The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Ruling Party MP Investigated for Defaming Police
- Mother-Tongue Instruction Pushed for Burma’s Schools
- Burma Govt Rejects Report of Secret Chemical Weapons Factory
- Singapore Consortium Back in Running for Burma Airport
- Suu Kyi Says Report Shows Support for Burma Charter Reform
- Burma Army Sues Over 200 People for Trespass
- Only 3.4 % of Burmese Refugees in Thailand Returned Home in 2013
- Indonesian Minister Tried But Couldn’t Block His Own Mining Law
- Wary North Korea Struggles to Stay Afloat in Info Age
- Thai Opposition Challenges Poll in Court as Protest Numbers Dwindle
| Ruling Party MP Investigated for Defaming Police Posted: 04 Feb 2014 05:25 AM PST  USDP Lower House member Shwe Maung. (Photo: Twitter/Shwe Maung) RANGOON — Shwe Maung, a ruling party parliamentarian representing the Rohingya majority township of Buthidaung in strife-torn Arakan State, said he was called in for questioning on Tuesday by the Home Affairs Ministry on allegations of defaming the Burmese police force and state. He said he was being interrogated because of recent comments he gave to news agency Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), in which he suggested that police could have been responsible for the burning of 16 homes in Du Char Yar Tan village in Maungdaw Township on Jan. 28. The village is the site of the alleged killing of possibly dozens of Rohingya Muslims earlier last month. Shwe Maung, a Lower House MP of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann had received a letter from President Thein Sein "requesting permission to meet and interrogate me and proceed according to laws." "[The] President’s letter describes that my DVB interview is defaming the state and Myanmar Police Force. The letter also describes that I am instigating conflicts," Shwe Maung said in a statement on social media site Twitter on Tuesday. He said he met with Shwe Mann and agreed to be interrogated by Home Affairs Ministry officials at the USDP headquarters in Naypyidaw at 4 pm on Tuesday. Shwe Maung could not be reached for further comment, but a fellow Lower House lawmaker said he had also heard about the investigation. "Shwe Maung told me that he will be questioned by the police for misinforming DVB about the fire in Du Char Yar Tan village on Jan. 28," said Rakhine National Development Party MP Phay Than. As a lawmaker Shwe Maung enjoys a degree of parliamentary immunity and can only be interrogated or apprehended after approval by the Union Parliament Speaker. Shwe Maung told DVB on Jan. 31 that the western part of Du Char Yar Tan village had been under police control on the night that the fire broke out, adding, "I have solid information from locals in nearby villages who phoned me and said they saw the police setting the houses on fire." Maungdaw police have rejected the allegations. In his statement, Shwe Maung defended his comments to DVB. "I never do anything to defame the State and Myanmar Police Force. What I do is for the good of my nation and people according to the Constitution and [Lower House] Law. I always emphasize stability, peaceful existence, development, rule of law, justice and equal rights." The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has raised concerns over a possible massacre of dozens of Rohingya Muslims in Du Char Yar Tan village in Maungdaw Township by police and an Arakanese Buddhist mob on Jan.9-13 in an apparent retaliation for the disappearance of a policeman. The central government and state authorities have, however, vehemently denied reports of the killings and insist that the villagers are responsible for the disappearance of a policeman who was attacked while patrolling the village on Jan. 9. The post Ruling Party MP Investigated for Defaming Police appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Mother-Tongue Instruction Pushed for Burma’s Schools Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST  A teacher marks the paper of a student at a school in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A seminar on multilingual education has called for the use of ethnic minorities' mother tongue as their language of instruction, in combination with allowing local education authorities to draft ethnic language curricula for primary school students who do not belong to Burma's ethnic Burman majority. "The attendees agree that children's mother tongue should be used as the medium of instruction in order for ethnic children to be effective in their studies and balance the teaching of national and international language skills," the National Network for Education Reform (NNER) said in a statement released following the seminar on Saturday. The two-day seminar was attended by a variety of groups representing ethnic literature and culture preservationists, mother tongue-focused education academics, religious organizations, the government's Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR) committee, international NGOs, teachers and students. Participants discussed topics on multilingual education that included challenges faced by ethnic minority children under the current education system, language instruction's links to social cohesion and regional multilingual practices. "It's found to be more effective using students' mother tongue as the language of instruction when teaching the Burmese language in its spoken and written forms," said Naw Khu Shee, summarizing the findings of her research on teaching of the Burmese language using the Sgaw Karen subgroup's language among primary school children. "If it's found to be effective using the mother tongue only as the language of instruction, I'd like to recommend that it would be more effective if the mother tongue is included in the curriculum and exams." Currently, Burmese is the language of instruction at schools across the country. Since political reforms that began nearly three years ago, and amid ongoing national reconciliation efforts, a growing call to reinstate ethnic minority