The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Locals Defend Letpadaung Protesters Wanted by Police
• Public Hospitals Offer Free Medicine for Burma’s Poor
• Unilever Plans Second Plant in Burma With First Barely Open
• Malaysia Detains Hundreds of Burmese after Reports of Killings
• Federal System Under Consideration to End Ethnic Conflicts, Minister Concedes
• Energy Resources to Be Used for Domestic Needs in Future: Minister
• Kachin State Conflict Increases Human Trafficking to China: Report
• Burma Launches $500m Tourism ‘Master Plan’ for 7.5m Tourists by 2020
• India Scraps Two Huge Hydropower Projects in Burma
• Cambodian Opposition Leader Rainsy Denied Entry to Thailand
• India scraps two huge hydropower projects in Burma
• Burma launches $500m tourism ‘Master Plan’ for 7.5m tourists by 2020
• Bangladesh strategy paper would make sheltering Rohingya a crime
• Cambodian opposition leader Rainsy denied entry to Thailand
• World Economic Forum Draws Decision-makers to Burma
• Four Dead As Burma Violence Spills Into Malaysia-Police
• Bangladesh Strategy Paper Would Make Sheltering Rohingya a Crime
• 124 Chinese Arrested in Ghana for Illegal Gold Mining
• After Bangladesh, Pressure Also Grows on Garment Makers in Cambodia

Locals Defend Letpadaung Protesters Wanted by Police Posted: 06 Jun 2013 06:08 AM PDT A copper mine excavation about 24 km (15 miles) from Monywa in Sagaing Division. Farming families from 26 villages have lost land for the Letpadaung copper mining project. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Locals are pledging to defend of a group of activists and farmers wanted by the police after opposing the controversial Letpadaung copper mine project in northwest Burma. Police have threatened to forcibly enter towns and arrest 15 activists and farmers if they do not appear in court after allegedly inciting unrest between the public and the copper mine company. In a notice posted on Tuesday near the mining area, the Sagaing Division Police Office said a Shwebo District Court had already issued a warrant for the arrest of the activists. The notice also threatened to arrest any resident who hindered the police search or hid the activists. "We went to the authorities and explained that these people are just helping us and they haven't broken the law," said a farmer from Tone village. "We'll protect them because we're grateful to them." Another local resident, Min Min, agreed. "These people [the activists] are not causing problems, as the authorities said in the notice." The activists themselves have rejected the notice. "We cannot accept this," said Han Win Aung, adding that the notice lacked an official seal. He also criticized the police's method of publicly posting threats. "Distributing a notice like an ad or a flyer is nonsense." "If the authorities are really responsible for issuing this, we will personally receive the warrant, which should mention what kind of trial we will face," he added. "This [notice] simply shows that there is no rule of law here, and authorities are only protecting the mining company so it can resume the mining process without disturbance." He urged the nation's political leaders to step in. "We are now trying to present this situation to the president and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," he said, referring to the opposition leader with a title of respect. The Letpadaung copper mining project has displaced farming families in 26 villages from their land, with more than 7,000 acres confiscated. Protests began last year against the project, which is a joint venture between the Chinese Wanbao company and Burma's military-owned Union of Myanmar Economics Holdings. The issue caught international attention in November after a police crackdown injured more than 100 peaceful protesters, mostly Buddhist monks. A government team headed by Suu Kyi recommended earlier this year that the mining project continue and farmers receive compensation for their lost land, but some families have refused to take the money. Aung Soe, an activist from the Rangoon Civic Society Network, was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison after helping farmers near the mine. Two other farmers from Hse Te village were also sentenced to six months in prison for plowing their confiscated land.

