Thursday, December 6, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Information Minister Embraces the Propaganda Machine He Inherited

Posted: 06 Dec 2018 05:29 AM PST

YANGON—Relations between the National League for Democracy-led government and local media have turned sour lately. The situation must be addressed by the government.

Last month, President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi revealed their controversial perceptions of the media, which some media professionals interpreted as a skepticism that could have a chilling effect on the Fourth Estate.

On Wednesday, at the opening ceremony of the Conference on Media Development in Myanmar in Naypyitaw, Information Minister U Pe Myint reiterated that there is a continued need for the existence of state-run media, saying it can inform people about what the government and Parliament are doing for them.

This was his public reply to calls from the country's struggling private media sector that state-owned media be shut down because they are propped up with public funds (they incurred an estimated 1.2 billion-kyat (US$770,000) loss in fiscal 2018-19) while eating up the lion's share of the market and production facilities.

It's disappointing to hear such comments from the country's information minister, especially one who serves a government that is tasked with leading a democratic transition. Frankly, his lame argument for the continued need for a government mouthpiece is simply an embrace of one of the former military government's main legacies: an official propaganda mechanism.

Ironically, U Pe Myint made his comments at an event supported by organizations including UNESCO, USAID and UKAID to promote a free and strong press in the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference in Nyapyitaw on Wednesday, he said: "The government and Parliament have a responsibility to report back to the voters on what they are doing. The government media is fulfilling that duty. Even for future governments, I want to say, the information channel between the government and the people would be the same as now, or in some form that suits the changing times," U Pe Myint said.

His statement prompted questions such as whether the government-run media will accurately report back to the people on official irregularities. History suggests not.

Since the early 1960s, Myanmar's state-owned media have, like their counterparts elsewhere, developed a reputation for publishing nothing more than government press releases and a who's who of participants at state meetings. Under the NLD-led government, not much has changed.

Here is a recent example:

When the country's anti-graft body, the Anti-Corruption Commission, investigated a corruption complaint against former finance minister U Kyaw Win in early May this year, state-run media were silent. It was the country's private print media that exposed the investigation. After serious media attention was devoted to the case, the commission leader confirmed to reporters that the investigation was nearly done. Despite all the public confirmation by the leader of the government's anti-graft body, state media didn't utter a word about the case.

Given the case mentioned above, there's no reason to believe the minister's comment on Wednesday that the state-run media under his control are fulfilling their duty by reporting back to the people on what the government is doing. Doesn't U Pe Myint think the voters have a right to know what's going wrong in the government and how it is trying to fix it? The information minister must wake up and realize that he is just replicating the former military regime' propaganda machine, whose role was to cover up anything embarrassing to the government and paint a rosy picture.

Information Minister U Pe Myint attends the opening ceremony of the Media Development in Myanmar Conference in Naypyitaw on Dec. 5, 2018. / Htet Naing Zaw

U Pe Myint, the former chief editor of the respected political journal Pyithu Khit (People's Age), used to say that previous governments used state-run media as a propaganda weapon. Sadly, by defending the existence of state-run media, the NLD government's information minister has become a bird of the same feather as his predecessors in the previous government and military regime.

At Wednesday's conference, he also questioned the reliability of international reports on freedom of expression in Myanmar, claiming they are biased.

Two local Reuters reporters are currently serving long prison sentences for breaching the law on state secrets, despite the testimony of a police witness who said that the pair was arrested as punishment for their investigation of a mass killing of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine. Another three journalists from Eleven Media were recently involved in a legal dispute with the Yangon government for writing about lawmakers' discussions of the government's budget in Parliament. With journalists in jail and in court, anyone with common sense can judge whether press freedom in the country is waning or waxing.

What was missing from his speech was recognition of the notion of press freedom and the fact that a healthy media has to be independent. If there is no independence, the media will be nothing more than a state-owned propaganda machine. Myanmar needs independent news outlets more than ever as it undergoes a democratic transition while facing mounting problems ranging from weak rule of law and rampant bureaucratic corruption to the faltering peace process with ethnic armed groups and the presence of military-run ministries within the government.

Instead, he questioned whether local journalists have editorial independence from their financiers, and lectured them on the need to provide readers correct information while protecting and loving the country.

To determine whether journalists have editorial independence, the minister could check news reports by local media outlets. He shouldn't be thin-skinned if he sees criticism of the NLD in the reports, and it is simply unfair for him to question their editorial independence because they criticize the NLD government.

The government should reach out to the press more by promoting the role of independent media with more access to information. By doing so, the government would be able to deter fake news. It can't be denied that a well-sourced report by an independent media outlet has more credibility among readers than a government statement on the same issue. A democratic government that encourages a free press will never suffer. If a country's freedom press index rises, its government will be praised internationally as a guardian of democracy. It is independent media that empower people to make their choice of government. At the same time, independent media can carry the voice of the voters to the government in a way that state-run media cannot.

The post Information Minister Embraces the Propaganda Machine He Inherited appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Anti-Graft Commission Chairman Vows to ‘Fight Corruption Completely’

Posted: 06 Dec 2018 05:13 AM PST

YANGON — Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman U Aung Kyi vowed to fight Myanmar’s deep-rooted corruption “completely” during the current administration’s remaining two years.

In his remarks at a forum entitled "Enhance Accountability to Prevent Corruption" in Yangon on Thursday, U Aung Kyi said corruption had taken root in the country over a very long time, become systemic, and left the public with little hope that the situation would improve.

To chance that, he said, the commission had recently “fried some big fish” and taken action against other less-senior officials.

"With a vow to fight corruption completely, we will keep making it happen in accordance with our anti-corruption strategy,” the chairman said, referring to a plan the commission drew up earlier this year.

Ten of the commission’s 12 members were replaced in November 2017. U Aung Kyi, a retired major general and former minister of information, was appointed chairman at the time.

The commission has been praised for stepping up its efforts over the past year. It has investigated and filed charges against the director-general of the Food and Drug Administration, who is accused of demanding favors from a company to win a contract. It also filed charges against 12 officers — including three directors — of the Customs Department for alleged taking bribes to clear the import of delivery vans, and against a deputy director and clerk of the Rural Road Development Department who allegedly demanded more than 10 million kyats ($6,200) in bribes.

