Tuesday, January 22, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Organizers of Yangon’s 5th LGBTIQ Festival Promise Biggest Bash Yet

Posted: 22 Jan 2019 05:21 AM PST

YANGON — Myanmar's LGBTIQ Festival, put on by the non-profit &Proud initiative, will take place over two weekends, from Friday to Sunday and Feb.1 to 3. The many activities will include Yangon Drag Night and the first ever LGBTIQ river boat parade in Asia.

This is the 5th year running for the festival, though &PROUD has renamed it Yangon Pride to anchor it in the global Pride movement, which celebrates LGBTIQ people by fighting against the stigma they experience in many parts of the world.

"As we mark our 5th year anniversary, we believe it's high time we align more closely with the international Pride movement and have our very own Pride event here in Yangon,” said Hla Myat Tun, co-director of &PROUD and deputy director at Colors Rainbow, Myanmar’s main LGBT rights network.

“It's also a fitting name transition at this point in time when &PROUD is evolving and Myanmar’s LGBTIQ community is growing, yet stigma, harassment and discrimination are still very much with us," he added.

In Myanmar, Yangon Pride aims to build an LGBTIQ-friendly community that will last and grow beyond the festival.

"We’ve started being a public festival since last year, 2018. Before that, &Proud celebrated the Myanmar LGBTIQ Festival with photos and film exhibitions, competitions at galleries and the French Institute," Hla Myat Tun said.

Many people are getting to know more about LGBTIQ people and becoming more accepting of their identities. Some people have also been encouraged to come out, and many small LGBT campaigns have been started at local universities. Hla Myat Tun attributes much of that to the festival.

This year's festival features an exciting lineup of award-winning films, live performances, talks, a drag night and much more.

Yangon Drag Night, a new addition to the festival, will bring together nine of Yangon’s finest drag queens for the opening on Friday evening from 7 to 10 at Thakin Mya Park, along with a performance by Russell and music by DJ Mike.

The highlight of the festival will be Asia’s first ever LGBTIQ river boat parade, Yangon River Pride, on Saturday starting at 1:30 p.m.

Other additions to this year’s festival are an awards ceremony, the Hero Awards, aimed at shining a light on people helping to foster a positive understanding of LGBTIQ identities in Myanmar.

"Okka Min Maung will be honored for his coming-out video because many people recognize Myanmar's LGBTIQ community from his video, and he has encouraged many other LGBTIQ people with his words,” Hla Myat Tun said of the popular actor. “The other Hero Award winners will be a surprise.”

This weekend’s events will take place at Thakin Mya Park and also include free concerts by local stars May Khalar, Sophia, Jewel and Project K as well as exhibitions and games such as the “Drag Olympics.”

The events on Feb. 1 to 3 will be at the French Institute and feature a series of film screenings and talks on issues ranging from transgender health to legal reform.

"Every year we aim to make our festival as fabulous as ever, and this year is going to be the one to beat. We invite everyone to join us on Saturday for our very first Yangon River Pride. It's going to be spectacular as we set sail in a flotilla full of rainbow flags on the Yangon River. Lots of fun, music and surprises," said Jan Willem van Rooij, co-director of &PROUD and co-director and production head of Yangon Pride.

All events are free of charge, and no tickets are required except for the boat parade. Tickets for the boat parade are 3,000 kyats to 8,000 kyats, and space is limited.

&PROUD is a non-profit initiative founded in Yangon in 2014. It organizes arts and culture events in Myanmar for the LGBTIQ community that aim to create greater understanding and awareness of LGBT identities, to foster a conversation on LGBT rights, and to create stronger linkages within the community and with Myanmar society.

The post Organizers of Yangon’s 5th LGBTIQ Festival Promise Biggest Bash Yet appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Yangon Municipal Body Invites Firms to Participate in Smart Parking Project

Posted: 22 Jan 2019 04:24 AM PST

YANGON—The Yangon City Development Committee, the municipal body, has invited expressions of interest from private companies to introduce a smart parking system in the busy downtown area.

According to a statement released on Tuesday, the system will be introduced on roads in Kyauktada, Pabedan, Latha, Lanmadaw, Botahtaung and Pazundaung townships. The townships comprise the city's central business district, where parking problems are most severe.

Local companies and joint ventures between local and foreign companies are asked to submit expressions of interest from Jan. 28 until 3 p.m. on Feb. 27.

A smart parking system featuring automated payment technology is already up and running in a few townships in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-biggest city.

Amid complaints from local residents and lawmakers about illegal parking and limited parking spaces—one of the major causes of traffic congestion in Yangon—the regional government last year announced a plan to develop a modern parking system.

Union Deputy Transport and Communications Minister U Kyaw Myo said in Parliament on Nov. 30 that the Yangon regional government was widening roads to accommodate parking spaces, and preparing to invite private companies to introduce the smart parking system. He was replying to a lawmaker's question about what plans the government had to tackle Yangon's traffic and parking problems.

He said that under a new policy, new buildings would be required to have adequate parking space, adding that the government had a long-term plan to reduce private car usage by improving public transportation.

The government lifted restrictions on car imports in October 2011. As a result, the number of vehicles plying Yangon's previously sleepy streets rocketed from 160,000 in September 2011 to more than 530,000 by October 2018, according to the deputy minister.

The post Yangon Municipal Body Invites Firms to Participate in Smart Parking Project appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Military Says Soldier Killed in Karen Rebel Attack

Posted: 22 Jan 2019 03:38 AM PST

Mon State — The Myanmar military says a soldier was killed and an army truck was destroyed in an attack by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in northern Karen State’s Papun Township on Friday.

The office of the military’s commander-in chief, Senior general Min Aung Hlaing, condemned the attack in a statement posted to its website Saturday.

Colonel Myo Aung, from the Myanmar military’s Southern Regional Command, said the military sent letters to both the KNLA and its political wing, the Karen National Union (KNU), which signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 2015.

"Based on the NCA, we sent them letters about their actions," he said, adding that the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee was sent a copy as well.

Major Saw Kler Doh, of the KNLA’s Brigade 5, based in Papun, blamed the clash on the military.

"The fighting broke out because they tried to sneak into our areas of control. They did not stay on the borderline, where we both agreed to stay,” he said. "If they had not crossed the borderline into our side, there would have been no fighting. They never informed us before they tried to sneak into our area of control."

The KNU and Myanmar military agreed a bilateral ceasefire in 2012 that requires each to inform the other of any armed incursion in advance.

While the military has reported only the two clash with the KNLA this month, the KNLA has reported four.

The KNLA said the vehicle it attacked and destroyed on Friday was not a truck but a bulldozer the military was using the upgrade a road between the villages of Baw Hsee Kee and Yung Sa Lin. The armed group said it had agreed to let the military pull the bulldozer out of the area but attacked because it was still being used.

The military said it had been both transporting food to its frontline troops in the area and upgrading a pair of roads running between Taungoo, in Bago Region, to the border with Thailand, including the stretch from Baw Hsee Kee and Yung Sa Lin, along which it had about 10 battalions stationed.

"We transport food during the dry season every year. We have used this road since 1990," Col. Myo Aung said.

The military clashed with the KNLA in Papun last year when it began upgrading a road from Baw Hsee Kee to Ler Mu Plaw, displacing hundreds of local ethnic Karen from their homes. The military suspended work following a meeting between Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and KNU Chairman Saw Mutu Say Poe in Naypyitaw

But Col. Myo Aung said the military would continue upgrading the roads between Taungoo and the border in order to better supply its soldiers.

The KNLA’s Maj. Saw Kler Doh said the military should hold off on any development projects in the area while there was fighting there.

"Our area is a conflict area. The best thing would be for both armed groups to stay on the agreed border. No one should cross the borderline; that way there will be no fighting," he said.

The KNLA has asked the military to stop rebuilding the roads and to resupply its frontline soldiers by foot or horse only in order to avoid clashes. The military has ignored both requests.

