The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Photo of the week (July 04, 2014)
• Central Mandalay Calm After Heavy Police Deployment
• Ethnic, Political Groups Hold Talks on Thai Border
• Thai Junta Compares its Coup to Burma’s 1988 Crackdown
• Funeral Sparks Further Unrest in Mandalay
• NLD Campaign Will Not Influence Constitutional Reform in Parliament: Shwe Mann
• Mandalay Police Arrest Five as Calm Returns After Riots
• Facebook Problems Coincide With Curfew in Burma
• Web Hackers Poke Fun at Burmese IT Ministry
• ‘Go Straight to the People’
• In Burma’s Young Democracy, Vote ‘No’ on Proportional Representation
• China Leader Snubs North Korea in Visit to Seoul
• Ivory Sales Boom in Bangkok, Mocking Thai Pledge to End Trade
• Video of Japan Politician Weeping Goes Viral

Photo of the week (July 04, 2014) Posted: 04 Jul 2014 07:33 AM PDT The post Photo of the week (July 04, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Central Mandalay Calm After Heavy Police Deployment Posted: 04 Jul 2014 07:13 AM PDT Police in riot gear and armed with teargas grenades were deployed to clear out the streets of central Mandalay on Friday evening. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Following a funeral for a Buddhist man killed during recent inter-communal violence, a mob of angry Buddhists burned down an orphanage, a rest house and a farm at a Muslim section of a cemetery north of Mandalay on Friday afternoon, Mandalay firefighters said. In the center of the city, hundreds of young men armed with sticks were gathered to head to a Muslim area but they were turned away by a heavy police presence. As dusk fell Friday evening, the situation appeared calm in central Mandalay and the main streets were deserted. Authorities extended the 9 pm to 5 am curfew to Pathein Gyi Township, located northeast of Mandalay. On Thursday, authorities had already imposed a curfew in all six of the city's townships. Around 5 pm Friday, crowds of young Buddhist men on motorbikes were seen heading towards to Muslim areas southeast of the old moat, close to the site where a Buddhist man named Tun Tun was killed on Wednesday during clashes with Muslim residents. The situation was tense and police asked residents to go inside as they prepared to clamp down on any outbreak of violence. "We will open fire if needed. You guys should be careful," a police officer warned journalists gathered at the scene. For the first time since the unrest broke out, hundreds of police officers in protective riot gear and armed with teargas grenades were sent to clear streets of central Mandalay. During a funeral procession for the Buddhist man earlier Friday afternoon a mob destroyed motorbike and a truck in the city center. Tun Tun, 36, was one of two people killed in the early hours of Thursday morning during clashes between Buddhists and Muslims. A Muslim man was also beaten to death on his way to a mosque for morning prayers. Fourteen people were injured during the violence, which began Tuesday night. A Muslim resident said police officers had come to search Mandalay's Joon Mosque early on Friday morning. He said five Muslim men were arrested, including the son of the imam, adding that that police had seized weapons, such as iron rods, knives and swords. "We kept those weapons to defense ourselves if needed, not to attack," said the man, who asked not be named. Some residents of Mandalay have criticized the police actions so far, saying that security forces had failed to deal with the outbreak of inter-communal violence and did little to contain the angry Buddhist mobs moving through the city. During the arson at the Muslim cemetery, located some 10 miles north of the city, no police were present, a photojournalist on the scene has said. Burma's national police chief Brig-Gen Win Khaung defended the police performance in a phone interview with The Irrawaddy. "If we use a lot of force and target the mobs, our police force will be criticized again for using too much armed force," he said. "When we want to solve this problem peacefully and we did not use armed forces, the critics are not happy and say we are weak." "We cannot arrest whoever we see on the street," he said, adding, "If we need more police forces, we will deploy more… we already added extra more police from other areas to be deployed." Some 1,000 police were deployed in central Mandalay in recent days and on Tuesday several warning shots were reportedly fired to disperse a crowd. The unrest began after a Burmese Facebook user alleged that the Muslim owner of a teashop had raped a Buddhist maid. Nationalist monk U Wirathu, who is known for his hate speech against Muslims, quickly spread the message and called for justice. Mandalay police have opened a case against to investigate the accusations but the accused has fled. Since mid-2012, Burma has experienced recurrent outburst of deadly inter-communal violence, often sparked by allegations of rape of Buddhist women by Muslim that are spread on social media. In the past, security forces have been accused of doing little to quell the violence and of siding with Buddhist mobs during the violence. Arakan State in western Burma has been worst-affected and tens 140,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have been displaced by the violence. Central Burma saw rounds of anti-Muslim violence in more than a dozen cities last year, and in the city of Meikthila 40 were killed and more than 10,000 displaced in March 2013. It is the first time, however, that Mandalay, Burma's second biggest city, has been hit by an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence. The post Central Mandalay Calm After Heavy Police Deployment appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Ethnic, Political Groups Hold Talks on Thai Border Posted: 04 Jul 2014 04:46 AM PDT Senior 88 Generation leader Ko Ko Gyi, standing, speaks during a meeting between the UNFC and opposition political forces on the Thai-Burmese border on Friday, July 4, 2014. (Photo: The 88 Generation Peace and Open Society) RANGOON — Ethnic armed groups and opposition political parties met on the Thai-Burmese border on Friday for the second day of talks organized by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of ethnic armed groups in Burma. According to a statement issued by the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, one of the participants in the talks, the gathering brought together various political forces for discussions about the government's push to reach a nationwide peace accord, and opposition calls for amendments to the military-drafted 2010 Constitution. Besides the UNFC and the 88 Generation group, the meeting was attended by representatives of the United Nationalities Alliance (an umbrella group of ethnic political parties) and the National League for Democracy, the country's main