The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Xi, I Think This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship!
• ‘I Want to Stress That We Are Not the Enemy’
• Ma Ba Tha Threatens Nationwide Protests Against Shwedagon Highrise Projects
• Army Witnesses Spurn Court Summons Over Journalist’s Killing
• Brief Raid by India in Faraway Burma has Pakistan Fuming
• ‘No stars, No Problem’ for Burma’s Young Footballers
• Palau Burns Vietnamese Boats Caught Fishing Illegally
• Former China Security Chief Sentenced to Life for Corruption
• Australia Sidesteps Charge That Officials Paid Migrant Boat
• A Taxing Trip in Karen State

Xi, I Think This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship! Posted: 12 Jun 2015 07:18 AM PDT Xi, I Think This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship! The post Xi, I Think This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship! appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘I Want to Stress That We Are Not the Enemy’ Posted: 12 Jun 2015 06:16 AM PDT Commander-in-Chief of the Arakan Army, Brig-Gen Tun Myat Naing. (Photo: J paing/The Irrawaddy) Formed in 2009, the Arakan Army is one of the newest additions to Burma's assortment of ethnic armed groups. Relatively little is known about the small but growing army, which in recent years has trained with the Kachin Independence Army at its headquarters in Laiza. The Arakan Army, commonly referred to as the AA, had its first true taste of battle with Burmese troops in March of this year near Kyauktaw Township in northern Arakan State, though its troops had previously played a backup role in both the Kachin and Kokang conflicts. The AA is one of three ethnic armed groups that are currently engaged in conflict with government troops and thus are ineligible to sign onto a nationwide ceasefire accord. The Irrawaddy recently spoke with AA Commander-in-Chief Brig-Gen Tun Myat Naing about recent tensions between Arakan and Burmese troops, the group's political objectives and his views on the role of Rohingya Muslims in resolving Arakan grievances with the government. What is the current situation between the Burmese military and the Arakan Army (AA)? It is not very good. They [the Burma Army] still pursue the approach of annihilation to solve the problem [of armed ethnic resistance in Arakan State]. But it is not difficult for us because we have already taken it into consideration. The situation is not very difficult. But I think the fighting could become more intense. Where has the AA established strongholds in Arakan State? I need to be secretive about some military issues. From the point of view of nationalism, we have many advantages in Arakan State. It is our home and we feel comfortable there. However, my experience tells me that we still need something. What are the objectives of the AA? We must be able to determine our own future and have self-determination. We just can't let someone else decide our future. Every Arakanese man believes that he will be able to determine his own future someday. We will continue doing what we do and keeping faith no matter how difficult it gets. It would be good for all if an agreement could be worked out with relative ease, but if it can't, we have to find other ways. I will do my best for the Arakanese people. I would try to give them better national victories. Again, I want to tell the government that it should not treat us as an enemy at this time, in this era. Instead, it should find solutions together with us. It is up to the government whether we will be friends or foes. Our fundamental military principle is defense, while the government is trying to annihilate us. We have to defend our rights and lives. I want to stress that we are not the enemy. Why did clashes break out in Arakan State in late March? The Arakan Army is active in other places, besides Laiza [headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), where the AA has trained in recent years]. We have had more things to do in response to the changing situation, and we have had to work on a deadline. We have been mobilizing support and we had a confrontation with the Burma Army in so doing. Does the AA have the support of the Arakanese people? Despite the fact that we suffer a break in continuity—because our revolution has been suppressed for so long—it has been very easy to unify the Arakanese people once we show our flag to them. They don't hesitate to make sacrifices. Now we in the AA can stand, all because of the support of the Arakanese people. We have thousands of troops and our operational costs are big, so we couldn't do this without the support of the people. How many troops does the AA have? We have more than 10,000, including our civilian wing [Editor's note: this is believed to be an overestimate; independent sources familiar with the issue estimate around 800 troops and an unknown number of civilian supporters]. Recently, more than 2,000 have completed training. At first, we started with 26 people. Then we offered training, and there have been more than 100 trainees every time. Now we are accepting the 26th intake of trainees. Who comprises the AA membership and its central committee? We have not formed a central executive committee yet. We have more than ten thousand members. We did not form a [political] party because there were a number of parties already. At first, we thought of unifying the parties in Arakan State instead of forming a separate party. But then we came to realize that it is not convenient because there would be too many leaders and it would hamper their functionality. We now have a blueprint for a central executive committee. We plan to eventually form an Arakan National League [as an administrative wing