| To Stay Competitive, Burma’s State Telecoms Firm Looks to Japan Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:49 AM PDT  Takashi Nagashima, managing director of KDDI Summit Global Myanmar (KSGM), and Khin Maung Tun, general manager of MPT at a signing ceremony in Naypyidaw on Wednesday. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) Burma's state-backed telecoms operator is partnering with two Japanese companies in a bid to stay afloat in a market that will soon see new competition. Japan's KDDI Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation signed a deal on Wednesday to invest US$2 billion over the next decade to expand the services of Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT). The deal comes as Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo prepare to launch their own operations in Burma, after winning hotly contested licenses last year. MPT is currently the sole telecoms provider in the country, after monopolizing the market during decades of military rule. But as the telecoms sector opens, MPT is facing complaints over its poor mobile phone services and slow Internet connections. It will also face pressure in a few months to make SIM cards more readily available, as Telenor and Ooredoo plan to do. KDDI is one of the largest telecom companies in Japan. Trading house Sumitomo has interests in railway infrastructure, telecoms, broadcasting and power generation, and is assisting with the development of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Rangoon. "We will operate jointly to provide better services, including better Internet connections. And I have full confidence that we can compete with international firms," MPT general manager Khin Maung Tun told reporters in Naypyidaw. Through the partnership, MPT aims to provide Japanese quality services and fixed line communication services through the upgrade of telecoms infrastructure. It also plans to focus on customer services at call centers and shops to improve customer satisfaction. "We will support MPT to compete with the new telecoms operators and become a winning organization," said Takashi Nagashima, managing director of KDDI Summit Global Myanmar (KSGM), which was established by KDDI and Sumitomo as a joint venture to implement the joint operation with MPT. He said that in addition to fixing the existing network and launching customer-oriented services, the joint operations would make it easier to buy SIM cards, especially in rural areas. Since last year, MPT has sold SIM cards for 1,500 kyats each (US$1.50) through monthly public lotteries. The supply of SIM cards is limited, however. Anyone who has not won at the lotteries must buy more expensive SIM cards on the black market, often at a price of about 70,000 kyats. President Thein Sein aims to achieve an 80 percent mobile penetration rate by 2015, an ambitious goal in one of the world's least-connected countries. "MPT will be reborn to provide the best services to all the people in Myanmar [Burma]," said Khin Maung Tun of MPT. "We will implement all services quickly and make sure to sell SIM cards that people can buy everywhere and anytime they want." The post To Stay Competitive, Burma's State Telecoms Firm Looks to Japan appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| North Korea Invites Burmese Journalists to Visit Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:42 AM PDT  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) RANGOON — North Korean officials have extended an informal invitation for Burmese journalists to travel to their country and learn about the situation there, journalists say. Officials from the North Korean Embassy in Rangoon extended the invitation on Wednesday while visiting Burma's Interim Press Council. "They would like the council members to travel to their country if we are interested in meeting newspaper organizations there," council member Myint Kyaw told The Irrawaddy. "Their visit was just introductory, to learn more about us. They didn't make an official invitation," he added. Another council member, Myo Thant Tin, said the North Korean officials wanted the Burmese media to learn more about the current situation in North Korea. "They want the Burmese media to publish what the Burmese audience should know, because most of the information about their country is based on second-hand sources. They want us to contact them directly—that's why they came to see us," he told The Irrawaddy. The offer comes amid increasing government pressure on journalists in Burma. Last week, journalists at a Rangoon-based journal were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor after publishing a story about a defense factory, while dozens of other journalists in the city are facing charges for holding a protest. But the situation for journalists under North Korea's repressive regime is even worse, as Kim Jong-un's government tightly controls all information going into and out of the country. North Korea ranked second to last on the World Press Freedom Index 2014, which compared the press freedom situation in 179 countries and was compiled by France-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Burma ranked 145. The visit to the Press Council on Wednesday lasted for nearly one hour. North Korean Ambassador to Burma Kim Sok Chol and the embassy's third secretary reportedly asked about the council's duties and discussed North Korea's relations with South Korea. It was the first time the embassy had met with Burmese journalists since the two countries officially resumed diplomatic ties in 2007. Burma severed relations with North Korea after a 1983 bombing in Rangoon by North Korean secret agents that left 21 people dead, including four South Korean cabinet ministers. The North Korean Embassy in Rangoon could not be reached for comment. The post North Korea Invites Burmese Journalists to Visit appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| New HIV Infections Have Fallen in Burma: UN Report Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:38 AM PDT  A woman with HIV receives treatment at a HIV/AIDS hospice in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters) The number of people contracting HIV in Burma decreased between 2000 and 2013, according to a new UN report, which also said there are still 189,000 people in the country living with the virus. The Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) "Gap report"—which was published Wednesday to highlight the global inequity of gains made in fighting the disease—noted a worldwide drop in new HIV infections of 38 percent between 2001 and last year. Despite that progress, 2.1 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2013 in all countries, it said. In Burma, the report said, "New infections declined in this reporting period, but over 7,000 new infections are estimated to have occurred in 2013, confirming the continuing need for effective prevention efforts." The UN report—which used figures collected by Burma's National AIDS Program, part of the Ministry of Health—did not give figures for the number of new infections in any other years. Burma is one of six countries—also including India, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam—that together account for more than 90 percent of the people living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific. Some 189,000 people in Burma are living with the virus, and an estimated 15,000 people died of AIDS-related illness in 2013, according to the report. According to a government survey of HIV-infected people in Rangoon and Mandalay alone—cited in the UN report—52 percent of them were men who have sex with men, 25 percent were intravenous drug users and 23 percent were female sex workers. However, Burmese health experts said the real number of people with HIV/AIDS in the