The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Govt Defends Plan to Ramp-Up Reliance on Coal
• Gap Apparel Production Triples During First Year in Burma
• Religious Affairs Ministry Pledges Expansion of Monastic Education
• Life After the Fall
• Nationwide Voter List Rollout Due in Coming Weeks: Officials
• Monks Add Voices to Shwedagon Protection Calls
• Lower House Votes to Keep Emergency Provisions Act
• As Crisis over Migrants Grows, Malaysia and Burma to Talk
• Beaten and Starving, Some Rohingya Flee Boats, Return to Camps
• Crop-Loss Indian Farmers Sell Their Children to Survive: Authorities
• China Denying Passports to Restrict Critics, Minorities
• Nargis Hero Wins Florence Nightingale Medal

Govt Defends Plan to Ramp-Up Reliance on Coal Posted: 21 May 2015 06:30 AM PDT Residents in Mon State attend a protest against a proposed coal power plant on May 5, 2015. (Photo: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The government intends to push ahead with plans to increase Burma's reliance on coal-fired power plants to 33 percent of the country's total generating capacity by 2030, according to a deputy minister from the Ministry of Electric Power. Aung Than Oo, the deputy minister, said on Wednesday that due to projected steady growth in electricity consumption over the next 15 years, plans for several coal-fired power plants throughout the country should not be shelved, defying calls from environmentalists to consider a greener alternative energy future. "Coal-fired power plants that use clean-coal technology should not be abolished while natural gas, wind power, solar energy and hydro-power electricity projects must be implemented to produce more electricity for the benefit of the public and state," he told Parliament in response to a question submitted by a lawmaker. Lower House parliamentarian Tin Tin Ye from Tenasserim Division had asked the deputy minister whether plans to build multiple coal-fired power plants in the region would be canceled amid public opposition to the projects. At least four coal-fired power plants are planned in Tenasserim Division, with feasibility studies currently underway, according to the Ministry of Electric Power. All of them would dwarf the division's only existing coal-fired power facility, an 8-megawatt plant in Kawthaung at Burma's southern tip. The largest proposed plant would produce more than 2,600 MW of electricity. The Kawthaung plant, according to Tin Tin Ye, has already had negative health impacts on people living nearby. None of the power generated in Burma's southernmost territory draws from or supplies the country's national grid, while offshore exploration of natural gas is widespread in the region. Burma's current energy mix sees 69 percent of electricity generated from hydro-power sources, 29 percent from natural gas and just 2 percent from coal. Power generating capacity nationwide stands at just 2,400 MW currently, and the ministry expects that Burma's demand for electricity will increase 13 to 15 percent annually over the next several years as more rural areas are connected to the national grid and economic growth brings increasingly energy-hungry cities and special economic zones. "As a result of relying mainly on hydropower, the country faces an unstable and inadequate electricity supply every year," he said. "While only 30 percent of households can use electricity and 70 percent await [the ability] to use it." According to a National Electricity Master Plan drafted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and a Japanese consultancy, the suggested mix for the 23,594 MW of generating capacity that Burma is forecast to require in 2030-31 is 38 percent from hydropower, 33 percent from coal, 20 percent from natural gas and 9 percent from renewable energy sources. Tin Tin Ye, a lawmaker with the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, cast doubt on government claims that the coal-fired plants in the pipeline would be genuinely "clean." "No one can give guarantees on clean-coal technology. Clean-coal is very expensive," she said on Wednesday. Environmentalist Win Myo Thu said relying on clean-coal was akin to "breathing with someone else's nose," with Burma's own deposits of the carbon fuel not sufficient for the ambitious expansion of coal-fired power generation. "We don't believe in coal-fired power plants. Firstly because we have to buy coal from others [countries] to run the plant. This is something we shouldn't do," he said. Win Myo Thu said Burma was headed in the wrong direction by trying to increase the number of coal-fired power plants in the country, in turn producing more carbon while, globally, countries are discussing ways to reduce their carbon emissions. "People will be worried; although the ministry makes clean [coal] claims, that same electric ministry is struggling to solve [basic] problems like electric shocks from wires. Will the public believe the ministry will take responsibility if the clean-coal turns out to be dirty?" A total of 18 coal-fired power plant projects have been planned in Burma's Sagaing, Irrawaddy, Rangoon and Tenasserim divisions, and the states of Shan and Mon, according to Thant Zin, coordinator of the Dawei Development Association. He warned that the long-term health and environmental costs of so-called clean-coal were still unknown. "Academics are still arguing over clean-coal today. In Japan, clean-coal technology doesn't mean pollutants are not produced," Thant Zin. "In the long term, it is best not to use coal." The post Govt Defends Plan to Ramp-Up Reliance on Coal appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Gap Apparel Production Triples During First Year in Burma Posted: 21 May 2015 06:26 AM PDT Workers make garments at one of Gap's source factories in Rangoon, May 21, 2015. (Photo: Gap Inc.) RANGOON — American retailer Gap Inc. has nearly tripled the output of its two Rangoon factories within its first year, a company spokeswoman told reporters on Thursday. Gap announced in June last year that it would begin sourcing garments produced in Burma, making it the first US-based clothing manufacturer to enter the country since economic sanctions were eased in 2012. The South Korea-owned factories produce vests, jackets and pants for Gap's Old Navy and Banana Republic Factory labels for export to the United States, the European Union and Asia. "We're approaching three times as much outerwear [production]… since last year," Gap's director of government and public affairs, Debbie Mesloh, told reporters following a US Trade Representative Labor Initiative stakeholder forum. Mesloh said Gap is trying to "raise the bar" for labor standards at its facilities by ensuring safety and sustainability for its workers. "We wanted to start small, but do it really well," Mesloh said. Last August, the company voluntarily submitted an internal audit to the