Friday, March 29, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Gov’t Says 12 Civilians Killed in Fighting Between Military, AA Since Jan

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 06:55 AM PDT

YANGON—Twelve civilians have been killed in fighting between government troops and the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State in the past three months, according to a Myanmar government spokesperson.

President's Office spokesman U Zaw Htay said that as of Thursday, there had been 103 clashes between the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and the AA since January.

The Arakanese rebels, who are seeking greater autonomy in western Myanmar, have been warring with the central government since 2015. Since the group's attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine on Jan. 4, the fighting between the two armies has escalated, resulting in an increase in casualties on both sides, including civilians.

During a media briefing on Friday, the spokesperson said that in addition to the civilian deaths, 58 AA soldiers and 27 policemen had been killed. He declined to provide a figure for casualties among government troops, saying those would be released by the Army.

He added that 26 police and 20 civilians had been wounded.

"The majority of those affected are local people," he said.

But the civilian death toll continued to rise even as the spokesperson was speaking. Two local people in Mrauk-U were reportedly shot dead by the Army on Friday morning. Since mid-March, the Army has faced accusations of opening fire on civilians in the ancient town, but the Army claims that during the incidents it was responding to AA troops who had mingled with local people.

Military spokesmen earlier this week reiterated their stance that the fighting was "unavoidable" in Rakhine State in February and March, as AA troops disguised as civilians were shooting at Tatmadaw units both in the field and at bases.

The spokesperson revealed on Friday that as of March 24, the total number of people displaced by the fighting in seven townships in northern Rakhine State had reached more than 17,300. Kyauktaw Township ranked first with more than 3,800 refugees, while Mrauk-U followed with over 3,500.

The presidential spokesman's figures on the displaced matched UNOCHA data released on Thursday, with a total of 17,354.

However, the total number of civilian casualties is expected to be higher and may contradict the government data, according to the Arakan National Party.

The ANP formed a nine-member investigation commission to record civilian loses in five townships—Kyauktaw, Rathaetaung, Ponnakyun, Buthaetaung and Mrauk U—and would submit its findings to the Union government, said U Tun Aung Kyaw, the general secretary of the ANP.

The ANP investigation commission started their outreach to communities in Mrauk U on March 26. U Tun Aung Kyaw said that in Mrauk U Township alone it found that a total of 52 people were dead, injured or missing. The commission does not yet have precise figures on fatalities and injuries as data collected from villages was still in raw form.

Separately, three people were killed in Rathaetaung and at least four were injured, while Buthaetaung saw four people killed during those months, said Daw Khin Saw Wai, an ANP lawmaker who is also on the investigation team.

"They are fleeing their homes, not only from gunfights [between the AA and the military] but also from artillery shelling of their villages," said the lawmaker.

Party spokesman U Tun Aung Kyaw, who is in Rathaetaung helping displaced people, said on Friday that the fighting was intense in the township, hindering its ability to collect data on losses. He estimated the number of displaced people in Rathaetaung at about 6,000 in some eight IDP camps.

The post Gov't Says 12 Civilians Killed in Fighting Between Military, AA Since Jan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Kachin Activist’s Sentence Reduced

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 05:42 AM PDT

The Kachin State Court reduced the prison sentence of Nang Pu—who was charged with defamation of the Myanmar military in December—from six to four months on Friday.

The Myitkyina Township Court sentenced Nang Pu and two other peaceful protesters, Lum Zawng and Zau Jat, to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 kyats under Article 500 of Myanmar's Penal Code on Dec. 7 last.

The trio were accused by Lt-Col Myo Min Oo from the military's Northern Command who filed criminal defamation complaints under Article 500 on May 8, 2018 for their participation in protests a month earlier. The protests were held in Mytikyina, the Kachin capital, to urge the government to help locals trapped in the Tanai area of Kachin State who fled from fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar military.

All three appealed to the Kachin State Court, but the judge on Friday accepted only the appeal of Nang Pu, rejecting both of the men.

The lawyer representing Nang Pu, Doi Bu, said her client's sentence was reduced in consideration of the condition of her "being a woman who needs regular medical attention for her health."

Nang Pu is the director of the Htoi Gender and Development Foundation and founder of the Kachin State Women's Network. She advocates for the internally displaced, gender equality and peace in Kachin State.

Her lawyer said that as the sentence has been reduced to four months, Nang Pu only has one week left to serve and that she should be freed by no later than April 7.

The lawyer said Nang Pu could be freed earlier than April 7 depending on the decision of the prison authorities.

There has been an outpouring of happiness at the outcome of Nang Pu's appeal across social media from her friends and colleagues who say they are excited to see her again.

Last month, Nang Pu was honored with a 2019 Schuman Award, together with two other human rights advocates from Myanmar, for "helping some of the most marginalized members of the conflict-affected communities in Kachin State."

Lawyer Doi Bu said that the remaining two activists, Lum Zawng and Zau Jat, could go on to seek appeals at the High Court in Naypyidaw and that with their content, she would be help them.

The post Kachin Activist's Sentence Reduced appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

TNLA Accuses Military of Helping RCSS Gain Bases in N. Shan

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 03:58 AM PDT

An officer of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has complained that whenever the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) risks losing control of one of their bases in Namtu or Lashio townships of northern Shan State, troops from the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, step in to help them.

Renewed fighting has been ongoing in the Namtu and Lashio areas for almost three weeks, according to the TNLA's Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw. In joint operations, the TNLA and the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) have been carrying out attacks on RCSS bases with the intention of forcing them to leave the area.

