The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• For Burmese Migrants, Labor Ministry Urges Due Diligence
• Beside the Beauty and Boats of Inle, a Bustling Bazaar Beckons
• Burma Govt Should Be Tolerant of Media: Human Rights Watch
• Govt Newspapers Alter Ads Referencing Human Rights, Corruption
• Ethnic Leaders Demand Spot on Burma Election Commission
• Secret Order by Burma President Tells Ministries to Prepare for Riots
• China Media Slams Philippine Leader Comments on Disputed Waters
• West Denounces Repression of Bloggers, Religions in Vietnam
• Wide Gap Between New Delhi, Beijing Smog Policies

For Burmese Migrants, Labor Ministry Urges Due Diligence Posted: 06 Feb 2014 04:48 AM PST A row of businesses offering services to migrant workers is pictured in Mae Sot, Thailand. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security has published an announcement in state newspapers advising Burmese workers seeking employment abroad to verify the credibility of overseas employment agencies with the ministry before committing to job offers beyond Burma's borders. The notice says laborers can cross-check the existence of the agencies and authenticity of letters of employment through the ministry's website or by making a phone call to the Migrant Workers Division of the Employment Department. However, attempts by The Irrawaddy to call the two phone numbers listed in the notice went unanswered, and the website could not be accessed on Thursday. "It's good that [the ministry] has started this system," said Tun Tun Lwin, an education coordinator from the Thailand-based Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN). "We can know who has recruited [the laborers], from which agency and whether they are an existing agency or an agency that has already been dissolved. If something happens [to a laborer], we can discuss directly with the agency," he told The Irrawaddy. Migrant laborers from developing countries are often subject to abuse by employers and scams by unscrupulous employment agencies who take advantage of what the workers see as an opportunity to better their livelihoods by moving abroad. The ministry urged prospective migrant workers to draft a contract with their employer, and gather information on the place they plan to be sent, along with workplace conditions, ahead of committing to any job abroad. The announcement on Thursday added that Burmese migrant laborers would have to apply for and obtain a work permit from the government of the respective country in which they are seeking employment. Tun Tun Lwin, whose MWRN also has an office in Rangoon, said Thailand is off-limits to new migrant worker arrivals at the moment. Licensed employment agencies are not taking new applicants because of political turmoil that has plagued Burma's neighbor to the east since November. "Recently [last week], about 30-40 people who illegally crossed the border to work have run into problems. The existing laborers aren't even able to get visa extensions. It is not possible for new arrivals to obtain work permits," he said. An estimated 3 million Burmese migrant workers are currently employed in Thailand. About 2 million of the total population are officially registered, and many of these workers arrived in Thailand on a four-year visa program that began in 2009. "The [Burmese] officials told us that discussions to extend visas for workers can start only when the political situation in Thailand stabilizes," Tun Tun Lwin said. According to the Labor Ministry, there are 184 overseas employment agencies in Burma that are officially licensed to recruit workers for jobs abroad. Burma currently has labor attachés assigned to three countries—Thailand, the Republic of Korea and Malaysia—to protect and facilitate opportunities for Burmese migrant workers. Burmese laborers in Thailand, many of whom are holding expired visas or will otherwise see their visas lapse in the coming weeks and months, are not yet facing the kind of mass arrest operations frequently conducted in Malaysia to crackdown on overstayers. Nonetheless, they are being fined or are subject to extortion by police when they are found to have overstayed, Tun Tun Lwin said. "There have been no official arrests, but when Thai police find out that a visa has expired, they [migrant workers] are asked whether they will go back home [to Burma] and if not, they are fined anywhere from 500 baht [US$15] to 1,500 baht," he said. "The Thai government is doing this. Since high-ranking officials from the two countries have already discussed it, they could tell the Ministry of Home Affairs to instruct police not to arrest the laborers." The post For Burmese Migrants, Labor Ministry Urges Due Diligence appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Beside the Beauty and Boats of Inle, a Bustling Bazaar Beckons Posted: 06 Feb 2014 04:34 AM PST A hill tribe woman buys vegetables at Nam Pan market beside Inle Lake. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) INLE LAKE, Shan State — It was just after daybreak when the long wooden boat carrying Ma Suu Khaing touched the shoreline of Nam Pan market beside Inle Lake. After four days of relative desertion, the waterfront was back to life, with merchants greeting each other as they moored their boats and unloaded sacks full of goods. Minutes later, having spread out cauliflower heads on a tarpaulin sheet, the 34-year-old Ma Suu Khaing was ready to sell her home-grown vegetables. "Today is Nam Pan market day," she explained. Like most of the bazaars in Shan State, Nam Pan market on the southern shore of Inle Lake—known internationally for its floating gardens and iconic leg-rowing fishermen—is only open every fifth day. Each market square in the area has its own designated market day, a centuries-old tradition based on a five-day rotational system that no one quite knows the origins of. On market days, most residents in the vicinity of Nam Pan make their way to the bazaar to purchase food, household items and any number of other wares on offer. Sellers also become buyers, taking advantage of the close proximity of fellow merchants to stock up on household needs with money from the day's earnings. Upon landfall at Nam Pan, visitors must nudge their way to the market through a large crowd of ethnic Intha, Taungyoe and Pa-O peoples. They mostly communicate with each other in their local dialects, but warm smiles also serve as a universally understood language for the non-local who makes eye contact with a member of any of the numerous ethnic groups that call Shan State home. "Some of the tribes here live in the hills and there is no market there, but we can buy everything here," explained U Htotoe, a 60-year-old ethnic Pa-O man who made the two-hour trek downhill from his home for his weekly shopping rounds. A brief tour around the bustling bazaar is all it takes to realize that U Htotoe is not exaggerating. One of the biggest markets around Inle Lake, the Nam Pan square sells a wide assortment of goods, from home-grown vegetables and heaping portions of dried tea leaves to Inle's trademark tomatoes and imported biscuits. Stalls selling foodstuffs brought in from neighboring China and Thailand are particularly thronged, and a kiosk of pirated Korean soap-opera DVDs also attracts many market-goers. Waiters at a nearby teashop are not immune to the frenzy, hurrying from table to table seating patrons on their way to or from the market. "We only sell our stuff until around 2:00 in the afternoon and then leave for home," said a seller of betel leaves and nuts, Ma Nu Yi, while weighing leaves on a hand-held scale for a waiting customer. A neighboring woman sitting among bolts of hand-woven traditional fabrics explained that the market day comes to an end only when the shoppers and sellers have dispersed. "It happens mostly in the afternoon, when people finish their shopping and head for their homes. So we leave, too," she said. But the market is not just the place to be for buying and selling goods; those in need of a tidying up are also encouraged to drop by. At a makeshift barber's shop just outside the market square, Khin Hlaing has been busy with his razors and scissors since morning. While shaving one man, and with another shaggy customer waiting for his chance in the wooden barber's chair, the 70-year-old explained his presence. "I usually do hair-cuts and shaves at home," the veteran coiffeur said. He added: "But I come here every market day, as I can make more money because there are more people here." The post Beside the Beauty and Boats of Inle, a Bustling Bazaar Beckons appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Govt Should Be Tolerant of Media: Human Rights Watch Posted: 06 Feb 2014 03:59 AM PST Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth (second from left) speaks to reporters during a press conference at Rangoon's Traders Hotel on Thursday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON —Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Burma government to accept criticism in the press and refrain from using criminal law against journalists. The US-based global rights group elected to hold its annual board of directors meeting in Burma this year to highlight the critical point the country is at in the program of reforms undertaken since a nominally civilian government took power in 2011, HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said Thursday at a press conference in Rangoon following meetings with high-level officials. Roth said a meeting with President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw on Wednesday was "constructive," but that other officials were less willing to engage. "We raised a number of points, and he responded with real dialogue, and it was clear his commitment to reform," Roth said of the president. "But, frankly, in the course of the day when we met the senior-most advisor to the president, the key ministers from defense, homes affairs, foreign affairs, information, etc., it was clear that the government is divided, and that there are some who are quite committed to a reform process, and others who would like to slow it down." Roth praised the progress that has been made on media freedom in Burma—where pre-publication censorship was abandoned in 2012—but noted recent "pressure" on media operating in the country. Following reports from rights groups and the United Nations last month that dozens of Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State were killed in a violent crackdown in the township of Maungdaw, the government reacted angrily to news reports of the allegations. Associated Press journalists were called into the Ministry of Information for a rebuke over their reporting. This week, ethnic Rohingya member of Parliament Shwe Maung was questioned over comments he made to the Democratic Voice of Burma news agency