Wednesday, September 5, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Peace Commission Holds Talks With Northern Alliance Members in China

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 08:11 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand—The government’s Peace Commission (PC) met with three members of the Northern Alliance group of armed organizations in China on Wednesday. The meeting was agreed to in mid-July, when Northern Alliance leaders were in Naypyitaw for a peace conference.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)’s Brigadier-General Tar Phone Kyaw said Wednesday’s talks between the government delegation and leaders of the TNLA, Arakan Army and Kokang-based Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army were held to build mutual trust, which he said had "been broken" for a long time.

The government negotiators were PC vice chairman U Thein Zaw and secretary U Khin Zaw Oo, both former military generals.

"Both sides agreed to hold further peace negotiations and will meet again next month," Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw, who is also the TNLA’s general-secretary and who was present at the meeting, told The Irrawaddy.

Representatives of the Kachin Independence Organization/Army and the United Wa State Party/Army were also presented at the meeting, he said.

While he declined to discuss details, the brigadier-general said they discussed ways for peace negotiations "to move forward and to reduce the fighting." Details of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) and recent armed clashes were not discussed, he said.

"We had lost mutual trust in each other. As we have only just resumed talks, we were not able to discuss issues in detail," he said. "But we have been able to rebuild trust, which will allow further negotiations to lessen [military] engagement. This is a good step," Brig-Gen. Tar Phone Kyaw said.

The Irrawaddy tried to contact the government negotiators and representatives of the other groups, but they were not available for comment at press time.

The TNLA has been actively fighting the Myanmar Military in northern Shan State's Kut Kai, Nam San, Man Tong and Namtu townships, and has also clashed with the Restoration Council of Shan State, an NCA signatory, in Namtu, causing nearly 2,000 residents of at least a dozen villages to flee their homes.

The post Peace Commission Holds Talks With Northern Alliance Members in China appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Jailed Reporters’ Wives Hope Against Hope for Presidential Pardon

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:47 AM PDT

YANGON – The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) has urged the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government to "seriously consider all aspects of the larger interest of the country" amid mounting local and international criticism of the jailing of two Reuters reporters.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were imprisoned for seven years on Monday for breaching the Official Secrets Act over their coverage of the conflict in Rakhine State.

The MNHRC statement followed a press conference given by the jailed reporters' wives, Pan Ei Mon and Chit Su Win, on Tuesday. The commission said it had been closely observing the case of the two reporters since it received a complaint letter from the wives in December. It adds that officials of the MNHRC attended a series of trial hearings to observe whether the accused's basic rights were being upheld. The commission urged the government to protect the basic rights of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, including their right to appeal and hold legal consultations with their lawyers.

Two days ago, Yangon's Northern District Court analyzed the claims and counterclaims of the prosecutor and defense lawyers, respectively, regarding a number of accusations against the reporters. The reporters were accused of possessing "top-secret" documents at the time of their arrest last December in Yangon, including the travel itinerary for Vice President U Myint Swe's trip to strife-torn northern Rakhine; the phone number of Arakan Army (AA) Brigadier-General Nyo Tun Aung (the AA is a non-signatory of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement); a map related to Pope Francis' visit to Myanmar; and northern Rakhine security clearance operations reports. Taking into consideration all of the above matters, the judge concluded that the reporters had violated the Official Secrets Act's Section 3 (1) (c) and sentenced them to seven years' imprisonment.

In fact, the pair was investigating the massacre of 10 Rohingya men in Rakhine State's Inn Din village by a group of local villagers, police and Army troops last December. When the reporters returned to Yangon from northern Rakhine, they contacted Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, who had recently been transferred from Maungdaw Township, to clarify some facts about the Inn Din killings. At that time, the Myanmar authorities were bluntly denying that security forces had committed any mass killings during the operations.

The following month, the Army announced that seven soldiers had been sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area of Myanmar for participating in the mass killing. The United Nations says the military crackdown has sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.

Police were aware that two reporters were investigating indiscriminate killings by security forces, so Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko instructed a police constable to set the reporters up by handing them some of the "top-secret" documents and immediately arresting them. Pol. Lance Corporal Naing Lin and a colleague contacted Wa Lone and arranged to meet the reporters at a restaurant in Mingalardon's Htauk Kyant area. Unexpectedly, the two reporters were given two newspaper-wrapped packages, but as the lighting was dim at the restaurant, the police suggested the reporters read the documents at a later time.

