Tuesday, March 5, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Local Indie Artist Experiences Musical ‘Metamorphosis’

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 06:16 AM PST

In Myanmar, musical genres like jazz, indie and blues are not widely popular, but they are all influences on one imaginative, poetic young woman with very soulful musical tastes who is set to release "Metamorphosis", her first full-length debut album of strikingly original songs, on March 9.

Gabriel Phway is the name under which Phway Nu Moe, a pale, slim 23-year-old medical student, records. "Gabriel is the artist name that I gave myself," she said.

"All the songs on the album are directly related to myself because I wrote them; when I feel or see something, I turn them into lyrics. So, you will discover me in my songs."

"Metamorphosis" includes a total of 10 tracks; nine songs and an opening poem, called "Prelude", written and read by Gabriel herself.

The poem is also about the process of metamorphosis. Gabriel said, "I like that word 'Metamorphosis', and love the idea of something that changes into something completely different. Butterflies also go through a metamorphosis, but only once. Humans are different: We make a mistake, then learn a lesson and change. It happens again and again. So, you will see how I've changed, and how 'Metamorphosis' became my album title."

In 2017, Gabriel released her debut four-song EP "Addiction" online. She admits to being in a dark place in her life at that time.

"When I was making 'Metamorphosis', I changed from the dark side to the light and bright side. I have new wishes, dreams and feelings," Gabriel said.

'Metamorphosis', Gabriel Phway's first full-length album / Htet Wai

She wrote most of the songs herself. They are about love, life and her own imaginings.

"I'm an imaginative girl; I'm always imagining different things. I use my imagination when I need to escape from reality, or want to 'go' somewhere. When I feel something, I turn it into words," Gabriel said.

"I wrote all the songs on the piano."

Gabriel's father is the well-known local singer and songwriter Saw Khu Sel, and Gabriel said she became a musician because of her father.

"He didn't urge me to go into music, but his blood runs in my veins and I grew up on his songs. He guided me a lot. But I have developed my own love of music," she said.

In 2014, Gabriel first got involved in the music industry but most of her favorite music genres are only accepted in the underground music scene in Myanmar.

"So, I gravitated to the underground music scene automatically, because they are the ones who accept my music," she added.

Gabriel performed her own songs and covers at many bar gigs, as well as the Mingalabar Festival and the Jam It local underground concert series, with a band called Gabriel and The Jets.

Gabriel Phway and Russel at her prelistening party / Htet Wai

In the beginning, her parents were not very supportive and wanted her to focus on her education.

"They're not really supportive but they don't stop me. They wish I'd focus on studying. So, that has been my biggest struggle—managing the time between studying medicine and doing music," Gabriel said.

Now, she is in her final year as a medical student and ready to release her first album, with her parents' help.

Gabriel can play piano and guitar, though she claims not to play at a professional standard. She studied music theory with her teacher, Ko Sai.

"I like every kind of music. When I was young I used to listen to a lot of hip-hop. Then, I developed a taste for alternative music, but my heart beat louder when I heard jazz and indie," Gabriel said.

"Metamorphosis" has already been released on the online music streaming service JOOX. The CD will be available on March 9 at all City Mart branches and music stores. The album will be available on iTunes and Spotify soon.

"I hope people will enjoy the music that I want to make, and I will try to improve in the future," she said.

The post Local Indie Artist Experiences Musical 'Metamorphosis' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In Artist’s Hands, the Constitution Is an Unedifying Spectacle

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 05:31 AM PST

YANGON—Myint Soe prepares a large bell-mouthed pan, which he has placed atop a green gas cooker. Scattered around the pan are spoons and wooden ladles.

Given the presence of the utensils, and the title of his latest exhibition, "Consume", it appears at first glance that the artist is cooking a meal for visitors to the Nawaday Tharlar Art Gallery. In fact, he is serving up a metaphorical depiction of the 2008 Constitution, which is known as the "Green Book" due to its green cover.

The pan contains only boiling water and some coriander—not much of a meal. Moreover, the spoons and ladles are riddled with holes. The installation symbolizes the less-than-nourishing democracy that has emerged from the 2008 Constitution.

"I 'cooked' [a meal of] law and democracy based on the 2008 Constitution. But you can't serve it up to be eaten [because of the holes in the utensils]. You can't get the essence of democracy because of these limitations," said the artist.