languages into classrooms has been met with modest success. The central government in 2012 allowed the teaching of ethnic minority languages, but only outside of school hours. Those who want language instruction in their mother tongue are also forced to rely on teachers' volunteerism or other means, with no additional state funding allocated for after-hours instruction. Critics of the current educational paradigm say it is symptomatic of wider attempts by the country's Burman majority to suppress the rights and cultural identities of Burma's ethnic minorities. Under the democratically elected U Nu government of the 1950s, all schools in Burma's ethnic areas were permitted to teach ethnic literature in its native tongue to students. However, school curricula were centralized after Gen. Ne Win's military coup in 1962, and regulations were passed stipulating that all subjects be taught in only one national language—Burmese. The current government's ongoing CESR is expected to once again allow a greater degree of autonomy for local education authorities, though what that means for the status of ethnic language instruction remains to be seen. In presenting his research on language barriers encountered by ethnic children in Burma, Htin Zaw, a social science researcher from the Shalom Foundation, pointed out that children have difficulties understanding unfamiliar topics when the same textbooks are used across Burma's seven states and seven divisions. "Texts in Yangon [Rangoon] are the same as texts in Myitkyina and Chin State, where local content is not included," he told The Irrawaddy. Min Thein Win, an education liaison officer for World Education, said mother-tongue instruction had an added cultural benefit. "It can also prevent the extinction of languages," Min Thein Win told The Irrawaddy. "Children also improve bridging skills in words because of languages. One of the reasons for ethnics' rebellion is a lack of opportunities to learn their own language well." Maw Ko Myar, secretary of a Karrenni committee on that ethnic group's literature and culture, said "children run away and are afraid of Burmese teachers in rural areas of Karenni State. They are more familiar with teachers who can speak their mother tongue. "Allowing the teaching of ethnic languages outside of school hours is not enough," she said, adding that the random assignment of licensed teachers by the Ministry of Education was a "waste of human resources," as a Karen-speaking teacher might be sent to teach at a school in Kachin State, or a Mon-speaking instructor dispatched to Arakan State. The use of Burmese as the official language of instruction for schools across Burma was essentially an example of ethnic chauvinism in the education system, according to Thein Lwin of the NNER. "We have to reduce the influence of [Burmese] language and [the ethnic Burman] group to allow the growth of ethnic [minority] languages," he said. The NNER has proposed a mother tongue-based, trilingual teaching system with a child's mother-tongue as first language, Burmese as the second language and English as a third language. "Mother tongue-based multilingual education can build a bridge between the mother tongue and minority culture, and the government culture and government language," said Kimmo Kosonen, a lecturer and researcher at Payap University in Thailand. "The amount of mother tongue instruction that children receive predicts their success in education and learning," said Kimmo, who is also a senior consultant in multilingual education for SIL International, a US-based NGO that studies languages globally. Echoing others' concerns about the local relevance of nationwide curricula, a high school teacher from Chin State said his students struggled to solve math problems where the questions involved ships and trains. The reason for this difficulty? Land-locked and underdeveloped Chin State has neither ships nor trains. "When children have never seen a train, they don't know how to calculate the length of a train as asked in the question." The post Mother-Tongue Instruction Pushed for Burma's Schools appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma Govt Rejects Report of Secret Chemical Weapons Factory Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:36 AM PST  A woman sells newspapers and journals in Rangoon in December 2011. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON/MANDALAY — The Burma government has rejected a report on an alleged secret chemical weapons factory as "baseless," following the arrest over the weekend of journalists and a news journal executive who published the report. Ye Htut, the presidential spokesman and deputy minister of information, says the report in Rangoon-based Unity journal was not based on reliable sources. "The journal only quotes local people, and it was a totally baseless accusation," Ye Htut, the presidential spokesman and deputy minister of information, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "The factory was under the Ministry of Defense and protected under the Official Secrets Act," he added. The act makes it an offense to communicate any information that might have an adverse effect on the safety, sovereignty or integrity of the state, or affect foreign relations. He defended the arrest of the journalists, which he said was not a violation of press freedom. "It is a national security issue, and even a country like the US would respond the same way on these matters," he told The Irrawaddy. He said the police received a warrant on Saturday to detain the Unity journalists and chief executive for two weeks. "Police are conducting their investigation according to law and regulations," he added. In late January the journal published a report about the supposed chemical weapons factory in Pauk Township, Magwe Division. The report, which included photographs, said the factory was built in 2009 on more than 3,000 acres of land that had been confiscated from farmers, and that it was connected by over 1,000 feet of tunnels. It said the