Wednesday, April 3, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Anti-Corruption Commission Sues Gold Mining Firm’s Staff for False Bribery Claim

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 08:27 AM PDT

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday opened cases against gold mine operators who allegedly fabricated a bribery case with the intention of defaming civil servants.

A complaint was filed at Naypyitaw's Zabuthiri Township Police Station against U Tun Aung Soe, the managing director of National Prosperity Gold Production Group Co. Ltd. under Article 59 (fabricating with false information) of the Anti Corruption Law, while two company employees, U Myo Aung and U Sonny, were the subjects of complaints under Article 59 and Article 63 (abetting).

Under a 2018 amendment to the law, those convicted under Article 59 face a maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment and a fine.

In a separate case, the company owner was charged last August with failing to pay taxes.

This is the first time the ACC has filed cases accusing suspects of a false bribery complaint. The commission has taken action against other government officials and civil servants for violating the ACC Law. On Monday, the managing director of the government's mining enterprise was charged with corruption, while a series of arrests, detentions and charges have ensnared a number of others including former Tanintharyi Chief Minister Daw Lei Lei Maw.

U Tun Aung Soe, the managing director of National Prosperity Gold Production Group Co. Ltd, is seen at a press conference in Naypyitaw on Jan. 5. / Moe Moe / The Irrawaddy

The ACC investigated complaints raised by U Tun Aung Soe that mining officials and police took bribes from eight companies and illegal gold miners at a restricted gold mine in the Moehti Moemi area of Yamaethin Township in Mandalay Region. The company made complaints alleging that illegal gold mining in the mine's main Adit (1) caused losses to the company. It also held a press conference announcing its allegation in Naypyitaw in early January. Based on witnesses' testimony, the commission found the company's complaints to be false, said U Kyaw Soe, the spokesman of the commission.

He said the gold mining company "intended to harm the serving mining officers." But he did not reveal the names of the companies or the witnesses involved in the investigations.

The ACC said the company's managing director and two staff were found to have fabricated the bribery case with the intention of harming police and Mining Ministry officials.

According to a statement issued by the commission on Wednesday afternoon, on Jan. 16, U Tun Aung Soe sent his two employees to Yamaethin Prison to meet U Aye Ko and nine other detainees who were charged under Article 6(1) of Public Properties Protection Act after being arrested at a locked mine entrance.

U Kyaw Soe said company staff convinced U Aye Ko and others to lie about the bribery by saying that the gold miners paid the mining officials and police to be able to mine there. The two staff also promised U Aye Ko and accompanies that they would help them with their cases.

The director of the commission, U Kaung Zaw Thant, acted as plaintiff and the police accepted the cases.

So far only the company's managing director is in custody, according to a police lieutenant at Zabuthiri Police Station.

Moe Moe contributed to this report from Naypyitaw. 

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Police Lieutenant Shot Dead by Junior Officer in Northern Rakhine

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 06:33 AM PDT

YANGON — A police lieutenant in northern Rakhine State's Kyauktaw Township was shot to death on Tuesday by a junior officer who also wounded a sergeant.

A constable at the Kyauktaw police station said the shooting occurred inside the compound of the Kan Sauk police regiment, which sits in a rural area far from the township’s urban center, and that the lieutenant’s body was taken to Kyauktaw General Hospital on Wednesday morning. He declined to comment further and directed additional questions to the Apauk Wa police station.

Kyauktaw resident and activist Ko Zaw Win said he went to see the body at the hospital and identified the victim as Maung Maung Lay, who was recently transferred from Tin Ma Village to the Kan Sauk police regiment.

"The police officer was shot with about six bullets and died on the spot. Another sergeant was shot twice but he is now receiving medical treatment at Sittwe Hospital," he said.

Rakhine State police chief Col. Kyi Lin and Kyauktaw Township police chief Saw Aye Lwin declined to comment.

Rakhine State lawmaker U Maung Than Sein, of the Arakan National Party (ANP), said he spoke with a village administrator who lives near the Kan Sauk police regiment compound who confirmed the shooting but did not know why it occurred.

The cause of the shooting remains unclear.

A police officer with the Kyauktaw police told The Irrawaddy’s Sittwe correspondence under condition of anonymity that some police officers had had a dispute on Tuesday and that a corporal shot two of his superiors at about 4 p.m. The officer identified the shooter as Kyaw Aye Sein and said he was taken into custody by Kyauktaw police.

The Myanmar army’s Light Infantry Battalion 539 and an artillery unit are currently stationed at the foot of the Kan Sauk mountain range along with the police regiment.

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Govt Needs Hotels’ Consent to Raise Lease Rates, Mandalay Mayor Says

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 06:23 AM PDT

MANDALAY — Mandalay Mayor U Ye Lwin told local lawmakers on Wednesday that the government could not raise lease rates on hotels that cut sweetheart deals with the previous administration without the hotels’ consent.

At a session of the Mandalay Region Parliament, lawmakers raised questions about three hotels — Mandalay City Hotel, Hotel Mandalay and Minthargyi Hotels —leasing land at very low rates, following an auditor report that revealed what they were paying.

Responding to the lawmakers, U Ye Lwin said the municipal department responsible for leasing the land was in negotiations with the hotels.

"Since 2017 we have been working under instructions from the President’s Office to negotiate with hotels that have contracts with unreasonable prices to amend the contracts,” the mayor said.

