NEW DELHI — When Hujjat Islam heard a fire had razed a Rohingya camp in New Delhi, his first reaction was relief: it could have been him and his family, their belongings burned to ashes, if he had not found a home for them elsewhere in the city.
The fire last month gutted the flimsy shacks of plywood and tarpaulin of about 220 Rohingya on a plot of land belonging to Muslim charity Zakat Foundation. There were no casualties.
Islam, who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar in 2002 and to India six years later, lives in a small rented home and has a regular job, unlike most other refugees in the city.
“As refugees, finding jobs and homes are huge problems. We don’t have money, we don’t have documents, so we are forced to stay where we can, and do any job available,” he said.
“For those in the camp, it was even worse — their homes got flooded in the rain, the women couldn’t go out, children got bitten by snakes. When you are able to work and have some money, it is a little better,” he said.
Islam is among thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have settled in India in recent years after fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar, escaping by boat or on foot to Bangladesh, and then to India.
But here too, they face suspicion and harassment, and a long fight to secure jobs, homes and documentation.
Their situation is exacerbated by the fact that India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which spells out legal obligations to protect refugees. It also does not have a domestic law to ensure their rights.
“India has a very strong tradition of accepting refugees. But it’s more a charity-based approach than a rights-based one, and that’s problematic,” said Jessica Field, an assistant professor at the O.P. Jindal Global University in Delhi.
“The legal precariousness means the majority of refugees head for cities, where they can be anonymous and find work. But they are also more vulnerable there, and can struggle to access basic services,” said Field, who has studied refugees in Delhi.
Limited citizenship
Globally, more than 60 percent of refugees live in urban areas, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). Increasing numbers of them are women, children and elderly people.
India has long been a safe haven in a volatile region, home to more than 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom were forced to flee conflict or persecution in nearby countries including Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
In recent years many have headed to New Delhi, where the UNHCR is located, to get their ID cards.
In the city, men find daily-wage jobs in construction or in the markets.
Women often have greater freedom to work and move about, but may also feel more afraid and isolated as they are not in their community, said Field.
“Refugees, just as many others, want to live in urban areas, hoping that they can enjoy increased access to basic services and better opportunities,” said Ipshita Sengupta, a policy associate at the UNHCR.
“Living outside camps provides such opportunities.”
The Indian government offers prima facie recognition for two refugee groups — Tibetans and Sri Lankan Tamils — because of historic religious and ethnic connections, and recently proposed to give Tibetans more welfare benefits.
Some 54,000 Chakma and Hajong who fled Bangladesh more than five decades ago are set to get limited citizenship, while Maharashtra State has granted property rights to Hindu refugees who left Pakistan 70 years ago.
A 2016 bill proposed to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh eligible for citizenship.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has taken a tough stance on Rohingyas, calling them a security threat and saying they should be deported.
A petition against deportation is pending in the top court.
Unequal policy
In India, there are some 38,000 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the UNHCR, of whom 17,000 are Rohingya.
The unequal policy stance is stoking tensions even amongst refugees, Field told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“The lack of a legal framework enables the differential treatment framed around ethno-religious identity, or relations with these countries,” she said.
“Poverty and politics reinforce the refugees’ vulnerability, which is heightened in an urban setting.”
The UNHCR issues ID cards to registered refugees and documents to those who are seeking asylum, which help prevent arbitrary arrest and deportation.
The authorities issue long-term visas, which are essential to open bank accounts and rent homes.
But a recent mandate requiring Aadhaar, a government-issued biometric identity, poses additional challenges for refugees.
“It has adversely impacted their daily lives, as many of them do not have access to these cards,” said Sengupta.
“Inclusive documentation and policies allowing refugees access to basic rights and services will enable them to become constructive members of the host society,” she said.
There is compelling evidence of their contribution. A 2015 UN study found with every dollar spent on refugees, roughly $0.50 is added to the economy through multiplier effects.
The UNHCR has partnered with civic groups in Delhi to train and place refugees in jobs. Two examples are catering groups run by Afghan and Somali refugee women making dishes from their homelands.
A separate initiative led by Delhi University students employs half a dozen Afghan refugee women, making edible bowls and cutlery from millets and wheat flour.
“The opportunity to work and earn a living is one of the most effective ways to rebuild lives,” said Sengupta.
“These initiatives not only provide earning opportunities, but also help build bridges with local communities,” she said.
For now, the Rohingyas in Kalindi Kunj in Delhi are rebuilding their homes after the fire, and everyone lives in fear of arrest or deportation every day, said Islam.
“No one wants to leave their homes and go to another country. But we are helpless,” he said.
“This is a big city, we are not here to take away anyone else’s jobs or homes.”
YANGON — The government on Thursday dismissed as unfair and unbalanced a declaration by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) alleging human rights violations against Rohingya by Myanmar security forces, and rejected its use of the terms "ethnic cleansing" and "state-backed violence" to describe the situation in Rakhine State.
The 45th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC was held in Bangladesh last weekend. At the end of the two-day meeting, the group released a statement, dubbed the "Dhaka Declaration", expressing concern over alleged human rights violations by Myanmar security forces.
The Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) launched a clearance operation targeting Rohingya militants following their Aug. 25 attack on several border security outposts. The months-long operation has resulted in the displacement of nearly 700,000 Rohingya. The UN has described the mass devastation, arbitrary killings and arson attacks against the Rohingya as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing," while international rights groups have called for the Tatmadaw's leadership to be brought before the International Criminal Court.
Of the OIC declaration's 38 points, four relate to the Rohingya crisis. Top OIC officials have consistently urged member states to keep international pressure on Myanmar and to provide humanitarian assistance to traumatized Rohingya now living in Bangladeshi refugee camps, which have been described as the largest such site in the world.
The OIC declaration reads: "We express deep concern over the recent systematic brutal acts perpetrated by security forces against the Rohingya Muslim Community in Myanmar." It asserts that the arbitrary killings, rapes and arsons that prompted the mass exodus to the neighboring country were tantamount to "ethnic cleansing."
The group commended the personal leadership shown by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in addressing the plight of the Rohingya people and seeking international support to manage the crisis, and for implementing steps to help displaced people in line with the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission. The OIC welcomed a draft resolution submitted by members states to the UN General Assembly in November last year concerning the situation facing the Rohingya community of Myanmar. It also agreed to address accountability for rights abuses against Rohingya in Myanmar by establishing an impromptu ministerial committee led by the African nation of Gambia.
On Wednesday, Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying that the OIC declaration "lacks balance and fairness" as it failed to denounce the brutal attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), formally known as Harakah Al-Yaqeen ("faith movement"), on several dozen Myanmar government security outposts in northern Rakhine in late 2017. It said the current humanitarian crisis in northern Rakhine was "triggered" by the militant group.
The MOFA statement asserts that "It is highly regrettable that the Dhaka Declaration did not even mention the immediate need for the repatriation of displaced persons from Rakhine in accordance with the bilateral agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh." It also points out that the declaration failed to include any suggestions that could promote harmony and sustainable development in Rakhine State.
In the statement, Myanmar urges Dhaka to take steps to help the repatriation process agreed by the two nations early this year, as the monsoon season is approaching. It says Myanmar is "ready to facilitate the voluntary, safe and dignified return" of displaced Rohingya.
UN and international experts have warned that displaced Rohingya could face mudslides during the coming rainy season as they are living atop deforested hills in Bangladesh's Cox Bazar district.
YANGON — Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein vowed to focus on economic growth in 2018 and laid out a five-point vision for the city's development at the Yangon Investment Forum on Wednesday.
U Phyo Min Thein said boosting the city's economy would be one of the regional government’s priorities this year, along with improving the rule of law and cleanliness — some of Yangon’s main challenges.
Organized by the Yangon Region Investment Committee (YRIC), the forum aims to boost foreign investment in Myanmar’s largest city and commercial capital.
Addressing an audience of more than 1,000 international and local investors and businesspeople, the chief minister, who also chairs the YRIC, promised to create more investment opportunities in industry, trade and logistics, transportation, energy and sustainable urban development.
A lack of clear policies, red tape, poor infrastructure, frequent power cuts and high land prices have long stood in the way of doing business in Yangon. But U Phyo Min Thein argued that those challenges were investment opportunities in themselves.
"Challenges are great opportunities for investors because they can get involved in developing those projects,” he said.
Projects in the regional government’s pipeline include a new deep-sea port and special economic zone (SEZ); the development of new industrial zones on the city's outskirts; upgrades to the power supply, infrastructure and waste management of the city's existing 29 industrial zones; upgrades to the city's transport system; and city expansion.
Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein delivers an opening speech at the Yangon Investment Forum 2018 on Wednesday. / Aung Kyaw Htet / The Irrawaddy
U Phyo Min Thein said Yangon would soon see an additional 1,500 megawatts of electricity supply thanks to new power plant in the works in Irrawaddy and Tenasserim regions.
Throughout the forum, he also emphasized that the government was working on cutting red tape.
The chief minister said the new port was needed because the current port in downtown Yangon, which handles 90 percent of the entire country’s import and export traffic, could not be expanded to handle the growing demands of modern logistics. He said 50,000 acres of land in the south of the city have been set aside for the new port and SEZ and that the government would start accepting bids soon.
