| USDP Leader Urges Committee to Review Key Constitutional Reforms Posted: 18 Feb 2014 06:00 AM PST  Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann during a meeting of the Burmese Parliament in Naypyidaw. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann has sent a letter to a parliamentary committee in charge of constitutional reform urging it to focus on amending chapter 12 of the charter, while he also suggested that the committee completes its work no later than six months before the 2015 elections. Chapter 12 of Burma's Constitution contains clauses that deal with the military's political role and ban opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president. On Tuesday, Shwe Mann, who also chairs the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), sent a letter to the Constitutional Amendment Implementing Committee saying, "In the committee meetings, Chapter 12 Amendments of the Constitution should be first reviewed and get recommendations." He added, "[T]he committee must report their findings on the necessary amendments or enactment of legislation six months before the 2015 election." Shwe Mann also asked the committee to consider amendments concerning political autonomy for ethnic regions through a federal union and the appointment of chief ministers in states and divisions through elections. Chapter 12′s Article 436 states that constitutional reform can only take place with the support of more than 75 percent of the lawmakers—giving the military an effective veto over any amendments of specific articles. Among the specific articles include Article 59 (f) prevents National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Suu Kyi from becoming president as her two British-born sons are not Burmese citizens. Then Articles 109/141/161(d) reserves a quarter of all Parliament seats for serving military officers. Changes to these crucial articles would also need to be approved through a national referendum. The Constitution was drafted by the previous military regime and is widely considered to be undemocratic; it was rushed through during a flawed 2008 referendum. In recent days, the NLD joined up with the 88 Generation activist movement to jointly push for changes to the 2008 Constitution. The two hugely popular organizations said they would first target amendments to Article 436, and if necessary would use "people power" to force the military and USDP-dominated Parliament to adopt these amendments. On Tuesday, opposition lawmakers were cautiously positive about Shwe Mann's letter, but remained concerned over whether or not the USDP-dominated committee would eventually propose significant amendments. Win Htein, a NLD Lower House lawmaker, noted that the 29 USDP MPs in the 31-member committee might be less inclined to favor change than their chairman. "It is the committee members who make decision on the amendments, even though there are guidelines [in the letter] suggested by the Speaker Shwe Mann," he said. "It's not sure that all of our [NLD] suggested amendments will be included in their final decisions… We cannot expect that," he said, adding that the NLD would continue push for the amendments it desires regardless of what the committee decides. "As you know, the NLD is campaigning both inside and outside of Parliament for constitutional amendments," Win Htein said. Ye Htun, a Lower House lawmaker from the Shan Nationalities Development Party, said he was "satisfied" with the constitutional amendments that Shwe Mann had suggested. "It seems that the Constitution is to be amended before the upcoming elections, so that there can be a newly elected government with an amended Constitution," he said. Referring to the proposed review of the political control over Burma's regional governments, which remain under strict control from Naypyidaw, Ye Htun said, "As an ethnic party representative, amending the states' rights to autonomy and sharing authority on the management of natural resources would help build ethnic unity, genuine peace and stopping the decades-long civil wars." Both lawmakers were unable to say, however, whether the minimum time frame of six months would leave enough time for the implementation of the amendments before the 2015 elections. The post USDP Leader Urges Committee to Review Key Constitutional Reforms appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Little Power for Local School Officials in Burma: Report Posted: 18 Feb 2014 05:53 AM PST  A teacher works with students at a private school in Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's government is loosening its grip on the public school system, but education officials and school administrators at the local level say most decisions are still made from above, according to a new report. For decades the former military regime maintained firm control over schools because students were known to play a crucial role as leaders of anti-government protests. In 2012, President Thein Sein's administration pledged to change that by decentralizing the formal education system. Two years later, education officials and school principals in Rangoon Division and Mon State say the government's promise has yet to be realized, according to a report released on Monday by the Asia Foundation and the Myanmar Development Resource Institute (MDRI), an independent think-tank that is led by Thein Sein's top economic adviser. The Ministry of Education has transferred some responsibilities from the national level to the district and township levels, according to the report, but it has given little in the way of decision-making power over school administration, budgets and curricula. "The government of Myanmar [Burma] has said they will make a commitment to decentralization. The reality, however, is that many ministries, and particularly the Ministry of Education, are highly centralized and top down," Patrick McCormick, a researcher and consultant who co-authored the report, said at a launch event Monday in Rangoon. "The Ministry of Education is probably one of the most conservative, if not the most conservative, ministries in the government." The 2008 Constitution declares that state and divisional legislatures cannot enact legislation on education, which is strictly the purview of the national legislature. However, in 2012 Thein Sein's government released its Framework for Economic and Social Reform (FESR), a national planning document, which said decentralization would be a key strategy for education reform. Since then, the administration has taken some steps toward that goal. It created district-level education offices, which will in the future take over the township-level responsibility of aggregating education data, according to the report. The district offices will also have the authority to move teachers from school to school within a district, which in the past could only be done at the state or divisional level, the report added. It said state and divisional officials from the Ministry of Education were also allowed last year for the first time in recent memory to appoint junior assistant teachers. However, more qualified teachers continued to be appointed at the national level, while school principals also lacked the authority to discipline or fire teachers without approval from higher up the chain. The Ministry of Education controls schools' budgets, the report added. It said a small "discretionary" budget had been given to schools—but with preset plans that narrowly allocated the expenses, down to how much money could be spent on stationery. "Although school principals have this discretionary budget, they don't have a lot of discretion," said report co-author Brooke Zobrist, who has worked as a research and education consultant in Burma for the past four years. "They have more responsibility to ensure these funds are managed and documented properly. There's added responsibility without a lot of authority." Curriculum is also still controlled at the national level, with decisions coming from the Ministry of Education. Local-level ministry officials and school principals interviewed for the report said it was their duty to implement decisions, rather than offering input. Many said they were more concerned with more tangible issues, such as their lack of authority to raise money if they wanted to create a sports program and needed to buy equipment, or their inability to write up a teacher for an infraction without first receiving permission from the government. "The school principal has no authority to hire, fire, write up or discipline a teacher, so the idea of working with curriculum and developing a larger school plan, or developing and promoting a different type of education in your area, is so much bigger," Zobrist said. Summing up her overall view of the situation, she said, "in some ways the government is starting to pass down tasks to lower levels. However, authority and decision-making power has for the most part not moved to outside the center." The report, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), is the first of a new series of papers by the Asia Foundation and the MDRI about decentralization and local governance in Burma. It was a preliminary assessment that was based on a literature review and 12 interviews in Rangoon Division and Mon State with members of the Ministry of Education, including officials at state, district and township levels, as well as school principals. While Rangoon Division is home to the country's former capital and fully under government control, Mon State includes many areas under partial or full control by ethnic rebels that have signed ceasefires after decades of conflict with the government army. Given this history, education offerings in Mon State are more varied. Like ethnic rebel groups elsewhere in the country, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) has developed a distinct school