Saturday, August 5, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

From the Archives: ‘We Can Bring about Both–Justice and Reconciliation’

Posted: 05 Aug 2017 02:14 AM PDT

This month marks the 29th anniversary of the nationwide protests in 1988 that launched Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. As one of the most prominent leaders of that uprising against military rule, Min Ko Naing was forced to spend most of the next two and a half decades in prison.

Released in early 2012 along with many other fellow political prisoners, he has since returned to public life as a founding member of the 88 Generation Peace & Open Society, a group dedicated to restoring democracy and human rights in Myanmar. The Irrawaddy interviewed him in 2013 on Myanmar's struggle for independence.

Min Ko Naing is a nom de guerre meaning "Conqueror of Kings," and it has become synonymous with the determination of the people of Myanmar to end unjust and autocratic rule. But these days Min Ko Naing is also actively seeking national reconciliation, even as he continues to push for accountability for human rights abuses committed in the country. However, as he says in this interview with The Irrawaddy's Kyaw Zwa Moe, his quest to uncover the truth about the past is not about seeking revenge.

Min Ko Naing has won numerous international awards for his activism. These include the 2009 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights; the 2005 Civil Courage Prize; the 2001 Student Peace Prize; the 2000 Homo Homini Award of People In Need; and the 1999 John Humphrey Freedom Award. His most recent honor was an award from the US National Endowment for Democracy, which he received in 2012.

Twenty-five years after the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, what do you think the movement has achieved so far?

Certainly, they [the authorities] now have to shout louder than we do about democracy. Whether they are really practicing it or not is another matter. The situation today is that they now have to admit that the banner of democracy that we raised is righteous and noble. Here, I think we need to examine what kind of political reform is taking place in this country—is it for all of the people, or just for a group of people? The important question is: who is this current change for?

Back in 1988, many democracy activists, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, called the pro-democracy movement the country's second struggle for independence. Is it still the same struggle today?

Unlike the past, the other side is no longer denying democracy. But things are not moving smoothly, so we still have to struggle. Sometimes, we have to compete with them and sometimes we have to negotiate with them. After all, it is still a struggle.

It will be very difficult to achieve reconciliation in Myanmar without compromising on the issue of justice. How will the 88 Generation Peace & Open Society seek justice for those who have suffered for their role in the struggle?

I think we can bring about both—justice and reconciliation. Of course, it is essential to reveal the truth. We can learn lessons from the past only if we uncover the truth. But this doesn't mean seeking revenge. So first we have to disclose the truth, and then we have to take responsibility together to ensure that injustices don't happen again.

These days, we can see many media reports about human rights violations in the past. So far, I haven't seen any actions taken by the authorities against those publications. I think it's all part of disclosing the truth, although we still can't pursue it as a nationwide mission.

Your group has decided to make peace and reconciliation the theme of its commemoration of the 1988 uprising. Why did you choose that topic?

Peace and reconciliation are essential if we want to move forward. At the same time, however, we will also organize exhibitions about what happened in the past, to continue to disclose the truth.

Myanmar's opposition groups always had trouble dealing with the political games of the former regime, and they are still lagging behind the current government in terms of strategy. Why are the opposition groups so weak at formulating and following strategies?

I don't see politics as a game. Eventually, politics [in Myanmar] will become a game in which there are players. But right now we are freedom fighters, not players in a political game. I don't know the rules of that game. Dhamma [justice] will prevail over Adhamma [injustice] in the end. But it also depends on our might and unity. Unity is not a problem in a dictatorship because it is always a top-down system. But in a democracy, everybody is allowed to be different. That is the nature of democracy.

The people of Myanmar are looking to the 88 Generation for leadership at this critical time. What is the political agenda of the group?

I don't want people to depend on an individual person or group. I think we need collaborative leadership. We are now trying to empower civil society, which is different from forming political parties. I think the civil society groups are getting stronger and stronger. What we are doing today is building a network. You can't see a single tree standing out in a field. Our work is horizontal, not vertical.

Will you form a political party to contest the 2015 national election?

Personally, I have no plan to form a political party. But in our group, there are some who are keen to do so and capable of making it work, so they might form a party at some point. I understand why they want to do it, but as for me, I don't have any enthusiasm or aptitude for it.

Let me say a few words about party politics and people's politics. Those two ideologies always divide us into two groups. Look at Bogyoke Aung San: He formed a party, but he wasn't really doing party politics. Instead, he engaged in people's politics for the good of the whole nation.

I won't form a political party, but I will keep working at the grassroots level. Look at people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. We don't criticize them for not taking part in party politics. Their work was hugely influential. So I don't think that that forming a political party and running in an election is the only way to achieve things in politics.

How do you propose to change the current political situation in Myanmar, in which former military leaders still dominate in both the government and the Parliament?

It would be best if power was in hands of the people. To reach our goal, I am more interested in influence than power. After 50 years of being ruled with an iron fist, our people tend to think of power as something used to oppress them. It was power that intimidated and enslaved them. The way governments took or seized power wasn't right, either. That's why I want to apply influence rather than power. By building influence, we will be able to put power into hands of the people.

What is the difference between the struggle you started in 1988 and the challenges you face today?

In the past, our struggle faced total denial and a closed door. So we had to put all our energy into opening that door. Now the door is open and we've received promises [from the authorities] that they will walk together with us on this road [to political reform]. We have to admit that we now enjoy more freedom. The media, for example, is much freer than before. We couldn't even dream of such freedom in the past. These are changes we can't deny, but that doesn't mean that those changes are complete.

What I am concerned about now is whether these initial changes will be able to continue to grow. We now have basic rights to form and run associations, organize activities, and so on. But if these rights can't grow and develop, they will be like bonsai trees in a living room—just for show.

There are traps and obstacles that we have to overcome. There are still restrictive laws in force, such as the draconian Electronics Act, under which we were given 60-year prison sentences for sending out four emails—that's 15 years for each email. Those laws are still instruments that they can use to throw you into jail anytime they choose.

You said earlier that you are not satisfied with the current political reforms. What kind of political transition would satisfy you?

Let's talk about what should be done in this situation. One of the most critical issues in our country is the ethnic problem. Unless that issue is tackled seriously and immediately, any political reform will be a sham, and we won't be able to build up a new nation. If we really want to continue this political reform, we need to solve the ethnic issue right away.

The post From the Archives: 'We Can Bring about Both–Justice and Reconciliation' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

From the Archive: What We Were Fighting For

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 10:48 PM PDT

This month marks the 29th anniversary of the nationwide protests in 1988 that launched Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. In this commentary originally published in 2013, The Irrawaddy's Aung Zaw reflects on his own participation in the movement, and reconciling the reality of the present with the events of the past.

It was 25 years ago that students led a massive uprising against military rule in Myanmar—an event that has shaped an entire generation and affected virtually every person in the country. After 26 years of disastrous decline under the regime of Gen Ne Win, the people of Myanmar had had enough. Little did they know then, when victory had seemed so near, that it would be nearly the same number of years again before they would finally begin to see the end of the long, dark night of oppression.

As a student at that time, I can clearly remember the exhilaration of knowing that the entire nation was behind us, that we could not possibly lose. But we were wrong. Though people came out into the streets in their millions all over the country, the military would not stand down. Too accustomed to holding power, and believing that only they could lead the way out of the crisis that they had created, the generals gave the order: shoot, shoot to kill.

