The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Presidential Adviser Lends Hand to Political Party Hopeful
• Note to Washington: Use Your Blacklist Wisely
• Two Foreign Photographers Briefly Detained in Muse
• ‘Color Space’ Exhibit Shows Works of 17 Local Painters
• ANP Urges Military to Respect Rights of Arrested Civilians
• Electoral ‘Inflection Point’ Fraught With Challenges: Report
• Nepal Quake Victims Still Stranded, PM Says Toll Could be 10,000
• Indonesia Confirms Execution of 8 Drug Smugglers
• From Aung San’s Driver to Centenarian, a Long and Winding Road

Presidential Adviser Lends Hand to Political Party Hopeful Posted: 29 Apr 2015 06:28 AM PDT People count votes at a ballot station during by-elections in Rangoon on April 1, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun)e RANGOON — As the deadline looms for aspiring political parties to register with Burma's Union Election Commission (UEC) ahead of the 2015 general election, one applicant has caused a minor commotion on social media after rumors swirled that the party would be comprised of ex-generals and supported by a top advisor to President Thein Sein. Presidential adviser Nay Zin Latt, who also acts as dean of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a local NGO, confirmed that he had agreed to act as patron of the newly formed National Party, but denied the involvement of any past or present high-ranking military officials within the party's ranks. Rather, the party is being organized by hundreds of CSIS alumni and current enrollees from the center who are interested in joining the political arena, he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "The trainees from our center are forming a party and they asked me to guide them, so I will just join for a while," he said. The CSIS opened three years ago in Rangoon's Hlaing Township, and has graduated about 3,000 alumni, Nay Zin Latt said. It offers two-month courses, nine-month diploma programs and master level studies on political management, public administration and business. Pite Tin, a political columnist who is helping to organize the party, said 60 CSIS former and current enrollees had come together to organize the party. They had asked Nay Zin Latt to help them by acting as patron of the party to offer advice and support for the fledgling political enterprise. "It has been alleged that ex-generals are included in the party and also [former dictator] Ne Win's grandson [Aye Ne Win]; many accusations, but those are not true. We have only included two retired military personnel and the majority is from CSIS," said Pite Tin, himself a CSIS enrollee. Pite Tin said that the party intended to field about 400 candidates in the election, which is expected in early November. Tens of thousands of people have offered to seek party membership, he claimed, highlighting that the party's ambitions were still pending registration approval from the UEC. "We propose to organize a strong and firm party formed of skillful cadres who can effectively operate for the long-term sake of the country rather than just the elections [in the short term]," he said. The National Party is among 17 new parties that have submitted registration applications to the UEC after the commission last month announced a registration deadline of April 30. If the 17 applications are approved, nearly 90 parties will potentially compete for votes later this year. "We are just founding a party like others, and we have been the most focused among many new parties. I have no idea why they are attacking us like that instead of welcoming us," Pite Tin said of social media users who used the online allegations as an opportunity to criticize the military's continued influence over Burma's politics. The rumors prompted The Voice, a Burmese-language daily, to publish a story last week in which Pite Tin was quoted as denying that any former generals were involved in the party's formation. "Only if political parties are strong and firm will the military stay away from politics, whereas now they are involved," Pite Tin said, while adding that he believed the military, Thein Sein's government and the Parliament were genuine in their stated desire for democratic reform in Burma. The post Presidential Adviser Lends Hand to Political Party Hopeful appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Note to Washington: Use Your Blacklist Wisely Posted: 29 Apr 2015 05:14 AM PDT Burmese President Thein Sein, right, and US President Barack Obama in Bali on Nov. 19, 2011. Relations between the two countries have improved rapidly since this first meeting between the two leaders. (Photo: Reuters) When the United States removed one of Burma's most prominent businessmen, Win Aung, from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list last week, other blacklisted tycoons surely sent silent prayers that they would be next in line for removal from the list that bars them from business with their American counterparts. Many of Burma's wealthy businessmen and women were awarded the dishonor thanks to their links to the former military regime, often for using their connections to notorious hardliners for personal financial gain. But if the United States was ready to forgive Win Aung, who according to a 2007 US diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks supported the Than Shwe regime and "used his contacts with the senior generals to amass and maintain