In its most high-profile case, the commission has filed charges against the former attorney general of Yangon Region and five other officials for allegedly taking bribes to drop a murder case involving three men suspected of fatally beating popular comedian Ko Aung Yell Htwe.

Addressing the audience on Wednesday, U Aung Kyi called for more accountability from every governmental body, public and private institutions and citizen in combating corruption.

"No one can abstain from [the fight against] corruption. Turning a blind eye to corruption is the same as standing on the side of the convicts," he said. "As institutions of authority, governmental departments and public institutions need to watch for corruption carefully and be accountable.

"Only when the leaders who want to get rid of corruption can ensure that the corrupt do not escape unpunished can we prevent corruption,” he added.

Forum attendees included Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, Yangon Region ministers and lawmakers, and representatives from the judicial sector, civil society and business community.

Economist U Aung Tun Thet said rooting out corruption demanded political will and urged the Yangon Region chief minister and Parliament speaker to announce a "Corruption-Free Yangon."

"If we really want to stop corruption, we must have zero tolerance for it. There is no reason to forgive and understand it as a culture," he said.

Myanmar ranks 130 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s current Corruption Perceptions Index.

The post Anti-Graft Commission Chairman Vows to ‘Fight Corruption Completely’ appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

#WeToo Have a Duty to Support Victims of Sexual Misconduct

Posted: 06 Dec 2018 03:58 AM PST

CHIANG MAI, Thailand—This year, #HearMeToo is the hashtag inspiring women all over the world to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault, adding to the large outcry online and on social media, inspired by the original global #MeToo movement, which is also gaining momentum across countries in Asia. The campaign is gaining traction in Myanmar too, thirteen months since its inception in October 2017.

During this year's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, a campaign which commenced around the world on Nov. 25, women and men are raising their views on gender inequality and voicing calls for an end to sexual harassment against women, whether they themselves are victims or not.

Rape, sexual harassment and verbal harassment against women and girls in the workplace are not uncommon in Myanmar. However, accounts of sexual harassment are rarely reported due to deep-rooted social stigmatizations as well as hesitations women have in trusting the law.

According to the government's Labor Force Survey conducted in 2015, 43 percent of the country's workforce of 21.8 million are women, but companies—even those in the media industry—often lack specific policies on the prevention of sexual harassment against their female employees.

“The lack of strong legislation to help those women and a lack of legal actions are reasons for women's hesitation on speaking up because the blame is quickly refuted by the abuser,” said Daw May Sabe Phyu, director of Gender Equality Network (GEN) a network of organizations working for gender equality and women's rights in Myanmar.

In Myanmar, although sex and sexuality are still taboo topics, more and more rape cases—especially those against minors—are being reported in the mainstream media and the community is showing its supports in protecting both male and female minors.

But in the case of sexual harassment against women, there are often questions about whether it was consensual. The culture of demanding proof—whether from a victim of rape or other forms of sexual harassment—still persists and creates an extra burden on the victim.

Despite the growing call for an end to sexual harassment, in Myanmar, the lack of legal protection alongside social discrimination are principle factors that continue to make it difficult for victims to speak out.

Observers perceive that a positive side of this #MeToo movement is that it gives a voice to women in Myanmar who have been sexually harassed and that it can help raise awareness and prevent cases of harassment in the future.

"We are now at the stage of breaking the silence as [until now] few survivors shared their experiences," said Daw May Sabe Phyu, adding that in the past it was unimaginable to hear as such stories in public.

"It will also give the warning to men who committed or are going to commit such acts towards women in their work environment that 'your act will be exposed one day'," added Daw Mon Mon Myat, writer and editor of women's magazine, Women Can Do It.

Some #MeToo cases were widely shared on social media here in July and August this year when a number of women wrote about their experiences of being sexually harassed between 2011 and 2013 by a human rights trainer from a non-governmental organization where they had been working.

The case was settled in late November when the abuser was blacklisted by the international donor community. GEN intervened in the cases after receiving complaints. Daw May Sabe Phyu said the cases were "settled in terms of social justice," as GEN could not provide a legally binding result.

Prevention of sexual harassment needs the support and widespread awareness of the community, especially from the literature institutions, said Ma Zar Chi Oo who last year raised her voice for victims of sexual misconduct by a poet and member of the board of directors of the writers' association PEN Myanmar, where she used to work. The cases, which occurred in 2015 and she brought to light last year, were settled with the poet being given a "severe warning" with no follow-up of legal proceedings.

As is usually the case, nothing more came of it—the survivors have to live through the trauma while the perpetrators are "warned" and move on with their lives.

#WeToo: A tool for Myanmar too

Myanmar women are not alone in this fight. In neighboring India, China and Thailand, and even our far-in-distance-but-close-in-heart nations like Japan are on a similar path. In Thailand, the social media page Thaiconsent has opened up a space to share the untold stories related to sexual assault against Thai women and creates a space for men and women to discuss consent.

In Vietnam, since the #MeToo movement hit the country and women there have spoken about cases of sexual assault they face, the movement has brought about both positive and negative reactions.

"Public opinion is very strong against the harasser, so it shows that the Vietnam public is starting to be aware of the situation. At the same time, victims suffer a lot from victim-blaming," Tran Le Thuy, director of the Center for Media and Development Initiatives in Hanoi, Vietnam told The Irrawaddy.

Both in Myanmar and elsewhere, although it is getting easier for survivors to speak out on their experiences of sexual violence, the number of women with the courage to do so is still only a small percentage of the actual number of victims.

"There are so many out there who have similar experiences and cannot even say #MeToo, but are saying it in their hearts," said a Japanese journalist Shiori Ito recently. The practicing journalist spoke out after the 2015 case in which she accused a prominent broadcast journalist of rape was dropped due to a lack of evidence. The existing judicial system in Japan does not work to support her or other victims of sexual abuse. She has decided to document her fruitless experiences in seeking justice in her book, Black Box.

She urges others to show support for victims of sexual assault by saying "I believe you." Shiori, who is now a key campaigner for the movement in the region, told her powerful story to the attendees at the Asian Investigative Journalists Conference held in Seoul in October.

Shiori's experiences, along with countless others', are representative of how Asian society and legal supports here tend to favor the perpetrators.

