Thursday, September 13, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Myanmar Gets First Foreign Investments for Power Projects in Fiscal Year Transition

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 06:57 AM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar has received its first foreign investments in the power supply sector in the transitional six-month fiscal period, which started on April 1, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA).

A gas-fired power plant will be built in Mandalay Region’s Singaing Township as part of a joint venture between China's Power Gen Kyaukse and two Myanmar companies, DICA Deputy Director-General U Than Aung Kyaw said during a press conference in Yangon on Tuesday.

Construction of the $92.7 million, 145-megawatt plant is expected to begin next year. The Myanmar Investment Commission approved the project at a meeting on Friday.

"Most of the rural villages are in remote areas and are out of reach of the national grid. It is good that foreign investors have invested in the country's power supply sector. But it would be better if electricity bills were low," U Kyaw Kyaw Hlaing, chairman of the Myanmar Oil and Gas Entrepreneurs Association, told The Irrawaddy.

The Investment Commission also approved a power project in Myeik, Tanintharyi Region. Min Zaw Ni Fisheries Co, a local company, will invest more than 9.5 billion kyat ($6.1 million) to produce electricity with generators and distribute it in the township.

In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the Investment Commission approved five foreign investment projects in the power supply sector from Singapore, Japan and China totaling $406 million, according to DICA.

They were a 230-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Mon State operated by Myanmar Lighting (IPP) Co; a paddy-husk biomass power plant operated by Myaung Mya FM Biomass Power Co. in Irrawaddy Region; the 99-megawatt Chipwe Nge hydropower dam in Kachin State by Chipwi Nge Hydro Co; a diesel generator-powered 10-megawatt project also in Mon State; and a 19-megawatt power supply project for i-Land Estate in Bago Region operated by i-Land Park Myanmar Ltd.

The Investment Commission also approved four power supply projects from citizens worth $78 million and more than 10.7 trillion kyats.

They include a hydropower project in Shan State, a power project with residual fuel oil in Mon State, a power project with fossil fuel also in Mon State, and a coal-fired power plant in Shan State, according to DICA.

Domestic electricity consumption has increased 15 percent annually in Myanmar. Currently households pay 35 kyats per unit up to 100 units and 40 kyats for every unit after that up to 200 units. Any unit above 200 costs 50 kyats.

Industrial users pay 75 kyats per unit up to 500 units, 100 kyats for every unit after that up to 10,000 units, 125 kyats for every unit after that up to 50,000 units, and 150 kyats for every unit after that up to 300,000 units. The price drops to 100 kyats for each unit above 300,000.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Myanmar Gets First Foreign Investments for Power Projects in Fiscal Year Transition appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Gov’t Signs MoU with Beijing to Build China-Myanmar Economic Corridor

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 05:34 AM PDT

YANGON—Myanmar on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China agreeing to establish the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, according to a statement from the China National Development and Reform Commission.

The agreement was signed by Myanmar Minister of Planning and Finance U Soe Win and He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The NDRC, China's top economic planning agency, aims to construct basic infrastructure across key economic centers in Myanmar.

The estimated 1,700-kilometer-long corridor will connect Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan Province, to Myanmar's major economic checkpoints—first to Mandalay in central Myanmar, and then east to Yangon and west to the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

According to the statement, the two officials discussed the agreements between the leaders of the two countries and ways to promote the economic corridor's construction.

The 15-point MoU was finalized at the working-group level in February, according to Myanmar's Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA). Under the MoU, the governments agree to collaborate on many sectors including basic infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, transport, finance, human resources development, telecommunications, and research and technology.

To implement construction of the economic corridor, related ministries in both countries are required to form working groups and joint committees, so that the ministries can set priorities in terms of infrastructure development projects.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the proposal to build the CMEC following a meeting with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw in November 2017. Wang said the economic corridor would enhance investment in development and trade under Chinese-Myanmar cooperation as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The BRI is Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy project. Unveiled in 2013, it is also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. The project aims to build a network of roads, railroads and shipping lanes linking at least 70 countries from China to Europe passing through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia, fostering trade and investment.

Myanmar occupies a unique geographical position in the BRI, lying at the junction of South Asia and Southeast Asia, and between the Indian Ocean and southwestern China's landlocked Yunnan province.

In recent months, Beijing agreed to a new deal with the new chairman of the Kyaukphyu SEZ vowing that the project will not lead to an excessive debt burden on the Myanmar government. Kyaukphyu is a key strategic project under the BRI, as it is expected to boost development in China's land-locked Yunnan province. The project will provide China with direct access to the Indian Ocean and allows China's oil imports to bypass the Strait of Malacca.

