Friday, October 19, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Alibaba Affiliate Announces Huge Online Sale Next Month in Myanmar

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 08:17 AM PDT

YANGON—Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba officially announced what it called the "world's biggest sale" to be held in Myanmar on Nov. 11, but the government is unlikely to earn a penny in taxes from the event under current laws.

As the European Union considers trade sanctions against Myanmar over the 2017 northern Rakhine crisis, Alibaba's move highlights the starkly different views held by Asian and Western businesses regarding Myanmar's potential, but also raises questions about whether the country is ready for large-scale online retail, given the total lack of regulatory and tax frameworks for e-commerce here.

In May, Alibaba Group bought Daraz and SHOP.com became a proxy business for Alibaba, operating its platform under a different name. To announce its first project, "11.11 The World's Biggest Sale Day", which the company bills as the biggest online shopping event customers in Myanmar have ever seen, SHOP.com held a press conference in Yangon on Friday afternoon. The organizer invited popular young entertainers including singer Eaint Chit to perform.

Internet penetration in Myanmar has grown rapidly in recent years—Facebook alone has some 18 million users in the country—making it an attractive e-commerce market for Alibaba Group. However, the majority of Myanmar's population is not yet familiar with online shopping or card payment systems.

Norine Yune, SHOP's manager for campaign ops and merchandising in Myanmar, said in her opening remarks that the move by Alibaba is aimed at raising awareness about e-commerce among Myanmar citizens. She said Alibaba aimed to become the most trusted online shopping platform for both buyers and sellers through its deployment of the latest world-class technologies.

According to Yune, the SHOP.com website and its apps were upgraded in late September to include personalization features and data privacy protection. The platform provides separate apps for sellers and buyers. Moreover, in the initial promotion period, SHOP.com will offer zero commission for sellers.

“Everyone can sell their products via our platform. We welcome every young entrepreneur,” Yune said.

Despite the launch of such a huge e-commerce platform in Myanmar, the National League for Democracy-led government has not yet enacted any e-commerce regulatory framework, including taxation regulations. Ryan Clements, managing director of SHOP, told The Irrawaddy that the government would not see any revenue from e-commerce businesses, as there is no specific regulations on e-commerce yet.

“What I think is more relevant from a regulation standpoint is the role of governing how online trading should happen. For instance, we are very much in favor of having more regulations about helping people online and making people safer… So there are a couple of things—like data protection and fraud prevention online…. We also want to create a safe kind of environment for people to transact [money]," Clements said.

Nov. 11, designated the "World's Biggest Sale Day" by the company, is a huge promotion day for Alibaba. The company earned $5.8 billion on the day in 2013, $9.3 bilion in 2014 and $14.3 billion in 2015. Last year, it earned a record $25.4 billion.

The post Alibaba Affiliate Announces Huge Online Sale Next Month in Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

West’s Call for Sanctions Is ‘Utter Nonsense’: Japanese Ambassador

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 06:46 AM PDT

YANGON—Japan is completely opposed to efforts by some countries to impose trade sanctions against Myanmar over the Rohingya issue, believing such a move would seriously hurt ordinary people while doing nothing to resolve the crisis, the Japanese ambassador to Myanmar said.

Myanmar has come under mounting international criticism since last year, when nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh to escape the military's security clearance operation in northern Rakhine State. The clearance operation was triggered by a series of attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on security outposts in the area. The government has denounced ARSA as terrorist group.

Since the exodus, Western countries have called for action against the Myanmar government and military, including trade sanctions and the referral of senior military leaders to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In the meantime, the European Union is considering withdrawal of the trade preferences it extends to Myanmar under the "everything but arms" (EBA) scheme. If that happens, rights groups point out, more than 400,000 Myanmar people, most of them female garment workers, would be in serious danger of losing their livelihoods.

Dismissing the campaign as "utter nonsense", Ambassador Ichiro Maruyama told The Irrawaddy in an exclusive interview that imposing trade sanctions would destabilize Myanmar both economically and politically, with workers bearing the brunt of the impact.

"Frankly speaking, Japan totally disagrees with other countries that are considering clamping a trade embargo against Myanmar," he said.

If the EU's trade preferences are ended, the ambassador feared it would be workers who will pay the price.

"If imposing sanctions was the only way to solve the Rakhine issue, we would join the bandwagon," he said. However, Tokyo's view is that such a drastic response will only "fuel the situation."

Maruyama stressed that the international community, including Japan, has a common goal to help Myanmar's democratic transition succeed. However, there are differing views about which policy will best achieve that goal.

With Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi struggling with international criticism over what many in the West see as her insufficient response to crimes committed against the Rohingya, Japan is playing a mediator role in the repatriation process and is working closely with Naypyitaw to solve the problems in Rakhine State.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has visited Myanmar twice this year; his trips have focused on discussions of the resettlement of Rohingya and humanitarian aid to Rakhine State.

In January, Tokyo extended Emergency Grant Aid of 330 million yen (USD3 million) to Myanmar to assist displaced persons returning from Bangladesh.

Japanese investment in Myanmar peaked at USD1.48 billion in 2017. This year, it is the 10th-largest foreign investor in the country.

