AllSBNews

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Burmese journalists pray for Zaw Pe’s release
Rights group calls for international investigation into sexual violence by Burma military
Journalists charged with defaming Thai Navy
Literacy campaign aims to coach 46,000 people
Humanitarian crisis looms as Kachin conflict intensifies

Burmese journalists pray for Zaw Pe’s release

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 05:04 AM PDT

DVB reporters and staff in Rangoon gathered for Burmese New Year's Day to pray for the release of their colleague, Magwe correspondent Zaw Pe [Zaw Phay] who was recently sentenced to a one- year jail term for charges related to his journalistic work.

Zaw Pe and his friend Win Myint Hlaing were each sentenced to one year in prison by Magwe Township Court on 7 April after being found guilty of charges of "trespassing" and "disturbing a civil servant on duty", pressed by a government official. The Magwe Divisional Education Department official pressed charges in August 2012 after Zaw Pe had inquired about a scholarship programme.

On 17 April, fellow DVB staff in Rangoon, wearing matching black t-shirts carrying placards calling for the release of Zaw Pe and for greater press freedom, gathered at the east gate of Shwedagon Pagoda in a prayer session. They also released fish and birds as acts of merit-making, a traditional Burmese custom at this time of year.

Hla Hla Win, a DVB reporter who also had been arrested and jailed by authorities while covering news in 2009, said: "Zaw Pe went to the government office to cover news which was in the public interest and his jailing indicates that no reporter in the country is safe to cover news at government offices without risking arrest.

"We are journalists collecting information for the public and not some thieves or criminals – we don't deserve to spend even one day in the prison," she said.

DVB staff members in Mandalay also released fish and birds on Thursday as symbolic calls for justice for Zaw Pe.

Meanwhile, Mandalay-based journalists from several media outlets gathered at the historic Maha Myat Muni Pagoda and prayed for the release of all reporters arrested and jailed in the line of work.

Zaw Thet Htwe, a former political prisoner and leading member of the Interim Myanmar Press Council who took part in the activity, said the jailing of reporters for chasing news is completely unacceptable.

"Basically this indicates that every reporter can be sued for charges such as trespassing for visiting a venue to cover news. This basically makes it impossible for them to work anywhere in the country and therefore we cannot accept this," he said.

"We would like the government in Burma, the parliament and the public, as well as the international community, to know that the jailing of Zaw Pe was completely unfair and this is why we have joined this event today."

DVB has vowed to work with other media organisations and rights groups to continue campaigning for Zaw Pe's release.

Rights group calls for international investigation into sexual violence by Burma military

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 04:43 AM PDT

In a report reopening allegations of the Burmese army's persistent and systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) has reignited calls for an international commission into violence against women in Burma.

"The widespread nature and scale of rape and sexual violence incidents meets the legal definition of war crimes and crimes against humanity," the BCUK report reads, citing the UN's repeated use of the terminology which define those legal terms in statements made on sexual violence perpetrated by the Burmese army.

In a 2008 report, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, alluded to instances of sexual violence, which "are not simply isolated acts of individual misconduct by middle- or low-ranking officers, but rather the result of a system."

Despite this, the UN has at no level initiated any investigation into sexual violence described by BCUK "as an organised means of dominating and subjugating ethnic populations".

Nor has the seemingly reformist current Burmese government.

Thein Sein, despite appearing to have positioned himself as a counterweight to hardline military conservatism, has failed to acknowledge the possibility of rape and other grievous crimes against women by the army. "Our military is very disciplined. There is no reason for the military to commit acts of rape or murder," Thein Sein guaranteed in 2012.

Nor does domestic pressure exist which might force the government to make such an admission. The 2008 constitution provides legal foundation to a culture of impunity surrounding grievous human rights violations by the Burmese military. Article 455 states "no proceeding shall be instituted against … any member of the Government, in respect to any act done in the execution of their respective duties."

As the ruling government remains inextricably linked to the military there is a vested interest on the part of nominally civilian parliamentary representatives to suppress their own past indiscretions. BCUK's report notes that 45 incidences of military rape were chronicled between 1996 and 1998 in the immediate area surrounding Kentung, eastern Shan State. There, at that time, Thein Sein himself commanded troops during Burmese army offensives that resulted in the displacement of 300,000 villagers.

Tin Tin Nyo of the Women's League of Burma said she believes that since coming to power, Thein Sein has done nothing to improve the situation of women's rights in Burma.

Whilst constitutional Article 455 belies the need for a national-level inquest into sexual violence and other human rights abuses by the Burmese military, the British government has acknowledged the need for international acknowledgement of the issue of the systematic use of sexual violence by the Burmese armed forces.

Through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, the UK government has provided funds in the region of US$500,000 for legal training for women and counseling to victims. Further to this, Hugo Swire of the UK Foreign Office met President Thein Sein and armed forces chief Min Aung Hlaing in January in Naypyidaw, where he lobbied for Burma's signature on the 2013 UN Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

However this alone will not solve the problem, according to BCUK director Mark Farmaner. "We need to see a commission on sexual violence in Burma along the lines of the UN commission of Inquiry on North Korea." Farmaner told DVB. "It must be able to take evidence and make an assessment as to whether violations of international law are taking place."

Seng Shadan, of the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand, agrees that the international community must probe violence against women in Burma's peripheral ethnic areas. "Rape has been used as a weapon by the Burmese military for over 60 years," she told DVB on Thursday. "To change this would require a shift in the attitude of the government, which I don't think will happen without international pressure."

Journalists charged with defaming Thai Navy

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 04:08 AM PDT

Two Thailand-based journalists were charged on Thursday with defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for citing a Reuters article that contained allegations against members of the Royal Thai Navy.

Australian editor Alan Morison and Thai reporter Chutima Sidasathian of Phuketwan online news could face up to seven years in prison and fines amounting to US$3,000.

Following arraignment and five hours in holding cells, 100,000 baht (US$3,000) bail for each of the two defendants was posted on their behalf by supporters at the Andaman Foundation.

