Thursday, January 3, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

KNU Urges All Karen to Participate in Political Process in New Year Message

Posted: 03 Jan 2019 05:26 AM PST

The Karen National Union (KNU), the main Karen armed organization, has urged all members of the ethnic group to participate in the political process to help secure their rights.

The KNU issued a statement ahead of the upcoming Karen New Year. Marked on Jan. 6, it is a public holiday in Myanmar. The statement said the Karen New Year was an occasion for ethnic Karen to show their spirit, identity, culture and customs. It was also a day on which to show to the world that the Karen community is unified. "May you all have peace, happiness and enjoy our Karen New Year," it said.

Unlike the Karen New Year, other ethnic groups' national days are not public holidays. The statement said the holiday represented an opportunity to mark past Karen leaders' struggles on behalf of the community. It urged all Karen to learn their history, analyze and participate in politics, and make the most of political opportunities as they arise.

"We want to send a message to our people that we need to take control our own fate [by securing political and ethnic rights]. We have to fight either politically or militarily for our rights. We should show unity and fight together," KNU vice chairman Padoh Kwe Htoo Win said.

"We can't leave our fate in the hands of others," he added, referring to the Myanmar Army and government.

Political developments ebb and flow, but the KNU will continue to support the Karen people's efforts to reach their goal of achieving full ethnic rights, he said.

The KNU has suspended its participation in peace negotiations with the government. However, it has said it would continue to hold informal meetings with the government, which it sees as the best way to negotiate its disagreements with the government over the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). Through informal meetings, the KNU wants to get peace negotiations back on the right track, it said in the statement.

It said the current peace process under the NCA has strayed from the road of building democracy and a federal system based on equal rights, as expected by the Karen people. This was why the KNU had suspended its participation in formal meetings with the government, it added in the statement.

The KNU said a rift had opened between it and the government regarding the NCA.

"We should be seeking answers through political dialogue to lay down core principles needed for establishing democracy and federalism. We have spoken out because we still lack the conditions needed for political dialogue," Padoh Kwe Htoo Win said.

The post KNU Urges All Karen to Participate in Political Process in New Year Message appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Analysis: Kowtowing to the ‘Prince of Evil’

Posted: 03 Jan 2019 04:12 AM PST

YANGON—Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein never seems to lack for ways to surprise people. He is constantly leaving observers wondering at his actions. He once said, to the ire of the military, that according to state protocol Myanmar's powerful armed forces leader was no higher than a department director-general. Last year he honored a Malaysian fraudster with a certificate after the man made a donation to the Yangon government to assist its social work. And he remained silent when Yangon lawmakers questioned his government's use of portions of the city's budget for certain projects without the parliament's knowledge.

On Saturday, he sprang his latest surprise. But this time it was simply embarrassing. U Phyo Min Thein paid his respects to the former military spy chief, retired General Khin Nyunt, along with other senior writers at an annual Myanmar Writers Association event. Organizers said the former general was invited as he has written nine books (including his memoirs, which were mainly an exercise in self-justification regarding his actions during his time as spy chief and prime minister), and because he is now 79 years old.

The Yangon chief minister has paid a price for his actions. When pictures of the event went viral he faced an online backlash, mostly from literary and political circles, for kowtowing to someone who was known as the "Prince of Evil" for his brutality as Military Intelligence (MI) chief against students and activists involved in the country's democracy movement. Interestingly, he was one of those behind the chief minister's 15-year prison term for his political activism.

Ko Min Ko Naing, a prominent former student leader and a key figure in the '88 Uprising, posted a short message on his Facebook page: "Never turn a murderer into someone respectful." While the note didn't mention any names, it was very clear to Myanmar people who the "murderer" in the message is.

National League for Democracy lawmaker Daw Zin Mar Aung wrote on her Facebook page that the chief minister's action did nothing to help the national reconciliation the NLD has long advocated. Before coming to power, the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD openly announced that it wouldn't hold grudges against anyone in the former military regime despite their involvement in the arrest, ill treatment and torture of political prisoners. Under the regime, from 1988 to 2010, the NLD was the most oppressed political party in the country.

Daw Zin Mar Aung said she might be able to understand if the chief minister had somehow forgotten the scars on his back, the blows to his chin, the rolling of iron bars on his shins—all of which he sustained during his interrogations like other political prisoners during his arrest and imprisonment—while he was kowtowing to the former spy chief.

"But you [U Phyo Min Thein] should be ashamed to [disgrace] the NLD jacket and the party badge you were wearing," she said, referring to the jacket—colored in the NLD's light-orange shade—and the party logo he bore on his breast on the day.

'To Whom Should I Apologize?'

Gen. Khin Nyunt is said to have been among the key government players in a military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1988 that led to the deaths of thousands of people. When the military staged a coup in September 1988, he was the third most powerful person in the regime and the head of its intelligence unit—a military apparatus mainly responsible for the oppression of political dissidents. He held this position until his purge from the regime in 2004. He was given a 44-year prison sentence but this was later commuted to house arrest. He was freed in an amnesty in 2011.

