The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Ethnic Parties Join Forces Following Criticism of NLD
- Remaining Charges Against Abbot of Yay Pu Monastery Dropped
- Charges Filed Against Labor Rights Protestors
- Burma Army Airstrikes Bombard Kachin, Shan States
- Burmese Climbers Summit Everest
- Over 200 Families Feared Buried by Landslides in Sri Lanka
- Targeted Burmese Tycoon May Profit From US Sanctions Changes
- China Stages War Games Days Ahead of Taiwan Inauguration
- Burma’s Right to Information Movement Can Learn From India
| Ethnic Parties Join Forces Following Criticism of NLD Posted: 19 May 2016 05:42 AM PDT  An ethnic Shan member of Parliament arrives to attend the last day of the Union Parliament session in Naypyidaw on January 29, 2016. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) RANGOON — Representatives from the two largest ethnic political parties in the Union Parliament—the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and the Arakan National Party (ANP)—held an impromptu meeting during lunch in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, agreeing to form a united front when submitting proposals on ethnic affairs or amending important laws. SNLD Lower House lawmaker Sai One Leng Kham said that during the meeting, they discussed parliamentary procedures and the role of the ethnic bloc in the legislature. According to Sai One Leng Kham, 12 SNLD and 22 ANP parliamentarians participated in the discussion. This marked the first meeting between ANP and SNLD lawmakers since the new government was formed in April. The two groups are members of the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), a group of 13 ethnic parties, led by the SNLD. "We don't have any official agreement between us," said Sai One Leng Kham. The ANP had previously been allied with the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), which in 2010 won more than half the seats in the Shan State parliament. The SNDP, however, was tainted by its association with the previous government, and only secured one seat in the state legislature in the 2015 election, leading the ANP to draw closer to the more powerful SNLD. ANP Lower House parliamentarian Khin Saw Wai said the two parties planned to reach out to other ethnic political parties, such as the Ta'ang National Party and the Zomi Congress for Democracy. Two weeks ago, Lower House Speaker Win Myint of the National League for Democracy (NLD) rejected Khin Saw Wai's proposal regarding support for displaced Arakanese who fled their homes after fighting broke out between the Arakan Army and the Burma Army. This led ethnic political commentators to criticize the NLD for minimizing ethnic issues. SNLD chairman Khun Htun Oo told reporters on May 7 on the sidelines of a UNA meeting that the ethnic groups could not rely on the NLD to take care of their affairs. However, the ANP's Khin Saw Wai told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the meeting between the ANP and SNLD was not a result of the UNA conference or the house speaker's rejection of her proposal, and emphasized the common ground between the ethnic parties and the NLD. "We ethnic politicians worked with the NLD to block the implementation of Proportional Representation," she said, referring to a plan by the previous government to change the electoral process to the disadvantage the NLD. The post Ethnic Parties Join Forces Following Criticism of NLD appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Remaining Charges Against Abbot of Yay Pu Monastery Dropped Posted: 19 May 2016 05:26 AM PDT  U Eindaka's supporters celebrate outside the courthouse after charges against the venerated abbot of Yay Pu Monastery were dropped in Pyin Oo Lwin District, Mandalay Division, on May 19, 2016. (Photo: Zarni Mann / The Irrawaddy). PYIN OO LWIN, Mandalay Division — A court in Pyin Oo Lwin District on Thursday dropped the remaining charges against U Eindaka, the abbot of the Yay Pu Monastery in Mandalay Division's Mogok Township, after the lawsuit against him was withdrawn. U Eindaka, widely known as "Yay Pu Sayardaw," was facing possible legal repercussions under Burma's Mining Law for digging up earth around the area inside his monastery's compound where he had intended to rebuild an old pagoda. "Because the plaintiff has submitted a letter saying that he wishes to withdraw the charges, the court has reviewed the case and, accordingly, decided to drop the charges," said the Pyin Oo Lwin district court judge during Thursday's hearing. "Sayadaw and the other four men charged with him under the [Mining Law] are free leave, and the machines and tools that had been presented to the court as evidence will be returned to their owners," the judge added. U Eindaka was arrested in June of last year and had also been charged with illegally possessing timber under the Forestry Law. He was faced with either three months in prison or paying a 20,000 kyats (US$17) fine. His supporters opted to pay the fine on Wednesday. "I was arrested without having committed any unlawful acts and have had to spend more than 10 months in prison. I welcome the court's decision as well as the plaintiff's withdrawal of charges," U Eindaka said after the court session. "But even though I'm a free man, there are still many others who await trial in prison who were also charged under unjust laws in an unjust judicial system. If the country's judicial system is really to change, it's important to review these people's cases and to act fairly in order to prevent them from having to suffer as I did." Outside the