The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Burma’s Thein Sein Pays Visit to Kachin State
• Dawei Village to Sue Thai Mining Firm Over Environmental Impacts
• Malaysia Plane Search Straddles Continent as Police Focus on Crew
• Burma Opium Fight Failing; Soldiers Shooting Up
• Burma President Approves Consumer Protection Law
• Wirathu Joins Arakanese Protest Against Census
• Mangrove Campaigners Slapped With Protest Law Charges
• Hollywood Calling for New Burmese Film
• Burma Clampdown Gathers Pace as Legislation Passed
• In China, Michelle Obama to Stay Firmly in ‘Mom-in-Chief’ Mode
• Indonesia Starts Election Campaign, Voters Set to Choose Radical Change
• ‘Good Night’: Haunting Final Contact From Missing Malaysian Jet

Burma’s Thein Sein Pays Visit to Kachin State Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:16 AM PDT Burma President Thein Sein visits Kachin State this weekend.(Photo: The President's Office) During his first-ever visit to the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina on Sunday, President Thein Sein told residents he wanted a "lasting peace" in Burma's northernmost state, and insisted that the Burma Army is in full support of the country's peace process. State-run newspapers on Monday reported that the president offered symbolic support to a handful of the thousands of people in the state displaced by fighting between the government army, known as the Tatmadaw, and ethnic rebels. Thein Sein, who was joined by Tatmadaw Commander in Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, as well as members of his Cabinet, also met with Christian and Buddhist religious leaders, politicians and other Kachin figures. Hkalam Samson, the secretary of Kachin Baptist Church, told The Irrawaddy that he thanked the president for his "remarkable decision to suspend Myitsone hydropower project, and his efforts to have political solution by ending the war in Kachin." The president froze the massive Chinese-backed dam development on the Irrawaddy River in 2011 amid widespread public fears about its environmental and social impacts. Kachin religious leaders met with the president for 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon, he said. However, Hkalam Samson said, the president did not fully address the issue of those displaced since a ceasefire between the government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) broke down in 2012. More than 100,000 people are still living in temporary camps after they fled their homes during fighting. Hkalam Samson said he personally had less than 2 minutes to raise issues with the president, in which time he was able to "demand the immediate implementation of the federal union which the ethnic groups are demanding." Kachin politicians also welcomed the president's visit, which was originally scheduled for last year, but was canceled due to bad weather. Dwebu, a Kachin parliamentarian in Naypyidaw, said Thein Sein's visit was welcome, but overdue. "It should have happened long ago," she said, adding that it was important for the head of state to show his support for those affected by Burma's conflicts. She said leaders from the KIA's political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), often visited those affected by the violence in Kachin. Dwebu also contrasted Thein Sein's visit to Kachin with a similar visit last year by his political rival, parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, who, she said, spent more time listening to residents' concerns. Dr. Manam Tu Ja, the chairman of Kachin State Democracy Party, said Thein Sein explained what his administration—a quasi-civilian government that took over from Burma's military regime in 2011—had done for peace and development in the country. "We, the audience, listened to the president's speech at the town hall," he said. "It was a very limited time that he had, but it was a good meeting." The KIO is one of only a handful of ethnic armed groups that is still engaged in fighting with the Burma Army. The government is pushing to have a nationwide ceasefire agreement signed by almost all the armed groups, but the process has suffered delays. David Takapaw, an ethnic Karen leader and vice-chairman of the United Nationalities Federation Council, an alliance of rebel groups, was skeptical about the government delegation's visit to Kachin. He praised the presence of Min Aung Hlaing alongside the president, showing unity between the executive branch of government and the military. Clashes in recent years in the north of Burma have led many to speculate that the president is not fully in control of the army. However, said David Takapaw, "peace cannot be done for show only, the Parliament and the military must give full authority to the executive body on this." The post Burma's Thein Sein Pays Visit to Kachin State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Dawei Village to Sue Thai Mining Firm Over Environmental Impacts Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:06 AM PDT The Heinda tin mine, run by Thai firm Myanmar Pongpipat Company Ltd, has created a huge, dusty wasteland cut out of the Tenasserim Hills. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Villagers in Tenasserim Division's Dawei District announced they will file a legal complaint against a Thai company and a Burmese government firm operating the Heinda tin mine, in order to seek compensation for severe environmental damage to their farmlands caused by the mine's wastewater. In a press release Sunday, disseminated by US campaign group Earth Rights International, residents of Myaung Pyo village said they would complain to Dawei District Court over the operations of Thailand's Myanmar Pongpipat Company and state-owned Mining Enterprise 2, which falls under the Ministry of Mining. The inhabitants of the ethnic Dawei village said their lands have been affected by increasing amounts of wastewater ever since Myanmar Pongpipat took over the Heinda mine. The Thai firm signed a production-sharing contract with Mining Enterprise 2 in 1999 and reportedly holds rights to 65 percent of produced tin and tungsten, which is transported to nearby Thailand for processing. "[C]reeks and rivers got shallow, many species of plants and animals went extinct and many of our plantations, houses, wells and religious buildings were destroyed due to waste and sediment," villagers said in a release. "In 2012, there was more flooding causing further destruction of houses, plantations and water sources along the Myaung Pyo creek, which is now filled with waste and sediment from the mining project." Myaung Pyo is the worst affected of about 10 villages that suffer from the direct environmental impacts of the huge tin-ore mining operations, located about 25 km east of Dawei town in Myitta Township. The village of about 100 families is located in a lush valley in the Tenasserim Hills and mining operations at Heinda, located on a mountaintop about 2 kilometers away, produce a continuous run-off of mud-filled water that flows into a stream passing by Myaung Pyo village. During a visit by Irrawaddy reporters late last year, the creek and swathes of farmland had been covered by an expanding mud plain, about a kilometer wide, which had reached the edge of the village, where an earthen wall had been built to protect local homes. Runoff from the mine, however, seeped through the wall and residents had dug a network of small trenches to channel putrid, black waste water around their bamboo and thatched-roof homes. The impoverished families complained of a sharp drop in income due to a loss of farmland, while their health suffered from a lack of drinking water because wells had been contaminated by wastewater. The villagers said they filed numerous complaints with the Thai firm, local authorities and the Karen National Union (KNU)—an ethnic rebel group that controls the mountain territory around the mine—but demands to end the pollution and receive compensation for loss of land were ignored. On Sunday, the villagers said they would now "seek justice and ask that our rights be respected in a peaceful way by filing a court case to No. (2) Mining Enterprise and Myanmar Pongpipat company Ltd. who are responsible for damages in our