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Saturday, November 7, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Nov. 7, 2015)

Posted: 06 Nov 2015 06:12 PM PST

Traders Hotel in downtown Rangoon. Around 50 new hotels have opened in Burma over the past year. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters)

Government Rules on Dollar Transactions 'Unclear,' Warns Lawyer

The Burmese government's recent intervention to restrict transactions made in US dollars have left businesses without clarity on when foreign currencies can and cannot be used, according to legal advisory firm VDB Loi.

The Central Bank issued new rules in October that canceled the foreign exchange licenses of businesses in a number of sectors, effective from the end of November. The move was seen as an effort to shore up the kyat, which has lost about 20 percent of its value, relative to the dollar, this year.

But many businesses saw it as a drastic measure, and a reminder of the ways of Burmese governments of old, which made ill-conceived interventions in Burma's financial system, often at the expense of the country's people.

In a briefing note to clients on October 27, VDB Loi partner Edwin Vanderbruggen wrote that while some companies would lose their ability to receive physical cash in foreign currencies, currency obtained otherwise legally can still be exchanged through licensed changers.

But he criticized the Bank for being too vague on the measures contained in a letter dated Oct. 13, which followed an earlier letter regarding the use of dollars on May 28. "You can't implement a massive game change in a country's financial policy based on a letter with two paragraphs," he wrote.

The "real problem," according to Vanderbruggen, is that the Central Bank's instructions on the issue were ambitious on in which circumstances companies may still conduct business in dollars.

"[T]he problem is not that companies suddenly have no way to receive and hold foreign currency," he wrote. "…in all likelihood you are already allowed to open and use a foreign bank account, generally speaking.

"Once it is clear a business can indeed receive US$ remittances, there is no issue keeping that currency in its foreign currency bank account. The problem is that there are basically at this time no clear rules setting out when Myanmar residents may uberhaupt [generally] use foreign currency when dealing with each other, and when they may not."

Myanmar National Airlines Hires US Marketing Firm

Burma's national airline has hired an Arizona-based firm to do marketing and sales work from Singapore, according to press release.

In a release on Wednesday carrying the dateline Scottsdale, Ariz., a company named Discover the World said it had agreed to partner with Myanmar National Airlines.

The state-owned airline has undergone a rebranding and overhaul that culminated with the launch of its first international flight in years when MNA began flying from Rangoon to Singapore in August. Despite doubts over whether it can compete with foreign-based airlines who have the advantage of offering passengers transcontinental transfers onto their other flights, MNA officials have said they want to expand the international service further.

The press release said that Discover the World would be marketing the Singapore flight, as well as an MNA service known as Mingalapar, in which business class passengers are met at Rangoon by an airline representative and fast-tracked through the airport's immigration lines.

MNA chief executive Than Tun was quoted in the release praising the deal.

"Singapore is the first destination where we plan to expand, given our new B-737-800 aircraft," he was quoted saying.

"Since we will have seven weekly flights between Singapore and Yangon that began Oct. 25, we needed to partner with a firm that had vast experience in the marketplace and a professional team possessing a strong, established trade network to help us increase our brand awareness. Discover fit that bill."

Burma Gets New Hotels to Cope With Tourism Boom

As official tourist figures continue to climb, the number of hotels in Burma is also ramping up, with about 50 new hotels now operating that were not open last year.

Tourist arrivals began to boom after Burma's political climate eased from 2012, but in many areas tourism infrastructure was not in place to cope with the new demand. New official figures suggest that the industry has begun to catch up.

A report from the Chinese government's English-language newswire, Xinhua, quoted Tin Win, chairman of the Myanmar Hoteliers Association, saying that the country now has 340 hotels compared with 290 in 2014.

"[More than 800,000 tourists entered Myanmar by air [or] ship while more than 2.2 million tourists visited the country through border entrances…," the report said, referring to the first nine months of 2015. "Meanwhile, the government has established 17 hotel zones in such areas as Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon, Mandalay and Bago regions," it added.

The government's figures for the number of tourists visiting the country are suspected to be inflated since they include expatriate workers, and are bolstered by day-trippers who only spend a short time in Burma's border towns.