The chief minister said all the projects offered investors good opportunities and that the regional government has been in discussions with investors across ASEAN on various plans.
Wedged in between India and China, together home to some 40 percent of the world’s population, Myanmar — and Yangon especially — was well placed to become a regional trade and transportation hub, U Phyo Min Thein said.
"We will try to develop Yangon as an investment hub not only in Myanmar but also in the region," he said.
U Khin Maung Aye, chairman of the Myanmar Investors Development Association, the forum’s main sponsor, told reporters that investors at the event expressed interest in the new SEZ and other infrastructure and agriculture projects. But he cautioned that it remained to be seen whether those investors would actually follow through.
Khin Marlar Maung Maung, a director of Da Na Aung Si Construction Co. Ltd., told The Irrawaddy that her company was interested in the government's expansion and energy projects.
"The chief minister highlighted that the government will prioritize green energy projects. We are very interested in that, as well as in the construction of a plant to convert waste into energy, which could help the city's waste management a lot," she said.
CHIANG MAI, Thailand – The Karen National Union has urged the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, to stop deploying troops and doing roadwork in an area controlled by its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, in Papun district, Karen State.
The Karen group is worried recent moves by the Tatmadaw are undermining trust-building between the two sides and may result in more clashes in the state, where the Tatmadaw has been engaged in an apparent militarization effort since March.
"If the Tatmadaw continues its activities before a meeting between the KNU and Tatmadaw has happened yet, any problems or consequences will be the responsibility of the Tatmadaw," the KNU said in a statement on Thursday that provided an update on the situation in Papun (Mutraw) district.
It has been more than a month since the KNU called for a meeting between Tatmadaw representatives and the KNU/KNLA's Military Affairs Negotiation Team. The Tatmadaw has stalled on agreeing to the talks, however, citing the absence of the commander of KNLA Brigade 5, which operates in Papun, from the negotiations.
Military-to-military engagement between the KNU and the Tatmadaw has emerged as a potential channel to end the current clashes, following the Tatmadaw's deployment of more troops in the KNLA-controlled area in early March. The clashes have caused more than 2,000 local villagers from Ler Mu Plaw in Luthaw Township to flee their homes since Mar.4.
Padoh Saw Tar Doh Moo, the general secretary of the KNU, told The Irrawaddy that "as there is a space for discussion regarding any disputes, the Tatmadaw's military expansion should not be happening."
Since April 30, more bulldozers have arrived in the area to continue rebuilding an old road while six more Tatmadaw units have been deployed in crop-growing areas of local villagers, forcing the villagers to abandon their homes.
"The situation eased in mid-April, with some villagers even going back to their homes to feed their animals such as chickens and pigs. However, it did not last long, and clashes have happened every day in May and the villagers have been forced to flee into the jungle again," Padoh Saw Tar Doh Moo said.
The locals insist that the Tatmadaw reinforcements have not been pulled back since March, with more military trucks loaded with weapons and ammunition being seen arriving in the area.
The KNU has repeatedly said that the current military activities "show the Tatmadaw does not take seriously the agreements made in the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement and disregards its negotiating partner."
Meanwhile, the KNLA vowed in a statement on Wednesday to fight to defend its "nationality" as the Tatmadaw has repeatedly violated the NCA principles.
Disappointed by the current peace process, even though the KNU and the Tatmadaw are both signatories to the NCA, observers of the process lamented that peace is nowhere to be seen.
"We really need peace," said Hsa Moo, a spokesperson for the Karen Peace Support Network. "We just live on our land, but we have to leave our birthplace and hide in the jungle. I am so tired of this peace process."
"No one wants to be an IDP. Why do people have to flee after their leaders have signed the NCA?" she told The Irrawaddy.
The Myanmar military has insisted that the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee at the regional level has discussed the issue and how to resolve it. The JMC at the union has level also suggested military-to-military engagement as an approach to end the clashes.
However, the chief of the Bago Region JMC is also the commander of the Tatmadaw's Southern Command and it is he who has overseen the militarization in Papun district. Therefore, the KNU doubts the Tatmadaw's sincerity.
"Whether the commander will follow the orders of his superior or whether he follows the terms of references of the JMC is the question that remains," said Padoh Saw Tar Doh Moo.
The KNU and the ethnic armed organization have proposed bringing in independent local and international monitoring for the JMC.
MANDALAY — Residents of Mandalay Region’s Kyaukse Township were joined by lawmakers and activists on Thursday in calling for the fair treatment of five police officers arrested earlier this month after exposing the release of an alleged timber trafficker and accusing their chief of corruption.
"We call for justice for these police officers who did their best to do the right thing for the rule of law in Kyaukse," said Ko Ko Lwin, a member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society.
"The lawmakers said they will raise their voices in accordance with the law in Parliament to call for justice for the detained police officers," he told reporters after a meeting of concerned locals, lawmakers and the 88 Generation in Kyaukse.
"They also assured that they will make sure no one is harmed for helping the general administration and security institutions with the rule of law in the region and with the fight against corruption," Ko Ko Lwin added.
On April 24, police Corporals Tun Tun Win, Zeyar Maung and two others seized a truck hauling illegal logs. But they said the township police chief scolded them for the bust and ordered them to release the logs’ alleged owner. The police report ultimately stated that police could not prove who owned the logs.
According to locals, however, the alleged owner — Moan Lar, also known as Aung Soe Moe — was well known for paying off police and government officials for protection.
In early May, the local office of the 88 Generation helped locals send the Ministry of Home Affairs a complaint asking that the corrupt police officers be prosecuted. The five officers who exposed the alleged owner’s release, including the four who made the original arrest and a fifth who recorded it, were arrested by township police soon afterward.
Moan Lar, the alleged owner, was rearrested on Wednesday afternoon.
On Monday, the 88 Generation sent another complaint to the Anti-Corruption Commission in Naypyitaw asking it to investigate the case and find justice for the arrested officers.
"Based on the case of police Captain Ko Moe Yan Naing in the trial of the two Reuters reporters, we do not have too much hope that the Ministry of Home Affairs will provide justice in this case," said Ko Ko Lwin.
"However, we believe the incident in Kyaukse will ring the alarm and hopefully become an example for an anti-corruption movement in the police force," he added.
One decade ago today, Myanmar's then-ruling military government held a referendum on whether to ratify a Constitution that not only political observers but also many ordinary citizens saw as a thinly veiled rubber stamp for the military's continued involvement in the country's politics. Led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and in collaboration with civil society organizations, the National League for Democracy has declared its intention to amend the charter, which it claims is undemocratic — but so far its efforts have been in vain. On the 10th anniversary of the referendum, we post here a collection of opinion pieces from The Irrawaddy — some dating back to 2008 — relating to the Constitution, the possible options for amending it, and the ways in which it limits democracy in Myanmar, among other topics.
As analysts and activists debate how to respond to the regime's draft constitution, others ask if it will cement the generals' hold on power or trigger a popular uprising
The democracy icon says she wants to be president, but to get there, she'll need some help from a tough crowd: military-appointed members of Parliament.
Whatever form the dialogue on constitutional change takes, what's most important is that the discussion is substantive and its participants approach the matter genuinely.
Burma's generals got the Constitution they wanted, hence the NLD's victory is unlikely to affect the country's power structure with the military at its apex.
With the National League for Democracy hitting its 40th day in office this week, Irrawaddy Dateline examines what challenges and opportunities remain for the party.
YANGON – The President's Office has ordered the Ministry of Planning and Finance to study the results of an investigation by the Central Body on Anti-Money Laundering into a business dispute over the Amara Ocean Resort (AOR) in southern Rakhine State's Thandwe Township.
The anti-money laundering agency, which is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs, wrapped up the investigation on March 5. The President's Office wants the ministry to determine whether there are grounds for legal proceedings regarding the Ngapali Beach resort.
The instruction was contained in a reply letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the German Embassy in Yangon dated May 3. According to the letter, former German Ambassador Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch and Gerald Schreiber — the ex-husband of AOR owner Daw Kalayar Moe — requested an appointment with U Min Thu, deputy minister of the Myanmar President's Office, to discuss the disputed beach property.
The meeting request was declined by the deputy minister. That decision was accompanied by a brief explanation citing the fact that the case is under "scrutinization". The letter stated that the Ministry of Planning and Finance and the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism would take "proper action," but did not say against whom.
In an email to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Schreiber said, "What a surprise! we did never get anything before. The Government has never send any official statement to us before. We have been meeting with government people since 2012 regard our case, but never got anything in written."
In 2011, Schreiber and his then-wife Daw Kalayar Moe (they have since divorced) entered an agreement with Dr. Jens Ehrahrdt, chairman of the Germany-based DJE Group, to develop a 17-acre plot of land on Ngapali Beach and a 6-acre freshwater reservoir in Gaw village, a few miles from Thandwe Airport. Ehrahrdt funded the project with an investment of several million dollars. He held a 50-percent stake, with the couple possessing 25 percent each. Under the agreement, profits from the venture were to be shared accordingly.