opposition party. Nai Hong Sar, head of the UNFC's National Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that his group planned to present a report on its ongoing negotiations with the Burmese government at today's meeting. "We will discuss what we have done so far, and ask other people for their ideas. We will also ask them what they see as the obstacles to the peace process and how we can overcome them," he said. Ko Ko Gyi, a senior 88 Generation leader, said he urged the ethnic armed groups not to repeat the mistake they made in the past of signing separate ceasefire agreements without first getting guarantees that an inclusive political dialogue would follow. "We should all be able to participate in this political dialogue together. We should all be united," he said, adding that the process should also be transparent. "We need to learn from the past, and also from the example of peace negotiations in other countries. This political dialogue should also be related to the issue of changing the Constitution," he said. Since taking power in 2011, President Thein Sein has introduced a series of political reforms and reopened negotiations with the country's ethnic armed groups, urging them to sign a nationwide peace agreement as a first step toward a political dialogue. The NCCT, which represents 12 ethnic armed groups, says a key stumbling block to reaching an agreement is the Burmese government army's rejection of a federal union system. The post Ethnic, Political Groups Hold Talks on Thai Border appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Junta Compares its Coup to Burma’s 1988 Crackdown Posted: 04 Jul 2014 04:25 AM PDT Tanasak Patimapragorn, supreme commander of Thailand’s armed forces (L), welcomes Burma’s army chief General Min Aung Hlaing during a visit to Bangkok. (Photo: www.nationtv.tv) BANGKOK — Thailand’s military on Friday compared its seizure of power in May to restore stability after months of unrest to the brutal crackdown by Burma's former junta in 1988 to snuff out a pro-democracy movement. Thailand’s military justified its intervention by the need to restore stability after months of unrest and demonstrations by pro and anti-government protesters. Perhaps unwittingly, the deputy chief of the Thai junta likened its seizure of power to one of the darkest chapters in the rule of Burma's junta, its crushing of pro-democracy protests in 1988 when at least 3,000 people were killed. "Myanmar’s government agrees with what Thailand is doing in order to return stability to the nation. Myanmar had a similar experience to us in 1988, so they understand," said Tanasak Patimapragorn, supreme commander of Thailand’s armed forces, following a visit to Bangkok by Burma’s army chief General Min Aung Hlaing. Burma’s junta stepped aside in 2011 after nearly five decades of repressive rule and a nominally civilian government full of former military people has pushed through political reforms, freeing hundreds of political prisoners and unmuzzling the press. In contrast, Thailand’s army seized power after months of street protests designed to oust elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra. It has effectively banned criticism by the media and arrested pro-democracy protesters for such innocuous acts as reading books in public that are critical of totalitarian regimes, such as George Orwell’s "1984". Yingluck was found guilty of abuse of power and ordered to step down by a court on May 7 in what her supporters say was a move by the military-backed royalist establishment to eliminate her family’s political influence. The coup on May 22 cleared out what was left of her government. The visit by Burma's military commander, General Min Aung Hlaing, marks the second by a foreign official since the coup, after that of Malaysia’s defense minister. Thai officials have visited other Asian countries such as China and Cambodia to seek support as a counterweight to the condemnation of Western countries. The United States and European Union have both downgraded diplomatic ties. Thailand has been sharply divided since 2006 when Yingluck’s brother, then premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was toppled by the army. Critics, mostly drawn from the Bangkok-based conservative establishment, said he had abused power and harbored republican aspirations, accusations he denied. Dissent Silenced On Thursday the military said it had drafted an interim constitution but gave no details on its content. Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for the ruling National Council for Peace and Order, told reporters the charter would be submitted for royal endorsement this month. The junta has begun an overhaul of the electoral system and leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha has said elections could take place by late 2015. The junta has all but silenced dissent by detaining hundreds of activists, academics, journalists and politicians, many at undisclosed locations, before releasing them on condition they do not criticize the regime. The small anti-coup protests seen immediately after the coup have fizzled out in recent weeks. A rally on Friday outside the U.S. embassy in Bangkok to show support for Washington’s decision to downgrade ties with Thailand attracted a dozen people, a Reuters reporter said. Some were taken to police stations for questioning while others were simply asked by troops to produce identity papers. Under martial law, public gatherings of more than five people are banned. In the first conviction related to anti-coup activity, a Bangkok court sentenced a protester on Thursday to a one-month suspended jail term and a $190 fine for violating the law. The post Thai Junta Compares its Coup to Burma’s 1988 Crackdown appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Funeral Sparks Further Unrest in Mandalay Posted: 04 Jul 2014 03:42 AM PDT A crowd joins a funeral procession on Friday afternoon in downtown Mandalay ahead of the burial of a 36-year-old Buddhist man who was killed during clashes between Buddhists and Muslims. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — A Buddhist mob has set fire to a Muslim section of a cemetery north of Mandalay, during the funeral of a Buddhist man who was killed in clashes between Buddhists and Muslims this week. More than 1,000 people gathered on Friday afternoon at Kyanikan Cemetery, about 10 miles north of Burma's second-biggest city. The crowd included many young men armed with bamboo sticks and rods, but no police officers, according to a photojournalist at the scene. Fire trucks were heading to the cemetery at about 4:45 pm but were blocked on the road by the mob, a firefighter told The Irrawaddy. Earlier in the afternoon, ahead of the burial, thousands of people had also flooded into the streets of downtown Mandalay while a hearse drove around the city's moat at about 1:30 pm. A sign on the hearse read the deceased Buddhist man's name, Tun Tun, and said he had been "brutally killed by Muslims on the night of July 2." Tun Tun, 36, was one of two people killed in the early hours of Thursday morning during clashes between Buddhists and Muslims. A Muslim man was also beaten to death on his way to a mosque for morning prayers. An invitation for the Buddhist man's funeral urged city residents to join "with patriotism and for the love of religion." Police and security forces were stationed on some thoroughfares downtown during the procession. At the corner of 26th and 80th streets, in the vicinity of the previous day's riot scene, officers were dressed in riot gear and standing on alert. In addition to mourners and observers, some people in the crowd held sticks and sang the national anthem as well as songs of an anti-Muslim movement known as 969. A Buddhist monk told security forces and others through a loudspeaker not to interfere with the procession, and also not to act in any way that would spark unrest. "This is a nationalist funeral. I want to plead with authorities not to prevent the procession from going ahead. This is a peaceful procession," he said. Some residents criticized the overall response of security forces in the city. "It is quite ugly that we have that kind of unrest even if we have police and military," said Hsu Nget, a prominent writer who lives in Mandalay. "Normally, they arrest people who don't wear helmets while they are on motorbikes. I can't help wondering why they didn't arrest those who held sticks and knives," he added, referring to mobs involved in the previous night of clashes. "The situation is not stable yet and we are worried," said Win Mya Mya, deputy chief of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) in Mandalay Division. The 65-year old Muslim woman said she felt sorry about what happened in previous two days, and added that Buddhists and Muslims in the city had good relations in the past. "Muslims patron Buddhist shops, and vice versa. We were like relatives until the recent hate speech," she said. Asked her feelings about the unrest, she said, "Whether a Buddhist or Muslim is killed, I feel I have lost someone from my family." Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims first broke out on Tuesday night, after rumors circulated online that a Buddhist woman had been raped by her Muslim employers. Violence continued on Wednesday night, leaving at least 14 people injured. A curfew was imposed in the city on Thursday night. The post Funeral Sparks Further Unrest in Mandalay appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

NLD Campaign Will Not Influence Constitutional Reform in Parliament: Shwe Mann Posted: 04 Jul 2014 03:10 AM PDT NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and USDP chair and Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann hold a joint press conference in Naypyidaw in March. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann has said that Aung San Suu Kyi's nationwide public campaign for constitutional reform will not influence parliamentary discussions on the matter. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and the 88 Generation Open and Peace Society have launched a nationwide campaign in recent months calling for amendment of Article 436 of the Constitution. The popular opposition leader and 88 Generation leaders have held large public rallies in Burma's major cities and started a petition drive in support of reform on May 27 that had collected 3.3 million signatures by June 30. The petition will run until July 19. Shwe Mann, chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said on Thursday that the public campaign, despite its millions of supporters, would not influence lawmakers looking into the issue of constitutional reform. "They are collecting [signatures for a] petition as they want. [But] this action won't affect the implementing committee formed by Parliament," he told reporters during a press conference in Naypyidaw. Shwe Mann said the Parliamentary Constitutional Amendment Implementation Committee will discuss possible reforms in accordance with instructions provided by Parliament and would therefore not consider the results of the NLD's public campaign. Burma's 2008 charter was drafted by the then-military regime and is widely viewed as undemocratic, as it grants sweeping political powers to the Burma Army, including control over a quarter of all Parliament seats. The unpopular charter also provides immunity from crimes committed under the former regime and Article 59 (f) prevents Suu Kyi from holding the office of the president because her sons are British nationals. Suu Kyi and the 88 Generation are pushing for amendments to Article 436 as it stipulates amendments to key parts of the Constitution can only take place with support of more than 75 percent of all MPs—a clause that provides effective veto power to military lawmakers who control 25 percent of the legislature. The ruling USDP, filled with former junta generals who shed their uniforms when they became lawmakers in 2010, is participating in the Parliamentary Constitutional Amendment Implementation Committee. Some of its members, including Shwe Mann, who also eyes the presidency after the 2015 elections, have signaled that they would consider key reforms. The committee has said it will discuss amending Article 436 and a number of other articles, but it remains to be seen whether fundamental changes will be made that would erode the power of the military. The committee decided on June 12 that it was unwilling to amend Article 59 (f) after USDP and military MPs on the committee reportedly blocked the idea, landing a blow to Suu Kyi's hopes of holding presidential office The 31-member committee comprises 14 USDP MPs and seven military lawmakers. There are only two NLD members and eight committee members of various ethnic minority parties, representing Arakanese, Shan, Mon, Karen, Chin and Pa-O constituencies. The committee has been charged with concluding its work six months prior to the 2015 election, which is expected to be held in November or December. The post NLD Campaign Will Not Influence Constitutional Reform in Parliament: Shwe Mann appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Mandalay Police Arrest Five as Calm Returns After Riots Posted: 04 Jul 2014 02:43 AM PDT A Muslim looks down from the balcony of his home as police officers stand guard outside his house in Mandalay on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters) MANDALAY — Police in Mandalay, Burma’s second-biggest city, said they had arrested another five people after sectarian violence in which a Buddhist and a Muslim died, but an overnight curfew and a heavy security presence appeared to have restored calm on Friday. The clampdown followed