The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Holidays to Likely Delay Burma Ceasefire Talks
• Burma Still Enlists Boy Soldiers Despite Reforms
• CSOs Urge Thein Sein to Open Up Political Space in Burma
• Public to Be Consulted on Plan to Save Rangoon’s Heritage
• Suu Kyi Raises Issue of HIV on Australia Tour
• Burma to Act Against Defamatory Banner After OIC Protests
• Scenes from Protest-Rocked Bangkok
• Thailand Braces for More Protest Violence
• VP Biden Trying to Show US Still Focused on Asia
• China Launches Lunar Probe Carrying ‘Jade Rabbit’ Buggy

Holidays to Likely Delay Burma Ceasefire Talks Posted: 02 Dec 2013 03:49 AM PST Ethnic armed groups sit down for a conference in late October in Laiza, Kachin State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) The second meeting between the Burma government and the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), a group representing ethnic minority rebel groups, is unlikely to happen this month as planned. After the first meeting in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina early last month, leaders of both sides planned to meet for a second time in December in Pa'an, Karen State. The NCCT was formed during a four-day conference of ethnic armed groups in October in the Kachin town of Laiza, a stronghold for the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). It is tasked with communicating with the government over a proposed nationwide ceasefire accord. Last month, the NCCT and government exchanged draft proposals for the ceasefire accord. Last week, NCCT members also held a meeting in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. The Burma government has already negotiated individual ceasefire deals with most but not all major armed rebel groups. A nationwide accord would consolidate these ceasefires. Before the second NCCT-government talks in Pa'an, ethnic armed groups will come together again in Karen State, in an area controlled by the Karen Nation Union (KNU), another rebel political group. This conference of ethnic groups would be similar to the Laiza conference and could come in the next three weeks, according to Col. Khun Oakkar, who leads a major ethnic alliance known as the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) and is a member of the NCCT. "The KNU secretary, Pado Saw Kwe Htoo Win, said the conference could likely be on Dec. 20," he said. "But we can say exactly only when we receive an invitation letter from the KNU." The conference in Karen State will likely require less time than the Laiza conference. "When we first met in Laiza, every ethnic leader had so much to talk about. I think we can shorten the time," Khun Oakkar said. "We will be able to meet with the government, led by Minister U Aung Min of the Myanmar Peace Center in Pa'an, following the ethnic groups' meeting in KNU areas," he added. But the Pa'an meeting is unlikely to happen this month because government ministers will not be able to attend after Dec. 23, the beginning of the Christmas and New Year's holidays. "We have not received any formal word yet from the ethnic leaders for the Pa'an meeting," Hla Maung Shwe, a special adviser to the government-backed Myanmar Peace Centre, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. "I understand the ethnic leaders are holding meetings, and we are waiting for information from them." "December 23 to January 5, 2014, is the Christmas and New Year's holidays here. It would be difficult to arrange the meeting during that time," he added. The post Holidays to Likely Delay Burma Ceasefire Talks appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Still Enlists Boy Soldiers Despite Reforms Posted: 02 Dec 2013 03:29 AM PST A billboard promoting a "No Child Soldiers" campaign in Rangoon. (Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) CHAUNG THA, Irrawaddy Division — He disappeared when he was 12 years old, a skinny boy named Min Thu from the wrong side of town who thought he'd stumbled onto the golden ticket. It began one afternoon when a swaggering, potbellied businessman bumped into Thu at the market, offering him an escape from a neighborhood where the houses are made of lumberyard scraps and the air smells of fish and decay and woodsmoke. It ended with four years in the army. The businessman, a small-town mogul of plastic kitchenware and cheap polyester clothing, has three tiny shops. To Thu, whose father makes a living pedaling a bicycle rickshaw through the streets of this small beachside town, he seemed impossibly successful. "The guy comes by and says, 'You'll have a great life if you come with me,'" says Thu, now a stone-faced 17-year-old, still skinny, and occasionally revealing a stutter he developed in the years he was gone. The older man made promises: that Thu could eat his fill at every meal, that he'd get a salary he could use to help his parents. Thu could barely believe his luck, even if he understood little of what was happening. "I was in fifth grade. I didn't even know what the guy was saying," says Thu. This is what he was saying: Thu was joining thousands of boys who have been swallowed up over the years by Burma's army, one of the most feared institutions in this country. The businessman was also a broker for army recruiters, most likely paid the standard fee about $30 and a bag of rice for every person he persuaded to sign up. It didn't matter if his recruits hadn't reached puberty. Over the next four years Thu would spend countless days carrying supplies and working on army-owned farms. He saw people die, in combat and in training. He'd see much of his $30-a-month salary taken by his superiors. Once, when he was 14, he fought in a chaotic gunbattle with ethnic Karen rebels, alternately crawling and shooting as his heart pounded. He speaks with no pride about the experience. "I just did what I was told to do," he says. "It was all about fear." As Burma shifts away from decades of military rule, emerging as a quasi-democracy where generals still wield immense political power, the government craves international respectability. Political prisoners have been freed, censorship has been abolished and, the government promises, the days