"Nature gives us the best things. It gives us the delicious things in the pan. It's just that we can't spoon them out. On another level, every religion gives us the best things, but we can't spoon them out. I leave [the ultimate meaning] to the viewer's imagination," the 66-year-old artist said.

Myint Soe's installation artwork 'Consume' / Myo Min Soe

The installation can be viewed through Friday at the Nawaday Tharlar Art Gallery on Yawmingyi Street in Yangon.

Known for producing installations that tackle political and social issues, as well as environmental conservation, Myint Soe used 6,000 spoons to create the artwork. He said he didn't write "2008 Constitution" on the green gas cooker in order to leave some room for viewers to interpret the piece.

The post In Artist's Hands, the Constitution Is an Unedifying Spectacle appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

For U Shwe Mann, Enemies Lurk Everywhere

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 04:56 AM PST

In politics, so the saying goes, there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends—only permanent interests. In Myanmar we have seen an unusual political alliance between State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and retired General U Shwe Mann evolve over the past six years. But that alliance is now showing cracks.

Last week, Myanmar's Union Parliament voted against extending the term of the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission, which is headed by U Shwe Mann, who is also a former Lower House speaker. The question is, who gave the order not to extend the commission? Executives of the ruling National League for Democracy, or Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself?

Some political observers in Naypyitaw said U Shwe Mann had been assured in advance that his commission's life would be extended, and was caught off guard when the NLD-dominated Parliament voted against it.

The commission was formed on March 1, 2016 for a term of one year but faced fierce opposition from military representatives in Parliament, who said its work was unconstitutional. But the commission received solid backing from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the NLD-led government.

U Shwe Mann served as the third-highest-ranking official in the former military regime known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). As chief of the general staff (Army, Navy and Air Force), he was regarded as one of the most powerful men in the regime.

But he has seen ups and downs since 2010. U Shwe Mann was reportedly expecting to be either president or commander-in-chief of the armed forces after the regime held a sham election in 2010, but did not attain either of these powerful positions. Senior-General Than Shwe, then chairman of the now defunct SPDC, chose the more humble and less politically ambitious U Thein Sein to be president. What was the reason? Did U Than Shwe fear U Shwe Mann would one day turn against him? Was he worried about the business interests of U Shwe Mann's family? No one knows except the former strongman himself.

U Shwe Mann (left), then the Speaker of the Union Parliament, shakes hands with National League for Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi before their meeting at the Lower House of Parliament in Naypyitaw on Nov. 19, 2015. / REUTERS

U Shwe Mann won a Lower House seat in the 2010 general election representing the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and was elected to the position of Lower House Speaker.

Military career and reform agenda 

As a military commander, U Shwe Mann earned the honorific title thura (he is also referred to as Thura Shwe Mann) for his campaign against Karen insurgents in the 1990s, which saw him rise steadily through the ranks.

In 2008, he led a military delegation to visit Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, via Beijing. Gen. Thura Shwe Mann and his North Korean counterpart General Kim Gyok Sik signed a memorandum of understanding, the contents of which have never been confirmed. The visit was ordered by U Than Shwe for the purpose of studying military facilities and North Korea's nuclear reactor, as the strongman believed that Myanmar, sitting between China and India, was in need of nuclear weapons.

A leaked U.S. cable stated, "Like most Burmese field commanders, Shwe Mann utilized forced civilian porters, including women and children, on a massive scale during operations against Karen insurgents." But Washington removed him from its sanctions list when the U.S. and Myanmar repaired ties and restored diplomatic relations in 2012 and 2013, as then President U Thein Sein introduced political reforms and opened up the country. U Shwe Mann also received then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she first visited Burma in 2012.

Clinton later recalled, "[Thura Shwe Mann] said to me, ‘Help us learn how to be a democratic congress, a Parliament.' He went on to tell me that they were trying to teach themselves by watching old segments of 'The West Wing,'" she said. Clinton apparently responded to the general: "I think we can do better than that, Mr. Speaker." In reality, however, U Shwe Mann was seen as being close to China.