The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism's total figure for 2014 was 3.05 million visitors, but the government set a target of 5 million visitors for this year. Going even further, Tin Win was cited by Xinhua giving the ambitious prediction that 10 million foreign tourists will visit Burma in 2016.

India Nixes Barter Trade Across the Border

India's central bank has put an end to so-called barter trade across the country's border with Burma, according to reports in the Indian media.

A report in the Economic Times newspaper said that goods have long been exchanged on the border without the use of money in order to "facilitate" the exchange of certain commodities that India buys from Burma, including mustard, pulses and fresh vegetables.

The report said that the Reserve Bank of India had issued a statement saying that the system will come to an end from Dec. 1. It said the move was the result of improved access to banking in the border region.

"Over a period of time the trade basket has diversified and adequate banking presence is in place to support normal trade with Myanmar," the central bank was quoted saying.

"It has, therefore, been decided, in consultation with Government of India, to do away with the barter system of trade at the Indo-Myanmar border and switch over completely to normal trade."

Telenor Subscribers Reach 11.8 Million

Norway-based telecommunications company Telenor says it added 2.3 million new subscribers during between July and September, according to a new company report.

The company's third quarter interim report said that Telenor Myanmar's revenues were about $390 million in the first nine months of 2015.

"In Myanmar, the solid momentum continued. After a year of building network coverage in cities and larger towns, Telenor is now continuing its expansion into rural townships and villages," the report said.

The firm only launched its services in 2014, and has accelerated ahead of Qatar's Ooredoo in terms of subscribers.

"Telenor Myanmar added 2.3 million new subscriptions during the third quarter," a note in the report said. By the end of the third quarter a total of 11.8 million subscriptions were recorded, of which 57% were active data users."

The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Nov. 7, 2015) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

National News

Muse residents still confused over voter lists
All calm in Taunggyi on election eve
Election to go ahead under martial law, commission vows
Parliament likely to see more women than ever before
Kachin candidates campaign for peace, federalism

Muse residents still confused over voter lists

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 07:07 AM PST

The head of the election commission in Muse District on the border with China has denied that migrants will be able to vote without showing evidence of having resided in the trading town for the requisite 180 days, despite rumours to the contrary and rumours about polling rules.

All calm in Taunggyi on election eve

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 06:34 AM PST

At the district headquarters of the Union Electoral Commission in the Shan state capital of Taunggyi, chair U Tin Oo is running an operation that appears to be a model of efficiency.

Election to go ahead under martial law, commission vows

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 06:04 AM PST

The election will go ahead in nearly all of Kokang region tomorrow, despite concerns about the threat posed by ethnic insurgents, senior officials in the area have told The Myanmar Times.

Parliament likely to see more women than ever before

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 01:26 AM PST

When Myanmar goes to the polls on November 8 for what are being billed as the first democratic elections in decades, voters will have the chance to choose from almost eight times as many female candidates as in the previous national elections of 2010.

Kachin candidates campaign for peace, federalism

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 12:45 AM PST

Candidates in Kachin State are campaigning on a similar platform – seeking peace and federal government, regardless of party affiliation.

Shan Herald Agency for News

SNDP and SNLD candidates: advanced voting not transparent
Cancellations leave 100,000 unable to vote in central Shan State
GENUINE PEACE: The Wish of Ethnic Nationalities from November Elections Outcome

SNDP and SNLD candidates: advanced voting not transparent

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 06:51 AM PST

On the day before Burma's November 8 election, candidates from two major Shan parties shared concerns with SHAN about the reliability of the country's advanced voting process.

Sai Mon Lern, who is competing on behalf of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) for a State Assembly seat in Mong Nai Township, said that he has doubts about the validity of the electoral process.

"What they [the Election Commission] are doing is not transparent," he said. "We requested that they use glue to stick the ballot bags closed in order to keep the ballots safe, but we were denied that by the Election Commission."

He said that electoral officials told him this practice could damage the marked ballots.