In June, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe in Naypyitaw to discuss bilateral relations. At the meeting, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi vowed to strengthen cooperation on the BRI with China, Chinese media reported.

China is Myanmar's top investment partner. According to DICA, China invested USD20.01 billion between 1988 and May of this year in the country.

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BREAKING: Yangon Attorney General, Five Others Arrested for Corruption in Comedian’s Murder Case

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 05:27 AM PDT

YANGON—Myanmar's Anti-Corruption Commission has filed cases against the attorney general of Yangon Region and five other officials including a judge, law officers and a police officer for accepting more than 70 million kyats (nearly US$46,300) to drop the case against three suspects in the murder of Facebook comedian Aung Yell Htwe.

In an announcement on Thursday, the commission said it had found that Yangon Region Attorney General U Han Htoo; Judge U Aung Kyi from the Yangon Eastern District Court; Yangon Region law officer U Thein Zaw; Yangon Eastern District law officer U Ko Ko Lay; Yangon Eastern District deputy law officer Daw Thit Thit Khin; and Police Lieutenant Chit Ko Ko took bribes from U Khin Maung Lay, father of suspect Than Htut Aung (a.k.a Thar Gyi), in exchange for their roles in dropping the case.

Anti-Corruption Commission spokesperson U Kyaw Soe told The Irrawaddy that the accused received a total of 72 million kyats (nearly US$46,300) in cash, along with other gifts including bottles of Blue and Gold Label Scotch Whisky, as bribes. Judge U Aung Kyi received the largest sum—33 million kyats (nearly $21,200)—while the attorney general received 15 million kyats (nearly $9,600).

The commission confirmed to The Irrawaddy that all six of the accused have been detained at Thuwunna Police Station.

Cases against the suspects have been opened under two different articles of the Anti-Corruption Law. If found guilty they face maximum sentences of between 10 and 15 years in prison under the Anti-Corruption Law.

Than Htut Aung is one of three suspects in the fatal beating of Aung Yell Htwe who surrendered themselves in the presence of their parents soon after the incident in January 2018. All of them were controversially freed on July 25 by the Yangon Eastern District Court. The court's decision is being reviewed by the Yangon High Court.

The Anti-Corruption Commission said on Thursday that Yangon Region Attorney General U Han Htoo approved a request from the victim's family to drop the case without making a full assessment in exchange for a bribe from U Khin Maung Lay.

The commission filed the case against U Han Htoo under Article 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law on Thursday at Yangon's Thuwunna Police Station.

Article 55 states that any political post holder convicted of committing bribery shall be imprisoned for not more than 15 years and fined.

Judge U Aung Kyi of the Yangon Eastern District Court released the three murder suspects in exchange for a bribe from the same person, the commission said in the announcement.

Police prosecutor Lt. Chit Ko Ko also took a bribe from Than Htut Aung's father and then failed to fully investigate the case according to police procedure, thereby abusing his power, it said.

According to the commission, law officers U Thein Zaw, U Ko Ko Lay and Daw Thit Thit Khin allegedly intentionally built the murder case in such a way that it would be adjudged as lacking sufficient grounds to warrant further investigation.

The commission opened cases against all five under Article 56 of the Anti-Corruption Law. Article 56 states that, "Other than the Political Post Holder, if any other Authorized  Person  is  convicted for  committing  bribery; he/she shall  be  punished  with  imprisonment  for  a  term of not more than 10 years and with a fine."

The commission said it would present U Khin Maung Lay as a plaintiff witness. In exchange for his testimony, the commission will not file a case against him, it said.

The case is the second-biggest the ACC has opened since it was founded in 2017. The biggest was its investigation into alleged corruption by the country's then finance minister, U Kyaw Win, in May. The commission dropped the case in June as the complaints against him could not be substantiated. U Kyaw Win resigned from the post.

The post BREAKING: Yangon Attorney General, Five Others Arrested for Corruption in Comedian's Murder Case appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Chinese Company Lobbies Locals on Reboot of Suspended Myitsone Dam Project

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 05:15 AM PDT

YANGON — The state-owned Chinese company behind the controversial Myitsone hydropower dam in Kachin State is stepping up efforts to convince local residents and officials to back the stalled project.