US Embassy identifying a number of "compliance issues" that needed to be resolved, including excessive work hours and verbal abuse by superiors. Both of Gap's Rangoon factories are South Korean-owned and operated, but are expected to satisfy the company's quality and labor standards. Mesloh said Gap is working closely with the governments of Burma and the United States, as well as the International Labor Organization (ILO) to eliminate child labor, ensure adequate pay and implement worker education programs, but did not specifically address the issues highlighted in last year's report. "There are concrete steps [local stakeholders] need to take, and we feel like we're playing our part," Mesloh said, adding that Gap and other Western companies new to Burma's garment industry have recommended that the government quickly implement a minimum wage. "When we came in a year ago, the minimum wage law had been enacted but they still hadn't set a figure, but we were hopeful that it would happen soon," Mesloh said, adding that Gap is working with partners in a seven-member Business for Social Responsibility stakeholder group, which includes European retailer H&M, to set the wage as soon as possible. A minimum wage law was passed in March 2013, but setting a wage has been deferred because the Ministry of Labor has yet to conclude a study on workforce size, living standards and household expenses, which begin in late January after a two-year delay. The Myanmar Trade Union Federation (MTUF), an influential local labor alliance, independently conducted a similar survey in July 2013, recommending that the national minimum wage be set at 7,000 kyats (US$6.30) per day for a household of three people. A company fact sheet said Gap's sourcing agreement in Burma has created nearly 700 new jobs, and supports the employment of more than 4,000 people. Ninety percent of those employees are women, earning roughly $120 per month for 60 hour workweeks, according to the deputy general manager of one of the factories, which have been independently identified as Yangon Pan Pacific International and Myanmar Glogon. The post Gap Apparel Production Triples During First Year in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Religious Affairs Ministry Pledges Expansion of Monastic Education Posted: 21 May 2015 05:24 AM PDT Children at a monastic school in remote Karenni State. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — A Buddhist conference held to discuss monastic education has been promised the expansion of a number of monastic primary schools across the country, in order to increase access to free education for the children of rural and poor families. Soe Win, The Minister of Religious Affairs, said that stalled expansion plans would resume from the 2015-16 academic year, according to those present at the conference. "The minister said that the ministry will expand 35 primary schools to cover middle school education, and six others will cover high school education, starting from this academic year," said U Nayaka, the head of the Phaung Daw Oo monastic school in Mandalay. "The plan was actually approved last year, but it was delayed due to internal matters in the ministry." The two-day conference, attended by hundreds of abbots and volunteer teachers from monastic schools across the country, concluded on Thursday in Hopong, 20 miles south of the Shan State capital of Taunggyi. A similar forum was held in the same location last year, during which the former Minister of Religious Affairs, San Sint, also promised funds to provide school upgrades. Soon afterward, San Sint was sacked from the ministry and convicted on corruption charges, leaving the upgrade plans in limbo. All 1579 monastic schools in the country are registered under the Ministry of Religious Affairs. First emerging as a system of alternative education to government schools in 1992, the schools now operate with around 7000 teachers and 260,000 students nationwide, primarily drawn from families who cannot afford government education. Monastic schools rely on volunteer teachers and limited budgets, and most educate only to a primary school level. "It is like some of our dreams come true. We've been waiting so long for this upgrade because most students who finish primary education have no choice but to leave school," U Nayaka told The Irrawaddy. The ministry is also planning to increase funding for teacher salaries and training. In 2013, the government provided 3 billion kyats (US$2.95 million) in financial support to the schools, which allowed some teachers to receive a monthly honoraria of 38,000 kyat ($34.90). The post Religious Affairs Ministry Pledges Expansion of Monastic Education appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Life After the Fall Posted: 21 May 2015 05:20 AM PDT Devi Thant Cin at the Burmese translation of The King in Exile book launch. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Nearly 130 years after King Thibaw was sent into exile in the Indian town of Ratnagiri, Burmese readers will have a chance to learn about the life and struggles of the country's last monarch. Originally published in English, Sudha Shah's 'The King in Exile: The Fall of the Royal Family of Burma' has been translated into Burmese by Win Nyein, editor in chief of Shwe Amyutay magazine and the Ray of Light weekly. Win Nyein told the audience at the translation's Rangoon launch party on Thursday that he spent an arduous two years working through Shah's book, but he was pleased with the result. "The book reveals some unknown facts about the royal family in Ratnagiri and is a historical record of the times," he said. Sudha Shah told The Irrawaddy that it took her eight years to write the book and said she was engrossed by her research. "I’m very pleased that my book is being launched in Burmese," she said via email on Wednesday. "It will bring me much satisfaction if the people in Burma who read it feel that the book does justice to the subject, that it has been written sensitively, and that it brings alive for them a historically significant but largely forgotten family," the author added. Devi Thant Cin, the great-granddaughter of King Thibaw said that the book was a window into much more than last years of the deposed king. "Sudha Shah is more interested in what happened to the royal family members, how they lived and struggled—probably an unknown story to many Burmese. She filled the gap that was left by historians and academics who only cared about what the king did and his achievements," she said. A Thai edition of the book was published last October and proved so popular that it has been reprinted five times in the months since. A translation into Marathi, the official language of Ratnagiri, will be published in June. The post Life After the Fall appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Nationwide Voter List Rollout Due in Coming Weeks: Officials Posted: 21 May 2015 05:14 AM PDT A man examines voter lists posted alongside election education materials in Rangoon on March 30. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Next week will see the release of a second batch of eligible voter lists in two cities in Burma, the capital Naypyidaw and the country's largest city Rangoon. Since late last year, subcommissions of the Union Election Commission (UEC) have been working with local officials to compile the lists, which will be publically displayed in front of ward subcommission offices. Residents are being urged by the UEC and local civil society organizations to check their names against the list, and report any discrepancies to the relevant election subcommissions so that the data can be corrected. This includes misspellings, omissions and the inclusion of deceased voters. And while the release of voter lists may not be the most exciting aspect of an historic election that is already shaping up to be a high drama affair—complete with high-level political intrigue, unprecedented international attention and major geopolitical ramifications—the logistical task of compiling accurate voter rolls is a crucial aspect of ensuring credible elections expected in early November. At a meeting with civil society groups last week, UEC chairman Tin Aye said voter list compilation was nearly 70 percent complete. The UEC has laid out a four-phase rollout of voter lists nationwide, with the last to come on June 22. From the date of their release, the lists are displayed publically for 14 days. Voter lists will be made public nationwide once more, after the Election Day date is announced by the UEC. The Irrawaddy reached out to the subcommissions of all 14 states and divisions this week to find out when voter lists will be released and how the process is playing out. Rangoon Division Rangoon Division will release its second batch of voter lists on Monday, covering 14 townships. On March 30, an initial release of 10 townships' voter rolls was made public. A third and final batch of the division's remaining 21 townships is due next month. Naypyidaw Union Territory The eight townships comprising Naypyidaw will join Rangoon in the second phase of voter list releases on Monday, according to UEC member Win Kyi. Karen State Karen State's seven townships will all release their voter lists on June 8, with subcommission chairman Kyaw Win Maung telling The Irrawaddy that compilation of the voter lists has been completed and is being "finalized." Some 20 civil society organizations are currently undertaking voter education activities in the state. Parts of Karen State are under the control of ethnic Karen armed rebel groups, and Kyaw Win Maung told The Irrawaddy that voter lists in about 60 villages in Karen rebel territory had not been compiled and would require the cooperation of the armed groups, which local election officials continue to seek. Karenni State The seven townships of Karenni State will release their voter lists on June 8. The state subcommission said provisional lists have enumerated 159,565 eligible voters statewide in a process that took less than two months owing to the relatively small population. Mon State Local media have reported that voter rolls will be made public statewide on June 8. Mon State is comprised of 10 townships and, like Karen State, includes some territory under the control of ethnic armed groups. Shan State Releases in Burma's largest state will be divided geographically, with voter lists in 21 townships of southern Shan State to be made available on June 8. In northern Shan State, 27 townships will publically display their voter rolls on June 22. Election officials were unable to compile voter lists in seven townships where "the situation is not stable," according to the state subcommission's chairman U Pwint. He said the affected townships include Laukkai and Konegyan in the Kokang Special Region and four townships in Wa Special Region, including its capital Panghsang, as well as Mong La in Shan State's Special Region 4. Pegu Division Win Maung, subcommission chairman for Pegu Division, said eight townships in Pegu district would display voter lists on June 8, and the 20 remaining townships across the division's three other districts would follow suit on June 22. Compilation of the voter lists is 96 percent complete, he added. Mandalay Division Burma's second biggest city and surrounding townships will release their voter lists in two phases, on June 8 and 22. Twenty of Mandalay Division's 28 townships will release the information on June 8, with the remainder to follow 14 days later. Subcommission deputy director Kyaw Kyaw Soe told The Irrawaddy that the process began in December and has gone smoothly, though he said there were particular concerns about voter lists in Yamethin Township, where small-scale gold mining attracts a large population of transients that likely would not be listed. Additionally, an estimated 100,000 voters in Mandalay district alone lack household registration papers, meaning they will be left off the provisional voter lists. These individuals are able to appeal to have their names included on the voter list, but must be able to prove to local officials that they have resided in their constituency for at least six months. Irrawaddy Division Irrawaddy Division election officials will release the delta region's voter lists in two stages, the first on June 8 covering Pathein and Hinthada districts, according to Myint Naing, the assistant director of the division's subcommission. Voter lists for the districts of Laubin, Myaungmya, Pyapon and Labutta will follow on June 22. According to provisional lists, there are 4,167,338 eligible voters in Irrawaddy Division. Sagaing Division According to Sagaing Division subcommission chairman Tin Oo, "at least five" of 37 townships' voter lists will be displayed on June 8, with the remaining lists to follow on June 22. Local election officials had targeted a May 24 release date for the lists, he said, but a delay in receiving voter education pamphlets had caused a postponement. In the Naga Self-Administered Zone, Tin Oo said the subcommission had not compiled any voter lists, but was attempting to resolve the issue. The Irrawaddy was unable to contact the relevant electoral subcommissions in Burma's remaining three states and two divisions. They are: Arakan, Chin and Kachin states, and Magwe and Tenasserim divisions. Additional reporting by Salai Thant Zin in Pathein, Irrawaddy Division. The post Nationwide Voter List Rollout Due in Coming Weeks: Officials appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Monks Add Voices to Shwedagon Protection Calls Posted: 21 May 2015 03:32 AM PDT Buddhist devotees pray at Shwedagon in 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Prominent monks and Buddhist nationalist