Thursday, August 30, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Karenni Protesters Who Were Detained for Statue Protest Freed on Bail

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 08:00 AM PDT

MON STATE—Six Karenni youth activists who participated in a July protest against a state government project to erect a statue of General Aung San in the Karenni State capital, Loikaw, were granted bail by a court in the town on Wednesday.

Two of the six had already been released from detention last week, and the other four were freed on Wednesday, according to local sources.

Local authorities charged a total of 23 people who took to the streets to oppose the state government's plan to build a statue of General Aung San in the capital. Most of the 23 were granted bail after being charged, but six declined to request bail, saying they would fight the case from behind bars.

After almost two months in prison, however, the six decided to request bail and fight the charges from outside of prison, citing the many difficulties they faced dealing with their legal cases while incarcerated.

Dee De, one of the four youth activists released yesterday, told The Irrawaddy that five townships had charged them with violations under two provisions of the penal code.

They were charged under Article 505 (b) and (c) in relation to their distribution of pamphlets ahead of the protest, and articles 19 and 20 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, which regulates protests. Most of the charges were filed by Loikaw Township.

"We have to go to the courts in each of the five townships almost every day. Traveling was very difficult. We're exhausted. And our prison cell is too small. Therefore, we decided to request bail and deal with the charges from outside," Dee De said.

The five townships are Loikaw, Demoso, Hpruso, Shandaw and Hpasawng.

He said the six had planned to request that the court grant them bail earlier, but decided to delay the request when they noticed that authorities were detaining more and more people, including many who were not protest leaders. They were worried that their release and subsequent contact with other protesters would fuel authorities' suspicions and lead to more arrests.

Dee De said his case demonstrated that rule of law remained shaky in Myanmar. He said he had learned that the Karenni State government was intent on prosecuting the 23 youths to the fullest possible extent.

And while the state government has halted the statue project, activists say it could be resumed at any time, despite the fact that the underlying issue has not been resolved.

Myo Hlaing Win, another detainee who was released yesterday, said, "We are youth, and we are educated. We have our dignity. But the government devalues us by accusing us of acting like terrorists. It's upsetting."

"This is a democratically elected government, but it acts like a military regime. They should not act like this. We did not act violently. Our protest was very peaceful and simple. We have a right to express our wishes," he said.

Activists said the authorities falsely accused them of stoking ethnic hatred between the Karenni and Burmese communities, and that their action was an attempt to secede from the Union.

"We did not engage in terrorism. We staged a peaceful protest. We have a right to protest. We distributed pamphlets. We did not encourage our people to be violent," Dee De said.

"These charges are intended to threaten our political activities. The charges were intended to oppress us," the youth activist said.

The post Karenni Protesters Who Were Detained for Statue Protest Freed on Bail appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Organic Poultry Farm Makes Waves in Yangon

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 05:34 AM PDT

Shwe Taung Nyo Gyi farm is making waves in Yangon with its local, organic poultry and natural eggs.

The farm, founded in 2017 by friends Zaw Ye Naung and Marn Thu Shein, is certified by the Myanmar Organic Agriculture Group (MOAG).

"We are both fathers who wanted to feed healthy, chemical-free foods to our children. That's how we started," said 34-year-old Zaw Ye Naung.

He used to buy what he thought were natural eggs at a local market when his son was young, but one day he to the market and his trusted vendor had closed.

"So, I went to the vendor's home. Unfortunately, I found out he had been lying to me. I saw him bleaching the eggs to whiten them. I was so mad," Zaw Ye Naung said.

"I don't trust those kinds of vendors anymore. I don't mean that all egg vendors do the same thing, just that I lost trust. I talked to my close friends about what we should feed our children and we decided to do it ourselves," he added.

They chose to produce eggs first because of the nutritional value.

"We started to provide young and old people with healthy, chemical-free eggs. But we wanted scientific proof from a lab of the quality because we want our customers to trust us," Zaw Ye Naung said.

He contacted the MOAG for advice.

"We started the farm with a lot of help from the MOAG," he said.

Shwe Taung Nyo Gyi now sells two products: organic Myanmar chicken and natural eggs.

"Our eggs are natural, not organic. The chickens that lay our eggs are non-genetically modified organisms (non-GMOs) and we feed them plants, not dry, ready-made food," he explained.

"The chickens are free-range and we try to avoid using antibiotics. This is why we call them natural eggs."

Zaw Ye Naung said to be certified organic, they would need to feed the chickens organic food, which they cannot afford because the prices are so high.

"We feed our chickens six foods using the 'whole feed system,' aiming for high nutritional value. If we want to have organic eggs, we need to prove that these foods are all organic. We hope to do this eventually."

They currently buy natural foods directly from suppliers, whose farms they have visited.

Because chickens can have stomach problems, they store the food systematically so it does not go bad or get moldy, mixing it a day before feeding it to the chickens. "That's how we are taking care of our chickens," he said.