village." Thant Zin, a coordinator with the Dawei Development Association (DDA), a local NGO that supports community rights initiatives in Dawei District, said a lawyer of the villagers had first contacted the Thai firm in July last year, but the company had referred their complaints to local authorities. "So … the villagers decided to sue the company and Mining Enterprise 2," he told The Irrawaddy by phone on Monday. "It's the best way to claim compensation… because the government and company neglected their complaints for many years. This is their last resort," said Thant Zin, adding that villagers expected to file the complaint with Dawei District Court by late March. It remains to be seen what will happen to the case, however. Burma's judiciary has often been criticized for lacking independence and being susceptible to corruption. The Tenasserim range, running north-south along the Burma-Thai border, is rich in mineral wealth, and tin and tungsten deposits have been mined at Heinda and other sites from British colonial times. Until the signing of a 2012 ceasefire, the KNU fought a decades-long insurgency in the densely forested range, leaving the area inaccessible and largely uncharted. Since Burma began opening up under a reformist government in 2011, numerous foreign mining firms have shown an interest in exploring the country's remote regions, including the Tenasserim Hills. Although a lack of progress on reforming the 1994 Mining Law and long processing times for mining license applications have reportedly dampened investors' enthusiasm The Tenasserim Division Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that more than 50 mining companies have applied for a government license to explore for tin, tungsten, lead, coal and gold reserves in the southern range. Currently, 10 firms are licensed to carrying out mining and prospecting operations in the area. Indonesian state-owned mining giant PT Timah told media in January that it expected to begin exploration of a 10,000-hectare mining concession in Tenasserim Division in June and mining operations in early 2015. The planned increase in mining activities in the range has raised local fears over the future projects' environmental and social impacts. Thant Zin of DDA said the court case against the firms operating the Heinda Mine served to send a signal to mining companies looking to exploit mineral reserves in the Tenasserim Hills. "The Heinda Mine is the biggest mine in the area, so if they don't follow the rules, why should other companies?" he said. "We hope this case can be a warning to other mining companies." The post Dawei Village to Sue Thai Mining Firm Over Environmental Impacts appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Malaysia Plane Search Straddles Continent as Police Focus on Crew Posted: 17 Mar 2014 04:44 AM PDT A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 rests at a meeting hall at Lido Hotel in Beijing, March 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) KUALA LUMPUR/SYDNEY — Australia took charge on Monday of scouring the southern Indian Ocean for a missing passenger jet and Malaysia requested radar data from countries stretching as far as central Asia, amid mounting evidence the plane’s disappearance was meticulously planned. No trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found since it vanished on March 8 with 239 people aboard. Investigators are increasingly convinced it was diverted perhaps thousands of miles off course by someone with deep knowledge of the Boeing 777-200ER and commercial navigation. Suspicions of hijacking or sabotage hardened further after it was confirmed the last radio message from the cockpit – an informal "all right, good night" – was spoken after someone had begun disabling one of the plane’s automatic tracking systems. But police and a multi-national investigation team may never know for sure what happened in the cockpit unless they find the plane, and that in itself is a daunting challenge. Satellite data suggests the plane could be anywhere in either of two vast corridors that arc through much of Asia: one stretching north from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan, the other south from Indonesia into the Indian Ocean west of Australia. China, which has been vocal in its impatience with Malaysian efforts to find the plane, called on its smaller neighbor to "immediately" expand and clarify the scope of the search. About two-thirds of the passengers aboard MH370 were Chinese. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had spoken to Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak by telephone, and had offered more surveillance resources in addition to the two P-3C Orion aircraft his country has already committed. "He asked that Australia take responsibility for the search in the southern vector, which the Malaysian authorities now think was one possible flight path for this ill-fated aircraft," Abbott told parliament. "I agreed that we would do so." Malaysia’s transport ministry said in a statement on Monday it had sent diplomatic notes to all countries along the northern and southern search corridors, requesting radar and satellite information as well as land, sea and air search operations. The Malaysian navy and air force was also searching the southern corridor, it said. Focus on Crew The plane’s disappearance has baffled investigators and aviation experts. It disappeared from civilian air traffic control screens off Malaysia’s east coast less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Malaysian authorities believe that, as the plane crossed the northeast coast and flew across the Gulf of Thailand, someone on board shut off its communications systems and turned sharply to the west. That has focused attention on the crew. Malaysian police are trawling through the backgrounds of the pilots, flight and ground staff for any clues to a possible motive in what they say is now being treated as a criminal investigation. The last words from the cockpit of the missing plane were spoken as it was leaving Malaysian-run airspace and being handed over to air traffic controllers in Vietnam. The sign-off came after one of the plane’s data communication systems, which would have enabled it to be tracked beyond radar coverage, had been switched off, Malaysia’s Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Sunday. "The answer to your question is yes, it was disabled before," he told reporters when asked if the ACARS system – a maintenance computer that relays data on the plane’s status – had been shut down before the "all right, good night" sign-off. It is not known who on board spoke those words, which were first revealed last week. The informal hand-off went against standard radio procedures, which would have called for the speaker to read back instructions for contacting the next control center and include the aircraft’s call sign, said Hugh Dibley, a former British Airways pilot and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Investigators are likely to examine the recording for any signs of psychological stress and to determine the speaker’s identity to confirm whether the flight deck had been taken over by hijackers or the pilot himself was involved, he said. Homes Searched Police special branch officers searched the homes of the captain, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and first officer, 27-year-old Fariq Abdul Hamid, in middle-class suburbs of Kuala Lumpur close to the international airport on Saturday. Among the items taken for examination was a flight simulator Zaharie had built in his home. A senior police official familiar with the investigation said the flight simulator programs were closely examined, adding they appeared to be normal ones that allow users to practice flying and landing in different conditions. A second senior police official with knowledge of the investigation said they had found no evidence of a link between the pilots and any militant group. "Based on what we have so far, we cannot see the terrorism link here," he said. "We looked at known terror or extremist groups in Southeast Asia, the links are not there." Background checks are also being made on the 227 passengers on the flight, including aviation