The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Mandalay Farmers Protest Myotha Industrial Zone
- Prisoner Groups Highlight Continued Political Detentions, Trials
- President Meets With Ethnic Armed Groups, Hopes for Quick Ceasefire Accord
- Police Asked to Probe Letpadaung Death
- Burma’s Catholics Pleased to Have First Cardinal
- Prospects and Problems for Burma’s Economic Growth
- Tensions in Bangladesh Ahead of Election Anniversary
- Safety Overhaul Puts Strain on Bangladesh Garment Industry
- Friend Turned Foe: The Challenger for Sri Lanka’s Presidency
| Mandalay Farmers Protest Myotha Industrial Zone Posted: 05 Jan 2015 05:28 AM PST  A sign board in Nga Zun Township reads "Do not trespass the religious land." About 60 acres of land owned by a monastery is at risk from the massive Myotha Industrial Park Project. (Photo: Zarni Mann / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Farmers in Mandalay protested on Monday to demand fair land compensation and the release of 10 detained activists, in the second large-scale demonstration against the Myotha Industrial Zone since construction began in 2012. Farmers said that while they support the development and would accept fair payment, they have been pressured by village administrators to accept compensation schemes far below market value. Villagers said that the Burmese government seized the land several years ago to make way for the 10,000-acre industrial development, which will be built by Royal Hi-Tech Group and its subsidiary Myanmar Myotha Industrial Zone Private Co. Company representatives were unavailable for comment and little data about the development is publicly available. Demonstrators said that 10 villagers have been detained since staging the first public demonstration against the development in November, 2014. All ten are awaiting trial on charges of incitement under several articles of Burma's Penal Code, including the notorious Article 505(b), which has been repeatedly used in cases against activists. Shwe Wyne, who owned about 45 acres of farmland, told The Irrawaddy that while the company has reimbursed some farmers for lost or damaged crops, they have yet to make payment for land. Many farmers, she said, "cannot buy one acre with the compensation fees" that they have received. Others complained that the company deliberately tried to confuse farmers while deals were being struck, dividing land into two types—pasture and farm—which have different values. Those who didn't understand the distinction claimed to have been swindled into accepting an undervalued compensation package, while those who were closely associated with village administrators got a better deal. One farmer, Than Lwin, said he was "forced" to accept an undervalued estimate under threat of losing his property and facing a prison sentence. He and other demonstrators said they will continue protesting against the development until their claims are fairly dealt with and their peers released from custody, vowing to establish a protest camp at the Mandalay Division Government offices. Mandalay Myotha Industrial Zone is located about 50km (31 miles) from downtown Mandalay, and is expected to connect to a port on the Irrawaddy River operated by the same ownership. Project developers told The Irrawaddy in October 2013 that the plan could create about 200,000 local jobs. The post Mandalay Farmers Protest Myotha Industrial Zone appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Prisoner Groups Highlight Continued Political Detentions, Trials Posted: 05 Jan 2015 04:34 AM PST  Human rights activist and former political prisoner Moe Thway displays the name of Wai Lu, who was detained for protesting the Letpadaung copper mining project. (Photo: Moe Thway / Facebook) RANGOON — Former political prisoners have revived a photographic campaign calling for the release of all prisoners incarcerated for political reasons and an end to ongoing politically motivated arrests in Burma. The campaign, orchestrated by the Former Political Prisoners Society (FPPS) and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), features photographs of former convicts with the names of current political prisoners written on their outstretched palms. A joint statement from the organizations released on Sunday said that there are 164 political prisoners in jails across Burma, with a further 203 activists waiting trial. "The government is denying that there are any political prisoners who remain behind bars. So through this campaign, we would like to show the international community and locals that there are still political prisoners incarcerated in Burma and we continue to work for their release," said Thet Oo, a spokesman for FPPS. Around 80 former political prisoners—including luminaries such as 88 Generation Peace and Open Society cofounder Min Ko Naing and National League for Democracy lawmaker Sandar Min—have joined the campaign, which will be targeted at online media and international rights organizations. "We members of parliament know there are still political prisoners," said Sandar Min in a video uploaded by the prisoner associations. "The president announced that he will release all political prisoners by the end of 2013 […] but 2014 is over now and the remaining political prisoners are still not released." A similar photo campaign was initiated in 2010 by British photographer James Mackay, aimed at highlighting the thousands of political prisoners languishing in Burmese jails at the time. Thein Sein has granted amnesties to more than 1,000 political prisoners since he took office in 2011, as part of a