AllSBNews: 05/23/16

Monday, May 23, 2016

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Murdered ’88 Activist’s Soul Finally Laid To Rest
Thai Court Accepts Defense Appeal in Koh Tao Murder Case
Burma Army Accused of Killing, Burning Bodies of Shan Villagers
Rangoon’s Stray Dogs: Burdens or Companions?
Letpadaung Protester, Companion Detained and Facing Charges
The School Builder
Aung Mingalar Headcount Finds Population Steady: Sources
Army Supports Peace Conference, Senior-General Says
Woman Gunned Down in Hpakant’s Sai Taung Village
US Lifts Arms Embargo on Old Foe Vietnam as Regional Tensions Simmer
Two Years After Coup, Ousted Yingluck Says Thailand’s Junta Must Speed Up Reform
Vietnam Frees Jailed Dissident Priest Ahead of Obama’s Visit
Communities Demand Regulation as Jade Mining Destroys Landscape

Murdered ’88 Activist’s Soul Finally Laid To Rest

Posted: 23 May 2016 06:39 AM PDT

Family and friends attend the a hmya pay ceremony of last rites for Win Maw Oo at the family home in Rangoon. (Photo: Pyay Kyaw / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON —The family of a young woman shot dead by the Burma Army during the 1988 Uprising has at last been able to put her soul to rest. Win Maw Oo's Buddhist funerary rites were performed 28 years after her death—because the young woman's dying wish for democracy to come to Burma was considered fulfilled.

Win Maw Oo is remembered as the blood-soaked young woman pictured being carried away by two medics during the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Rangoon. That photograph, which appeared in the Oct. 3, 1988 issue of Newsweek's Asia edition, became an iconic testament to the brutal event.

At the time, after learning that she had been shot down and left unconscious, her father frantically searched the wards of Rangoon General Hospital to find her. From what turned out to be her deathbed, then 16-year-old Win Maw Oo begged her father not to perform the Buddhist last rites until "Burma enjoys democracy."

The request was difficult for her family to accept: Burmese Buddhists share a deeply rooted belief that a person's soul cannot rest in peace until his or her name is called out by the family, in order to share their merit with the deceased. It was painful for them, believing that their daughter's soul was wandering in limbo for nearly three decades.

Now with an elected civilian government in office, on Sunday Win Maw Oo's parents were finally able to perform the rite of calling out the name of their deceased daughter, known in Burmese as a hmya pay, in order to bestow peace on her restless soul.

The iconic photo in which medical student Win Zaw (L) and house surgeon Dr. Saw Lwin carry 16-year-old pro-democracy protestor Win Maw Oo to an ambulance after she was fatally shot on September 18, 1988. (Photo: S. Lehman / Visions)

Win Maw Oo's father, Win Kyu, said the family wanted to put her soul to rest so much that he pleaded with people to cast their votes for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, during the campaign period for the general election last year.

"Now that we have a civilian government, and political prisoners and student activists have been released, we considered it time to perform the ritual for our daughter," he said, after the a hmya pay ceremony at the family home in Hlaing Tharyar Township on the outskirts of Rangoon.

The 64-year old noted that, with the 2008 Constitution yet to be amended, Burma today does not enjoy full democracy.

The 2008 Constitution preserves the military's frontline role in governance—with control over the key ministries of Home, Defense, and Border Affairs, and a 25 percent bloc in both the national and regional parliaments—and secures the military's sovereignty over its own affairs, without civilian oversight.

"At least now we have a civilian government that we elected. If we have to wait longer [for the constitution to be changed], we are not sure we will make it, given our old age," the father added.

Khin Htay Win, the mother of Win Maw Oo, said she felt delighted that Burma today is on the road to democracy in the way her daughter had wanted to see.

"As parents, today we feel relieved, as we finally put her soul to rest," the mother said. "But as a mother who has lost her daughter, I feel sad at the same time."

The Irrawaddy's Thuzar contributed reporting.

The post Murdered '88 Activist's Soul Finally Laid To Rest appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thai Court Accepts Defense Appeal in Koh Tao Murder Case

Posted: 23 May 2016 06:27 AM PDT

The mothers and supporters of two Burmese migrants convicted of murder in Thailand outside a Koh Samui courthouse after filing an appeal. (Photo: Migrant Worker Rights Network / Facebook)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Thailand's Region 8 Appeals Court accepted an appeal filed by defense lawyers for two Burmese migrant workers who were sentenced to death for the murder of two British backpackers on Thailand's Koh Tao Island in 2014, according to Win Maung, Burma's ambassador to Thailand.

The 198-page appeal submitted to the court on Monday contests the Koh Samui provincial court's ruling late last year. Nearly half of the appeal outlines issues related to DNA evidence accepted by the court, according to the defense team.

The final verdict was made in December 2015, with the court ruling that the prosecution had proved beyond all reasonable doubt, with the use of forensic evidence in accordance with international standards, that Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, also known as Wai Phyo, had committed the murders. But the case was highly controversial and fraught with allegations of forced confessions and irregular evidence.

Despite Thai and international forensic experts citing serious questions and doubts about the forensic evidence used in the case, the provincial court gave the defendants the death penalty.

