The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Remembering Saffron: Of Monks and Military Men
- Aviation Expert: ‘Every Challenge is an Opportunity’
- The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Sept. 26, 2015)
| Remembering Saffron: Of Monks and Military Men Posted: 25 Sep 2015 08:14 PM PDT  A group of monks sit in protest after being halted by riot policemen and military officials as they attempt to proceed to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon on Sept. 26, 2007. (Photo: Reuters) In this article from The Irrawaddy archives, first published in September 2014, Irrawaddy founding editor Aung Zaw examines the legacy of the short-lived Saffron Uprising. In 2007, thousands of monks marched in protest against one of the most repressive and corrupt regimes in the world. They were peaceful demonstrations, with the clergymen chanting the prayers of the Metta Sutta—the Buddha's discourse on loving kindness. They took to the streets to show that monks shared a deep sympathy with the suffering Burmese people, who had lived under authoritarian rule for decades. Military leaders saw a threat: the strongest movement of defiance against their iron grip on power since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. Troops joined the monks in the streets, not to take up their chants but to fire on them, and raid their monasteries. Seeing live footage and images of the brutality, the world condemned the regime. The UN said it deplored the crackdown, and regional neighbors that were usually passive in addressing Burma's gross human rights violations openly condemned the killings. The United States tightened the noose of its sanctions regime. The monk-led protests, known as the "Saffron Revolution," were a turning point in Burma's modern history. Unlike the 1988 uprising, during which hundreds if not thousands of peaceful demonstrators were gunned down, the uprising in 2007 was rather short-lived, but also had a lasting impact. Social media played a key role, exiled media produced 24-hour coverage of the events, and campaign groups overseas reached out to key policymakers in the West and Asean to speak out against the regime's brutality. Grassroots opposition was strong, both inside and outside the country. Burma headlines appeared everywhere, and the White House spoke out. "Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma," then US President George W. Bush said in an address to the UN General Assembly, as he announced even stricter sanctions on regime leaders and financial backers. The images of thousands of monks pouring onto the streets in defiance of the regime no doubt shook the military leadership. Within three years, we saw the beginnings of a political opening in the country that continues—in fits and starts—to this day. However, many of the same people who have brutalized the nation and mismanaged its resources have continued to rule, albeit having swapped their military uniforms for civilian garb. But today, while poverty and oppression persist in Burma and accountability for the Saffron Revolution crackdown remains elusive, the monks are not coming out as they did seven years ago. Over the last two years or so, some have instead shown a darker side of Buddhism, one in stark contrast to the teachings of the Metta Sutta. Since mid-2012, we have seen the rise of an extremist fringe of Buddhism, featuring not peaceful street protests, but rather sword-wielding monks, hate-filled speeches and economic discrimination against Burma's Muslim minority. The moderate voices, and many of the monks who once chanted for peace and loving kindness, have disappeared or been marginalized. In the process, the country's much-acclaimed "peaceful transition" to democracy has been stained by the blood of victims of the interreligious violence that has plagued many parts of Burma in recent years. It has also raised questions about the government's ability and willingness to crackdown on extremists, and the most cynical allege that some powerful politicians had even conspired to stir up the hatred in the first place. The Sangha community in Burma is under siege and divided. After the 2007 uprising, regime leaders have managed to carefully divide the monks' community, estimated to be between 300,000 to 400,000 members. The politically active monks who are known to be anti-regime have been punished or marginalized. Monks who appear to take a neutral stance or promote nationalism and narrow-minded religious hatred are allowed to operate freely. So far, it seems the strategy is working. Over the last two years, we saw the ascent of the anti-Muslim 969 movement, complete with proposals to limit interfaith marriage, boycotts on Muslim-owned businesses and an entire Muslim population denied its own existence in the country's first census in more than 30 years. All this at a time when officers who were involved in the Saffron uprising continue to live out their lives unpunished. Myint Swe, a former general who was then a powerful commander in Rangoon Division, was in charge of security affairs in 2007. Last year, when monks from the 2007 uprising sought a formal apology from the former regime leaders, Myint Swe (now chief minister for Rangoon Division) denied involvement in the violent crackdown. "If you think I'm responsible, I am ready [to face justice]," he reportedly told businesspeople from the Myanmar Fisheries Federation at a meeting in Rangoon. He said that he was willing to be investigated and would even submit to the death penalty if found guilty of involvement. In a country where the concept of "rule of law" is laughable, and the justice system a farce, the words carried little weight. Indeed, Myint Swe and many senior leaders and ministers who served in the previous regime are still serving in the current government or sitting in Parliament. As the Saffron Revolution faltered in the face of seemingly insurmountable government brutality, the regime officially announced that 15 people were killed during the demonstrations. A press briefing held by then police chief Gen. Khin Yi had little credibility. He was on the ground and demonstrators watched as he commanded truncheon-wielding riot police to attack