The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Suu Kyi’s Presidential Ambitions Raise Security Fears
- ‘The Irrawaddy River Is Like a Mother’
- BORN INTO CONFLICT
| Suu Kyi’s Presidential Ambitions Raise Security Fears Posted: 15 Jun 2013 09:04 AM PDT  Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is seen during a meeting at the headquarters of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Rangoon on April 9. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) After publicly announcing her desire to be Burma's next president, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been urged by supporting politicians and activists to take special safety precautions. The Nobel Peace laureate and parliamentarian—who was only released from house arrest under the former military regime in 2010—announced last week what Burma observers have long suspected: that she wishes to be president after the country's next elections in 2015. Peter Lin Pin, who was elected as a lawmaker in the 1990 election, which was annulled by the former military regime, said he worried Suu Kyi might be targeted in an assassination plot by those who wished to retain power as the country transitioned from nearly half a century of military rule. "As she has expressed a desire to get power, I'm worried she might be assassinated by those who are mad for power," Peter Lin Pin said. "Those who are crazy for power can get rid of her at any time. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be careful," he added, referring to the opposition leader with a title of respect. "Even though it's said that our country is now a democracy, military dictators are still behaving as they please." During the former military regime, which ceded power to a nominally civilian government in 2010, several plots targeted the democracy icon and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. In the 2003 Depayin affair, a motorcade of Suu Kyi and her entourage was attacked by a pro-junta mob, leaving about 70 people dead. Phone Myint Aung, a lawmaker from the New National Democracy Party, said law enforcement and security measures in Burma today were inadequate to protect Suu Kyi. "A public idol and political figure like Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who aims to be president should be careful about her security," he said. "The present situation is such that even ordinary citizens aren't safe." Mya Aye, a leader of the 88 Generation Students Group, said the 2015 elections would likely be competitive, and that security should be provided for all presidential candidates. "Threats to life and safety are not only important for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but also for all leaders of the state," the activist said. "I hope there will be no cheating and it [the 2015 election] will be fair." Win Tin, a patron and co-founder of the NLD, said he was also concerned about Suu Kyi's safety because she frequently goes out to meet with member of the public. The government, he said, should be responsible for protecting the democracy icon from any assassination attempt. "Public leaders need to go among the public," Win Tin said. "They know it's dangerous, but that doesn't discourage them, and there are no special arrangements for safety." Still, he said Suu Kyi had managed to take care of herself since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, that her political opinions were well known and firmly established, and that he trusted she would continue to take precautions to stay safe. "It's right to worry about her safety, but it's impossible for her to stay away from the public over fears that it could be a danger to her life," he said. Soe Win, a senior politician from the NLD, said hard-liners continued to hold positions in the new government and that he worried they could stir up trouble ahead of 2015. "There has been unrest in this democracy," Soe Win said. "If it continues like this, the 2015 elections might not even happen." He said he believed religious clashes, including in west Burma's Arakan State, were organized with political motives. "This unrest has been stirred up systematically, with a specific purpose, and instigators must be behind it," he said. " NLD lawmaker Phyu Phyu Thin said recent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims—and the slow response of law enforcement—indicated that security standards in the country were weak. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be more alert than ever," she said. "She won't stop going places because of security reasons—if she needs to go, she will—so we need to work together for her security." | |
| ‘The Irrawaddy River Is Like a Mother’ Posted: 14 Jun 2013 09:23 PM PDT  Prominent environmentalist Devi Thant Cin at her Rangoon home. A painting of her great-grand parents, King Thibaw and his wife, hangs in the background. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Had things turned out differently, Devi Thant Cin might have been a doctor. It was her childhood dream. But looking back nearly six decades later, she feels happy with the path she has chosen instead. "It was just my childhood fantasy," the 66-year old said with a smile. "Now I'm a conservationist by choice." As Burma's reformist government opens up to international investors who eye its rich natural resources, environmental and social concerns are increasingly coming to the fore. But with the new space for civil society, the country's environmental movement is also gaining momentum, and Devi Thant Cin has become one of its leading activists. She is one of a handful of female campaigners who have been spearheading nationwide activities to protect Burma's environment in recent years. Most prominent among their activities has been a campaign aimed at shutting down the controversial Myitsone hydropower dam. The Chinese-backed proposal would dam the Irrawaddy at a site in northern Burma, blocking the flow of water and migrating fish species on the country's largest river, which is a life line to millions of people downstream. The environmental campaigns against the dam led to a nationwide public outcry, prompting President Thein Sein to suspend the project in 2011 until 2016, when his presidential term expires. Devi Thant Cin speaks with reverence of the Irrawaddy River. "I want the Irrawaddy flows freely. The river is like a mother who feeds Burma's citizens," she said. "If anyone tries to resume the project, I will continue to protest." Although