The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Ethnic Alliance to Meet With Govt to Discuss Attack, Ceasefire
- Mon State to Turn Death Railway Site Into Tourist Draw
- Statesmen’s Group Meet Burmese Women’s Rights Activists
- Clashes Kill 7 Burmese Soldiers in Eastern Burma
- Accord Inspires Mother-Tongue Signage, Resistance in Mon State
- Another Flight Hits Birdlife Above Bago
- Gem Traders in Mandalay Oppose Moving Marketplace
- Stories of Survival
- Suu Kyi Denounces ‘Just for Show’ 12-Party Charter Talks
- How China Spies on Hong Kong’s Democrats
- American in North Korea Denounces US, Seeks Venezuela Asylum: Media
- Abe Coalition Secures Big Japan Election Win
- Fallout From Flight 11
| Ethnic Alliance to Meet With Govt to Discuss Attack, Ceasefire Posted: 15 Dec 2014 04:25 AM PST  Government and military leaders (right) shake hands with ethnic leaders at the start of nationwide ceasefire talks in Rangoon in early April. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A representative of an alliance of ethnic armed groups said they have agreed to hold a high-level meeting in Rangoon with Minister Aung Min next week in an effort to resume Burma's stalled nationwide ceasefire process. "We have a plan to meet … before Christmas. We did not yet set a date but we will meet in Yangon," said Khun Okkar, a senior member of the National Ceasefire Coordination Team, which represents an alliance of 16 ethnic armed groups. The meeting will be an important moment for the sides to assess if they can resolve the fallout of a Burma Army surprise attack on the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on Nov. 19, when the military fired a number of artillery rounds into the grounds of a KIA training camp near Laiza where dozens of young cadets were exercising. The attack injured more than a dozen cadets and killed 23, most of them from rebel groups allied to the KIA, such as the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army. The KIA subsequently cancelled its monthly meetings in Myitkyina with the Burma Army and alleged the army had not made an effort to properly explain the attack. Khun Okkar said the NCCT expected answers over the attack from Aung Min and army representatives during the upcoming meeting, adding that the minister had only touched upon the incident in a recent letter to the NCCT. "He gave some explanations in his letter, but not enough. We are not satisfied with his statement. Therefore, we decided to have a meeting as we wanted to talk more about this," Khun Okkar said. "We will ask more questions and negotiate with them [about the nationwide ceasefire] at the meeting." Tensions in northern Burma have risen since the attack, and clashes between the army and Kachin, Palaung and Kokang rebels have become increasingly frequent. In recent months, the nationwide ceasefire process had already hit a deadlock as differences over key issues, such as political autonomy for ethnic regions, could not be bridged. Khun Oo Reh, vice-chairman of the Karenni National Progressive Party and a NCCT member, said the government and army were obliged to offer an explanation for last month's deadly attack before the nationwide ceasefire process could resume. "We could not ignore the case of killings in Laiza. We could not focus only having meeting without solving the case of killings. We need to find a solution for this," he said. "For our ethnics' side… I feel that we made a lot of compromises with them already, which cannot do that anymore" after the attack, said Khun Oo Reh. The post Ethnic Alliance to Meet With Govt to Discuss Attack, Ceasefire appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Mon State to Turn Death Railway Site Into Tourist Draw Posted: 15 Dec 2014 03:47 AM PST  The entrance to the Death Railway memorial in Thanbyuzayat, Mon State. (Photo: Kyaw Hsu Mon / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Mon State government has awarded a company a contract to develop a museum, a hotel, a restaurant and other tourist facilities at the site of the World War II-era Death Railway in Thanbyuzayat Township, southeastern Burma. State officials told The Irrawaddy that Tala Mon Company Ltd. had been granted the right to construct the facilities, adding that authorities hoped to develop the site soon in order to create an international tourist attraction in their state. "We have historic pictures and we have [made] statues of the soldiers, and we will recreate scenes [from the Death Railway]—we also already have an old steam engine," said Toe Toe Aung, the Mon State minister for civil development, adding that he expected the museum to be completed by June. He said the state government would ask the Railways Ministry to construct a new, one-mile long piece of track that would symbolize the Death Railway, of which few traces remain in Thanbyuzayat Township. Toe Toe Aung said the budget for the project was yet to be determined. Local media reported last week that an area of about 6.6 acres was being set aside for the plan. Currently, the only reminders of the historic importance of the site are a large concrete signboard reading "Myanmar-Thailand-Japanese Death Railway line starts here," and an old steam locomotive on a short piece of track. A damaged statue of a standing soldier can also be seen, its upper body lying in the grass. The new project is being developed by the Mon State authorities, Toe Toe Aung said, adding that the British Embassy or the Commonwealth War Graves Commission had not been consulted. "Until now, we don't have any plans to collaborate with international bodies, including the British Embassy. But if they want to make suggestions for this project we will accept it," he said. The War Graves Commission maintains the grave site at Thanbyuzayat Township where several thousand victims of the Death Railway have been laid to rest, as well two other World War II grave sites in Burma, including the large Taukkyan War Cemetery on the outskirts of Rangoon. Burma was an important theater of war during the conflict. During the occupation, the Japanese army forced tens of thousands of prisoners of war from Britain, the Netherlands and Australia, alongside many Burmese and other Southeast Asian nationals, to construct a railway connecting Thailand's Kanchanaburi District with Mon State's Thanbyuzayat Township. 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. In Thailand, remnants of the railway and a memorial have long drawn thousands of international visitors, something the Mon State authorities hope to replicate. "If we complete this construction project, Mon State will become developed more because a lot of foreign visitors are expected to visit this historic place," said Naing Lwin, general manager of Tala Mon Company Limited. He said the firm would build a museum, a hotel, a gift shop, restaurants, a bus station, a swimming pool and "a reception hall for wedding ceremonies." Naing Lwin said the firm was awaiting further instructions from the state government, but had already begun land survey in the proposed project area. Tala Mon Company is owned by wealthy Mon businessman Min Banyar San, who has s interests in tourism and travel, including Tala Mon Bus Company. Central government officials have said in recent years that they would like to develop the old railway into a modern railway link to Thailand, once Burma has a nationwide peace agreement. The post Mon State to Turn Death Railway Site Into Tourist Draw appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Statesmen’s Group Meet Burmese Women’s Rights Activists Posted: 15 Dec 2014 03:41 AM PST  Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari (left), former United States President Jimmy Carter (center), and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland speak at a press conference in Rangoon in Sept. 2013. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Burmese women's rights activists have raised concerns over human rights abuses and the slowdown of Burma's peace program to The Elders, a group of internationally renowned former world leaders and rights advocates. Representatives from the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) met with members of The Elders on Saturday in Chiang Mai, where they argued that Burma's much-touted reforms were only being felt in urban areas, and not war-torn ethnic regions in the countryside. "We told them that the situation on the ground in ethnic regions is not much changed," said Naw Wah Ku Shee of the WLB "You will hear good news in big cities like Yangon [Rangoon], but not in ethnic states. And as we represent ethnic minorities, we will keep exposing human rights abuses, murder and rape of women in ethnic areas." Members of The Elders present at the summit included ex-Norwegian Premier Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, and former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi. The Elders flew to Burma on Sunday and will meet with President Thein Sein, Burma Army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing as well as a raft of civil society organizations, according to the WLB. "They came to meet us as they are aware of the role of women in the peace process," said Naw Wah Ku Shee. "From the security point of view, we told them that women and girls will be safe from abuse only when Burmese Army withdraws its troops from conflict-torn areas." She also emphasized that there has been intermittent conflict in ethnic regions, especially in northern and eastern Burma, despite ceasefire agreements covering some of these areas and official moves towards a national ceasefire agreement. The members of The Elders told the WLB representatives that they accept concerns and suggestions of the women activists, but emphasized that reforms made by the current government led by President Thein Sein should also be recognized. The Elders organization includes Nobel Laureate and former US President Jimmy Carter and figures such as Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general. In September last year, the Elders visited Burma, where Carter called on Burma to allow foreign organizations to observe the country's 2015 national elections. At that time, the organization also met with Thein Sein and Min Aung Hlaing, and were generous in their praise of Burma's lawmakers, saying the country's reforms were going well for the most part. The post Statesmen's Group Meet Burmese Women's Rights Activists appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Clashes Kill 7 Burmese Soldiers in Eastern Burma Posted: 15 Dec 2014 03:34 AM PST  TNLA troops on the march in northern Shan State's Kyauk Mae Township. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Conflict between government troops and armed rebels left at least seven Burmese soldiers dead and another 20 injured in eastern Burma late last week, state media reported on Monday. State-owned daily Global New Light of Myanmar said the clash was prompted by a rebel "ambush" on government columns in Kunlong Township, located in northern Shan State near the border with China. The deadly incident took place on Dec. 10, the report said. "The remnant Kokang insurgent group launched unprovoked attacks on Tatmadaw [Burma Army] camps and columns while the government is implementing the peace process and the Tatmadaw is determined to effectively counter the attacks in cooperation with local people," read Monday's report. The Kokang are an ethnic minority primarily in northern Shan State, occupying a border territory between the Salween River and the Chinese border. Their roughly 3,000-strong army is known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). While the Kokang signed a new ceasefire with the government in 2007, the group is allied with several other ethnic armed groups in the area, which lies in the center of a major trade route with China and in the crosshairs of several hydropower and other development projects. Among the Kokang's allies are the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Burma's last remaining major ethnic armed groups that have not secured bilateral peace agreements with the government. A spokesperson for the TNLA, Mai Aik Kyaw told The Irrawaddy on Monday that a combined force of allied troops did engage in combat with the government last week, but that the conflict occurred about 100 km west of the location cited in state media. The spokesperson said there had been an increase government troops in rebel-held Tamoenye and Kutkai townships, resulting in conflict on Dec. 10 and 13. "There was no ambush by our allied troops, apart from the fighting in those townships," said Mai Aik Kyaw. Burma's military-drafted 2008 Constitution awarded the Kokang a level of autonomy by granting the group a self-administered region in Konkyan and Laukkai townships in northern Shan State. The group is believed to have last fought with the Burma Army in 2009. Several rounds of peace negotiations between the government and more than a dozen ethnic armed groups stagnated earlier this year, postponing a long-awaited nationwide ceasefire agreement meant to end Burma's decades of civil war. The post Clashes Kill 7 Burmese Soldiers in Eastern Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Accord Inspires Mother-Tongue Signage, Resistance in Mon State Posted: 15 Dec 2014 03:28 AM PST  A sign in both Burmese and Mon languages welcomes visitors to Thanbyuzayat Township in Mon State. (Photo: Facebook / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Mon State parliament says it will allow the Mon language to be posted on government signage for the first time, in an informal but potentially symbolic agreement viewed as helping to preserve the ethnic minority group's linguistic identity. "This is Mon State. As such, we need to have the Mon language written by every department of the government," said Nai Tala Chan, a Mon State lawmaker from the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP) who put forward the proposal early this month. After its submission to the state legislature on Dec. 3, Min Nwe Soe, who serves as minister for literature and culture in Mon State, told parliament that the government would endorse the proposal. "Min Nwe Soe told us in parliament that we could post both Mon and Burmese languages at any departments in townships and villages," said Nai Tala Chan. "No one could ban it, he [Min Nwe Soe] said." Reports from the ground, however, have indicated that some local authorities continue to resist the posting of dual language signage, according to Aung Naing Oo, another lawmaker. "They [authorities] have declined to give a direct order to do it, because the official working language is Burmese. They told us they could not give their permission to do it," he said. With the Mon language allowance apparently selectively enforced, Mon lawmakers have distributed letters to townships and villages in the state, telling local authorities that they have the right to post Mon language signage in government buildings such schools, hospitals and administrative departments. "Our distribution of letters told our people to write both Mon and Burmese whenever they put up signboards in villages and townships," Nai Tala Chan said. Ethnic Mon are a majority in most townships in Mon State, but in some townships that are not majority Mon, resistance to the movement has emerged. "We have been able to do it [post Mon language signs] depending on whether the area has a big population of our ethnic Mon. If there are majority Burmese [Bamar] and the people do not agree to post both languages, we cannot do this," said Nai Tala Chan, citing an example in Jar Kan village, Thanbyuzayat Township, where the Mon village head in August put up a signboard in the Mon language, only to see the township authority order it removed. Some Mon lawmakers have told the Jar Kan village leader to repost the signboard, and inform them if the township authority again instructs that it be taken down. Article 22(a) of Burma's 2008 Constitution states that the Union government shall assist in "develop[ing] language, literature, fine arts and culture of the National races," a provision that has been wholly contravened in past years by the ethnic Bamar-dominated government, which has for decades sought to systematically suppress use of the myriad ethnic minority languages spoken in Burma. Ironically, the Mon alphabet was adapted to serve as the written means of communicating in Burmese, the country's official language. Earlier this year, the Mon State parliament passed a bill allowing for the teaching of ethnic languages in government primary schools for the first time in more than 50 years. Nai Tala Chan said that while there