The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• President Signs New Media Laws, to Mixed Reaction From Journalists
• Burma President’s Order Allowing Small Gifts Met With Derision
• Kachin Children Separated From Parents, Brought Together by War
• Court Hears Witnesses in Case Against Unity Journalists
• Spiritual, Political Leaders Question Need for Burma Religious Law
• Festival Patron Suu Kyi to Meet Mandalay Writers Who Boycotted
• Thai Radar Might Have Tracked Missing Plane
• China Crafts Chain Suspends Controversial Ivory Sales
• Taiwan Students Occupy Legislature Over China Trade Deal

President Signs New Media Laws, to Mixed Reaction From Journalists Posted: 19 Mar 2014 07:16 AM PDT Burmese print media and newspapers on sale in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) State-run media announced on Wednesday that President Thein Sein has signed two new media laws that were approved by Parliament earlier this month. The signing marks the official end of the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act, a draconian, junta-era media law. Members of the Burmese media offered a mixed response, however. They said an era of extreme media repression had officially come to an end, but many expressed concern over restrictions that remain in place under the two new media laws. "These laws still allow punishments with fines. These laws still lack the standard we want," said Myint Kyaw, secretary of the Myanmar Journalist Network. President Thein Sein's reformist government has implemented sweeping political reforms since taking office in 2011, most visible among them a lifting of pre-publication censorship, the release of imprisoned journalists and other reforms that have resulted in greater media freedoms. In the past year, Burmese media held heated discussions with the Ministry of Information about new media laws, with both sides putting forth differing proposals. On March 4, the Press Law, drafted by the interim Myanmar Press Council, was accepted in Parliament after some amendments. But, to the surprise of journalists, MPs also decided to accept the Printers and Publishers Registration Law, proposed by the Information Ministry. The latter law leaves gives the ministry the power to withhold or revoke publishing licenses unilaterally, while it contains vaguely defined bans on reporting that could "incite unrest", "insult religion" and "violate the Constitution." The previous military regime used to invoke similar types of concern to use blanket bans on critical reporting. The Printers and Publishers Registration Law carries no prison term punishments and only stipulates paying a fine for violating the law, ranging from US$100 to $500. Under the previous 1962 law, many journalists were punished to prison terms of up to seven years under broadly defined charges that included "disrespecting the State." The Press Law, drawn up by Burmese journalists, focused on issues such as enforcing journalistic ethics, copy and intellectual rights, self-regulation by the media and guarantees of access to government documents. State-run media The New Light of Myanmar announced the president's signing of the new laws with much fanfare on Wednesday morning, reporting that the Press Law meant that "investigative journalism and critical reporting [is now] backed by government," while new laws also offered "protection of journalists from arbitrary arrest." The government mouthpiece made no mention of the more restrictive Printers and Publishers Registration Law. Pe Myint, a consulting editor at the weekly journal People Age, said the new laws were the result of the decisions of parliamentarians who had decided to keep some restrictions on the media. "We have debated about [media reforms] for long, but it now seems that Parliament also want control over the press," he said. "We have to keep working to fulfill our demands, as it was not our or the Press Council's ideas to have two separate media laws." Pe Myint added, "We will have to see the bylaws on how much we can freely publish." San Moon Aung, the publisher of "Ngardoe Sarpay," a publishing house that in the past was often blocked from publishing critical books, said he rejected the fact that publishers remained subject to license approvals from the Information Ministry. "This is a disadvantage of this new law," he said, adding that it was nonetheless, a great relief that the 1962 media law was now cancelled. "Even though we are able to publish some [critical books] since mid-2012, we had to worry about the existing 1962 law. Now we can publish more and more critical publications," San Moon Aung said. The post President Signs New Media Laws, to Mixed Reaction From Journalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma President’s Order Allowing Small Gifts Met With Derision Posted: 19 Mar 2014 07:07 AM PDT Gift hampers are commonly given to senior Burmese government officials, ostensibly as a show of respect. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma President Thein Sein has reportedly told government officials that they can accept gifts worth up to 300,000 kyat, about US$300, without it being considered corruption. Thein Sein's reforming government has recently passed an Anticorruption Law and established a new anti-graft commission as it attempts to shed the country's highly corrupt international image. Last week, President's Office Spokesman Ye Htut reportedly told local media that an order had gone round warning officials that accepting gifts could be considered corruption. However, the order specified that only gifts valued over 300,000 kyat would be considered as corrupt payments, Ye Htut reportedly told the Kamayut news website. An official in the Ministry of Transport, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the details of the order to The Irrawaddy. Reports of the order have been met with derision, and opposition politicians questioned the seriousness with which the government is taking its purported anticorruption drive. Thu Wai, the chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said the order appeared to sanction corruption at a low level. "If he really wants to prevent corruption, he should say there must be no bribes at all for government employees," Thu Wai said. "I don't understand why he said it like this. He should be clearer about it." Ye Htut reportedly justified the policy by saying allowing officials to accept small gifts was in line with international practice. "I do not know about other countries' policies, but as a president, he should say no bribes," said Khin Maung Swe, chairman of the National Democratic Force party. "Actually, 300,000 kyat is not much, but the president should order to his ministries not to take any bribes of cash or presents." As set out in last year's Anticorruption Law, a new commission was last month established by Parliament to investigate corruption among government officials. The members of the commission were recommended by Thein Sein himself, however, and he was criticized at the time for picking a number of former military generals like himself, including for the role of the commission's chair. The post Burma President's Order Allowing Small Gifts Met With Derision appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Kachin Children Separated From Parents, Brought Together by War Posted: 19 Mar 2014 06:58 AM PDT Children at the Mai Ja Yang camp in Kachin State have lunch. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) MAI JA YANG, Kachin State — It has been almost three years since Bawk Kwan last saw her mom and dad. "I want to meet my parents, but I have no idea where they are now," said the primary school student at Pa Kahtawng camp near Mai Ja Yang, a town on the Sino-Burmese border that shelters thousands of people displaced by war in Kachin and northern Shan states. Bawk Kwan is not alone. There are about 200 students boarding at the camp who are—for the time being, at least—effectively orphans of the conflict. Many have been separated from their parents since a ceasefire between Burma's central government and ethnic Kachin rebels broke down in June 2011, unleashing on-again, off-again fighting that has displaced more than 100,000 people in northern Burma. While some have been able to contact their parents, others, like Bawk Kwan, are in the dark as to where—or even if—their parents are living. A group of more than 40 children found themselves at the camp after fleeing their school in a village outside of Shan State's Muse Township. "We started to run when there was a battle about an hour's walk from our school," explained Nu Tawng, who is now in charge of the makeshift boarding school. Nu Tawng and her fellow teachers took the children on a two-day trek through the jungle to the nearest village, Mone Paw in Muse Township. From there, they made their way to Mai Ja Yang with the help of the camp head, Zaw Bawk. "The children couldn't really walk, but [motivated by] fear of the gunshots, they were able to run," Nu Tawng said. The local NGO Wunpawng Ninghtoi has taken the lead in helping the boarding school children, all of whom are under 10 years old, to settle into their new lives at the IDP camp. According to camp leaders, Pa Kahtawng consists of 3,279 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living among 523 households at the camp. Of the total population, nearly 1,400 are children under 15 years old who attend school in the camp. A toilet separates the girls' boarding house from the boys' structure, both of which are made of flimsy plywood that does little to buffer their inhabitants from the stench of the commode. A lack of personal hygiene adds to the smell of misery in and around the housing compound. "We aren't able to look after the children well at the boarding house," concedes Zaw Bawk. Living conditions are not unlike the barracks that house the soldiers to whom the children owe their current existence. Dozens of children live in a 25-feet-by-25-feet room of bunk beds that sleep up to three bodies per mattress. The accommodation is hardly spacious, but not too small to prevent some from engaging in recreational diversions like skipping rope. Other scenes not in keeping with the barracks analogy include girls combing each others' hair, and boys playing football on the grounds outside the plywood walls. Most of the children suffer from malnutrition. Their daily meal consists mostly of two meager portions, one