Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

88 Generation Leaders to UN Envoy: Consider Context When Tackling Arakan’s Woes

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 05:37 AM PDT


Prominent activists from the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society have asked the United Nations' special rapporteur for human rights in Burma to approach his job with greater emphasis on understanding the country's cultural and historical underpinnings, after the UN envoy spoke critically of conditions in Arakan State.

Pyone Cho, a leader from the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that his group advised Tomás Ojea Quintana to consider the deep-seated nature of the region's troubles.

"There have been rights abuses for a long time in this community and it is not only recently the case. We should not speak out suddenly without an approach that understands what the main causes of this conflict are," Pyone Cho said.

"This is why we told him to understand the customary law, religion and culture of the country first. It is good to approach it this way in working on human rights issues," he said.

During a meeting on Wednesday with 88 Generation Peace and Open Society leaders including Min Ko Naing, Quintana said he was displeased at being met by protesters during his trip this week to Sittwe, the Arakan State capital.

About 90 ethnic Arakanese people came out to a demonstration there on Monday, with some holding banners that described the UN envoy as a "one-sided Bengali lobbyist" and urging him to leave the western Burma state, which was his first stop on an 11-day visit to assess the human rights situation in the country.

The protesters accused Quintana of bias toward the state's Rohingya Muslims, who many Arakanese—and Burma's government—refer to as "Bengali," reflecting the widespread belief that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Last year, the UN rapporteur drew criticism from Arakanese activists and some 24 political parties after submitting a report to the United Nations about communal clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in the state. Critics said the report was biased, favoring the Rohingya, and they called on the United Nations to remove Quintana from his post.

During this trip, some Rangoon-based daily newspapers and Burmese Facebook users posted photos claiming to show that Quintana had behaved differently in his interactions with the two communities' leaders. They noted that while he paid respect by kneeling down in front of Muslim leaders, he sat without showing similar deference in discussions with some Arakanese Buddhist monks.

The BBC Burmese service reported on Wednesday that Quintana told the Arakan State government that he was concerned by the continued divides that exist between the two religious communities.

Ko Ko Gyi, an 88 Generation Peace and Open Society leader, told the BBC that the situation on the ground at present required the separation.

"At the moment, there is only one solution: to let them stay divided in order to avoid [further] conflict. If violence results from letting them stay together in the community, will they [the international community] come to help with security?

"He has to look at both sides, the politics and human rights, when solving this conflict. Quintana should not look only at human rights," Ko Ko Gyi said.

The Arakan State government has allowed the two communities to stay divided after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in 2012. A commission tasked with investigating the violence released a report in April that said a lack of trust between the two groups was a major problem preventing inter-communal harmony.

The commission, which Ko Ko Gyi was a member of, recommended that reintegration of the communities be postponed until further reconciliation efforts could be undertaken. It also suggested voluntary family planning programs be implemented for Rohingya Muslims, whose rapid population growth was cited as one element fueling tensions. The commission proposal was widely condemned by the human rights community, and a two-child limit for Rohingya was later imposed in one Arakan district.

The violence last year displaced 140,000 people, most of whom were Rohingya Muslims. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain in 76 camps and other temporary shelters, with government restrictions imposed on their movements.

Movement restrictions on Rohingya Muslims have also left as many as 36,000 people isolated in communities in several townships, including Minbya, Myebon, Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw and Sittwe, according to the United Nations. These communities have been affected socially and economically, with limited or no access to basic services including markets, education and health care.

Burma’s Revolutionary Humorist Min Lu Dies

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 05:32 AM PDT

Min Lu, a famous Burmese humorist, is depicted in a portrait by artist Myo Myint. (Credit: Myo Myint / Facebook)

RANGOON — Min Lu, a Burmese contemporary humorist, died of lung cancer on Wednesday. He was 60 years old.

The writer and poet's biting political satire made him a nationally famous, but under the former military regime it also landed him in prison.

Best known for his humorous stories—including novels and short stories based on Rangoon University campus life—and for his essays and poems, Min Lu was praised for making readers laugh with his social satire on the uneasy struggles of daily life. After nationwide pro-democracy protests broke out in 1988, he was branded as a "revolutionary artist" by political activists including Min Ko Naing of the 88 Generation Students group.

Born as Nyan Paw, Min Lu came from a family of the arts in Rangoon. His father Thadu was a famous film director and writer, while his two older brothers were directors, singers and writers.

In his early years as a writer, Min Lu said in an interview that he inherited the "writing gene" from his father and had taken to the pen thanks largely to his upbringing in a literary family.

"You need to be honest when you write," he added in the interview with Pay Phu Hla magazine. "A benevolent attitude toward readers is the most important."

After his literary debut in 1976, Min Lu published nearly 50 books, according to his fan page on Facebook. He also wrote movie scripts for his books.

In 1990, he was arrested for his satirical poem "What has been wrong?," which he wrote in 1989. In the poem he renamed the then-ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) as the "State Park Building Council," because the regime at the time was busy building roads and parks, rather than trying to achieve the law and order implied in its name. He also said the main duty of the Burmese military was "to protect our dad," referring to then-dictator Gen Ne Win.

Min Ko Naing called him a "revolutionary artist" for the poem and for his lifelong literary works, but Min Lu seemed to know that the satire could lead to government backlash.

Aware that the Burmese secret police often blinded their targets with a hood over the head before taking them away for interrogation, he was well prepared at the time of his arrest. When the police arrived to take him away, according to one of his colleagues, he refused to put on the hood. Instead, he took out a new dark blue hood of his own and, before putting it on, told his captors, "Your hood is filthy!"

Min Lu is survived by his wife, San San Aung, and two daughters.

Woman Activist Remains Detained for Unauthorized Letpadaung Mine Protest

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 05:03 AM PDT

The police are seen forcibly breaking up a demonstration of about 150 people in the town of Monywa, Sagaing Division, on Tuesday. (Photo: Monywa Student Union / Facebook)

Activist Naw Ohn Hla remains behind bars and has been charged with staging an unauthorized demonstration after she was arrested along with nine other women who attempted to prevent her from being detained near the controversial Letpadaung copper mine.

Police in Monywa, Sagaing Division, dragged protester Naw Ohn Hla and nine of her supporters—all women who have called for the suspension of the Chinese-back Letpadaung mine—to a waiting police truck and drove them to the Monywa police station on Tuesday.

The nine women, from the villages of Tone, Moegyopyin and Hsetae, were released later that same day. Naw Ohn Hla, a prominent Rangoon-based activist who has lent her support to Letpadaung area residents, was sent to the Monywa prison, according to Yin Yin Nwe, a resident of Tone who was among the nine other women arrested.

"We were going to see the solo protest of Daw Naw Ohn Hla, but when we got there, the police forces had arrived to arrest Daw Naw Ohn Hla. We did not let them arrest her. We pulled her [away from the police officers], then the police arrested everyone who had pulled her away from them. They dragged us like dogs or pigs," she said.

Local villagers and activists had planned to protest, and say they sought government permission to do so nine times, but authorities rejected their request. Naw Ohn Hla proceeded with the protest despite the failure to receive government approval.

"The head of the police, Kyaw Kyaw Nyunt, told us that we are charged with Section 18 [assembling without government permission] and told us to sign a pledge that we will appear in court when they summon us," said Yin Yin Nwe. "But we were not protesting, we were just going to support Daw Naw Ohn Hla."

The victims said they signed the pledge because the police threatened to imprison them.

"He said we will be sent to the prison if we do not sign," she said. "We were afraid of going to prison, so we signed. They sent us back home in the early evening."

Naw Ohn Hla was arraigned at the Monywa provincial court and will stand trial on Aug. 27. Township administrator Kyu Aye will act as plaintiff in the case.

Naw Ohn Hla, an outspoken activist and former political prisoner who leads the Democracy and Peace Women's Network, is also facing multiple trials in several Rangoon townships on similar charges.

Her lawyer Aung Thein said her detention in Monywa meant that she would not be able to appear at the trials in Rangoon. She was released on bail for her prior charges in the former capital.Burma's various courts practice different policies concerning defendants, with some allowing bail and others not.

"She will miss the trials in Rangoon as she is now detained in Monywa," Aung Thein said. He said other lawyers in Mandalay would help represent her in the Monywa case because he is occupied with other trials in lower Burma.

Naw Ohn Hla is among a growing contingent of women who have been detained and charged under various criminal statutes for their roles in land rights-related campaigns.

In June, two women activists—Myint Myint Aye and Khin Mi Mi Khaing—were detained for supporting farmers whose lands were confiscated in Pegu Division. They have been denied bail since their arrest in June 11.

