Monday, May 7, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Sule Shangri-La Turns on the Style for Mango Season

Posted: 07 May 2018 08:27 AM PDT

Mangoes are among the most popular fruits in the world and Myanmar is blessed with a wide range of the tropical delicacy.

Mangoes are currently in season in Myanmar and the Sule Shangri-La is celebrating with an overload of mango goodness throughout its restaurants and bars.

The hotel's two-month long Mango Festival will tempt guests with the sweet and rich taste of mangoes in a number of delicious and different forms.

There are over 400 varieties of mangoes in the world and Myanmar is said to have more than 100 types that come in a wide range of tastes, colors and shapes.

But for the Sule Shangri-La there is one variety that is king of them all: the Sein Ta Lone.

Cakes made from Sein Ta Lone mongoes are available at the hotel's Peacock Lounge.

"Our chef is using the Sein Ta Lone (variety) and we collect them from the best local mango suppliers," said Ms. Mildred Amon, director of communications at the Sule Shangri-La.

She added that many people regard the Sein Ta Lone as the best mango in the world because of its delightful smell, sweetness, juiciness and non-fibrous flesh.

The Sule Shangri-La prepares Sein Ta Lone mangoes in a number of ways so they can be consumed as part of a meal, a snack or even as a drink at its Gourmet Shop, Peacock Lounge, Gallery Bar or Summer Palace.

The hotel is also preparing mango gift boxes, with each box containing six high-quality Sein Ta Lone mangoes that will make the perfect gift for someone or that simply can be enjoyed at home. The gift boxes are available at the hotel's Gourmet Shop.

The shop also offers a wide selection of other mango-based goodies, such as homemade mango yoghurt, mango bread, mango tarts and cupcakes. The star of the show, however, might be a special Sein Ta Lone cheesecake, which costs USD$28 per kilogram.

For afternoon high-tea lovers, the Shangri-La is laying on a mango-inspired high tea set at the Peacock Lounge for only USD$15. The Lounge also offers a mango juice, mango icy shake, mango mocktails, mango margarita and other seasonal temptations.

My all-time favorite seasonal mango juice is fluid, thick and fragrant of the Sein Ta Lone. It's so good; just one sip of the juice is instantly refreshing — not too sweet and not too sour.

Mango salad with dried shrimp Thai sauce

The hotel is also offering a mango salad with dried shrimp Thai sauce (US$8), deep-fried rice paper roll with beef and mango (US$12) and many other foods infused with mango at the Shangri-La's Summer Palace Restaurant.

Among the range of Sein Ta Lone, the hotels is offering only Ma Chit Su (a kind of mango) with chilli powder. This spicy mango dessert is usually sold by street vendors and foreigners don't dare try it but the Sule Shangri-La will be offering the item for US$3.

The Mango Festival lasts for only two months and will end in June. So, if you are mango lover, don't miss this chance to taste these different foods made of mangoes.

For orders, to make a reservation or for further information, email restaurantreservations.ssyn@shangri-la.com.

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Tatmadaw Allows Evacuation of 125 Kachin Villagers

Posted: 07 May 2018 07:33 AM PDT

MYITKYINA, Kachin State – The Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) on Monday allowed government officials to evacuate 125 Kachin IDPs to Kamaing sub-township. The operation to rescue the IDPs, who had been trapped by fighting in their home village of Lai Nawng Hku (Man Wai), followed the evacuation of 22 people from the same village the previous day.

The villagers had previously been blocked from leaving the area by the Tatmadaw, which has recently stepped up attacks against the Kachin Independence Army.

U Khin Maung Myint, an Upper House lawmaker from Hpakant constituency, told The Irrawaddy that 125 villagers were on their way to Kamaing on Monday. Two families of five refused to leave their homes and opted to stay in the village to take care of their cattle.

The evacuees from Lai Nawng Hku will stay in temporary shelters in Kamaing before joining relatives there, he said.

On Sunday, a government relief team led by a municipal deputy director arranged transport for the initial 22 evacuees from Lai Nawng Khu, according to Daw Hla Kay Thi Mar, the director-general of the Kachin State Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

She told The Irrawaddy on Sunday that they were taking shelter at the Shwe Myintzu community hall in Inndawgyi Town and would be taken to meet relatives in Kamaing later on Monday.

Over 3,000 residents of various villages in Kamaing, Injangyang and Tanai townships have been trapped since April 11, when fighting broke out between the Tatmadaw and the KIA.

Since April 30, more than 1,000 Kachin youth have been staging a sit-in protest in downtown Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, demanding the evacuation of trapped IDPs. Last Monday, the protest drew over 5,000 people.

Permission for the evacuation operation was negotiated by Dr. Win Myat Aye, the Union social welfare, relief and resettlement minister, who arrived in Myitkyina on Saturday. The same day, he also met with the protesting youths and pledged to help the trapped IDPs.

Daw Hla Kay Thi Mar said officials would continue to provide the necessary support to the IDPs. She said the Union minister visited three IDP camps in Namti and another in Myitkyina and distributed food rations and money to disabled people, pregnant women and children.

Last Thursday, Kachin State Chief Minister U Khet Aung agreed to help the trapped villagers after meeting with protest leaders, religious leaders and representatives of the Kachin Peace Talk Creation Group, but urged the protesting youth to shut down their campaign.

The following day, however, Tatmadaw troops turned away an evacuation team comprising representatives of the state government, the PCG, youth protesters and religious leaders who were attempting to travel to Kamaing Township.

Leaflets distributed in April to IDPs by the Tatmadaw and signed by its Northern Command stated that the villagers of Lai Nawng Hku were not trapped, and claimed that the Tatmadaw had distributed food and household utensils to local residents. However, the Lai Nawng Hku villagers asked for help from the religious and protest leaders, saying they were trapped in the conflict zone and that the Tatmadaw had prevented them from leaving.

Zau Jat, a protester, told The Irrawaddy that the sit-in would continue until all the trapped villagers are freed. "But so far, we have heard that [only] the migrant workers are allowed to travel. We are not satisfied with only the migrants being allowed to travel. We want a peaceful relocation for the local residents of these villages, who do not have enough food."

On April 20, a Myitkyina-based Red Cross team went to rescue villagers trapped in Awng Lawt in Tanai Township, but the more than 2,000 local residents were not allowed to travel. Meanwhile, more than 200 migrant workers who had come to work at the amber and gold mines in Tanai Township were cleared to leave.

However, now that the Union government has intervened in the situation, and following an order from the President's Office on Sunday ordering the Kachin State government to form committees to oversee rescue work at different levels, U Khin Maung Myint said he is optimistic that other trapped villagers would eventually be freed.

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Army Rebuffs UN Security Council Request to Investigate Rights Abuses in Rakhine

Posted: 07 May 2018 05:18 AM PDT

The UN Security Council asked the Myanmar Army to let it investigate rights abuses in Rakhine State, but the army refused, saying it was an internal matter, according to a detailed statement issued via Facebook by Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

Olof Skoog, a member of a visiting UNSC delegation, said during a meeting with several top army generals that the Security Council was deeply concerned about reports of human rights abuses in Myanmar. The UNSC wanted to investigate these cases and he asked the army for its view on this.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing rebuffed the diplomat, saying it was an internal matter and that reports of abuses in northern Rakhine, including in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, had been exaggerated by certain groups to drag the international community into the affair. He said the army and the government had investigated accusations of human rights abuses in 2012 and 2016 and had punished those who had committed violations.

He said that some organizations came to Myanmar and tried "to do what they wanted to do" and this could have far-reaching impacts on the country."For us, we have investigated enough already. But it is actually not up to the army to decide on whether to let the UNSC investigate human rights abuses. Only the government has the authority to do that," Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said.

The army chief's comments came at the end of a four-day mission to Bangladesh and Myanmar by the UNSC team. It visited Bangladesh first where the envoys met some of the 700,000 Rohingya refugees who had fled Buthidaung and Maungdaw since August amid a brutal Myanmar Army crackdown against Muslim extremists.

The refugees told the UNSC team tales of systematic rape and killing by members of the security forces. The refugees said they wanted to return to their villages in Rakhine, but they did not feel it was safe yet.

In response to Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing's assertion that the Rakhine case was an internal matter, Kelley Currie, the US Ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council, said this was clearly not the case as 700,000 people had to fled to another country, Bangladesh. As such, the situation demanded that the UN Security Council take action as the case had become an international affair.

Another delegate, Kairat Umarov, said that many refugees told stories of how they were raped. "For us, it was difficult to know how to believe it,"he said, adding that the UN envoys wanted Myanmar to agree to the investigation.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing noted that Myanmar is a Buddhist country and that many people could not accept the rape accusations, especially the implication that soldiers were involved. "There were a total of 1,116 rape cases in 2016. Army personnel were involved in 16 of those cases and the army punished all of the perpetrators with 20-year prison sentences. Even though there were 1,422 reported cases of rape in 2017, army personnel were involved in just 17 cases, and the convicted assailants were again sentenced in prison terms of 20 years," the army chief said.

"The army has a duty to protect local ethnic people living in Rakhine," he said, adding that the army would not have launched its offensive if armed men had not attacked police bases and local people. "A total of 72 local people were killed in attacks by Bengalis between 2012 to 2018 and 13 others were wounded,"he said, using the military's preferred term for Rohingya Muslims, implying they are interlopers from Bangladesh.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said there were several reasons why the refugees were afraid to come back to Myanmar. Some had fled to Bangladesh as they were involved in the attacks on the police bases and army units or had killed local Buddhist men, he said. Therefore, they had run away to Bangladesh. Additionally, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which had orchestrated the attacks on the security forces, had also warned them not to go back to Myanmar. ARSA, which the Myanmar Army calls a terrorist group, did not want the people who had fled to Bangladesh to return to Myanmar, so they had threatened to kill people who wanted to come back, he said.

Violence first broke out in Rakhine State in 2012. It worsened in 2016 when armed men attacked several police bases, killing security officers and looting many guns. ARSA attacked again in 2017, but when the army launched a counter offensive, the attackers ran away without achieving the goals of their plan, the army chief said.