The defendants were allowed to file an appeal in February, but the defense team, supported by a group of Burmese, Australian and British translators, assistants and advisors, requested an extension and took a full five months to finalize their lengthy appeal in order to ensure an adequate defense.

Thai lawyer Nahkon Chompuchat, who is one of the lead defense attorneys in the case, said the appeal was only the next step in an interminable process that could drag on for another year or two.

The prosecution will respond to the defense appeal and the Region 8 Appeals Court will review the case, likely within 2017, and send a judgment back to the Koh Samui court to deliver.

Zaw Lin's mother Phyu Shwe Nu remains optimistic about the outcome.

"I hope Thailand's justice system will stand for the truth," she told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

Min Oo from the Foundation for Education and Development, which has provided assistance to the defense team, said the court provided a certified letter that they had received the appeal and confirmed the acceptance Monday afternoon.

The convicts' mothers, who believe their sons are innocent, will visit them on Tuesday in the high-security Bang Kawg Prison, where they have been held since January.

The post Thai Court Accepts Defense Appeal in Koh Tao Murder Case appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma Army Accused of Killing, Burning Bodies of Shan Villagers

Posted: 23 May 2016 06:09 AM PDT

Civilians displaced by conflict shelter in Kyaukme Township, Shan State, last year. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — According to Kachin and Shan community leaders, the Burma Army is responsible for killing and burning the bodies of several villagers in northern Shan State.

Sai Tun Win, a state lawmaker with the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), said that on a recent visit to the Kyaukme area, he found at least eight burned corpses and that local Shan people had accused the Burma Army of the killings.

"We found three dead bodies—from Noung Kwan village—in one area and another five bodies in separate locations in and around Wow Long village," Sai Tun Win said.

According to local villagers, the three people from Noung Kwan village were detained by the Burma Army on their way from their village, taken to a small mountain and then killed. Although their bodies were burned, the village head and other people from the village were able to identify them, Sai Tun Win said.

He added that the five bodies near Wow Long village were found in multiple locations: two in a burned house, the bones of one in the toilet of another house, one outside the village—supposedly belonging to a Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) member—and another in a different location outside the village.

All of the bodies found belonged to ethnic Shan villagers, Sai Tun Win said.

Fighting between the Burma Army and the SSA-N broke out earlier this month. The Burma Army accused the dead villagers of being SSA-N members, according to Sai Tun Win.

Several SNLD lawmakers recently visited the conflict zone, intending to help locals and to collect lists of civilians who had disappeared or were detained by the Burma Army.

"We are sure of the identities of the three bodies from Noung Kwan. We still have to identify the other five. We plan to issue a report highlighting the human rights violations of the recent fighting. We'll then talk with our party about what to do next," Sai Tun Win said.

Similarly, a member of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) said that fighting between Burma Army Infantry Division 99 and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Brigade 6 flared in Man Ping village—in northern Shan State's Mongko Township, near Burma's border with China—on Sunday afternoon. According to the KBC member, the village, with an estimated 20 households, was caught in the crossfire and burned to the ground.

"The villagers had already fled to the Chinese border. There was more fighting today in a different, nearby village," the KBC member said.

The Burma Army has frequently faced allegations of human rights abuses in conflict zones, particularly among ethnic minority populations.

The Irrawaddy was unable to contact Burma Army representatives for comment on Monday.

The post Burma Army Accused of Killing, Burning Bodies of Shan Villagers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rangoon’s Stray Dogs: Burdens or Companions?

Posted: 23 May 2016 06:03 AM PDT

According to the YCDC's Veterinary Slaughterhouse Department, nearly 200,000 stray dogs are living on Rangoon's streets. (Photo: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Midnights in Rangoon's Min Ma Naing neighborhood, also known as U Wisara Housing, are incredibly quiet; usually, there is only the sound of footsteps. But there is one exception: barking. Dogs—both strays and quasi-pets, have free rein at night.

This is a reality for most of Rangoon's neighborhoods. Some residents value these dogs as guards or even as companions, while others are afraid and want the situation "handled."

According to the city's municipal committee—the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC)—about 180,000 stray dogs live on the streets of Burma's commercial capital, which has a population of over 5 million. Officials from the municipal body say that every day they receive letters from residents, urging them to "cleanse" their neighborhoods of strays.

YCDC's attempt to "handle" the city's stray dogs by killing them with poison recently made headlines in local newspapers. But this conflict between Rangoon's animal lovers and the YCDC is nothing new. The YCDC has been using these "lethal methods," such as scattering poison-laced meat in the street, for decades. However, the dramatic growth of the city's stray dog population—from over 70,000 in 2013 to nearly 200,000 in 2016—suggests that the YCDC's tactics have hardly achieved their purpose.

In early May, a group of Rangoon-based animal lovers launched a petition urging the city's authorities to stop exterminating stray dogs and to look for a more sustainable solution for managing the unwieldy number of canines in the streets.

"We aim to stop the brutal act of poisoning stray dogs. We want to promote their welfare [so] that they may live their lives free of disease," May Thazin Swe, an animal welfare advocate and a lawyer, told The Irrawaddy.

