The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Citing Nonpartisan Duty, Election Chief Says ‘Sorry’ to Former Party
• Buddhist Conference Demands Cancellation of Shwedagon Highrise Projects
• Local Paper, Sued by Govt, Faces Further Charges for Covering its Own Trial
• Lawmakers to Seek Answers on Stalled Kyaukphyu SEZ
• Fresh Fighting in Hpakant Sends 100 Villagers Fleeing
• Armed Group Helps Drug Defendant Abscond from Police Custody
• Why India’s Medical Schools Are Plagued with Fraud
• Thousands of Indonesians Refuse to Leave Volcano Danger Zone
• Passions High Ahead of Hong Kong Debate on China-Backed Reform Plan
• For Burma’s Journalists, a Bumpy Road to ‘Discipline-Flourishing Democracy’
• On Your Bike

Citing Nonpartisan Duty, Election Chief Says ‘Sorry’ to Former Party Posted: 17 Jun 2015 06:38 AM PDT Union Election Commission chairman Tin Aye speaks to The Irrawaddy at the Rangoon branch office of the electoral commission on Sunday. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The head of the Union Election Commission says members of his former party, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, want his favor in Burma's much-anticipated general election, but will be disappointed as he seeks to serve as a fair arbiter of the polls. "How could they like me?," Tin Aye told The Irrawaddy in a recent interview when asked whether his former party is happy with his handling of the election to date, saying the USDP "want me to take their side," but professing a no-nonsense approach to electoral shenanigans. The electoral body chief defended his chairmanship tenure, pointing to a 2012 by-election that was widely considered to be a credible poll and saw the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) win 43 of the 44 seats it contested. That stood in contrast to the last nationwide election, when Tin Aye ran as one of 883 USDP candidates who would go on to win more than 75 percent of the seats up for grabs. The result was widely discredited amid numerous reports of voting irregularities and fraud. One commonly reported irregularity was advanced votes, which appeared to swing races in favor of the USDP in several constituencies. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Sunday at the UEC's Rangoon branch office, Tin Aye acknowledged that the USDP had "played" the advanced vote to its advantage in 2010. New procedures and restrictions in the 2012 by-election had shored up the credibility of advanced voting, he said, and would again be in place for the upcoming poll. Those measures included invalidating any advanced vote ballots received after 6 am on Election Day, and requiring that advanced votes be counted before any ballots cast on polling day. The former patron of the USDP won a seat for his party in the Lower House of Parliament in 2010, representing Mandalay Division's Tada-U Township. He was nominated by President Thein Sein to serve as chairman of a reconfigured UEC in 2011, and officially renounced his party affiliation before taking up the post. The chairman's partisan past has inevitably prompted skepticism over whether the former general is capable of conducting a credible nationwide election due in early November. But in an extensive interview he pushed back against doubters and asked if he might "toot my own horn" on his unbiased stewardship of electoral preparations. That would continue through Election Day, he said, promising to enforce any and all laws on the books to ensure a free and fair vote. "You would ask me, 'What if they put pressure on the officers of polling stations?' I made the official announcement that if they accept such wrongdoing, such as if they accept late advanced votes … I will put them in jail," he said. Polling station officers would be provided with all relevant laws, by-laws and instruction materials, he said, as well as receiving pre-election training on the "must-knows, dos and don'ts" of Election Day. Tin Aye acknowledged a lingering "attachment" to his old party, but maintained that the ties would not jeopardize the credibility of an election that reform advocates hope will be Burma's first free and fair vote in 25 years. "As chairman of the UEC, I shouldn't have that kind of [attached] feeling. However, I do have an attachment to my former organization," he said. "But I will not put my attachment at the fore; the public's decision is paramount. They have been my friends and colleagues for a long time. I want them to win, but in a fair way." "If they come and ask to me to help them win the election, I will say 'I'm sorry.'" The post Citing Nonpartisan Duty, Election Chief Says 'Sorry' to Former Party appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Buddhist Conference Demands Cancellation of Shwedagon Highrise Projects Posted: 17 Jun 2015 06:22 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — A conference organized by a new Buddhist advocacy group has demanded the complete shutdown of five controversial development projects near Rangoon's iconic Shwedagon Pagoda. Several hundred people attended Wednesday conference, including members of the Burmese Patriotic Monks Union and Theravada Dhamma Network, which was organized by the Society to Protect the Shwedagon. "We monks and lay people who attended the conference here today demand the relevant authorities guarantee the cancellation of projects near the Shwedagon," a statement released by the society said. "We will keep moving ahead against the construction of any projects, including Dagon City, near the Shwedagon. If the projects are not shut down, we will stage demonstrations across the country." Officially founded last week, seven of the society's 11 committee members belong to the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, the Buddhist nationalist group also known as Ma Ba Tha. All organizations represented at Wednesday's conference announced their objection to the five developments, claiming their construction would be a threat to the structural integrity of the pagoda. Maung Maung, one of the society's leading members, said that the potential of the projects to damage the nation's cultural and religious heritage was a very serious issue. "Frankly, we are just trying prevent the problem," he told The Irrawaddy. "We want the developers to reassess whether or not what they are doing will be harmful." The five developments are spread over 72 acres of land near Shwedagon Pagoda that was leased from the military's Quartermaster-General's Office in 2013. All five projects were suspended after the Myanmar Investment Commission ordered a review in late January. In the months since, there have been growing calls to cancel the projects outright from municipal and divisional government figures, members of the Association of Myanmar Architects, the Yangon Heritage Trust and religious figures. Pho Pyu, a legal advisor from the Purple Equity law firm, told the conference that if the land was no longer actively used by the military, it should have been turned over to the government rather than sold to private developers. "According to the Defence Services Act, the military's duty is to protect the country," he said. "I don't see any clause that says 'the military can sell its land to business interests.'" Critics have speculated that the projects could affect the water table underneath Singuttara Hill and upset the foundations of the pagoda. Marga Landmark, the majority partner in the 22-acre Dagon City 1 development, last month released a statement saying it had reassured authorities that any excavation work would be conducted with "utmost care and due diligence" to avoid any structural damage to Shwedagon. In a message sent to the conference, firebrand monk and senior Ma Ba Tha figure U Wirathu said that the pagoda was inseparable from the cultural identity of Burma, and he would object to any development that had the potential to harm the historic monument. "I only want development that will not bring harm to the Shwedagon," he said. Wednesday's conference statement promised a nationwide petition campaign against the projects to be sent to relevant authorities in Rangoon and Naypyidaw. The post Buddhist Conference Demands Cancellation of Shwedagon Highrise Projects appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Local Paper, Sued by Govt, Faces Further Charges for Covering its Own Trial Posted: 17 Jun 2015 05:41 AM PDT Local newspaper Daily Eleven is being sued by Burma's Ministry of Information. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy ) RANGOON — Burma's Ministry of Information has pursued contempt charges against more than a dozen editors of a local newspaper for reporting on its own legal proceedings in a separate defamation case brought by the government. Wai Phyo, chief editor of Daily Eleven News, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the publication received a notification from the divisional court claiming that 17 members of the paper's editorial team will be sued by the ministry for contempt of court. "I don't know all the details, but the MOI [Ministry of Information] sued 17 editors, including myself," Wai Phyo said, adding that he will inform the public more fully in the coming days. Five employees of Daily Eleven already face defamation charges after publishing a report alleging corruption within the ministry, claiming it had misused funds that it said were spent on a printing press. The new charges relate to the paper's coverage of its own trial, which is still ongoing. Minister of Information Ye Htut told The Irrawaddy that he was unaware the court had sent a letter to Daily Eleven, but confirmed that the ministry had appealed to the court for further litigation, explaining that the paper's coverage of the proceedings put "pressure" on the court. "We viewed the news they wrote, related to the trial, as putting pressure on the court and irreverent," Ye Htut said. Defense lawyer Thein Than Oo told The Irrawaddy that the charges are likely to include contempt of court—which carries a penalty of up to six months in prison—and the trial will be held in Mandalay Division. He said the case was not surprising, and predicted that similar suits will follow as elections near. "I have been expecting this to happen because the elections are coming up, and the [government] will put pressure on activists, journalists and others who oppose them," Thein Than Oo said. "They are waiting for mistakes, and if they find a chance they will take it." The post Local Paper, Sued by Govt, Faces Further Charges for Covering its Own Trial appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Lawmakers to Seek Answers on Stalled Kyaukphyu SEZ Posted: 17 Jun 2015 04:41 AM PDT Construction on Ramree Island, part of the Kyaukphyu special economic zone, in late 2012. (Photo: Soe Myint / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Arakanese parliamentarians will propose that the regional legislature discuss the awarding of tenders for the Kyaukphyu special economic zone (SEZ), with an announcement of the winners expected six months ago but beset by delays. A spokesperson for the Kyaukphyu SEZ bid evaluation committee told The Irrawaddy in March that the project was still in the "negotiations stage" with potential tender winners, but regional politicians appear eager to shed light on a bidding process that they say has lacked transparency. "We discussed the Kyaukphyu SEZ last November in the state parliament," said Kyaw Lwin, a lawmaker from Kyaukphyu Township. "The SEZ development committee explained the project, but we don't know what is happening at the moment. That's why we'll raise questions to discuss in the upcoming parliament [session]," with the state legislature expected to reconvene late this month. "There has been no transparency in this SEZ project since the beginning stage. If this project is not beneficial for Arakanese, we will have to stand by the people," Kyaw Lwin told The Irrawaddy, reflecting a widespread perception that the terms of the SEZ deal might benefit tender winners at the expense of the local population. Aung Myat Kyaw, a parliamentarian from Arakan State's Sittwe Township, said the Kyaukphyu SEZ's bid evaluation committee owed lawmakers an update on the status of the tenders. "As far as I know, a Chinese company is a prospect. If the government grants [the tenders] to a Chinese company, they will take a lot of its benefits from us," Aung Myat Kyaw said. "We've discussed it in the state parliament before; at that time, we felt that the Chinese wanted more [generous] terms, like to take 80 percent interest from this project," he added. Three contracts will reportedly be awarded for development of the site's deep-sea port, petrochemical processing plant and a variety of industrial factories. Wariness over the SEZ is fueled in part by locals' experience with the dual "Shwe pipelines," which pump oil and natural gas from a terminal at Kyaukphyu across Burma to a fuel depot in China's Yunnan province. Displacement resulting from the pipes' construction, concerns of environmental degradation and the terms of the Shwe pipeline deal—with China receiving all of the oil and natural gas that passes through Kyaukphyu—have made the project unpopular among the local population. Burma's government called for Kyaukphyu SEZ infrastructure tender bids in September 2014. Bidding closed on Nov. 24, with a total of 12 proposals submitted by one local and 11 international firms. An announcement of the tender winners was initially expected in January, later pushed back to February. That deadline also came and went, with the spokesperson for the SEZ's bid evaluation committee saying in March that an announcement at the start of the next fiscal year was more likely. "We have to be cautiously negotiating with this bidder, because it's a huge project," a spokesperson for the Kyaukphyu SEZ bid evaluation committee told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, seemingly indicating that all three tenders would go to a single bidder. "If we make the wrong decision, it will cost us in the long term." "But I expect that it can be announced before the next government's term," he added, declining to say which companies had been short-listed for the tenders. A new government is expected to be sworn in by the end of March. "The huge project should bring equal rights for both country and bidder," the spokesperson said. An industry source has predicted that China's CITIC Group is likely to be awarded at least one of the three tenders up for bid. It is a known contender, having produced a feasibility study in 2011 that estimated project costs at US$14 billion and a land planning area of about 350 square kilometers (217 square miles). The Kyaukphyu SEZ is one of three major economic zones planned for Burma and will serve as a key feature of the Shwe pipelines energy corridor, transferring gas sourced from the Bay of Bengal and oil shipped from elsewhere into China's isolated southwestern provinces. The overland shipments of crude could eventually save China millions by avoiding long and costly tanker routes through the Malacca Strait. With the SEZ bidding process dragging on, locals are also scrutinizing oil and gas exploration and production off the coast of Arakan State. The Arakan Resources and Environmental Network, a local advocacy group, this week called for halting nine offshore oil and gas fields that it says are being operated without the consent of local Arakanese people. The offshore concessions were granted to seven oil and gas companies from Asia, Europe and the United States, according to a press release from the network. "[They] are to inform locals if they want to operate. They should present the operation openly and seek