Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Spraying His Way to Fame and Notoriety

Posted: 19 Jul 2013 09:25 PM PDT

Graffiti artist Arker Kyaw is facing charges for defacing public property. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

At first glance, there's nothing remarkable about Arker Kyaw. But put a can of spray paint in his hand, and the lanky 20-year-old becomes an artistic rebel with a cause. Already famous for the mural of US President Barack Obama that he painted during the American leader's historic visit in November 2012, he has more recently earned notoriety for similarly honoring Myanmar's President U Thein Sein to mark his birthday in April.

Now the artist known as "Night" is facing charges for defacing public property. He recently spoke with Irrawaddy reporter Kyaw Phyo Tha about his brush with fame—and with the law.

Question: Tell me about the charges against you for painting the graffiti of U Thein Sein.

Answer: I was summoned to the township municipal office for my mural of the president and the Myanmar flag nearly a month after I sprayed it. I learned that I was being prosecuted because I had vandalized a public place with my painting and, they said, my action was against a municipal law that bans spray-painting in public places that came into effect last December. I was fined 100,000 kyat.

Q: Why did you paint it?

A: It was just a birthday present for our president. I wanted other people to be aware that April 20 is our president's birthday. The location I chose was a good one to attract public attention because it's a busy place. I had no hidden agenda. I simply thought people should know the birthday of the man who has let us see some change under his leadership.

Q: Weren't you aware of the municipal ban on graffiti?

A: Of course I knew about it. Yes, I felt a bit guilty about breaking the law, but at the same time, it was kind of exciting. Actually, I spray-painted a portrait of the president last year, but it was white-washed within a few hours. We posted [a photo of] it on Facebook before his birthday, and it attracted a lot of "likes" and "shares" and positive comments. So maybe that warm reception made me think I could get away with my act of defiance. But please don't get the idea that I worship U Thein Sein. We are still watching him.

Q: Why did you paint a portrait of US President Barack Obama?

A: His visit was historic. I spray-painted his portrait to show my respect for him and to let him know that he was warmly welcomed. Actually, I had to do it three times, because some people kept trying to destroy it.

Q: Why did you choose to paint pictures of famous people? Was it just a publicity stunt?

A: Some people think so, but for me, it was an artistic decision.

Q: Why do you like to paint graffiti?

A: When I was in high school, I was fascinated by graffiti illustrations on international music album covers. So I looked for more on the Internet and learned how to do it myself. But I like all kinds of painting. For me, there's no special difference between using a brush on paper or canvas and using spray paint. Which medium I use just depends on my feeling.

Q: Some people consider graffiti to be an eyesore, or just a form of vandalism. What do you think?

A: I think if you carelessly paint on someone's wall, you're just going to make them mad. But if you make it look great, they might feel their property was vandalized, but they might also think, "Wow, that's cool!"

Q: What difficulties do graffiti artists face now?

A: We have lost our canvas because of the government's restrictions on graffiti. But they are just doing their job, and we have to do ours. We have to find ways to keep our art alive.

Q: Do you think graffiti is now getting a warm reception in Myanmar?

A: I don't know about the general public, but even people as old as my uncle and grandpa have been encouraging. "That's it, boy, keep it up!" they say. Their remarks make me really happy.

This story first appeared in the July 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

India Marginalized in Myanmar

Posted: 19 Jul 2013 09:17 PM PDT

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, talks with President U Thein Sein during a meeting in Naypyitaw in May 2012. Despite its proximity and far larger size, India wields relatively little influence in Myanmar. (Photo: Reuters)

India has not gained much from Myanmar's transition from military rule to a fledgling democracy. When Myanmar was ruled by a military junta and shunned by the West, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) were seen as alternatives to Chinese influence. But as Myanmar opens up to the outside world after decades of isolation, it is turning more to the West, especially the United States, to balance China's growing influence, and not to India. Increasingly, Delhi is seen as a defensive power, unwilling and incapable of contesting Chinese influence in Myanmar, and not central to what has been described as the emerging "Great Game East."

The West has long seen India, Asean and Japan as playing a key role in mitigating China's growing stranglehold on Myanmar, a nation located at the strategic crossroads of South and Southeast Asia. In the past, US officials praised Myanmar's more democratic neighbors for their "constructive engagement" with the former ruling junta, which helped to limit Chinese influence. Even now, many countries, including Japan, Australia and the Asean member states, would like to see India do more to offset China's still dominant position in Myanmar.

But far from boosting its presence in its newly democratizing neighbor, India has withdrawn into a shell. It hasn't even pushed Myanmar to do more to help with its security concerns along their shared border. It is happy with whatever little Myanmar has done to contain the insurgents from India's remote northeastern states who enjoy sanctuary in Sagaing Region, where Manipuri rebel groups are still active, and Naga and Assamese hardline factions still have bases which have yet to face any military action.

