The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Saving Cultures in Karenni
- Yangon Chief Minister’s Comments ‘Cause Misunderstanding’
- Detained Journalists’ Trial Moved to Hsipaw
- Draft Amendments to Telecoms Law Submitted to Parliament
- Mandalay Ma Ba Tha Appeals Ban on Name
- Child Killed by Artillery Fire in Kachin’s Tanai
- Eight Elephants Poached in Six Months in Irrawaddy Division
- Minister’s Comments ‘Insult’ Myanmar Army
- Myanmar Escorts Media to Rakhine, Vows ‘No Restrictions’
| Posted: 13 Jul 2017 09:25 AM PDT DEMOSO TOWNSHIP, Karenni State — Mou Mi, 53, is one of roughly 70 Kayan women known as the "long-necked people" who wear bronze neck rings, a disappearing tradition among the ethnic group in Karenni State. The way of life for people in her village and nearby Kayan villages in Demoso Township has been the same for generations: farming, breeding animals, hand-weaving clothes, and crafting bamboo household wares. In the last two years, however, their village has become more known to outsiders, since the introduction of community-based tourism. With distinctive cultures and untouched scenery, Karenni State has attracted thousands of foreign tourists and even more domestic visitors since the previous government opened access to the area in 2013. The decision came months after its biggest ethnic armed group, the Karenni National Progressive Party, signed a ceasefire agreement with the government. Over the last three decades, many residents of Karenni—the smallest state in Myanmar, with a population of about 290,000, according to the 2014 census, but also host to at least eight ethnic armed groups—fled for the Thai border because of fighting between the Myanmar Army and ethnic armed groups. About half of Karenni State's ethnicities, including Kayah, Kayaw, Kayan, and Manu Manaw, are staying in Thailand's refugee camps. Mou Mi said some of her friends went to the camps, but she remained in her village. The oldest ethnic villagers hold on to their traditional way of life. Losing Traditions Like every girl in Banzan village of Pan Pet village tract, Mou Mi began wearing four bronze coils on her neck when she was little. Even though it was initially painful, "it was shameful at that time if we didn't wear them," she said through a translator, as she spun yarn.  But she does not force her daughters to wear the neck rings as her mother did to her."My daughters don't want to put these on all the time, so I don't make them," said the mother of eight children. Those accustomed to the heavy neck rings understand how burdensome they would be to wear—one of the reasons why the custom has faded among the younger generation that has not embraced the custom. Traditional attire of other ethnicities such as the Kayah and Kayaw in Karenni has also faded. Only a handful of young women don the bronze coils now. One of them, a 20-year-old clothes peddler named Mou Tar who returned from Thailand to live with her family three months ago, sells hand-woven scarves as souvenirs at her home-cum-shop.  Mou Thu, 47, returned from Thailand in April 2016 and also began selling scarves from her home. Visitors can also preorder local food and enjoy the music of her family band. She lived in Thailand's Kayan villages for nine years after leaving on the advice that she could earn more money there. Kayan villages receive support in Thailand, with residents given a regular salary and taught vocational skills, but Myanmar offers no such support—not even an awareness drive in order to preserve the traditions. The villages in Thailand, however, are often referred to as "human zoos," as visitors pay an entrance fee to see the Kayan people. "For our people, the ethnic Kayan, survival matters more than being labeled as a human zoo," said Khun Lakwui, a community guide who was in a Thai refugee camp for almost a decade, then resettled in the United States for five years before returning to the village of his childhood last year. "I want the Myanmar government to put effort in to bringing back the ethnic Kayan, or 'long-necked people,' from Thailand," said Khun Lakwui. An estimated 11,000 Karenni refugees live in at least two camps in Thailand's Mae Hong Song district since fleeing their homes because of conflict between ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar Army in 1989. About 12,000 Karenni have resettled to third countries, mainly to the United States. Community Fund Tourists who want to explore the traditional ways of life of Karenni State's various communities can contact the area's community-based tourism coordinators. Launched in early 2016 and supported by The Netherlands Trust Fund, the tourism project creates job opportunities and income for locals, according to the tour guides based in the state capital Loikaw. The fund provided trainings to the local community on how to prepare food for the foreigners and on basic hygiene, but the project ended in June this year, according to U Htay Aung, the chairman of the state's tour guide association. The guides introduce the visitors to community elders, translating the language from the local dialects and vice versa. The guides also contribute 10 percent of their fees to the village funds, which are used for the development of the community. "Our villagers, especially young people, have gotten jobs because of the project. In 2016 we got many visitors," said Khu Tee Reh, the village elder from Tanelale village, where many Kayah live, and the patron of the tourism project. "They can also earn income from cooking traditional food," he added, explaining that the visitors can sample the local dishes. It encourages locals to promote their traditions, he said, as foreigners want to learn about their culture.  