Thursday, November 2, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Meets Arakanese and Rohingya on Rakhine Trip

Posted: 02 Nov 2017 06:03 AM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar's State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met both Arakanese and Rohingya communities during her first trip to troubled northern Rakhine State, the scene of Muslim militant attacks and military clearance operations since August.

On an unannounced trip to the region, the State Counselor visited four areas in Maungdaw Township, according to Rakhine State chief minister U Nyi Pu. Most of the militant attacks on police outposts were focused in the township on Aug. 25.

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims from Maungdaw and the surrounding towns and villages fled to Bangladesh since the attacks, bringing testimonies of indiscriminate killing, rape and arson by security forces and local Arakanese. At least 30,000 Arakanese and Hindus were internally displaced by the violence.

Several Maungdaw residents told The Irrawaddy that her motorcade drove around downtown and the market area but did not hold any meetings with local people. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi then met villagers at Pan Taw Pyin village in southern Maungdaw later in the morning, according to locals.

She told villagers through an interpreter that she was there to see progress of village resettlement plans. Most of the homes were torched during the clearance operation, according to the village administrator U Annawar.

Human Rights Watch estimated 288 Rohingya villages have been destroyed since Aug. 25, according to satellite data.

U Annawar quoted the State Counselor as saying to dozens of Muslim villagers who gathered to see her: "Please tell me frankly what you need. We all have to try out for a peaceful living. I want your children to have a good education for their better future. If you have any difficulties, please let me know."

The villagers replied they had no questions to ask her, added U Annawar.

The leader also visited Khone Taing village, an ethnic Mro settlement where militants killed six Mro and burned down some 40 homes on Aug. 28, according to the village administrator.

U Maung Hla, Khone Taing village administrator, told The Irrawaddy that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and union ministers arrived in two helicopters.

"She asked me about the situation of the village resettlement process and the elderly also talked about the difficulties of their daily lives. About 100 residents came to see Suu Kyi but most of them could not speak well in Burmese. Suu Kyi had a brief separate meeting with Mro women," he said.

"The rest of the villagers are so happy to see her," said U Maung Hla.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Taungpyo sub-town in northern Maungdaw in the afternoon but there was no meeting with residents or administrative officials, according to a General Administration Department official.

Joined by several union ministers and businesspeople, the State Counselor walked along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border bridge and visited the police headquarters in Kyeekan Pyin, which was attacked by Muslim militants in October last year.

Muslim administrative official Kyaw Than of Ah Nauk Pyin village in Rathedaung Township said residents had heard about the State Counselor's visit on Thursday but it was unclear whether she would come to Kyaw Than during the one-day trip.

"We would like to see Mother Suu and the entire village is so excited to meet her for the first time," said U Kyaw Than.

He would ask Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for freedom of movement and citizenship cards if she visited, he said, adding that his village had received rice and other commodities donated by the Turkish government after diplomats toured the region last month.

The Irrawaddy’s reporter Min Aung Khine contributes to this report from Sittwe, Rakhine State. 

The post Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Meets Arakanese and Rohingya on Rakhine Trip appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Bangladesh Rejects Accusation of Delaying Rohingya Repatriation

Posted: 02 Nov 2017 02:42 AM PDT

YANGON — In response to Myanmar's accusation that Bangladesh was delaying the Rohingya refugee repatriation process in order to get international aid money, a Bangladesh representation said the director-general of Myanmar's State Counselor Office was "ill-informed" of the process.

More than 600,000 Muslims have fled northern Rakhine State to Bangladesh since Rohingya militant attacks on police outposts triggered military clearance operations in the region.

Myanmar has been preparing for the repatriation of those who fled the country, and discussions with the Bangladeshi government are underway.

Last month, both sides agreed to cooperate to restore stability in restive Rakhine State but failed to reach an agreement over the repatriation of refugees.

On Tuesday, U Zaw Htay, the director-general of the State Counselor Office, told media that Myanmar was ready to begin the repatriation process any time, based on the criteria of the 1993 agreement with Bangladesh that covered the return of Rohingya refugee to Myanmar.

