| In Rohingya Camp, a Subdued Celebration of Muslim Holiday Posted: 07 Oct 2014 09:18 AM PDT  Rohingya men cut up meat of cows that were sacrificed during a quiet celebration of Eid al-Adha in a Muslim camp in Arakan State's Myebon Township. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) MYEBON TOWNSHIP, Arakan State — In Myebon camp, there were few signs on Monday that the roughly 3,000 Rohingya Muslim residents were celebrating Eid al-Adha, one of Islam's most important religious holidays. There was no music, nor a festive atmosphere. Yet, some low-key ceremonies were taking place and for residents of the camp in northern Arakan State it was a rare chance to observe their traditions and rejoice. "This is first time that they [Arakan State authorities] allowed us to do it. We could not do it since violence broke out here" in 2012, said Kyaw Thein, the camp committee's chairman. "But we celebrated it quietly as we are living in the camp." During Eid al-Adha, Muslims honor the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael on God's command, before God intervened and gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. Traditionally during the holiday, an animal is sacrificed and divided among the family, relatives and friends, and the poor. At Myebon, the Rohingya managed to collect some money from camp residents and donations from slightly better off Muslim villagers in the area so that they could afford to sacrifice 21 cows. Around 3 pm, the men gathered below some plastic tarpaulins that provided little relief from the blistering mid-day sun to quietly slaughter the animals and divide them into pieces of meat for distribution among families in the camp. Groups of excited children ran around, with some of them wearing new clothes and cheap sunglasses. Among many parents in the camp the mood was subdued, however. "Brother, you are lucky to see our children in their new dress today. We do not have money to buy it for them. Some people [in nearby villages] donated it to the children to wear during Eid," said Hla Myint, a camp resident and father of five. Some residents said they would roast the beef as they lacked the ingredients to prepare a meat curry as they would normally have done before they fled from their villages. The Rohingya in the camp are among the roughly 140,000 Muslims who were displaced by an outbreak of clashes with the Arakanese Buddhists in northern Arakan State in 2012, where tensions between communities have since remained high. In Myebon Township, violence erupted in October 2012; 22 Muslims were killed and three Buddhists died. A reported 3,010 Rohingya fled and their villages were burned down, while several hundred Arakanese were displaced. International human rights groups have accused Burma's Buddhist-dominated government of carrying out severe rights abuses against the roughly 1 million stateless Rohingya, such as limiting their freedom of movement and access to education and health care, while also blocking international aid from reaching the Muslim camps. Kyaw Thein said the displaced Rohingya at Myebon camp were suffering from poor living conditions and government restrictions that ban them from leaving the site, a piece of rocky land about the size of two football pitches crammed with ramshackle bamboo and tin-roofed huts. "We are living as if we are staying under house arrest. We could not move outside the camps," he said. About a dozen armed police are stationed around the camp, which is situated between a paddy field and a hill, while a police check point controls the only road leading to the site. There is no local water source and aid organizations have to regularly supply water for drinking and washing, along with regular food rations. Not far from the Rohingya camp, on the other side of the road, there is a small camp for about 100 Arakanese Buddhists displaced by the violence. Residents of this camp are free to move in and out during the morning and they could be seen leaving for Myebon market to buy or sell goods. In Myebon town, about a 15-minute drive to the south of the Rohingya camp, loudspeakers were blasting Buddhist chanting on Monday afternoon, while monks collected rice donations during a ceremony that attracted hundreds of Arakanese worshippers. At the Rohingya camp, residents said they wish they could go back to their homes and rebuild their villages, something that is being prohibited by the authorities who believe that permanent segregation of Buddhist and Muslim communities is the solution to the conflict. "I want to say: 'Let's forget what happened in the past and let us go back to our home places.' We are human beings; we need nutrition and ingredients to make our food sweet or sour. Please do not let us stay in this place any longer," said Hla Myint. The post In Rohingya Camp, a Subdued Celebration of Muslim Holiday appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| 2 Political Prisoners Among Thousands to Be Freed Posted: 07 Oct 2014 08:49 AM PDT  Brig-Gen Thein Swe and his son, Sonny Swe, at Myin Gyan prison on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014. (Photo: Nang Maisy Kyaw / Facebook) MANDALAY – In the latest in a string of prisoner amnesties, Burma's President Thein Sein has promised to release more than 3,000 people from the nation's jails to mark the end of Buddhist lent. A statement by the President's Office, released on Tuesday, announced that the prisoners will be granted freedom on account of their "good manners" and in accordance with the Constitution. "The 3,073 prisoners [receiving amnesty] are being released because they have been serving their prison terms and behaving with good manners during imprisonment," read the statement. "They have been released as a humanitarian act with respect to the state's peace and stability, the rule of law and national solidarity." Among the thousands released are 3,015 Burmese nationals and 58 foreigners, the statement said. While the identities of the prisoners have not been disclosed, at least eight are believed to have been former high-ranking Military Intelligence officials jailed after a 2004 purge that followed the ousting of former spy chief Khin Nyunt by then-Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Only two of those granted amnesty have thus far been identified as prisoners of conscience, while most are believed to have been jailed for ordinary