"We believe it's very important for Myanmar, which now has a democratically elected government after more than 50 years, to solve the issues it faces. We engage with Myanmar based on this belief," Maruyama said.

Apart from trade sanctions, Myanmar's military has come under international pressure for its handling of the Rohingya situation. A UN Fact Finding Mission (FFM) recommended that military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his subordinates be referred to the ICC for ethnic cleansing and acting with "genocidal intent" against the Rohingya. Last month, the UN Human Rights Council voted to set up a body to prepare evidence for use in any future prosecution brought by the ICC.

The ambassador expressed concern about such calls for Myanmar's military leadership to be referred to the ICC, saying they could derail efforts to resolve the Rakhine issue.

"To settle the case, it could only be possible when there is a collaboration between the NLD-led government and the military, he said, referring to Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy.

The ambassador emphasized the complexity of the Rakhine issue, pointing out the sharp divide between international and local opinions on the issue—a major departure from the past, when the local and international communities stood on same side against the military regime.

Given this complexity, Maruyama said, there was no quick fix for the issue. Therefore, if the Myanmar government attempts to patiently solve the problem, Japan will support it as best it can while listening to the people's voices, he said.

"We will try to help organizations like the UN and the international community understand the government's voice, because only doing so can [gradually] bring positive outcomes… We believe so."

The post West's Call for Sanctions Is 'Utter Nonsense': Japanese Ambassador appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Naked Truth: Exhibition of Paintings, Photos Explores the Human Form

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 05:55 AM PDT

YANGON—Harn Lay is best known for his satirical cartoons about Myanmar's former dictatorship. For decades, he used cartoons as a medium to defy the military regime.

But the works by Harn Lay showcased in his latest joint art exhibition tackle a theme seemingly free from politics, yet in its own way still taboo in Myanmar society—the naked human form.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

"Our works are all about aesthetic appreciation, and nothing to do with sex. Seeing a pig doesn't make you hungry for pork, does it? [The paintings] are about human anatomy," said the artist, a 1985 graduate of the Yangon State School of Fine Arts.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

Alongside Harn Lay's nude paintings, photographs of nudes by Shan ethnic photographer Sai Kyaw Khaing are also on display in the "Figure" exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

"I create contrast and visual mass using my favorite colors—black and white," Sai Kyaw Khaing said.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

Harn Lay, who is also ethnic Shan, creates nudes in multiple genres—some are rendered in a realist style, while others are more modernist.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

Showing one of his paintings with thick layers of paint, he said he is comfortable painting in that way, as he used to create film posters, which also make use of similarly thick layers of paint. Harn Lay is also a sculptor.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

The heavy contrast of light and shadow in Sai Kyaw Khaing's photographs bring out the edges and curves of the models in a fascinating way.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

The exhibition, which runs through Tuesday, features over 20 paintings and photos, which are available at prices between USD200 and 500.

Some of the paintings by Harn Lay and photographs by Sai Kyaw Khaing currently on display at the “Figure” exhibition at the Moon Art Gallery on 35th Street in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.

Harn Lay has previously exhibited his work in Thailand. Sai Kyaw Khaing holds an advanced diploma in photography from an Australian university.

"Art was censored back in the dark era," said illustrator Myo Myint, referring to the military regime. "I'm really glad that an exhibition devoted exclusively to works depicting nudes can be held. This is about artistic creation, not the arousal of sexual desire," he said.

The post The Naked Truth: Exhibition of Paintings, Photos Explores the Human Form appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Gov’t Looks East to Revive Flagging Foreign Investment

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 05:44 AM PDT

YANGON—Looking to arrest a two-year decline in foreign investment, the government plans to hold a summit targeting investors from East Asia before the end of the year, a senior economic official said.

"We are open to all countries are who eager to invest in Myanmar. But our main focus this time is East Asian countries," U Than Aung Kyaw, deputy director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), told The Irrawaddy.

The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) expect to hold the summit in December, according to DICA.

"Our investment policy has turned to the East," U Than Aung Kyaw said. Among the East Asian countries and regions Myanmar is wooing are China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and South Korea—some of which are already among the largest investors in the country.

U Than Aung Kyaw said Myanmar's ASEAN neighbors offer a model for the policy, as many of the bloc's member countries now source most of their foreign investment from East Asia, rather than the West. "Most ASEAN countries receive more investment from the East. That's why we expect more from them," he said.

However, he added, "We welcome Western [countries] if they want to come."

Myanmar Investment Commission chairman U Thaung Tun, left, and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam meet during the 23rd Macao International Trade and Investment Fair in Macao on Oct. 16, 2018. / DICA / Facebook

Recently, the EU Trade Commissioner threatened to withdraw trade preferences from Myanmar due to human rights violation in Rakhine State. Experts have warned that the move could leave more than 400,000 garment workers without jobs.

Under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the government has launched several major efforts at economic reform, including the Myanmar Companies Law, which offers privileges to foreign investors and has made business regulations more efficient and effective. Despite these initiatives, however, the country has been mired in a chronic economic slowdown since 2016.

A UMFCCI survey for the second half of this year showed that all economic sectors are in a downturn. Foreign direct investment in Myanmar declined significantly to USD6.6 billion in fiscal 2016-17 from USD9.5 billion in 2015-16 as Western investors were turned off by damage done to the country's image by the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State.