our feedback. We could not monitor and oppose the Shwe gas pipelines because of the Arakanese-Bengali issue," said the network's Nyo Aye, referring to the region's religious tensions, which have pitted Arakanese Buddhists against minority Rohingya Muslims, referred to as "Bengalis" by the government and most of the state's inhabitants. "But this time, we will demand the halting of any project that will be implemented or is being implemented without our consent or without informing us," he told The Irrawaddy. The Arakan Resources and Environmental Network statement called for direct management of Arakan State's resources by the regional government. "As far as we are concerned, [those companies] have signed deals with the Union government. Since the companies are from Europe, I hope they care about human rights and the environment and I think it would be easy to talk with them. The Union government needs to pay heed to the wishes of local people and implement the projects in a transparent manner," said Seya Kyaw, also from the network. Nyo Aye said the advocacy group has called for a meeting with Arakan State Chief Minister Maung Maung Ohn to discuss the offshore oil and gas operations. Additional reporting by San Paw. The post Lawmakers to Seek Answers on Stalled Kyaukphyu SEZ appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Fresh Fighting in Hpakant Sends 100 Villagers Fleeing Posted: 17 Jun 2015 04:34 AM PDT Kachin Independence Army troops on the move in Laiza, January 2013. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Fresh skirmishes have broken out between the Burma Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), with local sources claiming over 100 villagers were displaced and hiding in the jungle near Hpakant. Fighting began 20 miles east of the town on Monday when the Burma Army entered a KIA controlled area without advance warning, according to Lamai Gum Ja, a spokesman for the KIA-affiliated Kachin Peace Creation Group. "We heard that the Burma Army went to attack our KIA Battalion No.6," he said. "This is why fighting broke out. We do not yet have all the information on the ground." He added that there were no confirmed reports of casualties and he expected to learn more about the aftermath of the battle on Thursday. A member of Karuna Myanmar Social Services, who requested anonymity, told The Irrawaddy that initial fighting lasted one hour on Monday, but intermittent skirmishes had continued through to Wednesday in Sai Ja and Awang Hla villages. He said many villagers had fled into the jungle and relief efforts had been hampered by an inability to contact those who had left their homes. "Our members could not travel into the village because the Burma Army blocked all roads in. We do not know their current situation or even what is happening there," he said, adding that the KBC and other religious groups were waiting on travel permissions for the area from local authorities in Hpakant. The KIA is one of the only major ethnic armed groups in Burma that has not reached a bilateral ceasefire agreement. Last week marked the fourth anniversary of renewed conflict with the Burmese government, after a previous ceasefire broke down in June 2011. Hpakant saw fierce clashes in January after KIA troops detained three police officers and Kaman Du Naw, the Kachin State transportation minister. The resulting firefights displaced more than 1,000 area residents. Col. Maran Zau Taung, a KIA officer stationed in the state capital Myitkyina, has reportedly traveled to Laiza this week to meet with the rebel group's leaders and discuss a resolution to the recurring armed conflicts in Hpakant. The post Fresh Fighting in Hpakant Sends 100 Villagers Fleeing appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Armed Group Helps Drug Defendant Abscond from Police Custody Posted: 16 Jun 2015 11:49 PM PDT A sign at the city limits of Taunggyi, Shan State. (Photo: Nang Sai Nom / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A defendant in a drug trial was abducted from a police van while being transported from Shan State's Taung Lay Lone Prison from a hearing at the Taunggyi District Court on Tuesday. A group of armed men dressed in camouflage intercepted the police van, which was carrying eight defendants, at a village in Nyaungshwe Township west of Taunggyi at around 5pm. Local police officer Hsan Lwin said that Khun Nang, currently on trial for drug trafficking charges, was taken away by the group. "A white Toyota Mark II blocked the police van carrying the defendants and four men got out of the car," he told The Irrawaddy. "Three had rifles and the fourth had a handgun. They aimed their weapons at police and told them to take the handcuffs off Khun Nang before taking him into their car." Khun Nang, a resident of Demoso, Karenni State, was arrested in September 2014 after he was allegedly caught in possession of 1,960 stimulant tablets at an inspection post in Kalaw while traveling on a coach from Loikaw to Rangoon. Police have not yet identified the affiliation of the group that helped Khun Nang abscond from police custody and are tightening security at the entrances and exits of nearby towns to block the escape of the men. Tin Maung Toe, chairman of National League for Democracy's Taunggyi office, said the event was unprecedented for the area. "It has never happened in Taunggyi before," he said. "That an armed group were able to grab a defendant is quite unusual." The post Armed Group Helps Drug Defendant Abscond from Police Custody appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Why India’s Medical Schools Are Plagued with Fraud Posted: 16 Jun 2015 10:25 PM PDT A general view shows Saraswathi Institute of Medical Sciences in Hapur, India, June 4, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) MUZAFFARNAGAR, India — Last December, Dilshad Chaudhry travelled with about 100 of his fellow villagers by bus to a local Indian medical-school hospital. They'd been told that foreign doctors were coming to tour the facility, and check-ups would be free. There was nothing wrong with Chaudhry; he was accompanying his brother, who had a back problem. But "every person was told to lie in a bed even if they're not sick," he said. The 20-year-old electrician said he never saw any foreign physicians that day, but the hospital's Indian doctors kept checking that the phony patients were in bed. "They wanted to make sure no one escaped," he said. That was the same month government inspectors visited the hospital, which is at Muzaffarnagar Medical College, 80 miles northeast of New Delhi. The inspectors checked, among other things, whether there were enough patients to provide students with adequate clinical experience. They determined there were. But a year earlier, inspectors had found that most of the college hospital's outpatients "were fake and dummy and seems to be hired from nearby slum area," according to the official report. "In paediatric ward all children were admitted … without any medical problem and were hired from nearby area!!!!!" "I am not very keen to reply," said Dr. Anil Agarwal, the school's principal, when asked about the episode with Chaudhry. India's system for training doctors is broken. It is plagued by rampant fraud and unprofessional teaching practices, exacerbating the public health challenge facing this fast-growing but still poor nation of about 1.25 billion people. The ramifications spread beyond the country's borders: India is the world's largest exporter of doctors, with about 47,000 currently practicing in the United States and about 25,000 in the United Kingdom. Schools and Scandals In a four-month investigation, Reuters has documented the full extent of the fraud in India's medical-education system. It found, among other things, that more than one out of every six of the country's 398 medical schools has been accused