Monday, June 30, 2014

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Revenue Dept to Improve Tax Collection from Soaring Rent Rates

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 06:27 AM PDT

Myanmar tax collection, Myanmar real estate

The gate of Unicef's office in Golden Valley, in Rangoon's Bahan Township, which costs $87,000 per month to rent. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The Department of Internal Revenue announced Monday that it would improve tax collection on income earned from rent rates across Burma and warned property owners to submit their earnings from rent soon.

The announcement comes at a time of skyrocketing rent rates in the country's commercial capital Rangoon, which has seen companies and UN aid agencies pay up to $1 million per year to the owners of offices and villas.

Local revenue department officials said they were taking steps to address tax evasion by landlords, which has been commonplace in Burma, but they offered few details on how the tougher approach was going to work or whether harsher punishments would be enforced for those found evading taxes.

Monday's announcement in state-run media said the department would inform property owners of the need to submit their income from rent, adding that the department will subsequently work with the Yangon City Development Committee and the police to catch those evading taxes.

"This project is aimed at more strictly levying taxes … First, [landlords] are warned by the government to provide their income tax information, then we will assess taxes, and after that we will check who are evading taxes township by township," said anofficer of the Rangoon Division Internal Revenue Department.

The officer, who asked not be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that "more than 80 percent" of property owners in Rangoon have been evading taxes on income earned from rent for many years, including those who own villas and luxury residences in the upmarket neighborhoods in Bahan, Mayagone and Kamaryut townships.

"Most of them are evading income tax, that's why we're going to strictly assess their income tax," he said, adding that income gained from renting out land, real estate, factories, condominiums and other property would be taxed.

According to the Revenue Law, tax rates vary from 5 percent for landlords earning between US$2,000 and $5,000 per year, to 25 percent tax for those earning more than $30,000 in annual rent.

Rangoon's property market has boomed since President Thein Sein's nominally-civilian government announced political and economic reforms in 2011. Rent rates in the city, where high-quality housing and office space remain scarce, have soared and foreign companies and UN aid agencies are paying exorbitant rates for their offices.

The Irrawaddy revealed in May that Unicef paid $87,000 per month for a compounded villa in Golden Valley, one of Rangoon's most expensive neighborhoods, a property owned by a former military regime general. The World Health Organization said it paid $79,000 per month for its office on Pyay Road in Mayangone Township.

The rates caused a public backlash—in particular as some of the properties are owned by business cronies and former junta members—and there were calls for improving the tax collection on the properties in order to ensure that public revenues are gained from the booming property market.

Internal Revenue Department officials said they were aware of the media attention on the high rent rates, but said it had not informed their decision to improve tax collection on rents.

In Bahan Township, the site of Golden Valley, some 200 property owners had recently submitted their income from rent, a local township revenue department officer told The Irrawaddy.

"As far as I know, the owner of the Unicef office has already submitted their income information, but I can't go into more detail," said the officer, who declined to be named.

Kyee Myint of the Myanmar Lawyers' Network said it remains to be seen whether the department's new approach will reduce rampant tax evasion on income earned from property, as punishments for evasion are light.

"They only have to pay a fine that represents 10 percent of their total taxes," he said, adding that the department should be open about whether it is successful or not in improving tax collection.

"The department of internal revenue has a responsibility to show to the public how much tax they collect… If they really collect [more tax] it could go to education and health care," Kyee Myint said.

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Photo of the Week (30 June, 2014)

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 05:25 AM PDT

NLD: Over 3 Million People Join Petition to Amend Charter

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 05:07 AM PDT

constitution

People sign petitions at the NLD’s head office in Rangoon in May. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

MANDALAY — Burma's biggest opposition party announced on Monday that more than 3.3 million people have signed a campaign to change a constitutional article that gives the military a veto over amendments.

"As of today, the campaign has been going for one month, and we have received more than 3.3 million signatures nationwide," said Tun Tun Hein, a central executive committee member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

The signature campaign, organized in collaboration with the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, started on May 27 and will run through July 19.

Tun Tun Hein said all signatures would be submitted to Parliament. "We believe the support of the people will push forward the amendment of Article 436," he said.

Article 436 says constitutional reform can only take place with the support of more than 75 percent of lawmakers. This gives effective veto power to the unelected military lawmakers who control 25 percent of seats in the legislature.

Suu Kyi and 88 Generation leaders are touring the country's biggest cities to encourage amendments. Suu Kyi plans to go to Pakokku, a city in Magwe Division, for constitutional talks on July 12.

