Friday, October 23, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Local Observers Welcome Jade Industry Exposé, Call for Reform

Posted: 23 Oct 2015 05:54 AM PDT

Traders inspect jade in a teashop in Lone Khin village, Hpakant Township. (Photo: Minzayar / Reuters)

Traders inspect jade in a teashop in Lone Khin village, Hpakant Township. (Photo: Minzayar / Reuters)

RANGOON — Locals involved in the gem trade have called for reform to the sector after an explosive new report into Burma's jade industry.

Friday's report, published by Global Witness, estimates the value of the country's jade trade at US$31 billion in 2014—nearly half of the country's gross domestic product. It claimed that most of the wealth from jade production flowed directly into the coffers of military conglomerates, well-connected firms and former junta figures, including the family of Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association secretary Tun Hla Aung said that the report was a stark reminder of the massive amounts of wealth that had been stripped from the country as a result of black market trade.

"There has been and there is still jade smuggling, for which the country has lost a lot in tax revenue," he said.

Aung Thein, chairman of the Myanmar Yadanar Aung Zabu Gems and Jade Company, said that existing legal restrictions on the jade industry were exacerbating the problem.

"(The cronies and the government) have power and money and they can do anything they please," he said. "There is no regular jade market in Myanmar and we have to rely on jade and gems exhibitions which are held twice a year. If there is a market for dealing outside these exhibitions, there will no longer be smuggling."

However, Aung Thein said he was pessimistic that the report's publication would lead to substantial reform of the industry.

"We don't bother complaining, because we have complained again and again and nothing has happened," he said.

Nyo Nyo Thin, a Rangoon Division lawmaker and independent candidate for the Lower House township of Bahan, said that the report was a timely reminder of the massive amounts of wealth and control wielded by members of the former military regime and its allies.

"Such reports showcase how much the dictatorship has inflicted losses upon the country," she said. "I welcome such report and would like to ask local people to reveal similar cases so that the government can be kept under check. It is a reminder to the next government, and it makes clear how much the previous government owes to the people."

Win Myo Thu, the director of Eco-Dev Myanmar, said that environmental campaigners had long sought to increase accountability in the jade industry by advocating Burma's inclusion in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) protocol, but he added that the government seemed reluctant to participate.

"We must try to put all benefit sharing, ownership arrangements and contract details into the EITI report to achieve transparency," he said, adding that he felt great sadness that the environment around Kachin State's Hpakant Township, home to the vast majority of Burma's jade deposits, had been destroyed from unchecked mining.

The post Local Observers Welcome Jade Industry Exposé, Call for Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

A Dozen Trafficked Migrants Freed From Thai Fishing Boat

Posted: 23 Oct 2015 04:29 AM PDT

Trafficked migrants and members of MAT after a rescue operation in Thailand this week. (Photo: Myanmar Association in Thailand)

Trafficked migrants and members of MAT after a rescue operation in Thailand this week. (Photo: Myanmar Association in Thailand)

RANGOON — A dozen migrant workers from Burma who were sold into slavery on a Thai fishing boat were rescued this week by a joint team of officials and rights advocates on the shore of Thailand's Trang Province.

Following a five-month investigation, a task force comprising the Thai Department of Special Investigation and the Myanmar Association in Thailand (MAT), under the aegis of the Burmese Embassy, secured the release of the twelve men, some of whom had been confined as laborers on fishing vessels for as long as 15 years.

"Some of the rescued were sold to work on the sea in slave-like conditions more than a decade ago," said Kyaw Thaung, director of MAT, who assisted the operation. "There are more such victims that still haven't been rescued, and we haven't arrested the trafficking gang."

Kyaw Thu, also known as Kala, was among those freed on Tuesday. He claims he was intercepted by human traffickers about 15 years ago.

"I am happy that I am free now, but there are many trafficked Burmese people still on the vessel," Kyaw Thu said, adding that there could be up to 50 others still aboard his ship, as well as at least 10 other similar boats to his knowledge.

