The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• UN Rights Rapporteur Visits Mandalay
• Burma Rep in Canada Says Doing Business With US-Sanctioned Tycoon Legal
• Burma’s Special Branch Questions Journal Editors
• Burma Transition ‘Not Yet Taken Root’, Threatened by Continuing Abuses: Group
• Can Meditation Really Slow Aging?
• Burma’s Former Religion Minister Hit With Sedition Charge
• Rangoon Court Detains Editors Awaiting Trial for ‘Undermining Stability’
• A Conversation With Indonesian President Jokowi
• Tipped as Next Burma Army Chief, Mya Tun Oo Gets Promotion
• Slow Connectivity at the India-Burma Border
• Cambodia Opposition Drops Boycott After PM Makes Rare Deal
• Jokowi: The New Face of Indonesian Politics
• Thailand’s Junta Adopts Interim Constitution
• China’s McDonald’s Meat Scandal Hits Starbucks, Burger King

UN Rights Rapporteur Visits Mandalay Posted: 23 Jul 2014 05:21 AM PDT Yanghee Lee, the new UN human rights rapporteur on Burma (wearing a white shirt), and her staff prepare to enter a car in Mandalay on Tuesday. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Yanghee Lee, the new UN rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, visited Mandalay on Tuesday to speak with government officials and community leaders about the recent outbreak of anti-Muslim violence in the country's second biggest city. Mandalay-based lawyer Thein Than Oo said she met with members of the Mandalay Peace Keeping Committee, which comprises Buddhist and Muslim community leaders, and officials. Thein Than Oo, who is on the committee to provide legal counsel, said he could not disclose the details of the discussions, but added, "Mrs. Yanhee Lee's visit to Mandalay is satisfying as she said that the UN will work with us in the future in maintaining peace in our region." He said the rapporteur had also met with Mandalay Division government officials and [nggallery id=432 visited the Muslim section of Kyar Ni Kan Cemetery, located outside of the city, where some buildings were destroyed by an angry Buddhist crowd earlier this month. In early July, clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim residents of Mandalay after allegations were circulated on social media that a Muslim tea shop owner had raped his Buddhist maid. In the ensuing violence, one Buddhist man and a Muslim man were killed, while 14 people were injured. After several days, authorities installed a curfew and arrested more than a dozen suspects. This Monday, some three weeks after the violence, the government announced that rape the claims were false. At the time of the unrest, however, officials said they were detaining two Muslim men in relation with the allegations. Yanghee Lee has travelled on to the Burmese capital Naypyidaw. Prior to her visit to Mandalay, she visited war-torn Kachin State and Arakan State, where she spoke with Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim leaders. She has also met with political prisoners in Rangoon's Insein Prison. She is set to wrap up her 10-day visit on Saturday. South Korea's Yanghee Lee is making her first visit to Burma as a rapporteur and succeeds Argentina's Tomás Ojea Quintana. The post UN Rights Rapporteur Visits Mandalay appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Rep in Canada Says Doing Business With US-Sanctioned Tycoon Legal Posted: 23 Jul 2014 04:26 AM PDT Steven Law listens to a speech during a luncheon for Asean economic ministers in Toronto on June 5, 2014. (Photo: Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada) Burma's Honorary Consul to Canada, Bryon Wilfert, has responded to the controversy generated following last month's visit to Canada by Steven Law, a Burmese billionaire who US authorities allege is tied to the drug trade, by claiming that it is legal under Canadian law to do business with the controversial tycoon. In early June, Law (aka Tun Myint Naing) traveled to Canada as a member of the Burmese delegation taking part in an Economic Ministers Roadshow organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The Burmese delegation was led by Burma's Minister of National Planning and Economic Development Kan Zaw and included three other Burmese businessmen in addition to Law, who, as The Irrawaddy first reported, participated using his Chinese name, Lo Ping Zhong. During his stay in Canada, Law and the rest of the Burmese delegation attended a business round table in Toronto that was co-organized by Wilfert, a former Member of Parliament. It remains unclear if this and the other events that Law took part in resulted in Law signing any deals with Canadian firms or individuals. "[A]nyone who met him [Law] during his time here did not break Canadian rules if they did business with him," Wilfert wrote in a July 8 article in the Ottawa-based Embassy, a weekly newspaper that focuses on Canadian foreign affairs. Although the US government specifically forbids US firms from doing business with Law, Asia World and a list of related front companies, Canada does not include Law or any of his aliases on a list of designated individuals with whom Canadians are barred from doing businesses. The spokesperson for Canada's minister of international trade did not respond to The Irrawaddy's questions regarding whether Ottawa has any plans to add Law to the list, which includes his fellow Burmese billionaire Tay Za and retired strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Despite Wilfert's assurances, those Canadian firms that do businesses with Law could still potentially face legal difficulties with the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) which is tasked with enforcing American sanctions. Canadian firms with significant US operations are particularly vulnerable to the scrutiny of OFAC. Wilfert, who was appointed Burma's honorary consul to Canada in March of this year, is a former MP representing the Toronto area who previously served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance. Prior to his appointment, Wilfert appears to have had little involvement in Burma. In May 2005, he was part of a group MPs who voted against a motion that called for the Canadian government to "to condemn more forcefully the repeated and systematic human rights violations committed by the military junta in power in Burma" and "impose more comprehensive economic measures on Burma." The motion calling on Canada's then Liberal government, of which Wilfert was part, to take a more active stance in pushing for the release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the restoration of civilian government, passed despite concerns from critics that it was too strong of an approach. Some two years later, Canada imposed comprehensive economic sanctions on Burma that were eventually lifted in 2012. According to an announcement issued by the Burmese Embassy in Ottawa, Wilfert's role is to assist the embassy in promoting economic investment and tourism. Canadian Opposition Raises Concerns Canada's New Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in the national parliament, says Law's arrival in Canada as part of the high-level trade delegation is the latest example of the Canadian government prioritizing trade over human rights. Don Davies, an MP from British Columbia, the first stopover for the Burmese trade delegation, called Law's visit to Canada alarming. "Given the publicly available information concerning Mr. Law, and the Conservatives' proclaimed 'crackdown' on granting visas to people of questionable character, it is also puzzling," Davies told The Irrawaddy. Davies, who serves as his party's international trade critic for the left-of-center NDP, is frequently at odds with Steven Harper's Conservative party government. "The Conservatives not only do not balance human rights and trade promotion—they ignore this connection," said Davies, who added that a recent trade agreement between Canada and Honduras, a Central American state plagued by what rights groups say are government-backed death squads, is further proof that the Harper's Conservative government is mishandling trade policy. Last month a spokesperson for Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast told The Irrawaddy that the Canadian government had no role in the inclusion of Law in the delegation, which she said was the responsibility of the Burmese government. Fast recently spoke out about Law's visit to Canada for the first time, telling Abbotsford News, a weekly newspaper based in the minister's hometown, that he was "disappointed and concerned" that Law was able to come to Canada. "For some reason, this particular individual slipped through the cracks," the Conservative MP said. "We don't know why that happened. It concerns us." Davies is unconvinced by Fast's explanation and points out that Law was able to come to Canada while Seng Zin, a women's activist from Burma's northern Kachin State, was recently denied a Canadian visa to attend a peace training program. "The Conservatives immigration policy is one of failure, contradiction and ideological meddling.  When millionaire businessmen with suspected connections to the global drug trade can receive a visa to enter Canada, but respected human rights activists and law-abiding citizens cannot, the facts speak for themselves," said Davies. Law—whose father, the late Lo Hsing Han—was dubbed by US authorities the "godfather of heroin,"—is the head of Asia World, one of Burma's largest conglomerates. The firm has been involved in some of the country's largest construction projects, including the Shwe gas and oil pipelines and the officially stalled Myitsone dam. Both Law and his father were added to the US sanctions list in 2008. A press release announcing their inclusion claimed that, "In addition to their support for the Burmese regime, Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han have a history of involvement in illicit activities." The statement went on to describe Lo Hsing Han as "one of the world's key heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s." It added that "Steven Law joined his father's drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the wealthiest individuals in Burma." The post Burma Rep in Canada Says Doing Business With US-Sanctioned Tycoon Legal appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma’s Special Branch Questions Journal Editors Posted: 23 Jul 2014 03:56 AM PDT The latest edition of the Myanmar Herald journal. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Three editors from the Myanmar Herald journal were temporarily detained for questioning on Wednesday by Special Branch police officers and asked about the weekly newspapers financial affairs, according to staff. The latest questioning of journalists came amid a slew of court cases brought against the press, and just as Burma's Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann called on President Thein Sein to show "tolerance" of the country's media. Aung Htun Lin, an editor at the Burmese-language Myanmar Herald, told The Irrawaddy earlier on Wednesday that police officers came to the journal's offices and took three editors for questioning at the Special Branch headquarters at Aung Tha Pyae, without explanation. Special Branch has announced it is investigating newspaper finances and has paid visits to the offices of other media outlets in recent months. Other journal staffers questioned have not been taken to Aung Tha Pyae, a notorious interrogation center, however. Those detained were Editor-in-Chief Kyaw Zwa Win and two other editors, San Win Tun and Aung Ko Ko, he said. After being released seven hours later, Aung Ko Ko said police asked the three where the Myanmar Herald's funding came from. "We told them we run our own finances and we do not get any finances from others," said Aung Ko Ko. A number of incidents in recent weeks have cast doubt on the gains made in press freedom in the country since the government abolished pre-publication censorship in 2012 and last year allowed privately owned dailies to publish for the first time in decades. Early this month, four reporters and the CEO of the Unity journal were convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor after reporting that a military facility in central Burma was being used as a chemical weapons factory. A number of other journalists have been threatened with charges of protesting without permission after they held a demonstration against the Unity sentencing. Reporters, editors and the publisher of the Bi Mon Te Nay journal have also been detained for publishing a report the government claims posed a threat to the country's stability. The recent curbs on the press have sparked international concern, but on Wednesday dissent came from an unlikely source in Shwe Mann, the house speaker and chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. He told Parliament that he had written to Thein Sein about the issue after he received a letter from Burma's interim Press Council asking for Parliament to consider the recent troubles media has encountered. Reading from his letter to the president, Shwe Mann said, "The country is just reforming, and media are keen to do their reporting, but the media is immature and not experienced. The Union Government should have tolerance of their actions, and, as I know, the Union Government is working toward this in accordance with the rule of law." Both Parliament and the executive branch of the government should consider the issue carefully, Shwe Mann said. "By doing this, we believe that the misunderstandings and concerns about the current situation from the media will be reduced, and then the current movement toward democracy will go more smoothly." The post Burma's Special Branch Questions Journal Editors appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Transition ‘Not Yet Taken Root’, Threatened by Continuing Abuses: Group Posted: 23 Jul 2014 03:44 AM PDT Police patrol the streets of Mandalay on Wednesday, after an outbreak of inter-communal violence in early July. (Photo: Teza Hleing / The Irrawaddy) Burma's transition to democracy, peace and justice has yet to take root and is being disrupted by continuing political repression, cronyism, ethnic conflict and outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence, an international human rights organization has warned. The international community should do more to promote justice for current and past rights abuses in Burma, and support reforms in the country's military, judiciary and economy, the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said in a report released on Tuesday. "Myanmar's transition has not yet taken root," Patrick Pierce, a co-author of the report "Navigating Paths to Justice in Myanmar's Transition", said in a press release. "The military still wields significant political power and influence. The continuing dominant role of former generals and business cronies comes with a reluctance to address both ongoing and past violations." "After three years of reforms, initial steps are being taken to hold government and elites more accountable," ICJT said, adding that reforms are fragile and efforts to seek justice for rights abuses are only slowly taking shape. President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government took over from a military junta in 2011 and initiated sweeping reforms. It released political prisoners, initiated a peace process to end ethnic conflict, and promised to hold free and fair elections in 2015. However, the Burma Army retains political powers through control over 25 percent of Parliament seats, while former junta members in the ruling party control government. The 2008 Constitution provides immunity for crimes committed under the former regime and Burma's court system is considered as lacking independence. The democratic transition has been marred by the Kachin conflict, a growing land rights crisis, a recent media crackdown, and large-scale right abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the Arakan State and outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence elsewhere. ICTJ's new report offered a range of recommendations for the international community on how to support the peace process and strengthen justice in Burma. Accountability for past and present rights abuses should be promoted through support for judiciary reform, support for training, documentation and prosecution of rights abuses, and through research into the public's desire for justice, according to ICTJ. The report said providing justice and reparations for victims of current and past abuses is a key step in building public confidence in Burma's new government and important for a successful transition to a more stable, democratic and prosperous country. The group said demands for justice for mass crimes committed under the former junta were growing. "Calls for acknowledgement and remedy from former political prisoners and democracy activists are gaining voice, amid a flourishing of general civic activity," the report said, noting however, that "key policy actors, national and international, have not made accountability and non-repetition measures a priority." ICJT warned that, "[D]emands for a reckoning with the harsher aspects of the past will continue to emerge and gain momentum. Both national and international actors could, therefore, benefit from some strategic preparedness to help ensure that this happens in constructive ways." The group said that in the peace process the international community should encourage the inclusion of agreements on justice for past crimes committed during ethnic conflict. "Do not support a peace agreement that includes amnesty for serious crimes," it stated unequivocally. Military-to-military engagement with Burma—which the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia initiated last year—should be contingent on reforms, justice, public accountability and respect for rights in the Burma Army, according to ICJT. The report offered no specific recommendations on how the government and international community should address current and past mass rights violations carried out against the stateless Rohingya. The post Burma Transition 'Not Yet Taken Root', Threatened by Continuing Abuses: Group appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Can Meditation Really Slow Aging? Posted: 23 Jul 2014 02:21 AM PDT People take part in "The Planet Meditates," a worldwide meditation event, at Bolivar square in Bogota, Colombia, on Sept. 28, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Jose Miguel Gomez) It's seven in the morning on the beach in Santa Monica, California. The low sun glints off the waves and the clouds are still golden from the dawn. The view stretches out over thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean. In the distance, white villas of wealthy Los Angeles residents dot the Hollywood hills. Here by the shore, curlews and sandpipers cluster on the damp sand. A few meters back from the water's edge, a handful of people sit cross-legged: members of a local Buddhist center about to begin an hour-long silent meditation. Such spiritual practices may seem a world away from biomedical research, with its focus on molecular processes and repeatable results. Yet just up the coast, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a team led by a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist is charging into territory where few mainstream scientists would dare to tread. Whereas Western biomedicine has traditionally shunned the study of personal experiences and emotions in relation to physical health, these scientists are placing state of mind at the center of their work. They are engaged in serious studies hinting that meditation might—as Eastern traditions have long claimed—slow aging and lengthen life. § Elizabeth Blackburn has always been fascinated by how life works. Born in 1948, she grew up by the sea in a remote town in Tasmania, Australia, collecting ants from her garden and jellyfish from the beach. When she began her scientific career, she moved on to dissecting living systems molecule by molecule. She was drawn to biochemistry, she says, because it offered a thorough and precise understanding "in the form of deep knowledge of the smallest possible subunit of a process." Working with biologist Joe Gall at Yale in the 1970s, Blackburn sequenced the chromosome tips of a single-celled freshwater creature called Tetrahymena ("pond scum," as she describes it) and discovered a repeating