The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Foreign Investment Soars to Record $8B in 2014-15
• Govt ‘Exaggerating’ Significance of Accord With Ethnic Groups: NCCT Leader
• Police Nab Another Student Linked to Letpadan Protest
• Rangoon Municipality to Build Third Waste Incinerator
• Foreign Banks Opening Branches in Burma for First Time in Decades
• Lukewarm Response to Latest 48-Party Confab
• Army Chief Skips 48-Party Talks for Fleet Review
• Asia’s LGBT People Migrate to Escape Violence at Home
• In Indonesia, a Power Plant Impasse and a Faltering President
• Russia Eyes Military Sales to Thailand, Rubber Deals
• The Hard Life of Burma’s Former Child Soldiers

Foreign Investment Soars to Record $8B in 2014-15 Posted: 09 Apr 2015 07:04 AM PDT Oil wells on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in Chauk, Magway Division. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Foreign direct investment in Burma grew sharply during the 2014-2015 fiscal year and reached a record US$8 billion, a more than doubling of FDI compared to the year before, according to the Myanmar Investment Commission, which said the oil and gas sector was the main driver of growth. "We expected $4 or 5 billion, but at the end of the fiscal year the figures have risen to a record of $8 billion. The FDI numbers are becoming higher than what we've expected in recent years," said Aung Naing Oo, director-general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) and a member of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC). "The oil and gas sector is at the top of the table." DICA figures released this week indicate the oil and gas sector attracted $3.2 billion in FDI, the transport and telecommunication sector saw investments rise to $1.6 billion, closely followed by manufacturing with $1.5 billion. Real estate and hotels and tourism were the fourth and fifth sectors receiving most FDI, with $780 million and $357 million, respectively. In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, which ends on March 31, Burma attracted about $3.5 billion in FDI, half of which flowed into its labor-intensive manufacturing sector. Singapore-listed companies comprised more than half of the investment volume in 2014-2015 with a combined total of $4.2 billion, reflecting an apparent trend of managing local projects remotely from the investment haven, particularly for oil and gas projects. Hong Kong-based firms were the second-largest investors with $850 million, followed by China-registered companies with $516 million, according to DICA. Many US-listed firms looking to invest in Burma are reportedly resorting to opening offices in Singapore in order to avoid potential risks involved in doing business with US-blacklisted "crony" businessmen who had ties to the former military regime. "Many of biggest foreign companies opened a company based in Singapore, that's why its investment became top of the list. They are not only from Singapore, but also from various countries all over the world," said Aung Naing Oo. He said the MIC is forecasting a total FDI inflow of around $6 billion next year, adding, "We expect that next year will also be good." The Asian Development Bank said in a report last month that Burma's economic growth is expected to stay strong at around 8.3 percent in the next fiscal year "propelled by investments stimulated by the ongoing reforms, an improved business environment, and the country's integration into Southeast Asia." "Risks to Myanmar's economic outlook come from thin external and fiscal buffers, ethnic and sectarian tensions, extreme weather events, and a possible slowing of reform momentum ahead of elections [in November 2015]," the bank said. President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government took office in 2011 and began opening up the economy in an attempt to attract FDI after international trade sanctions were lifted in 2012. Oil and gas exploration licenses and exploitation licenses for the country's underdeveloped telecoms sector have been among the most coveted foreign investment opportunities in the long-isolated country. Telenor of Norway and Qatar-based Ooredoo were granted operating licenses and started rolling out their networks in January 2014. In March last year, 13 foreign and local firms were granted offshore oil and gas exploration licenses and the companies have since been negotiating their individual production-sharing contracts with the state Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise. Burma's manufacturing sector has attracted investment by foreign firms looking to produce cheap products made with low-skill labor, such as garments, for export sales. Hnin Oo, senior vice president of Myanmar Fisheries Federation and a fish produce exporter, welcomed the strong FDI figures, saying these were an indicator that investment in Burma's rich natural resources sector would continue regardless of the outbreak of conflict or political uncertainty. He said, however, that Burma needs investment that adds value and creates jobs, adding that it should attract investment in its manufacturing sector. "As long as manufacturing and production sector won't come bigger, the country's economy will not become developed … We can't be dependent on the resources sector for a long time," Hnin Oo said. The post Foreign Investment Soars to Record $8B in 2014-15 appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Govt ‘Exaggerating’ Significance of Accord With Ethnic Groups: NCCT Leader Posted: 09 Apr 2015 06:56 AM PDT Burma's President Thein Sein, front third left, and Nai Hong Sar, front third right, a leader of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordinating Team, shake hands after signing a nationwide ceasefire draft agreement in Rangoon on March 31. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — A leader of the ethnic armed groups that comprise the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) has accused the Burmese government of exaggerating the significance of an agreement made last week that was hailed in state media as a "historic" breakthrough in peace negotiations. On March 31, the NCCT and government negotiators signed declarations of support for a draft nationwide ceasefire accord long-sought by members of both sides. The draft agreement has not been made public, but several contentious issues that have deadlocked negotiations for months were reportedly omitted from the document and will be taken up instead during a political dialogue to following the nationwide ceasefire's signing. No date has been set for that event, with ethnic groups saying they will first convene a summit to discuss the proposed peace deal among themselves. Asked by The Irrawaddy if he thought the government was manipulating the substance of last week's signing, Khun Okkar, an NCCT leader, said on Thursday that Naypyidaw was "trying to exaggerate" in conveying its importance. His comments resembled a statement of caution released by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) on Saturday. The UNFC, an alliance of 12 ethnic armed groups that includes many NCCT members, said the nature of the agreement reached last week had been "misunderstood." "Many news agencies, stakeholders, and the international community have misunderstood that the parties signed the NCA. This is not true. Five representatives each from the NCCT and UPWC [Union Peacemaking Working Committee, the government's negotiating body] signed a joint statement affirming the completion of the draft NCA text," said the statement. The concern over potential misunderstanding may have been prompted in part by rallies since last week's signing in Dawei and Mon State, which saw civil servants take to the streets in support of the signing of a nationwide ceasefire agreement. The UNFC said the signing of an accord would be "unlikely" in April, citing four challenges that would make May the earliest possible month for a signing. Those challenges included a timeframe that was too short, particularly given the lengthy holiday afforded in Burma for Buddhist New Year celebrations; continued fighting between the Burma Army and Kokang rebels in the country's northeast; and disagreement over who would serve as signatories and witnesses at the signing ceremony. According to the statement, UNFC chairman Gen. N'Ban La "welcomes the finalization of the draft NCA [nationwide ceasefire agreement], however, he cautions that the Ethnic Armed Organization [EAO] Leadership Summit will decide whether or not to sign the NCA." The United Wa State Army (UWSA) has offered to host the summit at its headquarters in Panghsang, a town in Shan State located on the Burma-China border, but Khun Okkar said a location had yet to be determined. "We are grateful to the Wa for welcoming the hosting of a meeting there, but we have not discussed with them yet whether we can have the ethnic summit there," he said. The post Govt 'Exaggerating' Significance of Accord With Ethnic Groups: NCCT Leader appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Police Nab Another Student Linked to Letpadan Protest Posted: 09 Apr 2015 04:20 AM PDT Po Po is seen during the student protest last month in Letpadan, Pegu Division. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Another student activist, Po Po, who last month participated in an education reform protest that was violently dispersed in Letpadan, Pegu Division, was arrested at her home on Wednesday and will be charged with joining a subsequent demonstration in Rangoon. Po Po, a third-year student majoring in history who also goes by the name Yadanar Su Po Paing, spent the night in a Kamayut Township jail cell before being remanded to Insein Prison on Thursday. The Thanlyin Township native had been a participant in a peaceful protest involving about 200 students in Letpadan when police on March 10 cracked down violently on the movement, which was pushing for an overhaul of the controversial National Education Law. More than 120 students and their supporters were arrested, but 20-year-old Po Po and several others managed to escape the police dragnet, according to her sister Ei Pone, who was arrested at Letpadan but was later released by authorities. "We are told they arrested her due to the Hledan protest," Ei Pone said, referring to the traffic junction where protestors later gathered on the same day of the Letpadan crackdown to protest the police's use of force. The demonstrators in Rangoon were dispersed by authorities just minutes later. "With her, Nanda Sitt Aung and others, altogether six people will be [charged] in the same case," Ei Pone added. A judge in Kamayut Township issued a warrant for Po Po's arrest on March 11. Prior to her detention on Wednesday, police had arrested Nanda Sitta Aung and Win Kyaw Moe. A manhunt is still on for Kyaw Ko Ko, Lin Htet Naing and Shein Yarzar Htun, whom authorities accuse of leading the demonstration along with Po Po and the others. Win Kyaw Moe and Po Po, both currently being held at Insein Prison, are due to be arraigned on Friday at the Kamayut Township Courthouse under articles 143, 145, 147 and 505(b) of the Penal Code. The charges include participation in an unlawful assembly, joining or continuing an unlawful assembly and rioting, with some of the alleged offenses carrying penalties of up to three years in prison. Nanda Sitt Aung was arrested in Rangoon on March 27 and transferred to Tharrawaddy Prison. Meanwhile, 81 students on trial for involvement in the Letpadan protest were brought to court again on Thursday. Tension arose when police initially did not allow parents to meet with their children as they were brought to the courthouse on Thursday morning. "We were not allowed to meet with our children at first. Afterward, the parents and supporters shouted at the police to allow it, and we were able to meet with our children," said Khin Khin Yu, mother of Min Thwe Thit. "My son and his friends said they are not receiving proper medical treatment," she said, adding that he was suffering from headaches after being struck on the head with a police baton during the crackdown. "But the authorities said they've checked him and nothing is wrong with his health. We fear internal injuries because we heard our children were beaten severely when they were arrested." Authorities finally allowed the student detainees to receive clothes from donors after prison officials first blocked the donation, objecting to the fact that the white tops resembled the traditional school uniforms of Burmese students. Student supporters and activists from Mandalay plan to organize a protest on Saturday to urge the government to release the detained student protesters. The post Police Nab Another Student Linked to Letpadan Protest appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rangoon Municipality to Build Third Waste Incinerator Posted: 09 Apr 2015 01:23 AM PDT Municipal garbage collectors of YCDC work at a dump site in Pabedan Township, Rangoon. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Rangoon Municipal Hall and the government of Japan are planning to jointly set up a garbage incinerator in Hlawga in Shwepyitha Township, Rangoon Division parliament was told this week. "Currently, we are using the system of dumping waste on the ground, which pollutes the environment while wasting many areas of land. So, we want to build an incinerator so we can use those lands for other purposes," Rangoon Mayor Hla Myint told parliament on Monday. The 60-ton capacity incinerator will cost US$16 million, half of which will be paid for by Japan's Ministry of Environment, while the other half will be paid for by the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), the city's municipal authority. The construction of the incinerator is scheduled to start sometime between June and August, parliament was told. The installation will generate 700 kilowatt of daily energy from waste incineration, about 400 Kw of which will be used to power it. It will be the third waste incinerator serving the city of more than 5 million. Thirty-three townships within YCDC's municipal boundary in Rangoon Division dump 1,690 tons of garbage daily. YCDC has already signed an agreement with a local company called Zeya Associate Co. to run a 600-ton-capacity incinerator at Dawei Chaung dumping ground in North Dagon Township and generate electricity, YCDC's environment and sanitation division has said. In addition, in partnership with a Korean company called Gsasson International Korea Ltd, YCDC has built an 800-ton-capacity incinerator at Hteinbin dumping ground to generate electricity, said Aung Myint Maw, assistant head of the environment and sanitation division of YCDC. The incinerators will use a landfill gas emission system to generate electricity. "Hteinbin and Dawei Chaung projects are ready to produce electricity. But we are waiting to sign a power purchase agreement with the Ministry of Electrical Power to sell the electricity," Aung Myint Maw said. The post Rangoon Municipality to Build Third Waste Incinerator appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Foreign Banks Opening Branches in Burma for First Time in Decades Posted: 09 Apr 2015 01:16 AM PDT Traffic travels past signs of OCBC and DBS banks at Sakura Tower in Rangoon on Oct. 3, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) RANGOON — Two Japanese and one Singaporean bank will become the first foreign banks to operate in Burma for decades when they open branches on April 23, as the country emerges from a long phase of economic isolation, state media reported Thursday. "The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd [BTMU], Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation [SMBC] and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd became the first to clear the final hurdle among nine foreign lenders awarded preliminary approval," the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported. Crippled by mismanagement during 49 years of military regimes and cut off from much of the world due to Western sanctions, the domestic banking sector remains ill-equipped to provide services to local citizens, let alone global companies. A semi-civilian government took power in 2011 and has initiated sweeping economic reforms. In October, the government granted nine foreign banks coveted licenses to operate on a limited basis, its biggest move to date to bring in much needed foreign capital to a fast-growing economy. The licenses are limited to one branch that can provide loans to foreign companies and only in foreign currency, and the licensees are also expected to lend to domestic banks. Sumitomo has partnered up with the local bank KBZ, the newspaper reported. Mitsubishi UFJ is a unit of Mitsubishi Fnancial Group Inc, and Sumitomo Mitsui is a unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Burma's Central Bank said on April 2 that it expected the remaining six foreign banks to submit applications for their final licenses in the coming months. The remaining six banks are: the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, Bangkok Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Malayan Banking Berhad, Japan's Mizuho Bank, and Singapore's United Overseas Bank. Mizuho Bank is a unit of Mizuho Financial Group Inc. The post Foreign Banks Opening Branches in Burma for First Time in Decades appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Lukewarm Response to Latest 48-Party Confab Posted: 09 Apr 2015 01:07 AM PDT The 48-party summit convenes in Naypyidaw on Wednesday. (Photo: Ministry of Information) RANGOON — Political and ethnic leaders have offered a lukewarm response to the latest round of 48-party dialogue with President Thein Sein, held in Naypyidaw on Wednesday. Slated as a preliminary discussion ahead of long-awaited six-party talks on Friday, the talks included the president, parliamentary speakers, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Union Election Commission chair Tin Aye, military representatives and a large contingent of ethnic lawmakers. The discussion mirrored earlier 48-party talks held on Jan. 12, with the president once again emphasizing the importance of the upcoming general election and steps towards a nationwide ceasefire agreement, as ethnic representatives made the case for constitutional reforms in the hope of establishing a federal system of government. Once again, participants called on the government to back dialogue with concessions to opposition and ethnic party demands. “It all depends on their will to implement proposals," said Khin Maung Swe, the chairman of the National Democratic Front. "If there is only discussion, without any changes, there will be no benefit." The government is expected to discuss constitutional changes at this week's six party talks, and participants in Wednesday's meeting told The Irrawaddy they believe the government would announce amendment proposals after Thingyan. According to Khin Maung Swe, members of the government told the meeting that all political parties shared responsibility for