Thursday, August 23, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Health Ministry Issues New Health Care Guidelines for Prison System

Posted: 23 Aug 2018 05:02 AM PDT

YANGON — The Health and Sports Ministry launched new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for prison health care in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, focusing on giving inmates better access to medical facilities and services in prisons nationwide.

The procedures are outlined in 22 chapters covering the ethics of healthcare professionals and prison workers; managing emergency and outbreak conditions; managing chronic illness, communicable diseases and mental health problems; caring for women and children; and improved handling of the health care system in prisons, according to the ministry.

Myanmar's inmates are highly vulnerable and marginalized, with limited access to disease prevention and treatment. The country has 44 prisons and at least 50 labor camps, most of which are overcrowded. Nearly half of all inmates are serving sentences for drug-related offenses.

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) said last month that overcrowding is the most important factor negatively impacting inmates' health.

Overcrowded living conditions make prisons and labor camps ideal transmission sites for communicable diseases, and infections such as tuberculosis, dysentery, hepatitis and cholera. They also heighten the risk of HIV, Multi Drug Resistant TB (MDRTB) and other infectious diseases.

Inmates do not receive adequate medical care, with many living in poor health and with chronic untreated conditions and mental health problems. Some prisons have no doctors, especially in remote areas, according to the MNHRC.

Union Minister of Health and Sports Dr. Myint Htwe said that under the new SOPs, all inmates will receive equal quality of health care. They also have the right to make their own health decisions and to keep their health records confidential in prison.

Dr. Myint Htwe said that all prison administrators will be required to follow the SOPs, while related ministries and departments will have to work out the details of the procedures.

"It is not just a handbook. All departments will discuss it to facilitate practical implementation," Dr. Myint Htwe said.

According to the ministry, the new SOPs will be distributed to prisons this month. Since last year, the Health and Sports Ministry has consulted prison departments for input into the new SOPs, with collaboration from the Home Affairs Ministry, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, World Health Organization and Three Millennium Development Goal Fund.

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Artist Paints Portraits of Lost Inspiration

Posted: 23 Aug 2018 04:49 AM PDT

YANGON — Born to an editor father and writer mother, Ohn Khaing Zin's childhood was greatly influenced by various artists.

In his youth, he was surrounded by artists who were either friends of his father Ohn Khaing, the editor of a renowned art and literature magazine, or his mother, writer Khin Mya Zin.

As he grew older, many artists he knew passed away one after another. To satisfy his deep longing for them, he has drawn their portraits in emotive colors.

His exhibition showcases the portraits of more than 20 celebrated but late writers, artists, composers and singers, along with his modernist paintings.

"I've mainly painted those who I knew in person. I love their artistry and admire their works. All of them have passed away, and I miss them and feel sad for them," said the 30-year-old artist.

It took a year for him to create the paintings on display at "The Mirror of Dark Mishear and Misled" exhibition at Yangon's Lokanat Galleries. The exhibition will be held through Aug. 28.

One of the paintings on display is a portrait of Inzali Maung Maung, who he depicted against a yellow background of musical notes and curved lines.

Another painting is of musician and peace activist Ko Ye Lwin, who died recently. He portrayed him in red.

"Red represents bravery. But it also represents that he had undergone dark eras. He worked hard for his country but could not finish his work," he said.

The illustrator-turned-artist has participated in more than 90 group art exhibitions and has so far held four solo art exhibitions.

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Chinese City Offers to Fund Ornate Gate in Yangon Chinatown

Posted: 23 Aug 2018 04:27 AM PDT

YANGON — The capital city of China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has offered to pay for a gate decorated with lion statues in Yangon's Chinatown, but locals want something more practical, according to a Yangon official.

After the Nanning City government presented its plan to the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) to help spruce up the neighborhood, the committee consulted with community elders and sent their requests back to Nanning, said YCDC Secretary Daw Hline Maw Oo.

"They said they wanted to know what they could do for the Chinatown here. They came and met the mayor and community elders of Chinatown. After they went back, they sent a letter through the Myanmar consul that they would donate funds to build a gate with two lion statues," she said.

"Our leaders thought that it would be better to get something useful for Chinatown rather than a gate. So we asked for the opinions of community elders in Chinatown and presented their requests to the Nanning government," she added.

The elders asked that apartments on Maha Bandula Road, the face of Chinatown, be renovated, that overhead power and phone lines be tidied up, that corridors, sidewalks and Chinese temples be renovated, that heritage buildings with Chinese architecture be restored, that lamp posts be embellished, and that municipal dustbins be kept in order.

Daw Hline Maw Oo said Nanning authorities have not replied to the requests.

"I don't know how exactly Chinatown will be upgraded, but it would be better if sanitation were improved and alleys were tidied up," said U Aung, a shopkeeper on Lanmadaw Street.

The YCDC hopes that Chinatown can become a tourist attraction in the commercial capital as it is in many foreign countries.

"It is good that China will provide assistance. Recently I was mugged near Chinatown at about 8 p.m. I got back my purse and mobile phone because people in the area chased the mugger. I want security to be improved in Chinatown," said Daw San Myint, who owns a gold shop in the neighborhood.

The Chinese New Year festival was celebrated on a grand scale for the first time in decades in 2017 under the aegis of the Yangon Region government.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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UWSA-led Bloc Donates 400M Kyats to Flood Victims

Posted: 23 Aug 2018 04:06 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The United Wa State Army-led Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) donated more than 400 million kyats to Myanmar flood victims through the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) on Thursday.

This move is considered the first time that ethnic armed organizations have collectively contributed to people affected by natural disaster.

U Nyi Rang, the UWSA spokesman, told The Irrawaddy after donating that "despite different political perspectives, we wanted to lend our support to the victims."

He said that all of the seven member organizations of the FPNCC contributed to the total amount of 436,681,222 kyats (US$288,000).

Peace Commission member and Lower House lawmaker U Aung Soe told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the commission would manage the donations and begin distributing the funds soon.

"It is an act of one ethnic group helping another in this Union," said U Aung Soe, "They wanted to donate to flood victims so we accepted it and will manage the funds."

On Aug. 3, the FPNCC Secretariat issued a letter requesting contributions from its members. It urged them to participate in the flood-relief assistance and "to put aside all disputes and hatred with the federal government and the military [or Tatmadaw] . . . it's time to give play to compatriots love."

In a second statement released on Aug. 16, the FPNCC Standing Committee said the ethnic alliance shared its "condolences to victims" after seeing images of large-scale flooding and the tragic aftermath.

Myanmar faces flooding every year. This year, official figures released at the end of July cite at least 10 deaths and 100,000 affected people.

The FPNCC's statement reads that according to news reports, as of Aug. 3, the flooding in Bago, Tanintharyi, and Yangon regions and Mon, Karen and eastern Shan states had affected some 200,000 people, with more than 16 killed and some 90,000 acres of farmland destroyed.

"As compatriots, we are deeply grieved. We mourn for the dead, bless the survivors and pray for the safety of the people in flood-stricken areas," it reads.

In regards to the donations, the UWSA spokesman did not reveal how or where the donation money came from; only that contributions came from all member organizations of the FPNCC. The ethnic alliance was established in April 2017 and is comprised of the UWSA, Kachin Independence Army, Shan State Progressive Party, Mongla's National Democratic Alliance Army, Arakan Army, Ta'ang Nationalities Liberation Army and Kokang's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.

Some of the FPNCC members have been infamous for extorting money from the local businesses –including current accusations against the TNLA. U Nyi Rang declined to comment on these accusations.

"This [donation] is a gesture to show the public we stand together with them," he said.

U Nyi Rang said it is legal for ethnic armed organizations to collect taxes from residents of areas under their control.

A certificate of honor signed by Dr. Tin Myo Win, the chairman of the Peace Commission, was given for "contributions from ethnic armed organizations led by the Wa special region 2." The certificate did not mention the FPNCC by name.

The government and the military have consistently denied the existence of the bloc. When talks have taken place in the past, negotiators tend to meet members of the alliance separately, despite the FPNCC demands to meet as one group.

In regards to peace talks, the government's Peace Commission and the UWSA-led FPNCC are negotiating the dates. They met with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military leaders on the sidelines of the third session of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in July in Naypyitaw.

"Our [peace] talks are ongoing, but we are still negotiating the dates and we cannot say more about it at this time," added U Aung Soe.

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Western Border on High Alert as ARSA Attack Anniversary Nears

Posted: 23 Aug 2018 02:54 AM PDT

SITTWE — More than 160 police outposts have been set up along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border to maintain security nearly one year after a series of attacks on Myanmar's western border.

Aug. 25 will mark the first anniversary of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)'s attacks on 30 police outposts in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships in Rakhine State.

More than a dozen security personnel and civil servants were killed in the attacks, according to state media, with the number of casualties, including civilians, rising to nearly 80 over the following month. The government denounced ARSA as a terrorist group.

