Wednesday, November 22, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

AI Describes Political Situation in Rakhine as ‘Apartheid’

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 06:34 AM PST

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – Amnesty International has labeled the current situation in northern Rakhine State as "apartheid" following the mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. The crisis developed when an Aug. 25 attack by Muslim militants against government security forces sparked a military clearance operation.

Rohingya in Myanmar "are trapped in a vicious system of state-sponsored, institutionalized discrimination that amounts to apartheid," the UK-based rights group said in a report on Tuesday.

After the release of the report, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was quoted by The Independent newspaper as telling his country's parliament he had received "very troubling" evidence that will be used to access whether genocide has been committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

He stressed that "unless the refugees are allowed return, then this crisis, this purge will indeed satisfy the definition of ethnic cleansing. As for genocide, I'm afraid it is the case that we have recently received evidence of a very troubling kind, and what we will do is make sure that such testimony as to what has been taking place is collated and used so that the proper judicial authorities can determine whether indeed it answers to the definition of genocide."

International human rights groups have accused Myanmar authorities of crimes against humanity and discrimination against the Rohingya, who are seen by many in Myanmar as interlopers from Bangladesh.

Last Thursday, US-based Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Myanmar security forces of widespread rapes of women and girls as part of a campaign of UN-labeled "ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims.

"Caged without a roof," AI said, "puts into context the recent wave of violence" in Myanmar. Security forces have reportedly killed innocent Rohingya and burned whole villages to the ground, according to AI. The UN says more than 620,000 have fled to Bangladesh.

While the Rohingya refugee crisis has hit headlines in the past three months, Amnesty International said its two-year investigation had documented how "authorities severely restrict virtually all aspects of Rohingya's lives in Rakhine State" in terms of access to healthcare at hospitals in towns, education, freedom of movement and denial of citizenship."

It added that "The current situation meets every requirement of the legal definition of the crime against humanity of apartheid."

Regarding the use of the term "apartheid," human rights advocate U Aung Myo Min said a "thorough investigation by local and international experts is needed to describe the situation and decide whether it meets the definition, because we need a lot of evidence to support the label of apartheid."

U Aung Myo Min, director of Equality Myanmar, said international allegations have been met with denials from the government, so "we cannot judge from only one perspective; we still have not been able to conduct any investigations that are accurate and impartial." He was referring to widespread disinformation and fake news, including photos, regarding the Rohingya crisis that have been disseminated over the Internet.

Establishing "a joint investigation team of local and international experts would allow an accurate analysis of the situation because the public does not trust government-formed investigation commissions. Plus, international experts need input from local people to put events in context," he said.

AI said Myanmar "is legally obliged to dismantle the apartheid system in Rakhine State, and must also ensure accountability for those responsible for committing acts that amount to crimes against humanity."

Anna Neistat, AI's senior director of research, said in the press statement, "The Myanmar authorities are keeping Rohingya women, men and children segregated and cowed in a dehumanizing system of apartheid. Their rights are violated daily and the repression has only intensified in recent years."

Since last month, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said her government is working toward the repatriation and rehabilitation of people from northern Rakhine State and to accept them back into the country. Returning refugees will need to show proof that they previously resided in the country, she said, adding that the government would implement repatriation under a 1993 agreement, something confirmed by the permanent secretary of the Labor Ministry.

However, the right groups raised concerns over the safety of any returnees.

"Restoring the rights and legal status of the Rohingya, and amending the country's discriminatory citizenship laws is urgently needed – both for those who remain in the country and those who wish to return. Rohingya who have fled persecution in Myanmar cannot be asked to return to a system of apartheid," Neistat said.

The post AI Describes Political Situation in Rakhine as 'Apartheid' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Project to Restore Shwe Kyaung Resumes

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 04:19 AM PST

Mandalay – Conservation work on Mandalay's famed Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung Monastery has resumed after being suspended for a year due to delays in grant disbursement for the project.

