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.

The post Gov't Silent on Army's Claim that Suu Kyi Wants AA 'Crushed' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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.

The post Ghosn May Have Had Questionable Ethics, Co-Chair of External Nissan Probe Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

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

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

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.

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Friday, January 18, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

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AA Must Give Up Goal of Confederation: Myanmar Military

Posted: 18 Jan 2019 06:37 AM PST

The Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) said peace talks with the Arakan Army would be able to move forward only when the AA changes its political view and gives up its goal of Rakhine becoming part of a confederation of states.

Tatmadaw leaders held a press conference regarding the current situation in Rakhine State and the ongoing peace process in Naypyitaw on Friday.

"It depends on the AA whether they join the path of political negotiation," said Major-General Soe Naing Oo, the chairman of the Tatmadaw's True News Information Team, on whether the Tatmadaw would hold political negotiations with the group.

"We will think about whether to move forward, depending on the AA's actions," he said. "They have spoken of a confederation [as their preferred political system], but that is the opposite direction from the current path to building a democratic federal union that the government, Tatmadaw and the people have agreed upon."

He reiterated the Tatmadaw's stance that the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)—agreement on which was achieved after many hurdles had been overcome—has all the elements needed to build a democratic federal union.

The Tatmadaw announced a unilateral ceasefire applying to its five Military Commands in the north and northeast of Myanmar on Dec. 21 after three ethnic armed groups (EAOs) released a statement claiming they would give up armed struggle and seek a political settlement. The groups were the Ta'ang Nationalities Liberation Army (TNLA), the AA and Kokang-based Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

However, fighting between the Tatmadaw and AA troops continues in western Myanmar. Tensions mounted after the AA attacked police outposts in Rakhine State's Buthidaung Township on Jan. 4.

There were more than 170 clashes between the AA and the Tatmadaw's troops between March 2015 and Jan. 16 of this year. Some 60 AA soldiers and undisclosed numbers of Tatmadaw soldiers have died in the clashes, and the Tatmadaw has seized weapons and ammunitions from the AA, according to Major -General Tun Tun Nyi, the vice chair of the Tatmadaw's True News Information Team.

He declined to reveal the number of casualties sustained by the Tatmadaw, saying the Tatmadaw "does not release such data on casualties unnecessarily" while operations are ongoing.

The AA has consistently published information on captured soldiers or police and seized ammunition and weaponry over the past four years, releasing pictures and videos. According to the group, dozens of Myanmar military soldiers have been killed.

On Friday, Tatmadaw generals justified the exclusion of the Western Military Command from their truce by saying that Rakhine is still under threat from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, adding that they do not consider the AA to be based in Rakhine.

"The AA was initiated in the Laiza area" in the Kachin Independence Army's stronghold "and still based there, thus the truce was intended for the northern and northeast based EAOs," said Maj-Gen. Tun Tun Nyi.

He said the Tatmadaw is acting to prevent further attacks by ARSA in the west, particularly in the
Mayu mountains, near Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, where ARSA launched coordinated attacks against Border Guard Police outposts in October 2016 and August 2017.

The Army would "completely destroy ARSA, if they happen to enter into these areas," he said.

Another spokesperson, Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun, added that engagements between the Tatmadaw and troops belonging to EAOs are between combatants, which are different from attacks upon police.

"Police are not combatants. Thus the AA took advantage, like ARSA, by attacking outposts with less security [in Rakhine State]… and it is an attack on the government mechanism," he added

Thus, the generals said they were following instruction by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to destroy the insurgency, as the AA were regarded as insurgents.

The Army quoted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, saying that, "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 that [the Tatmadaw] does not crush the AA as it is an ethnic group, but it crushed ARSA, who practice a different religion."

It added "The President's Office order on Jan. 4 instructed the Tatmadaw to coordinate with the police and to use more military force and to use military aircraft to crack down on the AA."

The generals said that while the Tatmadaw has the right to act independently under Chapter 7 of the Constitution (which confers upon the Commander in Chief the right to exercise absolute power to safeguard the country), they would work together with the government when important matters come up.

