The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Letpadaung Project Shouldn’t Resume, Say Farmers
• A Refuge for Girls and Women in Rangoon
• Development Risks Rangoon’s Architectural Heritage: Conservation Group
• KIO Invites Other Rebel Leaders to Laiza Ahead of Nationwide Ceasefire Conference
• 35 Buddhists, 13 Muslims Arrested for Thandwe Violence: Arakan Leader
• HTC Sets Out Stall in Burma’s Telecoms Market
• No Longer a Pariah, but Still Near the Back of the Pack
• Should Thein Sein Get the Nobel Peace Prize?
• Reports: Chinese Police Fire at Tibetan Protesters
• Maldives Urges Support for New Presidential Vote
• Obama: China Benefits From Missed Trip, U.S. Credibility Suffers

Letpadaung Project Shouldn’t Resume, Say Farmers Posted: 09 Oct 2013 05:47 AM PDT Locals at Letpadaung say a Chinese-backed copper mining project has is threatening their rural livelihoods. (Photo: Zarni Mann / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Farmers in Letpadaung, Sagaing Division, whose land was confiscated to make way for a Chinese-back copper mine, are demanding that the controversial project not be restarted this month. They say the company developing the mine—for which 7,800 acres of land in Sarlingyi Township has been confiscated—is not following the suggestions made by a parliamentary commission led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The commission investigated the project after it was suspended in November 2012 following a brutal crackdown on protesters. The highly unpopular mine is being developed by China's Wanbao in a joint venture with a Burmese military company. A deadline for locals to accept compensation passed at the end of September, and, although not all residents have agreed, Chinese state media has reported that the project resumed on Oct. 1. "Since there's no transparency yet and the mining company is not working according to the report of the Letpadaung investigation commission, the project should not be resumed," said Sandar, a farmer from Tone village. "The negotiations with the locals are not finished yet". Locals have also insisted that although major digging at the mine appeared to halt when the project was stalled, work has continued around the area. "The mining company said they would suspend their work, but, in reality, they keep working.  They are digging and dumping waste soil on the land where the landowners have not accepted compensation yet," Sandar said. On Sunday, about 300 farmers from 14 villages near the mine went to a liaison office opened by the parliamentary commission's implementation committee, located at New Hse Tae and Zee Taw village, to urge the mining company not to resume work. The farmers say fences are being erected on disputed land, and that the construction of an acid factory for processing copper is going ahead against the investigating commission's recommendation. "According to the report of the investigation committee, the mining company must find the solution to take care of the environment and the health of the people who live nearby," said local resident Win Htay. "But they have continued the construction of the acid factory since 2012. They are talking about transparency, but we know nothing about the new contract, about what they are doing or what the current status of the project is." Under new terms agreed on the project, the government takes a 51 percent stake in the mine. The military company Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd (UMEHL) now has a 30 percent stake and Wanbao 19 percent. Locals say they have lost land farmed by their families for generations, and are now forced to work in industries like brick manufacturing. "They said they will give jobs to those who lost their land, but in reality, the salary we earn from working with them is not enough to feed a family," Win Htay said. "We know nothing apart from planting crops, so that how can we get a good salary by working with them. We feel that they [the mining company] have no hearts." The farmers say they are also in the dark about the future of ancient religious buildings in the mining area that it is feared could be demolished. Last month, about 50 farmers and activists marched from Mandalay to Sagaing to call for the protection of a Buddhist ordination hall and temple established by influential monk Letti Sayadaw. The post Letpadaung Project Shouldn't Resume, Say Farmers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

A Refuge for Girls and Women in Rangoon Posted: 09 Oct 2013 05:30 AM PDT At a daycare run by the Myanmar Women's Development Association in Rangoon, two young girls embrace during a singing and dancing session. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Flipping through a notepad, Thida Win stops at a page whose lines are filled with the letter "B." The 40-year-old teacher is showing a 4-year-old girl how to form the letter, at a table with other children in a daycare not far from Shwedagon Pagoda. "I teach them Myanmar [language], but also how to write some English letters," Thida Win says, turning to another page in the girl's notebook with numbers. When the daycare closes, most of the children will go home to their parents in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city. But Thida Win and the 4-year-old girl—along with all the other teachers—will stay behind on the compound, where many of them have lived for years. The daycare is a project of the Myanmar Women's Development Association, a social welfare association that has run a shelter for orphaned and impoverished girls and women for more than 65 years. Eighty-five girls and women—some as young as 4, and a few in their 40s and 50s—live at the shelter today, in dormitories near the daycare center. While school-aged residents attend public schools during the day, some of the young adults get jobs in the city. Others receive teacher training from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement to operate the daycare, which is a source of income to support the women's shelter. Almost all of the 150 or so children in the daycare program live with their parents in Rangoon and pay a tuition fee, while a few of the children live at the shelter and attend for free. The Myanmar Women's Development Association was originally founded as the Burma Women Salvation League by a female politician, Khin Hla, in 1947, about 15 years before a military dictator seized power. Caring for homeless and helpless girls, the association intended to raise up women who could contribute to rebuilding the country, which would become independent from the British in 1948. Today, the shelter is run by a group of older women volunteers and