After handing over the packages, the police abruptly left. The reporters had taken just a few steps outside the restaurant when they were immediately handcuffed by a different group of Yangon police officers. They were taken directly to the Yae Kyi Aing interrogation camp, and a couple of days later police announced that the two had been arrested for possessing top-secret documents linked to northern Rakhine State and charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The two detainees attended a number of trial hearings over a period  of nine months. While the two reporters were charged over the possession of the documents, the prosecutor made several late submissions to the court, adding information found by investigators on the two reporters' mobile phones, including the phone number of a senior AA leader.

In terms of the MNHRC statement, commission member U Yu Lwin Aung told The Irrawaddy over the phone on Wednesday that the statement was issued with the aim of finding a better solution—for both the government and the jailed reporters—based on a more rigorous approach that does not violate the existing laws of Myanmar and is arrived at using the legitimate powers of the ruling party. To make it happen, legal experts and relevant departments of the government should initiate a consultation meeting to find an appropriate solution, he said.

"Strictly maintaining its stance will not bring about a positive impact," U Yu Lwin Aung said.

Defense lawyer U Khin Maung Zaw, who joined the reporters' wives at yesterday's press conference, told the journalists they were extremely disappointed with the judge's decision because the plaintiff witnesses' testimony, including that given by police, appeared to contain discrepancies and falsehoods. A key plaintiff witness, Police Capt. Moe Yan Naing, even told the judge that the reporters had been set up. Another lawyer, U Than Zaw Aung, told the journalists that the defense team would exhaust all options in trying to obtain the immediate release of his clients, including appealing to the higher court.

"This will remain as a black spot on our country's history," U Khin Maung Zaw said.

Wa Lone's wife Pan Ei Mon, who recently had the couple's first child, said, "I went to see my husband in prison yesterday and he told me that he had not expected this kind of result. He was very upset about having been trapped and having to serve a long prison sentence."

She repeatedly said, "He has done nothing wrong and I want him to come home quickly."

Chit Su Win, the wife of Kyaw Soe Oo, recalled that one day before his conviction, she visited her husband in Inn Sein Prison and her husband had returned all his clothing to her as he ultimately trusted in the judicial system. She said a seven-year sentence was totally "unjust".

She said, "My husband is a good man and I'm proud of him. My overwhelming concern is for the possible trauma my daughter will suffer. She even asks me sometimes why her father has been away from us for so long. Is he no longer in love with mommy?"

In discussions with foreign diplomats or exclusive media interviews, senior NLD leaders including State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi have frequently said that the outcome of the Reuters reporters' trials would be "up to the judiciary". They have refrained from saying anything supportive of the journalists, saying that could be regarded as contempt of court.

As of this week, the judiciary has done its part. To return the jailed reporters to their families and newsrooms, there is a potentially "life-saving" provision in the Constitution—Section 204. It stipulates that the president has the ultimate power to grant a pardon and that he can also grant an amnesty with the recommendation of the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC). Lawyer Than Zaw Aung told reporters he had heard some top NLD leaders, during foreign trips and at forums, discuss possible presidential pardons for the pair.

However, family members and defense lawyers were not confident of an immediate release, based on comments by the country's de facto leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, during an exclusive interview with Japan's NHK on June 8, that the two reporters "were not arrested for covering the Rakhine issue" and even that "they were arrested because they broke the Official Secrets Act."

The post Jailed Reporters' Wives Hope Against Hope for Presidential Pardon appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Lawmakers Question 1.2bn Kyat Losses by State-Run Newspapers

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 07:43 AM PDT

YANGON—A Myanmar parliamentarian questioned losses of 1.2 billion kyats ($770,000) made by state-run newspapers which are dominating the market in circulation as well as gaining plenty of advertisements.

During debates on the 2018-19 Union Budget Bill on Tuesday, a Lower House lawmaker Daw Aye Mya Mya Myo of Yangon's Kyauktan constituency pointed out the estimated losses expected to be made by the News and Periodicals Enterprise (NPE) under the Information Ministry in the upcoming fiscal year [from Oct. 1, 2018 to Sept. 30, 2019].

The Union Budget Bill—submitted to the parliament in July— stated that the News and Periodicals Enterprise under the Information Ministry will lose 1.158 billion kyats with estimated of 21.537 billion kyats and the estimated income of 20.375 billion kyats.

The NPE runs three state-owned daily newspapers: The Mirror and Myanma Alinn Daily in Burmese language and the English-language Global New Light of Myanmar which is running as a joint venture with a private company.

