Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

North Korea Talks Not About Arms Deals, Says Burma Govt

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 06:37 AM PDT

Myanmar, North Korea, Burma, sanctions, United States, arms, weapone, military

North Korea's artillery sub-units conduct a live shell firing drill on March 14, 2013. (Photo: KCNA via Reuters)

RANGOON — A Burmese government spokesman said Tuesday that during meetings last week officials in Naypyidaw and their counterparts from North Korea did not discuss the controversial weapons trade between the two nations.

President's Office spokesman Ye Htut told The Irrawaddy that discussions were instead about improving diplomatic ties between the two countries and a territorial dispute between the country officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and South Korea.

The Burmese government's relations with North Korea have been the subject of intense speculation since reports emerged that Burma's former military regime had signed weapons-related deals with the country—which remains a hermitic dictatorship and was recently accused of rights abuses akin to Nazi Germany.

Since the quasi-civilian government of Burmese President Thein Sein began to reengage with Western nations, the relationship has continued to raise questions, and as recently as December 2013 the United States added a Burmese military officer and three companies to its sanctions list over arms trading with North Korea.

Burma's state media announced that a delegation led by Kim Myong Gil, a director general in North Korea's Foreign Ministry—the second delegation from the country this year—landed in Burma on April 3 and spent three days visiting the country. Visiting officials met with Burma's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Thant Kyaw, and San Lwin, director general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry's political department, official reports said.

Other than the brief reports, official sources published little information and no photographs from the visit.

In February, Kim Sok Chol, North Korea's ambassador to Burma, met Burmese Vice President Sai Mauk Kham to discuss "mutual amity and development," according to state-media reports at the time.

Ye Htut told The Irrawaddy that arms deals were not discussed during the visit, during which an island dispute between North Korea and South Korea was the main topic of talks.

"They did not talk about the arms trade at the meeting. We are the chairman of Asean, and we were talking about peace," he said, adding that there was nothing unusual about the visits.

"Burma and North Korea have diplomatic relations. For this, it is very normal to visit a country," said Ye Htut said.

"The UN Security Council did not make a decision to ban having diplomatic relations with North Korea. This is why there is no need to be concerned about their visit."

Burma expert and author Bertil Lintner told The Irrawaddy that he doubted that Burmese officials would be involved in such discussions.

"I find it hard to believe that the visit has anything do to with the maritime boundary demarcation line between North and South Korea. Why would Burma have anything to do with that dispute?" he said.

To the dismay of Western nations, Burma and North Korea have had close relations for more than 10 years. North Korea has provided Burma with tunneling expertise, field artillery and other weapons, and North Korean technicians are helping the Burmese defense industries produce a basic Scud-type missile. In return, Burma has shipped rice to North Korea.

Pressure from the United States—which has suspended some sanctions against Burma and moved toward military cooperation—has led to more secrecy surrounding dealings between Pyongyang and Naypyidaw. Ties are still thought to remain strong, however, and an arms embargos by the United States and the European Union remain in place against Burma.

"As far as I am aware, relations between Burma and North Korea remain close and cordial, and North Koreans are still involved in Burma's missile program," said Lintner, whose reporting has revealed many of few details known about the relationship.

The two countries officially agreed to resume diplomatic ties in 2007, when Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win visited North Korea in 2008. Burma had severed relations with North Korea following a 1983 bombing in Rangoon by North Korean secret agents, which killed 21 people, including four South Korean Cabinet ministers.

The post North Korea Talks Not About Arms Deals, Says Burma Govt appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Shan, Wa Rebels Clash Over Gold in Eastern Burma

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 04:24 AM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, The Irrawaddy, Restoration Council of Shan State, RCSS, United Wa State Army, UWSA, clashes, fighting, gold mining, ethnic rebel groups

Shan commandos on parade at Shan State National Day on Feb. 7, 2014, in Loi Tai Leng, the headquarters of the Restoration Council of Shan State. (Photo: Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy)

Clashes broke out between the Shan State Army South and the United Wa State Army over the weekend, with the fighting brought on by a dispute over Wa gold mining activities in southern Shan State's Mong Pan Township.

Officials from the Restoration Council of Shan State, the political wing of the SSA-S, said the clashes began on Saturday morning, with the altercation reportedly stemming from continued Wa gold mining activities in an RCSS-controlled area of Mong Pan, a territory near the Salween River in eastern Burma.

The Wa control land east of the Salween near Mong Tong Township, where UWSA troops regularly provide security for Wa companies mining gold along the river. The SSA-S controls Mong Pan, west of the Salween, with the weekend clashes occurring some 20 miles south of the town.

Col Aung Kyan Murng, the coordinator of RCSS's Mong Pan liaison office, told The Irrawaddy that the fighting occurred because the Wa had crossed the river to the west. "Their territory is on the eastern side of the Salween," he said.

The fighting took place at just after 9 am on Saturday, with both RCSS and Wa troops converging on the area. One Wa soldier was reportedly killed and another injured, Aung Kyan Murng said.

The UWSA could not be reached for comment. The RCSS said it had not been in contact with the UWSA since the fighting.

A local RCSS official in Mong Pan, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Irrawaddy that the clashes occurred because the UWSA had not complied with an RCSS demand that the Wa cease mining operations in RCSS territory.

