Monday, February 5, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

5,000 Rally in Myitkyina to Call For Pause In Fighting

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 07:00 AM PST

YANGON – Some 5,000 people, including members of civil society organizations, religious organizations and town elders, staged a protest in the Kachin capital of Myitkyina on Monday to call for a halt to a Tatmadaw offensive in the state, to allow villagers stranded in the nearby town of Tanai to seek refuge.

The fighting between the Tatmadaw and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has intensified since Jan. 22, causing more than 750 people to flee into the jungle in Sumprabum Township, while more than 2,000 are trapped in Nam Gun, the battle zone near Tanai township amid cold winter weather. Three civilians were killed and five severely injured due to aerial bombardments and artillery barrages on Jan. 26, said a statement from the local Emergency Relief Committee for the Displaced.

The protesters on Monday gathered at Manau Park in Myitkyina and marched to the local government offices.

The aim of the demonstration was "to find a way that people from other parts of Kachin State can contribute in helping those trapped to escape the conflict areas and to provide shelter for them before they can go back to their homes," said U Zau Jat from the Emergency Relief Committee for the Displaced.

"There is no adequate support (for the trapped villagers) with only a few relief workers in Tanai," he said, referring to the assistance provided by local relief workers and the Catholic church and the Kachin Baptist Convention.

The local Emergency Relief Committee urged the NLD government to allow them to provide more help to the displaced and trapped civilians and for the Tatmadaw not to bar relief workers from providing such assistance. The Committee's statement released on Monday condemned the Tatmadaw's aerial bombing of civilians, putting civilians in hostage situations and for using them as human shields. It said the trapped civilians must be allowed safe transit back to their homes.

The Committee said that the NLD's silence on the issue was encouraging the intensification of the civil war.

Last week, the Committee requested a meeting with the Kachin State government and the head of the Northern Command to discuss assisting those caught up in the fighting, but there had been no response, U Zau Jat said.

Dr. Khet Aung, the chief minister of Kachin State, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the government response team – comprised of police, immigration officials and Tanai administrators – had rescued over 700 of the 2,000 trapped villagers since last week. The villagers, however, must pass through a military checkpoint before they can get help, he said.

"There are troops deep inside the jungle. The trapped villagers are inside the fighting zone and the civil servants cannot even enter. There are only soldiers there. We sent the Tanai township administrator, police and immigration officials to go as far as they could to rescue the civilians."

Dr. Khet Aung urged the displaced persons not to flee into the jungle, but instead to try to come to the town to take shelter.

Fighting between the KIA's Battalion 11 and Tatmadaw troops has continued near Tanai's amber mine, but the fighting has temporarily ceased in Sumprabum and Mansi townships, U Zau Jat said.

The post 5,000 Rally in Myitkyina to Call For Pause In Fighting appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Truck Carrying 21 Rohingya Intercepted in Nyaungdon

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 05:41 AM PST

Yangon – A truck carrying 21 Rohingya from camps in Rakhine State was intercepted by police at Sarmalauk in Nyaungdon Township in Ayeyawaddy Region yesterday afternoon.

According to the initial investigation, the drivers of the six-wheel truck, Tin Tun Aung and Tun Tun Naing, were taking the Rohingya to Yangon, Myanmar's commercial center, when they were stopped by police just before entering the capital.

"They were transporting 21 Rohingya hidden under a tarpaulin. We have detained the drivers as well as the Rohingya at the police station. The drivers said they picked them up in Gwa, but some of the Rohingya who can speak Burmese said they were from camps in Kyaukphyu. Investigations are still underway," a duty officer at the police station said.

The Rohingya included 12 men, six women, one boy and two girls. The police also seized the truck.

The case is still under investigation and legal action will be taken against the suspects in line with the law, the police said.

On Oct. 18 last year, police intercepted a truck leaving Minbya in Rakhine State at the Oakpon Check-point in Kyangin Township and found seven Rohingya hidden among paddy bags. The drivers and the Rohingya in that instance were also prosecuted.

