Monday, December 19, 2016

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand Demand Greater Rights Protection

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 08:21 AM PST

On International Migrants Day, workers and advocates urge Burmese and Thai govts to address low wages, travel restrictions and legal documentation.

The post Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand Demand Greater Rights Protection appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Asean Foreign Ministers Pledge Aid to Arakan State

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 06:47 AM PST

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi discusses the conflict in Arakan State during an informal meeting with the regional bloc's foreign ministers in Rangoon.

The post Asean Foreign Ministers Pledge Aid to Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ex-Lawmaker: Ethnic Armed Groups ‘Can’t be Negotiated With’

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 04:31 AM PST

USDP former lawmaker tells crowds gathered in support of the Burma Army that ethnic armed groups will rebel against whoever is in power.

The post Ex-Lawmaker: Ethnic Armed Groups 'Can't be Negotiated With' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Parliamentary Commission Considers Changes to Defamation Law

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 04:08 AM PST

'We are now talking about reducing the prison term to two-years,' says lawmaker U Maung Maung Ohn.

The post Parliamentary Commission Considers Changes to Defamation Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Parliamentary Proposal to Invite All Ethnic Armed Groups to Peace Conference Rejected

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 03:34 AM PST

'Let's bring all the armed groups to the table and talk about peace," says lawmaker Mai Win Htoo.

The post Parliamentary Proposal to Invite All Ethnic Armed Groups to Peace Conference Rejected appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Hmawbi Township Fertilizer Factory will Continue Despite Local Protest

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 03:14 AM PST

'We've been approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission to build this complex,' says industrial developer U Nyan Lin Phyo.

The post Hmawbi Township Fertilizer Factory will Continue Despite Local Protest appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

One Country, Many Voices: Jostling for a New Burma

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 01:27 AM PST

An author explores how activists, religious leaders, ethnic voices and other civil society members pursue divergent agendas for change.

The post One Country, Many Voices: Jostling for a New Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma Army Seizes KIA Mountain Outpost

Posted: 19 Dec 2016 12:53 AM PST

Both sides suffer heavy casualties as government forces use mortar fire and air strikes in operations to overrun strategic Gidon outpost

The post Burma Army Seizes KIA Mountain Outpost appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Unifying Indigenous Karen to Preserve Sacred Forests and Cultural Heritage

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 08:35 PM PST

The Karen people of the Kheshorter Community Forest are living proof that humans can co-exist with natural ecosystems and leave a smaller footprint.

The post Unifying Indigenous Karen to Preserve Sacred Forests and Cultural Heritage appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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National News

National News

Thousands march in support of the Tatmadaw

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 11:26 PM PST

Thousands participated in a 3-kilometre (1.9-mile) march through Yangon yesterday in a public show of support for the Tatmadaw and its current campaigns in Shan, Kachin and Rakhine states. The rally was held the day after heavy fighting in Kachin that saw the Tatmadaw seize an important outpost previously controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

Tatmadaw overruns KIA’s Gidon mountaintop post

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 11:22 PM PST

The Tatmadaw seized the strategic Kachin Independence Army mountaintop outpost of Gidon over the weekend, about four months after it mounted a protracted offensive against the ethnic armed group in Kachin State.

Myanmar to boost its Thai embassy staffing

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 11:19 PM PST

Three additional labour attachés will be assigned to Myanmar's embassy in Thailand next year, the labour minister announced yesterday.

Private security training proposal voted down

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 11:16 PM PST

The former ruling party's first proposal to the Yangon Region parliament – to bolster training of the city's security personnel – was shot down in a vote on December 16.

Hluttaw votes in favour of trafficking convention

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 11:11 PM PST

Lawmakers have blamed corrupt civil servants and the lack of law enforcement along the borders for perpetuating the blight of human trafficking.

Lawmakers call for purchase of firefighting chopper

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 11:07 PM PST

Myanmar could soon be the new owner of a firefighting helicopter if MPs get their way. The idea was proposed during a debate concerning a 50 million euro (US$53 million) loan from the Republic of Poland to the Fire Services Department.

Magwe land confiscation team mired in red tape

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 10:58 PM PST

Bureaucratic inefficiencies, cumbersome decision-making mechanisms and poor organisation are hampering Magwe Region's Committee on Confiscated Lands and Other Lands in their efforts to resolve land disputes, say members.

Migratory birds settle in for winter at Inle Lake

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 10:55 PM PST

Tens of thousands of sun-seeking tourists have descended on Shan State's Inle Lake since the end of November, observers say, but so far none of them are from new species. The tourists in question are migratory birds, who escape the cold of northern climes to winter around the lake, in Nyaungshwe township.

Defeated MCDC candidates continue to press their election complaint

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 10:53 PM PST

After election officials threw out their complaint, two candidates defeated in the Mandalay City Development Committee race are appealing. The rival contestants are accusing one of the winners of committing multiple violations of election law. The poll's victor, U Saw Han, said the plaintiffs were "sore losers".

K17 billion spent from president’s emergency fund

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 10:48 PM PST

Over the past eight months, the government has drawn nearly K17 billion (US$12.5 million) from a K100 billion emergency fund controlled by the president, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw has heard.
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Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Commentary on "Do they want a return to military dictatorship?"

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 06:53 PM PST

The military top brass are using Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD government to gain legitimacy, which they are, no doubt, benefiting, seen from the US and EU inviting the military to attend meetings, visiting armament factories and even talks on military to military cooperation. During Thein Sein's era, the door was not that wide open.

Senior generals of Myanmar's former military junta, including Thura U Shwe Mann and U Thein Sein, at Armed Forces Day in Nay Pyi Taw on March 27, 2010. (Christophe Archambault / AFP)
Given such benefit, coupled with what the German termed as "salonfähig", which could be translated into socially acceptable or presentable in a polite society, the military or Tatmadaw is not about to make an about-turn and seized political power through military coup.

Suu Kyi's protective human shield for the Tatmadaw's oppressive rights violations in Arakan, Kachin and Shan States is too effective and cosy for the military to be abandoned. Besides, it could create a situation for emergency rule, like it is now doing by conducting military offensives and the NLD regime would have to comply with, either willfully or otherwise.

In clear text, a situation like selected military emergency rule in ethnic areas could be created, while big cities unaffected by the ethnic resistance and heartland Burma could be controlled by the NLD government, thereby giving a semblance of democratic rule, going parallel with the military rule in ethnic homelands.

The recent USDP sponsored rally supporting the military attacking the Kachin or KIA is to undercut the nascent peace movement and also to show that the military also has public support base.

While USDP and its affiliated parties might like to see the military takes control of the government administration like it had done for the past five decades, the present military top brass are more refined, sophisticated and make use of the NLD provided protective shell, bathing in legitimacy lime light, pretending as though the military is an institution protecting and promoting democratic rule and principles all along. It is not the case and one only needs to look back its decades of human rights violations, which still are the norms of its operation in ethnic states.

Thus, the military would likely stays on as it is now, as a coalition partner with the NLD, and won't revert back to full fledged military dictatorship, but would strike a posture that it could employ coup d'état anytime it chooses to keep the NLD off balance permanently.

Link to the story : Do they want a return to military dictatorship?
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