The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Journalists Raise Alarm Over Shorter Visas in Burma
• Burma Urged to Drop Census Questions on Ethnicity, Religion
• ‘Burma Lacks Food Safety’
• Burma Army Launches Deadly Incursion Into Kachin Rebel Territory
• Aung San Film Won’t Screen in Time for General’s Centennial Birthday
• 6 Farmers Apprehended, 7 Facing Arrest in Pegu Land Disputes
• Burma’s Growing Illegal Trade May Include ‘Designer Drugs’ to China
• Liverpool Beef Up Title Bid With Last-Gasp Win
• Thai Officials Say Rohingya People Sent to Burma
• Japan on Backfoot in Global PR War With China After Abe Shrine Visit
• For South China Sea Claimants, a Legal Venue to Battle China
• Corruption Sting Follows Indian Athletes to Sochi

Journalists Raise Alarm Over Shorter Visas in Burma Posted: 13 Feb 2014 05:53 AM PST Journalists in black caps and T-shirts gather outside the courtroom in Rangoon’s Dagon Township to protest defamation charges against the Voice Weekly journal in August 2012. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Journalists say the Burma government is imposing new visa restrictions that will make it difficult for them to remain based in the country full time. The Ministry of Information has started denying requests for three- to six-month journalist visas for foreign passport holders who work at formerly exiled media groups—including The Irrawaddy—which were previously based abroad but have returned to Burma during the country's transition from military rule. At the end of last month, the ministry started granting visas to some journalists that are only valid for a fraction of the requested time, despite a lack of any official announcement about a policy change. "I only got 28 days," said Toe Zaw Latt, an Australian passport holder who works as the Rangoon bureau chief for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). Over the past year he and other journalists at his news agency have received three- to six-month journalist visas, with the option to renew inside the country. After applying as usual for a three-month visa last month, he was granted a four-week stay on Jan. 31 and told that he would need to go abroad to reapply in the future, due to a change in regulations. "It's not a good sign to see that kind of restriction at this moment, as Burma will have the Asean meetings and elections in the next year," he said, referring to general elections in 2015 and Burma's obligations as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) this year. Formerly based in Norway, DVB set up shop in Rangoon last year, while The Irrawaddy opened an office in the city in 2012 after operating for two decades in Thailand. Both media groups publish in Burmese and English languages, and both employ foreigners as editors and reporters, while some Burmese staff members hold foreign passports from their time in exile. Ye Htut, the deputy minister of information and the president's spokesman, said the government changed visa regulations because some journalists had renewed their visas several times without setting up offices inside the country. "We give six-month multiple-entry visas to anyone and their family members who work for any official news agency in Burma," he told The Irrawaddy last week on Friday. Days later, the ministry granted a two-week journalist visa to a senior staff member at The Irrawaddy who had applied for three months. Two other editors at the magazine were forced to leave Burma over the weekend after their visas expired and their renewal requests were denied. They are now working from The Irrawaddy's office in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and are awaiting a response from the ministry on a second request for a visa. In an interview last year with The Guardian newspaper, Ye Htut said journalists who traveled in and out of Burma could receive multiple-entry visas valid for between three and six months. He told the British publication that journalists who intended to set up a foreign bureau in the country would be granted visas that were valid for up to one year. Journalists with other local and international news agencies declined to comment when asked whether they had been affected by the recent change in visa regulations. It is likely that most foreign journalists in the country have not tried to renew their visas since the policy changes went into effect, only within the past two weeks or so. Burma's government has been praised for loosening its grip on the press after decades of authoritarian rule. Since taking office in 2011, President Thein Sein has ended pre-publication censorship, invited exiled media to operate officially inside the country, and allowed privately owned daily newspapers to publish. But the government has also accused journalists of misusing newfound freedoms by reporting misinformation. Last month state-run media criticized The Associated Press and The Irrawaddy after both publications reported allegations by a rights group that dozens of Rohingya Muslims had been massacred in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State. Although the United Nations has backed these reports, saying it received credible information that 48 Muslims were killed, the government has vehemently denied the allegations. The Ministry of Information called representatives of the AP into its office for a talk after the international news wire made its report. The Foreign Affairs Ministry later blocked reporters from the AP, The Irrawaddy, Voice of America, Mizzima and The Myanmar Times from attending a press briefing about Maungdaw. Earlier this month, the chief executive and four journalists from Rangoon-based Unity journal were arrested and detained after the publication ran a story about an alleged chemical weapons factory in central Burma. Ye Htut slammed the journal's story as "baseless" because it lacked official sources, and he defended the arrests as valid under the 1923 Official Secrets Act. Thiha Saw, editor in chief of the English-language Myanma Freedom Daily, said he was aware of visa problems at other news organizations, but added that his publication had been unaffected so far. "It hasn't come to me and my editors yet, because they got their visas just before all this happened," he told The Irrawaddy last week. "It all started with the AP's stories on the Maungdaw incidents. AP guys were called in by the minister of information and sort of 'scolded.' Then came the visa issues. It looks like the MOI is still quite powerful in meddling with our lives. My view is that it's just temporary and things will get back to normal conditions sooner or later." In light of recent events, Human Rights Watch has called on the Burma government to prioritize media reform. "Recent harassment of Burmese and international reporters over journalist visas marks a sinister backsliding in the much-touted media reform sector," David Mathieson, a senior researcher on Burma for HRW, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. "International donors and diplomats must be aware that freedoms of the media are a key barometer in the sincerity of Thein Sein's reforms, and the climate is decidedly cooler now. The Ministry of Information has to pull back from this spiteful harassment of journalists doing their jobs.” Shawn Crispin, the Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said visa restrictions sent a clear signal that foreign news organizations were not entirely welcome in the country and would be subject to arbitrary penalties for critical news coverage. "It appears authorities are reverting to the previous junta's divide-and-rule tactic of rewarding news outlets that give generally favorable coverage to the government and punishing those that are more critical. We are particularly concerned that former exile-run media groups that have recently established bureaus in Burma and downsized their foreign operations are being targeted," he told The Irrawaddy. Phone Myint Aung, a lawmaker with the New National Democratic Party, said the government had the right to restrict visas for foreign journalists. However, he said that if media groups raised concerns and presented evidence, he would bring the issue before