There's a shortcut to get organic certification – feeding the chickens only corn. But Shwe Taung Nyo Gyi doesn't do this because the end product is less nutritious, Zaw Ye Naung added.

Some Myanmar people don't trust farms when they claim to be organic, which is why Zaw Ye Naung keeps laboratory results on hand.

"Both our chicken and eggs are 100 percent chemical free, with low fat and low sugar. If customers want proof, we can show them," he said.

The eggs color and size and noticeably different from others at the market.

The farm has two types of chickens that aren't used for their eggs – Phine Tone and Lal Pyaung – that have been certified organic by the MOAG and the UN Global Compact.

'Ah Tee' organic poultry farm of Shwe Taung Nyo Gyi in Pyin Oo Lwin / Supplied

"These are the best two chickens native to Myanmar. We had to breed them to be organic because they used to eat all sorts of foods," he said.

They fed the chickens organic rice, let them run free and did a soil test to check that they weren't getting chemicals.

When the customers buy chicken, Shwe Taung Nyo Gyi prints a QR code on the package. Customers can trace where the chicken came from, what type it is and what it ate.

"We value trust and this is the proof," Zaw Ye Naung said.

Their customers are largely foreigners, friends and upscale restaurants.

"We are a small business. We only produce a small amount and won't be able to change the local market," he said. "We only hoped to provide a healthy option for those who wanted it."

Shwe Taung Nyo Gyi was founded in June 2017. It started with 1,000 chickens at Ngapudaw Township, Irrawaddy Region. The egg-laying chickens are ordered from overseas and certified non-GMO.

They experimented for months with the best combination of feed for the chickens to produce natural eggs and have settled on a formula that delivers.

The two friends also want to raise awareness of the overuse of plastic, so they package the eggs in woven, bamboo baskets.

"We're selling natural eggs so we don't want to package them in plastic. Also, we want to provide jobs for older women around our farm," Zaw Ye Naung said, adding that they are mostly seasonal farmers so this provide work for them in slower times.

He found women who were interested and provided them with training.

They also started trying to farm rice and corn organically with local farmers.

"It's win-win. We don't want to be successful alone. This is a social business and we hope to include others in a healthy food movement," he said.

Customers fill out a form requesting how often they would like eggs and in what amount.

"Since we have a limited amount, we close the form after we reach our limit," Zaw Ye Naung said.

The natural eggs are delivered within 48 hours of a request and have an expiration date, usually of around two weeks.

Chickens are sold in small and large sizes, priced between 15,000 and 18,500 kyats each.

"Nature gives us everything but people change natural products into chemical products. We need to fix the damage. That's organic," Zaw Ye Naung said.

The post Organic Poultry Farm Makes Waves in Yangon appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘Ghost’ Container Ship Runs Aground in Gulf of Martaban

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 05:31 AM PDT

YANGON—A "ghost" container ship with no crew or cargo ran aground near the mouth of the Gulf of Martaban, 7 nautical miles from Thongwa Township in Yangon Region, early this week.

According to the Myanmar Department of Marine Administration, the container ship Sam Ratulangi, registered in Palau, ran aground in bad weather three days ago.

"There's no crew or cargo on board," the department said in a report on the case released on Thursday and seen by The Irrawaddy.

The department speculated that the ship was either towed by another vessel for some distance before separating and eventually running aground, or abandoned after a failed attempt to tow it.

The department said it would contact the port authority in Palau as soon as possible in the hopes of reaching its owner in order to salvage the vessel.

The post 'Ghost' Container Ship Runs Aground in Gulf of Martaban appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Military Pledges Cooperation with Commission of Inquiry on Rakhine

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 05:29 AM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar's military said it would cooperate fully with the Independent Commission of Inquiry for Rakhine, which recently began its investigation into allegations of human rights violations and related issues in the restive region.

Vice Senior General Soe Win said at a meeting with commission members on Wednesday in Naypyitaw that "the military is on standby to offer full cooperation with the commission."

According to state media, the deputy commander-in-chief also told the commission that the military provided evidence of the situation in Rakhine to a United Nations Security Council team that visited Myanmar, as well as to all diplomats who have met with Army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. All of the information was released in a timely manner to local and international media, he said.

Despite this, he said, the military has found that the international community has a weak understanding of the real situation in Rakhine.

On Aug. 15, the four-member commission launched its investigation into claims against Myanmar's security forces following the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)'s attacks in northern Rakhine, and related issues. It met with government ministers and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Aug. 14.

State media reported that at Wednesday's meeting, the commission's chairwoman, Philippine diplomat Rosario Malano, said the commission was committed to conducting its investigation based on evidence.

Following the meeting with the military, the commission members met with the State Counselor again on Thursday in Naypyitaw.

