The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Thai Finance Ministry Occupied Amid Huge Anti-Government Protests
• Reports of Rape On the Rise in Burma
• Burma Activists Urge Protest Law Reform
• Burma’s Rebel Leaders Want Army Chief Involved in Peace Talks
• Myanmar’s Work Hopes Still Up in the Air
• Thai Protesters Enter Finance Ministry Compound
• Japan Awakes to Revamped Dawei
• When Mob Was Rohingya, Burma’s Response Ruthless
• Asian Airlines to Give Flight Plans to China After Airspace Zone Created
• China’s Xi Fails to Earn Stripes as Anti-Graft ‘Tiger’ Hunt Underwhelms
• Pacquiao Prepares for Tacloban Visit After Win
• NY Case Sheds Light on Meth Cooking in North Korea
• Thai Capital Hit by Biggest Protests Since Deadly 2010 Unrest

Thai Finance Ministry Occupied Amid Huge Anti-Government Protests Posted: 25 Nov 2013 04:36 AM PST Anti-government protesters gather inside Thailand's Finance Ministry during a rally in central Bangkok on November 25, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom) BANGKOK — Anti-government protesters forced their way into Thailand's Finance Ministry on Monday, laying out sleeping mats in its rooms and hallways in an escalating bid to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. They also broke into the compound of the Foreign Ministry, a Reuters witness said. The seizing of government buildings by protesters led by the opposition Democrat Party thrusts Thailand into a new chapter of political volatility three years after it was convulsed by its bloodiest political unrest in a generation. The protesters say Yingluck is a puppet of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and convicted two years later of graft—charges that he denies. Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile but exerts enormous influence over his sister's government. About 1,000 protesters swarmed into the Finance Ministry's compound, filling up the first floor of the main building and occupying six others. Many gathered in hallways and meeting rooms, blowing whistles and spreading out large plastic mats for sleeping and eating. Staff left the building and moved to a parking lot. "I invite protesters to stay here overnight at the Finance Ministry," protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told a crowd in front of the ministry. "Our only objective is to rid the country of the Thaksin regime," said Suthep, a former deputy prime minister under the previous Democrat-led government. "The Finance Ministry was taken over by the people to prevent the government from transferring money as a tool for Thaksin's regime." The protests have brought back memories of a tumultuous 2008 when anti-Thaksin "yellow shirt" protesters shut down Bangkok's airports and held crippling rallies against a Thaksin-backed government, which was eventually disbanded by a court. There were almost no police at the Finance Ministry, witnesses said. "The government cannot use force at this juncture. If they do, they will lose immediately," said Boonyakiat Karavekphan, a political analyst at Ramkamhaeng University in Bangkok. "The government's only option now is to let the occupations happen and to refrain from touching the protesters." Yingluck's broad support in Thailand's vote-rich north and northeast—rural regions that are among the country's poorest—helped her win a 2011 election by a landslide. That vote was seen as a victory for the poor and a defeat for the Bangkok elite who support the Democrats—from top generals to royal advisers, middle-class bureaucrats and business leaders—and mistrust Thaksin and his sister. After a delicate calm for the past two years, long-simmering tension between those factions is flaring again into the open. Suthep declared the Finance Ministry would be a "second stage" in a protest that began on Oct. 31 and had been mostly confined to Bangkok's historic quarter, where about 100,000 people gathered on Sunday. That was the largest demonstration since April-May 2010, when Thaksin's mostly rural "red shirt" supporters tried to bring down a Democrat-led government. Those protests were eventually quelled by a military crackdown in which 91 people, most of them Thaksin supporters, were killed. On Monday, the protesters began the day chanting "Get Out!" against the government as they fanned out to state offices, military and naval bases and state television channels. A German photojournalist was attacked after a speaker at one protest site identified him as a pro-government sympathizer. Nick Nostitz said he was punched several times before escaping behind nearby police lines. The Finance Ministry's power was cut briefly after the protesters burst inside, a Reuters witness said. The mounting tension condemned the baht currency to an 11-week low, down 0.4 percent to 31.97 to the dollar. Thailand's benchmark stock index lost 0.5 percent to its lowest since Sept. 6, taking its year-to-date loss to 2.8 percent, Asia's third worst performer. "The sentiment of the Thai stock market remains fragile," Phillip Securities market strategist Teerada Charnyingyong said. Anti-government rallies, which began last month, were triggered by a government-backed amnesty bill that could have led to the return of Thaksin, without facing jail time for a 2008 corruption sentence. Although the bill has been dropped, the demonstrations have grown into an all-out call for government change and the ouster of Yingluck, who is widely viewed as Thaksin's proxy. Yingluck, who faces a no-confidence debate on Tuesday, said she would not leave office. "I have no intention to resign or dissolve the House," she told reporters. She cautioned that the protests could hurt tourism and investor confidence. Suthep exhorted the crowd to also seize the government's Public Relations Department, a few blocks from the Finance Ministry. By afternoon, about 500 protesters were inside the grounds but not inside the building, which is controlled by the office of the Prime Minister. Thaksin, who won elections in 2001 and 2005 by landslides, remains a populist hero among the poor. But corruption scandals steadily eroded his popularity among Bangkok's middle class. Yingluck's ruling Puea Thai Party received a blow last week when the Constitutional Court rejected its proposals to make the Senate fully elected. That could have strengthened her government given her widespread support among voters in the heavily populated north and northeast. Supporters of Thaksin and Yingluck gathered in a stadium at the opposite end of the city, about 15 km (9 miles) away, say the court verdict is the latest attempt by anti-Thaksin forces to thwart the legislative process. Additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak, Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Andrew R. C. Marshall. Anti-government protesters gather inside Thailand's Finance Ministry during a rally in central Bangkok on November 25, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom) The post Thai Finance Ministry Occupied Amid Huge Anti-Government Protests appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Reports of Rape On the Rise in Burma Posted: 25 Nov 2013 04:27 AM PST A sign shows the female symbol during an event to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women at Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The number of rapes reported to Burma's police last year was the highest in five years, according to official figures highlighted by activists on Monday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Hundreds of women gathered in the shadow of Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda on Sunday and Monday to for speeches and performances to mark the United Nations-designated international day. Tha Zin Mar, from local NGO Charity-Oriented Myanmar, told the audience that police figures recorded a rise in rape in Burma last year, and that rape was now the second most commonly reported serious crime in the country, behind murder. Some 654 rapes of women and children were reported in 2012, she said, a figure confirmed by an official at the police's criminal investigations department in Naypyidaw. It is thought the figure represents only a fraction of the total number of rapes, which, in Burma as in most countries, are rarely reported to police. "We may think that those victims are not our relatives or not from our blood, but we should not think like this because they are our sisters," Tha Zin Mar said. "We have to think about how we can protect them to stop such crimes." The police official, who declined to be named as he is not authorized to speak with the media, confirmed to The Irrawaddy that rape, at 654, was the second most frequently reported serious crime. There were 1,323 murders in 2012, he said. The official said the figure for last year was the highest in the past five years. Figures from before 2007 were not available. In the four years from 2007, the number of rapes reported has fluctuated from 471 in 2007 to 430 in 2008, 384 in 2009, 377 in 2010 and 605 in 2011, he said. The official declined to give any more detailed statistics and it is unclear how many people are prosecuted for rape in Burma. Little research has been published on rape in Burma. However, a report by the United Nations, published in September, interviewed 10,000 men across the Asia-Pacific region, not including in Burma, and found that rape of women was "pervasive." The study, covering Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, found that 10 percent of men admitted to at least one rape of a woman who was not their partner. Almost a quarter admitted to raping a partner, the report said. Tha Zin Mar said that research by her organization had found that during 2013 up to October, 85 percent of rape cases nationwide in Burma had been reported in Rangoon Division, the country's most populous city and the commercial capital. "Every women has her own rights," she said, explaining that some women in Burma were not aware that being raped was a violation of their rights. "They need to come out to stand up for their rights. There are many organizations who work for women and we want them [victims] to know this." May Sabai Phyu of Gender Equality Network said Burma's women are not protected by the law. "We do not have law, which could protect women and give them good security," she said. She said the arrest of rape suspects were often reported in the state-run newspapers, but she rarely saw the perpetrators convicted to jail terms. "I have two daughters. I am always worried for them whenever they take a taxi or came back home late at night from their schools," May Sabai Phyu said. "It is not only me who worries for my daughters, but all parents who have daughters in the country have the same worries as me." The post Reports of Rape On the Rise in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Activists Urge Protest Law Reform Posted: 25 Nov 2013 03:54 AM PST Demonstrators protest against a government plan to increase electricity rates in Rangoon on Nov. 7, 2013. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — More than 50 activist groups have called on lawmakers to amend a controversial provision of Burma's Peaceful Assembly Law that has put scores of people behind bars since its enactment two years ago. The coalition, including the influential 88 Generation Peace and Open Society and the youth-oriented Generation Wave, convened a meeting on Sunday at which they drafted a letter urging Parliament to repeal the law's Section 18, which requires would-be demonstrators to get permission from government authorities before staging a protest. The letter will be sent to Parliament and President Thein Sein. Activists who allegedly organized a candle-lit protest against plans to raise electricity rates in Rangoon were Burma's latest Section 18 casualties, with eight people charged and four on trial last week in connection with a demonstration on Nov. 6. Pyone Cho, a member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, said 52 civil society groups had signed on to the letter against Section 18, which they contend has been used to imprison peaceful activists and repress dissenting voices. "At yesterday's meeting, there were people who are facing trial under Section 18 as well," Pyone Cho told The Irrawaddy on Monday. "We all want the government to release all people convicted under Section 18 and to release people who are facing trail too. "In a democracy, the law … shouldn't restrict people who want to exercise their rights," he added. Last week also saw six people sentenced to one month in jail each under Section 18, for their role in demonstrations in Rangoon on Dec. 1, 2012, against a brutal police crackdown the previous month on peaceful protesters camped near the Letpadaung copper mine in central Burma. Individuals convicted under Section 18 face prison time of up to one year and a maximum fine of 30,000 kyats (US$30). "Regarding these cases, the judiciary, general administration and police departments should study why exactly these cases happened and what were their aims," Pyone Cho said. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says 130 activists have been charged under the protest law adopted in December 2011. A total of 57 activists have been jailed for protesting without permission, according to the association. Bo Bo, an activist from Generation Wave, said the civil society groups were calling for a parliamentary review of the law as soon as possible. "We are not saying to wipe out this law, but we want Parliament to amend it, because the government is using this law as a tool to oppress all democracy activists," he said. "Most people who are facing Section 18 have at least 10 similar cases—even myself, I have 10 cases. We will continue this activism in future," he said. In Parliament, Lower House representative Thura U Aung Ko submitted a draft proposal to amend the Peaceful Assembly Law earlier this month. The lawmaker argues that the current statute goes against Burma's Constitution, which guarantees a right to freedom of assembly except if "contrary to the laws, enacted for Union security, prevalence of law and order, community peace and tranquility or public order and morality." The post Burma Activists Urge Protest Law Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma’s Rebel Leaders Want Army Chief Involved in Peace Talks Posted: 25 Nov 2013 03:03 AM PST UNFC leaders want the Burma Army's commander-in-chief, Gen Min Aung Hlain, to be involved in peace talks. (Photo: Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The leaders of an alliance of Burma's ethnic armed groups, some of whom have not seen Rangoon during more than three decades spent resisting the government's army from the borders, this week are paying a landmark visit to the former capital. The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) leadership, in town thanks to the government-linked Myanmar Peace Center (MFC) and Japan's Nippon Foundation, said they want the Burma Army's commander-in-chief, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, to be involved in talks that the government hopes will soon lead to a nationwide ceasefire agreement. The UNFC leaders, who represent 11ethnic armed groups, have been less enthusiastic about the government's push to secure a ceasefire deal quickly than other rebel leaders. They were offered safe passage to visit Rangoon, and Naypyidaw, and meet with people involved in the peace process. UNFC General Secretary Nai Han Thar and vice presidents David Thakapaw and Abel Twet arrived Sunday and met National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday afternoon. Nai Han Thar, who is also vice-chairman of the New Mon State Party, said the current negotiations between the government and rebels were flawed by the absence of senior military representation. "The peace process will be more meaningful if the commander-in-chief would join the conversation," said Nai Han Thar. "The recent fighting in Kachin State, amid the peace talks, is threatening the trust building for peace." While the government's negotiating team, led by President's Office Minister Aung Min, is pushing for a ceasefire deal involving all armed groups, the Burma Army has been accused of aggressively mounting operations in areas of Kachin State controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in recent weeks. "We are having conversations only with the government," said Nai Han Thar. "The fighting is continuing despite the discussions, and we have no idea whether there is agreement between the government and the military regarding the recent fighting." The UNFC delegation met with Aung Min at the MPC on Sunday, stressing the importance of trust building in Burma's peace process. "To rebuild trust between us, which was broken decades ago, is very important to strengthen the peace that we want to build," said Abel Twet, who is also chairman of the Karenni National Progressive Party. He stressed that complete trust in the government was still a long way off among rebel groups, despite the majority of groups signing up to individual ceasefires in recent years. "We want to see our country be developed in every sector, and that's why we decided to start the conversation with the government to have peace, which is very important for development," Abel Twet added. According to Abel Twet, Aung Min said he had invited the UNFC figures to the commercial capital in order to show them the development that has taken place in Burma's commercial capital. "We arrived [Sunday] night and were saddened that many parts of Rangoon had black-outs, while neighboring countries have full access to electricity," said Abel Twet, adding that Aung Min had warned the visitors about pickpockets and traffic jams in the city. "There are many ruined and untidy houses in downtown as well." David Thakapaw, the other UNFC vice president—who is also vice chairman Karen National Union—told reporters at a press briefing Sunday that this is his first time in Rangoon in 35 years. He also noted the lack of development compared with major cities in Burma's neighboring countries. "Actually, the high budget used for military expenses is unnecessary for a poor country like us," he said. "Those military costs are only going toward fighting ethnic groups like us. That's why we want to stop the civil wars and have eternal peace for the development of the country." Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of Nippon Foundation, said the group wanted to bring ethnic leaders to Rangoon to build trust and hopefully bring peace to ethnic areas. "I've been to remote ethnic areas where people were suffering due to the civil wars and effected by the lack of peace," he said. "Peace is very important for the country, so we decided to encourage the peace process. This is just part of our humanitarian aid toward Burma, but it not related to political or economic benefits," he added. The post Burma's Rebel Leaders Want Army Chief Involved in Peace Talks appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Myanmar’s Work Hopes Still Up in the Air Posted: 25 Nov 2013 02:43 AM PST Hopeful job applicants receive forms to fill out in Yangon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) PANTANAW/YANGON — U Than Zaw shook his head as he stared across the waterlogged fields. "Over there, that's where my land is," he said, swinging a tattooed arm out through the bamboo frame of a waterside hut. We were standing just off the road linking Yangon, Myanmar's heaving commercial capital, with Pantanaw, a flood-prone farming township in Ayeyarwady Region, famous as the birthplace of former UN Secretary General U Thant. In 2002, an army officer commandeered 60 acres of land belonging to U Than Zaw and several other local farmers—one of thousands of land-grab cases that have come to light since Myanmar's glasnost began in 2011. U Than Zaw has written to officials about the stolen land, but to no avail. He's afraid to protest without a permit as three of the other dispossessed locals are in jail for doing just that. He received the six-acre plot in 1995, but seven years later learned the hard way that that which gives can just as easily take away, and with little or no redress. U Than Zaw was handed a take-it-or-leave-it 6,500 kyats (US$7) per acre for his land by the acquisitive army man. From being a relatively prosperous smallholder in the 1990s, U Than Zaw has been reduced to planting a single acre of betel-nut trees. "Only enough to pay for food," he said, lamenting that he cannot afford to send all three of his children to school. Asked his thoughts about Myanmar's reforms and whether the country's embryonic opening-up can bring jobs and economic opportunity, he sneered. "We don't see much change in these places," he said. Change on the ground for Myanmar's rural population is not just a matter of justice, but also something that will determine the country's ability to provide work for millions of its people. The country's unemployment rate is a hefty 37 percent, according to research by a parliamentary committee published earlier this year. Of the 63 percent that are employed, an estimated 52 percent are working in agriculture. The overall number of Myanmar's farm workers—15 million or so—is likely to remain more or less unchanged even if the country's economy lifts off over the coming two decades, according to a detailed report on Myanmar published by the McKinsey Global Institute in June. On his old farm, U Than Zaw grew matpe, one of several bean and pulse varieties grown by around 10 million farmers in Myanmar, mostly for export to India, according to the main Myanmar beans and pulses exchange in Yangon. Along with rice, such cash crops are a mainstay of the rural economy, and could be far more productive—and possibly provide more work—if they had more backing. "We would like to see some financial support from the government, and from the donor countries, especially for seed purchase," U Myint Oo, an executive committee member of the beans exchange, told The Irrawaddy. But growth along the lines projected by McKinsey—a quadrupling of Myanmar's economy by 2030—will mean other sectors of the economy rising relative to agriculture, potentially producing millions of manufacturing and services jobs. Already there are some new jobs being created, though precise overall figures are hard to come by. U Aung Naing Oo, head of Myanmar's Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, said in September that 20,000 new jobs in garment-making had been created since April, seemingly basing his numbers on the establishment of 20 new factories that should, he contended, see around 1,000 jobs created in each. According to Heang Chhor, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company and one of the authors of the McKinsey Global report, the latest data on foreign investment in Myanmar is a step in the right direction. "Much of the investment has been concentrated in the manufacturing sector, whereas in the past, it was primarily directed toward the energy sector," he told The Irrawaddy. Other observers have noted that businesspeople, especially in Yangon, are upbeat about the prospects for an economic takeoff and are acting accordingly. "People are investing in their businesses and buying new machines. There is a sense of overall optimism that is spurring some new hiring and new spending," said Yangon-based economist Jared Bissinger. Indeed, manufacturing is likely to be the main locus of new jobs in Myanmar in the near future, with investors attracted by low wages, but also hindered by Myanmar's gutted education system, which means a dearth of skilled and trained workers. As a consequence, "it is natural that the garment industry, which requires lower skilled labor and is less capital intensive, is one of the first to benefit from [foreign direct investment]," said Heang Chhor. In recent decades, rural villages such as Pantanaw have been emptied of their youth, many of whom have gone to Thailand and Malaysia in search of manual jobs, and to Singapore, where the small number of educated and skilled Myanmar nationals are drawn. If low-skill manufacturing jobs come about in big numbers, it could mean a slowdown in the emigration of millions of young Myanmar citizens, particularly women, who could find garment jobs in Yangon or in one of the proposed new special economic zones such as Thilawa, where Japanese manufacturers hope for an infrastructure-laden oasis—a refuge from the power shortages and slow Internet speeds elsewhere in Myanmar. But even if low-wage, low-skill farming or manufacturing jobs come to Myanmar, the exodus of workers is not likely to reverse direction anytime soon. Eva Daw Moe Thi Da, the manager of Golden Dragon, a Myanmar-oriented recruitment agency based in Singapore, said that despite many of her city state-based compatriots expressing a yen to go home, repatriation just isn't happening yet. "I do not see many going back to Myanmar to find jobs. We do not have any other choice for the time being," she told The Irrawaddy. Myanmar's brain drain means a shortage of educated workers and makes hiring a challenge. ACE Insurance, one of the world's leading companies in the sector, opened an office in Yangon in May. That move came on the back of new licenses being granted after four decades of just one state-owned insurance provider in Myanmar. This history means that "there is not a lot of insurance experience and expertise in the market," as an ACE spokesperson told The Irrawaddy. But ACE believes that Myanmar's reforms and a young population "make Myanmar a very attractive market for the future." And reviving Myanmar's education system should mean, in time, more people with more opportunities to find better-paying, less labor-intensive jobs, and in turn will enable Myanmar to attract higher-tier investment than is the case at present, or is likely to be the case for the foreseeable future. Khin Sanda Hal Myint, a business student at Myanmar Imperial College, a private school in Yangon, said that there is a sense that her generation will have more opportunities than those who came before as Myanmar's economy opens up. But she's aware that such breaks might not come to everyone, unless Myanmar's education system is reformed.  "I have a lot of opportunities and a better chance than the majority," she told The Irrawaddy. In response to the country's immediate needs, opposition leader Daw Aung San SuuKyi has called for more vocational training as a practical way to make Myanmar's younger generation more employable and to provide local and foreign businesses with the personnel they need. It seems the government agrees that this emphasis on hands-on training is the way to go, at least for now. U Chan Nyein, the chairman of the Lower House (Pyithyu Hluttaw) Education Upgrading Committee, said the forthcoming draft national education law will be down to earth. "It will feature formal, non-formal and informal education, and we will emphasize vocational training," he told The Irrawaddy. In the meantime, several other new laws have been passed that, along with the revision of older codes, could lay the bedrock for some economic growth and, in turn, some job creation. A case in point is the 2012 foreign investment law and associated rules that have paved the way for the jump in garment sector investment, though this uptick has also been prompted by an easing of Western sanctions. Minus sanctions, Myanmar's low wages mean that garment makers can set up shop now to sell to buyers in Europe and North America. "New export markets are opening and buyers are coming looking for new orders," said Mr. Bissinger, the economist. And new orders, he added, mean more jobs. But there is only so much that lawmaking can do to kick-start the economy and in turn boost employment. Widespread job creation in Myanmar, in other words, is contingent on modernization of its wider economy. Ong Chao Choon, the managing director for Myanmar of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the London-based multinational professional services firm, has warned that little economic development will take place in the country unless it improves its electricity supply—which most estimates gauge as reaching no more than a quarter of the population—and its banking system. "Bank lending is expensive [at 12 percent interest per annum] and the banks currently do not have the balance sheets or the banking products to support the economic and infrastructure growth," he said. Addressing such infrastructure time warps would do much more for business—and hence job creation—than any leg up offered by new legislation, says Lex Rieffel, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "If the government could provide these to the private sector, the government could just sit back and watch the economy grow," said Mr. Rieffel, author of several reports on Myanmar. Back in Pantanaw, Daw Tin Hlaing said something similar. Unlike U Than Zaw, her land was not confiscated and she still grows matpe. She said, however, that her scope for increasing her yield—which could mean hiring additional farm help—is curtailed by factors outside her control. "We have no access to the bank for finance, so we cannot buy better seeds or some machinery, and the roads are so bad it costs too much to hire a truck to bring beans to Yangon," she said. This story was first published in the November 2013 print edition of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post Myanmar's Work Hopes Still Up in the Air appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Protesters Enter Finance Ministry Compound Posted: 25 Nov 2013 01:39 AM PST An anti-government protester blows a whistle and holds a placard during a rally at Thailand's Finance Ministry in central Bangkok on Nov. 25, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom) BANGKOK — Protesters in Thailand's capital entered the Finance Ministry compound Monday in an escalating campaign to topple the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. A crowd of protesters swarmed into the compound's courtyard and then entered buildings, including the ministry itself and the Budget Bureau, in the boldest act yet of opposition-led protests that started last month. The intrusion was one of several tense encounters on a day when protesters fanned out to 13 locations across Bangkok, snarling traffic and raising concerns of violence in Thailand's ongoing political crisis. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister and opposition lawmaker, urged the crowd to enter the Budget Bureau and to cut electricity and water to pressure the agency to stop financing government projects. "Go up to every floor, go into every room, but do not destroy anything," Suthep told the crowd, standing on a truck and speaking through a megaphone. "Make them see this is people's power." Protesters say they want Yingluck to step down amid claims that her government is controlled by her older brother, ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. Monday's rally came a day after about 100,000 people marched in Bangkok, staging the largest rally Thailand has seen in years. More than two dozen Bangkok schools along the protest route were closed Monday and police tightened security at the protest destinations, which included the military and police headquarters and the five television stations controlled by the military or the government. Despite the heavy police presence at most protest sites, there was limited security at the Finance Ministry, which allowed protesters easy access. There was no immediate report of clashes or moves to evict the protesters. Many fear that clashes could erupt between the anti-government protesters and Thaksin's supporters, who are staging their own rally at a Bangkok stadium and have vowed to stay put until the opposition calls off its demonstration. Thaksin's supporters and opponents have battled for power since a 2006 military coup ousted the former prime minister, who was toppled following street protests accusing him of corruption and disrespect for the country's constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile for the past five years to avoid a prison sentence on a corruption conviction. The post Thai Protesters Enter Finance Ministry Compound appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Japan Awakes to Revamped Dawei Posted: 25 Nov 2013 01:05 AM PST Dawei Development Company Managing Director Somchet Thinaphong shows a model of the proposed SEZ during an interview in Bangkok. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — After last week's takeover of the proposed Dawei port and economic zone project by the Burma and Thai governments, Japan's government and private sector are taking a renewed interest in the project after previously appearing lukewarm to the proposition. "Dawei Special Economic Zone [SEZ] is a very important project for the region," said Tadashi Maeda, managing executive officer of Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC), a state-owned bank, speaking at a Rangoon business seminar staged by Japanese media company Nikkei. Bangkok-based Italian-Thai Development (ITD) signed a deal in November 2010 to develop the Dawei SEZ, but in the years since has not managed to convince investors to back the building work needed to realize the port and adjacent facilities—a failure that prompted last week's bilateral takeover by Bangkok and Naypyidaw. To date, Japan's government and business giants have shown greater interest in another of Burma's work-in-progress economic zones. Thilawa, a half-hour drive southeast of Rangoon, was visited by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in May and more recently a Japanese-Burmese joint venture was signed to develop the 6,000-acre project. But now Japanese attitudes to the two SEZs could well be merging. Speaking on Friday, JBIC's Maeda acknowledged that Dawei, which if completed will feature a 100-square-mile industrial zone, "is a much bigger project than Thilawa," and described the development as potentially key to the proposed Asean Economic Community (AEC). That regional trade grouping is scheduled to be set up in 2015, the year after Burma chairs Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for the first time. Backdropped by big-screen PowerPoints showing future infrastructure and trade links cutting through Burma, Thailand, southwest China and across to Vietnam, Maeda said "Myanmar is the chair of Asean for 2014 and we expect that the Thein Sein government will keep this momentum," discussing the proposed AEC. Dawei's proposed US$8 billion port and adjoining industrial zone will, if realized, be linked by a new highway running through Burma's south to Bangkok, where the Thai government hopes to build pricy high-speed rail links connecting the Thai capital to China and Malaysia. If all goes according to plan, the SEZ would allow maritime trade to bypass the Malacca Strait, the world's busiest shipping lane. In tune with the Tokyo government, Japan's business community is taking note of the revived Dawei project, it seems. As well as winning a tender to upgrade the airport in Mandalay, Burma's old capital and second biggest city, Mitsubishi is one of three Japanese corporate giants that recently formed a partnership with nine Burmese public companies to develop the smaller industrial zone at Thilawa. But on Friday, one day after the Burmese and Thai governments made official their anticipated sidelining of ITD, Mitsubishi announced that it would team up with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the main state power body in Burma's neighbor, to build a new, mainly fossil-fueled power station at Dawei. The power plant project will involve ITD and will be operational by 2015, Mitsubishi hopes, and will eventually generate 7 million kilowatts of power, 30 percent of which will be exported to Thailand. Questions over ITD's management of the Dawei concession emerged when a previous plan to build a power plant for the SEZ was dumped by the Burma government, apparently over environmental concerns. Mitsubishi's Asia and Oceania CEO Toru Moriyama said the Dawei project could boost commerce and trade links in mainland Southeast Asia, where Japanese companies have long had operations. "If greater connectivity can be developed in the Mekong sub-region, Myanmar's comparative advantage can be enhanced," Moriyama said, discussing Dawei. Investors will be key, however, to funding construction of Dawei. The likes of Max Myanmar, run by sanctioned tycoon Zaw Zaw and a regular grantee of big construction projects in Burma, such as the stadia for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, pulled out of the ITD-run Dawei venture. In the past, the Burma government is said to have paid for construction work by awarding business licenses and import concessions to "crony" companies—with the building of the now eight-year-old capital Naypyidaw rumored to have been paid for this way. And while the post-2011 government is civilian-run, and there are hopes that Burma's economy can quadruple in size by 2030, cash for big building projects is unlikely to come from the government anytime soon, meaning overseas backers will be needed. "Projects such as SEZs require investments," said Khin San Yee, Burma's deputy minister for National Planning and Economic Development. Win Aung, president of Burma's main business lobby, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), talked up the resuscitated Dawei, describing it as "a very strategic location on the southern economic corridor." While legislative antiquities such as the 1914 Companies Law remain on the statute books in Burma, Win Aung said that replacement laws are on the way, and that codes relevant to Dawei and Thilawa are imminent. "The new SEZ law will be promulgated in the near future," he said. The post Japan Awakes to Revamped Dawei appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

