The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Burma Army Agrees to Withdraw From Disputed Shan Territories
- Japan to Carry out Studies on How to Revive Dawei SEZ
- Landmine Blast Injures 3 at Kachin School
- Bagan Entry Fee to Rise by One-Third
- Burma FDI Hits Full-Year Target in First 6 Months of 2014-15
- Women’s Activists Call for Unity Among Karen Rebel Groups
- British Police to Join Thai Investigation Into Koh Tao Murders
- Hopes Fade for 40 Missing After Nepal Blizzard
- Hong Kong Crisis Deepens After Weekend Clashes, Talks Set for Tuesday
- Reform-Minded Outsider Widodo Takes Over as Indonesia’s President
| Burma Army Agrees to Withdraw From Disputed Shan Territories Posted: 20 Oct 2014 05:54 AM PDT  SSA-North rebel soldiers take a break in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State, in mid-June. (Photo: Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy) Government troops have agreed to retreat from some areas near the upper Salween River, during an emergency meeting with ethnic Shan rebels on Saturday. Members of the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) met with the government's Union Peace-making Work Committee in Lashio, Shan State, to discuss skirmishes between Shan soldiers and the Burma Army in Kyethi Township, near areas under the control of the United Wa State Army (UWSA). Sao Khun Hsai, secretary of the SSPP/SSA, said that a resolution was reached and that "both sides agreed not to let this happen in the future." Burmese troops, he said, will be withdrawn from the disputed Tah Phar Hsawng territories on the western side of the river, where sporadic conflict has reportedly left seven people dead and caused hundreds of villagers to flee their homes. Local sources said that although fighting was reignited in the area in early October there has been no sound of gunfire over the past few days. On Oct. 9, Shan State Minister for Border Affairs and Security Col. Aung Thu sent a letter to the SSPP/SSA leadership ordering the rebel troops to withdraw, claiming that they had entered Union territories. The Shans maintained that the land in question was under their jurisdiction. Though the letter initially angered many ethnic leaders, Sao Khun Hsai said following the meeting that, "it has been settled and they agreed not to do that again." The Burma Army has also agreed to compensate civilians that were affected by fighting in Tah Phar Hsawng, he added. "I was told that some 2.2 million kyats [US$2,200] will be allocated to compensate war refugees and people whose homes were destroyed," he said. "The discussion went well and we just have to wait and see if that will be implemented as planned." Negotiators also discussed the formation of a coordinating team for state stability and development, as well as the future role of liaison offices, which have been established in rebel territories to facilitate bilateral relations as the peace process barrels onward. The SSPP/SSA, also known as the Shan State Army-North, is one of Burma's strongest rebel armies, with an estimated force of about 4,000. The group signed a new state-level ceasefire with the central government on Jan. 28, 2012, and is currently involved in Union-level peace negotiations. The post Burma Army Agrees to Withdraw From Disputed Shan Territories appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Japan to Carry out Studies on How to Revive Dawei SEZ Posted: 20 Oct 2014 05:25 AM PDT  A dirt road at the Dawei SEZ, a planned regional hub that remains largely empty. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Japan is to carry out several studies on how the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in southern Burma can be revived, after the massive Thai-Burmese project stalled last year, government sources said on Monday. State-run media reported that Labor, Employment and Social Security Minister Aye Myint visited Japan on Oct. 14 and met with Vice-Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Norihiko Ishiguro. Ishiguro reportedly said that Tokyo would spend US$700,000 on three studies into the Dawei SEZ's planning. The research is expected to start at the end of this month and conclude in March next year, government mouthpiece The Global New Light of Myanmar said, adding that Japan would also draw up a master plan for the Dawei zone, which is being planned in Tenasserim Division. Deputy Minister of Transportation Han Sein, who has been involved in the Dawei SEZ, told The Irrawaddy, "They [Japan] will do the project with the funding from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia." The latter Manila-based institute carries out policy research for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the East Asia Summit. Han Sein said one of the studies would research how the Dawei SEZ could become an infrastructure and industrial hub that would boost trade between South India and the Mekong region due to its strategic location on the Bay of Bengal and the Southeast Asian mainland. A second study, according to state media, would research how Burma, Thailand and Japan could cooperate and provide technical assistance for the project, while a third study would