The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Burma’s Sin City Retains It’s ‘Special’ Features
• A View of Life in Chin State
• Man, Elephant ‘Face-Off for Food’ in Irrawaddy Delta
• Irrawaddy Business Roundup (January 18, 2014)

Burma’s Sin City Retains It’s ‘Special’ Features Posted: 17 Jan 2014 07:41 PM PST A new hotel under construction in Mong La, capital of the NDAA's Shan State Special Region No. 4. (Photo: Seamus Martov / The Irrawaddy) MONG LA — This de facto capital of the National Democratic Alliance Army's (NDAA) autonomous fiefdom in the far northeastern corner of Shan State has experienced quite a few ups and downs since 1989, when the group's current leadership, who at the time were disgruntled mid level officers in the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), turned their backs on revolution and signed a ceasefire with Burma's military junta. Following the complete collapse of Burma's strongest armed rebel group, what was once a small village in the northeast corner of CPB Zone 815 was quickly transformed into a mini Las Vegas, complete with casinos, hotels and a golf course, drawing thousands of Chinese punters from across the border on a daily basis. At its peak in the early 2000s, Mong La was infamous for its lady boy cabaret shows, Russian prostitutes and a human zoo that featured local women "bathing" semi-clothed beside a fake stream—just some of the exciting attractions that drew in the hordes from neighboring Yunnan Province. The NDAA's cash cow nearly came to end in 2003 after Chinese authorities took the unprecedented step of crossing into Mong La and raiding the casino. A scandal involving the daughter of a senior Chinese Communist Party official blowing more than $160,000 of government funds in Mong La casinos was reportedly the final straw for Chinese authorities, angered that millions in stolen public funds were being pocketed by the casino operators.  The Chinese intervention made Mong La a ghost town almost overnight, drastically reducing the number of visitors for a few years. The NDAA's response was to the move the casinos further inside their territory to Wan Hsieo, some 16 miles south of Mong La, where several casinos continue to operate.  Some of the casinos at Wan Hsieo are also equipped with high-speed internet connections and video cameras so chronic gamblers can place bets from the comfort of their homes in China. It is a lucrative innovation that is interrupted from time to time by Chinese authorities' repeated attempts to block wireless internet signals. Today, more than 10 years after the Chinese crackdown, the casino business appears, on the surface at least, to be raking in huge sums of money for NDAA and their Chinese friends, though reliable figures and statistics are difficult, if not impossible, to come by. On a recent trip to Mong La, this correspondent found nearly every one of the town's dozen or so hotels fully booked.  The hotel room shortage will soon be solved, I was informed.  There are currently two large hotels under construction—one opposite Mong La's standing Buddha—the larger of which, according to locals, will have hundreds of rooms. Chinese visitors appear very much at home in Mong La, the town operates on Beijing Standard Time, 90 minutes ahead of Burma. The currency of choice is the yuan, with many stores and hotels flat-out refusing Burmese kyat. Burmese language speakers are clearly a minority in Mong La. In addition to speaking their own dialects, most of the NDAA area's indigenous Shan and Akha inhabitants speak Chinese, the lingua franca for Mong La and the neighboring special region controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA). Gambling isn't the only draw for Chinese tourists coming to the NDAA's 4,950-square-kilometer zone of control, officially known as Shan State Special Region No. 4. Mong La's also has a thriving sex trade involving hundreds of imported Chinese prostitutes. Sex workers from across Burma's ethnic groups can also be found working in the town's Karaoke bars and massage parlors, though their numbers are said to be dwarfed by their Chinese colleagues. Undercover researchers from TRAFFIC and Oxford Brookes University found thousands of ivory pieces openly for sale in Mong La. (Photo: Vincent Nijman) Tacky-looking Chinese-language flyers advertising prostitutes' rates and services can be found everywhere, inserted under hotel room doors at regular intervals. But some things have changed—the Russian girls and the bathing zoo are a thing of the past, explains a Burmese repeat visitor well immersed in the town's underbelly. "If you want a girl, don't get one from the street. They have disease," he warns, urging instead that one should go to a brothel, where many of the women walking the streets were previously employed until they failed blood tests conducted by management. In Mong La's bustling market, conveniently located next to the red light district, animal parts of various Burmese endangered species, including tiger and leopard skins, are sold openly on the street and in Chinese-operated stores. For those interested in buying bear bile, tiger bone wine and seemingly any other aphrodisiacs made from near extinct animals, Mong La has it all. This week, the international conservation alliance TRAFFIC announced that an undercover team of its researchers recently found more than 3,300 pieces of ivory and nearly 50 raw ivory elephant tusks for sale in Mong La. The investigators, who partnered with researchers from Britain's Oxford Brookes University, were following up on the group's previous research begun in 2006 monitoring Mong La's ivory trade, which according to TRAFFIC is bigger now than it has ever been. "Our observations suggest Mong La may be one of the biggest unregulated ivory markets in Asia, and it is doubtless one of those where ivory is most openly displayed," explains the university's Professor Vincent Nijman in the TRAFFIC press release. While some of the ivory likely comes from Burma and elsewhere in Asia, it appears that most of it originates from further afield. "My educated guess is that at least part of it, and perhaps even the majority comes from Africa," Vincent told The Irrawaddy. Chris R. Shepherd, TRAFFIC's director for Southeast Asia was also quoted in the press release calling on Naypyidaw to do something about Mong La's ivory trade, "as the market is situated in Myanmar, it is the responsibility of Myanmar's authorities to take swift action and close down this illicit trade." This seems to be a tall order, even if the Burmese authorities were serious about shutting down Mong La's thriving trade in endangered species, it's unclear how they could do this. The central government has little if any control over Mong La and no presence along the NDAA region's lengthy border with China, from where TRAFFIC research indicates much of the ivory is smuggled. Mong La's Special Ruler The head of the NDAA is the 60-something-year-old Lin Mingxian (also known as Sai Lin or Sai Leun), a Sino-Shan CPB veteran and one-time member of China's Red Guards. Lin commands a militia estimated by Jane's Intelligence Review as consisting of 5,000 troops, largely ethnic Shan and Akha. In the 1990's, Lin was regularly described in the US State Department's annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports, as being heavily involved in the drug trade. With great fanfare in 1997 he declared his territory opium free. Although many observers were skeptical of this declaration, three years later, the State Department described Lin as having "successfully rid his area of opium cultivation." Despite the fact he was no longer appearing in the annual narcotics reports, internal US diplomatic cables continued to describe Lin as a "drug trafficker" who oversaw what one embassy official referred to in 2005 as "James Bondian private police force." Lin, who during his old ally Khin Nyunt's heyday hosted a series of visits from the US politicians including congressmen Charles Rangel and Tom Campbell, and former House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, is rarely seen in public these days, reportedly for health reasons. He may also have other reasons for keeping a low profile. In January 2010, his colleague NDAA General Secretary Min Ein (a.k.a. Lin Hongshen) was gunned down in broad daylight in Mong La, a killing that remains unexplained. Lin's father in law, Pheung Kya-shin, the deposed chief of the Kokang-based Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), another faction that came out of the CPB's self implosion, has been on the run since 2009, when his area was invaded by the Burma Army. Whether the same fate will happen to Lin and the NDAA remains to be seen, but Lin's other former comrades in the United Wa State Army (UWSA)—currently Burma's largest armed group—are said to be shoring up the NDAA's forces to prevent this from happening. "My understanding is that there's still a close alliance between the UWSA and the NDAA, with Wa troops stationed at various places inside the NDAA's territory," said veteran journalist Bertil Lintner, co-author of a book on the UWSA. The UWSA's support for the NDAA is almost certainly more than a simple case of solidarity for old comrades. In addition to acting as a buffer between the Burmese military and the UWSA, the NDAA's special region occupies what Jane's calls a "strategically important belt of territory that provides the Wa Special Region 2 with overland access to the Mekong River communications and trade artery." Like the UWSA, the NDAA successfully resisted the government's push in 2010 to transform itself into a Border Guard Force (BGF), this despite significant pressure from Naypyidaw to do so. A report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), citing Mong La business leaders connected to the NDAA, claimed that in the run up to the government's deadline for armed groups to form a BGF, UWSA had "pressed" the NDAA "to refrain from negotiating or compromising with the military government on the BGF proposal." According to the ICG's sources, the "UWSA told NDAA that if they were to surrender to [the Burmese government], they may as well just surrender to UWSA." In October 2011, when the NDAA formally renewed its ceasefire agreement with Burma's central government, it did so one day after the UWSA reached a similar agreement. Under the agreement the NDAA agreed not to "secede from the State at all and to devote all the capacities of Special Region (4) to perpetuation of the sovereignty of the State." More than two years on, there remains scant evidence that the central government's has much, if any, sovereignty over Lin's "Special" kingdom. The status quo appears to suit Mong La's casino operators, brothel owners and ivory sellers just fine. The post Burma's Sin City Retains It's 'Special' Features appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