his fortune," why wouldn't the rest of them be eligible for removal from the list? What is most encouraging for the so-called "cronies" is the fast-tracked approach of reengagement with the Burmese government since President Thein Sein assumed power in 2011. The United States began to ease its near-total ban on business with Burma in 2012, and Win Aung is the first businessman to be removed from the SDN list after relations started to warm. While two others have been added to the list—Lt-Gen Thein Htay was blacklisted in 2013 for involvement in arms deals with North Korea, and ruling party lawmaker Aung Thaung was added last year for undermining reforms and "perpetuating violence"—none of Burma's business elites have since been added to America's wall of shame. Hence, delisting Win Aung, a well-connected tycoon and head of Burma's largest business association, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), could indicate that the United States is eager to do business in Burma so as not to fall behind other Western markets rushing to invest. The US Treasury Department said in a statement that Win Aung was delisted because he had "taken steps to support reform." With little further explanation or context, this statement could mean just about anything. For instance, this could easily be interpreted as, "we don't care what you did in the past, so long as you aren't connected to North Korea. Just mind your business, we'll embrace you." Choosing Win Aung for delisting is interesting for a few reasons, as there are other big-business cronies on the list that might have been just as good as a starting point. But it's possible that he was delisted because he is chairman of the UMFCCI, which represents more than 10,000 domestic companies. If the US Treasury intends to remove more businesspeople from the list, which it appears inclined to do, it should be mindful that many of those people are highly suspected of involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering—crimes that were pervasive under the former regime, and from which they are still reaping benefit. These cronies have disguised themselves as businesspeople; construction, trading, you name it. Many have ties to some ethnic militias notorious for drug-running along Burma's eastern border. Hopefully, the US government takes these allegations seriously, and doesn't want its own entrepreneurs entering into deals with drug kingpins in suits. And then there are others on the list with known links to human rights abuse, land confiscation and environmental damage. Win Aung could be considered one of them, as he was granted enormous logging concessions in protected areas under the former regime. That being the case, the US Treasury ought to take great care in approving "businesspeople" for removal from the blacklist. If not, it could—inadvertently or otherwise—be helping the bad guys get rich while the rest are left to suffer the consequences of decades of irresponsible business. The post Note to Washington: Use Your Blacklist Wisely appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Two Foreign Photographers Briefly Detained in Muse Posted: 29 Apr 2015 05:10 AM PDT A sign outside the Shan State border town of Muse greets entrants. (Photo: New Myanmar Blog) Two foreign photographers were questioned by police in Muse, northern Shan State, after the vehicle they were traveling in was stopped by a local militia group on Tuesday evening, according to local police. A police officer in Muse said the pair were traveling by car with an ethnic Palaung driver on the Namkham-Kutkai road when they were stopped by members of the pro-government Pansay militia near Kutkai. They were then brought to the Muse police station. "The Pansay group handed them to us and said the two foreigners were in an insecure area. After questioning, we determined that the two foreigners were documenting the culture of the ethnic villages of the Lashio region and accidently went into the Pansay militia's area," said Mya Sein, station commander at Muse police station. He declined to give details on the identity of the two Rangoon-based photographers, but it is believed one is American and the other Austrian. In reply to a request for comment from The Irrawaddy, the US Embassy in Rangoon would only confirm that it was aware of the case and "providing consular assistance." Mya Sein said about 40 methamphetamine tablets and 22 bullets were found in the tool box of the car which was being driven by an ethnic Palaung man from Namkham. "The two foreigners were released after questioning this evening at 3pm after we found out they came to the area with valid and official visas and had nothing [to do] with the seized materials," Mya Sein said. "The American can speak Burmese well and we realized that they apparently hitchhiked for that car to reach back to Lashio. They were also questioned by the immigration department," he added. The driver, Mine Nyi Aye, 26, is still being detained at Muse police station under suspicion of possessing drugs and weapons. The post Two Foreign Photographers Briefly Detained in Muse appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘Color Space’ Exhibit Shows Works of 17 Local Painters Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:49 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — Rangoon's Lokanat Gallery has put 76 painting of 17 contemporary Burmese artists on display, offering visitors a taste of a range of different artistic styles. Named "Color Space," the exhibition shows works of local painters such as Kyee Myint Saw and Zaw Win Pe, both known for their large palette knife works, and Sandar Khaing, a female artist who has a penchant for painting obese nudes. "Color Space" at Lokanat Gallery, situated on Pansodan Road, will be on show for the public until Thursday. The post 'Color Space' Exhibit Shows Works of 17 Local Painters appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

