| Below-the-Belt Burma Map Could Earn Jail Time for the Tattooed Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:21 AM PDT  A man goes under the needle at a tattoo parlor in Rangoon. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON— The Mandalay divisional chief justice has warned that anyone who gets a tattoo of the map of Burma on the lower part of their body could be hit with a three-year prison sentence, a divisional lawmaker said. During a divisional Parliament meeting on Tuesday, Thein Lwin, who represents Pyigyi Tagon Township, asked the division's chief justice, Ye Aung Myint, what could be done to prevent people from tattooing themselves with the map of the country. Thein Lwin told The Irrawaddy that doing so could disgrace the country, and that he thought a law should be passed to prevent the act, if necessary. Ye Aung Myint responded that such tattoos could already be illegal, if below the waist, under the State Seal Law, Thein Lwin said. "According to Article 7 of the State Seal Law, the offender could be punished with up to three years in prison or fined up to 300,000 kyat—or both," Ye Aung Myint said, according to Thein Lwin. The Burmese State Seal Law prohibits anyone from disgracefully using or destroying anything that represents the country's symbol, which includes the map outline of the country. Burma's Constitution also protects the Burmese flag, the state seal and the national anthem, but there is no specific law relating to misuse of the map. "It is acceptable if they tattoo the map on the upper part of body to show their love for the country. But if it is in the lower part of the body, it's inappropriate," the lawmaker reported the chief justice as saying. Thein Lwin said he had noticed the growing popularity of tattoos among young people to express themselves, and felt the map should be protected from inappropriate use. "The Burmese map is inanimate but it has dignity. We need to prevent it from being used disgracefully," he added. The post Below-the-Belt Burma Map Could Earn Jail Time for the Tattooed appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Four Burmese Workers Killed Brutally in Malaysia This Month Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:15 AM PDT  Myo Pai, a leader of a Kuala Lumpur-based free funeral services group, standing right in a white shirt, beside the coffin of Ko Tony on Wednesday, before he was killed. (Photo: Sakhunna Ung) Four Burmese workers have been killed by unknown attackers over the past 10 days in Malaysia, according to an NGO providing the funeral services. "All of them were attacked with knives but on different dates and places since July 1. The way they were all murdered was similar," San Win, chairman of the Myanmar Free Funeral Services, a Kuala Lumpur-based group, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. "It looks like they were ambushed. The fourth man, who was murdered yesterday, was just like the previous three: his throat was slashed, his hands were chopped and his stomach had been stabbed." Myo Pai, head of another Kuala Lumpur-based free funeral service that assists Burmese migrants, was killed on Wednesday, the same day a funeral was held for his colleague Ko Tony, who was killed on Monday in Penang, some 300 kilometers away. Both were well known among Burmese migrant workers in the country, according to the social worker and family members, who said the two men helped illegal Burmese immigrant workers return to their homeland. "I could not believe he was killed like that. Everyone loves him because he was a social man," said Myo Pai's son Ye Htut Pai. "We do not know exactly how it happened because it was late in the evening, and the police say they are still investigating. Some suspect the attacks were related to clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that rocked Burma's second-biggest city Mandalay last week. "At first, the murders were believed to have been caused by social or financial issues, but many here think they are related to the riots in Mandalay last week. Whenever there is communal conflict, there are more killings here," San Win said. He said that last year in May, when anti-Muslim riots broke out in the Burmese towns of Meikhtila and Lashio, nine Burmese people were killed in Malaysia and 15 others were injured. The Burmese Embassy in Malaysia has been informed of the recent deaths this month, as have Malaysian authorities. "After the Burmese Embassy learned about the Burmese being attacked by some Malaysian extremist group, the Burmese ambassador and military attaché talked to the Malaysian foreign ministry, interior ministry and security officials to urgently investigate those murder cases and to take action against the perpetrators," the Burmese Embassy said in a statement. It added that the ambassador "urged the Malaysian authorities to protect Myanmar [Burmese] workers from such attacks." The post Four Burmese Workers Killed Brutally in Malaysia This Month appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| PR System Would Be Too Confusing, NLD Says Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:10 AM PDT  A man votes in the by-election in 2012. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's biggest opposition party opposes a change to a proportional representation (PR) electoral system because it would confuse voters, a party member says. Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD), says that despite voter education efforts, most people in Burma did not understand the current electoral system, known as a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, during the previous election. A change now would only complicate matters in the 2015 election, he said. "The public will not be pleased if they cannot give their vote to the candidate of their choice because they do not understand the new system," he told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. "We don't accept it." Last month, a majority of lawmakers in the Upper House of Parliament voted to switch from the FPTP system, which benefits dominant parties, to a PR system, which tends to benefit smaller parties. Lawmakers from the military, the NLD and ethnic minority parties voted against the change. Under a PR system, the number of seats won by each party is proportionate to the number of votes received. Under the FPTP system, the winning lawmaker in each constituency takes a seat in Parliament. The Lower House has not yet voted on whether to switch to the PR system. Last week, Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann from the USDP said at a press conference that he believed the PR system should be adopted if it would benefit the country. The NLD and its alliance ethnic parties—including the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, the Arakan League for Democracy, the Mon National Party, the Zomi Congress for Democracy, the Shan StateKokant Democratic Partyand theNational Democracy party—released a statement on July 5 calling on lawmakers not to change the electoral system. "The PR system will not benefit Burma's transition and its ethnic people, but will benefit only some parties," they said. Ethnic parties worry they will not fare well under a PR system. Under the current system, ethnic parties can count on winning seats in constituencies of ethnic minority states. "[Voters] from townships in the states want a representative who will represent them," said Sai Nyunt Lwin, a spokesman for the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, adding that with a change to the PR system, "voters will no longer know who they can rely on." The Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF), an alliance of 20 ethnic parties, has also opposed a change to PR. The alliance was planning to protest against PR but decided to hold off on demonstrations after party members met recently with Shwe Mann, who they say promised that any PR system adopted would be tailored to be fair for ethnic parties. The post PR System Would Be Too Confusing, NLD Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Back to Square One for Press Freedom in Burma Posted: 10 Jul 2014 04:51 AM PDT Today's news that journalists from Unity Journal have been sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor on charges related to a report alleging the existence of a government chemical weapons factory is a sad reminder that press freedom in Burma is still far from assured. The sentence, handed down by a court in Pakokku Township, will almost certainly have a chilling effect on efforts by Burmese journalists to investigate the often opaque activities of the military