Wednesday, August 29, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Military Chief Wastes No Time Finding New Home on Social Media

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 07:31 AM PDT

YANGON — Less than 48 hours after the Myanmar military chief's Facebook account was shut down, a similar page appeared on VKontakte (VK), Russia's most popular social networking service. The new page had already attracted more than 2,000 followers as of Wednesday.

The page "Senior General Min Aung Hlaing" — the same name as the old Facebook page — featured posts on the latest activities of the military boss, including the senior general's Wednesday visit to Bago Region's Swar Township to observe the severe flooding situation there and inspect an Army-constructed bridge.

The posts on the new page are consistent in style with those that had appeared on Facebook. Military spokespersons were not available to verify the authenticity of the page on Wednesday afternoon when contacted by The Irrawaddy.

California-based Facebook announced on Monday that it had deleted the pages and accounts of a total of 20 organizations and individuals, including Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who "committed or enabled serious human rights abuses in [Myanmar]." The statement follows a recent report by the UNHRC's Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar that found the Facebook accounts and pages of these individuals and organizations directly or indirectly contributed to human rights abuses, especially regarding northern Rakhine State's 2017 Rohingya crisis.

The UNHRC announced on Monday that a report by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar urged that top Army generals, including commander-in-chief Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, be prosecuted for genocide and crimes against humanity in northern Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states. Members of the mission also demanded the resignation of the senior general.

The new page also featured posts about the military chief's recent visit to Russia to attend the Army 2018 International Military Technical Forum and National Security Week, organized by the Russian Defense Ministry.

According to pictures on the page, he met with military officers who are studying for master's and doctoral degrees in Russia. Since 2001, the military has sent officers to further their education in the country.

Some posts on the new page were published in both Russian and Burmese.

The VK platform provides multiple languages for its users, including Burmese, Russian and English. Its functions are similar to those available on Facebook, allowing users to share information, post photos, create pages and engage in free instant messaging. Users need to supply an email address to register. According to VK's webpage, it has more than 97 million active users every month.

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Myanmar Govt Faces Accusations of Whitewashing Army War Crimes

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 06:07 AM PDT

YANGON – According to the recent UN fact-finding report, Myanmar State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government has contributed to the commission of crimes of atrocity by covering up war crimes by the military in Rakhine, Shan and Kachin states.

The report highlighted four points: civilian authorities being allowed to spread false narratives; denying military war crimes, blocking independent investigations, including of the fact-finding mission; and overseeing the destruction of evidence.

"Through their acts and omissions, the civilian authorities have contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes," the report said.

The report said the state counsellor has not used her de facto position as head of government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events, or seek alternative avenues to meet her responsibility to protect the civilian population.

However, the report did not specify how the Myanmar government spread false narratives or how it was involved in destroying evidence of where crimes were committed.

The UN report said Myanmar's top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide which took place in northern Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Kachin and Shan states.

The investigators found patterns of gross human rights violations and abuses committed in those states which "undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law", principally committed by Myanmar's military, the Tatmadaw, but also by other security forces, the report said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh since last August, as a result of Myanmar military's clearance operations which followed attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on military and security outposts in northern Rakhine State.

Despite the government signing an MoU with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the repatriation of refugees, human rights observers have said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government has failed to acknowledge the seriousness of the gross human rights violations in all conflict zones. The government did not cooperate with the UN and the international human rights community's constant demands for access or to allow investigations in the conflict zones.

Instead, the government set up its own investigation team with international experts rather than relying on the UNHRC fact-finding team.

"Though Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not involved directly in human rights crimes committed by Myanmar's military, her position as the (de facto) leader of this country makes her sort of responsible for the crime," said U Aung Myo Min, a human rights activist and director of Equality Myanmar, to The Irrawaddy.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused entry to members of a United Nations investigation team last year, saying the establishment of an international fact-finding mission would do more to inflame, rather than resolve the issues.

U Aung Myo Min said, "As a de-facto leader of the civilian government, she has the highest accountability for what her offices have done."

So far, Myanmar has rejected two UN reports on human rights violations by security forces, one by former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee and the latest one by the UNHRC. The government also dissociated itself from the UN Human Rights Council's resolution last year.

U Aung Myo Min explained the rejections therefore resulted in the government being accused of 'overseeing destruction of the evidence' in the recent UNHRC fact-finding mission report that says the government has hidden the truth about what they found on the ground.

An independent analyst working on conflict, peace and human rights issues in Myanmar David Scott Mathieson told The Irrawaddy, "I do not think the Daw Suu government is responsible for war crimes anywhere in Myanmar."

