The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Local Youth Mark 4th Anniversary of War in Kachin State
• Shwe Mann to Facebook Users: I Would ‘Like’ Your Input
• Behind the Ban: What is Parliament Afraid of?
• UEC Says Voter List Errors Expected, Remediable
• Students Rebuffed on Union Demands in Suu Kyi Meeting
• Seeking Blessings from Boe Boe Gyi
• Burma Deports 150 Boat People, Hundreds Soon to Follow
• Rebel Armies Reconsider NCCT Resignation After Summit Olive Branch
• British, Burma Chambers of Commerce Push for Increased Trade
• Veteran Student Activist Named as Citizen of Burma Award Winner
• Burma’s SEA Games Footballers Thrash Philippines 5-1, Advance to Semis
• From the Heart
• China Cruise Ship Death Toll Exceeds 400, Victims Mourned
• App Empowers Civilians to Capture Evidence of War Crimes on Smartphones
• Thailand Scrambles to Boost Image on Human Trafficking
• Closed for Business: Asia’s Human Smugglers Go to Ground

Local Youth Mark 4th Anniversary of War in Kachin State Posted: 08 Jun 2015 07:01 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — On Saturday, hundreds gathered in Rangoon to commemorate four years of conflict in Kachin State, calling for additional support for some 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps in Burma's far north. The event, called "Concern, Care and Contribute to the IDPs Now," was organized through an online campaign by Kachin youth based in the former capital. The group had planned to hold the activities on Sule Pagoda Road and at the Hledan Flyover Bridge and Inya Lake bank, but permission was denied for all three of these locations by the authorities. Police instead gave permission for the event to be held at a football field in Bo Sein Hman Ward of Rangoon's Tamwe Township. Participants performed plays, peace songs and poetry intended to raise awareness about the difficulties faced by the IDP population in Kachin State and about the conflict that restarted on June 9, 2011 after the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burma Army. Event organizers also raised funds to support Kachin IDPs, who, they report, are living on a budget of 400 kyats (about 40 cents) per day. The group added that the amount is expected to be halved this month as international funding is reduced. On Monday,more than 70 organizations endorsed an open letter calling on the Burmese government to immediately stop military offensives in Kachin and northern Shan States, to respect current ceasefire agreements and to withdraw Burmese troops from ethnic areas. They also urged the government to allow humanitarian agencies into IDP camps without restriction. To the international community and donor organizations, the statement requested continued humanitarian support to IDPs in cooperation with local community-based organizations. The post Local Youth Mark 4th Anniversary of War in Kachin State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Shwe Mann to Facebook Users: I Would ‘Like’ Your Input Posted: 08 Jun 2015 06:49 AM PDT Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann posted pictures of himself using a MacBook logged into Facebook on Sunday. (Photo: Facebook / H.E. Thura U Shwe Mann) RANGOON — Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann unleashed a flurry of activity on his Facebook page on Sunday, after reaching out to Burmese users and welcoming their online input. Though H.E. Thura U Shwe Mann has had a Facebook account for several months, regularly posting photos and information about activities related to the office he holds, Sunday's post was notable in showing a more personal and engaged side of the speaker. "I welcome people's complaints via Facebook, and will serve the public interest to the best of my ability in the capacity of speaker. Your collaboration is appreciated," reads text accompanying photos of Shwe Mann using a MacBook logged into Facebook, Burma's most popular social media platform. By Monday, the post had been shared by nearly 2,000 people and an equal number posted comments to his Facebook page. Many users took the speaker up on his offer, telling him of problems in their lives like corruption among local officials in rural areas. Others urged Shwe Mann to amend the country's military-drafted Constitution. Political analyst Yan Myo Thein said that some engagement with constituents was better than none, but he added that an ulterior motive might be at play. "If he really wants to solve people's problems, it [outreach] should have been happening since the Parliament started working in 2011. Why now? It is only lobbying for himself," he said. "As the general election nears, it seems he would like to promote himself and his USDP party, but I don't think he can manage people's complaints from social media, it is just for show," Yan Myo Thein added. Shwe Mann is the chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and has served as speaker of Parliament's Lower House since 2011. He took the dual role of Union speaker in August 2013, and will lead the USDP's efforts to hold onto control of Parliament when a general election is held later this year. He was a leading figure in the military junta that ruled Burma until 2011, serving as joint chief of staff of the Burmese Armed Forces. He was the third highest-ranking member of the current government's predecessor, the State Peace and Development Council, after Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Maung Aye. The speaker has openly declared his presidential ambitions, amid uncertainty over who the USDP will put forward as its candidate for Burma's highest elected office. The president will be chosen by Parliament in February or March 2016. Yan Myo Thein said more politicians were likely to take to social media in the coming months as they seek to self-promote or push their party brand ahead of parliamentary elections due in early November. The post Shwe Mann to Facebook Users: I Would 'Like' Your Input appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Behind the Ban: What is Parliament Afraid of? Posted: 08 Jun 2015 05:46 AM PDT This photo appears to show a military lawmaker voting on behalf of his absent neighbor. (Photo: Hein Htet / Myanmar Post) RANGOON — Burma's national Parliament is a relatively peaceful place. After all, a heated debate among lawmakers is quite rare. A brawl over a bill, the likes of which we've recently seen in Taiwan and even Nepal, is unheard of in Burma's five-year-old legislative chambers. Instead of bickering, our lawmakers have taken up a number of different pastimes: having a nap, toying with an iPad, fiddling with the voting apparatus of an absent neighbor. But when journalists caught them on camera, the response was swift. Reporters were bullied by the military, kicked out of the viewing galleries from which they once watched legislative proceedings through huge planes of glass. In an explanation to the Union Parliament on June 3, Speaker Shwe Mann said the ban was put into effect after he received a letter from a military lawmaker speaking on behalf of his uniformed colleagues in the Lower House. The lawmaker, Brig-Gen Tint San, said the bloc was embarrassed by a photo of one of its members reaching over to vote on behalf of someone else. Needless to say, the photo—splashed across the front page of a local weekly journal in early April—immediately went viral. Reading Tint San's letter aloud