The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Central Bank Eases Forex Access for Importers of Some Commodities
• UEC to Adjust Polling Policies for the Disabled
• Primal Colors
• Military Court Sentences Soldier to 7 Years for Misconduct
• Following Suu Kyi’s Footsteps, Ethnic Politicians Set to Visit China
• Yin Myo Su Wins Global Leadership Award in Washington
• Suu Kyi Worries that Reform is a ‘Total Illusion’
• Malaria Battle Set to Ramp Up
• Hong Kong Vetoes China-Backed Electoral Reform Proposal
• Obama’s Asia Policy Faces Toughest Test on Trade
• Asia Needs Better Data, More Funding to Stamp Out Modern Day Slavery
• Little Girls Bear the Brunt in India’s Vicious Cycle of Malnutrition
• Bangladesh and Burma Patrols Exchange Fire Along River Border

Central Bank Eases Forex Access for Importers of Some Commodities Posted: 18 Jun 2015 05:46 AM PDT A man counts US dollars and Burmese kyats at a money changer in Rangoon on March 21, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — The Central Bank of Myanmar will allow the unrestricted sale of foreign currencies at official rates to importers of edible oil, fuel and cement, rolling back a policy that had limited withdrawals in an apparent bid to ward off supply shortages and a rise in the commodities' prices. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on Thursday quoted Central Bank Deputy Governor Sett Aung as saying the lifting of restrictions was also "intended to prevent unwanted hikes in foreign currency rates." The report said government-owned Myanma Economic Bank and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank would begin the plan starting on June 17. However, industry sources said some private banks would not begin until next week. Win Myint, chairman of the Myanmar Petroleum Importers Association, said fuel importers could officially buy US dollars from government banks without limits starting from Wednesday, but there were some difficulties in dealing with private banks. "Some private banks … thought it was only allowed for diesel importers, then they refused to sell dollars to petrol importers, but it will be OK later," he said. The continued slide of the Burmese kyat against the US dollar has resulted in a widening gap between the Central Bank's official exchange rate and the black market alternative. According to foreign currency exchangers, Thursday's black market exchange rate stood at about 1,200 kyats per dollar, while the official rate remained 1,105 kyats per dollar. The black market exchange had reached as high as 1,300 kyats to a dollar last week. Since October the Central Bank has been limiting its sale of the US dollar to private banks in an attempt to reverse the local currency's fall, ultimately leaving importers with difficulty coming up with the cash to complete transnational transactions. "Because of the dollar shortage in the market, we couldn't pay when fuel ships came to port, we worried for the shortage of fuel distribution here too," Win Myint said. Under the Myanmar Petroleum Importers Association, there are about 75 companies that are importing fuels. According to association data, about 150,000 to 200,000 tons of diesel and 70,000 tons of petroleum are imported monthly. Chit Khine, the chairman of Myanmar Apex Bank, said that if the government's plan to make foreign exchange more readily available succeeds in better balancing demand and supply, the dollar exchange rate would stabilize. "I heard that the government is collecting data on how much petroleum is being imported by customers of which banks and how many dollars are required every month, so I expect they will make more progress on this," he said. While the loosening of restrictions was welcomed by the Myanmar Petroleum Importers Association, a senior member of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) urged a broader easing on more essential imports, such as pharmaceuticals and other edible commodities. "If pharmaceutical product prices are also increased, importers will not be able to import, so this would also be problem for people. That's why the government should look also at these importers," said Myat Thin Aung, a UMFCCI central executive committee member. The kyat's drop has raised the cost of imports on everything from electronics and beverages to construction and foodstuffs. The post Central Bank Eases Forex Access for Importers of Some Commodities appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UEC to Adjust Polling Policies for the Disabled Posted: 18 Jun 2015 05:38 AM PDT A blind student reads Braille at the Myanmar Christian Fellowship of the Blind. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Union Election Commission (UEC) has vowed to implement new measures to enhance voting rights for the disabled during the country's upcoming general election, to be held in November. Following a meeting with disabled rights advocates, lawmakers and government officials in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, the UEC agreed to a number of polling practices meant to improve fairness and access for the blind, deaf, mentally and physically disabled. Nay Lin Soe, founder and director of the disability support group Myanmar Independent Living Initiative (MILI), said that while the commission has accepted some suggestions made by the disabled community, some of the new policies will only be implemented in districts with high disabled populations, and a few other recommendations were turned down. One major achievement, he said, was an agreement to use Braille templates that can be placed on ballots to guide blind voters, which can be removed and reused. "We urged them to use ballot paper with Braille lettering, but it was too costly and less confidential, so we discussed using templates" Nay Lin Soe said. "The chairman of the commission himself willingly agreed to it." Templates will be used in areas where