Locals said the clashes continued on Monday, but Aung Kyan Murng could not confirm those accounts and said the RCSS was still trying to make contact with its troops in the area concerned.

"The Wa must leave the territory—if not, the fighting is likely to continue," said a local RCSS official. He added that "leaders of both parties should talk about it, the problem will not be solved only with troops on the ground."

Territories between the two ethnic rebel groups have been delineated via mutual agreement, and rules are in place that forbid incursions into the other's area of control. The Salween River, running north to south through the area, divides the two sides and demarcates their respective territories.

Both armed rebel groups provide security for affiliated gold mining enterprises in Shan State.

The UWSA governs two autonomous "special administrative regions" carved out of Shan State, consisting of separate territories in the northern and southern reaches of the state that were granted under the 2008 military-backed Constitution. Ethnic Wa rebels signed a ceasefire with the Burmese government in 1989.

The RCSS signed a ceasefire with the government in 2012 and has opened liaison offices to communicate with the local military and to oversee business and development projects, as is the case for many of the other ethnic armed groups in Burma that have signed ceasefires with Naypyidaw.

The post Shan, Wa Rebels Clash Over Gold in Eastern Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

While Talks Continue, KIO Keeps War Footing

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 04:19 AM PDT

Kachin Independence Organization, Kachin State, Burma, Myanmar, Laiza, ceasefire, conflict, Gun Maw, Sumlut Gam

A KIO soldier on patrol near Laiza, the group's defacto capital, on March, 13 2014. ( Photo: Seamus Martov / The Irrawaddy)

MAI JA YANG / LAIZA, Kachin State – As Gen. Gun Maw, the deputy chief of staff for the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), meets this week with his Burmese counterparts in Rangoon as part of a joint meeting with the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), his subordinates stationed at Ban Du Kawng post near Mai Ja Yang, the KIO's second-largest town, will keep a watchful eye on the Burma Army post on the next hilltop.

Despite the handshaking in Rangoon, KIO forces on the frontline still have ample reason to remain vigilant.

"They came up from over there and had us surrounded," says Sgt. La Mai, recounting a sneak attack in early 2012 when the Ban Du Kawng post came under heavy assault from the Burma Army. "The shells they fired made a lot of smoke so we couldn't see them."

KIO forces managed to hold their position for the two-day siege, suffering only minor shrapnel wounds although they appeared to have been seriously outnumbered. "We only had seven soldiers on duty at the time," says the sergeant. When the dust settled, KIO forces burned all the brush surrounding their post to prevent any more surprises. Thanks to the burn off, the post is now surrounded by a blackened moonscape.

The sergeant, a 14-year veteran of the KIO, had up until the outbreak of hostilities in June 2011 never fired his weapon in combat. Now he's a seasoned combatant, responsible for inflicting serious casualties on a force far superior in strength to his own. As to just how many army soldiers were lost that day, La Mai and his colleagues don't really know.

"We heard they lost many men but we could only see one body," says the soft-spoken soldier. According to La Mai, that body remained for months in the middle of the heavily mined no man's land, until the vultures eventually devoured all that remained of the young man who was sent by his superiors on what proved to be a completely futile mission.

More than a year has passed since troops at La Mai's post last exchanged fire with their Burmese counterparts on the next hilltop, less than 300 meters away, but the sergeant keeps his machine gun, made in house by the KIO, with him at all times. Both sides exchange nothing beyond cold stares these days, but in this corner of eastern Kachin State relations are not exactly stable.

A few miles away is the village of Nam Lim Pa, which until last November was home to a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Burma Army took Nam Lim Pa just minutes after an aid convoy from a humanitarian group affiliated with the Burmese Catholic church entered the KIO-controlled village via government territory, according to local aid workers.

The unexpected attack which forced nearly all of the inhabitants to flee wasn't the first time during this conflict that the army stood accused of taking advantage of a humanitarian relief convoy to make territorial gains. An internal UN memo obtained by The Myanmar Times newspaper early last year described how UN staff participating in an aid convoy in the jade-rich Hpakant region witnessed "trucks with government soldiers taking advantage of the passage of the aid convoy to take new positions."

Speaking to a group of Christian Kachin pastors in Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital, in March, President Thein Sein recited a biblical passage. "Peace I bequeath to you; My peace I give to you. Do not allow you hearts to be distrusted or intimidated," state media quoted the president as saying, in a gesture of goodwill that would have been unthinkable coming from his predecessor Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Despite lofty rhetoric about the benefits of "unity in diversity," few Kachin appear to be convinced that Thein Sein or the military are genuinely interested in peace.

In early February, a little more than a month before Thein Sein's Myitkyina visit, the army attacked and quickly took over two outposts close to the KIO's defacto capital, Laiza. This attack combined with regular skirmishes between the two sides in northern Shan State have served to reinforce the widespread feeling among many Kachin that a return to full-scale fighting, last seen in January 2013, could break out at any time.

Peace talks between the KIO and their counterparts from the central government have continued on a regular basis over the past two years but a breakthrough has yet to materialize. Sumlut Gam, a senior member of the KIO's negotiation team and the group's education minister, told The Irrawaddy during a recent interview at his office in Laiza what his side wants. "We the negotiating team are asking for a federal state with self-determination and equal rights for the Kachin and the Burmese," he said.