crimes, according to the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP-B). The AAPP-B said that former Brig-Gen Thein Swe, Col. Maung Than, Lt-Col Min Thu, Lt-Col Myint Oo, Maj. San Aung, Maj. Aung Kyaw Moe and three other military men were among those freed from several facilities nationwide. The two identified as political prisoners, Mar La and Saw Mya Saw, had both been jailed on charges of unlawful association with ethnic armed groups, according to AAPP-B. Bo Kyi, secretary of AAPP-B, emphasized that the latest amnesty should not be mistaken by the international community as a meaningful gesture by Thein Sein's government, which has repeatedly promised to rid the nation's jails of all prisoners of conscience. "This pardon is nothing more than what they [the government] usually do," Bo Kyi told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, "a big ceremony. There are still 75 prisoners of conscience and 65 farmers in jail for political activity." Bo Kyi added that observers ought to question why the authorities have failed to announce details such as the identities and nationalities of those being released. "If the government truly cares about transparency, they should announce who they are pardoning," he continued. "We have to find out on our own, and prison authorities often do not want to tell us the details." Bo Kyi, who also serves on the Political Prisoners Scrutinizing Committee – an oversight body created by the government in 2013 to identify and eliminate prisoners of conscience – warned that the amnesty does not indicate that the country has improved its treatment of activists, particularly farmers speaking out about land rights since the reform process began. "On the one hand, the government is making a show of releasing a lot of prisoners. On the other hand, they are still arresting, suing and jailing activists and farmers," Bo Kyi said. "The world is watching. The people of Burma are watching. If they really want to win favor from the international community or even from their own people, they must stop this oppression and unfair imprisonment," he added. According to AAPP-B statistics, about 75 political prisoners and 65 wrongly imprisoned farmers remain behind bars, while more than 100 activists and over 500 farmers are currently facing charges that could land them in jail for political activities. The post 2 Political Prisoners Among Thousands to Be Freed appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Missing Helicopter Found in Burma With All Occupants Alive Posted: 07 Oct 2014 05:30 AM PDT  Tay Za, right, kisses the cheek of his personal assistant Shwe Yin Taw Gyi in Lan Sarr village, Kachin State, after that latter went missing along with two others aboard a helicopter on Sept. 27. (Photo: Facebook / Htoo Foundation) RANGOON — A Thai helicopter enlisted in the hunt for two Burmese mountain climbers has been found with all of its occupants surviving, some 10 days after the aircraft went missing in northern Kachin State, according to the foundation organizing search efforts. The helicopter carrying three people went missing on Sept. 27. Ground control lost contact with the aircraft about 20 minutes after it took off from Putao headed for Tahomdum village, where it was attempting to deliver supplies to a team participating in the search for the mountain climbers on Mount Hkakabo Razi. On Tuesday, the Htoo Foundation, whose patron Tay Za is one of Burma's biggest tycoons, said the helicopter had been found with all three men on board still alive. "Today at 5 p.m., Tay Za met with all three people—the Thai pilot, Burmese pilot and Shwe Yin Taw Gyi—at Lan Sarr village, and the required medical treatment for them has been arranged," read a post on the foundation's Facebook page. The announcement was accompanied by several photos of the meeting, one in which Tay Za is pictured kissing the cheek of Shwe Yin Taw Gyi, who serves as the magnate's personal assistance. The statement did not include details on the helicopter team's ordeal, and attempts by The Irrawaddy to contact the Htoo Foundation were unsuccessful on Tuesday night. Over the weekend, the Htoo Foundation said the search for the two missing Burmese would continue, while acknowledging that it was increasingly unlikely that the men—Aung Myint Myat and Wai Yan Min Thu—would be found alive. They set out to summit Mount Hkakabo Razi on July 31 and reached the peak on Aug. 31, becoming the first Burmese nationals to scale what is considered to be Southeast Asia's tallest mountain. The duo sent a transmission on Aug. 31 relaying the feat, which was corroborated by their GPS data, but the climbers have not been heard from since. The post Missing Helicopter Found in Burma With All Occupants Alive appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burmese Suspects in Koh Tao Murders Tortured Under Interrogation: Lawyer Posted: 07 Oct 2014 04:15 AM PDT  A group of Thai and Burmese lawyers, officials and migrant activists meet with the two Burmese murder suspects on Koh Samui, southern Thailand. (Photo: Min Oo) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Two Burmese migrants currently being detained on Thailand's Koh Samui were allegedly beaten and threatened by Thai police and an interpreter under interrogation for the murders of two British tourists last month, according to a Burmese lawyer who spoke with the accused. The two migrants from Burma's Arakan State, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, are suspected of murdering Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, on Koh Tao in Thailand's Surat Thani province on Sept. 15. Aung Myo Thant, a Burmese lawyer who is part of a legal team sent by the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok to represent the accused, told The Irrawaddy that Win Zaw Htun was assaulted and threatened after refusing to confess to the murders during a police interrogation. "He didn't confess when he was in the investigation center," Aung Myo Thant said. "A police officer hit the side of his face and the interpreter also hit him four times. Then police threatened to electrocute them [the suspects] and said that no worse thing would happen to them if they confessed. So, they finally confessed as they saw no hope." The lawyer said Win Zaw Htun had asked him to "please protect us in accordance with the law." Aung Myo Thant said the migrants signed a