The following month, Kachin politician Bauk Ja, a member of the National Democratic Force who has been campaigning against land grabs in the Hukaung Valley, was arrested on negligent homicide charges that her supporters say are politically motivated. Bauk Ja has been detained since July 18.

A women's group on Wednesday criticized the recent crackdown on female protesters and activists, and called for their release.

"This violent and degrading treatment of peaceful women activists is a disgrace. It lays bare the hypocrisy of the government's democratic reform process," said Tin Tin Nyo, the general secretary of the Women's League of Burma.

"They [the Letpadaung protesters] are not breaking any laws, except practicing their right to assemble—which they had asked permission for but were rejected," Tin Tin Nyo told The Irrawaddy.

Letpadaung protesters have faced harsh treatment from law enforcers since they began protests a year ago. The most high-profile case involved a police crackdown in November on local residents and monks, when officers used white phosphorous to disperse the demonstrators, injuring more than 100 people.

Opponents of the project object to its continuation on the grounds that the mine poses social, health and environmental concerns.

Yin Yin Nwe said the nine women detained on Tuesday were seeking justice for the law enforcement personnel responsible for their arrest.

"The authorities said we broke the Assembly Law, but they treated us in an inhumane manner and I would like to ask who will take responsible for suing these public servants who abused us, the peaceful villagers."

Than Shwe’s Ex-Aide Under Investigation in Naypyidaw

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 04:58 AM PDT

Maj-Gen Soe Shein, third left, holds the arm of Snr-Gen Than Shwe in Shanghai in 2010. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — The police are investigating allegations that a military general with close ties to former dictator Sr-Gen Than Shwe threatened to shoot two farmers in Naypyidaw as part of an ongoing land dispute.

The farmers say Maj-Gen Soe Shein, once the personal assistant to Than Shwe, visited their land last month with a pistol and threatened to shoot if they did not vacate the property, which he claimed to own.

In a complaint filed jointly to the police, farmers Aung Than Oo and Khin Thint said the military general was not traveling alone when he visited them separately in Intaingtha village, Lewe Township, on July 5, after repeated warning not to cultivate the land.

"After intimidating Aung Than Oo, Major-General Soe Shein and his followers got to the farmland of Khin Thint at around 3 pm," Ko Ko Naing, another farmer from the village, told The Irrawaddy. "We have been acting as a witness for the complaint that Maj. Hlaing Myo Win, one of Soe Shein's followers, tried to punch Khin Thint."

Maj. Hlaing Myo Win has reportedly been interrogated by the police but Soe Shein has yet to begin questioning.

The Lewe Police station, which received the complaint letter, will handle the investigation, according to Soe Min Thein, officer-in-charge of the station.

He denied allegations that the police would not investigate a high-ranking military official with ties to the former dictator.

"There is no such thing as no lawsuits against major-generals," he said, adding that he was leading the investigation himself. "If there are complaints about them, cases must be opened."

The two farmers had earlier struggled to open the case. Last month they went to the local police station in Intaingtha but were denied the opportunity to file a case and were told to instead submit it directly to the township court, according to another farmer who accompanied them. The court also refused to take the complaint and asked the men to go to the township police station, where they faced another rejection, he said.

"We tried to file the case at the local police station for two days but were not successful," the farmer said. "We went to the court but were not allowed to do so because we didn't have any authorized letter. We even went to the office of the national police chief located in Naypyidaw, which didn't do anything and [authorities] only recommended that we go back to the Lewe police station."

Soe Shein acquired the land in 2010-11 when he was working as Than Shwe's personal staff officer, The Myanmar Times newspaper reported. But the farmers say he did not acquire the land fairly because he did not disclose that it was already being cultivated when he applied for ownership, the newspaper reported.

A military official with ties to the former dictator allegedly pulled a gun on farmers in Naypyidaw and ordered them to vacate their land.

SuperStar Libra Cruises to Burma

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 04:03 AM PDT

The ship is seen anchored at Thilawa Port. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — One of the world's biggest cruise operators has added Burma to its list of destinations, with the MS SuperStar Libra ship docking at one of the country's major international harbors on Wednesday with more than 900 tourists on board. From Thilawa Port, the tourists from Europe, the United States and Asia visited Burma's commercial capital, Rangoon, where they went to see the famous Shwedagon Pagoda, Bogyoke Aung San Market and popular colonial sites.

The MS SuperStar Libra is owned by Genting Hong Kong, a global leisure, entertainment and hospitality enterprise that runs one of the world's biggest cruise operators, Star Cruises. Burmese tour operator Myanmar Voyages arranged for the ship to dock at the port, with cooperation from respective Burmese ministries. The ship traveled to Burma on Wednesday morning from Krabi, Thailand, a popular tourist destination, and left later the same day for Thailand's Phuket.

Facing Challenges, Burma Seeks Extractive Sector Transparency by 2016

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 12:13 AM PDT

An aerial view of the Letpadaung copper mine project near Monywa in Sagaing Division. (Photo: Canadian Friends of Burma)

Resource-rich Burma has completed two of four steps in its bid to apply for Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative candidature, but the murky legal environment in which civil society groups exist is posing challenges as the government strives to meet the third requirement.

The government publicly announced in mid-2012 that the country intended to implement the international governance standard known as EITI, fulfilling the first candidature requirement. That was followed by the appointment of a senior cabinet official to lead a team charged with implementing the EITI. The commission is headed by Union Minister Soe Thein, with the ministers of environmental conservation, mines, energy and finance as members.

In the third step, Burma must commit to working with civil society organizations and companies and establish a multi-stakeholder group to oversee EITI implementation.

With Burma's abundance of natural resources like oil, gas and mineral deposits, supporters of the EITI bid say EITI compliance will improve the country's investment climate, providing a clear signal to investors and international financial institutions that the government is committed to greater transparency.

The Norway-based EITI aims to strengthen accountability and good governance, as well as promote greater economic and political stability. In Burma, where most of the untapped resource wealth and many of the ethnic armed rebel groups are both concentrated in the country's border regions, political stability and extractive industries governance are seen as particularly intertwined.

According to the Myanmar EITI cooperation office (MEITI), the country is facing challenges as it moves on to the third phase of implementation.

"There are many things to think about the civil society organizations because we have many in the country that are not registered yet due to several reasons. We are still working on it," said Min Zar Ni Lin, deputy team leader for MEITI.

Fearing political movements and unrest in the country, Burma's former military government heavily restricted civil society organizations. As some have gradually been allowed more freedom to work since President Thein Sein set the country on a path of democratic reform, activists have set up new civil society groups for a range of causes. However, the legal framework in which these groups operate is still in flux as Parliament considers an Association Bill to govern their formation, rights and responsibilities.

Only a few civil society organizations are officially registered, while many are awaiting word from the government on their registration applications.

"We still need to create the awareness of international standards and laws among domestic businesses as well as make sure the country's economy is functioning in line with international standards and laws," Min Zar Ni Lin said. "It will take time, but hopefully we will be a compliant country by 2016 or 2017."

The fourth requirement to qualify for EITI candidature calls for the multi-stakeholder to create a work plan for how the country will meet the initiative's global standards. Thein Sein has said Burma aims to apply for candidature status by the end of this year.

For decades under military rule, Burmese citizens were left in the dark on government spending, foreign investments in the country and details of extractive industries projects undertaken. Mandatory public reporting requirements in the industries and mechanisms to facilitate transparency are still lacking.

"The big challenges for the first years will be the reporting of actual revenue and tax [receipts]. There will be problems on who will confirm the accuracy of data given by the government and multi-stakeholders," Min Zar Ni Lin said.

"However, we believe we can overcome these problems because EITI has controls such as issuing warnings and blacklisting those who do not comply with the rules and who provide incorrect data," he added.

Helene Johansen, the EITI communications officer in Norway, said limited public access to information about the sector is one of the challenges facing EITI implementers, especially given the large and complex nature of the extractive industries.

"The most common challenges relate to producing EITI reports that give a complete picture of total revenues received from the extractive sector. Another common challenge is to ensure that this data is reliable and used to inform public debate," she said.

Burmese civil society groups say they have a vital role to play as a watchdog to ensure that data submitted under the EITI is reliable and correct.

"Educating the people of Burma and capacity building is also important. From that, we could inform the relevant authorities if the government or multi-stakeholders are cheating," said Devi Thant Cin, a prominent environmental activist.

"The policy and the mindset of the government regarding the CSOs [civil society organizations] and its citizens needs to be clear and trust-building between the two parties is vital," she added.

