The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- China’s Deputy Minister Visits NLD
- Govt Plan to Move Pagoda in Letpadaung Area Angers Villagers
- Thein Sein Asks Parliament to Discuss Interfaith Marriage
- China Cutbacks Put Burma Oil Terminal, Pipeline in Doubt
- Burmese Woman Among 10 Construction Workers Killed in Bangkok
- Kachin Farmer Still in Jail Despite International Legal Victory
- Film to Highlight Burma’s Emerging Women Leaders
- Uighur Professor Could Face Death Sentence in China: Lawyer
- China’s Assertiveness Hardens Malaysian Stance in Sea Dispute
- Once Unthinkable, Civil Strife Stalks Thailand
| China’s Deputy Minister Visits NLD Posted: 27 Feb 2014 04:19 AM PST  From left to right, NLD members Monywa Aung Shin, Nyan Win and Tin Oo give a calendar as a gift to China's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Ai Ping, at the NLD headquarters in Rangoon on Wednesday. (Photo: DWave) RANGOON — A high-ranking Chinese government official has paid a visit to the headquarters of Burma's biggest opposition party for the first time in more than two decades, according to the party's patron. China's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Ai Ping, met with senior members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party on Wednesday. NLD patron Tin Oo said the visit was intended to boost ties not only between the two countries, but also between the NLD and the Communist Party of China (CPC). "After all these years, it's the first visit by a Chinese government official to our headquarters," Tin Oo told The Irrawaddy. He said the last time a Chinese official visited the NLD head office in Rangoon was in 1990, right after the party won a landslide victory in nationwide elections. During the nearly one-hour meeting on Wednesday, a Chinese delegation led by Ai Ping and Yang Houlan, the Chinese ambassador to Burma, met with Tin Oo as well as NLD central committee members Nyan Win and Monywa Aung Shin. "They only focused on promoting a good relationship between China and Burma, and they didn't utter a word about Myitsone, Letpadaung or the Chinese gas pipeline," said Tin Oo, referring to Chinese-backed business ventures in Burma. "They are also curious about the NLD's international relationships, especially if the party comes to power. We explained that we will stick to our policy of having good relationships with every country." According to Monywa Aung Shin, the deputy minister said China had been unable to build relations in the past with the NLD due to Burma's military dictatorship. "Now the political situation here is more open, so they said they want to promote party-to-party relations," the NLD member told The Irrawaddy. He added that at least four NLD delegations had traveled to China since last year. China has stepped up engagement with the Burmese opposition and public in the past year after some of its megaprojects in Burma sparked popular backlash. In 2011, Burmese President Thein Sein suspended the US$3.6 billion Myitsone dam project, which is backed by the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI). Suu Kyi, chairperson of the NLD, was among many public voices calling for the dam's suspension. During a trip to China in May last year, an NLD delegation was approached by CPI and told that the company wanted to restart the suspended project. A month earlier, Yang Houlan, the newly appointed ambassador, met with Suu Kyi at her home in Rangoon, following up on a visit by his outgoing predecessor, Li Junhua. The Chinese Embassy in Burma also donated 1 million kyats ($1,000) to the NLD National Health Network several months ago. In December last year, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited NLD members to China for the first time. A delegation led by the party's central executive committee members and spokesman Nyan Win made the visit. The post China's Deputy Minister Visits NLD appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Govt Plan to Move Pagoda in Letpadaung Area Angers Villagers Posted: 27 Feb 2014 03:47 AM PST  An enormous mining truck of the Chinese firm Wanbao is parked near a Buddhist pagoda that locals claim has been damaged. (Photo: Nyein Pyint Zone) A government announcement stating that a Buddhist pagoda at the site of the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division will have to be moved was met with defiance by local villagers on Thursday, and the decision risks reigniting protests against the controversial project. Government mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar reported that officials had consulted senior monks at national and Sagaing Division level Sangha committees and received support to move the buildings to a site near Kyaw village in Salingyi Township. Hla Tun, a minister from the President’s Office who chairs the committee tasked with implementing the recommendations of last year's Letpadaung Investigation Commission report, said the buildings would have to be moved because "these religious buildings are located in the heart of the project area where massive amounts of copper are located." He said the buildings would not be harmed in the process, although he provided no details on how authorities planned to move the buildings. Hla Tun added that there was no evidence for the claims by local monks that the pagoda had been a religious site since the time of Burma's mid-18th century King Mindon. The state media reported that 1.4 acres of land would be reserved for the pagoda and ordination hall at the new site. In early November, a blast at the Letpadaung mine reportedly caused cracks in the walls of the Taungy Pagoda and its ordination hall, which were established by a monk Letti Sayadaw, who was an influential spiritual leader several decades ago. The incident angered local villagers who strongly oppose the huge, Chinese-backed mine, and hundreds gathered to resume protests. In late 2012, the area saw widespread protests against the mine, which had polluted local water sources and confiscated more than 3,000 hectares of land from hundreds of local farmers. On Thursday, local villagers and monks said they were not consulted about the government's decision to move their pagoda and ordination hall and they vowed to oppose the plan. "We were not invited to the event and it does not reflect the desire of the local monks who value this religious heritage," said Aloka, an abbot from a monastery of Zeedaw, one several villages where lands were confiscated for the mining project. "We are saddened by the agreements and words of the senior abbots as they do not wish to maintain the religious heritage, but destroy it with their own hands," he