power of attorney document over to the embassy's legal team, allowing it to represent the accused men in court. Thai authorities denied a request by the Burmese legal team to meet with another Burmese migrant Maung Maung, who is being held by Thai police as a witness. "Police told us Maung Maung is not a criminal. They are keeping him to be a witness and provide testimony to the prosecutor. So, they can't let us meet him. They told us they are keeping him at a hotel," said Aung Myo Thant. There were unconfirmed reports stating that Maung Maung, who is a friend of the two suspects, was also badly beaten by Thai police. Several Burmese migrant workers who were among those recently questioned by Thai authorities on Koh Tao in connection with the murders told The Irrawaddy that they were beaten during questioning. Than Hlaing, one of six Burmese migrants who were questioned by Thai police last Thursday, alleged that the group was beaten under interrogation. The Burmese legal team plans to visit Koh Tao in order to meet with the Burmese community there and collect more information. The team said they are cooperating with the Burmese government and the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok and are acting in accordance with Thai law. Burma's President Thein Sein will discuss the murder case when he meets Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in Burma later this week. When contacted by The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, the mother of three Burmese migrant workers who alleged that Thai police poured hot water over them during questioning said she would not let her children speak to the media out of fear for their safety. She said that after the allegation surfaced in the media, Thai police came to warn her children that they would be in trouble if they spoke to the media again. "We will try our best to help our Burmese people as they are often abused in Thailand," Aung Myo Thant said. "We also demanded that Thai police protect our citizens in accordance with the law." The post Burmese Suspects in Koh Tao Murders Tortured Under Interrogation: Lawyer appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| 7 Alleged Ivory Poachers Arrested in Irrawaddy Division Posted: 07 Oct 2014 03:19 AM PDT  Police inspect an elephant poaching case in Ngaputaw Township, Irrawaddy Division, in January 2013. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Division — Seven suspected members of an elephant poaching ring were detained by military officers in Irrawaddy Division on Sunday, police said. A military column in Ngaputaw Township apprehended the men after they were discovered with four ivory tusks and about 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) of elephant hide. The suspects have since been handed over to regional police. "Seven elephant poachers have been handed over to us by the military column. We are still investigating the case," Irrawaddy Division Police Col. Aung Naing Thu told The Irrawaddy. Light Infantry Battalion No. 38, led by deputy commander Maj. Nay Tun Hlaing, arrested the seven in Baw Gyo Valley, near Kwin Bt in Nga Yoke Kaung sub-township. Troops confiscated two cross-bows, 19 arrows, 36 small ball bearings and other hunting paraphernalia as well as the illicit animal parts. The group was captured in a hut where they were said to have been cutting tusks and curing the hide after killing a male wild elephant with a handmade rifle, according to police who were briefed by the military battalion. Troops told police that they believe more handmade firearms are hidden in nearby forests. The suspects will be charged at the Nga Yoke Kaung police station as police continue to search for other accomplices. Police said that a special task force led by the Ngaputaw Township Police has been formed to identify and apprehend any other suspects in the alleged poaching ring. "We will find out who their accomplices are; those who carry, distribute, sell and buy ivory and elephant hide," said Deputy Police Col. Aung Naing Moe of the Irrawaddy Division Police. "We also plan to find out exactly how many elephants have been killed. There have been earlier reports of poaching, so we will determine if they are connected." Reports of elephant poaching in the central region began to surface in August 2012. Thus far, wild elephants in three of Irrawaddy Division's forest reserves—Sin Ma, Myit Ta Yar and Sin Hmone—have fallen victim to poachers. At least five cases have come under investigation by regional police in 2012-13 alone, though only one has resulted in arrest. Police in Taung Ka Lay apprehended six poachers over one such case, while all others remain unresolved. A local lawmaker told The Irrawaddy that targeting organized crime is crucial to stemming the problem. "I would like to see the investigation focus on poaching gangs," said Aye Kyi, a member of Irrawaddy Division's regional parliament. Aye Kyi explained that organized poaching rings commonly come in from other areas and pay off local villagers for directions. Those villagers, he said, are often arrested by local authorities, though they were only part of larger criminal schemes originating elsewhere. "I don't want locals to get into trouble for something they didn't do," said Aye Kyi. Ivory is typically sold by viss, a Bumese weight measurement equal to about 3.6 pounds (1.6 kilograms). A mature tusk tends to weigh between 10-15 viss, which can bring in up to 100 million kyats (US$101,000). Most Burmese ivory is sold on the black market to neighboring China or Thailand. The seven suspects, still in custody as the investigation continues, are: Myo Aung, San Shae and San Myint from Nga Yoke Kaung; and Khin Maung Zaw, Naing Gyi, Khin Maung Win and Than Hlaing from Nga Thaing Chaung in Yekyi Township. The post 7 Alleged Ivory Poachers Arrested in Irrawaddy Division appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Three Blasts Rock Taunggyi, Injure 2 Policemen Posted: 07 Oct 2014 03:14 AM PDT  A photo printed in state media shows the damage to a bus-stop in Taunggyo caused by one of the three blasts. (Photo: Kyemon) RANGOON — Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State, was rocked by three bomb blasts on Saturday evening, one of which injured two policemen, and authorities found three more explosive devices that were defused on time, local sources said. The bombs were planted near