The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Put-Off by Rangoon’s Flaws, Garment Makers Look to Pegu
• In Thailand, a Tough Life for Burma’s Male Sex Workers
• Ministry Urges Press Council to Take Action Against Journal
• Change Comes at a Slow Pace to Villagers in Burma’s Southern Shan State
• Suu Kyi’s Stallion Performs at Southeast Asian Games
• Ethnic Rebels’ Conference Postponed
• Thai Military Heads Agree to Meet Protest Leader at Weekend
• Bangladesh Executes Islamist Leader, Deadly Clashes on Streets
• North Korea Executes Leader’s Powerful Uncle in Rare Public Purge

Put-Off by Rangoon’s Flaws, Garment Makers Look to Pegu Posted: 13 Dec 2013 05:07 AM PST Workers tailor and arrange clothing at a factory at Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Investors in Burma's garment sector are looking to areas outside of the commercial capital Rangoon, where the high price of land and a scarce labor pool are sending businesses elsewhere, according to Aung Win, deputy chairman of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association. Soaring land prices in Rangoon have driven new investment in garment-making ventures out to Pegu, Irrawaddy and Mandalay divisions, he said. "They are especially interested in Pegu because it is near Yangon [Rangoon], labor is available and electricity [supply] is also not much different from Yangon," Aung Win said. The investors in question are from Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan. Currently, there are about 20 garment factories in Pegu, set up by companies from South Korea and Hong Kong. According to a list compiled by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), a total of 20 Hong Kong firms have been given permits to conduct manufacturing operations in Burma this year. Among them, most are in garment sector. Lewis Leung, president of garment industry consulting firm Prince Edward Road Management, said Pegu Division, directly north of Rangoon, was shaping up to be a promising manufacturing zone. "I think some parts of Pegu are going to be an industrial area. It is along the highway [to Rangoon] and that includes the Indakaw Industrial Park of Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd." He said he was considering investing in Bago [Pegu] because the region offered a large labor supply and lower wages than Rangoon. He added that other investors from South Korea and Hong Kong had already successfully set up operations there. "I believe it would be great if the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development could have a branch office in Bago Division," said Leung, who has taken more than 50 Hong Kong companies to Pegu Division to scout its investment potential. Investors are eyeing Burma's garment sector in part thanks to new duty-free access for Made in Myanmar garments to one of the world's largest free-trade blocs. EU sanctions were lifted on April 22, and the European bloc granted Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) status to the country in July, dropping all duties on imports from Burma and boosting interest in the sector's potential. According to MIC statistics, about 60 percent of the 94 investment applications submitted by foreign firms in 2012-13 were for cutting, making and packaging (CMP) ventures, a form of garment manufacturing. There are about 300 garment factories in Rangoon, employing some 20,000 people. The post Put-Off by Rangoon's Flaws, Garment Makers Look to Pegu appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

In Thailand, a Tough Life for Burma’s Male Sex Workers Posted: 13 Dec 2013 04:56 AM PST A peer educator, left, teaches Burmese migrants about HIV prevention in Thailand's Samut Sakhon province. (Photo: Jeanne Hallacy / ICAAP11) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Sex work is seen as a taboo subject by much of Burmese society, but over the border in Thailand, Burmese migrants make up a large share of male sex workers. In the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, Burmese migrants sell their bodies for sex at "show bars" or other entertainment venues. The bars are legal, but it is illegal for migrants to work at them. As a result, many male sex workers do not seek medical assistance if they contract sexually transmitted diseases because they do not want to reveal their source of income. "A majority of the youths working at our bar are from Burma, between the ages of 18 and 25," said an employee at one of the city's best known gay bars, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said that despite assumptions in the community that male sex workers are gay, some of the migrants were straight but had sex with men to support their families. A large proportion of sex workers in Chiang Mai are from ethnic minority areas in Burma, including Shan, Kayah and Karen states. Ethnic minority states were ravaged by civil wars under Burma's former military regime, forcing  more than 130,000 civilians to flee to Thailand over the course of 20 years. Burmese migrants from Shan State made up nearly half of 50 young