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Signs of Life: An Emerging Talent Pool

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 04:52 AM PDT

cinema

A scene from "Ice Poison," which was shot in Lashio, Shan State. (Photo courtesy of Midi)

The mainstream movie business may be in the doldrums right now, but history says that there is always a market for good stories that are well told.

It's likely just a matter of time in Myanmar before ways are found to get quality productions made that match rising audience expectations.

Signs of fresh energy to make films offering substantial fare are already emerging aplenty. So far, perhaps unsurprisingly, many of the most interesting ideas appear to be coming from outside the mainstream.

Just one recent example is Myanmar-born director Midi, who has generated international attention with his 2014 movie "Ice Poison," about a young farmer in Shan State who becomes involved in drugs.

The film has shown in at least eight festivals internationally since it was made, but will reportedly only be seen in this country on DVD or online, as the director did not have a permit to shoot it.

Taiwan-based Midi plans to follow it up next year with a love story, "The Road to Mandalay," which will be shot in a border refugee camp and Bangkok.

Another director tackling substantive themes is Aung Ko Latt, who garnered attention last year for his movie "Kayan Beauties," which also explores vulnerable lives in Myanmar's ethnic areas.

"Kayan Beauties" won a Special Jury Award at the Asean International Film Festival in Malaysia last year, and is still gaining new audiences; this May, it showed at the Soho International Festival in New York City.

"For 27 years I've been trying to show off our Burmese films and movies to the world. Now, that dream has come true. I'll try my best to produce more Burmese films and movies reflecting the beauty of our country, traditions and cultures," the director told The Irrawaddy last year.

Documentary-making in particular is experiencing a resurgence in the post-censorship era, boosted in part by events like the Wathann annual film festival in Yangon, which started in 2011.

And documentary-makers too are increasingly reaching audiences abroad as well as at home.

In May, for example, the Yangon Film School announced that U Aung Nwai Htway's personal, behind-the-scenes story of his famous movie-star parents, "Behind the Screen," will show at the International Documentary Film Festival in Hanoi this month. The film won Best Asean Documentary at the Salaya International Documentary Film Festival in Salaya, Thailand, in March.

Also in May, a selection of films from last year's Wathann festival showed in Shanghai, China.

Perhaps, after years of repression, Myanmar's creative film-makers are just starting to hit their stride again; if so, that happy ending for the country's long love affair with movies may be within reach.

This article was first published alongside the cover story in the June 2014 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

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US Military Officer Gives Speech at Burma Defense College

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 04:09 AM PDT

military

Burma's army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops during a parade to mark the 67th anniversary of Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw on March 27, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun)

RANGOON — For the first time since the United States began its limited re-engagement with the Burmese army, a US military officer has addressed his Burmese counterparts at the Myanmar National Defense College in Naypyidaw.

Lt-Gen Anthony Crutchfield, deputy commander of the US Pacific Command, emphasized human rights and the need for civilian control during a speech at the college, which trains colonels and other high-ranking military officers.

"My presence here is indicative of the new chapter in our countries' relationship," Crutchfield told more than 100 military officers, instructors and college staff during his address last week, according to a transcript published by the US Embassy in Rangoon.

Citing the US armed forces as an example of a professional military, he urged strict adherence to ethical conduct and rule of law, as well as acceptance of diversity. He said respect for human rights was not only a matter of following international laws such as the Geneva Conventions.

"It is also an operational necessity," he said. "When we commit abuses against the civilian population, we lose their support, and our adversaries gain popular support. This makes it harder for us to prevail, and ultimately places our troops in greater danger."

Burma's military was implicated in widespread rights abuses during decades of dictatorship, as it waged wars on multiple fronts against ethnic armed groups across the country. In addition to committing arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings, the military regularly forced civilians to serve as porters and committed sexual assault against women and girls.

Allegations of war crimes have persisted since a quasi-civilian government took office in 2011, as the military continues to fight against two ethnic armed groups in northern Burma.

Accountability

Amid ongoing calls for justice, Crutchfield focused on the importance of accountability for rights abuses. "Sometimes I hear the concern that prosecuting soldiers who commit such offenses hurts morale in the force. We have found in the US military that the opposite is true. Without real accountability to deal with these cases quickly and transparently, discipline breaks down, command and control suffers, and the mission can fail," he said.