"Blaming Daw Suu will have little if any impact, her government has consistently refuted reports of atrocities and their denials have been in line with military denials, but this doesn't make them culpable, it makes the NLD complicit," he said.

It rightly criticizes government and military investigations as whitewashes that lack credibility, he added.

Observers see the State Counselor's information committee Facebook page as playing a major role in spreading news during the period of intensified conflict in Rakhine State.

The Rakhine State Information Committee was formed in 2016 at the request of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to release timely information on the on-going conflict in Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State. The State Counselor's Office deputy minister U Khin Maung Tin took the position of chair of the committee, Major-General Soe Naing Oo from the Ministry of Defense as a vice chair and the President's Office spokesman U Zaw Htay as secretary of the committee.

The team ran the Facebook page distributing up-to-date news and responding to international rights groups' accusations of extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses by security forces in Rakhine State. Later, the name was changed to 'Information Committee' after many critics pointed out the team is spreading one-sided news under the state counsellor's name.

The UNHRC report pointed out the constitutional powers of the civilian authorities afford little scope for controlling the actions of the Tatmadaw but civilian authorities did not use their limited powers to influence the situation in Rakhine State. Under the 2008 Constitution, the military controls three ministries — Defense, Border Affairs and Home Affairs.

This grave international criticism is not the first for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as she maintains stable relations with the military in order to move forward with national reconciliation and the peace process, constitutional amendments and other complex issues within the country.

"All the failings show the civilian government do not have full power in this country. They only have partial power," U Aung Myo Min said.

“However, it is a lesson (for Myanmar's government). The international condemnations will not end if you just deny requests [like the UN investigation] and there will be consequences and more pressure on us (Myanmar). At least, we need to collaborate with them for investigations if we have nothing to hide,” he said.

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Senior UWSA Military Leader Aik San Dies, Aged 62

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 05:24 AM PDT

MON STATE—Senior United Wa State Army (UWSA) leader Aik San died at the age of 62 on Aug. 25 at a hospital in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, where he had been undergoing treatment for lung cancer.

Aik San, who held the position of military vice chief of staff, was a member of the UWSA's central committee and a former member of the Communist Party of Burma.

Nyi Rang, a UWSA spokesperson based in Lashio town in northern Shan State, said a funeral would be held on Thursday. The UWSA had invited representatives of other members of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee alliance, as well as other ethnic armed groups, he said.

Aik San was a devout Buddhist, Nyi Rang said.

"He was the greatest advocate of Buddhism in Wa State," Nyi Rang said, adding that many ethnic Wa Buddhists were saddened by Aik San's death.

Aik San was born in 1956. He joined the CPB in 1970. As an ethnic Wa, he stayed with the UWSA when it split from the CPB in 1989.

According to a statement from his son, Aik San joined the CPB's Battalion 4045 in February 1973. He served as a deputy platoon leader between 1977 and 1979, when he went to Mangshi City, Yunnan Province, China to study. In 1980, he served in Battalion 4042 as a deputy political instructor.

In 1983, after the establishment of Infantry Division 418, he was shifted to Battalion Unit 082 and worked in the united front area. He served as deputy battalion commander of the unit. At the end of 1986, he was appointed as the head of the division.

In 1991, he served as chief of staff of 418 Division. In 1993, he served as deputy division commander of 418 Division. In 2001, he became division commander. In June 2005 he was made commander of 468 Division. In 2009, he was transferred to the General Political Department and served as deputy chief of staff.

He served with the CPB in 1981 on the west side of the Salween River, which was the first time the CPB had been active in central Shan State.  He was deputy commander in charge at CPB Battalion 082 at that time. Then, he cooperated with other ethnic armed groups based in southern Shan including the Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front, the Shan State Nationalities Peoples' Liberation Organization, and the Kayan New Land Party.

Saw Nyar Maw Meh, a patron of the Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front (K.N.P.L.F) who fought alongside Aik San, offered his recollections of the man.

"He used to work with us as part of a joint force. We fought the enemy [the Myanmar Army] together at that time. He was chief of the joint force along with our K.N.P.L.F.," Saw Nyar Maw Meh said.

During his time in southern Shan State, he lived with his first wife, who is mixed ethnic Shan and Pa-O. When he moved to northern Shan in 1989, however, he lived with his second wife. He returned to UWSA headquarters in Pangsan when his organization signed a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar military regime in 1989.

"He was always friendly toward others. He could speak several languages including Shan, Pa-O, Burmese and Wa. He could read and write Burmese very well. He always had a smile when talking to us. He was very friendly," Saw Nyar Maw Meh said.