"The enterprise is using state buildings and land for the operations and money from the state budget to pay staff. It also dominates in the market. There are plenty of advertisements but why is it making a loss?" the lawmaker Daw Aye Mya Mya Myo asked at the Union Parliament on Tuesday.

She said government newspapers making losses on state funding needs to be questioned as well as the management of the outlets.

The MP said that the newspapers also failed in countering international reports on Rakhine State during a time when the country has been under strong international censure.

Private daily newspapers have only been published in Myanmar since 2013 after a decades-long ban was lifted. The then-government approved 39 publications, but only seven nationally distributed privately-run papers are left.

Many of those in the market are also struggling to make their publications survive due to a drop in circulation, shrinking ad revenue and high production costs. An uneven playing field has been created in competing against government newspapers which have more advertisements than private media because state media enjoys a bigger circulation, low sale prices and advertisement rates.

The Upper House lawmaker U Ye Htut of Sagaing Region, also mention at the parliament on Tuesday that the state-owned newspapers should be privatized as a way to reduce the state budget deficit.

"There is no state-run newspapers or media in democratic countries and thus they should all be privatized."

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Lawmakers Complain of Loopholes in Conditions of Korean Loan

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 05:52 AM PDT

YANGON—Myanmar lawmakers have criticized loopholes in the president's message regarding infrastructure loans from the EXIM Bank of Korea which would be a major element to the implementation of the Korean-backed industrial complex project in Hlegu Township, Yangon Region.

On Tuesday, nine lawmakers discussed the president's message given in the Union Parliament regarding the decision to take $61.8 million in loans from the EXIM Bank of Korea for the Korea-Myanmar Industrial Complex (KMIC) infrastructure project.

According to lawmakers, the loans will be used for three infrastructure projects which would support the KMIC project: the upgrading of highway roads; building a new power plant for electricity; and constructing a new channel for a water supply. The infrastructure projects will start this year and are expected to be finished in 2021.

One lawmaker pointed out that despite the president's message revealing broad project plans and expectations, it did not include standard procedures or details on the implementation of the projects. It is difficult to make a decision about whether to take the loans, the lawmakers said.

"It missed all the crucial information. I don't see complete information for the road upgrade project or the electricity project. It is a huge amount of money. The outcome should benefit our people," said Daw Yin Min Hlaing, a lawmaker in the Lower House.

"As the lawmakers pointed out in the previous discussion, we can see clearly…there are many weaknesses [in the message]," she said.

The president's message also mentioned that the industrial complex will create between 50,000 and 100,000 job opportunities, but Daw Yin Min Hlaing wants assurances from the developer on the actual number.

She pointed out that lawmakers need to know how many years Korea, the main investor in the project, will operate the industrial complex for.

In 2017, the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) and Myanmar's Ministry of Construction signed a memorandum of agreement for the project located approximately one hour away from Yangon.

A map showing the location of the proposed Korea-Myanmar Industrial Complex. / KIC website

The project will be built over 558 acres and is to be an export production-based complex. The project which will cost a total $110 million, is expected to include small and medium enterprises, heavy industry and a vocational school. Around 200 Korean companies are expected to invest in the production companies which are projected to generate $10 million in taxes annually.

The first feasibility test for the project was done in 2015 and the Myanmar government approved LH's letter of intent of business for the project in 2016. The project ideas came about after the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation of Myanmar and South Korea agreed to extend trade between the two countries in June 2013.

The industrial complex is to be established near the village of Nyaung Hna Pin—including the venue where the military regime held the National Convention at which they drafted the 2008 Constitution.

Lawmakers wanted to know whether the KMIC project would involve demolishing existing buildings in the compound of Nyaung Hna Pin's National Convention venue which have been deserted for many years.

A Lower House lawmaker U Nay Kyaw said, "There are 54 buildings including the main hall in the compound. We want to know clearly whether the existing buildings in Nyaung Hna Pin will be destroyed or not."

U Aung Min, also a lawmaker at the Lower House, said KMIC failed to provide information on the capacity of water storage, detailed costs of upgrading the road or consideration for logistics and transport operations.

He pointed out, "The big thing is the taxes. KMIC said we will get $10 million annually but according to the Myanmar Investment Law, the project is to be exempt from paying taxes for five years. If we also calculate the construction period, we will need to wait at least eight years to get taxes from that project."

"There is still a need to confirm: when will we get the taxes? It also didn't explain how we will share the profits between the Korean and Myanmar governments," U Aung Min said.