Last week, the MIC launched the Myanmar Investment Promotion Plan (MIPP), a major initiative that aims to attract more than USD200 billion in investment from responsible and quality businesses over the next 20 years.

MIPP projects are expected to receive USD8.5 billion from fiscal 2021-22 to 2025-26; USD12.3 billion from 2026-27 to 2030-31; and USD17.6 billion from 2031-32 to 2035-36.

According to MIPP, the government aims to raise Myanmar's ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index to within the top 100 by 2020. Myanmar ranked 171st this year. Looking at some of the country's ASEAN neighbors, Laos ranked 141st, the Philippines 113th, and Cambodia 135th.

The MIC has engaged numerous East Asian countries with its investment promotion activities, including Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, according to DICA.

Directorate of Investment and Company Administration director general U Aung Naing Oo (holding microphone) appears on the panel at a Myanmar investment promotion luncheon. / DICA / Facebook

"We are doing investment promotion activities [with East Asian countries] in a rapid sequence. We plan to go to China soon," U Than Aung Kyaw said.  

In September, the MIC also held a meeting with the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Myanmar with the aim of attracting more investment from the country.

On Tuesday, an MIC team organized investment promotion activities in Hong Kong, at which MIC president U Thaung Tun explained Myanmar's current economic reforms, the Companies Law and various investment opportunities to the Hong Kong business community.

U Thaung Tun met with Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam to seek investment in Myanmar's tourism sector, and also to get support for infrastructure management, vocational training and capacity training from the Chinese Special Administrative Region.

Meanwhile, U Thaung Tun and DICA director general U Aung Naing Oo are attending the 23rd Macao International Trade and Investment Fair in the Chinese enclave.

According to DICA, China is the largest investor in Myanmar among East Asian countries, while Hong Kong is ranked at No. 4. In fiscal 2018-19 fiscal year (August-October) the Yangon Investment Commission approved 75 projects in the industrial, hotel and service sectors by investors from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Vietnam.  

The post Gov't Looks East to Revive Flagging Foreign Investment appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UK Wants Accountability for Crimes Committed in Rakhine State

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 05:36 AM PDT

YANGON–After a trip to the refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border in the second week of October, the United Kingdom's ambassador to Myanmar Daniel Chugg spoke about his experiences there, Myanmar-UK relations, the UK's policy on Myanmar and his views on the ICC referral in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Here are excerpts from the interview.

As the new ambassador posted in here since May, how do you find Myanmar? 

Myanmar has a lot of problems and is facing a lot of challenges. These are not easy challenges and lots of them have roots which are decades old, so quick solutions and quick fixes are not going to solve these problems. It's difficult.

The UK wants to be a friend of Myanmar and the Myanmar people and we want to be as helpful and supportive as we can. Part of my job is to try work out how we can do that while at the same time upholding our own principles.

Though I haven't been to Kachin State yet, I plan to go there in a couple of weeks.

I have been to Rakhine State a couple of times. One trip with the UK's foreign secretary was very much a government-arranged trip and we did not get to see very much. But when I went there a couple of weeks before that trip to look at some of the DFID projects, which are both in Sittwe and northern Rakhine, it was a lot more interesting. I got to see Rakhine and Muslim villagers and to talk to people and see some of the projects that DFID is doing there—mainly distributing food aid and seed bags to some of the poor villagers.

As the UK has been active in joining actions being taken against the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, regarding the Rakhine State issue, how does it affect your relationship with the military as well as the government? 

We used to have some engagement with senior military people but that stopped at the end of last year as a result of what happened in Rakhine. As you know, it is difficult to separate the military from the government because the military is part of the government.

What we are keen to see happening is for those people who are guilty of terrible crimes to be brought to justice. It is also important for the rule of law and accountability in Myanmar as a whole because it sends a message that in the future you cannot just get away with doing anything you want with impunity. We are not targeting the whole of the system in our actions. What we want to see is those people who are guilty of the crimes brought to account.

The UN fact-finding mission report talked about crimes, not just in Rakhine State, but in Kachin and Shan states as well. While on this trip this week, I was talking to people from Karen groups and Karenni groups and they talked about how similar things happened to their communities in the past as well. What we see here is a culture within the Tatmadaw of terrible crimes being committed by some people, but those people not being held accountable.

So yes, the UK is keen, as part of the international community, to try and help the system here so it can stop those things happening because it will be very difficult for Myanmar, in our opinion, to have a democratic, sustainable and peaceful future if these kinds of crimes continue to be committed with impunity.

Was your trip focused on assessing the refugee situation at the Thai-Myanmar border only? 

It has also been an opportunity to talk about the peace process with some of the parties and some of the signatories and non-signatories. It has been an opportunity for me to learn a lot about their issues and what is happening at the moment, both in terms of the IDPs and refugees but also some people's thoughts on the peace process.

From your meeting with the commander-in-chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing do you think the Tatmadaw is genuine about trying to change and improve themselves from the previous decades as they claim they are doing?

I think the military is keen to become a more professional army. They had been doing some professional training to get experience and expertise from modern professional armies. I think that is one of their objectives.