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Bagan Earthquake Repairs Will Take ‘Longer than Expected’

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 04:22 AM PDT

MANDALAY — The Bagan branch of the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library said the renovation of earthquake-hit temples and pagodas in the Bagan archaeological zone of central Myanmar will take more time than expected to complete.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Bagan on Aug. 24, 2016, and damaged almost 400 of the area's 3,252 pagodas.

Although the restoration of more than 200 pagodas with minor damage was completed within two years of the quake, ones that suffered major damage like Sulamani and Thatbyinnyu are still being repaired.

"We are halfway through repairing the major damages. The work will take longer than expected. It will be complete by 2020," U Soe Soe Lin, the deputy director of the department's Bagan branch, told The Irrawaddy.

The deputy director said that the department received technical assistance from UNESCO, the Association of Myanmar Architects, the Myanmar Engineering Society, seismologists, and technicians from technological universities to restore the temples and pagodas.

"Since the repair of these ancient temples is delicate work, it is time-consuming. The teams have to take care not to affect the original cultural and historical value and to strengthen the structures to prevent future damage at the same time," explained U Soe Soe Lin.

The department said that the renovation work was categorized into three priority levels based on the severity of the damage and the heritage value.

Emergency restoration was done a few weeks after the earthquake, continuing restoration work is 90 percent done and strengthening work is 50 percent completed.

Bagan is the country's major tourist attraction, housing more than 3,000 ancient pagodas and temples dating from the 9th to the 13th centuries.

Bagan's bid to be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site is underway, with expert teams visiting the region in mid-September to do a ground inspection. The result of the inspection will be submitted to the World Heritage Site convention in 2019 for Bagan's candidacy.

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Businesspeople Urge State Counselor to Reduce Tax And Loan Interest Rates

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 02:50 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — Leading businesspeople urged State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to reduce tax and bank loan interest rates during a meeting in the administrative capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday.

Potential investors are maintaining a wait-and-see attitude and Myanmar's economy is experiencing a slowdown, said leading builder U Maung Weik.

Reducing bank loan interest and tax rates will attract investors, he said.

"As the interest rate on bank loans is 13 percent, businesses find it hard to profit. There is a need to reduce this rate temporarily to 8 or 9 percent. We believe many investors will come back into the market then," said U Maung Weik.

"An investor has to buy equipment to start a business and then pay a 30 percent tax. They have not even started the business but have paid a 30 percent tax already. So, we'd like that the tax rate be reduced to 5 percent for one to two years," he added.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi replied that she would consider the request. However, she said that economists had suggested that too many tax exemptions are not good for the economic growth of a country.

"The government has to listen to various sides and strike a balance. We can't just look at the economy. We can't just look at the needs of our country. We have to look at global trends," she said.

"We'll seriously consider these two points. But I can't make a decision right now," she added.

The state counselor said that tax is levied for government expenditures and asked the businesspeople to cooperate, saying that she does not want to sell the country's natural resources to tackle the deficit.

The tax rate should be realistic, said U Shein Win, chairman of the Federation of Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association, who also called for a tax reduction.

"The government should record its tax revenues for 2018. If its tax earnings next year are less than this year after reducing the tax rate, we will fund the deficit. Even if other members of the federation don't pay, I will give the needed funds by selling my property," he said.

The state counselor said that the government would set a fair rate for both sides. "No country sets fixed tax rates. Tax rates have to be adjusted as necessary," said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Adviser to Kanbawza Bank U Than Lwin also supported reducing tax and interest rates.

"Rather than thinking that tax reduction will lead to a decline in tax revenues, the government should think about the economic benefits. Tax reduction will facilitate economic recovery and generate more tax revenue in the long run," he said.

"I don't mean the tax rate should be kept low for all time, but just a tax incentive to attract investors," he added.

He also compared the bank loan interest rates in Myanmar and Thailand. "The interest rate is just 1.5 percent in Thailand. Interest is cost and the competitiveness is low if costs are high," he said.

President of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry U Zaw Min Win also urged the government to adopt necessary policies to attract foreign investment and to boost exports in order to stabilize the kyat-dollar exchange rate.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Bridge on Yangon-Mandalay Road Damaged as Dam Overflows

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 02:25 AM PDT

YEDASHE TOWNSHIP, Bago Region — The road across the Swar Bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay highway in Bago's Yedashe (Yaytarshay) Township

was buckled on Wednesday after being hit by a surge of water from the Swar Creek Dam, whose sluice gates were breached earlier in the morning, according to the Ministry of Construction.

This part of the route, at miles No. 165/166 on the new highway, was temporarily closed after water overran it. A stretch of the old Yangon-Mandalay highway at mile No. 199, faced same situation in the township.