two nights of violence starting on Tuesday when about 300 Buddhists converged on a tea shop owned by a Muslim man accused of raping a Buddhist woman. The quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein, which took office in 2011 following 49 years of repressive military rule, has struggled to contain outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence in which at least 240 people have been killed since June 2012. Most of the victims have been members of Burma’s Muslim minority, estimated to be about 5 percent of the population. An imam at Mandalay’s largest mosque told Reuters that the five arrested on Friday were Muslims, held after police searched homes nearby and found ceremonial knives. "Police definitely know these are used for ceremonial purposes," said Ossaman, the imam. "They were not breaking any law." A police officer confirmed the arrests but refused to provide further details and asked that his name be withheld as he was not authorized to speak to the media. The two men who died in the violence were killed in separate incidents. Family and friends said they had taken no part in the riots. Police said 14 people had been hurt in the rioting and four had been arrested earlier, on Wednesday. Anti-Muslim violence is not new in Burma. The former junta imposed a curfew in Mandalay after riots in the city in 1997 following reports that a Muslim man had raped a Buddhist girl. But outbreaks of violence have become more common under the reformist government, which lifted restrictions on freedom of speech, including access to the Internet, which had previously been tightly controlled by the military. The post Mandalay Police Arrest Five as Calm Returns After Riots appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Facebook Problems Coincide With Curfew in Burma Posted: 04 Jul 2014 02:37 AM PDT A screenshot of Facebook. The social media site could not be accessed in Burma from 9 pm on Thursday until about 4 am on Friday. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Facebook went down in Burma on Thursday night until Friday morning, with IT experts speculating that the government blocked access to prevent people from posting hate speech and fueling further unrest in Mandalay. The social media site could not be accessed during the hours of a government-imposed curfew in Burma's second-biggest city between 9 pm and 5 am. "Facebook was stopped from 9 pm last night to about 4 am this morning," said Htike Htike Aung, program manager of the Myanmar ICT Development Organization (MIDO), an NGO that advocates for free speech and offers ICT trainings. She said she checked to see whether the problem was also affecting Facebook users in other countries. "The site wasn't working in some other countries, too, but only for a short while, for a few minutes," she said. "Here, the problem lasted for about seven hours. This may have been related to the Mandalay conflict." Clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in Mandalay began on Tuesday night, after rumors circulated online that a Buddhist woman had been raped by her Muslim employees. The rape allegations were widely circulated on Facebook, including by nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu, who leads an anti-Muslim movement known as 969. Five people were injured during the first night of clashes. As rioting continued on Wednesday night, two people were killed and at least 11 others were injured, according to government officials. An official at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology on Friday declined to comment on the Facebook problems. The post Facebook Problems Coincide With Curfew in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Web Hackers Poke Fun at Burmese IT Ministry Posted: 04 Jul 2014 02:17 AM PDT A screenshot of the website of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Friday morning, after hackers replaced government logos with cartoon depictions of turtles. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Hackers infiltrated the website of Burma's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Friday morning, replacing government logos on the homepage with cartoon renderings of turtles, perhaps as a critique of slow Internet connections. The website defacement came after access to Facebook was apparently blocked overnight in the country, with some speculating that the government cut off use of the social media site to avoid the posting of hate speech or rumors that could fuel further unrest in Mandalay. On Friday morning, two government logos on the top of the ministry's homepage were replaced with turtle cartoons, including one holding a sign that read, "Burmese turtle." Ye Myat Thu, a Mandalay-based member of the Myanmar Computer Industry Association, said the ministry's website was vulnerable to cyber-attacks due to poor security mechanisms. "Every government ministry should have a standard cyber security… Here, hacking is easy, even for local hackers," he told The Irrawaddy. "Ministries work with IT companies that are close to the government, and these companies use readymade open sources for their websites. Such systems do not guard well against hacking, and that's why some government ministries are very easy to hack." Htike Htike Aung, program manager of the Myanmar ICT Development Organization (MIDO), an NGO that advocates for free speech and offers ICT trainings, said the President's Office website would also be easy to infiltrate due to a lack of security measures. Myanmar Post and Telecommunication, which is part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, is the main Internet provider in Burma, and has long been criticized for slow connections. Two international telecoms companies, Telenor and Ooredoo, will begin operating in the country soon and are expected to offer speedier services. "Local users are really unhappy about MPT's Internet services and mobile data speed. They are only patiently using these services because other international telecoms companies have not started working yet. Definitely many people will stop using MPT when the foreign firms come," Aye Chan, a regular Internet user in Rangoon, told the Irrawaddy. A Rangoon-based IT technician said server misconfigurations could have left the ministry's website vulnerable. Failure to upgrade software may have also been to blame, or a poorly written website. "Hackers can keep finding flaws," he said, adding, "The turtle picture was shameful and hilarious." A ministry official declined to comment on the website defacement when contacted by The Irrawaddy. The ministry fixed the problem by Friday afternoon. The post Web Hackers Poke Fun at Burmese IT Ministry appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

