Monday, April 9, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Reporter’s Notebook: Up Close and Personal in Post-Conflict Northern Rakhine State

Posted: 09 Apr 2018 06:36 AM PDT

YANGON – I was among 14 local journalists who joined a two-day government guided tour of northern Rakhine's Maungdaw district last week following accusations from international rights groups that the government was orchestrating a campaign to bulldoze the remnants of Rohingya settlements in the area to clear evidence of official wrongdoing.

The authorities scheduled a media tour of several villages including Pan Taw Pyin Muslim village, located on the outskirts of Maungdaw, the Hla Phoe Khaung refugee reception camp, and Inn Din village, where two Reuters reporters exposed mass graves, as well as Taung Pyo Let Wei town. All these villages had been previously visited by diplomats and foreign correspondents.

As usual, district officer U Ye Htut fielded questions from journalists at his office on Saturday and said that about 10 villages had been bulldozed to make way for construction of new settlements and border police regiments, while 13 village tracts out of a total 93 villages in the whole district remained intact following the late 2017 violence. But he did not provide a breakdown of how many of these were Arakanese or Rohingya villages.

Elderly Muslim men from northern Maungdaw’s Ngan Chaung village come out to meet local reporters on Sunday.(Photos: Moe Myint/ The Irrawaddy)

The UN has described the army's campaign against the Rohingya as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing while international rights defenders have called for high-ranking officers from the Myanmar military to be brought before the International Criminal Court.

U Ye Htut claimed that some Muslim villages such as Ngan Chaung, Kyae Taw Pyin and Nga Sar Kyu in northern Maungdaw had not suffered arson attacks and that the residents in almost all of them had been living peacefully despite the violence that erupted in the area.

Some reporters demanded to be taken to those locations as a matter of clarification, however the government administrative department official took them to see only one village, Ngan Chaung, which is about 27 kilometers from of the district's urban center. They were not, however, allowed to visit Nga Sar Kyu village, which is situated on the same route and only about 4 kilometers from Ngan Chaung village.

Modest houses being constructed for internally displaced persons in northern Maungdaw.  (Photos: Moe Myint/ The Irrawaddy)

Condition of remaining Rohingya villages

We saw an infantry checkpoint (Light Infantry Battalion No. 535) near Maung Hna Ma village on Sunday morning. I visited that village alone after the Oct. 9 attack in 2016 and observed that within a few months farming had been revived and commodities were being sold again in the market but it had been razed in the late 2017 violence and no one was living there now.

We then arrived at Ngan Chaung village, which is home to a decades-old white Muslim mosque that sits between two freshwater lakes. The atmosphere was completely silent as our motorcade pulled up there. Some elderly and male Rohingya came out to greet the vehicles. There were noticeably no women among the group.

Reporters were allowed to interview different sources for 10 minutes, and to take photographs. Most of the residents, however, were reluctant to speak with the journalists as the government officials, police and special police branch officers were close by photographing them.

"I can't talk freely here," a villager said. "We are terribly frightened and trapped here. We are being restricted from visiting other villages."

The village once had a population of about 5,300 residents but nearly 5,000 have now fled to neighboring Bangladesh amid fear they will be detained by security forces. Some of the 700 Rohingya still living in Ngan Chaung said they had decided to stay because it had been their home their whole lives.

An ethnic Mro woman walks toward newly constructed buildings in northern Maungdaw’s Kha Maung Seik town.(Photos: Moe Myint/ The Irrawaddy)

"I grew up here and this is my native place. Why should I flee to another country as I have done nothing wrong?" said one man who asked to remain anonymous.

Another Muslim man complained that he was arrested by border police for visiting neighboring Kyae Pin village without a recommendation letter from his village head and fined about two lakhs (200,000 kyats).

The Irrawaddy asked the Rohingya village head, U Thin Ko Ko, about the detention claim and he denied it happened. A few days later he acknowledged, however, that everyone in the village is required to have a travel permit, regardless of whether the villagers had their own proper tri-fold card, or national verification card (NVC). Multiple Muslim sources from Maungdaw described the villagers' situation in the surrounding urban areas as being similar to house arrest.