or any other issue the government deems too sensitive. Just a few days ago, President Thein Sein signaled that the media—only recently freed from the shackles of censorship—would be expected to confine itself to coverage that doesn't disturb "national security." In a speech broadcast on state radio Monday night, the president claimed that "we have now become a nation with one of the highest levels of press freedom in Southeast Asia," but warned in the wake of recent violence in Mandalay, Burma's second-largest city, that this freedom should not be taken for granted. "[If] media freedom threatens national security instead of helping the nation, I want to warn all that we will take effective action under existing laws," the state-run Mirror newspaper quoted him as saying. These are tough words from a president hailed by many as a reformist. According to lawyers who defended the Unity journalists, the order to arrest and detain the journalists came directly from the President's Office. They were charged with violating the 1923 Burma State Secrets Act after publishing a story headlined, "A secret chemical weapons factory of the former generals, Chinese technicians and the commander-in-chief at Pauk Township." The government dismissed the report as "baseless," but has never directly addressed its claims or invited the press to tour the site, despite insisting that it has nothing to hide. What is worrying is that the government is now beginning to exercise its draconian restrictions on media though it has lifted censorship two years ago, winning praise from the international community. A few weeks ago, Special Branch officers visited offices of several publications (including The Irrawaddy's branch office in Rangoon) and invited senior editors. This week, police also interrogated three editors at Bi Mon Te Nay journal after it published a report that suggested Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic democratic forces are planning to form an interim government. They have since been charged under the Emergency Act. Meanwhile, we have learned from the President's Office that Facebook has agreed to collaborate with the government to monitor activities of its users due to widespread hate speech on the social media network. The irony is that government agencies, including state-run newspapers and websites, and close associates of government figures, including some extremist monks operating under different names, continue to use all resources at their disposal to inflame anti-Muslim sentiment. Clearly, real press freedom remains a distant dream for Burma, where the government still gets to decide what is fit to print, and who has the right to inform (or misinform) the public. The post Back to Square One for Press Freedom in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| More Low-End Property Sales Registered Under New Tax System Posted: 10 Jul 2014 03:17 AM PDT  A view of the traffic on Sule Pagoda Road in downtown Rangoon, where property prices are among the highest in the city. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — The introduction in April of a new tax system that reduces rates on lower-value properties has prompted many owners to register sales and pay taxes, while Rangoon sales in this market segment have increased, realtors have said. "The most sales in Rangoon are now taking place in lower-end properties… because after the new tax system started, these properties will pay a low tax," said Than Oo, a member of the Myanmar Real Estate Association. He said more sales of lower value property were being registered for tax payment after the government reduced rates on these properties on April 1. "Under the old system, all properties sellers had to pay 37 percent tax for any type of properties… Now, small real estate owners register property sales as they don't need to pay much amount under this tax system," he said. The new system sets a 3 percent tax rate for buyers of property valued at less than 50 million kyat (about US$51,000), 10 percent for properties under 150 million kyat and a 30 percent tax rate for real estate worth more than 300 million kyat (about $306,000). Sellers of property pay a flat 10 percent tax rate. In addition, property sales in Burma are subject to so-called stamp duty for buyers, set at 5 percent of value in Rangoon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw, and 3 percent in other cities. Under the old system, introduced in 2012, buyers paid a flat 37 percent rate on property transfers, while sellers pay 10 percent. Because of this flat rate, many buyers and sellers agreed not to register the change of property ownership in order to avoid taxes. Than Oo said this situation was now changing for the low-end market segment, adding that this would result in more tax collection from this segment. "Due to this new tax system, the government will get more tax, and more people can buy small property and pay tax," he said. "They can be a full owner now; they don’t need to avoid tax because 3 percent tax is nothing for them. This is a better tax system for both government and [small] owners." At the same, the government has been trying to tighten tax controls on higher-value properties, which had seen skyrocketing prices across Rangoon, Burma's commercial capital, since President Thein Sein introduced a raft of reform measures and after international sanctions against Burma were dropped. In October, the government introduced an improved property valuation method that is used when sales of properties occur in high-value areas. It estimated the highest property rates are in Rangoon's Bahan Township—known locally as the Golden Valley, where many wealthy Burmese own homes—with an average value of 325,000 kyat ($331) per square foot. Other expensive townships include Dagon, Mayangone, Kamaryut, Hlaing and Sanchaung, where land is value at 275,000 kyat. Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Pazuntaung and Botahtaung townships come in at average of about 240,000 kyat per square foot. As a result, the booming property market has cooled significantly and sales have dropped in recent months, while most high-end property deals tend to go unregistered in order to avoid taxes. Real estate agents said they heard that the government might further expand the estimation of high-value properties to other parts of Rangoon, adding that they feared the move could put further downward pressure on the already sluggish high-end market. "The government has still not yet announced [this plan], but if they expand these property estimation [to other areas], property market will surely remain sluggish for a time to come," Zaw Zaw, a manager of Unity real estate agency said. The post More Low-End Property Sales Registered Under New Tax System appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Ceasefire Talks Are Missing Public Voice: Activists Posted: 10 Jul 2014 03:05 AM PDT  From left, Kachin activist Jaw Gun joins Ko Ko Gyi from the 88 Generation activist group and May Sabe Phyu from the Gender Equality Network at a forum for civil society groups in Rangoon on Wednesday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burmese civil society groups say public involvement remains too limited in the peace process to end decades of civil war between the military and ethnic armed groups. At a forum of about 120 civil society leaders in Rangoon on Wednesday, prominent activist Ko Ko Gyi, of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society said civilians were the main victims in armed conflicts and therefore needed to be more included in negotiations. "People generally do not know when ceasefire processes start or what both sides discussed and agreed, and they also do not have any rights to discuss or give suggestions. But if the ceasefire breaks, people know immediately and they need to run," he said. Since 2011 alone, more than 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting in northern Burma. "Although people are not participating in the peace process, they are involved in civil wars." Sai Oo, from the Tai (Shan) Youth Network, said ethnic people and the military both wanted to end the bloodshed. "Why does civil war continue, even though both sides want peace? I want to urge an end to the war from here on out," he said. After Burma achieved independence from the British in 1948, ethnic armed groups around the country waged wars against the central government for greater autonomy and basic rights. President Thein Sein's administration has signed bilateral ceasefire agreements with all but two ethnic armed groups, but fighting continues in