Parliament. "It would be problematic if the government allowed tourist visas while banning journalists," he said. "Maybe the government is afraid some journalists who are not based here will make a surprise visit and do controversial reporting." In neighboring Thailand, media visas are initially valid for three months with a single entry, but can be extended for up to one year after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues a letter addressed to the immigration department and the police. The post Journalists Raise Alarm Over Shorter Visas in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Urged to Drop Census Questions on Ethnicity, Religion Posted: 13 Feb 2014 05:20 AM PST The questionnaire used during the Population and Housing Pilot Census in 2013. (Photo: Pyay Kyaw Myint / UNFPA) RANGOON — The International Crisis Group (ICG) is urging the Burma government and the United Nations to amend the country's nationwide census survey, which includes questions that it describes as "needlessly antagonistic and divisive." The Brussels-based NGO on Wednesday echoed calls by Burma's ethnic minority groups to postpone the collection of data on ethnicity, religion and citizenship status until a later, less volatile time. The government has recently defended the need to take down this information as soon as possible. "While the collection of accurate demographic data is crucial for national planning and development—it has been over 30 years since the last census—the coming census, consisting of 41 questions, is overly complicated and fraught with danger," the ICG said in a "conflict alert" statement. "In addition to navigating its political transition from authoritarian military rule to democratic governance, Myanmar is struggling to end decades-old, multiple and overlapping ethnic conflicts in its peripheries. At the same time, recent months have seen an increasingly virulent Burman-Buddhist nationalist movement lead to assaults on Muslim minority communities. A census which risks further increasing these tensions is ill-advised." While praising the government for its work to prepare for the census, which begins late next month, the ICG said the organizers—including Burmese officials, the United Nations and donors—have not paid enough attention to potential risks. It said there were flaws in the classification system for ethnic groups, and cautioned that collecting data on religious affiliations could feed into anti-Muslim sentiment that has led to outbreaks of sectarian violence. In western Burma's Arakan State, clashes between local Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have left over 140,000 people displaced and over 200 people dead since 2012. Some Buddhists in the state say they fear the Muslim population is increasing too rapidly, and that Muslim men will attempt to marry Buddhist women and convert them to Islam. After the last census in 1983, the military regime reported that Muslims constituted 4 percent of the population in the Buddhist-majority country, but this percentage may not be accurate. "There are strong indications that the real figure collected then was over 10 percent, but that a political decision was taken to publish a more acceptable figure of 4 percent," the ICG said. "The results of the current census could therefore be mistakenly interpreted as providing evidence for a three-fold increase in the Muslim population in the country over the last 30 years, a potentially dangerous call for extremist movements." The group urged census organizers to only ask demographic questions covering age, sex and marital status. "This will provide the most important data without touching at this stage on the more controversial issues of identity and citizenship," it said. "The census process should be urgently amended to focus only on key demographic questions, postponing those which are needlessly antagonistic and divisive—on ethnicity, religion, citizenship status—to a more appropriate moment." The nationwide census will begin at the end of next month, with data collected from March 30 to April 10. With help from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Burma government has created a survey that will require participants to identify as one of 135 ethnic groups. Non-citizens, which include Rohingya Muslims, can identify as "other" and write in their own ethnic group, as can citizens who belong to a group that is not recognized by the government as native to the country. The results are important because they have major political ramifications: Ethnic groups that pass a certain population threshold can have ethnically delineated constituencies with representatives appointed as ministers in local governments. Under military rule, ethnic minorities accused the government of inflating the numbers of the ethnic Burman majority to justify the dominance of Burman officials. Now similar concerns have surfaced about inaccurate representation. Some ethnic groups say the census survey inaccurately classifies certain ethnic subgroups or tribes as belonging to unrelated larger ethnic groups. Others say the classification breakdown of 135 ethnic groups is too divisive. While taking note of these concerns, the government has defended the need to collect data on ethnicity. Earlier this week, Khin Yi, the minister of immigration and population, said that although many countries around the world do not include such questions in their census surveys, Burma needed to do so because its statistics were much more out-of-date. "We are starting to collect this data only after 30 years, so we don't know exactly how many ethnic people are here. That's why we're including this element. Other countries conduct a census once every 10 years," he said at a press conference in Rangoon on Monday. "It's true that ethnic minorities worry their groups will disappear, that they will not get the 'right to govern themselves' in the upcoming election. But the census is not directly related with elections, although it may be indirectly. There will be no such thing as losing the right to govern themselves." Despite his reassurances, a number of major ethnic groups have called for the postponement of the census to hammer out some of these concerns. On Monday, ethnic Chin activists called for at least a 30-day delay of data collection in a letter to President Thein Sein, the immigration minister and the chairman of the central census commission. "We have evaluated that some arrangements for the census will harm ethnic people, including the Chin. Especially the tribal groups' names are wrong," the Census Supporting Committee for Chin Ethnics wrote in the letter, adding that they were also concerned about potential conflict between various tribes. In a separate letter to Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann, 23 ethnic Kachin civil society groups also called for postponement, again to allow for more discussion about the categorization of ethnic groups. They urged the government to drop the question about ethnic affiliation if no resolution is achieved over their concerns about classification. Gen. Gun Maw, deputy chief of staff for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), has also said the current time is not right for the census. Speaking Thursday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, he said ongoing clashes between ethnic armed groups and the government army could prevent data collectors from reaching certain areas in remote ethnic states. "If the government takes the census now, the survey will be incomplete because there are many conditions, such as war and conflicts," he said. UNFPA representatives working on the census were not available on Thursday to respond to requests for comment about the ICG statement. With reporting by Nyein Nyein in Chiang Mai. The post Burma Urged to Drop Census Questions on Ethnicity, Religion appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

