The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Abuse, Obstruction, Neglect: Letpadan, 7 Months Later
• Burmese Artifacts Added to the Memory of the World Register
• Burma Army Attacks HQ of Shan Armed Group SSA-N
• Koh Tao Accused Describes Police Torture as Trial Concludes
• At Least 8 Dead After Mine Collapse in Karenni State
• Coal Power Study Trip Gets Poor Marks From Mon Villagers
• Blind Justice
• Hackers Hit The Irrawaddy’s Burmese Website with False News Story
• Staff Deaths at Leading Hospital Put India’s TB Battle in Spotlight
• With Hindu Party Leading India, Beef Grows More Political
• Lawyer’s Son Back in China after Failed Escape Attempt in Burma
• The Peace That We Envision

Abuse, Obstruction, Neglect: Letpadan, 7 Months Later Posted: 12 Oct 2015 07:16 AM PDT Students carry an injured protester to safety during the Mar. 10 police crackdown on demonstrators in Letpadan. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Students jailed after the Letpadan crackdown remain in dire need of medical treatment and court proceedings against protesters have been delayed for frivolous reasons, lawyers and family members say. At an emotional press conference in downtown Rangoon on Saturday, family members and fellow students sat in silence as presenters recounted the Mar. 10 police assault on student demonstrators and the condition of the 50 detainees who remain in remand at Thayawaddy Prison in Pegu Division. Several parents wiped away tears while listening to a forensic account of the minutes leading up to the attack. A group of students stood dolefully in the rear, some donning the white armbands printed in the aftermath of the Letpadan attack to urge government respect for student rights—a short-lived campaign that foundered when Special Branch officers began interrogating participants. Yee Yee Htwe, a teacher and mother of one of the detained students, spoke at length about the deficiencies of Burma's education system, telling the audience that the nation's students were "courageous heroes" for their efforts to overturn the National Education Law. "They are giving up their life and making sacrifices for the good of others," she said. "No parent wants to see their son or daughter in prison. We can't sleep at night. We don't know when they will be released, when they can go back to study. No one knows, no one can answer. Their lives are being wasted." Saturday's press conference coincided with the release of a joint investigation into the Letpadan crackdown by Fortify Rights and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic. Based on interviews with 25 eyewitnesses and an analysis of video and photographic documentation, the report concluded that incidents of violence among demonstrators in the moments before the police attack were isolated, and were quickly addressed by protest marshals. The report found that police officers, by contrast, used excessive force during the attack on protesters, along with physically and verbally abusing individuals who had already submitted to custody, in what The Irrawaddy labeled at the time a "complete breakdown of police discipline". "It's clear that in this case, justice has been flipped on its head," said Matthew Bugher, the report's lead author and researcher. "The police, rather than the students, are the ones who are primarily responsible for the violence that occurred on Mar. 10, and it's the police and the Myanmar parties that should be facing accountability for their actions." The report noted that "no known disciplinary or criminal action" had been taken against police officers present at Letpadan, although the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC), appointed by President Thein Sein, last month called for officers to be disciplined and said protesters should not be facing charges. Amy Smith, the executive director of Fortify Rights, said attempts to meet with Letpadan police officers in the course of the investigation were denied. She added that the organization did not receive a response to the report from the office of President Thein Sein or the MNHRC. The audience heard that some detainees were still showing signs of concussion after suffering head wounds from baton blows. Others had recurrent sleeping troubles, spinal cord injuries, migraines and permanent hearing loss. Instead of being granted access to trained medical professionals, the injured have been treated with over the counter medications. Roger Normand, the executive director of Justice Trust, said that the case against the Letpadan protesters had been delayed numerous times, with the presiding judge walking out of proceedings on a number of occasions after disapproving of defense motions. At the most recent hearing, proceedings were adjourned for two to three months to consider the matter of police damage to a car used by students, pushing the trial out until after Burma's Nov. 8 election. A lawyer from the defense team, after a failed attempt to countersue police officers, has been summoned to court on charges of obstructing justice, which the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners suggested was "another attempt to draw out the Letpadan trial." Khin Khin Kyaw told Saturday's press conference that she was facing two years' imprisonment and the revocation of her legal license. "I have been pursued by the court for obstruction of justice, despite being given power of attorney by the students and acting in the interest of my clients," she said. "I will not give up on my commitment. I will not be discouraged… I will be fighting for my clients. I have that duty and responsibility as a lawyer." Of the 127 protesters arrested on Mar. 10, 50 remain incarcerated at Thayawaddy Prison. All are facing charges under the Penal Code relating to unlawful assembly, rioting, incitement and assault of public servants, with a maximum combined jail term of nine and a half years. Student leaders are fearful of the outcome of the trial. "I have no trust in the justice system as a Burmese citizen and a student," Aung Nay Paing, one of the few executive members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions not currently in prison, told Saturday's audience. "The judicial system is facing a lot of interference by the authorities… the students have been arrested without justice and