Article 339 of Chapter 7 states that "The Defense Services shall lead in safeguarding the Union against all internal and external dangers."

Seven and a half years of fighting between the Tatmadaw and EAOs in the northeast, north and west have left some 180,000 internally displaced people sheltering in some 167 camps in government-controlled areas, according to the Tatmadaw. There are another more than 37,000 IDPs are taking shelter in EAO-controlled areas.

The officers also talked about the Tatmadaw's stance on the current peace process. Regarding the issues of a single army and self-determination, Maj-Gen. Soe Naing Oo added that the Tatmadaw stands firmly by its policy that there can be only one Army, as in any other country. It said the issue of self-determination would have to be resolved in accordance with the NCA.

In addition, the general reiterated the Tatmadaw's policy towards the EAOs by saying that, "We want to officially tell the EAOs that if they want to take part in politics, they must disown armed struggle and form political parties; if they want to enter business, they must establish a company, and if they want to protect the country—join the Army."

The generals reaffirmed that the Tatmadaw firmly intends to achieve peace for the people by 2020, as the Army chief envisioned one-and-a-half years ago.

However, fighting continues between EAOs based in Shan State despite the announcement of a four-month truce. There was one engagement between the Tatmadaw and the RCSS near Mong Pan on Dec. 27; the Tatmadaw accused the RCSS of attacking one of its military columns.

The generals added that they had fulfilled the demands of the ethnic groups that the Tatmadaw initiate a unilateral ceasefire, which had started with five military commands, but added, "look what is happening now" in the northeast, citing that the inter-ethnic fighting.

The Army said troop movements by almost every EAO in the region—RCSS, SSPP, KIA, TNLA, MNDAA and UWSA—continued. They accused some EAOs of conducting new recruitment of local residents and extorting money.

The Tatmadaw added that it had been wrongly blamed for the interethnic fighting in Shan State, where the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the Ta'ang Nationalities Liberation Army (TNLA), Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army North (SSPP/SSAN) are fighting, as well as the Pa'O National Liberation Organization.

EAOs often accuse the Tatmadaw of using a divide and rule policy in states with different EAOs and local militia groups.

Citing the continuous clashes in Shan State, the Tatmadaw warned the EAOs that if any of the groups violated section 5, 6 and 7 of its truce, they would take the necessary actions.

Section 5 urges all EAOs to "comply with four of its policies: to respect the ceasefire agreements, not to exploit the peace agreements, not to burden local residents, and to abide by existing laws. In section 6, the Tatmadaw urges "the EAOs not to have interethnic fighting and not to cause a burden to the local residents." In section 7, the Tatmadaw says, "EAOs must take responsibility not to destroy the government's administrative mechanism, not to damage the livelihoods of the people and to ensure safety in road transport."

"The Army won't tolerate any violations of these section 5, 6 and 7," added Maj-Gen. Soe Naing Oo.

As regards the rise of demands for a confederation and having their own states made by some minority ethnic groups like the AA and Kachin groups based in exile, the Tatmadaw made it clear that it "won't tolerate damaging the Three National Causes."

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Four Years on, Justice Yet to be Found for Kachin Teachers Raped and Murdered 

Posted: 18 Jan 2019 05:14 AM PST

Justice is yet to be found in the case of the two Kachin schoolteachers who were raped and killed in their hut in Kaung Kha Village of Kutkai Township, Shan State as the police continue to investigate the case four years on.

But the case is not forgotten in the hearts of the Kachin community. The families, mentors and colleagues of the victims will hold a memorial service for the two volunteer teachers, Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin, in Kaung Kha on Saturday to mark four years since their murder.

Both women were 20 years old and worked with the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) to provide education to children in the region, when they were murdered on Jan. 19, 2015.

At the time of the incident, soldiers from the Myanmar Army's Infantry Battalion 503 were present in the small village and 28 soldiers were suspected of involvement in the double murder. But the KBC was since told that each of the soldiers' DNA had been tested and that they did not match that found on the bodies.