of fried mustard and the other soup. "We are only able to feed them meat like pork, chicken or fish twice a month," Nu Tawng said, adding that the most urgent needs for the children were "meals" and "firewood." "We are looking for donors for lunches, so that we can have wood to cook and feed the children," said Mary Tawm, co-founder of the relief agency Wunpawng Ninghtoi (WPN). During a recent visit to Pa Kahtawng by The Irrawaddy, a UN truck arrived at the camp, unloading school textbooks, mosquito nets and solar panels, the last item intended to add a small bit of light to a camp otherwise without electricity. Some children eyed the textbooks with interest, but few here find camp life to be conducive to furthering their education. "I am not happy to be here. I don't have any contact with my parents. I want to see them," said Yawl Dint with tears in her eyes. A Grade 3 student at the boarding house, Yawl Dint said the scene of her teachers and classmates fleeing the schoolhouse near Muse, punctuated by gunshots in the distance, remains with her nearly three years later. "I am afraid of soldiers," she says, while at the same time, "I want to go back to my village and attend school." Naw San, a security guard at Pa Kahtawng, said camp administrators were mindful of the young IDPs' trauma. "We do not allow soldiers with uniform and equipment. Children are really afraid of the uniform," he said. Mary Tawm said WPN is helping the children to contact their parents, but not always with success. "Since children have sometimes run away from very far places, it's hard to reconnect," she said, adding that others had been able to get in touch with parents but had not yet reunited with them. Meanwhile, amid the uncertainty of the present arrangement, Nu Tawng said effectively teaching the students is a struggle. "Students think they are out for a picnic. They just think they are studying here for fun," she said. "They think they will be going back [to their homes] to study." Though IDPs have benefited from aid provided by a handful of groups including the UN, WPN, the Shalom Foundation and Karuna Myanmar Social Service, basic education supplies are still lacking, "It was quite cold in the winter too," said camp head Zaw Bawk. With the warmer days of summer now upon them, camp dwellers hope that tensions cool between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). A new ceasefire, which is expected to be discussed by Kachin rebels, the government and more than a dozen other ethnic armed groups in the coming months, would go a small way toward bringing some semblance of normalcy to the lives of children like Yawl Dint. "I don't know when I can go back," she said. "I miss my parents, my siblings and my home so much." The post Kachin Children Separated From Parents, Brought Together by War appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Court Hears Witnesses in Case Against Unity Journalists Posted: 19 Mar 2014 04:16 AM PDT The Jan. 25, 2014 issued of the Unity journal is pictured in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — A Pakkoku District Court questioned the first witnesses in the case of the four detained journalists and the CEO of the Unity Journal on Monday and Tuesday, a lawyer of the defendants said, adding that the prosecution has compiled a list of 40 witnesses to testify against the journalists. The five defendants have been held in Pakokku District Prison, Magwe Division, since early February after the Unity Journal published a story headlined: "A secret chemical weapons factory of the former generals, Chinese technicians and the commander-in-chief at Pauk Township." They have been charged with violating the 1923 State Secrets Act and also face charges of trespassing in a restricted area. Revealing state secrets under the colonial-era law carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. Robert San Aung, a lawyer defending journalist Lu Maw Naing, said the director of the Defense Weapons Factory 24, Lt-Col Kyaw Kyaw Oo, had initiated the case against the Unity Journal staffers. Three witnesses, all employed at the facility, were questioned by the prosecution, the court and lawyers in relation to the trespassing charges on Monday and Tuesday, he said. "The witnesses were being questioned about whether the factory area is a restricted zone or not, but they couldn't clarify [this point]," the lawyer said, adding that the court was shown photos of signs around the facility with the warning: 'Prohibited Area. Do not trespass.' "On the other hand, they [witnesses] confirmed that Chinese technicians worked at the factory, but they said that the factory is not in the process of producing any weapons." He said one of the witnesses, Capt Htet Wai Aung, a manager at Defense Weapons Factory 24, told the court that the management had received an order from the President's Office to initiate a lawsuit against the journalists a few days after their story appeared. "A witness said they have to charge our clients under the instructions from the President Office's Director General Hla Htun," Robert San Aung said. He said the prosecution had submitted a list of 40 witnesses who would testify against the journalists and their CEO, adding