Sai Mon Lern's concerns also extend to the ballot boxes, where completed votes are submitted; he alleged that no one knows where the advanced voters' ballots are kept after they have been collected.

Problems have also been reported in Mong Yang Township within Kengtung District, in eastern Shan State.

"There are a lot of tokens left, so I'm worried that anyone can take them and cast a vote," said Sai Laung, a candidate from the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) in Mong Yang Township, referring to the registration papers given to eligible voters.

He said that in order to avoid fraud, SNDP had requested that voters bring their national ID cards along with the token when they cast their ballots. But, he alleged that election officials are no longer requiring additional ID, and that the token can serve as sufficient identification to vote.

Both Sai Mon Lern (SNLD) and Sai Laung (SNDP) claimed that the names of deceased people have reportedly been found on voting lists, but often the people currently living in the location in question are not included. There are a lot of mistakes, they said, involving names, parents' names, ages and ID numbers, which are all required for voter registration in Burma.

According to a report on Tai Freedom's Shan Language website on Saturday, in Mongpeng Township within Kengtung District, the names of the deceased allegedly surfaced as participants during the advanced voting process.

"I don't think it is a free and fair election," Sai Mon Lern said.

By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)

Cancellations leave 100,000 unable to vote in central Shan State

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 04:12 AM PST

Due to polling cancellations in two townships, over 100,000 central Shan State citizens will not be able to cast votes on November 8, local election officials confirmed on Friday.

Officials from Township Election Commissions in Mong Hsu and Kesi corroborated to SHAN the registration of 50,365 and 51,362 eligible voters in the two townships, respectively.

Internally displaced villagers in Wan Saw, Mong Hsu Township, where voting has been cancelled in Burma's November 8 election (S.H.A.N.)

The Union Election Commission announced on October 27 that voting had been cancelled in the whole of the two townships, both located in Loilem District. The annulment was allegedly due to conditions created by active conflict between the Burma Army and the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N), affecting 22 villages and causing the displacement of 6,000 civilians in the area.

Nang Ying, 30, delivered voter education courses in her native Mong Hsu. On behalf of locals in the area, she expressed frustration with the UEC's decision.

"They know all about how to vote," she said of the villagers who attended her trainings.

"They are unsatisfied because they expected to be able to vote and now they are not able to. They lost that right."

It was reported that the UEC's decision came just over a week after the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) requested the cancellation on October 19, due to fighting.

The area is perceived as being more supportive of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), who opposed the closure of polls and requested a formal evaluation of whether this action was necessary.

Nang Ying said that locals wanted both an end to recent military offensives and a chance to participate in the country's election.

"Firstly, we want the fighting to end," Nang Ying said. "And we want to be able to vote like other townships."

In total, voting has now been cancelled in areas within 17 townships in Shan State, including 42 village tracts in Hopang Township, in the Wa Self-Administered Division, and eight village tracts in Tang Yan Township in northern Shan State.

A local source who collected demographic data for Burma's 2014 census estimated on Friday that the move in Tang Yan would affect 10,000 voters. At the time of reporting, SHAN was not able to confirm the number of voters left out in Hopang.

By SIMMA FRANCIS / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)

Reporting by SAI YIPHONG / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)

GENUINE PEACE: The Wish of Ethnic Nationalities from November Elections Outcome

Posted: 06 Nov 2015 10:55 PM PST

On the eve of the 8 November election, roughly about four to six scenario focus has been making the rounds.

On 6 November, Myanmar Now and BBC publicized a series of post-election scenarios. The former has a likely outcome of six, while the latter has four scenarios.

The combined gist of it could be listed as below:

· The NLD needs to win two-thirds of all the contested seats and will only be achievable if it wins large numbers of seats outside the areas dominated by the ethnic Bamar, the dominant group in Burma.

· If the NLD fails to win the required two-thirds of the contested seats, they will have to reach out to "friendly" ethnic parties. This should be relatively straightforward, though relations have been strained by the NLD's decision to run candidates in ethnic minority areas.

· Aung San Suu Kyi's party win the most seats, but a coalition of the USDP, some ethnic parties and the 25% of the army enables the military candidate to take the presidency.