At the same event, a Japanese media researcher Kimiko Aoki, now in her mid-fifties, said that in Japan women entered the workforce only after the Second World War and so her generation were able to "cope with [sexual harassment]," because “for a long time, touching breasts and a lot of things were [treated] like a joke.”

"Seeing Shiori's suffering and seeing and hearing of others, I feel like we do need to voice what we come through and what we have experienced. I feel responsible and I have colleagues who say the same. I think voicing is important," she told The Irrawaddy. Kimiko said that nowadays the idea of sexual harassment has been acknowledged in Japan and people understand that it is a problem.

In another high-profile case spurred on by the #MeToo movement, Japan's vice minister of finance resigned in April after being accused of rape.

Individual fights against sexual violence are difficult in patriarchal societies which often accept the culture of blaming women. In Asian culture, as women may be judged for falling prey to sexual assault, #MeToo could also have unwanted negative impacts on the individual's life. For this reason, a more collective message, such as the tag #WeToo, may be more useful and would encourage anyone who is against sexual harassment to stand up and show support regardless of their gender.

"WeToo could be a tool," said Kimiko. "I hope that MeToo and WeToo will go hand in hand and cross borders because we are closer in nature than the West and the culture of silence is stronger in Asia. I hope we encourage each other."

The Irrawaddy reporter Nyein Nyein was a recipient of a fellowship supported by the Global Investigate Journalism Network and its partner organizations at the 3rd Asian Investigative Journalism Conference held in Seoul in early October this year.

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Indian President to Sign Aid Deals With Myanmar on Visit

Posted: 06 Dec 2018 03:36 AM PST

YANGON — India’s president will arrive in Naypyitaw on Monday to promote his country’s Indo-Pacific strategy and sign several agreements with Myanmar, including support for its plans to repatriate Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh, according to India’s External Affairs Ministry.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said Ram Nath Kovind will meet with both President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the five-day visit.

Political, economic and defense ties between New Delhi and Naypyitaw have grown rapidly in recent years. India’s Act East and Neighborhood First policies both encompass Myanmar, the only ASEAN member state with both land and maritime borders with India.

Strategically situated between Southeast Asia and East Asia, Myanmar is important to India’s Act East policy. New Delhi adopted an earlier iteration of the policy in 1991 to enhance economic and strategic relations with Southeast Asia in an effort to strengthen its role as a regional power and offer a counterweight to China's influence in the area. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later rebranded the policy to focus on strengthening political, economic and security ties with the countries surrounding China by developing its trade relations with them.

India’s External Affairs Ministry said a joint statement will be adopted during next week’s visit and several agreements signed based on the discussions Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had with Modi during his trip to Myanmar last year.

Myanmar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Myanmar has agreed to accept India’s offer to provide legal training and to build prefabricated homes for the refugees who have fled Rakhine State for neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017 and that the deals would be singed next week.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled a military crackdown in northern Rakhine State triggered by coordinated attacks on security posts in the area by the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

Bangladesh and Myanmar were to start repatriating them last month but called it off after it emerged that they had failed to follow through on assurances that the refugees would only be brought home voluntarily. The first group of refugees selected for repatriation refused to go and said they would not return to Myanmar until they were granted certain rights, including citizenship and freedom of movement.

Last month, India extended its 2012 Border Region Development agreement with Myanmar, which commits it to spending $5 million each year on development projects along their shared 1,600 km border, which includes Rakhine.

In October, Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding with India to appoint a private operator for the Sittwe Port in Rakhine. The move is part of the Kaladan Multi-Model Transit Transport Project under the Act East policy, for which it signed a framework agreement with Myanmar in 2008. The projects aims to open sea and land routes linking eastern India’s seaport in Kolkata with its landlocked state of Mizoram through Myanmar's Rakhine and Chin states.

In January, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited India for an India-ASEAN commemorative summit. During the event, she met with Modi and discussed the development of Rakhine State and India's further development assistance to Myanmar.

Myanmar signed agreements in November with 10 countries, including India, promising to protect their investments in the country and to push for more.

The post Indian President to Sign Aid Deals With Myanmar on Visit appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Arakan Party Urges Govt to Investigate Suspect Citizenship Cards in Rakhine State

Posted: 06 Dec 2018 02:42 AM PST

YANGON — The Arakan National Party has urged the Union government to investigate claims that more than 3,000 National Registration Cards (NRCs) identifying the holders as ethnic Kaman were actually issued to Muslim Rohingya in southern Rakhine State over the past year.

Buddhist Arakan and Muslim Kaman communities in Rakhine have been raising concerns about the cards since September. The following month, the state legislature passed a motion encouraging the Union government to review 3,306 newly issued NRCs, which confer citizenship, in Ramree Township’s Kyauk Ni Maw village tract.

In a statement on Monday, the party said the Union government was ignoring the will of the people. It urged the government to set up an independent commission to investigate the issue, punish officials who issued cards erroneously, and ensure that the cards are properly issued from now on.

In September, Daw Htoot May, a Union lawmaker representing Ramree, submitted an “urgent proposal” asking the Upper House to approve a review of the disputed cards. But the speaker blocked the submission and advised her to change her proposal to a question for the House instead. Daw Htoot May said she made the change but was still waiting for a decision from the speaker on whether it will be passed on to the House.

“The House speaker did not explain the reason for the postponement and delay. It has been more than 20 days so far,” she said.

Government officials met with locals in Ramree to discuss the issue last week.

Ko Htin Lin Khine, a local resident who attended the meeting, said the officials included U Shein Win, deputy director-general of the Department of National Registration and Citizenship at the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population. He said the deputy told them that four Muslims from Kyauk Ni Maw, led by a man named Ba Than Htay, had asked for the NRCs from senior officials in Naypyitaw, and that those senior officials then instructed his ministry to work with officials from Ramree Township to evaluate the applications.

Ko Htin Lin Khine said the deputy told them that legal procedures were followed but did not specify the laws or articles. He said he asked the visiting officials if the government had issued the cards in accordance with Article 65 of the Citizenship Law — which states that anyone may apply for citizenship to the Central Body, a committee comprising the ministers of defense, foreign affairs and home affairs — and a June 2016 announcement from the President’s Office stating that staff from relevant departments must together decide if the applicants are to be granted association or naturalized citizenship.