"However, there are laws that we cannot amend on our own. We should not break the law while we are still negotiating with the hotels," he added.

U Ye Lwin said the government did convince Minthargyi Hotel to up its annual lease rate from 5 million kyats to 30 million kyats during negotiations last month.

"Agreements with Mandalay City Hotel and Hotel Mandalay have not been reached yet and we cannot do it [raise rates] without agreement from their side," he said.

The 2017-2018 fiscal year audit stated that monthly income from leasing land to Mandalay City Hotel, Minthargyi Hotel and Hotel Mandalay was 800,000 kyats, 630,000 kyats and 500,000 kyats, respectively.

Although the contract terms range from 20 years to 70 years, lawmakers said the deals were nonetheless out of synch with local market rates, which start at 2 million kyats for 100 square feet.

Mandalay City Hotel is leasing 1.327 acres in the heart of the city, while Hotel Mandalay sits on 1.69 acres and Minthargyi Hotel on 6.25 acres.

Mandalay City Hotel has a contract for 20 years, Mandalay Hotel for 30 years and Minthargyi Hotel for 70 years.

Minthargyi Hotel’s contract was renewed on March 29, 2016, two days before a new national government administration took office.

Lawmakers said they have been raised the issue in Parliament since April 2017 and that a committee to tackle it led by the deputy mayor has since been formed. But the audit report showed no signs of change.

After Wednesday’s session, lawmaker U Myint Aung Moe, to raised the issue, said he still had many questions.

"We are not blaming the government for the slow progress, but we want to end the unreasonable contracts while we are in power. There are still questions about whether the previous government signed those contracts accordingly to the law and why they did so just before stepping down," he said.

The Irrawaddy’s Myat Pyae Phyo contributed to this story.

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Wariness Over BRI as State Counselor Prepares for Beijing Forum

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 06:17 AM PDT

YANGON—Nearly three dozen national leaders will land in Beijing late this month to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum. Among them will be Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is expected to negotiate agreements on at least six projects as part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

Upon signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) in September last year, the Myanmar government officially became a partner in China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has proposed 30 projects as part of the BRI.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy, the BRI is a grand vision to revive the historic Silk Road trade route and create a "21st-Century Maritime Silk Road". These would create a network of trade routes from China to Europe passing through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Unveiled in 2013, the BRI will ultimately encompass nearly 70 countries and two-thirds of the world's population.

However, for the past two years the BRI has faced resistance from a number of countries. Some have decided that while participation could help their development, they want to seek a renegotiation of the terms.

Some key countries lying on Beijing's signature routes, whose involvement is needed to build highly ambitious infrastructure projects, have declared they will reconsider all the agreements to ensure there is no risk of a "debt trap" and that all terms and conditions are fair.

Concerns in SE Asia

Last year was a rocky one for the BRI after Malaysia elected a new government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who canceled US$18 billion (more than 27 trillion kyats) worth of BRI projects comprising a rail link and two gas pipelines being constructed by a Chinese company, a move he said was necessary in order to avoid a huge debt trap. He also called for the renegotiation or cancellation of "unfair" deals with Beijing authorized by his predecessor, Najib Razak, who now faces prosecution involving a massive financial scandal.

Pakistan's government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to review and revise all the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects due to their perceived unfairness to Pakistani companies. In the Maldives, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who beat a pro-China president in the country's recent election, is renegotiating BRI project-related debt. And the West African country of Sierra Leone recently canceled a $400-million, Chinese-funded project to build a new airport outside the capital Freetown to avoid a heavy debt burden.

As a precautionary measure before joining the forum, the leaders of Indonesia and Malaysia recently publicized the terms and conditions for Chinese investors aiming to secure BRI agreements. Indonesia has announced that Chinese investors must abide by the four conditions: to use only environmentally friendly technologies; to maximize the use of local labor; to transfer technical knowledge to local partners through training programs; and to ensure that the projects create added value for Indonesian industries to reduce the country’s dependence on extractive industries such as mining and to benefit the country's economy in the long term.

Last month, when asked by the South China Morning Post for his views on the BRI before joining the forum, the Malaysian prime minister warned other countries to make sure that the money flowing into their country is not borrowed from China. He emphasized that countries that do become mired in "debt traps" must accept some responsibility for their predicament. He explained this was why Malaysia preferred direct investment over projects funded by Chinese loans. He said he welcomed Chinese investment and economic resources, but was not receptive to its control or influence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a briefing on the final day of the Belt and Road Forum  at the Yanqi Lake International Conference Center north of Beijing on May 15, 2017. / REUTERS

Myanmar—Easy Prey?

In Myanmar, the CMEC will stretch for 1,700 km, starting in China's Yunnan Province and going through Myanmar's major economic cities—Mandalay in central Myanmar and the commercial capital of Yangon—and reaching the coast at the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Rakhine State. The proposal includes upgrades to three major roads through Mandalay and Muse on the Myanmar side of the border with China, and some other roads in Shan State.

Mandalay Region Finance and Planning Minister U Myat Thu, a member of a joint committee on the BRI, told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar has agreed to speed up the progress of nine major projects among the 30 proposed by China. However, the minister didn't identify the nine projects.

The government hasn't officially announced the list of CMEC projects yet except for construction plans for three economic cooperation zones along the Myanmar-China border in Shan and Kachin states.

