The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Investors Needed to Link New Airport to Rangoon: Officials
• More Than 70 Rohingyas Handed Lengthy Prison Sentences
• Burma Military’s New Rangoon Billboard Attracts Attention
• Photo of the week
• Nok Air Joins Cadre of Foreign Airliners Linking With Burma
• Sagaing Police Arrest More Suspects After Latest Sectarian Unrest
• Burmese Beauty Queen Wins Over Facebook Fans
• Former China Security Chief Faces Corruption Probe: Report
• Japanese Mother Tells of Heartbreak Years After N Korea Abducted 13-Year-Old Daughter
• Sri Lankan Minister Criticizes UN Rights Chief

Investors Needed to Link New Airport to Rangoon: Officials Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:49 AM PDT Passengers board an Air Bagan flight to Chiang Mai at Rangoon's international airport. (Photo: Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON – Financial backing from the private sector is needed to link Burma’s proposed new international airport at Hanthawaddy with Rangoon, the country’ biggest city, government officials said. "We propose a highway and a high-speed train to Yangon," Kyaw Soe, an official at the Department of Civil Aviation, told The Irrawaddy. Unable to put a number on the likely cost of building the new transport links, Kyaw Soe counseled that "We need investors to do this; it is just a proposal at the moment." The construction of the new airport — aiming to cater for 12 million passengers per year at Hanthawaddy, all of 80km north of Rangoon — will be undertaken by a consortium led by South Korea’s Incheon, which won a government tender for the project on Aug 12. The new airport will be needed, the government has said, to meet growing tourist interest in the country. By 2020, visitor numbers could be anywhere from 2.8 million to 7.4 million, up from 1 million last year, according to official estimates. The top-end projections for an expanded tourism sector would be worth over US$10 billion per annum to Burma's economy — a massive jump from the approximately 1 million tourist that visited last year. The transport plans for the new airport would not just link to Rangoon, Burma’s commercial hub and a city expected to double in size to 10 million by 2040, but also include a road link to the giant Japanese-backed Thilawa industrial park, the Transport Ministry says. "We have a masterplan for Hanthawaddy airport which includes a plan to link to Thilawa," said Min Lwin, Head of Office at the Transport Ministry. Thilawa, currently a port located about 25 km from downtown Rangoon, will be a 2,400-hectare "special economic zone." The proposed SEZ is key to attracting large-scale Japanese manufacturing to Burma, as it will provide a work-around for companies interested in setting up shop in the country but deterred by Rangoon's infrastructure deficits — such as a lack of office space, high land prices and unreliable electricity supply. "We expect that they will break ground at Thilawa in December," Masaki Takahara, director of JETRO, Japan’s overseas trade mission in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy. Construction of the zone, slated to be finished by 2015, will be a 51-49 percent joint venture between Burmese companies and Japanese counterparts, featuring corporate giants Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Marubeni. Min Lwin could not give any details about whether the Hanthawaddy-Thilawa link would comprise rail as well as road, or how the proposed connection would dovetail with existing road and rail connections into Rangoon. Japan’s Itochu Corporation will, however, build a bridge linking Rangoon to Thilawa, according The Construction Ministry. "We have formed the implementation committee and will discuss this in the future," Min Lwin says, adding that the Transport Ministry will meet with the Incheon-led consortium in September to discuss the overall airport project, which will be comprised of three phases – building the airport, construction of an adjacent ‘airport city’ and the upgrading of transport links to Thilawa. Aside from the new Hanthawaddy international airport, two other airport projects – the expansion and upgrading of Rangoon’s current international airport and the airport at Mandalay, will be carried out in Burma in the coming years. The existing Rangoon airport will be upgraded – mainly to cater for domestic flights – by Pioneer Aerodrome Services (PAS), while Japan’s Mitsubishi-Jalux will expand Mandalay’s airport. PAS is linked to Asia World, run by Steven Law, a US-sanctioned businessman who is the son of recently-deceased drug trafficker Lo Hsing Han.

More Than 70 Rohingyas Handed Lengthy Prison Sentences Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:36 AM PDT Policemen move towards burning houses during fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe in June 2012. (PHOTO: Reuters) RANGOON — An Arakan State court reportedly sentenced 76 Rohingya Muslims to lengthy prison terms last week for their alleged roles in an outburst of deadly inter-communal violence in Maungdaw Township in June last year, according to a human rights group and a local media report. At least seven were sentenced to life imprisonment. The Thailand-based Arakan Project, which advocates for the rights of the Rohingyas, said a total of 76 Muslim defendants from Maungdaw Township had been sentenced at Buthidaung and Maungdaw township courts last week. "On 20 and 21 August, Buthidaung Court sentenced 43 Rohingya detainees, all from Ba Gone Nar Village Tract in Maungdaw South, in relation to the June [2012] violence. Of them, 35 were sentenced to 17 years, four to 6 years and four to life imprisonment," the group said in a draft report that it recently submitted to the UN special envoy on the human rights situation in Burma Tomás Quintana. On August 22, another 33 detainees were scheduled to be convicted by the Maungdaw Court, Arakan Project director Chris Lewa said on Friday, adding that she was still finding out what the court had decided. Burmese newspaper The Voice Daily quoted a local official as saying that the Maungdaw Court handed down three life sentences. "Three Bengalis who killed one monk were sentenced to life in prison. Ten people were sentenced to 10 years," Arakan State Attorney General Hla Thein told the newspaper. Arakan and central government officials refer to the stateless Muslim minority as "Bengalis" to suggest that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The men were convicted for murder and a range of other charges related to the burning down of Arakanese Buddhists' homes, a primary school and a health clinic in Kandayar and Mawyawaddy villages in Maungdaw Township in June 2012, according to The Voice Daily. Arakan State spokesperson Win Myaing confirmed with The Irrawaddy that dozens of Muslim men had been sentenced last week, but gave few details. "We heard that the court sentenced them. But we do not have detailed information to talk about this case. This authority [to discuss cases] belongs to the court," he said. The Rohingya men spent more than one year in pre-trial detention in Buthidaung Jail before being sentenced. They are part a group of "hundreds of Rohingyas, including children and four humanitarian workers, [who] were arrested and detained for alleged involvement in violence in June 2012," the Arakan Project said, adding that many had been tortured in custody. On June 8, Rohingyas attacked Buddhist villages in Maungdaw Township, killing a number of villagers and torching homes. Waves of inter-communal violence subsequently spread through the state and by late October, 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, were displaced and 192 had been killed. Human rights groups have accused government security forces of supporting the Buddhist communities against the Rohingya, and of carrying out arbitrary arrest and systematic and widespread rights abuses against the Muslim minority. Lewa said last week's sentences constituted a violation of the defendants' basic rights. "None of these people had any fair judicial process and the sentences were extremely harsh. Some of these people were certainly not even involved in the [inter-communal] violence," she said. By comparison, Lewa said, "very few" Buddhist perpetrators of the violence were sentenced "and they received lighter sentences." Myo Thant, a Rohingya politician with the Maungdaw-based Democracy and Human Rights Party, said many Rohingya families in the Muslim-majority area in northern Arakan State had relatives in jail, but they are unable to communicate with them, let alone support them during their trial. He said that his younger brother, called Kyaw Naing, had been sentenced by the Maungdaw Court on July 12 to 10 years imprisonment for alleged involvement in last year's violence. The family had been unable to hire a lawyer to aid his brother's defense, he said, "Because they did not even inform our family when they sentenced him. My family still does not dare to speak out about this despite their understanding that the court sentencing of their son was not fair." Shwe Maung, a Muslim lawmaker from Buthidaung Township who represents the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, said arrests in Maungdaw Township were often arbitrary and court proceedings biased against Muslim villagers. "There is no rule of law there because the victims cannot defend themselves in court," he said. "The court only listens to one-side information and the victims have to suffer for this, as they cannot have a lawyer and their families cannot go to defend their people in court."