country could be higher than the figures suggest. "The number of HIV-infected persons or new infections could be more than the UN figures due to the fact that many are still reluctant to seek official treatment," said Dr. Tin Myo Win, who runs the Karuna La Yeik shelter for people living with HIV in Rangoon. His organization, which gets no government funding, provides shelter to about 200 people receiving the anti-retroviral treatment (ART). "Since 2006, we have only been able to provide ART medication for about 200 people—women, men and children—with support from nongovernmental organizations," said Dr. Tin Myo Win. "We cannot tell how many remain outside of the survey list in the whole nation because, for instance, those who can pay for ART don't seek support." The figures also do not include children with HIV, who most often are passed the virus from their mother. Many Burmese people living near or across the country's borders are also likely left out of the statistics. The post New HIV Infections Have Fallen in Burma: UN Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Sagaing Court Imprisons 18 Farmers for Actions in Land Dispute Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:13 AM PDT  Farmers from Rangoon Division's Swepyitha Township play instruments during a protest in January 2013 to demand compensation for loss of their land. (Photo: Aye Kyawt Khaing / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — A Sagaing Division court sentenced 18 farmers to prison terms varying from three months to three years on Thursday on charges of trespassing and causing damage, after the farmers had plowed land that is being claimed by a sugar cane company, local villagers said. About 300 farmers from eight villages are facing similar charges and could be sent to prison soon, they added. Kantbalu Township Court sentenced the farmers from Nghat Pyaw Tine village, including one woman, on a range of charges. Most were sentenced on charges of trespassing and committing mischief that causes losses or damage for their role in a communal protest in May during which some 400 farmers began plowing land they said had been illegally seized from them in the 1990s. "The court today sentenced 18 of our friends. The prison sentence is three
months for each charge, so the minimum sentence is three months' imprisonment and the maximum is three years," said Kyaw Ngwe, a farmer of Ngat Pyaw Tine village who is also facing charges. One farmer received a three-year prison sentence, while three others received sentences ranging from 21 months to one year in prison. Fourteen farmers were sentenced to three to six month sentences, local villagers said. Kyaw Ngwe said authorities banned the public from attending the verdict. "We only knew the sentences when all the accused came out from the court room. The court said that they will sentence more farmers from Kha Ohn Tha village tomorrow," he added. Local villagers said that some 100 farmers were present during the trial on Thursday to face charges related to the May protest. The 18 convicted farmers were reportedly brought Shwe Bo Township Prison. Family members of the defendants said they will apply for an appeal at a higher court in Naypyidaw. On Monday, the court had already sentenced two farmers from Pay Gyi Village and Htaut Shar to two year's imprisonment on charges related to the May protest. Another man was sentenced to one year in prison on accusations that he burned down part of the sugar cane plantation. Following the protest in May, local businessmen growing the sugar cane filed a lawsuit against the protesting farmers and authorities began investigating charges against all those who were involved in the protest. Official have indicated that they plan to bring all farmers to trial. Farmers in Kantbalu Township claim that about 3,500 acres belonging to eight impoverished villages was confiscated by a local army unit in 1997, which later leased out the land to businessmen who have been using it to grow sugar cane. In recent years, the farmers have filed complaints over the alleged land grab and had some success after the Ministry of Defense announced in March 2013 that it would hand back most of the land. The company has reportedly refused to vacate the sugar plantation, leading to tensions with local villagers. "During that time, we reached an agreement that they [the company] will give up the land once they've completed the harvest. Now everything has been harvested but they broke the agreement, that's why we plow on our lands in protest," said Tin Tun, a farmer from Kha Ohn Tha village. Ma Khaing, another farmer, said authorities and the court appeared to be colluding with the company in order to suppress the villagers' demand to gain back their land. "How can we trust the government since they neglect us and treat us unfairly? We have no one we can trust. We are disappointed with the judicial system and will never forgive how the authorities have treated us", she said. Under the former military regime, hundreds of hectares of land were seized from communities all over Burma and any dissent against the land grabs was brutally crushed. After President Thein Sein's government introduced sweeping political reforms, thousands of farmers across Burma have come forward to reclaim their seized land. Meanwhile, agro-industry businesses are rapidly expanding in the country, leading to new cases of land-grabbing. The post Sagaing Court Imprisons 18 Farmers for Actions in Land Dispute appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Britain Sets Up Chamber of Commerce in Burma Posted: 17 Jul 2014 04:00 AM PDT  British Chamber of Commerce Myanmar President Anthony Picon—who is the managing director of real estate firm Colliers International's Burma office—speaks at the chamber's launch in Rangoon on Wednesday. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The first ever British Chamber of Commerce has been registered to work in Burma, in a move the UK hopes will assist companies from the former colonial power looking to set up operations here. The body, which will work with the local Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce (UMFCCI), was launched in Rangoon on Wednesday, making Britain the first European nation to open a chamber of commerce after the European Union lifted economic sanctions against Burma in 2013. The British Embassy in Rangoon said in a statement that the UK government was funding the establishment of the chamber to "support responsible, sustainable and transparent investment in Burma." "We aim to ensure that the chamber is a dynamic, inclusive business group that reflects the membership's needs and adds value for companies operating in Myanmar," British Chamber of Commerce Myanmar President Anthony Picon—who is the managing director of real estate firm Colliers International's Burma office—said at the launch. "We are encouraging Myanmar companies to get involved in the chamber to make connections with international businesses and to help keep them informed of business trends worldwide." The body is getting major support from four British companies dubbed its "founding patrons"—oil and gas firm BG Group, conglomerate Jardine Matheson, insurer Prudential and Standard Chartered Bank. It is also sponsored by power generation company Aggreko, British American Tobacco, oil giant Shell and law firms Herbert Smith Freehills and Stephenson Harwood, according to the embassy. "The chamber will support both the existing business community in Burma but also help new market entrants identify the opportunities in Burma and navigate the challenges of establishing a business here," the embassy's statement said. The chamber's executive director, Stephanie Ashmore, said that the body had been registered with Burma's Directorate of Investment and Companies Administration