remained work to do in achieving full recognition of the Mon minority's rights, the government's allowance of Mon language signage would mark a step in the right direction. "We know this Constitution does not afford full rights for our ethnic people. But we only have one road [the Constitution] at the moment. This is why we need time to fight, step by step," Nai Tala Chan said. The post Accord Inspires Mother-Tongue Signage, Resistance in Mon State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Another Flight Hits Birdlife Above Bago Posted: 15 Dec 2014 03:12 AM PST  The Air KBZ Airbus turboprop forced to land in Rangoon after colliding with a flock of birds on Sunday. (Photo: Yangon Police / Facebook) RANGOON — An Air KBZ flight en route to Kengtung, Shan State was forced to land after hitting a flock of birds shortly after takeoff on Sunday, according to Rangoon Division police. The windbreaker of Airbus ATR 72 turboprop airliner, operating on route K7 822, collided with the birds 914 meters (3000 feet) above Bago and was forced to return to Rangoon International Airport. Air KBZ Flight 822 was carrying five crewmembers and 23 passengers. There was no damage to the plane or injuries reported amongst those aboard. As a safety precaution, the airline moved the passengers to a separate plane and resumed service on the same day. Myat Thu, general manager of Air KBZ, said that although the incident was not dangerous, the plane returned to Rangoon Airport as per the airline's standard safety procedures. "We changed the plane and left again. When the Airbus was checked, no damage was found." The incident is the second time in a week that a plane has collided with birdlife near Rangoon. On Wednesday, a Myanmar Airways International (MAI) from Singapore suffered slight damage after a bird punctured the plane's nosecone shortly before landing in Rangoon. The MAI flight was also above Bago, when the collision occurred, about 305 meters (1000 feet) above Flight 822's collision on Sunday. Thein Aung, second chair of the Myanmar Bird and Nature Society, said that such incidents are nothing out of the ordinary in many other countries. "This is just a coincidence. It's not from migratory birds. Incidents like these are common in other countries, they just rarely happen in Myanmar," he said. The post Another Flight Hits Birdlife Above Bago appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Gem Traders in Mandalay Oppose Moving Marketplace Posted: 15 Dec 2014 02:18 AM PST  An attendee at the 2014 Gems Emporium examines a piece of raw jade in Naypyidaw. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Gem traders in Mandalay are gearing up in opposition to a government plan to relocate Burma's biggest jade and gem market. Local traders, who have long opposed a relocation plan that would move them from downtown Mandalay to Amarapura, in the outskirts of the city, said they would submit a formal complaint to the divisional parliament while the issue is under debate by lawmakers. "We will submit a complaint to the divisional parliament and request that the market be upgraded instead of moved, as we all wish," said Than Win, a trader and chairman of a community committee advocating for renovation. Mandalay Mayor Aung Maung reportedly tabled the proposal in the divisional parliament on Friday, signaling that the plan may soon become a reality. Local traders have opposed the move since it was first proposed in 2012, claiming that it disenfranchised small-scale merchants and left their merchandise vulnerable to theft. Proponents of the plan said the current market, which is the main hub for Burma's lucrative stones, is run down, crowded and unkempt. Traders said they had twice proposed renovating the market instead of relocating it, a proposal that they claimed had been not yet been addressed by lawmakers. "We requested that the authorities upgrade the market instead of moving us so far away from the town, but they ignored us and kept trying to move us out. If they keep doing this, we will have to confront them as we have no other choice," said Than Win. Mandalay's gem and jade market is currently located in downtown's Maha Aungmyay Township, where it was installed by the Mandalay City Development Committee in 1997. Plans to once again relocate the market surfaced around 2008 with an initial proposal to move operations to the commercial capital, Rangoon, in order to facilitate legal export through seaports and minimize illicit cross-border trade. Around late 2012, however, officials suggested instead moving the market to Amarapura, about 8 km (5 miles) from downtown Mandalay and near the highway connecting the city to Rangoon. The local gem traders' committee said that a new pagoda adorned with precious stones is already being built at the new site, which will be christened "Jade Garden." While the mayor reportedly told local press that the new site would include housing and some social service facilities, many don't want to move. Those vendors who wish to remain I their current residences face long transit times and apprehension about leaving their wares in the shop overnight. "The new marketplace is so far away that we need to worry about security," said gems dealer Thet May. "Who will take responsibility if we are robbed and our gems are stolen?" While some vendors said they were assured transportation, they remained skeptical of the government's ability to provide safe and adequate transit and security. "We won't move even an inch from this place," said Thet May, referring to the current marketplace. Traders said the current market houses more than 1,000 showrooms, where about 3,000 dealers make their living peddling the rare stones. The market supports the livelihoods of countless others who work as porters, cutters and polishers. Some traders estimated that as many as 8,000 people would be directly affected by the move. "The most suitable place for this market is downtown," said jade-seller Kyaw Zaw Aung. "Every buyer and seller can have access there. If the current market isn't graceful enough, why not upgrade it? [The government] is wasting money building a new market." Burma is rich in precious stones including jade, rubies and sapphires. A report by the Harvard Ash Center, published in mid-2013, estimated that the jade trade alone was worth about US$8 billion in 2011. While government figures accounted for a much smaller amount, much of the revenue is believed to come from illegal trade with China. Total official sales surpassed $3 billion, however, at a jade emporium held in the capital Naypyidaw in July, according to the Ministry of Mines. Most of the stones come from mineral deposits found in volatile ethnic states, like Kachin in the country's north, where the government is still at war with armed groups fighting for greater autonomy. The post Gem Traders in Mandalay Oppose Moving Marketplace appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Posted: 15 Dec 2014 12:42 AM PST  Allan Lokos and his wife Susanna Weiss. (Photo courtesy of Allan Lokos) Two years ago, before the Heho crash, Allan Lokos, 73, was enjoying a late-blooming career as a meditation teacher in New York City. His recently published books on cultivating patience and equanimity had found an audience in the fast-growing American market for insights drawn from Buddhism. The New York Times had solicited the former Broadway singer's ideas for a story on how to have a peaceful travel experience. Dozens of people were showing up each week for talks at the community meditation center Mr. Lokos founded on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The center's other teachers included well-known figures from the Buddhist fraternity in the United States, including Stephen Bachelor and Mr. Lokos' friend and teacher Sharon Salzberg. Along with Jack Cornfield and Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg founded the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) and its influential retreat center in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1976. The three had each come to Buddhism after spending time in monasteries in Southeast Asia where their teachers included figures such as Sayadaw U Pandita and S.N. Goenka from Myanmar. Together with Tibetan and other monks and figures such as Jon Kabat-Zinn and Mark Epstein, the IMS founders are