The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• After Shooting in Malaysia, Arakanese Targets Admit Potential Religious Link
• Amid More Delays, Rivalries Divide Burma’s Ethnic Groups
• Second Arakan Probe to Focus on Missing Policeman
• Demand for Untouched Bills Dirties Burma’s Image
• Burma Won’t Export New Gas Finds Until Domestic Needs Met, Says Official
• Singapore Angry at Indonesia Move to Name Navy Ship for Convicted Bombers
• China Leans on Hong Kong’s Press
• Bangladesh Garment Factories Intimidate Workers Over Unions: Group

After Shooting in Malaysia, Arakanese Targets Admit Potential Religious Link Posted: 07 Feb 2014 04:46 AM PST Dr. Aye Maung, center, arrives at Rangoon International Airport on Friday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) An apparent assassination attempt on two ethnic Arakanese leaders in Malaysia on Wednesday night may be related to current religious and social strife in Burma's western Arakan State, the men said during a press conference in Rangoon on Friday. The two leaders, who visited Malaysia from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7, escaped unharmed from the shooting incident, which involved unknown gunmen in Kuala Lumpur. "It could be related to the incidents inside the country [Burma]," said Dr. Aye Maung, who serves as the Arakan National Party's second in command, referring to violence between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims in Burma. Aye Thar Aung, who heads the recently formed Arakan National Party (ANP), and Aye Maung were in Malaysia to meet with Buddhist Arakanese migrants working in the fellow Southeast Asian nation. Two gunmen on a motorbike shot at the men as they were leaving the Law Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur at about 11pm on Wednesday, said Aye Thar Aung. Both leaders were unharmed, but the BMW that was escorting them was damaged by the gunfire. "When I heard the first shot, I thought it was a flat tire," Aye Thar Aung said. "But then we heard someone saying, 'Shooting!' 'Shooting!' in Burmese. Our driver sped away. One of the gunmen on the motorbike had a beard. The place where we were shot at is near a construction site and there was no CCTV [closed-circuit television cameras] available." A total of six Arakanese, led by Aye Maung and Aye Thar Aung, arrived to Muslim-majority Malaysia on Jan. 30 and relied on Arakanese social groups in the country to handle security arrangements for the visiting delegation. Aye Maung, who is also a lawmaker in Parliament's Upper House, said that because it was a social visit, they did not inform the Burmese Embassy of their travel plans and opted not to request protection from the mission in Kuala Lumpur. Following the incident, Aye Maung informed the Burmese Embassy, which reported the case to Malaysian police, said Zaw Htay, a President's Office director, on his Facebook page. "As soon as the embassy was informed of the incident, the embassy contacted the Malaysian authorities and implemented security measures for Dr. Aye Maung and his men. Malaysia's Ministry of Home Affairs also escorted them during their travel back from their Le Meridien hotel to the Kulua Lumpur International Airport for their security." The Burmese Embassy in Malaysia is collaborating with the Malaysian government to investigate the incident and apprehend those responsible. No suspects have yet been detained in connection with the shooting. Aye Thar Aung and Aye Maung flew back to Rangoon on Friday, where hundreds of supporters welcomed them at Rangoon International Airport. The incident on Wednesday comes amid ongoing tensions in Arakan State between ethnic Arakan Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims. Violence between the two groups has flared on several occasions since June 2012, with Rohingya bearing the vast majority of casualties and displacements resulting from the unrest. Religious conflict in Arakan State has drawn international concern, and regional leaders have also expressed fears that the situation could spill across borders. Those fears appeared to materialize in late May 2013, when violence among the Burmese migrant community in Kuala Lumpur left at least two people dead and was widely linked to Arakan State's troubles. In the early days of that same month, Indonesian police arrested four men who were later found guilty of attempting to bomb the Burmese Embassy in Jakarta. The bomb plot's mastermind said the conspirators were attempting to avenge the killings of their Muslim brethren in Burma. The post After Shooting in Malaysia, Arakanese Targets Admit Potential Religious Link appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Amid More Delays, Rivalries Divide Burma’s Ethnic Groups Posted: 07 Feb 2014 04:27 AM PST Soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army are deployed for security at the Law Khee Lar conference in Karen State. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) The Burma government and ethnic rebel groups will not meet as planned this month for a nationwide ceasefire conference. The meeting has been postponed once again, to March, with ethnic leaders claiming they need more time to negotiate among themselves before presenting their draft ceasefire proposal. Ethnic leaders say delays in the final stages are to be expected. But under the surface, rivalries between different rebel groups have slowed the process. Mahn Nyein Maung, a central committee member of the Karen National Union (KNU), said the government negotiation team and ethnic groups had planned to hold the nationwide ceasefire conference in late February in the Karen State capital Pa-an. "But we had to postpone because we haven't finished negotiating," he told The Irrawaddy. "We haven't finished pre-negotiations." He was referring to meetings over the past month or so between the government negotiation team, the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), and the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), which is the working team for an alliance of ethnic groups around the country. The MPC and the NCCT plan to meet again on Feb. 16 for informal talks in Rangoon, where they will discuss the draft proposals of the nationwide ceasefire