He added that the US military did not have a perfect record, particularly in the Middle East. "We are an organization made up of individuals who sometimes make wrong choices," he said. "At the start of our war in Iraq, we had a problem with abuse of civilians. …It damaged the international reputation of the US military, giving our enemies an advantage."

In 2003 and 2004, reports emerged that US military personnel were committing torture and abuse of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib Prison. The reports sparked international outrage and a few low-ranking officers were imprisoned, but higher level officers only received reprimands and demotions.

In Naypyidaw, Crutchfield said one of the key factors to creating a professional military was control by a civilian government. "Simply put, militaries possess capabilities that are too powerful to be placed at the discretion of just a few people. Rather, they must be at the service of all people and used in accordance with the democratic will of the people," he said.

Crutchfield's address at the military college last Wednesday coincided with a visit to Burma by Tom Malinowski, the US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. Malinowski met with the commander-in-chief of Burma's military, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials.

In recognition of President Thein Sein's political reforms, the US government has initiated limited military engagement with Burma and has suspended most economic sanctions against the country. However, critics have accused the United States of moving too quickly to resume ties, amid reports of ongoing rights violations by the military.

US Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell emphasized that US-Burma military engagement did not involve the training of combat forces or the exchange of weaponry systems, but was limited to trainings on disaster response, human rights and rule of law.

"Those are the steps that we think we can take initially," he told reporters in Rangoon on Saturday. "What steps we take after that of course will be completely up to the government and how fast the reform moves, and once that's done, through consultations with the US government and the office of the secretary of defense, we will decide what further military-to-military steps we take."

In February, a senior US State Department official was quoted as saying that Washington would consider future arms sales to Burma if the country's human rights situation improved.

The United Kingdom has also re-engaged with Burma's military since 2011, including by appointing a permanent military attaché at its Rangoon embassy last year. In January this year, the UK government funded a course for dozens of Burmese military officers about human rights, accountability mechanisms and professionalism.

With reporting by May Sitt Paing.

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Canada Says Burma Invited Controversial Tycoon on Trade Tour

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 03:01 AM PDT

Myanmar tycoon

Burma's minister for national planning and economic development, Kan Zaw, addresses an Asean luncheon at the Royal Park Hotel in Toronto on June 5, 2014. (Photo: Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada)

Canada's government says it is not responsible for a decision by the Burmese government to include controversial Burmese tycoon Steven Law in a high-level Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) trade mission to Vancouver and Toronto earlier this month.

As The Irrawaddy first reported last week, Law accompanied Burma's minister for national planning and economic development, Kan Zaw, and three other businessmen as part of the Burmese delegation.

Law, who continues to be blacklisted by US authorities due to what the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claims is his long-standing involvement in the drug trade, was in Canada June 1-5 for the Asean Economic Ministers Roadshow.

A spokesperson for International Trade Minister Ed Fast, Shannon Gutoskie, responded to questions regarding Law's appearance in Canada by emphasizing that he was in the country because the Burmese government had invited him.

"The individual in question was part of the Government of Burma's private sector delegation to accompany the Burmese Minister," Gutoskie told The Irrawaddy via email. "The Government of Canada had no role in the selection of the private sector delegates."

Gutoskie suggested that ultimately Canadian immigration officials bear responsibility for allowing Law onto Canadian soil. "The fact that this individual entered Canada concerns us. Clearly, Canadian immigration officials failed to do their job properly screening this individual under our immigration laws," he said.

Law participated in the delegation under his Chinese name, Lo Ping Zhong, and was listed as the managing director of a previously unheard of firm, Yadanar Taung Tann Gems Co., Ltd., rather than his better known role as head of Asia World, a Burmese conglomerate that is involved in everything from hydroelectric power to grocery stores and hotels. Law is also known by his Burmese name, Tun Myint Naing.

Mark Farmaner, director of the Burma Campaign UK, a London-based advocacy group that continues to be one of the Thein Sein’s government's harshest critics, said he found it inconceivable that Canadian diplomats based at the newly opened embassy in Rangoon didn’t recognize the controversial tycoon in the delegation even if he was going under a less well-known name.

"It is hard to believe that Canadian officials did not know who Steven Law is. He is notorious and was on visa ban lists in many countries. If officials decided to let him in rather than risk offending the Burmese government and damaging business opportunities, then this is a real disgrace," Farmaner told The Irrawaddy.

"Inviting Stephen Law to take part in an official trade delegation exposes the continuing close relationship between Burma's drug lords and the government of Burma," Farmaner added.