DNA motif that acts as a protective cap. The caps, dubbed telomeres, were subsequently found on human chromosomes too. They shield the ends of our chromosomes each time our cells divide and the DNA is copied, but they wear down with each division. In the 1980s, working with graduate student Carol Greider at the University of California, Berkeley, Blackburn discovered an enzyme called telomerase that can protect and rebuild telomeres. Even so, our telomeres dwindle over time. And when they get too short, our cells start to malfunction and lose their ability to divide—a phenomenon that is now recognized as a key process in aging. This work ultimately won Blackburn the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 2000, she received a visit that changed the course of her research. The caller was Elissa Epel, a postdoc from UCSF's psychiatry department. Psychiatrists and biochemists don't usually have much to talk about, but Epel was interested in the damage done to the body by chronic stress, and she had a radical proposal. Epel, now director of the Aging, Metabolism and Emotion Center at UCSF, has a long-standing interest in how the mind and body relate. She cites as influences both the holistic health guru Deepak Chopra and the pioneering biologist Hans Selye, who first described in the 1930s how rats subjected to long-term stress become chronically ill. "Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older," Selye said. Back in 2000, Epel wanted to find that scar. "I was interested in the idea that if we look deep within cells we might be able to measure the wear and tear of stress and daily life," she says. After reading about Blackburn's work on aging, she wondered if telomeres might fit the bill. With some trepidation at approaching such a senior scientist, the then postdoc asked Blackburn for help with a study of mothers going through one of the most stressful situations that she could think of—caring for a chronically ill child. Epel's plan was to ask the women how stressed they felt, then look for a relationship between their state of mind and the state of their telomeres. Collaborators at the University of Utah would measure telomere length, while Blackburn's team would measure levels of telomerase. Blackburn's research until this point had involved elegant, precisely controlled experiments in the lab. Epel's work, on the other hand, was on real, complicated people living real, complicated lives. "It was another world as far as I was concerned," says Blackburn. At first, she was doubtful that it would be possible to see any meaningful connection between stress and telomeres. Genes were seen as by far the most important factor determining telomere length, and the idea that it would be possible to measure environmental influences, let alone psychological ones, was highly controversial. But as a mother herself, Blackburn was drawn to the idea of studying the plight of these stressed women. "I just thought, how interesting," she says. "You can't help but empathize." It took four years before they were finally ready to collect blood samples from 58 women. This was to be a small pilot study. To give the highest chance of a meaningful result, the women in the two groups—stressed mothers and controls—had to match as closely as possible, with similar ages, lifestyles and backgrounds. Epel recruited her subjects with meticulous care. Still, Blackburn says, she saw the trial as nothing more than a feasibility exercise. Right up until Epel called her and said, "You won't believe it." The results were crystal clear. The more stressed the mothers said they were, the shorter their telomeres and the lower their levels of telomerase. The most frazzled women in the study had telomeres that translated into an extra decade or so of aging compared to those who were least stressed, while their telomerase levels were halved. "I was thrilled," says Blackburn. She and Epel had connected real lives and experiences to the molecular mechanics inside cells. It was the first indication that feeling stressed doesn't just damage our health—it literally ages us. § Unexpected discoveries naturally meet skepticism. Blackburn and Epel struggled initially to publish their boundary-crossing paper. "Science [one of the world's leading scientific journals] couldn't bounce it back fast enough!" chuckles Blackburn. When the paper finally was published, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in December 2004, it sparked widespread press coverage as well as praise. Robert Sapolsky, a pioneering stress researcher at Stanford University and author of the bestselling Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, described the collaboration as "a leap across a vast interdisciplinary canyon." Mike Irwin, director of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the University of California, Los Angeles, says it took a lot of courage for Epel to seek out Blackburn. "And a lot of courage for Liz [Blackburn] to say yes." Many telomere researchers were wary at first. They pointed out that the study was small, and questioned the accuracy of the telomere length test used. "This was a risky idea back then, and in some people's eyes unlikely," explains Epel. "Everyone is born with very different telomere lengths and to think that we can measure something psychological or behavioral, not genetic, and have that predict the length of our telomeres? This is really not where this field was 10 years ago." The paper triggered an explosion of research. Researchers have since linked perceived stress to shorter telomeres in healthy women as well as in Alzheimer's caregivers, victims of domestic abuse and early life trauma, and people with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. "Ten years on, there's no question in my mind that the environment has some consequence on telomere length," says Mary Armanios, a clinician and geneticist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who studies telomere disorders. There is also progress toward a mechanism. Lab studies show that the stress hormone cortisol reduces the activity of telomerase, while oxidative stress and inflammation—the physiological fallout of psychological stress—appear to erode telomeres directly. This seems to have devastating consequences for our health. Age-related conditions from osteoarthritis, diabetes and obesity to heart disease, Alzheimer's and stroke have all been linked to short telomeres. The big question for researchers now is whether telomeres are simply a harmless marker of age-related damage (like grey hair, say) or themselves play a role in causing the health problems that plague us as we age. People with genetic mutations affecting the enzyme telomerase, who have much shorter telomeres than normal, suffer from accelerated-aging syndromes and their organs progressively fail. But Armanios questions whether the smaller reductions in telomere length caused by stress are relevant for health, especially as telomere lengths are so variable in the first place. Blackburn, however, says she is increasingly convinced that the effects of stress do matter. Although the genetic mutations affecting the maintenance of telomeres have a smaller effect than the extreme syndromes Armanios studies, Blackburn points out that they do increase the risk of chronic disease later in life. And several studies have shown that our telomeres predict future health. One showed that elderly men whose telomeres shortened over two-and-a-half years were three times as likely to die from cardiovascular disease in the subsequent nine years as those whose telomeres stayed the same length or got longer. In another study, looking at over 2,000 healthy Native Americans, those with the shortest telomeres were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes over the next five-and-a-half years, even taking into account conventional risk factors such as body mass index and fasting glucose. Blackburn is now moving into even bigger studies, including a collaboration with health care giant Kaiser Permanente of Northern California that has involved measuring the telomeres of 100,000 people. The hope is that combining telomere length with data from the volunteers' genomes and electronic medical records will reveal additional links between telomere length and disease, as well as more genetic mutations that affect telomere length. The results aren't published yet, but Blackburn is excited about what the data already shows about longevity. She traces the curve with her finger: as the population ages, average telomere length goes down. This much we know; telomeres tend to shorten over time. But at age 75–80, the curve swings back up as people with shorter telomeres die off—proof that those with longer telomeres really do live longer. "It's lovely," she says. "No one has ever seen that." In the decade since Blackburn and Epel's original study, the idea that stress ages us by eroding our telomeres has also permeated popular culture. In addition to Blackburn's many scientific accolades, she was named one of Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world" in 2007, and received a Good Housekeeping achievement award in 2011. A workaholic character played by Cameron Diaz even described the concept in the 2006 Hollywood film The Holiday. "It resonates," says Blackburn. But as evidence of the damage caused by dwindling telomeres piles up, she is embarking on a new question: how to protect them. § At first, the beach seems busy. Waves splash and splash and splash. Sanderlings wheel along the shoreline. Joggers and dog walkers amble across, while groups of pelicans hang out on the water before taking wing or floating out of sight. A surfer, silhouetted black against the sky, bobs about for 20 minutes or so, catching the odd ripple toward shore before he, too, is gone. The unchanging perspective gives a curious sense of detachment. You can imagine that the birds and joggers and surfers are like thoughts: they inhabit different forms and timescales but in the end, they all pass. There are hundreds of ways to meditate but this morning I'm trying a form of Buddhist mindfulness meditation called open monitoring, which involves paying attention to your experience in the present moment. Sit