In fact, NVC holders were granted freedom of movement in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in early 2017. During the trip, a district administrative officer proudly told the journalists that NVC cardholders were even allowed to travel to Yangon to apply for a passport.

Rohingya out, tribes in

Along the highway of northern Maungdaw Township, we repeatedly witnessed burned-out sites, dry betel nut trees, piled-up coconut timber, the dug-up roots of raintrees, skinny dogs, villages that had been recently bulldozed to make way for new border police regiments or for new villages and a few Rakhine villages with police stations.

Our group was also brought to meet 60 families who had recently fled from Bangladesh's Bandarban hills district to Kha Maung Seik town's Oh Tan village, which is 53 kilometers from Maungdaw. Some modest brick houses have been built on the top of burned Rohingya villages while some of the displaced 43 Hindu households are now encamped near Mayu Mountain.


Minority Mro people from Bangladesh take refuge near a stream at Kha Maung Seik town.(Photos: Moe Myint/ The Irrawaddy)

Some of the ethnic Mro from the Bangladesh side can speak Arakanese. U Pun Num, a 40-year-old father of four, was one of them. He explained the Mro are officially recognized as Bangladesh citizens and have national identity cards but can't read the Bangla dialect.

The tribespeople subsist by means of shifting cultivation and farming in the hill tract region and are predominantly Buddhist. Reports about the Rohingya exodus in late 2017 have created hostilities between the Chackma and Mro and neighboring Muslim villages, as it was widely believed in majority Muslim Bangladesh that the Mro were the same as the Buddhist Arakanese and responsible for the plight of the Rohingya.

"Although we were not physically assaulted, it could happen one day and I felt we were not safe there," U Pun Num said.

To reach Kha Maung Seik village, the tribespeople had trekked for six days from Bandarban district and did not see any border guards near the frontier fence on either the Bangladesh or Myanmar side. According to Kha Maung Seik town authorities, the newly constructed houses are intended for the tribespeople.

Border crossings and citizenship claims could turn out to be the most complex part of this issue. During the trip, immigration officers told reporters that they couldn't issue citizenship cards to ethnic Mro who came from Bangladesh. But, meanwhile, the government has been constructing buildings for the new arrivals.

The authorities' position on this matter is obviously questionable, given the NVC holders or displaced Rohingya are restricted from travelling and even going shopping in downtown areas while the new arrivals from Bangladesh are allowed to move freely within the area.

The clear lack of law enforcement in the region could also fuel distrust between the Muslim and Buddhist communities. I have travelled across southern and northern Maungdaw and seen many unlawful activities being carried out by uneducated villagers, such as the looting of the burned remains of Muslim villages and the cutting down of trees for lumber. None of this is new in the conflict zone, and has been happening since September 2017.

A couple of days after we arrived back in Yangon from Maungdaw, an ethnic Mro woman was hacked to death by unidentified men near a Muslim village where eight Mro villagers were searching for plants to cook. Some Hindu sources told The Irrawaddy that the Mro entering the burned-out site was the cause of the incident.

The post Reporter's Notebook: Up Close and Personal in Post-Conflict Northern Rakhine State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

KIA Raids Tatmadaw Base, Claims to Detain More than a Dozen Troops

Posted: 09 Apr 2018 05:33 AM PDT

More than a dozen Myanmar Army (Tatmadaw) troops, many of them badly injured, were briefly detained by the Kachin Independence Army when the latter raided a Tatmadaw base in Hpaka Township on April 6. The ethnic army released them after they themselves came under attack by two Tatmadaw helicopters, according to local sources.

The KIA attack was launched at 2 am according to the KIA. At some time after 5 am they seized the base, reportedly wounding some Tatmadaw troops.

"Our KIA troops raided their base. We were able to take control of the base, but we do not yet know the number of casualties," said Colonel Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the KIA.

The KIA raid on the Tatmadaw's Battalion 86 was launched under the command of the ethnic army's Regional Operations Command 2 based in Tanai Township, according to Col. Naw Bu.

The KIA seized dozens of guns from the Tatmadaw, including artillery pieces, as well as ammunition during their raid on the base. The Tatmadaw's Colonel Aung Aung was seriously wounded in the raid and reportedly died after the KIA left the area.

