AllSBNews: The Irrawaddy Magazine

Friday, June 21, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Photo of the Week 07
Burma Faces Dengue Fever Outbreak: Officials
Peace a Prerequisite for Repatriation of Burmese Refugees: Minister
Clashes in Shan State Kill 4 Govt Soldiers, Ethnic Militia Claims
USDP Under Fire for Seizure of Public Park in Rangoon
Burma’s Bluff on the Two-Child Policy for Rohingyas
India Floods Strand Thousands; More Than 100 Dead
Mexico Tequila Market Drunk With Promise in China
In Indonesia, Facebook Foiled Burma Embassy Bomb Plot
Burma’s Bluff on the Two-Child Policy for Rohingyas
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Posted: 21 Jun 2013 07:25 AM PDT

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi gives a slice of cake to US Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell on her birthday during the Human Rights Human Dignity Film Festival in Traders Hotel in Rangoon on June 19, 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Burma Faces Dengue Fever Outbreak: Officials

Posted: 21 Jun 2013 07:17 AM PDT

Children wait to receive food aid in Kyauktan Township near Rangoon in June 2008 after Cyclone Nargis hit the city. The storm caused a spike in dengue cases and other disease. (Photo: AFP)

RANGOON — Burma's health authorities warn that the country could be in the grips of a dengue fever epidemic, as the number of reported cases this year has already surpassed the total amount of patients in the whole of 2012.

The Ministry of Health said on Friday that data collected from clinics and hospitals showed that 6,448 people have been infected with the mosquito-borne virus so far and 13 patients have died.

Last year, the ministry recorded 6,033 dengue cases and 27 deaths.

"This year there is an increase in cases compared to 2011 an 2012," said Dr. Ni Ni Aye, deputy director of the Health Ministry's Dengue Program. "We worry that this year will be bad like in 2010. In that year, we had 16,318 cases and 117 deaths…This year we expect an epidemic."

Ni Ni Aye said that although the number of cases was increasing this year, the virus was being treated better and leading to fewer deaths. "I think the mortality rates are decreasing," she said.

Burma's most deadly dengue outbreak was recorded by the ministry in 1994 when 444 people died of the virus, while a 2001 epidemic killed 204 patients.

Ni Ni Aye said dengue cases have been on the rise in Burma since 2005, but dropped in 2011 and 2012 because health authorities launched a public awareness campaign and introduced measures to curb mosquito populations in the preceding years.

The disease was now resurging, she said, because fewer such steps were taken last year, leading to a rapid growth of the virus-carrying mosquito this rainy season.

The mosquitoes that spread dengue breed in clear water, leading to more cases of infection during the monsoon.

Ni Ni Aye said it was also normal for virus cases to peak every three to four years. "This year's outbreak is also due to the cyclical trend, so we're expecting an epidemic," she added.

Dr. Aung Myint Lwin, Medical Superintendent of Rangoon's Yankin Children's Hospital, said that his staff was faced with a rapidly growing number of dengue cases among children, who are most at risk of becoming severely ill because of the virus.

"Last year, the total number of dengue cases admitted was 486 children, but this year, as of June 19, the total number of admissions is already 810 children," he said, adding that six children had died from dengue so far.

Aung Myint Lwin added that the spike in cases was occurring unusually early in the year. "We are worried because normally, the dengue cases only start in the rainy season, from May to September, but this year it starts early and the number of cases is quite high," he said.

Aung Myint Lwin said that three weeks ago health authorities met with Rangoon officials and health NGOs to plan measures that would curb the outbreak.

He said authorities had begun spraying insecticide in potential breeding grounds near schools and public areas. People are being advised to avoid mosquito bites by wearing protective clothes, while they should throw away any vessels, such discarded containers, that would collect rainwater.

Dr. Vinod Bura, an epidemiologist at the World Health Organization's Burma office, said his staff had also observed a spike in dengue cases.

"There is a significant increase compared to last year… We're seeing slightly more cases in Yangon and in Mon State," he said, adding that the rest of Southeast Asia was also experiencing a jump in dengue cases this year.

He said people should to take preventive measures and seek immediate treatment in case of infection. "It can be a simple fever, but it can also lead to hemorrhage and then it becomes a dangerous thing," Bura said. "The key thing is that people shouldn't stay home but go see a doctor."

