The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Presidential ‘Press Corps’ to Improve Media Access
• Public Mostly Hopeful About Burma’s Development, Elections: Survey
• ADB to Loan Burmese Conglomerate Yoma $100Mn for Connectivity Projects
• The Irrawaddy’s Response to New Ministry of Information Naming Requirements
• Burmese Nationals Detained by Malaysia Return to Rangoon
• Political Prisoners Committee Criticizes Govt Inaction
• Drug-Resistant Malaria in Burma: The World’s Next Big Health Crisis?
• Developing Nations Losing Record $1 Trillion a Year in Dirty Money: Report
• Death Toll from Indonesian Mudslide Rises to 56
• Accused of Rights Abuses, N Korea Urges UN Meeting on CIA Torture
• At Gaw Wein Jetty, Squatters Struggle to Rebuild

Presidential ‘Press Corps’ to Improve Media Access Posted: 16 Dec 2014 05:20 AM PST Burmese President Thein Sein (left) speaks during a quarterly meeting of senior government officials in Naypyidaw. (Photo: President's Office website) RANGOON — Minister of Information Ye Htut has said that a group of journalists from independent media will soon be able join a so-called press corps that will be granted access to the Presidential Palace and public events involving the president and other cabinet members. Ye Htut discussed the plan during a meeting in Rangoon on Tuesday with around 20 representatives from the interim Myanmar Press Council, the Myanmar Journalists Network, the Myanmar Journalists Union and the Myanmar Journalists Association. Representatives of the organizations said the minister had told them that one journalist and one camera man from every print, online or broadcast media organization would be allowed to register with the press corps. Those selected to join would reportedly be given working spaces with internet connections in the Presidential Palace and would be allowed to cover official public events involving President Thein Sein and other cabinet members—a privilege that until now was reserved for only state-owned media. Ye Htut "negotiated with us to define the qualifications and restrictions for the President's Office press corps," said Pho Thauk Kya, vice-chairman of the Press Council, who welcomed the initiative as a way of gaining greater media access to Burma's government. "I like it. Now, since the President's Office allows us entry, the ministries will have to allow us too. There is good potential [for greater media access]," he said. Journalists who want to join the press corps will need to have at least three years' work experience, or have a statement from their media employer stating they will take responsibility for the reporter's writing, Pho Thauk Kya said, adding that changes to membership of the corps can only take place every six months. Myint Kyaw, of the Myanmar Journalists Network, said the minister had proposed to implement the plan before the end of January. "Journalists would be able to cover the President's Office events and state-level ceremonies," he said, adding that until now "only state media are allowed to report and meet with the ministries there, and currently it is difficult to get an interview." In remains to be seen, however, how much media access will improve with the creation of the press corps. Gaining media access to the government and the secretive and powerful Burma Army has been difficult in recent years, despite the introduction of wide-ranging reforms by the Thein Sein administration. Many officials holding political office or senior government positions are former army members and shun journalists. President Thein Sein rarely gives a press conference, although he has held a few meetings with media representatives. Minister of Information Ye Htut mostly communicates by posting announcements on his Facebook page and frequently ignores requests for media comments. The post Presidential 'Press Corps' to Improve Media Access appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Public Mostly Hopeful About Burma’s Development, Elections: Survey Posted: 16 Dec 2014 04:53 AM PST NLD supporters in Rangoon celebrate the party's landslide victory in the April 1 by-election in 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A new nationwide public survey has found that 62 percent of the people of Burma are generally positive about the direction the country is heading in, while 77 percent believe that planned democratic elections will bring about positive change as Burma emerges from decades of military rule. However, public knowledge of the structure and functions of government institutions is low and understanding of democratic principles and processes is limited, according to the survey, which was carried out by The Asia Foundation and released on Tuesday. The foundation said it conducted interviews with more than 3,000 respondents in Burma's regions and ethnic states, asking a wide range of questions concerning government, democracy, and the political, social and economic values of people from various ethnic and religious backgrounds. "The survey results show that in the early stages of Myanmar's transition to democracy, people are generally hopeful about the future, though that optimism is tempered by a number of challenges," the foundation summarized one of its key findings. "A majority (62 percent) of all respondents