without fairness." The National Education Law was passed by the Union Parliament in September 2014. In the face of escalating nationwide protests demanding legislative guarantees for independent student unions, an end to centralized curriculum decisions and a massive increase in public education funding, the government agreed to reform the law after meeting with students and education advocates. Following the Letpadan crackdown, most student demands were rejected by the Union Parliament by the time the new bill was passed in June. The post Abuse, Obstruction, Neglect: Letpadan, 7 Months Later appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burmese Artifacts Added to the Memory of the World Register Posted: 12 Oct 2015 06:39 AM PDT One of the 729 stone tablets that comprise the Kuthodaw inscriptions is pictured in Mandalay. The artifact was included in the Memory of the World Register in 2013. (Photo: Asean Community / Facebook) RANGOON — Burma is proud to have had two more artifacts included in the UN-established Memory of the World Register for 2015, Kyaw Oo Lwin, director general of the Ministry of Culture's archeology department, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. The Myazedi Inscription and the Golden Parchment of King Alaungpaya were added to the register at the 12th meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Register Program, which took place Oct. 4-6 in Abu Dhabi. The program was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in 1992. The committee approved a total of 47 out of 88 nominations in 2015, including the Bagan-period Myazedi Inscription, believed to date back to 1113, and the Golden Parchment of King Alaungpaya, the founder of the Konbaung Dynasty, which was jointly nominated by Burma's Ministry of Culture, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library in Germany, and the British Library. "While some may not see this recognition as carrying the same prestige as being included on the World Heritage list, we still see it as worldwide recognition of Burma's value," Kyaw Oo Lwin said. The UN body previously accepted Mandalay's Maha Lawkamarazein, also known as the Kuthodaw Inscriptions, to the register in June 2013. Considered the world's largest book, the 729 stone slabs were placed at the foot of Mandalay Hill by King Mindon in the 19th Century. The Myazedi Inscription, also called the Yazakumar Inscription or the Gubyaukgyi Inscription, is named after the Myazedi Pagoda in Myinkaba, a village south of Bagan in Mandalay Division.  Myazedi means "jade stupa" in Burmese. Engraved on stone and supposedly made by Prince Yazakumar in honor of his father, King Kyansittha (1030-1112), the inscription reflects the prince's fondness for his father, despite the fact he was overlooked for the throne in favor of the king's grandson. The inscription is written in four languages—Pali, Mon, Burmese and Pyu—and is important historical evidence of the diverse histories, cultures, and languages of Burma. There are two main stone inscriptions in Burma today, one at the Myazedi Pagoda and the other at the Bagan Archaeological Museum. Professor Pe Maung Tin of Rangoon University translated the inscription from Mon to Burmese, and a doctor from London University translated it from Mon to English. Though the Myazedi Inscription is often referred to as the oldest intact stone inscription in Burma, anther stone inscription believed to have been made by King Sawlu (1050–1084) and found in Mandalay's Myittha Township in November 2013, may prove to be of similar antiquity. The second nomination, the Golden Parchment, is a letter sent by King Alaungpaya to Britain's King George in 1756. Made from pure gold, the parchment, which historians said conveys the Burmese king's wish to build trade ties with Britain, arrived in London four years after it was sent. The Golden Parchment is currently housed at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library in Hanover, Germany, where it has been kept for over 250 years. President Thein Sein viewed a 3D scan of the parchment during his visit to Germany last year. Another 3D copy of the parchment is located at the National Museum in Rangoon. Burma's Ministry of Culture plans to make further submissions to the Unesco program in the coming years. "We're preparing to submit another item for consideration in the register for 2017, King Bayinnaung's 16th Century Bell located at Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan," Kyaw Oo Lwin said. King Bayinnaung donated the bell to the famous pagoda in the 1500s. The bell's inscription is written in three languages: Mon, Burmese, and Pali. The Ministry of Culture's archeology department is withholding submission of the bell to Unesco until it receives additional expert opinions. The post Burmese Artifacts Added to the Memory of the World Register appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma Army Attacks HQ of Shan Armed Group SSA-N Posted: 12 Oct 2015 05:50 AM PDT A cache of Burma Army weapons purportedly seized recently by the Shan State Army-North in Shan State. (Photo: Tai Tan Yang / SSPP/SSA) RANGOON — The Burma Army has continued attacks on two positions held by the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), firing artillery rounds on the rebel group's headquarters and a nearby base, according to local sources. The attacks in Kyethi Township, on a village called Mai Noung that hosts an SSA-N base, and a river port at Tar San Pu village, began with low-intensity fighting last week after the Burma Army ordered the Shan armed group to withdraw from its headquarters. Col. Sai Hla, spokesman for the SSA-N, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that fighting had been a near daily occurrence since clashes first broke out on Oct. 6, including an artillery bombardment of the Shan rebels' Wan Hai headquarters on Sunday. "They used 120 mm artillery and shot eight times to our headquarters yesterday. They have been fighting us for a week. They keep moving closer to our headquarters," he said, adding that SSA-N troops could see Burma Army deployments in the distance. Sai Hla said hostilities were triggered by a Burma Army request that the SSA-N withdraw from a strategic river port at Tar San Pu village. Fighting erupted after the SSA-N refused to comply. "They