She added that rather than poisoning stray dogs, Rangoon city authorities should vaccinate or neuter them to clamp down on overpopulation.

"We want the YCDC to focus on humane approaches," May Thazin Swe said.

Since July 2014, the YCDC has been investigating the use of a sterilization program that entails anesthetizing dogs so that they can be vaccinated and sterilized. But according to Myo Lwin, a deputy head of the YCDC's Veterinary and Slaughterhouse Department, logistical and financial hurdles make it difficult for the municipal body to practice this treatment regularly.

"Sterilization is expensive. It costs us between 20,000 and 25,000 kyats (US$17-21) per dog. This includes anesthetizing," Myo Lwin said.

"We can't afford to do this for every stray dog in the city."

The YCDC said that poisoning is an "ordinary procedure" of the committee, with priority placed in public places such as parks, schools, hospitals and neighborhoods. Myo Lwin said that the municipal body can "cleanse" 30,000 dogs per year. However, he also admitted that killing stray dogs is not effective in reducing the population, and neither are neutering and spaying without receiving more financial assistance and human resources.

While admitting that the YCDC should manage the city's garbage more efficiently so that it will not attract stray dogs, Myo Lwin also called for responsible ownership, referring to people who feed stray dogs out of the belief that doing so will bring them good luck.

"Feeding them without taking responsibility isn't going to help solve the problem," he said.

The YCDC official said that poisoning should be done until the population is under control.

"It's gradually becoming a bigger social burden. We won't need to do it once people are no longer in danger," Myo Lwin said, referring to the risk of catching rabies.

Considered a "high rabies endemic country" by the World Health Organization (WHO), Burma contributes to an alarming portion—more than 95 percent—of rabies-related human deaths in Asia and Africa, although the disease is preventable via vaccination. According to the WHO, rabid dogs are the source of the vast majority of human deaths from rabies, contributing up to 99 percent of all rabies transmissions to humans.

Yangon General Hospital (YGH) has been providing anti-rabies vaccines free of charge since September 2013. In 2015 alone, more than 6,000 people bitten by a dog or a cat were subsequently vaccinated against rabies with the three-dose series.

The WHO says that, globally, a person dies every 15 minutes from rabies. With some 1,000 deaths per year, Burma has the highest number of rabies-related deaths in Southeast Asia. According to the YGH's deputy medical superintendent Dr. Khin Khin Htwe, 10 people have already died from rabies during first five months of this year—at her hospital alone.

Professor Dr. Myint Thein, a former rector at the University of Veterinary Science Myanmar and a veterinarian with over 40 years of experience in the field, said that vaccinating dogs is the most effective way to prevent people from contracting rabies.

"As long as we don't vaccinate stray dogs, it's impossible to eliminate rabies," he said.

He also points to countries such as India and Nepal that have been successfully stemming their number of rabies-related human deaths through the vaccination and neutering of stray dogs rather than through the controversial method of killing en masse.

The Emergency Animal Rescue Team (EART), a Rangoon-based volunteer group founded by local youth, has been offering free assistance to stray dogs in desperate need of health care. Over 140 dogs are already in the care of the organization. But Nay Lin Tun, one of the group's founding members, told The Irrawaddy that, regrettably, taking in more stray dogs—even those at risk of being killed by the YCDC—is beyond the capacity of his team.

"In my opinion, what the YCDC is trying to do is 50 percent correct," Nay Lin Tun said. "But the YCDC shouldn't just scatter poison. They should cooperate with residents and plan, systematically, how to address this problem."

"Poisoning is too cruel and inhumane; the dogs suffer too much."

According to the YCDC, an organization led by Min Lee, wife of former US Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell, has signed an agreement with the YCDC to carry out a three-year project, expected to start in June, to confront the issue of stray dogs in Rangoon. The YCDC also plans to open an animal shelter before the end of 2016.

Along with many other advocates, Terryl Just, founder of the Yangon Animal Shelter (YAS), has been campaigning against poisoning stray dogs for nearly a decade. She said that only the TNR (trap-neuter-return) method could decrease the population in the long run.

YAS, which started with less than 50 dogs, currently houses over 500 dogs. However, Just told The Irrawaddy that the shelter could not take in any more dogs due to financial hurdles. Moreover, releasing healthy and "fixed" dogs to make room for other stray ones is not an option as long as the authorities continue to poison all stray dogs, she explained.

"We constantly receive calls from people begging us to take in more dogs," she said.

"It's heartbreaking to have to tell them that we can't, but we're already struggling financially to care of the dogs already at the shelter."

Just said that the shelter's hope is to bring in more organizations that will promote both the TNR method and mass vaccination as ways to reduce the stray dog population and prevent the spread of diseases such as rabies.

"Many of these organizations, however, won't provide any services until the poisoning stops. Campaigning against dog poisoning is a priority for YAS," Just said.

The post Rangoon's Stray Dogs: Burdens or Companions? appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Letpadaung Protester, Companion Detained and Facing Charges

Posted: 23 May 2016 05:47 AM PDT

Nay Lin Soe, left, and his friend Kyaw Zin cross the bridge linking Mandalay and Sagaing on Monday. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

MANDALAY — Nay Lin Soe, a protester who had been marching from Rangoon to the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division, was arrested with a companion outside Mandalay on Monday.