When Mob Was Rohingya, Burma’s Response Ruthless Posted: 24 Nov 2013 11:26 PM PST Rohingya children are reflected in a fountain outside a mosque in the village of Gollyadeil north of the town of Sittwe in 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Damir Sagolj) BA GONE NAR, Arakan State — Noor Jaan lifted her black Islamic veil and recalled the last time she saw her husband. He was among more than 600 Rohingya Muslim men thrown in jail in this remote corner of Burma during a ruthless security crackdown that followed sectarian violence, and among one in 10 who didn't make it out alive. Jaan said that when she visited the jail, the cells were crammed with men, hands chained behind their backs, several stripped naked. Many showed signs of torture. Her husband, Mohammad Yasim, was doubled over, vomiting blood, his hip bone shattered. "We were all crying so loudly the walls of the prison could have collapsed," the 40-year-old widow said. "They killed him soon after that," she said of her husband. Her account was corroborated by her father, her 10-year-old son and a neighbor. "Other prisoners told us soldiers took his corpse and threw it in the forest." "We didn't even have a chance to see his body," she said. The sectarian violence that has gripped this predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million in the last 16 months has been most intense in the western state of Arakan, where 200 people have been killed in rioting and another 140,000 forced to flee their homes. Three-quarters of the victims have been Muslims—most of them members of the minority Rohingya community—but it is they who have suffered most at the hands of security forces. For every Buddhist arrested, jailed and convicted in connection with mob violence across Arakan State, roughly four Rohingya went to prison, according to data compiled by The Associated Press. Members of the ethnic minority often have been severely punished, even when there is little or no evidence of wrongdoing. For example, Amnesty International says Dr. Tun Aung was summoned by authorities to try to help ease tensions but could not quiet the agitated crowd. He was arrested a week later, labeled an agitator and is serving nine years in prison. The human rights group calls the doctor a prisoner of conscience. Nowhere have Rohingya—described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted religious minorities in the world—been more zealously pursued than in northern Arakan, which sits along the coast of the Bay of Bengal and is cut off from the rest of the country by a parallel running mountain range. It is home to 80 percent of Burma's 1 million Rohingya. Some descend from families that have been here for generations. Others arrived more recently from neighboring Bangladesh. All have been denied citizenship, rendering them stateless. For decades, they have been unable to travel freely, practice their religion, or work as teachers or doctors. They need special approval to marry and are the only people in the country barred from having more than two children. A half-century of brutal military rule in Burma ended when President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government took power in 2011. But in northern Arakan, where Buddhist security forces have been allowed to operate with impunity, many say life has only gotten worse for Rohingya. "As far as I know, not a single member of the security forces has even been questioned," said the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, calling on the state to investigate allegations of official brutality. "This government needs to understand it has a responsibility toward its people, that there has to be some accountability." Despite more than a half-dozen inquiries by phone and e-mail, presidential spokesman Ye Htut refused to comment about allegations of abuse by soldiers, police and security forces linked to sectarian violence. The AP in September became the first foreign media organization to be granted access to northern Arakan, which has been under a government crackdown since ethnic violence erupted there on June 8, 2012. Thousands of knife- and stick-wielding Rohingya rioted in the township of Maungdaw, killing 10 Buddhists, including a monk, and torching more than 460 Buddhist homes, according to state advocate general Hla Thein. The violence came in reaction to a deadly Buddhist attack on Muslim pilgrims in southern Arakan that was sparked by rumors of a gang rape by Muslim men. Most of the anti-Buddhist bloodshed occurred in Ba Gone Nar, a rambling village of 8,000 and home to Jaan and dozens of others interviewed by the AP. Made up of dark teak homes on stilts, Ba Gone Nar is divided by a web of dusty foot paths. Residents peered cautiously through the slats of tall bamboo fences, then eagerly beckoned the journalists through their gates. Some pulled out pictures of sons, brothers or fathers who have been imprisoned since their arrests in the weeks that followed the violence. For months, residents said, soldiers, police and members of a feared border security unit known as Nasaka showed up at homes, hauling in more than 150 men. Those left behind have held on to whatever evidence they had, no matter how small. Men with tired, weathered faces dragged out plastic buckets filled with broken glasses, dishes, picture frames—belongings wrecked when security forces ransacked their houses. Villagers said security forces beat them, looted gold and other valuables and raped women. "As soon as they came inside, we couldn't do anything," said a 64-year-old woman who alleges she and her two daughters were raped by members of Nasaka. Her voice trembling, she asked not to be named, saying she feared reprisals. "We were afraid. If they wanted to kill, they would," she said, shrouding much of her face with a light blue headscarf so that she could speak on camera. "They did whatever they wanted. Made us feel … that we are nothing," she said. Zura Khatun was among many residents who said security forces arrested relatives who had done nothing wrong. Some said people who were not even in the area at the time of the riots were taken away. "They came into our house and destroyed everything. They didn't even leave a single plate we were using," said Zura Khatun, 50. "And then … they took my 30-year-old son, Baseer." Noor Mamed, a neighbor, said he saw Baseer's arrest from his home. "Nasaka, security police and soldiers were dragging Baseer, hitting him with a gun many times, as his mother and wife begged them to stop," the 67-year-old said. "They grabbed both his hands on one side, and his two legs on the other, and threw him onto the truck like trash." Zura Khatun clutched a picture of Baseer close to her chest while she was interviewed. It was taken shortly after he was detained and shows him squatting on the ground, looking up at the camera with glazed, terrified eyes. Baseer was taken first to a detention center in Maungdaw. Days later he was taken 25 kilometers (14 miles) away to Buthidaung, where a larger jail is reserved for more hardened criminals. "I went to see him," said Zura Khatun, her cheeks moist with tears. "But when I got there, less than two weeks later, they turned me away. They said he was dead." Chris Lewa, director of Arakan Project, an independent humanitarian-based research group that has spent nearly a decade documenting abuses in the region, said 966 Rohingya from northern Arakan were jailed after the riots: 611 in northern Arakan jails, where 62 inmates died (all in Buthidaung), and another 287 at the jail in the state capital, Sittwe, where she tallied another six prisoner deaths. The numbers were based on testimony from family members and released inmates. Lewa said many inmates were denied lifesaving medical treatment for injuries sustained during arrest or from torture and beatings in jail—both by wardens and Buddhist Arakan inmates. Quintana said he has gathered statistics on prisoner deaths that are similar to Lewa's. He said jail conditions appeared to have improved by the time he last visited northern Arakan in August, but he added that there were credible reports that sick, elderly and underage inmates had been temporarily moved to other locations before his visit. Northern Arakan is the only place in Burma where Buddhists were the main targets of mob violence, and the only place in the country where most people are Muslim. Hla Thein said that across Arakan State, at least 147 Muslims and 58 Buddhists were killed. Rohingya make up not only the vast majority of victims, but the vast majority of suspects. Data collected from rights groups, courts, police and other officials indicate that at least 1,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims and 260 Buddhists were arrested following the statewide riots. More than 900 trials have been held in northern Arakan, all against Rohingya, according to Lewa. Three were sentenced to life in prison in August for the killing of the monk, she said, and many others got up to 17 years behind bars. Those accused of lesser crimes such as arson got between three and 10 years. Less than a dozen have been acquitted. Many defendants were tried without the benefit of defense lawyers, Lewa said. There were no translators or family members present. Some were tried collectively, according to Quintana. "These kinds of proceedings are not following any kind of process of law or judicial guarantees," he said. "In many cases, it's not clear what charges have been filed against each of these prisoners." One of the only steps the government has taken to address abuses since the sectarian crisis flared has been to disband Nasaka in July, largely over fears the United States was preparing to slap it with sanctions. The announcement won international praise. But Thein Sein's government has made no effort to explain what happened to its former members. Human rights activists and Rohingya speculate that they were simply transferred to other units. During the AP's visit to northern Arakan, one soldier escorting Myanmar dignitaries carried a gun with a Nasaka insignia. And officials said a new security force made up of police and immigration officers, operating out of the old Nasaka camp, has assumed many of the responsibilities that the former, feared border security unity held. "They are no different than Nasaka. So don't start thinking about freedom." Ba Thun Aung, the Buddhist Arakan administrator of Ba Gone Nar, told Rohingya villagers, according to his own account. Ba Thun Aung said that among other things, the new force is tasked with keeping much-hated family lists in which Rohingya are registered or "blacklisted." Children born to unwed parents, or those who have already met a two-child limit imposed only on Rohingya, are not recognized by the government and are not eligible for such basics as public education and health care. With no ethnic violence in northern Arakan for more than a year, some Rohingya say security forces aren't as brutal as they once were. But some, like Jaan, whose husband was killed in jail, have lost hope that the persecution of their people will ever end. "It's better," she said, "if Allah just takes our lives." The post When Mob Was Rohingya, Burma's Response Ruthless appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Asian Airlines to Give Flight Plans to China After Airspace Zone Created Posted: 24 Nov 2013 11:20 PM PST A group of disputed islands, Uotsuri island (top), Minamikojima (bottom) and Kitakojima, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China is seen in the East China Sea, in this photo taken by Kyodo September 2012. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING/TOKYO — Asian aviation officials said airlines would have to inform China of their flight plans before entering airspace over waters disputed with Japan, forcing carriers to acknowledge China's authority over a newly declared "Air Defense Identification Zone." China published coordinates for the zone on the weekend. The area, about two-thirds the size of the United Kingdom, covers most of the East China Sea and the skies over a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter row between Beijing and Tokyo. While China said the new rules would not affect "normal operations" for international flights, it added that it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly. Japan and ally the United States have sharply criticized the move, warning of an escalation into the "unexpected" if Beijing enforces the rules. China's Defense Ministry said on Monday it had lodged protests with both countries' embassies in Beijing, saying such remarks were unfounded and irresponsible. A transport ministry official in Seoul said South Korean planes flying in the new zone would notify China's civil aviation authorities of their flight plans. Yi Shin-Juang, deputy director of the air-traffic service division of the Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration, said Taiwanese carriers would issue similar notifications, but would not be required to adjust flight paths. An official at the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau said Japanese airlines flying through the region to non-mainland Chinese destinations would likely need to inform China of their plans. "Airlines have been advised to take greater care in the area," said another bureau official. Korean Air said China's proclamation meant flight plans would have to be delivered to Chinese authorities but the routes its pilots took would not be affected. Japan Airlines and ANA Holdings said the zone had not affected their flights through the area. The zone was a problem for Japan, the United States and other countries that may be wary of any acknowledgement of China's claims over the area, Asian and Western diplomats said. "No one wants to be in a position where by following Chinese instructions you are giving tacit acknowledgement of their sovereignty over a disputed area," one Asian diplomat said. "And there is a fear that is precisely the game that is being played—it seems no accident that the disputed Senkaku islands are now in the heart of overlapping zones," the diplomat added, referring to the disputed islands which are known as Diaoyu in China. War of Words China's official Xinhua news agency said the rules came into force on Saturday and that the Chinese air force conducted its first patrol over the zone. The patrol included early warning aircraft and fighters, it said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said China was forcing other countries to conform to its rules. "It's a unilateral step, changing the status quo in the East China Sea," Abe said in Parliament on Monday, keeping up the chorus of criticism from Tokyo. "It escalates the situation and could lead to an unexpected occurrence of accidents in the airspace. It is an extremely dangerous measure and our government has strongly expressed its concerns about it." US Secretary of State John Kerry over the weekend urged China to exercise restraint, saying freedom of overflight was essential to stability and security in the Pacific. China's Defense Ministry said it was within the country's right to set up the zone. "Japan's remarks are unjustified—China will never accept them," spokesman Yang Yujun said in a statement. "We reiterate that the purpose of China's approach is to defend national sovereignty and territorial airspace security, maintain the order of airspace flight, and is an effective exercise of our right of self defense," Yang said. Yang said China's move complied with the UN charter and international law. The United States should stop taking sides in the dispute, and stop making "irresponsible remarks" on the new zone, Yang added. "The United States, on the issue of the Diaoyu islands, must earnestly not take sides, not make inappropriate remarks and not give the wrong signal to Japan and encourage [its] risky behaviour," Yang said. While Washington does not take a position on the sovereignty of the islands, it recognizes that Japan has administrative control over them and is therefore bound by treaty to defend Japan in the event of an armed conflict. Tensions flared last year between Beijing and Tokyo when the Japanese government bought three of the islands from a private landowner to fend off a potentially more inflammatory purchase by the Tokyo metropolitan government, at the time headed by nationalist governor Shintaro Ishihara. The post Asian Airlines to Give Flight Plans to China After Airspace Zone Created appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China’s Xi Fails to Earn Stripes as Anti-Graft ‘Tiger’ Hunt Underwhelms Posted: 24 Nov 2013 10:28 PM PST Since taking over the ruling Communist Party a year ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to root out endemic corruption. (Photo: Reuters / Jason Lee) BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised expectations he will tackle corruption much more forcefully than his predecessors, but official data on investigations suggests the crackdown so far is little different to previous years. Authorities have opened a similar number of corruption probes in 2013 to last year, data from the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), which oversees criminal investigations and prosecutions nationwide, shows. According to a Reuters analysis of the data, authorities have prosecuted far fewer people this year compared with the past five years, while the number of senior officials being investigated is on track to match those in prior periods. Such statistics are at odds with the frequent trumpeting of Xi's anti-graft campaign by Chinese state media. Since he took over the ruling Communist Party a year ago, Xi has vowed to root out endemic corruption by catching "tigers," or senior officials, and not just lowly "flies." Xi might be treading carefully since putting too many officials behind bars could paralyze decision-making across the government and the party, experts said. "They don't want everybody worried about being arrested. That would be a disaster for the party," said Yuhua Wang, a China corruption expert at the University of Pennsylvania. A remarkably similar number of corruption investigations each year over the past decade suggests authorities might even have minimum targets to meet, some experts said. Xi could surprise, as he did earlier this month with far-reaching economic and social reforms announced at the end of a conclave of senior leaders, if his crackdown gathers steam in the coming year and prosecutions jump. For now, experts said authorities had yet to demonstrate the campaign was anything other than business as usual. "Anti-corruption campaigns are in large part exercises in pure public relations," said Andrew Wedeman, a professor at Georgia State University who has written a book on corruption in China. "You need a few pelts." 'Shock and Awe' Graft oils the wheels of the government and party at almost every level in China, which ranked 80th out of 176 countries and territories on Transparency International's 2012 corruption perceptions index, where a higher ranking means a cleaner public sector. Like almost all his predecessors, Xi has said corruption threatens the party's very existence. Spearheading his crackdown is Wang Qishan, head of the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Wang warned party investigators last month that their jobs were on the line if they failed to root out corruption, telling them to use "shock and awe" on their targets. The party said this month it plans to set up a database to record information on the income and property of party officials. It has said nothing about making the income database public. The central discipline commission, however, did hold its first news conference ever in January and launched a website in September that allows the public to report alleged misbehavior. Some analysts expect further reforms to the commission could be in the works, which might affect its approach to fighting corruption. Neither the government nor the commission responded to queries about the anti-corruption campaign or the SPP data. "I think they genuinely want to fight corruption," said Zhu Jiangnan at the University of Hong Kong, who researches corruption in China. "There's certainly been an increase in transparency." Last year, government authorities investigated 35,648 people for corruption, based on data in publicly available SPP work reports that covered the 2008-12 period. As of the end of August, 30,938 investigations have been opened. That was up 4 percent compared to the same period last year, the SPP said in its official newspaper last month. And from 2011 to 2012, the number of investigations rose 6 percent, suggesting marginal growth in