agreement. "In the peace process, we hold informal meetings often to discuss and amend disagreements from both sides, and to include what we want. We do it often just to prepare, to ensure there are no difficulties in the final stage," Mahn Nyein Maung said, adding that he believed the nationwide ceasefire agreement would likely be signed in March. However, some ethnic groups may not join. The Wa and the Mongla, along with Shan leaders from the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), have not confirmed that whether they will add their signatures to the list during the upcoming Pa-an meeting. The NCCT is requesting that the government army be forbidden from attacking rebel groups that do not sign the agreement in Pa-an, said Mahn Nyein Maung. While both sides attempt to compromise, internal divisions may also explain why so many meetings have been called before the nationwide ceasefire conference. Last month, ethnic groups came together in Karen State, at the KNU base of Law Khee Lar. Observers at this gathering said that on the peripheral of the peace talks, a power struggle was ongoing between leaders of different ethnic groups—particularly between the KNU, the RCSS and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). They say the process has been slowed by distrust that has deep historical roots. "They are fighting over the chair of the United Nationalities Federal Council," said one observer at the Law Khee Lar gathering, who requested to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak with the media. The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) is an alliance of 11 ethnic armed groups, currently chaired by a KIO leader. "The KNU also wants to chair the UNFC," he said. "They don't really like the KIO leading the alliance. That's why the Shan [RCSS] did not join the UNFC and have not yet signed the draft of the ethnic nationwide ceasefire agreement." "I think the problem is, they are fighting for mandate and credit." This is not the first time ethnic minorities have teamed up to call for greater autonomy from the central government, more control over the natural resources in their states, and basic rights such as more representation in Parliament. In 1976 members of the National Democratic Front (NDF), a bloc of ethnic armed groups, vowed to cooperate in pursuit of these common goals. But in the 1990s two NDF members—the KIO and the New Mon State Party (NMSP)—signed individual ceasefire deals with the military government. They were criticized for prioritizing their own interests above the common goals of the alliance, and for leaving other members behind. The KIO ceasefire broke down in 2011, and today the Kachin organization is one of two major ethnic rebel groups that have yet to sign an individual ceasefire. A Karen militia known as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), whose members were formerly part of the KNU, also signed a ceasefire deal with the government in the 1990s. At this time the government launched a heavy offensive against the KNU. Today some leaders of the KNU military wing say they resent the fact that the KIO deputy chairman N' Ban La currently leads the UNFC, while Nai Hong Sar of the NMSP has taken the second-highest position in the alliance. "When we suffered the government offensives in the 1990s, they went to sign ceasefire agreements. Now they come back and act like bosses to lead us. We had to resist the government army until the fall of our farmer headquarters in Manerplaw," an official from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) told The Irrawaddy, speaking on condition of anonymity. The headquarters were overtaken by the government army in 1995. "The government at that time also divided us by using religion as a tool. We were divided into two factions, and we suffered a lot," he said, referring to the Buddhist Karen-led DKBA's breakaway from the KNLA. The KNLA has since signed a ceasefire with President Thein Sein's government, and he said its political wing, the KNU, would cooperate with other ethnic groups to continue moving forward with the peace process. "We will let them play in politics, and we will wait and see," he said. In Law Khee Lar last month, divisions among ethnic groups led to a verbal confrontation between ethnic Pa-O leaders and Shan leaders from the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) after a Pa-O representative asked to discuss a proposal for ethnic minorities in Shan State to have the right to split from the state. The Pa-O is one of many ethnic minorities that live in Shan State. "When representatives from the SSPP heard about this proposal, they said they would leave the meeting if participants talked about it. But the Pa-O representative finally gave in and said his proposal did not need to be discussed urgently—that it could wait until later," an ethnic Arakanese observer said, also requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media. In an earlier meeting of ethnic groups in Laiza, Kachin State, last year, some observers speculated that the RCSS did not support a draft nationwide ceasefire agreement because they did not want the KIO to receive credit for such a major step in the peace process. RCSS spokesman Col. Sai La told The Irrawaddy at the time that his group needed time to consult Shan political parties and community-based organizations about the draft agreement. "After briefing these fellow Shan organizations, the RCSS will sign the common agreement at any convenient time," he said. The deputy chief of the KNLA, Lt-Gen Baw Kyaw Heh, later told The Irrawaddy that he felt discouraged by divisions among ethnic groups. "We have been meeting and talking again and again, time has passed year by year, but unity among us is up and down. That's why the Burmese government has divided us into pieces," he told The Irrawaddy. "It's not that the Burmese government is so smart, but we ourselves are also not smart enough." The post Amid More Delays, Rivalries Divide Burma's Ethnic Groups appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Second Arakan Probe to Focus on Missing Policeman Posted: 07 Feb 2014 04:23 AM PST A fire in the western part Du Chee Yar Tan village destroyed 16 homes on Jan. 28. (Photo: MoIWebPortalMyanmar/Facebook) RANGOON — A new government commission set up to investigate recent violence in northern Arakan State will try to establish the "root cause" of the death of a policeman said to have been killed by a Rohingya mob on Jan. 13, but does not say if it will address allegations made by the United Nations that almost 50 Rohingyas were killed either side of the policeman’s disappearance. While specifying probing the death of policeman Aung Kyaw Thein, the commission remit mentions only other "deaths and injuries and loss of property in the incidents," with regard to alleged violence in Maungdaw Township in northern Arakan State during January. The new inquiry features both Arakanese Buddhist and Muslim representatives and was announced in the state mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar on Feb. 7, and will be headed by Dr Tha Hla Shwe of of the Myanmar Red Cross Society. It is expected to report its findings to President Thein Sein's government by the end of February. Other commissioners include Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing, an advisor to the Burma President Thein Sein, and Tun Aung Chein of the soon-to-be-revamped Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, which this week concluded that it found no evidence of the alleged massacres of Rohingyas in Du Chee Yar Tan village. Violence between Arakanese Muslims – not only Rohingya but other groups such as Kaman – and Arakanese Buddhists has killed scores and left 140,000 people displaced since 2012. The Burmese government has vehemently denied any killings of Rohingyas took place. Ye Htut, the spokesman of the President's Office, told The Irrawaddy in January that the claims, which emerged during Burma’s hosting of a meeting of regional foreign ministers, were a cover-up by villagers after the policeman went missing in action. The government subsequently alleged on Jan. 24 that the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), a little-known Islamic militant group, was involved in the killing of the policeman. Myo Thant, a Rangoon-based Rohingya politician representing the Democracy and Human Rights Party, which does not have any seats in Burma’s Parliament, said that he thinks the newly-announced inquiry is about "buying time" for the government, and said that an independent, international probe is needed. "Unless there is an international investigation, there will be no truth about what happened in Maungdaw Township," he said. The United States and others have called for an independent international investigation, a request that was shot down by the government, which maintains that the Rohingyas, who are stateless and live under severe restrictions in northern Arakan State, are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. A European Union statement released earlier this week, after a delegation comprising ambassadors from several EU countries concluded a four day fact-finding visit to Arakan, said that the delegations took note of Arakanese Buddhist’s "request that all people of Rakhine State should respect the rule of law, in particular the 1982 Citizenship Law." David Scott Mathieson, a Burma-focused analyst for Human Rights Watch, which earlier this week met with Burma President Thein Sein, said that the EU delegation statement, "reflects more their own interests in development projects and appeasing the government than speaking out strongly against violence and hate speech." "The only way to ensure urgently needed protection for the Rohingya population is for the international community to speak out strongly against the local actors that perpetuate that violence and the national officials who have largely failed in their duty to protect this highly vulnerable minority," he told The Irrawaddy. The EU statement was released prior to the announcement Friday of the new government inquiry, but said that, "We welcome the President's commitment to launch an independent investigation into the events in Duu Chee Yar Tan village in order to swiftly shed light on the events, and thereby address the rumors that continue to circulate." Arakanese politicians said they oppose any international investigation into the incident, and commended the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission for its recent work in the fraught region. "They inquire about the news openly, they give the true news," said Khin Maung Latt of the Arakan National Party (ANP) who said he expects the new inquiry to do what he sees as a similarly-effective job. On Wednesday night, ANP leader Dr Aye Maung survived what is being described as a drive-by assassination attempt in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s biggest city, where he was visiting Arakanese migrant workers in one of the region’s three majority-Muslim countries. "I think Rohingya in Malaysia tried to kill him," said Khin Maung Latt. In January, Indonesia Foreign Minister Marty Natelagawa told The Irrawaddy that while Burma’s neighbors agree with the Burmese government’s view that sectarian violence in Burma is an internal matter, it nonetheless has wider implications. Clashes between Buddhist and Muslim Burmese migrants left several dead in Malaysia during 2013, while the Burmese Embassy in Jakarta was subject of an Islamist terror plot earlier in 2013. The post Second Arakan Probe to Focus on Missing Policeman appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Demand for Untouched Bills Dirties Burma’s Image Posted: 07 Feb 2014 04:01 AM PST Money changers in Burma still demand that US dollars must be crisp and new. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — It has long been the advice passed on to visitors to Burma: Bring crisp US dollars, nothing else is accepted here. But the continuing insistence of money changers that cash is untainted threatens to stain the country's reputation in spite of economic reforms. Many ticketing agencies, airlines, small currency exchange shops and private banks' exchange counters will turn away old or damaged, or even slightly crumpled, dollars. Imperfect currency might be accepted, but often at much lower exchange rates—despite strictly bearing the same value. While the country begins to shed its image as a hermitic dictatorship, now open for business, and for many more tourists, the obsession with new currency leaves some visitors bemused. Journalist Tin Maung Than recounted that when a friend from the United States visited recently, he tried to buy an air ticket form Rangoon to Bagan with old dollar bills. The former editor-in-chief of Thint Bawa magazine said the bills were initially accepted, but the travel agency later tracked Tin Maung Than down at his home and asked for newer notes instead. "They told me that they want to have different, newer notes because local airline did not accept the dollars," he said. "Local banks also refused to take it, and the currency exchange counters do not pay reasonable prices for such old notes. It's very hard to exchange old notes anywhere places at Burma, even notes that are just creased." Tin Maung Than said there was no reason it was so difficult to offload notes, and warned that it only enhanced the backward image many foreigners have of Burma. "We should question why private banks are not accepting these kind of notes, or who is responsible, it may impact to country's image," he said. In October 2012, Central Bank Deputy Governor Win Thaw announced that the bank would accept old notes in a bid to eradicate the practice. But the announcement insisted that damaged bills would be of lower value. The reluctance to accept dirty dollars dates from before 2011 and recent reforms under the government of President Thein Sein, when exchanging Burmese kyat into any foreign currency was illegal with a few exceptions. The Burma government offered tourists its own Foreign Exchange Currency, or FEC—at an "official" exchange rate of 6 kyat to the dollar. That system was only abandoned when the kyat was floated in March 2012. In the early 2000s, when Western economic sanctions against Burma began to bite, local banks had difficulty trading dollars outside the country. Most external trade went through Singaporean banks, which demanded crisp bills. Than Lwin, the vice chairman of Kanbawza Bank insisted the bank was now accepting anything but seriously damaged dollars. "We're accepting old dollars as much as we can, but we have difficulty because we still do not have branches of US banks here. If they set up here, it will be easy to change such old dollars," he said. "The Singapore banks we deal with still only want new notes. If they're old, they paid lower exchange rates." Maw Than, a senior economist and advisor to President Thein Sein said the Central Bank was responsible for solving the problem, and urged customers to complain if private banks will not accept old foreign currency, or offer reasonable rates for it. "The Central Bank of Myanmar has authority to speak with private banks, ask why they aren't accepting these old notes and find out solution," he said. A high ranking Central Bank official, who would only comment on condition of anonymity, said private banks could accept old currency, and that failure to do so would only disadvantage them in attracting customers. "The Central Bank of Myanmar has allowed [private banks] to open bank accounts with foreign banks for import-export business. They have electronic accounts, and if cash is accumulating, they can send it to foreign banks," the official said. "We don't tell them not to accept old foreign currency notes, and we are just supervising the Burmese banking sector so that banks do no harm. The currency exchange issue is a matter of market competition. If a bank won't accept old notes, customers will go to another bank." The post Demand for Untouched Bills Dirties Burma's Image appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Won’t Export New Gas Finds Until Domestic Needs Met, Says Official Posted: 07 Feb 2014 12:56 AM PST A boy exercises on a beach outside Pyar Pon Township as ships involved in the construction of a Yadana underwater gas pipeline project are moored in the background, May 2010. (Photo: Reuters) New discoveries of natural gas or oil will not be exported until Burma's own domestic demand is satisfied, a senior planner in the Ministry of Energy has disclosed. Confirmation of the decision comes as the ministry is set to name this month the winners of a major international auction for 30 offshore exploration licenses in Burmese waters. "The government decided [that only] after fulfilling the domestic sector we will export," the deputy director-general of the ministry's planning department, Win Maw, told industry analysts Platts in Tokyo while attending an oil industry conference. At present more than 80 percent of the gas produced by three major offshore fields—the Yadana, Yetagun and Shwe—are piped out of Burma to Thailand or China. The same fate awaits most of the gas soon to be pumped out of the Zawtika field in the Gulf of Martaban under the terms of a license held by the Thai state-owned oil firm PTTEP, said Win Maw. According to Offshore Technology magazine, the field, could this month start producing 300 million cubic feet of gas per day. At the same time, the government is considering plans to import expensive liquid natural gas (LNG) to meet rising domestic demand, especially for electricity generation. Production at the Shwe field, for which the China National Petroleum Corporation built a pipeline through Burma into China's Yunnan Province, is building up to reach over 510,000 million cubic feet per day by the first quarter of 2015, Win Maw said, according to Platts. Licenses for 30 new offshore blocks will be awarded to winning bidders this month, he said. The bidding process by about 30 major international and local oil firms has been in progress since last the middle of last year. "We are nearly at 100% evaluations of the 2013 offshore bidding round and will announce results in February,"  the deputy director general of planning at the ministry, Win Maw, told Platts. Firms who placed bids include Shell, which has bid for three blocks in partnership with Mitsui Oil of Japan; ConocoPhillips of the US partnering with Norway's Statoil in two bids; Chevron; ExxonMobil and Total. Asian bidders include PTTEP, Petronas of Malaysia and OVL of India. However, it could be many months more before any actual production sharing contracts (PSC) are