engineer Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, a 29-year-old Malaysian who worked for a private jet charter company. "The focus is on anyone else who might have had aviation skills on that plane," the second police source told Reuters. As an engineer specializing in executive jets, Khairul would not necessarily have all the knowledge needed to divert and fly a large jetliner. North or South? Electronic signals the plane continued to exchange periodically with satellites suggest it could have continued flying for about six hours after moving out of range of Malaysian military radar off the northwest coast, following a commercial aviation route across the Andaman Sea towards India. The plane had enough fuel to fly for a total of about seven-and-a-half to eight hours, Malaysia Airlines’ Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said on Sunday. Twenty-six countries are involved in the search, stretching from the shores of the former Soviet republics of central Asia to the far south of the Indian Ocean. Three French civil aviation experts who were involved in the search for an Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic in 2009 arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday to join the growing international search and investigation team. A source familiar with official U.S. assessments of satellite data being used to try and find the plane said it was believed most likely it turned south sometime after the last sighting by Malaysian military radar, and may have run out of fuel over the Indian Ocean. The Malaysian government-controlled New Straits Times on Monday quoted sources close to the investigation as saying data collected was pointing instead towards the northern corridor. Investigators were also looking at disused airfields in the region with runways capable of handling a large passenger aircraft such as the Boeing 777, the paper said. The New Straits Times also said that the plane dropped to an altitude of 5,000 ft (1,525 meters) or lower, using a low-flying technique known as "terrain masking" to defeat civilian radar coverage after turning back from its scheduled flight path. The reports could not be immediately verified. The post Malaysia Plane Search Straddles Continent as Police Focus on Crew appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Opium Fight Failing; Soldiers Shooting Up Posted: 17 Mar 2014 04:36 AM PDT A Taang National Liberation Army soldier displays poppy plants as the army destroys an opium field near Loimgmain village in northern Shan state on Jan. 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) NAMPATKA, Burma — Every morning, more than 100 heroin and opium addicts descend on the graveyard in this northeastern Burma village to get high. When authorities show up, it's for their own quick fix: Soldiers and police roll up the sleeves of their dark green uniforms, seemingly oblivious to passers-by. Nearby, junkies lean on white tombstones, tossing dirty needles and syringes into the dry, golden grass. Others squat on the ground, sucking from crude pipes fashioned from plastic water bottles. Together with other opium-growing regions of Burma, the village of Nampakta has seen an astonishing breakdown of law and order since generals from the former military-run country handed power to a nominally civilian government three years ago. The drug trade—and addiction—is running wild along the jagged frontier. In this village, roughly half the population uses. "It's all in the open now," Daw Li said at the cemetery, wiping tears from her cheeks. As she stood before the graves of her two oldest sons, both victims of heroin overdoses, she could see addicts using drugs. "Everyone used to hide in their houses. They'd be secretive," the 58-year-old widow said. "Now the dealers deal, the junkies shoot up. They couldn't care less if someone is watching. "Why isn't anyone trying to stop this?" Burma was the world's biggest producer of opium, the main ingredient in heroin, until 2003. The government spent millions on poppy eradication, and drug syndicates began focusing more on the manufacturing methamphetamines. But within just a few years, poppy production started picking up. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates the country produced 870 tons of opium last year, a 26 percent increase over 2012 and the highest figure recorded in a decade. During the same period, drug eradication efforts plunged. President Thein Sein's spokesman, Ye Htut, indicated the decrease was linked to efforts to forge peace with dozens of ethnic rebel insurgencies that control the vast majority of the poppy-growing territory. Nearly a dozen ceasefire agreements have been signed with various groups, but several insurgencies, including the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, continue to hold out. If Thein Sein goes after the rebels' main source of income, the drug trade, he risks alienating them at a delicate time. But many opium-growing towns and villages, including Nampakta, are under government control. Here, authorities are in a position to crack down but have chosen not to. "When I first assumed this post, I said to my bosses, 'We need to take action to stop drugs,'" said a senior official in Nampatka who spoke to The Associated Press on condition he not be named because he feared retribution. "I was told, quite flatly, 'Mind your own business.'" He said every family in the village is now affected: "Half the population of 8,000 uses. It's not just opium or heroin anymore, but methamphetamines." Ye Htut said methamphetamines are currently a bigger problem for Burma than opium, with the precursor chemicals flooding into the country from neighboring India, but that several recent drug busts show the government is taking law enforcement seriously. Those seizures focused primarily on meth, including the reported seizure of 1 million tablets in Rangoon this month. Though the government eradicated only about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of opium poppies last year, barely half the total of 2012, Ye Htut said he is hopeful future poppy eradication efforts—this time with the help of the United States—will be more successful. He said sanctions imposed on the country when it was under military rule made it difficult to finance crop alternatives for poor poppy-growing farmers. The No. 123 Infantry army base and several police posts overlook waves of white and pink poppies in full bloom on both sides of the dusty road leading to Nampakta, blanketing the sloping valleys and jagged peaks as far as the eye can see. Farmers living in wooden huts dotting the landscape say the crops are patrolled by government-aligned civil militias known as Pyi Thu Sit, which hold sway over many parts of Shan and Kachin states, the country's biggest producers of opium. Jason Eligh, country manager of the UNODC, said pretty much anyone with a gun has a role to play. The militias force farmers to grow poppies, lend them money for seeds, protect fields from being eradicated and ensure that buyers collect the opium and get it to market, collecting fees every step of the way. Soldiers and police, in exchange for turning a blind eye, get a piece of the cut, the official in Nampakta said. Dealers hanging out at the graveyard, on street corners and behind hillside homes pay security forces to leave them alone, he said, adding that some soldiers and police prefer to receive drugs as payment. Police work is how Naw San, a former narcotics officer, says he became a drug addict. "Whenever we were trying to get to the drug dealers, we had to pretend we were drug addicts to make sure they didn't recognize us as police," the 32-year-old said from The Light of the World Rehabilitation Center, a Baptist facility where he had checked in three days earlier with his wife, also an addict, and their 2-year-old daughter. The girl, Tsaw Tsaw, is happy, easygoing and possibly unaware that both her parents are so weak they can't even hold her. A volunteer at the center helps care for the child. Naw San said he is trying to overcome his addiction for her daughter's sake and that of his parents, who had once hoped he would go to theological school. "My younger brother died already because of drugs