Mung Ra, a ward administrator in Alan Village, located near the intended dam site, said officials with China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) told them at a meeting on Tuesday that the project would improve local’s lives.

"They explained to us that the Myitsone dam project is totally safe, we don't have to worry about negative consequences," he told The Irrawaddy. "They claimed that our village will get benefits, especially electricity.”

He said only about 20 local officials were invited to the project briefing.

The SPIC officials, Mung Ra said, claimed that the dam would even benefit people across the planet and that the Chinese-backed Chipwi hydropower dam in Kachin has helped electrify and develop local communities already.

At an estimated cost of $3.6 billion, the 6,000-megawatt dam would send 90 percent of its electricity to southern China’s Yunnan Province, according to the investment agreement.

Entrance gate to the Myitsone dam site in Kachin State, as seen in 2013. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy)

Myitsone is one of seven hydropower projects planned for the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River as well as the Mali and N’Mai, at whose confluence the Irrawaddy begins. Work started in 2009 — when SPIC was known as the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) — with the construction of Aung Myin Thar Village for displaced locals and was expected to take 10 years.

In 2010, authorities forcibly resettled more than 2,100 people to Aung Myin Thar from five villages. According to a government newspaper, CPI spent about $25 million on the resettlement plan.

In 2011, then-President Thein Sein suspended the project amid widespread public concern about the dam’s social and environmental impacts. But China is hoping the restart work on the dam to help meet its mushrooming power demands.

The project remains in limbo. After the National League for Democracy took power in 2016, the government set up a 20-member commission including the chief minister of Kachin to review the dam and its likely impacts on the environment and local communities. The commission has produced two reports to date, but the government has yet to release either.

Environmentalists say the dam site has some of the highest biodiversity in the world and warn that the project would both destroy the natural beauty of the Irrawaddy River and disrupt water flow. They say it could potentially flood an area the size of Singapore, destroying livelihoods and displacing more than 10,000 people.

In August, two days after 60,000 people were displaced by a dam collapse in Bago Region, SPIC met with residents near the Myitsone dam site to reassure them that its project would be carried out under the supervision of the world’s best dam builders.

Among the villages the company visited was Naung Chain.

Myanmar nationals protest against the Myitsone dam project outside the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sept. 22, 2011. / Reuters

"We already told them we don't accept the dam. But they approached us in many ways. They keep saying we don't have to worry. But we are residents; we cannot risk our lives based on what they promised," Roi Ja, a Naung Chain resident, told The Irrawaddy.

"They said they will build the thickest wall, that the dam would not be breached. But we don't believe them," she said.

Though Naung Chain Village is 16 kilometers downstream from the dam site on the banks of the Irrawaddy, residents still worry that their homes will be flooded if it ever breaks.

"They often come to the villages and asked us what our needs are. I am worried the Myitsone will restart soon," said Mung Ra, the Alan Village ward administrator.

In July, Chinese state newspaper Global Times reported that Beijing was not giving up on the Myitsone dam and claimed that Myanmar’s decision to suspend the project was driving down investor confidence in the country.

Kachin State Chief Minister U Khat Awng could not be reached for comment about the project.

U Win Myo Thu, director of environmental protection group EcoDev, said SPIC wants an answer on the dam before a planned visit to Myanmar by Chinese President Xi Jinping in November.

“Before his visit, they want to find the potential result. If we cancel the project, they want to be fully compensated," he said.

Under the original deal, CPI owned 80 percent of the project, the Myanmar government 15 percent and Myanmar-based Asia World the rest.

SPIC says Myanmar will owe it $800 million in compensation if the government cancels the dam but could earn $500 million a year in revenue if it goes head. The government is currently paying the company $50 million a year in compensation while it is suspended.

Myanmar has drawn increasingly close to China over the past year as relations with the West have frayed over its treatment of its Rohingya minority. Some critics of the dam worry Beijing’s growing leverage could pressure the government into striking a new deal on the dam.

The government recently inked a new deal with another state-owned Chinese company that clears the way for work to resume on the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, a component of President Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative that will give China direct access to the Indian Ocean and boost development in landlocked Yunnan Province.

China and Myanmar on Sunday also signed a memorandum of understanding on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, according to the Global Times. The corridor would connect Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, with Kyaukphyu through Mandalay and Yangon.

A 2017 poll by the Yangon School of Political Science found that 85 percent of people in Myanmar oppose the Myitsone dam.

"All [environmental experts] have suggested the project should be canceled, but we are not sure what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's decision will be," said U Win Myo Thu.