The military's proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party earlier objected to the inclusion of foreign experts in the commission, viewing it as foreign intervention in the internal affairs of the country.

Senior military leaders including Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win are named in a recently released UN fact-finding mission's report that calls for genocide charges against the country's military leadership over its actions against Rohingya Muslims.

The post Military Pledges Cooperation with Commission of Inquiry on Rakhine appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ten Reasons Behind Myanmar’s Economic Slump

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 05:19 AM PDT

YANGON—A recent business sentiment survey of the second quarter of 2018 outlined ten main reasons why Myanmar's businesses are facing worse conditions now compared to the two previous years.

Nearly 1,500 businesses from the service, manufacturing and trade sectors contributed to the survey which was conducted by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI).

The survey said the country's economy has been slowing since 2016 but business in all sectors dropped significantly this year in particular. Overall business confidence is down by nearly 25 percent compared to last year.

The manufacturing sector experienced a downturn in the last three years, with an overall wellness drop of four percent. The export and import trading sectors have decreased, with the overall wellness index down by five percent and 1.2 percent respectively in the last three years, according to the survey.

The survey results showed 10 root causes for the decline. These are higher taxations and tariffs; restrictions in financing and banking; depreciation of the kyat; unstable economic rules and regulations; lack of market demand; delays in the import and export procedure; increases in local costs and inflation; competition from foreign companies; a lack of skilled human resources; and poor infrastructure.

According to the survey, taxes are unreasonably high while illegal trade can't be controlled on the ground. Moreover, the tax payment process still involves much red tape within the government departments, the survey said.

The survey said kyat depreciation causes chronic losses in the production sector and also affects product imports and creates inflation and overall higher costs across the country. Business people have said that raw materials cost more due to kyat depreciation and as a result the production sector is declining very quickly.

The survey also suggested 26 points of reform for the government to remove deterrents of the economy's ability to grow.

Survey participants suggested that reforms are needed in the financial and banking sectors, specifically in the documents required for getting loans, and the long wait for verification of private loans.

The survey pointed out that despite reforms made in the financial and banking sectors to date, the banking process is still outdated with poor human resources and services, while a majority of business people still don't fully understand the bank loan process.

According to results from the survey, retailers welcomed the government's decision to allow foreign investors into the retail and wholesale market but were concerned that they wouldn't be able to compete with them under current conditions. To be able to compete with foreign retailers, they have demanded that the government abolish the withholding of tax, relax the permit license process and draw up a Foreign Investment Law for the retail and wholesale industry.

The industrial sector has requested that the government set up a department to promote exports which would impose proper regulations on exporters and take action against illegal traders who operate without paying tax to the government.

According to survey participants in the trade sector, poor infrastructure is a major challenge as it makes business time-consuming and raises consumer costs. The trade sector said illegal trade remained the biggest challenge with traders suggesting that the government impose proper trading rules and regulations based on international or ASEAN standards.

The post Ten Reasons Behind Myanmar's Economic Slump appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Violent Crimes Shake Mandalay Townships

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 04:02 AM PDT

MANDALAY — Recent robberies during which one student was killed and another man injured in separate incidents in Kyaukse Township and Mandalay on Wednesday night have frightened locals.

Ko Nay Min Htet, 19, a final year student from Kyaukse Government Technical Institute, Mandalay Region, was playing games on his mobile phone while travelling with his friend on a motorcycle when three men tried to grab his phone.

When their motorcycle fell over and the three men proceeded to attack them, Ko Nay Min Htet was stabbed to death and his friend was injured.

"His friend said Nay Min Htet requested the robbers not take their phones, but the angry robbers beat him and stabbed him so he died on the spot," U Toe Wai Phyo, uncle of deceased Ko Nay Min Htet, told The Irrawaddy.

Since Ko Nay Min Htet was from Naypyitaw, his parents are now in Kyaukse to bring his body home.

The three robbers, Ko Min Khant Kyaw, Ko Aung Thu Hein and Ko Min Chit Aung were arrested and are being held in police custody for causing injury and murder, according to a representative from Kyaukse Township police station.

However, police have said the incident was not in fact related to robbery but rather due to a dispute between the youth, which lead to the fight and murder, according to their investigation.

Locals from Kyaukse said such murders are rare in the town and that they now worry about their children going out at night.

"There are many crimes such as robbery of mobile phones and motorcycles. We also witness fights between youth, however yesterday's incident was so brutal that we feel [it is] unsafe to let our children go out during the night," said U Ko Ko Lwin, a local member of 88 Generation Peace and Open Society.

In a separate incident on the same night, in Mandalay's Maha Aung Myay Township, a man's throat was slashed and his motorcycle robbed.

Ko Kyaw Oo, 44, was sitting on his parked motorcycle and talking on his mobile phone when an unknown man approached and slashed his throat before riding away on the motorcycle.

The police said Ko Kyaw Oo was rushed to Mandalay General Hospital for medical treatment and is still in critical condition.