The post Myanmar Military Says Soldier Killed in Karen Rebel Attack appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Asean Must Make the EU a Strategic Partner

Posted: 22 Jan 2019 03:38 AM PST

Asean can be vicious, as relations with the European Union demonstrate. At the Chiang Mai retreat last week, the official status of the EU as a new strategic dialogue partner was one of the prominent issues taken up by Asean foreign ministers. The press statement issued by the chair simply said that the EU’s status, which Asean has agreed in principle, is still subject "to further details and time to be worked out". In a nutshell, it is still in limbo.

Deep down, quite a few Asean members are resentful over the EU's condescending attitude toward them, whether it has been over trade or human rights issues. “The EU loves to make Asean furious, if not belittle us,” commented one diplomat whose country objected to granting the EU elevated status without a strong commitment to respect "the Asean way" in return.

Asean foreign ministers are meeting with their EU counterparts in Brussels early this week to discuss bilateral relations. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will co-chair the one-day meeting with Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. Asean and the EU will discuss cooperation on climate change and strengthening the rules-based multilateral system, among other things.

The bone of contention in Chiang Mai was the status of the strategic partnership with the EU. In Singapore in November, Asean leaders actually agreed in principle to make Russia and the EU the 8th and 9th strategic partners of the Southeast Asian bloc, respectively. Earlier, in the case of the EU, Cambodia held up the decision, objecting to Brussels’ constant threats to sever its tax-free trade status, known as the “Everything But Arms” arrangement. However, for Russia, it was the opposite. Asean members quickly reached consensus at the senior level. Russian President Vladimir Putin also made a rare appearance at the 13th East Asia Summit. Putin said he had intended to raise the status of Russia's strategic partnership with Asean leaders directly if the bloc remained recalcitrant.

At the special 20th anniversary commemorative summit in the Russian city of Sochi in May 2016, Russia gave Asean leaders the red carpet treatment with the pomp and ceremony they deserved. But Moscow was disappointed because Asean continued to view Russia as a junior partner, even though it is one of the world’s great powers, affecting peace and security around the world, especially in the Middle East. For the record, the US was made the bloc’s 7th strategic partner just a few months ahead of the special summit in Sunnylands, California, in February 2016.

In addition, Indonesia and Malaysia feel strongly that the EU has a displeasing attitude toward Asean, imposing its values and standards on them. The two palm oil exporters believe that some of the criteria for agricultural products demanded by the EU are discriminatory and unfair.

Fortunately, Thailand, which has also suffered greatly over the past four years over its domestic politics and the illegal fishing issue, has overcome several hurdles erected by its European partners. It would be nice if the EU could consult with Asean members before setting these criteria in the future, otherwise it could lead to disputes that dampen other important cooperation agreements. Indeed, Thailand sacrificed blood, sweat and tears to overcome the stringent criteria outlined by the EU, which would not have been possible without its military rulers’ vigorous use of the much-condemned Section 44.

As a coordinator of Asean-EU relations and the Asean member that has the most advanced ties with the EU, Singapore managed to put on a brave face vis-à-vis the EU in convincing its Asean colleagues to back the strategic partner proposal. Amid rising protectionism and a trade war, as well as the EU’s new strategic thinking as a great power-balancer in a region dominated by the US-China rivalry, Asean can no longer drag its feet with the EU on this issue. The EU needs new friends outside the transatlantic alliance and supporters of free trade and globalization. Asean needs the EU to ensure that no major power can exercise hegemony in the region.

It is hoped that in Brussels, EU leaders will be more realistic in assessing the intrinsic value of Asean—both its individual members and as a whole. Self-reflection among EU members would also help the bureaucrats and politicians working for Brussels to understand better the complexities of the challenges facing Asean. The EU has to exhibit a new attitude; otherwise cooperation will be sluggish.

As the current Asean chair, Thailand’s theme of “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability” resonates with fellow Asean members, as they all face the dilemma of trying to stay on track with sustainable economic development. This is an area where the EU can help Asean to further increase the bloc’s capacity to address protectionism and issues endangering the environment.

In the weeks ahead, Thailand is writing to all Asean colleagues handling environmental issues to obtain their input on climate change. The Asean chair is planning to issue a joint statement on climate change ahead of the next summit. In 2017, Asean and the EU issued a powerful joint statement pledging to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, much to the chagrin of Washington, which unilaterally withdrew from the global accord it helped shape.

As the Asean chair, Thailand is planning to hold a meeting of global leaders, particularly those from the Security Council members, later in the year.

Both the French and UK leaders have agreed to attend the pre-event ahead of the East Asia Summit (EAS) in early November, joining their council counterparts from the US, China and Russia, which are EAS members. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pledged to participate as well. European Council President Donald Tusk, who attended the EAS luncheon meeting in Manila back in 2017, will also be invited.

Therefore, elevating the EU as a new strategic partner now is a must to pave the way for a much-needed rejuvenation of cooperation. The time has come for the EU and Asean to work on a free trade arrangement. Look around: Four years after the conclusion of the Singapore-EU free-trade accord, it is not yet implemented and effective. The EU is not so enthusiastic either about Vietnam’s current negotiations, because of labor standards. It must be noted here that these are the same labor standards approved by the US and members of the now-defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership.

To move ahead, the EU should set up working groups to deal with specific issues bilaterally with Asean members, be it human rights or the environment. That way, overall Asean-EU relations will not be held captive as they have in the past.

Kavi Chongkittavorn is a veteran journalist and expert on regional affairs. This column first appeared in The Bangkok Post.

The post Asean Must Make the EU a Strategic Partner appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Public Demands Transparency in Forced Resignation of Kachin Ministers

Posted: 22 Jan 2019 03:25 AM PST

YANGON—More than three dozen community-based organizations in Kachin State made a collective demand for transparency on Tuesday following the abrupt forced resignations of three ministers from Kachin State cabinet, calling on the state's chief minister for an explanation for the dismissals which are not in line with official procedures.

"It happened suddenly. We citizens have a right to know the reasons and to know clearly what they have done wrong," Hkawng Nan, a representative of the Transparency and Accountability Network Kachin, told The Irrawaddy.

The community-based organizations have pointed out that the dismissals shocked and annoyed local people and give rise to a distrust in the government's peace process and the national reconciliation process.

On Friday and Monday, the Kachin Chief Minister U Khet Aung ordered three ministers to resign from their positions—the only explanation given being that the instruction came from the State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The three Kachin State ministers are U Mya Thein, minister for agriculture, livestock and irrigation, U H La Aung, minister for environment and natural resources and U Thin Lwin, minister for social affairs. U Khet Aung suggested that the ministers write "personal health condition" as the reason for their resignations.

While two of the ministers accepted the forced resignation and agreed to write the letter, the outgoing natural resources minister U H La Aung refused, insisting that he would not resign from his post until he knew the reason for the demand. The President's Office later issued two separate statements—one announcing the retiring of the two ministers and another announcing the dismissal of the third.

All three ministers said they have not been the subject of any complaint letters or corruption reports from the public. Along with the outgoing ministers, critics also pointed out that the dismal was not in line with official procedures—according to the law, an investigation should precede any decision by the state counselor or government.

According to Myanmar's 2008 Constitution, the minister of a region or state may be impeached for one of the following reason: high treason; breach of any of the provisions of the Constitution; misconduct; disqualification of the chief minister or minister of the region or state as prescribed in the Constitution; or inefficient discharge of their duties as assigned by law.

If there is a need to impeach, a charge signed by not less than one fourth of the total number of representatives in Parliament is supposed to be submitted to the House speaker. The speaker is then supposed to form a team to investigate the charge. If the investigation finds that the minister is unfit to continue in office, the speaker submits the resolution to the president. Upon receipt of the report, the president "shall remove the impeached minister."

U H La Aung said, "Our party is a democratic party. [The Chief minister] should not force me to sign the resignation letter without letting me know the reason. It could tarnish the NLD's image and also the government's image. I have a right to defend myself."