The pair are currently out of custody and due to return to court on 26 May for trial.

"This experience has only made us more determined to fight the charges," Morison told DVB on Thursday shortly after his discharge. "We've done nothing wrong."

Morison and Chutima were first informed of the impending charges in mid-December, five months after publishing an article that summarised an investigative report by Reuters news agency. Phuketwan cited a paragraph suggesting that some Thai officials profited directly from the smuggling of Rohingya Muslims from Burma.

Charges have not been brought against the authors of the contentious paragraph, Jason Szep and Stuart Grudgings. A Reuters spokesperson told DVB on Thursday that, "To our understanding, the complaint is under review by the authorities, but we have not been charged."

Szep and another Reuters reporter, Andrew RC Marshall, were awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for their reports on Burma's Rohingya Muslims, whom the United Nations has termed one of the world's most persecuted peoples.

The stateless minority bore the brunt of two years of renewed communal violence in western Burma, where decades-long tension between Buddhists and Muslims exploded in a rash of riots that has left around 200 dead and more than 140,000 displaced.

Many have fled the country as a result of the conflict, often on boats that pass through Thai waters en route to Muslim-majority Malaysia. The award-winning Reuters coverage examined a network of human smuggling checkpoints, at which many Rohingya are thought to be intercepted, tortured, extorted and indefinitely detained.

The reports allege that some Thai naval officials abetted and profited from the scheme.

Phuketwan, an online news site founded by Morison in 2008, has been reporting on Thailand's treatment of Rohingyas for several years. Reuters retained the assistance of Chutima to secure local contacts throughout their investigation, though an agency spokesperson said that her role was "very limited".

Morison has criticised Reuters' remove from the case, calling on the agency to speak up for media freedom. He has further insinuated that the charges are a clear case of targeting a "small, local organisation with little resources", a suspicion that has been echoed by numerous rights groups including Human Rights Watch (HRW).

"Instead of being brave enough to stand up and defend themselves publicly, the Thai Navy plays 'shoot the messenger' with a small Phuket-based website with limited means to defend itself," said Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of HRW Asia. It seems clear, said Robertson, that the Thai military is picking on locals instead of taking on an international agency with lots of money and lawyers, even though they produced the disputed content.

Robertson also emphasised that the Thai Navy has yet to address the allegations against them, which are fundamental to the controversy.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has similarly denounced the charges, and forecasted that the case could set a precedent of trepidation among journalists in Thailand. Upon passage of the Computer Crimes Act in 2007, some rights groups anticipated that the law could be used to censor the media, but this is the first case in which it has actually been levied against journalists.

“The formal defamation and Computer Crime Act charges brought today against two Phuketwan journalists aims ultimately to curb reporting on the Thai military’s apparent involvement in gross human rights abuses,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s Southeast Asia representative. “Regardless of the case’s eventual verdict, the state-backed charges will cause self-censorship among all journalists covering the Thailand angle of Burma’s growing Rohingya refugee crisis.”

While the suspects have received substantial support from media rights advocates — "ludicrous" and "absurd" are among the many terms used to describe the case — Reuters has been relatively silent, but did tell DVB on Thursday that they "oppose the use of criminal laws to sanction the press — large or small, local or international — for publication on matters of serious public interest, like the Rohingya stories here."

Thai officials have thus far been unavailable for comment.

Literacy campaign aims to coach 46,000 people

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 03:00 AM PDT

University lecturers and students are volunteering their time during this summer holiday as part of the 2014 Literacy Campaign in Burma, which aims to provide free classes to 46,479 people, including children and elderly persons who never learned to read.

The campaign, which takes place from 1 April to 15 May, aims to provide literacy classes in more than 1,000 wards and villages in 29 townships across the country, and will benefit from the time given by some 4,200 students and university faculty members who will volunteer to teach reading and writing skills.

Khin Maung Htwe, assistant director of the Myanmar Education Research Bureau (MERB) overseeing the campaign, said: "Literacy is the key to educational development in this country; therefore our aim is to help everyone in the country become literate."

Speaking at 6 April ceremony to launch the 2014 Literacy Campaign in the village of Sanpya in Mandalay Region, Burma's President Thein Sein said, "As development of the nation totally depends on [our] literacy rate and education development, strenuous efforts are being made for undertaking reforms in [the] education sector so as to improve education standards," according to a report in state-run The New Light of Myanmar.

According to government statistics, Burma's literacy rate in 2000 was over 91 percent. MERB is projecting the figure will go up to 95 percent after 2015 following successive literacy campaigns.

UN data from 2007-11 puts the adult literacy rate in Burma at 92 percent, which compares favourably with several neighbouring countries; while Thailand and China boast adult literacy rates of 94 percent, Cambodia is 74 percent, India is 63 percent and Bangladesh just 57 percent, according to the UN.

Humanitarian crisis looms as Kachin conflict intensifies

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 12:43 AM PDT

Burmese Army's 223rd Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) troops have launched another offensive on Wednesday at 5am against KIA's 1st Battalion post located near Chyari- Dagaw in Momauk Township. Burmese Army troops fired several rounds of artillery shells, followed by ground offensive on KIA positions at around 10:30 am, said a KIA frontline source.

KIA's 1st Battalion troops had withdrawn on Wednesday from its Dagaw Mada Post located about a half mile away from Chyari- Dagaw where the current fighting is taking place. The KIA source says a combined force of Burmese Army's 223rd LIB and 601st LIR launched a joint attack against KIA to occupy Dagaw Mada Post.

KIA's 9th Battalion troops engaged in a battle against an unknown Burmese Army unit at Hka Hkip village in Kutkai Township in northern Shan State on 15 April. No casualties on either side have been reported so far.

A local source says Burmese Army troops stationed at Lawdan, located between Bhamo and Lwe Je, have randomly fired several rounds of artillery shells into surrounding area to expand territory under their control.