research how private financing can be secured for the development of the zone. Last week, Thai Prime Minister and junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha met with President Thein Sein in Burma, and they agreed that their countries would try to resume the Dawei SEZ. In remarks carried by the Thai media over the weekend, Prayuth said Thailand would need to find a strategy to attract private sector financing for the project and announced that an investment concession for the first, 6,000-acre phase would be announced in November. He reportedly also invited India to become involved in the SEZ development. The SEZ in Tenasserim Division's Dawei District would be a massive billion-dollar project that includes a deep-sea port, heavy industries and extensive transport links. Thailand's largest construction firm, Italian-Thai Development (ITD), was given leadership of the project in 2010. It failed, however, to attract private investment to finance the project or to secure an agreement to build a power plant for the complex. ITD was taken off the project in late 2013 after reportedly having spent US$189 million on implementing the first project phase. Burma and Thailand have called on Japan to step in with funding and technical support to help revive the project. Tokyo has promised to offer support and a Japanese firm has promised to study the construction of coal-fired plant at Dawei. Japan has been keen to develop economic ties with Burma after the country opened up and has moved fast to develop the Thilawa SEZ, a Japanese-supported manufacturing zone near Rangoon. It remains to be seen, however, if Japan is willing to be a driving force for the much larger Dawei project. The latter zone is also running into stiff resistance from local communities and civil society groups, who have warned that tens of thousands of farmers would be forced to relocate for the project, which is also expected to have a heavy environmental impact on the pristine coastline of southern Burma. The post Japan to Carry out Studies on How to Revive Dawei SEZ appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Landmine Blast Injures 3 at Kachin School Posted: 20 Oct 2014 04:44 AM PDT  A woman stokes a cooking fire with her two children at a camp for displaced people near Myitkyina, Kachin State in 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — A landmine exploded outside a school in Kachin State on Saturday, injuring three people including two young students. No casualties have been reported. Police are still investigating the incident, which followed a week of tension between the Burma Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in several villages near the state's jade-rich Hpakant. Saturday's explosion took place in Kan See village of Lone Khinn Township, just north of Hpakant, where Burma Army soldiers have reportedly frightened villagers with an order to evacuate, claiming that armed conflict was imminent. Neither the Burma Army nor the KIA has admitted to placing the ordnance in the schoolyard, though many locals believe that Burmese soldiers were responsible. Eight-year-old Laphai La, Larmai Sengpan,18, and Khamai Zaw Khun, 22, suffered severe leg injuries and are now recovering in a hospital in Hpakant. "The youngest victim, who is eight, was seriously injured and can't walk yet. He had a minor operation and is getting better," a duty officer from the township police station told The Irrawaddy. Last week, Burmese soldiers reportedly ordered about 1,000 villagers to leave their homes to avoid conflict that could break out between government and rebel troops following disputes about taxation. Rebel soldiers were also ordered to leave the area. Most villagers did not evacuate and the KIA refused to leave their posts. The Burma Army then issued warnings in several villages that locals are not permitted to travel from one village to another. Local sources claimed that they had been stopped, searched and harassed by government troops while making trips between their village and the local market. "They [the Burma Army] tried to stop everyone who carried a bag. They said we were not allowed to leave. We are afraid that we will be hostages, since we can't go out," said La Mai, a resident of Kan See. Restrictions on movement have caused alarm among villagers, who now fear for their food security because they rely on vendors who transport food in bulk from rural marketplaces. "Vendors are no longer coming to our village," said Zaw Mai, another civilian who lives in Kan See. "They heard the news and they are afraid that battles will break out. We can't even go out to Lone Khinn market because we would need bags and baskets to carry back the food." Villagers said that the KIA has assured them they will not participate in active conflict, but the presence of fully armed soldiers from both sides has sparked fear nonetheless. Fighting erupted between government forces and the KIA in mid-2011 with the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire between the two sides. Intermittent conflict has since displaced upwards of 100,000 civilians, many of whom still live in isolated camps. Peace negotiations have been