since last month. There are 86 founding members, including UK-based companies, about 10 local firms and businesses from third countries, she said. "If [more] companies want to join with us, we'll check the company's reputation to be part of the membership," she said. Between 30 and 40 British companies have set up offices in Burma in the past 18 months, according to Lisa Weedon, head of UK Trade and Investment in Burma. According to the embassy's figures, Burma imported goods from the UK worth US$75 million in 2013, up from just $22 million in 2012. Exports to the UK increased from $75 million in 2012 to $111 million in 2013. UMFCCI Vice-Chairman Maung Maung Lay said he expected that the relatively small level of trade between Britain and Burma would "gradually increase." "This is becoming reality, they are not working in an imaginary world," he said. "They just don't know yet where the main business opportunities are in Burma. We only just understand each other now." The post Britain Sets Up Chamber of Commerce in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Court Sentences 2 Activists to Prison Terms for Anti-Govt Pamphlets Posted: 17 Jul 2014 03:36 AM PDT  A prisoner grips the bars on the window of a prison van as he leaves a court in Rangoon in 2012. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A Rangoon court sentenced two rights activists to six months' imprisonment on Wednesday because they distributed pamphlets that accused President Thein Sein's government of abuse of power, a local activist said. Rangoon authorities detained Tin Maung Kyi and Zaw Win, of the Myanmar Democracy Continuous Force, in May after they distributed pamphlets in Bahan, Thamwe, Mingala Taungnyut and Kyauktada townships. Fellow activist Sein Htwe, 49, said the pamphlets warned the public not to trust Thein Sein's nominally civilian government and its reform agenda, and they claimed that power still rests with the former and active members of the military and well-connected businessmen. The two men were arrested by Kyauktada authorities on May 9, shortly after they began distributing the pamphlets, according to Sein Htwe. "They were charged under Article 505 (b), as they wrote on pamphlets telling the people not accept this power-abusing government," she said. Article 505 (b) of the Penal Code is a broadly defined charge punishing those who spread or make statements that can "alarm the public" or "whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state." The charge was widely used to crush dissent under the former military regime and carries a maximum punishment of two years' imprisonment. Tin Maung Kyi and Zaw Win were charged and convicted in several townships where they spread their pamphlets, but will serve only one six months sentence. Sein Htwe said the two had been defending the public's interest and should have not been locked up. "They did nothing wrong. It's true that the people suffer under this government. [Authorities] grabbed land by using their laws [against the public] while they are above the law. The worst thing is that people become homeless after the government takes these actions," she said. The Myanmar Democracy Continuous Force is a small but active rights group that has been protesting against the previous military government and what it sees as injustices under the current government. In recent years, the group has focused on the increasing number of land-grabbing cases in Burma involving well-connected businessmen. The group's director Htin Kyaw has spent several stints in prison for political reasons and he is currently serving a one-year sentence, handed to him in early May, after he led an unauthorized protest, which is punishable under the Peaceful Assembly Law. Rober San Aung, a senior lawyer who provides free counsel for rights activists facing court charges, said of Wednesday's case, "It is sad to see authorities keep sentencing right activists who work for the community. These victims did not violate any law; they just help the people." The sentences handed down on Wednesday add to list of dozens of prisoners who are detained for political offenses under the current government. Thousands of political prisoners were released after Thein Sein's reformist government took office in 2011 and he has publicly pledged to release all such prisoners by the end of 2013. According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), however, there were still 65 political prisoners by the end of June, with 102 activists awaiting trial for political actions. Rights activists have warned that people are still being locked for political reasons. Early this month, three editors of the Rangoon-based Bi Mon Te Nay newspaper were detained and investigated for defamation after the published a front page story based on a statement of the Myanmar Democracy Continuous Force. Last week, a Magwe Division Court sentenced four journalists and their CEO to 10 years' imprisonment. Amnesty International has said it consider the five men to be political prisoners. The post Court Sentences 2 Activists to Prison Terms for Anti-Govt Pamphlets appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s Oil Production Tipped to Decline; Fuel Imports to Increase Posted: 17 Jul 2014 02:50 AM PDT  Staff stand near oil pumps at a MAX oil station in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters) Burma will become increasingly dependent on imported crude oil and refined fuels over the next ten years because of a lack of planning and investment, an industry report has forecast. A rise in crude oil imports is highly likely in spite of an expected upsurge in onshore and offshore exploration in coming years, while underinvestment in refining capacity will necessitate more imports of petrol and diesel, said Business Monitor International (BMI) in a study of Burma's energy resources. BMI is an international business risks analysis company based in London. "We see production steadily declining for the next 10 years as no major plan to boost condensate [a form of light oil] output from offshore gas fields has been announced or even discussed," said BMI. "The onshore licensing round awards are expected to provide strength to the weak oil production outlook. Currently our forecast sees this [oil] sector in decline through to 2020 and beyond. We believe that [Burma] will become increasingly dependent on oil imports in the coming decade, despite renewed exploration and enhanced resource recovery onshore." Burma produced around 20,000 barrels of oil per day in 2013, according to various estimates, but BMI is forecasting that this could slide to under 17,000 barrels per day by 2023. This takes into account a drop in oil and condensate volumes from the major Yetagun offshore gas field while small onshore producers maintain steady output. BMI said it bases its predictions on published data on Burma's oil and gas reserves and expected production over the next few years. Figures from the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and the US Energy Information Administration suggest that Burma's "proven" reserves of hydrocarbons total 540 billion cubic meters of gas and around 50 million barrels of oil, it said. "Given both the high level of interest from major international oil companies and the prospectivity of [Burma's exploration] acreage, we recognise that our reserves forecasts are heavily conservative. However, in light of the early stage of exploration we choose to maintain our conservative outlook," the BMI assessment said. Twenty new offshore blocks were awarded in March to 15 foreign firms, from major international players Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell to smaller independents such as Woodside Energy of Australia.