The post Truck Carrying 21 Rohingya Intercepted in Nyaungdon appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Military Blocks 2nd Attempt to Erect Statue of Late Karen Leader

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 05:14 AM PST

YANGON — The Myanmar army has blocked a second attempt by the Karen National Union (KNU) to erect a statue of its late founder and leader Saw Ba U Gyi at its liaison office in Kyar Inn Seik Gyi Township's Win Yaw town, in southern Karen State, according to a KNU member.

The KNU transported the statue from the town of Three Pagodas Pass, where government soldiers blocked the group's first attempt to set it up in December, to its liaison office on Saturday, only to have soldiers stop it again.

"The army blocked us from erecting it. They should not do that because they often say they want to have unity with ethnic people, to have harmony with ethnic people. But look at their bad actions." Win Yaw town chairman Saw Maung Shwe, a KNU member, told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

Many ethnic Karen followed the statue's journey to the office and performed traditional dances at a ceremony to celebrate its arrival but were left disappointed by the military's refusal to let them erect it.

In a video posted to the Karen Land Facebook page of a meeting on Saturday between KNU leaders and General Tun Tun San, tactical commander of the Myanmar army's Southeast Regional Command, the general says the KNU needs to negotiate with the government before erecting the statue, as per the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement it signed in 2015.

Saw Maung Shwe said the KNU has to store the statue in the jungle and out of sight for the time being.

"This is the history and heritage of the ethnic Karen people, but they do not let us express it. How can they build unity with the country's ethnic people by acting this way?" he said.

The Myanmar army first prevented the KNU from erecting the statue of Saw Ba U Gyi, who died in 1950, in Three Pagodas Pass as part of the group's plans to mark Karen New Year on Dec. 19.

In November the online Karen News wrote that the Myanmar army was opposed to the statue's creation out of concern that it would inspire Karen youth to oppose the government.

Mann Aung Pyi Soe, vice chairman of the Phalon-Sawow Democratic Party, disagreed.

"This status is not to stage a revolution in the country. It is just for the Karen so they can pay respect to their national leader. They should not stop the Karen from doing it," he said.

While the national government has branded Saw Ba U Gyi an enemy of the state, he added, to his people "he was a revolutionary who fought for equal rights for the ethnic Karen."

Saw Closay, an ethnic Karen, said his people remember Saw Ba U Gyi as an intelligent and honest leader who sacrificed for the Karen's ongoing struggle for self-determination. He said sidelining his statue would not extinguish his vision.

"Saw Ba U Gyi is our national hero as much as General Aung San is a national hero to Myanmar," he said. "I have known about him since I was 10 years old. Most young Karen and well-read Kayin recognize him as a visionary leader."

The post Military Blocks 2nd Attempt to Erect Statue of Late Karen Leader appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Pro-Military Rally Denounces Peace Performance, Mocks Student Leader

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 04:56 AM PST

YANGON — Former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party members, veterans and nationalists joined a rally in support of the military in Yangon on Sunday.

They denounced a former student leader who recently drew the ire of the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military, over the depiction of the institution in a "peace-building" performance he organized.

Officially billed as the "Rally Against Those Sowing Discord Between the Military and the People," the event drew several thousand people. Among them were Buddhist nationalists, including monks who are the subject of arrest warrants for their participation in communal rioting last year as well as for staging an anti-government sit-in in Yangon. Former dictator Ne Win's grandson Aye Ne Win, former USDP lawmaker U Hla Swe and other nationalists also attended.

An organizer told the media the event was intended to show solidarity with the military after the recent peace-building performance, which critics felt damaged the military's image. He was referring to an activity late last month intended to foster support for the government-sponsored 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference.

During the event, to call attention to the lack of peace in the country, performers

wearing fatigues pointed guns at people dressed as civilians while children begged the soldiers for mercy.