Khun Lakwui said using community guides is the best way to contribute to the villages. "Before there was a rule that visitors must hire community guides, but now some people hire them and some don't, because some regional guides or national guides know the places and they just bring the visitors to the community for show," he said. Myanmar's government must support the communities, he said, to help them not only survive but also preserve their traditions. "They do not earn any income by living here, but they could have incomes while staying in Thai villages, so it must be hard for them to decide [to stay]. They need the government's support to be able to come back," he said. There is no entrance fee for the Kayan villages in Myanmar. The community-based tour guides said their approach is needed for development.  "We want sustainable tourism. If many visitors arrive, we are afraid that it might damage the community," said U Htay Aung, the chairman of the Karenni State tour guides association. "We, the guides, the hoteliers, and the villagers all have to work together to preserve this tradition, which would support sustainable tourism," he said. Challenges in Protecting Culture The bid to preserve the cultures of Karenni's ethnicities has had a modest start, according to Khu Peh Nyoe Reh, the secretary of the Kayah National Literature and Culture Committee (KNLCC) in Loikaw. "In this changing era, our traditions are becoming extinct as many tend not to wear the traditional dress. But we are trying to preserve it, especially the old styles, which use hand-woven clothes." Traditional craftsmen in Loikaw who make pieces such as silver earrings, decorated silver swords, and necklaces all used as accessories in the traditional dress are also dwindling, he said. "In ancient clothing, we have lacquered cotton leg rings, the turbans, and earrings in addition to clothes, but now these accessories are becoming rare and we have lost the experts who craft these," Khu Peh Nyoe Reh added. Resource Shortages Locals not only face the loss of crafting skills, but also a shrinking market for raw cotton to use for hand-woven cloth and bamboo household items.  "We have neither the market, the technology nor the higher quality cotton product," the KNLCC secretary said, adding there are few small-scale cotton plantations in the region compared to the past. Kyar La Pya, the husband of the scarf seller, Mou Mi, grows some cotton plants in their field to use for clothes and scarves at home. He is also one of the village's last makers of lacquered bamboo kitchenware, which includes baskets, cups and circular trays used to serve meals. The cups are used for drinking khawn—local millet wine—and the trays—daunglan in Myanmar and deeyapwelone in Karenni—were once a common sight in households. The villages also lack access to underground water and households must save rainwater in large bowls for annual use. "We have to be thrifty using water and when it runs out in the summer, we have to go to further to fetch it," said one woman in the Pan Pet village tract. The locals added that they got access to electricity for the first time a month ago and that a new road leads to the community. "From March to May, we have a shortage of water—especially when we have visitors who want to enjoy the local food," said Khu Tee Reh from Tanelale village.  A woman and child sit at a traditional Kayan home. (Photo: Thet Tun Naing / The Irrawaddy) The post Saving Cultures in Karenni appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Yangon Chief Minister’s Comments ‘Cause Misunderstanding’ Posted: 13 Jul 2017 08:04 AM PDT NAYPYIDAW — The Myanmar government spokesperson has said that the Yangon Chief Minister's remarks on the army chief's position do not reflect the government's stance and had "caused misunderstandings between the government and the military." U Zaw Htay told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the President's Office had replied to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief regarding the army's complaints concerning the chief minister U Phyo Min Thein that day. "Those comments caused misunderstandings between the government and the military. As the chief minister is responsible [for what he said], we have instructed him to do what he needs to do," he said. When pressed for further detail, the spokesperson said: "We can only share that so far." The army released a statement on Tuesday explaining that they told the National League for Democracy (NLD) government to "take necessary actions" against U Phyo Min Thein on Tuesday for comments he made at a workshop in Yangon over the weekend. He had said that there were "no civil-military relations in the democratic era" and compared the military's commander-in-chief as being in position the same as the level of director-general, "according to the [state] protocol." In a following statement made on Wednesday, the army described Yangon's chief minister as unsuitable for "constructive, long-term relations" with the military and called his comments about the military chief an "insult." The post Yangon Chief Minister's Comments 'Cause Misunderstanding' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Detained Journalists’ Trial Moved to Hsipaw Posted: 13 Jul 2017 07:10 AM PDT YANGON — The charges facing three detained journalists will be examined at the Hsipaw Township court on July 21 because of logistical complications and security concerns in Namhsan Township, where the trio was originally arrested, said one of the defendants' lawyers on Thursday. The Irrawaddy's Lawi Weng, also known as U Thein Zaw, and U Aye Nai and Pyae Bone Aung from the Democratic Voice of Burma, were arrested on June 26 in Namhsan Township on their way back from covering a drug-burning ceremony held by ethnic armed group the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) to mark