Thursday, November 29, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Villagers Support Dawei SEZ Resumption but Demand Fairness

Posted: 29 Nov 2018 07:20 AM PST

YANGON—Villagers residing on the site of the initial phase of the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tanintharyi Division cautiously welcomed a recent agreement by Thailand and Myanmar to resume the project's initial phase and upgrade a highway leading to the location, saying their homes are almost entirely lacking in basic services.

Early this month, the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government signed off on an US$8-million agreement to jointly upgrade a highway linking the Thai-Myanmar border with the SEZ and a deep seaport.

To gauge villagers' views on the project, local non-profit organizations EarthRights International (ERI) and the Dawei Development Association (DDA) conducted a joint six-month study entitled "The Local Voices and Prospects for the Dawei Special Economic Zone."

The report was officially launched in Yangon on Thursday afternoon at a press event attended by four residents of villages in the affected area. The report focuses on the following six villages in  Nabule region (which is in the heart of the SEZ project): Paradut, Hteingyi, Mudu, Wetchaung, Kamaungchaung and Ngapidat.

The Irrawaddy asked the four villagers what they thought when they heard that the SEZ project would be restarted. They said they supported the plan but demanded that the government ensure equal access to information, a proper land-compensation scheme, transparency over the locations to be developed, job opportunities and a chance to improve their livelihoods.   

Daw Po Win from Nabule said villages situated inside the SEZ are still without access to the national power grid or government-operated gas turbines. Road conditions remain extremely undeveloped, while four townships in Dawei district have a 24-hour supply of electricity. Most of the villagers rely on electricity from private generators at a per-unit cost of about 900 kyats.

"We are very glad about the SEZ resumption, but we hope things will be better than last time," Daw Po Win said.

A tractor passes by the Italian-Thai Development construction site in the Dawei Special Economic Zone. / EarthRights International / Supplied

The initial phase, an industrial estate, is expected to cost US$1.8 billion and cover 27 sq. km. That is a fraction of the cost and far smaller than the initial proposal. Based on a recent suggestion by the Dawei SEZ Management Committee, ERI believes all the phases of project could be constructed simultaneously.

The government has consistently touted the potential benefits of the SEZ, but ERI says only vague information about the project has been released. Moreover, locals have not received a single kyat in compensation for land damaged earlier by Italian-Thai Development Company (ITD).

ERI adviser Ko Bo Bo Aung said ITD had discriminated in favor of powerful people when paying compensation, with ordinary farmers receiving very little. It's unclear whether the company paid the full purchase price for locals' land or just offered the usual rate of compensation.

Ko Bo Bo Aung said, "Some villagers are still hoping to get some money if the project resumes, because they believe compensation is the only way to improve their lives."

Government resettlement plans almost always divide the affected communities.

The SEZ project was the brainchild of the administration of former President U Thein Sein. The master plan includes a deep seaport, a vast petrochemical estate, a smaller industrial zone for lighter and more labor–intensive industry, a coal–fired power plant, a reservoir, a new town to house workers, dual oil and gas pipelines, and road and rail links to Thailand.

When local opposition to the coal–fired power plant erupted in 2012, the government decided to shelve the project for several years. It remains unclear whether the current government plans to proceed with the coal-fired project.

The Union Parliament gave the Ministry of Construction a green light to take out a low-interest loan from Thailand's Neighboring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) worth 4.5 billion Thai baht (approximately US$137 million, or 220.5 billion kyats). The ministry has been working with Thailand's Department of Highways since 2015 on conducting measurements for the highway.

The post Villagers Support Dawei SEZ Resumption but Demand Fairness appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Analysis : National Leaders Send a Chilling Message over Media’s Role

Posted: 29 Nov 2018 05:06 AM PST

YANGON—Myanmar's senior leaders offered a revealing glimpse of their perceptions of the media last week—and their view of the country's Fourth Estate appears to be one of deep skepticism that some media professionals fear could have a chilling effect.