of the AA] and we are already working on it. We have a consultative council, and senior experts advise them. With their help, we are now trying to get contacts in neighboring countries. We are almost ready to work on a wide scale. We have already planned for a meeting where we will publicly announce our organizational structure. Are your supporters safe amid tensions between the AA and the Burma Army? What do you have to say about their concerns? Those with low education levels may be a little worried. But we have a saying that blood is thicker than water. We are Arakanese people and we always will be. They will not worry, they will be brave. Although it is generally said that previous conflicts have been caused by religious feelings, if you take a deeper look, you can see that they stemmed from the Ministry of Immigration and Population, and the political tricks of the government. The government will do anything to win the war and retain its grip on political power. In the recent clashes, when the military columns came, they slept in Bengali houses [Editor's note: Bengali is a term used by many in Burma to refer to both people of Bangladeshi origin and to Rohingya Muslims, a mostly stateless minority living primarily in Arakan State]. They did not eat at Arakan villages for fear that information might be leaked. Again, they asked Bengalis to guide them, and they used them and the local militias for guidance and security. In the past, the Burma Army even made Arakanese people misunderstand Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, [by leading Arakanese people to believe that she supported the Rohingya population] but even then, rational Arakanese people did not believe them. They know what is right and what is wrong. Again, [Burmese troops] deceived the Bengalis into believing that they would be able to create their own militia, then they used them to fight with us by proxy. We have heard that they gave firearms to Bengalis in villages in Buthidaung close to the border and asked them to inform them when we came. You mean the government manipulated them during the previous conflicts and riots? There are political manipulators, and we are weakening in every aspect. We are subjected to political decoys and economic crises. We don't have political immunity from the consequences of all of this [conflict] and our people had to suffer a lot. What is your view on the Muslim population of Arakan State? We value and respect human existence. We are obliged to find solutions for problems. We just can't bring antagonism to the forefront. So we should not rely on our emotions in resolving problems. We may take decisive action if we need to. And we stick to our principle of safeguarding our national security and our national interests. If you think it is the problem of Arakan State alone, you are wrong. It is a problem that stretches between Southeast Asia and South Asia, from the Bay of Bengal to the Malacca Strait. All will suffer the consequences of this. And we have to find an answer with great caution and make sure they [Rohingya and Bagladeshis] do not suffer. But we can no longer afford to let our national interests be harmed. What do you think of the 'Interfaith Marriage Law' that was drafted after the riots in Arakan State? There are unreasonable things in that law. We prefer forward thinking to conservative thoughts, since we believe we can build something which can be more secure for our people. I don't oppose it, but I don't agree with everything in that law. What do you think about Arakan State Chief Minister Maj-Gen Maung Maung Ohn? He is a soldier performing his duties. He is carrying out the instructions of his superiors. He knows what people like and he can keep people in order. There are many things that can be done to make people happy in Arakan State, for example, doing development work instead of giving people political rights. What do you expect from the forthcoming general elections? We support our Arakan National Party, but I see it is not doing well. I don't want to criticize the internal affairs of the party, but, it would be better if the organizational structure were stronger. No matter who would [enter the race] from [elsewhere in] Burma, Arakanese people will win the election in our Arakan Sate. Even if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi contested in our state, she would not win, I dare say. Speaking as an ordinary Arakan man, I would just give them second place after our [Arakan] national interests. The post 'I Want to Stress That We Are Not the Enemy' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ma Ba Tha Threatens Nationwide Protests Against Shwedagon Highrise Projects Posted: 12 Jun 2015 06:06 AM PDT Monks bless a 'Save Shwedagon' signpost in Rangoon on Thursday, prior to forum planned for next week organized by members of the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion. (Photo: Khin Maung Win) RANGOON — Leading members of the Buddhist nationalist organization Ma Ba Tha have entered the fray in the debate over five controversial construction projects near Shwedagon Pagoda, threatening nationwide protests if the government refuses to cancel the developments. U Pamaukkha, a senior Ma Ba Tha committee member, said there was widespread concern among the wider community over the potential impact of the developments on the sightlines and structural integrity of the historic religious monument. "We are going to make a request to the government for the halt of these projects," he told The Irrawaddy. "If we not successful, we will stage nationwide popular demonstrations." Senior members of the group, also known as the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, founded an advocacy group named 