According to leaked US diplomatic cables, these ties really blossomed after Law's late father Lo Hsing Han played a key role in brokering a ceasefire agreement for the military regime, for which he received a concession for heroin production.

Despite the fact that Canadian authorities are unlikely to let Steven Law return to their country anytime soon, there appear to be no Canadian rules in effect that would prevent Canadian firms or Canadian individuals from doing business with Law or his Asia World conglomerate. This is because Law remains conspicuously absent from a list of 38 designated individuals affiliated with the previous regime that the Canadian government continues to target after it lifted its comprehensive sanctions policy in early 2012. Tay Za, Burma's other most famous tycoon, is on the list along with such notables as former strongman Than Shwe.

Although Canadian businessmen who met with Law at the various Asean roadshow-related events, including a business roundtable breakfast in Toronto, would not be violating any Canadian rules if they did business with Law or received funds from Asia World, they could run into to trouble with US authorities, who continue to target Law.

According to sources in Rangoon, Asia World recently acquired the services of a Western public relations firm in order to improve his poor reputation. Whether Law and well-paid image-laundering experts are able to have him removed from the OFAC list remains to be seen.

Tom Malinowski, the US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, told the Wall Street Journal during a visit to Burma last week that individuals and firms seeking to get off the list "have to demonstrate to [the US] that they are engaging in responsible business practices."

This may prove difficult for Asia World, as the firm's ongoing involvement in the Kunlong dam project in northern Shan state on the upper Salween River has, according to human rights activists, displaced large numbers of people and led to armed clashes in the area.

Law's Meeting with BC Minister 'Possible'

After The Irrawaddy broke the story of Law’s visit to Canada, the Vancouver-based newspaper The Province reported last Thursday that Teresa Wat, the international trade minister for the province of British Columbia, attended a luncheon that was also attended by Law. According to Province columnist Michael Smyth, "Although Law did not sit at the same table with Wat, a government official said it was possible she briefly met him at the event."

The BC government's statement to The Province also indicated that Premier Christy Clark did not meet with Steven Law—a claim that appears to contradict what the BC Ministry of International Trade's press department told The Irrawaddy earlier in response to written questions about which Burmese business representatives met with Clark and Wat. The ministry's communications office has yet to respond to The Irrawaddy's follow-up questions regarding Law’s time in the province.

As The Irrawaddy previously reported, during his stay in Vancouver, Law attended a meeting between Canadian International Trade Minister Ed Fast and the Burmese delegation where trade between the two nations was discussed. According to an article published in April of this year by Burma’s ambassador to Canada, Hau Do Suan, 16 Canadian firms have invested US$46.07 million in Burma since sanctions were listed in 2012. It remains unclear, however, if any of this investment was made in cooperation with Law or Asia World.

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Suu Kyi Launches ‘Overwhelming’ Report on Tropics

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 12:32 AM PDT

tropics

Aung San Suu Kyi gives a keynote address at the launch of the State of the Tropics report in Rangoon on Sunday. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday launched an historic and in-depth look at the tropics, making public an unprecedented three-year evaluation of the social, economic and environmental issues at play in the 134 countries that straddle the equator.

The State of the Tropics report offers information on a vast array of factors affecting a region that by 2050 will be home to 67 percent of the global population under 15 years of age, from the tropics' biodiversity and crime rates to governance and gender equality.

Burma is spotlighted as "among the world's 'hottest hotspots' for species diversity" across some of Asia's last intact—but increasingly threatened—forests. The tropics as a whole are home to 80 percent of global biodiversity.

The report paints a picture of the tropics as a region improved in most socioeconomic indicators since 1980. Overall poverty is down, agricultural productivity has risen and inhabitants of the tropics increasingly enjoy the benefits of access to mobile phones and the Internet.

But many problems persist and some have become more acute since 1980, according to the report. Fish stocks in the tropics are rapidly being exhausted and rising emissions from industrialization are contributing to a worldwide rise in the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In many development indicators, tropical countries notably lag nations outside of the belt that spans the latitudinal lines known as the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Though only 40 percent of the world's population lives in the tropics, the region is home to two-thirds of the world's extremely impoverished.

The 462-page analysis, which Suu Kyi called "a most impressive and overwhelming report on our part of the world," was the product of collaboration among 12 universities and research institutions specializing in the tropics.

"I would like to ask a very simple question of those who have put together this report, and all those who make use of this report: How is the information that has been made available to us going to help us to enhance the lives of the peoples of this globe," Suu Kyi said in her keynote address at the launch event in Rangoon.