Ko Htin Lin Khine said he also brought up Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the Citizenship Law, which explains who is eligible for citizenship claims based on the legal status of their parents. But he said the officials did not answer any of his questions directly.

Legal experts say that members of the 135 ethnic groups recognized by the government as native to Myanmar — the Kaman are, the Rohingya are not — need not apply to the Central Body for NRCs, raising questions among some about why those who recommended the applicants of the 3,306 cards had made multiple trips to Naypyitaw in 2017.

Ko Htin Lin Khine said he and others also had suspicions that some of the locals who recommended the applicants for the Kaman NRCs were not themselves Kaman, as is required by law.

He said U Shein Win told them that only 21 of the 3,306 card holders were found to not be ethnic Kaman and that the locals were “dissatisfied” with the claim.

An official household registration document issued by the General Administration Department in 2013, seen by The Irrawaddy, says only 500 of Kyauk Ni Maw’s 4,300 residents at the time were Kaman. Most of the township’s Kaman have moved to Yangon in recent years.

To determine whether the people recommending the applicants for Kaman NRCs were themselves Kaman, Daw Htoot May said she also tried asking the Ramree Immigration Department for their NRC numbers but was refused.

“He told me the documents were taken away by immigration officers from Naypyitaw but did not provide their [the officials’] names,” she said.

Daw Htoot May said 10 of the people who recommended the applicants were of particular interest because their names and photos have been shared on social media along with NRC application forms and recommendation letters.

“Even lawmakers are restricted from seeing the official documents of relevant departments. So I think we have to ask Parliament what type of documents are accessible or classified,” she said.

The Muslim Kaman are one of the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups in Myanmar and among the seven ethnic subgroups of Rakhine State. They served as royal archers in the Arakan Kingdom, a practice that vanished when the kingdom fell to the Burmese Konbaung Dynasty in 1784. Today there are about 45,000 Kaman across the country.

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Tatmadaw, Arakan Army Clash in Buthidaung Township

Posted: 06 Dec 2018 01:27 AM PST

YANGON—The Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army (AA) have engaged in a series of clashes over the past six days or so along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, according to the ethnic armed group.

"The two sides engaged in a fierce clash from 6.30 a.m. till 2 p.m. [Wednesday], and the fighting continued sporadically [till evening]," AA information officer U Khaing Thu Kha told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

The clashes occurred in Rakhine State's Buthidaung Township, he said.

U Khaing Thu Kha said the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) launched an offensive in areas controlled by the AA on Nov. 29, and the clashes intensified on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The AA maintains control of its border strongholds in Buthidaung Township, he said.

"We have collected bodies [of killed Tatmadaw soldiers] and seized arms and ammunition from the Myanmar Army. It is a large amount of weapons and ammunition, but I haven't got a detailed list," U Khaing Thu Kha said.

The Irrawaddy could not reach a Tatmadaw spokesman for comment. There was no report from the Myanmar military commander-in-chief's office of clashes in Buthidaung Township.

Residents and civil society organizations based in Buthidaung said they had heard reports of clashes between the Tatmadaw and AA, but had not witnessed them from the town. All declined to discuss any possible clashes further with news agencies.

Rakhine State lawmaker U Tun Aung Thein of Buthidaung Township said he did not have details of the situation on the ground, as the clashes were reportedly taking place in inaccessible areas without telecommunications services.

There are Mro and Khami villages along the border in Buthidaung Township, but they are located in the forest and he was not in contact with them, U Tun Aung Thein said.

During clashes on the border in May, the AA took three Tatmadaw soldiers prisoner. The captured troops were from the Buthidaung-based Light Infantry Battalion 263.

After initially saying it would release the three, the AA later said they would remain in its area of control. It claimed the Tatmadaw soldiers were afraid to return to their unit.

The Tatmadaw has not released any statements about the three soldiers.

The Myanmar military has said it would allow the AA, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army to join formal peace talks only after they disarm. But the three have refused to do so.

The AA was formed by around 20 Arakanese youths in April 2009. It is based in Kachin State's Laiza, which is also home to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army. In 2014, the AA said it planned to establish a base in its homeland of Rakhine State. It then infiltrated Rakhine State and Chin State's Paletwa Township along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, and has clashed with the Myanmar Army periodically since 2015.

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Listen Up—Voice of the Youth to Take Center Stage

Posted: 06 Dec 2018 12:24 AM PST

YANGON—Voice of the Youth (VOY) is a music and social unity project which aims to empower the youth of Myanmar by using music as a creative vehicle to tell their dreams, their visions of society and concerns of Myanmar's future through from their music and their annual music festival takes place this Friday.

The event is organized by Turning Tables Myanmar, a group that wants to raise awareness of the importance of youth participation in Myanmar's democratic transition. This is the fourth edition of the VOY music festival and it will take place at Botahtaung Jetty in downtown Yangon.

"VOY is one of our movements and we see youths have become brave and dare to speak louder about their visions of society from different angles through their music," said Ko Darko C, the director of Turning Tables Myanmar and vocalist and guitarist with the well-established punk band, Side Effect.

The organization hosted a song contest in which fans of all kinds of music genres could compete as long as the submissions are original creations and fit into the theme of Myanmar's societal, educational and religious direction.

"We just want to hear of the voices of the youths, their feelings, what they want to be. They need to speak louder. They need to learn freedom of expression and use it through music. That is the main point of this movement," said Ko Darko.

The VOY music festivals began in 2015 and still today there are only few young people who can express their visions freely through their music, he said.

He added, "After the second edition of VOY, more young people started to recognize us because of the winner Zwe Thet Paing. His song is about human rights got a lot good feedback. In 2017, we accepted a lot of competition songs which were written about the country's problems. I've also heard a lot of social cohesion song themes at other underground music concerts so, that's a change."

This year, they got more than 100 applications from different parts of Myanmar in music styles and expressions ranging from hip-hop to rock, pop, metal, gothic and punk.

They selected only one winner from over one hundred competitors. Winners get a unique chance to perform with other well-known artists at this week's VOY music festival. The winner of the 2018 competition is an artist called Bliss who won with a song called "Yat Thint P," meaning "Should Stop" in English.

"Bliss will be performing with us at the coming festival. We have a total nine finalists and all nine songs will be included on the VOY 2018 album," explained Ko Darko.