However, under the CMEC, Myanmar has also signed an MoU for the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port, a potential hub for China that would give it direct access to the Indian Ocean and allow its oil imports to bypass the Strait of Malacca. It also serves Beijing's goal of developing China's landlocked Yunnan province.

In Yangon, the multi-billion-dollar New Yangon City project is a part of the CMEC plan. A framework agreement was recently signed for the project, which is envisioned as a complex of new towns, industrial parks and urban development projects.

Despite warnings from critics that the project could burden Myanmar with unsustainable debt and provoke more armed conflict in the project areas, in October two state-owned companies—China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (China Railway Group Ltd) (CREEG) and Myanmar Railways—signed an MoU to conduct a feasibility study on the Muse-Mandalay high-speed railway.

A project that will link two economic centers in Myanmar with Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in southwestern China, the project is part of Beijing's grand infrastructure plan for the region. The Muse-Mandalay railway is also the initial stage in a strategic railway link that Beijing plans to build, with a parallel expressway, from Ruili in Yunnan province to Kyaukphyu in Rakhine, along with a separate road running through northern Myanmar, India's northeastern states, and Bangladesh.

However, Myanmar's leaders have been silent on their plans and policies for BRI projects amid rising resentment toward China due to its efforts to revive the controversial Myitsone Dam on the country's lifeline river, the Irrawaddy. On the other hand, experts, including from the World Bank, have pointed out that Myanmar's growth will largely depend on major BRI infrastructure projects that get underway this year.

The Irrawaddy has learned that the Myanmar government is drafting a master plan relating to the CMEC. This includes some significant conditions, including that identified projects are to be selected through a public tender process, and that Myanmar should be allowed to borrow from multiple sources if debt financing is required. However, the content of the master plan is very broad in terms of debt policy, the public tender process and labor rights. Experts have pointed out that it is difficult to obtain loans from other countries for China-related projects. In terms of the open tender process, critics say that even if there are a few competitors, it is highly unlikely that a non-Chinese company would win a BRI project.

Deputy Planning and Finance Minister U Set Aung said the projects under the CEMC must be in line with the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP) drawn up by the current government to achieve "genuine, inclusive and transformational" economic growth.

The head of the China desk at the Institute of Strategy and Policy (ISP)-Myanmar, Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee, told The Irrawaddy that while there is nothing wrong with the strategies outlined in the MSDP, the government has still not disclosed how it plans to implement them on the ground.

"The government doesn't have the necessary mechanisms to implement the MSDP with regard to the CMEC," Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said.

The MSDP obliges the government to listen to the public's voices and wishes when it comes to implementing or making decisions related to the projects. She pointed out that the public has received little information about the CMEC projects since the government signed the agreement.

"When the public is not given general information about the agreement, how can we say there is transparency?" she asked of the government's lack of effort to publicize information on the projects.

Experts have suggested that as a developing country, half of whose existing foreign debt is held by China, Myanmar should implement individual rules and regulations relating to BRI projects, such as requiring counter-project proposals; inviting experts to review mega-projects; and adopting international standards for environmental issues and debt policies.

In March 2018, a report by the Washington-based Center for Global Development said China was putting many countries under the BRI at financial risk through a series of aid activities and huge amounts of lending.

"Myanmar can learn from other countries that became highly indebted from BRI projects," Thitinan Pongsudhirak, an associate professor at the Institute of Security and International Studies in the Faculty of Political Science at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, told The Irrawaddy.

"Myanmar can set up a debt law, which puts a ceiling on how much [in] foreign loans the country can take out and be sustainable based on macroeconomic conditions, such as international reserves, export growth, and GDP expansion," he said.

China and Myanmar sign an MOU to jointly build the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor on Sept. 9, 2018. / Photo provided by NDRC

Cooperation, Not Confrontation 

Led by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's BRI steering committee comprises 25 members including 18 Union ministers (from ministries ranging from Home Affairs to Hotels and Tourism); five chief ministers (from Kachin, Mandalay, Rakhine, Yangon and Shan); the foreign affairs permanent secretary; and the chairman of the Naypyitaw Council.

According to U Aung Naing Oo, the director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, projects under the BRI must be reviewed by the BRI steering committee and cleared by the Myanmar Investment Commission.

Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said, "They should invite experts who can negotiate at the table with China's representatives."

The government only considers CMEC projects based on China's proposals, when in fact it should propose counter projects based on what will benefit the country and meet the people's needs, she said. For example, while China has proposed BRI projects, the Indonesian government has proposed nearly 30 projects worth US$91.1 billion based on the country's own strategic plans.

"Whenever we discuss China's irresponsible manner of investment practices, they tell me that we follow the Myanmar government's rule and regulations. That shows we don't have enough rules and regulations in line with international standards," she said.

She pointed out that the updated version of Myanmar's investment law fails to expressly require maximum use of local workers in foreign investment projects.

Despite public wariness surrounding Chinese investment in the country, the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine has pushed Myanmar back into the hands of the Chinese.

At the country's first investment forum in late January, while talking about infrastructure challenges, U Thaung Tun said he wants to take advantage of Myanmar's strategic location at the intersection of two of the world's most important emerging markets, China and India.

He emphasized that Myanmar is central to the BRI, saying that "If you look at the BRI you will find that Myanmar is in the middle of all of it. Because the Maritime Silk Road must pass through Myanmar."

The minister stressed to the audience that the rise of China should not be seen as an obstacle, as he believes all countries can benefit from BRI projects.