of child soldiers are over. The United Nations and local rights activists say recruiting of underage soldiers has gone down, but many boys remain in the army, despite a government agreement to clear the military of anyone under age 18 by Dec. 1. Some have been taken in just the past few months. "What we see and what the government is saying are completely different," says Mya Sein, 65, a small-town rights activist who has worked with the families of child soldiers. "I don't believe their promises." Still, in the often paradoxical ways of the new Burma, a system has been created to get children out of the army. If a boy soldier—or more likely his family—is able to contact an activist or international aid group, a bureaucratic process can be started leading to the boy's discharge. Officials in numerous government ministries, and the military, did not respond to requests for comment. But senior military officers regularly appear, along with relief group officials, at discharge ceremonies for underage soldiers. "Some time ago the government came out of denial, which was excellent, and now there is firm policy in place," says Steve Marshall, Burma head of the UN's International Labor Organization, which has helped arrange many child soldier releases. "The critical issue now is getting that policy applied." Analysts say it's unclear how many children are in Burma's military. About 500 boys have been discharged in the past few years, some as young as 11, though most between 14 and 16 years old, Marshall says. He adds, though, that those children "are a small proportion" of Burma's total number of child soldiers. Go into Burma's villages, where poverty is the norm and high school degrees are rarities, and the stories of boy soldiers come tumbling out. There's the 15-year-old troublemaker with a second-grade education given the choice of arrest or the army; the 16-year-old who went to the market, met a recruiter, and never came home. There's San Htet Kyaw, 16, who left home in July, hoping to find work as a day laborer in Rangoon. Instead, an army recruiter dazzled him with tales of the money he'd bring back to his mother. The village he left behind, Kanyin Kauk, is a speck in the Irrawaddy River delta. Twenty minutes by boat from the nearest paved road, it has no electricity, no stores and no jobs but farming. It's a place where five families will pool their money to buy a cheap mobile phone. "There was nothing for him here," says his mother, San Myint. Sometimes, activists say, young recruits are simply forced into the army. More often, as with Thu, they are boys who fall victim to fast-talking pitches, cannot reverse course once they realize what has happened, and are kept in the military by a toxic combination of fear and disorientation. Burma has some of the deepest poverty and highest unemployment in Asia. Government jobs, particularly in villages and small towns, are seen as holy grails offering small-but-reliable paychecks. But despite that, the Tatmadaw, as the army is called, has long had trouble attracting recruits. The country of 55 million has one of the largest armies in the region, analysts say, with at least 400,000 soldiers. It has grown immensely since a failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising against military rule. While top generals have turned their power into immense wealth, at the bottom of the army is a vast underclass of soldiers who don't even have ranks. They are the barely educated muscle that keeps the Tatmadaw running. They work in the army's farms, its timber reserves and its factories. They are sent into battle, and work as household staff for officers. Their salaries are not bad by the standards of rural Burma—now about $60 a month—but officers regularly skim off much of that. That is the army Thu saw. Within hours of meeting the businessman, and with his parents completely unaware, Thu found himself at an army camp, terrified and confused. "As soon as we got to the base I knew we were in the wrong place," he says. "I started crying." Tears did not help. "They punched us and slapped us, shouting, 'This is not a place for crying.'" So Thu learned to get by. He stifled his tears, he marched in formation, he did what he was told. For years, occasional phone calls were his parents' only connection. Then, suddenly, he called from a Rangoon military hospital, saying he needed help. They found a boy so swollen from kidney disease that he was barely recognizable. His father, Saw Win, is a tough-looking man with tattoos running down his arms. Now 60, he walks slightly hunched over, after decades pedaling customers on a battered blue rickshaw with its ripped seat. Nearly all his life has been spent in a military dictatorship, and until then he would not have dared breaking army rules. But that day, he did not hesitate. "'We're running away,'" he told his son. So they slipped out of the room, out the back door of the hospital, and into a taxi. Months more medical care followed, paid for with loans, and finally a return to Chaung Tha. Thu hadn't seen his hometown for four years. He barely knew how to act around his family, and felt distant from boys who were once his friends. Fearing arrest, he spent days hiding in a nearby swamp. While the authorities now leave him alone—an activist has started the paperwork to have him officially discharged—he's always ready to run. He cannot imagine returning to school. Occasionally, he cuts timber for a couple dollars a day. He has become a silent presence in the family's two-room wooden house, where the rickshaw is parked out front and thumbnail-sized crabs scuttle in the dirt yard. "He doesn't care about things anymore," says his mother, Daw San, 58, painfully thin from the years her son was gone. "He's forgotten how to live with his family." As she spoke, Thu, in a black shirt advertising Lucky Eleven whiskey, sat silently. They all still see the businessman who persuaded Thu to join the army. His little stores are thriving. Given his relative wealth and his army connections, the family knows he won't be punished. That's not how things work in places like this. "We pass in the village, but I don't think he recognizes me," says Thu. "He doesn't react at all." The post Burma Still Enlists Boy Soldiers Despite Reforms appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