"Symptoms, such as joint paints and rash on your body, could appear a few days after the bit. The fever will last for four to five days," he said. "People should take a rest and drink a lot of fluids."

Peace a Prerequisite for Repatriation of Burmese Refugees: Minister

Posted: 21 Jun 2013 07:04 AM PDT

Government ministers Aung Min, first row, fourth left, and Myat Myat Ohn Khin, first row, fifth left, pose along with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials at the Myanmar Peace Center in Rangoon on Friday. (Photo: May Kha / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — With nearly 800,000 Burmese nationals internally displaced or seeking refuge outside the country's borders, the government on Friday emphasized the need to achieve ceasefire agreements nationwide before its people can begin the process of returning home in earnest.

About 350,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 440,000 refugees have been uprooted, according to Aung Min, a President's Office minister and the chief negotiator in Naypyidaw's efforts to achieve peace with the nation's ethnic armed groups. The displaced are victims of communal violence, 2008's devastating Cyclone Nargis, or the armed conflicts between the Burmese Army and armed ethnic rebels that have raged for decades.

Marking World Refugee Day on Friday—one day after it was officially observed worldwide—Aung Min said resettling Burma's displaced was critical to its future.

"Our collective vision to build a democratic, open and inclusive society is not complete unless we can guarantee that displaced families can safely return home and will not be separated again by conflict and violence," he said in prepared remarks to an audience at the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center in Rangoon.

With the installation of a nominally civilian government in 2011, and the political and economic reforms that have followed, talk has turned to the resettlement of IDPs and the repatriation of the hundreds of thousands of Burmese who live in neighboring countries.

Aung Min said there was progress on small-scale repatriation this week in Karenni State, where on Thursday he attended the conclusion of two-day peace talks that saw the signing of an eight-point agreement between the government and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP).

Among the accords, the two sides agreed that the town of Shartaw would serve as one of the initial locations for returning IDPs. Any resettlement, however, will be contingent on land mine removal from the area, another point stipulates.

Myat Myat Ohn Khin, Burma's minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement, said on Friday that achieving durable ceasefires nationwide was a prerequisite to the mass return of those displaced to their homelands.

"We need to achieve ceasefire agreements with the armed ethnic groups," she said. "We are still discussing how to repatriate the refugees. We have to create jobs, build houses and provide food to returning refugees."

Among Burma's major ethnic armed groups, the reestablishment of a ceasefire accord with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) remains elusive, and occasional clashes between government troops and other rebel forces persist.

Despite the still simmering tensions in some parts of the country, preparations for refugees' repatriation are ongoing.

Along the border in Thailand, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun working with refugees to prepare them for potential repatriation, organizing workshops and training sessions for some of the estimated 140,000 Burmese nationals in Thai refugee camps.

Refugees in Thailand's Mae La camp were recently given cards asking them to choose one of three options: repatriation, move elsewhere in Thailand or resettle in a third country. A fourth option, to stay put, was nonexistent. Some refugees balked, but the survey's organizers insisted that participation was voluntary and that the effort was simply to allow better preparation for when, or if, refugees did ultimately decide to return to Burma.

Hans ten Feld, the UNHCR's representative for Burma, denied that Bangkok was putting any pressure on refugees along the border.

"They [the Thai government] are not in a hurry. They want return to happen when the time is right," he told The Irrawaddy. "And that for us, and for the government of Thailand also, means that the individual refugee has to decide for himself or for herself that now he or she can go back.

"Reports about pushing or pressure on repatriation are not correct," he added. "What is happening is that of course there's more talk about repatriation, there's preparation for the possibility of repatriation. It's quite a large group of people there so there are a lot of things that need to be in place. That is what's happening at the moment, but it's still up to the individuals to say, 'Now the time is right.'"

Internal Struggles

Along Burma’s west coast, more than 140,000 IDPs remain in temporary shelters, many of them displaced for more than a year, after two bouts of communal violence in 2012 between minority Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists.

The UNHCR on Wednesday urged Burma's leaders to act decisively to end discrimination in the state and nationwide.

"The ongoing human rights violations against the Rohingya community in Rakhine [Arakan] State, and the spread of anti-Muslim sentiment across the State and beyond, is threatening the reform process and requires focused attention from the Government," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement.

