The Irrawaddy Magazine

---

• Petition Launched Over Anti-Muslim Violence Against Vendors
• Pardon for Two Student Activists, Lawyer in Mandalay
• Restoration Work Resumes on Siamese King’s Tomb in Mandalay
• SSA-N: Burma Army Demands Withdrawal From Strategic Outposts
• Rangoon Housing Prices Drop, Signaling Market Shift
• Thai Court Sets Final Appeal Deadline for Koh Tao Murder Case
• A Look Inside Win Tin’s Home
• Heat Wave Kills More Than 160 in Southern, Eastern India
• Laos, One of Last Communist Nations, Elects New Leaders

Petition Launched Over Anti-Muslim Violence Against Vendors Posted: 21 Apr 2016 05:34 AM PDT A picture that was circulated online showing a Muslim vendor threatened by Buddhist monks. (Photo: Central Ma Ba Tha Online Media / Facebook) RANGOON — An online petition has been launched to push Rangoon's chief minister to take action against Buddhist monks who on Sunday threatened Muslim vendors not to sell items near Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda. The petition was created by a Burmese man who identifies as "Thet Swe Win," and it is addressed to Phyo Min Thein, Rangoon's new chief minister, urging him to respond lawfully to the Buddhist monks who mistreated Muslim vendors on Burma's New Year's Day. Thet Swe Win claimed in the petition that multiple Buddhist monks in the area around the pagoda seized goods from Muslim vendors and demanded letters from them to the police and local authorities stating that they would close shops around the pagoda in the future. These threats also included physical assaults, he added. "We demand [the authorities] take effective action, since this incident could lead to religious disputes and have a negative impact on [Burma's] democratic transition and on interfaith harmony in the country," Thet Swe Win said in the petition. He also said the monks' actions violated Article 370(a) of the Constitution, which states that every citizen has, in accordance with the law, the right to conduct business freely in the Union for national economic development. The petition gained more than 2,500 supporters within 24 hours after it was launched on change.org on Wednesday. The Irrawaddy was unable to reach Thet Swe Win for comment on Thursday. According to a report by Central Ma Ba Tha Online Media on Wednesday, U Thu Seikkta, secretary of the Patriotic Monks Union (in Rangoon) admitted to physically assaulting Muslim vendors but said that it was because the vendors were trying to escape. He added that the actions were not related to the nationalist monk association, Ma Ba Tha. "No one could have done anything if they had bombed the pagoda while wearing their burqas, in which case they would not have been able to be identified," the media outlet quoted U Thu Seikkta as saying in the report. "That's why we prevented them from selling goods around there," he said. "Our group is going to continue doing this for the sake of Shwedagon Pagoda." Thaung Htut, a National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker for Rangoon's Bahan Township and a member of Rangoon's Social Affairs Committee, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that there would be a committee meeting on Friday, at which time he would attempt to put the incident on the table for wider discussion with other committee members. "It's an important issue, and we have to handle such a case fairly," he said. Since anti-Muslim riots broke out in Arakan State in 2012, relations between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Burma have deteriorated. Many political analysts believe that one of the biggest challenges for Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD government will be to generate stability in areas beleaguered by religious strife. The post Petition Launched Over Anti-Muslim Violence Against Vendors appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Pardon for Two Student Activists, Lawyer in Mandalay Posted: 21 Apr 2016 04:59 AM PDT Zaw Win, a lawyer and land-rights activist, was released from Mandalay's Oh-bo Prison on Thursday. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — A court in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Division, on Thursday released two student activists who had been facing trial for their involvement in education reform protests last year, part of an ongoing series of political prisoner pardons initiated by Burma's new National League for Democracy (NLD) government. Soe Hlaing, a Technological University student from Monywa, and Zin Ko Thant of Mandalay's Yadanapon University were accused of replacing Burma's national flag with a student union flag at Myingyan Degree College during a protest for education reform in January 2015. Their release is the latest in a string of amnesties that President Htin Kyaw has signed off on since taking office this month. Fellow students who were recently released from Tharyarwaddy Prison and also some others in Mandalay were present at the court to greet their friends and held a welcoming ceremony at Myingyan's Soon Loon Gu Monastery on Thursday. Elsewhere in Mandalay Division, lawyer Zaw Win, who has fought for victims of land confiscation, was released from one year and eight months' detainment from Mandalay's Oh-bo Prison. Zaw Win was on trial under Burma's Peaceful Assembly Law, as well as facing charges of incitement and showing disrespect to the court, for staging a protest at the Pyin Oo Lwin District Court. Inside Oh-bo prison, Myo Win, a fellow farmers' rights activist from