Friday, August 2, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Political Prisoner Pledge, Govt Actions Don’t Align: Activist

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 06:27 AM PDT

Former political prisoner Zaw Moe shows his prison papers, shortly after his release from Insein Prison in Rangoon in April. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

President Thein Sein reiterated a promise this week that Burma's jails would be free of political prisoners by the end of the year, a pledge that a prominent activist says is doubtful unless authorities change their prosecutorial tendencies.

Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), said he welcomed the president's commitment to free all political prisoners by the end of this year, but pointed to recent detentions of activists as reason to be skeptical of the claim.

"There have been continuing arrests of activists, those who were fighting for certain rights, farmers and workers. So I am unconvinced as to whether it is possible that there won't be any political prisoners [by the end of 2013]," he told The Irrawaddy.

In his monthly radio address to the nation, Thein Sein on Thursday spoke in no uncertain terms of his intention to follow through on a promise he first made during a trip to Europe in July.

"I inform the public that in accordance with my pledge, I am going to make arrangements to ensure that not a single political prisoner [remains] by the end of this year," Thein Sein said. Dozens of political prisoners were released about a week after he made the same vow on July 15 in London.

Bo Kyi is also a member of a government committee established by Thein Sein in February to assess the cases of the country's remaining political prisoners.

Thein Sein in his radio address said the 73 political prisoners released following the London speech were granted amnesties in the interest of national reconciliation, and were freed as a result of the scrutinizing committee's work.

However, the response of Burma's deputy home affairs minister to a question posed in Parliament early this week highlighted the precarious legal status of former political prisoners.

Asked whether former prisoners of conscience were still liable to face the time remaining on their sentences, Brig-Gen Kyaw Zan Myint said that according to Section 401(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, any former political prisoner convicted of another crime would be required to serve not only his new prison sentence, but also the remaining years of his old, canceled sentence.

That penal provision caused an outcry in May, when Nay Myo Zin, a former political prisoner who was freed in a January 2012 amnesty, was told he would be forced to serve out the remaining six years of his 10-year sentence after he was found guilty of defaming a police officer in an unrelated charge. The defamation charge carried with it just a three-month jail term, but Nay Myo Zin found himself facing the combined sentences under Section 401. Following the outcry from activists, he was released a few weeks later.

Thein Sein's government has already declared batch amnesties 22 times, and 2,701 prisoners have been released as a result.

Noting the deputy home affairs minister's response before Parliament, Bo Kyi said it was clear that coordination between Thein Sein and his cabinet ministers was lacking.

"The president said that he would not use Section 401 as a political weapon, but there hasn't been any cooperation between high-level staff and low-level staff of the government to make what [the president said] come true. The departmental cooperation is still very weak," Bo Kyi said.

"All former political prisoners who were released have the same concern: whether they will ever be arrested again. Their rights to freedom are limited and controlled," he added.

There remain more than 200 political prisoners in jails or facing trial in Burma, according to AAPP. The group estimates that there are 120 political prisoners who are in jails and another 100 still on trial.

"What we are really asking for is releases with no exceptions," Bo Kyi said. "When a political prisoner is released, it is best that he/she has a note on the release warrant that says the prisoner is released with no exceptions or parameters."

Ethnic Conference Stresses Need for Nationwide Peace Deal

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 06:10 AM PDT

UNFC representative Khun Okkar (L) speaks at a press conference in Chiang Mai. Aye Thar Aung of the ALD sits to his right. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy)

CHIANG MAI — Burma's ethnic rebel leaders conferring in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, have reiterated their demand for a joint, nationwide peace agreement between Naypyidaw and all rebel groups, saying it is prerequisite for permanent peace in the country.

United Wa State Army (UWSA) representatives also attended the congress organized by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC). It was the first time that the powerful rebel army joined such a meeting, and rebel leaders said the Wa were seeking support from other groups for a politically autonomous Wa region in Burma.

"We don’t know about [the government's] intention, but we signed ceasefire agreements with the aim of continuing on the road to permanent peace," UNFC joint secretary 2 Khun Okkar said during a press conference on Friday "We won't think of signing any further agreements as long as they [the government] don’t officially announce [plans for] a nationwide ceasefire."

David Takarpaw, a leading UNFC member, said, "Our UNFC approach is that we want a principal peace agreement for all ethnic groups."

The representatives were speaking at the end of a four-day ethnic peace congress organized by the UNFC, an alliance of Burma's main 11 ethnic rebel groups, including Kachin, Karen and Shan rebels.