‘Burma Lacks Food Safety’ Posted: 13 Feb 2014 05:10 AM PST Ba Oak Khine, founder of the Consumer Protection Association, holds a bottle of fish sauce in his left hand which he says is fake, and another bottle in his right hand which he says is authentic. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) Burma's first Consumer Protection Association was founded only two years ago to root out unhealthy foods and medicines in the local market. The Rangoon-based volunteer group, whose members include doctors, traditional practitioners, chemists and authors, has claimed over the past year that certain imported fish sauces, instant coffee mixes and cooking oils contain harmful substances. CPA founder Ba Oak Khine, who is writing a book about traditional herbal medicines, recently explained some of the challenges in getting the group off the ground, including opposition from the Ministry of Health. Question: Why does Burma need a consumer protection association? Answer: Burma is a country that's lacking food safety. We're neighboring China, which produces a lot of fake products, so we need this kind of association to protect ourselves. Q: How's your relationship with the Ministry of Health's Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? A: Our relationship is almost nonexistent. In previous months, Soe Tun of the 88 Generation Students has tried to collaborate with other small groups working on consumer protection. We were invited, as were the Ministry of Commerce and the FDA, but they didn't join. When we found that some local fish pastes were made with fertilizer, we sent three samples to the FDA, but so far the FDA has not taken action. After that we tried to open our own laboratory. We're trying to register our association with the Ministry of Home Affairs, but the Ministry of Health objects. They said they would not be opposed if we conducted workshops and examined school food stalls, but that we should inform them before announcing anything to media. We agreed. …We want to work with them when we can, but if not we will go ahead ourselves. Q: What methods do you use to detect fake products? A: We work with the public. People on the ground give us information and we study to confirm. Most of the time, their information is correct. For example, our sources showed us that one kind of fish sauce from Thailand was fake. The fake brand lacks a product seal and changes color within 15 days, unlike the authentic brands. It's really obvious. Q: Whether you test products in your own laboratories or send samples to other laboratories, how are you qualified to analyze the results? A: There are chemists in our group, and consultants from Yangon [Rangoon] University's chemistry department, as well as medical doctors. We just ask them to help us. Q: Can you tell me more about the fish sauce from Thailand? How did it get to the local market, and what are the side effects? A: Bottles are coming here through the Myawaddy trade route from Thailand, and they end up in the Mingalar wholesale market in Rangoon. A retail shop told us about the fake bottles, but after we made a public announcement the bottles disappeared. Traders took them back to Myawaddy. We can distinguish between the fake and real, although I still can't answer about the health effects because we haven't sent samples to a foreign lab yet. But Thailand-based medical research has suggested that about half the fish sauces made in Thailand are unhealthy, and four brands are distributed here. Even some real brands are not suitable. They have too much nitric acid, which can lead to heat stroke or impact the nerves. Q: How do businesses respond when you allege that local products contain harmful ingredients? A: Some local businesses say they'll sue, but we threaten to counter sue and it always stops in the conversation stage. We believe our activities are correct. Q: What kind of consumer protections does Burma have? A: Parliament is drawing up the Consumer Protection Law. We already have the National Food Law, but it's weakly enforced. They should amend the food safety law and take action. They must do it for the people. The post 'Burma Lacks Food Safety' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Army Launches Deadly Incursion Into Kachin Rebel Territory Posted: 13 Feb 2014 04:54 AM PST KIA Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Gun Maw talks to The Irrawaddy reporters in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Thursday. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI — On Wednesday, as President Thein Sein released a Union Day speech that invoked a federal union as a path to peace in Burma, government troops held an operation that killed several Kachin troops and seized an outpost near rebel headquarters in northern Burma, a Kachin leader said. Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Gun Maw told The Irrawaddy during an interview in Chiang Mai, Thailand, that Burma Army soldiers overran a rebel platoon stationed in northern Bhamo Township about an hour's drive from Laiza, a town on the Burma-China border where the KIA is headquartered. "A KIA outpost was seized," he said. "We lost two to three soldiers, but I don't know the exact number of causalities yet." "Our frontline bases are being attacked under the pretext of a crackdown on illegal log traders," Gun Maw said, adding that gun battles had continued until Wednesday evening. Fighting began in the village of Ja Ing Yang on Monday and spread through the area near Laiza, a region that had enjoyed a year-long period of calm, Gun Maw said. The KIA and Burma Army have been engaged in at times heavy fighting in Kachin State since June 2011, when a 17-year-old ceasefire broke down. In late 2012, fighting escalated and government fighter jets bombarded the lightly-armed guerrillas and ground troops surrounded their stronghold. The government declared a unilateral ceasefire in mid-February 2013 and fighting around Laiza quieted down, but subsequent rounds of ceasefire talks failed to produce results. In recent months, Burma Army carried out operations in KIA territory in Mansi Township, southern Kachin State, ostensibly to target illegal loggers. The operations led to skirmishes with the KIA, while thousands of Kachin villagers were forced to flee the area. On Thursday, an article in Burmese-language state media mentioned the latest fighting between the Burma Army and "an armed group" in Kachin State, without naming the KIA. The article said government soldiers had tried to stop a convoy of trucks carrying illegal timber near Ja Ing Yang village in Bhamo Township when members of an armed group tried to interfere in order to protect the timber traders. A gun battle ensued in which one soldier was injured, the report said, adding that 44 trucks carrying 1,500 tons of illegally logged timber were seized while they were on their way to the China border. Gun Maw said the Burma Army operation against the logging trucks had been carried out in KIA-controlled area and amounted to an incursion into rebel-held territory, adding that the army could have stopped the logging trucks before they reached the KIA area. "Illegal logging occurs mostly within Sagaing Division, where loggers cut those valuable trees inside forest reserves. The problem could be solved if they [the government] stop them from logging in these reserves instead of cracking down at the border paths," he said. "The [military] engagements occur as they catch them on the way of transport near border." Illegal timber trade in Burma has seen huge amounts of high-grade timber disappear over the border into China, where the luxury wood is highly prized. The timber, with an estimated value of US$252 million in 2012, is transported through Kachin State and both the Burma Army and rebels are said to tax the trade in order to support their troops. "The illegal logging issue is complicated," Gun Maw said. "There are people who benefit from this trade on both sides, in KIA and the government, they are taking bribes. We have to find a way to solve this issue, instead of blaming each other." Gun Maw said the clashes endangered the planned nationwide ceasefire talks between Minister Aung Min's peace negotiation team and the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordinating Team (NCCT), which represents 16 of Burma biggest armed ethnic groups. "It is unacceptable that government troops attack the KIA, while they are talking about a nationwide ceasefire with the NCCT," he said. "We are