"We had to slow everything down for over a year between the two grants. We are now resuming the project," Jeff Allen, a program director at the U.S.-based NGO World Monuments Fund (WMF) told The Irrawaddy. Allen was speaking on Wednesday at an event in Mandalay, where experts from Italy explained the conservation of wood carvings at the building.

According to WMF, about 50 percent of the restoration work has already been completed over the last few years.

"We are also preparing to restore the ruined part of the veranda. Hopefully in the coming January, we will receive permission from the Ministry of Culture and be able to begin the work then," Allen said.

In the meantime, restoration work on the nayas, decorative mythical creatures, on the base pillars of Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung, has begun, with the technological assistance from experts from Italy.

"Cleaning and preserving the nayas is very delicate work. We have to work carefully to maintain the original artifacts," said Urszula Strugala, one of the Italian experts.

"During the cleaning, we found that layers of yellow paint and earth oil, which were not part of the original paintings but put there during the 1990s, have somehow blocked the moisture inside the wood and affected the nayas," she said.

The heritage project, which was initially expected to take two years to complete, began in February 2014 as a collaboration between Myanmar's Ministry of Culture, the U.S. Embassy and the WMF.

In September 2014, some of the decaying pillars were due to be restored with teak logs from Loikaw in Karenni State. However, the process was delayed for about a year because of holdups with supply.

The major restoration of the monastery resumed in January 2016 and was suspended again due to the shortage of funds.

Early support for the project came from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, which joined hands with Myanmar's Ministry of Culture to preserve the 19th-century traditional teak wooden building, also known as the Golden Palace, which was constructed during the reign of King Mindon.

At the time, U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell said the WMF, which is based in Washington, would implement the US$500,000 project, adding that the budget would also cover training for Myanmar officials and craftsmen in preservation techniques.

The Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung Monastery was originally covered with gold leaf and glass mosaics, and is known for the intricate wood carvings on its walls and roofs that show Buddhist myths. It was built as a royal chamber for King Mindon and located within the Mandalay Palace complex.

Under Mindon's son, King Thibaw, the building was moved to a site outside of the Mandalay Palace moat and was turned into a monastery. During World War II, aerial bombardments destroyed most of the historic buildings inside the Mandalay Palace complex, leaving the Shwe Nan Daw Kyaung Monastery as the only remaining original structure from the 19th century palace.

In 1996, Myanmar's Archaeological Department submitted the monastery for inclusion on Unesco's World Heritage List, where it remains under consideration by the U.N. body.

The post Project to Restore Shwe Kyaung Resumes appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Visiting US Lawmakers Allege Ethnic Cleansing

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 03:23 AM PST

YANGON – Based on firsthand accounts from Rohingya living on the Bangladesh border, a US delegation led by Senator Jeff Merkley said the Myanmar Army's clearance operation bore "all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing" and had forced huge numbers of people to flee to the neighboring country.

Over the weekend, a group of US legislators and diplomats, including Ambassador Scot Marciel, traveled to northern Rakhine State to learn firsthand how the situation there had unfolded since Aug. 25. After wrapping up their tour, the delegation held a press conference at the Hotel Lotte in Yangon on Tuesday.

"We spoke with many refugees and heard a lot of firsthand accounts. Many refugees have suffered horrific attacks, including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries. This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing," Merkley said.

Merkley's statement echoed a description of the clearance operation by the United Nations as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing," but was at odds with comments made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who stopped short of using the phrase during his recent visit to Myanmar. The Myanmar government has consistently rejected such allegations from the international community.

The US delegation met with members of the Rakhine State cabinet and the Arakan National Party (ANP), as well as representatives of civil society organizations and the Muslim community in Sittwe, the state capital. However, the government denied the group's requests to visit some sites, Merkley said.

"We appreciate that Aung San Suu Kyi made an invitation in her speech to the United Nations in September for foreign officials to visit the camps and villages directly. We came halfway around the world in order to respond to that invitation. We are pleased we are able to visit Sittwe, but we are saddened that permission to visit villages and camps was denied."