"We are ready to start but the other side hasn't agreed yet, and the process has been delayed," he said, before linking the delay to hundreds of million dollars raised so far by the international community to help build refugee camps for the Rohingya on the Bangladeshi side.

"Currently they have got US$400 million. Over their receiving of this amount, we are now afraid of delays to the program of deporting the refugees," he told media on Tuesday.

"They have got international subsidies. We are now afraid they would have another consideration as to repatriation," he said.

Md. Reyad Hossain, the First Secretary of the Bangladeshi Embassy in Yangon, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that "it appears that U Zaw Htay is ill informed of the process."

He explained that Bangladesh handed over a revised paper on the repatriation to the Minister for the State Counsellor Office U Kyaw Tint Swe in Dhaka on 2 October.

Myanmar responded on 20 October to the draft, which Bangladesh is now examining, he said.

In a meeting in Naypyitaw on Oct. 24, the countries' home ministers agreed that an arrangement to bring back the Rohingya to Myanmar would be finalized within the next few weeks, which would lead to a Joint Working Group preparing the Term of Reference (TOR) for taking back the refugees.

"Hence, the process of consultation is on and it is wrong to blame any side at this stage," said Md. Reyad Hossain.

Bangladesh had to seek international monetary assistance to meet the formidable humanitarian challenge created due to Myanmar's action in the Rakhine State, said the first secretary.

He said Myanmar could expect this kind of monetary support and "much more" from the international community if it agreed to resettle and integrate the Rohingya into Myanmar society.

"This, however, depends upon Myanmar's sincerity to find durable and inclusive solutions," said the first secretary.

The post Bangladesh Rejects Accusation of Delaying Rohingya Repatriation appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Religious Affairs Minister Assures Arakanese Buddhists Over Rohingya Repatriation

Posted: 02 Nov 2017 12:28 AM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State — Union Minister for Religious Affairs and Culture Thura U Aung Ko told Arakanese Buddhist monks "not to worry" about the repatriation process of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh during a meeting in Rakhine State capital Sittwe on Tuesday.

The minister visited the abbots of Pathein and Dhamma Thukha monasteries—both based in Sittwe—and said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would "keep the interests of the country and people at the forefront" despite international pressure to repatriate the refugees.

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims fled military clearance operations marred by allegations of extrajudicial killings, rape and arson that the UN described as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign. The operations followed Muslim militant attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine on Aug. 25.

U Aung Ko assured the abbots the government would accept only those refugees holding valid documents and who meet criteria listed in a 1993 agreement on repatriation between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been drawing up detailed plans to protect the interests of the country and ethnic Arakanese, he told the abbots.

He said Myanmar would not open several centers to verify and take back Rohingya refugees as demanded by the Bangladeshi government, but would open only one center.

The senior monks said ongoing measures from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are acceptable, but urged the minister to be "as good as his words" in handling the crisis.

The abbots refused to accept Muslim refugees back in Rakhine State if the refugees demanded "Rohingya ethnicity." Many people in Myanmar reject the term "Rohingya" and instead refer to the community as "Bengalis."

The abbots also suggested starting repatriation only after border fencing is complete.

Human rights organizations and media have reported that since the Aug. 25 attacks roughly 604,000 people have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where they have joined more than 300,000 who fled previous outbursts of ethnic violence over the past three decades. With thousands of Rohingya crossing the border each day, the number is expected to pass 1 million Rohingya refugees altogether in Bangladesh.

U Zaw Htay, director-general of State Counselor Office, has called the these figures "impossible."

The Myanmar Police Force chief asked the Bangladeshi home affairs minister during the latter's visit to Myanmar last month to provide a list of Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshi camps. But the Bangladeshi government has not replied yet, said U Zaw Htay.

"If we get that list, it will be easier for us to verify them. We have immigration documents to check if they have lived in Myanmar or not. So, it would be easier to check them against the documents if we get the list," said U Zaw Htay.