‘Go Straight to the People’ Posted: 03 Jul 2014 06:00 PM PDT Nai Aye Lwin is a leading member of the Backpack Health Worker Team. (Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) As the former military regime waged war against ethnic armed groups in Burma, local people in rebel-held territories lacked access to vital medical services. To remedy a dire situation, a group of courageous paramedics and volunteers took matters into their own hands by traveling from village to village to offer care themselves. The Backpack Health Worker Team took many risks to reach these villages: The regime viewed the paramedics as traitorous because they were assisting people in rebel-held territories, and it was not uncommon for them to come under attack. Nai Aye Lwin, a leading member of the paramedic team, recently spoke with The Irrawaddy about how operations have changed since a nominally civilian government came to power in 2011, signing bilateral ceasefire deals with most ethnic armed groups. Question: What's the history of the Backpack Health Worker Team? Answer: After 1992 and 1993, the army carried out large-scale attacks in Karen State, and local people therefore had to flee and hide in forests. Then, paramedics from Mon, Karen and Karenni states, as well as the student army and the National League for Democracy, teamed up to form the backpack health worker team in 1998. The team was made up of 100 paramedics, divided into 32 smaller teams and led by Dr. Cynthia Maung from the Mae Tao Clinic. It mainly focused on primary health care while trying to raise health awareness. Q: Where do you operate presently? A: First we operated in Karen, Kayah [Karenni] and Mon states, and then in Kayan, Shan Palaung, Pa-O and Lahu regions. Now we are expanding to Kachin and Rakhine [Arakan] states. A Chin backpack health worker team is also cooperating with us. Mainly, we are engaged in maternal and child health care, public health care, education and prevention. Q: How do keep your health workers and local volunteers safe? A: It depends on local people and local organizations. If they say their place is safe, we go there. We build makeshift tents with banana leaves and tarpaulin, and we give medical treatment. We can provide medical treatment in some villages where the ethnic armed groups are in control. Q: The former military government viewed you as rebels. Why? A: It was less the government's perception of us than their perception of places where we were operating. The government labeled those places as dark places, with orders to kill anyone in those places. They didn't bother to differentiate between health or education workers and armed men. During the war period, the army shot and detained anyone on sight. Health workers and local traditional midwives have died from mine blasts in the 15 years since our team was created. Q: How big is your team? A: We have more than 100 smaller teams and each team is assigned to cover over 2,000 people, so we are providing health care to about 200,000 people. Now, our team has about 370 core members, and the membership is at least 2,000 if you include the traditional midwives and local volunteers. Q: What challenges have you faced? A: The major challenges are transportation and regional security. Since interest has changed following the political changes of the country, border-based organizations have struggled financially. Our team now only gets 60 percent of the expected contribution from donors. Q: What are the significant accomplishments of your team? A: Toilets have become better under the health education program. The incidence of cholera and diarrhea has decreased in Kayah State. Local community organizations have greater trust in our team. International communities have become more aware that the team's public health care service is reaching more and more people. These are the tangible results. We have provided local traditional midwives with technological and material assistance, and the mortality rate of mothers and children has declined remarkably compared to the past. Our approach is to go straight to the people and not to wait for the people to come to us. Q: How have the team's operations been affected since the new government took the office? A: We have gained greater freedom and the fear of backpack health workers has subsided. In the past, they were filled with fear going into a village. Now, they can operate and communicate with local people more easily. They can provide health care services more effectively. Q: The new government has improved infrastructure and raised budgets for remote areas? How will this benefit your team's activities? A: Investing only in infrastructure won't work in a health system. Rather than spending large sums for infrastructure, it is better to ensure emergency health care for local people. Ethnic health care organizations created their health care systems on their own after the conflicts broke out. So it would be the best [for the government] to acknowledge the active organizations in those regions and work in collaboration with them. The post 'Go Straight to the People' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

In Burma’s Young Democracy, Vote ‘No’ on Proportional Representation Posted: 03 Jul 2014 06:05 PM PDT An election official displays a spoiled ballot paper during the 2012 parliamentary by-elections in Burma. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) There are many reasons why Burma's electoral system should not be changed, at least for the time being. Burma's electoral system should not be changed from first-past-the-post (FPTP) to proportional representation (PR) because the change will be seen as a Blitzkrieg—a surprise, full-scale attack to enhance the advantages of the ruling party and undermine the chances of its competitors even more than is now the case. Burma's electoral playing field is and will remain heavily uneven and unfair. A sudden change to the electoral system will make that playing field even more uneven. There have been no proper consultations, discussions, neither among political parties nor in public. The general public, media, political parties and even members of Parliament have little understanding of the different options under a PR system and what the possible consequences of each system would be. In a country that is in the early stages of fragile democratization, changes that have a significant impact on the rules of the electoral game and final outcomes should not be done without broad consensus. If President Thein Sein's government, his Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the military are sincere in their democratization agenda, they should not use their overwhelming parliamentarian majority, which was gained during a heavily manipulated 2010 election, to trump the disagreement of opposition parties. Such a move would further undermine the already shaken trust in the reform process. There are already several hotly disputed issues between the