The US lawmakers condemned violent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army that killed more than a dozen government security forces on Aug. 25, saying that the group's attacks had caused serious suffering by a number of ethnic groups in Rakhine State. However, he said a disproportionate response by the Myanmar Army had driven out more than 600,000 Muslims to Bangladesh and caused 300 villagers to be burnt to the ground.

The root causes of this horrific situation, he said, are longstanding prejudice and discrimination, aggravated by poverty. The delegates said the segregation of communities in Sittwe resulted in discrimination, especially the limits placed on Muslims' freedom of movement since communal riots between the Rakhine and Muslim communities in 2012.

The senators urged the government to address the root causes of the conflict and seek a long-term solution to the Rohingya crisis by implementing the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led advisory commission. The Myanmar State counselor has already established an implementation commission and an international advisory board. In addition, the delegates suggested restoring full access for humanitarian organizations on the ground. At present, the government is only allowing the International Red Cross to assist the World Food Programme's food distribution efforts.

Merkley asked that freedom of movement be granted to the Rohingya community with "a fair path to ending discrimination" and that the security forces keeping the Rakhine and Muslim communities apart be removed. He urged the government to work with Bangladesh and the United Nations to enable conditions facilitating the voluntary and safe repatriation of refugees currently in the Bangladesh border area, including the rebuilding of structures and community facilities, as the homes of many were destroyed during the clashes. He also called for a full investigation of these atrocities.

Congressman David Cicillin, a member of the delegation who joined both the Bangladesh and Rakhine trips, said, "This is a very important moment for this country and the leadership of this country to demonstrate to the world and to the people of Myanmar that they take the responsibility of democracy and the leadership of democracy seriously." Asserting that democracy cannot function unless individuals' rights are respected, he added: "Nor can [we] tolerate institutions or individuals who violate individual human rights in really horrific ways without being held accountable."

The delegates also collected firsthand accounts from people seeking refuge in Bangladesh and said they would keep the footage as evidence.

The post Visiting US Lawmakers Allege Ethnic Cleansing appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Arakan Lawmaker Urges Govt to Lower Criteria for Teachers in Remote Areas

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 01:50 AM PST

SITTWE—An Arakanese lawmaker on Tuesday submitted a proposal to the Rakhine State Parliament urging the Union government to lower the criteria for teaching primary school in remote areas, including Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in Rakhine State.

"Transportation is poor in Buthidaung and Maungdaw. What's worse, there are serious safety concerns. So teachers appointed by the government cannot go into these remote areas. As a result, children there are devoid of schooling," said U Zaw Zaw Myint of Buthidaung (Constituency 1), who submitted the proposal.

The Education Ministry requires that primary school teachers have at least a university degree or have passed matriculation.

The lawmaker urged that the ministry adjust the requirements to allow those who have finished 9th or 10th grade to teach at primary schools in ethnic areas including northern Rakhine.

"The government can grant exemptions and appoint local ethnic people such as Mro, Khami and Daingnet who have completed the 9th and 10th grade. I think they can teach at least 8th graders. Only then will children in those areas become literate and learn rational thinking," he told The Irrawaddy.

"As their education improves, this will help reduce conflicts in the area, and also facilitate peace and stability as well as development," he added.

Lawmaker U Aung Win of Myebon Township seconded his proposal, which was then approved by the Rakhine State Parliament for debate.

Over 400 schools have closed in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships since insurgent attacks were launched on police outposts in northern Rakhine State on Aug. 25. There were 2,482 teachers and over 150,000 students at those schools, according to the Rakhine State Education Department.

The post Arakan Lawmaker Urges Govt to Lower Criteria for Teachers in Remote Areas appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Hopeful Talks Will Result in MoU on Rohingya Repatriation

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 01:25 AM PST

YANGON — Myanmar's State Counselor and Foreign Affairs Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday that she hoped talks with Bangladesh this week would result in a memorandum of understanding on the repatriation of refugees.

At a press conference on the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Naypyitaw, the state counselor told reporters that bilateral discussions would be held with Bangladesh's foreign minister on Wednesday and Thursday on the return of refugees who had fled to Bangladesh amid the latest Rakhine crisis, according to the State Counselor's Office.