"We are [looking] to arrest the culprit and the case was registered at Maha Aung Myay police station under robbery and causing harm which could be punished with up to life in prison," Police Colonel Myo Aung, police chief of Mandalay District told The Irrawaddy.

Although the police said there has been no significant increase in the number of crimes in Mandalay Region, they admitted that robbery tactics and injuries inflicted have become more brutal.

"The crime rate is not increasing significantly but the way the criminals hurt their victims has become more brutal. The speed of the spread of news on social media has become faster so it is known more quickly than before and so causes fear in the public," Police Col. Myo Aung explained.

In recent months, the robbers use more brutal methods on their victims to rob their mobile phones, money or motorcycles, causing the victims more serious injuries or sometimes death.

Earlier this month, a woman and man were shot by a gunman who tried to rob them. The woman died almost immediately while the man remains in hospital recovering from his injuries. The gunman was caught on the spot by locals and handed over to police for arrest. He was later brought to court charged with robbery and murder.

"Not only Mandalay, but other regions also are quite unsafe for the public, especially those who travel during the night time. We are boosting 'Operation Eagle' for anti-narcotics and anti-crime, division-wide, and doing as much as we can to ensure the safety of the public," said Police Col. Myo Aung.

The post Violent Crimes Shake Mandalay Townships appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Yangon Court May Resume Murder Trial After Family Withdraws Case

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 03:50 AM PDT

YANGON — The Yangon High Court on Wednesday heard the arguments of two sides regarding a proposal to review the murder of a Facebook comedian, following the withdrawal of the case.

Aung Yell Htwe, who became popular for a series of short comedy videos he posted to his Facebook account starting in 2016, died after being kicked and beaten by a group of men while attending a party last New Year's Eve in Yangon's Thingangyun Township.

Three men were arrested in connection with the murder but after nearly six months of proceedings, the detained murder suspects were released on July 25 before any charges could be brought against them, after the Yangon Eastern District Court accepted an appeal from the victim's family asking to settle the case.

The public prosecutor asked the high court to review the case, arguing that the withdrawal of the case disrupts law and order, as the case is already in the spotlight.

Eight more prosecution witnesses had yet to testify when the case was dropped and the Union Attorney General's Office also asked to resume the trial, the public prosecutor said.

The court heard from 14 of 22 witnesses for the plaintiff. The lawyers pointed out that the court had yet to call key witnesses in the case including a forensic pathologist and police investigators, and CCTV records were not produced.

Following the intervention of state leaders and with public criticism mounting over the dropping of the case, the Union Attorney General's Office ordered the Yangon Region attorney general to annul the court's decision to dismiss the case and to resume the trial on July 30.

On the same day, the Yangon Region Attorney General U Han Htoo, who had approved the request of the victim's family to drop the case, addressed the High Court to seek a review of the court's decision.

Lawyers of the accused Than Htut Aung (a.k.a Thar Gyi), Pyae Phyo Aung (a.k.a Aung Lay) and Kyaw Zaw Han (a.k.a Kyaw Zaw) made counter-arguments, asking the high court not to resume the trial.

Defense lawyer U Chit Ko Ko attempted to rebut the arguments of the public prosecutor, asking the court if the decision should be reversed just because the case has attracted public attention.

Aung Yell Htwe was a Facebook celebrity and it is not strange that his case attracted public attention, he said.

He asked whether disrupting law and order was a strong enough reason to review the case, adding that the judicial sector would be impacted if the court accepted review of the case for baseless reasons.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Yangon Court May Resume Murder Trial After Family Withdraws Case appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

More Than 63,000 People Affected by Bago Flooding

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 03:14 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — One woman is missing and over 63,000 people from 85 villages in 17 village tracts in Yedashe Township, Taungoo district have been affected by flooding since the Swar Creek Dam was breached on Wednesday morning, according to state-run media and the Bago Region government office.

Regional lawmaker U Kyaw Kyaw said one person had died and six others were missing as of Wednesday night, though these figures were not reported in state-run media on Thursday.

Heavy rainfall over the past week caused water to overrun the dam and pour into the Sittaung River, which flooded villages along its east bank. Officials said the amount of water flowing out of the dam was decreasing. U Kyaw Kyaw told The Irrawaddy, however, that they remain worried as the river was still very swollen. The Sittaung River flooded severely last month.

The Meteorological Department on Thursday also warned residents of Madauk and Shwe Kyin near the Sittaung and Shwe Kyin rivers in Bago region and Hpaan near the Salween River "to take precautionary measures" as the water had reached a dangerous level. It also warned that the Bago River is likely to reach dangerous levels in the next two days.

Government ministers, officials, soldiers and firefighters have been making desperate rescue efforts since the spillway burst on Wednesday, flooding villages and causing a bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay Highway in Yedashe Township to buckle, disrupting commuters and transportation.

