AllSBNews: The Irrawaddy Magazine

Thursday, July 14, 2016

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Rangoon Govt Orders Safety Modifications to High-Rise Buildings Under Construction
Suu Kyi and Committee Stakeholders Discuss Challenges in Arakan State
Religious Affairs Minister Says No Monk is Above the Law
Journalists, Farmer Fined Under Defamation Charge
In Western Burma, a Town Ravaged by the Drugs Trade

Rangoon Govt Orders Safety Modifications to High-Rise Buildings Under Construction

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 07:11 AM PDT

An aerial view of Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Despite complaints from developers, a review committee for the construction of high-rise buildings has ordered safety modifications to 12 structures, stating that failure to follow Rangoon's updated urban planning standards could cause harm to the city and its residents.

This week the Rangoon divisional government ordered the developers of the buildings to reduce the height of their projects, adhere to original car park designs, and improve safety on-site.

The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) has ordered the suspended construction of a total of more than 200 high-rise buildings—classified as structures with at least nine stories—since May. In June, they formed a 13-member committee, largely made up of architects and engineers, who started their work by reviewing and inspecting the 12 high-rise projects in question, which range in height from just over 12 to 29 stories.

They submitted their findings and recommendations to the regional government earlier this month. Another 185 buildings are currently being reviewed.

Ye Min Oo, the review committee's spokesperson, told The Irrawaddy that many of the buildings currently under construction or slated for future construction are not in line with Rangoon's urban planning standards.

"We understand that developers were hurt to some extent by the review. We took every step [of the] review very carefully and seriously, as the chief minister told us that a loss for the developers is the country's loss, because they are our nationals," he said on Thursday.

But, Ye Min Oo said, during the review process, the committee found that some buildings had not followed the original proposed designs, and could therefore be dangerous or simply problematic.

"We found out that there were not enough car parking spaces. [Another] one of the 20-story buildings has a 3-foot-wide strip of land adjoining it. In the case of a fire, this could be a problem," he pointed out as examples.

Nyan Myat Min's ongoing 29-story Kabaraye Executive Residence on Kabaraye Pagoda Road was one of the 12 buildings under review and ordered to be modified. The director of Living Square Construction—the developer responsible—said that they have been told to halt the construction of the building at its current height of 18 stories.

"They said we need to resubmit car parking [plans], but we have set car parking for 245 vehicles, which is more than the requirement of 220 cars," he said.

"We've been following the rules [set] by the YCDC. We had to wait at least three years to get permission. Now it's really harming us," he added.

"All of our structures, drawings and everything has been approved by technicians as well as by the members of CQHP [Committee for Quality Control of High-Rise Building Projects]," Nyan Myat Min said. "We've not been told by the YCDC about the road-to-building ratio since then, so now, when they change it, it's really a shock for us," he said.

Ye Min Oo said the committee's process is quite transparent—even the president of the Construction Entrepreneurs Association is among the committee members, and recommendations were submitted after approval from all members.

"We know the developers followed the rules. But they are no longer in line with urban planning standards today. That's why the committee is reviewing the buildings—to make Rangoon a beautiful, safe, sustainable urban system," he explained, outlining the high-rise review committee's goals.

The 12 high-rise construction projects in question involve buildings with 12.5, 18, 19, 23, 27 and 29 stories, respectively. The investigation into these buildings extends to Kyeemindaing, Ahlone, Botahtaung, Bahan, Tamwe, Hlaing, Insein, Mayangone and Yankin townships.

According to the YCDC, the previous Rangoon divisional government and municipal council had given "initial approval" for proposals to more than 200 high rise buildings from 2013 until March 31 of this year.

The post Rangoon Govt Orders Safety Modifications to High-Rise Buildings Under Construction appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Suu Kyi and Committee Stakeholders Discuss Challenges in Arakan State

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 06:11 AM PDT

Aung San Suu Kyi convenes a meeting in Naypyidaw with Arakan State Chief Minister Nyi Pu and other Union ministers in May 2016. (Photo: Myanmar State Counselor's Office)

RANGOON — As head of the Central Committee for Arakan State Peace, Stability and Development, Aung San Suu Kyi invited stakeholders to discuss on Thursday in Naypyidaw the challenges they face when implementing local development projects, according to a statement from the State Counselor's Office.