Burma Army bases in the town, with the first explosion occurring near a bus-stop close to the gates of the Eastern Command, said Tin Maung Toe, Taunggyi District chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD). The roof of the bus-stop was blown off by the blast. Minutes later, another bomb exploded near the army's No. 212 Signals Battalion and the third went off as two traffic policemen from a nearby traffic police office went to the site of second bomb blast, he said, adding that the officers sustained minor injuries. The three more bombs were found in front of Eastern Command and defused. "Police said that those bombs are not hand-made ones, but time-bombs made with relatively advanced technology," said Tin Maung Toe. Taunggyi Township police declined to comment on the blasts when contacted by The Irrawaddy on Monday. Taunggyi Township Administrator Zaw Myint Thein said security had been tightened in the town, with the police combing the area for clues about the attackers. "Authorities concerned have been working in cooperation with members of public to make sure there are no new bomb blasts," he said. "Since [Sunday], houses are being checked by authorities to see if there are overnight guests [from other places]," Tin Maung Toe, of the NLD, said. "Locals are concerned and scared as the Tazaungdaing Lighting Festival is drawing near," he added. Taunggyi resident Nay Myo also confirmed that police were going through the town's neighborhoods to check whether guests had been staying over in recent days. "Locals are concerned about security during the Tazaungdaing festival," he said, referring to the annual Buddhist holiday that is celebrated in Taunggyi with a spectacular, week-long balloon competition that starts on Nov 1 and draws tens of thousands of visitors. Nay Myo said he feared that the bomb blasts are related to a recent increase in fighting between the Burma Army and ethnic rebels groups in Shan State. The clashes involving various rebel groups, including Palaung and Shan State Army-North fighters, have been on the rise in recent weeks and come at a time when Burma's nationwide ceasefire talks appear to have hit a deadlock. Unexplained, relatively small bomb blasts have occurred in towns and cities across Burma in the past year. The incidents have often been linked by police to the country's ethnic armed groups, although details on the incidents are scarce. In October last year, a spate of mysterious small explosive devices—from time-detonated mines to hand grenades—exploded or were discovered around the country. Three people were killed and at least 10 were wounded by bomb blasts in five states and divisions in just a matter of weeks. The post Three Blasts Rock Taunggyi, Injure 2 Policemen appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Inle Lake Volunteers Talk Trash at Pagoda Festival Posted: 07 Oct 2014 02:43 AM PDT  Members of the Innsar Lu Khae group carry bags of trash they collected at Inle Lake. (Photo: Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) INLE LAKE, Shan State — As revelers gather at Inle Lake in Shan State to celebrate the famed Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda festival, another group of concerned volunteers has teamed up to do the dirty work: picking up trash generated by the thousands of people that flock to the lake for the event. About 100 young people wearing bright yellow T-shirts have joined a local volunteer group named Innsar Lu Khae to raise awareness about the negative impact of indiscriminate disposal of waste, with the team going around on motorized boats to collect trash during the festival. "We want to stop the littering habit and we want to educate people on the impact of plastic waste and how the trash in the lake affects the environment. When people saw us collecting trash, they stopped themselves from throwing trash into the water and gave the trash to us," said Maung Pyone, one of the youth leaders of the conservation campaign. Innsar Lu Khae—meaning Intha Youth in reference to the ethnic Intha peoples of the lake—said that more than 30 kilograms of plastic waste per day have been collected over the course of the festival, which runs from Sept. 24 to Oct. 11. The campaign is not the first of its kind for many of the volunteers, who work in their respective villages each week to collect waste in an effort to reduce the plastic and other forms of refuse that otherwise would not make it into a garbage bin. The 18-day pagoda festival, which draws thousands of Buddhist pilgrims across the country, has the negative side effect of leading to a marked increase in trash thrown into the lake by celebrants. The spike in visitors and attendant rise in pollution is the reason the campaigners have turned out en masse this year. "We did the campaign en masse during the festival because we want every resident and visitors to know that Inle Lake needs to be clean. Our campaign is to create awareness for both the [ethnic] Inthas and the visitors, not to litter into the lake," he said. "Another reason is that we don't want our pagoda festival to be the festival that destroys the lake." Although the group has endeavored to clean up the lake, their environmental caretaking has also bred another environmental concern. "Currently, we've pile up this trash in an area which is far from the villages, and have to burn it since most of the trash is plastics. Burning the trash like this is not a suitable way, but we have no choice yet. We still need a better solution to handle this trash," he said. The campaigners said collecting trash alone would not save Inle Lake, which is under environmental pressures that range from deforestation and siltification to chemical pollution and the effects of climate change. People living around Inle had for generations used the lake both for drinking water and household tasks like washing clothes or bathing. But in the 1990s, the use of fertilizer in Inle's famous floating gardens, along with population growth and drought, began to take its toll on the purity of the lake water. In 2009, following a particularly acute spell of drought blamed on climate change and deforestation of the surrounding land, environmentalists and scientists issued a warning that the lake's water required urgent attention to prevent severe contamination. According to the experts, the lake's pH levels tested in the range of 8.4 to 