Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Survivors From Burmese Penal Colony Say Real Reform Has Yet to Begin

Posted: 31 Jul 2013 08:33 AM PDT

Win Tin, a co-founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a former political prisoner, speaks at a ceremony on Wednesday in Rangoon to honor a group of political prisoners who died during a hunger strike at the now-shuttered Great Coco Island detention facility. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON—Former political prisoners who survived detention on Great Coco Island, a notorious penal colony off Burma's mainland, have criticized the country's reform efforts, saying the Burmese people have yet to see real change under a government that remains largely controlled by the military.

At a ceremony in Rangoon on Wednesday to honor prisoners who died inside the island's now-shuttered detention center, Hla Nyo, a former prisoner, condemned the administration of President Thein Sein, who served as prime minister under the previous military junta.

"President Thein Sein said his government brought democracy to our country, but there are people whose land has since been confiscated," the former prisoner said, 42 years after the penal colony was closed down following a series of hunger strikes to protest harsh conditions there. Inmates were then sent to Rangoon's Insein Prison.

At least 100 people came to the ceremony on Wednesday to honor their comrades who died during the hunger strikes.

Win Tin, a co-founder of Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), also attended. "As long as there is a military system running the country, a system of torture for political prisoners will remain," said the NLD leader who was imprisoned under the former regime at Insein Prison and has several close friends who were held at Great Coco Island.

"Our current government is from the military, and the country still has a military system," he said. "We need to fight to end the military system."

Burma was ruled by military dictators for nearly half a century, until the generals handed power to Thein Sein and a quasi-civilian government in 2011. Thein Sein is himself a former general, and 25 percent of seats in Parliament are reserved for the military.

Win Tin spent 20 years in jail as a political prisoner until his release in 2008. Today the 83-year-old continues to wear the blue shirt issued to all inmates, in an act of solidary with those who remain behind bars.

"I wrote a book about how I and other political prisoners were tortured in prison," he said. "I kept wearing my clothes from prison because I wanted to show how much I hated it."

Kyaw Ko Ko, a leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, an activist group, said at the ceremony that Burma's government only wore a mask of democracy.

"There were democracy activists who told us that it was time to shake hands with the government to solve political problems," he said. "They took the wrong direction for our democracy movement, because now we find the military still runs the government. They betrayed our democracy movement."

Former political prisoners from Great Coco Island have hosted smaller ceremonies annually. "But we did it quietly, with only a few people," said Hla Nyo of past ceremonies. "I feel great to see that today more people have joined."

U Cho, another former prisoner, said inmates undertook three hunger strikes in a bid to convince the former military regime to send them back to the mainland. "We used our body as a weapon," he said. "We were fighting for our right to freedom."

He said prison authorities burned the bodies of inmates who died during the first hunger strike.

"We knew at the time that we could die from hunger on the island. But we also understood very clearly that Ne Win's regime would have no power if people in the country did not support it or if ethnic people continued fighting," he said.

More than 230 prisoners were detained at Great Coco Island, which was established as a penal colony in 1959 by Ne Win, who at the time was running Burma through an interim military administration. After he became dictator in a 1962 coup, political prisoners were sent to the detention center with life sentences for opposing his socialist regime.

Due to worsening food and living conditions, political prisoners on the island conducted three known hunger strikes. The first hunger strike was in 1969 and ended after seven days when prison authorities gave in to the prisoners' demands.

In the following two years, a 40-day strike and a 53-day strike occurred. After eight protesting prisoners died in the third protest, prison authorities closed the penal colony in December 1971.

14 Muslim Rohingya from Burma on Trial for Brawl in Indonesia

Posted: 31 Jul 2013 08:20 AM PDT

Eight Buddhists were killed after a brawl between Buddhist and Muslim asylum-seekers from Burma at a detention center in Indonesia. (Photo: Reuters / Roni Bintang)

MEDAN, Indonesia — A group of 14 Muslim asylum seekers from Burma went on trial Wednesday after a deadly brawl at an Indonesian detention center left eight Buddhist fishermen from their country dead.

The violence occurred April 5 in North Sumatra province, where more than 100 ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers—most intercepted off Indonesia's coast after fleeing Burma in rickety boats—and 11 Buddhists from Burma accused of illegal fishing were being housed together.

Eight Buddhists were killed, and 15 Muslim Rohingya were injured. Three other Buddhists escaped unharmed.

The Rohingya men are being tried at the Medan district court in North Sumatra province. Prosecutors charged them with collective assault and torturing, which carry a maximum sentence of 12 years.

Police and the detention chief say the clash began after a Rohingya Muslim cleric and a fisherman got into a heated debate about religious violence that had erupted a few weeks earlier in central Burma.