The Swar Bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay Highway is undergoing rapid repairs. Officials began allowing trucks and buses to pass on Thursday afternoon.

Along with ongoing rescue and relief efforts, the Ministry of Construction is making efforts to repair other bridges affected by the flooding, said Construction Minister U Han Zaw.

The Swar Creek Dam is 337 feet high and can hold 216,350 acre-feet of water. State media reported that due to the heavy rainfall, the water level had overrun by about 1.6 feet, destroying the spillway.

Damaged walls are seen after the spillway of an irrigation dam burst at Swar Creek in Swar Township, Bago Region on Aug. 30, 2018. / Reuters

Bago Region hosts a large number of irrigation dams with huge capacity. The dams have been over-full due to heavy rainfall since the start of the monsoon season in May.

Meanwhile another 32 villages and six quarters in Okpho Township in Tharrawaddy district of Bago were inundated on Wednesday due to heavy rainfalls.

From late July to mid-August, 10 townships in Bago's four districts — Bago, Taungoo, Pyay and Thayawady — have been flooded. Over 137,000 acres of farmland out of almost 500,000 acres have been inundated, the Bago Region Government Office said on Aug. 15.

Over 116,000 residents of the 10 townships have been affected. Bago is the most flood-affected area in the country, but other regions have also faced flooding including Magwe, Tanintharyi, Irrawaddy, Sagaing and Naypyitaw, as well as Chin, Karenni, Karen and Mon states.

The flooding in July and August has so far affected more than 210,000 people in over 9,900 households, and caused 13 deaths nationwide, according to figures released by the National Natural Disaster Management Committee on Aug. 25.

Htet Naing Zaw contributed to this report from Yedashe Township. 

The post More Than 63,000 People Affected by Bago Flooding appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Clashes Break Out Between Myanmar Army and KNLA

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 02:04 AM PDT

YANGON — Clashes broke out between Myanmar Army and Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army (KNU/KNLA) troops near the village of Kan Nyi Naung in Karen State's Papun District on Tuesday.

Battalion 44 of the Myanmar Army clashed with Battalion 102 of KNLA Brigade 5, according to a Tatmadaw officer stationed in Papun District.

Clashes continued and there were three intermittent clashes on Wednesday, the officer said.

He declined to discuss the reason for the clashes or the number of casualties.

Padoh Saw Ta Doh Moo, general secretary of the KNU, claimed that clashes erupted after Myanmar Army troops entered territory controlled by KNLA Brigade 5.

"There was engagement. I don't know the details. It is difficult to contact the military. We are trying to contact their tactical commanders on the ground, but have not been able to yet," he said.

"It is not unusual for the two sides to exchange fire on the frontlines over a misunderstanding. But I'm not sure what the cause is for the misunderstanding this time," he added.

"What is important is that both sides should be committed to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)," said the KNU general secretary.

The KNU is a major armed ethnic group that signed the NCA with the government in 2015. Despite this, there have been frequent military tensions between the Myanmar Army and KNLA Brigade 5.

In March, the Myanmar Army deployed its troops and did roadwork in Luthaw Township, an area controlled by the KNLA in Papun District. Resultant clashes between the military and TNLA forced more than 3,000 locals from their homes. Many are still unable to return home.

The two clashed again in July in Papun during the third session of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in administrative capital Naypyitaw.

Moreover, the Southeast Command of the Myanmar Army banned a military parade to mark Karen Martyrs' Day in Papun District at the end of July. The command also deployed troops, heightening military tensions.

Joint ceasefire monitoring committees at different levels have not yet been able to resolve the conflicts between the two sides.

The KNU has formed a military affairs negotiation team (MANT) to discuss military and deployment matters with the Tatmadaw, said the KNU general secretary. However, there have been no discussions between the two sides, he said.

"Much more has yet to be discussed regarding implementing the NCA while political agreements have not yet been reached. There is confusion," he said.

In an interview with The Irrawaddy in July, deputy chief of staff of the KNLA Lt-Gen Baw Kyaw He claimed that Myanmar had expanded its deployments in KNLA-controlled areas after signing the NCA; and that Tatmadaw is also attempting to obtain a border area controlled by the KNLA Brigade 5 in Papun District.

The Irrawaddy was unable to contact the spokespersons of Tatmadaw to seek their comments on Baw Kyaw He's claim.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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A Critical UN Report and What Is to Come

Posted: 30 Aug 2018 12:34 AM PDT

The UN Human Rights Council released its 'Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar' on Monday, calling for genocide charges against the country's military leadership for attacking Rohingya Muslims, and blaming the country's de facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to intervene.

A few hours after the report was released, Facebook shut down Myanmar military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing's Facebook page, stating that the company was acting on the UN report that found the Facebook accounts and pages of the military chief and other individuals and organizations to have directly or indirectly contributed to human rights abuses.