· USDP winning the most seats is an option so unlikely that most would immediately assume that the results had been rigged. Ms Suu Kyi's party would almost certainly walk out of parliament.

· The worst case scenarios will be that the NLD performs poorly amid evidence of widespread intimidation, interference with the voting process and voter fraud. International election observers declare the election results non-credible.

· Suu Kyi calls on voters and the international community to condemn the results and to mount pressure on the government. She seeks political avenues to challenge the results while urging her supporters to remain calm.

· Or alternatively, an overwhelming victory by the NLD prompts a backlash by reactionary forces, including military hardliners, the Buddhist nationalist Ma Ba Tha movement and USDP supporters. The groups start to foment instability across the country.

· In both scenarios, with the increased likelihood of civil disobedience and wide-scale civil revolt, the military declares a state of emergency under the guise of securing stability. It uses its power to suspend the Constitution indefinitely and establishes a military administration. It says it will return governance to quasi-civilian rule only when it can assure the country's stability. (Sources: Myanmar Now & BBC , 6 November)

What the non-Bamar ethnic nationalities want

While the most Burmese are eyeing for more individual freedom and democracy to replace the quasi-civilian regime of Thein Sein, dominated by the military, the non-Bamar ethnic nationalities and minorities are burdened with an extra duty to strive for the rights of self-determination and wrestle back their rightful, justified political power and resources sharing, couple with maintaining their ethnic identities, the right to live as decent human beings free from oppression and military occupation.

As all know, the Bamar-dominated Burma Army or Tatmadaw has been occupying and oppressing the ethnic nationalities, under the guise of national unity and protecting the country's sovereignty, for as long as we could remember and there is really no hint that this will be coming to an end soon.

The recent ongoing partial-ceasefire, dubbed nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) is a fraud and this is not going to lead to any sort of peaceful reconciliation, without genuine political will and forsaking ethnocentrism from the part of the Burmese center.

The fact that out of 100,000 ethnic armed troopers, only some 10,000 have signed the partial-ceasefire is the case in point. And even though the present regime has time and again publicized that it will continue to solicit and woo the remaining ethnic armed organizations to participate in its initiated NCA, its escalation of war on the Shan, Kachin, Palaung and Kokang ethnic forces indicates just the opposite of its real intention.

We also don't need to emphasize much on decades long human rights violations in ethnic homelands for there are ample documentations by internationally known rights groups, from extra-judicial killings, rapes, tortures, disappearances without traces to unjustified detentions are widespread, needless to mention about thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons, who are waiting to go home.

But if the present or the new in-coming regime would really like to right this wrong, that has been going on for decades, the best place to start is ending the " institutionalized violence" against the ethnic population and the organizations that represent them.

The immediate pressing need

Thus, the immediate pressing need is to remove the obstacle of waging an institutionalized war on the ethnic nationalities, so as to make a start on basic requirement of a peaceful atmosphere, which have been lacking in the ethnic homelands, embroiled in armed conflict caused by the successive Bamar-dominated governments, Thein Sein regime included.

Thus the election outcome wishes for the ethnic groups would be, without doubt, a durable, long-lasting and implementable nationwide ceasefire, not a fake two-tier war and peace situation, like it is now.

In this respect, the ethnic groups would heartily welcome any national government formation that could deliver the said conditions.

The reality of the occupation wars occurring in ethnic homelands have its origin in the fact that the Burmese political class, whether it be the military or Burmese opposition groups, refuses to accept the fact that it is also an equal party with the other non-Bamar ethnic groups and not their overlord, within the Union; and that the country's sovereignty is also a shared one with all ethnic nationalities residing within the Union and not a monopoly sphere of the Bamar only. In fact, the independence achieved from the British in 1947, is also a co-independence shared between the Bamar and non-Bamar ethnic nationalities.

If this doing away with the institutionalized violence or war could be done, then we will all be able to defuse the armed conflicts that have been going on and sit down to actually talk about the equitable power and resources sharing. But first and foremost the war has to be stopped, by all means.