Brang Dee, a lawyer from the Kachin Lawyers Network which provides legal advice to the KBC, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the case is "still in the investigation stage as the culprits have not yet been identified and it is not able to bring charges."

The KBC has been consistently calling for justice for these two Kachin women, but have not yet been able find get it.

"Even though it has been four years, we feel like it was yesterday. It was an act against our whole ethnic community," said Rev. Hkalam Sam Sun, chairman of the KBC in a message to the public on Tuesday.

He added, "I was told to forget about these volunteer teachers' cases by a [Myanmar Military] commander last year. I told him that as Christians, we know well about forgiveness and having patience and letting go of pain, but we must work to get the truth. We want to reveal who the culprits are."

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Police Investigate Suspected Burglary of Ancient Pagoda in Bago Region

Posted: 18 Jan 2019 04:49 AM PST

PROME, Bago Region — Police in Bago Region are investigating the suspected burglary of an ancient pagoda in the World Heritage site of Sri Ksetra but say nothing was stolen.

Sri Ksetra was one of three walled and moated cities of the Pyu Kingdom — which flourished for more than 1,000 years between 200 BC and A.D. 900 — inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2014. The pagoda in question is believed to have been built between A.D. 4 and 9.

"The security guard reported to us after he spotted broken bricks on the top of the Lay Myet Hnar pagoda while patrolling along the heritage zone yesterday," Lieutenant Zeya Lin, of Prome Township’s Police Station No. 3, told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

"So we have opened a case under Section 26 of the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Regions Law. We will identify the vandals," he added.

U Soe Min, assistant director of the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library for Sri Ksetra, told The Irrawaddy that there was nothing valuable inside the temple.

Lay Myet Hnar pagoda, in Bago Region, as seen from the top. / Kaung Myat Min / The Irrawaddy

"It must be connected with smuggling of artefacts in the zone," he said of the suspected burglary, adding that his department has received reports of artefact trafficking in the area but yet to catch anyone.

"We are cooperating with police to prevent this," he said.

A waterproof concrete layer on top of the pagoda was damaged, but it is not part of the original structure, said U Soe Min.

"The temple is ancient heritage, but the waterproof concrete layer is not. It was done before [Sri Ksetra] was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is not original concrete. But [damaging it] is still an offence under the law," he said.

In November, signboards and a bridge in the zone were vandalized, a visitor’s motorbike was stolen, and a couple was robbed by a group of men. The vandalism was the first of its kind in a decade, prompting the Archeology Department to start nighttime patrols.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Exile Group Declares ‘Independence’ for Kachin State

Posted: 18 Jan 2019 03:42 AM PST

The Kachin National Organization (KNO), a Kachin exile group, ended its conference in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand early this week with an announcement declaring Kachin to be an independent country.

Over 200 Kachin community leaders including rights activists and representatives of political parities and literary and cultural organizations attended the three-day conference from Jan. 12-14. The delegates unanimously decided to declare independence for Kachin.

Naw Latt, a spokesperson for the KNO, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that, "When we look at the situation in Kachin State, including political conflicts, armed conflicts and Kachin refugees, we are not happy about it."

He added: "The central government has not delivered the political rights sought by the Kachin people. The Army has even blocked humanitarian aid to our refugees. We made this decision to announce our independence after analyzing the situation in Kachin State. All representatives at the meeting agreed to declare Kachin an independent country," he said.

Most ethnic Kachin live in northern Myanmar near the Chinese border. Under British rule before independence, the Kachin were to allowed to govern their own affairs to a large extent.

"We have a history of ruling our own region. Therefore, the Kachin will have no problem establishing our own independent country," Naw Latt said.

The announcement was met with heavy criticism on Facebook. Kachin residents of Myitkyina reported that Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) helicopters could be seen flying above the town and Laiza yesterday. Some locals interpreted this as a sign that the Tatmadaw and government were displeased by the KNO's announcement.

Gumgrawng Awng Hkam, the chairman of the Kachin Democratic Party (KDP) based in Myitkyina, said his party didn't attend the meeting in Chiang Mai, but he heard that other Kachin political parties had attended.