Describing cruel conditions at sea, Kyaw Thu said many Burmese members of his crew were tortures, and some died at sea. He said he had personally witnessed about 30 deaths throughout his 15-year period aboard the ill-fated ship.

"Even when I was sick, I was tortured and forced to work. I was whipped, punched and kicked, and I was even stabbed six times. There were cases when those who refused to work were beaten with iron rods, thrown into the sea, or shot dead," he said.

Migrant workers account for some five percent of Thailand's workforce, and most originate from Burma, Cambodia and Laos. While many enter the country through legal channels, some employ uncertified brokers and others fall prey to human traffickers.

This year Thailand remained designated as a "Tier 3" country in the US State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, for the second consecutive year. The assessment was due in part to human trafficking in the seafood industry and in the country's south, where recent years have seen a sharp rise in trafficking of people from western Burma and Bangladesh.

In efforts to improve the country's ghastly record on migrant rights and human trafficking, the Department of Special Investigations and MAT have ramped up rescue efforts, successfully liberating 171 trafficking victims and apprehending 10 human smugglers since the start of this year.

Translated by Thet Ko Ko.

The post A Dozen Trafficked Migrants Freed From Thai Fishing Boat appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

$31b Jade Trade Enriches Elite, Fuels Ethnic Conflict: Report

Posted: 23 Oct 2015 12:12 AM PDT

A vast wasteland of denuded hills and mountains has been created by jade mining around the once-verdant hinterland of Hpakant. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

A vast wasteland of denuded hills and mountains has been created by jade mining around the once-verdant hinterland of Hpakant. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

A lengthy and detailed 120-page report released on Friday in Rangoon by the London-based NGO Global Witness, reveals that vast revenues generated by Burma's lucrative multi-billion dollar jade trade continue to flow into the pockets of senior military officials, key figures in the ruling Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) and well connected crony firms including Asia World and Ever Winner.

Based on 12 months of research, the report titled "Jade: Myanmar's 'Big State Secret,'" estimates that Burma's jade production was valued as high as US$31 billion in 2014, a figure that vastly overshadows the country's other major resource earners, including natural gas exports.

Although a series of reforms have been enacted in Burma since the army officially ceded control of the country in 2011, a group of shadowy firms controlled by individuals closely connected to Burma's previous military regime, including the families of Sen-Gen Than Shwe, former northern commander Ohn Myint and other key figures from the military era, continue to dominate the jade trade—an industry that is, according to Global Witnesses research, marked by government secrecy and widespread corruption.

"Myanmar's jade industry may well be the biggest natural resource heist in modern history. The sums of money involved are almost incomprehensibly high and the level of accountability is at rock bottom," the report concludes.

According to Global Witness, this plundering has been made possible by the central government's hold on Hpakant in western Kachin State, where the jade is mined. Hpakant came under government control after 1994 when the then-ruling military regime reached a ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

Although there has been fighting in Hpakant since the June 2011, when the Kachin ceasefire with the central government collapsed, the army has continued to hold most of Hpakant, including its most lucrative jade deposits. Government authorities in Naypyidaw "have full control of the major jade mines in the Hpakant area. They decide who has access to valuable concessions and on what basis" says Global Witness. A position that means that decision makers can extort huge payments from jade firms, according to jade businessmen interviewed by Global Witness.

The Burmese armed forces, or Tatmadaw, remain the most powerful institution in post-junta Burma. Those forces, the report suggests, bear much of the responsibility for the looting of Burma's jade.

"The Tatmadaw's main priority in Hpakant is milking money from the jade business and this imperative frequently trumps its designated function of fighting the KIA."

Citing government documents and well connected sources in the jade industry, the report also uncovers in unprecedented detail the jade operations of army controlled firms, a finding that calls into question claims by some analysts that the army had begun to withdrawal its dominant position in the economy under a nominally civilian government.