"We can do cooperation rather than confrontation. It will help development not just in the region but also the world," he said, adding that Myanmar could be a transport hub for Asia under the BRI.

As China continues its global infrastructure financing push across the developing world, allegations of debt diplomacy keep arising. According to media reports, when the BRI was first announced, China's foreign currency reserves stood at around US$4 trillion. During the past five years, the reserves have fallen to US$3 trillion as Beijing seeks to offload pressure on the yuan and provide contracts for Chinese companies that take an interest in spending some of those reserves overseas.

According to the American Chamber of Commerce, Chinese companies are under pressure from U.S. tariffs, and factory activity in China has been steadily contracting, with export orders falling at rates not seen since the financial crisis a decade ago. As a result, experts speculate that Chinese companies will be saddled with debt and find it difficult to run foreign projects like those under the BRI in the near future.

According to the media reports, more than 270 out of 1,814 BRI projects undertaken since 2013 in the Indo-Pacific region have been halted due to concerns over practicality or financial viability.

Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said, "Both sides should negotiate and implement [projects] in a manner that is fair, transparent, and to the benefit of the host country, not just the investor."

"Before we make further agreements with China, we should have a certain master plan or rules and regulations that can assure benefits for the people of Myanmar," she said.

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‘Journalism is Threatened by Populist Governments, the Corporate World’

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 05:44 AM PDT

SEOUL, South Korea— More than 70 journalists from 50 countries attended the World Journalists Conference 2019 in South Korea, held in the last week of March, with the theme of "The Role of Journalists in Ensuring Peace on the Korean Peninsula." At this annual international conference hosted by the Journalists Association of Korea, journalists, editors, and media workers from across the globe contributed to discussions about the most pressing challenges and threats journalists are facing globally and regionally, as well as the future of journalism.

The Irrawaddy spoke with two senior executive committee members of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a global organization of journalists representing 187 unions and associations in more than 140 countries, who attended the conference, on the current status of press freedom, freedom of speech and the safety and protection of journalists worldwide.

Sabina Inderjit, elected vice-president of the IFJ

We are here at the World Journalists Conference. Journalists and different media outlets are discussing and sharing their thoughts on the role of media and the challenges and threats posed to their work. What do you think of the current situation of press freedom around the world?

Journalism has changed over a period of time. Earlier there was print journalism. It changed to electronic. Now it changed to digital. And journalism as a public service, unfortunately, has been impacted because with competition, with the growth of the media, the corporate world has gotten involved in the ownership of the media across the world. It can be different from [country to country] but it has got involved. Now journalism has changed its role from a public service to a business model. Its role as the fourth estate or as journalists building public opinion gets diminished because business interests take over. Now what we are seeing is with this competition and with this growth of the media what happened is journalistic ethical standards have had a blow. Newspapers are competing with television. The television is competing with digital media. Everybody is in a rush, so the quality of the journalism has gone down. More importantly, maybe it should be the first [point] is that press freedom has been impacted. Let's say countries like the United States and India, the largest democracies in the world—they both would claim they have press freedom.  In reality, that's not the case today. There are pressures on the media. Government control is not there at the front but it is [acting] from behind the scenes.

And the third thing, which again is frightening, is that journalists are being targeted. Journalists across the world are being killed for their reporting. When there is an attack on the journalist, it is not only an individual, we see it as an attack on freedom of speech and expression.

The other thing that concerns us today is social media, fake news. Social media can play havoc in countries or in cities [and it] can lead to protests. Wrong news can evoke emotions. We have seen in [India] something on social media can create a lot of problems. I don't understand why we call it social media. We can't call it "media." We shouldn't call it media because it is not media. It does not verify the facts. It is not giving the facts.

On these concerns and challenges including on fake news and business models in journalism that you mentioned, how do you see the future of journalism in a decade?

Well, it has to be corrected. I still do have faith that we will complete a full circle. I don't know whether you find this in your country, but in my country and amongst my journalist friends, we are having this feeling of dissatisfaction. We are getting frustrated in our profession because there is the clampdown. And it's not spoken out. I think together we have to fight. It is easier said than done, but you have to stick your job to ensure that you can write and speak whatever you want to. But, it must change. I am optimistic. Maybe in a decade to come, there will be a change.

Fake news is also bothering—not just journalists—but it is bothering people. At some stages it is even bothering governments. I think there will be a solution.

There are many controversial laws used to arrest journalists for their reporting. Most governments don't appreciate the role of journalists. They only care when the election is near. What you would like to say to the governments which keep those repressive laws?

I think the message to the government is very clear: the press is not your enemy; media is not your enemy; media is your go-between [connecting] you and the people so you have to allow the media to have a free run because media is going to inform you of your functioning. It is going to tell you what the priority areas you should have are. Media should be allowed to function freely and responsibly. Laws which clamp down on media are [not good]. They must refrain from [using them] because if they genuinely want to serve the people, they must allow the media to speak for the people.

And we also have a responsibility. I am not blaming the government alone. There is private media and channels which are now taking sides. We also have problems with the credibility of media. I do still remember when I said I am a journalist 30 years ago my friends would say, "Wow, you are a journalist. Such a great profession." But today when you say you are a journalist there is a big question mark. I mean they are not impressed by you. You have 20 channels and the same incidents are reported with different content, so people really don't know who to believe. The credibility of the media also is a big issue. We have to go back to good standards, to ethical journalism. Not this cut-throat competition. We are not selling jeans—we are disseminating news. So this cut-throat competition is impacting our reputation even as journalists.