broader reform program that has won the president international praise, while others served their sentences to conclusion over the same period. At the same time the government and political prisoner advocates have been at loggerheads over definitions, with the government previously asserting that all political prisoners had been released at the end of 2013, in accordance with a pledge made by the president in August of that year. Last November, the government said that the continued incarceration of some 27 political prisoners—a figure well below contemporary estimates by prisoner advocacy organizations—was the result of the inmates committing other criminal acts, and any component of their custodial sentence arising from political crimes had already been annulled by presidential decree. The government's figures also belie the number of people awaiting trial for political crimes, in many instances for violating the Peaceful Assembly Law's controversial Article 18, which has been used to circumscribe protests and prosecute demonstrators. In a sign that authorities may be willing to pursue more draconian measures against demonstrations, the government last week used assault and incitement provisions under the Burmese Penal Code to charge three people protesting against the Letpadaung copper mining project in Yangon. If found guilty, the protesters could face four years' imprisonment, three years more than the maximum penalty under the Peaceful Assembly Law. Prisoner advocacy associations are continuing their efforts to clarify the definition of political crimes in order to hold the government to account over incarcerations and court cases it says are for political ends. "We are working to get the recognition from the government for the definition of political prisoners. So that, the remaining political prisoners which they are saying committed other crimes will be released too," Thet Oo said. The post Prisoner Groups Highlight Continued Political Detentions, Trials appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| President Meets With Ethnic Armed Groups, Hopes for Quick Ceasefire Accord Posted: 05 Jan 2015 04:29 AM PST  President Thein Sein poses for a photo with representatives of 12 ethnic armed groups in Naypyidaw on Monday. (Photo: Nyo Ohn Myint / Facebook) RANGOON — President Thein Sein and Burma Army chief Min Aung Hlaing held separate meetings with ethnic armed group representatives in Naypyidaw on Monday, and the president said he hoped that a nationwide ceasefire accord could be reached in Burma next month. Leaders of several groups embroiled in current fighting with the Burma Army were absent from the meeting, however, and it remains to be seen whether the stalled ceasefire process can be revived in such a short period time. Minister of Information Ye Htut told The Irrawaddy that the representatives were invited to the meetings after they had observed an army parade to mark Burma's 67th Independence Day on Sunday. Thein Sein told the representatives that he wanted to sign a nationwide ceasefire accord (NCA) on Union Day, Feb. 12. The day marks the signing of the Panglong Agreement by Gen. Aung San and ethnic representatives in 1947, a power-sharing agreement that failed to prevent Burma from sliding into civil war. "The president urged the NCA to be signed on the upcoming Union Day to be able to move forward to the political dialogue," said the minister, who attended the meeting. He added that Minister Aung Min, who leads the government ceasefire negotiations team, would meet with ethnic representatives soon to resume the negotiations. Ye Htut said the president had also urged the ethnic armed groups to collaborate with authorities in order to provide security during the general elections that are tentatively scheduled for early October. It was the first joint meeting between the president and a number of ethnic representatives; previously he had held bilateral meetings with leaders of the various groups. In a separate meeting on Monday, the representatives met with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Representatives of twelve of the 16 groups represented in the National Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), an alliance of ethnic armed organizations, were present during the meetings. The Karen National Union, the New Mon State Party, the United Wa State Army, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) and the Shan State Army-North and Shan State Army-South were among the groups that met with Thein Sein and Min Aung Hlaing. ABSDF Vice Chairman Myo Win said, "During each of the two-hour meetings with the president and the commander-in-chief we shared our opinions. Such meetings could build up mutual trust. We didn't reach concrete agreements but we exchanged views." Myo Win said the president had appeared eager to complete the nationwide ceasefire process before his term ends and establish the conditions for starting a dialogue that is supposed to bring a political solution to Burma's long-running internal conflict. Representatives of leaders of Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Karen National Progressive Party and Chin National Front did not join the meetings. The ceasefire process has stalled since September and there have been regular clashes between the Burma Army and the KIA, TNLA and Kokang ethnic rebels in northern Burma, groups that do not yet have a bilateral ceasefire with the government. KIA leaders, who have been angered by a deadly surprise attack by the army on a cadet training school on Nov. 19, said they declined to join the meeting as it had