The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Experts Urge Govt to Embrace Renewable Energy
- Lawmaker Criticizes Military Action in Illegal Mining Areas
- Govt Refuses to Deal With Wa-Led Alliance as Bloc
- Karen State Chief Minister Injured in Car Accident
- Murders, Masked men Spook Rohingya in Bangladesh Camps
- Obituary: Nobel-winning Chinese Dissident’s Life-long Advocacy
- Yangon Furniture Store Promotes Local Craftsmanship
| Experts Urge Govt to Embrace Renewable Energy Posted: 14 Jul 2017 07:29 AM PDT YANGON – Experts urged the government to consider including renewable energy sources in the national energy plan at a talk concerning a "clean energy vision for Myanmar" in Yangon on Thursday. U Aung Myint, the director of Renewable Energy Association Myanmar (REAM) said that they had expected that the National League for Democracy government would implement a sustainable policy approach for the new energy sector. However, he noted that this has not been the case. "The current circumstances show that Myanmar's energy sector is going against the direction widely accepted in the world," U Aung Myint said, referring to a focus on the greater use of renewable energy sources. On Wednesday in Naypyitaw, civil society groups, members of the private sector and international lenders participated in a roundtable discussion with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy. The coalition of energy experts said in a statement that since Myanmar is focusing largely on coal and large hydropower plants, it "is missing a major opportunity to develop its renewable energy potential." "The coal plants and mega dams are 'dinosaur' technologies that have severe negative impacts on climate change, public health, biodiversity and local livelihoods," the statement said. Renewable energy sources as such solar and wind power are the cleanest and cheapest options, said Hans-Josef Fell, a renewable energy expert from German Energy Watch. He is a former member of Parliament, representing his country's Green Party, and has advocated worldwide for a stronger embrace of renewable energy. He shared experiences from Germany, as well as those of China and Bangladesh, concerning the uses and benefits of renewable energy. Fell said that when Germany started the use of renewable energy 17 years ago, the situation was comparable to present-day Myanmar. They started with a target of six percent use in 2000, and have increased to 35 percent in 2017. Solar and wind power generate an abundance of electricity and sell at cheaper prices than heavily financed coal plants, Fell explained, adding that Germany has a target of 100 percent use of renewable energy by 2030. In order to maintain power plants, Myanmar would have to import coal, part of the previous U Thein Sein-led government's plan to achieve 33 percent electricity generation from such plants. The chief ministers in Mon and Karen states have urged the establishment of coal plants as an immediate solution to meet the demand for electricity, despite civil society groups objecting to the energy source. Earlier this week, on July 11, the Shan Human Rights Foundation said that residents of Nanma village in northern Shan State's Hsipaw Township, have been experiencing "health concerns" after inhaling dust from coal mines in the region. U Aung Myint urged the National League for Democracy government to "act in accordance with its election manifesto and promote renewable energy as a matter of political and economic importance." "If the government hopes to be 'together with the people' it needs to show that it is willing to listen to concerns about its energy development and grid extension plans before making decisions," he added. Hans-Josef Fell echoed that "political will and support" would be key in succeeding in developing renewable energy sources and strengthening the stability of the electricity grid. He also highlighted the cost-effective aspect of these provisions, and that it could create jobs. Myanmar's recent energy master plan lacks an outline of renewable energy uses, including biomass energy that could be generated in the country, U Aung Myint said. U Win Myo Thu, an environmentalist and the director of EcoDev, said much information is available to policymakers, but that the desire to create change would depend upon them. He told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar "needs the political leadership to take a new path for the challenge, as people tend to be attached to the existing method, which does not need much effort." The government needs to consult with the public in order to conduct hydropower plants, which are not mega dams, the environmentalist said, adding that the project could go ahead if the government acts transparently. "If we are able to use efficient technology for small and medium hydropower plants for electricity generation, then we wouldn't have to use mega dams," U Win Myo Thu said. The post Experts Urge Govt to Embrace Renewable Energy appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Lawmaker Criticizes Military Action in Illegal Mining Areas Posted: 14 Jul 2017 04:36 AM PDT YANGON — Lower House lawmaker representing Kachin's Tanai Township U Lin Lin Oo criticized a military crackdown on illegal gold and amber mines in the