alleging police involvement in a fire that occurred in Maungdaw weeks after the alleged massacre. Also in the past week, four journalists and a news executive at the Burmese-language Unity journal have been detained under the Official Secrets Act for reporting allegations that a military facility in Magwe Division's Pauk Township is a chemical weapons factory. Press freedom advocates have called for their release. While Roth did not comment on the incidents specifically, he urged the government to be more tolerant of reporting that officials may not like. "There are parts of the government that have not yet accepted that the press is not their mouthpiece, that the role of the media is not simply to serve as a propaganda organ for the government and the military, but rather to serve as an independent voice, to disagree with the government and disagree with itself, that a healthy media environment is one in which there is a diversity of voices and debate," Roth said. "I think that acceptance of that—acceptance of a culture where that is desirable rather than seen as a threat—is a shift that is still underway." He said the HRW delegation urged the government to ensure that new laws covering the media did not lead to criminal charges being used to regulate the press. "We heard from some officials that, 'The press got this wrong, the press got that wrong.' And our answer was: 'The government should rebut the press,'" he said. "It should have a debate. Let the truth prevail through conversation, not through the heavy-handed mechanism of the criminal law." Brad Adams, executive director of HRW's Asia division, said he met with Ministry of Information officials, and that they agreed criminal law should not be used in publication offenses. In meetings with the government, HRW also raised concerns about the government's handling of violence in Arakan State, and repeated a call for a transparent investigation into the allegations of killings last month, according to Adams. The group asked the government to ensure humanitarian access to people displaced by violence in the conflict with ethnic rebels in Kachin State, Roth said. "We were told repeatedly that there is humanitarian access. People can go. That's not what we hear from a number of our humanitarian partners. But this is a commitment that certainly deserves to be tested," said Roth. He said he also urged Thein Sein to keep a promise he made to US President Barack Obama that he would allow the UN's human rights agency to establish an office in Burma. "The government has a presumptive preference that the office simply provides technical assistance. But, as we explained to the government, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights would never set up an office simply to provide technical assistance in a country at this stage in the reform process," he said. The post Burma Govt Should Be Tolerant of Media: Human Rights Watch appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Govt Newspapers Alter Ads Referencing Human Rights, Corruption Posted: 06 Feb 2014 03:51 AM PST A photo shows the advertisement by the monthly Human Rights and Democracy journal in its original lay-out (R) and after it was altered and published in The Mirror. (Photo: Facebook / Myanmar Knowledge Society Publishing) RANGOON — Independent local media have alleged that state-owned newspapers The New Light of Myanmar and The Mirror are altering advertisements in an attempt to remove references to sensitive issues such as human rights and government corruption. The New Light of Myanmar and The Mirror held a monopoly on daily news publication for decades, serving as mouthpieces of previous repressive military governments—which banned or severely censored independent media—and the current quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein. This special status allowed the papers to build up a large, nationwide circulation network that distributes about 300,000 copies of each paper daily, making the state publications an attractive place to advertise, especially for businesses that want to reach Burma's rural areas. Burmese independent media that advertised with the government papers complained, however, that in recent months the papers frequently meddled with language in the ads, removing references to politically sensitive issues. Nyunt Win, editor of the monthly Human Rights and Democracy journal, said he advertised the journal's upcoming issue in mid-January with ads that announced cover stories on corruption in politics and government. "But when we see our ads in both [government] newspapers, [references] to corruption and bribery cases were removed," he said. "We complained to them, but they said this is because of their advertising policy." "It's terrible, they didn't have any permission to change our ads because we paid money," he said. "I can say that this is not freedom of media, actually they should inform us first." Ma Thida, a leading Burmese writer and activist who is an editor atPae Tin Than, said the weekly news journal had also seen their ads in government papers changed without permission last month. "We advertised in both state-run newspapers for our weekly journal, but the newspaper's advertising department edited our ads, which included comedian Zaganar's serious comments criticizing the current government and some politicians and parliamentarians," she said. "They removed such wording in the newspapers, we