9.6, indicating degrees of alkalinity that made the water unsuitable to drink. Since then, residents of Inle have had to fetch potable water from the natural springs located on the east and west banks of the lake. Another concern of lake dwellers is overdevelopment, as a hotel zone on the east bank of the lake has seen hundreds of acres of land cleared of trees to make way for the region's growing tourism industry. "Collecting garbage alone will not save the lake from disappearing. We need to stop the flow of silt into the lake as well. For that, we can't work alone. We need every concerned person from every sector to take care of the environment, deforestation, usage of chemicals and the habit of littering," said Ashin Dhama Daza, a leading monk from the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda monastery who is supporting the young volunteers. "We would like to request to both residents and visitors not to litter on the lake and help us to create a clean environment for the sake of this beautiful lake," he added. "I would also like to request to those hotels and businessmen not to harm the nature. Please don't kill us. Our lives depend on the lake, we need clean water." The post Inle Lake Volunteers Talk Trash at Pagoda Festival appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| World Bank Should Promote Human Rights in Burma, NGOs Say Posted: 07 Oct 2014 02:36 AM PDT  Farmers in Mingaladon Township, Rangoon Division, protest against land grabs in 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Burmese civil society organizations have urged the World Bank Group to put human rights at the center of its new Burma country strategy. They said the bank should encourage an improvement in respect for rights within the Burmese government, while also ensuring that its development projects do not exacerbate ethnic conflict and the land rights' situation. Burmese officials are scheduled to meet with World Bank President Jim Kim in Washington on Oct 10-12 as part of the bank's preparation for a five-year country strategy for Burma. The New York-based HRW sent a submission with suggestions regarding the strategy on Friday, while a group of about 40 Burmese NGOs sent their submission late last month. "World Bank Group President Jim Kim should highlight ongoing problems of discrimination and abuses against ethnic minorities, land and labor rights, access to justice, and corruption when he meets with Burmese finance officials," HRW said in a statement. The group said the bank should be raising its concerns over the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in western Burma, a stateless minority of around 1 million people who suffer severe rights violations and a range of restrictions at the hands of authorities and local security forces. "World Bank Group President Jim Kim has highlighted the cost of discrimination not only on society, but on the economy," said Jessica Evans, HRW's senior international financial institutions researcher. "Kim should emphasize these costs with Burma's government and urge them to dismantle entrenched discrimination and take the necessary measures to end the violence against the Rohingya and other Muslim communities." The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), both part of the World Bank Group, resumed operations in Burma in 2012 after President Thein Sein introduced political reforms. Like the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank Group provides the government with loans, grants and technical support, and implements developmengt projects with the aim of reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development. HRW said the bank should do more to ensure that local communities can participate in identifying and shaping development priorities of the government and the bank. A group of 39 local NGOs working on human rights, social and environment issues warned the World Bank against implementing projects that would worsen ethnic conflict and Burma's deteriorating land rights situation. The bank should implement "a sector-wide analysis of the drivers, institutions and dynamics that perpetuate conflicts such as the militarization of resource-rich areas that are mostly populated by ethnic communities, capture of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the government by the military and their cronies," they said. The group, which included prominent NGO alliances such as the Burma Partnership, Paung Ku and the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability, also called for the bank to conduct a comprehensive land rights survey as part of its new country strategy as "[l]and-grabs are almost universally identified as the most widespread human rights abuse" in Burma. The post World Bank Should Promote Human Rights in Burma, NGOs Say appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| ‘Slim’ Odds of Finding Missing Burmese Climbers: Rescuer Posted: 07 Oct 2014 01:38 AM PDT  Members of the Italian rescue team involved in the search for the missing Burmese mountain climbers address the media in Rangoon on Oct. 4. (Photo: Htoo Foundation / Facebook) RANGOON — Hopes of finding two Burmese mountain climbers, missing for over a month on Mount Hkakabo Razi in northern Kachin State, are fading as unfavorable weather conditions continue to hamper search efforts, rescue officials have said. The two Burmese climbers were last heard from on Aug. 31 after becoming the first from their country to reach the summit of Hkakabo Razi, long believed to be the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia. Aung Myint Myat and Wai Yan Min Thu had set out with six other climbers on July 31 but were the only two in the group who were able to continue to the top because the final stretch of the summit was too narrow. When they reached the peak, the two men sent a message to the other climbers, giving their GPS location and adding that their battery was weak. They were supposed to meet the others back at base camp on Sept. 9 but never showed up. Rescuers began carrying out aerial searches the following day. "Since the two missing climbers [have been] missing for over one month, hopes of finding them are too slim," Paw Myint Oo, chief executive officer of the Htoo Foundation, said at a press conference on Saturday. He added that poor weather conditions were making ongoing search efforts difficult, but said that they would