Video footage of the raid circulated on social media shows a large number of KIA troops milling about after apparently having overwhelmed the Tatmadaw base, many of whose troops appear gravely wounded.

A total of 13 soldiers including Col Aung Aung appear wounded and lying on the ground. Many of the wounded soldiers appear to have lost a lot of blood.

A medic is seen treating a wounded Tatmadaw soldier.

The KIA reported that a Myanmar Army helicopter later lunched a strike on its personnel as they were treating the Tatmadaw's wounded, so they left the area. The KIA said it did not know the fate of the wounded soldiers it was forced to stop treating.

"We injected them [with medicine] and treated their wounds. We told them that their friends would come to pick them up soon. So we told them to stay there and we left," said Col Awng Jar from the KIA's Battalion 6.

Col Awng Jar led the raid on the Myanmar Army base.

The base housed 24 Tatmadaw troops. At least eight soldiers were killed in the attack, but the KIA has suppressed the casualty count, sources within the KIA said.

Even a local ethnic Kachin man reported that eight Tatmadaw soldiers were killed, and three others detained by the KIA.

The Ministry of Defense and the Tatmadaw released no statements regarding the attack.

The KIA last week announced they would launch guerrilla attacks and plant landmines against the Tatmadaw in the Hukawng Valley. They warned illegal mine workers in the area to leave by April 10.

According to Col. Naw Bu, no fighting was reported Monday in Tanai Township, which has been another conflict flashpoint. However, fighting there is expected to escalate soon as the Tatmadaw has recently deployed more troops to the area and continues to launch attacks against the KIA.

The Tatmadaw attacked KIA-held Mansi Township on April 1-6 according to local ethnic Kachin. No fighting was reported there in the past few days.

Several rounds of peace talks between the Tatmadaw and the KIA have been held in recent years. However, they have been halted since February, when the KIA issued a statement listing conditions for further peace talks with the Tatmadaw.

Similarly, the Tatmadaw asked the KIA to withdraw at least three battalions, including Battalion 14, which was in the Tanai area, and Battalion 12 and Battalion 27 in the Mansi Township area. However, the KIA refused to withdraw, leading to sporadic clashes in these areas. It eventually withdrew from the Battalion 14 base.

More than 100,000 people remain displaced from their homes after a 17-year ceasefire between the central government and the KIA collapsed in 2011.

The post KIA Raids Tatmadaw Base, Claims to Detain More than a Dozen Troops appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

YCDC Approves Reservoir Safety Plan for Controversial Mega Project

Posted: 09 Apr 2018 04:49 AM PDT

YANGON—The city's municipal body has given permission to the developer of a controversial high-rise project to implement its proposed safety measures for a reservoir next to the project site.

Yangon City Development Committee gave the green light to Zaykabar Company, the developer of the Myayeik Nyo Royal Project, on Friday to sink bored piles and add water seals as a precautionary measure to protect the 92-year old service reservoir from damage that might be caused by construction of the US$500m project.

The approval followed a decision at a Yangon government cabinet meeting on the same day after the company submitted safety plans signed by relevant engineers.

Daw May May Thwe, a YCDC committee member, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the permission also included approval for the construction of a three-story on-site office building and a retaining wall nearby to prevent landslides in the neighborhood.

"They are allowed to go ahead with their proposed safety plans for the reservoir, office building and retaining wall. Nothing else," she said.

Slated to be completed by 2020, the Myayeik Nyo Royal Project is now in the beginning phase and comprises the construction of 12 buildings with heights ranging from 382 feet to 412 feet. In one corner of the project's 13-acre plot lies a reservoir that distributes water to Yangon's 16 downtown townships.

Residents who live near the construction site are opposed to the project because they fear that damage to the 20-million gallon reservoir could result in their neighborhood being flooded and cause water shortages across the city.

Both the Yangon government and YCDC suspended the project in March and again last week until the developer could come up with a safety plan for the reservoir following media reports—including The Irrawaddy's— about the residents' concerns.

Located in one of Yangon's prime areas in Bahan Township, the project is named after the now-defunct Myayeik Nyo Hotel, which was run by Myanmar tycoon U Khin Shwe, who is also chairman of Zaykabar Co., one of Myanmar's largest construction companies. The project contractor is China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd (CSCEC).