the monks and thousands of others who had joined the clergymen's lead. Then UN human rights special rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro countered by saying that at least 31 people were killed during the nationwide protests. Thousands of others were detained and monks were roughly tossed into temporary detention centers and full-fledged prisons. As for Khin Yi, today he is one of the powerful Union ministers of this self-styled reformist government. If anyone can answer the question of how many people actually died or were tortured over those two months in 2007, it would be Khin Yi, Myint Swe or any of several other former generals who still hold positions of power. For a government that has in recent years trumpeted the virtues of transparency and accountability, however, the truth in Burma remains a surprisingly hard thing to come by. Aung Zaw is founder and editor of The Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at aungzaw@irrawaddy.org. The post Remembering Saffron: Of Monks and Military Men appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Aviation Expert: ‘Every Challenge is an Opportunity’ Posted: 25 Sep 2015 08:04 PM PDT  Michael Gaebler, CEO of global airline and tourism representative Aviareps. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) Burma is fast becoming a popular travel destination for both tourists and businesspeople, from Asia and further afield. Its growing aviation industry is undergoing a rapid transformation as more routes now connect the country with regional and international hubs to which access was once relatively limited. The Irrawaddy recently sat down with Michael Gaebler, the CEO of global airline and tourism representative Aviareps, to talk about the challenges of working in Burma and the country's prospects as a travel destination. What kind of work does AVIAREPS do in Burma? Aviareps, on a global scale, is a leader in the [aviation] industry for general representation of airlines. We've also extended our business into tourism, working for destinations for authorities, for tourist spots, as their arm into the international field. We've also diversified more into representing hotel chains and so on. Myanmar [Burma] came on our radar some two years ago. Our director of Asia aviation recognized that Myanmar is a very interesting outbound destination. It's very much in fashion for European and American travelers, Asian as well. So we looked into it and recognized possible partners. Aviareps Myanmar is currently representing nine airlines, and we are ambitious enough to say that we're going to double this number. Again, we want to extend our activities. We've started to become active for the Singapore tourist port. One of our projects in the Myanmar market is to give Singapore a strong face in the nation. Are you focused on technical support, or more structured marketing and business models? Actually, we're a sales marketing firm, a PR firm. For airlines, it's mainly sales driven, so we drive their revenue. Internationally, airlines, logically, focus very much on their home markets, maybe some neighboring markets. If they appoint a professional company that completely keeps their identity, we don't act as Aviareps, we act in the identity of the airline. Take the Singapore airlines in the Russian Federation, for example. We act fully in their identity in terms of business cards, email addresses, events, and total communication. We give airlines a face in international areas and have a no-fixed cost solution, so it's purely based on their rival compensation, and that's also what we do in Myanmar for international companies. We're also interested in working for Myanmar as a nation. There are a number of interesting airline candidates in this country that are logically, because of their domestic flight carrier or regional flight carrier, looking very much to national sales. We would like to become active for them in European, American and Asian areas, to become their sales vehicle abroad. So is the marketing only provided to international airlines? What about domestic airlines? We're talking to the current airlines in Myanmar to become their sales and marketing vehicle abroad because there's huge potential abroad. Myanmar as a destination, in terms of tourism but even for corporate [interests], is in a very early stage. And today I think the first ones to go global are the winners. It's very simple. How do you see the current domestic airline industry in Burma, now that a lot of the regional airlines are eyeing the Burmese market? First of all, I'm certainly not an expert on the local Myanmar aviation industry. And secondly, it's also a political question, which I couldn't answer, even if I did know. What I do know is that the more flexible and transparent you act in a market, the better your local players become. That maybe sounds a bit odd at first: Why should we open up traffic to other competitors, and maybe to neighboring countries that are already more advanced? Look at these low-cost carriers that are flying for peanuts, really—if they survive or not, it doesn't matter, they have an impact. The overall impact for a local aviation industry is nevertheless positive because people only change if they have to. We've also helped to move companies into the new, digital age. I want to give you an example not of a domestic carrier, but of a regional, European carrier called Aer Lingus, from Ireland. They've been struggling to be a legacy airline, so to speak, fighting against European competitors, against long-haul airlines, and in their backyard is Ryanair, which is maybe the most aggressive local carrier in the world. So Aer Lingus had to change. They hired Aviareps, outsourced all their European offices, and let Aviareps make the drive toward digital revenue. What are your prospects for hotel chains and other tourism markets here? Let me start with the tourist board. The tourist board is a key driver in terms of brand events abroad—client relationships, trade relationships, media relationships. As far as my information goes on Myanmar at the moment, it's represented in the global field in two offices—the US and Japan—which is good, but far from good