Local villagers from Awng Nan, Awng Ra, Hkyet Wa Hkan and other smaller villages have to flee their homes due to ongoing bombardments by government troops and fighting between KIA and Burmese Army troops.

Mary Tawm, coordinator of local Kachin aid group Wunpawng Ninghtoi (WPN) said, "I am very worried about the villagers and it seems that there will be more IDPs in Mansi Township and Momauk Township."

"There has been fighting every day in different parts of Mansi and Momauk townships and the conflict area is not very far from the over 10,000 IDPs living in six different camps," she said. "If the situation continues like this, more people will be forcefully displaced."

The Joint Strategy Team (JST) for Humanitarian Response in Kachin & Northern Shan States, a group which is comprised of major local NGOs and faith-based organizations like BRIDGE, Kachin Baptist Convention, Kachin Relief and Development Committee, Kachin Women's Association, Kachin Development Group, Karuna Myanmar Social Services, Metta Development Foundation, Shalom Foundation and WPN, on Monday issued a statement on current massive displacement of over 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees.

The JST urges warring parties to immediately cease fire, and to implement and fully abide by the agreements previously made between the two sides. The JST said it requests both Burmese Army and KIA to ensure full compliance of international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles. The group also said the safety and protecting the security of the IDPs, especially children and more vulnerable ones, is the first priority for both parties involved in the current conflict.

The group asks Chinese government to keep with the principle of non-refoulement for refugees and international donor organizations to help IDPs with their basic needs for food and shelter.

Aid workers say local Chinese authorities asked refugees living at a temporary makeshift camp at Lung Krawk on the China side of the border not to stay in the camp and told them to stay at friends' and relatives' houses.

Lung Krawk was a temporary camp for Kachin refugees fleeing the war until Chinese authorities sent them back in August 2012.

This article was originally published in Kachinland News on 17 April 2014.

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Yangon Switches On

Posted: 16 Apr 2014 10:21 PM PDT

Myanmar, Burma, Yangon, Rangoon, power, electricity, gas, drought, power cut, generator, hydropower

Power to the people: Providing affordable electricity for ordinary people and businesses is a fundamental step in Myanmar's drive to catch up with other countries. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

YANGON — On the industrial outskirts of Yangon, a rusted chimney exhales wisps of white smoke as a three-decade-old gas-fired power station chunters on.

Just meters away on the same compound in Thaketa Township, a low mumble, but nothing in the way of visible emissions, is coming from a row of 16 boxed-up gas-fueled engines—Austrian-produced Jenbacher machines from US firm General Electric.

With new technology like this, there are signs Myanmar is gaining ground in its struggle against the chronic energy crisis that held back its people, and its economy, for years. Less than a quarter of the estimated 60 million population has access to electricity, and those businesses brave enough to set up here despite an unreliable power supply are forced to buy and run their own generators.

The new 50-megawatt power plant is run by Maxpower Thaketa—a local subsidiary of Indonesia-based Navigat.

"You can see that the engine color is green, so you can see we are environmentally friendly," jokes U Henry Zaw Tun, Maxpower Thaketa's business development manager, on a visit to the plant in March.

The machines are state of the art. Their vital signs are watched over on a single computer monitor. To catch problems in their workings before they occur, engineers in blue jumpsuits peer at the screen of a small digital camera, which projects an image from an endoscope inside one of the engines' bowels.

To produce about the same amount of power as the new plant, the old Thaketa plant, a gas-powered turbine generator run by the state-owned Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise, burns twice as much gas, U Henry Zaw Tun says. "And we only use 10,000 gallons of water per year for cooling. They use 300,000 to 400,000 gallons per day!" he says.

With an investment of US$35 million, work was completed in August 2013. In February, Maxpower was rewarded with a power-purchasing agreement under which the Myanmar government provides the gas and buys back the power produced.

The build-operate-transfer agreement, the specific details of which have not been disclosed, will see the site handed over to the government in 30 years. Earlier reports said the contract was drawn up with the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), but it was in fact drawn up bilaterally with the government, although it meets World Bank standards, according to Maxpower.

In a statement to The Irrawaddy, the company said the contract terms had been approved by President U Thein Sein's cabinet and that the government planned to use it as a "template for future power projects" as a new generation of power plants arrives.

Yangon currently sucks up about half of the country's total supply of about 1,850 MW of energy, and demand in the former capital is met by a mixture of hydropower and existing gas generation. In the hot and dry months from March to July, however, demand is driven up by air-conditioners, and supply is shorter as lower water levels mean hydropower can contribute less energy to the grid.

While the government in the long run is looking to exploit the country's huge river network for more hydropower to fuel development, those projects are politically sensitive and take a long time to get online. Two years ago, when the hot season caused widespread blackouts in the country's commercial capital—sparking candle-lit demonstrations—the government put out an open invitation for companies to come forward with fast-track solutions to meet fast-rising energy demand.

Cooking with Gas

Alongside the new Thaketa plant, a new 240-MW gas plant is about to begin producing power at Ywama, with turbines donated by the Thai government.

According to Yangon's state-run provider, the Yangon Electricity Supply Board (YESB), gas generators—one at Ywama in Insein Township, one run by Toyo-Thai Corporation Plc in Ahlone, and another at Hlawga in Mingaladon—are at present producing about 230 MW of power combined. Nationwide, gas accounts for about 550 MW, compared to 930 MW from hydropower, according to the YESB.

But gas is set to contribute more to Myanmar's energy mix, especially as the amount of gas coming onshore increases.

Although existing projects controversially send the majority of the gas extracted from Myanmar's seabed abroad, a proportion stays in Myanmar. The government has promised to keep more of the gas from future developments for domestic use.

The Yangon gas generators are being fueled by Total's Yadana project in the Andaman Sea. The Shwe field in the Bay of Bengal is also now sending gas ashore, and the Zawtika field, developed by Thailand's PTTEP, was expected to start producing this hot season.