There are now many women journalists working in the field as well as in the war zones. What you would like to say in regards to their rights?

Women journalist are [emerging] in various countries. We have seen there is the movement of women journalists in the profession. But we do find survey [results] suggesting that the women journalists find it difficult to reach the top posts in their newsroom. It is very difficult. The second thing we are facing is the sexual harassment of women journalists by their seniors. It wasn't spoken about before, but with the #MeToo movement happening, now even the IFJ has a campaign on against violence towards women. It doesn't happen in my country but a large number of countries pay women less than a male colleague for the same work she does. So gender equality is a concept which IFJ is fully involved in.

I only have one regret. Women have joined the profession of journalism, but very few join trade unions. What they say is they have [difficult] meeting times. Some of the men are drinking while we have to look after our family and home. But you have to join the trade unions because the more women in the trade unions, the more women-related issues the union will pick up. We have to be part of it. We have to make our place there. And it is not that difficult. I have done it.

Paul Murphy, adviser to the IFJ

How do you see the current situation of press freedom?

I think there are many threats to press freedom around the world. The situation has become more dangerous for journalists in recent years because we have seen the growth of governments around the world don't value journalists, don't respect journalists and journalist organizations. That, I think, has been made worse since the election of Donald Trump in the United States. Because the United States was always seen as a champion of free press, free speech, liberal democracy. His attacks on the media and his attacks on journalists, I think, encourage other governments around the world to do the same. That's seen many journalists imprisoned. Many journalists facing threats. Unfortunately, many journalists being killed all around the world, including in Asia-Pacific.

With journalists facing greater threats and dangers, how does this affect the right to information and democracy internationally?

I think we have seen democracy go backwards in a lot of countries in the West and in the Asia-Pacific since the rise of politicians that are very populist. They have populist right-wing agendas and they seek a way to get power by dividing the country, by turning one part of the population against another. When journalists and organizations call them to account, and call out what they are doing, [journalists] find themselves in the firing line from attacks by governments, from attacks by police and security forces.

What can the IFJ do to improve that situation?

The IFJ works very closely with all their affiliates to provide practical support to journalists facing threats, to lobby governments around the world for the protection of journalists. We've also just launched the campaign for a new United Nations convention on the safety of journalists and media professionals because we are concerned that the current UN conventions don't recognize the situation we are in. At the moment, the UN conventions in warzones provide the same sort of protection to journalists as it provides to citizens. That doesn't recognize the fact that increasingly journalists are becoming a target for violence. Combatants in war zones are targeting the journalists. We believe that there needs to be a stronger UN convention to put requirements on governments to provide greater protection to journalists and media workers.

The IFJ is proposing the establishment of an Asia-Pacific federation of journalists. Do you see any differences or a worsening of press freedom in the region?

The Asia-Pacific region has some of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. In Afghanistan, the situation remains very bad. Pakistan's situation is very bad. Obviously, we've got concerns about the position of journalists in Myanmar. At the moment Philippine President Duterte seems to have no respect for the role of journalists and democratic forces. We think a more active federation of journalists in the Asia-Pacific can play an important role in supporting journalists and protecting their safety.

What would be your message to the governments of the Asia-Pacific region regarding journalism and press freedom?

Journalism is a fundamental part of a democratic system. It's almost impossible to have a proper, functioning democracy without the free press and without the journalists who report fearlessly to bring to light corruption and mistreatment to their fellow citizens. Journalists have to be respected in their role and there has to be respect for truth. That's something the governments, all governments, should recognize and protect.

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Two Boys (8) Killed at Monastery in Pa-O Self-Administered Zone

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 02:43 AM PDT

Two eight-year-old ethnic Pa-O boys were killed on Sunday in Si Sai Township, southern Shan State when a member of the local militia force, the Pa-O National Army (PNA), shot them allegedly on mistaken identity.

Phra Khun Sein, village leader of Lon Pho Village where the incident took place, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that a member of the PNA shot the boys and that the organization had already paid compensation to their families.

"He drank alcohol first. Then he went to the monastery when he was drunk. He went crazy. He says he [thought he] saw his enemies coming so he shot two boys who were asleep in their room," said Phra Khun Sein.

A Buddhist monk from the monastery tried to stop the gunman, telling him that there are no enemies in the monastery, he added.

The two boys were studying at the monastery, and both were shot on the head. The funeral is being held on Wednesday, according to Phra Khun Sein.

Si Sai Township is located in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone in southern Shan State and the PNA control the area which is under the command of the Myanmar military.

Khun Si Thu, a rights activist from Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State, said that his organization, Kaung Yaw Youth, plan to issue a statement condemning the killing.

The abbot of the monastery where they killings took place had previously declared a village-wide ban on drinking alcohol. However, the gunman got drunk and he went to make a problem for the abbot, according to Khun Si Thu.

The PNA paid a total of 16 million kyats in compensation to the victims' families, according to Khun Si Thu and confirmed by Phra Khun Sein.

The incident has been officially declared an accident but the compensation agreement documents have been widely shared on social media by groups condemning the murders, including by Pa'O Youths Voice, an online media group which focuses on news from the Pa-O community.

On the group's Facebook page, they questioned how it could have been an accident if the killer came to the monastery to kill the boys.