have surrounded about five or six places near our headquarters. For us, we cannot withdraw from Tar San Pu," he said, explaining that the village's port serves an important function as an escape route for SSA-N troops. "This is the only remain point where we could get out. This is why we need to defend this point." According to Hla Shwe Thein, a committee member for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kyethi Township, 67 people, including elderly civilians and children, have fled the fighting and have taken shelter at a Buddhist monastery in Mai Noung. The Burma Army and SSA-N have occasionally clashed despite the two sides having signed a bilateral ceasefire agreement in January 2012. SSA-N leaders have claimed that the fighting has been due to Burma Army encroachment in the rebel armed group's area of control. Meanwhile, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) issued a statement on Oct. 8 urging the Burma Army to cease its attacks on SSA-N positions. "It is an important time in Burma as elections are coming soon, as is the NCA [nationwide ceasefire agreement] signing," said the statement from one of the country's two major ethnic Shan political parties. The SSA-N is siding with the majority of Burma's ethnic armed groups in opting not to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement on Oct. 15, when eight groups are expected to ink the pact. The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a grouping of 12 ethnic armed groups, also condemned the Burma Army offensive against the SSA-N headquarters and in other ethnic areas, including Kachin State, in recent weeks. "Though the president [Thein Sein] and members of his government have been broadcasting the refrain of, 'From NCA to resolution of political problems through negotiation peacefully' … the Myanmar Tatmadaw has been escalating its offensives," read a statement from the group over the weekend. "We assume that the use of a deceitful 'good cop-bad cop' strategy to confuse the people attests to the fact that this is a government that does not want genuine peace." The post Burma Army Attacks HQ of Shan Armed Group SSA-N appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Koh Tao Accused Describes Police Torture as Trial Concludes Posted: 12 Oct 2015 04:56 AM PDT Burmese migrant Wai Phyo arrives at the Koh Samui Provincial Court, in Koh Samui, Thailand, July 22, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — One of two Burmese migrants on trial for the murder of two British backpackers on a Thai resort island last year has described to the court how he was tortured and sexually abused under interrogation by Thai police. Wai Phyo, a Burmese migrant worker who along with his compatriot Zaw Lin stands accused of killing David Miller and Hannah Witheridge on Koh Tao in September 2014, gave testimony of alleged mistreated by Thai police to the Koh Samui Provincial court over the weekend. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, British migrant rights activist Andy Hall, who is assisting the accused, described Wai Phyo's testimony. "Police arrested [Wai Phyo] and took him to the police station [on Koh Tao]. They took off all his clothes and put him in a very cold air-conditioned room. Then they took a picture of him. They flicked his [genitalia] and they beat him," Andy Hall said. "They told him: if you confess, you will stay in prison for two or three years. If you don’t confess, we are going to kill you. You have no passport, you have no right to be in Thailand." During the trial, which began in July and ended on Sunday, the defense team has pointed to several flaws in the Thai police investigation, including allegations of misconduct, procedural faults and questionable evidence. Defence lawyers called upon Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science, headed by Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, to reexamine crucial DNA evidence last month. The institute found that DNA collected from a garden hoe believed to be used in the murders did not match the suspects' DNA. The case has shone a light on Thailand's treatment of its vast migrant workforce, many of whom labor in dangerous industries for little pay and without access to legal recourse. Labor rights activists contend that the two accused have been made scapegoats for the murders. The verdict in the case will be announced on December 24, Hall wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. The post Koh Tao Accused Describes Police Torture as Trial Concludes appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

At Least 8 Dead After Mine Collapse in Karenni State Posted: 12 Oct 2015 04:31 AM PDT A photo reputedly showing the aftermath of a mine collapse in Karenni State's Bawlakhe Township on Sunday which killed at least eight people. (Photo: Ar Yone Oo / Facebook) RANGOON — At least eight people were killed Sunday after heavy rains caused a section of the well-known Mawchi mine in Karenni State's Bawlakhe Township to collapse, according to local authorities. Soe Moe Kyaw, assistant director of Bawlakhe District Office, told The Irrawaddy on Monday evening that eight people were killed and six others were admitted to Hpasaung hospital after the collapse that damaged or destroyed at least 30 homes. Kyaw Htin Aung of the Union of Karenni State Youth (UKSY) claimed the death toll was even higher. As of Monday morning UKSY members had recovered 10 bodies and located three more, Kyaw Htin Aung said, adding that around 500 people had sought safe ground at a local church and high school. The affected houses were perched directly above or nearby the tunnel in Yadana Aung Myay and Lay Eain Su quarters, Kyaw Htin Aung said. "Nobody wants to live in their houses now as they feel unsafe. Our group is distributing food for [those affected]," said Kyaw Htin Aung, adding that no rescue team or aid had arrived at the time of reporting. Soe Moe Kyaw claimed authorities had been planning to move the dwellings affected by Sunday's collapse since last year. "Unfortunately [the collapse] happened before we moved them," he said. A resident of Loikaw, Thit Lwin Aung, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that heavy rain in the region had continued for three days leading up to the collapse. A local rescue team had been deployed to the mine site but a damaged bridge had made the area impossible to reach by car, he said. During the colonial period, the Mawchi mine was one of the largest tin and tungsten mines in the world. Overseen by Kayah State Mining Company, the military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited and the Ministry of Mining-2 in more recent years, the site has attracted criticism from local activists who have highlighted dangerous working conditions in the mine and contaminated runoff damaging surrounding lands. Soe Moe Kyaw on Monday declined to say whether Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited was still involved in the Mawchi mine.     