CSOs Urge Thein Sein to Open Up Political Space in Burma Posted: 02 Dec 2013 03:11 AM PST Burma's President Thein Sein waves to the press before his meeting with several civil society groups in Rangoon on Saturday. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Activists from several civil society organizations in Burma blasted President Thein Sein over the weekend, accusing the reformist leader and governments all the way down to the township level of failing to grant them political space to affect change. At the invitation of Thein Sein, the activists sat down with the president on Saturday to air their grievances—namely, that a lack of freedom of expression, transparency and rule of law were hampering their ability to work with the government as Burma moves toward democratic governance after more than 50 years of oppressive military rule. "The peace demonstrations, and in talking to the media, we are indirectly working toward peace and stability in the country. If the government understands freedom of expression and looks on the positive side, there will be no misunderstanding," said Kyaw Thu from the Paung Ku consortium, after his organization and several others met Thein Sein in Rangoon. Civil society leaders on Saturday were allowed to publicly explain their organizations' missions to the president and express the difficulties they still faced despite more than two-and-a-half years of democratic reforms under Thein Sein's nominally civilian government. Activists and lawyers working on environmental issues, education, women's empowerment, humanitarian assistance, and labor and land rights, were present at the event. Describing the government as oftentimes antagonistic, activists pointed out the recent penalties handed down to two activists who helped organize an International Day of Peace march last year in Rangoon. Last week, Kachin Peace Network coordinators Maran Jaw Gun and May Sabe Phyu were fined 20,000 kyats ($US20) each for leading the unauthorized protest, and the pair face more charges for the same Peaceful Assembly Law violation in four other Rangoon townships. The ethnic Kachin activists are just the latest example among scores of similar cases brought by prosecutors against activists protesting issues ranging from land rights to ethnic conflict to electricity rates. "Peace does not only apply to armed forces," Kyaw Thu told The Irrawaddy. "When we talk about foreign or local investments, many citizens fear that their lands will be confiscated or their homes will be moved forcibly and they will get nothing from those investing projects. Peace and stability in those project areas is being threatened by economic development." Thein Sein said in a speech to the civil society groups that he understood the importance of their role in the development and stability of Burma. The president said he welcomed the civil society organizations' input, but warned against an overly argumentative approach. "Because the country is at a very fragile state, please do not use the way of confrontation when we work together. Please use discussion and negotiation, rather than opposing each other," Thein Sein said in a 15-minute speech. "We will work toward our shared ambitions and will negotiate on the divergent issues." The activists said that despite Thein Sein's conciliatory words, a systemically repressive attitude by authorities ran deep in Burma. "We are facing many difficulties down to the state, division and township levels," said Arkar Bo, a member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society. "The opportunity to work together with the government is only happening in a few areas in Rangoon and Mandalay." May Sabai Phyu, a women's rights activist from the Gender Equality Network, also lamented the difficulties her organization faced, such as constantly struggling to obtain required permits and finding available venues for group gatherings. "We would like to suggest the granting of permission without delay, free access to locations and the appointment of women to consult with the government, especially on women's issues, in order to create effective cooperation," she said. Environmentalists at Saturday's meeting also complained that a lack of transparency and cooperation from governmental departments had created a trust gap. "We have to question whether the government will consider civil society organizations as enemies and control us or take us as friends with whom to work together," said Myint Zaw, an environmentalist from EcoDev, reading out a speech from the group's director. "Although the president talked about cooperation, positive results are not forthcoming," he added. "Now is the time to know whether the government really trusts civil society or not. There will be positive relations only if we can build an enabling environment." After representatives from 11 civil society groups presented their works and challenges, Thein Sein gave nearly 20 minutes of feedback to each organization. Thein Sein said he would consider the issues presented to him on Saturday, but gave no guarantee that action to address the groups' grievances would be taken. The post CSOs Urge Thein Sein to Open Up Political Space in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Public to Be Consulted on Plan to Save Rangoon’s Heritage Posted: 02 Dec 2013 03:06 AM PST The High Court building in downtown Rangoon's historic colonial district. (Photo: Kyaw Phyo Tha / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — After nearly a year-long discussion and preparation, a proposed regulation to restrict land-use and protect heritage buildings in Burma's former capital will have a public hearing on Tuesday, according to an architect involved in developing the plan. The zoning and land use strategy would govern the height of new buildings and delineate where development will be allowed and where it will not. It is hoped the strategy, which will be presented and suggestions invited during a public meeting at City Hall, will help to preserve the century-old