Mandalay, Yaypu Sayardaw from Mogok, and interfaith activists Zaw Zaw Latt and Pwint Phyu Latt remain behind bars, but are believed to soon be released. The post Pardon for Two Student Activists, Lawyer in Mandalay appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Restoration Work Resumes on Siamese King’s Tomb in Mandalay Posted: 21 Apr 2016 04:44 AM PDT Siamese King Uthumphon's tomb on Linzin Hill in Mandalay Division. (Photo: Zaw Zaw/The Irrawaddy). Mandalay—Restoration work on Siamese King Uthumphon's tomb, located near U Bein bridge in Mandalay, will resume after a two-year hiatus. The work was stalled in March 2014 by an order from the Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC), which had plans to transform the four-acre venue into a park. Mandalay's divisional government gave the green light for work to resume on Friday. Following pledged donations from influential abbot Sittagu Sayardaw, the ex-chief minister of Mandalay Ye Myint approved the work in March 2016, before handing over his duties to his successor. "We can only resume work now; we had to do a lot of preparation involving technicians from Thailand," said Win Maung, an author and architect who will lead an excavation team to conserve King Uthumphon's tomb. According to the team, which consists of Burmese and Thai archeologists, historians and experts, it is financially backed by the Thai Royal Treasury and has been provided an initial budget of 40 million baht (over US$1.1 million), and a projected six-month timeline. Previously, the excavation team had requested that authorities grant the four-acre Linzin Hill, which houses the tomb, for the creation of a historic park. After being halted in 2014, the area was fenced by MCDC for their proposed recreational park projects. Some parts of the 150-foot ancient brick road, which connected the tomb, the monastery and the palace of Amarapura, had been destroyed. The area was enclosed with brick walls, and Linzin Hill was deserted among bushes and trash, which the excavation team now has to clear. "Although some parts of the ancient brick road and buildings were destroyed, we will do our best to make this a historic area and to preserve the tomb and the pagodas without affecting their original structure," said Win Maung. "We also need to clean all the trash, which makes this a nasty place." According to Burmese history, King Uthumphon was captured by the Burmese King Hsinbyushin [1763–1776] during the invasion of Thailand's ancient capital of Ayutthaya in 1767, and brought to Mandalay from Thailand as a prisoner of war. He later died in monkhood during his captivity and was buried at Linzin Hill. Linzin Hill, the tomb ruins, and nearby pagodas on the edge of Taungthaman Lake in Mandalay Division's Amarapura Township, are all tourist attractions, especially for Thai visitors. "If this project is finished and the historic park becomes neat and tidy, I believe it will be more convenient for tourists and strengthen the relationship between Thailand and Burma as well," said Win Maung. The post Restoration Work Resumes on Siamese King's Tomb in Mandalay appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

SSA-N: Burma Army Demands Withdrawal From Strategic Outposts Posted: 21 Apr 2016 04:12 AM PDT A Shan State Army-North base in Mong Ark village, near the group's headquarters at Wan Hai in Shan State. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Burma Army has threatened renewed military offensives if the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) refuses to withdraw from two mountain posts bordering ethnic Wa territory, according to local sources. A sergeant from the SSA-N told The Irrawaddy on the condition of anonymity that his armed group would not abandon these northern Shan State posts and that they would defend their territory in the event of a strike by government forces. "We have two brigades there," the officer said. "We have no conditions under which we would withdraw from our posts because this was our area and we have been based here for a long time. We are prepared to fight if they take action." The warning to withdraw came in the form of a letter from the Burma Army's Northeastern Command in Shan State's northern city of Lashio, just before the annual water festival last week, the sergeant said. He expressed concern that the Burma Army might be planning an operation on a larger scale. "We are even worried about whether they will attack our other bases, not only these two mountain posts," he added. The two small bases in question straddle territory controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), and are located in the Loi Lan and Loi Say hills near the Salween River in Tanyang Township. The location is a half-day's travel from the SSPP/SSA-N headquarters in central Shan State's Wan Hai, and has been scouted as a potential location for a larger Shan base. The area is strategic for both the SSA-N—thought to be an ally of the Wa army—and the Burma Army, who, some speculate, would prefer to defeat the UWSA, Burma's largest ethnic armed organization. It is not the first time that the Burma Army has demanded that the SSPP/SSA-N withdraw from their posts or face an offensive from government forces. The last attack against the Shan armed group began under similar circumstances just two days after the nationwide election held in November 2015, when the military called for a retreat of the SSA-N from posts outside of Wan Hai. Fighting continued for months, displacing