The two countries' officials have discussed the repatriation since last month.

"We hope that this will result in an MOU being signed quickly, which would enable us to start the safe and voluntarily return of all of those who have gone across the border," Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said.

The State Counselor said that during the ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the Rakhine crisis had been discussed with representatives attending from ASEAN and European countries, including implementation of the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine state.

She added that efforts would be made for the long-term establishment of peace and stability in Rakhine but that it would take time for the issues there to be resolved.

Myanmar officials have pledged to accept the refugees under a 1993 agreement between the two countries.

In late September, the government said it would accept the refugees at two checkpoints in Taungpyo Letwe and Nga Khu Ya villages before resettling them in Dar Gyi Zar village in Maungdaw Township.

Temporary shelters are being built and are expected to be finished in December at Taungpyo Letwe village. Shelters will also be built in Nga Khu Ya village.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled across the border since Aug. 25, when a Muslim militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), attacked police outposts in Maungdaw Township, prompting clearance operations by the Myanmar Army.

The post Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Hopeful Talks Will Result in MoU on Rohingya Repatriation appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Maung Yu Pye: Whether I like it or not, I think I am destined to exist as a poet

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 01:12 AM PST

Maung Yu Pye (b.1981) was born in the far south of Myanmar, in the town of Myeik on the Andaman Sea. Myeik is a sleepy fishing town on an emerald bay dominated by a giant reclining Buddha. Maung Yu Pye's "Under the Great Ice Sheet" — a poem about a country frozen in time — inspired us to embark on this project.

What was the inspiration for your poem "Under the Great Ice Sheet"?

My inspiration came from a science fiction film. I wrote the poem so you can get multiple meanings from it. I wanted to talk about a circle of being and ceasing to be, of a race, of a world. Our existence and our multi-racial history are laced with incidents of systematically oppressing one another, one on top of another. At the same time, we are collectively pressed down by a giant ice sheet. And that ice sheet is yet underneath a greater ice sheet. An iceberg is our half-dead existence. The poem made it past the censorboard, because the censors were only concentrating on political jargon and certain key words they had identified as posing a threat to the regime. They probably thought it's only science fiction.

When did you start writing poetry?

When I was 20 years old, in 2001. After three of my poems were selected by a poetry journal, I thought I had become a professional poet. But five years later I was introduced to Zeyar Linn's philosophy of poetry and the turn towards modernism. That's when I realized that I was still a student. And now after coming back from the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa, I am questioning my existence as a "Myanmar poet", or even whether I am qualified to be a poet at all. I still have a lot to learn.

How do you write?

I rarely write daily. Sometimes, I write three or four days in a row, sometimes maybe just one poem in a month, sometimes maybe just one in a whole year.

For five years, I only experimented with creating a new form of poetry. Since our country is lagging behind in so many things, what we're doing as new has already happened in the U.S. 20 years ago. But it's better late than never. So I pursue the creation of new forms. That opened me to many other forms of poetry and showed me ways to create new kind of poems. Now, I am starting to change again. I discarded the overt emphasis on language and form. Instead of creating a new kind of poem, I once again concentrate on creating a real poem. If a poem becomes a real poem, then it's new.

How do you get inspired?

For me, the seed of poetry comes from a film, a song, a journey, a news story, a family matter, or a new experience. An inspiration is when I experience a readiness to give birth to a poem, with all my senses and nerves ready to begin a creation. When you are in such a magical mood, even a glass or a table can become a poem. It is unbounded by theory. It is hard to imitate. It cannot come into existence just by simply trying. You need that something magical in you in order to create a poem, which makes the poetry very difficult and ever new.

Could you imagine not writing poetry?

Whether I like it or not, I think I am destined to exist as a poet. Everything comes to be because it has to be. The day you realize that poetic soul is riding on top of you for life, whether you like it or not, is the day you become a professional poet even without being aware of it.

Tell me about writing under the past censorship.