courthouse, under heavy rain, dozens of U Eindaka's supporters, many of whom had traveled all the way from Mogok, played traditional Shan gongs and drums, danced and wept with joy as they welcomed U Eindaka and his newfound freedom. U Eindaka, who had been defrocked while he was in prison, was able to undergo the proper Buddhist rituals and receive blessings and honors from Pyin Oo Lwin's senior monks, allowing him once again to don his robes and re-enter the monkhood. The post Remaining Charges Against Abbot of Yay Pu Monastery Dropped appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Charges Filed Against Labor Rights Protestors Posted: 19 May 2016 05:10 AM PDT  Police forcibly detain labor rights protestors in Tatkon Township on Wednesday. (Photo: Thiha / The Irrawaddy) NAYPYIDAW — Police charged 51 labor rights protestors on Thursday under four separate charges, including Article 505(b) of the Burmese Penal Code, which can carry a two-year sentence for disturbing the public order. The article prohibits circulating statements that could cause fear or alarm to the public or upset public tranquility; under the former government, it was criticized as being a catchall punishment for anything deemed as dissent. The 100 workers were marching from a plywood factory in the Sagaing Industrial Zone, following an unresolved labor dispute and failed negotiations with Myanmar Veneer Plywood Private Ltd. (MVPPL). Protestors began marching from Sagaing Division to Naypyidaw in late April, in an effort to meet with Burma's President Htin Kyaw, whom they believed would find a favorable resolution. The workers were also charged under articles 143, 145 and 157 of the penal code, which include participating in an unlawful assembly, refusing to obey police and causing disorder. There was not enough space to detain all the protestors at the police station in Tatkon Township, so they were sent to a jail in Yamaethin Township for security reasons, said Naypyidaw Police Col Ko Ko Aung. Authorities released 23 of the detainees and handed them over to the Sagaing Township administrator and district police force, according to Tatkon Township administrator Yi Mon. Yi Mon said they asked each of the detainees how they wanted to proceed. "Some said they wanted to go home, others wanted to stay and face their charges," he said. "We have fulfilled their wishes, and sent back the people who wanted to return home." Protestors were arrested on Wednesday in Tatkon Township as they marched to Naypyidaw. The post Charges Filed Against Labor Rights Protestors appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Burma Army Airstrikes Bombard Kachin, Shan States Posted: 19 May 2016 12:47 AM PDT  The Mai Hkawn IDP camp in Mansi Township, Kachin State. (Photo: Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma Army airstrikes were reported in Kachin and Shan states on Wednesday, forcing villagers to flee their homes as the government forces' fighting with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) heats up. No casualties have been reported yet in Kachin State, but the residents of Maji Gung Kaba, Bum Ja and Jay Seng villages have fled their homes. The affected villages are located between the Mai Hkawn and Man Wing Gyi camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled fighting between the KIA and the Burma Army in 2015. "The helicopters came around 3:15 pm [on Wednesday] and started bombing," said Nann Zein Laja, a spokesman for the Zinlum Foundation, a local organization supporting IDPs in Mansi Township's Mai Hkawn camp, an area in Kachin State under the control of KIA Brigade No. 3. "[The Burma Army helicopters] were shooting everywhere," said Rein Mao of the Kachin Baptist Convention, who is living in Bum Ja village. "This wasn't a normal military engagement between the KIA and the Burma Army." Fighting between the Burma Army and the KIA reignited May 14 in the KIA-controlled area, with a Chinese logger reportedly killed in a Burma Army airstrike. "[The Burma Army] didn't shoot at KIA outposts," said Lt-Col Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the KIA. "They only attacked civilians." "If the fighting breaks out again, civilians could be in danger of being tortured," said Aung Myo San, the coordinator of a local civilian protection committee, "And there are Burma Army troops in the middle of the village, so it would be dangerous for the villagers if [both armies] start shooting at each other." The fighting in Shan State this week, however, was a direct military-on-military conflict. Two Burma Army battalions and two militia groups joined forces to attack an SSA-N outpost outside Pein Hsai village, near Hsipaw Township, Shan State, on Wednesday, according to Maj. Sai Hsu, spokesperson for the SSA-N. He said he did not understand why the attacks had intensified despite the fact that the SSA-N had held talks with a tactical commander from the Burma Army on the de-escalation of military tensions between the two sides on May 12. "[The Burma Army] attacked our temporary military outpost with four choppers [Wednesday]," the SSA-N major said. "They wouldn't use helicopters if they weren't fighting a large-scale war. They were bullying us." He alleged that the Burma Army has been sending reinforcements to a village near the SSA-N outpost, meaning the fighting might escalate. In Shan State, too, civilians have been caught in the crossfire. "Yes, clashes did happen close to our village. We saw two helicopters flying. The villagers are in a panic, and all the shops are closed," Sai Hla Htwe, a resident of a Shan village