In the wake of the release of the UN report, The Irrawaddy talked to Swedish journalist and Myanmar expert Bertil Lintner, who has been covering Asia for four decades and written extensively about the country's politics, about the possible consequences of the report on the country and the military, the Snr-Gen's account shutdown and its implications.

The UN report was just released. It called for prosecution of the military leadership. What consequences do you think will come of the report?

Well first of all, I don't think the report is going to have that much of an impact at all. If they bring this case to the International Criminal Court, Burma isn't a signatory of the Rome Statute. Bangladesh is but it is very hard to prove it because it wasn't committed on the Bangladesh side of the border. But even if the Bangladesh government decided to refer it to the ICC, what are they going to do? I mean the accused are here in this country and they are highly unlikely to go to any country where they are likely to be arrested. So it's mainly symbolic – the impact will be more symbolic when it comes to any kind of legal matters. The court does not have jurisdiction over Burma so there's nothing they can do here really.

Facebook has banned the Snr-Gen, citing human rights violations from the UN report. On the other hand, the social media platform was under fire for failing to handle hate speech. What's your take?

I think Min Aung Hlaing is much more upset about being excluded from Facebook than the fear of being brought before the ICC because this is something that has really impacted him directly.

There have been a lot of complaints to Facebook about hate speech and it's not confined to Burma at all. It's kind of universal that Facebook allows anything to be assimilated through their website. The way Facebook works it that anyone can write anything really. You can use a fake name and do whatever. I think it's created a bit of a crisis even for serious media outlets – magazines, newspapers, websites, which are more dedicated to maintaining good journalistic standards. Facebook is a great tool for communicating with people to send messages but when it comes to assimilating information it can also be very destructive and Facebook eventually came under pressure to clean up its act. What they have done now—removing 20 people, I believe, from Burma— it's part of their attempt to restore people's confidence in it.

Soon after the ban, the Myanmar government spokesperson said the shutdown had nothing to do with the government, as it has a state-sponsored social media monitoring team. The spokesperson, U Zaw Htay, said he was concerned that the ban could have impact on national reconciliation, as the shutdown could cause misunderstanding between the military and the civilian government. What do you think?

Well I don't think there is much national reconciliation going on anyway. It's hard to predict what's going to happen in that relationship (Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing). We know it's very strained already. They hardly talk to each other from what I understand. And Aung San Suu Kyi is stepping very carefully so as not to further antagonize the military. If this is going to have a backlash on that, I think it's too early to say. But it's quite possible that it's not going to make the military happy when it comes to military-civil relations in general. I think that's as much as we can say at this stage.

The recent UN report was the latest condemnation by the West so far. Could they be a contributing factor that makes Myanmar move closer to China?

Absolutely. I mean, that's what is happening. You saw what happened following the attacks in August last year. The Western world condemned the Burmese army for what it did and while I'm not saying the condemnation was unjustified because immense brutalities were carried out, there's no doubt about that, 700,000 people were driven across the border. But the very strong condemnation from the side of the Western world made Burma move back to China.

We have to remember that all the reforms were implemented in 2011-12 starting with freeing political prisoners, allowing political organizations to operate more freely than before, and of course the suspension of the Myitsone Dam project. All this was done not because the ruling generals had some kind of democratic awakening experience; it was done because they had become too dependent on China during the years of isolation.

I have recently come to believe that the military chiefs had become acutely uncomfortable with the relationship and the dependence on China. Therefore, they wanted to open up to the outside world and they realized the only way to do that was to allow certain freedoms because otherwise the West would never have responded in the way they wanted them to respond. Of course they could see how Burma was drifting away from China – you had Hilary Clinton coming here, Obama coming twice – and the Chinese were sort of taken aback by this.

I understand the Chinese spent a whole year studying China-Burma relations and they probably realized they had put all their eggs in one basket: the military. So they decided to diversify their contacts. They established connections with the NLD, the 88 Generation, with Burmese journalists and so on.

They have been working very hard to reestablish the close relationship they once had. And of course they were helped to a great extent by what happened after the crisis in Rakhine State last year because as you know they blocked any attempt to raise the issue in the UN Security Council. What happened after that was both Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing went to China. She was in Singapore recently, she's been in some Asian countries and that's all. Relations between the West and Burma have become very strained and almost impossible to repair after what happened in the last year.

The post A Critical UN Report and What Is to Come appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thai Army Chief Concerned about Disinformation on Social Media

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 11:31 PM PDT

The Thai Army commander-in-chief General Chalermchai Sitthisart today expressed concern about fake news and disinformation that will be disseminated in social media after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) lifts the ban on political activities.

However, he said he is not worried about the overall political situation, as he believes that all sides are now looking forward to an election.

