Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Youth Groups Plan Marches, Concerts to Mark International Day of Peace.

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 07:42 AM PDT

Activists, including Generation Wave President Moe Thway, rally to mark the International Day of Peace last year. (Photo: Moe Thway / Facebook)

RANGOON — An umbrella organization for youth-led civil society groups across Rangoon is planning a march from City Hall to the People's Park on Saturday, the International Day of Peace.

Saturday's all-day event will also involve readings, games, traditional dance, music and celebrity performances—centered on the theme of peace and national reconciliation, at the park. More events tied to the International Day of Peace, including a rock concert, are planned by different groups for Sunday and Monday.

Peace Loving People, a collection of over 50 groups whose work targets everything from gay rights to democracy capacity building and ethnic women's issues, will use this year's event to call for a national reconciliation convention.

Lead organizer Moe Thway said it is hoped Saturday's events will build on the momentum and push for a national convention, one of the main goals to come out of August's Silver Jubilee Memorial of the 8-8-88 Democracy uprising.

Speaking after a recent plenary meeting, Moe Thway said that the country's youth are frustrated by the prolonged fighting in the country.

"We have everything," he said, citing Burma's plentiful natural and human resources. "But we spend our time, our lives, our money and our resources on this f—ing crazy civil war. We kill each other, and no one gets anything. If we cannot stop this civil war in our age, the civil war will stop everything [in] our future."

Moe Thway is also the President and co-founder of Generation Wave, a youth activist group known for using music, graffiti and other forms of activism to demonstrate against Burma's government.

Last year, as many as 2,000 people joined an event in Rangoon to mark the International Day of Peace. The event ended with criminal charges against several of the organizers for violating section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, which requires official permission for public gatherings.

Moe Thway has now appeared in court 130 times and still faces 10 charges from last year's events.

This year, authorities have encouraged the organizers to apply for permits, promising them that if they apply officially, they will receive permission, Moe Thway said. Organizers have received positive feedback about the event from as high up as the President's Office, but are still negotiating for the actual permits.

"We just want to organize a public movement for peace," he says. "We don't want to break the law."

However, if permits do not come through, Moe Thway insists the planned events will go ahead.

The people will act like a mirror to the government, he says. "If they smile, we will smile."

Moe Thway, himself a rock musician, has even written and released a song titled "The Whole Nation Reconcile," the official slogan of Saturday's events.

"Everybody who loves peace can join us," says Moe Thway.

The events at People's Park will start at 9 a.m. and will last until 6 p.m.  People who want to participate in the march will start gathering at City Hall at 11 a.m., and the march will begin at noon.

Also marking the International Day of Peace this weekend, another group of youth peace advocates and musicians will hold a rally Sunday and a concert Monday featuring well-known rock singers Zaw Win Htut and Mee Mee Khel, and Reggae musician Saw Phoe Khwar.

Fanny Rockman, a Karen singer who is an organizer for the upcoming peace concert said the events were not political.

"We are not doing politics. We are doing it for peace," she said. "We can individually initiate the peace with feeling from our hearts. This is our dream. We can make our dream come true."

She said that young peace advocates will march Sunday and deliver stickers with peace logos to the public and paint messages of peace onsigns. The peace concert will be held at the National Theater on Monday evening.

"Our country is starved of peace," said Saw Phoe Khwar. "The country is not peaceful, not because of war alone, but also national and religious-based conflicts. Peace will prevail if we all have peace in our hearts."

The peace advocates will donate the proceeds of the concert to the war-affected people in the countryside, including in Kachin State. They plan to travel to Kachin State—where fighting between the government and ethnic Kachin fighters have recently clashed—to share their music with government troops and provide them with guitars.

"We also want to show how much the youth get involved in the peace process. What can make hearts melt is music. That's why we initiated the peace concert," said Lin Htet, another organizer.

The post Youth Groups Plan Marches, Concerts to Mark International Day of Peace. appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Authorized Apple Sellers Must Compete With Black Market Counterparts

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 07:29 AM PDT

A family sits in front of a computer store in Rangoon in May, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON—New stores selling Apple computer products are hoping to tap into Rangoon's nascent consumer class, but these authorized distributers say they face competition from so-called black market competitors offering lower prices.

An authorized reseller of Apple's laptop and desktop computers, mDrive—part of conglomerate Make It Happen International—is set to launch on Sept. 28 at downtown's Junction Maw Tin shopping center.

Myat Htoo, president and CEO of Make It Happen International, told The Irrawaddy he is hopeful that the store will be a success.

"Actually, we expect people queuing in front of the shop," he said, adding that he was certain wealthier Burmese would take to Apple computers, whose popularity elsewhere has made US-based Apple Corp. the world's second most valuable company.

"I think there is a market for Apple [in Burma]."

Myat Htoo expects to open one more store in Rangoon soon, before expanding to Mandalay and Naypyidaw. He also hopes to get permission to sell Apple's tablets and smartphones in Burma in the near future.

But Apple computers are already available in Rangoon. They are sold in numerous stores without authorized reseller status, alongside products from most other world-renowned electronic brands, often at prices well below the prices in neighboring countries.

According to Myat Htoo, the only way these retailers are able to sell them at such prices is by "smuggling" them into Burma. Goods are brought in, undeclared at customs, from low-tax regimes like in Hong Kong, he said.

"There's no commercial tax that they pay, there is no import tax that they pay, and there is no VAT that they pay as well. So with these three taxes, if you miss it, if you can go around it, it will be very cheap," he said.

Authorized retailers like mDrive, however, have to pay all applicable taxes, which can amount to between 10 and 12 percent of the cost of the product and importing costs combined, he said.

Although he said prices in the store were not yet set, Myat Htoo said mDrive's prices would not be more than 1 or 2 percent higher than buying authorized Apple goods in Bangkok or Singapore, and said paying more for the products than at unauthorized dealers would be worthwhile for customers.

"I think people will find it more expensive, about $10 more expensive than what we call the black market. The problem is, if you go and buy from the black market, there's no warranty. They don't do warranty service for you, but we will do warranty service," he said.

Myat Htoo says his store will be the first authorized reseller, but One Futureworld Myanmar, a store based in Sakura Tower that bears the brand Futureworld—a regional Apple retailer—has been open since February.