The situation was now stable in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships and the army had already withdrawn its troops and handed the responsibility for maintaining security back to the Interior Ministry, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said, adding that the army would even help refugees if they came back. Those refugees would not face any danger if they returned through army-approved border points. In the case the army needed to take care of security again in Maungdaw and Buthidaung, it would first seek permission from the government, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said.

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Dissent in the Naga Hills as India-Myanmar Border Follies Linger  

Posted: 07 May 2018 03:14 AM PDT

Even as India is busy courting Myanmar to advance its much-touted Act East Asia Policy, with promises and talks to open up borders and enhance people to people contact, far away in the remote Naga hills a slow but definite dissent is brewing against both New Delhi and Naypyitaw. The dissent has its roots deeply embedded in the decisions that were taken by governments of both these countries in 2016 to collaborate in fencing an imaginary boundary along the picturesque Dan village in the Noklak district of Nagaland.

Surrounded by the majestic Saramati highlands of Nagaland on its west, the tiny hamlet of Dan and other adjoining villages like Pangsha have been in the news since an abortive attempt was made by the Myanmar government to fence about three kilometers of an imaginary border that passes through these villages. The fencing work, which was stopped following massive protests from locals of Dan, Pangsha and other villages as well as several Naga organizations, threatens to convert about 3,500 hectares of cultivable area into no man's land and divide the Khiamniungan Naga families that inhabit these hills.

The unfinished border fences constructed by Myanmar at Dan village. / Bidhayak Das

The Khiamniungans are one of the major tribes among the Nagas and spread across the eastern part of Nagaland state in India and the western part of Myanmar. Khiamniungan literally means "source of great water or river," (Khiam means water, Nui means great and Ngan means source). The nomenclature is said to derive from the biggest river of the land (Laang) and the Chindwin river downhill with which the former converges. Apart from the Konyaks, the Khiamniungan Nagas were also known to be among the most ferocious Naga headhunters before they converted to Christianity. Their encounters against the British in 1936 and 1939 after their villages were burned by the latter are well documented.

The Khiamniungan Naga are restive. On the one hand, there is the fencing that Myanmar may resume any time and on the other Indian military forces, deployed to man a security post that was set up in Dan soon after the fencing work had started, are continuously harassing local residents. "Our people are literally at the mercy of the Indian military personnel to live their lives on their own land, stopped, checked and questioned whenever they make any attempt to find their way to their fields, to hospitals, to markets, to schools and even to visit their family members," rued Pape, the 80-year-old gaobura (village headman) of new Pangsha village, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening into several stripes.

"So why should we not fight back; we will if our lives and traditions are disturbed. We shall stop being good Indian citizens and prepare for something big," asserted P Beshim, a Khiamniungan elder in his mid-80s and an adviser of the Khiamniungan Tribal Council (KTC), an umbrella organization of all Khiamniungan Nagas. This was perhaps an indication of an armed uprising. When asked to explain, the answer from Beshim and members of the KTC was, "Such a thing has never happened to us, our feelings are hurt as if our body has been cut into two and if they don't stop harassing we shall go to any extent."

Truth Versus Hype: A Visit to Dan and Pangsha

The visit to Dan was long overdue and especially after the fencing fiasco broke out in 2016 it was important to get a sense of how things evolved since then. On reaching Pangsha covering several hundred miles, Baba (as Pape the gaobura is known) invited me to trek with him through the hilly terrain between the Dan mountains (the Dan village derives its name from the mountains) and meet his "Khiamniungan brothers and sisters" from the other side. I readily agreed but little did I realize that we were heading straight into trouble. Perhaps Baba knew but he did not let it dampen my excitement.

Indian army checkpoint in Dan village. / Bidhayak Das

As we approached the Indian security checkpoint, we were greeted by automatic machine gun barrels pointing at us from the bunkers that were located right in front of the entrance. Inside the bunkers sat soldiers with their fingers on the triggers and outside an Assam Rifles (an Indian paramilitary force) officer sat where all passersby from both sides were made to record their names in a register and questioned. It was a painstakingly slow process and decisions on granting permission to move in and out through this route were rather arbitrary. While we were allowed to go after entering our names on a register, a young Naga woman who was injured on her left leg and needing urgent medical attention was stopped and made to wait for hours even as she was turning pale from the pain she was in. The woman was driven up by her relatives on a motorcycle from Lahe on the Myanmar side. Lahe is a town in the Naga Hills of Sagaing Division on the northwest frontier of Myanmar and is grouped together with Leshi and Nanyun in the Naga Self-Administered Zone under Myanmar's military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

"We want to take her to Kohima for treatment as she is serious," said her escort, while pleading with the Assam Rifles officer who seemed to turn a deaf ear to the pleas.

"Please do something and take her with you to Noklak at least," said another of her relatives this time turning to me, but to my utter helplessness as I was also awaiting a final clearance to move along the boundary area. The army officer on duty saw this and walked to where I was standing and spoke to me in his native Bangla. He said, "Aye Naga ra boja ne khali bike kore asa jawa kore, aita bishon sensitive jayaga, Burma bomb kor te para kono somay," (These Nagas want to move in and out, they don't realize this is a very sensitive place. Myanmar can bomb any time). I thought to myself, "Is this the kind of fear psychosis that the Indian establishment is trying to create in the minds of the Nagas of these areas?"

I felt like telling the army officer that I have spent over 10 years in Myanmar and haven't heard of any decision that the Myanmar government would take to bomb the hills of Nagaland. However, I had to move on to see the fenced section of the border. Before I could move, Baba held my hand and said, "Look this is what has been happening here, our lives have changed. We have not been consulted before such restrictions were imposed on us; our people are suffering. It is our land and we shall not allow our lives to be cut into halves." Moments before that, Baba was seen confronting a Naga officer in the Assam Rifles telling him in no uncertain terms, "You are forcefully occupying our place and disturbing our lives. Please get out of here."

Pape, the New Panghsa gaobura with Khiamniungan Naga youth on the border. / Bidhayak Das

A day after my visit there was another incident reported, this time with an administrative officer of Lahe who got into a verbal altercation with an Indian security officer after he was prevented from taking his vehicle to reach a Naga village under his jurisdiction that could be accessed only through the Indian side. Incidentally, the nature of mountainous terrain makes it difficult to access villages that are under one administrative jurisdiction especially on the Myanmar side of the Naga Hills. Incidents such as this have been on the rise over the last two years.

Genesis of the Imaginary Boundary and the Fencing Story: Who is Fencing and Why?

The imaginary line that cuts across Dan village and parts of new Pangsha is shrouded in mystery. While it is well known that the Naga hills were divided by the Anglo-Burmese Yandabo agreement in 1826 and later in 1953 under the Indo-Burmese demarcation in Kohima on the Naga territory by Jawaharlal Nehru and U Nu, the then prime ministers of the two countries, there is virtually no information to suggest drawing of an imaginary line across the hills that houses villages belonging to the Khiamniungan Nagas.

Elderly members of the KTC remember two futile attempts, once a joint India-Myanmar initiative in 1970 when soldiers of both nations suffered heavy casualties after they were confronted by underground groups and 35 years later in 2004 by the Lahe administration of Myanmar. Each time the Khiamuingans stood up to thwart attempts to fence the border. "The British never told us of any imaginary line after 1947. We lived as free Nagas and will do so forever," claimed KTC president L Ngon.

There have been conflicting stories regarding the fencing with most media reports apportioning the blame squarely on the Indian government. India's Ministry of External Affairs has been quoted in several new media outlets as saying "India has nothing to do with the fencing." The KTC is of the view that both India and Myanmar are responsible. "The Myanmar government constructed the fences with their men and labor, with the Indian army guarding them."

A walk from border pillar number 139 to pillar number 146, which is at the edge of a helipad that was used during the World War II, reveals that about three kilometers of land have been cleared to make way for the fences. The fences lie half-done with only the skeletal frame made of iron rods on two sides covering about half a kilometer. The fencing plan runs through agricultural land, a playground and even a school called the Straightway Mission school that caters to the education needs of the Khiamniungan Nagas on both sides of the imaginary line.

As many as 244 villages, 44 on the Indian side and 200 in Myanmar, are facing the brunt of the fencing. The villages that have found repeat mention though are Dan, old and new Pangsha on the Indian side and Pounyiu and Woilan on the Myanmar side considering their strategic location, proximity to the Indian security post, and the bigger size of their land area and population. A visibly upset Bishem, who has roamed the hills and mountains since his childhood, is afraid that the fencing will rob the villagers of 3,500 hectares of their cultivable land and destroy the age-old traditional jhum (slash and burn) cultivation cycles forever.

Local Khiamniungan Nagas carry firewood at old Pangsha. / Bidhayak Das

"Over 10,000 people's livelihood will be affected. The most hard-hit will be our fellow Nagas from the other side and we can't allow this," he affirms, saying: "If the free movement regime (FMR) is taken away then we will have to decide to leave all the 244 villages either in India or in Myanmar. We cannot live in two countries if the FMR is taken away."

An FMR billboard inside the Indian security checkpoint clearly states that "citizens of India and Myanmar living within 16 km of the border are most welcome to cross the Indo-Myanmar border. It also states that "the free movement regime has been formalized to promote economic and social interaction between the two friendly countries," and that the free movement regime will safeguard the rights of the tribal communities accustomed to free movement across the land borders."

On the eve of my departure to these villages, KTC members planned a meeting in Noklak to give me a bird's eye-view of the problem and its implications on people's lives, livelihood, the Naga peace process and the potential of a new armed conflict.

Fencing Gains and Losses for India and Myanmar

From my interactions with the KTC, village council members, farmers, local administrative officials and elderly folks that have lived in these hills for almost 100 years have convinced me that the losses far outweigh the gains if any at all. Firstly, most of the population in Pounyiu and Woilan have been dependent on Dan and Pangsha to eke out a livelihood by selling and buying goods and food. "We don't have any hospitals and medical centers so we have to bring our patients to Nagaland for treatment," was what one of the relatives of the injured woman at the checkpoint had told me as if to corroborate what I have been hearing from the KTC and Village Council members of Noklak. Finding a doctor and a hospital in Nagaland is 10 times easier than having to travel to the nearest town in Sagaing or to Mandalay, which could take days if not weeks.