near the SSA-N outpost, told The Irrawaddy. Two days prior to Wednesday's fighting, the Burma Army had told farmers who were working fields outside the village to move back home, he said. The most recent clash has forced locals to seek refuge in the larger towns of Hsipaw and Lashio. On May 12, fighting between the Burma military and the SSA-N forced approximately 500 locals from their homes. Neither the Burma Army nor the Union Joint Monitoring Committee, a ceasefire watchdog, responded to requests for comment. Neither the KIA nor the SSA-N were among signatories to the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement signed by the government and eight non-state armed groups last year. The post Burma Army Airstrikes Bombard Kachin, Shan States appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Burmese Climbers Summit Everest Posted: 19 May 2016 12:41 AM PDT  Burmese climbers Nyi Nyi Aung, Win Ko Ko and Pyae Phyo Aung at the base of Mount Everest. (Myanmar Flag on Everest / Facebook) Burmese mountaineers Pyae Phyo Aung and Win Ko Ko summited Mount Everest on Thursday morning, becoming the first Burmese nationals to accomplish the feat. The two climbers, from the Technical Climbing Club of Myanmar group, left the nearest base camp on Sunday and ascended toward the 29,000-foot summit. More than 3,000 people are believed to have successfully climbed the world's tallest mountain, but none has been Burmese. Pyae Phyo Aung confirmed the successful attempt during a call with tycoon Tay Za, chairman of the Htoo Foundation, which financed the climb. "We reached the summit at 7:07 a.m., planted the Myanmar flag and the Htoo Foundation flag and will climb back down today," he told Tay Za. A trio of Burmese climbers began the expedition in late March and was joined by three Brazilian climbers in Nepal. The third Burmese climber, Nyi Nyi Aung, was unable to summit and stayed at base camp for support. In 2014, five mountaineers from the Htoo Group attempted the climb but were forced to abandon their ascent at base camp due to an avalanche. Tay Za expressed pride in the climbers on his Facebook page and wished them a safe return. The Burmese climbers are among 289 mountaineers that the Nepalese government granted permits to this season. The post Burmese Climbers Summit Everest appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Over 200 Families Feared Buried by Landslides in Sri Lanka Posted: 18 May 2016 09:41 PM PDT  People walk through a flooded road after they moved out from their houses in Biyagama, Sri Lanka, on May 17, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) ELANGAPITIYA VILLAGE, Sri Lanka — Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing. By evening, rescuers had pulled 17 bodies from the mud and debris unleashed by several days of heavy rain across the island nation. Officials said the extent of the tragedy was still unclear, but the Sri Lankan Red Cross said at least 220 families were unaccounted for. "The task is to figure out what happened to them," the Red Cross said in a statement, noting that some people may have left after local officials warned earlier this week of possible landslides. Heavy fog, rain, electrical outages and the loose ground were complicating efforts to search for survivors. As night fell, the rescue operation was suspended until dawn. Officials warned that, with rain still falling, more landslides could occur in the area. Villagers said torrents of muddy water, tree branches and debris came crashing down around their homes Tuesday in the three villages, located at different heights on the same hill in Kegalle District, about 45 miles north of Colombo. "I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the Earth," said 52-year-old A.G. Kamala, who had just returned to her house in one of the villages, Siripura, when the landslides hit. "I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain." Near the village of Elangapitiya—farthest down the hill—soldiers carried bodies to a school, where families waited for news of missing loved ones. Farmer Hewapelige Lal said he had identified the body of his nephew, but that 18 other family members were possibly buried under the mud. He and his wife had left their home to take fruit to a daughter who lived elsewhere, but at some point his wife turned back. "That was the last time I saw her," Lal said, sobbing. When he heard of the landslide, he rushed home but found the area covered with thick, heavy mud. "All I could do was scream." Officials could not give the populations of the villages of Siripura, Elangapitiya or Pallebage, but such villages typically include 1,000-1,500 residents. In Elangapitiya alone, where 14 bodies were recovered Wednesday, about 130 people were still missing, according to Maj-Gen Sudantha Ranasinghe, who was coordinating rescue efforts. Hundreds of stunned villagers took shelter in four temporary camps set up in schools and a Buddhist temple, where they were being given food, blankets and basic medical treatment. At the Viyaneliya Temple, about 300 villagers shared a meal of brown bread and curried lentils. Local officials interviewed each one to learn about missing family members and possessions buried under the mud. Local media said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the disaster sites earlier Wednesday. In Siripura, 70-year-old A.G. Alice said all nine of her children were unaccounted for. "I don't know what happened to me" after the landslides swept down, she said. A man said his wife, mother-in-law, son and daughter-in-law were all in his house in Siripura when