When The Irrawaddy called Col. Khun Zaw Pyan, an information officer for the PNA, for his comments on the incident, he did not answer the phone. The PNA previously served as the armed wing of the Pa-O National Organization (PNO), but since the armed group agreed to a ceasefire with the Myanmar military regime in 1991, they have been serving as a local militia acting as a security force in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone. The PNA is led by U Aung Kham Hti, the patron and former chairman of the PNO.

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‘May I Help You?’ The Police and National Reconciliation

Posted: 03 Apr 2019 12:43 AM PDT

The four main responsibilities of the Myanmar Police Force (MPF) are to ensure domestic security and regional tranquility, to uphold the rule of law, to prevent and tackle the narcotics trade, and to serve the public interest. The phrase "May I Help You?" appears on the Myanmar Police Force (MPF) website, and in every police booth in the country, catching the eye of every passer-by. However, given the MPF's history of abusing its power and using violence both to suppress public protest and in its daily policing tasks, "May I Help You", which on the surface suggests a spontaneous offer of assistance to anyone in need, conveys an extreme ambiguity, even notoriety, among the general public.

Yet, the MPF's notoriety comes as no surprise if one looks at the organization's history. The police force has never enjoyed public support. During both the British and Japanese colonial eras, police were viewed by the general public with disdain as corrupt law-enforcing servants of the ruling administrations, which the public resented. Public perceptions of the police have yet to improve. Ironically, the oppressed minorities and the dominant Bamar ethnic group, which often hold contradictory political views, stand united in their perceptions of the police in Myanmar; and this shared perception stems from their shared experience of the police's indiscriminate brutality and violence against civilians across the country. This shared perception suggests the existence of a certain pattern concerning policing.

Not so long ago, the Saffron Revolution of 2007, which was predominantly led by the Bamar ethnic group in Yangon, saw police brutality against students, monks, nuns, passers-by and demonstrators. While soldiers played the major role in the ruthless crackdown on the peaceful demonstrators, the police—especially the Lon Htein, or riot police—abused their power to violently wield batons against the crowd, beating and detaining non-resisting demonstrators. Even one of my friends who was a passer-by received his share of violent baton punishment from the police. Many other innocent individuals and peaceful demonstrators had excruciatingly painful atrocities inflicted upon them during their detention and imprisonment.

In 2012, during a protest in the Letpadaung mining area, 10 Buddhist monks were burned when a grenade containing highly flammable white phosphorus was allegedly thrown at them, and two of them sustained severe injuries. And in December 2014, another civilian, Daw Khin Win, was shot and killed on the spot, and two others were injured, by police during a demonstration against the Letpadaung copper mine operated by the Chinese government-backed Wanbao company.

In Kachin State's Hpakant, where many state-owned and Chinese government-backed companies excessively mine jade, killings of civilians by security guards are not uncommon. Myanmar police armed with guns usually serve as security for those companies. To cite a few examples, jadestone picker Ko Zaw Wai was shot and killed in the presence of six policemen led by Sergeant Myo Min Oo at the Wakyae Jade mine in Hpakant in early June of 2017 (as reported by RFA on June 26, 2017). In November 2018, Ko Aye Than from Rakhine State was killed by security personnel from the Jade Leaf Mining Company (Irrawaddy, Nov. 20, 2018). Again in 2019, U Kyaw Zin Phyo was shot in the back of the head and killed at the San Hkar Mine in Hpakant (Myanmar Peace Monitor, Feb. 6, 2019). While it is surprising to learn that Myanmar police hire out their services as a security force to Chinese government-backed mega mining companies, from whose operations Myanmar citizens almost never benefit, it is also appalling that civilians are killed almost at will and with impunity. Leaked videos showing police involvement in capturing, interrogating and torturing members of the Rohingya minority during military clearance operations following ARSA terrorist attacks also reveal the degree of police involvement in atrocities, brutality and violence against civilians with impunity.

During a police crackdown on peaceful ethnic Karenni demonstrators who were protesting the controversial placement of a statue of General Aung San in Loikaw, 21 youths sustained injuries from rubber bullets used by police. Many were shocked and disturbed to see images of a Karenni youth with a bloody rubber-bullet wound to his face. Yet, the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.

In September 2016, a video showing Police Lieutenant Soe Zaw Zaw wildly pointing his pistol at and threatening participants at a meeting in Hpakant went viral online (Irrawaddy, Sept. 9, 2016). Yet details of the legal action taken against the officer for his outright power abuse and misconduct remain largely unknown to the public. Although the officer may be explained away as just a "one bad apple in the barrel", the other above-mentioned incidents are too numerous to dismiss as isolated occurrences; instead they portray a consistent pattern of police brutality and violence, of committing crimes with impunity across the state.

With recent attacks on police in Rakhine State claiming several lives, it may be time for the MPF to reevaluate its four main responsibilities. In the aftermath of the Yoetayote Police Station attack on March 9, police chief Kyi Lin commented in an interview with The Irrawaddy that "the general public is also responsible for the attack in some respect… the public has become weak in information sharing." While it may not be deemed wise or responsible of the police chief to blame—even to the slightest degree—the general public, whose trust the police have yet to earn, it is worth noting the importance of collaboration between the police and the general public in response to issues that disrupt social order and challenge domestic stability and regional tranquility. Yet, police chief Kyi Lin's comment clearly demonstrates the public's distrust of and reluctance to collaborate with the police force.