"The RCSS nearly lost all bases in Namtu and Lashio. They cannot stay in those areas anymore if they lose their base nearby in Mongmu Village. But then the Myanmar Army came in to help. They use air strikes and 105 millimeter shells," said Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw.

There has been strong fighting for two consecutive days in Mongmu Village between the Myanmar military and the joint forces of the TNLA and the SSPP. The Myanmar military uses three battalions on the ground to attack the joint force.

"For our side, we have a strong armed force as the SSPP have joined us. When we have fighting [with] the Burmese (Myanmar military), it is very big fighting. Therefore, they have to use air strikes to fight back at us," said Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw.

This is not first time the TNLA and the SSPP launched a joint military offensive in order to fight the RCSS, according to the TNLA. On four occasions, in similar situations when they had almost successfully forced the RCSS to retreat from their area, the Myanmar military has stepped into the area.

"They do not want the RCSS to leave from those areas. They took [control of] the areas from us, then gave it to the RCSS. They tried to make more confusion in these areas," said Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw.

Lt-Col Sai Oo, a spokesperson for the RCSS denied the TNLA's accusations.

Some local aid workers who went to help internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mongmu Village found RCSS troops were staying inside a Buddhist monastery in the village, while the Myanmar military troops stayed outside the monastery.

"[It is] very strange that they stayed nearby each other. This was first time I have seen them," said a local aid worker who requested anonymity.

Fighting first broke out between the RCSS and the joint forces of the TNLA and the SSPP on March 22 and an elderly man from a nearby village was killed amid the clashes. Over one hundred people fled Mongmu and stayed at a Buddhist monastery in another village called Mong San.

About 2,000 locals are regularly forced to leave their villages in Hsipaw and Namtu as a result of rival ethnic armed groups clashing in their area.

The TNLA and the SSPP accused the RCSS of occupying areas they used to control in Namtu, Hsipaw, Lashio and Kyaukme townships after the RCSS signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 2015. The RCSS are traditionally based in southern Shan State, but they have been acquiring more bases in northern Shan recently.

On March 27, fighting broke out between the Myanmar military and joint forces of the TNLA and the SSPP in Mongmu Village and two houses were burned down when artillery shell fell on them. It is unknown, however, which group was responsible for the shelling which caused the damage.

The post TNLA Accuses Military of Helping RCSS Gain Bases in N. Shan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Army Troops Shoot Dead 2 Civilians in Their Homes in Mrauk-U Village

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 03:50 AM PDT

YANGON—At least two civilians were shot dead and several were wounded by Myanmar Army troops in a village in northern Rakhine State's Mrauk-U Township on Friday morning.

The two fatalities were identified as Authar Kan village residents Ma Sabei, who was pregnant, and U Phoe Khine, aged 60. Both were killed by Army soldiers in their homes.

Ma Sabei and another woman, Ma Pauk Sa, were shot multiple times. Ma Sabei died on the spot while Ma Pauk Sa suffered wounds to her head and other parts of her body. Ma Pauk Sa was taken by ambulance to Mrauk-U General Hospital at about 9 a.m.

Ma Pauk Sa was conscious and able to answer questions before entering the operating theater. She said that she and three other people were sitting at home at about 6 a.m. when soldiers entered Authar Kan village and fired indiscriminately at homes. She said some bullets passed through her home, which is situated on the outskirts of the village. According to the Mrauk-U Youth Association, villagers were not allowed to transport Ma Sabei's body to Mrauk-U Hospital until noon.

Regional lawmaker U Tun Tha Sein, who represents of Mrauk-U constituency in the Rakhine State Parliament, helped attend to wounded villagers and bring out the bodies of those killed from the morning. He confirmed to The Irrawaddy over the phone that two dead bodies and one wounded patient had been taken to Mrauk-U hospital, while another injured person was receiving treatment at the Tein Nyo rural clinic.

He said Army soldiers arrested at least six villagers. Some locals told The Irrawaddy that prior to the attack there had been no exchange of fire between the military and the Arakan Army (AA), and the armed group had done nothing to provoke the government troops on Friday.

In the morning, about 100 soldiers from Light Infantry Division No. 55 entered the village and started shooting at homes without any reason, the local residents said. As the shooting targeted civilians in Authar Kan, several hundred residents fled neighboring Tein Nyo village in the afternoon.

A villager from Tein Nyo told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity that more than 100 troops from LID N0. 55 spent a night in the village, where a military supply and transport unit is based. The following morning, the LID No. 55 troops entered neighboring Authar Kan village and deliberately opened fire, the villager said.

Military spokesman Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun could not be reached for comment on Friday afternoon.

According to the Tein Nyo villager, all of the more than 1,000 people who live in Authar Kan fled to different locations. Last week, five civilians from Rathedaung Township's Say Taung village were brutally shot dead by Army soldiers during a raid: four of the victims were hiding in a bomb shelter at the time. The fifth victim was an elderly person who was shot in their home.

At a press conference held by the Tatmadaw Information Team last week, Major General Tun Tun Nyi told reporters that the Army could not carry out its operations without causing some civilian causalities. Another officer, Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun, accused AA rebels of wearing black tracksuits and mingling with ordinary people in villages.

Lawmakers and civil society groups have expressed concern that civilians are being intentionally targeted.

The Geneva Conventions stipulate five principles that armed actors must abide by: not to target civilians in conflict zones; not to target medical workers or structures; to refrain from torture; to allow civilians safe passage; and to grant access to humanitarian assistance to those in need.