Then President U Thein Sein (right) and Parliament Speaker U Shwe Mann arrive at the Union Parliament in Naypyitaw on Jan. 28, 2016. / REUTERS

Like U Thein Sein, U Shwe Mann is seen as a reformer. Many former generals have demonstrated to the world that they support the reform agenda and many have been removed from Western sanctions lists.

But we saw a new development in Myanmar politics when U Shwe Mann and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to the surprise of many, forged a political alliance. The two held meetings every week and became the focus of the media and political observers.

In his second interview with The Irrawaddy in October 2013, U Shwe Mann said in his soft, measured voice, "After I met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and many others in the democracy movement, I recalled the past with real empathy."

He added that when he was still a top-ranking general, he kept his sympathy for the dissidents to himself, but knew in his heart that he didn't want to see them suffer undeserved punishment.

Regarding Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, he said: "I thought of her not just as a woman who had to endure hardship, but also as the daughter of our independence hero [General Aung San]. I was determined to help her when I had the chance. And not just her—I wanted to see everyone treated fairly." At that time he was chairman of the then-ruling USDP.

'I am not a turncoat'

One could view this as an ambitious politician seeing the value in assisting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party in the 2015 election, foreseeing their imminent victory. But his alliance with her cost him heavily. He fell out with then President U Thein Sein and some ruling party leaders, who branded him a traitor.

The battle between these two figures played out in dramatic fashion when security forces surrounded the headquarters of the USDP in the middle of the night in August 2015 in Naypyitaw, three months before the general election that year. U Shwe Mann and some senior USDP party members were purged, but he remained a party member and a lawmaker.

U Ye Htut, then the information minister, said that U Shwe Mann had been sacked as ruling party chairman because he supported controversial bills in Parliament and had ties to rival party leaders.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi described U Shwe Mann’s purge as leader of the USDP as undemocratic. "As for the happenings in the middle of the night, this is not what you expect from a working democracy," she said.

Under the USDP banner, U Shwe Mann contested the general election in 2015 but lost his seat to an NLD candidate. But he remained a close ally of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and they have reportedly continued their weekly meetings in the intervening years.

In 2016, he was appointed to head the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission of Myanmar's Parliament—a powerful position, given the panel's role as a legal review committee. The decisions to form the commission and appoint U Shwe Mann to lead it were made by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and not by her party executives. Soon after the NLD's landslide victory, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi went to meet former dictator U Than Shwe at his residence and U Shwe Mann accompanied her. This demonstrates that U Than Shwe continues to meet U Shwe Mann despite having officially retired in 2011.

Not surprisingly, however, his appointment as head of the commission again saw U Shwe Mann branded a traitor.

"They were traitors, becoming turncoats although they were saying that cooperation was necessary for the sake of the country and [their] countrymen," writes U Soe Thane, who served as a minister under U Thein Sein, in his book "Myanmar's Transition & U Thein Sein: An Insider's Account".

To which U Shwe Mann replied, "I am not a turncoat."

U Shwe Mann is not without enemies—in fact he seems to have many. The Myanmar military's current commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and U Shwe Mann have strained relations. Army representatives have repeatedly opposed the extension of the Legal Affairs Commission's term.

Former Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) chief U Shwe Mann campaigns in a village near his hometown of Kanyuntkwin, Pegu Region, on Nov. 4, 2015. / REUTERS

Some top NLD members, too, have been uneasy with the U Shwe Mann-Daw Aung San Suu Kyi political alliance. They simply don't trust him. Going further, some say the close association with U Shwe Mann has prevented the NLD-led government from forging better relations with the Army. President U Win Myint's relations with U Shwe Mann are not warm; when he was in Parliament, U Win Myint, a former house speaker, showed his dislike for U Shwe Mann. So what was Daw Aung San Suu Kyi thinking all along?

Party members were also reportedly uncomfortable with the fact that two of U Shwe Mann's sons run several major businesses in Myanmar. Since U Shwe Mann served in the Army as a top-ranking general, U Aung Thet Mann and U Toe Naing Mann have been involved in the telecommunications, agriculture, natural gas, restaurant, property and other businesses and are considered to be among the country's wealthiest people. This is not unusual in Myanmar, as many close relatives of top generals, aided by favorable treatment from government ministries, run businesses. The two sons have also developed close connections with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but it is not known whether she was aware of the extent of their business empire (and even if she is not, she should be). But critics have been complaining to her about the Legal Affairs Commission's performance in Parliament, and some lawmakers might have felt that the commission had breached its mandate.