found after publication." Zeyar Hlaing, editor of the monthly magazine Mawkun, said his ads in the government papers had undergone a similar treatment in November. "We just focused on the country's [unmarried couples] living together situation, we had special reports about this, but when I was speaking with The Mirror's ads department manager he said that they want me to change some wording that is not suitable with Burmese culture. He said it is not allowed, so I decided not to advertise there," Zeyar Hlaing said. President Thein Sein’ government has implemented sweeping political reforms since taking office in 2011 and the media has been allowed greater freedom. Censorship was lifted in 2012 and last year independent private dailies were allowed for the first time in decades. The New Light of Myanmar and The Mirror remain under direct control of the Ministry of Information, which has announced that state broadcaster MRTV and both government papers will soon be transformed from propaganda-spewing outlets to public media after the adoption of a Public Media Bill. Independent publications have objected to continuing government support for the papers, saying it creates an unfair market advantage, adding that no democratic government in the world owns a newspaper. The members of the independent media said the examples of the papers' restrictive advertising policy showed that the government mouthpieces, despite their public pledges of reform, remain focused on limiting public access to information and protecting government interests. "It means, their ads department still don't know what their newspaper's policy is and where are they going to. There is no accountability whatsoever," said Ma Thida, of Pae Tin Than journal. "The Ministry of Information's policy has not changed, except for dissolving the censorship for media," she added. Zeyar Hlaing of Mawkun said, "For a long time they have been doing this, we will have to ask them whether they are cheating the public or not." Tin Maung Than, an editor at The New Light of Myanmar, confirmed the paper alters private ads but said this is coordinated with the advertisers, adding that the policy is implement for add concerning "religious and national issues." "The editorial team and advertising department have a different policy, but what I can say is that we're negotiating with advertisers if their ads concern religious or national issues in order not to harm any people or organizations," he said."If some ads are leading to misunderstanding … we negotiate with them to change some wordings." The post Govt Newspapers Alter Ads Referencing Human Rights, Corruption appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Ethnic Leaders Demand Spot on Burma Election Commission Posted: 06 Feb 2014 02:37 AM PST Tin Aye, chairman of the Union Election Commission, was formerly a general and member of the central committee of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Ethnic political parties in Burma have called for the inclusion of non-Burman leaders, intellectuals and experts in the Union Election Commission (EC), to create conditions for a fair general election in 2015. Leaders of the Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF), an alliance of 20 ethnic parties, held a regular meeting in Naypyidaw last weekend and issued a statement to the government, Parliament and the public. "The current EC was formed by the military, so it appears to have been meant for only one party," said Zo Zam, chairman of the Chin National Party (CNP), which is part of NBF. "Instead of the existing commission, we want a new one consisting of a variety of scholars. Only then can we organization and hold fair elections." An estimated 40 percent of Burma's 60 million or so population is an ethnic minority, but the government is dominated by the ethnic Burman majority. The chairman of the EC, Tin Aye, and most of the commission members were formerly part of the central committee of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Tin Aye is also a former general. Last year more than 60 army officers were transferred to civil administration and appointed to district- and township-level election commissions. The move was criticized by some as an attempt by the USDP to prepare in advance for the coming parliamentary election in 2015. The EC chairman recently told media that the election would be free and fair. "It is important that Election Commission members are not related to the USDP. At the same time, I don't think military personnel should be appointed for this role," said Nai Ngwe Thein, chairman of another NBF member, the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP). The NBF also called for constitutional amendments to create a federal union and to reduce the percentage of seats in Parliament reserved for military representatives. "Our demands are not the positions of any particular party, but rather the will of 20 political parties, and thus we believe Parliament and the president will pay special attention," said the CNP chairman. "The president has full authority to transform or change the EC." The NBF also said it wanted the government to ban people with temporary identification cards, known as white cards, from contesting or voting in elections and from forming political parties, saying allowing them to do so would affect the country's sovereignty. The former regime handed some of the Rohingya Muslim