Currently, some unregistered civil society groups in Burma are facing the prospect of legal troubles, accused of threatening the stability and security of the state.

"I believe all these hardships will be worked out in very short time once we are with EITI and have more transparency and we can reduce some corruption. We can learn from the lessons of Indonesia to make sure we do not delay in publishing reports as well," Devi Thant Cin added, referring to that country's failure to meet certain reporting deadlines.

According to the transparency initiative, the EITI process in Indonesia suffered from challenges related to national procurement procedures, delays in funding and the associated complexities of the extractive industries sector. Indonesia has met the four pre-candidature requirements and is being considered for compliant status.

Myanmar’s Multicultural Spirits

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 12:05 AM PDT

Worshippers pay their respects to the Muslim nat spirits Shwebyin Naungdaw and Shwebyin Nyidaw at the Taung Pyone nat festival. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Ma Nway (not her real name) sits by a roadside curry stall, carefully examining the food on offer. She makes a point of avoiding anything containing pork, as per Muslim custom. But Ma Nway isn't a Muslim; she's a Buddhist. Like many Myanmar Buddhists, however, she also worships nat spirits, among the most popular and potent of which are Shwebyin Naungdaw (also known as Min Gyi) and Shwebyin Nyidaw (also known as Min Lay). She is on her way to Taung Pyone, a village near Mandalay, to attend their spirit festival—the largest in the country—and since both Min Gyi and Min Lay are Muslim, Ma Nway has stopped eating pork to show respect for their religious customs.

Ma Nway, like many in Myanmar today, sees Muslims as a threat. However, she and many others also regard Muslim spirits and spirits of Indian descent (or kalar, to use the often derogatory Myanmar term) as a crucial source of power and protection, assisting with the fundamentals of everyday life: wealth, health, love, success. For this reason, they are afforded a great deal of respect. This ethnic and religious harmony in Myanmar's spirit world thus creates a layer of complexity to the ultranationalist anti-Muslim/anti-Indian sentiment spreading through the country.

Unlike Buddhism, a foreign religion originating in ancient India, Myanmar's cult of the 37 Lords is local. Spirits are worshipped throughout the country, in the lowland areas in particular, and each spirit is tied to specific, local places.  Although many orthodox Buddhists reject spirit worship as contrary to Buddhist philosophy, it remains a popular folk religion among the country's many syncretic Buddhists. For Muslims, on the other hand, spirit worship is strictly forbidden under the first pillar of Islam.

Min Gyi and Min Lay are brothers—their father was an Indian (presumably Muslim) serving the Bagan king and their mother was a flower-eating ogre, who became the spirit Popa Medaw. The story of the two brothers is recounted in Richard Temple's landmark 1906 book, "The Thirty-Seven Nats," which has since been translated into Myanmar.

In the early 11th century, during the reign of King Anawratha, the two brothers fought in the royal army and led an expedition to China to recover the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha. While they failed to bring back the relic, the brothers facilitated peace between King Anawratha and the Chinese emperor, and on the way back to Bagan, the king stopped to build a temple, just outside Mandalay. The brothers failed in their duty of providing bricks and were executed. Upon departure, King Anawratha's boat got stuck, and his entourage realized that the brothers had become spirits. To pacify them and bring them under his sovereignty, the king built them a palace and locals began to worship them.

Spirits of Indian descent have a prominent position within Myanmar's pantheon. In addition to the two brothers, prominent spirits include Ma Ngwe Taung, a Hindu of Indian ethnicity whose place of death is near Monywa in central Myanmar, the site of a night-long annual festival. Less commonly worshipped spirits of Indian descent also include Mandalay Bodaw and his sister, Shingwa Nat. The daughter of King Pallikara, possibly of the Pala dynasty of Bengal, Shingwa Nat was the wife of King Alaungsithu of Bagan. Mandalay Bodaw, who was a servant of King Anawratha, also traveled to China in search of the Buddha tooth relic.

The culture of local spirits shows the presence of ethnic Indians, Muslims and Hindus in Myanmar historical memory, long before British colonization. This is contrary to recent ultranationalist rhetoric that labels Muslims and/or ethnic Indians as outsiders who do not belong in Myanmar. Ironically, some 969 followers no doubt fear and worship Muslim spirits.

At spirit festivals, professional spirit mediums channel spirits. Yangon spirit medium Min Kyaw (not his real name) explains that this involves becoming that spirit during a ceremony, embodying the gender, ethnicity and religion of the said spirit. So when channeling Min Gyi and Min Lay, spirit mediums become Indian Muslims. The body acts as a vessel, and the boundaries of religion and ethnicity are fluid.

Spirits are an important source of power for many Myanmars in everyday life. It is common for believers to keep images of spirits in their homes and business and to make regular offerings. Offerings, of course, depend on the culture and history of each spirit. Ma Ngwe Taung is Hindu, so offerings of beef are forbidden. For Min Gyi and Min Lay, pork is out of bounds.

Spirit culture shows a very intimate, sacred relationship between Myanmar worshippers and Myanmar spirits of Indian descent, including Muslims. It is also an example of a Muslim presence in the country, long before British colonization. The power and respect for Muslim and Indian spirits is one of the ironies of the exclusionary nature of current popular strands of Myanmar nationalism.

When I question Ma Nway, she makes a distinction between humans and spirits, between an amorphous Muslim population and the particular histories and personalities of Muslim spirits. "These spirits are part of Myanmar culture," she explains, as she digs into her pork-free meal.

David Gilbert is a Ph.D. candidate at the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific.

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

Defiant Burma Activists Expect Jail Over Shwe Gas Protest

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 10:37 PM PDT

Workers are pictured at the Maday Island site of the Shwe gas project in Arakan State.

BANGKOK — Ten activists on trial for protesting without a permit against a Chinese-led oil and gas project in western Arakan State say they expect to be jailed, in a case rights groups say is typical of a new authoritarianism creeping into Burma.

Tun Kyi, an activist from Maday Island, the westernmost project site, told Thomson Reuters Foundation the defendants expected to be found guilty and jailed when the verdict is handed down in a week or two.

"It's very rare that cases brought under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law do not result in prison sentences," he said by phone from his home.

"If they send us to jail, we'll go—one month or two months or however long—and after we've served time, we'll continue doing what we need to do. We're not afraid," the ethnic Arakanese activist said. "We will continue to protest until they do something about our concerns."

Rights groups say the case is one of many where the law on public assembly is being systematically used to silence critics as a new form of authoritarianism creeps into Burma, much lauded for its democratic reforms in the past year as it emerged from half a century of brutal military rule.

"These actions show the Burma government's rights-repressing habits die hard, and where previously it was all about military and national security, now activists are being called up on charges at the behest of government officials and their business cronies who want to push through their projects at any cost," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asian director for Human Rights Watch.

"This is a critical test for the EU, the US and other donors who crow about reform in Burma but have done little to pressure the government to correct this situation of a so-called 'reform law' going bad," he said.

Tun Kyi is one of 10 activists arrested after demonstrating and holding a peaceful march with hundreds of villagers on April 18 on Maday Island. They were demanding action over grievances against the Shwe Gas project, which includes a deep sea port, natural gas from Burma's offshore reserves and overland oil and gas pipelines from Arakan to China.

Locals and activists say the project has led to conflict, human rights abuses and environmental degradation. They say local people have lost their jobs and had farmland seized to make way for the project and have been compensated arbitrarily and without consultation.

Thailand-based Shwe Gas Movement, an activist group, said the project will provide Burma, one of the world's poorest countries with its own crippling energy shortage, with revenues of around $29 billion over the next 30 years.

"We held discussions with the local authorities many times and requested their help before we decided to protest. But they didn't do anything and the police also didn't protect the locals," said Tun Kyi.

Numerous applications to hold a protest were rejected, he said. The police cited security concerns and the presence of an emergency decree imposed after communal violence in Arakan State last year displaced some 140,000 people, most of them stateless Muslim Rohingya.

Tun Kyi said there had been no communal clashes on Maday and no announcement had been made there about an emergency decree.

The activists' trial began in May. Six defense witnesses made statements on Monday, a number Tun Kyi said the defendants had reduced from 16 so as not to prolong the trial.

The defendants have appeared in court about 10 times, each trip from Maday to the courtroom in Kyaukphyu costing more than $100 in total, including a 90-minute boat ride. "It's monsoon season now and when the weather is really bad and there are only small boats available, we worry about our lives," Tun Kyi said.

A New Authoritarianism?