The World Bank is funding the upgrade of an aging gas power plant in Thaton, Mon State, which is expected to reach 106 MW. Also in Mon State, Singaporean company Asiatech Energy has announced it has secured funding for a 230-MW gas-fired plant in the state capital, Mawlamyine, to be completed in late 2015.

Also on the horizon is a short-term power-supply project that will see Florida-based company APR Energy install a 100-MW gas-powered plant in Kyaukse, Mandalay Region, to burn gas from the Shwe project. The company lauded its deal to bring a "turn-key" power plant—beginning sometime between April and June and running to late 2015—as a "bridging solution for the medium term while the country develops its long-term power generation infrastructure."

Both APR and Maxpower told The Irrawaddy they were looking to take on more power supply projects in Myanmar.

"We would like to invest further in Myanmar," said Clive Turton, APR Energy's head of business development for the Asia-Pacific region, declining to give details of "several" other projects the company was looking at.

Demand for power is rising nationwide by 12 percent per year, said Mr. Turton, who said he believes natural gas will be an important tool as the country's energy demand grows.

"I absolutely think [natural gas] should be a major part of the solution," said Mr. Turton.

Alongside natural gas developments, the government has numerous hydropower and coal plans, but it is a challenging task to meet rising demand, which could reach 5,000 MW by 2020, according to a 2012 energy sector assessment conducted by the ADB.

The Summer Shortage

U Maung Maung Latt, the vice chairman of YESB, said that despite an expected annual increase in demand of 15 percent, the city would not this year see the rolling power cuts residents are used to. As of early March, infrequent power cuts had begun in downtown Yangon, but not on the scale seen in previous years.

"This summer, both the production rate and the consumption rate will be up in Yangon. Normally consumption is about 800 MW, but in this dry season it could rise to 1,000 MW in Yangon alone," he said. "But the recent situation is that production and consumption are balancing."

Unsurprisingly, given the protests of the past, YESB makes sure residential power demand is met before sending power out to industrial zones. U Maung Maung Latt was hopeful, however, that the city's factory districts would see some benefit from the city's newly bolstered power supply.

"For certain, it won't go back to zero hours of power for industrial zones, like last year," he said. "I can say this year there will be more electricity not only in residential areas, but also in industrial zones. We are receiving more power from gas turbines and dams are saving water through new technology. Also, we're upgrading the national grid and other related power lines."

He said industrial zones would get at least 18 hours of power a day—with power cuts timed during the peak evening hours. That is good news for manufacturers, whose alternative is to run diesel generators.

Industrial Growth Stifled

U Myat Thin Aung, the chairman of Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone, which houses almost 600 factories in western Yangon, said using generators was more than four times as expensive as the state-subsidized power from the grid—costing just 75 kyat ($0.08) per kilowatt hour.

When cheap power is not available, some factories simply close their doors, he said. "If production costs increase, sales profits go down. Eventually, factories have to shut."

Hlaing Tharyar is one of 20 mostly small industrial zones in Yangon that altogether demand about 165 MW of power.

Myanmar's planned large special economic zone projects in Thilawa, Dawei and Kyaukphyu will have their own off-grid power sources. U Myat Thin Aung said some factories were keen to run their own gas-fired power generation, but the government had not come forward with a reliable source of cheap gas for this.

The country's low-cost labor partly offsets the high cost of powering a factory and other infrastructure bottlenecks. Investment in simple, labor-intensive garment factories is reportedly rising, with investment coming from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But investment in heavy industry is yet to take off.

"The electricity shortage in Myanmar is one of the biggest challenges for foreign heavy industry to invest here," said U Myat Thin Aung. "[Heavy industry investment] will stay away as long as the government can't supply enough electricity for local industrial zones."

A Little Help

Since Western countries began embracing Myanmar and its reformist government, the country's power shortage—in the face of abundant resources—has become a favorite cause for foreign donors.

In January, the visiting World Bank President Jim Yong Kim pledged $1 billion in aid and investment over a number of years to help expand electricity provision. Japan's international aid agency, JICA, is developing a nationwide master plan for power in Myanmar.

"All the development agencies spent the large part of 2013 talking to the government about areas of support. They have divided up all the areas that the government asked for help with," said Grant Hauber, the ADB's principal public-private partnership specialist for the Asia-Pacific region.

Donors were setting up as many as 25 projects on power in Myanmar as part of a "divide and conquer" approach to tackling the numerous problems in the power sector, he said.

"A lot of the projects are going to be implemented simultaneously so there will be a fairly significant uptick in grid capacity," he added.

There is also work underway by the ADB and others on improving the national grid to reduce power losses, and to upgrade the national grid's "backbone" to a 500-kilovolt line that can transfer power without losses between Myanmar's north—where the larger hydropower projects will be—and the south—where thermal generation is planned.

This work "will reduce power losses by tens of megawatts," said Mr. Hauber. "It's like getting a new power plant."

This article first appeared in the April 2014 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

The post Yangon Switches On appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

In Thai Peace Talks, a Challenge to Military Dominance

Posted: 16 Apr 2014 10:07 PM PDT

Thailand, Muslim, south, insurgency, Malay, Thaksin, Yingluck, Shinawatra

A Thai soldier in the southern province of Narathiwat holds his weapon as people cross into Malaysia on March 8. (Photo: Reuters)

PATTANI, Thailand — At a recent event to mark the first anniversary of a landmark peace dialogue in Thailand's troubled south, the mood was more uncertain than celebratory. The conflicting views of the main parties at the talks—the National Security Council (NSC), heading the Thai government's delegation, and exiled members of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate (BRN-C), speaking on behalf of the strongest Malay-Muslim insurgent movement in Thailand's southernmost provinces—were one obvious source of this unease. But beyond this, there were also worries rooted in the attitude of Thailand's powerful military toward such a dialogue.

The words of Maj.-Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong, a ranking member of the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), an influential branch of the military, went some way toward allaying these concerns. "The security community supports the peace process and for the dialogue to find a solution," he told a panel discussion held in a packed lecture room at Pattani's Prince of Songkhla University.

