Wednesday, May 23, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Military Officers Transferred Over Jade Mine Bribes, Killings in Rakhine

Posted: 23 May 2018 04:16 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — Two high-ranking military officers have been transferred to the military’s auxiliary force for taking bribes from jade mines operating without a license in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township.

The officers took bribes from jade mining companies and allowed them to continue operating with expired licenses.

In 2016, the government announced that it would not renew the licenses of jade mining companies until it completed an environmental management plan for jade mining areas in Kachin State. Almost all the licenses expired this year.

According to a local lawmaker and an auxiliary force list produced by the Office of the Military Appointments General dated Sunday and seen by The Irrawaddy, the two officers were investigated for taking bribes and suspended: Major-General Nyi Nyi Swe, head of the Southwestern Command and former head of the Northern Command; and Brigadier-General Maung Maung Zan, the commander of Division 101, based in Hpakant.

Brig-Gen Maung Maung Zan took 25 percent of the profits from mining companies and allowed them to continue operating without valid licenses, passing on a cut to Maj-Gen Nyi Nyi Swe, his superior, Hpakant Township lawmaker U Tin Soe told The Irrawaddy.

"Locals told me that mining companies whose licenses had expired were continuing their operations. I investigated and found that the division commander was taking bribes, millions of kyats. So I reported it to the minister of resources and environmental conservation during the previous parliamentary session," he said.

According to a 2015 Global Witness report, "Jade: Myanmar's Big State Secret," jade production in Myanmar may have been worth as much as $31 billion in 2014 alone, equal to nearly half the country’s GDP.

Myanmar's vast jade trade is secretly controlled by networks of military elites, drug lords and crony companies associated with the military, the report says.

It describes jade mining as a significant driver of Myanmar's most serious armed conflict, between the central government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The report says the industry generates funds for both sides in a war that has claimed thousands of lives and seen 100,000 people displaced since it reignited in 2011.

The government has stepped up its anti-corruption efforts since a new president was elected by Parliament in April.  Myanmar’s Anti-Corruption Commission recently said it was handling 18 cases of bribery and corruption. But it is not yet clear if the Hpakant case will be transferred to the commission as well.

U Tin Soe claimed that the Division 101 commander has overall authority in Hpakant and exercises considerable influence over the executive branch.

"The head of the [township’s] General Administration Department is lower in rank and therefore has to be afraid of the division commander. At every meeting, the commander interferes with administrative functions. It seems that his signature is needed for any permit in the region," the lawmaker said.

The civilian administration was stronger before 2012, but military officials have since gained influence because of the fighting with the KIA.

"They [the military] are responsible for protecting citizens according to the 2008 Constitution. But now they are protecting the Chinese and cronies. Locals and ethnic people can't approach the big mines. Kachin and local ethnic people are oppressed," said U Tin Soe.

According to the Office of the Military Appointments General, Maj-Gen Nyi Nyi Swe was demoted to the auxiliary force not only for taking bribes but also because he failed to achieve the military’s objectives in the Tanai operating theater in Kachin State and suffered heavy casualties. He was transferred to the Southwest Command in April.

In addition, the Division 101 deputy commander, Colonel Win Tin Soe, and tactical commander, Hlaing Win, were also transferred to the auxiliary force over the failure of their military operations.

Another senior military officer transferred to the auxiliary force was Brigadier-General Than Oo, the commander of Division 99, who was responsible for killings during counter-insurgency operations in Rakhine State. It followed the UN Security Council's urging of the Myanmar government to take action against the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings in Rakhine.

The Irrawaddy was not able to obtain comment from the military’s True News Information Committee about the transfers.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Anti-Corruption Investigation of Finance Minister Nearly Complete

Posted: 23 May 2018 04:00 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — U Aung Kyi, chairman of Myanmar's Anti-Corruption Commission, said on Wednesday that the investigation of Union Minister for Planning and Finance U Kyaw Win for corruption is almost complete.

The commission received complaints against him on May 3 and formed an investigation body four days later.

"We have investigated witnesses and checked documents. The investigation is almost complete now," he told the reporters in Naypyitaw, adding that he would report the findings to the president and parliamentary speakers soon.