township during a parliamentary session on Thursday. "The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation and the Kachin State government should take the lead in handling this problem. Military action is not at all the right approach," U Lin Lin Oo told Parliament. The lawmaker submitted a proposal to the Lower House urging the ministry and state government to properly handle illegal gold and amber mines in Tanai and Hpakant townships. He quoted Article 37 of the 2008 military-drafted Constitution, stating that the Union is the ultimate owner of all lands and all natural resources above and below the ground, above and beneath the water and in the atmosphere in the Union. "There is a need for the Union government to exercise this executive power vested by the Constitution to adopt a policy to prevent the loss of the country's resources," said U Lin Lin Oo. Citizens and ethnic people have suffered unnecessarily from the consequences of a military crackdown on illegal mining in the area, he criticized. Hundreds of gold and amber miners have fled the area and sought shelter in Tanai since clashes broke out between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in early June. More than 100,000 people living in the area have also fled to Tanai, Hkamti in Sagaing Division, or to their hometowns. Myanmar Army helicopters dropped leaflets in the second week of June, asking people in the mining areas to leave by June 15 or else be recognized as insurgents supporting the KIA. Then, it launched attacks. Military tensions between the two sides persist in the area. U Tin Soe, Lower House lawmaker representing Hpakant Township, seconded U Lin Lin Oo, saying clashes have also affected Hpakant. He said locals started mining illegally in the 2000s in Tanai and Hpakant, and since then, thousands of Kachin locals and other internal migrants have arrived to work in the area. Besides miners, many people in the area earn their livelihoods through trading gold, driving taxis, and selling mining equipment, fuel, food, and consumer goods and more. U Tin Soe said there were more than 500,000 people working in or near the amber mines in 2014. In July of last year, the Myanmar Army conducted clearance operations in gold mines in two villages along Ledo Road in Hpakant Township, forcing workers to flee. Parliament approved discussion of U Lin Lin Oo's proposal. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post Lawmaker Criticizes Military Action in Illegal Mining Areas appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Govt Refuses to Deal With Wa-Led Alliance as Bloc Posted: 14 Jul 2017 03:44 AM PDT YANGON — The government has rejected the idea of holding peace talks with an alliance of seven ethnic armed groups based in northeast Myanmar as a single entity and will only negotiate with them separately, according to the government's peace commission. "We don't accept the northern groups," said the commission's spokesperson U Aung Soe, referring to the alliance. "We have already made it clear that we don't accept it. We are ready to meet and negotiate with any of them separately anytime." Led by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the alliance also comprises the Arakan Army (AA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) The alliance said it would only hold talks with the government as a coalition under its name the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), which it formed in the third week of April. TNLA spokesperson Brig-Gen Mai Bone Kyaw told The Irrawaddy that the FPNCC expected the government's refusal to deal with them as a single entity. "We FPNCC members need to hold a meeting to decide if we can meet separately with the government," he told The Irrawaddy. The National League for Democracy (NLD) government offered to hold talks with each member or the UWSA, SSPP and NDAA as one group, and the KIA, TNLA, MNDAA and AA as another group, via China's special envoy on Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang in mid-June. But the FPNCC rejected the offer. In an appearance brokered by the Chinese government, representatives of the seven ethnic armed groups attended the second session of the 21st Century Panglong conference in May and held private talks with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the event. Clashes are ongoing between the Myanmar Army and the KIA and TNLA in Shan and Kachin states. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post Govt Refuses to Deal With Wa-Led Alliance as Bloc appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Karen State Chief Minister Injured in Car Accident Posted: 14 Jul 2017 12:31 AM PDT MOULMEIN, Mon State — Karen State Chief Minister Daw Nan Khin Htwe Myint broke her left leg and dislocated her wrist in a car accident in state capital Hpa-An on Friday morning, said Saw Poe Kwar, a personal staff officer of the deputy parliamentary speaker of Karen State. "Her injuries were not serious. She is receiving treatment at Karen State Hospital and does not need to go to Yangon for treatment," Saw Poe Kwar told The Irrawaddy. The chief minister was on her way to attend the birthday celebration of renowned Buddhist monk Taunggalay Sayadaw and the opening of Parami Bridge when the accident happened near the Hpa-An golf course. "The tie rod stopped working. The car didn't flip over. It just skidded sideways," he said. The car did not hit other vehicles or people, but skidded and hit a teak plant, injuring the chief minister, he added. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post Karen State Chief Minister Injured in Car Accident appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Murders, Masked men Spook Rohingya in Bangladesh Camps Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:30 PM PDT KUTUPALONG MAKESHIFT CAMP, Bangladesh — As fellow Muslims were celebrating the end of Ramadan late in June, Noor Ankis and her neighbors buried her husband at the refugee camp in Bangladesh where he had lived for years. Mohammed Ayub's body—his throat slit and hands tied behind his back—had been found dumped in a desolate corner of the camp for Rohingya Muslims who have fled neighboring Myanmar. Thirty-year-old Ayub was one of three Rohingya men whose bodies were found over the past few weeks. Aid workers and long-time residents say the incidents, along with the stabbing of a community leader, amount to the worst violence in the camps since the Rohingya began fleeing Buddhist-majority Myanmar more than a quarter of a century ago. Refugees, whose numbers have swelled since fighting late last year in Myanmar's Rakhine State, also report masked men roaming the dark streets of the two camps in Kutupalong at night. Bangladesh police and aid workers say a struggle for control of supplies to the camps is behind the violence. "They beat me and my sister and dragged him out of the house," Ankis told Reuters, as her 7- and 3-year-old children slept by her on the newly cemented floor. "The kidnappers called me from his number and threatened to kill me too. I’m also getting threats in the name of al-Yaqin." She was referring to the militant group Harakah al-Yaqin, or "Faith Movement," whose attacks on Myanmar border police posts in October prompted a security crackdown in which troops have been accused of murder and rape of Rohingya civilians. Police say it is unclear whether the insurgent group, which now wants to be known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, was involved in the violence in the camps or whether others were using its name to intimidate refugees. The group, whose leader spoke to Reuters in an interview in March, did not respond to an email seeking comment. Resource Gap More than 75,000 Rohingya have fled northwestern Rakhine State to Bangladesh over recent months, joining tens of thousands already there. Myanmar's military and government have denied almost all allegations of atrocities by security forces. While the government announced the end of its counterinsurgency operation in February, tensions in Myanmar have risen again in recent days after village administrators were murdered and troops killed three people while clearing a Rohingya militant camp. The population of the official and makeshift camps in Kutupalong, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Dhaka, has swelled to around 86,000, from 49,000, since the October exodus, according to a Bangladeshi government document seen by Reuters. While the nearly 14,000 refugees in the registered camp receive medical care and food from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the majority living in plastic-and-mud huts of the cramped makeshift camp are largely left to fend for themselves. "There's always that resources gap and that's the reason there is always tension between the registered refugees and those outside," said Sanjukta Sahany, a senior official with the International Organization for Migration in Bangladesh that is charged with coordinating relief efforts by various UN agencies. "Post-influx the security situation has deteriorated." A recent cyclone and floods that put added strain on limited aid supplies have also made things worse, aid workers said. Shinji Kubo, UNHCR's Bangladesh boss, said he was pressing the local government to let his agency expand its role beyond the two registered camps in the country. Masked Men Ayub's wife, Ankis, said her husband had been involved in an ongoing dispute with drug users in the makeshift camp in Kutupalong, according to a police report seen by Reuters. He was kidnapped by a group of 20-25 machete-wielding men who barged into their shack on the night of June 14, she said. Reuters reported in February that Bangladesh blames the Rohingya influx for the soaring use of methamphetamine drug in the country. Ayub's body was recovered from a muddy wasteland between two hillocks in Kutupalong on June 25. The body of another man, Mohammed Selim, who was also abducted on June, had been found in a similar state at the same place a week earlier. Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing of Ayub, though the motive remained unclear, senior police officer Afruzul Haque Tutul said. In the camps, refugees remain fearful of the mysterious masked men who continue to be reported moving around at night. "I was sleeping with my two children and my wife when they called my name," said a 30-year-old registered refugee, who was twice approached by groups of 10-12 men, though he did not open his door. "The one hour they waited outside my home was the longest one hour of my life."