Though Burma's geographic range includes a "dry zone" that sees limited annual rainfall and snow-capped mountains in northern Kachin State, more than 90 percent of the population lives in the tropics.

The report makes note of the unique challenges presented to Burma's forests in light of major political and economic reforms introduced by President Thein Sein over the last three years. Reforms that have offered opportunities for conservation via international engagement with the country, the report said, but have also hastened deforestation as foreign investment pours into the once closed country.

At particular risk are Burma's mangrove forests, which are spread across more than 1,200 miles of coastline from the Bay of Bengal to the Andaman Sea, and inland waterways such as the Irrawaddy Delta.

"The mangrove forests of the Ayeryarwady Delta have experienced the highest rate of deforestation in the country with an estimated loss in area of 64% between 1978 and 2011. … At current rates they could be lost entirely in the next two decades," the report said, adding that the trees were often victims of agricultural conversion encouraged by government policy.

The prospect of mangroves' extinction has implications for more than just the country's biodiversity. Mangroves are recognized for the valuable protection they provide to coastal lands and their inhabitants, with some researchers claiming that if the nation's mangrove forests had been less degraded when Cyclone Nargis devastated the delta region in 2008, fewer casualties and damage would have resulted as the storm made landfall.

"The unprecedented and profound social, political and economic changes that are rapidly taking place in Burma/Myanmar are likely to determine the future of one of the most important and intact forest regions in the Tropics," the report concluded.

Also analyzed in the report were the challenges presented by tropical diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, both of which continue to burden the health systems of Burma and the wider Southeast Asian region. In 2010, Southeast Asia was second only to the Caribbean in dengue incidence rates, and a 2013 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies warned of a growing strain of drug resistant malaria in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Burma. Burma accounts for about 50 percent of malaria-related deaths in Southeast Asia.

Nonetheless, the Southeast Asian region as a whole was deemed one of the tropics' success stories, boasting some of the highest growth rates in the world from 1980-2010. Over that period, life expectancy rose by 26 years, and nearly 175 million fewer people were living in poverty by 2010.

With the economic growth, however, have come new challenges, including rising carbon dioxide emissions, higher pollution discharge into rivers and streams, and land conflicts resulting from conversion of forests to farmland.

Suu Kyi, who said that she could add little of substance to the exhaustive report, called for the information contained in the document to be used to inspire "a more caring world."

"And there is so much that we can learn from this report, to make us better carers," she said. "To care for our environment, to care for one another, to care for those who are different from us."

Professor Sandra Harding, vice chancellor and president of James Cook University, one of the institutions that contributed to the report, said the tropics—which are expanding by 138-277 kilometers every 25 years as global temperatures rise—was a region that "features some of the most pressing issues of our time."

"The aim of the report is to answer a very simple question: Is life in the tropics getting better? More subtly, the aim of the report is geopolitical," she said in introductory remarks on Sunday. "It is to change the way the world views itself."

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Black Gold Rush

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 05:30 PM PDT

Myanmar labor conditions

Scenes from southern Magway's oil rush, where the work is hard and rewards are uncertain. Click on the box below to see more images. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

MINHLA TOWNSHIP, Magway Region — It's been more than a year since the farmers of Htankai and Dahatpin, two villages in southern Magway Region, regained control of land that was taken away from them nearly two decades ago, but so far, their fields are still far from green.

In April of last year, in a rare reversal of the rampant land-grabbing that marked Myanmar's era of military rule, the government instructed the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) to return land that it had seized in 1996 to form a joint venture with private firms.

Since then, however, the only thing that has been growing in the affected 25-mile (40-km) wide tract of land is the number of oil wells run by small-scale operators looking to soak up some of the black gold that MOGE left behind.

"There were two oil fields, Htankai and Dahatpin, under our supervision, but now the joint venture is gone and we're not working there anymore," said an MOGE engineer who asked not to be identified. "Now it's being explored illegally."

By some counts, there are now more than 55,000 wells covering the bleak, blackened stretch of ground that the government wants turned back into productive farmland. Of those, more than 20,000 appeared after the MOGE decided last June to abandon its efforts to enforce an end to drilling in the area—one of the conditions under which it agreed to return the land.

Although many farmers said they intended to honor their promise to bring the land back under cultivation, the influx of outsiders who came to exploit the region's resources made it difficult for them to grow their crops.