Addressing the rally on Sunday, former USDP lawmaker U Hla Swe mocked Ko Min Ko Naing's personal appearance and his reported academic failures as a youth, calling the leader of the 88 Generation Students Group "a buck-toothed illiterate."

"He once denied that it was the military that won Myanmar's independence. This buck-toothed dimwit is an illiterate. Someone told me he failed the eighth grade twice before finally getting through," he told the crowd. Ko Min Ko Naing once said in a lecture that Aung San, viewed as the father of Myanmar's independence, went to England in January 1947 as a civilian, not as a general, to sign an agreement with British Prime Minister Clement Atlee declaring that Burma would be independent within a year.

Ko Min Ko Naing was not available for comment.

The military condemned the performance and demanded an apology. The student leader has taken full responsibility for the performance. He has not apologized.

 

 

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Rakhine Govt to Sue AP over Report of Mass Graves in Buthidaung

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 04:08 AM PST

The Rakhine State Government plans to sue The Associated Press for falsely reporting the existence of mass graves near Gutar Pyin Village in Buthidaung Township, northern Rakhine State.

The state government is discussing with the attorney general of Rakhine State, U Kyaw Hla Tun, the possibility of a lawsuit against the news agency, according to Colonel Phone Tint, the state minister for security and border affairs.

"We have instructed the chief law officer to look at ways to sue the news agency," Col Phone Tint said.

He said the laws under which the agency would be sued would be made known to the public soon.

The AP did not reply to The Irrawaddy's request for a comment on Monday.

On Feb. 1, the AP reported that hundreds of bodies had been found in five mass graves near Gutar Pyin Village in Buthidaung, Rakhine State. It said the bodies had been burned with acid in an apparent attempt to destroy them.

The Union government ordered the Rakhine State government to investigate the claims.

The state government sent an investigation team led by the Buthidaung Township administrator to the site, but the team found the claims to be untrue, according to a statement released by the Union government on the evening of Feb. 2.

On Aug. 28 last year, Gutar Pyin Village was the scene of fighting between security forces and ARSA militant terrorists, one of a series of clashes in Buthidaung, Maungtaw and Yathedaung in northern Rakhine State, the statement said.

It added that during the fighting in Gutar Pyin, about 500 villagers joined a raid by ARSA militants on security forces, and that in the resulting fighting, a member of the security forces was injured and 19 militants were killed. According to the statement, the 19 bodies were properly buried and Case No. 5/2017 was filed under Section 50 (i) of the Counter-terrorism Law at Nyaung Chaung Police Station, the statement said.

The press release stated that the government was not necessarily denying the allegations and would investigate further if reliable new information comes to light. If any rights violations were found to have occurred, action would be taken against the perpetrators in line with existing laws, it said.

The Rakhine State government said it is investigating whether similar incidents took place in surrounding villages and that plans are in place to carry our further investigations when more information and evidence becomes available.

The post Rakhine Govt to Sue AP over Report of Mass Graves in Buthidaung appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Legal Groups Fear Intimidation at U Ko Ni Trial

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 03:03 AM PST

Mandalay – Lawyers organizations demanded action be taken against a group of people wearing T-shirts printed with the slogan "Eat well (before you die)" at the court hearing for slain lawyer U Ko Ni.

Before the hearing in early February, a small group of nationalists appeared at the court in the T-shirts to show their support for four men accused of involvement in the murder of U Ko Ni. The phrase in Burmese is considered a threat to show one's anger and to warn of impending revenge.

The lawyers strongly condemned the act, which, they said, undermined the rule of law, the country's judicial system and national stability.

"This happened inside the court compound, not on the road or some other part of the city. Their action is an insult to the whole judicial system and a threat not only to the reporters, but to the lawyers and the judge," said lawyer U Aung Soe, president of the Myanmar Lawyers Association for Media, during a press conference in Yangon on Sunday.