and my other brother barely seems human anymore. I am the only one left for my mother to give her hope," he said. "I hope I will go forward with God and I will serve him. I pray for that." Many residents say they are sick of seeing their community ripped apart by drugs, though growing opium is one of the few ways people can make money in impoverished rural areas such as Nampakta. More than a billion dollars in development aid has poured into Burma, but it has been spent mainly in urban centers and other more accessible areas. Now some residents in opium country would prefer to see the crops destroyed. Daw Li, the woman who lost two sons to drugs, one 32 and the other 28, worries that it's only a matter of time before her youngest, now 25, follows them to the grave. "I expected my children to be great," she cried. She said her boys started doing drugs after graduating from high school, but she had no idea at first. They hid it well. But then money started disappearing, and after that, household items such as blankets and dishes that she presumes they sold to buy drugs. Later she hid in neighbors' homes, worried that her sons might attack her if she refused to give them money. "There is nothing I can say except that it makes me so sad, and angry," she says. "At the drug dealers, at their friends, at myself, but also, of course, at authorities who aren't doing a thing to stop it. "Now whenever I see young addicts on the streets, all I can say is, 'Please, don't use drugs anymore. Look at me, an old lady who lost two sons. Your parents will also feel so sad, just like me.'" The message is lost on those who loiter in the graveyard in the center of the village, the most popular hangout for addicts. The village tallies deaths almost every week. Days before an Associated Press team visited the area, four men between 18 and 45 died of drug overdoses. The body of the youngest was found in the graveyard, draped over a tombstone. The post Burma Opium Fight Failing; Soldiers Shooting Up appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma President Approves Consumer Protection Law Posted: 17 Mar 2014 03:55 AM PDT A wholesaler sells fish paste in Rangoon's Lanmadaw Township. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma President Thein Sein has approved the country's first Consumer Protection Law, which it is hoped will address widespread concerns about unsafe ingredients in food and beverage products on sale in Burma. State media said Monday that the law, which was submitted in September and finally passed by the Union Parliament on Friday, had been signed off by the president. The law, which includes 12 chapters and 31 sections, covers the rights and responsibilities of both consumers and manufacturers, and lists prohibitions for manufacturers. It sets out how a Committee for Consumer Protection will function, and describes a dispute resolution and sanctions regime. In the absence of any law up to now protecting consumers, there have been public fears about the safety of foodstuffs in Burma. A nongovernmental Consumer Protection Association (CPA) has conducted its own testing on products, and claims to have identified poor quality imported palm oil, fish paste with high urea content and a potentially dangerous fungus in locally made potato chips and soft drinks. The government's Ministry of Health has a Food and Drug Administration, but the poorly resourced agency has struggled to keep watch over the large number of local and imported good on sale in Burma. Ba Oak Khine, chairman of the Rangoon-based CPA, told The Irrawaddy that it was a positive that the law had been passed, but said he was concerned about how it would be enforced. "The Consumer Protection Law has been approved by the President now, so it's better than nothing," he said. "The government has been approved many laws in recent years, but we need better law enforcement rather than just approving many laws. We want the government to take action seriously about consumer protection issues." Ba Oak Khine said he was particularly concerned about products imported to Burma from China. There, he said, manufacturers may not be subject to stringent food safety standards, and therefore dangerous products could be making onto Burmese shelves. The new law states that the Committee for Consumer Protection will include the Minister of Commerce, senior representatives of other relevant ministries, representatives of civil society and experts. "If the government invites us to work with them for consumer protection affairs, we're ready to work with them," said Ba Oak Khine, adding that the government had not yet contacted his organization about sitting on the committee. According to the law, consumers have a right to expect safe products from manufacturers, and can complain to the committee if they are not satisfied with a product. It also says consumers must not publicize concerns about a product without first having good evidence to back up their concerns, including on social media. The law includes punishments of up to three years in jail and fines of up to 5 million kyat for manufacturers who distribute unsafe products. Dr. Nyo Nyo Thin, a member of the Rangoon Regional Parliament, said consumers in Burma were worse off than other regional countries in terms of protections. "With products and services here, we have no rights. We can't compare the consumer protection situation with neighboring countries. But the law has been approved now, so it may gradually get better soon," she said. "But the law enforcement is more essential in Burma. Punishments should be serious for manufacturers who break the law. Even in China, the maximum sentence for [breaching] consumer protection rules is a life sentence. Here, the punishment is still really weak." The post Burma President Approves Consumer Protection Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Wirathu Joins Arakanese Protest Against Census Posted: 17 Mar 2014 03:39 AM PDT U Wirathu is received by the Arakanese community in Ponnagyun Township last week. (Photo: virathu.com) RANGOON — Nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu visited strife-torn Arakan State and joined large protests against the upcoming census over the weekend. Local Arakanese Buddhists oppose the census because it will allow the stateless Rohingya minority to register their ethnic identity as they wish. On Sunday, protests against the UN-supported census where held in nine townships in Arakan State. U Wirathu, who heads the controversial 969 movement, which is accused of spreading hate speech against Muslims, told The Irrawaddy he participated in order to voice support for the protests. "I joined the protest in Myebon [Township] and encouraged protesters because there is no such Rohingya name in our country," he claimed. "But they are trying to create and have this this name—it is not fair." Arakanese politicians and many among the Buddhist community have expressed anger over the fact that the census offers the Muslim minority the opportunity to choose an ethnicity as they wish, in accordance with international census standards. Arakanese MPs said they opposed these standards for collecting census data as it seems to contradict the government position that there is no Rohingya group in Burma. "It's time they make a clear statement about whether this government will use the Rohingya name or not in the census list, because otherwise there will be more protest in our region," said Pe Than, a MP with the recently formed Arakan National Party. He said the Arakanese community would decide to boycott the census if their grievances are not addressed, adding that the Muslim minority should only be registered under the name "Bengalis." Nyo Aye, an Arakanese women's activist who helped organize Sunday's protest, also said the Arakanese community would reject the census unless its data collection methodology is changed. "If there is no response from the government … we are ready to boycott the census," she said. The census, organized with the help of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), will start at the end of March and requires respondents to select their ethnicity and religion. They can choose an ethnicity from a classification list of 