facility has been visited by the former military regime's strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe, as well as the current commander-in chief of the armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing, former Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo and current Vice President Nyan Htun. The journal cited local residents who said staff at the factory claimed to be producing chemical weapons. It did not cite any factory or government authorities. The report could not be independently verified by The Irrawaddy and has since been removed from local newsstands. Lu Maw Naing, a Unity reporter based in Pauk Township, was arrested on Friday and moved to the custody of the police's Special Branch in nearby Pakokku Township. Meanwhile, the wife of the reporter in Pauk Township has also been held for questioning, according to family members. Lwin Lwin Myint lost contact with her family on Monday when she and her young daughter went to Pakokku Prison to see her husband. "The friend who was accompanying her told us that the military officers told her to stay there at the prison because they had questions for her," her brother Aung Kyaw Kyaw told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "The officers said Ma Lwin will be sent back home after questioning. We are so worried because she took her 2-year-old daughter." He said the police and local authorities searched her home while she was gone, although other residents who live in the same building asked them to return later after she or her husband have returned from prison. "The children who live there asked them not to go into the house while the homeowners are away," he said. "But the police rudely replied, rushed into the house and took a laptop." Officials at the Pauk Township Police Station and the Special Branch declined requests for comment on Tuesday. Officials at Pakokku Prison told The Irrawaddy they were not familiar with the case of the Unity journal reporter. "The fact that journalists can be charged with revealing state secrets shows how desperately Burma needs meaningful legal reform," Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative, said in a statement on Monday. "Weapons proliferation issues are central to Burma’s political narrative and journalists should not be threatened or arrested for reporting on topics of national and international importance." Burma has signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), an international treaty that outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. The government said in December that it was preparing to ratify the treaty. The post Burma Govt Rejects Report of Secret Chemical Weapons Factory appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Singapore Consortium Back in Running for Burma Airport Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:23 AM PST  A view of the main building at Rangoon International Airport. (Photo: Reuters) SINGPORE — A consortium including Singapore's Changi Airport Planners and Yongnam Holdings Inc has been invited by the government of Burma to re-enter negotiations to build and operate a new international airport in the country. In August a consortium led by South Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corp was named as the preferred bidder to build Hanthawaddy International Airport, but those discussions have since broken down according to a person familiar with the matter. Yongnam said in a statement that its consortium, which also includes Japan's JGC Corp, has been asked by Burma's Department of Civil Aviation to enter negotiations for a 30-year public-private partnership to build, run and maintain the airport. It was named in August as the back-up bidder to the Korean group. The order was estimated in August to be worth around US$1 billion and would oversee the construction of an airport near Rangoon, Burma's old capital and commercial center, that could handle an annual passenger capacity of around 12 million people. The post Singapore Consortium Back in Running for Burma Airport appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Suu Kyi Says Report Shows Support for Burma Charter Reform Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:15 AM PST  Aung San Suu Kyi addresses protesters in Monywa, Sagaing Division, in November 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said that a report last week from a parliamentary committee showed there was strong public support for changing the country's military-drafted 2008 Constitution. Friday's report from Naypyidaw's Joint Constitutional Review Committee (JCRC) set out comments about amending the Constitution—from the public, experts, NGOs, political parties and government departments—but has sowed confusion. The report showed most of the more than 28,000 responses to a consultation had supported amending the Constitution. But footnotes in the report cited a single petition—signed by more than 100,000 people—rejecting constitutional change. Speaking to reporters in Naypyidaw on Monday, National League for Democracy (NLD) chairperson Suu Kyi said the results should be taken as an endorsement of her calls for changes to the Constitution. The 2008 Constitution bans Suu Kyi from the presidency because her children are foreign nationals, guarantees the military a role in national politics and is criticized by ethnic groups who want more autonomy in border areas. "If we look at the tables, the number of people who want to change the Constitution is more than the others [people who do not]. It is so clear that there is a willingness to amend the Constitution in the majority of the letters submitted," Suu Kyi said, dismissing the petition mentioned in the footnotes. "Just forget the petition that more than 100,000 signed for not amending the Constitution as it is unclear, and we do not know who they are. As far as we understand, there are no details of the signatories. We can't say these people or those people are not willing to amend the Constitution by just seeing the signatures." Suu