Arakan State suffers from severe underdevelopment after decades of neglect under former military-led governments, but at the forefront of the talks was the citizenship verification process and National Verification Cards (NVCs), which were handed out to those who would be scrutinized for citizenship eligibility under the 1982 Citizenship Law at a later date.

At the center of the NVC conflict are those who self-identify as Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority, who have refused to accept the cards because the bearer's religion and and ethnicity is not stated on them.

The citizenship verification program is an extension of the Rakhine State Action Plan, unveiled under the former government in 2014 in response to the violence between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012 and 2013. As originally conceived, Arakan State's Rohingya population was only permitted to apply for citizenship on the condition that they self-identified as "Bengali," a term which implies that they have migrated from neighboring Bangladesh.

Thein Swe, minister of labor, immigration and population, said that the ministry has issued about 2,000 NVCs. He added that scrutinization would occur and security issues would be addressed in the coming months before national registration cards would be handed out.

Suu Kyi said that divisional progress should be tracked through practical gains, and that in order to issue NVCs, trust must first be gained by participants, citizens and the international community.

Lt-Col Kyaw Swe said in order for the NVC project to work, there must be mutual understanding as well as job opportunities available locally.

During the meeting, Arakan State Chief Minister Nyi Pu brought up social welfare, resettlement activities and recent natural disasters in several townships. Ye Aung, minister of border and security affairs, drew attention to over 140 requirements needed to address rural development in Arakan State's townships.

At the conclusion of the meeting, State Counselor Suu Kyi stated that collaboration between the Union government and the Arakan state government was crucial for the quick implementation of development projects.

Various Union-level ministers, permanent secretaries, the attorney general and the Arakan State chief minister attended the meeting in Naypyidaw.

The post Suu Kyi and Committee Stakeholders Discuss Challenges in Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Religious Affairs Minister Says No Monk is Above the Law

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 04:29 AM PDT

Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs Speaks to the media at the 10th national conference of Burma's Sangha. (Photo: Pyay Kyaw / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Extremist Buddhist monk Wirathu could be charged if someone were to complain to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, said Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs Aung Ko, who also criticized Ma Ba Tha for "making problems with other religions."

He said that those charging Wirathu or other extremist monks would need to have "evidence" that a law had been violated.

The State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, popularly known by the Burmese-language acronym "Ma Ha Na," is a government-appointed clerical council that oversees Buddhist monastic discipline in Burma.

Wirathu, and the ultra-nationalist monks association Ma Ba Tha that he belongs to, have fronted hate campaigns against Muslims in Burma, and lobbied successfully last year for the passage of four "Protection of Race and Religion" laws—restricting religious conversion, religious intermarriage, polygamy and childbirth—widely interpreted as targeting Muslims.

On Tuesday, Ma Ha Na announced that Ma Ba Tha was not a "lawful monks' association" because "it was not formed in accordance with the country's monastic rules."

Aung Ko was speaking to reporters on the second day of the 10th national conference of Burma's Sangha (monkhood), convened by Ma Ha Na in the grounds of Rangoon's Kabaraye Pagoda. The minister had briefly joined one of the morning sessions.

"I do not want to attack anyone personally," Aung Ko said. "I am just saying to any monk that, if you or anyone else violates the law, we will take action against you."

The minister said that if anyone were to come to Ma Ha Na with a complaint against a monk using hate speech, and were to supply evidence including voice recordings, the Ma Ha Na would instruct their members to investigate and take necessary action.

Aung Ko added that that if Ma Ba Tha—whose full name translates as the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion—kept "making problems with other religions," disturbing the peace and flouting Buddhist "discipline," the government would "take action against them according to the existing laws."

He confirmed that Wirathu, who frequently speaks on behalf of Ma Ba Tha, would be charged if someone were to file a legitimate complaint against him.

The minister lamented that the actions of "some extremist people" had led to criticism of Buddhism in Burma from other countries. He said that, by co-existing with the other religious, Burmese Buddhism could demonstrate its peacefulness.

He compared existing religious pluralism in Burma—evident in the "mosques, churches and Hindu temples" sitting alongside Buddhist pagodas in downtown Rangoon—favorably with that of "extremist countries," which "do not let other religions exist alongside 'their' religion."