The store sells laptops, desktop computers and iPod MP3 players and carries an "Authorized Reseller" Apple sign. Assistant store manager Cherry Aung said the store had been officially authorized by Apple last month.

"The middle class and high class are interested in Apple," she said.

She also said that the store had to charge higher prices that other shops in Rangoon, since they pay all relevant taxes on products brought into the country.

However, she said, "Most of the people want to buy at the authorized reseller because they want the warranty."

The cheapest model of the Macbook Pro laptop sells for US$1,749 at Futureworld, but Macbook Pros can be found for less than $1,300 elsewhere in Rangoon.

The man behind mDrive, Myat Htoo, said it was likely smuggling would mean cheaper Apple products will be available in Burma for another year or two. However, he said, the government, aware that it is losing out on tax revenue, had set up teams at customs checkpoints to tackle the problem.

"Now, [the authorities] have a new group to go and check. They are trying to fix the leak of the smuggling into Myanmar," he said.

"Let's say, in the past, if you carry 10 iPads into the country, the customs wouldn't say much to you. Now, these guys go to chase them at customs, so they start to tighten it up."

The post Authorized Apple Sellers Must Compete With Black Market Counterparts appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Promote a Professional Military

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 07:10 AM PDT

Burma's army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops during a parade to mark the 67th anniversary of Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw on March 27, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun)

RANGOON — Burma marks an important anniversary on Wednesday that can be called Black September 18, as the country's streets were stained with blood exactly 25 years ago following a brutal military coup d'état.

The military staged two coups over decades of dictatorship—in 1962 and 1988—which traumatized the Burmese people and obliterated the country's political, social and economic systems. Today, two years into President Thein Sein's term, no-one can guarantee that Burma will not face another military overthrow in the future. But to guard against a repeat of such a terrible experience, the country can take a concrete step: It can reform the military, known as the Tatmadaw, into a professional force.

This would not be an easy task, but it is possible—and crucial. Only then can the military leave its current place in Parliament and the ministries, returning to where it belongs—the barracks.

Burma's military has never been fit to govern, but consecutive military leaders since the 1962 coup have strongly opposed any exit from the political arena. Indeed, for 53 years the country has been ruled by generals—Gen Ne Win led a caretaker government from 1958 until 1960, and after seizing power in 1962 his Revolutionary Council ran a socialist state until 1988. After the coup that year, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) took control, changing its name later to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Even after the regime stepped aside for the current quasi-civilian government in 2011, with ex-general Thein Sein now in power, former generals continue to run the government while former high-ranking military officials dominate Parliament.

Since the formation in 1941 of the Burma Independence Army—the country's first national army, which played a crucial role in the struggle against British colonialism—the military has been extremely influential in Burma. After achieving independence, people respected the armed forces founded by Bogyoke Aung San, the father of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. It was only after the 1962 coup that the military's reputation dropped, going from bad to worse in 1988.

Kyaw Zwa Moe is editor (English Edition) of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at kyawzwa@irrawaddy.org.

Despite nationwide demand for change, it seems unlikely that the military will return to the barracks in the near future, even after the 2015 elections. The 2008 Constitution guarantees a solid position for the military above the democratic system—reserving 25 percent of seats in Parliament for unelected military representatives—and the generals will not let go easily of that entitlement.

Change will take time, but in the short term we can encourage military leaders to promote a more professional force. The military's sole responsibility should be to protect the country, not to govern it from Naypyidaw.

In recent months, Thein Sein's government has indicated a desire to resume military ties with Western countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. During Thein Sein's trip to London in mid-July, Britain agreed to focus on human rights and accountability in its relations with Burma's military.

"Reforming the Burmese military and pursing a sustainable peace process will be key to Burma's stability and prosperity," British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement. "The focus of our defense engagement will be on developing democratic accountability in a modern armed forces, and we have offered training for the Burmese military to this end."

This month US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also met Lt-Gen Wai Lwin of Burma's armed forces on the sidelines of a regional conference in Brunei—the first bilateral meeting between the two countries. The Obama administration seems to believe that military-to-military ties will help Burma work toward justice and improve relations between civilians and the armed forces.

Of course, as critics have said, Western governments should be careful in collaborations with the Burmese military, which has committed grave human rights violations in the past and continues to face allegations of widespread rights abuses. Hopefully Western militaries will keep their objectives clear and maintain their promise to offer nonlethal training only.

In that case, military-to-military relations could help Burma's armed forces become more professional. But real success in this regard will depend completely on how Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Burma's military, envisions the future. He and his generals certainly will not make any quick decisions to withdraw their officers from the political arena. Indeed, a basic principle of the Constitution's first chapter says the country's consistent objectives include enabling defense services to participate in national political leadership.

As long as the military continues to do what it shouldn't, Burma will likely face political problems, as it has for more than half a century.

It is high time to seriously reform the armed forces—current military leaders, including Min Aung Hlaing, should examine just how low they have fallen in the eyes of the nation and the international community over the past five decades. If those leaders can turn their troops into a professional force, they can regain the respect that the military once earned under Gen Aung San.

Eventually, when the military returns to the barracks, Burma will return to genuine normalcy, and its government will truly move toward democracy—with no military leaders in disguise.

The post Promote a Professional Military appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Monks Urge Burmese Govt to Apologize as Saffron Revolution Turns 6

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 06:14 AM PDT

Monks listen to remarks by democracy activist Ko Ko Gyi in Rangoon on Sept. 18, 2013, at an event commemorating the Saffron Revolution. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Buddhist monks urged the Burmese government to apologize for its actions six years ago as they commemorated the Saffron Revolution on Wednesday in Rangoon, where street protests in September 2007 were led by the revered religious leaders and brutally crushed by the ruling military junta.

"For the sake of the citizens of the country, we are thinking of lifting the boycott on offerings and [performance of] Buddhist rituals for government officials. For this, the government must officially apologize for what they did," said U Pyinnya Tayza, a Saffron Revolution participant, in a statement at a ceremony marking the pro-democracy protests.

The boycott by monks, who have refused to perform Buddhist rituals for government officials, military officers and their families, as well as rejecting any offerings from them, has been in place since Sept. 18, 2007.