The post At Least 8 Dead After Mine Collapse in Karenni State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Coal Power Study Trip Gets Poor Marks From Mon Villagers Posted: 12 Oct 2015 04:22 AM PDT A participant of a December study tour to Thailand and Japan speaks about his experience at the Ramonya Hotel in Moulmein, Mon State, on Wednesday. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) MOULMEIN, Mon State — Residents of Andin village in Mon State have accused the Toyo-Thai Corporation of using an overseas study trip it sponsored to manipulate locals and coax them into consenting to the company's plan to build a coal-fired power plant in the area. Despite opposition to the project from local residents in Ye Township's Andin, Thailand-based Toya-Thai went ahead with securing a memorandum of agreement with Burma's Ministry of Electrical Power in April 2015, bringing the plan one step closer to implementation. Toyo-Thai arranged the study tour of coal-fired power plants in Thailand and Japan in December, with help from the Mon State government amid growing opposition to the Andin project. But in a report and documentary released last week by Mon Multimedia Institute (M3I), residents criticized the manner in which Toya-Thai recruited participants for the trip, saying the process was not transparent and that only four Andin villagers were ultimately chosen. They were joined by members of the media, staffers from the company and a local real estate agency, and parliamentarians from both the regional legislature and Union Parliament. Those who made the trip have since been accused by some villagers of favoring the company's plans, sowing disunity within the community. However, none of the eight trip participants interviewed by M3I expressed explicit support for the project in the report. Opposition to the project has focused on the potential environmental and social impacts of a coal-fired power plant for the region, which is not supplied with electricity from the country's main grid. In addition to interviewing eight of the study trip's 31 participants, M3I spoke to seven individuals who declined the tour invitation and a handful of academics, soliciting their opinions on the proposed power plant. The Moulmein-based media house said its intention in releasing the report and accompanying documentary was to expose a flawed consultation process by presenting the views of those who joined the trip and others. Locals widely view the study trip as an attempt to win the support of participants, according to the report, an effort that has resulted in divisions within the community. Nai Min Htaik, an Andin local also known as Nai Seik Rot who joined the trip abroad, said in the report: "If possible, please let our region grow naturally—until the world's end. Let's us be undeveloped and poor. Let be what will be. No need to give us anything, just don't come destroy our region." The report also found that trip participants did not have enough time to learn about ultra-supercritical coal combustion (USC) technology, which is being touted as a more environmentally friendly means of burning the fossil fuel. It claimed, furthermore, that Toyo-Thai lacked any prior experience in constructing and operating coal-fired power plants that use the USC technology. Upon returning to Burma, trip participants submitted reports to the Mon State government as agreed with the company. A total of four reports by local residents, media and civil society representatives were submitted. M3I said in its report that the institute had a chance to look at three of the reports, all of which pointed out that participants struggled to understand the technology being presented because they lacked the necessary scientific and technical expertise. All three reports also similarly suggested that although Japan has an admirable environmental record thanks to its strong regulatory framework and accountability mechanisms, no such system is yet in place in Burma, making the country ill-prepared to effectively police the operation of a coal-fired power plant. Moreover, local residents have been kept in the dark about the reports that participants submitted to the regional legislature and are unaware of what recommendations, if any, they contained. Aung Naing Oo, a sitting member of the Mon State parliament, said in the M3I report: "All they have explained is what was done is Japan. They don't talk about their plan in Mon State. They just talk about the technical process in Japan. "So I asked, what kind of social impacts have they considered for Andin village? How have they reviewed [the project's] social impacts? An assessment was done once, as a pre-survey [feasibility study]. When I asked if they have collected people's opinions and people's voices, they couldn't answer back. It's cleared that they haven't studied." The post Coal Power Study Trip Gets Poor Marks From Mon Villagers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Blind Justice Posted: 11 Oct 2015 11:15 PM PDT Blind Justice The post Blind Justice appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Hackers Hit The Irrawaddy’s Burmese Website with False News Story Posted: 11 Oct 2015 10:24 PM PDT A screen shot of the falsified news story posted on The Irrawaddy's Burmese language website by unknown hackers on Monday morning. RANGOON — The Irrawaddy's Burmese language website was hacked for a second time in recent days, with a falsified news story posted on the site by unknown hackers on Monday morning. The fabricated story concerned the health of Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, claiming the