The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Calls for Transparency After Reports of Violence in Arakan State
• Conference of Burma’s Ethnic Armed Groups Begins in Karen Territory
• The Safe Sex Talk, Burmese Style
• Opening the Shutters on Previously Shuttered Burma
• Rangoon Promises 24-Hour Power to Residents During Summer
• Farmers Travel to Rangoon to Decry Land Seizures, Trespassing Charges
• Thousands Rally for Indonesian Maid Ill-Treated in Hong Kong
• Seven Seriously Hurt in Bangkok Blast; Military Urges End to Crisis
• China Falls in Love With Sherlock Holmes

Calls for Transparency After Reports of Violence in Arakan State Posted: 20 Jan 2014 05:47 AM PST UN Human Rights Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana is pictured in August addressing reporters at Yangon International Airport. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — As the Burma government insists there is no truth to reports that Rohingya Muslims were killed in the village of Du Char Yar Tan last week, calls are growing for a full investigation into what took place in the village in northern in Arakan State. Reports have emerged of a violent crackdown on the night of Jan. 13 in the village in Maungdaw Township after a policeman went missing in the Rohingya-majority area. The Thailand-based NGO the Arakan Project said it had received multiple reports that possibly dozens of Rohingya were killed by security forces and Arakanese Buddhists. Official media and the Ministry of Information have strongly refuted the reports. International organizations are calling for clarity as independent observers have not been able to visit Du Char Yar Tan village to confirm either the allegations or the government line. A high security presence is reportedly still in place in the area. Shwe Maung, a Muslim member of Parliament for Buthidaung Township in Arakan State, who is currently in Naypyidaw, criticized local authorities for issuing a blanket denial of the reports, and called for the government to be more transparent in dealing with the incident. He said Rohingya villagers had still not been allowed back into the village to confirm whether missing loved ones are dead or alive. "They should let the people get back to inside the village. Now some people believe that their people were killed as they can't get inside the village," Shwe Maung said. He said he had been sent photos of the bodies of people purportedly killed last week, and was trying to confirm their veracity. "I just got five photos of dead people," he said. "When I get full confirmation, I will raise it to Parliament." He said the entire population of the village, nearly 4,000 people, had fled their homes, although he could not confirm how many people had been killed. Abu Tahay, a Muslim leader from the Union National Development Party, said he had a list of 24 names of people killed. He also called for the authorities to thoroughly investigate and present their findings in a transparent way. The state-owned New Light of Myanmar on Saturday quoted local police denying the incident, which was reported Friday by the Associated Press (AP) and The Irrawaddy. "AP, Irrawaddy falsely reports violence occurred in Rakhine State," the newspaper's headline read, saying the media outlets were "instigat[ing] unrest" by reporting claims of deaths in Du Char Yar Tan village. According to information published on the Facebook page of the Burmese military-owned Myawaddy newspaper, the Ministry of Information has spoken to AP reporters about their coverage last week. Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut could not be reached for comment Monday. The Rangoon embassies of the United States and Britain issued a joint statement Friday calling for a full investigation into events at Du Char Yar Tan village. The US Embassy's deputy chief of mission, Virginia E. Murray, said Saturday that the embassy was trying to visit Du Char Yar Tan to verify the conflicting claims. "It is clear there is conflict there. We issued our embassy statement already to visit there," said Murray, who spoke to The Irrawaddy on the sidelines of an Interfaith Religion Dialogue event in Rangoon. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, also in a statement Friday urged a full investigation. "I urge the Government to clarify what has happened. Quick and transparent action can help to prevent further violence," Quintana said. "If deaths and injuries have occurred, the Myanmar Government must, under international law, conduct a prompt, effective and impartial investigation and hold the perpetrators of any human rights violations to account." The human rights expert said he had received reports of Rohingya Muslims being killed and injured as well as a security official being killed. A number of arrests were reportedly made during the security forces' operation in Maungdaw, and nine people remain detained, according to local sources. "Myanmar authorities must respect the due process rights of anyone arrested and detained, which includes access to legal counsel, and address the specific risks faced by women and children in detention," Quintana said. "Given the previous concerns I have raised about torture and ill-treatment of persons in detention in Maungdaw, I urge the authorities to provide access to independent monitoring groups to assess the treatment of those being detained." The post Calls for Transparency After Reports of Violence in Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Conference of Burma’s Ethnic Armed Groups Begins in Karen Territory Posted: 20 Jan 2014 04:29 AM PST The KNU’s vice chairperson (left) chats with KIA deputy chief Gen Gun Maw at conference of Burma’s ethnic groups on Monday. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) LAW KHEE LAH, Karen State — A conference of most of Burma's ethnic armed groups began Monday in Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled territory near the Burmese-Thai border, with an ethnic Karen leader affirming his support for ongoing talks with the government toward a nationwide ceasefire agreement. The conference at the KNU's Law Khee Lah base, which is taking place ahead of more talks with government negotiators in the Karen State capital of Hpa-an next month, is being attended by the majority of groups, with the exceptions of the main Wa rebel group and its allied Mong La militia group. KNU chairman Saw Mutu Say Poe emphasized the importance of consolidating existing ceasefires signed individually between rebel groups and the government. "We will build trust by continuing negotiations. I want to emphasize the consequences that will come out after a nationwide ceasefire agreement. There will be positive results such as a guarantee for political dialogue and we will consolidate the ceasefires which were reached by individual groups," he said. Mutu Say Poe said all ethnic rebel groups would have to move from armed struggle to the negotiating table to bring the decades-long conflicts with the Burma government to an end. He also said that he was told by Burmese President Thein Sein that political negotiations are the only way to solve the conflicts. "We met both Burmese army chief [Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing] and President [Thein Sein]. The president told us that there is no option except negotiations to solve the problem," said Mutu Say Poe. The KNU leader, however, insisted that while armed groups should move forward toward peace and reconciliation, they should uphold the principle of the Karen resistance's founder, Saw Ba U Gyi, who once said: "We shall decide our own political destiny." Mutu Say Poe said that while Burmese governments in the past had encouraged ethnic rebels to get along with the government and "exchange arms with peace," he believes that President Thein Sein's government is sincere, since it is willing to discuss a federal system that would give ethnic minorities more autonomy. "I want to urge that we will have to grab the opportunity, and it's time to move forward and speedily implement significant changes for the sake of civilians. It is important that ethnic groups have to push for those positive emerging reforms," said Mutu Say Poe. As well as the KNU, the  Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the Chin National Front (CNF), the Wa National Organization (WNO), the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)—also known as the  Kokang militia—the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, Arakan Army (AA) and other smaller ethnic armed groups attended the conference, which is set to end on Wednesday this week. Representatives from the alliance of ethnic armed groups, United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) and the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) also attended the meeting. Representatives of ethnic armed groups held the their first conference about the current ceasefire talks at the KIO’s headquarters in Laiza, on Sino-Burmese border, in late October to early November last year. At that time, all ethnic groups except United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Mong La militia, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), did not attend. That conference was followed by a meeting with the government's negotiators, led by Minister Aung Min, in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina, where talks led to an agreement to talk further, but the rebels and the government appeared to still be separated by some distance in their demands. The next round of negotiations was originally slated for December but has been delayed twice by the ethnic armed groups asking for more time to agree upon their demands. The post Conference of Burma's Ethnic Armed Groups Begins in Karen Territory appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

The Safe Sex Talk, Burmese Style Posted: 20 Jan 2014 04:19 AM PST A young couple hides under an umbrella for extra privacy on the embankment of Inya Lake in Rangoon. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — When she was a young teenager, Pan Ei Khaing never walked too close to boys, heeding a word of advice from her mother about unintended pregnancy. Her friends in Pegu Division were told by their parents not to have sex. "But my mother said that once I started menstruating, I couldn't even touch a man, otherwise I would become pregnant," she says. "I was afraid of that, so I stayed away." She busted that myth only about three years ago, when she turned 18 years old and decided to study health so she could become a midwife for the government. But today, despite her medical training, and although she believes communities would benefit from discussions about contraception, she says she is not widely sharing information about safe sex with patients. To do so, she says, would be inappropriate in most villages. In some parts of Burma, mainly urban centers and towns, health care workers distribute condoms and discuss methods of preventing sexually transmitted diseases. But in the rural parts of Arakan State where Pan Ei Khaing works now, and in many other remote regions across the country where midwives are the sole providers of medical care, reproductive health and safe sex are not normally considered acceptable subjects for discussion. "The topic is a little strange," she says. "And using condoms is seen as shameful. In this traditional culture, if you have sex before you marry, it's like you did something wrong." In Rangoon, Burma's biggest city, a young doctor has taken a different approach. To avoid the embarrassment of speaking face to face about a taboo topic, he moderates a telephone advice hotline for young men who have questions about sexual health. The hotline is an initiative of the Myanmar Medical Association, a professional organization of physicians that has also created a separate line for young women, usually between the ages of 15 and 24, who want to talk about issues such as teen pregnancy, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. Some callers are shy at first, says 26-year-old Zarni Win, who has been moderating the boys' hotline since July last year and answers about five calls daily. "It's very easy to handle it," he says, referring to the shyness, "because it's confidential. They do not need to tell me their name, so they can easily disclose their problems." But in a country where an overwhelming majority of people lack access to mobile telephone networks, the hotlines are not a cure-all, and other options for frank discussions are limited. Parents typically do not talk to their children about reproductive health, with some women saying they were unaware of menstruation until after it happened. And although the government has incorporated sex education into the school curriculum, teachers are also wary about discussing sex, fearing their own integrity could be questioned if they show knowledge of the subject. Burma is trying to find its own approach to a question that remains controversial in many countries: How to balance calls for comprehensive sex education as a tool to prevent teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual violence, with widespread concerns about protecting traditional religious or cultural values. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, in Muslim-majority Indonesia, the health minister's pledge to promote condom use to young people led to rallies in 2012 by people who worried about encouraging teen sex, although an education official's proposal last year to institute mandatory virginity testing for high school girls was seen as too extreme. In Thailand, a Buddhist-majority country known for its relative openness about sexuality and its flourishing prostitution industry, activists say teachers are still too embarrassed to frankly discuss sexual health with their students. In the Christian-majority United States, policy makers have heatedly debated the merits and pitfalls of abstinence-only sex education that leaves out information about contraception. As Burma opens up to the world after decades of international isolation, as its government works to reform an education system that was long-neglected by the former military regime, and as the public takes advantage of new freedoms of expression, similar debates are under way to determine just how far educators should go in teaching a taboo subject. 'Not Just About Sex' As is true in many Southeast Asian countries, women in Burma are expected to remain virgins until they marry. Condom are available in stores and even sold by roadside vendors on busy streets in Rangoon, but young adults say they fear being labeled as promiscuous if they are caught with one in their bag. Masturbation is considered dirty and shameful, although it is considered by health practitioners internationally as a safe sexual behavior. Public displays of affection are rare, beyond holding hands, and it is common in Rangoon to see couples taking cover behind umbrellas at public parks so they can cuddle in privacy. "We will never talk about it," says Phuu Pwint Aung, a 22-year-old student in Rangoon, referring to sex. "It is something both sides are shy to talk about, and it is our culture." Her friend Phyu Phyu Win, a 22-year-old from Mon State, has a boyfriend but says she does not know how to use a condom. "We have to keep our virginity before getting married," she says. "It is the culture in Burma: If you are not a virgin when you get married, you have no dignity." Discussing sex with her parents is not an option. "They would ask why I wanted to talk about something so disgusting. They would say I should be ashamed of talking about this," she says. In ninth grade Phuu Pwint Aung says she was taught about HIV at school, while Phyu Phyu Win learned about sexually transmitted infections at a community workshop organized by a local NGO, but neither recalls receiving information about safe sex. After marriage they plan to educate themselves by reading articles online or educational books about reproductive health. "Even now, I watch movies and learn from them," says Phyu Phyu Win, referring to Hollywood films with sex scenes. But despite the chaste expectations, Burma is not a place of innocence. Prostitution is illegal but easy to find in big cities such as Rangoon, while drugs to enhance libido are available cheaply on the black market. Near universities, rooms at guest houses are rented by the hour for student couples; under military rule, institutions of higher education were relocated to satellite towns outside major cities, and some say their remote location made them an ideal place to get intimate. The consequences of poor sex education are numerous, activists say. Young people are commonly forced to marry against their will if caught having sex, while women with unwanted pregnancies must have the baby or undergo an unsafe illegal abortion. Another concern is sexual assault and rape, says Htar Htar, a women's rights activist known in Rangoon for launching a campaign against sexual harassment on city buses. She says that while young women are expected to remain pure and typically have a very clean understanding of sex, men are expected to have sexual experience and often read pornography suggesting that women are hypersexual. "When these boys and girls meet, they have different expectations. It's a problem," she says. Htar Htar leads a women's network known as Akhaya and says that people regularly report sexual abuse at monthly sessions to discuss gender roles, sexuality, reproductive health and other women's issues. More participants are attending the sessions each month, with some women in their 20s and others in their 50s. "Some are domestic workers, others are directors of companies," she says. Before forming the women's network, Htar Htar worked as a sexuality trainer for Burnet Institute, an international organization seeking to prevent and treat HIV in Burma. She said that despite her title, her understanding of sexuality at the time was limited. "We knew it was important to use condoms, but for those who didn't want to use a condom, what next? The conversation would always stop, because we didn't know or want to talk about pleasure in sex," she said. "We also were not trained to talk about sexual relationships, female sexuality. We focused on male sexuality, or more specifically on men who have sex with men." In 2008, she and a group of friends met with a visiting Israeli sex therapist to learn about female sexuality and reproductive health, and she decided to educate others in her community. Today she is calling for comprehensive sex education in schools, starting from as early as kindergarten. "When people say sex education runs counter to Myanmar [Burmese] culture, it is because they do not understand what sex education is. They assume sex education is about intercourse, but no—it is about our organs, which we use in our bodies every second. Right now we are not meant to understand our organs, but we need to understand how they function, how to take care of them," she says. "Sex education is not just about sex, but about health, power, violence, law, sexual identities, how you see yourself, your image, your relationships, your communication and decision-making. Knowing about your body is not against culture." A Name Game As it stands now, sex education is largely promoted under the guise of HIV prevention in Burma, where AIDS is a major public health concern and a lack of resources means that a large share of people infected with the virus are unable to receive treatment. About 200,000 people are HIV-positive in the country, and at the end of 2012 over half of those requiring antiretroviral therapy were not receiving it. "HIV allows us to talk about safe sex—that seems like the only venue," says Sid Naing, the country director for Marie Stopes International, which provides integrated sexual and reproductive health care services with