continue. The Htoo Foundation, the philanthropic branch of Burmese tycoon Tay Za's sprawling business conglomerate, has led the search for the missing mountaineers over the past month. Phyo Ko Ko, a spokesman for the foundation, said that a Japanese rescue team and the Blue Sky rescue team from China, as well as local people, were assisting in the search. A four-member Italian rescue team that arrived in Putao Township on Sept. 28 and helped with the search for the climbers, as well as that of a missing Thai rescue helicopter that lost contact with ground control on Sept. 27 during search efforts, headed back to Italy on Sunday. The Italian team, who related their experiences during a press conference at Kandawgyi Palace Hotel in Rangoon on Saturday, said that it would be difficult to survive the conditions on the mountain after one month and recommended that search efforts resume when conditions were more favorable. "[Conditions for the search] could be best at the end of November and early December, which is colder but drier than now," Piergiorgio Rosati, the head of the Italian team, told The Irrawaddy. The Italian rescue team said they had found the footprints of the climbers on the mountain during their one-week search but had found no trace of the missing helicopter. The helicopter, with three people on board, had been bringing rations to a rescue team based in Tahomdum village that was searching for the climbers. The three on board the chopper were Shwe Yin Taw Gyi, the nephew of Burmese mountaineer Namar Johnsin and personal assistant to the Htoo Foundation's patron Tay Za, Thai pilot Chat Chawal and Burmese pilot Aung Myat Toe. "It is really hard to say if they are still alive or not and where they are," Rosati said of the missing men. On the search for the missing helicopter, Paw Myint Oo said, "We will break for two days for maintenance of the rescue helicopters and [for] the pilots to rest and [we] will continue the search after that." The post 'Slim' Odds of Finding Missing Burmese Climbers: Rescuer appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| US Works on Asia Ties Amid Mideast Focus Posted: 07 Oct 2014 12:41 AM PDT  US President Barack Obama speaks to US and Filipino troops at the Fort Bonifacio Gymnasium in Manila, April 29, 2014. (Photo: Reuters / Al Falcon) WASHINGTON — A military agreement with the Philippines and easing an arms embargo against Vietnam show the Obama administration wants deeper security ties with Asia, even as turmoil in the Mideast has undermined its hope of making Asia the heart of its foreign policy. The "pivot" was intended to be President Barack Obama's signature push in foreign affairs. As the United States disentangled from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it would devote more military and diplomatic attention to the Asia-Pacific and American economic interests there. The world has not turned out as planned. Washington is grappling with the chaotic fallout of the Arab spring, a growing rivalry with Russia and the alarming rise of the Islamic State group that is prompting the United States to launch airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Against this chaotic backdrop, the growing tensions in the South and East China Seas and US efforts to counter the rise of an increasingly assertive China appear peripheral concerns. The pivot gets few people excited in Washington these days. Obama didn’t even mention it in a sweeping foreign policy speech in May, and negotiations on a trans-Pacific trade pact—the main economic prong in the pivot—have been mired by differences between the United States and Japan over agriculture and auto market access and by opposition to the pact among many of Obama's fellow Democrats. But the administration is still chipping away at its grand plan for a rebalance to Asia that began within months of Obama taking office in 2009, when the United States signed a cooperation treaty with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The United States has since ended its decades-long isolation of Burma, in response to democratic reforms there. It has taken a more strident diplomatic stance against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and some concrete steps to shore up its allies' ability to respond. In April the United States signed a 10-year agreement to allow thousands of US troops to be temporarily based in the Philippines, 20 years after US bases there were closed. Like the Philippines, Vietnam has been engaged in standoffs with China over disputed reefs and islands. Tensions spiked between May and July after China deployed a deep-sea oil rig near the Paracel Islands. The vessels of the two sides rammed each other near the rig, and there were deadly anti-China riots in several industrial parks in Vietnam. On Thursday, the State Department announced it would allow sales, on a case-by-case basis, of lethal equipment to help the maritime security of Vietnam—easing a ban that has been in place since communists took power at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The United States won't be rushing to Vietnam's defense, nor does it want to be directly involved in negotiating the territorial disputes themselves, that also involve Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. But Washington says it has an interest in the maintenance of peace and stability and equipping nations to defend themselves and deter aggression. Hanoi welcomed the step, saying it would promote the US-Vietnam partnership. It was opposed by rights activists, unpersuaded by Washington's argument that Hanoi has shown some improvements on human rights and would be encouraged to make more. John Sifton, the Washington-based Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said Vietnam's changes have been superficial and contended that the United States is reversing decades of policy for marginal strategic benefit. Republican Sen. John McCain, who is an arch critic of the Obama administration's foreign policy but supports the rebalance and pushed for the easing of the Vietnam ban, said it would strengthen defense cooperation to the benefit of both countries. But McCain foreign policy adviser Chris Brose said the United States still has to convince Asia that the rhetoric of the pivot can become reality. "The question is not whether America is doing something. Clearly America is," Brose told a Washington