been announced only shortly before the parade and lacked a clear agenda. "We were not informed about the aims of these meetings at the military parade," said Gen. Gun Maw, the KIA deputy chief of staff and an important leader within the NCCT. "It is not an appropriate time to have such a ceremony due to the recent clashes," he said, referring to ongoing tensions and fighting in northern Burma. "Whether the NCA could be signed or not next month depends on how much progress we could negotiate on [drafting] the single [ceasefire] text," added Gun Maw. Nyan Win, a spokesperson of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, said the party did not expect a quick breakthrough in the ceasefire process due to the ongoing tensions. "But if it comes, we would welcome the news," he added. The post President Meets With Ethnic Armed Groups, Hopes for Quick Ceasefire Accord appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Police Asked to Probe Letpadaung Death Posted: 05 Jan 2015 04:01 AM PST  The family of Khin Win, a 56-year-old villager fatally shot by police, files a death report in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Division, on December 23, 2014. (Photo: J Paing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Police in Sagaing Division have been asked to launch a criminal investigation into the death of a 56-year-old villager shot dead by police while protesting against alleged land rights violations near the Letpadaung copper mine. The immediate family of Khin Win, who was killed by a bullet in the forehead on Dec. 22, 2014, submitted a first information report (FIR) to the Salingyi Myoma Police Station and demanded that they investigate seven people who are believed responsible for the death. Police have accepted the report but have not indicated whether they will investigate the individuals named within the document pending approval from higher authorities, according to the family's legal counsel. "FIR can be complete or incomplete. What we have filed is a list of who shot from which place and which officers were present at the scene," said Aung Thein of the Burma Lawyers' Network (BLN), which has been helping the victim's family to seek legal recourse. Khin Mar Aye, the victim's sister-in-law, had already filed a death report with local police. The new report specifies that the death was believed to be unlawful and seeks criminal punishment. Villagers clashed with police and employees of the Letpadaung mine operator, Myanmar Wanbao, on Dec. 22 when contractors attempted to fence off disputed lands. Locals who claimed they had not agreed to a compensation scheme with the company tried to block the workers. Police eventually fired into the crowd of villagers, leaving Khin Win dead on the spot and several others injured. Khin Win's death was the latest in a string of controversies related to the project, which is a joint venture between Wanbao, a subsidiary of Chinese weapons manufacturer Norinco, and Burma's state-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEH). Ongoing protests against alleged land-grabs related to the project peaked in late 2012, and were ultimately dismantled in a brutal early morning crackdown during which police were accused of using incendiary weapons containing white phosphorous against hundreds of demonstrators including Buddhist monks. Civil society stakeholders playing a crucial role in the implementation of the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)—an internationally recognized fiscal reporting protocol for which Burma has recently become a candidate state—have warned of a fallout if the latest incident is not adequately addressed by authorities. On Monday, EITI stakeholders upped the ante by leading a 150-strong unpermitted demonstration in Monywa—near the site of the mining project—demanding more responsible resource governance and a full investigation into the events that left Khin Win dead. EITI civil society stakeholders argued that Burma does not yet offer a safe environment for civilians to fully and meaningfully participate in shaping resource governance. "We want to highlight the reality that, in Burma, locals are being bullied and this violence contradicts [President] Thein Sein's promise to implement the EITI and improve resource transparency," said Wong Aung, director of Shwe Gas Movement and a member of Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA), which organized the protest. Wong Aung said that MATA is calling for the immediate suspension of the Letpadaung copper mining project, adding that the unexamined killing of an activist will make CSO participation in the EITI "more challenging in the future." The post Police Asked to Probe Letpadaung Death appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Burma’s Catholics Pleased to Have First Cardinal Posted: 05 Jan 2015 12:52 AM PST  Archbishop Charles Bo was one of 20 new cardinals whose appointments were announced on Jan. 4, 2015. (Photo: Archdiocese of Yangon) RANGOON — Church colleagues have praised the appointment by Pope Francis of Rangoon's archbishop as Burma's first Roman Catholic cardinal. Archbishop Charles Bo was one of 20 new cardinals whose appointments were announced on Sunday. The appointments are from 18 countries, including two others that never before had a cardinal: Cape Verde and Tonga. Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang said on Monday the appointment was the crowning achievement of the church's mission activities in Burma. The bishop from Kalaymyo town is president of the country's Catholic Bishop Conference. About 1 percent of predominantly Buddhist Burma's 51 million people are Catholics. Thailand has about half that number and also had a new cardinal appointed on Sunday. Francis told faithful in St. Peter's Square that the new batch of cardinals "shows the inseparable tie with the church of Rome to churches in the world." Five new cardinals come from Europe, three from Asia, three from Latin America, including Mexico, and two each come from Africa and Oceania. With his picks, the Argentine-born Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America, made ever clearer that he is laying out a new vision of the church's identity, including of its hierarchy. He looked beyond traditional metropolitan area for the "princes of the church" who will help advise him as he goes forward with church reforms. Cardinals also elect his successor. He has said repeatedly that the church must reach out to those on the margins. The Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the selection "confirms that the pope doesn't feel tied to the traditional 'cardinal sees,' which reflected historic reasons in various countries." "Instead we have various nominations of archbishops or bishops of sees in the past that wouldn't have had a cardinal," Lombardi said. Among Pope Francis' picks are churchmen whose advocacy styles seem to particularly capture matters dear to his heart. The only native English-language speaker chosen by Francis is Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington, New Zealand. Summing up his own intervention at last year's Vatican conference on controversial family issues, including gay marriage and divorced Catholics, Dew has said the church must change its language to give "hope and encouragement." Speaking from a Vatican window to a crowd in St. Peter's Square, Francis made another surprise announcement. He said that on Feb. 12-13, he will lead of meeting of all cardinals to "reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia," the Vatican's administrative bureaucracy. Francis is using his papacy, which began in March 2013, to root out corruption, inefficiency, careerism, and other problems in the curia. An Italian group, Noi Siamo Chiesa, which advocates reforms for the church, hailed the choice of the two Italian bishops. Group spokesman Vittorio Bellavite said Francis had gone "outside the traditional logic" of the hierarchy. Francis said he will "have the joy" on Feb. 14 of presiding over the ceremony in which the 20 churchmen will receive the red hat cardinals wear. The post Burma's Catholics Pleased to Have First Cardinal appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Prospects and Problems for Burma’s Economic Growth Posted: 04 Jan 2015 11:19 PM PST  Rangoon's lack of a deep-water port is one of the issues likely to inhibit future economic growth in Burma. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Burma's business development prospects in 2015 are forecast to be mixed as the country grapples with a variety of problems ranging from domestic political uncertainty to outside economic influences beyond its control. National elections this year will make some foreign investors hesitant to enter Burma until a clear outcome emerges, say analysts, and the unexpected collapse of oil prices in 2014 is likely to put plans to develop 20 offshore oil and gas blocks into slow gear. Some major infrastructure investment decisions, notably the special economic zone at Dawei on the southeast coast, are anticipated, but analysts are not holding their breath for a very positive outcome in the near term. However, some foreign observers believe that continuing economic growth is certain, unless there is a sudden lurch back to full military government control. Economic reform must be a continuing key issue for Burma's leadership if the country is to follow its neighbors and integrate further with the international community, said an assessment by Treasury Today a financial affairs magazine based in Britain. "The next 12 months may well be critical in how [Burma] progresses, with elections and further reform scheduled to take place, and corporates need to be mindful of this," the magazine said in its latest issue. However, it also quotes one senior manager in regional finance forecasting the next few years for Burma as a time of "furious change with companies rushing to take advantage of the numerous opportunities the market presents". "The key difference between [Burma] and other countries in the region is the compressed time scale that all these changes are happening in and this is unique," Grant Knuckey, the chief executive of ANZ Banking Group for Cambodia, Laos and Burma told Treasury Today. "It therefore remains very difficult to plot a linear path for the country but it seems that the direction is already set and this has the potential to bring huge benefits to the country, its people, and corporates who enter into it." But both Knuckey and Ryan Aherin, senior Asia analyst for Verisk-Maplecroft, believe that major obstacles to economic expansion in Burma in 2015 are the country's inadequate banking and finance facilities plus rampant corruption at all levels. "The country's financial sector remains in an infant state," Aherin told Treasury Today. "So, while the effects of the foreign bank licences will be beneficial in the long run, in the immediate future challenges will remain." This first quarter of 2015 should see the announcement of more final agreements in production sharing contracts (PSCs) between the state-owned Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise and the foreign oil companies who won licenses