male sex workers interviewed at massage parlors and bars in Chiang Mai for a report released earlier this year by Urban Light and Love 146, two NGOs that aim to end sexual exploitation and child trafficking. "A young man earns between 20,000 and 40,000 baht [US$625 to $1,250] per month, working at the show bar," a waiter at another gay bar told The Irrawaddy, also requesting anonymity for security reasons. He said waiters earned less money than male sex workers and usually acted as agents, arranging meetings with clients. Male sex workers find clients in Chiang Mai's famous tourist spots, including Santitham, Chiang Mai Land and Night Bazaar. Their jobs are not usually long term. "Many cannot maintain their youth. They leave after three years, at most," said the waiter, who has more than a decade of experience in the industry. He said many young sex workers turned to drugs or became infected with HIV. But employees at show bars said male sex workers were unlikely to ask for support from NGOs because they did not want to reveal they were breaking the law through their work. Burmese migrants in Thailand are only legally allowed to work on construction sites and plantations, in shops, or as domestic helpers. "Some boys refuse to go out with male clients at night because they do not want to be seen by their friends outside," a bar employee said. "We have that problem at our bar. The clients call us and tell us, and we have to reimburse them." He said clients paid about 3,000 baht ($90) for a full-night session. A migrant sex worker could be arrested and detained by the police, in addition to risking deportation. "For security, the owners of the bar take care of it," a Burmese waiter told The Irrawaddy, referring to bribes to authorities. "It costs about 4,000 baht to secure the release of a young show boy who was arrested during working hours." Two years ago, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS, set a goal of "getting to zero" new infections and deaths from HIV by 2016. "It has not been possible yet to reach the UNAIDS 'getting to zero' policy because Thailand's health policy for migrants to receive ART has not been fully implemented at some hospitals," said Hark Murng, a community health worker at the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) in Chiang Mai. ART, or antiretroviral therapy, is a combination of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to suppress HIV and stop the progression of the disease. "In Thailand there was no policy before to provide ARV medication to migrant workers, but this year under the current health policy those migrants can apply for health insurance, paying a fee of 2,800 baht, and receive ARV medication," he said. The MAP Foundation refers male sex workers to receive medical support from other Thai NGOs. More than 100 men, women and children with HIV have received health and emotional support from the program, but Hark Murng said it was difficult to estimate the exact number. "They are reluctant to talk openly about their problems," he said. He said his group works with ethnic Shan, Kachin, Burman, Karen, Akha and Lahu people. Last month in Bangkok, nearly 4,000 delegates from 80 countries gathered to discuss HIV prevention at the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP11). About 4.9 million people in the Asia and Pacific are infected with the virus, according to a report by UNAIDS. The post In Thailand, a Tough Life for Burma's Male Sex Workers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Ministry Urges Press Council to Take Action Against Journal Posted: 13 Dec 2013 04:48 AM PST A November front page of The Sun Rays journal (left) featuring a photo of Tay Za and his family with the headline "Cronies should jump into the Andaman Sea." (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Ministry of Information has urged the Interim Press Council to take action against The Sun Rays journal, claiming that the publication was responsible for "unethical" writing and "hate speech." The journal, which was established last month, has published scathing stories attacking members of the former military regime and so-called "crony" businessmen that benefitted from their links with the junta. Late last month, powerful Burmese tycoon Tay Za announced he would sue The Sun Rays on accusations of defamation after it ran a front page story with his photo under the headline "Cronies should jump into the Andaman Sea." The Information Ministry sent a letter to the Interim Press Council on Thursday complaining about the publication, asking the council to take steps against The Sun Rays. "We have found that all writings in all issues of this journal that have been published are unethical, yellow journalism [sic] and contain hate speech," a copy of the letter published on the ministry's website said. "All writings by the journal were personal attacks and damaged the current government." "Moe Hein, the CEO of this journal, admitted in an interview with a journalist […] that the writing in both Sunlight and The Sun Rays are unethical," it