self-employed social workers who take in girls and women from all over the country, including ethnic states that were torn apart by civil wars during military rule and continue to see outbreaks of fighting today. Some of the girls come from Arakan State, where communal violence between Muslims and Buddhists has devastated communities over the past year. Others were born in Chin State, the country's poorest state, or Karen State, where peace talks are ongoing after six decades of war. "My uncle told me to come here," says Kyin Kham, a 20-year-old who fled Shan State eight years ago amid fighting between rebel armed groups and the government army. Now pursuing a university degree in physics, she says her parents were too poor to care for her and her eight siblings. She is one of four women at the refuge center attending university. Dozens of the girls attend public basic education schools and high schools in Rangoon, while others receive vocational training. The women's association raises money for textbooks and school uniforms. The dormitories and daycare can be found where they were originally set up in 1947, up a slight hill at No. 17 Wingabar Street, near Kandawgyi Lake. Not far from the entrance stands the main building of the women's association, an impressive mint-green colonial style house that is reportedly 200 years old. On the front porch, a collection of blankets, pillows, and mattresses are for sale. These products—which are sewn by volunteers, with help from residents at the shelter who are not in school—are sold as another source of income. Most of the mattresses are purchased by hospitals in the city, says Khin Kyi Htay, 53, a frequent customer who decided about 15 years ago to start volunteering at the shelter. She says the women also sell homemade Burmese rice cakes, mohinga and other traditional cuisine to customers who place orders. Donations help keep the shelter going, with funding for the daycare from Unicef, the UN agency for children's rights. The Japan government and a Japanese NGO provided funds for one of the dormitories and the dining hall. But the secretary of the women's association, Yin Kyi, 67, says a lack of funding means the shelter cares for fewer girls today than it did six decades ago, when about 200 residents lived on the compound. "Money is a little less today," she says. "We don't get as many donations, and daycare attendance is lower." Despite difficulties, she has continued volunteering at the shelter for 35 years and has no plans to stop now. "I never had children of my own," she says. "I wanted to help." The post A Refuge for Girls and Women in Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Development Risks Rangoon’s Architectural Heritage: Conservation Group Posted: 09 Oct 2013 05:14 AM PDT The Secretariat building is perhaps the crown jewel of Rangoon's remaining colonial architecture. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Rangoon's architectural heritage has been recognized by the World Monuments Fund, which on Tuesday put Burma's largest city on its "Watch" list of places "at risk from the forces of nature and the impact of social, political, and economic change." In a counterargument to the largely positive narrative that has accompanied Burma's re-engagement with the West, the conservation group said Rangoon's religious and colonial-era sites are threatened by commercial interests intent on bringing high-rises and other modern development to a city long neglected by the former military regime—and outside investors. "Beautiful, century-old residential and commercial buildings, dilapidated from long neglect, are being torn down at an alarming rate," said the US-based Fund, which releases an updated Watch list biannually. Boasting Southeast Asia's single largest collection of surviving colonial architecture, Rangoon's low-rise skyline stands in contrast to regional capitals such as Jakarta and Singapore, where skyscrapers have sprung up amid economic boom times. Colonialism's architectural legacy has been replaced by glass and steel in much of the region, but decades of isolation and economic stagnation have spared many of the late 18th and early 19th century buildings in Rangoon. That doesn't mean they are in good shape, however, with most of the city's colonial buildings in varying states of disrepair. While the Fund says it has put US$54 million toward conservation efforts globally and helped to steer nearly $200 million in additional third-party funding to projects, no money will go immediately to programs in Rangoon. "But there are a few cases where financial and technical support on conservation projects follows after nomination," said Moe Moe Lwin, director of the Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT), which nominated Rangoon for the at-risk listing and is seeking to save as many of the old buildings as possible. "Inclusion on the Watch seeks to promote a thoughtful and well-balanced integration of cultural resources and new development as part of Yangon's public policy, so as to build the foundation for a dynamic urban life and landscape," the Fund said. One obstacle to this vision, among "hundreds of challenges," is simply figuring out which government body to approach with concerns about conservation for a given building, according to Thant Myint-U, founder and chairman of the YHT. "In terms of the government-owned buildings, which is a huge amount of the heritage property downtown, you have different ministries that own them," he told The Irrawaddy. "You have the Ministry of Construction, which is responsible for caretaking, and you have the city authorities, YCDC [the Yangon City Development Committee]." Aylin Orbasli, a British architect who has worked on conservation efforts in the United Kingdom and several other countries, gave a presentation last week in Rangoon on ways in which architectural heritage can serve as a cultural as well as economic asset, adding vibrancy to city life and boosting tourism revenues. Acknowledging a gauntlet of challenges in conservation efforts—from gentrification to finding ways to make an 18th century building useful in 2013—Orbasli said Rangoon faced "very solvable conservation problems." "You can't always continue a building's original function, but I think being creative in responses is key," she told The Irrawaddy. "There are whole monasteries in Italy that have been turned into conference centers." Thant Myint-U said the YHT had surveyed hundreds of buildings in Rangoon and would soon submit a list of suggested additions to the current YCDC list of 189 protected buildings in the city. "We already have a sense of maybe 20 or 30 buildings that should be urgently added to the existing list," he said. Rangoon's historical city center was among 67 sites in 41 countries identified in the World Monuments Fund list of at-risk heritage sites. The post Development Risks Rangoon's Architectural Heritage: Conservation Group appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

