The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• NGOs Slam Performance of National Human Rights Commission
• BGF Arrests 5 Soldiers for Suspected Involvement in KNU Killing
• Remembering the Saffron Revolution
• Hotel Zone Slated for Chin State
• Rare Civilian Trial for Soldier Accused of Rape
• Burmese Army Releases 108 Child Soldiers
• Burmese Migrants Report Police Beatings During Murder Investigation on Koh Tao
• Burmese Migrants, Thai Recruiters Arrested in Mae Sot
• Burma Investment Message Undermined by Politics, Sanctions
• Burma to Issue Foreign Bank Licenses by End-Sept: Central Bank
• Young, Gifted and Searching
• Cambodia to Sign Deal to Resettle Asylum Seekers
• With Canal and Hut, India Stands Up to China on Disputed Frontier
• Indonesia Enlists Wasps in War on Crop Killer

NGOs Slam Performance of National Human Rights Commission Posted: 25 Sep 2014 06:40 AM PDT Farmer and activist Pauk Sa is led by police in Pegu Division's Paungtae Township following a land rights protest in May. (Kaung Myat Min / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burmese civil society groups on Thursday published a damning review of the performance of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC), saying that it had not successfully investigated "any case submitted to it" since it was formed by President Thein Sein in 2011. The report, titled "Burma: All the President's Men," also slammed a law passed in March that will enable the commission's future work, saying that it fails to guarantee that commission members are selected by an independent body. "One of the biggest flaws is the lack of independence that the selection committee has. Too many of its members are either government or government-affiliated, while the provision of civil society involvement excludes large parts of Burma's civil society," said the report, written by the Burma Partnership and Equality Myanmar. Aung Myo Min, executive director of Equality Myanmar, told a press conference in Rangoon on Thursday that the commission lacks financial independence because it is funded by the President's Office, adding that commission members can be dismissed on order of the president or union parliament speaker. On the day of the launch of the report, the President's Office announced that it had replaced several members of the commission, but its chairman remains unchanged. Aung Myo Min said civil society groups had not been properly consulted on the new law concerning the rights commission, or on the new appointments of commission members that were announced Thursday. He added that this lack of transparency and consultation exemplified the shortcomings of the commission. Soon after taking office in 2011, Thein Sein's reformist government issued an executive order for the creation of a national human rights commission. The creation of the commission was immediately met with criticism as it was not approved by Parliament, while the commission lacked a legislative text with a clearly defined broad mandate and its operations are not based on universal human rights standards. Thein Sein appointed commission chairman Win Mra, who was the ambassador to the United Nations for Burma's military regime from 1994 to 2001, where he consistently denied the occurrence of gross rights violations. The report said the commission had failed to seriously address thousands of complaints of human rights violations it had received, while it had publicly declined to investigate abuses in war-torn Kachin State and Arakan State, which has been wracked by inter-communal violence between Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists. "In the two areas of most concern, in Arakan and Kachin State, the MNHRC has done almost nothing. The chairman explicitly stated that they cannot investigate abuses in active conflict zones, thus ruling out Kachin State and the ongoing atrocities there," the report said. "[W]hile in Arakan State, despite credible evidence in the hands of the UN and corroborated by Medicins Sans Frontieries, [the commission] claims to have found no evidence of the massacre of Duu Char Yar Tan village, in which over 40 Rohingya were killed with police involvement." The Burma Partnership and Equality Myanmar said the country's human rights situation remained dire and had seen little improvement in recent years, while new types of rights abuses, such as land-grabbing, are rapidly rising. The NGOs faulted the government for failing to set up a truly independent national human rights commission in cooperation with civil society groups, and said the government was ignoring the public's demand for justice after decades of military rule. "To date, the [commission] has still not successfully investigated and taken effective action on any case submitted to it," the report said. "We want to know in how many cases it has taken action. How many [rights-abusing] people have they taken action against? How have the grievances of the public been solved in cooperation with concerned ministries?" asked Aung Myo Min of Equality Myanmar. "The MNHRC has failed to address or handle abuses, and the government has failed to urge [the commission] to solve the issues. As Burma Partnership, we are very disappointed with the MNHRC," said Khin Ohmar, coordinator of Burma Partnership. The post NGOs Slam Performance of National Human Rights Commission appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