"We've had 16 meetings with the government but they don't want to agree to our proposals for federalism or self-determination. This is why they [the talks] have carried on for a long time."

One of biggest sticking points, he says, is the KIO's proposals for the sharing of Kachin State's extensive natural resources, which the government side has so far declined to discuss.

Sumlut Gam's colleague Gun Maw, who in addition to being deputy chief serves as the KIO's foreign minister, is often the most prominent KIO official at the talks. He faults the government's insistence on having an end to the fighting without allowing for meaningful change to the ethnic state of affairs as the reason there hasn't been an agreement.

"The problem continues to exist because the Burmese government only wants to sign an agreement to cease the fighting," he told The Irrawaddy during a stopover in Thailand in February. "But, what we want is to sign an agreement that has definitive plans for what comes next after we stop the fighting.

"The reason for this is that, although we were in a 17-year ceasefire agreement before, no constructive dialogue nor discussion came out of it. So, this time, having learned from our past experience, we want agreement if we are going to sign a ceasefire one more time. One that promises a well-oriented and meaningful political work plan for the future."

Even if a far-reaching Kachin ceasefire is agreed to by both sides in the near future, the Kachin people's long-standing political, economic and social grievances that have fueled the conflict and galvanized Kachin public support for the KIO will hardly disappear overnight. "We hate the military because of what they've done to our people," says La Mai, the sergeant, echoing a sentiment shared by many of his fellow Kachin that is unlikely dissipate any time soon.

The post While Talks Continue, KIO Keeps War Footing appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

As Census Winds Down, 85% of Burmese Population Counted: Official

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 04:09 AM PDT

Burma, Myanmar, The Irrawaddy, census, ethnicity, religion

A census enumerator marks the answers provided by a respondent living Rangoon's Pabedan Township on Monday, March 31. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma's national census agency says that as of Sunday, 85 percent of the country's estimated population had participated in the census, which ends on Thursday. However, critics have questioned the accuracy of the data, particularly concerning religion.

"We will finish collecting census data by April 10, after visiting everywhere we could reach," Nyi Nyi, a government official and a member of the census agency, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "The census has covered the entire country except some places in KIO areas and in Arakan State, in Bengali villages, where they refused to take part."

In northern Burma, leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) declined to participate in the 12-day census, as armed conflict with the Burma Army continues. In western Burma's Arakan State, enumerators were instructed by the government not to record information for anyone who identified as Rohingya, a Muslim minority group. The government refers to the Rohingya as "Bengali" to suggest that they immigrated to Burma from Bangladesh.

According to the census law, anyone who refuses to participate in the census can be fined up to 50,000 kyats (US$50) or imprisoned for one month.

After formal data collection ends on Thursday, the census agency will conduct negotiations to attempt to return to parts of the country that were not counted and collect demographic data later. However, there is limited time before data will need to be analyzed and published, said Nyi Nyi, who is also director of the Population Department in the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

The initial data summed up by enumerators manually will be released in August, while computerized results will be released in February or March 2015, he said.

But some critics have questioned the accuracy of the data, particularly when it comes to the question about religion. In certain cases, enumerators refused to record that respondents identifying as Muslim belonged to ethnic groups officially recognized by the government, according to Thet Ko from Minority Affair, a civil society group that conducts research on Burma's ethnic minority groups.

"Among ethnic people, there are Muslims. Some identified as Mon, Karen and Bamar, but the enumerators did not write down this answer, as if there were no Muslim ethnic people. It seems that census training lacked an element of ethnic awareness," he told The Irrawaddy.

Data about ethnicity may be published later than the general population count because it must be analyzed manually, according to Khin Yi, the minister of immigration and population.

The categorization of ethnicity has been highly controversial among ethnic minority groups, with some criticizing the breakdown of 135 groups and subgroups as overly simplistic or inaccurate.

In the Mon State capital of Moulmein, however, it appears that data collection has thus far proceeded largely without problems, says Naw Sah Htoo, a member of the central executive committee of the Kayin People's Party. "I just answered Karen, 301, instead of a Karen subgroup, because everyone knows me as Karen," she said, referring to the code recorded by enumerators for her ethnicity.

Many Shan migrants working abroad returned to their native southern Shan State to be counted, according to Sai Aung Myint Khaing, a senior member of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party. "They feared they would lose their citizenship if they were not present during the data collection," he said.

He said an estimated hundreds if not thousands of migrants returned home for the census, with many staying to pay respects to their elders ahead of the major Buddhist holiday of Thingyan.

Requests by the Palaung State Liberation Front for the ethnic Palaung people to be classified as distinct from the Shan were rejected, added Sai Aung Myint Khaing, who said the Palaung were listed in the census as a subgroup of the Shan. "Later when political dialogue occurs, there might be discussions on ethnicity," he said.

Burma has an estimated population of 60 million people and last conducted a nationwide census over 30 years ago.