According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Myanmar), nearly 200 people died in torture chambers during MI interrogations and prisons due to ill treatment during the former military regime. Every former political prisoner who was fortunate enough to emerge from prison alive can tell you of their experience of at least one of the following: It was MI officers who raided activists' homes, mostly in the middle of the night to avoid the attention of neighbors, to make arrests. Gen. Khin Nyunt's subordinates held the fate of political prisoners in their hands, deciding whether they should be sent to hospitals for emergency treatment when they were seriously ill. During interrogation sessions, his staff used every torture method you could name—sleep deprivation was universal—while barking at the victim, "You know what? You can't establish a country without a military and prostitutes!" Even in court, if you were assertive or made complaints about the verdict, an MI officer would summon the judge to a backroom meeting and order him or her to increase the prison term by a few years. Upon their release, former political prisoners rarely escaped the MI's watchful eyes in their daily lives.

Gen. Khin Nyunt himself regarded political prisoners as criminals and lawbreakers. In his eyes, then democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was "untrustworthy" because she was married to a foreigner.

"Let's say if she becomes prime minister or president, she would share state secrets or [proceedings of] cabinet meetings with her husband in bed," he told senior military officials during a lecture at the National Defense College in 1993, according to a leaked transcript of the lecture. Throughout the talk, he didn't mention Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by name, referring to her simply as "that woman".

During interviews after his release, the former spy chief used to say that he had simply been following orders from above, referring to Senior General Than Shwe and Vice Senior General Maung Aye, the first and second supremos of the junta. Given his powerful roles and responsibilities—ranging from head of Military Intelligence to striking peace deals with ethnic armed groups to opening multimedia classrooms in high schools and deciding who should get Myanmar's equivalent of the Oscars each year—many people saw his defense as feeble. When former political prisoners called for him to admit his and his subordinates' wrongdoings, he retorted, "To whom should I apologize?"

However, in his self-promoting 2015 memoir "Lives I Have Been Through", he offered vague words of contrition to some people and their families, conceding that some mistakes may have been made, albeit with the best of intentions and in the interests of the state and the wellbeing of his fellow citizens.

The term "political prisoner", however, rarely appears in the 657-page volume.

'No Grudge, No Retaliation'

Undeterred by the criticism, U Phyo Min Thein told the media on Sunday that he would try to be forgiving, adding that there would be no grudges held and no retaliation against the man who once put him behind bars for 15 years.

"Currently, I am a chief minister and U Khin Nyunt is an ordinary citizen. Retaliation is not necessary [for me]. I want to urge [people] to have loving kindness toward every one and to keep striving for reform," he said.

But the chief minister misses the point. Long before his claims on Sunday, many former political prisoners said they would not hold grudges toward those who mistreated them, saying, "We can forgive, but not forget." What has upset these people is the manner in which U Phyo Min Thein paid his respects to the former spy chief—his actions constituted the highest form of respect that one can pay as a Myanmar Buddhist, and were no different from the greeting you would offer a monk.

Ko Mya Aye, an '88 Students Generation leader and former political prisoner, said the chief minister's actions were wrong, adding that he was saddened to see his fellow democracy activist kowtowing to the man who was once in charge of the MI.

"No one has been calling for retaliation against him [U Khin Nyunt]. I don't hate him personally, but the fact can't be denied that he used to run a bad system that ruined the whole country," he said.

 

The post Analysis: Kowtowing to the 'Prince of Evil' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Yangon Timeout

Posted: 03 Jan 2019 02:43 AM PST

Pure Gold Upcycling and Design Exhibition

This exhibition showcases rubbish transformed into useful, sometimes even beautiful, objects. Visitors can try their own hand at transforming waste "into gold" at several do-it-yourself counters.

Through Jan. 6 | Secretariat Building | Kyauktada Township | Free admission.

Icons of Courage

A photography exhibition about the traditional leg tattoos of men in Karen State by German photographer Jens Uwe Parkitny.

Through Jan. 10 | Goethe-Institute Myanmar | Corner of Kabar Aye Pagoda Road and Nat Mauk Street, Bahan Township

Balance Fashion Night

With a dress code of "dress like you're a model," Balance Fitness' annual party will feature funky beats, food, drink and a lucky draw.

Friday Jan. 4 | 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. | Tipsy | No. 138 C, New University Avenue Road, Bahan Township

Made in Myanmar Exhibition

This exhibition aims spread awareness to purchase local products that are made in Myanmar.

Jan. 4-6 | 11 a.m. to late | Hmawsinkyun, Kandawgyi Gardens, Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township

Carnival at the Zoo

A three-day family-oriented festival will take place at Yangon Zoo and will feature games, magic and music, food and fun and more entertainment.