India is also doing little to stop the smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Myanmar. And, apart from completing the Tamu-Kalemyo highway—the only project India has been able to deliver on time in Myanmar—it has largely failed to implement its "Look East" policy in any meaningful, concrete way.

The Kaladan multimodal project, centering on the modernization of Sittwe Port in Rakhine State, has made only slow progress, and is, in any case, designed more to ensure access between India's mainland and its remote northeast, rather than increase India influence in Myanmar.

India's ambitious Delhi-Hanoi railway corridor through Myanmar seems an even more elusive goal, as there is still no funding available to build a rail link through the border state of Manipur to the Myanmar frontier. And Delhi continues to hesitate over reopening the WWII-vintage Stillwell Road, as it tries to decide whether the move would create more problems than benefits for India.

While Myanmar's government has sought Indian expertise in certain areas such as software development, telecoms and services, it is less interested in what India may have to offer in key economic areas such as mining, heavy industries or infrastructure building. Nor does Myanmar's army look to India as an alternative to China as a source of military hardware: Now that relations with the West are on the mend, the Tatmadaw can anticipate eventually having access to the world's most advanced military technology. Development megaprojects are also beyond India's means—for these, Myanmar is more likely to seek partners in Japan or Asean.

In terms of soft power, however, India can more than hold its own, even against China. As the saying goes, Myanmars goes to China for arms and India for salvation. As the land of the Buddha, India has a special place in the hearts of Myanmar's Buddhist faithful. Unfortunately, however, Delhi is woefully lacking in ideas on how it can effectively wield its soft power. Apart from plans to send some Buddhist relics to Myanmar, India has made no real effort to step up its cultural diplomacy as a means of forging stronger ties.

India's private sector is also not rising to the occasion as Myanmar opens its markets to the world. There are areas where it would not face much competition, such as media, human resource development, education, healthcare, infotech, entertainment, and tourism and hotels. In all these areas, India could provide cost-effective and efficient alternatives to what's on offer from the rest of the world. For instance, an experienced Indian media trainer would be far less expensive and much more effective than one from the West, Japan or an Asean country.

In this and other areas, however, India's business community has shown much initiative. Some Indian companies are getting into hotels, but not much else. Despite the huge following that Bollywood soap operas enjoy in Myanmar, India's movie moguls have not demonstrated much interest in tapping into this market. And this is not merely a commercial loss: Media and entertainment are force-multipliers in winning hearts and minds.

For India's political elite, Myanmar is valued chiefly for its strategic location vis-à-vis China. Efforts to strengthen India's position in this three-way relationship have, however, been flawed. Over the last two decades, India moved away from its total support for Myanmar's democracy movement and cultivated ties with the Tatmadaw in a game of catch-up with China. In the process, it has lost credibility with the democracy movement, including Aung Sang Suu Kyi, and did not gain much from the Tatmadaw, either. As they say in Bengali, India lost the mango and also the sack. Now both the generals and the pro-democracy movement look to the West, and not India, as an option against China.

Myanmar is India's only land bridge to Southeast Asia. Unless it can engage Myanmar decisively, the "Look East" thrust of Indian foreign policy will become little more than a cliché. As the world's most populous democracy, India could do much more to help Myanmar in its democratic transition—more than just helping to run election commissions and giving advice on parliamentary practices.

What India could share most is its own rich experience in handling ethnic minorities in its northeastern region, something that would help Myanmar enormously. India's failures and success in the Northeast—the challenges it has faced in dealing with insurgents and the strategies it has adopted to engage them in dialogue and finally co-opt many of them—might be more relevant for Myanmar's new democratic leadership.

The ethnic minority problem figured at the top of the Indo-Myanmar post-colonial interaction, as India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru invited Myanmar's first prime minister U Nu to a tour of the troubled Naga Hills. India also helped the U Nu government materially and morally to manage the first wave of ethnic insurrection after Myanmar's independence.

At the time, Delhi's influence was unmistakable, as U Nu looked to India as a role model during Myanmar's first experiment with democracy. It was seen as Myanmar's most helpful friend in the regional neighborhood, more acceptable than the colonial West. China, meanwhile, was regarded as both a problem and a hostile nation, after defeated Kuomintang troops moved into Shan State and Mao's regime started strongly backing the Communist Party of Burma.