Last Friday, newly elected members of the Myanmar Press Council gathered at the Presidential Residence in Naypyitaw to take their oath in front of President U Win Myint, who delivered a speech.

Following the ceremony, at a dinner in honor of the council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi chatted briefly with several MPC members on the topics of social media, mainstream media and access to information.

Council member U Zayar Hlaing recalled Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's response when he raised the issue of the differences between social and mainstream media.

"She asked whether the mainstream media ever makes errors," the MPC member said, adding that the State Counselor raised a British newspaper's mistaken identification of a picture of a Cambodian boy as a Rohingya child. (She said the mistake occurred in The Guardian; in fact it was in the Daily Mail.)

When the conversation turned to fake news, U Zayar Hlaing—who is also editor of Mawkun Magazine—suggested promoting public media literacy and access to information as possible ways to counter the problem. The State Counselor was skeptical that increased access to information would deter journalists from covering stories in a biased way, though she did not specify whether she was referring to local or international media.

"I didn't know how to keep the conversation going. It made me wonder if she has any trust in the media," U Zayar Hlaing told The Irrawaddy.

The Press Council's Joint Secretary-1, U Myint Kyaw, was also present at the meeting. He, too, got the impression that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi sounded skeptical about the media.

Press Council members take their oaths in front of President U Win Myint in Naypyitaw on Nov. 23. / President's Office

"The way we see it, access to information is a means to get rid of misinformation. But she was doubtful that it would work," the journalism teacher said.

Both council members believed the State Counselor's suspicions might stem from the international media's coverage of the Rohingya issue in Rakhine State.

Since the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched a series of attacks on security outposts in northern Rakhine in 2017, the international media have published a flood of stories, mainly focusing on the Rohingya's plight, particularly the mass exodus to Bangladesh and accusations against security forces of rape, arbitrary killings and the torching of Rohingya property.

On the other hand, much of the coverage—sometimes accompanied by fabricated or misleading pictures or information, or presented in a misleading manner—has been perceived by Myanmar people of different walks of life as not being balanced and fair, with accusations that the coverage has failed to give the views of both sides and has neglected the experiences of ethnic Rakhine and others in favor of Rohingya accounts. The government, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, believes the coverage has tarnished the country's international image and has issued official warnings in the Daily Mail case. She herself has been misquoted by The Associated Press.

The two Press Council members expressed concern that her perceptions of the media could have serious repercussions in Myanmar, given Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's stature and popularity. They worried her views would have a further negative impact on public opinion of the media.

"So I wonder if she was delivering a message that she no longer trusts the media. If that was her intent, I have to say it's a chilling message," U Zayar Hlaing said.

The impact of these views is already palpable. News about the meeting and her comments on the media went viral online, and prompted some explosive comments. For those predisposed to be unkind to the media, it presented a golden opportunity. Comments like "Why should we believe in [the media] when our leader doesn't have any trust in them?" were quite common. Others wrote: "You journalists only criticize the government but daren't do it to the military." (Actually, we do. Here is just one example.)

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wasn't the only one whose remarks left journalists feeling uneasy on the day; President U Win Myint's speech to Press Council members contrasted with comments he made during his inauguration ceremony eight months ago, when he urged his government to treat the media as "the eyes and ears of the people".

Last month, Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein filed a lawsuit against three journalists from Eleven Media and had them arrested for incitement for allegedly publishing false information relating to the use of public funds. President U Win Myint took the right approach by ordering the chief minister to first attempt to settle the case with the help of the MPC, as required under the country's Media Law. His intervention saw the journalists released and paved the way for the Press Council's mediation.

At the swearing-in ceremony on Friday, however, rather than encouraging the media to be ethically vigilant in its coverage of the executive, legislative and judicial sectors, promoting an independent media and vowing to ensure access to information, the president exhorted media professionals to provide "criticism in a positive way" while taking care not to affect the country's peace, stability and security.