Jan. 4-6 | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Yangon Zoo | Kan Yeiktha Road, Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township

Yangon Zay

With a new sustainable theme launching in 2019, this market event has food, fashion, homeware and drinks on offer with music and kids' activities for entertainment.

Jan. 5-6 | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | The Tea Factory | No.2 Kanyeiktha Road off Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, Mayangone Township | Entry 6,000 kyats (under 12s free)

SamRaz Live Music

SamRaz, a traveling band which plays folk and jazz of Latin American and Middle Eastern variety, will play at Atlas Rooftop this Saturday.

Saturday Jan. 5 | 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. | Atlas Rooftop Bar & Lounge | No. 84, Pan Hlaing Road, Sanchaung Township

Mi Kar Ma Tha (Nominal)

Five up-and-coming artists feature their art for just three days. Participating artists are Zin Min Hlaing, Myo Min Thein, Zar Ni, Kyaw Thu Win and Aung.

Jan. 5-7 | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Gallery 65 | No. 65, Yaw Min Gyi Road, Dagon Township

Mundo Lingo

This popular language exchange event takes place weekly with a sticker system using flags to tell others which language you speak and want to practice.

Tuesday Jan. 8 | 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. | 50th Street Bar & Grill | 9/13 50th Street, Botahtaung Township

The post Yangon Timeout appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

AA Gathering Evidence of Tatmadaw’s Human Rights Abuses

Posted: 03 Jan 2019 02:32 AM PST

YANGON—Arakan Army (AA) spokesperson U Khine Thukha told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the group is gathering evidence of human rights abuses committed by Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) soldiers and violations of the Geneva Convention during the ongoing skirmishes in northern Rakhine State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township.

The AA spokesperson pointed out that Tatmadaw columns are stationed in Buthidaung Township’s Say Taung Village, camped in a Buddhist monastery situated in an actively contested area in northern Rakhine. According to him, Tatmadaw soldiers are carrying out arbitrary arrests of civilians, are shelling artillery into the village and they have used villagers as human shields in the battlefields.

The AA's online information page announced on Tuesday that they have already collected some evidence connecting the Tatmadaw soldiers with human rights violations and they will submit it to the international organizations. It also urges locals and civil society groups to file complaints with the AA if the Tatmadaw soldiers target civilians in the conflict zone.

On Jan. 1, a police force information Facebook page, Ye Zarni, posted information stating that while unit No. 8 of the border police and a military column were temporarily stationed in a monastery in Say Taung, Buthidaung Township, they were ambushed by 30 AA rebels and one police officer was seriously injured in the chest. After 10 minutes on fighting, the AA rebels retreated and the Tatmadaw column went after them. According to the police information page, no villagers were wounded in the fight.

The post did not elaborate on whether AA fighters fired into the village or the fighting took place at the outskirts of the village.

AA spokesperson U Khine Thukha explained that the fighting had, in fact, erupted in an area between Kan Pyin and Say Taung villages. Say Taung resident U Maung Tun Lin confirmed that fighting broke out near his village and some bullets struck the homes of villagers. According to his explanation, the monastery is situated on a hilltop which is close to a densely forested area with the village located the foot of the hill.

Ma Nwe Ni Win, a resident of Say Taung village, said bullets had struck her home during Tuesday's fighting and that a bullet head was found inside her friend's house. No villagers were wounded during the fighting.

“I saw some holes in my house when I get back home. No one was killed because everyone had already fled to a hillside when we heard gunfire,” said Ma Nwe Ni Win.

The AA spokesperson said, “Whenever the Burmese military come into the village, they always station [themselves] at monasteries and schools. In fact, international laws strictly prohibit an army from encamping in such public places and religious buildings.”

U Khine Thukha accused the Tatmadaw of deliberately firing into Kan Pyin Village during Tuesday's clashes which caused the entire population on Kan Pyin Village to flee to neighboring villages. He said that around 20 heavy artillery shells, fired by the police and government troops stationed in Kun Taung, landed in Say Taung. Similarly, in separate battles in on Wednesday in Kyauktaw Township and Paletwa Township over the Chin State border, Tatmadaw units launched missiles towards the villages. AA information, based on firsthand accounts of displaced locals, says that some locals from Paletwa's Adaung Wa Village were killed by howitzer shells on Wednesday. He urged for the international human rights organizations to look into the alleged crimes against the Rakhine community on the ground.

“They intentionally target civilians. It could even be said to be racially targeting the Rakhine. So my question is, what if there were Burmese villages in the conflict zone? Would they also fire shots in that way? Deliberately targeting civilians is obviously indicating the fact that, despite repeatedly citing union spirit, their actions show a lack of union spirit.”

As the AA and police information pages issue updates, both sides remain silent on causality numbers. Some locals claim that dozens of Tatmadaw soldiers were killed in recent clashes. When The Irrawaddy phoned a brigadier general from the military's commander-in-chief's office for clarification on Wednesday, he declined to comment on the matter and denied the allegations of abuses over the phone.