And so thousands of young lives were mown down, and with them, the hopes of an entire nation. Some fled to the jungle to take up arms or seek allies abroad, while others went underground to defy the new regime from within. For more than two decades, an undeclared war continued to rage—a war on students, on the very people who had refused to lose faith in their country's future.

They knocked on doors in the middle of the night: the military intelligence agents who didn't care about the sobbing parents as they dragged their children away with hoods over their heads. They tortured and imprisoned any who dared to speak out against the regime. And when they couldn't throw everyone who opposed them behind bars, the generals locked the gates to the universities, knowing they were breeding grounds for dangerous ideas, such as democracy and human rights.

Of course, students were not the only victims of the violence, which also targeted ethnic minorities and opposition politicians and affected everybody from poor farmers to rich businesspeople who fell afoul of the all-powerful generals. But it was students who were treated with the greatest distrust, because the weapons they wielded were their own minds, which refused to be yield to force.

Later, the junta refined its strategy for dealing with students: while keeping most campuses closed, it created new ones, banishing students to the distant outskirts of cities. Thus the prisons, home to some of Myanmar's best minds, became in some ways the country's most important centers of learning, while the universities, deprived of decent facilities and properly qualified instructors, became little more than holding centers for a dispossessed generation.

Now all of this has changed, or so we would like to believe. Students are no longer vilified in the state-run press, and most of Myanmar's political prisoners have been freed. Some of the '88 activists are now politicians, media people or artists, all determined in their own way to keep their struggle for democracy alive. Those forced to flee have begun to return, looking for ways to help rebuild the country they never really left behind.

There is some hope in the air in Myanmar today, but it is nothing like that of 1988. Then, it was possible to believe that the country could easily return to the days when, before the coup of 1962, it was seen as the most promising in the region. Now, there is half a century of rubble to remove before rebuilding can even begin.

But perhaps it isn't necessary to clear away every remnant of the recent past, as we tried to do in 1988. Perhaps as we reclaim the space that was taken away from us and learn again how to speak openly, without fear of our overlords, we can, in the process, dismantle the legacy of military rule.

Does anybody really believe that the former generals who now rule Myanmar understand the meaning of democracy? Probably not. But perhaps it doesn't really matter, as long as we are all determined to make what use we can of the little freedom we now have to create a nation based on respect for the rights of its people, rather than on dread of its despotic rulers.

This does not mean that we can forget the past, especially when its effects are still very much with us. Those who sacrificed their lives must be remembered, not only by their loved ones, but by the nation as a whole. But this can only happen in a country with real leadership. Until Myanmar has leaders who can acknowledge the past, the road to a better future will be strewn with obstacles.

These days, the way forward looks particularly daunting. Despite numerous ceasefires, conflicts in the country's north remain unresolved because of the current government's refusal to accommodate the desire of ethnic minorities for greater self-determination. Meanwhile, religious riots—evidently backed by some still in power today—are hurting the country's efforts to rejoin the international community after decades of isolation.

Myanmar won't be able to recover from its long years of abuse at the hands of its rulers on its own. It would truly be a tragedy—and a betrayal of the spirit of 1988—if agents of hatred and intolerance succeeded in robbing the people of Myanmar of the respect they have earned in the eyes of the world for their tireless struggle for democracy. Only by continuing to resist the forces of ignorance and brutality will we be able to win the war on students, and on the minds of all Myanmar citizens.

This story first appeared in the August 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

The post From the Archive: What We Were Fighting For appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

This Week in Parliament (July 31 – August 4)

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 09:22 PM PDT

Monday (July 31)

The Lower House approved a proposal by Dr. U Hla Moe of Aungmyaythazan Township to launch an education television channel. According to the education and information ministry, the channel will be aired by the state broadcaster Myanma Radio and Television starting in the next fiscal year.

The channel reportedly aims to facilitate learning in rural and remote areas, offer new teaching methods to educators, and keep the public informed about academic progress in the country.

U Kyaw Lwin Aung of Sidoktaya Township urged the government to issue a disaster alert through mobile SMS messages to help mitigate the impact of disasters. Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications U Myo Kyaw said that Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) sent its subscribers a download link to the 'DAN Myanmar mobile application' in December, which provides emergency telephone numbers, dos and don'ts in times of disaster, and weather news and disaster alerts in real time.

In addition, Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement runs a Facebook page and a website which also provide real-time weather reports and disaster alerts.

In the Upper House, parliamentarians debated a bill proposing amendments to the 2012 Farmland Law.

Tuesday (August 1)

Ten MPs debated President U Htin Kyaw's proposal to make the sale of diamonds, emeralds, and gold bars, which are listed as special commodities under the Special Commodities Tax Law, exempt from commercial tax. Seven lawmakers debated in favor of tax exemption, and three others endorsed exempting tax on basic commodities, rather than luxury products.

Wednesday (August 2)

The Lower House voted down the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) MP U Thein Tun's proposal which urged the government to boost awareness of H1N1—also known as swine flu—across the country in order to reduce infection rates and deaths. Out of a total of 392 votes in Parliament, 146 MPs voted in support and 231 against the proposal, while four abstained, and 11 MPs did not join the ballot.

In response to the question by Tamu Township MP U Naing Naing Win, Deputy Commerce Minister U Aung Htoo said that his ministry for the time being had no plan to establish a Myanmar-India border trade zone in his township.

Daw Khin Hnin Thit of Padaung Township urged the government to equalize the required matriculation marks for both male and female students for admission to vocational institutes. Currently, women are required to earn higher scores to attend the same institutes, particularly in studying subjects like medicine. Deputy Minister for Education U Win Maw Tun said the required marks are the same for both male and female students for admission to universities of economics, education, technological and computer studies. However, the education ministry currently has no plan to change the male-female ratio for medical and pharmaceutical programs.

The Upper House voted down the scrapping of the Article 66(d) of 2013 Telecommunications Law, but approved proposed amendments, such as a provision allowing for bail.

MPs also debated the bill amending the law on narcotics, drugs and psychotropic substances. There were different views and the speaker asked the bill committee to review the amendments.

Thursday (August 3)

In the Lower House, Deputy Minister for Planning and Finance U Maung Maung, in response to a question by Minhla Township MP Dr. Than Aung Soe, said that the government has for the time being no plan to increase the pension for retired military personnel and civil servants.

The Upper House approved a bill amending Myanmar's Gemstone Law. The bill has yet to be discussed in the Lower House.

The new law will ban large-scale mining, and only allow medium- and small-scale ventures.

Friday (August 4)

In response to a question by Dr. Daw Pyone of Kachin State's Indaw Township, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Maj-Gen Aung Soe said that the government had adopted a road map to design a new comprehensive anti-drug policy. This, he said, would address the country's drug problem at the national level. In addition, the home ministry will send a special drug squad to be stationed in Indaw Township which is situated on the smuggling route for drugs to jade mines in Kachin State, said the deputy minister.

The MPs discussed the regional development tasks of their respective constituencies in the Upper House.

The post This Week in Parliament (July 31 – August 4) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (August 5)

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 09:05 PM PDT

Philippines Firm Eyes Myanmar

A Philippines-based rice research firm is considering expanding operations to Myanmar and India, ABS-CBN in Manila reported.