However, prosecutors told the court that the Rohingya were angered when a female asylum seeker was sexually harassed by the fishermen.

Early this month the same court acquitted three Rohingya teenagers due to a lack of evidence of involvement in the violence.

Boatloads of Rohingya have been arriving on Indonesia's shores following a wave of religious violence in Burma, where they are considered illegal settlers from neighboring Bangladesh. Hundreds have been killed and more than 100,000 left homeless in clashes between Rohingya and ethnic Arakan Buddhists.

The tensions have tested Burma's reformist government as it attempts to institute political and economic liberalization after nearly half a century of harsh military rule.

House Speaker Urged to Return Aung San Book

Posted: 31 Jul 2013 05:12 AM PDT

The Pali lesson notebook of the late Gen Aung San. (Photo: Ko Wai Lwin / Facebook)

Residents of Yaynanchaung in Magwe Division are urging the speaker of Parliament's Upper House to return a book owned by the late Gen Aung San, which the lawmaker reportedly took from a school in the central Burma town.

According to locals, the book contains handwritten Pali language lesson notes from Aung San, who once studied at No. 1 State High School in Yaynanchaung.

"We would like to urge U Khin Aung Myint to return the book by August 10. If not, we will protest and show our disapproval," said Myint Ngwe, secretary of a committee formed to bring back the text.

Myint Ngwe told The Irrawaddy that the committee had been collecting signatures since July 25, in cooperation with civil society groups and local politicians. They will submit the petition to the Upper House, President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We want the book back, to be kept only where it belongs, which is at this school," Myint Ngwe said. "Since the book is originally owned by the school and kept at the school, the town would like to take it back and own this precious heritage as our own."

The well-known Buddhist monk Ashin Sadadika, who once studied at the school, also condemned the parliamentary leader's actions, and said he would boycott travel to the town.

"I will not go to Yaynanchaung until the book reaches its original place. I'd like to urge the responsible person to return the book to where it belongs," he said in a speech that has spread through the online social network Facebook.

The book was being kept at the school library in Yaynanchaung but was taken by Upper House Speaker Khin Aung Myint during a visit the politician made to the school on July 19—Martyrs' Day, which commemorates the assassination of Aung San on July 19, 1947.

Word of the book's removal first broke when state media reported that the school's headmistress had willingly handed it over to the Upper House speaker.

Khin Aung Myint reportedly told local media last week that the book was taken to preserve it and determine whether the notes are the authentic handwriting of Aung San.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, reportedly gave Khin Aung Myint the benefit of the doubt regarding his commandeering of the book, but also said she understood Yaynanchaung residents' anger.

"I think there are misunderstandings in this matter," local news journal The Voice quoted Suu Kyi as saying after a parliamentary session in Naypyidaw on Wednesday.

"I'm afraid the book may be ruined because I noticed there is already some damage. We don't yet know where to keep the book. I understand the feeling of residents of the town and the aim of Khin Aung Myint as well. There is a solution that is best for everyone," she added, without elaborating on what that solution might be.

According to local residents, the book was donated to the school by the writer U Ba Phay in 1962 and the school has kept the historical document in its library for more than 50 years.

Rebel ABSDF to Work Toward Ceasefire with Govt

Posted: 31 Jul 2013 01:42 AM PDT

A negotiating team from the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, front row, at a meeting with the Myanmar Peace Center's technical team, back row, on July 12, 2013, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Photo: ABSDF)

The "outlawed" student army known as the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) will focus on achieving a ceasefire agreement with Naypyidaw in its third round of talks with the government peace team over the weekend.

The ABSDF issued a statement on Tuesday saying the delegation, led by its chairman Than Khe, will meet with chief peace negotiator Aung Min, who is a minister from the President's Office and head of the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), in Pa-an on Sunday.

The rebel group will take a seat at the political negotiating table as Burma's various ethnic and political factions work toward national reconciliation and internal peace, said Myo Win, vice-chairman of the ABSDF. "Meanwhile, as we are an armed group, the ceasefire issue will be included, as it is the key to a political solution."

Though planning to meet in the Karen State capital, the venue could change due to recent heavy rains and flooding across the state that has displaced thousands of residents.

"The venue could be in Rangoon. We are renegotiating for the venue because of the floods in Pa-an," said Myo Win.

"Our focus is to put current political problems onto the political negotiating table. Without a ceasefire, the political problem cannot be solved. Political dialogue will be presented there by both sides."