Given the incidents discussed above and the comment in the aftermath of the Yoetayote Police Station attack, one does not need a highly sophisticated knowledge to see the breadth  of police brutality committed with impunity, and the resulting lack of trust in the police—and the lack of will to collaborate with police—among the general public. The perpetrators of these acts must be prosecuted at the individual level, but the incidents also demonstrate the need to address the long-existing practice of police brutality against citizens. This would allow the MPF to redirect its energies to truly serve the interests of the public and gain its trust.

In order for the police to establish a positive image and secure positive collaboration from the public, the initiative must come from the police force itself. In addition to formulating mechanisms to prosecute individual perpetrators of police killings and violence, the MPF also needs to question the state of the "barrel"—the system itself—that has consistently been riddled with so many bad apples. And this proactive move may be the best way to gain public support given all the suffering inflicted upon the general public.

The continuation of police abuse of power, brutality, violence and killings will only lead ethnic minority groups to show greater support for their respective armed or civil forces; this could in turn escalate armed clashes between the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and ethnic armed organizations. Moreover, the police could become easy targets for ethnic armed groups, which would gain greater support from their respective ethnic groups. Attacking police may also be viewed as easily justified in the minds of the armed groups by giving to them the tag of being "traitor(s) to the public".

Such a vicious circle would further hinder domestic security and the reconciliation process. The rise of Rakhine nationalism serves as the one of most recent living testimonies to the consequences of police brutality, violence and killings. However, the desirable results of the re-evaluation of police misconduct and mistreatment of civilians would be three-fold: the achievement of the police's objectives; reducing the vulnerability of the police in armed conflict zones; and a significant contribution to domestic security and national reconciliation.

Kyaw Htut Aung is a pseudonym for a Kachin analyst doing his master's degree in education abroad.

The post 'May I Help You?' The Police and National Reconciliation appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

U.S. Says it Will Not Send High-Level Officials to China’s Silk Road Summit

Posted: 02 Apr 2019 10:06 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — The United States will not send high-level officials to attend China’s second Belt and Road summit in Beijing this month, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, citing concerns about financing practices for the project.

China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, said on Saturday that almost 40 foreign leaders would take part in the summit due to be held in Beijing in late April. He rejected criticisms of the project as “prejudiced.”

The first summit for the project, which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond with massive infrastructure spending, was held in 2017 and was attended by Matt Pottinger, the senior White House official for Asia.

There are no such plans this year.

“We will not send high-level officials from the United States,” a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said in answer to a question from Reuters.

“We will continue to raise concerns about opaque financing practices, poor governance, and disregard for internationally accepted norms and standards, which undermine many of the standards and principles that we rely upon to promote sustainable, inclusive development, and to maintain stability and a rules-based order.

“We have repeatedly called on China to address these concerns,” the official added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative has proven controversial in many Western capitals, particularly Washington, which views it as a means to spread Chinese influence abroad and saddle countries with unsustainable debt through non-transparent projects.

On Saturday, Yang called such criticisms “prejudiced,” saying China has never forced debt upon participants and the project was to promote joint development.

On Saturday, he did not name the 40 leaders he said would attend, but some of China’s closest allies have already confirmed they will be there, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The United States has been particularly critical of Italy’s decision to sign up to the plan this month, during a visit by Xi to Rome, the first for a G7 nation.

Washington sees China as a major strategic rival and the Trump administration has engaged Beijing in a tit-for-tat tariff war.

The world’s two biggest economies have levied tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of bilateral trade since July 2018, raising costs, disrupting supply chains and roiling global markets.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday said the countries “expect to make more headway” in trade talks this week, while the top U.S. business lobbying group said differences over an enforcement mechanism and the removal of U.S. tariffs were still obstacles to a deal.

The post U.S. Says it Will Not Send High-Level Officials to China’s Silk Road Summit appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Facebook, Twitter Sucked Into India-Pakistan Information War

Posted: 02 Apr 2019 09:49 PM PDT

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI — Pakistani social media campaigner Hanzala Tayyab leads about 300 ultra-nationalist cyber warriors fighting an internet war with arch-foe India, in a battle that is increasingly sucking in global tech giants such as Twitter and Facebook.

Tayyab, 24, spends his days on Facebook and encrypted WhatsApp chatrooms organizing members of his Pakistan Cyber Force group to promote anti-India content and make it go viral, including on Twitter, where he has more than 50,000 followers.

That ranges from highlighting alleged Indian human rights abuses to lionizing insurgents battling Indian security forces in Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region at the heart of historic tensions between Pakistan and India.

Tayyab’s job became harder on Monday when the Pakistan Cyber Force’s Facebook account was taken down, one of 103 Pakistani accounts the social media giant said it had deleted because of “inauthentic behavior” and spamming. Some Indian nationalist accounts have also been suspended in recent weeks.

Portraying himself as an online combatant defending Pakistan from India’s attempts to destabilize his country, Tayyab plans to continue playing his role in the broader information war being fought between the nuclear-armed foes.

“We are countering the Indian narrative through social media, we are countering the enemies of Pakistan,” Tayyab told Reuters in the capital, Islamabad.

With a combined population of 1.5 billion, India and Pakistan are hot growth markets for Facebook and Twitter, say analysts.

But with many rival ultra-nationalist and extremist groups in the region using Facebook and Twitter platforms to advance their political agenda, both companies face accusations of bias whenever they suspend accounts.

