Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Are Burma’s Politicians Fishing in Troubled Waters?

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 07:49 AM PST

Thirteen political parties release a declaration calling for a meeting of Burma's National Defense and Security Council.

The post Are Burma's Politicians Fishing in Troubled Waters? appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Education Ministry Wants to Take Back Rangoon Land from Property Developer

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 06:25 AM PST

'We want all 17.7 acres back to use for education and research. I would like to make a request to the Parliament,' says U Win Maw Tun.

The post Education Ministry Wants to Take Back Rangoon Land from Property Developer appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In Rangoon, There is Plenty to be Afraid of

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 04:28 AM PST

A recent spate of bombings in the city reveals the real dangers to Rangoon's residents—a lack of transparency and rule of law.

The post In Rangoon, There is Plenty to be Afraid of appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Visit Singapore

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 04:12 AM PST

The State Counselor will open an exhibition as part of celebrations to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between Burma and Singapore.

The post Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Visit Singapore appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Child Law Revised to Increase Punishment for Offenders

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 04:04 AM PST

The Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Ministry revises the existing 1993 Child Law and ups the punishment handed out in child rape cases.

The post Child Law Revised to Increase Punishment for Offenders appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

KBZ Bank Launches New High-Interest Account to Attract Savers

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 03:58 AM PST

'This plan will encourage people to save money regularly and at a higher interest rate,' says U Soe Tin Maung Zaw, the bank's general manager.

The post KBZ Bank Launches New High-Interest Account to Attract Savers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Police Remain Tight-Lipped About Rangoon Explosions

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 01:52 AM PST

Police have not yet delivered an official explanation to the public regarding an investigation into a number of minor explosions in Rangoon.

The post Police Remain Tight-Lipped About Rangoon Explosions appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Suspected Explosive Devices Found at Rangoon Airport

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 01:01 AM PST

Initial laboratory tests find four bottles of M-150 energy drink do not contain explosive but are filled with liquid painkiller, wax and oil.

The post Suspected Explosive Devices Found at Rangoon Airport appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Four Inmates Riot in Pathein Prison

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 12:00 AM PST

'We have shackled them in accordance with the prison manual, and we have opened a case against them with the police,' says the correctional director.

The post Four Inmates Riot in Pathein Prison appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Global Companies Linked to US-Sanctioned UWSA Tin Mine

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 10:02 PM PST

The chain connecting some of the world's best-known brands with a mine in one the most inaccessible corners of Southeast Asia has many links.

The post Global Companies Linked to US-Sanctioned UWSA Tin Mine appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thailand’s Cabinet Acknowledges Appointment of a New King, says Defense Minister

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 09:33 PM PST

The cabinet will ask the president of parliament to invite Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to become king, according to procedure.

The post Thailand’s Cabinet Acknowledges Appointment of a New King, says Defense Minister appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ten Things to Do in Rangoon This Week

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 05:40 PM PST

Iron Cross, Iron Cross, Iron Cross, and a bunch of other artsy stuff. Did we mention Iron Cross?

The post Ten Things to Do in Rangoon This Week appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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National News

National News

Annan to make second Myanmar visit

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 12:35 AM PST

Amid continued violence in northern Rakhine State and growing concern from international observers, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan will be paying another visit to Myanmar while State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi may be reconsidering the dates for her trip to Indonesia.

Police mum on details of suspects connected to Yangon blasts

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 12:32 AM PST

Police have reportedly arrested suspects linked to a series of explosions in Yangon this month, but law enforcement officials remain tight-lipped about the number of detainees and their profiles.

Amid party infighting, NLD launches team to investigate complaints

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 12:29 AM PST

Following complaints lodged about party members in Taninthar­yi Region and Mon State, the National League for Democracy has established a three-member team to investigate.

Citing ‘general crisis’, parties urge powerful security council meeting

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 11:14 PM PST

Thirteen registered political parties have called for a meeting of the powerful National Defence and Security Council to address a "general crisis" facing the country on multiple fronts.