Given that journalism's first obligation is to the truth, U Zayar Hlaing said, the media's job is to investigate, not to cover up.

"If there's a murder case, we have to report it. It's the media's job to empower society by providing accurate information," he said.

Two local reporters for Reuters are currently serving seven-year prison sentences for breaching a law on state secrets, despite the testimony of a police witness that the pair was arrested as punishment for their reporting of a mass killing of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine.

U Sein Win, journalism adviser at Internews-Myanmar, said the term "criticism in a positive way" was itself controversial.

 

"If you say no to media criticism on nation building, it could lead to self-censorship, and that's dangerous," he said.

 

U Myint Kyaw said the leaders' perceptions of the media would prompt restrictions on the country's press freedom.

"If it happens, it will have a negative impact on the democratic transition," he said, warning that if the press can't do its job properly, corruption and irregularities in government will go unchecked and the whole country will suffer.

Rather than alienating the media, the government should embrace their views on how to counter fake news, U Zayar Hliang suggested.

"A discussion on how to set up a mechanism to counter fake news with correct information would be more workable," he said.

The post Analysis : National Leaders Send a Chilling Message over Media's Role appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Government Leadership’s Military Ties in Pictures

Posted: 29 Nov 2018 04:44 AM PST

YANGON — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed the latest ex-military man into her cabinet on Thursday after the Union Parliament approved a former Air Force colonel as the new minister of the Office of the Union Government.

With U Min Thu’s appointment, six of Myanmar’s 25 Union-level ministries are now headed by former or serving military officers, with portfolios ranging from security to religion.

Since the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office in early 2016, many have wondered whether the party has enough senior leaders with the skills and experience to run and fix a country slowing emerging from decades of misrule by the military.

Thanks to the Constitution it drafted in 2008, the military still gets to appoint the ministers of defense, border affairs and home affairs, which oversees the police.

But the NLD has struggled to fill the rest of the cabinet, often turning to former civil servants and even a few military men.

Besides the three ministers appointed by the military itself, ex-military officers are now running the Ministry of the Office of the Union Government, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, and the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population.

 

The NLD has also appointed two people who were loyal to the military during its time in charge to head two other ministries — U Thaung Tun to run the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and U Kyaw Tint Swe to run the Ministry of the State Counselor’s Office. The former criticized Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the early 2000s for her party’s decision to boycott the military regime’s national convention at the time. The latter used to defend the military regime at the UN over its human rights abuses.

Despite some criticism of the picks, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has never publicly explained the reasons for her choices. Some observers suspect they’re meant to placate the military as she nudges the country toward democracy. Others say she simply couldn’t find any qualified candidates within her own inner circle.

Beyond the cabinet, the NLD has also appointed ex-generals to lead two powerful commissions, one to review the country’s existing laws and another to fight corruption.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appointed Thura U Shwe Mann as chairman of the Parliament’s Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission, whose review remit includes the Constitution. The former general was considered the third most powerful man in the military regime of Senior General Than Shwe. Before the 2015 general elections, he was purged as chairman of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party in a power struggle with then-President Thein Sein and later branded a traitor for allying with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Anti-Corruption Commission is headed by U Aung Kyi, a retired major general and former minister of information, of labor and of social welfare, relief and resettlement. He also served as liaison officer to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi while she was under house arrest during the military government.

Many government departments are also still being run by former or serving military officers.

The post The Government Leadership’s Military Ties in Pictures appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Human Casualties Will Be the Cost of War as RCSS Moves North

Posted: 29 Nov 2018 02:38 AM PST

YANGON–With sadness, we look on at the conflict between two ethnic Shan sides using their resources and efforts against each other instead of banding together in their fight against the common enemy– the Myanmar Army.

Three civilians, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed and two others wounded–one of whom just two years old–in the most recent outbreak of fighting in northern Shan State. The Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) accused the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) of shooting at a building where they mistakenly thought soldiers from the SSPP were staying. It turned out the house was not occupied by soldiers of the SSPP, but rather a civilian family who received the brunt of the attack.