He said that, if they were to "work together" with the government based on "friendship and justice," and support peace and national reconciliation between ethnic groups, Ma Ba Tha could reclaim their dignity.

The minister also mentioned a new Hate Speech law—which would criminalize verbal attacks on other religions—being developed in consultation with "interfaith groups" comprising members of Burma's various religious communities. Such as law, whose precise contents are not yet known to the public, would empower ordinary citizens to report discriminatory speech, he said.

At an evening press conference the same day, Rangoon Division Religious Affairs Minister Tun Nyunt reiterated Aung Ko's words encouraging anyone to sue members of Ma Ba Tha if they had legitimate grounds. However, Tun Nyunt suggested that complainants be directed to police stations rather than Ma Ha Na.

"If you have found that [Ma Ba Tha members] have violated laws, you can file charges directly at a police station. Civilian courts should punish them. You do not need to go to Ma Ha Na. However, if they violate the discipline of the Sangha, our Ma Ha Na will take action. Everyone has the right to charge them," said Tun Nyunt.

Asked by The Irrawaddy whether Ma Ba Tha would be deemed an "illegal organization," the divisional minister said, "The government will investigate whether Ma Ba Tha was formed within the law and the 2008 Constitution. If not, they will be declared illegal."

The post Religious Affairs Minister Says No Monk is Above the Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Journalists, Farmer Fined Under Defamation Charge

Posted: 13 Jul 2016 09:47 PM PDT

The two journalists and farmer charged with defamation are pictured at Thaegon Township Court. (Photo: Kaung Myat Min / The Irrawaddy)

PYAY, Pegu Division — A farmer, a former reporter and an editor from The Ladies Journal were each handed fines of 20,000 kyats (around US$17) by a local court in Pegu Division's Thaegon Township on Tuesday after being charged with defamation over a news story.

The Vol. 1 No. (81) of The Ladies Journal issued in the last week of September 2013 featured a news story which alleged that a retired lieutenant colonel had confiscated land in Thaegon Township on the false pretext of building an airport, before selling it off in plots instead.

Following the publication of the article, Lt-Col Khin Maung Win, the retired officer in question, sued then-resident reporter Maung Me and then-editor Ko Sai Sai, as well as Pyone Cho, the farmer who was quoted in the story.

The trial started in September 2013, and after over 50 court appearances spanning 2 1/2 years, the three accused were finally sentenced on Tuesday, with a choice between a fine of 20,000 kyats each or six months' imprisonment; they paid the fine.

Ko Sai Sai, the former editor of The Ladies Journal, restated his innocence, saying that he had had no intention of personally attacking the retired officer, but had published the article because it included information that he felt the public had a right to know.

"I don't think the court decision is fair even though it is just a fine," Ko Sai Sai said. "It is ridiculous to charge the media with defamation, I think. In my view, we can even write [against] the president when there is a truth that people should know."

This is the second case of punishment handed to journalists under the country's civilian-led government; during the first week in June, a Mandalay-based reporter working for the BBC's Burmese-language news service was sentenced to three months' imprisonment—with hard labor—on police assault charges.

In the last week of June, the Burma Army filed a lawsuit against the 7 Day Daily local news outlet over a story which included former general Shwe Mann's message to graduates of the Defense Services Academy urging them to work with the country's newly-elected democratic government. Later, the military dropped the lawsuit.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Journalists, Farmer Fined Under Defamation Charge appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In Western Burma, a Town Ravaged by the Drugs Trade

Posted: 13 Jul 2016 08:25 PM PDT

After receiving a tip-off, police in Kalay, Sagaing Division, caught a man with 1.2 grams of heroin and a bottle containing a few methamphetamine tablets. (Photo: Swe Win / Myanmar Now)

KALAY, Sagaing Region — On a cloudy afternoon in June, Lt Bo Bo Win Htut and several officers of Kalay Police Station were hiding in the long grass near a bridge outside of the Sagaing Division trading town.

Dressed in plain clothes, and with backup provided by a local armed militia and members of the civil service, they waited to ambush a small-time drug dealer heading to Tamu, a town on Burma's western border with northeast India located some 80 km from Kalay.