"They announced independence. But the KNO was acting on its own authority. Personally, I think they should consult ethnic Kachin residing in Kachin State. They should have held a referendum before announcing this. Then it would have a strong impact," Gumgrawng Awng Hkam said.

He did not consider Kachin to be independent as a result of the announcement, he said.

The KNO's use of the word "independence" in its announcement caught the attention many Kachin in the state, according to Gumgrawng Awng Hkam.

Before the country won independence from the British in 1947, Kachin leaders asked the Union government to let them rule their own region as an independence state, but the central government has never allowed that to happen, Gumgrawng Awng Hkam said.

"It is quite natural for the people. They want independence for their region. But there are those who agree with the KNO statement and those who disagree," he said.

Kachin State did not yet have the structures required for independence, Naw Latt said, though he added that Kachin leaders could learn the necessary procedures from the international community.

In the past, when Shan groups announced independence for Shan State, it prompted the Myanmar government and Army to take action against them.

Instead of taking similar action, Naw Latt said, the government should consider its response to the KNO announcement carefully because the Kachin living in Kachin State itself are suffering. The government needs to find the best solution for the Kachin issue, he said, otherwise, the people will take matters into their own hands.

On his Facebook account, General Gun Maw from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) posted a comment by Khin Zaw Oo, a former Myanmar Army general who serves as the Myanmar Peace Commission's secretary, in which he asked the KIO for its view on the KNO's announcement. Gen. Gun Maw responded that Khin Zaw Oo should ask the KNO directly.

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Irrawaddy Region Deputy Speaker Submits Resignation

Posted: 18 Jan 2019 12:30 AM PST

PATHEIN—The deputy speaker of the Irrawaddy regional parliament has handed his resignation to parliament following his expulsion from the National League for Democracy (NLD) for the alleged misappropriation of funds.

"He has verbally asked to me to allow him to resign, but I haven't approved his resignation," Irrawaddy Region parliamentary speaker U Aung Kyaw Khaing told The Irrawaddy.

The Irrawaddy regional chapter of the ruling party will hold a meeting with U San Min Aung which will also be attended by U Myo Nyunt, a member of the NLD's central. A decision on U San Min Aung's resignation will be made during the meeting, said U Aung Kyaw Khaing.

The Irrawaddy has not been able to contact U San Min Aung for his comments.

Following the filing of a complaint by a Pathein resident against deputy speaker U San Min Aung, who allegedly embezzled government funds in the purchase of five vehicles for the regional parliament, the NLD party launched an internal investigation into the case in December, leading to his dismissal following a meeting of the party's central executive committee on Jan. 13.

U Myo Nyunt, who is also a spokesperson for the NLD, said that the ruling party would inform the Irrawaddy regional parliament and the national anti-graft body of the financial matters of U San Min Aung so that necessary action can be taken against him.

"They may take necessary action according to their procedures depending on our report," U Myo Nyunt told The Irrawaddy.

U San Min Aung, 38, worked as a lawyer before his success in the 2015 election in Bogale Township, Irrawaddy Region after which he was appointed deputy parliamentary speaker.

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Yangon Sets Date For Municipal Elections

Posted: 17 Jan 2019 10:33 PM PST

YANGON — Municipal elections will be held in Yangon on March 31, according to the city’s Municipal Election Commission.

The elections will be held under the new Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) Law, which came into effect on June 28 and supplements the 2013 Municipal Law.

There will be a total of 105 seats up for grabs, 99 at the township level — three seats each in 33 townships — and six for the YCDC's executive board, U Aung Khine, chairman of the Municipal Election Commission, told reporters on Wednesday.

The YCDC's executive board initially consisted of nine members — the mayor, four appointed members and four elected individuals — but has been expanded to add two more elected positions.

One of the six elected members will become the vice mayor, a post created by the new law to ease the workload of the mayor of Myanmar's largest city and commercial capital.

Candidates are to submit applications to contest the elections from Jan. 18 to 28, said U Aung Khine. Candidates for township-level positions are allowed to spend up to 10 million kyats ($6,519) while those running for the executive board may spend twice that, he added.