However, there is no time frame yet on when exploratory work will begin in the blocks, some of which are in deep water. The shallow water blocks require a domestic partner to operate. The blocks were awarded in a process that has been going on since the middle of 2013 and initially involved 61 firms. The block winners are still engaged in negotiations with the Ministry of Energy and several other state agencies over terms and conditions. The government has said it will not allow any new gas or oil discoveries to be exported until Burma's domestic needs are satisfied. Until now, most gas has been exported. Thirty offshore blocks were originally offered and no reason has been given why only 20 were awarded. The ministry has indicated that more onshore blocks could be offered in a new bidding round before the end of this year. Burma will likely have to import higher volumes of petrol and diesel because the country "will struggle to find investors willing to support its refining sector with limited markets for its products," the study said. "As consumption increases, we expect [Burma] to increasingly rely on fuel imports." Burma has three small refineries but they are in such poor repair that they produce barely one third of the official 55,000 barrels per day combined capacity, said a separate report on Burma recently by industry weekly Asian Oil Monitor. "An increasing volume of processed fuel, much of it diesel to operate factory and small town power generators, is imported," Asian Oil Monitor said. "Fuel demand has rocketed following an easing of restrictions on car imports, although [Burma] has only about 20 vehicles per 1,000 people compared with 250 in Indonesia and 370 in Thailand, Asian Development Bank statistics say." Thai Oil plc, part of Thailand's state-owned PTT oil and gas monopoly, was reported earlier this year to be negotiating with the Myanmar Petroleum Product Enterprise to renovate two of Burma's three refineries, but no more has been heard on this, said Asian Oil Monitor. A relatively small domestic market and refinery expansions across the Asia Pacific region have reduced opportunities for Burma to take forward earlier hopes of becoming an oil products export hub, said BMI. "We remain bearish on the government’s plans to significantly increase the country's fuels production in the short-to-medium term, given limited commercial opportunities that would encourage the necessary investment to realise this," it said. The post Burma's Oil Production Tipped to Decline; Fuel Imports to Increase appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| ‘There Must be a Mastermind Behind the Conflict’ Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:49 AM PDT  Oo Hla Saw is a central executive committee member of the Arakan National Party (ANP), the biggest ethnic Arakanese political party in Burma. (Photo: Nyein Zaw / The Irrawaddy) Oo Hla Saw, a central executive committee member of the Arakan National Party (ANP), the biggest ethnic Arakanese political party in Burma, recently spoke with The Irrawaddy's Khin Oo Tha about his views of the newly appointed chief minister of Arakan State, Maj-Gen Maung Maung Ohn. He also commented on the government's approach to communal violence in Arakan State and its efforts to punish the perpetrators. Question: The ANP issued a statement opposing the appointment of a major-general as the chief minister of Arakan State. But when the appointment was approved in the parliament, no one [from your party] raised any objections. So, ANP was criticized as lacking a firm standpoint and policies. How would your respond? Answer: U Maung Maung Ohn was nominated [as the Arakan State chief minister] in parliament on June 25. Before the nomination, and after the resignation of [former Chief Minister] U Hla Maung Tin, the ANP issued a three-point statement: First, the chief minister must be Arakanese; second, the minister must be a representative elected by the people; and third, the minister must be from the ANP, which holds the largest number of seats in the Arakan State assembly. Arakanese people don't like him. We also don't like him. We didn't want him to become the chief minister. But this is just another part of the question. If we want object to him, there should be a way. But there is no way. The 2008 Constitution was designed for the convenience of the military to take up positions in the government. It provides for the appointment of a military officer as a lawmaker as well as a chief minister. So, what else could we do? The main problem lies in the Constitution. The Constitution therefore must be changed. If we want to raise objections to the appointment, we can only object on the grounds of something else like his performance and moral standards. The appointment can't be overturned by the wish of the Arakanese people. It can only be overturned according to the constitutional framework. The new chief minister has met with Arakanese people and explained his plans for Arakan State. Before the parliament came into existence, consecutive military commanders of Arakan State also spoke the same rhetoric about how to develop the state, saying things like, "We are under the same roof," or, "I'm also an Arakanese man." The new chief minister did the same. We have no choice. So all we can do is to wait and see. He is Burmese [ethnic Bamar]. But if he could fairly settle the Arakanese, Bengali [Rohingya] and NGO issues and bring tangible economic benefits to the state, we'd have to applaud him. If not, we'll have to wait and see if he has come to Arakan State to revive the military dictatorship, if he would be oppressive toward the people or if he would try to repeat the history of Bamar's rule over the Arakanese people. Q: What is your view of the actions of President U Thein Sein's government in response to conflicts that began in 2012 in Arakan State? A: We have talked continuously about things like the Bengalis' incursion, plots and political ploys. Again, we have also pointed out the mismanagement of the government. I think U Hla Maung Tin was dismissed partly because we pointed this out. Myanmar [Burma] is seeing instability and riots now, and we can't distinguish if they took place as they did [or if they were intentionally ignited by someone]. While Arakan State is facing the Bengali issue, there must be people who want to fish in troubled waters by instigating violence and riots in Arakan State. Among them may be retired military personnel or authorities as well as some Arakanese people. Q: There is speculation that there must be manipulators behind the scene, including some members of the ruling party, the military and authorities. What do you think? A: There may be manipulators behind every conflict. President U Thein Sein has also said that there are instigators behind the current conflicts. So, there must be manipulators behind the communal strife in Arakan State. Among them, maybe hard-liners from the ruling party, as well as Arakanese and Burmese people. Perhaps they are working hand in glove to create unrest. I have continuously said there must be a mastermind behind the conflict. But no one has been able to identify that mastermind yet. Q: For example, in cases like the murdering [of Muslims] in Taungup Township and other violence in Arakan State, there were arrests, but the actual perpetrators were never found. A: It is difficult to say why those perpetrators can't be found. In March, there were attacks on international aid worker offices in Sittwe [the state capital]. While there are bad, dishonest NGOs, there are also many honest NGOs. However, the attacks were launched on all international aid workers. Arakanese people don't accept ransacking all the houses. These are not good behaviors. To be frank, those who pull the strings are political experts. That's why they are still on the loose. Those acts are aimed at gaining political advantages. Those