said. "There is a lot of proof of the history of the ordination hall, of course, but we also have to remember the misfortune which those who will destroy it will experience," the abbot said, referring to a widespread Buddhist belief that moving or damaging a religious building, especially an ordination hall, will bring misfortune. Ko Htoo, from Kyaw village, said the local community was angered by the government's plans for the pagoda, adding that they would continue to resist the plan at all costs. "The decision of the authorities and the senior abbots are not our desire. We oppose this decision and will continue our complaints. We do not want our religious building to face a bad omen," he said. "We have decided to do everything we can to stop this." A parliamentary committee led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi reviewed the controversial project in early 2013 and said it should continue if the company properly addressed the mine's social and environmental impacts. In July 2013, a new contract agreement was signed between Wanbao, military-owned conglomerate UMEHL and the government, which stipulates that Wanboa and UMEHL will receive 49 percent of the profits, while Burma's government gains 51 percent. The deal represents a huge increase in government revenues. The new contract also states that the project will allocate US $1 million for corporate social responsibility and $2 million for environmental preservation annually, in addition to increasing compensation to affected farmers. Local villagers, however, continue to feel that the huge mine is negatively affecting their livelihoods and complain they have not received adequate compensation yet. They believe that the damage to the pagoda is the latest sign that the firm is neglecting their demands. The post Govt Plan to Move Pagoda in Letpadaung Area Angers Villagers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thein Sein Asks Parliament to Discuss Interfaith Marriage Posted: 27 Feb 2014 03:40 AM PST  Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — President Thein Sein has asked Parliament to discuss public proposals for a new law to restrict interfaith marriages, after receiving a letter from prominent monks showing more than 1 million signatures of support for such a measure. However, Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann has decided to throw the question back to the president, saying lawmakers will not discuss the matter further until a bill is drafted and considered by relevant government bodies, including the religious affairs ministry, the home affairs ministry and the immigration department of the foreign affairs ministry, as well as the national human rights commission and the union high court. Shwe Mann, who is chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said in a session of Parliament on Thursday morning that he would write a letter to Thein Sein himself, urging the government to take responsibility in the matter. "He told Parliament that this issue relates to each ministry, and each ministry needs to be involved in writing a draft law that can be proposed for discussion in Parliament. They are kicking this issue back and forth," Pe Than, a lawmaker for the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), told The Irrawaddy on Thursday afternoon, adding that the usual procedure was for ministries to draft and send bills to Parliament for discussion. A Buddhist nationalist movement known as 969 is calling for restrictions on interfaith marriage and has collected 1.3 million signatures in support. Leading monks in the movement hired lawyers last year to write their own version of a bill, which, if enacted, would require Buddhist women to get permission from parents and government officials before marrying a man from any other faith. The bill, which has been opposed by human rights activists, also calls for non-Buddhist men to convert to Buddhism before marrying Buddhist women. "A lot of Buddhist people are afraid their Buddhist religion will disappear if the Muslim population grows. Our Buddhist monks are worried the Muslim population will influence the country," the RNDP lawmaker Pe Than said. "Personally, I would not block the bill because we need to protect our race. But it's important to clarify that we only need to protect our fence, rather than disturbing or offending people of other religions," he added, referring to concerns that Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh are illegally crossing the border and living in Arakan State, where his constituency is based. He said protections for race and religion were part of the 2008 Constitution, in the form of a prohibition on polygamy, but that enforcement remained lax and a legal upgrade was needed. Win Htein, a lawmaker from the National League for Democracy (NLD), declined to comment when asked for his views of restrictions on interfaith marriage. "Issues of race and religion are very dangerous," he told The Irrawaddy. "Some ethnic MPs do not like to talk about this issue in Parliament," he added. While most people in the country are Buddhist, Christianity and Islam are widely practiced by certain ethnic minority groups. Thein Sein received a letter last year with 1.3 million signatures in support of a bill to restrict interfaith marriage. The letter was sent by the Organization for the Protection of Race, Religion and Belief, a group of senior monks who support the 969 movement. The president asked Parliament earlier this week to discuss the proposal. The monks are calling for four new laws to "protect race and religion." In addition to an interfaith marriage law, they are requesting a law for population control, a law to govern religious conversion, and a law to outlaw polygamy. The 969 movement is led by Wirathu, a controversial monk in Mandalay who has held public sermons around the country urging Buddhists to boycott Muslim-owned businesses. The 969 sermons have been criticized as hate speech, with allegations that they have been linked to outbreaks of Buddhist mob violence against Muslim communities. The post Thein Sein Asks Parliament to Discuss Interfaith Marriage appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| China Cutbacks Put Burma Oil Terminal, Pipeline in Doubt Posted: 27 Feb 2014 02:53 AM PST  A segment of the oil and gas pipelines being built from the Arakan coast to the Chinese border. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) The future of China's multi-billion dollar investment in an oil terminal and transshipment pipeline in Burma may be in doubt, after a major processing refinery project in China was delayed. The controversial refinery in the Yunnan Province capital of Kunming, which sparked angry street protests last year over pollution worries, will not now be built before 2016 at the earliest, according to Chinese energy industry reports. The huge 200,000-barrels-per-day complex—developed by state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)—had been expected to begin operations sometime this year. But it is one of a number of new oil processing projects across China being shelved because of overcapacity as the Chinese economy slow down. Nearly half of the 22 million tonnes a year of crude oil from the Middle East and Africa which is scheduled be transshipped through Kyaukphyu, Arakan State, was intended for the refinery at Anning, just outside Kunming, to produce gasoline and diesel and to feed an adjacent new petrochemicals plant. CNPC's 900-kilometer oil pipeline through Burma, with transmission capacity of 440,000 barrels per day, is still being constructed—amid much controversy over safety and land grabbing allegations. "The shelving of the large refinery in Kunming is now part of a wide-ranging cutback in energy developments in China. It is one of a number of major refineries and petrochemical projects being delayed or canceled," Collin Reynolds, an independent energy industries consultant and analyst told The Irrawaddy. "Of course, China is still a huge consumer of oil and gas and that "China's economy has been slowing down for the past two years but during that time the big state-owned energy enterprises have been expanding like it was the 1990s," Reynolds said. Gasoline and diesel consumption in China grew at its slowest annual rate for 20 years in 2013, according to Reuters. "While the fuel market cooled, construction of refineries continued apace, leaving a capacity glut that hurt processing margins and led to a rapid rise in Chinese fuel exports in 2013," Reuters said. A recent survey by Bloomberg business news agency concluded that the growth of China's petrol and diesel exports will have a detrimental effect of Asian refining margins this year. Bloomberg estimated that refining profits in the region, outside China, will fall by an average of 11 percent in 2014. The profit margin for refining in Singapore already dropped by as much as 16 percent in 2013, to an average of US$4.84, it said. Without cutbacks, China's refinery construction and plant expansions will result in a surplus of 140 million tonnes of gasoline and diesel by 2015, said a study published by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. CNPC's oil pipeline through Burma is behind schedule, but is believed to be 75 percent completed, according to the energy analysts Platts in Singapore. But it has been mired in controversy along its route, with allegations by human rights NGOs that land has been taken without adequate compensation and local people forced to move. The sister natural gas pipeline running alongside the oil conduit is already in operation, carrying fuel from the Shwe offshore field in the Bay of Bengal. But only this month there were allegations in the Burmese Parliament of safety problems with the gas pipeline, including cracks. CNPC is building oil storage tanks at its Kyaukphyu transshipment terminal. There will be 12 tanks each with a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters. That would provide storage for up to 7.5 million barrels, or the equivalent of 17 days operation of the pipeline at full capacity. "In theory CNPC could just ship the oil coming through the pipeline on to other destinations in southwest China," Reynolds said. "The problem with that is that pipeline infrastructure within Yunnan is still limited. "Unless CNPC can quickly shift oil pumped through the Myanmar pipeline there could well be a logistics backlog at its coastal terminal," he said. The Kyaukphyu oil terminal is at the heart of a proposed special economic zone for the coastal area. One of the main reasons why the Kunming refinery was ordered to be built was because the isolated Chinese province suffered regular oil fuel shortages. There are also plans by CNPC and the other Chinese state national oil companies to build more pipelines connecting Yunnan with the rest of China, but whether this infrastructure will be in place to handle the oil coming through Kyaukphyu is unclear. "While [China] will no doubt continue to build refineries, the pace is likely to slow over the next few years, and new units will have to compete with other projects to secure funding," said Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. "This means refining economics will have to improve to justify the expense of building and operating costly plants." The post China Cutbacks Put Burma Oil Terminal, Pipeline in Doubt appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burmese Woman Among 10 Construction Workers Killed in Bangkok Posted: 27 Feb 2014 02:45 AM PST  Thai police line up the bodied of 10 workers, most of them migrants from Cambodia and Burma, who were killed during at a construction site of ITD company. (Photo: Thet Maung Maung) A female Burmese migrant worker was among the 10 victims lethally injured on Tuesday by a collapse at a construction site in Bangkok that is operated by Italian-Thai Development (ITD) Public Company Ltd, a Burma Embassy official said. A Burmese woman named Kay Khaing, 29, was amongst 10 victims, four of who were Thai and five Cambodian, labor attaché Kyaw Kyaw Lwin said, adding that most of the 16 other workers who were injured were Cambodian. The accident occurred in Bangkok's Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district on Tuesday afternoon at the site of construction of part of the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, the Bangkok Post reported. Some 30 workers were having lunch under a concrete corridor linking two buildings when it collapsed, burying the workers. Kyaw Kyaw Lwin said the Burmese husband of the victim, Thet Maung Maung, also worked at the construction site and will receive about US$ 3,000 in compensation from ITD, Thailand's biggest construction company. "The Italian-Thai company will pay the compensation," said Kyaw Kyaw Lwin. "I already told them to take care of the cremation of her body too in accordance with her husband's desire." However, Thet Maung Maung said he has not heard anything about the compensation offer or coverage of the cost of the cremation. "I don't know anything yet. My wife body is still at the police station," he said, adding that he has received some help from the Burma Embassy. "The police thought she has no document," he said. "They will only return her body to me when I show them these