KIO Invites Other Rebel Leaders to Laiza Ahead of Nationwide Ceasefire Conference Posted: 09 Oct 2013 05:05 AM PDT Lt-Gen Myint Soe, commander of a government bureau of special operations that oversees military operations in Kachin State, sits with Minister Aung Min of the President's Office in Myitkyina. The government peace delegation is meeting with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) this week. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) MYITKYINA, Kachin State — The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) will likely join a nationwide ceasefire conference that the Burmese government plans to hold next month, and says it will organize a meeting with top leaders of other ethnic rebel groups before then. The KIO and the government peace delegation met for closed-door talks on Tuesday morning in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina. Following the talks, Aung Min, the minister leading the government delegation, said he expected the Kachin leaders to join the nationwide ceasefire conference in November along with representatives from other ethnic rebel groups. He said the KIO, one of two major rebel groups that has not signed an individual ceasefire agreement, had not rejected the government's invitation to the conference in Naypyidaw, but added that he did not expect the Kachin leaders to go so far as to sign a nationwide accord. Later in the day, the KIO said it would host a meeting before the nationwide conference with top leaders of other ethnic armed groups. The meeting, likely at the end of this month, would be held in the town of Laiza, where the KIO has its headquarters. Col Sai Lao Hseng, a spokesman for the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South), a rebel group in neighboring Shan State, told The Irrawaddy that the KIO's deputy chief of staff proposed this idea of an ethnic alliance meeting to Aung Min during the closed-door talks. "He [the KIO leader] said he wanted to host a meeting with all ethnic groups to discuss the nationwide ceasefire agreement," the Shan spokesman said. "U Aung Min also said he agreed with the plan. He is willing to join the talk if he is invited." The Karen National Union (KNU) of Karen State plans to send representatives to this meeting in Laiza, said KNU general-secretary Kwe Htoo Win. "It is important for ethnic groups to discuss our common interests and what we want to achieve with the nationwide ceasefire agreement, and what guarantees we want from political dialogue," he said. The KIO has been fighting on and off with the government army for decades, in a bid to achieve greater political autonomy and basic rights for the ethnic Kachin people, who, like other ethnic minorities in the country, have long seen rights abuses at the hands of government soldiers. Kachin leaders signed a ceasefire deal with the government in 1994, but that agreement broke down in 2011, leading to an escalation of fighting earlier this year. Clashes are continuing but have become much less frequent in recent months. The KIA deputy chief of staff, Gen Sumlut Gun Maw, agrees with the government that fighting on the frontlines has declined following several meetings. "Before, there were five clashes in a day, 150 clashes per month," Aung Min said. "Now there are only seven clashes in a month." Amid ongoing peace talks this year, the KIO leaders say that given the existence of the 1994 deal, they see no need to sign another ceasefire agreement. The government peace delegation seems to understand this point. "As they said they already have a ceasefire agreement, they can join the [nationwide ceasefire] meeting," said Aung Min. "They asked us what points would be included in a nationwide ceasefire accord—they need to brief the public and their central committee. They don't deny these points—they only demand what they want. So this is a positive sign, in my view. "There would be no reason to demand anything if they were not considering attending the nationwide ceasefire meeting. We expect it [attendance], as they have made some demands." Col Zaw Taung of the KIO's department for military strategic analysis said he could not confirm whether KIO representatives would join the nationwide conference in November. He said the issue required discussion and a decision by leaders of the KIO central committee in Laiza. Lt-Gen Myint Soe, commander of a government bureau of special operations that oversees military operations in Kachin State, said the closed-door talks on Tuesday were productive. "We discussed the details of mechanisms to ensure there is no more fighting in conflict zones," he said. "We pointed out areas with a map and discussed in detail. It was a positive meeting." Tuesday was the second day of meetings between the KIO and the government peace delegation in Myitkyina. The two sides are discussing military matters as well as preparations to assist refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have been forced to flee their homes due to the fighting. Ethnic representatives, including ethnic Wa rebels from the United Wa State Army (UWSA), are attending the meetings, along with the UN special adviser to Burma, Vijay Nambiar. Chinese officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing and the Chinese embassy in Rangoon are also in attendance. The United Nations estimates that 100,000 people have been displaced by clashes in Kachin State and northern Shan State. More than half the IDP population are staying in camps in rebel-held territory, where the government has restricted access to international humanitarian aid. As of June, only 10,000 IDPs in rebel-held territory had received international assistance, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In August the government granted permission for the United Nations to carry out cross-line missions to rebel-held areas where about 25,000 IDPs were located. In September, a team of UN agencies and international NGOs conducted four cross-line missions to assist IDPs in Laiza and the Majayang area, according to OCHA, which released a report on the team's findings on Monday. The team—which included the UN World Food Programme, the UN refugee agency, the UN agency for children's rights, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Médecins du Monde (MDM) and other INGOs—distributed humanitarian assistance to more than 22,000 people, including a one-month supply of food, as well as bed nets, sanitary kits, hygiene kits, educational materials, water purification tablets and medicines. Significant needs were found in regard to nutrition, education, health care, shelter and access to adequate supplies of water, OCHA reported. In Laiza and Majayang, rice is supplied regularly by local organizations but adequate amounts of pulses, cooking oil and salt have not been distributed, OCHA said, adding that medical clinics in IDP camps lacked adequate supplies, equipment and staff. Additional reporting by Samantha Michaels in Rangoon. The post KIO Invites Other Rebel Leaders to Laiza Ahead of Nationwide Ceasefire Conference appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