People living in these hills have developed a robust and self-sustaining economy of sorts which in many ways should lessen the worry for local administrators in Lahe and in Naypyitaw. For the Myanmar government, the Naga hills have always been difficult and inaccessible terrain and thus a fence, which they are eager to construct, would only add to their worries. So the push for a fence is intriguing to say the least and perhaps is a million-dollar question that only Naypyitaw can answer. For India too, supporting the local economy would be perhaps more prudent so as to prevent food scarcity, reduce pressure on the land and forest and prevent changes to climate and the environment.

On the security front, India stands only to lose. The argument that the checkpoint will contain cross-border insurgency especially in checking movements of the banned Naga insurgent group—the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K)—does hold not much water. If this was the case, then why for so long, especially when insurgency was at its peak before and during the 80s and the 90s, did neither government seem to think that fencing was a plausible solution to contain the insurgency? Besides, it would seem bizarre to say that fencing and a security post would suffice to check cross-border movements when there are many more passages along the snaky mountains and forests through which movements would continue and would be virtually impossible to fence.

Going by the interaction with an Indian army major at Dan, I am given to understand that protecting the border is part of "national sovereignty."  The army officer referred to an attack on the post by the NSCN-K only eight months prior, which left an Indian army officer dead and also casualties suffered by the insurgent group. NSCN-K which currently operates out of Myanmar had in 2015 abrogated a 2001 ceasefire accord it signed with the Indian government and since then it has been engaged in offensives and counter-offensives with the Indian security establishments in and along the international border with Myanmar in Nagaland and Manipur.

The Khiamniungans too seem to agree that the presence of NSCN-K cadres could be most visible reason for the border fencing, but they also feel that's its unfair for both the Indian and the Myanmar governments to unleash their anger against the outfit on the Khiamniungan Nagas. But there are also reasons to believe that the Khiamniungan Nagas could play a role in enhancing people to people contact and thereby reduce tensions in the areas.

 The Politics of Open and Closed Borders

I had no answers to some of the questions that were asked by the Khiamniungan Naga youth such as "what is this hypocrisy regarding the Act East Asia policy that talks of opening borders?" Interestingly, the Indian government began the process of developing Dan as an international trading post in the early 90s. The former Chief Minister of Nagaland S C Jamir laid the foundation stone of an International Trade Center (ITC) in November 1996, which stands right in the middle of the imaginary line where the fencing was coming up. The land now falls on the Myanmar side. Subsequent state governments under Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio (who is also the current chief minister of Nagaland) developed other infrastructure like a marketing shed and a rest house, which have all now fallen into Myanmar territory.

The abandoned rest house constructed by the Nagaland State government on the Myanmar side at Dan village. Bidhayak Das

The youth are demanding that they get back the 500 hectares of land that they donated to the Indian government for setting up the ITC. "The Pangshas (as the Khiamniungans living in the vicinity of the boundary villages are also called) want their land back and we also want to know why land was taken from us to construct the infrastructure on the Myanmar side," said Hanching, a youth leader from Pangsha. Most of the youth were baffled that "instead of bringing up development activities, the ITC India is providing security for the fencing."

Hanching was of the opinion that "if India is serious about implementing its Act East Policy then it should be concerned about people's well-being. The policy is about connecting people, not dividing people. This baffles us and we cannot find the answer." He is definitely right, as the very idea of fencing is antithesis of the aims of the Act East agenda. "Other states are constructing roads and bridges to connect but in our area, fences are being constructed even though we also share the same strategic space with other states that are connected to Myanmar."

Besides, at a time when the Indian government is in a peace mode with Naga insurgent groups led by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak Muivah faction (NCSN-IM) and the chance of the NSCN-K joining the fold is not being ruled out by New Delhi, the developments in Pangsha and Dan only raise more eyebrows.

The Khiamniungan Nagas appear to not be convinced as well. "The Indian government is not truthful," retorted octogenarian Beshim, who has been a part of several administrations in Pangsha and also in Lahe after India and Myanmar became free nations. "I have grown up seeing this, and I can tell you that if fencing has to be done, it should be done everywhere, not just here at Dan," he asserted, sending out a stern warning. "We are Mongoloids and from a small community that endears its lands and people so any form of pressure on us could force a big outcome." His caution resonates with what Baba said when he saw me at a cliff near an inauguration stone for the ITC. Baba said, "We shall cooperate and try to find a solution but if a fence is created and our land is occupied, go and tell the Myanmar government and the Indian government that we still can use the dao to defend ourselves."

The author is a former senior journalist who has worked for national and international news media in India and elsewhere. Currently he is a contributing editor for The Irrawaddy.

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Leaders of Alleged Cult Sentenced to Jail for Kidnapping

Posted: 07 May 2018 02:27 AM PDT

PATHEIN TOWNSHIP, Irrawaddy Region — An Irrawaddy Region court on Friday sentenced two leaders of the Christian “Soul Family” group to three years in prison for kidnapping a teenage girl.

The father of a 15-year-old girl from Sagaing Region's Kantbalu Township filed a complaint with police in Irrawaddy’s Kyonepyaw Township in 2016 when his daughter refused to return home after attending a 40-day class the group reportedly ran for “would be” disciples in the village of Hlel Seik. Many of the other students, all about 20 years old, had also reportedly refused to return home after the class.

"The girl from Kantbalu saw their class on the Internet and came to Hlel Seik to attend. Her parents came to bring her home after the class, but she refused to go back. The cult then hid the girl in Pathein," Mahn Htwng Sen, a member of the Myanmar Council of Churches, told The Irrawaddy.

"Only after her parents filed a complaint with the human trafficking squad in Pathein were they able to bring her back home. Her father was not happy and filed a complaint at the Kyonepyaw police station for kidnapping the girl," he said.

Mahn Win Myint and Nilaw Tun, the two group leaders sentenced to jail on Friday, face another charge filed in Kyonepyaw by Mahn Htwng Sen for insulting religion, which carries a maximum jail sentence of two years.

According to the Council of Churches, the group has branches in Karen State’s Thandaunggyi Township, Karenni State’s Loikaw Township, Bago Region’s Toungoo and Pauk Khaung townships, Yangon Region’s North Dagon and Sanchaung townships, and in Irrawaddy’s  Kyaunggon, Kangyidaunt, Myaungmya and Pathein townships, as well as in Singapore and Thailand’s Mae Sot district.

It says there are hundreds of young students at those branches refusing to return home.

Those who have left the group say members were asked to do unpaid work as an offering to God, raising suspicions of human trafficking and forced labor. The leader, Mahn Kyaw Soe, allegedly urged his young students to shun their families and arranged marriages for them without their parents’ consent.

"We're satisfied with the punishment given to the two. My elder sister has been in their cult for three years and still refuses to come back home. But we can't file a complaint because she has reached the legal age [18]," Nawng Aye Aye Aung, who lives in Yangon Region's Hlaingtharyar Township, told The Irrawaddy.

"There are many other people like my sister who refuse to go back home. I want the government departments to help bring them back to their families," she said.

In November, after 14 families urged the Irrawaddy Region government to abolish the alleged cult, the government imposed a ban on prayer gatherings at the house of U Nyan Tun Kyaw in Hlel Seik village, where the group is based, and warned of legal action if the ban were violated.

The Myanmar Baptist Convention and Myanmar Council of Churches have also distanced themselves from the group, saying that its sermons do not conform to the teachings of the Bible.

The post Leaders of Alleged Cult Sentenced to Jail for Kidnapping appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

One Killed, 2 Injured in Landslide at Rohingya Refugee Camp

Posted: 07 May 2018 12:04 AM PDT

DHAKA — A Rohingya girl was killed and two other children were injured Friday morning in a landslide at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya on the outskirts of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Mohibullha, a Rohingya community leader in the camp, said the three children had gone to collect firewood and were struck by the landslide when they stopped for a rest on the way back at the foot of a hill, according to the New Age, a Dhaka-based daily.

The 10-year-old girl reportedly died at the scene while the two others were rescued by locals and taken to an area hospital in critical condition.

Cox's Bazar deputy police chief Afruzul Haque Tutul confirmed the death and injuries but did not elaborate.

It is the first known death caused by a landslide at the camps due to rain. Police say a person died a few weeks ago in a landslide caused by construction work.

UN Sends More Aid

At a press conference in Geneva on Friday, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Andrej Mahecic, said the agency was rushing additional aid to Bangladesh, where the first rains of the monsoon season have hit Cox’s Bazar.

Some 700,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have taken shelter in Cox’s Bazar since fleeing Myanmar amid a military crackdown on their communities in northern Rakhine State triggered by militant attacks on security posts there in late August.

In a press release, the UN refugee agency said the first of three scheduled humanitarian airlifts carrying additional shelter materials arrived in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The 1,400 tents are the first of 10,000 the agency plans to deliver by the end of May for 60,000 refugees living in areas most at risk of landslides and flooding.

Aid is also arriving by sea, including more tents, 170,000 tarpaulins and other essentials.

Humanitarian partners estimate that between 150,000 and 200,000 Rohingya refugees will be at risk this monsoon season and in urgent need of relocation.

"Of this number, 24,000 people are at critical risk due to the severe instability of the land on which their shelters have been constructed," Mahecic said.

The Bangladesh government has recently allocated new land for the refugees. Work crews have already begun clearing the area and the UN refugee agency hopes to move some 5,000 people there by the end of the month.

"In the absence of more available and usable land, UNHCR has made temporary emergency relocation arrangements, which will be activated as needed" Mahecic said.

In addition to the 60,000 refugees to be housed in emergency shelters, the UN refugee agency said, another 35,000 can be hosted by other refugees living in safer areas and the same number can be moved to communal shelters in the camps. But the agency added that these were only short-term solutions to address imminent risks.

OIC Delegation Visits Camps

The Bangladeshi Daily Star reported that a delegation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also visited the Cox’s Bazar camps on Friday, ahead of a foreign ministers summit in Dhaka.

According to the report, OIC Assistant Secretary-General Hashmi Yousuf apologized that the organization had not responded to the refugee crisis sooner and said it would work with the international community to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar.

Friday’s visit to the camps was joined by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae, Canada’s special envoy to the OIC, Masud Husain, and Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, among others.

A UN Security Council delegation visited the camps on April 28 during a four-day mission to Bangladesh and Myanmar and said the refugee crisis would remain one of the council’s top priorities.