a focus in Burma on family planning. "In Myanmar it's called birth spacing, and in reality it's contraception. It's a name game." "Reproductive health is not seen by many as a national cause," he adds. "But authorities—whether administrative authorities, health authorities, local leaders, informal leaders or religious leaders—when they hear about HIV prevention, they believe they need to support it." He said it was important to note that the Ministry of Education had already created a sex education curriculum for schools. "They have successfully integrated very basic health information about sex and HIV prevention within the curriculum, starting around 10 years ago," he said. But he added, "The majority of schoolteachers in Myanmar are women, and their capacity has not been built to confidently talk about safe sex and basic sex education. They are embarrassed, and their biggest fear is that if they talk about sex they will not be respected." Sex education is taught to students between the ages of 10 and 16 as part of the "secondary life skills" (SLS) curriculum, which covers a range of topics, from social skills and emotional intelligence to disease prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health and drug use. The curriculum was last revised between 2006 and 2011 and is mandatory but co-curricular, meaning students do not have to take exams on the subject at the end of the year. Reproductive and sexual health are introduced in sixth grade, with lessons on physical growth and emotional changes due to puberty. Students also learn about HIV transmission at this time, according to Unicef, which helped the Ministry of Education develop the curriculum. As seventh graders, students are asked to consider boy-girl relationships to determine an age-appropriate level of closeness, and in 10th and 11th grades they study how to prevent unplanned pregnancies and STIs, with abstinence promoted as the most effective method. They learn that for those who are sexually active, condoms are the only effective means of preventing pregnancy, HIV and other STIs. "In the past, dialogue on reproductive and sexual health was avoided in Myanmar and teachers were challenged in helping children and adolescents learn about such important issues. As part of the transition to a new Myanmar, there's now an opportunity to talk more openly about these matters which can seriously affect the health and wellbeing of Myanmar's children and can have lasting negative effects into adulthood," said Bertrand Bainvel, a Unicef representative in Rangoon. He said one method of addressing reticence around such issues was by providing supplementary self-study books so students could learn about key reproductive and sexual health topics in privacy. He said it was also important to ensure that instructors did not use time allocated for the SLS curriculum to teach other core subjects, which has happened in the past to prepare students for school leaving exams at the end of high school. "Unicef is currently working with the Myanmar government to have SLS embedded in the national education law," he added. The government is considering new laws for education as it undergoes a two-year review of the school system to identify key areas for reform, after decades of underfunding and neglect for education under the former military regime. Outside of schools, other efforts are under way to teach young people about reproductive health. In addition to telephone advice hotlines—which have been launched not only by the Myanmar Medical Association, but also by the government's Department of Medical Research, the global health organization Population Services International, and Marie Stopes International—a radio program on Shwe FM station offers information on youth issues, including unwanted pregnancies, HIV, family planning, adolescent health and family problems. The weekly program is supported by the UN Population Fund, which provides assistance for the Myanmar Medical Association's telephone hotline. Burma also receives international funding for HIV prevention, and last week the princess of Denmark launched a new Danish-funded health care clinic in the country to educate women about contraception and family planning while supporting people infected with the virus. Community-based organization Girl Determined is trying to introduce sex education into weekly after-school peer groups for marginalized girls who live on the outskirts of urban areas. More than 1,300 girls between the ages of 12 and 17 participate in the peer groups outside Rangoon, Mandalay, and the cities of Sagaing and Monywa in northwest Burma. "Right now we focus on the prime issue of puberty, but we don't talk about sex yet—we are still planning the curriculum. We don't talk about how to use condoms with the girls very much," says Nant Thazin Min, who helps coordinate the peer groups. "Talking about sex openly can be difficult. So many people, teenage girls and young women, do sexual things but the people don't talk about it. They need to know about it, to prevent any pregnancy or sexual harassment." Some young women say they are in no rush to learn. "I don't think I need to know more right now," says Phyu Phyu Win, the 22-year-old student in Rangoon. "I might need to know one day, but I have never had a thought on it right now." Minutes later, she had a change in heart. "It is not something you can avoid," she said. "It's how you make babies, it's how we are. We should know about it since we can't avoid it." The post The Safe Sex Talk, Burmese Style appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Opening the Shutters on Previously Shuttered Burma Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:42 AM PST A man aims a rifle among ethnic armed rebels in Kachin State (Photo: Hkun Li) RANGOON — Hiding cameras in the bottom of a backpack, one photographer sneaked past security checkpoints and trekked mountains to bear witness to an anarchic mining town in northern Burma. In the same region, a different shutterbug spent nearly three years at refugee camps and frontlines, documenting the lives of ethnic rebels waging war against the central government. Another slipped into a conflict-torn area where people armed with every imaginable form of primitive weaponry walked the streets, bringing back images of communal strife in western Burma. The results: A collection that tells visual tale of some of the problems afflicting Burma today—civil war, lawlessness and sectarian violence. In an exhibition titled "Six: New Photography from Myanmar," a half-dozen stories documented by some of the best young photographers in Burma are now on