Typically, when the Myanmar Army harms civilians, their actions are subject to an outcry of strong condemnation. Following the recent incident between the RCSS and SSPP, very few people outwardly voiced condemnation of the actions of the ethnic armed group and the tragic consequences of their mistake.

Civilians should be protected. Any armed group's harming of civilians is an abuse of human rights and a violation of international laws. These actions could have untold negative effects, including accusations of war crimes from the international community.

Not a single rights group or political party in Shan State has issued a public statement condemning the actions of the armed group or their rights abuses. The Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD) did send a letter to the SSPP and the RCSS on Nov. 26 warning them to avoid targeting civilians.

Some Shan community leaders, including members of the SNLD, have tried to bring peace negotiations between to the two ethnic armed groups to the table. Despite representatives of the groups having met for discussions twice now, fighting in northern Shan State has only escalated.

Until a few years ago, northern Shan State had enjoyed many years of peace, with the Shan and Ta'ang ethnic groups living in one community peacefully. However, since armed conflict broke out between the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the RCSS in February 2015, the region is no longer stable.

Armed groups are the main cause of a spoiled peace and have caused hatred within communities between the Shan and Ta'ang people, with the former naturally taking the side of the RCSS and the latter supporting the TNLA. The Ta'ang and the Shan people, who have lived in harmony for a long time, have today lost trust in each other.

The recent series of conflicts in Shan State has been ongoing for four years now, at the cost of the lives of many local people, including both the Shan and Ta'ang. Local residents are the victims of war between the ethnic armed groups, and they often have to flee from fighting in or near their villages. They don't feel safe. Having to flee from home so often, they face difficulties in keeping their farms and growing food for their survival.

When conflict arises between rival ethnic armed groups in northern Shan, even the media have a difficult time reporting it. In one recent example, a Ta'ang man was murdered in Namtu Township in October and his family accused the RCSS of killing him. Soon after, however, some nationalistic Shan people blamed me of not reporting when the TNLA killed one of their Shan people.

Originally, the TNLA was the only enemy of the RCSS and would attack them when they tried to operate in northern Shan. Nowadays, however, the RCSS have another rival armed group, the SSPP, who have formed an alliance with the TNLA and have launched joint attacks against the RCSS.

Though both the RCSS and the SSPP are Shan groups, their bases are traditionally located separately, with the RCSS based out of southern Shan State and the SSPP in the north of the State, hundreds of miles apart.

While some Shan back RCSS attacks on the TNLA, almost no one supports fighting between two Shan groups. Meanwhile, a number of nationalistic Shan continue to support the RCSS's movement into northern Shan, despite it igniting conflict in the area.

Fighting first broke out between the RCSS and the TNLA in February 2015 in Namkham Township when the RCSS accused TNLA members of ambushing their soldiers as they returned to their southern headquarters in Loi Tai Leng after attending military training in the north.

The RCSS have always claimed the right to have military bases anywhere in Shan State where ethnic Shan people are living, but northern Shan was never their main base.

After signing the NCA in October 2015, they slowly began to occupy space in northern Shan, a move which the TNLA said was backed by Myanmar Army.

Since their formation in 2009, the TNLA have been based in northern Shan and the Myanmar Army have regularly launched military offensives against them there. However, responses of the TNLA have been sophisticated, using guerrilla strategies and killing many Myanmar Army soldiers. The TNLA believe that the Myanmar Army, after realizing their attacks against the ethnic armed group were ineffective, adopted a policy of using the RCSS as a sort of shield in a bid to reduce their own casualties.

Why has the RCSS moved into northern Shan?

There are several reasons why the RCSS moved north. Northern Shan State has become a key point for border trade between Myanmar and China, especially with China's impending Belt and Road Initiative. China has plans to build a railway link to Myanmar. The RCSS's business interests are a main reason behind their attacks on TNLA and SSPP forces.