to explore 20 sites in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea for oil and gas. Although the licenses were awarded last March, only one of the 13 foreign firms has so far agreed on a PSC. Terms for investment and potential profit sharing have been complicated by the collapse of international crude oil prices over the last six months which make new investment less financially viable. Ten of the 20 licensed new Burma blocks are in deep sea areas which make drilling for oil and gas much more expensive. "Only about one-fifth of the projected production from the 400 largest new and planned oil and gas fields around the world will be profitable if oil prices remain at US$60 or below," the New York Times said at the end of December, quoting international financial advisers Goldman Sachs. "If prices stabilize and then bounce back quickly the recent drop might soon be forgotten. But a sizable group of analysts say that rather than experiencing a passing blip, the market is undergoing a lasting adjustment to greater abundance of oil and muted economic demand," the Times said. Major oil companies that won offshore licenses for Burma in March include Shell, Chevron, Total and ConocoPhillips. The national oil companies (NOCs) of neighbors Malaysia and Thailand, which have projects in Burma, have already announced expenditure cuts. "Following Malaysian NOC Petronas’ announcement that it will cut its capital expenditure by 15% to 20% in 2015, Thai NOC PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) has also stated a lower budget for the next five years [which will] see a 10.9% decrease in investment," Business Monitor International said. The continued lack of a deep-water port for Rangoon threatens to undermine manufacturing growth in Burma's biggest city which is also the main commercial sea gateway into the country, another observer said. "One of the bottlenecks of manufacturing development [in Burma] is the lack of a deep sea port. Unfortunately, [Rangoon] has no deep sea port and the quick development and integration of the country will benefit greatly from such an investment," said Masato Abe, an economist from the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Abe is critical of plans by the governments of Burma and Thailand to develop a new port at Dawei on the southeast coast as part of a special economic zone (SEZ). "The Dawei port is located approximately 700 kilometers from [Rangoon]," he said in a study published by the Hong Kong based think tank Fung Global Institute. "Although the Dawei port has a geographic advantage with regard to market access to Thailand, [Burma's] main trade partner, it is far from the traditional industrial clusters of [Burma]." Critics of the Dawei SEZ have said it would primarily benefit Thailand by giving it access to the Indian Ocean as an oil transhipment terminal, and to expand its petrochemical industries, which are stymied in the greater Bangkok region by environmental laws. A Naypyidaw-Bangkok government-level meeting is due to be held in January at which the Thai authorities have indicated that Japan will become a key financial partner in the Dawei SEZ. However, this has been mooted before and to date there have been no firm commitments from any major Japanese companies. The post Prospects and Problems for Burma's Economic Growth appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Tensions in Bangladesh Ahead of Election Anniversary Posted: 04 Jan 2015 09:42 PM PST  People attend a rally organised by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in Dhaka on Jan. 20, 2014 to protest the results of that month's election, which the BNP had boycotted. (Photo: Andrew Biraj / Reuters) DHAKA — Police in Bangladesh’s capital have banned all rallies and prevented a top opposition leader from leaving her office, while dozens of opposition activists have been detained across the country, officials and local media said Sunday. The moves come ahead of the anniversary of a general election boycotted by a major opposition alliance last year. Police have cordoned off the office of former Prime Minister and current chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Khaleda Zia, since late Saturday night in Dhaka’s Gulshan area, with authorities saying the measure was part of enhanced security steps. Zia is the archrival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who came to power last year for a second term. On Sunday, police clashed with opposition supporters in several parts of the country, including the eastern district of Brahmanbaria, leaving dozens of people injured, ATN Bangla and Channel 24 television stations reported. Police would not immediately comment on the clashes. In Dhaka, suspected opposition activists torched a bus and smashed several vehicles, local media reported. Authorities deployed paramilitary border guards to patrol Dhaka and some other major cities, said Mohsin Reza, spokesman for Border Guards Bangladesh. Hasina returned to power in an election last January that was boycotted by Zia’s party, which said the poll would be rigged. Police have locked down the headquarters of Zia’s party in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan area, which remained under tight security. In a statement Sunday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police said a ban on holding rallies in the capital would remain in effect until further notice because "clashes and untoward incidents" could take place on Monday, when Zia’s party had been planning to hold an anti-government rally. By Sunday evening, Dhaka was cut off from the rest