135 minorities drawn up in the 1982 Citizenship Law by the then-military government. The Rohingya are omitted from the list and set apart as a group without citizenship called "Bengalis," to suggest most are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims claim nonetheless, that they have lived in northern Arakan State for generations. The UNFPA has said that respondents who do not identify with one of the 135 ethnicities can describe themselves as "other" and orally report their desired ethnic affiliations to the enumerator. These responses would later be sub-coded during data processing. This option would allow Rohingyas to register their ethnic identity as they wish. Minister of Immigration and Population Khin Ye reportedly told the Arakanese MPs that he could not change the census procedures, but assured them that it would not change the government's position regarding the Rohingyas. Government data from 2010 put Arakan State's population at about 3.34 million people, of which the Muslim population accounts for 29 percent. Many local Arakanese Buddhists worry that government recognition of the Rohingya population would precede an eventual shift in demographics in Arakan State, and with that a loss of political power and cultural identity. U Wirathu said he first arrived in the state capital Sittwe on March 10 and has since held a number of sermons for the Arakanese Buddhists in Kyauktaw and Pauktaw, Ponnagyun townships. The monk said he would give another sermon in Thandwe town in southern Arakan on Monday night. Thandwe was the scene of the most recent outbreak of anti-Muslim violence, in October. At the time, the local Kaman Muslims—who, unlike the Rohingyas, are citizens of Burma—have complained that the violence was whipped up by visiting 969 monks. U Wirathu said he had been welcomed by the Arakanese Buddhist community, adding that he instructed them during his sermons to become more media-savvy when expressing their views on the inter-communal conflict with the Rohingyas. "I told them they need more media training, so, they will know how to handle the media. I even told them how media plays an important role," the Mandalay-based monk said. Asked if his anti-Muslim sermons risks inflaming tensions in the volatile region, Wirathu said, "Where ever I go, there has been no problem. I tell people to solve conflict within the rule of law." The post Wirathu Joins Arakanese Protest Against Census appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Mangrove Campaigners Slapped With Protest Law Charges Posted: 17 Mar 2014 03:29 AM PDT Ye Lwin, a bassist of the Medium Wave music band and a founder of Pan-yet Lan humanitarian group, holds a placard urging the government to abolish restrictive laws. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Four people are facing charges under Burma's controversial protest law after holding public talks about environmental conservation in Irrawaddy Division's Dedaye Township, according to the accused. "We went to different villages and explained to locals that environmental conservation is important and so are mangrove forests for people living by the sea, but we were charged with Article 18 by the Kyonedar police station, which said it was at the directive of the township administrator and police chief," Htun Htun Oo, a member of the Human Rights Watch and Defense Network (HRWDN) and a defendant, told The Irrawaddy. Article 18 of Burma's Peaceful Assembly Law, which was enacted in December 2011, states that activists need government permission to hold a protest. Organizing a protest without permission can result in a maximum sentence of one year's imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of 30,000 kyats [US$30] or both. Parliament's Lower House on March 5 passed amendments to the law that would see punishments reduced and the requirement for pre-protest permission dropped, but the proposed changes have yet to be taken up by the Upper House. Htun Htun Oo said he and three other locals—Cho Lwin, Myint Lwin and Khin Shwe—facing the Article 18 charges for environmental campaigning undertaken on March 10-11. Cho Lwin, another defendant, told The Irrawaddy that he and his friends were simply accompanying the HRWDN activist and did not engage in any outright campaigning themselves. "We only followed Htun Htun Oo and introduced him to local villagers, and didn't talk about the environment at all, but were still charged under Article 18," he said. The Irrawaddy contacted Pol-Lt Naing Mon Htun, the head of the Kyonedar police station, for details of the charges but the officer declined to comment on the case. Htun Htun Oo said southern Dedaye Township, which sits adjacent to the sea, was suffering from soil erosion due to environmental degradation that had so far resulted in the loss of about 1,000 acres of land that used to be mangrove forests. "During the British colonial era in Burma, over 2,000 acres of land in this area was considered mangrove forest and made for a defense against natural disasters," said the HRWDN activist. "But local authorities put them up for sale, so rich farmers bought them and transformed them into farmlands." Htun Htun Oo said his environmental campaigning also included public talks about the need to regrow mangrove forests as soon as possible for the security of local people. The greater Dedaye area is home to more than 40,000 people and is comprised of 46 villages among the five village tracts of Kyonedat, Mayan, Leikkyun, Hsukalap and Shankan. Aung Kyi Nyunt, a local from the village of Nyaungleinkon in Kyonedat, told The Irrawaddy that due to depletion of the area's mangrove forests, dozens of people died and damage was more severe when Cyclone Nargis struck the area in 2008. "When Nargis hit, seawater waves, without any obstacles on their way, came to us speedily, so 53 people were killed in our village alone," he said. "Out of 160 houses, 143 were washed away and nothing left. Thus, for our lives' security of our posterity, I want to reinstall those mangrove forests." On Feb. 22, more than 150 people from the Kyonedat village tract took to the streets of Dedaye to call for the replanting of mangrove forests in the area. The post Mangrove Campaigners Slapped With Protest Law Charges appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Hollywood Calling for New Burmese Film Posted: 17 Mar 2014 03:17 AM PDT People watch a 3D movie at the Mingalar Cinema in Rangoon on April 19, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) RANGOON — Shooting will begin this week on what backers hope will be Burma's first international cinematic success, a venture undertaken by House of Media Entertainment (HOME), a production company headed by the well-known Burmese comedian and former political prisoner Zarganar. "Mudras Calling" sounds like a familiar tale—in search of his roots, a young man ends up finding love instead. But the production will be set against what might be some unfamiliar backdrops for foreign viewers, with the cast and crew heading to Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake for filming at three of the main draws for Burma's small but growing tourist market. The movie's makers hope to sway organizers of major film festivals to include "Mudras Calling" in their schedules and to pique the interest of international TV networks. "On Wednesday we'll start shooting in Bagan. By late summer, we hope to be ready to launch," Mona Strassburger, the film's producer, told The Irrawaddy. "Mudras Calling" centers around Jaden, a Burmese-American who travels to his homeland to research the country's traditions but ends up falling for Hnin Thuzar, "a proud Burmese woman who graduated from the University of Culture in classical dance." The movie will be directed by filmmaker Christina Kyi, who like the movie's central character was born in Burma but raised in the United States. It stars Zenn, another US-raised Burmese, along with two actresses making their feature-length debuts—Shan model Nan Wai Wai Htun and Hla Win Kyaw, a model and actress who has performed in short films. "We're trying to make a positive film that shows off this country, so that's why we are going to these beautiful locations," said Strassburger, a former public