keeping peace ahead of the general election, referring to recent student protests against the National Education Law and the ongoing conflict in Laukkai. "In my view point, this government is trying to do something to bolster their image before they have to fight the election," he told The Irrawaddy. The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), Shan State's most popular political party, did not attend Wednesday's talks after Tin Aye refused to allow a substitute for party leader Khun Htun Oo, who was reportedly travelling and did not in any case view the talks as worthwhile. Sai Leik, an SNLD spokesman, said that his party was broadly indifferent to the talks, which he said were "meaningless" in terms of political outcomes. "All ethnic groups in Burma want a democratic, federal system," he said. "To make this happen, we need constitutional amendments. The government has still not said which parts of the Constitution they will seek to amend." According to the state-run Global Light of Myanmar newspaper, the president began Wednesday's proceedings by expressing his believe that all registered political parties would contest this year's election, after Suu Kyi once again raised the prospect of a National League for Democracy boycott in a weekend interview. Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing was attending Navy fleet exercises off the Arakan coast and was absent for the talks, sending deputy Lt-Gen Soe Win in his stead. The commander-in-chief is expected to return to Naypyidaw for Friday's six-party talks. The post Lukewarm Response to Latest 48-Party Confab appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Army Chief Skips 48-Party Talks for Fleet Review Posted: 08 Apr 2015 10:32 PM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — As President Thein Sein received a coterie of political leaders and ethnic representatives in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing was conspicuously absent, instead presiding over Navy exercises off the coast of Arakan State. Wednesday's combined fleet exercise, codenamed Sea Shield, practiced maneuvers near Manaung Island. According to the state-run newspaper Myanma Alin Daily, 22 ships and 1186 soldiers participated in the drill. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lt-Gen Soe Win attended Naypyidaw's 48-party meeting in Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing's stead. Both military leaders attended the last meeting of 48 government leaders and ethnic parliamentarians held in mid-January. The commander-in-chief is expected to return to Naypyidaw in time for six-party talks with the president, parliamentary speakers and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday. The post Army Chief Skips 48-Party Talks for Fleet Review appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Asia’s LGBT People Migrate to Escape Violence at Home Posted: 08 Apr 2015 09:39 PM PDT Joe Wong, 31, poses for photograph at his apartment in Bangkok on April 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Long before Joe Wong surgically removed his breasts and uterus, he was Joleen, who once used an entire roll of brown duct tape to flatten her chest in an effort to look less feminine at her new secondary school in Singapore. A close relative, angered by her clumsy and obvious attempt to bind her breasts, struck her on the head, pulled up her shirt and tore off the tape, ripping off bits of skin in the process. Joleen endured a childhood of daily beatings from this relative, a knife pressed to her face, a death threat, and forced therapy with an expensive counsellor who told her she was "disgusting" for kissing and holding hands with girls. "When you get beaten every day, you no longer feel the pain, you just feel numb," said Wong, now a 31-year-old transgender man working with the Asia Pacific Transgender Network rights group in Bangkok. Across Asia, which is largely patriarchal and conservative, the violence lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face is often from their own families, who beat them to make them conform and maintain the social balance, experts say. Homosexual acts are illegal in 78 countries around the world, punishable by jail time in places including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore, according to the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). Such laws drive stigma and discrimination, and essentially condone family violence, though the problem remains hidden, glimpsed through many anecdotes but little data, activists say. To escape the beatings and find a sense of belonging, LGBT people in Asia flock to cities in their own country, and increasingly—with the Internet and social media easing migration for jobs and gay marriage—many like Wong are leaving their home country altogether. "I've never been more at home than now, even though I'm not at home," he said, his deep voice, broad shoulders and moustache betraying no sign of his childhood as a girl. "I removed everything that was bringing me down. I removed the toxic people in my life. Now it's just me and my problems that I have to confront," said Wong, who did not identify the abusive relative to avoid further straining family ties. "I feel really liberated," he said as he sipped a fruit shake in a quiet cafe next door to the offices of APTN. Living in Stealth A key reason for family violence against LGBT people in Asia—and the way this region differs from other parts of the world—is the "family shame factor," says Ging Cristobal, the Asia-Pacific project coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). "You do not shame your family, because it's not part of the norm in that society. It's a taboo," Cristobal said in a Skype call from Manila. Many Asian families push LGBT relatives into what the Chinese call "marriages of convenience," partly to help parents save face. One Pakistani lesbian in her mid-20s fled to Bangkok two years ago because she was forced into marriage in Pakistan and was facing death threats from her own family, said Anoop Sukumaran, executive director of the Bangkok-based Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, which is helping her as she applies for UNHCR refugee status. While young LGBT people are theoretically covered under laws protecting children from violence, most suffer in silence for fear they will