National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman had ovarian cancer and quoting her doctor. The forged article appeared designed to discredit the NLD leader, casting invented dispersions over relationships between Suu Kyi and other male members of her party. The Irrawaddy's Burmese website was also hacked on Friday, leaving it inaccessible for several hours. While the hackers' motives are unknown, the cyber attack comes at a time of heightened political tensions in the country, four weeks out from a Nov. 8 general election. The Irrawaddy's Burmese and English websites have been hacked multiple times in the past. Last October, hackers referring to themselves as the "Blink Hacker Group" replaced the English site's homepage with a message accusing the independent publication of supporting radical Muslims. The post Hackers Hit The Irrawaddy's Burmese Website with False News Story appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Staff Deaths at Leading Hospital Put India’s TB Battle in Spotlight Posted: 11 Oct 2015 10:16 PM PDT A security woman stands guard outside the Group of TB Hospitals in Mumbai, India, on Sept. 28, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) MUMBAI — Campaigners and a former official overseeing Asia's largest tuberculosis hospital in Mumbai say staff deaths there are being underreported, highlighting India's growing struggle to contain multi-drug resistant forms of the contagious, airborne disease. Many of India's toughest TB cases end up in the metal cots of the state-run Sewri Hospital, where on a recent Reuters visit open wards were lined with emaciated patients, many left alone by families scared by the disease and its stigma. Medical Superintendent Rajendra Nanavare, Sewri's top doctor, says an average of six patients a day die at the 1,200-bed hospital. Nanavare says a dozen hospital workers had also died from TB in the last five years. But others say the real number of staff deaths is higher—although they could not give a precise figure—pointing to a public health crisis at the heart of one of the world's most densely populated cities. "A lot of class 4 workers like the sweepers and the cleaners at the hospital leave work after they get the infection," said Prakash Devdas, president of the local workers' union. "We don't know if they're alive with the infection or dead. Nobody tracks them. That's why I said the actual number would be much higher." Campaigners blame weak infection controls, poor oversight, and infrequent checks on workers in a country where the shame of TB alone drives people to suicide. "There is so much interaction between the patients and staff. They become more vulnerable … especially if they have weak immunity," said former TB officer Mini Khetarpal, who supervised the hospital for Mumbai authorities until earlier this year. Nanavare said 69 employees have been diagnosed with TB since 2011, of whom 12 have died while 28 have been cured. A lot of staff continue to work at the hospital long after being infected. Global Health Threat India has the world's largest number of TB patients—an estimated 2.6 million Indians live with the bacterial lung disease, which is spread through coughs and sneezes. The country is second only to China in the number of patients with drug-resistant TB, a major threat to TB control with repercussions well beyond India. In July this year, a Mumbai woman who flew to Chicago was found to have the extremely drug resistant TB (XDR TB). She has since been quarantined and is under treatment there. "Globally, XDR TB presents the greatest threat to TB control," said Brian Katzowitz, a spokesman at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading national public health institute in the United States. Nerges Mistry, director of the Mumbai-based Foundation for Medical Research, investigated conditions at the Sewri hospital at the behest of city authorities in 2011. That report—seen by Reuters but not released publicly—found about 65 hospital staff died between 2007 and 2011, many of them cooks. It also highlighted serious problems including inadequate record-keeping, sanitation and hygiene problems. Doctors failed to wear N-95 disposable masks, it said, a basic form of infection control recommended by the World Health Organization. Mistry said it was unclear if any of the proposals made were implemented. "It's a last ditch thing. You go there and you never come out," she said. Nanavare says the hospital has brought in changes to ensure better staff protection, though masks remain an "individual decision." High Priority Prime Minister Narendra Modi's manifesto ahead of last year's election accorded "high priority" to the health sector, and promised a universal health assurance plan. But he has been forced to tightly control health care spending as India battles to spend its way out of slow-moving recovery. In the latest high-profile case at the Sewri hospital, a nurse died in September from drug-resistant TB, prompting staff protests to demand better working conditions. High-profile campaigners such Leena Menghaney, an HIV and TB activist, say still not enough is being done. "Despite increased investment in prevention and treatment of drug resistant TB over the last decade, local authorities, the National TB Program and policymakers in India are not directing sufficient attention to infection control," she said. Mumbai city officials in charge of overseeing the hospital say substandard private care before patients are sent to Sewri must share the blame for its travails. A Reuters reporter found cats wandering around wards and few visible instructions to keep visiting relatives safe. None of the nurses wore masks and two said they were encouraged not to, on the grounds that they were already exposed to TB bacteria. One patient, 12-year-old Kamala, wore a light green muslin mask, untied at one end. "I just removed it because I was coughing too much," she said. A group of about 60 health experts and activists including the US-based Treatment Action Group, wrote a letter in August to the state, federal, and city authorities highlighting what they described as "dismal" conditions at the hospital. They have yet to receive a response. Sunil Khaparde, a health ministry official in New Delhi who oversees India's TB control program, said the hospital had been asked to tighten procedures and more training was planned. "The Sewri Hospital is in urgent need for a facelift," said Zarir Udwadia, a chest physician at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai and one of India's best-known TB experts. "More funds, more staff, and more commitment are needed." The post Staff Deaths at Leading Hospital Put India's TB Battle in Spotlight appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