think tank Friday. "The question is whether what America is doing adds up to a set of actions that's fundamentally impacting China's calculus." The post US Works on Asia Ties Amid Mideast Focus appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Hong Kong Democracy Protests Fade, Face Test of Stamina Posted: 06 Oct 2014 10:39 PM PDT  A protester sits under a tent as she helps to block an area around the government headquarters in Hong Kong October 6, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — Pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong rolled into early Tuesday with hundreds of students remaining camped out in the heart of the city after more than a week of rallies and behind-the-scenes talks showing modest signs of progress. Student-led protesters early on Monday lifted a blockade of government offices that had been the focal point of their action, initially drawing tens of thousands onto the streets. Civil servants were allowed to pass through the protesters’ barricades unimpeded. Several streets through downtown Hong Kong, which houses offices for international banks, luxury malls and the main stock exchange, remained barricaded and vehicle-free, although pedestrians could walk freely through the area. Over the past week, tens of thousands of protesters have demanded that the city’s Beijing-appointed leader Leung Chun-ying quit and that China allow Hong Kong people the right to vote for a leader of their choice in 2017 elections. The stalemate appeared late on Monday to be nearing a potential turning point, however, when a senior official said formal talks to address the protesters’ demands and end the demonstrations may begin later in the week. After preparatory discussions with student representatives on Monday night, Lau Kong-wah, the Hong Kong government’s Undersecretary of Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, said both sides had agreed on general principles for the formal talks. "I think today’s meeting was successful and progress has been made," he told reporters. "We both hope to hold these discussions soon as possible and we hope that we will be able to begin them within this week." The ‘Occupy Central’ protests, an idea conceived over a year ago, have presented Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital in 1989. Facing separatist unrest in far-flung Tibet and Xinjiang, Beijing fears that calls for democracy in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland. The Communist Party leadership has dismissed the Hong Kong protests as illegal but has left Leung’s government to find a solution. Hard to Quit Protest leaders have promised to carry on with the "Occupy" demonstrations until their demands are met. "Unless (we) gain significant achievement then there is no way to quit. It has to end when, and only when, the government promises something, otherwise it is impossible to persuade the people to quit," said Alex Chow, leader of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. "The pressure generated here will also be delivered to Beijing because China still has to rule Hong Kong and they have to stabilize Hong Kong. How the Hong Kong government responds to the citizens will affect stability. If they handle it in a very adverse way then it will also affect mainland China." The protests have ebbed and flowed over the past week, with people leaving the streets overnight to return later. Police have taken a hands-off approach since last Sunday when they fired tear gas and pepper spray at protesters, creating a public relations mess and provoking more people to join the unrest. "I hope students can persist. If we retreat now we will lose the power to negotiate," said Chow Ching-lam, who was studying on the ground at the main protest site. Fearing a crackdown after city leaders called for the streets to be cleared so businesses, schools and the civil service could resume on Monday, protesters who have paralyzed parts of the former British colony with mass sit-ins pulled back from outside Leung’s office. Some banks that had closed branches during the unrest of the past week opened for business on Monday. Discrepancies on Talks A first meeting to pave the way for formal talks between government officials and student representatives was held on Sunday and another was expected on Tuesday, students said. "Whether we will get results from our discussions depends on the sincerity of the government and their attitude towards the occupying protesters," Lester Shum, vice secretary of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, told a news conference late on Monday. Shum said he hoped the formal talks could start before Sunday. Across Victoria Harbour in the gritty Mong Kok neighbourhood, some protesters also pulled back from where scuffles had broken out at the weekend with supporters of the government, prompting police to use pepper spray and batons again. The protests have disrupted businesses and helped wipe close to $50 billion off the value of shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The World Bank said the protests were hurting Hong Kong’s economy, but the impact on China was limited at this point. "What we anticipate is obviously a greater impact on the Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region], so slower growth in 2014 than was being anticipated earlier," World Bank East Asia and Pacific Chief Economist Sudhir Shetty said on Monday. "But at this stage our best estimates … are that there isn’t as yet significant spillover to the broader Chinese economy," he told a media briefing on the latest East Asia Pacific Economic Update. The post Hong Kong Democracy Protests Fade, Face Test of Stamina appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Indonesia Struggles With Islamic State Recruiting Posted: 06 Oct 2014 10:35 PM PDT  A man holds up a knife as he rides on the back of a motorcycle touring the streets of Tabqa city with others in celebration after Islamic State militants took over Tabqa air base, in nearby Raqqa city, on Aug. 24, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) CIANJUR, Indonesia — A businessman who proclaims himself leader of the Indonesian chapter of the Islamic State group says he has personally overseen the departure of scores of fighters from this Southeast Asian nation to Syria and Iraq. Police detained him for a night recently, but were unable to charge him