Burma's first elected government in 50 years, led by former general Thein Sein as president, has been praised for its reforms, including passing a law allowing protests, in a country known for its heavy-handed reaction to demonstrations. Western sanctions have been suspended as governments and companies eye the cash-poor, resource-rich country's potential.

Over the past year, however, the authorities have arrested and prosecuted land rights activists and anti-mining and peace campaigners for failing to comply with the provisions of The Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act, enacted in 2011.

Human Rights Watch said the provisions do not meet international human rights standards and HRW's Robertson says the law should be amended.

The requirement to apply for police permission for a march or procession should be scrapped and replaced with a simple order that organizers notify the local police before proceeding, he said.

"Furthermore … the provisions of the current law make it a criminal offence to give speeches that "contain false information," say anything that could hurt the state, or "do anything that causes fear, a disturbance or blocks roads, vehicles or the public," he said.

"This is discretionary and arbitrary lawmaking at its worst, and given the police and security officials' poor track record, no one should be surprised they are abusing it," he added.

Tun Kyi, who was in Burma's biggest city Rangoon last week for the officially approved commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 1988 student uprising, said changes in Rangoon and the capital Naypyidaw are not reflected in the provinces.

"The government kept saying they won't backtrack on the reforms and we could see the top authorities are working on this. But people at the grassroots levels haven't changed their ways," said the activist, who faces regular harassment from the authorities. "They're still behaving in the same repressive way."

Sri Lanka Allows Mosque Expansion Despite Buddhist Objections

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 10:30 PM PDT

A branch of a 'bo' tree is lifted by a crane, after being cut by municipal council workers, as part of efforts to expand the mosque seen behind it in Colombo on Aug. 14, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Dinuka Liyanawatte)

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka's government said on Tuesday it would give the go-ahead to plans to develop a mosque in central Colombo, despite objections from Buddhist hardliners who have targeted members of the minority Muslim community in a spate of recent attacks.

Requests to expand the mosque had been repeatedly rejected, Muslim clerics said, because the building work would mean having to cut down parts of a large bo-tree, considered sacred by Buddhists.

A three-story mosque was built in its place around a month ago, but it was attacked late on Saturday, triggering clashes between Muslims and Sinhala Buddhists and a two-day curfew in the neighborhood in the center of the capital.

There has been increasing violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka since last year, mirroring events in Buddhist-majority Burma, which has also seen a surge of attacks by members of the majority community against Muslims.

In Burma, hardline Buddhist monks have been at the forefront of campaigns against Muslims.

In Sri Lanka, a group known as Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or the "Buddhist power force," has been trying to win over Buddhists to their own campaign. But the BBS has denied any involvement in the latest mosque attack.

"The Urban Development Authority will hand over the land to the earlier mosque and the bo-tree will also be completely removed to facilitate the construction," M.K.B, Dissanayake, secretary at Ministry of Buddhism and Religious Affairs, said.

"The expansion of the mosque also will be allowed," he told Reuters. "The government will help construct the earlier mosque, if they [Muslims] request help."

At the same time, the government said it would close down the new mosque, although it gave no reason for the decision. Buddhists in the area say that the new mosque was built without proper approval.

As elite police officers armed with guns looked on, local authorities began to cut down the bo-tree to make way for the expansion, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

Local residents said that police could have prevented the weekend violence if they had acted more decisively. CCTV footage taken from a nearby house, and seen by Reuters, showed people attacking the mosque despite the presence of police.

According to the Sri Lanka Muslim Council, a body representing most Muslim organizations in the country, the incident was the 25th attack on mosques reported to them from across the island nation.

A European Union delegation in Colombo condemned the rise in attacks on Muslims.

"The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of worship are fundamental to democratic societies and should be protected by the state," it said in a statement.

"The European Union looks to the Sri Lankan authorities to ensure justice through speedy, impartial investigations and to enable all Sri Lankans to exercise their human rights freely."

Buddhists make up about 70 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 20.3 million. Muslims make up about 9 percent.

1 killed, 20 Hurt in Bangladesh Party Protests

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 10:24 PM PDT

An activist of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam, lies on a street after clashes with police during a 48-hour strike in Dhaka on Wednesday. (Photo: Reuters)

DHAKA — Clashes between Bangladeshi police and activists supporting a major Islamic opposition political party left one person dead and about 20 injured Wednesday on the second day of a nationwide general strike, television stations reported.

Police used night sticks, tear gas and rubber bullets as dozens of protesters belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami party tried to march into the streets of Dhaka's southern Jatrabari suburb, according to Dhaka's Somoy TV and RTV.

Media reports said the dead man was a local leader of the Islamic party's student wing, but local police chief Rafiqul Islam told The Associated Press that he was yet to be identified.

Islam also denied reports that the man died of injuries caused by police, saying he died when he fled from police, fell and hit his head on a parked car.

"We are no way responsible for this. They attacked police, blasted homemade bombs targeting us, so we had to fire rubber bullets in self-defense," he said. "He is unlucky that he lost balance when fleeing and hit a roadside vehicle."

On Tuesday, opposition activists set off crude bombs, blocked roads and burned vehicles to enforce a 48-hour nationwide general strike, injuring dozens of people.

The party—the country's largest Islamic party—called the strike to denounce a court decision that its registration with the Election Commission is invalid.

A High Court panel ruled Aug. 1 that the party's regulations violate the constitutional provision of secularism by saying it wants to impose Shariah, or Islamic law. Because of the court decision, the party could be barred from taking part in the next elections.

At least 20 people were injured Tuesday after police fired rubber bullets to disperse dozens of protesters who tried to block a highway in Meherpur district, 175 kilometers (110 miles) west of Dhaka, television station ETV reported. Another 30 people were injured as homemade bombs went off in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country, the station said.

The ruling against Jamaat came amid calls to ban the party for opposing the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Five party leaders have been sentenced to either death or life imprisonment for crimes against humanity linked to the independence war. Several others, including party chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, are standing trial on charges of war crimes stemming from the 1971 war.

40 Years After Vietnam Bombing, Victims Still Fall

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 10:16 PM PDT

Do Thien Dang, a victim of unexploded ordnance, is seen at his mushroom farm in Vietnam’s central Quang Tri province, 600 km (372 miles) south of Hanoi, on February 28, 2007. (Photo: Reuters)

DONG HA, Vietnam — Nguyen Xuan Thiet knew the copper band around the base of the American bomb left over from the Vietnam War could fetch him up to a dollar at the scrap yard. So he clasped the projectile between his bare feet, and began banging with a chisel to pry out the precious metal.

It was nearly the final act of his life. The bomb exploded, tearing both legs off below the knees and four fingers. Only the quick work of a friend—who lashed tourniquets around his limbs, hurled him on the back of a motorbike and sped to a hospital—saved his life.

On Aug. 15, 1973, the United States flew its final bombing mission over Southeast Asia, ending the country's direct military involvement in the war. Forty years later, victims are still falling in one of the grimmest legacies of the conflict. Last year alone, there were at least 500 casualties in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from unexploded bombs and other ordnance, according to activists and government databases.

The most heavily contaminated province in Vietnam is Quang Tri, where fighting between US and Vietnamese forces was at its fiercest. The region is now one of the poorest in the country. The prices of steel and copper are continually rising, maintaining incentives for collectors even as much of the lightly buried scrap has already been harvested.

"Unexploded ordnance is a resource; we have to exploit it," said Thiet who after the accident in late 2011 had prosthetic limbs fitted courtesy of an American charity funded mostly by the US government. "If I hadn't lost my legs, I would still go out to collect scrap metal."

Collecting scrap is not illegal in Vietnam, but handling unexploded ordnance is. Many collectors say they now leave dangerous items in the field and concentrate on the tons of other war remnants like exploded bomb casing, machinery and vehicles. Scrap metal dealers also say they refuse live munitions.

Yet it is clear there are people prepared to defuse unexploded bombs to harvest and sell their casings as well as their explosives, which are used in the fishing and mining industry. Neatly sawn projectiles and other bomb parts are easy to find in roadside scrap yards.

"There are people who do that, but they keep it quiet," said Nguyen Van Binh, a scrapyard owner who recently paid $4,000 for a large haul of war scrap from across the border in Laos, including 500-pound bomb casings and mounds of bomb fragments.

Most collectors are aware of the dangers, none more so than Nguyen Thi Tam. Her husband was killed dismantling a bomb 21 years ago, leaving her to bring up four children alone. Desperately poor, the 48-year-old has little choice but to continue with his trade.

One recent morning saw her shoulder a cheap metal detector and a hoe and cycle to a former battlefield dotted with grave stones of local villagers and clumps of wild pineapple. She passed the detector quickly over the sandy soil until her headphones began to squeal.