According to documents obtained by The Irrawaddy, Myanmar citizen Daw Kalayar Moe agreed to act as the landowner because foreigners are legally prohibited from owning property. After the couple obtained a divorce in Germany in 2012, the woman refused to sell her stake in the Myanmar asset, which is registered under the name of Kalayar, to DJE Group.
During then-president U Thein Sein's visit to Germany in 2013, Schreiber and Ehrahrdt met with several Union ministers including U Soe Thein and Wana Maung Lwin about the disputed AOR property in Ngapali and provided documents signed by the parties. The meeting was also attended by Weber-Lortsch, who was still the ambassador to Myanmar at that time. U Thein Sein promised to help the German investors.
In the email, Schreiber wrote: "We can put all the documents to Myanmar government as a proof. We have already provided documents to the new National League for Democracy (NLD) government and current home affairs minister Lt. Gen Kyaw Swe ordered Bureaus of Special Investigation (BSI) to investigate the case and found out wrongdoings of Kalayar Moe. But in a meeting in January with former German ambassador, home affairs minister claimed that the case was blocked by Myanmar President Office."
President Office's spokesman U Zaw Htay confirmed that the case was under investigation by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Tourism Ministry but declined to answer specific questions on Thursday.
"We are not sure who is behind in this case but we know exactly that Kalayar has close connection with U Win Htein. He has been (AOR hotel) there for a few days last year," Schreiber writes in the email. U Win Htein is a senior figure in the ruling National League for Democracy.
Neither U Win Htein nor Daw Kalayar Moe could be reached for comment on Thursday.
In September 2017, Schreiber wrote to DG U Aung Naing Oo of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) and provided relevant documents. However, Schreiber was urged to try to convince Daw Kalayar Moe to reach an amicable solution. Schreiber replied to U Aung Naing Oo that he and his business partner, Ehrahrdt, would prefer to resolve the situation by selling the resort at a reasonable price to a new investor, or getting a permit from the Myanmar Investment Commission to operate the beach resort. However, neither of these outcomes could be achieved unless Daw Kalayar Moe released the land ownership, Schreiber added.
In May 2017, the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism revoked the resort's business license. After a visit by U Win Htein in 2017, however, she was granted a temporary license for one season in 2018. Daw Kalayar Moe verbally acknowledged U Win Htein's visit during an interview with The Irrawaddy at her house in Yangon in April, but denied sponsoring the trip. The temporary hotel license for Amara Ocean Resort expired on April 30.
Daw Kalayar Moe has faced a divorce suit in Yangon Court since 2014. Her ex-business partner the DJE group has filed an initial complaint at the Myo Ma Mingalardon police station with the aim of suing her under the criminal code.
Yangon—Over 560 villagers from Awng Lawt in Kachin State's Tanai Township who fled into the jungle after fighting erupted between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Tatmadaw in early April have been rescued.
"Around 300 got out of the forest on May 8 and arrived near Dwan Ban village while over 260 more arrived at a creek northeast of Tanai yesterday," Naw Tawng, vice-chairman of a Tanai-based Christian committee to help displaced persons, told The Irrawaddy.
All together, more than 2,000 Awng Lawt villagers were forced to flee the fighting. The other 1,500 still remain in the forest.
Of the 300 villagers who made it out on Tuesday, half went to their relatives' houses in Myitkyina and Namti, and the other half are taking shelter at a church in the village of La Wa in Hpakant Township. The other 260 villagers who escaped on Wednesday are staying at a Catholic church in Tanai.
Displaced villagers who had escaped from the forest. (Photos by Father Naw Latt)
"They fled en masse after the fighting broke out. As the clashes grew more intense near them on April 17, they fled in groups guided by those who can lead [in the forest]," Naw Tawng said.
The villagers tramped for around three weeks in the forest on foot. On April 26, a 26-member group of displaced persons got out of the forest and reached Dwan Ban Village. Fifteen of them are villagers of Awng Lawt and 11 others are internal migrants working at gold mines in the area.
The leader of that group, N'Sang Awng Lat, told The Irrawaddy that during their time in the jungle they had to run away from wild elephants and drink water from muddy ponds as they found no creeks on their way.
"I ran with my four children and one is them is just two years old. The thirst was the worst problem we experienced," he said.
"On a rainy night, we had to cover ourselves with a plastic sheet and sleep on the ground. We were thoroughly miserable. I want to cry when I recall these days," he added.
Displaced villagers who had escaped from the forest. (Photos by Father Naw Latt)
Residents of Awng Lawt first fled into the forest after artillery shells fell near their village on April 11. Among them were pregnant women, elderly and disabled persons and children younger than five.
The villagers asked the religious leaders in Tanai to recuse them. Tanai is only accessible by water from where they were trapped, and as Tatmadaw troops control the waterways, religious leaders sought permission from them to be allowed to pass. But the military refused.
On April 14, the Christian committee to help displaced persons in Tanai sent a letter to the Kachin State chief minister asking the government to rescue the Awng Lawt villagers, but there was no reply.
Displaced villagers who had escaped from the forest. (Photos by Father Naw Latt)
Kachin civil society organizations, and the Kachin Peace-talk Creation Group also sent letters to the Kachin State chief minister, and the National Reconciliation and Peace Center to help the villagers.
With the approval of the government and Tatmadaw, the Myitkyina-based Red Cross Society went to Awng Lawt to rescue the villagers on April 20, but they could rescue only about 200 amber and gold mine workers.
Pathein—Police are searching for an abbot who allegedly raped three young girls in a village in the Irrawaddy Region capital of Pathein.
U Nanda Siri, the abbot of Seitta Thukha Monastery in the village of Ye Tho, has fled after the mother of the rape victims filed a complaint with police in late April.
The abbot, 56, who has been in the monkhood for seven years, allegedly raped the three daughters—the eldest one, 14 and the younger two, both 10—of a woman living near the monastery.
"We have opened a case under Section 376 of the Penal Code for alleged rape. We still can't start the investigation as the monk has run away. We have also reported the case to the township Sangha Nayaka Committee as the suspect is a monk," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Khin Maung Latt, spokesperson of the Irrawaddy regional police force, told The Irrawaddy.
According to the account of the mother, she and her three daughters have regularly helped the monk with daily chores at the monastery. On April 25, she was told by one of her daughters when she came back from collecting wood that the monk had sexually abused them.
The following day, she filed a complaint with the local police station, which has distributed photos of the monk to other police stations in the area.
The three girls were taken to a hospital for a medical examination, but the results are not yet known, according to the police.
"To protect their children from being sexually assaulted, parents should not allow them to go somewhere alone or stay alone with strangers, young or old. Similarly, they should not leave children alone at the house," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Khin Maung Latt said.
Reported cases of rape have been rising in the Irrawaddy Region year by year, and there is a need for wider awareness campaign in the region, suggested Padonma, a Pathein-based civil society for child rights protection.
"There is a need to educate girls and young women about sexual issues to reduce the incidence of rape. And rapists commit offences recklessly because they don't know about the punishments. That's why the number of rape cases has increased. So, there is a need to conduct public education campaigns on a wider scale," said U Myint Htay, the head of Padonma.
The number of child rape cases increased from 101 in 2016 to 156 last year in the Irrawaddy Region, with most of the cases being reported in rural areas, according to regional police statistics.
CHIANG MAI, Thailand – "I have been running from war since I was an infant, and it's not over yet," said Saw Nyar Kee Htoo, 53, a leader at the community-based Luthaw Paw Day Karen Indigenous Centre, in Luthaw Township, in Karen State's Papun district.
Saw Nyar Kee Htoo was a good friend of Saw O Moo, who was shot dead by Tatmadaw troops on April 5 on suspicion of being a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier. The two worked together on community development and awareness-raising activities among indigenous Karen, particularly relating to the conservation of cultural traditions, community forest protection, building seed banks and food security, and vocational training.
As a community leader, Saw Nyar Kee Htoo dedicates most of his time to helping out displaced villagers. His village, Bana Eh Beh Kho, is one of five village tracts in Ler Mu Plaw, an area that has been affected by the recent resumption of fighting between the KNLA and the Myanmar Military (or Tatmadaw).
"We were recording the number of people who had fled from their villages, and providing food and assistance to them," he said, recalling that the day Saw O Moo (aka Saw Klo Par) was killed.
"He returned home at around 2 pm. At around 5 pm we heard gunshots, but we didn't know immediately that it was the sound of the shots that took his life. Later there was a notice from the soldiers telling us to come and see them."
In Ler Mu Plaw, before entering an area military officials communicate with villagers by posting a notice at the entrance or somewhere nearby stating what they want, Saw Nyar Kee Htoo said. These notices do not include a letterhead or author's name, but simply identify the unit commander at the end. While military personnel in the region regard it as a normal form of communication, the practice is taken as a sign of disrespect by villagers.
Due to the war and instability in the region, Saw Nyar Kee Htoo never had chance to receive formal schooling, but that did not prevent him from becoming a leader at the community center. He started collaborating with the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network in 2007 and launched the Luthaw Paw Day Center in 2012.
The villagers of Luthaw Township were only able to resettle in the areas in 2012, after the Karen National Union (KNU/KNLA) agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with the Myanmar military. Saw Nyar Kee Htoo said that at that time there was hope for genuine peace in the region.