"The loans cannot be approved based on the president's message. We need more details. If we get the details…we will have clarity. We can then make the right decision on whether to take the loans," he added.

According to lawmakers, Korea and Myanmar will invest 60 percent and 40 percent respectively for the overall project which is slated for completion in 2023.

Lawmaker U Khin Cho said his fellow lawmakers found a lot of vague information in the message.

The interest rate is 0.1 percent and the repayment period 40 years, including a suspension period for the infrastructure loan, according to the lawmakers.

"The related ministries need to explain the consequences of the loans, including financial calculations. The [relative ministries] have to have accountability with transparency," U Aung Min said.

The related ministries will answer lawmakers' questions regarding the infrastructure loans in the Union Parliament on Sept. 6.

The post Lawmakers Complain of Loopholes in Conditions of Korean Loan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

RCSS Chief Says TNLA Aggression Against Shan Civilians Hurts Ta’ang Aims

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 05:08 AM PDT

MON STATE — Amid an escalation in fighting between rival ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State, the chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) accused the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) of detaining, harassing and murdering ethnic Shan, and said the strategy would only harm efforts by the Ta'ang to establish their own state.

RCSS Chairman General Yawd Serk told the organization's media outlet, Tai Freedom, that the TNLA needed to consider which was the best route to establishing a Ta'ang state—attacking ethnic Shan or entering peace negotiations.

"By attacking the Shan, the ethnic Ta'ang are sowing the seeds of their own destruction," Gen Yawd Serk said.

There is no benefit for the Ta'ang in attacking ethnic Shan, he said, adding that he felt sorry for innocent Ta'ang who are suffering due to the fighting between the TNLA and RCSS.

Responding to Gen Yawd Serk's comments, Brigadier-General Tar Phone Kyaw of the TNLA said ethnic Ta'ang (Palaung) did not need to arrest or murder Shan people to establish an ethnic state. To achieve the creation of a liberated state, the Ta'ang people will fight for it, he said.

"The RCSS occupies our areas. Therefore, the TNLA has to attack them," Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw said.

"If Yawd Serk wants to rebuild Shan State, he needs to avoid actions aimed at occupying our areas. His troops should not engage in human rights abuses against the Ta'ang people," he said.

If they did not, he said, the Shan and Ta'ang communities will only grow more divided and Gen. Yawd Serk's efforts to rebuild Shan State would fail, Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw said.

The RCSS and TNLA have a history of armed clashes, and accuse each other of human rights violations against their populations. Armed conflict broke out between the RCSS and TNLA after the former signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the Myanmar government in 2015.

The RCSS is based in southern Shan State. According to Ta'ang military leaders, the group tried to take control of areas in northern Shan after signing the NCA, leading to clashes with the TNLA.

The RCSS has even tried to seize control of some areas from another Shan organization, the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), in northern Shan, despite being from the same ethnic group.

With increasing numbers of RCSS troops moving into northern Shan, the SSPP joined forces with the TNLA in attacks against the RCSS this year.

The TNLA and SSPP launched a military offensive last month with the aim of kicking the RCSS out of northern Shan. Fighting has escalated in Namtu Township this week, forcing about 1,000 local ethnic Shan and Palaung to flee their villages.

Ethnic Shan and Ta'ang co-existed peacefully in Shan State for decades, but the recent clashes have seen trust between the two communities break down.

The post RCSS Chief Says TNLA Aggression Against Shan Civilians Hurts Ta'ang Aims appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Accidents Decline on Myanmar’s ‘Death Highway’

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 04:47 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — Sixty people were killed and more than 570 others were injured in traffic accidents in eight months on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, according to the expressway traffic police force.

There were a total of 297 road accidents from January through August and as in previous years, most involved private cars, traffic police said.

Last year, the highway saw a total of 555 road accidents in which 116 people were killed and 863 were injured, a decline from 2016, which saw 774 road accidents in which 170 died and 1,304 were injured.

"We use speed radar guns to measure the speed of vehicles. Speeding is the main cause of road accidents," police officer Soe Win of the highway traffic police told The Irrawaddy.

As of June 1, 2017, drivers and passengers traveling the highway in either private vehicles or express buses are required by law to wear seat belts.

Since then, the highway traffic police force spotted that 1,055 cars did not wear seatbelts. "Many have started to wear seat belts because of the fine. We impose a fine of 50,000 kyats for speeding and 30,000 kyats for failing to wear seat belts," said police officer Tin Maung Shwe of the highway traffic police force.