Once covered with dense vegetation, the project area was known as Mount Pleasant during the British colonial days. Many mansions belonging to high officials, including the Mayor's Residence and the Mayor's Guest House (both are on heritage list) and the residence of the manager of Chartered Bank, were located there.

In February, the Mayor's Residence was demolished during site clearing process to make way for the project.

The post YCDC Approves Reservoir Safety Plan for Controversial Mega Project appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Tatmadaw Kills Indigenous Karen Community Leader, Local Groups Say

Posted: 09 Apr 2018 04:03 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — An indigenous Karen man from Ler Mu Plaw village in Karen State's Papun district was shot dead by the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) on Thursday afternoon, according to local villagers and aid groups.

Fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Tatmadaw has flared recently in the Ler Mu Plaw area, despite both sides being signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). Amid a persistent military standoff, some 2,300 villagers who were earlier forced to flee the area dare not to go back to their homes, as they claim the Tatmadaw has taken control of their villages.

Saw O Moo, 42, a community leader and father of seven, was reportedly shot dead while on his way home on April 5. He was driving a motorbike when he came under fire. A friend who was riding on the back of the motorcycle managed to flee the attack and survived, said a member of the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, citing local villagers.

"The villagers returned to the scene on April 6 and saw both the body and the motorbike, but were unable to approach them as [the villagers] came under fire," said Saw Soe Doh, a spokesman for the Mutraw (Papun) Emergency Assistance Team.

He said villagers went back to the area again on Saturday and Sunday but could not retrieve the body, as soldiers were stationed nearby.

"Atee [Uncle] Saw O Moo was a good person," Saw Soe Doh told The Irrawaddy, adding that the slain man was a leader of the Mutraw (or Papun) indigenous Karen community and an advocate for indigenous Karen rights, including land and forest governance as well as peace for the Mutraw people.

The Mutraw Emergency Assistance Team was formed by members of a Karen community organization and other local groups on March 12 to help villagers displaced from the Ler Mu Plaw area, following fighting between the KNLA and Tatmadaw in early March. The clashes were triggered by the Tatmadaw's deployment of troops to the area.

The team has been providing medicine, food and shelter for IDPs. Saw O Moo worked for the team, providing peer support to villagers.

"We want his body back," Saw Soe Doh said. Villagers and relief workers are convinced he is the shooting victim, as he never returned home and would never get lost in the area, they say.

In a statement, the Mutraw Emergency Assistance Team urged President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi "to take immediate measures to protect the displaced villagers and ensure the safety of our humanitarian workers."

Their statement reads: "The murder of an innocent humanitarian aid worker by the Burmese Army seriously violates not only human rights but also the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)."

The Karen National Union, the political wing of the KNLA, said the Tatmadaw should halt its project to rebuild an old road that was abandoned in 2008 until trust can be restored between the two sides.

Karen civil society groups said the Tatmadaw breached the ceasefire pact by moving troops across agreed ceasefire boundaries. As a consequence, they say, some 2,300 local villagers have been displaced.

The post Tatmadaw Kills Indigenous Karen Community Leader, Local Groups Say appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Peace Process Steering Team Form Panels to Hold Informal Talks With Gov’t

Posted: 09 Apr 2018 01:35 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The peace process steering team (PPST), which comprises the leaders of the signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), on Friday formed two teams to hold informal talks with the government on political and security issues.

Padoh Kwe Htoo Win, the vice chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU), will lead the informal
team on the political sector, said Salai Thla Hei, coordinator of the peace process working team under the PPST.

Padoh Saw Roger Khin, also from the KNU, will lead the informal team on the security sector.

Salai Thla Hei told The Irrawaddy that the informal negotiation teams will try to meet with the government later this month after Thingyan, the Myanmar New Year holiday, which runs from April 13-17.

On April 5-6, the NCA signatories met in Chiang Mai, Thailand to discuss the current political situation, the peace process, and the upcoming 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference (UPC).

The Tatmadaw's ongoing clashes with EAO signatories and the inability of the latter to conduct national-level dialogues have raised questions over the NCA and caused non-signatory EAOs to doubt the process.