The post Army Troops Shoot Dead 2 Civilians in Their Homes in Mrauk-U Village appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Monument to Late Colonel, Fallen Soldiers Demolished in Shan State

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 03:32 AM PDT

YANGON — A monument to the late Col. Ba Htoo and fallen soldiers was demolished earlier this week in the town of Aungban in southern Shan State in order to widen the Asian Highway.

"It is not that we have destroyed it. Some parts [of town] need to be removed in order to modernize transportation. Because it is acceptable to the majority, the Shan State government approved it and proceeded with it," Sai Hseng Tip Long, the state government’s finance minister and spokesman, told The Irrawaddy.

Work crews have been widening the roadway, known locally as the Union Highway, into four lanes since last year and are expected to finish next month.

In addition to the monument, some residential homes, banks and other buildings have also been removed to make way for the extra lanes.

Col. Ba Htoo, a senior member of the Burma Independence Army, is best known for his lead role in the fight against Japanese forces in Upper Myanmar while Gen. Aung San commanded the resistance in Lower Myanmar.

When Col. Ba Htoo declared war against Japanese forces on March 8, 1945, he successfully distracted their attention away from Gen. Aung San, who launched the military campaign against the occupation as planned on March 27, a date that has come to be celebrated annually as Armed Forces Day.

Col. Ba Htoo died of malaria in a small village in Aungban three months later.

According to locals, the column demolished last week had been built over the original monument, which was erected before independence in 1948.

"We feel sad about losing a piece of history. But the homes of local residents also had to be removed. More homes would have had to be removed if the monument were not removed. It was removed with the agreement of community elders," said Daw Nilar, a Ward 4 resident who lived near the monument.

Another local resident, Sai Maung Tint, said he was also sorry to see the monument demolished.

"Besides the monument, the clock tower, which is 100 years old, will also be removed. We didn’t know about it in advance. We only knew about it when it was demolished," he said.

Shan State lawmaker U Than Htike, who represents Kalaw Township, said a committee consisting of state government officials, lawmakers, party representatives and community elders from Aungban was formed to oversee the roadwork and approved the monument’s demolition by consensus.

"Criticism is normal. Because it was historic, we consulted with senior citizens before we decided to remove it. If we hadn’t touched it, more houses on the other side [of the road] would had to have been removed. We had to consider various perspectives. We took systematic action through the committee," he said.

The committee decided that the urn holding the colonel’s ashes would be spared and placed inside a new monument to be built in his honor. But the urn has not been located, so the committee will meet again to prepare for more digging to find it.

The highway is an important border trade route, one section of which connects with China and Thailand through Tachileik, Kengtung, Mongla, Taunggyi and Meiktila townships. Another section connects with India through Meiktila, Mandalay and Tamu.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Monument to Late Colonel, Fallen Soldiers Demolished in Shan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

As China Pushes, Opposition to Myitsone Dam Builds

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 03:09 AM PDT

YANGON—Ja Hkawn still remembers the day all the residents of a nearby village were forcibly driven across the river by the local authorities. It was in late May 2010. The villagers of Mali Zup were given just three days to pack their belongings. She saw the villagers carrying their possessions on their shoulders and rounding up their livestock. As they headed to their "new place" across the river, their footsteps were heavy. Some shed tears as they left.

In April of the following year, Ja Hkawn, who was then a resident of Tang Hpre village, faced the same fate as her Mali Zup neighbors. The whole village was forced to move to a new place—Aung Myin Tha, 8 miles to the south.

The reason for the forced relocations: to make way for a mega-dam to be built by China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), now known as State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC).

"I've never liked it here—I long to go back to my village," Ja Hkawn said. She misses her old village located at the confluence of the May Kha and Mali Kha rivers; life is hard in Aung Myin Tha, as the new location is not arable, but built on rocky red soil.

Once a landowner with several acres on which she grew seasonal vegetables, the 53-year-old Kachin woman now—like many others—scratches out a living as a vendor with the support of local NGOs, selling organic soap, local snacks and T-shirts emblazoned with the slogans "No Dam" and "Long Live Irrawaddy" to tourists in Myitsone. One of Kachin State's major landmarks, and a must-see for visitors to the area, Myitsone is the point at which the confluence of the May Kha and Mali Kha rivers gives rise to Myanmar's lifeline, The Irrawaddy River. The confluence is recognized by the Organization for World Wildlife Conservation as a place of biodiversity and natural heritage. During a recent visit there, The Irrawaddy witnessed a busload of Chinese tourists visiting the area.

About a 25-minute boat ride south of the source of the Irrawaddy River, the proposed 6,000-megawatt dam is one of the biggest hydropower projects in the region with an estimated cost of US$3.6 billion. CPI started work on the project in 2009 with the construction of resettled villages for displaced locals. The two resettlement villages, Aung Myin Tha and Mali Yang, are located on opposite sides of the Irrawaddy, facing each other.

Unfinished pillars constructed as part of the Myitsone Dam project are seen in the Irrawaddy River on March 23, 2019. / Nan Lwin / The Irrawaddy

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in December 2006 between the Ministry of Electric Power No. 1 and CPI after a senior member of the ruling military junta, General Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, visited China and sought assistance for hydropower development in Myanmar.

After former President Thein Sein took office, strong objections to the project emerged from the public. Environmentalists say the dam site has some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world and warn that the project would both destroy the natural beauty of the Irrawaddy River and disrupt water flow. They say it could potentially flood an area the size of Singapore, destroying livelihoods and displacing more than 10,000 people.