Burma Military’s New Rangoon Billboard Attracts Attention Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:07 AM PDT In a first for Burma's armed forces, a billboard promoting a "No Child Soldiers" campaign has drawn attention in the country's biggest city. (Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Burmese military, notorious over the past five decades for its use of child soldiers, erected an eye-catching billboard in downtown Rangoon this week indicating a desire to clean up its image—and perhaps its practices. In a first for Burma's armed forces, a billboard promoting a "No Child Soldiers" campaign has drawn attention in the country's biggest city, as the quasi-civilian government increasingly cooperates with UN agencies to solve the problem of underage recruitment, although new cases of child soldiers continue to be reported. The International Labor Organization (ILO), which has long campaigned for an end to child soldiers, said the new billboard campaign was a step in the right direction by the Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw. "The recent 'No Child Soldiers' billboard and poster campaign is extremely positive and acts to further reconfirm the commitment of the government and the Tatmadaw to addressing the problem of child soldiers," Steve Marshall, the ILO's liaison officer in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy on Friday. "The campaign will work in several ways, but in particular it demonstrates to the people of Myanmar [Burma], at all levels, that the Tatmadaw as a professional force wants the right type of recruits with which to provide its important defense services. In so doing, it will also play a useful additional role in educating the community that Myanmar Law is clear that the recruitment of children under the age of 18 years is illegal." The billboard comes as two families in the city publicly alleged at a press conference in Rangoon on Thursday that the military had recruited two of their children. Khaing Saw Lin, a 15-year-old boy, was allegedly recruited in June and has been training at a military center in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Division, according to Myint Win, who has been assisting the families and is a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party. He said the 15-year-old had been a high school student in South Dagon Township. "We found that he was registered under a different name at the military center, after we talked with some military officers," the NLD member said. "His name is Zaw Htet Oo now, and they even made a fake ID, which said he's 23 years old." Despite the family's requests, the military has not released the boy, the NLD member added. "We are waiting for his release," he said. "If it doesn't happen, we will talk to organizations that are helping with cases of child soldiers." The ILO has worked for years in cooperation with the government and the Burmese military to raise awareness about the issue of underage recruitment, as part of a greater project to eliminate forced labor. Marshall said the goal was to discharge child soldiers and to stop the practice of underage recruiting. He urged families who had lost children to the military to contact a local military branch representative to initiate their discharge. "If this is for some reason not possible, they should have no hesitation in contacting the ILO liaison office," he told The Irrawaddy. The ILO office in Rangoon would then have the recruitment addressed through a forced labor complaints mechanism with the Burmese government. Rights groups have accused the Burmese military as well as armed rebel groups in the country of using child soldiers for decades—accusations which the military long denied under the former regime. Burma's quasi-civilian government, which came to power in 2011, signed an agreement with the United Nations to end the practice of child soldiers in the country. The military discharged 68 underage child soldiers earlier this month, according to the United Nations. A month earlier, it released 42 children and young adults who had been recruited for soldiering and other duties. The latest report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Burma's government had made progress in reducing the recruitment of children to serve as fighters but still needed to stamp out the practice. The report said seven ethnic armed groups, including the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), also recruit and use child soldiers. The KNLA in July signed an agreement to protect children from armed conflict and prevent the recruitment of child soldiers.

Photo of the week Posted: 30 Aug 2013 05:56 AM PDT a

Nok Air Joins Cadre of Foreign Airliners Linking With Burma Posted: 30 Aug 2013 04:47 AM PDT Thai passengers disembark from a Nok Air flight. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — With demand for flights into Burma rising, Thailand's Nok Air will launch a new route from the Thai border town of Mae Sot to the Mon State capital of Moulmein, state-run media announced Friday. Budget tickets priced between US$55 and $80 will be available for the 25-minute flight, The New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported, with travelers able to pay in Burmese kyat, Thai baht or US dollars. The new air route, which will be serviced beginning on Sunday, will greatly reduce travel time between the Thai border town and Moulmein, which currently takes more than six hours overland. The Mae Sot-Moulmein flight is expected to largely benefit Thai tourists and pilgrims who travel to Mon State for a glimpse of Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, also known as Golden Rock. Kyaiktiyo Pagoda is a well-known Buddhist pilgrimage site, and its iconic stupa-topped, gold-leaf covered rock is a popular attraction for tourists, particularly among the majority-Buddhist Thai contingent. Airline Manager Aye Min Tun told The New Light of Myanmar that the Nok flights out of Mae Sot were slated to depart every morning. Nok Air will also launch a new route on Oct. 1 from Mae Sot to Rangoon, Burma's commercial capital, where a consortium led by Pioneer Aerodrome Services, an affiliate of the Burmese conglomerate Asia World, was recently awarded a contract to expand Rangoon International Airport. As the budget airline of Thai Airways International, Nok Air services 100 flights a day in Thailand. Meanwhile, fellow budget airliner AirAsia has announced plans to launch regular flights from Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport to Naypyidaw, according to a report by Travel Daily News. According to Thai AirAsia CSO Tassapon Bijleveld, the airline will offer promotional fares until Sept. 8 for travel between Oct. 28, 2013 and Aug. 5, 2014. "AirAsia is the first and only low-fare airline to serve this route from Don Mueang Airport," he said, adding that new 180-seat Airbus A320s would be used for the one-hour flight between the two Southeast Asian capitals. The move by AirAsia comes a week after Thai airline Bangkok Airways said it would become the first international carrier to fly directly to the Burmese capital.

Sagaing Police Arrest More Suspects After Latest Sectarian Unrest Posted: 29 Aug 2013 11:53 PM PDT Buildings burn last weekend in Htan Gone village, Sagaing Division, in this photo published on the Facebook page of Ye Htut, the deputy minister of information and the presidential spokesman. Members of a 1,000-strong Buddhist mob torched dozens of homes and shops in northwestern Burma following rumors that a Muslim man tried to sexually assault a young woman. (Photo: Ye Htet / Facebook) MANDALAY — The police are continuing to arrest suspects after a Buddhist mob set fire to dozens of Muslim-owned homes and businesses in northwest Burma's Sagaing Division last weekend in the latest communal violence to hit the country. Eleven people were initially arrested after a 1,000-strong Buddhist mob rioted late last Saturday night in Htan Gone village, 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of the town of Kantbalu. Police said this week that they were continuing to arrest more suspects from 12 neighboring villages. "Currently I cannot disclose exactly how many people have been detained," a police spokesman in Htan Gone, told The Irrawaddy. "At the very start of the conflict, we arrested 11 culprits. We had been ordered to do so." Forty-eight houses and 13 shops owned by Muslims were reportedly burned in the rioting, displacing 292 people. State-run media reported that fire trucks arriving to the scene were initially blocked by the rioters, who attacked the rescuers with swords, sticks and slingshots. Police fired a warning shot to clear a path for the fire trucks, after earlier firing another warning shot to disperse the mob. A police battalion and firefighters managed to control the fires by about 3:30 am, more than seven hours after the rioting began. "Responsible persons from respective police stations have been arranging to arrest those who set the fires in the village during the conflict," said Kyi Naing, a minister for border affairs and security in Sagaing Division told The Irrawaddy. "We wanted to bust the culprits earlier but we couldn't, as we were occupied with the duties of putting down the fires and preventing further religious rioting." A shelter was set up for displaced Muslim residents at an Arabic school in Htan Gone's Quarter No. 1. Some displaced residents are also staying with relatives. "Frankly speaking, we don't dare return to our houses yet," Than Nweh, whose café was burned down in the rioting, told The Irrawaddy. The conflict reportedly began after rumors circulated last Saturday that a young Muslim man had attempted to rape a Buddhist woman. The man was brought to the village police station and transferred to Shwe Bo Prison, but a mob of about 100 men gathered at the station and demanded that police hand him over. Rioting began after the police refused. At the height of the violence, up to 1,000 people were rampaging through the village, according to the Information Ministry. Aung Kyaw Myint, an administrator of Zi Pin village, said he witnessed part of the incident between the Buddhist woman and Muslim man from which the rumors of attempted rape arose. He said a 17-year-old Muslim boy met a 25-year-old woman who was riding a bicycle home and attempted to hold her hands. "On that day, the young lady came running to us from the paddy field to ask for help. So we chased after that boy," Aung Kyaw Myint said. "That boy was running to the village of the young lady, instead of his village. So we went to the village searching for him. After the boy was caught, he was taken by two policemen. In the aftermath of the issue, more and more people accumulated and a crowd went out to stir up problems in Htan Gone village." The conflict in Htan Gone is the latest sectarian violence to hit Buddhist-majority Burma. Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in west Burma last year left about 150,000 people displaced and about 200 dead. Violence spread earlier this year, with anti-Muslim riots breaking out in towns in central Burma and east Burma.