"I told him (the chief minister) that I need to receive an official letter from above. The order should come through official lines. We have laws and procedures [to follow] if ministers break the law," he said.

Outgoing minister U Mya Thein said he agreed to sign the resignation letter but is disappointed with not being told the reason, as he also serves as president of the NLD for Kachin State.

U Mya Thein said, "In the party, we have some people who want to remove us from our positions. They also want to take our positions. Our cases involved personal grudges."

NLD spokesperson U Myo Nyunt told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that he still doesn't know the detailed reasons for the resignations however, the party will look into the case having received a complaint letter from one of the outgoing ministers.

The community-based organizations had not received a response from the Kachin chief minister by Tuesday afternoon. Hkawng Nan said community-based organizations support U H La Aung for his efforts in law enforcement at the notorious Hpakant jade mines and the China-backed banana plantations in Kachin State.

"He has been doing his job very well. There is no reason to force him to resign from his position," Hkawng Nan said.

The post Public Demands Transparency in Forced Resignation of Kachin Ministers appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Deputy Speaker of Irrawaddy Region Parliament Denies Embezzlement Claims

Posted: 22 Jan 2019 02:30 AM PST

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region — The deputy speaker of the Irrawaddy Region Parliament on Monday denied the embezzlement allegations that recently saw him purged from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD).

U San Min Aung is accused of pocketing a share of the money earmarked for the regional government last year to buy five vehicles.

"Far from using the funds for ourselves, we even paid out of our own pockets” to buy the vehicles, he told reporters in Pathein, Irrawaddy Region.

He said all the purchase decisions were made with the approval of a nine-member committee formed by the speaker of the regional parliament for the express purpose of procuring the vehicles.

The NLD launches an investigation into the purchases in December, following a complaint by a Pathein resident, and kicked U San Min Aung out of the party on Jan. 13.

According to NLD spokesman U Myo Nyunt, the Irrawaddy Region Parliament was given $104,000 from the Union Parliament’s 2017-18 fiscal year budget to buy five used vehicles. But the market price for the vehicles the local legislature ended up buying was about $4,000 less, money U San Ming Aung was accused of pocketing.

U San Min Aung had refused to meet with reporters until Monday, following a session of the Irrawaddy Parliament.

He said the $4,000 in question went to vehicle taxes and repairs.

"I learned from the media that I was expelled from the party for embezzling funds meant to buy vehicles. When I contacted the party’s central executive committee, spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt said I could appeal if I was not satisfied with the ruling. But I haven't received any dismissal letter in black and white," he said.

U San Min Aung also said that he had not submitted his resignation either verbally or in writing, as claimed by the speaker of the Irrawaddy Region Parliament.

The speaker, U Aung Kyaw Khine, declined to comment on U San Min Aung’s remarks.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Party Logos Banned for Yangon Municipal Election

Posted: 22 Jan 2019 12:58 AM PST

YANGON—The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) has decided that political parties will not be allowed to use logos during campaigning ahead of the March 31 municipal elections in the commercial capital.

The municipal authority made the decision at a meeting on Monday.

"Candidates will be allowed to use photos [of themselves] during the campaign, rather than party logos," municipal election commission member U Khin Maung Kyaw told The Irrawaddy.

A total of 105 seats will be up for grabs: three in each of the city's 33 townships and six for the YCDC's executive board.

One of the six elected members will be named vice mayor, a post created by the new YCDC Law to ease the workload of the mayor of Myanmar's largest city.

The ruling National League for Democracy will contest the municipal elections, party spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt said. It is not yet clear how many constituencies it will contest.

"To ensure a fair election, it is important that both the party and the government refrain from abusing their power, and allow candidates to contest independently," said Daw Nyo Nyo Thin, founder of Yangon Watch, an independent governance-monitoring group.

Candidates can register for the election from Jan. 18 to 28. The list of qualified candidates will be announced in the second week of February.

The post Party Logos Banned for Yangon Municipal Election appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Cambodia Businesses, Unions Ask EU Not to Impose Trade Sanctions

Posted: 21 Jan 2019 09:29 PM PST

PHNOM PENH—Cambodian businesses and unions urged the European Union on Monday to not withdraw trade preferences from Cambodia over human rights concerns, saying such a decision would pose serious economic damage and harm millions of workers and their families.

The EU warned last year that it would strip Cambodia of its “Everything but Arms” (EBA) duty-free trading access, after long-time Prime Minister Hun Sen won every seat in a July general election following a crackdown on the opposition.

The 28-country bloc is Cambodia’s biggest export market, worth billions of euros a year.

A letter addressed to EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and seen by Reuters said the trade threat was most concerning for Cambodia’s rural women. “[They] make up 85 percent of the 700,000 garment workers and [are] therefore most likely to suffer … from the social and economic repercussions of any change to the status quo,” it said.

The EBA withdrawal would threaten the income of another 3 million people, said the letter, which was signed by some pro-government unions, and the European and American Chambers of Commerce in Cambodia, among others.

“We ask the European Commission instead to examine the current situation through the context of Cambodia’s difficult history,” the letter said.

The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) and the American Chamber of Commerce, two of the 40 signatories, confirmed the authenticity of the letter.

The EU’s Ambassador to Cambodia, George Edgar, did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

In a tweet on Monday, Malmstrom said she had discussed the EBA agreement and the possibility of a withdrawal of the tariff preferences with Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn.

“Reiterated our concerns on democracy, human rights and rule of law. The EU continues to keep the path of dialogue open,” she said on Twitter.

Brussels began a formal procedure in October to strip the Southeast Asian nation of its special trade status, which could impose tariffs within 12 months on Cambodian sugar, garments and other exports and make the country less attractive for retailers exporting to Europe.

In 2017, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and banned 118 party members at the request of the government after accusations the party was plotting to take power with the help of the United States. The party and the United States denied any such plot.

CNRP leader Kem Sokha was released from prison in September after spending more than a year in jail on treason charges but remains under house arrest in Phnom Penh.

He denies any wrongdoing. Fearing arrest, other senior party members have left the country.

The post Cambodia Businesses, Unions Ask EU Not to Impose Trade Sanctions appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rohingya Muslim Group Fleeing India to Bangladesh Stuck on ‘Zero Line’

Posted: 21 Jan 2019 08:45 PM PST

DHAKA—Bangladesh has denied entry to 31 Rohingya Muslims trying to enter from India and they are stuck in no-man’s land on the border, Bangladesh authorities said on Monday, as India cracks down on members of the community.

The stranded Rohingya, including women and children, had been living in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, according to a Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) official who said he had seen some of their identity cards issued by the UN refugee agency in India.

The 31 had been stuck on Bangladesh’s border with northeast India since Friday, said the BGB commander in the area, Golam Kabir.

“We stopped them as they were crossing the border,” Kabir told Reuters by telephone.

“They’ve been on the zero line since the 18th of this month,” he said, referring to the border.

Two rounds of talks on what to do with the 31, with India’s Border Security Force on Sunday, had “ended without any conclusive decision,” Kabir said.

Many hundreds of thousands of members of mostly Buddhist Myanmar’s Rohingya community have left their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine Sate over the decades, most fleeing military crackdowns and discrimination.

Many have sought shelter in Bangladesh—where nearly 1 million live—but others have ended up in India, Southeast Asia and beyond.

An Indian border force officer in Tripura state told reporters on Sunday that they were providing food and clothing to the Rohingya, 16 of whom were children.

The force could not be reached for comment on Monday.

India estimates that 40,000 Rohingya are living in scattered settlements in various parts of the country.

But its Hindu nationalist government regards them as illegal aliens and a security threat, and has ordered that they be identified and repatriated.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has issued about 16,500 Rohingya in India with identity cards that it says can help “prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation.” India does not recognize the cards.

Hundreds of Rohingya families have left India for Bangladesh since seven Rohingya men were deported to Myanmar in October and a family of five were sent to Myanmar this month.