As he crossed the bridge from Mandalay to Sagaing, a city across the Irrawaddy River, local authorities attempted to halt him and warned him not to proceed. However, he continued his march and was arrested, along with his friend Kyaw Zin, right after he passed into Sagaing.

According to Sagaing Township police, charges were filed and a court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

"They were charged under the Peaceful Assembly Law's Article 18 [covering unauthorized protests]. Since it is bailable offense, they will be released this evening. However, we will proceed with the hearing tomorrow," said Sagaing Township Police Col. Nyan Thaung.

Though the National League for Democracy (NLD) government intends to replace the controversial legislation, police have continued to bring charges under the Peaceful Assembly Law since the new administration assumed power last month.

A banner-wielding Nay Lin Soe began his march from Rangoon on May 14, starting in front of City Hall. His friend, Kyaw Zin, did not appear to be actively participating in the protest, and seemed to have taken on the role of passive travel companion.

During the march, Nay Lin Soe said his goal was to raise awareness of the land confiscated from farmers and the negative environmental impacts that locals were facing due to the waste and mining in the Letpadaung project area.

In early May, locals and farmers from the villages around the Letpadaung copper mining area held a series of protests against the resumption of mining by Wanbao, a Chinese firm in a joint venture with Burma Army-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL).

The post Letpadaung Protester, Companion Detained and Facing Charges appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The School Builder

Posted: 23 May 2016 05:36 AM PDT

John D. Stevens in his Chiang Mai, Thailand office. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — In 2005, John D. Stevens, a Zen Buddhist monk from Canada, took a trip that changed his own life, and ultimately the lives of thousands of Burmese children.

While he was in Mandalay to teach meditation, one of Stevens's students, Maung Maung Gyi, a college-educated trishaw driver, took him to his home village. There, Stevens was astounded by what he saw. The villagers lived in rickety thatched-roof houses without access to running water or electricity. The school was nothing more than a small, decrepit wooden building with a corrugated roof, clearly the debris of decades of government neglect.

Stevens—now in his late 60s—knew he had to do something. He began by sending supplies like irrigation pumps and farming equipment to the village, but he still thought there was more he could do. He was asked to help build a school, but Stevens was immediately faced with another problem.

In 2005, Burma was still controlled by a military government that was wary of foreigners' activities in the country.

"At first, [the government] was suspicious because they were suspicious of all foreigners," says Stevens. "Is he a missionary? Is he with a government agency? Basically they wanted to know why I wanted to do this."

Once again, a friend helped out.

Sein Myint, a painter, had met Stevens by chance when Stevens purchased one of his tapestries in Mandalay in 1997. He was friends with Michael Aris, then-opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's husband, but still had a good relationship with the government. While the first school Stevens worked on was constructed on the sly, thanks to Sein Myint's persistence, the Canadian monk's efforts were eventually able to earn the approval of local governments, and he and his organization began building schools in earnest.

A school building under construction in Mandalay in 2012. (Photo: 100Schools)

Maung Maung Gyi, the friend who first introduced Stevens to Burma's rural poverty, became the head project manager, a role he holds to this day.

Since 2005, Stevens's charity, 100Schools, a UK-registered non-profit operating out of Chiang Mai, Thailand, has built 49 school buildings in the remote regions of Burma's Mandalay, Sagaing and Irrawaddy divisions as well as Shan State, in addition to one primary school building in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province. Over 10,000 students attend the schools. They are now working on constructing two more schools in central Burma.

While the villages' original schools were technically public and government-run, they were ignored and allowed to fall into disrepair, or were simply little more than shacks to begin with.

To build its schools, 100Schools mobilizes a workforce of 35 Burmese carpenters and masons who work with volunteers from the villages to replace the schools with sturdy, brick buildings that cost US$10 to $12 per square foot—a hefty sum for villages that are largely inhabited by subsistence farmers.

For Stevens's organization, making buildings that can withstand earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters is a top priority.

"Once we have completed the assessment to build a school, we take all of the responsibilities, and use our own crew to guarantee a good quality building," says Stevens.

"We create the jobs for all the crew, so they have stayed with us for many years," he says. "Many of the 35 crew members have been working with us from the beginning."

Additionally, many of the construction workers' wives and relatives also have been employed by 100Schools. They make school uniforms, which the charity provides to the schoolchildren for free.

In addition to the school uniforms, 100Schools has provided notebooks and writing utensils to more than 10,000 students in the schools they have built. They also construct dorms for teachers and build desks, chairs, blackboards and toilets.

All this work has earned Stevens the admiration of many villagers around the country who call him, "Mr. John, the big donor," a title he brushes off, preferring to simply be known as "John."

"I'm just a penniless guy," he joked, referring to himself a bridge between real donors and the needs of the people.

But despite the organization's successes over the past decade, the school situation in Burma remains dire.

The Ministry of Education reported last year that 7,800 school buildings throughout the country are in urgent need of repairs. The ministry said that it had enough resources to repair 2,800 schools, leaving a large amount of buildings without government attention.