The firm could invest up to US$3 million in Myanmar, Chairman Henry Lim said.

The company plans to produce seeds for sale to farmers, and then to sub-contract farmers to produce rice including the company's own brand, Dona Maria.

Last month, SL-Agritech signed a collaboration agreement with Bangladesh firm EnP Solutions for the seed production of a high-yielding rice hybrid which can withstand both dry and wet climates.

Lat War Group in Health Deal

The Lat War Group in Myanmar has joined with Singapore-based Asian American Medical Group (AAMG) to explore healthcare opportunities, the Edgemarkets reported.

The deal is with Lat War's subsidiary, Golden Land United Health Group Company.

Lat War is mainly involved in garments, textiles, paper manufacturing, power generation and real estate.

It has extensive business networks in Myanmar and a proven track record, AAMG chairman Dr. Tan Kai Chah said.

Golden Land managing director Dr. Khin Maung Aye said, "While Lat War is new to healthcare, we are experienced in doing business in Myanmar. Backed by the track record and international network of Dr. Tan and his team, I am confident we will make rapid inroads into this exciting sector."

AAMG specializes in liver treatment and oncology and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. It will take a 51 percent stake in the joint-venture Gold Bell Healthcare Ventures Company Ltd, with Golden Land holding the remaining 49 percent.

Yoma Sees Profits Up

Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings saw a sharp rise in net profits this year over the previous year, according to a company report.

Better operational performance across all its businesses helped revenues group year on year by more than 46 percent from $17.6 million to $25.8 million.

Its consumer business, including KFC outlets, were up 42.1 percent in revenues and the automotive and heavy equipment business rose by 61 percent, it was reported. The real estate business was also up.

Thais to Probe Shan State Opportunities

Shan State officials will receive a delegation from Thailand's Foreign Trade Department on a five-day mission starting Monday in an attempt to boost border trade, the Bangkok Post reported.

The goal is to expand border trade by five percent this year, said deputy director-general Adul Chotinisakorn. Opportunities in Shan State are primarily in hotels and tourism, restaurants, agro-industries, electricity and livestock, he said.

Thai companies who will join the trip include the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc, the Port Authority of Thailand and Amata Corporation Plc.

Thanaka Products Make Inroads in Thailand

Traditional Myanmar thanaka (a fragrant paste traditionally used in Myanmar for cosmetic and medicinal purposes) is finding new markets in Thailand, according to Asia Nikkei.

British Dispensary, a Thai personal care products manufacturer, introduced a cooling body powder that contains thanaka to the Thai market earlier this year. The product marketed under its Snake Brand line is billed as a way to cool the body before going to bed or after a shower.

Thanaka used directly on the face also has potential in Thailand, according to the company's president Anuruth Vongjanij. "People might initially find it weird to put a powder on their face, but I think it could be a new fashion trend from Thailand."

British Dispensary spent more than $5 million marketing thanaka on social media, according to the report.

Another Thai company, Everyday Happy, has introduced a thanaka skincare line that includes soap, foundation and body powder. Sales of De Leaf Thanaka products have been doubling every year since 2014, according to the report.

Myanmar Squashes Trade Zone on India Border

Myanmar will not yet set up a trading zone on its border with India at Tamu due to slow trade in the area and poor immediate potential, it was reported last week.

Deputy Commerce Minister Mr U Aung Htoo told parliamentarians that the Tamu trading point has been open since 1995 but trade value has been low.

A series of joint committee meetings between Myanmar and India was held last week with a view to improving bilateral trade and border trade. There were also discussions on opening a trade zone in Chin State.

According to official statistics, Myanmar-India bilateral trade amounted to $1.743 billion in the fiscal year 2016 – 2017.

New Hotel to Open by Inya Lake

A 15-story hotel and apartment complex overlooking Yangon's Inya Lake is due to open at the start of September, Hotel Lotte of South Korea announced.

The Hotel Lotte Yangon will have 343 guest rooms, all with a view of the lake, and facilities will include a large banquet hall and a swimming pool overlooking the lake.

The 29-story apartment block will have 315 units and facilities will include a children's playroom. Apartment sizes range from 62 to 339 square meters.

The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (August 5) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Dateline Irrawaddy: ‘Housemaids Need Protection of Law’

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 08:49 PM PDT

May Sitt Paing: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, we'll discuss the growing problem of abuse of young housemaids in Myanmar and legal protection for them. There have been a few high-profile cases over the past year including the abuse of young housemaids at Ava tailoring shop, and another case in [Yangon's] Dagon Seikkan Township, which have not yet been settled. U Nyi Nyi, lawmaker in Yangon regional parliament representing South Dagon Township and Daw Hla Hla Yi, director of Legal Clinic Myanmar, join me to discuss laws and legislation for the legal protection of housemaids.

The issue of housemaid abuse is under the spotlight. U Nyi Nyi, you are currently acting for 13-year-old housemaid Ma Khaing Hnin Wai of Dagon Seikkan Township. How is the progress in the prosecution of her employer?

Nyi Nyi: She is 13 years old and was working as a housemaid in Dagon Seikkan Township. Her employers [a married couple] have been released on bail. The case was reported to me last month only after local residents were not happy with the charge of causing minor injury. She was pressed with a hot iron on many parts of her body, and locals were not happy with the charge of causing minor hurt. As far as I'm aware, her employers have been released on bail. The [Yangon Region] parliamentary committee on social affairs is coordinating with concerned authorities and locals to bring justice for the girl.

MSP: Firstly, the couple was charged with causing grievous injury. And then the charge was altered to minor injury. So, U Nyi Nyi, what do you think of the actions of the police force?

NN: As far as I know, police accepted the case under the charge of causing grievous hurt. But, after they submitted the interrogation and medical reports to the township law officer, when the case was brought before the court, the charge had been changed to causing minor hurt. As I am not a legal expert, I am not clear on the reasons behind the downgrading of the charge. But from the point of view of ordinary citizens, she is just 13—we must take her age into consideration—she was pressed with hot iron on various parts of her body, and was also hit in her face. The parliamentary social affairs committee made a field trip to Dagon Seikkan Township on Friday, and met the responsible persons. According to the medical superintendent [of the township hospital], they found 10 serious injuries on her, but only reported nine of them in the medical report. He said the hospital had had to wait and see if that injury would leave a scar. According to the updated medical report, she got injured in her face, which spoils the beauty of a girl, and the medical superintendent suggested that the assault was deliberate. The medical superintendent said the updated medical report has been submitted [to the police]. And the township judge also told us that the charge may change again depending on the results of the medical report.

MSP: The issue of the abuse of housemaids had come under the spotlight with the reported abuse of a young housemaid by the wife of a township judge in Bago over the past years. Then, the Ava tailoring factory case is a high-profile one. And in the last one, a young housemaid working at the house of a retired [Myanmar Army] lieutenant-colonel had got her teeth knocked out. The problem between housemaids and their employers is growing. What is your advice from the legal point of view to help solve this problem?