are not the acts of Arakanese people and they need to be consciously aware of it. The attacks on foreign aid workers took place in Sittwe during the time of retired Chief Minister U Hla Maung Tin. We have yet to wait and see how the new chief minister will respond to it. Q: U Thein Sein's government formed a committee and commission after the Arakan conflict. But nothing has happened so far. So, do you have any plan of action besides monitoring? A: If the government fails to take practical actions, we will mention, point out, urge and organize rallies within the legal framework. Neither our party nor the Arakanese people have authority. It's a question of authority. Q: What's your assessment of Arakan State politics and internal affairs before and after 2015? A: The ANP will win in Arakan State in the 2015 election. If the ANP party conference can adopt strong policies and positions, and if shrewd party members with strong leadership can emerge for the 2015 election, the future of Arakan State's politics will get better. However, if the current situation continues, there will be no changes for Arakanese people. Q: Now, Arakan State has become stable to a certain extent. What do you want to say to Arakanese people to bring about stability and development across the state? A: We, Arakanese people, have for a long time lagged behind in all aspects. So, if we want to stand tall as a race, we have to march steadily with discipline and political awareness. I want to stress that if we are easily swayed by others, like we are now, and if we commit anarchic acts, we, Arakanese people, will remain slaves for long in the future. The post 'There Must be a Mastermind Behind the Conflict' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Oxford University Strengthens Ties in Burma Posted: 16 Jul 2014 11:08 PM PDT  Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi poses for a photograph after receiving her honorary degree at the University of Oxford, in Oxford, southern England, on June 20, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Less than one year after reopening its doors to undergraduates, Burma's most prominent institution of higher education is strengthening ties with the University of Oxford in England, where opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi studied in the 1960s and earned an honorary degree in 2012. The renowned British university signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday with the University of Rangoon, pledging to increase collaboration over the next three years in a wide range of activities, from research and faculty training to the development of curriculum. With funding from the British government, Suu Kyi's health and education trust fund, the Open Society Foundations and other organizations, Oxford has already spent US$150,000 on projects at the Rangoon university this year and hopes funding will keep pace through 2017, according to Nick Rawlins, pro-vice-chancellor of development and external affairs at the British university, who says the partnership will likely be extended after that. "We're in it for the long run," he told The Irrawaddy in Rangoon on Wednesday. Before a military dictatorship took control of Burma in 1962, the University of Rangoon was one of the most prestigious centers of learning in Southeast Asia. Over the next half century, however, military regimes invested little in education and eventually shut down urban campuses, in a bid to stop student activists from organizing protests. Undergraduates were only allowed to return to the Rangoon university in December last year, after a quasi-civilian government took power in 2011 and pledged to reform the country's education system. Oxford was asked to assist with that effort by Suu Kyi, who studied philosophy, politics and economics at the English university between 1964 and 1967. She also lived in Oxford for years with her late husband Michael Aris, who was an Oxford scholar, and their two sons. In a speech to accept her honorary degree from the university in 2012, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said she drew strength from memories of student life while she was held under house arrest by Burma's former regime. She recalled a happy outing with friends on the River Cherwell and hours spent reading on a campus lawn. "These were very precious memories—because I had lived a happy life. And this made me understand so much better the young people of Burma—who wanted to live a happy life and who had never been given an opportunity to lead one," she said. "University life has been shattered because of a perceived need to keep students in order. I would like to see university life restored to Burma in all its glory. And I would be so grateful if my old university, the University of Oxford, could help to bring this about once again." In March this year, heads of departments from the University of Rangoon traveled to meet their counterparts at Oxford. Now, with funding from telecoms giant Ooredoo, which has supported various education initiatives in Burma, eight students from Oxford are visiting Burma this month to teach English language classes to incoming freshmen at the Rangoon university. Oxford also plans to facilitate faculty exchanges and to help more Burmese students study in England on scholarships. In a bid to improve library resources, Oxford has donated 6,000 modern law books to the Rangoon university and plans to ship another 3,400 science books, while its university press has made some resources freely available to the Burmese students. On Thursday, a delegation from Oxford will travel to Burma's second-biggest city to sign another MoU with the University of Mandalay, for collaboration in the sciences and geology departments. Later this week the delegation will meet with Burma's deputy minister of education in Naypyidaw. Rawlins, the pro-vice-chancellor, said Oxford was encouraging the government to allow universities greater autonomy, and added that he believed the Ministry of Education also wanted universities to take more responsibility. Since 2011, the University of Rangoon has forged partnerships with other institutions of learning, including universities in the United States, Australia and Japan. But Khin Mar Mar Kyi, a social anthropologist and gender scholar, says Oxford holds a special place in the minds of Burmese academics. "If you ask Burmese people, we don't really think about any other university, Oxford is our dream," said the scholar, who began a fellowship at the English university this year. She added that the extra assistance for education was warmly welcomed in Burma. "Everyone has a dream of moving back up to the status that Yangon [Rangoon] University used to have." Oxford has also established partnerships with universities in other countries, with major programs focused on mathematics and the physical sciences in the Middle East and China, but Rawlins said the partnership in Burma was broader and that it targeted the needs of the Burmese. "Helping teach English skills to students, helping to develop the curriculum, helping with policy and strategy, and carrying out research programs—there's nowhere else in the world where we do this," he said. Rawlins, who has traveled to Burma twice before, says the Rangoon university has already "changed spectacularly" over the past year. "When I arrived," he said of his first visit, "the buildings were blackened on the outside, there was scaffolding. The library had great people in it but not many resources. There were no undergraduates and I had to have a special letter of invitation from the ministry to be allowed in. …This third time, more buildings are looking good, the campus is looking better, and there are undergraduates all over." He said he was confident the university would one day be able to reclaim its reputation as a premiere institution of learning in the region. "It was that good, and it can be at least that good again," he said. The post Oxford University Strengthens Ties in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma Resorting to ‘Police State Tactics’ in Unity Trial: US Official Posted: 16 Jul 2014 10:26 PM PDT  Unity journalist Lu Maw Naing (L) and the paper's CEO Tint San on their way to Pakkoku Township Court. (Photo: Citizen Journalist) WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department’s top human rights official on Wednesday accused Burmese authorities of resorting to police state tactics after five journalists from a weekly magazine got 10 years of hard labor for a disputed story about a weapons factory. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski’s comments, in an Associated Press interview, are the stiffest U.S. criticism yet following last week’s sentences. The case is troubling for the Obama administration, which has cast its support of Burma's democratic reforms as one of its biggest foreign policy achievements. Malinowski said the U.S. remained committed to engagement with Burma's government as it grapples with difficult institutional reforms and shifts the nation from five decades of direct military rule. He urged protection of the press freedoms that were unleashed when a repressive junta ceded power three years ago. He said that would be crucial to the country’s democratic transition and for the credibility of crucial national elections next year. The chief executive and four reporters of the Unity journal were charged under a colonial-era security law. Burmese authorities have defended the arrests as a matter of national security. The magazine has since gone out of business. The punishment has raised alarm among rights groups and Burmese journalists. Police have also opened a case against 50 journalists after they staged a peaceful protest over the weekend in Yangon against the sentences, and they could face charges for violating a law on peaceful assembly that carries a six-month prison term. "The release of political prisoners has been one of the most important success stories of the last couple of years, and it would be unfortunate if we got back to having to address more cases like that," Malinowski said. "So obviously, sentencing a journalist to 10 years hard labor for reporting the news, whatever one thinks of the quality or accuracy of a particular news story, is not a great sign." He urged for the case to be reviewed and for any journalists prosecuted for reporting a story to be freed. Unity journal had reported in late January that the military had seized farmland and constructed a chemical weapons factory in central Magwe Region. It printed a denial from authorities. Malinowski, who raised the issue of press freedoms when he met top government and military officials in Burma in late June, said concerns over journalistic ethics and irresponsible reporting were legitimate and to be expected in Burma’s fledgling media, but the U.S. has stressed "the way to deal with those problems is not through the tactics of a police state." "If your response is to arrest journalists, we are going to go back to the kind of relationship between Burma and the rest of the world that is not in your interests," he said. Government spokesman Ye Htut did not respond to an email requesting comment Wednesday. After the arrests of the journalists in February, he told The Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based online news site, that it was a national security issue and even a country like the U.S. would respond in the same way. But Zaw Thet Htwe, a journalist and member of the Burma Press Council, likened it to treatment of journalists under the former ruling junta, and said it did not bode well for democratic reforms. Zaw Thet Htwe is one at least 14 journalists among the more than 1,100 political prisoners who have been freed by President Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian administration. He was sentenced to death by a military court in 2003 for publishing articles critical of the military; his sentence was commuted. David Mathieson, senior researcher on Burma for Human Rights Watch, said new laws this year have also stifled press freedom, and there have been cases of journalists held on spurious charges. Last week, five staff of the Bi Mon Te Nay weekly were arrested and are being charged under a security law for publishing an article suggesting opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be installed as leader of an interim government. Outbreaks of deadly anti-Muslim violence and the uncertain prospects for reforming the current military-dominated constitution have also raised questions from U.S. lawmakers about whether the Obama administration moved too quickly in easing sanctions against Burma and increasing aid. Malinowski said he did not believe Burma was backtracking on reforms, but was now in a more difficult stage in its transition that requires fundamental legal and institutional changes. Despite new openness, many laws on its books date back to a more repressive era, leaving journalists and civil society activists still vulnerable to prosecution, he said. "I see a contest between people who are trying to push this remarkable transformation forward and those who are either confused or threatened by the rapid pace of change," he said. Malinowski said the U.S. would encourage Burma to keep up the momentum on reforms ahead of the 2015 national elections, a key test of its democratic progress. The post Burma Resorting to 'Police State Tactics' in Unity Trial: US Official appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| At the Start of the Death Railway Posted: 16 Jul 2014 05:30 PM PDT  The entrance to the Death Railway memorial in Thanbyuzayat, Mon State. (Photo: Kyaw Hsu Mon / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — After watching "The Bridge On the River Kwai," the award-winning film, as a child, I always wanted to visit the place where the Death Railway begins in Burma. The railroad, which stretches from Thanbyuzayat Township in Mon State to Thailand's Kanchanaburi District, was built during World War II by allied prisoners of war, including Burmese soldiers, who were forced to work by the Japanese empire. More than 16,000 prisoners of war died during the construction, or about 38 prisoners for every kilometer of the 415-kilometer railway. With little or no medical care, they succumbed to sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion. Many suffered horribly before their death. At the Death Railway memorial in Thanbyuzayat, an old steam locomotive is a reminder to decades long ago. A damaged statue of a standing soldier can also be seen, its upper body lying in the grass. Though the railway started here, only a small strip of tracks remain. At the end of it, a large concrete signboard reads, "Myanmar-Thailand-Japanese death railway line starts here." The Burmese government has failed to attract many tourists to the site. By contrast, in Thailand, hundreds of people go every day to Kanchanaburi to see the famous bridge that opened in 1988. In Mon State, it seems no maintenance has been done, and the potential tourist attraction has been neglected. I hope it can be developed so that more people can visit soon. If you do go to Thanbyuzayat, you can also stop at a war cemetery thousands of allied soldiers were buried between 1939 and 1945. A record at the cemetery says, "The land on which this cemetery stands is the gift of the Burmese people for the perpetual resting place of the sailors, soldiers and airmen who are honored here." The post At the Start of the Death Railway appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Japan’s KDDI, Sumitomo Corp to Invest $2 bln in Burma’s MPT Posted: 