As dusk fell, a middle-aged man and a young man on a motorcycle covered with mud popped up and crossed the bridge. With his hand on the pistol in his waist, Bo Bo Win Htut jumped onto the road and blocked the bike. Other officers simultaneously surrounded the two and then handcuffed them.

"Give it up openly, if you have any material," said the officer, but the men did not respond.

Maung Maung, 45, was found to be carrying 1.2 grams of low-grade heroin and a bottle of what appeared to be methamphetamine pills. The young man on the bike, a 21-year-old university student named Aung Kyaw Kaung, was also taken in.

After receiving a tip-off, police in Kalay, Sagaing Division, caught a man with 1.2 grams of heroin and a bottle containing a few methamphetamine tablets. (Photo: Swe Win / Myanmar Now)

After quickly questioning the detained, police sped off to West Khone Thar Village, located on Kalay's outskirts, to find a man who allegedly provided the confiscated drugs. At 8 pm, they arrested Maung Maung Oo, a man with a criminal record for dealing, but no narcotics were found at his bamboo hut.

It was June 26, the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and Kalay police allowed Myanmar Now reporters to join their operations to show they were combating the rampant narcotics trade in Kalay, a rundown market hub of around 400,000 inhabitants—a mix of Bamar and ethnic Chin—in the mountainous border region.

In other cities that day, top police officers held their annual ceremonies to burn large amounts of seized illicit drugs. In the former capital Yangon, state media reported, US$20 million worth of narcotics was torched in the presence of representatives of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Despite such public shows of intent, Myanmar authorities have long failed to stem the vast, entrenched narcotics trade. In lawless conflict areas in the country's rugged north, pro-government militias, transnational criminal gangs and some ethnic rebel groups produce vast amounts of opium, heroin and methamphetamine that are destined for China, Thailand, India, and the domestic market.

After quickly questioning the detained, police sped off to West Khone Thar Village, located on Kalay's outskirts, to find a man who allegedly provided the confiscated drugs. (Photo: Swe Win / Myanmar Now)

Much of the law enforcement response has focused on arresting drug users and small dealers for illegal possession, which carries stiff penalties under Burma's drug laws.

Asked if they were making gains against the Kalay drug trade, Lt Bo Bo Win Htut sighed and said, "You arrest one dealer, but then ten more pop up."

His officers made about 80 drug-related arrests in the past half-year, he said, adding that because of the mountainous terrain and lack of resources, police struggled to catch any ringleaders.

"The big drug dealers drive land cruisers, but we have only motorbikes," he said. "They know their areas well, but we don't, and the locals there are also not very helpful…If you are unlucky, you could even get shot."

'Heroin is Much Cheaper Here Than Beer'

In the last five to ten years, drug abuse has reached crisis levels among Burma's ethnic communities in Kachin and Shan states, as well as in transport nodes and border towns such as Lashio, Muse, Kalay and Tamu.

Police raid the house of Maung Maung Oo in Western Khone Thar Village near Kalay, Sagaing Division, on June 26. He was arrested earlier for drug possession, but no drugs were found in his home. (Photo: Swe Win / Myanmar Now)

Transnational drug-smuggling routes pass through the towns. Vast amounts of precursor chemicals—such as pseudo-ephedrine, which is used to make methamphetamine—are imported illegally from India and China and flow through the border towns.

In the mountains surrounding Kalay, poverty-stricken ethnic Chin farmers are reportedly also turning to opium poppies to sustain their livelihoods.

On June 26, Maung Maung and his nephew Aung Kyaw Kaung, were taken handcuffed to Kalay Police Station to be photographed, along with the other alleged dealer, Maung Maung Oo. The mother of Aung Kyaw Kaung came to visit him and wept at the sight of her son in handcuffs.

Just eight months before, Maung Maung had been released after serving a prison term for a drug offense. "I used to be a truck driver and got a lot of back pain from my job—that's why I started using drugs and became involved in this business," he told a reporter.

Si Thu Win, an emaciated-looking young man loitering on Kalay's streets, told Myanmar Now later that drug addiction was a widespread problem in Kalay. "You can buy heroin easily here—it's much cheaper than beer," he said, adding that he tried repeatedly to quit drugs but failed.