"It doesn't depend on the cabinet. It depends on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We are waiting to see her decision.”

The post Chinese Company Lobbies Locals on Reboot of Suspended Myitsone Dam Project appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

No Guarantee Not to Secede: Ethnic Armed Group Leaders

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 05:14 AM PDT

MON STATE — Ethnic armed groups cannot make a promise never to secede from the Union as Myanmar does not yet have a real democracy or federal union, according to ethnic leaders.

Members of the 10 ethnic armed groups who have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), who make up the group called 'NCA-S EAO', held a four-day meeting in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on Sept. 8 to 11, at which ethnic leaders agreed to revert to their former stance based on the Panglong Agreement with leaders vowing not to undo what the historic leaders, including Gen. Aung San, made written agreements on.

The ethnic leaders in attendance gave several reasons for not being able to guarantee they will not secede from the Union.

"The first reason is that our older leaders made a written agreement. They wrote it with their hands and we will not delete it with our feet. If we do, we won't be able to escape the blame our ethnic people will lay on us," said Nai Hong Sar, vice chairman of the New Mon State Party who attended the NCA-S EAO meeting.

"The second reason is that we have not yet seen what type of rights the government will give our ethnic people, and we don't even know yet what type of federalism the government would establish. Also, the current democracy doesn't appear to be a real one yet, he said.

"If we have to agree whenever the (army) pressures us, our future movements may be restricted. Therefore, we all agreed to take a stand and not give them the promise," he said.

While peace negotiations are ongoing in some respects, they say the Myanmar Army continues to oppress ethnic people in the country, and this has influenced the sentiment among ethnic leaders that they cannot make this commitment to the Myanmar Army.

The Myanmar Army has not allowed discussion on political issues at the peace conferences because the ethnic leaders refuse to make the promise never to secede from the Union and, according to the ethnic leaders, this is why the peace talks are in a deadlock.

Ethnic leaders said that the army should reconsider this restriction because peace negotiations cannot move forward otherwise.

A statement issued by the NCA-S EAO on Sept. 11 said that ethnic leaders and the Myanmar Army need to meet as soon as possible in order to overcome this current deadlock.

Ethnic leaders from the NCA-S EAO also requested a meeting with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss with her how to find a solution to the impasse in the peace process.

The NCA-S EAO has decided to hold an ethnic summit in the future to which they will also invite non-signatories of the NCA. The summit is intended as a forum for discussions on how to build a new Myanmar that has equal rights for ethnic peoples, democracy, and a federal system.

The post No Guarantee Not to Secede: Ethnic Armed Group Leaders appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Home Affairs Ministry Admits Difficulty Fighting Drugs

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 04:24 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — The Home Affairs Ministry admitted that it is weak in controlling the smuggling of illicit drug precursors into the country, said deputy minister Major-General Aung Thu.

"Since it is difficult to fully control the border gates, we can't adequately control the smuggling of precursors into the country. So there are challenges in fighting drugs," the deputy minister told the Upper House of Parliament.

The deputy minister said so in response to the complaint by lawmaker U Tun Tun Oo of Mandalay Constituency (2) that Yaba tablets can now be easily bought across the country.

The ministry has installed since August modern narcotics detection equipment, which can be used to inspect through exhaust pipes, doors, dashboards, tires and other hidden spaces within a vehicle, at inspection gates along the route used to smuggle drugs, said the deputy minister.

Moreover, the ministry is also planning to equip X-ray machines that can scan a whole truck, he added.

"In my question, I urged the ministry to undertake a special anti-narcotics operation. But the deputy minister gave the usual answer. I'm not satisfied with it," lawmaker U Tun Tun Oo told reporters.

He said he would meet the Mandalay regional government and urge it to crack down on drug dealers in the region.

"Despite his [deputy minister's] answer in Parliament, there are a lot of weaknesses on the ground. [Anti-drug efforts] are not encouraging. To be frank, the mice heavily outnumber the cats. In some areas, lawmakers dare not speak out for fear that their families will be hurt then," lawmaker Dr. Khun Thaung Win of Kachin State Constituency (11) told The Irrawaddy.

The ministry said that it seized over 2 trillion kyats worth precursors and other lab equipment smuggled through the border in 27 cases within eight months from January through August.

The invention of compact tablet-making machines and easier access to illicit drug precursors has contributed a lot to the production and supply of Yaba tablets across the country, said U Tun Tun Oo.