system that operates outside the government system through the Mon National Education Committee, which runs more than 150 schools. Students are taught solely in the Mon language during primary school and transition to Burmese language in middle school. In high school they are taught the government curriculum, allowing for easier matriculation to universities. The Mon education committee has an informal agreement with the government that also allows it to offer lessons in the Mon language and Mon history at government schools. This arrangement is not strictly legal, but was agreed as part of a ceasefire deal. Also outside the government's public school system, private schools have recently been allowed to register and operate in the country. They have greater academic freedom but are still legally required to teach the government curriculum, according to the report. In addition, monastic schools supervised by the Ministry of Religious Affairs have long been a crucial component of education in Burma, especially for students whose families cannot afford school-related fees. "We have a picture where the Ministry of Education has taken tight control over the entire system from top to bottom. However, outside of that there are pockets where private actors, community actors, religious leaders and other groups are maintaining full education systems, training their own teachers and preparing their own curriculum," Zobrist said. She said decentralization could encourage a system whereby ethnic schools that are already established and supported by the community might be integrated into a larger framework of education. "Standards could be created to include all the ethnic national schools into a governance structure that allows for different types of education through different types of service providers across the country," she said. These changes would require political will from the top, however, and would largely depend upon the results of ongoing peace negotiations between the government and ethnic rebel groups. Still, the Ministry of Education is studying options for reallocating authority over budgets, administration and curriculum as part of its Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR), a two-year review of the school system that will lead to a new education sector development plan later this year. Officials involved in the review have said the ministry is interested in moving forward with decentralization, and is still considering strategies for how this might be done. While citing a number of benefits to decentralization, including more efficient management and a school system that is more responsive to local needs, the report warned of possible concerns. If decentralization takes the form of shifting responsibilities to lower levels of administration without providing enough resources, it said inequities for poor and rural areas might widen. Aung Thu Nyein, a senior research fellow for the MDRI's Centre for Economic and Social Development (CESD), said the report would be shared with officials in the President's Office. "Some of our CESD colleagues have been working quite closely with the President's Office, especially with U Tin Naing Thein, President's Office minister No. 5, who is leading the education reform committee. And in that committee, some of our colleagues are working," he told The Irrawaddy. The MDRI's executive director is Zaw Oo, an economic adviser for Thein Sein on the National Economic and Social Advisory Council. The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization focused on governance, economic development, women's empowerment, environmental issues and regional cooperation in Asia. Both groups said opinions expressed by the authors in the education report did not necessarily reflect their own beliefs. The post Little Power for Local School Officials in Burma: Report appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Rangoon to Ban Passenger Travel on Hilux Trucks Posted: 18 Feb 2014 05:48 AM PST  Dina cars packed beyond their capacity are a common sight in the suburbs of the former capital.(Photo:THE IRRAWADDY) RANGOON — Next month commuters in Rangoon will no longer be able to catch rides in Toyota Hilux pickup trucks, one of the city's cheapest modes of public transportation. The Rangoon Division government will prohibit the use of the compact trucks for passenger transportation in the city after Feb. 28, according to the division's motor vehicle department, which said the order would be effective in 33 townships that fall within the boundary of the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC). Instead, the government hopes to encourage drivers to sell their old trucks and purchase approved minibuses, which are only slightly more expensive. After the new policy goes into effect, Hilux drivers will still be allowed to carry goods within the 33 townships of YCDC, and they can continue to carry passengers in the 10 townships outside the city limits. More than 40 Hilux service lines currently operate transportation services in the city, with about 800 trucks, according to Hla Aung, chairman of the Rangoon All Bus Lines Supervising Committee, which falls under Rangoon Division's Central Supervisory Committee for Motor Vehicles and Vessels. "Hilux trucks are weak in passenger safety. They are outdated models that are more suitable for transporting goods," he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. He said the trucks had been approved for passenger transportation in the past due to difficulties importing other vehicles into the country under the former military regime. But the Ministry of Transport changed rules for importing cars in 2011, allowing drivers to replace decades-old clunkers with newer models. "Hilux trucks are more likely to be involved in traffic accidents where people are killed or injured, because there are so many passengers crammed into the vehicle and even on the roof," said Kar Kyaw, another official with the bus committee, who said 45 of the trucks flipped over in crashes last year. "It's time to replace the Hilux passenger trucks with minibuses for the safety of passengers." He said drivers could sell their trucks for between 7 million kyats and 9 million kyats (US$7,000 to $9,000), while imported minibuses can be purchased on installment plans at a price of about 10 million kyats. The bus committee says 90 trucks have already been phased out and replaced with minibuses. These included Hilux trucks and Toyota Dyna trucks, which are mostly used to transport goods but sometimes used to carry passengers. The 10 townships outside the YCDC area include Htan Tapin, Hmawbi, Twante, Khayan, Thanlyin, Thone Khwa, Kaw Muu, Kun Chan Kone, Taikkyi, Hlegu. The post Rangoon to Ban Passenger Travel on Hilux Trucks appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Muslim Activists Denied Chance to Speak at Mandalay Literature Event Posted: 18 Feb 2014 05:42 AM PST  88 Generation Peace and Open Society leaders Mya Aye, right, Min Ko Naing, center, and Ko Ko Gyi. (Photo: Generation Peace and Open Society) RANGOON — Three activists in Burma, including a leader from the influential 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, were prevented from appearing at a public event in Mandalay over the weekend, after dozens of Buddhist monks protested their inclusion on the roster of scheduled speakers. The three activists had planned to give remarks at a literature discussion in Mandalay's Mye Par quarter on Saturday, but about 40 monks approached organizers in advance of the event and demanded that the trio be removed from the list of speakers. The event was ultimately cancelled. The activists—Mya Aye, who is a leader from the 88 Generation, Ko Ni, a High Court attorney, and Ma Thida, a well-known writer—told The Irrawaddy that the monks' stated objection to the three speaking at the event was their Muslim affiliation. Two of the three activists are practicing Muslims. Despite the monks' ostensible reason for protesting, the activists said they suspected a "hidden political agenda" was behind the incident. Mya Aye, a Muslim who has campaigned for democracy in Burma as a member of the 88 Generation for more than 20 years, said the weekend confrontation in Mandalay could tarnish the image of Burma as a country increasingly open to freedom of expression. The monks' ability to force the event's cancelation was indicative of the fact that rule of law remained a distance reality for Burma, he said. The activist linked the monks' unruly behavior to a recent joint statement by Aung San Suu Kyi, chairwoman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, and 88 Generation members, who pledged to cooperate in pursuit of amending the 2008 Constitution. "Behind this is a hidden political agenda because there are people who want to create religious problems to get political power as our country prepares for elections," Mya Aye said. Burma is slated to hold national elections in 2015. The weekend incident follows a similar cancellation last week in Rangoon. In both instances, it was monks objecting to Muslim speakers who disrupted the planned events. Ko Ni and Mya Aye were also scheduled to speak at a Rangoon literature discussion that was called off under similar circumstances on Wednesday of last week. The 88 Generation Peace and Open Society released a statement on Tuesday saying a total of four literature events, including the ones in Mandalay and Rangoon, have been cancelled this year. "We issued this statement to protect the right of writers who want to have democracy in this country and an end to the military system," the statement said. The activists who were denied the chance to speak on Saturday called on all people of Burma's varied religious affiliations to work together for peace in the country and in support of religious freedom. Ma Thida is a writer and activist who is