Hla Hla Yi: Firstly, a law is necessary to protect them. Sadly, there have been many reported cases of abuse of young housemaids lately. Such cases are prosecuted under the Penal Code, and the charge may vary depending on the severity of the injuries. Domestic workers are different from other employees in terms of the job nature. Other employees have fixed working hours, and they don't have to work the whole day and sleep at the workplace. This different job nature poses risks to young and adult housemaids. Assessing the cases reported to our office, we found that they are either sexually or physically abused—to name a few serious things, for instance, pressing with an iron and hitting knuckles. They are also suffering from emotional abuse. So, the general laws covering general laborers are not enough for them. There is a need for the enactment of a specific law for them. Because their job involves greater risks than other employees, and young housemaids are at greater risk in particular. So there is a need for the announcement of a law dedicated to domestic workers. In our country, many don't understand and therefore have no respect for human rights, and labor rights. So, domestic workers are forced into work in conditions akin to modern slavery—many of the cases we have seen and heard today. To prevent these, a dedicated law is necessary. But so far, there is still no such law. On the other hand, house owners also complain about bad domestic workers. I don't deny that there are bad domestic workers. Some domestic workers are immoral and give trouble to house owners. We have also heard about such cases. There is a need for contracts to be signed between house owners and domestic workers. Only then, will we be able to curb the problems facing domestic workers to a certain extent.

MSP: Many legal experts have called for the announcement of a law regarding domestic service. But have you ever made your voices heard by the concerned ministries? What actions are you taking?

HHY: Yes, we've called for enacting laws to protect the rights of housemaids. But for the time being, we haven't yet made an official request to the concerned ministries to enact such laws. But then, we have discussed enshrining provisions that protect women against sexual abuse at the workplace in the draft law on the prevention and protection of violence against women.

MSP: Young housemaids are exploited by house owners. They have no fixed working hours. And they are also subject to sexual and physical abuse. Legal experts have called for enacting legislation to give protection for them. As a lawmaker, what is your advice for the adoption of such law in Parliament? What steps are lawmakers taking?

NN: It directly concerns the Parliament at the Union level. Such a law shouldn't be applied to cover Yangon Region only. There is an urgent need for lawmakers of both houses to discuss laws covering the terms of agreement between housemaids and house owners, the protection of housemaids and the regulations for housemaids. If there are right laws, and when there is momentum in their enforcement, domestic workers will have legal cover.

MSP: Besides the enactment of laws, raising the awareness of both house owners and domestic workers is also important. Ma Hla Hla Yi, what is your view?

HHY: There are two parts. Some employers know that hurting their housemaid is a crime, but they do it deliberately with the knowledge that housemaids are too weak to file a complaint and seek legal protection. And some employers do not know it is a crime. So, it is important to raise legal awareness of each and every citizen. But our capability to do so is limited. I think state media can play a role here to raise the awareness, warning them about the criminality of physical and sexual abuse of housemaids, because civil society organizations have limited resources to do so. I'd like to suggest that the government should raise awareness through television channels. Again, housemaids in our country are forced by limited job opportunities and poverty into this job, but not because of their own choice. It is therefore very difficult for them to file complaints and seek legal protection and justice. So even if a law won't be enacted immediately, the government should at least adopt policies urgently detailing the rights of domestic workers as well as obligations of house owners and domestic workers.

MSP: What are your recommendations for public awareness of this issue?

NN: Prevention is better than cure. Now is the opportune time to take actions. In fact, we could have taken actions earlier. But it is not too late if we are committed to solving this issue. [Awareness-raising] pamphlets should be distributed in affluent and middle-class neighborhoods. The [number of] abuse cases have slightly decreased because of extensive coverage of the issue in media. Many more cases would have been exposed if those children knew how to file complaints. I've also heard that the potential [number of] abuse cases have been deterred by media reporting. More potential cases can be reduced by awareness-raising campaigns; for example, the social affairs ministry can erect billboards detailing the prison terms for sexual and physical abuse of young housemaids. This will largely reduce potential cases, I would say.

MSP: Thank you for your contributions!

The post Dateline Irrawaddy: 'Housemaids Need Protection of Law' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

From the Archive: Why the Past Can’t be Put to Rest

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 07:05 PM PDT

This month, Myanmar commemorates the 29th anniversary of the nationwide protests in 1988 that defined the pro-democracy movement. Ma Win Maw Oo, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, was gunned down in Yangon with other demonstrators on Sept. 19, 1988—the day after a new junta seized power. Her final request to her father was that he not perform the last rites over her body until the country had become a democracy. In this article from 2013, Ma Win Maw Oo's family explains why they honored her wish.

In 2016, after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy administration was elected and took office, Ma Win Maw Oo's parents finally put her soul to rest.

YANGON—Though it happened more than two decades ago, U Win Kyu is still haunted by old memories. Daw Khin Htay Win, his wife, is torn between her wish and her husband's promise to their daughter.

His mind drifts back to a September evening 25 years ago. He was running from ward to ward in Yangon General Hospital looking for his daughter after learning that she was in critical condition after being shot by the army. Around him, the hospital was teeming with patients badly injured by trigger-happy soldiers. He recalls that there were pools of blood on the floors.

"Every year at this time, it all comes back to me," said the 61-year-old father, recounting the last hours of his daughter Ma Win Maw Oo, who moaned in pain on the hospital bed suffering from a fatal wound caused by a bullet that shred a lung.

The 16-year-old schoolgirl was gunned down in downtown Yangon with other pro-democracy demonstrators on Sept. 19, 1988—the day after a new junta seized power after months of protests. Her fatal shooting was captured in a photograph that shows her blood-soaked body being carried away by two young doctors. That image, which appeared in the Oct. 3, 1988, issue of Newsweek's Asian edition, soon became an icon of the brutality of the crackdown.

Every year in September when the anniversary of their eldest daughter's death is approaching, the couple in their sixties faces a great dilemma: should they perform Buddhist rites to release Ma Win Maw Oo's soul into the afterlife, or fulfill the wish she expressed to her father from her deathbed? Her dying words were, "Don't call my name to bestow merit upon my soul until Myanmar enjoys democracy."

The eighth-standard girl's final wish is a shocking one in Myanmar society, where a deeply rooted traditional belief has it that a person's soul can't rest in peace until his or her name is called out by the family to share their merit with the deceased.

"As a mother, I don't want her soul to wander," Daw Khin Htay Win said with a deep sigh. "But I have to respect her wish and my husband's promise to her," she added, explaining why the family hasn't shared their merit with their daughter for the last 24 years.

Despite Myanmar's recent democratic reforms, the family said they still don't feel that they can call for merit to be bestowed upon their daughter's soul this year.

"You cannot say democracy is now flourishing in our country," U Win Kyu told The Irrawaddy recently, sitting in front of an enlarged picture of his daughter in the family's one-room shack on the outskirts of Yangon.

"As long as we don't have a president heartily elected by the people, we cannot call her name to bestow merit upon her soul," he said. His wife nodded in agreement.

Both parents remember Ma Win Maw Oo as a "good" daughter who supplemented the family income by selling sugar-cane and traditional snacks in the streets. She wanted to be a singer inspired by the Myanmar pop star Hay Mar Ne Win (not related to then dictator Gen Ne Win). She hated injustice, so when the country's people rose up against military rule in 1988, she knew she had to join.

"It was her burning sense of [the government's] injustice that took her life," said Daw Khin Htay Win.

Min Ko Naing, the most prominent student leader of the 1988 uprising, said that Ma Win Maw Oo and others who gave their lives for the cause of democracy did not do so in vain.