architecture of Burma's biggest city. "This is the first time for Rangoon to have systematic urban planning that could help us to keep what makes our city unique, and develop it," said Moe Moe Lwin, one of the members of a working committee that has been preparing the plan. Initiated by Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), Rangoon's municipal body, the Yangon City Comprehensive Land Use, Zoning and Urban Design Review Working Committee has been discussing and planning a draft of the plan for a year. The working committee was approved by the city mayor and has ten experts from the YCDC, the Ministry of Construction's department of human settlements and housing development, the Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT), Mandalay Technological University, the Association of Myanmar Architects (AMA) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Moe Moe Lwin, who is also the general secretary of AMA and a director at YHT, told The Irrawaddy that the plan has four categories, including that are areas off-limits to development to protect heritage buildings and zones designated for modern development. "We will disclose it to the public as we want transparency and feedback," she said. She explained that YCDC took the leading role in developing the strategy as it has been under pressure with high-rise building proposals coming in nearly every day and "to decide those proposals, they need a framework." The general secretary of AMA said that after the public hearing, the committee will submit the plan to Rangoon Divisional government for approval to be enforced it as an Act or a municipal by-law. "It needs our decision makers' political will to make it happen, with a long-term vision for the interests of the country," she added. While other Asian cities have been transformed in recent decades into modern metropolises, thanks to nearly five decades of isolation under military rule, downtown Rangoon boasts a unique blend of century-old architecture. The ex-capital is considered to be the last surviving "colonial core" left in Asia. But as the country opens up under President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government that took power in 2011, this unique heritage is under threat. Once neglected grand old buildings are now in danger of being torn down to make way for hastily built office towers and condominiums. "Developers should clearly know that a zoning plan doesn't mean saying 'no' to development," said Dr. Pwint, an associate professor from the architecture department at Yangon Technological University. She said collaboration between urban planners and developers is important to decide where development should go and where it shouldn't to prevent Rangoon from becoming another Asian city, like Singapore, which lost the vast majority of old heritage buildings to development. "Luckily, we still have a cluster of intact and impressive buildings that make our city outstanding," she said, adding, "But do we let them be demolished in our times? "We should consider this." The post Public to Be Consulted on Plan to Save Rangoon's Heritage appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Suu Kyi Raises Issue of HIV on Australia Tour Posted: 02 Dec 2013 02:50 AM PST Aung San Suu Kyi meets with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has called for greater respect and compassion for people living with HIV. Speaking Sunday to mark World AIDS Day, Suu Kyi, an ambassador of the UN program on HIV, compared her own fight for freedom with the struggle of patients infected with the virus. "Many people have shown me compassion when I have needed it the most. In my darkest moments, respect and dignity have given me courage," she said in a public service announcement launched by UNAIDS. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and lawmaker was appointed last year as the UNAIDS Global Advocate for Zero Discrimination, with the goal of boosting international efforts to combat the stigma of living with HIV. "You and I, we can make a difference by reaching out and letting people lead a life of dignity," she said."Together we can reach zero discrimination." Also on Sunday, Suu Kyi joined UNAIDS director Michel Sidibé for a World AIDS Day event in Australia to unveil a new campaign to fight intolerance. "For the first time we can see an end to an epidemic that has wrought such staggering devastation around the world," Sidibé said at the event in Melbourne at Government House, the office and official residence of the governor of Victoria, according to a statement by UNAIDS. "But make no mistake, stigma, denial and complacency are still among us, putting us in danger of failing the next generation." Suu Kyi was in Melbourne on the final leg of a five-day trip to Australia, her first visit to the continent. With stops in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, she met with Prime Minister Tony Abbott, made a number of speeches and offered advice on Australia's asylum-seeker policy. Australia is now counting down to the 20th International AIDS Conference next July, a major global health and policy conference to be held in Melbourne that is expected to draw delegates from nearly 200 countries. "This is the premier gathering of people working in the HIV/AIDS field, people living with HIV/AIDS, policy makers and activists," Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said Sunday during an introduction for Suu Kyi in Melbourne, according to a transcript published on Bishop's official website. Of the democracy icon, she added:"Her work for the Burmese people in promoting freedom and democracy, her peaceful campaigning, has made her a global icon, and with all that she has on her plate for the Burmese people, as leader of the National League for Democracy, in facing some challenging times in the years ahead, she has nevertheless agreed to be UNAIDS ambassador for zero discrimination. "Her work in Southeast Asia fighting against discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS, her work in promoting early screening and testing and other programs, has been a model for us all." Bishop added that Australia has invested about A$1 billion (US$915 