of the country, with the capital-bound buses and ferries shut down due to fears of violence. Zia has renewed her call for Hasina to step down and declare a new election, but ruling party leaders have rejected the demand, saying the next election will not be held before 2019, when the government’s five-year term expires. The Election Commission had staged the Jan. 5 election last year after two major political alliances led by Hasina and Zia failed to agree on a formula for appointing a caretaker government to oversee the election. Hasina had refused to heed opposition demands to step down and appoint a neutral administration to hold the election and vowed to uphold the constitution by holding the poll. Chaos had reigned in the country for a year, with opposition activists staging a series of attacks, strikes and transportation blockades that left nearly 300 people dead in 2013. Zia was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, but failed to hand over power peacefully. A military-backed caretaker government then ruled the country for two years before Hasina came to power with a landslide election win in 2008. The post Tensions in Bangladesh Ahead of Election Anniversary appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Safety Overhaul Puts Strain on Bangladesh Garment Industry Posted: 04 Jan 2015 09:20 PM PST  Employees work in a factory of Babylon Garments in Dhaka January 3, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) DHAKA — Undaunted by a run of horrific factory accidents that have hit Bangladesh's garments industry, two entrepreneurs bought Adorn Knitwear Ltd earlier this year. It is a small business not far from the rubble of Rana Plaza, a Dhaka suburb building that collapsed in April 2013 killing more than 1,100 people, most low-paid seamstresses, and prompting a costly safety overhaul at plants large and small. Whether people like Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, one of Adorn's new owners, can afford those improvements will be critical for the future of a sector that accounts for over 80 percent of this South Asian nation's export earnings, industry leaders say. Last month, Adorn's production lines were silent and its sewing machines gathering dust as the lengthy process of checking the building for structural weakness was underway. "We're losing money every minute," said Chowdhury, 35, as he looked around his factory, which has a list of potentially expensive fixes to be completed before reopening. Many high-volume factories depend on smaller firms, contracting out work to meet orders from big Western retailers under tight deadlines. Today, up to 20 percent of the 3,500 exporting garment factories subcontract, says the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). If that support system crumbles, some factory owners worry Bangladesh's $24 billion industry could lose the agility that took it to number two in the global league of garment exporters. Since Rana Plaza, nearly two-thirds of the country's exporting garment factories have been inspected. Many have been handed lists of structural, electrical and fire safety fixes and upgrades that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Larger factories can generally pay for those changes independently, or have access to a growing number of affordable financing arrangements backed by wealthy customers. Hundreds of smaller factories do not, leaving them exposed at a time when owners say they are grappling with a slide in orders and an increase in minimum wages for the industry's workforce of more than 4 million. Already about 450 factories have gone to the wall since last year's disaster, the BGMEA says. "If all the factories are becoming big, who will do the smaller things?" said Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury, chairman of Evince Group and a former BGMEA president. "Then who will come to Bangladesh?" A Stitch in Time At Adorn, laborers ripped up flooring to expose steel rods that needed testing. Above them, the word "crack" was spray-painted in red in three spots, all to be analyzed by engineers in a weeks-long assessment. Getting factories up to speed after inspections may cost owners from $100,000 to $1 million apiece, according to the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC). The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, brand-backed initiatives that have inspected some 1,700 factories, offer mechanisms through which members are helping suppliers compensate workers for lost wages due to closures and finance factory revamps. Several major apparel firms belonging to the Alliance or the Accord said they had made significant investments to help suppliers improve safety. Not all factories have needed outside funding. The U.S.-based VF Corporation, an Alliance member whose brands include The North Face and Wrangler, announced it would guarantee up to $10 million for the IFC and Bangladesh's BRAC bank to lend its suppliers. So far, three VF supplier factories have received $1.3 million in loans. The IFC is in talks to do the same with several more Accord and Alliance brands. 