A supporter of alleged gunman Kyi Lin wears an "Eat Well (before you die)" t-shirt, at last week's court hearing. (Photo: Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy)

A statement condemning the behavior of the nationalists and urging the government take action was signed by representatives of the Myanmar Lawyers Network, the Myanmar Lawyers Association, the Yangon Lawyers Association and the Myanmar Lawyers Association for Media.

"Their action is also a threat to the court and disturbed the hearings in the murder cases of U Ko Ni and the taxi driver U Nay Win," said the statement. "We urge the authorities to take legal action against the (individuals who wore the T-shirts)."

The defendants also allegedly shouted the phrase "Eat well (before you die)" at reporters and the plaintiff's lawyers outside the court during a hearing in January.

The phrase was used by the nationalists in an apparent show of support for the defendants Kyi Lin, Zeya Phyo, Aung Win Zaw and Aung Win Tun.

"Since we are lawyers, we will continue to urge the government to act in a way that is in accordance with the law, to take legal action against those people, for they are intentionally threatening the stability of peace in the country," said lawyer U Thein Than Oo, from the Myanmar Lawyers Network.

The lawyers said they were also collecting signatures over the matter and would submit a petition demanding action be taken, to the chief minister of Yangon, the State Counsellor, the president and the commander in chief.

"We think there is someone behind this trying to create unrest. So, we will send a letter to the government to push them to investigate and take action," U Thein Than Oo said.

"If the authorities fail to bring them to court, we will have to question them and do it on our own way, according to the law," he added.

In the meantime, the activist lawyer U Robert San Aung sent a letter to the offices of the President, State Counsellor, High Court and Ministry of Home Affairs to ask that the case be transferred from the current northern district court to a safer place.

"Nobody can tell what will happen next, since these people have no respect for the court. A lawyer, a judge or a reporter may be their target one day," said U Robert San Aung.

"The authorities need to think about the safety and national stability, and to keep away these people who are threatening everyone and every institution," he said.

The post Legal Groups Fear Intimidation at U Ko Ni Trial appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Wary of China’s Foothold, Japan Urges India to Help Myanmar

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 12:57 AM PST

Japan's special envoy to Myanmar urged New Delhi to play an active role in protecting the troubled country before it falls back into China's orbit.

"India, with her old relationship, should play a more proactive role in Myanmar," Yohei Sasakawa was quoted as saying in the Times of India.

Myanmar faces mounting international pressure over the Rohingya crisis, including the threat of US sanctions. At the same time, the special envoy said, China has been taking a greater interest in the conflict.

He warned of security problems for Japan and India as China grows more assertive in regaining its foothold in Myanmar by, for instance, taking a more active role in the country's peace process.

China is establishing a foothold in Rakhine State with its promise to develop a deep-water port at Kyaukphyu at a cost of about $7.3 billion, a very big investment for Myanmar. But Yohei Sasakawa said there was little coordination between Japan and India on Myanmar, a surprise given how close the countries have become on the security front.

According to the Times, the special envoy was also critical of the administration of US President Donald Trump for, as he saw it, lacking clarity in its approach to Myanmar.

Also according to the Times, he said the Myanmar government and military were wary of moving further into China's sphere of influence despite sharing an old and deep relationship with the Asian superpower but may have no choice if the West turns its back on Myanmar.

"The Japanese government is supporting the Myanmar government. We would like India to do more. Because of the US attitude, India must step up," Yohei Sasakawa said.

In November, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited both Bangladesh and Myanmar and urged the neighbors to hold bilateral talks. China has also backed Myanmar at the UN Security Council.

In January, Taro Kono, Japan's foreign minister, went to Rakhine State, becoming the first minister of a foreign country to visit the region since the latest outbreak of violence there in late August.

"Japan is willing to help [the Myanmar government] make the country a place where communities from different faiths can live together peacefully," Kono said to a village chief.