said. "We want the Press Council to negotiate and handle this case, as needed," the ministry wrote, without specifying what it wants the council to do. Moe Hein told The Irrawaddy that he had seen the online letter, but said he could not yet react as his office had not officially been informed of the letter. He defended his publication against complaints by other Burmese journalists, who have said its opinionated pieces attack individuals without much reporting or evidence. "We follow standardized journalism ethics and exercise freedom of press like in democratic countries around the world," Moe Hein said. "We report and write freely like other press in the world. We are not attacking or slandering anyone." Moe Hein's media endeavors also ran into problems in October when he was working as CEO of Sunlight journal. Its offices were allegedly raided by a group backed by the grandson of Burma's former dictator Sen-Gen Than Shwe and the son of Commerce Minister Win Myint. Sunlight publisher Yu Naing decided to stop publication, claiming it ran controversial articles without approval of the editorial board. Moe Hein then set up The Sun Rays journal. Myint Kyaw, a member of the Interim Press Council, said the council would meet this weekend to decide on a response to the letter. He said he felt that The Sun Rays' journalism standards had been poor, but added that it was unclear what the Information Ministry was trying to achieve by placing responsibility for the journal's controversial content with the council. "They [the ministry] have granted a license [to The Sun Rays] after the publisher signed an agreement to follow rules and regulations. They can cancel the license. That's why I think this is a test to Press Council. "They might be watching how the Press Council handles this kind of cases and they might one day point out that the Press Council can't supervise the media," he said. The ministry's letter pointed out that under the publishing license it had issued to The Sun Rays, the journal's publisher Khin Aye agreed to not publish libelous statements, incite violence or disturb the rule of law. This agreement also stipulated that the journal will practice ethical journalism standards set by the Interim Press Council, the letter added. Since President Thein Sein's reformist government took office in 2011, it has relaxed draconian media restrictions that were long in place under military rule, lifting pre-publication censorship and allowing the publication of daily newspapers. The Information Minister said in its letter that had been "monitoring" Burmese media publications after censorship was lifted, in order to screen it for "unethical" journalism and was sending such cases to the Interim Press Council. The post Ministry Urges Press Council to Take Action Against Journal appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Change Comes at a Slow Pace to Villagers in Burma’s Southern Shan State Posted: 13 Dec 2013 04:05 AM PST A woman in Noung Htao village prepares the ground to plant garlic as her children play. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy) HSI HSENG TOWNSHIP, Shan State — Children play on the ground while their mother plants garlic. A small stream flows beside this peaceful scene in southern Shan State. Here in Noung Htao village, near the frontier of Shan State and Karenni State, the weather gets very cold in the evening and morning. Noung Htao village has more than 1,000 houses, divided into four blocks. It has a large community of ethnic Pa-O people, but there are also ethnic Shan, Burman, Karenni, and Lisu, and there are Buddhist temples and pagodas in the village, which is set on a plateau amid green hills. About four hours bus ride from the Shan State capital of Taunggyi, the region is controlled by the Shan State Nationalities Peoples' Liberation Organization (SSNPLO), which has a longstanding ceasefire with the Burma government. The area has been mostly free from fighting for a few decades, and the Pa-O group is no longer armed. Armed groups are still in stand offs with the government elsewhere in southern Shan State. But talks are in progress involving most of Burma's ethnic armed groups to bring some kind of peace, and there are hopes that could bring development to areas long cut off from economic progress. For those in Noung Htao village, however, the benefits of peace are slow to come. Most people have large gardens around their homes for growing onions, garlic and corn. Motorbikes, horses and buffalo are kept near the Pa-O-style wooden homes. The people burn dry leaves in the evening, painting the sky gray. Most people speak the Pa-O language and can't speak Burmese. Going from house to house, I was ignored and few people wanted to talk. Taking a few photos of children in the village, and showing them the pictures, people became friendlier, although the lack of a common tongue restricted us to body language. Pa-O people traditionally dress in black with cloth headdresses. In the cold weather, they also wear long pants and overcoats. The village has no phone lines, mobile