the United Nations' International Day Against Drug Abuse. The three journalists—and three men who drove them through the area—were charged under Article 17(1) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act for contacting the TNLA and were placed in detention in Hsipaw prison. They had their first court appearance in Hsipaw's court last Friday to extend their remand and were granted the judge's permission for their trial to begin on July 21 in Namhsan, where it was originally determined on July 4 that proceedings would be held. Given difficulties regarding transportation to the hill town of Namhsan—which could cause inconveniences to the defendants and their family members—lawyer Daw Khin Mi Mi, who represents Lawi Weng, appealed to the Kyaukme District judge earlier this week for the case to be examined in Hsipaw Township instead. The defense lawyer told The Irrawaddy that district judge Daw Mie Mie Win Shwe permitted the appeal on Wednesday, considering the security concerns in Namhsan region and the obstacles in traveling between the two towns. Three defense lawyers have visited the trio in Hsipaw prison to discuss their case. International and local press members, civil society organizations and right groups have condemned the arrest of journalists under the colonial-era statute, saying that it points to a worrying trend against media freedom in Myanmar. The post Detained Journalists' Trial Moved to Hsipaw appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Draft Amendments to Telecoms Law Submitted to Parliament Posted: 13 Jul 2017 05:26 AM PDT YANGON — The Ministry of Transport and Communications submitted a draft bill to amend Myanmar's 2013 Telecommunications Law to the Upper House of the Parliament on Thursday. The controversial statute enacted under the country's former quasi-civilian government has been responsible for a worrying trend regarding freedom of expression in recent years. Its Article 66(d) has been used to charge more than 70 people with "online defamation," including more than a dozen members of the media who have been detained and jailed. Deputy minister for transport and communications U Kyaw Myo, who submitted the draft to Parliament, told the media after the legislative session that the law was originally enacted with the objective of protecting telecommunications service providers. However, as defamation charges under 66(d) have been steadily increasing against individuals, amendments were needed, he added. Free speech advocates slammed the government's draft bill after it was publicly released on Friday, pointing out that their recommendations had been neglected and claiming that in some ways, it had made the statute worse. The draft included three significant changes to the Telecommunications Law. It states that the accused who are charged under articles 65 and 66(a), (b), and (d) may be granted bail, and that third parties would be banned from opening cases unless they are affected directly by the action or are acting on an affected individual's behalf. Finally, charges filed under articles 66(c), (d), and 68(a) of the law would not require permission from the Ministry of Transport and Communication to proceed. In Parliament on Thursday the Upper House Bill Committee praised the draft for facilitating bail options and thereby giving those accused under the law more opportunities to defend themselves, as well as for stopping third parties from opening cases without being granted the authority to do so from the complainant. They also commended the elimination of delays along with the requirement for cases to be approved by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The Bill Committee suggested that bail not be granted to those charged under Article 65, which states that those who provide telecommunications services without a license be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, and asked to pay a fine. The bill will be discussed in upcoming parliamentary sessions. Additional reporting by Pe Thet Htet Khin in Naypyidaw. The post Draft Amendments to Telecoms Law Submitted to Parliament appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Mandalay Ma Ba Tha Appeals Ban on Name Posted: 13 Jul 2017 05:19 AM PDT MANDALAY — Nationalists of a sub-chapter of the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion are urging the State Buddhist Sangha authority to reconsider a ban on their group's name—otherwise known by its Myanmar acronym Ma Ba Tha. The spokesperson of Ma Ba Tha's Mandalay chapter told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that it is preparing an appeal to the State Buddhist authority—known by its Myanmar acronym Ma Ha Na—which banned the group's name in May and ordered all signboards to be removed by July 15. "We will send this appeal to the Ma Ha Na office in Yangon tomorrow requesting the senior abbots to reconsider the ban and the removal of the signboards," said U Yatha, the spokesperson. The sub-chapter announced on Monday that it would continue to use the name and would not remove the signboards in defiance of the Ma Ha Na orders. "Since our association [Ma Ba Tha] is not illegal and did nothing that is outlawed, we request the senior Sayadaw to let us continue with [the name]. If the Sayadaw decide to go on with their decision to abolish Ma Ba Tha, we will have to listen and follow them," said U Yatha. The spokesperson said they would request a delay of a month or two on the order so that they could still use the signboards during the reconsideration period. Commenting on reports that the group's members in Mandalay were planning to resist local authorities and senior monks if they attempted to remove the signboards, U Yatha added, "These are just rumors. We have no plan to act against the decision of the senior monks. If the