According to data collected by the UNODC in 2014, there are 1,200 injecting drug users in Kalay, making it one of the cities with highest number of users after Mandalay, Lashio, Yangon, and several towns in Kachin State.

Dr. Htet Myat Soe, a physician at Kalay Hospital who specializes in drug addiction and related psychiatric issues, said 200 addicts receive methadone at the state-run hospital every day in order to wean themselves off heroin and opium.

"The main problem is that when they meet their old friends they tend to relapse," he said.

Police raid the house of Maung Maung Oo in Western Khone Thar Village near Kalay, Sagaing Region, on June 26. He was arrested earlier for drug possession, but no drugs were found in his home. (Photo: Swe Win / Myanmar Now)

Police Net Only 'Small Fry'

According to police records obtained by Myanmar Now, a total of 35,481 people were arrested across the country between 2011 and 2015 on drug-related charges.

One of them was a 38-year-old ethnic Chin man from a village in the mountains around Kalay who only give his name as Thang. He was imprisoned in 2012 for drug trafficking and released last August.

Thang explained in an interview that he was assigned by traffickers to move pseudo-ephedrine coming from India. He would pick up the precursor chemicals at various places around Kalay and bring it to a warehouse.

"Then someone above me would go and carry all of those materials down to Mandalay," he said.

Kalay Prison and the prison labor camps around the city are filled with poor Chin who had become drug users and small dealers like him, Thang said, estimating that more than half the prison population was arrested for drugs.

Maung Maung Oo and his cousin Aung Kyaw Kaung (right), a university student, were arrested for drug possession on June 26. Aung Kyaw’s mother broke into tears when she saw her son at Kalay Police Station. (Photo: Swe Win / Myanmar Now)

Lalremthang, a Chin community activist, said poverty among her people was driving the Chin into the trade and drug abuse. "They have nothing for their survival. So they turn to the drug trade, for which they don't need any capital," she said.

In recent years, as sweeping reforms ripple through Myanmar's government, there has been a growing recognition among top law enforcement officers that harsh penalties for drug users and small dealers—who often spend years in prison for possession of small quantities of drugs—are ineffective in combating the drug trade and abuse problems.

Dr. Win Mar, UNODC Burma's national program specialist for HIV prevention and care, said the police approach to drug users was slowly changing. "But drug users are sometimes still targeted during special operations," she said.

Incapable or Corrupt Cops?

While Kalay's prisons overflow, the drug trade continues unabated, addiction levels stay high and few ringleaders are arrested, said Aye Aye Mu, a Lower House lawmaker who holds a seat in Kalay for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD).

"Authorities hardly arrest any major drug traffickers—instead they arrest many users," she told Myanmar Now. Aye Aye Mu said police had failed to break up drug rings because of a lack of capability and resources, or because they are corrupted.

Precursor trafficking routes from India to Burma. (Photo: Burma's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control)

"They will definitely know the prominent drug traffickers. I wonder why they have difficulty arresting these traffickers," she said, adding that the central government should boost law enforcement efforts in Kalay.

In 2013, a special police team from the capital Naypyidaw investigated allegations of corruption in the Kalay police force. A district-level officer and several of his lower-ranking officers were later dismissed or imprisoned.

Kalay Police Chief Lt-Col Tin Zaw Tun told Myanmar Now that his force was now clean, but struggled to fight the trade due to high demand from traffickers in India, who use the Indian border town of Moreh and the Reed Mountain Range in Chin State to move drugs.

Kyi Ya Aung, 35, is a former addict and member a local volunteer group Kalay Lwin Pyin, which helps communities hit by last year's devastating floods.

He said the continuous influx of cheap drugs made it nearly impossible for Kalay addicts to quit, adding that he recovered after he left for Yangon, where he worked for 10 years as a trader before returning to Kalay.

Kyi Ya Aung said he had only one piece of advice for local addicts wanting to quit the habit: "Drugs are so abundant here… get out of the town."

(Edited by Paul Vrieze and Ros Russell)

This story first appeared on Myanmar Now.

The post In Western Burma, a Town Ravaged by the Drugs Trade appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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Thursday, July 14, 2016

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