Kachin and Shan states in the country's north. Peace negotiations have brought together leaders of the government and ethnic armed groups, but civilians have lacked representation. Women, in particular, say their voices have been excluded from ongoing discussions. Ko Ko Gyi said that if civil society leaders were given a platform to participate in peace talks, they would also need assurances that they would not face legal trouble. Some activists who have become involved in the peace process in the past, particularly by communicating with ethnic rebels, have been imprisoned for violating the Article 17-1 of the Unlawful Association Act. "Everyone involved in the peace process would need a guarantee for their security," Ko Ko Gyi said. Jaw Gun, an ethnic Kachin activist from the Shalom Foundation, said government departments were discouraging or even prohibiting public involvement in the peace process. "People need to be able to participate in all elements of the peace process," he said. May Sabe Phyu, a senior coordinator for the Gender Equality Network (GEN), added, "If the public can't participate in peace process, we can't say the process is for the people. We cannot accept the discussions and the agreements without public involvement." The post Ceasefire Talks Are Missing Public Voice: Activists appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Unity Journalists Sentenced to 10 Years Imprisonment With Hard Labor Posted: 10 Jul 2014 03:00 AM PDT  The Jan. 25, 2014 issued of the Unity journal is pictured in Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — The Pakokku Township Court sentenced four journalists and the CEO of the Unity journal to 10 years imprisonment with hard labor on Thursday for reporting allegations that a Burmese military facility in Magwe Division was being used to manufacture chemical weapons. The five men have been in military custody since they were detained by the Burmese police force's Special Branch shortly after the Jan. 25 publication of a report about the facility, which included photographs of the alleged chemical weapons factory. The President's Office filed a lawsuit against Unity journal's CEO, Tin Hsan, 52, and journalists Lu Maw Naing, 28, Sithu Soe, 22, The Yazar Oo, 28, and Aung Thura, 25, for publishing state secrets and trespassing. According to the defendants' lawyer, the court passed down sentences on Thursday that will see all five serve 10 years in prison and carry out hard labor. Lwin Lwin Myint, the wife of Lu Maw Naing, said the court's decision was "inhumane." "We didn't expect they would get sentences with hard labor. How could they sentence 10 years with hard labor for reporting news?" Lwin Lwin Myint said. "This is inhumane and we are now worrying for their health." The journalists' lawyer, Robert San Aung, told The Irrawaddy that the decision would be appealed. "The Media Law has just been enacted and the court's decision should go accordingly with the Media Law," he said, referring to the recently passed legislation, which does not include prison terms for journalists found to have breached the law in their work. "Sentencing young journalists to 10 years and hard labor is extreme and unreasonable. We will submit an appeal to a higher court soon." The lawyer also questioned why the lawsuit was filed by the President's Office and not the Defense Ministry. "We just want to say that the legislature and the judiciary of this country are still under the control of some people," he added. Currently, the journalists are detained at Pakokku prison, but family members are concerned that they will soon be sent to prisons in remote parts of the country. The post Unity Journalists Sentenced to 10 Years Imprisonment With Hard Labor appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Time Out With Ta’ang Rebels Posted: 09 Jul 2014 06:00 PM PDT  A TNLA soldier on alert at the frontline near Lwel Khan village in Kyauk Mae Township in northern Shan State. (photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) The ethnic Palaung, also known as the Ta'ang, are a hill tribe people mostly living in northern Shan State. Like many other ethnic groups, they have waged an armed struggle against the Burmese government since 1963. After the Palaung State Liberation Organization signed a ceasefire with the former military government in 1991 (and disarmed in 2005), another Palaung army known as the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) was established by the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) to continue the fight for equality and self-determination. With 1,500 troops today, the TNLA has no fixed headquarters but runs mobile operations in northern Shan State. They fight alongside other ethnic rebel groups, including the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Shan State Army (SSA). President Thein Sein's government has met with PSLF and TNLA leaders at least two times, most recently in 2013, in a bid to strengthen trust, but clashes have continued. The KIA and the TNLA are the only ethnic armed groups that do not currently have bilateral ceasefires with the government. The post Time Out With Ta'ang Rebels appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| ‘Burma Must Follow a Global Standard and Match It With Political Will’ Posted: 09 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT  From right to left: Shwe Gas Movement director Wong Aung, director-general of the Ministry of Mining Win Htein, a staff of MEITI, and Burma EITI coordinator Zaw Oo during the EITI board meeting in Mexico last week. (Photo: MEITI) Last week, Burma was accepted as a candidate for the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global anti-corruption scheme that requires member governments to disclose payments earned from oil, gas and mineral wealth. Burma's EITI arrangement could also be expanded to include hydropower and forestry. Under the previous military regime, deals with local cronies and international companies extracting natural resources were shrouded in secrecy, and payments to the government were pumped into the Burma Army or stolen by junta members. Joining EITI is a centerpiece of President Thein Sein's reform agenda. As a candidate country, Burma will have to file a first report on its EITI approach within 18 months and be fully compliant by January 2017. A key element of EITI is civil society involvement. Burma's government, oil, gas and mining companies, and local NGOs work are required to work together in an EITI multi-stakeholder group and jointly agree on transparency standards for extractive industries. Wong Aung, director of the Shwe Gas Movement, is an NGO representative in the EITI multi-stakeholder group and recently he travelled to the EITI International Board meeting in Mexico, where Burma's candidacy was announced. He spoke to The Irrawaddy about his expectations and concerns regarding the success of EITI in Burma. Question: Do you think that EITI has the potential to force the Burma government to disclose all its earnings from resources in the country? Answer: After becoming an EITI candidate, Burma must follow a [global] standard procedure and match it with political will [to implement it]. If the government can do this, there would be some progress and better results than during the previous junta. Our multi-stakeholders group's three-year work plan faces many challenges and difficult circumstances if we want to solve current problems because of a lack of technical skills, [financial] resources and institutional readiness. The ministries' lack of understanding on the subject and the current government mechanisms' difference from international [EITI] standards will also make it difficult. Solving the issue of public organizations' involvement in natural resource extraction in Burma, and dealing with related problems such as labor issues, environmental derogation and human rights violations will take at least a decade to overcome. We hope the public will become informed about how natural resources are extracted, in which amount and how many of the earnings are used for the public good. Civil society has an important role to play to inform the public in this current political situation and to push for company accountability and responsibility. Q: Why are not many people in ethnic regions talking about resource-sharing? Since their regions hold the most resources. A: We, stakeholders, need to discuss these questions in depth. More public awareness is needed. Ethnic regions are facing the environmental and socioeconomic impacts [of extractive industries]. So, ethnic people need to know how they