The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Suu Kyi Thanks Trishaw Drivers for Election Support in Rangoon
• Dozens Feared Dead after Another Landslide in Hpakant
• UN Rights Envoy: ‘When You Gain Power, You Can’t Just Change Things Overnight’
• Student Activist Arrested in Mandalay for Mid-Year Graffiti Protest
• The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Dec. 26, 2015)

Suu Kyi Thanks Trishaw Drivers for Election Support in Rangoon Posted: 26 Dec 2015 01:18 AM PST Aung San Suu Kyi addresses trishaw drivers during a meeting in Rangoon on Saturday. (Photo: Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Top leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), including Aung San Suu Kyi, met with around 170 trishaw drivers in Rangoon on Saturday to convey the party's appreciation for their support during the election campaign. Suu Kyi praised the drivers' spirited backing during the party's ultimately successful election campaign, during which trishaw drivers, many sporting NLD flags or other party paraphernalia, were a ubiquitous presence on the streets of the commercial capital and at various political rallies. After party patron Tin Oo opened proceedings on Saturday, the NLD chairwoman delivered a 20 minute speech before taking questions and hearing feedback from workers in the three-wheeled profession. "Good ideas don't only come from experts but also from people working on the ground," Suu Kyi said. Given the floor, several drivers detailed various difficulties of the vocation, including licensing issues, questions of legality over categories of vehicle, financial, housing and educational issues. Many drivers also spoke out over the need to form a union to support and defend workers' interests. Suu Kyi replied that issues of education and housing would need to be addressed nationwide. She said the establishment of a drivers' association should be straightforward and that the licensing issue would be tackled by the relevant authorities next year. The NLD leader also asked the drivers' opinion on Rangoon's now notorious traffic congestion, to which one worker, Tha Aung, replied: "I would like to say mother Suu, Rangoon has too many cars." The post Suu Kyi Thanks Trishaw Drivers for Election Support in Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Dozens Feared Dead after Another Landslide in Hpakant Posted: 26 Dec 2015 01:05 AM PST Trucks are seen at a dump site at a Hpakant mine in Kachin State, November 25, 2015. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) Dozens of people were feared dead in Burma after a landslide hit a jade mining region, workers at a local mining firm said, the second such incident in just over a month. The landslide took place on Friday in Hpakant in the country's northern Kachin State, a rugged region sandwiched between China and India and the heart of Burma's multi-billion dollar jade industry controlled by its powerful military. "We heard about 50 people were buried in the collapsed dump and four or five bodies were found this morning," Sai Lon, who works at a jade mining company in the area, told Reuters on Saturday. Police in Hpakant, in Mohnyin district, said the landslide took place on Friday afternoon but that they could not confirm casualties. "We haven't heard anything from the rescue team yet," said a duty officer at Hpakant Township Police Station who declined to be named. On Nov. 22, a massive landslide in the same mountainous area in Kachin State killed 114 people. The area produces some of the world's highest-quality jade. Deaths in Burma's jade mines, where small time prospectors and massive firms vie for the precious stone, underscore the sector's lax safety rules and lack of accountability. Much of the jade mined in Hpakant is believed to be smuggled to neighboring China, where the green stone is highly prized and is widely believed to bring wealth and longevity. About 800 jade mining firms operate around the town, but activity is dominated by about 10 firms, mostly Chinese-led ventures, according to the Ministry of Mines. Miners have been tearing into Burma's northern hills in recent months, in a rush to excavate more jade from the world's richest deposits of the gemstone before a new government, which has promised clean governance, takes office next year. The rush has led to thousands of ethnic villagers being forced off their land. The newly elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said last month it plans to tighten control over jade mines. A US ban on Burmese jade remains in place over concerns that jade mining benefits military figures and fuels corruption and rights abuses, despite Washington easing most of its ban on imports from the country after a quasi-civilian government took power in 2011 following five decades of military dictatorship. The post Dozens Feared Dead after Another Landslide in Hpakant appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UN Rights Envoy: ‘When You Gain Power, You Can’t Just Change Things Overnight’ Posted: 25 Dec 2015 08:36 PM PST UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Yanghee Lee, in Rangoon on Aug. 7, 2015. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) Yanghee Lee, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, is planning to make her fourth official visit to the country before the term of the outgoing government ends early next year. Lee's last fact-finding mission in August was cut short by five days and access was denied to western Burma's Arakan State—restrictions the South Korean child rights expert described at the time as hindering her ability to fulfill her mandate. With 2015 drawing to a close, The Irrawaddy spoke with Lee about Burma's recent general election, her expectations of a new National League for Democracy-led government and rights issues including ongoing conflict and political prisoners. Firstly, when is your next official visit to Burma planned and what are your expectations this time around? I'm planning on going there within the next two months. I would like to go there before the government changes hands, before Thein Sein retires from his office, so that I will be able to reiterate some past issues and past points. Also so that President Thein Sein will still be able to fulfill the promises that he made when he took office in terms of human rights issues… My report to the Human Rights Council is due in March, that's my mandate. I would like to engage again and go to Myanmar and see [the situation] firsthand before I complete my report. Were you heartened by the conduct of what was broadly regarded as a credible election? And how have you viewed the early stages of the transition process so far? I really was heartened by the election process. We had many concerns—both the people of Myanmar and the international community did. There definitely were some disappointments and some regrets, but by far it was relatively fair and free, although not in absolute terms. This transition process—it's too early to know, but so far I think it's going OK. However, it took a while for the president and commander-in-chief to finally meet with Daw Suu. I don't know why it took them a few weeks to finally meet. Aung San Suu Kyi has been clear on her party not seeking retribution for the past. From a human rights perspective, how do you balance political pragmatism with calls for justice and accountability for past abuses? That's always a very difficult choice. I stick by justice, accountability and truth, but you have to be aware of the 50 years of oppressive dictatorship. To say otherwise, at the very beginning of a transition or right after a landslide election, to emphasize truth and accountability… I don't know how far cooperation would go. Daw Suu has had first-hand experience, being under house arrest for so long… So I think she's trying to be balanced and tread the waters as best she can. Some have questioned the extent to which the NLD can institute change and reign in abuses given the entrenched position of the military. What are your expectations of an NLD-led government in terms of addressing long-standing human rights concerns? Are you optimistic? I have to be optimistic and I think this time there's so much focus and attention from the outside world that what happened in 1990 will not happen this time. I would like to emphasize that this is particularly why we need continued international attention on Myanmar because of so much entrenched oppression and violations and also vis-à-vis the ongoing conflict areas. Some people think that now everything will be hunky dory, that we will conduct trade and [build] relations with Myanmar. But we have to remember that the military has a very strong hold on most of the business sector, at least most of the major, noteworthy, big revenue-generating businesses—or their cronies do. So it will be very important for the international community to continue to pay attention and still pressure the military. We are not only dealing with a new government, we are also dealing with the old military stronghold. How might the way you pursue your mandate change under an NLD-led government? It will not change at all. The major government interlocutors will change, but the civil society will still be there and my utmost priority, as it always has been, is to be fair and impartial and yet I have to really hone in on my monitoring of human right abuses and violations in all spectrums. It's not just civil and political rights but also economic, social and cultural rights… From the day I took up my mandate, I did not slow down the pace from the previous mandate. I immediately said, I have to call a spade a spade, and I was not welcomed, of course, by the current government… I will still do the same with the new NLD government. It would be naïve for me or anybody to say that now the NLD is in power that all of the human rights violations and abuses will disappear overnight, because they won't. The new government will start with very good intentions. They were the recipients of decades of oppression. But when you're in politics, when you gain power, you can't just change things overnight. Some things will be prioritized more for various reasons. It will be my job to engage and cooperate with this new government to ensure human rights issues are at the forefront. We all know that economic development will be the top priority in any country when a new government comes in; to make the country rich and the people prosper. That could put human rights issues on the backburner. You mentioned ongoing conflict, could you comment on the military's recent offensives in central Shan State against the Shan State Army-North and how this reflects on the "nationwide" ceasefire agreement and the political process? I'm keeping a very close eye on developments in Shan. I'm really concerned on how it's evolving. There are still 3,000 IDPs from the recent conflict and they want to go back to their homes and their livelihoods. And of course Kachin State is another area that I'm keeping my radar on. The political process could be real and I certainly hope [conflict doesn't affect it] because then we're going to go back to day one again after so many years of trying for this national ceasefire agreement. There's still military offensives going on and I've been hearing of looting of villagers [in Shan State] and how the villagers are still terrified of the Burmese army. These sorts of things should not continue. Ensuring the release of political prisoners will be a key expectation of the new government. Could you explain the steps needed to ensure against politically motivated cases in the future? I was hoping that before this government leaves, they release the remaining political prisoners. We should push for that—[although] an amnesty means that these people were indeed criminals, but in the first place they should not have been arrested. In the future, in terms of preventing more political prisoners, it has to start