enough, because there are intensive travel markets. Take, within Europe, Germany and France, which have high travel intensity to this region. There are other Asian or APEC countries that would definitely require a stimulating organization, not administrative, because an embassy is something else and has a different job, but a marketing and PR firm has another job—they have to continuously stimulate the brand event and travel to Myanmar, so that's for sure somewhere where we should become active. This is equally logical to hotel chains, which usually have a strong focus locally and regionally, and again, it's very important to have this traffic and revenue stream from abroad. As you know, we're still a developing country, and we need better infrastructure—including the Internet and other communications. Do you believe your business will be successful in Burma? What would be your biggest challenges here? True, infrastructure, technology, and other factors are creating some barriers to faster development here in Myanmar, but I can tell you that other markets are horribly competitive. That's much more horrible than infrastructure problems, so there's no easy exercise, and you can certainly say that every challenge is an opportunity, and it has a fantastic momentum. Economic and infrastructure development go hand in hand. I don't know any nation that's ready to invest sums of money without seeing a fast return, that the first fruit must somehow be low hanging. There have been more people traveling to Myanmar to spend more money. Consequently, there's an understanding that infrastructure plays a more vital role. It's a challenge, but also an opportunity. The post Aviation Expert: 'Every Challenge is an Opportunity' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Sept. 26, 2015) Posted: 25 Sep 2015 06:36 PM PDT  Power lines in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, located in Rangoon Division's Thanlyin Township, June 2014. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) IFC to Advise Burma on Environmental, Social Guidelines for Dams The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed up to advise the Burmese government on its controversial plans to build more hydropower dams. The IFC said in a statement this week that it would provide "advisory services" to Naypyidaw to improve the government's management of the environmental and social risks of such projects. Campaigners are concerned that large-scale dams are being proposed without the impacts being properly assessed and before consultation with local communities has taken place. "The World Bank Group wants to play a pivotal role in supporting the development of a sustainable hydropower sector, as part of its efforts to help Myanmar achieve a balanced energy mix," Vikram Kumar, IFC Myanmar resident representative, said in the statement. "We will incorporate international best practices while assisting the government in developing environmental and social guidelines for the hydropower sector. We will also encourage greater collaboration between the public and private sectors as well as civil society so that developers can help shape policy and contribute to improving environmental and social risk management in Myanmar's hydropower development." The IFC, the World Bank's private lending arm, said Burma has the potential to generate some 100,000 megawatts from hydropower, compared with less than 5,000 megawatts that the country's dams currently produce. "Unleashing this potential could turn Myanmar into the largest energy producer in the region with the ability to supply electricity to neighboring countries," the IFC statement said. But projects already proposed by the government have drawn opposition, especially as most lie in ethnic minority areas where both the Burma Army and other armed groups have been accused of human rights abuses, especially over land. One such project is the Mong Ton dam in southeastern Shan State, a proposed 7,000 megawatt dam that would flood a large part of the state. Most of the electricity generated by the dam, which is backed by Thai and Chinese state-owned companies, would be provided to Thailand. Australian firm Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation has garnered controversy in its efforts to conduct public consultations on the dam in Shan State. The Australian government is funding the IFC's project to advise the government on hydropower, which began in January, according to the IFC statement. The World Bank has in recent years come in for criticism over the impacts of the projects it funds—including hydropower dams—on people in developing countries. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found that about 3.4 million people have been displaced by World Bank projects in the past 10 years, and alleged that the Bank regularly fails to uphold its own safeguarding policies. According to campaign group International Rivers, the IFC faced resistance this year to a plan to fund the Gulpur hydropower project in Pakistan. The United States government in February voted against funding the project over concerns about the methodology of the IFC's impact assessment on the dam, saying that it "sets an unacceptable precedent for IFC engagement in areas of critical habitat." "In violation of its policies, the IFC ignored its own analysis on the downstream releases necessary to sustain endangered fish species," International Rivers said in a release at the time. "By opting to restrict ecological flows in a bid to maximize profitability, the IFC is all but assuring the species' demise." The website hydroworld.com reported in June that the IFC had nevertheless agreed to go ahead with providing at least US$50 million in funding for the Gulpur dam. IMF, ADB Issue Warnings over Gas Price Exposure International financial institutions are warning that a continued global slump in natural gas prices could damage Burma's economic prospects. Both the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank raised the issue of gas revenues in assessments of Burma's economic situation in the past week. According to the IMF, global prices for natural gas are expected to be 20 percent lower in the current fiscal year, which