New political party 

In February, U Shwe Mann applied to register a new political party, the Union Betterment Party, with the Union Election Commission.

He said the party would work towards building a democratic federal union and promote economic development as a basic necessity for the development of the country along with systematic implementation of education, healthcare and culture; and the establishment of rule of law, stability, equality and peace. He added that the new party would seek a new constitution that is suitable for the country. Since then, speculation has been rife over how senior NLD leaders would react, and whether he would continue to head the commission.

But he continued to hope that his commission's term would be renewed. In February, he said that the future of the commission would depend on negotiations between himself and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as it was formed based upon their bilateral agreement.

Last week's events are particularly interesting as U Shwe Mann had apparently been told that his commission would be preserved. Inside reports suggest he was planning to hand the leadership of the commission over to U Win Htein. Once considered to be among the closest confidantes of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the former Army officer and politician has lost influence in the party and the support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi due to internal power struggles. It seems U Shwe Mann and U Win Htein had a gentleman's agreement regarding the leadership of the commission. But according to one theory, as word spread that the commission's future had been entrusted to U Win Htein, party executives became alarmed and decided to pull the plug on the commission. Perhaps U Win Htein had made too many enemies inside and outside of the party. His opponents in the party seemed determined to prevent him from taking control, and showed him the door.

So U Shwe Mann was surprised to learn that the vote on extending the commission was not in his favor, with only 20 lawmakers voting in favor of extending the commission, while 555 voted against with 10 abstentions. Does this mean the alliance between U Shwe Mann and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is over? Who made the final decision to vote against the commission? There has been much confusion, but the decision must have come from the top. Some party members who worked with U Shwe Mann grumbled, "This is ugly… there are better ways to end this commission."

It is rumored that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Shwe Mann have continued to meet since the decision to abolish the commission. But it is certain that U Shwe Mann's enemies, whether from the NLD or from other quarters, including Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, opened champagne bottles after the parliamentary vote.

The post For U Shwe Mann, Enemies Lurk Everywhere appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Top Leadership Changes Expected at Meeting of Ethnic Armed Group Alliance

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 04:47 AM PST

CHIANG MAI — Delegates at a meeting of the 10 signatories to Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) say the bloc of ethnic armed groups is likely to see changes to its top leadership this week.

The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) is meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, today and tomorrow.

Some of the delegates said the team’s chairman and vice chairman — Karen National Union (KNU) Chairman Gen. Mutu Say Poe and Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) Chairman Yawd Serk, respectively — were expected to step down.

Sources close to the armed groups said KNU General Secretary Padoh Saw Ta Doh Moo would become the team’s new chairman and that RCSS Deputy Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Pao Khay will become the next vice chairman.

RCSS Chairman Gen. Yawd Serk and Deputy Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Pao Khay. / Aung Moe Myint

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Gen. Mutu Say Poe said changes to the PPST leadership were coming but did not specify when or to which positions.

“The KNU and RCSS will change the delegates to the PPST as necessary,” he said, without elaborating.

Gen. Mutu Say Poe said negotiations with the government and military on moving Myanmar toward a federal and democratic system that guaranteed ethnic minorities equality and self-determination had “deviated” from the path set out by the NCA.

He called for an objective review of the implementation of the NCA to date and said the country’s ethnic armed groups might take different paths but all had their sights set on the same end goal — a federal and democratic Myanmar.

The general said this week’s meeting was aimed at finding a way to break the current stalemate in their peace talks with the government and military and urged the delegates to discuss the roadblocks facing them thoroughly.

The delegates are reviewing the current peace process framework, discussing ways to make it more inclusive, and trying to reach a consensus on a timeframe for future talks with the government and military.

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Parliament Committee Favors Inclusive Constitutional Amendment

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 04:15 AM PST

YANGON—The Union Parliament's joint bill committee has suggested that the USDP's proposed amendment to Article 261 be examined as part of the broader review by the Charter-Amendment Panel tasked with examining the entire Constitution for amendments, to the disagreement of military lawmakers.

The draft bill amending Article 261 was initially proposed in Parliament last month by members of the party formed of ex-generals and military representatives which led the government before the NLD took power in 2016, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), in an attempt to counter the ruling National League for Democracy's (NLD's) efforts in amending the Constitution.