of cheating, according to Indian government records and court filings. The Reuters probe also found that recruiting companies routinely provide medical colleges with doctors to pose as full-time faculty members to pass government inspections. To demonstrate that teaching hospitals have enough patients to provide students with clinical experience, colleges round up healthy people to pretend they are sick. Government records show that since 2010, at least 69 Indian medical colleges and teaching hospitals have been accused of such transgressions or other significant failings, including rigging entrance exams or accepting bribes to admit students. Two dozen of the schools have been recommended for outright closure by the regulator. Paying bribes—often in the guise of "donations" —to gain admission to Indian medical schools is widespread, according to India's health ministry, doctors and college officials. "The next generation of doctors is being taught to cheat and deceive before they even enter the classroom," said Dr. Anand Rai. He exposed a massive cheating ring involving medical school entrance exams in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in 2013. Rai was given police protection after he received death threats following the bust. The poor state of India's medical education reflects a health system in crisis. The country has the highest rates of mortality from diarrhea, pneumonia and tuberculosis, creating pressure to train more physicians. Patients are regularly denied treatment at public hospitals that are so overcrowded, often the only way to see a doctor is to pay a bribe. The causes of the crisis are manifold: Too few doctors. A government-backed surge in private medical schools which, to boost revenue, frequently charge under-the-table fees for admission. Outdated government regulations that, for example, require college libraries to keep paper copies of medical journals and penalize those that subscribe instead to online editions. Charged with maintaining "excellence in medical education" is the Medical Council of India (MCI). But this government body is itself mired in controversy. Its prior president currently faces bribery allegations. The council is the subject of a mountain of lawsuits, many of them pitting it against medical schools challenging its findings. The cases often drag on for years. "The best medical schools in India are absolutely world class," said David Gordon, president of the World Federation for Medical Education. But, he added, the Indian government's process of accrediting a "huge" number of recently opened, private medical schools "has at times been highly dubious." India has been rocked by a series of recent medical scandals, including doctors accused of serious crimes. In November, a group of junior doctors at a medical college in the eastern city of Kolkata allegedly tied a suspected mobile phone thief to a pillar, slashed him with a razor and beat him to death with bamboo sticks, according to local police. Nine of the accused men remain in jail; they deny murder charges, say lawyers involved in the case. Three suspects remain at large. The Scalpel Thrower The system's problems are felt abroad, too. Tens of thousands of India's medical graduates practice overseas, particularly in the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada. All of these countries require additional training before graduates of Indian medical schools can practice, and the vast majority of the doctors have unblemished records. But regulatory documents show that in both Britain and Australia, more graduates of Indian medical schools lost their right to practice medicine in the past five years than did doctors from any other foreign country. In the United Kingdom, between 2008 and 2014, Indian-trained doctors were four times more likely to lose their right to practice than British-trained doctors, according to records of Britain's General Medical Council. (The United States and Canada lack publicly available centralized databases of disciplined doctors.) The British cases include that of Dr. Tajeshwar Singh Aulakh, who received his medical degree in 1999 from Punjabi University in Patiala, India, according to Indian government records. He was assisting during a hip operation in 2008 in Shropshire, England, when he allegedly grabbed a scalpel, slashed the patient's stitches and threw it toward a nurse, according to British government records. The United Kingdom later struck him off its list of approved physicians. He could not be reached for comment. The Australian cases include that of Dr. Suhail Durani, who graduated from an Indian government medical college in the northern city of Jammu in 2003. He was imprisoned in Perth for more than 18 months after being convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting a female diabetic patient who had shown up in the emergency room with symptoms of a potentially serious illness. In an interview, Durani maintained his innocence and described his medical training in India as excellent. He currently is not practicing medicine. Dr. Ramesh Mehta, vice president of the Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, said there are "major problems" with some private Indian medical schools. But he added that a doctor's success depends as much on "personality and attitude" as on his or her college training. Fake Degrees About 45 percent of the people in India who practice medicine have no formal training, according to the Indian Medical Association. These 700,000 unqualified doctors have been found practicing at some of India's biggest hospitals, giving diagnoses, prescribing medicines and even conducting surgery. Balwant Rai Arora, a Delhi resident in his 90s, said in an interview that he issued more than 50,000 fake medical degrees from his home until his forgery ring was broken up by the police in 2011. Each buyer paid about $100 for a degree from fictitious colleges. Arora was twice convicted and jailed for forgery. "There is a shortage of doctors in India. I am just helping people with some medical experience get jobs,'' said Arora. "I haven't done anything wrong." India currently has about 840,000 doctors—or about seven physicians for every 10,000 people. That compares with about 25 in the United States and 32 in Europe, according to the World Health Organization. The shortfall has persisted despite India having the most medical schools of any nation. That's because the size of graduating classes is small—typically 100 to 150 students. Indeed, gaining admission to India's top medical schools is akin to winning the lottery. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi has been rated the best medical school in India Today magazine's past five annual surveys. According to the registrar's office, it takes in only 72 students for its undergraduate course each year out of about 80,000 to 90,000 who apply—an acceptance rate of less than one-tenth of one percent. As in the United Kingdom, most medical school students attend an undergraduate program. Similarly, Christian Medical College, a top-ranked school in the southern city of Vellore, received 39,974 applications this year for 100 places, according to a school official—an acceptance rate of 0.25 percent. By contrast, the acceptance rate at Harvard Medical School for its entering class in 2014 was 3.5 percent. Health ministry officials and doctors say India's medical education system began to falter following a surge in new, private medical colleges that opened across the country during the past few decades, often in remote areas. In 1980, there were 100 government-run medical schools and 11 private medical colleges. Thirty-five years later, the number of government medical colleges has nearly doubled. The number of private medical schools, meanwhile, has risen nearly twenty-fold, according to the Medical Council of India. There are now 183 government medical colleges and 215 private ones. 