not a Muslim, but previously served as a doctor at Rangoon's Muslim Free Hospital. "This action could disturb peace in the country. It is sad to see this," she said, adding that opposition to the country's ongoing political reforms was likely a motivating factor. Anti-Muslim violence has broken out in several states and divisions in Burma, much of it blamed on instigators who adhere to the so-called 969 Buddhist nationalist ideology. The 969 movement, led by the Mandalay-based monk U Wirathu, has become increasingly controversial in the last two years after the campaign—claiming that Burma's Muslims are threatening the Buddhist majority—gained traction nationwide. The 969 movement calls on Buddhists to shun Muslim communities and buy only goods from Buddhist-owned shops. Critics of the movement say 969 sermons constitute hate speech and can be linked to outbreaks of Buddhist mob violence against Muslim communities throughout Burma. Since 2012, such violence has left more than 200 people dead and displaced more than 140,000 people, most of them Muslims. Northern Arakan State has been the worst-affected after long-standing tensions between Arakanese Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslim minority exploded and mob attacks led to the death of 192 people in June and October of 2012. "They cannot force people to believe only one religion," said Ma Thida. "All Burmese are not Buddhists … It is not appropriate in a democratic system to force a religious belief on someone. They should not act similarly to the [former] military dictatorship." The post Muslim Activists Denied Chance to Speak at Mandalay Literature Event appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Ethnicity Data From Burma Census Could Be Political, Groups Warn Posted: 18 Feb 2014 05:25 AM PST  Ethnic Kachin women in Laiza, Kachin State, during talks between Burma's ethnic armed groups in October 2013. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Ethnic groups and civil society organizations are raising concerns that data gathered on ethnicity in Burma's upcoming census could be used for political purposes. A group of 30 civil society organizations and ethnic groups representing the Chin, Karen, Shan, Mon and Kachin warned Monday that historic mistakes concerning the classification and naming of ethnicity in Burma could be repeated in next month's nationwide census. In the first census to be conducted more than 30 years—a process supported by the United Nations—everyone living in Burma will be asked to state their ethnicity. Critics say the process threatens to stir up tensions in the country where conflicts between the central government and ethnic groups have raged since independence. Kyaw Thu, head of civil society consortium Paung Ku said collecting data on ethnicity was not necessary, and that only demographic information was needed to inform development projects. "If development is the priority, the data of headcounts—the numbers of people and the age group—is enough to conduct economic projects," he said. The number of people in an ethnic group in an area can impact on the political power that group has. Ethnic minister positions within division and state parliaments are given to minority groups with more than 0.01 percent of the population in the area. Saw Kyaw Swa, secretary of the Karen Affairs Committee, said he was concerned that ethnicity data would impact on the political landscape in the country in years to come. "We are concerned and deeply worried that the census data will be used in political decisions after 2015 [when national elections are scheduled]," said Saw Kyaw Swa. "For example, ethnic minorities might no longer be able to have an ethnic minister in every state after the Constitution is amended. There might only be a divisional minister representing all ethnic groups." The census will use the controversial list of 135 officially recognized ethnic groups in Burma, which represent "subcategories" of the eight major groups—Burman, Karen, Karreni, Kachin, Chin, Mon, Arakan and Shan. Ethnic groups argue that this could dilute minority populations and therefore deny them political representation. Minister of Immigration and Population Khin Yi last week insisted that the census will not result in a loss of political representation for ethnic groups. "It's true that ethnic minorities worry their groups will disappear, that they will not get the 'right to govern themselves' in the upcoming election," the minister said in Rangoon. "But the census is not directly related with elections, although it may be indirectly. There will be no such thing as losing the right to govern themselves." However, Salai Isaac Khen, coordinator of Chin national supporting committee on the census, said he feared that the data could be used to shape future elections. "The usage of '135 nationalities' is not a situation in which ethnic are understood and accepted," Salai Isaac Khen told The Irrawaddy. "Even though they claim a lot that they will not use the results [of the census] for political purposes, they say that the 135 ethnic groups list is a result of the 1983 census. So they may later claim that there are been such and such ethnic group and population in the 2014 census. It could affect political decisions in the next 10 or 15 years." He added that the government had made it difficult for ethnic groups to appeal for changes to the legally enshrined ethnic divisions. "If ethnic want to make changes to the current number of 135 ethnics, they says go through the Parliament. We assume that it's designed to make the process difficult," Salai Isaac Khen said. Tun Myint Kyaw, local coordinator in Mon State for the European Union-funded Rule of Law Project said that the question of ethnicity should be dropped. "If [the Ministry of Immigration and Population] has a plan to omit the ethnicity and religion category from the national identity card, why would they still include in the census data collection?" he asked, adding ethic groups do not trust the central government, since in the past it has "twisted" the issue of ethnicity in Burma. "The number and naming [of ethnic groups] would not be important if this hadn't been manipulated for profit in the past." Khon Ja, an activist with the Kachin Peace Network said the question on ethnicity should be reconsidered, due to the potential tension that could arise and put back the process of national reconciliation in Burma. Brussels-based NGO the International Crisis Group last week said the questions on ethnicity in the census were "needlessly antagonistic and divisive," and called for the survey to be amended. The group's report noted that the number of Muslims in the country is likely to be found to be far higher than has been previously recorded, which could enflame already fraught inter-communal relations. The post Ethnicity Data From Burma Census Could Be Political, Groups Warn appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Govt to Seek Unesco Recognition of Myazedi Inscription Posted: 18 Feb 2014 04:32 AM PST  The Myazedi Inscription on the platform of the Myazedi Pagoda. Burma's Ministry of Culture is planning to seek official recognition of a Bagan-era stone inscription from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), according to ministry officials. During a meeting of the National Culture Central Committee held on Monday, it was decided that the Myazedi Inscription, dated 1113, would be submitted to Unesco in March for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register. "We will apply for such status because we want the world to pay special attention to Burmese cultural heritage and literature," a ministry official told The Irrawaddy. The Myazedi Inscription is named after the Myazedi Pagoda in Myinkaba, a village located south of Bagan in Mandalay Division, near which it was discovered. It is also called the Yazakumar Inscription or Gubyaukgyi Inscription. The inscription includes writing in the Pali, Pyu, Mon and Burmese languages, and is considered a very important historical, cultural and literary artifact. There are two main stone inscriptions in Burma today—the one on the platform of the Myazedi Pagoda and another currently on display at the Bagan Archaeological Museum. The latter was discovered by German Pali scholar Dr. Emil Forchammar in 1886-87. According to the Burmese Encyclopedia, the Myazedi Inscription, which was made and donated by Prince Yazakumar in honor of his father, King Kyansittha (1030-1112), includes 40 sentences in Pali, 34 in Burmese, 46 in Mon and 29 in Pyu. The epigraph, engraved on a stone a year after Kyansittha's death, tells the story of the king and the prince, including the fact that the prince was not disappointed even though he was passed over for the throne. If the inscription wins Unesco recognition, it will be the second time that the UN body has accepted an application from Burma. In June 2013, Unesco added Mandalay's Maha Lawkamarazein, considered the world's largest book, to the organization's Memory of the World Register. Also known as the Kuthodaw Inscriptions, the 729 stone slabs were installed at the foot of Mandalay Hill by King Mindon, who reigned as Burma's penultimate king from 1853-1878. The Myazedi Inscription is considered the oldest surviving stone inscription in Burma. Its status may be changed, however, as another stone inscription, which is believed to have been made by King Sawlu (1050–1084), was recently found in Mandalay's Myittha Township and is being examined with the help of the Archaeological Survey of India. The post Govt to Seek Unesco Recognition of Myazedi Inscription appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma Army Deployed to Guard 20-Ton Jade Stone Posted: 18 Feb 2014 04:24 AM PST  A man walks in a mining area in Hpakant town. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Government troops have been deployed to protect a 20-ton raw jade stone that was found in Hpakant, a mining area west of the Kachin State capital that is known for possessing some of the world's best jade. Security has been tightened by soldiers and the police in Hpakant town, after the giant stone was discovered some 24 kilometers away in Wei Kan village on Feb. 9 by a small-scale miner, Aung Naing Win. "As far as we know, the stone is 18 feet [5.5 meters] long," said Shwe Thein, chairman of a branch of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Hpakant. "Soon afterward, troops under the Light Infantry Division 101 were deployed." He said the army had since prevented small-scale miners and hand-pickers from searching for other stones nearby. "No one can access the area where the stone was found," he said. Some local jade miners said the stone was estimated to weigh as much as 37 tons, with half the stone remaining buried underground. Yin Htwe, a resident in Hpakant town and a member of the local NLD branch, said small-scale miners claimed the raw stone was as big as a Mitsubishi Pajero truck. "The stone is now fully guarded by the army. We don't know for sure how much it will be worth," he said. "We heard officials from the mining ministry will come see the stone." Burma produces the vast majority of the world's jade, and the Burmese gemstone is of the highest quality. Most is sourced from Hpakant, 350 kilometers north of Mandalay, in the conflict-torn mountains of Kachin State. The jade is often smuggled over the border to China through unregulated trade, without ever being taxed. A July 2013 report by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University in the United States put the sale of Burmese jade at as high as US$8 billion in 2011. The government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a rebel group, controlled the jade mining industry in Hpakant between a ceasefire deal in 1994 and 2011, when fighting between both sides resumed. That year the government suspended large-scale mining operations in the area. Small-scale miners and hand-pickers moved in illegally to try their luck. Most jade mining companies that operated in Hpakant were run by Chinese businessmen and Burmese cronies. One of the biggest players in the industry was the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL), a Burmese military-run conglomerate that dominates many sectors of the country's economy. An official at the Ministry of Mining said he was not familiar with the case of the 20-ton jade stone in Kachin State and recommended contacting the ministry's gems department. The gems department could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday. The post Burma Army Deployed to Guard 20-Ton Jade Stone appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Govt Still ‘Taking Input’ on Revising Alcohol Import Ban Posted: 18 Feb 2014 04:17 AM PST  A government crackdown on illegal imports of alcohol has affected sales of foreign alcohol brands such as Heineken. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — It's been four months since authorities swooped in on retailers of imported alcohol, confiscating tens of thousands of bottles of foreign booze in Burma's two biggest cities, but a new trade policy to clarify the ensuing regulatory confusion has yet to be put forth, according to a Commerce Ministry official. The director of the ministry's Directorate of Trade, Than Aung Kyaw, told The Irrawaddy this week that the government was in the process of taking input from the Myanmar Retailers Association before promulgating a new legal framework. Since December, the Ministry of Commerce has met with legal experts and industry professionals—including local alcohol manufacturers, duty-free shop owners, hotel managers and tax collectors—to discuss possible changes to the law, and to assess how the crackdown has affected business. More recently, Than Aung Kyaw said his ministry had reached out to the Myanmar Retailers Association and other voices from related industries. Last October, two mobile task forces, made up of officials from the Ministry of Commerce, Customs Department and police, conducted raids on retail warehouses in Rangoon and Mandalay to investigate the legal status of imported alcohol, tobacco and preserved frozen foods. Two company executives were arrested, including the director of Premium Food Service Products, a supply company owned by Burma's biggest retailer, City Mart Holdings, and the managing director of Quarto Products, a large beverage distributor in Rangoon. In late December, authorities eased off on the crackdown, allowing the limited sale of foreign brands while the government considered changes to the current law. "We want to listen to private sector voices over the foreign alcohol; we don't want to make the decision by ourselves. That's why we are giving time for retailers to discuss what they want in a better trade policy. After that, our ministry and other related ministries will evaluate and will send it [a new policy] to the president for approval," Than Aung Kyaw said. A police task force, the Ministry of Commerce and the Customs Department, along with the ministries of education and information, will be included in consultations to draft amended alcohol import regulations, he said. "The reason that the education and information ministries are included in our team is, alcohol sales relate to students who might be underage buyers; we will have to take them into consideration. And also the Ministry of Information, which regulates alcohol advertising and [will be responsible for] preparing a public awareness campaign after the decision has been made," he said. Than Aung Kyaw said a more liberal trade policy had to be weighed against domestic realities, such as law enforcement's ability to police the sale of more freely available foreign wines and spirits. He said retail shops had recently complained of the potential effect on tourist arrivals to Burma, but the Commerce Ministry official said he expected the impact would be minimal. "If a foreigner wants to buy foreign wine or alcohol, they can easily buy it at hotels, because hotels are allowed to import alcohol," he said, adding that he did not know when a new trade policy might be approved. The Myanmar Retailers Association, which brings together leading national retailers including City Mart Holdings, initially sent suggestions to President's Office Minister Tin Naing Thein, who formerly served as the nation's trade minister, in November. In its recommendations, the association urged the Commerce Ministry to allow a broader group of retailers to import foreign alcohol, and said it would in turn accept a higher tax regime. The Myanmar Retailers Association called for a trade policy that stringently enforced a more limited ban on which enterprises are allowed to import and sell goods in Burma. The current system, the association said, had created a growing black market trade, with the unregulated shadow economy producing more and more counterfeit products and other goods of dubious quality—a development, it contended, that was bad for retailers, consumers and the government. Since the mid-1990s, the government has implemented a ban on the import of alcohol, tobacco and other luxury goods, only allowing certain hotels and duty-free shops to carry out such imports. Despite the ban, many of the restricted items enter the local market illegally via the border trade. In its November submission to the President's Office, the Myanmar Retailers Association also recommended amendments to related legislation, such as existing laws regulating the manufacture and sale of alcohol and tobacco. "Actually we're ready to discuss with the Ministry of Commerce. We already sent our suggestions to the President's Office, and if the Ministry of Commerce asks for further comment, we're ready to discuss with them," a member of the association told The Irrawaddy this week. One City Mart official who asked for anonymity said with no new policy yet in place, the presence of foreign alcohol was dwindling on store shelves, which are now stocked with domestic brands and a trickle of foreign labels purchased from legal importers. The post Govt Still 'Taking Input' on Revising Alcohol Import Ban appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Banking on Myanmar’s Future Posted: 18 Feb 2014 04:05 AM PST  The deputy vice-chairman of Kanbawza Bank, U Than Lwin, says that what Myanmar needs most right now is skilled workers. (Photo: Saw Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Kanbawza (KBZ) Bank has weathered some severe storms since it was established in 1994, but now stands as Myanmar's largest privately owned financial institution, with an estimated 94 billion kyat (US$94 million) in capital. Its founder, Aung Ko Win, is a former teacher with close ties to now-retired Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, one of the top generals in the former ruling junta. U Than Lwin, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar with 40 years of experience in the banking industry, joined KBZ Bank in 2004 as its vice-chairman (2). In this interview with The Irrawaddy's Kyaw Hsu Mon, he discusses the bank's recent history and the current state of banking in Myanmar. Kanbawza Bank was established in Taunggyi, Shan State, nearly 20 years ago. How many branches does it have now? We have a total of 134 branches across the country, as well as 40 smaller banking centers located near markets or shopping malls for the convenience of our customers. And how much capital does the bank have? Almost 100 billion kyat. In terms of both the number of branches and capital, KBZ Bank is the largest of 19 privately owned banks in Myanmar. How did KBZ Bank manage to become the largest bank in the country? Our chairman, U Aung Ko Win, used all of his money from his gems business to invest in a bank that