The post Wary of China's Foothold, Japan Urges India to Help Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Shan State Coalition Names New Chair

Posted: 04 Feb 2018 11:51 PM PST

YANGON — The Committee for Shan State Unity named the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) its new chair at its annual meeting last week in Shan State's Mong Pan Township.

It takes over the role from the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), one of the state's ethnic armed groups.

The committee — a coalition of Shan political parties, armed groups and civil society organizations — formed in 2013 to work toward achieving peace in Shan State. Its chairmanship rotates annually.

SNDP Chairman Sai Aik Pao, a former Shan State chief minister, was not able to attend the Feb.1-2 meeting for health reasons.

SNDP General Secretary Sai Boe Aung, the committee's new spokesman, said the alliance will continue to try to achieve unity among Shan State's many ethnic groups and to focus on building peace and a federal union.

He told The Irrawaddy that residents of the state have become more politically aware as a result of the committee's work.

"The people in our state are collaborating more because they are taking part in the peace process of the country more. So it is a good sign that we, the indigenous people of Shan State, will be more involved in Shan State affairs," he said.

The committee has repeatedly urged the two Shan political parties, the SNDP and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, to merge.  Though divergent policies continue to keep them apart, Sai Boe Aung said they would try to work together on the goals they share.

The group usually meets in Yangon or Chiang Mai, Thailand, but has been obstructed by the Myanmar military in both locations over the past two years. This year's annual meeting was its first in Shan State.

"We always wanted to hold such talks in our own state, but for many reasons we could not do so," Sai Boe Aung said.

The committee had to cancel public consultations on the peace process in December, in part because the Myanmar military objected to the participation of the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army North, a committee member. Sai Boe Aung said the committee would continue trying to hold the consultations, which are meant to inform their national-level dialogues on the peace process.

The post Shan State Coalition Names New Chair appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Singapore Worries, and Prepares, for Militant Attack

Posted: 04 Feb 2018 09:06 PM PST

SINGAPORE — Armed officers patrol a train station where television screens and giant posters warn of the threat from militants. Nearby, fake gunmen storm a shopping mall in one of many recent terror attack simulations.

But this is not some war-ravaged country. It is one of the safest in the world — Singapore.

The wealthy island-state has a near-perfect record of keeping its shores free from terror, but as it prepares to host defense ministers from around Southeast Asia this week, it appears to have good reason to have prioritized stopping the spread of militancy in the region.

The cosmopolitan financial hub, which was second only to Tokyo in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Safe Cities Index in 2017, says it has been the target of militant plots for years, some stemming from its Muslim-majority neighbors, and that it’s a matter of "when" and not "if" militants will strike.

“Singapore continues to face a serious security threat from both homegrown radicalized individuals and foreign terrorists who continue to see Singapore as a prized target,” Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in response to e-mailed questions from Reuters.

Singapore authorities say they have been a target of Islamic extremism since the 1990s, but efforts to deter terrorism have stepped up markedly in recent years with more frequent attacks on Western countries and after Islamic State (IS) militants briefly took over a town in the southern Philippines last year.

Raising further concerns about the threat to the island, a Singaporean soldier has featured on a number of Islamic State promotional videos, most recently in December when he was filmed executing men alongside other militants.

In its inaugural Terrorism Threat Assessment Report released last year, the MHA said Islamic State has demonstrated that Singapore is “very much on its radar” and that the threat to the country remains “the highest in recent years” — claims that are backed up by security experts.

“Singapore, being known as safe and secure, makes it such a risk target,” said Dan Bould, Asia director of crisis management at professional services firm Aon and a former captain in the British army.

“If there’s an attack in the Philippines, it may get half an hour in a 24-hour news cycle. An attack in Singapore with all the multicultural individuals operating here, will be within the narrative for a few days at least.”

In early 2017, Aon lifted Singapore in the terrorism and political violence category of its annual risk map from negligible to low risk.