finalized with the bid winners. Licenses for 16 onshore blocks were announced last October but it will be up to another three months before any PSCs are signed, Platts said. Burma's domestic demand for oil and gas will take priority in all production from the new onshore and offshore contracts, said Win Maw "The government decided only after fulfilling the domestic sector [needs] we will export," he said. The ministry is preparing for another new round of offshore block licenses and these might be put up for bidding later this year depending on the progress in settling the current bids. Details of these might be announced at the Myanmar Oil & Gas Week in Yangon on 25th to 27th February, regional energy analyst Collin Reynolds in Bangkok told The Irrawaddy this week. "The international companies who have placed bids for the first round of 30 offshore blocks will have been aware of possible export restrictions on any new discoveries," Reynolds said. "What they will be betting on is that discoveries will be so large Burma won't have need for it all and so it can go into export markets. "In the short term demand in Burma for gas and oil will exceed domestic supply and we are hearing that the Ministry of Energy might have to import gas, which will be expensive." In fact, the Ministry of Electric Power is negotiating with ten companies for a deal to build an LNG importation terminal. "Hydropower generation has been a main power source in [Burma]. We now have plans to import LNG and expand it by introducing gas-fired turbines in response to power shortages," Win Maw was quoted by Platts in Tokyo as saying. "The official [Win Maw] said a feasibility study is underway and that more than 10 companies have submitted import terminal proposals, ranging from floating LNG facilities to traditional onshore regasification terminals," said Platts. The Ministry of Energy is also planning "very soon" to invite foreign bidders for a contract to build a new oil refinery with a processing capacity of 56,000 barrels per day, said Platts. This is more than the current capacity of the country's three existing old refineries. The new refinery is being considered for a greenfield site in central Burma on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River, said Platts. The post Burma Won't Export New Gas Finds Until Domestic Needs Met, Says Official appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Singapore Angry at Indonesia Move to Name Navy Ship for Convicted Bombers Posted: 06 Feb 2014 10:25 PM PST Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, left, and Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono walk together at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bali on Oct. 8, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Murdani Usman) SINGAPORE — Anger is mounting in Singapore over neighboring Indonesia's decision to name a new naval ship after two marines executed for a 1960s bombing in the city state's main shopping district that left three people dead. Three Singapore ministers have asked their Indonesian counterparts to reconsider the move to name a new frigate after Osman Haji Mohamed Ali and Harun Said, who were convicted for the March 1965 bombing of MacDonald House on Orchard Road. The issue is likely to be another pressure point in the delicate relationship between the two Southeast Asian neighbors whose ties were tested last year when the annual burning of Indonesian forests blanketed Singapore in a thick smog. "The two Indonesian marines were found guilty of the bombing, which killed three people and injured 33 others," said a spokesman for Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Singapore had considered this difficult chapter in the bilateral relationship closed in May 1973 when then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew visited and scattered flowers on the graves of the two marines," he added. Singapore's Foreign Minister K Shanmugam, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen and Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean have all contacted their Indonesian counterparts about the matter. The bombing happened during Indonesia's "confrontation" movement with the newly formed Malaysia, which then Indonesian President Sukarno opposed, as he viewed it as a puppet of the British government. Singapore was part of Malaysia at the time and the attack on MacDonald House was the harshest of several launched by members of Indonesia's special Operations Corps Command who had infiltrated the island. The two men were charged in Singapore, which gained independence in August 1965, and hanged for the bombing in 1968. In Indonesia they received the status of national heroes and a ceremonial funeral. Indonesia has defended the naming decision, saying it is in line with its practice of naming vessels after the country's "heroes." "There should be no intervention from any other country," said Agus Barnas, spokesman for the Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs. Djoko Suyanto, the minister responsible for coordinating the three portfolios, said Indonesia had the authority to set its own criteria for naming heroes and to name warships after them, the spokesman added. Indonesia is Singapore's third largest trading partner, with trade between the two totaling S$79.4 billion (US$62.65 billion) in 2012, according to IE Singapore. Macdonald House, a brick-faced historic structure built in 1949, was home to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp, as well as the Australian High Commission and the Japanese consulate, at the time of the attack. Today it houses a branch of American bank Citibank. Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor in Jakarta. The post Singapore Angry at Indonesia Move to Name Navy Ship for Convicted Bombers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China Leans on Hong Kong’s Press Posted: 06 Feb 2014 10:15 PM PST Pro-democracy protesters hold banners with the image Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying as they march in the streets to demand for universal suffrage and urge Leung to step down in July 2013. (Photo: Reuters) Hong Kong has one of the world's highest newspaper readership densities. Its freewheeling press has six free newspapers, five communist dailies, three general dailies, two financial papers, two religious journals, one robustly pro-democracy icon plus two English-language papers and three global ones. Hong Kong citizens enjoy the full spectrum of the good, bad, trusted and spun press. This unbridled feistiness is an integral part of what defines their city. But Beijing is not amused. The paralysis of the CY Leung administration is blamed on a critical press – often ferreting out stuff which makes officialdom look duplicitous and untrustworthy. This kind of whistle-blowing is not acceptable. Beijing believes it makes Hong Kong ungovernable. Locals see the cleavage dividing citizens from government as a consequence of lack of trust, transparency and accountability abased by self-serving Beijing appointed enforcers. The central government's long-evaded promise to allow direct election of the Hong Kong chief executive has been reluctantly conceded by the National Peoples' Congress for 2017 – a full two decades after the liberation of the territory's compatriots from "150 years of shame" amid promises of 'one country two systems' and 'Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong'. Universal Suffrage The government duly published a consultation document (Dec 4, 2013) soliciting public input on how the legislative council should be elected in 2016 and the chief executive in 2017. Political pundits in the press and on radio have shaken out the contradictions in the government's consultation paper, questioning its sincerity. They say it is a fake consultation process when officials warn the public that any deviation from Beijing's rigged formula is invalid. They wonder why the charade? Rimsky Yuen, Secretary for Justice, urged Hong Kong citizens in the South China Morning Post on Feb. 4 to accept the 'imperfect' electoral system proposed – citing risk to the territory's international investment rating if it is not implemented. The Post had a cartoon on its Op-Ed page mocking that illogic, when Singapore and China suffer no lack of foreign investment despite their shambolic politics. Money flows for profit, not principle. Having admitted that the formula tabled is 'imperfect' on such a vital issue as universal suffrage, Rimsky even made the daft suggestion that the rigged electoral formula could be reformed in later years beyond 2017. Such double-speak by appointed officials rarely goes unchallenged by the Hong Kong press. This is precisely what irritates Beijing, whose rubber-stamp legislatures are streamlined to endorse whatever its leaders propose and obedient media cheerlead. The press in Hong Kong is seen as troublesome and untamed. Apple Daily upsets Beijing Apple Daily is particularly irksome. It has declared the public consultation document a sham and campaigns vigorously for 'true democracy'. It seems to have informers everywhere and no back-room deal is safe. It takes a shrill attitude to official malfeasance. It supports pro-democracy politicians, the Occupy Central planners and the student movement Scholarium which opposes patriotic education. It ridicules pro-Beijing politicians. It vilifies Hong Kong's compromised tycoons who have pulled out about HK$100m in annual advertising from the paper. It refuses to die or go away. In the Chinese University's annual media credibility survey conducted since the handover, the South China Morning Post and the Ming Pao Daily consistently lead the rankings. In the latest survey, Ming Pao slipped to third place below the Hong Kong Economic Journal. 'Grey Lady' Unloved by Owner South China Morning Post is the "grey lady" of Hong Kong. It has been the paper of record for 110 years. It is sober and staid. Malaysia sugar tycoon Robert Kuok's purchase of the paper from Rupert Murdoch in 1993 was hailed as a major coup by a friend of Beijing. Kuok has expanding hotel, property and other interests across China. Kuok terminated journalists who failed to heed the new order. Cartoonist Larry Feign's gag-a-day World of Lily Wong series, which ran for eight years on page 2 of the SCMP, was stopped in May 1995 after his graphic take on harvesting executed prisoners' organs for sale to rich patients in need of transplants. Lame justifications such as budget cuts made by editor Jonathan Fenby were believed by none in the newsroom, nor indeed, by himself. Willy Lam Wo-Lap served the paper for 12 years. He was China editor for a decade. Willy had the uncanny ability to get "fly on the wall" intelligence about sensitive gatherings of civilian and military chiefs in Beijing. His disclosures were astonishing. No one knew where they came from. His reporting was resented by Beijing but never challenged for accuracy. They made the SCMP editors and proprietor cringe. Willy triggered an acrimonious carpeting of editor Robert Keatley by a livid Robert Kuok, for his front page commentary on the high-profile banqueting of 30 selected Hong Kong tycoons in mid-2000 by president Jiang Zemin in Beijing. Willy said it was a quid-pro-quo barter of access to China business for support on political development in Hong Kong. It was, as Willy saw it, a tycoon mission to sell out Hong Kong for private profit. He resigned in 2000. A train of 11 editors wheeled through SCMP in rapid succession over 20 years. Western editors were deemed not to understand the "China factor" in the media equation. Advisors, editors and CEOs from Malaysia and Singapore with appeasement expertise were imported, to little effect. Finally, almost in despair, China editor Wang Xiangwei from the Beijing bureau was promoted to editor-in-chief in 2012. He had the ultimate credentials to satisfy Beijing: former staffer at state-owned China Daily and former member of Jilin Province's Political Consultative Congress. Baptism of Fire Wang got fire-bombed by newsroom staff and international media when he returned past midnight to remove a first edition story on the death in custody of a dissident re-arrested for speaking to a Hong Kong TV station. Chinese prison authorities claimed Li Wangyang committed suicide by hanging himself. His family said that was preposterous as the man was blind, almost deaf and could hardly walk without assistance – from previous prolonged