35 Buddhists, 13 Muslims Arrested for Thandwe Violence: Arakan Leader Posted: 09 Oct 2013 04:57 AM PDT An old family home belonging to one of Thandwe’s prominent Kaman Muslim families was reduced to a smoldering ruin after a mob attack on Sept. 29. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) Following last week's outbreak of deadly inter-communal violence in Thandwe Township, southern Arakan State, police arrested 48 people for their role in the unrest. An Arakan politician said on Wednesday that 35 of the detained are Arakanese Buddhists. "Until yesterday, there are 35 ethnic Arakanese among the arrested. The government announced they arrested a total of 48 people," said Khine Pyi Soe, spokesperson of the Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP), a nationalist Arakan party. "We would like to ask the authorities about their arrests," he added. The unrest in Thandwe Township began on Sept. 29 and raged for four days, with mobs of Arakanese villagers attacking seven Kaman villages, destroying 110 homes and leaving 500 people homeless. Five Kaman were killed during the attacks, while an attack by Muslims on a group of Arakanese men, left four injured. The violence coincided with the first official visit to the strife-torn region by President Thein Sein, who said he believed that "external forces" were behind the violence. Local Muslim inhabitants and a National League for Democracy representative have said that Arakanese politicians and Buddhist leaders organized a large 'Buddhist Day' gathering on Aug. 26 that attracted the nationalist Buddhist 969 movement, which spread its virulent anti-Muslim message in Thandwe Township in the weeks leading up to the violence. In the unrest's aftermath, police arrested two RNDP leaders from Thandwe leadership and two members of civil society group Protection of Nationality, Religion and Dhamma. Since then, the total number of arrests has reportedly risen to 35 Arakanese Buddhists and 13 Muslims. Police could not be reached to confirm the background of the detained. Ethnic Kaman villagers, who are recognized citizens of Burma, suffered the brunt of last week's attack by Arakanese, but Khine Pyi Soe said the latter group was being unfairly targeted for criminal investigation and he claimed that police had arbitrarily arrested Arakanese citizens. "These people are losing their human rights as they are being arrested without concrete reasons," he said. "They [police] must check carefully whether these people are actually involved in the incidents." Khine Pyi Soe suggested the detainees should be released and questioned later, saying that many of those being detained in relation to the bloody anti-Muslim violence were "respectable citizens." "Those people will not run away," he said. "The police should get answers from the people without arresting them." In Sittwe on Tuesday, two Arakanese community leaders were each sentenced to prison terms of three months for organizing an anti-Muslim protest without prior government permission in March. Khin Pyi Soe said Nyo Aye, leader of the Arakanese Women Network, and Kyaw Zaw Oo, the executive member of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, were charged under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession, a repressive military junta-era law. The two were jailed for organizing protests against a Turkish-backed plan to build several thousand permanent homes for Rohingya Muslims who were displaced during last inter-communal violence. The Burmese government later abandoned support for the plan. Some 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, continue to languish in squalid, crowded camps with little in the way of aid. Burma's government has been reluctant to improve their plight and has imposed numerous restrictions on the group, which it does not consider Burmese citizens. Khine Pyi Soe, the RNDP spokesperson, said the court was wrong to sentence to two for organizing a protest, adding that the sentences were meant as a warning to the Arakanese public to end their protests against international aid support for Muslims in their state. "We—the Rakhine residents, the political party, the religious leaders and the civil society groups in Sittwe—had decided on these protests in March," he said, "and Nyo Aye and Kyaw Zaw Oo were implementing that. Now both of them were jailed for that." He said a total of 21 Arakanese have been imprisoned for organizing unauthorized protests in March. Than Hlaing, a local National League for Democracy member and a fellow Arakan activist of Nyo Aye, said she not break the law. "The protesters did request permission from the township authorities in advance, but the authorities did not reply until hours before the protest. As they had planned it already they carried on with the protest," he said. The post 35 Buddhists, 13 Muslims Arrested for Thandwe Violence: Arakan Leader appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