to the Union Parliament, the Speaker said he was asked to "take action to prevent the repetition of such unethical reporting," a request he thought was "reasonable." In the first public explanation of the ban after about a week of stonewalling reporters, Shwe Mann said that, "given what happened, there might be similar incidents in the future that could cause unnecessary misunderstanding," adding the characteristically broad catchall, "plus security issues." Mr. Speaker, it's not reasonable for us. If you are worried about future incidents, maybe you should tell your lawmakers to behave themselves. Don't fall asleep on the job, don't vote for other people, and we won't catch you! It could be worse, really. I mean, a lawmaker in Indonesia was once caught watching pornography on his computer during a legislative session. You guys aren't doing that in there, are you? At any rate, it would be more appropriate and sensible if you—instead of warning us—warned them, the members of Parliament, to do their jobs. Instead, you have punished reporters for doing their jobs well and showing the public what happens in Naypyidaw. There's one other thing you should keep in mind, Mr. Speaker. It's not good for the "trust-building" project when Burma's journalists, who for decades were harshly punished by the military regime, are shooed away for showing a critical image of the men in uniform. You're not supposed to be able to singlehandedly choose what we can and can't freely report on, that's kind of the whole point of a free press. Making responsible and informed decisions about what to report is our job, and in order to do that we need access to things that are in the public interest, such as the activities of our lawmakers. As for "security issues," we don't buy it. What are you afraid of? Every reporter that enters the parliamentary grounds has to first go through stringent security measures. Surely a pen, a notebook, a recording device or a camera couldn't do that much harm, could it? Whatever the reason, the outcome is that the public's access to information has been damaged. We can't elect the whole legislative body, as the military appoints a large bloc. Now we can't even monitor their activities. What rights will you reel in next? The post Behind the Ban: What is Parliament Afraid of? appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UEC Says Voter List Errors Expected, Remediable Posted: 08 Jun 2015 05:41 AM PDT Union Election Commission chairman Tin Aye, right, speaks to reporters at the Myanmar Peace Center in Rangoon on Monday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Union Election Commission responded on Monday to claims by the National League for Democracy (NLD) that up to 80 percent of eligible voter lists compiled by the electoral body are inaccurate, with the commission chairman acknowledging numerous errors in the lists but insisting the necessary measures were in place to resolve the problem. "I looked at a voter list that included 20 voters on a single page. Among them, I found 18 of them contained incorrect dates of birth. So, if it is examined on dates of birth, it could possible," UEC chairman Tin Aye told The Irrawaddy during a press conference at the Myanmar Peace Center in Rangoon. "But actually, [a voter] only needs to be at least 18 years old. If they want to correct their date of birth, they need to fill out the form. We need collaboration." The NLD said in an open letter made public on Thursday that its own "voter list reviewing committee" had determined that between 30 percent and 80 percent of the listings were inaccurate, after scrutinizing the rosters in the 32 townships in Naypyidaw and Rangoon that had been made public at the time. The errors ranged from incorrect dates of birth to the erroneous listing of people who lack identity documents, the letter said. The chairman, however, said the NLD was "exaggerating a bit" in its claim. "From the beginning, we knew the preliminary lists would include many errors," Tin Aye told reporters in opening remarks. "Since we were compiling the voter lists based on two outdated lists—ward-level population lists and household registration lists—the voter lists will contain many errors and thus we urged voters to check the list to correct the errors in the preliminary lists." Tin Aye said that incorrect dates of birth and the names of deceased people whose family members had not removed them from household registration lists accounted for the majority of the errors in voter compilation. Also on Monday, state media reported that a third batch of voter rolls was released statewide in Karenni, Karen, Chin and Mon states, as well as for all of Magwe Division. Partial releases also took place in Sagaing, Tenasserim, Pegu and Mandalay divisions, along with three districts in Shan State including the Pa-O and Danu self-administered zones. Those lists will be displayed publicly through June 21. The UEC said the final batch of preliminary lists would be displayed no later than the second week of July, with lists again posted for voters to check nationwide over a seven-day period before the election, around August. "We would not have the forms [to fill up for erroneous exclusions, inclusions and data] if we could make the complete list at once," UEC member Win Kyi told reporters at the press conference. He told The Irrawaddy that the commission would use all means to correct the errors on every roster in time for the election. Tin Aye also addressed criticism from some quarters about the involvement of retired military officers at all levels of the election commission. Less than 10 percent of the commission's personnel—124 people—were ex-military officers, he said, compared with 1,126 civilians and nearly 200 drawn from a variety of government ministries. He added that it was too soon to say whether elections would be held in the semiautonomous special regions of Wa and Kokang, where he said subcommissions had been unable to operate because security authorities said the electoral officials' safety could not be guaranteed. The chairman also responded to concerns that the election, which the UEC has said will take place in late October or early November, might be postponed or cancelled. "It is just worrying. … The parliamentary term will expire in January 2016 and as such, [new] elected representatives are needed. So the election is a must-do." The post UEC Says Voter List Errors Expected, Remediable appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Students Rebuffed on Union Demands in Suu Kyi Meeting Posted: 08 Jun 2015 05:12 AM PDT Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to student representatives at her Rangoon home on Sunday. (Photo: Phothar) RANGOON — Student leaders have failed to find common ground with Aung San Suu Kyi following a Sunday meeting to discuss a proposal that would reduce the power of student unions on campus. Around 60 students, most of them drawn from the Confederation of University Student Unions (CUSU) and the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) met the opposition leader at her Rangoon home on Sunday. Those present stated their opposition to an April proposal by Lower House NLD lawmaker Zeyar Thaw, during discussions on amendments to the National Education Law, which sought to change the mandated membership of "representatives from student and teacher unions" on the country's university