The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Public Shares in Thilawa SEZ to Go on Sale Next Month
• Where the Deal-makers Meet
• Salween Dam Projects Could Affect Burma’s Peace Process
• Pegu Court Sentences 12 Farmers to Prison for Land Protest
• L’Alchimiste Works Its Magic
• International Flight Access to Bagan Up in the Air
• Vietnamese Court Rejects Appeals by Dissident
• Thai Protesters to Rally Against PM After Deadly Bangkok Clashes
• Crisis in Tiny Nauru Puts Spotlight on Australia’s Asylum Seeker Policy

Public Shares in Thilawa SEZ to Go on Sale Next Month Posted: 19 Feb 2014 05:43 AM PST The Thilawa port is located less than 20 miles southeast of Rangoon and is a key part of the Thilawa SEZ project's infrastructure.. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) Myanmar, Thilawa Special Economic Zone, business, Japan, investment, land rights, foreign investment RANGOON — Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Ltd announced it will issue shares for sale next month in order to raise about US $21 million to fund the first phase of the Burmese-Japanese Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) near Rangoon. Set Aung, a government official who chairs the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee, and Win Aung, owner of Dagon Group and chairman of Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), presented the plans during a press conference on Wednesday. "Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Limited is going to sell 2.145 million shares in total during an initial sale next month with each share valued at 10,000 kyat [about $10] each," Set Aung said, a plan that would amount to raising about $21 million in funds. Thilawa SEZ is being planned by the Burmese and Japanese governments, together with a consortium of Japanese firms and UMFCCI. The sprawling industrial complex, located about 20 km south of Rangoon, will include a deep sea port, Japanese factories, and large housing projects. The Burmese side owns 51 percent of the project and is responsible for developing a 2,400-hectare core zone. The Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Limited was formed by nine Burmese companies and owns 41 percent of the project, while the Burmese government owns the remaining 10 percent. "All Burmese citizens and Burmese-owned companies can buy shares and we will make an announcement about share sales in early March and provide a one month period to buy shares," said Win Aung. He added that investors could propose to buy shares at the company's office and also at Ayeyarwady Bank Ltd, Myanmar Apex Bank Ltd, Co-Operative Bank Ltd, Yoma Bank Ltd and Kanbawza Bank Ltd. Set Aung said funds raised by share sales would be used to finance construction of part of the first 400-hectare phase of the SEZ project, adding that this phase, called the Class A Area, would cost about $180 million to complete. "There are several stages for development of the first phase. First stage is to level of the ground. And they level up the ground. And it’s more than 80 percent finished now,"he said, adding that Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Public Company had paid for this initial clearing work. Set Aung said that if any of the shares would fail to sell, the nine firms owning the Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Public Company would buy up the shares. The company is owned by Golden Land East Asia Development Ltd, Myanmar Sugar Development Company Ltd, Myanmar Edible Oil Industrial Public Corporation, First Myanmar Investment Company Ltd, Myanmar Agricultural & General Development Public Ltd, National Development Company Group Ltd, New City Development Public Company Ltd, Myanmar Technologies and Investment Corporation Ltd, and Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation Ltd. It remained unclear how much money the owners of Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Public Company would invest in the development of Thilawa, or how much had been spent on the initial ground work. The Thilawa project is the most advanced of several huge, foreign investment-driven SEZ projects around the country, which are part of Naypyidaw's strategy for attracting investment in Burma and increase industrial productivity in the impoverished nation. The Thilawa SEZ is envisioned as a driver of Rangoon's future economic growth and could potentially provide tens of thousands of jobs. The project has, however, run into disputes over land ownership, with about 80 farmers claiming that they were forcibly evicted of their land and received unfair compensation. The post Public Shares in Thilawa SEZ to Go on Sale Next Month appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Where the Deal-makers Meet Posted: 19 Feb 2014 05:21 AM PST A man is seen above advertisement boards after landing at the airport in Yangon on Oct. 29, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Damir Sagolj) YANGON — Sales of finger food, lanyards and plastic binders may be set to boom in Myanmar in 2014. As the country opens up to post-sanctions investment from overseas, it's at the dozens of business conferences in Yangon's hotels that contacts are made. Over spring rolls and coffee, foreign businessmen—paying for the privilege—will meet potential local partners and the officials they need to impress to get the sought-after opportunity to operate here. Perhaps the busiest sector for conferences this year will be the extractive industries. There's "Oil & Gas Myanmar 2014" in July, not