can become directly involved in managing extractive projects, and receive a share of the benefits. A question would still be if civil society groups [supporting EITI] are just stakeholders to support the work of the government, or whether they can reflect the public's desires. Q: Will EITI candidacy for Burma make a difference when dealing with the negative impacts of extractive industries in ethnic areas? A: It is not that, by becoming an EITI candidate, the problems will solve themselves. We use EITI standard as a tool to make broader reforms, but it depends how the NGOs in each states and regions can implement this on a professional level. Q: What challenges do you expect in compiling the report for EITI in the next 18 months? A: We understand roughly what to include in our work plan. We have to select which [resource] sectors… will be included in the report. So far, oil, gas and mining sector will be covered in the scoping study in the first three years. Even for these sectors, major challenges are there… That is mostly due to the government system and technical issues. The ministries' department-level officials are not that familiar with the [EITI] issues and it is likely they will not know that they have obligations under EITI. If you look at the oil, gas and energy ministries, only the ministers are familiar with the [EITI] subject, not many lower level directors. Q: How would NGOs monitoring the extractive projects be free from the government's influence and threats, and gain full access to information? A: Our multi-stakeholder group's plan focuses on a checks and balances system, as the group is formed by civil society representatives, companies and government officials. This approach is in accordance with the EITI standard, but not every problem can be solved through EITI framework. We could also face threats to the NGOs, discrimination and other limitations. Q: Can the EITI process help establish transparency for old or existing resource projects started many years ago that still impact the public? A: There are existing problems for the old projects that were signed under the junta. Roughly speaking, a scoping study may include the previous two years, so EITI reporting could cover projects started from 2012 onwards. There are complications in applying transparency standards for the projects that commenced [earlier] such as the Yadana, Yetakon and Shwe Gas pipelines, the Letpadaung copper mines or Myitsone hydropower dam. We don't have an approach to solve these past conflicts and challenges. The post 'Burma Must Follow a Global Standard and Match It With Political Will' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Dutch Crash Out of World Cup, Argentina Face Germany in Final Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:59 PM PDT  Jasper Cillessen of the Netherlands watches as he fails to stop the decisive penalty shot by Argentina’s Maxi Rodriguez during their penalty shootout in their 2014 World Cup semi-finals. (Photo: Reuters) RIO DE JANEIRO — Argentina reached their first World Cup final in 24 years on Wednesday, beating the Netherlands 4-2 on penalties after the first scoreless semi in the tournament’s history, with old foes Germany awaiting them in Sunday’s showpiece. The match will be a repeat of the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals, the first of which was won by Argentina before the then West Germany gained revenge four years later. Argentina’s win compounded the misery for hosts Brazil who were humiliated 7-1 by Germany on Tuesday before seeing their worst fears realized when their South American neighbors booked their place at the Maracana on Sunday. Midfielder Maxi Rodriguez scored the decisive penalty for Argentina after their goalkeeper Sergio Romero had saved spot kicks from Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder, triggering wild celebrations among Lionel Messi’s triumphant team. “I’m proud to be a part of this group,” Messi said in a statement posted on his social media pages. “They are all phenomenons, what a match they played. “What madness. We are in the final. Let’s enyoy it, it is just a little step more.” Brazil may have won the World Cup more than any other country, but the one they wanted most of all will now be played between two of their greatest rivals. For Brazilians, it is unpalatable prospect for the mourning samba nation but for soccer fans, it is a dream showdown between a German team that has wowed everyone at the tournament and Messi, the four-time World Player of the year who has won every honor except the World Cup. Wednesday’s second semi-final in Sao Paulo could not have been more different than Tuesday’s goalfest in Belo Horizonte but the sheer tension of the occasion had fans on the edge of their seats. “I’m very happy because we reached the final and now we will see what we can do,” said Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella. “We will give everything as usual, with humility, work and 100 percent effort.” Neither Argentina or the Netherlands created many chances in a dour game that was dominated by defense but ultimately came down to a battle of nerves when they finished deadlocked at 0-0 after extra time. For players and fans, the tension was almost unbearable and it was the Dutch, who have played in three World Cup finals, including the last one in Johannesburg four years ago, but never won one, who fluffed their lines in the shootout. It was also a second semi-final defeat on penalties for the Netherlands who suffered the same fate against Brazil in 1998. “I didn’t have the feeling in the second half that we would lose,” said Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal. “And when it comes to penalties you know it’s a lottery. The boys did fantastically (well). Nobody had expected this.” The Dutch will play Brazil in the third-place playoff in Brasilia on Saturday as the recriminations into the host nation’s limp exit gather pace. Eternal Shame Brazilian media savaged the team’s performance with newspapers describing the Germany defeat as an “historic disgrace”, “national humiliation”, “eternal shame” and a “fiasco”. A lot of the blame was directed at Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose future is now the source of wide speculation with Tite, Muricy Ramalho and Vanderlei Luxemburgo looming as his possible successor. Brazil President Dilma Rousseff took to social media to express her disappointment to a country reeling from the loss after spending more than $11 billion on hosting the tournament. “I’m immensely sorry for all of us, our fans and players,” she tweeted. “But let’s not let ourselves give up. Brazil, get up, dust yourself off and bounce back.” Riot police, who had been deployed at fan sites around the country to handle any violent outbreaks, had a quiet night with most fans too traumatized by the manner of defeat to revolt. An Argentine journalist was killed in Sao Paulo early on Wednesday morning when his taxi was hit by a stolen car fleeing police. He was the second Argentine reporter to die in a car wreck while covering the World Cup. The mood in Germany could not have been more different with more than 32 million people watching their country’s victory on television, a record rating which accounted for an audience market share of almost 88 percent. Hundreds of thousands of Germans watched the match from the avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to attend the final. Off the field, FIFA suspended the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) because of government interference. A regional court in Nigeria last week ordered the sacking of the existing NFF executive after the team’s performance at the World Cup, where they were eliminated by France in the second round. The court appointed a new administrator to run the game in the populous west African nation but FIFA warned Nigeria they would be banned from competing internationally unless the old leadership was restored to power. “The suspension will be lifted once the court actions have been withdrawn and the properly elected NFF Executive Committee, the NFF general assembly and the NFF administration are able to work without any interference in their affairs,” FIFA said. The post Dutch Crash Out of World Cup, Argentina Face Germany in Final appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| US Lawmakers Criticize Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:50 PM PDT  Rohingya women hold their children at the Khaung Dokkha camp for internally displaced people in Sittwe, Arakan State, April 22, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — US lawmakers reviewed the "troubling" state of human rights in Southeast Asia on Wednesday and stiffly criticized Vietnam and Cambodia. But they reserved some of their toughest words for Burma, demanding an end to US concessions to its quasi-civilian government. The Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, likened conditions faced by minority Muslims in western Burma to concentration camps. A Democratic lawmaker questioned whether there were signs of genocide. The hearing indicated congressional goodwill toward Burma's government has been exhausted, and criticism of the Obama administration's forward-leaning engagement policy has intensified. Royce pronounced the outlook for human rights in Southeast Asia, a region of 620 million people, as "very troubling." The committee's top-ranking Democrat Eliot Engel said that as the US looks to deepen its strategic interests in the region, promoting rights "is the right thing to do and it's also the smart thing to do." While no lawmakers mentioned Wednesday's presidential election in Indonesia that the White House lauded as sign of its maturing democracy, the seven congressmen who spoke found plenty to criticize in region. They took aim at suppression of dissent and religious freedom in Vietnam, the strong-arm tactics of Cambodia's leader Hun Sen, and the military takeover in Thailand. Conservative and rights advocate, Republican Rep. Chris Smith, said, "Vietnam is in a race to the bottom with the likes of China and even North Korea." He criticized the leader of the Democratic-led Senate for failing to allow a vote on a bill that has repeatedly passed the House and would impose sanctions on Vietnamese officials complicit in rights abuses. On Cambodia, Engel said the ruling party of Hun Sen, who has led the country for almost three decades, has tightened its "chokehold" on the media, silenced human rights advocates and failed to stop illegal land grabs. Royce said the ballot count in last year's flawed national elections was "truly preposterous." Former senior State Department rights official, Lorne Craner, recommended that the US avoid high-level contacts with Cambodia's government until it resolves its dispute with the main opposition bloc that is boycotting Parliament as it presses its demand for an independent investigation into election irregularities. Democratic Rep. David Cicilline joined several lawmakers in condemning the treatment of Burma's Rohingya Muslims. Some 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced and corralled in camps after bearing the brunt of vicious outbreaks of sectarian violence involving majority Buddhists, while tens of thousands more have fled the country. He questioned whether there was an "element of genocide in the attacks against the Rohingya population." Rights advocate and former Democratic congressman Tom Andrews, who has visited the strife-hit Arakan State, testified he thought there was, and that attacks were systematic and done with the support of the government. Burma dismisses that notion, and President Thein Sein has vowed serious actions against perpetrators of sectarian violence. But amid fears of rising nationalism ahead of 2015 elections, the former general has also recently been criticized by the State Department for proposing discriminatory legislation, including a law to restrict interfaith marriage. Royce demanded an immediate cessation of nascent US military-to-military cooperation with Burma until the persecution of minorities ends, and his Democratic counterpart echoed the desire for a more circumspect outreach to the country, which has been rewarded with rapid sanctions relief and massive aid in the past two years. "We need to see real progress from Burma's leaders on these human rights issues before we provide the military-led government with any further concessions," Engel said. The post US Lawmakers Criticize Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Australia Denies ‘Offensive’ Accusations Sri Lanka Asylum Seekers Ill-Treated Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:42 PM PDT  Australia's Minister of Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison. (Photo: Reuters) COLOMBO — Australia on Wednesday rejected accusations of mistreatment by Sri Lankan asylum seekers returned to the island nation, saying the move sent a strong message to those thinking of following in their footsteps. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison was speaking in Colombo a day after some of the 37 Sinhalese and four Tamils said they were ill treated by Australian Customs officials at sea. "I find those allegations offensive and reject them absolutely," Morrison told reporters. "Any venture … that thinks they can get to Australia, well, I think a very clear message is being said, particularly in the last few days: that venture will not prevail." Sri Lanka says many asylum seekers are economic migrants, but rights groups say Tamils seek asylum to prevent torture, rape and other violence at the hands of the military. One of the asylum seekers, N.A. Nilantha, said Australian Customs officials acted "in an inhumane manner" before the transfer to the Sri Lankan navy. "They knelt us down, they dragged us, holding our necks," he told Reuters soon after he was released on bail in the southern port of Galle. "They gave meat for a dog on board while we were given only a slice of bread. When we complained of being sick and having headaches, they said we were pretending. They did not treat us for any of our illnesses." Another accused customs officials of barring the asylum speakers from speaking to each other. "In this ship, we were not allowed to talk," said the father of three who travelled with his family and who spoke on condition of anonymity. "…They gave us expired chocolates. When we asked for a basin for a baby less than two months old, they did not give us one. But they gave a basin to the dog. They bathed the dog with shampoo. They gave the dog a towel and two bed sheets, but we were not given anything." Most of the group returned to Sri Lanka were members of the majority Sinhalese community and not minority Tamils, who have alleged persecution by Sri Lankan authorities since Tamil separatists were defeated in the country's civil in 2009. Group members told Reuters they had been trying to reach New Zealand, not Australia, to seek jobs for a "better life". One man said he had "no problem" with the Sri Lankan government. Less clear are the origin and motives of a second boat of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, stuck in legal limbo as Australia's High Court considers the legality of their interception. Australia's Tamil Refugee Council said of the 153 people on board the second boat, some 48 are from India's 60,000-strong, unregistered Sri Lankan Tamil refugee community. At least 11 of those had been tortured in Sri Lanka, the council said. About 60 million people live in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, dominated by ethnic Tamils. The Organisation for Eelam Refugees' Rehabilitation, based in the Tamil Nadu capital Chennai, said more than a quarter of those on board the second ship had been traced to refugee camps in the Indian state. Some of the 42 people who boarded the boat from these camps were born in India, while others had lived in India for decades, the advocacy group's founder, S.C. Chandrahasan, told Reuters. Jaffna Visit Morrison quietly visited the city of Jaffna in the ethnic Tamil-dominated north of Sri Lanka during his whirlwind visit, where he met the governor of the Northern Province, G.A. Chandrasiri, a presidential appointee. Morrison did not meet chief minister, C.V. Vigneswaran, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance, the party that finished first in last year's regional election and controls a regional assembly, or any Tamil civil society groups. The 41 asylum seekers picked up from the first boat were handed over by Australia to Sri Lanka in a secret operation over the weekend. Morrison rejected claims that Australia had breached international conventions. "The Australian government takes very seriously our responsibility, as well as the Sri Lankan government people's safety and the various obligations that they have under the various conventions to which we are signatories," he said. Morrison was in Colombo to hand over two patrol boats to Sri Lanka to strengthen surveillance against people smuggling. Back in Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott vowed not to bow to "moral blackmail" following reports of suicide bids by female asylum seekers at a detention centre on