credited with helping drive the remarkable rise and adaptation of Buddhist thought in the United States in recent decades. As later arrivals with a growing place in that broad church, Mr. Lokos and his wife Susanna Weiss were excited in 2012 to be visiting a country with long-held Buddhist traditions. And then Heho happened. All Mr. Lokos' earlier thinking and training to do with cultivating higher mental qualities would be put to a terrible test. Because of what Mr. Lokos has referred to as the "benevolent brain," he had no awareness at the time of the horrific injuries he had sustained from the flames that engulfed the plane. Parts of his septuagenarian body had been burned away to the bone. Swathes of fried flesh flapped about when he moved, horrifying onlookers at the scene. The first doctors to see him said he would not survive. But there was no escape from awareness during the subsequent ordeals in burn units in hospitals in Bangkok, Singapore and New York as surgeons and others worked to patch him back together. In a new book due out in early February 2015, Mr. Lokos describes how qualities such as mindfulness that had been instilled in him during Buddhist practice helped him to pull through. "Through the Flames: Overcoming Disaster Through Compassion, Patience and Determination," will be released in the United States by Penguin/Random House. Mr. Lokos says the book is generating a fair share of "excitement," perhaps for the same reasons more people are attending his talks this year. "I think it's about the fact that someone actually survived what all logic and all medical opinion said could not be done. Perhaps it's reassuring for people to know that if something really bad happened to them, they too could survive." He hopes the book will prove helpful to others struggling in tough situations against the odds. The point, he says, is that people "can come back." Telling the story was "essential" for two reasons. "One, I'm asked about it constantly. Secondly, it establishes that I really have been there with you [the reader]—you who are going through chemo right now, you who has suffered a great loss in an accident." This is one advice book unlikely to make readers think, "Well yes, this is all well and good, but you don't know what it's like to go through this." Yet Mr. Lokos realized that though he came through his shattering experiences fairly positively, not everyone in a crisis will be that fortunate. So he interviewed four others suffering traumatic events whose experiences were different. "I wanted to be able to talk through those people as well. My view is, we're all in this together." The story may be stirring but Mr. Lokos' words are measured. "What happened was, I went on a vacation, I got on a plane, the plane had an accident, I was injured. Those are the facts. There was a lot of disruption after that but the reality is pretty straightforward, even though it's dramatic." His personal struggle was not that unusual, he says. "I don't take any credit for that, I did exactly what anyone else would do… I tried to survive." Like Mr. Lokos, some Myanmar survivors also harbor no blame today for their misfortune and take refuge in Buddhist teachings. Tour guide Ma Toe Toe Khin, who suffered leg burns and a damaged vertebra, said of herself and a fellow female injured guide, "We are Buddhists. We believe we experienced bad luck because of our karma." She added: "The thing which had to happen, has already happened. All we need now is to take care of ourselves and try to recover fast. As in the Buddha's sayings, everything happens for a reason." Ma Toe Toe Khin, who is still not well enough to return to work, commended the airline for assisting with the guides' medical expenses. Tour guide Ko Myint Htwe, who experienced what he called minor head injuries, felt similarly. "I just took the incident as my karma. After the accident, I went to the pilots and gave my thanks to them. Everyone makes mistakes. Perhaps, if not for them and how they landed the plane, everyone on board could have died." Recovery, still a work in progress for the survivors, isn't all about religion and philosophy. Humor may also be a part of the medicine. Says Mr. Lokos: "My hands are what I deal with mostly. I wear compression gloves that help to reduce the scars. I have no finger prints on either hand. If I were a criminal I'd be in great shape." Simon Lewis and Zarni Mann contributed reporting. This story first appeared in the December 2014 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine, alongside this feature. The post Stories of Survival appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Suu Kyi Denounces ‘Just for Show’ 12-Party Charter Talks Posted: 14 Dec 2014 11:27 PM PST  Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the National League for Democracy party's fourth Central Executive Committee meeting on Saturday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected as "just for show" a proposal for 12-party talks on constitutional reform, which was put forward last week and passed by the Rangoon divisional parliament. Speaking at the fourth meeting of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party's Central Executive Committee over the weekend, Suu Kyi reiterated opposition to the multi-party dialogue, which she first conveyed last week, saying: "We utterly object the steps trying to derail fruitful talks. It is important that genuine talks are held. We don't want talks for show at all." "If there are too many participants [in the talks], it will be hard to understand their views clearly. We demand four-party talks, not because we don't want the participation of many players, not because we want to restrict [dialogue], but because we want talks to be effective and pragmatic," said Suu Kyi, who serves as chairwoman of the NLD. The opposition leader said she would support the six-party talks proposed and passed by the Union Parliament, putting her in the same camp as the national legislature, which unanimously passed that proposal on Nov. 25. Those talks would bring together President Thein Sein, Burma Army commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing, the speakers of both houses of Parliament, Suu Kyi and a representative of the country's ethnic minorities. Min Aung Hlaing has said, however, that the proposed six-party talks would not be sufficiently inclusive. Presidential spokesman Ye Htut has sent mixed messages on the matter, indicating initially that the proposal was impractical but later saying the President's Office was "considering" it. Karen Nationalities Minister Tun Aung Myint of the Rangoon Division government put forward a proposal on Dec. 9 to the divisional parliament, urging that "12-party talks on charter reform" be convened. The following day, his proposal was put to a vote and passed, with 99 votes in favor and nine against. Suu Kyi has been calling for four-party talks—involving President Thein Sein, parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, Min Aung Hlaing and herself—since last year. She said at the weekend meeting that the party would stick to its principles advocating for rule of law, internal peace and reform of the 2008 Constitution, which it adopted when it decided to contest in by-elections in 2012. A total of 112 delegates from regional and state NLD branches attended the meeting, which focused on regional affairs and the 2015 general elections. Suu Kyi on the weekend also warned her members against power struggles within the party. "I'd like to warn you: I want you to understand that the NLD was founded not for you, but for the country," she said. "To be frank, I would like to urge those who think they would gain [personal] benefits by joining the NLD to change their attitudes." The post Suu Kyi Denounces 'Just for Show' 12-Party Charter Talks appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| How China Spies on Hong Kong’s Democrats Posted: 14 Dec 2014 09:16 PM PST  Pro-democracy lawmaker James To poses in front of the Legislative Council logo inside the council building in Hong Kong December 4, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — James To was growing uneasy. When the veteran Hong Kong Democratic Party lawmaker looked in his rear-view mirror, two silver Mercedes Benz saloons kept appearing behind his grey Volvo sedan. For almost a