Soon, some of Stevens's work will be taken up by the new government. Last week, the National League for Democracy announced that it will provide free textbooks and uniforms to all primary school students.

But despite a more proactive government, Stevens still expects his organization's work to continue to be necessary.

"Within two months of the new government being sworn in, we already have received permits to build two new schools," Stevens says. "So we don’t have any problems [with the new government]."

After focusing exclusively on building schools, 100Schools has expanded beyond simply addressing the material needs of the village students. They have given scholarships to pay for promising students to go to college. One student who learned computer science, now will go back to an underprivileged school to share his knowledge with the students. Another student 100Schools is supporting also plans on returning to rural areas to teach after graduation.

Inspired by his grandmothers—who were also practicing Buddhists—Stevens has wanted to help others since he was a child.

He spent 20 years in France, and then became a Buddhist monk before moving to Southeast Asia. Now Stevens maintains he would be happy to spend the rest of his life working to help children.

"Schools give them opportunities," he said. "As long as I am healthy enough to do it, I will continue."

The post The School Builder appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Aung Mingalar Headcount Finds Population Steady: Sources

Posted: 23 May 2016 05:28 AM PDT

An Immigration Department official conducts a headcount of Aung Mingalar residents on Sunday. (Photo: Phoe Lone / Facebook)

RANGOON — Local authorities and community leaders have completed a headcount of those living in the Muslim quarter of the Arakan State capital Sittwe, finding little to indicate, as was claimed, that the neighborhood's population had swelled in recent years.

Often described as the city's "Muslim ghetto," the Aung Mingalar quarter is the last majority-Muslim enclave in Sittwe, with most of the capital's other Muslims having fled inter-communal violence in 2012 that largely pitted the state's Muslim Rohingya minority against Arakanese Buddhists.

Complainants last week argued that Aung Mingalar's official population of just over 4,000 people was not reflective of the reality on the ground, where they claimed a government health care program being run inside the quarter had documented treatment of more than 10,000 people last year.

The weekend headcount was led by state Border and Security Affairs Minister Htein Lin and the Arakan State Immigration Department head Win Lwin.

Shwe Hla, a Muslim resident of Aung Mingalar who collaborated with authorities during the two-day tally, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that they counted 4,003 Muslims across five quarters; majority-Muslim Aung Mingalar, and four other quarters where Muslims are a minority—Maw Like, Kyaung Gyi Street, Ka Thae and Kon Tan. The figure was little changed compared with the post-2012 violence population.

"Everything is fine here. The examination was successfully completed," Shwe Hla said.

The Irrawaddy phoned the state border and security affairs minister on Monday morning, but his personal assistance declined to confirm the results of the headcount and referred calls to Immigration Department head Win Lwin. Win Lwin's mobile phone was switched off and an office number was out of network on Monday.

The Arakanese community leader Than Htun, who cooperated with authorities in the headcount, admitted that there was no appreciable rise in Aung Mingalar's Muslim population, but he speculated that the alleged interlopers may have left the quarter for internally displaced persons (IDP) camps outside the city upon hearing of the planned headcount last week. Than Htun declined to reveal the exact population tally.

While most of Aung Mingalar's residents are Rohingya Muslims, the other four neighborhoods surveyed include a mix of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists, but the tally over the weekend targeted only Muslims.

Aung Mingalar resident Zaw Zaw said: "Hindu people live on the street next to us, but they were not investigated. It was an inspection exclusively on Muslims."

Zaw Zaw said local Muslims were concerned about rumors that the regional government planned to evict Aung Mingalar residents and relocate the population to IDP camps or elsewhere on Sittwe's outskirts.

Tuesday should address those fears one way or another, he said, with authorities having called a meeting to discuss the weekend headcount.

"We are invited to attend a meeting tomorrow, which is related to the headcount; Minister Htein Lin will lead it," Zaw Zaw said on Monday.

A policy of Burma's previous military-backed government remains in effect, restricting movement into and out of Aung Mingalar.

The post Aung Mingalar Headcount Finds Population Steady: Sources appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Army Supports Peace Conference, Senior-General Says

Posted: 23 May 2016 03:40 AM PDT

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlain in Naypyidaw on Sunday. (Photo: US State Department)

RANGOON — The Burma Army supports the government's proposed "Panglong-style" peace summit, but continued political participation rests on the country's stability, said Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, during his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Naypyidaw on Sunday.

The meeting followed talks between Kerry and Burma's foreign affairs minister and de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

A Facebook post by Min Aung Hlaing said Kerry praised the Burma Army, also known as the Tatmadaw, for its role in the country's historic political transition and for supporting a free and fair election last November, as it had earlier promised to do.

"The US believes Burma's progress depends on these developments," said the post, quoting Kerry.

The two sides discussed preparations for a second "Panglong-style" peace conference, relations between the army and Burma's new government, their respective armed forces and regional relations.

The senior-general said that the army would support a second Panglong conference.

"We will give suggestions and hold talks on the issues while upholding any agreement reached by the government, the army and the ethnic armed groups," he said, adding that the army was working under the leadership of President Htin Kyaw.

The first Panglong conference was held by Suu Kyi's father, Gen. Aung San, in 1947 and resulted in an agreement granting self-determination to some of the country's main ethnic minority groups.

