The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Wanbao, Govt Failed To Address Mine Project Concerns: NLD
- China Tightens Church Control Ahead of Christmas
- Out of Tragedy, Fortune For Sri Lankan Tsunami Village
- US Think Tank Proposes Shake-Up Of Taiwan Defense
| Wanbao, Govt Failed To Address Mine Project Concerns: NLD Posted: 25 Dec 2014 01:59 AM PST  NLD MP Khin San Hlaing talks to locals in Letpadaung on Thursday (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — After two days of protest at the site of the Letpadaung copper mine project in Sagaing Division, the National League for Democracy (NLD) issued a statement on Wednesday criticizing Burmese authorities and the Chinese company behind the mine for failing to address the social and environmental impacts of the project. On Monday, Khin Win, a 56-year-old woman, was shot dead by police during a protest against the copper mine project—a joint venture between Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Limited and the Burma Army-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings. On Tuesday, several more villagers were injured in confrontations with police near the project site, including at least three who were shot with rubber bullets. A parliamentary commission headed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi reviewed the controversial project in early 2013 and recommended that it continue, provided the company adequately address the mine's social and environmental impact. In March 2013, President Thein Sein formed a committee to implement the findings of the parliamentary commission's report. The NLD said in its statement on Wednesday that authorities had failed to heed the commission's recommendations. Khin San Hlaing, an NLD MP and a member of the Suu Kyi-led commission, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Thar Aye, Chief Minister of Sagaing Division, had rejected the NLD's claim. "We met with the minister yesterday. We told him that the unrest on Dec. 22 broke out as the company and authorities did not follow the advice in our report," Khin San Hlaing said. "But, the Minister didn’t admit it. He said that they are following the [recommendations of the] report and will try to complete the project." The project has drawn vehement opposition from local communities that have objected to the mine's environmental impact, land confiscation and the removal of religious structures in the area. Tensions flared between villagers and Wanbao contractors on Monday and Tuesday after the latter began clearing land with bulldozers and fencing off more than a dozen acres of farmland in Hse Tae village as part of the planned expansion of the mine. On Wednesday, a commission was formed to investigate the clashes between protestors and police, with Thar Aye as vice-chairman. "He [Thar Aye] said he would then handle the issue based on the findings of the commission," Khin San Hlaing said. However, the NLD MP questioned the impartiality of the commission, as all its members were reportedly government officials. Thar Aye said that the company would continue fencing off land in the project area, according to Khin San Hlaing. The President's Office said in a statement on Wednesday that 11 police and 11 protestors were injured during protests at the mine site on Monday and Tuesday. The statement claimed that villagers were armed with slingshots, knives and sticks and said that security forces had fired warning shots. Regarding the death of Khin Win, the President's Office said it was taking action according to the law. In the last two years, there have been numerous confrontations between villagers and security forces as the mine's operators attempted to extend the project's operating area. In Nov. 2012, dozens of protestors, many of them Buddhist monks, suffered serious injuries after police fired incendiary rounds, believed to be white phosphorous, into a protest camp near the mine. The post Wanbao, Govt Failed To Address Mine Project Concerns: NLD appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| China Tightens Church Control Ahead of Christmas Posted: 24 Dec 2014 09:44 PM PST  A church seen under construction in a suburban area of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, in Feb. 2011. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — Two days before Christmas, members of a rural Christian congregation in the eastern city of Wenzhou welded some pieces of metal into a cross and hoisted it onto the top of their worship hall to replace one that was forcibly removed in October. Within an hour, township officials and uniformed men barged onto the church ground and tore down the cross. "They keep a very close watch on us, and there is nothing we can do," said a church official, who spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because of fear of government retaliation. "The situation is not good, as any attempt to re-erect the cross will be stopped." That means that the worshippers in Wenzhou, like many Christians in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang, will worship this Christmas under a cross-less roof. Provincial authorities have toppled crosses from more than 400 churches, and even razed some worship halls in a province-wide crackdown on building code violations. Many Christians say their faith has been singled out because