Burmese Beauty Queen Wins Over Facebook Fans Posted: 29 Aug 2013 10:52 PM PDT Burmese model Khin Wint Wah (R) poses with two other participants in the Miss Supranational 2013 in Belarus. (Khin Wint Wah / Facebook) RANGOON — Burmese beauty queen Khin Wint Wah, who is participating in the Miss Supranational 2013, an international beauty pageant being held in the eastern European country Belarus, has caught the attention of many Burmese Facebook users. The 19-year-old model gathered almost 50,000 likes on the social networking site since mid-August. After arriving on Aug 17 in the capital Minsk, Khin Wint has been taking part in promotional activities and rehearsals for the event, along with models from 98 countries. The finale will take place on September 6 and the winner will walk away with US$30,000 in prize money. Photos of competition rehearsals placed on showing Khin Wint Wah's Facebook page on August 18 have since garnered the interest of Burma's growing number of Facebook users. By Friday morning, the photos had gathered nearly 48,000 likes. Khin Wint Wah, who studies botany in Rangoon, was selected to represent Burma after winning a domestic beauty competition for Miss Supranational 2013 pageant program in August. She told the organizers' website that she was delighted that she could join the competition. "I was very excited, because I had never traveled overseas before… My country is very beautiful, but so is Belarus," Khin Wint Wah was quoted as saying. "There are so many people … who are supporting me. It makes me feel happy and confident. I want them to know that I am doing my very best to take this crown back to my country, and that I love them very much." Asked about the ongoing reforms taking place in Burma, Khin Wint Wah said, "Now it is more open, so you are all welcome to visit my beautiful and colorful country." Started in 2009, the Miss Supranational pageant is organized by the Panama-based World Beauty Association. Last year's event was held in Poland, but this year the World Beauty Association chose Belarus — often referred to as Europe's last dictatorship as it's been ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko for almost 20 years — as the location for its beauty pageant. A World Beauty Association spokesperson said on the organization's website that event would help with "promoting Belarus to the world."

Former China Security Chief Faces Corruption Probe: Report Posted: 29 Aug 2013 10:39 PM PDT Former Chinese Politburo Standing Committee Member Zhou Yongkang attends the closing ceremony of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 14, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Jason Lee) BEIJING — China's senior leadership has agreed to open a corruption investigation into Zhou Yongkang, one of China's most powerful politicians of the past decade, stepping up its anti-graft campaign, the South China Morning Post reported on Friday. The reported move against Zhou—a retired member of the Politburo's all-powerful Standing Committee and the former domestic security tsar—follows the five-day corruption trial of ousted politician Bo Xilai, who was widely considered a key Zhou ally. The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters. The State Council Information Office, the public relations arm of the government, did not respond immediately to faxed questions about the report. Zhou also could not be reached for comment on the report and Reuters could not independently verify it. He was one rank higher than Bo in the power structure and would be the first Politburo Standing Committee member—retired or sitting—to be investigated for economic crimes since the end of the Cultural Revolution nearly 40 years ago, the Hong Kong-based newspaper said. Citing sources familiar with the leadership's thinking, it said the decision to investigate was made in view of rising anger inside the party at the scale of the corruption problem and the wealth that Zhou's family has amassed. President Xi Jinping ordered officials in charge of the case to "get to the bottom of it," the paper said. Most sources and political analysts have said they doubt Zhou is under investigation because it would risk opening a Pandora's box that could lead to calls for probes into other retired Standing Committee members, including ex-premier Wen Jiabao and his wife and son. The New York Times reported last year that Wen's family had accumulated at least $2.7 billion in "hidden riches," a story China labeled a smear. Earlier this month US-based Chinese news site Duowei said Zhou was being investigated for graft. However, the report was later withdrawn. In a sign Zhou may not be in trouble, the websites of the official People's Daily and China News Service reported on Thursday that Zhou had sent flowers to the funeral of top nuclear scientist Liu Xiyao, as did Xi. State media typically do not report such stories on party figures who have fallen from grace, so the brief news items could be interpreted as a signal he remains in the hierarchy's good books. Oil Connection Chinese authorities revealed this week a probe into China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which Zhou joined as a senior manager in the early 1990s. Four top managers at the company have been named as being under investigation in recent days, including group deputy general manager Li Hualin, who once served as Zhou's secretary. The newspaper said it understood the new probe would center on Zhou's time as a party boss in Sichuan province and at CNPC. In particular, investigators would examine whether Zhou and his family benefited through oilfield and property deals facilitated by his son, Zhou Bin, and other allies, it said. Sources told the newspaper it was too early to say whether Zhou—who controlled legal and law enforcement affairs for 10 years from 2002—would face public prosecution or an internal party probe. Three other Zhou allies are currently under investigation, including the deputy party boss of Sichuan, Li Chuncheng, who had for many years overseen development of the province's prosperous capital, Chengdu. The South China Morning Post said party investigators typically move against top aides and underlings of a primary target first to weaken their political base. Awaiting Verdict Zhou was implicated in rumors last year that he hesitated in moving against Bo. Former Chongqing party boss Bo is awaiting a verdict on corruption, bribery and abuse of power charges. The domestic security forces Zhou ran also suffered a humiliating failure when they allowed blind rights advocate Chen Guangcheng to escape from 19 months of house arrest and flee to the US Embassy in Beijing, which happened last year too. Such fumbles gave then-president Hu Jintao and his successor President Xi a shared motive to put a growing array of police forces and domestic security services under firmer oversight. Xi has made fighting deeply engrained graft a central theme of his new administration, and has promised to take down "tigers"—in other words very senior people—as well as "flies" lower down on the food chain implicated in corruption. Zhou would be the most senior person caught up in Xi's dragnet to date. He joined the Politburo Standing Committee in 2007 while also heading the central Political and Legal Affairs Committee, a sprawling body that oversees law-and-order policy. That double status allowed Zhou to dominate a domestic security budget of $110 billion a year, exceeding the defense budget. But the hulking, grim-faced 70-year-old stepped down, along with most members of the Standing Committee, at the 18th Party Congress last November and formally retired in March this year. At the same time, the position he occupied was downgraded, and his successor Meng Jianzhu is only a member of the Politburo, the 25-member body that reports to the elite Politburo Standing Committee. Since the 1990s, China's efforts to stifle crime, unrest and dissent have allowed the domestic security apparatus—including police, armed militia and state security officers—to accumulate power, which worried many within the party. Still, Zhou's time in charge of domestic security saw a huge swelling in the number of "mass incidents"—China's euphemism for public protests—fueled by frustration at a yawning wealth gap and official corruption, despite the fact that the Party cracks down hard on dissent.

Japanese Mother Tells of Heartbreak Years After N Korea Abducted 13-Year-Old Daughter Posted: 29 Aug 2013 10:24 PM PDT A North Korean prison policewoman stands guard behind fences at a jail on the banks of Yalu River near the Chongsong county of North Korea, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, on May 8, 2011. (Photo: Reuters) TOKYO — For two decades after 13-year-old Megumi Yokota vanished on her way home from school one November evening, Japanese police called her parents whenever they found an unidentified body. Unimaginably, the teenager had been abducted and taken to North Korea, her mother told a UN Commission of Inquiry panel in Tokyo on Thursday, but there was no clue what had happened to the cheerful girl who liked to sing until reports began to emerge in 1997 of the presence of Japanese in North Korea. "Up until then, whenever they found a body, or there was a murder, or a skeleton got snagged in the fishing net of a boat, anywhere in Japan, the police would get in touch with us," Sakie Yokota told the commission, the first time Pyongyang's human rights record has been looked at by an expert panel. "We lived in a sadness that I thought would drive us mad." Megumi is one of 13 Japanese that Kim Jong-il, the late father of current leader Kim Jong-un, admitted in 2002 had been kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies. Pyongyang says eight of them are dead, including Megumi, but Japan wants more information. The dispute over the abductees has been a major stumbling block in normalizing relations between the two countries and progress has stalled in recent years, though Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed hope that movement may be possible under the third generation of the founding Kim family. The North denies that it abuses human rights and has refused to recognize the commission, denying access to investigators. The nightmare began for the Yokotas in 1977, when Megumi failed to return from playing badminton at school. "We felt a huge fear," Sakie told the UN panel, her voice shaking. "I took her little brothers by the hand and we ran out in the dark, looking on beaches and calling Megumi, Megumi." Searches by police and sniffer dogs showed she had reached a street corner just blocks from her home, then the trail went cold. Following the 2002 visit to North Korea by former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi at which Pyongyang admitted the abductions, it came out that Megumi had married and had a child, though North Korea said she had died some years previously. Later Pyongyang sent back bones that they said were Megumi's, but DNA testing found they were those of a man. "Three photos came back with the bones, our first sight of Megumi as an adult. I cried and cried," Sakie said. "Both my husband and I apologized for not being able to help her." Commission head Michael Kirby, a retired Australian judge, told Reuters that the goal of the inquiry, which will be submitted by the end of the year, was to give a voice to the Yokotas and similar families. At the very least, it wants to give the families the peace of knowing what happened. "Who else has engaged in kidnapping—and not kidnapping of nuclear scientists, Internet experts—the kidnapping of a chef, a guard, a schoolchild, a housewife whose two young children were left crying in a creche?" he said. "It certainly calls out for evidentiary answers. If the evidentiary answers are not given, North Korea will only have itself to blame if the commission of inquiry and the world community believes what these witnesses have told." Sakie Yokota said that Megumi would turn 49 in October. "She was just 13 years old," she said. "Did they mistake her for an adult and take her, or did they have something else in mind? We'll never know. Until she comes home." Additional reporting by Reuters reporter Leng Cheng in Tokyo.