The post As Census Winds Down, 85% of Burmese Population Counted: Official appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Asean Highway Link Set for 2014 Completion: Karen State Official

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 03:30 AM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, The Irrawaddy, Myawaddy, Kawkareik, Asean Highway Network, Karen State, infrastructure, connectivity, Dawna Range

Trucks travel along the Myawaddy to Thingan Nyi Naung portion of the road linking the former to Kawkareik in Karen State. (Photo: Kyaw Hsu Mon / The Irrawaddy)

MYAWADDY, Karen State — Construction on a section of the Asean Highway Network from Kawkareik to Myawaddy in Burma is expected to be completed late this year, Karen State's chief minister told reporters last week in Myawaddy.

The quality of the old Kawkareik to Myawaddy road, a major trading route between Burma and Thailand, has deteriorated in recent years, and its narrow width has forced the imposition of a system of travel along the route that sees traffic flow in only one direction each day. Vehicles bound for Myawaddy from Karaweik are allowed to pass one day, and travelers heading in the opposite direction are given the next day to make the trip.

As the crow flies, Kawkareik lies just 32 kilometers southwest of Myawaddy, but overland travel between the two points involves a drive through the Dawna mountain range—a two-and-a-half-hour journey along a 56-km road that can be dangerous to traverse during the monsoon season, when landslides along the mountainous route pose a risk.

Karen State Chief Minister Zaw Min said completion of the new highway from Myawaddy to Kawkareik is expected in late 2014, with some parts the roads already finished by a Thai construction company and Burma's Ministry of Construction. The Asian Development Bank is funding the project.

The minister said the difficulties of hewing a new, wider passage through the Dawna range was slowing progress.

"After this road is finished, trade flow will be better than in the past," he added.

The current road through the Dawna Range is less than four meters in width, and cannot support two-way traffic involving larger vehicles. In accordance with a minimum Asean standard, the new road will be two lanes and 10 meters wide to facilitate trade along the route.

"Buses will not need to wait a day to pass over the Dawna mountains after the road is finished," Zaw Min said.

One section of the new highway, from Karen State's Myawaddy to Thingan Nyi Naung, spans 17 kms and has already been completed. Construction on the remaining 28-km road from Thingan Nyi Naung to Kawkareik is ongoing.

"The Thingan Nyi Naung to Kawkareik road is almost finished, and all construction is expected to be done in late 2014," Zaw Min said.

The new Myawaddy to Kawkareik road has been in the works since 2004, but construction was suspended in 2005 due to fighting in the area between the Karen Nation Union (KNU) and the government military. Construction resumed in 2006.

A taxi driver who frequently plies the Kawkareik to Myawaddy route told The Irrawaddy that commutes between the two points had already improved markedly.

"From Myawaddy to Thingan Nyinaung the route is very good for us to drive, just a 15-minute drive for 17 kilometers. … Some parts are already done, some are still under construction in mountain areas. It took only 50 minutes to Kawkareik [from Myawaddy]," he said.

Thin Thin Myat, chairwoman of the Myawaddy Border Traders Association, pointed out that traders from Myawaddy to Rangoon could lose up to a day waiting to cross the Dawna Range, adding that she expected trade between Myawaddy and Rangoon to pick up with the new road's completion.

Myawaddy, which sits opposite the Thai city of Mae Sot, is the largest of five official checkpoints for overland trade between Burma and Thailand. Through Mae Sot, trade from other Asian countries makes its way to Burma's commercial capital Rangoon and on to Upper Burma.

The Asean Highway Network aims to foster overland connectivity among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), as well as providing better links to neighboring China and India as the regional grouping works toward implementing an Asean Economic Community next year.

The post Asean Highway Link Set for 2014 Completion: Karen State Official appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

The Banyan Trees of Pindaya

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 11:36 PM PDT

Pindaya, Shan State, Buddhist, pilgrimage, caves, pagoda festival, banyan trees, Myanmar, Burma, The Irrawaddy

The banyan trees at Pindaya are known as some of the most beautiful in Shan State. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

Hailed as the most beautiful banyan trees in Shan State, the centuries-old trees at the Pindaya Caves complex in southern Shan State provide shade for visitors and a refuge from the hot sun.

The trees also create the perfect atmosphere for a famous mile-long pagoda festival that is held at the caves in March, complete with markets and performances by Burmese traditional dance troupes.

The caves are a famous Buddhist pilgrimage site not far from the lakeside town of Pindaya, with limestone ridges nearby. Tourists frequently visit to see thousands of Buddhist statues that have accumulated inside since the caves first became a place of worship in the 18th century.

There are a total of three caves on a ridge which runs north-south, but only the southernmost cave can be entered and explored.

The post The Banyan Trees of Pindaya appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Heritage Tour Offers Insights Into Rangoon’s Illustrious Past

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 08:07 PM PDT

Yangon, Myanmar, cultural heritage, architectural heritage, architecture, colonial buildings, urban planning, city planning, Burma, Yangon Heritage Trust, Thant Myint-U

Participants listen to their guide during the Yangon Heritage Fund tour at the former Police Commissioner’s Office on Rangoon's Bank Street. Until recently, the building was known as the Yangon Division Office Complex that housed township courts and legal offices. Click on the box below to see more images of old Rangoon buildings and their histories. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Standing at the balcony of Yangon Heritage Trust office on Pansodan Street, Laetitia Millois pointed to British colonial buildings on the opposite side and said this: "This street is special. It has a big concentration of big colonial-era buildings."

"From here you can have a good image of what Rangoon was in the beginning of 20th century— a very important cosmopolitan city."