million) over the past decade in HIV-related programs in the region. World AIDS Day is commemorated annually on Dec. 1. According to statistics released by UNAIDS last month, 35 million people globally were living with HIV in 2012, including 4.9 million people in Asia and the Pacific. Over 20,000 people are living with HIV in Australia, compared with about 200,000 people living with the disease in Burma. In the Asia-Pacific region, there has been a 26 percent reduction in new HIV infections since 2001, according to UNAIDS, and some countries—including Burma, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Thailand—have reduced new infections by more than 50 percent. However, the annual numbers of new infections have remained largely unchanged for the last five years, and emerging epidemics have become evident in some countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines, where new HIV infections more than doubled between 2001 and 2012. In Burma and elsewhere in the region, populations most at risk for HIV are drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men. These people often face discrimination, including in access to employment, and many struggle to access adequate treatment. All countries in the Asia-Pacific have at least one law that hinders the AIDS response, reports UNAIDS, which says 37 countries criminalize some aspects of sex work, 18 countries criminalize same sex relationships and 11 countries have HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence. In Burma, only about 40 percent of those who required antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV were receiving it at the end of last year, according to medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières, the first and biggest provider of ART in the country. Nearly two in 10 people living with HIV in Burma have reported being verbally insulted as a result of their HIV status, while one in 10 reported physical assault, according to surveys by UNAIDS. The post Suu Kyi Raises Issue of HIV on Australia Tour appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma to Act Against Defamatory Banner After OIC Protests Posted: 02 Dec 2013 02:39 AM PST Buddhist monks at Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda protest in November against an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) delegation that is currently visiting Burma's troubled Arakan State. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's government says it will take action against Buddhist protesters who allegedly carried a banner insulting Islam during a demonstration against a visiting delegation of global Islamic leaders last month. The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that protesters in Rangoon's Bahan Township received permission to demonstrate against the delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), but not to hold the banner, which the newspaper described as "assaulting faith." Buddhists in mid-November staged protests across the country, accusing the OIC of trying to interfere in Burmese affairs. The OIC, the world’s largest bloc of Islamic countries, sent its delegates to assess the situation in parts of western Burma where Muslim communities were devastated by religious unrest last year. The biggest anti-OIC demonstrations were in west Burma, but in Rangoon about 1,000 protesters, mostly Buddhist monks, also marched from Shwedagon Pagoda to Sule Pagoda. In Bahan Township, some Buddhists monks allegedly held a banner saying, "Oppose Islam, as it is similar to animalism, with uncontrollable birth rates." The banner used a derogatory Burmese word, ta yeik san warda, which is used to describe animals. "During the protest against the OIC and its delegation members on 15 November, protesters held the banner without obtaining prior approval from the local authorities, although they were allowed to stage the protest peacefully," The New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday. "Action will be taken against those protesters who were using [the] banner assaulting faith." The OIC delegation visited Arakan State for three days in November. Arakan State was the site of two major bouts of communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims in June and October last year, during which at least 192 people were killed and an estimated 140,000 were displaced. The majority of victims were Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic minority group that is largely denied citizenship in Burma and has been confined to isolated villages or displacement camps without adequate access to services such as health care. Phoe Thar, a leader from the Rangoon-based Arakan Youth Organization who applied for permission to protest in Bahan Township, said the government was within its rights to take action against those responsible for the banner. "They are doing their duty," he said. "From our side, we will respond how we can. We will fight within the rule of law." He said he had not approved the banner before the protest. "We condemn the use of this word," he said. "There were people who wanted to make us look bad by using this poster. We found other posters, but we seized them at the event. We tried out best to stop it. This was our mistake—we could not check all of them. I had a duty to check them." He said the government also had a responsibility to prohibit defamatory banners. "But I do not feel that the word was very insulting to Islam," he added. "And I want to ask one question to Muslims: How can we solve the problem of Muslims raping our Arakanese [Buddhist] women and burning the houses of our people?" Ethnic Arakanese Buddhists also lost homes in the violence last year, and monks around the country campaigned earlier this year to restrict interfaith marriage, claiming that Buddhist women are vulnerable to rape or forced religious conversions. Rights activists called this campaign inappropriate and discriminatory. U Pamaukkha, a senior Buddhist monk who led anti-OIC protests in Rangoon last month, said the intention was not to insult Islam. "We are doing this to protect our religion and race. I do not want the OIC to have an office anywhere in our country, and we do not want interference from other countries," he told The Irrawaddy. "We do not see another way, except to solve this case within the rule of law. I do not feel guilty for using this word, because we are doing it for our people. "The government should think carefully about whether to take action with this case. They should consider whether taking action against us will result in peace or not. …From our side, we are ready to face trial." Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a humanitarian group that works for Rohingya rights, said the defamatory banner went too far. "If the translation of the banner is correct, this goes far beyond anti-OIC protests," she told The Irrawaddy. "This is defamation of religion." She said that while the government allowed the anti-OIC protests last month, it has violently suppressed other anti-government or anti-industry demonstrations—including around the Letpadaung copper mine in northwest Burma. "Not only has the government easily given them permission to demonstrate while cracking down on Letpadaung protesters, but letting such insult to whatever religion unchallenged and unpunished would be clear evidence of the government's involvement," she said. "This will not go unnoticed in the Muslim world. The Burma government has been accused by rights organizations of being complicit in anti-Muslim violence, amid allegations that state security forces have moved slowly to stop bloodshed in several riots. The Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organization (MAPIM) condemned the extent of protests against the OIC in Burma. "We are outraged and we register our strong condemnation against the denigration of Islam by monks in major cities of Myanmar under the pretext of resenting the visit of OIC foreign ministers to Myanmar [Burma] a few days ago," Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, president of the council, said in a statement last month. He said that equating Islam to animal ideology was not only insulting, but also "tantamount to declaring war on Islam." "We see this deep hatred toward Muslims and Islam as intentionally orchestrated by officials of the Myanmar government themselves," he added. The post Burma to Act Against Defamatory Banner After OIC Protests appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Scenes from Protest-Rocked Bangkok Posted: 02 Dec 2013 12:50 AM PST Police in riot gear position themselves behind barbed wire on the protest's front lines. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) BANGKOK — Protests that began a week ago continued to plague Bangkok on Sunday, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets in an attempt to bring down the government of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. After a night in which at least three people were reportedly killed and scores more injured, tensions rose around Government House on Sunday, with police firing tear gas into the crowd as protestors tested the durability of barricades set up to protect the complex. The protests are being led by former Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who met with Yingluck on Sunday but later vowed to continue the campaign to oust her. Yingluck's brother Thaksin Shinawatra is at the center of the controversy. Also a former prime minister, Thaksin was removed from power in a 2006 military coup and was later convicted on corruption charges. He fled the country to avoid incarceration, and many accuse him of wielding political influence in exile through his sister. The Irrawaddy's photojournalist Steve Tickner was in Bangkok to document Sunday's unrest. Read the full story from The Associated Press here. The post Scenes from Protest-Rocked Bangkok appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thailand Braces for More Protest Violence Posted: 01 Dec 2013 10:03 PM PST A riot policeman peers cautiously from behind a tree amid protests in Bangkok on Sunday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) BANGKOK — The United Nations closed its main office in Bangkok, dozens of schools closed and many civil servants stayed away from work Monday as the Thai capital braced for more violence in a spiraling political crisis. After a weekend of chaos in pockets of Bangkok, protesters vowed to push ahead with plans to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra by occupying her office compound along with other key government buildings. Police again used tear gas on thousands of protesters on Monday after repeatedly driving them back with similar attacks throughout Sunday. In an e-mailed statement to its staff, the United Nations' security department said "there could be violence [Monday] on a large scale … staff should avoid government offices" and other protest locations. Many of the offices and schools closed Monday were located near the Government House, in the historic quarter of the capital, where police over the weekend fought off mobs of rock-throwing protesters armed with petrol bombs. At least three people were killed and 103 injured in skirmishes over the weekend. The protests have renewed fears of prolonged instability in one of Southeast Asia's biggest economies and comes just ahead of the peak holiday tourist season. Protest leaders want to replace Yingluck's popularly elected government, which they say is illegitimate, with an unelected "people's council," but they have been vague about what that means. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister, has refused to say how such a demand, which has been criticized as undemocratic, could be accepted by a government that was elected with an overwhelming majority. However, his sustained campaign has led to suggestions that he may have the backing of the military, which has long had a powerful influence over Thai politics. The army has often stepped in during times of crisis, carrying out 18 successful or attempted coups since the 1930s. Suthep met with Yingluck late Sunday in the presence of top military officials even though he has an arrest warrant against him. He later told cheering supporters that he told Yingluck that the only way to end the protests was for her to step down. He said his goal is to topple Yingluck by Wednesday. The military has said it is neutral in the conflict but army commander Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha has urged the police not to use force. "There was no negotiation during this meeting," Suthep said. If Yingluck "listens to the people's voices and returns the power to the people obediently, we will treat Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra with politeness because we all are good citizens." Yingluck's government has gone to painstaking lengths to avoid using deadly force. The French Embassy issued one of the strongest warnings of dozens of foreign governments, urging citizens to "stay inside" to avoid the conflict on Bangkok's streets. The French School is located in a northeastern Bangkok neighborhood where gunshots rang out over the weekend during clashes between Yingluck's supporters and opponents. It was one of at least 60 schools closed in Bangkok on Monday. Political instability has plagued Thailand since the military ousted Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, in a 2006 coup. Two years later, anti-Thaksin protesters occupied Bangkok's two airports for a week after taking over the prime minister's office for three months, and in 2010 pro-Thaksin protesters occupied downtown Bangkok for weeks in a standoff that ended with parts of the city in flames and more than 90 dead. Suthep and his supporters say Yingluck is a puppet of her brother. Any further deterioration is likely to scare away investors as well as tourists who come to Thailand by the millions and contribute 10 percent to the US$602 billion economy, Southeast Asia's second largest after Indonesia. It is also likely to undermine Thailand's democracy, which had built up in fits and starts interrupted by coups. Most of the protesters are middle-class Bangkok residents who have been part of the anti-Thaksin movement for several years and people brought in from the opposition Democrat Party strongholds in the southern provinces. Associated Press writers Todd Pitman, Grant Peck, Papitchaya Boonngok and Raul Gallego Abellan contributed to this report. The post Thailand Braces for More Protest Violence appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

VP Biden Trying to Show US Still Focused on Asia Posted: 01 Dec 2013 09:57 PM PST US Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, during their bilateral meeting in Singapore on July 26, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Tim Chong) WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden is set to arrive Monday in Tokyo on a weeklong trip to Asia, which is watching carefully to see how committed the Obama administration is to increasing America's influence in the region as a hedge against an increasingly assertive China. In meetings with leaders in Japan, China and South Korea, the vice president will seek to show that while the administration has been preoccupied with Mideast flare-ups and a series of domestic distractions, the United States remained determined to be a Pacific power. At the same time, disputes among Asian nations seem to be boiling over, threatening instability in a region that's vital to the US economy. American allies Japan and South Korea are barely speaking. China is butting heads with its neighbors and with the United States about Beijing's new air defense zone over a group of tiny islands that has exacerbated long-simmering territorial conflicts. The United States on Friday advised American carriers to comply with China's demand that it be told of any flights passing through that defense zone. Early in his first term, President Barack Obama declared the United States was "all in" when it came to the Asia-Pacific. His administration pledged to increase its influence, resources and diplomatic outreach in the region, and to bolster the US military footprint so that by 2020, 60 percent of the Navy's warships would be based there, compared with 50 percent now. The concern was that as China came into its own as a superpower, its sway over other Asian nations would grow, too. But in Obama's second term, Iran, Syria and Egypt have absorbed the president's attention on foreign policy matters. At home, the administration has been consumed with a health care rollout that's become a major political problem, while intense gridlock in Congress has bogged Obama down in domestic disputes. To cap it off, Obama had to scrap a much-anticipated trip to Asia in October because the federal government was shut down. His absence led many in the region to wonder if it remained an Obama priority. Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said recently it does. She announced that Obama will visit Asia in April and promised that the United States will keep deepening its commitment to Asia "no matter how many hot spots emerge elsewhere." But Republican Rep. Steve Chabot said he's heard loud concerns as he's traveled the region as the chairman of the House subcommittee dealing with Asia. "In each country I've gotten this feedback: 'When do you think the president is going to put some meat on the bones?'" Chabot said. "It's been mostly just talk, and mostly diplomatic engagement. They want to get beyond just talk." On his first stop, Biden will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before focusing on women's issues with the new US ambassador, Caroline Kennedy. In Beijing, Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Vice President Li Yuanchao and Premier Li Keqiang. After meeting with South Korean leaders in Seoul, Biden will give a major speech on the US-Korea relationship at Yonsei University and lay a wreath at a cemetery honoring fallen US troops. The trip comes at a critical time. The United States is trying to complete a major trade agreement by year's end, but it's not certain the deadline will be honored. The Trans-Pacific Partnership involving the United States, Japan and 10 other nations could clear the way for much greater trade with Asia, in line with Obama's ambitious goal to double US exports by 2015. Issues of market access, environmental protections and intellectual property remain controversial. It's also unclear