The standoff between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Tatmadaw continued after fighting broke out in Papun district of Karen state last month over the Tatmadaw’s continued presence in the area, where it is rebuilding an old road. Talks between the two armies to resolve the issue have not yet been held.

Meanwhile, the Shan, Mon and Rakhine signatories have yet to implement national-level dialogues, with the third session of the UPC scheduled to be held next month.

A lack of informal talks between the government, Tatmadaw and the ethnic armed organizations is one cause of the failure of the peace process, according to some stakeholders.

"For the remaining three years, the peace negotiators on both sides need to hold more informal talks to help the formal negotiations to go smoothly," said Padoh Kwe Htoo Win, who recently spoke to The Irrawaddy.

Under the two-year-old National League for Democracy-led government, the peace process has not made much progress, struggling to reach its aims of achieving genuine peace and a federal union. On the positive side, two more groups – the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) – signed the NCA last month. Also, at the second UPC session in May last year, the Union Accord Part 1 was established. The accord agrees on 37 basic principles for a federal state. Despite these achievements, peace negotiations have almost disappeared.

According to some stakeholders close to the government, while the Peace Commission is formally chaired by Dr. Tin Myo Win, an aide to State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in practice ex-generals lead both the negotiations and the commission, as the chairman is seen as incompetent to lead such negotiations.

The stakeholders share the view that the NLD government's aim to achieve a democratic federal union is good, but its implementation has been weak compared to the previous government led by then-President U Thein Sein. In peace negotiations launched under U Thein Sein starting in late 2011, informal, closed-door meetings were used to help move the process forward.

The stakeholders feel that the process will not achieve its goals within the desired time frame unless the terms of the negotiations are reconsidered.

Padoh Kwe Htoo Win, who has been involved in peace negotiations since 2011, agreed that the many challenges and difficulties facing the process had kept it from achieving its goals.

"We have many stakeholders, and we have different perspectives. Although we have a common goal to build a democratic federal union, our approach may not be the same. Thus we are trying to negotiate on that," he added.

The post Peace Process Steering Team Form Panels to Hold Informal Talks With Gov't appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rakhine Parliament Says No to Rohingya Resettlement in Southern Maungdaw

Posted: 08 Apr 2018 11:47 PM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State — The Rakhine State Parliament on Friday approved a proposal to urge the union government not to resettle non-citizen Muslim refugees in southern Maungdaw Township.

Lawmaker U Tun Aung Thein, of Buthidaung Township, introduced the proposal to Parliament on Tuesday in consideration, he said, of national sovereignty, the security of the area’s mostly Buddhist ethnic Arakanese, and the rule of law.

Some 700,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled Rakhine for Bangladesh since militant attacks on security outposts in the north of the state in late August triggered a massive military and police crackdown on the area’s Muslim communities.

In November Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to start repatriating the refugees on Jan. 22, but the process has been delayed.

Lawmakers discussed U Tun Aung Thein's proposal on Friday and approved it after there were no objections.

"The minority Arakanese people and other tribes have fled their homes because of overwhelming fears. The whole area has fallen to the hands of non-Myanmar citizens," said U Tun Aung Thein.

"Under such circumstances, resettlement of non-citizens in southern Maungdaw can harm sovereignty in the future. Locals have also released statements against resettlement of Bengalis in southern Maungdaw, and we must heed their desires," he added.

Most people in Myanmar refer to the Rohingya as Bengalis, implying that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Most have been denied citizenship even after generations in Myanmar.

Lawmakers on Friday also objected to the government's plan to establish eight Rohingya villages in southern Maungdaw as part of the repatriation process, arguing that illegal immigrants and terrorists could easily reach the area by sea.

"It is like opening a welcome center for illegal immigrants and terrorists to establish Bengali villages in southern Maungdaw because it is adjacent to the sea. The government should be especially aware that a mistake at this time could result in a big mistake that can't be compensated in the future," said lawmaker U Aung Win, of Myebon Township.

Major Aung Zin Than, a military appointee to the state Parliament, also spoke against establishing Rohingya villages in southern Maungdaw, where there is no border fence.

