Friday, March 22, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Three Myanmar Recipients Among ‘Women of the Future’ Award Winners

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 07:29 AM PDT

Three Myanmar women are among the winners of the Women of the Future Awards Southeast Asia (WOF) for this year. The awards recognize women across multiple categories including entrepreneur, business, pubic service, media and communications, arts, culture and technology.

Dr. Theingi Win, founder and CEO of Global Assistant Co., won the Business Award; Ma Aye Thiri Kyaw, writer and humanitarian worker, took the honors for the Community Spirit and Public Service Award; and Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi, youth advocate and host of the "Under 30 Dialogue" TV show, won in the Media & Communications category, according to a press release from the organizers on Friday.

In addition to the main awards categories, Myanmar was one of five finalists in the Highly Commended section, and Ma Thet Mon Aye, founder of Star Ticket was recognized in the Science, Technology & Digital sector.

The winners were selected from a shortlist of 54 candidates from 10 countries across the region and the awards went to women from Malaysia, Myanmar, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia and the Philippines. The awards were announced at a gala dinner in Singapore on Thursday night.

Pinky Lilani CBE DL, founder of the Women of the Future (WOF) program, said, "We continue to be inspired and impressed with the number of passionate, driven and talented young women across Southeast Asia, and we are proud to recognize and celebrate their achievements. These young women are trailblazers who are committed to creating a kinder, more collaborative future for their communities, and are a true inspiration to us all."

Founded 13 years ago in the U.K. by Pinky Lilani CBE DL, and mainly supported by Aviva, the Women of the Future Awards began recognizing young women in Southeast Asia last year.

Ma Aye Thiri Kyaw told The Irrawaddy that the recognition would give the winners global opportunities for learning and networking in the various sectors.

Seven women were nominated from Myanmar and four of them were recognized. Ma Aye Thiri Kyaw encouraged other women to take note of the nominations announcement and said, "More women should be nominated next year, either by recommending someone else or nominating themselves.”

The WOF Award winners and shortlisted candidates in each category will gain access to many different opportunities, including the Women of the Future (WOF) network—a global and collaborative network of women who support and inspire each other to further professional and personal success.

In 2018, Ma Phyu Hninn Nyein, general manager, farm advisory services, at Proximity Designs was honored with the Community Spirit & Public Service Award. She was one of the nine awardees.

This year, the Mentor category was added. The WOF Award founder said that,  "In addition to adding the Mentor category, which recognizes and pays tribute to the often unsung individuals who have been positive, influential role models, we are also pleased to acknowledge Highly Commended young women who came close to winning and whose talent we feel we must recognize."

The post Three Myanmar Recipients Among 'Women of the Future' Award Winners appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

5 Civilians Killed as Tatmadaw Troops Open Fire on Village in N. Rakhine: Witnesses

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:25 AM PDT

MRAUK-U, Rakhine State—At least five people were killed when government troops opened fire on Say Taung village in northern Rakhine State's Buthidaung Township on Thursday night, according to several witnesses. The soldiers were said to be from the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw)'s Light Infantry Division No. 22

Upper House lawmaker U Maung Kyaw Zan of the Arakan National Party (ANP), who went to Say Tang village on Friday morning, confirmed that five bodies were found, and that eight villagers had been wounded and were receiving medical treatment. Say Taung village is currently housing more than 2,000 people who fled neighboring villages due to armed clashes in the area.

U Maung Kyaw Zaw speculated that the victims had been shot dead while hiding in a bomb shelter.

“If [they had been killed by] artillery shells landing in the bomber shelter, their bodies would have been blown to pieces,” the lawmaker said.

U Maung Tun Aung, a resident of Say Taung village who managed to escape, told The Irrawaddy over the phone that Myanmar Army troops surrounded the village at about 3 p.m. on Thursday. At around 9 p.m., an Army unit entered the village while firing on homes with both small arms and artillery.

Spent 73-mm (with Burmese writing) and 40-mm rounds found in Say Taung village.

Even in the morning, they continued firing into the village, prompting most of the villagers to try to escape.

“There was no battle in my village [prior to the incident]. About 200 soldiers previously crossed and surrounded the village, but did not attack it. And then at about 9.00 p.m. they started firing into the village.”

Monk Narya Ka, who also traveled to Say Taung village on Friday morning, said that each of the bodies found in the bomb shelter had at least two bullet wounds to their heads and/or torsos. The victims were identified as Maung Aye Tun, 54, Ma Than Nyunt, 53, their son Myat Swe Thein, 23, and nephew Maung Aung Than Htay, 17, and a blind elderly woman, Daw Hla Nu Phyu, 88.

“A 10-year-old girl, Khinzar Tun, a Grade 5 student, was the only one spared during the killing [in that incident]. She is with us now on a motor boat and we are taking care of her at the moment,” the monk said.

After the fighting, villagers found spent bullet casings and artillery shells believed to be products of a Myanmar military munitions factory, as some had Burmese writing on them.

Daw Bu Lone Ma, who also managed to flee the shooting, recalled that soldiers entered the village from four directions. At 9.00 p.m, many villagers were visiting their neighbors and many children were watching movies at a local TV booth. Then gunfire started at 9.30 p.m. and didn't ease until about 12.00 a.m.