But of course with what's happened in Rakhine, the Tatmadaw is going to find that much more difficult because the professional armies around the world will not want to train or engage with them. So if it was their objective to become a more professional army, I think they have undermined their own objective through what happened in Rakhine.

Isn't it best to work directly with the Tatmadaw if you want something to change in society? The UK stopped military-to-military engagement last year.  Doesn't that affect the UK's efforts in helping the Tatmadaw to understand the processes of a good and professional army?

Undoubtedly, I think if they want to become a professional, modern military, they need to engage with other professional, modern militaries. They need to learn how other militaries do things; their techniques, tactics, strategies and equipment. If they don't have opportunities to learn from them, it will be much more difficult for them to modernize.

I think that conflict has been going on in Myanmar for so long and this is partly because the military tactics are not working. Yet they are still using the same tactics—the idea of the four cuts—that they have been using for a very long time. I think most people recognize that if you do something over and over and it still doesn't work, you need to make changes to what you're doing. They do the same thing over again and what we saw in Rakhine is the same thing they have been doing elsewhere for a long time, using the same tactics of burning and murdering and raping and terrorizing entire villages. We know it doesn't work and they know it doesn't work, but they don't really know what else they can do.

Have any of the UK government's policy on Myanmar changed because of the Rakhine issue?

I wouldn't exactly say it has changed but it has made it more difficult and complicated. For 30 years our policy on Burma has been to support democracy and freedom of expression and to support the people who are the most vulnerable, really. That policy continues. But because of what happened in Rakhine, it has become more complicated and difficult to do that, because we can't be supporting the Tatmadaw in any way, any longer. Some parts of the [UK] government disagree with the policy which has been implemented and feel maybe not enough is being done. So we want to continue to support the government and the state counselor but it has just become a much more complex situation.

We continue to give a lot of aid to Myanmar. Last year we gave $200 million in development and humanitarian assistance. That makes us the second largest bilateral donor after Japan.

Does that money include funding the cross-border aid or is it only for peace and development projects in Myanmar? 

That [money] would also include the money that is spent in the camps on the border and peace support [through the Joint Peace Fund]. That is everything we spend. We will use a similar amount this year as well. A lot of that money goes into big programs like LIFT (Livelihood and Food Trust) which we fund more than 50 percent of, and 3MDG, which is all about health, and we fund more than 50 percent of that.

A lot of this money is spent on working with the government to support their policies. We're not throwing money around, we are really trying to support Myanmar's government. We want to continue doing that and we will but it does make it more complicated when there are things happening which we are feeling very unhappy about. If we are happy with what's happening here, we can easily continue supporting.

When the UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt visited last month, he was denied a meeting with the army chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. What do you think was the reason for that?

We are not sure. There was a lot of confusion in advance about whether we would have the meeting or not. At the last moment, we were told the meeting was not going to happen. The commander-in-chief is under a lot of pressure. There are all sorts of damning reports written about his military and he is responsible for them so I'm not surprised if he doesn't want to meet foreign visitors who are going to give him a hard time.

The foreign secretary made clear what he would have said to the commander-in-chief had they met. He would have said to the commander-in-chief that terrible things have been done by his soldiers. He was going to ask him what he is going to do to make sure his soldiers don't do terrible things in the future and to make sure those who have done terrible things are held properly accountable for those crimes so that justice can be brought about for the victims.

The UK's foreign secretary was at the UN general assembly a couple of weeks ago. He was certainly talking to his foreign colleagues in the UN asking about their views and opinions on the Security Council's [referring of Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to the International Criminal Court (ICC)] and that there are other mechanisms that could be used to hold people to account.

I should emphasize that the ICC is a court of last resort. It only sits when [a country] doesn't have any kind of domestic accountability process. Actually, if the government in Myanmar were to set up an accountability process that people around the world thought was credible and going to bring justice to the victims, then the ICC would refuse to look at the [Myanmar] case anyway.

The government has repeatedly said Myanmar is taking responsibility to investigate the alleged crimes against humanity by the Tatmadaw. The government spokesman even said there is no need for the ICC to do that because the government does not deny anything, and is actually looking into it themselves. Myanmar is not an ICC signatory, so is it really effective to put pressure on the government through this ICC approach? 

[Myanmar's own investigation] process has to be credible. If the ICC thinks it's credible, then it will say "we can't [investigate] Myanmar as they've got a credible process themselves." If the ICC finds an investigation process to be not really credible because the [investigators] are not independent and they are not using international standards for gathering evidence, the courts are not independent and there is no conceivable way that the Tatmadaw will be brought to justice because the constitution prevents members of the military from being tried in civilian court. Then they will investigate Myanmar. So the issue for the Myanmar government is not whether they have an investigation process, it's whether the process is credible.

The government tries to include foreign experts in their advisory boards and investigation commission. Does that mean it's still true that the commission and advisory board are not credible? 

Part of the problem is we don't really know what the terms of reference are for the Commission of Enquiry. It was very unhelpful that the chairperson of the Commission of Enquiry said that there will be no finger pointing and no making people accountable because that rather undermines her own position. It is a little bit peculiar that they got Professor [Aung Tun Thet] on the Commission of Enquiry, given that he's got another role in the UEHRD (Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine).