More than 20,000 vehicles ply the roughly 644-km highway daily and there are about seven road accidents a day, according to highway traffic police.

"The number of road accidents and casualties has declined thanks to traffic law enforcement," said lawmaker U Than Soe Aung, a member on Lower House Transportation, Communications and Construction Committee.

The highway connects the country’s commercial hub, Yangon, with its administrative capital, Naypyitaw, and second-largest city, Mandalay. It came into service in 2009 and has been dubbed the “death highway” due to the high number of accidents.

The government is still considering the offer of the Asian Development Bank to provide a loan of more than $100 million to upgrade the route, according to deputy construction minister U Kyaw Lin.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Accidents Decline on Myanmar's 'Death Highway' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Jailed Whistleblower Concerned Truth Will Continue to be Covered Up

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 03:05 AM PDT

After more than four months behind bars, U Moe Yan Naing looks haggard, said Ma Tu Tu, the wife of the former police captain.

U Moe Yan Naing, 47, was dismissed from the police force and sentenced to one year in prison after he testified in court that two Reuters reporters Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo were framed by the police.

"How could Police Brigadier-General Tin Ko Ko do this to me?" he asked rhetorically when she visited him in prison.

"I want to ask the same question," said the 42-year-old wife. According to U Moe Yan Naing's testimony, Police Brig-Gen Tin Ko Ko masterminded the setup which led to the arrest of the reporters.

U Moe Yan Naing, one of the police involved in handing the so-called classified documents to the reporters on Dec. 12 last year, testified in court on April 20 that the police had planned to entrap the reporters. He was detained immediately after the court session and was later convicted and sentenced in absence to a year in jail for breaching police discipline.

The court refused to deduct his detention period from the jail sentence, so he will have to serve the full one-year term. U Moe Yan Naing has already made an appeal to the Home Affairs Ministry, but to little avail.

"I was deeply hurt. Our life is ruined," said Ma Tu Tu who was evicted along with their three children from the police housing where they had lived in the capital, Naypyitaw, the day after her husband testified.

The family has since moved in with U Moe Yan Naing's father in his native town of Khin-U, in Sagaing Region.

"I had to transfer my youngest daughter from a school in Naypyitaw to one in Khin-U," she said.   "Siblings of my husband have been supporting us since," she said, explaining that her husband's salary had been the main source of income for the whole family.

U Moe Yan Naing had worked as a private tuition teacher before he joined the police force. "He said we could do it again and live a worry-free life after his release," said Ma Tu Tu.

Though he didn't speak about the case of the Reuters reporters after his jail sentence, he was interested to know the verdict of the court, she said.

The two were sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday. The Irrawaddy was not able to reach U Moe Yan Naing for his response after the verdict.

None of his family members blame him for giving his testimony, said Ma Tu Tu.

"I am revealing the truth because police of any rank have their own integrity. It is true that they were set up," U Moe Yan Naing told reporters after his first testimony.

"He was jailed because he told the truth. It is the truth, which is crystal clear. I trust him," said Ma Tu Tu.

U Moe Yan Naing has said he feels regret for his decision to join the police force. Ma Tu Tu blames fate for the things that have happened to them but went on to say she has decided not to allow her children to join the police force.

Despite having gone through all those experiences, both U Moe Yan Naing and Ma Tu Tu are still only concerned about one thing:

"He is concerned that no one will dare to tell the truth for fear of meeting the same fate as him."

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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The Need to Improve Prison Reform

Posted: 05 Sep 2018 01:03 AM PDT

The recent launch of new standard operating procedures (SOPs) regulating prison health care by the Health and Sports Ministry is a step in the right direction toward improving dire prison conditions.

However, strangely, I have been unable to find a copy of these new SOPs. They have not been shared with civil society or organizations working on prison issues. I am curious to know what is included and whether counseling provisions are touched on at all. Such provisions are important to include. I say this from my own experience.

Even though I see this as a positive step, I doubt this by itself will implement reform. Much change is needed and these SOPs are not nearly enough.

There are 46 prisons and more than 40 labor camps in Burma. In addition, there are many more detention centers that are under the remit of police, military and non-ceasefire groups.

Failings of the judicial system, corruption, and underinvestment in prison infrastructure, coupled with the rampant level of overcrowding in Burma, makes a perfect storm for torture, health problems and a lack of justice.