The military controlled Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL) also known as Myanma Economic Holding Limited, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Northern Star Gems sold $283 million dollars of jade at the 2013 and 2014 annual jade fairs in Naypyidaw, according to previously unpublished figures obtained by Global Witness.

But most of the jade is not sold at the annual emporium. The British NGO estimates that 50 to 80 percent of the jade mined annually is smuggled across to China, where the precious stone is highly sought after.

The High Cost of Jade for Kachin State

The report notes that jade mining in Kachin State's Hpakant Township has created a "dystopian wasteland in which the local population grapples with environmental and social collapse on a daily basis." Kachin State's lucrative jade deposits are more of a curse for the local population than anything else. In addition to destroying local rivers with dams and obliterating Hpakant's local geography, rampant drug use among the poorly paid mine workers has transformed what was once a sparsely populated area with only small-scale mining ventures into a desolate moonscape.

"We feel that we have no security for our lives here… Hpakant will soon disappear without any benefit to the local people", says a pastor from Hpakant quoted in the report.

Few—if any—of the huge revenues generated by mining in Kachin State are spent on health care or schools in the remote state, a situation that has only reinforced longstanding distrust of the central government by the local population.

The KIO has, as the report points out, resumed levying their own taxes on jade mining firms once the ceasefire ended, a position supported by many Kachin who see the organization as a more legitimate government structure than the central government.

Civil society groups, such as the Kachin Development Network Group (KDNG), have recommended a full stop to mining in the area until a new system can be put in place that would respect land rights. Such proposals are rapidly rounding up support among local populations throughout the state, but are hardly gaining traction in Naypyidaw, where, according to Global Witness, Burma's ex-military rulers have strong incentives to maintain the status quo.

"Every cabinet minister is involved in jade—it's their best source of income, even though they have never been to Hpakant," one business insider told Global Witness.

Than Shwe's Family Earning Millions From Jade

The report identified two firms, Myanmar Naing Group and Kyaing International, as entities controlled by Than Shwe's sons Kyaing San Shwe and Htun Naing Shwe. Documents obtained by GW indicate that these firms hold licenses for six jade mines in Hpakant.

The latter firm appears to be named after the retired military supremo's wife, Daw Kyaing Kyaing. A massive flooded mine crater located in Hpakant's Maw Sizar jade tract, where Kyaing International has its lucrative mining concession, has been named after her, a testament to the low opinion local people still hold of the former first lady, who is reportedly still very much involved in her family's business activities.

A third firm, Kywe Wa Sone—registered in English as "Richest Gems"—is headed by an individual who serves as a director of both Kyaing International and Myanmar Naing Group. According to businessmen in the jade trade interviewed by Global Witness, Kywe Wa Sone is also controlled by Than Shwe's family.

"The Than Shwe's family's [sic] stake in a corrupt and militarised jade business poses a serious challenge to reformers' efforts to bring real change to Myanmar's extractive industries, and to peacemakers' attempts to forge a lasting settlement in Kachin State," the report states. Moreover, firms controlled by the families of Than Shwe, retired Gen. Maung Maung Thein and current Union Minister Ohn Myint accounted for some $220 million in sales at the 2014 government-run jade emporium in Naypyidaw.

Minsiter Ohn Myint's Jade Connection

Union Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development Ohn Myint, who previously served as the army's Northern Regional Commander during the final years of the State Peace and Development Council (SDPC), was the highest serving general in Kachin State. According to Global Witness research, this afforded him a great deal of power to decide who mined what in Hpakant.

Global Witness has concluded from their research that Ohn Myint still has connections to the jade trade by way of firm a called Myanmar Win Gate Gems and Jewellery Mining Co. Ltd. Two of the firms directors are Kyaw Thiha, a name shared by Ohn Myint's son, and Daw Nway Ei Ei Zin, Kyaw Thiha's wife's name.