“This was so terrifying; we have never experienced this before. They were shouting f***ing Rakhine come out!" in Burmese, she said.

According to her, four head of cattle were also shot dead with small arms. Several villagers contacted by The Irrawaddy said Army soldiers intentionally fired into the village from four directions, so that anyone attempting to flee was in danger of being shot.

A statement issued by the Office of the Commander-in-Chief on Friday afternoon said the government troops were responding to AA attacks launched from the village. It accused the AA of using a civilian settlement as cover.

Daw Bu Lone Ma said, "There were no AA in our village. That is absolutely wrong." She added: "I recognized the number 22 [printed on the soldiers'] assault rifle stocks.” Soldiers in the Myanmar Army carry rifles with their unit numbers printed on the butts.

Another villager U Kyaw San said, "We are experiencing cruelty on the ground."

Ko Naing Oo from Zaydi Taung said many locals from Say Taung village sought refuge in his village just a mile away. He had heard about the shootings and the arrival of displaced villagers and was preparing to evacuate his family to a safer location as soon as possible.

The post 5 Civilians Killed as Tatmadaw Troops Open Fire on Village in N. Rakhine: Witnesses appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

German Company Found Supplying Illegal Myanmar Teak to EU

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 05:55 AM PDT

YANGON — The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) submitted evidence to German and European enforcement authorities showing serious repeated violations of the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) by a German company selling illegal Myanmar teak on Thursday.

The complaint against Alfred Neumann Co. Ltd. is the 15th complaint of "illegally harvested timber being placed on the market in Europe" filed by EIA on the EUTR. Numerous authorities in Europe have previously found companies selling Myanmar teak in violation of the EUTR.

EIA's forest campaigner Alec Dawson highlighted the fact that companies such as Alfred Neumann "connect the world's most corrupt teak traders with the world's most prestigious yacht-builders and clients, contributing to the [continuous] destruction of Myanmar's teak forests."

EIA has urged European leaders to have "tougher enforcement" of laws in the European market where illegal teak is found to be entering. The agency also advocates for timber operators "to undertake due diligence to minimize the risk" of supplying illegally acquired timber like that from Myanmar.

Dawson told The Irrawaddy in an email that even though many companies have been found in violation of due diligence requirements of the EUTR, the "outcomes of all the concerns raised" by EIA are unknown as the "competent authorities do not always share [information about] the actions they have taken."

EIA has raised complaints against 15 companies since 2015, namely Belotti SPA, Antonini Legnami, Timberlux Srl and Basso Legnami in Italy; Boogaerdt Wood, World Wood and Gold Teak Holdings in the Netherlands; Keflico in Denmark; Teak Solutions in Germany (transferred to Spain); Moody Decking, Stones Marine Timber, and Wattsons in the UK; Crown Teak and Vandercasteele Houtimport in Belgium; and Alfred Neumann in Germany.

Following the EIA complaints against these companies, one Dutch company, Boogaerdt Wood, was found in violation of the EUTR and threatened with fines. Denmark also issued an injunction to prevent placements of Myanmar teak on the market there and Germany has been turning back some shipments of Myanmar teak before they can be placed on the market.

Dawson added that despites these actions, no due diligence system for Myanmar teak meets the requirements of the EUTR, which are the responsibility of European government authorities.

"Myanmar teak has still been entering the European market and it appears companies are trying to test the will and resources of enforcement agencies, for example by routing shipments of wood through third countries to avoid liability. This means we still need to see better coordination and consistency in enforcement of the EUTR," said Alec Dawson.

EIA said their evidence underpins EIA's concerns that "multiple shipments of Myanmar teak for the company Alfred Neumann GmbH (Co. Ltd.) since 2013 were purchased from the businesses of corrupt Thailand-based teak kingpin Cheng Pui Chee, aka Chetta Apipatana."

The "teak kingpin" has been the key supplier of the Myanmar teak to various foreign companies since late 1990s according to the report of the EIA's two-year investigation titled, "State of Corruption: The top-level conspiracy behind the global trade in Myanmar's illegal teak" which they released in February. The investigation carried out during 2017 and 2018 revealed how Myanmar teak was sold under "a secret off-the-books system of fraudulent trade" which was run in parallel to, and within, the Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE)-administered official legal trade.

The agency revealed that three suppliers to Alfred Neumann said that the late Cheng Pui Chee systematically bribed former senior Myanmar generals and forestry sector officials to secure "preferential access to harvests and impunity" and "under-declared teak grades to defraud the state."

Cheng Pui Chee's company Cheung Hing partners with Koh Seow Bean's Singapore and Malaysia-based companies, including Pacific Timber Enterprise Ltd and Northwood Ltd, in Myanmar, and Timberlux Sdn Bhd and SCK Wooden Industries Sdn Bhd, in Malaysia.

The report reveals inducements delivered by Cheng Pui Chee [in the past two decades] included "tens of millions of dollars paid into personal accounts of Myanmar's top generals; funding the private foreign education of senior military and timber sector officials' children." It exposed "payment of hospital fees, accommodation and 'entertainment' for senior forestry officials in Singapore; and purchases and gifts of exotic zoo animals for Naypyidaw Zoo [in 1990 and 2011] and other lower level bribes."