Reform is badly needed. Conditions in detention centers and treatment in prisons are shocking. Human dignity is routinely violated by police or prison authorities. This is done through the practice of torture, alongside overcrowding and substandard prison conditions.

Electric shocks, genital mutilation, waterboarding, stress positions and other methods of physical torture are all routinely used in detention centers, as are psychological forms of torture such as threats, hooding and blindfolding, sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

Regarding prison conditions, healthcare, food and sanitation are sorely lacking, as is the presence of counselors and healthcare professionals. Overcrowding is rife. Insein Prison, which has a capacity of 5,000 prisoners, currently has some 12,000 inside.

Furthermore, when giving out sentences, hard labor is prescribed far too often. Conditions are even worse in labor camps, with prisoners shackled and forced to work outside in all conditions in remote camps with little to no healthcare access. Sentences are often designed to punish, not rehabilitate.

After release, prisoners carry around the effects of their incarceration. Their suffering continues long after their sentences have finished. Counselors need to be provided for prisoners so they can deal with the long-term effects and trauma from torture and treat cases of depression and mental health. Treatment and counseling must be available and must make up a substantive part of the SOPs.

Another important issue is that the Health and Sports Ministry did not consult with civil society. The SOPs were developed alongside the UN and INGOs, yet their conception did not involve civil society in Burma. A question must be asked – did they think former prisoners had no thoughts on prison reform?

Former political prisoners are victims of prisons and the penal system. They must be listened to. Due to their experiences at the hands of their jailers and judges, who knows more about the failings of prisons and the need to implement SOPs than Burma's political prisoners themselves? Years of incarceration and abuse have made them experts on these matters.

The SOPs are ineffective and incomplete as a result of this lack of consultation. There is a need to understand that the effects of substandard prison conditions and torture continue long after release.

Prison reform has to be large, systematic and take in all aspects of the penal system. It is not just within a jail that prisoners are abused. It is from their first step inside Burma's judiciary system. It is futile to attempt to reform the prison cell without also reforming the prison system.

Any reform must be based on a holistic approach. Isolated reform will simply not work. In order to have better results, we must all work together. Only by working together can we succeed.

Bo Kyi is the joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

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US Vice President Pence Calls for Release of Jailed Reuters Journalists

Posted: 04 Sep 2018 11:06 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — US Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday called on Myanmar’s government to reverse a court ruling that imprisoned two Reuters journalists for seven years and to release them immediately.

The journalists were found guilty on Monday on official secrets charges in a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which was ruled by a military junta until 2011.

Ko Wa Lone, 32, and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were investigating the killing by security forces of Rohingya villagers at the time of their arrest last December, and had pleaded not guilty.

“Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo shd be commended—not imprisoned—for their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings. Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy,” Pence wrote on Twitter.

Pence is the most senior US official to add his voice to an international outcry against the verdict by a Myanmar judge, who said the two had breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents.

In Yangon on Tuesday, the wives of two journalists insisted that the men were innocent and called for them to be reunited with their families.

“Deeply troubled by the Burmese court ruling sentencing 2 @Reuters journalists to 7 years in jail for doing their job reporting on the atrocities being committed on the Rohingya people,” Pence wrote in another tweet.

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that the United States would become more vocal about the two journalists’ situation.

Speaking at a news conference in New York marking the US assumption of the rotating chairmanship of the Security Council for September, Haley said the reporters were “in prison for telling the truth.”

Mark Green, administrator for the US Agency for International Development, said “these convictions are an enormous setback for democracy and the rule of law in Burma.”

Mounting Pressure

The verdict came amid mounting pressure on the government of Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi over a security crackdown sparked by attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on security forces in Rakhine State in west Myanmar in August 2017.

More than 700,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh since then, according to UN agencies. The Rohingya, who regard themselves as native to Rakhine, are widely considered as interlopers by the country’s Buddhist majority and are denied citizenship.

Neither Suu Kyi nor her government have commented publicly on the case since the reporters were convicted.

The journalists were arrested on Dec. 12 while investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men and boys and other abuses involving soldiers and police in the village of Inn Din.

Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities against Rohingya by its security forces, saying it conducted a legitimate counterinsurgency operation against Muslim militants.

The military acknowledged the killing of the 10 Rohingya at Inn Din after arresting the Reuters reporters.

A UN-mandated fact-finding mission said last week that Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings.

The International Criminal Court is considering whether it has jurisdiction over events in Rakhine, while the United States, the European Union and Canada have sanctioned Myanmar military and police officers over the crackdown.