The USDP's proposed bill only suggests amendments to a single article in the 2008 Constitution which as a whole has been widely criticized as undemocratic for its unpopular articles, especially those which grant the military privileged participation and a leadership role in Myanmar's politics.

If approved, the amended article would see regional chief ministers elected by local legislatures rather than appointed by the president.

Meanwhile, the Charter Amendment Panel—formed on the NLD’s proposal to work on amending the military-drafted Constitution—has also begun reviewing the charter chapter by chapter, starting with the 48 Basic Principles of the Union in Chapter 1.

During Tuesday's parliamentary session, Brig-Gen Maung Maung and Gen. Than Soe took to their feet to show their disapproval of the suggestions proposed by the Parliament's joint bill committee. The two military appointees instead called for the draft bill to be discussed separately.

The joint bill committee is made up of 15 Lower House lawmakers and 15 Upper House lawmakers who were recently tasked with scrutinizing the USDP and military's suggested amendment to Article 261 and to submit its report with remarks to the Parliament.

NLD lawmaker U Myat Nyana Soe, who is also a secretary of the joint bill committee, said that majority of committee members agreed with the suggestion to discuss changes to Article 261 in the Charter-Amendment Panel. But five members: two military representatives, two Rakhine lawmakers from the Arakan National Party (ANP) and one USDP lawmaker, disagreed with the suggestion when it was brought up during committee meetings.

He said the committee believes that if Article 261 is amended, other related articles in the Constitution will also need to be reviewed for changes and if they are not, there will be contradictions right across the Constitution. A bill amending each article would then need to be submitted to Parliament several times in order to avoid contradictions with the amendments to Article 261, he added.

He also said the proposed amendments to Article 261 would be discussed as part of the Charter-Amendment Panel's review of the entire Constitution. The Charter-Amendment Panel is to report their findings to Parliament by July 17. It is also tasked with drafting an amendment bill based on the lawmakers' discussions on its findings.

"It will be more systematic and suitable to discuss [the proposed amendments to Article 261] in the Charter-Amendment Panel's review," the joint bill committee's secretary said.

The Parliament will vote on the committee's suggestion in coming parliamentary sessions.

"[The committee's suggestion] is against Parliament laws. We frequently say that the Parliament, which itself is making legislation, shouldn't go against the laws in such a way. The draft bill must be discussed in Parliament," Brig-Gen Maung Maung told the media after Tuesday's parliamentary session.

Additional reporting by Htet Naing Zaw in Naypyitaw.

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Kachin Aid Group, Rebels to Discuss Plan to Bring Displaced Families Home

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 02:37 AM PST

Mon State — The Kachin Humanitarian Concern Committee (KHCC) says it will meet with rebel leaders for a second time on Thursday to discuss prospects for some of the thousands of families displaced by fighting in Kachin State to return home.

The head of the KHCC, Rev. Samson, told The Irrawaddy that the Christian aid group will meet with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) at its headquarters in Laiza.

More than 100,000 people have taken shelter at over 100 camps across the state since fighting between the KIO and Myanmar military broke out in 2011.

Rev. Samson said the KHCC would present a list of villages it would like families to start returning to — from the approximately 200 they have fled — and ask the KIO to identify the ones that are safe. He said the KHCC would then propose those villages to the government’s National Reconciliation and Peace Center and ask the U.N. for help bringing families back.

"We want them to return with dignity," Rev. Samson said.

The KHCC held its first meeting with the rebel group to discuss the issue on Feb. 20, but did not have a complete list of villages it wanted families to start returning to at the time. The reverend said it was ready with the list this time around.

At a meeting with the Kachin Baptist Convention last month, Myanmar military chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said the military would help returning the families and will cooperate with the KIO to clear landmines.

The military helped return an initial group of 17 families to a village last month. One of the returnees was subsequently injured after stepping on a landmine in the area.

The KHCC says it is critical that the military and KIO both agree on which villages families can return to so that they stay safe.

The military and KIO have held several meetings in China in recent years but are yet to agree a ceasefire to replace the one that broke down in 2011, hampering efforts to return displaced families.