Security has been beefed up along the border in response to reports that ARSA members are planning to sneak back across the border by impersonating refugees in order to launch more attacks, Colonel Aung Myat Moe of the Rakhine State Police told The Irrawaddy.

"We have set up over 160 police outposts along the Maungdaw border, and deployed nearly 1,000 policemen," he said.

Thousands of ethnic people including Arakanese, Mro, Thet and Daingnet fled the area following the attacks. The Myanmar military's subsequent counterinsurgency operations caused nearly 700,000 Rohingyas to flee into Bangladesh, according to the UN, though the Myanmar government denies those figures.

Stability has been restored in the area, but all communities in Maungdaw remain in a state of fear, and continue to be haunted by the attacks a year ago, as well as earlier attacks launched in October 2016.

"The reports [of possible renewed attacks] have left us constantly jumpy," Ni Mal, the supervisor of a Hindu refugee camp in Maungdaw, told The Irrawaddy.

According to Military Intelligence, ARSA terrorists have recruited personnel and stockpiled weapons, ammunition and food, and are providing training near the border, Police Col. Aung Myat Moe said.

"There are refugee camps in another country. And terrorists are staying there disguised as refugees. We have learned that a lot of improvised firearms and drugs have been seized there, and many people connected with terror organizations were arrested there," he said, referring to Bangladesh.

Police are patrolling around the clock in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, and keeping an eye on those with criminal records.

In July, over 30 improvised firearms were seized at Rohingya refugee camps in Rakhine State's capital, Sittwe, and other townships, Rakhine police said. The Asia Times reported that Bangladesh's elite Rapid Action Battalion raided a clandestine gun factory near the southeastern town of Cox's Bazar on July 21.

Security will remain in a heightened state in Sittwe and other townships in Rakhine till the end of August, state police said.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Govt Probes Farms Allegedly Owned By U Thein Sein, Ex-Ministers Illegally

Posted: 23 Aug 2018 02:44 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — The government is inspecting more than 900 acres (364 hectares) of land allegedly acquired illegally by former President U Thein Sein and his cabinet members near the village of Za Laung in Ottarathiri Township in Naypyitaw.

A task force formed by the Naypyitaw Council began on Thursday to investigate whether the land was being used to grow mangos, as per its stated purpose.

Upper House lawmaker U Maung Maung Swe, who is leading the task force, told The Irrawaddy that the probe follows complaints from 169 local farmers and that a report would be submitted to the council chairman.

"Some people are very sensitive about the ownership of that land. We won't target individual owners. We will just check whether or not those people are really growing mango plantations," he said.

It is not clear whether any inactive land will be confiscated.

The land, located near milepost 211 on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, was previously owned by the Forest Department and had been used by local farmers for decades. In 2011 the department handed it over to the former ministers without any official documentation, said U Maung Maung Swe.

According to U Tin Min Naing, a representative of the farmers, the land was now owned by 16 people including former President U Thein Sein and cabinet members U Hla Tun, U Kyaw Kyaw Win, U Tin Naing Thein, U Thein Tun, U Kyaw Has, Major General Aung Than Htut, Attorney General U Aye Maung, Major General Ye Aung and current Labor Minister U Thein Swe.

"The [former] president took 204 acres, and the rest took 50 acres each. They took the land in July 2010 and started [plantations] in 2011," said U Tin Min Naing.

The land was permitted for growing mangos, agarwood and rubber, and a minimum 50 acres of land had to be bought at a price of 50,000 kyats ($33.25) per acre, said a source close to the accused ex-ministers.

"Now the mango plantations are yielding. So the owners don't want to give the land back. How can they? They bought it from the government; the government sold that lands to them. If [farmers] are not happy, they should complain to the current government, which succeeded the previous government. Or they should complain to the Forest Department," said the source, who did not want to be named.

He claimed that the farmers had been compensated twice — once by the Forest Department and again by the former ministers.

"Why did they name U Thein Sein? Their statement [on social media] is wrong. None of that land is owned under the name of U Thein Sein. I think it is a deliberate political attack," he said.

U Tin Min Naing said the former president compensated rice farmers 500,000 kyats per acre in 2012, but not those farming other crops. He said former Deputy Immigration Minister U Kyaw Kyaw Win also compensated the farmers, but at a lower rate.

"Army chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing compensated them 500,000 kyats per acre up to 50 acres,” he said, adding that they were also compensated by former Parliament Farmland Committee Chairman Major-General Tin Tun, former First Industry Minister U Aung Thaung, former Mandalay Region Chief Minister U Ye Myint and the Dagon International Company.

According to U Maung Maung Swe, people are legally required to apply to the government for the right to use vacant and virgin land. But he said the Land Records Department had no documentation that the former officials had done so.

"They gave that land directly, as if it were an inheritance, and they were not recorded in government records. So now we have to inspect them thoroughly," he said.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Govt Probes Farms Allegedly Owned By U Thein Sein, Ex-Ministers Illegally appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

NSCN-K Leadership Change Could Signal ‘New Opportunities’ for Peace

Posted: 23 Aug 2018 01:13 AM PDT

The recent changes in the leadership of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) caught many by surprise, sending the news media, especially in India, into overdrive in speculating the possible reasons behind this rather unprecedented development. But beyond all this hullaballoo, the developments gave peacemakers in Nagaland reason to do some serious brain racking and possibly see them as "yet another opportunity" to involve the outfit in peace talks with India.

Taking the lead is the Naga Mothers Association (NMA), a leading civil society group that has been at the forefront of playing peacemaker (and peacebuilder) since the ceasefire process started between the government of India and the NSCN-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) in 1997. The organization is already planning to make fresh appeals to the NSCN-K to consider becoming a part of the peace initiative. During the past several years, members of the NMA have traveled to the NSCN-K headquarters in Taga in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar, crossing treacherous terrain on bikes and boats, negotiating the rough waters of the Chindwin River.

The last meeting was held in January this year when NMA adviser Rosemary Dzuvichu and NMA president Abeiu Meru traveled the same route to meet former NSCN-K chairperson Konyak and top "army leaders" of the outfit.

"We shall reach out again and why not, we must keep engaging, opined Dzuvichu during an online conversation with this writer. The NMA adviser has been part of the many courageous voyages along with other Naga mothers to meet the NSCN-K. According to her, "the new young NSCN-K leadership is educated and well aware of the dynamics of peace and global politics" and that certainly is something to look forward to.

Yung Aung, the deputy minister of the NSCN-K defense department, replaced retired Lt-Gen Khango Konyak as interim chairperson, in a decision taken by the administrative wing of the outfit following a three-day meeting from Aug. 15-17. Yung Aung, 45, is the nephew of the founding chairperson of the outfit – SS Khaplang – and is a Hemi Naga from Myanmar. He is said to be well educated, having graduated from Manipur University in Imphal, and also an ardent sportsman and expert of martial arts. Besides, he is said to be well conversant in the geopolitics of the region.

But for the Naga mothers, this is another "opportunity knocking at the door," to get the NSCN-K onboard the current peace process with the Indian government, although they are  "aware that the process is not going to be any easier than what has been the case in all their previous attempts." One of the reasons for this surely is the stand taken by the Indian government identifying the outfit as a "terrorist" group following an attack by the latter in August 2015 on an Indian army convoy in the Chandel district of Manipur that left 14 Indian soldiers dead. New Delhi imposed a ban on the outfit following a decision taken on Nov. 6, 2015.

Barely four months before it launched the surprise offensive on the Indian army convoy the NSCN-K abrogated a bilateral truce signed with India in 2001 and has since been involved in offensives against Indian security forces.

Presently the Indian government is in a peace process with seven Naga groups led by the NSCN-IM. Peace negotiations have had their share of ups and downs, with more than 80 rounds of talks (since July 25, 1997) paving the way for a "framework agreement" that was signed in August 2015. Besides the NSCN-IM the six other groups that are part of the peace dialogue have come under the banner of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs).

According to Dzuvichu, "Sustainable peace efforts must be made to create a congenial atmosphere for a peace dialogue," and "the ball is the Indian government's court." She certainly appears confident that the NSCN-K will be ready to rethink its position, even when it comes to being a part of the peace process in Myanmar. The NSCN-K has so far remained outside the Panglong peace process and has not signed the National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

The NMA leader said they are "deeply concerned about Nagas living across the borders," and she hoped that the Myanmar government would pay more attention to development and facilities in the Naga areas comprising Lahe, Nanyun and Lay Shi in Sagaing Region.

She dismissed reports of a "coup" by Burmese Nagas against the former chairperson who is an Indian origin Naga as merely speculative. "Wherever we are, we are one as Naga. These borders and boundaries were never part of our ancestral history and can never be," she asserted and said that terms like "Burmese Nagas" and "Indian Nagas" are being used to create divisions.  "It is an Indian media construct, and it is a misunderstanding of the Naga people," she added.

The change of guard in the NSCN-K is certainly not something routine and what perhaps assumes great significance are the developments that preceded it. The recent aggression by the Burmese military, which saw the outfit losing an outpost in Lahe Township, is a case in point.