upright and still, and simply notice any thoughts that arise—without judging or reacting to them—before letting them go. For Buddhists this is a spiritual quest; by letting trivial thoughts and external influences fall away, they hope to get closer to the true nature of reality. Blackburn too is interested in the nature of reality, but after a career spent focusing on the measurable and quantifiable, such navel-gazing initially held little personal appeal and certainly no professional interest. "Ten years ago, if you'd told me that I would be seriously thinking about meditation, I would have said one of us is loco," she told the New York Times in 2007. Yet that is where her work on telomeres has brought her. Since her initial study with Epel, the pair have become involved in collaborations with teams around the world—as many as 50 or 60, Blackburn estimates, spinning in "wonderful directions." Many of these focus on ways to protect telomeres from the effects of stress; trials suggest that exercise, eating healthily and social support all help. But one of the most effective interventions, apparently capable of slowing the erosion of telomeres—and perhaps even lengthening them again—is meditation. So far the studies are small, but they all tentatively point in the same direction. In one ambitious project, Blackburn and her colleagues sent participants to meditate at the Shambhala mountain retreat in northern Colorado. Those who completed a three-month course had 30 per cent higher levels of telomerase than a similar group on a waiting list. A pilot study of dementia caregivers, carried out with UCLA's Irwin and published in 2013, found that volunteers who did an ancient chanting meditation called Kirtan Kriya, 12 minutes a day for eight weeks, had significantly higher telomerase activity than a control group who listened to relaxing music. And a collaboration with UCSF physician and self-help guru Dean Ornish, also published in 2013, found that men with low-risk prostate cancer who undertook comprehensive lifestyle changes, including meditation, kept their telomerase activity higher than similar men in a control group and had slightly longer telomeres after five years. In their latest study, Epel and Blackburn are following 180 mothers, half of whom have a child with autism. The trial involves measuring the women's stress levels and telomere length over two years, then testing the effects of a short course of mindfulness training, delivered with the help of a mobile app. Theories differ as to how meditation might boost telomeres and telomerase, but most likely it reduces stress. The practice involves slow, regular breathing, which may relax us physically by calming the fight-or-flight response. It probably has a psychological stress-busting effect too. Being able to step back from negative or stressful thoughts may allow us to realize that these are not necessarily accurate reflections of reality but passing, ephemeral events. It also helps us to appreciate the present instead of continually worrying about the past or planning for the future. "Being present in your activities and in your interactions is precious, and it's rare these days with all of the multitasking we do," says Epel. "I do think that in general we've got a society with scattered attention, particularly when people are highly stressed and don't have the resources to just be present wherever they are." § Inevitably, when a Nobel Prize-winner starts talking about meditation, it ruffles a few feathers. In general, Blackburn's methodical approach to the topic has earned a grudging admiration, even among those who have expressed concern about the health claims made for alternative medicine. "She goes about her business in a cautious and systematic fashion," says Edzard Ernst of the University of Exeter, UK, who specializes in testing complementary therapies in rigorous controlled trials. Oncologist James Coyne of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who is skeptical of this field in general and describes some of the research on positive psychology and health as "morally offensive" and "tooth fairy science", concedes that some of Blackburn's data is "promising". Others aren't so impressed. Surgeon-oncologist David Gorski is a well-known critic of alternative medicine and pseudoscience who blogs under the name of Orac—he's previously described Dean Ornish as "one of the four horsemen of the Woo-pocalypse." Gorski stops short of pronouncing meditation as off-limits for scientific inquiry, but expresses concern that the preliminary results of these studies are being oversold. How can the researchers be sure they're investigating it rigorously? "It's really hard to do with these things," he says. "It is easy to be led astray. Nobel Prize-winners are not infallible." Blackburn's own biochemistry community also seems ambivalent about her interest in meditation. Three senior telomere researchers I contacted declined to discuss this aspect of her work, with one explaining that he didn't want to comment "on such a controversial issue." "People are very uncomfortable with the concept of meditation," notes Blackburn. She attributes this to its unfamiliarity and its association with spiritual and religious practices. "We're always trying to say it as carefully as we can… always saying 'look, it's preliminary, it's a pilot.' But people won't even read those words. They'll see the newspaper headings and panic." Any connotation of religious or paranormal beliefs makes many scientists uneasy, says Chris French, a psychologist at Goldsmiths, University of London, who studies anomalous experiences including altered states of consciousness. "There are a lot of raised eyebrows, even though I've got the word sceptic virtually tattooed across my forehead," he says. "It smacks of new-age woolly ideas for some people. There's a kneejerk dismissive response of 'we all know it's nonsense, why are you wasting your time?'" “When meditation first came to the West in the 1960s it was tied to the drug culture, the hippie culture," adds Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Harvard who studies how meditation changes the structure of the brain. "People think it's just a bunch of crystals or something, they roll their eyes." She describes her own decision to study meditation, made 15 years ago, as "brave or crazy," and says that she only plucked up the courage because at around the same time, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) created the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. "That gave me the confidence that I could do this and I would get funding." The tide is now turning. Helped in part by that NIH money, researchers have developed secularized—or non-religious—practices such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and reported a range of health effects from lowering blood pressure and boosting immune responses to warding off depression. And the past few years have seen a spurt of neuroscience studies, like Lazar's, showing that even short courses of meditation can forge structural changes in the brain. "Now that the brain data and all this clinical data are coming out, that is starting to change. People are a lot more accepting [of meditation]," says Lazar. "But there are still some people who will never believe that it has any benefit whatsoever.” Blackburn's view is that meditation is a fair topic to study, as long as robust methods are used. So when her research first pointed in this direction, she was undaunted by concerns about what such studies might do to her reputation. Instead, she tried it out for herself, on an intensive six-day retreat in Santa Barbara. "I loved it," she says. She still uses short bursts of meditation, which she says sharpen her mind and help her to avoid a busy, distracted mode. She even began one recent paper with a quote from the Buddha: "The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." That study, of 239 healthy women, found that those whose minds wandered less—the main aim of mindfulness meditation—had significantly longer telomeres than those whose thoughts ran amok. "Although we report merely an association here, it is possible that greater presence of mind promotes a healthy biochemical milieu and, in turn, cell longevity," the researchers concluded. Contemplative traditions from Buddhism to Taoism believe that presence of mind promotes health and longevity; Blackburn and her colleagues now suggest that the ancient wisdom might be right. § I meet with Blackburn in Paris. We're at an Art Nouveau-themed bistro just down the road from the Curie Institute, where she is on a short sabbatical, arranging seminars between groups of scientists who don't usually talk to one another. In a low, melodious voice that I strain to hear through the background clatter, the 65-year-old tells me of her first major brush with Buddhist thinking. In September 2006, she attended a conference held at the Menla Mountain Buddhist center, a remote retreat in New York's Catskill mountains, at which Western scientists met with Tibetan-trained scholars including the Dalai Lama to discuss longevity, regeneration and health. During the meeting, the spiritual leader honored Blackburn's scientific achievements by inducting her as a "Medicine Buddha." If Epel's psychiatry research had been another world, the scholars' Eastern philosophy seemed to Blackburn more alien still. Over dinner one evening, while explaining to the other delegates how errors in the gene for telomerase can cause health problems, she described genetic mutation as a random, chance event. That's dogma for Western scientists but not for those trained in the Tibetan worldview. "They said 'oh no, we don't regard this as chance,'" says Blackburn. For these holistic scholars, even the smallest events were infused with meaning. "I suddenly thought, whoa, this is a very different world from the one I'm on." But instead of dismissing her Eastern counterparts, she was impressed, finding the Dalai Lama to have "a very good brain," for example. "They're scholarly in a very different way, but it is still good-quality thinking," she explains. "It wasn't 'God told me this,' it was more 'let's see what actually happens in the brain.' So there are