In northern Kachin State, about 100,000 people have been displaced since a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the KIO broke down two years ago. While humanitarian assistance to IDPs in the state has been received regularly in government-controlled territory, lands held by the KIO have been inaccessible until last week, when an aid convoy reached some 5,000 IDPs for the first time in nearly a year.

The aid delivery came two weeks after the KIO and government negotiators sat down for long-stalled peace talks in Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital. It was the first time the talks had been held in the country, with two previous rounds hosted by neighboring China.

"We hope that this [the aid deliveries] will now become a normal process but we have to take it step by step and see how it progresses," Ashok Nigam, the UN's resident humanitarian coordinator, told The Irrawaddy on Friday. "We certainly expect more, that this will now become normal given the peace talks that have been held recently. This is a point that had been mentioned in that agreement."

Irrawaddy reporter May Kha contributed reporting.

Clashes in Shan State Kill 4 Govt Soldiers, Ethnic Militia Claims

Posted: 21 Jun 2013 06:30 AM PDT

A unit of the Taaung National Liberation Army in Shan State. (Photo: Kyaw Kha / The Irrawady)

An ethnic Palaung armed group claims that it has killed four Burma government soldiers during clashes in Kutkai Township in northern Shan State in recent days.

Tah Wein Mao, a captain with the Taaung National Liberation Army (TNLA), said that early Wednesday morning his soldiers had fought close-range gun battles for about two hours with the Burmese military's Battalion No.145, which is based in the town of Kunlon, Taunggyi Township.

"The battle has been continuing. There were four casualties on the military side during the previous days of fighting," he told The Irrawaddy by phone on Thursday.

Tah Wein Mao claimed that government soldiers were trying to capture the TNLA's No.112 outpost, located near Ngawh Ngan village in Kutkia Township.

Captain Mine Aung, a TNLA spokesperson, said the military had launched a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades on the TNLA outpost that lasted for two hours.

Inhabitants of Ngawh Ngan village, which reportedly has about 170 houses, have fled due to the fighting.

"The villagers fled in fright. They are hiding at the places far from the village, bringing some food with them. Some went to Nam Phaka Village to take shelter at their relatives' homes. Other villages near here are also worried. The battle is continuing," Captain Mine Aung said.

He added that battles between the TNLA and government forces first began about one week ago.

According to reports, the same two units also clashed on June 14 near Lone Kam village in Kutkai Township, while the TNLA's Battalion No.256 fought with the military's Battalion No.114 on June 15 near the town of Namsan.

The TNLA — a group that represents the Palaung, a small ethnic group living in northern Shan State not far from the border with China — is believed to have a strategic military alliance with both the Kachin Independence Army and the Shan State Progress Party (Shan State Army-North).

The rebel groups have been locked in a decades-long guerilla war with the central government. The TNLA supposedly has seven regiments with about 1,300 soldiers under its command, and is said to enjoy popular support among the local ethnic Palaung.

USDP Under Fire for Seizure of Public Park in Rangoon

Posted: 21 Jun 2013 06:28 AM PDT

The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is promoting the construction of a condominium on land in Rangoon that activists say was seized illegally. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON—Burma's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is being urged to return land in Rangoon that was seized from a popular public garden where children once played sports and communities held social events.

The USDP has set up on office on the grounds, which were confiscated by a pro-junta group just over 20 years ago in South Okkalapa Township, and the party is now proposing the construction of a condominium building there, despite complaints from rights activists and local residents who say the land seizure was illegal.

Phone Myint Aung, a lawmaker from the New National Democracy Party, joined activists on Friday in urging the Union Election Commission to require the USDP to return the land.

"It's public land—they couldn't take it legally," he said in Rangoon on Friday. "I will work with other lawyers to take action and, if needed, I will send a letter to President Thein Sein."

The land was seized from a public garden at Quarter 9 in South Okkalapa Township by a group of pro-junta supporters in 1992. That group was later part of the junta's mass organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), which formed in 1993 and became a political party, the USDP, in 2010.

"The garden was a place where we all gathered and held celebrations, such as [Buddhist] Dhamma talks, performances or other social movements," said Aye Zwa, a resident from Quarter 9. "We want it back now."

Phone Myint Aung helped activists organize residents from the township to hold a protest this week, but the demonstration was delayed after the lawmaker met USDP lawmaker Aung Thein Lin, who said the party would hold a press conference on June 29 to defend the legality of the land use.