'Society to Protect the Shwedagon' over the weekend. Seven of the 11 members on the group's committee are also members of Ma Ba Tha, according to senior monk U Pamaukkha, who said the society has a total membership of almost 100 monks and laypeople. Known for public protests and sponsorship of interfaith marriage and population control laws widely understood to target Burma's Muslim communities, senior Ma Ba Tha figures have come out strongly against the five developments, which have been shrouded in controversy since they were suspended in late January on the orders of the Myanmar Investment Commission. Critics allege that excavation work for the developments has the potential to upset the water table underneath Singuttara Hill and upset the pagoda's foundations. A recent forum held at Shwedagon by the Association of Myanmar Architects has called for a comprehensive risk assessment before any construction proceeds, although those interviewed by The Irrawaddy who participated in the forum all conceded their opposition to the projects. Others, including Yangon Heritage Trust chairman Thant Myint-U, have claimed the projects circumvented a de facto regulation that prohibited building heights above 62 feet in the vicinity of Shwedagon, while backers of the developments claim the area permits heights of up to 190 feet. A draft zoning law which would formalize height restrictions for future construction projects in Rangoon has been stalled in the divisional parliament since last year. U Parmakka said that members of the Society to Protect the Shwedagon were resolutely opposed to any high-rise developments near the sacred site for the same reasons canvassed by other critics. "We are against them because they may block the view to the pagoda and we are worried they may threaten its stability," he said. "There are so many places in Rangoon for these kinds of developments. Allowing them near the pagoda is an insult to Shwedagon. " A proposal to discuss the cancelation of the projects, tabled by independent lawmaker Dr Nyo Nyo Thin, was voted down in the divisional parliament on Tuesday. Rangoon Planning Minister Than Myint claimed that as the projects were being constructed on land leased from the military, the matter was the responsibility of the Union government. A similar proposal was introduced in Naypyidaw on the same day and will be discussed in the coming weeks. The post Ma Ba Tha Threatens Nationwide Protests Against Shwedagon Highrise Projects appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Army Witnesses Spurn Court Summons Over Journalist’s Killing Posted: 12 Jun 2015 06:01 AM PDT The body of Par Gyi, a journalist killed by the Burma Army, was exhumed from a shallow grave in Mon State on Nov. 5, 2014. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Members of the Burma Army who were summoned to appear before a court investigating the killing of journalist Par Gyi while in military custody last year were no-shows on Wednesday, according to the victim's widow. The case's seventh hearing in Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State, this week was set to hear testimony from seven witnesses, including two leaders of the Burma Army battalion that detained Par Gyi, also known as Aung Kyaw Naing. The plaintiff Than Dar, Par Gyi's widow, called five witnesses on Wednesday, but none was allowed to give testimony after the judge postponed proceedings in the military officers' absence. "We were at the court, but no one from the army attended," she told The Irrawaddy on Friday. "The court did not even tell us for what reason they did not come." Than Dar said the next hearing was scheduled for Monday, when the Burma Army witnesses will again be summoned. Than Dar's months-long campaign to bring trial proceedings out into the open was dealt a blow last month with news that two soldiers being investigated by a secret military tribunal had been acquitted. Civil court proceedings began in February. "My husband is a normal [civilian] person. His case should be investigated in a public court. This is why we are trying to do this in a public court," said Than Dar. Par Gyi was killed in military custody on Oct. 4, according to the Burma Army, which maintains that he was shot dead after attempting to seize a soldier's gun. Par Gyi was in Mon State at a time when the Burma Army was involved in clashes with Karen rebels in the area, with the government saying he was working for the rebels. Than Dar and her supporters say he was freelance reporting at the time of his detention. Nai Soe Myint, who accompanied Than Dar on her trip down to Mon State after she received word of her husband's death, was among those due to provide testimony on Wednesday. He said the two Burma Army witnesses arrived at the courthouse only to immediately turn their motorbike around and leave. "They did not say anything, they did not come inside the courthouse," said Nai Soe Myint, who is general-secretary of the Mon National Party. "They just turned back their motorbike as soon as they arrive at the court compound. We may go to the next court hearing, but won't be able to do anything again if they do not come. "Who would dare to go and arrest them in their barracks? They will shoot back at you," he added. "No one dares to arrest [them], even though they do not come to court." The Myanmar Human Rights Commission undertook an investigation into Par Gyi's killing in October at the order of President Thein Sein, and his body was exhumed from a shallow grave on Nov. 5, revealing possible signs of torture. The commission's report in early December did not address the torture claims and was rejected by the victim's family and their lawyer. It did, however, recommend that the case be brought before