HTC Sets Out Stall in Burma’s Telecoms Market Posted: 09 Oct 2013 03:54 AM PDT Models show off the HTC Desire 600c smartphone at a launch at Traders Hotel in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Electronics firm HTC, which was co-founded by Burmese-born entrepreneur Peter Chou, is confident that Burma's the telecoms sector will begin to grow at a rapid pace next year. The Mandalay-born Chou co-founded the company in Taiwan in 1997 and is now CEO of HTC, one of the world's leading makers of smartphones and tablets. He has taken in interest in his country of birth in recent years. In January, HTC launched a smartphone that can use Burmese script. On Wednesday, at an event to launch the HTC Desire 600c dual-SIM phone to the Burmese market, HTC's head of marketing in Burma, Richard See told the Irrawaddy that he is optimistic about the country's nascent telecoms market. "Burma's telecom sector will grow relatively fast next year. We can see big potential next year because now there are very limited SIM cards here. We can possibly get a bigger market share next year," See said. "Our CEO was born here, which is one of the key factors in us looking at the potential market in Burma." He said HTC was particularly excited by the potential for young people in Burma—who already make up about two-thirds of smartphone users—to become major consumers. "In the future, adoption will be very quick in Burma. I think maybe in one or two years Burma will become like Thailand and Singapore," he said. HTC set up two service centers and three sales centers in Rangoon and Mandalay, and is still looking to open more stores. But See said he was unsure what the company's current market share is. "We can say we are playing in the mid- and higher-level of the market here, because our devices cost between US$150 and $850," he said. HTC handsets work on both the GSM network and CDMA—a type of network with which a limited number of brands' handsets are compatible. See said HTC's main competitors in Burma are brands such as Samsung, LG and Sony. Apple, which makes the iPhone, will not be a major competitor as phones using Google's Android operating system are more popular, he said. A state monopoly in Burma's telecoms sector has meant a limited number of SIM cards are available, fueling high prices for SIM cards on the black market. But in June, the government named Qatar's Ooredoo and Norway's Telenor as the winners of a tender to become the first two private firms to win telecoms licenses. The companies have promised to rapidly expand the country's mobile and Internet networks, and Telenor has said cheap SIM cards will be widely available from eight months after the firm receives a license from the government. The numbers of mobile phone and Internet users in Burma are expected to surge from current levels that are among the lowest in the world. "Everyone is trying to produce a new product, we have to concentrate to be aware in this the market. The mobile market is very aggressive," See said. "Everyone is now waiting for the operators who won the telecoms tender to work with the government," See said. "I expect that there will be SIM cards available from them in the second quarter next year." The post HTC Sets Out Stall in Burma's Telecoms Market appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

No Longer a Pariah, but Still Near the Back of the Pack Posted: 08 Oct 2013 11:52 PM PDT A human rights wasteland? The former Boeung Kak Lake, now a landfill in the heart of Phnom Penh, is emblematic of Asean's failure to raise human rights standards. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) YANGON — Sept. 13 should have been a joyous day for the Le Quoc family in Hanoi. But with pro-democracy campaigner Le Quoc Quan in jail since late 2012 on charges of tax evasion, the detained lawyer's birthday made for a somber occasion. The day came and went, and Le Quoc's fate was still up in the air. "No-one knows when he will go to trial," his brother Le Quoc Quyet told The Irrawaddy after a June hearing was suspended because it clashed with a visit to the US by Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang. It was not until a week after his birthday that the lawyer was given a new trial date, Oct. 2. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, land rights activists Tep Vanny and Yorm Bopha have been or are in jail over protests about Boeung Kak, a landfilled lake in the heart of Phnom Penh near which the two women live. Some 3,500 families have been evicted from the lakeside to make way for offices and apartments to be built by a company owned by a senior lawmaker from Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). This correspondent spoke to both women at the Phnom Penh prison where Yorm Bopha is halfway into a two-year jail sentence for assault—charges which sound as trumped-up as those against Le Quoc Quan. Yorm Bopha protested on behalf of Tep Vanny when the latter was in jail. Now the favor is being returned, with Tep Vanny visiting Bopha in jail and protesting for her release. "We are like sisters now, we think the same and support each other," Tep Vanny told The Irrawaddy in early September. Stories like these—which could be told about dozens of activists in both countries—show how far these two latecomers to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have yet to go to establish even the most basic standards of human rights. And they are not alone. The two other countries that have joined Asean since 1995 are also showing little or no progress on rights reforms. Communist-ruled Laos, which entered the regional bloc in 1997 alongside Myanmar, is coming under increasing pressure over its suspected involvement in the disappearance of prominent activist Sombath Somphone. Sombath—a winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award (often called Asia's Nobel Prize)—vanished without a trace last December. Myanmar, a country that held free and fair by-elections last year, would at least seem to be doing better than Cambodia, where the ruling CPP is accused of cheating in a closely fought election in July. And possible plans to amend Myanmar's draconian Internet laws stand in stark contrast to Vietnam's recent retrograde steps to restrict social media users from posting news online. But none of this means that the former black sheep of Asean is now a beacon. The cyber code hasn't been changed yet, and there's a draft law that reads like a government ploy to curb civil society. Even Myanmar's much-lauded release of political prisoners over the past two years is looking a lot less impressive these days, as a growing number of protesters opposed to land grabs land in prison—like Naw Ohn Hla, a regular protester against injustices under Myanmar's former military government, who was summarily sentenced to two years with hard labor on Aug. 29 for demonstrating against the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Region. For now, then, Myanmar barely rises above being the best of a bad lot—not high praise for a country that has become Asean's poster child of reform. This story first appeared in the October 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post No Longer a Pariah, but Still Near the Back of the Pack appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Should Thein Sein Get the Nobel Peace Prize? Posted: 08 Oct 2013 10:48 PM PDT The 2013 winner – or winners – of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in the next few days, an award that relatively few Asians have won. When the nominations for the 2013 Peace Prize closed