ANP Urges Military to Respect Rights of Arrested Civilians Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:31 AM PDT Soldiers from the Arakan Army at a training school in Laiza, Kachin State last year. (Photo: Thaw Hein Htet/The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — With ongoing fighting between insurgents and government troops in Burma's west, the Arakan National Party (ANP) has asked local Burma Army forces to respect legal restrictions on interrogations after a number of Arakan villagers were detained in the conflict. Arakan State lawmaker and ANP member Saw Nyein, spoke to Col. Wint Thu, the tactical commander of the Burma Army's local command and control center in Kyauktaw, to press the demand on Tuesday. "They said the arrested suspicious persons for military reasons," Saw Nyein told The Irrawaddy. "We said we have no concerns with their investigation if it is in line with law and we're not intervening militarily, but we want to see their earliest possible release if they have done nothing wrong," Locals and civil society organizations in Arakan State said that more than 60 people have been arrested on suspicion of associating with the Arakan Army, though the ANP said it could only confirm the arrest of 11. In a Wednesday statement from the ANP's central executive committee, the party said that locals were concerned about the potential torture of innocent civilians detained by the military. "Col. Wint Thu agreed to act in line with law, and said that they are just asking questions [of the locals] and it is not arrest," said Saw Nyein. Col. Wint Thu did not answer The Irrawaddy's calls. Eleven members of the Arakan Army were arrested earlier this month, and in pursuit of leads from interrogation of the detainees, the Burma Army is currently looking for a list of suspects in the areas where recent clashes have occurred, while the Arakan State police force has launched search patrols in Kyauktaw, Sittwe, Mrauk-U, Minbya and Ramee. The government army has also imposed travel restrictions in villages around the areas where it clashed with Arakan Army troops, according to Nyo Aye, chairwoman of the Arakan Women's Network. The Arakan Army headquarters released a statement on Tuesday which accused the military of arresting and torturing innocent civilians, including village heads and community elders, and setting villages on fire in battle zones. The statement also said that the fact that the government army committing such acts against innocent Arakan locals instead of finding a solution through political means provokes the anger of lower rank AA fighters and encourages undesirable consequences. Clashes between the military and Arakan Army broke out on Mar. 29 in Kyauktaw, and in April alone the two sides have engaged at least 10 times, according to the Arakan Army. The fighting has forced an estimated 400 people in the area from their homes. The post ANP Urges Military to Respect Rights of Arrested Civilians appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Electoral ‘Inflection Point’ Fraught With Challenges: Report Posted: 29 Apr 2015 12:33 AM PDT Election officials prepare to open a polling station for by-elections in Rangoon's Kawhmu Township early on April 1, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — A report from an influential international think-tank has raised concerns about Burma's ability to hold credible elections late this year, while noting that developments over the last five years offer voters a chance at the most legitimate poll in a quarter century. The much-anticipated national election, expected in early November, "will be a major political inflection point, likely replacing a legislature dominated by the Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP], established by the former regime, with one more reflective of popular sentiment," according to a report released on Tuesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG). Among other issues, the ICG said perceptions of the Union Election Commission (UEC) as biased toward the ruling USDP, security challenges and constitutional shortcomings including a provision barring the country's most popular politician from the presidency could cast a pall over the polls. Constitutional reform, pushed for by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party and Burma's ethnic minority groups, is "unlikely" ahead of the vote, according to the report, ensuring that the election is fundamentally undemocratic on at least two fronts: the provision preventing NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi from assuming the presidency, and the military's constitutionally enshrined political power, which guarantees that 25 percent of more than 1,100 seats in national and regional legislatures will be occupied by unelected military personnel when a new Parliament convenes next year. The disenfranchisement of up to one million