Kyi told reporters that, with the report, Parliament now has a clear indication that the people's will is to amend the Constitution. On Monday, the Union Parliament approved the formation of a new committee to implement the findings of the review committee's report, according to the state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper. "It's time to see whether the Parliament will follow the people's desire or not," Suu Kyi said. "Parliamentarians need to be brave, and we will see whether the Parliament's decision is for the people, or if they are not brave enough to stand for the people who voted for them." The JCRC's report compiled 28,237 letters of response from political parties, legal experts and NGOs, government ministries and the military, and the public. It said that an overwhelming 27,148 of all the letters wanted changes to Chapter 1 of the Constitution, which outlines the "Basic Principles of the Union." Chapter 1 includes the contentious Article 6(f), which ensures that the armed forces can "participate in the National political leadership role of the State." On Chapter 3, which includes Article 59(f)—barring those with foreign relatives from becoming president—the vast majority of responses, 5,833 out of 6,183, were in favor of change. But below the tables in the report, footnotes said the 106,102 signatories of a petition opposed the specific changes that would wrest power from the military and allow Suu Kyi to become president. According to the Voice Weekly, Aung Thein Lin, a lawmaker for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, confirmed to the newspaper that the petition was submitted by a member of the party's Central Executive Committee, and that the signatories were party members. Htay Oo, a member of the NLD's own constitutional reform committee, said the JCRC should have been clearer about the petition. "As far as we know, those 106,102 signatures are just signed on the back of the letter that said they do not agree with amending the Constitution. If the committee is sincere, they should have stated plainly that those signatures are unclear. What if only one person has signed many different signatures and submitted it?" he said. "It is obvious that the report is intended to create misunderstanding. But if you look closely, it is very clear that majority of the letters submitted to the committee said the Constitution needs to be amended." The post Suu Kyi Says Report Shows Support for Burma Charter Reform appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma Army Sues Over 200 People for Trespass Posted: 04 Feb 2014 02:00 AM PST  A house in Chaung Tha that was built on land seized by the government and transferred to the army. (Photo: Salai Thant Sin / The Irrawaddy) Over 200 people have been accused of trespassing on military land in the popular beach area of Chaung Tha in Irrawaddy Division. The Burma Army's Southwestern Command (SWC) has pressed charges against 209 people who claim to be the original land owners, according to defendants and their family members. The local residents allegedly built fences and houses on about 13 hectares (34 acres) of land in Chaung Tha village that was transferred to the army about 18 years ago. The police began investigating the case in 2012, and last month the SWC filed the lawsuit. "We have been sued by the SWC, with Lt-Col Thet Htun as the plaintiff," Than Own, the daughter of a defendant, told The Irrawaddy. She said that in 1996 the then-administrator of Bassein District seized farmland and other property with coconut trees, and gave the SWC nearly 13 hectares to build an army guest house. Local residents say they received no compensation for the land. They say they were paid 35 kyats (US 35 cents) for each coconut tree on their property that bore fruit, and 200 kyats for trees that did not. Ko Ko Lwin, who is also facing charges, said the military offered to return land that remained vacant after the construction of the guest house. "The army only built a few buildings, and about 15 acres [6 hectares] was left vacant," he said. "That land was later covered by bushes and vines. When news about the army returning unused lands came out, we heard other people were preparing to take it, even though they had no connection to the land. To protect our property we built fences and houses there." In February 2013, the commander-in-chief of Burma's armed forces acknowledged that the military was involved in land seizures and pledged to address the issue. He said the military would return farmland that had been confiscated in areas away from its bases. According to a report submitted by Parliament's Farmland Investigation Commission (FIC) in March last year, the Ministry of Defense had returned about 16 percent of more than 2,000 hectares of land seized by the army in Irrawaddy Division. "The FIC recommended the return of unused land to owners, and the Union Parliament formally accepted the report," Htun Htun Oo, a human rights activist, told The Irrawaddy. "The commander-in-chief also said the army would return farmland. "But later the regional and local army units sued the land owners for trespassing and other charges because they were worried they would have to give up the land. Such practices should not have happened." The 1963 Land Acquisition Act nationalized ownership of all land in Burma, and since then confiscations have be widespread for various reasons—including project construction, urban expansions, establishment of industrial zones and building army bases. The parliamentary land investigation committee, which has collected data in all 14 of Burma's states and divisions, has received more than 6,000 land grab complaints since 2012. The post Burma Army Sues Over 200 People for Trespass appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Only 3.4 % of Burmese Refugees in Thailand Returned Home in 2013 Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:45 AM PST  A young girl living at Mae La refugee camp near Mae Sot, Thailand. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A small percentage of Burmese refugees living in camps on the Thai border returned to their homeland in 2013, a consortium of NGOs says. Of 128,200 refugees living in nine camps in Thailand in December 2012, only 3.4 percent returned to Burma last year, compared with 6 percent who resettled to third countries, according to new population data published by The Border Consortium (TBC), which assists Burmese people who have been displaced and are either living in Burma or as refugees in Thailand. "These figures show us that refugees are not leaving the camps and returning to Myanmar [Burma] en masse," TBC executive director Sally Thompson, said in a statement Monday. "It appears that the majority of those returning are going back on a 'look and see' basis." Last year 4,389 refugees in the camps returned to Burma. Of these departures, a majority included just one or two people from a household, with other family members staying behind in the camps, TBC said. By comparison, at least 7,649 people moved to third countries under the resettlement program of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), it said, adding that the figure could be higher as year-end data from the International Organization for Migration was still pending. According to UNHCR, over 7,000 of those people were resettled to the United States, while others went to Australia, Finland, New Zealand and Canada. Last month a group resettlement program to the United States came to a close. Since 2005 the program has helped over 73,000 Burmese refugees move from the Thai camps to the United States. As Burma's quasi-civilian government continues to roll out political and economic reforms, and as it negotiates ceasefire deals with ethnic armed groups, refugees in camps on the Thai border have faced pressure to move home. Many have said they are not ready to return, fearing the conditions in their villages are not yet safe. A majority of refugees in the camps are originally from Karen State in southeast Burma. Many fled from fighting between government troops and Karen armed groups. Clashes have died down with the signing of ceasefires, but the state remains militarized in some areas and conflict zones have yet to be demined. When they return home, refugees face a wide range of challenges depending on how long they have been away, according to TBC spokesman Mike Bruce. "In general, the main issues are land confiscation, security and justice concerns, and livelihood opportunities," he told The Irrawaddy. "We don't know if those who are returning have family supports or economic opportunities waiting for them, but we do know that many of the refugees' townships of origin continue to suffer from acute impoverishment, lack of infrastructure and lack of security." Naw Heh Lay, a 25-year-old Karen woman living in Mae La Oon camp in Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province, said her father has visited their abandoned village in Papun District, northern Karen State, since early 2012. "My father went to our village to observe the situation on the ground," she told The Irrawaddy. "He went back to rebuild our home, garden and paddy field, just to prepare in case we move back one day." Other refugees in Mae La Oon and Mae Ra Ma Luang camps have returned to mark the territory of their old land, to ensure they can claim their property when they move back with their entire families. "Most of those who have gone back to abandoned villages are men because they can move quickly to escape if they are attacked by the Burmese army. There are still Burmese army troops positioned in the areas," said Naw Paw Eh, a housewife in Mae La Oon camp whose husband has returned to Burma several times. Those who make the trip back say land prices in their villages are rising. The ceasefires have allowed more development projects to begin in Karen State, and many local residents have rushed to buy property amid hopes of a relative economic boom. NGO sources say three camps are being built in Myawaddy District, southern Karen State, to house repatriated Burmese refugees from two camps in Thailand's Tak Province, most likely Nu Po and Umpieng camps. There has been no public or official announcement to signal the beginning of refugee repatriation or the expected closure of camps on the Thai-Burma border. "TBC agrees with UNHCR, the Government of the Union of Myanmar, the Royal Thai Government, and many international partners that conditions do not yet exist for the organised return of refugees," the consortium said in the statement. The overall population of refugees in the nine camps in Thailand decreased 7.1 percent last year, from 128,200 people at the end of 2012 to 119,156 people at the end of 2013, TBC said. This figure accounts for people who resettled in third countries and those who moved back to Burma, as well as those who passed away or left the camps to seek jobs as migrant workers. "It is important to note that while there was a net population decrease, new refugees are continuing to arrive in the camps; there were 3,300 new asylum seekers arriving in 2013," Thompson said in the statement. "Changes in population do not mean that there is any less need for protection, food, shelter, and essential services such as education and health care in the camps. There are still 120,000 people living in extremely vulnerable conditions in refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border, and they continue to need protection and humanitarian assistance." The population data was collected through an annual population census by TBC that involved interviews with all registered and unregistered refugees in the camps. A database was updated monthly with population increases and permanent departures. Since President Thein Sein's government came to power in 2011, TBC and others working with Burmese refugees in Thailand have seen decreased funding, as international donors have turned their attention to projects inside Burma. Last year TBC announced that due to funding