believed things in Myanmar are going in the right direction… The level of optimism is markedly higher in the regions (67 percent) than in the states (49 percent)," the report said. "People most frequently cited the building of roads and schools, and overall economic development and growth as reasons for their optimism." On the issue of public knowledge of governance, the survey found that "Overall…basic knowledge about the structure and functions of the government is very low. A significant 82 percent of respondents are unable to name any branches of the government." Few people have a proper understanding of the appointment process for key government positions. Most wrongly believe that the president and chief ministers of states and regions are elected, the survey found. Only 12 percent correctly stated that the president is elected by Parliament representatives, while 22 percent knew that chief ministers are appointed by the president. Only 15 percent understood that Parliament passes bills into laws. Knowledge of the political powers of the military—which is guaranteed direct control over a quarter of Parliament and state and regional legislatures through the controversial 2008 Constitution—was also low. Only 39 percent of respondents knew that the military has representatives in Parliament and local legislatures. Despite such shortcomings in public knowledge of government processes, hopes for the 2015 democratic elections promised by Burma's nominally-civilian government of ex-generals were high. "People are eager to exercise their right to vote, with 77 percent believing that voting can lead to improvements in the future," the report said. "When it comes to the 2015 general elections, 68 percent of all respondents thought that they would be free and fair." The elections are tentatively scheduled for late October or early November next year, and if they proceed as planned would be the first democratic poll since 1990, when the army ignored a landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. Although fears of expressing political views publicly continue to linger following years of military rule, 93 percent of respondents said they would vote in the upcoming elections. "People express a strong preference for democracy in the abstract and a high level of expectation that voting will bring about positive change, but they possess a limited understanding of the principles and practices that underpin a democratic society," the survey said. When people were asked an open question about what it means for a country to be a democracy, only 3 percent mentioned "government of the people," while 53 percent associated it with "freedom," 15 percent with "rights and law" and 11 percent with "peace." The survey also noted a surprisingly low level of awareness of country's ethnic conflict and the slow-moving nationwide ceasefire process aimed at resolving it. "A little more than half of all respondents (55 percent) believed that there are ongoing, armed conflicts in Myanmar, while one third (34 percent) said there are none," the survey said. When told about the peace process, 64 percent expressed confidence in its success, although very few had heard of the term "federalism," a key point of political discussions between the government, Burma Army and ethnic armed groups. The post Public Mostly Hopeful About Burma's Development, Elections: Survey appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

ADB to Loan Burmese Conglomerate Yoma $100Mn for Connectivity Projects Posted: 16 Dec 2014 04:44 AM PST Christopher Thieme, left, of the Asian Development Bank, at a loan signing ceremony with Serge Pun, executive chairman of Yoma Strategic Holdings, in Rangoon on Tuesday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Asian Development Bank will provide a loan of up to US$100 million to local conglomerate Yoma Strategic Holdings to improve infrastructure connectivity in Burma, according to Christopher Thieme, director of ADB's private sector operations department. As the regional lender's first engagement with a local business group, the loan will be dispersed in two tranches, with the first used to build telecommunication towers, develop cold storage logistics and modernize vehicle fleet leasing. The second tranche will fund subprojects in transportation, distribution, logistics and other sectors. "Investment in connectivity infrastructure is a key factor in creating better access to economic opportunities, reducing costs, promoting trade, and attracting private investment into diverse geographic areas and sectors," said Thieme, at a loan signing ceremony in Rangoon on Tuesday. "It is a privilege to be chosen by ADB as a partner to work on improving Myanmar's infrastructure," Serge Pun, executive chairman of Yoma, said at the ceremony. "ADB's loan will help support our goal of improving the country's connectivity, which in turn will strengthen local markets, boost productivity, and create jobs," he added. The terms of the loan were not disclosed. Pun said the loan would be used to help fund ongoing projects. "For example, building towers: We have agreed to build 1,280 towers around the country. About 800 towers are already built, so these loans will be used for ongoing projects," Pun said. An ADB statement said the projects would