With Hindu Party Leading India, Beef Grows More Political Posted: 11 Oct 2015 10:08 PM PDT A butcher cuts meat for a customer inside his shop in Mumbai. (Photo: Shailesh Andrade / Reuters) NEW DELHI — The legislator was full of outrage when he arrived in the north Indian village days after the killing of a Muslim farmer who was rumored to have slaughtered cows. A Hindu mob had smashed through the heavy wooden door to the man’s home, then beat him to death with his wife’s sewing machine. The legislator’s anger, though, was not about the killing. Instead, Sangeet Som was furious that men had been arrested in the attack in the village, just 30 miles from New Delhi. Som, a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, called the arrests “atrocities on innocent villagers.” As for the family of the dead man, he dismissed them as “those cow killers.” A few days later, a half-dozen BJP politicians slapped around a legislator on the floor of a state legislature, angry that he had served beef at a party. In south India, six members of a leftist student political party were suspended after their attempt to serve beef curry on campus to protest the farmer’s killing set off a melee. On Friday, violence swept another northern village amid rumors that a cow had been slaughtered, with a crowd, who had chased down two Muslim men they suspected of cow-killing, clashing with police and burning several cars. Some villagers and police were injured, but no major injuries were reported. Cows have long been sacred to Hindus, worshipped as a mother figure and associated since ancient times with the god Krishna. But increasingly, cows are also political. They have become a tool of political parties, an electioneering code word and a rallying cry for both Hindu nationalists and their opponents. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the late September mob killing of Mohammad Akhlaq, saying religious and ethnic bigotry threatened the country’s economic growth. “We should decide if Hindus want to fight Muslims or poverty. Muslims must decide if they want to fight Hindus or poverty,” Modi said at a campaign rally in Bihar state, where elections start next week. “It is unity, communal harmony, brotherhood and peace that will take the nation forward.” But Modi also rose to power as a Hindu nationalist, and since his election last year hard-line Hindus have been demanding that India ban the sale of beef—a key industry within India’s poor, minority Muslim community. In many Indian states, the slaughtering of cows and selling of beef are already either restricted or banned. In the past, Modi has spoken out angrily against India’s beef industry. “Brothers and sisters, I don’t know whether this saddens you, but my heart screams out” at the rise of Indian beef exports, Modi said in a 2012 speech. “I am unable to understand why you are silent, why you are taking this lying down.” Since becoming prime minister, though, he has danced delicately between an intense desire to be seen as a tolerant international statesman—the sort of man who is greeted warmly by presidents and jokes around with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg—and the need to satisfy a political base that is deeply distrustful of Muslims and other minorities. That dance has, his critics say, emboldened extremist Hindus and given rise to everything from a series of church vandalisms to the recent mob killing. Criticism of cow slaughter, some say, is often simply code for anti-Muslim sentiments. India, a country of 1.3 billion, is about 81 percent Hindu and 13 percent Muslim. “I am afraid the hotheads will get busier. They are greatly encouraged and their strength is rather strong,” said Inder Malhotra, a political analyst and former editor of the Times of India newspaper. “One of the reasons this prime minister keeps quiet about it, is that he doesn’t want to lose these Hindus, because they are a very strong proportion of his supporters.” He criticized Modi for not speaking more strongly against the recent mob attack, and for his silence about comments like Som’s. “Modi has not said a word against those in his party who have been making the most obnoxious statements,” Malhotra said. Authorities are still investigating after the arrests of eight villagers for Akhlaq’s death, but announced Friday that the meat found in his home turned out to be mutton—not beef. Meanwhile Som, the Hindu firebrand and avowed strict vegetarian, has denied media reports that he once owned part of a major Indian meat export company. The company exports goat and buffalo meat, but apparently not beef. Amid so much rancor, it is not hard to find people sympathetic to the attack on Akhlaq. “We should drink cow’s milk, not its blood,” Ram Mandal Das, a priest at a Hindu temple in New Delhi that also shelters abandoned cows, said Friday. “If someone attacks mother cow, or eats it, then this sort of reaction should happen,” he said of Akhlaq’s killing. “It is justified.” Modi supporters see some opponents as deliberately provoking Hindus. Some “beef parties”—when beef is eaten in defiance of local laws—are clearly intended to invite a backlash and score political points against the BJP. Such actions “have pushed a society that worships the cow as mother to question the real motives of the seculars,” Tarun Vijay, a member of parliament and top BJP official, wrote recently in The Indian Express. He also criticized the killing of Akhlaq, writing: “Lynching a person merely on suspicion is absolutely wrong.” The public bitterness on both sides hides the reality of much of Indian life, where Hindus and Muslims can live alongside one another for decades without incident. In Akhlaq’s village, for example, more than 100 Hindu villagers trekked to his family’s home a few days after the attack, to urge his family not to move away. Hindu leaders also pledged to ensure that upcoming Muslim