that the list includes government officials, military officers in charge at Defense Weapons Factory 24, and factory workers. "We can't say what will happen after presenting all of the 40 prosecution witnesses to the court. We are hoping for the best," Robert Sang Aung said. CEO Tint San, reporters Paing Thet Kyaw, Lu Maw Naing, Yarzar Oo and Sithu Soe have previously requested to stand trial at a court in Rangoon, but the court has denied the request. The defendants are not eligible for bail under the charges of the State Secrets Act. Their article, which included photographs, claimed that Defense Weapons Factory 24 in central Burma was built in 2009 on more than 3,000 acres of land confiscated from farmers, and that it was connected by over 1,000 feet of underground tunnels. The journal cited local residents who said staff at the factory claimed to be producing chemical weapons. It did not cite any factory or government authorities for this claim. Unity Journal said the facility has been visited by the former military regime's strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe, as well as the current commander-in chief of the armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing. The government issued a statement in state-run media denying the claim as "baseless". Yet, government officials simultaneously defended the heavy charges brought against the journalists, comparing the case with US government efforts to prosecute whistleblower Edward Snowden for leaking National Security Agency documents. Burma is one of only six countries worldwide that has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. The next trial hearing is scheduled to take place on March 31 and April 1. According to family member of the defendants, all are in good health, except for Lu Maw Naing who has endured some health problems. "He's been suffering for some weeks as the prison officials said they will take care of him but they don't since there is no prison doctor. Just last week, we were allowed to bring a physician ourselves and he feels much better now," his wife Lwin Lwin Myint said. She complained, however, that some prison officials had imposed restrictions on the contact between defendants and visiting family members, even though they had travelled all the way from Rangoon to see them. "Some officers from Special Police Bureau are still trying to harshly restrict meetings with the family and the lawyers before the court session start," Lwin Lwin Myint said. International and local media freedom advocates have said the case against the Unity Journal staffers is a blow for Burmese media after the reforms initiated by President Thein Sein. The Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday that the case is "a sign that authorities are already chafing under the more open reporting environment, four reporters." The post Court Hears Witnesses in Case Against Unity Journalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Spiritual, Political Leaders Question Need for Burma Religious Law Posted: 19 Mar 2014 03:10 AM PDT Well-known Buddhist monk Shwe Nya War Sayadaw talks at his monastery in Pegu Divison. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Religious and political leaders in Burma have questioned whether the country needs a so-called protection of race and religion law, and accused the government of using religion for political gain. A petition calling for the law—backed by a Buddhist nationalist movement and widely believed to be targeted at Burma's Muslim minority—has collected more than 1.3 million signatures. The proposed legislation would restrict women's ability to marry men from other faiths, regulate conversion between religions, attempt to limit population growth and outlaw polygamy—which is already illegal in Burma. Earlier this month, President Thein Sein informed Parliament that his government would form a commission to work on a draft of some parts of the law, with other parts being handled by the Union Supreme Court. The proposal has been criticized by women's groups and NGOs, and some say the president is seeking to exploit religious nationalism ahead of elections in 2015, in which the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is expected to win the popular vote. Well-known Buddhist monk Shwe Nya War Sayadaw said Thein Sein was risking enflaming tensions in order to win political support. "The issue of religion is the best marketing tool in politics. I noticed that U Thein Sein has begun planning how to take advantage of this issue for the upcoming election," said Shwe Nya War Sayadaw, who is based in a monastery in Okkan town, Pegu Division. "From my point of view, in order to have stable development, our country needs to have peace, national reconciliation and unity among the ethnic groups. Trying to have a protection of race and religion law is bad for political situation in our country." The senior monk said that the discussion over the law was a distraction from more important political issues, like the fight to amend the military-drafted and much-criticized 2008 Constitution—led by NLD Chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi. "Our Buddhist monks will become political prey if we keep talking