week, one or the other was behind him on his daily commute. When he arrived at the Legislative Council building, the following car would park nearby and wait, sometimes for hours. With his suspicion hardening, on August 11 To complained to the police, reporting the registration numbers of the two Mercedes in his detailed statement. The next morning he pulled out of his home in the largely working class neighborhood of North Point on Hong Kong island and headed to work. At the bottom of the street outside his building, he glanced in the mirror to see an unmarked car pull sharply into the path of a silver Mercedes behind him. Several men got out of the unmarked car. He kept driving, assuming the police had moved fast to intercept his tail. He was right. Later, To says, the police informed him they had arrested two men and seized two Mercedes. What he didn't know was that the police had inadvertently foiled a surveillance operation being run by mainland China. Just ahead of the biggest pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover, the police had stumbled into a Chinese internal security operation aimed at monitoring the activities of pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, according to two people with knowledge of the surveillance. The mainland Chinese intelligence services have long been suspected of running covert operations in Hong Kong, but this has now been confirmed for the first time, Reuters has learned, with one of their surveillance teams taken into custody. The pair was part of a team watching To, according to the people familiar with the operation. Other teams have been assigned to track key figures in the pro-democracy movement and critics of Beijing's rule in the city, they say, with the aim of uncovering compromising information. The arrested pair was quickly released without any public announcement. The police declined to divulge their identities to Reuters. Retired Police Officers Retired senior Hong Kong police officers and managers at private security companies say mainland intelligence services have been recruiting former Hong Kong police to assist in political surveillance operations. Recruiters identify former officers with surveillance training and pro-Beijing sympathies. They say more than 20 of these retired officers have been assigned to surveillance teams working alongside mainland agents. One of the Mercedes cars that To reported to police is registered to a local resident who says he is a Hong Kong public servant. The man told Reuters he played no role in the surveillance. The other car was displaying a license plate that is not registered to any vehicle, according to records of the Hong Kong government's Transport Department. News of the mainland spying operation comes as many Hong Kong residents are already chafing at China's tightening grip on their city. The fear: Beijing is eroding the wide-ranging personal freedoms and independent law enforcement enshrined in the one country, two systems formula under which they have been governed since British rule ended in 1997. Pro-democracy lawmakers, academics and political activists worry that Hong Kong is becoming more like mainland Chinese cities, where the internal security services join forces with the police to crush dissent. They say the surveillance has intensified over the last 12 months, as the city's pro-democracy movement began planning for the campaign of civil disobedience that disrupted Hong Kong's central business district for more than two months from late September. For China's leaders, the upheaval presents one of the most serious popular challenges to Communist Party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen protests. Embarrassing Material The surveillance of To is just one example of the monitoring of Beijing's political opponents. Other lawmakers, political activists, academics and Catholic priests say they have been monitored or followed in recent months. In some cases, they suspect that the surveillance is aimed at unearthing material that could be used to discredit or embarrass them. To says the surveillance is especially intimidating at a time when Beijing is struggling to contain demands for fully democratic elections in the former British colony. "In these difficult times, we don't know what action they will take in an extreme case," he says. "I don't know what their motive is, you know, so it is always threatening behavior." The Liaison Office in Hong Kong, Beijing's official representative body in the city, did not respond to faxed questions from Reuters. A spokesman for the office of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said it did not comment on individual cases. "All persons in Hong Kong, whether residents or not, have to abide by the laws of Hong Kong," the spokesman said. Hong Kong police cleared out the main protest site late last week, bringing to an end more than 10 weeks of street demonstrations. To was among the pro-democracy politicians arrested on suspicion of obstructing police and illegal assembly as they gathered for a last show of defiance at the site. He was released after several hours. In written answers to questions from Reuters in October, a Hong Kong police spokesman confirmed that an investigation had been launched after "someone surnamed To" reported being followed. "On August 12, two local Chinese males aged 56 and 54 were arrested in North Point," the spokesman said, adding that they had been released on police bail. The police described the case as suspected loitering, but did not give further details about the arrested men and did not respond to a question about whether the suspects were retired Hong Kong police officers. In a reply to Reuters last week, the police said the investigation had been "curtailed" due to insufficient evidence that any criminal offense had been committed. Hong Kong law enforcement veterans would be valued for their local knowledge and contacts. As retirees, they are private citizens, which may mean there is a grey area in which they can operate, say legal experts. And, if one of these surveillance operations were exposed, the mainland security services could distance themselves from any fallout, according to foreign diplomats who follow political events in Hong Kong. For To, it would be a bitter irony if former Hong Kong police were following him as part of a mainland-led operation. "In the past they never trusted Hong Kong people," he says, referring to Chinese officials. "So, now they trust Hong Kong people more in a sense." United Front Work Department The one country, two systems agreement does not explicitly prohibit China's vast security and intelligence apparatus from operating in Hong Kong, but it does require any investigation and enforcement action to be carried out by local police and under the city's laws. These operations are headed by a bureau of China's powerful Ministry of State Security (MSS), according to security analysts, foreign diplomats and former Western intelligence officers. The MSS gathers information on political figures and potential threats from a wide network. And it collaborates with other Chinese security services and the Communist Party's United Front Work Department, an organ that aims to spread the party's influence at home and abroad and which is active in the city of 7.2 million. China's Ministry of State Security did not answer multiple calls seeking comment to its only publicly available telephone number. China routinely complains about what it says is foreign interference in its internal affairs. In a sign of Beijing's frustration with the Hong Kong protests, articles in China's state controlled media have accused foreigners of inciting the demonstrations. Beijing's handpicked leader in Hong Kong, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, said in October that "external forces" were involved in the protests. He provided no evidence. Many of Hong Kong's politicians, including pro-democracy figures, do maintain links with foreign diplomats, international non-government organizations, human rights groups and think tanks. Among them is To, the local lawmaker tailed by the surveillance team, who once told US diplomats in Hong Kong that his Democratic Party had been penetrated by mainland agents and was in a "dangerous position," according to a 2007 leaked US cable published by