But twenty Rangoon residents, all Burmese, who gathered at the Yangon Heritage Trust on Saturday morning for a free Burmese-language walking tour around downtown didn't seem to fully understand what the researcher from the heritage conservation group just said.

In their eyes, the buildings with Florence-styled red domes and pagoda-inspired white entrance towers, sitting at the corners of Bank Street and Pansodan Street, were nothing more than a dilapidated government's divisional court and economic bank that they have passed by every day for most of their lives.

"That building with the white tower was built in 1941, and it used to be a Standard Chartered Bank. At that time it was considered the most modern building in Southeast Asia," the researcher explained through a volunteered interpreter.

"Wow," some in the crowd uttered.

"The red-dome building was the Accountant-General's Office built in the 1900s and it used to be a financial center for Burma where the government collected taxes," she continued, saying that the building was partly ruined during the Japanese occupation in early 1940s and destruction is still visible at the back of the building.

"It's the only testimony today of the Japanese bombs. So you see: one building, many stories."

Organized by the Yangon Heritage Trust, the tour around the lower Pansodan area, where many colonial building are situated, is the first-ever walking tour for Rangoon residents to learn more about their city's impressive history, which rivals that of some of the world's greatest cities.

Thant Myint-U, chairman of the trust and a historian, told the Irrawaddy via an email that the tour is part of what the group hopes will be a sustained advocacy campaign over the coming months and years that will preserve the city's architectural heritage.

"We want people to understand the value of what we have in downtown Rangoon, and to appreciate how important it is to save and restore this heritage and integrate it into a vision of a modern, 21st-century Yangon," he said.

Since 2012, the trust has been advocating for heritage protection and helping the government develop proper urban land use management laws and policies to ensure that the rapid growth of the city's real estate sector does not come at the expense of its heritage.

Thanks to advocacy efforts by the Yangon Heritage Trust and several other organizations, a Rangoon municipal committee is now drafting a zoning law that will only allow construction of new buildings no taller than four to six stories in Rangoon's historic downtown area.

Until recently, Rangoon was considered 'a city frozen in time' after it spent nearly five decades in international isolation and economic stagnation as a result of brutal military rule and economic sanctions imposed by western countries against the regime.

But in its heydays in the 1920s, the historian noted, the city became one of the greatest immigrant ports in the world, in one year exceeding even New York in the number of people arriving, turning it into a cosmopolitan city.

Even today, the remains of this illustrious past still line both sides of lower Pansodan Street, including the old offices of Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank, Lloyds, Standard and Charted, Thomas Cook, Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, Bombay Burma Trading Company.

A lack of development under the military regime left entire streets of old buildings untouched in this former capital of the Southeast Asian country, creating one of the world's best preserved colonial cityscapes today.

But after more than one century, for many Rangoon residents today the historical significance of the buildings their city is famous has been beyond their knowledge.

Many buildings that were used as government offices were left largely empty as the military moved the seat of government to Naypyidaw in 2005; these remain in danger of having to be demolished to make way for looming real estate development after reforms introduced since 2011 have opened the door to economic growth and foreign investment.

Were it not for explanation from an expert, some Rangoon residents might have viewed the old, dilapidated structures as just an eyesore deserved to be torn down for modern development.

This is where the Yangon Heritage Trust comes in.

On Saturday, a group of twenty people aged from 10 to 50 descended on the lower Pansodan area for one-and-half hour long tour to learn more about their city's architectural heritage.

"This building used to be one of the most beautiful buildings in Rangoon," said May Thu Khine, the tour leader, standing in front of a visibly derelict red building with a foliage creeping façade, broken windows at Bank Street.

She explained that it was built in 1905 and was owned for many decades by the Armenian Balthazar family and once housed the offices of several companies, including Siemens. It is now partially owned by the Ministry of Rural Development, Livestock and Fisheries.

"There are people living in the building, too. So it's important that while preserving the building, we need to find a way not kick out those people but have them benefit from preservation," she said, before heading to other landmarks such as the Renaissance Queen Anne-styled High Court building, the Central Telegraph Office, the old office of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company and the Sofaer building (currently known as 'Lokanat building' named after an art gallery on the first floor), the latter once housed the Vienna Café and German photographic studios.

Thant Myint-U said, as his organization will offer a monthly tour and would ideally like to expand the tour, both in area to places like the Secretariat but also in terms of what they can offer, and give people a chance to see inside many of these buildings as well.

"I would like the focus not only to be on the grand colonial-era buildings but also the smaller apartment buildings where many famous Burmese people once lived," he added.

After the tour on Saturday, Nilar said she hadn't known that much about the city she was born and has lived in for 50 years.

"Before the tour, I didn't know how much internationally connected my native city was and that these colonial buildings have a colorful past," said Nilar, a private company employee.

"Now I felt more sense of belonging to the city and I would like to urge anyone involved to preserve the heritage we have, as most of these buildings are in urgent need of restoration."