marriages went ahead without incident. The post With Hindu Party Leading India, Beef Grows More Political appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Lawyer’s Son Back in China after Failed Escape Attempt in Burma Posted: 11 Oct 2015 10:02 PM PDT Human rights lawyer Wang Yu during a March 2014 interview. (Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters) BEIJING — The teenage son of a rights lawyer detained in a sweeping crackdown on civil society is under house arrest in northern China after being grabbed in Burma while trying to escape to the United States, a family friend said Monday. Bao Zhuoxuan, also known as Bao Mengmeng, is under 24-hour police surveillance at his grandparents’ house in Inner Mongolia and is not allowed contact with the outside world, Liang Bo, a San Francisco-based family friend, said by phone. Bao, 16, is the son of Wang Yu, a lawyer who disappeared July 9 amid a rounding up of dozens of rights lawyers and social activists in a broad crackdown on groups that seek changes in society and that operate outside the Communist Party. Wang has represented people involved in politically sensitive cases and earlier this year was the legal counsel for one of five women’s rights activists jailed over a planned event against sexual harassment. Bao and his father were detained on the same day by police at Beijing’s international airport on their way to Australia, where Bao was to attend high school. Bao was released after two days, but his passport was revoked, Zhou said. His parents are still missing. Chinese authorities routinely put pressure on activists by targeting their family members. After his release the teenager was watched and harassed by police in Beijing, and at times beaten by them, said Liang, who was intending to look after Bao in San Francisco. Beijing police did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment. San Francisco-based rights campaigner Fengsuo Zhou, who was involved in the escape plan and was to help Bao seek refuge in the US, said: “He has expressed his will to study abroad, and eventually study law, like his mother.” Zhou traveled to the Thai capital of Bangkok and grew worried when Bao failed to meet him there last week. He said that Bao and two men helping him leave China were taken by local police in the Burmese border town of Mong La on Oct. 6. Liang said Bao was with his mother’s parents in Ulanhot city. Calls to two numbers for Bao’s grandmother were not answered. People who answered calls to Ulanhot police’s general and criminal investigation offices said they were not aware of the case. The two men helping him to leave China were Tang Zhishun, 40, an engineer from Beijing, and Xing Qingxian, 49, a human rights activist in the southwest city of Chengdu, Zhou said. Their whereabouts was unknown. The post Lawyer’s Son Back in China after Failed Escape Attempt in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Peace That We Envision Posted: 11 Oct 2015 07:42 PM PDT Ethnic Kachin in Rangoon raise Kachin national flags at a Baptist church hall for a speech from the KIA's Gen. Gun Maw. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Dominant narratives portray Burma as beautiful, exotic and rich, particularly so since reforms began in 2011. If only that picture were realistic, we wouldn't have more than 100,000 internally displaced people spread out across Kachin and northern Shan states. This is a different narrative, another reality in Burma. I grew up in a government-controlled area of Kachin State during the ceasefire years, when the Burmese government had reached a pact with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). I didn't experience the extreme violence of the Tatmadaw—as the Burmese Armed Forces are known—that was committed in ethnic minority villages with total impunity for decades, but I had a different kind of struggle, an institutional one. From the age of five I attended government schools, with government curricula. I spoke Burmese language and I learned Burmese history. I knew about the kingdoms, Burmese poetry and literature. I memorized every detail of their history; the Burmese were so powerful and civilized. What was missing from my childhood was a chance to learn the culture and history of my own people, the Kachin. Every ethnic child is required to learn Burmese history and to study the victories and ancient triumphs of the Burman people. A brief section on ethnic people described them as petty chiefs in charge of small villages. We have no history, according to the textbooks. The damage done to me by this forced assimilation was huge. I was ashamed to speak my own language. I didn't like the sound of my own name, which was different from the Burman names. I didn't like having my name called out by the teacher each day as she checked the attendance. I felt like a failure when people pointed out that I had an accent when I spoke Burmese. Cultural assimilation of minorities serves only to erase our ethnic identity and reconstruct a new one that is submissive to the Burman power structure. Full assimilation is not an option; ethnic minorities are not empowered by being brought into the fold of Burmanization. This is obvious just by looking at the percentage of ethnic people in the military and government institutions; even though there are a few minority representatives, they do not typically reach positions of power. Moreover, this cultural takeover has been ongoing for so long and in such a way that even ethnic people sometimes do not feel entitled to what is theirs. Arrogant rulers exploit the land and milk the money out of ethnic areas, only to enjoy their gratitude when and if they return a small fraction of what was stolen from them in the first place. Case in point, I recently spoke with an executive member of a Kachin cultural committee in Hpakant, a part of Kachin State known as the source of most of the world's jade. When the Burma Army commander in Hpakant made a donation of 10 million kyats (US$7,765) to a cultural project, the executive couldn't stop talking about the generous gift handed over by the Burma Army. He must have forgotten that Naypyidaw brought in about US$8 billion in jade sales during 2011 alone—about one sixth of GDP for that same year—according to a recent report by the Ash Center at Harvard