Monday, January 15, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Yangon Bus Service in Numbers

Posted: 15 Jan 2018 07:59 AM PST

YANGON—The Yangon Bus Service (YBS) marks its first anniversary on Tuesday. The following infographic offers a snapshot of the service's operations based on the latest available data, from December.

The replacement of the old public bus system operated by the Yangon Motor Vehicles Supervisory Committee, or Ma Hta Tha, with the YBS was one of the first major reforms initiated in the nation's commercial capital by the National League for Democracy-led government. It launched with 2,900 buses running on 69 bus lines. A year later, the service comprises 96 lines serving more than 2 million commuters daily across the city of 5.2 million people.

Bus companies

No. of buses  (licensed, unlicensed)

Bus lines

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Trio of Kachin Parties Agree to Merger

Posted: 15 Jan 2018 06:32 AM PST

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — After five years of effort, three Kachin political parties agreed to merge on Saturday in order to meet a desire among ethnic Kachin for a single, strong party.

The Kachin Democratic Party (KDP), the Kachin State Democracy Party (KSDP), and the Kachin National Congress (KNC) agreed to the merger at a meeting of the Kachin Political Parties Coordination Committee in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina.

They finally managed it in hopes that the 2020 general election will not see them repeat the poor showings they suffered in 2015, said KDP Chairman U Aung Kham.

The KSDP was the only one of the three parties to win seats in 2015, capturing one in the Lower House and three in the State parliament, when the National League for Democracy swept to power with the vast majority of votes, followed far behind by the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

U Aung Kham told The Irrawaddy on Monday that their decision to merge "was to constitute a party that represents the Kachin State residents and to fulfill the Kachin people's desire." He said people were confused by the array of Kachin parties in 2015, causing all of them to lose votes.

The KDP chairman said the three party leaders will chose a name, logo and emblem for the new party and let the public decide whether to adopt it on Feb. 20.

The new party will have to register with the Union Election Commission, after which the three parties that formed it will dissolve.

U Aung Kham said the merging parties will also have to decide how, once merged, to maintain their relationship with the various coalitions they are members of, including the Nationalities Brotherhood Federation and the Union Nationalities Alliance.

Other parties in Kachin, including the Lawwal (Laovao) National Union and Development Party and the Kachin State Democracy and Development Party, are remaining independent.

"As for the Laovao party, we understand that they will need to have thorough discussions with their people," he said, adding that it and others would be allowed to join the new party later on.

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Convicted Mother in Tailor Shop Torture Case Dies in Prison

Posted: 15 Jan 2018 04:13 AM PST

YANGON — Daw Tin Thuzar, 59, who was serving a prison sentence of 16 years and one month for torturing two young domestic workers, died on Saturday at the Insein Prison hospital, according to her lawyer Daw Hnin Su Aung.

Daw Tin Thuzar is one of four members of the family that owns the Ava Tailor Shop in Yangon sentenced for the crime by Yangon Division's western district court in December.

She, her daughter Su Mon Latt, son Tin Min Latt, and son-in-law Yar Zar Tun were charged under the 1993 Child Law, the Anti-trafficking in Persons Law and Article 326 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous harm using dangerous weapons and means.

Daw Tin Thuzar and Su Mon Latt were sentenced to 16 years and one month. Yar Zar Tun was sentenced to 13 years and one month, and Tin Min Latt received nine years and one month.

Daw Tin Thuzar's husband, U Ko Latt, and daughter Thiri Latt were charged but later acquitted because the court found no evidence tying them to the crime.

"She told her family members to forgive her wrongdoing before she died," said Daw Hnin Su Aung.

The funeral was held in accordance with Muslim customs at Yayway Cemetery on Sunday. She had been suffering from diabetes and related diseases. The Insein Prison authority allowed her to receive treatment at the prison hospital and at Insein's People's Hospital, said prison Warden U Myo Oo.

"We allowed her to receive treatment both at an outside hospital and the prison hospital. We also allowed her to see specialists who visit the prison once a month. But her other family members are in good health," he said.

Daw Tin Thuzar's three incarcerated family members were allowed to see her corpse in prison, but they were not allowed to attend the funeral.

"Even though they are serving time, they should have been allowed to attend the funeral of their mother. They are still humans and will feel sorry that they could not pay their final respects to their mother.  According to their religious traditions, the funeral has to be organized by the son, and there were therefore some difficulties," said Daw Hnin Su Aung.