organizations have joined the chorus of voices to question developments planned for nearly 72 acres of land near Shwedagon Pagoda, days after experts warned the projects could affect the sacred site's structural integrity. On the weekend, an assembly of engineers and urban planning experts at the "Save our Shwedagon" forum claimed that excavation works for the five developments risked upsetting the water table underneath Singuttara Hill and potentially damaging the pagoda. The forum, hosted by the Association of Myanmar Architects, called for the adoption of a conservation management plan for the site. In the days since, Buddhist leaders have gone public with their opposition to the developments. U Parmauka, abbot of Rangoon's Magwe Priyati Monastery, told The Irrawaddy that monks believed the projects were "disrespectful" to the country's most revered religious icon. "Shwedagon Pagoda is for all locals and foreigners of Buddhist faith," he said. "For the endurance of our religion… I would sacrifice my life to take care of the pagoda. I do not know why the authorities gave away the land near Shwedagon despite how highly it was sought, and I doubt that the authorities have real faith in Buddhism." Aung Myaing, a central committee member of the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion (also known as Ma Ba Tha), said that members of his group had urged an investigation into the developments. "Our organization is worried that if the projects resume, it will affect the foundation of Shwedagon Pagoda," he said. "They should not proceed and [threats to the pagoda] should be investigated carefully." An April 30 statement from Ma Ba Tha also warned that Rangoon's increasingly crowded skyline risked blocking views of Shwedagon, and excavation work around the pagoda could threaten the strength of the structure. "Because of overpopulation, exploitative business and unaccountable authorities, people in Rangoon and Bagan are losing their cultural heritage," the statement read. "In particular, Shwedagon Pagoda faces the risk of losing its cultural heritage. If the culture disappears, the country and the nationality will disappear too." The statement said that Rangoon's Sule Pagoda, which has been overshadowed in recent years by large commercial developments, was an instructive example of overdevelopment, and said that Shwedagon should be spared the same mistake. The abbot of the Shwe Nya Wah Monastery in Rangoon's Hmawbi Township told The Irrawaddy that all citizens of Burma should oppose the project, saying that President Thein Sein's 2011 cancelation of the controversial Myitsone Dam project demonstrated that politicians would respond to sustained public pressure. "All people who have the Buddhist faith in their hearts should defend Shwedagon," said Ashin Pyinna Thiha, commonly referred to as Shwe Nya Wah Sayadaw. "The beautiful pagoda is an object of glory and has a long history, so we should oppose any threats to it." Marga Landmark, developers of the 22-acre Dagon City 1 mixed-use development near Shwedagon's southern entrance, said in a May 9 statement that it had reassured the Myanmar Investment Commission that work on the project "will be carried out with the utmost care and due diligence without affecting the foundations of Singuttara Hill and underground water." The post Monks Add Voices to Shwedagon Protection Calls appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Lower House Votes to Keep Emergency Provisions Act Posted: 21 May 2015 01:19 AM PDT The entrance to Insein Prison, where many of political prisoners were put behind bars during the time of military rule. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A proposal to revoke a controversial law that has been used to jail political dissidents has been rejected by Burma's Lower House of Parliament, its supporters claiming that overturning the legislation would "throw the country into chaos." The Emergency Provisions Act, enacted in 1950, carries death penalties and sentences up to life in prison for treason or sabotage against military organizations, as well as up to seven years in prison for a sweeping range of other offenses against the state. Burma's leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy, proposed scrapping the legislation during a Lower House session on Wednesday, on the grounds that successive governments have primarily used it as a tool for arresting activists. The proposal was rejected by a landslide vote of 50 for, 256 against and 17 abstentions. Lower House parliamentarian Win Myint, a member of the NLD, said his party was disappointed by the defeat, which preserved what he views as a redundant law designed to instill fear and restrict political activity. "All of the provisions in the law are already enshrined in the Penal Code," Win Myint said. "The Penal Code is already in place to prosecute those who break the law. It is unacceptable that [authorities] can repress citizens with another law." Representing the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Shan State, a lawmaker known only as Stephen defended the vote to preserve the law. "Revoking the law would throw the country into chaos; there would be anarchy, riots and violence," Stephen said. "This law is necessary for the stability of the state." The Emergency Provisions Act was enacted by the government of Burma's first prime minister, U Nu, in response to civil wars that erupted in the wake of the country's independence. The law grants sweeping authority to the government to prosecute individuals who disseminate "false news" or otherwise "jeopardize the state." Lawyer Robert San Aung, a prominant defense attorney for political activists and human rights defenders, said the law had lost its relevance and should be retired into the annals of Burmese history. "At present, there is no fighting across the plains; there is nothing to lose [from revoking the law]," said Robert San Aung. "At this time, the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act should be a record to be placed in an archive, so it should be revoked." Wednesday's proposal was the third unsuccessful attempt by lawmakers to repeal or amend the law since the start of Burma's reforms in 2011. Thein Nyunt of the New National Democratic Party made the first proposal in 2011. In 2012, he again appealed to the Lower House for removal of sections 5 (c) and (j), which pertain to disruption of the performance or morality of military and other state personnel. The post Lower House Votes to Keep Emergency Provisions Act appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