A View of Life in Chin State Posted: 17 Jan 2014 07:28 PM PST The river valley in Chin State known to locals know as Timit, seen from the road from Hakha to Thantlang. (Photo: Sam Stubblefield) Chin State is often described as Burma's most impoverished and isolated state. Chin people are keen for development with can improve their standard of living—namely better roads, an expanded electricity grid, increased agricultural production and higher-quality education—while at the same time remaining cautious about possible detrimental impacts from development. It is clear that things are changing in the state. The Chin National Front has negotiated three ceasefire agreements with the government since January 2012. Previously unpaved and seasonally impassable roads are being widened and paved. The requirement for tourists to hold special permits before traveling in the state was dropped in early 2013. Foreign investors are coming to the state looking for business opportunities. Yet many problems persist. The vast majority of the people in Chin State are Christian, and complaints of religious-based discrimination are still common. Refugees and migrants continue to flow out of the state into neighboring countries including India and Malaysia. High unemployment, especially among the youth, persists. Concerns over environmental degradation are being raised where foreign investment projects have been started—for example the Mwe Tuang nickel mining project in the north and the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit and Transport Project in the south. Photography of Chin State usually features K’Cho women with facial tattoos, and while this type of tattooing is undoubtedly a unique (and quickly vanishing) cultural practice, it is far from representative of the state as a whole. These photographs—taken in December 2013—provide a snapshot of daily life in Chin State. The post A View of Life in Chin State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Man, Elephant ‘Face-Off for Food’ in Irrawaddy Delta Posted: 17 Jan 2014 07:11 PM PST A family stands beneath its lookout post in Irrawaddy Division's Thabaung Township. (Photo: Salai Thant Sin / The Irrawaddy) THABAUNG TOWNSHIP, Irrawaddy Division — Upon waking in the middle of the night, George Nay Htoo grabs his flashlight and directs its illuminating beam onto a rice paddy below. Seeing no sign of intruders, he breathes a sigh of relief and lies down again, but as is often the case, restful sleep does not easily return for a mind on heightened alert. For more than a month, he has kept up this night watch, sacrificing sleep to keep an eye on his ripening rice crop. But it is not food-strapped local residents or thieving rice traders that he is guarding against. The problem is much bigger than that. "I face this kind of situation every year," said George Nay Htoo, a farmer from the village of O-Bo in Irrawaddy Division's Thabaung Township. "Last year, they ate almost everything, so I could collect only about 25 tins [525 kilograms] of rice from five acres of paddy. I had to try very hard to get that much." "They" are wild elephants, and they are increasingly encroaching on the lands—and threatening the livelihoods—of farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta, locals here say. Some 100,000 acres of farmland in Irrawaddy Division's Pathein, Thabaung and Nagpudaw townships were at risk of being destroyed by wild elephants during the latest paddy growing season, which winds down this month. According to local farmers, intrusions by the pachyderms are getting worse with each passing year. "Gradually, elephants have become more daring and we almost can't scare and drive them out now," said Saw Poe Lu, a farmer from the village of Kongyankon in Thabaung Township. "Once they have eaten paddy, they just want to continue having it in the future, so they will go for it by hook or by crook." To protect their crops, farmers have built lookouts near the rice paddies and many, like George Nay Htoo, sleep overnight in the posts, positioning themselves to scare off elephants that make forays onto their land once the sun sets. However, farmers say elephants no longer fear their screams, nor the other means they have employed to try to drive them away, such as banging pots and pans, or hitting drums made from hollowed-out logs. The intruders, they say, leave the fields only after they have eaten their fill. With laws in place to protect the elephants, the hapless farmers say they are at a loss for how to deal with the problem. "We will be charged in accordance with the law if we kill them," said Nay Lin Aung, another farmer from O-Bo. "We can neither drive them out nor kill them so, we have to sit and watch them as they eat the paddy that we are growing." Adding insult to injury, farmers here say their families are forced to clamber up into the look-out posts, raised 20-30 feet off the ground, after dusk, when darkness emboldens the elephants—tusk-wielding behemoths that are more than capable of goring a human. "We have been sleeping in our lookout for more than a month because we dare not spend the nights in our hut on the ground," said George Nay Htoo, who is a father of four. "My whole family has to go up when the darkness comes. We can't easily climb up and down from our lookout, so we have to use bowls as a toilet. We also have to take along drinking water, clothes, blankets, mosquito nets, mosquito repellent, et cetera." During the second week of November, two wild elephants defied George Nay Htoo's efforts to protect his rice paddies. "We were in our lookout when they came. We tried to bang plates and other things, and shouted at them with the hope that they would leave. They didn't. I used a catapult to shoot at them but it didn't work either. They basically ate my paddy the whole night, starting at about 9pm and leaving after 5am the next morning. They were quite big, so four paddy plots were gone," recalled George Nay Htoo. Many farmers in Pathein, Thabaung and Nagpudaw townships have experienced similarly devastating incursions, and even rice that makes it to harvest is not always safe from the elephants, villagers claim. "Once they come into a village, they look for barns," Myint Kyi, a villager from the village of Chay Htauk Kwin in Pathein Township, told The Irrawaddy. "One day, an elephant came into my village and when he saw his target he just banged it with his head to open it. He wasn't full after eating one sack of rice. … He went back to the jungle only after he felt satiated." According to Win Thein, a member of the Irrawaddy Division Assembly from Thabaung Township, overexploitation of forests in the region, and widespread deforestation, were contributing to the problem. "Humans seize elephant's food, the latter ravages the formers' [crops]," said Win Thein, who represents the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in the regional assembly. Win Thein said he had asked the government's Forestry Department to step in and assist the region's farmers. "Elephants enter paddy fields every day and farmers try as best they can to protect their crops, so it seems like the two sides are facing off for food," said the regional lawmaker from Thabaung. "People can die from elephant attacks, so I asked the Forestry Department to protect them by driving out elephants from paddy fields before people's lives become at risk. However, no action has been taken to safeguard the needs of citizens." Soe Myint, the minister for forestry and mining in Irrawaddy Division, however, told The Irrawaddy that there was only one team—made up of trained elephants—in the region that could drive away wild elephants and that his ministry had found it difficult to deal with the current problems. "Matters related to elephants are under the care of the Myanma Timber Enterprise [MTE], so I already informed the MTE since I received the report about the wild beasts," said Soe Myint. "There is only one team for driving away elephants in Irrawaddy Division, which comprises only four trained elephants, so we are in trouble dealing with this matter." Myint Aung, the head of an environmental conservation group based in Irrawaddy Division, said setting aside land devoted to the kind of plants preferred by elephants—such as banana trees and bamboo—would help to reduce the temptation for elephants to stray into areas inhabited by humans. "We need to create pastures for wild elephants. If they have enough food, they won't risk their lives and come to where humans are living," he said, adding that stricter regulations to prevent illegal logging and systematic forestry conservation practices could also help to tackle the current problems. Those suggestions may go some way toward resolving future conflict between elephants and locals, but for now hard numbers are a source of anxiety for George Nay Htoo, who has borrowed 100,000 kyats (US$100) for each acre of paddy planted. Last year, he struggled to find the money to pay back a 500,000 kyats loan from the government after elephants decimated his crop, and as this season's harvest approached in December, he told The Irrawaddy that he feared similar hardship was in the offing. "I will try as much I can to drive them away," George Nay Htoo said in a low voice. "If I can't, I don't know what else to do but let them eat my paddy." The post Man, Elephant 'Face-Off for Food' in Irrawaddy Delta appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Irrawaddy Business Roundup (January 18, 2014) Posted: 17 Jan 2014 06:55 PM PST Secret Deal to Build Hydro Dams in Kachin State Revealed Details have emerged of plans by a Chinese construction company and a Burmese firm to build four hydro dams on a river in Kachin State that would generate a combined 1,200 megawatts of electricity, according to local media reports. An agreement exists between YPIC International Energy Cooperation & Development Limited of Yunnan and a Burmese firm called International Group of Entrepreneurs, said Eleven Media. The agreement was first made with the military regime in 2010 and has recently been amended and made current, the report said, quoting sources in Burma's Ministry of Electric Power. International Group of Entrepreneurs is owned by the sons of former Minister of Industry Aung Thaung, who is still a member of Parliament, said the Kachin News Group. The plans, not previously made public, involve developing dams on the Nawchankha River at Laungdin, GawLan, Htonshin Chaung and Kankan, said Eleven Media. There have not been any consultations with communities likely to be dislocated by the dams. The electricity planned to be generated by these projects is equal to one third of Burma's entire present power capacity. It's not clear from the reports whether the electricity would be distributed inside Burma or transmitted to China. Thai Firm 'to Build Second Gas Electricity Plant in Rangoon' Gunkul Engineering of Thailand is building a second small gas-fueled electricity plant in Rangoon, and is reportedly planning to develop more power stations elsewhere in Burma. The firm said it will develop a mixture of natural gas, solar and wind power projects with an electricity generating capacity of 150 megawatts by 2016, The Nation newspaper in Bangkok reported. Gunkul has completed one 25-megawatt gas plant in Rangoon and is planning a second with an unnamed Burmese partner and via its subsidiary Gunkul Myanmar Power (Hlawga) Pte registered in Singapore, the paper quoted executives saying. Investment in other projects amounting to about 100 megawatts, using gas or wind turbines is being studied, chief executive Sopacha Dhumrongpiyawut told The Nation. Surveys of potential development sites are planned in Mon, Karen and Shan states and the Taninthayi region, it said. Japan's Marubeni Corp Eyes Building a Fertilizer Factory in Burma Major Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation is considering building a factory in Burma to produce agricultural fertilizers, a report said. Senior managers of Marubeni have held talks on the factory with various government officials in Naypyidaw, including the Minister for Environmental Conservation and Forestry Win Tun, said Eleven Media citing unnamed government sources. No details of possible locations for the factory or the investment and timeframe are available. Marubeni is one of three large Japanese companies investing in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone on the outskirts of Rangoon. The other two are Mitsubishi Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation. They are working on establishing infrastructure such as roads, sewage, drainage and electricity to cater for factories and warehouses. The first phase of Thilawa is due for completion in 2015. Indian Businesses Look for Partners at Trade Show in Rangoon Dozens of Indian companies are taking part in a trade promotion show in Rangoon. The show, featuring Indian products and services, is being supported by New Delhi's Ministry of Commerce and Industry. "The show will bring together leading Indian brands and small and medium size entrepreneurs on one platform, effectively presenting the India business perspective and leverage business partnerships with Myanmar Industry," said an Indian Embassy statement quoted by Eleven Media. It will focus on agricultural equipment, vehicle components, construction machinery, education and training, energy transmission, financial services, irrigation, metals and minerals, and waste management. Burma's giant western neighbor has been hesitant to invest in Burma's economic renaissance. The show runs until January 18. Denmark Cancels Multimillion Dollar Debt to 'Aid Burma's Growth' European Union member country Denmark has cancelled debts of US$54 million owed by Burma. The debt is old loans advanced by Denmark years ago to pay for fishery protection vessels, said the Copenhagen Post. "When we forgive debt, it opens up resources that can be invested in a population's health, schools and roads, which they are in desperate need of," said Danish Development Minister Rasmus Helveg Petersen during a visit to Naypyidaw. "[Burma] should no longer be weighed down by old debt while they continue their path towards development and political reforms that will benefit the poor population," he said at a meeting with Burma's President Thein Sein, the paper reported. Burma's Newest Airline Starts Mandalay-Chiang Mai Route Another air service between regional districts of Burma and Thailand is set to start at the end of January. Burma's newest airline, Asian Wings Airways, will fly a weekly service on Wednesdays from Mandalay to Chiang Mai and return from January 29, said Bangkok travel newspaper TTR Weekly. Up to now, Asian Wings has flown only on domestic Burma routes, linking Rangoon with 16 other destinations in the country, said the paper. The Mandalay-Chiang Mai route is to serve "travel demand between the two cities," TTR Weekly said. It will operate until April 30. A number of other small airlines, mostly Thai, already fly between the two cities, including Nok Air the budget line owned by state-owned operator Thai Airways. Nok Air also links Chiang Mai with Bagan and the Thai border town of Mae Sot with Moulmein in Mon State. The post Irrawaddy Business Roundup (January 18, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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Democratic Voice of Burma

