Friday, February 23, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Ninety Percent of Rohingya Population Ejected from Rakhine

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 08:16 AM PST

YANGON – At least 90 percent of the Rohingya population of conflict-torn northern Rakhine State has fled to neighboring Bangladesh in the wake of the government's clearance operations following Muslim militant attacks last year, according to The Irrawaddy's calculations based on government and INGOs' statistics.

Following the attacks in August, majority-Muslim Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, as well as nearby Rathedaung township, all in northern Rakhine State, saw an exodus of Rohingya to refugee camps in the neighboring country. Rohingya in the camps have recounted arbitrary killings, rapes and arson by Myanmar security forces.

The Irrawaddy analyzed recent updated regional statistics reports from the General Administrative Department for the three townships. The reports are dated October 2017. The GAD is under the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs.

Along with the GAD reports, The Irrawaddy's tally also takes into account figures on the number of Rohingya in Bangladeshi camps collected by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. OCHA said that between Aug. 25 and Jan. 27, 688,000 new arrivals were registered.

Only 79,000 Rohingya remain

The GAD reports on Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung put the total Rohingya population before the latest crisis at 767,038. A senior official from Maungdaw District's General Administration Department told The Irrawaddy that the statistics were collected in 2016. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media. (Maungdaw District comprises Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.)

A border police officer crouches near a burned Muslim village in southern Maungdaw during a government guided-tour for journalists in 2017.(Photo:Myo Min Soe/ The Irrawaddy)

A comparison of the GAD's population figures with OCHA's camp registration numbers shows that around 90 percent of the Rohingya population fled into Bangladesh and merely 10 percent (79,038) remained in the three townships in western Myanmar. That 90 percent does not include people who died, went missing or were arrested.

While the reports were dated October 2017, they do not include figures on people with internally displaced person (IDP) status, Rohingya fatalities, Hindu or Rakhine victims, or damage caused by both military and security officials. The Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, announced on Aug. 31 that it had killed 370 suspected militants of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

According to the GAD's numbers, Rohingya accounted for 93 percent of the Maungdaw population, and 84 percent in Buthidaung. The number was significantly lower in Rathedaung Township, at just 6 percent.

Muslim militants' attacks also displaced nearly 30,000 non-Muslims in Maungdaw district — mainly from the Mro, Thet and Daingnet Arakanese sub-ethnic groups, as well as Hindus. However, the majority of the displaced non-Muslims including Buddhists have already arrived back in Maungdaw, while hundreds of Hindu IDPs await government resettlement.

To get a clearer idea of the population ratios of Rakhine, Rohingya and Hindu groups before Aug. 25, see the following infographic pie chart created by The Irrawaddy, accompanied by footage of the exodus originally posted on OCHA's website.

See the total population of each town by clicking on the appropriate color in the following infographic:

Emotive terms avoided

Neither of the terms "Bengali" or "Rohingya" are used in the GAD reports. Nor is there any mention of the "Muslim community from Rakhine State", the term coined by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when she requested that the U.S. Embassy refrain from applying the controversial term "Rohingya" in 2016. In line with her instruction, the final report issued by the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State avoided using the emotive term.

In place of any of the above terms, the GAD report simply says "foreigner" or "Bangladeshi", implying that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. GAD officials from Maungdaw and Buthidaung confirmed that the term "Bangladeshi" in the reports refers to the Rohingya.

It's not clear whether Daw Aung San Suu Kyi sent an internal memo to ministries instructing them to use the term "Muslims in Rakhine State" instead of "Bengali" and "Rohingya".

The GAD report also avoids mention of burned Rakhine and Hindu villages. The Irrawaddy witnessed some burned sites at Buddhist villages like Khone Daing and a village from Kha Maung Seik village tract while accompanying a tour of Maungdaw for foreign diplomats in October 2017.

The GAD reports do not clearly mention the number of Rakhine or Muslim villages in each township. They only list the total number of villages. According to GAD officials from Maungdaw and Buthidaung, Maungdaw comprises 364 villages, of which 272 are Muslim (or 74 percent of the villages in Maungdaw). Nearly 70 villages were spared arson attacks after the months-long clearance operations by government security forces, they said.

Buthidaung comprises 339 villages, including 173 Rohingya villages, or 51 percent. A senior GAD officer in Buthidaung said 30 of the township's 173 villages were burned to the ground. He requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Rathedaung region is dominated by ethnic Rakhine; it had just 22 Muslim villages before the conflict. Rohingya sources said that only two or three villages remain intact; the rest were completely torched. See specific village numbers by clicking on the different colored areas of the graphic.

Mosques reduced to rubble

Maungdaw Township had 836 Muslim religious buildings but it's unclear whether GAD included both madrassas and mosques in this figure. On the other hand, there are 84 Buddhist monasteries, and 61 pagodas and temples.

The GAD reports state that there were 442 Muslim religious buildings in Buthidaung and 87 in Rathedaung, while the number of Buddhist monasteries is nearly 400, plus 110 stupas and temples in the two townships. The Hindu community has a mere 17 temples in Maungdaw district, which also houses one Christian church.