there are schools for the blind or otherwise high populations of visually impaired persons. In those areas, the UEC also agreed to allow an adult to accompany blind voters who cannot read Braille into the voting booth. The commission turned down a proposal to install televisions demonstrating voting procedures for deaf in polling stations, but did agree to allow provide information about candidates to disabled voters 10 days in advance of elections. The UEC also decided against displaying photographs of candidates on the ballots. MILI and other disability groups represented at the meeting suggested a redesign of voting booths to make them simpler and easier to use for a wider range of people living with or without disabilities. The UEC decided to keep the design used during elections in 2010 and 2012, but will "discuss with commission members to be able to have [redesigned booths] in some places." Most of the new practices are geared toward assistance for the visual and hearing impaired, though advocates also requested clearer policies regarding the rights of people with mental disorders. Citizens who have been diagnosed with autism will be allowed to vote, while those with intellectual disabilities will not, but there are currently no protections in place to avoid discrimination by polling workers who may not see the distinction. Nay Lin Soe said this year's elections are likely to be far more fair for the disabled, as previous polls did not even account for disability in their by-laws. In many cases, voters with disability were forced to vote in advance instead of at polling stations, while some who came to the voting booth were antagonized by poll workers. According to Burma's 2014 census, 4.6 percent of the country's population of 51.5 million people live with some type of disability. The post UEC to Adjust Polling Policies for the Disabled appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Primal Colors Posted: 18 Jun 2015 04:13 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — Simplicity is the defining motif of renowned Burmese painter MPP Yei Myint's latest solo show. "The best things I like are the simplest things," the 62-year old artist said at Think Art Gallery in downtown Rangoon, where his seventh solo show, 'Origin', is running from June 17 to 19. Drawn from the last eight years of his oeuvre, the 67 paintings on display this week rely heavily on primary colors and austere, geometrical compositions—a striking contrast from the bold styles and ominous shadows in the work of 'Cancer', his 2014 exhibition which chronicled the social ills plaguing Burma. "It's up to the viewers to decide whether they like them or not," he said. "For me, I think we need to make changes sometimes." Think Art Gallery is located at 231 Nawaday Street, Dagon Township. The post Primal Colors appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Military Court Sentences Soldier to 7 Years for Misconduct Posted: 18 Jun 2015 02:24 AM PDT Women march for peace and gender justice in Rangoon in 2012. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A military court in northern Burma this week sentenced a Burmese soldier to seven years in prison on three charges of misconduct, but dismissed allegations that he attempted to rape a 73-year-old ethnic Kachin woman. The 24-year-old soldier was a member of the Burma Army's Light Infantry Battalion No. 438, stationed Winemaw Township in conflict-torn Kachin State. Following accusations of the attempted rape and demands for a civilian trial, he was removed from service and brought before a military court. Police informed the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), a local religious humanitarian aid group, that the soldier was sentenced on Monday after being found guilty of trespassing, use of illegal drugs and violation of the military code of conduct. Htoi San Raw, a Kachin women's rights activist who is affiliated with KBC, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the community is dissatisfied with the outcome, renewing calls for a civilian trial and sexual assault charges. "We asked [the Burma Army] to hand him over to the public courts, but they didn't do it," Htoi San Raw said. "If we can bring him to a public court we can charge him for trying to rape someone." Last month, hundreds gathered in protest in the remote township to demand justice for the alleged assault on an elderly Kachin woman on April 13 of this year. Further south, in the northern reaches of Shan State, Kachin villagers still await justice for the alleged rape and murder of two young Kachin volunteer teachers in late January. A government-led investigation is still ongoing amid accusations by local villagers that the gruesome act may have been committed by Burma Army troops. The post Military Court Sentences Soldier to 7 Years for Misconduct appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Following Suu Kyi’s Footsteps, Ethnic Politicians Set to Visit China Posted: 18 Jun 2015 01:20 AM PDT China's President Xi Jinping shakes hands with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on June 11. (Photo: Reuters / China Daily) RANGOON — Less than a week after Burma's most popular politician returned from her first visit to China, eight lawmakers from a handful of the country's ethnic minority groups will also make the trip to meet Chinese politicians and economists. At the invitation of Yunnan University, the parliamentarians are set to hold talks with Chinese authorities about feedback collected from local people on projects with Chinese backing in Burma. The delegation departing on Friday is comprised of lawmakers from regions where many of those projects are being implemented. National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi returned from a weeklong visit to China on Sunday, with leader of Burma's largest opposition party meeting President Xi Jinping and other