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US spending bill adds ‘new restrictions’ on Burma Posted: 18 Jan 2014 05:45 AM PST The US$1.1 trillion spending package that US President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday contains new restrictions on assistance to Burma, stipulating that funds allocated to the Burmese government are contingent on Constitutional reform and demonstrated progress towards resolving human rights issues. The 1,582-page law, which authorises all US spending until October 2014, delineates wide-ranging conditions for engagement with the Burmese government including the unconditional release of all political prisoners, a constitutionally enshrined fair electoral process and observable efforts to bring rights violators to justice. "Until these issues are addressed in an acceptable manner, some Members of Congress are likely to support the continuation of existing sanctions on Burma, and possibly the imposition of new sanctions," said Michael Martin, Asian Affairs Specialist for Congressional Research Service, which advises the US legislative branch. Many of the US sanctions imposed on Burma during the years of military rule have been waived by President Obama in light of the nation's transition to a nominally civilian government in 2011. President Thein Sein's administration has been widely praised for reforms including the establishment of a partially elected parliament, to which opposition leader and former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi is now an appointed member. While the changes were quickly rewarded by most Western governments, the new legislation reveals some disillusion among US lawmakers, particularly with regard to Thein Sein's promise of amnesty for prisoners of conscience, an express condition for the removal of sanctions under several US laws including the Customs and Trade Act of 1990 and the Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts (JADE) Act of 2008. Related Stories Govt denies Buddhist mob attacked, killed Muslims in Maungdaw Monk walks from Mandalay to Arakan in support of political prisoners Rohingya topic off limits for ASEAN talks "Support among Members of Congress for such restrictive language is partially based on a perception that the Thein Sein government has not adequately addressed the political prisoner issue," said Martin. "The issue remains if there are still political prisoners in Burma." Though the Burmese government insists that a series of amnesties — most recently on 31 December last year — has freed all of the prisoners in question, members of a prisoner scrutiny committee created by Thein Sein claim that at least 33 identified political prisoners remain in jail. In addition to this discrepancy, it has further been suggested that several of Burma's laws, particularly those concerning peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, could potentially create more prisoners of conscience. "As long as those Burmese laws remain in effect, the possibility for creating new political prisoners exists," said Martin. "If new political prisoners are arrested and detained, then the sanctions required by US law would remain in effect." Beyond disagreements about politically motivated detention, concern among US lawmakers extends to a profusion of other "shortcomings in the actions of the Thein Sein government and the Burmese military." Those shortcomings, said Martin, include the treatment of Rohingya Muslims, restrictive provisions of the 2008 Constitution, alleged ongoing human rights abuse and an unresolved peace process. Language in Section 7043 of the new law notably restricts engagement with "any individual or organization credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights, including against Rohingyas and other minority Muslim groups." As recently as Thursday, new reports of deadly assaults in Maungdaw, Arakan State, began to surface in the international media. The Burmese government denied on Friday that they had any knowledge of related killings. The incident, which reportedly resulted in at least ten brutal deaths, was the latest in a rash of communal strife that has overwhelmingly affected stateless Rohingya Muslims. While rights groups have accused Burmese authorities of complicity in an anti-Muslim pogrom, the United Nations and foreign diplomats have accused them of negligence. "Government actions to date have clearly been insufficient," read a 17 January statement issued by the US Embassy in Rangoon, which urged Burmese authorities to "thoroughly investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the violence, whether civilian or security personnel." Regarding how the Burmese government's response to anti-Muslim violence might alter the fiscal relationship between Burma and the US, Embassy Spokeswoman Sarah Hutchinson told DVB on Friday that, "We don't have any further comment at this time." New financial restrictions on Burma primarily apply to the US Economic Support Fund, which supports programmes in “Restrictive and Rebuilding” countries. These programmes include military assistance, diplomatic expenditures and USAID projects. “Members of Congress are likely to support the continuation of existing sanctions on Burma, and possibly the imposition of new sanctions," — Michael Martin, Asian Affairs Specialist for Congressional Research Service Obama did not request funding for Burma under the Foreign Military Financing Program, though a Joint Explanatory Statement issued by congress on Monday says that assistance will be considered on a case by case basis, and will depend on demonstrated progress towards addressing human rights violations and "efforts to bring to justice military officials involved in such violations." The full impact of the new restrictions remains unclear; while the legal language reveals some apprehension towards intergovernmental support, enforcement of economic sanctions in the private sector remains problematic. The US Department of Treasury enforces foreign sanctions by maintaining a roster of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN), which identifies individuals, organisations and companies that US citizens are forbidden to conduct business with. During a 2011 visit to Burma, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to make the SDN list more effective in implementing Burma sanctions. "Since she made that statement, [the] Treasury has added a few Burmese people and companies to the list, but has also removed some," according to Martin. Patterns have emerged in the Treasury's selection process. While the department has aggressively targeted officials involved in the North Korean arms trade, critics claim that other violators have been systematically overlooked. When two Burmese companies and one military official were added to the SDN list on 17 December 2013 for facilitating weapons trade, Jennifer Quigley of US Campaign for Burma told DVB, "We are again disappointed the US government has singled out Burmese connections to North Korea while continuing to ignore its own stated policy that it would identify and sanction known human rights abusers and their economic supporters." Friday's legislation suggests a new seriousness in addressing these criticisms, by limiting the US government's own financial collaborators in Burma. Conforming to all of the law's many and diverse provisions would require tremendous changes by the Burmese government. These changes would entail reforms in civil liberties law, additional and ongoing amnesties, and foreseeably even criminal tribunals. Perhaps the most audacious request of all is a Constitutional change that could conceivably impact Burma's 2015 Presidential election. Aung San Suu Kyi has recently rallied citizens nationwide to support the reversal of the controversial Article 59(f), which precludes her bid for the Presidency. The Nobel laureate has gone so far as to suggest that it was drafted for that express purpose. "Funds appropriated by this Act should only be made available for assistance for the central Government of Burma if such government has implemented Constitutional reforms," reads Section 7043(b), "in consultation with Burma's political opposition and ethnic groups, providing for inclusive, transparent, and fair participation in presidential and parliamentary elections in Burma, including as voters and candidates."

Postage stamp exhibition draws philatelists to Rangoon Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:08 AM PST The first postal stamp exhibition by the Myanmar Philatelic Society was held at the Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA) Hall in Rangoon on the 10th of January. "We assume there are many other stamp collectors in Burma, and hosted the exhibition to let them know about our existence", said Kyaw Win Maung from Myanmar Philatelic Society. Among the items on view were stamps picturing Aung San Suu Kyi, British royals, and several award-winning drawings printed during the Japanese Occupation in 1943. The aim of the exhibition was to promote philately, which is the study of stamps and postal history, among the Burmese public. Judging from the number of visitors, it seems to have been a success. Related Stories Cartoon exhibition to raise funds for cyclone victims

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Democratic Voice of Burma

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• Govt denies Buddhist mob attacked, killed Muslims in Maungdaw
• HIV positive cyclist on awareness tour
• Burma’s para-archers shoot to win
• Foreign and domestic investors play by same rules: DICA
• Burma stock exchange may take some time