with repealing and amending old repressive laws. It's not going to be an overnight process. With oppressive laws like the penal code and sections of the Constitution which are not in line with international standards, it's so easy to have more people arrested on political motivations in the future… As long as the old laws are on the books, it's so easy to use them against people. Could you comment on the various defamation cases that have recently been brought to trial, such as the case of activist Patrick Khum Jaa Lee? I think this is the job of the new Parliament, from day one. There's no breaking in period, I think they need to start [immediately] to look at some of the oppressive laws that prohibit or hinder the realization of fundamental rights. I was very troubled by these cases. Social media is a new frontier and I've been concerned how the Myanmar government would handle this; whether they would scrutinize and monitor all social media and invade people's privacy. If more cases pile up, that would be very troubling. What were your reflections on Burma's Universal Periodic Review held in November in terms of the government's engagement with the process, their report and their response to recommendations? They were prompt—and of course no country is late—in submitting their report to the UPR cycle. The civil society consultations I don't think were adequate. It was very regrettable that it took place in the wake of the elections, it was terrible timing. What could they say and what could they not say? But I was really disappointed that many of the points they rejected were those core recommendations made by their peer groups. Such as violence and discrimination against ethnic minorities, the citizenship law, Rakhine issues, legislation issues and the recruitment of child soldiers. The NLD did not field any Muslim candidates in the election and has been accused of failing to speak out for the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority in Arakan State. Is the party's willingness or ability to tackle anti-Muslim sentiment and discrimination a concern? That's a very political question and I've been trying to think this through, even months before the election campaign started. I'm trying to see the other side, what kind of logic or reasons they had for not fielding any Muslim candidates. The political sentiment there, the temperature, was escalating. Ma Ba Tha was very strong and the division between religion and the state was [blurred]. Had the NLD fielded any [Muslim] candidates, what might have happened? Why didn't they still go ahead and field some candidates? … It's my role to emphasize to the new government that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international treaties that Myanmar is a party to, mean they have to comply with provisions regarding non-discrimination. The post UN Rights Envoy: 'When You Gain Power, You Can't Just Change Things Overnight' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Student Activist Arrested in Mandalay for Mid-Year Graffiti Protest Posted: 25 Dec 2015 07:21 PM PST The three released student protesters from Yadanabon University outside Mandalay's Obo Prison on Dec. 22. (Photo: Min Htet Nyein Chan / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — A student activist from Mandalay was arrested on Friday for spray-painting anti-government slogans on the grounds of Yadanabon University almost six months ago, the student's friend told The Irrawaddy. Ye Yint Paing Hmu allegedly took part in spray-painting messages calling on the government to resign and demanding the release of students and their supporters detained during the nationwide demonstrations against the National Education Law earlier this year. "He called us and said the police are sending him to Obo Prison and we have lost contact since then," said Kaung Zaw Hein, a friend of the accused. Four students were arrested in July over the protest and found guilty of unlawful assembly and incitement charges. Three of the students were released on Tuesday, while Naing Ye Wai, president of the Yadanabon University Student Union, is serving an additional three months and remains in prison. On Thursday, the three released students, Aung San Oo, Jit Tu and Nyan Lin Htet, said they had been barred from reenrolling at Yadanabon University. The post Student Activist Arrested in Mandalay for Mid-Year Graffiti Protest appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Dec. 26, 2015) Posted: 25 Dec 2015 07:15 PM PST Qatari telecommunications firm Ooredoo has announced it will partner with the MySQUAR Burmese language messaging app. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) Mobile Money Transfer Service Awaiting New Central Bank Rules: Report A new mobile money transfer service is set to launch as soon as Burma's Central Bank issues new regulations, according to a report this week on the website Deal Street Asia. The service, Wave Money, is a joint venture between leader private telecommunications provider Telenor of Norway and Yoma Bank, one of the biggest financial institutions in the country and part of Burmese tycoon Serge Pun's business empire. Expectations are high for the beginning of mobile money services in Burma, where until last year mobile phone SIMs were only affordable to a few people. In other countries where few people use formal banking services, mobile money transfer services have been hugely popular for paying for services and transferring money to family members or friends. Wave Money's website is already live, boasting a service that will enable Telenor users—about 12 million people—to "transfer money anywhere anytime." "You can transfer money safely through your mobile phone or from one of your trusted neighborhood Wave Shop agents," it says. "Wave Money offers you instant, safe and convenient way of sending and receiving money, bringing financial inclusion to all." But the launch of the service will depend on Central Bank approval, according to Deal