Sai Nyunt Lwin, Secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, rightly said in a recent DVB debate, moderated by Myo Thar Htet, that unilateral ceasefire declaration is the only way out of this deadlock. He must have meant to say that it is the sole avenue, to overcome the perception of Burmese Army's intention to subjugate the ethnic groups, through suppression and occupation of their homelands. And only after this, a serious negotiation, on rebuilding the shattered confidence and equitable federal union could begin.

For now, the EAOs and the ethnic nationalities could only hope that the next incoming government could deliver real peace and brings the unruly military under its control, if earnest peace and reconciliation process are to begin.

Friday, November 6, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Aid Worker Jailed for Facebook Post Suffers From Ailing Health
China-Taiwan Summit Two Years in Making, As Leaders Eye Legacies
Thai Junta Launches Crackdown on Organized Crime Figures
Tacloban’s Gays Enjoy Spirit of Acceptance after Typhoon Haiyan

Aid Worker Jailed for Facebook Post Suffers From Ailing Health

Posted: 06 Nov 2015 05:34 AM PST

Patrick Khum Jaa Lee has been jailed for more than three weeks over a Facebook post he denies sharing. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Aid worker Patrick Khum Jaa Lee, who was jailed last month over a Facebook post he disputes sharing, has been denied a request for bail submitted on the grounds of his deteriorating health condition.

After more than three weeks of detention in Rangoon's infamous Insein Prison, Khum Jaa Lee appeared in Hlaing Township court on Friday visibly weak and having lost a considerable amount of weight.

His wife, renowned peace and women's rights activist May Sabe Phyu, said her husband's health has deteriorated and she is concerned that he may suffer a stroke, as he did in June 2014.

The defendant's second request for bail on the grounds of his severe health condition was denied on Friday, and he is set to return to court on Nov. 13.

"The court is not taking any consideration about his health," May Sabe Phyu told The Irrawaddy shortly after the proceedings. "They are denying bail without giving any proper reason, this is my opinion."

His wife said he alerted her of symptoms such as numbness of the hands and legs, high blood pressure and stomach pains.

"These are not good symptoms. Whether the court finds him guilty or not, they shouldn't deny a citizen his rights," she said.

Khum Jaa Lee was arrested on Oct. 14 and charged with defamation under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, a controversial provision carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison. He has been accused of sharing a photograph on Facebook picturing a man wearing a traditional Kachin garment and stomping on an image of Burma Army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Khum Jaa Lee and May Sabe Phyu are both ethnic Kachin.

After his arrest, Khum Jaa Lee was taken to prison and later allowed to see his wife, who told The Irrawaddy at the time that he denied sharing the offending post and was forced to sign a confession.

His arrest was the second in a rash of recent lock-ups related to materials shared on social media. Just days before Khum Jaa Lee was apprehended, Chaw Sandi Tun, a young supporter of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), was arrested and charged with defamation after sharing a digitally altered image likening military uniforms to women's clothing.

She has also been detained since her arrest and could face up to five years in prison under the equally contentious Electronic Transactions Law.

Late last month, the Telecommunications Law was wielded once again, this time against an official from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Than Tun, a senior party member in Irrawaddy Division, was accused of sharing an image of NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi's face transposed onto the body of a naked woman. He was released on bail early this month.

In a lewd and ludicrous development, a young poet with ties to student activists spent weeks on the run after learning he faced a charge under the Telecommunications Law for sharing a verse on Facebook suggesting that he had a tattoo of the president on his penis. Police tracked down the elusive Maung Saungkha on Thursday, and he remains in custody.

The string of arrests garnered near universal condemnation from rights defenders, foreign governments and even election observers. The US-based Carter Center, which is monitoring the lead-up, conduct and aftermath of a general election to be held on Nov. 8, said in its latest report that the arrest of two civil society actors—a reference to Khum Jaa Lee and Chaw Sandi Tun— "contribute to concerns about the openness of political space," recommending their release.