Less than a year after its signing, Aung San was assassinated and the agreement was never realized, plunging the country into decades of civil war.

While Suu Kyi remains determined to emulate her father's successful negotiations, ongoing clashes, longstanding distrust and underlying tensions will prove to be substantial obstacles, regardless of the army's support.

Kerry said that he would like to promote relations between the country's respective armed forces while focusing on the peace process, national reconciliation and amending the 2008 Constitution.

Min Aung Hlaing said it was necessary for the United States to bear in mind the current situation of the nation and take into account the recent positive political trends.

He thanked the United States for easing sanctions it had imposed on Burma and expressed his firm belief this would benefit both sides. He added that the United States should continue to decide how to incentivize Burma in line with the success of its reform process.

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Woman Gunned Down in Hpakant’s Sai Taung Village

Posted: 23 May 2016 02:25 AM PDT

Travelers cross a river by boat near the road leading to Hpakant town, Kachin State, in 2014. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — A woman from Hpakant Township's Sai Taung village, in Kachin State, was gunned down by three men Sunday evening, according to local sources.

Three armed men reportedly went to the home of Nandar Hlaing, an administrator of the local village tract, under the pretext of complaining about a lost motorbike, at which point they shot her six times.

"They shot [Nandar Hlaing] at around 5:30pm [on Sunday]. The three men, who are young, went [to her house] with their motorbikes, and one of them shot her while the other two complained to her about a lost motorbike," said Shwe Thein, a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Hpakant who said the shooter used a "short, small gun."

"No one dares talk about this even if they know about it because this is a violent area, and it would be too dangerous for them. This was a planned murder," Shwe Thein said.

The victim is believed to have been in her 40s.

A police officer in Hpakant told The Irrawaddy that a criminal case had been filed.

"We do not yet know who the armed men are, and we are still investigating their motivations for having murdered [Nandar Hlaing]," the police officer said.

There were also reports that a small bomb went off in Sai Taung village at around 2:30am on Sunday near the office of the Tai-Leng Nationalities Development Party. A series of bomb blasts in recent weeks has seen security stepped up in Hpakant, the heart of Burma's lucrative jade industry.

The post Woman Gunned Down in Hpakant's Sai Taung Village appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

US Lifts Arms Embargo on Old Foe Vietnam as Regional Tensions Simmer

Posted: 23 May 2016 02:00 AM PDT

US President Barack Obama, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang review the guard of honor during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 23, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

HANOI — US President Barack Obama announced on Monday that Washington will fully lift an embargo on sales of lethal arms to Vietnam, underlining warming relations between the former foes amid rising tensions with Beijing over the South China Sea.

At a lavish state luncheon in Hanoi, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang toasted Obama's first visit to the country as the arrival of a warm spring after a cold winter.

Obama, the third US president to visit Vietnam since ties were restored in 1995, has made a strategic "rebalance" toward the Asia-Pacific a centerpiece of his foreign policy.

Vietnam, where the United States was at war until 1975, has become a critical part of that strategy amid concerns about China's growing military might and its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

The decision to lift the arms trade ban, which followed intense debate within the Obama administration, suggested that US concerns about China's assertiveness outweighed arguments that Vietnam had not done enough to improve its human rights record and that Washington would lose leverage for reforms.

Obama told a joint news conference with Quang that disputes in the South china Sea should be resolved peacefully and not by whoever "throws their weight around," but insisted that the arms embargo move was not linked to China.

"The decision to lift the ban was not based on China or any other considerations, it's based on our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalization with Vietnam," he said, adding later that his visit to a former foe showed "hearts can change and peace is possible."

He said the sale of arms would depend on Vietnam's human rights commitments, and would be made on a case-by-case basis.

Though the communist parties that run China and Vietnam officially have brotherly ties, China's brinkmanship has forced Vietnam to recalibrate its defense strategy.

The lifting of the US embargo will tighten the strategic pressure on China while deepening Vietnam's relationship with the United States. It will also provide Vietnam with leverage in future arms deals with traditional weapons suppliers, particularly its long-time security patron, Russia.

While Vietnam has recently obtained submarines equipped with land-attack missiles, advanced air defense radars and state-of-the-art jet fighters from other nations, it was likely to seek advanced surveillance and intelligence systems from the United States, said Collin Koh, a military expert at Singapore's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

"This is a really cutting-edge but niche field that will help Vietnam better integrate its various forces—and the US can really help fill this gap," Koh said.

Lifting the ban will likely upset China, which sees US support for rival South China Sea claimants like Vietnam and the Philippines as interference and an attempt to establish hegemony in the region. Washington insists its priority is ensuring freedom of navigation and flight.

China's foreign ministry said after the announcement in Hanoi that it hoped the development in relations between the United States and Vietnam would be conducive to regional peace and stability.

Underlining the burgeoning commercial relationship between the United States and Vietnam, one of the first deals signed on Obama's trip was a US$11.3 billion order for 100 Boeing planes by low-cost airline VietJet.

China is Vietnam's biggest trade partner and source of imports. But trade with the United States has swelled 10-fold over the past two decades to about $45 billion, and Vietnam is now Southeast Asia's biggest exporter to America.