Rev. Samson said the KHCC has divided the villages the families fled into three categories based on how safe or dangerous they are in order to help it decide which ones to focus on first.

"We do not think we can send all the [families] back at once. We need to wait and see the situation first. When we think it is safe for them to return, we will return them," he said.

Col. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the KIO, declined to comment.

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Drugs Worth $4.6M Seized in Rakhine and Magwe

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 12:43 AM PST

YANGON—Police seized more than 10 million methamphetamine tablets, commonly known by their street name, "yaba," in Rakhine State's Maungdaw Township and Magwe's Ngape Township on Saturday, reported the Central Committee for Drug Abuse and Control (CCDAC).

Police sized over 8.6 million WY-stamped tablets hidden under the floor of a vehicle parked by the road linking Maungdaw and Angumaw near Waithali Village in Maungdaw Township, and over 1.4 million from a vehicle in Ngape Township in Magwe Region heading to Rakhine State.

"We can't disclose information while we are looking for accomplices. We can't tell who is involved," said Police Col. Zaw Lin of the drugs squad.

In the case of Maungdaw, police arrested a man who attempted to run away after spotting the police as he approached the vehicle on his motorbike.

Police have opened a case against him under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substance Law, according to the report of the CCDAC.

Rakhine State lawmaker for Maungdaw Township U Tun Hla Sein said, "I heard [yaba pills] were being smuggled to Bangladesh. It is a common route to smuggle [drugs] to Bangladesh from Maungdaw. There is a long land border to the north of the town and some also use the sea route."

Methamphetamine tablets can be bought easily at betel nut vendors in Maungdaw and there have been reported cases of high school students being arrested with methamphetamine tablets, said the lawmaker.

The suspect and the vehicle from which the drugs were seized in Maungdaw Township on March 2, 2019. / CCDAC

Drugs made in other parts of the country are smuggled through Rakhine State's Maungdaw into Bangladesh in cooperation with local drug gangs, he said.

"Drug barons also have arms to protect themselves. It is therefore dangerous for those who handle drug cases," he said.

According to the report by Magwe Region Police Force, the vehicle carrying methamphetamine tablets was stopped at an inspection gate on Saturday night.

The vehicle was en route from Yangon to Rakhine and police also detained three on board, including one person from Yangon and two from Maungdaw. The seizure is worth over 7 billion kyats ($4.6 million) on the market.

Police have opened a case against the three under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substance Law.

There have a number of massive drugs hauls in northern Rakhine State since 2017. Border Guard Bangladesh told the media in April 2017 that over one million WY-stamped tablets believed to be smuggled through northern Rakhine State were seized in Bangladesh.

In June last year, the Malaysian Police Force published a map of the routes used for drug smuggling inside Myanmar. According to Malaysian police, there are 37 factories that produce methamphetamine tablets in Myanmar, all of them located in Shan State in areas controlled by ethnic armed groups and people's militias overseen by Myanmar's military.

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Fire Guts Homes in Refugee Camp at Thailand-Myanmar Border

Posted: 04 Mar 2019 10:19 PM PST

YANGON—A fire at the Nu Po refugee camp sheltering Myanmar refugees in Umphang District of Tak Province in Thailand destroyed at least 50 houses on Monday, according to refugees at the camp.

"When I first saw the fire, only two houses were on fire. But as the wind fueled the fire, many houses were gutted. Some houses had to be demolished before they caught fire. We still don't know the cause of the fire," said a refugee who witnessed the fire.

Saw Robert Htwe, chairman of the Karen Refugee Committee, said on Monday that he could not yet confirm the extent of damage or injuries.

"I can tell nothing for the time being: we still don't know the details," he told The Irrawaddy.

The camp, built in 1996, houses some 10,000 refugees from Myanmar. Most of them ethnic Karen who fled fighting between Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and the Karen National Liberation Army in Karen State, according to The Border Consortium (TBC), the main provider of food, shelter and other forms of support to the refugees in camps in western Thailand.

According to a report by the TBC, there are nine refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) camps along the Myanmar-Thai border, housing a total of around 100,000 refugees from Myanmar.

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In Rural Nepal, Solar Irrigation Helps Keep Families Together

Posted: 04 Mar 2019 08:33 PM PST

JUMLA, Nepal — Bhadri Sarki used to walk for more than an hour to fetch enough water to irrigate just one apple tree.