Sri Lankan Minister Criticizes UN Rights Chief Posted: 29 Aug 2013 10:12 PM PDT Sri Lankan army snipers in ghillie suits march during the War Victory parade in Colombo May 18, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan Cabinet minister questioned the impartiality of the visiting United Nations human rights chief on Thursday, accusing her of supporting ethnic Tamil separatists because of her own Tamil background and having secret talks with activist groups outside of her official program. Navi Pillay, a South African of Indian Tamil origin, is on a weeklong visit to Sri Lanka to review its progress in investigating alleged abuses during the long civil war between government troops and separatist Tamil rebels that ended four years ago. Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa said that after she completed her visit, Pillay would prepare an "extremist and unjust report" that is unfair to Sri Lanka because of her ethnicity. "Navi Pillay came here, as a Tamil woman, to satisfy the wishes of Tamil separatists," Weerawansa told reporters, adding that a fair report cannot be expected from her. "She looks at problems in a partial manner, with a preconceived judgment," he said. Weerawansa also accused Pillay of holding secret meetings with activist groups outside of her official schedule and receiving "forged documents and faked photos." Pillay's spokesman Rupert Colville said the rights chief was conducting the mission as she would in any country. Pillay is to present her findings to the UN Human Rights Council next month. The council passed a resolution in March urging Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes committed by government soldiers and the rebels. It also called on Pillay's office to orally report on Sri Lanka's progress in September and submit a detailed report next March. Government troops defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, ending their attempt to create a separate state for Tamils. A UN report said government troops may have killed 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final phase of the war. On Tuesday, Pillay visited Mullivaikkal village in northern Sri Lanka, the site of the final battle of the civil war, where hundreds of civilians are alleged to have died. War survivors there complained to Pillay about missing relatives, military land grabs and a life without basic facilities more than four years after the war's end. Many civilians and rebels said to have surrendered to the military toward the end of the fighting are reported missing. The rebels are accused of killing civilians, using them as human shields and recruiting child soldiers. Human rights groups say the military has seized about 6,400 acres (2,589 hectares) of land from war victims since the end of the fighting and now runs farms on the land. Also Thursday, Pillay met with government officials, including Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.

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National News

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Hluttaw considers dam proposal Posted: 30 Aug 2013 01:32 AM PDT A government department has proposed building five small dams on the Ayeyarwady River that it says could "open a new age in river transport".

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Democratic Voice of Burma

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• Latpadaung protestor sentenced to two years for sedition
• Muslim affairs group seeks justice in Htan Gone
• Burma approves long-awaited telecoms bill

Latpadaung protestor sentenced to two years for sedition Posted: 29 Aug 2013 05:30 AM PDT Naw Ohn Hla was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with labour under a charge of sedition in a highly controversial trial in Monywa on Thursday. The veteran activist and former political prisoner had been arrested in mid-August for organising a public protest in the Sagaing division capital against the Latpadaung copper mining project. Her lawyer Robert San Aung said she was sentenced under Article 505(b) of the penal code for sedition in a trial at Monywa township court that began on Tuesday. Related Stories Women's group slams 'violent' arrest of Latpadaung activists Latpadaung protestor hit with charges for demonstrating without permission He said he was unable to attend the hearing on Thursday and that Naw Ohn Hla had refused to appear in court without the representation of her lawyer. She was subsequently dragged into the courtroom by female police officials. He slammed the trial as unfair and condemned the court for sentencing her without the presence of a defence lawyer. "She refused to leave the holding cell in protest at being tried without a legal defence," he said. "Female police officers were ordered to drag her into court where sentence was passed. It is highly questionable whether this procedure represents a fair trial."

Muslim affairs group seeks justice in Htan Gone Posted: 29 Aug 2013 04:50 AM PDT The Myanmar Muslim National Affairs Federation (MMNAF) has pledged to push the Burmese government to take action against the rioters who burnt down Muslim homes and properties in Sagaing division's Kanbalu township on 14 August, and to ensure that residents displaced by the attack are rehabilitated to their original neighborhoods. "We will do everything we can to ensure that villagers are returned to their original locations and push for action against the rioters," said Kyaw Khin, the MMNAF general-secretary. More than 50 Muslim homes, a rice mill, a chicken farm and over a dozen shops were destroyed in a riot that took place in Htan Gone village on 24-25 August. Over 300 displaced residents are currently sheltered in an Islamic school. Kyaw Khin said officials from the MMNAF's Mandalay headquarters on 27 August paid a visit to the village to inspect the damage first-hand and to hand out aid to the displaced victims. Sagaing upper house MP Myint Naing also visited the town and made a donation of two million kyat (over US$20,000) to the displaced. But he said that how and where the villagers are rehabilitated is a decision for the local government. "The Muslim quarter of Htan Gone is somewhat spread out," he said. "The displaced villagers should have the right to be returned to their former neighborhoods, but this is a matter for the government." Myint Naing asserted that the majority of the rioters were not residents of Htan Gone but were from nearby areas. Related Stories MP blames local authorities for Htan Gone riot Muslim homes left smouldering after night of mob violence in Htan Gone Security forces step in as anti-Muslim riot erupts in Sagaing About a dozen individuals have been detained by police for questioning with regards to Saturday night's anti-Muslim violence. Htan Gone police have so far declined to elaborate on what charges will be brought against those detained nor did they disclose where the alleged rioters were being held, however they emphasised that calm had now been restored to the town. Since June last year, various parts of Burma have been ravaged by anti-Muslim riots, the initial incident triggering the violence being the alleged rape and murder of a local Buddhist woman by three Muslim youths in Arakan state. President Thein Sein has indicated publicly that certain unnamed groups were behind the violence and that the attacks were coordinated.

Burma approves long-awaited telecoms bill Posted: 28 Aug 2013 08:55 PM PDT Burma’s parliament has passed a telecoms bill paving the way for licensed international firms to operate, state media said Wednesday, in the latest move to open the potentially lucrative mobile market. The former junta-run nation last month awarded telecom licences to Norway’s Telenor and Qatari firm Ooredoo as it tries to raise telephone coverage from less than 10 percent currently to 80 percent by 2016. The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the bill had been approved by parliament. MP Phone Myint Aung said the move would mean “international operators can launch their operations. They are waiting for this bill.” The bill still requires the signature of President Thein Sein to come into effect. “We have not yet had an opportunity to review the legislation but look forward to the final approval of the Telecommunications Law and to also reviewing the implementing regulations,” Telenor said in a statement. “A clear and stable regulatory and legislative framework that ensures predictability and a level and transparent playing field is important for a long-term investor such as Telenor.” Telenor added that it was still finalising the terms and conditions of the licence. The bid process has been closely watched as a bellwether of economic reforms aimed at driving rapid foreign investment in the nation, which has seen sweeping changes since a quasi-civilian government replaced the military regime in 2011. Ooredoo, formerly known as Qatar Telecom, this month pledged to introduce “affordable” phone services to Burma next year as it pumps US$15 billion into the country as part of its 15-year 3G licence. Few can currently afford mobile phones and SIM card fees, which in the past cost about US$200, although the government is trying to make prices more affordable. In April state-owned giant Myanmar Post and Telecommunication announced it would start selling SIM cards for less than US$2, and the authorities have begun selling them on a lottery basis. Another report in Wednesday’s state media said one such lottery in Pyinmana, on the outskirts of the capital Naypyidaw, had selected “slow vehicle drivers” as the recipients of its budget SIM cards. Naypyidaw’s council has sold 95 cheap SIMs to “pony cart and trishaw drivers” in the area, the report said.