The list of qualified candidates will be announced in the second week of February. According to eligibility criteria, candidates must have been born to Myanmar citizens, must be more than 25 years old, must have lived for three consecutive years in the township they intend to represent, must not owe taxes to the YCDC, and must be loyal to the country.

Myanmar Army personnel and their family members who live in cantonments, as well as police and their family members who live in police staff quarters, are barred from casting votes in the election, according to the Municipal Election Commission.

Yangon saw its first-ever municipal elections in December 2014.

One month after the National League for Democracy took office in April 2016, the Yangon mayor announced that the YCDC by-laws had been amended so that the elected members' terms coincided with the government’s.

The Yangon chief minister then sent notices of dismissal to the sitting elected members, who had assumed they would serve until the next election.

The new YCDC Law, unlike its previous version, allows for the replacement and recall of appointed and elected members.

According to the new law, the term of the committee coincides with that of the president, and municipal elections must be held within three months of a new government taking office.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Thai Universities Tap into Rising Chinese Demand

Posted: 17 Jan 2019 09:05 PM PST

BANGKOK—Chinese national Cherry He Ting rattles off in fluent Thai as she presents her masters thesis ahead of graduating from a Bangkok university, where she has studied for the past three and a half years.

The 28-year-old history student is among thousands of Chinese who join Thai universities every year, according to Thai government data, which shows their annual enrolment numbers have doubled since 2012.

Hit by years of declining enrolment of Thai students, the institutions are scrambling to meet this recent surge in demand as Chinese students look for alternatives to Western schools.

Chada Triamvithaya, an academic at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang who has been researching Chinese migration patterns in Thailand, said universities currently make twice the amount in tuition fees from Chinese students as they do from locals.

“Apart from private universities, state universities, even one for Buddhist monks, are now creating courses aimed at attracting Chinese students. It is all about the money,” she said, adding that the lure of rising Chinese demand in Thai education has already attracted Chinese investment into the sector.

Thai universities offer more affordable overseas study for Chinese students, compared with more popular destinations like Australia, the United States and Britain, Diane Hu, assistant professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University told Reuters.

Many of these Chinese students come from the largely rural, southern provinces, hoping to escape a highly competitive but poor education system back home and land well-paying jobs in Southeast Asia’s second biggest economy.

“Further interest in southern provinces can be attributed to heightened trade ties between the two countries and Belt and Road-driven initiatives,” Hu said.

China’s Belt and Road program promotes expanding land and sea links between Asia, Africa and Europe, with billions of dollars pledged for infrastructure development.

Chinese students say Thailand offers better prospects because of lower tuition fees and friendlier visa rules than in the West.

Studying for an undergraduate business degree costs up to 120,000 baht ($3,700) a year in Thailand, while tuition fees for a similar course can range from $8,000 in Singapore to over $60,000 a year at some US universities.

Chinese students are also facing greater scrutiny in countries like the United States, where the Trump administration is considering new background checks and other restrictions over growing espionage concerns.

“If I work here I will have more opportunities than where I came from,” said Cherry, who first arrived in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand almost eight years ago as an exchange student.

She said she arrived by boat on the Mekong River from her hometown of Jinghong in southern China. She first studied tourism management at a university in Bangkok before doing a master degree in history at another university.

As many as 8,455 Chinese students enrolled in Thai universities in 2017, twice that in 2012. The total is as high as 30,000 across the country, according to research by the AsiaResearch Center for Migration at Chualongkorn University.

'Soft power'

Thai universities rank well below those in neighbors like Singapore and Malaysia, according to the Times Higher Education World University Ranking, both those countries have schools among Asia’s top 50 whereas Thailand’s top institution, Mahidol University, has slipped nearly 30 places in recent years to rank near 100 out of 400 schools across Asia.

Chinese demand has risen in spite of this, and both private and state universities now hope that rising foreign enrolment will help bring in more revenue and improve the quality of education.

“Chinese students are part of the soft power assertion of China into Thailand,” said Chada at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, adding the rising number of students has been followed by a rise in Chinese teachers, translators, and academics getting more jobs in the Thai education sector.