According to the 1993 agreement, refugees must have lived in Myanmar, or if they were born in Bangladesh, one of their parents must have been born in Myanmar, and must want to return voluntarily.

Following the meeting between the Myanmar and Bangladeshi home affairs ministers last month, Union minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, U Thein Swe, said the two governments would amend some of the criteria in the 1993 agreement.

Myanmar's opposition party the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) then said it would take legal actions against any changes to the criteria it finds unacceptable to citizens.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Religious Affairs Minister Assures Arakanese Buddhists Over Rohingya Repatriation appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Campaign Targets Myanmar Elephant Poaching

Posted: 01 Nov 2017 11:15 PM PDT

YANGON — A six-month campaign raising awareness of elephant poaching and wildlife smuggling will launch on Nov. 4 in response to an alarming rate of elephant poaching in Myanmar—one per week since January.

Myanmar's elephants face extinction if poaching continues at such a rate, said Christy Williams, country director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), at a press conference on the campaign on Wednesday.

The "Voice for MoMos" countrywide campaign will focus mostly in areas close to elephant habitats, and along the routes used to smuggle elephant parts.

Six international wildlife conservation agencies will run the campaign—WWF; Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS); Fauna and Floral International (FFI); Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA); Friends of Wildlife (FoW); and Grow Back for Posterity (GBP)— in cooperation with Myanmar Timber Enterprise and Forestry Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.

The number of elephants poached for their hide has increased over the past years, according to the campaign, although the illegal trade for elephant hide has existed in the country for a long time.

The natural resources and conservation ministry reported that 18 wild elephants were poached in Myanmar in 2016 whereas about 30 elephants have been hunted as of Aug. 31 this year—more than one elephant per week.

"The habitat of wild elephants has been increasingly narrowed. Previously, elephants were hunted for their tusks only.

"But now, they are killed for their hide and meat as well. So, the situation is getting worse," said Dr. Zaw Min Oo, an elephant vet from the Forestry Department.

The elephant population of the country is now estimated to be between 1,400 and 2,000—a significant decrease from about 10,000 in the 1940s, according to the Forestry Department.

"In the past, elephants were only poached for their tusks. And not every male elephant of Asian species has tusks. So the number of elephants poached was low. But now, elephant hide is high in demand, and not just male elephants but also female elephants and calves are targeted now. So, the population of Myanmar's wild elephants has declined rapidly," said Christy Williams.

In Myanmar, elephants are hunted with poisoned arrows used along with bows or hunting rifles or percussion firearms used along with poisoned metal balls, according to the WWF. Elephant parts are smuggled into China, Thailand and the Golden Triangle Region.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Campaign Targets Myanmar Elephant Poaching appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Taunggyi’s Fire Balloon Festival

Posted: 01 Nov 2017 10:42 PM PDT

TAUNGGYI, SHAN STATE—Tens of thousands of people gathered in Shan State capital Taunggyi this week to celebrate the annual balloon festival held around the full moon day of Tazaungmone, the eighth month of the Myanmar Calendar.

The balloon festival takes place from Oct. 26-Nov. 4 this year and is part of the Buddhist celebration of Tazaungdaing, or the "Festival of Lights." The week marks the end of Kahtein, where robes are given to Buddhist monks.

Each year, teams of locals launch homemade hot air balloons made of paper and bamboo in a competition that concludes the day after the full moon, which this year falls on Friday.

Although the British reportedly introduced the annual balloon competition during the colonial era, the practice is also considered an offering of light to Buddhist spirits.

During the day, balloons are launched and a fairground runs at the site of the festival—a field on the outskirts of the mountaintop town of Taunggyi.

The festival is one of the most famous and significant cultural celebrations in Myanmar. As much as it is spectacular, it is also one of the most dangerous festivals where people are sometimes injured—and even killed—in accidents while launching the balloons.

The post Taunggyi's Fire Balloon Festival appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

DASSK Visits Northern Rakhine in Unprecedented Trip 

Posted: 01 Nov 2017 10:25 PM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State — Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi flew to conflict-torn northern Rakhine State for the first time since Muslim militant attacks on police outposts in August triggered a brutal military crackdown that has seen an exodus of more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh.