Public Hospitals Offer Free Medicine for Burma’s Poor Posted: 06 Jun 2013 06:05 AM PDT Maternity patients wait on Tuesday in the outpatient wing of the Muslim Free Hospital, a charity hospital that offers free health services in Rangoon. The hospital remains crowded even after the government began offering financial aid at its public hospitals this year. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's public hospitals are for the first time offering free medicine to poor patients, in a major break from the previous policy of charging for all medicine and equipment used during treatment, as the country begins to reform its underfunded health care system. The government's public hospitals, which have long been prohibitively expensive for the majority of people in Burma, started offering financial aid earlier this year after receiving a budget from the Health Ministry specifically reserved for medicine and equipment for the first time, a hospital medical superintendent told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. "The country is reforming not only politically and economically, but also in the health sector," said Dr. Zaw Htun from San Pya General Hospital, a public hospital in Rangoon's Thingangyun Township, adding that the hospital's new budget for medicine came with an increase in the Health Ministry's own budget. "Before this, the central level [government] bought medicine and medical equipment, and they distributed it. Hospitals didn't have their own budget to buy drugs, and patients had to pay for almost all their own medicine," he said. "Now we can buy medicine and medical equipment, and then distribute it freely to patients who cannot afford it, especially poor patients and emergency patients." The budgets for medicine and equipment vary depending on the size of the hospital, he said, with the 300-bed San Pya Hospital receiving 120 million kyats (US$126,000) for the 2012-13 year. The hospital started offering free medicine and equipment to poor patients in February this year and has gradually increased its distribution since then. "As of April, we've been able to provide for almost all our poor patients," Zaw Htun said, though he could not immediately offer detailed statistics. "About 50 percent of our patients receive financial aid." More patients are now coming to the hospital for treatment, he said, with the bed occupancy rate increasing from 128 percent in 2012 to 143 percent this year. But many people are still not aware of the government's financial aid, according to health care providers at a charity hospital in downtown Rangoon. "Patients don't know about it," said Sandy, a medical officer at the Muslim Free Hospital, which offers free health services to patients of all religions and classes. "The public hospital in Insein Township also started offering financial aid, but patients from Insein still come here [to the Muslim Free Hospital] because they do not know. We have to tell them." Sandy, 23, learned about plans to offer free medicine and IVs at public hospitals last October during an internship at the government's North Okkalapa General Hospital, which she said rolled out financial aid in January. In the Muslim Free Hospital's surgical wing, 41-year-old Haronbi from Rangoon said he had never before been to a hospital because they were too expensive. He went to the Muslim Free Hospital for a hernia operation, but said in the past he had always treated himself with over-the-counter medications whenever he fell ill. "I cannot afford much," said the laborer, who earns about 5,000 kyats ($5.30) a day, which is more than the average daily income in Burma. Several other patients at the charity hospital said they had never been to a public hospital and usually treated themselves at a pharmacy or by going to a neighborhood doctor. The Muslim Free Hospital's head of surgery is Dr. Tin Myo Win, the personal physician of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He said patients continued to flock to his charity hospital because they could not afford the public hospitals, and that with the high demand, he often performed 10 to 15 surgeries in a single day. "Theoretically, you should only perform about five major operations a day as a surgeon," he told The Irrawaddy last month. The charity hospital, which has 25 beds in its surgery wing, must often refer patients to other institutions for more complex procedures like heart surgery, brain surgery and kidney surgery. Tin Myo Win, the hospital's only surgeon, said he tries to send patients to the government's Central Women's Hospital in Rangoon, which he said began offering some free services this year. However, he added that he was not aware of other public hospitals also offering free services. "They [patients] cannot afford to go to the other hospitals," he said. "At the [Rangoon] General Hospital, unlike here, patients have to pay for all the fees. You have to buy your own medicine. For operations, you have to buy your own cotton wool and the bandages." Zaw Htun said San Pya Hospital did not advertise the financial assistance inside or outside the hospital. "It's not necessary," he said, adding that local magazines, newspapers and journals had written about the free services and that patient numbers were climbing. The medical superintendent said he would travel to Burma's capital next week to meet Health Minister Pe Thet Khin and discuss the hospital's budget for medicine and equipment, which he expected to increase in the coming fiscal year. "All the medical superintendents from the whole country will meet in Naypyidaw on June 14 to talk about the budget," he said. He said he was not sure if the goal was to eventually provide free medicine for all patients, but added that the Health Ministry had started studying the possibility of creating a health insurance system in the country. "We don't have that yet in Myanmar," he said. "I was told that he [the health minister] has plans and they are doing research about how to set up health insurance." The new budget for medicine and equipment at public hospitals comes amid a greater push to reform Burma's health care system, which experts say is broken after decades of underfunding. The former military regime, which handed power to a nominally civilian government in 2010, spent less than $1 per person on health care in 2007, according to statistics from the Health Ministry. Private spending constitutes the major share of health spending in Burma, according to National Accounts Data from the Ministry of Health in 2008-09, which said the Health Ministry was responsible for 10 percent of health spending while private households accounted for 82-85 percent, with additional funding from other ministries and NGOs. The Health Ministry says it aims to achieve universal health care by 2030, according to its 30-year plan for the country's health development, Myanmar Health Vision 2030. That would be no small feat, according to Dr. Vit Suwanvanichikij, a public health researcher who has worked with Burmese migrants on the Thai border for more than a decade, and who visited hospitals in Myanmar last year. He described Burma's current health care system as "probably the most privatized health system in the world." Although the government's health budget has increased, it remains at about 3 percent of the total state budget, an amount Tin Myo Win and other health experts have described as "very insufficient."