Aung Thein Lin represents Rangoon's South Okkalapa constituency in Parliament.

"He told me that his party has legal documents for the land," Phone Myint Aung said. "I'll wait and see from his press conference. If I find that it's not appropriate from a legal perspective, I will not stop this case. I will bring it to the president."

Dr. Saw Naing, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, said he would join local protests against the land seizure. "We all know it's public land. They should not build a condo on this land," he said.

Residents are signing a petition, which they will send to Parliament and President Thein.

Burma's Constitution prohibits political parties from using public property directly or indirectly.

"They cannot confiscate public land, since they're a political party," Phone Myint Aung said. "They are violating rule of law and it is unacceptable."

The military-backed USDP was founded by former dictator Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who has kept a low public profile since Thein Sein began implementing a raft of political and economic reforms starting in 2011. The party won 883 of 1,154 parliamentary seats in the 2010 general election but took a beating in the 2012 by-election, losing 43 of 45 contested seats to the NLD.

Burma’s Bluff on the Two-Child Policy for Rohingyas

Posted: 21 Jun 2013 06:08 AM PDT

A Rohingya Muslim family in Pauktaw Township, Arakan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

This month, hundreds of ethnic Arakanese Buddhist protesters marched through the streets of Sittwe calling on authorities to enforce a two-child limit on Rohingya Muslims—that is, to demand a discriminatory population control regulation that restricts Rohingya from choosing how many children they have.

President Thein Sein had a chance to speak out against Arakan State's overtly discriminatory policy and order local authorities to revoke it. But instead he remained silent—prompting speculation among Burma watchers that, despite earlier claims from his office that he was still deciding whether to support the policy or not, he was fully in favor of it.

Last week, the president reinforced that when Burma's Minister of Immigration and Population Khin Yi publicly endorsed the two-child limit. Once again, the president did not say a word. His silence is deafening and dangerous.

Arakan State's discriminatory two-child limit for Rohingya Muslims was first introduced in 2005 in the western state's Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. Since last year's sectarian strife, between Arakanese and Rohingya and other Muslim minorities, there have been renewed calls for its enforcement since mid-May.

The lone political voice in opposition to the two-child policy has been Aung San Suu Kyi. But when she pointed out that the policy violated human rights, Arakanese members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party quickly decried her, and demanded the policy's implementation.

Support for the two-child limit is often couched in the kind of progressive rhetoric used by Khin Yi, who claimed the policy was introduced to "benefit the 'Bengali women'"—using a term meant to disparage Rohingya—who he said had large numbers of children for whom they could not provide adequate nutrition, schooling and other care. But the barely concealed rationale for the policy is the fear among the majority Arakanese that Rohingya women have a disproportionately high birth rate that will over time alter the demographics of Arakan State.

To claim that the two-child policy is intended to advance the rights of women who are confined to a life of poverty because they have so many children is both erroneous and dangerous. According to a 2007 Fertility and Reproductive Health Survey jointly conducted by the Ministry of Immigration and Population and the United Nations Population Fund, a lack of education, poor health awareness and access to contraception were factors influencing decisions about family size. The survey found that women with greater levels of education opt to have fewer children. It also found that awareness about modern methods of contraception and access to them was the poorest in Arakan State, where only 32 percent of women who were married at the time of the survey reported using any form of modern contraception, demonstrating the desperate unmet need for such services there.

The 2007 survey shows that the largest suppliers of contraceptives in the country are government hospitals (25 percent), drug stores (22 percent), private clinics (13 percent) and government nurses and midwives (11 percent). But because the government effectively denies Rohingya citizenship and as a result severely limits their freedom of movement and access to government services, they are often forced to rely on traditional methods of contraception—the withdrawal method or abstention.

Last year the Rohingya in Arakan State were targets of a government-supported campaign of "ethnic cleansing" that involved crimes against humanity, greatly exacerbating the lack of access to services. At least 140,000 Rohingya and other Muslims were displaced and many fled to camps, where conditions are poor. The government has done little to facilitate access to humanitarian assistance as documented in August 2012 and April 2013 Human Rights Watch reports. On many occasions Arakanese have threatened and obstructed foreign aid workers and humanitarian agencies' work. According to UN aid workers, Arakanese midwives routinely shun Rohingya, refusing to provide them care. In May, the international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) issued a statement saying entire villages were cut off from basic services. MSF said pregnant Rohingya women were dying needlessly because they had no access to health care.