constraints it would need to reduce rice rations for some people living in the camps. The humanitarian organization, which has provided food to the camps for more than two decades, said it would need to decrease the amount of rice provided to adults from households that were categorized as self-reliant, although rations would remain unchanged for those from more vulnerable households. TBC said at the time that ration changes were not intended to promote an early return to Burma. The post Only 3.4 % of Burmese Refugees in Thailand Returned Home in 2013 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Indonesian Minister Tried But Couldn’t Block His Own Mining Law Posted: 03 Feb 2014 09:50 PM PST  A truck loads earth containing nickel ore on Halmahera island in eastern Indonesia in March 2012. (Photo: Reuters) JAKARTA — Indonesia’s mines minister, Jero Wacik, has been on an unusual mission in recent months: finding a way out of implementing his own government’s policy. A smiling, well-rehearsed politician, Wacik was earlier tourism minister, pushing the charms of his native Bali Island and other Indonesian attractions. In 2011, he was given the role of supervising the country’s $6 billion-a-year mining sector despite having no experience of the industry. At the time, part of his job was to enforce a law President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had pushed through, a bold ultimatum to the mining industry: process your ores in Indonesia by 2014 or stop exporting. But around the middle of last year, the government came to the conclusion that a ban on the export of ore would hurt the economy and lead to job losses that would be damaging in the 2014 election year. Wacik tried postponing the law, but parliament, already tired of the administration’s ambiguities, wouldn’t play ball. He then tried to water it down, but was not successful. Now the ultimatum has come into force, a self-inflicted crisis in a sector that accounts for 12 percent of the GDP of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. "If this law was implemented completely, stopping everything, there would have been mass layoffs," Wacik told reporters. "But if there was to be zero layoffs, the law could not be implemented." "This was impossible. But the government had to find a way." Indonesia is the world’s biggest exporter of nickel ore, refined tin and thermal coal and is an important producer of copper and gold. U.S. mining giants Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc and Newmont Mining Corp are among the hundreds of miners that have suspended ore and concentrates shipments. When the law was enacted in 2009, it went down well at home, appealing to nationalist political sentiment at a time when commodity prices were still booming. It gave miners five years to stop exporting unprocessed ore and start investing in the refineries and smelters they would need to stay in business. But the policy looked less promising as commodity prices came off the boil because of the slowdown in China. It also became clear that very few miners were able to comply or ever took the law seriously—and the result is that Indonesia’s biggest export industry has come to a shuddering halt. Hundreds of companies had told the government that they would construct the necessary refining facilities as required by the 2009 mining law. That proved to be wishful thinking. "At the last minute, we evaluated all of their preparations," said Mineral Enterprise Director Dede Suhendra. "The fact was that many of those documents did not match what the companies had told us. They had promised to build smelters." Everybody Was Angry In early December, lawmakers denied Wacik’s last-ditch request to delay the implementation of the mineral export ban by three years. "Everybody was very angry that he was trying to introduce these changes. We didn’t even listen to the rest (of what he had to say)," said Bobby Adithyo Rizaldi, a lawmaker on the energy and mines committee. Given the fear of widespread layoffs, Wacik and his ministry now had just five weeks to find a way to water down the ban to save jobs and the economy, without breaking the law. And it went on until the final hour. Wacik fought his case in an eight-hour cabinet meeting the evening before the ban was to go into force. He convinced Yudhoyono to significantly dilute its provisions, including changing the way the purity of concentrates was defined and freeing some miners from the purvey of the law, according to officials and ministers at the meeting. But the new regulations were poorly defined and, at the last minute, the finance ministry insisted on a progressive export tax on concentrates, part of the move to force miners to process minerals in Indonesia and add value to exports. When the law came into effect on Jan. 12, there was widespread policy confusion and one of the world’s biggest mining industries swiftly shut down. Tens of thousands of people have been made jobless, trade groups say. "Our task is to create jobs. If the (new) policies cause mass layoffs, well then we were wrong," Wacik said. However, he added the government’s action in the end "was a good decision that is good for our country because it will protect the environment and increase the value (of our minerals)." Train Wreck Indonesia is well known for its unpredictable regulatory environment but nevertheless, the latest policy mishap stands out. The government had since January 2009 to prepare for the law, and in the end still had to rush out rules that only added to the uncertainty. "The whole situation we are facing now … has been like a slow-moving train wreck," said Andrew White, managing director of American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia. It hasn’t helped that Wacik is an outsider to the mining industry. When Yudhoyono handpicked him to head the energy and mineral resources ministry, few in the industry had heard of his name—and Wacik himself had reservations about taking on the role. An avid golfer who has a degree in mechanical