Unilever Plans Second Plant in Burma With First Barely Open Posted: 06 Jun 2013 06:02 AM PDT An advertisement is seen at launch event in Rangoon for Unilever's new factory in January. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) NAYPYIDAW — Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever has drawn up plans for a second factory in Burma, an executive said on Thursday, showing its confidence in the newly emerging market even before production starts at its first plant there. International companies are lining up to enter Burma now that Western countries have lifted or suspended sanctions following the end of nearly half a century of military rule in 2011. Coca-Cola Co said on Tuesday that it had begun bottling in the Southeast Asian country for the first time in more than 60 years and Unilever said the same day it was opening its first factory since its operations were nationalized in 1965. "We’ll open up a second one later this year," Bauke Rouwers, chairman of Unilever Thai Trading, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum being held in Burma’s capital, Naypyidaw, in recognition of the dramatic reforms under way. After re-entering the country three years ago, Unilever already supplies 100,000 outlets with hygiene products including shampoo and toothpaste as well as the chicken seasoning powder that it will make at its new factory. Production is due to start in a few weeks, with a number of the Burma nationals currently working in its factory in Thailand returning home to work at the plant in the commercial capital, Rangoon. The company says it will invest 500 million euros (US$654 million) in Burma over the next decade. Peter Ter Kulve, president of its Southeast Asia and Australia region, said the money will be spent recruiting and training staff, building up a distribution system, expanding its manufacturing base and marketing the brand. "Eventually it is going to be an affluent country," he said. "They have resources, people, agricultural land, oil and gas, a lot of tourism." Capital Abuzz The World Economic Forum is the biggest event ever seen in Naypyidaw, a new capital that was built from scratch by the former junta a decade ago. The city is buzzing with business people, foreign officials and academics, debating how to develop the economy and ensure all its people benefit after decades of isolation. "There has been quick change, good momentum. Now it has to be sustained," said Heang Chhor, a senior partner with the McKinsey Global Institute. In a report at the end of May, consultancy McKinsey forecast that Burma’s economy could more than quadruple from $45 billion in 2010 to $200 billion in 2030. The number of consumers with "discretionary spending potential" could grow from 2.5 million of Burma's 60 million population to 19 million, it said. Economic growth would be driven mainly by agriculture, mining and energy, infrastructure development and manufacturing. Heang Chhor said manufacturing was the most important of those and could grow from about 15 percent to one third of the economy, creating 6 million jobs, as manufacturers move in from China and other Asian countries, attracted by low labor costs. But the report warned that Burma desperately needed to increase the productivity of its workforce. A worker in Burma "adds only $1,500 of economic value in a year of work, around 70 percent less than the average of seven other Asian economies" including Thailand, China and Indonesia. Other analysts caution that democracy is still fragile and the military remains a force both in politics and the economy. But Unilever’s Ter Kulve said he was not worried about the possibility his company might be nationalized once again. "We believe the country has embraced being an open trading partner of the world," he said.

Malaysia Detains Hundreds of Burmese after Reports of Killings Posted: 06 Jun 2013 03:29 AM PDT Two injured Burmese nationals are pictured at a hospital in Kaula Lumpur. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) About 1,000 Burmese nationals in Malaysia have been "picked up" by Malaysian police forces in recent days after at least three Burmese migrants were allegedly killed by a group of Muslims in Kuala Lumpur. Multiple clashes involving Burmese people in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding Selangor State have been reported since May 30, resulting in the deaths of three Burmese workers. Several others have been hospitalized with injuries, according to Burmese migrant workers in the Malaysian capital. The killings have been linked to religious violence in Burma, where anti-Muslim sentiment has led Buddhist extremists to launch attacks against the country's minority Muslims, leaving more than 200 Muslims dead over the last year. Kuala Lumpur's deputy police chief, Sr Asst Comr Datuk Amar Singh, told The Star Online that Malaysian authorities had begun to detain the Burmese nationals in order to prevent further possible violence. "We have taken steps to prevent further bloodshed by picking up more than 1,000 Myanmar workers, mainly in Sentul, Cheras, Brickfields and Dang Wangi," Amar Singh was quoted as saying, adding that illegal migrants to the country would be detained on a more permanent basis. San Win, a Burmese migrant worker in Kuala Lumpur, told The Irrawaddy that Burmese people in Malaysia had contacted the Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur seeking protection after they were attacked by a group of armed men who were believed to be Muslims. He said, however, that the Burmese people had not received adequate protection from the Burmese Embassy. He said Burmese nationals, most of whom are Buddhists, were living in fear amid Malaysia's majority-Muslim population. On Thursday, five representatives of Burmese communities in Malaysia staged a protest in front of the Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, criticizing the Burmese ambassador to Malaysia, Tin Latt, for failing to provide protection to Burmese people living abroad in Malaysia. Myat Ko Ko, an organizer of the protest, said that Malaysian authorities would launch a nationwide crackdown on Burmese nationals in the coming weeks. The protesters also called on the Burmese Embassy to identify the bodies of those killed over the last week and to aid the families of the deceased. They demanded assistance from Burma's diplomatic mission in Malaysia for those Burmese nationals hospitalized or in hiding as a result of the recent violence. Myat Ko Ko said that the crackdown and detainments increased significantly after Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Zin Yaw on Tuesday urged Malaysia's ambassador to Burma, Ahmad Faisal Bin Muhamad, to take action against those who committed the killings and to prevent further violence. Win Aung, a Burmese migrant in Kuala Lumpur, said the detentions were made over the last few days. "Malaysian police, immigration officials and paramilitary militias started special operations in the evening of Tuesday and the whole day on Wednesday," he said. "They arrested both undocumented and documented migrants." One Burmese migrant worker in Kuala Lumpur, who asked for anonymity, questioned the priorities of Malaysia's law enforcers. "They should arrest those who committed killing. Instead, they arrest all the Burmese they see," he said. It is estimated that there are more than 400,000 Burmese nationals living in Malaysia, including documented and undocumented migrant workers as well as UN-registered refugees.