Her daughter Su Mon Latt lost consciousness upon hearing of her mother's death and received treatment at the prison hospital, the lawyer said, adding that her condition was unknown.

She said her clients had not yet decided whether to appeal the court verdicts.

The two tortured girls, who are about 19 years old, suffered five years of abuse at the hands of the family before the crime came to light in August 2016. The family members were arrested and prosecuted amid widespread public outcry.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Irrawaddy Parliament Delays Special Assembly to Appoint New Chief Minister

Posted: 15 Jan 2018 04:06 AM PST

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Division — The Irrawaddy Parliament has postponed its special meeting to Jan. 18 as the President's Office has yet to nominate a new chief minister to the regional government.

The nomination letter had not arrived even as all the regional lawmakers were present at the assembly on Monday, so parliamentary speaker U Aung Kyaw Khaing rescheduled the meeting.

"I summoned the meeting on Monday because I thought the letter of nomination would have arrived by then. But, it didn't and so I put off the meeting until Jan. 18," U Aung Kyaw Khaing told The Irrawaddy.

According to sources close to the National League for Democracy (NLD) Irrawaddy regional chapter, U Aung Kyaw Khaing, Social Affairs Minister Dr Hla Myat Thway and Wakema Township lawmaker Daw Myint Myint San are among those being considered to succeed Mahn Johnny, who stepped down on health grounds on Jan. 9.

"People are concerned that the nominee has been changed as the parliamentary meeting was scheduled for today. It is good for the government to take time to make a decision, and we'd prefer someone who is shrewd and not corrupt for the sake of the region," said Daw Myintmo Tint, one of the leaders of the local community-based organization Pandonma Social Development Association.

The special meeting will be held at 10 am on Jan. 18. The lawmakers have been asked to wait in Pathein, the regional capital, to attend the meeting.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Taipei’s Huaxin Street: Myanmar Community in Taiwan

Posted: 15 Jan 2018 03:16 AM PST

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Zhonghe District in northern Taiwan's New Taipei City is home to a huge immigrant population including a Myanmar-born Chinese community that left its native country decades ago to settle in Taiwan. Huaxin Street, filled with all sizes of posters and signboards written in both Myanmar and Chinese, is the center of the community, where people speak their native language and eat traditional foods.

Restaurants offer various foods that play a major role in Myanmar's food culture such as tea and naan. From the slaked lime that is essential for betel quid to albums of Myanmar singers to Ngapi—a pungent, dry, fermented fish or shrimp paste, to robes for Buddhist monks—all of it can be found for sale on this street.

Walking down the street, conversations are in Myanmar language but mixed with one or two Chinese words in every sentence and elderly people chat over a cup of tea while sitting in front of teashops—a common scene also found in Chinatown in Myanmar's commercial city Yangon.

Taiwan's Myanmar overseas Chinese Association said there were more than 40,000 Chinese people who migrated from Myanmar to Taiwan and settled around the area according to data from 2008. But the population continues to grow with the community's Taiwan-born second generation.

Tin Htet Paing is freelance journalist and photographer based in Yangon, Myanmar. She previously worked at The Irrawaddy as a reporter for three years.

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Delegates to Mon Conference to Establish New Political Party

Posted: 15 Jan 2018 03:06 AM PST

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Delegates to the Mon Political Conference have agreed to set up a political party representing all ethnic Mon. To facilitate this, a 21-member party-organizing committee has been established to draft the new party's constitution.

The Mon Political Conference was held in Mawlamyine, the capital of Mon State, on Jan. 13-14, and attended by more than 800 participants including politicians, monks, legal experts, civil society representatives, youth and women-rights activists.

Members of two existing Mon parties based in the state, the Mon National Party (MNP) and the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMDP), did not participate in the weekend conference.

Mi Sandar Nan, a coordinator on the party-organizing committee's information subcommittee, told The Irrawaddy that all parties in Mon State are welcome to join the new party, adding that the decision was up to them.

There are currently three Mon political parties: the AMDP, MNP and the Women Party (Mon), registered in 2010, 2012 and 2015 respectively.

"We invite all three parties to coordinate and will give them three months to consider joining us," said Mi Sandar Nan, a former MNP executive committee member.