about protection of race and religion. At this time we all only need to think about how to amend the Constitution and how to have national reconciliation. We should not spend time debating the issue of protecting race and religion," said the monk. The most controversial element of the proposed legislation would require women to have the permission of their parents and local authorities before marrying a man of another faith. Sandar Min, an NLD member of Burma's Parliament, said women did not need such a law to protect them. "Is there anything wrong with our women so we need to have a law? Since we were young, we've known how to protect our dignity. We do not need a law," she said. "There is a rule in the Constitution that any political party cannot take political advantage by using the issue of religion. I feel they [the government] are trying to get votes from people by trying to bring in this law." Khun Htun Oo, the leader of the Shan National League for Democracy, agreed that the law was unnecessary. "I am a Buddhist, but I feel we do not need this law. We all need to protect our religions, this is not only for Buddhists, but other religions as well," he said. "But it is very dangerous to have this law because our country has different religions. And when there are problems concerning the issue of race, it is very dangerous." The proposed law was drawn up by lawyers employed by the nationalist 969 movement led by Buddhist monk U Wirathu. The movement supports a boycott of Muslim-owned businesses and argues that Burma's biggest religion is under threat from Islam. Ye Noung Thein, general secretary of All Myanmar Mawlawi Association, a collection of Muslim leaders in Burma, said the law should protect all people's right to religion. "I do not think a law is needed to protect Buddhism in particular," he said. The post Spiritual, Political Leaders Question Need for Burma Religious Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Festival Patron Suu Kyi to Meet Mandalay Writers Who Boycotted Posted: 18 Mar 2014 10:21 PM PDT Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the 2013 Irrawaddy Literary Festival 2013 in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's main opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will meet with writers and cartoonists from Mandalay whom she did not have the opportunity to see during an international literary festival that the contingent boycotted last month. The meeting between Suu Kyi and the writers is being arranged by her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), according to Win Htein, an NLD lawmaker who is also helping to organize the gathering. "During the Irrawaddy Literary Festival, she missed a chance to see and talk to some writers from Mandalay," he told The Irrawaddy, explaining the reason for the meeting. Last month, scores of prominent writers, poets and cartoonists from Mandalay boycotted the second annual international festival, which was held in Mandalay under the patronage of Suu Kyi. The reason for their absence appeared to lie in long-standing divisions between artists who had worked with Burma's former military regime, and those who had maintained independence, often at severe personal cost, including pressure and surveillance by authorities, and imprisonment. Nearly 80 Mandalay-based poets and cartoonists officially announced that they wouldn't attend the festival, held Feb. 14-16. Many other prominent writers in Burma's second-largest city also did not attend. For the upcoming meeting in Pyin Oo Lwin on Sunday, Win Htein said anywhere from 50 to 100 poets, writers and cartoonists would attend. "Discussion during the meeting is open to any participants, they can talk about anything they like," said Win Htein, meaning topics of the discussion ranging from literature to politics to constitutional amendments would be on the table. On Saturday, Suu Kyi will travel to Mogok in northeastern Mandalay Division for a public forum on the constitutional amendment process. On her way back from Mogok, she will stop in Pyin Oo Lwin, about 25 miles east of Mandalay city, to meet the writers. Kyi Toe, an NLD information officer, said the length of the meeting would not be fixed because Suu Kyi "doesn't want to talk to those writers in a hurry." "So it will be long," he added. If the meeting takes place as planned, it will be the first time the Burmese democracy icon will have met with prominent artists from upper Burma collectively, apart from the literary festival last year, said Mandalay-based writer Hsu Nget, who plans to attend. "I will be there to listen to what she says," said Ko Lay, a prominent poet in upper Burma who writes under the penname Ko Lay Inwa Gonyi. "Because she invites us, that means she has something to say. "Whether I will participate in the discussion or not depends on what she says. If needed, we have to respond," he added. The post Festival Patron Suu Kyi to Meet Mandalay Writers Who Boycotted appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Radar Might Have Tracked Missing Plane Posted: 18 Mar 2014 10:16 PM PDT Students watch as a group of artists paint a three dimensional artwork, based on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, that