abuse in custody. Editor Wang had reduced the tragedy to a 100-word brief for the final edition while the story ran prominently in other Hong Kong papers. He was shocked by the domestic and global fury over his intervention, admitting that it was "a bad call." He pledged to stay true to the paper's benchmarks of journalism and its readers' expectations. The SCMP continues to serve robust China news and commentary even if its editorials seem overly cautious and tentative. A 110-year journalistic tradition seems difficult to snuff out even after 20 years of self-censorship and with a mainlander in the editor's chair. Kuok bought a 35 percent controlling stake of the paper in 1993 at HK$8 per share. It now stands at HK$1.88. The share value has shrunk 77% in 20 years. Without China publishing access, potential investors do not see growth prospects. It is ripe for takeover by China proxies. Even red capital would think twice about paying more than its current market value – while Kuok cannot sell for less than he paid for it. Ming Pao Switches Editor Ming Pao Daily is currently mired in controversy over the replacement of its editor Kevin Lau Chun-to by a Malaysian, Chong Tien-siong, who previously was chief editor of the Nanyang Siang Pau in Singapore. Chong was cited by SCMP as advocating compulsory patriotic education for Hong Kong – shelved last year after outraged parents marched on the streets to reject political indoctrination in schools. Under Lau as chief editor since 2012, Ming Pao broke the story of chief executive hopeful Henry Tang's undeclared illegal structures below his home. That torpedoed his bid. It then discovered that C Y Leung who rubbished Henry, also had undeclared illegal structures at his home on the Peak. Ming Pao also gave extensive coverage to the failed bid for a TV license by HKTV – after its principal was invited by a senior government official to apply. There is suspicion that Beijing is unenthusiastic about expanding mass media franchises it cannot directly control. Most recently, the paper participated in an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, into offshore billions stashed away by politically connected elites in the PRC and Hong Kong. Officials at the highest level of the Communist Party were implicated. Sin Wan-kei of the "Ming Pao Concern Group" declared that editor Lau "resisted pressure from the invisible hands who try to meddle in the newsroom at critical moments." The majority of Ming Pao's 270 editorial staff signed a petition demanding an explanation from management and assurances of journalistic integrity. A spokeswoman for the management reiterated media independence for the paper and said there was no change to editorial policy. Ming Pao was founded in 1959 by Louis Cha, prolific author of highly popular martial arts novels. Tiong Hiew King, a Sarawak-Malaysian tycoon with vast timber, oil and gas interests in Borneo, Myanmar, Fiji, China and Africa bought a controlling stake in Ming Pao Group in 1995. Together with his consolidated Chinese media holdings in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Canada and the USA, Tiong is probably the world's largest and richest international Chinese press baron. Such concentration of mass media ownership brings influence and also political obligations which the tycoon fully appreciates. His papers are facing reader and advertiser resentment in Malaysia after rooting for the race-baiting UMNO ruling party during the 2013 GE. His investments in China are vast and growing too. The removal of Kevin Lau as chief editor fits a business-first pattern. Co-opting Tycoons and Media Owners Beijing has systematically co-opted tycoons and media owners from Hong Kong into various advisory bodies and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). A number have even served on the National People's Congress (NPC). Most have significant business interests on the mainland. The advisory bodies have negligible influence on PRC politics but are useful badges of access for business deals. Apart from Apple Daily being punished by withdrawal of advertising, free newspaper AM730 boss Shih Wing-ching also complained last month that advertising budgets were being cut by mainland companies and his paper was under financial stress. Shih said his journalists would not be censored. He runs the successful Centaline and Ricacorp property agency businesses. When the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) assembled evidence in 1996 to prosecute Sally Au Sian of Sing Tao Group for fraud and corrupt practices at her English language newspaper the Hong Kong Standard, her membership of the NPC was thought to have saved her from being charged. Elsie Leung, then Secretary for Justice claimed insufficient evidence and 'public interest' for not prosecuting Au. A former secretary and two other staffers were charged and sent to jail instead. Alan Armsden, then publisher of the Standard, bolted to his native Australia in good time. RTHK Next? Pro-Beijing forces have been clamoring for RTHK to be brought to heel like radio and TV on the mainland. They simply cannot fathom how a government station can allow diversity of opinion and debate which did not glorify the administration. A career civil servant Roy Tang with no media experience, was appointed to head RTHK in 2011 to appease the Beijing lobbyists. After proposing that RTHK be turned into an independent public service broadcaster in 2009, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau which originally proposed it, substituted a charter in 2011 redefining RTHK's mission to include promoting 'one country, two systems' under China. The RTHK staff union and the Hong Kong Journalists Association have cited instances of political interference by Roy Tang to turn RTHK into a pro-Beijing government mouthpiece. Roy Tang discontinued the contracts of two popular talk-show hosts in November 2011 but the introduction of a new 'Face to Face' format with an aggressive interviewer has somewhat allayed public fears of wholesale capitulation. The broadcaster operates under a 'framework of reference' as a government department, not an independent charter like the BBC in the UK or NHK in Japan. It enjoys no legislative