a civilian court. The post Army Witnesses Spurn Court Summons Over Journalist's Killing appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Brief Raid by India in Faraway Burma has Pakistan Fuming Posted: 12 Jun 2015 05:56 AM PDT Indian army soldiers carry a flag-draped coffin containing the body of a colleague killed in an attack by tribal separatist guerrillas in Manipur state on June 6. (Photo: Ajay Verma / Reuters) NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD — The Indian army’s brief foray this week into Burma to hunt militants set alarm bells ringing in far-away Pakistan, Delhi’s arch-rival whom it blames for stoking a rebellion in the disputed region of Kashmir. By suggesting the Burma incident could set a precedent for more cross-border raids, including into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, a junior Indian minister took the row one step further. Bellicose language is nothing new between the nuclear-armed neighbours, but Pakistanis say recent events have further hurt relations already strained since India’s nationalist leader Narendra Modi came to power. And as long as the talk is of threats and retaliation, hopes of finding a way out of decades of war and suspicion look slim. It is also not without its risks. “Very bad news often follows when adversaries give up on improved relations,” Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Stimson Center in Washington, wrote in a blogpost on the Arms Control Wonk. “We’re at this juncture now on the subcontinent,” added Krepon, an authority on nuclear security in South Asia. “Absent top-down initiatives to mend fences, initiatives that New Delhi appears unwilling to take and that Pakistan’s civilian government is handcuffed from taking, the stage will be set for another nuclear-tinged crisis in the region.” One trigger for this week’s bitter verbal exchanges was India’s action thousands of kilometres east of Pakistan. Hours after 70 Indian special forces crossed into Burma from two northeastern states and killed an unspecified number of rebels, junior minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said it was a message to Pakistan that India will go after militants anywhere. That was a thinly veiled reference to Muslim-majority Kashmir, where India blames Pakistan for fomenting a militant rebellion in the part of the Himalayan region held by Delhi. Pakistan, in turn, has accused India of stoking trouble in Baluchistan, a province torn by militant and separatist violence which is key to the country’s economic prospects. Pakistan shared evidence of Indian meddling in Baluchistan with the United States in February this year, a senior official with knowledge of Pakistan’s policy toward India told Reuters. Tuesday’s rare cross-border raid into Burma bolsters the Modi government’s claims of a robust response to security threats from Pakistan, though that is a more complex challenge; the sides have fought three wars since partition in 1947. As an immediate consequence, Indian and Pakistani troops strung out along the bitterly contested de facto Kashmir border are likely to raise alert levels to discourage cross border incursions, Indian military officials said. On Thursday the two armies exchanged gunfire in the Poonch sector of Kashmir, the Indian army said, blaming Pakistani troops for starting the fighting. The Pakistan military was not immediately available for comment. As well as a more hawkish leader, India’s top security team is led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, a former intelligence operative who has suggested India may look to retaliate if Pakistan interferes in Kashmir or elsewhere. In Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made peace with India a top campaign promise in 2013 elections, but those ambitions have been dashed as the influential military tightens its grip on power and Modi keeps the door shut. The tensions go far beyond Kashmir. India risks losing a foothold in Afghanistan, now that President Ashraf Ghani has reached out to Pakistan to help him pursue peace with Taliban militants. Ghani’s predecessor, Hamid Karzai, was far more friendly towards India. Meanwhile, Modi has wooed Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka by offering credit lines and a share in India’s fast-growing economy, while giving Pakistan the cold shoulder. “Every now and then Pakistan keeps disturbing India, creates nuisance, promotes terrorism and such incidents keep recurring,” he said during a visit to Bangladesh last weekend, remarks that drew a sharp retort from Islamabad. Pakistan believes Modi is seeking to isolate it, and seeks to counter that strategy by inviting China into the region, a development that causes major concern to New Delhi. China’s tightening embrace of Pakistan could give it a bridgehead into South Asia and the Indian Ocean, reinforcing India’s worst fears of a conflict on two fronts. Chinese President Xi Jinping launched plans for a $46 billion economic corridor during a recent visit to Pakistan. The route will provide a road running from China to a deepwater Pakistani port, vastly expanding the reach of the Chinese navy. According to Indian officials, Modi told Xi during his visit to China last month that a corridor through Kashmir was “unacceptable.” Even a relatively modest proposal by Pakistan cricket authorities to play against the Indian team in a neutral venue like Dubai was met by stony silence from the Indian government. The post Brief Raid by India in Faraway Burma has Pakistan Fuming appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘No stars, No Problem’ for Burma’s Young Footballers Posted: 12 Jun 2015 05:52 AM PDT Burma's Aung Si Thu celebrates scoring his side's fourth goal on Sunday, June 7, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — When Burma's footballers left for the Southeast Asian Games without their two star attractions, Yangon United duo Kyaw Ko and Kyi Lin, few expected them to return from Singapore with a medal. But the under-23 side, coached by 1993 silver medalist Kyi Lwin, have captured the nation's imagination by storming through to the semifinals unbeaten, stirring hopes of a first football gold at the biennial multi-sports games since 1973. They take on Vietnam next on Saturday at Singapore's National Stadium, where victory would ensure at least a silver medal for The White Angels. A sizeable crowd of Burmese fans is expected at the 55,000 capacity stadium with many more watching back home and adopting the rallying call "No Stars, No Problem" after their opening 4-2 win over Indonesia and then 2-1 success against the hosts. The slogan followed the victories that were achieved despite the high-profile absentees, who were kept back in Burma for the World Cup qualifying campaign, which began on Thursday with a 2-2 draw in Laos. The SEA Games squad has also been weakened by the absence of other talented young players who were knocked out of the ongoing under-20 World Cup in New Zealand last week. Undeterred, the SEA Games squad ploughed on and thrashed Philippines 5-1 before sealing the top spot in the group by storming back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with Cambodia in the final minute. The President's Office even threw its support behind the team, with an official sharing a picture of President Thein Sein watching the victory over the Philippines on Sunday that quickly spread across social media. Elsewhere, local businessmen in Mandalay, the country's second largest city, made donations to build a massive screen outside the Mandalay Palace to watch the upcoming match against Vietnam. The support for the side is in stark contrast to the last SEA Games in 2013, when coach Park Sung-hwa blamed "a misunderstanding of the rules" as the highly fancied team crashed out on home soil at the group stage following defeat by Indonesia. Angry spectators then invaded the pitch as others tore down banners and destroyed plastic seats in the stadium in Rangoon, while fans outside set ablaze billboards, SEA Games flags, hats and T-shirts with rioters throwing stones at police. "For a very long time we could never be proud of Myanmar soccer teams," said Myat Thura, a popular football pundit for SkyNet Sports. "I think that is why the whole country is supporting them heartily this year. They are doing really well." Head coach Kyi Lwin said his team were ready for Saturday's semifinal despite four energetic displays of high pressing football in a punishing nine-day schedule. "We are confident to reach the final, we work very hard," he told reporters through a translator on Friday. "We have already prepared for Vietnam, we are ready." The post 'No stars, No Problem' for Burma's Young Footballers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Palau Burns Vietnamese Boats Caught Fishing Illegally Posted: 11 Jun 2015 10:11 PM PDT Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr., right, and then Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, left, review the honor guard at the presidential palace in Manila on April 2, 2008. (Photo: Reuters) TOKYO — The tiny Pacific nation of Palau, fighting a rising tide of illegal fishing in its waters, has set fire to four boats of Vietnamese caught poaching sea cucumbers and other marine life in its waters. Palau's president, Tommy Remengesau Jr., said the boats were burned Friday morning. He hopes to turn most of the island nation's territorial waters into a national marine sanctuary, banning commercial fishing and exports apart from limited areas to be used by domestic fishermen and tourists. "We wanted to send a very strong message. We will not tolerate any more these pirates who come and steal our resources," Remengesau said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from Washington, D.C., where he was visiting. The country created the world's first shark sanctuary in 2009, but until recently had only one patrol boat to help protect its great hammerheads, leopard sharks and more than 130 other species of shark and rays fighting extinction. The four boats destroyed Friday were among 15 Palau authorities have caught fishing illegally in their waters since last year with loads of sharks and shark fins, lobsters, sea cucumbers and reef fish. Several of the boats that it seized, stripped of their fishing gear, are due to carry 77 crew members of the boats back to Vietnam. Remengesau said that the stream of poachers showed that just stripping the rogue boats of their nets and confiscating their catches was not enough "I think it's necessary to burn the boats," he said. Palau, about 600 miles (970 kilometers) miles east of the Philippines, is one of the world's smallest countries, its 20,000 people scattered across a tropical archipelago of 250 islands that is considered a biodiversity hotspot. In 2012, its Rock Islands Southern Lagoon was named a Unesco World Heritage site. Driven by rising demand from China and elsewhere in Asia, overfishing threatens many species of fish. With 621,600 square kilometers (240,000 square miles) of territorial waters, including its exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, extending 200 miles (320 kilometers) from its coastline, Palau is battling to prevent poaching of its sea life by fishermen from across Southeast Asia. Despite progress in tracing sources of fish sold to consumers, about a fifth of the global market for marine products caught and sold, or about US$23.5 billion, is caught illegally. Advances in