The post Heritage Tour Offers Insights Into Rangoon's Illustrious Past appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

UN Envoy Urges Burma to Allow Aid Access to Rohingyas

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 11:18 PM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, Arakan, Rakhine, Rohingya, muslim, United Nations, Quintana, MSF, aid, NGO, medical assistance,

A family sits in front of their temporary shelter at a Rohingya refugee camp in Sittwe, Arakan State, on April 2, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — A UN envoy on Monday urged Burma to allow the return of aid groups forced to flee attacks in Arakan State, warning their departure threatened "severe consequences" for Muslims sheltering in camps from violence by majority Buddhists.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, said water shortages could reach critical levels within a week in some displacement camps, where 140,000 people live as a result of communal conflict since 2012.

Some 700,000 people outside the camps are also vulnerable, the UN said in a statement.

"These workers were in Rakhine [Arakan] State providing essential life-saving support, including health services, water and food to internally displaced persons, isolated villages, and other affected communities," Quintana said.

Recent developments in Arakan State were the latest in a long history of discrimination against the Muslim Rohingya community, which he said "could amount to crimes against humanity."

Trouble broke out on March 27 after rumors spread that a female international aid worker had desecrated a Buddhist flag. Some 400 rioters massed outside Malteser International's office and began throwing stones before attacking other buildings occupied by aid groups and the UN.

Aid groups have long drawn the ire of some Arakanese Buddhists who accuse them of favoring the Rohingya, a group that makes up the vast majority of victims of the sectarian violence.

Humanitarian groups reject accusations of bias towards Muslims and many workers say they have been threatened and intimidated.

The Arakan State government said last week that international aid organizations would be allowed to resume their work "later this month," but did not specify a date.

Aid workers say resuming the humanitarian effort will be difficult because local people, including subcontractors who transported food, have been warned not to work with international agencies.

"Every day that goes by there is an increased chance of people dying because they don't have access to medical services," said Pierre Peron, spokesman for United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The clock is ticking," he said.

Britain on Monday summoned Burma's ambassador in London to call on the country to allow aid agencies to resume their work in Arakan.

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UN Rights Expert Urges Debt Relief for Philippines

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 11:11 PM PDT

Philippines, Filipino, debt, ODA, assistance, aid, united nations, Haiyan, yolande

Survivors stand among debris and ruins of houses destroyed after Super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city in central Philippines Nov. 10, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

MANILA — A United Nations human rights expert on Tuesday urged international creditors to cancel the Philippines' debt and give it unconditional grant aid instead of new loans to fund massive post-typhoon reconstruction.

The Southeast Asian country, hit hard five months ago by Typhoon Haiyan—one of the strongest storms to make landfall anywhere—estimated the total cost of a four-year reconstruction effort could surpass the current estimate of 361 billion pesos (US$8 billion).

The Philippines' outstanding external debt was $58.5 billion at the end of 2013, according to the central bank.

"I welcome the international support provided to the Philippines in the aftermath of the cyclone, but am concerned that more than $22 million leaves the country everyday, paying off overseas debts," Cephas Lumina said.

Lumina is an independent expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor the effects of foreign debt on the enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

Haiyan, which swept ashore in the central Philippines on Nov. 8, displaced around 4 million people from their homes, and destroyed 500,000 houses, the United Nations estimates. Damages to infrastructure, hospitals, schools and public services were estimated at $12 billion.

"While around $3 billion has left the country to serve its debt since the typhoon struck, the country has received so far only $417 million for its strategic response plan by international and private donors, about half of the total relief requested," Lumina said in a statement.

The Philippines, excluded as a lower middle-income country from international debt relief initiatives, is expected to pay $8.8 billion to service debt this year alone, the United Nations said.

"By definition, loans for reconstruction cannot generate returns to enable the debt to be paid," Lumina said. "International lenders should rather consider cancelling debt, to ensure that the country can recover."

About a fifth of the Philippines' external debt as of end-2013 was owed to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, according to the United Nations.

The country's top bilateral lenders are Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the agency said.

Odious Debts

There was no immediate comment from Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima on the United Nations statement.

Manila has set aside funding of 54 billion pesos for the rebuilding effort. At least 80 billion pesos more would come from concessional loans offered by the World Bank, the ADB and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Once one of the world's most prolific global bond issuers, the Philippines has been relying less on foreign borrowing to plug its budget gap, and has been pursuing more debt buybacks and swaps and innovative deals such as local-denominated global bonds, prompting debt ratings agencies last year to lift the country to investment-grade status.

Lumina, however, said "the disaster should rather serve as an opportunity for lenders to acknowledge that odious debts emanating from the rule under Ferdinand Marcos should be cancelled."

Marcos, the late dictator who ruled the heavily indebted and impoverished Philippines for two decades, was toppled in an army-backed popular uprising in 1986.

The post UN Rights Expert Urges Debt Relief for Philippines appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Gloves Off As India’s BJP Woos the Hindu Vote in Northern Heartland

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 11:05 PM PDT

India, elections, democracy, Hindu, Muslim, religious tension, religious conflict, nationalism

People line up to cast their votes outside a polling station in Majuli, a large river island in the Brahmaputra River, in Jorhat district, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam April 7, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

MUZAFFARNAGAR, India — India’s main opposition party, tipped to form the next government, appears to be returning to its Hindu nationalist roots at the start of a five-week general election, raking up divisive issues and using strong language in an area hit by religious riots.

Criss-crossing the country for months before the first phase of voting began on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its candidate for prime minister, Narendra Modi, had mainly campaigned on a ticket of better governance, economic development and job creation.