The UNFC's demands were supported by some prominent Rangoon-based ethnic politicians, such as Aye Thar Aung of Arakan League for Democracy and Pu Chin Sian Thang, fromChin State's Zomi Congress for Democracy. It was the first time that the politicians joined an ethnic rebel conference.

"To end ethnic conflict with the government, ethnic rights and demands for real federal union need to be addressed," said Aye Thar Aung.

Burma's ethnic groups have been fighting decades-long rebellions in order to gain greater political autonomy through the formation of federal states. They also want better protection of their rights and amendments to the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

Since assuming office in 2011, President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government has signed ceasefire agreements with 10 of the 11 main ethnic rebel groups. It has promised to soon hold a national peace conference with all armed groups.

Ethnic rebels say, however, that they first want Naypyidaw to agree to meaningful and time-bound discussions over their political demands for a federal union. They oppose the government reaching ceasefires with each group individually, and instead prefer a comprehensive, nationwide agreement.

On Friday, the UNFC said it would also like opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be an observer to the peace process, adding that it is planning to draft proposed amendments to the Constitution together with ethnic NGOs and activists.

Lately, a rift has occurred between the UNFC and the Working Group for Ethnic Coordination (WGEC) — a smaller ethnic alliance that includes the Restoration Council of Shan State and one Karen National Union faction — over the direction of the peace talks.

"There is disagreement between some leaders within the UNFC and WGEC. So, we decided to disassociate ourselves from the WGEC … our political aims are the same but our approaches are different," said Khun Okkar.

Some 130 representatives, including ethnic NGOs and activists joined this week's event. Non-UNFC members rebel groups, including an ethnic Kokang militia known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and an ethnic Mongla militia known as the National Democratic Alliance Army also attended the discussions.

Most notable among the non-UNFC participants were representatives of the UWSA, Burma's largest and most well-armed rebel army. Based in northern Shan State on the Burma-China border, the UWSA is believed to have more than 20,000 soldiers.

The group has enjoyed a stable relationship with Naypyidaw for much of the past two decades, but in recent months there have been persistent reports of growing military tensions.

UWSA representatives did not attend Friday's press conference and UNFC leaders made only brief mention of the presence of the secretive, ethnic Wa leaders. "The UWSA wants a [Wa] State with self-determination power. So, they want the UNFC to recognize their demand," said Khun Okkar.

Lessons of ‘88

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 05:56 AM PDT

Opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in her study at home in late September 1988. In an interview with Asiaweek magazine on Sept. 25, 1988, she said, "A lifetime in politics does not appeal to me, but how long is a lifetime? Obviously, once you start a movement like this, you don't stop halfway and say, 'That's it, I've had enough.' You just stay there until it reaches a logical conclusion of some kind." (Photo: Dominic Faulder)

In 1988, Myanmar hosted some of the largest demonstrations in recorded history. These began officially on Aug. 8, the supposedly auspicious "8/8/88" in a country run by "retired" generals, numerologists and soothsayers. Although Myanmar's political volcano had been rumbling for at least a year, the world was still caught unawares by the sudden tumult in a country that had essentially been forgotten. Foreign press access was minimal. The story then got knocked off the world's top slot when the C-130 Hercules carrying Pakistan's president, Gen Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, mysteriously fell out of the sky on Aug. 17.

The failed 8/8/88 rebellion lasted nearly six weeks. It followed 26 years of bizarre and xenophobic misrule by strongman Gen Ne Win. Late that year, when there was still some lingering hope of change, an old Asia hand predicted it would take at least as long to put right the damage the old general had wrought. As we look back from 25 years on, that prediction has turned out to be grimly true. A quarter century down the road, can any lessons be learned from the failures of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement in 1988?

Size does not matter

The large early demonstrations in Yangon, a city of well over 3 million at the time, mobilized virtually the entire populace of the capital. Although Myanmar was not a country with large population centers, there were similar scenes in smaller cities, including the northern capital of Mandalay, with a population of over 800,000. Given the terrible communications and transport infrastructure, the size of these protests was all the more remarkable. Indeed, one of the worst individual incidents of bloodshed followed a demonstration around a police station in Sagaing near Mandalay, a lightly populated area famous for its mist-shrouded hilltop temples.