“As is the nature of fighting, there will surely be casualties. I cannot provide details,” said the brigadier general.

Video footage which was captured by a resident of Sin Khone Taing, a Rohingya village close to Yae Gaung Chaung and Say Taung villages, includes commentary in the Rohingya language describing the Tatmadaw troops passing through their village. Translations of the commentary says the military column briefly came into Sin Khone Taing village carrying five wounded soldiers.

The video was posted to Facebook on Tuesday on the profile named Sayad Hussin alongside text stating that the soldiers said they were hungry and requested food from the Rohingya villagers. It says the military soldiers admitted that some of their troops were killed during the fighting.

Last December, the Tatmadaw's commander-in-chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing promised members of the Myanmar Press Council that he will ask border affairs ministers to be more open with the media. Despite this, when The Irrawaddy attempted multiple times to contact Col. Phone Tint, the Rakhine State border affairs minister, he did not answer calls. In addition, Western Command’s Col. Win Zaw Oo's phone was switched off during repeated attempts by The Irrawaddy to contact him.

The AA has said they have no plans to reveal the number of government military causalities in order not to defend the massive offensives of the army. He declined to provide the number of government battalions and light infantries that the AA has been facing in northern Rakhine since the end of monsoon season.

“Although I cannot say the number of battalions, I’m pretty sure that they have halted operations in northern Shan recently in order to pour [more troops] into northern Rakhine. Surprisingly, they are also bringing ordinary police and border police into the battlefield for security reasons. This is an attempt to complicate the situation.” said U Khine Thukha.

Based on updates from the AA, The Irrawaddy has learned that the conflict zone is broadening, as AA and government troops continue to fight in at least five townships—Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun and Chin State’s Paletwa. The AA updates have made no mention of the mine attack on Rakhine State's chief minister's convoy on the Yangon-Sittwe highway in Mrauk U Township on Tuesday.

According to local non-profit organizations, more than 4,000 people in four townships are currently displaced and local relief groups are giving humanitarian assistance to the IDPs (internally displaced persons). Some members of relief groups operating in Paletwa Township told The Irrawaddy that military officers are not allowing aid in the form of rice bags into the area.

The post AA Gathering Evidence of Tatmadaw's Human Rights Abuses appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Fruit Growers’ Losses Mount Due to Muse Border Checkpoint Closure

Posted: 03 Jan 2019 01:37 AM PST

MANDALAY—Myanmar melon exporters are suffering serious losses following authorities' closure of a key border gate for fruit exports at the Mile 105 Muse border trade zone on the Myanmar-China border, traders told The Irrawaddy.

According to the Muse-based border traders, the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) closed the Jin San Jiao Gate on the evening of Dec. 26 for security reasons.

Border traders and growers have sent a letter to authorities asking about the closure, but have had no response after one week, Ko Sai Min Thu Naing, director of the Kwa Nyo fruit brokerage in Muse, told The Irrawaddy.

"So far, we have not seen the government releasing a formal statement regarding this. We have sent a letter of request [for information] to the Commerce Ministry. But there has been no response," U Ko Sai Min Thu Naing said.

The Irrawaddy was unable to contact the Commerce Ministry for comment about the gate closure.

Demand for melons and cantaloupes is currently at its peak level, and melon growers in Shan State are worried as their next harvest is due in February.

Over 1,000 trucks loaded with melons and cantaloupes transported to Muse from various parts of the country have been stranded on the Myanmar side since Dec. 27 following the closure of the gate.

Fruit trucks have been using the Pansai gate, which Chinese authorities re-opened on Dec. 28. However, the 10-mile road from Muse to the Pansai gate is just 8 feet wide, and is not suitable for 12-wheeled trucks.

Previously, around 500 trucks ferrying watermelons and cantaloupes traded at the Jin San Jiao gate daily. But the number has declined to around 200 now, as Chinese officials take longer to inspect Myanmar's exports, Mandalay-Muse cargo transporters said.

"The government should in fact facilitate the smooth operation of such gates, which are important for the national economy. But it has been shut down and authorities have not explained the reason," fleet manager U Zaw Myint Oo of Saw Yan Naing Mandalay-Muse cargo transport company told The Irrawaddy.

Due to the delays caused by traffic congestion at the border gate, growers' losses are mounting.

"I feel like the government has ignored growers, though Myanmar's economy is said to be based on agriculture. The government loses taxes and our losses increase daily," said Ko Sai Min Thu Naing of Kwa Nyo fruit brokerage in Muse.

A fully loaded 12-wheeled truck of watermelons fetches around 7 million kyats, and the same amount of cantaloupe fetches over 10 million kyats at present market rates. Merchants complain that up to 75 percent of the fruit has spoiled due to the delays at the gate.

"The losses will only increase as time goes by. Some growers have taken loans from lenders to grow melons. They are having trouble repaying their loans. The growers have to shoulder the consequences alone," melon grower Ko Khaing Zaw of Mandalay's TadaU Township told The Irrawaddy.