Christmas Island. Opposition Greens lawmaker Sarah Hanson-Young, whose party is one of the strongest critics of the government's "Operation Sovereign Borders" immigration policy, said she had spoken to people inside the centre who reported that almost 10 mothers were on suicide watch this week. The post Australia Denies 'Offensive' Accusations Sri Lanka Asylum Seekers Ill-Treated appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Both Candidates in Indonesia Election Claim Victory Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:04 PM PDT  vIndonesian presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo gestures during a rally in Proklamasi Monument Park in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Photo: Reuters) JAKARTA — Both candidates claimed victory in Indonesia's presidential election on Wednesday, suggesting there could be a drawn out constitutional battle to decide who will next lead the world's third-largest democracy. Just a few hours after voting closed, Jakarta governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said he had won, based on quick counts of more than 90 percent of the votes. A victory for him would be seen as a triumph for a new breed of politician that has emerged in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, and increase the promise of desperately needed reform in government. But ex-general Prabowo Subianto, the rival candidate viewed as representative of the old guard that flourished under decades of autocratic rule, said other, unnamed, quick counts of votes favored him. Jokowi, on other hand, named tallies by six pollsters, most regarded as reliable and independent. The included three respected, non-partisan agencies—CSIS, Kompas and Saifulmujani—which provided accurate tallies in the April parliamentary election. The quick counts are conducted by private agencies which collate actual vote tallies as they come out of each district. The results, however, are unofficial: the Election Commission will take about two weeks to make an official announcement and the new president is not due to take office until Oct. 1. "There are many quick counts from various survey agencies. But…the one that will be valid according to law in the end will be the verdict of the KPU (Election Commission)," Prabowo told a talk-show on a television channel. A senior aide to Jokowi said the party would not take any action like naming a cabinet until the official result is announced on or around July 22. "We've waited months. We can wait another 2 to 3 weeks for the (Election Commission's) final verdict," Luhut Panjaitan told Reuters. The standoff is unprecedented in Indonesia, a member of the G-20 group of nations that is holding only its third direct presidential election. In both the previous elections, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, now the outgoing president, won by a clear margin. There have been concerns of violence once the result is known, a worry alluded to by Yudhoyono's administration. "For both groups of supporters related with the split quick count results, we request they do not mobilise their supporters excessively," said Djoko Suyanto, coordinating minister for legal, political and security affairs. There were no reports of any major violence. Around 250,000 police officers were on standby across Indonesia, authorities said. Claim and Counter-claim It has been the dirtiest and most confrontational campaign in memory in a country which traditionally holds up the value of consensus politics. Ahead of the vote, the two candidates had been neck and neck in opinion polls as Jokowi lost a huge early lead in the face of smear campaigns and a far more focused, and expensive, race for the presidency by his rival. "Today the people have decided a new direction for Indonesia … This is a new chapter for Indonesia," Jokowi told hundreds of supporters at Proclamation Square, where the country's first president Sukarno declared independence in 1945. At the same time, Jokowi offered conciliatory words to his rival, Prabowo, saying he was a patriot and contributed to a better democracy. Prabowo countered with his own declaration of victory. "[The quick counts] show that we, Prabowo-Hatta, have received the support and mandate from the people of Indonesia," he told a rally in the capital, referring to his running mate Hatta Rajasa. After the official result is declared, candidates can challenge the results in the Constitutional Court, the final arbiter over contested polls. The Court's reputation has been badly tarnished after its chief was sentenced to jail for life this month for corruption. "There have always been challenges…So we could end up with delayed certainty for a few weeks," Douglas Ramage, a Jakarta-based political analyst told Reuters. The government declared Wednesday a public holiday and markets were closed although the rupiah currency hit a seven-week high against the dollar in offshore markets on Jokowi's victory claim. His clean image is seen likely to bring in more foreign investment as he seeks to correct Indonesia's reputation of widespread corruption. But any euphoria in the market could quickly evaporate if the stalemate over the result is not quickly resolved or if there is violence. "Whether the market goes up or down tomorrow will mostly depend on the security. For me, maintaining security is very important at this point," said Isbono Putro, a director at BNI Asset Management, who helps manage about 8 trillion rupiah ($688.47 million) in assets. Additional reporting by the Reuters Jakarta bureau, and Reuters reporters Lewa Pardomuan in Tasikmalaya. The post Both Candidates in Indonesia Election Claim Victory appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| In Burmese Shops, Old Tires Find Many New Lives Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:45 PM PDT  The government-run junkyard in Rangoon's Insein Township, which takes used cars from across Burma and turns them into scrap metal. (Photo: Sean Havey / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The air in the dark, dingy room is thick with the acrid smell of rubber. Aung Nyunt and a half a dozen other workers toil away there day and night, turning discarded tires into flip-flops, buckets and hard-to-find spare parts for used cars. Their country may be undergoing one of the most remarkable transformations the region has seen in generations, but the trade they learned from their fathers decades ago appears to be as relevant today as ever. Though military rulers handed over power to a nominally civilian government three years ago, paving the way for political and economic reforms, the vast majority of the country's 60 million people remain desperately poor. For them, nothing is without value. Old truck tires are transformed into rubber washers and bushings for cars and rice mills. Machine parts, buckets and flip-flops—the most popular footwear in the rural areas—are among the biggest sellers for tire recyclers like Nyunt. They are especially popular among farmers, the 63-year-old says proudly as he chisels away at the thread of a discarded tire, soon to be a sandal's sole. "When most flip-flops get stuck in the mud, the straps just snap off," he says. "But these lift out in one piece." Another worker, Thwe Oo, nods. The 47-year-old has been at this job since he was 15. "City folk" may think the flip-flops are ugly, Thwe Oo says, but they are cheap—1,500 kyats (US$1.50)—and sturdy. That's what matters. During Burma's half-century of dictatorship and self-imposed isolation, the country went from being one of Southeast Asia's richest to the poorest. Businesses were nationalized and everything from toothpaste to rice rationed. Only a few cars—all belonging to the ruling elite—bounced along the potholed roads, but they went through plenty of tires. And getting spare parts was next to impossible. Kyi Thein Win's late uncle—known as Bo Taya, or Boss of Tires—saw a need and filled it, turning tire recycling into a family business. Today their shop is among nearly a dozen lining the streets on the suburbs of the country's biggest city, Rangoon. As the economy opens up, factories are springing up faster than ever, said Win, 39, but it's still hard to get spare parts for machinery. That's true, too, of the 300,000 cars, most of them secondhand, now on the roads. They need rubber bushings and washers. Win's shop gets most of its most raw material—primarily huge tires from heavy trucks, tractors and backhoes—from government departments and private companies. They get orders not just from individuals and local repair shops, but from government factories and large private industries. "The economy is growing," he says, humming a song as he gingerly cuts a machine washer from a thick black tire with a 7-inch knife. "I don't expect business to slow down for us anytime soon." The post In Burmese Shops, Old Tires Find Many New Lives appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Raid by Thai Police Exposes Human Trafficking Ring Posted: 09 Jul 2014 05:29 AM PDT  Rohingya people from Burma, who were rescued from human traffickers, react in a communal cell at the Songkhla Immigration Detention Center, where they are kept, near Thailand’s border with Malaysia Feb. 13, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — A raid at a palm plantation in southern Thailand exposed a ring that trafficked Burma's ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims into the country, police said Wednesday. The raid on Saturday came two weeks after Thailand was demoted to the lowest level in the annual US rankings of governments' anti-trafficking efforts, principally over abusive practices in the seafood industry. Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on a palm plantation and arrested two Burmese men who allegedly had detained 13 Rohingya for extortion for over a month in Thailand's Chumphon province, said police Maj. Gen. Warawuth Thaweechaikarn. Chumphon is about 380 kilometers (240 miles) south of Bangkok. The 10 men and three women were part of a bigger group of about 140 refugees traveling out of Burma's Arakan State by boats since May 11, but the rest were sent to different destinations after landing on the Thai shore, Warawuth said, adding that the asylum seekers were attempting to travel to China and Malaysia. Their relatives were asked to send 50,000 baht ($1,500) to the traffickers to bring the refugees over the border to Malaysia, he said, adding that they lived in poor conditions at the plantation and that some were physically assaulted. "We are looking for other suspects, including Thais, who have been involved in the human trafficking network. I believe there will be more arrests to come," said Col. Tikamporn Srisang of the Chumphon immigration police. Rohingya face discrimination in Burma, where sectarian violence for nearly two years has left hundreds dead and more than 140,000 displaced from their homes. Many sought asylum and work in other countries, especially Malaysia, which has a Muslim majority. Since 2013, more than 1,700 Rohingya have been arrested in Thailand after seeing their boats run aground in the country's south. The post Raid by Thai Police Exposes Human Trafficking Ring appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| ‘Big Media Can’t Cover These Things in Detail, So We Cover Them’ Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:20 AM PDT  Brang Mai, publisher of the Myitkyina News Journal. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Brang Mai is the man behind Burma's first and only newspaper serving the ethnic Kachin population. He returned to Burma in 2012 after six years in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he worked as a manager and IT officer for Inter News. He also works part-time producing radio packages and providing video-editing training at Voice of America, and as a video editor for Radio Free Asia. In January, Brang Mai and two fellow Kachins—both of whom have experience working as journalists—launched the Myikyina News Journal, which publishes news for people in Kachin State in the Burmese language. Its editions, which come out fortnightly, are distributed all over Kachin State. Brang Mai spoke with The Irrawaddy's Yen Snaing in Rangoon about the challenges of launching one of the first publications in Burma to be targeted at an ethnic minority population. Question: How did you start the journal? Answer: First we put our savings together. Then, we invited donors while we got started on our project. They gave one-off donations, with no strings attached. The three of us have ownership of it. Q: How many copies did you print when you started? A: We published about 8,000 copies. We publish once every two weeks. We want to publish weekly but we have some problems. We have mechanical problems. There aren't any of the machines we need to print in Myitkyina. They are only in Rangoon and Mandalay, so we do it in Mandalay. There are only two print shops in Mandalay. We do the design and layout ourselves in Myitkyina. Then, we send the design on a CD to Mandalay. It's quite costly. The plates are then sent back to Myitkyina , and we print it there. Q: Can you tell me about your newsroom in Myitkyina? A: We started with three people. We called for reporters to join us, and five came forward. We gave them basic journalism training, and now we have eight reporters. Q: What is the situation for reporters covering the conflict in Kachin State? A: We cover battles by phone because most battles happen at the border. Some of our reporters are quite new, so they can't handle big issues yet. They cover news in town such as news about IDPs, the issue of people displaced by the Myitsone Dam, the establishment of small political parties. We can't really cover big battles yet. Q: What is the difference between your journal and other daily newspapers? A: As we are local media, we can cover some issues that big media can't cover. We can also do follow-up news. Local residents also really want to read about their local news. The mainstream Burmese media are writing about big issues like Parliament, the government, politics, policy and international news, but local Kachins want to know what is going on inside Kachin State. They are more interested in that, and that is our strength. Now there are ceasefire discussions, the Myitsone issue and as we are close to the border, there are also issues like human trafficking, drug trafficking and human rights abuses. We also have lots of drug users in the state. There are also environmental issues as people dig for gold and precious stones. Big media can't cover these things in detail, so we cover them. Q: What issues are you focused on? A: We don't set a theme. For example, if there are peace talks, then we focus on that. If there is a battle, we focus on that. If there is no such issue going on, we might report on the land grabbing issue. We write based on issues. We cover most sectors: politics, economics, social and a little bit of entertainment. There has not been any privately owned free media before in Kachin State, so we have support from our audience. They call us and send letters. They even report things to us as if we were a police station. Q: How do you sustain the paper financially? A: We can support reporters' salaries and office rental from selling the paper. But we have to buy equipment with donations. We print 8,000 copies, but we also have to pay distributors. We also get advertising in the paper. Locals are quite open-minded too. The problem is the pricing of advertising in the government-owned newspapers. They reduce their advertising prices so much we can't compete. Then, we have to reduce the price. They still can make profit although they reduce the price because they are publishing across the whole country. For us, as we are distributing only in Kachin State, it impacts upon us. Q: Why do you publish Kachin news in the Burmese language? Do you plan to publish for Kachin-language readers? A: We publish in Burmese because Kachin people have already suffered from most of the issues happening in Kachin. They know it already. We will have less impact if we publish in Kachin and distribute just to those who have suffered. We want to have more impact by reaching all people living in Kachin State. Q: What is your plan for future of the paper? A: We would like to increase the copies of the paper and expand to Mandalay, Shan State and the Kachin community in Rangoon. We will post on social media and we are now working on a website. We want to buy our own printing press because this is a difficulty. Then, it could become a weekly or a daily. Later, like Laiza FM or Pandamya FM, we would like to launch Myitkyina FM. We are trying to contact with potential funders. We are trying at least for community radio, if not FM yet. Q: How much freedom do you have to cover stories? A: When we got a license to publish, we started to cover stories. The official department hasn't said anything or complained so far. Officials give us interviews: Gen. Gun Maw from the KIA has also given us an interview, even the [Burma Army's] northern divisional commander. We haven't started to write much about sensitive issues yet. We don't know how it will be when we start to do that. The post 'Big Media Can't Cover These Things in Detail, So We Cover Them' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Rangoon Journalists Decry Threats to Peers in Mandalay Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:09 AM PDT  Journalists in black caps and T-shirts gather outside the courtroom in Rangoon's Dagon Township to protest defamation charges against the Voice Weekly journal in August 2012. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — Rangoon-based journalists are calling on the government to protect reporters who were threatened with violence while covering inter-communal riots in Mandalay last week. The Myanmar Journalist Network and the Interim Press Council, both based in the former capital, issued statements on Tuesday condemning the intimidation of reporters. "We strongly urge the government to take action against those who create unrest, and to effectively protect media and journalists who have been threatened," the journalist network said. It said reporters in Mandalay had been targeted because the police failed to take action against members of the public who stirred up religious tensions by spreading hate speech. "Threatening journalists who are fulfilling their duty to inform citizens of events on the ground is a noticeable threat to press freedom and the country's democratic transition," the Interim Press Council said in its statement. Inter-communal violence broke out on July 1 in Mandalay and continued through last week, leaving two people dead and at least 14 others injured. Journalists covering the clashes were threatened by members of the angry mob, including some who attempted to forcibly remove memory cards from cameras. Social media users meanwhile posted photos of individual reporters online, with accompanying posts calling for the reporters to be beaten as punishment for taking photographs of the riots. Some news bureaus based in Rangoon were blackmailed and threatened by anonymous phone callers urging them not to publish reports of the news. Journalists in Mandalay also met on Wednesday to discuss their safety and prepare a statement calling for an end to threats against journalists. The post Rangoon Journalists Decry Threats to Peers in Mandalay appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Air KBZ Will Launch Flights to Chiang Mai and Mae Sot Posted: 09 Jul 2014 03:32 AM PDT  An Air KBZ plane refuels at Rangoon International Airport. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burmese airline Air Kanbawza (Air KBZ) plans to launch its first international routes later this year, to Mae Sot and Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, a senior airline official says. Air KBZ will operate a Rangoon-Chiang Mai flight four times weekly starting Nov. 1, Air KBZ general manager Myat Thu told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. He said the airline would sign a code sharing agreement with Mann Yadanarpon Airlines, another Burmese carrier, allowing both to sell tickets for the same flight. Chiang Mai has a large Burmese population and receives many visitors from Burma. Currently, only one Burmese airline, Air Bagan, owned by tycoon Tay Za, services a flight to the city from Rangoon. Ticket prices for the KBZ flights have not yet been confirmed, the airline's general manager said. Air KBZ will launch the Rangoon-Mae Sot route five days weekly, starting Oct. 27, the general manager added. He said the airline would cooperate with Thai budget carrier Nok Air, which recently stopped servicing the same route on its own. No other Burmese airline currently flies to Mae Sot, a border town where many Burmese migrants live. It is possible to travel overland by bus from the border town to Rangoon via Myawaddy in Karen State. However, roads remain in poor condition and the trip takes many hours. "Many Burmese travel back to Rangoon from Mae Sot every day. There is a big market," the general manager said. Air KBZ will operate both routes with 68-seat ATR- 72 aircrafts. The airline plans to buy one new aircraft this month and another in January next year. It currently operates 16 domestic routes with six aircrafts. The owner of Air KBZ is Kanbawza Bank, part of the business empire of tycoon Aung Ko Win. The bank also owns an 80 percent stake in Myanmar Airways International (MAI), the country's international flag carrier. In February, Mann Yadanarpon became the latest operational entry into Burma's increasingly crowded domestic airline industry. The airline currently offers commercial flights to Rangoon, Mandalay, Nyaung U, Heho, Kengtung, Tachileik and Myitkyina. The Mandalay-based carrier became Burma's eighth domestic airline in operation. The post Air KBZ Will Launch Flights to Chiang Mai and Mae Sot appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| In West Burma, Ancient City Needs Care: Activists Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:24 AM PDT  Foreign visitors at Hokekathein stupa in Mrauk U.(Photo: Myat Su Mon / The Irrawaddy) Mrauk U, once the capital of an ethnic Arakanese kingdom, is presently more of a ruined city than an ancient capital. The city in Arakan State was founded in the 1430s and remained a bustling commercial center until 1784, with trade to other Asian and European countries. Pagodas and stupas could be found throughout the city and surrounding hills, with religious edifices made of stone and rock. These days, most of the Buddha images and religious edifices lie in ruins among bushes and vines. Buddha images in the precinct of the famous Shitthaung and Koethaung stupas have been disfigured over years of poor care. The government says it lacks funds to adequately preserve Mrauk U, but a campaign is gaining steam to save what is left of the historical city. Aung Kyaw Zan, assistant director of the Mrauk U archeology department at the National Museum and Library, is among those working to preserve the religious edifices. "During a visit to Mrauk U, President U Thein Sein said he would grant 600 million kyats (US$600,000) for preservation works for the 2014-15 year," he told The Irrawaddy. Under the former military regime, some religious edifices received what the government called all-around renovation, but not full restoration. As part of the renovations, plaques with the names of ancient kings, queens and princes were removed from edifices and replaced with plaques honoring generals, including Gen. Than Shwe, the country's former dictator. Shitthaung Stupa was disfigured by cement when former Gen. Khin Nyunt ordered its renovation. "In the time of State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), generals came to Mrauk U and ordered the reconstruction of some pagodas and stupas," said a researcher who is documenting Mrauk U history. "I suggested choosing a different way, since their renovation methods could destroy the religious edifices, but they did not listen." Generals were accused of taking Buddha images and artifacts for themselves. In 2011, an ancient Buddha image was discovered and news spread that it was made of pure gold. Government authorities claimed it for Naypyidaw, in the face of protest by thousands of locals. In fact, the image was made of only nine-carat gold. Locals said they appreciated it for its cultural value. Meanwhile, some locals are trying to preserve badly disfigured Buddha images on their own, but authorities have prohibited them from doing so. "The original aesthetic features may be harmed," Aung Kyaw Zan said of the government's decision to ban unofficial renovations. However, some leaders of the official archeological teams have been accused of lacking specialized knowledge and winning their positions due to connections with the former regime. And although construction of hotels near ancient regions is prohibited, businesspeople are building hotels and restaurants, allegedly thanks to under-the-table agreements with authorities. The government is also building a railroad through holy places of the Mrauk U, angering the Arakanese people who say the Koethaung Stupa will not be able to bear the vibrations of nearby trains over time and will likely be damaged. Still, measures are under way to earn the city status as a World Heritage Site. "We plan to apply for Unesco's recognition in 2016. We've made all the preparations for Unesco to inspect the region," Aung Kyaw Zan said. Local people say they are particularly worried that Mrauk U may never make the World Heritage List if the stupa is damaged by the railroad. The post In West Burma, Ancient City Needs Care: Activists appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