Cheng Pui Chee's Thailand-registered company Thai Sawat, led by his brother, was one of only five companies whose 1989-granted permission to log in Myanmar was renewed in 1993, gifted penguins to Myanmar's forestry department in 1990 and Northwood donated zebras and giraffes to Naypyitaw Zoo in 2011, according to the report.

Teak logging and illegal trade over land fuels conflict

EIA's complaint also details how another supplier in China claimed "101 percent" of its teak is illegally logged in Myanmar and smuggled to China and that a planned shipment for Alfred Neumann would have paperwork added in Malaysia to get it into Europe despite the EUTR.

Myanmar teak has its biggest direct markets in China, India and Thailand, "which between them imported a staggering 4.04 million [cubic meters] of teak logs and sawn timber direct from Myanmar between 2007 and 2017, worth $2.79 billion," according to EIA's report. Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan have also historically imported large volumes of Myanmar teak.

In the last two years, although wood log exports are banned, illegal logs continue to be smuggled across the border into China, EIA revealed.

"High demand in China for teak logged in Shan State is also a contributing factor in outbreaks of conflict between Shan ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar military, as both sides seek to profit from the teak trade," EIA said in its February report.

It said, "Apart from breaks when bad weather and sporadic local clampdowns and conflicts rendered the trafficking routes impassable, the teak smuggling business continued in 2017 and 2018. During this period, rudimentary sawmills sprang up in areas of Kachin near the border to cut the logs into planks or flitches for onward transport into China, reflecting the switch in demand for sawn timber and the need to conceal the contraband during transport."

However, U Tin Tun, director of the government's forestry department recently told The Irrawaddy that the government does not allow the land-border teak trade and it is considered illegal.

Citing official Chinese customs data, however, EIA said China imported 45,000 tons of teak logs from Myanmar, valued at $30 million in 2016, and 95 percent of that wood entered over the land border. In the final quarter of 2016 alone, 35,000 tons of sawn teak wood imported to China show that the trade actually increased.

Dawson told The Irrawaddy that, "EIA has submitted information to the Myanmar government regarding illegal trade into China, and the need for CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) protection of endangered rosewood and padauk."

Dawson said that Myanmar should "acknowledge the corruption behind the rampant overharvesting conducted by MTE and its subcontractors leading up to the logging ban and conduct an investigation into corruption in the military, MTE and the forest department linked to Cheng Pui Chee's operations in Myanmar."

The post German Company Found Supplying Illegal Myanmar Teak to EU appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

RCSS Invites Rival Shan Group to Join Ceasefire, Excludes TNLA

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 04:08 AM PDT

The Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) has called for a ceasefire with its fellow Shan armed group the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), but the proposed truce does not extend to the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the RCSS said.

The RCSS and SSPP have been fighting each other for over a year. More than 2,000 people in Hsipaw and Namtu townships have recently become internally displaced persons (IDPs) after fleeing the fighting. The clashes have resulted in a number of civilian casualties over the past year. The fighting has continued despite repeated pleas from prominent members of the Shan community including Buddhist monks and leaders of political parties.

This is the first time the RCSS has announced such a ceasefire, which includes an order to its ground troops to remain in their current positions and not to try and take more territory.

These RCSS and SSPP have repeatedly clashed over territory in northern Shan State, mostly in Namtu, Hsipaw and Kyaukme townships.

The RCSS issued a statement yesterday announcing the ceasefire. When contacted by The Irrawaddy RCSS spokesperson Colonel Sai Oo said it was too early to discuss details about how the ceasefire with the SSPP would be implemented.

His organization has not completed its internal discussions on the matter yet, he added.

He said the RCSS was announcing the ceasefire because the Shan people were suffering greatly due to the armed conflict. Many Shan had become IDPs, he said.

“We are calling the ceasefire because our people have lost a great deal of property due to the fighting,” he said.

The RCSS and SSPP have held meetings before, but they did not produce a lasting agreement. In previous talks, the SSPP asked the RCSS to return to its stronghold in southern Shan, where it has a headquarters in Loi Tai Lang. The RCSS refused. Early this month, the RCSS invited respected Shan leaders to a meeting at its headquarters in Loi Tai Lang for discussions on how to solve the armed conflict with the SSPP.

In its statement, the RCSS urged the SSPP to respect its ceasefire announcement. “We want them to maintain peace, stop fighting and protect our people's property,” Col. Sai Oo said.

Colonel Sai Phone Han, a spokesperson for the SSPP, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that he could not comment other than to say that his organization would hold a meeting soon to discuss its response to the RCSS's call for a ceasefire.

“It is good to stop fighting. But a ceasefire alone is not enough to solve the problem. Just saying pretty words is not enough. We need to talk about how we will settle our [conflict over] where our troops are based on the ground. And how we will resettle our IDPs,” Col. Sai Phone Han said.

The main problem is the territorial dispute between the two Shan armed groups, he said.

“Everyone has their own boundaries. Problems will always break out when someone comes to attack [the other side's] land. We need to mark our boundary lines to be able to build trust in each other,” he said.

No ceasefire with the TNLA

Brigadier-General Tar Phone Kyaw, a spokesman for the TNLA, dismissed the RCSS's ceasefire announcement, saying it had no meaning. The SSPP is sometimes joined by the TNLA during armed clashes with the RCSS.