thousands of villagers in central Shan State. Citing a lack of inclusivity, the SSPP/SSA-N opted out of becoming a signatory to Burma's so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), signed by the previous government and eight of the country's more than 20 ethnic armed groups last October. As a new National League for Democracy-led (NLD) administration finds its bearings, ethnic armed leaders expect that a new round of peace talks will begin soon. "We are waiting to see how much the military will cooperate with the new government while the new government is calling for peace and reconciliation," the SSPP/SSA-N's Col Pein Pa told The Irrawaddy earlier this month. The Burma Army has continued to fight other NCA non-signatory groups, including the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) near Laiza in nearby Kachin State, allegedly seizing three of the KIA's mountain posts, according to recent reports by the local Kachin News Group. Another large offensive has been launched in Shan State by government forces against the ethnic Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). Since March, clashes have occurred in Namkham, Namhsan, Kutkai and Kyaukme townships. Ethnic Palaung (Ta'ang) rights groups have reported arbitrary detainment of locals, as well as torture and forced portering in areas where the Burma Army is active. According to a statement issued by the TNLA, four Burma Army infantry divisions withdrew from the region before the mid-April water festival. The post SSA-N: Burma Army Demands Withdrawal From Strategic Outposts appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rangoon Housing Prices Drop, Signaling Market Shift Posted: 21 Apr 2016 04:06 AM PDT People walk by a construction site of new apartment buildings in Rangoon on Nov. 4, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Real estate prices in Rangoon have fallen as much as 25 percent in recent months, a sign that a larger market correction may be on the horizon, reversing a three-year-long trend of soaring prices. Many new apartment buildings have been built in the last two decades and vacancy rates remain high, several real estate agents told The Irrawaddy. This has recently led to apartment owners and real estate developers selling below market price. "Particularly in outlying townships, like Thingangyun, Hlaing, Insein, South and North Okkalapa, the prices of some older apartments have fallen up to 10 percent," said Zaw Zaw, a senior manager at Unity Real Estate Agency. "For example, a low-story apartment in Sanchaung [Township] that would have previously gone for 60 million kyats [US$50,000] is now selling for 50 million kyats." While prime real estate in downtown Rangoon has not experienced a similarly precipitous fall, prices have still dropped 5 to 10 percent, according to the real estate agents. "In Thingangyun Township [northeastern Rangoon], a brand new, 800-square-foot, sixth-floor apartment that has had no previous tenants, has dropped from 25 million kyats to 22 million kyats," Zaw Zaw said. "So you can see the size of the drop depends on location." Demand for high-end property has cooled off in recent years, although prices have remained stubbornly high, with some apartments costing as much as $1,500 per square foot. Many Burmese are uncertain about the country's future during this time of political transition, and therefore buyers and sellers have tended to take a wait-and-see attitude. This has suppressed transaction volumes more than would be expected in a more mature market. "Developers working in the suburbs are in need of capital to keep their construction projects going, and they have cut their prices up to 25 percent to address these cash flow issues," said Than Oo, managing director of Mandine Real Estate Agency. In the past, developers would normally raise capital in advance by selling apartments before the construction even began. But this practice is changing, and developers now try to sell as many apartments as quickly as possible once a building is completed. This has induced them to lower their prices in order to boost sales. "This is a sign that demand is remaining low while supply is increasing, and people are waiting to see what happens with the political transition," Mandine's Than Oo said. And now real estate is no longer the only show in town. "Much investment went to the stock market since it launched earlier this year, so that's impacting the real estate market now," Than Oo said. Falling land prices due to shifting government policies will also affect apartment prices in Rangoon, according to The Su Mon, manager of Vantage Tower, which is run by developer Myint & Associates. "If the government policies on land and apartments improve, it will be a lot easier for the middle class to realize their dream of owning their own apartments," The Su Mon said. The post Rangoon Housing Prices Drop, Signaling Market Shift appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thai Court Sets Final Appeal Deadline for Koh Tao Murder Case Posted: 21 Apr 2016 02:45 AM PDT Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin, two Burmese migrants workers accused in the murder of two British backpackers in September 2014. (Photo: Reuters) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A Thai court has accepted the final possible request to extend the appeal deadline for two Burmese migrant workers sentenced to death for the murder of a pair of British backpackers on Thailand's Koh Tao island in 2014. The