In the second half of August and the first half of September, Yangon continued to see large, well-organized marches on a daily basis. Students, workers, civil servants, nurses, monks, nuns, schoolchildren, secret policemen, air force personnel—just about everybody who could gather behind a banner and march the streets did so, airing well justified grievances. After decades of locked-down frustration, the demonstrations were initially cathartic but of diminishing marginal value. Toward the end, there was some violence that included the beheading of up to 50 vagrants, possibly the work of provocateurs. There was also some looting. With such huge, largely peaceful turnouts, however, it was inconceivable that calls for meaningful change could be ignored—but they were.

Unfocused grievances

Myanmar's economy was moribund, there was widespread unemployment and education led nowhere. Everything from fuel to rice was in short supply, and anything manufactured, be it an aspirin or instant coffee, had to be obtained on the black market. The most resource-rich country in Southeast Asia was an economic and social shambles. It had humiliatingly been compelled to apply for "least developed country" status with the United Nations to receive aid.

When everybody has so much reason to complain, one of the biggest challenges becomes the triage of issues: finding the overlaps among all the problems that must be addressed most urgently and to best effect. In Myanmar's case, the situation was made even more complicated by over a dozen low-intensity ethnic insurgencies which had continued to deny the central government in Yangon control of any of its frontier areas.

Thanks largely to Gen Ne Win, the military had a dismal track record on reform and utter contempt for technocrats and educated people in general. The emerging opposition was meanwhile inchoate and, not surprisingly, completely inexperienced in government. In the event, the brutal military backlash on Sept. 18, which installed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) of Snr-Gen Saw Maung, ensured nothing was really tackled beyond the immediate unrest. The military simply hunkered back down, again ignored critical opinion at home and abroad, and heaped blame on anyone but themselves.

Lack of coherent opposition

Within days of 8/8/88, the protests had at least achieved the removal of "Butcher" Sein Lwin, the man who replaced Gen Ne Win at the end of July as head of the ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and who also became president. Gen Sein Lwin was followed by a more conciliatory interim figure, Dr. Maung Maung, a lawyer and academic who had also served as Gen Ne Win's hagiographer.

Although many consider this to have been a cynical play for time by the Ne Win clique intended to allow troublesome poppies to grow tall, Dr. Maung Maung at least talked of democratic reforms and staging multi-party elections. But so had Gen Ne Win when he ostensibly stepped aside. Dr. Maung Maung lifted martial law, and there was a window of a month while the demonstrations carried on. A credible, unified opposition failed to emerge despite much talk of forming an interim government. There was also a call in early September for Dr. Maung Maung to step aside. Given Myanmar's modern history and the Ne Win government's intolerance of any organized structure, even the Buddhist Sangha, the failure of the opposition to come up with a viable alternative was to be expected.

Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was then a political neophyte who only appeared after the August uprising was under way. Moving from a standing start, she had her father's great name but no personal experience or political machine to back her. Indeed, her National League for Democracy (NLD) was only formed after the SLORC's coup. Brig-Gen Aung Gyi, whose critical letters to Gen Ne Win had stirred public discontent, was the NLD's first chairman. However, he still saw some value in the military and soon split off with his own party.

Workers had sufficient awareness to mobilize a general strike but not to take matters beyond that. Students were the core agitators and organizers, with inspirational leaders such as Min Ko Naing, the "Conqueror of Kings," but they could not find a suitable umbrella figure or movement to lock in behind and get to the next level.

All these players were certainly well aware of the dangers of a fragmented opposition, but still failed to somehow link up and accommodate each other in a bigger frame. In early September, it was U Nu, the prime minister ousted by Gen Ne Win in 1962, who sensed something had to be done and made a move. He reassembled the remnants of his old cabinet and declared himself to still be Myanmar's legitimate premier. Although this made him popular with some workers and students, it alarmed the military and caught other opposition figures off guard, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Brig-Gen Aung Gyi and Gen Tin Oo—who was actually in U Nu's party at the time.

A man who had always muddled his devout Buddhism with politics, U Nu was traumatized by the violence surrounding SLORC's appearance. He later admitted to being impetuous, but his real error may have been doing the right thing the wrong way. U Nu continued to reconvene his cabinet in a garden room at his home, even though many of his ministers were long dead and attended in spirit only, literally.