senior abbots of Ma Ha Na decide we are outlawed, and if they want to arrest us, we have no choice but to respect and follow their decision," said U Yatha. After a two-day meeting with members from across the country in late May, the association released an announcement that it would "no longer use [the name] Ma Ba Tha, but would go by the Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation," rebranding itself as a charity group. The post Mandalay Ma Ba Tha Appeals Ban on Name appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Child Killed by Artillery Fire in Kachin’s Tanai Posted: 13 Jul 2017 04:25 AM PDT YANGON — A 2-year-old child was killed by artillery fire in clashes between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State's Tanai Township on Sunday, according to a statement from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief. The parents of the child are also receiving treatment for injuries, as the family was hit while inside a hut on their farm in Tein Kauk village, said the statement shared on the Facebook page of the commander-in-chief's office, blaming the KIA for the death and injuries. KIA spokesperson Lt-Col Naw Bu denied the army's allegation, placing the blame on the army. "It is not only Tein Kauk village that was hit by artillery fire. Other villages were also hit. We know where civilians are living, and we don't target them. It is not good that the army always puts the blame on ethnic armed groups in the case of casualties," he told The Irrawaddy. Though the Myanmar Army and the KIA have not clashed seriously recently, there have been frequent skirmishes near gold and amber mines in the area, said the KIA spokesperson. Locals and workers of gold and amber mines fled the mines to seek shelter in Tanai since clashes broke out on June 6. Currently, four churches in Tanai are providing shelter for the displaced persons, Naw Ta, a member of Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) told The Irrawaddy. "For the time being, there are more than 900 people at four camps. Social organizations have provided food for them, but now we only have one month of rations remaining," he said. Myanmar Army helicopters dropped leaflets in the second week of June, asking the people in the mining areas to leave by June 15 or else be recognized as insurgents. Most of the mine workers then left the mines, said locals. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The post Child Killed by Artillery Fire in Kachin's Tanai appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Eight Elephants Poached in Six Months in Irrawaddy Division Posted: 13 Jul 2017 01:16 AM PDT PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Division — Eight wild elephants were killed by poachers in six months from January to the end of June in Irrawaddy Division, according to the divisional police force. "Poachers used to kill elephants with percussion-lock firearms. But we found that they are now using an old method that utilizes crossbows and poisoned bolts," police lieutenant colonel Kin Maung Latt of the Irrawaddy Division Police Force told The Irrawaddy. Of the eight cases, police arrested the poachers in four of them, are still investigating three cases, and closed one due to lack of evidence. Forest reserves in Pathein, Ngapudaw and Thabaung townships in Pathein District are home to wild elephants. Poachers take the tusks, hide, flesh, and tails from hunted elephants and sell them to smugglers along the Pathein-Mawtin road. From there, smugglers take the items via the Pathein-Monywa road to Mandalay Division, where they smuggle them into China via the Mandalay-Muse road. In the past, the majority of the elephant poachers were from Minbu, Ngape, and Sidoktaya townships in Magwe Division. But some of the Irrawaddy residents who had accompanied elephant poachers in the past are now hunting as well, according to the Irrawaddy Division Police Force. "Some locals have learned how to hunt elephants after accompanying poachers. But they still don't know how to make the poison. So, they take the poison from elephant poachers in Magwe," said police lieutenant colonel Khin Maung Latt. "It is a real cause for concern that locals are involved in poaching wild elephants. It has become more difficult for police to arrest the hunters," he added. Though the Forestry Department deployed forestry security police in Pathein and Thabaung townships last year to prevent the hunting of wild elephants and illegal logging, elephant poaching persists. "I think there should be routine security patrols around the forest reserves to prevent elephant poaching. Only when security forces can chase and forcibly arrest the poachers like soldiers, can poaching be prevented. But now, migrant workers who have links with poachers tip them off about police, and they just run when police come," said Ko Tun Lay, administrator of Tin Chaung village tract in Ngapudaw Township, who is also a private elephant breeder. Ko Tun Lay, an ex-mahout suggested establishing inspection gates on major roads and smuggling routes to prevent the smuggling of elephant parts. Last year, poachers killed 13 wild elephants in the region and police arrested hunters in four of the cases. They are still investigating six cases and closed three cases, as they could not identify the poachers. The post Eight Elephants Poached in Six Months in Irrawaddy Division appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Minister’s Comments ‘Insult’ Myanmar Army Posted: 12 Jul 2017 11:18 PM PDT YANGON — The Myanmar Army said Yangon's chief minister is not suitable for "constructive, long-term relations" with the army and called his comments about the military chief an "insult" on Wednesday following its first complaint to the government since it took office. The army told the