to be confused with "Oil & Gas 2014 Myanmar" in October, as well as "Myanmar Oil & Gas Week," to be held in February. Perhaps that is no surprise, since a batch of onshore oil and gas exploration blocks were awarded to companies in late 2013, and 30 offshore blocks are set be awarded early in 2014. There are also conferences on related sectors—mining and power and electricity, for instance. And other sectors are not ignored: The "Myanmar Urban Development Conference 2014," "Myanmar Banking & Finance Conference," an agribusiness investment summit and a hospitality and tourism conference are all planned in coming months. The glut of conferences coincides with a rapid growth in foreign direct investment (FDI), which rose from US$1.9 billion in 2011-12 to $2.7 billion in 2012-13, according to the World Bank. More deals must be done if FDI is to keep on growing, as is expected. The Centre for Management Technology (CMT) is one company that has already organized numerous such events in Myanmar. In 2014, CMT is hosting the 2nd Myanmar Telecoms Infrastructure Summit in February and the Myanmar Construction Summit in March. Ummu Hani, CMT's general manager of marketing, told The Irrawaddy such conferences were a source of "vital business intelligence" as the country opens up to investment. Since the company began running conferences in Myanmar, more than 4,000 delegates from 50 countries have attended the events, she said. "Most have commended us on the ease with which they can network with the right persons or companies, be it from the government, public or private sectors," Ms. Hani said. A key factor at such conferences is the cooperation of the relevant government ministries, who often send a senior representative—usually the most popular person at the buffet. To this end, CMT facilitates "private consultation sessions" between attendees and government officials, she said. "Generally the government's role in our event is akin to them providing some kind of endorsement and/or added credibility, especially when the authorities themselves are presenting a paper related to the subject matter," Ms. Hani added. While the summits the Myanmar government will host during 2014 as the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be held in the new capital of Naypyitaw, those looking to lure the business and political elite are mostly sticking to the former capital, Yangon, the heart of commerce in the country. Despite the convenient locations, and although public officials are regularly in attendance, the media often has some difficulty getting in. Organizers often demand of media organizations a certain amount of coverage, or free advertising, effectively shutting the doors of these key meetings to those who don't comply. The story first appeared in the February 2014 issue of The Irrawaddy print magazine. The post Where the Deal-makers Meet appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Salween Dam Projects Could Affect Burma’s Peace Process Posted: 19 Feb 2014 03:18 AM PST A boat travels along the Salween River in Shan State, where hydroelectric dams are slated to be built. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) Without a political settlement between ethnic armed groups and the government, the continuation of dam projects on eastern Burma's Salween River could impact upon the current peace efforts in the country, a leading Shan human rights group says. "The project area is not stable yet and it's close to Kokang troops and the Wa region, and also, war refugees are being scattered in the area due to fighting between the Burma Army and Palaung rebels," Nang Kwarn Lake, a spokesperson from the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), told The Irrawaddy. In a report released on Feb. 13, SHRF said a dam project area in Kunlong Township is adjacent to Kutkhaing Township in the Wa self-administered region, where clashes between the government troops and that of the ethnic Palaung Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) or the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) often take place. There are currently about five battalions of the Burma Army stationed in the dam area, it said. Myint Zaw, the deputy minister for Burma's Ministry of Electric Power, has told lawmakers in a parliamentary meeting that six foreign-backed hydropower projects would be constructed on the currently undammed Salween River, also known as the Thanlwin. The SHRF report called for the projects to be stopped completely because they lack transparency, locals have not been properly consulted, and human rights violations have taken place both within and outside of the project areas. Nang Kwarn Lake said farmland belonging to about 20,000 people living in more than 60 villages along the Salween River has so far been damaged, and many homes have been destroyed, since the project-related works started. Many more problems are likely to occur in the future that's why this project should be ended, she said. "No compensation has been given although houses, rubber plantations and farmland were destroyed as roads were constructed for the project," complained the SHRF spokesperson. "Locals are not benefited from this so, it should be stopped. We are now launching a petition campaign, calling for an end of the dam projects and collecting signatures form people living by the Salween River in Shan and Karen states." The SHRF said it will send the petition to President Thein Sein, Parliament, other authorities and the companies taking care of project