In late September the junta, to its rare credit, endorsed the five-man election commission created by Dr. Maung Maung. Over 400 parties applied for registration in the following months. This staggering number was rightly reduced to about a dozen eligible for participation, of which only the NLD and the National Unity Party (NUP), which replaced the BSPP, really counted. With Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, the NLD under the leadership of a cashiered colonel, U Kyi Maung, effectively countered the fragmentation problem and won a landslide election victory in May 1990, trouncing the NUP.

This free and fair election was subsequently ignored by the military. It was clear evidence of how hopelessly the generals continued to misjudge the mood of the people, but amply demonstrated the value of calm focus. By 1990, people had come to realize that the paramount issue was getting a competent government in place, and that all other matters must follow from there.

Democracy is a beacon, not a light bulb

One of the great myths propagated by the West and its media is that democracy produces better governments. In recent decades, one need look no further than Australia, Cambodia, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Italy, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States or Venezuela to see that perfectly free and fair elections can produce perfectly rotten governments—which is exactly why elections are so valuable. The great gift of democracy is not the guarantee of electing a better government; it is the power it gives the electorate to vote out a bad one in a peaceful, orderly manner. The Catch 22, however, is that a bad government will often not allow itself to be dismissed in a decent and transparent process. Indeed, SLORC's disinclination to honor the 1990 election result is one of the best examples of this.

For many people, particularly in the Middle East at the moment, political change without pain is an elusive luxury. Even in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the notion of a loyal democratic opposition has yet to take seed in any of the 10 member countries—although Thailand and the Philippines might wish to dispute such an assertion. People rightly point out that Myanmar's Parliament in Naypyitaw has badly flawed democratic credentials, particularly with its military block vote. But the inclusion of the NLD as an opposition force with a legal platform is a major first step along a difficult road. The NLD's presence can be built upon and refined as it reconstructs itself. The tough process the NLD confronts of moving across from hectoring dissidence to productive political involvement is something outsiders should critique very cautiously and not condemn.

Gen Ne Win is no longer around to blame. It is not saying much at all, but at the end of the day this is the most democratic government Myanmar has had in over five decades. There is no mileage in lamenting that all this did not get going sooner. Maybe the greatest lesson of 8/8/88 is how easy it is to have all the moral high ground yet go nowhere.

Dominic Faulder is a British journalist based in Thailand who has covered Burma/Myanmar since 1981. He was a special correspondent with the Hong Kong newsweekly Asiaweek until the magazine's closure in 2001.

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

Junta Satirist From ‘Moustache Brothers’ Trio Dead at 67

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 05:03 AM PDT

Par Par Lay holds up a picture of The Moustache Brothers comedy trio with Aung San Suu Kyi. (Photo: Man Thar Lay / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The leader of The Moustache Brothers, a Mandalay comedy trio famous for their biting satire directed at the Burmese government, died on Friday in Burma's second city. He was 67 years old.

"Par Par Lay died at 1pm today after suffering from prostate cancer," brother Lu Maw told The Irrawaddy.

For more than 30 years, the brothers have charmed fans, including Burmese parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi, with topical satire that put a lighter spin on the prolonged suffering of ordinary people in the Southeast Asian country.

Since 2001, the government has barred them from performing their a-nyeint pwe in public. A-nyeint pwe is a traditional Burmese vaudeville performance in which a female artist dances and sings to light music while supported by comedians. The performances occupy a popular place in the nation's cultural milieu.

With the ban, the three renowned comedians had for more than a decade relied on foreign visitors to feed their 11 family members by staging live performances that combined comedy, classic Burmese dance and satirical criticisms of Burma's military regime.

Every evening foreign tourists—drawn by press reports, guidebooks or word of mouth—were known to venture out into the dimly lit streets of Mandalay to make their way to The Moustache Brothers' makeshift stage in Maha Aung Myae Township to the city's south.

On a backstreet theater stage and out of "public" sight, The Moustache Brothers joked about government mismanagement, corruption, blackouts, water shortages, inflation and other grim realities that have plagued the Burmese people's everyday existences.

"We still struggle to make a living. If the government lifts its ban on us, we will be quite alright," Par Par Lay told The Irrawaddy in an interview last year.

In 1990, Par Par Lay was thrown into prison for six months for his political satire following the then military regime's refusal to honor the landslide victory of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the country's first elections in 30 years.

Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw, another member of the trio, were arrested in 1996 for their performance at the Nobel laureate's lakeside villa in Rangoon. During the 2007 Saffron Revolution, Par Par Lay was again taken away by security personnel during a night raid at his home for his support of the monk-led pro-democracy demonstrations.