certain elements of the approach that I am quite comfortable with as a scientist." Blackburn isn't tempted to embrace the spiritual approach herself. "I'm rooted in the physical world," she says. But she combines that grounding with an open mind toward new ideas and connections, and she seems to love breaking out of established paradigms. For example, she and Epel have shown that the effects of stress on telomeres can be passed on to the next generation. If women experience stress while pregnant, their children have shorter telomeres, as newborns and as adults—in direct contradiction of the standard view that traits can only be passed on via our genes. In the future, information from telomeres may help doctors decide when to prescribe particular drugs. For example, telomerase activity predicts who will respond to treatment for major depression, while telomere length influences the effects of statins. In general, however, Blackburn is more interested in how telomeres might help people directly, by encouraging them to live in a way that reduces their disease risk. "This is not a familiar model for the medical world," she says. Conventional medical tests give us our risk of particular conditions—high cholesterol warns of impending heart disease, for example, while high blood sugar predicts diabetes. Telomere length, by contrast, gives an overall reading of how healthy we are: our biological age. And although we already know that we should exercise, eat well and reduce stress, many of us fall short of these goals. Blackburn believes that putting a concrete number on how we are doing could provide a powerful incentive to change our behavior. In fact, she and Epel have just completed a study (as yet unpublished) showing that simply being told their telomere length caused volunteers to live more healthily over the next year than a similar group who weren't told. Ultimately, however, the pair want entire countries and governments to start paying attention to telomeres. A growing body of work now shows that the stress from social adversity and inequality is a major force eroding these protective caps. People who didn't finish high school or are in an abusive relationship have shorter telomeres, for example, while studies have also shown links with low socioeconomic status, shift work, lousy neighborhoods and environmental pollution. Children are particularly at risk: being abused or experiencing adversity early in life leaves people with shorter telomeres for the rest of their lives. And through telomeres, the stress that women experience during pregnancy affects the health of the next generation too, causing hardship and economic costs for decades to come. § In 2012, Blackburn and Epel wrote a commentary in the journal Nature, listing some of these results and calling on politicians to prioritize "societal stress reduction." In particular, they argued, improving the education and health of women of child-bearing age could be "a highly effective way to prevent poor health filtering down through generations." Meditation retreats or yoga classes might help those who can afford the time and expense, they pointed out. "But we are talking about broad socioeconomic policies to buffer the chronic stressors faced by so many." Where many scientists refrain from discussing the political implications of their work, Blackburn says she wanted to speak out on behalf of women who lack support, and say "You'd better take their situations seriously." While arguments for tackling social inequality are hardly new, Blackburn says that telomeres allow us to quantify for the first time the health impact of stress and inequality and therefore the resulting economic costs. We can also now pinpoint pregnancy and early childhood as "imprinting periods" when telomere length is particularly susceptible to stress. Together, she says, this evidence makes a stronger case than ever before for governments to act. But it seems that most scientists and politicians still aren't ready to leap across the interdisciplinary canyon that Blackburn and Epel bridged a decade ago. The Nature article has engendered little response, according to a frustrated Epel. "It's a strong statement so I would have thought that people would have criticized it or supported it," she says. "Either way!" "It's now a consistent story that the ageing machinery is shaped at the earliest stages of life," she insists. "If we ignore that and we just keep trying to put band-aids on later, we're never going to get at prevention and we're only going to fail at cure." Simply responding to the physical symptoms of disease might make sense for treating an acute infection or fixing a broken leg, but to beat chronic age-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia, we will need to embrace the fuzzy, subjective domain of the mind. This article has been republished by The Irrawaddy under a Creative Commons license from Mosaic, a new online science research magazine published in the United Kingdom by the Wellcome Trust foundation. You can view the original article here. The post Can Meditation Really Slow Aging? appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma’s Former Religion Minister Hit With Sedition Charge Posted: 23 Jul 2014 01:18 AM PDT Former Religious Affairs Minister Hsan Hsint attends a meeting of the state Sangha in Rangoon in May. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Former Religious Affairs Minister Hsan Hsint, who is being prosecuted for alleged misuse of his ministry's funds, on Tuesday found himself facing a sedition charge as well. The former minister stood trial at the Dekkhinathiri Township Court in Naypyidaw on Tuesday. It was only then that the second charge, under Article 124(a) of the penal code, became public knowledge, Hsan Hsint's lawyer Tin Tun told The Irrawaddy. "The previous charge was Article 409, misappropriation [of state funds]. And now is the charge of disrespecting or aiding and abetting disrespect for the state. He has been charged with disrespecting the state since the 8th of this month," he explained. The court only allowed two of five lawyers to be present at Tuesday's trial on the pretext of limited space. It also did not allow reporters into the courtroom during the hearing. "They [police] have deployed many plainclothes security guards. And they tried to cover [Hsan Hsint] so that [reporters] couldn't take photos," a foreign correspondent told The Irrawaddy. "The gate [at the courthouse] was opened only for cars to come in and people were not allowed to enter. When I told them to open the gate, they pretended like they didn't hear me. It was not convenient for newsgathering," he said. Prior to his initial hearing on July 3, Hsan Hsint told journalists outside the courthouse that he did not commit any crime, and claimed that "though my stand was correct," he was being prosecuted for failing to obey the president's orders. Hsan Hsint is in poor health and is receiving medical treatment at the Yamethin Township Hospital. He was allowed to meet with his family on Tuesday. After authorities in June raided the Maha Thanti Thukha Monastery, a case that has pitted the State Central Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee against the abbot Penang Sayadaw in an ownership dispute, President Thein Sein dismissed Hsan Hsint from his ministerial position. He was then charged with misappropriation of state funds at the Pobbathiri Township Court in Naypyidaw. The post Burma's Former Religion Minister Hit With Sedition Charge appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Rangoon Court Detains Editors Awaiting Trial for ‘Undermining Stability’ Posted: 23 Jul 2014 12:58 AM PDT An editor of Bi Mon Te Nay journal is escorted out of the Pabedan Township Court in Rangoon on July 22. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Three editors at the Bi Mon Te Nay journal were remanded in custody on Tuesday awaiting trial over the publication of an article Burma's government believes was detrimental to the country's stability. They are being prosecuted, along with other staff and the publisher of the journal, for the publication on July 7 of a news story which quoted a statement from activist group Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF) announcing the supposed "election" of a new interim government. The journal's staff members are being charged with undermining public order under Article 5 (d) and (j) of the Emergency Act 1950, which together carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. On Tuesday, the Pabedan Township Court in Rangoon ruled that the three be kept in custody for more questioning ahead of trial, according to defense lawyer Robert San Aung. The three editors were sent to Insein prison, and reporter Kyaw Zaw Hein, who is expected to be remanded on Wednesday, is currently being held at the Sanchaung Township police station, he said. Bi Mon Te Nay publisher Kyaw Min Khaing, his wife Ei Ei San and employee Yin Min Tun were arrested by Thai police in Mae Sot, Thailand, last week, before being handed over to Burmese authorities. "The two publishers and their friend are from Mae Sot. Dr. Ei Ei San has been acquitted as there is no hard evidence against her. I am not sure if those arrested will be pronounced guilty or acquitted. It depends on their interrogation," Robert San Aung said, adding that he did not know where the publisher, his wife and employee were being held. The MDCF statement declared that National League for Democracy Chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic democratic forces had been "elected" by the people, and questioned the performance and legitimacy of the current government. The group's leader, Htin Kyaw, and activists Tin Maung Kyi and Zaw Win have each been sentenced to six months in jail under the Burmese Penal Code's Article 505(b)—spreading statements that undermine the state. State media said on July 8 that the story published by Bi Mon Te Nay journal quoting the statement "may cause misunderstanding among the readers and defamation of the government, undermine the stability of the State and damage public interests." The post Rangoon Court Detains Editors Awaiting Trial for 'Undermining Stability' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