Ko Naung Naung Lat, 22, who spent years behind the bars for drug abuse, told The Irrawaddy: "I experimented with drugs, and became addicted. Later, I found myself ready to do anything, good or bad, to get money.

According to the 2017 report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Myanmar's poppy plantations declined from 55,500 hectares in 2015 to 41,000 hectares in 2017. Similarly, opium production declined from 647 metric tons in 2015 to 550 metric tons in 2017.

In May, the President's Office created an anti-drug department and incentivized the public to participate in the fight against drug production and dealing.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Public-led Meeting on Mandalay’s Crime Crisis Forced to be Postponed

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 03:19 AM PDT

MANDALAY — A meeting to discuss Mandalay's public security affairs, which was planned to be held on Thursday, was forced to be postponed because permission from local authorities had not been granted on time.

The discussion, organized by local civil society groups and elders of Mandalay, was to be about how the public would take a role in security matters of the city.

"The local authorities asked us to apply for permission and we submitted the permission [application], however, we did not receive any reply regarding the permission to hold the event so we have to postpone it," said U Tin Ko Ko Oo, one of the organizers.

Organizers said the application for permission was submitted on Tuesday to Chan Aye Tharsan Township administration office, Mandalay's district administration office and Mandalay's regional administration office, but no reply has yet been received from officials.

"Since the authorities asked us to seek permission, we do not want to hold the meeting without it in order to avoid any confrontation with the local authorities, we decided to postpone the event until we receive the permission," U Tin Ko Ko Oo said.

An increase in crime and robberies around Mandalay, especially in late evenings, have caused locals and travelers to feel threatened and this is what motivated the local CSOs to organize the meeting.

The aim of the meeting is to find out how the public and CSOs could work to decrease the crime rates and reduce public fear.

"Our ambition is to find a way to educate the public on safety measures and how they can help the security personnel, police and victims if they witness a crime," explained U Tin Ko Ko Oo.

"We are not going to push the authorities or put the blame on them, however, we suspect that because the local authorities do not want us to interfere with their job, they dare not give us permission for our discussion," he added.

In recent weeks, Mandalay has seen a wave of deadly incidents in which robbers used guns, swords and daggers to rob the victims' motorcycles, mobile phones and money. The incidents have evoked fear in the locals and discourage them from going out alone in the late evening.

Some local CSOs and individuals have taken it upon themselves to form small groups to patrol their respective areas at night and one such group has been able to arrest a couple of robbers and hand them over to the police.

Starting this week, the chief minister of Mandalay Region and the divisional police chief have begun leading a patrol of about 300 police every night, covering every corner of the city and crime rates are said to have significantly dropped already.

"The news of the robberies has affected us in many ways, especially psychologically, and we are afraid when night falls and we feel unsafe. The buzzing Mandalay nights have gone because of this fear and Mandalay is not the same the city," said U Nyi Pu Lay, the famed author and an elder of Mandalay.

"We are here to give our opinions on how can we help or how can we participate to revive the safety of Mandalay, but we are speechless that there is still no permission for holding the meeting," he added.

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Myanmar Army Raids Home, Detains Alleged Arakan Army Insurgents

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 02:25 AM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar Army soldiers reportedly raided a house in Kachin State's Hpakant on Tuesday and detained three men they claimed were insurgents extorting money for the Arakan Army.

The raid happened at a house in the village of Ah Hmike Pon Gone in Hpakant around 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

The village was formerly a dumpsite for mining waste but later prospectors came and resided there.  About 1,000 prospectors from Rakhine State currently live there.

"People in plain clothes arrived around 10 a.m. in three cars and shot at the house. And they also dragged a few people into the cars. A few Arakanese people were abducted. I don't know if they were dead or alive. For the time being, the house has been blockaded by soldiers," said an Arakanese eyewitness who did not want to be named.

"Only Arakanese people live here. We are quite shocked by the shooting. People are in a state of panic. They do nothing wrong and only search for stones. They are worried that they will also be shot," he added.

The raided house. / Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Office

Other prospectors living in the ward also said on the condition of anonymity that they did not know the reason behind Tuesday's shooting, that the shooters were in plain clothes, and that a complaint had not been filed with the police because the abducted Arakanese youth were single and without family members in the area.

According to the local ward administrators and community elders, there are more than 200,000 prospectors in Hpakant from across the country.

When asked about the incident by The Irrawaddy, the Hpakant Township police force said to ask the Myanmar Army, also known as the Tatmadaw.

