The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Ma Ba Tha Spokesperson Pans Media, Says Group Are Not ‘Instigators’
• Junta-Backed USDP Campaigning Through Nargis Projects
• KNU’s Kwe Htoo Win: ‘The Government Nodded and We Accepted’
• Thousands of Burma Army Officers Promoted: Military Mouthpiece
• US Court Summons Thein Sein Over Rohingya Rights Violations
• Use Your Red Card, NLD Tells UEC as Alleged Campaign Violations Pile Up
• Difficult to Buy a Gun in China, but Not Explosives
• India Rejects Pakistan Peace Plan, Calls for Revival of Terrorism Talks
• Sri Lanka Says it Will Cooperate with UN on War Crimes Inquiry

Ma Ba Tha Spokesperson Pans Media, Says Group Are Not ‘Instigators’ Posted: 02 Oct 2015 05:35 AM PDT Nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu (center) takes part in a protest against visiting United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, in Rangoon, January 16, 2015. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) RANGOON — A spokesperson for Buddhist nationalist group Ma Ba Tha said on Friday that foreign media did not understand Burmese culture and refuted suggestions of a tacit alliance with the country's ruling party. Over 100 people, including media, Buddhist monks and supporters, attended the group's press conference in Rangoon's Insein Township. The monks took questions from a throng of local and foreign reporters, with the nationalist group's depiction in the international press an issue it appeared at pains to address. "The foreign media does not understand our culture. Why don't they report truly, not based on their emotion and not based on one point of view?" said Ashin Dhamma Piya, a Ma Ba Tha spokesperson who addressed reporters in English. "Why do you guys only point to our Ma Ba Tha as [the source] of problems in the country? We are not instigators. We are a peaceful organization who uphold mitta, kayuna and mutida," he said, using the Pali words for loving kindness, compassion and joy at another's success. Friday's press conference came two days before the group plans to hold a rally at Rangoon's Thuwanna Stadium on Oct. 4—the culmination of several weeks of events convened across the country to celebrate what Ashin Dhamma Piya described as the "milestone" passage of the controversial Race and Religion Protection Laws. The rallies have drawn controversy, with several speakers urging crowds not to vote for the country's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), accusing it of being anti-Buddhist. In response, the NLD filed a number of complaints with the Union Election Commission last month, accusing Ma Ba Tha, also known as the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, of using religion to influence the electorate. On Friday, Ashin Dhamma Piya was asked about the group's relationship with the Union Solidarity and Development Party and whether it would take action against those distributing pamphlets at Ma Ba Tha rallies attacking the NLD. "We did not form our Ma Ba Tha for the USDP. We formed Ma Ba Tha to protect religion and work for national politics," he said, adding that the group would welcome whichever side emerged on top following the country's Nov. 8 election. When a freelance journalist, referring to an article in The Irrawaddy, asked whether Ma Ba Tha members had violated the election law by urging voters to abandon the NLD, Ashin Dhamma Piya criticized the media. "The Irrawaddy media website never writes good things about us. They write only bad things," he said. The post Ma Ba Tha Spokesperson Pans Media, Says Group Are Not 'Instigators' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Junta-Backed USDP Campaigning Through Nargis Projects Posted: 02 Oct 2015 04:33 AM PDT A young girl carries supplies in a bucket on her head near a cyclone shelter in the Irrawaddy delta. (Photo: Reuters) Five years ago, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which now governs Burma, was vying for votes in the 2010 general election that installed the current parliament and led to the appointment of President Thein Sein. The poll was held just two years after the devastating Cyclone Nargis swept through the delta. Relief projects were often touted as achievements on the campaign trail, used by military candidates to drum up support for the party. This article from our archives, published on Sept. 30, 2010, examines the trend of ministers and parliamentary hopefuls traveling to disaster-struck parts of the delta to glean votes from the victims.   The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidates are using Cyclone Nargis rehabilitation projects in the Irrawaddy delta and other state projects across the country to campaign for the election. According to the state-run-newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, on Thursday, Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein who is also the USDP chairman attended the opening ceremony of a hospital and a youth training school in the cyclone-hit area of Laputta Township alongside other USDP key leaders who retired from their military posts in April including Thein Nyunt, the minister of Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs, and Maung Maung Swe, the minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. Ahead of the Nov.7 elections, the state-run-media are full of reports that USDP leaders who are also sitting ministers are traveling to state projects and attending openings of completed projects. Observers said the military junta allowed state media to highlight USDP activities but limited publicity to other political parties. Although Thein Sein seemed to be focusing USDP campaign activities through the state projects in the Irrawaddy delta this week, his election campaign last week focused on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River in the Magway Region, the location of government arms factories as well as alleged work on military missiles and nuclear projects. Thein Sein appeared in the state media where he was shown Sept. 20 opening the Minhla-Minbu section of the railway line from Kyangin in the Irrawaddy Region to Pakokku in the Magway Region. The New Light of Myanmar also reported on Sept. 25 that Thein Sein opened a hospital in Zabuthiri Township in Naypyidaw. According to the Naypyidaw candidate list, Thein Sein is running for the People's Assembly (Lower House) seat in Zabuthiri Township. Along with USDP top leaders and senior military officials, the state-run newspapers on Thursday highlighted one of the richest tycoons in the country, Zaw Zaw, the head of the Max Group of Companies and the newly formed Ayeyawady Bank. Zaw Zaw appeared in a front page photo in The New Light of Myanmar along with USDP leaders and senior military officers including Maj-Gen Hla Min, the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations-3. Zaw Zaw and other US-sanctions list tycoons including Tay Za, Htay Myint, Khin Shwe and Dagon Win Aung were awarded construction projects in the Irrawaddy delta following Cyclone Nargis in May 2008. Khin Shwe of the Zay Gabar Company is a USDP candidate for the Nationalities Assembly (Upper House) in Twantay Township in the Rangoon region, which was hard hit by Cyclone Nargis.  He told The Monitor Journal recently that he had done campaign activities while also working on Nargis work projects. "For me, I don't need to do election campaigning in the area. Following Nargis, I had worked there for a year doing reconstruction on pagodas and feeding people food. So people tell me, 'Please come here!' I don't need to do any extra campaigning like other candidates," Khin Shwe was quoted as saying in the journal. The post Junta-Backed USDP Campaigning Through Nargis Projects appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