The Union minister has submitted his resignation to the president, sources close to the matter told The Irrawaddy.

Since last week, news reports have circulated alleging that the minister and his son are being investigated for corruption by the commission and the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI), which is under the Home Affairs Ministry.

Their home in Yangon was searched and U Kyaw Win has also been banned from leaving the country, according to reports.

When the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party named nominees for ministerial positions in March 2016, it came out that U Kyaw Win's doctoral degree in finance published on his CV that was made public was fake.

U Aung Kyi declined to provide details about the investigation. "We are not obliged to disclose," he said, adding that the investigation is different from a court trial.

Sometimes, it takes up to three months for the commission to investigate complaints. If a complaint is valid, the commission has to seek the approval of the concerned ministry or concerned supervisors to file a complaint [to police] against the accused, said U Aung Kyi.

"Only after we get the approval, can we file complaints with concerned police stations. Only then can we disclose details, as it concerns the human dignity of individuals," he said.

The commission announced on May 13 that it had created six teams to investigate 18 complaints but declined to provide details of the cases. The commission has not officially denied the media reports.

The commission said in March that it received nearly 1,800 complaints since January, most of which were filed against the Ministry of Home Affairs, controlled by the Myanmar Army.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Chin Villagers Accuse AA Soldiers of Torture, Extortion

Posted: 23 May 2018 03:19 AM PDT

YANGON — The Arakan Army (AA) allegedly made off with about 6.7 million kyats in money and valuables extorted from villagers after torturing administrative officials and a Christian preacher in Chin State's Paletwa Township last week, according to a local online publication.

On May 22, Online Chin World uploaded to its Facebook page handwritten complaint letters filed by residents of Tavupui village. It stated that AA soldiers had demanded money and jewelry, and seized mobile phones and rations from 15 Chin villagers. The letter did not mention the names of the leaders of the AA unit involved, or how many rebel soldiers participated.

Ko Steven, a community leader from Paletwa Township, told The Irrawaddy by phone on Tuesday that the village of fewer than 100 homes is located in a densely forested area of northern Paletwa. There are no sealed roads between the village and urban areas. It normally takes at least 10 hours to reach the village from the nearest town, as travelers need to take a boat and then walk for several hours.

"We were informed about the extortion by the AA but could not get detailed information from the villagers as it located in a very isolated area," he said.

The head of the township police station and a local administrative officer told The Irrawaddy that they hadn't received any complaints from the villagers as of Wednesday. Over the weekend, the AA and the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw)'s Infantry Unit No. 263 clashed along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. In a statement, the AA claimed to have killed nine government soldiers and confiscated weapons and ammunition. One AA soldier died in the fighting, it said.

AA spokesman U Khine Thu Kha said a Tatmadaw captain who led the government unit was shot dead during the skirmish, but the ranks of the other dead soldiers had yet to be determined.

The AA spokesman denied that any AA personnel had committed extortion or torture against ethnic Chin in the region, adding that seeking protection money and extortion are prohibited by the group. He said that a group of people wanting to tarnish the reputation of the AA has occasionally carried out such raids. The AA has previously blamed such raids on the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA), a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement based in the Paletwa mountains.

In August 2017, the AA raided ALA border outposts in an area of Paletwa where the borders of Myanmar, Bangladesh and India meet. Some high-ranking ALA officers defected to the AA and publicly announced the move in a video posted to AA's official Facebook page in early 2018.

U Khine Thu Kha said many ethnic Rakhine soldiers served in the Tatmadaw, and sometimes pretended to be AA, looting goods from villagers.

"We have never forcefully taken things from civilians. We always pay local market prices whenever we buy chickens or rice," he said.

A Tatmadaw spokesperson did not answer the phone when called by The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

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No Sex Please—We’re Burmese

Posted: 23 May 2018 01:42 AM PDT

As The Irrawaddy is celebrating its silver jubilee, we revisit some of our magazine stories published over 25 years. Here is a cover story about prostitution from 2001. 

Despite draconian laws and official denial, sex is big business in Burma. But brothel owners find it doesn't pay to offend the morals of modest generals. Tin Nwe made a mistake—a big mistake.