Amnesty International has also campaigned to free the accused, painting Burma's authorities as "dangerously thin-skinned and vindictive" in the face of criticism. Laura Haigh, Amnesty's senior Burma researcher, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the group remains concerned about Patrick Khum Jaa Lee and a growing number of other citizens viewed as political prisoners.

"The fact remains that he should never have been arrested and detained in the first place," Haigh said. "Unfortunately he is not the only peaceful activist behind bars—he is among 19 new prisoners of conscience jailed in the last month. All should be released immediately and without conditions."

The post Aid Worker Jailed for Facebook Post Suffers From Ailing Health appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China-Taiwan Summit Two Years in Making, As Leaders Eye Legacies

Posted: 05 Nov 2015 10:11 PM PST

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (L) in Taipei on June 1, 2012, and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) in Beijing, China, on October 29, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING/TAIPEI — This weekend's historic summit in Singapore between the presidents of China and Taiwan may have surprised many, but the sides first broached the subject about two years ago and the leaders had their legacies very much in mind.

For Chinese President Xi Jinping, the summit may not change the outcome of Taiwan's presidential election in January which the island's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is widely expected to win, two sources with ties to the Chinese leadership said. Anti-China sentiment is rising in Taiwan.

But longer term, Xi hopes to cement his place in China's pantheon of great leaders if he is able eventually to lure the self-ruled democratic island, which Beijing claims as its own, back to the fold, the sources said.

"Xi is not thinking about just the present. It's long term," one source told Reuters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

"If Xi could eventually create a framework for reunification, he would be as great as, if not greater than, Deng Xiaoping," added the source, referring to China's late paramount leader who negotiated Hong Kong's 1997 return to Chinese rule.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who must step down next May due to term limits, has made improving economic links with China a key policy since he took office in 2008.

He has signed landmark business and tourism deals, although there has been no progress in resolving political differences.

However, Ma's popularity rating is abysmal, according to media surveys.

Instead, he could be remembered by posterity for brokering the first meeting between the rivals in decades that eventually paved the way for an end to more than 60 years of hostility, analysts said.

"We want to consolidate the hard-won cross-Strait achievements, including peace, prosperity, and security status quo," said Andrew Hsia, minister of Taiwan's top China policymaker, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).

"[It] is an important step in promoting the overall institutionalization of the cross-Strait relationship."

Troubled Past

Beijing and Taipei have been diplomatic and military rivals since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, also known as the Kuomintang (KMT), fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists on the mainland.

Beijing has since sought to push Taipei into diplomatic isolation, ousting Chiang's Republic of China, Taiwan's formal name, from the United Nations in 1971.

The Communists and the KMT agree there is "one China," but disagree on the interpretation.

The DPP traditionally has favored independence for Taiwan and believes Taiwan's future is for the island's people to decide. Beijing takes that to mean independence.

Trade, investment, and tourism have blossomed, particularly since Ma of the ruling, China-friendly Nationalists took power in 2008. But for China, the civil war is not over as the two sides never signed a ceasefire or peace agreement.

China menaced Taiwan with war games and missile tests in the run-up to the island's first direct presidential elections in 1996.

The summit in Singapore on Saturday came to fruition after two years of negotiations.

It all began in November, 2012 when Ma sent a cable to congratulate Xi after the latter took over as Communist Party and military chief, describing bilateral relations as the "most peaceful and stable in six decades".

Xi wrote back, calling for both sides to "seize [this] historic opportunity and deepen mutual trust," the Chinese sources said.

Then, in July 2013, Xi cabled Ma to congratulate him on his election as chairman of the KMT, or Nationalist Party. Xi called for the sides to "conform to the trend of global development … and ascend a height to look far," the sources said.

In October that year, Xi told Taiwan's envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in Bali that "long-term political differences between the two sides must be gradually resolved. After all, it cannot be passed on from generation to generation,"

Xi also called for furthering "political" mutual trust. Previous talks focused on "economic" issues.

A breakthrough came in February 2014, when China's ministerial-level Taiwan Affairs Office and its Taiwan counterpart, the MAC, held unprecedented talks in Nanjing, China's capital when the KMT ruled all of China.