The United Nations says conditions are not conducive for Rohingya to return to Myanmar.

In August, the United Nations accused the Myanmar military of mass killings and rapes of Rohingya with “genocidal intent” in a 2017 military operation that drove more than 700,000 of them into Bangladesh, according to UN agencies.

Myanmar has denied the accusations, saying its military launched a counter-insurgency operation after attacks on security posts by Muslim terrorists.

The post Rohingya Muslim Group Fleeing India to Bangladesh Stuck on 'Zero Line' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China’s Huawei in Unprecedented Media Blitz as it Battles Heightened Scrutiny

Posted: 21 Jan 2019 08:28 PM PST

HONG KONG—China’s Huawei has launched an unprecedented public relations blitz, thrusting its low-key founder in front of international media as the telecoms firm seeks to ease concern among Western nations bent on shutting it out of their markets.

The move, along with significant personnel change in its 300-strong corporate affairs department, comes as the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker battles fear of Chinese authorities accessing its infrastructure for espionage.

In a 25-minute interview aired late on Sunday—his first with state-controlled China Central Television (CCTV)—Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei shrugged off the global push against his company, which has repeatedly denied any state links.

“If you do (your product) well, there is no need to worry about sales… It would be stupid on their part if they don’t buy,” the 74-year-old said in a one-on-one, adding to three group interviews last week with English, Chinese and Japanese media outlets.

“It would be their loss,” Ren said, referring to the United States and other Western countries which have restricted Huawei in their markets.

Before last week, Ren had had no more than 10 interviews across media since founding Huawei in 1987, CCTV said. He last met international media at Davos in 2015.

“My public relations department forced me,” a smiling Ren told CCTV when asked why he had opened up to the media. “I must make our clients understand us, make our 180,000 employees understand us, come together and get through this tough time.”

Personal attack

The comments come as Polish authorities earlier this month arrested a Huawei executive on spying allegations, fueling Western suspicion against Huawei on national security grounds.

While the Chinese national who was immediately sacked by Huawei denied the allegations, Huawei is bracing for potential fallout from its biggest Western markets as Germany debates whether to follow the United States and allies such as Australia in restricting Huawei’s market access.

The firm has been shut out of Australia and New Zealand’s markets for fifth-generation (5G) mobile telecoms equipment, while the US President Donald Trump is considering an outright ban on all Huawei equipment with an executive order.

Huawei is nevertheless seeing fast growth, securing 30 contracts to supply 5G equipment and shipping 25,000 5G base stations already—up from 25 contracts in December, Ren told CCTV.

A person close to Ren told Reuters that the CEO felt the need to talk to the media after the string of negative events overshadowed the company’s business over the past year.

Among the most high-profile events was the arrest in Canada of Ren’s daughter—Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wenzhou—over alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran.

“With all the attacks over the past year, now it got personal—when your daughter gets arrested,” said the person, who was not authorized to speak with media and so declined to be identified.

The arrest was made at the request of the United States, and further strained Sino-US at a time when trade friction was already threatening to undermine ties.

Still, with his daughter released on bail and awaiting a US extradition request, Ren, in an interview with international media last week, described Trump as a “great president.”

Firefighting

Ren’s media engagement is part of a broader public relations offensive by a firm whose traditional opaqueness results from being in a highly competitive sector and having significant R&D programs, “perhaps lending credence to misperceptions we are too secretive,” said Chen Lifang, president of public affairs.

“Huawei is very concerned about misunderstandings which continue to linger despite our best efforts in recent years,” Chen told Reuters in a statement. “Huawei is committed to being even more open and transparent for not only this year but the foreseeable future.”

The firm has expanded its international communications team by 25 percent to 30 people over the past six months as it steps up engagement with foreign media, including tours to research labs that had not previously been open to outsiders.

Among major personnel changes, Huawei’s president of global media and communications, Joy Tan, has moved to Washington to run media and government relations operations there, while Song Kai, former deputy CEO of Huawei US and former CEO of Huawei France, has moved back to headquarters to take over Tan’s role.

Huawei’s Washington office has more than halved in size over the past year to low single-digit regular staff members, with some employees voluntarily leaving the firm as it was pushed out of the market, people familiar with the matter said.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Huawei Canada’s vice president of corporate affairs had left the company as scrutiny of the firm deepened.

Some Huawei employees described the rapid turn in the international environment as beyond their imagination.

“The AT&T deal at the start of the year was like the party about to start,” a member of Huawei’s public relations team told Reuters, referring to a partnership with US company AT&T Inc.

“And then suddenly the house caught fire, the party became firefighting, and then the fire spread to more and more places… Now we decided we’ve just had enough. It’s time to be proactive and open ourselves up to the world.”

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Monday, January 21, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Three Kachin State Ministers Told to Quit ‘on Suu Kyi’s Orders’

Posted: 21 Jan 2019 03:51 AM PST

YANGON—The Kachin chief minister has ordered three ministers to resign their positions without giving a reason other than to say that the instruction came from State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, according to one of the ministers.

U Mya Thein, who was the Kachin State Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, told The Irrawaddy he and the other two ministers were forced to resign on Friday.

"The Kachin chief minister said the instruction came from State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He forced me to write a resignation letter as quickly as possible," U Mya Thein said.

According to Kachin Chief Minister Khet Aung, State Environment and Natural Resources Minister U H La Aung and Minister for Social Affairs Dr. Thin Lwin were the other two forced to resign.

Last week, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited the state capital, Myitkyina, to mark Kachin State Day. All three ministers said they met her during the visit, adding that she had not made any complaint about the ministers' performance or mentioned complaints from the public.

U Mya Thein said the chief minister suggested he put "personal health condition" as the reason for the resignation in his letter.

U Mya Thein also serves as chairman of the National League for Democracy in Kachin State. He said there had been no complaints or reports of corruption from the public prior to his receiving the order to resign. He said he had sent a complaint letter to the NLD headquarters, as he believed his performance was good and that he had not committed any corruption.

The Kachin chief minister refused to provide any details, but told the media on Monday that he was "exercising the chain of command", indicating the order had come from above.

NLD spokesperson U Myo Nyunt told The Irrawaddy he could not make any comment, as he had yet to receive any details regarding the resignations of the Kachin ministers. He could not confirm that the decision had come from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. But he acknowledged the party had received a complaint letter from U Mya Thein.

The outgoing minister for environment and natural resources, U H La Aung, told The Irrawaddy he had been trying to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in person in Naypyitaw since the chief minister ordered his resignation. He said that he too had not been the subject of any complaint letters or corruption reports from the public. U H La Aung is recognized as a hard-working minister for his efforts to enforce laws governing the jade mines in Hpakant, which have damaged the environment due to overexploitation for many years.

Dr. Thin Lwin told The Irrawaddy the chief minister called him into his office on Monday morning but he refused to meet him, saying he had unfinished business to attend to, implementing plans for orphans and IDPs in Kachin State.

"I don't believe the order came from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. I am trying to confirm it. If it is true, I will resign," Dr. Thin Lwin said.

Upper House Lawmaker for Kachin State U Khin Maung Myint said the Lisu ethnic affairs minister and lawmakers from the upper and lower houses signed a complaint letter and sent it to the President's Office three months ago asking that action be taken against Dr. Thin Lwin after he made racially discriminatory comments about Kachin IDPs.

"More than 100 Kachin people sent a complaint letter to the President's Office," U Khin Maung Myint said.

However, he said, "U H La Aung is as hard-working a person as I have met in the Kachin State cabinet. I am sure people are very satisfied with his work. I have no idea why he is on the list."

Kachin Peace Network coordinator Khon Ja said U H La Aung's resignation was a loss to the Kachin government, as his performance had been approved by the public.

According to the 2008 Constitution's Article 263, the chief minister of a region or state, or any minister, may be impeached for one of the following reasons: high treason, breach of any of the provisions of the Constitution, misconduct, disqualification of the chief minister or minister of the region or state as prescribed in the Constitution, or inefficient discharge of their duties as assigned by law.