was painted on a school ground in Manila on March 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Romeo Ranoco) KUALA LUMPUR — Ten days after a Malaysian jetliner disappeared, Thailand's military said Tuesday it saw radar blips that might have been from the missing plane but didn't report it "because we did not pay attention to it." Search crews from 26 countries, including Thailand, are looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished early March 8 with 239 people aboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Frustration is growing among relatives of those on the plane at the lack of progress in the search. Aircraft and ships are scouring two giant arcs of territory amounting to the size of Australia—half of it in the remote waters of the southern Indian Ocean. Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the US 7th Fleet, said finding the plane was like trying to locate a few people somewhere between New York and California. Early in the search, Malaysian officials said they suspected the plane backtracked toward the Strait of Malacca, just west of Malaysia. But it took a week for them to confirm Malaysian military radar data suggesting that route. Military officials in neighboring Thailand said Tuesday their own radar showed an unidentified plane, possibly Flight 370, flying toward the strait beginning minutes after the Malaysian jet's transponder signal was lost. Air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said the Thai military doesn't know whether the plane it detected was Flight 370. Thailand's failure to quickly share possible information about the plane may not substantially change what Malaysian officials now know, but it raises questions about the degree to which some countries are sharing their defense data. At a minimum, safety experts said, the radar data could have saved time and effort that was initially spent searching the South China Sea, many miles from the Indian Ocean. "It's tough to tell, but that is a material fact that I think would have mattered," said John Goglia, a former member of the US National Transportation Safety Board. "It's just bizarre they didn't come forward before," Scott Hamilton, managing director of aviation consultancy Leeham Co., said of Thai authorities. "It may be too late to help the search … but maybe them and the Malaysian military should do joint military exercises in incompetence." Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:40am March 8 and its transponder, which allows air traffic controllers to identify and track it, ceased communicating at 1:20am. Montol said that at 1:28am, Thai military radar "was able to detect a signal, which was not a normal signal, of a plane flying in the direction opposite from the MH370 plane," back toward Kuala Lumpur. The plane later turned right, toward Butterworth, a Malaysian city along the Strait of Malacca. The radar signal was infrequent and did not include data such as the flight number. When asked why it took so long to release the information, Montol said, "Because we did not pay any attention to it. The Royal Thai Air Force only looks after any threats against our country." He said the plane never entered Thai airspace and that Malaysia's initial request for information in the early days of the search was not specific. "When they asked again and there was new information and assumptions from [Malaysian] Prime Minister Najib Razak, we took a look at our information again," Montol said. "It didn't take long for us to figure out, although it did take some experts to find out about it." The search area for the plane initially focused on the South China Sea. Pings that a satellite detected from the plane hours after its communications went down eventually led authorities to concentrate instead on two vast arcs—one into Central Asia and the other into the Indian Ocean. Malaysia said over the weekend the loss of communications and change in the aircraft's course were deliberate, whether it was the pilots or others aboard who were responsible. Malaysian police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board, but have yet to say what they have uncovered. Investigators had pointed to a sequence of events in which two communications systems were disabled in succession—one of them before a voice from the cockpit gave an all-clear message to ground controllers—as evidence of a deliberate attempt to fly the plane off-course in a hard-to-detect way. On Monday, they backtracked on the timing of the first switch-off, saying it was possible that both were cut around the same time, leading to new speculation that some kind of sudden mechanical or electrical failure might explain the flight going off-course. Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said some sort of problem aboard the plane was not out of the question, although he noted it still was intact enough to send a signal to a satellite several hours later. As further confirmation that someone was still guiding the plane after it disappeared from civilian radar, airline pilots and aviation safety experts said an onboard computer called the flight management system would have to be deliberately programmed in order to follow the route taken by the plane as described by Malaysian authorities. "If you are going to fly the airplane to a waypoint that is not a straight … route to Beijing, and you were going to command the flight management computer and the autopilot system, you really have to know how to fly the airplane," said John Gadzinski, a US Boeing 737 captain. "If you were a basic flight student and I put you in an airborne 777 and gave you 20 minutes of coaching, I could have you turn the airplane left and right and the auto throttle and the autopilot would make the airplane do what you want," he said. "But to program a waypoint into the flight management computer, if that is what they flew over, is a little bit harder." Investigators have asked security agencies in countries with passengers on board to carry out background checks. China said background checks of the 154 Chinese citizens on board turned up no links to terrorism, apparently ruling out the possibility that Uighur Muslim militants who have been blamed for terror attacks within China might have been involved. "So far there is nothing, no evidence to suggest that they intended to do harm to the plane," said Huang Huikang, China's ambassador to Malaysia. A Chinese civilian aviation official has said there was no sign of the plane entering the country's airspace on commercial radar. A group of relatives of Chinese passengers in Beijing said they decided to begin a hunger strike to express their anger over the handling of the investigation. One relative displayed a sign reading, "Hunger strike protest. Respect life. Return my relative. Don't want become victim of politics, Tell the truth." The search for the aircraft is among the largest in aviation history. The US Navy said P-3 and P-8 surveillance aircraft were methodically sweeping over swaths of ocean, known as "mowing the grass," while using radar to detect any debris in the water and high-resolution cameras to snap images. Australian and Indonesian planes and ships are searching waters to the south of Indonesia's Sumatra Island all the way down to the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean. Huang said China had begun searching for the plane in its territory, but gave no details. When asked at a Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing what this search involved, ministry spokesman Hong Lei said only that satellites and radar were being used. China also was sending ships to the Indian Ocean, where they will search 300,000 square kilometers (186,000 square miles) of sea. The area being covered by the Australians is even bigger—600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles)—and will take weeks, said John Young, manager of Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division. "This search will be difficult. The sheer size of the search area poses a huge challenge," Young said. "A needle in a haystack remains a good analogy." Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned his Malaysian counterpart to offer the UK's help in the first direct contact between the two since the flight disappeared, according to Downing Street. Cameron did not offer specifics on what particular military or civilian assistance could be provided, the prime minister's spokesman, Jean-Christophe Gray, said Tuesday. "It was very much inviting any specific requests from the Malaysians," Gray said. "Prime Minister Najib said he would think about that and let us know if they have any specific requests." Doksone reported from Bangkok. AP writers Ian Mader, Jim Gomez and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Joan Lowy in Washington, Kristen Gelineau in Sydney and Scott Mayerowitz in San Diego contributed to this report. The post Thai Radar Might Have Tracked Missing Plane appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China Crafts Chain Suspends Controversial Ivory Sales Posted: 18 Mar 2014 10:13 PM PDT Police officers stand guard next to ivory and ivory sculptures before they are destroyed in Dongguan, Guangdong province, on Jan. 6, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Alex Lee) HONG KONG — A state-owned Chinese retail chain has suspended sales of elephant ivory after a series of high-profile seizures of smuggled ivory in Hong Kong and protests by conservation groups drew growing attention to the trade. Chinese Arts & Crafts suspended sales of elephant ivory at its stores in China and Hong Kong beginning in mid-March, it said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters late on Tuesday. "Due to the adjustment of product mix, Chinese Arts & Crafts (H.K.) Ltd has suspended the business of selling (elephant) ivory products at all Chinese Arts & Crafts branches," it said. The World Wildlife Fund ranks China as the world’s biggest end-market for illegal elephant ivory and animal rights groups say demand there is fuelling a surge in poaching in Africa. Hong Kong, a free port on the country’s southern coast, has long served as a key trans-shipment point for illegal tusks. "It goes a long way towards stigmatizing the consumption of ivory and ivory products," Alex Hofford, program director for Hong Kong for Elephants and consultant for WildAid, said in an e-mailed statement. China, whose government-licensed