During the repressive military regime, when we had no freedom of expression, writing poetry felt much better. Poets then wanted to reflect the bad system. But they had to obliquely use words, symbolism, metaphors to avoid the censor, making their works richer. But still, there were certain words that you could not use at all. As the dictatorship lingered, some magazines and even some poets automatically ended up self-censoring themselves.

Now we can freely write what we want. But the poets whose wings were shackled during the dictatorship are slow to take flight now. I also think that the new generation that enjoys freedom and new technology lacks experience and forgets the techniques of the modernist poets of the past who had to struggle hard just to keep themselves alive.

How do you balance daily life with your art?

As I grow older, family obligation and work challenge my life as a poet. That is what all poets here experience. My environment demands that making money must be my first priority in life. I've worked so many jobs since I finished school. I have become a 'wage slave'. But I have a family now — a wife and two children, so what am I to do?

Only very few people respect and recognize the poet and his work. Although we didn't become poets to gain recognition, it's become increasingly hard to live among those who don't value your art. I find it a little depressing and discouraging.

Authors’ Note: These interviews are excerpted from Burma Storybook, a poetry and photography book inspired by the documentary film of the same name, produced by Corinne van Egeraat and directed by Petr Lom. 

The English language hardcover edition of the book is for sale at Hla Day, Innwa Bookstore, Myanmar Book Center and the Strand Hotel.

 A Burmese language-only paperback edition of the book is for sale through Yangon Book Plaza.

There will be a Free Open Air Screening of the Burma Storybook documentary film (82 min.) in Mahabandoola Park in Yangon on November 25 at 6 p.m. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, you can visit the interactive Burma Storybook Photo Exhibit at the Tourism Burma Building.

 For more information: www.burmastorybook.com

The post Maung Yu Pye: Whether I like it or not, I think I am destined to exist as a poet appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ex-Minister Says NLD has Wasted Two Years Trying to Build a Better-Performing Cabinet

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 12:47 AM PST

Naypyitaw—U Soe Thane, a former minister of the President's Office in the U Thein Sein government, has called for steps to be taken to ensure the two new ministries proposed by the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government operate in an effective manner or the revamp will be a wasted effort.

"It is important that new ministries are effective and efficient. Otherwise, establishing 1,000 more departments will be useless," U Soe Thane, who is also an Upper House lawmaker, told reporters in Naypyitaw.

A presidential proposal to add two news ministries, namely a Cabinet Office Ministry and Ministry of International Cooperation, to the existing cabinet was submitted to the Union Parliament on Monday.

Lawmakers will discuss the proposal and seek parliamentary approval on Thursday. According to the plan, no additional government staff will be employed for the two ministries. Instead they will be staffed with officials currently assigned to the Union government and the Foreign Affairs Ministry's International Organizations and Economics Department.

There were 36 ministries under the U Thein Sein government. The NLD-led administration slashed the executive cabinet to 22 ministries and eliminated the post of deputy minister at many ministries—a move that overburdened the ministers, according to critics.

U Soe Thane implied that the NLD-led government had cut the cabinet without considering the possible long-term consequences.

"It is important that we see far into the future," he said. "If those two ministries had been established some two years ago [when the NLD took office], the country could have seen greater progress."

"Now, two years have been wasted," he said.

U Soe Thane was one of U Thein Sein's right-hand men, overseeing the Ministry of Industry and the President's Office. He was also assigned by the former president to supervise national development projects.

National Security advisor U Thaung Tun, and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister U Kyaw Tin have been named to respectively take the helm of the Cabinet Office Ministry and International Cooperation Ministry.

The Cabinet Office has many "onerous duties and responsibilities" such as administration, legislation, economic planning, and finance, and the appointment of a minister, who would be accountable to the president, would help make the Cabinet Office more productive, Union Attorney-General U Htun Htun Oo told Parliament.

"Under the previous government, the Cabinet Office was run by a director-general. From a point of view of saving money, the NLD-led government could keep the director-general [instead of appointing a minister]," said U Soe Thane.