support sustainable economic growth in Burma, a global laggard in terms of connectivity metrics such as mobile penetration and road density, The loan would help offset the fact that "private sector financing for much-needed infrastructure projects to boost connectivity remains a challenge due to an underdeveloped banking sector and capital market, and a lack of alternative funding sources," the ADB said. Yoma has property, agriculture, tourism, automotive, and retail businesses in Burma. Its market capitalization was $692 million, as of Dec. 2, 2014. The ADB loan is not the first time the company has benefited from the support of an international lender: In May, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) gave a $30 million loan to a Yoma small and medium enterprises (SME) lending program. The post ADB to Loan Burmese Conglomerate Yoma $100Mn for Connectivity Projects appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

The Irrawaddy’s Response to New Ministry of Information Naming Requirements Posted: 16 Dec 2014 04:34 AM PST RANGOON — TheMinistry of Information has indicated that it will not accept our publications' use of the English spelling "The Irrawaddy," a trademarked and registered company in Burma, as we apply to renew our publishing licenses this month. An MoI statement, published in state-run dailies in Burmese and English on Tuesday, said use of The Irrawaddy in the application for a license for our print publications was in contravention of the Adaptation of Expression Law. The MoI will, however, still allow use of our present spelling, "[The] Irrawaddy, for its trademark and logo in its publications." In light of this, we will continue to use "The Irrawaddy" in branding our publications—the Burmese-language The Irrawaddy Weekly Journal and the English-language news magazine The Irrawaddy. In the application for license extensions of both publications, we will spell the name in Burmese (ဧရာ၀တီ) as requested. The Irrawaddy sees the MoI's order as an inappropriate interference in the operations of our media enterprise, which as a private company should not be subject to state control in this way. Established as an independent news organization in Thailand in 1993, The Irrawaddy believes in freedom of expression, including the freedom to choose our own name. This is the second time the publication has faced pressure from the ministry over the issue. In January of this year, the ministry's Copyrights and Registration Department asked The Irrawaddy to change the name of its Burmese-language journal from "Irrawaddy" to "Ayeyarwaddy," as the former was "the spelling used in the British colonial days." After we responded that The Irrawaddy is a trademark as well as a brand, the department indicated that it would allow use of the name. The Irrawaddy has been operating inside Burma since 2012, at which time the MoI accepted the use of "The Irrawaddy" in initial publishing registration forms without complaints. In 1989, Burma's former military regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, put forward the Adaptation of Expression Law to change some English names used inside the country to conform with what the ruling junta deemed to be their more accurate Burmese pronunciations. Passed undemocratically, the controversial law changed "Burma" to "Myanmar," "Rangoon" became "Yangon" and "Irrawaddy," the name of the country's largest river, became "Ayeyarwaddy." # # #   Contact: Aung Zaw, founder and editor-in-chief +66 (0)8 1882 1309   Kyaw Zwa Moe, English edition editor +95 (0)9 4500 67631   Yeni, Burmese Weekly Journal editor +95 (0)9 5083 707   Win Thu, senior manager +95 (0)9 4500 61945 The post The Irrawaddy's Response to New Ministry of Information Naming Requirements appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burmese Nationals Detained by Malaysia Return to Rangoon Posted: 16 Dec 2014 02:55 AM PST Returning Burmese migrant workers queue at the immigration checkpoint of Rangoon International Airport in 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — 52 Burmese nationals, sentenced to yearlong prison terms for using forged visas in an attempt to enter Malaysia, have thanked embassy staff in Kuala Lumpur as they returned to Burma yesterday. After being detained by Malaysian immigration authorities on July 8, the group met their families at Rangoon International Airport on Monday after five months' imprisonment. Maung Oo, a 30-year-old citizen of Mon State who was among the group, said that they were unaware they were using forged visas, which had been provided by an agent in Rangoon. "The visa agent is my friend," said Maung Oo. "We used to work together in Malaysia in the past." Maung Oo told The Irrawaddy that he coincidentally bumped into the agent this morning while staying at a Mon Buddhist Monastery in Rangoon's Bahan Township. "I asked him, 'how dare you hurt me by doing this?' But I didn't show my disappointment. He took my passport and told me he would give me a real [visa] this time in order to appease me, but how could I trust him?" A total of 72 Burmese nationals were detained at Kuala Lumpur Airport after immigration officers raised concerns about the provenance of their visas to police. 