holders of temporary identification cards, most of whom are stateless Rohingya Muslims, and the likely reality that those living in some conflict areas on the country's periphery will not have a chance to vote looks set to further imperil the election's credibility. Though the USDP and NLD will be the only parties capable of competing nationwide, the electoral playing field will be a crowded one, with 71 parties having registered to compete at some level, and the applications of more than a dozen more pending. The scope of the administrative duties tasked to the UEC and its local subcommissions—including educating an ill-informed electorate—and its inexperience mean the electoral body's capacity "could be severely stretched," the ICG said. The outlook is not wholly grim, however, according to the ICG. It makes note of significant changes to the country's political landscape since the administration of President Thein Sein took power. The reforms may help ensure a more free and fair nationwide election than its predecessor in 2010, which was widely derided as a flawed poll amid allegations of vote rigging and a boycott by Burma's most popular opposition party, the NLD. Improvements in the electoral environment included the holding of a 2012 by-election that was viewed as largely free and fair. That poll saw the NLD take 43 of 44 seats it contested, giving Suu Kyi's party a foothold in Parliament after it decided to re-engage in the political process. Presiding over that vote was the UEC, widely regarded as being close to the ruling USDP, with its chairman Tin Aye a former general and senior leader of the party who jettisoned his official partisan affiliation when he took the UEC post in 2011. The ICG report sought to assuage doubts over the UEC's independence, however, saying the commission "appears determined to deliver the most credible elections that it can, and has been impressively transparent and consultative." A freer media environment and invitations extended to domestic and foreign elections observers would also lend credibility to the electoral process, ICG said. It lauded changes since the 2010 vote that have lowered the fee for registering as a candidate, while saying that the cost of lodging an elections-related complaint, while halved from 2010 to 500,000 kyats (US$460), remained exorbitant. The report highlighted an anticipated period for which there is no precedent in Burma's modern history: the four months between polling day and the required installation of a new government, which will include newly elected parliamentarians' vote on who will be the country's next president. The report said the period "will be one of considerable uncertainty, possibly tensions. This is when messy, potentially divisive horse-trading will occur over who will become president, with whose support and what quid pro quos." The ICG is no stranger to Burma and has previously offered a largely positive assessment of the reforms carried out by Thein Sein, who was given its "In Pursuit of Peace" award in 2012. Since then, his administration has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad, with widespread concerns that the country's reform process has stalled. The post Electoral 'Inflection Point' Fraught With Challenges: Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Nepal Quake Victims Still Stranded, PM Says Toll Could be 10,000 Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:49 PM PDT A resident tries to climbs down on the debris of her house at a village following Saturday’s earthquake in Sindhupalchowk, Nepal, April 28, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) JHARIBAR/SINDHUPALCHOWK, Nepal — People stranded in remote villages and towns across Nepal were still waiting for aid and relief to arrive on Tuesday, four days after a devastating earthquake destroyed buildings and roads and killed more than 4,600 people. The government has yet to assess the full scale of the damage wrought by Saturday's 7.9 magnitude quake, unable to reach many mountainous areas despite aid supplies and personnel pouring in from around the world. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters the death toll could reach 10,000, as information on damage from far-flung villages and towns has yet to come in. That would surpass the 8,500 who died in a 1934 earthquake, the last disaster on this scale to hit the Himalayan nation. "The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing," Koirala said. "It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal." Nepal told aid agencies it did not need more foreign rescue teams to help search for survivors, because its government and military could cope, the national head of the United Nations Development Program told Reuters. Experts said the chance of finding people alive in the ruins was slim more than four days after disaster struck. "After the first 72 hours the survival rate drops dramatically and we are on day four," said Wojtek Wilk of the Polish Center for International Aid, an NGO which has six medical staff and 81 firefighters in Nepal. "On the fifth day it's next to zero." In a rare glimmer of hope, a Nepali-French rescue team pulled a 28-year-old man, Rishi Khanal, from a collapsed apartment block in Kathmandu after he had spent around 80 hours trapped in a room with three dead bodies. In Jharibar, a village in the hilly Gorkha district of Nepal close to the quake's epicenter, Sunthalia