In September 2011, U Thein Sein announced the suspension of the dam project due to widespread concerns over the environmental and social impacts. However, Beijing, eager to meet its mushrooming power demands, has not given up hope of restarting work on the dam.

Unfinished pillars near the Chinese company's base on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River about 4km from the confluence area on March 23, 2019. / Nan Lwin / The Irrawaddy

In recent months, Beijing has increasingly showed its hand, pressuring and even threating Kachin religious and political leaders not to oppose the dam project, and confirming that it is part of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

During the 2015 election campaign, then-opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi promised to make public the terms of the project agreed by the military dictatorship. As State Counselor, however, she has been silent on her own stance on the dam.

Recently, she urged the public to consider the project from "a wider perspective", saying her government should not  abolish projects approved by a previous government just because they do not comply with its own policies. The comment fueled concerns that her government is too quick to bend to Beijing's will, particularly on the Myitsone dam.

Since November last year, SPIC officials have been knocking on villagers' doors, inquiring about their needs and claiming that the project will improve local residents' lives. SPIC met with residents near the Myitsone Dam site to reassure them that its project would be carried out under the supervision of the world's best dam builders.

"Their actions are not normal. There is whispering among our people that the dam project will restart soon," Ja Hkawn said.

"We don't want to take anything from them for the time being," she said. "[Otherwise] later they will act like they are giving us what we need, and insist that we have to obey them," she added.

Hardship in a new place

After nearly eight years, villagers still don't feel settled in Aung Min Tha— a new village constructed by the Chinese company for those displaced by the dam project.

Living in a new environment, going to a new church every Sunday and losing livelihoods that date back generations, they nurture a dream that they will be able to return to their villages one day and that the project will be abandoned forever.

Relocated villagers walk down a road as they collect firewood near the Myitsone Dam project outside Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, on March 30, 2017. / Reuters

"Since the project was suspended, we keep thinking we will go back to our place," said Roi Ja, who was displaced from Tang Hpre to the Aung Myin Thar resettlement area.

"Even though we are physically here, our minds are back there, where we lived," she said.

Life in Aung Mya Tha is hard for the villagers, because the land on which they have been resettled is not arable, and cannot support the large-scale purchases that agricultural companies seek. This is driving local communities deeper into poverty and hardship; they have been forced to start their lives over from scratch.

"We cannot farm here. The land is rocky," Ja Hkawn said.

Her former village of Tang Hpre supported diverse livelihoods and sources of income, including shifting highland cultivation, collecting forest products, panning for gold along the river, fishing, operating small grocery shops, selling and trading bamboo, and orchard farming; all of these activities were sustained by the local economy and relied very little on wider markets. The local economy, which relies on the local environment, had sustained them for generations, giving the community a high degree of self-sufficiency.

In 2006, the area in which Aung Myin Tha village now stands was submerged when the Chying Hkrang River flooded. The topsoil and all its nutrients were washed away, leaving the land in and around Aung Myin Tha unsuitable for grazing animals or growing crops. The area lacks job opportunities and access to natural resources, and is not good for fishing or panning for gold. Villagers can't even collect firewood because the land near the new villages is owned by private companies.

"Almost all of our livelihood opportunities have collapsed," Roi Ja said.

Most of the villagers were compensated with land plots, but they are 8 or 9 miles from the resettlement areas. "In the past, we could eat whatever we grew in our garden, so there was no need to buy anything," she said.

"Since we need an income to make a living, most of us send our children to work in China," she added.

As a result of the lack of farming, the villagers have to rely on SPIC's irregular rice supply. Villagers said SPIC is supposed to provide a rice ration every three months—but sometime they fail to do so, and don't provide a reason.

Ja Hkawn is one of the villagers who had their rice supply cut by SPIC in 2014 for participating in a protest against the Myitsone Dam. The company has also cut its rice supply to villagers who discuss their ordeal with the media.

"They stop supplying rice if we talk to the media," Roi Ja said.

According to a government newspaper, the Chinese company spent about US$25 million on the resettlement plan. However, the villagers said they had to do major repairs on their houses in the resettlement village, as they were built with cheap wood. Most of them suffer leaky roofs when it rains, and their houses shake when there are strong winds. The windows and doors do not close properly. "The house looks fine and solid from the outside, but inside it is falling apart. We have no other options, so we just have to repair it," she said.

The former house of a relocated villager, having fallen into disrepair during the rainy season, is seen five months after its owner was moved to the Aung Min Tha resettlement village, 8 miles from the confluence area./ Supplied

The Irrawaddy visited Aung Min Tha village and saw that most of the houses had been repaired by the villagers.

Environmental impacts 

"Voices of the Unheard", a report by local CSOs, said that since the resettlement process finished, big gold mining companies are operating on the land designated to be part of the dam's reservoir. All these operations destroy the natural environment, turning the deep green forest into barren land, leaving no or little space for wildlife to survive.

At Myitsone, where once the river water was clear, visitors now see only muddy water filled with eroded soil.

The confluence of the May Kha and Mali Kha rivers is seen on March 23, 2019. / Nan Lwin / The Irrawaddy

The banks of the May Hka River, once a vacation spot for visitors, are now off limits. A Chinese company has constructed a new road in the mountains linking to the project sites. About 4km from the confluence area, SPIC has already put up buildings on both sides of the river. Security staff are visible everywhere, making sure that no boats stop on either bank of the river.