The Constitution states that if there is a need to impeach, a charge signed by not less than one fourth of the total number of representatives in Parliament shall be submitted to the House speaker. Then, the speaker shall form a team to investigate the charge. If the investigation finds that the minister is unfit to continue in office, the speaker shall submit the resolution to the president. Upon receipt of the report, the president "shall remove the impeached minister".

U Mya Thein said the Kachin chief minister's action was totally against the Constitution, as an investigation should precede any decision by the state counselor regarding his removal.

"I have no guilt. I did not do anything wrong. I will continue to seek the reason," U Mya Thein said.

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Obituary: David Abel, Economics Czar Under Myanmar’s Military Regime, Dies

Posted: 21 Jan 2019 03:29 AM PST

David Oliver Abel, a former brigadier general and the economics czar of Myanmar’s military regime in the 1990s, died of heart failure in Yangon on Sunday. He was 84.

Of Anglo-Burman, Indian and Jewish Catholic descent, he was one of only a few non-Buddhists in the military government. Born in Yangon, David Abel was selected to attend the Royal Military Academy, Sand Hurst, in the United Kingdom from 1953 to 1956 and graduated with a degree in economics.

He served in the Myanmar Army in various positions, fought against the Mujahedeen in Rakhine State and against local communist insurgents in northern Shan State. When the military staged a coup in 1988 and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), he was one of its members and the only non-Buddhist. He retired from the Army with the rank of brigadier general while serving as director general of procurement in 1991.

David Abel was at various times minister of commerce, minister of finance and revenue, minister of national planning and economic development and minister of the chairman’s affairs at the State Peace and Development Council. In 1990 he founded Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, one of two major conglomerates run by Myanmar’s military to promote the country's major industrial sectors and stabilize the national economy. Under his guidance, the country significantly liberalized its international trading relationships from 1989 to 1994.

However, David Abel was said to have displeased the generals by questioning the economic strategies they implemented after the 1997 financial crisis in Asia. Senior General Than Shwe and his deputy, Vice Senior General Maung Aye, disapproved of his statements about opening up Myanmar’s economy. He was disappointed when they blocked his reform efforts at the holding company.

He retired from the government in 2003. But even afterward he was banned from traveling abroad by the military, which worried that the former economic advisor would continue to speak out, possibly about the country’s economic woes or alleged ties between local drug lords and foreign companies.

David Abel’s obituary notice on Monday described him as a brigadier general and ex-minister. He might have risen higher, possibly to lieutenant general, as did some of his SLORC colleagues. Were his bosses displease with his efforts to improve the economy? Did they disapprove of his Christian faith? Only they know.

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Gov’t Silent on Army’s Claim that Suu Kyi Wants AA ‘Crushed’

Posted: 21 Jan 2019 02:31 AM PST

NAYPYITAW—The President's Office has declined to comment on military leaders' claim that State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi instructed the Myanmar Army to crush the Arakan Army (AA).

At a press conference in Naypyitaw on Friday, Major-General Tun Tun Nyi of the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) said, "State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said the AA is an insurgent group at a meeting on Jan. 7 at the Presidential House. She instructed us to effectively crush the AA and if not, there will be finger-pointing over why [the Tatmadaw] has not crushed the AA, [whose members are from a recognized] ethnic group, but crushed the ARSA, [whose members] practice a different religion." ARSA refers to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

The President's Office declined to comment, saying discussions of top-level meetings are confidential.

At an informal reception with journalists in Naypyitaw on Saturday, President's Office Director-General U Zaw Htay referred to a document he said was prepared with the approval of the upper echelons of the administration.

Reading from the document, he said: "This is privileged information. No comment."

"Privileged information is highly confidential information. In other words, it is only meant for those with privileged access. It is special-level information," lawyer U Khin Maung Zaw told The Irrawaddy.

The Irrawaddy was not able to contact a Tatmadaw spokesperson for comment about the remarks from the President's Office.

According to Yangon-based journalist U Thiha Thwe, the Tatmadaw wants to demonstrate that it is working in collaboration with the civilian government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and that the state counselor is taking the lead role.

"This could widen the gap between Arakanese forces and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Though [the Myanmar Army] wants to talk about the cooperation between the government and the Tatmadaw—the impact is that huge," he said.

The National League for Democracy-led government, which came to power in the 2015 general election, takes considerable caution in its relations with the Myanmar Army, which has a great degree of power under the 2008 Constitution.

U Zaw Htay said Saturday the government had instructed the Tatmadaw to conduct effective counter-insurgency operations against the AA, which he said threatened the lives and property of the people, and the peace and tranquility of the community.

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Mandalay Govt to Receive 3rd Repayment of Development Funds

Posted: 20 Jan 2019 10:50 PM PST

MANDALAY — The previous Mandalay Region government will make its third and penultimate repayment of suspect development funds to the current administration by the end of the month, regional Planning and Finance Minister U Myat Thu told The Irrawaddy.

"They said they would pay back 500 million kyats [$327,000] next week. This will be their third repayment, and all the money will have been repaid by next month," he said.

Mandalay Region Chief Minister U Zaw Myint Maung said in June that a 2017 audit found discrepancies and incomplete reports relating to the use of regional development funds amounting to more than 2 billion kyats ($1.3 million) between 2012 and 2016, before the current administration took office.

"Since this money belongs to the nation and its citizens, it should not be neglected or misused. Those responsible must take care of this and explain how these funds were used," said U Zaw Myint Maung. "A debt that they owe to the public can't be written off. They must repay.”

Officials of the previous administration held a press conference in July at which the former regional chief minister, U Ye Myint, said the administration could not pay back the money because it had been provided by private donors for the purpose of developing the region. The former officials sent a letter to the President's Office asking it to review the case.

The former officials later agreed to pay back the money by installments, according to U Myat Thu.

"In fact, they should give back all the money at once. But the chief minister, at their request, agreed to accept installments," he said.

They paid the first 500 million kyats installment in November. The minister said the fourth and final installment, which will come to more than 500 million kyats, will be made by the end of February.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Ghosn May Have Had Questionable Ethics, Co-Chair of External Nissan Probe Says

Posted: 20 Jan 2019 09:04 PM PST

TOKYO — The co-chair of a committee set up by Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co to examine the root cause of alleged financial misconduct by ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn said he believed Ghosn may have had questionable ethical standards.

Ghosn, charged with three counts of financial misconduct, has been detained in Tokyo since his arrest on Nov. 19. Ghosn denies the charges against him, which include understating his salary for eight years and temporarily transferring personal financial losses to Nissan’s books.

“Having read the report on the internal investigation, my initial impression was that the head of the company may have had questionable ethical standards,” committee co-chair Seiichiro Nishioka told a briefing late on Sunday after the panel held its first meeting.

Ghosn said on Sunday he would follow restrictions by authorities in Japan in exchange for his release from jail in the latest effort to persuade a court to grant him bail while he awaits trial.

Ghosn, in a statement released in New York, also said he looked forward to defending his reputation in court.

“Nothing is more important to me or to my family,” he said.

Nishioka, a former judge, added that he also saw problems with Nissan’s governance, including the process of determining compensation for directors.

The panel, comprising three Nissan external directors and four third-party members, expects to meet three or four times before making recommendations to Nissan’s board in March on how to tighten lax governance and approval processes for matters including director compensation and chairman selection.

All seven members attended the first meeting in Tokyo, including Jean-Baptiste Duzan, an external director based in France.

For four hours, they discussed issues with two people involved with Nissan including how power had been heavily concentrated with Ghosn for years, Nishioka said, and possible ways to avoid such focus in the future.

Nishioka added that such a concentration of authority in one person was “questionable.”

Mounting allegations

Nissan and partner Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan owns a controlling 34 percent stake, have been conducting their own internal investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Ghosn.