Why does the UK play an active role in pressuring the Myanmar government and military over the Rohingya issue? 

I would say there are a couple of reasons. One is that the UK is what's called, "the pen-holder" in the United Nations. That means when Myanmar is discussed in the UN, it is the UK which is responsible for drafting papers or resolutions, because different countries "hold the pen" for different portfolios. It is our international responsibility in the UN to be chairing these meetings and discussions on Myanmar. That is one thing.

Another aspect is that we are strongly in favor of people being held accountable for terrible crimes, because over the last many decades, our experience is that when terrible things happen, there needs to be a process to deal with those things. The accountability could come in different ways, it doesn't necessarily need to be a court case and putting people in prison.

In South Africa they had a truth and reconciliation process which didn't find a lot of people guilty or put lots of people in prison. But it is a way for the crimes to be recognized and justice to be brought about for the victims of these crimes and it created a culture and condition for people to move on. That is really important for the society. I think in Myanmar, where there is the first newly-elected democratic government in such a long time, it's really important that you don't have democracy on one hand and crimes against humanity on the other. That really undermines the democratically elected government. It really makes life very difficult for the state counselor. Those are the two reasons why the UK supports pressuring the government.

There are concerns inside Myanmar that harsh international pressure on the Tatmadaw could be counter-productive, that it could encourage the military to stay in power and will be an obstacle in national reconciliation. What is your take?

These are very, very complicated issues and it's certainly true that international actions and criticism could have unintended consequences. That is something that we are very aware of and why we think very hard about what we do and why we do it and the implications those actions might have. We don't want to do anything that undermines the peace process, the state counselor or democracy.

But at the same time, terrible crimes are being committed and they have been committed in Rakhine and they have been committed by the Tatmadaw. We know that not just the Tatmadaw, but other people have done terrible things as well.

But it is the Tatmadaw's actions that have led 700,000 people to leave the country. The international community feels that we can't just sit back and let those things happen and not saying anything, because it is not fair on people who are being murdered and raped. It is not fair on the people who might be murdered and raped in the future if this culture of impunity continues.

Can you clarify who you mean by "other people"? 

The events in Rakhine were sparked by the ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) attack and everybody knows that. They killed people on the security posts and that was a coordinated, planned murderous attack. There is no doubt that it was criminal and those people should also face justice. Nobody knows exactly what happened at the end of August and September last year but it's undoubtedly the case that there were villagers who were involved in some of the attacks as well as soldiers. So it would be wrong to say this was 100 percent the Tatmadaw, but the evidence certainly shows that they are the most culpable.

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Nearly a Dozen Buddha Images Damaged Inside Ancient Rakhine Temple

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 05:27 AM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State — Authorities and conservationists in Rakhine State suspect local vandals for the damage of nearly a dozen Buddha images inside a 14th century temple Wednesday night in the ancient Arakanese royal capital of Mrauk-U.

Eleven of 28 Buddha images inside Sin Cha Seik Ward’s Lay Myat Hnar Temple were damaged, said Daw Khin Than, who chairs a government-supported conservation group in Mrauk-U.

From the 15th to 19th centuries Mrauk-U was the seat of a succession of Arakanese kings who at their height controlled much of modern-day western Myanmar, including Rakhine State, and eastern Bangladesh. Much of the ancient city remains well preserved and some 380 historic temples are scattered among the lush hills of northern Rakhine.

"There is a need to tighten security in Mrauk-U. I think people are drinking and abusing drugs inside pagodas. Some Buddha images had their heads broken off, some images had their arms damaged, and so on. Buddha images in an urban area have been destroyed because of lax security," Daw Khin Than told The Irrawaddy.

U Than Htike, director of Mrauk-U Township’s Department of Archaeology, National Museums and Libraries, said he has filed a complaint police.

"We made a field inspection this morning, and residents in the neighborhood said they heard people fighting that night. They did not dare to go there to see what was happening until the next morning. Then they saw that the Buddha images were destroyed," he told The Irrawaddy.

U Than Htike said his department lacks the personnel to assign security guards to the Lay Myat Hnar Temple. He said it has installed doors at the temple’s four entrances but added that some of them were now in poor condition.

Daw Khin Than said this was the first time that Buddha images in one of the township’s urban wards have been damaged.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture has been working to nominate Mrauk-U for UNESCO world heritage status.

Mrauk-U sits on the Kaladan River, about 60 km inland from the state capital, Sittwe, and is among Rakhine’s main tourist attractions along with Ngapali Beach. But communal violence between the state’s Arakanese Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim communities in mid-2012 has driven tourist numbers down.

Authorities forbid foreigners from visiting the old city in the wake of the violence. And although the ban was lifted within months, foreign visitors have remained few.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Press Council Urges Govt to Withdraw Lawsuit Against Journalists

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 04:22 AM PDT

YANGON — The Myanmar Press Council on Friday urged the Yangon government to withdraw its lawsuit against three journalists in order to give the council a chance to mediate the dispute first.

It follows a directive from the President’s Office on Thursday telling the regional government to follow the Media Law, which says that the council should attempt to settle complaints against the press before they reach the courts.