Wikileaks. Designed to Intimidate Sometimes, activists say, the surveillance of democracy leaders seems designed purely to intimidate. In May, Joshua Wong, one of the most prominent student protest leaders, visited Taiwan for a short vacation with two other members of the group Scholarism, which is now at the forefront of the pro-democracy movement. The night they arrived in their ground-floor room at the Simple+ Hotel in Taipei, the phone rang. A male voice speaking Mandarin asked for Wong, saying a "Hong Kong friend" wanted to pay him a visit. The boys said Wong wasn't available. Later, they asked at the front desk if the call had come from outside the hotel, said the 18-year-old Wong. The desk attendant said no, leading Wong and his friends to conclude that the caller had been inside the hotel and knew their room number. "Even my parents didn't know which hotel I was in or the exact time I was arriving. But that guy knew the details," Wong told Reuters. Over a period of two days, at least two men followed Wong and his friends. One came within about two meters to snap pictures of them on his mobile phone. When the boys confronted the man, he said he had been hired to follow and photograph them, but was not part of the media. Wong has pictures of one of the men, which he posted on his Facebook page. He said he didn't bother to report the incident to police. Derek Lam, a student activist on the trip with Wong, said he suspected the men following them were trying to collect dirt to tar the pro-democracy movement. The man they confronted, he said, told them he had instructions to photograph them, especially if they did anything like visit "women." Chan Kin-man, a founder of the democracy movement, said several men took turns to monitor his movements in late September, just before the protests erupted. Chan, an associate professor of sociology at Chinese University, described the men as "middle-aged" and said they were positioned at a bus stop opposite his apartment complex. They stayed for several days, working in shifts around the clock. 'Trying to Slip a Tail' Fellow academic Robert Chung, a Hong Kong University pollster, is accustomed to being attacked in the city's pro-Beijing press over his surveys. His work explores sensitive topics, including attitudes to political reform and feelings about national identity. But earlier this year Chung was stunned when a report in one of these newspapers revealed he was being followed. A full-page spread in the pro-Beijing Ta Kung Pao newspaper in May accused him of reckless driving, including running an amber light and making illegal turns. The report included a number of photographs of his car on different streets on different days over a period of weeks in March. The report also carried a graphic showing the routes he took and quoted a private investigator saying his "driving methods are similar to those used by spies trying to slip a tail." For Chung, the level of detail in the article suggested expertise beyond the skills of muckraking reporters. "There was never any real evidence until I read that Ta Kung Pao story," Chung told Reuters. "I believe they are professional agents." A spokesperson for the Ta Kung Pao chief editor said the report was done "independently" by the paper's reporters. Catholic priests in Hong Kong say they have been approached by MSS agents seeking gossip on local clerics and church affairs, as well as information on the Vatican's thinking on China. The officers typically visit Hong Kong on tourist visas but make their identities clear, seeking discreet meetings in cafes and restaurants. Triad-Style Attack For To, apprehensive about the silver Mercedes following him, it was a simple test that convinced him he needed to go to the police. On Monday, August 11, he stepped out of his apartment building with his three-year-old son, turned right and walked down the street in North Point. Sure enough, one of the silver Mercedes was parked near his building. To and his son walked a few doors down into a small café. A man got out of the car and followed them, peering through the window. "That's when I knew I had to act," said To. "This was not normal." That day, he went to the police. To suspects one reason the police moved so fast after he reported the surveillance is that they might have feared for his safety. In February, on a street not far from To's home, one of his close friends, investigative journalist Kevin Lau, was stabbed in a triad-style attack. Lau was lucky to survive. To had been quoted in one of the journalist's more controversial articles in a Chinese-language newspaper. To said police warned him he needed to be alert and offered him protection but he declined. Police in Hong Kong and the mainland have arrested nine men in connection with the attack on Lau. In his written police report, To described first seeing the Mercedes about four cars behind him on the way to work at the Legislative Council on Wednesday morning, Aug. 6. It followed him whenever he changed lanes and slowed whenever he slowed, he told police. That day, he saw the Mercedes parked outside his workplace with two Chinese men sitting inside. The same car followed him home. The next day, Thursday, a second silver Mercedes followed him to the office and parked by a nearby building. Shortly before midday on Thursday, To left his office and drove to the Hong Kong Jockey Club at the Happy Valley race course, he said in his report. The Mercedes that had followed him in the morning tailed him to the prestigious club. The next morning, Friday, the second silver Mercedes was back on his tail when he drove to work, he reported. This pattern continued until the arrests. After the police swooped, To said, they told him they took the two men and the two seized cars to a nearby police station. The police told him the two men refused to answer questions. They also told To there was no evidence to charge the pair with any offence. "They assured me I would not be followed anymore," To told Reuters. 'All a Misunderstanding' As of the day of the arrests, one of the Mercedes that To reported to police was registered to a residential address in the container port district of Kwai Chung in Hong Kong's New Territories, according to Hong Kong Transport Department vehicle ownership records. In an interview with Reuters outside his home in late October, the car's owner, Riky Li Kwok-ming, said the police had asked him to bring the Mercedes in for inspection. The police checked the vehicle and asked him if he had been following anybody, Li told Reuters. Li said the police allowed him to leave and he had not heard from them since. Li denied he was a current or former police officer. He said he worked for the Hong Kong government but declined to give details. Li also said he hadn't followed anybody or let others use his car. He said he had been driving on Tanner Road in North Point, where To lives, because his office was in the same area. When asked if he had been conducting surveillance while his car was parked outside the government office complex, Li said: "Of course not, I was just picking up my wife." Li said his wife also worked for the Hong Kong government, but wouldn't elaborate. Reuters later located Li's car in a marked parking bay in government offices in North Point. In a follow-up interview in the parking lot earlier this month, Li said he worked for the government logistics department and had been there for more than 10 years. The Hong Kong authorities have yet to explain who was following To and why. In his case, Riky Li Kwok-ming says the answer is simple: "This is all a misunderstanding." The post How China Spies on Hong Kong's Democrats appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| American in North Korea Denounces US, Seeks Venezuela Asylum: Media Posted: 14 Dec 2014 09:07 PM PST  The US citizen Arturo Pierre Martinez speaks during a news conference in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang on Dec. 14, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) SEOUL — A US citizen who illegally entered North Korea delivered a lengthy denunciation of US domestic and foreign policy on Sunday and said he was seeking political asylum in Venezuela, the North's official media said. The man identified himself as Arturo Pierre Martinez, 29, from El Paso, Texas, in video footage of a press conference