ongoing since violence subsided in early 2013, though sporadic conflict continues. A local member of Burma's leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy last week that conditions were calm in areas near Hpakant, but that the Burma Army had deployed soldiers along a main roadway connecting the town with the state capital Myitkyina. He added that KIA troops remained stationed on the opposite side of the Uru River, where the two sides were within each other's line of vision. The central government has come under recent criticism for what has been perceived as a series of offensives against ethnic armed groups in Kachin, Karen, Mon and Shan states. The country's main ethnic coalition, the United Nationalities Federal Council, warned last Wednesday that attacks against minorities risks undermining Burma's precarious progress toward reaching a nationwide peace agreement. The post Landmine Blast Injures 3 at Kachin School appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Bagan Entry Fee to Rise by One-Third Posted: 20 Oct 2014 04:31 AM PDT  The Htilominlo temple in Bagan is framed from within another shrine in the complex. (Photo: Andrew D. Kaspar / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The tourist entrance fee for visitors to the ancient temples of Bagan will increase to US$20 next year, an official from the Ministry of Culture said, a second price hike in two years that has seen the fee double from its 2012 rate. An official from the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library under the Ministry of Culture, who declined to be named, said the entrance fee would increase from the current $15 beginning Jan. 1. "We will raise the fees to get more income for Bagan region to be able to use in preservation and protection of the site, since now it is preparing to enter the World Heritage list," he said, referring to a designation bestowed by the UN cultural body Unesco on sites of historical significance globally. The ancient Pyu cities became Burma's first entry on the list in June. "To enter the World Heritage list, it will take around two years of preparation. We need to redefine the zones, the rules and the management plan for the whole region," the official said. Earlier this month, a three-day consultation meeting was held in Bagan, attended by Culture Ministry personnel, local and international preservation experts and local officials. "It will attract more interest [from tourists] after entering the World Heritage list," said Myo Nyunt Aung, an archaeologist in Bagan who also works for a tour company. He said that he did not think the entrance fee increase would negatively affect the number of tourists coming to Bagan, which is one of Burma's most popular tourist attractions. "It's not that much. The entrance fee at Ankor Wat [Cambodia] is also $20 and in Bagan we have many places to visit," he said. He said that to become a World Heritage site, public awareness on laws and rules pertaining to the ancient site needed to be raised, and construction projects in the ancient zone must stop. The Ministry of Culture collects the tourist entrance fee, which was $10 until June 2013, when it rose to $15. "Once we get the entrance fee, it is directly put into the country's budget and we have to request it back when we need to do preservation and protection works for Bagan. It's not part of the Ministry budget," said the official with the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library. He added that in 2012, 150,000 tourists visited Bagan, rising to nearly 200,000 people last year. The post Bagan Entry Fee to Rise by One-Third appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma FDI Hits Full-Year Target in First 6 Months of 2014-15 Posted: 20 Oct 2014 04:25 AM PDT  Workers work at the Vietnam Hoang Anh Gia Lai construction site in Rangoon on Sept. 20, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) NAYPYIDAW — Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Burma has exceeded the government's original target just six months into the fiscal year, according to Aung Naing Oo, director-general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration and secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission. The Myanmar Investment Commission estimated earlier this year that FDI would reach US$4-5 billion in the 2014-15 budget year, but by the end of September, the country had already seen almost $4.09 billion in foreign investment. "Now we do expect that $5 billion will be reached within the next three months, but we still haven't predicted how much through the end of this budget year," Aung Naing Oo told The Irrawaddy in Naypyidaw, pointing out that last year's target of $3 billion was also exceeded when Burma took in $4.11 billion. Aung Naing Oo told Reuters last month that the government had revised its FDI estimate to more than $5 billion. In line with government expectations, foreign investment in Burma's telecoms sector topped the list, accounting for 20 percent of the total, with the manufacturing sector following second. The entry of some international hotel chains into Burma's market has also boosted FDI. "In the telecoms sector, more investment