The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Acting on ‘Terrorist’ Rumor, Sittwe Police Instead Find Pill Stash
• Revered Monk Looks to New Dawn after the ‘Dictators’
• Govt Offers Talks with SSA-N as Supplies Dwindle for Displaced Civilians
• Lenders Urge Central Bank to Be More Flexible on Regulations
• China Says 28 Foreign-Led ‘Terrorists’ Killed After Attack on Mine
• Behind Pomp of APEC Summit, Crushing Poverty Endures
• Fake Pesticides Endanger Crops and Human Health in India
• Philippine Senator Poe Widens Lead in Presidential Opinion Polls

Acting on ‘Terrorist’ Rumor, Sittwe Police Instead Find Pill Stash Posted: 20 Nov 2015 03:29 AM PST A police officer in central Sittwe. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — During a highway search on Thursday for vehicles suspected to be transporting explosive materials, police instead found drugs on two travelers near the Arakan State capital of Sittwe, according to local police. "As far as I know, the travelers are Arakanese, from Ponnagyun Township. There was not a large amount of drugs," said police officer Aye Khin Maung. Police were acting on a rumor rapidly spreading among residents of the state capital that "terrorists" were planning to enter the country through northern Arakan State, in the wake of the Paris attacks on Saturday. "This sort of information is misleading and menacing to people who believe that rumor is based on fact," said Sittwe resident Aung Kyaw. The source of the rumor is unknown. Aung Mya Kyaw, an incumbent state lawmaker for the Arakan National Party, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the police checked every car in the vicinity of the Tatargyi Bridge and ratcheted up security, but that everything continues to run smoothly. He added that one week ago police seized revolvers in Maungdaw Township and that the coastguard apprehended seven people near Thae Chaung village in Sittwe who were fleeing from neighboring Bangladesh. The Irrawaddy has been unable to confirm either report independently. This latest drug seizure only stokes ongoing concern among residents and authorities of growing drug abuse in western Burma, particularly in Arakan State, where people fear mounting drug trafficking through the region to neighboring countries. In September 2014, in what was the largest drug bust in the history of Mrauk-U Township, children found some 400,000 methamphetamine pills while playing at the Nandawgon City Wall in the old Arakan temple complex. Later that year, in September, the Rangoon Division Police found about 600,000 pills on an Arakan State-bound bus in Rangoon. The post Acting on 'Terrorist' Rumor, Sittwe Police Instead Find Pill Stash appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Revered Monk Looks to New Dawn after the ‘Dictators’ Posted: 20 Nov 2015 03:15 AM PST Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — "Authoritarian rule is the common enemy of Burma and all Burmese citizens," said one of the country's most respected Buddhist monks, Thu Mingala, at a ceremony to mark the birthday of a colleague at a monastery in Rangoon Division's Hmawbi on Friday. The outspoken Buddhist literature laureate, who was jailed under the previous military regime, attended Friday's function alongside 88 Generation Peace and Open Society activists Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Jin Me. "The environment in Burma has been destroyed by the dictators," Thu Mingala said to a crowd of around 1,000 people that attended the function for the monk Pinyar Thiha's birthday, where a statue was unveiled in his honor. "All those who have [supported] and implemented authoritarian rule in Burma are the saboteurs who have destroyed Burma." Thu Mingala told attendees to be free of fear and help safeguard a more prosperous future for the country after decades of military rule. He also reminded the public not to forget the students that remain in prison in connection with the violent police crackdown on a peaceful protest at Letpadan, Pegu Division, in March. The post Revered Monk Looks to New Dawn after the 'Dictators' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Govt Offers Talks with SSA-N as Supplies Dwindle for Displaced Civilians Posted: 20 Nov 2015 12:30 AM PST Displaced villagers at an IDP camp in Hai Pa Village, Mong Hsu Township, Shan State. (Photo: Nang Seng Nom / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Amid fighting between the Burma Armed Forces and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) in central Shan State that has displaced around 10,000 people, the government's peace negotiating body has proposed talks with the ethnic armed group in Naypyidaw. Sao Naw Leik, a central committee member of the SSA-N's political arm, the Shan State Progress Party, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Khin