As Crisis over Migrants Grows, Malaysia and Burma to Talk Posted: 20 May 2015 10:14 PM PDT Thai fishermen (R) give some supplies to migrants on a boat drifting 17 km (10 miles) off the coast of the southern island of Koh Lipe, Thailand May 14, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — The foreign minister of Malaysia will visit Burma on Thursday to discuss Southeast Asia's migrant crisis, a day after Indonesia and Malaysia offered to temporarily take in thousands of people who have been stranded at sea in a major breakthrough that could ease the emergency. Foreign Minister Anifah Aman will hold talks with his Burmese counterpart to exchange views on irregular movements of people, in particular human trafficking and people smuggling in Southeast Asia, according to the ministry. In the past three weeks, more than 3,000 people—Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Burma and Bangladeshis trying to escape poverty—have landed in overcrowded boats on the shores of Southeast Asian countries better known for their white-sand beaches. Aid groups estimate that thousands more are stranded at sea following a crackdown on human traffickers that prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their boats. The mounting crisis prompted Malaysia to call an emergency meeting with the foreign ministers of Indonesia and Thailand on Wednesday. Malaysia is the current chair of the 10-nation grouping of Southeast Asian countries known as Asean. But while Indonesia and Malaysia said they would temporarily take in some refugees, they also appealed for international help, saying the crisis is a global, not a regional, problem. In Washington, the State Department said the United States was also willing to take in Rohingya refugees as part of international efforts to cope with the crisis. Spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the United States is prepared to take a leading role in any multi-country effort, organized by the United Nations refugee agency, to resettle the most vulnerable refugees. The reversal of Malaysia's and Indonesia's positions, after weeks of saying the migrants were not welcome, came as more than 430 weak, hungry people were rescued—not by navies patrolling the waters but by a flotilla of Indonesian fishermen who brought them ashore in the eastern province of Aceh. "This is not an Asean problem," Anifah said after the meeting. "This is a problem for the international community." A joint statement said that Malaysia and Indonesia had "agreed to offer temporary shelter provided that the settlement and repatriation process will be done in one year by the international community." Speaking to reporters in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Anifah said the two countries would not wait for international support but would start giving migrants shelter "immediately." Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said his government was ready to shelter Rohingya for one year, while the Bangladeshis would be sent back home. "A year is [the] maximum," he said. "But there should be international cooperation." Thailand has said it cannot afford to take more migrants because it is already overburdened by tens of thousands of refugees from Burma. Its foreign ministry announced it has agreed to provide humanitarian assistance and will not "push back migrants stranded in Thai territorial waters." It remained unclear, however, how it would deal with such people, or where the Rohingya could permanently settle. The United Nations says the Rohingya are one of the most persecuted groups in the world. Neither Bangladesh nor Burma recognizes them as citizens. In Buddhist-majority Burma, even the name Rohingya is taboo. Burmese officials refer to the group as "Bengalis" and insist they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though most have lived in the country for generations. Over the past few years, Burma's Rohingya have faced increasing state-sanctioned discrimination. They have been targeted by violent mobs of Buddhist extremists and confined to camps. At least 120,000 have fled to sea, and an unknown number have died along the way. The UN refugee agency believes there are 4,000 still at sea, although some activists put the number at 6,000. In another potential breakthrough, Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Thant Kyaw indicated his country would likely join regional talks in Bangkok next week. "We all have to sit down and we all have to consider how to tackle this problem together," he told reporters in Bangkok after meeting his Thai counterpart. The No. 2 US diplomat, currently visiting Southeast Asia, said he will raise the humanitarian crisis of the Rohingya when he meets with senior Burmese government leaders on Thursday. "The only sustainable solution to the problem is changing the conditions that let them put their lives at risk at the first place," Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters in Jakarta. The migrants brought ashore Wednesday in Indonesia were rescued by more than a dozen fishing boats, said Herman Sulaiman from East Aceh district's Search and Rescue Agency. It was unclear if all the migrants had been on one vessel or had come from several. The post As Crisis over Migrants Grows, Malaysia and Burma to Talk appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Beaten and Starving, Some Rohingya Flee Boats, Return to Camps Posted: 20 May 2015 10:06 PM PDT Roshida, a 25-year-old widow who was released from a human trafficking ship, is seen at a refugee camp outside Sittwe in Arakan State on May 20, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) SAY THA MAR GYI, Arakan State — Scores of Burma's minority Rohingya Muslims are paying off people smugglers and returning to the squalid camps they used to live in after being held for months on overcrowded ships that were to take them to Thailand but did not move far from shore. Often beaten, and given little food and water, at least 50 Rohingya came back over the weekend after paying boat captains between US$200 and US$300 per person, people in one of the camps said. A crackdown on the people-smuggling network in Thailand, usually the first stop en route to Malaysia, has meant that at least three ships loaded with hundreds of Rohingya and impoverished Bangladeshis were staying off the coast of Burma, they said. Those who came back said the crews beat them with metal rods and engine chains when they asked for more food. Many were starving, surviving on three cups of water and two handfuls of rice a day for up to three months. About 3,000 of this new wave of "boat people" have washed ashore in Indonesia and Malaysia after the traffickers abandoned them because of the crackdown. Thousands more are adrift on overcrowded boats in the Andaman Sea off Indonesian, Malaysian or Thai shores, while others are closer to home, off Burma or Bangladesh. "The smuggling routes were disturbed, so they let people back for around $200 per body," said Kyaw Hla, a Rohingya community leader who helped bring back about 20 Rohingya in two groups. With the onset of the monsoon season and no prospects of traveling to Thailand, the captains cut