Brig-Gen. Tar Phone Kyaw said the RCSS's announcement had not affected the situation on the ground, with fresh clashes being reported on Friday.

He said leaders of the SSPP and TNLA believed that the RCSS's latest action was just a political game, and that they did not believe the RCSS had any intention of ending its effort to grab territory from the SSPP and TNLA.

The post RCSS Invites Rival Shan Group to Join Ceasefire, Excludes TNLA appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Independent Myanmar’s First Deadly Student Crackdown

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 03:09 AM PDT

Seventy-three years ago today, Harry Tan, a seventh grader, was shot dead by police who forcibly dispersed a group of students staging a protest against the government's cancellation of the seventh grade State examinations. The death of the 16-year-old student on March 22, 1956 signaled the government's first bloody crackdown against students in post-independence Myanmar.

Blaming a leak of exam questions, the government cancelled the examinations in their fourth day. Students staged a protest in front of the offices of the education minister and the Bama Khit (Burma Times) newspaper which was responsible for publishing an exam question. Harry Tan, who had been studying at St. Paul's School, was killed and two others were injured as police shot into the crowd of youths who were staging a protest in front of the newspaper's office at Boundary Road, which is now called Dhammazedi Road.

On March 29, 1956, students traveled around Yangon in protest of the death of Harry Tan.

The government later formed an investigation commission and passed all seventh graders without asking them to re-sit the examinations. The students set up a monument in honor of Harry Tan in front of the Bama Khit office in commemoration of the incident which was seen as a milestone in the history of student movements in Myanmar. According to some records, Harry Tan's monument was demolished during the time of the Union Revolutionary Council government.

The post Independent Myanmar's First Deadly Student Crackdown appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Women Sold into ‘Marriages’ in China with Help of Police: HRW Report

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 02:44 AM PDT

YANGON—Women and girls in northern Myanmar are being trafficked to China as "brides" at prices ranging from US$3,000 to $13,000 (about 4.5 to 20 million kyats), with the complicity—and often for the financial benefit of—police on both sides, Human Rights Watch said.

HRW's new report "'Give Us a Baby and We'll Let You Go': Trafficking of Kachin 'Brides' from Myanmar to China," includes harrowing accounts of sexual slavery from 37 Kachin and Shan women who escaped back into Myanmar after being trafficked into China.

They recalled that people they trusted—even family members, including a sister-in-law—lured them across the border with job offers. When in China, they found themselves being locked up and raped until they were pregnant.

Myanmar's Kachin and eastern Shan states share a border with China. The area has long been socially and economically unstable due to decades of war between autonomy-seeking ethnic armies and central government troops. With many men in the ethnic areas involved in the fighting, women are forced to become breadwinners for their families—often after being settled in internally displaced camps along the porous Chinese border.

HRW's Heather Barr said plenty of employers in China are willing to hire people from Myanmar, and this situation creates a huge opportunity for traffickers. Usually, someone in Myanmar tells a woman they know a farm or a restaurant that needs workers. Often these jobs are real, but sometimes they're not.

"Most of the 37 women and girls we interviewed accepted these types of jobs. But the people who recruited them turned out to be traffickers who sold them to Chinese families," she said.

HRW's acting women's rights co-director explained that a serious gender imbalance in China, driven in large part by the country's one-child policy, is the main factor fueling bride trafficking. In China, sons traditionally stay with their parents and support them in old age, while daughters live with their husbands and in-laws, creating an incentive to ensure that your only child is a son.

"Today there are 30 to 40 million more men than women in China. So many men have had a hard time finding wives, creating a demand for trafficked brides," she added.

She said Myanmar and Chinese authorities look the other way while unscrupulous traffickers sell Kachin women and girls into captivity and unspeakable abuse.

While trafficking is illegal in both countries and there have been some attempts on both sides to stop the trade, HRW said most of their interviewees escaped on their own. The group reported hearing many stories of police on both sides of the border being complicit in trafficking, and even benefiting financially.

Some victims' families had repeatedly gone to Myanmar police—including anti-trafficking police—but no action had been taken. Chinese police take little action against traffickers and often treat the women and girls as criminals for violating immigration law.

"In one case we learned about, the Chinese police demanded a US$800 bribe from the family the woman had escaped from, and then handed her back to them," Barr said.

On Anti-Human Trafficking Day last year, Myanmar police said there had been no decline in the number of human trafficking cases in recent years, and that "a new form of trafficking had emerged".

They said Chinese men now legally marry Myanmar women before selling them in China, and in some cases even force them to act as surrogate mothers.

The post Women Sold into 'Marriages' in China with Help of Police: HRW Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Beach Bliss and the Big City — Destination Guide to South Central Myanmar

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 01:43 AM PDT

A bucolic scene from the northern end of Chaung Tha beach. (Photo: Marie Starr/ The Irrawaddy)

Chaung Tha

This is the most casual and fun of Myanmar's beach towns. It's popular with families and groups of friends from Yangon and can be busy around holidays and weekends. After swimming and water activities in the sea, you might see camp fires, and even impromptu karaoke sessions on the beach in the evenings.