construction as well as to the Chinese and Thai governments. The six dam projects will reportedly have a combined capacity of about 15,000 megawatts. "We have learned that 90 percent of electricity produced by these dams will be exported to China and Thailand, and 10 percent will be delivered to other cities in Burma, so locals will be given nothing," said Nang Kwarn Lake. According to the Burma Rivers Network, a coalition of several environmental groups from eastern Burma, the dam projects on Salween River will be jointly constructed by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, and Burma's Shwe Taung Hydropower Company and the state-run Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise. Other Burmese business firms such as Asia World and IGE are also working on the dams, according to SHRF. The post Salween Dam Projects Could Affect Burma's Peace Process appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Pegu Court Sentences 12 Farmers to Prison for Land Protest Posted: 19 Feb 2014 02:17 AM PST Family members of farmers sent to prison in Pegu Division's Padaung Township grieve after the verdict on Tuesday. (Photo: Kaung Myat Min / The Irrawaddy) PANDAUNG TOWNSHIP — Twelve farmers were sentenced to between three years and six months in prison by a court in Pegu Division's Padaung Township on Tuesday for damaging a company-owned teak plantation during a land dispute protest last year. During the verdict, Judge Nan May Yin of Pandaung Township Court handed farmer Maung Lin a three-year prison term, while six villagers received one-year and nine-month sentences. Another farmer was sentenced to eight months in prison and four were sentenced to six months. Min Min, a land rights activist from Prome, told an Irrawaddy reporter that the sentence was a grave injustice for the farmers as they were being punished for opposing a land grab by a well-connected company. "Our local farmers have been suffering a lot because their land has been taken and now they even have to go to prison. They are just poor farmers," he said. About a dozen families in Kyarinn village, Padaung Township, have been 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 1,500-acre teak plantation in a local forest reserve in 2008. 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 defendants were released on bail last year and have since attended several hearings at the court. On Feb. 11, however, six farmers showed up for a court hearing and were arrested, while the judge ordered arrest warrants for the other seven defendants. Six of the farmers were arrested in recent days; it remains unclear if the last remaining defendant is still at large. Min Min alleged that the company NRDC had exerted influence over the court's decision. "I found there was pressure on the judge. She could not decide in accordance with the rule of law," he said. "Rule of law in our country is still in the hands of those who have power." NDRC is reportedly owned by Maung Toe, an Upper House lawmaker with the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, a party run by members of the previous military regime that ruled Burma for decades. Judge Nan May Yin told The Irrawaddy that the sentence had been fair, adding, "I feel very sad for them. [But] as I am a civil servant and I have to act according to the law." The twelve convicted farmers were transferred to Prome Prison shortly after their verdict on Tuesday. One of them, Sabae, received a one-year and nine-months prison sentence. His wife, Htay Htay, told The Irrawaddy that the sentence was "unacceptable," adding that, "We will seek justice and our farmers' rights within the rule of law in order to win this case. The rights of our farmers are being abused throughout the country." Kyarinn village farmers say they had been living in the forest reserve since 1968, but 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, until NDRC was granted a 1,500-acre teak concession in the area 2008, part of which overlapped with existing farmlands. 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 dramatically increased. The post Pegu Court Sentences 12 Farmers to Prison for Land Protest appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

L’Alchimiste Works Its Magic Posted: 19 Feb 2014 01:28 AM PST L'Alchimiste French Restaurant on the shores of Yangon's Inya Lake. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Before anyone else asks, Yangon's tranquil lakeside French restaurant L'Alchimiste is not named after the Paulo Coelho novel "The Alchemist." CEO François Kenedi says that it's derived from the name of his other venture in Yangon, the well-known lunchtime downtown meeting point Zawgyi House. "People were getting confused, despite the very different locations, as I called this place Zawgyi as well at first," he says. "That's why I opted for the translation." Since the popular Myanmar character Zawgyi was an alchemist of sorts, he explains, the new name serves to give the new restaurant a clear identity, while preserving the connection with Zawgyi House. That older red-bricked eatery, a football's kick down the street from the Bogyoke Aung San Market, is where diners can watch the ever busier downtown denizens buzz by in the afternoon. But as Yangon changes, Zawgyi House could soon be no more, if it is swallowed up by a hotel set to be built near the old railway building, another red-bricked downtown icon visible behind Zawgyi House. "We don't know for sure yet what is happening," says Mr. Kenedi, who has lived in Myanmar for 