released by the North's KCNA news agency. He said he had taken "a risky journey to reach the [North] so that I could pass along some very valuable and disturbing information." A KCNA article released with the footage said Martinez spoke of human rights violations committed by the US government and its attempt at forcing imperialist influence and domination on other countries. Reclusive and impoverished North Korea is under international sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs. It regularly threatens war on democratic South Korea and the South's major ally, the United States. The US State Department was aware of reports about a US citizen crossing into North Korea, spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement on Sunday. "We stand ready to provide all possible consular assistance. The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of our top priorities," she said, adding that the State Department strongly recommended against all travel by US citizens to North Korea. Martinez's mother told CNN her son was mentally unstable and has bipolar disorder, and had previously tried to enter North Korea from the South by swimming across a river. He was captured and sent back to the United States where he was committed to a psychiatric hospital in California, she said, according to CNN. "He is very smart and he got the court to let him out and instead of coming home to us, he bought a ticket and left for China," the television news channel quoted Patricia Eugenia Martinez as saying. In September, South Korean media reported that a man in his late 20s had been arrested by South Korean marines for swimming in a river that flows towards North Korea. The man had been trying to go to the North to meet its leader, local media reported at the time. Martinez said in the KCNA article that he had been staying in a nice hotel and was being treated well by the North Korean government and that he would seek political asylum in Venezuela. Martinez said he chose to come to North Korea to talk about US policy because it has successfully defied US influence by maintaining a "very powerful military." It was not immediately clear how Martinez entered North Korea. CNN cited a North Korean statement as saying Martinez entered the country two days after US intelligence chief James Clapper arrived in Pyongyang to negotiate the release of detained Americans Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae. Miller and Bae had both been serving hard labor sentences in North Korea for breaking local laws, but were released in November during Clapper's visit. A third detained US citizen, Jeffrey Fowle, was released in October. "[I am] extremely grateful for having been pardoned from the punishments given to violators of these laws, and for the most generous reception I have received," CNN reported Martinez as saying in a statement at the news conference. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has criticized the US Senate for passing a bill that would impose sanctions on government officials found to have violated protesters' rights during demonstrations earlier this year. Critics of Maduro say he blasts the United States to distract Venezuelans from the cash-strapped country's ballooning economic crisis. The post American in North Korea Denounces US, Seeks Venezuela Asylum: Media appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Abe Coalition Secures Big Japan Election Win Posted: 14 Dec 2014 09:00 PM PST  Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe poses in front of a board showing candidates' results during an election night event in Tokyo on Sunday. (Photo: Toru Hanai / Reuters) TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition has cruised to a big election win, ensuring he will stick to reflationary economic policies and a muscular security stance, but record low turnout pointed to broad dissatisfaction with his performance. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner, the Komeito party, won 326 seats in Sunday’s election, more than the 317 seats in the 475-member lower house required to maintain a two-thirds "super-majority" that smoothes parliamentary business. The tally was unchanged from the number of seats held by the coalition before the poll. But LDP itself slipped slightly to 291 seats from 295. "I believe the public approved of two years of our 'Abenomics' policies," Abe said in a televised interview. "But that doesn’t mean we can be complacent." Many voters, doubtful of both the premier’s "Abenomics" strategy to end deflation and generate growth and the opposition’s ability to do any better, stayed at home. Turnout was estimated to be a record low of 53.3 percent, substantially below the 59.3 percent in a 2012 poll that returned Abe to power for a rare second term on pledges to reboot an economy plagued by deflation and an ageing, shrinking population. In a sign of the fragility of Abe’s mandate, the LDP won 75 percent of the seats in single-member districts that account for 295 lower house seats with just 48 percent of the vote, data in the Tokyo Shimbun metropolitan newspaper showed. But with the mainstream opposition still weak, any opposition to Abe’s policies will likely come from his allies in the dovish Komeito party, which increased its seats to 35 from 31, and from inside the LDP itself, should the economy falter. Tokyo’s Nikkei share average opened down 1.50 percent on the widely-expected election results after a weak performance by the U.S. stock market on Friday. Analysts said the outcome would be positive for shares and negative for the yen in the near term given expectations Abe will stick to a "Three Arrows" strategy of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending and reforms. "But medium-term, investors will be watching to see if Japan is changed structurally," said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute. Doubts persist over whether Abe will knuckle down on his "Third Arrow" of reforms in politically sensitive areas such as labour market deregulation and an overhaul of the highly protected farm sector. Media said he was likely to keep his cabinet unchanged. Hopes for Abenomics were hit when Japan slipped into recession in the third quarter following an April sales tax rise. Wage increases have not kept pace with price rises and data suggest any economic rebound is fragile. Highlighting the patchy recovery, big Japanese manufacturers’ sentiment worsened slightly in the three months to December but corporate spending plans were strong, the Bank of Japan’s closely-watched quarterly "tankan" survey showed on Monday. Abe decided last month to put off a second tax hike to 10 percent until April 2017, raising concerns about how Japan will curb its huge public debt, the worst among advanced nations. "Between now and the delayed tax increase, we need to revive the economy and find a path to fiscal rebuilding," said LDP lawmaker Shinjiro Koizumi. "If you think about it in that way, even though we have won, there is no room here for celebrating." Abe, whose support has now sagged well below 50 percent, called the election after just two years in office to strengthen his grip on power before tackling unpopular policies. That includes restarting nuclear reactors taken off-line after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and a security policy shift away from post-war pacifism. The LDP-led coalition victory could ease Abe’s path to re-election in a party leadership race next September, boosting the likelihood, but by no means guaranteeing, that he stays in power through 2018 and becomes one of Japan’s rare long-term leaders. The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won 73 seats, largely due to voters’ memories of a 2009-2012 rule plagued by policy flip-flops, infighting and three premiers in three years. DPJ leader Banri Kaieda, criticised by many in his own camp for lack of charisma, lost his seat. The party’s limp performance has raised concerns Japan is returning to one-party dominance that characterised politics for decades—although some analysts said the poor showing of rival mini-parties suggested the opposition could begin to coalesce around the DPJ. The Japan Communist Party won 21 seats, more than double its strength before the election, gaining support from protest voters loath to back the Democrats.