Since 2010, villagers have lost access to their homesteads and farmland. The government has designated all farmland in the area as restricted government property. Local CSOs said that more than 50 villagers were temporarily detained by district and township administrators for going back to their land to farm. In exchange for their freedom, some people were forced to sign documents promising that they would never attempt to return to their old village for any reason.

According to the villagers, heavy machinery was brought in to extract resources both from above and beneath the soil, and around the confluence area, and to log all big and small trees, as the company levels the land in preparation for the dam's construction.

"Even if the project is suspended, the companies still own our land," Roi Ja said.

"One year after the project was started, those mountains were completely stripped of their trees," said Ja Hkawn, pointing to the mountains along the bank of the May Hka River. "The trees regrew after the project was suspended. But the clear water has gone," she said.

Solidarity for Myitsone 

Beijing's recent pressure has renewed negative sentiment against the Myitsone project across the country. It came under the spotlight again when Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang claimed after a visit to Kachin State at the end of December that the Kachin people were not opposed to the dam's resumption.

Recently, Yunnan province's senior leaders again pressured Kachin religious leaders to support the revival of the project during a meeting in the Chinese border town of Ruili. At the meeting between senior Yunnan provincial leaders and representatives of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), Chinese officials told the Kachin religious leaders that Myitsone Dam was one of Chinese President Xi Jinping's priority projects, and that their stand on the dam project has not changed.

In recent weeks, there were a series of protests against the dam in major cities including Yangon, Myitkyina and Pathein after Beijing showed its strong intention to revive the dam.

Local residents attend an anti-dam rally in Myitkyina on Feb. 7, 2019. The placard in Chinese reads, "We don't need all these projects that the people of the country don't support."/ Supplied

After leading around 10,000 members of the Kachin community in a protest in February demanding an end to the project, Ja Hkawn was hit with a lawsuit under Section 20 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law.

In Waimaw, about 19 km from Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, more than 4,000 local people plan to stage another major protest against the dam in the first week of April. Waimaw is one of the townships downstream of the project, and residents there worry that their homes will be flooded if the dam were to break.

"The whole township will join the protest. We want to prove that the Chinese Ambassador's statement is wrong," said Bawn Sau a resident of Wuyan village and president of the Myitsone committee in Waimaw Township.

"China is pushing too hard because they want to restart the project very soon," Bawn Sau said.

A sense of disappointment at the ruling party has arisen not only among local residents but also among anti-dam activists for not revealing the party's stance on whether the project will be suspended indefinitely or restarted.

"We just want a straight answer. We don't want to worry day and night anymore," Bawn Sau said.

Prominent Kachin politician Manam Tu Ja, president of the Kachin State Democracy Party (KSDP), met Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang in December and voiced the community's strong objection to Myitsone Dam.

"They know that we represent the Kachin people. That's the reason they approached us," Manam Tu Ja said.

Being aware of local anti-dam sentiment even local ethnic parties promised during the by-election campaign that they would oppose the Myitsone Dam.

Local anti-dam activists and Kachin politicians join a rally calling for the termination of the Myitsone Dam project in Myitkyina on Feb. 7, 2019./ Supplied

Manam Tu Ja and other Kachin politicians also joined the February protest march in Myitkyina calling for the termination of the dam.

"We are of one voice with the local people. We totally disagree with reviving the dam project," Manam Tu Ja told The Irrawaddy at his home in Myitkyina last week.

"I can say that 99 percent of the people in Myanmar don't agree with restarting the dam project. This number includes not only the Kachin people but also people across the country," he added.

Kachin politicians feel that Myanmar has drawn increasingly close to China over the past year as relations with the West have frayed over its treatment of its Rohingya minority. Some critics of the dam worry Beijing's growing leverage could pressure the government into striking a new deal on the dam.

In 2016, SPIC said Myanmar would owe it $800 million in compensation if the government cancels the dam, but could earn $500 million a year in revenue if it goes ahead. The government would also incur interest of $50 million for every year the project was suspended.

After taking office, the National League for Democracy set up a 20-member commission including the chief minister of Kachin to review the dam and its likely impacts on the environment and local communities. The commission has produced two reports to date, but the government has yet to release either.

In late January, U Thaung Tun, minister of investment and foreign economic relations, said the government and a commission studying the project are in very serious discussions and considering all possibilities, including downsizing the dam, relocating it or developing other projects instead.

"I don't think downsizing or relocating would work. We don't want a dam project on the Irrawaddy River. Chinese companies are already working on upstream dam projects on both the Mali and Ma Hka rivers. Enough is enough. They should scrap the project entirely," Bawn Sau said.

Ja Hkawn, who led a rally to protest against the Myitsone Dam project in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, in February./ Supplied

The archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo, also said the dam project "must be stopped" to ensure a peaceful future for the country, adding that the construction of the dam would be a "death sentence for the people of Myanmar".

Meanwhile, prominent civil society leaders, environmentalists and anti-dam activists have formed a nationwide committee in Yangon to show solidarity against the Myitsone project.

Well-known environmentalist Devi Thant Cin told The Irrawaddy that even the quasi-civilian U Thein Sein administration suspended the project for five years. "Why not the NLD? They are a government elected by the people."

"I want the NLD to live up to its campaign slogan, which said it would 'stand with the people,'" she said.

"When it comes to building a good relationship between the two countries, China can't build a relationship only with the government. They also need to build a good relationship with the people of this country. I would like to remind China not to forget to build a relationship with the people of Myanmar," she added.

The waves of opposition to the dam from local people, environmentalists, politicians and activists show that the NLD needs to send a clear message to the people, or it will face serious resistance across the country.