signal or external power supply, but some homes have a small amount of electricity for lighting generated using a small turbine in a stream. The surrounding region has a reputation for growing opium poppies. One farmer said there were still poppy fields, despite the purported eradication efforts of authorities, in the nearby hills. The price for opium was stable at about 600,000 kyat, or about US$600, for one viss—a Burmese measure of weight equivalent to 1.63 kilograms, the farmer said. Farmers in the village say prices for other crops are good this year. One resident, Shwe Li, said the prices this year—320 kyat for a basket of corn and 1,500 kyat for a viss of onion or garlic—gave her a sufficient income from her crops. "We can earn good money, but we can't save," she said, adding that her land makes her about 1 million kyat, about $1,000, per year. She said she is hoping her future may be better if companies come to invest in the region, although many would say firms from outside are more likely to bring land disputes and poorly paid wage labor to the locals. Naung Htao village has seen fighting in the past between the government troops and the SSNPLO, also known as the Red Pa-O. The Burma government forced the group to disarm in 2007, but it has reemerged as a political organization with some power locally under the leadership of Khun Sein Shwe. With peace, things are improving, locals say. They can travel more easily, and there is a daily bus from Taunggyi, with its busy markets. Than Tin, a 64-year-old ethnic Shan woman, recalled that things have been much worse. As a 24-year-old with a young child, she was repeatedly forced to work as a porter carrying ammunition and food for the Burma Army. "We could not work on the farm to grow food in the past," said Than Tin. "Those who did not want to serve as porters had to hide in the jungle." Pa-O leaders have some administrative autonomy in three so-called special regions in Shan State, which are Hsi Hseng—known as Sesai by the Burmese government—Hopong, and Pinlaung. But as they begin to benefit from the absence of fighting, the community wants to regain some parts of their identity they have nearly lost. Pa-O children, and children from other ethnic groups, are barred from studying their own language in school, but are taught in the home and in summer classes. Local leaders are now pushing for their languages to be taught at government schools. "They did not let our children to study our own language, despite our community leaders are working hard to get permission," said Shwe Li. The post Change Comes at a Slow Pace to Villagers in Burma's Southern Shan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Suu Kyi’s Stallion Performs at Southeast Asian Games Posted: 13 Dec 2013 02:10 AM PST Cambodian jockey Puthminea Sor rides Aung San Suu Kyi's horse. The horse is named Myanma A-Hla, which translates to "the beauty of Myanmar." (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi cheered on athletes at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Naypyidaw on Friday, awarding medals at an equestrian competition and watching her own stallion perform. The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party met with athletes from Burma's aquatic and sepak takraw teams at Wunna Theikdi stadium, two days after the grand opening ceremony. Sepak takraw, or kick volleyball, is a popular sport in Southeast Asia that involves players using their feet, knees, chests and heads to hit a rattan ball over a net. Suu Kyi also went to the second day of the equestrian competition, where she watched her own horse—named Myanma A-Hla, or "the beauty of Myanmar"—perform. The horse was reportedly given as a gift to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate from a riding club linked to a leading Burmese business group, YKKO, which is part of the Myanmar Equestrian Federation. Suu Kyi watched the competition from the stands beside Khin Shwe, a member of Parliament and chairman of Zaykabar Construction, one of the country's biggest construction companies. In a random draw, Cambodian jockey Puthminea Sor won the honor of riding Suu Kyi's stallion in the team dressage competition on Friday. Instead of selecting their own horses, all athletes at the Games drew lots to receive an assigned horse. The random assignments were a sore subject for some, with critics saying the practice would benefit Burmese jockeys. "[Burma] arranged the horses for the Asean nations, so they will have an advantage in using their own horses," Fuangvich Aniruth-Deva, secretary general of the Thailand Equestrian Federation, was quoted as saying in the Bangkok Post newspaper. "The other Asean nations will get to use the horses for three days, and the horses that the hosts have arranged are below the standard." He added, "We cannot do anything about this, as the hosts did not allow any nations to bring their own horses to Myanmar." The Thai King's granddaughter, Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, was among the equestrian competitors at this year's Games. An