But just hours after voting started, the election commission demanded an explanation from Modi’s chief aide Amit Shah, accusing him of incendiary speeches in towns where dozens of people, mostly Muslims, were killed in Hindu-Muslim riots last year.

"It is not anyone’s hobby to riot. When justice is not done to all the parties and the action is one-sided action, then the public is forced to come out in the streets," Shah said in the town of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh state last week, according to a transcript provided by the commission.

In a series of speeches in the area, Shah also said voters should reject parties that put up Muslim candidates. He said Muslims in the area had raped, killed and humiliated Hindus.

Shah did not respond to requests for comment, but the BJP has said he was within his rights to ask people to express their anger through the ballot box.

India’s 1.2 billion people include 150 million Muslims, who form a sizeable minority in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state and a key electoral battleground.

The riots in Muzaffarnagar last year started with a minor scuffle, which were exacerbated by inflammatory speeches by several local politicians, news reports have said.

Although sectarian rioting is on the decline in India, it is still hit by spasms of Hindu-Muslim violence. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed when colonial India was divided in 1947 into Hindu-majority India and Pakistan, an Islamic state.

Elections in India are also times of heightened tensions because political parties often pitch for votes on the basis of religious identity.

On Monday, the BJP released its election manifesto, promising to build a temple on the site of a mosque torn down by Hindu zealots more than two decades ago, reopening one of the most divisive issues in the country. The party also said it remained committed to withdrawing the special autonomous status for Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.

Darker Side

Opinion polls have said Modi is favorite to form the next government after results are announced on May 16, thanks to a strong campaign highlighting his economic competence in running the western state of Gujarat for 13 years.

But critics say he has a darker side and accuse him of failing to stop the killing of Muslims in riots in Gujarat in 2002. Modi has denied the accusations and the Supreme Court has said there is not enough evidence to prosecute him.

A survey released by respected pollsters CSDS last week showed the BJP and its allies winning the largest number of seats but falling short of a majority. The decision to play on religious sentiments may be a last-minute attempt to woo some blocs of Hindu voters, analysts said.

The BJP maintains it is campaigning on economic issues and a vow to end what it says is deep-rooted corruption in the government headed by the ruling Congress party.

Shah is a controversial figure, who was charged in 2010 with the extra-judicial killing of Muslims accused of terrorism when he was the interior minister in Gujarat. He denies the charges and is free on bail.

The BJP has said the charges are trumped up at the behest of the Congress party and he is expected to hold a senior government position if Modi becomes prime minister.

In the sugarcane fields and streets around Muzaffarnagar, the scene of the riots last year, Hindu students, laborers and workers said they would vote for Modi.

"We are treated like second-grade citizens in our own homeland because most political parties and their leaders are running after the Muslim vote. That is why I wish to support Modi this time, we have a lot of hope for him," said Virender Malik, a laborer in a sugarcane field.

About 50,000 people, mainly Muslims, were driven from their homes in the rioting in Muzaffarnagar.

Some are still living in squalid relief camps, where support is strong for the state government run by the Samajwadi Party, which is backed by Muslims because of its staunch opposition to the BJP.

"We are all for the Samajwadi Party which is our only hope against the BJP because of whom we got driven like mules away from our homes," said Naseemuddin, a 55-year old Muslim farm laborer.

Manifesto Supports New Temple

The BJP, until then on the periphery of national politics, burst into prominence in the late 1980s as it helped mobilize a movement leading to the destruction of a 16th-century mosque in the Uttar Pradesh town of Ayodhya that Hindus claimed was built on the birthplace of the god-king Ram. About 2,000 people were killed in riots across India in 1992 after the disputed mosque was torn down by Hindu mobs.

Many of the party’s core supporters want to build a temple at the site, a move supported in the manifesto unveiled on Monday.

"Once we have a Modi government in place, I am sure the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya will become a reality. We have been waiting long enough for that," said Sharad Sharma, an activist with a right-wing nationalist group in Ayodhya.

Also in the manifesto were promises to protect and promote cows, which many Hindus consider sacred. The issue is close to the heart of supporters of Hindutva, a brand of Hindu nationalism.

The decision to put provisions such as the construction of the Ram temple in the manifesto was taken mainly to satisfy hardliners in the party, one person involved in drafting the document told Reuters.

"You have to put it in there, so you do," he said.

E. Sridharan, a political scientist at the Pennsylvania Center for Advanced Study of India, said the polarized atmosphere and such pledges could help shore up support in Uttar Pradesh, which elects 80 of the 543 lawmakers sent to the lower house of parliament.

The BJP has said it aims to win up to 50 seats in the state, from just 10 at the last election in 2009.

"I think maybe on the ground in some states, Uttar Pradesh in particular, they need to add a flavor of this to their campaign to mobilize Hindutva votes," said Sridharan.

The post Gloves Off As India’s BJP Woos the Hindu Vote in Northern Heartland appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Indonesia’s Presidential Favorite Lacks Only One Thing—A Policy Platform

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 10:59 PM PDT

Jakarta governor and presidential candidate Joko Widodo interacts with supporters during a party campaign at Cengkareng football field in Jakarta on March 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Beawiharta)

JAKARTA — In a sign Indonesians are coming to assume that the hugely popular Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo will be their next president, even the outgoing leader is pressing him to be more explicit about his policies before he is in office.