BGF Arrests 5 Soldiers for Suspected Involvement in KNU Killing Posted: 25 Sep 2014 06:23 AM PDT The five BGF soldiers (left) who were arrested for their suspected involvement in the killing of a KNU soldier (right) whose dead body was found on Sept. 21. (Photo: Pe Pe Johnny/Facebook) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Burma's Border Guard Force (BGF) has detained five of its troops who are suspected of involvement in the killing of a Karen National Union (KNU) soldier, whose dead, handcuffed body was found in the Moei River in the Karen State border town of Myawaddy on Sept 21. The move came after leaders from the KNU's military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), contacted BGF unit 1022 and urged them to take action against the culprits who killed Saw Ta Noh, a private who belonged to KNLA Brigade 6. "After KNLA Brigade 6 leaders contacted leaders of the BGF unit 1022, they arrested five soldiers and questioned them. They are now keeping the soldiers in custody," said Maj Saw Zorro, liaison officer of the KNU in Myawaddy, a town in Burma's Karen State that shares a border with Mae Sot in Thailand. Saw Ta Noh went missing on Sept 16 when he was returning from Myawaddy District to his unit’s headquarters. KNU sources learned that he was killed at a checkpoint by BGF unit 1022. "According to medical examinations [in Myawaddy hospital], two gunshots were found on his body. His throat was also cut," said Maj Saw Zorro. Saw Ta Noh became the second Karen soldier confirmed killed in the Myawaddy area this month after a drunken soldier belonging to the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) was shot dead by Burmese Army and BGF troops on Sept 19. After the latter soldier died, DKBA leaders demanded the government hand over those involved in the killing. Dah Blut of the DKBA told The Irrawaddy that his leader, Brig-Gen Kyaw Thet, said that the Burmese Army would lose ten men for every lost soldier who belonged to his armed group. However, Burma's government is now trying to pay compensation to the DKBA for the dead soldier, said Dah Blut. Myawaddy is a murky place where armed conflict, unexplained killings and other crimes are often reported. Several armed groups are active in the area, including the Burmese Army, police, and BGF troops as well as Karen armed groups—the DKBA, the KNU, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, and the Klo Htoo Baw Karen Organization (KKO). Many of the BGF units around Myawaddy are small, former Karen rebel groups who defected and were placed under Burma Army command after the then-junta government set an ultimatum in 2009 ordering rebels to become armed BGF units. Most of the larger rebel groups refused. Recently, the Burmese Army's Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 275 released an order warning all Karen armed groups not to wear uniforms or carry weapons while traveling in towns and cities as it might frighten civilians. The order, issued by a LIB 275 commander, said the military regalia and arms "disturbs the security of the civilians." The order, however, seemed unlikely to be heeded by Karen armed groups. Tensions between government forces and Karen armed groups in Myawaddy still simmer while they await directives from their respective leaders. "You can never trust them [the Burma Army]. As a soldier, you have an enemy 24 hours. You need to be prepared to defend yourself," said Dah Blut. The post BGF Arrests 5 Soldiers for Suspected Involvement in KNU Killing appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Remembering the Saffron Revolution Posted: 25 Sep 2014 06:18 AM PDT "HOLD ON, I THINK HE'S GOT A WEAPON! IT'S A BOMB! STAY BACK, HE GOT A BOMB! NO WAIT…. IT'S A RICE BOWL. REPEAT, SUSPECT HAS A RICE BOWL!" Seven years ago, Buddhist monks in Rangoon led street protests in what came to be known as the "Saffron Revolution." Despite the religious status of monks in Burma, the security forces were under instructions to treat them as common criminals. This year, as the seventh anniversary of the revolution that took place in August and September 2007 is marked, The Irrawaddy posts a cartoon by Harn Lay that we first published at that time. The post Remembering the Saffron Revolution appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Hotel Zone Slated for Chin State Posted: 25 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT A sign welcomes visitors to the Natma Taung National Park in Chin State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Ministry of Hotels and Tourism is planning to open a hotel zone in western Chin State, the poorest and least developed part of the country, according to a ministry official. The official, who requested anonymity, said the ministry chose Chin State for the hotel zone in an effort to promote ecotourism in the rugged frontier region. "Chin State saw an increase in the number of visitors both local and international. It has the natural beauty and ecotourism sites, although it is less developed," he said. He said the plan fell under the ministry's broader Tourism Master Plan covering 2013-2020, which envisions similar hotel zones in other emerging tourism destinations. "We will open the hotel zones in the places with tourism potential. Chin State has the potential with its growing number of visitors, so hotels and tourism businesses should set up there," the official said. He said that the hotel zone would include other service industries geared toward tourism, from tour guide companies to transport outfits. "The regional government is negotiating with the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism to open the hotel zone in Chin State," Ram Mang, Chin State's minister for economic planning, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. He said the hotel zone is slated to open in Kanpetlet Township near Natma Taung National Park, one of the most visited places in sparsely populated Chin State. Preliminary data from the national census this year put the state's population at 478,690 people. Natma Taung National Park spreads across Kanpetlet, Mindat and Matupi townships. It contains Burma's third-highest mountain, Natma Taung, which was known as Mount Victoria during the British colonial era. The area is known for its highly diverse plant life, and has been identified as a "priority candidate" for recognition as a Unesco World Heritage Site. "The park is famous among tourists and locals for its ecotourism and the number of visitors is increasing year by year," said Tin Mya Soe, the administrator of the Natma Taung National Park, adding that bird watchers made up many of the visitors to the area. Tourism numbers nationwide are surging. January through July 2014 tallied 1,604,746 international arrivals, compared with 1,121,795 over the first seven months of 2013, an increase of 43 percent. Tin Mya Soe said hotel zone planners should coordinate with other ministries and departments, which are involved in projects to improve roads and communications in the region. Plans are also in the works to upgrade the facilities of Natma Taung National Park, which the hotel zone is expected to rely heavily on to draw tourists. The post Hotel Zone Slated for Chin State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Rare Civilian Trial for Soldier Accused of Rape Posted: 25 Sep 2014 05:03 AM PDT Burmese armed forces soldiers on parade. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The case of an ethnic Kachin girl's alleged rape by a Burmese Army soldier in northern Shan State has gone before a civilian court in a rare instance of civilian judicial reckoning for a member of Burma's powerful military. The 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a soldier based in Kutkai Township on May 16. A court-martial apparently agreed to transfer the man to the civilian court after he was found guilty of a separate offense by the military tribunal and sentenced to one year in prison in August. The alleged victim's family opened the case at a court in Muse. An initial hearing was held last week on Friday, and the plaintiffs appeared for a second time on Wednesday, according to Kachin Literature and Culture (KLC), which is helping the family with the court proceedings. Lum Nyoi, the KLC joint secretary, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the plaintiffs had pushed for a civilian trial out of fear that a military tribunal would not mete out the justice they sought. "We intended to have transparency, and therefore we asked the army court to let us bring him to civilian court. By doing this, it does not mean that we hate them [the army]. We just want all women, whether residing on the mainland or in the mountains, to have good security." The KLC said that rape cases have been on the increase in northern Shan State since 2011, as the region has seen rising Burmese Army troop deployments amid on and off fighting between Kachin rebels and government troops. Zau San, another member of KLC, said the court-martial last month sentenced the soldier to one year in prison for leaving his battalion quarters without permission. The military tribunal did not put him on trial for rape, due to the arrangement to have those allegations heard in a civilian court. This was not first time a military tribunal has handed over the prosecution of a soldier to a civilian court, according to Zau San, who said an army soldier was sentenced to life in prison last year for raping a 6-year-old girl. Civilian courts are, nonetheless, rarely used to hear cases of rape involving soldiers, and rights groups complain that the courts-martial justice system lacks transparency, with details of military trials' outcomes very difficult to obtain. The military has for years been dogged by allegations of widespread rape of ethnic minority women, particularly in active conflict areas. Zau San said about 10 rape cases had been reported in northern Shan State since 2011. But Lum Nyoi said many of the cases would never see trial for lack of evidence. "We have strong evidence for our recent case brought to the court. There were other cases, but we weren't able to gather strong evidence," said Lum Nyoi. The trial in Muse will reconvene on Oct. 1. The defendant has not yet appeared in court. "We heard that the battalion in Kutkai transferred him to Muse already. Hopefully, he will appear at court next time," Zau San said. The post Rare Civilian Trial for Soldier Accused of Rape appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burmese Army Releases 108 Child Soldiers Posted: 25 Sep 2014 04:11 AM PDT Former child soldiers attend a discharge ceremony in Rangoon on Thursday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Burmese military on Thursday formally discharged 108 underage recruits from its ranks, the largest release of child soldiers in Burma to date. The United Nations welcomed the move and praised the "efforts of the Government of Myanmar … to put an end to the harmful practice of recruiting and using children." "I think since last year we are witnessing an acceleration … more children [are] now being released," said Bertrand Bainvel, country representative for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), at a press conference on Thursday. Half of those released had already fled the military and were living in hiding, considered "deserters" and liable to arrest. This is the first time such a significant number have been granted official release by the military. Recruitment of children to fight in the state army and by ethnic minority armed groups has led to Burma being listed by the United Nations as a persistent violator of children's rights and internationally sanctioned—a stain that the present government appears keen to remove. "To prevent from wrongly recruitment of underage children, Tatmadaw has initiated the establishment of the Committee for Prevention of Military Recruited of underage children in 2004," said Lt-Gen Wai Lwin, Burma's defense minister, in an opening speech at Thursday's discharge ceremony. The Burmese government signed a Joint Action Plan with the United Nations in June 2012, pledging to remove all children from the army's ranks and end any further underage recruitment. This agreement expired in December 2013 without all the conditions being met, and representatives will meet on Friday to discuss future steps. "We have a hope, which is zero new recruits and zero use of children … so it's a double zero hope," Bainvel said. Burmese armed forces face longstanding accusations of human rights abuses, including recruitment of children, use of rape as a weapon of war and forcing civilians to work as porters. Reports by international rights groups suggest that children as young as 12 are still being forced into the army, with many sent to fight in frontline and combat positions. "Because they are deployed as adults, they are used to carry weapons, detonate landmines, work as porters," said Charu Hogg, Asia program manager at Child Soldiers International. Since its installation in 2011, the present quasi-civilian government has introduced a host of economic and political reforms. Five other formal discharges have been held over the past two years and a total of 472 underage recruits have been released from service. Despite this progress, forced recruitment of children continues and it is unknown exactly how many children remain in the army's ranks. "Our primary concerns are … that recruitment by the Tatmadaw continues to date, despite the signing of the Action Plan. The numbers have reduced but this is not to say that this has been eliminated entirely," Hogg said. To report a case of underage recruitment, call Unicef's hotline at 09421166701 or 09421166702. The post Burmese Army Releases 108 Child Soldiers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burmese Migrants Report Police Beatings During Murder Investigation on Koh Tao Posted: 25 Sep 2014 03:10 AM PDT People wait in line as Thai police collect data as part of their investigation into the murder of two British tourists on the island of Koh Tao. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — At least two Burmese migrant workers were beaten by Thai police during their investigation into the murder of two British tourists on the southern Thai island of Koh Tao, one of the alleged victims has claimed. Si Thu, a Burmese migrant who was interrogated by police on Sept. 19, told The Irrawaddy, "While I was answering [the questions of police], a Thai policeman showed a photo to another detainee called Lin Lin and asked if it was his photo. He answered no and the policeman kneed him in the back, saying he was lying. "Then, the police asked him if he killed those tourists. When Lin Lin answered that he didn't, the same policeman hit him again," said Si Thu, who added that he himself was hit over the head when the police took him from his home on Sept. 19, but was not beaten while under interrogation at the police station. Two British tourists, Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were murdered in the early hours of Sept. 15. Despite several leads and potential suspects, mystery remains over the identity of their killer or killers. According to Thai news agencies, scores of Burmese migrants working on the island were interrogated and had their photos taken along with DNA samples. On Monday, Thailand's Deputy Police Chief Pol-Gen Somyot Pumpanmuang said that the DNA test results of 30 Burmese migrant workers did not match DNA connected to the murders. Up to 1,000 Burmese migrants work at restaurants, hotels and construction sites on the island and most of them do not have visas or work permits, Soe Min Htet, who has been working on the island for more than four years, told The Irrawaddy. Burmese migrants are so concerned that they are even scared of going to work following the police interrogations, he said. "We feel like we are not safe as there are no people to help us. Here, our citizens are vulnerable to unfair treatment and are always looked down upon," he said. "Because the victims are British, the police are taking it seriously. If our citizens die, no one cares." Burma's Ambassador to Thailand Win Maung said the embassy was keeping a close eye on the treatment of Burmese migrant workers by Thai police on Koh Tao. He said that the Burmese Embassy had contacted the Surat Thani Province police force chief and was continuously reporting developments in the murder investigation to Naypyidaw. "We can't intervene in their legal interrogation. But if there was any overstepping of boundaries, we would raise an objection with the Thai authorities," said Win Maung. Htoo Chit, executive director of the Thailand-based migrant rights group Foundation for Education and Development, said the Burmese government should work together with their Thai counterparts to legally protect Burmese migrant workers. He said Burmese migrants were bullied in Thailand because the Burmese government did not pay enough attention to its citizens. "It has become a custom that Burmese citizens are unfairly detained and beaten if something bad happens in Thailand," Htoo Chit said. The post Burmese Migrants Report Police Beatings During Murder Investigation on Koh Tao appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burmese Migrants, Thai Recruiters Arrested in Mae Sot Posted: 25 Sep 2014 01:39 AM PDT Burmese migrant workers are detained on Sunday in the Mae Pa Ward of Thailand's Mae Sot. (Photo: manager.co.th) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Thai authorities in the border town of Mae Sot have arrested scores of Burmese migrant workers and a group of Thai nationals accused of illegally recruiting them, the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok has confirmed. The authorities in Thailand's Tak province arrested the gang on Sunday at a house in the Mae Pa Ward of Mae Sot, the Thai news portal manager.co.th quoted local officials as saying. Eight Thai nationals accused of running the recruitment operation and 75 Burmese people believed to have been recruited by the men have been detained, the website reported. Thai authorities will reportedly charge the Thai men with facilitating the migrants' illegal entry into Thailand, and the Burmese men will also face immigration charges. The Burmese labor attaché to Thailand Thein Naing told The Irrawaddy that the Burmese Embassy had been informed of the bust. "Our groups in Mae Sot reported about it to us," he said on Wednesday. The official said it would be difficult to intervene on behalf of the detained Burmese nationals since they had entered Thailand illegally. "They entered [Thailand] illegally and we find no reason to ask Thailand not to take action against them according to its law," he said. A steady stream of Burmese people enter Thailand either legally or illegally every day, drawn to the neighboring country due to economic hardship at home and the government's failure to create decent jobs in Burma, according to Htoo Chit, executive director of the Foundation for Education and Development, which assists migrant workers. "It is easy to cross the border and it [illegally crossings] also happens frequently because of the corruption of departmental personnel at different levels," he told The Irrawaddy. "Personally, I think certain departments both in Burmese and Thai sides must have been involved in it." There are approximately three million Burmese workers in Thailand, up to one million of whom are estimated by migrant advocacy groups to be in the country illegally. A national verification process initiated jointly by the Thai and Burmese governments in 2009 had allowed more than 1.7 million migrants to be issued temporary passports through August 2013, allowing them to work in the Kingdom legally. Among those who are often left out of the temporary passport issuance scheme, labor rights groups say, are victims of Burma's civil war who