Without pausing, she hacked away the grass with the hoe, and then used a bare foot to swish away the dirt to reveal a projectile and the fuse of a rocket-propelled grenade. She left those where they were, and carried on working, pocketing several bomb fragments to take to the dealer.

"A bowl of blood for a bowl of rice," she said, explaining the tradeoff she is willing to make for what earns her $5 on a good day. "I know very well it is dangerous, but I must go on."

The United States dropped 7.8 million tons of munitions over Vietnam as it tried to bomb the impoverished nation into submission, more than it unleashed in World War II on Germany and Japan combined. It also fired off as much ordnance again from land and sea. An estimated 800,000 tons failed to detonate, contaminating around 20 percent of its land.

More than 100,000 people have been killed or injured since 1975, the government says. But it doesn't give out detailed information publicly and many casualties go unrecorded. Curious children picking up small cluster munitions make up a significant percentage of those killed or injured.

"In summer time, the kids come out in groups to play," said Chi Hong Tran from Clear Path International, a mostly US-government funded charity that pays for medical and other expenses of those who fall victim. "When a bomb goes off, it takes everyone with them."

The United States said it had spent over $65 million since 1998 in trying to make the country safe and was planning an increased focus on "US origin" unexploded ordnance in Southeast Asia in coming years. Washington is keen on expanding ties with Vietnam as part of its strategic focus toward Asia and China's rising might. In something of an irony, removing the ordnance it dropped 40 years ago can now be trumpeted as part of its renewed commitment to Vietnamese ties.

Vietnam has cooperated with international demining agencies since the mid-1990s. It could get more funds if it were to sign onto international treaties banning land mines and cluster munitions and create a civilian-led, transparent national authority to handle clearance and maintain a comprehensive database, experts say.

Vietnamese officials have stated it will take 100 years and $100 billion to clear the country of ordnance. But those working in the sector say removing every dangerous item in the country is unrealistic and unnecessary. The focus should instead be on having teams removing surface and lightly buried items, and developing a response plan for deeper buried items, such as in countries in Europe after World War II.

"Forget about this idea of clearing up every bomb and mine, said Chuck Searcy, an American vet who runs a demining and humanitarian agency. "We need to find a way to make Vietnam safe, that is a very different challenge, and one that is very achievable within 5 to 10 years."

UN Rights Envoy to Burma Meets With Family of Young ’88 Victim

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 05:17 AM PDT

A photograph of Ma Win Maw Oo hangs on the wall of her parents' home. (Photo: Sean Havey / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The United Nations' special rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, met on Tuesday with the parents of a girl gunned down by the Burmese military in a killing that brought the brutality of the 1988 pro-democracy crackdown to the eyes of the world.

The father of Win Maw Oo, the subject of an infamous photograph that appeared in the Oct. 3, 1988, issue of Newsweek magazine's Asian edition documenting a blood-soaked 16-year-old girl being carried by two doctors, said he and his wife were invited to the UN Development Program's office in Rangoon to meet with Quintana on Tuesday evening.

"Mr. Quintana said after reading a story about our daughter in The Irrawaddy magazine that he felt sad about our daughter," the father Win Kyu said. "He also said he respects our daughter for her sacrifice at such a young age for democracy in Burma so that he wanted to see us."

The Irrawaddy ran a story about Win Maw Oo under the headline "Why the Past Can't Be Put to Rest" in its August issue.

A UNDP official confirmed the meeting but declined to comment further, saying he did not have permission to speak to the media.

Quintana is on an 11-day visit to assess the human rights situation in Burma.

During the one-hour meeting, the UN envoy asked the parents what happened to their daughter the day she was killed on Sept. 19, 1988; what they wanted to ask the government; and whether they had any plan to seek justice for their daughter's death.

"We replied that we wanted to ask the government, not only for our daughter but for all the people who had sacrificed their lives then, to have some memorial place to honor those fallen during the uprising," he said, adding that with regard to justice for his daughter, he did not wish to dwell on past wrongs.

Referring to a comment the father made in The Irrawaddy article—that "You cannot say democracy is now flourishing in our country"—Win Kyu said Quintana asked about the reason for his somewhat pessimistic assessment.

"Whenever journalists came to my house for interviews, plainclothes police appeared and asked me who they are and what they are doing," he said. "So I told him that's the best example of whether we are enjoying democracy or not."

"Mr. Quintana said, 'It shouldn't be like that,'" Win Kyu recalled.

Win Kyu said the family was proud to have met with the UN envoy to share their daughter's story.

"Our daughter has been somewhat forgotten for the last 24 years. Now Mr. Quintana met us and asked about our daughter with respect. We feel proud of our daughter. At the same time, we took our hats off to Mr. Quintana, too."

Interference in Judicial System Harming Burmese People: Lawmakers

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 04:59 AM PDT

Lahtaw Brang Shawng, a Kachin farmer who was accused of being a soldier in the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), shares his experience of being tortured during detention, at a public conference in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, on Monday. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

More than a dozen lawmakers discussed rule of law in a session of the Lower House on Wednesday, after a parliamentary committee looking into the issue found continued intervention by administrative officials in the judicial system.

In an annual report submitted on Monday, a parliamentary committee led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said poor rule of law was harming the Burmese people.

Committee member Khin Saw Wai, from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party said the committee had received about 11,259 complaints over the course of one year.

About one-third of those complaints were related to judicial injustice over civil torts, she said. The rest were related to administrative corruption and land-grabs, as well as violations of the peace and social injustices.

"Although the report does a good job highlighting the need [for rule of law], I am not very satisfied with it," Khin Saw Wai told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "We would like to provide as much help as possible, but rule of law is a broad issue and we cannot cover everything."

Parliament's Rule of Law Committee has called for more collaboration between the legislative, judicial and administrative members of government to strengthen rule of law in the country, which is transitioning from nearly half a century of military rule.

The report included findings from visits to provincial and township courts in nine states and regions from September 2012 to June 2013. It called for greater efforts to keep track of bribery and interference in the judicial sector by administrative officials.

But Khin Saw Wai added, "The committee does not actually have authoritative power to intervene, except highlighting the issues affecting the people."

The report also highlights long-standing corruption problems, despite democratic reforms.

The committee says it has responded to complaints of civil torts but was rarely able to assist victims of arbitrary detention or those who were imprisoned under false accusations.

Among those widely believed to have been wrongly detained was ethnic Kachin farmer Lahtaw Brang Shawng, who said in a public conference on Monday that he was tortured by military personnel and forced to confess to the crimes he did not commit. Like him, many ethnic minorities in Burma continue to face torture under detention.

Brang Shawng was arrested and accused of being part of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). He was detained for over a year and sentenced in July to two years in prison but released under a presidential pardon within a week of the court's decision.

Brang Shawng's lawyer Mah Kha told The Irrawaddy recently that the judge did not make an independent decision in the case at the township court. The activist lawyer and his client have complained to the provincial court, which rejected their appeal last Wednesday. They say they will now take their appeal to the state court and if necessary to the Union Supreme Court.

Khin Saw Wai from the parliamentary committee said victims of abuse by any institution can report their case to the committee, whose chairman can then follow up with respective institutions, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Ministry of Defense, to take action.

Shwe Mann, Suu Kyi Seek to Reassure Journalists Over Media Laws

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 04:29 AM PDT

Information Minister Aung Kyi gestures during a press conference in Rangoon on Monday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — In meetings with Burma's interim Press Council, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann said the controversial Printing and Publishing Enterprise Bill could still be amended before it becomes law.

The bill, which the Press Council says would give Burma's Ministry of Information wide scope to issue and revoke publishing licenses and which journalists see as overly restrictive, is currently with Burma's Upper House after the Lower House passed the measure in July.

Press Council members have said they will resign if the measure is passed into law as it is, but it seems that nuclear option might not now be necessary. "Thura Shwe Mann told us that there should be a chance to amend the bill before it leaves the Upper House, and that it even could be amended after that, in the joint houses, and even once it goes to the president," said Thiha Saw, a Press Council member who attended Tuesday's meetings in Naypyidaw.

While in Burma's administrative capital, the Press Council delegation met with National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Suu Kyi, who like Shwe Mann, is a contender for Burma's presidency after national elections scheduled for 2015.

"We explained to her [Suu Kyi] everything that happened between the Press Council and the Ministry of Information regarding the Printing and Publishing Enterprise Bill and also how the bill got approved. She said that the Lower House only approved that bill because it assumed that negotiations have been done for the bill. She stressed that the best way is negotiations. Then she also told us that even the Constitution can be amended and reminded us not to despair about this issue," said Zaw Thet Htwe, a Press Council member, discussing the meeting with The Irrawaddy.