However, a provisional program of the UN Security Council’s work for May tweeted by Poland on Tuesday makes no mention of the refugee crisis.

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Thai Environment Protesters Claim Victory in Battle over Forest Housing

Posted: 06 May 2018 10:04 PM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Environmental activists in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai claimed victory after the country’s military government agreed in talks on Sunday not to use forested land to develop luxury property.

It follows a protest in Chiang Mai last week in which more than 1,000 demonstrators protested against the construction of a government luxury housing project earmarked as homes for judges on land in the foothills of the province’s famous Doi Suthep mountains.

Last week’s gathering was one of the largest since Thailand’s junta took power following a 2014 coup.

It was also one of a growing number of anti-government protests around Thailand, including in the capital Bangkok, that are putting pressure on the military government before a general election planned for early 2019.

Green ribbons symbolizing the environmental movement have appeared in public places in Chiang Mai, including on lamp posts and on cars, over the past week.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sent Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana, a minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, to Chiang Mai on Sunday to talk to protest leaders.

“We have concluded that no one will be living in this housing estate,” Suwaphan said after a meeting with the activists, adding that the area “will eventually be restored to the forest.”

Decisions on the future use of the land currently under development, which includes 45 houses, will be taken later this week, Suwaphan said, adding that the government will form a committee with activists and representatives from the local community to determine further steps to restore the land.

However, Suwaphan said construction of the homes already under way would have to continue in order for the government to honor its agreement with the construction firm involved.

He added that nobody would live in the finished homes.

Activists hailed the decision as a victory.

“What we have now is a promise that Doi Suthep forest will be restored,” said Teerasak Roopsuwan, one of the movement’s leaders.

“I think this could be a model for other parts of the country that public projects must not only be legal, but they must also consider local people’s opinions,” Teerasak said.

Sawat Chantalay, a Chiang Mai environmental activist, told Reuters that the activists will continue to organize public events to create awareness about such issues.

“This housing estate is like an open wound that reflects layers of problems Thailand has accumulated over many years,” said environmental activist Wattana Wachirodom.

“But if the government doesn’t fix this then people could rise up,” said Wattana.

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Hawaiians Race Home for Pets, Essentials During Lull in Volcano Eruptions

Posted: 06 May 2018 09:47 PM PDT

PAHOA, Hawaii — Hawaiians forced to flee repeated eruptions of the Kilauea volcano, which has already destroyed 26 homes as it spews rivers of lava and fountains of toxic gases into residential areas, were allowed to make a quick visits home on Sunday to rescue pets, medication and other essentials.

More lava fissures and vents opened overnight in the Leilani Estates area, where lava leapt up to 230 feet into the air but no new explosions were reported on Sunday from Kilauea, the state’s most active volcano.

So far no fatalities or major injuries have been reported from the volcano, which began erupting on Thursday, but at least 26 homes have been destroyed, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency.

“As a realtor, I can tell you that people move here thinking it’s paradise, and what they learn is that it’s something different,” said Jessica Gauthier, 47, who sells properties and manages vacation rentals on the Big Island.

“It’s a beautiful place to live, but it’s not for the faint of heart,” Gauthier said.

With an apparent lull in the action on Sunday, some of the nearly 2,000 people forced to evacuate their homes when the eruptions began were allowed to return during a 10-hour window, although some neighborhoods remained off-limits due to dangerous volcanic gasses.

“This is not the time for sightseeing,” the civil defense agency said on social media, urging others to stay away from the community about a dozen miles from where the Kilauea volcano erupted on Thursday.

The southeast corner of the island was rocked by a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the volcano’s south flank on Friday, the strongest tremor since 1975, and more earthquakes and eruptions were forecast, perhaps for months to come.

Although no significant lava flows have yet formed, additional outbreaks of lava, which can reach temperatures of about 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, were expected.

The rest of the island and state were conducting business as usual with no impact to flights to tourism centers, state officials said.

“The area where lava is coming to the surface is very far from resort areas,” said George Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Petra Wiesenbauer, owner of Hale Moana Hawaii Bed and Breakfast, evacuated on Friday evening with her two teenage children and pets.

“Now we are just trying to make plans for the future,” she said. “There is no telling when or if we’ll ever be able to go back in.”

US Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat, called on federal officials to quickly respond to needs such as short- and long-term housing and infrastructure repairs.

Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes and one of five on the island, has been in constant eruption for 35 years. It predominantly erupts basaltic lava in effusive eruptions that mostly flow into the ocean but occasionally experiences explosive eruptions.

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Trump Assures Bangladesh of US Support Amid Rohingya Crisis

Posted: 06 May 2018 09:32 PM PDT

DHAKA — US President Donald Trump has assured Bangladesh of US support in dealing with the Myanmar Rohingya refugee crisis, a Bangladeshi official said on Friday.

A letter from Trump was handed to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a meeting with US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat in Dhaka on Thursday, said Ihsanul Karim, the Prime Minister’s press secretary, and a US embassy official.

“The United States will continue to pressure Myanmar to create necessary conditions for the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya people to their homeland,” Trump said in the letter, according to Karim.

Last month, Hasina said more international pressure was needed on Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees.

UN officials say some 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to escape a military crackdown since August, amid reports of murder, rape and arson by Myanmar troops and Buddhist vigilantes in actions which the United Nations has likened to "ethnic cleansing."

Myanmar has denied nearly all allegations, saying it has been waging a legitimate counter-insurgency operation.

In the letter, Trump also said those in Myanmar responsible for instigating the crisis must be held accountable, said Karim.

He said Hasina reiterated her call for the international community to continue to pressure the Myanmar government to repatriate its people from Bangladesh.

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Saturday, May 5, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

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UNSC Should Understand the Complexity and Multitude of Issues Facing Myanmar

Posted: 04 May 2018 09:43 PM PDT

Kyaw Kha: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, we'll discuss the visit of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) delegation, which arrived in Myanmar on Monday. I'm The Irrawaddy chief reporter Kyaw Kha and editor Ko Kyaw Zwa Moe and Rakhine affairs reporter Ko Moe Myint of The Irrawaddy English edition join me for the discussion.

UNSC Should Understand the Complexity and Multitude of Issues Facing Myanmar

UNSC Should Understand the Complexity and Multitude of Issues Facing MyanmarA UN Security Council delegation visits northern Rakhine for the first time since military clearance operations forced 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.

Posted by The Irrawaddy – English Edition on Friday, May 4, 2018

The UNSC delegation arrived in Naypyitaw and met leaders of the country on Monday. Ko Kyaw Zwa Moe, what is your view of the UNSC delegation's visit to Myanmar?

Kyaw Zwa Moe: There have been tensions between the Myanmar government and the UN over the past few months. So, I would call the visit a diplomatic achievement of the Myanmar government to ease those tensions. The delegation came to discuss the Rakhine issue, which saw the exodus of around 700,000 refugees from the country last year. They came to speak with the Myanmar government to solve that problem. Previously, the two sides were not able to hold talks. The Myanmar government was not happy with the allegations of the UN and responded angrily. And the UN was also not happy with the statements of the Myanmar government.

It is fair to say that there were tensions. The Myanmar government denied the UN special representative an entry visa to the country. Then the UN appointed a new special representative. Now the two sides finally met after months of negotiations. Rakhine is a very complex issue. Myanmar needs the assistance of the international community to solve this and the international community needs the cooperation of Myanmar. We can say the UNSC delegation's visit is a step to start the necessary cooperation. We can view this as a breakthrough and a good step for cooperation.

KK: The UNSC delegation visited the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh before visiting Myanmar. They held a press conference at the camp on Sunday evening. Ko Moe Myint, what did you notice about their visit to Bangladesh?

Moe Myint: It was the very first visit of the UNSC to address the refugee issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh. So, the trip was important. The camp in Cox’s Bazar is said to be the biggest refugee camp in the world. The delegation observed the experiences of refugees and their living conditions there. One or two things that they said at the press conference were worth noting. They said they would hold detailed discussions with concerned authorities and also pass a resolution at the UNSC Headquarters in New York based on discussions during their visit. It was quite interesting.

Each of the 15 members of the UNSC team is from a different country, including China and Russia. What they said at the press conference was quite interesting. First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said that the problem could not be solved overnight and that the UNSC would act as a facilitator to broker constructive discussions between Bangladesh and Myanmar to improve relations. The envoy of China, which has veto power in the UNSC, said that he hoped that they all would play a constructive role in providing assistance to solve the problem. So considering what the two countries with veto power in the UNSC said, the UNSC delegation's visit will not put much pressure on Myanmar.

KK: It will reduce the pressure on the Myanmar government. Ko Kyaw Zwa Moe, you talked positively about the UNSC delegation's visit to Myanmar. Previously, Myanmar responded aggressively to proposed visits of UN officials. But this time, Myanmar has adopted a much more moderate approach and invited the UNSC to visit. Why do you think this happened?

KZM: What you said is right. Under the military regime, the relationship between the UN and the regime was quite strained, and the relationship between Myanmar and the international community was quite poor. We could even call it hostile diplomacy.

The military regime rejected the visits of UN officials to Myanmar, citing various reasons. But the current government and the military regime are different. The current government did impose bans after the Rakhine crisis broke out. At first, it did not allow a UN fact-finding mission. But I don't think that was their permanent policy. There was a lot of misunderstanding. From the point of view of the Myanmar government and Rakhine people, the claims of the international community including the UN are quite one-sided.

The UN is responsible for playing the role of a mediator. It is their responsibility to de-escalate the problem. But then, certain actions of the UN, in the eyes of the Myanmar government, further create misunderstanding. As a result, the government rejected their entry.

As I've said, it is not the permanent policy of the government to shut the doors. They apparently have a policy to cooperate. Considering the UNSC delegation's visit, the government has decided to cooperate to a certain extent. But then, the question is whether the visit will deliver positive results.

All of the members of the UNSC delegation should understand that the issue is quite complicated, deep and serious. There are armed insurgents and human rights violations on the ground, and widely varied historical narratives. What's more, the socio-economic status is quite low in Rakhine State. Plus, there is also the immigration issue. The UNSC delegation should be open-minded about those factors. It is important that they do not view things here with a jaundiced eye. The government also needs to understand that this problem can't be solved without cooperation with the international community, otherwise there won't be progress. As Ko Moe Myint has said, it will take time. It is very good that Myanmar has invited people like Kofi Annan to the advisory committee and sought their recommendations.