The push made by the military deep into the NSCN-K territory is an indication that things have changed insofar as the Burmese policy on the Naga outfit is concerned. Throughout the military history of Myanmar and also through the escalation and de-escalation of conflicts between the military and ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, there have been no real attacks on the Naga groups. The areas dominated by Nagas such as Nanyun and Lahe in the Sagaing Region bordering Manipur and the Nagaland States of India have been left virtually untouched by the Burmese military.

Therefore, in all likelihood, the recent aggression that has been described "as only a threat now," by a senior military official, could develop into more serious assaults. All of this would certainly affect how Myanmar sees its developing relationship with India and the opportunities.

Sources in the Indian establishment in New Delhi said that at "a very high level" there are definitive meetings being held to ensure that the outfit is made to relent to pressure to become a full participant in the peace process on either side of the border. New Delhi and Naypyitaw are mounting pressure on the outfit to come forward for talks.

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

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‘Lost Generation’ Looms for Rohingya Refugee Children Without Education

Posted: 22 Aug 2018 10:15 PM PDT

PHNOM PENH/NEW DELHI — Rohingya refugee children who lack proper education in camps in Bangladesh could become a “lost generation,” the United Nations said on Thursday, a year after Myanmar’s army began a crackdown that has forced more than 700,000 people to flee the country.

The lives and futures of more than 380,000 children in refugee camps in Bangladesh are in peril, while hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children still in Myanmar are cut off from aid, said a report by the UN children’s agency (UNICEF).

Bangladesh prohibits refugees from receiving formal education, because the government is concerned that the predominantly Muslim Rohingya population may become a “permanent fixture,” according to UNICEF spokesman Alastair Lawson-Tancred.

At the outset of the refugee crisis, aid agencies set up informal learning centers for children aged 3 to 14, but older teenagers feel alienated and hopeless, Lawson-Tancred said.

“Unquestionably, there is a danger that we might be facing a lost generation,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district.

“Sooner or later, you’re going to have large groups of disaffected youth on your hands.”

Most of the refugees crossed the border within the first four months of military operations, which began after Rohingya insurgents launched deadly attacks on security forces in the frontier state of Rakhine on Aug. 25, 2017.

Myanmar officials have repeatedly denied that soldiers carried out atrocities against Rohingya civilians, which have been documented by activists and include rape, murder and arson.

One in two Rohingya children who fled to Bangladesh without their parents were orphaned by violence, while more than 6,000 children living in Cox’s Bazar are alone or have to fend for themselves, a study by charity Save the Children said this week.

Aid agencies have managed to provide basic services, but the crisis is far from over, with refugees in overcrowded camps at risk of floods, landslides and disease, according to UNICEF.

The British charity Oxfam warned that some basic facilities such as toilets and showers — which often have no locks, doors or roofs — pose safety and health risks to Rohingya women.

Many avoid trips to the makeshift facilities fearing sexual harassment — meaning they go hungry and thirsty, suffer severe stomach aches, and risk outbreaks of disease by using rags during their periods and defecating outside their tents.

Hundreds of sexual violence cases are reported each week Cox’s Bazar, Oxfam said in a statement this week.

“Women and girls are now paying the price in terms of their wellbeing and safety,” said Oxfam’s Dorothy Sang.

Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh, a spokesperson for Bangladesh-based aid agency BRAC, said more lighting in the camps, where there is no round-the-clock grid electricity, is key for female safety.

“The real problem is when they [women and girls] are accessing those facilities in the dark,” she said. “That is when there is more danger, especially during the monsoon season.”

The post ‘Lost Generation’ Looms for Rohingya Refugee Children Without Education appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

A Year on, Rohingya Still Fleeing Myanmar for Crowded Camps

Posted: 22 Aug 2018 09:18 PM PDT

BALUKHALI REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh — Hamida Begum fled her home in Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh about two months ago with her husband, two-year-old son, and three-month-old baby. In the weeks before she left, her husband almost never slept at home out of fear of being arrested.

“He would climb on top of a tree and sit there the whole night, even if it was raining really hard,” said the 18-year-old, wearing a yellow headscarf over a purple dress and sitting on the floor of her barren bamboo hut.

Hamida now lives on the edge of the world’s largest refugee camp, one of the latest arrivals among some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have escaped an army crackdown that the United Nations has called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

Though Myanmar says it is ready to take back the Rohingya, the continued outflow of refugees such as Hamida and her family underlines the lack of progress in addressing the crisis, a year on from the start of the offensive on Aug. 25, 2017.

The Rohingya exodus has threatened Myanmar’s tense transition to democracy and shattered the image of its leader, Nobel peace prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, outside the country.

“The crisis has done enormous damage to Myanmar’s standing in the world,” said Richard Horsey, a former UN diplomat in the country and a political analyst.

Suu Kyi’s government has rejected most allegations of atrocities made against the security forces by refugees. It has built transit centers to receive Rohingya returnees to western Rakhine State.

But stories brought by Hamida and other recent arrivals in Bangladesh – at least 150 people in August and nearly 13,000 since the beginning of the year – suggest the resolution of a crisis that enters its second year on Saturday remains distant.

Around half a dozen new refugees who spoke to Reuters said that, after months of struggle amid charred huts and empty villages, they were forced to abandon their homes out of fear of harassment or arrest by the security forces. They said they had been confined to their homes and pushed to the brink of starvation, unable to visit farms for work, markets and fishing ponds for food, or mosques to pray.

Myanmar says it did not provoke the crisis and its military launched a legitimate counterinsurgency operation in response to a violent campaign from within the Rohingya minority, who are mostly denied citizenship in the Southeast Asian nation.

“It was a systematic activity by a group in order to get a citizenship for Bengali people,” said Myo Nyunt, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar refer to the Rohingya as “Bengali," which most in the Muslim minority regard as a derogatory term used to suggest they are interlopers from Bangladesh.

Afraid to Light Candles

The massive influx of refugees has transformed the hills in southeastern Bangladesh into an endless sea of white, orange and blue tents. Residents are settling in for the long haul.

Near Hamida’s hut, Rohingya men carry bricks, dig 4 meter-deep latrines, reinforce muddy slopes with sturdy soil, and mend fences for a new NGO-run school. Bits of wood, bamboo poles and tarpaulin sheets are spread across the area where many of the new arrivals are sent to build their shelters.

Hamida said around 5,000 Rohingya lived in her village in northern Rakhine until last August. When she fled about two months ago, she was among only 100 or so who had remained in the partly-burned hamlet.

Reuters was unable to independently verify Hamida’s account, though relatives and neighbors present at the interview supported her version of events and offered additional details.

Hamida stayed because she could not afford to pay her way into Bangladesh. Months after the initial offensive, she said, the security forces frequently patrolled her village and sometimes arrested Rohingya men or grabbed them to do unpaid work at an expanding military camp nearby.

“In Myanmar, if my children start crying at night, I can’t even light a candle because there is a complete blackout, and if the military see any light they come and arrest you,” she said.

The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a report last week more than half of the new arrivals, “reported that relatives remaining in Myanmar also plan to leave due to continued fears."

“People tell us…they told me, that they feel like they’re prisoners. They can’t leave the house, the men can’t go fishing, the curfew is so extreme, that there are only certain hours when you can light a fire,” said Caroline Gluck, a UNHCR representative in the camps.

Suu Kyi’s spokesman did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment. In a speech in Singapore on Tuesday, Myanmar’s civilian leader said the country had made preparations for the repatriation of refugees, but that it was difficult to set a timeframe for when that might happen.

“The returnees have to be sent back by Bangladesh,” she said. “We can only welcome them at the border.”

NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt acknowledged that the ethnic and religious tensions that triggered the violence in Rakhine a year ago remained stark.

“The situation in the area hasn’t changed within one year,” he said. “It will take time to be improved, live in harmony.”

The post A Year on, Rohingya Still Fleeing Myanmar for Crowded Camps appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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Wednesday, August 22, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Uniquely Mandalay Foods

Posted: 21 Aug 2018 06:30 PM PDT

YANGON—Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar and the country's last royal capital. Today it is also known as 'motorbike city.' The city has its own history and many famous pagodas and monasteries to visit. But it is also famous for its own uniquely Mandalay foods. This is a list of delicious snacks and dishes native to Mandalay that just don't taste the same anywhere else.

Mandalay Moat Ti

Mandalay moat ti which is sometimes called Mandalay nan gyi thoke (large noodle salad) is the most popular food native to Mandalay. This noodle salad is a favourite for most Mandalay locals and is usually eaten for breakfast so most moat ti shops open only in the morning. In fact, it's hard to find maot ti in the afternoon.

For moat ti, thick rice noodles are mixed with chicken curry and fish balls, fresh chopped onion and a few other ingredients but the what makes this dish distinctly the Mandalay style is the addition of a gravy made from roasted bean powder. This combined with some red chili paste and oil turn the thick white rice noodles into a delectable yellow color. Add too little or too much of the main ingredients though, and the dish is ruined. Depending on which shop you try, this dish can taste different every time.