authorities, wary of its rapid growth, are seeking to curb its spread in a campaign that has targeted China's most thriving Christian communities. Estimates for the number of Christians in China range from the conservative official figure of 23 million to as many as 100 million by independent scholars, raising the possibility that Christians may rival in size the 85 million members of the ruling Communist Party. In August, Beijing rounded up Christian pastors and religious scholars in a national seminar with the edict that the Christian faith must be free of foreign influence but "adapt to China," a euphemism for obeying the Communist Party's rule. This week, authorities in Wenzhou—known as China's Jerusalem because it has half of the province's 4,000 churches—have banned all Christmas celebrations or related activities in the city's kindergartens and grade schools. "We had guidance on foreign holidays such as Christmas in the past, but this year marks the first time we issued a clearer notice," an education official was quoted as saying in a local, government-run newspaper on Wednesday. Churches in Wenzhou and elsewhere in Zhejiang were first told last year to turn off any spotlights shining on their crosses at night. A few months later, the congregations were ordered to remove the crosses or face forced demolitions. Resistance by local Christians has led to violent protests, bloody clashes and arrests of pastors and churchgoers. At least two people—one pastor and one churchgoer—remain in police custody for their acts to defend the cross, said Zhang Kai, a Christian rights lawyer. When one rural village re-erected a cross in the summer, authorities put it under a 24-hour watch, which has now gone on for nearly five months. "This year's Christmas has been exceptional, as a group of uniformed men have been helping us move tables, direct traffic, and guard holiday decorations as well as the front door, the back door, the warehouse and the sanctuary," church pastor Tao Chongyin wrote on a social media site. The post China Tightens Church Control Ahead of Christmas appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Out of Tragedy, Fortune For Sri Lankan Tsunami Village Posted: 24 Dec 2014 09:09 PM PST  Flowers are seen on the beach in Seenigama, about 110 km south of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, on Dec 20. (Photo: Reuters) SEENIGAMA, Sri Lanka — As towering waves came crashing into the southern coast of Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, 2004, Kushil Gunasekera gathered up his children and they ran for their lives to a nearby temple, the highest point they could find. Returning later to his village in Seenigama district, he found a heart-breaking scene of death and devastation: one in four had been killed by the Boxing Day tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean. A decade on, Seenigama has risen from the ashes and is now a model of prosperity, thanks in large part to the efforts of Gunasekera who led a relief drive from the ruins of his ancestral home and later gave up his lucrative sugar business to devote himself to a charity he had founded in 1999. Seenigama is an outlier, however, along the ravaged coastline. Tourists have returned to the palm-fringed beaches but livelihoods still hang by a thread in many villages that got scant assistance from the state. In nearby Pereliya village—where more than 1,500 people perished, most of them passengers on a train that was hurled off its tracks as the waves rolled in—many feel abandoned and angry. "Nothing has changed in our lives," said G. Premalal, a fisherman at Pereliya beach where the government has erected a granite monument to the tsunami dead. "We have low quality houses. A lot of money was donated for us, but it was not distributed equally. Some got richer and richer because of the tsunami money, while others simply became poorer." More than 250,000 people died in the tsunami, which was triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. Indonesia bore the brunt, but Sri Lanka was the next worst-affected country with a death toll of about 40,000. Seenigama, about 110 km (70 miles) south of the island nation's capital, Colombo, was hit particularly hard by the tsunami because reefs that might have shielded it had been destroyed by years of coral mining. Years before the disaster, Gunasekera had started his Foundation of Goodness non-governmental organization to generate alternative livelihoods for the coral miners. But the tsunami, which wrecked thousands of houses and schools, presented him with a much bigger challenge. "Waves of Compassion" Seven photographs are propped up on a table in the front hall of D. Karunawathi's house, a reminder of the family members she lost in the tsunami, including her mother, sister, daughter-in-law and grand-daughter. None of their bodies were found. "Yes, we lost lives," says 60-year-old Karunawathi from her robust two-storey house. "But we got a permanent home." But Gunasekera's project went far beyond bricks and mortar. Leaning on his own charisma and connections, including some of Sri Lanka's best-known cricketers, Gunasekera brought together villagers, volunteers and donors, ploughing financial assistance into long-term projects to build a comprehensive and sustainable model of community development. The project now provides