12 were subsequently found to have valid tourist visas. Of the remaining Burmese, 52 were sentenced to one year's imprisonment under the country's immigration law on Aug 12. An elderly detainee and seven children, along with the 12 valid visa holders, were not charged but remained in immigration detention for more than a month. Maung Oo said that police threatened to prevent the group's return to Burma if they refused to admit their visas were forged during their court hearings. "All of us had to say we used fake visas and they sentenced us one year in prison," he said. "They told us if we confessed our mistake, we would only have to stay three months in jail, which is why we admitted it at court." The Burmese Embassy in Malaysia's intervention in the case last week led to the group of 52 being released and deported to Burma on Sunday. Maung Oo was incensed by his treatment during his time in prison, where he says poor conditions and physical violence were rampant, and decent food and clean water non-existent. "They beat and slap faces of the people if they do not like someone," he said of prison authorities. "They treated us Burmese very badly." The post Burmese Nationals Detained by Malaysia Return to Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Political Prisoners Committee Criticizes Govt Inaction Posted: 16 Dec 2014 12:05 AM PST Political prisoners released from Insein Prison in May 2013. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Members of the Committee for Scrutinizing Remaining Political Prisoners have complained that efforts to assess the cases of prisoners jailed for political reasons are stalling due to a lack of government cooperation. "We are doing our job, making a list of inmates who we consider political prisoners, but the problem is the government doesn't call meetings," said Ye Aung, a member of the committee. "We can't discuss the issue, and all our work has stalled." The committee was founded in May 2013, with government assistance and at the urging of the United States, to release political prisoners as part of the country's democratic transition. The committee is comprised of cabinet members, political party representatives, civil society organizations and former political prisoner associations. The last meeting of the committee was held in July. After scrutinizing a number of cases, the committee formally recognized 27 prisoners as political prisoners after scrutiny in December last year, and all of them remain behind bars, according to Ye Aung. "Not all political prisoners were prosecuted on political charges," said Ye Aung. "They didn't receive a fair trial. They were also charged with criminal charges. That's why they still remain behind bars." Government representatives on the committee said that the 27 prisoners were prosecuted with criminal charges and are thus exempt from President Thein Sein's amnesty for political prisoners, citing testimony from the Correctional Department. This year, nearly 40 people jailed under various laws have been labeled political prisoners, including activists charged under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, journalists, and farmers protesting against land confiscations. Committee member Sai Nyunt Lwin, a representative of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy that plans are underway to reconstitute the committee to be able to operate more effectively. Last year, a total of 420 political prisoners were released with the assistance of the committee. The post Political Prisoners Committee Criticizes Govt Inaction appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Drug-Resistant Malaria in Burma: The World’s Next Big Health Crisis? Posted: 15 Dec 2014 10:36 PM PST Children living on the Thai-Burma border visit a malaria clinic to get tested in Sai Yoke district, Kanchanaburi Province, in October 2012. (Photo: Reuters) MIN SAW, Karen State — Ka Lar Nar caught malaria for the sixth time when he was working away from home on his small farm in the jungle of southeastern Burma, but this time it was a lot harder to get rid of it. After testing positive for malaria he got a three-day course of drugs from a community health volunteer in his village but even though his fever subsided, he continued to be plagued by headaches and another test still showed positive results. Experts say his case could be an indication of drug resistance to the mosquito-borne disease, which has been spreading in Burma and other countries in the Mekong River basin in what threatens to become the next big global health emergency if it marches on to India and Africa. "This was a missed opportunity," said Eisa Hamid, an epidemiologist working with the United Nations in Burma, who specializes in monitoring and evaluating malaria programs. Normally, after three days of treatment the farmer's blood should have been clear of malaria-transmitting parasites. "With any patient showing positive test results after three days of treatment, we have to suspect drug resistance, and more sophisticated blood testing should have been done as he could still carry the parasites that cause malaria in his blood." Malaria's New Ground Zero Malaria death rates dropped by 47 percent between 2000 and 2014 worldwide but it still killed some 584,000 people in 2013, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Much of the success in fighting the disease