Meanwhile the Press Council will meet parliamentarians from the New National Democratic Party on Friday, ahead of a hoped-for discussion next Monday of their draft News Media Bill in the Lower House.

The Press Council's bill is intended as a professional code for journalists, separate from the Ministry of Information's Printing and Publishing Enterprise Bill. However, there are concerns about possible overlap between the two draft codes, with the publishing bill criticized by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), a regional press freedom group, for veering into content regulation.

While the Press Council has rejected the Information Ministry's publishing draft, the ministry in turn has taken issue with the Press Council's News Media Bill. "We changed 51 clauses in our draft, and then they asked again to change 17 more, which we refused," said Thiha Saw.

A Monday meeting in Rangoon between Minister of Information Aung Kyi and the Press Council did not feature any discussion of the two hotly debated bills—though Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut conceded that the publishing bill could be amended.

"In the past there have been a lot of differences between the Interim Press Council and the Ministry of Information," conceded Ye Htut. "But we are proposing to settle our differences with dialogue," he told The Irrawaddy.

It appears that the original Printing and Publishing Enterprise Bill was rushed through the Lower House by lawmakers harried by a frenzied agenda, hearkening back to concerns that some of Burma's much-needed legislative reforms are being carried out in haste.

Under Burma's military junta, the country's press was one of the least free in the world, with private daily newspapers not permitted and publications required to run content past a censorship board. And while Burma's media is de facto much freer than in the past, restrictive laws remain in place, pending conclusion of what is turning into a fraught media reform process.

"Going by our meetings yesterday, it looks as if most MPs did not fully read the draft [of the Ministry of Information's publishing bill]," Thiha Saw told The Irrawaddy. "Or if they did read the MOI draft, they did not have time to read our objections to it before voting.

"The MPs are all so busy, they have already passed 68 bills in 30 months of Parliament," he added.

Other media-related reforms on the cards include a proposed public service broadcasting bill and an upcoming revision of the Electronic Transactions Law, which was used to jail dissidents under the old military regime. Revision of the latter code could include the tabling of a related cyber bill, according to those involved in the drafting process.

But much-needed reforms could end up being glossed-over by lawmakers in a hurry to enact change before the elections take place in 2015. "This government has only 13 months left to implement reforms," Ye Htut told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

Burma’s Busy Black Economy ‘Threatens Reforms’

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 03:49 AM PDT

American dollars change hands at the Thain Phyu Money Exchange Center in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

It can be as small as a mobile phone, as long as a felled teak tree, or as bulky as a four-door sedan. The size of the goods doesn't seem to matter in Burma's thriving black market economy.

Someone somewhere is simply turning a blind eye or taking a bribe to help keep the illegal cross-border trade—worth tens of millions of dollars—in operation.

It's not only costing the country heavily in lost tax revenue, say observers, it's undermining efforts by President Thein Sein and his government to turn Burma into a successful democratic market economy.

"Decades of corruption and mismanagement have resulted in a network of crony officials and businessmen who still illegally trade in the country's natural wealth, ranging from gem stones to timber to oil and gas," Billy Tea, a research fellow at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu, wrote in the Asia Times.

"The country's weak capacity promotes the continuation of old ways and reinforces the space for non-state actors to pursue their illegal activities, thereby restraining the country's transition toward democratic governance," Tea added.

An acute shortage of properly trained administrative managers and the lack of adequate law enforcement or judicial authority "severely hinders the state's ability to respond and properly prosecute illegal activities," Tea says.

Burma's Ministry of Commerce admitted last month that cars were being smuggled into Burma via multiple land crossings, mostly from China and Thailand. The ministry has also conceded that more than 100,000 mobile phones were illegally imported in the April-June period this year in preparation for the expansion of the national wireless network.

"It strikes me that the changes in Burma will have stimulated two opposing effects on the informal economy," Australian economist and co-editor of Burma Economic Watch Sean Turnell told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

"On the one hand, we might expect it to be reduced, as more activity moves into the formal sector. Foreign exchange dealing might be one example of this," said Turnell, who is also a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney. "On the other, there are now more opportunities for cross-border business activity. Yet, faced with the obstacles and bureaucracy, some of this will spill over into a more 'enabling' informal sector. That is, to get things done in Burma, often one must step back into the shadows."

Noted cronies of the military regime era who are still on US blacklists are evidently thriving in the Thein Sein era too.

Pioneer Aerodrome Services, a subsidiary of Asia World, has just this week reportedly been awarded a government contract to modernize Rangoon International Airport.

Asia World is controlled by Steven Law, who also known as Tun Myint Naing and was blackballed by the US government for links with the former military regime and Burma's illegal drugs trade. It is still illegal for US companies to have business dealings with Law, but he has openly formed a consortium with China Harbour Engineering Company and Malaysia Airport Consultant Services to work on Rangoon International Airport.

Other companies that put in bids for the airport contract have already questioned the selection of Law's company, a decision made by the Department of Civil Aviation, which does not have to disclose the reasons for its choice.

In May, a company owned by military regime crony and US blacklisted Burmese businessman Tay Za was given a contract to control all import and export cargo handling services at Rangoon International Airport. Mingalardon Cargo Services, a subsidiary of the Htoo Group of Companies, was awarded the concession by the Department of Civil Aviation, which said there had been bids from three companies.

The Htoo Group's business is growing under Burma's economic reforms and now includes mining, farming, hotels, an airline and banking.

Tay Za was placed on a US government blacklist for his close links with the former military regime of Gen Than Shwe. In the past he has been accused by the United States of involvement in trade in weapons and drugs, and in money laundering.

In Tea's view, because senior military officers and their close associates are still involved in illicit trading, "any significant moves to curb to them could destabilize Thein Sein's quasi-civilian regime" and thereby threaten to end the president's reforms.

The re-opening of US and European markets after years of isolation through sanctions is intended to not only encourage formal, legitimate trade but also provide help in anchoring Burma's recent reforms.

"Trade is fun­da­men­tal to sup­port­ing polit­i­cal sta­bil­i­ty and the EU's trade pref­er­en­ces mean we will give this reform-mind­ed coun­try pri­or­i­ty access to the world's larg­est mar­ket," European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in July. "The EU is also going to help [Burma] boost the capac­i­ty of both pub­lic and pri­vate firms to make use of these new oppor­tu­ni­ties."

But that is of little interest to the crony business operators and their cohorts, especially those still on international blacklists.

"All in all, it must surely still be the case that the informal economy is at least as big as its formal sibling," Turnell told The Irrawaddy.

Rohingya Activist Arrested After Sharing Photos of Police Crackdown

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 03:41 AM PDT

Rohingya men who were shot by the police during a riot on Friday rest in Dapaing district clinic, outside of Sittwe, on August 11, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — A Rohingya activist accused of sharing photographs on Facebook of a police crackdown on displaced Muslims was arrested in Arakan State on Tuesday, a day after a UN special rapporteur on human rights visited the area.

Than Shwe was arrested at his home in the state capital Sittwe and remained in custody on Wednesday, a source close to his family told The Irrawaddy, although the UN special rapporteur, Tomás Ojea Quintana, had urged the state government to release him.

Aung Win, who spoke on behalf of the family, said Than Shwe's wife called Quintana on Tuesday and told him that her husband had been detained.

"He [Quintana] told our community leaders that he has already told the government to release all people who have been detained, included Than Shwe," said Aung Win.

Than Shwe, who delivers food to IDP camps in Sittwe, allegedly shared photographs that show authorities clashing on Friday with a crowd of Muslims who had gathered at an IDP camp outside the city after the corpse of a Rohingya fisherman washed onshore nearby.

Earlier on Friday morning, an angry mob had gathered outside a police outpost demanding the body of the fisherman, who was believed to have drowned. When police reportedly refused to provide the body, a skirmish broke out between both sides. The clash at the IDP camp occurred later in the evening, with police reportedly firing into the crowd.

One person was killed and 10 were injured in the violence, the UN refugee agency reported Tuesday.

Than Shwe has also been accused of sharing a photograph of the dead fisherman. Aung Win said the photograph shows severe bruising on the body and has raised suspicions in the local community that fisherman was beaten or forcibly drowned by authorities.

Aung Win said Than Shwe took the photographs himself and shared them with a friend on Facebook but did not publicly post them. However, The Irrawaddy could not confirm with other sources who was responsible for taking the photographs.

A police officer at No. 1 Police Station in Sittwe said Than Shwe was being held at the station but would not reveal the charges against him.

