The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Parliament Amends Union Budget Law
- Lower House Approves Annulment of Emergency Provisions Act
- EU Ambassador to Burma: ‘Democracy is Incompatible with War’
- NLD Spokesperson U Win Htein Verbally Abuses Reporter
- Insufficient Aid to Naga Region Contributes to More Measles Casualties
- Former UN Chief Kofi Annan to Head New Commission on Arakan State
- UN Chief to Attend Union Peace Conference
| Parliament Amends Union Budget Law Posted: 24 Aug 2016 07:26 AM PDT  People are pictured through electric cables and wires at a street inside Bogyoke Aung San market in Rangoon in 2013. Burma's Ministry of Electricity and Energy will receive one of the largest shares of the Union budget's funds this year. (Photo: Minzayar / Reuters) RANGOON — Burma's Union Parliament passed a bill on Tuesday amending the 2016 Union Budget Law—drafted by the previous government and approved by the former legislature, trimming the estimated expenditures of the majority of the ministries. The cut of 470 billion kyats (around US$389.8 million) from the previously approved amount of over 20 trillion kyats, however, did not affect six ministries— Defense, the State Counselor's Office, Foreign Affairs, Ethnic Affairs, Education, as well as Health and Sports. The 21-member financial commission—formed in April and led by the country's President, two vice presidents and other Union-level officials—drafted and submitted the bill to the current Parliament, citing the need to amend the Union budget as the number of ministries has since been consolidated from 36 to 22. During the commission's first meeting in June, President U Htin Kyaw—the commission's chair—stressed the need to allocate more funds toward the country's infrastructure, as well as Burma's education, healthcare and social welfare sectors. The bill was reviewed by two legislative committees: the Union Parliament's joint bill committee and the joint public accounts committee. Aung Min, the vice-chair of the joint bill committee, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that changes in the cabinet structure and the merging of the ministries after the power transfer to a civilian-led government have contributed to the push to amend and review the Union budget. Getting parliamentary approval for budget allocation is an annual procedure. "The previously approved budget was drafted in the context of last year," Aung Min said. "Our committee noticed some government projects that would not be implemented during this budget year," he explained. "We have recommended that the Parliament cut estimated expenses on these projects." "It doesn't mean that these projects cannot ever be implemented. Ministries could put them in their proposed budget plans for next year," Aung Min added. Aung Min also said that the budget of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's foreign affairs ministry was left unchanged, as there were no special project proposals by the ministry. The ministries of Defense and of Electricity and Energy will receive some of the largest shares of the Union budget this year, with 14 and 24 percent of total funds, respectively. The vice-chair said that full details of each ministry's share of the Union budget will soon be disclosed by state-owned newspapers. The post Parliament Amends Union Budget Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Lower House Approves Annulment of Emergency Provisions Act Posted: 24 Aug 2016 05:55 AM PDT  Members of parliament attend a meeting at the Lower House of Burma's Parliament in Naypyidaw on March 10, 2016. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) The Lower House approved a bill on Wednesday that repeals Burma's controversial 1950 Emergency Provisions Act. The bill, which proposes the abolishment of the 66-year-old law, was drafted and submitted to the Parliament by the Lower House Bill Committee. Tun Tun Hein, committee chair, argued that the Emergency Provisions Act had been used by previous governments to stifle political dissent. "Today, there are less than a handful of laws in force that are as notorious and ill-famed as the Emergency Provisions Act. For emergency occasions, provisions in the state of emergency in the [2008] Constitution can be applied," Tun Tun Hein told the Parliament. The Emergency Provisions Act was originally enacted in March 1950 by the government of Burma's first prime minister, U Nu, in response to the civil war that erupted in the wake of the country's independence. The law grants sweeping authority to the government to prosecute individuals who disseminate "false news" or are otherwise determined to have "jeopardized the state." Successive governments have abused it to suppress dissidents. The act carries the death penalty and sentences of up to life in prison for treason or sabotage against the military. It also dictates up to seven years in prison for a sweeping range of other "offenses" against the state. Military lawmakers and the Defense Ministry defended the Emergency Provisions Act, and suggested making some changes to the law rather than scrapping it. In response to different views among the lawmakers, the bill was put to vote, with the majority voting to annul the controversial act. In 2015, during ex-president Thein Sein's administration, the National League for Democracy (NLD)—the then-leading opposition party—proposed scrapping the legislation at a Lower House legislative session; many within the NLD's leadership were subjected to the Emergency Provisions Act under the military regime. However, the move failed as the chamber was under the wider influence of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party majority at the time. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post Lower House Approves Annulment of Emergency Provisions Act appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| EU Ambassador to Burma: ‘Democracy is Incompatible with War’ Posted: 24 Aug 2016 05:28 AM PDT  Roland Kobia speaks to journalists in Mandalay on August 23. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY – As the Union Peace Conference draws near, the European Commission, who will witness the event, is urging a policy of all-inclusivity. Roland Kobia, the European Union's ambassador to Burma, told journalists in Mandalay on Tuesday that dialogue is an important element of sustainable peace in the country. "The EU's concern is to at least give a chance to dialogue. If they [the ethnic groups] are invited to discuss at the table, and when they are around the table, they can agree and disagree, and at least, they will have a chance to dialogue," said the ambassador. Kobia pointed out that some ethnic armed groups are still yet to be invited to what is being dubbed the 21st Century Panglong conference, scheduled to begin on August 31 in Naypyidaw. The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the ethnic Kokang's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) are currently involved in active conflict with the Burma Army in northern Shan State. Although the groups have stated that they are "ready" to attend the peace conference, they have not received an official invitation yet.  Roland Kobia speaks to journalists in Mandalay on August 23. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy) "The more inclusive the peace process is, the more sustainable. If some groups are excluded, it will not give good results for the long term and this will create problems again," said the ambassador. While praising State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's peace efforts, the EU ambassador said that ending conflict is important for the country's stability, democracy and economic prosperity. "If Myanmar wants to have a democratic system, it needs to end the conflicts. Democracy is incompatible with war. To make this happen, all-inclusiveness is important," Kobia said. "It takes times to build back the trust, which is the basic thing they need to compromise, as the peace process is about compromise. Every party should be ready to make concessions to find a common denominator. But it is worth it to do anything to achieve peace," he added. The EU ambassador said that the possible visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the peace conference would send a powerful message to the ethnic representatives in attendance. "Many ethnic armed groups would like to have more guarantees from the international community. And they need to know that the international community is watching over the peace process to ensure that it will be impartial," Kobia said. "If people like Ban Ki-moon are coming, it is a strong signal that the international community at the highest level is interested and it will reassure numbers of groups involve in the peace process," he added. The post EU Ambassador to Burma: 'Democracy is Incompatible with War' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| NLD Spokesperson U Win Htein Verbally Abuses Reporter Posted: 24 Aug 2016 05:19 AM PDT  NLD central committee member and spokesperson U Win Htein. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — For the second time this year, National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesperson U Win Htein lashed out at a reporter, who was enquiring about an anticipated cabinet reshuffle, repeatedly calling him sauk yū ["deranged"]. On Wednesday, the Ludu Pone Yeik [People's Image] weekly news journal featured the exchange between U Win Htein and one of their reporters, and the use of the offensive term, on its front page. "What am I supposed to say?" U Win Htein responded to the reporter's questions over the phone. "Sauk yū, sauk yū, you are sauk yū to ask me that." When the reporter pressed on, citing recent speculation over a cabinet reshuffle, U Win Htein repeated the offensive term. He used it six times in total during the exchange, according to the journal's coverage. Sai Wunna, the reporter who had attempted to interview U Win Htein, told The Irrawaddy that the exchange took place over the phone on Monday evening. He had made a voice recording to prove it. "He sometime talks to the media about the government, that's why I asked him," he said, stating that the extract quoted in the journal was verbatim and unedited. News of Win Htein's verbal abuse spread on social media, attracting criticism of the NLD's treatment of, and degree of openness to, the independent media. Sein Win, director of the Myanmar Journalism Institute, said that, as the ruling party's senior spokesperson, U Win Htein should not respond so harshly to the media. "He has the right to say that he doesn't want to answer, or that it is not his responsibility to do so, but this could seriously tarnish the party's image," he said. "Politicians and journalists are not enemies; it's important that they have smooth relations with one another," he said. In early January, before the formal handover of power to the NLD government, U Win Htein chastised a Radio Free Asia reporter. At the end of an interview focused on the NLD's potential presidential candidate—which the party was reluctant to reveal—the reporter thanked the senior NLD officer. U Win Htein retorted, "Don't thank me. Think seriously before you ask me questions." U Ye Htut, a former information minister and spokesperson to Burma's previous president U Thein Sein, told The Irrawaddy that the NLD was in danger of taking its widespread support in the private media for granted. "The NLD may think that the media will always support them, and therefore disregard