On Friday both accused him of improperly receiving $9 million in compensation from a joint venture between the two automakers, raising the possibility that the former boss of the Nissan-Renault alliance could face a fresh charge of embezzlement.

Separate internal investigations have found evidence that a small group of people at both companies helped to carry out or approve transactions including secret compensation and payments on Ghosn’s handful of residences, people with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters.

The arrest of Ghosn, who spearheaded Nissan’s turnaround two decades ago, and the charges against him have jolted the auto industry, while muddying the outlook for Nissan’s three-way alliance with France’s Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors.

Renault, which dominates the partnership through its 43.4 percent stake in Nissan, is expected to meet within days to consider potential candidates to replace Ghosn as CEO and chairman, sources have told Reuters.

Despite repeated requests by Renault that Nissan hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting as soon as possible to select a new chairman, Nissan plans to wait for the committee’s recommendations before making its nomination. Nissan’s annual shareholders meeting is scheduled for June.

Nishioka said the committee had yet to discuss possible procedures for chairman selection or governance issues related to the Nissan-Renault partnership including its capital structure. He did not rule out such discussions in the future.

France’s government, which holds a 15 percent stake in Renault and has long pushed for a closer tie-up between Renault and Nissan, has told Tokyo that it will seek an integration of the two companies, most likely under a single holding company, the Nikkei business newspaper reported on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ghosn’s wife, Carole Ghosn, has written to French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss her husband’s situation, her public relations representative said.

The representative, Devon Spurgeon, confirmed a report in French paper Journal du Dimanche that a letter had been sent to Macron this month, but declined to provide details.

Before his arrest, Ghosn had been working towards making the alliance “irreversible” and told Reuters in October that potential changes to the partnership’s structure would come by June 2020.

Nissan owns a 15 percent non-voting stake in Renault.

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From Pariah to Demi-God: Transgender Leader a Star at Massive Indian Festival

Posted: 20 Jan 2019 08:36 PM PST

PRAYAGRAJ, India — In a desert tent guarded by armed police and a thick-set bouncer, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi is blessing a constant stream of pilgrims, who garland her with marigolds and kneel to touch her feet.

Tripathi, a tattooed transgender leader and a former reality TV star, has become an unlikely icon at India’s Kumbh Mela, a huge religious festival being held on the banks of the Ganges River in the city of Prayagraj. Up to 150 million people are expected to attend by the time the festival ends in March.

On Tuesday, her religious movement, called the Kinnar Akhada, became the first transgender group to bathe at the confluence of the holy Ganges and the Yamuna rivers on the first day of the ancient festival, traditionally reserved for reclusive Hindu priests, almost all of whom are men.

“After centuries down the line, it was when the community finally got its due,” Tripathi told Reuters, seated on a pedestal next to her Michael Kors bag, juggling calls on an iPhone.

Many at the festival cheer Tripathi for reclaiming the lost place in Hinduism for India’s “third gender,” known as the hijras, worshipped as demi-gods for thousands of years but ridiculed and sidelined during British colonial rule.

A law passed in 1871 classed the hijras as “criminals.”

Little changed after independence and hijras were pariahs, living in tribes, begging or soliciting for sustenance and harassed by police.

It was only in 2014 that the Supreme Court officially recognized transgender people as a third gender.

Tripathi is one of the best known. But her support for building a controversial Hindu temple on the site of a demolished mosque has angered some in the LGBT community, who allege she is courting support from India’s powerful religious right to further her own influence.

Fall and rise

The place of hijras in Indian culture dates back to the Ramayana, a more-than 2,000-year-old Hindu epic poem venerated and performed across India.

In the text, the god-king Ram is exiled from the holy city of Ayodhya, with the entire kingdom following him into the forest. He orders them to turn back, but returning after 14 years, finds the hijras waiting for him in the same spot. Impressed by their devotion, he grants them the power to invoke blessings and curses on people.

For centuries, though their lives were far from easy, hijras held a special role in India’s royal courts, tasked with guarding harems and rising to influential positions.

Today, despite their legal recognition, many still face prejudice in what is a conservative country, forced into sex work or seeking alms at weddings and births, a long-held practice among hijras. Hate crimes against them are common and HIV prevalence within the community is many times higher than the general population.

“The ritual seeking of alms is now seen as begging,” said Anindya Hajra, a transgender activist at the Pratyay Gender Trust. “It criminalizes and pushes an already vulnerable community to its very brink.”

Colorful life

Born in 1979 in Thane, a suburb of India’s financial capital, Mumbai, Tripathi says she had a difficult childhood scarred with abuse by a close relative. A sickly child who was bullied at school for being feminine, she grew in confidence after learning Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance.

“I chose not to remember the prejudice,” she said. “Rather, I think [about] the good things that have happened to me, and be a flamboyant rainbow.”

Long recognized as one of the most influential figures in the LGBT community in India, she became famous across the country when she appeared on reality TV show “Bigg Boss” in 2011. She was a petitioner in the landmark court ruling that recognized transgender people.

In 2015 she founded her Akhara and began a campaign to have hijras represented at the first “Shahi Snan,” or royal bath, of the Kumbh Mela.

“It all started to reclaim the lost position in the dharma,” Tripathi said, referring to the Hindu cosmic law underlying correct behavior and social order. “I was not very religious until 2015 — life changed.”

Ancient tradition

Devout Hindus believe bathing in the waters of the Ganges absolves people of sins and doing so at the time of the Kumbh Mela, or the “festival of the pot,” brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.

At the festival, 13 religious orders, or Akhara, set up camp on the banks of the Ganges.

The umbrella body overseeing the Akharas initially refused to recognize the Kinnar Akhara as the 14th order.

But Tripathi has forged close bonds with the largest of the other holy orders at the Kumbh Mela, the Juna Akhara. They agreed to bathe together.

On the first royal bathing day on Tuesday, Tripathi rose at 4 a.m., dressed in a saffron sari and applied her makeup. She and her dozens of disciples then began the long procession to the river on a fleet of elaborately decorated trucks.

At the banks of the Ganges, they waited for their turn to bathe. Tripathi met with Hari Giri, the leader of Juna Akhara.

Her Kinnar Akhara “was there, is there, and will always be there,” Giri told Tripathi.

Shortly after sunrise, she plunged into the waters, to the cheers of the crowds who gathered to watch.

Divisive figure

Tripathi has courted controversy with support for the building of a temple dedicated to Ram on the site of a former mosque in Ayodhya which was demolished by hardline Hindus in 1992, leading to riots in which thousands died.

Many Hindus claim the mosque was built over an ancient temple that marked the birthplace of Ram, and the row is expected to be a major issue in a general election due to be held in the country by May. Many activists of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have been agitating for the construction of a temple at the site, alarming the country’s sizeable Muslim minority.

“There has been an attempt by the right to co-opt trans voices to suit a certain version of history,” said Hajra, the activist. “Our apprehension is also that some are trying to further [their] own personal career moves.”

A letter signed in November by hundreds of transgender people and rights groups accused Tripathi of fuelling “the right-wing politics of communal hatred.”

She is unrepentant.

“Where my Lord Ram was born, there the temple has to come,” she said. The Mughals “brought [the temple] down and then they enslaved us all,” she said, referring to the Muslim emperors who ruled India in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Tripathi plans to spend the rest of the Kumbh festival at her Akhara, receiving visitors among her colorful band of followers, who have little in common with the holy men living monastic lives in the other camps.

“We are not celibate,” she said. “We are demi-gods, not saints. We have our own rules.”

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Sunday, January 20, 2019

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Fresh ARSA Attack Injured Six Police Officers: Govt

Posted: 19 Jan 2019 07:59 PM PST

YANGON—Six policemen, including one police colonel, were wounded during an ambush by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Wednesday in northern Rakhine State, according to an announcement on State media on Saturday.

Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) announced on Saturday that a police van with security forces from No. 2 Border Guard Police Headquarters on board was attacked near Wat Kyein Village in Maungdaw Township. The government said ARSA, a Rohingya insurgent group which also launched serial attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine State in 2017, was behind the ambush. The group has been denounced by the government as a terrorist organization since the 2017 attacks.

Despite the attack taking place a few days ago, the government's announcement came only after a short video allegedly recorded at the scene went viral online early on Saturday. The footage includes the date of the attack and bears an ARSA logo.

The video shows well-equipped masked men in camouflage—unlike those which appeared in previous videos released by the group—holding AK-47 rifles and opening fire on a passing police van. The footage was aired on MRTV with a Myanmar translation of what the gunman says after the attack: "Our ARSA (launched the attack) on January 16, 2019 as God orders to kill security forces."

A police report earlier on Saturday blamed the attack on the Arakan Army, a Rakhine rebel group currently fighting against government forces in the same region for greater autonomy. However, the report originally posted on Ye Zarni, the official police force Facebook page, was removed on Sunday morning.

The government spokesperson was not available for comments.

If the ambush was carried out by ARSA as the government claims, this attack would be the first the group has carried out since 2017. In August 2017, an attack by ARSA on police outposts in northern Rakhine resulted in government security forces launching massive clearance operations in the area and prompting an exodus of nearly 700,000 Rohingya to flee to nearby Bangladesh. Those who fled accused the security forces of rape, arbitrary killing and arson.

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Saturday, January 19, 2019

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Is China Deliberately Sowing Discord over the Myitsone Dam?

Posted: 18 Jan 2019 11:24 PM PST

Kyaw Kha: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, we'll discuss Irrawaddy Myitsone, the lifeblood of Myanmar. I'm The Irrawaddy chief reporter Kyaw Kha and I'm joined by environmentalist Dr. Myint Zaw and Khon Ja of the Kachin Peace Network.

Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang recently visited Kachin State and claimed that some Kachin leaders support the Myitsone Dam project. In particular, the Chinese Embassy's statement [about the dam project] aroused controversy. How much has it impacted upon and caused concerns among the Kachin community?

Khon Ja: It has caused serious concerns. For example, Rev. Hkalam Samson [president of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC)] is one of the senior Kachin leaders. He was quoted in the [Chinese Embassy's] statement as supporting the dam project. This could seriously heighten concerns among not only the Kachin community, but also people elsewhere in Myanmar. Before the Chinese Embassy released its statement, we'd already read in The Irrawaddy about Rev. Hkalam Samson's stance on the dam project. That the Chinese Embassy has said the opposite made me very worried. Why did it issue a misstatement? It caused controversy not only among the Kachin community but also among the Bamar community. And [Bamars] were really concerned that the Kachin had approved the project. They assume that [the government's] decision about the dam project will change if the Kachin approve it, because the majority of the people residing in Myitsone are Kachin.

Kyaw Kha: Dr. Myint Zaw, could you recap the reasons that people are so bitterly opposed to the Myitsone Dam project?  

Myint Zaw: This project will decide whether The Irrawaddy River survives or dies. The river is of vital importance to the entire Myanmar population. As it played a fundamental part in the birth of the nation, the possibility of sowing the seeds of its destruction makes the whole country worried. Secondly, our country has the longest-running civil war in the world. [Construction of the dam] will only deepen the hatred and grievances between Kachin and Bamar people who reside downstream. It will only contribute to perpetuating the civil war and conflict. So, the Myanmar people strongly reject it out of consideration for the future of the Irrawaddy River and for the sake of the country's future peace.

KK: So, Daw Khon Ja, you say China has not been honest in its approach regarding the Myitsone Dam project.

KJ: That's right—China has been dishonest. When the Chinese ambassador visited Kachin State in July 2016, we presented him with printouts of statements by civil society organizations [opposing the projects]. [Leaders of] political parties including U Awng Hkam [president of the Kachin Democratic Party (KDP)] staged a demonstration in front of the hotel where the Chinese ambassador was staying. But the Chinese Embassy has said the opposite about those who have publicly opposed the project. This is even more dangerous, we believe. We are worried about [China's] motives for saying this so assertively. I think it is worse than a divide-and-rule approach—I'd call it cunning. And the Chinese Embassy's statement heightened the concerns of Myitkyina locals. Now an elected government is in office. What Myitkyina residents had expected was total cancellation. But then, based on what they heard from the Chinese ambassador, they assume that the dam project has been approved. And the Myanmar government hasn't released any statement. So locals are in a fog, and this has heightened their concerns.

KK: Can you assess the negative impacts of the dam from a technical perspective?

MZ: In short, the Irrawaddy will die [if the dam is built]. This is not just an assumption; it is a conclusion based on international examples and local surveys. The Myitsone Dam will kill the Irrawaddy, and destroy the social security of millions of people who live along the river. A river flows not just to convey water, but also to preserve the balance of nature. Its ecological balance sustains the lives of the majority of farmers and fishermen in the country. The blocking of the natural flow of the river will cause huge changes in the flow of the entire river downstream. This will affect the agriculture and livestock farming of millions of people, not to mention changes in the waterway, river temperature, and erosion of riverbanks. The changes will be felt right down to the Delta. It has become clearer, according to recent international surveys, that the middle part of the river and the Delta areas will be hit hardest by the downstream impact. So it is a serious cause for concern from a technical point of view.

KK: The Chinese ambassador visited Kachin State from Dec. 28-29 and met leaders of the KBC and Kachin political parties. Before his visit, the British and U.S. ambassadors visited Kachin State. It seems that China is concerned about their visit. It seems that China doesn't want Western countries to come close to the Myanmar-China border. The Chinese ambassador reproached the leaders of the KBC and Kachin political parties regarding the visits of the ambassadors of Western countries. So, do you think Kachin State is a buffer zone in tensions between China and Western countries?

KJ: China has not provided help for displaced persons in Kachin State. There are more than 120,000 displaced persons and it is the U.K. government that has provided the most help. So, our understanding is that the British ambassador has come to review an aid program funded by his government. And USAID has provided funds regarding human rights, natural resources and the livelihoods of people across the country, including in Kachin State. China has not provided assistance in those areas. Those ambassadors do not have offices in those areas, but their aid programs are in operation there. While people are only talking about displaced persons in Rakhine State, those ambassadors came to monitor their aid programs in Kachin State. This is how we understand [their visits]. But there may be many other reasons behind their visits. At present, China seems to have total control over the formal peace process led by the government. But the U.K. and U.S. governments play no role in the process. So, we wonder if they visited Kachin State in order to adjust the balance. But it seems China will not let anyone—not only Western countries including the European Union but also international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies—affect the position it has already established. I say this because staffers of [humanitarian agencies] can't get close to the border.

MZ: As an ordinary citizen, I'd like to question the role played by China. While it says it wishes to facilitate Myanmar's peace process, what its ambassador to Myanmar has done amounts to sowing discord between the Kachin and Bamar peoples. It is not an ethical act. While the country is faced with a crisis due to the Rakhine issue, China is aggressively attempting to take advantage of it, and it is acting unethically. This is how I see it as a citizen.

KJ: [China] also sows discord between the government and the people. We have read [the Chinese side's] presentation that the economic corridor [section] of the Belt and Road Initiative [BRI] is a Myanmar government plan—that Myanmar needs it and it has to rely on China for its development and technology transfer; that the leader of the ruling party is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; that the BRI is being implemented for the development of Myanmar; and that opposing the BRI amounts to opposing the government. This seems to be an attempt to present any opposition—for example, over the Kyaukphyu [deep-sea port] or the railroad project [that will link Kunming in China's Yunnan province with Kyaukphyu]—as an act of rebellion, forcing [the Myanmar government] to take action. And [China's] action amounts to sowing discord between party chairwoman Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the people.

KK: The previous government led by U Thein Sein suspended the dam project in response to public. People want to know whether or not Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will shelve the project. What is your assessment of this? Do you think she has changed her mind, as the Chinese ambassador has suggested?