councils to "student and teacher representatives". Zeyar Lwin, a member of the cross-union education reform advocacy group the Action Committee for Democratic Education (ACDE), said that Suu Kyi stood by the lawmaker's proposal during Sunday's meeting, while maintaining that she believed student unions were necessary for democratic and education reform. "She said that she didn't want people to get more opportunities because of their involvement in student unions," he said. "She said members of student unions are students, non-members are students and all should get the same chances. We discussed each other's views and we were not accepting of each other's views." Amendments to the National Education Law are now before the Lower House Draft Law Committee, which has yet to endorse Zeyar Thaw's amendment. Zeyar Lwin said that it was the view of CUSU, of which he is also a member, that student union executive committees were elected by popular vote and had a legitimate claim to represent all students. Though around a quarter of the students at the meeting on Sunday were from the ABFSU, the organization's central committee issued a statement before the meeting that those attending should not be considered official representatives of the federation. Aung Nay Paing, a member of the ABFSU's executive, said the federation had decided to boycott due to the ongoing detention of student protesters and a lack of consultation from the NLD on education reform. "Students are in prison and the freedom of those detained is more important than meeting with Suu Kyi," he said. "Also, one of the NLD MPs proposed changes to student unions and the NLD didn't explain this to us, so we believed we should not attend the meeting." The issue of the students awaiting trial for their involvement in recent education protests, most of whom were arrested during the Letpadan crackdown on Mar. 10, was not on the agenda of Sunday's meeting. Representatives of both the ABFSU and CUSU told The Irrawaddy they were united in their goal for education reform in Burma despite pursuing different tactics. The post Students Rebuffed on Union Demands in Suu Kyi Meeting appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Seeking Blessings from Boe Boe Gyi Posted: 08 Jun 2015 04:19 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. THAR DUN, Sagaing Division – Under the scorching summer heat of central Burma, the villagers of Thar Dun quietly prepare a controversial annual offering to a local spirit deity, or nat. Three miles west of the city of Sagaing, the common contributions of rice, pumpkin curry, chilies and porridge simmer and fry in large pots and pans above a makeshift fireplace. The porridge, known locally as byonezat, is laden with an ingredient forbidden in other natpwe, or spirit festivals: pork. "It has been a tradition for us to offer pork to Boe Boe Gyi," said Kyaw Khin, a 90-year-old village elder. "Our ancestors once followed the tradition and, now, so do we." Boe Boe Gyi is considered a Myin Phyu Shin, one of 37 spirits belonging to an animist faith which predates Buddhism in Burma, but has long been integrated into local religious observance. The ritual act of offering food to the spirit is the main event of this annual festival held five days after the waxing moon in the Burmese calendar month, Na Yone, which this year coincided with Saturday, June 6. "Most believers are afraid to offer pork to the nats, because they worship the Shwe Pyin brothers," he added, explaining that reverence of two princely spirit brothers, Shwe Phyin Gyi and Shwe Phyin Lay, expressly prohibits the consumption or offering of pork at festivals. To do so would be inauspicious and possibly bring bad luck to the worshippers. In other natpwe throughout Burma, the festival grounds fill up with rambunctious crowds, the locals enjoying liquor and dancing to the rhythms of gongs and drums. During Tar Dun's spirit festival, the village is markedly silent and sober. Alcohol is usually consumed in connection with the celebrations led by nat-kadaws, or the spirit mediums, who serve as the masters of ceremonies at such festivals. "The nat-kadaws once told us they wanted to join the festival with dancing and songs. We invited them. But since our offerings included pork, they did not dare to come," explained Aung Khin, the head of Thar Dun village. Each year, the celebrations commence at the entrance to the village, on the altar of Myin Phyu Shin Boe Boe Gyi. In accordance with custom, villagers prepare five sets of trays, each with seven vegetables and seven pieces of pork. These offerings must be carefully arranged, and include steamed rice, tri-colored glutinous rice, and rice formed into animal-shaped cakes. Other staples are pumpkin, coconut, banana, dried fish and fried chilies, garnished with tea leaves and betel nut. The main feature is of course the pork, both served on its own and minced into porridge. The elders are the first to announce their presence to Boe Boe Gyi, raising the trays to their foreheads before placing them at the altar. "Enjoy them and bless our village with peace and prosperity. Guard us and protect us from our enemies, from bad luck and from bad weather," they pray each year. Following the elders, villagers make more than 300 offerings. The ritual is completed when they thank the spirit of Boe Boe Gyi before returning home with trays and baskets filled with the food offerings, and thereby blessed by the spirit. It is then eaten together with relatives, many of whom traveled to Thar Dun for the occasion. "There has never been a year that we skipped the festival," said San Kyin, an 80-year-old woman from the village. "Even though there is no song or dance, we are happy to cook together, worship Boe Boe Gyi and enjoy food together," she added. "By eating these offerings together with our friends and family, we believe we will be healthy, wealthy, happy and that good luck will stay with us." The post Seeking Blessings from Boe Boe Gyi appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma Deports 150 Boat People, Hundreds Soon to Follow Posted: 08 Jun 2015 03:16 AM PDT A migrant boat intercepted by the Burma Navy near Irrawaddy Division in late May, 2015. (Photo: Ministry of Information) SITTWE, Arakan State — A total of 150 migrants were deported to Bangladesh on Monday afternoon, local officials told The Irrawaddy, while nearly 600 others await the same fate in camps and detention centers near the border. "At 3 pm today, we deported them in six cars," Arakan State Chief Immigration Officer Khin Soe told The Irrawaddy. Another 50 are set to depart within the next few days. The migrants, determined to have come from Bangladesh before being intercepted by the Burma Navy, were among more than 900 "boat people" to surface along Burma's shores in recent weeks. Migrants from Bangladesh and refugees from Burma's Arakan State have been boarding boats in droves to seek work or refuge in neighboring countries, many ending up in the hands of human traffickers. Those who fled from Burma are predominantly Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority that largely lives in apartheid-like conditions since deadly inter-communal violence erupted in the coastal state in 2012. A Thai crackdown on the trade last month left thousands stranded at sea as traffickers abandoned their human cargo, leading to a regional crisis that has directly