Mobile App

The reality is that Singapore has so far escaped the attacks seen in other major world cities like New York, London and Berlin in recent years. That’s why it is at the bottom of the 2017 Global Terror Index, with no reported terror-related attacks post 9/11.

But 3 in 4 Singaporeans believe that it’s only a matter of time before the country experiences a terror attack, a poll by the local newspaper Sunday Times last year showed.

Singapore authorities certainly do not want their citizens to be complacent. Everyone, including school children, is encouraged to download a mobile app that alerts them to emergency situations and allows them to send in videos and photos of suspicious events.

The MHA said that as of the end of last year, more than 1.3 million devices were equipped with the SGSecure app, a large chunk of the population of around 5.6 million.

Simulations of terror attacks — including one just over a week ago where masked gunman stormed a children’s activity center on the resort island of Sentosa — are regular. Last month, Singapore’s military undertook its biggest mobilization exercise in more than three decades, including an inter-agency response to the simulation of a gunman at its national stadium.

Authorities said last year there was reliable information that IS militants were considering carrying out an attack in Singapore in the first half of 2016, a threat which they said was countered.

In August 2016, neighboring Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, arrested six suspects with links to IS who were accused of plotting rocket attacks on Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel.

Indonesia and Malaysia, Singapore’s northern neighbor, which also has a Muslim majority, say thousands of their citizens sympathize with IS and hundreds are believed to have travelled to Syria to join the group. Regional security officials say many are returning home after reverses in the Middle East.

Hardline Approach

Singapore takes a hardline approach to suspected radicals and Bilveer Singh, an adjunct senior fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, says it is one of the reasons behind its success so far.

The most controversial measure at its disposal is its colonial-era Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for suspects to be held for lengthy periods without trial.

The MHA said it currently has 20 people detained under the act for “terrorism-related” activities, and since 2002 has held close to 90 for such activities.

“ISA is a fantastic deterrent, and so far it has worked,” Singh said.

Authorities have also deported scores of foreigners for suspected radicalism in recent years, and in October banned two popular Muslim preachers from Zimbabwe and Malaysia from entering the city-state, saying their views bred intolerance and were a risk to its social harmony.

The post Singapore Worries, and Prepares, for Militant Attack appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China to Make More Polluted Land Safe for Agriculture by 2020

Posted: 04 Feb 2018 08:25 PM PST

SHANGHAI — China will try to make around 90 percent of its contaminated farmland safe for crops by the end of 2020, and will also restrict development on a quarter of the country’s territory, Environment Minister Li Ganjie said.

Li said China would conduct a detailed investigation into soil pollution and launch pilot zones that would be used to test soil pollution prevention and treatment technologies, according to an account of a weekend meeting published by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on its official website (http://www.mep.gov.cn).

A 2013 survey showed about 3.33 million hectares (8 million acres) of China’s farmland -— an area the size of Belgium — was deemed too polluted to grow crops, with estimated cleanup costs amounting to 1 trillion yuan ($159 billion).

China declared war on pollution in 2014, trying to head off public discontent and reverse the damage done to its skies, rivers and soil by more than three decades of breakneck growth.

Li said China would also aim to cut the amount of “below grade V” water — water unfit even for industrial use or irrigation — to less than 5 percent by the end of 2020. The figure stood at 8.8 percent in the first half of 2017.

Improving the quality of drinking water is also one of the major priorities in coming years, and China would ensure that more than 80 percent of its water is grade III or better — and fit for human consumption — by the end of the decade.

A groundbreaking five-year action plan against smog was completed at the end of last year and Chinese environmental officials confirmed last week they were now drawing up targets for 2018-2020.

As part of the new three-year plan, China would aim to raise the proportion of “good air days” to 80 percent in 338 major cities, Minister Li said on Saturday. Other cities would also be under pressure to cut 2015 rates of PM2.5, a key smog indicator, by 18 percent by the end of the decade.

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