Lu Maw on Friday said his brother died without having the chance to enjoy true freedom of expression, because the government still hasn't revoked its ban on The Moustache Brothers' performing in public.

"But he didn't care," Lu Maw said. "So we dared to make public performances since last year. To our surprise, people heartily welcomed us back. Par Par Lay was very happy about it."

Hsu Nget, a Mandalay-based writer, said he was saddened by the death of the comedian, whom he praised as a talented entertainer who never shied away from criticizing the government to highlight the Burmese people's suffering.

"As a comedian, he did a good job by crafting biting satire that reflected the times we had all been through," Hsu Nget said. "His jokes are so Burmese that it's no wonder people like them so much."

Lu Maw described his brother as a man who dared to proffer in-your-face political humor, even at the height of the former military regime's repression.

"So with the openness we now have, it's no wonder he unleashed his criticism about the government more than before," he said.

"What is sad is that my big brother did not live to see the 2015 election, because he always told his audiences that 'it's the most important moment for our country.'"

Par Par Lay is survived by his wife, Shwe Man Daw Win Mar.

Photo Of The Week 11

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 04:27 AM PDT

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Activists Boycott Silver Jubilee for 88 Uprising

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 03:05 AM PDT

Min Ko Naing, the most prominent of the 88 Generation Students, holds a speech at the group's Rangoon office on March 18. (Photo: Facebook / 88 Generation Students)

RANGOON — A group of Burmese activists is boycotting a Silver Jubilee event next week to commemorate the country's 1988 pro-democracy uprising because former military generals from the government have been invited to attend.

Members of the All Burma Federation of Students Unions (ABFSU) have resigned from the jubilee's organizing committee and will not participate in the event next week, saying that the former generals participated in the crackdown on student protesters 25 years ago and should be forced to apologize to the families of victims.

"We decided not to attend the event, and even to resign from the working committee for the event, after we hosted last week's meeting," Kyaw Ko Ko, a leader from the ABFSU, told The Irrawaddy on Friday. "The majority of our group voted not to attend because military generals who were involved in the killings will be there."

Burma has embarked on a platform of political reform since President Thein Sein, a former general and third-ranking member of the previous regime, took power in 2011. Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to run for Parliament last year, while hundreds of political prisoners have been released and pre-publication censorship has been abolished, but activists say the government has failed to adequately address past rights abuses.

During a ceremony in Rangoon this week to honor prisoners who died at the Great Coco Island penal colony, Kyaw Ko Ko urged the Burmese people to fight for greater reform, saying the military had retained its hold over the current quasi-civilian government.

"During the 88 Uprising, our comrades sacrificed their lives for human rights and democracy," he said. "We should not forget their sacrifices. The government should not ignore what these people have done for their country.

"Without recognizing that our comrades paid with their lives, how can we say this government has moved forward with real change?"

Members of the 88 Generation Students Group plan to celebrate the Silver Jubilee at the University of Yangon from Aug 6-8, and have invited Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann along with Khin Aung Myint, speaker of the Upper House.

Ant Bwe Kyaw, a spokesman for the Silver Jubilee event, said the ABFSU participated in planning meetings and understood that government officials would be invited.

"We hosted a meeting all together with them and agreed already to invite government representatives, ethnic armed groups and civil society groups," he said. The event is intended to promote peace and national reconciliation. They knew about it."

Despite the country's political and economic opening, some critics doubt the commitment of a government dominated by men who once wore military uniforms. Under the former regime, thousands of politicians, activists and monks were imprisoned for their political beliefs, while protesters were gunned down in the streets during mass demonstrations.

The 1988 Uprising was a historic popular uprising against the military dictatorship of Gen Ne Win, who ordered the military to shoot the peaceful protesters, with at least 3,000 people killed. The nationwide pro-democracy movement broke out on Aug. 8, 1988, and hundreds of thousands of Burmese joined demonstrations in Rangoon, the former capital.

Bacon Fries on Pavement as Heat Wave Grips China

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:40 PM PDT

Local residents participate in a water fight at People Square in Shanghai on July 21, 2013. The temperature in Shanghai rose to 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, reported local news. (Photo: Reuters)

SHANGHAI — It's been so hot in China that people are grilling shrimp on manhole covers, eggs are hatching without incubators and a highway billboard has mysteriously caught fire by itself.