senior Chinese leaders. Dwe Bu, an ethnic Kachin lawmaker who will be part of the delegation, predicted that the meetings were likely to lay bare disagreements over a major Chinese hydropower project in his state that the Burmese government has suspended. "China may want to resume the Myitsone dam project as it has invested a substantial amount in it. But we would like to terminate it rather than [merely] suspending." The proposed Myitsone project would put a massive hydroelectric dam at the site of two rivers in Kachin State that merge to form the Irrawaddy River. Burma's former military regime signed an agreement with Beijing allowing China to develop the dam, with all the power generated from the dam destined for China. But in September 2012, Burma's President Thein Sein announced that he was suspending construction for the duration of his term of office, following widespread opposition to the project. The ethnic delegation will also discuss the impacts of other China-backed projects such as the Shwe natural gas and oil pipelines, which begin in western Arakan State and extend 500 miles through 21 townships in Burma before crossing into China's Yunnan province. The controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division is also on the agenda. Arakanese lawmaker Ba Shein, also part of the delegation, said he would discuss the social impacts of the Shwe pipelines on locals in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State. Nearly all of the major China-backed projects across Burma are facing opposition from local populations, and the ethnic Shan lawmaker Ye Htun speculated that Chinese officials might be seeking to bolster relations with opposition and ethnic minority lawmakers in Burma to improve perceptions of Chinese influence on its southern neighbor. "In the past, the bilateral relationship was limited to g-to-g [government to government] relations. But now, as Myanmar is undergoing a democratic transition, China might want develop cordial relations with personalities from various fields, I reckon," he said. Ethnic lawmakers, and the NLD, are likely to be better represented in the halls of power after Burma's general election in November, when the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is expected to lose ground to both. Perhaps recognizing the potential for a changing of the guard in Burma, Beijing has reached out to the NLD in recent years, with a delegation from the party visiting China for the first time in late 2013. Last week's Suu Kyi visit was at the invitation of the Communist Party of China. The ethnic delegation visiting this week consists of Dwe Bu and Zone Thein from Kachin State, Ba Shein and Khin Saw Wai from Arakan State, Kan Nyunt from Sagaing Divison, Mi Myint Than from Mon State, and Sai Maung Tin and Ye Htun from Shan State. They are set to visit Beijing, Kunming and Shanghai on the weeklong trip. The post Following Suu Kyi's Footsteps, Ethnic Politicians Set to Visit China appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Yin Myo Su Wins Global Leadership Award in Washington Posted: 17 Jun 2015 11:34 PM PDT Yin Myo Su, one of the recipients of the 2015 Global Leadership Awards. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Entrepreneur and conservationist Yin Myo Su has been presented with a Global Leadership Award at a gala event in Washington DC for her work in promoting socially and economically responsible development. Yin Myo Su is the managing director of two resorts at Inle Lake and Mrauk-U and the founder of a hospitality training center in Shan State. Through her Inthar Heritage House restaurant, Yin Myo Su has attempted to preserve local ethnic traditions. The business leader used the award presentation to urge those seeking to invest in Burma to do so responsibly, citing widespread environmental damage as a result of development in neighboring countries. "My people were cut off from the world for 60 years," she said. "While capitalism matured in other places, we developed our own ways, however we could, with the things we had in our hands—our culture…and most importantly, each other. To me, those things are more precious than money." Tuesday's presentation was attended by female leaders from across the world, including former US President Bill Clinton. Other awardees included Cameroonian political leader Kah Walla and Pakistani anti-violence campaigner Samar Minallah Khan. Founded to honor women working to advance the cause of human rights and political reform, past recipients of Global Leadership Awards from Burma include Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma Partnership coordinator Khin Ohmar, and Shan Women's Action Network founder Charm Tong. The post Yin Myo Su Wins Global Leadership Award in Washington appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Suu Kyi Worries that Reform is a ‘Total Illusion’ Posted: 17 Jun 2015 10:35 PM PDT Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi smiles during a meeting with a group of Burmese citizens residing in Japan on April 13, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) In a rare interview with the Washington Post, published on Wednesday, Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi made long-awaited public comments about the country's democratic transition, expressing concern that the reforms could turn out to be a "total illusion." Speaking to the Washington Post via telephone upon her return from a landmark visit to China, the Nobel Laureate and democracy icon spoke tersely about a range of issues from Sino-Burmese relations to Rohingya statelessness. Regarding her trip to China, where she met with President Xi Jinping, Suu Kyi remarked only that she had a "good discussion" with the country's leaders, emphasizing the need to maintain peace with neighbors. The contents of the discussions, she maintained, were "considered private." She was slightly more straightforward regarding domestic affairs, touching on constitutional reform, electoral prospects and her view on the rights of minorities. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has put enormous efforts into changing Burma's Constitution, which was drafted by the military in 2008 and grants sweeping political powers to the armed forces. It also denies her a chance at the presidency. Asked whether the charter might be amended before elections slated for early November, Suu Kyi said that while it was possible, the NLD was "not counting on it." Six-party talks with senior officials such as President Thein Sein and Commander-in-Chief have thus far proven fruitless, and Suu Kyi conceded in the interview that the government is "not really very interested in negotiating." Members of the NLD "do worry that the reforms will turn out to be a total illusion," Suu Kyi said, in one of her boldest statements to date on the state of reform, adding that the government needs to show "concrete steps" of genuine change. Her answers became a bit more evasive, however, on the issues of Buddhist nationalism and Rohingya statelessness, over which she has received much recent criticism for her silence. Nationalism, she said, was not in itself a bad thing, offering the unenlightening comment that extremism is bad anywhere in the world. Maintaining her signature ambiguity on the plight of the Rohingya, Suu Kyi said the sensitive issue needed to be addressed "very, very carefully," admitting that the government was failing to address the problem quickly and effectively. "In fact," she said, "I don't think they're doing enough about it." The post Suu Kyi Worries that Reform is a 'Total Illusion' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Malaria Battle Set to Ramp Up Posted: 17 Jun 2015 10:33 PM PDT Malaria medicine is administered at the Mae Tao clinic on the Thai-Myanmar border in 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Drug-resistant malaria appears to have taken hold in much of Myanmar, and scientists aren't exactly sure how. It may have spread here from elsewhere, or it may have emerged independently, but in any case, the strategy to fight it seems set for a major change. More than a decade ago, the deadliest type of malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, evolved in Cambodia, becoming resistant to the main anti-malaria drug, artemisinin. For several years, resistant parasites have also been detected along the Myanmar-Thailand border, as well as in Bago Region, but earlier this year, scientists revealed that the problem may be much greater than was previously realized. In February, a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal showed that at 55 malaria treatment centers across the country, nearly 40 percent of parasite samples had genetic mutations linked to artemisinin resistance. In fact, these mutations were found in seven of the country's 10 administrative regions, including in Homalin, Sagaing Region, only 15 miles from the Indian border. And that's a big deal. Myanmar—stretching from the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea in the south to the Himalayan mountains in the north—offers the only known path for resistant parasites to make their way contiguously to the Indian subcontinent, and from there to Africa, where the disease already kills hundreds of thousands of children every year. This has happened in the past with other anti-malarial drugs that were once powerful but are now ineffective, resulting in the loss of millions of lives. "Clearly, Myanmar is an important part of the frontline in the battle to contain artemisinin resistance," the scientists wrote in the study. But "the pace at which the geographical extent of artemisinin resistance is spreading is faster than the rate at which control and elimination measures are being developed and instituted, or new drugs being introduced." Translation: Current strategies for fighting the disease aren't working, and, should artemisinin fail completely, there's no other medicine ready to replace it. Artemisinin-combination therapies are still 95 percent effective in Sagaing, according to Dr. Pascal Ringwald of the World Health Organization's Global Malaria Program. But in the event that they begin to fail, the results could be catastrophic in Myanmar, whose health-care system is still in shambles after half a century of neglect during military rule. The country also faces Southeast Asia's largest malaria burden, with more than 333,000 confirmed cases reported in 2013, down from 480,000 cases in 2012. Scientists caution that more testing is needed to confirm whether drug resistance is present so close to India. The sample size from the study was relatively small, and debate is ongoing over whether the genetic mutations discovered are directly linked to resistance, or are merely indirect indicators of possible resistance, according to Dr. Francois Nosten, a Thailand-based malaria expert who contributed to the study. Jumping or Popping If history repeats itself and drug resistance winds up in Africa again, it's unclear whether it will spread there from Southeast Asia or emerge independently. Dr. Christopher Plowe, director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Maryland, which has major programs in Myanmar, says a sort of "paternity testing" for malaria parasites allows scientists to determine whether they are related to parasites in other locations. In Southeast Asia, he says, it appears resistant parasites are sometimes spreading from one place to another, in a process known as "jumping." But in other cases, he says, they're emerging independently, in a process known as "popping." "There are jumps between Cambodia and Vietnam, and in the published literature only pops so far in Myanmar," he says, adding that jumps have also been seen across the border between western Thailand and southeastern