In the commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, Obama will on Tuesday meet entrepreneurs and tout a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal he has championed, in which Vietnam would be the biggest beneficiary of the 12 members.

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Two Years After Coup, Ousted Yingluck Says Thailand’s Junta Must Speed Up Reform

Posted: 22 May 2016 10:43 PM PDT

An anti-coup demonstrator takes part in a march as Thailand marked two years since the army toppled the elected government of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in Bangkok on May 22, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — Two years to the day that Thailand's army toppled the remnants of her government, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called on the junta to accelerate a return to democracy, and a poll showed Thais were no happier than before the coup.

In 2014, the military staged their 12th successful coup since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, and khaki army uniforms replaced the yellow and red shirts of the protesters that had paralyzed Bangkok for months.

"It was the day that the people's rights and freedom were taken away," Yingluck said in a Facebook post.

"I can only hope that the NCPO [junta] remembers what they promised to the people. … I have growing concerns because today, people are suffering from economic hardship, poverty and critical social issues including increasing drug use."

A referendum on a junta-backed draft constitution is due on Aug. 7, and the government has promised an election in 2017.

Yingluck is on trial in the Supreme Court on corruption charges stemming from a state rice subsidy scheme and faces up to a decade in jail if found guilty.

A leader to replace her has yet to emerge, leaving the opposition struggling to mount a campaign for a no vote to a constitution they say would enshrine military power for years.

Thailand's divisive politics have gone underground due to a junta ban on political activity. The army has moved quickly to snuff out recent small anti-junta and anti-constitution protests in Bangkok.

Despite the ban, around 300 students and people critical of the junta marched from Thammasat University to the Democracy Monument in Bangkok on Sunday to mark the coup anniversary, asking the junta to return democracy to the people.

Many of them wore T-shirts saying "Vote NO! to a future that can't be chosen."

Some of them were challenged by junta supporters. The march later dispersed.

Critics say Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's national reconciliation process has made divisions worse by excluding supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"I would like to ask them [the junta] whether the reconciliation process has been inclusive and if it's going in the right direction or not," Yingluck said.

Prayuth pledged to return happiness to Thai people, but a poll published on Sunday found that most felt no happier than before the coup.

Some 43 percent of respondents felt no happier and 18 percent said they were less happy because of economic hardships, according to the poll by the National Institute of Development Administration. Around 38 percent said they were happier.

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Vietnam Frees Jailed Dissident Priest Ahead of Obama’s Visit

Posted: 22 May 2016 10:31 PM PDT

US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang after an arrival ceremony at the presidential palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 23, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — Vietnam granted early release from prison to a Catholic priest who is one of its most prominent dissidents, a move widely seen as a goodwill gesture before US President Barack Obama arrived on an official visit late Sunday night.

The Catholic Archdiocese of the central city of Hue reported on its webpage that it welcomed the return Friday of the Rev. Nguyen Van Ly from prison. Photos on its website showed a frail Ly, 70, being helped off a minibus, kneeling to pay his respects to his senior colleagues, then being led to a room prepared for him at the diocese. He has suffered several health crises while imprisoned.

Ly has served several long terms in prison or under house arrest for promoting political and religious freedoms in the communist nation. He was first jailed in 1977, two years after the Communist takeover of all Vietnam.

His early release was for an eight-year prison term he had been serving since March 2007 after being convicted of spreading propaganda against the state. He was released on medical parole in 2010 for 16 months before being sent back to prison in 2011 to resume serving his sentence, to which a five-year probationary period is also attached.

Vietnam's persecution of dissidents has been a roadblock to warmer relations with the United States, from which it is seeking the lifting of an arms embargo. Washington and Hanoi share a strategic interest in challenging Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, some of which are in areas long claimed by Vietnam.

The government's relations have always been strained with the Catholic church, associated with French colonial rule and the former anti-communist South Vietnam, as well as an influential power base independent of the ruling Communist Party's control.

The US State Department said it welcomed Ly's release.

"We consistently have called for the release of Father Ly and all other prisoners of conscience in Vietnam," said Gabrielle Price, the department's spokeswoman for East Asia and Pacific affairs. "We remain deeply concerned for all prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. We call on the government to release unconditionally all prisoners of conscience and allow all Vietnamese to express their political views peacefully without fear of retribution."

More than a dozen human rights groups last month sent an appeal to Obama urging him to press Hanoi to release political prisoners.

The appeal, whose signees included Human Rights Watch as well as groups focusing on Vietnam, urged him "to make clear, both in private and in public, that [the] US-Vietnamese relationship will not fundamentally advance absent meaningful human rights improvements, including the release of imprisoned activists, and end to harassment of civil society groups, and respect for international law."

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Communities Demand Regulation as Jade Mining Destroys Landscape

Posted: 22 May 2016 10:23 PM PDT

Homes of local villagers are seen perched precariously on the edge of a mining pit in Hpakant Township, Kachin State. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

HPAKANT, Kachin State — Ywel Jer remembers a time when Saijarbon, an ethnic Kachin village perched upon a hilltop in Hpakant Township, was surrounded by mountains.