ivory carving factories provide the basis for a legal trade, has been criticized for ignoring a parallel black market and being slow to enforce tough laws that could jail convicted smugglers for life. Earlier this month, former NBA basketball star and delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Yao Ming, called for an end to ivory sales, saying "buying ivory is buying bullets," according to the official Xinhua news service. About 22,000 elephants were illegally killed in 2012, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which banned trade in elephant ivory in 1989 and later allowed a limited amount to be sold. The total population of African elephants is now estimated at between 420,000 and 650,000. Harder Line on Smuggling Chinese Arts & Crafts, whose Hong Kong shops sell all kinds of ivory products, said it would now promote carvings from the tusks of mammoths, which have been extinct for about 10,000 years and so do not come under the elephant ivory trade ban. "Mammoth ivory can be used as a cover for the illegal ivory trade and the consumption of mammoth products can stimulate demand in African elephant ivory products," Hofford said, adding the chain’s decision was still a commendable first step". Already a member of CITES, China has been hinting it could take a harder line on elephant ivory. It participated in last month’s London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, which urged a tougher stance on the ivory trade. In January, China followed the United States, Philippines and other countries in destroying contraband ivory by crushing 6.2 tons of confiscated ivory in its first such public event. Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, followed suit several weeks later, saying it would burn 28 tons, or 95 percent of its stockpile of seized ivory. A spokeswoman for Chinese Arts & Crafts, part of the state-owned China Resources Enterprise Ltd, said the ivory sales suspension was not driven by political considerations. The suspension applies to all ten of the company’s stores in Hong Kong and China, though the six stores in mainland China do not currently sell ivory, she said. The post China Crafts Chain Suspends Controversial Ivory Sales appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Taiwan Students Occupy Legislature Over China Trade Deal Posted: 18 Mar 2014 09:42 PM PDT Students and other protesters collide with police inside Taiwan's legislature in Taipei, March 18, 2014. About 200 Taiwan students opposed to a trade pact with China which they fear gives the mainland too much economic influence have occupied Taiwan's legislature. (Photo: Reuters) TAIPEI — Hundreds of protesters in Taiwan opposed to a trade pact with China which they fear gives the mainland too much economic influence and access to opportunities have occupied Taiwan's legislature. The protesters burst into the legislative chamber late on Tuesday and repulsed police efforts to evict them, media said. The students said they were demanding an apology to the Taiwan people from President Ma Ying-jeou for the trade pact and that an initial review of the pact by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party be scrapped. The KMT said this week its initial review of the pact had been completed despite opposition party concern about the mainland's growing influence on the Taiwanese economy. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since Nationalist forces, defeated by the Communists, fled to the island at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has never ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control. But in recent years, the two sides have built up extensive economic ties, and in February they held their first direct government-to-government talks, a big step towards expanding cross-strait dialogue beyond trade. Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which has vowed to protect the island's economy from excessive Chinese influence, has said it would vote against the deal although it lacks numbers to block its passage. A political analyst said the protest would not derail the deal. "I don't think this is going to threaten the overall passage of the pact, though it may delay it a bit," said Lu Ya-li, a professor of political science at Taipei's Chinese Culture University. "But this pact is too important for Taiwan's economy—it will pass regardless." The students are worried the pact would lead to an influx of mainland students into Taiwan universities, which could threaten opportunities for scholarships and jobs, he said. The protesters were predominantly guided by political ideology and did not represent the majority of Taiwan students, he said. Mainland China is the island's biggest trading partner and the two sides have signed a slew of agreements on everything from transport to tourism since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008. Under the latest trade pact, China will open 80 of its service sectors to Taiwanese companies, while Taiwan will allow mainland investment in 64 sectors. The post Taiwan Students Occupy Legislature Over China Trade Deal appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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