It illustrates how, despite running the sprawling and messy Indonesian capital for 1-1/2 years, no one is sure what the presidency under a man widely known as Jokowi will look like.

Voters in the world's third largest democracy go to the polls on Wednesday to choose a new parliament. Those results will then determine who can run in the July 9 presidential election.

In interviews over the past month with officials and politicians who have worked with Jokowi, several of them closely, what emerges is a leader of considerable political skill who has distinguished himself as someone with a clean reputation in a country of often breathtaking corruption.

The former furniture business owner has also shown a common touch, often visiting Jakarta's streets to see its vast challenges close up.

But his policies for running Southeast Asia's biggest economy are largely a blank sheet.

"Jokowi should present his thoughts, solutions or policies that he will implement to solve the complex problems that the country is now facing," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in an interview posted on YouTube on Sunday. Yudhoyono has himself faced growing criticism for indecisive leadership as he enters the final year of his 10 years in office.

Jokowi, at 52, is seen as part of a new generation of leaders who offer a break from the old guard that has dominated Indonesian politics even as it shifted to democracy 16 years ago with the downfall of former dictator Suharto.

The country has been bedeviled by rampant corruption and failure to lift economic growth to its potential.

Jokowi, whose nickname is a contraction of his two names, is the presidential candidate of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), which surveys suggest will dominate Wednesday's parliamentary election.

He has declined to give media interviews since being nominated for the presidency last month nor addressed policy issues directly.

PDI-P officials, in interviews with Reuters, say their party platform is "strongly nationalist" but offer few details about what that means for policy in the world's most populous Muslim country, where the welcome for foreign investment may already be cooling.

Both Jokowi and PDI-P say they have deferred policy-related questions until after this week's parliamentary election.

Party officials say that party chief and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who single-handedly decided Jokowi's candidacy, will play a significant advisory role.

"Our agenda is also the agenda of Jokowi if he becomes president," said Budiman Sudjatmiko, a senior party MP. "[Megawati] will not be driving him but … she will be like a guiding hand."

Megawati, daughter of the country's founding father Sukarno, took over as president after her predecessor was ousted by parliament in 2001. Her short term was characterized by indecisiveness, a rise in corruption and a failure to crack down on militancy after the Bali bombings of 2002 that killed more than 200 people and were blamed on Islamic extremists.

Investors looking at Jokowi's track record in Jakarta will find a mix of policy hints.

Late last year, he criticized a planned multi-billion dollar initiative to introduce cheap, more fuel efficient cars for Jakarta's growing middle class, saying the capital's roads were congested enough. He also blocked permits for more shopping malls, also saying there were too many. But in a move applauded by business leaders, he limited wage hikes to far below the level demanded by labor unions.

"Jokowi's a blank page right now: inexperienced at national politics and with populist tendencies," said one executive at a foreign business lobby group who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

But attempted smear campaigns have failed to dent his carefully crafted image. Jokowi has a team of public relations advisors, including one specifically for dealing with foreign media.

One recent attempt to damage him was over suggestions that corruption was involved in the import from China of faulty public buses. Jokowi came out of it untarnished, sacking the official managing the imports and supporting a graft probe.

His lead over rivals such as former general Prabowo Subianto and tycoon Aburizal Bakrie widened after his candidacy was announced.

"We work almost 24 hours a day. Jokowi goes around the city until midnight," Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama, who belongs to Prabowo's party, Gerindra, told Reuters. "Our attitude is, 'let the headache be ours, not yours.'"

When Islamic hardliners in a Jakarta district protested the appointment to public office of a Christian woman, Jokowi backed Susan Zulkifli to continue in her position.

Where middlemen and petty bribes tend to hijack government services, Zulkifli now runs a model district office where her staff work in an open space, prices for services are prominently displayed for the public, and middlemen are nowhere to be seen.

To ease chronic traffic jams, the city last year broke ground on a mass rapid transit (MRT) project that was first proposed more than 20 years ago. Authorities also cleared the gridlock in a notoriously congested area, Tanah Abang, by facing down criminal gangs that ran the place and forcing vendors off the streets and into government-provided kiosks.

But the road to the presidential palace won't be smooth.

Jokowi's meteoric rise from mayor of a small central Javanese city called Solo to governor of Jakarta, home to 10 million people, has left many questioning his credentials to run the Indonesian archipelago of 240 million.

His almost seven-year leadership of Solo, marked by his populist approach and willingness to stand up to powerful regional officials, won him national attention.

In 2012 he came third in a global competition for the world's best mayor, cited for transforming a crime-ridden city into a regional center for art and culture.

Rival party Gerindra, which has put out a detailed policy platform addressing agriculture and infrastructure problems, is quick to point out Jokowi's weakness.

"What is Jokowi going to do for Indonesia, do we know?" said one senior Gerindra official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the subject.

Only parties that secure at least 25 percent of the national vote or 20 percent of seats in parliament can field candidates for the presidential election three months later.

When asked by reporters recently about the mounting pressure and smear campaigns, Jokowi, typically soft-spoken, replied: "I'm not bothered."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Thatcher and Anastasia Arvirianty.

The post Indonesia's Presidential Favorite Lacks Only One Thing—A Policy Platform appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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