The post Fruit Growers' Losses Mount Due to Muse Border Checkpoint Closure appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

GAD Chief Appointed Deputy Union Gov’t Office Minister

Posted: 03 Jan 2019 01:27 AM PST

YANGON—A senior Home Affairs Ministry official who served as director general of the General Administration Department (GAD) was appointed as deputy minister for the Ministry of the Office of the Union Government on Wednesday, as part of the process of transferring authority over the formerly military-run department to the government.

The move comes one week after the GAD was officially transferred to the civilian-controlled Ministry of the Office of the Union Government, one of the major reforms implemented by the National League for Democracy-led government in its two-and-a-half years in office.

New Deputy Minister U Tin Myint, who has been promoted from his position as permanent secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA), is a former captain in the Myanmar Armed Forces. He has held several positions in the GAD.

The department was formerly overseen by MOHA. Under the 2008 Constitution, the ministry is one of the three led by major-generals appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

U Tin Myint, the new deputy minister for the Office of the Union Government / Screenshot from GAD video

For more than 30 years, the GAD has formed the backbone of Myanmar's public administration. Under the 2008 Constitution it serves as the primary link between the national and lower levels of government, and has direct control of district and township authorities, the country's key administrative institutions.

The GAD is authorized to support government security efforts like imposing bans on any activities that threaten the rule of law and stability, and to sue a person who commits arms-related crimes while reporting relevant information back to Naypyitaw. Its duties also include reporting on population movements, security incidents and basic demographic data. Moreover, the GAD has the power to enforce some civil laws.

The Ministry of the Office of the Union Government was created by the current administration. In November, a former Air Force pilot, retired Colonel U Min Thu, was appointed as its minister.

The post GAD Chief Appointed Deputy Union Gov't Office Minister appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Villagers Forced to Flee During Ceasefire Period

Posted: 02 Jan 2019 11:46 PM PST

YANGON—Over 300 locals from four villages in Namtu Township, northern Shan State are taking refuge at the nearby village of Mansan due to the interethnic fighting between armed groups based in the area this week.

Amid fighting which has been taking place some 16 kilometers (10 miles) away from Namtu since Dec. 31, 316 people fled to Mansan Village on Jan. 1 and 2 and they are now taking shelter at the monastery, said U Khin Maung Kyi, Mansan's village administrator.

The fighting broke out between troops of Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army South (RCSS/SSAS) and the combined forces of Shan State Progressive Party/ Shan State Army North (SSPP/SSAN) and Ta'ang Nationalities Liberation Army (TNLA), according to the local residents.

Shan State is one of the regions covered by the Myanmar Army's four-month truce announced Dec. 22, but the residents of villages in Namtu Township are unable to enjoy safety or peace during the ceasefire period. For the past few years, they have frequently had to flee from their homes while clashes took place near their villages, returning only after the troops left.

The people lack security and protection as always, said Nang Kham Aye, the Lower House lawmaker representing Namtu Township.

"I got calls from the people of Manwah Village where the fighting was happening on Wednesday, and they said they were hiding in their own bunkers. They have not yet arrived to a safe place," she told The Irrawaddy.

Villagers from a number of other villages where a few dozen locals live in Namtu Township have not yet left their homes.

RCSS spokesman Sai Meng said the brief skirmish between their troops and the alliance troops in the area did not cause any casualties.

The post Villagers Forced to Flee During Ceasefire Period appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Opens Up to Foreign Insurance Companies

Posted: 02 Jan 2019 11:42 PM PST

YANGON— The Ministry of Planning and Finance (MOPF) announced on Wednesday that they are ready to grant permission to foreign companies wishing to operate businesses offering life and non-life insurance in Myanmar.

The move comes amid efforts to "accumulate the investment needed for the country's economic development, and to develop the non-banking financial sector," according to the official statement released by the ministry.

The ministry said it is now inviting expressions of interest and request for proposals from companies looking to operate here which will be assessed by Myanmar's Financial Regulatory Department.

The MOPF has specified that insurance companies must fall into one of two categories—life insurance and non-life insurance entities.

The ministry will allow up to three fully foreign-owned life insurance companies to operate here while life insurance companies with representative offices here are being encouraged to partner with local life insurers.

Meanwhile, only companies offering non-life insurance with representative offices in Myanmar may partner with local insurance companies. No fully foreign-owned non-life insurers will be granted permission to operate in Myanmar.

"The local composite insurers have been mandated by the MOPF to operate as separate life insurance and non-life insurance entities paving the way for foreign entities to associate or partner with local insurers as applicable," the statement says.

In 2013, the government granted 11 licenses to local insurance companies in a bid to develop the sector in Myanmar.

The post Myanmar Opens Up to Foreign Insurance Companies appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Road Toll on ‘Death Highway’ Drops in 2018

Posted: 02 Jan 2019 11:42 PM PST

NAYPYITAW—A total of 103 people were killed on the Yangon-Mandalay Highway last year, Highway Police said.