Myanmar. "The fact that both are happening is indeed the worst possible scenario." "It may be just a matter of time until artemisinin resistance takes hold in Africa, whether it is by popping or jumping… Great progress is being made in some African countries, less in others, but there is a nightmare scenario around the corner if we lose artemisinins: huge resurgences everywhere with no effective drugs to offer for treatment, and millions of deaths, as we had in the 1980s and 1990s." Earlier this year, scientists said they had detected malaria parasites in Kenya with mutations linked to resistance, and those mutations were different from the mutations found on parasites in Cambodia. If resistance is popping up independently, Dr. Plowe says, it makes no sense to put up a firewall to block it, as countries in Southeast Asia have been trying to do for years. "A strategy of containment—the so-called firewall—is not likely to work, and we need to move fast to eliminate malaria" from the Greater Mekong Subregion and Africa, he says. In 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a containment strategy to fight malaria globally, and two years later it launched an emergency initiative to contain drug resistance in the Greater Mekong Subregion—by distributing bednets, spraying insecticide and treating anyone who tested positive for the disease. Heavyweight donors like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria were eager to help; the latter put down US$100 million over three years to fight malaria in the region. The WHO estimated at the time that $350 million more would be needed for Southeast Asia's containment effort through 2015. Elimination Francois Nosten, the Thailand-based malaria expert, isn't convinced that drug-resistant malaria has only emerged independently in Myanmar, as Dr. Plowe suggests. "The jury is still out," Dr. Nosten says. But he's sure that containment is not working well enough, and that it's time for a strategy change. "We need to eliminate as much malaria as we can," he says. Others agree. In mid-May, the WHO was preparing to ask member states in the Greater Mekong Subregion to adopt a strategy of complete elimination—taking steps to prevent any new cases of malaria from arising. With the new strategy, health workers would continue to distribute bed nets, spray insecticide and treat people with the disease, but they could also go a step further: In some cases, they could give anti-malarial medicine to entire villages in malaria hotspots, including to people who don't show any symptoms or feel sick. This technique, known as mass drug administration, is set to be included in the elimination strategy, according to Izaskun Gaviria, the Myanmar portfolio manager at the Global Fund, which launched a pilot project for mass drug administration in Southeast Asia last year, including in Myanmar. "No adverse effects have been documented so far, none whatsoever, which is quite encouraging," she said. "Initial data indicates that the pilot project has been successful." Southeast Asian governments have already set a goal to eliminate malaria from the region over the next 15 years, Gaviria added. "Of course, some countries can do it faster than others—Myanmar being for obvious reasons the last one—but we are hoping that by 2030 all the countries will have eliminated malaria," she said. But developments in Cambodia could point to new problems. There, parasites are starting to show resistance to piperaquine, a partner drug that's used in combination with artemisinin. "It is extremely concerning," Gaviria said, noting that piperaquine resistance has not yet been detected in other countries. "Artemisinin makes you feel good within a very short period of time, but it does not kill all the parasite flow—it is the partner drug that does that—so if we lose the partner drug, we will be in big trouble." A British pharmaceutical company is also developing what could be the world's first malaria vaccine, but it has only protected about one-third of children vaccinated during testing, and the research and licensing for it are focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. "So its use in Asia, while possible, is less likely in the near term," Gaviria said. This article originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post Malaria Battle Set to Ramp Up appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Hong Kong Vetoes China-Backed Electoral Reform Proposal Posted: 17 Jun 2015 10:30 PM PDT Pro-democracy lawmakers including Claudia Mo (L) and Alan Leong (3rd L) chant slogans outside Legislative Council after a veto in Hong Kong, China June 18, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — Hong Kong's legislature on Thursday vetoed a China-vetted electoral reform package that had been criticized by opposition pro-democracy lawmakers and activists as undemocratic, potentially easing the prospect of fresh mass protests. The vote came earlier than expected, with only 37 of the legislature's 70 lawmakers present. Of these, 28 legislators voted against the blueprint and eight voted in favor, while one did not cast their vote. The rejection had been expected and will likely appease some activists who had demanded a veto of what they call a "fake" democratic model for how the Chinese-controlled Asian financial center chooses its next leader in 2017. It will, however, be a blow to Beijing's Communist leaders, who had pressured and cajoled the city's pro-democracy lawmakers to back the blueprint that would have allowed a direct vote for the city's chief executive, but with only pre-screened, pro-Beijing candidates on the ballot. "This veto has helped Hong Kong people send a clear message to Beijing…that we want a genuine choice, a real election," said pan-democratic lawmaker Alan Leong. "This is not the end of the democratic movement," he said. "This is a new beginning." Democratic lawmakers, all 27 of whom voted against the plan, marched to the front of the chamber immediately after the veto and unfurled a sign calling for genuine universal suffrage and for Hong Kongers not to give up. Some carried the yellow umbrellas that became a symbol of the mass protest movement that brought parts of the former British colony to a standstill last year. 