As a well-known brothel owner in Rangoon, he wanted to seek the limelight. For that reason, last year he donated a large sum of money to the military government in Rangoon. Secretary One Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt received the donation and shook hands with Tin Nwe. Tin Nwe was as pleased as punch. He hung a huge picture of himself and Khin Nyunt in his hotel, which is known to be one of the top-class brothels in Rangoon.

But activists in and out of Burma were not so impressed by Tin Nwe's daring PR stunt. They publicly ridiculed the regime for accepting money from a brothel owner, saying that it was a disgrace. As a result, in June last year Tin Nwe received some visitors in the form of a raid.

The brothel, known as the Nine Angels Inn, had been tacitly condoned by a number of policemen and local officials, who were then fired in the wake of the raid. The owner, Tin Nwe, and five of his accomplices were charged under the Prostitution Suppression Act and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Though not stated, it appears that Tin Nwe's crime was not running a brothel but hanging a huge photograph of himself and Khin Nyunt on the wall.

Prostitution is illegal in Burma, but it is alive and kicking. Local police and officials benefit from the business and army officers are among the regular customers. The Nine Angels Inn had visitors from business circles as well as army and intelligence units.

Nevertheless, unlike Thailand, brothels are not too open. In a police state, opening a high-class brothel definitely needs an official blessing. Tin Nwe knew people in high places. He also provided his girls to some high-ranking officials, including army officers. Brothel owners in Rangoon know how to approach high-ranking officials. But they sometimes also get dragged into the internal conflicts of Burmese politics and suffer as a result.

In the early 1990s, the Lay Aye Thar hotel in downtown Rangoon was raided and owner Tin Maung Lwin was thrown into prison. Tin Maung Lwin was known to be “keeping high-ranking officials in his pocket.” He kept records, photos and lists of his customers, who included high-ranking officials and policemen.

Following his arrest and the closure of Lay Aye Thar, many local and township level police officers were either fired or transferred. Col Htin Kyaw, who was chief of a police department in Rangoon, was sentenced to seven years after officials found a photo of him and Tin Maung Lwin having dinner together. In fact, Htin Kyaw was receiving large sums of tea money from Lay Aye Thar. During the raid, some revealing photos of army officers and girls were discovered by authorities, a lawyer in Rangoon said.

Tin Maung Lwin was quite influential as he was well connected, thus the raid surprised many in Rangoon. The raid, according to Rangoon sources, coincided with a crisis within the ruling junta known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). “If one faction wants to destroy or blackmail its rival, they watch who is committing sins, who is involved,” said a veteran journalist in Rangoon.

In this manner, after raiding the Nine Angels Inn, the authorities tracked down the prostitution ring as well as the customers. But the investigation was abruptly stopped as they discovered that several high-ranking officials were Tin Nwe's regular customers. Tin Nwe was known to provide “parcels” to some senior officials at the office of Rangoon's Mayor.

In general, Burma is a conservative society and girls and women are shy to talk about sex and prostitution, while military leaders seem to be promoting traditional and family values. A few years ago, a top army leader came out in public saying “there is no sex industry in Burma” and lamenting that HIV/Aids was a disease created by foreigners.

However, in reality things are somewhat different, since prostitution in Burma is well rooted and flourishing. Though Tin Nwe is gone, the number of brothels is mushrooming in Rangoon. Soon after the raid, a regular customer to Nine Angels Inn complained, “We can no longer find [sex workers].” But that did not last long—as long as there is a demand, a supply will be found.

Because of the raid last year, smaller brothels and covert sex services are putting themselves in Tin Nwe's shoes and making big profits. Some are quietly expanding and officials are turning a blind eye, and some untouchable figures are involved in this lucrative business.

The Nawarat Hotel and the Hotel Equatorial are known to have many beautiful girls. The hotel does not employ them, but the girls come in the late afternoon to hang around the bar and meet customers. “These girls are looking for guys,” said one tourist who visited the Hotel Equatorial last year. “If you don't approach them, they will come to your table. After some small talk, one of the girls will just come straight out and say, 'We can have sex if you want.'”