16 Jul 2014 10:19 PM PDT  A staff member talks on the phone at the reception desk at the Yatanarpon Teleport (YTP) office in Rangoon on Sept. 17, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) TOKYO — Japan’s KDDI Corp and Sumitomo Corp, in partnership with Burma’s state-backed telecoms operator, plan to invest about $2 billion over the next decade to expand services in one of the world’s least-connected countries. No.2 Japanese wireless carrier KDDI and trading house Sumitomo will invest in telecoms infrastructure and jointly operate mobile and broadband services with Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT). MPT will split earnings from the Burma operations roughly equally with a Singapore-based joint venture of the Japanese firms that will be formed in August, Sumitomo Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki told a news conference. “We’ll be able to reach profitability in a short period of time,” KDDI Senior Vice President Yuzo Ishikawa said. In January, Sumitomo’s deputy general manager in Burma, Soe Kyu, told Reuters the companies were jointly invited to exclusive talks about becoming the international partner of MPT. MPT is currently Burma's sole telecoms operator as well as the industry regulator. The government plans to create a new regulator by 2015 and divest a minority share in MPT, which will remain one of four licensed operators. State-backed Yatanarpon, until now primarily an Internet service provider, also holds a license. Norway’s Telenor ASA and Qatar’s Ooredoo QSC won hotly contested bidding for two new licenses in June 2013 and are now building their networks. Burma’s telecoms industry was tightly controlled under decades of military dictatorship, with the government monopolizing the sector and selling SIM cards for thousands of dollars when they were introduced a decade-and-a-half ago. As a result, Burma had one of the world’s lowest mobile penetration rates. Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson said in 2012 that fewer than 4 percent of its 60 million people were connected. The post Japan’s KDDI, Sumitomo Corp to Invest $2 bln in Burma's MPT appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burmese Workers Still Manning Thai Dream Island Posted: 16 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT  Ko Tao is a popular island for tourists off the cost of southern Thailand. (Photo: Tamara Terziana) KO TAO, Thailand — Burmese chatter resounds through the tropical gardens of upmarket resorts on the Thai island of Ko Tao, where girls with long braids and thanaka on their faces clean bungalows and boys in ethnic Shan outfits weed the pathways. About 70 percent of Ko Tao's tourism industry is run by Burmese waiters, cleaners, shop assistants, boatmen and even hotel and restaurant managers. "The Thais don't want these jobs any longer. They just own the businesses and boss around their employees," says a long-time foreign diving tour operator who adds that he prefers working with the comparatively sharp, diligent and loyal Burmese. On the island, Thais often resort to speaking English because they rarely encounter Thai speakers. Far away from Bangkok's political turmoil and the history of immigrant labor exploitation in northern Thailand, the situation appears quite peaceful here. At least if one discounts the dangerous and hard work that the Burmese contribute to Thailand's fishing industry off shore. During the tsunami in 2004 and the floods in 2011, an unknown number of illegal Burmese workers died on the affected Thai islands. Nowadays, the Burmese work legally in Ko Tao and earn close to Thai-standard salaries. Ko Thura, a waiter, stresses that the money to be made on the island is much better than in the north of Thailand. Especially with the current economic crisis, Thailand depends on immigrant labor to keep this vital industry afloat amid dwindling numbers of tourists who are discouraged by warnings from their respective foreign ministries. "We pay 1,000 Thai baht [US$30] upon arrival and subsequently 500 Thai baht monthly for the right to work here," says Ko Aung, another waiter. "Policemen come to collect at the resorts and restaurants." Falling outside the purview of authorities in Bangkok, these local arrangements seem to serve everyone—the Thai police and Thai owners as well as Burmese workers, who say they feel safe and well treated. Still, although the Burmese do not need to fear as much abuse here as they might in the sweatshops of Mae Sot, they are still wary of the police. "Fees" are paid not only for the right to drive a scooter but also by anyone caught out after 8 pm. Given the long opening hours of restaurants and bars, Ko Tao's police officers must be making a handsome profit from immigrant laborers. Most Burmese workers say they miss their families and their hometowns. They predominantly hail from the southern parts of Burma, such as Tenasserim Division and Mon and Karen states, and some manage to visit home about once a year. Ma Mala, 21, sells clothes in a shop and is visibly afraid of her Thai matron boss. She misses her native Dawei and plans to return as soon as she saves some money. Others have no intention of returning; Ko Myo helps out on a boat bringing tourists for snorkeling trips. Now 23 years old, he comes from an island in southern Burma that he left as a teenager. Unemployment and economic hardship are major push factors for migration. Even two and a half years into the reform process, Burma's rural youth continue to go abroad in search of work. "Agencies" offer to bring them to Thailand, Malaysia and even South Korea and Japan. To go to East Asia, job seekers must pass tests and pay higher sums. Given Burma's nascent large-scale investment and economic development assistance, one wonders how this segment of the Burmese diaspora can be brought back. Considering the shortage of skilled, English-speaking staff in Burma's expanding tourism industry, experience in Thailand with both Asian and expatriate tourists should be an asset. But so far, Burma's youth are still driven away by a lack of income and an inability to acquire skills. The post Burmese Workers Still Manning Thai Dream Island appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Typhoon Kills at Least 38 in the Philippines, Heads for China Posted: 16 Jul 2014 10:14 PM PDT  A boy hugs an electric post while other people take cover under a tree as strong winds brought by Typhoon Rammasun, locally called Glenda, battered the capital, metro Manila July 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) MANILA — The Philippines set to work clearing debris, reconnecting power and rebuilding flattened houses on Thursday after a typhoon swept across the country killing 38 people, with at least eight missing, rescue officials said. Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year, was heading towards China after cutting a path across the main island of Luzon, shutting down the capital and knocking down trees and power lines, causing widespread blackouts. The storm destroyed about 7,000 houses and damaged 19,000, the executive director of the National Disaster Agency, Alexander Pama, said. More than 530,000 people had taken refuge in evacuation centers, according to official figures. Pama put the damage to crops, mostly rice and corn, from the Bicol region, southeast of Manila and the first to be hit by the storm, at around 668 million pesos, or about $15 million. Most schools remained closed in the capital and southern Luzon, the most densely populated part of the country with about 17 million people. Power had been restored to just over half of the Luzon grid, a transmission agency official said. Electricity distributor Manila Electric Co said a third of its 1.88 million customers were without power. Disaster officials were still assessing damage but the coconut-growing Quezon province south of Manila appears to have borne the brunt of Rammasun, which intensified into a category 3 typhoon as it crossed the country. Tropical Storm Risk, which monitors cyclones, has downgraded Rammasun to a category 1 storm on a scale of one to five as it headed northwest towards China. But it predicted it would gain in strength to category-two within 24 hours, picking up energy from the warm sea as it headed in the direction of China’s Hainan island. Quezon governor David Suarez said the province was preparing to declare a state of calamity. He said officials had confirmed seven people died in the province. "Last night we had difficulty going around because many trees and fallen poles are blocking highways and roads," Suarez said in a radio interview. Pama said on Wednesday the government was more prepared after the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan in November, evacuating people at risk in coastal and landslide-prone areas well before the typhoon made landfall. Parts of the Philippines are still recovering from Haiyan, one of the biggest cyclones known to have made landfall anywhere. It killed more than 6,100 in the central provinces, many in tsunami-like sea surges, and left millions homeless. The post Typhoon Kills at Least 38 in the Philippines, Heads for China appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Cambodian Court Charges, Holds Opposition Lawmakers After Clashes Posted: 16 Jul 2014 10:07 PM PDT  A man, with his hands painted with words that translate to “Release," demonstrates to demand the release of five opposition members of parliament, as police officers block a street near the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in central Phnom Penh on July 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) PHNOM PENH — A Cambodian court charged six opposition activists on Wednesday with leading an insurrection after clashes with security forces, deepening a year-long political crisis after a disputed election. Five members of parliament and an assistant, all members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), were ordered detained pending trial and taken to prison in a heavily guarded convoy as hundreds of supporters stood outside the court demanding their release. One of the accused, prominent parliamentarian Mu Sochua, issued a Facebook post confirming the charges of leading an insurrection, which carries a penalty of 20 to 30 years in prison, and incitement to violence. "This is all unconstitutional as our parliamentary immunity has not yet been lifted," Mu Sochua wrote. "We call on all to stay united and continue our fight for freedom , human rights and liberties." Opposition activists clashed on Tuesday with security forces after attempting to reopen Phnom Penh's Freedom Park, the only place where protests are legally allowed under Prime Minister Hun Sen, in power in various capacities since 1985. Guards at the site attacked the CNRP supporters with batons and riot police fired teargas after the activists tried to string up banners on a barbed wire fence surrounding the park. The government said 37 security guards were injured. CNRP deputy president Kem Sokha, speaking before the charges were laid, said the opposition would hold the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) responsible for any violence should the members of parliament be jailed. He said the CNRP would seek help from embassies to secure their release and had no wish to organize mass demonstrations. "We want them released as soon as possible. We don't want things to heat up," he told a news conference. The government accused the opposition activists of provoking violence to destabilize the country. "A handful of CNRP leaders had a premeditated plot and instigated their extremist supporters, armed with batons and other deadly objects, brutally attacking security personnel," it said in a statement. The opposition has been leading a campaign against Hun Sen since accusing his CPP of vote-rigging last year to stay in power in an election which saw big opposition gains. Hun Sen and his government dismiss any such accusations. The opposition has staged mass rallies to press for an early election or Hun Sen's resignation, joined by factory workers who went on strike last year over the government's refusal to meet demands for higher pay. Five workers were killed in January when security forces fired live ammunition to disperse striking garment workers and security guards have consistently broken up protests. The post Cambodian Court Charges, Holds Opposition Lawmakers After Clashes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Kerry, Hagel to Visit India to Push Strategic Ties Posted: 16 Jul 2014 09:55 PM PDT  India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pictured at the 6th BRICS summit at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia July 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — America's top diplomat and the head of its Defense Department will visit India in coming weeks seeking to revitalize a relationship the United States sees as a crucial counterbalance in Asia to an increasingly assertive China. Secretary of State John Kerry will represent the United States in an annual session of Strategic Dialogue with India scheduled for July 31, and he will be followed to New Delhi by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in early August, US officials said on Wednesday. They will be the most senior US officials to visit India for talks with the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since his May election. Modi is expected to visit the United States in September. In testimony for a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Nisha Biswal, the US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, noted that President Barack Obama had said the US-India relationship would be "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century." She also said Modi had told US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns in India last week that the world would benefit from closer US-India ties. "Across the board … we have an opportunity here to engage more robustly with in India in how the Asian landscape unfolds," she said. "And we look forward to engaging with the new government in that agenda." Biswal referred to planned joint military exercises involving India, the United States and Japan, a country with a growing strategic rivalry with China in East Asia. "We see opportunities for increasing the collaboration across Southeast Asia," she said. "We are engaging more frequently in consultations and dialogue with India on Asean [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and look forward to increased and more frequent consultations across the East Asian sphere," Biswal said, adding: "A rising India is in some ways going to be an ameliorating influence on China, in China's own growth and China's own behavior in the region." Amy Searight, the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, said there was "a real strategic convergence" as India looked east in Asia and the United States pursued its "rebalance" to the continent. "We both are looking to the challenges in East Asia today, of which a rising China is certainly a major part," she said. Searight said there were growing relationships between India and Japan and India and the ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, a country which has been playing out a bitter territorial rivalry with Beijing in the South China Sea. Referring to India's growing relationships with other Asian countries, Searight added: "We want to capitalize on that … we want to support that activity." The post Kerry, Hagel to Visit India to Push Strategic Ties appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