official from the Thai equestrian federation later told The Irrawaddy that he approved of Burma's horse selection. "We were arguing because we could not bring our own horses, but now we like the horses from Myanmar and have found nothing to complain about," he said. In dressage, occasionally referred to as "horse ballet," riders direct their horses to perform a series of predetermined movements from memory. At the team dressage competition Friday, Cambodia and Thailand did not place. The gold medal went to Indonesia, while Burma scored second and Singapore came in third. According to the Myanmar Equestrian Federation, about 80 horses will participate in the weeklong equestrian competition, with a mix of horses from Burma and other countries. Thirty horses from Australia were reserved for the dressage competition as well as show jumping, which begins on Monday. Local horses were reserved for long-distance racing. The chairman of the Myanmar Equestrian Federation, Pyone Maung Maung, said he was glad to welcome the NLD leader. "We were very honored that Suu Kyi came to the competition," he told The Irrawaddy. Students in Naypyidaw were reportedly encouraged to fill seats in the stadium for the opening of the equestrian competition on Thursday, as authorities feared that few people would show up to cheer on the athletes. The post Suu Kyi's Stallion Performs at Southeast Asian Games appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Ethnic Rebels’ Conference Postponed Posted: 13 Dec 2013 12:55 AM PST A leader of the Kachin Independence Organization speaks during a meeting of ethnic armed groups on in Laiza, Kachin State in October. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) A planned second round of meetings of Burma's ethnic armed groups to discuss a government-proposed nationwide ceasefire has been postponed to January next year, said the Karen National Union (KNU), which is organizing the conference in Karen State. Pado Mahn Mahn, joint secretary 2 of the KNU, told The Irrawaddy that the conference would be held in the KNU's Brigade 7 territory, either at Lay Wah or Law Kee Lar area. The groups were scheduled to meet this month, but the conference had has been postponed to the third week of January 2014, he said, because "the organizers needed some more time" to make necessary logistical arrangements. Discussions in the January meeting will focus on reaching a joint position among the groups towards Naypyidaw's proposal for a nationwide ceasefire with armed ethnic groups. In October, the ethnic groups met for a similar meeting in the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) stronghold of Laiza, where they drew up an 11-point agreement outlining their position on a nationwide ceasefire with Naypyidaw. In early November, government chief peace negotiator Aung Min met with the various groups in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina, but the sides failed to reach an agreement on a nationwide ceasefire. President Thein Sein's reformist has been keen to sign such an agreement with the rebels and announced it would hold another round of ceasefire talks this month in the Karen State capital Hpa-an, but this meeting has been postponed until early next year. Pado Mahn Mahn said that after the January conference representatives from ethnic armed groups will meet with the government delegation in Hpa-an. He said the KNU had planned to include issues surrounding Burma's first official census in the country, which will be conducted in March 2014, in the meeting's agenda. Founded in 1947, the KNU has been fighting against successive Burmese governments for equality and self-determination. In January 2012, it reached a preliminary ceasefire agreement with the current administration led by President Thein Sein. Naypyidaw has signed ceasefire with more than a dozen armed groups since 2012. However, clashes between the government troops and ethic armed groups such as the KIO, the Shan State Army-South and Ta’ang National Liberation Army have continued in Kachin and Shan states. The post Ethnic Rebels' Conference Postponed appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Military Heads Agree to Meet Protest Leader at Weekend Posted: 12 Dec 2013 10:41 PM PST Thai anti-government protesters hurl abuse through the gates of the Government House throughout on Thursday, after having briefly entering the grounds and removing razor wire. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) BANGKOK — The heads of Thailand’s powerful military agreed on Thursday to a weekend meeting with the leader of the movement seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, deepening uncertainty about the country’s immediate political future. Yingluck has called a snap election for Feb. 2, but that has done nothing to satisfy a protest group that wants an unelected leadership to run the country, aware that a nationwide vote would likely return another government controlled by the premier’s divisive billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra. The armed forces issued a statement late on Thursday saying it had invited protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban to join the heads of the army, navy and air force at a seminar on Saturday "to find a way out for Thailand". The supreme commander would be the mediator and other "stakeholders" would join, it said, without elaborating. The motives of Thailand’s politicized, coup-prone military are unclear. It has sought to remain officially neutral but Suthep has tried to drag the generals into the conflict during daily televised speeches, asking them to take sides. The protesters see Yingluck as a puppet of Thaksin, the tycoon who remains at the heart of Thai politics, despite being overthrown in a 2006 military coup and fleeing overseas to dodge a jail sentence for graft. They want the entire Shinawatra family to join him in exile, accusing them of corruption, crony capitalism and of using taxpayers’ money to buy-off the rural poor with populist giveaways. The military is being closely watched because of its tacit support over the past eight years for Thaksin’s enemies in the royalist Bangkok establishment, who are threatened by his rise and the unassailable political mandate from millions of working class voters in every election since 2001. Earlier on Thursday, deputy army spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipak told Reuters the head of the armed forces had rejected Suthep’s demand for a meeting the same day in what at first appeared as a crushing rebuff. It is too soon to tell whether the military’s decision to meet Suthep is a sign of its support, or an effort to present itself publicly as a mediator. After 80 years of democracy that have seen 18 coups or attempted coups, Thais have learned not to take the military’s comments at face value. It could be just what the silver-haired Suthep needs to reenergize his supporters. Their number on the streets has fallen from the 160,000 that surrounded Yingluck’s office on Monday to just a few thousand since then. Yingluck is refusing to resign, police have acted with restraint and government supporters have steered clear of rival demonstrators to prevent clashes they fear would give the generals a pretext to intervene and put Suthep’s plan into action. Suthep has offered little in the way of policy proposals. His sometimes bewildering statements have included demanding Yingluck arrest for treason, an order to civil servants and security forces to report to him, not the government, and for citizen "peacekeeping forces" to take over from police. Beach Retreat Suthep sought to drum up support for his plans during a meeting with business leaders. He told them a parliament, or "people’s assembly" of a maximum 400 members from a cross-section of society, none of them politicians, would be set up. His protest movement, he said, would be allocated 100 of the seats and assembly members would be barred from taking political positions for five years upon completion of their duty. He said he would play no part in the administration and would instead retire to his home province of Surat Thani. "After I’ve completed my duties I’ll go to sleep on Samui island and be done with politics," Suthep told supporters. A small group of protesters briefly entered the premises of Government House on Thursday and protest leaders said they would cut water and power to the complex if police did not withdraw. Police held their positions and there was no confrontation. A spokesman said protesters had fired slingshots at police the previous night. An officer on the premises said some crude explosives described as "ping pong bombs" were thrown into the grounds on Thursday. No one was hurt. Moody’s Investors Service, a rating agency, said in a note the crisis was negative for Thailand’s sovereign rating. "Prolonged protests will weigh on an already fragile growth outlook for 2014," it said. "Heightened political tensions have marred investor confidence." Analysts say the economy would be hurt if multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects suffered further delays and tourists were scared off. Yingluck said in a televised statement she would invite people from all walks of life to a meeting on Dec. 15 to discuss "a peaceful way to reform the country", which could be further debated after the election. Thaksin’s supporters have said they would weigh in to defend Yingluck if Suthep appeared poised to overthrow her. Jatuporn Promphan, a leader of a pro-Thaksin group, promised to mobilize crowds that would dwarf the anti-government protests. Thaksin’s "red shirt" supporters brought central Bangkok to a halt in April and May 2010 in protests aimed at forcing then Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call early elections. That protest was put down by the military. More than 90 people, mostly Thaksin supporters, were killed over the period. Abhisit and his former deputy Suthep have been accused of murder related to those events. A Bangkok court formally charged Abhisit with murder on Thursday and granted him bail. The next hearing was set for March 24, 2014, but the