ruling triangle (Thein Sein's government, the USDP parliamentary majority and the military) and the opposition. The last thing that the fragile transition process needs is one more issue of heated dispute. A short-sighted, utilitarian move by the USDP and military implement a PR system in the hopes of enhancing their chances of 2015 electoral victory will harm the long-term interests of the whole country in achieving a smooth transition away from the previous military dictatorship. Another reason that the electoral system should not be changed now is that there is not fair proportionality as it is, with 25 percent of seats already reserved for military representatives. There is no PR system in the world that has 25 percent of seats excluded from electoral competition. A PR system alongside the military's guaranteed 25 percent allotment of seats is PR in name only. Take away the reserved military seats and PR can reasonably be considered—accompanied by a package of additional constitutional reforms. Keep the 25 percent reserved seats and introduce PR for the remaining 75 percent seats, and the only thing that will be achieved is to give victory to the USDP-military coalition before elections even take place. If such a change were to be introduced, we could have elections in 2015, but we would not have uncertainty. The winner would be known in advance and that winner would be the military plus its USDP spin-off, plus co-opted and fake opposition parties. Proportional representation may one day be right for Burma, but only after the 2015 elections and removal or at least a significant reduction in reserved military seats. To be more precise, what might be good for Burma is not a PR Party List system, but a so-called "German version" of PR, also known as a mixed-member proportional voting system. I personally think that even in that case, first-past-the-post would better suit Burma than a PR system, and that the former, plus federalization, would produce in Burma a similar party scene configuration as we see in India. This is open for discussion, and that there are several strong pros and cons for each electoral system. I can imagine that at this point, even politically aware and educated Burmese readers are already confused and lost. He or she is probably asking himself/herself, what is Party List PR and what is a mixed-member proportional voting system? That is part of the reason why the change is not appropriate now. There is too little knowledge and understanding in Burma about the differences. There are two other important reasons to refrain from change at this point. A shift to PR will open another highly contested issue: What should the threshold be? If we have a threshold too low—for example, 1 percent or 2 percent—then we will get a highly fragmented Parliament with too many parties and too numerous coalitions. But if the figure were set higher than 2 percent, some parties representing ethnic groups with smaller populations might find it difficult to pass the threshold. Some ethnic groups in Burma that have a strong sense of identity and have clear and declared aspirations for self-rule have a relatively small population that might not guarantee that their ethnic parties will pass the threshold. Even a 3 percent threshold might be too high for Chin, Karenni, Mon and Kachin ethnic parties. It is no surprise that the Nationalities Brotherhood Forum has strongly protested against the change. With their territorially concentrated ethnic nationality populations, ethnic parties have a pretty good chance to win adequate representation in both regional and Union-level parliaments under the current system. Under a PR system they might gain fewer seats. The only exception might be a Karen party (if there is to be one main Karen party), which under PR could better gain Karen votes from the Irrawaddy Delta, Rangoon Division and Karen State. A second problematic issue concerns the possible boundaries of the new electoral districts and who will draw these boundaries. Completely redrawing electoral districts gives a lot of opportunity for gerrymandering (the division of a geographic area into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party). With the government (and probably the government only) having at its disposal the full, detailed results of the census, and with the Union Election Commission hardly an independent body, there is a high probability that wherever the new boundaries would be, there would be a high level of suspicion and disagreement from the opposing sides. This will only fuel more tension and conflict in an already highly volatile pre-election situation. Not changing the electoral system eliminates any disputes over electoral districts and their boundaries. They would be where they were in 2010, bringing a predictability that would probably be acceptable for all political players. Changing the electoral system just a year before elections—elections that should be the first free elections after decades of military rule—can only create a total mess, especially given the shrinking window in which to do so, and the many different agendas that are already in motion. There are countless questions, too many unknowns and too little time. The argument that FPTP will produce dominance by one party is a false one. It is highly probable that in the current political situation, ethnic parties, being allowed to campaign freely, will perform well in their ethnic constituencies. The USDP, as the party that will use the many advantages of incumbency and its formidable campaign apparatus, could perform much better than it did in the 2012 by-elections. One-fourth of Parliament is already occupied by the military. So to claim that there is a danger of a South African-style over-dominance of a Burmese equivalent to the African National Congress is simply disingenuous. That argument ignores political realities in Burma. For further democratic development in Burma, it is less dangerous if we have a victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party led by the popular Aung San Suu Kyi, but also a good showing for ethnic parties, with 25 percent military MPs and a not totally defeated USDP. It would be much more dangerous if 2015 resulted in a situation in which we had one strong state party (USDP), backed up by the military with its untouchable and still strong prerogatives, and on the other side a fragmented and resource-less opposition consisting of more than 40 parties fiercely battling one another. A PR system could easily bring us to such a point. Let me add a few more reasons why a PR system is not an appropriate choice at this moment. In the early phases of democratization, we often find a proliferation of new parties before the first free and fair elections. But democratic consolidation requires a significant reduction in the number of parties. FPTP will