University. Meanwhile the people who live in Hpakant still have yet to receive decent infrastructure, health care and social services, and many have fallen prey to drug addiction and the spread of HIV/AIDS that has accompanied development of the rich site. These problems have reached other parts of the state as well, particularly affecting young people, and have claimed tens of thousands of Kachin lives to date. Some people think that colonialism ended when Burma gained independence from the British in 1948, but that's not the case. What we have now is a new brand of colonialism under the Burmese military and its corollary, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). This government continues the tradition of colonial oppression by dominating the people, especially in areas populated by ethnic minorities. They justify this to the Burman majority by projecting an image of moral, intellectual and cultural superiority, while a broad range of people in Burma—no matter whom they are or where they came from—are routinely denied basic human rights. While it is undeniable that the ethnic Burman population has suffered much under the former regime and its socio-economic legacy, the military feels a certain threat posed by ethnic people and their fight for political equality. Because of what is, in fact, ethnic peoples' real right to autonomy and self-governance, they strike harder against minorities. For example, President Thein Sein recently signed off on a controversial legal package known as the "race and religion protection laws." A senior official from the President's Office justified Thein Sein's support for the laws by saying that "it is the desire of the Myanmar people," as reported by German news agency DPA. The laws, which include provisions restricting interfaith marriage and religious conversion, aim to protect the "pure blood" of the Burmese Buddhist population, the majority. The move clearly indicates a perception that this majority is somehow culturally and ethnically superior to others, and seeks to limit or even terminate those who are different. A Mandatory Imperative for the International Community: Learn to Listen Several of Burma's ethnic armed groups plan to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government this month, but the Kachin are not among them. The international community has failed to appreciate the reasons why ethnic people continue to resist the current government and its systems of power. Human rights violations committed by the Tatmadaw are not a part of history, but an ongoing element of experience for many villagers in ethnic areas beyond the line of sight in tourist destinations and major cities such as Rangoon and Naypyidaw. Ethnic people continue to be displaced, and for Kachin people the level of displacement has even reached new heights since the reform process began in 2011. Political power is still deeply centralized, seated in the capital Naypyidaw, while decision making power is still not shared with ethnic nationalities in the various states. We have no say in how our ethnic values and teachings could be incorporated into the education system, or how the revenue from natural resource projects could be shared to improve the well-being and quality of life for our people. Though the President, himself a former general, has appointed a Kachin Chief Minister for the state and a Chin Chief Minister in Chin state, that fact doesn't translate into federal democracy and should not be viewed as such. These appointed chief executives may be nothing more than "token ministers" who have close and personal relationships with the former dictator and his generals. It is not clear that the international community really understands this quandary. Without listening to the concerns and the worries of Burma's ethnic nationalities, international assistance has done more harm than good. Programs such as the European Union's crowd control training for the police force, for instance, have worked to empower authorities and served no real good for the people that they have so often oppressed. As one Kachin activist put it, the international community is "teaching the government how to steal and rob in broad daylight. Before, they only knew how to steal and rob late at night." Similarly, the European Union has committed millions of euro to "support" for the peace process, hundreds of thousands of that going directly to the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), a government-affiliated technical support body. While they are receiving this support to negotiate on behalf of the government, the ethnic armed groups who hold a stake in the process don't always have the funding for expert advisors and technical assistance. Beyond being disempowered, they are also at a great financial disadvantage. Yet international observers and "supporters" of the peace process are viewed as pressuring these groups to move toward a ceasefire, as though Burma's ethnic armed groups had no experience in political negotiations. The Kachin Independence Organization has reached four ceasefire agreements with the Burma Army since our armed struggle began in 1961. As Naing Hong Sar, a member of the ethnic negotiation team, wrote recently for The Bangkok Post, "Trust is based not only on words; it is based on an understanding that actions back and substantiate one's words. Trust is something proven over time." Our experience of dealing with the military dates back six decades. Therefore, our expertise should not be dismissed or looked down upon. If the voices of Burma's ethnic nationalities, including those living in displacement camps, are listened to carefully and thoughtfully, it is clear that we want a genuine peace agreement with promising potential to allow us to determine our own future in a true federal union that respects our differences and views us as equals. If the international community can learn to listen to these voices, they may be able to effectively help the people of Burma achieve genuine and lasting peace. Stella Naw is an advocate for democratic federalism in Burma, with a special interest in reconciliation and the rights of ethnic and indigenous peoples. The post The Peace That We Envision appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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