is coming in now than we'd expected, and another factor: the offshore blocks that the Ministry of Energy has granted foreign companies, which accounted for about $700 million this year," Aung Naing Oo said. Qatar-based Ooredoo and Telenor of Norway have promised to dramatically boost mobile phone and Internet use in Burma, setting up networks and putting cheap SIM cards on the streets for the first time in August and October, respectively. In the oil and gas sector, Thailand's biggest oil and gas company PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) earlier this year said it would invest $3.3 billion in Burma over five years. In late March the government announced the foreign winners—including Anglo-Dutch firm Royal Dutch Shell, France's Total, Italy's Eni, Norway's Statoil and US-based Conocophillips—of the rights to deep-water oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. Dr. Maung Mang Lay, vice chairman of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers and Commerce Industry, said that despite growth in recent years, Burma's FDI potential remained under-realized. "We still need better infrastructure in Burma, and other Asean countries are also inviting this FDI to come to their countries competitively," he said. He said that while telecoms and the manufacturing sector were the big draws so far this fiscal year, the oil and gas sector would take a growing portion of the FDI pie. "Many labor-intensive foreign garment factories are coming to the manufacturing sector. I expect that these two sectors [manufacturing, and oil and gas] will remain on top of the list at least for next year," he said. According to figures from the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, Rangoon's biggest, there are more than 90 garment manufacturing operations among more than 500 factories in the zone. "Some major investors are still waiting to invest in Burma but some are coming in, for example Nestle, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Pepsi. Other multinational companies are still doing surveys," Aung Naing Oo said. The Myanmar Investment Commission expects FDI to reach $6 billion in the next budget year, though it has not yet announced an official target. "The investment in heavy industry is still less than other sectors recently, because we do not have strong enough infrastructure here. We need better electricity and port facilities for them," Aung Naing Oo said. The post Burma FDI Hits Full-Year Target in First 6 Months of 2014-15 appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Women’s Activists Call for Unity Among Karen Rebel Groups Posted: 20 Oct 2014 04:18 AM PDT  KNLA soldiers on the Salween River, heading to frontline areas in northern Karen State. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) Three Karen women's rights groups have urged various Karen rebel groups to overcome their differences and unify militarily and politically in order to better represent the interests of the Karen people in southeastern Burma. The Thailand-based Karen Women's Organization and two Rangoon-based organizations, the Karen Women's Union and the Karen Women's Empowerment Group, issued a joint statement on Sunday, saying that they supported recent attempts by different rebel group commanders to begin military cooperation. The women's groups said the initiative could "help bring the genuine peace that all [the Karen public] seek," and is "an opportunity for both peace-building and improved cooperation, which can help reduce violence against women." They urged the different Karen rebel groups, which all signed bilateral ceasefire deals with the central government in recent years, to come up with a military code of conduct agreement with the Burma Army so that clashes between government forces and rebels can be avoided. On Oct. 13, a commander of two brigades of the Karen National Union (KNU)'s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, announced that he would work with the head of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and with Col. Tiger, a commander of a small Karen splinter group, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council. The groups said they had formed the Kawthoolei Armed Forces, a loose cooperation commitment whereby the groups retain their separate military command structures. The commanders said they were beginning cooperation in the face of growing of Burma Army operations in southeastern Burma. But since then, cracks have begun to appear within the leadership of the various groups, with one KNU leader distancing himself from the initiative, while the KNU/KNLA Peace Council said Tiger had been relieved of his command. Karen rebels have been fighting for greater autonomy for their region for more than six decades. During this time, groups such as the DKBA have broken away from the KNU, the oldest and biggest rebel group. The different Karen groups have fought each other at several stages in Burma's ethnic conflict. Many of the groups also seek a cut from the profitable cross-border trade and smuggling of goods and drugs in the region, which borders Thailand. A recent KNU congress announced that it planned to reunite