the landslides hit. "I still can't locate my family," M.W. Dharmadasa said. "I still don't know what happened to them." The same rains that unleashed the mudslides also caused severe flooding in cities including Colombo, the capital, where tens of thousands of homes were at least partially inundated. Schools were closed due to the bad weather. Sri Lanka's disaster management center reported 11 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the country on Monday and Tuesday. Nearly 135,000 people have been displaced and are being housed in temporary shelters. Mudslides are common during the monsoon season, with heavy deforestation to clear land for agriculture leaving the countryside exposed. During heavy rains in December 2014, authorities evacuated more than 60,000 people from thousands of homes damaged or destroyed by floods or landslides. Two months before that, dozens of tea plantation workers were killed when mudslides buried their hillside homes. The post Over 200 Families Feared Buried by Landslides in Sri Lanka appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Targeted Burmese Tycoon May Profit From US Sanctions Changes Posted: 18 May 2016 09:37 PM PDT  Steven Law, right, with National League for Democracy party patron Tin Oo, at Asia World Port Management's 20-year anniversary celebration last month. (Photo: Asia World Company Limited) RANGOON — Standing among the party seeing off Burma's new president as he left for Russia on Wednesday was leading businessman Htun Myint Naing, better known as Steven Law. Only the day before, the United States had added six of his companies to the Treasury's blacklist, a move that is unlikely to hamper the tycoon's business empire significantly. President Barack Obama's sanctions policy on Burma, updated on Tuesday, aims to strike a balance between targeting individuals without undermining development or deterring US businesses eyeing the country as it opens up to global trade. Underlining how tricky that balance is, Law may actually gain commercially from the latest changes, even if they do make it harder for him to portray himself as an internationally accepted businessman close to the new democratic government. "Though [sanctions] are not meant to have a blanket effect on the country, their intended targets often play outsize roles … controlling critical infrastructure impacting trade and business for ordinary citizens," said Nyantha Maw Lin, managing director at consultancy Vriens & Partners in Rangoon. On Tuesday, Washington eased some restrictions on Burma but also strengthened measures against Law by adding six firms connected to him and his conglomerate, Asia World, to the Treasury blacklist. Yet the blacklisting, which attracted considerable attention in Burma, looks like a formality given that the companies were already covered by sanctions, because they were owned 50 percent or more by Law or Asia World. Law was sanctioned in 2008 for alleged ties to Burma's military. More important for Law was the US decision to further ease restrictions on trading through his shipping port and airports, extending a temporary six-month allowance set in December to an indefinite one. Law is one of the most powerful and well-connected businessmen in Burma, with close ties to China. He is not, however, universally popular at home or abroad because of alleged ties to the military, which ruled Burma with an iron fist until 2011. The photo opportunity with President Htin Kyaw on Wednesday was part of his campaign to build bridges with the National League for Democracy (NLD), whose leaders were persecuted by the military but swept to power in a landslide election last year. It also reflects the outsize impact of his business empire on the Burmese economy, making him hard to ignore or punish too harshly with sanctions, experts said. The temporary easing of US sanctions on Law's port last year angered rights groups and temporarily held up confirmation of Obama's pick for the new US ambassador to Burma. But it was not enough to encourage shipping lines to return to the port in numbers, because they were concerned about what would happen after the six-month allowance came to an end. Trade through the port slumped last year and some shipping companies abandoned it for unsanctioned rival operations. With the six-month limit lifted, companies are likely to consider using Law's port facilities, which are better equipped than the competition and located closer to Rangoon, the country's commercial capital. "Our customers are sensitive about sanctions so we can't deal with people like Steven Law or the Asia World terminal," said Tatsuya "Ricky" Ueki, managing director at shipping company MOL Myanmar, which uses the port terminal next to Law's. "But if the sanctions on the Asia World terminal were eased indefinitely, that would make our lives much easier and we could consider moving there."s Asia World said prior to Tuesday's announcement that an extension of the port license would benefit the group. "The Port of Yangon remains a crucial transportation infrastructure which needs further development and investment to meet the greater demand," a company official said by email. "A longer license or without a time limit will certainly allow port operators to plan ahead." Wooing the NLD Asked about the US decision to keep sanctions broadly in place during a news conference on Wednesday, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi said she was confident they would ease over time. "I'm not afraid of sanctions, because I believe that sanctions were imposed for a particular reason and