their losses and accepted about a tenth of what they often charge, the people involved said. One of them was Roshida, a 25-year-old widow, who left her camp, Say Tha Mar Gyi, three months ago. The camp, located near Sittwe, the capital of Burma's Arakan State, houses about 13,000 Rohingya who became homeless after violent clashes with majority Arakanese Buddhists in 2012, the camp leaders said. Roshida, who uses just one name, boarded the ship with two young sons and a 9-month-old daughter. "To go there—and then to come back—I sold everything: my camp food rations and my house. I have nothing," said Roshida, speaking to Reuters in the camp. On board, she crouched for hours on end in stifling heat, her legs tightly pressed against the back of the woman in front of her. Beatings were common. She said she saw two dead people being thrown off another ship in the area. "Once, the crew was eating rice and my son started crying for more food. They got angry and burned his arm with a cigarette butt," said Roshida showing a pink, round scar on her son's arm. As word spread that the ships were parked close to Burma's shores, Maung Maung Soe, the camp leader, gathered money from the community to pay off the smugglers. That allowed Roshida and about 30 other people to return. Together with Kyaw Hla's efforts, that added up to 50 people who returned to the camps around the area. Rohingya elders say there may have been more people returning to remote towns in the northern part of Arakan State. The people in the camp survive off rice distributed by charities. They have no access to adequate health care—nor proper education or jobs. One man close to local traffickers, who did not want to be identified, said that before the crackdown in Thailand a boat with 10-15 people would leave one of the nearby Rohingya villages and camps every 7-10 days—and there are dozens of them peppered along the Arakan State coast. Still, local government officials insist there is no evidence that people from Burma were on the boats floating off the coasts of several Southeast Asian countries. "The camps are stable," said Tin Maung Swe, a secretary for the Arakan State government. "The people there are rich—they have land and they sell their crops on the market," said the official, showing a booklet with projects such as an asphalt road and a school built with state money in the camps. But a Rohingya woman in the eighth month of pregnancy and her husband—both brought back from the ships by Kyaw Hla over the weekend—worried about the future as they tried to return to life as usual in their tiny bamboo hut. The woman, 20-year-old Be Be Asha, was saved at the last minute by her husband and women around her after traffickers were about to throw her off the ship when she lost consciousness. She says she has not recovered from the 45-day ordeal and was worried about the unborn baby. "I would like to go for a check-up to the clinic in the nearby village," she said. "But we don't even have enough money to get there." The post Beaten and Starving, Some Rohingya Flee Boats, Return to Camps appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Crop-Loss Indian Farmers Sell Their Children to Survive: Authorities Posted: 20 May 2015 09:58 PM PDT Laborers work in a paddy field in Birnaraya village in Karnal district in the northern Indian state of Haryana on Sept. 2, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) MOHANPURA, India — Lal Singh was desperate. The farmer from Mohanpura village in central India's Madhya Pradesh state had seen unseasonably heavy rains and hailstorms destroy crop after crop, while he fell deeper into debt. Finally, last August, with no way to feed his family, Singh felt he had only one choice: He sold his two sons to a shepherd for a year of labor, in exchange for Rs 35,000 (US$500). "I was in no position to repay the debt and needed more money to make ends meet and plant a further crop," Singh said in an interview in Mohanpura. He made the decision, he said, despite knowing "it was illegal and they could be abused and forced to work in cruel conditions." Worsening crop failures, brought on by extreme weather, are leading to increasing financial desperation in Madhya Pradesh—and a rash of suicides and child trafficking, officials say. According to Rajnish Shrivastava, the district collector of Harda district, authorities rescued five children from forced labor in April, all from Khargone and Harda districts. Officials believe there could be many other cases of farmers trading their children for money, he said. "It is a matter of concern that farmers have been forced to sell their kids to repay their debts," he said. "We can't allow children to be abused and trafficked in this way." Eight months after being sold into labor, Singh's children were among the five rescued, Shrivastava said. Sumit, 12, and Amit, 11, fled from the shepherd and were taken to a local shelter, according to officials. Initially reluctant to return to their family for fear of how their parents would react, the boys are now back home, officials said. "Our job was to look after the sheep and other animals," Amit told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "[The shepherd] thrashed us over trivial issues. We were not given even two meals a day. As things became intolerable we took courage and fled." Authorities have ordered an investigation, while the shepherds who allegedly bought the five rescued children have been charged with the unlawful confinement of children and are awaiting trial, Shrivastava said. According to Vishnu Jaiswal, director of the Harda branch of children's charity Childline, officials from his charity and from the government will visit the rescued children's families from time to time to ensure they are being well looked after. "Trading our children was wrong but we were forced to do this just to stay alive," Sumit and Amit's mother, Manibai, said in an interview. "Otherwise, like many other farmers, we too would have been forced to commit suicide." India has seen an alarming rate of suicide among farmers, as extreme weather continues to cause unprecedented crop losses in many parts of the country. According to state government figures, Madhya Pradesh state was among the hardest hit this year, with over 570,000 hectares (1.4 million acres) of rabi crops—wheat and other crops that are sown in winter and harvested in spring—devastated by unusually heavy rains and hailstorms. Around 40 farmers committed suicide or died from stress-related causes in Madhya Pradesh alone between February and May 2015, state police and revenue officials said. The situation is difficult in parts of other states as well, including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Punjab, said Sachin Jain, an activist with the Right to Food campaign, an informal network of organizations working to ensure a right to food in India. "It