MZ: I don't think she has changed her mind, because she also opposed the project together with the people under the U Thein Sein government. Before her first visit to China, she established an investigation commission [to assess the impact of the dam project]. The commission has not yet made an official report, but my understanding is that the commission has found more disadvantages in the project [than advantages]. We assume that the disadvantages of the dam have been presented to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. And it has become clearer according to scientific surveys that the project has more disadvantages; that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a leader would think about how to terminate it rather than how to resume it.

KK: The Irrawaddy River is the lifeblood of Myanmar and is vital not only for the Kachin but also for the entire country. People won't accept the dam project, as it would kill the river. For a leader, accepting the dam would be political suicide. Don't you think the government should release a clear statement about it? Public concerns have grown as the government has kept silent about it. I think some people will take to the streets if the government stays silent.  

KJ: There are many causes for concern at present [in Myanmar], and this is one of the most serious. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in her election campaign, promised to disclose information about Myitsone. But she failed to do so after she came to power. People expect the complete cancellation of the Myitsone Dam project. People understand that Myanmar is heavily in debt, and are extremely concerned about how [the government] is addressing it behind the scenes. If there is no answer, those over the age of 18 will blame themselves [for having voted for the NLD]. Under U Thein Sein's government, everyone raised objections to the Myitsone Dam in unison. The majority of the people felt that the government was a quasi-government, and they therefore seriously opposed it. So, the people were more united [in their opposition to the dam project]. But now, there are many blind supporters of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We have seen people start to disagree over Myitsone. This is a real cause for concern. There may be individuals and organizations who would exploit the circumstances for political gain. And foreign countries would exploit the circumstances. This is a cause for concern to us.

KK: Myitsone was sold under the military regime. But the current government has to bear its legacy. What will be the consequences if [the government] tries to settle the issue discreetly, as Daw Khon Ja has said?

MZ: Due to opposition from the people and environmentalists, U Thein Sein's government suspended the dam project. In other words, his government protected our natural resources and national heritage by halting the project. The current government has a responsibility to protect our national landmark by terminating the project. We people have elected the current government. Even if it can't achieve much, we will forgive it, presumably. We will forgive it if it can't do a lot for national development, because we are used to struggling along the way. But, if it agrees to destroy the resources and landmarks of the country, its historical legacy will be a negative one. As it is an elected government, I hope it will leave behind a [good] legacy for the country.

KK: Thank you for your contributions!

The post Is China Deliberately Sowing Discord over the Myitsone Dam? appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Education System and National Reconciliation

Posted: 18 Jan 2019 06:00 PM PST

A couple of years ago, I took an IELTS test in Yangon. The test was challenging for me, as someone who grew up in an ethnic state in which there was—and still is—little access to either formal or non-formal English-language education opportunities. By the time the test had finished, it was pouring outside, and I decided to take a taxi. The driver engaged me in conversation, but after we had exchanged just a few words, he interrupted me and said, "You have an accent. Are you an ethnic minority [tineyinthar]?" Feeling indignant, I confronted him the way any non-Burman would have. This is just a minor example of what life is like on a daily basis for non-Burman ethnic people. Such discrimination extends to every aspect of life, and yet many Burmans fail to recognize it exists, let alone actively denounce it.

To examine the root causes of the above anecdote, we need to go back to education; language and religion are embedded in the education system in Myanmar, and education contributes to identity development among students.

There exist over 130 official ethnic groups across the country. Yet the language of instruction in classrooms is Burmese, spoken by the ethnic majority Burmans. The vast majority of teachers are also Burman. As children learn better in the language they speak, the education system clearly favors ethnic Burman students, starting from kindergarten. During one of my monitoring trips to one of the northernmost townships, in which children don't hear or speak Burmese every day, I was told that a group of schoolchildren ran away from their school and homes after being disciplined and charged 200 kyats whenever they were caught speaking their own language at school. Usually, non-Burman ethnic children in rural areas do not speak Burmese well until they are in middle school. This is just one example of many showing that imposing the Burmese language on them can, even if unintentionally, result in animosity toward the Burmese language and Burmans as a whole. In the worst-case scenario, such enforcement may also be viewed as forced linguistic assimilation.

Religion is another lingering factor when it comes to education and national identity. To discuss one example, many people born in the 1980s and early '90s will remember memorizing the lesson Two Parrot Brothers [Kyay Nyi Naung] among their other primary school lessons. In the story, two parrot brothers caught in a storm end up in the hands of different people: a thief and a hermit. The moral lesson is beautiful and sincere, but it is worth asking why moral lessons derived from stories from other ethnic groups and religious communities are not found in the school curriculum. The Two Parrot Brothers asserts the moral legitimacy of Buddhism; thus, it may also imply the illegitimacy of other religions in the country, framing students' perspectives from a young age through a Buddhist Burman worldview.

In their study Language, Education and the Peace Process in Myanmar, South and Lall (2016) note that the curriculum is used as a "political tool to shape identities", and that "in fact, many young Bamar think that in order to become a citizen of Myanmar (Burmese), you have to be a Buddhist." This is sad and alarming, and it shows how fertile the ground is for religious and ethnic conflicts. The Rohingya issue serves as a glaring example of what happens when such notions are embedded in the curriculum. Islam is not the only religion that—if not today—may potentially be viewed as a threat to "Myanmar identity or citizenship" in the future. For example, Denis D. Gray wrote in a news report for The Associated Press on March 16, 2018 that Kachin State, where the Kachin community is over 90 percent Christian, has one of the most dense distributions of Buddhist pagodas in Myanmar. Similarly, Chin State, 90% of whose native population believe in Christianity, is also facing "state-sponsored" pressure to abandon the religion.

When it comes to social issues such as education and poverty, one of the most clichéd responses from ethnic Burmans is that they too are suffering and being denied their rights, just as other minority groups are. This the most obvious form one encounters of the denial of the institutionalized discrimination non-Burmans have been experiencing since independence from the British in 1948.

When generating a solution to a problem, the key is to recognize the problem as it is. While ethnic minorities fear the loss of their cultural, linguistic and religious identities, which are under serious threat from Burmese culture, language and Buddhism expansion, Burmans have never, since independence, experienced such fear. For non-Burmans, it is a matter of cultural and linguistic survival. It is undeniable that Burmans are also fighting against oppression and all kinds of political injustices in Burman-dominated areas. However, while Burmans are struggling for greater political justice, non-Burmans are struggling for survival—survival versus greater political justice. In other words, while ethnic minorities lack and demand basic rights as citizens of Myanmar, Burmans, whose culture, language, and religion are dominating others, have paid little attention to the cries of the ethnic minorities, whose rights have been constantly denied by the government and neglected by the Burmans.

It is worth noting that it is because of the non-Burman ethnic people that the Union was founded in the first place. Often, Burmans understand little about "the realities experienced by their ethnic minority brethren" (South and Lall, 2016). Thus, it may be unwise for Burmans to oversimplify non-Burmans' struggle for survival.

In brief, the identities, languages and religious beliefs of non-Burman ethnic groups are subjected to serious challenges and threats every day. Through public education and the enforced expansion of Buddhism into ethnic areas, Burmans are being conditioned to devalue the existence, rights and legitimacy of ethnic minorities. With such Burman values imposed on ethnic minority groups, and until the Burman-dominated education system is reformed to recognize the existence of other ethnic groups' existence, rights and legitimacy, national reconciliation will be next to impossible. If true national reconciliation is to be achieved, the necessary first step is for educated Burmans to recognize the lived experiences of ethnic minorities and to proactively start to speak out against those injustices stated above. This may serve as a first step toward discovering a "silver bullet" for resolving national reconciliation issues.

Kyaw Htut Aung is a pseudonym for a Kachin analyst doing his master's degree in education abroad. He has worked as a volunteer in the educational field in remote areas of Shan and Kachin states.

The post The Education System and National Reconciliation appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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