affairs staffer with the US entertainment conglomerate Fox. Hollywood contacts could help make "Mudras Calling" the first Burmese-produced feature film to generate interest outside the country, following the success of several Burmese documentaries and foreign-made films about Burma. The Burma government seems keen to push the country as a location for movie shoots, handing out a document titled "Plans for Tourism Development through Creative Industry" at the opening of the 2014 Asean Film Festival in Rangoon on Monday morning. Speaking at the festival opening, Deputy Minister of Information Paike Htwe said that "Asean member countries can raise their income through film industry while promoting tourism." In late 2011, as a reward for reforms such as freeing political prisoners, Burma was granted the 2014 chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a role it took up in January. Prior to 2011, Burma's film industry was subject to decades of censorship by the county's military government, a system that spawned a mix of crude nationalistic agitprop and hammed-up melodrama. Since then, however, a transition from rigid military rule to an army-backed civilian government has seen a relaxation of rules and, perhaps, a chance for long-suppressed talent to flourish. "We can do different kind of movies now and there has been some improvement from before," actress Thinzar Nwe Win told The Irrawaddy. As part of Burma's post-2011, film censorship has been relaxed, though not eliminated, while the Ministry of Information (MoI) is currently drafting a new law for filmmakers. "Last year we had to submit a list of films we showed and a copy of each to the MoI," said Thu Thu Shein, cofounder of the Wathann Film Festival, an annual documentary and short feature showcase, who added that officials raised no objections to the content. As well as helping promote Burma as a tourism destination, the government sees a continued role for filmmaking in official propaganda. "The more important power of a movie is to build a national characteristic of a country. It can control social stability and the country's territory as well as strengthening the country's unity among nationals," said Paike Htwe at the Asean Film Festival's opening on Monday. Nonetheless, Thu Thu Shein said Burma's filmmakers nowadays have the chance to push boundaries in a way that would have been impossible prior to 2011. "Compared to the past, it is more open," she told The Irrawaddy. The post Hollywood Calling for New Burmese Film appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Clampdown Gathers Pace as Legislation Passed Posted: 16 Mar 2014 11:52 PM PDT A woman sells newspapers in Rangoon on April 1, 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) In a clear step backwards for press freedom in Burma, new legislation will give the government censorship powers and the sole authority to issue and revoke news publication licenses. While the legislation enshrines into law broad press freedom guarantees, specific provisions will give the Ministry of Information ultimate power over what news is permissible for publication. On March 4, Burma’s parliament passed both the Media Bill and Printers and Publishers Regulation Bill after over a year of deliberation and numerous revisions to earlier drafts. Both bills—the former devised by the journalist-led Myanmar Press Council, the latter by the Ministry of Information—will become law when they are signed by President Thein Sein, which he is expected to do without request for amendment this month, according to media reports. Both bills fall substantially short of hopes among local journalists and press groups that the legislation would free the press from heavy-handed state intervention and oversight. The previous ruling military junta maintained a pre-publication censorship board that broadly banned critical reporting in the name of maintaining national security, social order, and ethnic harmony, among other overbroad and ill-defined topics. While Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government dismantled that censorship regime in 2012, allowing for unprecedented critical reporting of the government and its policies, provisions in the new legislation retain the state’s censorship powers. The Printers and Publishers Regulation Bill, similar to the draconian law that preceded it, bans the publication of materials that "insult religion," "disturb the rule of law," "incite unrest," "violate the constitution" or "harm ethnic unity," according to press reports. Offenses under the law will be penalized with fines, an improvement from an earlier version of the bill that allowed for prison terms. The Myanmar Press Council and other groups including CPJ advocated for the removal of that provision. Journalists were frequently jailed for deemed breaches of the previous junta’s censorship guidelines; all were released in 2012 under conditional presidential pardons as part of Thein Sein’s reform program. Advocacy efforts, however, failed to block the legislation’s creation of a new registrar position which will have sweeping powers to grant and revoke publishing licenses. Journalists told CPJ that the measure will inevitably engender self-censorship among editors due to fears their licenses could be revoked for news coverage perceived as sensitive, including reports on ongoing ethnic and rising intra-religious tensions across the country. Government authorities have been highly critical of local and foreign news coverage of recent violence against the country’s persecuted ethnic Rohingya minority. With the passage of the new legislation, the Ministry of Information’s registrar will have the legal power to ban publications for news coverage it deems as having "incited unrest" or undermined "ethnic unity." While bans of news publications were beyond legal challenge under the previous junta’s censorship regime, the new legislation allows for court challenges of cases of registrar-revoked publication licenses. However, until political reforms free the judiciary from political influence, legal recourse will likely remain a dead end for journalists who challenge state authority. And still on the books are other repressive laws that allow for the detention and legal harassment of journalists–such as the Electronics Act, Official Secrets Act, and criminal defamation. In a sign that authorities are already chafing under the more open reporting environment, four reporters and a senior executive with the local Unity Weekly news journal were detained last month on charges under the Official Secrets Act for reporting on an alleged secret chemical weapons facility in the country’s central region. Formal hearings in the criminal case begin on March 17; if found guilty of the charges they each face a potential 14 years in prison. After releasing all 14 journalists behind bars in 2012, there are now five journalists in detention in Burma. Authorities have also recently clamped down on foreign reporters’ access. In February, Deputy Minister of Information Ye Htut announced his office would reduce the period of visiting foreign journalists’ visas from three months with multiple entries to one month with a single entry. The move came in the wake of strong government criticism of an Associated Press article in January that cited anonymous sources to report on a massacre of ethnic Rohingya in a remote village in western Arakan State where journalists are typically barred. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Information denied a journalist visa to Time magazine reporter Hannah Beech to attend a media-related conference held in Rangoon. The denial was in apparent response to a Time cover story last year featuring a radical Burmese Buddhist monk under the title "The Face of Buddhist Terror" that authorities banned from distribution in the country. Ye Htut justified his ministry’s decision to deny Beech a visa by saying her presence at the conference "could bring undesirable consequences on the event and to her." Committee to Protect Journalist Senior Southeast Asia Representative Shawn W. Crispin is based in Bangkok, where he is a reporter and editor for Asia Times Online. The post Burma Clampdown Gathers Pace as Legislation Passed appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