The post US Vice President Pence Calls for Release of Jailed Reuters Journalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Lures Chip Talent from Taiwan with Fat Salaries, Perks

Posted: 04 Sep 2018 10:29 PM PDT

TAIPEI — A huge pay rise, eight free trips home a year and a heavily subsidized apartment. It was a dream job offer that a Taiwanese engineer simply could not refuse.

A veteran of Taiwan’s top-tier chipmakers, including United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), the engineer took up the offer from a Chinese state-backed chipmaker last year and now oversees a small team at a wafer foundry in eastern China.

The engineer joined a growing band of senior Taiwan professionals working in China’s booming and fast-developing semiconductor industry.

Attracting such talent from Taiwan has become a key part of an effort by China to put the industry into overdrive and reduce the country’s dependence on overseas firms for the prized chips that power everything from smartphones to military satellites.

That drive, which started in 2014, intensified this year as US-China trade tensions escalated, according to recruiters and industry insiders, exposing what China feels is an overreliance on foreign-made chips.

China imported $260 billion worth of semiconductors in 2017, more than its imports of crude oil. Homemade chips made up less than 20 percent of domestic demand in the same year, according to China Semiconductor Industry Association.

More than 300 senior engineers from Taiwan have moved to Chinese chipmakers so far this year, joining nearly 1,000 others who have relocated since Beijing set up a $22 billion fund to develop the chip industry in 2014, according to estimates from H&L Management Consultants, a Taipei-based recruitment firm.

The battle for skilled engineers has raised concerns in Taiwan that the island could lose a key economic engine to its political foe, China. Analysts say China is still years behind Taiwan in terms of chip design and manufacturing, however, even as it moves ahead in terms of the production of lower-end chips.

China’s semiconductor plans accelerated this year after the United States banned sales of chips to the Chinese phone vendor ZTE, senior Chinese officials familiar with the matter told Reuters in April.

Tariffs imposed by Washington on $16 billion worth of China’s imports have hit Chinese semiconductors, which are now subject to tariff rates of 25 percent.

That will make Chinese chips less competitive compared to those from Taiwan and South Korea, and could disrupt China’s semiconductor ambitions. Beijing’s aim is to have local chips comprise at least 40 percent of China’s semiconductor needs by 2025.

Underscoring the talent crunch, two state-run institutions said in August that about 400,000 professionals were working in China’s integrated circuit sector at the end of 2017, far short of the estimated 720,000 workers needed by 2020.

While China has also targeted engineers from South Korea and Japan to address that shortage, it has had the most success in Taiwan thanks to a common language and culture, recruiters say.

Lin Yu-Hsuan, a manager at the recruitment firm H&L, said engineers from Taiwan were lured by high pay, perks and more senior positions at Chinese chipmakers like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) that are flush with cash from China’s multi-billion chip fund.

“Many of them said: ‘the money I will earn in China in three years is equivalent to what I could get in Taiwan in 10 years. I could retire earlier’,” Lin said.

Steve Wang, the vice chairman and president of Novatek Microelectronics, a Taiwanese integrated chip designer, said a small percentage of its employees had left for China over the past two years, and acknowledged that it would be difficult to match offers from Chinese rivals.

The engineer at the wafer foundry, who declined to be named as the details of his contract were not public, said his Chinese employer offered him a new three-bedroom apartment with a 40 percent discount on the condition that he worked for the company for more than five years, in addition to a 50 percent pay rise. He declined to give the exact figure.

“China dares to burn money, whereas Taiwan companies have limited resources,” he said.

Counter Offer

A senior executive at a newly-established chipmaker in northeastern China, SiEn (QingDao) Integrated Circuits Company Ltd, said about one-third of its recently recruited 120 engineers were from Taiwan.

“There is not a lack of money. What we need is talent,” said the person, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He said the company, led by Richard Chang, the founder of SMIC, China’s leading chipmaker, offers new hires discounted property and attractive subsidies for bilingual schools in the port city of Qingdao.

“Taiwanese engineers are most experienced and could help us cultivate local talents,” the executive said. “The movement will continue to escalate.”

Industry watchers said Taiwan’s widely respected chip design houses and foundries have been among the hardest hit by the outflow of engineers, and have been forced to ramp up spending to lure workers.

The island’s leading integrated circuit designers and chipmakers have seen a 35 percent jump in labor costs, including salary and benefits from two years ago, compared with a 21 percent hike in revenue, according to Reuters calculations based on corporate filings from Taiwan’s 10 largest listed companies by market value.