"And as for international cooperation, it was previously handled by the Ministry of Planning. So, again from an economical point of view, I don't think a new ministry is necessary," he added.

U Soe Thane suggested separating certain ministries, and appointing more deputies to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation so that Myanmar, whose economy is still largely based on primary industry, can perform better.

"I am not clear about the intention of forming a separate International Cooperation Ministry. In fact, the Foreign Ministry already has a department that handles international cooperation," said former Lt-Gen Thaung Aye of the opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Meanwhile, Daw Khin San Hlaing, a lawmaker from the ruling NLD party, expressed concern the two foreign ministries' jurisdictions may overlap. "I am only concerned that friction may arise between the two ministries. But [the presidential proposal] said the two would cooperate," said Daw Khin San Hlaing, a lawmaker of ruling NLD.

Currently, Myanmar's de facto leader, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is also overseeing the Foreign Ministry and the minister of International Cooperation would share her responsibility to attend international meetings in the future.

The post Ex-Minister Says NLD has Wasted Two Years Trying to Build a Better-Performing Cabinet appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

“Without Anyone Knowing it, Post-modernism Was Already in Our Everyday Life”  

Posted: 22 Nov 2017 12:40 AM PST

Moe Way (b. 1969) was born in a small village in the Irrawaddy Delta and now lives in Yangon. He lives in a high-rise apartment piled high with boxes of books. Moe Way is both a poet as well as Myanmar's most prominent publisher of poetry.

How did you discover poetry?

I was born in a village in Ayeyawaddy Division. My father was village chief. He had some law books, because he needed to study a bit of law for his work. I loved reading since I was small, but there were no other books to read except for these law books. They were easy to understand because they had examples of cases, written like stories. These were the first books I read.

Then I went to middle school in a small town and stayed at a monastery. Some young novices there had translated kung fu novels. I then started reading romance novels. I also started getting interested in poetry that I had to study in textbooks. I still remember the pen name of one of the poets I read: "Ancient Anonymous". What a romantic name. Not a lot of kids were into poetry. But I was. I started writing poems in seventh grade.

Then we moved to Yangon, and I had access to magazines and read lots of short stories. Back then, I merely read poems casually. But some of my friends were already really into it. Through them, I got to appreciate poetry as a separate art form in itself, reflecting what's going on around you, how you're feeling. Then I started writing poems as well as experimenting with short stories. I did not have any expectations yet even then. Then by the mid 90's, I met a poet and fell in love with poetry. I got married in 1991 after failing tenth grade twice. The schools were closed frequently due to unrest. I set up a furniture shop as well as a teashop in my neighborhood. Then I ran a pharmacy.

And how did you start publishing books?

I often went to bookstores and found that nobody was publishing books of poetry. I wanted to publish them. I started out with some borrowed money. For a while, I was juggling between my pharmacy and book publishing. Then I gave up the pharmacy completely to concentrate on publishing to this day.

How do you write? Do you have a specific time of day for writing?

I don't work like that. Whenever I read good poetry by others, I get inspiration for myself. I don't need a special place or time for writing. All I need is a pen and a paper.

Do you want to comment on your writing style?

Some people think the modern poems we write are easy to create because they don't adhere to rhyme and other stringent rules. But it is not that easy. It has its own system that we studied and practiced for years and years.

We must know when reading a poem that this poem is similar to that poem which in turn came from this and that kind of poem. This poet breaks the rules and conventions of that poet before him, and turns the poem into something of his own – we must recognize that. If not, an outsider might think something is a poem but we know it is not.

Can you tell us your position on post-modernism?

When people here first heard about post-modern, everyone started talking about it. They were very influenced by western post-modernism, and wanted to come up with criteria of what it meant. But to me, post-modernism is already here in Myanmar even without anyone knowing it. Post-modernism was already in our everyday life. A cell phone here would cost about $1500, a price you wouldn't find anywhere else in the world. That's to me a kind of post-modernism.

I've become older and more mature. Nowadays, I don't have any "ism" in me. I just want to write pure poetry. I want to write about clear water, sky, and flowers, anything that inspires me. I no longer hold on to any "ism".