Such preventable deaths, poor health and high birth rates have little to do with Rohingyas being content with "overpopulation" and poverty or plotting to change the demographics of Arakan State by producing babies. These are outcomes of oppressive and short-sighted government policies.

Rather than addressing the education and health care needs of the Rohingya, for nearly two decades Burmese authorities have imposed a system of pre-marriage government authorization for Rohingyas, administered by the Nasaka, an abusive inter-agency border security force.

The system is plagued by corruption and long delays, where Rohingya couples wait years to get marriage approval and pay hefty bribes. The two-child rule that was added by Arakan authorities in 2005, which required couples to state in writing that they would not have more than two children, has done irreparable damage to women and children. Flouting the two-child restriction is punishable with fines and imprisonment.

Many Rohingya women who get pregnant while they wait for government approval to marry or beyond the two-child limit abort pregnancies using unsafe ways to prevent getting caught. For example, a Rohingya woman who fled from Burma and is residing in a camp in Bangladesh described how her daughter got pregnant before getting an expensive marriage license, was frightened about getting caught, tried to abort her pregnancy at home, and died. After giving her a root drink, a relative gave the pregnant woman a "rough abdominal massage" to help her abort. She started having fits and bled to death.

Rohingya women who chose to have their babies illegally were either forced to register their children with other Rohingya parents who had not exhausted their "limit" or were left with no choice but to give birth and hide their children. Hidden or unregistered children get no government benefits. They are excluded from all services.

Supporters of Burma's two-child policy for Rohingya say it is neither discriminatory nor a violation of human rights, and some have wrongly cited India, the Philippines and China as examples to bolster their case.

India has no mandatory policy that directly limits the number of children, but seven states introduced eligibility criteria for local government elections that prevent those with more than two children from running for local office. At least three of those states have revoked such criteria, and the Indian central government has written to state authorities asking the holdouts to revoke any such policies.

India is in fact moving away from approaches to family planning that might create a coercive environment. It refocused its family planning program in July 2012 to expand access to contraceptives through a door-to-door campaign, emphasizing birth spacing rather than sterilization. In May, the Indian government issued orders that all women and girls should be provided access to free maternal health care under government schemes irrespective of their age or the number of children they have.

The Philippines also has no policy restricting the number of children. In December 2012 the Philippines Congress overcame decades-long opposition to reproductive rights by the Roman Catholic Church and enacted a law that allows for the expanded provision of reproductive health services, including the distribution of contraceptives. The law states that "each family shall have the right to determine its ideal family size," and casts an obligation on the state to "equip each parent with the necessary information on all aspects of family life, including reproductive health and responsible parenthood, in order to make that determination."

Only China has a policy limiting the number of children a couple may have, and China's brutal one-child policy is globally condemned. It has long been used to force women to abort pregnancies, abandon children and incur heavy fines. But even China's policy was not used as a method of targeting and controlling an ethnic minority—it was enforced across China. In recent years the Chinese government has taken some steps to relax its one-child policy.

Ultimately, the Burmese government needs to address the abuse and discrimination against the Rohingya by ending discrimination in citizenship and related access to services. President Thein Sein should stop being a silent spectator and revoke the two-child policy once and for all. He should demonstrate his commitment to human rights by expanding access to health care and education for the Rohingya, and press Parliament to grant them citizenship rights on an equal basis with all other people in Burma.

Aruna Kashyap is a researcher in the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. Follow her on twitter @aruna_kashyap.

India Floods Strand Thousands; More Than 100 Dead

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 10:21 PM PDT

Soldiers rescue stranded people after heavy rains in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on June 18, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

LUCKNOW, India — Days after floods killed more than 100 people—possibly many more—rescuers used helicopters and climbed through mountain paths to reach about 4,000 people trapped by landslides in a narrow valley near a Hindu shrine in the northern Himalayas, officials said Thursday.

The helicopters ferried rescue workers and doctors along with equipment, food and medicine to Kedarnath in the state of Uttrakhand, the nearest town to those trapped in the valley, said Air Commodore Rajesh Prasad, who is overseeing the operations.

Amit Chandola, a state spokesman, said authorities so far have been unable to reach eight villages feared washed away by the weekend floods in the worst-hit districts of Rudraprayag and Chamoli.