Some religious buildings of both the Rakhine and Rohingya communities were destroyed in 2017, but this is ignored in the report. But U Khin Maung Than, the chairman of the Arakan National Party's Maungdaw Chapter, told The Irrawaddy that a Buddhist monastic school with hundreds of students in Nantha Taung Village and a pagoda in Shwe Yinaye village in Maungdaw were burned by Rohingya militants. The Irrawaddy was unable to reach Maungdaw district administrative official U Ye Htut for comment on Thursday.

A Muslim civil servant from Buthidaung Township told The Irrawaddy that at least 20 mosques have been demolished since late 2017. A senior Buthidaung Township official said, "They were probably destroyed during the [August-December] conflicts. As far as I know there have been no new incidents in the area."

Buthidaung resident U Tun Thar (name changed for his safety) told The Irrawaddy that every single Muslim village has at least one mosque or place of worship.

Contradicting the GAD official's claim that there have been no new incidents, U Tun Thar alleged that in early February, five decades-old mosques in abandoned villages in Taung Bazar, located near a border police outpost, had been torn down by local Buddhist mobs and looters. He said another one in Ale Chaung village, which was recently designated as the site of a new border police regimental base, was also destroyed by residents of neighboring villages.

Displaced Rohingya Adul Wahid (not his real name) from Rathedaung Township said that the century-old Zay Di Pyin mosque was also completely pulled down by locals. The Irrawaddy independently verified this during a visit there last December.

Adul Wahid recently heard that two mosques in Oo Daung and Myin Hlut villages in southern Maungdaw were also bulldozed very recently. A Buddhist relief worker who has close ties with the government's resettlement program there told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity that the rest of the Muslim villages in southern Maungdaw were bulldozed between January and early February.

He recounted that Muslim villages that had been situated along the highway between downtown Maungdaw and Taung Pyo Letwei in northern Maungdaw had been cleared out.  He estimated that at least two-thirds of the Muslim villages had disappeared. See details below.

Burned-out sites flattened

When The Irrawaddy visited last December, most of the villages in southern Maungdaw and some in northern Maungdaw remained as burned-out sites. The smoldering remains of one of the biggest Muslim enclaves, Myo Thu Gyi, which previously had a population of about 8,600 living in 1,230 houses, had already been bulldozed, as had the Ka Nyin Tan Muslim quarter.

At that time, locals told The Irrawaddy that heavy machinery such as bulldozers, dump trucks and steamrollers had been hired by the local authorities. On Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued an urgent release regarding government mass demolitions in northern Rakhine. Its satellite images showed that at least 55 Rohingya villages partially destroyed by arson since Aug. 25, 2017 have subsequently been bulldozed.

HRW's Asia director Brad Adams was quoted in a statement as saying, "Bulldozing these areas threatens to erase both the memory and the legal claims of the Rohingya who lived there."

The statement agrees with the facts cited above by Abdu Wahid. Myin Hlut village tract was partially burned in the late 2017 attacks, but was bulldozed between January and Feb. 13.

On Dec. 1, 2017, the government's information committee announced that houses had been built in over 20 villages across the state in an effort managed by the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development (UEHRD), led by Dr. Win Myat Aye. He told Agence-France Presse a couple of weeks ago that the bulldozing of burned sites was part of a plan to rebuild villages.

He was quoted in an AFP report as saying, "When [the refugees] come back they can live in their place of origin or nearest to their place of origin."

HRW urged the UN Security Council and international aid agencies to demand the government immediately stop the demolition projects, saying the sites should be preserved until a UN fact-finding mission is granted permission to enter the area.

Adams said, "Deliberately demolishing villages to destroy evidence of grave crimes is obstruction of justice."

A bird's-eye view of a burned village in northern Maungdaw.(Photo: Moe Myint/ The Irrawaddy)

Distrust grows on both sides

During a trip by Home Affairs Minister Lt.-Gen Kyaw Swe to Bangladesh last week, the Bangladeshi government handed him a list of 8,032 returnees. Myanmar officials have been scrutinizing the profiles of refugees to screen for anyone involved in ARSA's serial attacks.

Meanwhile the flight of the Rohingya from rural areas of Buthidaung and Rathedaung continues. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs' updated headcount of new arrivals at the Gawdu Thara shore in southern Maungdaw Township, at least 3,206 people fled between the beginning of January and Feb. 21, and 804 new arrivals were encamped near the seaside.

Although the Rohingya exodus continues, some Muslims are determined to stay in abandoned villages. Abdul Wahid is one of them. He has been sheltering in Du Oo Thay Ma village of Buthidaung Township — after his home was set on fire by Rakhine vigilantes — in the hope of being granted access to a government rehabilitation project.

He said, "We are not traitors and have been faithfully living in Rathedaung for generations. We are keen to go back to our native place."

He and 160 others have been struggling to survive in Du Oo Thay Ma village, which once comprised 700 homes but from where nearly 400 households joined the exodus in recent months. Displaced Rohingya from Rathedung Township are currently occupying some of the homes. According to Abdul Wahid, they have received food only twice in six months, once from the ICRC and once from local authorities.

He has requested rations from Buthidaung Township authorities but the response was vague; they said the social welfare process is directly handled by UEHRD. He demanded the authorities look beyond the refugee repatriation process and not ignore the daily needs of IDPs who remain in Myanmar.

Although police have not banned Rohingya from entering forests, Rohingya fear surprise arrests should Arakanese villagers complain or supply false information to the police about seeing ARSA members in the forest.