"When the farms were given back to us, we weren't allowed to drill and we didn't receive

any money from the other oil drillers. As they continued drilling, we couldn't grow any crops and life got much harder for us," said U Aung Moe Hein, a resident of Htankai.

"To be frank, if other people are taking crude oil, we'd like to do it too," he added.

What most local landowners are doing, however, is charging for the right to sink small wells on their land, for a fee of anywhere from 100,000 kyat to 1.5 million kyat (US $100-1,500) per well, depending on the yield.

While this has brought some welcome income into the region, it has also come with a serious drawback: a dramatic rise in crime, as unregulated drilling and a push for quick profits at all costs breed a general climate of lawlessness.

With yields varying from three gallons to 25 barrels per day, the competition for the best wells is fierce. Add to this the fuel of alcohol, illegal drugs and prostitution, and relations among drillers soon turn truly combustible.

"There are lots of problems here. When tensions arise between rivals, they often lead to knife fights," said U Thaw Zin, an oil driller in Htankai. "But if you mind your own business, it's not so bad."

For most, in fact, the money to be made here is not worth fighting over. "Drillers like us only make an average of 10,000 kyat [$10] a day. The only ones who are getting really rich from this business are the owners of the buying centers," said U Min Latt, a driller from neighboring Mandalay Region.

With a daily output of at least 100 barrels, there certainly is money to be made by those who trade in the contraband crude, which is shipped by highway or waterway to the refineries of Monywa, Sagaing Region.

Fortunately for the petrol smugglers, there doesn't seem to be much interest in cracking down on their activities. Trucks carrying oil drive right past the MOGE office in Htankai en route to Monywa, but are rarely if ever stopped.

"We see them every day, but we don't have the right to arrest them. That's the job of law enforcement," said one MOGE official in Htankai, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The drillers, however, have not been so lucky in their dealings with the authorities.

"About 70 policemen came and shouted at us to get out of the field," said U Aye Chan, an oil driller, recalling a recent incident. "They said we face up to five years in prison if we don't stop. But we have invested a lot to do this—some of us have even sold our farms and houses so we could do business here. Our lives would be ruined if we couldn't work here."

Although appeals to higher authorities, including the president and the chief minister of Magway Region, have enabled the drillers to continue, the precariousness of the situation—and diminishing yields—have convinced many that they're better off elsewhere.

"Oil production has significantly dropped, so some drillers are now leaving the area," confirmed U Htun Myint, a resident of Htankai.

Meanwhile, just a few dozen miles away, the MOGE has licensed a private company to explore another oilfield where the long-term outlook is very different.

Drillers who want to work the Ya Naung Mone field can do so by making a deal with the landowners, and the oil company buys the crude at close to market value. According to one trader, this arrangement works far better than the free-for-all at Htankai, even if it does mean that drillers and traders have to pay taxes.

"To be honest, we'd rather pay taxes than give bribes all the time," he said. "It's better to drill legally than to keep wasting money on corruption."

This article first appeared in the June 2014 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

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‘Separated by Only a River’

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 05:00 PM PDT

Yangon River

A photograph from Zarni Phyo's "People of the River," a photo story on display at Witness Yangon Documentary Arts Space until July 18.

Photographers from Burma, Norway and Bangladesh came together recently for a reporting workshop in Yangon. The workshop was organized by Myanmar Deitta, an NGO focused on documentary photography, in collaboration with universities from Norway and Bangladesh, and each participant completed a photo story.

Zarni Phyo, 26, one of five Burmese photographers who received a scholarship to attend the workshop, focused on telling the story of people who live alongside the Rangoon River in Dala Township. His photo story, "People of the River," is now on display at Witness Yangon Documentary Arts Space until July 18. The Irrawaddy spoke with him about his experience capturing the images for his project.

Question: Why were you interested in the daily lives of people along

the river?

Answer: Honestly, when I started this project I had only a vague idea about these people and their lifestyle, but I was fascinated by the divers. However, as I continued with the project, I developed a sense of admiration for and interest in not only the divers, but also the whole culture and society that these people have carved out of their difficult circumstances, and the advantageous benefits of living on a river bank. There are a lot of dangers about their way of life, but they continue anyway because, for some, this is the life they were born in and they can't think of any other prospects. For example, there's always a chance that when aboard a ship or boat something can happen. Divers also have to go underwater with just a rudimentary breathing apparatus, without all the necessary diving equipment.

Q: What was one of the most memorable experiences you had in the process of taking these photographs?