KNU’s Kwe Htoo Win: ‘The Government Nodded and We Accepted’ Posted: 02 Oct 2015 04:27 AM PDT General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Kwe Htoo Win. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Seven ethnic armed groups, including the powerful Karen National Union (KNU), have agreed to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the Burmese government, calling into question whether the accord is truly "nationwide." Several stakeholders in the peace process have adamantly demanded that the pact be all-inclusive, extending to a number of armed groups that are still in active conflict with the Burma Army, as well as a handful of others that are not viewed as eligible by government negotiators. An ethnic summit held in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, this week produced a split among ethnic stakeholders, some willing to move forward and others holding out for an inclusive pact. The Irrawaddy spoke with KNU General Secretary Kwe Htoo Win about his group's decision to accede to the pact and what it means for the future of the country's protracted peace process. We have learned that the KNU is among the ethnic armed groups that are ready to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement. Can you explain what it means to be ready, and the rationale behind this decision? In our KNU policy, we regard armed conflict as a fundamentally political problem that cannot be solved militarily. Successive KNU congresses have decided to and made attempts to hold political dialogue, but it never happened. We have never signed a truce. The government has invited us to sign this ceasefire and enter a political dialogue, but signing the accord and starting the dialogue was not the original idea of the government. Ethnic armed groups cooperated with the government and demanded that the political dialogue begin after signing the ceasefire. The government nodded and we accepted this also. We believe that political dialogue can be held smoothly and peacefully only after ending armed conflict. The KNU central committee reviewed the final NCA text and has accepted it. We decided to sign and implement it together with other ethnic armed groups. Our people, the entire Karen people, want peace. We therefore decided to sign the ceasefire and enter the political dialogue with other groups, political parties and stakeholders so that the problem—which stemmed from differing political ideologies—can be solved. The KNU has previously accepted the principle of inclusion, though now it seems only seven groups will sign the accord. Doesn't this mean you have ignored that principle? It's not like that. We will revisit the issue when the NCA is implemented. Before we reach a nationwide ceasefire, ethnic groups will sign it individually. Ethnic armed groups have made the same old demand for a nationwide pact and a political dialogue, and the current government has accepted it. In principle we accept all inclusiveness, but in practice, groups which should be included would play their part accordingly and finally toward an all-inclusive political dialogue.  Ethnic armed groups may have different objectives and stances, but we have the same goal: a federal union. Our policy is progressive realization, that is, to realize this goal step by step. Ethnic armed groups that are ready can sign the NCA and then work for the peace and stability of the entire country, based on the accord. Was there any opposition to the decision to sign within the KNU? How will this affect the group's leadership? There may be different views within the KNU. Not only in the KNU, but even some individuals may be of two minds. But the decision was made democratically by the KNU central committee based on the principles and goals of the KNU, and therefore no one will reject this decision. They may have their own wishes and views, but we have to follow the decision of the majority. Given the circumstances, do you think an inclusive political dialogue is possible? Not only ethnic armed groups, but political parties will also join the dialogue. If we are to enter a political dialogue, the government should remove the groups with which it is fighting from the list of unlawful associations once the NCA is signed. Then those groups will be able to officially meet the government on equal terms, and we can engage with them legally without needing to be afraid of the prospect of being charged with unlawful association. This is a pragmatic way to go, I think. Some groups are not fighting with the government and they are not regarded as unlawful. The government has said that those groups need not sign a truce, they can join the dialogue directly, but some of them did not listen. So it seems that not all of the armed groups will be able to participate in the dialogue together. They can take part even if they haven't signed the NCA, but they will not have the right to make decisions or discuss the issues. They can attend as observers. As far as I understand, the President [Thein Sein] and U Aung Min have said so. Do you think the accord can guarantee that guns will fall silent between the government and the signatories? No matter how much a couple loves each other, there will still be times when they will quarrel. This is quite natural. We do expect that the NCA can lead to the complete silencing of guns, but it may not happen in reality due to distrust and suspicion between the two sides. We need to dispel this gradually; we need to move forward to nationwide peace step by step. The post KNU's Kwe Htoo Win: 'The Government Nodded and We Accepted' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thousands of Burma Army Officers Promoted: Military Mouthpiece Posted: 02 Oct 2015 02:50 AM PDT Military lawmakers sign in at the Parliament building in Naypyidaw in July 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Burma Army has promoted the ranks of thousands of serving officers, rewarding them for their long service to the country's armed forces and their "hard work on the path to democracy for the country." The promotions took effect on Thursday, and nationwide saw a total of 7,788 officers and rank-and-file soldiers promoted, including captains, colonels, corporals and sergeants, according to a report from Myawaddy, a military mouthpiece. "We honored those who have patriotism for the country, having served a long time for the country, in order to be able to work hard on the path to having democracy for the country," said the report. Burma began a transition from nearly 50 years of military rule to quasi-civilian government in 2011. The administration of President Thein Sein, himself a former general, has since enacted a series of economic and political reforms that have prompted Western nations to ease sanctions leveled against the once pariah state. The military maintains a prominent political role, however, with generals reserved powerful cabinet positions and 25 percent of seats in Parliament. The commander-in-chief of the Burma Armed Forces, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, has voiced support for the country's democratic transition on multiple occasions, while also indicating that the military would maintain its political prerogatives for the foreseeable future. The post Thousands of Burma Army Officers Promoted: Military Mouthpiece appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

US Court Summons Thein Sein Over Rohingya Rights Violations Posted: 02 Oct 2015 02:39 AM PDT Burma's President Thein Sein, right, is pictured alongside US President Barack Obama as they participate in a group photo at the East Asian Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Nov. 19, 2011. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — A federal court in the United States has issued a summons for President Thein Sein and several Burmese ministers to respond to allegations of human rights violations committed against the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority. The summons was issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York following a lawsuit filed by the Burma Task Force USA, a coalition of 19 Muslim American organizations. Thein Sein and several members of his cabinet will be in the United States this week to attend the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York. Burma's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin is scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday. Filed on behalf of three plaintiffs, all US resident Rohingya refugees who claim to have experienced torture, discrimination and displacement, the lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages. The case was submitted under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ACTA) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), and charges Thein Sein and his ministers with crimes against humanity, extra-judicial killing, torture, mental and physical trauma. "Much of the media is focused on the migrants from Syria, and understandably so, but how many hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have been fleeing persecution in Burma?" asked Shaik Ubaid of the Muslim Peace Coalition, a member of the Burma Task Force. "UN Development Goals cannot be achieved when a segment of the population of Burma is rendered stateless," added Adem Carroll, New York Director of Burma Task Force. "A peaceful future depends on an embrace of pluralism and a rejection of the politics of fear." This is not the first time that a head of state has been issued a summons by a US court on allegations of human rights abuses. In late 2014, Indian Prime Minister Nerendra Modi was called to respond to a lawsuit regarding religious riots in 2002. His predecessor, Manmohan Singh, was summoned in 2013 for violations during counter-insurgency operations in the 1990s. In both cases, the US government told the courts that the accused had diplomatic immunity as heads of state. The State Department is expected to respond similarly to the charges against Thein Sein and his cabinet. The post US Court Summons Thein Sein Over Rohingya Rights Violations appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Use Your Red Card, NLD Tells UEC as Alleged Campaign Violations Pile Up Posted: 02 Oct 2015 12:30 AM PDT The post Use Your Red Card, NLD Tells UEC as Alleged Campaign Violations Pile Up appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Difficult to Buy a Gun in China, but Not Explosives Posted: 01 Oct 2015 10:36 PM PDT A damaged building is seen after explosions hit Liucheng, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, September 30, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — A series of deadly bomb blasts in China this week has shown how easy it is to acquire explosives in the country, revealing a major gap in its huge security apparatus as the economy slows and anger grows over issues like graft and poor public services. In a country where firearms are banned for most people, the bombings in the southwestern city of Liuzhou on Wednesday, and others in recent years around the country, demonstrate lax enforcement of rules to control access to bomb-making material. Private gun ownership is almost unheard of in China as controls are so strict, meaning gun crime is rare. Explosives, on the other hand, are widely available from the sprawling mining and fireworks industries. The 17 coordinated blasts across Liuzhou, a relatively obscure part of China, destroyed one whole side of a low-rise residential building, overturned vehicles and sent bricks showering into the street, images carried by state media showed. At least seven people died and more than 50 were injured. The attack has been blamed on one individual in the city, but such "sudden incidents," as China refers to them, highlight broader government worries about stability in the world's second-largest economy, with a widening gap between rich and poor and growing anger at corruption and environmental issues. "Modern Chinese society has lots of contradictions, and if people want to send a message about their anger or make a point, they can get explosives from any mine," said Pan Zhiping, a domestic security expert at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences. "It simply isn't possible for the police to keep an eye on everybody," he added. The ease at which explosives can be obtained in the world's second-largest economy was underscored in a court case posted online earlier this year as part of a government transparency drive. In September last year, a court in southwestern China's Yunnan province jailed a man for three years after finding more than 20 kg of explosives, almost 100 detonators and 1.5 km of fuses at his house. The man, whose surname was given as Ren, told the court he had been easy to buy the material by saying it was for work needs, according to the judgment. In fact, Ren said he had been buying the explosives and storing them at home for the last decade without any problems, though he seemed to have no violent intent. No Motive The government says it has no motive for the attacks in Liuzhou in the southwestern region of Guangxi. It has ruled out terrorism. The suspect, a 33-year-old man surnamed Wei, used other people to send the packages, according to the official Xinhua news agency. "It indicates a serious problem in China in terms of public security. It reflects a lack of effective control by the government to restrict access to these dangerous goods," said Jian Zhang, a lecturer in international and political studies at UNSW Australia in Canberra. On Thursday morning, another blast was reported in Liuzhou, although it only caused minor damage and no casualties. It was not clear if it was linked to the previous day's blasts. Guangxi is home to many mines, which use explosives, and like the rest of China it will have lots of firework manufacturers. Last year, police in Liuzhou arrested a father and son who were "unhappy with society and wanted revenge" and blew up trash cans in a public square using home-made firecrackers, injuring a female bystander, according to state media. However, explosives are not often seen in violence in the far western region of Xinjiang, where China says it is battling an Islamist insurgency, with tight security limiting access to bomb-making materials or guns. Knives are generally involved in the violence there. State media microblogs have already begun speculating on the motive for the latest attack in Liuzhou, with some suggesting it was the result of a dispute over medical treatment, a cause of several violent incidents in recent years. While the Chinese government has ramped up health spending, hospitals are frequently overwhelmed with patients. Doctors are also badly paid, leading to corruption and suspicions that staff are more interested in making money by prescribing unnecessary drugs and treatment than tending to the sick. Property disputes in a country where the government legally owns all land have also led to unruly protests, fights with police, imprisonment and even suicide, and created a major headache for the stability-obsessed ruling Communist Party. In 2011, a man apparently angry about the illegal demolition of his home set off coordinated explosions at three sites near government buildings in eastern China, killing two. In the same month, a petrol bomb set off by a disgruntled former employee at a rural bank in a heavily Tibetan region of northwestern China's Gansu province wounded 49 people. The worst incident of its kind happened in 2001, when a string of explosions at workers' dormitories in the northern city of Shijiazhuang killed 108 people, blamed on a man seeking vengeance for family problems, although many doubt that explanation. The post Difficult to Buy a Gun in China, but Not Explosives appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