Govt denies Buddhist mob attacked, killed Muslims in Maungdaw Posted: 17 Jan 2014 04:30 AM PST The Burmese government denied on Friday that a Buddhist mob ripped through a town in an isolated strife-torn corner of the country this week, attacking Muslim women and children. Villagers and a rights group said more than a dozen people may have been killed, and that hundreds have fled their homes. “We have had no information about killings,” President’s spokesman Ye Htut told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Nations Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Burma's ancient city of Bagan. Burma, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million people, has been grappling with sectarian violence for nearly two years. More than 240 people have been killed and another 250,000 forced to flee their homes, most of them Muslims from the western state of Arakan. The northern tip of the state, where Tuesday’s violence occurred, is home to 80 percent of Burma's Rohingya Muslims, considered by the U.N. to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. The region is also one of the most isolated in the country, with access to foreign journalists and humanitarian aid workers almost always either denied or heavily restricted. Chris Lewa of the Thailand-based Arakan Project, an advocacy group that has been documenting abuses against Rohingya for more than a decade, said details about the violence in Duchira Dan (Kilaidaung) village were still emerging, with many conflicting reports. The death toll could be anywhere from 10 to 60, said Lewa, whose sources range from a village administrator to witnesses. One described the slashed-up bodies of three acquaintances — two women and a 14-year-old boy — found in their homes. Related Stories Monk walks from Mandalay to Arakan in support of political prisoners Rohingya topic off limits for ASEAN talks Rohingya call on govt for inclusion in 2014 census Tensions have been building in the region since last month, when monks from a Buddhist extremist movement known as 969 arrived and started giving sermons by loudspeaker advocating the expulsion of all Rohingya. One resident said by phone that an initial flare-up followed the discovery of three bodies in a ditch near Duchira Dan village by several firewood collectors. Believing they were among several Rohingya who went missing after being detained by authorities, they alerted friends and neighbours, who returned with their cellphones to take pictures, said the man, who works as a volunteer English teacher. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals. That night, five police officers went to the village to confiscate the phones and check family lists, but the crowd turned on the officers, beating and chasing them off, said the man. The police returned at 2 a.m., saying one of the officers had gone missing, accusing villagers of either abducting or killing him. That triggered a security crackdown. Soldiers and police surrounded Duchira Dan, breaking down doors and looting livestock and other valuables, the English teacher said. Worried they would be arrested, all the men fled, leaving the women, children and elderly behind. Lewa said her sources reported that Rohingya women and children had been hacked to death, but the numbers varied widely. That some of the victims appeared to have been stabbed with knives, not shot or beaten, “would clearly indicate the massacre was committed by (Buddhist) Arakanese villagers, rather than the police or army,” the Arakan Project wrote in a briefing Thursday. The English teacher said 17 women and five children were killed. Another resident put the toll at 11. Ye Htut, the deputy information minister, said the “reports might be a cover-up, because of the policeman going missing.” Shwe Maung, a Muslim Lower House lawmaker who represents Buthidaung Township for the Union Solidarity and Development Party, told the local news agency Irrawaddy that he had received conflicting reports about the numbers of casualties. “A lot of people are missing,” he said. “Normally when they are missing family members, Rohingya people think they are dead.” Some of the Rohingya in northern Arakan State descend from families that have been there for generations. Others arrived more recently from neighbouring Bangladesh. All have been denied citizenship, rendering them stateless.

HIV positive cyclist on awareness tour Posted: 17 Jan 2014 04:16 AM PST Sarako has visited over 40 towns to date on his cycle tour across Burma to promote HIV awareness. The 35 year old Mandalay native has been living with HIV since 2005, and on 1 December 2013, World AIDS Day, he left Rangoon on a year long excursion to spread the word about disease prevention among 258 towns across Burma. "I'm taking the trail to raise awareness about HIV – to share my knowledge on preventing infection and my experiences as a person living with HIV," he said. On 14 January, Sarako arrived in Shan State capital Taunggyi, after passing through Pinlaung, Aungban, Pintaya and Lawksawk. He will head to Shan State's Panglong on Friday, then on to Karen, Karenni, Kachin, Chin, Mon and Arakan States. "I want to disprove the common misconception that once one has contracted HIV, he is as good as dead," he said, "by showing that I can still cycle from town to town – to give inspiration for others in the same situation." Sarako is also providing tips to locals for access to Non Governmental Organisations providing antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and supplies for those who are HIV positive.  Beyond medical assistance, many of the organisations also help people learn how to treat misconceptions and discrimination within their communities. Kyaw Thu, a former actor well-known across the country and now a renowned philanthropist, urged the public to show him support and help boost morale for HIV victims. "Cycling across the country is a hard task even for people with normal health conditions. I would like to urge the public to show him encouragement and help him," said Kyaw Thu. Sarako has been surviving on ARV supplies provided by a social assistance programme run by the National League for Democracy's lower house representative Phyu Phyu Thin. While not on the road, Sarako studies geography at Mandalay's Yadanabon University. According to United Nations estimates, there are around 240,000 people living with HIV in Burma. Related Stories Burma's para-archers shoot to win Burma stock exchange may take some time ASEAN Para Games 2014 opens in Naypyidaw

Burma’s para-archers shoot to win Posted: 17 Jan 2014 03:56 AM PST Precision and nerves of steel is a recipe for success in archery, something that Burma turned out to possess. The Burmese Paralympic archery team led the charts for men's compound archery on Thursday, at the Para Games. “Thailand is a tough opponent for us, they have even won Paralympic medals in the past”, said Aung Thua, Compound Archery Coach. “For now, we are so far so good and hopeful to win some gold. We would love to see some support!” Both teams and individuals compete in the three day event, in three different classes; standing, wheelchair 1, and wheelchair 2, depending on the level of the athlete's disability. Burma is competing against 36 players from other ASEAN countries. Related Stories HIV positive cyclist on awareness tour Indonesia takes early lead at ASEAN Para Games ASEAN Para Games 2014 opens in Naypyidaw “We are new to the games, we are a little bit nervous but not scared”, said archer Moe Win. “Both we and our opponents have two hands each, so we are all fair and square. We are trying to keep our minds sharp and to take the best shot.” The archery competitions will go on until Saturday the 18th of January. So far Burma is number five in the overall tally with 15 gold medals, after Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Indonesia is topping the list with 41 golds.

Foreign and domestic investors play by same rules: DICA Posted: 17 Jan 2014 12:46 AM PST Burma's Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) plans to reform the country's current investment laws to conform to regional norms, according to DICA director Aung Naing Oo. In light of the passage of a new Foreign Investment Law in 2012, Burma now has two separate laws to govern foreign and domestic enterprises, which is abnormal among its ASEAN counterparts. The DICA plans to merge the Foreign Investment Law and the Citizens Investment Law into a single, comprehensive statute. Although the regulations are "essentially the same," DICA is concerned that the existence of two distinct laws could lead to a misconception among foreign partners that they are not receiving the same treatment as domestic businesses. "Essentially, there are equal rights and opportunities provided for foreign and citizen investors, however, having two separate laws could give a wrong impression to foreign investors," said Aung Naing Oo. Related Stories Burma stock exchange may take some time Rohingya topic off limits for ASEAN talks Indonesia takes early lead at ASEAN Para Games The International Finance Cooperation (IFC), which is currently advising the Burmese government on foreign investment policy per an agreement in December 2012, has also recommended a single statute. "The IFC pledged technical assistance on transforming Burma into an investment friendly environment, in conformity with international standards – not only for Burmese or foreigners, but equally for both," said Aung Naing Oo. While the reform aims to assure investors of an equal playing field, many Burmese businesspeople think that locals deserve an edge. "Domestic enterprises should be provided greater opportunity than foreign ones – otherwise our economy will be dominated by countries with greater market influence and better techniques," said Win Kyaing, secretary of the Myanmar [Burma] Fisheries Federation. According to government statistics, foreign direct investment in Burma for the 2013-14 fiscal year amounted to US$1.8 billion, exceeding the total amount during the 2012-13 fiscal year by US$400 million. The DICA estimated the overall investment value in the 2013-14 fiscal year will reach US$3 billion. While the former pariah state has been speedily trying to tighten up its legal landscape since the installation of a nominally civilian government in 2011, some analysts warn that while major improvements are underway, business in Burma is still an "extreme risk" for investors, due to poor governance and chronic claims of human rights abuses.

Burma stock exchange may take some time Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:21 PM PST The push to set up a stock market in Burma by 2015 is falling behind schedule, hit by a shortage of manpower and know-how. Fundraising demand among companies here is expanding along with the economy, and a stock market would greatly help funnel cash their way. Businesses can turn to banks for loans, but they are often loath to do so because Burmese financial institutions generally have little know-how in managing credit risk and therefore require that real estate be used as collateral. Without a bourse to supply growth money to companies, Burma’s economy will have a harder time climbing higher. The Southeast Asian country enacted a securities and exchange law in July to pave the way for the planned stock market. But moves to draw up an ordinance for enforcing the law, which includes specific trading rules, have been stymied. Now it looks like the ordinance, which was supposed to be prepared in 2013, will not be ready until spring. Currently, the government is working with Japan’s Finance Ministry, Japan Exchange Group and Daiwa Securities Group to create the basic framework for the market, such as clarifying the role of the securities and exchange commission and establishing disclosure rules for listed companies. Last month, Daiwa Securities Group signed an advisory agreement with Burma’s Asia Green Development Bank. Related Stories HIV positive cyclist on awareness tour Foreign and domestic investors play by same rules: DICA Rohingya topic off limits for ASEAN talks The progress, however, has been slow. “There are only a few officials engaging in practical operations on the Myanmar [Burma] side,” said a Japanese team member involved in the project. Those taking part say the officials generally lack expertise and have a limited knowledge of such basic concepts as insider trading. Delays in drawing up the trading and other rules will also push back the creation of the entity that operates the exchange, as well as hamper the establishment of brokerages. It is now looking increasingly less likely that the country will have a stock exchange up and running in 2015. Laos and Cambodia were the first among Southeast Asia’s least-developed countries to set up stock markets. But the sailing has not been smooth for either country. The Lao Securities Exchange started trading in January 2011. Two state-run companies – Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao, a commercial bank, and energy producer and supplier EDL-Generation — went public on that occasion. On 25 December, Lao World, a private exhibition operator, debuted on the exchange in what was the first initial public offering in about three years. In Laos, it is still customary for business owners to lend funds to each other. Opaque management practices are widespread at government-run companies, which tend to avoid disclosing financial data. The country has gotten caught up in a vicious cycle in which companies are becoming less motivated to go public and investors are therefore losing interest. The Cambodia Securities Exchange is home to only one listed company.