Sunset at Ngwesaung Beach is often spectacular. (Photo: Marie Starr/ The irrawaddy)

Ngwesaung

Ngwesaung is a little more upscale than neighboring Chaung Tha and has a reputation for being a peaceful and clean beach with clear waters not yet mobbed by city folk. Close to the village you'll find vendors selling seafood and offering water sport equipment. The further along the beach you walk from the village, the easier it is to find your own private slice of beach heaven.

The view of Gawyangyi beach from above. (Photo: Marie Starr /The Irrawaddy)

Gawyangyi

This is a new beach destination for Myanmar. It was little more than a deserted stretch of beach and a white-sand bay until a few years ago but now a few low-key accommodation and dining options have cropped up and the guesthouses can arrange water activities to suit your level of adventurousness. The road to Gawyangyi is still very rough and deters all but the most determined beach-goers, making it a rewardingly quiet and romantic getaway.

Sule Pagoda marks the center of bustling urban Yangon. (Photo:Htet Wai/ The irrawaddy)

Yangon

The commercial capital Yangon is a booming city and the center of modern Myanmar. Though sometimes hot and crowded, this dynamic, diverse city also has the best hotels, restaurants, galleries and cultural events in the country. And the glittering Shwedagon Pagoda looks out over it all.

Twante is one of Myanmar’s biggest pottery hubs. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Twante

Though just a short trip from the hubbub of downtown Yangon, Twante feels like a million miles away. This town is famous as a center of pottery and workshops take up entire quarters here. Inside the workshops you can witness the entirely non-mechanized process from start to finish. There's also a snake temple on a lake outside the town and a pagoda complex with a thousand Buddha statues to wander through.

Bago’s Naungdawgyi Myathalyaung reclining Buddha which measures 82 meters in length. (Phpto: Marie Starr/ The Irrawaddy)

Bago

Bago, often called by its colonial-era name Pegu, is all about the huge and beautiful religious landmarks which draw large numbers of Buddhist travelers from near and far. The mighty Shwemawdaw Pagoda is some 46 meters taller than Yangon's Shwedagon and there are two huge reclining Buddha images. At Shwethalyaung, the indoor reclining Buddha, you'll see a huge wall of names of donors from all over the world. Everything in the town can easily be reached by tuk tuk or bicycle which can be hired at most hotels.

The view from Thandaunggyi mountain with Naw Bu Baw prayer hill to the right. (Photo: Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy)

Taungoo and Thandaunggyi

Taungoo, the town serving visitors to Thandaunggyi, is easy to get to from Yangon and so is growing in popularity. Once the capital of a huge kingdom stretching far beyond Myanmar's modern borders, Taungoo is now a sleepy town surrounded by rice paddies and with some crumbling colonial mansions which have been dramatically taken over by nature. The peaks of Thandaunggyi and the nearby Naw Bu Baw prayer hill, which actually lie across the border with Karen State, are the main attractions for visitors to the area. 

Bawbawgyi at Sri Ksetra, Myanmar’s only current UNESCO World Heritage Site is located outside Pyay. (Photo: Marie Starr/ The Irrawaddy)

Pyay

The remains of the ancient city of Sri Ksetra, once a stronghold of the mighty Pyu Kingdom, today makes up part of Myanmar's only UNESCO World Heritage Site lies in the countryside surrounding Pyay. The temples, hulking and simple in design, are well preserved and unique to other collections of temples you'll find in Myanmar. A short trip from the city of Pyay and a boat ride along the Irrawaddy River, Akauk Taung is a point along the banks where an impressive series of Buddha images were carved into the mountainside in the 19th century.

The post Beach Bliss and the Big City — Destination Guide to South Central Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

AA Denies Issuing Online Call for Arakanese Statehood

Posted: 22 Mar 2019 01:22 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW—The Arakan Army (AA) has denied issuing a statement that went viral online containing a proposed timeline for Arakanese statehood.

Government officials questioned AA representatives about the statement at a meeting in Naypyitaw on Thursday between the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) and representatives of non-signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). The Arakanese ethnic armed group told the officials that it did not issue the statement.

"We told them the statement that details a timeframe for establishing an Arakanese state was not issued by us," Colonel Kyaw Han, commander of the AA's eastern military region, told reporters.

He said the AA's primary military goal is to establish a base in Rakhine State, despite the opposition of the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw). The Tatmadaw must accept this if it wants peace, he said.

"We are doing our duty, because only the Arakan Army can assume responsibility for the security, peace and development of the Arakanese people. And we are taking responsibility in Rakhine State," the colonel said.

Government delegate Dr. Tin Myo Win urged the AA to take part in political dialogue instead of rising up against the government.

He justified the Tatmadaw's military actions there, saying the government had no choice but to respond when an armed group attempts to establish a base, which he said was a threat to national security.

Since Nov. 30, clashes between the Tatmadaw and the AA in Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun and Mrauk-U townships have displaced over 10,000 people.

Thirteen police were killed and nine injured when the AA launched coordinated attacks on four police outposts in Buthidaung Township on Jan. 4, just days after it announced together with two allied groups that it would sign the NCA.

The government responded by launching counter-insurgency operations in Rakhine.

"Local people are suffering as a result. For example, Mrauk-U is a tourist spot for foreign travelers. And as the clashes have expanded to such areas, the government has had to respond accordingly," said President's Office director-general U Zaw Htay.