these reasons will be removed in time," she said. Suu Kyi added that sanctions "will not hurt us in any way." Law, whose late father was heroin kingpin and power broker Lo Hsing Han, built and operates the airport in Naypyidaw, the country's capital, as well Rangoon, where he recently unveiled a new US$660 million terminal that Asia World built and financed. At a lavish gala last month to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Asia World port terminal, guests dined on abalone and watched a video on the history of Rangoon port complete with quotes from Rudyard Kipling. Seated at the head table near Law was NLD party patron Tin Oo. The two greeted guests together in a private room before the dinner began. Sandar Min, chairwoman of the Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs Committee in the Rangoon divisional parliament and also an NLD member, spoke at the dinner. But she distanced herself and the party from Law, and said their presence at the gala was a formality. "We don't have a relationship, nothing," she said. The post Targeted Burmese Tycoon May Profit From US Sanctions Changes appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| China Stages War Games Days Ahead of Taiwan Inauguration Posted: 18 May 2016 09:30 PM PDT  A member of the China Unification Promotion Party carries a Chinese national flag as he takes part in a rally calling for closer ties with China, in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 18, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — China is staging large-scale joint war games featuring mock beach landings, helicopter assaults and tank battles along its east coast facing Taiwan, just days before the inauguration of the self-governing island's new independence-leaning president. The Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the air, land and sea drills were aimed at "testing and upgrading the ability to respond to security threats and complete military missions." The drills were "not aimed at any specific target and relevant persons shouldn't read too much into it," the ministry said. The statement, written in question-and-answer format, did not mention Taiwan. China maintains a standing threat to use force to achieve its goal of absorbing Taiwan and the timing of the drills was noticed widely both in Taiwan and in China's entirely state-controlled media. The military drills are a sign of the sort of disruptions and threats that will descend upon the relationship if Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen defies Beijing's demands over the "one-China principle," said Li Fei, Deputy Director of the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University. "The exercises are a message sent to the Taiwan independence forces and can be regarded as a warning that any indications of a movement toward independence will meet with repression," Li said. Without detailing the consequences, Beijing has warned that delicate relations between the sides would be destabilized unless Tsai, whose inauguration is Friday, explicitly endorses Beijing's view that Taiwan and the mainland are both part of a single Chinese nation, which it calls the "'92 Consensus." The outgoing Nationalist Party government of President Ma Ying-jeou had endorsed the framework and signed a series of agreements on trade and other nonpolitical topics during its eight years in power. Tsai has said she wants such contacts to continue uninterrupted, but declined to voice her support for the "'92 Consensus" that was agreed to by negotiators from the two sides that year. While military action is considered extremely risky, Beijing could choose to retaliate against Tsai by further limiting its participation in international organizations, luring away its remaining diplomatic allies, cutting off high-level contacts and curtailing trade and tourist exchanges. China launched large-scale military exercises aimed at intimidating Taiwanese voters and politicians in 1995-96, an effort that had the opposite effect and resulted in the election of Lee Teng-hui as the island's first directly elected president. Chinese state media said the latest drills involved mock landing operations and the use of attack helicopters and tanks. The largest drills were carried out by the People's Liberation Army's 31st Group Army based in the city of Xiamen, which looks directly out onto the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, the China Daily newspaper said. Armaments used included WZ-10 attack helicopters—China's most powerful—along with ZTD-05A amphibious assault vehicles, Type-96 main battle tanks and HJ-9 anti-tank missile launchers. In recent weeks, China's navy has also staged a number of live-firing drills in the disputed South China Sea and deployed its massive Ukrainian Zubr military hovercraft. The 31st Group Army is considered a front-line unit for any action regarding Taiwan and also held live-firing exercises in January, days after Tsai's election. Those drills brought no perceptible response from Taiwan. The post China Stages War Games Days Ahead of Taiwan Inauguration appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Burma’s Right to Information Movement Can Learn From India Posted: 18 May 2016 07:00 PM PDT  The news media are just one actor in the "right to information" campaign. (Photo: Reuters) One of the many buzzwords hovering around Burma's transition to democracy is "access to information." Indeed, the call for crafting legislation on the right to information could not have come at a better time. Some initial steps have likely been taken to