Hundreds of Shan farmers protest Upper Yeywa dam

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 11:08 PM PST

More than 1500 farmers from 19 townships gathered on the banks of the Namtu River in Thibaw/Hsipaw township, Shan State to call for the cancellation of the Upper Yeywa dam on November 27. It was the third such protest of 2016.

Bangladesh turns back refugee boats

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 11:05 PM PST

Bangladesh border guards admitted to turning back multiple boats packed with refugees fleeing violence in northern Rakhine State yesterday, despite appeals by the country's opposition to provide shelter to the Muslim minority.

Minister for social welfare wants harsher penalties for rape

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 11:02 PM PST

If Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister U Win Myat Aye gets his way, anyone who is convicted of raping a minor could face life in prison, up from the current maximum sentence of 20 years, he announced yesterday.

U Aye Maung tapped as ANP candidate to contest by-election Rakhine race

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 10:55 PM PST

Arakan National Party chair U Aye Maung has been selected to represent the party in an Ann township, Rakhine State, by-election race next year, according to U Tun Aung Kyaw, ANP general secretary.

Shady agencies stripped of licences

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 10:53 PM PST

Eighteen employment agencies tasked with finding jobs for workers in other countries were stripped of their licenses for a slew of offences, including working with illegal brokers, Union Minister for Labour, Immigration, and Population U Thein Swe told the Amyotha Hluttaw yesterday.

Parliamentary committee roles rescinded for lawmakers in NLD doghouse

Posted: 28 Nov 2016 10:52 PM PST

Three National League for Democracy lawmakers who were stripped of their party leadership posts last week have also been dismissed from the parliamentary committee seats they had held.
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Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Hundreds protest dam on Namtu River

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 05:18 AM PST

More than 1,500 people staged a protest on Sunday in northern Shan State's Hsipaw Township, demanding a halt to plans for a hydropower dam project.

Photo by SHRF- people stage a protest near Namtu River
in Hsipaw Township on November 27.
Protestors included community activists, members of youth groups, women and politicians, many of whom came from all corners of Shan State to gather at Ta Long village, where the Upper Yeywa Dam project is slated to be built.

According to Sai Thum Ai, a spokesperson for the Shan State Farmers' Network (SSFN), the new hydropower projects – the Upper Yeywa being one of four proposed to be constructed in northern Shan State – will offer no benefits to the public, but will only create problems.

"The companies plan to finish building the Upper Yeywa Dam by 2018," he said. "By that time, Ta Long village will be under water."
The proposed dam will create a 60-kilometer-long reservoir and flood up to the town of Hsipaw, submerging villages and lands. About 650 villagers live in Ta Long, an agricultural community renowned for its organic oranges, according to the statement released on November 27.
The dam is due to be built by: China's Zhejiang Orient Engineering Co: the Yunnan Machinery Import and Export Co; Lahmeyer International GmbH of Germany; Swiss company Stucky SA; and a Japanese conglomerate called Toshiba Hydro Power (Hangzhou) Co Ltd.
"The dam site and planned reservoir lie in an area of active conflict, where the Burma Army has been launching offensives in the past few months against ethnic resistance forces and committing grave human rights violations, including the torture and killing of civilians," reads the statement. "On October 23, over 2,000 villagers fled from their homes after a Burma Army attack only 20 kilometers east of Ta Long. The recent escalation of fighting in northern Shan State during the past week has caused more IDPs to flee to Namtu."
On June 3, Shan Herald reported that Burmese armed forces tortured and killed villagers near the Yeywa dam site.
Environmentalist Sai Thum Ai said that after the 2010 election, investment increased in Shan State, but more people are struggling. Many civilians' lands have been confiscated, he said, while conflict is breaking out all across Shan State.

"They [the NLD government] did not solve our problems. On the other hand, they have created more problems for people. If they build more dams, more people will suffer," he said.  