"It was a huge concession on our part," a second source with Chinese leadership ties said, referring to talks between the two governments which do not recognize each other.

Where to Meet?

In the past, bilateral talks were party-to-party or between China's semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the island's Straits Exchange Foundation.

The Taiwan Affairs Office and MAC toyed with the idea of a summit between Xi and Ma, but could not agree on the venue and in what capacity the two leaders would meet.

Initially Ma had hoped to attend the APEC summit in Beijing in November 2014, the Chinese sources and MAC's Hsia said. But Beijing rejected this.

"The mainland had reservations about meeting in an international setting," Hsia said.

Singapore came up as a possible venue during the most recent round of talks between the Taiwan Affairs Office and MAC in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in October, Hsia and the Chinese sources said.

After consultations with their respective bosses, Singapore was chosen as the venue and timed to coincide with Xi's visit to the city-state.

Questions over Timing

The DPP's standard-bearer, Tsai Ing-wen, was skeptical of the timing of the summit, but Hsia said the presidential election was not considered as a factor.

A senior KMT official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Xi had pushed for a breakthrough in ties with Taiwan since coming to power, but with Ma stepping down and the opposition likely to win the election, he had to move now.

"That made Xi even more anxious to meet Ma Ying-jeou now," the KMT source said. "Don't forget the DPP still has Taiwan independence stated clearly in its party program."

Ma's office sought to placate detractors, pledging that no agreements would be signed with Xi and no joint statement would be issued.

In an interview with Reuters in October, Ma said the island was not ready to discuss unification with China.

It was unclear if the summit will help or hurt the KMT's narrow chances of clinging on to the presidency.

Asked if Xi would meet Tsai if she won, the first source with ties to the Chinese leadership said: "Anything is possible. It hinges on what she says and does."

The post China-Taiwan Summit Two Years in Making, As Leaders Eye Legacies appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thai Junta Launches Crackdown on Organized Crime Figures

Posted: 05 Nov 2015 09:36 PM PST

Confiscated weapons are displayed on a table during a news conference at police headquarters in Bangkok on Oct. 28. (Photo: Jorge Silva / Reuters)

BANGKOK — Thailand’s junta launched on Thursday a crackdown on organized crime, its latest effort to clean up the country and improve the image of the military government as it struggles to get a sluggish economy on track.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, ushered in a “clean up Thailand” campaign shortly after he, as army chief, took power from an elected government in a 2014 coup, promising to root out vice and corruption in government and society in general.

This time, he said, the junta was targeting mafia-style crime bosses known as “influential figures”.

“We want people to be able to live their lives normally away from violence and its instigators, including those who use weapons,” said defense ministry spokesman Colonel Kongcheep Tantrawanit.

“We will use laws that target influential figures and ask people to cooperate to help give the state information,” he said, without giving details.

Prayuth has said he wants mafias eradicated in six months. His government has flagged the need to suppress crime, ban weapons and investigate some of Thailand’s infamous nightlife venues.

The military sees itself as the champion of clean government, distinct from venal civilian politicians and their business cronies, although the military itself has long had extensive interests in various sectors of the economy.

Numerous governments, both civilian and military, have vowed to tackle crime and social ills though over the years, invariably with limited success.

The military’s main rival over a decade of turbulent politics, former populist premier Thaksin Shinawatra, launched a tough war on drugs when he was prime minister in the early 2000s, in which several thousand people were killed.

Organized crime bosses often have shadowy political links and the children of some have entered politics.

Critics said the crackdown was another cosmetic, quick-fix campaign at a time when Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is in the doldrums, with exports and consumption sluggish.

“The junta sees a problem and tries to patch it up quickly,” said a Thai social critic, who declined to be identified out of fear of repercussions.

“This is similar to the trafficking crackdown.”

Police launched a crackdown on human trafficking syndicates in May following the discovery of mass graves along the border with Malaysia believed to contain the bodies of trafficking victims from Burma.

The clampdown triggered a regional migrant crisis because it prompted criminals to abandon boats crammed with thousands of migrants at sea, rather than risk landing on Thai shores.