telecommunications and vessel tracking technology have improved surveillance, but enforcing restrictions on unauthorized fishing is costly and difficult, especially given the many "pockets" of high seas in the area. "There's a lot of opportunity for illegal fishing and other transnational crime. It's a challenge," said Seth Horstmeyer, campaigns director for The Pew Charitable Trusts' Global Ocean Legacy program. High seas pockets, beyond the jurisdiction of any government, account for nearly two-thirds of all ocean areas. From Palau to Japan is a vast expanse of seas that nobody controls and nobody owns, areas that serve as refuges for illegal fishing vessels. The Vietnamese fishermen tend to prowl shallows seas and reefs in search of sea cucumbers and reef fish and then flee back into those deeper waters to evade capture, Horstmeyer said. One way to counter that tactic is to create a "geofence" using vessel identification systems that could trigger alerts when vessels cross into national waters. Nearby Indonesia also is taking harsher action, recently blowing up and sinking 41 foreign fishing vessels from China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, as a warning against poaching in the country's waters. In Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh recently told reporters the government was seeking to protect the rights of the fishermen. He urged other governments to "render humanitarian treatment toward the Vietnamese fishing trawlers and fishermen on the basis of international law as well as humanitarian treatment toward fishermen who were in trouble at sea." While burning and sinking such ships seems drastic, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has backed such moves, ruling that countries can be held liable for not taking necessary measures to prevent illegal, unreported or unregulated, so-called IUU, fishing operations by their vessels in the waters of other countries. In a report on IUU fishing last year, the Indonesia government outlined a slew of tactics used by poachers, including fake use of Indonesian flags on foreign vessels, forgery of documents and use of bogus fishing vessels using duplicate names and registration numbers of legitimate ships. Poachers "go where the risk of being discovered is lowest, said Johanne Fischer, New Zealand-based executive secretary at the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization, which works on conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources in the South Pacific Ocean. "Part of the problem is the mafia type of the thinking of the industry of just trying to make money. It's human nature, whenever you have possibility to make money with illegal activities. It's the same in the ocean." As Palau's plan for a national marine sanctuary moves through its legislature, other Pacific countries and territories are taking similar measures. Britain is preparing to make the Pitcairn Islands, home to descendants of the mutineers from the HMS Bounty, the world's largest continuous marine reserve at 834,000 square kilometers (322,000 square miles). Last year, the US government announced it was expanding protected areas in three areas—Johnston Atoll, Wake Atoll, and Jarvis Islandof the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to encompass about 1.05 million square kilometers (405,000 square miles) of non-contiguous sanctuaries. As it gears up for stricter enforcement, Palau is consulting with Pew, Japan's Sasakawa Peace Foundation and some foreign navies on ways to better police its waters using land-based radar, aerial surveillance and satellite identification systems. The post Palau Burns Vietnamese Boats Caught Fishing Illegally appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Former China Security Chief Sentenced to Life for Corruption Posted: 11 Jun 2015 10:06 PM PDT Zhou Yongkang, China’s former domestic security chief, in court during his sentence proceedings on Thursday. (Photo: China Central Television / Reuters) BEIJING — A court sentenced China’s former security chief to life in prison Thursday after convicting him of corruption in a secretly held trial, underscoring President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign and further cementing Xi’s authority by burying a once-powerful political faction. Zhou Yongkang, 72, was spared the death penalty in a decision seen as a show of leniency toward the former Politburo Standing Committee member, the highest-level politician to face court in China in more than three decades. The dour and once-feared Zhou expressed remorse on state television in an appearance in which he looked much older and haggard, with undyed grey hair rather than the dyed-black hair he had when he was last seen publicly in late 2013. “I accept the court verdict, and I will not appeal,” Zhou told the court, with his head lowered and body slightly bowed. The First Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin in northeastern China said it had convicted Zhou of taking massive amounts of bribes, abusing power and leaking state secrets in a trial on May 22. The court cited the latter charge as the reason why the trial was held behind closed doors and not publicly announced at the time. However, observers have said the closed-door trial may have been arranged by the Communist Party leadership to prevent any lurid details of the party’s inner workings from becoming public. Zhou was once seen as not only a potent rival of Xi but as the center of a vast patronage network stemming from his separate stints as an executive in the state-owned oil industry, party boss in the southwestern province of Sichuan and head of state security. “The case involves senior folks from the petroleum industry, the state security