But since a solar-powered water pump was installed in her village, about 350 km northwest of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, she can hydrate her whole orchard in a few hours.

"We have a sufficient amount of water available in the field, and the only work left is to nurture the plants," Sarki told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A local official and farmers said improved access to water was helping apple growers in the mountainous region sell surplus produce to boost incomes, reducing pressure on men to migrate in search of work.

With an intellectually disabled daughter at home, and her house-builder husband frequently in India, Sarki had found it difficult to find time for daily chores before the pump arrived.

The mother-of-three suffered a uterine prolapse and heart-related problems due to her workload and had to visit hospital often, she said.

But with water now available on their doorstep, the family's land is producing more, and there is less financial pressure for Sarki's husband to go and work across the border.

For Sarki and other women in Jumla District in Karnali Province — the poorest in Nepal, and with less than a quarter of its land irrigated — the new solar water pump is helping make a tough life easier.

Installed about a year ago by development agency Practical Action, the pump was funded by the European Union and Jersey Overseas Aid, a state development agency, at an initial cost of 1.3 million rupees ($11,465).

About 14 solar panels produce enough power to pump 20,000 liters of water per day up from the Tila River, which is collected in storage tanks and distributed to fields as needed.

Menila Kharel, knowledge management coordinator at Practical Action, said the pump lifted water 90 meters and served 70 households in Dhaulapani Village, which has no electric power connection.

The UK-based charity has installed six solar pumps in different parts of Jumla — famous for its apples, walnuts and a rare local rice — as well as in neighboring Mugu District.

Erratic snow

The local government has decided to replicate the scheme on a larger scale in other parts of Jumla District after its success in Dhaulapani.

Gangadevi Upadhyay, deputy head of Tatopani rural municipality, said the local authority had started putting in a solar pump in Dagivada Village, with an estimated budget of 10 million rupees, which would benefit almost 300 households.

"This technology is especially beneficial to women in Jumla, where they carry out most of the work in the fields," she added.

Tika Ram Sharma, a senior officer for the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project, a 10-year government effort, said Jumla had plenty of sunshine nearly all year round, while the Tila is a perennial river.

Both renewable resources had gone untapped, but the solar-powered pump meant they were now being fully utilized, he added.

"The pump has proved beneficial at times when traditional methods such as harvesting snow are becoming impractical due to its erratic pattern," added Sharma.

According to a new assessment by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, future projections point to less snow cover and snow water across basins in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region as the climate warms.

Jumla received sufficient snowfall this year for the first time in nearly a decade, local farmers said.

Jumla was declared Nepal's first organic district in 2007, but farmers were unable to make the most of its agricultural potential as they lacked a reliable source of irrigation.

Apple bounty

Now they have started seeing yields rise since the water pump made irrigation easier.

"I used to harvest only what would be sufficient for our family consumption, but after this scheme arrived, I have started making some money by selling apples and beans," said Parwati Rawat, a farmer in Dhaulapani Village.

The apples used to go pale due to insufficient water, but their quality and color is now much better, she added.

Rawat has started inter-cropping high-value vegetables in her apple orchard, instead of less thirsty crops like finger millet, which fetched lower prices.

Since the pump was installed, men are finding they need to leave the village less often to make a living, because families are growing enough produce to sell some of their harvest.

"My husband often used to go to India for work, but now he doesn't need to go as frequently as before," Rawat said.

Her husband, Hasta Bahadur Rawat, said they earned a profit of up to 42,000 rupees in one season from selling apples.

Tatopani official Upadhyay said many men from Jumla migrated during the winter, returning for the summer. But the rate of migration was slowly decreasing.

Firstly, local people were collecting medicinal plants and trading them on a larger scale, she said.

Secondly, many farmers in Jumla had started to embrace apple growing as a business activity since they gained access to road transport in the past decade — and, more recently, electric power for irrigation.

"Solar pumps can help in taking apple farming to commercial scale more easily," Upadhyay added.

The post In Rural Nepal, Solar Irrigation Helps Keep Families Together appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China’s Defense Budget Rise to Outpace Economic Growth Target

Posted: 04 Mar 2019 08:08 PM PST

BEIJING—China’s 2019 defense spending will rise 7.5 percent from 2018, according to a budget report issued at the opening of the country’s annual meeting of parliament on Tuesday, a slower rate than last year but still outpacing the economic growth target.