National League for Democracy (NLD) government to "take necessary actions" against Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein on Tuesday because of his recent comments about the head of the military, according to a statement released by the Office of the Commander-in-Chief on Tuesday night. The statement, quoting news reports which have gone viral on Facebook, explained that during a workshop on Sunday in Yangon, the chief minister reportedly said "there are no civil-military relations in the democratic era" and that "the military's commander-in-chief position is the same as the level of director-general, according to the [state] protocol." The complaint comes at a time when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD government has been coaxing the country's powerful military to participate in the peace process and amend the controversial military-drafted 2008 Constitution that was drafted by the military. On Wednesday, the army released a statement explaining the complaint, saying "the military takes the remarks as a direct insult to the military chief and the armed forces." "Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein's reckless and confrontational comments could damage the national reconciliation. He can be reviewed as someone who could cause difficulties for the long-term process that has to be built continuously among the government, people and military for better relations," the statement read. "Civil-military relations are more important in our multi-party democracy where armed conflicts are still ongoing. U Phyo Min Thein's remarks show how he is less learned, and it can be concluded that he is more confrontational," it added. Myanmar's armed forces chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing is currently in India for a goodwill visit. The post Minister's Comments 'Insult' Myanmar Army appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Myanmar Escorts Media to Rakhine, Vows ‘No Restrictions’ Posted: 12 Jul 2017 10:35 PM PDT SITTWE, Rakhine State — Myanmar pledged on Wednesday "no restrictions" on journalists visiting the troubled state of Rakhine this week, in the first official trip to include foreign reporters to mostly Rohingya Muslim villages affected by violence since October. Eighteen Myanmar nationals and foreigners representing international media, including Reuters, arrived in the state capital of Sittwe on Wednesday ahead of a government-escorted visit to the northern areas of Buthidaung and Maungdaw, where most residents are stateless Rohingyas. "There are no restrictions regarding the areas that you can report from," said Thet Swe, a director at the Ministry of Information's News and Periodicals Enterprise. "We didn't arrange any 'for show' places for news reporting," he said. Last year, the Myanmar Army unleashed a crackdown in the area after Rohingya militants attacked posts near the Bangladesh border, killing nine police officers. Some 75,000 people fled across the nearby border to Bangladesh, according to the United Nations, which has documented allegations of gang rape, torture, arson and killings by security forces. Myanmar's government, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has denied most of the allegations, and has denied entry to a UN fact-finding mission tasked with looking into the allegations. The government has blocked independent journalists and human rights monitors from going to the area in the far north of the state for the past nine months. Suu Kyi has said a UN fact-finding mission would only heighten tension in the region. Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, see the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Myanmar officials say a domestic investigation, led by Vice President Myint Swe—a former lieutenant general in the army—and a commission headed for former UN chief Kofi Annan—which is not mandated to investigate human rights abuses—are the appropriate ways to address problems in Rakhine State. Security Concerns Annan recommended in March that authorities "provide full and regular access for domestic and international media to all areas affected by recent violence." Reporters on the visit to the northern areas would be provided security by Myanmar's paramilitary Border Guard Police force, Thet Swe said. Although access would not be restricted, he said, reporters should stay close to officials during visits to villages for their own security. A detailed itinerary for the five-day trip was provided to reporters on Wednesday. The itinerary does not include visits to the villages at the center of a two-week offensive in mid-November, in which Reuters has documented numerous allegations of abuses by troops following a clash with Rohingya militants. However, Thet Swe said, the plan was "not fixed" and would be subject to changes due to the weather and security concerns. He invited reporters to suggest additional places they want to visit. Reporters would be taken to the village of Tin May, where security forces killed two suspected militants and arrested one after they detonated a bomb on Sunday, according to an announcement from Suu Kyi's office. While Myanmar has denied entry to a UN fact-finding mission, a UN special rapporteur on human rights, Yanghee Lee, is visiting Rakhine State this week. Although she is not expected to visit the northern areas near the border with Bangladesh, she is due to meet some of the people displaced in violence since 2012. About 120,000 Rohingya have lived in "internally displaced persons" camps in Rakhine State, dependent of international aid, since communal widespread violence that year. The post Myanmar Escorts Media to Rakhine, Vows 'No Restrictions' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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