documents." He said his wife Kay Khaing had worked in the construction site for about four months. She was a resident from Pegu division and followed her husband, who had moved to Thailand about a year ago, to begin work with ITD. "We work under the same construction company but we were at the different worksites," said Thet Maung Maung. There are some 600 Burmese workers working in the construction of new medical center in Bangkok, he added. More than 2 million Burmese migrants are believed to be working in Thailand in order to escape years of repression and poverty in their home country. They perform low-paid, manual labor jobs at construction sites, restaurants and factories. Many cross the border into Thailand illegally and lack official Burmese identity papers, Thai working visas and other legal documentation. As a result, many work as unregistered laborers, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by employers and authorities. Despite numerous campaigns by migrant rights groups, there has been little improvement in the migrants' situation in the past decade. The post Burmese Woman Among 10 Construction Workers Killed in Bangkok appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Kachin Farmer Still in Jail Despite International Legal Victory Posted: 27 Feb 2014 12:42 AM PST  Lashi Lu, the wife of jailed Kachin farmer Lahpai Gam, pictured in August, is still waiting for her husband to be freed. (Photo: Seamus Martov / The Irrawaddy) In a ruling issued last November but only recently made public, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for the immediate release of Lahpai Gam, a 53-year-old Kachin farmer arrested by the Burmese military in June 2012. At the time he was detained by troops from army Battalion 37, Lahpai Gam was living in a camp for internally displaced persons on the grounds of Myitkyina's Shwezet Baptist church. The ruling by the UN working group backed up claims by Lahpai Gam's international legal team that he was severely mistreated by Burmese authorities. During an interview conducted last August, Lahpai Gam's wife Lashi Lu told The Irrawaddy that her husband was tortured repeatedly and forced to engage in a sex act with another male prisoner. "When he fell unconscious or ignored their demands they made it worse," explained Lashi Lu who has been able to meet her husband a few times since he was arrested. In their submission to the working group Lahpai Gam's London-based lawyers Timothy Straker and Sappho Dias alleged that in addition to being forced to engage in sex acts in front of prison authorities, their client was "beaten from head to toe with an iron rod and had a bamboo stick rolled up and down his knees." He was also forced to stand in a Christ like pose and mocked for being a Christian, his legal team alleged. In their response to the working group's enquiries, Burmese government authorities did not dispute the claim put forth by Lahpai Gam's legal team that his confession had been extracted after he was tortured. The working group declared in its ruling that "such pervasive use of torture to extract evidence nullifies the possibility to fulfill the guarantee of the right to a fair trial." The working group's ruling also noted that his arrest by the military and a subsequent military investigation into Lahpai Gam's alleged involvement with the Kachin Independence Organization's (KIO) armed wing resulted in him being "denied his fundamental right to a fair trial." The military investigation was handled by the Military Affairs Security division, a unit that is infamous in Kachin State for the harsh methods is uses to interrogate detainees. Burmese government authorities declined to provide to the working group any evidence to back up their claims that Lahpai Gam was a sergeant with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a stance that did not sit well with the working group. "The Army in this case is prosecutor and judge, and has arrest, investigative and trial authority, leaving little room for an impartial trial and outcome," the ruling found. The working group found Lahpai Gam's claims that he was tortured to be credible and forwarded his case to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture. Created by the UN Human Rights Council in 1991, the Working Group's official mandate is to "investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or otherwise inconsistently with the relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or in the relevant international legal instruments accepted by the States concerned." While the ruling from the Working Group is a major legal victory for Lahpai Gam, whether it will hasten his release remains unclear. The administration of former US President George Bush regularly ignored similar rulings issued by the same working group calling for the release of prisoners from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a stance that has continued under the Obama administration. On Nov. 15, a court in Myitkyina sentenced Lahpai Gam to a two-year jail term for violating Article 17/1 of the Unlawful Associations Act by being a member of the KIA. The conviction was based on a confession Lahpai Gam made to Military Affairs Security agents which he later told the court he was forced to make. In late December, Lahpai Gam and his co-accused, Brang Yung, were sentenced to an additional five years in prison after being convicted under the Explosives Act. Lahpai Gam's Myitkyina-based lawyer Mar Hkar told The Irrawaddy that he was very pleased by the UN decision and will continue to fight for his client's freedom. Mar Hkar said he hopes the UN working group will also examine the case of Brang Yung. Mar Hkar, who also represent Brang Yung, said that like Lahpai Gam he was tortured, abused and convicted under false pretenses. "The authorities still haven't presented evidence to support their claims about Lahpai Gam and Brang Yung but the courts have ignored this and convicted them anyway," he said. Mar Hkar says he will be busy in the next few weeks attending court for Lahpai Gam, who continues to face three ongoing explosive related cases, and Brang Yung who faces the same charges as well as a fourth explosives case. Both men were arrested at the same time as two other refugees from their camp, Zau Seng Awng and Dayau Tang Gun. Mar Hkar, who also represents the other men, says they were also forced to endure horrific torture. Zau Seng Awng and Dayau Tang Gun were recently released after serving two-year sentences for their "unlawful association" with the KIO, a charge to which Mar Hkar says they were also forced to confess. The post Kachin Farmer Still in Jail Despite