13 years. The makeover coming to downtown Yangon is part of what he sees, in some ways, as the "too fast" changes taking place in Myanmar. "If it goes on like this, only the rich will get rich and everyone else will be the same," he warns. L'Alchimiste is housed in a 1930s-built colonial mansion, with the back garden opening onto Inya Lake. With the high season in full swing, the six-month-old restaurant has room for 200 diners in the garden, a prime evening eating spot as the sun goes down and the lake waters glow. Inside, there's room for 60, with new paintings by a variety of Myanmar artists for visuals, nicely complementing the museum-piece big house feel inside. The paintings, by the way, are for sale. "We don't keep any of the money, it goes to the artist," says Mr. Kenedi, who is happy with L'Alchimiste's gallery ambience. As for the food, it's all French—and, yes, there's a French chef. "I advertised the position on a chef website in France, and got lots of applications," says Mr. Kenedi, opening the menu to show the chef's credentials tagged in French and English at the foot of the menu. But Mr. Kenedi and the chef are the only foreigners working at L'Alchimiste—the rest of the staff, zipping back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room on a busy Friday evening—are from Myanmar. And save for the lamb rack, salmon and scallops, your meal at L'Alchimiste will consist entirely of Myanmar produce. The only downside of this, says Mr. Kenedi, is that the beef sometimes needs a bit of aging. "Here they kill the animal and sell the meat the same day, so sometimes it's bit like this at first," he says, knocking on a nearby table. With a steak going for the equivalent of US$12, it seems cut-price, given the hefty costs for the new restaurant. "We keep the prices down, so we need an average of 60 diners a day to keep going," says Mr. Kenedi, who's in it for the long haul. "Zawgyi House took three years to make money," he adds. "In those days, you only had around 60,000 tourists a year, but we eventually made it work. Now, with more visitors, I can only be optimistic." L'Alchimiste French Restaurant No. 5, Tun Nyein St., Mayangone Township, Yangon Tel 95-1-660612 Email: lalchimiste.restaurant@gmail.com The story first appeared in the February 2014 issue of The Irrawaddy print magazine. The post L'Alchimiste Works Its Magic appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

International Flight Access to Bagan Up in the Air Posted: 18 Feb 2014 10:10 PM PST A view of the temples at Bagan in Burma's Mandalay Division. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Department of Civil Aviation says international commercial flights to Bagan, a major tourist draw, are unlikely to be granted anytime soon, with charter flights to be the only international air traffic potentially landing near the site's famed temples for the foreseeable future. "The current plan is that there will be four international airports in Myanmar—Yangon [Rangoon], Mandalay, Naypyidaw and the new airport, which will be at Hanthawaddy," said Win Swe Tun, the deputy director of the Department of Civil Aviation, which is part of Burma's Transport Ministry. "We are canvassing private sector interest in upgrading several airports and airstrips around the country, including at Bagan and Pakokku [in Magwe Division], but international arrivals to these will likely be just charter flights," Win Swe Tun told The Irrawaddy. Earlier, tourism sector representatives had talked-up hopes of making Bagan accessible to foreign commercial flights, possibly landing at Pakokku, 30 kilometers northeast of Bagan on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River. "Direct international flights to Bagan and Heho [a gateway to Shan State in eastern Burma] will be considered," said Khin Than Win, director of tourism promotion at the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, speaking at the Myanmar Hospitality and Tourism Conference 2014 in Rangoon on Tuesday. In June 2013, Burma's government published a "tourism master plan" that suggested the country could pull in up to 7 million visitors a year by 2020, up from last year's total of just over 2 million. Among the possible to-dos listed in the plan was opening up Bagan to international air arrivals, with the document stating that the Burma government "will review its current policy on air services for Bagan and Heho and explore the benefits and challenges of permitting direct international flights to these destinations." Bagan, which last year attracted just over 200,000 foreign tourists, is listed as one of six "flagship destinations" in the tourism blueprint. Burma's Minister for Hotels and Tourism Htay Aung reiterated a ministry suggestion that Bagan be opened up to international air arrivals to boost visitor numbers. "Bagan is too small, but the airstrip at Pakokku could facilitate larger aircraft and foreign flights," Htay Aung told The Irrawaddy. For now, foreign tourists wanting to visit Bagan usually fly first to Rangoon or Mandalay, before continuing overland or by plane via airports at Pakokku or nearby Nyaung U. Burma's only other international airport is near the capital Naypyidaw, and a fourth hub, scheduled to be the country's biggest airport with a capacity of 12 million passengers per annum, is planned for Hanthawaddy, a 90-minute drive from Rangoon in Pegu Division. Bagan is sometimes billed as a "Burmese Angkor Wat," referring to the massive temple complex outside Siem Reap in Cambodia that attracts 