Federal System Under Consideration to End Ethnic Conflicts, Minister Concedes Posted: 06 Jun 2013 02:46 AM PDT Aung San Suu Kyi at today’s World Economic Forum BBC debate in Naypyidaw (Photo: Simon Roughneen) NAYPYIDAW — Burma is considering adopting a federal system to end the conflicts with the country's numerous ethnic armed groups, a top government minister said on Thursday. Union Minister Soe Thane cited the federalist system in use in Germany, as a possible model. "We are thinking about what you have said — federalism," in response to a question posed during a debate with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, staged by the BBC at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Burma’s capital Naypyidaw. Many of Burma’s myriad ethnic minority militias and their associated political parties have long sought a federalist Burma, citing the 1947 Panglong agreement in which Burma’s independence hero General Aung San pledged to devolve power to some of the country’s larger ethnic groups. However a military coup in 1962 put paid to those aspirations, with the army believing that federalism would lead to secession by ethnic minority regions, which are some of Burma’s most resource-rich areas. "In 1962, people were afraid of federalism," said Soe Thane earlier on Thursday. In the intervening decades civil wars have sputtered on across Burma’s borderland regions, close to China, Thailand and India, though a series of tentative ceasefire agreements have been signed between the government and the armed ethnic groups, the most recent of which came about last week, in Myitkina, the regional capital of Kachin State in Burma’s north, where fighting since June 2011 has left over 100,000 people homeless. However some say that more than administrative changes are needed to bring about lasting peace in Burma. Historian and founder of the Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT) Thant Myint U said that Burma needs to build a more inclusive identity that transcends ethnic differences. "It should not just about Burmans versus ethnic minorities," he told the WEF meeting on Thursday, warning that Burma’s ethnic rivalries could undermine the current political and economic transition. "It is critical for us all to get beyond ethnic identities," he exhorted. National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under fire in recent months for her apparent reluctance to discuss ethnic conflict and sectarian abuses in Burma, particularly attacks on the Muslim Rohingya minority, the majority of whom are stateless and live in Burma’s western Arakan state. "I have not been silent, I cannot doctor my answers to please everyone," she said today. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled Burma in recent decades, while over 100,000 have been driven from their homes since mid-2012 during bouts of violence in Arakan state. There the local state administration now seeking to revive an old law limiting Rohingya, who are labeled Bengali immigrants by the Burmese government, to two children per family. Suu Kyi said recently that this amounted to discrimination, and today, she advocated that Burma’s controversial 1982 citizenship law, which curtails Rohingya’s rights, be looked at. "We must reassess the 1982 citizenship law to see if it is line with international norms," she said. During the discussion, the BBC played a recording of a recent interview with Rohingya politician Abu Tahay of the Union National Development Party, who the BBC said was denied access to the WEF meeting in Naypyidaw. Tahay pleaded with Suu Kyi to speak up on behalf of his people, who he described as oppressed. During a wide-ranging discussion covering politics, the economy, history, and ethnic relations, Soe Thane and Suu Kyi were joined on stage by former political prisoner Zin Mar Aung, while other prominent Burmese public figures spoke from the audience, including Speaker of Parliament Shwe Mann. Asked whether Burma’s military would accept a reduced political role in the future, a key opposition demand, Shwe Mann said: "That depends on the constitution." Aung San Suu Kyi today re-stated her call for the 2008 constitution to be revised—changes that if implemented in time, could enable her become President if her party wins the 2015 election. She is currently barred from the Presidency due to her sons holding British passports. "But if I pretended that I didn't want to be president I wouldn't be honest, and I would rather be honest with my people." Suu Kyi conceded.