"We don't have any problem with them so far. We just want to go and find food to survive but they [Rakhine villagers] might misunderstand. Thus we decided to avoid hunting and searching food in the forest. It's too risky."

He said that even if they were able to cut bamboo and firewood and collect seasonal fruits and vegetables, and fish in nearby waterways and creeks, there is no market to sell goods.

"We are in a very difficult situation here. Could you tell the authorities please?" Abdul Wahid requested.

The post Ninety Percent of Rohingya Population Ejected from Rakhine appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Wa Political Parties Call for Government to Lift Travel Curbs on Their People

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 05:14 AM PST

Two Wa political parties have asked the government to allow their people to move freely in northern Shan State after authorities blocked members of the ethnic group from traveling to Kyaingtong and Tachilek.

Ethnic Wa in the two major towns have also been stopped from returning to their homes near Pangsang Township. Meanwhile, ethnic Wa students who have just finished exams at government schools have also been prevented from going back to their homelands, according to a joint statement released by the Wa Democracy Party and the Wa National Unity Party.

"Blocking them from traveling benefits no one. We are asking the government to let our civilians travel," said Nyi Palote, chairman of the Wa National Unity Party.

He pointed out that there are two tribes – the La and Loi La — who are ethnic Wa and live in the region but whose members have been allowed to travel freely, but not other Wa people.

"This action from the authorities is intended to divide these tribes and the Wa," said Nyi Palote.

"Peace is important in our lives, as we all know. We all expect to have peace. But restricting the ethnic Wa from traveling around the country is not building peace. Instead, it will block peace and national reconciliation and it is discrimination against the Wa," the parties said in the joint statement.

The Myanmar Army's action appears to have been born out of its animosity toward the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which is a leading member if the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC).

The FPNCC, also known as the Northern Alliance, consists of seven ethnic armed groups – the UWSA, the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), Ta'ang National Liberation Front (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance (MNDAA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA). But the army appears to have singled out the Wa.

"There are other ethnic armed groups in the FNPCC, not only the UWSA. They should not target the Wa by blocking only them from traveling," Nyi Palote told the BBC's Burmese language service.

The UWSA signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 1989, but it has yet to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) despite the government urging it to do so.

The UWSA's territory borders China and traded goods flow over the frontier daily. The UWSA also shares a border with Mongla Township in Special Region 2, which is run by the NDAA.

The two armed groups have agreed to allow all trade and citizens to cross their border and there are some UWSA troops based at a port on the Mekong River near Mongla.

The NDAA has agreed to let the UWSA take care of the river port and nearby areas. But the Myanmar Army wants the UWSA troops to withdraw from the port.

"The travel restrictions on the ethnic Wa relate to the UWSA troops based in Mongla," U Zaw Htay, director of the President's Office, told reporters in Naypyidaw earlier this week, noting there were about 4000 UWSA troops based in Mongla.

"The Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) is negotiating with the UWSA over this issue," he said.

The UWSA has asked the Myanmar Army several times not to interfere in Mongla, according to Nyi Rang, a UWSA spokesperson based in Lashio.

"We will take care of this with our brothers," he said, referring to the NDAA.

Some leaders of the NDAA also want the UWSA troops to leave their region, but they do not dare say so publicly. As such, they have sought help from the Myanmar government and the military to pressure the UWSA to pull out of Mongla.

This dispute flared after the first Panglong peace conference was held in 2016. Some NDAA leaders who joined the conference asked the Myanmar government for help. But the information was leaked to the UWSA, who have deployed thousands of troops in Mongla and taken control of several mountain bases.

The UWSA agreed to withdraw some of the troops from Mongla last year with some units of the UWSA and NDAA posting shared photos on social media to show their improved relationship.

The UWSA is the largest ethnic armed force in Myanmar with an estimated 40,000 troops. The UWSA has influence and power, and some NDAA leaders are not happy about its presence in their territory.

"My understanding is that (NDAA) invited the UWSA to set up bases in their region," said Nyi Rang, the UWSA spokesperson.

The post Wa Political Parties Call for Government to Lift Travel Curbs on Their People appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Four Rohingya Sentenced to Death for Deadly 2016 Attack in Rakhine

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 05:01 AM PST

SITTWE — Four Rohingya involved in an attack on a police outpost in northern Rakhine State in October 2016 were sentenced to death on Friday by a special court in the state's Maungdaw District.

The four were among 30 people found guilty of involvement in an attack on Nga Khura Police outpost in northern Maungdaw Township on Oct. 9, 2016 that killed two security officials. The other 26 convicts earned prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years. Another 15 suspects were released, according to Deputy District Judge U Nyo Lwin Oo.

"The court sentences the four to death for the crime of homicide," said the deputy judge, adding that the 45 people were initially charged under articles 303, 326, 33 and 34 of the Penal Code.

Separately, another 34 Rohingya accused of involvement in the attack were sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment each on Wednesday.

The deputy judge said hearings in the cases of another 294 Rohingya were under way at the special court and verdicts would be announced soon.

Additionally, 76 Rohingya villagers accused of involvement in a series of attacks on security outposts on Aug. 25, 2017 have been charged with committing acts of terrorism, according to the Rakhine State Attorney General's Office.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which has been denounced by the government as a terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed 11 security members.