After General Ne Win seized power in 1962, however, Indian influence suffered as the generals saw India as the natural inspiration for the country's pro-democratic forces. Ne Win's expulsion of thousands of people of Indian origin strained relations with Delhi even as the general sought to make it up by sending his troops to fight the China-bound Naga and Mizo rebels. After India's victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan (which somewhat restored the country's pride after its humiliating defeat by China in 1962), the Myanmar junta started taking Prime Minister Indira Gandhi much more seriously. Relations suffered again under her son Rajiv Gandhi, however, due to his support for the 1988 democracy movement. At the same time, the generals continued to see India as a major regional player whose support for the democracy movement could be a game changer.

But when, in the early 1990s, India changed course in a desperate effort to match China's surging influence, Myanmar's ruling generals knew they no longer needed to worry about India. They accepted Delhi's overtures not so much to counterbalance China as to ensure that India did not go out of its way to back the pro-democracy movement or the ethnic minorities—some of which, like the Kachin Independence Organization, had , albeit briefly, India's covert support in the 1980s.

In the end, India never gained much influence with the military junta, but lost its credibility with the pro-democracy movement. Now, as Myanmar moves towards democracy and attempts to balance the all-pervasive Chinese influence, it looks more to the West, and less to India.

Subir Bhaumik is a former BBC correspondent and author of "Insurgent Crossfire" and "Troubled Periphery." This story first appeared in the July 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

An Oasis—of Sorts—on the Outskirts of Yangon

Posted: 19 Jul 2013 09:08 PM PDT

A visitor tosses bread to bears at Hlawga National Park. (Photo: Sean Havey / The Irrawaddy)

Hlawga National Park, located in Mingaladon Township (better known as the home of Yangon International Airport), is Yangon's answer to all those who seek a quiet place to get away from the hustle and bustle of a modern metropolis in the making.

Even on the map, this 1,540-acre (623-hectare) green space situated at the northern extremity of Yangon looks inviting. It encompasses the catchment area of Hlawga Lake—for more than a century one of Yangon's main water supplies—and preserves the natural habitat of nearly 200 indigenous animal species, including 145 distinct species of birds.

Actually getting there, however, is no easy task. Although it is just 22 miles (35 km) from downtown Yangon, transport options are limited. The cheapest is a local bus—for just 300 kyat, you can catch the 124 bus on Anawrahta Road (a short walk north of Sule Pagoda) to within a few kilometers of the entrance to the park, and then, for an additional 1,500 kyat or so, take a motorcycle taxi the rest of the way.

The downside of this is that it will take the better part of two hours to get to your destination. Those with less time and more money to spare can hire a taxi for the day for around 40-50,000 kyat. While this might be a bit pricy for some, you can't beat it for convenience.

Once there, the entrance fee is a very reasonable 800 kyat, to which you can add another 500 kyat if you opt to hop on a "buggy" that departs every hour on the hour, and does a 30-minute circuit around Hlawga Lake. (Those who come by taxi can get around inside the park that way, since vehicles are also allowed to enter.)

Before deciding how you want to take in the spacious park, however, you might want to visit the six golden sun bears housed in an open enclosure near the entrance (which is clearly marked by four gigantic concrete elephant tusks).

Unlike most zoos, the one at the Hlawga National Park does not have a strict "Do Not Feed" policy, at least for the bears. For 1,000 kyat, visitors can buy a half-loaf of white bread to feed the overweight bears and a can of soda for them to wash it down with.

If this is not exactly your idea of getting closer to nature, don't worry—there's no shortage of other wildlife around. The most abundant are the packs of rhesus monkeys that roam the place, but there are also several varieties of deer and more exotic creatures such as pangolins and pythons. And for bird-watchers, you could hardly ask for a better place to spend the day.

But be warned: Mosquitos also thrive in this lush, jungle-like environment, so be sure to bring some bug spray.

Being so close to the city, Hlawga is a popular getaway for Yangon residents, especially on weekends. One such visitor, Raymond Simon, said he began visiting the park with his parents when he was 10.

"This place is good because we can see all kinds of plant species and animals—especially a lot of monkeys," he said.

Some, however, are not so easily impressed. Kyaw Swar, who lives in Mingaladon Township, said that on the two occasions he's visited, monkeys are about all he's seen, apart from the rather sad-looking elephants that appear on weekends for rides and snapshots. He said the only reason he comes is because his daughter likes the elephants.

But such naysayers are in the minority, as the park continues to attract visitors, if only because it gives them a break from the constant din of city life.

"It's really fun for us here. Yangon is really noisy, but here it's a very nice, quiet place," said Su Nandar Hlaing, a university student visiting the park with friends.

So whether it's just a leafy oasis that you seek, or a chance to catch a glimpse of an elusive jungle beast, Hlawga National Park is worth a visit for residents and tourists alike.