people could trust. He has never been involved in any controversy, unlike some other businessmen. He has always kept a low profile, but he supported the government as much as he could. What was the most difficult challenge you have faced? The bank crisis of 2003 was the biggest challenge. Asia Wealth Bank, which was then the largest bank in Myanmar, collapsed because of uncontrollable rumors. I don't want to blame one side or the other—the private or the government-run banks—but it wouldn't have happened if people were able to invest their money in foreign stock markets. Instead, they deposited their money with "micro-finance groups" that offered almost double the interest of legitimate banks. These organizations were close to the former military government, but after operating normally for a year, they just shut down, triggering a crisis that took down several banks. How did KBZ Bank avoid this fate? At the time, we were much smaller than Asia Wealth Bank, so we were able to survive. After the crisis, we improved our operations and hired some of the staff from the banks that collapsed, enabling us to expand. There have recently been calls from Myanmar business people for lower interest rates. What do you think about this? Savers want high rates, but businesspeople want low rates. Any changes in interest rates should be introduced carefully, to avoid adversely affecting either side. It is the responsibility of the Central Bank to decide on this, but if I were to offer my advice, it would be to follow the example of foreign countries, which usually adjust interest rates by just a few basis points [fractions of a percent] each time. Why do you think the Central Bank has been so slow to allow credit cards in Myanmar? The Central Bank has been introducing fundamental changes, step by step. They have allowed ATM machines and debit cards, but they are reluctant to allow credit cards because there is still no credit bureau in this country. But I've heard that they're now working on setting up a credit bureau. Some people have criticized the Central Bank for not creating better infrastructure fast enough. In your opinion, what does Myanmar's economy need most at this moment? People shouldn't compare Myanmar to Singapore or Thailand and criticize this country's banking system. Our problems can't be fixed overnight. What we need first of all are skilled workers. That's why KBZ Bank is building its human resources, by training our staff and bringing in foreign experts. We also need better bank technology so we can launch new products. In other countries, even small banks can offer up to 60 products, but we still can't do that. Many changes are expected to take place in Myanmar after 2015. What needs to be done now to prepare for those changes? Some peoplesay that foreign banks will be allowed to operate in Myanmar after 2015, so we have to work hard to prepare for that. We especially need to improve our services for foreign investors. Some foreign investors will come only for short-term gain, but others will be here for the long haul. Those investors will want to see a lot of new laws introduced—for example, an intellectual property law, a condominium law and a competitor law that supports both foreign and local businesses. Are you confident that KBZ will be able to remain in its preeminent position? We are doing our best to provide convenient banking services to our customers. We are looking out for our own long-term interests by putting our customers' interests first. The post Banking on Myanmar's Future appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Thai Police Officer Killed, Dozens Hurt in Bangkok Clashes Posted: 18 Feb 2014 03:57 AM PST  Thai riot police officers assist a colleague after an explosion during clashes with anti-government protesters near Government House in Bangkok on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — A Thai police officer was killed and dozens of police and anti-government protesters were wounded in gun battles and clashes in Bangkok on Tuesday, officials and witnesses said. Violence erupted as the authorities launched their most determined effort yet to clear demonstrators from sites around state offices in the capital, where anti-government rallies have been taking place since November. "One policeman has died and 14 police were injured," national police chief Adul Saengsingkaew told Reuters. "The policeman … died while being sent to hospital. He was shot in the head." Three Reuters witnesses heard gunfire and one saw police firing weapons in the area around Phanfa Bridge in the old quarter of the city. Security officials said that four police officers had been wounded by bomb shrapnel. The protesters have been rallying since November to try to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whom they view as a proxy for her elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier and telecoms tycoon toppled in a military coup in 2006. Data published on Monday showed growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter of 2013 as the protests took their toll on the economy, and the baht currency weakened after Tuesday’s violence. The protests are the latest instalment of an eight-year political battle broadly pitting the Bangkok middle class and royalist establishment against the poorer, mostly rural supporters of Yingluck and her billionaire brother Thaksin. Demonstrators accuse Thaksin of nepotism and corruption and say he used taxpayers’ money for populist subsidies and easy loans that have bought him the loyalty of millions in the populous north and northeast. The government’s opponents want to suspend what they say is a fragile democracy in the control of Thaksin and eradicate his influence by altering electoral arrangements in ways they have not spelt out. Security officials said 15,000 officers were involved in an operation, called the "Peace for Bangkok Mission", to reclaim protest sites around government offices in the center and north of the capital. Cautious Approach Television pictures showed clouds of teargas and police crouching behind riot shields as officers clashed with protesters near Government House. It was not clear who had fired the teargas and the authorities blamed protesters. "I can guarantee that teargas was not used by security forces. The forces did not take teargas with them," National Security Council Chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr told Reuters. "Protesters are the ones who threw teargas at the security forces." The Erawan Medical Center, which monitors Bangkok hospitals, said 44 people were hurt. It did not provide a breakdown of how many of the wounded were police and how many were civilians. Live television pictures showed police with shields and batons pushing and jostling with protesters near Government House. One man could be seen bleeding from a head wound. Police said about 100 protesters had been arrested in an early morning operation to clear demonstrators from another protest site near the Energy Ministry. Yingluck has been forced to abandon her offices in Government House by the protesters, who have also blocked major intersections since mid-January. The government, haunted by memories of a bloody 2010 crackdown by a previous administration that killed dozens of pro-Thaksin "red shirt" activists, has largely tried to avoid confrontation. Despite that cautious approach, Tuesday’s fatality brought to 12 the number of people killed in sporadic violence between protesters, security forces and government supporters since the demonstrations began. Hundreds more have been hurt. Bluesky TV, the protest movement’s television channel, had earlier shown protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban addressing police lines near Government House. "We are not fighting to get power for ourselves," Suthep said. "The reforms we will set in motion will benefit your children and grandchildren, too. The only enemy of the people is the Thaksin regime." Labor Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who is in charge of the security operation, has said police would reclaim sites near Government House, the Interior Ministry and a government administration complex in north Bangkok as well as the Energy Ministry. "We will not respond with force. We will not give up Government House and the Interior Ministry," said protest spokesman Akanat Promphan. Police have made no move against the largest protest sites in the city’s main business and shopping districts. The post Thai Police Officer Killed, Dozens Hurt in Bangkok Clashes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Tacloban Rising Posted: 18 Feb 2014 03:41 AM PST  Residents at the Tacloban waterfront make do as they can in the aftermath of the storm. This woman washes at a water-pipe by a street. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) SAN ISIDRO, The Philippines — Early morning on the morning of Nov. 8, 2013, at about 5 am, Vilma Carson and her family braced under the kitchen table, praying rosaries as the wind outside whipped up to 200 miles an hour. It was to be a six-hour ordeal that left the family in fear for their lives, while ripping the roof off their countryside home a 10-minute drive from the town of Palo in Leyte Province. Despite the fearsome noise from the wind outside—and inside, once the roof was torn off—the schoolteacher listened for the beep of her phone, alerting her when husband George texted from Dubai, where he is one of the 10 million-plus Filipino emigrants working overseas. "He said to pray, so we hid under the table, but we were so frightened," the mother recalls, now smiling while recalling the tribulation she shared with her two teenage daughters and 11-year-old son. Two kilometers from the Leyte coast, the house in San Isidro was spared the massive wavesthat devastated the coastal areas of Palo, a town of about 60,000, and swamped the nearby city of Tacloban, where the bulk of the 6,155 listed killed by Typhoon Yolanda (at time of writing) perished. The death toll caused much soul-searching and recriminations locally, with people saying they were not warned in advance of the tidal wave that could come with such a strong storm. "Storm surge," the terminology used to describe the inundation, did not accurately capture the size and power of the waves that eventually swamped much of Tacloban, catching thousands of people unawares. That said, the death toll paled compared with the estimated 147,000 killed when Cyclone Nargis thundered through Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Delta in May 2008, though Nargis was not as strong a storm as Yolanda. The Myanmar military government of the day was slammed for initially refusing to allow international aid to the stricken regionsouth of Yangon, while in the central Philippines, there were turf wars between the Tacloban mayor, a relative of the Imelda Marcos, and the national government, headed by Benigno Aquino III. Imelda Marcos' late husband Ferdinand ruled the Philippines with an iron fist until 1986, and is widely regarded as behind the assassination of the current president's father in 1983. And though power had still not been restored to much of the city by the end of the year, clean-up operations in Tacloban had made significant headway, bolstered by government cash-for-work programs and support from the International Labor Organisation and a Taiwanese Buddhist charity called the Tzu Chi Foundation. Nonetheless, the damage wrought by Yolanda is significant. A half-mile away from her home, the school where Vilma Carson teaches had its books and equipment damaged or destroyed or blown away by the storm, and, like the Carson home, had the roof torn off. And with over 3,000 schools damaged across the Visayas, or central Philippines, by Yolanda, school building is one of the arduous reconstruction tasks facing the Philippine government. Altogether 4.4 million people of the total population of 16 million in the 14 most affected provinces were displaced—more than the 3 million left homeless by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar—with a total of 1,012,790 houses damaged. Of the latter number, 493,912 were partly damaged and 518,878 were totally destroyed, according to a Philippine government rebuilding blueprint published on Dec. 16. Back in Tacloban, Rico Rugal showed this correspondent around the remnants of his home, 20 meters from the waterfront. "We have got nothing, no shelter," he said, pointing to the eight families—all neighbors—now crammed into the house, their own homes now lying like bomb-battered timber ruins outside,such was the force of the wind and water that battered Tacloban on Nov. 8. Looking much like a war zone, this part of Taclobanis among the starkest examples of the destruction wreaked upon the central Philippines by Yolanda, with the UNseeking US$791million for a year-long recovery plan while the Philippine government has separately launched a four-year, $8.17-billion reconstruction plan. So far, however, the massive rebuilding effort remains in earlier stages. "We have no schedule for temporary shelter, nothing yet," Mr.Rugal said. "I think they are planning." He said regardless of whether he is offered a shelter or not, he will stay put and try to cobble together some repairs for his house. "This is my homeplace, my hometown." Mr.Rugal's home is within sight of the damaged bell-tower at Santo Niño Church, Tacloban's main Catholic place of worship, a block from the devastated town shoreline. A packed crowd crammed into a rain-sodden Santo Niño on Christmas morning, undeterred by the missing roofand the tap-like spatters of rainwater spilling onto pews and worshippers below, despite a plastic sheeting patch-up job. As worshippers listened to a sermon by the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, Vicky Abelia served espressos and toasted sandwiches at the José Karlos coffeeshop across the street. She said that the cozywood-veneered coffeeshop is the oldest establishmentof its kind in Tacloban. Located close to the shoreline, the shop was inundated with 6 feet of water the morning Typhoon Yolanda hit, damaging almost all of the shop's furniture and equipment. "Everything was destroyed, under water," Ms.Abelia said. Now the onus is to get business up to speed after reopening, which it managed to do a week before Christmas. "From the food to the drinks, we make everything here, including pastries and cakes," she said. "Goods like butter that we use for baking cakes cannot be got, or are twice the price as before," she added, echoing a common complaint about the impact of the disaster on the local economy. According to Philippine government data, about 90 percent of the total damage and losses incurred from the storm have fallen on the private sector.Speaking to reporters in late November,Central Bank of the Philippines Deputy Governor DiwaGuinigundo said the storm-affected areas account for roughly 12 percent of the country's economy, "so the impact on total GDP is contained." "The economic impact will not be that significant. But the impact on human life and properties was really, really significant and we share the pain of our countrymen for that," he added. On the upside for people of the region, the disaster has been a boon to local garment-makerschurning out "TindogTacloban" ("Rise Tacloban") t-shirts. The white cotton, blue-letter t-shirts can be seen all over town, including on the backs of all the staff working at José Karlos. In keeping with the message on the t-shirt, Vicky Abelia sounded upbeat about the recovery. "The town is cleaned-up, better than we expected it to be by now," she said. But the long-term recovery—expected to take up to four years,by government estimates—will be arduous. And in the meantime, memories of the day the storm hit are still raw. "People were walking aroundlike zombies, shocked, unable to take in what had happened to them,"Ms. Abeliasaid. "There were bodies around, it was horrible." For 31-year-old Julio Galetal III, there's not much left. "My house is all gone," he said, shaking his head. "My mother lived next door. We joke that she did better out of the storm than I did: Her toilet was left standing after everything else was destroyed." But some losses were more serious than others. "One of my uncles was killed," said Mr.Galetal, who like hundreds of thousands of others had to fend for himselfin the immediate aftermath of the disaster. He and his family are now stayingwith a neighbor,with whom he sharesa generator that he bought after the storm crippled the local power grid. Besides getting him rent-free accommodation, the generator is also a source of income: For a few pesos, he lets people use it to charge their phones—a much-needed communications back-up in a town where electricity is still not fully returned. "I'll stay here for a while, and see what the government can do," he said. "We hear they will help with some material for shelter, but we've seen nothing yet." Irrawaddy correspondent Simon Roughneen was in the storm-hit central Philippines in late December/early January. This story first appeared in the February 2014 print issue of The Irrawaddy. The post Tacloban Rising appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Singapore’s Navigat Creates Blueprint for Future Burma Power Deals Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:25 PM PST  Back-up power generators in downtown Rangoon. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A subsidiary of Singapore-based Navigat Group said on Monday it had begun supplying power under a purchasing agreement that will be the template for future deals by Burma, which has one of the lowest electrification rates in Asia. MAXpower (Thaketa) Co Ltd said it spent $35 million building a 50MW gas-fired plant in a suburb of the main city, Rangoon, becoming the first entirely foreign-owned company to enter a long-term power purchasing agreement with the government. Navigat CFO Arno Hendriks told Reuters the deal stemmed from a 2012 meeting with government officials and was negotiated directly with the state-owned Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE). Hendriks said it was a "lengthy process" for the government to formulate the agreement with help from the Asian Development Bank, but the agreement will now be used as the basis for future deals. The government agreed. "We see it as a blueprint for other initiatives to develop the electricity sector across Myanmar," MEPE managing director Htein Lwin said in a statement. In a report last year, the World Economic Forum said increasing electricity supplies was key to boosting Burma’s economy, which stagnated under decades of military dictatorship until a quasi-civilian government took over in 2011. "Myanmar is trying to develop large hydropower plants," said Hendriks. "In the meantime, there is an urgent need for power for citizens, but also for industry." He said hydropower projects would take a minimum of five years to come online, while his company could build smaller gas-fired plants within six months. Despite having abundant natural gas and hydropower potential, only about 26 percent of Burma’s 60 million people have access to electricity, among the lowest rates in Asia, according to an October 2012 Asian Development Bank report. The Ministry of Electric Power plans to complete 17 power plant projects between 2013 and 2016, according to a ministry presentation to the Japanese International Cooperation Agency in July 2013. Of those, seven will be hydropower and the rest gas. On Feb. 12, APR Energy PLC announced it had won a bid to develop a gas-fired plant with 100 MW capacity in the Mandalay region of central Burma. APR, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida, said it was the first American company to sign a power generation contract with Burma since the United States lifted sanctions on the country in 2013. Hendricks said his company hoped to sign an agreement to develop another 50 MW power plant in 2014 and was in discussions with General Electric Co to secure the Burma distribution license for its gas engines, which it distributes in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. The post Singapore’s Navigat Creates Blueprint for Future Burma Power Deals appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| North Korea Crimes Evoke Nazi Era, Kim May Face Charges: UN Inquiry Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:20 PM PST  Michael Kirby, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea, holds a copy of his report during a news conference at the UN in Geneva on Feb. 