"Since it has been declared a terrorist organization, anyone arrested in relation to the attacks was charged with terrorism," said Rakhine State Attorney General U Kyaw Hla Tun.

Maungdaw District Court also declared as fugitives 509 Rohingya accused of involvement in the attacks but who are not in custody.

The post Four Rohingya Sentenced to Death for Deadly 2016 Attack in Rakhine appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Generals Prep $15M of New Fencing For Border With Bangladesh

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 03:56 AM PST

NAYPYITAW — The Upper House of Parliament on Thursday heard the Home Affairs Ministry’s 20 billion kyats ($15 million) plan to raise several more kilometers of fencing along Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh and carry out other related work.

Home Affairs Deputy Minister Major General Aung Soe told the Upper House session that the money would come from the president’s emergency fund and be handed over to the Ministry of Defense to carry out the work in Rakhine State. He asked the session to make a record of the project, which it did.

With the president’s approval, the fund can be appropriated without approval from Parliament.

Fencing was built along 204 km of Myanmar’s 295-km border with Bangladesh in three phases between 2009 and 2015.

"In phase four, an 11.5-mile [18.5-km] fence was put up along the border during the 2016-17 fiscal year. Another 3.2-mile Y-shaped fence topped with barbed wire coils is being built during the 2017-18 fiscal year. Fencing will have been put up along 14.7 miles of border when that work is completed," Maj-Gen Aung Soe said.

The 20 billion kyats from the president's emergency fund will be used to build a Y-shaped fences topped with barbed wire coils along an additional 18.5 km this fiscal year along with other related infrastructure including a 12.2-meter-wide patrol route along the fence, 161 reinforced concrete conduits and eight buildings including three warehouses.

"The old fences are not strong enough and people can cross over them or remove them. However, we don’t yet know about [the quality of] the new fences. We want better fences so that people from the other side cannot enter illegally. If the fence cannot prevent people on the other side of the border from entering illegally, it will be a waste of money to build a fence. It is the responsibility of the ministries to spend the funding effectively," said lawmaker U Pe Than, of Rakhine State’s Myebon Township.

U Pe Than, a central executive committee member of the Arakan National Party, said the project would be adequately funded but stressed that the ministries had to spend the money effectively because the fence was key to preventing illegal immigration and the threat from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

The Upper House also made a record of another 1 billion kyats from the president’s emergency fund that the Border Affairs Ministry will use to upgrade two gravel roads connecting Ngakhuya to Zetipyin and the Kyikanpyin junction to the Kyaukpyinseik camp in Rakhine State’s Hla Phoe Khaung Village. The two roads are a combined 18.5 km in length.

Border Affairs Deputy Minister Major General Than Htut told the session that the road upgrades would contribute not only to the border area’s security but also to transportation, health, social affairs and the education of local people.

The Implementation Committee for Recommendations of the Rakhine State Advisory Commission led by Kofi Annan had instructed authorities to upgrade the roads.

Defense Deputy Minister Major General Myint New said his ministry would also spend 5 billion kyats from the emergency fund on renovating 882 buildings belonging to the military’s Western Command that were damaged by Cyclone Mora.

"The damage caused by the natural disaster was inspected by proper teams and 882 out of 1,009 buildings hit by the cyclone will be repaired in the first phase during the 2017-18 fiscal year," he said.

"The president's emergency fund was known as the reserve fund in the past,” explained U Khin Cho of the Lower House Public Accounts Committee. “If the president approves, the fund can be spent without seeking the approval of Parliament. However, it is necessary to inform Parliament of the spending.”

Translated from Burmese by Myint Win Thein.

The post Generals Prep $15M of New Fencing For Border With Bangladesh appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Two Men Arrested in Mandalay Over Foiled Attempt to Send 52 Illegal Workers to China

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:55 AM PST

Mandalay – Police on Friday charged two men under the overseas employment law for attempting to illegally send a group of 52 workers, including five women, to China.

The workers, all from Myingyan District, were detained on Wednesday at the Ohn Chaw checkpoint on the Mandalay-Lashio Highway on the outskirts of Mandalay, as they were being sent to Guangzhou in southern China.

"We've arrested Kyaw Soe Lin and Aung Lin from Myingyan for working as employment agents without a business license for overseas employment and sending workers abroad illegally," Police Lieutenant Zaw Myint told The Irrawaddy.

The two men are currently being detained at the central prison in Mandalay as police continue their investigation.

Police told The Irrawaddy that each of the workers paid about 500,000 kyats to the agents, who promised to find them work with a furniture factory in Guangzhou, where they could earn 8 yuan (US$1.25/1,670 kyat) per hour.

"We received a tip-off about human trafficking and checked the bus. Then we found out the workers were about to be sent cross the border illegally," explained Police Lieutenant Zaw Myint from the Ohn Chaw police station. "They have no passports and no proper employment documents. If something happened to them at their destination, there would be no one to help them."

The police officer said that even though the workers were not being trafficked, they still faced employment security risks and being arrested for entering another country illegally.

"We explained to them that they could be arrested in a foreign country and there would be no one to help them for they have no proper documents. We've told them not to trust the agents so easily and not to just see the money," he said, adding that the workers had been sent back to their homes in Myinchan on Thursday and asked to spread word of their experience to others.