The 810-foot-long Swar Bridge was built by military engineers under the Ministry of Defense in December 2006 and opened in October 2008.

The section of the bridge's road surface between Pillars 5 and 7 were damaged. U Kyaw Lin, the deputy minister of construction, said engineers would repair it overnight "and then we will be able to allow [all] vehicles to cross, including trucks and buses."

The road was under about 4 feet of water at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, so the road was temporarily closed, he said.

"After 10:50 a.m. it dropped, and we allowed small vehicles to cross.  The most important thing is that vehicles can keep moving and there is no delay to land transport," he told The Irrawaddy.

Casualty figures were not yet known, but residents were evacuated from more than a dozen villages. The water immersed rice fields in the area, as well as a monastery and areas where cows and buffaloes are held, according to residents of Kyot Pin Thar village in Yedashe Township.

Local resident U Hla Tun, who came to inspect the situation near the Swar Creek bridge, told The Irrawaddy he was worried about a friend's family who lived on the other side of the dam and were not reachable by phone Wednesday.

The dam began overflowing on Monday, according to state media. It said there was no cause for concern about a collapse as the structure is strong, citing the Taunggoo irrigation and water management committee.

The Bago Region government on Wednesday warned residents of villages near Sittaung village to stay alert. Bago Region has been hit by floods since July.

Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister Dr. Win Myat Aye; the Minister of the Office of the State Counselor, U Kyaw Tint Swe; Vice President Henry Van Thio, who is also chairman of the National Natural Disaster Management Committee; and Myanmar military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing visited the affected areas on Wednesday morning.

Htet Naing Zaw and Kyaw Myo contributed to this report from Yedashe Township.

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The Tatmadaw’s Political Might

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 01:25 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Myanmar's political system is a new structure with old connections that has been dominated by the military, said Dr. Yoshihiro Nakanishi, an associate professor at Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies, at his talk on Myanmar's civil-military relations at Chiang Mai University last Friday.

He wrote his first book on Myanmar's military (Tatmadaw) and its influence on the administration in 2009. It was published in Japanese in 2009 and English in 2013, and is one of the few books written about the Tatmadaw. He is currently working on his second book about Myanmar.

He discussed his experience researching under the former military government as well as the current administration, his perspectives on shifting military leadership and the National League for Democracy-led government with The Irrawaddy's senior reporter Nyein Nyein.

What interested you in researching Myanmar's military when you wrote your first book "Strong Soldiers, Failed Revolution?"

I entered graduate school in 2001 and read books and articles on Myanmar politics. Many were about the political conflicts between the military government and [Daw] Aung San Suu Kyi. But there have been very few books written about the military. In 2001, Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest. The military was controlling the government and the social order. But there was little analysis of how the military government worked. I understood that the military was politically strong, but it was unclear how the military controlled the whole government or how it made daily organizational decisions.

Fortunately, at my graduate school in Kyoto, some professors had studied military politics in Indonesia and Thailand. They had deep knowledge on the issue and were very helpful in analyzing military politics and relationships between the military and state building. At the time, I thought that Myanmar studies needed different perspectives. Not only should we look at the country's politics from the oversimplified view of "democratic forces versus military rulers" but also through the political dynamics of intra-state power struggles. Otherwise, it is hard to explain why the military has remained politically influential for so long.

I did the fieldwork for my thesis in 2003-05. At that time, 15 years had already passed since the military launched a coup in 1988. Someone had to explain why the military's rule is so durable in Myanmar. Because I was young and innocent in a sense, I thought I could say something original. Obviously I was overly confident at the time. Of course, some exceptional work helped me, such as Professor Robert Taylor's "State in Burma" and Professor Mary Callahan's "Making Enemies." Originally, I wanted to focus on the military government from 1962 to 2002-03, but it was impossible to conduct research on contemporary politics at that time. It was very sensitive, so I focused on Ne Win's rule between 1962 and 1988. After finishing my Ph.D., I published the book.

Have you continued writing about the situation in Myanmar after 1988?

I have written some papers and articles on the military rule after 1988 in Japanese. It was extremely difficult to conduct fieldwork in Myanmar after the mass demonstration in 2007, so I expanded my perspective to compare Myanmar with other countries. Luckily, I had opportunities to visit countries like Pakistan and Indonesia.

Then, Myanmar's reform started, which I did not expect at all. My prediction was that we should not expect too much from the transition and that it would just lead to a different version of military rule. I wrote that in my book. Years later, I learned I was wrong.