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Denis Balibouse) GENEVA — North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un himself should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings comparable to Nazi-era atrocities, UN investigators said on Monday. The investigators told Kim in a letter they were advising the United Nations to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC), to make sure any culprits "including possibly yourself" were held accountable. The unprecedented public rebuke and warning to a head of state by a UN inquiry is likely to further antagonize Kim and complicate efforts to persuade him to rein in his isolated country's nuclear weapons program and belligerent confrontations with South Korea and the West. North Korea "categorically and totally" rejected the accusations set out in a 372-page report, saying they were based on material faked by hostile forces backed by the United States, the European Union and Japan. Michael Kirby, chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry, said he expected his group's findings to "galvanize action on the part of the international community." "These are not the occasional wrongs that can be done by officials everywhere in the world, they are wrongs against humanity, they are wrongs that shock the consciousness of humanity," Kirby, a former chief justice of Australia, told journalists. Referral to the Hague-based International Criminal Court is seen as unlikely given China's probable veto of any such move in the UN Security Council, diplomats told Reuters. "Another possibility is establishment of an ad hoc tribunal like the tribunal on the former Yugoslavia," Kirby said. The U.N. investigators also told Kim's main ally China that it might be "aiding and abetting crimes against humanity" by sending migrants and defectors back to North Korea to face torture or execution, a charge that Chinese officials dismissed. 'Strikingly Similar' to Nazi Era The findings came out of a year-long investigation involving public testimony by defectors, including former prison camp guards, at hearings in South Korea, Japan, Britain and the United States. Defectors included Shin Dong-hyuk, who gave harrowing accounts of his life and escape from a prison camp. As a 13-year-old, he informed a prison guard of a plot by his mother and brother to escape and both were executed, according to a book on his life called "Escape from Camp 14." Kirby said that the crimes the team had catalogued were reminiscent of those committed by Nazis during World War II. "Some of them are strikingly similar," he told Reuters. "Testimony was given … in relation to the political prison camps of large numbers of people who were malnourished, who were effectively starved to death and then had to be disposed of in pots, burned and then buried … It was the duty of other prisoners in the camps to dispose of them," he said. The number of North Korean officials potentially guilty of the worst crimes, would be "running into the hundreds," he said. The independent investigators' report cited crimes including murder, torture, rape, abductions, starvation and executions. "The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world," it said. North Korea's diplomatic mission in Geneva dismissed the findings. "We will continue to strongly respond to the end to any attempt of regime-change and pressure under the pretext of 'human rights protection,'" it said. The two-page North Korean statement, in English, said the report was an "instrument of a political plot aimed at sabotaging the socialist system" and defaming the country. Violations listed in the document and forwarded to Pyongyang for comment several weeks ago, "do not exist in our country." 'Deliberate Starvation' The investigators said abuses were mainly perpetrated by officials in structures that ultimately reported to Kim—state security, the Ministry of People's Security, the army, the judiciary and Workers' Party of Korea. "It is open to inference that the officials are, in some instances, acting under your personal control," Kirby wrote in the three-page letter to Kim published as part of the report. The team recommended targeted UN sanctions against civil officials and military commanders suspected of the worst crimes. It did not reveal any names, but said it had compiled a database of suspects from evidence and testimony. Pyongyang has used food as "a means of control over the population" and "deliberate starvation" to punish political and ordinary prisoners, according to the team of 12 investigators. Pervasive state surveillance quashed all dissent, it said. North Korea's extermination of political prisoners over the past five decades might amount to genocide, the report added, although the legal definition of genocide normally refers to the killing of large parts of a national, ethnic or religious group. Kirby warned China's charge d'affaires in Geneva, Wu Haitao, in a Dec. 16 letter that the forced repatriations of North Korean migrants and defectors might amount to "the aiding and abetting [of] crimes against humanity," the said. Wu, in a reply also published in the report, said the fact that some of the North Korean migrants regularly managed to get back into China after their return showed that the allegations of torture were not true. Human Rights Watch said it hoped the report would open the UN Security Council's eyes to the scale of atrocities. "By focusing only on the nuclear threat in North Korea, the Security Council is overlooking the crimes of North Korean leaders who have overseen a brutal system of gulags, public executions, disappearances, and mass starvation," said executive director Kenneth Roth. The post North Korea Crimes Evoke Nazi Era, Kim May Face Charges: UN Inquiry appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| East Timor’s 1st Winter Olympian Gets Set to Ski Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:14 PM PST  Flag-bearer Yohan Goncalves of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste leads his country's delegation during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games at Fisht stadium on Feb. 7, 2014. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — "It all started," East Timor's first Winter Olympian says, "as a joke." When Yohan Goncalves Goutt was 8 years old, on a skiing vacation in his native France, a family friend kiddingly told him that if he kept at it with the sport, one day he could make it to the Olympics. "It stuck in my head," Goncalves Goutt says now, "and I wanted it to become a dream come true." So here he is, at 19, preparing to compete as an Alpine skier in the Sochi Games, representing East Timor, where he founded the officially recognized ski federation. His race, the slalom, is Saturday night. He sees his role in Russia as twofold: He's an athlete, sure, but he's also a sort of ambassador for East Timor, the impoverished Southeast Asian nation that was a Portuguese colony, was invaded by Indonesia in 1975, and became a sovereign state in 2002 after the United Nations intervened. "In a way, I'm doing something for the Timorese. I'm helping out. I'm showing that Timor exists, and maybe some people will want to invest in Timor. And so that's my sort of diplomatic role that I have here," Goncalves Goutt said in an interview with The Associated Press after training Monday on a hill blanketed by thick fog. "In the future, I would like to go back to Timor if I get sponsors after Sochi … to create sports centers. This is one of my aims, because I believe that in a country that needs to grow up, education is really important, but I think sports can really help a lot as well," he said. "Today I'm sure that a lot of people know about Timor because of the flag that was at the [Sochi opening]) ceremony, and they just it looked up on Google, maybe, and now they know.' Born in Paris—"Not really a ski area," he says with a smile—to a French father, who is in the import-export business, and Timorese mother, who works full-time to help her skiing son, Goncalves Goutt carries both passports. "My mom gave me the Timorese language, culture, history. And my dad gave me this very French thing of going skiing in the winter," he said. "I'm just so happy today I can combine both." Goncalves Goutt prefers listing his dual last names with his mother's first, because he is representing East Timor at the Olympics. He often gets asked why he didn't try to compete for France, instead. But Goncalves Goutt knows, first of all, how much more difficult it would have been to make that talented team, as opposed to being a team of one. "It never crossed my mind, because it's a way of not losing the connection with my country. I have Timorese blood," he said, rubbing his left arm, "and I want to keep that connection." With daytime temperatures of about 85 degrees (30 Celsius) much of the year, East Timor is not exactly home to many skiers. The nation of more than 1 million people has been represented at the Summer Olympics; two finished marathons at the 2012 London Games, for example