"We urge the Shan State government and Union government to stop creating new [dam] projects. The current projects should provide equality benefits for local people," he said. "We also urge the government to bring about an immediate end to the fighting in northern Shan State."

The SSFN also urged foreign firms involved in the Upper Yeywa Dam to pull out immediately from this controversial project, saying they are complicit in the Burmese army's abusive military operations to secure the area. In particular, the farmers group said, Stucky SA should withdraw, given Switzerland's proclaimed role as a "peace-builder" in Burma.

By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)

Police shoot motorcyclist at checkpoint in Muse

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 01:44 AM PST

A man was shot and wounded by police in Muse, northern Shan State, on Monday evening after allegedly running a checkpoint on his motorcycle, according to a local source, speaking to Shan Herald on condition of anonymity.


He identified the man as Aye Chan Ko Ko, a worker at the Kanbawza Bank in Muse.

"He was shot while he riding his motorbike at around 7.30pm," said the source. "He got hit in his right hand and right leg. His hand was seriously wounded.

"I heard that he was shot because he did kept going when the police ordered him to stop," the same source added. "He was taken to a hospital in Shweli [on the Chinese border]."

Last night, three bombs reportedly exploded in Muse, according to a local resident who requested anonymity on the grounds of safety. One targeted a police station.

Following intensified fighting between Burmese armed forces and an alliance of ethnic armed groups – the Arakan Army (AA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), who have recently begun calling themselves the "Northern Alliance" – security has been tightened in Muse Township with police officers stationed across the breadth of the city.

On November 25, Shan Herald reported that some townships in the area, including Muse, Hsenwi and Namkham, had cancelled Shan New Year celebrations, which were scheduled for this week.

Due to the recent hostilities, thousands of civilians from the Muse area have fled their homes, with more than 3,000 seeking refuge across the border in China. Some have returned to their homes in recent days, but the overall atmosphere in the city is described as quiet and tense.


By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)

To Hopeland and Back: The 23rd trip

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 01:35 AM PST

Day Ten. Monday, 14 November 2016

Definition of Lese-Majeste

a.      A crime (as treason) committed against a sovereign power
b.      An offense violating the dignity of a ruler as the representative of a sovereign power
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Myo Yan Naung Thein, arrested on section 66d charge.
There is nothing much to say about who I meet and what is discussed today.
I spend most of the time listening to friends talking about Section 66d of the Telecommunications Law which was created in 2013.

During the previous government's tenure, I'm told, 7 were charged and 5 sentenced to prison. Now that the democratic party has been elected and has been government for 7 months, 29 people have been charged. "It must be sort of a lese majeste law as in Thailand," says one. "Some of our leaders have become really untouchables."

My answer is that I have nothing to complain, since I'm a guest (a long-stay one at that) in the kingdom, beginning 29 November 1996, thanks to a reply from the palace to my petition. And considering my present assets, it'll take a long, long time before I have enough to buy a house in my homeland.

A deeper truth might be what I had already quoted 3 years ago from one of Neil Diamond's song:
L.A.'s fine but it ain't home
New York's home, but it ain't mine no more


Today, I'm lucky at the check-in counter. It takes only 10 minutes for the airline official to fix me a boarding ticket. At 15:00 Thai time, I'm back in the home away from home.

To Hopeland and Back: The 23rd trip

Posted: 29 Nov 2016 01:31 AM PST

Day Nine. Sunday, 13 November 2016

He did not hate them, for he had been taught to expect nothing better, and they were acting as he expected people to act.
Flint, by Louis L'Amour

Today I'm meeting another group of friends. What's different from yesterday's is that they are foreigners coming from afar (they have requested not to mention where they are from) to learn how the peace process in Burma is doing. Maybe some of our experiences will be applicable to their country's situation, while others will not.

Thus far the 7th round in 2016, the PowerPoint presentation that I have been continuously editing and updating: Understanding the Peace Process in Burma/Myanmar, is delivered to them.