"It is better to ask our high-level officers because it was an order from the high-level officers to arrest him," said the police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We do not know the reason why he was arrested."

The UN refugee agency on Tuesday called for dialogue between displaced Muslims in Arakan State and national authorities.

"UNHCR is reiterating its call for peaceful dialogue and confidence building between the IDPs and government. We believe this is key to avoiding further violence," Adrian Edwards, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news conference in Geneva, according to a statement posted on the UNHCR website.

Edwards said the situation in the camps was calm enough for humanitarian work to resume.

"Our teams are working with partners and the IDPs to strengthen camp management and help establish reliable camp committees that can mitigate any future tensions," he told reporters. "Camp coordination and camp management activities are of paramount important to assist in ensuring constructive dialogue with the authorities in order to prevent future incidents."

About 140,000 people were forced from their homes in clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in the state last year, according to the UN, and most were Rohingya, a minority group that faces widespread discrimination in the country.

The IDPs are currently staying in 76 camps and other temporary shelters, with government restrictions imposed on their movements.

Movement restrictions on the Rohingya have also left as any as 36,000 people isolated in several townships, including Minbya, Myebon, Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw and Sittwe, according to the United Nations. These communities have limited or no access to basic services including markets, education and health care.

Letpadaung Protesters Stage Sit-In Near Police Station

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 01:19 AM PDT

The police are seen forcibly breaking up a demonstration of about 150 people in the town of Monywa, Sagaing Division, on Tuesday. (Photo: Monywa Student Union / Facebook)

RANGOON—Local residents staged a sit-in on Tuesday afternoon near a police station in downtown Monywa, northwest Burma, to demand the release of prominent activist Naw Ohn Hla and nine others who were arrested during a protest against the Letpadaung mine project.

A peaceful protest of about 150 people earlier in the day was violently broken up by the police in downtown Monywa, and Naw Ohn Hla, a former political prisoner, was arrested with nine other participants, said Han Win Aung, a local activist. Riots broke out during the police bust and a few locals were hurt, he said.

The group had been protesting in downtown Monywa when they encountered police officers blocking their way at the Monywa-Myinmu highway junction. Unable to proceed, the protesters decided to sit down and wait. The police entered the crowd and forcibly arrested the eight protesters, said Sanda, one of the demonstrators.

"Now we have started our strike again by sitting in the monastery compound near Police Station No. 1 in Monywa, where Naw Ohn Hla and the others are being held," Kyaw Thu, who joined the sit-in, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "The police have blocked the entrance of the monastery with barbed wire. There are now over 60 people here demonstrating, and they have decided not to stand up until the 10 arrested participants are released."

Residents near the Letpadaung mine traveled to the town of Monywa on Tuesday morning to begin the demonstration. They had applied nine times for permission from local authorities to protest, said Han Wing Aung, but their applications were rejected.

"At first, the demonstrating crowd was demanding amendments to the Constitution and the shutdown of the Letpadaung copper mine," said Sandar. "Then the police forcibly broke up the protest. Demonstrators were grabbed and pushed into a police vehicle. As a result, riots broke out and some were injured. However, while I was there, I did not see the police hit any demonstrators. The crowd dispersed in fear."

A police force of about 200 officers came to break up the protest, Sandar added.

An official at Police Station No. 1 confirmed to The Irrawaddy that 10 demonstrators had been detained but declined to provide details about their alleged offenses. The official said the issue was being investigated by the divisional and township police departments.

"We cannot yet tell you what we are going to do next," said the deputy officer-in-charge of the Monywa Township police station.

The controversial Letpadaung copper mine project in Sagaing Division is set to resume operations within the next two months, a union minister said last month, following the signing of a new contract that gave the government a large share of the mine's profits.

Operations at the mine have been suspended since November, following a brutal police crackdown on peaceful protesters who opposed the project's environmental and social impact on local communities. The crackdown left dozens of people injured and prompted the government to set up a parliamentary committee to investigate the project's viability.

According to the new contract, Burma's government will have a 51 percent stake in the mine, while Wanbao Mining Ltd of China and its business partner, the military-backed Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL), will retain 49 percent ownership. Previously, Wanbao and UMEHL held complete control.

More than 7,000 acres of farmland were confiscated in 2010 for the copper mine project.

When the Chinese Press Down

Posted: 13 Aug 2013 11:18 PM PDT

Protesters in Yangon hold posters opposing the Chinese-backed Letpadaung copper mine. (Photo: Reuters)

We are afraid of China," said President's Office Minister U Aung Min last November during a public meeting in Monywa, central Myanmar, where local people had been protesting a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine. U Aung Min, who once fought hard against the Beijing-backed Communist Party of Burma, told protesters demanding a complete shutdown of the Letpadaung mining project that, "We don't dare to have a row with China!"

"If they feel annoyed with the shutdown of their projects and resume their support to the communists, the economy in border areas would backslide," he added. "So you better think seriously."

Of course, any serious observer would agree that no matter who is running the country, Myanmar must be sensitive (the word "afraid" is not politically savvy) to its northeastern neighbor. However, the minister's statement drew outrage from the activists and general public. In newsweeklies and on social media websites such as Facebook, people went wild with comments, labeling the Chinese as exploitive and the Myanmar government as betraying the nation's interests, with U Aung Min bearing the brunt of anti-China sentiment.

Despite the official rhetoric by both countries about China and Myanmar's unique paukphaw (fraternal) relationship, a large number of Myanmars do not seem to regard China as a compassionate brother. In the sibling hierarchy, China enjoys the role of the paternalistic older brother, and Myanmar of the younger.

In the wake of the 1988 pro-democracy popular uprising, and after the subsequent military takeover, Myanmar relied on China for political, economic and military support—with profound internal and international ramifications. In a domestic context, the public became increasingly intolerant of Chinese migrants who had settled in the country or come for employment after the military takeover. The population of Chinese descent currently living in Myanmar is estimated to be between 3 million and 5 million.

Lacking longitudinal data or independent surveys about popular attitudes toward the Chinese in Myanmar, it is worthwhile to study the topic through contemporary cultural and media works, including poems, books, short stories, magazine and newspaper articles, cartoons and jokes that went through the former junta's heavy censorship.

Military memoirs are also revealing. After reading about a dozen memoirs published recently by former generals, it is fair to conclude that the military regarded the Chinese with mistrust. The memoirs describe the military's hard-fought battles from the late 1960s to the late 1980s against Myanmar's banned Communist Party, which received massive Chinese support, as a struggle against foreign invasion via a proxy.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the societal figures of Myanmar were mostly pro-Chinese because left-leaning writers dominated public discourse. The first notable anti-Chinese expression came in the aftermath of 1988, with a collection of seven short stories known as "Wathoundare Let-ye" ("Handwriting of the Earth's Guardian Spirit,"), which were published in 1989. Written by famous novelists in the mid- and late-1980s, all seven stories covered the changing community and cultural landscape in Upper Myanmar as new Chinese migrants replaced native residents with massive real estate purchases and dominated businesses.

The collection of stories captured a sense of dread among local Myanmars for the disintegration of their social fabric. Written under heavy censorship, the stories did not explicitly include the word "Chinese" but implied the characters' ethnicity by describing their heavy accents, fair or yellowish skin, a certain style of clothing and a poor understanding of the Myanmar language. The characters also referred to themselves with the personal pronoun Wa, commonly used by the Chinese in Myanmar.

In the early 1990s, some business magazines featured articles about newly thriving Sino-Myanmar border trade, real estate markets and changing socio-economic conditions.

The most significant writings that persistently focused on Chinese encroachment in Upper Myanmar came from the influential writer Ludu Daw Amar, a former heroine of the country's independence struggle. In a famous article series called "Amay Shay Sagaa" ("Mother's Old Sayings"), Daw Amar said Myanmar's societal disintegration and cultural decline had been caused by several factors, including poverty, the distorted market economy, and the "superhumans" (military generals and their children) and lawpan (rich Chinese businessmen). She denounced the rise of lawpan khit, or an era of rich Chinese businessmen, in Myanmar society, while urging the public to resist their domination and decadence.

Some short story writers circumvented government censorship to portray the losing battle of local Myanmars against Chinese money and "cultural intrusion" in the 1990s. One of the most popular stories, "Kara-o-ke Nya-chan" ("Karaoke Evening") by Mandalay writer Win Sithu, was about the moat of Mandalay's Royal Palace—a source of Myanmar cultural pride that symbolizes the country's last kingdom and independence—and how it became the site of a karaoke bar. In the story, female singers at the bar serenade Chinese customers with Chinese songs, and a drunk man vomits into the moat.