preparing to inform about these incidents to the Myanmar Peace Center, as well as the [peace talks] observers—the United Nations and the China representatives." The ethnic rebels groups are scheduled to hold ceasefire talks with the government in the Karen State capital Hpa-an next month. President Thein Sein's government is eager to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement with the groups in order to show the international community that is making progress in resolving Burma's decades-old ethnic conflicts. The post Burma Army Launches Deadly Incursion Into Kachin Rebel Territory appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Aung San Film Won’t Screen in Time for General’s Centennial Birthday Posted: 13 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST Aung San Suu Kyi sits with other members of the Bogyoke Aung San Film executive board interviewing applicants for roles in the movie. (Photo: Bogyoke Aung San Film executive board) RANGOON — The first-ever film depicting Burma's national hero Gen. Aung San will not be completed by 2015 as originally intended, a target date set to allow for its premiere on the general's 100th birthday, a member of the production's executive board says. "Bogyoke Aung San Film won't premiere in 2015 but to finish shooting in 2015 is our intention," Zaw Thet Htwe from the Bogyoke Aung San Film's executive board told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, the anniversary of what would have been Aung San's 99th birthday. He said two factors had delayed the film's production schedule: a revamping of the script and a failure to secure the financial backing required of the project. "We wrote the script in the Burmese language and translated it, but when international movie companies read the script, they said that it was more like a documentary than a film, and they wanted to improve it in line with international standards. But on our side, we don't want to modify the Bogyoke ['general' in Burmese] biography too much," he said. "This is one difficulty." Zaw Thet Htwe added that the film would require about US$25 million to meet an international standard, but fundraising efforts thus far have come to only about 200 million kyats (US$200,000) in donations. "We invited international professionals to review the script and to arrange to get the required financing," he said. Zaw Thet Htwe said that since the film was first conceived of two years ago, organizers of the project had set up the executive board; chose actors to play the roles of Aung San and his wife Khin Kyi; completed trainings for the cast; wrote, edited and translated the movie's script; and consulted with international film industry players, including companies from Canada, Japan and France. "We gave military training to the actor who will play Gen. Aung San's role and nursing training for the actress who will act as Khin Kyi, who was a nurse, in addition to providing acting training to others," he said. Two prominent scriptwriters, together with the support of eight historians and four directors, wrote the screenplay. Aung San will be played by Kyaw Kyaw Myo, and his wife will be played by Zar Chi Lin. Aung San, widely considered to be the father of modern Burma, led the country's struggle for independence against colonial Britain, but was assassinated just months before that dream was fully realized. On Thursday, Bogyoke Aung San Film executive board members made an offering of food at a monastery in Rangoon to commemorate Aung San's birthday, Zaw Thet Htwe said. The post Aung San Film Won't Screen in Time for General's Centennial Birthday appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

6 Farmers Apprehended, 7 Facing Arrest in Pegu Land Disputes Posted: 13 Feb 2014 03:44 AM PST Farmers from Rangoon Division's Swepyitha Township play instruments during a protest in January 2013 to demand compensation for loss of their land. (Photo: Aye Kyawt Khaing / The Irrawaddy) Authorities in Pegu Division's Padaung Township have apprehended six farmers involved in a land dispute with a company while seven more are facing arrest, local activists said, adding that Thaekone Township authorities have charged four farmers who protested against land confiscation by the military. Since 2008, dozens of farmers in Kyarinn village, Padaung Township, have become embroiled in a dispute over the ownership of about 100 acres of land claimed by National Resources Development Company (NRDC), which gained approval of the Forestry Department to set up a teak plantation in a local forest reserve. When tensions boiled over last year, farmers entered the teak project area and the company claimed farmers had destroyed teak saplings. Local authorities apprehended and laid charges against 13 farmers for cutting trees inside a government forest reserve, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment under the Forest Law. The farmers were released on bail and have since attended several hearings at the court. On Tuesday, six farmers showed up for a court hearing and were arrested, while the judge ordered an arrest warrant for the other seven defendants, according to Min Min, a land rights activist from Prome. "It is unreasonable that those farmers' bails were cancelled and they faced sudden arrest," he said, adding that the defendants had been scheduled to hear the verdict in their case next week. Kyarinn village farmers said they had been living in the forest reserve since 1968, but they were forced to relocate in order to make way for a planned dam project in 1999. The project was never completed and authorities allowed villagers to return in 2001. However, in 2008 NRDC was granted the right to grow teak and farmers lost 100 acres of land. They have been campaigning for access to their farms since, but to no avail, said local farmer Than Win, adding that villagers had explained their demands to the Pegu Division Forestry Department last year. "We just want our lands back, so that we can plow it for our survival," said Than Win, whose family lost about 30 acres of farmland. In Thekon, another Pegu Division township, four farmers from Aungkone village were charged on Tuesday for protesting in a land dispute, said Thant Zin Htet, a land rights activist from Nattalin People's Network from Nattalin Township. "About 60 Thekon Township police, led by police boss Kyaw Aung, raided the protest camp of the farmers," said Thant Zin Htet, adding that he was arrested along with three farmers and charged with Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law. The article, commonly invoked by Burmese authorities seeking to suppress local activism, bans protests without prior government permission—an offensive that carries a maximum sentence of one year imprisonment. Thant Zin Htet said he and the farmers were released on bail on Wednesday after paying about US$50 and now awaited further court proceedings against them. The farmers had organized the protest, he said, "to demand the return of over a thousand acre of land grabbed by the military" in the year 2000. A local farmer named Pauksa said some 5,000 acres had been confiscated by the Burma Army and was transferred to several companies, adding that the farmers were seeking the immediate return of 1,000 acres of this land that is not being used. "We asked the authorities about the return of our lands a month ago, but we did not hear anything so we began our protest camp," he said, adding that they had filed official complaints and tried to farm their land in 2013. All across Burma, protests over land disputes have been on the rise in the past two years as tens of thousands of farmers are claiming the return of huge areas of land confiscated by authorities during decades of brutal military rule. Since President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government introduced political reforms, farmers have felt emboldened and protests against past land grabs have increased. A parliamentary committee looking into land-grabbing under the former military junta has received complaints demanding the return of hundreds of thousands of acres of land. The Burma Army has promised to return land that is not being used, but it remains unclear how many farmers will benefit from these supposed steps by the military. On Feb. 5, state-owned media announced that the military and the Home Affairs Ministry planned to return about 150,000 acres of land to communities nationwide. In Pegu Division, farmers are supposed to receive about 15,000 acres of land back. Communities in Thekon and Padaung townships said, however, that they were kept in the dark about the plans. "We asked the authorities about this, but they said they don't know as they received no instructions from their superiors," said Pauksa, the farmer from Thekon Township. The post 6 Farmers Apprehended, 7 Facing Arrest in Pegu Land Disputes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma’s Growing Illegal Trade May Include ‘Designer Drugs’ to China Posted: 13 Feb 2014 03:30 AM PST The border gate between Muse in Burma's Shan State and Ruili in China's Yunnan Province. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Illegal trade across Burma's borders is increasing, according to a researcher, as concerns are raised that demand in China is fueling the trade in so-called designer drugs. As well as drugs, studies say the mushrooming illicit trade flowing over the country's frontiers involves food, consumer goods, rare timber and wildlife, drugs, weapons and people. But the drugs trade is the most lucrative, and it is growing despite assurances by the Naypyidaw government that it was taking action to curb it. "Drugs are very much likely to be Burma’s most important illegal cross-border trade in value, especially of course when prices and production are high," the author of An Atlas of Trafficking in Southeast Asia, Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy, told The Irrawaddy this week. Illicit trade is expanding on Burma's borders with Thailand, China and India, said Chouvy of the French government-funded National Center for Scientific Research. In his 2013 book, Chouvy says: "The most active illegal border trade between Burma and Thailand occurred and still occurs at three points: Mae Sai, Mae Sot and Ranong. Goods traded illegally across the Thai-Burmese border were and are still extremely diverse. "The dominant imports of Thailand from Burma have been wood and wood articles, especially teak, and gems." In an emailed comment to The Irrawaddy he declined to put a figure on Burma's illegal border business, saying it "would not be serious due to a lack of reliable data". However, last October, Burma's Ministry of Commerce estimated in a report based on seized tax-avoiding consumer goods and drugs that smuggling across the border with Thailand was worth over US$200 million just over a three-month period from July. Burma's borders with China have long been porous for two-way trade and valuable timber such as teak and sandalwood continues to move northwards, with little sign that it will stop when a national ban on raw timber exports is due to begin in March. Much of the illicit business skirts round the legal cross-border exchange of goods which is concentrated with China's Yunnan Province and Thailand but includes 14 official trading points also including India and Bangladesh. Just this month, official Naypyidaw figures recorded that Burma's legal border trade for the April-January period last totaled $4 billion. The biggest of the official cross-border trade place was Muse on the Chinese Yunnan frontier, said China's news agency Xinhua. Muse accounted for $3.12 billion of the total, Xinhua said. But the rise of a richer urban youth in China may be creating demand for a more valuable commodity from Burma—so-called designer recreational drugs. "With money to burn, China's non-stop party people are turning to drugs in unprecedented numbers, turning neighboring [Burma] into a meth lab [methamphetamine laboratory] and driving a resuscitation of the bad old days of big-time trade in the Golden Triangle’s devastating narcotic, heroin," said a special report in January by Al Jazeera television. "Intercepts of the methamphetamine Ice or the ingredients necessary for its manufacture are toted up in tonnages. But given [that] authorities only manage to uncover a fraction of the trade that begins in [Burma], and pours into China, a deadly dangerous drug is in overwhelming flood," said the TV station's reporter Stephen McDonell, who went on patrol on the Yunnan side of the border with Chinese anti-drugs police. Chinese demand for methamphetamines is a new trend. As recently as 2012 the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) identified Thailand as the main destination for methamphetamines produced in isolated mobile factories in the Burmese jungle. The Indian authorities say there has also been a growth in illicit trade across its 1,650 kilometer-long border with Burma, which the Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi recently described as "extremely porous." "The border runs along hilly and inhospitable terrain which grossly lacks basic infrastructure," The Times of India newspaper quoted the ministry saying in a report. "Opium as well as heroin travel from western [Burma] to India's north eastern states of Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. From here the drugs travel to Kolkata via Assam and are finally shipped to the rest of the Indian subcontinent," said Riddhi Shah of the Southeast Asia and Oceania Centre at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi in a study. Riddhi said the value of Southeast Asia region's cross-border trade in drugs, weapons and people alone could be counted in billions of dollars, based on UNODC figures The report said the growth of such trans-border business indicated a failure by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations organization (Asean) to coordinate regional action and could be "blamed on domestic factors of corruption, poverty and lack of resources." The Naypyidaw government is the 2014 chairman of Asean but is preoccupied with managing scores of association meetings being held across Burma throughout this year, including two major summits of the 10-country association. The post Burma's Growing Illegal Trade May Include 'Designer Drugs' to China appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Liverpool Beef Up Title Bid With Last-Gasp Win Posted: 13 Feb 2014 02:04 AM PST Liverpool's Steven Gerrard (C) scores a penalty past Fulham goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg during their English Premier League football match at Craven Cottage in London Feb. 12, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) LONDON — Liverpool's surge towards a first league title since 1990 continued on Wednesday when they beat Fulham 3-2 with a last-minute penalty while Arsenal's challenge took a knock after a 0-0 home draw against Manchester United. The most open Premier League championship race for years continued on a wild and windy night across Britain, leaving Chelsea top, just seven points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur who chalked up a superb 4-0 win at Newcastle United. The other match that survived the weather ended in a 1-1 draw between Stoke City and Swansea City at the Britannia Stadium, a result that left both sides mired in the equally tight battle to avoid the drop that has 11 teams in its grip. The storms caused Manchester City's game against Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium and Everton's match at Goodison Park against Crystal Palace to be postponed because of dangerously high winds. After drawing 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, Chelsea lead the way with 57 points, one in front of Arsenal with 12 matches to play. Manchester City are third on 54 with a game in hand on the top two, followed by Liverpool on 53 and Spurs on 50. Everton, who also have a game in hand, are sixth on 45 points, three clear of United who have won just two of their last seven league matches. The most dramatic game of the night was played at Craven Cottage where bottom-of-the-table Fulham, who forced a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday, twice led against Liverpool who were heavily fancied to win following their 5-1 demolition of Arsenal on Saturday. It was Fulham who took the lead when defender