Formed in November 1988 after student activists fled to border areas to fight against Burma's military regime, the ABSDF began communicating with peace teams from President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government in January of last year. Its members are based in the northern, western and southern border areas of Burma, and the ABSDF has forged alliances with the ethnic Kachin in the country's north, and the Karen in the southeast.

The ABSDF would stand by its demands in talks with the government, Myo Win said, adding that "it is important to free all the political prisoners to have all-inclusive involvement in the peace process and in the current political changes. We will also work with others to amend the 2008 Constitution for the betterment of the ethnic groups in terms of equality and autonomy for them."

The ABSDF's peace delegation will join the '88 Silver Jubilee on Aug. 8 to commemorate 25 years since Burma's mass popular uprising in 1988.

"Our members will join the ceremonies in Rangoon, Mandalay, Moulmein, Taunggyi and Pathein [Irrawaddy Division] and share our opinions and the organization's activities," said Myo Win. The 35-member delegation will also meet with politicians, civil society leaders and activists to share their thoughts and take suggestions.

Myo Win said the group wished to meet democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, currently a parliamentarian and opposition leader, to share their opinions with her as well as hear her advice. "We have had a desire to meet her for a long time," he said.

The group has been in peace talks with the government for 18 months and has held two formal meetings and several informal discussions with the MPC.

The group wants representatives from its ethnic allies present for their peace talks this weekend, but Myo Win did not reveal who would be invited, saying discussions on the matter were ongoing.

 

Red Shirts Put Thaksin, Govt on Notice as Amnesty Bill Heads to Parliament

Posted: 30 Jul 2013 11:26 PM PDT

Red shirt supporters react to the speech from stage as they mark the third anniversary of the government crackdown on protesters at Ratchaprasong intersection, in the heart of Bangkok's main shopping district, on May 19, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Damir Sagolj)

BANGKOK — The tree-lined streets outside the Thai parliament may soon be converted into a theater of protest. That is, if the motley collection of anti-government groups live up to their threats. In their crosshairs is an amnesty bill that Worachai Hema, a government lawmaker, has proposed to be taken up when a new parliamentary session begins in August.

It is one of six bills with varying criteria for pardons that have been tabled for the next legislative session. And despite their differences, all six share a common goal—to usher in a spirit of reconciliation to heal the political wounds that have continued to fester since Thailand's September 2006 coup, which saw the twice-elected government of then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra turfed from power by the powerful military. Even Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who was the army chief at the time of Thailand's 18th putsch, is a sponsor of one reconciliation bill in his new avatar as a parliamentarian.

But, as is now clear, none of the six bills has gained as much attention as the one being tabled by the governing Phue Thai party's representative from Samut Prakan. And it goes beyond the chorus railing against the administration of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who view the Worachai bill as a ruse to benefit the premier's elder brother, Thaksin, now living as a globe-trotting fugitive in exile.

As significantly, this bill has become a rallying cry for Thailand's strongest and most enduring street protest movement—the Red Shirts. Given how dependent the Yingluck administration and Thaksin are on the foot soldiers of the Red Shirts to ensure victory in the general elections, it is a cry that neither of them can risk ignoring.

And the prospect of the Red Shirts descending in large numbers outside the gates of parliament to throw their weight behind the bill cannot be discounted, reveals a security source. Such a presence to counter opposition from the anti-government movement also eyeing the same turf "could lead to clashes," he observed.

The Red Shirts' endorsement of the Worachai bill is rooted in the campaign for justice launched by the leading arm of this movement, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), and other groups not linked to the UDD, dubbed by some here as the "Free Red Shirts." The campaign emerged after the bloody crackdown that ended weeks of Red Shirts-led street protests on May 19th, 2010. Over 90 people were killed, of whom 82 were civilians, and more than 2,000 people sustained injuries in the wake of heavily armed troops driving off anti-government protesters from Ratchaprasong, the center of Bangkok's glitzy shopping mall core.

Ever since then, the government of the day, a coalition led by the Democrat Party, now in opposition, has been buffeted by the Red Shirts' rage. The military's role has not been spared, either. That explains why the Red Shirts warmed to the Worachai proposal, which seeks pardons only for all low-ranking members from across the country's color-coded protest movement who are facing charges since the 2006 coup. An estimated 1,000 violators stand to gain if the bill is passed, including protesters from the conservative, pro-royalist Yellow Shirts movement, the nemesis of the Reds.

It is an equation that does not appear to trouble Korkaew Pikulthong, a UDD leader and Phue Thai parliamentarian. He puts on a nonchalant face to defend a position that deprives him of a reprieve. So, too, 23 other UDD leaders facing "terrorism" charges who have been making weekly trips to the criminal courts for months. In fact, most of them have spoken out against another amnesty bill proposed by Labor Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who is pushing for a blanket freedom.