engineering from Indonesia’s Bandung Institute of Technology, Wacik is a trusted adviser to the president and a top official of the ruling Democratic Party. Within his party, the minister is highly regarded because he is a self-made man and made his way up to a senior position, said two senior party officials. But critics describe the 64-year-old as arrogant and patronizing. Many in the industry viewed his appointment as a political move by Yudhoyono. "We know Jero Wacik has integrity but in some technical aspects maybe his expertise is not that good," said parliamentarian Rizaldi. "His background is not in this business (of commodities)." Canadian-based think-tank Fraser Institute has said Indonesia has become one of the worst countries to invest in mining under Wacik’s watch, ranking it at the very bottom in a 2012 survey of 742 mining firms. While mining firms await more clarity on the government’s policy, Wacik has said the industry may have to undergo a one-year transition period and that small miners may have to reduce or momentarily halt operations. "Once the smelters are finished, we will see mining (resume)," the minister said. "Their ore will be taken to domestic smelters. It cannot be taken to China or Korea. I think this is a good way out." The post Indonesian Minister Tried But Couldn’t Block His Own Mining Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Wary North Korea Struggles to Stay Afloat in Info Age Posted: 03 Feb 2014 09:38 PM PST  North Korean soldiers look to the South as they patrol at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone separating the North from South Korea in Paju, on March 19, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) PYONGYANG, North Korea — It's late afternoon at the e-library in North Korea's Kim Il Sung University, where row after row of smartly dressed students sit quietly, their faces bathed in the glow of computer displays as they surf the Internet. On the surface, it's a familiar-seeming scene, which is exactly why officials are offering it up for a look. North Korea is literally off the charts regarding Internet freedoms. There essentially aren't any. But the country is increasingly online. Though it deliberately and meticulously keeps its people isolated and in the dark about the outside world, it knows it must enter the information age to survive in the global economy. As with so many other aspects of its internal workings, North Korea has tried hard to keep its relationship to the Internet hidden from foreign eyes. But it opened that door just a crack recently for The Associated Press to reveal a self-contained, tightly controlled Intranet called Kwangmyong, or "Bright." North Korea thinks Bright is the authoritarian answer to the freewheeling Internet. One of the first things an outside observer notices at Kim Il Sung U is that the students are actually studying. Not wasting time on Facebook or Reddit, no BuzzFeed. In fact, the sites they surf most likely aren't even on the Internet, but on the North-Korea-only Bright. Chats and email? Monitored. Content? Restricted to the point that the use of Bright hardly even needs to be watched by officials. How about the OS? It's "Red Star," now available in version 3.0, which looks a lot like the Microsoft operating system, but is used only in North Korea. Red Star has audio and video players, and even a game—Korean chess. There's a Firefox-style search engine called "Our Country" that helps users navigate around an estimated 1,000 to 5,500 websites, mostly for universities, government offices, libraries and state-run corporations. Most North Koreans have no access to the Internet at all. "The goal is to reap the benefits of information technology, while keeping out potentially corrosive foreign influences," said Scott Bruce, a North Korea IT expert and analyst at the Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit CRDF Global. Copies of Red Star have found their way outside of the North and been studied abroad. But North Korea is so secretive about Bright, which it launched more than a decade ago, that it is off-limits to even the foreign technical advisers it brings in. It can be accessed only in the North and is meant exclusively for domestic use. "I haven't had a time when I've been allowed to use the Intranet—since the point is that it is not open to foreigners," said Will Scott, a computer sciences instructor at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology who has worked about as closely with North Korea's attempt to get wired as any other foreigner. Through daily interactions with North Korean students at his university, however, Scott has been able to glean a general outline of what Bright is all about. "The Intranet provides a connection between industry, universities and the government. It seems to be focused on information propagation, rather than commerce, entertainment or communication," he told the AP. "Given the limited resources in the country, where computers are likely not to be owned by individuals, and are a valuable resource, this has a striking resemblance to the uses first made of the Internet in the US when it was introduced in the '80s." Technologically, he said, North Korea's Intranet is a mini-Internet, with a combination of joint venture companies and vaguely government-affiliated labs that collectively maintain the core infrastructure that exists on the global Web. Graduate students and North Korean professors at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology are allowed to access the real Internet from a dedicated computer lab, similar to the e-library at Kim Il Sung University. They receive the same speed and unfiltered access that foreign instructors do, although everyone's access is monitored. Scott said the graduate students don't use the Internet nearly as much as Americans would, treating it more like the way Western students might visit a library to find books. Students' emails must be reviewed and approved by one of the vice presidents of the university before they