Lack of employment opportunities and low salaries in Myanmar encourage local workers to seek work in factories and on plantations in neighboring countries such as China and Thailand.

According to police, the incident on Wednesday was the first such large-scale one Mandalay in recent year.

In 2007, police were able to stop two girls who are about to be trafficked to China, and return them to their parents.

"There have been at least five incidents of people being trafficked and being sent illegally to work in China that were halted here at Ohn Chaw. However, this is the first time in several years we've found such a large group," the police lieutenant said.

In contrast, he said, there was at least one such incident every day in Muse on the Myanmar–China border, with Chinese authorities sending back workers who had crossed the border illegally.

"In Muse, Myanmar workers are being handed over to us almost every day. When we check, we find they were cheated by illegal agents who promised them they would get jobs in China. We are trying to educate the locals, but the locals also need to open their eyes and ears, not just focus on the money," Zaw Myint said.

The post Two Men Arrested in Mandalay Over Foiled Attempt to Send 52 Illegal Workers to China appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Chiming with History

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 12:06 AM PST

The Dhammazedi Bell, believed to be the world's largest, has rested stubbornly at the bottom of the Yangon River since 1599. Periodically it floats to the surface of the national consciousness as a source of pride, longing, superstition, fear and – inevitably, perhaps – conflict. We look back at this most fraught of national symbols by revisiting this article from The Irrawaddy magazine's May 2014 issue.

YANGON — "Multi-beam Echo Sounding Survey."

"3D Seismic Survey."

"GPR–Ground Penetrating Radar."

The language in an official method statement proposing the recovery of Myanmar's famed Dhammazedi Bell owes everything to technology and science.

But this is a story in which star billing goes not to science but to superstition, and a supporting cast of dreamers, schemers and assorted would-be heroes.

Superstitious government leaders are just some of those who believe that the discovery of a bell said to have sunk to the bottom of the Yangon River off Monkey Point more than 400 years ago could be the key to the country's rise from its current status as one of Asia's poorest nations.

Believers' romantic desires to tie the Dhammazedi Bell with the national destiny has resulted in several failed missions over recent decades to reclaim the bell, believed to be one of the biggest in the world.

Hollywood star Richard Gere's purported interest in the bell was never more than a rumor. But over the years a motley crew of individuals and companies from the United States, Australia, Japan and Singapore has expressed interest in joining a search that for Myanmar Buddhists would be the equivalent of a quest for the Holy Grail.

Non-believers, including former political dissidents, once thundered that any attempt to salvage the bell (reckoned to lie in the mud under 40 feet of water in a strong current), would only serve to legitimize an illegal military regime.

The former junta, for its part, decreed that only citizens of the country had the right to search for the bell because finding it was a "national issue."

Why such a frenzy? For answers, we need to look at the bell's fabled history.

A Bad Foreigner

The bell was named after King Dhammazedi, who ruled the Mon-speaking Hanthawaddy Kingdom from 1471 to 1492. A devout Buddhist, Dhammazedi had the bell cast in 1490 as a donation to Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most sacred shrine. Made from more than 290 tons of copper, gold, silver and tin alloy, it is said to have been more than twice as heavy as the Bell of Good Luck, a Chinese temple bell that at 116 metric tons has held the world record since it was cast in 2000.

The bell remained at its intended home until 1608, when the ruler of Thanlyin, on the opposite shore of the Yangon River from Yangon (then called Dagon), decided he had a better use for all that metal.

At the time, Thanlyin (or Syriam) was under the control of Filipe de Brito e Nicote, a Portuguese mercenary who in 1599 had led a Rakhine force that had sacked Thanlyin and Bago, then the capital of Lower Myanmar. De Brito (better known in Myanmar as Nga Zinga) had already earned the ire of local people by melting down several bells to forge cannons. But it was his decision to steal the Dhammazedi Bell for this purpose that ensured his infamy in this country for centuries to come.

Using elephants and forced labor, he had the bell moved to the Yangon River, where it was placed on a raft for transport to Thanlyin. However, much to the satisfaction of onlookers, de Brito's plan to turn a sacred object into weapons of war failed when the raft fell apart and deposited the bell far below the river's surface.

Five years after this episode, King Anaukpetlun of the Taungoo dynasty recaptured Thanlyin and had de Brito impaled on a stake—a punishment reserved for defilers of Buddhist temples. But 400 years after the Portuguese governor of Thanlyin met his ignominious end, the story of how he tried, and failed, to steal the Dhammazedi Bell continues to resonate in the imaginations of Myanmar citizens and foreigners alike.

King Dhammazedi donated this much smaller bell to the Shwe Maw Daw Pagoda in Bago. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)
King Dhammazedi donated this much smaller bell to the Shwe Maw Daw Pagoda in Bago. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Gong-Ho

Since then, there have been many attempts to retrieve the bell, but poor visibility, silting, nearby shipwrecks and four centuries of shifting currents have so far made the task impossible.

But everybody "knows" that it is still there—as late as the 19th century, some claimed that it was visible at low tide—and so the search continues.

Some who have tried and failed, including tycoons and powerful generals, now say the quest is cursed. Jim Blunt, an American diver from California, was told as much when he made his own attempt in 1995 with the cooperation of the Myanmar authorities.