Kolo Toure, guilty of a terrible error that cost Liverpool victory at West Brom earlier this month, sliced the ball into his own net after eight minutes. Daniel Sturridge equalized, scoring for the eighth successive match, four minutes before the break before Fulham stunned the visitors by going ahead again through Kieran Richardson. Brendan Rodgers's side equalized for a second time when Philippe Coutinho found the net from 20 meters in the 72nd minute. Sascha Reither then brought down Sturridge in stoppage time and skipper Steven Gerrard scored from the penalty spot. "Gerrard's peerless in situations like that," Rodgers told reporters. "He showed brilliant composure. "We had to show the character in our team tonight coming from behind twice. This team has not just grown technically in the way of our work but we're showing great characteristics mentally." Van Persie Boos Arsenal and United needed victories following their setbacks at the weekend but, despite chances at both ends, neither could find a goal. United should have taken the lead in the second minute when former Gunner Robin van Persie, booed by the home fans every time he touched the ball, fired straight at goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after Mikel Arteta gave the ball away. Laurent Koscielny's bullet header was then cleared off the line by United's Antonio Valencia in the second half while Arsenal should have had a penalty when Nemanja Vidic pushed Olivier Giroud off balance with an elbow in his back. The home fans booed Arsenal, who face tough matches against Liverpool in the FA Cup and Bayern Munich in the Champions League in the next week, off at the end. "It's absolutely open for any of the leading teams now," said manager Arsene Wenger. Spurs are unlikely to win the title but they crushed a poor Newcastle team to record their sixth victory from their last seven away matches. The Londoners have also won seven of the 10 league games they have played since Tim Sherwood succeeded Andre Villas-Boas as manager in December. Emmanuel Adebayor, shunned by Villas-Boas, scored twice on Wednesday to take his tally to nine goals in 12 matches in all competitions since being recalled. Paulinho was also on target while Nacer Chadli's 88th-minute strike that curled past Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul was a contender for goal of the season. The post Liverpool Beef Up Title Bid With Last-Gasp Win appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Officials Say Rohingya People Sent to Burma Posted: 13 Feb 2014 01:37 AM PST A Thailand Immigration Police van carries a group of Rohingya Muslims to a port outside Ranong city Oct. 30. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Thai authorities said Thursday they deported about 1,300 of Rohingya boat people back to Burma late last year, ignoring calls from human rights groups not to send the ethnic minorities home where they face widespread discrimination. The deportations were announced this week but took place in waves from September through November, said police. Lt. Gen. Pharnu Kerdlarpphon. He said the asylum seekers were held in detention centers and shelters across the country. The news was first reported Thursday by Thailand's English-language Bangkok Post. “The deportations were voluntary. We sent them back 100 to 200 people at a time,” Pharnu told The Associated Press. “These people said they could not see any future while being held in Thailand, so they chose to go back to Myanmar.” Muslim Rohingyas face discrimination in Burma, where sectarian violence for nearly two years has left hundreds dead and more than 140,000 displaced from their homes. Many sought asylum and work in other countries, especially Malaysia, which has a Muslim majority. Since last January, more than 1,700 Rohingya were arrested in Thailand after their boats ran aground in the country's south. Pharnu said eight of the people detained died from diseases, while others fled the shelters or were sent to Bangladesh. The Rohingyas in immigration detention centers have complained about the poor living conditions in the cells. Human rights groups have urged Thailand to give Rohingyas access to the United Nations refugee agency so they can seek refugee status and have expressed concerns over their safety if they are sent back to Burma. “Deportation to Myanmar means to send them to a place where they can face danger and persecution, and can be seriously abused,” said Bangkok-based Human Rights Watch researcher Sunai Phasuk. He said Thai authorities have not been transparent about the deportation process and the number of the detained asylum seekers. The post Thai Officials Say Rohingya People Sent to Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Japan on Backfoot in Global PR War With China After Abe Shrine Visit Posted: 12 Feb 2014 09:44 PM PST Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) is led by a Shinto priest (R) as he pays a customary New Year’s visit at Ise shrine in Ise, central Japan, in this photo. (Photo: Reuters) TOKYO/BEIJING — Japan risks losing a global PR battle with China after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to a controversial shrine for war dead and comments by other prominent figures on the wartime past helped Beijing try to paint Tokyo as the villain of Asia. Sino-Japanese ties have long been plagued by territorial rows, regional rivalry and disputes stemming from China’s bitter memories of Japan’s occupation of parts of the country before and during World War Two. Relations chilled markedly after a feud over disputed East China Sea isles flared in 2012. Beijing, however, has stepped up its campaign to sway international public opinion since Abe’s Dec. 26 visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine is seen by critics as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism because it honors leaders convicted as war criminals with millions of war dead. That strategy has helped China shift some of the debate away from its growing military assertiveness in Asia, including double digit defense spending increases and the recent creation of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea that was condemned by Tokyo and Washington, experts said. "Right now, this is a real war," said Shin Tanaka, president of the Fleishman Hillard Japan Group in Tokyo, a communications consultancy. "Japan and China are using missiles called ‘messages’ and the reality is that a lot of damage is already happening in both countries," he added, warning of a mutual backlash of nationalist emotions and potential harm to business ties. Abe has repeatedly said he did not visit the shrine to honor war criminals but to pay his respects to those who died for their country and pledge Japan would never again go to war. Getting that message across is not easy, communications and political experts said. Abe’s Yasukuni visit "gave China the opportunity … to attack Japan and send the message that China is the good guy and Japan is the bad guy," Tanaka said. 