But the problem is how to implement those recommendations. Attacks broke out on the day he was invited to join the committee. I think it is very important that the UNSC delegation makes decisions in a constructive way.

As to your question, the government must cooperate with the international community in solving this problem. It must cooperate not only with the UN but also with regional countries like ASEAN countries and China. Otherwise, the problem will only get worse.

KK: Looking at previous examples, we knew at least one week in advance before Yanghee Lee and the Kofi Annan-led Commission went to Rakhine State. There were critical voices at least one week before their visits and there were protests. The UNSC delegation arrived in Myanmar on Monday, but it is strange that we heard no critical voices from Rakhine this time.

MM: I found that Arakanese people have responded less aggressively regarding the Rakhine issue lately. [Union Minister] Dr. Win Myat Aye revealed the government's plan to issue NVCs [national verification cards]. The Union Solidarity and Development Party objected to the plan, but most of the Arakanese people remained silent. We conducted a small survey, and most of the educated Arakanese remarked that freedom of movement should be granted to NVC holders.

This time, I didn't see posts by Arakanese people that called for protests against the UNSC delegation visit. I saw only one person write something like that and he was not Arakanese. It was former information minister U Ye Htut. He shared on his Facebook his perceived agenda of the UN and suggested Arakanese people should do this and that.

I asked some Arakanese lawmakers who are active in Parliament and they view the visit as the government's efforts to improve relations with the UN. They think we shouldn't accept international pressure silently but that the government is trying its best to solve the problem in a constructive way. They have a more moderate attitude toward the UNSC compared to the past.

KK: We can say that it is a notable change. Ko Kyaw Zwa Moe, what do you think will be the benefits and complications of inviting the UNSC into the country?

KZM: It is already a complicated issue. It was a big problem for both Myanmar and the world last year. As I've said, their visit is positive but the question is how open-minded they are. It is important that they try to understand the complicated issue no matter whom they meet during their visit. They should try to analyze the political, racial and religious complexity of the problem. The most important thing they should understand is that Myanmar is riddled with problems. Besides the Rakhine issue, there is also the problem of peace. Again, there is the problem of civil-military relations between the government and the Tatmadaw, as well as national reconciliation. Rakhine is a big issue, but they should understand that solving this issue should not affect the democratization process of Myanmar, which is the most important thing for the country. So, when they handle this problem, they should try to understand that there are also other problems. Rakhine is a problem for us, but there are bigger cancerous problems for us to handle. They should understand this point.

KK: Thank you for your contributions! We'll wait and see the developments of the UNSC delegation's visit.

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Friday, May 4, 2018

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Fighting Between Two Allied Ethnic Armies Injures Two in Northern Shan

Posted: 04 May 2018 08:29 AM PDT

YANGON – Two villagers in Mansa village near Namtu Township in northern Shan State sustained shrapnel wounds when clashes erupted between the Shan State Progressive Party and the Ta'ang Nationalities Liberation Army on Friday morning.

The two armed groups are both based along the China-Myanmar border and both are members of the northeast-based Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC). While they have so far avoided heavy fighting, occasional skirmishes flared between the two groups in northern Shan in 2016 and 2017.

More than 100 villagers from Mansa fled to Mong Ying village, about 1 mile away, and were taken to a shelter at the village monastery, according to U Tun Hline, the village administrator of Mong Ying.

"The fighting broke out at about 9 am on May 4 in Mansa village in Mansa Lone village tract, and ended at around 12:30 p.m.," U Tun Hline told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

The two villagers were injured when an artillery round struck the village, he said, adding that "the shell hit the compound of U Aik Sai, who suffered abdominal wounds. He was sent to Lashio Hospital. Daw Aye San, a woman who was passing by, was hit in the shoulder and sent to Namtu Hospital."

"I think the artillery shelling is from the Palaung [TNLA], because the SSPP [troops] live inside the village," he said.

However, TNLA spokesman Major Mai Aik Kyaw told The Irrawaddy that he could not confirm the reports of fighting.

"We haven't received any reports from our ground forces yet, but I have heard the stories," Maj. Mai Aik Kyaw said, referring to Facebook posts on the clash.

SSPP spokesmen were unavailable for comment regarding Friday's incident. However, a Shan-language report regarding the clash was posted to the SSPP's Facebook page on Friday afternoon. The post states that "about 300 troops from TNLA Battalion 1 attacked the SSPP camp at Namhsaun [Mansa] from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. Casualties on both sides are unknown. After the attack, the TNLA retreated but a nearby Myanmar Army unit continued to attack the SSPP."

The FPNCC has a policy of engaging in collective peace negotiations with the government. Early this week, however, the SSPP held bilateral peace talks with a delegation representing the government's Peace Commission led by former military leaders at the party's headquarters in Wan Hai, Kehsi Township.

Despite the talks, it was reported on Friday that the SSPP also engaged in clashes with the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, at Loi Yin outpost in Kyauk Mae Township, northern Shan State.

Nyein Nyein contributed to this report. 

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More Than A Dozen Killed as Debris Mound Collapses at Mine in Hpakant

Posted: 04 May 2018 08:17 AM PDT

WAI HKA, HPAKANT, Kachin State – Fourteen people are confirmed dead, with six people injured and many more still missing after a slag heap collapsed at a jade mine in Kachin State's Hpakant Township in northern Myanmar early Friday morning.

Between 30 and 50 people are believed to have been buried when the mound of debris from the mine collapsed at around 4 am in Wai Hka village, Seik Mu village tract.

Rescue workers had retrieved 14 bodies by Friday afternoon, according to local residents and rescue workers. A total of eight injured people were taken to Hpakant Hospital, two of whom later died of their injuries, said U Shwe Thein, the NLD chairman of Seik Mu village. Conflicting reports on the precise death toll were being published Friday evening.

Ko Aung Myint San, who has been working as an informal mine worker in the jade mines for a decade, told The Irrawaddy that he was among the lucky ones, as he had decided not go to scavenging for stones on Friday morning. He said, "We usually go and wait at the worksite until the company workers take their break. Soldiers guarding the site allow us to search for stones at certain times. This morning, the cliff collapsed in a landslide."

 

An informal mine worker, or 'hand-picker', shows The Irrawaddy's reporters the site of Friday's slag heap collapse. (Photo: Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint/ The Irrawaddy)

Home to more than 30,000 people, Wai Hka village is surrounded by mines. U Shwe Thein said Friday's disaster occurred in an area that was once the region's highest mountain, but which was now riddled with holes and mineshafts, some more than 1,000 feet in depth.

An officer on duty at Hpakant police station said the rescue effort was ongoing, but the search was being hampered by rain. The victims are believed to have been informal, self-employed prospectors, or "hand-pickers", searching for pieces of jade at a site operated by a licensed company. They were not on the slag heap itself, according to the officer.

The worksites involved are Sein Shwe War Co.'s site No. 443 and Kyauk Myat Shwe Pyi Co.'s site No. 558. Many of the victims were males in their 20s. The youngest confirmed so far was 18 and the oldest 45.

Ying Hkawng, the chairman of the Green Land environmental group based in Hpakant, said, "The landslide happened when the company halted work at 4 am and the informal mine workers came to pick over the site for jade. The 14 recovered bodies are now in the hands of local funeral service operators. They will wait for three days for family members to come and retrieve the bodies. Social organizations will cremate those victims whose bodies are not claimed."

Wai Hka village experienced a previous dumpsite collapse in May 2016, in which 12 prospectors died, 13 were injured and a number of people remain unaccounted for.

According to local residents, workers at many of Hpakant's jade mines are at risk of being buried alive under slag heaps, some of which are hundreds of feet high. Many of the mines are secured by Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) troops and operated by companies backed by either the Tatmadaw or the Kachin Independence Army.

In March, a collapse occurred at the Kan Kham jade mine in La Maung village. The same mine was the site of a deadly landslide in November 2015 that claimed more than 100 lives.

Including Friday's collapse, at least five such incidents have occurred at Hpakant's slag heaps this year alone, killing dozens of scavengers searching for discarded pieces of jade.

Chit Min Tun contributed to this report.

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Court Holds Hearing in Corruption Case Against FDA Chief

Posted: 04 May 2018 07:21 AM PDT

MANDALAY — Mandalay Divisional Court on Friday held its first hearing in the corruption case against the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

FDA director-general Dr. Than Htut was arrested and sued under Section 56 of the Anti-Corruption Law on April 19. (https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/anti-corruption-commission-files-case-fda-chief.html)

At Friday's court session, plaintiff U Than Zaw Win, an investigator from the Anti-Corruption Commission, submitted evidence against Dr. Than Htut including documents from a construction company showing it built two houses and a swimming pool for the official and furnished the homes with TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, paintings and other items in exchange for being awarded a tender to build laboratories for the agency.

The investigator told the court the director asked the company to build him two homes and a swimming pool and provide household items. The alleged bribe is worth more than 15 million kyats in total.

The next court hearing is scheduled for May 11. The plaintiff is expected to submit further documents as evidence. The court will then hear from witnesses for the plaintiff. The court is scheduled to hear from 36 witnesses in all.

If he is convicted, the director-general faces a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment and a fine.

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News Editor Loses Bid to Have Evidence Thrown Out

Posted: 04 May 2018 05:50 AM PDT

Mandalay— Mandalay District Court on Friday rejected an appeal by the editor of the Myanmar Now newspaper to rule evidence submitted by the plaintiff in a lower court was unreliable.

Ko Swe Win, the chief editor of Myanmar Now, was sued by a supporter of the ultranationalist monk U Wirathu. The plaintiff had submitted a video clip of an interview Ko Swe Win had done with Radio Free Asia RFA's Burmese language program.

Ko Swe Win and his lawyers complained that the video clip was edited prejudiciously to support the lawsuit and that it should be declared as untrustworthy evidence.

"The district court rejected our appeal and said the evidence would be accepted and the trial allowed to proceed. So, we will have to continue with the trial at Maha Aung Myat township court," said U Khin Maung Myint, a legal advisor to Ko Swe Win.