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The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Protesting Textile Workers Seek Return of Govt Hand at Privatized Factory
• Sectarian Violence in Burma Has Regional Impact, Says Indonesian Foreign Minister
• Prioritize Bamboo Production in Burma: Environmentalists
• 27% of Children Chronically Malnourished in Burma Dry Zone: Survey
• Graves Found Near Abandoned IDP Camps in Kachin State
• South Korean-Burmese Joint Venture to Start Pepsi Drinks Production
• Is China Betting on a Suu Kyi Presidency?
• India’s Tata Faces Challenge in Burma’s Japan-Dominated Car Market
• Chinese Police Take Away Outspoken Uighur Activist
• Buddhist Mob, Police Raid Rohingya Village, Many Left Dead: Rights Group
• Australia Admits It Breached Indonesian Territory Blocking Refugee Boats
• Thai Protesters March on New Govt Targets

Protesting Textile Workers Seek Return of Govt Hand at Privatized Factory Posted: 17 Jan 2014 04:20 AM PST Protesters sit outside a textile factory in Paleik, Mandalay Division, on Friday. (Photo: Ko Hein) MANDALAY — More than 100 factory workers staged a protest outside a textile factory in Paleik, Mandalay Division, on Friday, urging the Ministry of Industry to intervene in a dispute with their employer, a Chinese firm that runs manufacturing operations handed over by the government last year. The textile factory in Paleik was formerly run by the Ministry of Industry (1), but was handed over to Panda Group of Companies in April 2013. The protesting laborers accuse their new employer of labor rights violations and complain that the company has been unclear about the future of the enterprise. They also question the authenticity of a recent announcement, which came in the form of a letter purportedly issued by the Naypyidaw government, concerning compensatory pensions for workers laid off in an impending restructuring of the company. "We have no rights on overtime pay, annual leave and other absences. The letter about compensatory pensions, which claimed it was from Naypyidaw, has no seal or signature and we accuse the ministry and the company of lacking transparency," said Ko Kyaw, a protesting factory worker. The protesting workers said a notification from Panda in December said the company would restructure the factory as well as the salary and benefits packages at its Paleik operations. Then early this month, a separate announcement indicated that compensatory pensions would be paid out to those among the 1,025 employees currently working at the Panda factory who were laid off as a result of the restructuring. The laborers, who doubt the authenticity of the latter pronouncement, say their future is uncertain because Panda has not clearly indicated whether all of the laborers would be re-employed. The company has also failed to provide information on employees' future salaries under a corporate restructuring. "If the ministry really issued that announcement, our understanding is we will become the company's employees. But the company said they will re-employ only skilled laborers and laborers who work hard without taking compassion leave or any other leaves," said Ko Kyaw. "If it is so, all 1,025 of the laborers won't have a chance to be re-employed. Moreover, we still don't know how much we would earn or what kind of benefits we would get," he added. According to the protesters, they are currently working at the same salary, an average of 80,000 kyats (US$80) per month, that they earned when the ministry ran the factory. The workers said the company has broken agreements signed with the ministry prior to the factory handover regarding employment, salary and other benefits. "When the factory was handed over to the company, the company had signed an agreement with the ministry that they would employ back all the workers and would give the same benefits as the government gave. But now, we do not receive overtime pay, leaves and benefits like repairs to housing," said Hla Ko, a worker and a member of the factory's labor association. Although about 800 employees have been allowed to remain at company hostels, the laborers say Panda has forced them to foot the bill for any maintenance required at the company-owned housing. The protesting workers are demanding greater transparency from the ministry, and are asking the government to mediate on issues of re-employment, salary, leave and overtime. They are also urging the company to jointly manage operations, along with the ministry, until 2015, as is the arrangement at other factories in Burma undergoing gradual privatization. "Working under the ministry was not so good. Working under the company is worse. While we were with the ministry, they handled maintenance [at company-provided housing], but now with the company, they said they take responsibility only for the factory so it is not their concern. Actually, they formerly said, in 2013, that they would take care of everything, but that has not been the reality," said Hla Ko. "That's why we are staging a protest, not to the company but to let the ministry know how their laborers have suffered since they turned over the factory to a Chinese company. If we are fired, we will have to move from the hostel as well. We want the ministry to solve these problems with transparency. All 1,025 of us just do not want to lose our jobs. And we want to work with full labor rights," he added. Tin Tin Shwe, the secretary of Panda's Paleik factory, said the company was awaiting the arrival of senior management officials to resolve the labor impasse, adding that the ministry's involvement was expected. "We've submitted the case and the facts requested by the workers to the senior officers of the factory," Tin Tin Shwe said. "Negotiation is the best way for a better result." The post Protesting Textile Workers Seek Return of Govt Hand at Privatized Factory appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Sectarian Violence in Burma Has Regional Impact, Says Indonesian Foreign Minister Posted: 17 Jan 2014 03:29 AM PST Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and Asean Secretary-General Lê Lương Minh at a meeting of regional foreign ministers in Bagan on Friday. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) BAGAN – Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Friday that Burma's ongoing Buddhist-Muslim violence has ramifications outside of the country, citing attempts by Indonesian terror groups to attack Burma's Embassy in Jakarta last May, a plot hatched apparently in retaliation for attacks on Muslims in Burma since mid-2012. "While it is an internal matter, it obviously impacts all of us. There have been cases of terrorist activities driven by these developments elsewhere, so we have to be keenly concerned," the minister told The Irrawaddy, speaking after the closing of a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers. On Monday, a Jakarta court found militant Rokhadi guilty of "evil conspiracy" for plotting the bombing of Burma's Embassy in Indonesia, while on New Year's Eve, Indonesian police killed six alleged Islamist terrorists said to be hatching other anti-Buddhist attacks. Elsewhere, in Malaysia, host to hundreds of thousands of Burmese migrant workers and refugees, there have been several bouts of violence in recent months involving Burmese Buddhists and Muslims, as well as more recent fighting between Burmese and Indonesian migrant workers. Those clashes were again thought to be sparked off by Burma's internal strife, in which the majority of the dead and displaced have been Muslims. The comments came as reports emerged that one policeman and possibly dozens of Rohingya Muslims were killed this week in Burma's Arakan State, the region worst-hit by sectarian clashes. The US Embassy in Rangoon said in posts on its Twitter account Friday it was "deeply concerned" about the allegations, "especially reports of excessive use of force by security officials." "We urge government to thoroughly investigate, bring perpetrators to justice, and ensure equal protection & security under the law in [Arakan State]," the embassy said. "Government must do more to address roots of on-going violence, lawlessness and human rights abuses that continue in [Arakan] State." But Burma's Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut has denied reports that Rohingya were killed in the latest incident, and told media at the Asean meeting that Burma's sectarian strife—particularly cases involving the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group regarded by the Burmese government as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh—was a domestic matter. "The Bengali issue is our internal affair and we will not discuss it in the Asean meetings, even if member countries ask for it," Ye Htut, who is spokesman for Burma's President Thein Sein, was quoted as saying. Burma's internal conflicts were not raised at the Asean foreign ministers meeting in Bagan, in accordance with the wishes of the host country. "Today we did not delve into any particular situation," Natalegawa said, echoing remarks made by his Burmese counterpart at the post-meeting press conference. Wunna Maung Lwin, Burma's foreign minister, told media that Asean's "non-interference" maxim would be applied across the board during Burma's first-time chairing of the bloc. "One of the principles of Asean is that of not interfering in the internal affairs of member countries. So, what is happening in Thailand or Cambodia is their internal affair, so we do not comment about the internal affair of those countries," said the minister. Neither Thailand nor Cambodia sent their respective Foreign Ministers to the Bagan meeting, citing ongoing political strife in their countries, the latest round of which saw explosive devices thrown at anti-government protesters in Bangkok earlier on Friday. Asked about deteriorating inter-religious relations in Indonesia, where there were incidents of discrimination and sometimes violence against Christians, Shia Muslims and Ahmadis during 2013, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that issues of tolerance would be raised at Asean meetings during 2014. "Even from today's discussion, the issue of religious tolerance is going to be very much an issue that will be very much discussed throughout this year's Asean work, and certainly Indonesia will work toward this." Ye Htut and Natelegawa were both speaking at the Asean foreign ministers' meeting in Bagan, Burma's tourist-draw temple haven on the Irrawaddy River. The meeting was the first to be held in Burma as part of its chairmanship of Asean. This year marks the first time Burma has chaired the bloc, after a previous turn in 2006 was blocked due to concerns that the then-ruling junta's human rights record would prompt a freeze in relations with the United States and other Western countries. Burma joined Asean in 1997, 30 years after Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country and by far the biggest country in Southeast Asia, led the way in setting up the organization. The just-concluded meeting of the region's foreign ministers aimed to set some of the agenda for the coming year's series of Asean and related meetings to be held in Burma, a year-long series of parlays that will conclude with meetings taking in leaders of Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the United States. Burma's chairing of the bloc comes at a pivotal time, with regional leaders hopeful of forging closer economic ties. "The success of Myanmar's chairmanship in 2014 will play a key role in deciding whether Asean can implement the community by 2015," said Asean Secretary-General Lê Lương Minh, referring to the hoped-for establishment of an Asean Economic Community by the end of 2015. The post Sectarian Violence in Burma Has Regional Impact, Says Indonesian Foreign Minister appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Prioritize Bamboo Production in Burma: Environmentalists Posted: 17 Jan 2014 03:18 AM PST A man walks on a makeshift bamboo bridge following flooding in the Irrawaddy delta in 2012. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) Environmentalists say bamboo should be given special consideration for commercial plantation in Burma, which ranks among the world's top producers of the plant. The Myanmar Green Network (MGN) is calling for the sustained development of bamboo forests and the application of modern technology to produce high quality bamboo products. "We don't want bamboo groves to be depleted, and at the same time we want people to know its value," said MGN chairperson Dewi Thant Sin, an environmentalist and the great granddaughter of Burma's last monarch King Thibaw. She was speaking at the launch event for a new group known as the Bamboo Lovers Association in Rangoon on Jan. 11. Citing Burma's Ministry of Forestry, she said China was the most bamboo-rich country in the world, followed by India and Burma. But government officials say bamboo groves in Burma have been improperly cared for and poorly protected. "In the past our department did not take care of bamboo groves, but just collected taxes from the private sector for cutting them," Dr. San Win, an official from the ministry's Forestry Department, told The Irrawaddy. "There was almost no knowledge about bamboo in the department, and people generally did not even know that we had to grow bamboo from seed." He said that since 2001 bamboo has been used in the country to make furniture and for home decoration, but that more skills were needed to craft such products. "Management of bamboo forests is key to producing high quality bamboo," said Aung Moe Zaw, a researcher at the Forestry Department. "I did four years of research for a bamboo project under the government's plan for rural area development. It is quite difficult to collect straight and old enough bamboo. Without proper technique, it is also hard to cut them." Dewi Thant Sin said the Burmese people could profit by protecting bamboo groves and improving production of bamboo products. She said the country generated $1 billion annually from bamboo, compared to $500 billion in other countries. More than 178,000 acres near the Pegu and Tenasserim Yomas mountain ranges are reportedly vacant, and environmentalists say the geographic conditions are suitable for bamboo growth. The post Prioritize Bamboo Production in Burma: Environmentalists appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