Now, I am writing a book about the political, economic and diplomatic transition in Myanmar. One of my motivations for writing the manuscript is to understand why I was wrong. During my research, I found that many people involved in the reform process expected the same. The drastic change was the result of both intentional and unintentional dynamics between different actors. I want to examine this.

How different is it doing research now as opposed to before?

Totally different! I was in Yangon for a year until this April as a visiting professor at the University of Yangon. When I was a Ph.D. student, I was not allowed to enter the university campus without permission. But now, many foreign scholars can visit the university to meet local scholars and students. I taught undergraduate students a political science course for a semester. I did not have any instructions or limitations about what I could talk about in the class. I could freely design the course and discuss any topic with bright, young students. I know there is still some difference in academic autonomy between Myanmar and developed countries like Japan but it is clear that the freedom on campus has improved markedly. I cannot imagine this current university atmosphere existing prior to 2011.

You have done research on the military's social media usage, but have you talked to current military commanders?

I analyzed the Facebook posts of Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to get a feel for his public relations strategy or how he built the image of the Tatmadaw. Most of the former commander-in-chiefs liked to keep a low profile, even when they ruled the country. I asked a Burmese audience at Chiang Mai University, "Have you heard Snr-Gen Than Shwe's voice on TV on the radio or quoted in other media?"Nobody raised their hand.

Since Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing's media exposure is exceptional in the country's history, my Burmese colleague and I read all of his Facebook posts between 2013-17 and categorized them according to topic. Because Facebook now banned him, this research might be rare.

Some retired officers kindly accepted my interview offer. Because of the change in government in 2016, people who were involved in the reform process after 2011 could speak with me. And there are scholars, analysts and research organizations that work on Myanmar security issues and civil-military relations. There are also memoirs of retired military officers. Discussions with them and study of this material helped me examine the current political role of the Tatmadaw.

As you know, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been talking a lot about amendment of the military-drafted Constitution, which will not be possible without cooperation from the military. Is there any way to persuade them to cooperate?

It is very difficult, of course. Even under U Thein Sein's administration, the proposals for constitutional amendment were refused by the Tatmadaw. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi seems cautious in her relationship with them. This does not surprise me because the Tatmadaw is highly autonomous. She has to manage these delicate relations to run the government. It must be tough trying to amend the Constitution to create a more democratic political system at this time.

But I think there is room for both sides to agree of some technicalities regarding the Constitution. It has more than 450 articles, many of them having nothing to do with democratization. One possibility is to discuss amending these articles to adjust the Constitution to the environment in which the state operates.

In Japan, constitutional amendment is also always controversial. One of the reasons is that many are still afraid of unpredictable consequences. But discussion of it is not taboo anymore. Myanmar people can broaden the focus of constitutional amendment to create shared a platform to engage the public in constitutional discussions from various perspectives.

As you wrote, the military played a key role in the administration from the 1960s to the 2000s. What is your assessment of the military's current political role in the country?

The military is still politically powerful, as everyone knows. However, its role in daily administration declined after the transition in 2011. After the NLD came to power, interesting changes began happening at the local level even though the local administrations, especially at the township level, are basically under the control of the General Administration Department (GAD) of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The home affairs minister is an active military general, so he is unlike other ministers in terms of the military's influence. But some NLD members of Parliament are trying to change local administrations by encouraging adjustment in the relations between the public and the GAD. If Parliament can encourage dialogue between these two sides, it could help improve the government's capacity and undermine historical distrust in the government. This could gradually and fundamentally change the nature of politics in Myanmar.

Human rights groups globally blamed Myanmar Army Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing as the person behind military operations in northern Rakhine State. Bur the West, including the US, imposed sanctions on other senior commanders. To what extent are these sanctions effective?

The current sanctions will not affect the economy or people's lives in Myanmar. There is the possibility that Western countries and international organizations will put more pressure on Myanmar's government and military soon. The current sanctions are the beginning of harsher ones.

If strong evidence is found of human rights violations committed by Tatmadaw troops in Rakhine State, and it is thought that the government does not have the intention of capacity to investigate the issue, Myanmar will face diplomatic trouble internationally. Japan, China and ASEAN countries are adopting more constructive approach on the issue, but I am not sure that they do not expect an escalation of trouble in Rakhine and in international relations.

You said the NLD government had "policy miss-prioritization," when prioritizing peace over the economy. Could you elaborate on this?

I think they should have prioritized both. When I was invited to a small debate at a local NLD office last year, the party members were discussing whether to prioritize peace or economic development. I think the government could have done both. The approach is different.