In a statement, the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services said that security forces searched the mines in response to news that extortion money was being collected from prospectors. Near a pile of waste close to the ward of Maw Wun, insurgents shot four times with small arms. The Tatmadaw returned fire. Four fled and three were arrested, according to the statement.

The Tatmadaw, in its statement, referred to them as Arakan Army (AA) insurgents.

The statement said that the three detainees are San Shwe Tha from Pauktaw Township, and Than Naing and Win Soe from Minbya Township, adding that the three were responsible for collecting extortion money that they handed to their group leader Hla Thein.

Tatmadaw troops are after four men including Hla Thein who fled, and will increase security to prevent insurgents from collecting extortion money in Hpakant, its statement said.

"It is an accusation," said press officer Khine Thu Kha of the AA, adding that the three are not AA members.

"Hpakant is not a place under the control of the AA, but under the Myanmar Army. They treat all Arakanese as AA members, and [the shooting and abduction] is the bullying of Arakanese youth who earn an honest livelihood."

"Shooting at a house without any warrant is not what a government is supposed to do. It is an act of scoundrels. To put it in other words, it is a war crime against citizens," said Khine Thu Kha.

Dashi La Seng, a Kachin State lawmaker representing Hpakant Township, said that he does not know details about the shooting.

According to the Constitution, Hpakant is under the direct control of the Union government while the Myanmar Army provides security for the town. There are nine battalions in Hpakant and the Tatmadaw is solely responsible for security of the area, the lawmaker said.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Lawyer of Former Malaysian PM Najib Charged with Money Laundering

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 01:42 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR — The lawyer of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was charged with money laundering on Thursday by anti-graft agents looking into how billions of dollars went missing from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Muhammad Shafee is leading a defense team for Najib who faces charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power at SRC International, a former 1MDB unit. Najib has denied any wrongdoing.

In charges read out at a court in Kuala Lumpur, Shafee was accused of money laundering for allegedly receiving proceeds totaling 9.5 million ringgit ($2.29 million) from illegal activities through checks issued by Najib.

The charges were brought by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which is investigating alleged fraud and misappropriation at 1MDB, a fund founded by Najib.

1MDB is at the center of money-laundering probes in at least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore. A total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to the US Department of Justice.

Malaysia reopened the probe into 1MDB after Najib, who chaired the fund’s advisory board, was defeated by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in a stunning election win in May.

Najib has pleaded not guilty to abuse of power and other charges arising the 1MDB investigation.

Mahathir has vowed to punish people responsible for the 1MDB scandal and also to get back all the misappropriated funds.

Singapore returned 1MDB funds worth $11.1 million to Malaysia last week, Malaysia also got back a $250 million superyacht.

Malaysia’s Finance Minister said on Thursday that recovery of the 1MDB assets was going much slower than expected.

Malaysia “will be lucky if we get 30 percent back” from the 1MDB funds, Lim Guan Eng told a group of reporters at the CLSA Investors’ Forum in Hong Kong.

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Defends Court Decision to Jail Reuters Journalists

Posted: 13 Sep 2018 01:36 AM PDT

HANOI — Myanmar government leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday said two jailed Reuters journalists can appeal their seven-year sentence, and that their jailing had nothing to do with freedom of expression.

Asked how she felt about jailing journalists as a democratic leader, Suu Kyi said: “They were not jailed because they were journalists, they were jailed because…the court has decided that they have broken the Official Secrets Act.”

She made her comments at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi in response to a question from the forum moderator who asked whether she felt comfortable about the reporters being jailed.

The journalists, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were found guilty on official secrets charges and sentenced earlier this month in a landmark case seen as a test of progress towards democracy in Myanmar.

Their imprisonment has prompted an international outpouring of support, including a call for their release by US Vice President Mike Pence. The journalists were investigating the killing of Rohingya villagers by security forces at the time of their arrest last December, and had pleaded not guilty.

“I wonder whether very many people have actually read the summary of the judgment which had nothing to do with freedom of expression at all, it had to do with an Official Secrets Act,” Suu Kyi said.

“If we believe in the rule of law, they have every right to appeal the judgment and to point out why the judgment was wrong.”

When asked to comment on Pence’s call to release the journalists, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi responded by asking if the critics felt there had been a miscarriage of justice.

“The case has been held in open court and all the hearings have been open to everybody who wished to go and attend them and if anybody feels there has been a miscarriage of justice I would like them to point it out,” she said.