International Legal Victory appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Film to Highlight Burma’s Emerging Women Leaders Posted: 26 Feb 2014 10:17 PM PST  Ursula Cats is the founder of Thailand-based We women foundation, which funds educational and professional opportunities for women from ethnic minorities and marginalized groups in Burma. (Photo: We women foundation) Next month, a new documentary about some of Burma's emerging women leaders is set to debut. The film, a project by a women's empowerment group, profiles seven women around the country—ranging from an NGO founder in the remote Wa region to a member of Parliament in Naypyidaw—and highlights the challenges they have faced to help their communities. The Thailand-based We women foundation helps promote educational and career opportunities for women from Burma, and its documentary "Emerging Women of Burma" will premiere on March 14 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at Documentary Arts Asia, a nonprofit that supports Asian documentary artists. The film will also be released in Burma and the Netherlands, and it will be available on the foundation's website. Before the launch, We women founder Ursula Cats explains who appears in the documentary, which activist she wanted to include but couldn't, and what struggles women encounter while pursuing an education in Burma. For a preview of the film, check out the trailer. Question: Who are the women featured in the documentary? Answer: There are seven women in the documentary, chosen from a large number of nominees. One of them is E Pleeth Baung, an ethnic Wa woman who founded Gawng Loe Mu (Three Mountains), an organization that provides educational scholarships for students. Another is Mary Tawm, an ethnic Kachin woman whose family migrated from northern Shan State to southern Shan State following conflict. She founded Life Vision Foundation, which focuses on socio-economic development and environmental awareness. Kay Thi Win is from Yangon [Rangoon], but after her father died she moved to a border town and started working as a sex worker. She later founded the AIDS Myanmar Association, an organization run by sex workers that promotes health education. Q: Only about 5 percent of lawmakers in Burma's Parliament are women, and you featured one of them in your film. Can you tell us more about her? A: Nang Wa Nu is ethnic Shan, and one of a small percentage of women in Parliament. Her father is a peace leader from Shan State and her family has been involved in politics since her great grandparents' time. She is frequently the only woman at meetings and is one of a small number of women MPs, and one of very few women in Parliament from an ethnic minority. The documentary tells more about her motivations and her personal struggle, which was primarily in the face of opposition from her mother because her father was jailed due to his participation in politics. Q: Are there other women you considered including in the film? A: Daw Naw Ohn Hla, a long-time land rights advocate, was nominated and selected for her outstanding work. Unfortunately she has repeatedly been arrested and we were unable to get access to her. Her plight has received considerable media attention inside Burma. Q: Is there anything in the documentary that might surprise people? A: The international audience will probably be surprised to hear about the ongoing challenges women face in Burma and the continuation of violence and conflict. They may also be surprised by the struggles rural people in Burma face. Q: Why did you make the film? A: We were keen to highlight the work being done by emerging women leaders inside Burma. The only person who gains substantial international coverage is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but there are many women who have overcome significant challenges and who are doing groundbreaking work in their communities. We wanted to facilitate awareness-raising and show the benefits of educating women. Q: What are some of the barriers to education in Burma? A: Most children stay in school for fewer than eight years, and only 11 percent of the student population goes on to enroll at university. Those who do make it to university not only have to pay high fees, but are not allowed to choose their area of study. The government assigns their courses based on the scores of their matriculation exam, regardless of whether or not they have any interest in the subject, and despite the fact that there are almost no jobs in certain fields, students continue to be assigned to subjects like physics and zoology. Many feel their degrees are worthless. Currently, there are 156 universities in Burma, scattered across different regions so as to make access difficult, and the curriculum is still strictly controlled by the government. For students from rural areas, the difficulties are compounded. Q: What challenges do girls and women face, in particular? A: As Lway Aye Nang, previously secretary-general of the Women's League of Burma (WLB), told IPS [Inter Press Service] news agency, "In both the cities and in rural areas, there is a greater likelihood that parents may keep their boys in school and take the girls out. Family members do not support daughters going to school if there is limited funding." Consequently, the faulty educational system leads to the deepening of differences between genders, consolidating inequality within society. Traditional attitudes are that women only need to learn to read and write because they will marry and be supported by their husbands and therefore do not need to be educated. This is raised by several of the women featured in the documentary as a major issue. Q: Where will the proceeds for the film go? A: The proceeds will go toward the work of We women, which funds educational and professional opportunities for women from ethnic minorities and marginalized groups in Burma. The post Film to Highlight Burma's Emerging Women Leaders appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Uighur Professor Could Face Death Sentence in China: Lawyer Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:48 PM PST  Paramilitary policemen walk past Erdaoqiao Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region, November 17, 2013 BEIJING — A prominent ethnic Uighur economist is unlikely to receive a fair trial and could face the death penalty after being charged with separatism in China's far western Xinjiang region, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Beijing police last month detained Ilham Tohti, a professor who has championed the rights of Xinjiang's large Muslim Uighur minority. Unrest in Xinjiang has killed