Street Asia. Bank deputy governor Set Aung has said new regulations on mobile money are coming "very soon," according to the website's report. Deal Street Asia reported that the service has already undergone testing and is ready to be launched. The report included quotes from Wave Money CEO Brad Jones, who said simple mobile money transfers would be the first service offered "but we do see the potential future services including the airtime top-ups, bill payments, international remittance, salary disbursements." "By the end of March [2016], we plan to have about 6000 wave agents. That would include Yangon and upper Myanmar," Jones was quoted saying. Ooredoo Agrees Joint Marketing with Messaging App Firm London-listed company MySQUAR has entered into an agreement with Ooredoo that will see the Qatari mobile phone provider promote the firm's Burmese-language social messaging application, according to an announcement. MySQUAR said in a statement on its website that under the "cross-promotion partnership" Ooredoo "will build MySQUAR's flagship product MyCHAT into its marketing strategy, using the app's local strength to promote its own services." MySQUAR listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market in July, raising about $2.6 million. "MySQUAR anticipates greater recognition and faster increases in its user engagement and acquisition, particularly as part of the promotion is that those who are users of MyCHAT and subscribers of Ooredoo at the same time, will be able to use the MyCHAT app free of internet charges, and the MyCHAT app will be downloadable via Ooredoo's portal (zone.ooredoo.com.mm) without internet charges, allowing MyCHAT to engage with a large number users visiting Ooredoo's app store," the statement said. Thai Firm Hints at Involvement in Industrial Estate for Dawei Thai industrial estates owner Amata Corporation is looking at developing an industrial estate project inside Burma, according to comments made by a senior official at the group. Bangkok-based English-language newspaper The Nation reported on Tuesday the comments, which indicate that the firm might get involved in the plans for an industrial development close to the town of Dawei in Tenasserim Division. The long-stalled plan to build a port and special economic zone has been given a boost recently by the involvement of the Japanese government as a source of funding. Amata runs a major industrial zone at Chonburi, close to Bangkok, as well as an industrial park in nearby Rayong and another in Bien Hoa, Vietnam. The company was founded by Sino-Thai tycoon Vikrom Kromadit and is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. According to The Nation, the CEO of Amata's Vietnam division, Somhathai Panichewa, said the firm wanted to increase its presence in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region beyond Thailand's borders. "We are considering developing an industrial-estate project in a small town in Myanmar next to Kanchanaburi, west of Thailand," Somhathai reportedly said. Kanchanaburi province borders on Tenasserim division, where a road is under construction to link Dawei to the Thai border. "She added that the details of its plan should materialize in April after the political situation in Myanmar is stable," the report said. "If it is feasible, the group will invest via another of its subsidiaries registered in Singapore." Japanese Firm to Build $15 million Concrete Factory in Rangoon Japanese industrial conglomerate IHI Corporation is set to build a $15 million concrete factory in Rangoon, according to a report from Nikkei Asian Review. The company—which makes ships, aircraft and cars, as well as building infrastructure like bridges and power stations—will partner with the Burmese Ministry of Construction for the project, the report said. "The planned factory is to supply foundation piles for a Japanese-led port development in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Yangon," Nikkei Asian Review reported. "Demand is anticipated in other settings as well, including for large buildings developed by the private sector." The report said IHI will contribute 60 percent of the cost of the project, on which work could begin in January. "A start to operations is eyed for September or October, said Kyaw Linn, the ministry’s permanent secretary," it said. "The midsize plant will be able to produce 77,000 tons of high-strength precast concrete annually." Best Western Opens Hotel in Mandalay US-based firm Best Western Hotels and Resorts has opened a hotel in Mandalay, its third location in Burma after entering the country in 2013. The company has already opened two hotels in Rangoon, and says it plans to expand further in the country. International hoteliers have been expanding operations since the country's political and economic reforms began, ushering in an era of higher tourist arrivals. Government officials have said that the country is on track to receive 5 million international visitors in 2015, although that includes business visitors and many day trippers who only visit Burma briefly in excursions across the Thai border. A press release this month said the "modern midscale hotel" was located in central Mandalay, and includes a spa, swimming pool and a restaurant. “Best Western was one of the first international hotel groups to enter Myanmar following its re-emergence on the international stage, and I am delighted to be able to leverage our first-mover advantage with yet another superb hotel in the country," Best Western's managing director of international operations for Asia, Olivier Berrivin, was quoted saying in the press release. "With Myanmar’s recent elections having passed off peacefully and successfully, this charming and alluring country is set for another prolonged period of prosperity," Berrivin added. The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Dec. 26, 2015) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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