was not so lucky. Her husband away in India and with no help in sight, she dug for hours in the rubble of her collapsed home on Saturday to recover the bodies of two of her children, a 10-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son. Another son aged four miraculously survived. Hundreds Killed in Landslide In Barpak, further north, rescue helicopters were unable to find a place to land. On Tuesday, soldiers had started to make their way overland, first by bus, then by foot. Army helicopters also circled over Laprak, another village in the district best known as the home of Gurkha soldiers. A local health official estimated that 1,600 of the 1,700 houses there had been razed. Helicopters dropped food packets in the hope that survivors could gather them up. In Sindhupalchowk, about 3.5 hours by road northeast of Kathmandu, the earthquake was followed by landslides, killing 1,182 people and seriously injuring 376. A local official said he feared many more were trapped and more aid was needed. "There are hundreds of houses where our people have not been able to reach yet," said Krishna Pokharel, the district administrator. "There is a shortage of fuel, the weather is bad and there is not enough help coming in from Kathmandu." International aid has begun arriving in Nepal, but disbursement has been slow, partly because aftershocks have sporadically closed the airport. According to the home (interior) ministry, the confirmed death toll stands at 4,682, with more than 9,240 injured. The United Nations said 8 million people were affected by the quake and that 1.4 million people were in need of food. Nepal's most deadly quake in 81 years also triggered a huge avalanche on Mount Everest that killed at least 18 climbers and guides, including four foreigners, the worst single disaster on the world's highest peak. All the climbers who had been stranded at camps high up on Everest had been flown by helicopters to safety, mountaineers reported on Tuesday. Up to 250 people were missing after an avalanche hit a village on Tuesday in Rasuwa district, a popular trekking area to the north of Kathmandu, district governor Uddhav Bhattarai said. Fruit Vendors Return to Streets A series of aftershocks, severe damage from the quake, creaking infrastructure and a lack of funds have complicated rescue efforts in the poor country of 28 million people sandwiched between India and China. In Kathmandu, youths and relatives of victims were digging into the ruins of destroyed buildings and landmarks. "Waiting for help is more torturous than doing this ourselves," said Pradip Subba, searching for the bodies of his brother and sister-in-law in the debris of Kathmandu's historic Dharahara tower. The 19th century tower collapsed on Saturday as weekend sightseers clambered up its spiral stairs. Scores of people were killed when it crumpled. Elsewhere in the capital's ancient Durbar Square, groups of young men cleared rubble from around an ancient temple, using pickaxes, shovels and their hands. Several policemen stood by, watching. Heavy rain late on Tuesday slowed the rescue work. In the capital, as elsewhere, thousands have been sleeping on pavements, roads and in parks, many under makeshift tents. Hospitals are full to overflowing, while water, food and power are scarce. There were some signs of normality returning on Tuesday, with fruit vendors setting up stalls on major roads and public buses back in operation. Officials acknowledged that they were overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster. "The big challenge is relief," said Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudel, Nepal's top bureaucrat. "We are really desperate for more foreign expertise to pull through this crisis." India and China, which have used aid and investment to court Kathmandu for years, were among the first contributors to the international effort to support Nepal's stretched resources. The post Nepal Quake Victims Still Stranded, PM Says Toll Could be 10,000 appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Indonesia Confirms Execution of 8 Drug Smugglers Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:36 PM PDT Todung Mulya Lubis, lawyer for two Australians facing the death penalty, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, holds a self-portrait painted by Sukumaran at Wijayapura port in Cilacap, Indonesia on Monday. (Photo: Beawiharta / Reuters) CILACAP, Indonesia — Indonesia brushed aside last-minute appeals and executed eight people convicted of drug smuggling on Wednesday, although a Philippine woman was granted a stay of execution. Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo confirmed at a press conference hours after the deaths had been widely reported that each of the eight had been executed simultaneously at 12:35am each by a 13-member firing squad. Medical teams confirmed their deaths three minutes later, he said. “The executions have been successfully implemented, perfectly,” Prasetyo said. “All worked, no misses,” he said of the executions of two Australians, four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian man. Prasetyo earlier announced that Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso had been granted a stay of execution while the Philippines investigates her case. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that Australia will withdraw its ambassador from Jakarta in response to the executions of two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31. “These executions are both cruel and unnecessary,” Abbott told reporters. He said it was cruel because Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had spent a decade in jail before being executed and “unnecessary because both of these young Australians were fully rehabilitated while in prison.” Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement the execution of a second Brazilian citizen in Indonesia this year “marks a serious event in the relations between the two countries.” Brazil had asked for a stay of execution for Rodrigo Gularte, 42, on humanitarian grounds because he was schizophrenic. Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira was one of six drug convicts that Jakarta executed in January, brushing aside last-minute appeals from Brazil and the Netherlands. Brazil and the Netherlands withdrew their ambassadors from Jakarta in protest at those executions. There was relief in Manila when it was announced that Veloso would not be executed with the others. Mary Jane Veloso’s mother, Celia, told Manila radio station DZBB from Indonesia that what happened was “a miracle.” “We thought we’ve lost my daughter. I really thank God. What my daughter Mary Jane said earlier was true, ‘If God wants me to live, even if just by a thread or just in the final minute, I will live,” Celia Veloso said. “The Philippine government thanks President Widodo and the Indonesian government for giving due consideration to President Aquino’s appeal that Mary Jane Veloso be given a reprieve,” presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said. “Such reprieve provides an opportunity for the perpetuation of her testimony that could shed light on how a criminal syndicate duped her into being an unwitting accomplice or courier in their human and drug trafficking activities,” he said. There were cheers from the more than 250 Veloso supporters who held a candlelight vigil outside the Indonesian embassy in Manila. “We are very happy. It’s euphoric here. Everyone’s rejoicing and waving their flags after learning that Mary Jane has been spared,” protest leader Renato Reyes said outside the embassy. Veloso, 30, was arrested in 2010 at the airport in the central Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, where officials discovered about 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of heroin hidden in her luggage. Prasetyo said Veloso was granted a stay of execution because her alleged boss has been arrested in the Philippines, and the authorities there requested Indonesian assistance in pursuing the case. “This delay did not cancel the execution. We just want to give a chance in relation with the legal process in the Philippines,” Prasetyo said. The woman who allegedly recruited Veloso to work in Kuala Lumpur, Maria Kristina Sergio, surrendered to police in the Philippines on Monday, National Police Officer-in-Charge, Deputy Director-General Leonardo A. Espina said. Veloso has maintained that she was used as a drug mule without her knowledge. Michael Chan, brother of Andrew Chan, who became a Christian pastor during his decade in prison and married an Indonesian woman on Monday, reacted with anger. “I have just lost a courageous brother to a flawed Indonesian legal system. I miss you already RIP my Little Brother,” Michael Chan tweeted. “Today we lost Myu and Andrew, our sons, our brothers,” the Sukumaran and Chan families later said in a statement. “In the 10 years since they were arrested, they did all they could to make amends, helping many others. They asked for mercy, but there was none,” the statement added. The executions were widely condemned. London-based Amnesty International called on Indonesia to abandon plans for further executions. “These executions are utterly reprehensible,” Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement. Eight ambulances carrying coffins were seen driving through the port city of Cilacap, where the Nusakambangan prison island ferry lands, more than four hours after the reported executions. They were thought to be carrying the bodies of the executed. Sukumaran and Chan requested that their bodies be flown back to Australia. Nigerian Martin Anderson chose to be buried in the West Java town of Bekasi, and fellow Nigerian Raheem Agbaje, wanted to be buried in the East Java town of Madiun where he had been a prisoner. Indonesian Zainal Abidin is to be buried in Cilacap. The wishes of two other Nigerians—Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise and Okwudili Oyatanze—as well as those of Gularte, the Brazilian, have yet to be made public. Originally, 10 inmates were to be executed, but Frenchman Serge Atlaoui was excluded because he still had an outstanding court appeal against President Joko Widodo’s rejection of his clemency application. Widodo has vowed to show no mercy to drug criminals. The government says Atlaoui will face a firing squad alone if his appeal is rejected by the Administrative Court. The latest executions brought to 14 the number of drug traffickers shot in Indonesia under Widodo’s administration, which took power in October last year. The post Indonesia Confirms Execution of 8 Drug Smugglers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