apparatus with many corruption scandals,” said Willy Lam, an expert on China’s elite politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “The authorities wanted to avoid having them appear in the public.” Lam said Zhou had been expected to receive a suspended death sentence, and that the life sentence indicated that Xi wanted to compromise and not antagonize any party members who had been allied with the former security czar. “President Xi does not want to make too many enemies,” Lam said. “Xi has won the battle and he does not want to go too far.” Authorities also did not want to see Zhou put up a feisty fight in an open court, Lam said. His expression of contrition on state TV also helped quell the notion of continued factional fighting at the party’s uppermost echelon. Zhou was sentenced to life in prison for accepting what the court said were “particularly huge bribes.” He was given lesser terms on the abuse of power and state secrets charges, and was ordered to serve his sentences concurrently. Zhou’s sentence also mandated the seizure of all his personal assets. According to the court, Zhou received, directly and indirectly, a total of 130 million yuan (US$21 million) in bribes and used his influence to allow others to realize 2.1 billion ($343 million) in profits on business dealings that caused 1.4 billion ($229 million) in losses for the state treasury—presumably through the sale of government assets at below cost. Zhou’s actions “inflicted enormous damage to public finances and the interests of the nation and the people,” the court said in an explanation of the verdict on its website. While the charges potentially mandated a death sentence, it said Zhou received leniency after confessing and showing repentance and ordering his relatives to hand over the majority of their ill-gotten gains. Although the charges of abuse of power and leaking state secrets were serious, they had not resulted in any major consequences, the court said. The court said Zhou had passed state secrets to his Qigong master, a kind of spiritual mentor, though it did not detail the secrets or say what the master had done with the information. Zhou is the highest-ranking former politician to face court since the 1981 treason trial of Mao Zedong’s wife and other members of the “Gang of Four” who persecuted political opponents during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Zhou had been under investigation since late 2013, and his former allies in government and the oil industry also were scrutinized. Zhou was once seen as untouchable, and his downfall has been touted as a flagship case for Xi’s anti-corruption drive, which is supposed to target the “tigers”—or top-ranking officials—along with the “flies”—or the low-ranking ones. But Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based independent historian and political commentator, questioned whether Zhou was a true tiger, given that he already was retired and much of his influence had diminished. He was a “clawless tiger,” Zhang said. Zhou spent the early part of his career in the oil industry, rising through the ranks over several decades to become the general manager of China National Petroleum Corp., one of the world’s biggest energy companies, in 1996. He was Sichuan party chief from 1999-2002. Later, he oversaw China’s vast police and security apparatus. The post Former China Security Chief Sentenced to Life for Corruption appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Australia Sidesteps Charge That Officials Paid Migrant Boat Posted: 11 Jun 2015 10:01 PM PDT Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, left, watches a Maori warrior dance during a state visit to New Zealand. (Photo: Nigel Marple / Reuters) JAKARTA — Australia’s prime minister on Friday sidestepped charges that officials from his country paid the crew of a boat carrying 65 migrants to return to Indonesian waters, but said Australia had to be creative to stop the flow of boats carrying asylum seekers to its shores. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s comments come one day after Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said it was “very concerned” by the allegations that Australia had paid off the crew of the boat, which had several children and a pregnant woman on board, to return to Indonesia. Police in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province said the boat’s captain and five crew members detained on remote Rote Island said they were each paid $5,000 after being intercepted by an Australian navy ship on May 20. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the Indonesian government was concerned that if such payments were happening, they could encourage human trafficking. Australia has a policy of turning back and refusing to resettle any migrant who arrives on its shores by boat. Migrants escaping poverty or oppression use Indonesia as a transit point for the perilous journey in often barely seaworthy vessels to Australia. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott did not deny the allegation when questioned on Radio 3AW on Friday. He said Australia’s border protection officials have been “incredibly creative” in coming up with strategies to stop people smuggling. “By hook or by crook we are gonna stop the trade,” Abbott said. “We have stopped the trade and we will do what we have to do to ensure that it stays stopped.” The allegation comes as Southeast Asia, meanwhile, is embroiled in a broader migrant crisis as Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in predominantly Buddhist Burma and Bangladeshis looking for a better life abroad have landed in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Police said the boat was carrying 65 migrants, mainly from Sri Lanka and a fewer number from Bangladesh, and was attempting to reach New Zealand. According to the account given to police by the detained crew, their vessel was boarded off Christmas Island in Australian waters by a navy officer who spoke Indonesian and negotiated their return to Indonesian territory. Australian authorities provided two different boats along with enough fuel and food to return to Indonesian waters, the crew said, according to police. Christmas Island is 1,090 kilometers (675 miles) southwest of Rote Island in central Indonesia. Hidayat, a local police chief on Rote, said the migrants came ashore on May 31 after locals reported the boats stranded in nearby waters. They were taken to an immigration detention center in the provincial capital Kupang on Tuesday. “I saw the money and even counted it together with the crew during interrogation,” said Hidayat, who uses one name. “But I don’t want to speculate before the investigation is complete.” Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the department doesn’t comment on current operational matters. “At the appropriate time, we’ll make comments about turn-backs where we’ve done it, where it’s been safe to do so,” he told radio station 2GB. Arrmanatha, the Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman, said children including three of a very young age and a pregnant woman were among the migrants. The post Australia Sidesteps Charge That Officials Paid Migrant Boat appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

A Taxing Trip in Karen State Posted: 11 Jun 2015 05:00 PM PDT A newly built section of the Asia Highway 1 in eastern Karen State. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) ASIA HIGHWAY 1, Karen State — For this recent traveler, it was 2,000 kyats (US$1.80) per head to secure smooth passage from the Burmese border town of Myawaddy to Burma's commercial capital Rangoon via the Asia Highway 1. For our minibus with 14 passengers, that meant nearly $30 in total went to a broker, ethnic armed groups and the Burma Army over nine checkpoints on the 90-minute drive from Myawaddy to Kawkareik in eastern Karen State. Drivers can choose to pay up at each individual checkpoint or do as we did, hiring a "road broker" to handle the soldiers stationed at these informal toll booths along Asia Highway 1, a series of road links that stretches nearly 13,000 miles from Tokyo to Turkey via Southeast Asia. "They are bad guys, and they talk very aggressively sometimes, this is why I do not want to talk to them, and let her deal with passing checkpoints," our driver explained. According to our driver, the 40-year-old woman enlisted to be our facilitator was close to the three ethnic Karen armed groups that levy fees on the route: the Democratic Karen Benevolence Army (DKBA), Karen National Union (KNU) and Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNLA-PC). Rates can vary, depending on the type of vehicle and passenger load. For our minibus, 13,000 kyats in total was extracted by the nine checkpoints, with the rest going to the broker. Such is the arbitrary nature of the system—or the brashness of the soldiers—that our driver apparently preferred to pay twice as much for a no-hassle journey. Motorbikes, a common form of transportation in the region, are charged 1,000 kyats per checkpoint, making the full journey from Myawaddy to Kawkareik a 9,000 kyats expenditure. Talk to locals who ply the route frequently and it's clear that this system of informal taxation rankles. The highway is publically funded and thus should be a public good, they argue. Asia Highway 1 is not yet officially open, but that hasn't stopped vehicles, and then the checkpoints, from taking advantage of the new route, which can be driven in about one-third the time of the old road. Drivers are taxed by plainclothes personnel at Burma Army checkpoints, but the ethnic Karen armed groups make no such effort at subtlety, with fully uniformed, gun-toting soldiers from the KNU, DKBA and KNLA-PC manning the posts. Noncompliance is met with the threat of being turned back. Thwarting the designs of those who envisioned the Asia Highway 1 facilitating the more efficient movement of goods in country and transnationally, trucks are avoiding the route. "For 10-wheeled trucks, the driver has to pay 100,000 [kyats] total. This is why none drive on this highway, because they have to pay a high tax," said another driver. Commercial trucks instead take the old road, where a far less hefty levy is enforced. The ethnic Karen armed groups in the area are powerful, and last month Zaw Min, the chief minister of Karen State, was temporarily held at gunpoint by the DKBA after failing to declare his travel plans in territory it controlled. Kwe Htoo Win, who is general secretary of the KNU, was asked about the taxation during a recent ethnic summit in Law Khee Lar, Karen State, but the KNU leader ignored the question. Karen News, based on the Thai-Burmese border, reported recently that the three Karen armed groups hosted a meeting in late May to discuss consolidating their checkpoints in future after fielding numerous complaints of their proliferation along the highway. The armed groups reached an agreement on the matter, according to Karen News, though the details of the agreement were not revealed. This story has been changed to remove an incorrect reference to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) partially funding the new highway from Myawaddy to Kawkareik. The ADB is helping to fund part of the Asia Highway 1, but not the section linking these two cities.  The post A Taxing Trip in Karen State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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