The heat wave—the worst in at least 140 years in some parts—has left dozens of people dead and pushed thermometers above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in at least 40 cities and counties, mostly in the south and east. Authorities for the first time have declared the heat a "level 2" weather emergency—a label normally invoked for typhoons and flooding.

"It is just hot! Like in a food steamer!" 17-year-old student Xu Sichen said outside the doors of a shopping mall in the southern financial hub of Shanghai while her friend He Jiali, also 17, complained that her mobile phone had in recent days turned into a "grenade."

"I'm so worried that the phone will explode while I'm using it," he said.

Extreme heat began hitting Shanghai and several eastern and southern provinces in early July and is expected to grip much of China through mid-August.

Shanghai set its record high temperature of 40.6 C (105 F) on July 26, and Thursday's heat marked the city's 28th day above 35 C. At least 10 people died of heat stroke in the city over the past month, including a 64-year-old Taiwanese sailor, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Climate scientists usually caution that they can't attribute a single weather event like the Chinese heat wave to man-made global warming. But "human-caused warming sure ups the odds of heat waves like this one," said Jonathan Overpeck of the University of Arizona. The Chinese heat wave "gives a very real face to what global warming is all about," he wrote in an email.

"This is the future. Get used to it," Andrew Dressler of Texas A&M University told The Associated Press by email. "You often hear people say, 'Oh, we'll just adapt to the changing climate.' It turns out that that's a lot harder than it sounds, as the people in China are finding out now."

Wu Guiyun, 50, who has a part-time job making food deliveries in Shanghai, said she has been trying to linger inside air-conditioned offices for as long as possible whenever she brings in a takeout order. Outside, she said: "It's so hot that I can hardly breathe."

The highest temperature overall was recorded in the eastern city of Fenghua, which recorded its historic high of 42.7 degrees (108.9 F) on July 24.

On Tuesday, the director of the China Meteorological Administration activated a "level 2" emergency response to the persistent heat wave. This level requires around-the-clock staffing, the establishment of an emergency command center and frequent briefings.

Some Chinese in heat-stricken cities have been cooking shrimps, eggs and bacon in skillets placed directly on manhole covers or on road pavement that has in some cases heated up to 60 degrees C (140 F).

In one photo displayed prominently in the China Daily newspaper, a boy tended to shrimps and an egg in a pan over a manhole cover in eastern Chinese city of Jinan.

In the port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, glass has cracked in the heat, vehicles have self-combusted, and a highway billboard caught fire by itself, sending up black smoke in the air, according to China Central Television. The broadcaster said the heat might have shorted an electrical circuit on the billboard.

In the southern province of Hunan, a housewife grabbed several eggs stored at room temperature only to find half-hatched chicks, state media reported.

A joke making the rounds: The only difference between me and barbequed meat is a little bit of cumin.

Associated Press writer Didi Tang in Beijing, news assistant Fu Ting in Shanghai and science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

Taiwan Lawmakers Brawl Over Nuclear Plant Bill

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:33 PM PDT

Legislators from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), in yellow and green, attempt to remove a chair while legislators from the ruling Nationalist Party (KMT), in black vests, stop them at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Aug. 2, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Pichi Chuang)

TAIPEI — Taiwanese lawmakers exchanged punches and threw water at each other Friday ahead of an expected vote that would authorize a national referendum on whether to finish building a fourth power plant on this densely populated island of 23 million people.

Nuclear power has long been a contentious issue in Taiwan and became more so following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. While frequent earthquakes have led many Taiwanese to conclude that nuclear power generation constitutes an unacceptable safety risk, economic analyses suggest disruptive power shortages are inevitable if the fourth plant is not completed.

Friday's fracas pitted the pro-referendum forces of President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling Nationalist Party against strongly anti-nuclear forces affiliated with the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party. DPP lawmakers occupied the legislative podium late Thursday night amid vows to disrupt the referendum vote, tentatively scheduled for noon Friday (0400 GMT). With a large Nationalist majority in the 113-seat legislature, the referendum bill is expected to pass easily.

Construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant began in 1997 but was halted while the DPP was in power between 2000 and 2008. If the referendum is passed it could become operational by 2016.

Physical confrontations broke out early in Friday's session. Associated Press television footage shows some eight people pushing and shoving in one scrum. Two people scuffled on the floor, while others tried to separate them. More than a dozen activists in bright yellow shirts chanted and waved signs on a nearby balcony, and several of them splashed water onto lawmakers below. A few water bottles were thrown into the fray.

