficient mechanism to manage and control the negative impacts of irregular migration," Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said in opening remarks.

"The time for promises has passed. Now is the time for action. Therefore, it's my hope that today's discussion will result in concrete and goal-oriented actions that countries can start implementing, not in some distant future, but today and now."

The conference is the second round of talks that were launched in May amid a migration crisis prompted by a human trafficking crackdown in Thailand.

The crackdown caused traffickers to abandon 4,000 migrants from Burma and Bangladesh at sea, and was marked by a chaotic spectacle of "maritime ping-pong" as the Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian navies repeatedly pushed desperate migrants in boats away from their waters.

October and November mark the start of the four-month "sailing season," the busiest time for smuggling and trafficking ships plying the Bay of Bengal.

This week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) urged efforts to avoid a repeat of this year's disaster when hundreds of refugees were lost at sea or died in jungle camps.

On Thursday, the IOM said Southeast Asia needed legal channels of migration to curb human smuggling.

Don said the meeting would not necessarily yield long-term solutions to the crisis, adding that about 900 migrants who arrived by boat were currently in Thailand.

While some migrants are Bangladeshis escaping poverty at home, many are members of Burma's 1.1 million Rohingya Muslim community who live in apartheid-like conditions in the country's Arakan State.

Burma does not consider the Rohingya citizens, rendering them effectively stateless, while denying it discriminates against them or that they are fleeing persecution.

At the May meeting, Burma's Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized those who blamed Burma for Southeast Asia's migrant crisis.

Don said the issue of Rohingya citizenship would not be discussed on Friday.

"No, it hasn't been raised pointedly, but it was borne in the back of the minds of all participants that this is one of the relevant questions."

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US Calls for Probe of Reports of Burma Military Atrocities

Posted: 03 Dec 2015 09:05 PM PST

Displaced civilians await humanitarian aid at an IDP camp near Wan Hai, Shan State. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

WASHINGTON — The United States on Thursday called for a credible, independent investigation by Burma's government of reports of military atrocities in the country's Shan State, saying they were reprehensible, if true.

A rights group, the Shan Human Rights Foundation, accused Burma's army last week of bombing schools and Buddhist temples, firing on civilians and rape in an offensive against ethnic rebels in eastern Burma that has uprooted more than 10,000 people.

"We are concerned by reports of Burmese military atrocities, including allegations of indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations and infrastructure, rape, and other acts of sexual violence," said Katina Adams, a spokeswoman for the US State Department.

"These allegations, if true, are reprehensible, and we urge the Government of Burma to undertake a credible, independent investigation into these allegations, and to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions."

Last month, the senior US diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, was in Burma. He met Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and urged the military to exercise restraint and to work to promote peace and reconciliation in conflict areas.

Burma has fought ethnic groups in its borderlands off and on for decades, causing massive displacement within the country and forcing hundreds of thousands to seek refuge across the border in Thailand.

In October, a military-backed civilian government that replaced a military junta in 2010 signed a ceasefire with eight armed ethnic groups. But the deal fell short of its nationwide billing, with seven of the 15 invited groups declining to sign, including the Shan State Army-North and the Kachin Independence Army.

After 2010, the country embarked on US-backed reforms toward elections that were held last month. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won in a landslide, but her party has yet to take power.

According to activists in Shan State, the army has shelled six villages, shot and injured three people, and fired on 17 villagers who are now missing, since Oct. 6.

The Shan Human Rights Foundation said it had documented eight cases of sexual violence since April 2015, including a 32-year-old woman gang-raped by 10 soldiers on Nov. 5 while her husband was tied up under their farm hut in Kyethi Township.

The Burmese government has not responded to requests for comment about the fighting in Shan state.

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