In China, Michelle Obama to Stay Firmly in ‘Mom-in-Chief’ Mode Posted: 16 Mar 2014 11:14 PM PDT US first lady Michelle Obama gives out high fives after learning a dance and exercise with children at a La Petite Academy child care center in Bowie, Maryland, Feb. 27, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — US first lady Michelle Obama is expected to steer clear of controversial issues such as human rights when she visits China this week but her trip could help advance a top item on her husband's foreign policy agenda: deepening Washington's ties with Beijing. The week-long trip marks only the third foreign solo trip for Obama, who has cultivated a self-described "mom-in-chief" image, putting her energy into raising her daughters Malia, 15, and Sasha, 12, and signature domestic policy issues such as combating childhood obesity. She has joked that her motto during her husband's White House tenure has been to "do no harm." In keeping with that cautious approach, the White House said Obama's message on the trip will focus on cultural ties between the two countries and "the power and importance of education" for young people in both countries. But her trip, which will be front-page news in China and closely parsed by media, will carry important symbolic value. "There's no better surrogate for a president overseas than their spouse," said Anita McBride, who was chief of staff to former first lady Laura Bush. McBride said Obama's visit with Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan can send a powerful diplomatic message, even if what they discuss has little to do with pressing bilateral issues. "Those are images that convey a relationship," she said. Obama will also visit with students and schools, and take her daughters to see the famous Terracotta Warriors. Since taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama has put a high priority on bolstering the US relationship with China. That goal could take on even greater significance given the deep rift has opened up between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Former first ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton used their time in the international spotlight to forcefully elevate tough questions about human rights abroad. In 1995, Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, criticized China's human rights record in a speech at a United Nations conference in Beijing. But it is unlikely that Michelle Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer, will follow in their path. "She has chosen a more traditional, non-confrontational role as a first lady," said Laura van Assendelft, a political scientist at Mary Baldwin College. "Other first ladies have pushed those boundaries. Michelle Obama is not pushing any boundaries." As first lady, Obama traveled to Mexico in 2010 and to Africa the following year. A private trip to Spain in 2010 with daughter Sasha backfired when she was criticized for spending taxpayer funds on security for what amounted to a holiday. Now that her husband is in his second term, and does not have to worry about being reelected again, Michelle Obama may take more foreign trips to advance policy goals, McBride said. "You begin thinking about what you want to leave behind," said McBride, now at American University in Washington. Laura Bush traveled to 67 countries to talk about human rights and global health issues during the four years that McBride worked with her, including a notable visit to a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border to shine a spotlight on conditions there. Three Generations Obama will deliver another strong, if unspoken, message by taking her daughters and her mother, Marian Robinson, with her to China, said Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. Robinson lives with the Obama family in the White House. "The Chinese are very big on three generations under one roof. That is one of the cornerstones of their culture," Daly said. "That will play very well in the Chinese media." Pictures of the three generations of four strong women will make a statement about women's equality and opportunity, and shatter a stereotype long held by Chinese about how Americans mistreat their elders, he added. Obama's visit comes before her husband visits Asian allies Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines in late April, a trip where maritime disputes with China are expected to loom large. China and Japan each claim sovereignty over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, and China is also fighting over territory in the South China Sea with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Ahead of the president's trip, the White House will want "sweetness and light" from Michelle Obama's China visit, said Dan Blumenthal, an adviser on China issues in the former George W. Bush administration. "She can just be who she is, and it's a win. She doesn't have to carry a tough message," said Blumenthal, now director of Asian studies at the American Enterprise Institute think tank. The post In China, Michelle Obama to Stay Firmly in 'Mom-in-Chief' Mode appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Indonesia Starts Election Campaign, Voters Set to Choose Radical Change Posted: 16 Mar 2014 11:06 PM PDT Supporters greet Jakarta governor and presidential candidate Joko Widodo, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), during a party campaign in Jakarta on March 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Beawiharta) JAKARTA — Indonesia's raucous election season kicked off on Sunday with the promise of a fresh style of leadership in the world's third largest democracy, whose economic promise has been sapped by rampant graft, confusing policy and weak rule. An uncertain election outlook abruptly changed on Friday when the main PDI-P opposition party named the hugely popular governor of Jakarta as its candidate for July's presidential election. That lifted even further its chances of dominating the parliamentary election on April 9. Opinion polls suggest the presidency is Governor Joko Widodo's to lose, with old-style contenders ex-general Prabowo Subianto and tycoon Aburizal Bakrie trailing far behind. A hint of the euphoria attached to the nomination of the charismatic Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, was shown in the 3.2 percent jump in Jakarta share prices after the announcement. "[It was] driven by sentiment that Indonesia will have a good president who is willing to take difficult decisions, has a good and clean historical track record … and most of all an expectation of a smooth transition of power," said Wilianto Ie, head of research at Maybank Kim Eng in Jakarta. It will only be Indonesia's third direct election since it tumbled into democracy 16 years ago amid social and economic chaos in the wake of the downfall of former dictator Suharto. Nearly 190 million Indonesians are registered to vote to choose a new parliament and so decide which parties meet a threshold to field a candidate in the presidential election three months later. Though close to 90 percent of the population identifies itself as Muslim, none of the Islamic parties are expected to win a major chunk of the vote, including the current leading Muslim party, PKS, whose reputation has been hit hard by a highly publicized corruption scandal. The ruling Democrat Party of outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, restricted by the constitution from seeking a third term, has seen public support plummet to single digits after graft scandals claimed senior officials including the party's former chairman and a cabinet minister. Critics say that while Yudhoyono brought stability to Indonesia, his nearly 10 years in power has been marked by indecision and at times confusing policy, with criticism that his government has not done enough to address high levels of poverty and mounting religious intolerance. Economic growth since he took office has averaged around 5.8 percent, high by global standards but well below what many see as Indonesia's potential and still heavily reliant on fluctuating prices of natural resources which remain the backbone of the economy. Indonesia's