have fled their homes, leaving behind the household registration certificates and national ID cards required to qualify for the national verification process. The post Burmese Migrants, Thai Recruiters Arrested in Mae Sot appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Investment Message Undermined by Politics, Sanctions Posted: 24 Sep 2014 10:51 PM PDT President's Office Minister Soe Thane attends a BBC World Debate during the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Naypyidaw on June 6, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) NEW YORK — The rapid economic transformation of Burma, after transitioning from military control and opening itself to the world, is not without its rough patches, the nation's top economic minister said on Wednesday. At the same time, George Soros, one of the earliest investors in Burma's economy and even more so its social reform, said he was troubled by the slowdown in reforms ahead of next year's elections. Still, he believes multinational companies must be involved in one of Southeast Asia's last untapped areas. Soe Thane, Burma's coordinating minister for economic development, oversees roughly 11 different economic ministries. The former commander of the Burmese Navy likened the reform process to driving along a potholed street. Describing a complicated web of land ownership rules and regulations, he expressed hope it would be fixed in the next year. "I think we will have a comprehensive umbrella law on land policy and land use within six months to a year," Soe Thane told Reuters on the sidelines of a Burma investment conference. "And after that, we have to go for water reform. It's a big issue for agriculture, forestry, industrial development," he said. Parliamentary elections will take place next year, for the first time since President Thein Sein embarked on the reforms that dismantled control by the military, which ruled the Southeast Asian nation since seizing power in a 1962 coup. While the United States has suspended economic sanctions, they have not been lifted entirely and large swaths of the Burmese economy remain off limits because of rules governed by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). OFAC maintains the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, a so-called blacklist that forbids US nationals or companies from doing business with persons or entities listed. Given the country's history of military control and its persisting influence over the economy, plus a legacy of drug trafficking, the names of a significant number of Burmese nationals and companies can be found on the SDN list. "It is better than nothing that sanctions were suspended, but we prefer lifting them," Soe Thane said. There is added political uncertainty as Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) will go into next year's parliamentary elections with no presidential candidate. The Constitution, drafted during military rule, bars Suu Kyi from running. Under Burma's political system, Parliament chooses the president. Soros, who sat beside Soe Thane during a panel discussion, said that 20 years after establishing an office for his Open Society Foundation in Burma, he had "stuck it out." The reform process had been "a wonderful experience, up until about half a year ago," he said. "Things have come to a standstill because the elections are now casting a shadow on the activities. I hope it will restart after the elections, because it does need to be restarted," Soros said. There is still a land grab underway, said the billionaire investor, and American companies need to be careful about the provenance of titles on properties in order not to run afoul of OFAC. He also expressed concern about the racial tensions that have flared up, with anti-Muslim violence leaving hundreds dead since 2012. However, Soros said he believes multinational corporations cannot ignore Burma, where the government expects foreign direct investment will grow to more than US$5 billion in the fiscal year starting in April. Soros has invested several million dollars through businesses run by Serge Pun, chairman of the SPA Group, he said, but not directly. "We would be eager to do it in the areas of banking, finance and agriculture. This is where we feel the country, the people, need this investment most," Soros said. The post Burma Investment Message Undermined by Politics, Sanctions appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma to Issue Foreign Bank Licenses by End-Sept: Central Bank Posted: 24 Sep 2014 10:46 PM PDT Burma's Central Bank building in the capital Naypyidaw. (Photo: Reuters) NEW YORK — Burma will announce an offer by the end this month for between five and 10 foreign banks to open branches in its rapidly expanding economy, the deputy central bank governor told Reuters on Wednesday. Set Aung, speaking on the sidelines of the Myanmar Investment Outreach conference in New York, said there had been confusion over the timing of the announcement. "We said the selection process would be complete in the third quarter. As scheduled, the selection process is definitely going to be finalized by the end of this September and then we make the announcement immediately after, the selection process is finished," Aung said. The conference, attended by three top ministers, the director of the country’s investment administration and Aung, attracted over 300 bankers, investors and diplomats eager for the nation to accelerate its economic development. "This is the very first time we are going to allow the foreign banks to open 100 percent-owned branches inside the country to engage in corporate banking business," Aung said. However, no U.S. banks will be included on the list as none have representative offices in the country, which opened to the world through landmark reforms in late 2011 and 2012. Next year parliamentary elections will occur for the first time since President Thein Sein embarked on reforms that dismantled control by the military, which ruled the Southeast Asian nation since seizing power in a 1962 coup. While the United States has suspended economic sanctions on Burma, they have not been completely lifted and large swaths of the economy remain off-limits because of rules governed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. OFAC maintains the Specially Designated Nationals