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The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Opening of Overland Border Gates Could Boost Burma Tourism, Investment
• A Story of Resistance
• Singapore’s Fraser & Neave Says in Beer Spat With Burma Partner
• Activist Naw Ohn Hla Jailed 2 Years for Letpadaung Protest
• UNFC, Govt to Discuss Nationwide Ceasefire
• Painting With Precision
• Memo to Suu Kyi: There’s No ‘I’ in Democracy
• UN Adviser Pledges Support to Kachin IDPs in Landmark Laiza Visit
• Taking the Pulse of Burma’s Bean Business
• Japan Upgrades Nuclear Plant Leak to ‘Serious’
• Asylum Seekers Threaten to Sink Australian Govt in Election
• EU Lawmakers Criticize Laos on Missing Activist

Opening of Overland Border Gates Could Boost Burma Tourism, Investment Posted: 29 Aug 2013 05:48 AM PDT The Tachileik-Mae Sai border crossing between Burma and Thailand. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — As of Wednesday, foreign visitors with Burmese visas are allowed to enter and leave Burma overland through four gates along its eastern border with Thailand. Officials and ethnic representatives said the decision would boost the tourism industry and facilitate foreign investment in ethnic areas and the rest of Burma. The decision to open up international road travel ends decades-long restrictions introduced by Burma's previous military government, which was wary of foreign visitors and wanted to limit access to the conflict-ridden ethnic areas along the border. Foreign nationals can now enter and exit Burma at Tachileik-Mae Sai and Myawaddy-Mae Sot border gates, at the recently-opened crossing Htee Khee-Sunaron and through the Kawthaung-Ranong gate, located at Burma's most southern point, the Ministry of Immigration and Population announced on Tuesday. Travelers passing through these gates are allowed to leave via international airports in Rangoon, Naypyidaw and Mandalay, the ministry said, adding that visa on arrival is not available at the border gates. Minister of Hotels and Tourism Htay Aung reportedly attended an official ceremony at Myawaddy-Mae Sot border crossing on Wednesday to mark its opening for foreign visitors. The decision is the result of a bilateral agreement between the Burmese and Thai governments, the Tourism Ministry said. Prior to the agreement, visitors were only allowed to travel to Burma by air. One-day visits were possible at three gates, while foreigners could also gain permission to travel for one week in Burma's Shan State, if they stayed in the vicinity of Tachileik. Hla Maung Shwe, a presidential advisor at the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center, said the decision was made possible by the progress in Burma's peace process. "This opening of the border crossings is the fruit of the peace process that we are working on in our country," he told The Irrawaddy. "Those who enter the country through these gates, they can go out again at any other gate. There are no restrictions," he said, adding that the move would help boost tourist visits to areas that were hard to reach before and support local livelihoods in ethnic regions. More than a dozen armed ethnic groups have been fighting decades-long rebellions against Burma's central government in the mountainous, forested border regions, in order to gain political autonomy and respect for basic human rights. President Thein Sein's nominally-civilian, reformist government has reached ceasefire agreements with most groups in the past year and peace talks are ongoing. Karen, Karenni, Mon and Shan groups in ethnic areas along Burma's eastern border with Thailand were left impoverished by conflict and isolation. Some ethnic leaders and businesses there said they hoped their region would now benefit economically from an increase in overland tourist and business travelers. New Mon State Party executive committee member Nai Tala Nyi said the opening of the Myawaddy-Mae Sot crossing to international visitors could boost tourist business in the Mon State capital Moulmein, which is located on one the main roads leading to Rangoon from the border gate. "It is good for all people that they can travel from the border to here [Moulmein]. I hope it will have good impact for the local people," he said. "I feel our Mon people will get similar benefits to the Thai people, who gain good income from tourism industry, if more visitors come to our Mon State," said Kaung Sein, managing director at Mon Thanakorn Company. The relaxing of overland travel restrictions would also help the growing number of Thai firms coming to Burma, according to Kaung Sein, whose Moulmein-based firm assists Thai businesses looking to invest in the Daiwei deep-sea port and industrial zone in Mon State. "As the border opens, there will be more foreign investment," he said, Then, our migrants workers who are in Thailand, they can come back to work in their own land."

A Story of Resistance Posted: 29 Aug 2013 05:44 AM PDT "The Face of Resistance: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Fight for Freedom" went on sale in the Myanmar Book Center in Rangoon on Thursday. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspirational symbol of resistance and courage in Burma. But can she mend the deep divisions in Burmese society and among factions in the democracy movement, before elections scheduled for 2015? Irrawaddy editor-in-chief Aung Zaw explores this and other timely questions in a new book titled "The Face of Resistance: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Fight for Freedom," drawing on his long experience as a journalist and former exile. In engaging and accessible style, the book explores Burma's resistance movement over the last 25 years, highlighting key members of the National League for Democracy, prominent activists involved in the 1988 uprising, ethnic leaders, social activists, and the next generation of democracy leaders. The book also explores the background of President Thein Sein and poses questions about the current reform process. "The Face of Resistance: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Fight for Freedom," is dedicated to all political prisoners in Burma. The book is published by Mekong Press and is now on sale for US$19 at the Myanmar Book Center shops located on Rangoon's Baho Street, Merchant Street, in Taw Win Center and Dagon Complex Shopping Mall, and in Mandalay's Diamond Plaza. It will also be available for sale in bookshops in Thailand and the region. The University of Washington Press will distribute the book in the United States in October.

Singapore’s Fraser & Neave Says in Beer Spat With Burma Partner Posted: 29 Aug 2013 05:03 AM PDT Singapore-based Fraser and Neave has a 55-percent stake in Myanmar Brewery, maker of the lager billed as the "real taste of Myanmar." (Photo: The Irrawaddy) SINGAPORE — Singapore property and drinks conglomerate Fraser and Neave said on Thursday its joint venture partner, which is run by Burma's military, plans to start arbitration proceedings over the company's stake in Myanmar Brewery. The brewery represents only a small part of F&N's business but losing its stake would mean being shut out of one of Asia's fastest growing beer markets. In a May earnings briefing, F&N said its Burma beer business had recorded double-digit growth from a year earlier. F&N, which is controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, currently holds 55 percent of Myanmar Brewery while Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) holds the remaining 45 percent. In a statement, F&N said the Burmese company was trying to obtain its share in the brewery by citing a joint venture agreement. MEHL officials could not be reached for comment. "The company maintains that there is no basis for MEHL to give that notice. The company has engaged lawyers and intends to vigorously resist the claim," the F&N statement said. Myanmar Brewery, which manufactures beer brands such as Myanmar Beer, Myanmar Double Strong and Andaman Gold, is estimated to have an 83 percent share of Burma's growing beer market by volume, F&N said in a recent presentation. "Myanmar Brewery is important to F&N because of the emerging market exposure, the growth story for Myanmar is pretty strong and they are the dominant brewer," said Jit Soon Lim, head of Southeast Asia equity research at Nomura. F&N said on Tuesday it would list shares in its property arm, Frasers Centrepoint, on the Singapore Exchange this year. F&N will keep the food and beverage as well as the publishing and printing businesses.

Activist Naw Ohn Hla Jailed 2 Years for Letpadaung Protest Posted: 29 Aug 2013 04:40 AM PDT Police are seen forcibly breaking up a demonstration of about 150 people in the town of Monywa, Sagaing Division, on Tuesday. (Photo: Monywa Student Union / Facebook) MANDALAY — A court in Monywa, Sagaing Division, on Thursday sentenced activist Naw Ohn Hla to two years in prison with hard labor for disturbing public tranquility at a peaceful protest that police broke up with force earlier this month. "She's been sentenced under Section 505[b] only, for which she has to serve two years' imprisonment with hard labor. She still remains to be tried under Section 18," said Kyu Inn, a township police officer in Monywa. The trial of Naw Ohn Hla began on Tuesday, with prosecutors charging the female activist with two counts, including violation of Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act for allegedly organizing an unauthorized gathering. Thursday's verdict under Section 505(b) of the Burmese Penal Code found the activist guilty of "intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility." Naw Ohn Hla's lawyer denounced the verdict on Thursday. "I just want to say that sentencing her within two to three days did not provide enough time to defend her. It shouldn't be like that because the [prosecutors'] charges under 505[b] did not reflect the actions of the accused and it's become controversial," her lawyer Robert San Aung said. Naw Ohn Hla remains in detention at the Monywa prison, where she will await a separate verdict on her alleged violation of the Peaceful Assembly Act. She did not appear in court to hear Thursday's verdict, with the activist boycotting her own trial because "she does not have faith in the judicial system," her Robert San Aung told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. The activist and nine other protesters, all women, were forcibly arrested by police on Aug. 13 near the controversial Letpaduang copper mine, where they were calling for suspension of the mining project. The mining venture has led to frequent demonstrations over the last year by local community members who say they have been forced off their lands by a project that is harming the environment. "Judging from the fact that the court has sentenced her so quickly, it is very clear that the authorities want her to be in prison," said Han Win Aung, a colleague of Naw Ohn Hla who has also spoken out in support of farmers near the Letpadaung mine. "I think this was planned from the beginning." Naw Ohn Hla is a former member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party. She led prayer services for democracy activists hoping for the freedom of Suu Kyi while the NLD chairwoman was under house arrest. Naw Ohn Hla has been imprisoned more than seven times since 1989 for her NLD links and her efforts to free political prisoners and assist Buddhist monks during the 2007 uprising known as the Saffron Revolution. Earlier this year, she was imprisoned for participating in a protest march in Rangoon, also under charges of violating the Peaceful Assembly Act. She was released from prison in May under a presidential amnesty. Additional reporting by Irrawaddy reporter Sanay Lin .