in February, among the 15 or so names mentioned as possible laureates was the "reformist President of Myanmar," Thein Sein. That is an eventuality almost no one could have foreseen three years ago and indicates the relative progress Burma has made from the dark days of a long, naked and very oppressive military rule. But despite Thein Sein’s steadily rising popularity, he has made statements that call into question his suitability for the prize. Among the 12 Asians who have won the world’s most prestigious peace prize is Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 peace laureate, who spent various stints under house arrest for 15 years following her return to Burma in April 1988 to nurse her ailing mother. From about October 2007 to Suu Kyi’s eventual release in November 2010, Thein Sein was the Prime Minister and head of government in the previous regime that kept her there. The past is not really dead and perhaps not even past, especially when the past is not directly related to Suu Kyi’s house arrest. In connection with the past atrocities committed by previous military regimes in the brutal crushing of the monk-led Saffron Revolution of 2007 and the student-led nation-wide uprising of 1988, Thein Sein stated that the top and middle-ranking military officials who crushed the protests were "doing their duty." That was the response he gave through a translator to a British Broadcasting Corporation’s interviewer’s question less than a year ago when asked whether he intended to investigate the "past excesses" of the Burmese Army. The phrase "partly previous military regime" is used since in addition to former General Thein Sein, many members of the self-abolished military junta, with or without their military uniforms, continue to occupy cabinet, legislative and even judicial posts. An apparently reformist president who has been praised to the skies by some Burmese and foreigners alike thus refuses to acknowledge that there were such "excesses." This amounts to "covering a dead elephant with a goat skin," a Burmese-language reference to the fact that the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands of students, monks and common citizens were covered up after they were shot down by military troops in the two protests. Another Nobel laureate (for the year 1993), the former president of South Africa Francis de Clerk, eventually acknowledged the wrongdoings of the apartheid system which in part, led to the establishment of truth and reconciliation commissions. In contrast, one dare not and realistically should not have the audacity to hope that even something close to a genuine truth and reconciliation commission in Burma would be formed. Indeed it may be better to tear down any such expectations since its formation is not among the stunning reforms’ that Thein Sein has apparently initiated. Three more statements from Thein Sein need to be mentioned, two mainly for domestic audiences and one initially made in the context of his meeting with a group of Burmese diaspora. In a press conference in Burma, a few months ago, the president stated that the British colonial government in their rule of more than 100 years built only one major bridge but the partly previous military regimes which ruled for "only" 23 years built more than 100 bridges! So a combined reading of the President’s recent statements is: "We must forget the alleged’ abuses of the military. They were merely doing their duty." And since the regime – of which he was a member and head of government for a few years has built more than 100 bridges it is several hundred times better than British colonial rule! At the time of independence in 1948 Burma had some of the best infrastructure in Southeast Asia. The nascent democracy of the 1950s was, in comparison with the last 50 years, an age of relative progress and prosperity. After about five decades of military and one-party rule Burma lagged behind many other Asian countries including a few of its neighbors not only economically but also in terms of relative political freedoms and judicial independence. Indeed Thein Sein himself stated, several months ago, in a meeting with Burmese expatriates or Burmese diaspora that Myanmar could reach the status before the 1960s’ if concerted efforts were made towards it. This is an implicit if not explicit acknowledgment that things were much better in the retrospectively renamed Myanmar in the 1950s and early 1960s before the military coup of 1962. Yet for two generations both in schools, universities and the almost totally government-controlled media Burmese were told how "parliamentary democracy" corrupts and how the Army has repeatedly saved the country from disintegration. Yet in a not-so-Freudian slip the president was indirectly acknowledging that the nascent Burmese democracy from the late 1940s to early 1960s expunged by successive Burmese military and military-led one party regime did have merit worthy of his government to emulate. Perhaps that message was intended mainly for the Burmese diaspora. Yet the mixed messages from the president continue, especially when the target audience is the local Burmese. On February 12, 2013 the 67th anniversary of Union Day, in a message to the nation published in the front page of all the government newspapers the president stated to the effect that the Burmese had suffered because of the colonial education system. In fact the English translation of the president’s Union Day message used the phrase "colonial education system" but the Burmese version used the harsher phrase "slave education system". Successive Burmese military juntas were responsible for the rapid and marked deterioration of what had been a creditable education and university system of the 1950s. After the crushing of the student-led 1988 uprising, the campus of Rangoon University was covered with weeds. Students seeking higher education in Burma were robbed of their future, a trend which in recent months the current administration has admittedly but belatedly tried to reverse with assistance from some foreign universities. Two days before President Thein Sein’s 2013 Union Day message, a headline in the same official government newspaper The New Light of Myanmar stated: "As Myanmar belongs to the Common Law Legal System family, the Myanmar Judicial System is deeply rooted with legal maxims, judicial customs and precedents which are enshrined with International Legal Principles that are utilized by successive judges all over the world." This is reportage of a rule-of-law seminar held at the capital Naypyidaw on Feb. 9 summarizing a speech by the Attorney-General. In contrast to this "blame all on the