The Irrawaddy witnessed her speaking to local young people at state capital Sittwe Airport in the morning before embarking on a flight to northern Rakhine, where she will visit Maungdaw Township—the focus of much of the recent violence. It will be her first official visit to northern Rakhine.

The State Counselor's Office director-general U Zaw Htay told The Irrawaddy the leader is on a one-day visit to the area, adding that more details of the trip would be published soon.

The State Counselor arrived in Sittwe around 8 a.m., and met with about 12 young people at the airport.

She was accompanied by businesspeople Zaw Zaw of Max Myanmar Group, Nang Lang Kham of KBZ Bank, and Pyae Phyo Tayza of Htoo Group of Companies, who all made lavish donations for her development program named the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine.

The government's humanitarian assistance plans for northern Rakhine were discussed during her 30-minute-long meeting with young Arakanese and Arakanese sub-ethnicities Mro, Khami and Diagnet.

After the meeting, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi headed to Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, where the stateless Rohingya have fled their homes and crossed into Bangladesh since the Aug. 25 attacks.

Locals of Sittwe and Maungdaw told The Irrawaddy they were not told of her visit in advance, and saw large security forces deployed in their areas. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is likely to meet Arakanese and Rohingya Muslims during her visit, according to locals.

The State Counselor last visited Rakhine State during the 2015 election campaign.

The Irrawaddy's Htet Naing Zaw contributed to this report from Naypyitaw.

The post DASSK Visits Northern Rakhine in Unprecedented Trip  appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Censored for Years, Artist Holds His Fifth Solo Exhibition in Yangon

Posted: 01 Nov 2017 10:14 PM PDT

Myanmar traditional dancers, rural damsels with traditional hair buns, puppet dancers and some of Myanmar's 37 nats wielding swords are gathering at the north wing of Yangon's Aung San Stadium, to be specific, at OK Gallery.

They are not animate beings, but paintings framed on 3×4 foot canvas, and brought by 72-year-old artist Aung Khaing to exhibit at his fifth solo exhibition.

Aung Khaing portrays traditional Burmese themes but with a modern influence.

Aung Khaing was born in 1945 in a small township in Bago, and graduated in chemistry from Yangon University in 1969. It was the university library that exposed him to art from Myanmar and around the world.

During university, he became friends with Myanmar's famous modernists U Nan Wai, Bagyi Aung Soe,Kin Maung Yin, Paw Oo Thet and Win Pe. It was then that Aung Khaing fell in love with modernism.

Aung Khaing portrays traditional Burmese themes but with a modern influence.

"I don't want to draw landscapes and pagodas. I only want to draw puppet dancers, people's faces, and nudes. Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Willem de Kooning have influenced my work," said Aung Khaing, who is keen to create more works with traditional Burmese themes, but with his own modern flavor.

Aung Khaing participated in dozens of group art exhibitions in the 1970s and planned to organize his first solo show in 1984, but it was banned by literary censorship officials who oversaw art exhibitions at the time, saying his works were unfit for public display.

Aung Khaing portrays traditional Burmese themes but with a modern influence.

When censorship officials saw paintings of socialist icons Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, one of them said: "Tell me why you don't try our Burmese leaders."

Aung Khaing portrays traditional Burmese themes but with a modern influence.

He asked if his works would be allowed to be shown if he portrayed Gen Aung San, he recounted.

As an artist censored by the government, he has had to struggle. He could not hold his own exhibition for 29 years, until his first solo show in 2013.

Aung Khaing portrays traditional Burmese themes but with a modern influence.

"I am free. I create freely. I don't want titles and political positions. I just want to create the way I feel," he said.

There will be a total of 30 paintings, each priced at US$800, at his fifth solo exhibition.

Aung Khaing portrays traditional Burmese themes but with a modern influence.

The post Censored for Years, Artist Holds His Fifth Solo Exhibition in Yangon appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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