As well as this, the RCSS has sights on forcing the TNLA out of northern Shan State which would give them control of more of the land. If they were to run the TNLA out of northern Shan, the RCSS could establish stronger ties with the Myanmar Army who could then act as valuable protectors of their border business affairs.

The RCSS also like the system of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) who have two bases–one at the Chinese border and another at the Thai border in southern Shan. The UWSA enjoys healthy border trade with China and resultantly, they have the largest armed force of all of Myanmar's ethnic armed groups.

The RCSS will become friends with China if they can occupy a large base in northern Shan, and improved border trade could help them emulate the USWA's strength.

Ultimately, the RCSS's efforts as they try to take more control of areas in northern Shan State are likely to cause suffering and human rights abuses for more and more civilians in Shan State as a result of fighting between the rival ethnic armed groups.

The post Human Casualties Will Be the Cost of War as RCSS Moves North appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Climate Change ‘Biggest Global Health Threat’ of Century, Doctors Warn

Posted: 28 Nov 2018 09:33 PM PST

LONDON — Rising heat and wilder weather linked to climate change make it “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century,” with hundreds of millions more people already suffering in the last two decades, medical officials warned Wednesday.

In a hard-hitting report published by The Lancet medical journal, scientists and health experts said climate change impacts–from heat waves to worsening storms, floods and fires–were surging and threatened to overwhelm health systems.

“That’s the thing that really keeps me up at night,” said Nick Watts, executive director of The Lancet Countdown, an annual report tracking connections between public health and climate change.

Storms and floods, for instance, do not only cause direct injuries but can also shut down hospitals, spur disease outbreaks and produce lingering mental health problems, as people lose their homes, he said.

Wildfires, similarly, hurt and uproot people, but also dramatically worsen air pollution in broad areas.

California’s recent wildfires, spurred by drought, have cost more than 80 lives but have also polluted air as far east as Massachusetts, said Gina McCarthy, a former head of the US Environmental Protection Agency now at Harvard University’s public health school.

Kristie Ebi, a professor of global health at the University of Washington, said multiple climate change-related health impacts were often hitting at once. “We see them coming at communities all at the same time,” she said.

The Lancet report, produced by doctors, academics and policy experts from 27 organizations around the world, called for fast action to curb climate change and prepare global health systems for growing challenges.

“A rapidly changing climate has dire implications for every aspect of human life, exposing vulnerable populations to extremes of weather, altering patterns of infectious disease and compromising food security, safe drinking water and clean air,” it warned.

Working Up a Sweat

Already, 157 million more people worldwide were exposed to heat waves last year than in 2000, according to the report.

Hotter weather led to the loss of 153 billion hours of labor in 2017, a 60 percent jump from 2000, as workers in construction, farming and other industries downed tools, often squeezing family income.

In India, heat caused the number of hours worked to fall by almost 7 percent in 2017, Watts said.

Richer countries also are seeing the effects of heat, the report noted.

Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, for instance, appear more vulnerable than Africa and Southeast Asia, it said.

That is largely because so many older people, who are particularly at risk, live in cities that trap heat and can be hotter than surrounding areas, the report said.

England and Wales, for instance, saw 700 more deaths than normal during a 15-day hot spell in June and July this year, Watts said.

Renee Salas, an emergency room doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States and an author of the report, said she recently treated a 30-year-old man felled by heatstroke while trying to work two construction jobs.

“Keep in mind that for every statistic there is a personal story,” she urged. Such medical cases are the “often hidden human cost of climate change,” she added.

Hunger and Disease

Warmer conditions linked to climate change are enlarging the potential range of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever as well as other health threats, the report said.

Since 1950, the Baltic region has seen a 24-percent increase in coastal areas suitable for cholera outbreaks, while in sub-Saharan Africa’s highlands, zones where malaria-carrying mosquitoes can survive have expanded by 27 percent.

Hotter conditions may also be giving some disease-causing microbes greater resistance to antibiotics, Salas said.