Goncalves Goutt, who trained Monday wearing a red, yellow, orange and black plaid ski suit, proudly points out that he qualified for the Sochi Olympics based on his skiing results. While he's never competed in a top-level World Cup race, he did finish 14th out of 43 entrants in a slalom in Iran last month. Goncalves Goutt needed to pull together a US$75,000 budget to make his Olympic wish happen, and a lot of that money came out of his—and his family's—own pockets. In addition to giving him a chance to meet skiers he has looked up to, including American star Bode Miller, it's also allowed Goncalves Goutt to spread the word about his mother's homeland. "Timor has a lot of suffering and a sad story. We can't forget it," he said. "But we have to move on and I hope that being in the Winter Olympic Games could make a nice story for Timor as well. And hopefully now, when people type 'East Timor' on Google, they won't see all this war, all these bad things. Some positive light." The post East Timor's 1st Winter Olympian Gets Set to Ski appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| One Dead, Many Hurt as Asylum Seekers Riot at PNG Detention Camp Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:06 PM PST  A woman reads a newspaper containing an advertisement publicizing the Australian government's policy on asylum seekers arriving by boat, in Sydney in August. (Photo: Reuters) SYDNEY — An asylum seeker was killed and at least 77 injured in the second riot this week at a detention center in Papua New Guinea used to process asylum seekers, Australia's Immigration Minister said on Tuesday. One person was in critical condition with a head injury and another sustained gunshot wounds during clashes that erupted after asylum seekers forced their way out of the center on a small island in impoverished Papua New Guinea. The facility is part of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's tough stance against asylum seekers but it has come under fire over human rights concerns. "Our sympathies are extended to the transferees—that person's family and friends who would have been in the facility as well," Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said in reference to the dead asylum seeker. "If people choose to remove themselves from that center then they're obviously putting themselves at much greater risk and in an environment where there is violent behavior," he told reporters in the northern Australian city of Darwin. Canberra's tough stance on asylum seekers, including offshore processing and a blanket ban on people arriving by boat ever settling in Australia, has been criticized by the United Nations and other groups as illegal and inhumane. Australia uses detention centers at Manus Island and another on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru to process would-be refugees sent there after trying to get to Australia, often in unsafe boats after paying people smugglers in Indonesia. Refugee advocates say that long-term detention, combined with a lack of clarity on where and when the asylum seekers may be resettled, contribute to a host of mental health problems at the facilities. Last month, detainees at a detention center in the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island sewed their lips together as part of a hunger strike in protest over their treatment. Morrison said the latest riot began when detainees forced their way through fences surrounding the centre and clashed with Papua New Guinea police, although it remains unclear whether others were involved in the violence. The incident followed an attempted breakout from the Manus Island facility on Sunday night, when 35 asylum seekers briefly escaped. Nineteen were injured and eight arrested in that incident. Security guards have regained control of the center, which had not been damaged, and PNG police had caught most of the detainees who had escaped during the latest incident, Morrison said. He said it was possible some were still missing. The unrest in Papua New Guinea quickly drew calls from critics to shut the facility. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a November report the center failed to provide "safe and humane conditions of treatment in detention." Sarah Hanson-Young, a Greens Party senator and vocal critic of the government's asylum seeker policies, said responsibility lay with Abbott and Morrison. "The government was warned about the toxic environment on Manus Island repeatedly by organizations like Amnesty International and the UN but those warnings were ignored and dismissed," she said in a statement. The post One Dead, Many Hurt as Asylum Seekers Riot at PNG Detention Camp appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| For India’s Railway Children, a Dangerous Life by the Tracks Posted: 17 Feb 2014 08:59 PM PST  Guria, (13), an Indian homeless girl, cooks besides a passing train in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta. (Photo: Reuters) NEW DELHI — The young boys huddled over a fire between two tracks just beyond the platforms of New Delhi railway station, oblivious to the trains rolling past. They were trying to boil some water to make tea. One, a grime-encrusted urchin wearing a filthy baseball cap at a jaunty angle, said this was their home. He had run away after his mother died and he could take no more beatings from his alcoholic father. The nine-year-old from the northern state of Haryana said he slept on the platform or in a waiting room, scrounged for food and earned some money scavenging plastic bottles for reselling. "I used to go to school but when my mother died everything was shattered," he said. These were just a few of India’s "railway children"—whose ranks are swelled by an estimated 120,000 runaways arriving each year at the stations of the world’s fourth-largest railway network to make their homes there. They have fled poverty, violence and abuse or are simply seeking adventure, attracted by the bright lights of the big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The children are a reminder that despite newfound wealth, ranks of billionaires and a growing middle-class, there is no magic wand to solve the problems of the old India. Even though growth has slowed in the last few years, the chance to make money still attracts the railway children to the big cities. With India on course to have the world’s youngest population by 2020, their plight is a signal the country could fail to exploit this economic advantage. The last survey of New Delhi station in 2007 by charity groups estimated 35 to 40 children were arriving each day. "Now it is increasing," said Pramod Singh from the Salaam Baalak Trust, who combs the platforms each morning for new arrivals and tries to bring them into his group’s safety net. Navin Sellaraju, country director of the Railway Children India, a branch of the UK-based organization, said it is a huge issue in a country that has a fifth of the world’s children. "A good number of them have run away from poverty in rural areas of the most backward states. In Delhi and Mumbai, you have many from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal," he said, referring to large northern and eastern states whose combined populations exceed those of Brazil and Russia together. "A lot of remote areas are connected by rail but not by road. A child can get on a train and travel without a ticket." Despite the shelter of the stations, danger is everywhere. The minute the children arrive, they are exposed to the risk of physical abuse by older boys, sexual abuse by adults and gang rivalry. Girls are particularly vulnerable and are often taken off by traffickers with hours of landing. Social workers try to get to them first. "It is important to get to them within a day or so of arrival, otherwise it becomes difficult," Singh said. "They pick up survival skills. They are easily trapped." Reluctant Returnees A number of boys were being cared for by Salaam Baalak and Railway Children in a shabby building in the station compound. Nine lads, all barefoot, sat on a rug, playing checkers. A few had arrived that morning. The oldest was thought to be 14. One said he came from Kishanganj in Bihar state—a journey of nearly 1,000 km (620 miles). He arrived in Delhi three years ago but met social workers only in the past few months. "I don’t want to go home. Now I’m attached to this place," he said. Railway Children’s Kiran Jyoti said it was often hard to get the children to return to their families. "Newcomers are reluctant to talk. They can take months to disclose where they are from," she said. "If they can’t be restored to the family, they eventually have to go into long-term care." Some do not want to return to abusive homes. Others simply like the freedom and the fact they can earn money – 250 rupees ($4) on a good day. On the downside, some take to sniffing substances and turn to pick-pocketing and petty crime. Indian law provides a framework to tackle the problem with child protection and anti-trafficking laws, but enforcing and funding those measures prove difficult, Sellaraju said. The children have also suffered threats and violence from the police and railway officials but that is now changing. "It used to be cruelty. Now no shouting, no handcuffs. We want child-friendly police stations. Protecting children is also a policeman’s duty," said Thaneshwar Adiguar of the Special Juvenile Police Unit. Railway companies are involved in the effort, setting up posts and spreading awareness through staff, vendors, porters and passengers with announcements and leaflets. "There is a positive intent on the part of the government and railways but there are many challenges," Sellaraju said. "India is at a crossroads. There are two extremes which exist now." The post For India’s Railway Children, a Dangerous Life by the Tracks appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