Women's rights activist Mi Cherry Soe, who serves as secretary of the party-organizing committee, said a strong Mon political party is needed to secure more seats in the Parliament and ensure a strong voice for the Mon.

"We have been talking merging into one Mon party for a long time and we have seen that there are fewer Mon national representatives, especially after the 2015 elections," she told The Irrawaddy. "We all have to work in unison because only a Mon party will be devoted to working on behalf of our ethnicity."

According to a statement released after the Mon Political Conference, a negotiating team had attempted to achieve a merger between the Mon political parties for 17 months, with no success. It had sought the views of the Mon community, which called for the holding of a Mon political conference to resolve the issue.

For seven years, the Mon community has been urging the merger of Mon political parties in order to get more local lawmakers elected.

The party merger was pushed again before the 2015 general election as a way of securing more seats in the Mon State parliament, but that goal was not met. Last year, dozens of members of both political parties resigned, due in part to the parties' failure to merge.

The Mon parties have not yet agreed to combine "due to policy differences since their formation," although both parties adhere to a parliamentary-based political program, said U Min Min Nwe, a Mon political observer and editor of the Than Lwin Times journal based in Mawlamyine.

The MNP, which was reformed from the Mon National Democratic Front, seeks to redraft the national Constitution, while the AMDP is more in favor of amending the 2008 military-backed charter.

U Min Min Nwe told The Irrawaddy that the most recent drive is different as it involves the participation of youth and women representatives, as well as lawyers and the politicians.

A previous effort at a party merger was spearheaded by the New Mon State Party, an armed group currently in talks to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the government. This time the NMSP only sent observers to the weekend conference, however, according to organizers.

"The 21-member party-organizing committee will consult with the existing parties and draft a party policy and party constitution, with input from experts and experienced politicians. We believe it has potential to be successful," said the observer.

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5 Karenni Men Sentenced Under Peaceful Assembly Law

Posted: 14 Jan 2018 10:03 PM PST

YANGON — A local court in Karenni State sentenced five Karenni men, who staged a protest against the Tatmadaw's alleged execution of four people, to 20 days in prison on Friday.

The five, members of the Union of Karenni State Youth (UKSY) and the Karenni State Farmers Union, on Dec. 22, led a protest in Loikaw against the alleged execution of three Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) soldiers and a civilian two days earlier.

On Jan. 2, Loikaw Township police station charged the five with violating the Peaceful Assembly Law.

After four trials, the court ordered the five to pay a fine or to be imprisoned for 20 days, and the five chose to go to prison.

"This shows that there is no rule of law. They opted for imprisonment rather than the fine. They chose the imprisonment because they did it [staging the protest] for the sake of rule of law as the duty of citizens who love truth," said Khu Tu Reh, chairman of the Karenni Farmers Union.

Four civil society representatives resigned from the Karenni State Parliament's complaints-handling committee on Jan. 11, saying that they resigned to protest the state government and Parliament's silence over the alleged executions and the unjust charging of five Karenni men who protested the alleged killings.

The violation of Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, for staging a rally without the prior approval of authorities, carries up to three months' imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of 30,000 kyats.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Myanmar, Bangladesh Meet Amid Doubts About Rohingya Repatriation Plan

Posted: 14 Jan 2018 09:15 PM PST

DHAKA/YANGON — Hamid Hussain, a 71-year-old Rohingya Muslim farmer, first fled Myanmar for Bangladesh in 1992. He went home the next year under a repatriation deal between the two neighbors, only to repeat the journey last September when violence flared once more.

Officials from Myanmar and Bangladesh meet on Monday to discuss how to implement another deal, signed on Nov. 23, on the return of more than 650,000 Rohingya who have escaped an army crackdown since late August.

Hussain is one of many who say they fear this settlement may be no more permanent than the last.

"Bangladesh authorities had assured us that Myanmar would give us back our rights, that we would be able to live peacefully," said Hussain, who now lives in a makeshift refugee camp in southeast Bangladesh.

"We went back but nothing changed. I will go back again only if our rights and safety are guaranteed — forever."

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has for years denied Rohingya citizenship, freedom of movement and access to many basic services such as healthcare and education. They are considered illegal immigrants from mainly Muslim Bangladesh.

The authorities have said returnees could apply for citizenship if they can show their forebears have lived in Myanmar. But the latest deal — like the one in 1992 — does not guarantee citizenship and it is unclear how many would qualify.