And higher temperatures seem to be curbing the maximum harvest from farmland in all regions of the world, reversing an earlier trend toward ever-larger harvests, the report noted. Ebi, of the University of Washington, said rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are shrinking nutrients in cereal crops, hiking the risk of malnutrition even for those who get enough to eat.

Mental health threats, meanwhile–from children worried about their future in an overheating world to families stressed by disaster losses–are on the rise, she said.

Acting swiftly to curb climate change–whether by switching to clean energy, or getting more people to walk and use bicycles–would lower healthcare costs by the same amount of money needed to reduce emissions, Ebi said.

“Most mitigation policies are good for health–and they’re good for health now,” she said.

The post Climate Change ‘Biggest Global Health Threat’ of Century, Doctors Warn appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

India Transgender Political Candidate Reappears After Kidnapping Fears

Posted: 28 Nov 2018 09:25 PM PST

MUMBAI — A transgender candidate in state elections in southern India has presented herself at a police station after her disappearance prompted fears of a kidnapping, police said on Thursday.

Chandramukhi Muvvala disappeared minutes after she left her one-room home on Tuesday morning in an informal settlement in Hyderabad, capital of Telangana state, where she is the only transgender candidate participating in Dec. 7 elections.

She walked into Banjara Hills police station in Hyderabad late on Wednesday night with her lawyer, said R. Govinda Reddy, an officer at the station, who added that Muvvala has yet to give a statement about what happened to her.

“Right now we do not suspect anybody. But if she makes an allegation against anyone in her statement, we will inquire into it,” Reddy told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Muvvala was “extremely disoriented” when she reappeared, said her campaign aid Bittu Karthik.

Muvvala is an activist with the Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti, a local advocacy group for hijras – or transgender women – which campaigns against transphobic violence.

India has about 2 million transgender people, according to the 2011 census. Although the Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that transgender people have equal rights under the law, they are often shunned and many survive through begging or sex work.

Muvvala’s disappearance sparked concern in the transgender community about her safety, according to Karthik, who is also a member of Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti.

“There is disproportionate amount of violence against transgender people and as an electoral candidate, we fear physical violence can be used,” Karthik said on Wednesday.

Police said they had deployed special teams to trace Muvvala after a local court ordered them on Wednesday to produce her in court by Thursday morning.

Karthik said in a text message on Thursday morning that Muvvala would appear in court.

The post India Transgender Political Candidate Reappears After Kidnapping Fears appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China to Widen Market Access For Foreign Investors: President Xi

Posted: 28 Nov 2018 08:51 PM PST

MADRID — China will widen market access for foreign investors and step up protection of intellectual property rights, China’s President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday ahead of the G20 meeting of world leaders in Argentina.

Speaking before the Spanish upper house of Parliament during a two-day stop in Madrid, Xi also said China planned to import $10 trillion worth of goods over the next five years.

“China will make efforts to open, even more, its doors to the exterior world and we will make efforts to streamline access to markets in the areas of investment and protect intellectual property,” Xi said.

Xi made no reference to US President Donald Trump, who on Monday said he expected to move ahead with raising tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25 percent from the current 10 percent.

But in a joint declaration adopted after Xi’s meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Spain and China said they backed “an open and balanced global economy based on WTO rules, reaffirming their commitment to fighting protectionism and unilateralism.”

Two very small groups of demonstrators, one expressing opposition to China’s human rights record and one waving a “Welcome” sign, gathered outside the senate as the Chinese leader spoke.

Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan earlier stood side by side with Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia in the crisp Madrid winter sun outside the Royal Palace to receive full military honors from the king’s guards.

China and Spain on Wednesday signed an accord on the export of Iberian ham to China, as part of a series of deals inked during the state visit.

But Spain will not sign up to Beijing’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” a wide-ranging development strategy adopted by the Chinese government involving global infrastructure projects, a Spanish government source said. 

The post China to Widen Market Access For Foreign Investors: President Xi appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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