Gen Chalermchai said one of the topics discussed at the NCPO meeting yesterday was preparation for the general election. The army chief reaffirmed that the military junta will issue an executive order to partially relax the ban on political activities. The ban was imposed in a series of earlier executive orders shortly after the junta seized power in 2014.

He said the political ban would be eased so that during the months of September to December political parties can recruit new members, hold party meetings, elect party leaders and engage in other activities. However, political campaigns will not yet be allowed until the organic law on the election of lawmakers takes effect.

He said the only thing he is concerned about is a possible spread of fake news and disinformation in the social media in the run-up to the election.

The army chief said he has instructed army personnel to be neutral and not to side with any of the rival political camps.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha reaffirmed yesterday that the election will be held in accordance with the political roadmap designed by the military junta.  February 24, 2019 is the earliest date legally possible for the election to be held, he said.

The post Thai Army Chief Concerned about Disinformation on Social Media appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Korea Detente Revives North Korean Leader’s Bullet Train Dreams

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 10:37 PM PDT

SEOUL — North Korea’s ruling family has long dreamed of a state-of-the-art rail system linking its major cities with each other and the wider world.

Now, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is looking to capitalize on an easing in international tensions with his isolated regime to advance plans for a high-speed rail network to rival those in Europe and neighboring South Korea.

Kim has instructed officials to seek partnerships with countries such as South Korea and France, according to a South Korean broker with knowledge of the matter and a senior North Korean diplomat.

Engineers and consultants in South Korea say they are also drawing up plans for possible rail projects with the North.

Both Koreas see new railways as a key that could unlock regional trade and tourism, connecting the Korean peninsula with Russia, China and beyond.

The prospect has boosted shares in Hyundai Rotem and other South Korean train and rail companies since the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade in April.

But plans face numerous hurdles, not least wide-ranging sanctions on doing business in North Korea over its pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of the United Nations, and the country’s unstable electricity infrastructure.

Officials in both Koreas hope rail projects might be exempt from UN sanctions under a provision allowing some “non-commercial public utility infrastructure."

French Connection

A senior North Korean diplomat told the French senate in June the country would like to partner with France on railway construction, specifically naming Alstom, the maker of the iconic TGV bullet train, and French national railway operator SNCF, as potential partners.

“There are subjects and fields that aren't impacted by sanctions,” said Kim Yong Il, North Korea’s chief delegate at UNESCO in Paris, according to a previously unreported transcript of his remarks.

South Korea adopted Alstom’s technology for its KTX bullet trains introduced in 2004. The system is about six times faster than the North’s aging rail networks.

But it’s far from clear how infrastructure would be defined under the United Nations sanctions, and the French rail operators told Reuters they had no plans to team up with North Korea.

“Given the international context surrounding North Korea, such cooperation is not conceivable, which is what SNCF communicated,” a spokeswoman said.

Alstom said it does not “maintain contact or discussions with any of the country’s representatives."

The Dutch mission at the United Nations, which chairs the sanctions committee on North Korea, did not have immediate comment, while the North Korea mission did not return calls for comment.

Long-held Dream for Kim

A month before his death in 1994, Kim’s grandfather and founding leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, said a railway connecting the two Koreas, China and Russia could generate North Korea $1.5 billion annually from transporting commodities.

Kim Jong Un publicly expressed admiration for South Korea’s railways during a summit in April. Kim told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that his sister and delegation were in awe of South Korea’s bullet trains, which they travelled in to get to the Pyeongchang Olympics in February.

In May, foreign journalists took 12 hours to travel roughly 415 kilometers (258 miles) by train to watch the demolition of North Korea’s nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, averaging just 35 kilometers per hour. The same distance would take about 2.5 hours by South Korea’s KTX.

A bullet train system in North Korea could take at least five years to build and cost up to $20 billion, according to experts and railway executives.

Seoul and Pyongyang have discussed trans-Korean rail networks since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000.

A December 2015 North Korean investment brochure, seen by Reuters, says Pyongyang aims to build an “international rapid transit railway” to promote its special economic zone in the western city of Sinuiju bordering China.

The plan included converting some of the rail line to the capital into a “high-speed railway system,” according to the brochure.

In a statement carried by state media in 2015, Kim said a high-speed railway should be built between Pyongyang and a new international airport near the capital.

Kim also has more ambitious plans to build a high-speed railway linking Pyongyang to South Korea and China, a South Korean businessman said, citing North Korean officials charged with economic development.

“Kim is eyeing foreign currency earnings from ticket sales, and officials are pursuing a multinational consortium under his instruction,” said the businessman, who asked not to be named due to sensitivity of the matter.

Risky, but Potential Money-spinner

Seoul, too, has seen potential benefits from such a tie-up. In 2015, a state-run railway association estimated trans-Korean railways linking the peninsula to China and Russia could halve the time to transport freight, and generate substantial transit fees for the South.