At the 2014 jade emporium the firm posted pre-tax sales of US$80 million of jade half of which came from one piece of jade that weighed 24 KG.

The post $31b Jade Trade Enriches Elite, Fuels Ethnic Conflict: Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Graft-Buster Says Must Learn from Ancients to Tackle Corruption

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:04 PM PDT

Wang Qishan speaks at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in October 2013. (Photo: Jason Lee / Reuters)

Wang Qishan speaks at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in October 2013. (Photo: Jason Lee / Reuters)

BEIJING — China’s ruling Communist Party must learn from the traditional virtues which have defined Chinese culture since ancient times as it tackles corruption, a problem that still hangs “acutely” in front of them, the top graft-buster wrote on Friday.

President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping campaign against graft since assuming the party leadership in 2012 and presidency in 2013, warning, like others before him, that the issue is so severe it could affect the party’s grip on power.

Writing in the party’s official People’s Daily, Wang Qishan, who is in charge of battling corruption, said that the source of the party’s rules on tackling this problem were the morals and virtues passed down through history.

“In a series of important speeches General Secretary Xi Jinping has cited a great number of ancient texts and words from the classics, stressing and lauding the fine traditional culture of the Chinese people which has meaning in the new era,” Wang wrote.

In traditional Chinese culture, morality and law are joined at the hip, rules are observed like rituals and everyone follows them, he said.

The party’s rules on fighting corruption and ancient morality can be “traced to the same origin”, he added, in comments written to explain why the party this week tightened its clean-living rules for party members.

“In setting and adjusting rules, we must learn from the essence of traditional Chinese culture and move with the times in managing the party in accordance with new situations and new missions,” Wang said.

The party listed golf and gluttony as violations for the first time in its newly tightened rules to stop officials from engaging in corrupt practices, while also turning an even sterner eye on sexual impropriety.

Wang said the party was determined to enforce these rules to ensure they don’t just end up as “something that hangs off the walls or it merely chatter about”, repeating a vow that the party’s graft fight would never end.

The party must be under no illusions about how serious the problem is, he said.

“The trials the party faces in being in power, reforming and opening up, the market economy and foreign environment are long term, complex and serious,” Wang wrote.

“Dangers of laziness, inability to properly act, remoteness from the people and passive corruption hang even more acutely in front of the party,” he said.

“If allowed to continue then it will weaken the party’s ability to govern and shake the party’s basis for governing.”

The post China Graft-Buster Says Must Learn from Ancients to Tackle Corruption appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Papua New Guinea to Begin Resettling Refugees from Australian Camp

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 09:54 PM PDT

Protesters outside Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's electoral office in Sydney, as they demand the end to the policy of offshore detention of asylum seekers. (Photo: David Gray / Reuters)

Protesters outside Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s electoral office in Sydney, as they demand the end to the policy of offshore detention of asylum seekers. (Photo: David Gray / Reuters)

SYDNEY — Australia welcomed on Friday a pledge by Papua New Guinea to begin resettling refugees from an Australian immigration detention center, despite questions about how their safety would be guaranteed in one of the region’s most dangerous countries.

Asylum seekers are a hot political issue in Australia and successive governments have vowed to stop them reaching the mainland, sending those intercepted on unsafe boats to camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the South Pacific.

However, Australia has struggled to find a permanent solution to settling those seeking refuge. A deal struck with Cambodia last year to relocate them there has struggled to get off the ground and many settled in Nauru have reported assaults.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton praised Papua New Guinea for the decision to begin moving those found to be genuine refugees into the community. PNG has not resettled anyone in the three years it has hosted the center.

“The PNG Government has shown with this announcement its commitment to permit those found to be refugees to get on with their lives and have a fresh start in this dynamic nation with a growing economy,” Dutton said in a statement.

Papua New Guinea struggles with endemic violence and poverty. On its travel advice website, the Australian government urges citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution” there because of “high levels of serious crime”.