For making a nationwide ceasefire agreement, you need complex coordination among very different stakeholders including ministries, the Tatmadaw, ethnic armed organizations and so on. I think coordination capacity is one of the government's weakest points regarding policy. Relatively speaking, policy coordination for economic reform would have been easier than for a ceasefire agreement.

And Myanmar's advantage is that the more economically developed central Burma is safer while there are violent conflicts in other states. I don't think we should accept economic disparity in regions and state, but economic development in the central area could affect other regions in a positive way through job creation and increasing government revenue. People in the government are now aware of this. I hope they will create an efficient division of labor within the government to tackle both issues.

The majority of the general public in Myanmar is very generous to the NLD and its rule. It is, of course, because of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's charisma as a political leader. But also people know that the NLD had to spend most of its resources and energy for surviving under the suppressive political situation for two decades.

As many observers say, they are less experienced in running the government. It is true, but we need to remember that few chances have been provided for them to gain experience in politics and administration. With popular support and strong unity inside the party, the current government has the potential to speed up the momentum of the reforms. Post-transitional countries usually do not expect such a consolidated and stable ruling force, even though it is based on personal rather than institutional leadership. It is time for them to strategically tackle the difficult challenges without fearing confrontation.

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In a Posh Bangkok Neighborhood, Residents Trade Energy with Blockchain

Posted: 28 Aug 2018 10:47 PM PDT

BANGKOK — Residents in a Bangkok neighborhood are trying out a renewable energy trading platform that allows them to buy and sell electricity between themselves, signaling the growing popularity of such systems as solar panels get cheaper.

The pilot project in the center of Thailand’s capital is among the world’s largest peer-to-peer renewable energy trading platforms using blockchain, according to the firms involved.

The system has a total generating capacity of 635 kilowatts that can be traded via Bangkok city’s electricity grid between a mall, a school, a dental hospital and an apartment complex.

Commercial operations will begin next month, said David Martin, managing director of Power Ledger, an Australian firm that develops technology for the energy industry and is a partner in the project.

“By enabling trade in renewable energy, the community meets its own energy demands, leading to lower bills for buyers, better prices for sellers, and a smaller carbon footprint for all,” he said.

“It will encourage more consumers to make the switch to renewable energy, as the cost can be offset by selling excess energy to neighbors,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Neighborhoods from New York to Melbourne are upending the way power is produced and sold, with solar panels, mini grids and smart meters that can measure when energy is consumed rather than overall consumption.

The World Energy Council predicts that such decentralized energy will grow to about a fourth of the market in 2025 from five percent today.

Helping it along is blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins bitcoin currency, which offers a transparent way to handle complex transactions between users, producers, and even traders and utilities.

Blockchain also saves individuals the drudgery of switching between sending power and receiving it, said Martin.

For the pilot in Bangkok’s upmarket Sukhumvit neighbourhood, electricity generated by each of the four locations will be initially used within that building. Excess energy can be sold to the others through the trading system.

If there is a surplus from all four, it will be sold to the local energy storage system, and to the grid in the future, said Gloyta Nathalang, a spokeswoman for Thai renewable energy firm BCPG, which installed the meters and solar panels.

Thailand is Southeast Asia’s leading developer of renewable energy, and aims to have it account for 30 percent of final energy consumption by 2036.

The energy ministry has encouraged community renewable energy projects to reduce fossil fuel usage, and the regulator is drafting new rules to permit the trade of energy.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Electricity Authority forecasts “peer-to-peer energy trading to become mainstream for power generation in the long run,” a spokesman told reporters.

BCPG, in partnership with the Thai real estate developer Sansiri, plans to roll out similar energy trading systems with solar panels and blockchain for a total capacity of 2 megawatts by 2021, said Gloyta.

“There are opportunities everywhere – not just in cities, but also in islands and remote areas where electricity supply is a challenge,” she said.

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Haley says US Rohingya Report ‘Consistent’ with UN Findings

Posted: 28 Aug 2018 10:38 PM PDT

UNITED NATIONS — Findings of a US State Department investigation into Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis are “consistent” with those of a report by UN investigators released this week that called for Myanmar’s commander-in-chief and other generals be tried for genocide, the US ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Addressing the UN Security Council, Nikki Haley said “the world can no longer avoid the difficult truth of what happened.” She did not use the term “genocide” and the State Department has said it had not yet concluded whether it shared the determination of “genocidal intent” that Monday’s UN report attached to the attacks on Rohingya Muslims.

However, Haley said that of the more than 1,000 randomly selected Rohingya Muslims surveyed in the State Department’s own report, “fully one fifth” witnessed more than 100 victims being killed or injured. She said 82 percent had seen a killing, more than half had witnessed sexual violence and 45 percent had witnessed a rape.