Maung Soe of the Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) had reached out by phone to propose the dialogue, though no date was confirmed. Sao Naw Leik said the group was waiting to receive a formal offer in writing. "We are ready [to meet] anywhere if offered by letter," he said. Clashes, which first erupted on Oct. 6, have been reported in Mong Hsu, Kyethi and Mong Nawng townships over several weeks, with local sources and rights groups estimating that around 10,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. Government troops have reportedly deployed at least one helicopter gunship, which flew over Mong Hsu town and fired on SSA-N positions and nearby villages on Nov. 14, providing aerial cover for a fresh ground offensive. Major Sai Su, a spokesperson for the SSA-N, said clashes had continued until Wednesday, with a day of respite on Thursday. The ethnic armed group said it has sent several reports on clashes to government officials, without response. "At first, we thought the attacks were because of the election. Perhaps, [the government] is making an example of us because we did not sign the ceasefire agreement," Sao Naw Leik said. The SSA-N is one of several major ethnic armed groups that did not sign a "nationwide" ceasefire agreement, inked between Naypyidaw and eight armed groups in mid-October. Villagers have been forced from their homes in Taunggyi, Mong Hsu, Laihka, Lashio, Nansang and Mong Nawng townships, and some are feared to be trapped in their villages, according to the Shan State Youth Network. Supplies for villagers at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mong Hsu Township's Hai Pa village are reportedly running short, with ongoing clashes making deliveries to the camp almost impossible, according to local aid providers. Nan Kaung Kham, a member of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) which is assisting displaced villagers in Mong Hsu Township, said volunteers are working to relocate the 1,500 people in the Hai Pa camp to another location. "We can't send food there because of the clashes. It is risky to go there. There are only a week's worth of supplies left. We are trying to get them out of Hai Pa," she said. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed concern on Wednesday at ongoing clashes and reports of thousands of people displaced. "The UN and its humanitarian partners are working closely with local groups in the area to support their ongoing response to meet immediate humanitarian needs, including hygiene kits, clothing, blankets, food, medicine, shelter and water and sanitation," OCHA spokesperson Pierre Peron told The Irrawaddy. "A UN-led team managed to visit some of the displaced people last week. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and are ready to provide further support as soon as security conditions allow." Locals are fleeing Mong Hsu on a daily basis and food supplies are urgently needed for them, said Sai Thurein Oo, a lawmaker from the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP). Sporadic bomb blasts in the area have also panicked many residents, he said. On Tuesday evening, two men threw a grenade at a house in Ward 4 of Mong Hsu and another unexploded grenade was found at the scene, according to police lieutenant Hsan Lwin of the Shan State police force. There were no casualties and police were continuing their investigations, he said. Translated by Thet Ko Ko. Additional reporting by Yen Snaing. The post Govt Offers Talks with SSA-N as Supplies Dwindle for Displaced Civilians appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Lenders Urge Central Bank to Be More Flexible on Regulations Posted: 20 Nov 2015 12:23 AM PST An employee at a bank in Rangoon counts a bundle of Burmese kyats in 2012. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Bankers are urging the Central Bank of Myanmar to reconsider a recent regulation that might leave many of Burma's commercial lenders struggling in the market. On Nov. 16, private lenders, officials from the Central Bank and President's Office Minister Soe Thane met to discuss the state of Burma's banking industry and its future when a new government is formed next year. In particular, attention was paid to one of the primary difficulties confronting commercial banks: a new reserve requirement ratio, or the percentage of deposits that a bank must keep on hand, that will come into effect soon. The new regulation, decided upon in July and intended as a means of back-up funding, will require all banks to store 5 percent of their total deposits at the Central Bank in cash, whereas currently deposits can take the form of bonds or cash. "Five percent is actually not too much, but the problem is that we're not able to provide that amount in cash," Pe