A Conversation With Indonesian President Jokowi Posted: 23 Jul 2014 12:27 AM PDT Jokowi, right, speaks with reporters at his office in Jakarta in March. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) In March, The Irrawaddy's Saw Yan Naing interviewed the then presidential frontrunner Joko Widodo about his background, political vision, policies and Indonesia's elections. The article is republished here on the occasion of Jokowi's election win on Tuesday. JAKARTA — For Indonesia's presidential front-runner, a campaign to alleviate poverty in the Indonesian capital is largely personal, stemming in part from his own experiences as a child. Joko Widodo, better known by his nickname Jokowi, is the governor of Jakarta and a likely contender for the Indonesian presidency, but he traces his roots back to the small Central Java city of Solo, where he grew up as the son of a furniture maker and lived with his family in a rented shack. He later earned an engineering degree and entered the family furniture business, before shifting to politics and making a name for himself as mayor of Solo from 2005 to 2012. "When I was a small boy, I was not part of the elite, not from a rich family," Jokowi said last month during a roundtable discussion with reporters in Jakarta. "Around my house there was garbage, and there was no water, there was no well. This is my story." As mayor in Solo he focused on making health care and education more accessible to low-income families, while also building low-cost apartments. "Now I'm here, as if by accident," he said with a laugh, referring to his climb in 2012 to become the governor of Jakarta, where he is employing many of the same strategies to help low-income families in the chaotic metropolis of some 10 million people. But many political observers say his success was far from accidental and can be credited in part to his hands-on approach. "Many people have said that I'm different because the other governors, they like to stay at the office. For me, I stay at the office only a maximum of one hour [per day]," Jokowi said. "Mostly, I go to see people on the ground, in the markets, and I ask people what they want and what they need. The people, they want to see leaders working." As a result, Jokowi has won the hearts of many voters in Jakarta and far beyond in this archipelagic nation. His popularity led his party to announce in mid-March that he would be its candidate for the presidency. Inspiring hope for change in a country that has long been plagued by corrupt officials, he has been compared with the 2008 version of US President Barack Obama, who championed the slogan of "change we can believe in." Jokowi's victory for the Jakarta governorship in 2012 was widely seen as reflecting popular voter support for "new" or "clean" leaders rather than the "old" style of politics in Indonesia. During legislative elections this month, posters with his portrait could be seen in public areas of downtown Jakarta, while buskers with guitars sang songs calling him their "life and hope." As part of his poverty alleviation efforts in the capital, Jokowi has focused on making health care more affordable. To do this, he has delivered "Jakarta health cards" to 3.5 million people in the city. With the cards, he said, "they can go to public clinics, they can go to the hospitals, totally free of charge. I worked out this program because people asked me for this when I met them." Access to education is another major concern. Nining, a 40-year-old bookseller in Jakarta, said she could not afford to attend university when she was younger. "Education costs are very expensive in Indonesia. I think the government hasn't done enough for the people," she told The Irrawaddy. Jokowi said his administration was working on that. "We also have what we call 'Jakarta smart cards.' This is for education," he said. "When I would go to see the people and I asked about education, they asked the government to cover the cost of school uniforms, school vans, boots [and] shoes for the poor," he said. He added that Jakarta's annual budget had increased from 41 trillion rupiah (US $3.5 billion) last year to 72 trillion rupiah this year. The Indonesian presidency will be decided in July by direct election. Candidates will be nominated by parties that hold at least 20 percent of seats in the legislature, or parties which have formed a coalition representing that percentage of seats, or those that took 25 percent of seats in the previous election. Jokowi's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), only won 19 percent of seats in the legislative elections on April 9. Since then it has started forming coalitions with other parties, including the National Democrat Party (Nasdem) and most recently the National Awakening Party (PKB). Despite earning popular support on the coattails of Jokowi, the PDI-P is not immune to the negative voter sentiment that has affected many of the established political parties in a country where corruption stories are a regular feature of newspapers' front-pages. But Jokowi hopes he can continue earning voters' trust. "When I see people protest, I invite them to my office. We discuss, and sometimes I go directly to the demonstration places," Jokowi said. "I have opened city hall, and now people like to come here because they can meet with me and tell me their complaints." "People want to see their leaders working," he said. "If we build a good system for them, people will trust the government." This article first appeared on The Irrawaddy news website in April 2014. Saw Yan Naing is a fellow of the East-West Center's 2014 Jefferson Fellowship and this story is published under the fellowship program. He met with Jokowi during the fellowship program in Jakarta in March. The post A Conversation With Indonesian President Jokowi appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Tipped as Next Burma Army Chief, Mya Tun Oo Gets Promotion Posted: 22 Jul 2014 10:11 PM PDT Lt-Gen Mya Tun Oo is pictures at the 67th Martyrs' Day event in Rangoon on July 19. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON —Mya Tun Oo, the former major general who is tipped to become the next commander-in-chief of the Burmese armed forces, was promoted to lieutenant general in late June, becoming the fourth-ranking official in the military, according to an army source. Lt-Gen Mya Tun Oo is a graduate of the 25th intake of the elite Defense Services Academy and was appointed in 2012 to chief of staff (army). He was reportedly regarded by former military supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe as a promising officer, and the Lt-Gen himself is said to look up to the retired senior general. "In the military, those who are likely to be hand-picked for important positions get promotions relatively quickly," a military insider told The Irrawaddy. "Regardless of his current position, if someone is taking on an important responsibility, he will be promoted as quickly as possible. Since Maj-Gen Mya Tun Oo was appointed as the chief of staff (army), it is clear that he is very likely to become the future commander-in-chief of the Defense Services." Lt-Gen Mya Tun Oo has served as commander of No. 101 Infantry Division Headquarters, principal of Defense Services Academy, and commander of Central East Command. He is reported to have helped improve the relations between the military and Karen armed groups and is also a military representative to the ongoing ceasefire talks between the government and ethnic armed groups. Mya Tun Oo and Adjutant General Lt-Gen Khin Zaw Oo (OTS-56) led the military delegation to the 67th Martyrs' Day on Saturday. Mya Tun Oo was named above Lt-Gen Khin Zaw Oo on the list of top military officers attending the event published in state-run newspapers. The post Tipped as Next Burma Army Chief, Mya Tun Oo Gets Promotion appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Slow Connectivity at the India-Burma Border Posted: 22 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT India-Burma immigration checkpoint and customs office seen from Moreh, the capital of Manipur State in northeast India. (Photo: Sam Stubblefield / The Irrawaddy) KALAYMYO, Sagaing Division — "It won't take more than three hours, the road is very good, better than our airport runway," was how the hotel manager in Kalaymyo reacted when I told him that I was planning to drive to the India-Burma border. Locals enjoy the highway's smooth surface, noticeably different than most of the other roads in the area, but it is lightly traveled. The India-Burma Friendship Road has underwhelmed expectations since it was conceived by the Indian government in 1993. This is mostly due to the fact the Burmese government failed to upgrade the 71 single-lane bridges along the highway, as promised in the original agreement. The Friendship Road has yet to become the busy trade route it was envisioned to be, although this appears set to change with recent noises out of New Delhi that engagement with Burma is a priority for the newly minted Narendra Modi government. The long-planned Moreh-Mandalay bus route is set to begin operation this October, and the India-Burma-Thailand Trilateral Highway is expected to be fully operational by 2016. Friendship Road Originally proposed as India's first "Look East Policy" engagement with Burma, construction of the India-Burma Friendship Road (also known as the Tamu-Kalaymyo-Kalewa highway) started in 1997. A 320-strong workforce from India's Border Roads Organization completed the widening and paving of the highway in November of 2000. The US$30 million for the highway came entirely from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. The highway was seen as important for improving cross-border trade. But there were certainly also security considerations at a time when the Indian Army was fighting a number of insurgent groups who were active in the border area. The new highway meant Burma Army troops were better able to assist the Indian Army in its fight by gaining quicker access to areas used by the insurgent groups. The Indian security establishment's desire for Burmese assistance fighting insurgents was one of the key reasons for India's policy shift toward Burma in the