is due to the use of combination therapies (ACTs) based on artemisinin, a Chinese herb derivative, which is now under threat as malaria parasites have been building up resistance to the drugs. Experts say Burma, which has the largest malaria burden in the region, is the next frontier in the spread of resistance to artemisinin. Positioned between the Andaman Sea and the Himalayas and bordering India and China—home to 40 percent of the world's population—Burma is in a unique position to halt the spread of resistance to India and Africa. "We need to act fast to avoid a big catastrophe," said Pascal Ringwald of the WHO's Global Malaria Program. "The consequences could be disastrous." If the problem spreads beyond the region, history would repeat itself for a third time, as resistance to other malaria drugs developed in the area before and spread to Africa to claim the lives of millions, especially children. But the urgency is far greater this time as new drugs to replace ACTs are not yet available. "Artemisinin resistance could wipe out a lot of the gains we've made in containing malaria and there is nothing yet to replace it," said Nyan Sint, an epidemiologist and regional malaria officer working with the government's national malaria control program. Before being identified in Burma in 2008, signs of resistance were found in Cambodia and since have also been confirmed in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, according to the WHO. Why parasites become resistant to drugs is not entirely clear but prolonged civil conflict, dense jungles, migration and poor quality drugs are all believed to play a part. The human and economic cost of failing to stop the spread would be huge, according to a model published in the Malaria Journal last month. The study estimated an extra 116,000 deaths per year if artemisinin resistance is not stopped. Medical costs could exceed US$32 million per year, while productivity losses from a rise in cases and deaths are estimated at $385 million. Worse Than Ebola? Francois Nosten, a French malaria expert who has been studying the disease along the Burma-Thai border for about three decades, said drug-resistance is a quiet menace that is at risk of being overlooked as world attention focuses on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. "You don't see people dying in the streets, like with Ebola, but the consequences of it spreading further could be a lot worse," he said. In Burma the partner drugs in ACTs are still working, but they are already failing in western Cambodia, a sign that the clock is ticking fast in the fight against drug-resistance. Some 60 percent of Burma's 51 million people live in malaria-endemic areas, many of them migrants and people in hard-to-reach rural areas. The number of people dying from the disease fell sharply after ACTs became more widely available but the country still recorded 333,871 malaria cases in 2013 and 236 deaths, WHO data shows. In Karen State, much progress has been made since a January 2012 ceasefire between the government and the Karen National Union (KNU), halting one of the world's longest-running civil wars. Villages like Min Saw used to have lots of malaria cases but better access to health care workers since the ceasefire, ACTs, rapid diagnosis tests and mass distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets led to a sharp drop. "We used to have much higher incidence rates," said Saw Ohn Myint, a community health worker. "But we need more training and more equipment to continue to make progress." International aid organizations have been working with ethnic groups and the government to set up a network of 1,500 village health volunteers that can dispense ACTs. But thousands of Karen State's 1.5 million people remain uncovered because they are in hard-to-reach areas, sometimes still controlled by armed ethnic groups restricting access for government health workers. Mistrust following five decades of military rule in Burma still runs deep in Karen State as its people recover from shelling, land mine explosions and forced displacement. The situation is also complicated by fake or low-quality anti-malaria medicines dispensed at village shops, which instead of killing the parasites only make them stronger. "This is a big problem," said Karen State Health Minister Aung Kyaw Htwe. "We're trying to educate shopkeepers not to sell these drugs and people not to take them." In Min Saw, where a package of colorful tablets purportedly containing anti-malaria drugs sells for as little as 10 cents, villagers like Ka Lar Nar say sometimes it is easier to buy medication from the "village quack" than to see a health worker. All-Out Assault Under a $100 million, three-year initiative in the Greater Mekong region, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has allocated $40 million to Burma to fight artemisinin resistance. Part of the plan is an all-out assault to eliminate plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite, as containment through bed nets, insecticides and treating only those who test positive no longer works. Villages with a high number of infected people will be flooded with drugs to be taken by everybody, well and sick, to eliminate falciparum before treatments fail completely. The plan has received ethical