"If possible, I wish I could tell her we are still marching to the goal she wants by crossing the bridge she and other people built by sacrificing their lives," he said.

Since Ma Win Maw Oo's death, her family has had an extreme dislike of the army. But, as time goes by, their hatred toward Myanmar's military men diminishes. U Win Kyu said he prefers to let bygones be bygones, and is not interested in seeking justice for his daughter.

"My daughter was brutally killed and I myself also used to have bitter feelings toward the army," he said. "But now I've come to realize that it was her destiny to face that kind of death. We no longer hold a grudge."

But they still want something.

"We want the president to make some sort of memorial to honor those who fell during the '88 uprising," said Daw Khin Htay Win, adding that that would be the best way to assuage the grief of families who lost loved ones in the struggle to restore democracy.

"If it really happened, it would fill us with pride and joy," she said.

This story first appeared in the August 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

The post From the Archive: Why the Past Can't be Put to Rest appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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Friday, August 4, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Violence Follows Confrontation Between Villagers, Police in Rakhine

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 08:37 AM PDT

YANGON – Hundreds of people from Outt Nan village in Rakhine State's Rathedaung Township resisted security forces on Friday when policemen attempted to arrest men suspected of being militants, according to the State Counselor's Office and locals from the neighboring village of Zay Di Pyin.

According to U Maung Soe Win, an elder within the largely Buddhist Arakanese Zay Di Pyin village, four suspects were apprehended from Outt Nan while two managed to escape after hundreds of villagers surrounded a dozen policemen and fought back against the armed security forces with machetes, slingshots, and darts.

"Villagers witnessed a huge crowd chasing policemen into a large field," said another Zay Di Pyin resident U Maung Khin Win.

According to U Maung Khin Win, villagers from a third community, Chwat Pyin, reported the discovery of militant training camps in the Mayu mountain range of northern Rakhine State as they searched for a missing local in July. They then informed the border police, who, following an investigation, arrested a man named Anatulah from Ahtet Nan village on July 27 for allegedly attending a training in the camp months earlier, according to the State Counselor's Office Information Committee.

One of the darts allegedly used against police. (Photo: State Counsellor Office Information Committee / Facebook)

While detained, Anatulah reportedly revealed the names of other trainees, as well as camp leaders. This information led to a border police raid by Maj Okka Aung and 25 troops in the Muslim village of Outt Nan on Friday morning.

A statement by the State Counselor's Office said that police initially arrested six suspects but that nearly 300 villagers surrounded the policemen, who then fired 15 warning shots, but the crowd did not disperse. The statement said that the crowd then "attacked" police, leading to the escape of two suspects.

Villagers from Zay Di Pyin said that a local imam was among the escapees, but at the time of reporting, this could not be verified.

The government statement said that the police were followed by Outt Nan villagers until they left the area, and in total, shot around 50 rounds. It did not mention any injuries or casualties. However, both Buddhist and Muslim residents of Zay Di Pyin told The Irrawaddy over the phone on Friday that, from the scene that was witnessed, they believed some Outt Nan residents endured gunshot wounds which may have been fatal. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify these claims with the border police at the time of reporting.

Representatives from Rathedaung police station declined to comment on Friday's conflict, but authorities have reportedly been deployed to the area surrounding Outt Nan and Zay Di Pyin to search for the suspects.

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‘You Need to Show the Numbers’

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 07:53 AM PDT

As a young boy, Ko Yan Naung Oak wanted to be a scientist—he was interested in technology and his favorite subject was physics. He spent his childhood in Singapore and majored in economics in the US. "I was never able to choose one thing that I wanted to do," he said.

Now the 30-year-old is a senior adviser at Phandeeyar, an information technology innovation hub in downtown Yangon. His work mainly involves assisting civil society organizations, journalists, entrepreneurs and others to do their work better by using technology. He was among the first to introduce data journalism to Myanmar journalists covering the 2015 general election and continues to train local media representatives.

"What I am currently doing is kind of the combination of my interest in technology with my interest in different things combined together," he told The Irrawaddy recently.

Ko Yan Naung Oak said someone working at a think tank or in academia can do all the research in the world but they cannot bring that to the people's attention in the same way journalists can. "I think the ability of journalists is to tell a story that really resonates with people and also gives a bigger picture with the data. It is very important for a country like Myanmar," said he during a recent conversation with The Irrawaddy's Tin Htet Paing.

What is data journalism?

Data journalism has two sides. One is using data to find a story that is worth telling, so using data as a source to strengthen your story and to start looking for interesting things within the data that you can tell to your audience. The other side is presenting a story using data. So, that would be having nice graphics, visualization, maps and interactive elements—data as a source and data as visual casing for a story.

I think to simplify it even further, it would involve including quantitative elements in traditional storytelling. It's all about telling a story people relate to. Even if you put in a lot of quantitative analysis, you still have to bring it down to a level where people don't just look at it and think 'this is just a bunch of numbers.' Instead, it expands on something that they can already relate to. You can give an example about an individual person and their story, but putting that in a context of the larger number can give the bigger picture. For example, the individual person you are following in your story may be the tip of the iceberg, but to show everything hidden under the water, you need to show the numbers.

What do you think of the data literacy of Myanmar journalists?

People who became journalists did so because they are interested in reading books and writing, not working with spreadsheets and numbers, so there's that kind of foundation that you are working with. But at the same time, I think in Myanmar, in the past especially, people have learned to not trust official statistics and to not believe any official numbers that come out. That, I think, adds to the feeling that [people have]: this phobia of numbers. If something is in numbers, it's completely meaningless and anyone could have made that up. So you don't have trust in the numbers. You don't feel like you should invest any effort trying to understand what the numbers are all about.

Data journalism trainer Yan Naung Oak. (Photo: Thet Tun Naing / The Irrawaddy)

 Myanmar has very little data online. How can journalists gather data?

One, the government data landscape is changing. There are individual departments that are forthcoming with sharing data. For example, if you go to the YCDC [Yangon City Development Committee] website, there's a lot more data than most other government departments. If you go to the DICA [Directorate of Investment and Company Administration] website, you can get a lot of data on company registrations, and that database is definitely more complete than even our neighboring countries. But apart from government sources, there are also a lot of other organizations that are either producing data, doing country-wide surveys or collecting and taking datasets from global databases and just curating it for Myanmar. The organization that I work for, Open Development Myanmar, which is part of Phandeeyar, is one those organizations that takes data from various sources and puts it online in easily accessible forms.

The Myanmar Information Management Unit [MIMU] is another one. Several others, such as the Open Myanmar Initiative, work with data from Parliament. There's the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation which also works with political data. So there are a lot of different sources for data.

But also, I was talking about places: data coming from places that you don't expect. For example, private sector sources. You want to work on a story about housing in Yangon. There are so many websites now that are designed as places where people can post housing classified advertisements. Journalists working together with someone who knows technological tools to scrape data and get data from websites like that have a treasure trove of data that they can work with to dig into a lot of different stories. I see my role as being the bridge between people who have the skills and journalists to find that data and also being the bridge between civil society groups who have a lot of things that they are passionate about—they might have data that they have collected but not in a usable format, like written down in a book—and make that data accessible for journalists to be able to use it.

What about the "dataphobic" readers? Are they ready to be convinced by stories told through data?