"Several divers had already died looking for the great bell, including two Myanmar Navy divers who became trapped inside a wreck and died horribly. Consequently, the search [began] for outside expertise," Mr. Blunt told the London-based newspaper The Independent.

Mr. Blunt carried out 116 dives over a period of two years. In a documentary film about his experiences, he claimed that he banged his fist on the bell and was rewarded by a metallic sound.

Historian U Chit San Win has made it his mission in life to relocate this lost artifact of Myanmar's past. Since 1987, he has led a number of searches, including one in 1996 that was supported by then Military Intelligence chief Gen. Khin Nyunt.

During one attempt in the 1990s, U Chit San Win lost a son to rabies. However, when asked what he thought about the curse that many believe is on the bell, he declined to give a direct answer.

Others have been less reticent about their concerns. At a recent meeting between U Chit San Win and a government minister that was observed by a senior member of The Irrawaddy's staff, the minister attentively listened to a detailed method statement and proposal to launch another search, but in the end declined to back the project because, he said, he feared for the safety of his family.

Saving the Nation

Despite such misgivings, some remain determined to find the bell that they believe will save the nation.

In October, U Khin Shwe, a leading Myanmar businessman and politician, announced a plan to fund another hunt for the bell, saying that he would spend more than US$10 million if necessary to return it to the glittering Shwedagon Pagoda.

"We've already hired big ships to salvage the bell. If we succeed, we will put it on display at Shwedagon," he told The Irrawaddy. "One foreign expert predicted that the whole operation would cost between $5 million and $10 million. Whatever the cost, I'm ready to spend it."

Some suspect U Khin Shwe's agenda. As a powerful member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party sitting in the Amyotha Hluttaw, or Upper House of Parliament, he is regarded as a controversial figure. Both he and his Zaykabar Company, a conglomerate with interests in the construction and telecommunications industries, have been on the US sanctions list since 2007, and more recently he was involved in a highly publicized land rights dispute with farmers on the northern fringes of Yangon.

U Khin Shwe first came to the attention of policy makers in the West in the 1990s, when he paid the Washington, D.C.-based public relations firm Bain and Associates more than $20,000 a month to help burnish the image of Myanmar's military junta. To return the favor, state media proudly proclaimed him to be a "doctor" with an honorary Ph.D. from "Washington University of the United States," which turned out to be an unaccredited degree-mill incorporated in Hawaii but operating from a post office box in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Never one to miss a chance to improve his public image, U Khin Shwe (who is related to powerful Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, or Union Parliament, Speaker U Shwe Mann through his son's marriage to the daughter of the former top general) has more recently joined other junta cronies in attempting to cozy up to opposition leader and Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Many suspect, then, that his high-profile plans to find the Dhammazedi Bell are little more than just another PR exercise designed to enhance his personal status.

Mystical Powers vs. High Tech

In any case, if he is serious about finding the bell, he has no shortage of people willing to offer words of encouragement.

One well-known monk from Mon State has suggested that his mystical powers could ensure the success of the mission.

But as a veteran of the quest, U Chit San has more practical advice: Go high-tech.

"I don't believe the bell can be recovered without the use of the latest technology, because according to my experience, using local technology won't work," he told The Irrawaddy last year.

Nearly two years ago, it looked like U Chit San Win's dream might finally come true. At a seminar held in Yangon in June 2012, a Singapore-based trading company, SD Mark International LLP Co., said it was willing to spend up to $10 million to finance a non-profit project to find the bell and convey it back to Shwedagon.

The search was expected to take 18 months to complete. But since it was first announced, nothing has come of it. According to a source familiar with the project, it was quietly shut down by the Ministry of Culture, which had planned to participate, because of concerns about a lack of funding.

U Chit San Win said he has no intention of giving up. "It has to be out there somewhere," he said.

Even as he said these words, however, he looked somber, as if he were reflecting on his past failures and on the loss of his son. Now in his late sixties, he seemed resigned to the possibility that he might not be around to witness the day the bell is restored to its former glory.

One hurdle, he acknowledged, is that many in the country don't want the bell to be found by foreigners. That's why he supports U Khin Shwe's mission, he said.

The bell, he says, is a beacon of hope. "Our country is so poor and plagued with conflict. Many people believe that if the bell is found, it will bring us peace and prosperity," he said.

But will the spirits that many believe saved the Dhammazedi Bell from being turned into cannons now allow it to fall into the hands of shady businessmen?

Many might argue that if that is to be its fate, perhaps it is better off where it is—submerged in mud, far from the grasp of mortal men and their schemes and dreams.

Kyaw Hsu Mon contributed reporting.

This article first appeared in The Irrawaddy's May 2014 print edition.

The post Chiming with History appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Eat Till You’re Full:  Brunch at Babett

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:33 PM PST

YANGON — Babett, a mainly Spanish and Mediterranean-themed restaurant at Hotel G, is offering a new brunch set menu for those who like to combine their breakfast and lunch.

The restaurant was busy when I arrived on a recent day at noon.

Babett’s interior is a perfect match for its name, which means ‘a young lady,’ with its colorful theme, comfy couches and a combination of regular and high tables. It also has an outdoor area.

The interior of Babett. / Supplied

Inside, the walls are decorated with vintage Burmese artwork and antiques.