Such words from a general known to be a hawk were not lost on analysts of the insurgency that has bloodied the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, home to predominantly Buddhist Thailand's largest minority, the Malay-Muslims. "It is a good sign, at least verbally," remarked one Pattani-based analyst. "The military seems to have accepted that this process will go ahead and it wants to have a role."

Yet, even such analysts prefer to be guarded, given the military's dominant role in combating the BRN-C-led insurgency and the sway it enjoyed during four previous efforts at peace talks since this latest cycle of violence erupted in January 2004. The latest talks have exposed the manner in which the military has wrested control from other arms of the Thai state to determine the political agenda in this region along the Thai-Malaysian border, making the question of whether it is on board with the current peace process the focus of much fraught speculation.

The turf war over who sets the agenda in the south has come increasingly out into the open since the signing of the "General Consensus on the Peace Dialogue Process" on Feb. 28, 2013, between Lt.-Gen. Paradorn Pattanatabut, head of the NSC, and Hassan Taib, an exiled political representative of the BRN-C. According to Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat, the author of reports about the insurgency for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group from 2008-2012, "The military sent a message to the government not to sign the Feb. 28 'General Consensus' with the BRN-C. Gen. Nakrob often said that the army was being kept at a distance by Paradorn and [other allies] of the government."

The extent of this tussle was exposed by a security establishment insider nearly two months after the pact for talks was signed. His timing lent weight to his words, coming as they did just before Paradorn and Taib met for the second round in Kuala Lumpur in April of last year.

In an interview with a local newspaper, Thawil Pliensri, Paradorn's predecessor, decried the lack of a consensus among Thai state actors that matter—the NSC, the Foreign Ministry, the National Intelligence Agency, ISOC, the Justice Ministry and the armed forces.

"All state organizations must be united and adopt the same stance before negotiations," he said. "We have seen that [the] insurgents have made demands about prosecutions and arrest warrants but Army Chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has dismissed them. This reflects disunity on our side. Such an issue rattles the confidence of negotiators."

That questions over the military's willingness to sustain Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's peace gambit still continue is hardly surprising. It was marginalized by Yingluck's elder brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who, despite living in self-imposed exile after his elected government was overthrown in a September 2006 military coup, continues to advise his sibling from abroad. For peace in the south, the elder Shinawatra turned to his allies within the civilian arm of the security establishment and the police to launch the peace dialogue with the BRN-C. This move challenged the military's preeminent political role in solving the ethno-nationalist conflict in the south.

Two significant benchmarks emerged after Paradorn met the goatee-sporting Hassan in Malaysia, chosen to fill the role of an international facilitator. The first was that the BRN-C was elevated to the status of equality with Bangkok. That dealt a blow to a goal long held by the hawks in the military: to deny the BRN-C or other Malay-Muslim insurgent groups the status of equality with the Thai government. The latter strategy had resulted in the military dealing with the militants in "informal dialogues," often with the aim of reducing violence being a key driver.

Equally significant was the Thai government's public affirmation in the February 2013 pact as to who its armed forces was locked in a battle with, and who Bangkok should negotiate with: the BRN-C, a well-armed insurgent movement that had a political agenda. This broke the wall of silence that the military had maintained to determine the nature of the conflict that, currently, has accounted for 6,000 deaths and 10,700 people injured.

"The past year has offered clear evidence of the existence of a Malay-Muslim rebel movement," a Bangkok-based diplomat told The Irrawaddy. "The narrative of the conflict that the army controlled—about attacks by ninjas, drug networks, criminal groups and unknown militants—has been blown apart."

Such a turn of events marks a rare institutional setback for the most powerful pillar of the Thai state. The military's influence here is not limited to protecting this Kingdom's international boundaries and being on hand when national security is threatened. It also wields power in shaping Thailand's foreign policy towards neighboring Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia.

"Thailand lacks civilian control over its armed forces. During the Cold War, the military became the strongest political institution in Thai politics," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "The friction between the military and elected governments is entrenched. Because democratic institutions are weak, the military in recent years has assertively retaken policy reins in key areas, particularly border conflicts and the Malay-Muslim insurgency."

The post In Thai Peace Talks, a Challenge to Military Dominance appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Suu Kyi leaves Europe armed with international support for constitutional change
Two planes crash on runway at Rangoon airport
Burma’s New Year water festival – in pictures

Suu Kyi leaves Europe armed with international support for constitutional change

Posted: 16 Apr 2014 02:38 AM PDT

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is due to depart France for home on Wednesday, having canvased international support for her agenda of constitutional change in Burma. The weeklong trip included Germany and France, and was her third visit to Europe since 2012.

Meeting the French press on Monday, Suu Kyi reminded international onlookers that "Burma is not yet a democracy". Standing alongside French President François Hollande, Suu Kyi called on France and the EU to help Burma to "move forward in a process that will ensure democratic values and democratic rights."

That process, Suu Kyi affirmed, involves national reconciliation and a curtailing of military influence in politics, both to be achieved via constitutional reform.

In that quest she found an ally in President Hollande, as she did in Chancellor Angela Merkel whom Suu Kyi met on the German leg of her tour.

"We are aware of the obstacles and difficulties which exist," Hollande explained as he reiterated France's support for Suu Kyi as the opposition leader continues her agenda of change.

Merkel too offered her support for ongoing democratic reform in Burma. Speaking to media before a closed-doors meeting in Berlin last Thursday, Merkel said the pair would be discussing ”how we on the German side can help to be actively supportive of these developments".

Friday saw Suu Kyi presented with the Willy Brandt Prize for leadership in democracy and human rights. The honour follows Suu Kyi's 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, which she collected in 2012 on her first trip to Europe after being freed from house arrest the year before. Suu Kyi was also the 1990 recipient of the EU's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, which she collected on a 2013 tour.

"The special place of the military is written into our Constitution," Suu Kyi explained to an audience gathered in Berlin to witness her acceptance of the Willy Brandt Prize.