Continuously subjected to persecution
Since his childhood, Saw Nyar Kee Htoo's life "has been all about fleeing.” Recalling the 1990s, when the Tatmadaw employed a "four cuts" policy to suppress ethnic rebels, he said, “Our homes and our barns were torched and our cows and buffalos killed."
Under the military junta, Luthaw Township in Papun district was subjected to further persecution. Locals believe this was partly because the area is the birthplace of General Bo Mya, the legendary leader of the Karen revolutionary struggle.
"There is no peace for us; there are now more military troops. There is no guarantee of our safety and the villagers are afraid due to the heavy presence of the Bamar troops," he said, referring to the Tatmadaw. They never go back. We want them to go back," he said.
Since March, militarization in the area has intensified due to the Tatmadaw's rebuilding of an old road connecting Kay Pu and Ler Mu Plaw in Luthaw Township. The increased military presence has left the villagers in fear, Saw Nya Kee Htoo said, adding that whenever word spreads that Tatmadaw troops are coming, people flee their homes. Their instinct for survival has taught them to stay safe by hiding, especially women, who fear rape and torture at the hands of soldiers, he added.
"We don't want the Tatmadaw to build this road; we don't need it and if we did, we could build it on our own," Saw Nyar Kee Htoo said, adding that the Myanmar Military troops should respect the principles established in the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.
Advocacy groups such as the Karen Peace Support Network do what they can to raise awareness of the IDPs' suffering, but these have been disrupted by the Myanmar military. Last month, Thailand's military government blocked the launch in Chiang Mai of a report on the humanitarian crisis in Karen State.
For more than two months now, Saw Nyar Kee Htoo's family and others have taken shelter in the forest near Luthaw Township's Ler Mu Plaw area. They are living on rice saved from last year. This year, he said, they have not bee able to harvest their crops, raising concerns over their future livelihoods.
DHAKA — The UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict met with Bangladeshi rights officials in Dhaka on Wednesday to discuss ways of documenting the horrific abuses experienced by Rohingya now living in Cox's Bazar as they fled violence in Myanmar.
Pramila Patten held an hour-long closed-door meeting with Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque.
After the meeting, Kazi Reazul said Patten's office "wants to sign a deal with Bangladesh and they have shown us the draft on how UN agencies and Bangladesh NHRC and others can be engaged to document the right abuses the survivors experienced in Myanmar."
"They will also consult with the Foreign Ministry [of Bangladesh]," Kazi Reazul said. "They want to conduct documentation, not investigation."
He said that "as the Myanmar authorities denied the genocide in their land, we want to expose those cases so that those who have still [support Myanmar's view] will be made to understand."
Kazi Reazul said the two officials had also discussed the role of China in the repatriation process. "The UN official believes the repatriation process is complicated, [as] the role of China is significant," he said.
Myanmar has recently strengthened its relations with China and Russia, the NHRC chief said.
"We also believe that unless China is convinced, it is difficult to deal with the Rohingya issue at the UN," he said, adding that, "We have to convince China, as Bangladesh cannot put pressure on it."
"China is our friend. We have to prove it," the rights agency chairman said, adding that, "[Patten] in her last visit had described the facts regarding what kind of atrocities had taken place. But no action can be taken due to China."
Asked whether her office would seek to investigate the abuses, Patten replied in negative, saying, "We do not have a mandate to carry out an investigation."
The UN official, who has a rank within the organization equivalent to an undersecretary general, said she had visited Rohingya in Cox's Bazar. Her report based on meetings with Rohingya survivors was submitted to the United Nations Security Council team that visited Bangladesh and Myanmar recently.
She said her aim was to engage the Bangladesh government and to discuss recent developments in the light of Dhaka's agreements with Myanmar and the UN refugee agency.
With a large UN team, Patten visited Bangladesh between Nov. 5 and 13, 2017, touring several camps and settlements, namely Kutupalong, Unchiprang, Leda, and the Konapara border area. She helped to deploy an interagency technical team comprising representatives of IOM, UNICEF and UNFPA to carry out an initial assessment of the situation.
Over the course of three days, according to her report to the UNSC on Dec. 12, 2017, she heard "the most heartbreaking and horrific accounts of sexual atrocities reportedly committed in cold blood out of a lethal hatred for the Rohingya community based on their ethnicity and religion."
"The accounts were consistent and corroborated by international medical staff and other service providers operating in the area," her earlier statement reads.
On April 30, a UN Security Council delegation visiting Bangladesh conceded that progress toward solving the Rohingya refugee crisis had been slow but denied that there was any resistance from China or Russia.
Nearly 700,000 people have fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine State since late August, when militant attacks on security posts there set off a sweeping military clearance operation that the UN and US have described as ethnic cleansing.
The Myanmar military insists the Rohingya do not constitute a distinct ethnic group and calls them "Bengali", implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
The UN team referred to the Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh simply as "refugees."
The Dhaka-based daily New Age meanwhile reported on May 8 that the International Criminal Court in The Hague has requested Bangladesh provide it with observations and evidence for use in deciding whether the court had jurisdiction to investigate Myanmar's "expulsion" of Rohingyas from the country.
The court passed the order as Fatou Bensouda, the ICC's chief prosecutor, on Wednesday sought a ruling from the court on the question of whether the court may exercise "territorial jurisdiction" to open a probe into the alleged expulsion of Rohingya who have been "intentionally deported across the international border into Bangladesh" from Myanmar.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told New Age on Tuesday, "We have received the request of the ICC," adding, "Let's see what we can do."
YANGON — A Myanmar policeman now serving a prison sentence gave more details to a court on Wednesday about how he says two Reuters reporters were framed by police and said his imprisonment was a warning to other police officers who strive for truth and justice.
Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, 47, who since his original testimony on April 20 has been sentenced to a year in jail for violating police discipline, gave a blow-by-blow account of how he says a police chief ordered subordinates to give “secret” documents to Reuters reporter Ko Wa Lone in a sting operation.
"I want to say my imprisonment shows that the police force has directives and instructions above the law. It could scare off other police members who want to reveal the truth," he told reporters after Wednesday’s court hearing in Yangon.
He told the judge that the documents were easily accessible to officers in the No. 8 Police Security Battalion's received letters file or on its computer and not “secret,” as the prosecution has claimed. Capt. Moe Yan Naing served in the battalion until his arrest.
“I gave the testimony as I know and as I saw,” the police captain told reporters after the hearing. He said he did not regret giving his testimony.
Lead prosecutor U Kyaw Min Aung did not respond to a request for comment after the hearing.
Myanmar government spokesman U Zaw Htay said: “It will be carried out according to the law. The court is free, impartial, independent and reliable. We guarantee that the defendants will have their own rights, which means choosing their own lawyers, etc.”
The court has been holding hearings since January to decide whether Ko Wa Lone 32, and his Reuters colleague Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, will be charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
At the time of their arrest in December, the reporters had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The killings took place during an army crackdown that United Nations agencies say sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.
Document trap
In an account that closely followed his original testimony, but went into greater detail, Capt. Moe Yan Naing said that on Dec. 12 — hours before the reporters were arrested — he was among six officers who had previously been contacted by Ko Wa Lone who were interrogated by the Police Special Branch.
The internal investigation was led Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko, according to Capt. Moe Yan Naing.
When Brig. Gen. Tin Ko Ko found out that one of the six, Lance Corporal Naing Lin, had been in contact with Ko Wa Lone but had not met him in person, he ordered Lance Cpl. Naing Lin to use his phone to arrange a meeting with Ko Wa Lone that evening.
“I know that Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko instructed Police Lance Corporal Naing Lin to give Wa Lone documents related to our frontline activities in order to have him arrested,” Capt. Moe Yan Naing told Judge Ye Lwin, who was overseeing the proceedings.
Capt. Moe Yan Naing said Brig. Gen. Tin Ko Ko told the policemen involved that if they did not “get Wa Lone” they would be detained.
Reuters has been unable to contact Brig. Gen. Tin Ko Ko or Lance Cpl. Naing Lin for comment. A police spokesman said after Capt. Moe Yan Naing’s previous testimony that the brigadier general “has no reason to do such a thing.”
Family evicted
Prosecutors had originally called Capt. Moe Yan Naing as a witness, but asked the court to declare him unreliable after his testimony appeared to undermine their case. The judge rejected that application last week.
Capt. Moe Yan Naing was brought to court in shackles and wearing a dark blue prison uniform, in contrast to his first appearance last month when he had worn his police captain’s uniform and was not handcuffed.
He said he had been convicted and sentenced in his absence and still did not know which court had handed down the punishment.
Capt. Moe Yan Naing has said he spoke to Ko Wa Lone in late November about police operations in Rakhine. He said Ko Wa Lone introduced himself as a reporter and interviewed Capt. Moe Yan Naing at a teashop inside the headquarters of the 8th Police Security Battalion.
Capt. Moe Yan Naing’s 42-year-old wife, Daw Tu Tu, listened to Wednesday’s proceedings from the side of the courtroom. Together with their three children, she was evicted from police housing in the capital, Naypyitaw, the day after Capt. Moe Yan Naing’s first testimony. The family has since moved in with Capt. Moe Yan Naing’s father in his native town of Khin U, in central Myanmar.