Energy Resources to Be Used for Domestic Needs in Future: Minister Posted: 06 Jun 2013 01:10 AM PDT Deputy Energy Minister Htin Aung speaking at the World Economic Forum in Naypyidaw on Thursday morning. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) NAYPYIDAW — Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in the Burmese capital on Thursday morning, Deputy Energy Minister Htin Aung said that in future Burma will only export energy resources after domestic demand has been met. "We will not sell unless we fulfill our demand and then only if there is a surplus," the deputy minister outlined, adding that new contracts for offshore oil and gas blocks would include a provision on the need to meet domestic needs. "We will honor older contracts that do not say this," he confirmed, saying that this assurance was needed "to protect our reputation for investors." Htin Aung, who was responding to a question from The Irrawaddy, said that in the past, Burma sold energy resources to neighboring countries because domestic demand was low and because Western sanctions had left the country without access to foreign currency "If we did not do this we would have been left behind," he added. Despite lucrative multibillion dollar sales of oil and particularly gas, to Thailand, Burma remains one of Asia's poorest countries, at a similar stage of economic development to China in 1985, according to a report published last week by the McKinsey consultancy. The deputy minister was speaking at the launch of a new study on Burma's energy sector, "New Energy Architecture: Myanmar," undertaken by the WEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Accenture, a consulting firm. The report suggested options for energy reform in Burma going forward, in a sector that in the past has been blighted by allegations of graft and mismanagement. "Without electricity and a reliable energy system, Myanmar's economic progress will stall. Addressing this will require new sources of domestic energy, an expanded and modernized electricity grid, and innovative solutions for rural energy access." The report says that without energy sector reform, Burma's much-vaunted economic potential could be stymied, given that 74 percent of the country's population lacks electricity, and that factories in Rangoon often receive no more than four or five hours of power a day. Prospective investors in Burma have cited the country's limited and unreliable power supply as a deterrent. Harnessing Burma's resources to meet current and future energy needs will be difficult, however. Stephen P. Groff, vice president of the ADB, said on Thursday that it will take five years just to get the country geared up to meet current electricity needs, with only 16 percent of the rural population having grid access at present. Groff added that much of Burma's current electricity problems—such as brownouts and power shortages—could be addressed by better maintenance and repairs of the current antiquated grid. However making use of Burma's ample natural resources to generate power presents multiple challenges. While Burma has what is estimated as the world's 46th largest natural gas reserves, getting the gas out and piped is another matter. Arthur Hanna, senior managing director of the energy industry at Accenture, cautioned that "proven reserves often does not equal proven production." Administrative reform is needed too, according to the new WEF report. With seven different ministries involved in the energy sector in Burma, Groff said "better coordination across and among these ministries is needed going forward."

Kachin State Conflict Increases Human Trafficking to China: Report Posted: 05 Jun 2013 11:14 PM PDT Children eat dinner at a temporary camp on Sino-Burmese border for people displaced by fighting between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). (Photo: Reuters) The Burmese government's offensive against Kachin rebels in northern Burma has greatly increased the risk of human trafficking along the Sino-Burmese border, according to a Kachin rights advocacy group. In its new report, titled "Pushed to the Brink" and launched at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok, the Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT) said that more than 100,000 displaced Kachin refugees lack refugee protections and face shortages of humanitarian aid. Such hardships are helping to fuel the trafficking of children and women to China. Julia Marip, an advocate for the ethnic Kachin and spokeswoman for KWAT, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that in the two years since a ceasefire broke down between the government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), about 66,000 people have been displaced in KIO-controlled areas alone. With humanitarian aid to the region being withheld or blocked by Burmese authorities, refugees including children and women have been forced into labor on the Sino-Burmese border, with some even crossing into China in search of work. "Many children who should be in schools have to labor for their daily survival. They go to work in China with the help of their respective contacts. They then are cheated and trafficked into China," Marip said. She also said the government has barred an aid delivery by a Japanese charity group, the Nippon Foundation, which had planned to distribute aid to war-torn KIO-controlled regions in March of this year. The KWAT uncovered 24 cases of actual or suspected human trafficking in Kachin border areas since the resumption of hostilities between the government army and troops from the KIO's militant wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), in June 2011. Young women and girls displaced by the war constitute the highest percentage of victims. The victims were tricked, drugged, raped and sold to Chinese men or families as brides or bonded laborers for as much as 40,000 yuan (US$6,500) per person, according to the KWAT report. The report said some of the trafficked girls and women ended up as far east as Shandong and Fujian provinces. Denied refugee status in China, lacking aid in crowded camps along the border and desperate to earn an income, the displaced refugees cross the border without proper documents, making them vulnerable to traffickers. "Push tens of thousands of people to China's doorstep, deprive them of food and status, and you've created a perfect storm for human trafficking," Marip said. One day after peace talks between KIO leaders and the government peace delegation in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina last week, President's Office Minister Aung Min, who is Naypyidaw's chief peace negotiator, said internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kachin State could soon return home. After the talks, the government peace team and KIO leaders also signed a seven-point document in which both sides agreed to "undertake efforts to achieve de-escalation and cessation of hostilities" and to "continue discussions on military matters related to repositioning of troops." Despite several rounds of talks between the KIO and the government delegation, the two parties have not yet reached a ceasefire agreement. Kachin refugees remain in temporary shelters, unable or unwilling to return home. The KWAT also urged the international community to provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to displaced Kachin, and pressured the Burmese government to start making political concessions with an aim toward ending the conflict. The KWAT was also strongly critical of the US government's decision to raise Burma from its bottom-level ranking in its 2012 Trafficking in Persons report. The Burmese government's "anti-trafficking task forces" are non-operational on the Kachin State-China border, the report said.