Facebook has been buffeted by controversies across the globe in recent years, including for not stopping the use of fake accounts to try to sway public opinion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, and for not acting to stamp out hate speech on its platform that was fuelling ethnic violence in Myanmar.

Four Facebook and more than 20 Twitter accounts belonging to members of the Pakistan Cyber Force have been shuttered in the past two months, according to Tayyab, who is still angry at Twitter for shutting down his previous personal account in 2016.

A Twitter spokeswoman said: “We believe in impartiality and do not take any actions based on political viewpoints.”

A Facebook spokesperson told Reuters the company did not remove the Pakistani accounts because of Indian government pressure, but because people behind them coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves.

“When we disrupt these networks for coordinated inauthentic behavior, it’s because of their deceptive behavior and not because of the content they’re sharing, or the ideology or political leanings of the people behind them,” Facebook said.

Flare-up

Pakistan and India flirted with war in February, when they carried out aerial bombing missions against each other’s territory for the first time since the 1971 war and fought a brief dogfight over the Kashmir skies.

That flare-up was accompanied by a fierce propaganda war on social media.

This online battle of political and ideological narratives is one that Pakistan’s military believes it must win at all costs, analysts say. Military spokesmen often warn unconventional “fifth generation warfare” is being waged against Pakistan.

Facebook said on Monday the 103 accounts removed were part of a network linked to employees of the Pakistani military’s public relations arm.

Tayyab denies the Pakistan Cyber Force is linked to Pakistan’s military, saying the group is made up of volunteers.

But analysts say such cyber armies work directly either for Pakistan’s military or civilian state organizations, acting as de facto proxies or militias in the online battlefields.

“These groups who are being resourced and organized are actually a kind of a line of defense for this fifth generation warfare,” said Shahzad Ahmed, from Pakistani digital rights group Bytes for All.

Pakistan’s military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

“Case of treason”

In India, similar nationalist groups are popping up and pushing to purge and punish those who they perceive to be critical of India — or supportive of Pakistan — on social media.

One such group, Clean the Nation, says its actions have resulted in more than 50 people who had posted what it called anti-India comments and remarks critical of India’s armed forces being arrested or suspended from work or education.

“This is our motherland and if someone is abusing people who are protecting our motherland, actually fighting on the ground, I don’t believe they should be allowed to work here or allowed to live here,” Rahul Kaushik, one of the co-founders of the group, told Reuters. “This is a clear case of treason, in our view.”

Kaushik said Clean the Nation had no formal links with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), though one BJP leader praised the group when it was founded in late February, following an attack by a Pakistan militant group in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary police.

Two of Clean the Nation’s founders, Siddharth Kapoor and Ashutosh Vashishtha, are followed on Twitter by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Others including Kaushik have posted pictures on social media of meetings with Modi and other members of his cabinet.

Amit Malviya, the BJP’s head of social media, did not respond to a request for comment.

Clean the Nation said some of its accounts had been banned or suspended by Facebook last month. That action was unconnected with the 549 accounts and 138 pages linked to India’s opposition Congress Party that Facebook said on Monday had been taken down.

The post Facebook, Twitter Sucked Into India-Pakistan Information War appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thailand Prepares Masks for ASEAN Meeting Due to Air Pollution

Posted: 02 Apr 2019 09:46 PM PDT

BANGKOK — Thailand is preparing face masks for an upcoming regional finance minister and central bank summit after pollution shot air quality to alarming levels, an official said on Tuesday.

The air quality index (AQI) in Chiang Rai, where Thailand will host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting this week, reached levels considered unhealthy at 240 to 250, government data shows.

Masks have been prepared, Nadhavudh Dhamasiri, a senior Finance Ministry official, told Reuters.

Some 300 officials are expected for the meeting, with some already arriving. There are no plans to change the meeting venue or schedules, officials said.

“The dust situation is improving and has not affected the meeting schedules,” Nadhavudh added.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha traveled north to inspect the situation and said after a meeting on the pollution that he had ordered agencies to alleviate the problem within seven days, starting with 1,900 spots across nine provinces, including Chiang Rai.

The government has already given out nearly 2 million masks to residents in the area, Prayuth said.

“The smog problem in nine northern provinces is due to agriculture burning in forests, which happens every year,” Sate Sampattagul, Head of the Climate Change Data Center at Chiang Mai University, told Reuters.

The smog is worse this year because of a drought and more illegal burning, he added.

The post Thailand Prepares Masks for ASEAN Meeting Due to Air Pollution appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Mandalay Came Under Heavy Attack from the Air 77 Years Ago Today

Posted: 02 Apr 2019 07:05 PM PDT

On this day 77 years ago, around 80 Japanese aircraft bombed and strafed sites housing British troops in Mandalay. The aerial assault, which followed a smaller attack, targeted residential areas and killed dozens of civilians.

At the time, many people who had fled the Japanese bombing of Yangon and other towns were taking shelter in Mandalay. Hundreds of people died of cholera during the month-long aerial campaign.

Japanese forces finally seized control of Mandalay on May 1, 1942, and many facilities including hospitals, schools, markets, residential wards, pagodas and temples, railway stations and power plants were reduced to ash. Japanese forces then marched into towns in northern Myanmar. Japan ruled Mandalay from 1942 to 1945.

The post Mandalay Came Under Heavy Attack from the Air 77 Years Ago Today appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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