The post Thai Junta Launches Crackdown on Organized Crime Figures appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Tacloban’s Gays Enjoy Spirit of Acceptance after Typhoon Haiyan

Posted: 05 Nov 2015 09:27 PM PST

Villagers sort their nets in a coastal village in Tacloban city in central Philippines, Nov. 2, 2015, ahead of the second anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan that killed more than 6,000 people in central Philippines. (Photo: Reuters)

TACLOBAN, Philippines — When Filipino hotel manager Jerick Florano used to open Grindr on his smartphone, the same four or five faces always greeted him on the dating app for gay and bisexual men.

There was practically no gay scene in Tacloban, a provincial city of 220,000 people in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines, where Florano lives.

"There wasn't much going on, but all that changed when lots of foreigners came to Tacloban to help with the reconstruction after the typhoon," the 27-year-old said, referring to Super Typhoon Haiyan which devastated the city two years ago.

"Suddenly, my Grindr became the United Nations," Florano said in an interview at the trendy city center hotel he has been managing since 2012, when he moved to Tacloban from the capital Manila.

Haiyan was the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall, killing more than 6,300 people, uprooting 4.1 million, and damaging or destroying 90 percent of buildings in Tacloban.

Thousands of aid workers, volunteers, and fellow Filipinos arrived to help with the recovery, and while many have since left, Tacloban's restaurants and bars are still buzzing with foreigners two years after the disaster.

Grindr, which locates other men logged on to the app in the same vicinity, became the tool of choice for those looking for discreet sexual encounters, Florano said.

But it was also used to forge platonic friendships between locals, humanitarian workers, and other visitors, which was probably more significant in changing how gay people expressed themselves, he said.

"Many visitors started to use it just to socialize and hang out with locals, like a sort of relief from dealing with the disaster all the time, and for us it meant all of a sudden there was lots more to do socially."

Florano said that these days he is more likely to find between 20 and 40 men on Grindr, still not a large number but offering him more choice over who to spend his spare time with.

A New Openness

Tacloban's LGBT community has had a public face in Jom Bagulaya, the city's first transgender councilor, but few LGBT people felt accepted before the disaster, said Jonathan Corpus Ong, a lecturer at the University of Leicester in England.

"Spending time with foreign aid workers has helped local gays to become more open and expressive in everyday life," said Corpus Ong, co-author of a study of the relationship between local people and aid workers after Typhoon Haiyan.

LGBT people interviewed for the study did not express a need for specific support after the disaster because of their sexual orientation, but benefited from a new open-mindedness brought on by the aid workers' presence, he said.

"They could finally be themselves in Tacloban as the city shed some of its small-town mentality thanks to the presence of a group of people generally perceived to be more tolerant of sexual minorities," Corpus Ong said.

The benefits appear to have been larger for middle-class professionals than for poor gays struggling to make a living in a region that even before the typhoon was among the poorest in the Philippines, Corpus Ong said.

Unlike those who have felt more accepted and liberated after Haiyan, some working-class gays and transgender people have had to make less welcome changes to their lives, the study found.

"We met low-income femme gay men in hairdressing work who switched jobs to more lucrative macho construction work after Haiyan," Corpus Ong said.

Community Spirit

Florano said the fact that many gays pitched in to help their neighbors after the typhoon may also have contributed to their growing acceptance.

When Typhoon Haiyan struck in the early hours of Nov.8, 2013, Florano was trapped in total darkness in his apartment building, which had been inundated by a massive storm surge brought on by the typhoon.

With water rising above his belly, he managed to escape via a staircase literally at the last minute, an experience he described as the "start of his second life."

"So many people were pushed to their limits because of the typhoon. In situations like that you just think about survival and not whether it's OK or not that the person next to you is gay. You just fight for survival and help other people."

The lasting impact on Tacloban's LGBT community has yet to be measured, said Corpus Ong.

Also, as many international aid agencies wind down their recovery operations next year, it remains to be seen whether the spirit of openness will survive.

The post Tacloban's Gays Enjoy Spirit of Acceptance after Typhoon Haiyan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.