court accepted the request from the Lawyers Council of Thailand on Tuesday, moving the deadline to May 23, said Aung Myo Thant, a lawyer for an investigation team formed by the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok. "We have requested an extension for the appeal deadline because we have not yet finished gathering all the information we need for the case. We will continue gathering information since the request has now been accepted. But the court has warned that this is the last time [that such a request would be granted]," Aung Myo Thant told The Irrawaddy. This is the fourth time the lawyers, acting on behalf of the convicted Burmese migrant workers, have requested an extension since the initial one-month deadline to appeal their verdict, which expired on Jan. 24. On March 25, members of the Lawyers Council of Thailand and the Burmese Embassy investigation team went to the prison where Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin are being held to collect information, but the interpreter was denied access to the prison, thereby delaying the process and prompting lawyers to request an extension for the appeal deadline. "Lawyers were allowed to see the two men, but the interpreter was not," said Aung Myo Thant, adding that this was "legally wrong." "The defendants are Burmese, and the members of the Lawyers Council of Thailand are unable to communicate with them directly without an interpreter," Aung Myo Thant said, while noting that the two appellants appeared to be in good health. A court in Koh Samui sentenced Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin, both 22, to death on Dec. 24, 2015, for allegedly killing two British backpackers, David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, on the island of Koh Tao. The murder occurred in September 2014. The subsequent investigation by Thai authorities has been plagued by claims of malfeasance, including evidentiary irregularities and claims by the defendants that they were tortured while in detention. The post Thai Court Sets Final Appeal Deadline for Koh Tao Murder Case appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

A Look Inside Win Tin’s Home Posted: 20 Apr 2016 11:20 PM PDT The revered journalist and pro-democracy champion Win Tin passed away two years ago today, April 21, 2014, at the age of 84. In this story from The Irrawaddy archive, published less than a week after his death, our photographer Hein Htet describes a post-mortem visit to the once home of the man. Unlike my last visit months ago, the shack at No. 10 Ariaya Maggin Street is locked when I arrive. Outside the door, a plastic flowerpot hangs from the gutter, as it did before. Two purple orchids are in full bloom. "They were his favorite," says Ohn Than, the owner of the two-room shack in Rangoon, while unlocking the door for me. Inside, the living room is silent. The man who once lived here—a man with wavy white hair and a blue shirt, a man known for greeting all visitors and inviting them to sit down—is no longer around. I am standing alone, camera in hand, in the former home of the veteran journalist who became one of Burma's most prominent democracy activists, Win Tin. This is where he lived until March 12, when he was admitted to a hospital for health problems. Six weeks later, on Monday this week, he was pronounced dead due to multiple organ failure. He was 84 years old. I have come to take photographs of the place where he once spent his days. Win Tin first moved into this wooden shack in 2008, after he was released from his 19-year prison term. In 1989, when he was first thrown behind bars due to his opposition to the military regime, the government confiscated his room in a government housing facility near Rangoon General Hospital. When he was finally freed, he had nowhere to live, so he moved into a shack in the garden of his lifelong friend Ohn Tun's home. In the shack, Win Tin's belongings appear to have been left alone since he was admitted to the hospital. At the basin in the far corner of the living room, a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste are covered with dust. So, too, are his walking sticks. His study table is partially covered with local weeklies and writing papers. His dark blue vests, which he wore over his blue shirt, hang on clothes hangers. The television set that he regularly used to watch late-night Champions League football matches is turned off. Shelves are lined with books, despite his generosity to allow friends to take any titles they wanted to read. While taking photographs, I cannot help but imagine how Win Tin may have passed his days here. I can picture him reading books and receiving guests, from diplomats to journalists and activists, and always speaking out with sharp criticism. "I don't trust this government at all," he would say. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) party with Win Tin under the military regime, also came to this shack on Tuesday. After her 45-minute visit, she told Ohn Tun and his family members to keep Win Tin's belongings as they were. "Please make sure no one takes anything," she said. "She said, 'I wish I could take away the whole shack,'" Ohn Tun recounts. Perhaps she meant that she would like to convert it into Win Tin's memorial museum. Additional reporting by Kyaw Phyo Tha. The post A Look Inside Win Tin's Home appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Heat Wave Kills More Than 160 in Southern, Eastern India Posted: 20 Apr 2016 11:06 PM PDT Vehicles driving along a road are seen through heat haze in Chandigarh, India, April 20, 2016.  (Photo: Ajay Verma / Reuters) HYDERABAD, India — Weeks of sweltering temperatures have caused more than 160 deaths in southern and eastern India, officials said Tuesday, warning that any relief from monsoon rains was still likely weeks away. Most of the heat-wave victims were laborers and farmers in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, though temperatures elsewhere in India have also hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Schools were closed last week in Orissa until at least April 26. Officials in Andhra Pradesh were giving out free water and buttermilk to help people stay hydrated. And everywhere, people have been urged to stay indoors during the hottest hours of the day. Y.K. Reddy, a state meteorological official, said the temperatures were about 4-5 degrees Celsius (8-10 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than normal for April. "Normally such high temperatures are recorded in the month of May," he said. Police have reported 55 heat-related deaths in Orissa and at least 45 in Andhra Pradesh. Sixty-six were reported in Telangana, though the state's deputy chief minister, Mohammed Mahmood Ali, said the causes of death were still being verified. Meanwhile, a 12-year-old girl in the drought-stricken western state of Maharashtra died from the heat while fetching water, Indian broadcaster NDTV said Wednesday. Making matters worse, India is grappling with severe water shortages and drought affecting more than 300 million people—a quarter of the country's population. Thousands of distressed farmers have committed suicide, tens of thousands of farm animals have died, and crops have perished, with rivers, lakes and ponds drying up and groundwater tables sinking. Scrambling to deal with the crisis, officials have sent tankers of water to parched farming communities in Maharashtra, banning people from drilling deep wells and ordering farmers to shift away from growing water-guzzling sugarcane crops. The heat wave in India coincides with record-high temperatures across the globe. On Tuesday, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said March's average global temperature of 12.7 degrees Celsius (54.9 degrees Fahrenheit) was not only the hottest March, but continues a record 11-month streak that started last May. For southern India, this is the second consecutive year marred by a deadly heat wave. Last year, around 2,500 people died in scorching temperatures before the monsoon rains began in the Indian subcontinent in early June. But while heat waves are relatively common during Indian summers, authorities have done little to ensure water security or prepare urban populations for the risks. This year, Orissa's capital of Bhubaneshwar and Maharashtra's city of Nagpur joined Gujarat's Ahmedabad in launching a heat wave program to educate people on how to stay cool, provide shelters and train medical workers on dealing with heat-related illnesses like sun stroke and dehydration. The post Heat Wave Kills More Than 160 in Southern, Eastern India appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Laos, One of Last Communist Nations, Elects New Leaders Posted: 20 Apr 2016 11:00 PM PDT Former Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith (R), now Prime Minister of Laos, attends the plenary session of the 48th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 4, 2015.  (Photo: Olivia Harris / Reuters) VIENTIANE, Laos — Laos, one of the world's last communist nations, elected its top government leaders Wednesday at a meeting of its newly seated National Assembly. State-run news agency KPL reported that the 149-member assembly voted to endorse the selections made by the ruling Communist Party at its Congress in January, where then-Vice President Bounnhang Vorachit was selected as its new secretary general. The 78-year-old Bounnhang was elected president of the single-party state, while 70-year-old former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith was made prime minister. Thongloun also appointed 18 Cabinet ministers. Elections are held every five years. Laos, a poor, landlocked country with a population of just 7 million, will have a higher-than-usual profile this year as it has its turn holding the annual chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as the organization grapples with territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. The US State Department and independent agencies criticize the secretive regime for its poor human rights record. "The most significant human rights problem continued to be that the government denied citizens the ability to choose their government," said the State Department's recently released annual report on human rights practices. "Other human rights problems continued to include: abusive prison conditions; lack of due process, including arbitrary arrest and detention; government infringements on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association, as well as on the right to privacy; government restrictions on academic freedom; local restrictions on religious freedom; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination based on sexual orientation and against persons with HIV/AIDS; and restrictions on workers' rights." The post Laos, One of Last Communist Nations, Elects New Leaders appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Irrawaddy. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States