she is best known for being an environmentalist, she is also a princess and a direct descendant of King Thibaw, the last monarch of Burma of the Koung Boung Dynasty. Her father is the son of the king's third princess. She said that her father, who earned the nickname the 'Red Prince' for his belief in Marxism, taught her not be arrogant because of her royal blood, but to stand up for the poor and serve the people instead. "I still believe in those basic ideologies and found out that they fit with environmental conservation," Devi Thant Cin said, arguing that although the whole of society is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the poor at the grass-roots level will be hardest-hit. The green movement, she added, helps protect them against these environmental risks. "So being a conservationist gives me a chance to work for people," she said during an interview in the small living room of her Rangoon house, which she shares with two other royal descendant families. On the walls of the house, only a faded oil-painting of her great-grand parents and a black-and-white group photo of her great-aunts in full regalia serve as faint reminders of the family's royal background. Devi Thant Cin first started writing about environmental awareness in the early 2000s, when few in Burma had heard of these issues. She also began travelling through the country to give talks to farmers about the risk of using chemical fertilizers, while she spoke with students to inform the younger generation of environmental concerns. Although she could have used the lingering public reverence for Burma's last kings to aid her work, Devi Thant Cin has never done so. "It's embarrassing to tell my audience that I'm a great grand-daughter of King Thibaw. Let them find about it by themselves," she said. "What I'm doing is as important as who I am." In 2007 she began publishing Burma's only environmental magazine 'Aung Pin Lae', enlisting the help of friends and fellow activists to keep the struggling publication afloat in order to inform the public of the global green movement and environmental degradation in the country. "Environmental conservation is her life," said Min Chit Naing, who has been the magazine's editor since early 2012. Min Chit Naing, who previously worked as an environmental reporter at a local weekly, said he has known Devi Than Cin for several years, adding that her dedication was unwavering. "She even puts her family affairs on the back seat when it comes to the environment," he said. When public concerns over the Myitsone dam project intensified in 2011 and protests against the project became more frequent, Devi Thant Cin founded the Myanmar Green Network (MGN). She brought environmental campaigners and engineers together to provide scientific and technical evidence that would back up the protestors' demand and show that cancellation of the project is justified. In 2012, when another Chinese-backed project, the Letpadaung copper mine in northwestern Burma, sparked a huge local protest, MGN took the initiative to conduct local soil and water tests to determine how the mine's run-off was affecting the local community's health and environment. The network submitted the results and experts' suggestion on the project to the president, relevant authorities and a project investigation commission led by opposition leader and lawmaker Aung San Suu Kyi. "I take my hat off for her, for she is very serious when it comes to environmental conservation," said U Ohn, the chairman of MGN's Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association. "In spite of her royal background, she is not arrogant and is the one who fully drives the MGN." Asked if she is concerned about, or perhaps opposes, the rise in foreign investment in Burma, Devi Thant Cin says, "We have to welcome FDI, but at the same time we have to be aware of its exploitative nature. "That's why we keep repeating that we need to have strong rules and regulations for our environment, while welcoming foreign investors." Burma's green movement has grown much stronger in the past decade, in no small part through Devi Thant Cin's efforts. Public interest continues to rise, green networks are being set up (MGN has connected with more than 50 environmental groups), and Burma's government — finally — established a Ministry of Environment in 2011. Devi Thant Cin therefore, is confident that the movement can make a difference and protect Burma's rich and diverse natural environment. "A conservationist must be patient. We believe everything is possible," she said. "What we need is time." | |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2013 08:08 PM PDT  Rohingya mother Nur Hasha, 23, with her 8-month daughter Anuar Began, seeks shelter from a storm at a school in Thet Kal Pyin village, near Sittwe, in May. Click on the box below to see more images. (Photo: Vincenzo Floramo / The Irrawaddy) SITTWE, Arakan State — On June 8, 2012, violence broke out between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Maungdaw Township in western Burma's Arakan State. The unrest quickly spread to the state capital Sittwe and several other townships. Eventually, some 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, were forced to flee the violence. One year on, the displaced Rohingyas still languish in crowded, dirty camps in the countryside, where there are only a few health clinics to serve tens of thousands of people. Government security forces have limited international aid and health services for the displaced Muslim families, who are also banned from travelling. Inter-communal tensions remain high.
Many Rohingya women now find themselves raising young children in these difficult camp conditions. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement this week that "Many of the displaced children have been out of school for a year." Some of the Rohingya women have given birth in these extreme circumstances, sometimes delivering a child in the camps' rickety bamboo huts. Shar Sit Tar Pikhone, 25, is one of them. In mid-May, she was among a group of several hundred Muslims who had gathered at a school building in Thet Kal Pyin village, near Sittwe, to seek shelter from a storm. "I'm so troubled about her health," she said, clutching her 3-month baby girl, named Kisman Kala. "I feel so bad; I never have enough food for my family." (Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze) |
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