In 2017 the team traveled across the country to teach the youth how to make music with what they already have and how to tell their stories through music. They brought their movement to a total of six locations nationwide, including Nyaung Shwe, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin.

"This year, we changed the plan and we tried to get our own place. It's like a youth center. We held training and workshops there," said Ko Darko.

"There are so many young people who are passionate about music but don't have support, so we want to help them as much as we can and we want to get them all in one place," he said.

"You will hear their voices singing about their society together at VOY and you will see their unity despite their music genres being different. They respect each other."

The artist line up for Friday's music festival includes Side Effect, Bigg-Y, Lan Bar, Last Days of Beethoven, Fever 109, The Myth, Skunx, T-Zin, Jimmy Jacobs, Mr-Luffie, Big Zee, Floke Rose, Maze of Mara, The Reasonabilists, Louz Xa Lone, SGL, Tu, Myat Thitsar and Nway Nway. The DJ Zaw Gyi will also perform.

Acts kick off at 3 p.m. and entry is free-of-charge.

The post Listen Up—Voice of the Youth to Take Center Stage appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Superstars of Modern Burmese Dining

Posted: 05 Dec 2018 09:40 PM PST

YANGON–Occupying a square of a low-rise but bustling outer-Yangon township, skirted by a busy bus stop and betel nut stall on one side and a teashop on another, is a new open-air diner where you can try not one but three food concepts created by the minds behind the city's most popular upscale teashop, Rangoon Tea House.

On a Friday morning some six weeks after its opening, Htet Myet Oo, managing director of the parent company RTH Group, is refining the layout of his newest outlet, Pinlon Hawker Centre. He and his team now handle five modern Burmese food brands in nine locations in Yangon.

The Hawker Center serves high-quality Asian, Burmese and ethnic Myanmar dishes in a comfortable, modern setting. The industrial-style interior design and seating spreads outdoors on Pinlon Street in North Dagon, which is described by Htet as "an up-and-coming middle-class area." Here are two entirely new and exciting food brands—Pinlon Kyay Oh, serving noodle soup, and Nam Su, focusing on the pounded, steamed and mashed delights of northern Shan State. It's a far cry from the many international franchises that are popping up in Yangon and seem determined to make Myanmar's commercial capital look and taste like every other Asian city.

This is the first restaurant RTH Group has built from scratch. Htet's hope is that it will become a platform for him to experiment with new food brands before launching them on a larger scale.

"We're trying to add more layers to the concept. The idea with this place is that we'll run different concepts through it and if they work then we can open it elsewhere," Htet said.

Pinlon Hawker Centre, RTH Group’s latest venture opened in North Dagon in late September. / Supplied

Today, he is working on a plan to incorporate food stalls along the perimeter of Pinlon Hawker Centre next to the sidewalk. By adding outdoor seating, he hopes to reach out to people and convince them to try the product he has been crafting over four years.

The talk of the town when he first opened Rangoon Tea House in 2014, Htet and his fiancé Isabella Sway-Tin, who joined the business a few months later, have gone on to establish no fewer than eight more outlets and a catering business. Now, in addition to Rangoon Tea House, there are five Mr. Woks serving "Asian fast food," two Buthee curry houses and the new Pinlon Hawker Centre. In 2016, Htet was listed on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list and he and Isabella collectively won KBZ Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 as awarded by Myanmore.

"We opened [Rangoon Tea House] to relatively low expectations; we didn't really know what we were doing or how we were doing it. I suppose it was more fun back then, when you knew nothing and there weren't many things to disappoint you," said Htet, sitting at a bench at Pinlon Hawker Centre.

Htet and his team were on the receiving end of much criticism—as well as praise—after the opening of his first venture. Many in Yangon couldn't accept that everyday Burmese fare would be sold with such a price tag and they complained about the location and lack of parking among other things.

Whether it was the intention all along or they simply lucked out, today the market embraces Rangoon Tea House's concept and pricing. Through 12 menu evolutions, the price range hasn't changed over the years, while restaurant prices across Yangon have risen, leaving Rangoon Tea House in a comfortable mid-range position with a packed house for lunch and dinner every day of the week.

"We persevered with the quality of food that we thought the customers should be receiving and after four years our prices stayed the same but the market has changed," Htet said.

As well as having thick skin and a level of stubbornness, Htet said what they have achieved comes from being able to come up with fresh ideas and concepts which are adjusted and adapted constantly to suit the changing market and their target customer base.

"It's the ability to not take things personally—people will always have things to say about your business and about your vision, but you have to understand that you believe in your vision for a reason and always go back to that. That's been, I think, the most important for us," he said.

Once Rangoon Tea House was off the ground, Mr. Wok followed in 2016. The flaming wok-fried noodles and rice have been a big hit among Yangonites and the fifth branch just opened at Pinlon Hawker Centre.

Then last year, Buthee, with a country curry house theme, opened on Bogalayzay Street in downtown Yangon. Recently, Htet and Isabella decided to shut the doors for a few days to make some adjustments. Table service has replaced the point-and-choose order method, the décor has been adjusted and new dishes added to the menu. Why? Htet said the issue comes back to the balancing act that he and his team are constantly working on—creating a space where everyone feels comfortable and welcome to enjoy the best Myanmar dishes prepared to a high standard. They want to quell impressions that Buthee is expensive or too high class or for a lunch-time curry. This balancing act is an issue across all the RTH Group outlets.

"To tell you the truth, we're still trying to find that balance."

Exterior of Rangoon Tea House which opened in 2014 on Pansodan Street in downtown Yangon. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy

Now 28 years old, Htet was born in Myanmar and moved to the UK with his family when he was 4 years old. He grew up there and returned to Yangon soon after finishing his economics degree in London. He knew he wanted to start his own business and he had a passion for food—it seemed inevitable that it would be a restaurant.

Today, food ideas, restaurant themes and designing menus are the easy part of the job for Htet. He says the food served is only as good as the people creating it, and handling a team of around 200 staff and 12 managers is no easy task. But he and Isabella have a huge combined determination and an infallible hunger to create more food brands. They have broadened their reach across Yangon and have ambitions abroad too—one of their long-term visions is to take Burmese fare overseas through pop-ups across the continent and beyond. Excitingly, if all goes to plan, 2019 might even see a second Rangoon Tea House opening somewhere in "uptown" Yangon.