protection and is open to administrative manipulation. RTHong Kong remains vulnerable. When the pro-Beijing camp attacked the broadcaster after the handover in 1997, then chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-san vigorously defended it, urging its journalists to "continue to write editorials that deserve to be written responsibly, without fear or favor". She prophetically added "How well RTHK does its job will, to a large extent, decide how our other freedoms will be protected." Legislation to Checkmate Media? Other Singapore-proven weapons Beijing may wish to deploy are press licensing and media legislation to criminalize investigative journalism in politics. For that it needs to pass security laws which can be used to intimidate journalists and citizens with sedition and to close down non-conforming press on national security grounds. The reason more than half a million Hong Kong citizens took to the streets in 2003 was precisely their distrust of the intent of the Article 23 Security Bill which the CH Tung administration declared would be passed into law. Regina Ip as Secretary for Security championed the Bill in a spectacular strutting display to impress Beijing. When the scheme fell apart on the outrage of citizens on the streets, she resigned but is now back as an elected legislator and executive council member, heading the New Peoples Party. The Security Bill hovers in the background waiting for the other chess pieces to be moved into place before Hong Kong is checkmated. Is that surprising? The CCP has failed to honor China's own Constitution since 1954 and the current 1982 version which guarantees rights of citizens to freedom of speech, press, assembly and demonstration along with a 2004 amendment which protects human rights. The 1982 Constitution also explicitly states that it is supreme over all organizations and individuals in the PRC. One reads that as including the Party. The Stalinist absolute power model so admired by Mao Zedong stays resolutely in place in defiance of China's Constitution. There is continuing unresolved debate between scholars and reformers against ideologues, on whether the Party should be above the Constitution or subordinate to it. However, when that debate moves into activism, champions like Xu Zhiyong get sent off to the Gulag for asking that citizens' Constitutional rights be enforced. His family and friends get persecuted too. The 'foreign forces' argument is advanced to justify this persecution: foreigners will use China's Constitution to undermine its progress. Xu Zhiyong is an agent of foreign powers. That settles state terror on citizens. The Party remains glorious and above the law. The post China Leans on Hong Kong's Press appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Bangladesh Garment Factories Intimidate Workers Over Unions: Group Posted: 06 Feb 2014 09:34 PM PST Employees work in a factory of Babylon Garments in Dhaka Jan. 3, 2014. On the outskirts of Dhaka, Babylon Garments has shortened work shifts to eight hours from the usual 10 and plans to shutter production lines as months of election-related violence disrupts transport and prompts global retailers to curb orders. (Photo: Reuters) DHAKA — Bangladeshi garment factory owners use beatings, the threat of murder and sexual intimidation to stop workers from forming trade unions, a human rights group said on Thursday. Bangladesh amended its labor law in July to boost worker rights, including the freedom to form trade unions, after a factory complex collapsed in April killing more than 1,100 garment workers, sparking debate over safety and rights. But New York-based Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 47 workers in 21 factories in and around the capital, Dhaka, from October and it said many of the workers described abusive practices. "The workers claimed that some managers intimidate and mistreat employees involved in setting up unions, including threatening to kill them," the rights group said in a statement. "Some union organizers said they were beaten up, and others said they had lost their jobs or had been forced to resign. Factory owners sometimes used local gangsters to threaten or attack workers outside the workplace, including at their homes, they said." Rock bottom wages and trade deals with Western countries have turned Bangladesh's garments sector into a US$22 billion industry, that accounts for four-fifths of its exports. In June, US President Barack Obama cut off US trade benefits for Bangladesh in a mostly symbolic response to conditions in its garment sector, given that clothing is not eligible for US duty cuts. Human Rights Watch said one woman said that when workers in her factory presented their union registration forms to the company owner, he threw it in a dustbin then threatened them, saying he would never allow union membership. Two of her fellow organizers were later attacked by unidentified assailants, one with cutting shears, she said. Two weeks later, a group of men, including a known gangster and the factory owner's brother, visited her home and threatened her. She agreed to resign. Many female workers said they received threats or insults of a sexual nature, the rights group said. Officials at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association were not available for comment. A government official said he had not seen the rights group's report but said worker rights were improving. "We are actively working to improve workers' rights after Rana Plaza incident and have made significant development," Labor Secretary Mikail Shipar said, referring to the collapse of the factory complex last year. "After amendment of the Labor Law, 99 trade unions have so far been registered," he said. "Sixteen trade unions complained against their owners and we are investigating this." Bangladesh was been under pressure to adopt a better Labor Law after the European Union, which gives preferential access to the country's garment industry, threatened punitive measures if it did not improve worker safety standards. The post Bangladesh Garment Factories Intimidate Workers Over Unions: Group appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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