'Goebbelsian PR Binge' Some Japanese diplomats and officials dismissed any suggestion they were worried, saying Tokyo’s rebuttals and the country’s post-war record of peace would win the day. "Their Goebbelsian PR binge – repeat it 100 times then it becomes true, ungrounded or not – shows all the symptoms of a Leninist regime still remaining in the 21st century," Tomohiko Taniguchi, a councilor in the cabinet secretariat of the prime minister’s office, said in an email. He was referring to Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s minister of propaganda from 1933-1945. "Yes we feel annoyed, but the next moment we relax for we have nothing to be ashamed of." Still, experts said Abe’s shrine visit had made it easier for Beijing to try to link Abe’s plans to bolster the military and loosen limits on the pacifist constitution to Japan’s militarist past. "The most fundamental thing they say is to assert that Japan is going on a path of militarism a la the 1930s. That’s just nonsense," said Daniel Sneider, associate director for research at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. "But the problem is the Chinese are able to blur a lot of this stuff because of what Abe did." Recent remarks about the wartime past by the chairman of NHK public TV and members of its board of governors have added grist to China’s PR mill. Among those remarks were comments by new NHK Chairman Katsuto Momii, who told a news conference last month that "comfort women" – a euphemism for women forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels – had counterparts in every country at war at that time. He later apologized. NHK’s chief is selected by a board of governors that includes four Abe appointees. Since the start of the year, Chinese ambassadors and other officials have targeted Japan 69 times in media around the world, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said. The campaign includes interviews, written commentaries and news conferences. As of Monday, Japan had issued rebuttals in 67 cases with the other two under review, Foreign Ministry spokesman Masaru Sato said. Asked if China had won over international opinion, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said countries such as South Korea – where memories of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonization run deep – had also criticized Tokyo. "The mistaken ways of the Japanese leader have incurred the strong opposition of the international community," Hua told reporters. "China is willing to work with other victims of the war and the international community to uphold historical justice." Voldemort Duel The verbal jousting has spanned the globe from capitals such as London and Washington to remote Fiji and South Sudan. The best known exchanges are the "Voldemort attacks" in which China’s ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, last month compared Japan to the villain in the Harry Potter children’s book series. In reply, Japan’s envoy, Keiichi Hayashi, said China risked becoming "Asia’s Voldemort". "We try to explain that Japan faces its history squarely and has expressed remorse … (and that) Japan will continue to pursue the path of a peace-loving country," Sato said. "Sometimes they try to link the visit to the shrine to security policy. That is a totally unrelated matter." Still, some in Japan fear that China’s PR blitz is having an impact on world opinion. "A lie is repeated so that people are brainwashed and start to believe it," Akira Sato, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s panel on defense policy told Reuters. Echoed a Western diplomat in Beijing: "China is being successful at getting its message across while Japan keeps saying stupid things like questioning the existence of comfort women. I think (China) has changed opinions." Tokyo’s mostly reactive approach, some PR experts said, was not enough to sway international public opinion, a worry some Japanese diplomats share privately. "Japan is very worried that China is winning this propaganda war," said an Asian diplomat based in Beijing. "Their diplomats have been asking how they can better put their side of the story and win people over in the West." That could be tough if Abe declines to say whether he will visit Yasukuni again or other prominent Japanese figures make controversial comments on wartime history, experts said. Other matters such as planned changes to Japanese textbooks to promote patriotism could add fuel to the fire. "Even if he doesn’t go to Yasukuni again, there are plenty of issues on their (the Japanese government’s) agenda," Sneider said. The post Japan on Backfoot in Global PR War With China After Abe Shrine Visit appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

For South China Sea Claimants, a Legal Venue to Battle China Posted: 12 Feb 2014 09:35 PM PST The Crescent Group, part of a larger group of islands known as the Paracels claimed by both China and Vietnam. (Photo: Wikimedia) HONG KONG — When Philippine President Benigno Aquino compared China to the Germany of 1938 and called for global support as his country battles Beijing's claims in the South China Sea, he put the focus on a case that Manila has filed in an international court. The Philippines has taken its dispute with China to arbitration under the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea and its lawyers say that the tribunal has discretionary powers to allow other states to join the action. China is refusing to participate and has already warned Vietnam against joining the case being heard at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, sources have said. Hanoi has so far kept its options open. Any final ruling by the court on the dispute, one of the most tense flashpoints in Asia, cannot be enforced but will carry considerable moral and political weight, analysts say. "If a large number of countries, including members of Asean, speak out in support of the application of international law to resolve disputes, Beijing might conclude that flouting the ruling of the tribunal is too costly, even if China's nine-dash line is found to be illegal," said Bonnie Glaser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups four of the claimants to the sea—Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam—and six other countries in the region. China, and also Taiwan, claim much of the sea through a nine-dash line on Chinese maps that encompasses about 90 percent of its 3.5 million sq km (1.35 million sq mile) waters. The sea provides 10 percent of the global fisheries catch and carries $5 trillion in ship-borne trade each year. In an interview with the New York Times last week, Aquino compared China's claims to Germany in 1938. "At what point do you say, 'Enough is enough'? Well, the world has to say it—remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War 2," he said. Beijing has called the comparison outrageous. Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of the US Pacific Command, and Daniel Russel, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, both voiced support last week for the Philippines' action in seeking a peaceful, lawful solution. The US comments came after increasingly assertive moves by China in the South China Sea in recent weeks. "There is a growing concern that this pattern of behavior in the South China Sea reflects an incremental effort by China to assert control over the area contained in the so-called 'nine-dash line,' despite the objections of its neighbors and despite the lack of any explanation or apparent basis under international law regarding the scope of the claim itself," Russel said in testimony to a congressional sub-committee. The issue could also come up when Secretary of State John Kerry visits Beijing this week. Assertive But Wary China's state media has reported a patrol by two destroyers and a large amphibious landing ship at the James Shoal—about 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. While Malaysia's navy chief denied the reports, China's official Xinhua news agency has since described how the ships have continued south, passing through Indonesia's strategic Lombok and Makassar straits to reach the Indian Ocean. Official Chinese reports last month also announced the basing of a 5,000-tonne civilian patrol ship in the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by Vietnam. Provincial authorities on the Chinese island of Hainan, meanwhile, have extended fishing restrictions into international waters—a step that sparked protests from Hanoi and Manila. Despite the lack of physical opposition to its moves, China appears to be wary about the proceedings in the court at The Hague. Chinese officials have warned Hanoi against joining the case, Vietnamese officials have privately said. Carl Thayer, a South China Sea expert at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, said he had been told by Vietnamese officials that one such warning was delivered by Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a visit to Hanoi last September. "Vietnam has so far stood up to the pressure and clearly reserved the right to take any step if it feels its national interests are at stake," Thayer said. Luong Thanh Nghi, a spokesman for Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, did not comment directly on Chinese pressure, including specific warnings from Wang, but told Reuters that Hanoi was closely monitoring Manila's legal moves. When asked whether Hanoi had decided on whether it would take part in the case, Nghi pointed to previous statements that Vietnam would apply "all necessary and appropriate peaceful means" to protect its sovereignty and national interests. Other Vietnamese officials said while it was unlikely Hanoi would join the case given its close but complex relationship with China, they were scrutinizing developments closely, including talking to foreign legal experts. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reiterated China's objections to the Philippines' action and said China and Vietnam had reached an "important consensus" over how to resolve the South China Sea dispute. "We are willing to maintain close touch with Vietnam and co-ordinate with them, to resolve the issue via friendly talks and consultation." Manila's five US and British lawyers are finalizing submissions to be put to the court before a March 30 deadline to show that China's "nine-dash line" claim is invalid under the Law of the Sea. Philippines' lead counsel Paul Reichler, a Washington-based lawyer with the law firm Foley Hoag, said the arbitration tribunal had adopted rules that effectively allowed other states to apply to intervene. While no one had yet stepped forward "there is still plenty of time to do so," he told Reuters. A copy of the rules obtained from the court by Reuters last week does not mention third country interventions but gives the tribunal judges the power to decide on outside issues not covered by the document. Clive Schofield, a legal expert at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong, said the wording of the rules allowed for considerable leeway. "I do not believe that either one of the parties can block [third country] submissions should the tribunal members deem them to be helpful in determining the outcome of the case," he said. The post For South China Sea Claimants, a Legal Venue to Battle China appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Corruption Sting Follows Indian Athletes to Sochi Posted: 12 Feb 2014 09:16 PM PST India's Shiva Keshavan prepares for the start during the men's luge training at a venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on Feb. 5, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Fabrizio Bensch) NEW DELHI — The taint of corruption followed India's Olympic athletes everywhere in Sochi. They were not allowed to enter the Olympic stadium marching under the Indian flag. They were warned the national anthem would not play if they won any medals. But the athletes had done nothing wrong. Their administrative exile was the result of ethics violations by the Indian Olympic Association, which had elected two corruption-tainted officials as its leaders. Although the IOC executive board reinstated the Indian Olympic body Tuesday, five days after the games began, the episode laid bare India's intractable problems with corruption on an international stage. "The whole world is watching and when the Indian flag doesn't fly, people know that it's because of corruption and it's not a nice image for the country," said luger Shiva Keshavan, India's top winter sports athlete. "Symbolism is really important at the Olympic Games," he told The Associated Press in Sochi. The bureaucratic bumbling had all the makings of a national scandal, touching on resonant issues of national pride and prestige. But despite the sting of embarrassment for the athletic community, the episode has failed to stir up much outrage among ordinary Indians. The muted response stems, in part, from India's virtually non-existent presence at the Winter Olympics. It is likely the public sense of embarrassment would have been greater had the controversy broken out before a summer Olympics. India has never won a medal at the Winter Olympics, and the three Indians competing this year at Sochi—a luger and two skiers — are not household names. Keshavan finished 37th out of 39 competitors in Sunday's men's singles event for luge. In a country where cricket is the pastime of choice, and where temperatures are scorching for much of the year, winter sports have never gained much traction here. "People haven't been bothered much about the developments on the Olympics front," said T.S. Sampath, a businessman in New Delhi and an avid sports lover. "It's not been very important for me even though I'm a sports lover because I don't think our performance level is good at the [winter] Olympics." The quiet reaction to the Olympic snub is starkly different from the national mood ahead of the Commonwealth Games of 2010, which deeply embarrassed India on its own turf. India's preparations for the games were seen as an international humiliation, with filthy athletes' housing, a collapsed pedestrian bridge, security worries, corruption accusations and even an outbreak of dengue fever. Still, the Olympic snafu was no small matter, particularly as the country tries to showcase its clout as a superpower. "It's a big disgrace to be suspended because of any reason, more so because we were seen to have tainted officials," said Randhir Singh, a member of the IOC and a former secretary-general of India's national Olympic body. "It's a matter of shame if a country's athletes are unable to participate under the national flag, irrespective of how many medals you're expected to win." India's performance at the Summer games has also never been stellar. Its maximum haul is six medals at London in 2012, none of them gold. Its only individual gold at any Summer Olympics was won by rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra in Beijing in 2008. India has won eight gold medals in field hockey, the last time in Moscow in 1980. India was suspended in December 2012 for electing scandal-tainted Abhay Chautala as president and Lalit Bhanot as secretary-general. Bhanot spent 10 months in jail on corruption charges stemming from the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, while Chautala is charged in a recruitment scam not related to sport. Both men deny any wrongdoing. The IOC executive board reinstated India Tuesday after the Indian Olympic Association held another election over the weekend to replace Chautala and Bhanot, who were not allowed to contest. This complied with IOC ethics rules barring corruption-tainted officials from running for election, and cleared the way for India's three athletes to compete under their national flag for the rest of the Sochi Games. Because of the scandal, the athletes entered the games under the Olympic flag and wearing the white uniforms of independent competitors. It is the first time in history that a suspension of a national Olympic body has been lifted during the games, the IOC said. The quick resolution of the dispute was largely because neither the Indians nor the IOC wanted India to carry the stain ahead of the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, which are scheduled to be held between July and September this year. India does relatively well at these two events, and it would have been a black mark on the games themselves had a major country participated while continuing to be in disgrace. The IOC reinstatement came too late for Keshavan, who competed as an independent athlete Sunday. But cross-country skier Nadeem Iqbal and slalom skier Hamanshu Thakur can now represent India in upcoming races. Although India is now back in the fold, not everyone is satisfied. Rahul Mehra, an Indian lawyer and sports activist, said there should have been more national outrage. The weekend ballot, he says, resulted only in "a change of face" in the Indian Olympic body, which will do no good to Indian sport. "These are all proxies of the Bhanots and the Chautalas," said Mehra, who has fought several court cases in Indian courts in a bid to change the running of sport. "These are fiefdoms that have been distributed at the cost of Indians." He said he was not happy that the IOC welcomed India back to the fold so eagerly. "This is a cruel joke," he said. "This is a shame." The post Corruption Sting Follows Indian Athletes to Sochi appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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