The defense spending figure, set at 1.19 trillion yuan ($177.49 billion), is closely watched worldwide for clues to China’s strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including stealth fighters, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.

The 2019 defense spending increase comes as China’s economic growth target for the year was set at 6.0 to 6.5 percent.

Last year, defense spending was set to increase 8.1 percent, in 2017 was set at just 7 percent, and in 2016 it grew 7.6 percent. The five years before that had seen double-digit increases.

China would “speed up efforts to make innovations in defense-related science and technology” and maintain “absolute (Communist) Party leadership over the armed forces”, Premier Li Keqiang told parliament.

China’s military build-up has unnerved its neighbors, particularly because of its increasing assertiveness in territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas and over Taiwan, a self-ruled territory Beijing claims as its own.

A government spokesman on Monday said China would keep up a “reasonable and appropriate” increase in defense spending to satisfy its national security and military reforms.

On its website, the official People’s Liberation Army Daily said in a report on the defense budget that the armed forces would “focus on supporting national defense and military reform and comprehensively promoting national defense and military modernization”.

Beijing does not provide a breakdown of its defense budget, leading neighbors and other military powers to complain that its lack of transparency has added to regional tensions.

“China has increased defense spending at a high rate for some time and Japan would like to see a high level of transparency in regard to its defense policy and militarization,” the Japanese government’s spokesman Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and at the same time will look to engage further with China in security dialogue in order to seek clarification.”

'Substantial increase'

China’s defense spending ranks as the world’s second largest, lagging behind the United States. By comparison, U.S. President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for U.S. defense spending in 2019.

But diplomats and military experts say China’s defense numbers probably underestimate true military spending for the People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest armed forces, which are in the midst of an impressive modernization program overseen by President Xi Jinping.

Sam Roggeveen, visiting fellow at the Strategic and Defense Studies Center at Australian National University, said the budget figure marked a “substantial increase” in the size of China’s military.

“China has long maintained its military is for the defense of its borders but that definition has broadened over the years,” Roggeveen said. “The West will be very interested to see what the funds are used for, particularly if it used on assets that can project force over great distances.”

China’s military has been particularly focused on democratic Taiwan recently and is nervous President Tsai Ing-wen wants to move the island towards a formal declaration of independence, a red line for China, which views Taiwan as its territory.

Li said China will “resolutely oppose and deter any separatist schemes or activities seeking Taiwan independence, and resolutely protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Tsai, who has repeatedly warned of the threat from Beijing, says she wants to maintain the status quo with China but will defend the island’s security and democracy.

“China repeatedly claims that they won’t give up annexing Taiwan by force, so we are always being very cautious,” Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told parliament on Tuesday when asked by a lawmaker about the Chinese military threat.

“We are not afraid of a fight and we will not challenge [China, but we are ready to fight at all times.”

The post China’s Defense Budget Rise to Outpace Economic Growth Target appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

A Foundation for Chin-Bamar Friendship

Posted: 04 Mar 2019 06:08 PM PST

On March 4-6, 1947, less than a month after the signing of the historic Panglong Agreement, the first ever friendship conference between Chin and Bamar leaders was held in Htilin Township, in the shadow of the Chin Hills. Organized by then Chin leader Wan Tu Mong, the three-day event was reportedly joined by more than 10,000 people eager to show their support for the Panglong Agreement. The participants vowed to fight together to end British rule, and to work for and share the fruits of nation building after independence. As a symbol of Chin-Bamar friendship, a monument was put up at the venue. General Aung San originally planned to attend the conference, but could not, so Information Minister Dee Dok U Ba Cho and Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League leaders attended the conference instead.

Wan Tu Mong and other Chin leaders made their names serving as ministers after independence, and Vum Khaw Hau served as ambassador to France,Netherlands,Cambodia,Indonesia,Austria and Hungary. In the military arena, Captain Taik Chon in 1950 became the only Chin soldier so far to receive the Aung San Thuriya medal—the Myanmar Armed Forces' highest and most prestigious award, bestowed for gallantry and bravery in the face of the enemy.

The post A Foundation for Chin-Bamar Friendship appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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