On March 15, artillery shelling damaged heritage sites in Mrauk-U, the ancient capital of the Arakanese Kingdom. Both the Tatmadaw and the AA denied responsibility.

"We said sincerely that we did not launch an attack in Mrauk-U. We called for an end to attacks on civilians, whether with artillery fire or small arms," Colonel Kyaw Han said.

Thursday's meeting was attended by the United Wa State Army, the Kachin Independence Organization, Mongla's Eastern Shan State Peace and Solidarity Committee, the Shan State Progressive Party, Kokang's Myanmar National Truth and Justice Party, the Palaung State Liberation Front, the United League of Arakan (the political wing of the AA) and the Karenni National Progressive Party.

The meeting issued a joint statement vowing to continue negotiations to de-escalate armed conflicts, to ensure nationwide peace and stability, and to heed regional development and the interests of local people, to solve political problems through political means, and to hold frequent meetings between decision-makers.

"If those points are implemented with good will by both sides, there is potential for the clashes to de-escalate. Otherwise, nothing will change," Col. Kyaw Han told reporters.

The post AA Denies Issuing Online Call for Arakanese Statehood appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Tanintharyi Region Approves New Chief Minister

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 11:54 PM PDT

YANGON — The Tanintharyi Region Parliament has approved the local minister of natural resources and environmental conservation, U Myint Maung, as the region’s new chief minister, replacing Daw Lei Lei Maw, who was arrested on corruption charges earlier this month.

President U Win Myint nominated U Myint Maung, who is also a regional lawmaker for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), on Monday. The nomination was approved during an emergency parliamentary session on Friday with no objections.

U Myint Maung has been serving as acting chief minister since Daw Lei Lei Maw was arrested on March 10. He is also the NLD secretary for Tanintharyi Region.

His predecessor was arrested after a month-long investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) along with Global Grand Services (GGS) Managing Director U Thein Htwe, Director U Aung Myat and General Manager U Thura Ohn. The cases were opened against all four by the ACC at the Dawei Myoma Police Station in Tanintharyi.

The ACC said Daw Lei Lei Maw misused her position on a number of occasions since April 2016, just weeks after she was appointed, including by awarding several contracts to GGS in exchange for bribes. A day after her arrest, the President's Office announced that she had been fired.

"There is not much time to address all the problems that the region is facing, but I hope he [U Myint Maung] can solve a few of them in the remainder of the term," Tanintharyi Region Parliament Speaker U Khin Maung Aye told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the President's Office announced the resignation of two other senior officials in Tanintharyi: Planning and Finance Minister U Phyo Win Tun and Electricity and Energy Minister U Kyi Hlaing. While the announcement gave no reason for the resignations, many believe they were linked to the corruption investigation that has toppled the chief minister.

The post Tanintharyi Region Approves New Chief Minister appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘When Is It Going to Stop?’, Malaysia’s Marital Rape Victims Ask

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 09:55 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR—When Neelambika’s husband slapped her, she decided to end their marriage, but this only made him angrier and he began to repeatedly rape her while she tried to sleep on the sofa—which is legal in Malaysia.

Neelambika, 60, a part-time teacher with one child, could not afford to move out as divorce proceedings dragged on for more than a year.

“My bed was on the couch in the living room and that’s where the marital rape happened,” Neelambika, who declined to give her full name to protect her identity, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

“It was about wielding his power and control over me … I endured it but something died inside of me.”

In more than 50 countries, including the United States, Nepal, Britain and South Africa, it is a crime for a husband to rape his wife, but this is not the case in most of Asia, where campaigners are pushing for legal reform.

Like other forms of domestic violence, marital rape can lead to trauma, depression, loss of income due to injuries, loss of work, poor school performance by children and even murder.

Although statistics on marital rape are hard to come by, one third of women who have been in a relationship say they have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of their intimate partner, according to the World Health Organization.

A spokesman for Malaysia’s law minister Liew Vui Keong did not respond to requests for comment.

Last year, a deputy minister in Malaysia’s prime minister’s department, Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, told parliament that the government had no plans to make marital rape a crime as it was hard to prove in court, according to local media reports.

Neelambika said she didn’t even consider going to the police as they had no powers to stop the assaults, and she was keen that the small community where her family lived didn’t find out.

She was too ashamed to confide in anyone. When she did stay overnight with friends or family, her husband turned up at her work or parents’ house, demanding she return home.

“He knew I just wanted a divorce, so he was going to make use of me during that period,” she said.

“He just felt he had that right—that he was still my husband and he could do anything he wanted.

Work to be done

While many Asia-Pacific countries have introduced domestic violence and harassment laws over the last decade, only 15 out of 39 states in the region have criminalized marital rape, according to the gender equality agency UN Women.

Many countries do not collect data on marital rape—not just because it is not a crime, but also because social pressures mean it is rarely reported or discussed.

Victims of sexual violence are often blamed and stigmatized, said Ingrid Fitzgerald, a regional gender expert at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which promotes sexual health.

East Timor has Asia’s highest rate of reported sexual violence by an intimate partner, at 40 percent, while Myanmar is among the lowest, at 4 percent, UNFPA said, based on countries where survey data is available.