The Nawarat Hotel is run by Sandar Win, daughter of the “Old Man”—former dictator Gen Ne Win. The hotel used to provide a sex service for local and foreign customers, but now it simply allows freelancers to operate on the premises. It has also had some Thai sex workers.

Close relatives of generals also run several inns and motels in Rangoon's Golden Valley, where rich and retired government officials live. In fact, “contemporary” (as opposed to traditional, or legitimate) massage parlors started to open in around 1995, when some ethnic ceasefire groups came down to Rangoon. The so-called “peace groups” have opened these businesses without any interference from officials. Girls from Shan State were recruited to work in these massage parlors.

“As long as you pay line jay you are safe,” said a Burmese businessman who is familiar with the situation. “Line jay” in Burmese means bribe money to do illegal business.

Recruiting girls is easy. Since countless young women cannot find jobs to earn a living, they become sex workers. Some university students are also involved in this business, providing sex services for tourists and wealthy businessmen, including foreigners.

What about ministers and army officers? Well, sex in high places is nothing new. Htun Kyi, a former trade minister, was known to have more than one secretary in his lavish office. Many businessmen who went to see the minister recalled seeing some strikingly beautiful girls sitting in the ministry office. Htun Kyi would say they were his secretaries, but in fact they were his mistresses/concubines. One trader who often visited Htun Kyi's office saw his “secretaries” but said “They don't seem to be too busy—they just sit around gossiping all the time.”

One Burmese businessman says he has to provide girls to army officers in order to gain business contracts and concessions. “Bribing money alone isn't enough.” It seems that sex plays a major part in securing such contracts and concessions from officials.

Like it or not, the business is booming. In Tachilek, a well-known Burmese businessman, Myint Oo, also known as Moustache Myint Oo, has recently opened a massage parlor with the blessing of army officials.

On the opening day of the parlor, a Tachilek resident recalled the scene: “The parlor was packed with army officers” who were invited to attend the opening ceremony. Make no mistake: Sex is a hot commodity in Burma. But if you want to get rich selling it, don't seek the limelight.

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Artist Brings the Stone Age to Yangon

Posted: 23 May 2018 01:01 AM PDT

Artist Than Htay has brought the Stone Age to Yangon. At the Nawaday Tharlar Gallery on Yaw Min Gyi Street, people from this prehistoric time are pictured enjoying themselves while hunting, dancing and having sex.

"I am grateful to artists and people of ancient times who contributed to this exhibition," said Than Htay.

'Fatal Malady' is the 17th solo art exhibition of Than Htay, a slightly built, mustached man who seems to be immersed in his own artistic world.

Than Htay tries to present only new work at all of his exhibitions and this time is no exception.

His previous exhibitions have featured abstract art, collages, portraits and landscape paintings. His latest 'Cave People' series is based on cave paintings combined with texture and color splashes.

"I love [creating] new things. I sketched the figures with brushes and then colored them with a roller. The textures and colors I got from doing this are more beautiful. I like it," said Than Htay.

"I like his modification of cave paintings using color and technique," said veteran modernist Maung D.

The exhibition featuring 16 paintings will be held through Sunday. The paintings can be purchased for prices ranging from $1,500 to $2,500.

Paintings of the Stone Age people drinking liquor and having sex captivate many of the visitors.

"Though there were no laws or regulations in the Stone Age, I feel like their freedom was systematic. People did not wear clothes, but the naked body was not necessarily connected with sexual thoughts. They also shared their prey. And they were carefree. Now we say that we are civilized, but in fact, they were more civilized," said curator Ko Pyae Wai.

Than Htay lived in Japan for years and has won a Fuji TV Award and the Mayor's Award in art contests there. He also won the Best Painting of 2013 prize organized by the Tun Foundation Bank. He is a member of the Artist Friendship Association of Asia in Japan and has held exhibitions in Beijing, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States.

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New Body to Track Online Instigators Who Harm Govt, Sovereignty

Posted: 23 May 2018 12:58 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — A Communications Ministry official said the government’s new Social Media Monitoring Team (SMMT) will keep track of instigation by foreign elements harmful to Myanmar’s government and to national sovereignty.