The editor and his lawyers decided not to appeal to a higher court to save time. The next court hearing at the Maha Aung Myay Township court will be on May 11.

"The recorded segment of the interview is incomplete, which could mislead the trial and the judge to make a wrong decision," U Khin Maung Myint said.

"The video clip was copied from U Kyaw Myo Shwe's mobile phone and is incomplete. And it was not verified by RFA that it could be trusted," he said.

According to the lawyers, the video segment submitted by U Kyaw Myo Shwe included only the part in which Ko Swe Win criticized U Wirathu.

Meanwhile, Ko Swe Win's lawyers have also submitted a complaint to the Maha Aung Myay township court to take legal action against U Kyaw Myo Shwe for submitting unreliable evidence. The court will issue a decision on whether action should be taken against the Mandalay resident on May 11.

Ko Swe Win was arrested and released on bail in July last year. He was sued under Article 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law by U Kyaw Myo Shwe in March on the grounds that he had insulted U Wirathu.

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Lacquerware Maker Experiments With Fashion Accessories to Keep Local Interest Alive

Posted: 04 May 2018 05:13 AM PDT

Traditional lacquerware, or Yun De as it is known in Burmese, has its own unique style. The art form, also known as Pan Yun, appears to have originated in Bagan around the 12th or 13th century and the ancient capital remains the center for the traditional Burmese lacquerware industry today.

There you can find large workshops where teams of artisans still practice the handicraft although interest in lacquerware among the locals is slowly declining.

"The traditional lacquerware art has existed since the Bagan era and it's over a thousand years old. It is also a traditional family business that has been passed down from generation to generation. So, I would like to attract the next generation to be interested in it as well," said Daw Maw Maw Aung, the owner of the Bagan House lacquerware shop.

"But the new generation is mostly interested in the latest technological gadgets and they are forgetting to value traditional things. They just want to spend their money on luxury goods," she added.

The process of making Burmese lacquerware is not easy. There are a lot of steps and it requires teamwork. One single person can't handle the whole process and it takes between six months to a year to complete one item. So, the products are not cheap.

Various lacquerware accessories made by Bagan House. / Zaw Zaw

"That's one reason that local people stopped buying lacquerware. It's expensive but it is our intangible cultural heritage," Daw Maw Maw Aung said.

"If you use it well, you can pass it on to your descendants. I have a lot of lacquerware items that I got from my grandmother and grandpa. I'm so proud to have them until now."

Nowadays, a lot of lacquerware shops depend on foreigners and the hotel decoration market to drive demand, Daw Maw Maw Aung said.

"So, I choose to target local people, mainly youth, to try to interest them in lacquerware through fashion accessories."

Bagan House creates fashion accessories like bracelets, rings, necklaces, and scarves painted with the sap (Thit Si) used in making lacquerware.

The store owner organized an event to showcase the shop's products and activities on April 29, the full moon day of Kasong. At the event, girls wore traditional dresses with the Bagan House's lacquerware fashion accessories and scarves.

The designs are not too modern but look classic and gorgeous. Some accessories are too big and not really suited to wear to an everyday event.

"Yes, we are trying to attract local people but we can't forget about the foreigners. So, we make designs that might appeal to both locals and foreigners," Daw Maw Maw Aung said.

The basic dried lacquerware color is black and it is turned into art with the use of needles to make etchings and the addition of some other colors such as red, green and yellow.

A young woman inspects the traditionally inspired products at the Bagan House lacquerware shop. / Zaw Zaw

"Myanmar traditional lacquerware has only four colors. We don't have too many techniques to get the color powder but we can buy some from Japan and other countries that also have a lacquerware tradition," Daw Maw Maw Aye said.

The price of lacquerware fashion accessories ranges widely and depends on the item. A bracelet costs only 4,000 to 5,000 kyats while a necklace can go for between 20,000 to 40,000 kyats.

"We are trying to produce more accessories and come up with cool designs that might appeal to local people," Daw Maw Maw Aung said.

So, if you are a fashion lover, proud to wear traditional things on your body, Bagan House is the place you should while visiting Bagan.

The post Lacquerware Maker Experiments With Fashion Accessories to Keep Local Interest Alive appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

All But Forgotten

Posted: 04 May 2018 05:07 AM PDT

United Nations Security Council delegates wrapped up a four-day visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar on Tuesday. They met Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military, and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on their last day.

Members of the country’s many ethnic minority communities, perhaps the Kachin most of all, hoped the UN delegation would condemn the military for its many human rights abuses against them. But as most expected, the team focused exclusively on the Rohingya crisis.

Fighting in northern Kachin State has recently flared up between the military and Kachin Independence Army (KIA), driving nearly 10,000 civilians from their homes. Some, including international rights groups and local media outlets, were left disappointed that the UN delegation failed to speak out about it.

The military largely ended its offensive in Rakhine State — which has driven some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh since August — after the international community started applying pressure, possibly scared by the prospect of new UN sanctions. Instead, the military turned its attention to the ethnic armed groups in the north, launching a major new offensive on April 11.

Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, many of whom are Christian, rarely invoke their religion in their struggle for equal rights. But since the UN delegation’s failure to address their plight, some have begun emphasizing their religious minority status in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar in hopes of attracting more attention from the international community.

At a protest in the Kachin capital of Myitkyina earlier this week, participants urged the military and government to let them rescue some 3,000 civilians trapped by the latest clashes and to bring the fighting to an end. Similar protests were also held recently in Yangon and overseas in Canada, Japan and the US, where participants also asked for donations to help the displaced families, now spread over at least 10 townships across Kachin.

The military and KIA have been fighting in Kachin off and on since a 17-year ceasefire broke down in 2011, displacing more than 150,000 civilians over the past seven years.

The US Embassy in Myanmar and Yanghee Lee, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, have issued statements expressing concern for the displaced families. They urged the military and government to let humanitarian aid into the conflict zone and to protect civilians from the fighting.

The military has racked up a long list of human rights abuses in the country’s ethnic minority areas over the past several decades, from forced labor to extrajudicial killings. Now in Kachin, those displaced by the latest fighting have no idea when they will feel safe enough to return home, or if they will even have homes to return to.

It is high time for the UN Security Council to speak up about their plight and press the military, or Tatmadaw, for their protection.

"The failure of the [UN Security Council] to express concern for Kachin civilians trapped in conflict gave the green light to the Tatmadaw to continue their abuses,” said David Mathieson, an independent analyst of conflict and peace issues.

“It was inexcusably callous to come all this way and only discuss the Rakhine crisis,” he said. “If the people of Kachin and northern Shan State and other conflict areas think the world has forgotten them in their obsession with the terrible Rohingya crisis, it's because the UN Security Council just proved it."

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Kachin State Chief Minister Says He’ll Try to Evacuate IDPs

Posted: 04 May 2018 03:29 AM PDT

MYITKYINA, Kachin State — The Kachin State chief minister has agreed to seek the evacuation of more than 160 people trapped in Kachin State's Lai Nawng Hku by clashes between the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

Around 300 Kachin youths staged a sit-in protest in Myitkyina on April 30 calling on the government to rescue displaced people who have been trapped since early last month by fighting in a number of areas including Tanai, Waingmaw, Injangyang, and Hpakant's Kamaing.

Another 1,000 local residents joined the sit-in in the town center on Thursday, demanding talks with the chief minister.

"We'll go and bring those trapped in Lai Nawng Hku [to Myitkyina] today. We'll go there together with the government. As Tatmadaw troops are deployed there, negotiations are required with the military. I heard that [the Kachin State government] is negotiating with [the Tatmadaw]," said Lamai Gum Ja of the Peace-talk Creation Group (PCG).

The Tatmadaw has reportedly barred residents of conflict zones from leaving their villages. They have been trying to flee since the fighting broke out.

Religious leaders, PCG officials and demonstrators will join government officials led by the chief minister to bring those trapped in clashes to safety, Lamai Gum Ja said.

Displaced persons take shelter at a Catholic church in Tang Phre village in Myitkyina. / Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint / The Irrawaddy

Kachin State Chief Minister U Khet Aung met religious leaders, demonstrators, and leaders of the PCG at his office on Thursday evening. After four hours of talks, the chief minister agreed to try and arrange the evacuation of people trapped by fighting.

"But if the Tatmadaw says we can't go there for security reasons, we can do nothing, as the Kachin State government alone can't make the decision," Lamai Gum Ja said.

Sut Seng Htoi, one of the lead demonstrators, said they would also negotiate with the state government to rescue other groups trapped by fighting.

The demonstrators slept on the streets on Thursday night, and returned to the Manaw grounds in Si Ta Pu ward on Friday morning. They would wait and see whether the chief minister's trip to Lai Nawng Hku proceeded on Friday, Sut Seng Htoi said.

The protesters planned to suspend the sit-in if those trapped in Lai Nawng Hku were evacuated, and hoped to continue talks with the new government to rescue displaced persons in other townships.

Displaced persons take shelter at a Catholic church in Tang Phre village in Myitkyina. / Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint / The Irrawaddy

The Tatmadaw's Northern Command earlier distributed leaflets to local residents stating that it only attacked KIA outposts and urging local residents to stay put.

Fighting between the Tatmadaw and KIA has forced more than 100,000 locals from their homes since 2011.

Around 2,000 displaced persons from Awng Lawt village in Tanai Township have been trapped in forests since April 11 and around 500 residents of Injangyang Township are also trapped, according to the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC).

More than 5,000 local residents took to the streets of Myitkyina on Monday calling for the government's intervention to rescue displaced persons.

Kachin civil society organizations and religious leaders have been sending letters to the chief minister since the second week of April seeking the evacuation of displaced persons. The chief minister had been silent on the issue until Thursday.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Artist Strives to Develop Myanmar Art Scene

Posted: 04 May 2018 03:16 AM PDT

Whenever he returns from a foreign country, Khin Zaw Latt feels unwell with frustration. He feels sick, but not because of Zika or SARS, but at the drought of art in his country. Art museums and communities in countries like the United States, France, Singapore, and Indonesia where he has been make him realize what his country lacks. He is desperate for Myanmar's art scene to develop.

"It will take at least nine years for us to catch up to Thailand, and that is only if Thailand's scene stops developing in the meantime," said Khin Zaw Latt.