"It is not a democratic [Constitution]" Suu Kyi told the crowd, "And the challenge we face today is to change the Constitution to make sure that our country will truly enjoy the rights and values of democracy."

The Burmese Constitution, adopted in 2008, ensures that the military provides its own mandate, as opposed to being the subject of a civilian portfolio. Article 232 states that, "the Commander-in-Chief will appoint the Ministers for Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs." Further to this, the military is assured the balance of power in both houses of parliament, as the Constitution provides for 25 percent of seats in each house to be appointed to the armed forces.

This stands as a personal barrier to Suu Kyi in her stated ambition to be Burma's next president. Article 59(f) bars Suu Kyi from the presidency, as her late husband, Michael Aris, was a British citizen. 75 percent of parliament must approve a change to that law, as is dictated by the 2008 Constitution. Therefore a motion to abolish the article would almost certainly require military acquiescence.

Support from France and Germany may prove to be valuable munitions is Suu Kyi's own armoury, as she takes on military hardliners in her battle for reform. Earlier this month, Burma's Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing used the Armed Forces Day parade as an opportunity to underline the inviolable foundation that the 2008 Constitution provides for the future of a peaceful Burma.

Suu Kyi underscored the magnitude of her task in Germany on Friday. "We are at a most sensitive, most dangerous time in the path of our evolution, Suu Kyi told her Berlin audience. "What we are trying to do in Burma is to … establish the foundation of a truly democratic culture, it is not easy, after half a century of dictatorship to establish such a foundation."

Two planes crash on runway at Rangoon airport

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 11:58 PM PDT

While taxiing the runway at Rangoon International Airport at about 6am on Monday morning, an A320 plane belonging to Golden Myanmar Airlines crashed into a stationary Myanmar Airways International (MAI) plane.

According to Aye Mra Thar, the marketing and public relations officer of MAI: "The Golden Myanmar aircraft was taxiing when it lost control due to a technical problem with its front gear, and it crashed into one of our aircraft.

"Our plane suffered substantial damage on the tail-side, but luckily no one was injured as it was parked," said Aye Mra Thar.

Both planes suffered damage and costs will be estimated after the Thingyan holiday, according to Rangoon police.

Burma's state-run national carrier, MAI operates daily international flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Guangzhou, Gaya, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and recently launched a new flight service to Pusan, South Korea.

Based out of Mandalay, Golden Myanmar Airlines launched operations only in January 2013 as a low-cost domestic and international carrier. Its main investors include the chairmen of Co-operative Bank. It currently has only two aircraft, both A320 airbuses, and runs domestic flights between Rangoon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw, with international routes to Gaya and Imphal in India, as well as Singapore and Bangkok.

Burma’s New Year water festival – in pictures

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 10:29 PM PDT

This week millions of Burmese celebrated New Year by getting merry and very very wet. The Thingyan Festival is also a national holiday in some other Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia, most notably Thailand where it is known as Songkran. Assumed to have originated in India through the festivities of Holi, Thingyan is essentially a rice harvest celebration, marking the end of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season. Traditionally, it was in the middle of April, the driest time of the year, that families found themselves without water or scraping the bottom of their last urn. The Water Festival is in many ways a rain-dance, a way of making sacred the last drops of water for the year in the robust faith that the heavens will bestow rainwater in return. And in fact, it does seem to work – more often than not, the skies open on the evening of Thingyan, on 13 or 14 April, and the first rains of the season pour down. Some might suggest that the shroud of condensation that the celebrations produce may account for the rain, but others will assure you that it is the benevolence of the gods. In any case, it is a special time of year for all Burmese – an occasion of much playful fun and partying, but also a time for spiritual reflection.

DVB would like to wish each of its readers and TV viewers a very happy Burmese New Year. May you enjoy a good harvest and may all your family be healthy!

The DVB team

Other New Year’s messages from well-known Burmese:

Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD chairperson, speaking to the media at Rangoon airport:

"I wish you all to be successful media workers in the New Year. To the public, I would like them to understand they will really have to struggle this year to achieve what they want."

Min Ko Naing, 88 Generation Peace and Open Society

"I would like to extend my wishes to the Burmese people living outside their homeland – I, myself, spent some time in exile and understand the feeling of loneliness and sadness that come around this time of the year. The majority of Burmese people living abroad left their homes to escape various struggles, hardship and poverty. I hope that they all get to come home and join the Thingyan next year."

Chit Oo Nyo, writer

"It is my wish that everyone in Burma including the government, parliament, political parties, civil servants, members of the public, monks and laymen will clean off their dirt from the past year with Thingyan water. But typically this doesn't happen – everyone still sticks to their bad habits, negative attitudes and backward thinking from the past – and so I hope they really start to clean up this time, and freshen their minds and souls to build a democratic society.

Kyaw Yin Myint, journalist

"I wish for the New Year to be free from the hostile attitudes that, in the last year, drove people in our country to inflict harm upon each other on the pretext of race and religion, and I wish for the new democratic nation longed for by the people."

Nu Nu Yi, writer

"I wish the people of Burma a healthy and happy new year, and be free from all suffering."

Dr. Tuja, chairman, Kachin State Progressive Party

"I wish for resolutions on the various issues in the country, success in national reconciliation, and the establishment of peace in our country. I hope everyone will join hands in a spirit of union toward democratic development and a spectacular future."

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

‘Boatpeople’ story lands Reuters a Pulitzer as local reporters face jail
Ancient Burmese sculptures on display for the first time
Burma’s poultry potential

‘Boatpeople’ story lands Reuters a Pulitzer as local reporters face jail

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 05:29 AM PDT

Two Reuters reporters were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for international journalism on Monday for reporting on the trafficking of Burma's stateless Rohingya Muslims. The prize was announced just days before two Thailand-based journalists are set to appear in court, where they may face up to seven years in jail for republishing one paragraph of the award-winning work that they, in part, made possible.