Some DPP lawmakers object to the idea of any nuclear referendum at all, while others say that the language in the bill needs to be changed because it is prejudicial. According to the bill under discussion, referendum voters would be asked to vote on whether they agree with the proposition that "the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant should be halted and that it not become operational."

Taiwan began transitioning away from a one-party martial law regime in 1987 and is regarded today as one of Asia's most vibrant democracies. But its political process has been undermined by occasional outbursts of violence in the legislature, much of which appears to be deliberately designed to score points among hardline supporters on either side of the island's longstanding political divide.

Cambodian Opposition Sets Conditions on Talks

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:26 PM PDT

Sam Rainsy, president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, leaves after meeting with King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on Aug. 1, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Samrang Pring)

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's opposition party insisted Thursday that an independent committee to investigate cheating in this week's election must be established before it holds talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party on resolving differences in establishing a new government.

The opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party declared its conditions in response to Hun Sen's offer to hold party-to-party talks and support the probe into the polls.

Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party has said the provisional election results show it winning 68 of the National Assembly's 123 seats, with remaining 55 going to the opposition party.

The opposition party wants an investigation into voting irregularities, claiming that more than 1 million people may have been deprived of their right to vote. On Wednesday it staked a claim of its own to winning a majority of 63 assembly seats.

The preliminary tally of the popular vote, released Thursday by the government-appointed National Election Committee, showed Hun Sen's party with 3,227,729 votes and the opposition with 2,941,133, with less than half-a-million other votes shared among six other parties that failed to capture any seats.

Even with a minority of seats, the opposition holds considerable leverage, because if it does not show up at parliament, the assembly will lack a quorum to open the new session and no government can be formed.

Hun Sen could then head a caretaker government until the deadlock is broken or try to find a loophole allowing parliament to convene, which could raise tensions inside the country and with foreign aid donors.

The prime minister's offer of talks came Wednesday in his first public comments since the election, which even by his own party's tally showed the opposition making a surprisingly strong gain from the 29 seats it held before.

Hun Sen's remarks, while conciliatory and appealing the need for national unity, did not include any real concessions aside from his agreement that setting up a body to probe electoral irregularities could be productive.

Opposition spokesman Yim Sovann said a dialogue between the parties could take place after the independent bipartisan group it proposed to the National Election Committee was established to investigate widespread reports of people being unable to cast their ballots.

"But at the moment the priority task that we have to do now is to find justice for the people whose names disappeared from the voting list so they were unable to vote," he said.

He also said his party had not yet received any direct request from the ruling party to hold discussions, and knew of the offer only from press accounts of Hun Sen's remarks.

Speaking earlier to Radio Australia, opposition leader Sam Rainsy sought to link his party's claim of victory and an investigation into voting problems.

"Yes, we accept to do dialogue, to talk, but the objective is to establish and to expose the truth, nothing less because we can move forward only once the truth is recognized by everybody, and the truth is that the ruling party after ruling Cambodia for 34 years has lost this election, and there is a democratic change under way in Cambodia," he said.

He added that talks with the ruling party could be held "very soon."

With a nod to Hun Sen's reputation as one of Asia's wiliest politicians, he said he had been "dealing with Prime Minister Hun Sen for 20 years, so what is important is deeds, not only words. So we have to be very careful and we want the international community to witness and the United Nations to be a referee."

Sam Rainsy later led a group of his party's leaders to see the King Norodom Sihamoni, with whom they met for more than an hour.

It was a royal pardon from the king that allowed Sam Rainsy to return from four years of exile earlier this month without facing a jail term on convictions the opposition charged were politically concocted. The king is a virtually powerless constitutional monarch, and issued the pardon at the behest of Hun Sen.

However, associating himself with the king could offer some political benefit to Sam Rainsy, as the monarchy is generally well-regarded by Cambodians, largely because of the respect they had for Sihamoni's father and predecessor, Norodom Sihanouk, who led the country into independence from France and in his later years tried to temper Hun Sen's authoritarian tendencies.

Japan Finance Minister Under Fire for Nazi Comment

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:17 PM PDT

Japan's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso attends an Asian Development Bank meeting in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, on May 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

TOKYO — Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso has retracted comments suggesting Japan should follow the Nazi example of how to change the country's constitution, following protests by neighboring countries and human rights activists.

But on Friday, Aso said he stands by all his other remarks in the speech and refused to resign as cabinet minister or lawmaker. He also refused to offer an apology over the remark.