Myint, managing director of the Cooperative Bank, told The Irrawaddy. "We've proposed to reduce this amount to 2 or 3 percent." Presently, 10 out of Burma's 20 private banks are able to meet the 5 percent requirement, while the Central Bank's decision is forcing the rest to send the amount in a more piecemeal fashion. Than Lwin, a senior banking consultant for Kanbawza Bank, said he understands the reasoning behind the new regulation, but that the Central Bank should also take into consideration what is realistic for local banks, rather than leave them struggling. "As the country continues to develop, the Central Bank must bear in mind that the market will also change, meaning that it [the Central Bank] must constantly be flexible with its regulations," he said. The Asia Green Development Bank is one such bank that sees no alternative than to gradually send money to the Central Bank so that it does not harm its standing in the market. Soe Thein, its executive director, is calling for a bit more flexibility in a society that is still predominantly cash-based. "We [bankers] accept the 5 percent regulation. What we want is just more time to be able to give this cash to the Central Bank," he said. Though the local banking industry today is better than it was even five years ago, many believe that the Central Bank, which became an independent body after Burma's quasi-civilian government came to power in 2011, has not been doing enough to drive further improvement in the financial sector. For instance, it has been roundly criticized for its lack of transparency with regard to how much money it has in its reserves. Looking ahead to the next government, Than Lwin said: "The Central Bank must be far more aware of ground-level situations in the market."       The post Lenders Urge Central Bank to Be More Flexible on Regulations appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Says 28 Foreign-Led ‘Terrorists’ Killed After Attack on Mine Posted: 19 Nov 2015 10:23 PM PST An ethnic Uighur woman carries her child across the road as Chinese armored personnel carriers drive past in the city of Urumqi in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region July 12, 2009. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — Chinese security forces in the far western region of Xinjiang killed 28 "terrorists" from a group that carried out a deadly attack at a coal mine in September under the direction of "foreign extremists," the regional government said on Friday. The news carried by the government-run Xinjiang Daily was the first official mention of the Sept. 18 attack at the Sogan colliery in Aksu, in which it said 16 people, including 5 police officers were killed, and another 18 people injured. Radio Free Asia, which first reported the incident about two months ago, said at least 50 people had died. Attackers fled into the mountains and authorities launched a manhunt with more than 10,000 people participating every day, forming an "inescapable dragnet," the Xinjiang Daily said. "After 56 days of continuous fighting, Xinjiang destroyed a violent terrorist gang directly under the command of a foreign extremist group. Aside from one person who surrendered, 28 thugs were completely annihilated," the newspaper said. China's government says it faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists in energy-rich Xinjiang, on the border of central Asia, where hundreds have died in violence in recent years. Rights groups say China has never presented convincing evidence of the existence of a cohesive militant group fighting the government. Much of the unrest, they argue, is due to frustration at controls over the culture and religion of the Uighur people who live in Xinjiang, a charge Beijing denies. The Xinjiang Daily said two people who appeared to have Uighur names were leaders of the unnamed foreign group. Beginning in 2008, the Xinjiang group's members began watching extremist videos and communicated six times with an extremist group outside of China's borders, requesting tactical guidance, the paper said. "Members of this foreign extremist group transmitted orders to the gang many times and demanded pledges of loyalty," it said, without elaborating. It is unclear why the government had not disclosed the incident earlier. Officials says some Uighurs have gone to fight with radical groups in the Middle East. Western nations have been reluctant to cooperate in China's anti-terrorism campaign in Xinjiang, nervous about being implicated in possible human rights abuses, accusations China denies. Since last week's attacks in Paris, Chinese state media has lambasted Western countries for their "double standards" on terrorism. The post China Says 28 Foreign-Led 'Terrorists' Killed After Attack on Mine appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Behind