"What keeps us on our toes is that we know there is so much further to go. I think the day you feel like you're on the summit is the day you should probably pack it in," Htet said.

At the end of the day, ahead of everything else comes the flavor of the food Htet and his team serve to diners every day. "The best designers are always about function before aesthetics. We try to put the taste first and the aesthetics second. I don't care whether it's served on a golden platter, it should taste nice first."

The post Superstars of Modern Burmese Dining appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Major Cities Can Fight Climate Change and Make Billions: Researchers

Posted: 05 Dec 2018 09:28 PM PST

KUALA LUMPUR—Implementing green strategies like bike lanes and better building codes could bring 94 world cities a collective $583 billion worth of benefits, while fighting climate change, according to research by a global network of cities.

C40 Cities pinpointed transport, buildings and industry as priorities to be incorporated into climate change policies. Doing so would encourage large investments and avert 223,000 premature deaths, as people live and work longer.

“This research quantifies and provides the business case for what mayors have long known to be true: taking bold climate action also improves public health,” C40 executive director Mark Watts said in a statement.

“There is no longer any trade-off for cities between delivering policies that benefit the environment, drive economic growth and improve the health of citizens.”

Cities are key in the fight against climate change, according to the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).

More than half the global population lives in cities, which consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy, and account for more than 70 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, the IFC says.

C40 researchers said cities should implement walking, cycling and mass transit policies, introduce stringent emission standards, promote zero-emissions vehicles and establish zero emission areas.

Cities should also adopt strict regulations for new buildings and retrofit older buildings to improving heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water heating and lighting systems, researchers added.

Industry and businesses should use energy efficient technologies. Emissions capturing and maintenance and monitoring are all important if climate goals are to be achieved, they said.

By focusing on green approaches to transport, buildings and industry, cities could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 87 percent and hazardous airborne pollutants known as PM2.5 by 49 percent, according to the researchers.

“Where the problem lies in terms of emissions, is also where the solution lies,” said Milag San Jose-Ballesteros, director for East, Southeast Asia and Oceania at C40 Cities in Singapore.

“It is not mutually exclusive when you talk about low-carbon development and building healthy cities,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone on Wednesday.

Although many C40 cities have already identified or implemented some of the measures suggested in the report, the three key areas in the research needed to be fully reflected in strategies by 2020 and in place or adopted by 2030, she added.

The post Major Cities Can Fight Climate Change and Make Billions: Researchers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Enter the Bull: Fighters Mix Kung Fu and Bullfighting in China

Posted: 05 Dec 2018 09:12 PM PST

BEIJING/JIAXING, China — Several times a week, kung fu teacher Ren Ruzhi enters a ring to spar with a bovine opponent around five times his weight and capable of killing him.

Ren’s mixing of martial arts and bullfighting worries his mother, but the 24-year-old has never been hurt. Besides, he says, grappling with a snorting bull is exciting.

“It symbolizes the bravery of a man,” Ren told Reuters in Jiaxing in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang.

Unlike Spain’s more famous sport, the Chinese variant of bullfighting involves no swords or gore but instead fuses the moves of wrestling with the skill and speed of kung fu to bring down beasts weighing up to 400 kg.

“Spanish bullfighting is more like a performance or a show,” said Hua Yang, a 41-year-old enthusiast who watched a bullfight during a visit to Spain.

“This [the Chinese variety] is truly a contest pitting a human’s strength against a bull. There are a lot of skills involved and it can be dangerous.”

The physically demanding sport requires fighters to train intensively and they typically have short careers, said Han Haihua, a former pro wrestler who coaches bullfighters at his Haihua Kung fu School in Jiaxing.

Han calls the bullfighting style he teaches “the explosive power of hard ‘qigong,'” saying it combines the skill and speed of martial arts with traditional wrestling techniques.

Typically, a fighter approaches the bull head on, grabs its horns and twists, turning its head until the bull topples over.

“What do I mean by explosive power?” Han asked. “In a flash! Pow! Concentrate all your power on one point. All of a sudden, in a flash, wrestle it to the ground.”

If the first fighter gets tired, another one can step into the ring, but they have just three minutes in which to wrestle the bull to the ground or lose the bout.

The bulls, too, are trained before entering the ring, Han said, and learn themselves how to spread their legs or find a corner to brace against being taken down.

“A bull can also think like a human; they are smart,” Han added.

Although he says his bulls get better treatment than the animals involved in the Spanish sport, animal rights activists believe Chinese bullfighting is still painful for the animals and cruel as a form of entertainment.

“In Chinese bullfighting, we cannot deny the bulls experience pain,” said Layli Li, a spokeswoman for animal welfare group PETA. “As long as it exists, that means there is suffering.”

The post Enter the Bull: Fighters Mix Kung Fu and Bullfighting in China appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ten Companies Shortlisted for Yangon Elevated Expressway Contract

Posted: 05 Dec 2018 08:58 PM PST

YANGON—The Ministry of Construction has announced a shortlist of pre-qualified companies as contenders for the contract to build an elevated expressway in Yangon, which is aimed at alleviating the city's traffic woes.

A total of 12 local and international companies submitted prequalification applications for Phase 1 of the project. Out of these, 10 companies were named prequalified bidders.

The shortlisted companies include a Chinese-Myanmar consortium, a Thai-Japanese-Myanmar consortium, a Thai-Chinese consortium, four companies from China and one each from France, Korea, and Japan.

The planned four-lane ring road will connect downtown Yangon, Yangon Port, Yangon International Airport, Mingaladon Industrial Zone and the Yangon-Mandalay Highway.

Phase 1 would involve connecting Dawbon Bridge in Pazundaung Township, Mingaladon Industrial Zone and Yangon International Airport, U Kyi Zaw Myint, a deputy director-general at the Ministry of Construction, told The Irrawaddy last month.

The project will be implemented through a public-private partnership. The shortlisted companies will be invited to submit proper project proposals and the winning bid is expected to be announced by June 2019.

The ministry said on Wednesday that the expressway is a high-priority project for the government and it aims to improve connectivity for businesses and communities in the country's commercial hub.