The five-course brunch set menu is available on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and runs 40,000 kyats ($30) per person.

Each course includes a selection of items to choose from, and customers can pick up to two items per course.

For the Starters, I went with the tealeaf salad and the Spanish ham croquetas. These items didn’t take long to prepare and reached the table in 15 minutes.

Tealeaf salad is on of my favorite-foods list and I was dying to know how they prepare traditional Burmese dishes in this Spanish-themed restaurant.

They did not disappoint. The salad was very good because it wasn’t too oily and they used good quality leaves.

The Spanish ham croquetas, a cooked ball of potato and ham, tasted rich, sweet and so soft.

The mimosa eggs. / Supplied

The next category was Eggs, and I asked for recommendations. The staff chose the mimosa eggs and the 64-degree egg with espuma of grilled bread.

Their chef visited the tables asking customers if they wanted anything else and explaining the ingredients and how the items were cooked. I thought the service was cool and friendly.

He said the mimosa eggs were a customer favorite, even with kids.

True to his word, the eggs were very good but a little bit too salty for my taste.

I preferred the 64-degree egg, which was served with spinach and tasted rich. I wondered at how carefully they must have had to cook the egg and place it on top of the bread and vegetables.

The 64-degree egg. / Supplied

For Pizzetta & Pastas, I chose their signature G pizza. Topped with tomato sauce, Serrano ham, pepperoni, mozzarella and olives, it smelled amazing and was one of my favorites of the brunch.

It was then time for the main course, Babett’s Sunday Special, and I ordered the Mediterranean sea bass papillote. Even though I was nearly full, I still wanted to try a bit of each course I had left.

By this time the restaurant was super busy and the orders took a little too long. On the other hand, the wait gives you more time to chat with friends and digest the last course.

The sea bass arrived and I could tell the fish was fresh after just one bite. It tasted sweet and the raw tomato gravy was not sour, pairing perfectly with the fish. This dish was really something special and I would go back to have it again.

The Deserts were still left, but I was already full, having also had a glass of wine.

The brunch set menu includes a free flow of juice, cocktails and sparkling wine. So if you love sparkling wine, this set menu is perfect for you.

The exterior of Babett. / Supplied

Their brunch is not a buffet, but it has many items to choose from and you are sure to leave super full. The food is very good and the staff is friendly and willing to help you with your orders.

The brunch set menu is served every Sunday at Babett, located at the top of Yawmingyi Road, beside the Park Royal Hotel Yangon. The menu items may vary from week to week.

The post Eat Till You’re Full:  Brunch at Babett appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Chinese Paper Says US Should Learn From China, Restrict Guns, Protect Rights

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:00 PM PST

SHANGHAI — The United States should learn from China and “genuinely” protect human rights by restricting gun ownership, an editorial in a widely read state-run Chinese newspaper said on Friday.

The editorial in the Global Times newspaper was published after a massacre at a high school in Florida last week, in which 17 students and staff were killed, reignited a long-running debate about gun control in the United States.

“Washington has been pointing an accusing finger at other countries over human rights … However, more Americans have been killed by gunfire in the country than American soldiers being killed in all US wars,” the Global Times said.

“Gun ownership in China is strictly regulated, which helps reduce gun-related crimes and deaths. The US should learn from China and genuinely protect human rights,” it said.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China rejects criticism of its rights record, pointing to its success at helping millions escape poverty, and regularly attempts to deflect the issue by calling attention to its critics’ own problems.

However, the ruling Communist Party brooks no political dissent and President Xi Jinping’s administration has seen a sweeping crackdown on rights lawyers and activists.

The Global Times, a hawkish news outlet run by the ruling Communist Party’s top propaganda organ, the People’s Daily, called it “inhumane” to turn a blind eye to gun violence after the shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Gun violence is rare in China because private gun ownership is restricted.

“The US has no other choice but to adopt gun control. The right of life is the most fundamental [of] human rights. The right to bear arms cannot overpower the individual’s right to live,” the Global Times editorial said.

The post Chinese Paper Says US Should Learn From China, Restrict Guns, Protect Rights appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

EU Set to Prepare Sanctions on Myanmar Generals — Diplomats

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 08:29 PM PST

BRUSSELS — The European Union will start preparing sanctions against Myanmar generals over killings of Rohingya Muslims by formally calling on the bloc’s foreign policy chief next week to draw up a list of possible names, two diplomats said.

Any new travel bans and asset freezes would be the EU’s toughest measures yet to try to hold the military accountable for the abuses, likely joining US and Canadian sanctions already in place.

“Ministers will call on (Federica) Mogherini to propose restrictive measures on senior members of the Myanmar military for systematic human rights abuses, without delay,” one diplomat said on Thursday, referring to EU sanctions.

Foreign ministers will also ask Mogherini and the EU’s foreign service, the EEAS, on Monday to look at ways to strengthen the bloc’s 1990s-era arms embargo on the Southeast Asian country that remains in place.

In a statement expected to be released on Monday at a regular gathering of EU foreign ministers, the bloc is also expected to reiterate its call for the release of Reuters reporters detained on Dec. 12 over accusations that they violated Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act.

The two had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men who were buried in a mass grave in Rakhine State after being hacked to death or shot by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist neighbors and soldiers.