Pomp of APEC Summit, Crushing Poverty Endures Posted: 19 Nov 2015 10:10 PM PST Protesters face riot police near the venues of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the capital city of Manila, Philippines, November 19, 2015. (Photo: Edgar Su / Reuters) MANILA — Just a few miles from the gleaming venue hosting President Barack Obama and other world leaders sits Manila's slum of slums on a mountain of trash, a potent reminder to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation bloc that the globalization agenda it promotes has left many behind. "What's APEC?" asked Winifredo Sumaya, a 60-year-old jobless man standing outside a squalid shack atop "Smokey Mountain" in the Philippine capital's Tondo slum district. The shanty village lies on a massive garbage pile which once billowed smoke, hence its name, until the dump was shut down by the government in the 1990s as it tried to remove an eyesore that symbolized its failure to ease wrenching poverty. With the closure, hundreds of garbage-scavenging families left in search of a livelihood elsewhere, but others such as the Sumaya family came and went as they drifted in a life of poverty and uncertainty. It was unlikely Sumaya would know APEC. He doesn't know who Obama is either. The tubercular man dropped out of grade school in Ormoc city in the eastern province of Leyte because his father, a farmer, could no longer afford to pay for education. In Sumaya's low-slung dwelling of scrap wood, tin and plastic there's no toilet, tap water, radio and much less a TV set. Almost everything that his family owns was recycled from nearby garbage dumps, including a baseball cap that he wore backwards, his shorts and a pair of grimy Crocs. Age and a variety of lung and other illnesses now keep him from wandering much, except when he peddles colorful hand-sewn pillows he and his wife craft from scrap cotton that they buy from Tondo's junk shops. "We need a small house that can't be taken from us and any job for an old man like me," said Sumaya, when asked what message he would send to the global leaders meeting under extra heavy security in a convention center 11 kilometers (7 miles) away by Manila Bay. He and his family, the poorest of the poor, have fallen through the cracks in a Southeast Asian country where more than a fourth of about 100 million people had been mired in poverty for decades. Millions more in the middle class have left the Philippines in search of menial jobs overseas. President Benigno Aquino III has vowed to fight poverty and corruption during a six-year term that ends in June. His government says poverty levels have decreased a few notches under his watch. Officials credit an improving economy and a cash-transfer program that doles out money to more than 4 million indigent families upon conditions such as ensuring their children have regular medical checkups and don't skip school. Aquino and his officials, however, acknowledge that poverty remains a formidable dilemma. In the wider Asia Pacific region, Obama and other heads of state worry that robust growth has eased poverty but not eliminated it. They are also concerned about the effects of rising inequality. "Despite the unprecedented economic growth that has lifted millions of people out of poverty, it continues to be a reality for millions of others in the region," APEC leaders said in a summit statement seen by The Associated Press before its official release. "We call for more intensive efforts for its reduction and eradication." As the theme-setting summit host, the Philippines has focused this year's APEC talks on how the region of about three billion people could foster "inclusive growth." It's also promoting support for small businesses, many provide employment and power local economies. But opponents argue the APEC agenda of liberalizing trade further strengthens wealthy nations at the expense of developing countries, who largely can only compete in low-wage industries such as garment manufacturing. That was a central theme in the rowdy protests, mostly by labor and farmer groups, which dogged APEC and police on Thursday in Manila. "If you stay just in your hotels and the convention center and the classy malls, you'll be seeing only one percent of the Philippines," said a protest leader Teddy Casino. "I invite you to visit nearby communities or even just cross the street and you'll see the truth that's being hidden from you." While poverty remains in the region, free trade policies that APEC has advocated since its 1989 founding have helped about half a billion people rise from poverty to the middle class, said Alan Bollard, executive director of APEC's Singapore-based secretariat. "We are all concerned, I think, in every economy about inequalities," Bollard said. Asian nations not members of APEC have significantly