The prestigious award was granted to Jason Szep and Andrew RC Marshall for their "courageous reports" detailing abuses against Rohingya Muslims trying to flee Burma. Their coverage was the first by international media to suggest official state cooperation with inhumane and highly lucrative human trafficking networks based in southern Thailand.

"We are delighted for Reuters," said Alan Morison, the Australia-born founder and editor of Phuketwan online news. "We've helped many organisations to cover the Rohingya, and we were very pleased when Reuters decided to take up the issue."

Speaking to DVB on Tuesday, Morison expressed gratitude that the international media has taken interest in the story, though his own reporting on that very issue has landed him in less alluring circumstances.

Morison and his colleague, staff reporter Chutima Sidasathian, were summoned by the Phuket Police in December, five months after publishing an article titled, "Thai Military profiting from trade in boatpeople, says special report."

The article relayed the findings of a Reuters investigative feature by Szep and collaborator Stuart Grudgings that implicated Thai naval officials in direct profits from a surge of Rohingya refugees.

While the movement of Rohingya from Burma to Malaysia — by way of Thai waters — has been ongoing for years, numbers have swelled since 2012, when communal violence in Burma's western Arakan State led to sweeping displacement of the stateless minority. Over the past two years, an estimated 80,000 Rohingyas have taken the dangerous route from the Arakan coast to the Andaman Sea in hopes of finding refuge in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Phuketwan has reported consistently on the issue for years, and in 2009 received international recognition for breaking the story of Thailand's "pushback" policy, whereby Thai authorities were authorised to tow boatloads of refugees out to sea and simply let them float away, many to their deaths.

At that time, said Morison, Phuketwan felt some pressure from the Thai police, but they were "very professional" and no charges were brought against him or his staff.

The pair were not so lucky in December, when the Royal Thai Navy threatened to levy charges of defamation and violation of Thailand's Computer Crimes Act, claiming that Phuketwan's full citation of one particular paragraph amounted to endangering state security.

Phuket Police have stated the intention to sue Reuters, but whether the London-based agency will also face charges remains unclear.

"The comparison couldn't be more stark," said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia Division, "on one side of the world, Reuters journalists win media's top prize for revealing abuses against Rohingya boatpeople while in Thailand, the Thai Navy files serious criminal charges against a small website for simply re-printing the story."

HRW has been steadfast in its criticism since the onset of the case, urging the government to drop all charges, revoke the Computer Crimes Act and investigate the Navy. Thai authorities could not be reached for comment and have made no indication that any of the requests will be addressed.

An initial hearing set for early March was postponed until 17 April, which could end in arraignment. Morison said there is little chance of the charges being dropped and that he and Chutima are prepared to go to prison.

While expressing congratulations to Szep and Marshall, Morison confessed he was "a little bit surprised that Reuters hasn't said a bit more about what this means for media freedom."

Ancient Burmese sculptures on display for the first time

Posted: 14 Apr 2014 11:42 PM PDT

Rare and ancient artefacts from Burma will appear outside of the country for the first time ever. The priceless religious sculptures were loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City by the Burmese government.

The artefacts will be on display in a new exhibition called Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century.

“We were very honoured that the minister for culture and the government of Myanmar [Burma] consented to our request to borrow some enormously important objects, first millennium objects, belonging to the Pyu, early Pyu culture of central Myanmar and we presented those here for the first time," said John Guy, curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A 4th century sandstone throne stele from central Burma.

Among the ancient sculptures on display is a 4th century sandstone throne stele from central Burma. The throne stele is an example of the various religions respected in ancient Burma.

“It bears witness to the practice of both Hinduism and Buddhism, one treated on each side of the relief, in the ancient city of Sri Ksetra," said Guy. "We know that kings, the ruling household there, had assumed Sanskrit names and that those names suggest that they were followers of Vishnu. But it’s also clear that they patronised Buddhism as well. So both things were coexisting in what appears to be a harmonious way."

Also on display is a Khin Ba relic chamber cover from 6th century central Burma. The sandstone slab is an example of the ancient Pyu’s Buddhist beliefs.

Three fired clay Buddha sculptures, ranging from the 7th to 9th centuries, reveal how Buddhists could accrue religious favour.

In addition to the sculptures from Burma, the exhibition also features Buddha sculptures from Thailand and Vishnu sculptures from Vietnam. Art from Cambodia and Malaysia is also on display.

The Lost Kingdoms exhibition will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 14 April until 27 July.

The ambitious exhibition brings together 160 works and is, according to the curators, an attempt to redefine our understanding of early Southeast Asia.

Burma’s poultry potential

Posted: 14 Apr 2014 08:53 PM PDT

Than Win can kill, pluck and disembowel a chicken in less than three minutes. He does it at least a hundred times a day, seven days a week and makes around 300,000 kyats a month. While sipping green tea in a blood-stained singlet and longyi at a roadside teashop opposite Burma's largest poultry market, known simply as the "Chicken and Duck Market" in Rangoon's Mingalar Taungnyunt Township, Than Win explained that his shift begins at midnight.

He and a small team travel by truck to collect about 1,300 chickens from some 50 different homes in Pegu Division and Rangoon's northernmost townships of Taikkyi and Hmawbi.

"Most farmers live in small huts and each owns about 1,500 chickens," he said.

The mission is usually complete by 4:30am, after which time the chickens are brought to the market in time for its 6am opening.

He said most buyers are Burmese and Indian-Burmese restaurant and shop owners, while "The Chinese prefer to shop at the wet markets downtown."

The market is a cacophony of sounds and nauseating smells, and many of the chickens are in bad shape. In addition to having their legs tied together in groups, many are virtually bald or emaciated, and even those in the shade pant thirstily with open beaks. A man mercifully tosses a bucket of water over a cage crammed full of layer chickens, but drinking water itself seems non-existent.

With the exception of the day-old chicks crammed into large cardboard boxes, most of the animals lack the energy to even utter squawks of protest. Whether it's the dire conditions that made authorities decide to ban photography inside the market is uncertain – however the workers themselves were jovial, posing goofily with eggs in hand.