Khin Zaw Latt, who has studied and held exhibitions in Asia and Europe since 2005, has noticed for a long time how much Myanmar has lagged behind in terms of art.

Two artists at Khin Zaw Latt's artist-in-residence. / Supplied

"When I say there is no art museum in our country, my foreign friends think I am joking. There is not a single art museum in the whole country, so the gap is quite huge," he said.

"If the government buys a certain number of paintings from individual artists as the collection of the country, then future generations will be able to enjoy them. Now, we have to go to Singapore to enjoy artist Aung Soe's works. [The government] could not keep them some 40 years ago, and it still can't."

Khin Zaw Latt graduated from the National University of Arts and Culture in 2012. His Blissful Buddha, Moving Forward and Street Story series were a hit outside of Myanmar.  He won four art awards at home and abroad, and held art exhibitions in Thailand, Hong Kong, the United States, France, Canada and more. Born in 1980, the artist has achieved a high level of success at a young age.

His paintings—Buddha drawn from a non-religious perspective, street boys, vendors, common people—however, are not popular among local art enthusiasts. Only four or five paintings have been sold in Myanmar.

"It is meaningless to draw what fans like. Artists must lead them," he said.

Students from a French school see Khin Zaw Latt's paintings at his residence in Yangon's Bahan Township. / Supplied

In 2010, he bought a four-acre compound in Yangon's Kyuaktan Township to do his part for art development in Myanmar. He created an art garden and opened a free school called the Bamboo School in 2012. The school teaches art, computers and English to children in the neighborhood.

Last year, he realized a dream that he had after participating in an artist-in-residence program in Malaysia in 2008. Together with four other like-minded artists, he opened an artist residency in his art garden, which provides accommodation, meals, equipment and an allowance for artists.

As a second step, he opened an art gallery opposite the Secretariat, which features the paintings from the artist-in-residence program and other artists.

"As I earn money, I want to spend it on the development of our art scene. I invest my earnings in the art industry. The profits may be low, but the industry will develop more. I should spend the money I get from art back on art," he said.

He wants to see Myanmar's art standards on par with ASEAN countries but he understands quite well that this is not possible without the assistance of the government.

"The government should help open art museums, collect the works of Myanmar artists and create spaces where artists can create their works freely," he said.

In fact, late artists had tried for this after independence in Myanmar. Artists submitted their plans for art development to then Prime Minister U Nu, but those plans never materialized amid the political instability of the country.

"We lag far behind our neighbors because there is no political, economic or social stability in our country. As political leaders who managed the country in successive periods were not able to bring stability, we became poor in every aspect," said veteran artist U Win Pe.

"There must be political and economic stability in a country for artists to get support. But, as our country is poor, the government cannot provide them any incentives. And artists need to think freely and widely. They have been boxed in by fear."

"If they can remove these barriers, the art world will develop. It is good that Khin Zaw Latt is striving for it philanthropically," he said.

Khin Zaw Latt, the father of two, said: "I feel like creating new things at the moment. I am more interested in three dimensional and ready-made art. I will organize more artist-in-residence programs. I also have a plan to build an art museum on my own. I have my own collections. But, a lot remains to be done."

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Upgrades to Yangon-Mandalay Rail Line to Start in July, Operator Says

Posted: 04 May 2018 01:26 AM PDT

YANGON — Upgrades to the railway line running from Yangon to Mandalay will begin in July, according to a Myanma Railways official.

"We are upgrading the railroad network across the country, and we are inviting tenders to upgrade the Yangon-Mandalay line. We expect to start upgrades in July," U Ba Myint, general manager of the state rail operator, told The Irrawaddy.

He said bridges along the 620-km section would be repaired as part of the work and that modern technologies and equipment would also be added to locomotives and cargo operations.

"We have divided the Yangon-Mandalay line into three sections. About three companies have submitted bids for each section. I can't reveal their names for the time being, but I will make an announcement when we sign contracts with them," U Ba Myint said.

The line will be upgraded in three sections — Yangon-Toungoo, Toungoo-Yamaethin, and Yamaethin-Mandalay — starting with the first one.

Myanma Railways will borrow 271.64 billion yen ($2.49 billion) from the Japan International Cooperation Agency to complete the upgrades, which are expected to cut travel time between the country’s two largest cities from 14 hours to eight.

"It is a huge project," said U Ba Myint, adding that work was expected to finish in 2023.

Myanma Railways will also purchase new locomotives and coaches with additional loans from Japan. Of the state rail operator’s more than 400 locomotives, nearly half are past their service life. A quarter of the roughly 1,200 carriages it has in use are in poor condition.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Renewed Clashes Leave 4 Dead in Chin State: AA Spokesman

Posted: 04 May 2018 12:58 AM PDT

Renewed clashes between the Myanmar Army and Arakan Army troops near Kone Pyin village in Chin's State Paletwa Township on Thursday left four Myanmar Army soldiers dead and five others injured, according to an Arakan Army (AA) spokesman.

Khine Thukha, the AA spokesman, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that a clash happened on the morning of May 3 when Myanmar Army troops from Light Infantry Battalion 541, based in Minbya Township, Rakhine State, entered into AA-controlled areas along the Kaladan River.

"The [Myanmar Army] soldiers' dead bodies were still alongside the riverbank on Thursday night,” said Khine Thukha, adding that there were no fatalities on the AA side.

He said that if Myanmar Army troops continue to advance that the fighting would continue, as the AA would defend itself.

There have not been many clashes over the past four months along the upper section of the Kaladan River but heavy fighting occurred in November and December of last year.

In November, the clashes displaced more than 1,000 ethnic Chin and Arakanese locals who sought shelter in nearby villages in Paletwa as well as in India near the Myanmar-India border.

According to Paletwa Township residents, local Kone Pyin villagers who fled in 2017 are still unable to return to their homes.

"As there is still fighting near Kone Pyin, it is impossible for the villagers to return," said Mai Aung Ma Phyu, a Paletwa resident.

The AA is a member of the seven-member Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), an alliance based in northeastern Myanmar. Some of the FPNCC members are holding separate peace talks with the government this year, despite its initial stated policy of only holding peace talks with the government as a bloc.

Khine Thukha said the AA still upholds the FPNCC's policy negotiating for peace as an alliance.

Military leaders have repeatedly said that the Myanmar Army would not hold peace talks with the AA unless it disarmed because it was established only after Myanmar had elected a quasi-civilian government, under former President U Thein Sein in 2011.

The AA, which has taken part in fighting by allying with Kachin, Ta'ang and Kokang troops in Kachin Independence Army-controlled areas in northern and northeastern Myanmar since 2011, has said its troops have been mobilized since 2009.

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New Website Lets Public Track Legislation, ‘Vote’ on Bills

Posted: 04 May 2018 12:17 AM PDT

YANGON — I AM A BILL, a new website that tracks legislation and monitors Parliament, was officially launched on Tuesday. The site provides the full history of every piece of legislation — from the date a bill is submitted to the lawmakers who submitted it and every debate it faces until it is pulled, rejected or approved.

Users will also get to vote and comment on whether they support or oppose a bill and find out what legislation is in the process of being drafted. They can also check in on what the lawmakers representing their constituencies are working on and what issues they have raised in Parliament.

Peace & Justice Myanmar, a local NGO, has been developing the site since May 2017 and by August hopes to have uploaded all bills introduced since February 2016, after the NLD was voted into power.

The Irrawaddy spoke with the founder and executive director of Peace & Justice Myanmar, Daw Shwe Yee Win, about what I AM A BILL hopes to achieve and how it can help voters.

What are your hopes and expectations for the site?

The main aim of I AM A BILL is to post the submissions and discussions of bills in Myanmar's Union Parliament in real time. We also aim to enhance public participation in the legislative processes using technology and to make the bills accessible at any time to the public, including lawyers, legal experts and [members of] civil society advocating for legal reforms.

Do you have data from the previous Parliament [under the government of U Thein Sein]?

We will try to post that. But because we get data from meeting minutes [posted on official websites] and live videos of parliamentary sessions, it is hard for us to get data from the previous Parliament.

How will this affect voters?

There are bills that directly relate to public daily life. It is better to include public views and comments when drafting such bills. We will have data analysis of public opinions and can forward that to lawmakers.

But people generally have little interest in lawmaking.

Yes. In our country, only after the 2010 election were parliamentary sessions reconvened [more than two decades after they were suspended]. So lawmakers and the public were not very familiar with the parliamentary process. But the second Parliament [under the NLD] is ongoing. There are broadcasts of parliamentary discussions, but it is hard to go back when necessary and the information is not complete. Eventually, it [the site] will become an archive of the bills that have been submitted in the Myanmar Parliament.

The most important thing is to know clearly the winning party’s policies and which sectors they want to reform and develop through legislation.

What would you like to tell users?

They can find out what the lawmakers they elected for five years are working on through this bill tracking website, because the 2020 election is now close. We need to know what our representatives have done for their constituencies, including their questions and proposals in Parliament.

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US Treasury Secretary Says Having Good Trade Talks in China

Posted: 03 May 2018 11:28 PM PDT

BEIJING — A US trade delegation in China has been having very good conversations, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, as he heads into the second and likely last day of talks in Beijing.

A breakthrough deal to fundamentally change China’s economic policies is viewed as highly unlikely during the two-day visit, though a package of short-term Chinese measures could delay a US decision to impose tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese exports.

The discussions, led by Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, are expected to cover a wide range of US complaints about China’s trade practices, from accusations of forced technology transfers to state subsidies for technology development.

“We are having very good conversations,” Mnuchin told reporters as he left his hotel. He made no other remarks.

China, which has threatened retaliation in equal measure, including tariffs on US soybeans and aircraft, has so far given no comment on how the talks are going.

The official China Daily newspaper said in a Friday editorial that the brewing tensions between the two countries underscored how “niggly” differences had become and “how difficult it will be for the two sides to walk away happy.”

It added “fingers would be crossed” around the world that a deal could be struck because “failure would herald a slug fest of tariffs that would leave global trade reeling.”

US President Donald Trump on Thursday praised his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the US delegation began their talks, which are taking place at a state guest house in the western part of the Chinese capital.