"Lifting the boycott, however, must be decided by all the monks, depending on the reaction of the government," the statement said.

At the same time, the monks urged the government to continue to work toward building back the trust of the people, saying it should prioritize national reconciliation, the freeing of all political prisoners, and full access to human rights and democracy for all of Burma's citizens. The monks also urged the government to make an official overture to Burmese exiles, welcoming their return to the country.

"The current situation of our country, it can't be said that we are on the path to democracy. Although the so-called new government has ruled for about 30 months, we can't distinguish changes in the country yet," said U Sandar Thiri, another monk who participated in the Saffron Revolution, explaining why Wednesday's ceremony was held.

"Since trust between the government and its peoples has been broken for a long time, the government needs to work with a strong commitment to peace with the ethnic armed groups, as well as for national reconciliation and genuine democracy and improvements in the country," he added.

The monks also urged the Burmese people to avoid further communal violence, referring to clashes over the last 15 months that have largely pitted the nation's majority Buddhists against minority Muslims.

"Our country is just seeing the path to democracy so it is important to prevent the violence, because it may destroy our path to democracy," U Sandar Thiri said.

Galone Ni Sayadaw, a well-known Buddhist monk from Mandalay, said some of the monks who participated in the Saffron Revolution were being stigmatized by people fearful of being associated with the monks' pro-democracy reputation.

"There shouldn't be these kinds of incidents facing the monks who participated in Saffron if we say the country is changing," he said. "We can forgive but I want to see that justice is done for those who were responsible for the brutal crackdown."

The ceremony was attended by monks from Rangoon, Mandalay and Pakokku, including famous Buddhist monks who led the peaceful marches six years ago. National League for Democracy (NLD) member and veteran journalist Win Tin, and members of other political parties were seen at the ceremony. Leaders of the 88 Generation Students' group such as Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi were also present and gave remarks.

"The movements of the monks are very valuable for the country's history," Min Ko Naing said. "During that time, we were under interrogation and felt we were forgotten, but the movement of the monks encouraged us a lot. We can't deny that the movements of the monks played a part in the changes we see today."

Public dissatisfaction had started growing one month before the monks took to the streets en mass in 2007. A government reduction of fuel subsidies on Aug. 15, 2007, caused a rapid rise in commodity prices. During small demonstrations against the decision, 13 prominent activists including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Min Zeya and Ko Jimmy were arrested.

Monks in Pakokku, in Magwe Division of central Burma, kicked off what would be dubbed the Saffron Revolution when they marched through the streets and urged the government to reduce commodity prices and release the activists. Three monks involved in the Pakokku protest march were tied up and beaten by soldiers and government-backed thugs.

Word of the beatings spread among Burma's approximately 400,000 monks and the Sangha demanded an official government apology by Sept. 17.

When the deadline passed without an apology, the monks began their boycott. At the same time, thousands of monks took to the streets in Rangoon, Mandalay and other cities and towns across Burma. The movement grew in the following days and laymen walked behind them in support.

But on Sept. 26, a crackdown on the demonstrations began and the army opened fire on the unarmed protesters. Many protesters, including monks, were beaten and arrested, while several monasteries were raided and forced to shut down.

Dozens of people are believed to have died in the crackdown, although there are no confirmed figures. The government put the death toll at 13, the UN human rights envoy on Burma at the time said 31 people had died, while Democratic Voice of Burma reported that 138 people had been killed.

Sanay Linn contributed to this story.

The post Monks Urge Burmese Govt to Apologize as Saffron Revolution Turns 6 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Military Coup, 25 Years Ago, Heralded Brutal Reign of SLORC

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 05:25 AM PDT

A soldier orders the pro-democracy protesters to disperse in downtown Rangoon in 1988. Click on the box below to see more 1988 photos from the book

A soldier orders the pro-democracy protesters to disperse in downtown Rangoon in 1988. Click on the box below to see more 1988 photos from the book "Burma's Revolution of The Spirit." (Photo: Alain Evrard / Impact Photos)

RANGOON—A short statement announced on the radio 25 years ago today signaled the start of another dark chapter of despotic rule in Burma.

At 4 pm Sept 18, 1988, a male announcer on the state-run Burma Broadcasting Service proclaimed that, "in order to bring a timely halt to the deteriorating conditions on all sides all over the country … in the interests of the people, the defense forces have assumed all power in the state, effective from today."

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), comprising senior generals, had taken full government control through a coup, a power that the military would not relinquish for another two decades.

Following the takeover, the military stepped up its bloody crackdown to end the pro-democracy 8888 Uprising.

The popular protests had raged for months in 1988, as Burma's citizens tried to topple the old strongman Ne Win. With the takeover by the SLORC, the dictator's influence quickly began to wane.

The coup and its immediate aftermath prompted a fresh outburst of street protests that were met with state-sponsored violence, which resulted in hundreds of mostly peaceful, unarmed demonstrators being killed and wounded, and thousands of people being arrested and tortured.

Estimates later put the total death of toll of the numerous 1988 protests between 3,000 and 10,000.

During the coup, Gen Saw Maung repealed the 1974 Constitution and the 19-member SLORC became the sole ruling body of Burma. It was chaired by Gen Saw Maung, Maj Gen Khin Nyunt, the head of Burma's secret intelligence agency became Secretary-1, and Gen Than Shwe assumed the position of vice-chairman.

Now, 25 years on, only one of these three men, the 80-year-old, retired Gen Than Shwe is still considered influential. Saw Maung's grip on power slipped several years after the coup, and he died of a heart attack in 1997.

Khin Nyunt, a protégé of Ne Win, led the powerful, feared Military Intelligence unit until he was purged in 2004. After seven years under house arrest he was released. These days, Khin Nyunt mostly attracts media attention for his apparent change from feared spy chief to patron of the arts, after he opened up his own Rangoon art gallery.

After the 1988 coup, the English-speaking general held several press conferences to denounce the protestors, and Khin Nyunt is believed to have staged numerous crackdowns on political dissidents during his years in power. The 73-year-old has denied these claims in interviews in recent years, saying, "I didn't torture people, or put people in prison, but in the military we have to follow orders."