new leader will be in charge of a remarkably young population that is high on ambition but low on education. That could see Southeast Asia's biggest economy start to falter in the face of growing competition from its neighbors as the region moves toward establishing a common market from 2015. Almost 30 percent, or 54 million, of eligible voters are under 30. Nearly half of them will be voting for the first time. They appear captivated by Jokowi, as do the large emerging middle class and the poor. About 40 percent of the population still lives in extreme poverty, or very close to it. The slightly built furniture manufacturer has in just over a year of running the capital turned his straight talking "I am here to serve you" style into the new face of Indonesian politics, long dominated by authoritarian figures and their powerful, wealthy cliques. Those authoritarian figures, however, still loom over national politics. Both parties that polls say will dominate next month's election—PDI-P and the more pro-business Golkar—are clinging firmly to the legacies of their autocratic founders who led the vast former Dutch colony for its first five decades of independence. PDI-P is led by ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of first president Sukarno whose image, and the strongly nationalist tone it implies, is a constant motif in party propaganda. And increasingly, Golkar is looking to the early economic successes of Suharto, the man who pushed Sukarno aside and went on to rule Indonesia for 32 years until 1998, when he was forced from office in the face of mass protests and what by then had turned into the near collapse of the economy. A party, or coalition of parties, must have 25 percent of the national vote or 20 percent of seats in parliament to put forward a candidate for the July 9 presidential election. Additional reporting by Kanurpiya Kapoor and Anastasia Arvirianty. The post Indonesia Starts Election Campaign, Voters Set to Choose Radical Change appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

‘Good Night’: Haunting Final Contact From Missing Malaysian Jet Posted: 16 Mar 2014 10:59 PM PDT A woman leaves a message of support and hope for the passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 as others pose for picture in central Kuala Lumpur March 16, 2014. KUALA LUMPUR — The last words from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 – "all right, good night" – were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane’s automatic tracking systems, a senior Malaysian official said. Both the timing and informal nature of the phrase, spoken to air traffic controllers as the plane with 239 people aboard was leaving Malaysian-run airspace on a March 8 flight to Beijing, could further heighten suspicions of hijacking or sabotage. The sign-off came after one of the plane’s data communication systems, which would have enabled it to be tracked beyond radar coverage, had been deliberately switched off, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Sunday. "The answer to your question is yes, it was disabled before," he told reporters when asked if the ACARS system—a maintenance computer that sends back data on the plane’s status—had been deactivated before the voice sign-off. The pilot’s informal hand-off went against standard radio procedures, which would have called for him to read back instructions for contacting the next control center and include the aircraft’s call sign, said Hugh Dibley, a former British Airways pilot and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Investigators are likely to examine the recording for any signs of psychological stress and to determine his identity to confirm whether the flight deck had been taken over by hijackers or the pilot himself was involved, he said. Malaysian investigators are trawling through the backgrounds of the pilots, crew and ground staff who worked on the missing Boeing 777-200ER for clues as to why someone on board flew it perhaps thousands of miles off course. Background checks of passengers have drawn a blank but not every country whose nationals were on board has responded to requests for information, police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said. No trace of the plane has been found more than a week after it vanished but investigators believe it was diverted by someone with deep knowledge of the plane and commercial navigation. Malaysia briefed envoys from nearly two dozen nations and appealed for international help in the search for the plane along two arcs stretching from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the far south of the Indian Ocean. "The search area has been significantly expanded," Hishammuddin said. "From focusing mainly on shallow seas, we are now looking at large tracts of land, crossing 11 countries, as well as deep and remote oceans." The plane’s disappearance has baffled investigators and aviation experts. It disappeared from civilian air traffic control screens off Malaysia’s east coast less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. Malaysian authorities believe that, as the plane crossed the country’s northeast coast and flew across the Gulf of Thailand, someone on board shut off its communications systems and turned sharply to the west. Electronic signals it continued to exchange periodically with satellites suggest it could have continued flying for nearly seven hours after flying out of range of Malaysian military radar off the northwest coast, heading towards India. The plane had enough fuel to fly for about seven-and-a-half to eight hours, Malaysia Airlines’ Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said. Malaysian officials briefed ambassadors from 22 countries on the progress of the investigation and appealed for international cooperation, diplomats said on Sunday. Pilots' Homes Searched On Saturday, police special branch officers searched the homes of the captain, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and first officer, 27-year-old Fariq Abdul Hamid, in middle-class suburbs of Kuala Lumpur close to the international airport. An experienced pilot, Zaharie has been described by current and former co-workers as a flying enthusiast who spent his days off operating a life-sized flight simulator he had set up at home. Police chief Khalid said investigators had taken the flight simulator for examination by experts. Earlier, a senior police official said the flight simulator programs were closely examined, adding they appeared to be normal ones that allow players to practice flying and landing in different conditions. Police sources said they were looking at the personal, political and religious backgrounds of both pilots and the other crew members. Khalid said ground support staff who might have worked on the plane were also being investigated. A second senior police official told Reuters investigators had found no links between Zaharie, a father of three grown-up children and a grandfather, and any militant group. Postings on his Facebook page suggest the pilot was a politically active opponent of the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for the 57 years since independence. A day before the plane vanished, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to five years in prison, in a ruling his supporters and international human rights groups say was politically influenced. Asked if Zaharie’s background as an opposition supporter was being examined, the first senior police officer would say only: "We need to cover all our bases." Malaysia Airlines has said it did not believe Zaharie would have sabotaged the plane and colleagues were incredulous. "Please, let them find the aircraft first. Zaharie is not suicidal, not a political fanatic as some foreign media are saying," a Malaysia Airlines pilot who is close to Zaharie told Reuters. "Is it wrong for anyone to have an opinion about politics?" Co-pilot Fariq was religious and serious about his career, family and friends said. The two pilots had not made any request to fly together. The post 'Good Night': Haunting Final Contact From Missing Malaysian Jet appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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