Rakhine State Planning and Finance Minister U Kyaw Aye Thein said he had no reason to object to the lawmakers’ discussion but asked them to recognize the international pressure the union government was under regarding the Rohingya.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Venerating the Past, Traditional Costume Fever Grips Thailand

Posted: 08 Apr 2018 11:27 PM PDT

BANGKOK — Business is booming for Siri Seatea’s traditional dress shop in Bangkok.

“Out of the 30 years I’ve been running this shop, this is the peak for us,” 53-year-old Siri told Reuters as she stitched a Thai sarong for a client.

History fever is gripping Thailand and a growing number of Thais are wearing traditional dress, a phenomenon encouraged by the junta and the palace, and fuelled by a popular television soap opera.

But the trend, which began with a “winter fair” initiated by King Maha Vajiralongkorn in February, has also been criticized by some as an attempt to glorify an era of absolute monarchy and gloss over the junta’s shortcomings nearly four years after it took power.

“History has long been used by the elite to maintain their status in politics,” said Anusorn Unno, Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology at Thammasat University.

“Right now the junta is facing new challenges from a new generation of people, so they have retreated to history to say that the past is better and more suitable for Thailand.”

Among the popular costumes are those worn during the reign of former King Chulalongkorn, known as Rama V, who ruled from 1868 to 1910 and is credited with saving Thailand from Western colonialism.

Television has also played a part.

“Love Destiny,” a soap opera set during the 1656 to 1688 reign of King Narai the Great, has taken Thailand by storm.

Many Thais are visiting the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, where scenes from “Love Destiny” take place. They pose for selfies dressed in traditional garb against the backdrop of the ruins.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha met with cast members this week at Government House and hailed the series as an example of the government’s longstanding policy of promoting “Thainess.”

Prayuth’s own cabinet has held some recent meetings in the traditional dress of a 19th century elite. He dressed in a buttoned up silk jacket, breeches and a wide sash.

A coup led by Prayuth in 2014 followed months of unrest as demonstrators supporting the urban middle class and military-backed elite demanded the resignation of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose biggest following was among the rural poor.

That long-standing division shows little sign of having disappeared despite four years of military rule.

Although the junta has now promised elections for February 2019, signs of frustration over repeated delays to the ballot have prompted protests in recent weeks.

“Costume Fever”

In Ayutthaya, 80 km north of Bangkok, visitor numbers have nearly tripled since “Love Destiny” began, according to officials quoted by local media.

“It was booming since the winter fair held by our king and then this soap opera fueled the Thai costume fever,” said Chutima Wongchiangkwang, 55, a costume vendor.

Wearing traditional clothes can get you a discount at the cinema. The country’s Major Cineplex Group announced this week a buy one, get one free promotion.

Flight attendants for national carrier Thai Airways International are also dressing up in national costumes from the reign of King Rama V this month to mark the Thai New Year festival known as Songkran.

This weekend, Thais flocked to an event initiated by the king ahead of the Thai New Year festival of Songkran — which for many has become a rowdy water-soaked affair.

The palace event, over three days, aims to revive a more sedate vision of Thailand’s culture with tribute being paid to past kings, Buddhist rites and displays of folklore.

“The public is encouraged to dress in traditional Thai period costume, wear Thai clothing or polite smart casual attire,” the Thai tourist authority’s news website said. “Water guns and baby powder pasting are discouraged.”

Back at the Siriroong Ruang shop, Maneejan Srilert, 23, an employee at the Stock Exchange of Thailand, eyed a gold and red traditional skirt to wear to an office party.

“I don’t think of it as a political thing,” she told Reuters. “For me it’s just fashion.”

The post Venerating the Past, Traditional Costume Fever Grips Thailand appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Cambodia’s Former Opposition Leader Calls For Election Boycott

Posted: 08 Apr 2018 09:44 PM PDT

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia’s former opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, called on Sunday for Cambodians to boycott a general election set for July 29 if his dissolved party isn’t allowed to take part.

The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved by the Supreme Court last November at the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government, which alleged it was plotting to take power with the help of the United States.

The CNRP and the United States have denied the allegations, which followed the arrest of current party leader Kem Sokha on treason charges over the alleged plot. He has denied the charges and called them a ploy to help Hun Sen win re-election.

“I call on all my Cambodian fellow compatriots who believe in democracy to boycott the 29 July 2018 elections if the CNRP is not allowed to participate,” Sam Rainsy said in a tweet on Sunday.