The dish can be ordered with different types of rice noodle sizes such as nan lat (medium-sized) and nan gyi (large-sized). The taste of the noodles is a combination of sweet, sour, salty, and fresh. After one plate, your stomach will be full until the afternoon. Shops serve a free soup broth with it which is also tasty.

Mandalay Mhee Shay

Mandalay mhee shay is another famous food from Mandalay. Mostly, people eat it for breakfast but it can be found in the afternoon as well. While in Mandalay, you will see many small stalls serving mhee shay but the shops located around the corner of 80th and 16th streets are the most famous in town.

One of the places serving the best mhee shay on 16th Street doesn't have a name so people just call it 16th Street Mhee Shay. Though this simple place uses small stools for both table and chair and it's not very big—more of a stall than a shop—it still draws a huge number of customers.

Mhee shay is a rice noodle salad mixed with pork, pig's tail, pig's intestine, pepper and bean sprouts served with a delicious bowl of pork soup. You can adjust the pork ingredients and turn up or down the spice of the dish by telling your preference to the woman of the shop.

Mandalay Htoe Moat

Htoe moat is a glutinous rice cake topped with cashew nuts, raisins and cream butter. This dessert-style snack is popularly given as a gift. It has a sweet taste and you can choose to reduce the sweetness by ordering the plain version without cream butter and other fruit toppings. Myint Myint Khin and Tin Tin Aye are most the famous htoe moat brands available in Mandalay.

A similar dessert called Mandalay la moat is an adaptation of the traditional Chinese moon cake made to have a slightly different taste and style.

Both versions of the cake are made using roasted glutinous wheat flour to make the soft outer dough covering. Inside is a paste made using sweet bean or white sugar which is mixed with margarine and inserted into the middle and the cake is then baked. The texture is soft and chewy and the fantastic smell will make you instantly hungry. Of all the famous foods from Mandalay, this one is a must-try.

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Tuesday, August 21, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Democratic Transition Requires a Democratic Constitution, Suu Kyi Says

Posted: 21 Aug 2018 08:54 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand—State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday reiterated her government's intention to amend the Constitution without damaging the national reconciliation process, and stressed the importance of building peace — including in conflict-torn Rakhine State — and promoting economic development.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi made the comments while delivering the 43rd Singapore Lecture, "Myanmar's Democratic Transition: Challenges and the Way Forward" at the Institute of South East Asia Studies' Yusof Ishak Institute in the city-state on Tuesday. She is on a four-day state visit to Singapore this week.

Her lecture covered a wide range of topics including the various phases of Myanmar's history since independence, the roadmap to the current democratic transition; the 21st-Century Panglong peace process; the situation in Rakhine State; and the country's economic development.

"[Amending] the Constitution was one of the goals of our government. This is something that we need to mention here, because the completion of a democratic transition must necessarily involve the completion of a truly democratic constitution. This we have not yet achieved, but we aim to achieve it through negotiation and through evolution," she said in her concluding remarks.

She added that there are "parts of the Constitution which we believe would have to be amended if we are truly to be a democratic society. But we also made it quite clear [since her time as a legislator from 2012-15] that these changes we will bring about through negotiation, always keeping in mind that national reconciliation is one of our greatest needs."

Reflecting on Myanmar's seven-decade-long civil war and intercommunal conflicts, she said, "Our people yearn for peace and security, for an end to unrest and strife, for material and emotional security, for a chance to contemplate the future of their children with tranquility."

She added that, "A sound base for peace and stability has to be broad and comprehensive. Addressing destabilizing issues in Rakhine State was a fundamental part" of building peace and stability, which she described as one of the three pillars that support the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan.

She listed the steps taken by her National League for Democracy-led government to resolve the crisis in Rakhine State, including forming the national-level Central Committee for Rule of Law and Development in Rakhine State; the Advisory Commission led by the late Kofi Anan, a former UN secretary-general; the Rakhine Advisory Board; and the Independent Commission of Enquiry, in addition to a number of government implementation bodies. She also acknowledged the role of UN agencies and expressed confidence that Myanmar's engagement with Ambassador Christine Burgener, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to Myanmar, "will be positive and fruitful."

"We share deep sympathy and concern for all displaced persons, especially women and children," the State Counselor added, though she was careful not to use specific labels, whether religious or ethnic, in reference to the displaced persons.

Regarding the safe return of refugees from Myanmar currently residing in Thailand, she said, "The return of displaced persons [from Thailand] to our country is also working smoothly as a result of close consultation and cooperation between Myanmar and Thailand."

"Similarly, we hope to work with Bangladesh to effect the voluntary, safe and dignified return of displaced persons from northern Rakhine," she added. The State Counselor appeared to be comparing previous challenges faced by the government in terms of repatriating refugees to the situation facing the displaced persons in Bangladesh refugee camps, who lack the documentation necessary for repatriation.

Myanmar and Bangladesh have been cooperating at the ministerial level on facilitating refugee repatriation, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said, adding, "The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister was invited to Myanmar to see at first hand preparations we have made for the resettlement of returnees. During his visit [last week], both sides agreed, inter alia, to deliver on commitments made, to speed up implementation of bilateral agreements on repatriation, and to set up a hotline between the two countries at the ministerial level."

With regard to the ongoing peace-building process in Myanmar, she insisted that the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference had "made progress," citing the signing of parts of the Union accords in which 51 basic principles for a future democratic constitution were laid out at two conferences held last year and this year. Among the NLD's achievements in this arena, she said, was having two more ethnic armed organizations sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.

The State Counselor added, "We are constantly alert to the challenges and we aim to resolve them through dialogue and negotiation, by persevering in the endeavor to build mutual trust and understanding."

She urged each and every individual to "learn to talk to one another and also to listen to one another" so that the country could move forward, and to respect diversity, pointing out that Myanmar comprises some 135 ethnic groups.

She also urged ASEAN members and the international community as a whole "to listen with understanding, listen with empathy, listen by putting yourselves in our places, not the place of the government, but in the place of our ordinary people, of the citizens."

She continued, "If you listen with their ears and you try to see with their eyes, you will have a better idea of what the real challenges of our transition are. They are not just the challenges the world sees, but the challenges [that] each and every one of our people sees for himself or herself."

On the economic front, she said, "The future remains bright" because Myanmar and Singapore are working together to promote trade through a bilateral investment treaty. In 2017, foreign investment in Myanmar reached USD8 billion, with more than half of that coming from Singapore.

She also said that, second only to the developments in Rakhine State following the attacks on government security posts by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in 2016 and 2017, when it comes to Myanmar, the outside world's main focus is on foreign direct investment.

"We place high importance on investment but within the context of our wider needs. We want Myanmar to be business-friendly, an environment where investors can be comfortable and secure and where their interests can merge harmoniously with our development aims," she said.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been in Singapore since Aug. 19 at the invitation of Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong. On Aug. 20, she visited the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. This is her third official visit to Singapore. Her most recent previous visit was in November 2016.

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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Pays Tribute to Late UN Chief

Posted: 21 Aug 2018 06:22 AM PDT

YANGON — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi paid tribute to the late Kofi Annan during a talk in Singapore on Tuesday, calling the former UN secretary general and chairman of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State someone who had a “generous and positive nature” and who wanted Myanmar “to reach its goals for peace, prosperity, security and progress.”

Annan died on Saturday at the age of 80.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she first approached Annan in 2016 and asked him “to lead a commission to help us find the lasting solution to the problems jeopardizing peace and progress in the region so bountifully blessed by nature,” referring to the western state of Rakhine, where communal strife between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya Muslims had been on the rise since 2012.

It was the first time foreign experts had been invited to assist the country's efforts to tackle the Rakhine crisis. He accepted the offer to lead the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State and made recommendations for ending the violence in the conflict-torn state and promoting development, despite some resistance to his appointment from local ethnic Arakanese, opposition parties and the military.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi immediately endorsed the commission's 88 recommendations and vowed to implement them in the shortest timeframe possible allowing for conditions on the ground. Annan's recommendations have been treated as a roadmap for promoting communal reconciliation and development in Rakhine.

"Please allow me at this point to pay tribute to Dr. Kofi Annan. His quality and achievements were myriad," the state counselor said during her lecture on Myanmar’s democratic transition at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), adding that Annan abided by his decision to help Myanmar even after events in Rakhine brought severe criticism onto the country.

She said Annan showed compassion, integrity, wisdom and courage in his leadership of the commission and the recommendations it made.

"His approach is constructive and caring," she said. "Despite the many demands on his duty, he made time to speak to me on telephone occasionally to ask how he might help, to listen, to encourage."

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said Annan's life offered lessons everyone could learn from.

"It exemplified the principles and values on which the UN is founded, the principles and values that allow us to hope peace and prosperity might be possible for all in our world," said she.

Of the 88 recommendations the commission made, the state counselor said, 81 have been implemented to date and would help establish lasting peace and stability in Rakhine.