2 million tourists a year and is served by international flights. Those numbers make up about half of Cambodia's overall arrivals and are equivalent to the total number of tourists to visit Burma last year. But Bagan's arrivals in 2013 are only around 10 percent of Burma's total tourists—numbers that could be boosted if access to the town were made easier and more affordable. "Thailand is getting 22-24 million tourists a year, but Myanmar has arguably more to offer in terms of temples and scenery," said Mark Lettenbicher, CEO of Regent Hotels & Resorts, speaking at the Myanmar Hospitality and Tourism Conference on Tuesday. The post International Flight Access to Bagan Up in the Air appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Vietnamese Court Rejects Appeals by Dissident Posted: 18 Feb 2014 09:13 PM PST A policeman stands in front of supporters of lawyer Le Quoc Quan, as they hold a banner of him outside a court in Hanoi on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters) HANOI — A Vietnamese appeals court on Tuesday upheld the conviction and 30-month prison sentence against a US-trained lawyer and well-known dissident found guilty of tax evasion in a case that international rights groups say was politically motivated. The court in Hanoi rejected Le Quoc Quan’s appeal after a half-day trial on Tuesday. His lawyer Ha Huy Son quoted judges as saying they found no new evidence, and that the conviction by the intermediate court was well founded. The lawyer said Quan maintained his innocence throughout the trial. "I told the court that the case should not be criminalized, but should be resolved through administrative procedures instead." Son said in a telephone interview. "But the court rejected my arguments." Quan was sentenced to 30 months in jail in October. About 100 people gathered near the courthouse demanding Quan’s release, and police sealed off the area. "Le Quoc Quan’s innocent. Freedom for the patriot. Down with the trial of injustice," chanted the protesters, many of whom wore T-shirts that read "Freedom for Lawyer Le Quoc Quan". The United States said Tuesday it was deeply concerned by the Vietnamese government’s decision to uphold the conviction. "The use of tax laws by Vietnamese authorities to imprison government critics for peacefully expressing their political views is disturbing," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. The New York-based Human Rights Watch had called on the court to drop what it called "trumped-up charges of tax evasion" and immediately release the human-rights lawyer. "Unconditionally releasing Le Quoc Quan would be a welcome step to show the government is sincere about ending the persecution of critics," Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Monday. Quan, in his early 40s, was detained in 2007 for three months on his return from a US government-funded fellowship in Washington. He was arrested in December 2012. Western governments and international human-rights groups have criticized Vietnam of jailing people for peacefully expressing their views. Hanoi maintains that only lawbreakers are put behind bars. Human Rights Watch says the number of people sentenced in political trials has increased every year since 2010 and at least 63 people were imprisoned for peaceful political expression last year. The post Vietnamese Court Rejects Appeals by Dissident appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Protesters to Rally Against PM After Deadly Bangkok Clashes Posted: 18 Feb 2014 09:07 PM PST Riot police officers and a rescue worker take cover after an explosion during clashes with anti-government protesters near the Government House in Bangkok Feb. 18, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Protesters seeking to oust Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra plan to rally at her temporary office on Wednesday, creating another potential flashpoint a day after five people were killed in gun battles in Bangkok. A security official said police would not attempt to retake more protest sites and would focus on protecting Yingluck, whose problems are mounting after an anti-corruption agency filed charges against her over a soured rice subsidy scheme. The protests are the latest installment of an eight-year political battle broadly pitting the Bangkok middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Tuesday's clashes were some of the worst between protesters and security forces since the campaign to unseat Yingluck began in November. The Erawan Medical Center, which monitors Bangkok hospitals, said on Wednesday one police officer and four protesters had been killed and 65 wounded. The death toll had earlier been put at four. Violence flared as police made their most determined effort since the start of the protests to reclaim sites around government buildings that have been occupied for weeks. National Security Council Chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr told Reuters on Wednesday there would probably be a pause while security forces assess their options. "We don't expect to reclaim any protest sites further," he said. Yingluck, seen by opponents as a proxy for her self-exiled brother Thaksin, has been working from a defence ministry compound in north Bangkok since the protests forced her to vacate her Government House office in January. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told supporters at a Tuesday evening rally in Bangkok's central business district that protesters would march on the temporary HQ on Wednesday. "No matter where Yingluck is, we will follow," he said. National security chief Paradorn said police would mount "a mission to secure this place as the first priority." Growing Paralysis Thai politics has been gripped by growing paralysis since Yingluck called a snap election in December. Disruption by protesters meant voting could not be completed in the Feb. 2 poll, leaving Yingluck at the head of an enfeebled caretaker administration amid uncertainty over when a new government can be installed. Demonstrators accuse Yingluck's billionaire brother Thaksin of nepotism and corruption and say he used taxpayers' money for populist subsidies and easy loans that have bought him the loyalty of millions in the populous north and northeast. The protesters, who are still blocking major intersections in central Bangkok, want to suspend what they say is a fragile democracy under Thaksin's control and eradicate his influence by altering electoral arrangements. Adding to the crisis, a flagship rice program that paid farmers way above the market rate has proved ruinously expensive, fuelling middle-class anger, and the caretaker government lacks the power to keep funding it. A state bank had to cancel a loan that might have helped prop up the scheme in the face of a revolt by depositors who began pulling their money out. Thailand's anti-corruption body began an investigation last month and said on Tuesday it was filing charges against Yingluck. She was summoned to hear the charges on Feb. 27. The post Thai Protesters to Rally Against PM After Deadly Bangkok Clashes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Crisis in Tiny Nauru Puts Spotlight on Australia’s Asylum Seeker Policy Posted: 18 Feb 2014 08:54 PM PST Asylum seekers are pictured being transported from an aircraft to a bus upon their arrival on the island of Nauru on Sept. 14, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) SYDNEY — It was mid-morning when the knock came at Rod Henshaw's door. He had 30 minutes to pack, police told him, then straight to the plane that would deport him from the home he'd made on the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru. The knock ended weeks of uncertainty that had started when the justice minister issued an order for his deportation, something the Australian says was never explained. This seemingly insignificant incident set in motion events leading to the sacking of Nauru's judiciary, the kind of political crisis that history shows would usually draw a swift response from Australia. Canberra has long been the heavyweight in the South Pacific, imposing sanctions on Fiji after a 2006 coup, for example, even intervening militarily, as in East Timor in 1999. But the collapse of the judiciary, as well as other recent moves by the government that Australian opposition politicians, Nauruan business figures, sacked members of the judiciary and analysts have said signals a creeping authoritarianism in the island state, has drawn only a muted response from Canberra. They attribute this near silence to Nauru offering something Canberra values more than promoting regional democracy: a place to outsource its asylum seeker headache, far from prying eyes. Australia has flooded Nauru with money since 2012, when the island became a key plank in its controversial policy of dealing with asylum seekers. Nauru hosts a detention center able to hold 1,500 men, women and children from the Middle East, Africa and Asia who have been sent there after trying to get to Australia in rickety boats, usually from Indonesia. Canberra has set aside some A$2 billion (US$1.81 billion) over four years to run the center and a similar one in Papua New Guinea, money that is separate from Australian direct aid worth about 40 percent of Nauru's annual GDP of A$72 million. "I think it really comes down to the fact that there is this deal that the Australian government has with Nauru: You'll manage it all, we'll keep filling the coffers with money and let's not rock the boat," said Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of the opposition Greens Party. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison declined to be interviewed for this article. Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, who has called the crisis a "domestic issue" for Nauru, said in a statement to Reuters that Australia had privately conveyed its concerns to the island's leadership. She did not respond directly to a question about whether Canberra was holding back criticism to avoid jeopardizing the detention center deal. A Dot in the Pacific By August 2012, with thousands of refugees arriving every month and with record low poll numbers, then Prime Minister Julia Gillard needed to tackle the asylum seeker issue. The deaths of hundreds of people at sea after boats capsized and a push by popular radio talk back hosts to label boat arrivals immigration "queue jumpers" had combined to create a powerful anti-asylum seeker mood among some voters. One solution came in the form of detention centers in Papua New Guinea as well as Nauru, a speck in the Pacific about 4,500 km (2,800 miles) northeast of Australia with 10,000 citizens and little economy since the depletion of its rich phosphate mines in the 1980s. Under a Memorandum of Understanding, Nauru agreed to reopen a center to process claims that had been the backbone of a previous government's asylum seeker policy. For its part, Australia agreed to bear all the costs. The camps are meant to deter asylum seekers from undertaking the dangerous