Burma Launches $500m Tourism ‘Master Plan’ for 7.5m Tourists by 2020 Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:33 PM PDT Burma on Wednesday announced a Norway-funded US $500 million 'master plan' to boost tourism in the country, according to the Asian Development Bank. The new plan will include airport expansions in Mandalay and Naypyidaw and the building of hotels. The ADB said the proposal would help create jobs in a burgeoning tourism and service sector. The regional bank said as many as 7.5 million tourists would visit Burma annually by 2020, seven times the current amount, which could support an additional 1.4 million jobs.

India Scraps Two Huge Hydropower Projects in Burma Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:32 PM PDT India has scrapped two controversial hydropower projects in Burma following talks with Naypyidaw largely due to local opposition and environmental concerns. India had hoped to gain a foothold in the country's energy sector with the projects, which would have provided power to India's northeastern states, as well as cement bilateral diplomatic ties with its neighbor. But following years of planning, the two projects on the Chinwin River have been abandoned. "Both sides have agreed to suspend any further action on them [the dams] at present," a source told the New Indian Express on Thursday.

Cambodian Opposition Leader Rainsy Denied Entry to Thailand Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:32 PM PDT Thailand on Tuesday denied entry to controversial Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy over concerns he would engage in political campaigning in the neighboring Southeast Asian nation. Foreign Ministry spokesman Manasavi Sridasopol said on Wednesday that Sam Rainsy will not be allowed to enter the country until a general election in Cambodia is over. Sam Rainsy is living in self-imposed exile to avoid 12 years in prison from convictions widely seen as politically motivated. Thailand has denied visas to several visitors, fearing the trips could upset ties with other countries, including the Dalai Lama's sister.

India scraps two huge hydropower projects in Burma Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:32 PM PDT

Burma launches $500m tourism ‘Master Plan’ for 7.5m tourists by 2020 Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:31 PM PDT

Bangladesh strategy paper would make sheltering Rohingya a crime Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:31 PM PDT

Cambodian opposition leader Rainsy denied entry to Thailand Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:31 PM PDT

World Economic Forum Draws Decision-makers to Burma Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:23 PM PDT The World Economic Forum starts in Naypyidaw on Thursday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) NAYPYITAW — Burma prepared to show off what two years of reform-minded elected government has accomplished as it welcomed business titans and decision-makers from around the world to the Asian edition of the prestigious World Economic Forum. President Thein Sein will inaugurate the meeting on Thursday and is scheduled to share the stage with the prime ministers of Laos and Vietnam to discuss opportunities for development in Asia. Organizers boast that it is the first international conference of its size and importance to be held here, saying more than 900 participants from 50 countries are attending. While the conference has the inclusive theme of “Courageous Transformation for Inclusion and Integration,” the focus of most participants will be on host Burma, emerging from almost five decades of military rule into the challenges of transitional democracy and the potentially lucrative status of a frontier economy. “It shows that the outside world recognizes Myanmar as a country that has potential. It’s also an indicator that there will be more investments in the country,” said Nay Zin Latt, an adviser to Thein Sein. “The country earns lots of attention and interest in investing. Then, we will have more job opportunities and our economy can be improved.” Outsiders make much the same point. “For much of the 20th century, Myanmar largely missed out on the spectacular growth seen across most of the global economy and most recently in its Asian peers,” Richard Dobbs, a director of the consulting group McKinsey & Company, said last month. “It now has the potential to be one of the fastest-growing economies in emerging Asia.” McKinsey predicted in a report last month that “Myanmar could potentially quadruple the size of its economy from $45 billion in 2010 to more than $200 billion in 2030, creating 10 million non-agricultural jobs and potentially lifting 18 million out of poverty in the process.” There’s quite a long way to go, pointed out Sushant Palakurthi Rao, head of Asia for the World Economic Forum, with much improvement needed in sectors such as education, health care and job training. “The main goal is to show that the doors are open,” he said. “But challenges remain. It’s a country where still 26 percent of the population live in poverty, 37 percent are unemployed, and it’s important to use those investments now to really have rapid change and impact for a wide range of people in the country.” Another note of caution was sounded by the British development charity Oxfam, which warned recently that “without targeted policy efforts and regulation to even the playing field, the benefits of new investment will filter down to only a few, leaving small-scale farmers — the backbone of the Burma economy — unable to benefit from this growth.” It urged Burma’s leaders to “address power inequalities in the markets, put small-scale farmers at the center of new agricultural investments, and close loopholes in law and practice that leave the poorest open to land-rights abuses.” Human rights concerns are another potentially destabilizing holdover from the old military regime. The government has so far failed to reach a comprehensive peace with its fractious ethnic minorities who have sought more autonomy for decades, and has been fighting a bloody war against the Kachin minority in the north for the past two years. It has also seen the rise of vicious sectarian violence directed at the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority in western Arakan State, with hundreds of people killed and about 140,000 made homeless in civil strife last year. Deadly anti-Muslim violence spread to other parts of the country this year, damaging the government’s credibility. Salil Shetty, secretary general of the human rights group Amnesty International, who is attending the forum, said the government should make it a priority “to put an end to all forms of discrimination. People need to feel as equal citizens of this country whether they are from one ethnic group, one religion or the other.”