The body was formed on orders from the President's Office in February to monitor the internet for people who use it to “harm the stability” of the country. The Union Parliament approved more than 6.4 billion kyats ($7.8 million) for its work in March.

"We formed the body as a preemptive measure to identify those who are harming our citizens, government and sovereignty," U Win Khant, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said at a press conference in Naypyitaw on Tuesday on his ministry’s work over the past year.

Transport and Communications Minister U Thant Sin Maung told Parliament in March that the SMMT would identify those who instigate political instability on the internet and social media.

The SMMT will not intrude on people's private lives, but will focus on cyber security to protect the interests of the country and the people, said U Win Khant.

"It is good if the monitoring body can ensure cyber and internet security. The security of ministries' websites is also important," said Ko Thiha, an IT technician.

In November, the Lower House approved a proposal granting the government the power to monitor the internet and social media for misuse.

The proposal, submitted by National League for Democracy lawmaker Daw Yin Min Hlaing, urged the Union government to look for uses of information technology that may harm the character and morality of youths and disrupt tranquility.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Trump Casts Doubt on Planned Summit With North Korean Leader

Posted: 22 May 2018 10:25 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday there was a “substantial chance” his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will not take place as planned on June 12 amid concerns that Kim is resistant to giving up his nuclear weapons.

Trump raised doubts about the Singapore summit in talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who came to Washington to urge Trump not to let a rare opportunity with reclusive North Korea slip away.

If the summit is called off or fails, it would be a major blow to what Trump supporters hope will be the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency, and a huge disappointment for the president himself.

“There’s a very substantial chance … it won't work out. And that's OK,” Trump told reporters. “That doesn't mean it won't work out over a period of time. But it may not work out for June 12. But there is a good chance that we'll have the meeting.”

Trump said whether the meeting will be held as scheduled will be determined “pretty soon.”

“North Korea has a chance to be a great country and I think they should seize the opportunity,” he said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later told reporters the Trump administration was still planning for a June 12 summit, but he declined to predict whether it would actually take place.

Trump’s Oval Office remarks were the strongest sign from him yet about the possibility of a delay or cancellation of what would be the first-ever summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea.

It was unclear whether Trump was truly backing away from the summit or whether he was strategically coaxing North Korea to the table after decades of tension on the Korean peninsula and antagonism with Washington over its nuclear weapons program.

The original purpose of Trump and Moon’s meeting was to fine-tune a joint strategy for dealing with Kim. Instead it has become more of a crisis session after Pyongyang last week threatened to pull out of the planned summit.

The White House was caught off guard when, in a dramatic change of tone, North Korea condemned the latest US-South Korean air combat drills, suspended North-South talks and threw into doubt the summit with Trump if Pyongyang was pushed toward “unilateral nuclear abandonment.”

“Trump doesn't want to look like he wants this summit more than Kim does,” said Bonnie Glaser, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“It's a smart move to say that he is willing to postpone,” she said. “But to be credible, the president really has to be willing to walk away and I'm not sure he is.”

Moon Keen for Summit

Aides said Trump has privately been wondering whether Kim is serious about the summit after the abrupt change in tone.

Moon told Trump in their private talks that there was no need to doubt North Korea’s will to hold a summit, a South Korean government spokesman told reporters.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said summit planning continued apace after what US officials said were constructive talks with the South Koreans.

Trump heaped praise on Moon as an “extremely competent” leader despite some concerns voiced by US officials that Moon might be too willing to compromise with Kim.

US officials have privately expressed concern that Moon, eager to make progress with the North, may have overstated Kim's willingness to negotiate in good faith over the dismantling of his nuclear arsenal.

Moon was optimistic about the summit in his Oval Office remarks. His national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters en route to Washington that he believed there was a “99.9 percent chance” the Trump-Kim summit would take place as scheduled.

Moon said he realized many were skeptical in the United States about the summit, “but I don’t think there will be positive developments in history if we just assume that, because it all failed in the past, it will fail again.”

Trump on Tuesday reiterated comments from last week, saying Kim’s safety would be guaranteed and his country would be rich if he denuclearized.