with a crime. Chep Hernawan reflects both the success the group has had in attracting support in the region, and the challenges Indonesia faces in responding. The government, home to most of the up to 200 Southeast Asians believed to be fighting in Syria and Iraq, has forcefully spoken out against the Islamic State group, as have mainstream Muslim organizations in the country. But Indonesia is limited in what it can do to stop suspected militants from traveling abroad. The country lacks the sort of laws that neighboring Malaysia and Singapore have, allowing for detention without trial or criminal charges under limited, legally defined circumstances. It also does not ban speech that could incite hatred and intolerance. National Police spokesman Brig-Gen Boy Rafli Amar said his force could only monitor Islamic State group supporters. "If they have no record of terrorism activities then they can't be charged under our criminal law," he said. Any changes will be a challenge given the fractious nature of the new Parliament and other legislative priorities, according to a recent report on the evolution of the Islamic State group by the Institute of Policy Analysis for Conflict. For the first time since the 1990s and the Afghan jihad, Indonesians, Malaysians and other extremists in Southeast Asia are traveling abroad in an organized fashion to join a global militant movement, picking up battlefield skills and militant contacts. Security officials fear they could take part in terrorism on their return to Southeast Asia, as those trained in Afghanistan did in attacks such as the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people. Radicals at home also could heed the Islamic State group's exhortations to carry out revenge attacks on Western targets. In response to the threat posed by foreign fighters, the UN Security Council last month adopted a resolution demanding that member states prevent the recruitment and travel of people to join militant organizations like the Islamic State group. Hernawan's brush with the law has not stopped him from campaigning on behalf of the group or defending its actions, including the beheading of journalists and opposition forces. "I'm convinced that these are religious acts based on Islamic teachings [permitting acts] that strike fear in the hearts of enemies of Islam," he told The Associated Press recently at his white, colonial-style house, which stands prominently on the edge of Cianjur town's main road. His home's decor includes a real stuffed tiger, and at the time of his interview he had a pile of warm clothes and blankets ready to be delivered to refugees in the Gaza Strip. Hernawan, 63, owns hotel and manufacturing companies and is a longtime public supporter of radical Islam. He said he was appointed the head of the Islamic State group in Indonesia at a meeting of radicals on March 16. While he is well-known for speaking on behalf of the group in the country, two experts on militancy in Indonesia said it was unclear or even unlikely whether he had any structural links to the group's leadership in Syria. Like some other radicals in Indonesia, he says violent jihad within Indonesia is not justified because the country doesn't meet the conditions required under Islamic law. Not so elsewhere. "In countries where there are wars such as Iraq, Syria and Palestine, you either kill or get killed," Hernawan said. Earlier this year he addressed a gathering of Islamic State group supporters in the heart of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. On the stage with him was a man named Bahrumsyah, who in July appeared in an Islamic State group propaganda video with other Indonesians in Syria. The group has quickly achieved popularity among a section of extremists in Southeast Asia because it has a territory that welcomes those willing to fight, a slick social media campaign and a reputation for battlefield success. The danger posed to Indonesia from the group was brought into focus last month when police arrested four ethnic Uighurs they say were being taken to meet the country's most wanted militant to discuss recruitment for the group. The militant, Abu Wardah Santoso, has taken responsibility for the killings of several Indonesian police officers and has pledged allegiance to the group. The Indonesian government has outlawed the Islamic State group and ordered regional leaders to improve coordination and cooperation with security agencies to monitor activities regarding the spread of the group's ideology. The Indonesian Ulema Council, the country's top Muslim clerical body, has declared the group to be a violent and radical movement that tarnished the image of Islam as a peaceful religion. In Malaysia, authorities have revoked the passports of 30 suspected militants who had previously been arrested under the country's now-defunct national security act, said Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, head of the national police counterterrorism unit. In late September, police detained three suspected jihadists at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as they were about to board a flight to Turkey. Ayob Khan said at least 22 Malaysians were known to have left for the war in Syria. Sri Yunanto, an expert on militancy at Indonesia's anti-terrorism agency, said many jihadi groups within Indonesia are trying to use the war in Syria to create a pool of combat-trained and indoctrinated recruits. "Their goal is to send young people to Syria to provide them with expertise and experience," Yunanto said. "When the time comes for terrorism, they will have skilled operatives." At least four Indonesians are known to have been killed in Syria and Iraq. The first was Wildan Mukhollad, who blew himself up in a restaurant in Baghdad earlier this year. He grew up in the same village as two notorious militants convicted and later executed for their role in the Bali bombings, and attended a school founded by them. Ali Fauzi, his teacher at Al Islam boarding school, remembers Mukhollad watching the funerals of the two militants in the village. "He was a good boy, a smart boy," Fauzi said. "I knew that it was his dream, he had reached what he dreamed of as a kid: to be martyred and go to heaven." Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report. The post Indonesia Struggles With Islamic State Recruiting appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