Four Dead As Burma Violence Spills Into Malaysia-Police Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:13 PM PDT Burma Muslims living in Malaysia show placards during a demonstration against the killings of Muslims in Meikhtila, in Kuala Lumpur on March 25, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) KUALA LUMPUR — Ethnic violence in Burma between Muslims and Buddhists appears to have spilled over into Malaysia, police said on Wednesday, with four killings in recent days suspected to be linked to the religious tension. All the victims, including a man slashed to death by machete-wielding attackers at a car wash in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, this week, were Buddhists from Burma, said the city’s deputy police chief Amar Sing Ishar Singh. “We have a feedback that this may be Myanmar Buddhists and Muslims having a spillover here in Kuala Lumpur,” he told Reuters. “In Myanmar, the Muslims are the victims, over here the Buddhists are the victims.” Singh said the police had set up a special task force to deal with the violence in Kuala Lumpur and had arrested about 60 Burma immigrants this week in an attempt to control tensions. Malaysia’s Bernama state news agency said the 20-year-old victim was sleeping at the car wash when he was attacked by 10 people. It quoted police as saying a man and a woman also suffered injuries in the attack. Police did not give details of the other attacks. Anti-Muslim violence in Buddhist-dominated Burma erupted in western Arakan State last year and has spread into the central heartlands and areas near the old capital, Rangoon, this year. Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled from the country to escape the violence and worsening living conditions, many of them making their way by boat or overland to Muslim-majority Malaysia. Malaysia has allowed them to stay but without giving them legal status, meaning that most struggle to find work or access to hospitals and schools. The total number of Burma immigrants in Malaysia is estimated at about 400,000. The UN refugee agency says about 23,000 Rohingyas are registered as refugees in Malaysia, but groups representing them say the real number of Muslim immigrants is much higher and has surged this year because of the violence. In April, Muslim and Buddhist refugees from Burma clashed at a refugee camp in Indonesia in a riot in which eight people were killed and 15 were wounded, media reported.

Bangladesh Strategy Paper Would Make Sheltering Rohingya a Crime Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:33 PM PDT A recently published Bangladeshi government strategy paper would make it a crime to shelter Rohingya if they are not legally residing in the country, Kaladan Press reported on Wednesday. Other recommendations in the paper include restrictions on NGOs working with the Rohingya, stricter border controls including the erection of a border fence and the replacement of international aid organizations with local non-governmental organizations. The paper also included a census of Rohingya living in Bangladesh before an eventual repatriation campaign. It's estimated 300,000 Rohingya have fled Burma for its Muslim-majority neighbor since violence broke out in Arakan State last year.

124 Chinese Arrested in Ghana for Illegal Gold Mining Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:52 PM PDT China’s President Xi Jinping (C) inspects the honor guard during a working visit to South Africa, in Pretoria March 26, 2013. Xi visited several African nations during one of his first trips abroad as China's new leader. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — Police in Ghana have detained 124 Chinese workers suspected of illegally mining gold in the resource-rich West African country, the Chinese Embassy said. Authorities conducted raids in areas near mines where Chinese live, including at a hotel in Ghana’s central region of Ashanti over the weekend, and by Wednesday had detained 124, the Chinese Embassy in Accra said on its website. Chinese diplomats were negotiating with Ghana over the detainees, who were being held at an immigration detention center in Accra, the capital, the embassy said. The detentions pose a delicate diplomatic problem for China. On the international stage, it needs to show that Chinese interests and activities overseas are lawful and socially and environmentally responsible, while domestically it must be seen as capable of maintaining the security and rights of its citizens abroad. China’s voracious demand for natural resources to fuel its rapidly-growing economy has helped expand its presence in resource-rich Africa. But the detentions in Ghana are a reminder of the challenges of venturing abroad. The incident has grabbed headlines in Chinese media, with several newspapers and websites reporting that Chinese workers are hiding in the jungles from the Ghanaian military police and Ghanaian troops were instigating villagers to loot the Chinese residents. Beijing has tried to counter the reports with reassurances that officials are doing all they can to help the Chinese workers. “We have cautioned all the Chinese people in Ghana to strictly abide by the related laws and regulations and never to be misled by the unauthorized information in Internet,” the Chinese Embassy in Ghana’s spokesman Yu Jie was quoted as saying in a report by the official Xinhua News Agency. Xinhua also cited a Ghanaian immigration official as saying that some of the Chinese detainees were also found to have been overstaying. Ghana is one of the continent’s largest gold exporters and authorities there have tried to crack down on illegal mining. Reports of Chinese workers being caught by Ghanaian authorities on suspicion of such activities have surfaced in recent years — in October last year, one Chinese national died during a raid on illegal gold mines in the Ashanti region. The embassy says Ghana has said it would temporarily suspend its crackdown on illegal mining and allow Chinese workers to return home if they wish.