population temporary IDs so they could vote in a constitutional referendum in 2008 as well as the national elections in 2010. The USDP hoped to gain the votes of the Muslim minority at the time. The alliance of ethnic parties also said it worried the national census later this year could divide ethnic groups. "The current arrangement to conduct the census with issuing code numbers based on 135 national races will create divisions among ethnic groups, thus we urge the government to consult with respective ethnic groups in different regions in order to review the process," the NBF said in its statement. The 20-member alliance was initially formed after the 2010 elections by the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the CNP, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the AMRDP and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party. The post Ethnic Leaders Demand Spot on Burma Election Commission appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Secret Order by Burma President Tells Ministries to Prepare for Riots Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:50 PM PST President Thein Sein gives a speech at a consultation on national and regional development in May 2013. (Photo: President's Office) President Thein Sein has ordered his government to prepare for the possibility of mass protests and violence this year caused by disagreements over constitutional reform. Burma's military-drafted Constitution is considered undemocratic, and in recent months calls for amending the charter have grown stronger. In a secret four-point directive issued late last month and obtained by The Irrawaddy, Thein Sein urged his ministers and their deputies to ensure stable conditions ahead of a nationwide census in March and hundreds of planned meetings over the course of the year for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), after Burma assumed chairmanship of the regional bloc this year. In the Jan. 27 directive entitled "Stability and tranquility of the country" and classified "Top Secret", the president said he also worried that divisions within Parliament over proposed constitutional amendments could lead to unrest outside the legislature, with the possibility of mass demonstrations and violent political unrest. "Some discussions can lead to disagreements, if the disagreements cannot be solved in Parliament it will spread to outside of the Parliament [and] there can be demands, riots and violence by groups of people," the president wrote. "When these cases happen, we will face pressure from local and foreign media on our government." He said activists are mobilizing support for their political demands around the country and warned these actions could lead to unrest. "As everyone knows, now there are people who have ideas are opposite to those of the government and they are campaigning in their respective areas and bringing on demands and riots," the letter said. In the directive, the president cautioned against following in the footsteps of neighboring Thailand and Bangladesh, which he said had both recently seen violent mobs push for political demands. He urged ministers to learn from these cases and to ensure that similar situations do not unfold in Burma, partly by communicating with the general public about the government's work. "[In] Thailand and Bangladesh, groups of people have made lawless demands, violence and coercion. Similar cases can happen in our country," he wrote. "[W]e need a plan and implement it to ensure the country's stability, tranquility and rule of law. We need to make it a number one [priority] to make our government a united, strong government that the public relies on and supports" The president's directive coincided with an escalating campaign by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to drum up support for constitutional reform. The National League for Democracy (NLD) leader saw tens of thousands people turned out in Chin State and Karen State last month when she traveled to give speeches in support of amendments. The 2008 Constitution was drafted by Burma's then military government and is widely considered to be undemocratic, as it gives great political powers to the Burma Army and blocks Suu Kyi from becoming president because her two sons hold foreign citizenship. The charter reserves a 25 percent quota for military representatives in Parliament. It also grants immunity to members of the former military regime who committed crimes under the junta. A committee in Parliament has been taken recommendations from members of the public, experts, NGOs, political parties, the military and government departments regarding constitutional reform. Last week, it released a report with the results, showing that most of more than 28,000 responses supported amendments. However, footnotes in the report cited a single petition—signed by more than 100,000 people—rejecting constitutional change. Suu Kyi said the results should be taken as an endorsement of her calls for changes to the Constitution. On Sunday, more than 500 people gathered at Bo Sein Hman Stadium in Rangoon to call for amendments to the article of the Constitution which makes Suu Kyi ineligible for the presidency. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a political incarnation of former junta, has, however, far dragged its feet in constitutional reforms and looks unwilling to take on Suu Kyi's suggestions. Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut said in a reaction that he was unaware of the top secret order issued by President Thein Sein, but he stressed the need for special security measures this year in light of Burma's Asean chairmanship. "I don't know about the secret directive you mention," he said, before adding, "Every government is responsible for maintaining stability and the rule of law. As a chair of Asean, our Myanmar government will take more care of security and rule of law, because the leaders of the international community will come here quite often. And this is not unusual; any country that hosts international meetings would take such measures." In Thailand, ongoing protests against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra began in November last year, triggered by a proposed amnesty bill that would have facilitated the return of her elder brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives but turned down by the Senate. At least 10 people have died and more than 570 others have been injured during demonstrations. Still, Thailand held a national election on Sunday without the participation of the main opposition party. Bangladesh, Burma's western neighbor, has also seen political tumult recently. The country's main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, boycotted parliamentary polls on Jan. 5 in protest of an election run by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League party. A year of political unrest in this poor and restive South Asian country of 150 million people has left 500 people dead and more than 20,000 injured. The post Secret Order by Burma President Tells Ministries to Prepare for Riots appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China Media Slams Philippine Leader Comments on Disputed Waters Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:43 PM PST Chinese naval soldiers stand guard on China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning, as it travels towards a military base in Sanya, Hainan province, in this undated picture made available on November 30, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) SHANGHAI — Chinese state media has slammed Philippine President Benigno Aquino over remarks that compared Beijing’s claims in the disputed South China Sea to demands for land made by Nazi Germany to the former Czechoslovakia. In an interview with The New York Times published on Tuesday, Aquino called for more global support for the Philippines over the territorial issue, comparing it to the failure by the West to support Czechoslovakia against Adolf Hitler’s demand in 1938. "If we say yes to something we believe is wrong now, what guarantee is there that the wrong will not be further exacerbated down the line?" the paper quoted him as saying. "At what point do you say, ‘Enough is enough’? Well, the world has to say it – remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War Two." China’s official Xinhua new agency blasted Aquino’s comments late on Wednesday, saying Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea have a "sound historical foundation" and that it also seeks to resolve the issue through dialogue rather than confrontation. "His latest reported attack against China, in which he senselessly compared his northern neighbor to the Nazi Germany, exposed his true color as an amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality," it said in an English-language commentary. "He also joined the ranks of disgraced Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who created great controversy after comparing Japan-China relations to those between the United Kingdom and Germany in the run-up to the First World War last month at the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland," Xinhua said. Such commentaries, while not official statements, can be read as a reflection of Chinese government thinking. China’s Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on Aquino’s remarks. On Thursday, a spokesman for Aquino stood by the comments. "The lesson for all free countries is this: there is a need for all to stand up for what is right," spokesman Herminio Coloma Jnr. said. "It should be right is might and not might is right." China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have territorial claims across a waterway that provides 10 percent of the global fisheries catch and carries $5 trillion in ship-borne trade. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny Russel said on Wednesday Washington has growing concerns that China’s maritime claims in the disputed sea are an effort to gain creeping control of oceans in the Asia-Pacific region. China reacted angrily last week to a report in a Japanese newspaper that Beijing was considering setting up a new air defence identification zone in the South China Sea, similar to the one it announced last year for the East China Sea. The United States urged China not to set up such a zone, although China’s Foreign Ministry implied it had no need to do so because it did not see a military threat from Southeast Asia. Xinhua, in a separate commentary, said it was Japan that was the real regional threat, not China. "It is high time for the Obama administration to see through Abe’s political tricks and to cage the trigger-happy elements in Japan," Xinhua said. The post China Media Slams Philippine Leader Comments on Disputed Waters appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