Police have said the eviction was unrelated to the reporters’ case and that the family had been overdue to move out of the apartment.
Ko Wa Lone told journalists after the hearing that Capt. Moe Yan Naing “bravely proved that in our society there are people who adore the truth and justice.”
YANGON — The manager of English football club Leeds United shrugged off criticism of the team's visit to Myanmar on Wednesday, saying the club was in the country only "for football".
The team flew to Myanmar this week for a pre-season tour despite a military crackdown that Britain, the U.S. and others have denounced as ethnic cleansing of the minority Rohingya in the country's northwest.
"We are just here for football," said manager Paul Heckingbottom after his side lost a 2-1 friendly to Myanmar's National League all-stars at Yangon football stadium.
Rosena Allin-Khan, spokeswoman for sport for Britain's opposition Labour Party, said on Twitter that she had written to Leeds urging the club to cancel the planned tour.
Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts in Myanmar's Rakhine State in August sparked a military crackdown that, according to the United Nations and rights groups, sent nearly 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to camps in Bangladesh.
The UN said the military action amounted to ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies the accusation, saying it was engaged in legitimate counterinsurgency operations.
Leeds said last month it was visiting Myanmar to support the country's goals for grass-roots and elite football development.
Aside from friendly matches, the team said it will conduct football clinics with Myanmar Football Federation academies in Yangon and Mandalay and visit cultural sites.
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad has never lost an election campaign. He maintained that record and created another one on Thursday when, at 92, he was set to be sworn in as the world's oldest elected leader.
"Yes, yes, I am still alive," a sprightly looking Mahathir said at a 3 a.m. news conference in which he claimed victory over the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that has ruled the nation since independence six decades ago.
Mahathir led the coalition as Malaysia's prime minister for 22 years, starting in 1981. As one of the country's most eminent leaders, he was pugnacious, uncompromising and intolerant of dissent, but turned Malaysia from a sleepy backwater into one of the world's modern industrialized nations.
In his crusade, Mahathir eventually quit the ruling United Malay National Organization (UMNO), which he had helped build, and ceded all his government advisory roles.
"During his time, I was a strong opponent of Mahathir," said Joseph Paul, 70, a retired social worker who joined thousands of people in the capital Kuala Lumpur to celebrate Mahathir's win.
"Well, politics they say is the art of the possible, so if he comes in to get rid of another evil, why not?"
Stunning result
Official results early on Thursday showed that Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) had won 113 of parliament's 222 seats, clinching the simple majority required to rule in the country's most stunning election result. The nonagenarian is scheduled to be sworn in as prime minister later in the day.
In his earlier stint as prime minister, Mahathir's aggressive diplomacy needled countries like Britain and the U.S., with comments such as one, on the eve of his retirement, that Jews ruled the world by proxy.
He was once described as a "menace to his country" by financier George Soros, whom Mahathir famously derided as a "moron" in an attack on foreign currency traders during the Asian financial crisis of 1998.
He also spent years squabbling with his old rival and another towering figure in Asian politics, the late Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew.
Modernization
Mahathir grew up in the rural heartland of Malaysia, then a British colony, witnessing severe food shortages during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
He was a medical doctor before becoming Malaysia's fourth prime minister in 1981 and kicking off a mission of modernization.
Bridges and six-lane highways crisscrossed Malaysia in his development blitz, capped off with a lavish new administrative capital, and the world's tallest structure when it was built, the 88-storey Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur.
The activity helped win Mahathir the title "Father of Modern Malaysia," but he was known for his strong-arm rule, although he fell short of some southeast Asian peers in ruthlessness.
Mahathir used security laws to put his political opponents behind bars. His critics say he restricted free speech and persecuted political opponents — none more so than his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, who remains in jail on charges of sodomy and corruption.
Mahathir has joined hands with Anwar in this campaign and has promised to seek a royal pardon for him. He has vowed to then step aside and let Anwar be prime minister.
Mahathir was masterly in playing to the feelings of the mainly Muslim ethnic Malay majority. His 1970 book, "The Malay Dilemma," argued that ethnic Malays, whom he called the nation's rightful owners, were being eclipsed economically by ethnic Chinese.
Faced with a leadership challenge after just five years in office, Mahathir detained more than 100 opposition politicians, academics and social activists without trial, under internal security laws.
Huge gamble
During the 1998 Asian financial crisis, he took a huge gamble in tackling twin economic and political crises by sacking Anwar and then going against the advice of the International Monetary Fund to impose capital and currency controls that saved the economy.
Anwar took on Mahathir, turning overnight into an opposition politician, bringing tens of thousands of people onto the streets, shouting "Reformasi".
Anwar was later charged with sodomy and corruption, but Mahathir denied orchestrating the charges. After his release, he was jailed again during Najib's rule on the same charges.
Mahathir continued to wield power in UMNO even after he handed over in 2003. He backed Najib, the son of Malaysia's second prime minister, as the premier in 2009.
But in 2015 he urged Najib to step down over the corruption scandal at state fund 1MDB.
In an interview in March, he said he would keep up the battle against Najib even if he lost this election.
"I will be in my late 90s and physically not as strong," he said. "But if I am well enough, I will continue the struggle."
He also seems to have accepted he made mistakes in rule, writing in a blog post in January that people and the media never failed to point out he presided over an authoritarian government for 22 years.
"Looking back now, I realize why, as Prime Minister of Malaysia I was described as a dictator,” Mahathir wrote. "There were many things I did which were typically dictatorial."
PHNOM PENH — As many as 13 foreign journalists resigned from Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Post newspaper this week in protest at what they called editorial interference following its sale to a Malaysian businessman.
The sale of the English-language newspaper, announced over the weekend, came amid increasing concern about a crackdown by long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen against his critics ahead of a general election set for July 29.
Another English-language paper, the Cambodia Daily, shut down last year after the government gave it a month to settle a $6.3 million tax bill. A third English-language paper, the Khmer Times, is owned by another Malaysian and takes a pro-government stance.
The resignations on Monday and Tuesday followed the announcement of the sale of the paper by Australian mining magnate Bill Clough, who has owned it since 2008, to Malaysian investor Sivakumar Ganapathy, whose public relations firm lists Hun Sen as a client.
The resignations of as many as 13 editors and reporters leave no foreign journalists at the paper, which has built a reputation for independent reporting that can be critical of the government on issues such as illegal logging and corruption.
“We did what we felt we had to do to maintain our journalistic integrity,” one of the journalists who resigned, Andrew Nachemson, an American, told Reuters.
“It was a difficult and very personal decision, and I wish all my Cambodian colleagues the best.”
Ganapathy did not immediately respond to telephone calls from Reuters on Wednesday to seek comment.
Representatives of Ganapathy on Monday ordered the removal from the newspaper’s website of an article critical of the sale, several reporters said.
The incident led to the firing of the editor-in-chief, Kay Kimsong, a Cambodian, after he refused to take down the article, Kimsong told Reuters.
In a statement on Monday, Ganapathy said the article, since removed, was a “disgrace and an insult to the independence claim of the newspaper.”
International rights groups and journalism bodies have said they fear the sale of the paper, founded in 1992, could signal the end of independent media in Cambodia ahead of the July vote.
“This is just the latest in a series of attacks which have devastated Cambodia’s media landscape since mid-2017,” a group of more than 70 Cambodian civil society groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“The Phnom Penh Post was Cambodia’s last remaining independent English-Khmer language daily, and its change of ownership raises serious questions about the paper’s continued independence.”
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand said it was “dismayed”.
“Such tactics obviously jeopardize any hope of maintaining a moderately free press in Cambodia, but should also be of grave concern to all investors in the country who may find themselves on the wrong side of officialdom or vested interests with no viable legal recourse,” it said.
Ganapathy is the managing director of Asia Public Relations Consultants Sdn Bhd, based in Malaysia, whose website referred to “Cambodia and Hun Sen’s entry into the government seat” as one of its projects.
When a Reuters journalist visited the firm’s office in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, the door was locked and nobody responded to rings on the doorbell.
Phone calls to a representative for the firm seeking comment went unanswered on Wednesday.
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council urged Myanmar's government on Wednesday to carry out transparent investigations into accusations of violence against mainly Rohingya Muslims in the country's Rakhine State and to allow immediate aid access to the region.
Despite initial resistance by China to the Security Council pressing Myanmar on accountability, the 15-member body reached consensus agreement on the British-drafted statement.
The move follows a visit by council envoys to Bangladesh and Myanmar last week to see firsthand the aftermath of a Myanmar military crackdown that Britain, the United States and others have denounced as ethnic cleansing of the minority Rohingya. Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing.
Fleeing refugees have reported killings, rapes and arson on a large scale. Myanmar has said its operations in Rakhine were a legitimate response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya insurgents.
"The members of the Security Council, in light of the importance of undertaking transparent investigations into allegations of human rights abuses and violations, urge the government of Myanmar to fulfill, based on respect for the rule of law, its stated commitment to holding accountable perpetrators of violence, including sexual violence and abuse and violence against children," the council statement said.
Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts in Rakhine in August last year sparked a military operation that has sent nearly 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Security Council envoys visited those vast camps last week.
The statement said they "were struck by the scale of the humanitarian crisis and remain gravely concerned by the current situation." They also noted the "widespread destruction of villages" in Rakhine.
They also met with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Myanmar’s de facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and traveled to Rakhine State, where the violence erupted.
The council urged Myanmar to conclude an agreement "in the coming days" with the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, and the UN Development Program on aid access in Rakhine and help with repatriating refugees from Bangladesh.
The Security Council also said it intends to discuss how it can work with Bangladesh, Myanmar and the United Nations "to resolve the crisis and create the conditions allowing the safe, voluntary, and dignified repatriation of refugees to their homes in Rakhine State."
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has asked the court to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the deportations of Rohingyas to Bangladesh, a possible crime against humanity.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has expressed “serious concern” over the move at the ICC. Bangladesh is a member of the ICC but Myanmar is not. Human rights groups have called on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution referring the situation in Myanmar to the court.
With Myanmar's wedding season almost here, Sule Shangri-La Yangon will hold the "Iconic Inspirations" wedding and lifestyle fair at its ballroom on May 26 and 27.
What sets this fair apart is that it will showcase the best of the best from the local wedding industry alongside outstanding designers from the ASEAN region, including the ASEAN Fashion Designers Showcase (AFDS) group.
"We are collaborating in order to exchange cultures and design techniques among different countries," said designer Ma Myint Zu, who serves as an ambassador for AFDS.
She added, "This wedding show is the first collaboration with talented ASEAN designers in Myanmar. People will get to see our diverse creations."
The wedding fair will showcase dresses by 13 fashion designers including four local artists: Mogok Pouk Pouk, Ma Myint Zu, Latt Latt and Charlotte Barjou, a French designer based in Myanmar.
"Iconic Inspirations" will bring together modern and traditional Burmese wedding dresses. A high tea and opening show will be held at 2 p.m. on the first day of this celebration of love featuring Ma Myint Zu, Latt Latt and Charlotte Borjou.
In the evening, Mogok Pauk Pauk will close the day with a gala cocktail show at 6 p.m. with the special participation of Laotian designer Lasavong Bandid, a member of AFDS.
The second day will be a celebration of the best dresses of ASEAN, with the members of the Fashion Designers Showcase bringing to Yangon examples of their wedding culture and evening couture in two fashion shows.
Ma Myint Za said, "Both traditional and evening wedding dresses can be seen in my collection for this show, for which I have used palm colors. As you know, dark colors are not typically used for weddings. So I will go with a simple and traditional, classic look."
On the first day, she said, models will display 10 of her traditional Myanmar wedding dresses and evening gowns.
"Even though the wedding cultures [in ASEAN countries] are different, we can still share them. Plus, here in Yangon, people are putting on weddings with different themes nowadays. So, I hope people who love new things will enjoy these wedding fashions," she said.
The wedding fair is aimed at promoting greater cross-cultural and creative collaborations between designers from Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Throughout the two-day event, the hotel will showcase distinct wedding experiences. The hotel's wedding-planning experts will be on hand to meet couples interested in Sule Shangri-La Yangon's signature wedding packages and cakes, and exclusive honeymoon offers.
Couples who confirm wedding dates at the event will receive a 10-percent discount.
NAYPYITAW — Chinese State Councilor and Public Security Minister Zhao Kezhi met separately with President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at the presidential residence in Naypyitaw on Wednesday.
The Chinese minister was accompanied by Myanmar’s ambassador to China, Hong Liang, China’s deputy public security minister, the head of the Yunnan Province Security Department and other Chinese officials.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Kyaw Swe, International Cooperation Minister U Kyaw Tin, President's Office Deputy Minister U Min Thu and directors-general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry were also present at the meetings.
The discussions focused on promoting bilateral cooperation and China's assistance to Myanmar in the peace process, rule of law, and security matters.
A court in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, on Wednesday fined two ethnic Kachin youth leaders for organizing a protest to demand that authorities assist IDPs trapped by armed clashes in the state.
The two were charged with violating Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, local sources said.
They appeared at a police station in Myitkyina on Wednesday morning to hear charges relating to street protests and a sit-in at the town's Manaw grounds. The two were charged by Police Colonel Than Oo. The officer, who served as prosecutor in the case, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the court later found the two to have violated the law. They confessed to having violated the law by failing to ask for permission to stage the protest, the officer said.
Article 19 violations are punishable by either a three-month prison sentence or a fine of 30,000 kyats, and the judge opted to fine them, he said.
Lum Zawng, a youth leader who was among the two charged, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday evening after emerging from the court that he and his a co-defendants, Sut Seng Htoi had been ordered to pay 30,000 kyats each.
"Police told us we violated the Peaceful Assembly Law. We told them we staged a peaceful protest intended to help IDPs. But we take responsibility for our actions. We accept the court's decision; that's why we went there," Lum Zawng said.
The two led 700 people in a street protest and later organized a daily sit-in protest the Manaw grounds. The protesters demanded the state and Union governments evacuate Kachin IDPs trapped in the jungle by fighting between the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and the Kachin Independence Army.
Lum Zawng said his youth group was not aiming to stir up trouble in Myitkyina. His group held a peaceful protest asking the government to rescue the IDPs, he said.
"We did what we believed we had to do," he said.
The Kachin youth protesters ended their sit-in under pressure from local authorities, but succeeded in getting the state and Union governments to negotiate the evacuation of a limited number of Kachin IDPs.
Many remain trapped in the jungle, however. The Kachin youth protesters have said they plan to adopt new protest tactics to keep the pressure on the government to help the IDPs.
Recently, two activists in Mandalay and four in Yangon were also charged under Article 19 after staging peaceful protests.
According to the UN, more than 10,000 people have fled their homes since the Tatmadaw launched a major military offensive on April 11. Of these, some 6,500 have reached Myitkyina and Tanai townships. Rights groups, the UN and other overseas organizations have issued statements of concern about human rights violations in Kachin, and reports continue to emerge of new IDPs having been forced to flee.
Fighting between the Tatmadaw and the KIA has eased in recent days, but the Myanmar Army continues to deploy fresh troops to areas formerly controlled by the KIA's Brigade 2 in Tanai Township.
Local sources from Tanai and the KIA said 50 Tatmadaw trucks had driven from Myitkyina to Tanai, leading KIA leaders there to believe the Myanmar Army planned to continue its offensive and that fighting in Kachin would resume soon.
Seven years after a ceasefire agreement broke down in the region, the number of IDPs in Kachin is estimated at 150,000. Of the state's 15 townships, 10 host IDP camps.
YANGON — Lawmakers from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party urged the Yangon regional government to stick to rules and regulations when carrying out development projects.
Six lawmakers discussed on Monday the government's proposal on urban development projects funded by local and international investment in Yangon from 2018-21, including transportation infrastructure, housing and economic development projects totaling more than 1.3 trillion kyats.
The proposal also includes a new city project on 2,400 acres of land on the west bank of the Yangon River. The timeframe for that project – which is slated as a pilot for the New Yangon City project – is 2018-26 and the costs are still being calculated.
The lawmakers complained that they had little or no idea about the projects and criticized the government's lack of transparency.
During the discussion, lawmaker U Kyaw Zayya said he wanted the Yangon government to work according to the law.
Article 33 of the State and Region Government Law says "the government shall carry out state or regional level projects with the approval of the (state or regional) parliament."
"We are not against the projects. But we want the government to implement them properly. We want the government we elected to work according to the law," he said.
Lawmakers U Kyaw Min Han and U Zaw Win Naing said most of the projects in the proposal lacked detailed implementation plans and requested revisions in the details.
Lawmaker U Thein Myint said Yangon now faces problems like traffic congestion, security and rule of law, and asked whether the government was leaving this Yangon as it is now in order to build a new one.
On Monday, another six lawmakers will join the discussion on the proposal.
NAYPYITAW — Myanmar will repatriate more than 1,000 Muslim refugees who have fled northern Rakhine State for Bangladesh, Union Immigration and Population Minister U Thein Swe said on Monday.
Bangladesh gave Myanmar a list of just over 8,000 refugees willing to return to Rakhine in February. Myanmar has since verified more than 1,000 of them as former residents and provided their names to Bangladesh; it is still reviewing the rest of the list.
"We have so far verified about 1,100 refugees on the list," U Thein Swe said in Naypyitaw at the launch of a video on migration in Myanmar.
According to the UN, nearly 700,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims have fled northern Rakhine for Bangladesh since late August, when militant attacks on security posts there triggered a sweeping military clearance operation. Myanmar has denied the figure and said it would only accept refugees who have lived in Myanmar and volunteer to return.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation agreement in January, but none of the refugees has returned to Myanmar to date, U Thein Swe said.
Myanmar's political parties have begun preparing to contest a by-election slated for early November.
The Union Election Commission (UEC) announced Tuesday evening that it would hold the second by-election of the National League for Democracy-led government's term on Nov. 3.
The election will fill 13 seats in the Union, state and regional parliaments currently vacant due to deaths and one resignation, according to UEC spokesperson U Myint Naing. These comprise four Lower House seats, one Upper House seat, seven seats in state and regional parliaments and the Shan ethnic affairs minister's seat in Mandalay Region.