display, pushing boundaries as the country undergoes wide-ranging reforms that have included dramatic changes to its media landscape. For visitors, the photo exhibition provides an intriguing window into an emerging body of documentary photography that, in the past, they might only have seen in pictorial books by foreign photojournalists. "I hope people will come in and see some work that they haven't seen before," said Myanmar Deitta's Matt Grace, who organized the photo show called "Six," a namesake tribute to its contributors: five photographers and one shutter-happy group. Among the collection are portraits of the lives of men in a jade mining town in northern Burma, an area off-limits to foreigners, and ethnic rebel frontlines in the same region that are almost inaccessible to outsiders. Other exhibition photos' subject matter ranges from sectarian violence between the Arakanese and Muslim Rohingya in western Burma to villagers troubled by wild elephants to urban street scenes. Hkun Li, an ethnic Kachin freelance photographer and one of the show's contributors, spent three years visiting Kachin Independence Army (KIA) frontlines and five refugee camps in northern Burma. "I wiped away my tears secretly several times while taking those pictures," he said, "especially when taking one of two amputated soldiers cutting each other's hair. "They are the ones who suffered from the civil war. I did it because I want people to know the consequences of the civil war," he added. Grace, the director of operations for Myanmar Deitta, an organization promoting documentary photography and filmmaking in Burma, said more than six dozen pictures are on display. They are the product of photographers who are pushing boundaries, Grace said, while the Burmese media is still in a period of transition—a time when nobody really knows what is acceptable. "It's great that there are photographers pushing these things and photographing those stories and bringing back great work on things that not long ago would have been impossible to work on," he explained. "It's great that there are young Myanmar photographers, not always Western photojournalists, coming in to cover this stuff," he added. Minzayar, a Burmese photojournalist working for the international news wire Reuters, is another contributor to the "Six" photo exhibition. His pictures focus on the day-to-day lives of laborers in Hpakant, a jade mining town in northern Burma where arbitrary killings are common, heroin "shooting galleries" are mushrooming and drug-fueled jade hand-pickers are routinely buried alive while scavenging for the precious stones. "I felt I was traveling around in an anarchic region," the 25-year-old photographer recalled. "Those hand-pickers' lives are very hard. I want to shed a light on their lives and what is happening there," he explained. Another photojournalist showcasing his first-hand experience of communal violence is Kaung Htet of the Myanmar Times. Last year he ventured out to Kyauktaw in western Burma, where sectarian strife between the Arakanese and Rohingya raged on. Kaung Htet documented scenes of chaos, including photos shot at a local hospital inundated by bloodied victims of the violence. "It really looked like a hospital in a war zone. Some wounded people died right in front of my eyes," said the weekly newspaper's chief photographer, who also spent time photographing the situation in camps for displaced Rohingya. The 30-year-old said he was just doing his job to report what was happening in the restive region while sticking to the truth as best as he could. "I just put a spotlight on the current issue," he said. 'SIX. New Photography from Myanmar' is open to the public at the Witness Yangon Documentary Arts Space on the 3rd floor of the Pyan Hlwar building, 4A Parami Road, Rangoon. The exhibition runs through Feb. 13. (Monday-Saturday, 12pm-5 pm) The post Opening the Shutters on Previously Shuttered Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Rangoon Promises 24-Hour Power to Residents During Summer Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:54 AM PST Protesters in front of Rangoon's Sule Pagoda hold up candles to show their opposition to a planned electricity rate increase on Nov. 6, 2013. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Rangoon's electricity authority has promised to distribute 24-hour electricity to residents during the summer season, usually a time of frequent power cuts, but has not extended the offer to factories in the city's industrial zones. Burma typically faces a power shortage from March through May, when the country's main source of electricity, hydropower, is less effective because less water flows to the dams. In past years the Yangon Electricity Supply Board (YESB) has used a rotation system that allows residents between 6 and 12 hours of electricity daily. The city's 16 industrial zones, which lack 24-hour electricity even during the rainy season, sees just two to three hours of power daily during the summer. Many factories use their own generators, which drives up operating costs. This year Rangoon will benefit from more electricity, from natural gas turbines in Hlawgar, Tharketa, Ahlone and Insein townships, according to the YESB vice chairman Maung Maung Latt. He said the turbines would produce about 50 megawatts of electricity daily, while two additional turbines donated from Thailand would produce 100 megawatts daily after they become operational in March or April. "We can distribute more to residential areas," he said, adding that other hydropower projects would also boost supply. "But for industrial zones, we will distribute as much as we can, but we are not sure if we can provide 24-hour electricity. Residential areas will be the priority in the summer season." He added that the YESB would not distribute electricity to industrial zones during peak hours, between 5 pm and 11 pm. Myat Thin Aung, chairman of the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone—which, with over 850 factories is the biggest industrial zone in the city— said that until the government improved the power supply, manufacturing costs would continue to increase and businesses in the country would struggle to compete regionally. "We always face an electricity shortage in the summer, even beginning in February," he told The Irrawaddy. "Some days we only have two or three hours of power a day. It's really a cost for us." He said the government had encouraged industrial zones to build independent power plants to help supply electricity, but he estimated that each plant would cost US$50 million. "We have been thinking about it, but some other