Woraphong Dechasasawat, the vice president of one of the country’s largest Chinese-language business schools, says the institution aims to find students from among the roughly three million Chinese who would struggle to find university placement back home each year.

“There will always be demand when you talk about China, it is about how ready are we in adapting to it,” he said.

Part of Dhurakij Pundit, one of the country’s largest private universities, the school started with 23 Chinese students in 2010 and now hosts about 3,700.

Some Chinese investors have even invested in private universities like Bangkok’s Krirk university, with plans to introduce more courses aimed at the Chinese market, according to media.

Many researchers believe this trend will continue as China looks to expand its influence across Southeast Asia and beyond.

“The Belt and Road initiative has led to more Chinese students going to study along its corridors in the past year through government scholarships,” Aksornsri Phanishsarn, an economist at Thammasat University told Reuters.

“But Thailand has seen its own surge as well due to large trade and tourism between the two countries,” said Aksornsri.

The post Thai Universities Tap into Rising Chinese Demand appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Vietnam Prepares for Kim Jong Un Visit Amid Talk of Second Summit With Trump

Posted: 17 Jan 2019 09:01 PM PST

HANOI — Hanoi is preparing to receive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a state visit, two sources told Reuters, while officials and diplomats said Vietnam is keen to host a second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.

A source familiar with the matter said Kim will travel to Vietnam for an official state visit after the Feb. 4-8 Lunar New Year. A separate source confirmed Kim’s visit but did not give any dates.

The United States and North Korea are holding high-level talks in Washington this week to discuss a second meeting between Trump and Kim to seek an “interim” deal to revitalize nuclear talks, U.S. and South Korean media have said.

Communist-ruled Vietnam, which has good relations with both the United States and North Korea, has been widely touted as the most likely venue for a second meeting.

The Southeast Asian country is keen to host the summit as a demonstration of its normalized ties with the United States, its foe during the Vietnam War, a Vietnamese government official and two diplomatic sources told Reuters.

The Vietnamese source did not confirm if a state visit by Kim would be combined with a U.S.-North Korean summit.

Media is heavily censored in Vietnam and the ruling Communist Party retains a tight control on information. The officials who spoke to Reuters did so on the strict condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the situation.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Hanoi said the embassy did not have anything to announce regarding the summit location, and referred questions to the White House.

Trump told reporters in Washington on Jan. 6 that the United States and North Korea were “negotiating a location” for a second summit and that “it will be announced probably in the not too distant future.” White House officials have declined to comment further.

Kim and Trump met for a historic summit in Singapore in June, but have since struggled to make progress towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Top North Korean officials, including former spy chief Kim Yong Chol, were seen at Beijing airport on Thursday and are believed to be headed to the United States for meetings with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and possibly Trump.

Asked about a possible high-level meeting this week, a State Department spokesman said: “We have no meetings to announce.”

“A1 visit” in Danang

Both Hanoi and the central Vietnam city of Danang have been viewed by analysts as possible locations for a second summit.

A senior Danang-based official said the city had not been asked to host such an event, but had received instructions to prepare for a possible “A1” visit, referring to a high-profile foreign leader.

A senior South Korean official earlier told Reuters that the United States has “various options” on the location, which would be decided after consultations with North Korea, while another official said that Vietnam is only one of the countries keen to host the summit.

Vietnam, which rose from the ashes of a victorious but costly war with the United States and transformed itself into one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, has developed close strategic ties with Washington.

In 2016, Washington ended a decades-old arms embargo on Vietnam, and last year a U.S. aircraft carrier visited Vietnam for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War.

Vietnam’s exports to the United States, its largest export market, rose 14.3 percent last year to $47.53 billion, accounting for nearly 20 percent of Vietnam’s total exports.

North Korea can learn from Vietnam’s experience in building ties with the United States, said Le Dang Doanh, a Vietnamese economist and former government adviser who has given lectures to North Korean delegations visiting Vietnam.