clearance from the Burmese government. Nosten, whose team is mapping 800 villages on the Thai-Burma border for potential mass treatment, says elimination is a challenge, in particular as malaria is worst in remote rural areas and because of a large number of migrants in the region. "Some of these villages are five days' walk from the nearest road," said Nosten, director of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. "But if we don't do it quickly, it will be too late and millions of people will die." Mass drug treatments have been tried before with varying success. If the parasites are only cleared from half the population, the plan could backfire and boost resistance rather than eliminate it. It also requires consent of the population but Nosten is confident that most villagers will participate. Screening points have also been set up at key locations frequented by migrant workers where everyone can be tested, no matter whether they show malaria symptoms. The post Drug-Resistant Malaria in Burma: The World's Next Big Health Crisis? appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Developing Nations Losing Record $1 Trillion a Year in Dirty Money: Report Posted: 15 Dec 2014 09:59 PM PST China sees the largest outflow of illicit fund, representing 40 percent of the global total. A general view of buildings in Beijing on July 3, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — Crime and corruption are draining a record US$1 trillion a year from poor and middle-income nations with the disappearance of dirty money hitting some of the world’s poorest regions hardest, a report showed on Monday. A record $991 billion in unrecorded funds left 151 developing and emerging economies in 2012, up nearly 5 percent from a year earlier, according to U.S.-based watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) that exposes financial corruption. GFI’s sixth annual report found between 2003 and 2012, the estimated amount of illicit funds shifted from developing countries totaled $6.6 trillion and rose at an inflation-adjusted 9.4 percent a year – roughly double global GDP growth. China, Russia, Mexico, India, Malaysia saw the largest outflow of dirty money – the proceeds from shady business, crime and corruption – over the decade and also in 2012. Sub-Saharan Africa suffered the biggest loss as a share of its economy, with the disappearance of dirty money averaging 5.5 percent of GDP. Nigeria and South Africa were among the top 12 nations with the largest volumes of illicit outflows. GFI President Raymond Baker said the estimated losses were conservative but were still more than 10 times the total amount of foreign aid these countries received. He called the growth rate "alarming", having surged from about $297 billion in 2003. "Illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problem plaguing the world’s developing and emerging economies," Baker said in a statement. "It is simply impossible to achieve sustainable global development unless world leaders agree to address this issue head-on." Asia was the region of the developing world with the greatest flow of dirty money over the decade, accounting for 40.3 percent of the world total, driven by China. But the researchers found growth of illicit flows was faster in other parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa, where the growth was seen at 24.2 percent and 13.2 percent respectively. The GFI research found fraudulent mis-invoicing of trade transactions was the most popular method to move money illegally and accounted for nearly 78 percent of illicit flows in 2012. Money is moved overseas through trade mispricing by fraudulent underbilling or over-invoicing for goods to avoid tax or to hide large transfers. Baker called for the United Nations to next year include a target to halve all trade-related illicit flows by 2030 as it negotiates a new set of global goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, to replace the Millennium Development Goals. The GFI research tracks illegal money flowing out of 151 developing countries using trade and balance of payments reports filed with the International Monetary Fund. Its data provides an estimate as illicit flows cannot be precisely measured. One of the report’s authors, GFI’s Joseph Spanjers, said the trillion dollars lost from these economies in 2012 could have been invested in local businesses, healthcare, education or infrastructure. "This is a trillion dollars that could have contributed to inclusive economic growth, legitimate private-sector job creation, and sound public budgets," he said. The post Developing Nations Losing Record $1 Trillion a Year in Dirty Money: Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Death Toll from Indonesian Mudslide Rises to 56 Posted: 15 Dec 2014 09:08 PM PST Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo visits the village of Sampang on Sunday after a landslide hit Banjarnegara December 14, 2014 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo: Idhad Zakaria / Antara Foto & Reuters) BANJARNEGARA, Indonesia — The death toll from a mudslide that flattened much of a village in central Indonesia rose to 56 on Monday before rain forced rescuers to halt their search for dozens of missing people, officials said. Seventeen bodies, including