Local residents pray for an end to the Myitsone Dam project at the confluence of the May Kha and Mali Kha rivers in 2016./ Supplied

"The Irrawaddy is the lifeblood of this country. It is not only a Kachin State issue, but also a national issue. If they build a dam across the throat of [the country's] lifeline river, it is like killing all the people in Myanmar," Ja Hkawn said.

"I don't hate the Chinese. After all, we are neighbors. They should listen to what we are requesting," Ja Hkawn said.

"I hope that they [the SPIC officials] will go back their country peacefully," she said.

The post As China Pushes, Opposition to Myitsone Dam Builds appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Vibrant Nudes at Lokanat Art Gallery

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 02:09 AM PDT

YANGON—Than Htay is widely regarded by his peers as having an artistic aptitude for colors. He has earned a reputation for creating vividly colorful artwork. Though his landscape paintings of Chin State have earned him popularity among art enthusiasts, his latest exhibition, now showing at Lokanat Gallery, is taking on a different subject.

His latest art exhibition "She," in which he painted naked figures on abstract backgrounds with a strong focus on colors, is also drawing attention from art enthusiasts.

"In fact, I focused on color as well as figure in this exhibition. I tested the color on figures like I did on landscapes. It is just that the subject has changed this time," said artist Than Htay.

Nude art was a taboo subject in Myanmar until 2012, but many people—including women—have accepted it as a form of art now, he said.

Around 20 paintings are on display at his exhibition which takes place through Saturday at Lokanat Art Gallery in downtown Yangon, and they are available for purchase for prices between $1,500 and $2,000.

The modernist, who honed his artistic skills in Japan in the 1990s, has organized 17 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 50 group exhibitions locally and internationally.

The post Vibrant Nudes at Lokanat Art Gallery appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Divining the Military’s Guest List

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 01:57 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — Two events involving the Myanmar military were held recently in Naypyitaw: the unveiling of new statues at the Memorial for Fallen Heroes on Tuesday, and Armed Forces Day on Wednesday.

As usual, most former military officers were present on both occasions. But ex-generals U Shwe Mann and U Khin Nyunt were conspicuously absent.

On Tuesday, a flock of former senior military officials, mostly from the previous administration, including former General and ex-President U Thein Sein, gathered at a statue unveiling ceremony in Naypyitaw. All were in their military uniforms, some for the first time in nine years.

The ceremony was held to honor the six people who hold the prestigious military title of "Aung San Thuriya" and was joined by the current military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and other serving officials.

All of them attended at the invitation of the military, said a spokesman for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

U Shwe Mann, who was considered the third-most-powerful man in the military regime that ruled the country from 1998 to 2010, was not among them.

"He was not invited for political reasons. Those who have a desire for, and work for, a democratic transition are labelled traitors and turncoats [by the military]. So he was not invited," an ex-general close to U Shwe Mann told The Irrawaddy.

U Shwe Mann was purged from the USDP's top position in August 2015 during a power struggle with U Thein Sein. USDP supporters branded him a turncoat due to political maneuverings that led him to ally with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the rival National League for Democracy (NLD), ahead of the 2015 general election.

Former General U Shwe Mann. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

Though he lost his race to an NLD candidate that year, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appointed U Shwe Mann to head Parliament’s Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission in 2016.

According to military tradition, all former military officers — except those who were expelled or punished for criminal activity — should be invited to military-related event, the ex-general said.

"We were also labelled that way. We joined the commission for the sake of Parliament and the country," said the ex-general, who was on the now-defunct assessment commission with U Shwe Mann.

"They labelled us for working under the NLD. In fact we are not members of the NLD or the NLD government," he added.

Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, of the military’s True News Information Unit, said the military chose its guest list in line with its policies but declined to explain what they were.

According to sources close to U Shwe Mann, some generals who were forced to retire in 1997 as well as those who served as regional chief ministers under U Thein Sein's administration and were asked by the new government to return missing development funds were present at Tuesday's event.

Ex-General U Khin Nyunt was not invited, as per policy, according to sources close to the military.

U Khin Nyunt, a former head of the military’s powerful intelligence unit and Prime Minister of the military regime, was purged in a power struggle with military strongman U Than Shwe. In July 2005, he was sentenced to 44 years of house arrest for alleged corruption.

Former General U Khin Nyunt. / The Irrawaddy

Two top leaders, Than Shwe and former Vice-Senior General Maung Aung, have not appeared in public for a long time, while U Maung Aye is reportedly in poor health.

Political analyst U Yan Myo Thein would prefer that all civilian, ethnic and military leaders attend Armed Forces Day in the hope that they might hold informal talks and come to better understand each other.

If that were to happen, he said, “the event would be more important politically.”

Many more formal and informal meetings with all stakeholders focusing on national reconciliation and trust should be held, he added.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing could not attend this year's Armed Forces Day because he twisted his ankle the day before. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Vice Senior General Soe Win attended on his behalf.

There are three parts to Armed Forces Day: a military parade in the morning, paying respects to senior military officers in the afternoon, and a dinner. U Shwe Mann was not invited to any of them.

One of the events on the agenda of Armed Forces Day is saluting the army chief.

"All the attendees have to stand up and salute the military chief. So those who are higher in rank according to protocol would not attend even if they were invitation," said an ex-military officer who asked to remain anonymous.

According to that protocol, the president, state counselor, vice-presidents and the speakers of the two houses of Parliament are all higher in rank than the army chief.