Speeding remained the main cause of road accidents. Along with the 103 people killed, 877 were injured in 473 traffic accidents last year.

Tire blowouts were another major cause of fatal road accidents, police said.

The numbers of accidents and casualties declined from 2017, when 116 people died and 863 were injured in 555 road accidents. In 2016, 774 road accidents killed 170 people and injured 1,304.

The majority of accidents last year involved private vehicles, most of them light trucks, police said.

Since June 1 last year, drivers and passengers of private vehicles and express buses have been required to wear seatbelts while driving on the highway.

Highway Police impose a fine of 50,000 kyats on drivers caught speeding, while people who fail to wear seatbelts are fined 30,000 kyats. Last year, police pulled over more than 1,000 vehicles due to occupants' failure to wear seatbelts.

The number of road accidents has declined since police began enforcing speed limits and seatbelt laws, said lawmaker U Than Soe Aung, a member of the Lower House Transportation, Communication and Construction Committee.

"It is called a highway, but it's still an ordinary road. There is a need to improve the road signage and surface," he told The Irrawaddy.

Every day, more than 20,000 vehicles use the some 400-mile highway, which sees around seven road accidents a day, according to police.

"Road signs have improved lately," said road user U Win Zaw Oo. "And the presence of police patrols make me feel safe should I have a flat tire while driving late at night. But there is a need to brighten the yellow lines [separating lanes] for late-night driving."

The highway, which connects commercial hub Yangon with the country's administrative capital Naypyitaw and second-largest city Mandalay, came into service in 2009. It has been dubbed the "death highway" by local road users due to the high number of accidents.

The post Road Toll on 'Death Highway' Drops in 2018 appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Protests in India After Women Defy Ancient Ban on Visiting Hindu Temple

Posted: 02 Jan 2019 11:40 PM PST

KOCHI/NEW DELHI—Two women defied a centuries-old ban on entering a Hindu temple in the Indian state of Kerala on Wednesday, sparking protests and calls for a strike by conservative Hindu groups outraged by their visit.

Police fired teargas and used water cannons to disperse a large crowd of protesters in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, television news channels showed.

There were protests in several other cities in the state, media reported.

India’s Supreme Court in September ordered the lifting of the ban on women or girls of menstruating age from entering the Sabarimala temple, which draws millions of worshippers a year.

But the temple refused to abide by the ruling and subsequent attempts by women to visit it had been blocked by thousands of devotees.

The Kerala state government is run by left-wing parties and it has sought to allow women into the temple–a position that has drawn the criticism of both of India’s main political parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The uproar has put the issue of religion, which can be highly contentious in India, squarely on the political agenda months before a general election, which is due by May.

The possibility of more confrontations was raised by a call from an umbrella group of right-wing Hindu groups in Kerala, the Sabarimala Karma Samithi, which is supported by the BJP, for a state-wide protest strike on Thursday.

The BJP called for protesters to be peaceful.

Communists blamed

Earlier, the Kerala state president of the BJP described the women’s visit as “a conspiracy by the atheist rulers to destroy the Hindu temples.”

The party’s state president, P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, told TV channels the BJP would “support the struggles against the destruction of faith by the Communists.”

“Let all the devotees come forward and protest this,” he said.

Officials from the main opposition Congress party in the state, in a rare alignment with their main rival for power at the national level, the BJP, also called for protests.

“This is treachery … The government will have to pay the price for the violation of the custom,” K. Sudhakaran, vice-president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, said in a statement.

Conservative Hindu groups say they believe women of menstruating age would defile the temple’s inner shrine. The ban was imposed on all females between the ages of 10 and 50.

News channels reported the chief priest briefly shut the temple for “purification” rituals after the women visited.

Later, media reported it had re-opened.

The two women, identified by police as Bindu Ammini, 42, and Kanaka Durga, 44, had tried to go in on Dec. 24, and later approached police for help, an officer said.

“There was an elaborate arrangement for them to come just after the temple was opened early morning,” said the officer, who declined to be identified fearing reprisals from protesters.

“The darkness gave them, and us, cover.”

Police were guarding the homes of the women after they left the temple and were prepared to let more women enter the temple, he said.

Wall of women

A video from a police official posted online by ANI showed two women in the temple with their heads covered.

Ammini told a television channel about their stealthy trek to the temple in the middle of the night.

"We reached Pampa, the main entry point to the temple at 1.30 a.m. and sought police protection … We walked two hours, entered the temple around 3.30 a.m. and did the darshan,” the woman said, referring to a ritual of standing in front of the temple’s Hindu image.

The state government defended its decision to protect the women as they went into the temple, saying it was a matter of civil rights.

“I had earlier made it clear that the government will provide protection if any women come forward to enter the temple,” said Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Vijayan told a news conference the women faced no obstruction on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how they managed to avoid devotees guarding the temple.