That's a harder question for sure. I will use an example friends have told me about trying data journalism in other countries. I think this is a story about healthcare in Kenya. Journalists wanted to tell a data-driven story about how there is a problem throughout the country in the healthcare system. They used one person's story to show this problem in a way that people could follow and they specifically said the problem is not just this one person. But what ended up happening is that the story went viral and people really related to it and then they started sending donations to that one guy when the journalists specifically said this was just one example of a big problem and what you need to do is to change the system. But people still relate to the most to personal stories, and that happens all over the world I think.

There are a lot of problems with just using data to convey something to an audience that is not used to thinking with data, and there is a lot of inherent bias that people have. If you see something that is connotatively stated that confirms your bias and you are more likely to trust it. If you see something that someone said, proved with data but goes against what you believe in, you are likely to disregard it. You see that everywhere as well. And I think in Myanmar, that's going to be even more pronounced. I think one of the jobs or tasks that journalists have to deal with is making the data relatable but not simplifying it so much that people lose the point of it.

Can data be easily manipulated to mislead?

There are so many ways to mislead and misguide people. You can definitely see it in newsrooms that have inherent bias and agendas that they want to push. When people see numbers, like we said before, if they don't trust the source, no matter how good the numbers are, they will disregard it. But if someone who they already trust gives them something in kind of a neat and well-presented way with numbers, they will believe it even more just because the numbers are there. That just causes people's beliefs to be more polarized, I think.

What are the challenges you face training journalists?

One of the main difficulties is that a lot of newsrooms in Myanmar are tightly staffed. So journalists really don't have a lot of time to devote to learning. Even a five-day workshop is really a challenge. I understand that they are having to deal with a really big workload, but at the same time, I think it would be great if we have buy-in from the editors and the business side of things and also the journalists themselves that it will be a good thing to devote some time to really learn how to do these sorts of things. I think there's a lot of work to be done in order to get that buy-in. What I am hoping for is some journalists will see the value that they can add, not just to their professional skills but also to their newspapers as a business and something that creates an impact on the country.

The post ‘You Need to Show the Numbers' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Gem Traders Blame Smuggling on Tax Rate

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 06:46 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — The government is losing a large sum on gems and jewelry sales as gems traders smuggle them into China because of a steep trade tax, said U Myint Han, vice chairman of Myanmar Gems and Jewelry Entrepreneurs Association.

"[Gems and jewelry] merchants are smuggling not because they don't want to pay tax, but because they can't afford to pay," said the vice-chairman at a press conference on the first Myanmar Gems and Jewelry Day in Naypyitaw on Thursday.

The tax in question—the Special Commodities Tax Law—was introduced in 2016 for the sales of natural commodities such as teak, hardwood, log, processed wood, jade and gems, as well as fuel, alcohol, beer, and cigarettes.

In 2015, the commercial tax rate was set at 15 percent for raw gemstones such as jade, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds for foreign trading, but increased to 20 percent under the Special Commodities Tax Law, plus a 5 percent trading tax, and 3 percent service charge by Myanmar Gems Enterprise, meaning the total tax was 28 percent of the price of sold items.

However, it has since been lowered to an overall 18 percent after traders' protested.

"This tax rate is inconvenient for merchants. And it is also a loss for the country. In China, you can sell as much as you like for just 2 percent [tax]," said the vice-chairman.

Gems and jewelry sales at the jade and gems emporiums have fallen as a result, he said. The 51st emporium in 2014 garnered US$2.4 billion in sales, when the commercial tax was set at 10 percent.

The following year, in the 52nd emporium, sales dropped to $500 million after the tax was increased, and dropped again to $380 million at the 53rd emporium last year.

"I'm sure gems and jewelry can be had for good prices only at the emporium, but not in the outside market. They get the best prices at emporium compared to other places including China," said U Min Thu, deputy director-general of Resources and Environmental Conservation Ministry.

The tax on gems and jewelry sales has been reduced from 20 percent to 15 percent and the trading tax has been spiked recently following a request from merchants earlier this year, but the service charge remains unchanged. The total tax is now 18 percent, but smuggling persists, gems and jewelry merchants said.

"Some still smuggle even though the tax has been reduced, but not big stones, just small ones. Smuggling has existed for a long time in successive periods, but there is more smuggling now," a gems merchant told The Irrawaddy on the condition of anonymity.

Under the previous governments, gems and jewelry merchants had to show they had paid taxes once a year, but under the new government they must get tax clearances monthly, with harsh penalties for those who fail to do so.

Parliament is working to amend the Myanmar Gemstone Law for the third time, and jewelry merchants at the conference hoped that these amendments would help streamline tax procedures.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Gem Traders Blame Smuggling on Tax Rate appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Voice Editor Released on Bail

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 03:07 AM PDT

YANGON — After being detained for two months, The Voice Daily chief editor U Kyaw Min Swe was granted bail by Bahan Township Court in Yangon for 22 million kyats (US$15,400) on Friday.

The chief editor was arrested on June 2 along with the publication's satirist Ko Kyaw Zwa Naing, also known by his pen name British Ko Ko Maung, for publishing an article which questioned Myanmar's peace process and armed struggle.

The Myanmar Army filed a lawsuit against the pair, who were charged under controversial Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law and then Article 25(b) of the Media Law for allegedly defaming the military in the satirical article. Ko Kyaw Zwa Naing was later released and acquitted of violating Article 66(d) on June 16.

The court accepted the bail request for the chief editor at the court hearing on Friday, with 20 million kyat for the Article 66(d) charge and 2 million kyats for the Media Law charge.

"I have done nothing wrong," U Kyaw Min Swe told reporters at a press conference held right after his release.

He said journalists—including three detained reporters in Hsipaw Prison, Shan State, who were charged under the colonial era Unlawful Association Act—should only be prosecuted under the Media Law if complaints are made against them, as they are just doing their jobs.

"The media law is not yet effective because even the authorities have not followed the law and just use laws which can put the journalists behind bars right away, as soon as the case is filed. It is unfitting for the democratic transition," said U Kyaw Min Swe.

"The judge has a fear when it comes to cases which involve the military, whether the army interrupts the case or not. They would take the side [of the army]—the safe side—which has less risk for them. I don't want to blame them," he added.

The post Voice Editor Released on Bail appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Detained Journalists Denied Bail

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 02:47 AM PDT

HSIPAW TOWNSHIP, Shan State — The Hsipaw Township Court judge rejected an appeal for bail from six men, including three journalists, charged under the Unlawful Associations Act on Friday morning, saying he did not yet know enough details of the case to make a judgment.

"The judge said he needs more time to understand the whole case as only one witness for the prosecution has so far been questioned, by their own lawyer," said Daw Khin Mi Mi, lawyer for defendant Irrawaddy reporter Lawi Weng.

Judge U Kyaw Thu Moe also cited the fact that the six defendants were not residents of Hsipaw as a reason behind the decision, saying it could cause delay to court proceedings, she added.

The defendants' lawyers plan to apply for bail again after a few court hearings.

Local army official Capt. Thet Naing Oo—a witness for the prosecution—was questioned by defense lawyers in court on Friday.

The three journalists—Irrawaddy reporter Lawi Wang (U Thein Zaw) and Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporters U Aye Naing and Ko Pyae Phone Aung—appeared in good health and spirits as they arrived at their second hearing of the trial.