Trade Secret

Taiwan has been watching the Chinese recruitment efforts with growing anxiety.

It has long barred chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, a key supplier to Apple Inc, from moving their most advanced technology to manufacturing operations in China to keep it from falling into the hands of Chinese rivals.

Many in Taiwan are also concerned that the rapid development of China’s chip industry could lead to the sort of oversupply and plunging prices that came with Chinese efforts to develop other key industries like solar panels and liquid crystal displays.

China’s integrated circuit design firms have already surpassed their Taiwan rivals in terms of revenue, with $31 billion in 2017, compared with Taiwan’s $22 billion, according to Mark Li, an analyst at Bernstein.

The fears are that the battle for talent will widen that gap further.

In a move to retain top talent, Taiwan’s cabinet in July pledged to relax tax regulations on employee stock ownership.

“The Chinese Communist Party has been poaching our talent,” said Chen Mei-ling, minister of Taiwan’s policy-planning National Development Council. “The government has amended regulations to help companies keep talent.”

Ho Chan-cheng, legal affairs director at Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Office, said “inappropriate poaching” could lead to the leaking of trade secrets and that the government was working to protect the island’s core technology – namely the capacity to increase chip yield per wafer.

Taiwan companies are also trying to offer their own incentives.

Antonio Yu, spokesman for the Taiwan-based chip design house Phison Electronics Corp, said that while the company “does not have the capital to play such a money game,” it has tried to create a “reassuring environment” for its employees.

He cited long-standing cash bonuses and programs such as free legal counseling, as well as a monthly town hall meeting with Phison’s chairman, Khein-Seng Pua.

“We treat our employees like family,” he said.

Despite such efforts, Taiwanese engineers are finding incentives from China hard to resist.

Tommy Huang, a 37-year-old Taiwanese chip engineer who in 2016 joined United Semiconductor in southern China – a joint venture between Taiwan’s UMC and Chinese state-backed partners – said Taiwanese efforts to retain talent did not work for him.

“You don’t have any chance if you stay in Taiwan,” said Huang, whose Chinese employer offered him an annual school subsidy of up to 60,000 yuan ($8,689) for his five-year-old child and a salary more than double what he earned in Taiwan.

“We are buying hope by coming to China.”

The post China Lures Chip Talent from Taiwan with Fat Salaries, Perks appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Typhoon Kills 10 in Japan, Boats Move Stranded Passengers from Airport

Posted: 04 Sep 2018 09:57 PM PDT

TOKYO — A powerful typhoon killed 10 people in western Japan and an airport company started to transfer some 3,000 stranded passengers by boats from a flooded airport, the government said on Wednesday, as more than a million homes were without power.

Jebi, or “swallow” in Korean, was briefly a super typhoon and is the most powerful storm to hit Japan in 25 years. It follows heavy rains, landslides, floods and record-breaking heat that killed hundreds of people this summer.

About 3,000 tourists stayed overnight at Kansai Airport in western Japan, an important hub for Japanese companies to export semiconductors. Television footage showed people lining up to buy food and drinks at a convenience store in the airport.

Airport officials began transferring the stranded passengers to nearby Kobe airport by high-speed boats and buses on Wednesday morning, the government said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said about 300 people were injured. It was uncertain when the airport would reopen and some roads and train lines in the affected areas were still closed, he said. About 1.2 million homes were without power.

“The government will continue to do everything possible to tackle these issues with utmost urgency,” Suga told a news conference.

Japan’s JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp shut at least one of the refining units at its 135,000 barrels-per-day Sakai refinery in Osaka in western Japan due to typhoon damage to part of the cooling tower, the trade ministry said.

Many chip plants operate in the Kansai region. Toshiba Memory, the world’s second-largest maker of flash memory chips, was monitoring developments closely and may need to ship products from other airports if Kansai remains closed, a spokeswoman said.

She said the company was not expecting a major impact because its plant in Yokkaichi in central Japan had not been affected by the typhoon.

It could take several days to a week to reopen Kansai airport depending on the damage, the Yomiuri newspaper quoted an unidentified person in the airline industry as saying.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, criticized for an initially slow response to devastating floods in July, posted repeated updates on the rescue efforts at Kansai.

Jebi’s course brought it close to parts of western Japan hit by rains and flooding that killed more than 200 people in July but most of the damage this time appeared to be from the wind.

The post Typhoon Kills 10 in Japan, Boats Move Stranded Passengers from Airport appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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