Gen Than Shwe, who is thought to have orchestrated the bloody crackdown on the monk-led Saffron Revolution in 2007, was Commander-in-Chief of Burma's armed forces for 19 years, before officially resigning from his position with the dissolution of the SLORC in 2011.

He handpicked Thein Sein, a former general, to become president of a nominally-civilian government that same year, as part a military-planned seven-step roadmap to democracy. Burma's Parliament was re-opened in January 2011, with lawmakers assembling for the first time since September 1988.

Since his retirement, Than Shwe has rarely been seen in public and he spends most his time "reading," according to Kyaw Hsan, the ex-information minister. Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) vice-chairman Htay Oo has said the reclusive former leader "lives peacefully" at home although still remains "interested in politics."

With a cabinet dominated by former officers, a Parliament where the majority of seats is held by former military men in the ruling USDP, and a quarter of all Parliament seats reserved for army officers, the military still retains a strong hold on political power in Burma.

The military-drafted 2008 Constitution serves to provide immunity for the SLORC's past crimes, while it ensures parliamentary veto powers for the army.

Win Tin, a co-founder of Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, said that a quarter of a century after the 1988 coup, Burma has yet to rid itself of military control on government.

"They have constitutional immunity and Parliament is toothless to kick them out," he said. "We can find no other way [to remove the military], until they are willingly to get out from politics through their own conscience."

Additional reporting by Htet Naing Zaw.

The post Military Coup, 25 Years Ago, Heralded Brutal Reign of SLORC appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai-Burma Road Link Blocked by Dawei Protesters

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 04:55 AM PDT

Protesting villagers in Burma are seen laying a blockade of the road that links Dawei to Thailand. (Photo: Facebook / CSLD)

The main road link from Kanchanaburi in Thailand to Burma's Dawei special economic zone has been blocked by local villagers protesting Italian-Thai Development, a Thai construction firm that they accuse of failing to pay compensation for lands confiscated to build the road.

The blockade, in the Dawei district village of Thabyu Chaung, has been ongoing since Sept. 9, according to the Dawei Development Association (DDA). Thant Zin, who is the coordinator for the DDA, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the villagers have threatened to continue blocking the road and would begin farming the land by the end of the month if the company fails to pay compensation.

"In the meantime, they [protesting locals] only allow vehicles transporting medical patients and senior officials from ITD who are traveling to the seaport. They do not allow vehicles transporting workers from the project or materials for construction," Thant Zin said.

The road link spans 132 kilometers across Kanchanaburi Province in Thailand to Dawei, in Burma's Tenasserim Division. The route passes through seven villages where local residents claim that they have not yet received compensation for land confiscated in order to build the road.

The civic group Community Sustainable Livelihood and Development (CSLD) represented the local villagers at a press conference in Dawei on Tuesday.

"The group asked the company to set an exact future date for when they would pay compensation if the company cannot pay right now."

The DDA reported that local villagers first asked the company for compensation in July, but received no response from Italian-Thai. The Sept. 9 blockade marked an escalation of tactics in the complainants' second attempt at redress.

A statement accompanying Tuesday's press conference stated that CSLD committee members would hold a meeting with the two local political parties, local authorities and Italian-Thai company representatives on Sept. 28 in Dawei Township to discuss the compensation concerns. Leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU), the ethnic armed group that controls the territory in which the seven villages lie, are also expected to attend the meeting.

If the end of the month gathering does not resolve their grievances, the villagers have threatened to reclaim their former lands.

"They say they will put up fences on their own land and grow trees again to block the road if the company does not pay compensation," Thant Zin said.

About 80 families from the villages of Mitta, Kalit Gyi, Kha Tuang Ni, Pyinthataw, Thapyu Chaung, Yepoe and Titkatoe are awaiting compensation, according to DDA. The villagers say the road's construction destroyed land on which they grew betel nut, rubber, and cashew nuts, providing the main source of income for local communities. The road was built in 2010.

Italian-Thai has so far paid compensation to 111 families since 2010, according to DDA. The company has acknowledged but failed to address the recompense demands of 34 other families whose farmlands were destroyed by construction of the road.

"We found there are 34 families on the list from the company that they have to pay compensation, but they have not paid the victims yet. More than 40 other families were not on their compensation list," said Thant Zin.

Italian-Thai has been granted a 75-year concession to develop the special economic zone (SEZ) and deep-sea port in Dawei. Local right groups have long claimed that the project has led to land rights abuses, including forced evictions.

Thailand plans to turn the Dawei deep-sea port into a massive industrial complex that will provide Burma's more economically advanced neighbor with imported energy and a new conduit for its exports. The area will be administered as an SEZ under an agreement reached between Burma and Thailand in 2008.

The post Thai-Burma Road Link Blocked by Dawei Protesters appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Rangoon Govt Puts Cap on Rising Property Prices

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 04:41 AM PDT

Rangoon's landmark Shwedagon Pagoda can be seen in the distance from a Yadanar Myaing construction site on the Kandawgyi ring road. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Skyrocketing land values in Rangoon will be capped by the government starting next month, Rangoon Division officials announced this week.

The division's Committee for Properties said this week that it set caps for land values in Burma's commercial capital and surrounding townships that would go into effect on Oct. 1.

The land values—calculated per square foot as assessment rates—will be set street by street, rather than township by township, as they were set in the past.

Thirty-eight townships in the division will be covered, including 33 townships under the jurisdiction of the Rangoon municipal administration.

The new assessment rates will be used to determine property taxes.

According to the tax system, which was revised last year, property buyers pay a tax equivalent to 37 percent of the assessment rate, while property sellers pays a tax equivalent to 7 percent.

The highest land values are in Bahan Township, known locally as the Golden Valley, where many Burmese tycoons own homes. Land values will be capped at 325,000 kyats (US$350) per square foot in the township, with a minimum rate of 35,000 kyats ($40) per square foot.

Other expensive townships are Dagon, Mayangone, Kamaryut, Hlaing and Sanchaung, with a land value cap of 275,000 kyats per square foot. The six downtown townships—Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Pazuntaung and Botahtaung—come next, with a cap of 240,000 kyats per square foot.

Land on main roads is valued higher than land on small streets.