put together a draft. The initiative is no doubt laudable as it creates the much-needed environment to kick-start a discussion on this very vital subject matter. However, a lot more needs to be done, and civil society, the people, farmers and the marginalized have to play a role, rather than only depend on the media or any one group to show the way. When I hear all the talk surrounding "access to information," I am reminded of how the Right To Information (RTI) Act unfolded in Burma's next-door neighbor, India. The movement in India started in 1987 with farmers demanding their right to information about land use and government policies in a small village called Devdungri, in the western state of Rajasthan. It began with three friends from different backgrounds coming together and settling down in Devdungri to work for social justice. The three were Aruna Roy, who resigned from the civil service and began working on issues related to the poor and marginalized, Shanker Singh, a leading figure in "people's theater," and Nikhil Dey, a US-educated scholar. Together, they formed the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). During the next 10 years, they patched together an alliance with farmers and workers to form one of India's most successful social justice movements. Thus, the RTI effort was a movement that touched every segment of society and did not solely rely on media, which served as more of a partner in the information dissemination process. The grassroots community contributed a lot to the movement. As a journalist, I was a small part of the movement stationed in a hill station called Shillong, where I witnessed activists, musicians, journalists, artists and students take to the streets to advocate for the implementation of the RTI Act. Visuals of police crackdowns on demonstrations, arrests of demonstrators and their release followed by a long period of open dialogue between the government and the people are all still vivid to this day. To see a movement started by poor people succeed surprised many. That is exactly what many in Burma are perhaps yet to fathom. RTI activists in India are of the opinion that "information is an effective tool to force open the doors of citizen participation in governance." RTI activist Vivek Kumer recounts in his study, "The Right to Know Movement in India," "It was against this background that an organization emerged in the late 1980s with a rather unusual demand—the right of citizens to obtain government information and official records. The MKSS saw the right to information as critical to enable citizens to question officials about public resources and to demand accountability." According to scholar Prashant Sharma, the RTI Act was "a radical departure from the access to information regime that existed prior to the enactment of this law." Previously, under the Official Secrets Act of 1923, all information held by public authorities was considered secret by default, unless the government itself deemed it otherwise. Sharma goes on to add that the specific nature of the RTI Act makes it "a very strong one within the context of access to information laws throughout the world and is seen as a transformatory piece of legislation that is fundamentally altering the citizen-state relationship in the country." Today the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions are tasked with facilitating the passage of information from the government to the people. It is estimated that more than 2 million applications for information from all over India were submitted under the RTI Act from 2005, the year the legislation was passed, to 2008. The RTI Act has been used by NGOs and citizens to unearth all forms of information from the government, including conversations and exchange of notes between the prime minister and members of parliament, ministers and the bureaucracy. Burma could perhaps take a leaf out of the annals of the RTI chapter in India and use it to prepare a robust law that cannot be disregarded or misused by any government in power. The issues surrounding the Burma polity are not too different from how things were in India, so there would be several lessons that could be drawn from India's RTI story. The culture of the struggle for justice is nothing new to the people of Burma. They have been engaged in it for more than five decades under military rule. However, this is not to suggest that every RTI story requires a hard-fought battle. If there exists political will to develop an all-inclusive law that caters to the needs of all, especially the marginalized—farmers whose lands have been confiscated, forests that have been taken from the people, the poor and working class who lack proper wages, migrant workers (documented and undocumented) that are stuck in the bordering areas of Thailand and in Malaysia—then things are already moving in the right direction. With a new government in place that has been elected through a largely free and fair election, the expectations are high for passage of just laws that will improve the lives of farmers, reduce unemployment, provide minimum wages to workers and protect people's land and livelihoods. The author is a former journalist currently working on elections, communications outreach and governance issues. The opinions expressed in this article are his own and do not reflect that of any organization. His email address is bidhayak.d@gmail.com. The post Burma's Right to Information Movement Can Learn From India appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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