'Little Better Than Quacks' Many of the private colleges have been set up by businessmen and politicians who have no experience operating medical or educational institutions, said MCI officials. Sujatha Rao, who served as India's health secretary from 2009 to 2010, said the boom in private colleges was driven by a change in the law in the early 1990s to make it easier to open new schools because the government was struggling to find the money to build public medical schools. "The market has been flooded with doctors so poorly trained they are little better than quacks," Rao told Reuters. Not that a legitimate degree necessarily makes a difference. A study in India published in 2012 compared doctors holding medical degrees with untrained practitioners. It found "no differences in the likelihood of providers' giving a diagnosis or providing the correct treatment." The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, concluded that in India, "training in and of itself is not a guarantor of high quality." Last year, an individual described as a "concerned" student at a rural government medical college in Ambajogai, in western India, posted a letter online with a litany of allegations about the school, Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Medical College. There were professors who existed only on paper, he alleged, and "no clinics and no lectures" for students in the medicine and surgery departments. Conditions were unsanitary at the hospital, and pigs and donkeys roamed the campus, he wrote. The writer also alleged that students had to pay bribes to pass exams. "We are not taught in this medical college," the letter stated. Students have graduated "without even attending a single day." The writer said the letter had been sent to various government agencies and health officials. Records from the Medical Council of India, the body charged with maintaining the country's medical education standards, show that an inspection of the college this January found numerous deficiencies, including a shortage of faculty, residents and lecture theaters. Dr. Nareshkumar S. Dhaniwala, who served as the principal of the college between 2011 and 2013, said "there is some truth in the letter." Animals, such as pigs and cows, do roam the campus, teachers and students don't turn up for lessons, and there is a scarcity of running water in the dormitories, he said. And before he joined, he said, he heard students had to pay to pass final exams. "I found the students were not very interested in studying, they don't come to classes, they don't come to clinics," Dhaniwala said. "Medical education has gone downhill all over the country because the teachers are not as devoted as they used to be." Sudhir Deshmukh, the college's current principal, did not respond to requests for comment. The Medical Council of India, which was established by the government in 1934 and oversees medical education, has itself been swirling in controversy. Dr. Ketan Desai, the council's former president, faces criminal charges related to his arrest in 2010 for allegedly conspiring to receive a bribe to recommend authorizing a private medical college to accept more students. The case is still pending; Desai has denied the charges. 'Junk Body' In interviews, medical school officials complained that the MCI had onerous inspection requirements that were outdated and arbitrary. "The Medical Council of India is a junk body," said Dr. A. K. Asthana, principal and dean of Subharti Medical College in the northern city of Meerut, which has been accused of demanding illegal fees for admission. Asthana denies the allegations. The council has tried—unsuccessfully so far—to close the school. "I'm totally frustrated with the MCI. Totally frustrated," he said. Dr. Vedprakash Mishra, the head of MCI's academic committee, told Reuters that the agency has created "discipline and accountability" among medical colleges by imposing fines and, in several cases, prohibiting schools from admitting students for up to two years. "We don't compromise and mitigate on the requirements," he said. Asked about allegations of corruption within MCI itself, Mishra abruptly ended the interview. "This is not what I want to be discussing," he said. Under the government's current regulations, private medical colleges generally must have campuses on at least 20 acres of land. Because urban real estate in India is expensive, many schools open in rural areas where recruiting qualified, full-time doctors to teach is difficult because pay scales are low and living conditions are tough. Interviews and MCI records show that some private colleges solve the problem by cheating—they recruit doctors to pose as full-time faculty members during government inspections. The physicians work there for just a few days or weeks. Two MCI officials estimated that there are several hundred Indian companies involved in recruiting them. In October, a doctor in New Delhi received an email from a local company called Hi Impact Consultants with the subject line: "Urgent requirement of doctors for MCI Inspection in Ghaziabad" The email offered up to 20,000 rupees a day (about $310) if the doctor appeared for an inspection at Saraswathi Institute of Medical Sciences in Hapur, east of New Delhi. The doctor, who requested anonymity, has no connection with the college. "If interested please revert back ASAP," the email concluded. The sender described itself as "a Medical Executive Search firm." In an interview, Sanjeev Priyadershi, Hi Impact's executive director, confirmed that the firm had tried to recruit doctors to appear during government inspections at medical colleges where they don't normally work. "My client wanted to hire full-time faculty members for inspection purposes," he said. Dr. Shailendra K. Vajpeyee, the principal of Saraswathi, said the college is constantly struggling to recruit qualified professors. Vajpeyee said he knew of Hi Impact Consultants, but denied he had employed them during his 18-month tenure. "I don't know why that email was sent" by the company, he said. He declined to comment further about the matter. 'Biased' Inspectors At Muzaffarnagar Medical College, where electrician Dilshad Chaudhry was taken in December, students can read medical journals and books in a sprawling, circular library and take classes in clean and modern lecture halls. But finding enough patients to provide students with clinical experience at rural, private teaching hospitals like Muzaffarnagar is a challenge. Many people in rural India simply can't afford the cost of treatment. School principal Agarwal denied the allegations by MCI inspectors that the college's hospital had inflated its number of patients during a 2013 inspection. "Sometimes the inspectors are biased, that is for sure," he said. He also denied the hospital had ever recruited local villagers to pose as patients. But Dr. Vaibhav Jain, a former student at the college, told Reuters that the hospital would conduct "free check-up camps," to lure rural villagers to the facility on inspection days. He said the hospital sometimes would promise free ultrasounds, but only a small number of people would be tested. Villagers often later complained about it to students at a clinic in Bilaspur where he worked, he said. "We used to say we can't do anything, the machine was not working," he said. Medical education is in trouble across India, said Jain. "The truth is that many medical students aren't prepared to be doctors when they finish" college. "And the result is the patient suffers." The post Why India's Medical Schools Are Plagued with Fraud appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thousands of Indonesians Refuse to Leave Volcano Danger Zone Posted: 16 Jun 2015 09:49 PM PDT A resident rides his motorcycle as Mount Sinabung