"The government always said they wanted to bring about change, why do they still use this outdated law?" Lawi Weng questioned as he arrived at court. "We rarely see attempts by the National League or Democracy-led government to amend or abolish this outdated law."

"The law suit against us is a law suit against every journalist—our experience shows we still have no freedom to report," said Ko Pyae Phone Aung, DVB reporter.

"Since other journalists facing trial were released on bail, we also want bail," said U Aye Naing, senior reporter of DVB, adding that their lawyers will handle the applications.

The reporters were arrested on June 26 in Namhsan 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 six men – three journalists, two drivers and a local man – were travelling in two vehicles near Phayagyi Village, and were arrested on the road between Namhsan and Lashio townships, on suspicion of connection with ethnic armed group the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which operates in the area.

The journalists and a local man were charged under Article 17(1) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act for contacting the TNLA, while the drivers received additional charges for the two unlicensed vehicles. They were placed in detention in Hsipaw Prison.

The post Detained Journalists Denied Bail appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Religion Ministry Hits Out at Protesting Monks

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 12:21 AM PDT

YANGON — Monks staging sit-in protests in Yangon and Mandalay against the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government do not represent the majority of Buddhist monkhood in Myanmar, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture said in a statement released Thursday.

Nationalist monks and laypeople staging a protest since Wednesday near the eastern gate of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon and near Maha Myat Muni Buddha Image in Mandalay's Chanmyathazi Township have been "taken advantage of by those who don't want stability and tranquility," suggested the ministry's statement.

Protesters have been shouting slogans such as "we don't want a government which downgrades race and [Buddhist] religion" and "we don't want a government which favors those who are not good at management."

There were banners stating "our cause is to overthrow the government which undermines Buddhism."

The Yangon and Mandalay Sangha Nayaka committees attempted to dissuade people from demonstrating, but protestors had refused to leave by Friday morning.

The Mandalay Region Sangha Authority sent a letter to nationalist protestors in Mandalay on Thursday evening, warning the protestors to end the protest as they were against the law.

It was strongly denounced by the organizing committee on the same day, which said protestors would respond to any attempts to forcibly suppress the protest camp.

The ministry's statement, quoting Buddhist scriptures, said that Buddhist monks could stage a protest only by refusing to accept the offerings and meals provided by laypeople and only inside their monastery compounds and only under eight circumstances.

The protests staged in Yangon and Mandalay did not conform, according to the statement.

Maj-Gen Aung Soe, deputy minister of the home affairs ministry, told reporters outside parliament on Friday that if the religion ministry files a complaint with authorities, there are laws and regulations in place to take action against the protestors.

The post Religion Ministry Hits Out at Protesting Monks appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thailand Floods Kill 23, Cause $300M Damage

Posted: 03 Aug 2017 11:10 PM PDT

Bangkok, THAILAND — Floods have killed at least 23 people in Thailand's northeastern farming region, the interior ministry said on Thursday, causing damage estimated at US$300 million.

The Southeast Asian nation is the world's second-biggest exporter of rice, some grown in its northeast. It is in the middle of the annual rainy season and floods, which began on July 5, have been unusually heavy, authorities said.

Ten of Thailand's 77 provinces are disaster zones, the Interior Ministry said, adding that most of the 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) affected were rice-growing farmland.

“Losses from the floods are estimated at at least 10 billion baht,” or the equivalent of $300 million, Jirapan Assawathanakul, chief of the Thai General Insurance Association, told reporters.

The floods had not affected rice exports but it was too early to assess damage as the crop can survive short-term inundation, Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, has said.

In 2011, widespread floods killed more than 900 people and caused major industrial disruption, cutting economic growth to just 0.1 percent.

When Thailand's ruling junta took power in 2014, it proposed a 10-year water management plan to avoid a repeat of the 2011 floods, but it is still under review.

The post Thailand Floods Kill 23, Cause $300M Damage appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China in Talks to Sell Electricity to Myanmar

Posted: 03 Aug 2017 09:32 PM PDT

YANGON—Energy-hungry Myanmar is in initial talks to buy electricity from China, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters, in the latest sign of warming ties with Beijing under leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since taking office in April last year, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has sought to repair relations that were strained when a previous semi-civilian government in 2011 blocked a China-backed dam, which was supposed to send most of its electricity to China's Yunnan province.

China's appetite for the hydro project has waned in recent years, as a switch towards less energy-intensive industries amid an economic slowdown has left Yunnan province with a surplus of power.

Instead, Beijing has turned its attention to other projects that fit with its "Belt and Road" initiative, which aims to stimulate trade by investment in infrastructure throughout Asia and beyond.

Three Chinese state-owned companies have proposed separate plans to plug Myanmar's national power grid into Yunnan's electricity network, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and two people familiar with the talks.

Rural Yunnan, which generates around 85 percent of its electricity from hydropower, already sends surplus power to more developed eastern China, as well as Vietnam and Laos.

While China has been supplying power on a small scale to some remote Myanmar towns near their shared border, the talks are the first to discuss connecting the national grids of the two countries to meet Myanmar's urgent demand for electricity.

Blackouts

With only a third of Myanmar's population connected to the grid and major cities experiencing blackouts, buying electricity from Yunnan could be a short-term solution to boost its power supply, the two people familiar with the talks said.

"China welcomes the plan, but Myanmar is still reviewing the details," said one of the people, a senior Myanmar energy official. The "government-to-government talks" were still at an early stage, the official added, with details such as price and timing still to be worked out.

"It's one of the many options we are considering," the official said.

Htain Lwin, spokesman of Myanmar's ministry of electricity and energy, confirmed initial talks had taken place but declined to comment further.

Myanmar has been exploring a range of plans to solve its acute energy shortage, from building coal-powered generators to tapping its reserves of deep sea gas. Some international investors and analysts have criticized a lack of clarity in the country's energy policy.

"Myanmar needs electricity, and if China offers a compelling plan to provide more power, then it ought to be considered," said Jeremy Mullins, research director at Yangon-based consulting firm Myanmar Energy Monitor.

Memorandum of Understanding

One proposal is from state-owned China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company Ltd, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Myanmar in March last year to build a high-voltage transmission line running for several hundred miles from the border town of Muse, in northeastern Myanmar, to Meiktila in the center of the country, the documents show.

The agreement was extended for six months in May this year and a feasibility study for the 500 kilovolt (thousand volts) transmission line is under way.

State-run China Southern Power Grid Company Ltd (CSG) proposed a similar plan in June to carry power from Yunnan via a high-voltage cable, according to the documents.

A third plan, proposed by CSG's subsidiary Yunnan International Company Ltd, would use an existing cable to carry power to Meiktila from Yunnan via Muse, according to the documents and the official familiar with the talks.

The World Bank's Yangon-based energy specialist, Myoe Myint, said such a project could take up to five years to complete, a quicker solution in comparison with hydropower in Myanmar, where it would take far longer to build and bring online a single dam.

He said rough terrain and instability along the border with China, however, could bring challenges to the power trade. Some 20,000 people in March fled Myanmar's northeast after fighting between the government and ethnic armed groups.

CSG and its subsidiary Yunnan International declined to comment. China Electric Power Equipment and Technology did not respond to requests for comment.

"Stupid Idea"

While the plan would be welcomed by many in Myanmar, where power consumption is among the lowest in the world, it could stoke concerns about China's growing economic clout.