case could drag on for months, or even years. Suthep did not turn up. The post Thai Military Heads Agree to Meet Protest Leader at Weekend appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Bangladesh Executes Islamist Leader, Deadly Clashes on Streets Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:55 PM PST Prison police officers stand guard in front of the central jail in Dhaka on Dec. 12, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Andrew Biraj) DHAKA — Bangladesh executed Islamist opposition leader Abdul Quader Mollah on Thursday for war crimes he committed in 1971, in a move likely to spark more violent protests less than a month before elections are due to be held. Mollah was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail after a dramatic week. He won a reprieve on Tuesday hours before he was to be sent to the gallows. After two days of legal argument, the Supreme Court rejected his application for a review of the death penalty. Hundreds of people in the center of the capital Dhaka cheered and punched the air in celebration, underlining how Mollah's case has divided opinion in the impoverished South Asian nation of 160 million. "Justice has been served, though we had to wait for 42 years," said university student Afzal Hossain. At least five people were killed earlier on Thursday in clashes between opposition activists angered by the decision to execute Mollah and police near the port city of Chittagong. Police fired tear gas and vehicles were torched. Mollah was assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which is barred from contesting elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He was the first person to be hanged for war crimes in Bangladesh, having been convicted by the country's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) set up in 2010 to investigate atrocities perpetrated during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Four other Islamist leaders are on death row for their part in the conflict, in which three million people died and at least 200,000 women were raped. Critics of the tribunal say it has been used as a political tool by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is locked in a long and poisonous feud with BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia, as a way of weakening the opposition as Jan. 5 elections approach. Jamaat's acting leader Moqbul Ahmed said in a statement on the party's website that people would revenge Mollah's "killing" by deepening the role of Islam in Bangladesh. He called for a general strike on Sunday. Many Bangladeshis support the ICT, believing that those convicted of war crimes should be punished, underlining how events of 42 years ago still resonate in a society uncertain over what role Islam should play. Human rights groups have accused the ICT of denying Mollah a fair trial and the right to appeal. "The execution of … Mollah should never have happened," said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International's Bangladesh researcher. "The country is on a razor's edge… with pre-election tensions running high and almost non-stop street protests." Mollah's case has deepened the rift between Hasina and Khaleda, whose enmity has overshadowed Bangladesh politics for more than 20 years. Khaleda is demanding that Hasina step down and make way for a caretaker government before the vote, as has happened during previous elections in Bangladesh, but Hasina has so far refused. Khaleda's BNP has staged a series of blockades that are crippling the Bangladesh economy, which relies heavily on a US$22 billion garment industry supplying some of the biggest retailers in the West and employing 4 million people, mostly women. Moving garments by truck from Dhaka to Chittagong has become increasingly dangerous and expensive, and exports have slumped by as much as 40 percent for some companies. Western brands had already begun to review their operations in Bangladesh after a building housing factories collapsed in April, killing more than 1,130 people. Nearly 200 people have died in various protests this year, involving political activists, blockades and garment workers angry over low pay and poor conditions. Additional reporting and writing by Mike Collett-White. The post Bangladesh Executes Islamist Leader, Deadly Clashes on Streets appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