can be sent, which, Scott said, means they rarely use email. "There is some resistance to providing Internet access to students because it requires some level of political capital, and is generally discouraged by higher-up ministries as not worth the potential danger," he said. "I think you would find a surprising lack of technical surveillance on the Intranet, due largely to the high level of self-censorship built into the collective psyche in the country." Because of the general population's lack of experience with the Internet — and the perception that it is dangerous, forbidden territory—there is no grassroots clamor in North Korea for change. So deeply engrained are the government's teachings about dealings with the outside world that even some of the students at Kim Il Sung University said they see the Internet as a tool best used in moderation. "I use the Internet often to look for English reference books," said Ri Jong Hyok, a 21-year-old math student. "But actually the national Intranet has most of the books that I need so I don't need to use it so much." Still, some experts believe that as more North Koreans become familiar with the benefits of going online—a trend that would seem inevitable if North Korea is to keep afloat in the information age—it will become increasingly difficult for the ruling regime to keep the IT dam from bursting. The post Wary North Korea Struggles to Stay Afloat in Info Age appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thai Opposition Challenges Poll in Court as Protest Numbers Dwindle Posted: 03 Feb 2014 09:14 PM PST  An anti-government protester follows others moving from one protest camp to another in Bangkok on Feb. 3, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Damir Sagolj) BANGKOK — Thailand's opposition Democrat Party will challenge the weekend's disputed ballot in court on Tuesday as the Election Commission probed possible campaigning irregularities and a long-running political conflict showed no sign of ending. But in one bit of good news for caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the number of anti-government protesters, who have blocked major Bangkok intersections for weeks, appears to have dwindled. The Democrats, who boycotted the election, will file two complaints with the Constitutional Court, spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut told Reuters. "The first regards the election directly. We will argue that the election violated the constitution, in particular Article 68 which prohibits people from undermining the constitutional monarchy and trying to grab power through unconstitutional means," he said. "In a separate petition, we will file for the dissolution of [Yingluck's] Puea Thai Party for announcing the state of emergency which meant the election could not be held under normal circumstances." The government imposed a state of emergency last month to try to control the protests. Among other things, it allows security agencies to impose curfews, declare areas off-limits and detain suspects without charge, but it appears that such measures have not been enforced. Sunday's election was generally peaceful, with no repeat of the chaos seen the previous day, when supporters and opponents of Yingluck clashed in north Bangkok. Whatever the result, it is unlikely to change the dysfunctional status quo in a country blighted by eight years of polarization and turmoil. The commission said it was looking into complaints regarding alleged abuse of authority by the government during the election. It is due to meet on Wednesday to discuss problems surrounding the election, including the failure to register candidates in 28 electoral districts after protesters blockaded candidate registration centers in December. The anti-government protesters closed two camps on Monday and marched to a third, the green central oasis of Lumpini Park, but their numbers appeared to be significantly lower on Tuesday. Small groups of people were milling around the grass after spending the night in scattered tents. The demonstrators blocked balloting in a fifth of constituencies on Sunday, saying Yingluck must resign and make way for an appointed "people's council" to overhaul a political system they say has been exploited by her billionaire brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The election is almost certain to return Yingluck to power and, with voting passing off peacefully across the north and northeast, Yingluck's supporters will no doubt claim a legitimate mandate. But there was no indication of when re-runs of disrupted ballots would be held or when the commission would be able to announce a result. Giving provisional data on Monday, it said 20.4 million people cast their vote, just under 46 percent of the 44.6 million eligible voters in 68 of 77 provinces. In the other nine provinces, no voting was possible. Voting was disrupted in 18 percent of constituencies, 67 out of 375, the commission said, revising data given on Sunday. The protesters say former telecoms tycoon Thaksin has subverted a fragile democracy with populist politics such as subsidies, cheap loans and health care to woo the poor and guarantee victory for his parties in every election since 2001. Thaksin's critics also accuse him of disrespecting Thailand's revered monarchy, which he denies. Thaksin has lived abroad since 2008 to avoid a jail term for a graft conviction he says was politically motivated. Critics say Yingluck is merely a stand-in for him. Thaksin's supporters accuse the military and the establishment, including the judiciary, of colluding over the years to oust his governments. The military, which has staged numerous coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, overthrew Thaksin in 2006, but this time has stayed in the wings. Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana. The post Thai Opposition Challenges Poll in Court as Protest Numbers Dwindle appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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