Chalerm's proposed reprieve extends to the political and military leadership, in addition to the rank-and-file of the protest movements. His much publicized gambit a few months back also includes amnesty for Thaksin as part of his pledge to "bring Thaksin home."

"We have accepted that the Worachai bill is an important first step towards reconciliation," the 48-year-old Korkaew told The Irrawaddy. "Chalerm's proposal overlooks the concerns of the Red Shirts and the relatives of the people who died fighting for democracy and a political system that reflects the people's will, [and] not what the elites want through their control."

It is a view that Thaksin, as the de facto leader of the Phue Thai party, appears to have accepted—or at least did so on May 19th this year, when he delivered a speech via Skype that night to thousands of Red Shirt supporters who had packed the streets of Ratchaprasong to commemorate the third anniversary of the 2010 crackdown. He publicly endorsed the Worachai bill, which prompted wild cheers from the crowds.

Thaksin's May 19th speech and the acclamation this year stood in stark contrast to the words he uttered to the throng of Red Shirts at the previous year's anniversary gathering. Then, he lectured to the Ratchaprasong crowd by employing the imagery of a ship and a car to state that it was time the Red Shirts moved on. He thanked them for being the sea that helped his ship to come ashore. And now it was time for him to move on in a car, he said.

The implication that his journey home mattered more than the Red Shirts' clamoring for justice received a prompt response that night: shock and silence. Claps were barely heard. And some among the thousands of Red Shirts shed tears. This mood of disappointment was as palpable on the stage of the rally, where leaders of the movement had sat to follow Thaksin's speech projected on the large screens placed in the midst of the crowds.

To some observers of Red Shirt politics, it confirmed the suspicions among the movement that Thaksin was working behind the scenes to strike a deal with the country's military and the traditional elite to pave a route home. "Thaksin first made these ideas known about two months before, when he met Red Shirt supporters in Cambodia," says Nick Nostitz, a German photographer who has authored two books on the rise of the Red Shirts.

Thaksin's about-face since then was also reflected in his weekend meeting with Worachai, in which the latter joined other Phue Thai parliamentarians in Hong Kong to celebrate Thaksin's 64th birthday. The deposed former premier had spoken in favor of Worachai's bill, according to media reports.

Such a turn has brought into relief a view among political observers that neither the Yingluck administration nor Thaksin can take Red Shirt support for granted. And the Worachai bill, more than a lightning rod, emerges as an occasion of Red Shirts muscle flexing against their patron—a rare moment that has compelled Thaksin to concede ground.

The Red Shirts have made their mark with the Worachai bill, which has become a test of the relationship between the movement and the Yingluck government, according to Suda Rangkupan, an academic at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University and a coordinator of a pro-Red Shirt group campaigning for justice. "The government risks losing Red Shirts' support if they ignore the Worachai bill," she said in an interview. "Its popularity will drop in this important constituency."

Cambodia Government Rejects Opposition Call for Poll Inquiry

Posted: 30 Jul 2013 10:38 PM PDT

A man reads a statement distributed by opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) after it rejected election results at a Buddhist temple in Phnom Penh on July 29, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Damir Sagolj)

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's government rejected on Tuesday calls by the opposition for an international inquiry into allegations it used massive fraud to win re-election, and said it wanted parliament to approve a new cabinet quickly.

The United States and European Union expressed concern about irregularities in Sunday's election but both said an investigation should be conducted by Cambodian electoral authorities, failing to endorse the opposition's call for an inquiry involving the United Nations.

The government announced on Sunday that the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen had won 68 seats in the 123-seat parliament, a sharp fall from its previous tally of 90. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) nearly doubled its seat total to 55, in a major surprise and a setback for Hun Sen.

CNRP leader Sam Rainsy said up to 1.3 million names had been missing from the electoral rolls and complained about lack of access to the media as well as intimidation on the campaign trail.

Ouch Borith, secretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, rejected such allegations at a news conference.

"We have over 10,000 national observers and over 100 international observers who reckoned our election was held in a peaceful manner without any violence, free and fair," he said.

There was no proof of any missing names, he added. "The opposition party should be asked to show clearly what evidence it has about the irregularities it alleges. The National Election Committee has already said 'please bring up evidence, don't just say it, so we can work together to solve things.'"

Sean McIntosh, spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, told Reuters in an e-mail: "We're calling on the National Election Committee (NEC) to conduct a full and transparent investigation into all credible reports of irregularities."

The European Union also expressed concern about "shortcomings."