The party had not previously called for a boycott and it was not immediately clear if Sam Rainsy was speaking on behalf of the party.

He resigned as president of the CNRP in 2017 but has for decades been a vocal critic of Hun Sen. He has lived in France since 2015 to avoid a series of convictions he says are politically motivated.

Sok Eysan, a spokesman for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said Sam Rainsy’s call would have no impact.

“The CNRP is already dead by the Supreme Court’s decision,” Sok Eysan said. “Even if Sam Rainsy appeals until he dies, people no longer believe him.”

The ban on the CNRP prompted some Western countries to condemn the crackdown, cut aid, and impose visa bans on some ruling party members. But Japan provided Cambodia with a grant and loan agreement totaling over $90 million on Sunday, while saying it wanted to see a free and fair election.

“Everybody can have their own idea what is free and fair, but free is free and fair is fair,” Norio Maruyama, a Japanese Foreign Affairs spokesman, told a news briefing.

A former deputy president of the CNRP, Mu Sochua, said Cambodians expected Japan not to recognize any government that emerged from a “sham election.”

Japan is locked in a regional battle for influence with China, which is by far the biggest donor to Cambodia and has consistently voiced support for the government.

The post Cambodia’s Former Opposition Leader Calls For Election Boycott appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Not Ready For Return of Rohingya Refugees: UN Official

Posted: 08 Apr 2018 09:29 PM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar is not ready for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, said the most senior United Nations official to visit the country this year, after Myanmar was accused of instigating ethnic cleansing and driving nearly 700,000 Muslims to Bangladesh.

“From what I’ve seen and heard from people — no access to health services, concerns about protection, continued displacements — conditions are not conducive to return,” Ursula Mueller, the UN’s assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said after a six-day visit to Myanmar.

A Myanmar government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Mueller’s remarks.

The Myanmar government has previously pledged to do its best to make sure repatriation under an agreement signed with Bangladesh in November would be “fair, dignified and safe.”

Myanmar has so far verified several hundred Rohingya Muslim refugees for possible repatriation. The group would be “the first batch” of refugees and could come back to Myanmar “when it was convenient for them,” a Myanmar official said last month.

Mueller was granted rare access in Myanmar, allowed to visit the most affected areas in Rakhine State, and met army-controlled ministers of defense and border affairs, as well as de-facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials.

The exodus of Rohingya Muslims followed an Aug. 25 crackdown by the military in northwestern Rakhine. Rohingya refugees reported killings, burnings, looting and rape, in response to militant attacks on security forces.

“I asked [Myanmar officials] to end the violence … and that the return of the refugees from [Bangladeshi refugee camps in] Cox’s Bazar is to be on a voluntary, dignified way, when solutions are durable,” Mueller told Reuters in an interview in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.

Myanmar says its forces have been engaged in a legitimate campaign against Muslim “terrorists.”

Bangladesh officials have previously expressed doubts about Myanmar’s willingness to take back Rohingya refugees.

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete a voluntary repatriation of the refugees in two years. Myanmar set up two reception centers and what it says is a temporary camp near the border in Rakhine to receive the first arrivals. “We are right now at the border ready to receive, if the Bangladeshis bring them to our side,” Kyaw Tin, Myanmar minister of international cooperation, told reporters in January.

Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The UN has described Myanmar’s counteroffensive as ethnic cleansing, which Myanmar denies.

Asked whether she believed in government assurances the Rohingya would be allowed to return to their homes after a temporary stay in camps, Mueller said: “I’m really concerned about the situation.”

Part of the problem is that, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch, Myanmar has bulldozed at least 55 villages that were emptied during the violence.

“I witnessed areas where villages were burned down and bulldozed…I’ve not seen or heard that there are any preparations for people to go to their places of origin,” Mueller said.

Myanmar officials have said the villages were bulldozed to make way for refugee resettlement.

Mueller said she has also raised the issue with Myanmar officials of limited humanitarian aid access to the vulnerable people in the country and added, referring to the authorities, that she would “push them on granting access” for aid agencies.

The post Myanmar Not Ready For Return of Rohingya Refugees: UN Official appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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