spews ash at Namanteran village in Indonesia's North Sumatra province on June 16, 2015. (Photo: Reuters / Antara Foto) TANAH KARO, Indonesia — Thousands of villagers are refusing to leave their homes on the slopes of one of Indonesia's most volatile volcanoes despite warnings that it is poised for a powerful eruption. Mount Sinabung, one of about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, has been at the highest alert level for nearly two weeks. On Tuesday, at least 48 avalanches of hot ash barreled down its slopes, with the biggest reaching 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) southeastward. The volcano in northern Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main islands, has also been shooting smoke and ash more than 700 meters (2,300 feet) into the air. Several thousand people, including women carrying babies in slings, have left the mountain in police trucks since Monday after the volcanic activity intensified over the weekend. Some streamed down the scorched slopes on motorcycles, their faces caked in ash. But Subur Tambun, who heads the local disaster mitigation agency, said only 10,000 of about 33,000 people living within the main danger zone have moved into tent camps or government buildings a safe distance from the volcano. No injuries have been reported from the recent eruptions. "The villagers insisted on tending crops," Tambun said. "They are confident of being able to escape a major eruption. All we can do is ask them to leave." The 2,460-meter Mount Sinabung has erupted sporadically since 2010, when it caught scientists off guard and blew after being quiet for four centuries. Last year, a powerful explosion heard hundreds of kilometers away destroyed villages around its slopes and killed at least 17 people. For days, authorities have pleaded with villagers in the main danger zone, which stretches 7 kilometers to the south and southeast of the peak, to move to the temporary shelters, but have faced resistance. "We have lost our vegetables, but not coffee," said Sapta Sembiring Palawi from Gambir village, about 4.7 kilometers from the smoldering peak. "Coffee has let us survive and we have to take care of it now." Palawi, a grandfather, is one of about 200 people from the village who have refused to move to government shelters. The reluctance of people to leave their homes despite danger is common in the sprawling archipelago nation. It has more volcanoes than any other country and is prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes because of its location on the "Ring of Fire"—a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. More than 150,000 people live along the slopes of Mount Sinabung, taking advantage of its fertile soil to grow chilies, oranges, cocoa and coffee. Despite warnings, some evacuees returned home Tuesday to tend their crops and livestock. "We are worried, but we have to see our house and to clean up the ash from our farm," said Yapti Sitepu, who was evacuated to a temporary shelter on Monday. More than 2,000 people forced to move by last year's eruption are still living in temporary houses rented by the government while they wait for permanent relocation. Their villages are now uninhabitable. Karmini reported from Jakarta. The post Thousands of Indonesians Refuse to Leave Volcano Danger Zone appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Passions High Ahead of Hong Kong Debate on China-Backed Reform Plan Posted: 16 Jun 2015 09:44 PM PDT Police officers form a cordon around a man, suspected of a bomb-making plot ahead of an electoral reform vote, as he is brought in for investigation in Hong Kong on June 16, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — More than a thousand people converged on Hong Kong's Legislative Council early on Wednesday before lawmakers debate a Beijing-backed electoral reform plan that could trigger fresh protests in the Chinese-controlled city. The former British colony has reinforced security after mass protests crippled parts of the Asian financial hub late last year, presenting China's ruling Communist Party with one of its biggest political challenges in decades. The Legislative Council issued an "amber alert" before the vote on the reform package, which is expected by Friday. The council was expected to begin debating the plan on Wednesday afternoon. Police were deployed inside the council complex overnight, and police sources said more than 5,000 specially trained officers would be on standby, while some roads leading to government buildings were closed. Activist groups said they expected 100,000 protesters to show up on Wednesday, although Beijing supporters easily outnumbered opponents of the package early on Wednesday. "The bill needs to go through. We have to support Hong Kong stability. We cannot keep carrying on like this," said a 60-year-old man surnamed Chan, who declined to give his first name. "We have worked so hard all these years," said Chan, who was waving a Chinese flag. Legislators will debate a blueprint that will allow a direct vote for Hong Kong's next leader in 2017, but only from pre-screened, pro-Beijing candidates. Opponents say they want a genuinely democratic vote. Scores of pro-Beijing activists shouted and booed from behind a barrier as pro-democracy lawmakers entered the building. Others, some elderly, squatted on the ground as temperatures hovered around 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). One pro-democracy protester wearing a black T-shirt that read "Reject Fake Suffrage," held a black-and-white banner that declared: "Overthrow the Communist dictatorship." Hundreds of police stood guard as more than a thousand pro-Beijing supporters gathered, some waving banners that said: "Support the reform." They also played the Chinese national anthem over loudspeakers close to government headquarters. Tension has been running high, especially after 10 people were arrested this week on suspicion of explosives offenses. Six of them have been charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion. China's Foreign Ministry said there were "certain people who want to use a series of damaging acts" to disturb the debate but still hoped it could proceed smoothly. The ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said in a front-page commentary that the vote was fundamentally about ensuring long-term prosperity and stability. The proposed package, it added, was designed to be a broadly representative one all sides could accept while at the same time "reducing all sorts of risks universal suffrage could bring." "Looking around the world, some countries' and regions' universal suffrage systems are not in line with the actual situation on the ground, causing social chaos, economic hardship and difficulties too numerous to mention," the paper said. Beijing has tried to lobby Hong Kong's 27 pro-democracy lawmakers to back the blueprint. Those democrats, who hold a crucial one-third veto bloc in the 70-seat Legislative Council, have so far pledged to oppose what they call a "fake" democratic model. Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption has also said it was investigating allegations by an unidentified legislator that he was offered a bribe to vote for the package. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula that gives it a separate legal system and greater freedoms than the party-ruled mainland—and the promise of universal suffrage. Thousands of activists blockaded major roads across Hong Kong for 79 days last year, defying tear gas and pepper spray, to press China to honor that promise. While flawed, the package is still the most progressive electoral model ever offered by China's leaders in what might be a pilot for other cities within mainland China, according to a source close to Beijing's leadership. If the plan is vetoed, Hong Kong's next leader will be selected as before by a 1,200-member committee stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists. Beijing would be unlikely to offer any fresh concessions to Hong Kong anytime soon. The post Passions High Ahead of Hong Kong Debate on China-Backed Reform Plan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