“The report identifies one group as the perpetrator of the overwhelming majority of these crimes: the Burmese military and security forces,” Haley said, referring to the US report.

She said the Security Council must hold those responsible for the violence to account and added, “The whole world is watching what we do next and if we will act.”

Haley’s comments provided the first details of the State Department report compiled from 1,024 interviews at refugee camps in Bangladesh and completed in late April.

It remained unclear when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to issue the full US report, which could have legal implications of committing Washington to stronger punitive measures against Myanmar, particularly if Washington concluded there was genocide.

The findings were originally due to be announced ahead of Monday's UN report but have been held up by internal deliberations.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said “genocidal intent” was “a very specific legal designation.”

“It is not one that is easily made,” she told a regular news briefing on Tuesday.

Critics have accused Washington of an overly cautious response to the Rohingya crisis, but a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that the UN findings could increase pressure for tougher US action.

The release of Monday’s UN report marked the first explicit UN call for Myanmar officials to face genocide charges over their campaign against the Rohingya. It said the military carried out mass killings and gang rapes with “genocidal intent” and the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted.

Limited Sanctions

Washington, which had previously imposed sanctions on only one regional general over the crisis, targeted four more military and police commanders and two army units this month, but Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was again spared.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN meeting that the UN report deserved serious consideration and that accountability was essential for genuine reconciliation between ethnic groups in Myanmar.

Also without using the word genocide, Guterres said the report by the independent UN experts found "’patterns of gross human rights violations and abuses' committed by the security forces, which it said ‘undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law.'”

He said international cooperation would be “critical” to ensuring accountability.

Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, Hau Do Suan, repeated his government’s contention that the Myanmar military had carried out a “logical response” to Muslim militant attacks. He said action would be taken against anyone responsible for human rights violations if there was sufficient evidence.

Guterres said the UN Security Council needed to continue to press for the release of journalists arrested for reporting on the Rohingya crisis, a reference to two Reuters reporters on trial in Myanmar.

Haley said the United States expected to see the two, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, acquitted of all charges.

Also on Tuesday, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who Washington has championed as a voice of democratic change, could not be blamed for atrocities as she did not have the powers necessary to stop military actions.

Haley made no mention of Suu Kyi, who the UN investigators said had failed to use her “moral authority” to protect civilians.

China, which has been vying with Washington for influence in Myanmar, said on Tuesday that “unilateral criticism or exerting pressure” was not helpful in resolving the Rohingya issue.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have fled the crackdown in Myanmar and most are living in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

Guterres said an international humanitarian appeal for the refugees remained significantly underfunded at 33 percent and more must be done to alleviate the threats to life from the current and impending monsoons.

He said it was clear conditions did not yet exist for the safe return of the Rohingya and called on Security Council members to join him in urging Myanmar to cooperate to ensure access to U.N. agencies and partners.

“There can be no excuse for delaying the search for dignified solutions that will allow people to return to their areas of origin in safety and dignity, in line with international standards and human rights,” Guterres said.

The post Haley says US Rohingya Report ‘Consistent’ with UN Findings appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

After Flood, Tourism in India’s Kerala Left Mud-Bound

Posted: 28 Aug 2018 09:49 PM PDT

NEW DELHI/ALAPPUZHA — More than a week after the floodwater began subsiding, animal carcasses are still floating in Kerala’s backwaters, and in places a nauseating stench rises like a wall when the wake from a passing boat breaks the surface. These inland lagoons running parallel to the coast are one of the biggest tourist draws in India’s most southwesterly state, but the stain of death and devastation wrought by Kerala’s worst flood in a century will take longer than a season to wash away. The quaint towns and villages scattered between the lush forests and paddy fields bordering the backwaters are now communities in despair.

Houses in low-lying areas are still submerged, roads are waterlogged and the sewage from drains has washed into channels that are too slow-moving to effectively flush out the effluent.

Sudarsanan T.K., a houseboat owner in the town of Alappuzha, had been looking forward to the peak tourist season, but as his home disappeared under 2.5 meters (eight feet) of water his family now have to live aboard the boat he would otherwise be renting to tourists from Europe, China, Malaysia and India. “I’ve nothing left, but this houseboat. I don’t know how I can repay my bank loan in this condition. The bank may take back my boat. I will have nothing at all then,” Sudarsanan, a 64-year-old father of two, told Reuters.

Some 1,500 houseboats are tied up at Alappuzha, going nowhere, with many of the owners still paying off loans taken to buy the boats. Sudarsanan owes about $8,600 on the loan taken eight years ago to buy the boat, and he could have earned up to $7,000 by December if the deluge hadn’t washed away his hopes. Hundreds of people perished in the flood and more than one million of Kerala’s 35 million people were forced to abandon their homes and take shelter in relief camps.