With the weather improving, army commandos would try to reach the areas on Friday, Chandola said.

He said the official death in Uttrakhand is 105 but added, "We don't know yet what happened to hundreds of people living there." An additional 17 people died in collapsed homes in neighboring Uttar Pradesh state, said R.L. Vishwakarma, a state police officer.

Rakesh Sharma, a state official, said the death toll could be much higher, running into thousands, but the exact number would be known only after a survey of the entire region.

A joint army and air force operation has so far evacuated nearly 14,000 people stranded in the area but nearly 61,000 people remained cut off, officials said.

Chandola said some of the blocked roads were reopened to traffic in the region and nearly 2,000 vehicles moved out of the area carrying stranded tourists.

The flooding washed away roads and nearly two dozen bridges, demolished 365 houses and partially damaged 275 others in Uttrakhand, the state government said. Most of those stranded are Hindu pilgrims who were visiting four revered shrines.

Hundreds of distressed people looking for relatives flocked to Dehradun, the state capital, where flood survivors were taken by plane and helicopter. As those rescued exited the aircraft, those searching for missing people showed them pictures of their loved ones in hopes that someone had seen them.

The lucky ones spoke to their stranded relatives on the phone Wednesday and were waiting for them to be rescued.

State Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said the Kedarnath temple—one of the holiest Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, located atop the Garhwal Himalayan range—had escaped major damage, but up to 10 feet (4 meters) of debris covered the area around it.

The state received 380 millimeters (14 inches) of rain in the past week, nearly five times the average for that time period, said R.P.N. Singh, India's junior home minister.

Air force spokeswoman Priya Joshi said 30 helicopters and aircraft have dropped food packets and other relief supplies in addition to ferrying stranded tourists. More than 5,000 soldiers helped bring thousands of homeless people to relief camps and provided them with food and medical supplies.

The latest rains have affected several states and the capital, New Delhi, where nearly 2,000 people were evacuated to government-run camps on higher ground. Authorities there said the Yamuna River was expected to start receding Thursday afternoon.

The annual monsoon rains sustain India's agriculture but also cause flooding that routinely claims lives and damages property.

Mexico Tequila Market Drunk With Promise in China

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 10:19 PM PDT

Bottles of Jose Cuervo Tequila rest on a shelf in Mexico City. (Photo: Reuters)

MEXICO CITY — Mexico wants China to loosen up and have a little tequila. Actually, lots of it.

Since China President Xi Jinping and Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto broke a diplomatic and economic chill and agreed to boost trade, tequila producers have been gearing up to make the world's most populous country their second-biggest market, after the margarita-loving United States.

The drink synonymous with Mexico already is available in more than 100 countries. But export of the alcoholic beverage to China has been limited by legal and sanitary restrictions.

Chinese authorities changed their rules last week, deciding that the purest and best tequila, known as blue agave, has no detrimental health effects. That has opened the door for businesses in both countries to begin promoting and exploring ways to sell more tequila.

With the purchasing power of 1.3 billion Chinese, tequila producers see a niche market, especially among the emerging upper class.

"The potential of this industry is that in five years, we can reach 10 million liters in exports," said Ramon Gonzalez, director of Mexico’s tequila promotion council. "Today's new rich are in China."

Until the change by health authorities last week, the Chinese couldn't drink the good stuff made famous by swilling cowboys in many a western on the big screen.

Because of restrictions on methanol per liter of alcohol, China had only allowed the import of lower quality tequila made with 51 percent agave sugar, the rest of the sugar a mix from other plants. The methanol content in blue agave tequila was considered too high.

Mexico exports a total of 43.7 millions of gallons (165.7 million liters) of tequila, with 80 percent of the bottles going to the United States. Little more than 108,000 gallons (410,250 liters) go to China. Mexico in the past wasn't that interested in exporting its lower-quality tequila, said Mexican Agriculture Secretary Enrique Martinez, who announced the change by Chinese health authorities on Tuesday.

"I’m convinced that we’re going to be very successful," said Martinez, who led a trade delegation to China last week to help speed export of $1 billion dollars in Mexican goods over the next year. "It's a Mexican product that will conquer the preferences of Chinese consumers."

Former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon indicated in 2010 that the Chinese were willing to lift their restrictions and allow import of 100 percent blue agave tequila. But when Calderon left office last year, that still had not happened and relations had cooled after his meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

During Xi's visit to Mexico earlier this month, the countries agreed to try to level their trade imbalance, which favors China 10 to 1.