List, a so-called black list. This forbids U.S. nationals or companies from doing business with persons or entities listed. Given Burma’s history of being under military control and its still wide influence over the economy, plus its legacy of drug trafficking, a significant number of Burma nationals and companies are on the SDN list. "For an American company, the banks don’t want to deal with Myanmar… banks are not willing to engage in any transaction, including transferring money in and out with Myanmar or any Myanmar entity, including a subsidiary of a law firm," said Eric Rose, a lawyer whose New York-based firm does business in Burma. There are 43 banks that have representative offices in Burma, of which 29 made proposals for their licenses, Aung said. Separately, Aung said the central bank, which operates as an agent for the Ministry of Finance, expects to hold its first Treasury bill auction in January to kick-start a secondary market for sovereign debt. The post Burma to Issue Foreign Bank Licenses by End-Sept: Central Bank appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Young, Gifted and Searching Posted: 24 Sep 2014 05:00 PM PDT Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein, aka Lady Gaga of Myanmar, 32. (Photo: Diana Markosian) YANGON — US photographer Diana Markosian was inspired by Myanmar's youth during a recent month-long stay in the country, when she hung out with artists, rappers, dancers and other creative types. "I think the new generation aspires to a different kind of future. They want the government to follow through with this promise of a new era of openness. You can feel this on the streets in Yangon as more and more youth are daring to emerge from the political shadows," she told Slate magazine. "A lot of the people driving the change are people my age. They are twenty-somethings who intend to go beyond the status quo," she said. Markosian decided to try doing a portrait series as an experiment. The images were taken outside at night against Yangon's decaying walls. "I wanted the youth to contrast the old walls, as a metaphor of sorts. This is a new generation trying to distance themselves from the past. They are active individuals with a strong voice. I wanted to have them in an open space rather than inside or caged between four walls." Markosian's lens spotlights a restless energy among a generation hoping to find and forge new visions of the future: Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein, aka Lady Gaga of Myanmar, 32, singer: "They say I am too different, too bold, but I like bling blings and beautiful dresses. I am often compared to Lady Gaga, but I am just a girl from the Third World." Steven Oo, 28, fashion designer who moved back to Myanmar after his family emigrated to the United States: "I don't want my country to become the backend of fashion." Jessica Dada, 24, model: "This country isn't ready for my face. Why was I born here? I wonder this every day." Ye Naung, 21, underground hip hop artist: "My music doesn't match our people. They don't know how to feel it." Htin Htin, 25, editor of Moda, the first fashion magazine in Myanmar: "The fashion in Burma is either too traditional or out of date. I want my people to be more contemporary. This is why I started the magazine." This story first appeared in the September 2014 print edition of The Irrawaddy Magazine. The post Young, Gifted and Searching appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Cambodia to Sign Deal to Resettle Asylum Seekers Posted: 24 Sep 2014 10:40 PM PDT Asylum seekers are pictured being transported from an aircraft to a bus upon their arrival on the island of Nauru on Sept. 14, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) PHNOM PENH — Cambodia announced Wednesday that it will sign a deal with Australia this week to resettle people who were denied asylum there. Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said the agreement will be signed Friday by Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng, but gave no details. Officials from both countries have said they were discussing the possibility of resettling some of the more than 1,100 people housed in a camp on the Pacific island nation of Nauru. Australia pays Nauru to house the asylum seekers, mostly from South Asia and the Middle East, and has a similar deal with Papua New Guinea. Human rights groups have criticized living conditions at the camps. Cambodia Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said details of the deal may be revealed Friday after the signing. It is widely assumed that Australia will pay Cambodia to house the asylum seekers as permanent settlers rather than in holding camps. Cambodian officials have said the resettlement must be done on a voluntary basis. "The arrangement would enable persons to be settled from Nauru into Cambodia," Morrison told reporters in May. "To be able to achieve that in a country which at one time was producing refugees, and now being able to take refugees and properly resettle them, I think that's a very worthy objective and it's one we're working very closely with them on achieving." Hundreds of thousands of Cambodians fled from their homeland to Thailand in the 1970s after a Vietnamese invasion ousted the Khmer Rouge regime. Most were housed in temporary camps near the border, and returned home after several years. The human rights group Amnesty International has criticized Australia's refusal to resettle the asylum seekers. It said in a statement earlier this year that Australia was "shirking its human rights responsibilities to other poorer and under-resourced nations." The post Cambodia to Sign Deal to Resettle Asylum Seekers appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