The guilty verdicts of the two Reuters reporters on Sept. 3 have sharply divided public opinion in Myanmar. On Wednesday Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were honored by a foundation set up by the late Win Tin, one of the country's most prominent political prisoners and a close ally of a Suu Kyi. In granting the prestigious award, the foundation said it would oppose their convictions and demand their release.

Zaw Htay, spokesman for the office of Myanmar’s president, was not immediately available to comment on Suu Kyi’s remarks.

Earlier on Thursday, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at the same WEF session said in hindsight her government could have handled the situation in Rakhine State better.

“There are of course ways in which we, with hindsight, might think that the situation could have been handled better,” she said. “But we believe that for the sake of long-term stability and security we have to be fair to all sides…We cannot choose and pick who should be protected by the rule of law.”

Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Rakhine after government troops led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base in August 2017.

UN investigators last month said Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with “genocidal intent”, and that the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under international law.

Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities, saying its military carried out justifiable actions against militants.

The post Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Defends Court Decision to Jail Reuters Journalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Bangladesh Says it Won’t Assimilate Rohingya Muslims

Posted: 12 Sep 2018 10:04 PM PDT

HANOI — Bangladesh has no plans to take in hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees permanently, its foreign secretary said on Wednesday, adding that they “belong” to Myanmar, from where they fled.

Some 700,000 Rohingya refugees crossed from the west of mostly Buddhist Myanmar into Bangladesh from August last year, according to UN agencies, when Rohingya insurgent attacks on Myanmar security forces triggered a sweeping military response.

Bangladesh and Myanmar reached a deal in November to begin repatriation within two months, but it has not started, with stateless Rohingya still crossing the border.

“We are not thinking of assimilating them in Bangladesh. They belong to Myanmar,” Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi.

He also called on developed countries to take in more Rohingya on a humanitarian basis.

The Rohingya would stay in refugee camps until they return to Myanmar or are resettled in other countries, Haque said.

UN investigators last month said Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with “genocidal intent,” and that the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under international law.

Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities, saying its military carried out justifiable actions against militants.

It has built transit centers for refugees to return, but UN aid agencies say it is not yet safe for them to do so.

The Rohingya in Bangladesh are housed in camps in Cox’s Bazar. With a delay in the repatriation plan, Bangladesh has been preparing new homes on a remote island called Bhasan Char, which rights groups have said could be subject to flooding.

Haque told Reuters the island could be ready within months for the Rohingya to move in, adding that the plan to house the Rohingya there was only temporary.

Bangladesh’s prime minister this month urged the global community to increase pressure on Myanmar to ensure the repatriation of the Rohingya.

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Analysis: In Quake-Prone Japan, Attention Shifts to Flood Risks as Heavy Rains Increase

Posted: 12 Sep 2018 09:58 PM PDT

TOKYO — Japanese have long been conditioned to prepare for earthquakes, but recent powerful typhoons and sudden, heavy rains have brought to the forefront another kind of disaster: flooding.

Experts warn that thousands could die and as many as 5 million people would need to be evacuated if massive dikes and levees in low-lying eastern Tokyo are overwhelmed by surging floodwaters.

The cities of Osaka and Nagoya also face flood risks, experts say, amid an increase in sudden heavy rainfall across the country in recent years, a symptom linked to global warming.

“Japan’s major metropolitan areas are, in a way, in a state of national crisis,” said Toshitaka Katada, a professor of disaster engineering at the University of Tokyo.

In July, parts of western Japan were deluged with more than 1,000 millimeters (39 inches) of torrential rain. Gushing water broke levees and landslides destroyed houses, killing more than 200 people in the country’s worst weather disaster in 36 years.

“If this happened to Tokyo, the city would suffer catastrophic damage,” said Nobuyuki Tsuchiya, director of the Japan Riverfront Research Center and author of the book “Capital Submerged,” which urges steps to protect the city, which will host the 2020 Olympics and Rugby World Cup games next year.

Particularly vulnerable are the 1.5 million people who live below sea level in Tokyo, near the Arakawa River, which runs through the eastern part of the city.

In June, the Japan Society of Civil Engineers estimated that massive flooding in the area would kill more than 2,000 people and cause 62 trillion yen ($550 billion) in damage.

Experts could not say how likely that scenario was. But in recent years, the government has bolstered the city’s water defenses by building dams, reservoirs and levees.

But the pace of construction is too slow, said Satoshi Fujii, a special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is known for pushing big infrastructure projects.