How are the changes in Myanmar — its "democratization" — affecting the way poets write?

The way I write poems never really changes. Finding raw material and inspiration still remains the same. They don't change just because the political situation changes. We've always used symbolism when needed. It is true that sometimes you had to use symbolism to get around the censor. But many poems reflect the truth without resorting to such measures. Only those with an overtly political statement had to rely on symbolism to get away with it.

I should emphasize that writing is not just concerned with politics. True poets are not thinking about politics all the time. We are also creating apolitical art as well. But poems about politics seem to get all the attention — for example Saung Kha's recent Mr. President poem [a poem he wrote about getting a tattoo of the President's face on his penis, for which he was sentenced to prison.]

Tell me about working under censorship.

We had to give the censor's office three copies of the manuscripts for inspection. They were particularly difficult about poetry. They'd take at least four to six months to approve a poetry book. Sometimes you had to bribe them just to speed up the process a little — all the way up the ladder — from the clerk to their supervisor, to the inspector's clerk, to the inspector. They also fined us 10 cents for each misspelling they found.

And they had their own definition of symbolism. For example, they thought 'rose' refers to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The writer may not even mean her. But the censors prohibited the word.

Some poets didn't let them touch their poems. So we had to remove the poem from the publication. Some poems got some stanzas and lines censored. There were so many hardships back then. But that's how we had been working all our lives and we didn't think of it as so difficult. It was just one of those things we had to do. Now, there are no such hassles anymore.

What is it like to publish now?

You no longer have to wait many months to pass the censor — you can publish right away. Films don't enjoy that kind of freedom yet. Only books. But if you publish something that might offend someone, you might face legal action. But as for publishing, you can do whatever you want now. It is easy to publish a book now.

Authors’ Note: These interviews are excerpted from Burma Storybook, a poetry and photography book inspired by the documentary film of the same name, produced by Corinne van Egeraat and directed by Petr Lom. 

The English language hardcover edition of the book is for sale at Hla Day, Innwa Bookstore, Myanmar Book Center and the Strand Hotel.

 A Burmese language-only paperback edition of the book is for sale through Yangon Book Plaza.

There will be a Free Open Air Screening of the Burma Storybook documentary film (82 min.) in Mahabandoola Park in Yangon on November 25 at 6 p.m. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, you can visit the interactive Burma Storybook Photo Exhibit at the Tourism Burma Building.

 For more information: www.burmastorybook.com

The post "Without Anyone Knowing it, Post-modernism Was Already in Our Everyday Life"   appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

​ U.S. Diplomats Accuse Tillerson of Breaking Child Soldiers Law

Posted: 21 Nov 2017 10:42 PM PST

WASHINGTON — A group of about a dozen U.S. State Department officials have taken the unusual step of formally accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating a federal law designed to stop foreign militaries from enlisting child soldiers, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters.

A confidential State Department "dissent" memo not previously reported said Tillerson breached the Child Soldiers Prevention Act when he decided in June to exclude Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of offenders in the use of child soldiers. This was despite the department publicly acknowledging that children were being conscripted in those countries.

Keeping the countries off the annual list makes it easier to provide them with U.S. military assistance. Iraq and Afghanistan are close allies in the fight against Islamist militants, while Myanmar is an emerging ally to offset China's influence in Southeast Asia.

Documents reviewed by Reuters also show Tillerson's decision was at odds with a unanimous recommendation by the heads of the State Department's regional bureaus overseeing embassies in the Middle East and Asia, the U.S. envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the department's human rights office and its own in-house lawyers.

Beyond contravening U.S. law, this decision risks marring the credibility of a broad range of State Department reports and analyses and has weakened one of the U.S. government’s primary diplomatic tools to deter governmental armed forces and government-supported armed groups from recruiting and using children in combat and support roles around the world," said the July 28 memo.

Reuters reported in June that Tillerson had disregarded internal recommendations on Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan. The new documents reveal the scale of the opposition in the State Department, including the rare use of what is known as the "dissent channel," which allows officials to object to policies without fear of reprisals.