With Canal and Hut, India Stands Up to China on Disputed Frontier Posted: 24 Sep 2014 10:20 PM PDT Indian army soldiers march near an army base on India’s Tezpur-Tawang highway, which runs to the Chinese border, in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh May 29, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) NEW DELHI — Earlier this month, the Indian army stationed on a remote Himalayan plateau built a small observation hut from where they could watch Chinese soldiers across a disputed border. The move so irked China’s military that it laid a road on territory claimed by India and demanded that the tin hut be dismantled. India refused, destroyed a part of the new road and promptly raised troop numbers in the area. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making good on election promises of a more robust national security policy, and the fact that around 1,000 soldiers from each side are facing off in Ladakh is evidence even mighty China is not off limits. No shots have been fired, and a brief border war between the world’s two most populous nations was fought 52 years ago. But Indian military officials said the situation in the Chumar area of Ladakh had been unusually tense in recent weeks, highlighting a simmering disagreement between the nuclear-armed neighbors that is back on the agenda at the highest level. Modi, a nationalist who swept to power in May, was unusually forthright when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in mid-September, challenging Xi in private on the question of incursions along their 3,500-km contested frontier. Afterwards, he told a news conference in the presence of the Chinese leader that peace and stability on the border were needed for better economic ties Beijing has been pressing for. P. Stobdan, a former Indian ambassador and a Ladakhi with deep knowledge of the competing claims in the region, sees a shift in New Delhi’s thinking. "The hut has become the bone of contention. The Chinese have drawn a red line. They want it demolished before they will withdraw," he said. Last year, the Chinese forced the Indians to demolish another hut in Chumar in return for ending a face-off. "This time the new government does not seem to be in a mood to budge," Stobdan added. No Longer Business as Usual Beginning in June, as it prepared to receive Xi, Modi’s government set in train a series of bold actions on the border where Indian officials say China has long been nibbling away at its territory. It ordered faster construction of 72 strategic roads along the border to narrow the gap with China’s vastly superior and intricate network of roads and tracks in the mountains. It has also rebuilt airfields, including a landing strip laid in Daulat Beg Oldi in Ladakh in 1962, the year the two countries fought their short war. Over the past few months C-130 Hercules planes bought from the United States have been landing at the airfield some 30 km from Depsang, the site of a 21-day standoff last year when People’s Liberation Army soldiers set up tents on India’s side of the 1962 ceasefire line. V.K. Singh, Modi’s minister for India’s northeastern states, another area where the border is in dispute with China, says it is no longer business as usual on the so-called Line of Actual Control (LAC) dividing the two countries. Incursions from both sides are common along the ceasefire line, because their armies cannot agree where it lies, making a final settlement a distant prospect. "Sometimes [in the past], I think for political reasons or other reasons, we would have said OK, leave it. But that perpetuates the problem, it doesn’t solve the problem," said Singh, a former army chief handpicked to beef up civilian and military infrastructure in the northeast. "You keep giving a concession, it only perpetuates the problem. So somewhere up the hierarchy someone has to say ‘let’s hold on’," he told Reuters in an interview about the latest confrontation with China. India was humiliated in the 1962 war and, since then, while it has built up its conventional military and nuclear and missile capabilities, it has been careful to avoid showdowns at the border, which, despite 17 rounds of talks over two decades, remains unsettled. Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told China’s state-run Global Times that the Modi government’s moves to build up infrastructure and equipment on the Indian side of the LAC signaled a shift in posture. "The ‘offensive’ strategy aims to gain more leverage in the talks," Hu told the fiercely nationalist newspaper. High-Altitude Hut The chain of events leading to the latest tensions began in Demchok, on the southeastern corner of Ladakh. On August 18, India started building an irrigation canal there as part of the government’s rural jobs guarantee program. China protested, saying it was located inside its territory. Then, on September 8, Indian troops erected their observation hut on a hillock in Chumar, one of the areas along the LAC where India has the tactical advantage of height. Retired Indian army brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal, who has served in high-altitude areas, said India’s position there overlooks Chinese encampments and a dirt road leading up to the area. Beijing’s response was swift. Within a day, some 500 PLA troops crossed into the area and used cranes and bulldozers to build a 2 km (1.2-mile) road. Later that night, Indian soldiers dug up part of that road, but the Chinese have not withdrawn from the area, which New Delhi considers to be several kilometers inside its territory. Around 1,000 soldiers from each side are ranged against each other, and further to the east, a group of Chinese civilians backed by the PLA intruded into the Demchok sector where India was trying to build the irrigation canal, Indian officials said. China’s public comments on the latest row with India have been measured. "The China-India border dispute is a left-over from history. The two countries’ border, to this day, has not been designated, and the two sides’ understanding of the real line of control is not the same," the Defence Ministry said, adding that both New Delhi and Beijing were resolved to manage the problem. A Civilized Cup of Tea India says China violated the ceasefire line 334 times in the first eight months of this year. Chinese officials with Xi on his visit last week said India had violated the LAC 410 times, according to an Indian government official at the talks. Border patrols have become more frequent and probing deeper into each other’s territories, officials say, often running into each other. Earlier, the two armies sent out patrols on alternating days along the most contentious areas of the border so that their troops wouldn’t come into contact. "If there is a border patrol that crosses the LAC as perceived by the other side, they are supposed to offer them a cup of tea and ask them to leave immediately. The idea