Women are often torn between wanting the violence to end by reporting it and not wanting the husband and main breadwinner to be jailed, Fitzgerald said.

Their decision depends on how easy and socially acceptable it is to get a divorce and on women’s financial independence.

“Rape is rape—whether it occurs to a woman of a particular age, in marriage or a relationship—it’s still rape,” Fitzgerald said.

Even where marital rape laws do exist, police often do not take women’s complaints seriously and blame victims, while authorities fail to provide adequate protection, said Melissa Alvarado, a program manager at UN Women.

“There is definitely work to be done to create that more sensitized and empathic response for women so they can more boldly tell their stories,” she said.

No shame

Despite the taboos, positive changes are happening.

In 2017, India’s top court struck down a decades-old clause in the country’s rape laws permitting a man to have sex with his wife if she is aged between 15 to 18—ruling that it was rape, and therefore a criminal offence.

Ahead of India’s elections next month, women’s rights groups have been urging political parties to include criminalizing marital rape in their manifestos.

Last month, Singapore’s parliament proposed a bill—backed by the government—to make marital rape a crime.

“The bigger problem is whether they will be able to get spouses to come forward,” said Pratap Kishan, a director at Kishan Law Chambers LLC in Singapore.

“Women are reluctant to report such matters because they feel it is something that is within the family and they should maintain that.”

To boost support for criminalization, there needs to be a shift in mindset on marital rape, challenging traditional gender roles and victim blaming myths, using government-backed public awareness campaigns, gender experts said.

“It feeds into this bigger concept of men’s access to women’s bodies … whether it’s date rape, marital rape or sexual harassment, that women’s bodies exist for male pleasure,” said Jennifer Wells-Qu of women’s rights group Equality Now.

To help rape victims come forward, countries can also introduce women-only community courts, like in India, said Wells-Qu, the charity’s Beijing-based Asia associate.

Meanwhile, activists are trying to educate lawmakers about the impacts of marital rape, such as miscarriages, poor newborn health, HIV infection and increased suicide rates.

“Removing the exception to marital rape protects wives and sends a strong message that all rape is heinous,” said Sumitra Visvanathan, head of the Women’s Aid Organization in Malaysia.

When Neelambika’s divorce eventually came through, her husband moved out of their family home.

In an attempt to overcome her trauma and change public perception on marital rape, Neelambika published a book this month on her experiences and is campaigning for reform.

“Many rape victims don’t have any recourse,” she said. “If they’re still married, they fear retaliation from their husbands. When is it going to stop?”

The post 'When Is It Going to Stop?’, Malaysia’s Marital Rape Victims Ask appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Explosion at Chinese Chemical Plant Kills 47, Injures 640

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 09:48 PM PDT

SHANGHAI—An explosion at a pesticide plant in eastern China has killed 47 people and injured more than 600, state media said on Friday, the latest casualties in a series of industrial accidents that has angered the public.

The blast occurred on Thursday at the Chenjiagang Industrial Park in the city of Yancheng, in Jiangsu Province, and the fire was finally brought under control at 3 a.m. on Friday (1900 GMT), state television said.

Survivors were taken to 16 hospitals with 640 people being treated for injuries. Thirty-two of them were critically injured, it said.

The fire at a plant owned by the Tianjiayi Chemical Company spread to neighboring factories. Children at a kindergarten in the vicinity were also injured in the blast, media reported.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation, but the company — which produces more than 30 organic chemical compounds, some of which are highly flammable — has been cited and fined for work safety violations in the past, the China Daily said.

President Xi Jinping, who is in Italy on a state visit, ordered all-out efforts to care for the injured and to “earnestly maintain social stability,” state television said.

Authorities must step up action to prevent such incidents from happening and find out the cause of the blast as quickly as possible, Xi added.

“There have recently been a series of major accidents, and all places and relevant departments must fully learn the lessons from these,” the report cited Xi as saying.

The Jiangsu environmental protection bureau said in a late Thursday statement the environmental monitoring station in the area had found no abnormal concentrations of toluene, xylene or benzene.

Concentrations of acetone and chloroform outside the perimeter of the explosion zone were also within normal limits, it added.

Jiangsu will launch inspections on chemical producers and warehouses, according to an emergency notice published by official media on Friday.

The notice, published on the news website of Jiangsu province’s Communist Party, said the government would shut down any chemical firms found not complying with regulations on dangerous chemicals.

Public anger over safety standards has grown in China over industrial accidents ranging from mining disasters to factory fires that have marred three decades of swift economic growth.

In 2015, 165 people were killed in a series of explosions at a chemical warehouse in the northern city of Tianjin.

The explosions at Tianjin, one of the world’s busiest ports and not far from the capital, Beijing, were big enough to be seen by satellites and register on earthquake sensors.

Despite repeated pledges by the government to tighten safety, chemical plants in particular have been plagued by disasters.

In November, a series of blasts during the delivery of a flammable gas at a chemical manufacturer killed 23 people.

The post Explosion at Chinese Chemical Plant Kills 47, Injures 640 appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Vietnam Protests to China Over South China Sea Boat Sinking

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 09:46 PM PDT

HANOI — Vietnam has lodged an official protest with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel in the disputed South China Sea, Vietnam said late on Thursday.