“They need to be taken care of as soon as possible,” he told Reuters.

John Coates, chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s coordination commission for the Tokyo 2020 Games, said the city should “take into account the potential for some of these disasters that seem to beset your country.”

In tacit acknowledgement that more needs to be done, the transport ministry late last month asked the finance ministry for 527 billion yen for levee reinforcement and evacuation preparation in next year’s budget. That’s a third more than the current year.

Surrounded by Water

Tokyo was last hit by major flooding in 1947, when Typhoon Kathleen inundated large swaths of the city and killed more than 1,000 people across Japan.

A survivor from that disaster, 82-year-old Eikyu Nakagawa, recalled living on the roof of his one-story house with his father for three weeks, surrounded by water. He remembered a pregnant woman who had taken refuge in a two-story house next door.

“The baby could come any minute, but we could not bring a midwife to her or take her to a doctor,” he said. “I was just a kid, but I lost sleep worrying that she might die.”

A similar disaster today would be much worse, Nakagawa predicted, because the area around his house in Tokyo’s eastern Katsushika ward, once surrounded by rice paddies, is now packed with buildings. “It’s going to be terrible,” he said. “Now it’s so crowded with houses. Little can be done if water comes.” Intense rainfall is on the upswing across Japan. Downpours of more than 80 millimeters in an hour happened 18 times a year on average over the 10 years through 2017, up from 11 times between 1976-85.

Warming global temperatures contribute to these bouts of extreme weather, scientists say.

“Higher ocean temperatures cause more moisture to get sucked up into the air,” said University of Tokyo’s Katada. “That means a very large amount of rain falling at once, and typhoons are more likely to grow stronger.”

Just last week, western Japan was battered by Typhoon Jebi, the strongest typhoon to make landfall in 25 years, which killed at least 13 people and inundating the region’s biggest international airport.

Evacuation Nightmare

In late August, five low-lying wards in Tokyo jointly unveiled hazard maps outlining areas at high risk of flooding, and warned that up to 2.5 million residents may need to evacuate in case of a major disaster.

The maps, which will be available to residents online and via hard copy, show how deep floodwater would likely be for each area, and how long each area would remain underwater.

But such maps were largely ignored during the deadly flooding in western Japan in July.

If a disaster hits during weekday working hours, the number of evacuees could swell to 5 million, including those from neighboring wards, says Tsuchiya – a logistical nightmare. Tokyo prefecture has grown to 14 million people, with millions more in surrounding areas.

Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has called for a new ministry that would focus on disaster prevention and recovery. Currently that is overseen by the Cabinet Office, which handles other disparate tasks such as laying out basic fiscal policy and nurturing technological innovation.

Companies also are waking up to the danger of floods, said Tomohisa Sashida, senior principal consultant at Tokio Marine & Nichido Risk Consulting.

“We have been often approached for quake-related business continuity plans.” he said. “But now they realize they need to keep flood risks in mind and flood-related consultations are certainly on the rise.”

The post Analysis: In Quake-Prone Japan, Attention Shifts to Flood Risks as Heavy Rains Increase appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Cambodia Leader Tells World to Stay Out of Indochina Politics

Posted: 12 Sep 2018 09:43 PM PDT

HANOI — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday that countries outside Indochina are too critical of politics in the region and that it should be left to solve its own problems.

In a speech alongside other regional leaders, Hun Sen pointed to the international condemnation of his country’s recent election, which was seen by many as a farce after the main opposition party was dissolved. He also cited the international outcry over the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

“Countries which are outside of the region always slap our heads and tell us what to do,” Hun Sen said at a panel discussion with leaders from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi.

“I raised this issue not as a message for any particular country, but I would like to say that these Mekong countries are the political victims, so I request outsiders of the region who don’t know about the issues to let us solve our problems.”

Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party won all 125 parliamentary seats in a July general election, which the United Nations and some Western countries have said was flawed because of the lack of a credible opposition among other factors.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved late last year ahead of the election.

Hun Sen also said Myanmar, whose military has been accused by the United Nations of carrying out mass killings and gang rape on Rohingya Muslims with “genocidal intent,” was misunderstood.

Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities, saying its military carried out justifiable actions against militants.

“It’s accused of genocide, but do you all understand about Myanmar? Do you know about Myanmar? They have to solve a lot of challenging issues in relation with security,” Hun Sen said.

The post Cambodia Leader Tells World to Stay Out of Indochina Politics appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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