'Natural Connection' Even with more help coming, there are fewer options for the exporting factories that do not sell to Accord or Alliance companies. According to the International Labour Organization, they number roughly 1,800. The BGMEA says it has asked the government to help these factories get up to speed by setting up a fund offering them low-cost loans, but the government says it is up to owners to find a way to meet safety standards after inspections. "It will be the responsibility of the owner to pay, or he'll have to close it," said Mikail Shipar, secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Some suppliers may be too unhealthy to secure another bank loan to stay afloat, said Ian Spaulding, senior adviser to the Alliance. "It's going to happen throughout the market, and that's a natural correction that needs to happen." Saving smaller factories is crucial for the local industry to keep its edge, but also for the economy, said Mohammad A. Rumi Ali, a director at BRAC Bank. "If 75,000 people lose their jobs, and the majority are women, it's a big cost," he said. Down a dirt road clogged with bicycle rickshaws in Badda, a congested area on the edge of Dhaka, a small garment factory is squeezed into a row of buildings. The owner, who requested anonymity, said he could not meet all the inspectors' requirements, primarily because his business is in a rented building and the landlord refuses to help. "I can't do all of it," he said. "Lower-class factories aren't getting any help." The post Safety Overhaul Puts Strain on Bangladesh Garment Industry appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Friend Turned Foe: The Challenger for Sri Lanka’s Presidency Posted: 04 Jan 2015 09:14 PM PST  Sri Lanka’s common presidential candidate Mithripala Sirisena speaks during a meeting with the Diplomatic Community in Colombo January 1, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) COLOMBO — Over a dinner of rice-flour pancakes with his trusted health minister one evening in November, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa observed with a grin that there would be no serious candidate to challenge him in the coming presidential election. Little did Rajapaksa know then that the man who would stand in his way of winning an unprecedented third term as president of this Indian Ocean island nation was right beside him. "When he said that nobody was going to challenge him, I was next to him and felt sorry for him," Mithripala Sirisena later told a campaign meeting on his decision to turn on the president and run as the opposition's common candidate in Thursday's poll. "I came out because I could not stay anymore with a leader who had plundered the country, government and national wealth." Branded a "traitor" by Rajapaksa's close allies, Sirisena has forged many political alliances and now appears to be within striking distance of unseating a president who, just weeks ago, had looked unassailable. Since Sirisena's defection, 25 Rajapaksa loyalists in the 225-seat parliament have followed, unleashing a wave of popular disgust with a leader whose once-extraordinary popularity has withered amid complaints of autocracy, corruption and nepotism. Victory for Sirisena would put a full stop on a reign that brought brisk economic growth following the end of a 26-year conflict with Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009, deepening ties with China and souring relations with Western nations over allegations of war crimes and rights abuses. Sirisena has vowed to scrap a US$1.5 billion deal with China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. to build a port city and a casino license that was given to Australian gambling tycoon James Packer's Crown Resorts Ltd. The 63-year-old leader from the rural heartlands projects himself as a champion of the farming masses, a clean-living figure who has campaigned against smoking and abjures alcohol. There is no credible and unbiased opinion poll on the election outcome. A New Broom Sirisena still represents the country's Sinhalese Buddhist majority, who account for 70 percent of its 21 million population, and he was acting defense minister when the war against the Tamil Tigers reached its bloody climax in 2009. However, he also has promised a new broom that has appealed to ethnic Tamils, Muslims and Christians in a country where minorities have felt increasingly marginalized. He has pledged to deal with war-crimes allegations through an independent mechanism, establish independent commissions to secure the impartiality of the judiciary, police and other public services, and crack down on corruption. Sirisena was just 16 when he first took on the establishment, joining an anti-government rally organized by a communist party that ended within minutes as police waded in. He ran for safety through the unknown streets of the capital, Colombo, before taking an overnight train to his village. He was jailed for 15 months in 1971 for alleged involvement in an insurrection led by Marxists, and was arrested eight years later for organizing a public protest. After joining mainstream politics, he was offered the post of prime minister by Rajapaksa's predecessor but he declined it. Few would have believed that Sirisena would now be so close to toppling a president who had basked in popularity after winning the war and skillfully kept his opponents at bay. Sarath Fonseka, the general who led the military to victory, was sentenced to prison after challenging Rajapaksa in a 2010 election, while a chief justice was impeached after she ruled against a Rajapaksa government poverty alleviation bill. Rajapaksa had also benefited from the disunity of opposition parties, which have now united behind his rival. "Today 48 political parties and organizations have united as a common coalition regardless of party policies, ethnicity and religion to defeat Rajapaksa's corrupt regime," Sirisena said. The post Friend Turned Foe: The Challenger for Sri Lanka's Presidency appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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