the various groups to further the Karen's political goals and better help their people. The women's activists said they fully supported this plan, as the Karen community on the ground had often suffered from the divisions between the armed groups. "This is the right time to show our unity, while clashes are resuming," said Naw Ohn Hla, head of the Karen Women's Union, referring to a recent outbreak of fighting between the DKBA and the Burma Army. The women's groups also urged the Karen rebel groups to respect human rights, help reduce violence against women and to refrain from the involvement in corruption and illegal business activities. "We have witnessed that some Karen leaders are using their power to do mining for gold and other precious metals for their own benefits," said Naw Siyo Paw, a secretary of Karen Women's Organization. During a Karen People's Forum on Friday and Saturday in Pa-an, some 200 participants from 75 non-governmental organizations also issued a statement calling for greater inclusion of local authorities, NGOs and the Karen public in the ongoing nationwide ceasefire negotiations. The post Women's Activists Call for Unity Among Karen Rebel Groups appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| British Police to Join Thai Investigation Into Koh Tao Murders Posted: 19 Oct 2014 10:48 PM PDT  People wait in line as Thai police collect data as part of their investigation into the murder of two British tourists on the island of Koh Tao. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom) BANGKOK —Thailand has agreed to allow British police to join an investigation into the murder of two backpackers on a Thai island, after local authorities came under criticism for their handling of the case. British police experts will travel to the holiday island of Koh Tao to help investigate the murder of Britons Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, on a beach in September, according to a statement from the office of British Prime Minister David Cameron. The agreement was reached after a Cameron raised the issue with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha at an international summit in Milan this week, the statement said. It did not provide further details on how many officials would travel to Thailand or what kind of assistance they would provide. Details of the agreement were yet to be worked out, but would involve "close coordination" between Thai authorities and the British Embassy in Bangkok, said Col. Weerachon Sukondhapatipak, the deputy spokesman of Thailand’s Army, which seized power in a May coup. Thai authorities have been criticized for what has been seen as a shambolic investigation into the murders, including a slew of false leads and concerns over lapses in investigative procedure. Police now allege that two workers from neighboring Burma, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 21, committed the murders. Police have said they have obtained confessions as well as DNA evidence from Witheridge that matches both men, although concerns have been raised over the validity of the evidence. The men have been charged with murder, rape and robbery. The post British Police to Join Thai Investigation Into Koh Tao Murders appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Hopes Fade for 40 Missing After Nepal Blizzard Posted: 19 Oct 2014 10:42 PM PDT  Israeli survivors from the blizzard hug each other, as they get ready to board a bus to the airport to head back to their country in Kathmandu October 18, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) KATHMANDU — Hopes faded on Sunday for survivors of one of Nepal's worst mountain disasters as villagers joined an intensive search by troops and government officials for as many as 40 people missing after an unseasonal blizzard killed 39. More than 500 people have been rescued from a route popular with foreign adventure tourists that circles Annapurna, the world's tenth-tallest peak. The survivors included 230 foreigners. Rescuers turned to villagers familiar with the rugged, snow-clad terrain to help look for stranded trekkers. The snow and avalanches were triggered by the tail end of a cyclone, which hit neighboring India last weekend. "We are not clear where the missing people are and whether they are safe or not safe," Yadav Koirala, the chief of Nepal's disaster management authority, told Reuters in Kathmandu, the capital. "We can only hope and pray that they are not dead." Since Wednesday, rescue teams have recovered 30 bodies and identified nine more from the air. "The snow is very thick and the rescue teams are finding it difficult to pull the nine bodies out," said K.P. Sharma, an administrator in Dolpa, a district of glaciers and ravines. Army helicopters searched for survivors on parts of the trail at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). Soldiers fanned out through some of the most treacherous terrain, where helicopters cannot land. The dead include Canadian, Indian, Israeli, Japanese, Nepalese, Polish and Slovak trekkers. Survivors said many victims perished trying to descend from the trail's highest pass in freezing, whiteout conditions. The incident was Nepal's