early 1990s. With the emergence of the "Look East Policy" in 1993, India moved from a principled support for the Burmese democracy movement to a strategy based on mutual security cooperation. The Trilateral Highway Economic cooperation and trade is the other pillar of the "Look East Policy." The 3,200-km Trilateral Highway project—of which the Friendship Road is one part—is seen as crucial for India to expand trade with Burma and the rest of Asean. India has been the driving force behind the development of the Trilateral Highway. In 2012, India provided Burma with a $500 million line of credit to be used for the upgrade of the 1,600-km Burma section of the highway. Other sections of the highway are being financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as it is envisioned as part of an Asean East-West Corridor. At the India-Asean summit in October 2013, former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposed extending the Trilateral Highway eastward to ports in Cambodia and Vietnam. It has recently been announced that the India-Burma-Thailand Trilateral Highway will open for business in 2016. But given the experience of the India-Burma Friendship Road, this estimate may be optimistic. A Highway Is Only as Wide as Its Bridges The original agreement for the construction of the Friendship Road was that the Indian government would be responsible for widening and repaving the existing highway, while the Burmese government would upgrade the old and decrepit single-lane bridges. This never happened. The Burmese government has been dragging its feet since construction of the Friendship Road began in 1997. By 2013 the Indian government decided it had waited long enough, and a new agreement was drafted whereby India would take responsibility for upgrading the 71 single-lane bridges. Driving along the highway in early 2014, it is clear why India was getting impatient. The once brightly-painted and optimistically-worded concrete signs posts installed along the highway to celebrate its completion were peeling and crumbling. Nearly 15 years after it was "opened," the India-Burma Friendship Road has yet to reach its full potential. Common sense says that a highway is only as wide as its bridges. With 71 single-lane bridges along the 160-km stretch, there is the potential for traffic to slow to a halt every 2.25 kms. Most bridges are so narrow that only one vehicle can cross at a time. Some of the bridges are so frail that trucks over 13 tons are directed to drive down a dirt road beside the bridge, and cross directly through the water flowing below. It is a feat that proves difficult during the monsoon season, making the highway basically impassable for a certain class of truck six months of the year. The post Slow Connectivity at the India-Burma Border appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Cambodia Opposition Drops Boycott After PM Makes Rare Deal Posted: 22 Jul 2014 04:45 PM PDT Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen (2nd R) shakes hands with Sam Rainsy (2nd L), president of the CNRP after a meeting at the Senate in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. (Photo: Pring Samrang / Reuters) PHNOM PENH — Cambodia’s opposition on Tuesday agreed to drop a parliamentary boycott following talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, ending a year-long deadlock and easing political tension stemming from a disputed 2013 election. The decision came during a four-hour meeting between Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy, leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), after the prime minister guaranteed his longtime adversary a greater political stake in two crucial institutions. "From now on, there’s a balance of power between the ruling party and the other party that has seats in parliament," CNRP lawmaker-elect Yim Sovann, told a news conference. The talks also resulted in the release on bail of eight CNRP members detained last week on charges of leading an insurrection by trying to reopen a protest venue closed by the government, during which dozens were injured. The deal could represent some kind of breakthrough in Cambodia’s bitter political conflict, which has seen some of the biggest street rallies in the country’s history, and several violent crackdowns on Hun Sen’s opponents, including garment factory workers allied with a CNRP promising higher wages. CNRP lawmakers-elect had refused to take up seats won in a July 28 election last year after authorities rejected their demand for an independent inquiry into alleged vote-rigging by Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). The opposition says CPP used its influence to thwart any probe. CPP agreed to overhaul the country’s politicised National Election Committee and install some CNRP members on the panel. CNRP would be granted greater parliamentary clout, including a deputy speaker position, said CPP representative Prum Sokha. "These are all political agreements and to enforce all these, we will need to make all these into laws," he said, adding there had been no deal on an early election and both parties would work out a date for the next ballot, most likely in February 2018. Concessions by Hun Sen have been rare during his three-decade-long domination of Cambodian politics. They come a year after the once feeble opposition renamed and revamped itself to mount an unprecedented electoral challenge that stunned Hun Sen and trimmed CPP’s parliamentary majority. The CNRP still insists it won, and rejects the official result that gave it 55 seats, versus 68 for the CPP. Political analyst Ou Virak said he was skeptical about an agreement he called vague and anticipated the situation would stay precarious. "It’s a temporary deal to end the stalemate. The CPP got what it wants, the opposition going to the parliament," Ou Virak said. "I expect continued wrangling in the future." The post Cambodia Opposition Drops Boycott After PM Makes Rare Deal appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Jokowi: The New Face of Indonesian Politics Posted: 22 Jul 2014 10:00 PM PDT Indonesia's presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo gestures during an interview with Reuters in Jakarta on July 19, 2014. (Photo: Darren Whiteside / Reuters) JAKARTA — When Indonesian furniture business owner Joko "Jokowi" Widodo turned to a career in politics nine years ago, he was a complete novice. But the can-do, clean image he has cultivated as a small-city mayor, and over the past year-and-a-half as Jakarta governor, has propelled him to the presidential palace. He is set to become Indonesia's first leader not to have emerged from the political or military elite. The Elections Commission on Tuesday announced that Jokowi had beaten his rival, ex-general Prabowo Subianto, in the July 9 race by six percentage points—the country's closest presidential election ever. He will take office in October. It is Jokowi's meteoric rise through the ranks of local government, his refusal to be intimidated by entrenched interests and in particular his famous impromptu visits around Jakarta that have endeared him to a broad swathe of Indonesians, in particular the poor and minority groups. To many Indonesians, Jokowi, 53, represents a clean break from the old elite that have clung to power since the fall in 1998 of former authoritarian ruler Suharto. "Jokowi's the first genuinely post-Suharto figure [while] everybody else comes from that era, including Prabowo," said Paul Rowland, a Jakarta-based political analyst. "He is a different generation of politician and there's a market for politicians like him who are lower-key but who get things done," he added. Since leading Jakarta, he has succeeded in finally starting a mass transit railway system for the notoriously traffic-clogged city, a concept first proposed over 20 years ago. He hasn't shied away from shaking up the city's inert bureaucracy and has faced down resistance to clearing congested areas. And he has promised to continue to shake things up as president. He told Reuters in an interview last week that he would beef up the country's threadbare infrastructure, unravel near impenetrable regulations and sack ministers if they aren't up to the job. "If [ministers don't succeed] there are more than a thousand other good people in Indonesia to replace them. I can cut and then replace them. It's very simple for me," he said. "They have to be clean, they have to be competent, they have to have good leadership [skills] and a commitment to serve the people." Jokowi's celebrity-style popularity left the powerful head of his party and ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri with no choice but to set aside her own ambitions in March and nominate him for president. Jokowi and his backing party, the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), ran an often disorganized election campaign that was left vulnerable to relentless smear campaigns from rivals who questioned his religion and ethnicity and significantly eroded his lead in the race. Jokowi is a Muslim of native Indonesian descent, a fact he went to great lengths to prove by undertaking a whirlwind pilgrimage to Mecca just two days ahead of the election. Vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla, a successful businessman from the eastern island of Sulawesi, served as vice president in the first term of outgoing president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and earned a reputation for being a shrewd politician. In a separate interview with Reuters last week, Kalla said he intended to use his office to complement Jokowi's, rather than eclipse the native of Java island, who is relatively inexperienced on the national stage. "I learned when working with [Yudhoyono] that there shouldn't be two suns in the [sky]. I'll try to do that," said Kalla. Kalla, 72, came to the fore during the campaign as he offset Jokowi's typically soft-spoken Javanese style in a series of television debates between the two tickets. Kalla sharply criticized rival Prabowo's human rights record and choice of coalition partners. Concerns persist that Jokowi may be overwhelmed by Megawati and her inner circle on policymaking. He has done little to dispel this image but