"But challenges there are multi-faceted and require multi-tasking," she said.

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Major Reforms Around the Corner, Says Key Economic Adviser to Suu Kyi

Posted: 21 Aug 2018 05:43 AM PDT

YANGON—Amid criticism of the government from the business community over sluggish growth and a lack of economic direction, the economic adviser to Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday addressed the problems the administration has had implementing its reform plan, while highlighting the progress it has already made and insisting that major new reforms are on the way.

Addressing the seminar "Myanmar's Economy 2018: progress, problems, possibilities" at the Novotel Yangon, Sean Turnell, the special economic consultant to the Myanmar state counselor, said the main problems include bureaucratic sclerosis across government departments, the current account deficit, structural problems in the banking system, weak infrastructure, the crisis in Rakhine State and global economic uncertainty due to the U.S.-China trade war.

Economic Problems

Turnell said the Myanmar government continues to struggle with a current account deficit, meaning the value of the goods and services it imports exceeds the value of those it exports. The current account deficit could push the government to print money, which would cause inflation in the country, he said.

In fiscal 2016-17, Myanmar's trade deficit stood at around USD5.5 billion, equivalent to 3.9 percent of GDP. Imports totaled USD17.2 billion, versus USD11.6 billion for exports. In 2015-16, the trade deficit was USD5.4 billion, equivalent to 3.2 percent of GDP. In 2014-15 it totaled USD4.9 billion, or 1.2 percent of GDP.

Myanmar's financial system is undergoing reform to remove structural problems such as the locking up of assets in a stalled real-estate market. A lack of infrastructure is also a source of frustration among investors, he pointed out.

The banking system remains one of the most outdated in the region, despite reforms having begun in 2011, including allowing private banks to conduct foreign exchange transactions and set up ATMs. In 2016, the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government passed the Financial Institutions Law of Myanmar, seen as a major step toward modernizing the sector. In March, the government permitted seven foreign banks to provide export-financing services.

But financial experts said there are many reforms still needed in the banking sector, such as the adoption of a fully free-floating exchange regime, laws on mobile financial transactions and further liberalization of the private banking sector.

Turnell emphasized that the Rakhine crisis remains a significant hurdle for the NLD government's economic reform effort, as it is scaring off tourists and investors, especially from the West.

"The impact is huge… a huge direct impact," he said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars are not here, because of Rakhine basically."

He said that while people had expected to see more U.S. investment flow into Myanmar under the democratic government, many U.S. firms and financial institutions had stayed away due to international pressure over the human rights situation. The Rakhine crisis had also negatively impacted tourism from Western countries, he said.

Turnell said global uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade war had also affected the Myanmar economy, especially in terms of exchange rate volatility. The government has been criticized for failing to stem the kyat's slide against the dollar, which has lasted for over three months, but Turnell said, "It is a global story, not a Myanmar story."

The trade war has caused financial instability everywhere in the world, and many people are angry about it, he said.

He warned that hierarchical and bureaucratic processes within government departments were another serious obstacle to reform.

Economic Progress

Turnell said he had witnessed some progress on the macroeconomic front under the NLD-led government.

He said that most macroeconomic indicators are stable and headed in the right direction, citing examples such as continued annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the inclusion of more people in the financial system, a stable inflation rate and decreased reliance on the practice of printing money to pay down budget deficits.

Turnell said that due to the global instability, Myanmar's economic growth would likely be 6.9 percent this year, lower than the 7 percent predicted earlier. However, he pointed out that 6.9 percent is high compared with other countries in the region. Moreover, inflation is stable at 5.9 percent, or possibly 6 percent due to exchange rate fluctuations. The government is taking various steps to control inflation, he said.

In the past, governments in Myanmar have often resorted to funding themselves by printing money, rather than collecting taxes. This has made controlling inflation very difficult. The previous government printed money annually to fill budget gaps. Central bank records show that former President U Thein Sein's government printed money to fund 70 percent of its budget deficits.

This had dropped to 30 percent under the NLD-led government, Turnell said.

According to Turnell, Myanmar's financial inclusion rate — which measures the proportion of adults with access to at least one formal financial services product — increased from 30 percent in 2013 to 48 percent in 2018. This means 6 million more adults have access to formal financial services now than in 2013.

The banking system is slowly being modernized, while the state banking sector is also being reformed. Turnell praised the Central Bank of Myanmar's decision to remove the trading band on the exchange rate as a step in the right direction.

Economic Possibilities

In May, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) short-term business sentiment survey showed that business confidence had declined compared with last year, with a majority of businesspeople citing a lack of clear economic policies from the government.

However, Turnell assured the audience that major reforms are on the way, particularly the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP), which will give the economy a fiscal boost and liberalize key sectors, particularly the financial sector, to stimulate economic growth.

He acknowledged that people had many questions about the government's economic direction and vision, but said the MSDP will answer all their concerns.

"It will come in couple of weeks. It is already done," Turnell said.

The economic adviser praised the current activities of the Planning and Finance Ministry, which is drawing up the MSDP, a roughly 250-point action plan for Myanmar's long-term economic development.

Turnell reiterated that Myanmar needed to resolve the Rakhine crisis in order to improve the economy and attract investment and financial-sector assistance from the West.

As another example of the NLD government's economic achievements, he cited the fact that the renewal of the China-backed Kyauk Phyu project agreement had not resulted in Myanmar owing a single dollar to China.

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Govt Readies Protected Areas for Wild Elephants

Posted: 21 Aug 2018 04:45 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — The government is planning to open wild elephant protection camps in three regions where the pachyderms are most at risk from poachers, Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Minister U Ohn Win told a session of Parliament on Friday.

"We are planning to make camps where police, local administration officers and staff from the Forestry Department can stay and watch for poachers, hunt down the poachers and protect the wild elephants," he said, responding to questions about the plan from lawmakers.

The minister said the camps will be in Yangon, Bago and Irrawaddy regions, where the numbers of poached wild elephants are highest.

U Ohn Win said wild elephants were on Myanmar’s list of protected species and that the government was collaborating with local and international organizations to save them. He said government officials were also working with the police on ways to take tougher legal action against poachers and those who trade in wild elephant parts.

The number of poached elephants more than doubled from 18 to 46 from 2016 to 2017, according to the Forestry Department. It says 14 wild elephants were poached between January and July this year.

Lawmakers noted that poachers were killing the elephants not only for their tusks, but for their meat and skin as well, and smuggling the parts to neighboring countries.

"At least one wild elephant is poached a week. The number of wild elephants has declined from over 10,000 to under 2,000. It is necessary to hunt down elephant poachers with joint forces," said lawmaker U Than Aung Soe, who represents Magwe Region’s Minhla Township.

According to the Natural Resources Ministry, 56 poachers were arrested from 2010 to 2017 and prosecuted under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas Law.

In May, the Protection of Biodiversity and Conservation Areas Law was also enacted, which stipulates jail terms of at least three years for poachers and smugglers and up to 10 years in cases involving wild elephants.

U Ohn Win also noted that infrastructure projects such as roads and dams were increasingly encroaching on elephant habitat and bringing the animals increasingly into contact — and conflict — with people.

Confrontations between wild elephants and local residents killed six people in 2016, nine in 2017, and two this year through June.

The natural resources minister said the Forestry Department was educating people in areas where there are elephants on ways to stay safe. He said the ministry was collaborating with the US-based Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute on a project to place radio transmission collars on a total of 28 elephants in Yangon, Bago, Irrawaddy and Tanintharyi regions.

The Forestry Department is also partnering with the Wildlife Conservation Society, another US-based organization, on a project running from 2018 to 2027 that aims to double the average life of Myanmar’s elephants to about 100 years.

Translated from Burmese by Zarni Mann.

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No Repose for Locals as Second Wave of Flooding Affects Karen, Mon, Tanintharyi

Posted: 21 Aug 2018 03:56 AM PDT

MON STATE — A second wave of flooding has hit multiple parts of Myanmar including Karen and Mon states and Irrawaddy and Tanintharyi regions, as water from rivers continues to rise in locations where hundreds of people have been displaced from flooding.

More than 400 people have been relocated, according to reports from the government, as the water levels of the Salween River in Karen State rise.

In Kawkareik Township, 73 families – a total of 335 people – were relocated to other areas as water reached 60-122 centimeters (2-4 feet) deep in their community, as reported by the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday.

Twenty-seven families living near the Moei River, a tributary of the Salween River in Myawaddy Township, have moved to temporary camps as the river rose by 60 centimeters (2 feet) yesterday evening.

These have been the worst floods to hit Karen State in 50 years. The Karen State government opened 10 additional IDP camps for those displaced by the recent high water levels in the region. This has brought to 60 the total number of temporary camps opened by the government in the last month since the first floods hit the region.

Water from the Salween River began to rise on Saturday night, according to locals in Karen State where some people have had to move to temporary shelter at IDP camps.