The views expressed by the U.S. officials illustrate ongoing tensions between career diplomats and the former chief of Exxon Mobil Corp appointed by President Donald Trump to pursue an "America First" approach to diplomacy.

INTERPRETING THE LAW

The child soldiers law passed in 2008 states that the U.S. government must be satisfied that no children under the age of 18 "are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers” for a country to be removed from the list. The statute extends specifically to government militaries and government-supported armed groups like militias.

The list currently includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Mali, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

“The secretary thoroughly reviewed all of the information presented to him and made a determination about whether the facts presented justified a listing pursuant to the law," a State Department spokesperson said when asked about the officials’ allegation that he had violated the law.

In a written response to the dissent memo on Sept. 1, Tillerson adviser Brian Hook acknowledged that the three countries did use child soldiers. He said, however, it was necessary to distinguish between governments "making little or no effort to correct their child soldier violations … and those which are making sincere — if as yet incomplete —efforts."

Hook made clear that America's top diplomat used what he sees as his discretion to interpret the law.

‘A POWERFUL MESSAGE’

Foreign militaries on the list are prohibited from receiving aid, training and weapons from Washington unless the White House issues a waiver based on U.S. "national interest." In 2016, under the Obama administration, both Iraq and Myanmar, as well as others such as Nigeria and Somalia, received waivers.

At times, the human rights community chided President Barack Obama for being too willing to issue waivers and exemptions, especially for governments that had security ties with Washington, instead of sanctioning more of those countries. "Human Rights Watch frequently criticized President Barack Obama for giving too many countries waivers, but the law has made a real difference," Jo Becker, advocacy director for the group’s children's rights division, wrote in June in a critique of Tillerson's decision.

The dissenting U.S. officials stressed that Tillerson’s decision to exclude Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar went a step further than the Obama administration’s waiver policy by contravening the law and effectively easing pressure on the countries to eradicate the use of child soldiers.

The officials acknowledged in the documents reviewed by Reuters that those three countries had made progress. But in their reading of the law, they said that was not enough to be kept off a list that has been used to shame governments into completely eradicating the use of child soldiers.

‘UNCONSCIONABLE ACTIONS’

Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Tillerson on Friday saying there were "serious concerns that the State Department may not be complying" with the law and that the secretary's decision “sent a powerful message to these countries that they were receiving a pass on their unconscionable actions.”

Rachel Stohl, a senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington who focuses on children in armed conflict, said that by excluding the three countries from the list, “the Trump administration has further enabled perpetual human rights abusers.”

The memo was among a series of previously unreported documents sent this month to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the State Department’s independent inspector general's office that relate to allegations that Tillerson violated the child soldiers law.

Legal scholars say that because of the executive branch's latitude in foreign policy there is little legal recourse to counter Tillerson's decision.

Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law professor at American University in Washington, said U.S. courts would be unlikely to accept any challenge to Tillerson's interpretation of the child soldiers law as allowing him to remove a country from the list on his own discretion.

The signatories to the document were largely senior policy experts with years of involvement in the issues, said an official familiar with the matter. Reuters saw a copy of the document that did not include the names of those who signed it.

Tillerson's decision to remove Iraq and Myanmar from the list and reject a recommendation by U.S. officials to add Afghanistan was announced in the release of the government's annual human trafficking report on June 27.

Six days earlier, a previously unreported memo emailed to Tillerson from a range of senior diplomats said the three countries violated the law based on evidence gathered by U.S. officials in 2016 and recommended that he approve them for the new list.

The memo also said "two confirmed cases of child recruitment" by the Myanmar military "were documented during the reporting period." Human rights advocates have estimated that dozens of children are still conscripted there.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay challenged accusers to provide details of where and how child soldiers are being used. He noted that in the latest State Department report on human trafficking, “they already recognized (Myanmar) for reducing of child soldiers” – though the report also made clear some children were still conscripted.

The post ​ U.S. Diplomats Accuse Tillerson of Breaking Child Soldiers Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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