27% of Children Chronically Malnourished in Burma Dry Zone: Survey Posted: 17 Jan 2014 03:00 AM PST A farmer works in a rice field along the Mandalay-Myitkyina railway line during a time of drought. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Almost one in five households in Burma's dry zone are food insecure, while more than a quarter of children are chronically malnourished, a new survey shows. Findings from an assessment of the nutrition and food security situation in the dry zone were launched in Rangoon on Thursday by the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development, along with the UN World Food Program and international NGO Save the Children. About 18 percent of 1,500 households surveyed lacked access to enough nutritious food to meet their dietary needs, while 12 percent of children under the age of 5 were acutely malnourished and 27 percent were chronically malnourished, or stunted. The survey was conducted in June and July, near the start of the rainy season and during a period when the dry zone faces annual food insecurity. Data was collected from 1,800 children and their mothers in the zone, which includes parts of Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe divisions that see limited rainfall and high temperatures, leading to smaller crop yields and water shortages. "The assessment of the rural dry zone reveals the nutrition situation to be a concern, with high rates of wasting and medium rates of stunting, high rates of low birth weight and high rates of undernutrition among mothers," an executive summary of the findings said. "The pattern of indicators suggests that flood plains and irrigated areas are best off, but the situation is far from acceptable in the dry zone as a whole. "Given the political stability, the absence of extreme weather conditions in the dry zone at the time of the assessment and the seasonality typical food security indicators, including indicators of adequate household food access and consumption, these nutrition indicators are concerning." In 2009-10, a survey by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development found that 35 percent of children under age 5 nationally were stunted. The World Food Program classifies Burma as one of 24 "high-burden" countries worldwide with the greatest numbers of children under age 5 who are moderately or severely stunted. Nicolas Guillaud, a World Food Program officer who focuses on vulnerability analysis and mapping, said it was difficult to compare the recent dry zone findings with statistics from other areas of the country, due to a lack of data. He said the nutrition and food security assessment in June and July was the first of its kind to cover the entire dry zone, although smaller studies have been conducted in the zone and in other areas. "We did the same food security survey—but only food security, not nutrition—in the Bago [Pegu], Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] and Yangon [Rangoon] regions [divisions] already, in November and December last year, but that data has not been analyzed yet," he told The Irrawaddy. "The plan is to do Shan, Kachin, Chin and Sagaing regions and states in February and March this year, and then probably later in the year Kayin [Karen], Mon and Kayah [Karenni]. That's when we would be able to do some more comparisons." In the past the World Food Program has published bulletins three times annually about the food security situation in Burma's dry zone, at times revealing higher percentages of households that lack access to enough nutritious food. However, these bulletins did not include data from the entire dry zone, but rather focused on only parts of the zone, usually areas that were more food insecure and vulnerable. The World Food Program cautioned that statistics can also vary greatly depending on the time of year data is gathered, given the change in temperatures and rainfall between the seasons. The assessment in June and July did reveal some positive practices for nutrition in the dry zone, including almost universal breastfeeding of children until the age of 2 and small family sizes. However, it found poor diet diversity and infrequent meals from six months of age, as well as poor diet quality of mothers. Next month Burma is expected to become one of 45 countries to join the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, a collective global effort by national governments and development partners that focuses on evidence-based nutrition interventions to improve maternal and child nutrition. A launch event and workshop will take place in Naypyidaw from Feb. 6-8. The post 27% of Children Chronically Malnourished in Burma Dry Zone: Survey appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Graves Found Near Abandoned IDP Camps in Kachin State Posted: 17 Jan 2014 02:35 AM PST Civilians who fled from the Nam Lim Pa camp are now staying in emergency tents at another camp for internally displaced persons in territory held by the Kachin Independence Army. (Photo: Wunpawng Ninghtoi) Six graves have been found near an abandoned camp for internally displaced persons in Kachin State following a raid by government troops on a nearby village three months ago. The graves were discovered near the Nam Lim Pa IDP camp in Mansi Township by an ethnic Kachin relief group. Local civilians say the dead were killed by government troops. "We learned the dead included people who were mentally disabled and were not aware of the need to flee, like the others," said Mary Tawm, head of the Wunpawng Ninghtoi relief NGO. IDPs fled from Nam Lim Pa camp in October after clashes between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) broke out in nearby Mung Ding Pa village, south of the town of Bhamo. The government army moved four battalions into areas nearby, encouraging civilians in a number of villages and IDP camps to flee. Government troops withdrew from the Nam Lim Pa area on Dec. 28, but many IDPs are continuing to take shelter elsewhere, including at relief camps in Bhamo Township or at camps in rebel-controlled territory. Nearly 2,000 people are now staying at three camps in KIA-controlled area and churches in Man Win Gyi, a government-controlled area. About 100 Kachin elders from Nam Lim Pa were unable to travel to these areas and remain near their abandoned camp. "We went to meet the elders," said Mary Tawm, adding that many of them were disabled or physically incapable of making a long journey. She said the elders believed the six graves were the result of killings by government troops. She said a home in Nam Lim Pa was burned down by artillery shelling, while boarding homes for IDP children were destroyed by government troops. In Mung Ding Pa, tensions remain high after government troops and the KIA exchanged gunfire on Jan. 6. Naw Din, head of the Karuna Myanmar Social Services relief team in Bhamo, which helps support some 50,000 IDPs, said the situation was not yet safe enough for IDPs to return. "There is no security for them in the villages," he told The Irrawaddy. "The safe return of the IDPs is totally dependent on the peace talks. …There are concerns about landmines in the villages where the armed groups were deployed." IDPs are reportedly taking shelter in emergency tents despite the cold winter weather. "It is not very bad in camps in the towns such as in Bhamo, Mansi and Moemauk in the government-controlled areas, where around 50,000 IDPs are taking shelters" said Naw Din. "But those IDPs camps along the Sino-Chinese borders, in the KIO-controlled areas, may need more help as this winter is colder than previous ones." Mary Tawm said her group was working to construct more latrines, bathing spaces and water tanks for IDPs, who currently lack sufficient access to these services due to overcrowding. Basic items such as firewood, clothing, medicine and shelters are urgently needed, she said, as well as psychosocial support, education for students, and opportunities for income generation. The government army and the KIA have been fighting since a ceasefire broke down in 2011. Both sides have met for peace talks this year and have pledged to de-escalate hostilities. The post Graves Found Near Abandoned IDP Camps in Kachin State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