After Bangladesh, Pressure Also Grows on Garment Makers in Cambodia Posted: 05 Jun 2013 10:37 PM PDT Thousands of Cambodian workers protested and some clashed with police at Sabrina Garment Manufacturing in Kampong Speu province, west of the capital Phnom Penh on June 3, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Pring Samrang) PHNOM PENH — As investment in Cambodia’s textile industry surges, so is labor unrest, putting pressure on suppliers to the world’s big garment brands to raise wages and improve sometimes grim conditions in one of the last bastions of low-cost factories. Hundreds of angry workers rampaged this week through a textile plant in Cambodia that supplies U.S. sportswear company Nike Inc, clashing with police over their demands for a pay hike. The violence came just weeks after over 1,100 workers were killed in the collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh, another impoverished Asian nation where mass-produced textiles are the biggest export earner. Cambodia is considered one of the better locations in the world for low-cost garment manufacturing with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) monitoring pay and working conditions at many factories. But strikes and sometimes violent protests have been on the rise as unions emboldened by a shortage of skilled workers press complaints that companies have failed to raise wages enough or improve safety. Strikes by the country’s more than 300,000 garment workers nearly quadrupled last year to 134, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, the main industry body. The 48 strikes so far this year are already more than in the whole of 2010 or 2011. “Supply of skilled workers is a problem,” said Kaing Monika, a business development manager at the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), the main industry body. “Most existing factories are running at full capacity.” Nike was the latest big brand to face protest action at its Cambodia-based suppliers in recent months, joining H&M Hennes and Mauritz AB, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Gap Inc, and Puma SE among others. The international brands buy garments from local manufacturers and do not have direct control over pay or working conditions. But the major companies have signed to the ILO scheme aimed at ensuring suppliers meet legal requirements on wages and work conditions. The garments industry has become by far the country’s biggest export earner, with shipments up 10 percent in 2012 to $4.44 billion. ELECTION YEAR Until this year, the minimum wage in the textile sector was $61 a month, compared to $38 in Bangladesh and more than $150 in China. The government raised it in March to $80, including a health care subsidy, but strikers at the Nike factory and other workers complain that wage rises have not kept up with costs. “Life is hard, we have a lot of expenses with a low wage. Sometimes, we just borrow money from other workers,” said 28-year-old Mao Pov, one of those on strike at the Sabrina Garment Manufacturing plant that supplies Nike as well as privately held Wilson Sporting Goods Co. Inflation in Cambodia was 3 percent in 2012, which is low for developing nations in Asia, although many workers complain the price of basic items has risen faster. Sweden’s H&M, the world’s second-largest fashion retailer, said a general election scheduled to be held in July had caused some instability among workers at plants run by its Cambodian suppliers. “This being an election year, the situation in the country was generally more disorderly than usual during early spring,” said spokeswoman Andrea Roos. After minimum wages were increased, “the situation on the labor market in Cambodia has been more stable”, she said. Workers at the Nike-linked plant first went on strike on May 21 even though the factory had raised their minimum wage. The union on strike says that the health and other benefits that were previously paid separately were folded into the new wage, and is demanding another $14 hike. A spokeswoman for Nike told Reuters last week that compensation at the Cambodian plant was the responsibility of the factory, but that Nike was in “close contact” with the factory and would “continue to monitor the situation”. The Southeast Asian nation’s textile industry has often been touted as a model for fair production because of the ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program that has monitored factories there for more than a decade. But union leaders and activists say the program has masked a deterioration in workers’ rights as factory owners have taken advantage of the BFC’s lack of enforcement powers and responded to pressure from buyers for ever lower prices. Factories regularly violate union rights and exceed legal limits on overtime work, a report by Stanford Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic released in February found. The BFC found evidence of sharply worsening fire safety standards at factories in its most recent report this year. In May, two workers were killed at a factory making running shoes for Asics Corp when part of a warehouse fell in on them at a company that was not part of the ILO program. Thousands of workers have been taken sick in mass fainting incidents in recent years — including at the Sabrina factory — a phenomenon that has been blamed on a combination of poor nutrition, long working hours and poor ventilation. “The brands cannot hide behind the ILO,” said David Welsh, country director at Solidarity Center in Phnom Penh, which advocates for worker rights. “If the brands are not pressuring factories to improve, they are not going to improve because everybody is out to make as much money in the industry as they possibly can.”

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