affected Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma and Bangladesh. On May 21, the Burma Navy discovered a boat in the Bay of Bengal carrying 208 migrants, 200 of them were determined to be Bangladeshi and sent to Taung Pyo Let Wai village in Arakan State's Maungdaw Township, on the border with Bangladesh. Another boat, crammed with 733 people, was found on May 29 off the coast of Irrawaddy Division. The boat was held offshore for several days before being towed to Maungdaw, where passengers were transferred to border holding facilities and scrutinized to determine their origins. Local immigration officials told The Irrawaddy that 546 were found to be Bangladeshi and will be deported "soonest." The remaining 187 passengers, including 43 children and 62 women, were found to be from Burma. "It is true that Bengalis from Myanmar [Burma] are among them and the rest are from Bangladesh. We are scrutinizing them and will transfer them to Bangladesh soonest," said Arakan State immigration officer Khin Soe. The official referred to the Rohingya as "Bengalis," the preferred term of the government, which denies them citizenship and views them as illegal immigrants. Civil society groups in Maungdaw issued a public statement upon the migrants' arrival on June 3 that they would not accept the boat people, warning that locals would protest against the government and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, if the issue was not swiftly resolved. The post Burma Deports 150 Boat People, Hundreds Soon to Follow appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rebel Armies Reconsider NCCT Resignation After Summit Olive Branch Posted: 08 Jun 2015 03:10 AM PDT Delegates from the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army in Law Khee Lar. (Photo: Thaw Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) LAW KHEE LAR, Karen State — Ethnic leaders have declared that they will not sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement if three armed groups currently battling government forces are excluded from the accord. The move appears to have prompted representatives from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army to reconsider their resignation from the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), which was announced last week. Nai Hong Sar, the NCCT chairman, said that any ceasefire agreement would be meaningless if ethnic armed groups currently battling the military were excluded, adding that the decision was reached by consensus among all NCCT members present at the summit. "We have decided that we don't accept leaving behind some groups," he told a weekend press conference. "We stand by the principle of signing the agreement together." The MNDAA, TNLA and Arakan Army are involved in active conflict with government troops and were excluded from the draft text of the nationwide ceasefire agreement, negotiated between the NCCT and government representatives on Mar. 31. A coordination team to be formed by the summit will negotiate the inclusion of the three groups with the government. The team will also be tasked with negotiating 15 proposed amendments to the draft text of the ceasefire agreement raised during last week's discussions in Law Khee Lar. Khun Myint Tun, chairman of the Pa-O​ National Liberation Organization, was optimistic that the government would eventually agree to bring the three groups into the fold. "U Aung Min (the chief government peace negotiator) told me at the state-level peace talks that he would not leave any problem, even a small one, unresolved," he said. "The problem of these three groups is not a small one, so I don't think the government would disregard this issue." The exclusion of the three groups from the ceasefire agreement has been a source of tension since the draft text was unveiled. All three raised the possibility of resigning from the ethnic negotiating bloc at the end of an earlier ethnic summit in Panghsang last month, and each submitted letters of resignation to the NCCT leadership on Thursday. Over the weekend, delegates from the three groups attending the Law Khee Lar summit adopted a more conciliatory tone, announcing they would present the summit's declaration to their organizations for a final decision on future participation within the NCCT. Aye Tun, the Arakan Army's external relations officer, confirmed that his group would withdraw their resignation as a result of the summit's decision. "We decided to quit because we would be left out," he said. "Now, as all ethnic armed groups have agreed to stick together with us, we have said we would like to rejoin the NCCT. According to our procedures, our chief of staff will withdraw the resignation through our military headquarters." Phone Win Naing, a communications officer for the MNDAA, opted for a more cautious pronouncement, but left open the possibility of the ethnic Kokang insurgents rescinding their resignation from the NCCT. "To rejoin, we still have to speak to the central executive committee, who will make the decision," he said. "It is still difficult to say whether or not we will rejoin. I think everything will be fine. If the ceasefire agreement guarantees a just outcome for us, we would sign it." The post Rebel Armies Reconsider NCCT Resignation After Summit Olive Branch appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

British, Burma Chambers of Commerce Push for Increased Trade Posted: 08 Jun 2015 02:23 AM PDT Office towers in downtown Rangoon. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The peak business representative bodies from the UK and Burma have signed an accord in Rangoon to increase trade between the two countries. Union of Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Win Aung and Tony Picon, chairman of the British Chambers of Commerce, signed a memorandum of understanding in Rangoon on Friday, the first formal agreement between the two bodies which aims to improve business ties and match UK firms to local partners. "Through this agreement, we can hold joint exhibitions, share the latest information and match businesses through both organizations," said Dr Maung Maung Lay, the vice chairman of the UMFCCI. "This agreement could improve trade volume between both countries. Many British companies are interested in investing in Myanmar and the country's infrastructure development projects." The British Chamber of Commerce Myanmar was granted permission to operate in Burma last year and presently has 86 members, including 10 local firms. According to the Myanmar Investment Commission, trade between the two countries reached US$850 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year. Maung Maung Lay told The Irrawaddy that UK companies were looking to invest in education, power generation and manufacturing enterprises in Burma. The post British, Burma Chambers of Commerce Push for Increased Trade appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Veteran Student Activist Named as Citizen of Burma Award Winner Posted: 08 Jun 2015 12:54 AM PDT Phyoe Phyoe Aung at a student protest earlier this year. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Detained student leader Phyoe Phyoe Aung, who is currently on trial for her participation in the Letpadan student protests, has been announced as winner of this year's Citizen of Burma Award. The annual award, established in 2010, honors individuals or community organizations who devote themselves to the welfare of the people of Burma. "We selected Phyoe Phyoe Aung for her dedication to education reform, leading an effective movement and being a good role model for other citizens," Win Thu Aung, the vice chair of the Citizen of Burma Award organization, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. Phyoe Phyoe Aung, 27, has been detained in Thayawady Prison since Mar. 10, after the police crackdown on student protesters in Letpadan who were leading the call for revisions to the National Education Law. She faces a maximum sentence of nine and a half years for her involvement in the demonstration. A veteran activist and member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) central committee, Phyoe Phyoe Aung was arrested in 2008 on her return to Rangoon from relief work in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, eventually spending three years in prison for her role in the Saffron Revolution protests. Special recognition awards will also be presented to Zaw Zaw, a young librarian from Mandalay who has opened a small library in the city, and Dr. Nanda Win, from Irrawaddy Division's Ingapu Township, who earlier this year initiated a low cost food program for poor families in the area. The award ceremony will be held on June 14 at the Royal Rose restaurant, in Rangoon's Bahan Township. Organizers said that Phyoe Phyoe Aung's family and fellow ABFSU members will be present to receive the award on her behalf. Past recipients of the award include Daw Shu, who assisted monks imprisoned during the Saffron Revolution, Kachinland News website founding editor Laphai Naw Ming, and Free Funeral Service Society founder Kyaw Thu. The post Veteran Student Activist Named as Citizen of Burma Award Winner appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma’s SEA Games Footballers Thrash Philippines 5-1, Advance to Semis Posted: 08 Jun 2015 12:53 AM PDT Burma's Aung Si Thu, No. 5, celebrates his goal at Jelan Besar Stadium in Singapore on Sunday night. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — For hapless Filipinos, the 20-yard laser by Lwin Kyaw Zin in stoppage time may have felt gratuitous, but for Burmese football fans the goal was the perfect nightcap to a Southeast Asian Games group stage match that has assured Burma a spot in the next round. With its 5-1 win over the Philippines on Sunday night, Burma's U-23 team looks set to enter the knock-out round of the regional football competition's 28th iteration riding a wave of momentum. A commanding opening match win last week in which the team trounced Indonesia 4-2, followed up by a surprise 2-1 victory over host Singapore, has Burma well positioned as it looks ahead to one more group stage match before the do-or-die phase of the competition. The good vibes were rattled in the early moments of Sunday's match, as the Philippines took a 1-0 lead on Shirmar Felongco's 17th minute goal. But a lucky deflection on a free kick appeared to rejuvenate the Burmese side just four minutes later, with Nay Lin Tun leveling the score at one all. From there on, it was all Burma. A prompt second-half strike by Shine Thura ('46), followed by goals from Ye Win Aung ('62) and Aung Si Thu ('69), seemingly assured Burma a 1st place finish in the six-team Group A. As the team entered the three minutes of added-on time, it was Lwin Kyaw Zin who put the nail in the coffin, firing a screamer from beyond the 18-yard box past the outstretched arms of Filipino goalkeeper Nathan Villanueva to send the Burmese fans on hand at Jalan Besar Stadium into a frenzy. Burma will play Cambodia on Wednesday in the final group stage match. The SEA Games success has been a welcome turn of events for Burma's national football program, which last year qualified for the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand only to go crashing out of the group stage winless on Friday. The SEA Games officially opened on Friday, and will wrap up on June 16. The U-23 football final is scheduled for June 15. A full table of the Asean medals tallies can be found here. The post Burma's SEA Games Footballers Thrash Philippines 5-1, Advance to Semis appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

From the Heart Posted: 08 Jun 2015 12:50 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. Books on Myanmar's recent history invariably mention Ba Maw, the country's prime minister and then NaingandawAdipadi (Head of State) under British and Japanese rule respectively, and the "Thirty Comrades" who played a significant role in Myanmar's fight for independence. What makes the new book "A Burmese Heart" unique is that it is the personal account of Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing who was irrevocably connected to this historic and tumultuous period. Not only was she the daughter of Ba Maw, she was also the wife of one of the Thirty Comrades, Bo Yan Naing. Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing had a relatively privileged upbringing during the British occupation, attending school at St. John's convent alongside other students from among the "wealthiest families in the country, [who were] mostly Burmese but included a fair mix of Indian, Chinese and half-European girls." She lived through the seismic events of Myanmar's history, from the trial of Saya San, the leader of an anti-British revolt, at which her father was a defense lawyer; to the anti-Indian race riots; the Japanese occupation; the assassination of Gen. Aung San; and the rise of military strongman Gen. Ne Win. History is usually recounted through the eyes of men—especially when it comes to political events. But having interacted with people like post-independence prime minister U Nu, Gen. Aung San and student leaders at her home when they came to see her father, Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing formed her own unique and vivid perspective. Her recollections of notable figures and their characteristics often differ from what is commonly presented in the history books. For example, Myanmar people know Saya San as a hero who stood up for the rights of peasants. In the book "Burma and General Ne Win" by Maung Maung, the Judge in Saya San's trial, U Ba U, saw Saya San as "a thin, small man of medium size. Nobody who did not know of him would have taken him for a leader; but what he lacked in size and height, he made up for in his face and eyes. He had a strong, determined face, and his eyes glowed." In the same book, when asked to appeal his death sentence, Saya San was quoted as saying, "So many of my associates and followers have been killed or hanged. I should also go their way." This showcased his defiance and indifference toward death. But in Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing's view, Saya San was just a "part time soothsayer and rebel king, a meek bureaucrat and sometimes medicine man" and who could have been mistaken by her father as "another petty criminal, bicycle thief or common robber" if he had not known better. He was described as not daring to utter a word even to her father who would be defending him at the trial. This version of Saya San is utterly the opposite of that presented in Maung Maung's book. Her view of the Thakins also diverges from the mainstream historical narrative. In Myanmar's history, the Thakins, including figures such as Gen. Aung San, have been hailed