India Rejects Pakistan Peace Plan, Calls for Revival of Terrorism Talks Posted: 01 Oct 2015 10:29 PM PDT Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (L) shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the United Nations General Assembly at the New York Palace hotel in New York September 29, 2013. (Photo: Joshua Lott / Reuters) WASHINGTON — India on Thursday rejected a four-point peace plan for Kashmir proposed by Pakistan but said talks among officials of both countries on terrorism that collapsed in August should be revived. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced his proposal at the annual United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, saying the two nuclear-armed countries should formalize a cease-fire in Kashmir and take steps to demilitarize the divided region. India issued a swift rebuttal, accusing Pakistan of claiming to be the primary victim of terrorism while "in truth, it is actually a victim of its own policy of breeding and sponsoring terrorists." On Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told the General Assembly that India remained open to dialogue, "but talks and terror cannot go together." "We don't need four points, we need just one: Give up terrorism and let us sit down and talk," she said. Swaraj said the talks between national security advisers on all issues related to terrorism should be held, as well as an early meeting of senior military officials to address the situation on the border. "If the response is serious and credible, India is prepared to address all outstanding issues through a bilateral dialogue," she said. Planned talks between national security advisers from India and Pakistan were canceled in August hours before they were due to start, dashing hopes the two might tackle the violence that many fear could one day spark a nuclear showdown. In the talks, India had wanted only to discuss terrorism-related issues. Pakistan sought a wider agenda, including the status of Kashmir. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since becoming independent countries in 1947, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both claim in full but rule in part. Sharif, elected in 2013, promised to improve relations with India. But since then domestic troubles have forced him to cede more control over foreign and security policy to Pakistan's more hawkish military. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a hard line with Pakistan, insisting he is unwilling to discuss other issues unless Pakistan admits its role in terror attacks in India. India's Ministry of External Affairs made it clear that Sharif's proposal was a non-starter. "To de-militarize Kashmir is not the answer," ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in a tweet. "To de-terrorize Pakistan is."   The post India Rejects Pakistan Peace Plan, Calls for Revival of Terrorism Talks appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Sri Lanka Says it Will Cooperate with UN on War Crimes Inquiry Posted: 01 Oct 2015 10:21 PM PDT Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera speaks during a news conference on a United Nations report about war crimes committed during Sri Lanka's 26-year civil conflict, in Colombo September 17, 2015. (Photo: Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters) GENEVA — Sri Lanka signaled on Thursday it aims to establish a credible judicial process involving foreign judges and prosecutors to investigate alleged war crimes during its long conflict with Tamil rebels, in line with UN recommendations. Activists and international experts said that the domestic mechanism must win the trust of victims and survivors and provide robust witness protection for those who testify, especially against the Sri Lankan military. The United Nations Human Rights Council, composed of 47 member states, adopted by consensus a resolution led by the United States and Britain. Sri Lanka co-sponsored the text. "This resolution seeks to support Sri Lanka's path to a lasting peace built on a foundation of justice and accountability," US Ambassador Keith Harper told the forum. The UN human rights office said it was an "historic opportunity for Sri Lanka to address the grave human rights violations and abuses that its people suffered, at the hands of both the LTTE (Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam) and the government, during the conflict and in its immediate aftermath. "It is now time for action." Both sides "most likely" committed war crimes including mass killings of civilians during a 26-year war that ended in 2009, and these should be prosecuted by a special court with international judges, the United Nations said in a landmark report last month. The report said that despite pledges by the new government of President Maithripala Sirisena to pursue perpetrators, the South Asian state's criminal justice system was not up to the formidable task alone. Sri Lanka to Cooperate Sri Lankan Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha said that his government would cooperate in implementing the resolution. "Sri Lanka is pleased to join as a co-sponsor of this resolution as a further manifestation of (our) commitment to implement the provisions … in a manner that our objectives are shared by the people and all stakeholders in the country," he said. The text also calls for reforming Sri Lankan security organs and vetting the military to ensure that no personnel linked to serious crimes are retained or recruited into its ranks. "This resolution could lead to a very strong process or a very, very weak process. It will all depend on how it is implemented," said Fred Carver, head of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice lobby group. International involvement must be "sufficiently independent to win over the trust of survivors—many of whom wanted an international mechanism," he said. The UN report cited a pattern of atrocities against civilians in the war, with years of denials and cover-ups, and said that tens of thousands may have been killed in the war's final stages. Sri Lanka's Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, set up after Sirisena took office, said on Thursday it would issue "certificates of absence" to families who have reported relatives missing in the conflict to help them access entitlements granted by the state. The post Sri Lanka Says it Will Cooperate with UN on War Crimes Inquiry appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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National News

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• Guardians of ‘race and religion’ target NLD
• Commission blamed for migrants missing vote
• Dictatorship will die if NLD wins election: patron
• Soft opening for Sedona’s new wing
• ‘After the 2010 elections, I don’t blame people for being apathetic’: Q&A: Trevor Wilson, Former Australian Ambassador
• The party that came in from the cold
• KIO accuses Tatmadaw of trying to force a ceasefire
• NLD patron meets prominent monks
• HIV support group to mark 10th anniversary
• Factories told to pay up

Guardians of ‘race and religion’ target NLD Posted: 02 Oct 2015 12:19 AM PDT The National League for Democracy is facing electoral challenges due to campaigning by nationalist Buddhist groups, but prominent monk U Wirathu insists there is no coordinated campaign against the party.