UNFC, Govt to Discuss Nationwide Ceasefire Posted: 29 Aug 2013 04:26 AM PDT Members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) speak during a meeting at the Thai-Burma border last year. (Photo: phophtaw.org) CHIANG MAI, Thailand – A nationwide ceasefire is among topics to be discussed during a meeting between the Burmese government and the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) in early September, members of the council say. The UNFC, a major ethnic alliance group, also plans to discuss the possibility of drafting a new Constitution, rather than amending the current one, according to Dr. Khin Maung, deputy chairman of the Arakan National Council (ANC), which is part of the UNFC. The planned meeting with the government's Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) will reportedly be held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Sept. 7 or Sept. 8. "This meeting will be like a pre-negotiation between the government and ethnic leaders for a political framework" said Hla Maung Shwe from the Myanmar Peace Center in Rangoon, who led a government technical team that consulted with UNFC representatives in Chiang Mai on Tuesday. "It is likely that Minister Aung Min will officially receive the UNFC's framework in the meeting." Hla Maung Shwe added that the signing of a nationwide peace accord would be discussed during the September meeting, as part of the government's plan to end decades of civil wars with ethnic rebel groups. The consultation meeting on Tuesday covered a number of issues, with an emphasis on discussion topics for the September meeting, says Khin Maung, who led the UNFC team. "We also talked about our opinion of the president's statement regarding a nationwide ceasefire and the UNFC's six-point roadmap to further peace among ethnic groups," he said.

Painting With Precision Posted: 29 Aug 2013 04:11 AM PDT A Burmese woman in British colonial era fashion talks on a mobile phone while sitting beside a lacquerware food container and a traditional parasol, in this painting by Burmese artist Min Mahaw Moe. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — His paintings are generically still lifes, but to be more accurate, they are photorealist. And if you say they look like photos, Min Mahaw Moe won't deny it. "I love how things really look, so I paint them just the way they are," the 38-year-old says. When Min Mahaw Moe undertakes a new project, he painstakingly works for several days with acrylic paint to depict every detail of his subject. The final result is a reflective and clean still life that leaves viewers wondering whether the artist used a paintbrush or a camera. The super-realist style has been Min Mahaw Moe's preference since the early 2000s, when he first saw paintings by Richard Estes, an American artist known as a founder of the international photorealist movement of the late 1960s. But Estes' focus on cities and geometric landscapes did not appeal as much as his style to the Burmese graduate of the State School of Fine Arts (Rangoon). "I'm more interested in subjects that we rarely see in our daily lives," he said. "When I paint still lifes, I can manipulate the composition in a way I like." With an interest in antiques, he chooses subjects that range from violins to film cameras dating back nearly 50 years. Figures in his still-life paintings are women in traditional dress from the British colonial era. Is he satisfied with his work thus far? "No," the Rangoon-native artist says. "My paintings can still be differentiated from photographs. I want something more, beyond that."

Memo to Suu Kyi: There’s No ‘I’ in Democracy Posted: 29 Aug 2013 03:57 AM PDT Let's think ahead and imagine a political scenario for Burma in 2015: The election is free and fair, and Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), wins by a landslide for more seats in the legislature, but the Constitution has yet to be amended, barring Suu Kyi herself from the presidency. Under these circumstances, who else from her party could take the lead? At the moment, there seems to be no qualified candidate. The election in 2015 could have far greater ramifications for Burma's future than the previous election in 2010. But that will depend on whether the main political parties, especially the biggest opposition party, the NLD, can move forward from their old ways and groom other leaders for the country's top political position. "In my view, the NLD's main strength is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself. The obvious weakness of the party is the fact that it hasn't reformed well and systematically," says Dr Yan Myo Thein, a political analyst who was detained after taking part in the 1988 pro-democracy protests and now writes regularly for local publications. It's high time, he says, for the Nobel Peace laureate to "focus on institutionalizing the party for future generations," preparing other members for the 2015 election and beyond. Kyaw Zwa Moe is editor (English Edition) of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at kyawzwa@irrawaddy.org. Suu Kyi's decision to contest a seat in last year's parliamentary by-elections may not have been the best strategy, he adds, because her legislative duties are time consuming. "Since she entered Parliament, reforms in her party have been very weak," he says. Another political analyst, Ko Wa, also known as Ye Naing Aung, agrees. "I don't mean that her current strategy is wrong," he says. "I suppose, however, that it would be better for the NLD—and for the country—if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi placed more of an emphasis on party reform, and if she negotiated and collaborated with other political forces." Ko Wa was a leading member of the Democratic Party for a New Society, which was formed after the 1988 uprising, and he was later imprisoned for his activism. His commentaries are regularly published in several journals in Rangoon. He says that the NLD and other opposition parties currently lack a common strategy for 2015, with disagreement over whether it would be better to amend the Constitution quickly, before the election, or to wait and tackle amendments afterward. "We need to have our own political roadmap," he says. Yan Myo Thein agrees that the NLD and other opposition parties lack a sense of unity, which he says is stronger among ethnic parties. "The NLD should take a leadership role among all allied parties," he says. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should lead the formation of an allied association with all democratic forces." Calls for a common political roadmap are commonly heard in the circle of Burmese political activists and analysts these days. But rather than unifying opposition forces and grooming future leaders, it seems that Suu Kyi's strategy has been to focus on building her own personal ties with current leaders in the government, Parliament and the military. She has attempted to make friends with the big players in Naypyidaw, apparently hoping that gaining their trust could pave the way for constitutional amendments that would make her eligible for the presidency or vice presidency. Many agree that confidence building between the opposition and current military and ex-military leaders is important for national reconciliation. But in recent days, Suu Kyi has been quietly criticized for her lack of collaboration with other democratic forces, including ethnic parties. It is still relatively taboo to disparage the democracy icon in the world of Burmese politics, but many observers believe that the time has come to be more critical of her political strategy—as the next election is only about 30 months away. She may or may not get a chance to become president. But either way, says Yan Myo Thein, by taking a look at her party and working to train other leaders, Suu Kyi can and should "leave the legacy of a robust political institution for future generations."

UN Adviser Pledges Support to Kachin IDPs in Landmark Laiza Visit Posted: 29 Aug 2013 03:51 AM PDT A meeting between the UN's special adviser on Burma, Vijay Nambiar, and Kachin community leaders is seen in progress on May 29, 2013, in Myitkyina. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) In his first-ever visit to the Kachin rebel stronghold of Laiza, the UN special adviser on Burma told those displaced by war there that he would continue to support them, more than two years after a ceasefire between ethnic rebels and the government broke down, unleashing intermittent fighting that has displaced tens of thousands. Vijay Nambiar made the assurance on a visit to two internally displaced persons (IDP) camps—at Jeyang and Woichyai, both of which are in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) near its headquarters, the border town of Laiza. About 60,000 IDPs have taken shelter in Laiza since a 17-year ceasefire collapsed in June 2011. "Vijay Nambiar said that he would try his best to keep supporting the Kachin [IDPs]. He won't leave them to suffer alone," said Sang Aung, a peace broker for the KIO who accompanied Nambiar to Laiza. "He [Nambiar] also asked the refugees whether they wanted to return home. The refugees told him that they all wanted to return home, but they dared not return at this moment because they feel unsafe," Sang Aung added. During his two-day trip to Kachin State, the UN envoy met with KIO officials at both the KIO's liaison office in the state capital Myitkyina and at the rebels' Laiza headquarters. The envoy arrived in Myitkyina on Tuesday and left from the capital on Thursday. He also met with the KIO's technical team for peace negotiations during his time in Myitkyina. According to Sang Aung, the UN envoy also said he was pleased that the KIO showed a willingness to engage in the peace process with the Burmese government. Nambiar participated in a landmark meeting between KIO leaders and the government's peace team in Myitkyina in late May, when the two parties signed a seven-point agreement in which both sides said they would "undertake efforts to achieve de-escalation and cessation of hostilities" and to "continue discussions on military matters related to repositioning of troops." "He [Nambiar] came to observe the situation in the field. The refugees asked him to help in achieving peace in Kachin State. I think it [Nambiar's visit] was a good move," Sang Aung said. He also said Nambiar would likely be invited to attend another meeting between KIO leaders and a Burmese government delegation led by Aung Min, a President's Office minister who is the government's chief peace negotiator, in Naypyidaw. The next round of peace talks is likely to be held in September after the KIO's technical team and their government counterparts agree on a date and venue for the meeting. The armed conflict between government troops and the KIO's militant wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), has displaced about 100,000 Kachin civilians in both KIO-held regions and government-controlled territories. KIO leaders and Union negotiators have met several times for peace talks since the nominally civilian government of President Thein Sein took office, but the two sides have yet to re-establish a ceasefire agreement. Nambiar's visit came a week after his UN colleague Tomás Ojea Quintana, the UN's human rights envoy to Burma, was prevented from traveling to Laiza by the state and central governments. That denial, and similar problems faced by UN humanitarian aid convoys, drew a rebuke from Quintana last week. "This pattern of denying access, not only to address humanitarian shortcomings but also serious human rights concerns, needs to change immediately," he said on Aug. 21 during a press conference at the conclusion of his 11-day visit to Burma. Only one UN aid convoy has managed to access KIO-controlled territory since July of last year, a situation that Quintana called "extremely concerning, particularly with regard to food security." Additional reporting by Irrawaddy reporter Andrew D. Kaspar.