The two presidents—and especially the first ladies—hit it off, spending the better part of three days together and visiting the Maya ruins of Chichen Itza. They made tequila and pork priorities for increasing Mexican exports to China.

The Asian country’s economy is forecast to slow some this year, but at 7.75 percent growth, it remains robust by all standards.

China's ruling Communist Party is trying to reduce the country’s reliance on exports and investment and nurture more self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption. That includes trying to encourage more consumer spending on restaurants, a key driver of liquor sales.

"It is expected that the introduction of Mexican-produced tequila in the food service sector will see an initial spark in demand because of its relative novelty," said Christopher Shanahan, food and agricultural program manager for Frost & Sullivan, a US marketing analysis firm, in written comments to The Associated Press.

Still, tequila producers may run into the Chinese policy of doing whatever it takes to protect national products from foreign competition, Shanahan said.

In other words, they should take the promise of an open market for tequila with a lime and pinch of salt.

So far, that's not fazing Mexican tequila producers.

"We are well-armed to enter the market, withstand the competition and stay there," said Francisco Alcaraz, international director of Tequila Patron. The company, dedicated almost entirely to exports, already has markets in Singapore and Japan. It produced close to 5 million gallons (18 million of liters) of tequila in 2012 and exported 99.5 percent of it.

Tequila Patron's marketing executives are already studying China's culture to determine the best approach for selling tequila there.

"We hire people there to look at their customs, culture, gastronomy, to see how they pair their meals to bring out the best tasting experience," said David Rodriguez, production director based in Jalisco state, the agave heartland.

Beer is by far the most popular alcoholic beverage in China, which accounts for more than half of global consumption

For distilled spirits, the most popular are versions of baijiu, an eye-wateringly strong traditional Chinese spirit. Cognac and whisky together represent around 90 percent of imported liquors, followed by vodka.

In Mexico, people sip tequila from shot glasses, sometimes with a chaser of tomato-based juice called sangrita. Some drink it with lime or mix it with grapefruit soda. In Japan, people drink tequila on the rocks or mix it with berries to make fruity cocktails, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said will take about two years to know if tequila will catch on in China.

"The Asian markets are seeking to westernize when it comes to prestigious brands, the brands consumers aspire to," he said.

Associated Press writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

In Indonesia, Facebook Foiled Burma Embassy Bomb Plot

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 10:16 PM PDT

Indonesian police are deployed outside the Burma Embassy following the arrest of two men suspected of planning an attack on the embassy. (Photo: Reuters / Beawiharta)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Sefa Riano didn’t try to hide his plans or his beliefs. A Facebook page that police traced to him is plastered with photos of bearded men in camouflage uniforms holding rifles and banners hailing "The Spirit of Jihad."

One status update in late April apologizes to his parents before telling them goodbye. Another declares ominously, "God willing, I will take action at the Myanmar Embassy, hope you will share responsibility for my struggle." It ends with a yellow smiley face.

Days later, police arrested Riano, whose Facebook name is Mambo Wahab, just before midnight in central Jakarta. Police say he and another man were on a motorbike carrying a backpack filled with five low-explosive pipe bombs tied together. Riano, 29, is awaiting charges related to allegations that he plotted to bomb the embassy to protest the persecution of Muslims in Buddhist-majority Burma.

A police investigator revealed Riano's connection to the page, which was still online Thursday, to The Associated Press. The investigator spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to reporters.

The investigator said Riano caused his own downfall by publicizing his mission on Facebook, but added that police believe it was another Facebook page that drew him to radical Islam to begin with.

Police said a growing number of young people in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, are being targeted for recruitment by terrorists on the social media site. More than one in four of the country's 240 million people are on Facebook, thanks in large part to cheap and fast Internet-capable phones.

While it is not clear how many terrorists are actually recruited through Facebook, the use of social networking to groom potential attackers poses new challenges for authorities struggling to eradicate militant groups that have been weakened over the last 10 years. Though Facebook shuts down pages that promote terrorism when it learns of them, police say new pages are easily created and some have attracted thousands of followers.

Muhammad Taufiqurrohman, an analyst from the Center for Radicalism and De-radicalization Studies who works closely with Indonesian anti-terrorism officials, said 50 to 100 militants in the country have been recruited directly through Facebook over the past two years.