lower incomes, higher poverty and problems with providing education and basic utilities such as electricity, said Eduardo Pedrosa of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. The most remarkable reductions in poverty since the 1980s have been in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. But at the same time, Malaysia, the Philippines and China have had big increases in inequality. At Smokey Mountain, Sumaya's village affords a commanding view of a placid Manila Bay with ships anchored off a busy port, where cranes constantly shift stacks of cargo containers. The scene reminds Juanita Espinosa, a neighbor of Sumaya, how far they have been left behind. "If I were in business like them, my life wouldn't be like this. My children would be in school and my grandchildren can finish their studies," said Espinosa, a 56-year-old laundrywoman. "But how can that happen?" she asked, suppressing a giggle. "I don't even have fare money to go and apply for a job and when they hand me the form, with the little that I know, how can I ever fill that up?" The post Behind Pomp of APEC Summit, Crushing Poverty Endures appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Fake Pesticides Endanger Crops and Human Health in India Posted: 19 Nov 2015 10:01 PM PST Kashmiri farmers harvest paddy crops on the outskirts of Srinagar, September 14, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) FARIDABAD, India — Millions of unsuspecting Indian farmers are spraying fake pesticides onto their fields, contaminating soil, cutting crop yields and putting both food security and human health at risk in the country of 1.25 billion people. The use of spurious pesticides has exacerbated losses in the genetically modified (GM) cotton crop in northern India after an attack by whitefly, a pest, officials said. If unchecked, some of India's roughly US$26 billion in annual farm exports could be hit. Made secretly and given names that sometimes resemble the original, counterfeits account for up to 30 percent of the $4 billion pesticide market, according to a government-endorsed study. And they are gaining market share in what is the world's No.4 pesticide maker and sixth biggest exporter. Influential dealers in small towns peddle high-margin fake products to gullible farmers, in turn hurting established firms like Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, DuPont , BASF, PI Industries, Rallis India and Excel Crop Care. "We are illiterate farmers; we seek advice from the vendor and just spray on the crop," said Harbans Singh, a farmer in Punjab's Bathinda region, whose three-acre (1.2-hectare) GM cotton crop was damaged by whitefly this year. "It's a double loss when you see the crop wilting away and your money is spent on pesticides that don't work." But S.N. Sushil, who heads India's top pesticide testing laboratory in Faridabad, near Delhi, said farmers panic at the first sight of a pest attack. As a result, they overuse chemicals, reducing their effectiveness and raising costs. Sushil's team worked overtime after Punjab sent nearly 1,000 samples of suspect pesticides following the whitefly outbreak, finding some to be falsely labelled. Indian officials tested nearly 50,000 pesticide samples last fiscal year, finding around 3 percent of them "misbranded", Sushil said. He added the government was increasing inspections and looking to increase penalties, including jail terms of up to 10 years. Toxic Racket Lax laws, which punish by revoking licenses or imposing short jail terms for offenders, and staffing shortages compromise efforts to track and seize substandard products. Toxic pesticides that are banned abroad continue, meanwhile, to be sold freely in India. India still permits the use of monocrotophos, a pesticide blamed for the death of 23 children in Bihar in 2013 after they ate contaminated free school lunches. That tragedy prompted the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to advise developing countries to phase out such chemicals. "Use of excessive pesticides has been a cause for concern for quite some time," said Shyam Khadka, FAO's India representative. "Now if they turn out to be spurious it's a cause for even greater worry." Chronic exposure to pesticides can lead to depression, a factor in suicides, he said. Pesticides can also cause cancer. In recent years the European Union and Saudi Arabia temporarily stopped buying some vegetables from India after finding pesticide residues in produce. Indian officials say such cases result from the overuse of chemicals. Rapid Growth in Fakes India's fake pesticide industry is expanding at 20 percent per year while the overall market is growing at 12 percent. "We know that a racket is going on," said P.K. Chakrabarty, an assistant director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research. "But