Taking the Pulse of Burma’s Bean Business Posted: 28 Aug 2013 10:48 PM PDT Traders chat after the morning’s beans and pulses buying session at Bayintnaung commodities exchange (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Each morning the floor of the Bayintnaung commodity exchange center in northern Rangoon is jammed with traders and middlemen and buyers looking for the latest prices and deals for some of Burma’s agricultural produce. Famously Burma was once the world’s biggest rice exporter, a position long-lost due to the decades of economic mismanagement under the country’s socialist rule and military dictatorship. The government has high-profile ambitions to retake that top spot, but here at the Bayintnaung exhange, the trade is mostly in matpe and mung bean and chickpea. These beans and pulses might be lower-profile than their rice counterpart, but are nonetheless a vital cash crop for some of the tens of millions of Burmese dependent on agriculture. "Many people are often surprised to hear that farmers make more money growing beans and pulses than they do from rice," says Dr Myint Oo, who sits on the commodity exchange’s executive committee. Beans and pulses are an export commodity, with almost three-quarters of the 1.9 million tons of exports going to India – partly a legacy of British rule in both countries, which saw Burma grow beans and pulses to service the Indian market. "We export to 52 countries in all," Myint Oo told The Irrawaddy. "But of course India is by far the most important." Various estimates put India’s vegetarians at between 20 and 40 per cent of the country’s 1.2 billion population, hundreds of millions of people who eat protein-laden beans and pulses rather than meat. But to sell more to India, which imports between three and four million tons of beans and pulses each year, as well as to get a foothold in the newly-opened Western markets, the Burmese beans and pulses sector must first deal with some of the same internal infrastructural challenges faced by rice growers and traders. "Some of the main growing areas are so far from here. In some cases it can take two or three days to send a truck down from upper Burma," Myat Soe, a beans and pulses trader, told The Irrawaddy. Poor roads mean smaller trucks, and that in turn sends costs up. "For example it costs on average US$1.50 to send a 50 kilo bag of pulses from Shan State to Yangon," he says. "It is cheaper to ship from here to Singapore or Malaysia," he laments. Sending agricultural produce by river – usually cheaper than by road, as larger consignments can be sent – is often not an option. "Most of the vessels in Myanmar are too old or too small," says Myat Soe. "That is another area that needs to change." Making better use of Burma’s rivers, such as the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin, is something the country’s Transport Ministry says it is working on. "Usually rivers are the cheapest and most effective transport mode," says Thaung Lwin, Director of the Ministry’s Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems. "But in the dry season, the water in the Irrawaddy is usually too low to allow big vessels to pass," he said. Though population statistics are elusive in Burma – the last census was three decades ago – Myat Soe reckons that around 10 million Burmese are tied to the beans and pulses trade – most of them farmers and their families. But over recent decades, those millions have had to make do with little by way of subsidy from a government that typically allocated around a quarter of its annual budget to the military and continues to sanction land grabs against farmers to facilitate mining or factory construction. An ossified banking system and the absence of the micro-financing and technological improvements that boosted agricultural production in neighboring countries have meant additional challenges for Burma’s farmers, millions of whom have to manage without running water or electricity. Most of the farms where beans and pulses are grown are small – one or two hectare holdings – and Burma’s beans and pulses sector does not feature the sort of large-scale agribusinesses that can afford to buy in better seeds and technology. According to a recent report on the beans and pulses sector by Thura Swiss, an absence of research and development inhibits the quality of beans and pulses grown. "Farmers often resort to mixed or inferior quality seeds as high quality seeds are either unavailable or inaccessible because of their high prices," the report said. "We would like to see some financial support from the government, and from the donor countries, especially for seed purchase," says Myint Oo. "The farmers don’t have money for better seeds and they need financial support."

Japan Upgrades Nuclear Plant Leak to ‘Serious’ Posted: 28 Aug 2013 10:44 PM PDT The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) TOKYO — Japan’s nuclear regulator on Wednesday upgraded the rating of a leak of radiation-contaminated water from a tank at its tsunami-wrecked nuclear plant to a "serious incident" on an international scale, and it castigated the plant operator for failing to catch the problem earlier. The Nuclear Regulation Authority’s latest criticism of Tokyo Electric Power Co. came a day after the operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant acknowledged that the 300-ton (300,000-liter) leak probably began nearly a month and a half before it was discovered Aug. 19. In a meeting with agency officials and experts Tuesday night, TEPCO said radioactivity near the leaky tank and exposure levels among patrolling staff started to increase in early July. There is no sign that anyone tried to find the source of that radioactivity before the leak was discovered. On Wednesday, regulatory officials said TEPCO has repeatedly ignored their instructions to improve their patrolling procedures to reduce the risk of overlooking leakages. They said TEPCO lacked expertise and also underestimated potential impact of the leak because underground water is shallower around the tank than the company initially told regulators. "Their instructions, written or verbal, have never been observed," Toyoshi Fuketa, a regulatory commissioner, said at the agency’s weekly meeting Wednesday. TEPCO acknowledged recently that only two workers were assigned to check all 1,000 storage tanks at the plant during their twice-daily, two-hour walk without carrying dosimeters, and their inspection results were not adequately recorded. TEPCO said it will increase patrolling staff to 50 from the current eight. Earlier this week, Japan’s industry minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said the government will take over cleanup efforts and allocate funding for long-term contaminated water management projects. The nuclear authority originally gave a Level 1 preliminary rating — an "anomaly," to the tank leak. Last week the authority proposed raising that to Level 3 — a "serious incident" — and it made that change after consulting with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA’s ratings are designed to inform the international community, and changing them does not affect efforts to clean up the leak by the government and TEPCO. The 2011 Fukushima disaster itself was rated the maximum of 7 on the scale, the same as the 1986 Chernobyl accident. "What’s important is not the number itself but to give a basic idea about the extent of the problem," authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka said at a news conference after the agency’s meeting. "I’ve seen reports that this is a dire situation but that’s not true." Tanaka said there is a much larger ongoing problem at the plant: massive amounts of contaminated ground water reaching the sea. But that problem cannot even be rated under the IAEA’s International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale because it is unknown exactly how much ground water is escaping, how contaminated it is and what effect it is having on the sea and marine products. Tanaka said TEPCO’s handling of the water leaks was slow, illogical and lacked risk management. TEPCO has yet to determine the cause of the latest leak. "I’m baffled," he said. "It may take time to stabilize the plant but we must put it on a right track." TEPCO has recovered some of the water that leaked from the tank but says some of it may have reached the sea through a rainwater gutter. It says most of the leakage is believed to have seeped into the soil, triggering fresh concern of further contamination of underground water downstream. TEPCO has built hundreds of tanks to hold radioactive water, some of which is ground water that made its way to the plant, but hundreds more tons of contaminated water are believed to be entering the sea each day. The plant suffered triple meltdowns after the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. TEPCO is putting tons of water into its reactors to cool them and is struggling to contain the resulting waste water.