began for Burma in April, than the previous year. This means that despite rising production in Burma's offshore gas fields, the government's earnings from gas could take a dive. "Lower natural gas prices would further reduce export earnings and government revenue, and could also lead to lower-than-expected FDI (Foreign direct investment) inflows in the medium to long run," the IMF said in its 2015 executive board assessment for Burma. Also this week, the ABD said in an update to its Asian Development outlook for the year that "A prolonged decline in global prices for natural gas, a major export from Myanmar, would erode its fiscal and external positions." The IMF predicts that Burma's gas export revenues will fall as a percentage of GDP from 6.8 percent in the 2014-15 fiscal year to 4.8 percent in 2017-18, although the volume of exports is expected to rise. The IMF also expects a slight fall for gas export revenues in real terms, from $4.31 billion in 2014-15 to $3.83 billion in 2017-18. This could further weaken the country's trade deficit, the IMF warned. The Fund recommended that the government should allow more flexibility in the kyat-to-dollar exchange rate in order to "absorb external shocks" and advised that the government promote "diversification of export growth through investment in agriculture and infrastructure [and] improve the business climate to attract FDI and develop SMEs." The IMF also suggested that the government could introduce a so-called fiscal rule, which would limit public spending so as to avoid running up large deficits. "In the area of public financial management, the government should adopt a medium-term fiscal framework and consider introducing, over time, a fiscal rule to smooth spending against volatile gas revenues," the Fund said, adding that reforms of state-owned enterprises, such as the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, should also be accelerated to improve their efficiency and profitability. "This includes revising MOGE's financial requirements to reflect its role in collecting natural gas rents on behalf of the government," it said. Thilawa Zone to Be 'Model of Corporate Social Responsibility' Burmese Vice President Nyan Tun officially opened the massive Japanese-backed industrial zone at Thilawa on Wednesday. According to state media, he said that the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, which the government hopes will spark a manufacturing boom, could also set an example for the wider economic transformation that has begun since the current administration came to power in 2011. The 2,400 acre zone is a joint venture between the Burmese and Japanese governments and a group of large Japanese conglomerates. Investors from the United States, Sweden, China, South Korea and Australia, among others, have already committed to operating in the zone, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. "Vice President U Nyan Tun expressed his belief that the investors will become a model of corporate social responsibility in Myanmar," the state-run newspaper said, going on to quote Nyan Tun. "The special economic zone is a paradigm shift in the investment sector, bringing sustainable development to the country's industrial sector without damaging the environment," he said. "With new visions, new policies and new rules, Thilawa SEZ has opened a new chapter in the investment sector, which creates a good investment environment for local and foreign investors." Microsoft to Aid Local Conglomerate's 'Digital Transformation' US software giant Microsoft has entered into an enterprise agreement with local conglomerate Kanbawza (KBZ) Group to upgrade the company's IT infrastructure. In what Microsoft says is its biggest deal in Burma to date, the company, which has had a presence in the country since 2013, is stepping further into a nascent tech sector where pirated software is the norm. The agreement between the two companies will first see Microsoft supply servers that allow the group's KBZ Bank to use secure cloud computing across its business, a statement on Microsoft's website said. "The digital transformation journey will at a later stage involve the other subsidiaries of KBZ Group, which includes interests in mining, banking, aviation, insurance, manufacturing, agriculture, real estate, trading, healthcare, tourism and hospitality," it added. With intellectual property rules not widely enforced, many Burmese businesses, including larger companies, still use unlicensed software for their operations. In comments in Microsoft's statement, Stephane Lamoureux, KBZ Group's IT director, suggested that partnering with Microsoft would set the company apart from others in the country. "This partnership not only enables us to grow our business, but also raises our brand value in both the country and region due to our commitment to security and intellectual property rights," Lamoureux was quoted saying. German Chemicals Firm Opens Rangoon Office German company BASF, the largest chemicals producer in the world, has set up an office in Rangoon as it hopes to cash in on increased demand for its products in Burma. The company said in a statement that while it has been operating in the country for five years, it had now opened its office in the Sedona Hotel "to support its growing base of local customers and cater to an increasing demand for high quality and sustainable chemical products and solutions in the country as it develops." The statement said the company's products were targeted at the agricultural industry, construction and mining, among others. "BASF offers solutions that can help produce better yields in agriculture, affordable higher-quality buildings, clean water and better nutrition, and more sustainable manufacturing and mining," Boonchai Opas-iam-likit, BASF's managing director for Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, said in the statement. "With a representative office in Myanmar, we can support our customers directly as they expand and develop their businesses." The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Sept. 26, 2015) appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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