“In the past, the inter-Korean rail project was simply linking disconnected lines but now it’s about working on practical ways to modernize rails, operate them and create economic value,” Ahn Byung-min, a member of South Korea’s presidential committee on economic cooperation with the North, told Reuters.

But a bullet train for the North has not been discussed in early talks with Pyongyang, Ahn said.

“Realistically, it will only come up later on the agenda because it involves a lot of money and complicated logistics.”

South Korea is budgeting 504 billion won ($450 million) next year for cross-border economic projects such as the modernization of North Korea’s roads and railways, up 46 percent from this year. It did not provide a breakdown for railways.

Seol Young-man, chief executive of Korea Engineering & Construction, told Reuters his firm is working on a high-speed railway and highway pitch for the South Korean government.

“We have to be prepared and ready to take initiative in competing against China and Russia in rebuilding North Korea’s rails and working with Kim Jong Un on economic cooperation,” Seol said.

A joint Chinese project to build hydro power stations in North Korea’s border region, as well as Russia’s rail project to transport Russian coal to a North Korean port have both received UN sanction exemptions.

But many risks remain in doing business with North Korea, including its secrecy and chronic power shortages, said Lee Chul, former president of South Korea’s state-run railroad operator.

“For railroad cooperation between South and North Korea, we thought it would be really good to understand the North’s railroad conditions,” said Lee, who met North Korean officials in 2006 to discuss restoring inter-Korean railways. “But North Korea considered it almost like military secrets and wouldn’t let us see.”

The post Korea Detente Revives North Korean Leader’s Bullet Train Dreams appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Aung San Suu Kyi Won’t Be Stripped of Nobel Peace Prize: Committee

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 10:08 PM PDT

STAVANGER, Norway — The Nobel Peace Prize to Aung San Suu Kyi will not be withdrawn in the light of a United Nations report that said Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings of Muslim Rohingya, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Wednesday.

On Monday, UN investigators said Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes with “genocidal intent," and the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under international law.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who leads the Myanmar government and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy, has been criticized for failing to speak out against the army crackdown in Rakhine State.

“It’s important to remember that a Nobel Prize, whether in Physics, Literature or Peace, is awarded for some prize-worthy effort or achievement of the past,” said Olav Njoelstad, the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

“Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for democracy and freedom up until 1991, the year she was awarded the prize,” he said.

And the rules regulating the Nobel Prizes do not allow for a prize to be withdrawn, he added.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee consists of a panel of five Norwegians, mostly former politicians and academics, that reflect the different forces in the Norwegian Parliament. The other Nobel prizes are awarded in Sweden.

Last year, the head of the Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, also said it would not strip the award after previous criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi’s role in the Rohingya crisis.

“We don’t do it. It’s not our task to oversee or censor what a laureate does after the prize has been won,” she said in a television interview. “The prize winners themselves have to safeguard their own reputations.”

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Group of US Lawmakers Urges China Sanctions over Xinjiang Abuses

Posted: 29 Aug 2018 09:29 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of US lawmakers called on Wednesday for the United States to impose sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses against minority Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region, saying it was being turned into a “high-tech police state.”

The group, led by Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith, Republican co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Executive Commission on China, made the call in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Muslims in Xinjiang, China’s western autonomous region, were “being subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, egregious restrictions on religious practice and culture, and a digitized surveillance system so pervasive that every aspect of daily life is monitored,” the lawmakers said in their letter, which in addition to Rubio and Smith was signed by 15 US senators and representatives.

The letter, signed by nine Republicans, seven Democrats and one Independent, called for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against senior Chinese government and Communist Party officials overseeing the policies, including Xinjiang party chief Chen Quanguo, and for other measures to be considered.

The Magnitsky Act was originally designed to target Russian Rights violators, but has been expanded to allow sanctions for abuses anywhere in the world.

“The Chinese government is creating a high-tech police state in (Xinjiang) that is both a gross violation of privacy and international human rights,” the letter said.

China has said that Xinjiang faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who plot attacks and stir up tensions between the mostly Muslim Uighur minority who call the region home and the ethnic Han Chinese majority.

A United Nations human rights panel earlier this month said it had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uighurs in China are held in what resembles a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy.”

Hundreds of people have been killed in violence in Xinjiang in recent years, prompting the tough security measures.

The US lawmakers, in their letter, said as many as a million or more Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities were being detained in "political reeducation" centers or camps, saying this required “a tough, targeted, and global response.”

“No Chinese official or business complicit in what is happening … should profit from access to the United States or the US financial system,” the letter said.

The US State Department has said that it is deeply troubled by Beijing’s crackdown in Xinjiang, but has declined to comment on the possibility of future sanctions on Chen and others.

Critics have said the security and surveillance steps in Xinjiang have created near martial law conditions, with police checkpoints, reeducation centers and mass DNA collection.

The post Group of US Lawmakers Urges China Sanctions over Xinjiang Abuses appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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