From Aung San’s Driver to Centenarian, a Long and Winding Road Posted: 28 Apr 2015 05:00 PM PDT U Khan sits outside his home in Taunggyi, Shan State. (Photo: Kyaw Zwa Moe / The Irrawaddy) TAUNGGYI, Shan State — Sitting at his home in Taunggyi, 100-year-old U Khan is still proud of what he did for Gen. Aung San, the father of Burma's independence, on Feb. 12, 1947. Nearly 70 years ago, U Khan drove Bogyoke (General) Aung San along a narrow, steep and snaking road that stretched 100 km from Taunggyi to Panglong, where the national hero and ethnic leaders from Shan, Kachin and Chin states signed the historic Panglong Agreement as part of efforts to speed up Burma's return to independence from British colonial rule. Unsurprisingly, none of the leaders who signed that agreement is alive today. Aung San was the first of them to die, assassinated as he was on July 19, 1947, just six months before the country gained its independence. Born in 1915, the same year as Aung San, U Khan remains in good enough health that he can still be seen driving occasionally in his hometown of Taunggyi, where he was born to a migrant Muslim father and a Shan mother. U Khan still considers himself a devout Muslim. U Khan is pictured in 1947 sitting behind the steering wheel while Aung San, left, receives a bouquet from a young woman in Taunggyi before heading to Panglong. He remembers the past clearly, including the small part that he played in history, and is happy to show guests old photos hung on the walls of his house. "I drove him [Aung San] to Panglong on that day," he told me, pointing to a photo of Aung San receiving a bouquet from a young local woman in Taunggyi, U Khan himself pictured sitting behind the steering wheel of a Jeep just before setting off for Panglong. When they arrived at Panglong but before signing the agreement, U Khan recalled Aung San telling the gathered ethnic leaders, "You can separate your states from Burma after 10 years if you are not satisfied with [this agreement]." U Khan said: "Ethnic leaders, including the Saopha of Yawngwhe [who would become Burma's first president after independence in 1948], responded to Bogyoke Aung San by saying, 'Let's not talk of secession at the moment; we are just about to sign for a union.'" Feb. 12 has since been recognized annually as Union Day and the historic Panglong Agreement remains a rallying point for Burma's ethnic minorities, with its guarantee of full autonomy for ethnic regions never realized and still sought to this day. Common Interests U Khan and Aung San had become acquainted thanks to their common interests in politics and their country's struggle for independence. "Bogyoke Aung San was involved in the nationwide independence struggle, while we were involved in political activities here in our Shan State," U Khan said. "I worked with U Tin E for the Shan State People's Freedom League." Mayor U Khan, left, with Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, who was visiting Taunggyi. The late Tin E, who was one year U Khan's junior, was one of a handful of prominent Shan leaders who managed to convince many Shan to support Aung San's Panglong plan to expedite independence from Britain, which was seeking a show of unity before agreeing to relinquish the whole of Burma. In 1952, four years after the country had ridded itself of the yoke of colonialism, U Khan was elected as the first mayor of Taunggyi, the capital of southern Shan State. Four years later, he was re-elected to a second term and was also appointed chairman of the Taunggyi Municipal Committee. As mayor in the 1950s, U Khan received domestic and foreign dignitaries during his time in office. Other photos on the walls of his home capture the centenarian with Burma's President U Ba Oo and visiting Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, both of whom paid visits to Taunggyi. The premiers Kyaw Nyein and Ba Swe were also among his acquaintances at the time. While serving as mayor, he was also a successful businessman, running movie theaters and a construction company that operated in Taunggyi and other towns in southern Shan State. However, doomsday came for him on March 2, 1962, when the late dictator Gen. Ne Win staged a coup, ousting from power the civilian government led by Prime Minister U Nu. Indeed, that fateful Friday was a dark turning point not just for U Khan, but also for the entire country. In the wee hours of March 2, Ne Win's troops began surrounding the homes of cabinet members as well as ethnic leaders, most of whom were Shan princes, known as saophas, in Rangoon and across Shan State. The soldiers arrested the entire cabinet, including the then incumbent President Mahn Win Maung (an ethnic Karen), U Nu and the rest of the government ministers. In Shan State, almost all of the 25 Shan saophas who were members of the regional Nationalities Parliament and another 25 members of the People's Parliament were arrested along with other politicians. Mayor U Khan sits at the head of the table next to Burma's President U Ba Oo. Burma's former first president and the incumbent chairman of the chamber of nationalities, the saopha of Yaunghwe Sao Shwe Thaike, was among the purged Shan princes, having also been apprehended at his residence in Rangoon. During the arrest, one of his teenage sons was killed. Ne Win's regime said he died as guards at the saopha's residence exchanged fire with the soldiers attempting to arrest Sao Shwe Thaike. It was reportedly the only casualty of an otherwise bloodless coup. Ne Win's takeover destroyed the union spirit that had been forged by Aung San and the ethnic leaders at Panglong, with the Burman-dominated military junta entrenching distrust between the country's ethnic majority and its many ethnic minorities. Without question, it dealt a devastating blow to hopes of ending Burma's civil war, which by that time had entered into its second decade. 