Vietnam and China have for years been embroiled in a dispute over the potentially energy-rich stretch of waters, called the East Sea by Vietnam.

The fishing vessel was moored near Da Loi island in the Paracel archipelago on March 6 when a China Maritime Surveillance vessel chased it and fired water cannon at it, Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The boat sank after hitting rocks while it was being chased. All five fishermen on board were rescued by another Vietnamese fishing boat, the ministry said.

A Vietnamese rescue agency said earlier that the Chinese vessel rammed the fishing boat.

“The Chinese vessel committed an act that violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago, threatened the lives and damaged the properties and the legitimate interests of Vietnamese fishermen,” the ministry said in the statement, referring to the Paracel islands by their Vietnamese name.

Vietnam had lodged a protest with China’s embassy in Hanoi and demanded that China deal strictly with its Maritime Surveillance agency to prevent similar incidents and to compensate fairly the fishermen for their losses.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing was cited by Chinese media as saying earlier that the fishing boat had sunk when the Chinese vessel approached, and that the Chinese crew had rescued the fishermen.

China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, where it has steadily expanded military and other installations on artificial islands and reefs, unnerving the region and angering Washington.

In addition to Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to parts of the sea.

The post Vietnam Protests to China Over South China Sea Boat Sinking appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In War, Dirty Water More Dangerous to Children Than Violence, Says UNICEF

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 09:38 PM PDT

NEW YORK — Children under age 15 are almost three times more likely to die from diseases due to lack of clean water and sanitation than from violence in countries in conflict, the United Nations’ children’s agency reported on Friday.

Most vulnerable are young children under age 5, who are 20 times more likely to die from diseases than violence, said the report by UNICEF, released to coincide with World Water Day.

Specifically, children die of diarrhea-related illness, such as cholera, when conflict restricts access to clean water, it said.

The research looked at the health consequences of unsafe water and sanitation for children in 16 countries undergoing conflict, including Myanmar, Afghanistan and Yemen.

“In these conflicts — and other emergencies — providing rapid, comprehensive and safe water and sanitation is a matter of life and death,” said the report.

UNICEF reported 85,000 diarrheal deaths due to poor water, sanitation and hygiene in children from 2014 to 2016, compared with just under 31,000 deaths due to violence, citing World Health Organization (WHO) data.

“It isn’t surprising,” Tomas Jensen, advisor for tropical medicine at the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“They are often the ones at greatest risk, especially young children who haven’t built up immunity to bacteria that can cause diarrheal disease,” he said.

Diarrhea-related illness is the second leading cause of death for all children under 5, depleting body fluids and causing dehydration, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Particularly vulnerable to dehydration are children and infants, who lose fluids more quickly than adults and are less able to communicate their needs, experts say.

In conflict, journeying to a water source may carry the risk of being shot or sexually assaulted, the report said.

Water might become contaminated, its sources destroyed or residents may be denied access, it said.

In Yemen, which has had one of the worst cholera epidemics in recent history, a third of the cases were children under age 5, according to the WHO.

The UNICEF report noted a few exceptions, saying children under 15 in Iraq and Syria were more likely to die of violence, as were children under age 5 in Syria and Libya.

Methods of warfare in those countries, such as aerial bombing of urban areas, landmines and unexploded ordnance put children at high risk, a UNICEF spokesman said.

The post In War, Dirty Water More Dangerous to Children Than Violence, Says UNICEF appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Colonial Era Champion of Burmese Language and Literature

Posted: 21 Mar 2019 07:14 PM PDT

On this day in 1973, U Pe Maung Tin, a renowned scholar of Pali and Buddhism, who was known for his dedication to promoting Myanmar literature during the colonial period, passed away at the age of 85.

Having done a master's degree in Pali in India's University of Calcutta, he was appointed Pali professor at Rangoon University at the age of 24. His translation of the "The Path of Purity" from Pali to English won him credit among Buddhism scholars worldwide.

After obtaining his Bachelor of Letters (B.Litt.) degree from Oxford University in 1922, he came back to Myanmar, and established the Myanmar department at Rangoon University during a time when Myanmar literature was increasingly ignored by the Burmese themselves.

He invited scholars of Myanmar literature to lecture at Rangoon University, established a master's degree course in Myanmar literature at the university, revived ancient Myanmar literature and promoted the study of stone inscriptions.

He also designed Burmese school textbooks in order to promote Myanmar literature starting at high school level. Due to his relentless efforts, there was a saying that anyone who engages with Myanmar literature owes it to U Pe Maung Tin.

U Pe Maung Tin sowed the seeds of Khit San literature, which was a new style of writing distinct from traditional writing style of Burmese at the time. He was also the first Burmese principal of Rangoon University, and when student protests broke out in 1936, he stood by the students and refused to take action against student demonstrators, saying they had demonstrated against the government and not the university.

During his lifetime, he took a leading role in several organizations concerning Myanmar literature, history and culture. He wrote many books, monographs and articles on Myanmar’s history and Myanmar literature, culture and language emerging as a major contributor to the development of Myanmar literature. His sister Tee Tee was a prominent philanthropist and her husband Gordon H Luce, was a colonial scholar on Myanmar history.

The post Colonial Era Champion of Burmese Language and Literature appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)