This story first appeared in the July 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

Burma Business Roundup (July 20)

Posted: 19 Jul 2013 07:01 PM PDT

Naypidaw in US$100 Million China Deal to Build Train Factories

China and Burma have signed a US$100 million agreement to jointly build railway rolling stock.

Ninety percent of the money will be covered by loans from Chinese state banks to finance construction of at least two factories to build diesel locomotives and passenger carriages, said the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Technical expertise will be provided by the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), the Chinese partner in the deal with Burma's Ministry of Rail Transportation.

Burma's railways and rolling stock are dilapidated from years of neglect.

This agreement comes just a few weeks after Japan financed and carried out a feasibility study on modernizing the more than 600 kilometres railway route between Rangoon and Mandalay. At the time Burma's deputy minister of railways, Thura Thaung Lwin, said Japanese companies would be awarded the modernization contract.

Some media reports have said factories under the Chinese loans deal will be built in Mandalay and Naypidaw.

Beijing has previously signed an agreement with the Naypidaw government to build a freight railway route from the China's Yunnan Province through Burma to the Bay of Bengal coast at Kyaukphyu, Arakan State.

South Korea Exhibits its Manufacturing Skills in Trade Show

South Korea is to make another big push to promote its manufacturing businesses in Burma.

A four-day exposition of Korean companies and their products and services will be held in Burma between July 26 and July 29. Exhibitors will include electronics equipment manufacturers, cosmetics, furniture, textiles and home ware.

However, the Korea Expo 2013 will not be held in Burma's main commercial city Rangoon. Instead, it will take place in the capital Naypidaw.

This was one of the agreements made when Seoul's Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok visited Burma in June at the head of South Korea's first major trade delegation.

Korean industrial firms are bidding to win contracts to help develop the new Rangoon airport at Hanthawaddy. They include the managers of Seoul's Incheon International Airport Corporation.

South Korea made a late start in showing interest in Burma since the political and economic rejuvenation over two years ago and ranks way behind China, Thailand, Japan and Singapore in investment.

However, government figures reveal that trade between Burma and South Korea in 2012 grew to a value of US$573 million.

'Serious Gaps' in Rules for US Business in Burma: NGO

There are "serious gaps" in the rules established by the US government that require American companies to comply with when doing business in Burma, a human rights group said.

Even though Washington lifted economic sanctions, US firms must report their business activities in Burma to the US State Department in order to try to ensure transparency and the avoidance of still-sanctioned individual Burmese businesspeople.

The first US companies this month published their Burma investments, including business activities in oil and gas extraction. More are expected to reveal their activities later in the year.

"The first reports demonstrate both the usefulness of these reports, as well as some of the weaknesses in the US requirements," said Jonathan Kaufman, Legal Advocacy Coordinator with Earth Rights International (ERI), a US-based human rights NGO.

"However, serious gaps remain in the rules. Even Hercules Offshore – which provided the most detailed report – is not disclosing the names of its Myanmar suppliers and subcontractors," ERI said in a statement. "This makes it difficult for civil society groups to monitor its investments for the serious human rights, environmental, or other abuses the rules are designed to prevent."

Hercules Offshore Inc has worked with Thailand's gas explorer PTTEP which has links with Burma's controversial state-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).

Muse in Shan State Tops Cross-Border Trade as China Takes Lead

Burma's land cross-border trade totalled US$894 million in value in the April-June quarter, according to the latest government figures. Two thirds of the trade was with China.

Border trade is climbing as the number of permitted crossings increases – now 15 with China, Thailand, India and Bangladesh.

The biggest two-way trade in the quarter was with China via Burma's border town of Muse in Shan State, logging more than $600 million, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Overall trade was split almost 50-50 between exports and imports.

The biggest single Burmese export commodity group in the quarter was agricultural produce.

Imports were mostly raw material and finished factory products.

ASEAN Pushes for 'Creative' Tourism in Burma to Protect Culture

Burma is to be included in "creative" multi-country tourism packages to be promoted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) linked to protection of cultures and the environment.

"Our new focus is on experiential and creative tourism that respects environment and culture," said the director general of Burma's Ministry of Hotels and Tourism Myanmar, Aung Zaw Win.

He is also chairman of the ASEAN Tourism Product Development Working Group.

"Today's travellers are more sophisticated and interested in experiences with immersion in local ways of life," Aung Zaw Win said.

He made no mention of the fact that Burma still does not permit visitors from ASEAN other nine member countries to travel to the country without first obtaining a visa. ASEAN is pushing for visa-free travel within the bloc by 2015 when it also becomes an integrated economic area, and aims to permit free movement of labor.

A study in June by Norway and the Asian Development Bank forecast that Burma could be attracting 7 million tourist visits a year by 2020.
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