is it should be civilized behavior. At times this civilized behavior has spun out of control with soldiers roughing each other up," said an Indian officer at the army headquarters in New Delhi. But the head of Ladakh’s local government said India had neglected the border area for decades to its own and local people’s detriment. Only now was it starting to plug the gaps, he added, and that had provoked the Chinese. "We have lost so much pasture land, grazing land over a period of time to China," said Rigzin Spalbar, chief executive councilor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. "We told our people not to go close to the LAC, the area was left vacant and the Chinese sent their herders in. Now those areas have become their possessions." The post With Canal and Hut, India Stands Up to China on Disputed Frontier appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Indonesia Enlists Wasps in War on Crop Killer Posted: 24 Sep 2014 09:50 PM PDT An Indonesian villager dries cassavas in Yogyakarta in Indonesia's central Java (Photo: Reuters) BOGOR, Indonesia — They are the size of a pinhead and don't even pack a sting, but these tiny wasps are cold-blooded killers nonetheless. They work as nature's SWAT team, neutralizing a pest that threatens to destroy one of the developing world's most important staple foods: cassava. The wasps are being released in Indonesia, the latest country threatened by the mealybug. It's a chalky white insect shaped like a pill that's been making its way across Southeast Asia's fields for the past six years. The pest first appeared in Indonesia in 2010. Bogor, on the outskirts of Indonesia's capital Jakarta, was ground zero. But unlike in Thailand, where infestations reached some 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres) of crops grown mostly as part of a huge export business, cassava in Indonesia is a vital local food source second only to rice. That makes the mealybug a serious threat to food security in Indonesia, which already has one of the region's highest child malnutrition rates. The parasitic wasps, or Anagyrus lopezi, need the mealybug to survive. Females lay their eggs inside the insect and as the larvae grow, they eat the bug from the inside out, slowly killing it until there's nothing left but its mummified shell. On Wednesday, scientists put 3,000 wasps into a secure tent-like habitat in an affected field in Bogor. They will be monitored to see how well they handle local conditions as they multiply to an expected 450,000 within a month. Once a government permit is obtained, the wasps can be released into the wild to start their relentless killing spree. It's unclear how much damage mealybugs have already caused to Indonesia's crops, but infestations have been reported on the main cassava-growing island of Java and in parts of Sumatra, said Kris Wyckhuys, an entomologist at the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture, which is helping to coordinate the release. He said the idea is to introduce the wasps early in a pre-emptive strike because the pests, if left unchecked, can destroy more than 80 percent of a harvest by sucking the plant's sap until it withers and dies. "It is entering into areas where it is expected to cause the biggest yield impact and the biggest impact on food security and on cassava-related livelihoods," Wyckhuys said. Cassava farmer Wahyu Hidayat said the pests hit about three hectares of his five hectare crop four years ago. The leaves started shriveling and falling off the plants that grow up to four meters tall, and no one had ever seen anything like it. It lowered production from five kilos of cassava from one tree down to two kilos. "It's really difficult for us," he said, welcoming the government's wasp intervention. "As a traditional farmer, we didn't know how to deal with it." Indonesia is one of the world's top producers of cassava, planting around 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) a year, half of which is eaten as a staple food across the sprawling archipelago of 240 million people. The long roots of the shrub-like plant are a major source of carbohydrates and provide an array of nutrients. Like the potato, cassava is a versatile starch that's an essential part of daily meals across much of the developing world. In Indonesia it is boiled, fried, made into noodles, crackers and even cakes. Known elsewhere as manioc, tapioca and yucca, it is also made into livestock feed and used as an ingredient in a variety of products worldwide, ranging from lipstick and artificial sweeteners to paint and glucose IV drips. Portuguese traders first brought the plant from South America centuries ago, and many of the world's poorest people today depend on it for survival. It grows well in bad soil conditions and doesn't need much water, making it ideal for hot areas hit by drought. It is especially important in Africa, which suffered a massive mealybug attack in the 1980s. Wasps were first imported there from Paraguay and released across the continent by airplane. The method was effective, wiping out up to 95 percent of the bugs in some areas, and has been credited with averting famine and saving US$20 billion. Wyckhuys said the wasps have not created any unintended problems within ecosystems since the so-called pink mealybugs only eat cassava and the tiny wasps only eat mealybugs. However, he said it's impossible to eradicate all of the pests because the wasps must keep some hosts alive in order to keep from dying out themselves. Mealybugs, or Phenacoccus manihoti, are believed to have hitchhiked into Thailand in 2008, most likely aboard cassava cuttings transported from Africa. But without the wasps to keep them in check, they quickly spread to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Small releases have been conducted within those countries, and the wasps imported in 2009 to Thailand have also slowly migrated into neighboring countries. The wasps have vastly improved the problem in Thailand, the world's largest cassava exporter, but not eliminated it entirely. Several wasp releases are planned in different parts of Indonesia using insects brought from Thailand. The post Indonesia Enlists Wasps in War on Crop Killer appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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