the number of probes is likely for all of 2013. "My hunch is that the year-end figures for 2013 will be pretty close to the totals for 2012," said Wedeman, who studies the SPP data. "Past experience suggests that part-year figures often overstate the actual annual increase." The central discipline commission and its regional branches also carry out corruption investigations, but only of party members. The commission has not released data on the total number of graft cases this year, which are dealt with internally. A fraction are handed over to prosecutors. Zhu said the commission was "extremely overloaded." "The CCDI's staff hasn't markedly increased … They face the limits of manpower," she said. At the same time, the government had prosecuted half the number of officials investigated for corruption during the first eight months of the year. From 2008 to 2012, it was 90 percent, SPP data shows. China had investigated 129 officials at the departmental-bureau level and above for corruption during the January-August period, according to the SPP's newspaper. If investigations remain steady, that would mean roughly 194 for the full year. The annual average over the five years to 2012 was 186, or just over one high-level official per city with a population of one million people. At the vice-ministerial level and above, China has announced criminal investigations into four top leaders this year. Two other unnamed leaders were mentioned in a party legal newspaper in August. The annual average from 2008-12 was six. And while at least eight leaders ranked vice-minister or above have been investigated by the discipline commission and removed from office up to November of this year for violations of party discipline, often a codeword for corruption, at least 10 were toppled in 2009. Such moves, announced by state media, precede any criminal investigation. Experts said this year's numbers suggested the anti-graft drive may be more about bolstering the party's image given the attention in state media to the government's success in catching offenders. "I think the goal of the anti-corruption campaign is to establish more legitimacy for the party. The goal … is not to arrest more people," said Wang, from the University of Pennsylvania. Targets and Tigers Meanwhile, the number of people investigated for corruption has remained remarkably consistent since 2003. Between 2003 and 2007, an average of 33,495 people were investigated by judicial authorities each year, based on the SPP's work reports. Between 2008 and 2012, the average was 33,569, a difference of less than 100. That hints at the use of targets for graft investigations in China, a country where anything from issuing parking tickets to gross domestic product growth is assigned a target. "They do a lot of investment earlier on, to make sure that they won't need to catch up or rush at the end of the year," said Wang, referring to how Chinese provinces meet GDP targets. Few "tigers" have been rounded up under Xi's tenure. In May, Liu Tienan, the former deputy head of China's top planning agency, was removed from his post after allegations of corruption were posted against him online. A criminal investigation was opened in August. Authorities also recently said several former executives at state energy giant PetroChina and its parent China National Petroleum Corporation were being probed for "serious discipline violations," shorthand generally used to describe graft. The executives included Jiang Jiemin, the former chairman of both entities and who most recently headed the government body that oversees state firms. Authorities have given no details on their alleged wrongdoing. Wang said the low prosecution rate overall so far this year could indicate authorities wanted to unravel big cases, and that results might come next year. "That would mean it's actually very serious," said Wang. "They single out the flies, but they want to find the tigers behind the flies." Additional reporting by Li Hui. The post China's Xi Fails to Earn Stripes as Anti-Graft 'Tiger' Hunt Underwhelms appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Pacquiao Prepares for Tacloban Visit After Win Posted: 24 Nov 2013 10:21 PM PST Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines lands a punch on Brandon Rios (R) of the US during their World Boxing Organization (WBO) International 12-round welterweight boxing title fight at the Venetian Macao hotel in Macau Nov. 24, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) MACAU — Manny Pacquiao is preparing for a visit to the typhoon-devastated city of Tacloban in the coming days, returning to the Philippines with his boxing career back on the upswing after an impressive victory over Brandon Rios. Pacquiao said after his win at The Venetian casino in Macau on Sunday that a visit was being organized to the city which was the epicenter of this month's Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 5,000 people and displaced an estimated 3 million. "I promised them that after the fight I would go to Tacloban to visit them," Pacquiao said. "As soon as possible we will finalize the date, what day." Despite the devastation, big screens were set up in the city's plaza to allow fans to watch Sunday's fight, and their spirits received a much-needed boost by the victory of a man whose status as the country's national icon is difficult to overstate. When the storm hit, Pacquiao was already in a training camp at the southern city of General Santos, and while the boxer and lawmaker's first instinct was to abandon camp and go to the affected areas to help, he was talked out of it by trainer Freddie Roach and others who advised him that the best thing he could do for the nation's spirits was to win the fight. "It was very difficult for me, I felt so bad for what happened," Pacquiao said after Sunday's fight. "I wanted to visit there but because of my training I could not, so I was just praying for them and sent my staff to bring them help. "This fight is for the families and the people affected by the typhoon—I am just happy that God answered my prayer." While Pacquiao dedicated the victory to the people, it was also a vitally important victory for personal reasons, restoring a career that appeared on the wane after successive defeats and almost a year out of the ring. The brutal nature of his knockout loss to veteran Juan Manuel Marquez in December last year had many questioning whether Pacquiao—who turns 35 next month—could get back to the status he enjoyed as the world's pound-for-pound champion around the turn of the decade. Even trainer Roach had doubts, saying Pacquiao should retire if he did not win and win convincingly against Rios. The doubts and the fears quickly subsided as "Pacman" started strongly against Rios in the opening couple of rounds, throwing his trademark combination punches from all angles at a speed that was as quick as ever. Rios rallied in the third round, and landed some good blows that had the heavily pro-Pacquiao crowd at a sold-out 13,000-seat Cotai Arena groaning and shrieking in anxiety. Pacquiao reasserted his dominance and went on to a unanimous points victory, with the judges scoring it 120-108, 119-109, 118-110. The Associated Press scored it 119-109. Roach said "there were no signs of him slowing down whatsoever" even though Pacquiao did not press home his dominance and still has not stopped an opponent since 2009. Pacquiao said memories of the Marquez knockout were in his mind and he was cautious in the closing rounds, while Roach put it down to the "compassion" in his deeply Christian fighter. "Manny let him off the hook, I wanted the knockout and it was there, but I was very happy with the way he performed," Roach said. Promoter Bob Arum said Pacquiao's next fight was tentatively scheduled for April 12, likely in the United States. The options include a rematch with Timothy Bradley, who took a contentious points decision against the Filipino last year, another clash with Marquez although the Mexican's camp was setting a high price on a rematch, or Russian Ruslan Provodnikov. The fight the boxing world wants to see is a clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Arum said it was still possible. "I know it's a fight that should happen and where there is a will there is a way," Arum said, expressing his frustration that the fighters' conflicting affiliations continued to be an impediment. "If all sides cut out the crap, it can be done." The post Pacquiao Prepares for Tacloban Visit After Win appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