'Victory of Democracy' In an unexpected twist, moments before the ballot a large number of pro-establishment and pro-Beijing lawmakers suddenly walked out of the chamber. Outside the legislature, pro-democracy protesters broke into cheers and clapped wildly after the result. "It's a victory of democracy and the people," said a 75-year-old pro-democracy protester surnamed Wong, who struggled to hold back his tears. Meanwhile, around 500 pro-Beijing supporters outside the chamber staged a minute's silence then began chanting: "Vote them down in 2016!" calling for democratic lawmakers to be kicked out of the legislature in a citywide election next year. There were no immediate clashes between the two groups. Mainland Chinese media warned that a veto of the proposal could pose a threat to the financial hub. Weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong late last year posed one of the biggest challenges in years for China's ruling Communist Party, when more than 100,000 people took to the streets. Hundreds of police were in and around government headquarters with thousands more on standby. The reform proposal was laid out by the central government in Beijing last August and supported by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leadership. Opponents want a genuinely democratic election in line with Beijing's promise of universal suffrage made when the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The United States said it was watching developments and that Hong Kong people should be given a "meaningful choice" for their next leader. "The US has an interest in Hong Kong's continued stability and prosperity based on its high degree of autonomy under 'one country, two systems'," Alistair Baskey, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in Washington. "As we have said previously, the legitimacy of the chief executive will be greatly enhanced if the chief executive is selected through universal suffrage and if Hong Kong's residents have a meaningful choice of candidates." 'Reckless Actions' Rejection of the proposal now means going back to the old system of selecting Hong Kong's leader by a 1,200-member committee stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists. "The fact is that if the opposition camp vetoes the reform plan, political reform will come to a standstill," the influential tabloid the Global Times, published by the Communist Party's official People's Daily, said in an editorial published before the vote. "If reckless actions continue, the Asian financial hub will be dragged into real chaos." Democratic lawmakers, however, called on Beijing after the no vote, to restart the democratic reform process and put forward an improved, truly democratic electoral package. The benchmark stock market index fell around 0.6 percent after the vote but quickly rebounded. Raymond Yeung, a senior economist at ANZ, said in a research note that the Hong Kong government could lose credibility and political infighting could impair the business environment, but he did not see any immediate impact on the financial market. The post Hong Kong Vetoes China-Backed Electoral Reform Proposal appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Obama’s Asia Policy Faces Toughest Test on Trade Posted: 17 Jun 2015 09:49 PM PDT US President Barack Obama, second right, meets with the leaders of the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries in Beijing on Nov. 10, 2014. At right is Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — Critics have long predicted that President Barack Obama's policy to shift America's focus toward Asia is doomed. The legislative battle over his trade agenda could prove the acid test. Legislation to smooth the way for a free-trade pact with 11 other Asia-Pacific nations hit a wall in Congress last week. A fresh vote in the House was set for Thursday to try to reverse that setback. Formidable obstacles remain—principally, opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats who believe trade deals cost American jobs. The Obama administration itself has always presented the Trans-Pacific Partnership as crucial to its "pivot" toward the increasingly prosperous Asian region, after a post-9/11 preoccupation with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Officials have been at pains to point out the policy means more than ramping up America's military presence to counter rising-power China. But the administration was slow off the blocks in the politically prickly task of getting congressional support for "fast track" authority for the president to negotiate trade pacts that lawmakers can approve or reject but not amend. That's viewed as essential for winning eventual US ratification for TPP. The upshot is the current logjam in Congress. Obama and his legislative allies—which in this case are mostly Republicans—were consulting Wednesday to find a way a way through it. While plans were yet to be finalized, officials said the House could have a stand-alone vote on fast track on Thursday. A package of aid for workers who lose their jobs because of imports would become part of a separate bill. The two measures were originally combined into one, to sweeten the deal for union-backed Democrats, who voted against it anyway last Friday. That political setback was greeted with anguish by Asia experts in Washington and former administration officials. Larry Summers, a former director of the National Economic Council in the Obama White House, wrote that unless the trade legislation votes were successfully revisited, it