more than 100 people in the past year, prompting authorities to toughen their stance. Tohti was taken after his detention to Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi and on Tuesday his wife was notified of the charges. His case has drawn concern from the United States and Europe over human rights abuses. "To a degree, his name has already been blackened in the court of public opinion," Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping said by telephone from Urumqi, where he said he has not been allowed to see his client after a month and a half in detention. "We'll have to wait and see if his trial will be fair. We are not feeling very optimistic." If found guilty, Li said, Tohti was most likely to receive a sentence between 10 years and life in prison, but China's criminal code also provides for the death sentence for separatism. With strategic border regions like Xinjiang and Tibet populated with ethnic minorities, separatism is considered a serious crime. "It includes the possibility [of a death sentence]. If there are no other violent circumstances, it should be 10 years to life," Li said. Tohti's wife, Guzailai Nu'er, has dismissed the charge as "ridiculous." "He's never done anything like the crime of separatism they accuse him of," she told Reuters Television. "And I'm under so much pressure … I'm not particularly free leaving my own home—wherever I go [police] are always trailing me." Li said he believed his client was "an extremely open and transparent person. All that he has done is in his interviews, in class lectures and in his online content." The charge is the latest sign of the government's hardening stance on dissent in Xinjiang, gripped by periodic outbursts of violence often pitting Uighurs against ethnic Han Chinese. Many Uighurs chafe at restrictions on their culture and religion, although the government says it grants them broad freedoms. China blames some of the violence on Islamists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. But rights groups and exiles say China exaggerates the threat to justify its firm grip on energy-rich Xinjiang, which borders ex-Soviet Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Advocates for Tohti say he has challenged the government's version of several incidents involving Uighurs. That includes what China says was its first major suicide attack, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, involving militants from Xinjiang, by pointing out inconsistencies in the official accounts. "China's accusation of so-called separatism is a political excuse to suppress Uighurs who express differing opinions," Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the main Uighur exile group, the World Uyghur Congress, said in an emailed statement. In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called for Tohti's release. "We are deeply concerned by reports that Chinese authorities have decided to formally arrest economics professor Ilham Tohti after detaining him for more than a month without access to his family or attorney," Psaki told reporters at her daily briefing. "We call on Chinese authorities to release Mr. Tohti and to guarantee him the protections and freedoms to which he is entitled under China's international human rights commitments, including the freedom of expression," she added. Tohti, who teaches at Beijing's Minzu University, which specializes in ethnic minority studies, told Reuters in November that state security agents had threatened him for speaking to foreign reporters. "I have never associated myself with a terrorist organization or a foreign-based group," Tohti told Radio Free Asia's Uyghur Service last year in a statement he asked to have released if he was taken into custody. "I have relied only on pen and paper to diplomatically request the human rights, legal rights, and autonomous regional rights for the Uyghurs." The foreign ministry, the only government department which regularly answers questions from the foreign media, declined to comment directly on the case. "I believe that China is a country with rule of law and judicial authorities will try the case in a fair and legal way," spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press briefing on Wednesday. Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Joseph Campbell. The post Uighur Professor Could Face Death Sentence in China: Lawyer appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| China’s Assertiveness Hardens Malaysian Stance in Sea Dispute Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:43 PM PST  Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, front left, walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Malaysia China Economic Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) KUALA LUMPUR — The submerged reef would be easy to miss, under turquoise seas about 80 km (50 miles) off Malaysia's Borneo island state of Sarawak. But two Chinese naval exercises in less than a year around the James Shoal have shocked Malaysia and led to a significant shift in its approach to China's claims to the disputed South China Sea, senior diplomats told Reuters. The reef lies outside Malaysia's territorial waters but inside its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. The latest incident in January, in particular, prompted Malaysia to quietly step up cooperation with the Philippines and Vietnam, the two Southeast Asian nations most outspoken over China's moves in the region, in trying to tie Beijing to binding rules of conduct in the South China Sea, the diplomats said. Beijing's growing naval assertiveness could also push Malaysia closer to the United States, its top security ally, thus deepening divisions between Southeast Asia and China over the potentially mineral-rich waters. Malaysia has traditionally played down security concerns in pursuit of closer economic ties with China, its biggest trade partner. The James Shoal, which China calls Zengmu Reef, is 1,800 km (1,100 miles) from mainland China. It is closer to Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia—nearly all of Southeast Asia—than it is to China's coast. Nevertheless, Beijing regards those waters as its southernmost territory, the bottom of a looping so-called nine-dash line on maps that comprise 90 percent of the 3.5 million sq km (1.35 million sq mile) South China Sea. Pictures from China's state media on Jan. 26 showed hundreds of Chinese sailors standing to attention on a warship's deck, backed by two destroyers and a helicopter that was reported to be at James Shoal. Malaysia's navy chief denied the Chinese media reports at the time, telling state news agency Bernama the ships