NY Case Sheds Light on Meth Cooking in North Korea Posted: 24 Nov 2013 09:46 PM PST A North Korean boy works in a field of a collective farm in South Hwanghae Province in September 2011. (Photo: Reuters) NEW YORK — An international drug trafficker was caught on tape this year making a "Breaking Bad"-worthy boast about his ability to provide the US market with mass quantities of methamphetamine—not blue, but still potent and from a unique source. "We have the NK product," he said, according to court papers. "It's only us who can get it from NK." By "NK," he meant North Korea, where US authorities say meth production and trafficking present an emerging threat that's been illuminated by a case brought in federal court in Manhattan against a tattooed motorcycle gang leader, two Brits named Stammers and Shackels, and two other expatriates also operating in Southeast Asia. The five men were snared in a sting operation involving undercover Drug Enforcement Administration operatives, identified in the papers only as confidential sources, who posed as buyers in a fake plot to distribute the meth in New York City. In Pyongyang, a spokesman for North Korean's foreign ministry responded last week with a sharply worded statement saying the country strictly forbids drug manufacturing drug smuggling. It called the case "another politically motivated puerile charade" spread by "the Western reptile media." But experts on North Korea say signs of a steady output of meth there—and the potential for global distribution—is very real. "It's entirely plausible, if not probable, that a high quantity of North Korean meth could be smuggled into the United States," said Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at Tufts University. Because of its extreme poverty and isolation, North Korea has long relied on a shadow economy to support its ruling elite. It makes sense that meth has joined a list of illicit goods that in the past included knock-off major brand cigarettes and counterfeit US currency, Lee said. The drug "is easy to produce and has a high profit margin," he said. "It would be surprising if the state turned away from this opportunity." According to a 2010 Brookings Institution report, most meth cooked in North Korea is smuggled into Northeast China, then to Shandong, Beijing and other interior provinces. Smaller amounts are consumed by North Koreans to numb themselves to hunger and hardships, or it ends up in South Korea and Japan, where it brings a higher return. US authorities described the five men charged in the US case as members of a loose confederation of outlaws in Asia already well-versed in a black market for military weaponry, technology and other illegal drugs the authorities fear could help fund terrorism. Among their associates was Joseph "Rambo" Hunter, a former American soldier who pleaded not guilty in September to charges in New York that he recruited a group of ex-snipers to be a security team for drug traffickers, authorities said. The meth case began in 2012 after law enforcement agents seized 30 kilograms obtained in North Korea by two members of a Hong Kong-based criminal organization, Ye Tiong Tan Lim, of Hong Kong, and Kelly Allan Reyes Peralta, of the Philippines, with the help of British citizens Scott Stammers and Philip Shackels. In early 2013, Lim and Reyes Peralta, in an unidentified Asian country, agreed to meet with the DEA operatives and were recorded telling them that, in effect, they were the Heisenbergs of North Korean meth. Lim explained that the North Korean government had sought to appease the West by shutting down some labs. He also claimed his operation had cornered what was left of the wholesale supply, in part by stockpiling a ton of it in another country. "Only our labs are not closed…. Our product is really from NK," Lim said, according to prosecutors. Lim claimed he could supply 100 kilograms for $65,000 per kilo but first sought assurances it would reach the US market in New York City, authorities said. He also agreed to supply two samples for testing through Stammers, who shipped them to the buyers. They were intercepted and testing found they were 98 percent and 96 percent pure, according to court papers. In an email, Stammers wrote that he had received feedback that of the samples, the buyers preferred the one that was clear in appearance and had bigger shards. At a later meeting, he introduced the buyers to Adrian Valkovic, the sergeant-at-arms of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club and the point person for securing the shipment destined for what the men referred to as "the Apple," court papers said. The men discussed smuggling the shipment into American waters on a yacht and transferring it at sea, authorities said. The plan called for staging a party or a photo shoot on the vessel to provide cover, the papers said. All five men were arrested in September and held in Thailand after gathering to receive payments and final instruction for the shipment. It's unclear whether any drugs were seized. The defendants pleaded not guilty in New York on Wednesday, when they met their US lawyers for the first time. Peralta's attorney, Daniel Parker, said his client was relieved he was no longer locked up in a Bangkok jail "under conditions no one would want to be in." The lawyers said they knew little about their clients' backgrounds, but they questioned the strength of the government's case. "I'm curious to know more about the evidence," said Adam Perlmutter, Lim's lawyer. "The DEA has a knack for elaborate stings where ultimately there are words involved but no drugs." The post NY Case Sheds Light on Meth Cooking in North Korea appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Capital Hit by Biggest Protests Since Deadly 2010 Unrest Posted: 24 Nov 2013 09:22 PM PST A general view of anti-government protesters gathering to demonstrate against the government-backed amnesty bill at the Democracy monument in central Bangkok on Nov. 24, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Taweechai Jaowattana) BANGKOK — About 100,000 anti-government protesters gathered in Thailand's capital on Sunday, as simmering tensions between Bangkok's middle classes and the mostly rural supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra threatened to boil over. The protests led by the opposition Democrat Party mark the biggest demonstrations since deadly political unrest in April-May 2010, when Thaksin's red-shirted supporters paralyzed Bangkok to try to remove a Democrat-led government. Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, is now in power after winning a 2011 election that was seen as a victory for the working poor and a defeat for the traditional Bangkok elite that includes top generals, royal advisers, middle-class bureaucrats, business leaders and old-money families. After a delicate calm for the past two years, fissures between those two rival political forces are opening once again. The rally was their biggest turnout yet. About 15 km (9 miles) away, in a stadium at the opposite end of the city, about 40,000 pro-government "red shirts" rallied in a show of support of the prime minister. Many came by bus from rural provinces in the north and northeast. Yingluck has been pilloried by her critics as a puppet for her brother, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and convicted two years later of graft, which he has denied. He has lived in self-imposed exile since 2008, but exerts enormous influence on the policies of his sister's government. "We have stood by silently while her brother calls the shots and she runs the country into the ground with loss-making policies," said Suwang Ruangchai, 54, who drove over nine hours from Surat Thani in the south to attend the rally. Few people in modern Thai history have been as polarizing as Thaksin, a billionaire former telecommunications tycoon revered by the poor and reviled by the elite. In 2001, he became the first leader in Thai history to win a parliamentary majority on its own, and formed the first elected government to serve a full term, after which it was re-elected. The 2006 coup that ousted him plunged Thailand into four years of sometimes violent political turbulence. The relative calm Thailand has enjoyed since Yingluck became prime minister has faded during weeks of Democrat-led opposition rallies triggered by a government-backed amnesty bill that could have led to Thaksin's return to Thailand. The political tensions come as Thailand's economy, Southeast Asia' second biggest, is suffering from weak export growth, soft consumer spending and rising household debt. Demonstrations that began more than three weeks ago have spread even after Thailand's senate rejected the amnesty bill on Nov. 11. Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister under the previous Democrat-led government and now leader of the biggest anti-government rally, has called for all-out regime change. His group plans to march along 12 routes in Bangkok on Monday to urge civil servants to join the protests. "If even one of you still serves Thaksin, you will have us to reckon with," Suthep told whistle-blowing crowds on Sunday. Observers say Suthep could be holding out for military or judicial intervention. Thai courts brought down two Thaksin-aligned governments in 2008. "We have not yet reached crisis point like in 2006 so the military would be unwise to intervene at this juncture and Suthep should know this, but he might be waiting for some form of judicial intervention," said Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University. Yingluck's ruling Puea Thai Party received a blow last week when the Constitutional Court rejected its proposals to make the Senate fully elected. That could have strengthened her government given her widespread support among voters in the heavily populated north and northeast. Her supporters say the verdict is the latest attempt by the elite and anti-Thaksin forces to thwart the legislative process. The mounting protests are reviving memories of 2010 when thousands of Thaksin's red-shirted supporters stayed in the streets until a military crackdown in which 91 people, mostly red shirts, were killed. Suthep and former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva have been charged with murder and accused of allowing troops to open fire with live rounds on protesters. Many red shirts loyal to Yingluck say they are prepared to defend the government against political meddling by Bangkok's powerful elite and opposition forces. "This is the Thai political cycle. Thais from outside of Bangkok vote in a government and the elite in Bangkok kick them out," said Kerk Angchuan, a red shirt protester who joined the pro-government rally in Bangkok on Sunday. Additional reporting by Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat. The post Thai Capital Hit by Biggest Protests Since Deadly 2010 Unrest appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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