On Tuesday, the state government backed a protest by thousands of women, who formed a 620 kilometer (385 mile) human chain, termed the “women’s wall,” in support of “gender equality” and access to the temple.

Modi, in an interview with ANI on Tuesday, indicated he felt that the temple issue was more about a religious tradition than gender equality.

Modi said there were temples where men were barred from entering.

The post Protests in India After Women Defy Ancient Ban on Visiting Hindu Temple appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

No Rest for the Dead: Singapore Digs Up Graves for Highways

Posted: 02 Jan 2019 08:34 PM PST

SINGAPORE—When Singapore’s government said it would exhume about 4,000 graves in the defunct Bukit Brown cemetery for an eight-lane highway, an unusually vocal campaign grew quickly to save one of the last remaining artefacts of the past in the modern city.

The cemetery, a rare patch of jungle surrounded by manicured gardens and high rises, has about 100,000 graves, including hundreds of early Chinese immigrants. It is also considered an important relic of the Japanese occupation and World War Two.

Although the cemetery closed for burials nearly 50 years ago, descendants still visit their ancestors’ graves. But that ritual will soon end, as Bukit Brown is scheduled to be cleared for housing by 2030.

“This is a living museum,” said Darren Koh, a volunteer with advocacy group All Things Bukit Brown, which has offered guided walks in the cemetery since 2011, when the exhumations were announced.

“We lost a lot of history and heritage in the other cemeteries that were cleared, so we were galvanized into action to save Bukit Brown,” he said, fighting to be heard above the roar of traffic and construction on the new highway.

With some 5.6 million people in an area three-fifths the size of New York City—and with the population estimated to grow to 6.9 million by 2030—Singapore is running out of space.

The island nation has long reclaimed land from the sea, and plans to move more of its transport, utilities and storage underground to free up space for housing, offices and greenery.

It has also cleared dozens of cemeteries for homes and highways.

“Planning for long-term land use in land-scarce Singapore often requires us to make difficult decisions,” the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a statement.

Bukit Brown has been earmarked for residential use since 1991, and while the government is committed to “retaining and protecting our natural and built heritage, we need to also balance it against other needs such as housing,” officials said.

Tomb sweeping

The Chinese have traditionally believed that the dead must be buried, and that without a proper burial the soul will not rest, but will wander about as a “hungry ghost.”

But the burial practice has changed in increasingly crowded cities from Hong Kong to Taiwan to China.

Traditional grave burials gave way to cremation, and the use of columbaria to store urns with ashes. As even columbaria became crowded, city authorities encouraged people to disperse the ashes in the sea, woodlands or parklands.

“The conception of cemeteries as space-wasting activity takes precedence over the idea of cemeteries as sites of leisurely activity,” said Lily Kong, a geographer previously at the National University of Singapore.

“To depart from the practice of grave burial requires a significant cultural shift. In many ways, it may be said that this shift has been made,” she wrote in a 2012 paper on burial rituals.

Singapore in 1998 announced a 15-year burial period, after which bodies are dug up and cremated or interred in smaller plots.

Hong Kong—where even the columbaria are running out of space—has a six-year limit. Taiwan has similar limits, and has long encouraged cremations and eco-burials.

In China, authorities said in 2014 they were targeting a cremation rate of close to 100 percent by the end of 2020.

They also encourage online memorialization, where family members can set up a website for the deceased, and make virtual offerings of flowers, incense and wine, including during the annual Qing Ming “tomb sweeping” festival.

That is when families clean the tombs, bring offerings of food and drink, and burn joss sticks and paper money to give their ancestors a comfortable afterlife.

Following the announcement of the exhumations of 4,153 graves in Bukit Brown, Singaporeans rallied on social media, and showed up in the hundreds for walks in the cemetery.

The cemetery, dotted with headstones bearing fading Chinese inscriptions among the raintrees and thick undergrowth, was added to World Monuments Watch, which lists heritage sites under threat—a first for a Singapore landmark.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for cultural rights wrote to the government, asking it to preserve Bukit Brown’s “remarkable natural, cultural and historical value.”

But to no avail. The graves were exhumed, and the first section of the new Lornie Highway opened in late October.

“We shouldn’t always have to choose between heritage and development,” said Claire Leow, who also volunteers at All Things Bukit Brown, citing old hawker centers and other landmarks that have disappeared.

“More people are choosing to be cremated; it’s all the more reason to preserve Bukit Brown as a public space for all,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Unmarked

Much of Singapore is built on old graveyards, including Orchard Road, the city’s main shopping belt.

The Bidadari cemetery was cleared of more than 100,000 Christian and Muslim graves for a new housing estate, while Choa Chu Kang—Singapore’s biggest and only active cemetery—will be cleared of more than 80,000 graves for an expanded air base.

At Bukit Brown, the graves were exhumed individually and the remains cremated. The ashes were put in urns that were placed in a columbarium.