Monday's meeting in Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw will be the first for a joint working group set up to hammer out the details of the November repatriation agreement. The group is made up of civil servants from both countries.

Two senior Bangladesh officials who are involved in the talks acknowledged that much was left to be resolved and it was unclear when the first refugees could actually return. One of the key issues to be worked out was how the process for jointly verifying the identities of returnees would work, they said.

"Any return is chaotic and complex," said Shahidul Haque, Bangladesh's top foreign ministry official who will lead Dhaka's 14-member team in the talks. "The challenge is to create an environment conducive for their return."

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay said returnees would be able to apply for citizenship "after they pass the verification process."

Zaw Htay added that Myanmar had proposed that a group of 500 Hindus who fled to Bangladesh and have already agreed to be repatriated, alongside 500 Muslims, could form the first batch of returnees.

"The first repatriation is important — we can learn from the experiences, good or bad," he said.

Myanmar Sets Up Camps

Bangladesh officials said they would begin the process this month by sharing with Myanmar authorities a list of 100,000 Rohingya, picked at random from among registered refugees.

Haque said Myanmar officials would vet the names against their records of residents before the August exodus, and those approved would then be asked if they wanted to go back.

Refugees without documents would be asked to identify streets, villages and other landmarks near their former homes as proof of their right to return, said Haque.

A Myanmar agency set up to oversee repatriation said in a statement on Thursday that two temporary "repatriation and assessment camps" and one other site to accommodate returnees had been set up. Myint Kyaing, permanent secretary at Myanmar's Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population, told Reuters earlier this month Myanmar would be ready to begin processing at least 150 people a day through each of the two camps by Jan. 23.

As well as checking their credentials as residents of Myanmar, he said, authorities would check returnees against lists of suspected "terrorists."

Myint Kyaing declined to comment on how long the repatriation would take but conceded the process after the 1992 agreement had taken more than 10 years.

United Nations agencies working in the camps clustered around Cox’s Bazar, in southeastern Bangladesh, have voiced skepticism about the resettlement plans.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration said their offers to help with the process have not been taken up by the two countries.

"Further measures are needed to ensure safe, voluntary and sustainable repatriation of refugees to their places of origin and to address the underlying root causes of the crisis," said Caroline Gluck, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Cox's Bazar.

The UNHCR says refugees it has surveyed want guarantees that international agencies will be involved in overseeing the process and more information about the security situation in their home areas.

Who Will Go? Who Will Pay?

While many Rohingya say they want to go back to Myanmar, most of the more than a dozen who spoke to Reuters said they were scared to do so now.

"I am not going back. No one's going back," said Hafizulla, a 37-year-old Rohingya man. "We are scared to go back without any UN intervention. They can accuse us later, they can arrest us. They may accuse us of helping the militants."

The military offensive the refugees fled, which was prompted by Rohingya insurgent attacks on police and army posts, has been described by the United States and UN as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects that, saying troops did not target civilians.

"You can have all the agreements in the world, and set up all the reception centers and everything, but it won’t make a difference unless the conditions in Myanmar are such that people feel confident that they can go back and live in peace, and have equal rights," said a Western diplomat in Dhaka.

The second Bangladesh official, Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Mohammed Abul Kalam, said the "Rohingyas' reluctance to go back" was an issue that needed to be addressed.

He said the repatriation process would cost "millions of dollars" but funding details had not yet been agreed and were not expected to be discussed at Monday's meeting.

Japan, one of Myanmar's biggest aid donors, said on Friday it was giving an emergency grant of around $3 million to help with the return of the Rohingya.

The post Myanmar, Bangladesh Meet Amid Doubts About Rohingya Repatriation Plan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

16 Injured in Tourist Boat Explosion in Southern Thailand

Posted: 14 Jan 2018 08:30 PM PST

BANGKOK — A tourist speedboat carrying 31 passengers exploded in front of Phi Phi Le Island in the southern Thailand province of Krabi on Sunday, injuring 16, mostly tourists from China, the Phi Phi police told Reuters.

The speedboat, named "King Poseidon," was ferrying 27 Chinese tourists from the nearby resort island of Phuket to Phi Phi before its engine caught fire and exploded injuring 14 tourists and two crew members, the police said, adding that the authority is still investigating the cause of the explosion.