In April last year a by-election was held to fill 19 vacant seats. The NLD won a majority of these, followed by the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and the opposition Union Solidary and Development Party (USDP).
The vacant Lower House constituencies are in Kanpetlet of Chin State, Lechar of southern Shan State, Tamwe of Yangon Region and Myingyan of Mandalay Region.
The Upper House seat is for the No. 2 constituency in Myitkyina, Kachin State.
The vacant seats in state and regional parliaments are in Matupi 1 of Chin State, Rathedaung 2 of Rakhine State, Tamu 2 of Sagaing Region, Oktwin 1 of Bago Region, Thabeikkyin 1 of Mandalay Region, Minbu 2 of Magwe Region, and Seikkan of Yangon Region.
U Myint Naing told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday the UEC has been checking the voter lists in every vacant constituency since April 19 and had found "no difficulties" in constituencies in the conflict-ridden states of Shan and Rakhine.
Updated voter lists are expected to be published later this month, as the task began on April 19 and was scheduled to take five weeks, ending on May 23-24.
U Myint Naing said the UEC had informed the political parties of the date for the by-election and would announce the deadline for registering candidates in accordance with electoral procedures.
U Myo Nyunt, a spokesman for the ruling NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that "the NLD would field candidates for all vacant seats as per its policy."
"We have decided to contest every election, and we will accept the public's choice. We are also prepared to make necessary changes based on the will of the public as expressed through the elections," he said.
The NLD's main rival is the opposition USDP, though in the minority ethnic states it is vying with the ethnic political parties based in those areas, the NLD spokesman added.
The SNLD will contest two seats: the Lower House seat in Lechar and the Shan ethnic affairs minister's seat in Mandalay Region.
SNLD leaders told The Irrawaddy they are preparing to contest both seats and party members have already chosen a candidate for the Lechar constituency in Shan State.
"We don't think we will face much of a challenge in Shan State, as we, the SNLD, won [the 2015 general election and April 2017 by-election] there, said Sai Leik, the SNLD spokesperson. "It is important that every party can contest freely and fairly in accordance with the current election laws and bylaws."
He urged the government, political parties and civil society groups to engage in more public awareness activities to build interest in the elections.
The Arakan National Party plans to contest the vacant seat in Rakhine State.
There are more than 100 political parties registered with the UEC, with the major ones being the NLD, USDP and SNLD.
Observers believe that if the newly formed Four Eights People's Party, which has yet to formally register with the UEC, has its registration approved soon, it could become a rival to the existing Burman-majority parties.
YANGON — A Korea-based company has inquired the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture about building a 100-meter sunset viewing tower in Bagan.
Sky Dream Co Ltd of Korea has proposed building a viewing tower south of the hotel zone in Bagan, according to sources at the Department of Archaeology and National Museum.
The company also proposed building a recreational park along with the tower. U Aung Aung Kyaw, the director of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (Bagan branch), denied that the department had given the go-ahead.
"The company only asked our opinion about the project," he said. He would not comment on the background or ownership of the company.
The department suggested conducting a heritage impact assessment for the viewing tower.
"I am not at ease with this proposal. I also heard that a theme park would be built. Theme parks like Disneyland and Universal Studios do not fit with Bagan. Generally speaking, a viewing tower does not even belong here," said Daw Ohmar Myo, in-charge of the UNESCO World Heritage bid for Bagan.
Though the company said that the proposed viewing site is outside the Bagan Archaeological Zone, it is relatively close and will negatively impact the plan to build a greater heritage region," said Daw Ohmar Myo, discussing a regional heritage plan and the effect of a tall viewing tower on the cultural landscape.
The tower will be reportedly modeled after the Menara Taming Sari, a 110-meter viewing tower near old Malacca, a UNESCO World Heritage city in Malaysia, which attracts many visitors.
Previously, five temples were open to visitors to view the sunset in Bagan, but after hundreds of pagodas were damaged by a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake in August last year, authorities have banned climbing on all pagodas in consideration of their durability.
Bagan has stupas, temples and other Buddhist religious buildings constructed from the 9th to 11th centuries—a period in which 55 Buddhist kings ruled the Pagan Dynasty. There are more than 3,000 stupas and temples in the area that covers 16 square miles.
Myanmar's initial application for UNESCO recognition of Bagan as a World Heritage Site came in 1996, but it was rejected due to poor management plans and legal frameworks under previous governments.
However, UNESCO has accepted Bagan as a mixed cultural heritage zone, which means that there is no need to relocate villages, hotels or guesthouses in the area.
Bagan's nomination will be brought up for deliberation at UNESCO's 2019 World Heritage Site convention, according to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture.
YANGON — Amending the military-drafted 2008 Constitution was one of the National League for Democracy (NLD)'s main campaign promises in the run-up to the 2015 election that brought it to power in March 2016.
Constitutional reform has proven to be easier said than done for the NLD; the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) sees safeguarding the 2008 charter — which was drafted by the former junta and guarantees the Tatmadaw an important leadership role — as one of its main duties.
Constitutionally, 25 percent of seats in the national and all regional parliaments are reserved for the military. Additionally, the charter awards three key ministerial portfolios — Defense, Home and Border Affairs — to the Tatmadaw, which also gets to appoint a vice president.
Beyond this, the undemocratic Constitution gives the military veto power over proposed constitutional amendments and bars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation's de facto leader, from the presidency.
Ten years after the Constitution come into effect and two years into the term of the NLD-led government, The Irrawaddy talked to NLD spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt about the progress of constitutional reform.
It has been 10 years since the Constitution was ratified. How much progress has been made in terms of amending it since the NLD took power two years ago?
There are concerns that our government has done nothing to change the Constitution. In fact, all the things we are doing — from mobilizing [public] support, reconciling with the Tatmadaw, fostering the public's trust, improving their daily lives — are about constitutional amendment. It is utterly impossible to amend the 2008 Constitution without those foundations. We are waiting for the right time, while working toward national reconciliation and building substantial support among the people. In politics, you can't just make demands all the time; you have to wait for the right time.
NLD spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt. / The Irrawaddy
What are the major hurdles in this process?
People who have some knowledge [of the political landscape in Myanmar] understand what our chances of success would be if we attempted to change the Constitution now. Under current circumstances, we are not running off at the mouth about constitutional change. But we have never abandoned our mission to reform the Constitution. We will never step back. I mean, we have been consistently doing things that would facilitate constitutional amendment.
State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has prioritized the peace process since the NLD took office. Earlier, however, she talked a lot about amending the Constitution. Has she issued any instructions regarding constitutional reform?
When the time is right, we will publicly discuss constitutional amendment. But for now we are not, as we don't think it is the right time and doubt it would be successful. There has been no separate instruction regarding the Constitution recently. But we [the NLD] maintain it as a key policy.
You said the NLD has consistently worked toward laying the groundwork for constitutional amendment. Reconciliation with the military is part of this process. What else are you doing?
The peace process, on which we are working, is also important for constitutional change. To the extent that the peace process is successful, constitutional reform will be speedily achieved.
It is generally assumed that constitutional change would be unsuccessful if attempted now. How do you plan to move beyond this state of affairs?
The most important thing is [to secure] the overwhelming support of the people. In fact, the Tatmadaw [the Myanmar military] was also born of the people. Constitutional change will be successful on the day when all the respective civil services born of the people decide that the Constitution must be changed.
Before the 2015 general election, the NLD campaigned on a vow to amend the Constitution. Many hoped to see it materialize. What is your message to these people?
The public has very high expectations of us; we know that. We are doing things in a consistent way. I would like to say that we never abandon our election pledges.
Many believe the constitutional crisis remains a major barrier to the country's democratic transition. What do you think?
Yes, it does. Without changing the Constitution, we can't build a genuinely democratic country. Without real democracy, we can't adopt a federal system.
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — With her 16-day-old son lying asleep in her lap, tears streamed down the face of a 20-year-old Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh as she accused Myanmar troops of covering her eyes and mouth and raping her, before making her watch as they killed her husband.
“I don’t know if this baby is from my husband or the rape,” said the woman, speaking through a translator, during a visit by UN Security Council envoys to camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh sheltering nearly a million refugees.
Ahead of the council visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar last week, senior UN officials warned the envoys about the prospect of a flood of babies being born in the coming weeks and months in the refugee camps that could be the result of rape.
In a joint statement, UN Envoy for Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten and UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour wrote “reports suggest Rohingya women and girls were raped on a systematic and possibly massive scale.”
“Many of the women and girls raped in 2017 are due to give birth in the next few weeks, during the monsoon season, and we are concerned that many will not be able to access medical care to give birth safely,” they wrote.
Nearly 700,000 mainly Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh in the past eight months following a Myanmar military crackdown that the UN, United States and Britain have denounced as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing.
In March the UN launched an appeal for $951 million to help the Rohingya refugees for the rest of the year, but the world body said at the end of April it was only 9 percent funded.
The UN and aid groups working in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar said it was difficult to know exactly how many women and girls were pregnant. It was even more difficult to know how many of the pregnancies were the result of rape.