is very serious," said Gauri Shankar Bisen, Minister of Agriculture for Madhya Pradesh. "We are investigating the matter and have directed district collectors to provide compensation to farmers as soon as possible." The governments of most Indian states affected by extreme weather have announced relief packages for farmers. But activists claim the process of delivering relief is taking too long, with authorities still assessing the damage in some regions. Corruption in some areas means farmers see very little financial aid, Jain said. "The compensation amount is often far from enough for the farmers to pay off their debts," said the activist. "When farmers aren't able to get loans from banks, they're forced to borrow from private moneylenders who charge interest at exorbitant rates. They are painfully aware that they won't get relief." Bisen, from the Ministry of Agriculture, said the government is working hard to ensure relief gets to farmers as quickly as possible. "We try our best to provide relief to the farmers at the earliest. There are various formalities which have to be completed. There were some allegations of corruption against officials which have to be investigated," he said. But activists say the government needs to get money to farmers faster, or more cases of farmers selling children may come to light. "Farmers are in dire straits," said Jain. "That's why they take such extreme steps." The post Crop-Loss Indian Farmers Sell Their Children to Survive: Authorities appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Denying Passports to Restrict Critics, Minorities Posted: 20 May 2015 09:49 PM PDT Dissedent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in a Beijing hotel room in March. (Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters) BEIJING — Hand your passport to police or it will be canceled, read the notice to all 4.4 million residents of far-northwestern China’s Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The demand would now seem outrageous to most Chinese, who more than a decade since passport restrictions were eased have become increasingly accustomed to traveling abroad for tourism, study or work. Yet the story is vastly different for groups targeted by the ruling Communist Party, which has long denied passports to dissidents who might embarrass the party overseas. Now that most Chinese can easily obtain passports, eroding barriers to travel have thrown into relief a new pattern showing that entire ethnic groups deemed potentially risky to the leadership—such as Muslim Uighurs and Buddhist Tibetans—are largely being barred. By denying them opportunities for jobs, education and overseas connections, the withholding of passports has become one of the party’s most potent weapons against dissent, both real and imagined. The notice in Ili, part of the vast Xinjiang region bordering Central Asia, set a May 15 deadline for residents to hand in passports “for safekeeping.” It gave no reason for the demand. The order raised eyebrows because Xinjiang is home to China’s minority Uighurs, Turkic Muslims who are culturally and linguistically distinct from the country’s Han majority. Uighurs have come under increasing scrutiny because radicals have waged a low-level campaign of violence against Chinese rule. This has resulted in heightened unofficial barriers on travel even within China, such as difficulty booking air tickets or hotel rooms. China is eager to avoid the appearance of discrimination against ethnic minorities, including Uighurs and Tibetans, and an officer at police headquarters in the prefectural seat of Yining said the order applied to all ethnic groups. The officer, who like most Chinese bureaucrats declined to be identified by name, said passport holders would be required to reapply and submit documents stating their reason for traveling and ensuring their good reputations if they wished to get them back. It’s not clear how many Ili residents were complying with the order and only two out of a dozen company workers reached by phone in the prefecture said they had even heard of it. Uighurs and Tibetans, who together number about 16 million inside China, have increasingly complained about difficulties obtaining passports, including the need for government approvals that members of the majority Han group aren’t subject to. Permission is often limited to those participating in government-backed exchanges, or in the case of Uighurs, Muslims performing the pilgrimage to Mecca. The government-backed Chinese Muslim Association said about 14,500 Chinese Muslims went on the haj last year, but didn’t say how many were Uighurs. While the government says only that the restrictions are to maintain social order, minority activists and critics of the one-party communist system believe politics are the real reason. “The government fears that Uighurs will return with a better understanding of their conditions and greater determination to throw off Chinese rule,” said Germany-based Uighur activist Dilshat Rexit. “Limits on passports reveal the government lack of confidence in facing threats to its rule in Xinjiang.” For Tibetans, already severe restrictions were tightened further in 2012 when hundreds of Buddhist pilgrims were detained and interrogated after attending a religious event in India presided over by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled religious leader who is reviled in Beijing, say overseas activists. As with the Uighurs, China is deeply concerned about the growth of separatist sentiment among Tibetans, as well as their connections to the Tibetan diaspora and the sympathy and support they receive from overseas boosters. Tibetan writer and rights activist Woeser Tsering says she’s consistently been refused a passport since first applying in 1997. During her most recent attempt in 2012, a police officer told her she’d been placed on a list of people banned from leaving the country by the Ministry of State Security, she said. “Not having a passport has an enormous impact on my life,” she said. The inability to travel has made her unable to take up offered writing positions in the US and Germany. “I had no choice but to give them up, all because of not having a passport.” Individual travel overseas for ordinary Chinese was first permitted in the late 1990s, and took a massive leap in 2004, when most European countries were designated as approved destinations and requirements for passports, such as an endorsement letter from an employer, were simplified. Cheng Fan, a veteran of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement, has never been able to obtain a passport. Like many present or former government critics, his applications are answered with a one-page document from police stating that a “relevant Cabinet agency” has ruled that if allowed to travel abroad, he would “pose a threat to national security or cause