A: There was an incident on one of the days I went to the Yangon [Rangoon] River to do some shooting. The boat that I was on sank. It wasn't a dramatic sinking, like the events they portray in movies, where the boat gets entirely submerged and swallowed by the water. We were very lucky—at the time, the tide was receding, meaning the water level was relatively low, so only part of our boat was underwater. We made it safely back to shore when some fishermen came by and gave us a ride.

Q: Why did you choose to make your photos black and white?

A: Personally, I prefer it. I think that by making my photos black and white, the audience can focus entirely on the subject of the photos and really understand what it is I want to show without focus being partially shared with the colors. Another reason is that it helps me achieve a rather dramatic effect.

Q: What is the main message you want to convey through your photographs?

A: My main aim is to capture the plight of these people, and to show the stark contrast between Dala and Yangon, even though the two are separated by only a river.

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China Fetes Burma, India, Says Beijing Poses No Threat

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 09:55 PM PDT

China's relations with neighbors

China's President Xi Jinping, left, Premier Li Keqiang, Burma's President Thein Sein, right, and India's Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, center, arrive for a conference marking the 60th anniversary of the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 28, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Jason Lee)

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping feted neighbors Burma and India on Saturday, dusting off the 60th anniversary of a now rather obscure agreement signed in the early days of the Cold War to pledge a rising China's commitment to peace.

In 1954, China, Burma and India signed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, promising mutual non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs, ideals then incorporated into the Non-Aligned Movement of countries who did not wish to choose between the United States and the Soviet Union.

However, China's ties with both Burma and India soured in the 1960s, as China and India fought a border war and Burma's military rulers oversaw torrid anti-Chinese riots, events that mar relations to this day.

More recently, China's growing diplomatic and military clout has rattled nerves around the region, especially with Beijing's increasingly strident moves to assert itself in territorial disputes in the East China Sea with Japan and in the South China Sea with countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

Xi, speaking to some 700 people in Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People, including Burmese President Thein Sein and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, said China would never try to impose its will no matter how strong it becomes.

"China does not subscribe to the notion that a country is bound to seek hegemony when it grows in strength. Hegemony or militarism is not in the genes of the Chinese. China will unswervingly pursue peaceful development because it is good for China, good for Asia and good for the world," Xi said.

"The notion of dominating international affairs belongs to a different age, and such attempts are doomed to failure," Xi added, in a speech strong on broad, vague statements about peace though short on detail.

"Flexing military muscles only reveals a lack of moral ground or vision, rather than reflecting one's strength. Security can be solid and enduring only if it is based on moral high ground and vision," he said.

Frontier Defense

Yet comments on border defense reported by the official Xinhua news agency late on Friday suggest that Xi will have his work cut out for him in trying to convince Asia that China's intentions are really peaceful.

"Talking about frontier defense, one cannot help thinking about China's modern history when the country was so weak and destitute that it was for everyone to bully," Xinhua cited Xi as saying.

"Foreign aggressors broke China's land and sea defenses hundreds of times, plunging the Chinese nation into the abysm of calamity," Xi added, calling on people not to forget the "history of humiliation" and strengthen the borders, especially at sea.

Still, Xi was warm in his praise for India, whose new Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to strengthen India's armed forces and economy, in part to enable him to react more decisively in foreign relations than his predecessor, the mild-mannered Manmohan Singh.

"In one of his poems, Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet, wrote that if you think friendship can be won through war, spring will fade away before your eyes," he said, referring to the Bengali Nobel Literature laureate.

Xi noted that Burma, whose president has irritated China by suspending a major Chinese-invested dam project and seeking closer ties with the United States, was the first country to sign a border agreement with China, in 1960.

"The people of India, Myanmar and other Asian countries also cherish the values of love, kindness and peace," he said.

The post China Fetes Burma, India, Says Beijing Poses No Threat appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Junta Expects Next Thai Elections in October 2015

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 09:48 PM PDT

post-coup elections in Thailand

A Thai soldier stands guard outside the Royal Thai Army Headquarters in Bangkok on June 18, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom)

BANGKOK — Thailand's military junta will install an interim constitution next month, and elections will be held around October 2015, its leader announced Friday.

Army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a coup last month, said the temporary constitution will allow an interim legislature and Cabinet to begin governing the country in September. He said an appointed reform council and constitution-drafting committee will then work on a long-term charter to take effect July 2015.

Prayuth said in televised speech that a general election would be held around three months after the adoption of the constitution. He made no mention of a public referendum on the new charter, as was held in 2007 after an earlier coup against an elected government.