In February, before his commission was terminated, U Shwe Mann formed a new political party called the Union Betterment Party.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Divining the Military’s Guest List appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Philippine Journalists Taking the Rap in Duterte’s Latest War

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 10:46 PM PDT

MANILA — When Filipino journalist Pia Ranada fell into a ditch and injured her leg on election day, May 9, 2016, the presidential candidate she was reporting on drove her to hospital and sat with her as she was treated.

Less than two years later, that same man, by then in the midst of a bloody crackdown on drugs in which around 5,000 suspects were killed by police, attacked her during a national broadcast.

“You are a Filipino who was allowed to abuse our country … in the name of the holy grail of press freedom,” President Rodrigo Duterte said in a speech in January 2018, addressing Ranada directly. “You are not only throwing toilet paper, you are throwing shit at us.”

It was an explosive moment during a period of simmering tension between Ranada’s news outlet, Rappler, and Duterte’s administration, part of a chain of events that has drawn global concern for one of Southeast Asia’s few remaining corners of relatively free and open press.

Now facing multiple criminal charges against the site and its staff — the latest of which led to the arrest of its chief, Maria Ressa, on Friday — Rappler’s management say they will not bow to what they see as government intimidation.

Duterte’s office says it has no grudge against Rappler and the government is not behind any of the cases against the news site and its staff.

Reuters also has no evidence that Duterte was directly involved. Instead, interviews with Philippine officials and journalists show that close allies of Duterte coordinated the investigations against Rappler, and that Duterte was deeply angered by some of its reporting.

A spokesman for Duterte’s office said accusations his government was abusing or harassing Rappler were “unreasonable.”

Making waves

Rappler Executive Editor Ressa, who previously held senior positions at U.S. broadcaster CNN, started Rappler with some associates on Facebook in 2011, and it became a news website in 2012. The name comes from combining “rap” and “ripple”, meaning to discuss and to make a wave.

Ressa told Reuters she had found Duterte “utterly refreshing” when she interviewed him in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Ressa added that her site’s extensive coverage of Duterte’s campaign allowed the septuagenarian to tap into a young, social media-savvy voter base that helped a provincial city mayor secure an unlikely triumph over challengers from Manila’s political establishment.

Yet Duterte’s victory was also founded on a pledge to eliminate crime and drugs, and allegations the crackdown that ensued involved widespread extrajudicial executions by police quickly became a focus of Rappler’s and other media outlets’ reporting on his presidency.

Ressa said she believes their hard-hitting drug war reports, as well as stories accusing the administration of creating a social media “ecosystem” where bloggers and internet trolls attack Duterte’s opponents, quickly put them on a collision course with the president.

The tide turned on Rappler in late 2016, when the government’s top lawyer, Solicitor-General Jose Calida, requested the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission investigate the firm over alleged ownership violations.

Calida is seen as a close ally of Duterte and helped manage his election campaign before being appointed solicitor-general in June 2016.

But a source close to Duterte, who wished to remain anonymous, said Calida was not acting under orders from the president.

“Duterte doesn’t really care about stories about the war on drugs,” the source recounted. “It was really Calida trying to gain brownie points.”

A spokesman for Calida’s office said via email “it is a serious misconception” he was focused on the president’s opponents. The Office of the Solicitor-General declined to comment on Rappler citing ongoing legal proceedings.

Ressa said “attacks” by the government which started in 2016 led to board members leaving, a 45 percent drop in advertising revenue and a hefty pay cut for key management. Rappler now operates pending a review after its license was revoked for violating rules against foreigners owning stakes in media.

Too close

Throughout 2017, Duterte stepped up criticism of certain press outlets, singling out Rappler as “fake news” and “foreign-owned” in public speeches.

But Ranada — the Rappler reporter assigned to cover the president — said on a personal level their relationship was at a “very good point” during the same period.

Indeed, Duterte and Ranada spent so much time together at a media Christmas party at the presidential palace in December 2017, her peers started to worry she was getting exclusive material, journalists and officials present said.

That was just weeks before Duterte’s expletive-laden rant about Ranada.

What prompted that outburst, and changed the nature of Duterte’s relationship with Rappler forever, according to the source close to the president, was a story about his closest aide, Christopher Go. The article alleged Go had “intervened” in a military procurement deal by asking the navy to look at a proposal by a South Korean firm. Go denied wrongdoing.

The source said Duterte “lost it” over that story because “it was too close to him, it was almost alleging that he was corrupt.”

In response to Reuters’ questions, a spokesman for Duterte’s office, Martin Andanar, said: “We do not have any personal issues with any reporter… However, any form of deliberate attempt to misinform the public is an attack to the efforts of the administration to deliver what is due to the Filipino people.”

Go declined to comment on the procurement deal, saying it had been investigated by the Philippine Senate and was “case closed.” He told Reuters he thought Rappler was “very biased against me and the president.”

A day after Duterte’s verbal attack, the justice minister at the time, Vitaliano Aguirre — a staunch loyalist and former university classmate of the president — issued a blanket order to the Philippines’ equivalent of the FBI, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), to probe Rappler “over possible violation of the constitution and laws.”

Rappler said the order, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, was a “fishing expedition.”

Aguirre, who resigned in April 2018, denied this.

Asked about his experience of Rappler during his time in office, Aguirre said in a text message: “My experience with RAPPLER?…it is engaged in bias reporting against the Duterte administration…It would slant news reports every chance it gets… and it is not above reporting fake news.”

In the weeks that followed, a years-old libel case was resurrected against Rappler, a tax evasion probe was launched and both Ranada and Ressa were banned from the palace at the president’s order.