boat journey. Those sent to them can never be resettled in Australia, regardless of whether or not they are granted refugee status. Gillard's agreements have been honored by the new conservative government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was elected in September after promising to "stop the boats." The centers have drawn criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees in a November report said neither center had a "fair and efficient system for assessing refugee claims" nor provided "safe and humane conditions of treatment in detention." On Monday night, a riot at the detention center on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea left at least one asylum seeker dead and 77 more injured. Judiciary Removed As the plane carrying Henshaw lifted off on Jan. 29 and the island disappeared from view, he realized it could be a long time before he returned to Nauru and the bar that he had opened there with his late wife. "It broke my heart because I felt so helpless," he told Reuters. "It was a sad journey." Australian Peter Law, who arrived on Nauru in 2010 to become its chief magistrate, had tried to keep Henshaw on the island, approving his application for an injunction to halt the deportation. Law said he then received an SMS from Justice Minister David Adeang, who demanded an explanation for his decision. Adeang declined to be interviewed. "It was totally inappropriate," Law told Reuters at his home in Sydney. Less than a fortnight later, Law said he was bundled onto a plane and deported without explanation, causing a scuffle at the airport when supportive employees flooded the terminal building in an attempt to stop the deportation. The government says Law was dismissed because of a history of public drunkenness and mistreating a subordinate, among other complaints. After Law was deported, the government opened an investigation into those allegations. The name of the subordinate has not been made public and the investigation is ongoing. Law dismisses any allegations of misconduct as being politically motivated. Australians have long helped staff administrative positions in Nauru, which gained independence from Britain, Australia and New Zealand in 1968. Geoffrey Eames, Nauru's chief justice and also an Australian, told Reuters he issued injunctions to stop Law's deportation, and quickly found his own visa to return to the country from Australia cancelled. Under the Nauruan constitution, the chief justice can only be removed from office by a vote of two-thirds of parliament on the proven grounds of misbehavior. The country's solicitor general, also an Australian and the last remaining member of the judiciary, resigned in protest over the sackings. Andrew Jacobson, a Melbourne-based lawyer, has been acting as resident magistrate in Law's stead, but no other position in the judiciary has been filled. As news of the crisis in Nauru broke last month, New Zealand threatened to cut off the US$600,000 in annual funding it provides to run Nauru's justice system. It backed off after Adeang went to New Zealand to meet Foreign Minister Murray McCully, saying that to do so would unfairly burden Australia with more funding for the country. McCully later denied he had come under pressure from Canberra. President Baron Waqa has called criticism of the deportations an attack on Nauru's sovereignty. Eames called that argument a red herring. "I certainly don't deny the right of Nauru to conduct its own affairs. But part of sovereignty is a commitment to the rule of law," he said. The government provided Reuters with a statement in response to written questions intended for Adeang, in which it declined to answer specific questions about Henshaw's case. "The Government of Nauru was elected with a mandate to clean up the cronyism and corruption of the past, and our recent decisions have been made with this objective," it said. The deportations, however, are not the only thing that has drawn criticism. Last month, Nauru raised the cost of a journalist visa by 40 times from A$200 to A$8,000, prompting accusations from Hanson-Young and others that its government was trying to block oversight of the detention center. Nauru had said the measure was needed to raise revenue, but in its statement to Reuters said it was to penalize reporters, Australians in particular, who it said had reported unfairly on the country. In her statement to Reuters, Foreign Affairs Minister Bishop said: "Although Australia accepts that decisions about visas and judicial appointments are matters for the Nauru Government, the visa cancellations have implications for both the rule of law in Nauru and for Nauru's reputation internationally." Although Nauru has not explained why it deported Henshaw, locals and visitors told Reuters his Reef Bar was the most popular establishment on the island for the foreign and local workers earning as much as A$40 per hour at the detention center. Henshaw says he believes Adeang, who oversees a government holding company that took control of his bar, engineered his deportation for financial benefit. "I've got no bloody doubt in my mind that that's the case but I can't substantiate it," he said. The Nauru statement dismissed such allegations as absurd. "We reject implicitly the defamatory implications of these reprehensible questions," it said. The post Crisis in Tiny Nauru Puts Spotlight on Australia's Asylum Seeker Policy appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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