For Burma’s Journalists, a Bumpy Road to ‘Discipline-Flourishing Democracy’ Posted: 16 Jun 2015 05:30 PM PDT Ma Thandar holds a picture of her late husband, Par Gyi, a freelance journalist who died while in military custody in October 2014. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Three years after the end of the country's draconian pre-publication censorship regime, journalists working in Burma remain fearful of arrest, criminal prosecution and violence, despite legal safeguards ostensibly guaranteeing reporters broad freedoms to operate without interference from authorities. The tenure of President Thein Sein has been characterized by the dramatic transformation of the local press landscape, and by international measures, the standards of press freedom have risen markedly. Over the course of this decade, the country has progressed from one of the most restrictive media environments in the world to a nation on par with regional neighbors Bangladesh and Cambodia, according to an annual index of world press freedom published by Reporters Without Borders. Impressions on the ground jar with this optimistic assessment. Eleven journalists were imprisoned in 2014, including five from the now-defunct Unity Journal sentenced to seven years' hard labor for reporting on an alleged chemical weapons factory in Magwe Division. Others are currently facing charges. The death of Par Gyi in military custody last October has made reporters reluctant to cover ethnic conflict and raised questions over the ability of the country's judicial system to tackle entrenched authority. Foreign journalists have been deported and barred from re-entering the country. Increasingly, reporters are being subjected to intimidation and threats from members of the public, fostering a climate in which journalists are reluctant to report on contentious issues such as ethnic tensions in Arakan State. According to a new report from Amnesty International, there is an increasing consensus among reporters that Burma's much-vaunted media reforms are now regressing, and concerns are being raised over the implications for journalists hoping to cover the landmark general elections slated for later this year. Wrong Side of the Law On March 27, protestors took to the streets of cities across the country in a coordinated call for the release of student demonstrators arrested in the police crackdown in Letpadan, about 80 miles northwest of Rangoon, two weeks earlier. In Mandalay, around 20 people brandishing fighting peacock flags, the traditional symbol of Burma's democracy movement, rode motorbikes and distributed leaflets calling on the government to resign. Reporter Nay Myo Lin was riding his own motorbike to cover the protest for the BBC's Burmese service when his path was blocked by a police Lance Corporal Ba Maw. Accounts differ as to what happened next. According to a report filed by Ba Maw at the Chanmyathazi Township police station, the reporter struck the officer above his left eyebrow. Nay Myo Lin adamantly denies touching the officer, saying he was startled by Ba Maw entering his field of vision and raised his arms to prevent his motorbike from tipping over. On May 15, the reporter was arraigned at the township court on charges of violating Article 332 of the Penal Code, "voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty," and now faces up to three years' imprisonment. The 39-year-old told The Irrawaddy he was confident of being exonerated by the facts of the case, but was worried about the possibility of outside pressure being brought to bear on the court. "I just don't want to accept a prison term without doing anything wrong," he said. "If the court has to take the recommendation or order from higher authorities, it is sure to convict me. If it is done in accordance with the law, there will be justice." Nay Myo Lin's case has parallels with that of Zaw Pe, a Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) correspondent who spent three months in prison last year after conviction on similar charges. Initially sentenced for a year before a divisional court appeal, Zaw Pe was accused of trespassing and assault when he went to the offices of the Magwe education minister to inquire about rumors of corruption in a Japanese-funded scholarship program. DVB bureau chief Toe Zaw Latt maintained that the reporter gave prior notice of his visit. Trust in the judiciary among journalists has further deteriorated as a result of the Par Gyi trial. Following the exhumation of Par Gyi's corpse, which revealed that the freelance journalist had been shot five times and was possibly subjected to torture, a military tribunal convened behind closed doors last month acquitted two soldiers accused of his death. Last week, the prosecutor in a separate civilian hearing into the matter was abruptly "promoted" to a posting in Maungdaw, a township near the border with Bangladesh renowned as one of the hotspots of ethnic tension in Arakan State. New Laws, Old Habits Burma's Media Law, enacted in March 2014, entitles journalists to a number of rights in the course of their work, including the right to publish information on matters of public interest and the right to enter into government offices in accordance with the regulations applying to those public spaces. The law offers several remedies for professional misconduct, including mediation through the government-appointed Myanmar Press Council and the imposition of relatively small fines for some offenses. In practice, many journalists who have earned the ire of government or military officials are charged under the Penal Code—notably Article 505(b), a broad provision that punishes statements, rumors or reports "likely to cause fear or alarm to the public," with violators subject to a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Last October, for instance, five employees of the Bi-Midday Sun received the maximum sentence under the charge for falsely reporting that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had formed an interim government with ethnic leaders. A new legal framework has also failed to bring an end to entrenched practices of intimidation and harassment from authorities, particularly those of the infamous Special Branch. Over the course of the last year, many journalists have reported surveillance and on-the-spot interrogations from plainclothes operatives while covering contentious issues, such as the nationwide student protests against the National Education Law. At Rangoon's Shwepyithar Industrial Zone in March, striking garment workers told reporters from The Irrawaddy that Special Branch members had posed as journalists from a local newspaper, interviewing strike leaders before reporting back to police. A phone call at the time to the newspaper in question confirmed that the men did not belong to the outlet. Amnesty International's latest report on press freedom in Burma, released on Wednesday, said that many of the provisions in the Media Law are too vague to protect reporters against "arbitrary or abusive application." The human rights advocacy group warned that existing legislation was insufficient to safeguard freedom of expression. "Authorities are still relying on the same old tactics—arrests, surveillance, threats and jail time—to muzzle those journalists who cover 'inconvenient' topics," said Amnesty research director Rupert Abbott in a statement. "In fact, the situation for freedom of expression has worsened over the past year." Free Speech and Hate Speech Amnesty's report on press freedom has also