colonialists" rhetoric of the previous regimes and indeed two days before his President’s statement the Attorney-General proudly says that "Myanmar belongs to the common law legal system". That common law legal system is derived from the same colonial or "slave" legal and educational system, established across the world in former British colonies. Yet another Nobel peace laureate (of 2001), former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, writes in his memoirs "Interventions: A Life in Peace and War" that some African leaders continue to play the colonial blame game for which Annan chastises some of his fellow African elites. Hence the apparently tipped Nobel Peace Prize nominee would probably need to unlearn or at least be aware that the colonial blame game does have its detractors even among albeit a relatively few Asian and African elites. This is not to defend colonialism by any means. But at the same time those who consistently or even occasionally play the blame game for their long-past colonial history need to be aware of the legitimate criticisms of this "blame (entirely) the colonial past for all its woes" of some elites and leaders of developing countries. The Burmese government’s reforms – despite their checkered results are, one readily acknowledges, noteworthy but not that stunning, nor even very significant to the extent that its head of state should receive the additional plaudits of a Nobel Peace Prize. Myint Zan is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Multimedia University in Melaka, Malaysia.This article first appeared on Asia Sentinel on October 8, 2013. The post Should Thein Sein Get the Nobel Peace Prize? appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Reports: Chinese Police Fire at Tibetan Protesters Posted: 08 Oct 2013 10:43 PM PDT Protesters stand behind photo of victim of self-immolation during solidarity march in support of Tibet in New York. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — An overseas Tibetan rights group said on Tuesday that about 60 people were injured when Chinese security forces fired into a crowd of Tibetan residents who were demanding the release of a fellow villager detained for protesting orders to display the national flag. Chinese police also fired tear gas at those protesting on Sunday in Biru county in the Tibet Autonomous Region, London-based Free Tibet said. US-backed broadcaster Radio Free Asia also reported the incident and said dozens were injured, citing unidentified local and exiled Tibetan sources. The reports could not be independently confirmed, and local Communist Party and government officials either could not be reached by phone or hung up shortly after answering. Reports of police using force to disperse protests in China are common, but shooting into crowds is rare and the number of injuries reported in Sunday’s unrest, if confirmed, is unusually high. The International Campaign for Tibet earlier reported that authorities had intensified the security presence in Biru county and nearby areas after residents refused orders to display Chinese flags to commemorate National Day on Oct. 1. The ICT, a Tibetan rights group, said government work teams had been sent to Biru, known as Driru in Tibetan, ahead of the national holiday to compel local Tibetan residents to fly the flag as part of an intensified effort to enforce loyalty to the Communist Party. In Sunday’s unrest, protesters were calling for the release of a local resident, Dorje Draktsel, who was detained last week after participating in demonstrations against the flag order, Radio Free Asia said. The self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile based in India said it had received reports of the firing in Driru but had few details. Spokesman Tashi Phuntsok said by phone that they had heard some protesters were injured but did not know how many. Free Tibet said it had the identities of five of the injured Tibetans. It named two victims who it said were taken to a Lhasa hospital in critical condition. China has claimed Tibet as part of its territory for centuries, while Tibetans say they were largely independent prior to the occupation by Communist troops in 1950. Many Tibetans say Beijing’s economic policies in the Himalayan region have mainly benefited Chinese migrants and resent the government’s strict limits on Buddhism and Tibetan culture. China says it has made vast investments to boost the region’s economy and improve the quality of life for Tibetans. Meanwhile, in the northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang, an official Chinese newspaper said authorities have detained more than 100 people from late June to the end of August for the spread of "religious extremism." The detentions, reported by the Xinjiang Daily, are the latest in an official campaign in Xinjiang to police the spread of ideas critical of Chinese government rule. The government is also pouring troops into the restive region. Germany-based Uighur activist Dilshat Rexit said Chinese authorities were using such charges as an excuse to crack down on Uighurs who go on the Internet to express their unhappiness about government repression. Xinjiang has periodic outbreaks of anti-government and anti-Chinese violence, some of it inspired by resentment over economic marginalization by Chinese ethnic Han migrants who have flooded into the region in recent decades, along with restrictions on Uighur social and cultural life. The post Reports: Chinese Police Fire at Tibetan Protesters appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Maldives Urges Support for New Presidential Vote Posted: 08 Oct 2013 10:37 PM PDT A supporter of Maldives presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed shouts slogans in front of a police officer during a protest in Male on Sept. 27, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Maldives government urged all political parties to accept a Supreme Court ruling throwing out the result of last month's presidential election and vowed that balloting next week will be transparent. The government said it is seeking the support of other nations and international organizations in holding the new election, and encouraged "everyone concerned to respect and abide by the Supreme Court ruling." The Elections Commission announced Tuesday that the revote will be held Oct. 19. On Monday, the court annulled the results of the first round of voting in the presidential election, agreeing with a losing candidate that the vote was flawed. The election had been hailed as free and fair by the United Nations, the European Union and countries including the United States and neighboring India. The decision to annul the vote threatens to exacerbate the political crisis in the island nation, which held its first multi-party election in 2008 after 30 years of autocratic rule. The government pledged a "peaceful and transparent" new election and "a smooth transfer of power," according to a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry's website Monday night. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took note of the Supreme Court decision and acknowledged the continuing efforts of the Elections Commission, UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York. "The secretary-general once again calls on all Maldivians to ensure a peaceful, inclusive and credible process for these elections," Haq said. Former President Mohamed Nasheed led the Sept. 7 vote with more than 45 percent but failed to get the needed 50 percent, forcing a runoff. Yaamin Abdul Gayoom—brother of the country's longtime autocratic leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom—finished second and was to face Nasheed in the second round scheduled for Sept. 28. However, businessman Qasim Ibrahim, who finished a close third, complained that he was denied a runoff slot because the voter registry included made-up names and the names of people who are deceased. The difference between the second- and third-place candidates was about 2,700 votes. Four judges on the seven-member Supreme Court panel ruled that 5,600 votes were tainted and ordered a revote be completed by Nov. 3, angering the supporters of front-runner Nasheed. The country has been in political turmoil since Nasheed resigned last year after weeks of public protests and declining support from the military and police. He later said he was forced to resign at gunpoint by mutinying security forces and politicians backed by the country's former autocrat. Though a commission of inquiry threw out his claim, Nasheed has repeatedly rejected the legitimacy of the government of incumbent President Mohamed Waheed Hassan, his former vice president. There have been regular protests since the election's postponement by Nasheed's supporters, who question the court's impartiality and accuse it of colluding with Gayoom. The protests have been largely nonviolent, but six men broke into a pro-Nasheed television station early Monday and set it on fire. The post Maldives Urges Support for New Presidential Vote appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Obama: China Benefits From Missed Trip, U.S. Credibility Suffers Posted: 08 Oct 2013 10:25 PM PDT US President Barack Obama meets with China's then Vice President Xi Jinping in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 14, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that China had probably taken advantage of his absence from a summit in Asia this week and he warned that the government shutdown and fiscal debate were hurting US credibility abroad. Obama last week canceled a trip to Indonesia and Brunei, opting to stay home and manage the US government shutdown instead of joining other world leaders at international summits being held there. A week after the shutdown started, Republicans and Democrats are still at an impasse over how to reopen the government and raise the US debt ceiling before an Oct. 17 deadline. At a news conference on Tuesday, Obama said he should have been able to make the trip to help advance a trade agreement and present a counterweight to China. "I'm sure the Chinese don't mind that I'm not there right now," he said. "There are areas where we have differences and they can present their point of view and not get as much push back as if I were there." Obama's cancellation of the trip, which was also to include stops in Malaysia and the Philippines, has raised doubts about his administration's vaunted pivot to Asia, which was aimed at reinvigoration US military and economic influence in the region while balancing a rising Beijing. Secretary of State John Kerry attended in Obama's place. Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Indonesia announcing a raft of trade deals worth $30 billion when US officials announced Obama would be a no-show. Obama had hoped to advance talks for a trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, during the Asia trip. Talks over the pact involve 12 nations and aim to establish a free-trade bloc that would stretch from Vietnam to Chile to Japan. The United States expressed hope on Tuesday it could seal the pact by the end of the year despite resistance from some countries and Obama's absence from the regional summit. "It didn't help that I wasn't there to make sure that we went ahead and closed a trade deal that would open up markets and create jobs for the United States, and make sure that countries were trading fairly with us in the most dynamic, fastest-growing market in the world," Obama said at the White House. "I should have been there." 'Not Showing Up to My Own Party' Obama attends summits around the world every year, and US officials prepare for them for weeks. The president's emphasis on attending regional summits in Asia was designed to put muscle behind his promise the United States would remain a Pacific power. "The irony is our teams probably do more to organize a lot of these multilateral forums and set the agenda than anybody. I mean, we end up being engaged much more than China, for example, in setting the agenda and moving this stuff forward," Obama said. "It's almost like me…not showing up to my own party. I think it creates a sense of concern on the part of other leaders." Since 2011, China has consolidated its position as the largest trade partner with most Asian countries. It is also the top holder of US debt, adding further pressure to the United States to avoid a default. Obama sought to assure international partners that the United States would pay its bills and service its debt, but he cautioned that the ability to raise the US borrowing limit lay in the hands of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and its leader, John Boehner. Obama lamented the fact that repeated budget crises in the United States were hurting its reputation abroad. "Whenever we do these things, it hurts our credibility around the world. It makes it look like we don't have our act together. And that's not something we should welcome," he said. "If we deal with this the way we should, then folks around the world will attribute this to the usual messy process of American democracy, but it doesn't do lasting damage." The post Obama: China Benefits From Missed Trip, U.S. Credibility Suffers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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