as heroes at the forefront of the nationalist movement in the colonial era. But through Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing's eyes: "with an average age of twenty-five, these Thakins were barely out of their school greens, yawning like schoolboys when Phay Phay [her father] tried to explain to them that building a nation involved more than just blind faith in idealistic dogma." Her idolization of her father, Ba Maw, is readily apparent and she often compares him with others. Nevertheless, the book is still a captivating and descriptive narrative put forth by a brilliant woman who became one of the first female English lecturers in the Yangon university system in 1953. She was also resilient enough to spend a number of years at Ye Kyi Aing Detention Center, one of the most notorious in Myanmar, the first year with her four-month-old son in tow. Her crime was to have been the wife of Bo Yan Naing, who had links with the communist underground. This memoir will resonate with many who experienced similar hardships under successive military regimes in Myanmar, from the time former dictator Gen. Ne Win led a military coup in 1962, including those who lost jobs and future prospects, who were constantly harassed by Special Branch officers, or who, like Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing, were jailed. A number of memoirs detailing personal struggles under Myanmar's military regime have surfaced over the years, including, "Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess" by Inge Sargent, "From the Land of Green Ghosts" by Pascal Khoo Thwe, "Little Daughter" by Zoya Phan and "Golden Parasol" by Wendy Law-Yone. But Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing's book, co-authored with her grand-daughter Yin Min Vanessa Han, stands out for two reasons. Firstly, the account spans a great length of time—from the British colonial era to the Ne Win regime. Secondly, being the daughter of Baw Maw and the wife of Bo Yan Naing, the lead author brings an insider's view and offers fascinating, if perhaps controversial, insight into some of the country's most notable individuals. Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing, who died in November last year, cited the main reason for writing the book as a desire to tell her story to younger generations. This is indeed a valuable memoir for younger people to learn from. "A Burmese Heart" will be available at Myanmar Book Center as of June 5, priced at 15,000 kyat. It will also be available on Amazon and as an ebook. This article originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post From the Heart appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Cruise Ship Death Toll Exceeds 400, Victims Mourned Posted: 07 Jun 2015 11:02 PM PDT Rescue workers stand on the river bank as the capsized cruise ship Eastern Star is pulled out of the Yangtze River in Jianli, Hubei province, China, on June 5, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) JIANLI, China — Chinese officials, rescuers and family members gathered in mourning on Sunday for those lost on a cruise ship that capsized during a storm in the Yangtze River, as the death toll from the disaster reached 431, with 11 still missing. Only 14 survivors, one of them the captain, have been found after the ship carrying 456 overturned in a freak tornado on June 1 in Jianli in Hubei province. Most of the passengers were elderly tourists. The four-story ship was righted and raised on Friday, allowing rescuers onto it to clear away debris, break down cabin doors and look for bodies. The river is being swept to as far away as Shanghai looking for the missing. Government spokesman Hu Kaihong told reporters that DNA tests were being carried out to identify the bodies. Sunday marked seven days since the Eastern Star went down, and according to Chinese tradition this a key date on which to mourn the dead. State television showed rescue workers and government officials standing on a barge facing the battered boat, removing their hats and bowing their heads, as surrounding boats sounded their horns. At separate locations along the river, emotional family members also got together to burn joss sticks and make offerings of food to the spirits of the deceased. More than 1,400 relatives have come to Jianli, with many expressing frustration at the lack of information from the government. On Friday, one burst into a just-concluded news conference, publicly accusing the government of treating its people like enemies. The government says that it is doing everything possible to help the relatives, including providing free accommodation and medical services, and Vice Premier Ma Kai has been dispatched to meet family members personally. Some relatives, speaking to foreign reporters in the presence of officials, praised the government's efforts. "It made me feel incredibly warm. When he shook my hand and said a few words to me, told us to keep on going. I felt that he didn't seem like a political leader at all. He was so genial. He was like my own father," Wang Hua, 42, who lost both parents on the ship, told Reuters of her meeting with Ma. Major state newspapers on Sunday carried the same lengthy story by the official Xinhua news agency on their front pages, headlined "Bearing great responsibility to the people" and detailing the government's efforts. "In the midst of disaster, we are all of one heart, the whole nation helping each other, staunchly moving forward," it wrote. The company that operated the ship has apologized for the disaster and said it would "fully" cooperate with the investigation. Beijing has pledged there would be "no cover-up." Police have detained the captain and chief engineer for questioning as part of the investigation. An initial probe found the ship was not overloaded and had enough life vests on board. The disaster has now caused a higher toll than the sinking of a ferry in South Korea in April 2014 that killed 304 people, most of them children on a school trip. It is China's worst shipping catastrophe in seven decades. The post China Cruise Ship Death Toll Exceeds 400, Victims Mourned appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

App Empowers Civilians to Capture Evidence of War Crimes on Smartphones Posted: 07 Jun 2015 10:21 PM PDT Free Syrian Army fighters use their smartphones behind sandbags in the Al-Maysar neighborhood of Aleppo May 3, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) LONDON — A new mobile phone app enabling civilians in conflict-torn countries to capture and share verifiable footage of war crimes will help authorities to prosecute the perpetrators, a leading legal body said as it launched the app on Monday. Mobile phone footage of human rights abuses, mainly shared on social media in recent years, is often fake, impossible to verify or lacking the information necessary to be used as evidence in court, said the International Bar Association (IBA). The "EyeWitness to Atrocities" app records the user's location, date and time, and nearby Wi-Fi networks to verify that the footage has not been edited or manipulated, before sending it to a database monitored by a team of legal experts. "This could be a real game-changer in the fight for human rights and international justice… and provide a solution to the evidentiary challenges surrounding mobile phone footage," said IBA executive director Mark Ellis. "It