“They asked a lot about how Vietnam can normalize relations with the United States after losing so many Vietnamese lives during the war,” Doanh said. “I told them we never forget the past, but we also look to the future.”

The post Vietnam Prepares for Kim Jong Un Visit Amid Talk of Second Summit With Trump appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Job Jitters Mount as China’s Factories Sputter Ahead of Lunar New Year

Posted: 17 Jan 2019 08:42 PM PST

DONGGUAN/HONG KONG — Wang Zhishen was thrilled when Danish shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk gave him two months’ paid leave, relishing the chance to spend time with his wife and daughters in China’s remote northwestern Gansu Province.

But his euphoria over what he thought was an unexpected bonus quickly turned to despair when Maersk fired Wang on Jan. 3, less than a month after he packed his bags in the southern Chinese manufacturing center of Dongguan.

Wang said he was one of 2,000 workers laid off at the company’s Dongguan transport container factory, which has been idle since early December, as the impact of a trade war between Washington and Beijing ripples through industries from logistics to autos and technology.

“I was sure it was a holiday,” said Wang, 35, who said he worked as a painter at Maersk for nearly six years until he was sacked two weeks ago via China’s WeChat messaging service.

Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipper, confirmed in an email to Reuters it had laid off 2,000 workers through “one-on-one” phone calls and WeChat messages.

In November, the company warned the trade war between China and the United States would hit demand for container shipping as the volume of goods shipped slides.

Two subsidiaries of China’s COSCO Shipping, in a direct response to the trade war, have reduced the number of vessels in Guangdong, causing a plunge in regional shipping freight turnover, according to Guangdong’s statistics bureau.

“I heard most container factories started letting people go on leave early this year, so I felt it was normal for us to have a few more days off as well,” said Wang, who earned a base salary of 3,900 yuan ($574) per month.

Around the Lunar New Year holiday, this year scheduled for early February, millions of Chinese, including tens of thousands of migrant workers, travel back home for family reunions in what is the world’s largest annual human migration.

While many factories traditionally close ahead of China’s most important holiday, Reuters interviews with more than a dozen workers, business owners, labor activists and trade lawyers revealed businesses are shutting earlier than usual this year as the prolonged trade war curtails orders.

A recent Reuters visit to three once-thriving towns in Dongguan in Guangdong Province showed clear signs of a slowdown. Scores of shops and restaurants were shuttered, some factories idled and many up for rent.

Danny Lau, a Hong Kong factory owner in Dongguan, said some businesses had closed around 40 days ahead of Lunar New Year.

“Dongguan used to be bursting with factory workers but now with factories gone, people are gone as well,” one taxi driver told Reuters.

“This complex used to be full of workers, eating and chatting when they got off work. Now look at this,” he said, pointing to empty dark alleys in an open air dining place one recent weekday evening.

Exports fall

The slowdown comes as data on Monday showed China’s exports unexpectedly fell the most in two years in December and imports also contracted, pointing to further weakness in the world’s second-largest economy in 2019.

Policy sources told Reuters last week China plans to set a lower economic growth target of 6-6.5 percent this year compared with last year’s target of “around” 6.5 percent.

A recent UBS China survey of 200 manufacturing companies with significant export business or supply to exporters revealed the trade war has had a negative impact on 63 percent of those businesses.

A quarter of those affected have cut jobs, 37 percent have moved production out of China in the past 12 months, while 33 percent plan to move in the next six to 12 months.

China’s giant manufacturing sector was already under pressure from rising labor costs, tighter regulations and a shift towards higher-end production and domestic consumption. But the risk of more and higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods has seen the trend rapidly accelerate as more companies look to move supply chains away from China.

U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports on March 2 if Beijing fails to take steps to protect U.S. intellectual property and allow more market access for U.S. businesses, among other steps.

The two sides held face-to-face talks last week, with Trump hailing “tremendous success” and Chinese officials noting “progress,” but few details have been made public.

Slowdown building

Guangdong, home to more than 100 million people, is China’s biggest provincial economy, with its $1.3 trillion GDP comparable to that of Australia or Spain. A slowdown in Guangdong bodes ill for other export-oriented provinces along the Chinese coast, and would also drag on national growth should the trade war persist.