'Come With Us for a While' U Khan was also among those arrested. "I was sent to Insein's annex jail," U Khan told me, referring to a compound within Insein Prison, a penitentiary in Rangoon that has housed thousands of political prisoners since the 1962 coup. Sao Shwe Thaike and other politicians were also kept at Insein, where U Khan told me he still can't forget one morning in November 1962. "Around 7 am, Sao Shwe Thaike shouted to us, 'How are you guys?', while he was taking a walk to work out in the prison compound," U Khan recalled. "At around 11:00 am, he died. We had no idea why." Mayor U Khan, middle, with his team of civil servants in Taunggyi. "He was poisoned," one of my friends, seated next to us, interrupted. U Khan responded: "I know, I know. Not good to talk about it." The former president was believed to have been killed while in detention. After having spent six years in the country's biggest prison, U Khan was finally released without facing any charges. Though he was no longer behind bars, he wasn't truly free. Authorities did not allow U Khan to return to Taunggyi, instead forcing him to remain in Rangoon where they could better keep an eye on him and his activities. He was placed under this "city arrest" for four more years. "They [authorities] just told me to come with them for a while," U Khan recalled of the moment in 1962 when he was rousted from his home. "That 'for a while' meant 10 years in detention." Some businesses belonging to U Khan were confiscated by Ne Win's Revolutionary Council, including two cinemas, as the government nationalized commerce across the country in the name of the "Burmese Way to Socialism." "At one of those locations, you can see Innwa Bank today," he said, perhaps adding insult to injury for the man, given that Innwa Bank was founded by the Myanmar Economic Corporation, a conglomerate owned by the military. U Khan has never received any form of compensation for the businesses he lost. After his release, he went back into the construction business in Taunggyi, but chose to remain outside the civic arena. "I didn't return to politics," he said. And though his past woes are attributable to a dictatorship that has ostensibly ceded power, Ne Win and his military successors still cast a shadow. "I shouldn't have talked a lot to you," he told me as our conversation neared its end. "If I talk a lot, I am afraid that I might be 'invited' to prison again." A Union Monument at Panglong commemorates the signing of the historic agreement on Feb. 12, 1947. (Photo: Kyaw Zwa Moe / The Irrawaddy) Then, when asked whether he thought the current reformist government was as bad as the previous regime, he answered immediately: "I didn't say it's bad. It's good." He continued: "Don't write anything bad of the government. I don't say bad things about the government. The government is really good." I asked a general question about Taunggyi and he replied in a similar vein. "Everything is good. Yes, it's good. Don't write anything against the government. Just say everything is good. This government is also very good." At this point U Khan's son jumped into our conversation: "He no longer dares to say anything critical." One of the reasons, his son explained, is that U Khan was again detained for a few days when a nationwide pro-democracy uprising rocked the country in 1988, despite his having steered clear of politics for decades. More than a half century after his arrest, I can feel that the 100-year-old still lives in fear. Though he is no longer willing to engage in politics, it hasn't dampened his interest in the subject, nor caused him to shy away from visible affiliations with the country's opposition. One photo hanging on the chimney in his living room shows U Khan with Tin Oo, a former commander in chief and founding member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma's largest opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi. "He [Tin Oo] visited my house in recent months. Daw Suu [Aung San Suu Kyi] is very good and smart. I am not a politician but am interested in politics," U Khan said. "I want to see Burma as a good country." Tin Oo, a founding member of the National League Democracy, visits U Khan at his home in Taunggyi. Whatever the past, U Khan said life at his ripe old age is peaceful and filled with contentment. He still goes to the office most days after morning prayers, though he no longer handles the business responsibilities and simply enjoys meeting up with his friends to shoot the breeze. "Sometimes I am still driving, but I don't have a driver's license anymore," U Khan said. The licensing department, his son said, stopped issuing him a driver's license after deeming him too old to get behind the wheel. "But he is quite impatient if I drive," said his son with a laugh, leading one to wonder what kind of harrowing road trip the apparent lead-foot may have embarked with Bogyoke so many years ago. The post From Aung San's Driver to Centenarian, a Long and Winding Road appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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