them. If they have such a view […] they will have trouble in the long run," he said. He said that the NLD should learn from public relations mistakes made by the previous military-backed government—which, despite support in state media, did not enjoy the endorsement of Burma's burgeoning private media. He cited the need for "mutual respect" in the government's relations with the media, based on "ethics": they need to "understand the nature of journalists' work" and "show no anger during interviews." The post NLD Spokesperson U Win Htein Verbally Abuses Reporter appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Insufficient Aid to Naga Region Contributes to More Measles Casualties Posted: 24 Aug 2016 04:52 AM PDT  A child, believed to be suffering from measles, is pictured in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in mid-August. (Photo: Emergency Response Team to Naga Region / Facebook) The death toll from a measles epidemic has risen to 68 in Burma's remote Naga Self-Administered Zone, according to a regional lawmaker and other relief workers providing support to the affected areas. An emergency response team dispatched to the area says the situation is particularly critical in Kesan Salin and Kesan Karlan villages in the Dong Hee sub-township of Nanyun Township. The spread of the outbreak has been linked to the poor transportation infrastructure in the mountainous region in Burma's far north; with many areas only accessible by motorbike, the overland delivery of necessary medical aid and vaccinations has been difficult. Sing Maung, the Sagaing Division parliamentarian representing Nanyun Constituency No.1, told The Irrawaddy that out of the 68 confirmed deaths, around 40 have been children under 10 years old, many of whom have been in his constituency. "There are no medical doctors who have arrived yet to these areas," he said, pointing out that he had been told that regional healthcare providers would be sent. After visiting multiple communities stricken with measles, he said that at least four villages urgently need physicians on standby to better control the disease and provide support and guidance regarding its prevention. In early August, after the measles outbreak had been ongoing for two months and claimed 38 lives, the crisis received national attention from the public and the media; at the time, the illness had not yet been identified. The National Health Laboratory, under the department of Medical Services within the Ministry of Health and Sport, later confirmed the disease as measles in the Naga region's Lahe Township, where the illness first appeared. The lab, however, did not provide the same confirmation in Nanyun Township, where children afflicted with the illness also coughed blood and suffered from severe congestion. Local government has been criticized by local activists for a slow and inefficient response to the epidemic. "Twenty-four more people, the majority of them children, died in those villages in Nanyun township within a week's time," said Shu Maung, the secretary of the Council of Naga Affairs, which led the emergency response team to the area. "They need the immediate support of medicines as well as preventative measures to fight against the disease," he said. His group led a press briefing in Rangoon on August 16 and urged the government to take action. The community-based emergency response team also has been sending medical supplies to the affected areas, but it took at least eight days to reach the remote villages, Shu Maung explained. Following the criticism of the government's response—particularly regarding the failure to facilitate the use of a helicopter to deliver aid more efficiently—the Sagaing regional government's social welfare minister Dr. Zaw Win traveled to some affected villages in the Naga region to provide food and medical support earlier this week. The post Insufficient Aid to Naga Region Contributes to More Measles Casualties appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Former UN Chief Kofi Annan to Head New Commission on Arakan State Posted: 24 Aug 2016 04:25 AM PDT  Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (C) with former US president Jimmy Carter (R) and former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, members of the Elders group, attend a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (not in picture) in Moscow, Russia in April 2015. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Former United Nations secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan will chair a new nine-member advisory commission on Arakan State. The office of Burma's State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi announced the formation of the commission in state-run newspapers on Wednesday. The announcement said the commission would recommend "lasting solutions to complex and delicate issues" in Arakan State. Communal violence, mostly affecting the stateless Rohingya community, took place across Arakan State in 2012 and 2013, displacing up to 140,000 people, the vast majority of whom were Muslim. Buddhist and Muslim communities remain segregated across most parts of the state, with restrictions placed on displaced Muslims' movements and access to public services. Kofi Annan, born on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in western Africa, had a career as a UN staffer before serving as secretary-general between 1997 and 2006. In 2007 he founded the Kofi Annan Foundation, which works on governance and human rights issues globally. Mr. Annan has served as a peace envoy in various countries, including in Syria in 2012, and was appointed as chair of The Elders group of global statesmen in 2013. A Memorandum of Understanding is to be signed between Burma's State Counselor's Office and