it is only when suspicion arises that people go to inspect." He also said illegal chemicals are imported "under the garb of good material," and that there was a "definite risk" of some fake pesticides being exported from India, although there was no evidence yet. "Theoretically it becomes a risk, but practically there are checks and balances," said Gantakolla Srivastava, CEO of CropLife India, an association of the top pesticide companies operating in the country. Knock Offs Karnataka state authorities this month seized large stocks of "Korajen," an illegal copy of DuPont's Coragen used to kill rice pests. Police are investigating similar cases elsewhere, DuPont said. Punjab has also filed police cases against fake pesticide makers and arrested a senior official at its agriculture university for allowing the sale of counterfeits. Apart from counterfeiting, India is also grappling with rising cases of unmonitored chemicals passed off as herbal pesticides, said Srivastava. India loses about 4 percent, or over 10 million tons, of food output a year due to fake pesticides, said the government-backed study. "There has been a trend of increasing consumption of [fake] products as against the regular ones," said Manish Panchal of Tata Strategic Management Group that conducted the study. "All stakeholders should be worried … it's going to hit food security." Last year spurious fungicides cut apple production in Jammu and Kashmir state, while farming lobbyists have linked recent farmer suicides in Odisha to fake pesticides. Some producers say they have been wrongly targeted by government laboratories. Coromandel Agrico, for example, was accused of selling falsely labelled products. Tests that found it selling pesticides in incorrect dosages were inaccurate, said Vipin Bisht, the company's regulatory affairs officer. "We will not take the risk of selling sub-standard products," Bisht said. "The problem is at the dealer/distributor level. Similar sounding products are made, mixed, sold." The post Fake Pesticides Endanger Crops and Human Health in India appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Philippine Senator Poe Widens Lead in Presidential Opinion Polls Posted: 19 Nov 2015 09:54 PM PST Supporters display a banner of opposition presidential candidate Grace Poe, who is running for the May 2016 national elections, outside the Commission on Elections in Manila, October 15, 2015. (Photo: Ezra Acayan / Reuters) MANILA — A Philippine senator abandoned in a church when a baby has widened her lead as the top contender to succeed President Benigno Aquino at elections next May, an opinion poll showed on Friday. The election will be closely watched by investors, who fear the political succession in one of Asia's fastest growing economies could derail gains made during Aquino's rule. Grace Poe, 47, was the top-rated candidate among 39 percent of respondents in an October survey whose results were published in the Manila Times newspaper, up from 26 percent in a September poll. Vice President Jejomar Binay came second with 24 percent, a slight increase from 19 percent in September, while Aquino's choice as successor, former interior minister Manuel Roxas, was third with 21 percent. Poe, the adopted daughter of a late popular movie action hero, this week defeated a legal bid to unseat her from the Senate because she was not a Philippine citizen, boosting her chance to win other cases seeking to block her presidential run. The poll result showed people had not been swayed by the negative propaganda against Poe, her spokesman said. "Instead, the Filipino public decided to focus on the message of good governance, inclusive growth and improving competitiveness of our industries," Rex Garchalian told broadcaster GMA News. The result cements Poe's position as front-runner to become the third woman leader of the poor Southeast Asian state. Poe was adopted by a popular movie star couple, but her election as a senator was challenged by a losing candidate who queried her citizenship, since her natural parents were unknown. An electoral tribunal voted to junk the petition on Tuesday. Aquino, in power since 2010, is barred under the constitution from seeking a second term. Under his leadership, the Philippines has seen economic growth of more than 6 percent on average, its best five-year record in four decades. He has also battled to rein in corruption. About 54 million Filipinos will be eligible to vote to choose a president, vice president and more than 18,000 local government executives and lawmakers in the general elections, which take place every six years. The post Philippine Senator Poe Widens Lead in Presidential Opinion Polls appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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