The post Murders, Masked men Spook Rohingya in Bangladesh Camps appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Obituary: Nobel-winning Chinese Dissident’s Life-long Advocacy Posted: 13 Jul 2017 10:22 PM PDT BEIJING — During a hunger strike days before the Chinese army crushed the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement on June 4, 1989, the man who would become China’s best known dissident, Liu Xiaobo, declared: "We have no enemies." When being tried in 2009 on charges of inciting subversion of state power for helping write Charter 08 – a pro-democracy manifesto calling for an end to one-party rule – Liu reaffirmed: "I have no enemies and no hatred." He was sentenced to 11 years in prison that same year, drawing protests from the United States, many European governments and rights groups, which condemned the stiff sentence and called for his early release. Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Liu, 61, died on Thursday of multiple organ failure, the government of the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang said. He was being treated in a hospital there, having been admitted in June after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer. His wife, Liu Xia, had told Reuters previously that her husband wanted to dedicate the Nobel prize to those who died in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. "He said this prize should go to all the victims of June 4," Liu Xia said, after she was allowed to visit him in jail following the announcement of the prize. "He felt sad, quite upset. He cried. He felt it was hard to deal with." Liu Xia had been living under house arrest since her husband won the Nobel prize, but had been allowed to visit him in prison about once a month. She suffers from depression. She was allowed to be with him in the hospital where he spent his last days. Charter 8 Liu had been a thorn in Beijing’s side since 1989, when he helped negotiate a deal to allow protesters to leave Tiananmen Square before troops and tanks rolled in. "Using the law to promote rights can only have a limited impact when the judiciary is not independent," Liu told Reuters in 2006, when he was under house arrest, in comments typical of those that have angered the government. Charter 08 alarmed the Communist Party more for the 350 signatures – dignitaries from all walks of life – he collected than its content, political analysts said. The manifesto was modeled on the Charter 77 petition that became a rallying call for the human rights movement in communist Czechoslovakia in 1977. Liu had ceaselessly campaigned for the rights of the Tiananmen Mothers and victims of the crackdown. He was much better known abroad than at home due to a government ban on internet and state media discussion of the Tiananmen protests, and of him, aside from the odd editorial condemning him. Liu was considered a moderate by fellow dissidents and international rights groups. But they say the Communist Party is insecure and paranoid, fearing anyone or anything it perceives as a threat to stability. In 2003, Liu wrote an essay, calling for the embalmed corpse of Chairman Mao Zedong to be removed from a mausoleum on Tiananmen Square. Mao is still a demigod to many in China. Over the years, Liu won numerous human rights and free speech awards from organisations including Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards. His books have been published in Germany, Japan, the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hero to Some, Traitor to Others A hero to many in the West, Liu was branded a traitor by Chinese nationalists. He had come under fire from nationalists for his comments in a 2006 interview with Hong Kong’s now-defunct Open magazine in which he said China would "need 300 years of colonisation for it to become like what Hong Kong is today." The government considered him a criminal. "For Liu Xiaobo, whatever the United States says or does is right, and whatever the Communist Party says or does is wrong," a source with ties to the leadership said. "It’s too absolute," said the source, who declined to be identified. Liu’s critics were suspicious of the motives of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, noting that Liupraised the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. He had also been taken to task domestically because non-government organisations he headed received funding from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy. The third of five boys, Liu was born in Changchun, capital of the northeastern province of Jilin, on Dec. 28, 1955. His father, Liu Ling, taught Chinese literature at Northeast Normal University. His mother worked at a kindergarten affiliated with the university. In 1970, at age 15, Liu was with his parents when they were sent to a labour camp in the region of Inner Mongolia at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Liu worked briefly as a plasterer at a state-owned construction company in Changchun in 1976. After the Cultural Revolution, China resumed national university entrance examinations whichLiu passed. He earned his bachelor's degree in Chinese literature from Jilin University and obtained his master's and doctorate degrees from Beijing Normal University. Past Incarcerations Liu had been in and out of prison and labor camps four times, excluding brief periods of house arrest ahead of politically sensitive anniversaries. His first brush with incarceration came after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, when he spent 18 months at the notorious Qincheng penitentiary for political prisoners. Liu was charged with counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement, but a Beijing court exempted him from criminal action because he had negotiated with martial-law troops for student protesters to leave the square before tanks rolled in. Police held him without charge on the outskirts of Beijing between May 1995 and January 1996, for drafting and circulating a petition calling for democracy and rule of law in the run-up to the sixth anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown. Liu Xiaobo married Liu Xia in 1997, during his three years of "re-education" at a labor camp in the northeastern city of Dalian. China abolished the extrajudicial administrative form of punishment in 2013. The post Obituary: Nobel-winning Chinese Dissident's Life-long Advocacy appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Yangon Furniture Store Promotes Local Craftsmanship Posted: 13 Jul 2017 08:12 PM PDT There is no material preference at Sirboni Furnishings. As the company's co-founder Ko Lin Tin Htun Ni puts it, "We use metal, bamboo, wood or rattan, based on design requirements and always considering comfort." The products at his showroom—located in a bamboo garden in Yangon's Insein Township—are a testament to this: wood combined with leather cushions results in a folding stool much different than those available at other furniture stores, and a coffee table made with three distressed planks and a circular glass top showcases his retro, rustic style.   