serious harm to national interests.” “It’s extremely frustrating, especially when you have a family and want to show them new things,” said Cheng. “It’s denying my rights as a citizen.” With a record 107 million Chinese going abroad last year, the inability to travel internationally stigmatizes and deprives. It’s not known exactly how many Chinese citizens are denied passports, had them seized or were simply turned away at the airport when attempting to board international flights. The Public Security Ministry’s Entry and Exit Supervision Bureau did not respond to questions from The Associated Press and the Foreign Ministry and Tibetan officials said they had no information on the issue. Concerns over Uighurs have been heightened by the growth of global jihadi groups, said Dru Gladney, an expert at Pomona College. Yet, travel restrictions will likely only add to the “pressure cooker” of ethnic discontent in Xinjiang, he said. “I think it’s a self-defeating strategy. China is a global country, engaged in the world and trying to become a global player, yet it still has these very medieval rules,” Gladney said. While passport denials can theoretically be appealed, it’s unclear whether any have ever been successful, although some have managed to receive passports when reapplying later for reasons that remain a mystery. Human rights lawyer Teng Biao had his passport confiscated at the airport in 2008 when he was trying to go to an overseas conference. Four years later, he reapplied, saying his passport had been lost. A new one was promptly issued. “They said nothing when giving me the new one,” said Teng, now a visiting fellow at Harvard Law School. Others denied the right to travel range from imprisoned Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti to artist Ai Weiwei, whose passport has been confiscated since a 2011 detention even though his works are shown around the world. A growing number of Chinese overseas putting off returning home for fear of not being allowed out of the country again, said Columbia University China expert Andrew Nathan. Often the criteria for being denied is murky, he said. “Police being police, and wanting to do their jobs and avoid mistakes, they would use their judgment and deny passports or exit permits for whatever reason made sense to them,” Nathan said. The post China Denying Passports to Restrict Critics, Minorities appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Nargis Hero Wins Florence Nightingale Medal Posted: 20 May 2015 05:00 PM PDT Sa Naing Naing Tun. (Photo: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Though the sky was gloomy, life on Haigyi Island that morning was as calm and still as it was on any other day. Some villagers were bunkering down after a storm warning announced by the weather bureau, but most seemed undaunted, carrying on their daily lives as normal. As it approached noon, the winds picked up suddenly and violently, and soon a fierce gale was blowing from the sea. The clouds thickened and the sky darkened to blackness, while the rains became a deluge and the tide began to swell and overrun the shore. No one who lived through it will ever forget the fateful day in May 2008, when Haigyi Island was all but leveled by Cyclone Nargis. Sitting at the southwestern tip of Irrawaddy Division, Haigyi was the closest landmass to the eye of a storm which eventually claimed the lives of up to 140,000 people. Sa Naing Naing Tun, then serving as a senior nurse at island's 16-bed hospital, thought at the time that it was the last day of his life. "We all thought we were about to die, he said. "We didn't think we could escape." There were 70 people in the ward when the cyclone hit, two mothers who had just given birth, along with 20 other patients, their families and hospital staff. As they bunkered down, the building was struck by uprooted trees and corrugated iron sheets that had blown off the roofs of nearby houses. "The water level reached up to our breast," he recalled. "It flooded in very quickly. We let people stand on the beds, but there were too many of us. I thought we would be inundated and so we asked the vulnerable patients to climb up to the beams on the roof." The storm continued to thrash the island until 6pm, when the tide began to recede. As the situation in the ward calmed, Sa Naing Naing Tun's mind went the two women that gave birth that morning. "I asked them about their babies and the mothers told me they had almost been suffocated by the water. I was quite worried. I took the babies and found that they had stopped breathing—I could hear the faint heartbeat of one while another one's heart had stopped. I gave as treatment as much as I could to the baby who had more chances of survival. I tried to warm his cold body up and after some time, he returned to normal…then I treated the second baby as much as I could. But the baby did not respond at all and did not breathe. So, I gave up, and when I was about to turn away from him, he hooked his fingers around mine." The ordeal was by no means over. While the storm hit, another woman had gone into labor on the other side of Hatgyi Island. With the expectant mother and her husband unable to reach the hospital, it fell to the nurse to brave the chaos of the storm's aftermath, climbing through ruined homes and debris to reach the woman and assist in the delivery. "I didn't even have the gloves to deliver the child," he said. "It was an emergency and it took almost an hour to get to the patient's house. Her house was almost collapsing…when I asked them if they had anything to cut the placenta, they gave me a rusty knife. Then I had to tear off my longyi to tie the umbilical cord." The next morning, he took necessary medicines from hospital and came to check the mother and the baby. Both of them were healthy. Last week, Sa Naing Naing Tun received long overdue recognition for his courageous actions in during the Nargis disaster. With the encouragement of the Myanmar Nurse and Midwife Association, earlier this year he applied for the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest honor for nurses presented by the International Committee of the Red Cross. On May 12, International Nurses Day, he was announced as a recipient of the award, along with 35 other nurses from 18 countries. First awarded in 1912, Sa Naing Naing Tun is only the fourth Burmese national to have received a Florence Nightingale Medal. Army nurse Col Khin Ohn Mya was awarded the medal in 1963 for her devotion to World War II refugees, An Yaw Nan was honored in 1993 for her devotion to injured soldiers and civilians in Shan State, and Thein Yi was recognized in 2001 for saving an 8-year-old child from a burning home in Sagaing Division. The post Nargis Hero Wins Florence Nightingale Medal appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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