But Trump said there are certain conditions that must be met and if North Korea refuses, the meeting will not take place. He said he would like a deal to commit North Korea to denuclearize over a “short period of time.”

Before seeing Trump, Moon met with Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton and urged them to speed up preparations for the Trump-Kim summit.

Trump reiterated his suggestion that Kim's recent meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping had influenced Kim to harden his stance ahead of the summit.

“President Xi is a world-class poker player,” Trump said.

Pompeo later praised China by saying it has offered “historic assistance” in the pressure campaign against North Korea.

The Trump administration is at odds with Beijing over trade. Trump on Monday urged China, North Korea’s main trading partner, to maintain tight sanctions, tweeting that “the word is that recently the Border has become much more porous.”

Tensions between the United States and North Korea escalated last year as Pyongyang tested missiles believed capable of hitting the US mainland. Trump threatened to “totally destroy North Korea” if necessary and derided Kim as a madman, calling him “little rocket man,” while Kim said the US president was mentally deranged.

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In Power Hungry Philippines, Some Advocate a Nuclear Revival

Posted: 22 May 2018 10:07 PM PDT

MORONG, Philippines/MANILA — Filipino Wilfredo Torres was hired as a technician for Southeast Asia’s only nuclear power plant in the 1980s, but has spent the past decade giving guided tours at the never-used facility.

The Philippines splashed out $2.3 billion on the 621-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, but mothballed it after the collapse of a dictatorship and the devastating Chernobyl disaster.

Now, there’s a chance that Torres, 56, might get to see the plant in action before he retires in four years.

As power demand soars in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the Philippines’ energy ministry is looking seriously again at nuclear power and urging President Rodrigo Duterte to fast track its revival.

“There’s still a few of us who have been here from the start who are hoping to see the plant running before we retire,” said Torres during a tour of the facility, nearly 200km (125 miles) northwest of Manila.

The Department of Energy has asked Duterte for an executive order declaring the Philippines ready for a nuclear power program, said Gerardo Erguiza, energy assistant secretary.

“With the need for cheaper, reliable power, nuclear is ideal,” Erguiza told Reuters. “It’s a template in successful economies.”

Previous attempts to pursue nuclear energy in the Philippines have failed due to safety concerns and because central to the plan is the revival of the Bataan plant, built during dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ rule.

Marcos ordered the Bataan nuclear plant built in 1976 in response to an energy crisis, convinced nuclear energy was the solution to the Middle East oil embargo of the early 1970s.

Completed in 1984, the government mothballed it two years later following Marcos’ ouster and the deadly Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

From 2009, the government opened the plant to tourists for a fee, helping defray the cost of maintaining it, along with an annual state budget that this year was 32 million Philippine pesos ($612,000).

While reopening the Westinghouse-built Bataan plant is an option, so is building a new nuclear facility, said Erguiza, acknowledging the former will “open up so many wounds” after costs came in more than four times the initial budget.

Biggest Issue

Coal fuels half of the Philippines’ power grid, with natural gas and renewables each accounting for over a fifth and oil the rest. With an economy growing as fast as China’s – at 6.8 percent in the first quarter – Manila expects energy consumption to triple to 67,000 MW by 2040.

By tapping nuclear – where upfront investment is high but fuel costs are lower – electricity costs will drop, said Carlo Arcilla, director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute.

“The biggest issue in the Philippines is that we have some of the most expensive power in the world,” he said.

Philippine power rates, which are not state-subsidized, were ranked the 16th most expensive out of 44 countries surveyed in a 2016 study commissioned by power retailer Manila Electric Co . Japan topped the list.

Nuclear reactor builders Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co Ltd and Russia’s Rosatom submitted plans last year to rehabilitate the Bataan plant, at costs ranging from $1 billion to more than $3 billion, said engineer Mauro Marcelo who oversaw the maintenance and preservation of the plant before he retired in March.

Other companies that have expressed interest include China’s top nuclear power plant builder, China Nuclear Engineering and Construction, and Belgium’s Tractebel, said Marcelo.

Rehabilitating the Bataan plant would be the shortest nuclear route for the Philippines, taking about five years all up, versus about a decade for a new plant, said Marcelo.