Andanar, from Duterte’s office, said the cases against Ressa and Rappler were “bereft of any government participation” and that it was “unreasonable to conclude that the administration is in any form harassing them or abusing its power.”

Dangerous message

Ressa was among a group of journalists named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in December 2018 for “defending free expression and the pursuit of truth and facts”.

Last month, she was served an arrest warrant live on television at her office over a libel case and had to spend a night at NBI’s headquarters before she was released on bail.

Ressa was arrested again on Friday, minutes after arriving at Manila airport from an overseas trip, on charges she and other Rappler executives violated foreign ownership rules.

“The Philippines has for a long time been a standard bearer in the region for press freedom,” said Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. “If Duterte is able to get away with effectively silencing what has been one of his most prominent and credible media critics, that could send a message to the wider region that this is an attack you can get away with.”

Despite all the legal cases, verbal and online attacks, and financial troubles, Ressa remains defiant.

“This is largely intimidation and this is part of the reason we are refusing to be intimidated,” said Ressa. “We will fight and I do think we can win.”

The post The Philippine Journalists Taking the Rap in Duterte’s Latest War appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Deal for New Sri Lanka Oil Refinery Will Take at Least a Year to Finalize—Investor

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 10:22 PM PDT

NEW DELHI/COLOMBO—An agreement to build a proposed $3.85 billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka will take at least a year to be finalized as its main investor, India’s Accord Group, says it is yet to recruit partners and conduct an assessment of the plan’s viability.

The comments add to confusion about the project, which was announced last week by the Sri Lankan government as the nation’s largest single foreign direct investment ever, but has since been the subject of conflicting statements by various parties.

Accord’s Chairman S Jagatrakshakan, a former Indian government minister, said he has submitted a preliminary proposal to the Sri Lankan government to invest in the project but has not finalized any terms of the deal.

“The project assessment and financial viability assessment will take at least a year. We have not sorted out any of the equity partners for the projects, but are in talks with investors from many countries,” he told Reuters over the phone from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The 68-year old politician is campaigning in Tamil Nadu for a seat in the current general election. He was an MP and minister in the last Congress-led government in 2009-2014.

China-India struggle

When the Sri Lankan government made the announcement on March 19, it said the oil refinery would be a joint venture between Oman’s oil ministry and Accord and cost $3.85 billion.

A day later, Omani officials denied involvement in the project, but the middle eastern country’s oil minister arrived in Sri Lanka three days later and said he was “excited” to inaugurate the project though there was no indication of a firm deal in place.

Indian and China have been vying for political influence in Sri Lanka in recent years, with investment a key part of the battleground.

The refinery’s proposed site is 585 acres of land near the site of the new Humbantota International port and a related industrial zone—both run by Chinese entities—on Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

A Sri Lankan government document seen by Reuters showed the previously proposed deal would have a debt to equity ratio of 51:49, and said the Accord Group’s Singapore entity, Silver Park International Pte. Ltd., would fund 70 percent of the equity, with Oman funding the rest.

However, Jagatrakshakan said he expected 70 percent of the project to be bankrolled by debt from financial institutions, adding that Silver Park would get more investors to fund the equity stake.

“We are looking at getting 20-30 investors on board for the 30 percent equity investment in the project. We expect 70 percent of the project to be bankrolled by debt from financial institutions,” he said.

Potential risk

A senior official at Sri Lanka’s Strategic Development and International Trade ministry, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he was confident of the terms of the deal as originally announced by the government.

He said Jagatrakshakan’s son Sandeep was also present when the deal was signed. Sandeep Jagatrakshakan did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.

China is the biggest buyer of Omani oil, importing about 80 percent of the Middle Eastern nation’s overall crude exports in January, according to Oman government data.

The post Deal for New Sri Lanka Oil Refinery Will Take at Least a Year to Finalize—Investor appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Revered Burma Research Society Founded 109 Years Ago

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 07:09 PM PDT

Today marks the 109th anniversary of the founding of the Burma Research Society, whose goals were to investigate and encourage art, science and literature in Myanmar and neighboring countries.

The society was launched on March 29, 1910, by foreign scholars such as Eales J.S. Furnivall, J.A. Stewart and C. Duroiselle and Myanmar scholars such as U Me Oung — who later became Home Affairs Minister — and lexicographer U Tun Nyein at a meeting chaired by the vice governor of Myanmar, Sir Herbert T. White.

The Journal of the Burma Research Society, an academic journal covering Myanmar studies published by the association between 1911 and 1980, was famous among international scholars and researchers.

The journal analyzed a wide range of topics on Myanmar culture and history and published ethnographic studies, translations and reviews of Myanmar literature, folklore, music, theology and fauna as well as archaeology and geography reports, historical essays and cultural and scientific studies of neighboring countries.

It was published twice a year in both Myanmar and English and most of the contributors were foreigners. Later on, Myanmar scholars including U Pe Maung Tin, U Me Oung, U Shwe Zan Aung and Sir U Khin wrote articles for the journal as well.

Over its nearly seven-decade run, the journal published 61 volumes and 144 issues.

At the 70th anniversary of the Burma Research Society at the Yangon Institute of Economics in 1980, Gen. Ne Win spoke against the group because it was established by the British. He said he could not accept associations in a socialist country that were formed by a minority.

The society was finally abolished on Dec. 29, 1980. Renowned Myanmar historian U Than Tun accused Gen. Ne Win of destroying it.

Despite ongoing calls to re-establish the society, there has been little progress.

The post Revered Burma Research Society Founded 109 Years Ago appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)