South Korean-Burmese Joint Venture to Start Pepsi Drinks Production Posted: 17 Jan 2014 02:28 AM PST Pepsi and Coca-Cola for wholesale at Nyaungpinlay Market in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — South Korea's Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. Ltd and Myanmar Golden Beverage Co Ltd (MGS) announced that they will team up to produce and distribute PepsiCo drinks in Burma. The firms said on Thursday that they formed a joint venture, Lotte-MGS Beverage Co. Ltd, adding that the investment had been approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission a day earlier. Lotte Chilsung Beverage will take a 70 percent stake and MGS a 30 percent stake in the joint venture, which will have US $81 million in capital, according to a press release. MGS has a soft drinks production plant in Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar Industrial zone, which will undergo a technological upgrade in order to produce PepsiCo drinks such as Pepsi-Cola, 7-Up and Mirinda, according a MGS spokesperson. The joint venture firm will bottle and distribute the drinks in 17 major cities in Burma. "Through this investment to bring Pepsi production back to Myanmar, we seek to bring benefits to Myanmar people. We will create thousands of good local jobs. We will provide career training," Byoung-Tak Hur, managing director of Lotte-MGS Beverage Co. Ltd said in a press release. From 1994 to 2012, Pepsi was not sold and distributed in Burma due to international sanctions, which were imposed on the country because of the poor human rights record of its military government. Before the sanctions, MGS used to run a Pepsi plant in Rangoon. Lotte Chilsung Beverage has long worked with PepsiCo to produce drinks in South Korea. In 2012, following democratic reforms and the lifting of sanctions, PepsiCo had entered into an agreement with Rangoon-based Diamond Star, which gave the Burmese company the exclusive rights to import, sell and distribute PepsiCo drinks. Diamond Star, one of Burma's largest packaged consumer goods distributors, imported Pepsi beverages bottled in Vietnam, but stopped the import in October last year. A staffer at Diamond Star, who declined to be named, said the firm had ended the imports as many PepsiCo cans produced in Thailand were being transported into Burma, undercutting the firm's profits. "Pepsi cans from Thailand are much cheaper than our imported Pepsi produced in Vietnam, so our company decided to stop selling," he said. The post South Korean-Burmese Joint Venture to Start Pepsi Drinks Production appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Is China Betting on a Suu Kyi Presidency? Posted: 17 Jan 2014 02:16 AM PST Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi smiles before delivering the annual Godkin Lecture at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sept. 27, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — China seems to have softened its stance toward opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party amid a democratic transition in Burma that could see the former political prisoner one day elected president. More visible efforts have been made by China in recent months to reach out to Burma's biggest opposition party, which many expect will beat out the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in elections scheduled for 2015. In December, a 10-member delegation from the NLD led by Nyan Win, the party secretary and a close confidant of party leader Suu Kyi, traveled to China at the invitation of the Chinese People's Institute for Foreign Affairs, a semi-official Chinese organization. The visit by the NLD members was the fourth of its kind last year, and came as both sides seek to enhance engagement ahead of parliamentary elections in 2015, according to analysts. Following the polls, the new Parliament will select Burma's next president. Chinese Ambassador to Burma Yang Houlan told The Irrawaddy this week that China stands ready to engage with all of Burma's political parties, including the NLD, as long as they are willing to help further the sound development of relations with China. He also assured that China would continue to maintain inter-party exchanges with the NLD in future. "Myanmar-Chinese friendship and cooperation will not change fundamentally, but the way to deal with it has to be reviewed as there are new actors involved," said former Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win in a meeting on the recent developments of Burma's reform last week. "Previously it was easy because there was only the government, but today we are practicing multi-party democracy." Meanwhile, Chinese state mouthpiece the Global Times published an interview with Yang on Oct. 21 of last year, in which the ambassador said his embassy would like to arrange a visit for Suu Kyi to China "at a convenient time for both sides." Though no concrete date has been set and Yang said Suu Kyi's visit is "still out of the schedule," the ambassador acknowledged that given her international profile and popularity among Burma's people, an invitation from China was only a matter of time. A retired deputy director general at Burma's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kyee Myint, told The Irrawaddy that understanding sentiment toward China among the Burmese people was one of Beijing's most important challenges. "The government of China has more capacity to control its own people, especially its business people, but China cannot control Myanmar's people and their wishes," he said. Yang too stressed mutual respect between the two nations, adding that China would honor Burma's democratic process and would not interfere in its internal affairs. Suu Kyi has expressed a willingness to visit China in the past, but she has insisted that the invitation should come from the Chinese government. She has previously declined invitations that came from semi-official Chinese organizations. The Burmese democracy icon Suu Kyi's relations with China are a relatively new development. For decades, the Chinese government refrained from any formal contact with Suu Kyi or her party, with her strong pro-democracy stance at odds with China's own record of human rights abuses under a one-party communist regime. Burma has undergone seismic political changes since Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who sat at the top of the country's military regime, officially stepped down to make way for his hand-picked successor, President Thein Sein. The latter took office in March 2011 and has since introduced democratic reforms to the nation's formerly authoritarian political system. Thein Sein early this year said he supported changing the country's Constitution to allow "any citizen" to become president, an apparent reference to Suu Kyi, whose political ambitions are constrained by a military-drafted Constitution that bans her from running for president. However, Than Shwe is considered to still wield influence among leaders of the quasi-civilian government, and the retired dictator in October was reportedly "concerned about the ongoing political process," according to Shwe Mann, a member of the former regime and current speaker of Parliament. That, and a shrinking window in which to pass constitutional amendments that would then need to be ratified by a national referendum, have cast doubts on the viability of a Suu Kyi presidency. The post Is China Betting on a Suu Kyi Presidency? appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