will also allow media outlets to use the footage and remove any doubts regarding authenticity that may have previously prevented them from showing mobile phone videos," Ellis told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. The app was devised following controversy surrounding mobile footage aired by British broadcaster Channel 4 in 2011 which purported to show Sri Lankan troops executing Tamil prisoners. Sri Lanka's government initially dismissed the footage as fabricated, then broadcast its own version of the video, and said the killers were rebels in army uniform. Channel 4 rejected the claim, saying its work had been meticulously checked. Millions of YouTube viewers were fooled in November last year by the video of the "Syrian hero boy," who appeared to brave gunfire to rescue a young girl hiding under a car. The video was in fact produced in Malta by Norwegian filmmakers who used actors and presented the footage as real in order to highlight the plight of children in conflict zones. "Until now, it has been extremely difficult to verify the authenticity of these images and to protect the safety of those brave enough to record them," Ellis said. The app, which was designed based on the rules of evidence in international, regional and national courts, allows the user to decide whether or not to be anonymous when uploading footage. Once a video is submitted, it is stored in a virtual evidence locker, where it can only be accessed by legal experts who analyze the footage and identify the appropriate authorities to pursue criminal charges, according to the IBA. The IBA, an international organization of lawyers and law firms, said it was working with rights groups to ensure the app would be used in some of the world's most severe conflict zones, including Syria, Iraq and Ukraine. The post App Empowers Civilians to Capture Evidence of War Crimes on Smartphones appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thailand Scrambles to Boost Image on Human Trafficking Posted: 07 Jun 2015 09:37 PM PDT Policemen monitor as forensic experts dig out human remains near an abandoned human trafficking camp, in the jungle close to the Thai border in northern Malaysia. (Photo: Damir Sagolj / Reuters) BANGKOK — Thailand is eager to show its newfound toughness on human trafficking, taking reporters on patrols and tours of former camps, cooperating with neighboring countries and the US, and arresting dozens of officials—including a high-ranking officer in the military that now controls the country. The junta even had a “National Anti-Human Trafficking Day.” The Southeast Asian country is trying to dissuade Western governments from leveling economic sanctions, but it has a daunting enemy: history. “Thailand remains major center for human trafficking.” Those words were emblazoned on a huge headline in a Thai daily newspaper printed nearly three years ago. The country’s answer was largely to ignore the problem, until recent events made that impossible. The discovery of 36 bodies at abandoned traffickers’ camps near Thailand’s southern border with Malaysia has intensified international pressure on Thailand to crack down on smugglers. So has a subsequent crisis involving thousands of migrants who were stranded at sea by their traffickers—and whose boats were pushed back by Thai officials. Those migrants, mainly Bangladeshis and ethnic Rohingya migrants from Burma, are just part of a human-trafficking problem that also includes Thai fishing boats that have used slave labor. Last June, Thailand and Malaysia were put on a blacklist in a US State Department assessment on human trafficking, a downgrade that can jeopardize its lucrative seafood and shrimp industries. The European Union also threatened Thailand with a ban on seafood import by the end of the year unless it drastically changes its policies on illegal and unregulated fishing. A new State Department assessment is due this month, and Thailand is pushing for an upgrade with efforts that included its first-ever Anti-Human Trafficking Day on Friday. The opening ceremony at the prime minister’s Government House was followed by discussion about the problem and an awards ceremony for a journalist, police and officials who have helped expose human trafficking problems. “Today, we have to admit that this has been a problem in Thailand for a long time,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said as he opened the event with an hour-long speech. “The government is focusing on preventing and suppressing human trafficking and is determined to get rid of men who sell men, so that they no longer have a place to stand on our soil—no matter how influential they are or if they are government officials,” said Prayuth, who took power from a civilian government in a May 2014 coup. Yet even Friday’s event raised questions about Thailand’s seriousness. The journalist who was honored reported on trafficking from the country’s inland north, not the south and the sea, where the crisis has been most immediate. Weeks earlier, when a Bangkok television reporter drew broad attention to the issue by getting on a migrant boat to shoot video, Prayuth obliquely referred to her as a troublemaker. Human-rights activists and others have long accused Thai authorities of collusion in the trafficking industry—claims that police, military and government officials have long denied. But as the migrant camps, graves and boats drew global attention, pressure grew on the government to respond. In a widening human-trafficking investigation, more than 50 people have been arrested in a month, including local politicians, government officials, police, and, in the past week, a senior-ranking army officer. About 50 police officers in the southern provinces were also removed from their posts and investigated for possible involvement in trafficking syndicates. The junta-appointed legislature passed a new anti-human trafficking law that mandates harsher penalties, and human trafficking-related court cases will get a shortcut in the judicial system to prosecute suspects more quickly. Thai police took journalists on several treks into the tropical jungle along the Thai-Malaysia border to witness the exhumation of graves and watch as the officers dismantled abandoned wooden shelters by hand. Thailand’s sudden clampdown prompted some human smugglers to abandon boats that were filled with migrants. Thousands of migrants reached shore—mostly in Malaysia and Indonesia—but an unknown number are believed to remain at sea. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia all rejected the ships as the crisis began, and all have been conducting some measure of damage control with the media. Two days after Malaysia confirmed 28 migrant camps and 139 suspected graves on its side of the border with Thailand, more than 60 reporters were taken on a three-hour trek to an abandoned camp where a forensic team had exhumed a body. Further requests to visit other migrant camps have been rejected, though police say they have now recovered 49 bodies from the gravesite the media visited. Under international pressure, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to take migrants in temporarily. Thailand did not, but insisted it will give humanitarian assistance to the boat people. “It’s not that Thailand isn’t helping. It’s good that everyone is helping, but Thailand has also provided help and our hands are full already,” deputy government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told The Associated Press, adding that the country already gave shelter to 140,000 refugees, mostly in camps along the Burma border. Last month Thailand called a regional conference and brought together senior government officials from 17 countries and international organizations to discuss the swelling tide of boat people from Burma and Bangladesh in Southeast Asia. But one moment from the event reflected the at times muddled nature of Thailand’s cooperation. The US had for days been seeking Thai approval to conduct surveillance flights to look for migrants—approval that Malaysia had quickly granted. Thailand’s foreign minister announced to reporters that the OK had been given, shortly after a U.S. diplomat told journalists that America was still waiting. On the same day as the Bangkok conference, the Royal Thai Navy flew about 140 journalists to the southern island of Phuket to see a naval ship that would be used as a floating base to give food, water and medical treatment to migrants at sea. The navy flew a helicopter and a light patrol aircraft in a circle for cameramen to record the footage during the two-hour choreographed tour. Critics say Thailand must do more to show it is serious about fighting human trafficking if it is to get off the U.S. blacklist and avoid the EU seafood import ban. “Thailand needs to show that they are consistent with law enforcement,” said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher of Human Rights Watch. “The arrest (of an army officer) showed that no one will be left untouched this time, but at the same time, it also made us question why have they allowed this to happen for years. “Thailand has been accused of having the culture of impunity of state officials in the past, but this crisis offers a first chance to break that culture,” he said. The post Thailand Scrambles to Boost Image on Human Trafficking appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Closed for Business: Asia’s Human Smugglers Go to Ground Posted: 07 Jun 2015 09:33 PM PDT Rohingya Muslims talk with their relatives in Malaysia via a computer, at a refugee camp outside Sittwe on May 20. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) SITTWE — The rickety internet huts have fallen silent in the crowded camps of displaced Rohingya Muslims in western Burma. No one comes anymore to bargain for the release of loved ones being held for ransom in Thailand and Malaysia. “Before, every day at least 10 to 15 people would come here to negotiate with human traffickers,” said Tun Win, a young man who offers a video-call service from one of the bamboo and thatch huts, “Now, it’s nothing.” For now at least, the smugglers who preyed for years on the misery of Burma's Rohingya appear to be going out of business, and Asia’s most acute migrant crisis since the ‘boat people’ exodus at the end of the Vietnam War is ebbing. Until last month, their grim trade ran like clockwork. Rohingya and their neighbours in Bangladesh, dreaming of a life free of persecution and poverty, were lured on to primitive boats in their thousands, taking perilous voyages from the southeast corner of the Bay of Bengal that they hoped would end with safety and jobs in Malaysia. For many, though, the journey ended with brutal captivity in secret camps dotted along the jungle-cloaked border between Thailand and Malaysia. From there, smugglers made demands for their prisoners’ return, often haggling with relatives in those now-empty internet huts. That chain was broken early last month when Thailand ordered a crackdown on trafficking after the discovery of 33 bodies in shallow graves near the border. Weeks later, Malaysia found 139 graves in abandoned jungle camps on its side. “Everyone has run away,” said Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, a police major general investigating trafficking in Thailand. Supply Chain Disrupted The crackdown sparked a humanitarian crisis at sea. Smugglers jumped ship and left thousands of migrants adrift rather than risk being caught in the widening net of Thai and Malaysian investigators. More than 3,000 abandoned migrants have come ashore in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in the past month, and hundreds have returned to Burma and Bangladesh, but the United Nations estimates that some 2,000 are still adrift at sea. The disruption of the smuggling supply chain has led to a sharp drop in boat departures, said Chris Lewa, whose Arakan Project tracks boat movements from Burma's Arakan State and southern Bangladesh. Just over 300 boarded boats in May, down from around 5,000 in April and an average of 7,000-8,000 per month in November-March, she estimated. Most of the would-be migrants of the last two months never sailed in the end because of the crackdown, she said. They were kept offshore and many were subsequently taken back—for a fee. Even if the Thai government has dealt a blow to the smuggling trade, many argue that only by tackling the root causes will Southeast Asia’s cycles of migration stop. US President Barack Obama called last week on Burma to end discrimination against its 1.1 million Rohingya minority. Burma denies it discriminates against the Rohingya. The government does not recognise them as an ethnic group and denies them citizenship. It classifies them as Bengalis, implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Burma for generations. With the onset of the monsoon, which makes sailing even more risky, migrant departures normally slow around this time of year. So the real test of whether the business has been broken will come in several months. Lying Low The Arakan Project’s Lewa is sceptical that the events of recent weeks have entirely wiped out the extortion business. “I think smaller groups of people are still being kept. Maybe not in the jungle,” she said, adding that criminals may be holding migrants to ransom in safe houses. At the Rohingya displacement camps near the town of Sittwe, locals said ransom demands have suddenly dried up. Kyaw Hla, a well-to-do member of the community who worked for distraught relatives as a fixer, said the camps really do seem to have closed. “Two months ago a lot of people were coming to me and the other rich men to sell their land and their homes to release their relatives. Such activities have already stopped,” he said. Many of the agents who lured, sometimes drugged and dragged, people on to boats were Rohingya themselves. Kyaw Hla believes that only small-time traffickers have been arrested so far and kingpins of the business have fled to Bangladesh or are lying low in their homes. In the village of Pen Daw Pyin near the border with Bangladesh, 55-year-old Se Tara said a local ‘broker’ told her about two months ago to prepare money for the release of her son and daughter, who had set out to sea in February. Then came news of traffickers being arrested in Thailand and boats abandoned at sea, but no word of her children’s fate. Se Tara and another son, Rahamat Ullah, walked again to the broker’s home, but he had disappeared. “The people in his village say they don’t know where he is,” Rahamat said. “I think they’re lying. He’s hiding somewhere.” The post Closed for Business: Asia’s Human Smugglers Go to Ground appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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