So what's so striking about this event I may be asked. The answer is that they ask a lot of good questions.

(Photo: SHRF)
Here are some of them and our answers:

Q. I have scanned through the 2008 constitution. From the federalism point of view, it seems to be okay. So what's wrong about it?

A. Its federal inform, but unitary in substance.

Q. Has the cost of war been taken statistically?

A. No. At least I haven't seen any that has taken into account all the losses that the country has sustained since 1948. But during the three years, from the beginning of 1996 toward the end of 1998, a forced relocation campaign was launched in Shan State by the government forces against the RCSS/SSA (now a signatory of the NCA). According to a human rights report, 300,000 people in 1,500 village in 11 townships, were forcibly relocated. Hundreds were killed, including women, many of whom after sexually abused. About a million of Shans are now in Thailand, at least half of them because of war.

Q. Burma getting poorer, why?

A. Because of continuous war, disastrous economic polities during the socialist era (1962-1988) and now the inability of the West to come to the rescue, after the country opened its doors to them 5 years ago.

Q. What are the significances of the current peace process, and its problems?

A. Significances

1. For the first time, the Burmese government is trying to resolve political problems by political means
2. For the first time, ethnic issues became mainstream (it may have started to change now)
3. For the first time, the international community that used to treat ethnic movements as terrorists, is saying their demands are legitimate (liable to change if not handled properly)

Problems with the EAOs

1.      No shared vision
2.      Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has become so "high," the EAOs are no longer equal, as they were during the previous government
3.      Her priority appears to be reconciliation with the military. And the military looks to ethnic issues, putting it politely, as security issues
4.      Since Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is elected by the people, they have to be being seen as going against the people

Q. What are the differences in outlooks?

A. The military considers this country came into being since ancient times. The EAOs say it came into being as the result of the 1947 Panglong Agreement.

Q. Do you think the Burmese people, who form the majority population,  will support Federalism?

A. They elected Daw AungSan Suu Kyi, so if she says okay to Federalism, you can be rest assured about their support. It means the EAOs must try to achieve what they want to, while she's still there. (Also, one suggests later that if federalism is applied not only to non-Burman states, but also Burman regions, with their different resources and interests, it is likely they will support federalism.)
Note Many of the answers were given by my colleagues.

In the evening, I visit my two former teachers: Sai Aung Tun and Nang Noom, both of whom are now 84. One of the topics we discuss is about the Guardian Spirits of the Shans, both of whom fervently believe in, like most members of the Tai Dai family, which includes Shan, Zhuang (China) Leu, Kheun (Burma) Tai Dam, Tai Khao, Tai Daeng (Vietnam) Ahom (India) Lao (Laos) and Thai (Thailand).

"Like Greek gods, the zao-mong's power is enhanced, when there are people who venerate them," he says. His wife, Nang Noom, who taught me English when I was a kid, is a known medium.

On my way back, I think about these gods, and also, inevitably, the Creator God.

Many Shans don't know they, like Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Christians, used to believe in a Creator God.

According to an Ahom manuscript, translated by Oliver Raendchen, a German anthropologist:
In the beginning, the world was void and surrounded by the water of the ocean. There was only one omnipotent being, the great God. A long time passed. And then God created a deity known as Khuntheukham from his breast. Both the great beings talked together and Khuntheukham dived down to the waters below floating there with his face upward.

A lotus plant was issued forth from his navel. Then a pair of large gold-tinted spiders were created. The spiders, as they floated in the sky, let fall their droppings, out of which the earth arose.

Then God created a goddess as His wife.
(From Shan and beyond, Chulalongkorn University)

The translation ends here. But another manuscript, also Ahom, spoke of deities (who became, what else, Shans) coming down by iron ladders to earth where they multiplied.

Perhaps I too could have become a believer if I were brought up by this story when I was still at an impressionable age. Who can tell?


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