In the mid-2000s, writer Hsu Hnget described Mandalay's changing culture in the following passage: "Virtually no shops and workplaces are closed for religious holidays, even for the full moon day [of Buddhist Lent]. Except in one case: Chinese New Year! During the Chinese New Year, nothing can be sold and bought. Everything is stopped, silenced, and the roads are clear."

Writers have creatively invoked traditional proverbs, songs, images and other relevant symbols to bypass censorship and convey their messages. For instance, Nyi Pu Lay wrote a short story about a Chinese intrusion in Myanmar for Shwe Amyutay magazine in March 2011. The story's title, "Ta-ei-ei A-naut Mha" ("Slowly Moving Westward"), was inspired by a well-known Myanmar tabaun prophetic saying, "Tayote ka pi shan ga ei shi thi bama a-naut mha." ("When the Chinese press down, the Shans lean on the Burmans. The Burmans are then forced to move westward").

Authors have not been the only ones expressing concern about Chinese influence in Myanmar. Comedians have also had their say, including in the popular short play "Mandalay-tha-sit-sit-gyi Ba Bya!"("I am a Real Mandalay Resident!"), a one-act performance by a famous comedian group from Mandalay in 2009. The main character in the play calls himself a native Mandalay resident, but his style and accent have changed because he lives among a growing Chinese community and has been forced to assimilate. He explains his experience by citing a Myanmar proverb: "Mi mya mi naing ye mya ye naing" ("If fire is in force, fire prevails, and if water is in force, water prevails").

Recently, anti-Chinese rhetoric has become increasingly loud and intense with public outrage over the Chinese-backed Myitsone dam project and the Letpadaung copper mine. In nearly every conceivable medium, critics have called to save the Ayeyarwady River and the Letpadaung mountains, as millions of people depend on them for their livelihoods. Some writers have railed against "Chinese exploitation" and the Myanmar military's collaboration, with many works invoking a thematic line from the national anthem: "This [Myanmar] is our nation, this is our land, and we own it."

Public criticism has been emboldened by the government's decision to lift prior censorship in August 2012. In the case of the Letpadaung mine, harsh words have been cast not only at Minister U Aung Min, whose comment about fearing China drew particular backlash, but also at democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who chaired the investigation committee that recommended continuation of the mining project.

The Myitsone dam and Letpadaung mine controversies have elevated anti-China attitudes to their highest levels in Myanmar since 1969, when riots against the Chinese broke out. After U Aung Min's comment in November, sources close to Chinese officials told me that some Chinese policy makers believed he had intended to provoke anti-Chinese sentiment. When I met U Aung Min early this year and asked him about the allegation, he slowly but rhythmically shook his head. "No, no," he whispered.

All in all, the confluence of growing anti-Chinese sentiment amid Myanmar's ongoing political transition could be a cause for serious concern. In the early phase of democratization, a mix of widespread poverty, fear among key stakeholders of losing financial and political power, increasing levels of free speech, and weak government institutions could allow for the emergence of populism and nationalistic violence, possibly in the form of anti-Chinese riots.

Anti-Chinese populism should be tempered and constrained by all parties concerned. Otherwise, Beijing could feel threatened and react with more visible interference in Myanmar, hoping to protect its vested interests. If that happened, Myanmar's state-building efforts and much-needed development would be severely undermined.

Min Zin is pursuing a PhD in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. This article is based on his paper "Burmese Attitude toward Chinese: Portrayal of the Chinese in Contemporary Cultural and Media Works," published in the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs in 2012.

This guest column first appeared in the August 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

Cambodia: US Military Cooperation Only Postponed

Posted: 13 Aug 2013 11:05 PM PDT

Military policemen stand in front of a poster of Cambodia's long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen in central Phnom Penh on July 30, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Samrang Pring)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia on Tuesday disputed a US claim that it has suspended or canceled international military cooperation programs with Washington in the wake of the country's recent disputed election.

Lt-Gen Nem Sowath, the senior officer in charge of political and foreign policy for the Defense Ministry, said that Cambodia had neither suspended nor canceled participation in such programs. He said at a news conference that military activities were postponed by mutual agreement because Cambodia was not prepared.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters Monday in Washington that Cambodia's Defense Ministry had postponed or canceled a number of programs with the United States and other nations.

Such a move by Cambodia could pre-empt sanctions by Washington if it judged the July 28 polls unfair, or Cambodia a human rights abuser.

Prime Minister Hun Sen could strike a nationalistic pose if he chose to announce Cambodia's unilateral suspension of cooperation, painting it as a response to unwanted interference by a big power.

The opposition is disputing the claim of Hun Sen's ruling Cambodia People's Party to have won the election, capturing 68 seats in the National Assembly to 55 won by the Cambodia National Rescue Party. The final results were released Monday, but have not yet been ratified.

The opposition insists it will not recognize the results unless there is an independent, impartial investigation of alleged election irregularities, included the failure to properly register more than 1 million voters.

It has threatened to hold a massive public protest in the capital, Phnom Penh, if its demand is not met.

The government in turn has deployed extra troops and armored vehicles in the capital. The tough reputation of Hun Sen, who has ruled for 28 years, has raised concerns he might use force against any protests.

US military assistance on maritime security, counterterrorism and humanitarian operations makes up a small portion of the more than $70 million in annual American aid to Cambodia but reflects Washington's attempts to build bridges with a Southeast Asian government that counts China as its main benefactor.

Military cooperation has been on the uptick since 2006 and includes training for Cambodian officers and periodic military exercises. One of Hun Sen's sons was trained at the US Military Academy at West Point.

Human Rights Watch has been pushing for the United States to sever military ties, arguing that Cambodia's armed forces are corrupt, politicized and implicated in rights abuses.

Nem Sowath said the delay of carrying out cooperation programs was due to limited resources on Cambodia's part, especially affecting its ability to take part in joint exercises. He said Cambodia still maintains good cooperation with the United States.

Hun Sen responded defiantly earlier this month after several US lawmakers suggested cutting aid if the election was not free and fair. He noted that China had once stepped in to supply military trucks after Washington suspended their transfer, and said the Cambodian people themselves would fund the shortfall if the US cut aid.

Additional reporting by Matthew Pennington in Washington.

Hong Kong Buttons Up as Typhoon Passes on Way to China

Posted: 13 Aug 2013 10:48 PM PDT

Government workers clear debris from a road following a landslide that occurred at the height of Typhoon Utor in Baguio city, in northern Philippines, August 12, 2013. The typhoon lashed Hong Kong with wind and rain, closing down the bustling Asian financial center on Wednesday before sweeping toward mainland China. (Photo: Reuters)

HONG KONG — A typhoon lashed Hong Kong with wind and rain, closing down the bustling Asian financial center Wednesday before sweeping toward mainland China.

Offices, schools and courts shut and the stock market halted trading as Typhoon Utor approached, bringing an eerie calm to the normally bustling southern Chinese commercial hub. Dozens of flights were canceled and bus and commuter ferry services were curtailed because of the typhoon, which was packing winds gusts of up to 136 kph (86 mph).

The center of the storm was about expected to skirt around 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Hong Kong before hitting southern China's Guangdong province.

Utor was centered about 260 kilometers from Hong Kong at 11 am local time and was moving northwest at about 16 kph, forecasters said. The storm brought gale-force winds, rough seas and squally showers.

One person in Hong Kong was reported injured.

Some 94 flights arriving at or leaving from the city's airport are canceled while another 107 flights have been delayed.

Along the coast of Guangdong, authorities were calling fishing boats to port and securing buildings and equipment at aquaculture farms. The storm was expected to make landfall near the city of Maoming in the afternoon before traveling northwest into Guangxi province.

Some flights and train service were suspended on the island province of Hainan. Almost 2,000 passengers were stranded Tuesday at the airport serving the resort city of Sanya.

Utor was this year's strongest typhoon globally before it crossed the Philippines earlier this week, leaving at least seven people dead and four missing.

One woman in northeastern Isabela province was seen on camera being swept away by a raging river. Her body was found later.

Dozens of fishermen were missing after the storm but most have now returned home, officials said.

Rescuers were still struggling to reach at least three isolated towns in the hardest-hit Aurora province, where the typhoon slammed ashore.

"As of now, we don't have communication [with the three towns] and the roads are not passable, even to motorcycles, due to landslides, rockslides, and uprooted trees," said Rey Balido, spokesman for the national disaster agency. He said authorities were taking alternate routes and that the Philippine air force will deliver relief goods.

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila, Philippines, and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.
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