The government also announced caps for condominium values. Condominiums on main roads in commercial areas will be valued at 90,000 kyats to 100,000 kyats per square foot, with a cap of 150,000 kyats per square foot. Condominiums on smaller streets will be valued at 75,000 kyats to 85,000 kyats, with a cap of 140,000 kyats.

In residential areas, condominiums on main roads will be valued at 65,000 kyats to 75,000 kyats, while condominiums on small roads will be valued at 50,000 kyats to 65,000 kyats.

Land prices in Rangoon have soared since 2007, when another revision to the country's tax system saw property taxes significantly reduced from 50 percent to 15 percent. After assuming office in 2011, President Thein Sein's government began introducing a raft of economic reforms aimed at attracting foreign investment, spurring a further rise in Rangoon's land prices.

In some areas, market rate land prices are now more than 10 times higher than before the 2007 tax system change. The city's main commercial area—Kyauktada Township—has seen prices skyrocket to about 1.5 million kyats per square foot over the past five years.

Land in residential areas such as Bahan Township and along Pyay Road was valued at market rates between 500,000 kyats and 800,000 kyats, according to real estate reports. That compares to the government's new assessment rate cap of 350,000 kyats along Pyay Road.

"This is the first time the government has announced fixed prices for taxes street by street," Than Oo, a Rangoon-based real estate expert, told The Irrawaddy. "The government fixed prices township by township in the past, but now it's attempting to control the prices by collecting tax."

Demand for property in Rangoon—which was rising quickly over the past couple years—has become stagnant since the government announced it would fix land prices in the division, real estate industry sources say.

Kyaw Thu, a Rangoon-based real estate agent, said he expects property prices to drop over the next couple years, as developers continue to build, but he is skeptical that the government will be able to control the market for land.

"I expect that apartment prices will be down in 2015—some more construction projects will be finished at that time," he said. "But land cannot be imported from abroad, so land prices will be as usual.

The Rangoon Division Committee for Properties set the new land value caps with the Rangoon municipal administration, the Internal Revenue Department, the General Administration Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Myanmar Police Force, the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, and the Department of Land Records under the Ministry of Finance and Revenue.

The post Rangoon Govt Puts Cap on Rising Property Prices appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Investors in Burma Telecom Sector Face ‘Corrupt, Crony Practices’: Report

Posted: 18 Sep 2013 04:22 AM PDT

A man talks on his mobile phone by the street side of Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters)

A tangled web of cronyism and corruption awaits foreign telecom companies investing in the development of Burma's mobile telephone network, an international business risks report warns.

The state-controlled Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT), which will oversee the development, "appears to have preferential arrangements" with a clutch of Burmese businesses linked either to current influential politicians or the former military regime, said Maplecroft, a UK-based research and strategic forecasting company.

It named Burmese firms Red Link Communications, owned by the two sons of Shwe Mann, speaker of the Union Parliament; Forever Group, whose chief executive Winn Maw is an adviser to the Information Ministry; and SkyNet, owned by Shwe Than Lwin Company, which had strong links with the former military regime and also has partnerships with the Information Ministry, notably in a broadcasting venture.

Red Link is a phone networking services business. SkyNet operates satellite television services, especially international football matches.

"Such vested interests preclude the existence of a level playing field, and, as a result, investors are forced to partner with local businesses heavily engaged in corrupt business practices," said Maplecroft's report "Risks Await Entrants into Myanmar's Telecoms Market," seen by The Irrawaddy this week.

It described the MPT as "one of the most corrupt institutions in Myanmar."

The main licenses to develop Burma's mobile telephone infrastructure were awarded in June to Ooredoo of Qatar and Norway's Telenor from a bidding list of 11 shortlisted companies. Telenor is majority-owned by the Norwegian government.

They have been set a target date of 2016 to expand Burma's mobile telephone network to reach 80 percent of the estimated 55 million population. At present only 5 percent of Burmese have access to a phone, mobile or fixed, MPT has said.

However, official figures do not include a "sizeable black market in SIM cards and internet services," said the report.

"Investors working with business conglomerates owned or backed by the military in [Burma] are at particularly severe risk of association with illegal or unethical practices," says the report.

"Companies may find that their vendors or sub-contractors in [Burma] are controlled by the military-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) or the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL). Both conglomerates are notorious for corruption, unethical business practices, use of forced labour and other human rights abuses."

"A parallel cause for concern is the announcement in late July 2013 that MPT would award a telecom license to MEC. The entry of MEC is likely to skew the telecoms market, given that [it] could benefit unduly in terms of access to infrastructure and speedy government approvals," said Maplecroft.

Telenor Myanmar began an employee recruitment program in August, with some reports saying the company could provide jobs for up to 3,000 Burmese. However, two thirds of jobs would be for service and sales vendors who "will be employed by partner companies," the firm said.

"Telenor Myanmar is adopting a multi-phased approach that is aligned with its business plan and that will enable the company to recruit resources in a way that matches its business milestones," a company statement said in August.

The first phase of recruitment running until the end of September will "focus on the company's immediate need for experienced, management-level candidates to build up a strong leadership team that will be responsible for developing strategies and managing the company's commercial launch and roll-out".

Many of the senior management now with Telenor Myanmar in Rangoon have been sent from the Norwegian firm's subsidiary, DTAC, Thailand's second-biggest mobile phone network provider based in Bangkok.

They include Prathet Tankuranun, appointed chief technology officer for Telenor Myanmar; Sharad Mehrotra appointed chief marketing officer; and Tipayarat Kaewsringarm as head of personnel, Bangkok's The Nation newspaper reported.

Ooredoo said in mid-August it was still assembling a senior management team in Burma.

Both Telenor and MPT have signed equipment supply agreements with a controversial Chinese electronic equipment maker, Huawei Technologies.

"Huawei has repeatedly come under fire in Western countries over suspicions of links to the Chinese government and being involved in espionage," the International Business Times reported in August.

"Last fall, the US House Intelligence Committee issued an extensive report discouraging American companies from buying Huawei equipment. Last year, Australia banned the Chinese company from bidding for its national broadband fiber network because of security concerns."

There is no direct evidence of Huawei being controlled by the Chinese government, but it has periodically been given state financial support and has expanded enormously to become the world's biggest telecommunications equipment maker after overtaking Ericsson of Sweden in 2012 in terms of turnover and production.