The high water levels have also inundated several sections of the highway between Kyainseikgyi and Three Pagodas Pass near the Myanmar-Thai border. Some members of the authorities have been guiding vehicles for their passage along the highway.

However, many other parts remain unpassable for vehicles due to the high water levels. Drivers have been paying ferries to transport their cars through areas where they cannot drive. As these ferries tend to be made from bamboo and can carry just one car per journey, major travel delays in the area have become inevitable. As of today, it cost 15,000 kyats for one car to be transported and due to a high demand, long lines for the service have formed. Due to these delays and increased travel costs for border traders and travelers, much trade in Karen State has stopped.

Border trade between Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass has slowed dramatically with much damage caused to vehicles due to flooding on the highways in Karen State.

Border traders who continue to make the journey are being forced to pay double the regular transportation fees due to the requirement of offloading their goods to boats for safe passage across flooded zones and reloading the goods to their vehicles when dry ground is reached.

The price of commodities has also risen due to the dramatic decline in border trade, with people in Mon State reporting particularly high prices for rice.

More than 16,000 people were displaced in Karen State last month from townships that included Hpa-an, Hlaingbwe, Kawkareik and Myawaddy.

Water levels reached over 8 meters high in some towns in Tanintharyi Region on Aug. 21 according to local sources, with many people relocating to other areas while some continue to stay at their houses.

Authorities in Tanintharyi Region have announced that they will have to open a dam in the area and that at least 300 people will have to evacuate the affected location.

Flooding conditions have remained for 40 days now in some low land areas near rivers around Tanintharyi.

Both displaced people and local authorities helping victims have been working constantly to save property from flood damage and are becoming tired, according to Facebook posts by Tanintharyi local Mi Thu Zar.

According to reports from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Pathein Township in Irrawaddy Division and Karenni State also remain affected by floods with dozens of families having to relocate to other areas for their safety.

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Kofi Annan’s Contribution to Myanmar’s Pressing Rakhine Crisis

Posted: 21 Aug 2018 03:28 AM PDT

The former United Nations secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan died on Saturday at the age of 80. Despite his top job at the UN, the Ghanaian is remembered in Myanmar for his involvement in tackling the crisis in Rakhine State in the west of the country, where communal strife between ethnic Arakanese and Rohingya Muslims had been on the rise since 2012.

It all started in 2016, when Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Kyi approached Annan and asked him to lead a commission that would analyze the situation in Rakhine State. It was the first time foreign experts had been invited to assist the country's efforts in confronting the Rakhine crisis. He accepted the offer to lead the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State and made recommendations on ending the violence in the conflict-torn state and promoting development, despite some resistance against his commission from local ethnic Arakanese, opposition parties and military.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi immediately endorsed the commission's 88 recommendations and vowed to implement them in the shortest timeframe possible given the conditions on the ground. Annan's recommendations have been treated as a roadmap for promoting communal reconciliation and regional development in Rakhine.

Since the formation of the commission, The Irrawaddy has extensively covered stories related to the nine-member commission. On the death of Kofi Annan, we revisit some of our stories to reflect the former UN boss' contribution to Rakhine State.

Aug. 24, 2016

Former UN Chief Kofi Annan to Head New Commission on Arakan State

The former United Nations secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan was named by Myanmar's State Counselor's office as the leader of a nine-member Advisory Commission on Rakhine State to recommend  "lasting solutions to complex and delicate issues" in the conflict-torn region.

Aug. 25, 2016

ANP Demands Cancellation of Kofi Annan-Led Arakan State Commission

The largest Rakhine political party, the Arakan National Party (ANP), has demanded that the government cancel the newly formed Kofi Annan-led Arakan State Advisory Commission. The ANP expressed objection to the three non-Myanmar members selected to serve on the commission, stating that they would not be able to understand the background and current situation on the ground in Arakan State, as well as that it would harm the rights of indigenous people—a reference to the Buddhist Arakanese—and national sovereignty.

Aug. 30, 2016

ANP Lawmaker Calls for Removal of International Experts From Arakan State Commission

A Rakhine lawmaker from the Arakan National Party (ANP) at the Lower House submitted an urgent parliamentary proposal calling for the replacement of three non-Myanmar experts serving on the Rakhine State Advisory Commission with local academic specialists. With support from the military representatives and main opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party, the proposal called the inclusion of international experts "foreign interference in internal affairs.' But the proposal failed to earned parliamentary approval, as the majority of NLD lawmakers rejected it.

Sept. 5, 2016

Kofi Annan 'Confident' in Arakan State Advisory Commission's Mandate

Kofi Annan said despite the challenges facing Arakan State being "complex and deep-rooted," he remains "confident that we can assist the people of Rakhine to chart a common path for a peaceful and prosperous future." During the first meeting with the commission members and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, the former United Nations secretary-general said the advisory commission would act rigorously to find ways to address the situation in Arakan State, and work closely with the people of the region, including engaging with community and religious leaders, local administration and members of the State Counselor's Office.

Sept. 7, 2016

Advisory Commission Completes First Trip to Arakan State

Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan tours the Rohingya community of Aung Mingalar ward in Sittwe on Wednesday morning. (Photo: Maung Kyaw Hein MPA / The Irrawaddy)

Kofi Annan-led Rakhine State Advisory Commission completed its first two-day trip to Rakhine State to learn about local perspectives on trust-building from the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in the state capital, Sittwe. Local residents and Buddhist monks staged protests against the commission, challenging what they perceived as "foreigners' biased intervention" from the nine-member panel.

Sept. 8, 2016

Kofi Annan: Commission Will Not Do 'Human Rights Investigation' in Arakan State

Upon his arrival from Rakhine, Kofi Annan told media in Yangon that the commission's purpose was not to investigate rights abuses, but to write an "impartial report." He explained that the objective of the advisory commission was to provide recommendations for the Myanmar government in accordance with international standards in order to facilitate a lasting solution to the conflict in Arakan State.

Oct 9, 2016

Nine Police Dead in Arakan State Border Attacks

Nine police officers were killed and five were injured during a series of attacks by Muslim militants on border guard headquarters and outposts near the Bangladeshi border in northern Rakhine State.

Dec. 6, 2016

Kofi Annan: Charge of 'Genocide' Should Not Be Used 'Loosely' in Arakan State

Chairman of the Arakan State Advisory Commission Kofi Annan told reporters at a Yangon press conference that when describing the crisis in Rakhine State, the term "genocide" should be used with caution.

March 16, 2017

Arakan State Advisory Commission Releases Interim Report

The Rakhine State Advisory Commission released an interim report for the Myanmar government to improve the situation in Rakhine State, calling for immediate and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid organizations and the media to areas of northern Rakhine State.

July 10, 2017

U Zaw Htay: Kofi Annan Commission is Govt 'Shield'

The Myanmar government spokesperson said the Annan commission was serving as a shield for the Myanmar government. "Were it not for the Kofi Annan commission, the allegations would be much worse, I think," he said.

Aug. 19, 2017

Did Advisory Commission Remedy Rakhine State's Conflict?

Kofia Annan and Daw Aung San Suu kyi before the start of the meeting of Rakhine Advisory Commission in Yangon in 2016. ( Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Since its formation, the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State had been under fire from local ethnic Arakanese people, opposition parties, and the military. Given the resistance, would the recommendations to be made by the commission for Rakhine State be helpful?

Aug. 22, 2017

Rakhine Advisory Commission's Kofi Annan Arrives in Yangon

Kofi Annan arrived in Yangon to release his Rakhine State Advisory Commission's final report on Rakhine State.

Aug. 24, 2017

Kofi Annan: Don't Leave Citizenship Issues 'To Fester'

Kofi Annan takes questions from journalists at Sule Shangri-La hotel in Yangon on Thursday. (Photo: Thet Htun Naing / The Irrawaddy)

The commission submitted its final report to Myanmar Army commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw. The report criticized several aspects of Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law as failing to meet international standards, while still encouraging the government to accelerate the national verification process in line with that law in Rakhine State. But the military questioned the "impartiality" of the commission's report and urged Annan's delegation to review some "factually wrong" points.

Aug. 25, 2017

Muslim Militants Stage Major Attack in Rakhine

Several hours after the submission of the commission's final report, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched attacks on 24 border guard posts, police stations, and army bases in northern Rakhine State, killing at least 10 police officers and one Myanmar Army soldier.

Sept. 12, 2017

Govt to Implement Recommendations on Rakhine Issue 'Without Delay'

The President's Office announced the formation of a 15-member committee to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State and a government investigation commission led by Vice President U Myint Swe. The implementation committee was led by Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Win Myat Aye. The new committee was responsible for accelerating the national verification process and ensuring equal access to education and health services regardless of religion, race, citizenship or gender, as well as fighting terrorism and eliminating drugs in the region as a priority.

June 2018

Rakhine Advisory Commission Stands by Recommendations After Review

Ten months after it made recommendations for Rakhine State, the Kofi Annan-led commission said that in reviewing its suggestions, the recommendations to settle communal tension in the restive region remain relevant despite political realities in the state changing dramatically and tragically following the ARSA attacks in August 2017.