otherwise have no one to look after them. Cristobal said she often advises young LGBT people who rely on their family for their tuition to find supportive friends, and then seek a college education or find work away from home. "Then you try to be stealthy. You try not to give clues that you are an LGBT person," Cristobal said. Wong says he could turn to no one for help when he faced violence at home. "Sometimes neighbors intervened … but even police wouldn't do anything about family violence," he said. Activists say including sexual orientation and gender identity in laws, policies and programs to prevent violence against women and children would reduce family violence against LGBT people. For instance, Cristobal said a young man in Manila contacted her via Facebook last year because his brother had threatened to kill him because he was gay. She told him to call the police. "The brother was not there anymore. Police came and gave their personal mobile number. The neighbors saw the police … were supportive of the gay guy, so I think that regulated them from directly telling him negative things," she said. Vietnamese mother-son activists Lily Dinh and Teddy Nguyen say family attitudes in Vietnam have changed since the government decriminalized same-sex marriage. In 2013, Vietnamese government officials organized discussions on same-sex marriage, and invited Dinh—who heads a small chapter of PFLAG, a group for parents and friends of LGBT people—to speak, along with others from the group. "I think that was the first time the government officers from the ministry of justice and from congress met LGBT people in real life, and the first time they met with LGBT parents, too," Dinh said in a Skype call from Ho Chi Minh City. "We told our stories because we wanted the government to understand the difficulties our children face in their daily lives … I think that the officials understood and felt empathy for the PFLAG members and for the LGBT community." The UN Development Program recently gave PFLAG Vietnam a US$24,000 grant to travel to five provinces over the next six months to raise awareness of LGBT issues and rights. "Things are getting better … but it will take time for the government and society to understand clearly LGBT people, especially in the rural areas," said Dinh. The post Asia's LGBT People Migrate to Escape Violence at Home appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In Indonesia, a Power Plant Impasse and a Faltering President Posted: 08 Apr 2015 09:32 PM PDT Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo at an economic summit last month. (Photo: Feng Li / Reuters) PONOWARENG, Indonesia — Indonesia announced with great fanfare in 2011 that it would build Southeast Asia’s biggest coal-fired power plant on the island of Java, but the $4 billion project is yet to be launched and President Joko Widodo is on the horns of a dilemma. After repeated delays and at least two revisions to land acquisition laws holding up the Japanese-backed project, Widodo told investors in Tokyo last month that construction of the desperately needed plant would finally start within weeks. But to do that he may have to evict dozens of landowners who are refusing to give up their rice paddy fields to make way for the plant—and deal another blow to his declining popularity. There is no sign yet of what Widodo will do about the coal plant in the Batang region of Java. But his predicament is emblematic of the headwinds he has run into since taking office last October. Back then, the hopes of voters and investors alike were high that he would break the mould of old-style politics, root out corruption and start fixing the country’s woeful infrastructure. Six months in office, he is increasingly being seen as a throwback to the past. "There are political pressures dragging down the economic reforms," said a senior official at the presidential office, who asked not to be named. "Because of that we’re losing momentum." Once a little-known furniture salesman, Widodo was propelled to the presidency by popular admiration for his no-nonsense administration and the pro-poor health and education policies he championed as governor of Jakarta, the country’s capital. The slide in global oil prices handed him an early opportunity to brandish his reformist credentials with a cut in the fuel subsidies that have long weighed on state finances. But the honeymoon did not last long. His decision to nominate a chief of police who was later implicated in a corruption probe provoked a political storm that raised doubts about his ability to rise above entrenched vested interests. Meanwhile, an opinion poll taken at the end of January found that his approval rating had plunged to 42 percent from 72 percent just six months earlier. Investors are hoping he will rise above popularity worries. "Perhaps it is a little bit of a political courage issue," said Raj Kannan, managing director at the Jakarta-based Tusk Advisory, which focuses on the infrastructure sector. "Somebody to take the bull by the horns to make it work. The best solution is for the president to get involved himself." Widodo has taken a keen personal interest in getting the 2,000-megawatt Batang project underway, despatching his vice president to the site within weeks of being sworn in and demanding regular updates on its progress. He has also introduced regulatory changes that make it easier to seize land and obtain funding for Batang and other major projects. But 74 landowners, representing the last 12 percent of the 226 hectares needed for the plant, are still refusing to sell, the group’s spokesman said. The state-owned electric company PLN, however, disputes this, saying only one or two hectares are yet to be acquired. "We’ve had thousands of visits, sometimes twice a day," said 72-year-old rice farmer Komaidi, who has rebuffed a procession of officials sent to convince him to sell his small plot. Komaidi, who like many in Indonesia goes by one name, says the fields are all he has to raise his family of 11 children. Batang, like many other large development projects in Indonesia, has been bogged down for years by legal wrangling. PT Bhimasena Power Indonesia, a joint venture company set up by Indonesian coal miner PT Adaro Energy Tbk and Japan’s Itochu Corporation and Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. (J-Power) to operate