would "doom" the TPP. "It would leave the grand strategy of rebalancing US foreign policy toward Asia with no meaningful nonmilitary component," he said. Obama, who was born in Hawaii and spent some of his childhood in Indonesia, has described himself as "America's first Pacific President." He took office believing that in no small measure, America's future is tied to Asia's, as the center of global economic growth has shifted eastward. His grand strategy to elevate America's profile in the region has been welcomed both in Washington and in Asia, where China's assertive behavior in disputed maritime territories has unnerved its neighbors. But skepticism has grown. Preoccupation with crises in the Mideast, cuts to the US aid and defense budgets, and domestic political woes have all been held out as reasons for Obama's signature foreign policy to fail. The pivot has variously been described by critical US-based commentators as "defunct," suffering a "slow death," ''shrinking" or in need of a serious "rethink." This time, however, the crisis of confidence is more acute in the Asia-Pacific itself. Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Wednesday that TPP nations could be just one week's negotiation away from completing the agreement, but if fast track isn't resolved in the next two or three weeks, "I think we've got a real problem with the future of the TPP." New Zealand Trade Negotiations Minister Tim Groser said the problems in Congress could stall the agreement until 2018. Singapore's Foreign Minister K Shanmugam put the US dilemma in broader but starker terms. "Do you want to be part of the region or you want to be out of the region?" he told a Washington audience this week. That said, not everyone is sold on strategic necessity of the TPP for America in Asia. Obama has cast TPP as an opportunity for the United States, rather than China, to shape trade rules, by setting standards on labor, environment and intellectual property. China is starting to put its imprint on the world's financial architecture—long dominated by the United States—by establishing an Asian infrastructure bank this year. But Chas Freeman, who was US President Richard Nixon's main interpreter on his historic trip in 1972 to revive ties with communist China, wrote in a recent commentary that it was "fanciful" to present the new trade rules of the TPP as pivoting the United States into a lasting position of supremacy in China's backyard. "China is now everybody's biggest trading partner, including America's prospective partners in TPP," Freeman wrote. The post Obama's Asia Policy Faces Toughest Test on Trade appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Asia Needs Better Data, More Funding to Stamp Out Modern Day Slavery Posted: 17 Jun 2015 09:44 PM PDT Migrant workers from Burma work on a fishing boat at a port near Bangkok on Sept. 24, 2011. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — The fight against modern day slavery in Asia's fishing industry needs more funding and better data on supply chains to succeed, campaigners said on Wednesday. Recent investigations into the Thai fishing industry, in particular, have uncovered widespread abuses that have helped to raise awareness about the plight of migrant workers who make up most of the employees in the US$7 billion industry. Concerns about the world's third largest seafood exporter prompted the United States to downgrade Thailand to the lowest "Tier 3" status among the world's worst centers of human trafficking in June last year. Campaigners said a lack of data on suppliers and contractors meant companies and financial institutions could become unwitting participants in slavery. "One big problem in the Thai fishing industry is the lack of certification of good slavery-free shrimp versus bad shrimp," said Lisa Rende Taylor, director of Project Issara, a program run by Anti-Slavery International. Taylor was speaking at Trust Forum Asia, a conference on human trafficking co-hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Nick Grono, head of the Freedom Fund, said the anti-slavery private donor fund would spend $5 million on an initiative to encourage global retailers and producers to tackle forced labor by developing tools to boost supply chain transparency. "The Thai government and international seafood producers and retailers are under intense scrutiny following recent media exposés of the abusive practices, which has led to the threat of sanctions from the US and European governments," Grono told the conference. Some 40 percent of Thai seafood exports go to the United States and the European Union, where consumers could exert pressure to end abuses by boycotting products, activists said. "When buyers put pressure on suppliers to stop abuses they can effect change much faster, even in as little as 48 hours," said Benjamin Skinner, co-founder of Tau Investment Management, a private equity firm that aims to generate better returns for investors by cleaning up supply chains. In a separate announcement, Verité, a charity working to end labor injustices worldwide, said it would partner with global information company Thomson Reuters to provide guidance and data analysis to uncover links between labor trafficking in supply chains and other crimes such as corruption. "It's clear that the under-the-radar and under-regulated activities of labor brokers in global supply chains are the biggest risk facing migrant workers and the brands whose products they make," Verite's chief executive Dan Viederman said in a statement. The post Asia Needs Better Data, More Funding to Stamp Out Modern Day Slavery appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Little Girls Bear the Brunt in India’s Vicious Cycle of Malnutrition Posted: 17 Jun 2015 09:39 PM PDT Two-month-old Jyoti lies in a bed in a malnutrition intensive care unit in Dharbhanga Medical College in Dharbhanga in the eastern