In the past 10 years, however, vast mountain areas around the village here in northern Burma's Kachin State have been turned into rubble by large-scale jade mining operations using dynamite and heavy machinery. The changes in the landscape now threaten Saijarbon's very existence.

"In the past, the mountains near our village were higher than us, but now they have been reduced by 400 or 500 feet," Ywel Jer said, looking out from the village where some abandoned houses are situated on the edge of a sheer 30-meter drop created by ongoing mining operations below.

"We cannot sleep well here as we fear possible landslides," the 58-year-old woman said, adding that the rainy season was a particularly perilous time for those living near the mining sites.

Local authorities, she complained, did nothing to regulate mining's impacts on the landscape, nor did they monitor the safety of the huge, unstable piles of waste the industry creates. Officials only ever asked villagers to make way for jade mining, Ywel Jer said, adding she was forced to relocate four times since 1989.

Burma's multi-billion dollar jade industry has come under increased scrutiny in the past year after an investigation by resource corruption watchdog Global Witness revealed some of the hidden, often army-linked holders of lucrative mining licenses. A string of deadly accidents in recent months involving laborers scavenging through mining waste has highlighted a lack of safety measures on site.

Now, local activists and communities have also begun asking for changes in the industry. They demand that authorities mitigate its heavy environmental impacts and offer communities some of the benefits.

On March 25, 10 civil society organizations from Kachin State and Rangoon held a press conference in Hpakant calling for a suspension of all mining activity until authorities enforce existing environmental regulations. They ask that officials set up a commission to reveal individual company ownership, revenues of firms, and whether they adhere to rules and regulations.

Mike Davis, Global Witness' Asia Director, said: "Local people are calling for a suspension of jade mining because of its severe environmental and social impacts until reforms are put in place. We support that idea."

NLD Pledges Reforms

The new National League for Democracy (NLD) government said this month that it has suspended the issuing of further jade mining licenses and pledged to reform the sector. It has started with improvement of safety around waste dumping, before moving on to reducing environmental impacts and eventually increasing openness about licensing and revenues.

Win Htein, director-general of the Mining Department of the new Ministry for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, was quoted as telling state media on May 20 that safety is an "urgent consideration for the government" and that measures are being taken on the ground.

The report said local authorities had tightened dumping restrictions for companies and attempted to move "at-risk" workers' camps to safer areas.

Minister Ohn Win told the Upper House on May 11 that experts would be invited to join a ministerial committee to draft new environmental rules for the jade industry.

Disappearing Mountains, Dangerous Waste Heaps

Lama Lataung, chairman of the Kachin National Development Foundation, estimated that in past decades as many as 50 mountains within a 30-kilometre radius of Hpakant have been reduced to rubble by miners.

Since 2005, mining companies have begun using heavy machinery to speed up jade extraction, according to a recent state media report, which said the number of migrant laborers doing dangerous scavenging through the increasing waste heaps rose to a staggering 300,000 workers in 2015.

Since November, there have been 13 landslides in Hpakant, state media said, including a Nov. 11 landslide that buried at least 114 laborers and a May 8 incident that killed 13.

Kai Ring, a community activist with Kachin National Development Foundation, said neither companies nor authorities take responsibility for managing mining tailings. "Waste heaps are not pressed together with machinery to be compact, and then landslides happen," she said, adding that dynamite explosions and heavy rainfall sometimes trigger the landslides.

Kai Ring also said huge mining trucks of large and medium-sized mining operators often pass through villages at dangerously high speeds, leading to traffic accidents that prompted community protests, most recently on April 2.

Another serious issue is pollution of water resources, Kai Ring added, noting that 12 companies mining next to Uru Creek were dumping waste directly into the creek or onto its banks.

"Flooding will probably be more serious this year for the 10 villages along the creek as companies have put huge amounts of waste into it," she said, adding that according to government rules companies can only dump waste at 12 designated sites and not within 100 meter of the creek.

Gems Law Revisions Increase License Duration

In January, President Thein Sein's then-outgoing government revised the 1995 Gems Law and it was passed by Parliament in February, shortly before the transfer of power to the NLD.

The revised legislation did little, however, to better regulate jade mining's environmental impacts and amendments mainly concerned lengthening the duration of mining licenses, said Khin Maung Myint, a NLD Upper House MP for Hpakant.

Previously, the maximum duration of a license was five years, but under the revisions a company with an area greater than 50 acres can now hold a 10-year license, a medium-sized firms a five-year license, and companies with less than 30 acres can obtain a three-year license.

Khin Maung Myint said a five-year license would cost an operator around US$130,000, adding that there are some 350 companies licensed to mine for jade, but only around 100 large firms are actively mining.

Davis, of Global Witness, said bringing transparency and reforms to the revenues and contract conditions of the jade industry—which he described as "a slush fund for powerful hard-liners"—would be a daunting task. But he urged the government to create "early momentum" by trying to include the sector in its 2016 report to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Burma became a candidate for this voluntary revenue transparency scheme in 2014 and has pledged to publish annual reports on revenue earnings, but so far these have concerned oil and gas, and some mining sectors, though not jade.

This story originally appeared on Myanmar Now.

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