The post Kofi Annan’s Contribution to Myanmar’s Pressing Rakhine Crisis appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ten Things to Do in Yangon This Week

Posted: 20 Aug 2018 10:04 PM PDT

One-Hundred, Aung Zaw solo show

The exhibition of artist Aung Zaw featuring 100 paintings will be open at Nawaday Tharlar Gallery on Nawaday Road in Dagon Township from Aug. 25 to 31.

Mirror of Dark Mishear and Mislead

The fifth solo show of Ohn Khine Zin is on view from Aug. 24 to 28 at Lokanat Gallery, No. 62, First Floor, Pansodan Road, Kyauktada Township.

"Happy?"

This is an art exhibition by Ba G, Lwin Oo Maung, Nge Nge and Zoncy. It takes place from Aug. 18 to 26 at Myanm/art Gallery No. 98, Third Floor, Bogalay Zay Street,

Cartoon Show

This cartoon show is being held to raise funds for flood victims. It will take place in front of Maha Bandoola Park from Aug. 24 to 26. All money raised from the sale of cartoons will go to flood relief efforts.

Dream Lover Solo Concert

Popular Myanmar artist Me Me Win Pe will perform at the Sky Star Hotel on Aug. 25. Call the Myanpwel hotline on 09 445 151 010 for tickets which range from 20,000 to 70,000 kyats.

Literary Talks and Book Fair

This fair is being hosted by Hledan Community Public Library from Aug. 20 to 22. Writers Manottha Kyaw Win, Myinmu Maung Naing Moe, Maung Nyein Thu (Gyopingauk), Myat Soe (Hline), Ma Hnin Pyway and Maung Sein Win (Padigone) will give literary talks over three days.

Irish Folk Night

New ensemble Craic the Knife will perform traditional Irish numbers from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Aug. 24 August at Sky Bistro located on the 20th floor of the Sakura Tower in downtown Yangon.

Japanese Movie Showing

The film 'Fireworks from the Heart' will be screened on Aug. 25 from 10:00 AM at Japan Culture House as part of their ongoing film program. Japan Culture House is located at Room 322B, 2nd Floor, Building C, Pearl Condo, Kabaraye Pagoda Road, Bahan Township.

Taung Pyone FAB

This FAB falls on the weekend of the Taung Pyone spirit festival. Some claim the festival is the unofficial gay pride festival of Myanmar so partygoers are going to celebrate with their own Taung Pyone Festival-style FAB part on Saturday Aug. 25 from 9:00 p.m. at Pyrite Club near Inya Lake Hotel, Yankin Township.

Tin Maung Hsan Min Win Troupe

The Tin Maung Hsan Min Win troupe will perform traditional Burmese entertainment by mixing dance, music, song, comedy and theatre at Kandawgyi Hmaw Sin Kyun. At 6:00 p.m. on Aug. 25. Tickets from 5,000 to 10,000 kyats will be available at the venue.

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Malaysia Seizes Rhino Horns Worth $12M in Largest Such Haul

Posted: 20 Aug 2018 09:46 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has seized rhinoceros horns worth nearly $12 million bound for Vietnam, in its largest haul of such contraband, officials said on Monday.

Wildlife experts say Malaysia is a major transit point for the illegal trafficking of endangered species to other Asian countries.

Officials acting on a tip-off seized 50 horns, weighing about 116 kilograms (256 pounds), at the cargo terminal of Kuala Lumpur airport on Aug. 13, a wildlife official said in a statement.

The shipment also included nine carcasses of what are believed to be tigers and bears, weighing about 200 kilograms (441 pounds).

“All the wildlife items confiscated were to be exported out of Malaysia without a proper permit,” Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim, the director-general of the Wildlife and National Parks Department, said in the statement.

The department will run DNA tests to identify each wildlife species involved, he added.

The shipment, valued at 48 million ringgit ($11.7 million), was bound for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

Investigations showed the consignment had been shipped with false documents, and efforts were being made to identify its true owner, Abdul Kadir said.

TRAFFIC, a group which monitors the illegal wildlife trade, said the case highlighted links between Malaysia and Vietnam, which are both in Southeast Asia.

“This was a very unusual mix of wildlife parts found — rhino horns which were clearly not from Asia and carnivore carcasses which could have originated from the country,” TRAFFIC’s acting Southeast Asia director Kanitha Krishnasamy said in a statement.

“This discovery raises questions about how criminals are accumulating wildlife parts and using a multitude of routes and methods to traffic them onwards to destination countries.”

Global trade in rhino horn is banned by a United Nations convention, but it is prized in some Asian countries as an ingredient in traditional medicines to treat everything from fever to cancer.

Last year, Malaysia seized about $3.1 million worth of rhino horns flown in from Mozambique via Qatar.

Separately, authorities arrested a man on July 13 for illegal possession of three baby Sumatran orangutans, Abdul Kadir said.

“The suspect was believed to have been trading wildlife online and was arrested while dealing with a buyer,” he said.

Malaysia will return the animals to Indonesia, he said.

Orangutans live in lowland forests on Borneo, an island shared by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra.

They are endangered, with populations declining due to rampant deforestation and hunting.

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Engaging the UWSA: Countering Myths, Building Ties

Posted: 20 Aug 2018 09:37 PM PDT

The carefully staged photos of Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing serving soup to United Wa State Army (UWSA) commander Bao Youyi, hospitalized after fatigue and hypertension at the Third Union Peace Conference (UPC) in July 2018, raised eyebrows across the country. The photo was posted to the former's Facebook page and gestured towards bridge-building between the Tatmadaw and the UWSA, the country's strongest Ethnic Armed Organization (EAO).

Building genuine trust however, will take far more than birds' nest soup.

Not captured in the photograph were the UWSA's demands for an official Wa State, amendments to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) and the 2008 Constitution, and recognition of the Wa-controlled territory on the Thai border.

The UWSA had in September 2016 walked out of Aung San Suu Kyi's landmark attempt to build peace with EAOs, the 21st Century Panglong Conference (now UPC). The formation of the UWSA-led coalition, the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) in April 2017, was a further blow to her NLD government's hopes for significant progress in the peace process. The FPNCC submitted its demands at the Second UPC in May 2017, which were largely ignored. This Third UPC saw little concrete progress made, and now runs the risk of halting its momentum.

Perceptions and Myths of the UWSA

The UWSA was formed from the fracturing of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in 1989, its leaders quick to sign a ceasefire with the Tatmadaw, one that has held to the present day. It controls fully two large swathes of territory along the Chinese and Thai borders, protected by an army of around 30,000.

Narratives about the UWSA have focused on secrecy and isolation, with sensationalized reporting about "an empire built on guns, drugs and blood", or unverified allegations of the acquisition of helicopters and other weapons. The scant scholarly material centers on the political economy of opium and drugs, with book covers predominantly depicting soldiers in poppy fields.

In May 2015, the UWSA hosted the first EAOs summit at its headquarters in Pangkham, without the presence of Myanmar government representatives, and created the first opportunity for the press to visit Wa Region. Journalists were invited by the UWSA again in October 2016.

Paradoxically, while these visits gave a glimpse into life inside Wa Region, they also created distance – exaggerating the secrecy and remoteness of Wa Region, or its similarities to China. Across the media, representations of the UWSA invariably depict young soldiers marching, training, or guarding checkpoints, alongside charges of vice and lawlessness, and exotic visuals of the wildlife trade and casinos.

Little wonder then, that the UWSA remains "feared and poorly understood", and few in Yangon can imagine ever engaging with the UWSA. Two serious misconceptions circulate in Yangon: first that the UWSA is a part or pawn of China, and second that they are mysterious, isolated and disengaged from Myanmar.

Pawns of China?

Suggestions of the UWSA being pawns of China are part of the Tatmadaw's allegations; the New Light of Myanmar accused the UWSA in 2015 of being ethnic Chinese posing as Wa "tribesmen" to further their secessionist and drug-running aims. Many Burmese people view the Wa as far closer to China than it actually is, wondering why they speak Chinese and not Burmese, and why travel there is so difficult – with perceptions that Burmese are unwelcome in Wa Region. But for the UWSA, historical affinity to China is simple and straightforward, not a sinister conspiracy – as Chairman Bao himself remarked, "in the past, when we needed help, no one else helped us but China."

With telecommunications systems and somewhat a stable kyat only a relatively recent phenomena in Myanmar, the UWSA has for decades relied on Chinese currency and Chinese markets for its rubber and mining industries, construction technology, and communication networks. Yet since the 1990s, the UWSA has demonstrated a creativity and ability to navigate different routes, markets, and investments to buttress its self-reliance. Collaborations between Wa-owned companies and other Myanmar conglomerates point to strong business ties with elites in Yangon and Mandalay.