Commission blamed for migrants missing vote Posted: 02 Oct 2015 12:17 AM PDT Migrant rights activists are blaming the election commission for not doing enough to ensure that Myanmar citizens living and working abroad were able to vote.

Dictatorship will die if NLD wins election: patron Posted: 02 Oct 2015 12:16 AM PDT An overwhelming National League for Democracy win in the election that enables it to form government will kill off dictatorship, the party's patron told supporters in Mandalay.

Soft opening for Sedona’s new wing Posted: 02 Oct 2015 12:08 AM PDT Sedona Hotel Yangon held a soft opening on October 1 for its new 29-storey Inya Wing, which was developed by Singapore-based Keppel Land International Myanmar.

‘After the 2010 elections, I don’t blame people for being apathetic’: Q&A: Trevor Wilson, Former Australian Ambassador Posted: 01 Oct 2015 11:30 PM PDT Former Australian ambassador Trevor Wilson talks about how Myanmar has changed since the end of military rule and what further changes the elections could bring.

The party that came in from the cold Posted: 01 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Outlawed for 24 years, exiles of the Democratic Party for a New Society have been allowed to return to Myanmar where the party has re-registered with the Union Election Commission and is set to take part in next month's elections.

KIO accuses Tatmadaw of trying to force a ceasefire Posted: 01 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of the most powerful ethnic armed groups, has accused the Tatmadaw of stepping up its offensives to put pressure on the group to join a proposed nationwide ceasefire agreement with the government.

NLD patron meets prominent monks Posted: 01 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT U Tin  Oo, veteran patron of the National League for Democracy and head of its campaign committee, has met two prominent Ma Ba Tha monks in an apparent effort to defuse tensions with the nationalist association, which the party accuses of political interference.

HIV support group to mark 10th anniversary Posted: 01 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Phoenix, a local non-government organisation that focuses on HIV issues and community development, will celebrate its 10th anniversary today.

Factories told to pay up Posted: 01 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Factories have been given until October 5 to divvy out the first month's salary since the new minimum wage went into effect before the government intervenes. Workers have been filing complaints after recalcitrant employers withheld paycheques, according to Yangon Region labour officials.

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Shan Herald Agency for News

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Mong Ngaw: A Year in the Land of Rice and Tea Posted: 01 Oct 2015 08:42 AM PDT Until he was 18, the photographer and writer, Jai Jai Lao Mong, now 22, lived his entire childhood in the village of Da Lone in northern Shan State's Mong Ngaw Township. Seeing no opportunity for work or education in his hometown, he, like many Shan youth, migrated to Thailand, where he worked as a gardener and a security guard. Later, he also attended a social justice education program on the Thai-Burma border. While there, he participated in a video and photography training led by the community-based Shan Youth Power (SYP) media team. He returned to his home determined to use these skills to document both the need for political change in Shan State and to create a historic visual record of his ancestral home through the seasons; Jai Jai Lao Mong remains the only resident of the village with a camera. Located within the "Black Zone," Mong Ngaw Township is not accessible to outsiders. To date, these are the only known published images of this quiet corner of Shan State known for its hillside tea plantations surrounding a valley of rice paddies. Mong Ngaw Township is formed by 99 small villages, one of which is Da Lone. Most people make their living by farming: paddy fields take up one third of the township's total area. In August, the height rainy season, the whole region becomes covered with green paddy fields. Two-thirds of Mong Ngaw is paddy land, known as Nar Nam Fa, meaning "the paddy waiting for rain water"; the land is irrigated by a combination of water diverted from the Nam Sim stream and from the annual rains, which last four months. Karng Dong Pagoda—the "pagoda in the middle of the fields"—is a sanctuary for residents throughout the Mong Ngaw area, who are mostly Buddhist, with a small population of Christian and Muslim families. At over 100 feet long and over 100 years old, Hang Hawm Bridge marks the edge of the township is an essential link across the Nam Sim stream and the only connection between the villages of Mong Ngaw and the larger town of Kyaukme in northern Shan State. Built by the British, it is the only structure remaining in the area from Burma's colonial era. It is also one of the only existing bridges; there is little to no government-initiated infrastructure in the township. Nam Sim stream starts in Nam Hsan Township, 45 miles from Mong Ngaw, before flowing into the Nam Du River in Hsipaw Township. Decades ago, the stream was the habitat of many fish species and was vital to the irrigation of half of Mong Ngaw's farms. Now, villagers lament the lack of fish in the stream's waters. Locals speculate that the disappearing life may be due to decreasing water levels and rising levels of sediment, which are linked to increasingly erratic flooding patterns. The presence of sediment can be attributed to deforestation along the stream, as well as mining projects. The Nam Sim has attracted a number of gold mining companies who use heavy machinery to dig up hundreds of grams of gold each day, both upstream and downstream from Mong Ngaw. This Buddha statue in Mong Ngaw Township has been constructed from bamboo. In Shan language it is called "Phra Inn Sarn," meaning, "the bamboo Buddha made by an Angel."  The art of making Buddha statues from woven bamboo is a traditional Shan custom. In Wan Lone, one of Mong Ngaw's bigger villages, locals walk to the temple on a cold season mid-afternoon to make merit by donating household goods to monks during the Khao Wa period. During these three months, the monks do not leave the monastery in order to practice Dhamma, or the teachings of Buddha. The Khao Wa period ends with Og Wa, which falls on a full moon day, in October or November, and signifies the time when Buddha came down from heaven. Starting work before sunrise, tea pickers end the day at sunset, and walk over five kilometres through mountainous terrain to bring their harvest to market, where it is weighed with traditional scales. They earn 1,000 kyats or one U.S. dollar per kilogram. On an average day, they can collect up to 15 kilograms of tea leaves. Usually, they can only keep half of these earnings, splitting the rest with the owner of the tea plantation. The tea from northern Shan State is heavily consumed by people throughout Myanmar and is exported to neighboring countries, especially to India. People call March, or the tea season, "Shwe Byi," meaning "the golden season," because it is a time of economic prosperity for the villagers. This added income allows them to buy goods which they would normally be unable to afford, such as motorbikes. Motorbikes have become extremely popular among the youth in the region, as they provide convenient transportation across Shan State. Many of the bikes were imported from the Chinese border, a 200-mile drive from Mong Ngaw. In April, villagers pool funds so that their children can be educated in Shan culture, language and literature while the government schools—which only teach Burmese language—are on break. After two months of studying, the top three students from each village are selected to participate in the township level examination. As is the practice in other villages, this class in Mong Ngaw Township is taught by one of the local villagers, who is a volunteer, and it is held in one of the locals' storage rooms. The schools are community-sourced and funded, bringing students and villages together and helping to keep ethnic traditions alive. The Shan people play traditional instruments at times of celebration and in this photograph the villagers are celebrating the graduation of Shan students who studied lessons in Shan language and literature over two months—March and April—across 30 different villages. These instruments are believed to have a 2,000-year history and dating back to when the Shan people would play them to celebrate.  In Mong Ngaw, the year is divided by planting and by harvest times. Many local people do not follow a Western calendar, but a traditional Shan system, which is based on the phases of the moon. In November or December, before the celebration of the Shan New Year, the rice crop is cut, dried, and the grains of rice collected. One obstacle farmers in Mong Ngaw face following the harvest is the redistribution of land. There are no clear boundaries in their land and some overlaps others. This is because the boundaries were originally cut in the shape of spider's web. In the cultivating season, the boundaries are eliminated to maximize land use. Once the farmers have finished cultivating they re-divide the boundaries, meaning the shape of their land is always changing. A stream runs through the middle of the field and is used for irrigation. In the past, many of the farmers took little notice of it, but in recent years, large dams have been constructed as government projects upstream which have caused the land to erode further downstream. Huts like this one are used during the harvest season and are made entirely of bamboo. It has become a tradition for children to pass the night with their parents in the open-air structure before the harvested crops are delivered to their home. It is also the place where farmers' families have their lunch together—sticky rice, pickled vegetables, and tamarind juice or lao, traditional Shan alcohol made from sticky rice and sugar cane. In the hot and dry months of February through April, in the new year, some families take advantage of ownerless land and set up houses and hillside farms in the most isolated areas of Mong Ngaw and Kyaukme townships. This practice is not without risk: at this time, the surrounding forest is burned, either by people, or through natural phenomena, putting such homes in a precarious position. It is thought that burning the land makes it more fertile, and rice is then cultivated on the mountainsides. It is irrigated only through rainwater. The farmers do not earn any profits from their crops because before the harvest time they must take out debts from merchants in order to afford basic supplies. After the crops have been harvested, they pay off these debts. It is a cycle that does not end. Despite the ongoing civil war in Shan State, the town of Mong Ngaw has been free from disturbances for three decades. But due to general political instability and fear of government authorities, villagers did not dare to display signs of Shan identity or nationalism. Instead they have relied on local monasteries to keep Shan culture and literature alive. Today, in northern Shan State, symbols of Shan culture are becoming more visible. The entrance to this village in Mong Ngaw Township is signposted with a painted Shan flag with writing in Shan language. By Jai Jai Lao Mong / Special Contributor to Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.)