The list of 10 companies and consortiums from Myanmar, Thailand, China, Japan, Korea and France which have been shortlisted for the Yangon Elevated Expressway project. / Ministry of Construction

President U Win Myint has formed a steering committee to oversee the development of the expressway, including the city's chief minister and deputy construction minister and the Union ministers for construction, transport and communication, planning and finance, and electricity and energy.

The International Finance Corporation, the private lending arm of the World Bank Group, has been appointed the project's exclusive lead adviser.

The post Ten Companies Shortlisted for Yangon Elevated Expressway Contract appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Telecoms Giant Huawei CFO Arrested in Canada

Posted: 05 Dec 2018 08:49 PM PST

VANCOUVER/WASHINGTON — Canada has arrested Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver, where she is facing extradition to the United States, Canada’s Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

The arrest is related to violations of U.S. sanctions, a person familiar with the matter said. Reuters was unable to determine the precise nature of the violations.

Sources told Reuters in April that U.S. authorities have been probing Huawei, one of the world’s largest makers of telecommunications network equipment, since at least 2016 for allegedly shipping U.S.-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws.

Meng Wanzhou, who is one of the vice chairs on the company’s board and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on Dec. 1 and a court hearing has been set for Friday, a Canadian Justice Department spokesman said.

Huawei confirmed the arrest in a statement and said that it has been provided little information of the charges, adding that it was “not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng.”

China’s embassy in Canada said it resolutely opposed the arrest and called for Meng’s immediate release.

The arrest could drive a wedge between China and the United States just days after President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping held a meeting in Argentina where they agreed to steps to resolve a trade war.

The sources said in April the U.S. Justice Department probe is being run out of the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday declined to comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn also declined to comment.

The probe of Huawei is similar to one that threatened the survival of China’s ZTE Corp , which pleaded guilty in 2017 to violating U.S. laws that restrict the sale of American-made technology to Iran.

Earlier this year, the United States banned American firms from selling parts and software to ZTE, which then paid $1 billion this summer as part of a deal to get the ban lifted.

In January 2013, Reuters reported that Hong Kong-based Skycom Tech Co Ltd, which attempted to sell embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator, had much closer ties to Huawei than previously known.

Meng, who also has gone by the English names Cathy and Sabrina, served on the board of Skycom between February 2008 and April 2009, according to Skycom records filed with Hong Kong’s Companies Registry.

Several other past and present Skycom directors appear to have connections to Huawei.

The news about the arrest comes the same day Britain’s BT Group said it was removing Huawei’s equipment from the core of its existing 3G and 4G mobile operations and would not use the Chinese company in central parts of the next network.

The handset and telecommunications equipment maker said it complies with all applicable export control and sanctions laws and U.S. and other regulations.

The Huawei statement said Meng was detained when she was transferring flights in Canada.

Her arrest drew a quick reaction in Washington.

U.S. Senator Ben Sasse praised the action and said that it was “for breaking U.S. sanctions against Iran.” He added: “Sometimes Chinese aggression is explicitly state-sponsored and sometimes it’s laundered through many of Beijing's so-called ‘private’ sector entities.”

U.S. stock futures and Asian shares tumbled as news of the arrest heightened the sense a major collision was brewing between the world’s two largest economic powers, not just over tariffs but also over technological hegemony.

While investors initially greeted the trade ceasefire that was agreed in Argentina with relief, the mood has quickly soured on skepticism that the two sides can reach a substantive deal.

S&P500 e-mini futures were down almost 2 percent at one point in thin Asian morning trade on Thursday.

The post China Telecoms Giant Huawei CFO Arrested in Canada appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘We Can’t Go Anywhere’: Myanmar Closes Rohingya Camps but ‘Entrenches Segregation’

Posted: 05 Dec 2018 08:45 PM PST

YANGON—As the world was focused on abortive efforts to begin repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar last month, hundreds of their fellow Muslims still in Myanmar were boarding boats seeking to escape the country.

Their attempted flight cast the spotlight back on 128,000 Rohingya and other displaced Muslims still living in crowded camps in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, six years after Buddhist mobs razed most of their homes.

The government of Aung San Suu Kyi, under international pressure to address their plight, says it is now closing the camps on the grounds that doing so will help development and put the labor of camp residents to good use.

But Reuters interviews with more than a dozen residents from five camps and internal United Nations documents show the move simply means building new, more permanent homes next to the camps—rather than allowing them to return to the areas from which they fled—leaving their situation little changed.

Those that have moved into the new accommodation remain under the same severe movement restrictions as before, residents and staff working in the camps say. A network of official checkpoints and threats of violence by local Buddhists prevent Muslims from moving freely in Rakhine. As a result, those sources say, they are cut off from sources of livelihoods and most services, and reliant on humanitarian handouts.

“Yes, we moved to new houses—it’s correct to say [the camp is closed],” said Kyaw Aye, a community leader from a camp called Nidin, in central Rakhine. “But we’ll never be able to stand on our own feet because we can’t go anywhere.”

Reuters spoke to displaced Muslims in Rakhine by phone as reporters are denied independent access to the camps.

Myanmar’s Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Win Myat Aye said the government was working with the United Nations on a national strategy to close camps housing people forced out of their homes by violence in Rakhine and elsewhere, known as internally displaced persons or IDPs.

There were no legal restrictions on the movements of displaced people in Rakhine, as long as they accepted a so-called national verification card that also gives them equal access to healthcare and education, he said in a written response to Reuters’ questions.

Aid workers and Muslim residents say severe restrictions persist even on those who have accepted the identity card, which most Rohingya reject because they say it treats them as foreigners who have to prove their nationality.

The UN chief in Myanmar, Knut Ostby, warned in a Sept. 24 private note that the government’s plan for camp closures “risks further entrenching segregation while denying IDPs many of their fundamental human rights.”

Ostby’s office declined to comment on the note, but in a written response to Reuters’ questions said the UN had been invited to comment on the government’s plans for closing camps and was preparing its response.

That response would include recommendations that all displaced people be granted freedom of movement, were involved in planning their resettlement and could return to their homes or another place of their choosing, Ostby said.

Maritime escape

Rohingya community leaders say that improving conditions for those still living in Rakhine is one of the keys to persuading the hundreds of thousands sheltering in refugee camps in Bangladesh to return.