those of four children, were recovered Monday, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency. Fifty-two people were still missing, three days after Friday’s disaster. More than 3,000 rescuers, including soldiers, police and volunteers, were mobilized to dig through the mud and wreckage after the landslide buried more than 100 houses in Jemblung village in Central Java province’s Banjarnegara district. Many people in the remote farming village heard a deep rumbling sound just after dusk Friday and managed to flee to safer ground, while others were either at home or in the local mosque when mud, rocks and trees tumbled onto their village. The search for the missing was halted Monday as rain prompted fears of another mudslide. Local army chief Lt-Col Edy Rahmatullah said it would resume Tuesday. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who visited the area Sunday, pledged to relocate hundreds of people left homeless by the disaster and promised government aid for the injured. Eleven villagers were hospitalized. Seasonal rains and high tides cause frequent floods in Indonesia. Many of the country’s 250 million people live in mountainous areas or fertile, flood-prone plains near rivers. According to the national Disaster Mitigation Agency, about 41 million Indonesians live in regions prone to landslides. The post Death Toll from Indonesian Mudslide Rises to 56 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Accused of Rights Abuses, N Korea Urges UN Meeting on CIA Torture Posted: 15 Dec 2014 08:52 PM PST   A group of people bow at the base of the giant bronze statue of the state founder and late "Great Leader" Kim-Il Sung in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on February 26, 2008. (Photo: Reuters) UNITED NATIONS — North Korea on Monday asked the United Nations Security Council to add the issue of torture by the US Central Intelligence Agency to its agenda as the council prepares to hold a meeting next week on alleged human rights abuses by the Asian state. The council is due to meet on Dec. 22 or Dec. 23 on human rights in North Korea after two-thirds of the 15-members pushed for the issue to be added to the body's agenda. A UN report in February detailed abuses in North Korea that it said were comparable to Nazi-era atrocities. Once an issue is on the Security Council agenda, it can be discussed at any time. Majority support is needed to add an item to the agenda and cannot be blocked by the five veto-wielding powers—China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain. Diplomats said it was not likely that enough countries would support a council meeting on torture by the CIA. "The so-called 'human rights issue' in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is politically fabricated and, therefore, it is not at all relevant to the regional or international peace and security," North Korean UN Ambassador Ja Song Nam wrote in a letter to the council. "The issue of CIA torture crimes committed by the United States needs to be urgently addressed in the Security Council since it threatens to have an imminent and destabilizing impact on the maintenance of international peace and security," he added. A US Senate report released last week found that the CIA misled the White House and public about its torture of detainees after the Sept. 11 attacks and acted more brutally and pervasively than it had acknowledged. North Korea called for the Security Council to establish "an ad-hoc investigation commission mandated to make a thorough probe into the CIA torture crimes and hold those responsible to account for their most serious human rights violations." A UN committee last month urged the council to consider referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity. China, likely supported by Russia, would probably veto any referral to the international court based in The Hague, diplomats say. China's UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi said he opposed adding human rights in North Korea to the Security Council agenda. "The situation on the Korean peninsula is so complex and so precarious [that] what the council should do is work towards maintaining peace and stability on [the] Korean peninsula and not to do something on the contrary," he told reporters on Monday. Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the issue should be dealt with by the UN Human Rights Council. "If they have the meeting, I won't be heartbroken over it, but I think it's improper to do it at the Security Council," Churkin said on Monday.   The post Accused of Rights Abuses, N Korea Urges UN Meeting on CIA Torture appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