the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Wednesday announcement said. News of the commission's formation, minus Mr. Annan's participation, was delivered during meetings in the Arakan State capital of Sittwe on Aug. 15, conducted separately with Buddhist Arakanese and Muslim Rohingya community leaders by the Central Committee for Peace and Development in Arakan State—a body chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The new commission will include three members from the international community, including Mr. Annan, and six from Burma—two Buddhist Arakanese members, two Muslim members and two government representatives. Both the Buddhist Arakanese and the Muslim members are from Rangoon, and the Muslim members are not themselves linked to Arakan State. The Buddhist Arakanese members are U Win Mra, chairperson of Burma's National Human Rights Commission, and Daw Saw Khin Tint, chairperson of the Arakan Literature and Cultural Association and vice-chairperson of the Arakan Women's Association. The Muslim members are Al Haj U Aye Lwin, founder of interfaith group Religions for Peace, and U Khin Maung Lay, a member of the National Human Rights Commission. The members purportedly representing the Burmese government come from government-affiliated organizations: Dr. Thar Hla Shwe, president of Burma's Red Cross Society, and Dr. Mya Thida, President of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Society of Burma. Besides Mr. Annan, the international members are Ghassan Salamé, a Lebanese academic and advisor to Mr. Annan as secretary general from 2003–2006, and Laetitia van den Assum, a career Dutch diplomat and advisor to UNAIDS from 2005-2006. "We'll work as a channel, conveying the voices of the affected communities on the ground. Without their involvement, we can't work," Muslim commission-member U Aye Lwin told The Irrawaddy. "Our commission won't conceal the truth," he said. He believed that Mr. Annan's support would be constructive, due to his extensive experience in international affairs—including working as a conflict mediator—and his high global esteem. After conducting consultations and assessing the situation in terms of the basic rights and security of the people of Arakan State, and local humanitarian and development needs, the commission will provide recommendations—including on conflict prevention and reconciliation—to the state counselor and release a report within 12 months of its establishment. Tha Pwint, a retired Arakanese lawyer from Sittwe, said he was concerned that the government may not follow up on the recommendations of the report, since they would not be obliged to act, citing precedent in reports delivered to the previous government. "However, since Kofi Annan will chair this commission, I think its recommendations will prompt a bigger reaction from the international community," he said. Yet, he expressed concerns about placing the resolution of Arakan State's problems into "international hands." He believed that "the international members [of the committee] could not know much about our internal affairs; it wouldn't do good for them to take one side." The post Former UN Chief Kofi Annan to Head New Commission on Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| UN Chief to Attend Union Peace Conference Posted: 24 Aug 2016 12:52 AM PDT  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (R) shakes hands with Burma's then-President U Thein Sein (L) at the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw in April 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Officials in Burma say United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend the "21st Century Panglong" peace conference next week that seeks to end decades of armed conflict with ethnic minority groups. The UN is expected to soon confirm Ban’s attendance at the Union Peace Conference, which begins on Aug. 31 in the capital, Naypyidaw. The deputy director of the President's Office, U Zaw Htay, said on Tuesday that the government invited Ban to what has been dubbed the "21st Century Panglong Conference" after he expressed an interest in attending. The plans were confirmed by Sai Kyaw Nyunt, general secretary of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, which is organizing the event. "Ban Ki-moon will come to represent the UN," he said. It will be Ban’s first visit to Burma since Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party replaced an army-backed government in March this year. His last visit was in November 2014. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's state counselor, chairs the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, which includes representatives of the government, ethnic armed groups and political parties. She has issued a call for mutual trust and unity ahead of the meeting. Her father, Gen. Aung San, arranged the first Panglong Agreement with ethnic Shan, Kachin and Chin leaders in 1947. It sought to meet their demands for the preservation of autonomy from the central government, but independent Burmese governments did not honor the promises of the agreement. Conflict with armed ethnic minority groups has been an almost constant factor of Burma's politics since then. Eight, mostly smaller, ethnic armed groups signed a cease-fire agreement last year under the previous military-backed government of President U Thein Sein, while seven have not yet agreed to put down their arms, and fighting continues in Kachin and Shan states. All the groups say peace cannot be sustained unless political arrangements are also made to accommodate demands for greater autonomy. The post UN Chief to Attend Union Peace Conference appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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