He said there are at least 18 radical Facebook groups in Indonesia, and one of them has 7,000 members. Police said some sites where radical discussion takes place focus on Islam, while others engage in talk about committing violence, such as how to make bombs. Access is blocked unless group administrators allow users to participate.

Fred Wolens, a Facebook spokesman, said the company bars "promotion of terrorism" and "direct statements of hate." Where abusive content is posted and reported, Facebook removes it and disables the account, he said.

Gatot S. Dewabroto, spokesman for Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information, said Facebook responds quickly when officials ask them to remove such content. But he added that after one page is blocked, others quickly spring up.

William McCants, a former US State Department analyst who studies online Islamic extremism for the US-based Center for Naval Analyses, said governments in many countries "are just waking up to the fact that the conversation [about extremism] is moving to newer social media platforms."

"On Facebook and Twitter, you can really go after people who broadly share your ideology but haven't really committed themselves to violence," he said.

Indonesian police say Facebook is one of many places where they've found terrorist activity online. They have detected militants using online games for attack drills. A group was caught uploading propaganda videos on YouTube and terrorists are known to have purchased weapons using video calls, said Brig. Gen. Petrus Reinhard Golose, the director of operations at Indonesia's anti-terrorism agency.

Golose said the Internet was used to organize recent terrorist acts in the country, including a 2010 attack on police in Solo and a police mosque bombing in Cirebon a year later. He did not elaborate on how the Web was used.

Terrorists have used the Internet for many years, but usually anonymously. Groups such as al-Qaida have employed online discussion forums where people left comments but did not directly interact. Today's smartphone generation appears to be operating more openly: As of Thursday, Riano still had about 900 Facebook friends.

The police investigator said authorities were alerted about "Mambo Wahab's" Burma bombing status update by other Internet users. Police used information collected from arrested militants in Riano's online networks to track his Web footprint. After getting his Internet Protocol address and eventually linking that to a mobile phone, authorities say they were able to tap into conversations involving Riano and the plot's alleged mastermind, the investigator said.

The Mambo Wahab page has not been updated since Riano's arrest on May 3. Some people in Indonesian jails—even on death row—manage to post status updates, though others may be acting on their behalf.

Some Indonesian police want the law to address online communications that advocate or abet terrorism. Indonesia's information technology laws ban only pornography and illegal online financial transactions.

Police Maj. Surya Putra, who is researching terrorists' use of the Internet at the Institute of Police Science, said intelligence collected online cannot currently be used as evidence in court.

"There are no laws that can effectively charge people who spread hatred," he said.

The government is drafting legislation that would criminalize hate speech and online terrorism activities.

Putra said that although police are starting to surf the Internet as part of their work, many of those arrested for terrorism-linked activities on Facebook were caught not because of cyber patrolling, but because police received tips about their accounts.

Those cases include nine militants, including one woman, who were sentenced to up to 10 years in jail for funding terrorism activities by hacking into a Malaysian website and defrauding the company out $800,000 in cash and assets.

Indonesia has fought terrorism aggressively since the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. There have been no large-scale attacks for several years, though there have been several smaller strikes targeting mainly the government, police and anti-terrorism forces.

Well-funded terror networks have been disrupted, but radical clerics continue to spread their ideology to militants who set up military-style training camps.

Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based terrorism analyst from the International Crisis Group, said that although terrorists groups' Internet use is growing, they still do most of their recruiting face-to-face at traditional places such as prayer meetings. She said Riano's case is the first time she’s seen a group brought together by Facebook.

She said the site is a "really stupid" way to recruit new members because it lacks privacy and no systematic way to vet credentials. But she added that even amateurish efforts to commit terrorism can cause mayhem and must be taken seriously.

Ansyaad Mbai, who heads Indonesia's anti-terrorism agency, said Facebook has become "an effective tool for mass radicalization," and that police need more authority to respond to online behavior.

"We can’t do it alone," he said. "Radical sermons and jihadist sites are just a mouse click away."

Associated Press writer Margie Mason contributed to this report from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Burma’s Bluff on the Two-Child Policy for Rohingyas

Posted: 21 Jun 2013 06:08 AM PDT

A Rohingya Muslim family in Pauktaw Township, Arakan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Aruna Kashyap is a researcher in the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. Follow her on twitter @aruna_kashyap.

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