The army seized power May 22 in a bloodless coup, overthrowing a government elected by a majority of voters three years ago. Prayuth has said the coup was necessary to restore order after half a year of anti-government protests and political turmoil that left at least 28 people dead and the government paralyzed.

But since taking power, the army appears to be carrying on the fight of the anti-government protesters by mapping out a similar agenda to rewrite the constitution and institute political reforms before elections. It has quashed most dissent, threatening or arresting critics of the coup.

Prayuth said the national reform council will consider political, economic, social, environmental, judicial and other matters and give its recommendations to the constitution-drafting committee.

He said the ruling junta "wants to see an election that will take place under the new constitution … that will be free and fair, so that it can become a solid foundation for a complete Thai democracy." It wants a political system that will bring development to the country, and not conflicts as in the past, he said.

Critics charge that the army plans to make the constitution less democratic by reducing the power of elected politicians and increasing the number of appointed legislators, with the goal of allowing the traditional, conservative royalist ruling elite to retain power.

Prayuth also spoke about international criticism of the coup, particularly from the European Union and the United States, which have cut back on aid and political cooperation and called for early elections.

"Today, if we go ahead and hold a general election, it will lead to a situation that creates conflict and the country will return to the old cycle of conflict, violence, corruption by influential groups in politics, terrorism and the use of war weapons. We cannot let that happen," Prayuth said.

"I truly hope that the EU and the US will understand the situation the same way the majority of Thais do and I hope they will be satisfied with our solutions right now," he said.

Thailand has been deeply divided since 2006, when former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled by a military coup after being accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect for King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Thaksin, a former telecommunications billionaire, remains highly popular among the poor in Thailand's north and northeast, and parties controlled by him have won every national election since 2001. The anti-government protesters, backed by the country's traditional elites, bitterly opposed him and sought to remove all traces of his political machine from politics.

The post Junta Expects Next Thai Elections in October 2015 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Big Turnout in HK Democracy Vote as Beijing Fumes

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 09:41 PM PDT

referendum in Hong Kong

People vote at a polling station during a civil referendum held by Occupy Central in Hong Kong on June 29, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Tyrone Siu)

HONG KONG — An informal referendum aimed at bolstering support for greater democracy in Hong Kong wound down Sunday after drawing nearly 800,000 votes and the ire of Beijing, which denounced it as a political farce.

Hong Kongers used the straw poll to express their desire for greater say in choosing their leader.

The vote is part of a campaign by activists in the southern Chinese city to ratchet up the pressure on authorities for democratic reform that could ultimately lead to a mass protest paralyzing the city's financial district.

Hong Kong, a freewheeling capitalist enclave of 7.2 million, passed from British to Chinese control in 1997 with the promise that it could retain a high degree of control over its own affairs under the principle of "one country, two systems."

Beijing has pledged to allow Hong Kongers to elect their next leader in 2017, but is balking at letting them nominate candidates. China's communist leaders instead insist all candidates must be vetted by a Beijing-friendly committee, like the one that has handpicked the city's leaders since British rule ended.

Beijing has slammed the poll by organizers of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement as illegal, and the state-run Global Times newspaper blasted it as "mincing ludicrousness."

Organizers said after voting ended Sunday evening that after excluding duplicate votes, some 787,767 ballots were cast over 10 days. Voters, who were required to submit their identity card numbers, cast ballots online, through a smartphone app or at polling stations.

The government of Hong Kong, which has 3.5 million registered voters, said in a statement that the unofficial referendum has "no legal effect."

Voters had a choice of three proposals on democratic reform, all of which included so-called public nomination.

Occupy Central organizers have vowed to rally 10,000 people in a mass protest aimed at crippling the central business district if the government fails to come up with satisfactory reform proposals. In a separate motion on the ballot, an overwhelming majority chose to back a call for the legislature to veto any government proposal that doesn't meet international standards.

Rising public discontent over mainland China's increasing influence has fuelled yearning for full democracy in Hong Kong, where residents can only vote for 40 of 70 lawmakers as well as local councilors.

In what was seen as a thinly veiled threat, Beijing released a policy document earlier this month that said, among other things, that Hong Kong's autonomy comes at the discretion of the central government. The paper sparked a backlash, with more than 800 lawyers protesting Friday over a requirement for judges to be patriotic to China.

The post Big Turnout in HK Democracy Vote as Beijing Fumes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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