free services for more than 25,000 people, ranging from healthcare to vocational training and a sports academy for the young that has already produced two national-level cricketers. On the day of the disaster, Pulina Tharanga had set out for a school cricket match with a pair of shoes that his mother had bought for 2,000 rupees ($15), money she had earned selling rice noodles over several months. When he returned she was dead. "She had asked me not to play cricket because she couldn't afford it," said Tharanga, who played for Sri Lanka's junior national team in the 2012 World Cup in Brisbane, Australia. The Foundation of Goodness village project, which costs about $1 a year, depends heavily on foreign donors. The academy's cricket ground was financed by England's Surrey Cricket Club and a swimming pool was funded by Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams. "We harness waves of compassion to overcome waves of destruction and rebuild better," Gunasekera told Reuters. "When a tragedy like that happens, you can't reverse it. You need to look ahead and stay positive." The post Out of Tragedy, Fortune For Sri Lankan Tsunami Village appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| US Think Tank Proposes Shake-Up Of Taiwan Defense Posted: 24 Dec 2014 09:03 PM PST  Chaff is set off from a Knox-class frigate during the Han Kuang military exercise held about 10 nautical miles east of the port of Hualien, eastern Taiwan, on Sept 17. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — Fears of war between Taiwan and China have eased in recent years, but the growing gap in their military capabilities has prompted a US think tank to lay out a radical new approach in how Taiwan could defend itself if China invaded, relying less on conventional forces and more on guerrilla-style tactics and cyberwarfare. The nongovernment Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments is wading into delicate territory. Relations between democratic Taiwan and communist-governed China have improved as they have forged economic agreements—a development welcomed by the United States. Washington, however, remains obligated by US law to provide Taiwan the means to defend itself. US lawmakers have accused the Obama administration of refusing to sell Taiwan new fighter jets and submarines for fear of angering Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the self-governing island. Congress last week approved the possible sale of four US frigates to Taiwan, drawing Chinese criticism, but Taiwan shows growing willingness to develop its own hardware. On Tuesday, it launched a stealthy, missile-launching corvette, the first ship of its kind produced by Taiwan. But China's rapid military modernization has exposed a widening gulf between its forces and those on Taiwan, which spent $10.8 billion on its defense in 2013. According to a US Defense Department estimate, China's military spending that year was $145 billion. "With the resource gap approaching fourteen-to-one, even if Taiwan were to massively increase its defense budget, it would not reverse the cumulative advantages the PRC has accrued over the past two decades," said the center's report, released this week. PRC stands for the communist-governed People's Republic of China. A US congressional advisory panel reported last month that China has about 2,100 combat aircraft and 280 naval ships available for a Taiwan conflict, and more than 1,100 short-range ballistic missiles that could incapacitate Taiwan's air force in the early hours of a conflict. Taiwan has about 410 combat aircraft and 90 naval combat ships. The center advocates an "asymmetric approach," with Taiwan using lighter forces to counter rather than match China's strengths. While Taiwan increasingly emphasizes such tactics, its military modernization plan still calls for big, conventional acquisitions, the report says. For a fraction of the cost of building eight large diesel submarines that Taiwan is also planning, it could produce a fleet of 42 "midget submarines" similar in size to craft that North Korea and Iran have, the report says. These submarines could provide warning and targeting data for anti-ship cruise missiles deployed on mobile launchers resembling trucks hauling shipping containers. To combat Chinese fighter planes, the report proposes "guerrilla" air defense, using hundreds of surface-to-air missiles—a tactic it says proved effective for North Vietnam against the United States during the Vietnam War. And if Chinese forces make it on land, guerrilla tactics to harass the occupying forces would slow their advance toward Taipei. It says cyberwar against Chinese battle networks would also be one of Taiwan's viable deterrents and "cost-imposing strategies." The report's authors say asymmetric approaches toward defense would reduce Taiwanese dependence on US armaments, and should also appeal to other neighbors concerned over China's military buildup. Nations like Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia "have territorial disputes with China and face many of the same challenges responding to the rapid Chinese military modernization looming over Taiwan," the report says. The post US Think Tank Proposes Shake-Up Of Taiwan Defense appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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