industrial zones have already refused because it would be really costly. We asked the government to supply gas for our power plant, but the government could not support us because they are selling gas to China and Thailand," he said. Rising electricity prices have also been an issue in Rangoon, following the replacement of analog meters with digital meters. In late October the YESB announced that households consuming more than 101 units of electricity per month would be required to pay 50 kyats ($0.05) per unit, a price increase of about 40 percent. Activists protested and the prices remained the same, at 35 kyats per unit. "Electricity prices have not increased like we announced, but people do not realize how efficient the digital meters are in reading the electricity that has been used in the month," said Hla Kyaing, an assistant chief engineer at YESB. "With the analog meters, there were a lot of errors with meter bills, either due to human mistakes or mechanical mistakes, and that's why the bills are now significantly higher in some areas." Last week total national electricity production reached no more than about 1,715 megawatts per day, and Rangoon consumed about 800 megawatts daily. The YESB expects consumption in the city to increase to 1,000 megawatts daily in March. Nationwide electricity consumption has increased about 15 percent annually in recent years. The YESB says about 20 percent of the electricity generated is never paid for, either because it is lost due to technical problems with the grid, or because people tweak their meters to downplay consumption. The Burma government announced last year that it intended to rapidly increase the power supply and reach universal access to electricity by 2030. The World Bank is providing the country with an interest-free $140 million loan to develop a power plant in Mon State that will be included in the government's electricity supply project. The post Rangoon Promises 24-Hour Power to Residents During Summer appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Farmers Travel to Rangoon to Decry Land Seizures, Trespassing Charges Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:34 AM PST A farmer calls through a megaphone at a protest in Rangoon on Saturday calling for the return of seized land around the country. (Photo: Simon Lewis / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — About 500 farmers from all over Burma demonstrated in the center of Rangoon on Saturday to call for the return of land taken under the country's military regime and for trespassing charges not to be used against farmers robbed of land. Two organizers were later charged after local authorities declined to authorize the demonstration, which took place at Rangoon's Maha Bandoola Garden. "These farmers have come from all around the country—from six provinces and states," said Nay Myo Zin, an organizer and the director of local NGO the Myanmar Social Development Network. He explained that farmers had come from as far as Shan and Kachin states to protest. He said thousands of acres of land were forcibly taken from farmers in the years until the junta ceded power to quasi-civilian administration in 2011. Farmers now felt they could protest publicly about their grievances, but about 260 are currently jailed and 1,000 have been hit with charges for protesting the loss of their land, or returning to farm it, he said. "They've come to get their land back from the crony businessmen who occupy their land, as well as the military and the government who took it. Most of the land is taken and not used for anything," Nay Myo Zin said, adding that he hoped the demonstration, the first of its kind by Burma's farmers, would make the public aware of the issues faced by farmers. A large contingent had traveled from Irrawaddy Division, where more than 40,000 acres were held by businesses with links to government officials, the military or the government itself. Yin Oo, 50, from Zin Baung Village in Irrawaddy Division's Pyapon Township, said he was among 15 farmers who last year began planting crops on about 45 acres of land left unused after it was taken from them by the government beginning in 1979. "We want the government to give the land back. We are the original owners," he said. Seven of the farmers were charged in June with trespassing and criminal damage under articles 447 and 427 of the Burmese Penal Code. "We couldn't protest under the military government. Now, we try to take action, but we are charged," he added. Among another group of farmers from Irrawaddy Division was 54-year-old San San Aye. She said she and 100 other farmers in Kha Nwe Kha Po village, Pantanaw Township, were demanding that about 2,000 acres of land in total be returned, after it was sold on to a company owned by the brother of a local senator. "We came here because we feel very sad and very angry. Not just me, my whole group, we feel angry at the company," she said. Nay Myo Zin said permission to protest was requested at Kyauktada Township Police Station. "They didn't grant the permission, giving the reason that 'there are no farmers or farm problems at Kyauktada Township,'" he said. The demonstration went ahead, and Nay Myo Zin and fellow organizer Win Cho were later charged by police with Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law. The repeal of Article 18—prohibiting gatherings without prior permission—is the subject of a broad civil society campaign, and was one of the demands of the protesters in the first place. "We feel that this is a violation of our basic rights granted by the Constitution if we still need permission to express ourselves," Nay Myo Zin said. The post Farmers Travel to Rangoon to Decry Land Seizures, Trespassing Charges appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thousands Rally for Indonesian Maid Ill-Treated in Hong Kong Posted: 19 Jan 2014 11:29 PM PST Indonesian domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih lies in a bed while being treated at a hospital in Sragen, Indonesia's Central Java province, on Jan. 