Founded in 1995, Sirboni Furnishings was started by his father as a family-run furniture workshop to satisfy his desire for craftsmanship rather than profit. In 2012, aiming to boost sales in the local market, the family chose the brand name Sirboni and began designing new pieces. Ko Lin Tin Htun Ni explained the story behind the name: "Our grandfather's name was U Bo Ni. We added 'Sir' in front to honor the foundation he laid for the family.” Earlier this month, The Irrawaddy talked to Sirboni's co-founder and his 25-year-old son Ko Lin Tin Htun Ni—who returned from the United States last year with the mission of making his family firm a nationwide retailer—and discussed inspiration, manufacturing, struggles and favorite designs. How did you become a furniture designer? I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the Florida Institute of Technology in the United States. I have been asked frequently how mechanical engineering relates to making furniture. Making furniture is a form of construction. Building safe and sturdy pieces from wood, bamboo or metal—and understanding the nature of the material—is the most important aspect of designing furniture. It's also how we ensure customer safety. I studied design and furnishings by myself, and the rest I learned in university. What are your inspirations? I look for inspiration all over, whether in fashion, graphic design or painting. I have teachers everywhere. What makes Sirboni different from other furniture manufacturers? Sirboni is different in how we focus on design, sustainability and materials. So as not to conceal the true nature of wood or bamboo, we coat the pieces as little as possible. People know the material when they see it, no disguises. We use honest designs and traditional construction methods.  What are Sirboni's characteristic designs? In terms of design and aesthetics, we are a little bit rustic and vintage but also keep need and exquisiteness of craft in mind. Our designs are sustainable. We try to give users a unique experience and furniture that seamlessly integrates into their homes in a positive way. How is your work sustainable? Sustainability starts with durability. We are all busy and when something breaks, it's time-consuming and difficult to repair. Sustainability starts with thinking about how to build durable pieces. It's also about material choice and maximizing each material's durability. Also, sourcing materials. Wood must be legally extracted; bamboo comes from plantations. Unsustainable practices will appear in businesses at times, but it's important to reduce these as much as possible. There is massive deforestation in Myanmar and sustainability is crucial. How is local demand? Local demand is slow but growing. There are no major difficulties. We also have foreign demand but we want to focus on the local market. We believe there is room for growth with well-designed furniture. How do you balance design and profit? Product development requires time and money. If we want to make a new design, we could come up with a safe design that would sell well. But we need to balance customer tastes with our vision. We try to innovate while balancing the two.  How do you choose your materials? Are there preferences? We don't have specific material preferences because we are a design-oriented company. We use metal, bamboo, wood or rattan based on design requirements. How do you plan to expand in the local market? We are going to focus on branding. Branding and marketing are weak in our industry. I can't speak for whole industry but as far as I know, there is so little creativity in marketing. Businesses can't get consumers to care about their products. Consumption here is based on utility and price. If consumers think something is useful to them, they check the price. If the price is cheap, they buy the product. People rarely buy products based on emotions. We want to start a trend with products that may not be the cheapest but that customers truly like. To do this, we are marketing our brand through social media storytelling. We hope our brand expands by sharing what we represent, what we want to be and what we contribute to. What is the struggle for these value-added products in Myanmar? Mainly, we struggle with the manufacturing process and with lack of government support. Consumption is increasing and foreign brands are entering the market. But money from foreign companies doesn't circulate within the country. Production needs to outpace consumption. But manufacturers are facing a shortage of skilled laborers. Also, electricity. Infrastructure is essential to manufacturing products at lower costs. Next, craftsmanship. It is easy for craftsmanship to disappear in developed countries. The private sector alone cannot preserve it; it needs the support of the government. What is the most important element in a piece of furniture? Every element is vital. But, among these vital elements, comfort is fundamental. Furniture is made for people, and if it isn't comfortable, then we are wasting materials. Also, durability. Those are the two most important things in my opinion.  What does making furniture mean to you? There are two aspects to furniture; design and construction. Design is artistic work while construction is technical. It's about balancing the two. Which piece of work is your favorite among your designs? The library chair. During my stay in the US, there was a chair at a library that I always used. With that in mind, I improved on the design and called that design "Library Chair." I really like that chair.  When did you create it? Last year, in 2016. What piece of furniture can you not live without? And why? A chair. While I was in the United States as a college student, I had to move a lot over the years. Whenever I moved into a new place, I didn't have anything to sit on. It would drive me crazy. People use chairs often, and it is critical that they are comfortable. For me, it is the most important piece of furniture.  The post Yangon Furniture Store Promotes Local Craftsmanship appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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