The arrival of the US trade delegation indicated the United States has “taken a step towards avoiding a massive trade war,” China’s widely read and often hawkish Global Times newspaper said in a commentary.

“Since both sides have their bottom lines to keep, it may be hard to reach a deal, but it is good to start somewhere.”

No Illusions

US-based trade experts have said they expected Beijing to offer Trump’s team a package of policy changes that may include some previously announced moves, such as a phase-out of joint venture requirements for some sectors, auto tariff reductions and increased purchases of US goods.

US complaints about Chinese intellectual property, or IP, abuses are at the core of the current dispute. The Trump administration says US companies lose hundreds of billions of dollars annually to China’s theft of trade secrets.

James McGregor, chairman of PR giant APCO Worldwide’s greater China region, told Reuters there was a “very strong possibility” the talks would not avert the implementation of tariffs.

However, the US side may be able to convince China the United States has fundamentally shifted tack on trade relations.

“I don’t think there are a lot of illusions in America that you can make China change,” McGregor said, noting the “Made in China 2025” plan to upgrade domestic manufacturing, viewed with suspicion abroad as an import substitution scheme, is a key initiative rolled out under Xi.

“The idea is how do we readjust the interface with China to protect America, American innovation and American companies. If protecting what’s on your side of the equation incentivizes China to do things differently, then that’s a win,” he said.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Tuesday it was not his objective to change China’s economic system, but that he would try to find ways to limit the damage it causes to the United States and open it further for US companies.

But the diverse US trade delegation is likely to have differing views among its members on the merits of any deal China might be willing to make.

Mnuchin and new White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow are seen as likely to favor a package that keeps financial markets on an even keel and doesn’t interfere with strong economic growth.

The group also includes Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Lighthizer, a hardline and experienced trade negotiator, and White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro, a noted China trade hawk.

Navarro advised Trump throughout his 2016 election campaign, during which the candidate routinely threatened to impose a 45 percent across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods as a way to level the playing field for American workers.

In recent months, Trump has demanded a $100 billion annual reduction in the $375 billion US goods trade deficit with China, and responded to Chinese vows of retaliation over US tariffs with threats of duties on another $100 billion worth of Chinese exports to the United States.

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Top Sri Lanka Officials Arrested While Taking Bribe: Anti-Graft Body

Posted: 03 May 2018 10:37 PM PDT

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s anti-graft body arrested President Maithripala Sirisena’s chief of staff and another state official on Thursday in the act of accepting a bribe, officials said.

Officials of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) arrested I.H.K. Mahanama, the president’s chief of staff, and P. Dissanayake, the head of the State Timber Corporation (STC), the commission said.

“Our officials arrested Mahanama and Dissanayake while accepting 20 million (rupees),” Sarath Jayamanna, the director general of CIABOC told Reuters, indicating a sum equivalent to $126,863.

He added that the officials were recording statements from Mahanama and Dissanayake, and later on Thursday or early on Friday the two individuals would be produced before the courts.

Jayamanna said Mahanama, the former secretary of the lands ministry, had asked for a bribe of 540 million Sri Lankan rupees ($3.43 million) from an Indian investor interested in acquiring a state-owned sugar factory.

The two were arrested at a car park of a luxury hotel in the capital Colombo while they were accepting a 20 million rupees bribe from the investor for the transfer of land, he said.

The President’s office said in a statement the service of both the officials had been suspended, and the president had instructed the CIABOC officials to enforce the law strictly against the two without any obstruction.

Representatives of Mahanama and Dissanayake were not immediately available for comment.

The arrest comes as Sirisena's government is under heavy criticism for not fulfilling his main 2015 election pledge to eliminate rampant corruption.

The previous government under former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated in the 2015 poll amid widespread allegations of corruption. However, Sirisena’s administration since coming to power has taken insufficient steps to deal with past corruption, his critics allege.

The governing coalition of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Sirisena and the United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lost local government polls in February partly due to failure to fulfill promises to punish corrupt politicians and officials.
Top Sri Lanka Officials Arrested While Taking Bribe: Anti-Graft Body

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Ancient Fort Community in Bangkok Loses 25-Year Battle Against Bulldozers

Posted: 03 May 2018 10:17 PM PDT

BANGKOK — For more than two decades, a community of more than 300 people living next to an old fort in Bangkok staved off drug dealers keen to extend their turf, and city officials eager to tear down their homes and build a park to draw more tourists.

Last week, the handful of residents who still remained conceded defeat and left their old wooden homes in Fort Mahakan, even as historians and civic groups slammed the city’s modernization plan, saying it is uprooting thousands of people.

The community in Mahakan is believed to have lived behind the octagonal fort for more than 300 years. The area was earmarked for a park in 1978, and eviction orders issued in 1992, when officials said they were living there illegally.

The residents organized protests, filed a petition in court to be allowed to stay, and even proposed a heritage museum that they could run on site. But the demolitions soon began.

“We have lived here through all the changes the city has gone through, and we have helped protect the fort and this neighborhood. Now we are being kicked out,” said Khomonlak Supawatchai, 40, a third-generation resident.

“We were ready to give up some land if we could live here and help people…learn about the history of the fort and the community. But they do not want us here,” she said.

The eviction of the community is part of a wider effort to modernize Bangkok. Authorities are also clearing the sidewalks of vendors and food stalls, and removing homes and shanties along the Chao Phraya river to build a promenade.

Civic groups say the evictions mostly target poor communities who have no formal rights over their land or property, yet are an integral part of the city, contributing to its economy and colorful character.

Authorities say they are removing encroachers to make sidewalks and riverfront areas accessible to more people.

“The people in Pom Mahakan have lived illegally on public land for many years. We want to build a public park so more people can enjoy this historic site,” said Bangkok’s planning department chief, Sakchai Boonma.

“We have offered compensation and a relocation site, and have had discussions with them for a very long time. Now they have to leave,” he said.

Beautification

Rattanakosin Island, where Fort Mahakan is located, is the original settlement of Bangkok and home to some of its top tourist attractions such as the Grand Palace and the Wat Pho temple, known for its giant reclining Buddha.

Fort Mahakan, built in the 18th century, is one of the oldest structures in Bangkok, one of 14 citadels that once guarded the city. Only one other fort remains.

The eviction of the community and the demolition of their elegant wooden homes is a big loss to the city, where skyscrapers and malls threaten to engulf all traditional architecture and edge out the poor, conservationists say.

“Vernacular architecture is being destroyed in the name of development,” said Chatri Prakitnonthakan, an associate professor of architecture at Silpakorn University, who was involved in the proposal for a heritage museum at Fort Mahakan.

“‘Beautification’ is invoked as a justification for an urban reorganization that threatens existing ways of life and ignores the aesthetic values and social needs of poorer residents.”

Signs in English and Thai outside some of the Mahakan homes traced family lineages and evoked lost traditions.

One house was the site of the first performances of likay, a traditional theater form. Its residents now sell fish maw soup, made from the swim bladders of large fish.

Residents of another home, called the House of Waterworks, sold water to the community; other buildings were called Gold Melting House, Earthenware House and House of Music.

City officials have said about a dozen homes, some of them more than 200 years old, will be preserved as a museum.

But historians and conservationists say the plan is inadequate and insensitive to the needs of the community.

“This represents the best of Thai culture — extraordinary examples of architecture and the everyday life of a community in a single site,” said Michael Herzfeld, an anthropology professor at Harvard University who wrote a book on Fort Mahakan.

“They are being sacrificed on the altar of a touristic experience. It’s a tragedy for Bangkok and for Thailand,” said Herzfeld, who had opposed the evictions.

Ethical Interpretation

Fort Mahakan is not the only historic site in the country where long-time residents have come under threats of eviction.

Only a few have ended favorably for communities.

In February, officials gave up a plan to move more than 1,600 families in the Phimai temple complex in Nakhon Ratchasima province in the country’s northeast, after residents protested and said they had legal titles to their homes.

The insistence on removing communities from monuments and historical sites is misguided, said Herzfeld.

“Many modern architects and planners are in favor of a symbiotic relationship between caring for monuments and communities that live in or near them,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In Mahakan, while the residents did not have legal rights to the land, authorities could have used an “ethical interpretation” of the law to allow them to stay and help take care of the site as they had offered to, Herzfeld said.

“The authorities could’ve shown the world a superb example of the self-sufficiency of a community. Instead, they will show a manicured lawn that reflects an ideal of urban beauty that isn’t particularly Thai,” he said.

For the residents packing up to leave Fort Mahakan, a glorious past has given way to an uncertain future.

“I can’t think about not living here. I don’t know where we will go,” said Khomonlak, as bulldozers waited. “It will be hard to build another community like this one.”

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Ex-UN Chief Annan Tells Facebook to Move Faster on Hate Speech

Posted: 03 May 2018 09:51 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO — Former UN chief Kofi Annan told Facebook Inc on Thursday that it should consider establishing a special team to respond more quickly to threats of sectarian violence in countries such as Myanmar that are at high risk.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, is under pressure from authorities and rights groups in many countries for its role in spreading hate speech, false stories and government-sponsored propaganda.

Annan, appearing on stage before an audience of Facebook employees, was asked by Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox if he had a recommendation for the company to help protect elections.

He responded that Facebook should look for societies where people are likely to put out “poisonous messages,” and then monitor the language there.

Facebook could “organize sort of a rapid response force, rapid reaction group, who can be injected into a situation, when you see it developing, so that they can try to see what advice they can give the electoral commission or those involved,” Annan said, according to a live broadcast of the event.

Facebook says it has more than 7,500 workers who review posts for compliance with its rulebook.

It some countries, though, it acknowledges it is short-handed. It said last month that it needed more people to work on public policy in Myanmar.

UN human rights experts investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar said in March that Facebook had played a role in spreading hate speech in the country. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar into Bangladesh since insurgent attacks sparked a security crackdown last August.

Annan headed a commission that last year recommended to the government of Myanmar, a majority Buddhist country, that it avoid excessive force in the crisis.

Since then, social media may have made the crisis worse, he told Facebook employees.

“If indeed that was the case, was there a point somewhere along the line when action could have been taken to disrupt the dissemination of the messages? These are issues that you may need to think through,” Annan said.

Cox replied: “That’s something we’re taking very seriously.”

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