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — Thousands of people rallied in Hong Kong on Sunday to demand justice for a young Indonesian maid who was badly beaten by her employer in a case that has sparked widespread outrage and a police investigation into accusations of torture. The ill-treatment of foreign domestic workers in Asian and Gulf regions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Dubai has been a longstanding problem but the severe injuries suffered by the Indonesian maid have drawn fresh attention to the risks faced by this migrant community. "We are workers. We are not slaves," chanted a crowd of several thousand domestic workers and their supporters as they marched to Hong Kong's government headquarters. Some waved the red and white flag of Indonesia, while others held up grisly photographs of the battered face and body of the 23-year-old maid, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih. "We have to end modern day slavery like this," said Ila Hasan, 32, a domestic worker from Indonesia's island of Java, who wore a red shawl and a blue bandana emblazoned with the word "Justice." "The employer isn't human. These things shouldn't happen." Hong Kong, a former British territory that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has around 300,000 foreign domestic helpers, most of them from the Philippines and Indonesia. While cases of such harsh treatment are rare, Hong Kong's policies on migrant workers have often made maids reluctant to report abuse for fear of losing their livelihoods and being deported if they fail to find new jobs swiftly. Hong Kong police and the labor bureau are now investigating the case and will interview Erwiana on Monday, said Eni Lestari, the head of advocacy group the International Migrants' Alliance, which has been in close touch with the victim. A second maid, identified only as Susi, who claimed to have been abused by the same employer, also gave a statement to police, saying she had frequently been beaten and abused. No formal charges have yet been made against the Hong Kong employer, who also reportedly threatened to kill Erwiana and her family if she revealed the abuse she suffered. Erwiana is now recovering from her injuries at a hospital in Sragen, a city in central Java, after flying out from Hong Kong in early January. "I want the ones who tortured and wronged my daughter to be prosecuted and have justice done," said her father, Rohmad Saputra, speaking at her bedside. The maid had suffered extensive injuries but her condition was stabilizing, a hospital spokesman said. "She was subjected to intense heat. Most of the bruises are on the face, legs and arms. And she is in a very poor, weak condition," said Sri Yoko, the spokesman. "Even what should be light activity is difficult for her. Now the progress is very good, but she still hasn't been communicating properly." Rights groups demanded a review of Hong Kong's migrant worker policies to tackle issues such as overcharging by job agencies and the "two-week rule," referring to the deadline by which maids must leave the city after losing their jobs. "This is not an isolated case," said Lestari, who estimates her group receives four to six complaints of physical assault each month from maids in Hong Kong. "The only difference is we were able to bring it to the public and to the media and that put pressure on the police." Additional reporting by Heru Asprihanto in Indonesia. The post Thousands Rally for Indonesian Maid Ill-Treated in Hong Kong appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Seven Seriously Hurt in Bangkok Blast; Military Urges End to Crisis Posted: 19 Jan 2014 10:17 PM PST Thai military medics walk near the scene following an explosion at an anti-government protest camp at the Victory monument in central Bangkok on Jan. 19, 2014. (Photo: Reuter / Chaiwat Subprasom) BANGKOK — Twenty-eight people were wounded, seven seriously, in explosions on Sunday at a camp of anti-government protesters in Bangkok, the latest violence in a prolonged political crisis dividing the country and threatening the Thai economy. The explosion comes a day after the military urged both sides to settle their differences in the more than two-month long dispute, in which protesters are trying to bring down the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. "There were 28 people injured from the blast at the Victory Monument," Suphan Srithamma, director general of the Bangkok Emergency Medical Center, told reporters. "Among these seven people were seriously injured." Witnesses said they heard two explosions. "The first blast I heard was from behind the stage," said Teerawut Utakaprechanun, who told Reuters Television he had been turning out for the protests every day. "People were looking around. I saw the security guards running after a suspect. After one minute I heard another bomb blast." On Friday night, one man was killed and 35 protesters were wounded in a grenade explosion in the capital. That takes to nine the death toll since the protests started in November. They form the latest episode in an eight-year conflict pitting Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against poorer, mainly rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, the self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The protesters accuse Thaksin of nepotism and corruption, and aim to eradicate the political influence of his family by altering electoral arrangements, though in ways they have not spelt out, along with other political reforms. The firebrand leader of the anti-government protests, Suthep Thaugsuban, spent much of Sunday leading thousands in a march through Bangkok demanding that Yingluck resign, and collecting bundles of cash from supporters in the streets in what has become a trademark of his public appearances. However, there are signs the protests against the government could be running out of steam. The government has allowed protesters to take over key buildings without confrontation and, crucially, the military has so far remained neutral. "Now all of us need to help each other in taking care of our own nation," supreme armed forces commander Thanasak Patimapakorn told reporters after Saturday's Army Day parade. "The relationship between the government and the army is normal … We need to respect law and order. I myself respect the law and I respect all sides and I request that all sides should come together and talk to find a solution," he said. Separately, the Bangkok Post daily quoted Thanasak as saying he had no interest in becoming prime minister and acting as mediator. Speculation has been rife that the military might step in to end the impasse, which is beginning to take its toll on Southeast Asia's second-largest economy. The army has staged or attempted 18 coups in 81 years of on-off democracy, but has kept out of the fray this time. "Please, my fellow countrymen, please rise up and do our job, which is to stop this wicked government from functioning," Suthep said late on Saturday, urging protesters to target government buildings across the country and prevent civil servants from working. But there is little sign that the movement is spreading beyond the capital and