Blessed with natural beauty, fertile land and bountiful seas, Kerala has been dubbed “God’s own country” by its people, but the Marxists running the state government reckon it will need $3.57 billion to rebuild over the next two years.

“Kerala’s GDP growth may fall by 2 percent,” state Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac told Reuters, forecasting growth of 6 percent for the financial year ending next March.

Crops have been lost, the construction industry was dead for a month, and tourism, which contributes 10 percent of the state’s economy but accounts for about 25 percent of jobs creation, has been badly hit.

Festival Washout

For discerning tourists looking for a more laidback Indian experience, Kerala has it all – long sandy beaches, lazy waterways, charming, historic towns like Kochi and the cool, forested hills of the Western Ghats.

Kerala doesn’t draw numbers like the northern tourist circuit, the so-called “Golden Triangle” running from New Delhi to the Taj Mahal in Agra, and Jaipur’s palaces in the desert state of Rajasthan, but it has carved out a sizable niche.

Last year, one million foreigners visited Kerala, along with 15 million domestic tourists, but state government and industry officials reckon the flood will result in losses for the tourism sector of $357 million.

The floods struck just as Kerala was gearing up for Onam, the harvest festival that is one of the highlights of the state’s cultural calendar.

Festivities, including the spectacular Vallam Kali races involving traditional war canoes, some manned by more than 100 paddlers, were postponed.

“Kerala has lost out on one of the best seasons, as the calamity struck during the 10-day run up to Onam,” said Ranjini Nambiar, who heads a travel consultancy.

Thousands of volunteers have joined a cleanup campaign mounted by the state, and Shilendran M., an executive with the CGH Earth luxury hotel chain, expected some kind of order to be restored within the next few weeks.

“The state administration is working on a war footing,” said Shilendran, whose group has more than a dozen properties in Kerala. “We are limping back to normal.”

Hardly anywhere in the state escaped the calamity.

Ernakulam district, the biggest industrial and tourism contributor to Kerala’s economy and home to the historic city of Kochi, suffered major damage, and its busy international airport was shut for nearly two weeks.

Munnar, a hill resort overlooking the tea and cardamom plantations high in the Ghats was cut off, as bridges were washed away and landslides blocked roads.

Once every dozen years a bright purplish-blue bell-shaped flower called the Neelakurinji, blossoms on the slopes around Munnar – and this was one of those years.

The state tourism had marketed 2018 as the Kurunji year, but people in Kerala are more likely to remember the mud.

The post After Flood, Tourism in India’s Kerala Left Mud-Bound appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Vietnam Sentences South African Drug Smuggler to Death

Posted: 28 Aug 2018 09:39 PM PDT

HANOI — A Vietnamese court has sentenced a South African man to death for smuggling cocaine from Brazil into the Southeast Asian country, state media reported on Tuesday.

Tyron Lee Coetzee, 34, was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport in June, 2016, carrying 1.46 kg of cocaine in his luggage, the Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper reported, citing a copy of the indictment.

“He confessed to Vietnamese investigators that he had been hired by a Nigerian man to smuggle cocaine into Ho Chi Minh City from Brazil, via a transfer in Dubai,” the newspaper reported, adding that Coetzee had been offered $3,500 to carry the drugs.

Coetzee’s trial began in May last year but was temporarily suspended after the 34-year-old said he suffered from schizophrenia, according to the newspaper.

A group called Missing Children South Africa reported him missing in June last year, the group said on its Twitter page. Coetzee was “last seen on his way to Port Elizabeth” in May 2016, the group said.

The South African Embassy in Hanoi was unable to provide any immediate comment on the case.

Drugs like marijuana are illegal yet consumed widely in Vietnam, but transporting 100 grams or more of cocaine is a criminal offence, punishable by death.

In recent years, Vietnam has sentenced several foreigners to death for drug trafficking offences, but the Communist-ruled country keeps a tight lid on information and it is not clear if their executions have been carried out.

Police tackled over 13,000 drug-related cases in the first half of this year, an 8.7 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Public Security’s counter-narcotics department.

Vietnamese authorities arrested 18,500 drug traffickers, seized 880 kg of heroin, 414 kg of methamphetamine and 1.3 tons of marijuana and opium during that period, the department said.

Separately, border guards in the central province of Quang Tri arrested a man from Laos on Tuesday who was attempting to bring 65,800 synthetic drug tablets into Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The post Vietnam Sentences South African Drug Smuggler to Death appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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