whether Congress will approve the pact without making changes, potentially derailing the deal. For Xi and Biden, their visit will be something of a reunion. The two exchanged official visits when Xi was vice president, spending hours together as the United States tried to learn as much as possible about the man who would become party leader in 2012. Biden's visit comes two weeks after China's leaders outlined a market reform plan that could be the country's most significant economic overhaul in at least two decades. The Communist Party conference marked the unveiling of Xi's vision. But China's new air defense zone over the East China Sea may overshadow Biden's mission. The administration said Biden would raise the issue directly with Chinese leaders. China announced last week that all aircraft entering the zone—a maritime area between China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan—must notify Chinese authorities beforehand and that it would take unspecified defensive measures against those that don't comply. Neighboring countries and the United States have said they will not honor the new zone, which is believed aimed at claiming disputed territory, and have said it unnecessarily raises tensions. China's defense ministry said fighter jets identified and monitored the two US reconnaissance aircraft and a mix of 10 Japanese early warning, reconnaissance and fighter planes during their flights through the zone early Friday. The United States has tried to stay out of such territorial disputes, but treaty obligations to Japan sometimes get in the way. As China, Japan and others adopt increasingly aggressive military stances, the United States worries about an increased likelihood of a mishap spiraling quickly out of control. In South Korea, the nuclear threat from an unpredictable North Korea is a chief item on Biden's agenda. The deal the United States helped strike with Iran to temporarily freeze its nuclear program is a stark reminder of the impasse in negotiations with North Korea. Unlike Iran, North Korea is believed to already have a nuclear bomb, and there's worrying evidence it is pressing ahead with weapons development. A US research institute said Friday it has detected new construction at a North Korean missile launch site, which the institute says is being upgraded to handle larger rockets. Meanwhile, state media in the North claimed Saturday that an elderly US tourist detained for more than a month has apologized for alleged crimes during the Korean War and for "hostile acts" against the state during a recent trip. The apology by Korean War veteran Merrill Newman couldn't be independently confirmed. Biden may try to play mediator between South Korea and Japan, whose long-troubled relations are souring over painful legacies from Japanese colonialism and World War II. Nationalist sentiments in Tokyo have been pitted against Seoul's desire for more public remorse from Japan over its use of Korean sex slaves during the war, and other injustices. The post VP Biden Trying to Show US Still Focused on Asia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China Launches Lunar Probe Carrying ‘Jade Rabbit’ Buggy Posted: 01 Dec 2013 09:31 PM PST The Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe blasts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan province, on Dec. 2, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — China launched its first ever extraterrestrial landing craft into orbit en route for the moon in the small hours of Monday, in a major milestone for its space program. The Chang'e-3 lunar probe, which includes the Yutu or Jade Rabbit buggy, blasted off on board an enhanced Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's southwestern Sichuan province at 1:30am (1730 GMT). President Xi Jinping has said he wants China to establish itself as a space superpower, and the mission has inspired pride in China's growing technological prowess. State television showed a live broadcast of the rocket lifting off. If all goes smoothly, the rover will conduct geological surveys and search for natural resources after the probe touches down on the moon in mid-December as China's first spacecraft to make a soft landing beyond Earth. "The probe has already entered the designated orbit," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang Zhenzhong, director of the launch center, as saying. "I now announce the launch was successful." "We will strive for our space dream as part of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation," he added. In 2007, China launched its first moon orbiter, the Chang'e-1—named after a lunar goddess—which took images of the surface and analyzed the distribution of elements. The lunar buggy was named the Jade Rabbit in a public vote, a folkloric reference to the goddess's pet. Chinese scientists have discussed the possibility of sending a human to the moon sometime after 2020. In China's latest manned space mission in June, three astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory, part of Beijing's quest to build a working space station by 2020. If the lunar mission is successful, China will become the third country, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to soft-land on the moon. But it is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, whose moon landings date back more than four decades. China is looking to land a probe on the moon, release a moon rover and return the probe to the Earth in 2017, Xinhua said. Beijing insists its space program is for peaceful purposes, but the US Department of Defense has made clear it wants to prevent China's increasing space capabilities giving it any strategic advantage. China says it will share the technological achievements of its manned space program with other nations, especially developing ones, and will offer to train astronauts from other countries. Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan and Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Kazunori Takada in SHANGHAI. The post China Launches Lunar Probe Carrying 'Jade Rabbit' Buggy appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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