“As a major export province, Guangdong’s economy has been greatly affected by the trade war,” said Shenzhen-based independent economist Song Qinghui. “Many enterprises have suffered from bleak business, orders have fallen sharply, and the number of factories deciding to shut down their business is not in minority.”

Determining the scale of the slowdown through data is difficult, however, given Guangdong Province recently stopped publishing a monthly economic indicator that gauges manufacturing growth momentum.

Other data shows Guangdong’s manufacturing workforce dropped more than 6 percent in the third quarter of last year to 12.71 million from a year earlier.

In a further bearish sign, the value of export orders to the United States signed in November at China’s largest trade fair in Guangdong dropped 30.3 percent on the year.

“If you are servicing a U.S. brand, U.S. market, then of course the company will be in very deep trouble,” said Sunny Tan, deputy chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, which represents more than 30,000 Hong Kong-owned factories in China’s Pearl River Delta.

While some may not be hurting badly financially right now, “they know it’s going south,” he added.

Runaway bosses

As orders trickle in and some production lines grind to a halt, many businesses have cut hours and done away with overtime.

“Without overtime, we don’t have much salary left if you deduct social security and food. All we care about is the tangible money that we can see,” said Ye Minghua, 25, a worker at Kam Pin Industrial Ltd, which has a metal-coating factory in Dongguan.

Around a fifth of the factory’s 200 employees have already left for the holidays, while some production lines have been suspended, said King Lau, assistant to the managing director at Kam Pin.

New orders were expected to fall by 30 percent if tariffs are increased to 25 percent in March, he added.

More factories are likely to shutter their gates for good over the next few weeks, with industry watchers forecasting some owners, unable to bear the hefty cost of bankruptcy, will simply disappear.

“It’s tough to close down a manufacturing factory in China these days … it’s easier to bail,” said trade lawyer Sally Peng of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg. “After Chinese New Year, when all the workers go, they may not come back.”

The post Job Jitters Mount as China’s Factories Sputter Ahead of Lunar New Year appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China’s Envoy to Canada Says Huawei 5G Ban Would Have Repercussions

Posted: 17 Jan 2019 08:39 PM PST

OTTAWA—China’s envoy to Canada on Thursday warned Ottawa there would be repercussions if it banned technology firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from supplying equipment to Canadian 5G networks, the latest blast in a deepening bilateral dispute.

Ambassador Lu Shaye, speaking at a news conference, did not give details. Canada is currently studying the security implications of 5G networks, but unlike some allies has not announced Huawei equipment will be excluded.

“If the Canadian government does ban Huawei from participating in the 5G network, then as for what kind of repercussion there will be, I'm not sure, but I believe there will be repercussions,” Lu said through an interpreter, urging Ottawa to “make a wise decision on this issue.”

Relations between China and Canada turned frosty last month after Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, on a US extradition request.

China subsequently detained two Canadian citizens, and this month a court retried a Canadian man who previously had been found guilty of drug smuggling, and sentenced him to death.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Beijing of arbitrarily using the death penalty and called world leaders to solicit their support.

Lu said when Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland goes to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week she should avoid “microphone diplomacy” and not try to rally support.

“If Canada has a sincerity of resolving these issues, then Canada will not do such things. We hope Canada thinks twice before making any actions,” he said.

In response, Freeland said Canada had no intention of changing its approach.

“We will continue to speak every day with our allies about this situation,” she told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

She declined to give details about the review into 5G technology. A Canadian source directly familiar with the case said the study would not be released in the immediate future.

Huawei has a relatively small Canadian operation, employing just shy of 1,000 people. But the company said early this year it had become the 25th largest research and development funder in Canada, thanks to partnerships with local universities.

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced bills that would ban the sale of US chips or other components to Huawei, ZTE Corp or other Chinese firms that violate US sanctions or export control laws.

The post China’s Envoy to Canada Says Huawei 5G Ban Would Have Repercussions appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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