“With the help of the UN bodies and other international and national [aid groups], we are trying to identify the pregnant women so that they get proper treatment,” said a senior Bangladesh Health Ministry official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
He said that so far 18,300 pregnant women had been identified and the rough total estimate was around 25,000.
Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August sparked a military operation that Myanmar described as a legitimate response. Fleeing refugees have reported killings, rapes and arson on a large scale.
“Based on UN reports and testimonies from Rohingya women who told our staff of rape and sexual violence in Myanmar, we do sadly expect the number of babies born as a result of unwarranted pregnancies to increase in the coming months,” said Daphnee Cook, Save the Children’s spokeswoman in Cox’s Bazar.
Myanmar Military Blacklisted
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently blacklisted the Myanmar armed forces in his annual report on conflict-related sexual violence. The military must now decide whether to work with Patten on a plan that would lead to their removal from the blacklist.
During a two-hour meeting with Security Council envoys last week in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing vowed “harsh action” over sexual violence. According to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, he said: “Sexual violence [is] considered as despicable acts.”
In November, Myanmar’s military released a report denying all accusations of rape by security forces.
“Some have miscarried; some have turned to traditional medicine and other methods to end their pregnancies, using unsafe methods. A number of women and girls have chosen to access MSF facilities for medical care, as well as menstrual regulation, in Bangladesh,” she said.
Abortion is illegal in Bangladesh but menstrual regulation to terminate a pregnancy is permissible. How also added that the majority of women in the camps who give birth do so outside health facilities.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the voluntary repatriation of the refugees within two years but the deal poses a challenge for women who give birth to children born from cases of rape.
UN envoy Patten, who will visit Cox’s Bazar this month, said complying with a requirement in the deal for women to go to the Bangladesh Supreme Court to obtain a document noting that a child had been “born out of unwarranted incidence,” a reference to cases of rape resulting in pregnancy, may be too difficult for poor, illiterate women.
MANDALAY — Two men who participated in protests in Mandalay calling for the government to immediately rescue villagers in Kachin State who have been trapped due to violence between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) were arrested on Tuesday.
Ko Aung Hmine San and Ko Soe Moe were listed in a lawsuit filed by police against protesters under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law.
The two protesters were at a teashop in Mandalay when police showed up to arrest them. They requested that they be allowed to return home to collect some personal belongings.
Ko Aung Hmine San's wife Ma Lei Lei New said her husband did return home. Police then arrested him under Article 19 and took him to the No. 8 police station.
Article 19 is a bailable offense, however, the two men refused to leave on bail and instead decided to face trial and remain in detention.
The two protesters appeared in court on Wednesday, where the police received the court's permission to detain them and send them to Obo Prison.
Demonstrations urging authorities to rescue trapped locals in Kachin State and calling for an end to the clashes have risen in the past week, primarily in Yangon and Mandalay, following an initial protest camp in Myitkyina, Kachin State. Thousands of locals have been displaced by recent fighting between the Myanmar Army and the KIA.
On Tuesday, protesters held a candlelight vigil at the southern side of the old palace wall in Mandalay to show solidarity with the Kachin people.
"We are doing this for the people suffering due to armed conflicts. We do this for peace. We have to ask why the authorities oppress us in this way. Don't they want peace?" asked Ko Than Htike, who participated in the vigil.
"We were saddened by the actions of the authorities. We want the immediate release of the arrested protesters and we will continue protesting until the trapped villagers of Kachin State are safe," he added.
UNITED NATIONS — China does not want the UN Security Council to tell Myanmar that credible, transparent investigations into accusations of violence against mainly Rohingya Muslims are important, according to proposed amendments to a British-drafted statement.
The 15-member Security Council is trying to negotiate a press statement following a visit by UN envoys to Bangladesh and Myanmar last week to see firsthand the aftermath of a Myanmar military crackdown that Britain, the United States and others have denounced as ethnic cleansing of the minority Rohingya.
Britain wanted the council to state “the importance of undertaking credible and transparent investigations into allegations of human rights abuses and violations” and “continue to support efforts to ensure justice and accountability.”
Its draft statement would also “urge the government of Myanmar to fulfill urgently its stated commitment to holding accountable perpetrators of violence, including sexual violence and abuse and violence against children.”
However, Myanmar ally China deleted those references in amendments it has proposed to that statement, which must be agreed by consensus. China also proposed welcoming “the efforts taken by the government of Myanmar to improve the situation in Rakhine” State.
Diplomats said negotiations were continuing.
Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts in Rakhine in August sparked a military operation that has sent nearly 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Security Council envoys visited those vast camps last week.
They also met with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Myanmar’s de facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and traveled to Rakhine State, where the violence erupted. Myanmar denies the accusations of ethnic cleansing.
Fleeing refugees have reported killings, rapes and arson on a large scale. Myanmar has said its operations in Rakhine were a legitimate response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya insurgents.
Myanmar military chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing told Security Council envoys, during a two-hour meeting in Naypyitaw, the country’s capital, last week, that less than 2,000 troops were involved in the military operation, according to diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has asked the court to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the deportations of Rohingyas to Bangladesh, a possible crime against humanity.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has expressed “serious concern” over the move at the ICC. Bangladesh is a member of the ICC but Myanmar is not. Rights groups have called on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution referring the situation in Myanmar to the court.
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysians began voting on Wednesday in what is likely to be the country’s closest-fought general election, with Prime Minister Najib Razak’s coalition pitted against a resurgent opposition steered by 92-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad.
Najib’s long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is expected to win despite an election-eve opinion poll suggesting that its support was slipping and that Mahathir’s alliance would land more votes in peninsular Malaysia, home to 80 percent of the population.
Under Malaysia’s first-past-the-post system, the party or alliance with the majority of seats in the 222-member parliament wins. Most experts believe that is within Najib’s reach despite popular anger over a multi-billion-dollar graft scandal that has dogged him since 2015 and increased costs of living.
“I think right now, it looks more favorable to BN, as they are able to pull in most of east Malaysia,” said Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman, a Malaysia scholar at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “However, the margin that we’re talking about is very small.”
Polling stations for the 14.9 million registered voters opened at 8:00 a.m. and will close at 5:00 p.m. Most results are expected to come in before midnight but the count may spill into the early hours of Thursday.
“This is a big day for Malaysia as this is when we decide our future,” said Dr. Hasri Samion, a 57-year-old cardiologist.
“I think the people have been complacent for too long. We need someone who is capable of running this country. We need a visionary to lead Malaysia.”
The survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center showed BN’s estimated share of the popular vote had slipped to 37.3 percent in peninsular Malaysia from 40.3 percent one week earlier. The share of Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) was at 43.4 percent, but it had also slipped slightly.
Merdeka said BN looked set to win 100 constituencies nationwide and the opposition 83. With these numbers, neither camp would have the 112 seats required to rule and the result will hinge on 37 seats that the pollster said were too close to call.
At the last election in 2013, BN lost the majority vote in its worst performance ever, but pulled in 133 seats.
Unless he improves on that tally, Najib could come under pressure within his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party to stand aside ahead of the next election, analysts say.
“I am loyal to BN and to UMNO,” said Sri Nuraini, a housewife casting her vote in central Kuala Lumpur. “They helped build this country to what it is now. I respect Mahathir … and I admire what he’s doing. But he’s old. Why do we want to change government when they have done so much for us?”
Najib made a last-ditch appeal for votes on Tuesday night aimed at the young and the country’s Malay Muslim majority.
The prime minister said people aged 26 and below would no longer pay income tax if BN won. He also pledged to add two public holidays when the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starts next week and said toll roads would be free for five days around the start of the Eid festival, which marks the end of the month.
Speaking at the same time, Mahathir urged voters not to fall for "bribes."
“Don’t let a bit of money make you pawn the country forever,” he said.
Hung Parliament?
Nawab, the scholar, said there was a small chance that neither BN nor the opposition secures a majority, which would bring a “hung Parliament” and potentially put the Islamic Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) in the position of kingmaker.
However, political analysts believe PAS will fall short of the 21 seats it won in 2013. The Merdeka poll had it winning just two seats.
Mahathir’s opposition, which counts on urban votes and support from the minority ethnic Chinese and Indian communities, is hoping that with the long-ruling former leader as its standard bearer, it will draw in Malay voters traditionally loyal to BN.
However, Mahathir is a polarizing figure and many voters are suspicious of him because of his attacks on independent institutions when he was prime minister between 1981 and 2003.
Najib’s other formidable opponent is former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence on a sodomy conviction that has been attacked by human rights groups as politically motivated.
Anwar led the opposition in the 2008 and 2013 polls. In an unlikely reconciliation, he has joined hands with Mahathir, who sacked him as his deputy in 1998.
In Najib’s favor, ethnic Malays support BN for affirmative-action policies that give them government contracts, cheap housing and guaranteed university admissions.
Also, the economy is growing at around 5 percent, buoyed by robust exports and infrastructure spending.
But Najib, 64, has been buffeted by a scandal over 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund from which billions of dollars were allegedly siphoned off. The prime minister, who was chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board, has denied any wrongdoing and he has been cleared of any offense by the attorney general.