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The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Burmese-Only Jade Sale Pegged for December
• Burmese Investigators Urge Public to Monitor Koh Tao Trial
• Man Killed, Woman Gang-Raped in Capital: Police
• Ethnic Armed Groups Take Stock After Ceasefire Rift
• Mon Leader Slams Divisions Over Ceasefire Signing
• At the Khun Sa Museum, the House that Drugs Built
• SE Asia Seeks New Strategy to Fight ‘Slash and Burn’ Haze Problem
• East Timor Primed for Legal Tussle with Australia
• Rising Anger in Thailand’s Boom-to-Bust Northeast
• In Burma, Hell in a Very Small Place

Burmese-Only Jade Sale Pegged for December Posted: 01 Oct 2015 05:01 AM PDT Gem traders inspect a raw jade stone at the gem emporium in Naypyidaw in 2013. (Photo: Sanay Lin / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The Myanmar Gems Enterprise will hold the year's first and only jade sale exclusively for local traders in Naypyidaw this December, with industry players hoping to see more purchases of raw jade and jadeite made with value-added intentions. In Thursday's state-run newspapers, the Ministry of Mines' Myanmar Gems Enterprise announced that the central committee of its subsidiary Myanma Gems Emporium would organize the sale of raw jade stones and jadeite at Mani Yadana Jade Hall in Naypyidaw from Dec. 7-13. The Myanmar Gems Enterprise typically aims to hold jade sales for only local traders at least twice a year, but the December showcase will be the only one for 2015. According to the announcement from the Myanmar Gems Enterprise, Burmese citizens for whom one of the following applies are eligible to attend the sale: licensed jade and gem mining operators; licensed businessmen engaged in manufacturing, selling and buying of finished jade and gems products; those who hold a gems company registration; and members of the Myanmar Gems and Jewelry Entrepreneurs Association. Tun Hla Aung, joint secretary of the Myanmar Gems and Jewelry Entrepreneurs Association, said organizers were hoping to encourage more emphasis on local entrepreneurs adding value to raw cuts of the precious stones on offer. "We want local traders to produce more value-added jade accessories; that's why we aimed to hold this kind of sale at least once per year, but it has been delayed due to various things," he said. "We expect that there will many quality raw jades on display," he added. The supply side of Burma's jade market has bounced back since the September 2014 lifting of a suspension of jade mining operations in Kachin State amid fighting between the government and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in recent years. Foreigners are invited to bid on jade and jadeite at an annual jade emporium, usually held mid-year. This year's emporium, held from June 24 to July 6 in Naypyidaw, saw a total of 8,934 jade lots and about 320 lots of various other gems, including highly coveted Mogok rubies, on offer. Tun Hla Aung said it was too early to speculate on the December jade showcase. More than 2,000 local traders attended the annual emporium earlier this year, and the association leader said similar attendance was expected for the Burmese-only sale. The post Burmese-Only Jade Sale Pegged for December appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burmese Investigators Urge Public to Monitor Koh Tao Trial Posted: 01 Oct 2015 04:33 AM PDT The Burma Embassy's special team, which is working on the Koh Tao case are seen outside of the Koh Samui Court on Wednesday. (Photo: Min Oo / Facebook) RANGOON — Two migrant workers accused of a grisly dual murder on a Thai island are innocent and should be cleared of all charges, a team of investigators representing the Burmese government told reporters in Rangoon on Thursday, urging the public to monitor the case as it continues later this month. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun were arrested in late 2014 after the mutilated bodies of two British tourists—Hannah Witheridge and David Miller—were discovered on a beach in Koh Tao, southern Thailand. A postmortem examination revealed that Witheridge had been raped. The gruesome murder and subsequent trial has raised questions about Thailand's safety as a tourist destination, the competence of its police force and its treatment of migrant workers. Observers close to the case claim the suspects—both migrant workers from western Burma's Arakan State—were convenient scapegoats. The trial has also been riddled with ambiguity and accusations of foul play; the suspects initially confessed to Thai police officers but later said they had been tortured in detention. A translator hired to assist with the investigation was later revealed to be a Rohingya Muslim who was fluent in neither Thai nor the suspects' native Arakanese. Htoo Chit, a migrant rights advocate who leads the investigation team formed by the Burmese Embassy in Thailand, said evidence was overwhelmingly in favor of the defendants and that the Thai justice system should declare them innocent. "At first, they confessed because they were tortured and threatened in police custody, but they told us everything because they trust us," Htoo Chit said. "I believe they are innocent and will be free soon, but we must monitor [the decision of the court] and whether they are acquitted." The most crucial piece of evidence in the trial, Htoo Chit said, was a DNA test administered by Thai investigators that has come under increasing scrutiny. A typical DNA identification can take about 20 days, he said, though the Thai investigators had completed the match in only three. Esteemed Thai forensic pathologist Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunan, who was called in by the defense team to carry out an independent inquiry, recently told the court that the assumed murder weapon showed no trace of DNA belonging to either of the suspects. The trial, which has garnered international attention over the past year since the suspects' detention, will continue on Oct. 10 and 11, and is expected to reach a verdict by the end of this year. The post Burmese Investigators Urge Public to Monitor Koh Tao Trial appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Man Killed, Woman Gang-Raped in Capital: Police Posted: 01 Oct 2015 04:11 AM PDT Vehicles drive down a road in Burma's administrative capital Naypyidaw. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A group of four assailants fatally stabbed a man and gang-raped his partner early Wednesday morning near an area slated to serve as a quarter for diplomatic residences in Naypyidaw's Dekkhinathiri Township, according to township police. The couple was threatened at knifepoint and brought to the area by four men riding two motorbikes near the capital's Junction Center shopping mall at about 1 am on Wednesday. The couple lived in the village of Thabyaybin in neighboring Lewe Township. The attackers bludgeoned and stabbed the man before gang-raping the woman, according to the surviving victim's report to police. "The girl then ran away and reached a security guard. Then she got to the police station in the morning," a police officer from the Dekkhinathiri Township Police Force told The Irrawaddy.  "Police went to the crime scene and found the body of the male victim. We have turned the girl over to her parents and we are investigating the case." The male victim was found with multiple stab wounds and police have opened a case on charges of murder and rape. No suspects have yet been detained in connection with the attack. According to the Naypyidaw Police Force, Burma saw 654 cases of reported rape nationwide in 2012, rising to 734 in 2013. Through July of last year—the most recent data provided—a total of 470 rape cases were filed. The post Man Killed, Woman Gang-Raped in Capital: Police appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ethnic Armed Groups Take Stock After Ceasefire Rift Posted: 01 Oct 2015 04:05 AM PDT Representatives from the Karen National Union at an ethnic summit in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Wednesday. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The united front that ethnic armed groups have striven to maintain during almost two years of negotiations on a nationwide ceasefire agreement was upended this week, as ethnic groups were split on whether to ink an agreement the government is desperate to conclude this month. After a three-day summit in Chiang Mai which the Karen National Union insisted should be the last before a potential signing ceremony, only seven of 19 ethnic groups agreed to accede to the agreement. On Wednesday, ethnic leaders focused on building mutual understanding between the two factions, with those holdout groups pledging to sign as soon as the government accepted all armed groups as signatories. Gen Gun Maw, deputy chief-of-staff of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), told The Irrawaddy the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) would not live up to its "nationwide" label unless all stakeholders were included. "We have discussed this several times during past summits. If only some groups sign, they will just be signing the NCA-draft and it will not be regarded as a nationwide accord," he said. "But if the government accepts our [demand] for all-inclusivity, we would sign the NCA." The government has only accepted the 14 ethnic armed groups that have previously inked bilateral ceasefires with Naypyidaw since 2011, in addition to the KIO, as signatories. Three armed groups locked in ongoing conflict with government troops, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army, have been excluded. The government has also refused to accept noncombatant groups, the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), Wa National Organization (WNO) and Arakan National Council (ANC), as signatories. Gun Maw said the KIO would not be pressured into signing the NCA while conflict continued between the Burma Army and Kachin, Ta'ang, Shan and Kokang armed groups. During talks on Wednesday, ethnic leaders agreed to dissolve the recently reconstituted negotiating bloc known as the Senior Delegation (SD). "Our SD has completed its task to finalize the NCA-single text, which has 15 chapters and 33 articles," said Pu Zing Cung, secretary of the Chin National Front and a former SD member. The ethnics' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team would continue to function, Pu Zing Cung said, to complete negotiations on the framework for political dialogue, a code of conduct and the formation of a joint monitoring committee. "We will continue negotiations with the government [to discuss including members of] those groups that have not yet signed on upcoming committees for drafting the political framework, the CoC and the JMC," he said. On Tuesday, seven ethnic armed groups agreed to sign the accord: the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF); Arakan Liberation Party (ALP); Chin National Front (CNF); Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA); Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNLA-PC); Karen National Union (KNU); and the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO). But major armed groups, including the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), declined to sign until the agreement was open to all. The Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), which has clashed on multiple occasions with the Burma Army in recent weeks, has not yet revealed its intentions. At a Sept. 9 meeting in Naypyidaw between President Thein Sein and the leaders of nine ethnic armed groups, the former pledged to address the issue of incorporating non-ceasefire groups into the peace process. However, over the ensuing weeks, ethnic groups' claim there was no further communication with the president on the issue, leaving the last major obstacle to an all-inclusive signing unaddressed. Nai Htaw Mon, the chair of another holdout group, the NMSP, said in a closing speech on Wednesday that the ethnics' divergence on the ceasefire pact had endangered ongoing collaboration. "Although the majority of [ethnic armed groups] are unable to sign yet, we had to follow the minorities' desires for the sake of our future unity," he said. However, most ethnic leaders were reluctant to openly criticize the decisions of other ethnic armed groups. For the political dialogue slated to follow the ceasefire signing, the government has stipulated that non-NCA signees can participate only as observers. However, the three non-armed groups outside the NCA process—the LDU, WNO and ANC—would be accepted as full participants. Kyu Dui, secretary of the Lahu Democratic Union, told The Irrawaddy that, if invited, his group would join the dialogue.   The post Ethnic Armed Groups Take Stock After Ceasefire Rift appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Mon Leader Slams Divisions Over Ceasefire Signing Posted: 01 Oct 2015 12:46 AM PDT Nai Htaw Mon, chairman of the New Mon State Party, during an ethnic summit in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, this week. (Photo: Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy) A leading member of the New Mon State Party has hit out at the decision of some ethnic armed groups to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement, calling the decision-making process undemocratic. Of the 19 ethnic armed groups represented at a three-day meeting in northern Thailand which began on Monday, only seven indicated they would sign the much debated pact. "Only a minority will sign the ceasefire agreement. But we, the majority, had to [allow] their wishes for the sake of unity. It is not democratic," said Nai Htaw Mon, chairman of the New Mon State Party (NMSP). "It is our weakness that we have to follow the interests of the minority." Speaking at the ethnic summit in Chiang Mai on Wednesday, the NMSP chairman said ethnic leaders should look beyond narrow business interests and personal gain and consider ethnic unity. "We shouldn't focus on our own interests. We shouldn't forget our roots. We shouldn't forget our ethnic fellows," Nai Htaw Mon said. The NMSP is one of a handful of major ethnic armed groups, alongside the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), that have withheld support for a ceasefire that the government hopes to conclude in October. The seven groups backing the agreement are: the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF); Arakan Liberation Party (ALP); Chin National Front (CNF); Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA); Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNLA-PC); Karen National Union (KNU); and the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO). Nai Htaw Mon warned that those ethnic groups committed to signing the pact should temper their expectations of the incumbent quasi-civilian government. "As [the government] didn't amend the constitution, can we be sure that we will get what we want? We have to consider it carefully," he said. The post Mon Leader Slams Divisions Over Ceasefire Signing appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

At the Khun Sa Museum, the House that Drugs Built Posted: 01 Oct 2015 12:41 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. CHIANG RAI PROVINCE, Thailand — Nestled under a dense canopy of trees in a valley between the hills of the Thai-Burma border, the military camp of Ban Therd Thai village once hosted one of the most lucrative drug-running empires in history. It is now home to a museum celebrating the life of its commander, once a towering figure in the global heroin trade, who enjoyed the protection of the former junta and was as admired by his acolytes and his community as much as he was reviled by Western governments. Khun Sa, the Shan-Chinese warlord who monopolized the Golden Triangle's opium harvest between the 1970s and the 1990s, is now immortalized in a statue at the entrance of the former camp, sitting astride a horse in a pose reserved for stone tributes of decorated military leaders in other countries. Before his surrender to the Burmese government in 1996, reputedly to escape extradition to the US on drugs charges, Khun Sa's camp was home to thousands of soldiers of the Mong Tai Army. Underground prison cells, each little more than a hole in the ground, held three prisoners in each bunker, usually soldiers who had violated the warlord's rules. Those soldiers responsible for graver crimes—such as using drugs, committing rape or selling their arms to enemy forces, were summarily executed. Inside Khun Sa's own spartan quarters, mementos of the late militia leader's life have been hung on display as relics. In his bedroom alongside his military uniform and a number of traditional Shan costumes are his walking stick and sword, while in the living room next door is another imposing sculpture of the man himself, seated with legs crossed at the table where he received distinguished guests. Khun Sa's control of the regional drug trade was notorious worldwide, and at the peak of his power he is believed to have commanded over 20,000 men. Over the course of the 1980s, heroin trafficked by the Mong Tai Army came to dominate global supply to the United States and other Western countries, leading the US Drug Enforcement Administration to unsuccessfully attempt his extradition. At numerous points he proposed selling his opium crop to Western countries in exchange for dismantling his trafficking empire. Locally, Khun Sa is remembered in a different light, with those who knew him before his death in 2007 fondly recalling him as a patriotic and charismatic leader Sai Khur Lurn, who served as a teacher under the Mong Tai Army, has worked to restore and maintain the old camp, turning it into a museum that seeks to promote the drug baron's legacy amongst the younger generation in eastern Shan State and Thailand. "People from his drug network pointed their fingers to him, so he was branded as an opium kingpin," Khur Lurn claimed. "Actually, he just collected tax from drug dealers and provided security for drug trafficking route." "He did it because he needed money for his army. He didn’t use the money for himself alone. He built schools, clinics, monasteries, and houses for orphans wherever he was based." The post At the Khun Sa Museum, the House that Drugs Built appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