Aung Ko Min, 12, told DVB that he began work as a "chicken cleaner" at the market five months ago.

"I work with my older brothers and I like it because I'm strong," he said.

Aung Ko Min said he started chewing betel 10 days earlier, and that there are 50 to 60 boys of the same age also pulling 12 hour shifts.

Far away in Inein Township, Khine Zar Win runs a shop called Win Win, which sells day-old-chicks, feeds and medicine. She got into the trade because her father was a vet and her family owned a poultry farm.

"We're selling around 20,000 day-old-chickens every week and sales are improving every year, because Burmese people are consuming more meat. I think CP Freshmart outlets have encouraged us to eat chicken as a snack, which is something we didn't use to do."

She said that the chicken and duck market sells about 40,000 chickens a day, the vast majority of which are broilers, bred specifically for meat.

However Khine Zar Win added that due to increasing competition, Win Win sells to farmers on credit, with a 50-day repayment period.

"We have so many competitors nowadays that our business depends on having good relationships. However, if market prices drop, we're unable to get the money back," she said.

She explained that ever-increasing profits are due to the expansion of existing farms rather than a wave of newbies deciding to set up poultry farms.

"Some farmers, particularly the smaller ones, lack knowledge about biosecurity. A lot of chickens are getting sick from respiratory tract infections as a result. Myanmar CP Livestock has a technical group for small farmers who will send out their vets – but awareness about this is low."

She added that mortality rates are currently "unusually high" and said she suspects at least some of these deaths are caused by bird flu, which was first detected in Burma in March 2006.

"For the past three or four years, most cases of bird flu have been in Yangon [Rangoon]. It's also a problem in Bago [Pegu] and parts of Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] regions, and I've heard of cases of it in Mandalay also," Khine Zar Win told DVB.

"When bird flu was first discovered in Myanmar [Burma], the government undertook widespread culling and many farmers lost everything. I myself lost 60,000 birds and because the market was destroyed, I wasn't able to get back the money owed to my feed mill from buyers. I lost more than US$200,000," said Dr Hla Hla Thein, who is vice chairperson of the Myanmar Livestock Federation (MLF) and chairperson of the Broiler Association.

"The military government had no concept of our suffering. Compensation was never more than five percent – and sometimes compensation was in the form of a mobile phone! When we asked why, we were told that communication was important," she added.

Due to lasting bitterness about the lack of compensation provided, many farmers remain reluctant to inform the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development about suspected cases of bird flu.

"Farmers don't want all their chickens killed, so they try to arrange their own biosecurity measures and just kill the chickens themselves," said Khine Zar Win.

She added that the government itself isn't announcing cases of bird flu – only one case was ever officially confirmed. In the 7 March edition of The New Light of Myanmar, it was reported that while a "controlled zone for chicken farms will be established [in Tamu] at the border with India to prevent an outbreak of bird flu… Myanmar has so far not reported any outbreaks of bird flu."

The MLF is an NGO which was set up in 1999 and has 13,000 members, although it is only active in Rangoon Division – which Dr Hla Hla Thein asserts is unaffected by bird flu. However, if a case is suspected elsewhere, its representatives will travel to the area to investigate and will report to the ministry as necessary.

"MLF doesn't have the technology to confirm bird flu – only the ministry does," she said.

One of the core aims of MLF is to raise funds so that farmers can be adequately compensated in the event of loss, whether it be the result of culling or a market collapse – the latter of which has happened several times in previous decades. Since 2008, MLF has raised US$100,000, which was accrued through a 1 kyat payment being contributed to a fund for every chicken bought and sold in Rangoon’s markets and farms.

It also sets market prices as a means of helping local poultry farmers compete against the Thai-owned behemoth, CP Chicken, which entered Burma in 1997.

"CP would like to kill all business for local farmers. However it can no longer monopolise Myanmar's poultry market because we've actively fought against it," she said.

CP declined to be interviewed for this article or respond to allegations about its purported attempts to monopolise Burma's poultry industry. According to Khine Zar Win, CP has a 50 percent market share in feeds.

Soon after Burma's political reforms began in 2011, members of the international community stepped in to help develop the sector. The US Agency for International Development, for example, works with MLF to support local farmers by providing vocational training and spreading knowledge about the use of technology to keep production costs down.

Unfortunately, however, although one of MLF's aims is to liaise with the ministry on policies and issues affecting livestock, the relationship isn't productive, according to Dr Hla Hla Thein.

"The ministry people are just soldiers – it's the departments that have the professional expertise, but they aren't listened to. I always submit my ideas to the government – I recently suggested that the ministry hasn't done us any favours by extending itself yet again to include rural development, and before that, fisheries. I've openly fought with the minister and one time he said to me, 'You are the lady that talks too much.' But I don't care," she said defiantly.

Burma's poultry sector has a lot at stake – if the various problems confronting it can somehow be overcome, it could be a boom area for national economic growth.

Analysts have already predicted that Burma's meat industry could explode over the coming decades. In a May 2012 article in FEED Business Worldwide titled, "Myanmar: Asian feed and livestock's new frontier," F.E Olimpo and Eric Brooks wrote, "With a population of over 64 million… ample untapped arable land and a per capita meat consumption of just 10kg, Burma contains the same ripe elements for exponential feed and livestock expansion that China had in the early 1980s and Vietnam in the late 1990s".

Moreover, as Burma's neighbours include the growing economic powerhouses of India, China, and Thailand – which have a combined population of 2 billion people –this "represents a great market for exports of meat, feed or both."

At present, Burma exports negligible quantities of poultry to China and India through border trade, however Khine Zar Win told DVB that Vietnam and Korean investors are beginning to show an interest in setting up joint partnerships.

"Not all farmers have the opportunity to travel outside the country to learn new farming techniques. We want foreign investors to come here, which is why we hold three expos a year," said Dr Hla Hla Thein.

Despite its enormous potential, it is uncertain whether foreign investors will simply feel too overwhelmed by the inherent challenges poultry farming in Burma presents.