and build the plant, sent a force majeure notice to contractors last year due to the land standoff. The project also faces stiff opposition from local fishermen and environmental groups like Greenpeace, who say pollution from the plant could threaten nearby waters. The plant, which will supply power to millions of Indonesians in Java and Bali islands, is a central part of the president’s five-year plan to add an additional 35,000 megawatts of power capacity to the current 50,000 megawatts. Construction must start within weeks if the government hopes to meet its 2018 target for the start of operations. But with the administration unable to seal the deal, Widodo announced this week he would get directly involved and travel to Central Java later this month to meet the farmers. If negotiations remain deadlocked after the president’s visit, a palace official said the government could take the land under new regulations that allow for the procurement of private property when it is in the public interest. But the farmers insist they won’t budge. "They have been threatening us like this from the start," said Haruji, a 40-year-old rice farmer in Ponowareng village, whose streets are decorated with banners and graffiti opposing the power plant. "We will be united against that. We will hold on for as long as we can." The post In Indonesia, a Power Plant Impasse and a Faltering President appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Russia Eyes Military Sales to Thailand, Rubber Deals Posted: 08 Apr 2015 09:27 PM PDT Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, speaks with Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha during a news conference at the Government House in Bangkok on April 8, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Russia sees an opportunity to sell Thailand military planes and other defense equipment, Russia's trade minister said on Wednesday, as the two countries facing Western opprobrium seek to boost trade ties. Thailand has stepped up engagement with both Russia and China in response to cooler relations with old ally the United States and other Western countries since the Thai military seized power from an elected government last May. The United States scaled back military cooperation with Thailand after the coup. "We are feeling out the interest on the Thai side to purchase military equipment," Russian Trade Minister Denis Manturov told Reuters in Bangkok on Wednesday. "Our friends from the Western part of the world are ignoring Thailand." Manturov is part of a delegation accompanying Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on an official visit. Medvedev is the first Russian prime minister to visit Thailand for 25 years. Talks on defense-related sales were focused on military aircraft and related training and services, Manturov said. He declined to give details of specific deals under discussion. As Thailand hosted those talks, it also sent a high-level delegation to China to boost military ties. Thai Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters he and Thai army chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr would travel to China on Wednesday. Russia also hopes to strike more deals with Thailand in the civil aviation sector. The Royal Thai Air Force should take delivery in late 2016 or early 2017 of the first of three Sukhoi Superjet passenger aircraft, Manturov said. Russia was focusing on boosting trade in markets in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa to compensate for the impact of Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, he said. Russia's total international trade was down about 20 percent in the first quarter of the year due to a combination of sanctions, falling energy prices and a weak rouble, he said. Russia would buy at least 80,000 tons of rubber from Thailand in 2016, Manturov said, adding that would be about four times more than planned purchases in 2015. Russian state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec would purchase the rubber to make tires, he said. Rostec has stakes in some of Russia's largest industries and partnerships with foreign companies, with interests in weapons, cars and metals. Thailand is the world's top rubber exporter, and the purchases will bolster a sector struggling with oversupply and weak global demand. Thailand and Russia aim to double annual bilateral trade in 2016 to US$10 billion, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Wednesday. The post Russia Eyes Military Sales to Thailand, Rubber Deals appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Hard Life of Burma’s Former Child Soldiers Posted: 08 Apr 2015 05:00 PM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — The sun is sinking into the Rangoon River, one of lower Burma’s main waterways. It is dotted with small boats on their way to dusky moorings. Arkar Min, 21, rides a water taxi with seven men, all of them silent. They’ve spent the day hauling fish into trucks. Now they rest against one another, backs between knees, arms around shoulders, heads on laps, lulled by the rhythmic thump of the engine. Arkar Min has worked on Rangoon’s docks since his release from the Tatmadaw, Burma’s armed forces, six years ago. He left school at the age of eight to help his struggling family. One day when he was a teenager, on the way home from his factory job, a man approached him, asking whether he’d like to earn better money as a driver. "I was so happy that I was going to learn to drive," he says quietly, his eyes trained on the ember of his cigarette. His father, Tin Win, wanted him to be a farmer, but "the only thing that excited me then was driving fast." Arkar Min and the man left immediately. They stopped for snacks, two identical jam pastries. Arkar Min didn’t notice that his had been opened previously. It was likely drugged and made him drowsy, and he woke up the next afternoon. The man, a civilian broker working for the army, had collected US$80 for delivering a new recruit and was long gone. Living under armed guard, Arkar Min received one meal a day—a bowl of rice with some oil and salt. He had no bed and slept on the concrete, using his lungi as a pillow. There were six other conscripts, most of them 15; the eldest was 17. None of them had joined voluntarily—they’d been offered work, hoodwinked, kidnapped, and sold into service. Arkar