SE Asia Seeks New Strategy to Fight ‘Slash and Burn’ Haze Problem Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:43 PM PDT A tourist wearing a face mask passes the hazy skyline of the Marina Bay Sands casino and resort in Singapore on June 18, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) KUALA LUMPUR — As a blanket of haze, caused by thick smoke from forest fires in Indonesia, covers parts of Southeast Asia, the region is struggling to find an effective response to the problem, experts said. The haze has caused health problems, flight delays and school closures across Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in what has become an annual ordeal that has defied attempts by governments, businesses and green groups to tackle it. At the heart of the problem are palm oil plantation owners, who use cheap and easy slash-and-burn techniques to clear forests and meet rising global demand for the oil used for cooking and in household products from shampoo to ice cream. Experts stress that Indonesia, home to the world's third-largest tropical forest acreage, holds the key to the problem and needs to put into practice a long-term plan to enforce laws, tackle the fires and spend more on prevention. Margareth Sembiring, senior analyst at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the complexity of the issue means it is difficult to make the region haze-free. "Strengthening law enforcement in Indonesia is undoubtedly key in solving the problem," she said. Other experts say companies and consumers must also play a part by pushing for palm oil to be produced more sustainably. Environmental groups like Greenpeace have targeted companies in high-profile campaigns, and some firms have made commitments to help stop deforestation by palm oil plantation owners. Golden Agri-Resources, the world's second-largest listed palm planter by acreage, said last week it had stopped buying from a supplier punished by Indonesia for allegedly causing forest fires. Indonesia, the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, mainly from deforestation, will be one of the countries under scrutiny at December's UN climate change conference, which will try to get legally binding commitments from the 120 member nations to cut CO2 emissions. Under criticism from its neighbors, the government has investigated more than 200 companies and ordered four to suspend operations for allegedly causing forest fires as it scrambles to control blazes on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands. Weak law enforcement in Indonesia is exacerbated by a lack of transparency about land ownership, making it harder to pinpoint and punish perpetrators, experts said. "Without a centralized, public map that shows resource ownership, it will remain hard to find the offending companies or landowners," said Andika Putraditama, Indonesia research analyst at the World Resources Institute (WRI). Indonesia last December launched its long-awaited "One Map" initiative, a comprehensive map of land ownership to provide clarity on the boundaries of land owned by companies, communities and the government. It is due to be completed in two to three years, but progress has been hampered by overlapping land use permits and other technical issues, experts said. Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said her ministry had given all data about the permits it had issued to the economy ministry, which is coordinating the project. "Basically, we want early prevention [of the fires], if possible starting now," she said in response to questions put by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She declined to comment on questions about the budget for fire prevention and efforts to make land allocation more transparent. Slow Regional Efforts Indonesia in 2014 became the last country to ratify the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (Asean) transboundary agreement to tackle haze, some 12 years after it was launched. The accord calls for concerted regional efforts to prevent or put out the fires—but every year June-September monsoon winds send thick smoke from Indonesia to Malaysia and Singapore. "It is important to understand that Asean stands on a sovereignty principle," said Sembiring. "The onus is on all member states to develop their own national policies and programs based on the agreement and implement them accordingly." Singapore went further after a surge in forest fires in Indonesia engulfed it in particularly thick haze in 2013, causing record levels of air pollution. The city state passed a law last year that allows it to sue companies or individuals—based in any country—that cause haze, a step that other nations could emulate to boost enforcement, Sembiring said. The haze has also led to calls for a boycott of products containing palm oil, but green groups say a more effective approach would be to boost sustainable production. The rapid growth of palm oil plantations, now covering over 11 million hectares in Indonesia—an area bigger than Iceland—has been a leading cause of fires and deforestation. Demand for sustainable palm oil is rising, and around a fifth of the world's palm oil is now certified as such by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body of consumers, green groups, plantation firms and consumer goods companies. RSPO standards require its members to stop cutting virgin forest, produce or source oil only from land to which growers have clear rights, and not to clear land by burning. Through satellite data and online maps the RSPO has tracked the origins of the current haze. The data showed no fire alerts at RSPO-certified palm oil concessions between January and August, compared with 627 at those without certification. The post SE Asia Seeks New Strategy to Fight 'Slash and Burn' Haze Problem appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