much more efficiently achieve that. With its many territorially concentrated ethnic groups, particularly if we have some decentralization and federalization, Burma's political party scene will always be crowded and colorful. A proportional system in Burma, if not thought out well, could create a situation in which the country would be unmanageable due to too many parties in Parliament and weak, unstable governmental coalitions. The last thing that an underdeveloped country with a long history of authoritarian rule and internal conflict needs is an unstable system in which no coalition lasts. Burmese citizens are familiar with the FPTP system and not with PR. If the electoral system is complicated, a ruling government can easily manipulate the electoral process. Political parties are not yet mature in the areas of policy development and decision-making. The same goes for voters. So for voters, it will be easier to make a choice between different, clearly identifiable candidates running in their own region. It will be much more confusing for them to decide to vote for a party without knowing the differences between their policies. The political culture in Burma is strongly centered around senior party leaders, and intra-party democracy is almost fully absent in all parties. FPTP will lessen the dependence of MPs on their party leadership only, and will tie MPs more strongly to their constituencies. There is hope that a strengthened civil society might hold MPs more accountable and responsive to the demands and expectations of their voters. It is much less probable that this will happen under a PR system. A PR system will just fortify the dominance of the top party leadership and the unhealthy culture of patron-client relations. With the introduction of the PR system, it is very probable that we will see the emergence of a radical ultra-nationalistic Buddhist party that will enter Parliament and hold strong bargaining power. Introduction of a PR system would also be conducive to the formation of a "Muslim party" and maybe even a "Chinese party," and these parties might have much stronger representation in Parliament than several ethnic nationalities. Public opinion and traditional political groupings in Burma are not well prepared for such change. There are other, much more pressing and important issues that should be addressed before the 2015 elections to make sure that they are free and fair: consensus on constitutional amendments between the ruling powers and the democratic and ethnic opposition; ceasefire and peace agreements; an independent and credible election commission; an independent citizens network to monitor the election; an independent Supreme Court capable of resolving electoral disputes; and acceptance of international monitoring. Changing the electoral system from the FPTP to a proportional one is certainly not a priority on the level of these issues. It is much more reasonable to keep the FPTP system for the next two elections, allowing for the stabilization of political institutions and the political party scene. Only after that should there be an open discussion concerning whether or not the country needs a change of the electoral system. If this discussion finds that there should be a change, then more details can be discussed. The question about the right choice between majoritarian and proportional electoral systems will not be an easy one in the case of Burma. The choice between the current majority (FPTP) system or a PR system should be made only after careful consideration and serious consultation with all political stakeholders. It should not be done in haste, without proper consultation. This issue should be discussed after the 2015 elections in the new Parliament, the makeup of which will be much more representative and legitimate. Furthermore, it should be discussed and considered in a package with other issues related to amending or re-writing the Constitution. Igor Blazevic is a Czech-based human rights campaigner of Bosnian origin and the director of Educational Initiatives, a training program for Burmese activists based in Thailand. The post In Burma's Young Democracy, Vote 'No' on Proportional Representation appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China Leader Snubs North Korea in Visit to Seoul Posted: 03 Jul 2014 10:15 PM PDT Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, speaks as his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye listens during their joint news conference at the presidential house in Seoul on July 3, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Ahn Young-joon) SEOUL — With a single meeting Thursday, the leaders of China and South Korea simultaneously snubbed North Korea, bolstered their already booming trade relationship and gave the US and Japan a look at Beijing's growing influence south of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. There were smiles, cheering schoolchildren and red carpets as Chinese President Xi Jinping began a two-day visit to Seoul. North Korea, meanwhile, welcomed the leader of its only major ally and crucial source of fuel and food to the Korean Peninsula with a flurry of recent rocket and missile tests, the latest on Wednesday. The launches, as well as a vow Thursday by North Korea's military to conduct more tests, are seen in part as the North demonstrating its anger at being jilted for its archrival. After their talks Thursday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye told reporters that she and Xi agreed on the need to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons and would resolutely oppose any more nuclear tests. North Korea is thought to have a handful of crude nuclear weapons and has conducted three atomic tests since 2006, the most recent last year. Xi also called for negotiations to end the North's nuclear program and the uncertainty that lingers on the Korean Peninsula. Xi's decision to meet with Park over North Korean leader Kim Jong Un upends the practice since Beijing and Seoul forged diplomatic ties in 1992 of Chinese presidents choosing to make North Korea their first official destination on the Korean Peninsula. Beijing, entangled in hostile territorial disputes across Asia, may see an opportunity to boost its influence with the rare neighbor that feels generally positive about China, while also further driving a wedge between US allies Seoul and Tokyo. South Korea and China share a distaste of Japan's more assertive military ambitions and what critics see as recent attempts by Tokyo to obscure its bloody past. Money has long been the focus of the relationship between China, the world's second-largest economy, and South Korea, the fourth-biggest economy in Asia. The countries are in talks on a bilateral free trade agreement. China is South Korea's largest trading partner, and Seoul says two-way trade