No names of generals to be targeted for sanctions have been yet discussed, the diplomats said, but the United States said in December it was sanctioning Major General Maung Maung Soe, who is accused of a crackdown on the Rohingya minority in Rakhine.

EU sanctions lists are often coordinated with Washington.

The EU’s decision to consider sanctions reflects resistance to such measures in the UN Security Council, where veto-wielding powers Russia and China said this month they believe the situation in Rakhine was stable and under control.

The United States and United Nations have described the military crackdown in Myanmar as “ethnic cleansing.” About 655,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine for shelter over the border in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations.

The post EU Set to Prepare Sanctions on Myanmar Generals — Diplomats appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ending Debt Bondage is Key to Eradicating Child Labor, Says ILO

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 05:30 PM PST

YANGON-Myanmar needs to eliminate the practice of bonded labour and develop a social protection program in order to tackle the problem of illegal child labor, which has ensnared more than 1.2 million children aged 5-17, according to the International Labour Organization.

These children work an average of 51 hours per week, with most of them toiling in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries (60.5%), followed by the manufacturing (12%), trade (11.1 %) and other services sectors (5%).

The practice of bonded labour impacts a lot of low-wage workers in Myanmar, especially children employed in other uncategorized services such as in small enterprises run as family businesses, as domestic workers, and in beauty and massage parlours.

"It is the bonded-labour practices where the employers somehow offer part of the salary to the family of the child six months in advance, and you transfer the person to work with the employer without knowing what kind of conditions there are at the (place of) work and little other necessary information. And there is no contract whatsoever," said Ms. Piyamal Pichaiwongse, the deputy liaison officer of the ILO.

"Once you get into that relationship, you start working and you end up working ludicrous hours. The condition are indescribable and now you face the reality, which is very bad," she said.

As Myanmar also does not have social protection programs in place, it is yet another hurdle to eliminating the problem of child labor, the ILO official said.

Specifically she mentioned the case of child domestic workers. Ms. Piyamal suggested that the stronger the network of civil society and trade unions the better position society would be in to address this issue.

Government initiatives 

The government has recently taken new steps to eradicate child labour in Myanmar and has called on the public to implement the initiative as a "national duty", starting this month.

A National Committee on the Elimination of Child Labour was officially established on Feb. 5. Under its purview, eight working committees and a secretariat will be formed to implement a national-level program as part of the Myanmar child labour eradication project. The national action plan will include policy drafting, assessment of the committees' work with reviews every six months, coordinating between the relevant ministries and sub-national governments and self-administrative zones and cooperating with international organizations.

U Thein Swe, the union minister for Labour, Immigration and Population, said on Monday that his office had began to update data collected on child labour in the country "in order to help them improve their livelihoods." This data gathering marks a second phase, following the first surveys done in 2017 with the technical support of the ILO.

U Thein Swe is also the vice chairman of the National Committee on the Elimination of Child Labour, headed by Vice President U Myint Swe.

He highlighted raising public awareness, providing children with free basic education, supporting the families of the child workers who are removed from the workforce and creating job opportunities as the keys to eradicating child labour.

Hazardous work by children

Half of those 1.2 million child laborers in Myanmar are believed to work in hazardous jobs such as in the construction, electricity and gas, agriculture, and mining and quarrying sectors, according to the Myanmar Labour Force, Child Labour and School-to-Work Transition Survey conducted between January and March 2015.

Therefore, the ILO in Myanmar has been pressing this issue, and specifically the development of a hazardous work list for all children below the age of 18. Addressing this issue is an obligation of every signatory of ILO Convention 182, which Myanmar ratified in 2013.

Regarding the hazardous work list, Mr. Selim Benaissa, the chief technical advisor to the ILO's Myanmar Program on Elimination of Child Labour Project (My-PEC), said it needs to be linked with existing legislation like the 1993 Child Law.

U Pe Chit, a member of both the parliament's Women and Child Rights Committee and the Human Rights Committee, said specific legislation is needed to prevent children being drafted into the workforce.

"We cannot tackle the problem without a law. Whatever the number of child workers is, we have to limit these actions under the law," he said. However, he said the eradication of child labour is a difficult task and noted that the draft Labour legislation had not even been tabled in parliament yet.

"If you don't stop the hazards now, there will be no workforce in the future, because they would have all died," said Ms Piyamal.

"It also reflects the approach to handling the child labour situation, because that is the priority when you are working to eradicate child labour. You are not going to tell the factory to remove child labour, because that is destroying their livelihoods as well. The family depending on them, in the meantime, you do not want them on a daily basis to face something that would be to the detriment of their health," she said.

Removing the children from hazardous workplaces, she said, is "the very first and most important step to take" and then preparing an alternative program to assist the children to get back into education or vocational training.

Myanmar has over 18 million children under the age of 18, according to the 2014 census.

From the 2015 Labour Force Survey, 10% of the more than 12 million children aged 5-17 are engaged in economic activities, mostly in rural areas.

In the 2016 amendment of the 1951 Factories Act, children under 14 years of age must not be employed, except as family help, while those who employ children under this age are violating the law and could face prosecution.

Moe Moe contributed to this report from Naypyitaw. 

The post Ending Debt Bondage is Key to Eradicating Child Labor, Says ILO appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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