West Denounces Repression of Bloggers, Religions in Vietnam Posted: 05 Feb 2014 10:09 PM PST A warning against accessing 'depraved' or 'reactionary' materials at an Internet cafe in Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. (Photo: WikiMedia) GENEVA — Western countries on Wednesday denounced Vietnam's jailing of bloggers and curbs on the Internet and called on its Communist government to respect basic freedoms of worship and expression. Britain's diplomat Ruth Tumer told the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council that her country regretted "recent trends to control the Internet" and, with diplomats from France and Australia, called for reducing the number of crimes punishable by death and for a moratorium on executions. "Vietnam still harasses and detains those who exercise universal rights and freedoms, such as freedoms of expression and association," acting US Ambassador Peter Mulrean said in a debate that was part of the 47-member forum's scrutiny of the record of all UN member states every four years. The United States was also concerned at restrictions placed on religious freedoms and on forming independent trade unions, the use of child labor and the government's use of compulsory labor, he said. Vietnam should "revise vague national security laws that are used to suppress universal rights and unconditionally release all political prisoners," he said. Benjamin Ismail of Reporters Without Borders said journalist Pham Chi Dung had been prevented from coming to the UN talks, stopped at Saigon airport on Saturday and his passport taken. "There is a worsening trend, with much more violence and collateral reprisals when families or relatives of bloggers are also targeted in order to dissuade bloggers from discussing activities. Currently we count 34 jailed bloggers," Ismail said. But two prominent Vietnamese under house arrest gave testimony in audio messages recorded in secret and aired at an event sponsored by major rights groups in Geneva on Tuesday. Reuters could not verify their authenticity. Thich Quang Do, patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, said that he remained under house arrest at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon and wanted to speak out for all those whose dissenting opinions were being stifled. "I have spent the past three decades under different forms of detention—10 years in internal exile, seven years in prison and the rest under house arrest without charge," he said. "What is my 'crime'? That of calling on Vietnam to respect its people's rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, religion and belief," he said. "But I am not alone. In Vietnam today, hundreds of dissidents and human rights defenders are subjected to the torture of house arrest without any due process of law." Le Cong Cau, the head of a Buddhist youth movement with 300,000 members, said he had been stopped by police at the airport near Hue in central Vietnam on Jan. 1. "I am launching this message at the United Nations today as a cry of alarm," he said. "This may be my last opportunity to speak out, as I am told that I may be arrested in the coming days." Some 160 people in Vietnam have been sentenced to a total 1,062 years in prison between May 2009 and June 2013 under "vaguely worded national security provisions in the criminal code," the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights said. "In Vietnam today, planting a bomb or sending an e-mail abroad carries the same punishment," Vo Van Ai, president of the Paris-based exile group, told reporters. Vice Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc told the Geneva forum that Vietnam's policy had always been to protect and promote freedoms, citing booming Internet use, with 30.8 million users and 3 million bloggers. The post West Denounces Repression of Bloggers, Religions in Vietnam appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Wide Gap Between New Delhi, Beijing Smog Policies Posted: 05 Feb 2014 10:02 PM PST Vendors selling drinks stand beside vehicles near the India Gate war memorial on a smoggy day in New Delhi on Feb. 1, 2013. (Photo: Reuter / Adnan Abidi) NEW DELHI — Think twice before taking a deep breath in New Delhi, where worsening air pollution has drawn comparisons with Beijing, the world's pollution poster child. On bad days in India's congested capital, the air is so murky it slows traffic to a crawl. Conversations are punctuated with rasping coughs. Weak bands of sunlight filter through a grainy sky. Air monitoring sensors around the landlocked Indian capital have routinely registered levels of small airborne particles at "hazardous" levels in recent months—three to four times New Delhi's own sanctioned limit, rivaling Beijing. While it's uncertain which city has worse smog—there are various toxins to measure and methods differ, among other things—one thing is clear: China's capital is taking steps to improve air quality but New Delhi hasn't done much in recent years to tackle the problem, largely because there's been little public outcry. Doctors overwhelmingly agree that more people in New Delhi are getting sick from the air pollution, although there is scant data to show it. Air pollution is proven to exacerbate chronic lung ailments, and there is mounting evidence it also leads to stress, coronary diseases and inflammation. "It seems incredible that the politicians and judges