Asylum Seekers Threaten to Sink Australian Govt in Election Posted: 28 Aug 2013 10:34 PM PDT Vietnam born Thi Duc Diep talks during an interview at her fabrics shop in Cabramatta, western Sydney, on Aug. 22, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Daniel Munoz) BLACKTOWN, Australia — Australian Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare crouches uncomfortably in a suit on the canvas of a youth boxing ring in Sydney's hardscrabble Western Suburbs, shaping up for the election fight of his life. Clare, in charge of a border circling 12 million square kilometers of ocean, has the unenviable job of stopping thousands of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia, an issue threatening to bring down Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor government at elections just two weeks away. "People are drowning to get here. It opens up old scars. People say 'please stop more people drowning,'" says the campaigning Clare, whose wife is from a Vietnamese family who risked their lives to reach Australia following the 1975 fall of Saigon. Clare grew up in the Western Suburbs, far away from Sydney's glittering harbor and affluent eastern beachsides, in an area long thought to be a center-left Labor heartland of blue-collar jobs and traditional manufacturing. But his humanitarian reasoning does not go far in explaining why Rudd's minority government is struggling here to avert a Sept. 7 poll rout, with surveys tipping the loss of six election-turning seats, some held for 70 years. In this traffic-choked home to two million, a crucible of Australian multiculturalism where many are new migrants, soaring living costs, groaning infrastructure and disappearing jobs have badly hurt Labor, along with crime and drive-by shootings helping to fuel feelings of insecurity. And as voters lose faith in Rudd's pledge to improve lives through better transport, health and education, they have also grown resentful of new boat people seen as potential security threats, immigration queue jumpers and rivals for jobs. "The issue plays out in every single possible way. Rumors go around about them getting $50,000 for a car, or welfare, or whatever. The refugees are an easy people to blame," says local Labor MP Julie Owens. Political Thorn Immigration has been a political thorn in Australia since its colonial settlement, but more so since the post-World War II arrival of more than 100,000 non-English speaking Europeans under a government strategy to "populate or perish." In a nation then seeing itself as culturally nearer to Europe than Asia, a wave of Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants fleeing conflict through the 1970s and '80s also stirred unease. But when the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States brought increased border protection globally, asylum worries in Australia were shaped into a political spear, helping conservative Prime Minister John Howard return to power that year with a promise of uncompromising security. Now, with instability in Afghanistan, Syria and Iran driving refugee numbers globally to near a 20-year high of 45.2 million, asylum boats are again coloring the election race, up with bread and butter issues like the economy and education. Since Labor swept away Howard's conservatives six years ago, more than 50,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia, stoking a voter backlash so visceral that Rudd in July promised no one arriving by boat would be permanently settled, being instead sent to live in neighboring Papua New Guinea or Nauru. Canberra's approach contrasts with moves by key ally the United States to offer a pathway to citizenship for many of its 11 million illegal immigrants, although European countries have also hardened immigration rules amid global financial woes. But while Australia's policy—matching opposition promises of tougher immigration rules—was criticized by the United Nations, political pundits say it could neutralize an issue threatening to send Labor into opposition for a generation. Australia for Freedom In the My Hung fabric shop in Sydney's Cabramatta, an area dubbed "little Saigon" with its myriad noodle shops and migrant families from Vietnam and Cambodia, Thi Duc Diep underscores the problems facing Rudd on Labor's Sydney "Western Front." Located in one of 10 marginal seats held by the government and at risk of loss, almost six in 10 people here were born overseas and average income of $1,030 a week is well short of the national figure, while 10 percent unemployment is roughly double the national average. Greater Sydney, home to 4.6 million people, is not only one of the most expensive cities to buy property, with home prices soaring 6.1 percent this year to a median $640,000, but surveys put it near Zurich and Geneva as one of the least affordable places to live, a fifth more expensive than New York. Diep fled Saigon by boat in 1978, and like many other overseas-born Australian voters now has a deep antipathy to asylum seekers, who she believes are fleeing for largely economic reasons and the promise of generous welfare. "We came here for freedom. We worked hard to be honest," the bespectacled 53-year-old says. "I don't want people who don't want to go to work. They shouldn't just take the unemployment benefits." Along with asylum, Diep blames the soaring cost of living and new carbon taxes championed by Rudd for undermining the $1.5 trillion economy, reflected now in gloomy business confidence and fears of the first recession for 22 years as a China-led resource export boom fades. In an alley around the corner, cafe owner and swing voter Eddie Nguyen also wants Labor out, and says many of his customers are hoping to see conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott become prime minister. "I think Australia's government should have strong rules, a strong commitment to protect Australians," says Nguyen, who spent three years in a refugee camp in Indonesia before being accepted as a refugee to Australia in 1987. "I don't agree with people going direct to the country like this. It's like your family, someone knocks on your door and says I want to come into your house, and you have to accept them. That's just not right. You have to go somewhere and wait until somebody accepts you." Land of Gold and Honey Pollster John Scales of JWS Research says much of the anger being directed against Labor has its roots in a kind of racist-tinged envy, with migrant voters worried that new boat arrivals from other countries will lessen their chances of bringing more family members to Australia. Australia's population growth to near 23 million was driven mostly by a doubling in net migration in eight years, from around 120,000 to around 240,000, helping fill mining jobs but bringing fresh problems. "Once you get here, it's not the land of gold and honey. Asylum seekers are where frustration gets vented," Scales says. "It's a different sort of racism to standard Australian Anglo-Saxon racism. But it's still racism." Labor MP Michelle Rowland, whose Sydney seat of Greenway is one of the most precariously balanced, says Labor is in difficulty because Western Sydney has become increasingly frustrated and ambitious. Not helping, she says, has been a front page campaign against Labor by billionaire media owner Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, which have been particularly critical of asylum policy switches under Labor. "When you're sitting in a traffic jam on the motorway or waiting for a train that never comes, it's easy to think about the taxes you've paid and the benefits others might get," Rowland says. "Asylum is right up there." Abbott, mindful of the simmering mood for change, has made Western Sydney a top priority, visiting often with a promise of tougher asylum seeker laws, which he says will reduce hundreds of boats arriving now to a trickle, and to reinvigorate economic confidence by scrapping carbon taxes and building new roads. "We will build the roads of the 21st century and we will stop the boats," he told journalists on a recent swing through the area. "The message that I give to the people of Australia and to the people of Western Sydney is that if you want a new way, you've got to choose a new government."

EU Lawmakers Criticize Laos on Missing Activist Posted: 28 Aug 2013 10:27 PM PDT Sombath Somphone, far left, stands with other winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards in Manila on Aug. 31, 2005. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — A team of European lawmakers on Wednesday criticized the Lao government's failure to accept international help in solving the mysterious disappearance of a prominent social activist eight months ago. Sombath Somphone was last seen in closed-circuit video footage when he was stopped at a police checkpoint in the Lao capital of Vientiane on Dec. 15. The government of the Southeast Asian country denies knowledge of his fate. Speaking to reporters in Bangkok, the capital of neighboring Thailand, lawmaker Soren Bo Sondergaard of Denmark denounced Laos' refusal of international assistance to interpret the footage. He also accused government officials of telling "ridiculous lies" by suggesting that the person in the video might not be Sombath. "We have to say, based on our experience in the last few days, that what the regime has done to investigate this is not sufficient," Sondergaard said after the delegation's three-day visit to Laos. "Every day spent without giving any acceptable answers to this very serious and symbolic case … is very damaging to the international image of Laos," the delegation said in a statement. A spokesman for Laos' Foreign Ministry did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment. The case has put a rare spotlight on the authoritarian nation's murky governance and human rights record. Laos remains one of the most politically repressive countries in Asia, even as it makes a transition from communism to a more open market economy. Laos' government is intolerant of dissent, but associates say Sombath's work was neither directly political nor confrontational. Educated in the United States, he won one of Asia's top civil awards in 2005 for his work reducing poverty and promoting education at a training center he founded.

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National News

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• Township raises funds for world's biggest bell
• The ties that bind: US and Myanmar cosy up
• Myanmar’s tallest man to have surgery
• Shan resettlement encounters opposition
• Teachers unite in support over sacking
• Balloon adventures set for takeoff in Mandalay
• From Yangon to Sydney: heritage tour
• Calls to advance democratic reforms

Township raises funds for world's biggest bell Posted: 29 Aug 2013 09:03 AM PDT Donors in Ayeyarwady Region's Myaungmya township are calling for donations to cast what they say will be the world's biggest bronze bell.

The ties that bind: US and Myanmar cosy up Posted: 29 Aug 2013 07:27 AM PDT The United States has taken further steps to expand military-to-military engagement with Myanmar.

Myanmar’s tallest man to have surgery Posted: 29 Aug 2013 06:12 AM PDT Myanmar's tallest man, Ko Win Zaw Oo, is to undergo surgery in Singapore this week.

Shan resettlement encounters opposition Posted: 29 Aug 2013 04:39 AM PDT The proposed resettlement of Shan refugees in a Thailand camp will require extensive preparatory work if it is to succeed, say civil society groups.

Teachers unite in support over sacking Posted: 29 Aug 2013 02:03 AM PDT Yangon and Mandalay teachers' unions join forces to condemn the sacking of a Nay Pyi Taw teacher, who was forced to resign after attending an event to mark 25 years since the 1988 uprising.

Balloon adventures set for takeoff in Mandalay Posted: 29 Aug 2013 01:28 AM PDT Eager adventurers will soon have the chance to enjoy an aerial view of Mandalay from a hot air balloon starting this October, a newly launched company says.

From Yangon to Sydney: heritage tour Posted: 29 Aug 2013 12:47 AM PDT A group of 12 urban planners, architects and academics is visiting Australia for a five-week course aimed at strengthening efforts to conserve and enhance Yangon's heritage buildings.

Calls to advance democratic reforms Posted: 28 Aug 2013 11:47 PM PDT Lawmakers amending the army-drafted constitution should push on with democratic reforms, according to a notice in The New Light of Myanmar on August 28.

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