The Yangon government filed a suit against two editors and a reporter with the Eleven Media Group earlier this month accusing them of incitement, under Article 5050 (b) of the Penal Code, for publishing false information. They were arrested on Oct. 10 and sent to Yangon’s Insein Prison.

Myanmar Press Council Second Vice Chairman U Myo Thant Tin told reporters the council met with the plaintiff, Yangon government director U Aung Kyaw Khine, on Friday morning and explained that the council’s complaint mechanism forbids it council from mediating or intervening in an active lawsuit in order to avoid contempt of court.

"So we asked that he drop the case as soon as possible. If it is withdrawn today, our mediation will start within hours," he said.

According to the vice chairman, U Aung Kyaw Khine said he would report back to the regional government about the meeting.

Eleven Media Managing Director U Thein Myint said he wanted his staff released as soon as possible and welcomed the directive from the President’s Office.

The three journalists appeared at the Tamwe Township Court on Wednesday to ask for bail. The court said it would announce its decision on the request next week.

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Hundreds of Myanmar Workers Arrested by Thai Police in Mahachai

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 04:16 AM PDT

Thai authorities arrested hundreds of Myanmar migrants in Mahachai near Bangkok on Friday as part of a crackdown on people living and working in the country illegally, according to migrant sources.

Police and immigration officials conducted a door-to-door search, asking migrants to assemble at a location where their documents were checked. Those without the proper paperwork were detained pending deportation.

Police forcibly entered the residences of those who refused to open the door. They also took urine samples from men to test for the presence of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs.

U Aung Kyaw, chairman of the Mahachai-based Migrant Worker Rights Network, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that so far this week Thai authorities had conducted raids in Phuket, Samut Sakhon and Mahachai — three areas known to house many migrants.

"They [the authorities] are working according to their procedures. They released those with legal documents and were set to deport those without legal documents," U Aung Kyaw said.

U Aung Kyaw said he did not have precise figures but believed hundreds of people had been arrested in Mahachai on Friday morning.

Authorities arrested illegal migrants, but also checked whether migrants with documents were working in fields appropriate to their visas.

Those migrants who had overstayed their visas by a few days were fined, but those whose visas had been expired for a long time were to be deported, U Aung Kyaw said.

Hong Rot, an ethnic Mon migrant from Mahachai, said that on Oct. 16, police knocked on the door of his apartment at 9 a.m. He said he managed to elude authorities, but some of his friends were detained.

He explained that the authorities checked legal documents. Those without legal documents were separated from those who had the correct paperwork.

The authorities also checked the urine of all the men. Those who tested positive were charged with drug offenses.

"Some of my friends were arrested. They are detained at the police station at the moment," he said.

Thai authorities seized methamphetamine pills and other illegal drugs, along with some firearms, from a dozen ethnic Mon migrants when they raided their apartment on Oct. 16, he said.

U San Maung, an official at the Myanmar Embassy who works on migrant issues, confirmed to The Irrawaddy that Thai authorities had launched an operation targeting illegal migrants.

"First they checked for 90-day migrant visas and work permits. Then, they checked to see who their employers were," U San Maung said.

He said some Myanmar migrants develop problems with their employers, and take other jobs, but this is not allowed under Thai immigration law.

"Those whose visas had expired or who had switched employers [illegally] were arrested," he said.

From July to September, the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok reported that Thai authorities repatriated 34,926 Myanmar migrants from camps in Mae Sot, Mae Sai and Ranong.

Thailand changed its procedures for deporting Myanmar migrants after the two countries' labor ministers met in Naypyitaw in August. Thai authorities used to detain illegal migrants in jail for more than a month before deporting them.

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Bago Rice Millers Ask Govt to Clamp Down on Chinese Traders

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 01:15 AM PDT

Bago Region — Rice millers in Bago Region have filed a complaint with the regional government alleging that Chinese merchants are buying paddy illegally.

U Hla Oo, secretary of western Bago’s rice millers association, told The Irrawaddy that Chinese merchants were buying up paddy from local farmers at prices above the local market rate.

"We complained about it with the Bago government in mid-September, but they didn't take any action. So earlier this month we filed a complaint directly to the Bago Region Parliament speaker," he said.

In the local market 100 baskets of rice, equal to 4,091 kg, currently fetch about 580,000 kyats ($367). Chinese merchants are reportedly paying more than 600,000 kyats for the same amount.

It is not the first time Chinese merchants have paid above-market prices for local paddy, said U Hla Oo. But he said this time the practice was leaving supplies for domestic consumption dangerously depleted.

"This year, western Bago has had the earliest harvest in the whole country, so [Chinese] buyers came to buy. The worst thing is that, since we’ve exported about 4 million tons of rice, stocks for domestic consumption are running low,” he said.

"Rice prices have increased because of Chinese buyers and the market prices are fluctuating," he added.

The Myanmar government bans the export of paddy rice and restricts its sale to the domestic market.

But rice millers say the government is losing out on tax revenue from an illegal rice trade and that rising rice prices also inflate prices for meat and fish. Business sources said the prices for paddy byproducts used to make snacks and animal feed, including broken kernels and husk, are much higher this year as well.