“In my view, the nuclear policy may be issued during Duterte’s term,” said Marcelo. “But to start the Bataan plant, I think it’s still a long way to go.”

Duterte has said safety will be his top consideration in deciding whether the country will pursue nuclear energy.

‘Very Controversial'

Opposition to reviving Manila’s nuclear ambitions remains strong, with advocates citing a reliance on imported uranium, high waste and decommissioning costs, as well as safety concerns.

Geologist Kelvin Rodolfo has repeatedly warned against the activation of the Bataan plant, saying it sits on an active earthquake fault that runs through a volcano, currently dormant.

“A nuclear accident there would affect a much larger area than the Philippines alone, and so the Philippines cannot make the decision to activate (it) all by itself,” said Rodolfo.

He would like to see the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) make that judgment.

“I have every confidence that they would not approve it,” Rodolfo said.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano met with Philippine energy officials in February to discuss Manila’s possible nuclear plans. An IAEA review mission to the Philippines is planned later this year.

In the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster, the number of construction starts of nuclear reactors dropped from a high of 15 in 2010 to four last year – all in Asia, according to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

“Nuclear is very controversial and if we ever wanted to install it in the Philippines, it would not succeed without very strong intervention by the government,” said Antonio Moraza, president of Aboitiz Power, one of the country’s biggest power producers.

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Myanmar Judge Allows Documents Police Say Came from Reuters Reporters’ Phones

Posted: 22 May 2018 10:06 PM PDT

YANGON — A Myanmar judge on Tuesday allowed the submission of evidence police say they obtained from the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters arrested in December for alleged possession of secret documents, in what has become a landmark press freedom case.

The court in Yangon has been holding hearings since January to decide whether Wa Lone, 32, and his Reuters colleague Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, will be charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

After two days of legal argument, Judge Ye Lwin ruled he would accept as evidence printed copies of documents that a police witness said were found on their phones. The documents included alleged confidential government letters and plans for the development of an island off Myanmar’s west coast for tourism.

So far the case has focused on documents police say the reporters were holding in their hands when they were arrested on Dec. 12, and the prosecution did not explain how the latest documents related to the case against the two journalists.

“Most of the documents are about a project plan for Rakhine State development and information about drugs seizures in the Maungdaw area. It seems like even Rakhine State development plan is a secret,” said Kyaw Soe Oo after the hearing.

Prosecutor Kyaw Min Aung declined to comment.

Defense lawyer Than Zaw Aung had argued the documents should not be admitted as evidence, saying it was unclear who has had access to the phones and whether appropriate procedures were followed during the extraction of the files.

He said some of the documents had been taken from the Facebook messenger app and that the prosecution had not shown the reporters themselves had even downloaded them.

“For some of the documents, they didn’t even know that they received those documents into their phones. During the hearing, several messages were received when the phone was turned on,” Than Zaw Aung told reporters after Tuesday’s proceedings.

“It’s a worrisome situation because anything could have happened when the accused were arrested and they no longer possessed their phones.”

The prosecution said the files were extracted “systematically” by a police IT expert, Major Aung Kyaw San.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay was not immediately available for comment after Tuesday’s hearing. Previously, he has said Myanmar courts were independent and the case would be conducted according to the law.

The next hearings in the case are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday next week.

At the time of their arrest, the reporters had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The killings took place during an army crackdown that United Nations agencies say sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.

The reporters have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some rolled up papers at a restaurant in northern Yangon by two policemen they had not met before, having been invited to meet the officers for dinner.

Last month, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing testified that a senior officer had ordered his subordinates to plant secret documents on Wa Lone to “trap” the reporter.

At a news conference on May 15, Police Director General Aung Win Oo dismissed the testimony as untruthful.

After his court appearance, Moe Yan Naing was sentenced to a year in jail for violating police discipline and his family was evicted from police housing. Police have said the eviction and his sentencing were not related to his testimony.

Global advocates for press freedom, human rights activists, as well the United Nations and several Western countries, have called for the release of the Reuters journalists.

The post Myanmar Judge Allows Documents Police Say Came from Reuters Reporters' Phones appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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