"I have no intention to step down," Aso told reporters.

Aso drew outrage for saying Japan should learn from how the Nazi party stealthily changed Germany's constitution before World War II before anyone realized it, and for suggesting that Japanese politicians should avoid controversy by making quiet visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine.

Aso said Thursday that he was misunderstood and only meant to say that loud debate over whether Japan should change its postwar constitution, and other issues, is not helpful.

"It is very unfortunate and regrettable that my comment regarding the Nazi regime was misinterpreted," Aso told reporters. "I would like to retract the remark."

Aso, who is also deputy prime minister, made the comments about Nazi Germany during a speech Monday in Tokyo organized by an ultra-conservative group.

Critics of the ruling Liberal Democrats are uneasy over the party's proposals for revising the US-inspired postwar constitution, in part to allow a higher profile for Japan's military.

Japan and Nazi Germany were allies in World War II, when Japan occupied much of Asia and Germany much of Europe, where the racial supremacist Nazis oversaw the killings of an estimated 6 million Jews before the war ended in 1945 with their defeat. Japan's history of military aggression, which included colonizing the Korean Peninsula before the war, is the reason its current constitution limits the role of the military.

According to a transcript of the speech published by the newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Aso decried the lack of support for revising Japan's pacifist constitution among older Japanese, saying the Liberal Democrats had held quiet, extensive discussions about its proposals.

"I don't want to see this done in the midst of an uproar," Aso said, according to the transcript. Since revisions of the constitution may raise protests, "doing it quietly, just as in one day the Weimar constitution changed to the Nazi constitution, without anyone realizing it, why don't we learn from that sort of tactic?"

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said that postwar Japan has consistently supported peace and human rights.

"Cabinet ministers should fully understand their role and make sure to avoid misleading remarks," Suga said Friday. He said Aso has already retracted the Nazi comment and doesn't have to resign.

Aso often speaks in a meandering style that has gotten him in trouble for off-the-cuff remarks in the past. He has apologized previously for accusing the elderly of being a burden on society, joking about people with Alzheimer's disease, saying the ideal country would be one that attracts "the richest Jewish people," and comparing the opposition Democratic Party of Japan to the Nazis.

On Thursday, Aso insisted that he was referring to the Nazis "as a bad example of a constitutional revision that was made without national understanding or discussion."

"If you listen to the context, it is clear that I have a negative view of how the Weimar constitution got changed by the Nazi regime," he said.

"This is a constitution for all," Aso said. "I just don't want [the revision] to be decided amid a ruckus."

The Nazis' rise to power in the early 1930s amid the economic crisis brought on by the Great Depression was facilitated by emergency decrees that circumvented the Weimar constitution. So was Adolph Hitler's seizure of absolute power after he was made chancellor in 1933.

It was not a matter of revising but of abusing the constitution.

Opposition leaders condemned Aso's remarks, saying they showed a lack of understanding of history and hurt Japan's national interest. Some demanded Aso resign.

Aso's comments "sounded like praise for Nazi actions and are totally incomprehensible," said Akihiro Ohata, secretary general of the Democratic Party.

"Minister Aso's ignorance about historical facts is so obvious," said Seiji Mataichi, secretary general of the Social Democratic Party. "I also want to remind him that praising the Nazis is considered a crime in EU nations."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a group dedicated to keeping alive the history of the Holocaust, urged Aso to "immediately clarify" his remarks.

"What 'techniques' from the Nazis' governance are worth learning? How to stealthily cripple democracy?" Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement.

"Has Vice Prime Minister Aso forgotten that Nazi Germany's ascendancy to power quickly brought the world to the abyss and engulfed humanity in the untold horrors of World War II?"

In South Korea, Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said Aso's remark "will obviously hurt many people."

"I believe Japanese political leaders should be more careful with their words and behavior," Cho said.

In China, which also suffered invasion and occupation by Japanese imperial troops before and during the war, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the comments showed that "Japan's neighbors in Asia, and the international community, have to heighten their vigilance over the direction of Japan's development."

Hong also objected to Aso's comments on visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's 2.3 million war dead, including 14 wartime leaders convicted of war crimes.

Aso urged lawmakers in his speech to visit the shrine at times other than the closely watched anniversary of the end of the war on Aug. 15 to avoid diplomatic flare-ups.

"We demand that Japan seriously contemplate history, remain committed to promises it made on historical issues, and take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community," Hong said.
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