into the countryside, where Yingluck has her political power base. She has called an election on Feb. 2, which the main opposition Democrat Party has said it will boycott. Even if it did contest the election, most political analysts say Yingluck's Puea Thai Party would almost certainly win. Strong rural support has enabled Thaksin or his allies to win every election since 2001. The protesters accuse Thaksin and his sister of corruption, and want Yingluck to step down to make way for an unelected "people's council" to push through broad political reforms. The latest demonstrations are the biggest since pro-Thaksin protesters paralyzed Bangkok in April and May 2010. That movement ended with a military crackdown and more than 90 people, mostly protesters, were killed. Pro-government "red shirt" protesters have stayed outside Bangkok this time, limiting the risk of factional clashes. The post Seven Seriously Hurt in Bangkok Blast; Military Urges End to Crisis appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China Falls in Love With Sherlock Holmes Posted: 19 Jan 2014 10:07 PM PST Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock Homes in the BBC series "Sherlock," a hit among Chinese audiences. (Photo: Reuters) SHANGHAI — Zhou Yeling dragged herself out of bed at 5 am for a long-awaited date with her favorite Englishman—Sherlock Holmes. Zhou, 19, watched the third season premiere of the BBC's "Sherlock" on Jan. 2 on the British broadcaster's website. Two hours later, the episode started showing with Chinese subtitles on Youku.com, a video website. Youku says it was viewed more than 5 million times in the first 24 hours, becoming the site's most popular program to date. "I was excited beyond words," said Zhou, a student in the central Chinese city of Changsha. "Sherlock" has become a global phenomenon, but nowhere more than in China, which was one of the first countries where the new season was shown. Online fan clubs have attracted thousands of members. Chinese fans write their own stories about the modern version of author Arthur Conan Doyle's prickly, Victorian detective and his sidekick, Dr. Watson, to fill the time between the brief, three-episode seasons. In Shanghai, an entrepreneur has opened a "Sherlock"-themed cafe. Holmes is known in China as "Curly Fu," after his Chinese name, Fuermosi, and star Benedict Cumberbatch's floppy hair. Watson, played by Martin Freeman, is Huasheng, a name that sounds like "Peanut" in Mandarin. They have become two of the most popular terms in China's vast social media world. "The 'Sherlock' production team shoot something more like a movie, not just a TV drama," said Yu Fei, a veteran writer of TV crime dramas for Chinese television. Scenes in which Holmes spots clues in a suspect's clothes or picks apart an alibi are so richly detailed that "it seems like a wasteful luxury," Yu said. Even the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily is a fan. "Tense plot, bizarre story, exquisite production, excellent performances," it said of the third season's premier episode. With its mix of odd villains, eccentric aristocrats and fashionable London settings, "Sherlock" can draw on a Chinese fondness for a storybook version of Britain. Wealthy Chinese send their children to local branches of British schools such as Eton and Dulwich. Rolls Royce Motor Cars Ltd. says China passed the US last year to become the biggest market for its luxury sedans. On the outskirts of Shanghai, a developer has built Thames Town, modeled on an English village with mock Tudor houses and classic red phone booths. "The whole drama has the rich scent of British culture and nobility," Yu said. "Our drama doesn't have that." The series has given a boost to Youku.com, part of a fast-growing Chinese online video industry. Dozens of sites, some independent and others run by Chinese television stations, show local and imported programs such as "The Good Wife" and "The Big Bang Theory." Youku.com says that after two weeks, total viewership for the "Sherlock" third season premiere had risen to 14.5 million people. That compares with the 8 to 9 million people who the BBC says watch first-run episodes in Britain. The total in China is bumped up by viewers on pay TV service BesTV, which also has rights to the program. Appearing online gives "Sherlock" an unusual edge over Chinese dramas. To support a fledgling industry, communist authorities have exempted video websites from most censorship and limits on showing foreign programming that apply to traditional TV stations. That allows outlets such as Youku to show series that might be deemed too violent or political for state TV and to release them faster. "Our writers and producers face many restrictions and censorship. We cannot write about national security and high-level government departments," Yu said. Referring to Mycroft Holmes, a shadowy government official and key character, Yu said, "Sherlock's brother could not appear in a police drama in China." Terigele, a 25-year-old geological engineer in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, started an online Sherlock fan club in 2010. The group has grown to become the biggest on the popular QQ social media service, with more than 1,000 members. "I've watched several versions of Sherlock Holmes, and this is my favorite one," said Terigele, who like many ethnic Mongols uses one name. "The fans in my group, and I too, think it is especially interesting to bring these two men into modern society, with the Internet and high technology." And Chinese fans have fallen in love with Cumberbatch. "I am always super excited to see him on the screen and murmur, 'Wow, so beautiful' every single time,'" said Zhang Jing, 24, who works for an advertising company in the eastern city of Tianjin. That fondness for the performers has helped fuel a fad for "Sherlock" fan fiction in China. Some stories play on the complicated relationship of Holmes and Watson by making them a gay couple. "The sexual orientation is also an interesting point," Terigele said. "Their relationship is a bit more than friendship. They appreciate each other. It is cute, and it makes the audience more eager to watch it." And "Sherlock" makes a helpful cultural ambassador for Britain. When Prime Minister David Cameron visited China last year, fans posted appeals on microblogs for him to press the BBC to speed up the release of a new season. Today, a popular online comment aimed at Cameron is, "Thank you for 'Sherlock.'" The post China Falls in Love With Sherlock Holmes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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