"Chinese buyers don’t come in person; they sent middlemen. Some farmers get good prices. The price they offer is not bad because labor is scarce and [renting] a harvester costs about 45,000 kyats per acre," U Khin Maung Zin, a farmer in Zigon Township, told The Irrawaddy.

On Oct. 12, the local legislature sent a letter to the regional planning and finance minister asking him to take the necessary action.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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6 Rohingya Died in Fire at Sittwe IDP Camp

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 11:02 PM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State — Six Rohingya were killed in a fire at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Rakhine State's Sittwe on Thursday.

The fire started around 11 p.m. after embers from a kitchen fire burned nearby bamboo matting at the IDP camp in Ohn Taw Che of Se Thama village tract in Sittwe, said the head of the Rakhine State Fire Services Department U Thaw Dar.

"Fifteen buildings burned down and six people died," U Thaw Dar told The Irrawaddy, adding that the fire was put out around 1 a.m. on Friday.

Each of the one-story buildings measured about 45×30 feet, had eight rooms, and were bamboo structures with corrugated iron roofs.

The fire displaced 882 people from 141 households, who have been temporarily accommodated at the houses of their relatives.

The Ohn Taw Che IDP camp shelters people who came from Kyaukphyu and Pauktaw after inter-communal violence broke out in 2012.

The Rakhine State government had to open IDP camps mainly for Rohingya in Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Myebon, Ramree and Kyaukphyu townships after sectarian conflict arose in Rakhine in 2012. The state government has been attempting to close these camps since 2014.

So far, Set Yoe Kya and Set Yone Su IDP camps in Sittwe, an IDP camp in Kyaukphyu, an IDP camp in Ramree and an IDP camp in Kyauktaw have been closed. The state government is also preparing to close Myebon and Pauktaw IDP camps.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Hindu Groups Return to Indian Temple to Block Women from Entering

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 09:39 PM PDT

NILAKKAL, India — Conservative Hindu groups including youth members of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party returned to an Indian hill temple on Thursday to block women from entering for a second day, in defiance of a court ruling that says banning them is illegal.

For centuries, the Sabarimala temple in Kerala state has banned women and girls between the ages of 10 and 50 from entering the holy site. But last month, India’s Supreme Court ruled the ban infringed on the right to worship.

Since then, the case has become a focal point for women’s rights in India.

There were clashes between police and protesters when the temple opened for the first time since the ban was lifted on Wednesday, preventing women from entering.

Kerala’s secular state government says it wants to uphold the court’s decision, but Hindu groups, including branches of the BJP and its parent organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, say the court’s decision is offensive to worshippers.

“A large number of women, who follow the tradition, were not heard; their emotions weren’t respected,” RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat told a rally of supporters on Thursday.

In response, the state’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a tweet that the RSS and other Hindu groups “are obstructing believers and spreading terror."

Law Flouted

The temple is located in a remote tiger reserve in the western Ghats mountain range. Many visitors trek through the mountains to get to the temple.

Kerala’s police department has imposed an emergency law until midnight on Friday preventing groups of four or more people from gathering within 30 km (19 miles) of the temple.

A police official, who declined to be identified, said seven members of a youth wing of the BJP were arrested on Thursday after disguising themselves as worshippers and staging a sit-in at Nilakkal, about 18 km (11 miles) from the temple and the main entry point to the site.

On Thursday, a female reporter from the New York Times was pelted with stones while trying to visit the temple. The journalist, Suhasini Raj, abandoned her trip under police protection, footage from Reuters partner ANI showed.

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Go Fish! Minnow ‘Nutrient Bombs’ Deployed to End Malnutrition

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 09:29 PM PDT

OU KRALANH, Cambodia/TOLAKCHUIN, India — Phally Chhiv placed a pot of simmering soup filled with fish and greens on a wooden platform outside her one-room home in northwestern Cambodia — using nutrient-packed minnows that experts hope can help to end global hunger.

Three children watched their grandmother prepare their lunch with tiny fish from a backyard pond — one of thousands of families across Asia and Africa being given fish by experts as part of a new project aiming to reduce malnutrition and poverty.

“It will help my grandchildren,” Phally Chhiv, 53, dressed in a paisley and jungle print blouse with khaki slacks, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Ou Kralanh, a village about an hour’s drive from Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple complexes.

“They won’t get diseases so often.”

The NutriFish1000 campaign, launched on Wednesday, aims to improve family nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life by getting pregnant women and children to eat small fish — dubbed “nutrient bombs” — grown in ponds and rice paddies.

Global hunger has been on the rise for three years, according to the UN, which says that one in nine people worldwide do not have enough to eat, and 151 million children under five are stunted by malnutrition.

While almost all rural families in Cambodia eat fish from flooded rice fields during the wet season, stocks have been hit by overfishing and malnutrition remains high because of poverty, disease and a tradition of not feeding fish to young children.

With financing from the World Bank and the UN, NutriFish1000 projects have been rolled out in six countries, including India and Bangladesh, with plans to expand to Ivory Coast, Malawi and Ghana next year.

NutriFish1000 experts have identified 33 species of locally available small fish, up to 10 cm long, that they intend to promote in countries with high malnutrition rates, said Pawan Patil, a World Bank economist.

“In developed countries, there’s already the knowledge that eating certain kinds of fish is good,” he said.