Min’s father, Tin Win, had retired from the army—he’d been a sergeant for most of his life—and quickly realized what had happened. He knew where new recruits were sent: to a base near Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon's landmark Buddhist temple. He went to the police, but they did nothing. Arkar Min says that "the police wouldn’t help until my father mentioned the International Labor Organization (ILO)." The ILO works alongside Unicef to free underage soldiers in Burma and eliminate the practice of child recruitment, which has stained the army's reputation for decades. Small local NGOs are helping to contribute to end the practice too. Thein Myint works for the Child Protection Organization, which connects families affected by child recruitment to international organizations such as the ILO. Thein Myint also looks for kidnapped boys in the 12 army training camps across Burma. If their location is unknown, she searches for them on foot or takes considerable risks in finding them; sometimes she bribes her way into an army base with meat or fish for the malnourished guards, in hopes of finding the children. She is small, hunched, and "old enough to retire," she tells me. With short black hair, cheeks painted white with the traditional thanaka paste, and calm eyes, she has a temperament that is at once stern and caring. Twelve years ago, she moved to Dine Su, a village on the outskirts of Rangoon, after the government razed her 12-acre farm to make way for a luxury golf course. "It is in my nature to help needy people and people who are in trouble," she says. "This work demands a lot of love and sacrifice." "Times have changed," Thein Myint says when asked whether the problem of child recruitment has improved. There has been steady pressure on the Burma Army and non-state militias in recent years to fall in line with ILO and UN conventions that ban child recruitment. In the UN secretary general's most recent Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, the Burma Army is mentioned as one of seven national armies listed for recruitment and use of children in the Annexes of the report. The report also includes 50 armed groups which are known to use and recruit children across the world. In 2012, at the encouragement of Unicef, the ILO, and Save the Children, the Burmese government and the UN signed a joint plan of action outlining terms for the gradual release of child soldiers from the Tatmadaw, including fighters over 18 who were recruited as minors. The document also outlines accountability measures for offending officers and brokers. The army and Burma's ethnic armed groups are making small acts of compromise in appeasement since, and during the final few months of 2014 they increased their releases of child recruits. "There is international pressure now regarding forced labor, child labor," Thein Myint says firmly. "They can’t keep doing it." In November, the Burma Army released 80 child soldiers from active service, bringing the total number of freed minors to 845 since 2007. Slowly, soldiers who were forcibly recruited as children are returning to their villages, to families who have long thought them dead. Village Child Recruitment Dine Su contains an army base, a shipping port, and factories. Its bamboo, mud, swaying pampas grass, and dusty football pitches match the landscape of many poor settlements throughout the country. Tracks between huts are paved with broken bricks, stepping stones for crossing puddles, or bags of cement. Many of its residents have come here from faraway, victims of government-backed land grabs. An illegal settlement in the eyes of the law, residents of Dine Su are especially susceptible to exploitation by authorities. "In the past, I’ve rescued three boys from this village from the military," Thein Myint says. "Most are struggling financially." Police typically arrest village boys for being out too late or committing petty crime. Sometimes, civilian brokers offering better work lure the boys in, like in Arkar Min’s case. Intimidation is the norm, and the boys are physically and psychologically pressured into signing up. Fake national registration cards are then issued that state they are 18, the legal minimum age to join. If recruits are less than 100 pounds, they’re force-fed bananas and water until they meet the weight requirement. After four months of training, they are shipped to a post, often on the remote front lines of the country's lingering ethnic conflict in forested, mountainous regions that are alien to the boys, who are mostly from central Burma. The ILO’s Forced Labor Convention of 1930, to which Burma is a signatory, defines underage recruitment as a form of forced labor. This enables the ILO to assist those who were recruited underage, "whether years previously, or those still considered child soldiers," says Steve Marshall, an ILO liaison officer. In 1991, Burma also ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, agreeing to protect minors from participating in war. And in 2007, the ILO and the Burmese government agreed upon the Forced Labor Complaint Mechanism, a system designed to offer victims of forced labor a platform for release without fear of retaliation. Since 2007, the ILO has received 1,260 reports of underage recruitment by the Tatmadaw. "The numbers of complaints increased exponentially over time, as public awareness and confidence grew," says Marshall. Four hundred eighty-five of these underage recruits have been discharged. Seven died before their releases could be secured. Under the 2012 joint plan of action, there have been 472 discharges, which include 112 of the aforementioned ILO cases. These developments notwithstanding, recruitment of underage males is still commonplace. An Unpopular Army The Tatmadaw were formally created by independence hero Gen. Aung San just after Burma gained independence from Britain in January 1948. After more than a decade of fragile democracy afflicted by a destabilizing civil war between the central government and the country's ethnic minorities, the army took over. In 1962, General Ne Win staged a coup and stepped up his fight against the ethnic rebels, waging a brutal internal war; the country has not seen peace since. Ne Win’s regime faced routine challenges from its citizens and he lost power to a new generation of generals after the 1988 democratic