Huawei describes itself as a collective owned by its workforce of 140,000 worldwide.

There have been reports, though not confirmed, that Ooredoo is negotiating with Huawei.

Senior management at Telenor Myanmar and Ooredoo could not be reached to comment on the Maplecroft risks report.

In August, Ooredoo's senior manager in Burma, Ross Cormack, said his company intended to work to demonstrate a "strong commitment to corporate responsibility.

"We will work hard to make a difference in all of the communities across [Burma] and to care for the wellbeing of our customers," Cormack said.

Ooredoo has pledged US$60 million in "corporate responsible investment" in Burma over the next ten years in education and health care.

The post Investors in Burma Telecom Sector Face 'Corrupt, Crony Practices': Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma’s State-Backed Telcos Seek Backing to Take on New Rivals

Posted: 17 Sep 2013 10:41 PM PDT

A staff member talks on the phone at the reception desk at the Yatanarpon Teleport (YTP) office in Rangoon on Sept. 17, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — Burma's two state-backed telecommunications operators are seeking investors to put in more than US$1 billion as they prepare to compete with foreign newcomers, Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo.

Telenor and Ooredoo won the bidding for two new licenses in June to provide telecoms services in the country but are still waiting for final approval, expected this month, so they can start building their networks.

Meanwhile two state-backed firms—Yatanarpon Teleport (YTP) and Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT)—already hold active licenses. YTP functions primarily as an Internet service provider while MPT, a department of the Communications Ministry, acts as both a regulator and operator.

But Burma has the lowest mobile market penetration rate in the world and of its population of about 60 million, 9 percent at most have a mobile phone.

Tin Win, chief executive of YTP, said the formerly state-owned enterprise had recently been privatized, with the government's stake limited to 5 percent. He did not give details about the privatization process and declined to say who now owns the rest of YTP.

He said he was waiting for the government to announce new licensing and radio spectrum fees before determining the exact amount of capital the company will need to develop its operations.

“We estimate the investment is going to be a minimum $1 billion,” he told Reuters. He declined to say how the company planned to raise the capital.

MPT, which operates the only existing telecoms network, said it was looking for investment but declined to say how much.

The government plans to hive off the regulatory side of MPT and privatize the operator division within two years, with the new company called Myanmar Telecommunications Corporation.

The state will own 12 percent of the new company, said a senior MPT official who requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Test Case

He said MPT was discussing partnerships with companies from France, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.

The winners of June auction were selected from a shortlist of 11 bidders, whittled down from more than 90 companies and consortia that had expressed interest.

A partnership between Japan's Marubeni Corp and France's Orange was chosen as the runner-up in June's auction, ready to step in if Telenor or Ooredoo fell at the last hurdle.

Japan's KDDI and Singapore Telecommunications were among the companies shortlisted.

Tom Wright, a spokesman for Orange, said it had signed an agreement with MPT to connect its customers to Orange's roaming hub, which covers 150 countries. A spokeswoman for Singtel said the company "continues to seek opportunities in Burma."

The country's first telecoms auction had been seen as a test case for economic and political change initiated by the quasi-civilian government that came to power in 2011 after 49 years of military rule.

The huge investment needed and the uncertain returns caused at least one contender, the shortlisted partnership between China Mobile and Vodafone, to pull out.

Telenor told Reuters it was finalizing plans to share the cost of rolling out a network shared with other companies, which it declined to name until deals were signed.

Andreas Hipp, CEO of global communications company Epsilon, said he was surprised when shown a map of Burma's fiber optic network. "That kind of infrastructure a little village has in the south of England," he said.

Epsilon has signed a deal with YTP that Hipp said would give international companies higher quality connectivity to Burma. As YTP expands its network throughout Burma, offering faster Internet speeds, Epsilon will help it to connect businesses with the rest of the world, he said.

The post Burma's State-Backed Telcos Seek Backing to Take on New Rivals appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Philippine Police Officer Freed, Rebels Surrender

Posted: 17 Sep 2013 10:56 PM PDT

Residents taken as hostages and used as human shields by Muslim rebels are escorted by a soldier after being released in Zamboanga city, in the southern Philippines, on Sept. 17, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Erik De Castro)

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — A Philippine police chief who was reported abducted Tuesday by Muslim rebels has emerged free hours later after convincing his captors to surrender in a twist to a nine-day hostage standoff in the south of the country, officials said.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and police officials told a news conference that Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo and three of his men were taken at gunpoint while trying to persuade some Moro National Liberation Front rebels to surrender in fighting near Zamboanga city.

"While trying to convince them, he was taken into custody or held hostage but he kept on convincing them until he succeeded," Roxas told reporters.

The rebels said they had come from a nearby island to join a peaceful protest by their group in Zamboanga but withdrew after firefights erupted between government troops and their comrades, Roxas said, adding police would investigate their claims.

"The important thing here is he [Malayo] was able to enact the surrender," military spokesman Lt-Col Ramon Zagala said.

The surrender of about 20 rebels comes as government troops intensify an offensive to end the standoff that began Sept. 9 when the troops foiled a suspected plan by a larger group of rebels to take control of Zamboanga, a major port of nearly 1 million people about 860 kilometers (540 miles) south of Manila.

The military says it has recaptured 70 percent of the coastal areas occupied by the rebels and rescued more than 100 hostages.

About 64 hostages were freed or escaped during military operations early Tuesday, followed by another 14 who walked to freedom in separate batches. That brought to 116 the number of those rescued in the last 18 hours, Zagala said.

He said more than 100 Moro National Liberation Front rebels were still holding hostages in the remaining pockets they control in five coastal villages in Zamboanga.

Nearly 82,000 residents have fled the fighting into several emergency shelters, including the city's main sports complex.

President Benigno Aquino III has been in Zamboanga since Friday to oversee the handling of the worst security crisis his administration has faced since he came to power in 2010.

The Moro insurgents, led by Nur Misuari, signed a peace deal in 1996, but the guerrillas did not lay down their arms and later accused the government of reneging on a promise to develop long-neglected Muslim regions in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

The rebels have become increasingly restive in recent months as they've been overshadowed by a rival rebel group that engaged Aquino's government in peace talks brokered by Malaysia. Thiae talks have steadily progressed toward a new and potentially larger autonomy deal for minority Muslims in the south.