“We’re now translating that into something that is accessible for the poorest of the poor, especially women and children in rural settings, … to produce these fish in a safe, available, accessible and affordable manner.”

Healthy

Cambodians receive 75 percent of their animal protein from fish, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

However, they tend to eat larger varieties — which are under threat from overfishing and environmental degradation — and ignore small fish, said Bun Chantrea, a project coordinator with Malaysia-based WorldFish, part of the NutriFish1000 initiative.

“About seven years ago, fish in the stream in my village started decreasing,” he said. “Many fishers stopped fishing.”

WorldFish has provided 180 families in Cambodia with tiny fish to breed in ponds on their properties, as well as stocking community ponds, which often overflow into rice paddies in the rainy season, allowing fish to breed there too.

Villagers lay nets in the rice paddies, using tall poles to push canoes through a sea of vivid green rice stalks to harvest their catch.

By eating tiny fish, packed with fats, vitamins and minerals like iron, calcium and zinc, pregnant women and children can get the nutrients they need to be healthy.

“[With] small fish, you can even eat the bones, which have lots of micronutrients,” said Shenggen Fan, head of the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute. “It’s a perception thing. Somehow we think small fish is waste.”

If the trend of breeding small fish for food catches on, minnows could help reduce malnutrition in Cambodia, where one in four children under five are underweight and one in three are stunted, according to government data.

“These small fish are like nutrient bombs,” said Arun Padiyar, a project manager for WorldFish in India’s eastern Odisha state, where 500 households are using fish farms.

WorldFish has entered into a five-year partnership with the government of Odisha with the aim of growing its fisheries sector and attracting private sector investment.

“The catch we get now is much bigger. It has helped me support my four children,” said Parboti Sri, a 45-year-old widow who fishes at a community pond in the village of Tolakchuin.

“There is also more to eat, which is always good,” said Sri, whose earnings have risen by a quarter to about 4,000 Indian rupees ($54) a month since WorldFish stocked a pond earlier this year.

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EU Cultivates Asian Leaders on Trade, Climate in Message to Trump

Posted: 18 Oct 2018 09:11 PM PDT

BRUSSELS — The European Union sought Asian support for free trade, the Iran nuclear deal and fighting global warming at a regional summit on Thursday that included China, Japan and Russia as a counterbalance to a more protectionist United States.

Leaders from the EU, Switzerland and Norway welcomed 21 Asian counterparts including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang after an EU summit dominated by negotiations over Britain’s planned departure from the world’s biggest trading bloc.

The 51 gathered leaders were set to show “strong support” for the World Trade Organization that U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to quit, and express “profound alarm” about climate change, according to a draft communique seen by Reuters.

When asked if the gathering was anti-Trump, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said “we don’t organize meetings against anyone," but Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah said the US president’s trade tariffs had united EU and Asia.

“Of course there’s more reason for why we should come closer together. We are working together to help each other for free and fair trade,” she told reporters when asked about Trump.

The EU and Asia will also discuss the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, Mogherini said. Myanmar’s minister for international cooperation, Kyaw Tin, was attending the gathering.

On Friday, the EU and Asian leaders – who represent 55 percent of global trade – will underline “their joint commitment to open, free and non-discriminatory trade” and “to fight all forms of protectionism," according to the draft communique.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told an Asia-Europe business forum before the summit that trade had pulled millions of people out of absolute poverty, but that countries could not ignore the environmental impact of trade and development.

Trump says the United States is treated badly in global trade and has blamed the WTO for allowing that to happen. Separately, the United States and China have imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on each other’s goods while Trump has also complained about an unfair EU trade surplus with Washington.

Dispute Resolution

Norway and the EU asked the WTO on Thursday to set up a dispute resolution panel to address US tariffs on steel and aluminum, Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said.

“We believe that additional US duty on steel and aluminum is contrary to WTO rules,” she told Norwegian news agency NTB.

On Friday, the EU will also sign a free-trade deal with Singapore. The bloc has also reached a free-trade agreement with Vietnam. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the business forum that he hoped the deal could be ready to enter into force next year.

However, the EU is trying not to side with China against the United States. On Tuesday, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom held talks with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in Brussels on improving trade relations, though Washington accused the bloc of moving too slowly in negotiations.

The EU-Asia summit meeting will also press Beijing to combat what Europe says is China’s harmful overproduction of steel, and the final statement is set to say that leaders agreed to tackle “excess capacity in industrial sectors," according to the draft, which could still be modified by diplomats.

China, which produces and consumes half the world’s steel, has cut some 220 million tons of capacity since January 2016. But the EU remains intent on pressuring China to cut more, as well as to remove subsidies – a policy that the West says is aimed at dominating global markets.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was due to discuss subsidies with Li at a lunch on Friday, diplomats said.

Bolstering the nuclear deal with Iran signed by global powers in 2015, and from which Trump withdrew the United States in May, is also another priority of the summit.

Leaders will call on North Korea to “completely, verifiably and irreversibly dismantle all its nuclear and weapons of mass destruction," according to the draft final statement.

Leaders will re-commit to the 2015 Paris climate pact that also Trump pulled out of, pledging to develop more clean energy.

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