At Gaw Wein Jetty, Squatters Struggle to Rebuild Posted: 15 Dec 2014 04:00 PM PST Two squatters on the riverbank near Gaw Wein Jetty rebuild a hut after municipal authorities demolished homes in the area last month. (Photo: Zarni Mann / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — More than a fortnight after being evicted from the Irrawaddy River foreshore, hundreds of people living around Mandalay's Gaw Wein jetty are struggling to rebuild their small bamboo huts, bulldozed by municipal authorities. In preparation for a royal visit from Norwegian King Harald and Queen Sonja on Dec. 4, the Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) served eviction notices to the motley community of day laborers and their families living in huts on the riverbank. Now permitted to return, squatters around the jetty have begun the daunting task of attempting to rebuild the homes knocked down by the MCDC. "Only some bamboo posts and plastic sheets were left behind. The bamboo curtains which we used for the walls were destroyed," said Sein Hla Yee, 50, as she helped her son fashion an old plastic sheet into a makeshift roof for their new, improvised home. Municipal authorities banned ships and boats from embarking from the jetty for several days before and after the royal visit. Among those displaced from Gaw Wein, those whose livelihoods depend on port labor have been affected the most. "We laborers are paid daily and our earnings depend on the jetty," Sein Hla Yee said. "When the ships are not allowed to embark or to unload goods, our pockets are empty—so are our rice pots and our stomachs." Although Sein Hla Yee and the 200 or so families in her neighborhood are now moving back to where their homes used to stand, many are still without shelter and have nothing left save a few personal belongings. "My whole hut was destroyed and I have no money to build a new one," said Maung Aye, a father of four and port laborer, as he waited to carry cement bags onto a barge docked at the jetty. "We are still trying to save some money to build a new home. All of our money was spent during the King's visit. These days, there are not many jobs to do and we earn only a little." Like Maung Aye, most of the Gaw Wein squatters are the general laborers and porters who earn on average around 3000 kyats ($US3) per day by loading and unloading port traffic. Gaw Wein Jetty is Mandalay's main pier, where ships and boats transport construction materials, food and other products across the country along the Irrawaddy River's shipping channel. This jetty is home to many laborers like Maung Aye and Sein Hla Yee who came from different corners of Burma seeking work. Many of them have been on and around the riverbank for decades, their meager earnings not enough to rent a home in town. "At first, we rented a home in a quarter near the jetty," said Ma Khine, who came from a village near Bagan to work as a laborer 20 years earlier. "Later, we moved here as the rent increased and the landlords wanted a down payment of at least one year, which we couldn't afford." "At my home village it was hard to get 3000 kyats a day. Here, we don't need to worry about rental fees. If we work hard, we can earn around 10,000 kyats in a day sometimes, and then we can cook meat." Although officially homeless and occupying the riverbank illegally, members of the community has a long tradition of banding together to support each other, when they can. "We got no help from the authorities or the individuals, said Myo Myo, the mother of a newborn baby. "We have to look after each other and help if someone has health problems. Some send their children for basic education but others can't afford it." However, when the whole community was hit by the relocation and closure of the jetty for five days, few had money to spare. "Five days might be a short period for some but for us, it was ages. Now we have to work really hard to earn more so that we can build back our huts, and we can't even think about our health," said Myo Myo. Locals said that the recent eviction was not the first time they've been forced from the area, and is unlikely to be the last. Rumors of compensation and land grants on the outskirts of town have percolated throughout the community numerous times. They have never come true. "The king or the president or the VIP—whoever comes whenever, we will be shooed away like stray dogs," said Aye Kyaing, a resident of the riverbank for about 25 years. "We heard the [Norwegian queen] was saddened after hearing our news. We want to tell them not to worry about us because this is not because of her, and we are used to such incidents," she added. Other, more ominous rumors are circulating amongst the squatters. Locals say a new ship dock will be constructed near Gaw Wein jetty, potentially precipitating a more permanent eviction from the area. While The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm the rumors with municipal authorities, workers have fenced off an area of the foreshore in anticipation of a new building project. "To receive some compensation or a proper home is just a dream," said San San Myint, a 40-year-old mother of four whose children all work on the jetty. "But to be moved out of this place for VIPs or a new project is the reality. We were told not to stay in the line of the fence they have some projects to do. If the authorities want us to move out again, we are prepared." "The authorities remember us when they want us to participate in their events, like the election in 2010, opening ceremonies, public gatherings. During those times, they invited us cheerfully, politely, and even transported us with big buses," she added. "But most of the time, we were forgotten. For the authorities, we are not human." The post At Gaw Wein Jetty, Squatters Struggle to Rebuild appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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