Many officials in the Southeast Asian country have been wary of domination by its giant neighbor.

Beijing has been pushing for access to a strategically important port in Myanmar, and in April signed an agreement to pump oil through a pipeline from its western coast to landlocked Yunnan.

"What if China cut off the power trade after our grids are connected? We need to also consider the political situation and stability of the two countries," said the first Myanmar official.

Some argue that buying electricity from China would mean an outflow of dollars from a country with little reserves of hard currency.

"Myanmar has abundant hydropower resources for power generation," said a third senior Myanmar energy official, who is familiar with the plans but not directly involved in talks. "It's a stupid idea to buy it from China."

The post China in Talks to Sell Electricity to Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Will the Myanmar Army Wipe Out Ethnic Armed Groups?

Posted: 03 Aug 2017 07:28 PM PDT

The Myanmar Army has shown—evermore visibly and publicly—that it is strengthening its forces. Recently, Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing toured Japan, India, Russia, Israel, Pakistan and Europe—in many cases he was chasing arms deals.  It is clear that the Myanmar Army is seeking to replace its current outdated arsenal with modernized weaponry to beef up its military capability.

Several questions come from the recent moves of the Commander-in-Chief: What motivates the Myanmar Army to modernize its military capability when it's clearly time for reconciliation in Myanmar to end the country's decades-long civil war? Is the Tatmadaw seeking to wipe out ethnic armed organizations (EAOs)? If so, who will support the military? If not, what is their policy toward EAOs?

Only the commander-in-chief himself can answer these questions; we are forced observe the military's moves, and speculate.

The Tatmadaw's Strategies

Based on observations, one possible goal of the Myanmar Army is to wipe out all EAOs. The victory of the Sri Lankan army over the Tamil Tigers provided inspiration to the Myanmar Army—a prominent retired general "Bullet" Hla Swe highlighted the armed group's surrender when he was interviewed by the BBC in 2013.

If the Myanmar Army is to eliminate the EAOs, it will squeeze the different groups, one-by-one, step-by-step. The Myanmar Army has been implementing its infamous "Four Cuts" strategy (Phet Lay Phet in Burmese) by cutting off food, finance, recruits and information to weaken the EAOs.

The Tatmadaw have been targeting natural resources that support EAOs. The government military has launched serious offensives against areas where lucrative natural resources such as gold, amber, jade, and teak are extracted. The Tatmadaw's recent operations against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Tanai Township, Kachin State—in amber and gold mining areas—is a classic example of the military's "Four Cuts" strategy.

The Myanmar Army has been using Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act as a tool for weakening EAOs. The Army has charged many civilians, particularly ethnic minorities on suspicion of affiliating with EAOs. In doing so, communication between EAOs and the public has been hampered, weakening the organizations.

Less subtly, the Myanmar Army has launched large military offensives with combined ground forces, artillery fire, and airstrikes against EAOs. In the last five years, the KIA has lost most of their strategic outposts from these fierce attacks—Hka Ya Bum, a strategic peak just five miles from KIA headquarters in Laiza, Bum Tawng, Hpun-pyen Bum, Gideon, Lai Hpawng, and the No. 6 battalion in Hpakant and No. 8 Brigade in Indawgyi have both been displaced. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in the Kokang region has also lost a number of strategic outposts recently.

Looking East

The Myanmar Army realizes, however, that it could not fulfill a goal of wiping out EAOs without external support, particularly from China. The Myanmar Army increasingly ties itself with China—perhaps with this end in mind—particularly where groups straddle the Myanmar-China border.

China practices two notable policies towards Myanmar. The first policy is to protect the Myanmar Army from international punishment. China diplomatically shields the Myanmar Army from any scrutiny and punishment meted out at the UN Security Council (UNSC). On March 17, 2017, for instance, China and Russia blocked a short UNSC statement expressing concern with the situation of human rights in Myanmar after a 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine State. China also vetoed a UN draft resolution on Myanmar in January 2007.

The second policy is to drive out from China any potential supporters of EAOs. The central government in Beijing, following President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, has pressured officials in the southern province of Yunnan suspected to be involved with ethnic armed groups in businesses such as mining, logging, and other joint venture—often through intricate business ties.

According to Tengxun News, Beijing arrested and investigated eight senior officials—former Communist Party deputy secretary Qiu He, Kunming executive deputy mayor Li Xi, former Yunnan vice governor Shen Peiping, former Communist Party provincial secretaries Qin Guangrong and Bai Enpei, former Communist Party secretaries of Kunming city Gao Jinsong and Zhang Tianxin, and Kunming deputy mayor Xie Xinsong in Yunnan Province within the three years between 2013 and 2016. Beijing suspected that these people were affiliated with some EAOs such as the KIA, the MNDAA, and the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

In March 2017, a state-owned Chinese bank—the Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank)—suspended accounts being used to crowdfund the MNDAA. On June 15, 2017, Chinese authorities froze over 5,000 accounts in border areas in what they called a crackdown on money laundering, gambling, and crime, in an attempt to increase border trade stability.

The Myanmar Army does not want EAOs doing business with people in China because it fears that income from illicit trades will be laundered. Perhaps as a quid pro quo, the Myanmar Army allows China to pour huge investments into Myanmar in a number of different sectors. China is hungry for resources to implement its "One Belt, One Road" initiative. Thus, China is investing billions of dollars into an oil and gas pipeline starting from Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal in Rakhine State as well as building hydropower facilities in Mong Ton in Shan State and the Myitsone Dam in Kachin State (which is currently suspended), and many more.

Looking West

The Myanmar Army, however, recently shifted towards India. Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing made an eight-day visit to India in July 2017 and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of Defense Arun Jaitley and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval

According to the Indian Military News, the Tatmadaw made a major deal with India in March 2017 to buy torpedoes for their Navy—a deal worth US$37.9 million. It is not the first such deal between the two countries—the Tatmadaw has received rocket launchers, mortars, radars, night-vision devices, bridges, and communication devices, as well as road construction equipment like bulldozers, tippertrucks, and soil compactors.

India is keen to supply Myanmar's naval revamp, previously dominated by China. India has largely disregarded China's expanding footprint in Myanmar—the only Asean country with whom it shares land and maritime boundaries. India wants further diplomatic, economic and military cooperation with Myanmar.

Close ties between the two nations may have several benefits, but the major reason for close cooperation for the Myanmar Army is as a bargaining chip. The Tatmadaw wants China to know that if the country supports EAOs on its borders, Myanmar can veer toward India for military sourcing and lucrative investment projects.

Undeniably, the Myanmar Army could probably wipe out some EAOs that lack the military capability to defend themselves, but it would fair less well with larger groups. Unlike Sri Lanka, Myanmar hosts several strong EAOs, particularly the UWSA, which boasts estimate troop numbers of 30,000. It would be a false presumption that the Myanmar Army could continue to wipe out all EAOs.

The Myanmar Army would do best to negotiate and settle an agreement with non-state armed groups to bring peace to the country. Further pushing, taunting, and bullying of EAOs will only disrupt the country's bid for peace and increase deaths. No citizen wants casualties to continue.

Joe Kumbun is the pseudonym of a Kachin State-based analyst.

The post Will the Myanmar Army Wipe Out Ethnic Armed Groups? appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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