East Timor Primed for Legal Tussle with Australia Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:24 PM PDT Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop speaks during an ASEAN-Australia ministerial meeting at the Myanmar International Convention Centre in Naypyidaw, August 10, 2014. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) Thirteen years after winning independence from Indonesia, East Timor has to wage another struggle for justice with a more powerful neighbor—but this time in the courts, the nation's prime minister says. After two years of inconclusive technical talks, East Timor last week announced it was initiating arbitration with Australia on jurisdiction of a seabed petroleum field—the latest round of litigation in a messy dispute between the two countries over how they split lucrative oil and gas revenues. "We are claiming what belongs to us. It's an issue of sovereignty and an issue of justice," said Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo, who took office in February after independence hero Xanana Gusmao resigned to make way for a new generation of Timorese leaders. Araujo spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN. East Timor, an impoverished nation of 1.1 million, became a sovereign state in 2002. It depends on petroleum revenues for 90 percent of its economy and is concerned that funds could dry up within years. In the new litigation, East Timor is disputing Australia's exclusive right to the jurisdiction and taxation of the pipeline leading into a joint petroleum development area. Australia said last week it will defend against the legal action. It said that the treaty under which the two nations divide the revenues states that jurisdiction depends on where the pipeline lands, which is in northern Australia. East Timor has already challenged the validity of the 2006 treaty. It contends that Australia spied on it during negotiations for the treaty. And in 2013, it launched a legal action at the International Court of Justice after Australian police seized documents from a lawyer representing East Timor who allegedly witnessed the spying. The court banned Australia from using the seized documents and it returned them to East Timor. Araujo said the crux of the dispute with Australia is over where the maritime border in the Timor Sea lies. The territory jointly administered by the two countries currently follows a boundary set in 1972 when East Timor was still occupied by Indonesia. That boundary is much closer to the coast of East Timor than Australia. East Timor wants it to be set at a median line between them, so more of the petroleum fields would lie in its waters, so it would earn more revenue. In June, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told parliament that Australia would resist East Timor's effort to redraw the sea border between the nations as delineated under the 2006 treaty. She said the treaty was already generous enough. Under the current arrangements, revenues from the Bayu Undan gas and condensate field that has been exploited for the past decade are divided up 90-10 in East Timor's favor. But Araujo said the field has passed its peak production and is expected to dry up within five to ten years. Revenues from the planned Greater Sunrise field would be split 50-50, but 80 percent of the field lies in Australian waters so it would earn the lion's share if production starts. Araujo says despite the political disagreement over the oil revenues and maritime border, relations with Australia are good, and he has invited new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to visit East Timor. Still, Araujo likens the long-running legal travails to the 24-year armed struggle against Indonesian occupation that had left more than 170,000 dead—a struggle that few outsiders expected East Timor to win, until a UN-administered referendum in which its people voted for independence in 1999. "People were pessimistic, saying that Indonesia will never go out from East Timor because all the big Western powers were supporting Indonesia. The only thing we used as a strong moral and political motivating factor was international law," he said. "It may sound rhetorical, but we think that we are in the right side again." The post East Timor Primed for Legal Tussle with Australia appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rising Anger in Thailand’s Boom-to-Bust Northeast Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:13 PM PDT Rice mill workers react in a mill in Udon Thani, Thailand, September 16, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) KHON KAEN, Thailand — The rural heartland of Thailand's deposed leader Yingluck Shinawatra and her exiled billionaire brother Thaksin is hurting as a result of the military government's economic policies, stirring discontent and the threat of protests. The removal of generous agricultural subsidies has left rice farmers in northeast Thailand struggling with mounting debts, and they will get little relief when they sell their crop in coming months with rice prices near an 8-year low. Petty crime is on the rise and retailers are struggling. The vast Platinum 168 shopping mall on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Udon Thani was built during the boom, but it is now less than a third occupied and no longer charging tenants rent. "People are complaining about the rising costs of living, of having no money for spending," said Teerasak Teecayuphan, the mayor of the neighboring provincial capital of Khon Kaen. "Their patience will gradually run out. Sooner or later this pot will boil over." Thaksin's "red shirts", many of whom hail from the northeast, have punctuated a decade of political turmoil in Thailand with protests on Bangkok's streets. Military attempts to disperse 10 weeks of protests in 2010 left scores dead and sparked the worst arson and rioting in Thailand's modern history. Thaksin has told his supporters to stay calm and "play dead", but some in Thailand's poorest region say it is only a matter of time before discontent overcomes fear of the military and people again take to the streets. "People want to protest," said Sabina Shah, a local leader of Thaksin's "red shirt" supporters in Khon Kaen. "But we have to wait for the right trigger. If we come out now in small numbers it's suicide. We are just lying low and waiting for the opportunity—when the government argue among themselves." The military toppled Yingluck's government in a May 2014 coup and have zealously enforced a ban on political activity. Both Shinawatras mobilized the rural poor to deliver landslide electoral victories with a mixture of development projects, social benefits and subsidies. Many in the northeast, also known as Isaan, think they are paying an economic price for their political allegiance. Coup leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha represents a largely Bangkok-based establishment that reviles the Shinawatras' populist policies and is threatened by their rural support base. His government has been austere in support for agriculture, which accounts for just under 10 percent of the country's economy. "It is quite bad for farmers, we have heavy debt," said Pursudar Koyto, in Ban Kampom, a village surrounded by verdant rice paddy fields nearly ready to harvest. "Prayuth's government could have done more, like what they did in the Thaksin era." While incomes improved under the Shinawatras, household incomes in Isaan are still the lowest in Thailand at just over 19,000 baht (US$522.98) per month. That is less than half the 43,000 baht of the Bangkok region, according to government statistics for 2013, the latest data available. Military Warns of National Fallout The junta has now made an about-turn on policy to breathe life into a moribund economy and head off rising discontent. Prayuth in August appointed Somkid Jatusripitak—one of the architects of Thaksin's policies—as his economic tsar. Somkid has prioritized reviving the rural economy, which employs nearly 40 percent of the workforce. "They are suffering," he told Reuters in an interview. "If these people don't have enough purchasing power it will hurt the whole system." Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has undershot government targets. The central bank cut its GDP growth forecast to 2.7 percent from 3 percent on Sept. 25, and to 3.7 percent from 4.1 percent for 2016. In 2014, growth was the slowest in three years at 0.9 percent. Somkid has announced a raft of measures, including soft loans through village funds, but the jury is still out on whether he can spur more growth. Somkid said he would inject more cash into the rural economy if needed. Worse to Come The signs of economic malaise in Isaan are widespread. Private investment, vehicle sales and property values have all fallen and farmers in the world's second-largest rice exporter expect things to get worse before they get better. Cash is already running out and many are selling cars and land to repay loans. Credit is scarce as banks tighten lending to battle rising bad debt. "I have to borrow to pay some debt back every year," said rice farmer Khamkong Banphod, in the village of Ku Kaew near Udon Thani. "Those facing hardship are the people who invested a lot of money and are now facing losses. They have their debt problems and are angry with the government." The margin for millers has been razor-thin since subsidies ended, said Somsak Tungphitukkul, who owns rice mills in Khon Kaen province. Many mills cannot turn a profit and have been mothballed or closed, he said. "It's going to be a nightmare for the rice industry if the government doesn't do something when the new crop comes in," he said. The post Rising Anger in Thailand's Boom-to-Bust Northeast appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

In Burma, Hell in a Very Small Place Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:01 PM PDT Muslim Rohingya women look out from the front of their home at Aung Mingalar quarter in Sittwe, August 13, 2013. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) There is no starker evidence of the ethnic cleansing that rocked the Arakan State capital, Sittwe, in Burma in 2012 than the Rohingya Muslim enclave of Aung Mingalar. Crammed into a couple short blocks in the town center, ringed by police and army checkpoints, Aung Mingalar was a middle-class neighborhood of traders and shop owners with Buddhist and Hindu neighbors before the communal violence that killed hundreds and displaced over 140,000. One village elder told me the people of Aung Mingalar defended the perimeter from Arakanese Buddhist attackers "and the Tatmadaw [Burmese military] arrived in time and we worked together to save our area." Since then, Aung Mingalar has been closed off from the rest of the city—and essentially the rest of the world. With the population down from 8,000 in 2012, it now contains 4,500 residents who live in almost total isolation. Many children look malnourished. There are open sewers. Many residents, who might smile at the few foreigners granted permission to visit, look scared and haunted. Many expressed fear of being attacked again by their Buddhist neighbors living just streets away. Government officials appear genuine in guaranteeing the safety of the people here, and there have been no attacks since 2012. But that approach is clearly operating in parallel to a scheme to make life so miserable that residents will leave for rural camps or join the maritime exodus of Rohingya that dramatically increased in 2015. The enclave has a primary school and some rudimentary shops. A couple of times a week, residents can visit markets to buy food in the camp zone for internally displaced people that rings Sittwe, where 95,000 Rohingya live—but  they have to pay for a police security escort. The government has presented the people of Aung Mingalar with a cruel Catch-22 in what passes for citizenship policy in Burma. After being granted voting rights in the 2008 referendum and the 2010 elections, many Rohingya were this year stripped of their temporary ID cards, a mass disenfranchisement. They have been urged to enter a verification process to determine their citizenship eligibility, but can succeed only as long as they identify themselves as "Bengali," not Rohingya, and can miraculously qualify under the draconian 1982 Citizenship Law. Even if some get full citizenship, this is unlikely to guarantee full respect for their rights as anti-Muslim ultra-nationalism grows in Burma. As the people of Sittwe head to vote in the national elections on November 8, the people of Aung Mingalar, in their isolation and squalor, will look out and see clearly the government's intention to deny them their basic freedoms. David Scott Mathieson is Senior Researcher, Asia Division, with Human Rights Watch. This article first appeared here as one of HRW's "dispatches." The post In Burma, Hell in a Very Small Place appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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