The post Abe Coalition Secures Big Japan Election Win appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2014 04:00 PM PST  A soldier stands guard at the wreckage of the Air Bagan passenger jet that crashed in Heho on Dec. 25, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) YANGON — When Air Bagan Flight 11 took off on Christmas morning in 2012, Allan Lokos had no qualms about flying with the local airline. "There may have been a few clouds in the sky but certainly it was pretty much an ideal day for flying," Mr. Lokos recalled by phone from his home in New York City. The 100-seat Fokker 100 aircraft was bound from Mandalay to Heho, Shan State, and was carrying more than 60 passengers. On the approach to the airport that serves tourists traveling to Inle Lake, the plane hit electrical cables and crashed to the ground, in what was later judged by Myanmar investigators to be pilot error. Ma Nwe Lin Shein, a tour guide for Mr. Lokos and his wife, was killed in the crash. A local motorcyclist, U Pyar, also died after the plane careened into him. The injured included Mr. Lokos and his wife Susanna Weiss, five Myanmar tour guides, the passenger of the motorbike driven by U Pyar, and two Australians. The crash revived questions about the safety of flying in Myanmar, but it also highlighted how the lingering effects of the country's isolation meant that those flying with local airlines did not have the same protections they would receive elsewhere. Aftermath As he escaped the smoking wreckage, Mr. Lokos suffered serious burns to about a third of his body and was in a critical condition. Air Bagan founder U Tay Za quickly stepped in to help, flying Mr. Lokos to Bangkok and then to Singapore and assisting with significant immediate hospital and transport costs before Mr. Lokos and Ms. Weiss arrived back in the United States. Later, relations stalled and the American couple filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against the airline and the Htoo Group, of which U Tay Za is chairman. The legal wrangling ended last May after a hefty settlement was agreed. The scale of the payout to Mr. Lokos and Ms. Weiss has not been disclosed, although Mr. Lokos' medical bills alone were more than US$1 million. Myanmar media has reported that the lawsuit was for $10 million. Others who were injured have not yet secured full compensation, while relatively small payouts have been reported to the families of the deceased Myanmar citizens. As well as payments of unspecified amounts that were made by the airline to some victims shortly after the crash, in August last year the Htoo Foundation announced on its website that it had donated 50 lakhs (US$5,000) to the family of the deceased U Pyar and 2 lakhs ($2,000) each to his four siblings. A total of $5,000 was donated to U Pyar's nephew and burn victim, Ko Htay Aung. In March this year, U Tay Za said on his Facebook account that Singapore re-insurers had offered $10,000 to a local burn victim who was not named. Two injured Myanmar tour guides who admitted to understanding little about the insurance business say they have not yet received insurance payouts they had heard would be forthcoming. Ma Toe Toe Khin from Taunggyi, who experienced burns to around 10 percent of her leg area and a spinal fracture, said the airline has paid all her medical bills as well as a one-off payment of 20 million kyats (approximately $20,000) soon after the incident. She said that around six months ago she and another injured female guide, who is also still out of work, received phone calls from the airline saying that insurance payouts would be forthcoming, but they have not heard anything since. Tour guide Ko Myint Htwe, who has returned to work after suffering minor head injuries in the accident, reported that he had received a similar call. All the guides stressed that they cast no blame for the accident and expressed gratitude to the airline for the help they had so far received. Two Australians were also injured but have not received compensation, according to Joseph Wheeler, senior solicitor at Shine Lawyers in Brisbane, Australia, who is representing them. The two did not initially seek legal assistance in the hope that the airline and its insurers would pay them compensation in good faith, he said. When help was not forthcoming they sought advice, but only after a one-year statute of limitations in Myanmar had expired. Mr. Wheeler said by email that his clients were "still strongly affected by the horrors they experienced on the date of the accident," but would not give details of the injuries they sustained. The legal options remaining for his clients are now "limited to nil," he said. "Principally we will be pressing the airline's insurer to make an ex gratia [voluntary] payment to our clients that is reflective of their losses." More Hurdles Other issues have contributed to the complexity of the settlements process. U Tay Za's listing on the US Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) "blacklist" was a barrier to negotiations for Mr. Lokos and Ms. Weiss—the Americans had to obtain special permission from the Treasury just to negotiate with Air Bagan. In Australia, Mr. Wheeler said his clients' problems are linked to the fact that the Myanmar government hasn't signed up to international aviation conventions. Myanmar is not party to the 1999 Montreal Convention, which ensures that passengers involved in air crashes receive compensation without having to prove willful neglect by the airline. Under the convention, which is widely in force internationally, victims are entitled to compensation arising from physical injuries, pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, damaged luggage and other economic losses. They are also entitled to compensation for emotional distress, if this is accompanied by physical injury. "The fact that the government has not signed these most consumer friendly and passenger friendly treaties betrays the fact that it is well behind the rest of the world in using the key legal tools available to make the skies safer for its citizens and travelers alike," Mr. Wheeler told The Irrawaddy. "The fact that the liability treaties have not been ratified also indicates to me that other aspects of air safety regulation internationally are likely not well understood or implemented in the country." Eric Rose, a partner at Herzfeld Rubin Meyer & Rose, which represented Mr. Lokos and Ms. Weiss, concurred that the crash had exposed failings in the way Myanmar interacts internationally. "Right now, Myanmar is reentering the world community, which already has international rules having to do with airline safety, with compensation for injuries suffered by airline passengers on foreign carriers," Mr. Rose said. "It raises serious questions to be asked as to whether all passengers on an airline in Myanmar should be treated equally, irrespective of whether they are American or Myanmar or Australian or any nationality." Safety Concerns Although there has not been a fatal air accident since the Air Bagan crash, the safety record of domestic Myanmar airlines is less than impressive. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, 100 people have been killed in aviation accidents in Myanmar since 1988, and non-lethal incidents, like planes overshooting an airstrip, are relatively frequent. Anthony Philbin, communications chief at the International Civil Aviation Organization, said that since the Montreal Convention is not signed by Myanmar, national law applies in air crash legal cases. He insisted, "Aviation is the safest form of transport. Conventions pertaining to accidents and victims in no way impacts the technical, operational and other provisions which are in place to mitigate risks and keep passengers and crews safe." Air Bagan did not respond to a request for comment on this story. Additional reporting by Zarni Mann. This article first appeared in the December 2014 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post Fallout From Flight 11 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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