topped US$220 billion last year. That's larger than the combined value of South Korea's trade with the United States and Japan. China and South Korea on Thursday agreed to measures that will expand the use of China's tightly controlled currency and boost their already extensive trade ties. Managing security matters, and more specifically North Korea's pursuit of nuclear bombs and the long-range missiles to carry them, has always been trickier. China is seen as having unusual leverage with hard-to-read North Korea and is often pressed to do more to force change. They fought together in the 1950-53 Korean War against the United States, South Korea and their allies. More recently, North Korea has repeatedly looked to China for diplomatic cover when the United Nations has taken up North Korean nuclear and missile tests and its much-criticized human rights record. Analysts don't think Xi will abandon North Korea entirely as long as Seoul remains loyal to an alliance with Washington that has shielded the South from North Korean aggression and allowed it to build its impressive economy. China also craves stability and worries that too much pressure on North Korea could cause it to collapse, pushing swarms of refugees over the countries' shared border. Still, the worries about North Korea have helped draw Seoul and Beijing together. Officials in Seoul now expect China to take strong action over future provocations, especially if North Korea conducts another nuclear test as it moves toward building an arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that could reach the United States. Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this story. The post China Leader Snubs North Korea in Visit to Seoul appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Ivory Sales Boom in Bangkok, Mocking Thai Pledge to End Trade Posted: 03 Jul 2014 10:09 PM PDT Customs officers look at confiscated elephant tusks after a news conference at the customs department in Bangkok on Dec. 13, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom) BANGKOK — Ivory items for sale in the Thai capital have more than doubled over the past 17 months, according to a monitoring group, despite a government pledge last year to put an end to the trade in a country where the elephant is revered. A survey by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network that samples more than 100 shops in Bangkok, shows that the number of ivory products found for sale rose from 5,865 in January 2013 to 14,512 in May this year. The network published its findings on Thursday in a report entitled "Polishing off the ivory: Surveys of Thailand’s ivory market." Last year, then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pledged to outlaw any kind of ivory trade, but there has been no progress. Yingluck's government became preoccupied from late 2013 with containing street protests. She was forced from office on May 7 and the military seized power in a coup on May 22. Its ruling council has moved quickly to set out new policies but has not addressed the ivory problem. "Thailand's efforts to regulate local ivory markets have failed: It is time for authorities to face the facts—their nation’s ivory markets continue to be out of control," Naomi Doak, TRAFFIC's coordinator for the greater Mekong region, said in a statement. A ban on the international ivory trade has been in existence since 1989 but that has done little to deter poachers and traders. Thailand is the biggest unregulated ivory market in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Thai law prohibits the sale of ivory from African elephants but legislation is often poorly enforced and NGOs say ivory from Africa and elsewhere is laundered through the country, often to China, the world's top destination for illegal ivory. The Asian elephant is Thailand's national animal but has long been hunted for its ivory and exploited for tourism. Thai nationals can buy ivory from elephants that have died of natural causes inside its borders but loopholes in the law mean that the ivory sold is often of dubious origin. The post Ivory Sales Boom in Bangkok, Mocking Thai Pledge to End Trade appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Video of Japan Politician Weeping Goes Viral Posted: 03 Jul 2014 10:02 PM PDT Hyogo Prefectural assemblyman Ryutaro Nonomura is seen crying at a press conference in this screenshot of a video that has gone viral in Japan. (Photo: Youtube) TOKYO — A video clip of a weeping Japanese politician accused of dubious spending on trips to a hot springs has gone viral, leaving many outraged and puzzled. The video shows Ryutaro Nonomura, 47, a Hyogo Prefectural assemblyman, bursting into tears, uttering nonsensical phrases and banging on the desk. "To change Japan and society," he said in a choked voice, stopping mid-sentence, sometimes sobbing so loud he was shouting. "I'm putting my life on the line." One site for the video drew nearly 640,000 views, as of Thursday. His news conference on Tuesday followed a Kobe Shimbun newspaper report this week that raised questions about Nonomura's visiting the hot springs 106 times last year, using public money. Such visits were not illegal and had been reported to the assembly office, but totaled 3 million yen (US$30,000). Calls are rising for Nonomura to give an explanation. Hyogo legislators get 500,000 yen ($5,000) a month for expenses, including travel, but the spending is supposed to be for official travel, research and other costs related to activities of elected office. Nonomura, who does not belong to a major political party, was found to have gone on other day trips, racking up expenses, including visits to Tokyo and the southwestern city of Fukuoka. Of his 195 day trips, ones to the "onsen" hot-springs resort town of Kinosaki, which lies outside his precinct, were the most frequent. The appalled public response is also due to the fact Japanese politicians here are generally staid. Outbursts are considered unsightly in a conservative culture that favors quiet, reserved personal styles. Nonomura's behavior has been widely seen as extreme, perhaps even a sign of illness. Japanese politicians have been forced to quit in the past after gaffes such as comments seen as sexist or discriminatory, or after getting embroiled in sex scandals. Calls to Nonomura's office and email queries asking for comment were not immediately answered. Hideaki Asada of the Hyogo Prefectural assembly office said the assembly was now on summer break, but the local government believes Nonomura owes the people an explanation about his spending habits. "Many people are starting to demand that he resign," Asada said. "He is usually not that emotional." The post Video of Japan Politician Weeping Goes Viral appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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