second major mountain disaster this year. Sixteen guides died in an avalanche in April on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. This week's disaster was the worst since 42 people died in avalanches in the Mount Everest region in 1995, army officials said. Eight of the world's 14 highest mountains are in Nepal. Income from tourism, including permit fees for trekkers, who made up more than 12 percent of its 800,000 tourists in 2013, accounts for 4 percent of its economy. The post Hopes Fade for 40 Missing After Nepal Blizzard appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Hong Kong Crisis Deepens After Weekend Clashes, Talks Set for Tuesday Posted: 19 Oct 2014 10:38 PM PDT  Protesters are pepper sprayed by riot police during a confrontation at Mongkok shopping district in Hong Kong October 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — A deepening sense of impasse gripped Hong Kong on Monday as pro-democracy protests entered their fourth week, with the government having limited options to end the crisis and demonstrators increasingly willing to confront police. Dozens of people were injured in two nights of clashes over the weekend in the densely populated Mong Kok district of the Chinese-controlled city, including 22 police, media said. Four people were arrested on Sunday for assault, police said. The area was calm on Monday although scores of protesters remained on the streets. Hopes of easing the worst political crisis in Hong Kong since Britain handed the free-wheeling city back to China in 1997 rest on talks scheduled for Tuesday between the government and student protest leaders that will be broadcast live. But few are expecting any resolution given the two sides are poles apart on how the city will elect its next leader in 2017. "I don’t expect much from tomorrow’s meeting, but I still hold some hope for the talks," said Woody Wong, a 21-year-old student who camped overnight with protesters on Nathan Road, the main thoroughfare in Mong Kok. "I will keep doing this until the government listens to our voice." Students want free elections, but China insists on screening candidates first. Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader, Leung Chun-ying, has said the city’s government was unwilling to compromise on China’s restrictions, which were announced in late August. Leung, who has rejected calls by protesters to quit, said on Sunday that more time was needed to broker what he hoped would be a non-violent end to the upheaval. "To work out a solution, to put an end to this problem, we need time. We need time to talk to the people, particularly young students," he told Hong Kong’s ATV Television. "What I want is to see a peaceful and a meaningful end to this problem." Hong Kong’s 28,000-strong police force has been struggling to contain the youth-led movement. Over the weekend, demonstrators in Mong Kok squared off against police in late-night confrontations, surging forward to stake their claim to an intersection. Scores of riot police smashed batons at a wall of umbrellas that protesters raised to defend themselves. Scuffles erupted amid shouts and hurled insults. On Sunday night, crowds again built up and protesters stockpiled safety equipment such as helmets. Some wore homemade forearm shields made out of foam pads to parry baton blows. But unlike on the previous two nights, there were no clashes. 'Criminal Acts' on Computer The protesters, led by a restive generation of students, have been demanding China’s Communist Party rulers live up to constitutional promises to grant full democracy to the former British trading outpost. Hong Kong is ruled under a "one country, two systems" formula that allows it wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal. But Beijing is wary about copycat demands for reform on the mainland. Leung appears hamstrung, unable to compromise because of the message that would send to people on the mainland while more force looks likely to only galvanize the protesters. Hong Kong Security Chief Lai Tung-kwok said some clashes in recent days had been initiated by activists affiliated to "radical organizations which have been active in conspiring, planning and charging violent acts". In addition to the four arrested for assault, police on Sunday announced the arrest of a man suspected of inciting others "on an online forum to join the unlawful assembly in Mong Kok, to charge at police and to paralyze the railways". The arrest of the 23-year-old man for "access to (a) computer with criminal or dishonest intent" appeared to be the first of its kind since the demonstrations began. Mobile phone chat groups and social media sites like Facebook have been major platforms for protest chatter, including calls for action by demonstration leaders. "Police remind the public that the internet environment is not a lawless world," Hui Chun-tak, chief superintendent of the Police Public Relations Branch, told reporters, according to a transcript online. Some pro-democracy politicians have demanded that the government stop using force, saying it could influence the Tuesday talks. "Using the police to clear areas will only trigger more protests and conflict," lawmaker Alan Leong said late on Sunday. Besides Mong Kok, about 1,000 protesters are camped out at the headquarters of the civil disobedience "Occupy" movement on Hong Kong Island in a sea of tents on an eight-lane highway beneath skyscrapers close to government headquarters. Hong Kong came up in weekend talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi in Boston. A State Department official said it was discussed as part of candid exchanges on human rights. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Yang told Kerry Hong Kong was an internal affair. The post Hong Kong Crisis Deepens After Weekend Clashes, Talks Set for Tuesday appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Reform-Minded Outsider Widodo Takes Over as Indonesia’s President Posted: 19 Oct 2014 09:24 PM PDT  Indonesia’s new President Joko Widodo is sworn in during his presidential inauguration at the House of Representative building in Jakarta on October 20, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) JAKARTA — Indonesia's Joko Widodo took over as president of the world's third-largest democracy on Monday with supporters' hopes high but pressing economic problems and skeptical rivals set to test the former furniture businessman. Widodo's narrow victory over a former general in July's election marked the first time in the young democracy's history that a president was elected from outside the established military and political elite. "I swear by Allah to fulfill the duties of President of the Republic of Indonesia to the best of my capabilities and in the fairest way possible," Widodo said, reading the oath of office, at a ceremony in a packed parliament. US Secretary of State John Kerry attended the inauguration along with various Asian leaders including the prime ministers of neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, the Sultan of Brunei and Australia's prime minister. Widodo, 53, a former mayor of the city of Solo and governor of the capital, Jakarta, is untested on the national and international stages but he already faces resistance from the establishment to his transparent, can-do approach to governance. "He has climbed up to the top of the pyramid but he's still weak within the powerful political class," said Achmad Sukarsono, a political analyst at the Habibie Center, think-tank. "He needs time to be seen and accepted as part of that class otherwise he will face resistance." Widodo has been struggling to build support in parliament without indulging in the old game of trading support for jobs, but his refusal to swap cabinet posts for backing has driven unaligned parties to the opposition, leaving him with a minority that is set to face resistance to his reforms. Even Widodo's staunchest supporters have worried that his principles might stymie his reforms. But the lean, affable president with a common touch has been resolutely optimistic about working with the legislature. After weeks of gridlock, Widodo last week sought to improve ties when he met with opposition leader Prabowo Subianto and prominent opposition member Aburizal Bakrie, who congratulated him and pledged to support his government, though reserving the right to criticize when necessary. "Widodo's initiative suggests that the former Jakarta governor is becoming adept at navigating in national politics," political analyst Kevin O'Rourke wrote in a research note. Prabowo attended the inauguration. Going Up One of his first jobs will be cutting back generous fuel subsidies to avoid breaching a legal limit on the budget deficit, which is under pressure from a shortfall in tax revenues and the slowest economic growth in the country of 240 million people for five years. Higher fuel prices have sparked protests in Indonesia before and contributed to the downfall of long-serving autocrat and then president Suharto in 1998. An adviser told Reuters last week the new government planned to order the steepest fuel price increase in nine years "within the first two weeks of taking office." The government aims to spend the savings on infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Corruption is another pressing problem. Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came under criticism in his last term for not doing enough to end pervasive graft. While Widodo has remained largely silent on his cabinet, he said last month that just over half his ministers would be technocrats. He is expected to announce his team on Tuesday. Within weeks of taking office, Widodo will be in the international limelight with an Asia-Pacific summit in Beijing and a G20 summit in Australia. As president of the country with the world's largest Muslim population, Widodo will be expected to join the debate on Islamist militancy. US Secretary of State John Kerry will be seeking greater cooperation from China, Indonesia and Malaysia in the campaign against Islamic State and in staunching the flow of foreign fighters to the militant group, US and Asian officials said last week. The post Reform-Minded Outsider Widodo Takes Over as Indonesia's President appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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