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila contributed to this report.

The post Philippine Police Officer Freed, Rebels Surrender appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

UN Investigators: North Korean Inmates Described ‘Unspeakable Atrocities’

Posted: 17 Sep 2013 10:33 PM PDT

Inmates in North Korea's prison camps suffered starvation and torture and described "unspeakable atrocities" comparable with Nazi abuses uncovered after the Second World War, UN investigators said on Tuesday.

GENEVA — Inmates in North Korea's prison camps suffered starvation and torture and described "unspeakable atrocities" comparable with Nazi abuses uncovered after the Second World War, UN investigators said on Tuesday.

Evidence in their report, swiftly rejected by Pyongyang, showed a disturbing pattern of human rights violations, said Michael Kirby, who chairs the independent inquiry.

The UN set up the inquiry into reports of abuses in March, following pressure by Japan, South Korea and Western powers to begin building a case for possible criminal prosecution.

Kirby said the preliminary findings were based on testimony from dozens of North Korean exiles, including former political prison camps inmates, given at public hearings in Seoul and Tokyo last month.

They were also backed up by satellite imagery of labor camps, he added. The team did not get permission to visit the country despite repeated requests.

"I believe you will be very disturbed and distressed by it and that you will have reaction similar to those of [US] General Eisenhower and the others who came upon the camps in post-war Europe," Kirby told reporters.

The situations in North Korea and Nazi Germany were not "exactly analogous," he said. But "an image flashed across my mind of the arrival of Allied soldiers at the end of the Second World War and the discovery of prison camps … in the countries that had been occupied by the Nazi forces."

The independent inquiry would seek to determine which North Korean institutions and officials were responsible, he added.

"The commission listened to political prison camp survivors who suffered through childhoods of starvation and unspeakable atrocities," he told the UN Human Rights Council earlier.

Some were being punished for alleged crimes committed by relatives from past generations under a policy of "guilt by association" he said.

The report did not say what kind of prosecution might be considered. North Korea is not a member of the International Criminal Court, but the UN Security Council can ask the Hague-based court to investigate alleged abuses by non-signatories.

North Korean diplomat Kim Yong-ho dismissed the inquiry as a "political plot" to force regime change in North Korea. It had been politicized by the European Union and Japan, "in alliance with the US hostile policy," Kim told the Geneva forum.

"We will continue to oppose any attempt of regime change and pressure under pretext of 'human rights protection,'" he said.

North Korea's main ally China, joined by Belarus and Syria, were among countries defending it during the 90-minute debate.

"Politicized accusations and pressures are not helpful to improving human rights in any country. On the contrary they will only provoke confrontation and undermine the foundation and atmosphere for international human rights cooperation," said Chinese diplomat Chen Chuandong.

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in January that North Korea's political prison camps may hold 200,000 or more inmates.

Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that there appeared to have been "some degree of consolidation" of the camps, estimating that they may now hold at 100,000 inmates or so, but it was too soon to say why or what had happened to some of them.

"There does appear to be a fall-off in the number of camps. There may be a fall-off in the number of prisoners. But why exactly that is is not entirely clear," he said.

One North Korean witness testified that he had been forced to "load the many corpses of prisoners who died of starvation, put them in a pot and burn them, scattering their ashes and remains on the nearby vegetation fields," he said.

Kirby, a former justice of Australia's top court, told the council: "I have been a judge for a very long time and I'm pretty hardened to testimony. But the testimony that I saw in Seoul and in Tokyo brought tears to my eyes on several occasions, including testimony of Mr. And Mrs. Yokota."

Their daughter Megumi Yokota, 13, vanished on her way home from school in Japan in 1977. She was one of 13 Japanese that Kim Jong-il, the late father of the current leader Kim Jong-un, admitted in 2002 to having kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies. Pyongyang has said eight of them are dead, including Megumi.

One North Korean woman testified how she "witnessed a female prisoner forced to drown her own baby in a bucket," Kirby said.

US ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe said in statement that the report had "begun to shed light on the horrifying realities of life in North Korea and raise international awareness of the ongoing tragedy and barbaric conditions there."

The post UN Investigators: North Korean Inmates Described 'Unspeakable Atrocities' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

EU Under Fire for Policy Linked to Land Grabbing in Cambodia

Posted: 17 Sep 2013 10:23 PM PDT

A family looks on as their huts are destroyed during an eviction in Cambodia's Koh Kong province a few years ago, when they were forced to make way for a sugar plantation. (Photo: boycottbloodsugar.net)

KAMPONG SPEU PROVINCE— Three years ago, Pao had a farm and a charcoal stove near a stream in a community called Omlaing in western Cambodia. The farm gave her rice, charcoal sales gave her extra income and the nearby forest provided edible and medicinal plants.

There was always enough food on the table. But in 2010, the bulldozers came, accompanied by troops from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

Pao and her fellow villagers were told their land had been leased to a company owned by Ly Yong Phat, a powerful senator and businessman with the ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP), for a sugarcane plantation.

Some villagers had documents proving they owned the land but even so, their homes were razed, their farms and forests ploughed over and their water diverted to irrigate the plantation.

Their story underscores the corruption, abuse of power and impunity for which Cambodia is notorious. It also suggests a European Union policy designed to alleviate poverty is exacerbating it, says a report published on Tuesday by two non-profits, Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International.

Pao, a 30-something mother whose name has been changed to protect her identity, went from being a farm and business owner to being a poorly paid laborer on a plantation that Cambodian rights groups say is exporting processed sugar duty-free to Europe under a preferential trade agreement.

Under the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement, adopted by the European Commission in March 2001, Cambodian goods can enter the EU without import duties or quotas and sugar exports are guaranteed a minimum price.

Other plantations owned by Ly Yong Phat's company – L.Y.P. Group – export through the EBA.

The EU says trade agreements like the EBA "bring real benefits to the people" and the preferential terms offered are "unmatched by any other developed country". Critics say the EBA has led to serious and systematic human rights abuses in the Cambodian sugar industry and further impoverished its people.