told Reuters that 80 percent of his cabinet picks will be based on merit rather than on deals made with other parties and key supporters. "I have already said I respect Megawati very much," Jokowi told Reuters in mid-July. "But I have also said that I will be very independent. If there is someone who says that I'm a puppet, that is a big mistake." The post Jokowi: The New Face of Indonesian Politics appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thailand’s Junta Adopts Interim Constitution Posted: 22 Jul 2014 10:05 PM PDT Thai Army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, center, is accompanied by his officers as he addresses reporters at the Royal Thai Army Headquarters in Bangkok on May 26, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Thailand adopted a temporary constitution on Tuesday, taking its first step toward the slow return of electoral democracy after two months of military rule. But the charter's clauses allow the ruling junta to continue to hold substantial power even after an interim Cabinet and legislature take office. The 48-article charter was announced on television after being endorsed by the king and posted on the website of the Royal Gazette, where new laws must be published. Its enactment is mostly a formality to carry out previously announced plans for drafting a permanent constitution and forming an interim legislature. The temporary constitution will allow an interim legislature and Cabinet to begin governing the country in September. The army overthrew an elected government in a May 22 coup, citing the need to end months of political conflict. It has said it hopes to have a new election by October 2015. Critics charge that the army plans to make the permanent constitution less democratic by reducing the power of elected politicians and increasing the number of appointed legislators, with the goal of allowing the conservative, royalist ruling elite to retain power. The coup was rooted in divisions that have wracked Thailand since 2006, when former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled by a military coup after being accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect for King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Since then, his supporters and opponents have battled for power. Although the interim charter is supposed to pave the way for civilian rule, it gives the junta what amounts to supreme power over political developments. It also legalizes all actions it has taken since the coup, as well as the takeover itself. Article 44 of the charter allows the junta leader "to order, suspend or do any actions he sees necessary for the benefits of the reforms, the unity and reconciliation of people in the country, or to prevent, suspend or suppress any actions that will destroy the peace and order, the national security and monarchy, the country's economy or the country's governance, no matter if such actions are taking place in or outside the kingdom." It declares that such actions are automatically legal. According to the temporary constitution, institutions that will be operating during the interim period include not only a Cabinet and a prime minister, along with a National Legislative Assembly of no more than 220 members, but also a national reform council and a 36-member constitution drafting committee to formulate the new permanent charter. The council, to comprise no more than 250 members, will give recommendations to the committee, and together they will finalize a draft. Significantly, the document makes no provision for a popular referendum on the permanent charter that will be proposed. Such a vote was taken on the last constitution, drafted under similar circumstances after the 2006 coup, and passed in part due to pressure by the military. Reflecting concerns repeatedly stated by the junta, the interim charter requires the drafting committee to include several measures in the constitution to fight corruption. Although the military had said it staged its takeover to restore peace and order, it has increasingly stressed plans to promote morality in politics and other areas of society. Its views closely reflect those of civilian opponents of Thaksin's political machine, including those who staged violent protests against a pro-Thaksin government for the six months prior to the coup. The junta has shown little tolerance of dissent, arresting people who protest its takeover, warning activists and politicians to keep quiet, and instituting the harshest censorship in decades. It claims to be seeking reconciliation, but its targets are mostly allies of Thaksin and critics of the military. Thaksin, a former telecommunications billionaire, remains highly popular among the poor in Thailand's north and northeast, and parties controlled by him have won every national election since 2001. His opponents, including the country's traditional elites, who are tied to the military and the royal palace, bitterly opposed him and sought to remove all traces of Thaksin's political machine from politics. They claim he used money politics to win landslide election victories, boosted especially by the support of the country’s rural majority and urban poor, who benefited from his populist policies. The coup unseated a government that had been led by Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who was forced from the prime minister's office earlier in May for abuse of power involving a civil service appointment. Her supporters claim her removal, as well as the coup, were the result of a conspiracy by a traditional ruling class that felt it was losing influence under a democratic system. The post Thailand's Junta Adopts Interim Constitution appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China’s McDonald’s Meat Scandal Hits Starbucks, Burger King Posted: 22 Jul 2014 09:42 PM PDT Employees work at a production line prior to a seizure conducted by officers from the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration at the Husi Food factory in Shanghai on July 20, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — A suspect meat scandal in China engulfed Starbucks and Burger King on Tuesday and spread to Japan where McDonald's said the Chinese supplier accused of selling expired beef and chicken had provided 20 percent of the meat for its chicken nuggets. Chinese authorities expanded their investigation of the meat supplier, Shanghai company Husi Food Co. A day after Husi's food processing plant in Shanghai was sealed by the China Food and Drug Administration, the agency said Tuesday that inspectors also will look at its facilities and meat sources in five provinces in central, eastern and southern China. The scandal surrounding Husi Food, which is owned by OSI Group of Aurora, Illinois, has added to a string of safety scares in China over milk, medicines and other goods that have left the public wary of dairies, restaurants and other suppliers. Food safety violations will be "severely punished," the food agency said on its website. Starbucks Corp. on Tuesday said it removed from its shelves sandwiches made with chicken that originated at Husi. Burger King Corp. said it stopped using hamburger it received from a supplier that used product from Husi. Pizza restaurant chain Papa John's International Inc. announced it stopped using meat from Husi. In Japan, McDonald's Corp. said it stopped selling McNuggets at more than 1,300 outlets that used chicken supplied by Husi. It said the Shanghai company had been supplying chicken to it since 2002. A Shanghai broadcaster, Dragon TV, reported Sunday that Husi repackaged old beef and chicken and put new expiration dates on them. It said they were sold to McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants. McDonald's and Yum Brands Inc., which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, said they immediately stopped using meat from Husi. During a conference call to discuss its quarterly earnings Tuesday, McDonald's CEO Don Thompson said the company felt "a bit deceived" about the plant in question. A third restaurant chain, Taiwanese-owned Dicos, also said Monday it stopped using meat from Husi. In a statement, Husi said it was "appalled by the report" and would cooperate with the investigation. It promised to share the results with the public. "Our company management believes this to be an isolated event, but takes full responsibility for the situation and will take appropriate actions swiftly and comprehensively," Husi said. Some companies said they didn't deal with Husi but had discovered their suppliers bought meat from that company. Food and drug safety is an unusually sensitive issue in China following scandals over the past decade in which infants, hospital patients and others have been killed or sickened by phony or adulterated milk powder, drugs and other goods. Foreign fast food brands are seen as more reliable than Chinese competitors, though local brands have made big improvements in quality. "If confirmed, the practices outlined in the report are completely unacceptable to McDonald's," the company's Chinese business said in a statement. Yum's KFC is China's biggest restaurant chain, with more than 4,000 outlets and plans to open 700 more this year. The company, based in Louisville, Kentucky, said in a statement that "food safety is the most important priority for us." "We will not tolerate any violations of government laws and regulations from our suppliers," it said. KFC sales in China plunged after state television reported in December 2013 some poultry suppliers violated rules on drug use in chickens. KFC overhauled quality controls and eliminated more than 1,000 small poultry producers from its supply network. In Japan, McDonald's spokesman Kenji Kaniya said the affected stores are in the Tokyo area and the cities of Nagano and Shizuoka. Other chicken used by McDonald's in Japan comes from suppliers in Thailand and China, Kaniya said. Associated Press researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai and AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report. The post China's McDonald's Meat Scandal Hits Starbucks, Burger King appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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