India’s Tata Faces Challenge in Burma’s Japan-Dominated Car Market Posted: 17 Jan 2014 02:07 AM PST Tata Motor's Nano and Xenon models are on show at an Indian trade exhibition in Rangoon on Thursday. (Photo: Kyaw Hsu Mon / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Tata Motors is facing a challenge in the Burmese auto market, which is currently dominated by second hand Japanese imports, the local distributor of India's largest car maker said. Tata is looking to build a presence as the auto market in Burma opens up with relaxed import restrictions, and in 2010 it established a truck assembly factory in Magwe Division. The company put its investment for the plant at US$20 million and said it plans to manufacture 1,000 vehicles per year increasing to 5,000 vehicles in the future. Local company Apex Greatest Industrial (AGI) Co Ltd is selling those trucks, as well as new India-made Tata cars like the Nano, which can be used as a private taxi. Speaking to The Irrawaddy at an Indian trade exhibition at Rangoon's Tatmadaw Hall on Thursday, AGI managing director Sein Lwin said it was still necessary to import the cars. "Although we have a plant in Magwe region, we are just manufacturing heavy trucks there, and importing private passenger cars for the local market," he said. "Manufacturing costs and import costs are similar, so if we produced private cars here, it would more cost for us." Since a civilian government took power in 2011 and embarked upon liberalizing economic reforms, including of the autos sector, more than 100,000 cars have been imported. But a quick look at the taxis and private cars on the streets of Burma's biggest city, Rangoon, reveals they are almost all not from India, but from Japan, and to a lesser extent South Korea. "In the current market situation, Tata can't compete with the well-known Japanese used car market, although we are importing brand new cars," said Sein Lwin. "But more people will get to know about our brand within a few years." He said used Japanese Hondas, for example, could be bought for about 10 million kyats, about $10,000, cheaper than the Tata pickup truck, the Xenon. "We just sell the Tata Xenon for 18 million kyats. People like cheap prices and the Japanese brands, even though they are second hand," Sein Lwin said. The market is overwhelmingly dominated by Japanese brands, for which there is high demand, according to Rangoon car dealers. Popular models are Toyota's Harrier, Mark II, Mark X, Hilux Surf, Probox, Belta and Landcruiser, as well as Nissan vans, Suzuki vehicles, the Honda Fit, the Honda Vitz and the Nissan March. Maung Shwe, managing director of the Bandoola group of companies said Burmese people like Japanese used cars right now due to the low prices, but in the long term brand new cars will grow in popularity. "The difference between used cars and brand new is the long term benefits. If you are using a brand new car, you don't need to repair it for at least five years, but for used cars, you will have to have it fixed after a year. Also, it's hard to find accessories," Maung Shwe said. "But in Burma, people have liked the Japanese brands for decades, so India's Tata will find it difficult to expand its local market." The post India's Tata Faces Challenge in Burma's Japan-Dominated Car Market appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Chinese Police Take Away Outspoken Uighur Activist Posted: 16 Jan 2014 10:00 PM PST A police officer stops a car to check for identifications at a checkpoint near Lukqun town, in China's Xinjiang province on Oct. 30, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — Police have taken away an outspoken scholar of China's Turkic Uighur ethnic minority and raided his home, seizing computers, cellphones and even his students' thesis manuscripts, his wife said Thursday. About 30 police officers raided economics professor Ilham Tohti's home in Beijing in a six-hour operation Wednesday afternoon after taking away the academic, his wife Guzaili Nu'er said in a phone interview. It was the most serious of recent actions by Chinese authorities in apparent retaliation against the scholar, who is arguably the most famous mainland-based critic of the ruling Communist Party's restrictive policies in Xinjiang in western China. China has tightened control over the restive region, which has been rocked by a series of riots and attacks on police and other symbols of Chinese power over the past year. State media reported earlier this month that President Xi Jinping has ordered authorities to refocus their efforts on "maintaining social stability" in Xinjiang. Guzaili Nu'er said that Ilham Tohti and his two sons were at home while she was at work when police arrived. She rushed home but her husband had already been taken away. Beijing police did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular briefing that Ilham Tohti "is suspected of violating the law and committing a crime" and that police have placed him under criminal detention. Calls to the scholar's mobile phone failed to connect. The overseas-based website he runs, Uighurbiz.net, was also down. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that the United States was deeply concerned about the reports that Ilham Tohti had been taken away, and called on the Chinese authorities to account for his whereabouts. The statement said the detention "appears to be part of a disturbing pattern of arrests and detentions of public interest lawyers, Internet activists, journalists, religious leaders and others who peacefully challenge official Chinese policies and actions." Ilham Tohti has been barred from traveling and placed under house arrest numerous times in the wake of deadly ethnic rioting in the capital of the Uighur ethnic homeland of Xinjiang in 2009 that sparked a nationwide crackdown on Uighur activists. He has not joined calls for Xinjiang's independence but his outspokenness on problems with China's ethnic policies has made him a target of security forces. He has criticized the authoritarian government's heavy-handed handling of recent unrest, saying China's stifling security presence, widespread discrimination and restrictions on religious and social practices have fanned ethnic discord in Xinjiang. "The Uighur people have become outsiders in the development of their own homeland and survival," Ilham Tohti wrote in a post on his mobile social media account Wednesday morning. "It is here that the people's anger begins to grow. Uighur people need an avenue to express their aspirations and protect their rights." The scholar's wife said she feared the authorities meant to take stronger measures against him this time. Although he has been taken away for questioning before, she said, he usually returns late at night. "This time it's different. They sent so many security officers, including police from Xinjiang, Beijing and the nearby police station. This time it is more serious," she said. Guzaili Nu'er said police seized four computers, several mobile phones and Ilham Tohti's students' thesis papers, and refused to answer her questions about where he had been taken to, or why. On Thursday afternoon, two men in plainclothes were stationed in the hallway outside the apartment and they tried to block reporters from entering the apartment. Atilamu, 22, who was one of two undergraduate students of Ilham Tohti's at the apartment Thursday, said that police took them away for several hours of questioning Wednesday before releasing them near midnight, and that their cellphones, computers and class notes also were seized. The students said they knew of at least about a half-dozen other Uighur students who were similarly questioned. Associated Press reporter Isolda Morillo contributed to this report. The post Chinese Police Take Away Outspoken Uighur Activist appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Buddhist Mob, Police Raid Rohingya Village, Many Left Dead: Rights Group Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:50 PM PST An armed policeman observes a scene at unofficial camp for displaced Rohingya in Sittwe Township in May 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON— Arakanese Buddhist villagers in the company of government security forces attacked a Rohingya Muslim village in southern Maungdaw Township in strife-torn Arakan State on Tuesday morning, leading to the deaths of possibly dozens of Rohingya women and children, a human rights group reports. Many other villagers have been arrested, while hundreds have since fled their homes, according to initial reports from the region. Government officials claim that a policeman went missing after he was attacked by villagers and they denied the reports of the Rohingya killings. The violence occurred in southern Maungdaw Township in the Muslim village of Du Char Yar Tan, according to the Arakan Project, a Thailand-based Rohingya rights group that has a local monitoring network in Maungdaw. The officers had come to the village on Monday night "to confiscate mobile phones and check family lists," the Arakan Project said. "As police entered houses, angry Rohingya villagers gathered and the mob attacked and beat the police." Many Rohingya men then fled the village out of fear for arrest, it said. Police returned in the early hours of Tuesday morning with soldiers and many Arakanese Buddhist villagers to search for a policeman who had gone missing during the previous unrest—a claim that the Rohingya villagers deny. The Arakan Project, which talked to numerous villagers and other sources on the ground, alleged that the Arakanese Buddhist mob and security forces then looted and attacked the women and children who had remained in Du Char Yar Tan village, possibly killing dozens. "The joint forces and [Arakan] villagers looted many houses in the village. Women and children were brutally killed (as many men had already fled) and some were allegedly raped. The exact number is unknown so far—figures we received vary between 10 and 60," the organization said in a briefing on the incident. The organization quoted a local resident who had briefly returned to the village later as saying that he saw the dead bodies of two women and a boy who had been killed by stabbing. "Stabbings with knives (rather than shooting) would clearly indicate that the massacre was committed by [Arakan] villagers rather than police or army, but in the presence of law enforcement agencies who also did nothing to stop it," the group said. It noted, however, that it had received conflicting reports from the isolated Muslim-majority region in northern Arakan State, which is administered by government security forces. The organization said dozens of Rohingya villagers—including women and children—were rounded up in the aftermath of the unrest on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Arakan Project said the violence had been preceded by a recent visit of Buddhist monk U Wirathu of the nationalist 969 movement, who reportedly told the Arakanese that they are the only "sons of the soil" and could drive out the Rohingyas. Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut on Friday morning denied the reports of Rohingya killings. "The police are investigating the case of the missing policeman," he told The Irrawaddy, while speaking on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Nations Foreign Ministers' meeting in Bagan. "We have had no information about the killings that have been reported in the media. Those reports might be a cover-up, because of the policeman going missing," he said. Arakan State spokesperson Win Myaing provided few details of the outbreak of bloody violence, but claimed that about 80 Muslim villagers had "attacked" policemen on Monday night and an officer called Aung Kyaw Thein had gone missing. He gave no reasons for the attack by the Rohingyas. "The local army is on the ground and police forces are still searching for the missing policeman. We did not know yet whether he has died already or not," he said. A Muslim resident of Maungdaw town named Husson said he met some of the villagers from Du Char Yar Tan, adding that they had told him that six villagers were killed and hundreds had fled. On Thursday morning, some 50 Rohingya villagers were arrested by authorities in relation to the unrest, he added. Aanis, a Muslim man who lives nearby Du Char Yar Tan village, said, "Many families from that village have run away and tried to escape to other villages, some are hiding in my village." Aung Myo Min, a Muslim Arakan State lawmaker with the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said he and state officials visited Du Char Yar Tan village on Tuesday and found it was largely deserted, except for a few dozen elderly villagers and some women. "I didn't have a chance to talk to them. I don't know exactly what happened on [Monday] night or if anyone was killed," he said, adding that several thousand Rohingyas lived in Du Char Yar Tan. Aung Myo Min said he saw no dead or injured villagers. Shwe Maung, a Muslim Lower House lawmaker who represents Buthidaung Township for the USDP, said he heard conflicting reports about the numbers of villagers killed and injured. "A lot of people are missing. Normally when they are missing family members, Rohingya people think they are dead," he said, adding that hundreds of security forces remained stationed at Du Char Yar Tan village. "Now the situation is very tense, the security forces are still in the village," Shwe Maung said. In June and October 2012, two waves of deadly inter-communal violence between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims swept through western Burma's Arakan State, killing almost 200 people, destroying thousands of homes and displacing 142,000 people, mostly Muslims. Burma's government has been accused of tacitly supporting Buddhist mob violence. It does not recognize the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority as citizens and officials refer to them as "Bengalis" to suggest that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The Rohingyas claim they have lived in Arakan for generations and are entitled to citizenship. Additional reporting by Simon Roughneen in Bagan. The post Buddhist Mob, Police Raid Rohingya Village, Many Left Dead: Rights Group appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Australia Admits It Breached Indonesian Territory Blocking Refugee Boats Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:32 PM PST An Indonesian policeman stands near broken eggs and tomatoes thrown by protesters at the Australian embassy in Jakarta in November, when tensions were rising between the two countries over spying allegations. (Photo: Reuters) SYDNEY — Australia will apologize to Indonesia on Friday after its navy breached Indonesian territorial sovereignty several times as part of the government's controversial policy of stopping boats carrying would-be asylum seekers from entering its waters. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said he had been told earlier this week about the "inadvertent breaches" on multiple days and immediately informed the Indonesian navy. He said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was unable to reach her Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa to discuss the breaches and that a formal apology would be issued by Australia's embassy in Jakarta later on Friday. Acknowledgement of the breaches will likely further strain ties that had already hit their lowest point since the 1990s after recent allegations Australia had spied on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other senior Indonesian officials. Indonesia downgraded its relations with Australia in November as a result of the embarrassing spying allegations, suspending intelligence and military cooperation, including over asylum seekers. A protracted crisis between the often uneasy neighbors could have serious repercussions. Indonesia is a major importer of Australian agricultural products such as wheat and live cattle. Australia is Indonesia's 10th-largest export market. Morrison said on Friday Australia "deeply regrets" the breaches of territorial sovereignty but at the same time maintained Australia's right to protect its own borders. "We have offered the apologies, we have been very clear about what has occurred both with Indonesia and here today," he told reporters. "But we won't let this setback get in the way of the job we were elected to do, which is stop the boats," he said. Concerns Over Secrecy The number of refugees reaching Australia pales in comparison with other countries but it is a polarizing political issue that also stokes tension with Indonesia over border policies that have been criticized by the United Nations and international human rights groups. Prime Minister Tony Abbott's conservative government came to power partly because of its tough campaign against asylum seekers after an easing of border policies by the former Labor government that resulted in a rise in the number of boats. Its policies include offshore detention centers that hold thousands of asylum seekers, many of whom have fled conflicts in Afghanistan, Darfur, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria. Abbott's government is also coming under fire at home over the secrecy surrounding its "Operation Sovereign Borders," which he recently likened to a war. He has said secrecy is important to prevent "the enemy" receiving information. On Wednesday, Morrison moved to restrict access to information further even as he touted the operation's success, refusing to confirm reports that the navy had forced the return of a number of boats to Indonesia in recent weeks. The UN refugee agency has asked for information from the government, warning that Australia could be breaking international law if it is forcing boats back to Indonesia without proper regard for refugees' safety. Friday's news conference followed Australian media reports about the breaches of Indonesian sovereignty. Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, the officer in charge of the operation, said the breaches occurred on multiple days by "a vessel or vessels" but declined to give more details. Many of those trying to reach Australia pay people-smugglers in Indonesia to make the perilous journey in often unsafe boats. Last year's spying allegations left relations between the two countries at their lowest level since 1999, when Australia sent troops into East Timor amid escalating violence after Indonesia pulled its troops out of its former colony. The post Australia Admits It Breached Indonesian Territory Blocking Refugee Boats appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Protesters March on New Govt Targets Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:27 PM PST An anti-government protester uses a pair of binoculars during a rally in central Bangkok on Jan. 16, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Chaiwat Subprasom) BANGKOK — Throngs of whistle-blowing protesters surrounded several new government agencies in Thailand's capital on Thursday to keep up pressure on the prime minister to resign and call off next month's election. The marches to the Revenue Department, Health Ministry and other offices appeared to be a way to maintain momentum amid a decline in the number of protesters who have blocked key intersections in Bangkok for four days in an attempt to shut down the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Their numbers could swell again this weekend. Yingluck's opponents, largely from the south and urban middle and upper classes, say she is carrying on the practices of her billionaire brother by using the family fortune and state funds to influence voters and cement her grip on power. But she has widespread support among Thailand's poor majority in the countryside because of the populist policies carried out by her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid being imprisoned on a corruption conviction. The protests this week have been mostly peaceful, although there have been several acts of violence including gunshots in the middle of the night at protest venues and small fireworks-type explosives hurled at the homes of protest leaders, according to police. Since the latest wave protests started in November, at least eight people have been killed and more than 450 have been injured. Despite pressure from the protesters, Yingluck has said repeatedly that the Feb. 2 parliamentary election will go ahead. She dissolved Parliament and called the early vote to defuse tension that has been building over the past three months. Her opponents don't want an election because they know that her rural supporters would almost certainly give her victory. Instead, they are calling for an unelected "people's council" to replace the government and amend laws to fight corruption in politics. The protesters are hoping that pressure from the powerful military—and particularly Army Commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha—could help push Yingluck out. Thailand has had about a dozen successful military coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932. "General Prayuth Chan-ocha, our brothers and sisters are waiting for you to come out and announce that you are on the side of the protesters. This will be immediately over and the government will without a doubt be finished," protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said in a speech to followers Thursday. Yingluck's government also faces threats on the legal front. The National Anti-Corruption Commission announced Thursday that it found grounds to investigate allegations that she was criminally negligent in her handling of what the government has described as a deal to export surplus rice to China. The commission has already determined that there are grounds to press charges against her former commerce minister and more than a dozen other officials. While the road blockages created traffic disruptions, life continued normally in most of Bangkok, a bustling city of 12 million. Thailand has been wracked by repeated bouts of unrest since the military ousted Thaksin in 2006 amid charges of corruption and alleged disrespect for the monarchy. The crisis boiled over again late last year after a failed ruling party bid to push through an amnesty bill that would have allowed Thaksin to return from exile. Associated Press writers Papitchaya Boonngok and Jinda Wedel contributed to this report. The post Thai Protesters March on New Govt Targets appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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