"The EU hopes that any dispute addressed to the National Election Committee and the established judicial mechanisms will be dealt with fairly and swiftly," it said in a statement.

The NEC has not yet given the number of seats won by each party.

Hun Sen, 60, and prime minister for 28 years, has made no comment on the results and has not appeared in public since Sunday. His party issued a statement on Tuesday denying rumors he had resigned and left the country.

Even by the government's own figures, Sunday saw his worst election result since the country returned to full democracy in 1998, after decades of war and turmoil including the 1975-79 "Killing Fields" rule of the Khmer Rouge.

Prolonged wrangling over the result and a weakened Hun Sen could raise uncertainty over policy in the small but fast-growing Southeast Asian country that has built up a thriving garment sector and forged economic ties with China and Vietnam.

A quorum of 120 out of 123 lawmakers is needed in parliament to approve a new cabinet, so the CNRP could delay this.

But its chances of overturning the election results seem slim given the ruling party's grip on the courts and with major foreign donors like the United States unlikely to reject the outcome without evidence of massive fraud.

The opposition tapped into growing concern among Cambodians over inequality and corruption.

Rising garment exports plus heavy flows of aid and investment from China have fueled economic growth, but that has been accompanied by a rise in social tension.

There are regular, often violent, protests over pay and conditions by garment workers and over land rights in a country of 14 million, where a third of the people live on less than 65 US cents per day.

Rights groups say the electoral system is heavily biased in favor of the ruling party and Transparency International Cambodia, which monitored the election, said it was "very concerned about the disenfranchisement of citizens and suspect voters."

Voting on Sunday, like the campaign itself, was for the most part peaceful.

Explosion Fuels Protests of China Chemical Plants

Posted: 30 Jul 2013 10:31 PM PDT

Laborers clean up near the wreckage of part of a paraxylene (PX) plant after an explosion in Zhangzhou, Fujian province, on July 30, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING — An explosion at a plant that produces the toxic chemical paraxylene has added to the growing opposition to such plants in China, on the same day a state-run newspaper prominently urged the public to accept the industry as safe.

Tuesday's blast at the plant at Zhangzhou city in southeastern Fujian province caused no chemical leaks, officials said, but environmental activists seized on the accident as a warning of potential problems at factories that produce paraxylene, or PX, which is used in printing and to make polyesters. The blast shattered windows in a nearby village, injuring some residents, including Lin Jianzhou, whose leg was injured when his roof collapsed, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing reporters on the scene.

PX plants around the country have become a hot-button issue, especially among China's growing middle class.

"The government does not have the sincerity to handle such things properly. They should draw a lesson from this accident in Zhangzhou," said Li Jiarui, a food researcher who protested against a PX factory in Kunming city in southwest Yunnan in May.

Coincidentally, the ruling Communist Party's main newspaper published a feature Tuesday aimed at defusing public fears about the industry, saying that PX plants are necessary for the domestic economy, that they are safe and that they have never had a major accident.

"Over recent years, chemical plants were often associated with environmental pollution," the People's Daily said. It quoted Li Junfa, the chief engineer of China National Petroleum and Chemical Planning Institute, which advises the country's top planning agency, as saying that PX companies have been "wronged" in this respect.

"Since the first PX facility was built in Shanghai in 1985, the country now has more than 10 sets of facilities, all functioning properly. There has not been a single major accident," said the piece.

The explosion Tuesday at the plant in Zhangzhou, close to the Taiwan Strait, was sparked by a fire, Xinhua reported.

Initial investigations found a cracked hydrogen pipeline triggered the fire during a pressure test, Xinhua said, citing the local government. The blast did not heavily damage the plant, nor result in any chemical leaks, the report said.

A fire official in Zhangzhou city, who gave only his surname, Tu, confirmed the predawn explosion.

The plant attracted protests even before it was built. It was slated for the densely populated city of Xiamen in Fujian, but protests in 2007 by residents concerned about potential health hazards succeeded in getting it moved to a less populated area in Zhangzhou.

A similar protest in 2011 in the northern port city of Dalian ended with a promise by the city government to shut a PX plant and move it out of the downtown area.

And in May, protests erupted over plans for a PX plant in Kunming where residents said they feared authorities had failed to adequately assess its risks.

"The fact that they put such a big project in Kunming shows that they looked only at the economic side and ignored the social and environmental sides," said Li, who studies risks of genetically modified food.

Short-term exposure to paraxylene can cause eye, nose or throat irritation in humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic exposure can affect the central nervous system and cause death.

After decades of having no say in the development-at-all-costs policies that have polluted the country's air and waterways, people in China's rising middle class have increasingly turned to public protests to voice their concerns.
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