were far from Malaysian waters, which are rich in the oil and gas that power the nation's economy. He may have been able to deny the incursion because Malaysian forces did not monitor or sight the Chinese flotilla, security analysts said. But diplomatic and naval security sources have told Reuters the exercise by three warships, which included an oath-taking ceremony to defend China's sovereignty, almost certainly took place at or close to James Shoal. "It's a wake-up call that it could happen to us and it is happening to us," Tang Siew Mun, a foreign policy specialist at Malaysia's Institute of Strategic and International Studies who advises the government, said of the recent incidents. "For some time we believed in this special relationship … James Shoal has shown to us over and again that when it comes to China protecting its sovereignty and national interest it's a different ball game." More Urgency on Maritime Code Neither Malaysia's Foreign Ministry nor the prime minister's office responded to requests for comment. While Malaysia's public response to the January incident was typically low key, senior diplomats from other Southeast Asian nations said their Malaysian counterparts had been far more active since then in pushing for a common stance in talks with China over a code of conduct for the South China Sea. Officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China will resume negotiations in Singapore on March 18 after agreeing to accelerate talks last year that have made little headway so far. The code is intended to bind China and Asean to detailed rules of behavior at sea, reducing the chance of an escalation in tensions that could lead to conflict. China says it is sincere in trying to reach an agreement. Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan claim parts of the sea. All are members of Asean except Taiwan. Less than a week after the January incident, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman made a previously unannounced private visit to Manila to meet his Philippine counterpart, the Philippine Foreign Ministry said. The South China Sea issue was discussed, a ministry spokesman said. Then on Feb. 18, officials from the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam held a meeting to coordinate policy toward China on the maritime dispute and code of conduct, a diplomat with knowledge of the talks in Manila said. "In the past it was only the Philippines and Vietnam that were pushing for this meeting, but now we see Malaysia getting involved," said the diplomat. At the unannounced talks, the officials agreed to reject China's nine-dash line, push for an early conclusion to the code of conduct negotiations and ask Brunei to join a meeting with the three countries in Kuala Lumpur in March, the diplomat said. Malaysia's change in tack comes ahead of visits to Kuala Lumpur by Philippine President Benigno Aquino this week and US President Barack Obama in April. US officials have also hardened their stance toward China over the South China Sea in recent weeks. On Feb. 13, the commander of the US Navy, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, said Washington would come to the aid of the Philippines in the event of conflict with China over the disputed waters. Those sorts of comments could embolden some countries, said Hong Nong, deputy director of the Research Centre for Oceans Law & Policy at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies on China's Hainan Island. "That will have an influence on Asean. In the past the US never made it clear it was going to stand by whom," said Hong. New Malaysian Naval Base In March 2013, a similar exercise at the James Shoal by a four-ship Chinese amphibious taskforce rattled Malaysia and prompted it to make a rare private protest to Beijing. "These two developments are very worrying for Malaysia's national security establishment," said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "We can anticipate there will be more of this kind of incident in the future. The PLA (People's Liberation Army) will show the flag in Malaysian waters and this will require Malaysia to recalibrate its policy." Malaysia already appears to be doing that. In October, it announced plans to build a navy base in Bintulu on Sarawak, the closest major town to the James Shoal, where a new Marine Corps, modelled on the US version, will be stationed. Without mentioning China, the defense minister said the aim was to protect oil and gas reserves in the region. In unusually blunt language, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in New York last September that China was sending "mixed signals" and could not afford to alienate its Asian neighbors. Washington is expected to give advice and possibly training to help Malaysia set up its Marine Corps, Malaysian security analysts said. "This is a very important development," said Tang, the foreign policy specialist, adding it could significantly deepen US-Malaysia military ties. US naval commander Greenert told reporters he had discussed the formation of the new Marine Corps with his Malaysian counterparts during a visit to Malaysia this month, but said details on the new force were sketchy. Worry Over China Reaction Despite its shifting stance, Malaysia will likely stop short of risking any chill in ties with China, which routinely says its ships patrol the region to protect the country's sovereignty. Sources close to Malaysia's government said it is not considering joining a legal challenge the Philippines has lodged against China over South China Sea claims. Manila has taken its dispute to arbitration under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and its lawyers say the tribunal in The Hague has the power to allow other states to join the action. China is refusing to participate in the case. Malaysia has given the impression of seeing the South China Sea dispute as a hitch in an otherwise thriving and historic relationship. Najib's father, who was also prime minister, established Malaysia's formal ties with Beijing in 1974, the first Asean country to do so. Malaysia offers a "more sober and highly nuanced way of resolving regional conflicts," the pro-government New Straits Times said last October before Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the country. Economic ties have surged, with Najib and Xi setting a goal last year to triple two-way trade to US$160 billion by 2017. One senior Western diplomat said he expected no major shift in Malaysia's overall policy of balancing its alliances with Beijing and Washington. "In principle they are committed to the Asean position and the code of conduct. But at the same time they worry about a China reaction," the diplomat said. "They think they can cut a deal. China will not cut a deal. You can see that China is getting step by step more aggressive." Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila and John Ruwitch in Shanghai. The post China's Assertiveness Hardens Malaysian Stance in Sea Dispute appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Once Unthinkable, Civil Strife Stalks Thailand Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:29 PM PST  Anti-government protesters gather outside the Royal Thai Police headquarters during a rally in central Bangkok on Feb. 26, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Athit Perawongmetha) BANGKOK — Thailand is hurtling towards a dark and unfamiliar place. After almost four months of round-the-clock anti-government protests, institutions that provided a buffer in past conflicts have not stepped in, making the country look increasingly ungovernable. That raises the chances of low-intensity civil strife wiping the grin off the "Land of Smiles" as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's grip on power appears to slip away. Critics have branded Yingluck a prime minister on the run due to her absence from Bangkok after she was hounded by protesters last week, adding to the uncertainty after some of the deadliest attacks since the protests began. Increasing lawlessness, which is certain to spook investors, has been made worse by the reluctance of security forces to make a move, having managed to clear only one of several protest sites. In its strongest signal since the crisis began, the military said on Monday it would not step in despite a weekend of violence that saw five people killed, four of them children, in separate attacks in Bangkok and eastern Thailand. Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha distanced himself from the anti-government group saying troops "do not want to use force … to unnecessarily fight with the Thai people" while the 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has stepped in to defuse previous crises, has remained silent. In the absence of the usual safety nets, many are talking about the possibility of civil war. "We are for the first time entering an era in which there is no neutral, bona fide third party above the political fray which can reset the dialogue and insist on reconciliation," Christian Lewis, a Southeast Asia specialist at political risk consultants Eurasia Group, told Reuters. The crisis pits the mainly middle-class and southern anti-government demonstrators, who are backed by the royalist establishment, against the largely rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Both sides have armed activists. Thaksin's enemies say he is a corrupt, crony capitalist who manipulates the masses with populist handouts and is a threat to the monarchy, which he denies. Protesters blame his sister for policy failure including a botched rice subsidy scheme—losses are estimated at US$6 billion annually since 2011—that paid farmers above market price for their rice. Yingluck's days appear numbered with protesters trying to drive a wedge between the premier and her support base in the mostly poor, agrarian north and northeast of Thailand. "There is no conceivable way that she can become prime minister again. Powerful forces in this country won't allow it," said Kan Yuenyong, of the Siam Intelligence Unity think-tank. "If she's not going to resign, the idea is to slowly divide her from her base." Protesters have twinned their cause with thousands of angry farmers who have traditionally formed the backbone of Yingluck's support but descended on Bangkok last week threatening to storm her temporary headquarters. Yingluck is due to hear charges against her for negligence in the rice scheme on Thursday. If the case is sent to court and she is found guilty, she would be forced to resign and could be barred from politics for five years. Paul Chambers, director of research at the Institute of South East Asia Affairs in northern Chiang Mai, thinks a violent confrontation looks increasingly likely. "There's a growing rift between the armed forces and the police and a question of overlapping jurisdiction between the two. Add to that the fact that the protesters and pro-government forces could conceivably face off and you have a possibility of low-scale conflict in Bangkok," said Chambers. The conflict has killed 21 people and left more than 700 wounded since Nov. 30. Tough rhetoric from leaders of the pro-government "red shirt" movement at a recent rally attended by several thousand in the northeast set off more alarm bells. Jatuporn Prompan, a leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship allied to Thaksin's Puea Thai Party, told the "war drum" meeting that government supporters had two choices—"to win or get killed." Some pro-government leaders have called for the country to be divided in two, along north-south political lines. The crisis is a long way from the running gun battles of April and May 2010 when more than 90 people died, but the situation could quickly deteriorate. "If we start seeing intense fighting like in 2010 then the central bank, which has been using rate cuts to manage the economy, will struggle to avert a crisis," said Boonyakiat Karavekphan, a political analyst at Ramkamhaeng University. Without decisive intervention by the army, the anti-government protesters will struggle to remove Yingluck and replace her with their planned "people's council" of unelected good and worthy. Their most likely source of help looks to be the judiciary, which government supporters say is biased against Thaksin's political machine. Evidence of that, they complain, was a recent court order banning the government from using force against the protesters under a state of emergency imposed last month. Apart from negligence in the rice scheme, Yingluck faces other abuse of power cases that could force her from office. The idea of a coup by the military, which has staged many, including one against Thaksin in 2006, is no longer so palatable. "A military coup is too apparent," said Puea Thai's legal adviser, Bhokin Bhalakula. "That's why her enemies are trying to use judicial coups." But Yingluck's removal would not restore order. On the contrary, the Shinawatras' passionate supporters say they will retaliate against the unfair dismissal of the government they voted in to office in 2011. Additional reporting by Alisa Tang. The post Once Unthinkable, Civil Strife Stalks Thailand appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Irrawaddy Magazine To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.