Some 730,000 fled a military crackdown after attacks by Rohingya militants in August 2017. UN-mandated investigators have said the Myanmar military unleashed a campaign of killings, rape and arson with “genocidal intent.” Myanmar has denied almost all the accusations against its troops, who it says engaged in legitimate operations against terrorists.

Refugees baulked at a plan for repatriating them that was supposed to begin in mid-November, arguing that conditions were not right for return.

Meanwhile, at least three boats, each carrying scores of men, women and children, have departed from Rakhine for Malaysia since monsoon rains abated in October, following the hazardous maritime escape route used for years by Rohingya fleeing what they say is persecution in Myanmar.

“If they are making the choice to go by boat, it’s clear proof of the conditions in the IDP camps,” said Khin Maung, a Rohingya youth activist in Bangladesh.

He is in touch with fellow Muslims who are “living like prisoners” in the camps in central Rakhine, Khin Maung said. “If they are living like that how can we agree to go back?”

Minister Win Myat Aye, said Myanmar was working to improve the lives of both the IDPs and potential returnees.

“I assume that the displaced people are leaving with boats because they [have] not fully understood what we arranged for their accommodations, livelihoods and socio-economic development,” he said.

"Investing in segregation"

One camp, among the 18 remaining in Rakhine, lies outside a central Rakhine town of Myebon, which was torn by communal violence in 2012.

The 3,000-strong Muslim community was expelled and put in the camp, known as Taungpaw, on a narrow strip between the now Buddhist-only town and the Bay of Bengal, in what was supposed to be a temporary arrangement.

This year authorities built 200 new houses on rice paddies next to the camp, despite concerns that the area was prone to flooding. They were inundated in early June. In September, the government also built two new buildings set to become Muslim-only schoolhouses.

“This is a sign the Rakhine state government is investing in permanent segregation rather than promoting integration,” said a previously unpublished memo dated Sept. 30 and circulated by UN officials setting out the concerns of aid workers operating in the camps. The UN said it did not comment on leaked documents.

Some Muslims in Myebon have Myanmar citizenship and others have accepted national verification cards. They say they still cannot visit the town, where communal tensions have stayed high since the 2012 violence. Rakhine Buddhists have at times blocked aid deliveries to the camp.

“Although they gave people new homes, if there’s still no freedom to move, there’s still no opportunity to do business,” said camp resident Cho Cho, 49.

Aung Thar Kyaw, a leader among the Rakhine Buddhist community in Myebon, said the two communities were too different to live together, labelling Muslims “so aggressive.”

“The government already built them new homes so they don’t need to enter town,” he said.

Lei Lei Aye, an official in the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, referred questions about the specific concerns in Taungpaw to Rakhine state government officials, who could not be reached for comment.

"Policy of apartheid"

Despite the humanitarian community’s efforts to convince Myanmar to change course, including by giving technical advice on camp closures, “the only scenario that is unfolding before our eyes is the implementation of a policy of apartheid with the permanent segregation of all Muslims, the vast majority of whom are stateless Rohingya, in central Rakhine,” said an internal “discussion note” prepared by the UN’s refugee agency in late September, first reported by Frontier Myanmar magazine and reviewed by Reuters.

Win Myat Aye said he was “not concerned” about such warnings because the government was progressing with its camp closure strategy in consultation with UN agencies, non-governmental groups and foreign diplomats.

The UN estimates humanitarian assistance in Rakhine will cost about $145 million next year.

Former residents of Nidin, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Taungpaw, told Reuters their situation had barely improved since state media declared the camp closed in August.

They are unable to return to Kyauktaw, the town where many lived and worked before the 2012 violence.

Tun Wai, a Rakhine Buddhist doctor in Kyauktaw, said Muslims could “go freely outside the town.” But if they try to return, he said, “they will be killed.”

Soe Lwin, deputy chief of Kyauktaw Police Station, said Muslims “can’t enter the town,” but denied they would meet with violence. “We have the rule of law,” he said.

The Muslims now live marooned among rice paddies that do not belong to them. Rohingya fishermen say what they catch barely covers their rental costs as they do not own their equipment.

And with no clean water supply, children have contracted skin rashes from washing in agricultural run-off.

“We can’t even support our children because we don’t have income,” said former camp resident Khin Hla, 43. “Without aid, we would starve.”

The post 'We Can’t Go Anywhere': Myanmar Closes Rohingya Camps but 'Entrenches Segregation' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Bangladesh Seeks Action Against Myanmar Minister over Rohingya ‘Brainwashed’ Remark

Posted: 05 Dec 2018 08:12 PM PST

DHAKA — Bangladesh summoned the Myanmar ambassador on Wednesday to condemn "irresponsible remarks" made by Myanmar's religion minister about Rohingya Muslims, and called for action against him, senior officials at the Bangladesh foreign ministry said.

Rohingya Muslims living as refugees in Bangladesh after escaping Myanmar are being "brainwashed" into "marching" on the Buddhist-majority nation, Myanmar's religion minister, U Aung Ko, said in a video released by the news website NewsWatch.

"We strongly protest their minister's provocative remarks. It also hurt Muslim sentiments," a senior official in the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry told Reuters on Thursday.

Condemning the comments about "marching on Myanmar," he said: "We have zero tolerance towards militancy. We have never encouraged radicalism."

"If you give them citizenship and their property back, they will run for Myanmar. Instead of doing that, you are making provocative statements? This is unfortunate," the official said.

More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar's Rakhine State in the wake of a brutal army crackdown last August, UN agencies say, and are now living in crowded Bangladeshi refugee camps.

UN investigators have accused Myanmar soldiers of carrying out mass killings, rapes and burning hundreds of villages with “genocidal intent.” Myanmar denies most of the allegations.

When Bangladesh summoned Myanmar Ambassador U Lwin Oo, he "tried to dilute the comments by saying they were the religion minister's personal opinion," said an official at the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry who was present at the meeting. "But we asked for action against the minister."

The religion minister's comments come as both countries have been engaged in negotiations for more than a year to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar, often blaming each other for delays in the process.

The latest plan was scuppered last month after no refugees agreed to return, saying they wouldn't go back unless Myanmar met a series of demands, chiefly granting them citizenship rights.

The post Bangladesh Seeks Action Against Myanmar Minister over Rohingya ‘Brainwashed’ Remark appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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