North Korea Executes Leader’s Powerful Uncle in Rare Public Purge Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:16 PM PST A couple walks past a television showing a report on Jang Song Thaek, North Korean leaders' uncle, at a railway station in Seoul on Dec. 3, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) SEOUL —  North Korea has executed the powerful uncle of young leader Kim Jong Un, state media said on Friday, the biggest upheaval in years as the ruling dynasty sought to distance itself from responsibility for the isolated state's dire living standards. Jang Song Thaek, considered the second most powerful man in the secretive North, was killed just days ahead of the second anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, the father of North Korea's current ruler. The execution coincided with Kim Jong Un—the third Kim to rule North Korea—suddenly being portrayed in state media as the image of his father rather than his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, who is still revered as the founder of the nation. Kim Jong Il was blamed by some for the 1990s famine that killed a million people. The North's KCNA news agency released pictures on Friday of a handcuffed Jang being manhandled by guards and said that he had been executed for trying to seize power and for driving the economy "into an uncontrollable catastrophe." Jang was pictured in the ruling party's Rodong Sinmun newspaper without his Kim Il Sung loyalty badge on his lapel when he was led away, which would indicate his disloyalty to North Koreans who all wear lapel badges. "Jang Song Thaek has been purged in a way that suggests Kim Jong Un wanted to make a point," Ruediger Frank, a North Korea expert, wrote in an article on Johns Hopkins University's US Korea Institute website 38 North on Friday. The dictatorial North has been run by the same family since 1948. Its economy, which was once larger than South Korea's, is now a fortieth the size of its prosperous neighbor. Its 24 million people regularly suffer food shortages, according to the United Nations. The younger Kim has been credited in the North's media with presiding over a powerful military state as well as an economic revival. Internal Divisions, Competing Factions Jang was married to Kim Jong Un's paternal aunt and is believed to have been 67 years old. He had been purged in 2004 and disappeared from public view until 2006, but became a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission and a member of the ruling Workers' Party politburo. He had visited Beijing, North Korea's only major ally, and was in charge of economic projects as well running a string of illicit money-raising schemes for Pyongyang, according to North Korea experts and defectors. While North Korea has purged many officials in its 65-year history, it is rare that anyone so powerful had been removed in such a public manner—suggesting a recognition of internal divisions and of competing factions surrounding Kim Jong Un. "This is a man who could have competently executed a coup in North Korea," said Mike Madden, an expert on the North's power structure and author of the North Korea Leadership Watch website and blog. The commentary from KCNA said that Jang had been plotting to overthrow Kim Jong Un and had "a fantastic dream to become premier…to grab the supreme power of the party and state." "The accused Jang brought together undesirable forces and formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state," KCNA said. "The special military tribunal of the Ministry of State Security of the DPRK…ruled that he would be sentenced to death according to it. The decision was immediately executed," it said, using the North's title of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. North Korean politics are virtually impenetrable from outside and Jang could also easily have been purged over a falling out with Kim, or even with his wife. There are signs that the North's 1.2-million strong army has sought to assert power and that Jang ran foul of Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae, the top political operative for the armed forces. Earlier this week, North Korea said it had stripped Jang of his power and positions, accusing him of criminal acts including mismanagement of the state financial system, womanizing and alcohol abuse. "From long ago, Jang had a dirty political ambition. He dared not raise his head when Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were alive," KCNA said. "He began revealing his true colors, thinking that it was just the time for him to realize his wild ambition," it said. Regional powers have watched the purge of Jang and his associates for implications to regional security. South Korea's presidential office said it had held a ministerial meeting to review the developments, although the government in Seoul said it had not detected any unusual military activity in the North. The young Kim, believed to be about 30, has carried out two long-range missile tests and a nuclear weapons test in defiance of United Nations sanctions since he took office two years ago. At the same time as pursuing his father's nuclear and military ambitions, he has been portrayed as the North's "master builder" for presiding over an attempt to revive its moribund economy. The United States said it was following the developments in North Korea and consulting with allies in the region. "If confirmed, this is another example of the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime," said White House National Security Council spokesman Patrick Ventrell. The post North Korea Executes Leader's Powerful Uncle in Rare Public Purge appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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