Out of the 16 injured, six are in a severe condition, Phi Phi hospital staff told Reuters, adding that seven people have been sent to hospitals in Phuket for further treatment and nine have been discharged.

Beach resorts and islands in southern Thailand are major tourist attractions, particularly during the high season from November to March.

Tourism accounts for around 12 percent of Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy and is one of its fastest growing sectors.

The Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports expects the country to welcome 37 to 38 million tourists in 2018, up from around 35 million visitors last year, 10 million of which were tourists from China.

The post 16 Injured in Tourist Boat Explosion in Southern Thailand appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Revokes Academic Title of Professor Accused of Sexual Harassment

Posted: 14 Jan 2018 08:19 PM PST

BEIJING — China's Education Ministry on Sunday revoked the prestigious academic title of a university professor accused of sexually harassing students, state media said, in a case that has sparked national media coverage and a nascent #MeToo movement in the country.

Beihang University in Beijing said last week that it removed Chen Xiaowu from his teaching posts after an investigation found he had engaged in "sexual harassment behavior" that seriously violated professional ethics and the school's code of conduct.

The Beijing Youth Daily had previously reported Chen saying he had done "nothing illegal," but Reuters was unable to reach him for comment as the university declined to provide Chen's telephone number and said he was refusing interviews.

The university's investigation was launched after former Beihang student Luo Xixi publicly accused Chen of sexually harassing her 13 years ago in an online blog that promptly went viral after it was posted on Jan. 1.

"The ministry decided to revoke Chen Xiaowu's status as a Yangtze River Scholar," Chinese state radio said, referring to an academic award given to individuals in higher education.

The ministry also authorized the university to relieve Chen of his appointment and took back his award funding, it said.

"We maintain a zero-tolerance approach to behavior that crosses the ethical bottom line for teachers and violates students," it added.

The ministry will also look into setting up a long-term and effective system of sexual harassment prevention at universities and colleges across China, it said, without giving details.

In her post, Luo said Chen made an unwanted sexual advance after luring her to his sister's house, and that he relented only after she burst into tears and said she was a virgin. Luo also accused Chen of harassing several other students.

Luo, who now lives in the United States, said she was inspired by the #MeToo social media movement that started in October in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations in the U.S. entertainment industry, and encouraged others to come forward and share their own experiences under the hashtag.

Luo's allegations, combined with another public post from a Peking University graduate, have inspired students from more than 50 universities to issue open letters demanding more effective oversight and a reporting system to deal with sexual harassment on their campuses.

But unlike #MeToo in the United States, the campaign has mostly been spread by word of mouth and has struggled to gain traction on social media, in part because Chinese internet censors have been swift to take down the open letters.

The post China Revokes Academic Title of Professor Accused of Sexual Harassment appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Philippines Says Hazardous Volcano Eruption Possible ‘Within Weeks or Days’

Posted: 14 Jan 2018 08:12 PM PST

MANILA — The Philippines' chief volcanologist warned on Monday of a possible hazardous eruption at Mount Mayon "within weeks or even within days," as magma continued to pile up at the summit of the Southeast Asian country's most active volcano.

The 2,462-metre (8,077-foot) high volcano, a tourist attraction in central Albay province because of its near-perfect cone shape, spewed ash and burning mud and rocks over the past two days, forcing more than 3,000 residents to evacuate from nearby villages.

It showed a bright crater glow on Sunday, signifying lava had started to flow from the crater.

Manila's airport authorities said airline Cebu Pacific had cancelled flights to nearby Legazpi City for a second day on Monday, citing bad weather.

Mayon's most destructive eruption was in February 1841, when lava buried a town and killed 1,200 people. It last erupted in 2014, spewing lava and forcing thousands of people to evacuate.

Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), described Mayon's current activity as a non-explosive magmatic eruption, but he would not rule out a more dangerous volcanic explosion in coming days.

"What we would like to see is if there would be enough pressure, gas pressure for the next magma that would go up," he told ABS-CBN News Channel.

Phivolcs raised the volcano alert to level 3 late on Sunday after detecting the lava flow.

Solidum said raising the alert to level 4, under which the danger zone would be expanded and a hazardous eruption could happen within a few days, depended on how Mayon behaved in the next few hours.

Level 5 indicates an eruption is in progress.

People have been advised to stay away from a 6-km (4-mile) radius Permanent Danger Zone and a 7-km Expanded Danger Zone on the volcano's southern flank.

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