But authorities first consulted with clan members and historians to agree on a way to document the graves.

“Without such documentation and research, it is difficult to assess the heritage value that is at stake, and make informed decisions,” said Hui Yew-Foong, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, who led the effort.

“And if the government does make the decision to clear the cemeteries, at least a good record is made for posterity.”

More than two-thirds of the exhumed graves were not claimed because relatives had died or forgotten, Leow said.

But others are still claimed.

One such grave “stood unmarked and forgotten” for six decades before being identified.

“Finally, I can place a name to the grave that is my grandfather’s and be a dutiful grandson,” Norman Cho, a 40-year-old Singaporean, wrote in a blog on All Things Bukit Brown.

It is these moments that give Leow hope.

“Cemeteries should not be seen as a waste of space, but as a part of our history and culture,” she said.

“In losing them, we lose little bits of ourselves.”

The post No Rest for the Dead: Singapore Digs Up Graves for Highways appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China’s Xi Threatens Taiwan with Force but Also Seeks Peaceful ‘Reunification’

Posted: 02 Jan 2019 08:15 PM PST

BEIJING/TAIPEI—China reserves the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control but will strive to achieve peaceful “reunification” with the self-ruled island that has a bright future under any future Chinese rule, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday.

Taiwan is China’s most sensitive issue and is claimed by Beijing as its sacred territory. Xi has stepped up pressure on the democratic island since Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party became president in 2016.

Tsai rejected Xi’s call and instead urged China to embrace democracy.

Xi has set great personal store in resolving what the Communist Party calls the “Taiwan issue,” holding a landmark meeting with Taiwan's then-president Ma Ying-jeou in Singapore in late 2015, just before Tsai was elected.

Xi spoke at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the 40th anniversary of a landmark Taiwan policy statement.

He said “reunification” must come under a one-China principle that accepts Taiwan as part of China, anathema to supporters of Taiwan independence, adding that the “one country, two systems” model of autonomy, with which China governs Hong Kong, was the best way for Taiwan.

China translates the word “tong yi” as “reunification,” but it can also be translated as “unification,” a term in English preferred by supporters of Taiwan independence who point out the Communist government has never ruled Taiwan and so it cannot be “reunified.”

The vast majority of Taiwan’s people are clearly aware that Taiwan independence would lead to a “grave disaster,” Xi told an audience that included Taiwan business people and senior party officials.

“Chinese people don’t attack other Chinese people. We are willing to use the greatest sincerity and expend the greatest hard work to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification,” Xi said.

“We do not promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the option to use all necessary measures” to achieve this goal and prevent Taiwan independence, he said.

This, though, was aimed at foreign forces who sought to interfere and the tiny minority of Taiwan independence forces and their activities, Xi said without elaborating in what was likely a reference to the United States, Taiwan’s strongest backer.

Speaking to reporters, Tsai said Taiwan would never accept “one country, two systems” and was proud of its democratic way of life.

“The vast majority in Taiwan resolutely oppose ‘one country, two systems.’ This is the ‘Taiwan consensus’,” she said.

“We call on China to bravely step forward for democracy, for only by doing so can it truly understand the people of Taiwan’s thinking and insistence.”

Xi reiterated that China was willing to talk with any party in Taiwan to push the political process—stalled by China since Tsai took office—as long as they accept the “one China” principle.

Underscoring China’s nervousness about US support in particular for Taiwan, US President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, which reaffirms the US commitment to Taiwan, including arms sales.

'Lasting peace'

Xi sought to reassure people in Taiwan that there was nothing to fear from Chinese rule, even though most people there have shown no interest in being run by autocratic Beijing.

“After peaceful reunification, Taiwan will have lasting peace and the people will enjoy good and prosperous lives. With the great motherland’s support, Taiwan compatriots’ welfare will be even better, their development space will be even greater,” Xi said.

Tsai, who says she wants to maintain the status quo with China, said on Tuesday China must use peaceful means to resolve its differences with Taiwan and respect its democratic values.

Beijing has regularly sent military aircraft and ships to circle the island on drills in the past few years and has heaped pressure on the island internationally, including whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies.

Taiwan is gearing up for presidential elections in a year. Tsai’s party suffered stinging losses to the China-friendly Kuomintang in mayoral and local elections in November.

Xi was speaking on the anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan” on Jan. 1, 1979, when China declared an end to what had been routine artillery bombardment of Taiwan-controlled offshore islands and offered to open up communication between the two sides.

However, the offer was rebuffed by Taiwan’s then-president Chiang Ching-kuo, who in April that year came out with a “three nos” policy of no contact, no compromise and no negotiation with China.

Chiang only relaxed that in 1987, allowing people in Taiwan to visit China for family reunions. His father, Chiang Kai-shek, fled with defeated Nationalist forces to Taiwan in December 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communists.

The post China’s Xi Threatens Taiwan with Force but Also Seeks Peaceful ‘Reunification’ appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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