Car-jacking, gang rape and a “general atmosphere of lawlessness” should all be taken into consideration before choosing to travel to the South Pacific island nation, the website says.

“Ethnic disputes continue to flare up around the country. Disputes can quickly escalate into violent clashes,” it says.

It is unclear where in PNG the refugees would be resettled and what support they would receive after they were moved into the community. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the first group to be resettled were all single men.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is under growing pressure to address Australia’s hardline policies after reports of systemic child abuse and sexual assault on Nauru and criticism by the United Nations and human rights groups.

The issue also overshadowed the launch of Canberra’s bid to join the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

On Thursday, police in Nauru raided the offices of aid group Save the Children for a second time, the latest in a series of embarrassing incidents involving the detention center there.

Australia’s highest court is considering whether the policy of sending asylum seekers there is in breach of the constitution.

The post Papua New Guinea to Begin Resettling Refugees from Australian Camp appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Malaysia’s Mahathir Says Little Chance of Ousting PM Najib

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 09:42 PM PDT

Malaysia's former leader Mahathir Mohamad at his desk in the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. (Photo: Olivia Harris / Reuters)

Malaysia’s former leader Mahathir Mohamad at his desk in the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. (Photo: Olivia Harris / Reuters)

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s former premier Mahathir Mohamad conceded on Thursday that the chances of unseating Prime Minister Najib Razak before elections in 2018 are slim, despite his rallying cries for a “people’s power” movement to topple the country’s leader.

The 90-year-old statesman, who led Malaysia for 22 years, has called on Najib to step down following allegations of corruption and mismanagement at state-owned fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

But Mahathir says lawmakers within Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party are protecting their leader, and slammed them for not speaking up.

“All of them are scared and they look after their own safety. They’re not looking after the party, the nation. It’s about themselves,” he told Reuters, speaking from his office at the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

“The way he’s going he might go full term. The way UMNO has accepted him because they find he’s comfortable to be with, I think he can go full term.”

Mahathir was once Najib’s patron but turned against him in 2013 by criticizing the government’s economic policies and friendliness with the West.

The former leader demanded Najib step down after it was reported in July that investigators looking into alleged wrongdoing at 1MDB had traced a payment of nearly $700 million going into the Prime Minister’s personal bank accounts.

Najib denies taking any money for personal gain and Reuters has not verified these reports.

The fallout from the allegations has scared away foreign investors though, adding to pressure on Malaysia’s economy that was already suffering from falling commodity prices.

No Confidence Votes

Opposition leaders have called on all lawmakers to reject the annual budget that Najib will present to Parliament on Friday as a show of no confidence against him. They have also tried to bring a formal no confidence vote against him.

But Mahathir said such measures would fail, as the opposition does not have the numbers to challenge the ruling coalition.

“The fact is that, the opposition is not able to gather enough people to support that. So the government with more support in parliament will push it (the budget) through.”

He said UMNO lawmakers were scared of Najib taking action against them, while some others were just “comfortable”.

Najib has previously cracked down on dissenters in his government, ousting his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and other ministers critical of his governance in a cabinet reshuffle earlier this year.

He also replaced the Attorney General who was leading an investigation into 1MDB.

Muhyiddin, who is the current UMNO deputy president, made a rare public appearance with Mahathir earlier this month to condemn the arrest of two men who approached foreign investigators with documents about 1MDB.

Mahathir said he believes Muhyiddin could lead the country, if Najib were to go.

“The former deputy PM would still be able to lead the country, provided that he listens to good advice…people with experience,” he said.

Mahathir said he was concerned following reports that police were investigating him for allegedly making defamatory comments during a rally to protest against Najib.

“I fear, not because of anything, but because of manipulation of justice, manipulation of the law. Otherwise according to the law I have done nothing wrong.”

The post Malaysia’s Mahathir Says Little Chance of Ousting PM Najib appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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