highlighted an alarming trend among local journalists, with many saying they are reluctant to report on issues of ethnic and religious conflict as a result of threats and intimidation by members of nationalist groups. After false accusations of the sexual assault of a Buddhist woman by a Muslim man sparked riots in Mandalay last July, The Irrawaddy's Zarni Mann, who is also the wife of the BBC's Nay Myo Lin, said that men wearing Buddhist monk robes and others wielding weapons attempted to destroy her camera and phone and threatened to beat her to death. "[Afterwards], we saw the picture of our photographer circulated on Facebook by some individuals supporting Buddhist nationalist movements such as 969 and Ma Ba Tha," she told Amnesty. "Underneath the photo was his name and the message: 'Find this man, he is a photographer for The Irrawaddy, he reports the news for the Muslims, kill him or destroy his camera.'" Threats of violence, particularly over social media, are now an inescapable reality for journalists covering contentious issues. Emboldened by Buddhist nationalists, who have regularly accused international media of misrepresenting issues such as the origins of the Rohingya population of Arakan State, many in Burma have taken it upon themselves to harass both news organizations and individual journalists on suspicions of bias or anti-Buddhist sentiment. One local reporter, who requested anonymity, said that while the harassment had not yet made her fear for her safety, she had changed her online behavior and acted more cautiously when covering controversial subjects. "It's always at the back of my mind, especially whenever I travel to [Arakan]. There they see most journalists associated with foreign news agencies as 'Bengali' supporters with a hidden agenda," she told The Irrawaddy, referring to the pejorative word for the state's Rohingya population. Complicating matters is the partisan support leant by several local media outlets to the cause of Buddhist nationalist organizations. The Media Law does provide for criminal charges to be leveled against those who publish reports that "inflame conflicts regarding nationality, religion and race," but the vague wording and potential for broad application has been flagged as a potential tool of repression by Amnesty. There are also suggestions that wielding the law against publishers who attempted to incite ethnic or religious conflict could backfire, a sentiment shared by the local reporter above. "Regulation usually fails when it comes to things like that," she said. "It just pushes these sentiments underground where it’s even harder to monitor and probably more dangerous. "Burma is [also] still in a transitional phase and we are a long way away from being able to freely report everything that’s happening in the country…In a country with a history like Burma there’s always the danger that increased regulation of online hate speech would end up as another tool of repression," she added. In the Immigration Lounge Burma's political reforms have been trumpeted as a triumph of Western diplomacy. The flood of outside capital into the country and the surging economy has been accompanied by the arrival of large numbers of international businesspeople, teachers and NGO staffers, and according to the 2014 Census, the number of foreign nationals residing in Burma last year numbered more than 50,000. At the same time, the government remains fearful of outside scrutiny. The government expects all foreign reporters to be registered on journalist visas. On the surface, this appears straightforward: Visas are obtainable on a three-day service from the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, at a cost of 3,000 baht (US$89) for a one-month single entry or 8,500 baht ($252) for a three-month multiple entry. However, a recommendation letter from the Ministry of Information remains a strict prerequisite, and several journalists based in the region have reported delays in ministry approvals when attempting to cover breaking news. Many have sought to circumvent these delays by applying for tourist visas. In some instances this has led to foreign journalists being detained and deported by authorities, as was the case for two Spanish photographers covering the student march against the National Education Law in February. In others, an overly risk-averse approach by immigration authorities has led to problems arising from otherwise innocuous visa requests. One Western reporter based in Thailand was deported from Burma last year, ironically while covering a press freedom protest. His employer was advised by the Ministry of Information that his name had not been added to any "blacklist" but would require permission to re-enter the country from the Ministry of Immigration. After applying and receiving approval for an online visa from the ministry earlier this year for the sole purpose of a family holiday, he was blocked from entering the country after undergoing a screening at Rangoon International Airport. "When I arrived, with my parents, I was denied entry and told that my identity had matched with a Ministry of Information on-screen customs notice," he told The Irrawaddy. "The Ministry of Immigration official that dealt with me … told me that even with a visa, I need to receive special clearance from the Ministry of Information, otherwise I would be denied when it came to the 'routine final check' undertaken by the immigration officer at the airport." At the Ballot Box The barriers to foreign journalists entering the country are reminiscent of the period before and after Burma's controversial 2010 elections, during which many outside reporters faced difficulties entering the country as its government began the transition from military junta to constitutional, quasi-civilian rule. Under this transition, first outlined in the Roadmap to Discipline-Flourishing Democracy of junta-era Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, the 2010 election was to be followed by the apotheosis of Burma's long and tortuous democratic project: development of a "modern, developed and democratic nation" under the government's guidance. Freedom of expression is the linchpin of any democratic state, yet as Burma gears up for this year's elections, both local and foreign reporters fear increased restrictions on their activities ahead of what is expected to be an emotional, hotly contested poll. For local journalists, who through legal sanction or violence would inevitably bear the brunt of any clampdown, the stakes are higher than at any time in recent years. Nay Myo Lin, who can expect a verdict in the coming weeks, is understandably pessimistic. "I think it will be getting much harder as the election gets closer," he said. The post For Burma’s Journalists, a Bumpy Road to ‘Discipline-Flourishing Democracy’ appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

On Your Bike Posted: 16 Jun 2015 05:00 PM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — For Rangoon's two-wheeled enthusiasts, the Insein Bicycle and Parts market is a one stop-shopping haven. With the number of passenger vehicles in the city estimated to have doubled in the past year, local and foreign residents are increasingly opting for bicycles to beat the clogged roadways. Established by the Yangon City Development Committee in November 2004, the market offers a suite of Chinese and Japanese brands. Boasting more than 250 outlets within the market itself and dozens more in streets nearby, the market offers new products and parts, repair services and an extensive range of used and renovated bikes for more price conscious customers. The Nant Thar Gone market, at the corner of Lan Thit and Pyay Roads, is open every day except Sunday. The post On Your Bike appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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