uprising, which was brutally crushed by the army. Soon after, the new junta decided to rebrand Burma as the Union of Myanmar; among its priorities was a great expansion of the army in terms of both arms and personnel in order to win the ethnic conflict. A recruitment drive was ordered and the army's ranks swelled to some 400,000 men under arms by the late 1990s, a number that has since dropped to around 300,000. The figure still places the Tatmadaw among Southeast Asia's largest armies, and one that has over the years been filled with a great number of forcibly recruited soldiers, including many who are under age. Prior to 1988, most recruits were volunteers over the age of 18. But after the uprising, the military was less popular than ever and the Tatmadaw relied heavily on coerced manpower to achieve its ends. Since President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government replaced the junta in 2011, reforms have been taking place. The army has sought to modernize its operations and improve its tarnished reputation. Conflict has lessened after more than a dozen tentative ceasefires were signed between Naypyidaw and the ethnic armed groups. Since then, ending child recruitment has ostensibly also become an army priority. In 2013 and 2014, the ILO received complaints of 69 cases of underage recruitment. Yet to this day, soldiers will often be denied leave unless they can come back with one or two new recruits. Other soldiers and civilian brokers are incentivized by cash and in-kind rewards. The current rate is $80 per conscript—the equivalent of four months of sergeant-rank wages. Sometimes recruits are exchanged for bags of rice or oil. When a child enters the army his education stops. When he is released, he begins again at square one. With limited education, often lacking vocational skills, ex-child soldiers struggle to reintegrate into society and working life. "The soldiers come back unemployed," Thein Myint says. "They take whatever job they can find, usually manual labor. Those whose family can afford it may start up a business." When soldiers are asked by aid workers what type of job they like to do, the deprivation they’ve experienced means they typically don’t have an answer. So it’s decided for them—they are bought some pigs because their father was a pig farmer, or a trishaw because they earned money that way when they were young. One international NGO reportedly offered around $100 to support returning child soldiers (though the charity officially denies this). But as funding dries up, this is happening less. Government programs for reintegration exist too, offering routes for returning soldiers to reenter the education system, but for Burma’s stunted young veterans, the basic requirements for participation are often too high. Returning Home Just outside of Dine Su village, another of Thein Myint’s success stories, Kyaw Thura, has returned to his mother. Kyaw Thura pours tea sweetened with condensed milk as he describes the guerrilla fighting he saw on the front lines and his defection to the enemy, the Karen National Union (KNU)—how they faked his death on a wooden crucifix, with animal blood and entrails, and how he lived in hiding from the Burma Army. He speaks in an even tone, but his pauses are vacant. He recalls being sent to Mon State in southeastern Burma for four months of training. "There were rocks in the soup and sand in the rice," he says. "I missed home terribly." Deployed to the jungle, he and his squad camped in tents at night and hunted monkeys and pigs to add to their inadequate rations. Fearing for his life, he deserted with two friends. Without weapons or money, they went over to the KNU, whose leaders gave them a choice: join the rebels for pay and rations, or leave and try to make it to the Thai border. They opted to break for the border. In Thailand, Kyaw Thura says, he "couldn’t move. There were people searching everywhere for me," he says. Time passed, and he eventually found work in the border town of Mae Sot as a welder, met a girl, married, and fathered Thant Zin, now four years old. He came back to Rangoon to find his mother. Although the ILO gave him a letter of protection, he was arrested by the army anyway, sentenced to two years and six months for deserting, and jailed in Hpa’an Prison in Karen State. "Conditions [in prison] were better than when I was in the army," he says wryly. "The food was better. We were able to exercise. We farmed and made bricks." Living in his mother’s house with his son, he is now seeking compensation from the military for wrongful arrest. Little Thant Zin climbs into his lap and plays with a plastic motorcycle. Kyaw Thura was gone for so long that his son now calls him "uncle." Tun Tun Win is 30. At 14, he was sold to the Tatmadaw by a broker. He didn’t give them his full name. "I wanted to keep some of my identity for myself," he says, "so I told them I was called just Tun Tun." In a camp in the jungle near Mandalay, he tattooed the last part of his name into his forearm using a blunt needle, soot, and juice from a betel nut—"Win" inside a heart with two crossed swords behind it. He spent most of his time repairing tanks or on security detail, moving from base to base. "I learned how to drive, shoot, do security, not much else." His pay was $4.50 a month. Thirteen years later, he rents a small house from his brother in the village where he grew up. He lives with his two-year-old daughter, who suffers from malnutrition, and his five-year-old son. A year ago, his wife left him with the children. "She has a gambling problem," he says. "She was not good for the kids." His eldest sister pitches in. With $100 from an international NGO, he set up a small library in front of his house, loaning out books and magazines to villagers for 100 kyats (about 10 cents) a day. "I want to be my own boss now," he says. His father loaned him money to buy a small motorcycle, which he hopes to use as a taxi. "I don’t have any ill feelings toward army recruiters. Karma will be their judgment. I have freedom now. In the army I was renting out my body." This story was made possible with funding from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. The post The Hard Life of Burma's Former Child Soldiers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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