"Life is very difficult these days," Pao said, sitting outside her wooden hut and picking through her child's hair in search of head lice.

The sugar company resettled Pao and her neighbors in the shadow of Pis mountain, where it is difficult to farm because the plots are small and the soil sandy and rocky. The only school in the area was not open when Thomson Reuters Foundation visited on a weekday afternoon.

"We have to work nine hours a day (on the plantation) and they only give us 12,000 Riel ($3)," she said. "A kilo of fish costs 15,000 Riel."

Workers routinely faint under the blazing sun and Pao said she recently saw a neighbor coughing up blood.

"There are no unions or leaders to help us. Some of us were trying to ask for extra money but those who stood up were fired," she added.

EU Policy Fueling Land Grabs?

The EBA grants preferential access to the European market for all products from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), except arms and ammunitions.

In the years following the agreement, Cambodia has become a major sugar-producing nation.

The amount of land leased to industrial agricultural firms for sugar production jumped from a "negligible" amount to more than 100,000 hectares between 2006 and 2012, according to a human rights impact assessment of the EBA in Cambodia called Bittersweet Harvest, compiled by Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International.

All tariffs and quotas for sugar were phased out for EBA countries in 2009. Since then, the value of Cambodia's annual sugar exports jumped from $51,000 to $13.8 million in 2011, said the report, adding that 92 percent of exports went to the EU during this period.

"While the EU might not be driving the bulldozers, they are providing the gasoline by handing the perpetrators of violent forced evictions lucrative preferential access to the EU market," David Pred, a managing associate at Inclusive Development International and one of the report's authors, told Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In response to the report, the European Commission in Cambodia said the EU took "very seriously the issue of alleged land grabbing and forced evictions" relating to large-scale agro-industrial investments, adding there had been positive developments. These included a moratorium on new economic land concessions—large plots of land leased by the government to companies—and a large-scale land registration campaign to resolve land disputes, it said.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia Professor Surya P. Subedi named these developments as positive in a September report to the Human Rights Council, the commission said, but rights groups have criticized both initiatives as ineffective.

The commission added that the EU would follow the conclusions of the Human Rights Council and human rights monitoring bodies closely to find out whether any "serious and systematic violations" had occurred and would take appropriate action if this were the case.

Pred said that the three major sugar companies, including L.Y.P Group, that have displaced thousands of people in Koh Kong, Kampong Speu and Oddar Meanchey provinces had publicly stated that they developed operations in Cambodia to take advantage of the EBA.

The sugar industry has been "one of the worst offenders in Cambodia's land grabbing epidemic," with violent forced evictions and other human rights violations accompanying its development, the report said.

It documented how villagers had been harassed, threatened and tricked into parting with their land.

The 23,000-hectare plantation in Omlaing also violates a law limiting Economic Land Concessions to 10,000 hectares. It includes at least 2,200 hectares of farmland belonging to around 1,000 families and 2,000 hectares of community forest, according to Cambodian rights group LICADHO.

Even so, the sugar companies "have been able to peddle their goods in Europe where they are rewarded with lucrative EBA trade preferences," the report added.

The Sugar King

L.Y.P Group, along with Thai-owned KSL Group, Mitr Pohl Sugar Corp. also of Thailand and Taiwan's Ve Wong, is at the forefront of the sugar industry in Cambodia.

It controls 86,000 hectares including 10 sugar and rubber plantations and a special economic zone, accounting for about 4.3 percent of all land concessions nationwide, said LICADHO.

L.Y.P also agreed to provide financial support to six units of the army after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a plan under which companies would provide donations to units of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. Activists say L.Y.P. has used two of the six units it supports in forced evictions.

L.Y.P did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Pao didn't think of resisting when the bulldozers turned up. They offered her $25 and help to build a new house.

"The company didn't give us any options," she said, as neighbors milled around and children played on the dirt road. In the distance, the roof of the sprawling factory glistened in the sun. "You move with something or nothing. Those who fought were treated really badly," she added.

Nevertheless, some people have fought back, asking for fair compensation and recognition of their land rights, despite death threats and intimidation.

Pen Vichet and Sok Run, two farmers who are also local activists, lost five hectares of farmland between them. They have yet to receive any compensation.

"A hectare could produce about four tons of rice and you could get 1 million Riel ($250) for 1 tonne of rice," Vichet said. "When you lose the land, you lose everything."

The long-standing dispute between land owners and the sugar company has led to at least 100 protests and three orchestrated roadblocks, with 29 villagers charged in penal cases, LICADHO said.

Rights groups are calling on the EU to reform the EBA so trade preferences are only granted to beneficiaries that respect human rights. While Bittersweet Harvest acknowledged that the surge in Cambodian exports under the EBA had helped thousands of local people with jobs, predominantly in the garment and footwear industries, it said the price paid had been too high.

"This cannot justify … the destruction of thousands of other families' livelihoods", it said.

Prolonged Land Crisis

Land grabbing remains one of the most pressing human rights issues in Cambodia.

Land ownership is especially problematic in a country where legal documents were destroyed under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s. Pol Pot's regime abolished private property in a bid to create a communist agrarian utopia.

An estimated 80 percent of households in Cambodia today do not have land titles, leaving them vulnerable to land-grabbing by companies with powerful political connections.

Around 2.6 million hectares of land – an area larger than the country of Wales and close to 75 percent of Cambodia's total arable land – had been granted for Economic Land Concessions as of December 2012, said Pred.

This contrasts sharply with the less than 7,000 hectares of land allotted to land-poor and landless farmers for Social Land Concessions as of December 2011 under a donor-supported program.

Prime Minister Sen launched the new land-titling scheme in June 2012 in response to criticism but Human Rights Watch said the campaign, which involved the use of 1,600 student volunteers dressed in military uniforms, lacks transparency and accountability and is conducted in a bullying manner.

"There is more and more violence associated with land concessions since the military is increasingly being used as private security for concessionaires and the number of people arrested each year for protesting land grabs has doubled over the past two years," Pred said.

The government issued its moratorium on new land concessions in May but by June, LICADHO had documented the granting of at least 12 more concessions.

The post EU Under Fire for Policy Linked to Land Grabbing in Cambodia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)