state of Bihar, India, April 16, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) DHARBHANGA, India — When Palak was found barely breathing buried under a mound of soil in an impoverished village in eastern India, doctors who treated the abandoned new-born girl knew that nursing her back to health would not be easy. Two months on, Palak's tiny frame—weighing half of what it should for her age—lies crumpled in a bed in a malnutrition intensive care unit in Bihar state, as she feebly cries for attention. Despite India's economic boom over the last two decades, 46 percent of its children under five are underweight, 48 percent are stunted and 25 percent are wasted, according to the latest government figures. But what is not so widely known is that the majority are girls, like Palak—abandoned, neglected or given less nutritious food than their male siblings, say health workers, attributing it to patriarchal attitudes in the country. "A healthy, five-month-old baby should weigh at least 5 kilograms [11lb], but we come across two-year-olds weighing that," said Ziaul Haque, medical activities manager for the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) India, which runs the centre in Dharbhanga district. "Girls constitute more than two-thirds of patients, who are admitted and also those who drop out before completing the treatment," he added. Girls Get Less Child malnutrition is an underlying cause of death for 3 million children annually across the world—nearly half of all child deaths—with most dying from preventable illnesses like diarrhea due to weak immune systems, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. Those lucky enough to survive, grow up without enough energy, protein, vitamins and minerals, causing their brains and bodies to be stunted which means they cannot fulfill their physical, academic or economic potential. Increasing studies show that malnutrition rates are much higher in girls than in boys. Research conducted by MSF India between February 2009 and September 2011 found that of the more than 8,000 children admitted to the Dharbhanga center, 62 percent were girls—even though females younger than 5 years constitute only 47 percent of the local population. Dipa Sinha, an activist with the Right to Food campaign said generally girls in poor households are inadequately breast-fed and less likely to be provided with quality healthcare and access to sanitation. "Overall, a girl child is far more neglected than a boy, especially, if she is a third or fourth girl child in the family," said Sinha. The center is the only one in the district to offer therapeutic food for acutely malnourished children and has a 30-bed intensive care unit to treat tubercular infections, anemia and respiratory diseases. But even when girls start receiving the free treatment, they have a higher rate of drop-out compared to boys. "When we try to counsel parents to admit acutely malnourished children, a typical father says 'Who cares? The girls can die'," said MSF's Haque, adding that more than 50 percent of drop-outs at the center are girls. Vicious Cycle The problem of malnutrition starts well before birth in countries such as India, where there are high rates of child marriage, despite the age-old practice being illegal. About 47 percent of women aged between 20 and 24 were married before the age of 18 in India, according to the latest government figures. The custom hampers efforts to improve women's status, as it cuts across every part of a girl's development and creates a vicious cycle of malnutrition, poor health and ignorance, gender experts say. A child bride is more likely to drop out of school and have serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Her children are more likely to be underweight and may be lucky to survive beyond the age of five. Shashi Devi, 30, who was married at the age of 15 to a farmer's son, said her fourth child—an 11-month-old malnourished girl being treated at the center—was severely sick. "Khilona contracted cold and fever when she was three-months-old. The fever did not subside, so I took her to the local doctor, who said she had pneumonia," she said, shaking a rattle at the crying child lying on the bed in a blue T-shirt. "The treatment went on for months, but my daughter is getting weaker." The post Little Girls Bear the Brunt in India's Vicious Cycle of Malnutrition appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Bangladesh and Burma Patrols Exchange Fire Along River Border Posted: 17 Jun 2015 09:35 PM PDT A Burmese border guard walks near the border fence of Bangladesh in Maungdaw Township on June 5, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) DHAKA — One Bangladesh border guard was wounded and another seized by his Burmese counterparts on Wednesday after the two sides exchanged gunfire while chasing drug smugglers on a river separating their countries. The Bangladeshis were pursuing the smugglers by boat near Teknaf on the Naff River separating the neighboring countries near Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh. The border runs down the middle of the wide river that flows into the nearby Andaman Sea. The smugglers got away, but a Burmese border patrol boat opened fire on their Bangladesh counterparts, said Col. M M Anisur Rahman, the local Bangladesh border guard commander in Cox's Bazar. The Bangladesh patrol fired back. A Bangladesh guard was seized by the Burmese patrol after falling in the river and taken away to Burma. "We are trying to hold a flag meeting … to get back our border patrol member and establish peace on the border," Anisur said, adding that additional border guards had been assigned to patrol the waters along the increasingly tense border. The post Bangladesh and Burma Patrols Exchange Fire Along River Border appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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