living in Delhi would not be worried about how their families and children are suffering from the bad air," said Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, head of the Public Health Foundation of India. "People have to recognize the extent of the damage happening. That's where the outrage will come in. That's when the action will happen." This week, Reddy co-chaired the first meeting of a new Health Ministry committee, formed two months ago with academics, officials and health workers, tasked with recommending ways to protect the public from dirty air. Their report is due in a year. Comparing pollution levels between the two megacities, home to a combined 29 million people, seems natural given their iconic status representing Asia's opportunity and growth. They both have gone through breakneck economic development that has transformed their landscapes within a generation, raising living standards but also spewing out loads of pollution. Decades of policies that favored economic decisions over environmental concerns have taken their toll. Cars now represent the middle-class dream for thousands digging out of poverty, and decades of booming construction has kicked up countless clouds of dust. There are various ways to measure pollution, but comparisons have generally focused on the microscopic particulate matter, sometimes called black carbon or soot, which can lodge in a person's lungs and fester over time. In New Delhi, levels of PM 10—particulate matter that is 10 micrometers in size—have routinely bounced around 400 micrograms per cubic meter the past several months. That's four times the city's legal limit of 100, and well above the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 20. In 2011, the average level rose to about 280. In Beijing, average annual PM 10 levels have declined to just above 100 last year, according to the Center for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based research and advocacy group that crunched the official numbers. The Chinese capital is way ahead of its Indian counterpart in terms of in informing citizens about the dangers of pollution. Beijing has launched a health alert system that advises caution on smoggy days, and the term PM 2.5—particles even smaller than PM 10 and considered more dangerous to health—has become a common part of the vocabulary among citizens, with many checking smartphone apps for the hourly readings. During high alert times, schools may be closed, industries shut down and government vehicles taken off the roads. New Delhi has no such alert system or emergency protocols. While the city recently began offering smog data online, power cuts can cause gaps in real-time reporting. And experts say many among the migrant-heavy population are unlikely to see or understand the information. "It is the state's responsibility to inform people about pollution dangers," said Anumita Roychowdhury, research director at the Center for Science and Environment. "People need to know what they're breathing, even if only so they can demand better." Beijing has also launched aggressive control measures, from limiting the number of cars that ply its roads to sanctioning punishments against factories that fail environmental standards. New Delhi, however, has seen little action since enacting a set of reforms over a decade ago, which included moving industry beyond city limits, building a subway and switching public transportation to cleaner-burning fuel. Indian authorities are touchy about comparisons between the two cities, and point to seasonal factors, such as when winds die down in the winter and let pollution pool over the capital. But Beijing experiences a rise in pollution once people start burning coal for heat while Delhi's homeless turn to burning wood and piles of trash. "It is scientifically wrong to compare Delhi and Beijing. The way of measuring [pollution] is different. The cities' weather dynamics are different," said M.P. George, who heads air monitoring with six citywide sensors for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee in addition to five managed by federal authorities. Regardless of which city is worse, experts warn that pollution is a serious health hazard. Globally, pollution-related diseases kill 3.2 million people each year, with two-thirds in developing Asia, according to the 2012 multi-institutional report titled the Global Burden of Disease. In New Delhi and other major Indian cities, "we are seeing more patients than we saw before, especially children" with recurring nose, throat and chest infections, said Dr. Sundeep Salvi of the Chest Research Foundation in the southern city of Pune. Such infections can inhibit lung growth—another problem area for India. A study published in the Lancet medical journal in October showed the lung capacity of nonsmoking Indian adults is just two-thirds that of North America and Europe. The study did not analyze various factors, from pollution to nutrition, that might account for the difference, but doctors unaffiliated with the study said they believed air pollution was likely a major cause. "If pollution continues to get worse, today's children may have even less lung capacity," Salvi said. AP writer Louise Watt contributed to this story from Beijing. The post Wide Gap Between New Delhi, Beijing Smog Policies appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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