Other observers overstate the UWSA's subordination to China, suggesting that China has advisors shadowing top UWSA leaders, vets visitors to Wa Region, and dictates the UWSA's external relations. Rather, the relationship is more nuanced and based on mutual interest, respect, and norms of propriety. The inclusion of a clause to invite China as an observer to FPNCC negotiations, in the press release from the first FPNCC meeting of August 2017, seems an example of such face-giving and respect. As Yun Sun observes, China cannot force the UWSA to leave or join the peace process without creating resentment, and its interest is in maintaining good ties with the UWSA.

Both China and the UWSA have tried to dispel rumors about the nature of this relationship; China angrily dismissed suggestions that it had encouraged EAOs to reject the NCA. The UWSA is also quick to point out that China is invited as an observer only because of its status as a neighbor, although at other times it perhaps hides behind China's "wishes" as an excuse for certain decisions it makes. The relationship is better described as the UWSA making its own autonomous decisions, while taking into account how China might view these actions.

Disengaged?

The BBC's analysis following its visit in 2016 wrote of the Wa: "detached from both national and international laws, they do exactly as they please. And they do not want to change." This lazy and flippant mischaracterization served only to portray the UWSA as removed, stubborn, and narrow-minded, lacking a political strategy.

The UWSA has always made the case for an autonomous Wa State, yet insists that it does not call for secession or independence. Mistranslations between Burmese, Chinese, and English have often led to misunderstandings around political terminology such as "autonomy", "independence", "state", and "federalism", causing uncertainty around motivations and intentions.

The UWSA's engagement has been shaped by the uncertainties of its negotiating partners. It stayed out of peace negotiations prior to 2015 because it did not want to be used by the Myanmar government to pressure other smaller EAOs to the negotiating table. The policy was to let everyone make their minds up on their own. Premature rumors frequently circulate about the willingness of the UWSA to sign the NCA, creating confusion amongst its allies, and is part of the motivation to create a unified stance under the FPNCC.

The UWSA has long been seen as militarily strong yet politically unsophisticated and isolationist by its allies, but these perceptions are shifting as "admiration" builds for its ability to resist pressures from the Myanmar government. In reality, little has changed, and the UWSA's stance towards the ceasefire has been consistent throughout – they frequently cite the fact that there is already a bilateral ceasefire in place, and hence further signings are meaningless. Yet they have shown a willingness to compromise under the right conditions, as they did in 2011 when they re-signed a ceasefire with the junta.

Reticence towards the peace process should not be interpreted as disinterest. Speaking about Min Aung Hlaing's insistence on NCA acceptance, the UWSA's External Relations Head replied: "It is not a problem. He has his own stand and we have our own stand. If we have the same stands, there won't be conflicts. It is not strange. We will meet frequently and negotiate in the future to find an answer." The UWSA refuses to be hurried into negotiations, and hence appears indifferent at times, but this does not mean an unwillingness to compromise, should the conditions be right.

UWSA Self-imaginaries

This behavior is perfectly consistent with the self-imaginaries of the UWSA, which sees itself as autonomous, self-reliant, resolute, and united. When asked about former Shan "druglord" Khun Sa in an interview with Phoenix News, Chairman Bao Youxiang of the UWSA replied that Khun Sa "was a businessman, like water he flowed wherever he flowed". By contrast, he presented the UWSA as "a rock that cannot be moved".

While contradictions exist within their self-portrayal, the UWSA insists that it will never fire the first shot; and leaders pride themselves on the value of their promises, exemplified by Chairman Bao's once hyperbolic claim that he would "cut his head off" if opium was still grown in Wa Region after the ban. Yet it is precisely a pride in their promises that often keeps them out of agreements they fear they cannot fulfill. At such times they prefer to withdraw or remain silent.

Self-reliance is central to the UWSA imaginary, with its refusal to be coerced or threatened into signing agreements. The UWSA carefully protects its supply routes and key locations, safeguarding strategic interests. Disagreements and standoffs on the northern and southern boundaries of Wa Region have occurred from time to time, but without serious escalation. Threats to these corridors are the most likely to spark open conflict, conversely, avoiding them renders outbreaks of fighting highly unlikely.

The UWSA leadership recalls the deadlock and futility of warfare under the CPB during the 1970s and 80s, the casualties suffered fighting Khun Sa in the 1990s, and the difficulty of holding terrain. They have no wish to return to warfare nor to expand their territory.

The UWSA is also proud of unity within their ranks, and the avoidance of factionalism. This consistency of their stances is their pride – authoritative, unchanging, and straightforward – and while interpreted as intransigence by observers, the UWSA are perplexed and dismayed by factionalism and changing stances amongst other EAOs. On this basis, the UWSA originally proposed a top-down approach to peace negotiations, one that was roundly rejected in favor of a more acceptable bottom-up approach. Yet following the 3rd UPC, there appear to be calls for a return to narrower top-level discussions.

The logic of power in Wa Region also comes with an obligation for provision and generosity. For the UWSA to respect the government's authority, the government must demonstrate a basic sincerity in providing for its subjects. Many requests are small, and failures to meet them all the more discouraging. For instance, the UWSA has a longstanding request that the government provide identity documents to people in Wa Region. Yet this has been inadequately met, on one occasion in 2015 a meager 150 or so were issued by Myanmar Immigration. Such gestures of stinginess provoke only disdain amongst the UWSA.

Engaging the UWSA

As Yun Sun notes, key difficulties facing national reconciliation with the Myanmar government are the creation of a "Wa State" and the status of the UWSA's territory on the Thailand border. With a supposed 30,000 soldiers, and as leaders of the FPNCC, the UWSA cannot be ignored in any political solution, nor will it cede any territory easily.

A first step would entail searching for avenues through which ties can be built across the Salween River. Here, the international community can and should play a serious part. The UWSA has constantly appealed for development aid and technical assistance. International organizations should seek engagement and development interventions in Wa Region if they take national reconciliation, peace-building, and conflict management seriously rather than paying lip service to it.

Development organizations worked in Wa Region from the late 1990s as part of opium substitution efforts. The UWSA banned opium growing in 2005, and international organizations provided food security and livelihood support. At its peak in 2010, nine organizations worked in Wa Region. But the Kokang crisis of 2009 and Border Guard Force demands of the Tatmadaw, as well as shifting funding priorities, meant that all but three had withdrawn by 2012. For the UWSA, it seemed that appeals for aid had fallen on deaf ears: "just as we had begun to learn how to work with them, they have left."

The World Food Programme has worked on food security in Wa Region since 2004, but its programs have been scaled down owing to a lack of funding and shifting priorities. From annual food distributions of thousands of tons, it now runs only school-cooked meals for nearly 130 out of the 400 schools across the region. Malteser International and Health Poverty Action still have a handful of clinics in Pangkham and activities across the region – one of the few remaining links to the UWSA. Since 2014, many others organized missions, data-gathering visits, and surveys, but having made overtures, collected information, and shaken hands, they never returned. The UWSA finds this mode of operating hard to comprehend.

People in Wa Region remain desperately poor. The absence of updated and reliable statistics is in itself an indicator of its marginalization from development initiatives. Food security is between 6-9 months in many townships, and health and education indicators dismal. The attrition rate of students between Grade 1 and Grade 6 is 92 percent. Extrapolating from the 2014 Census report, literacy in all languages is at an appalling 22.5 percent.

Many in the development community see access to Wa Region as too dependent on security constraints, programs not cost-effective due to high terrain and transport costs, interventions not sufficiently "impactful" owing to the lack of partners for holistic and sustainable interventions, and the UWSA as too elementary and difficult to work with. But more importantly, they see it as too high a political risk. For these reasons, the EAO most central to the peace process has not been strategically engaged. This is a shame.

Engaging the UWSA requires trust-building, one that takes time and sustained presence, which NGOs and international organizations can provide through development assistance. While the Tatmadaw might be keen to deprive the UWSA of any support, such an arrangement actually makes sense for it and the Myanmar government. By permitting or even facilitating international organizations to work in Wa Region, it will be seen as providing for its subjects, at no cost to itself. Any development assistance is in any case a fraction of other revenue in Wa Region. With about 30 percent of schools in Wa Region teaching Burmese language, and the possibility of scaling up, the prospect of a shared language for future generations is invaluable. Most importantly, sustained international presence in Wa Region provides a possible channel and more potential mediators, balancing the UWSA's reliance on China as the middleman.

This too makes sense for China since its goals in the peace process cannot be easily achieved by working alone. China's unilateral intentions and actions will always be regarded with suspicion as to its true motives. Working with the international community lends legitimacy to the valuable input and inroads it has already made. Nor is there any genuine chance of international actors supplanting its lead and favored position with the UWSA.

Andrew Ong is a postdoctoral fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University.

This article originally appeared in Tea Circle, a forum hosted at Oxford University for emerging research and perspectives on Burma/Myanmar.

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Reuters Journalists Face Verdict Next Week on Myanmar Secrets Charges

Posted: 20 Aug 2018 09:26 PM PDT

YANGON — The judge in the trial of two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar on accusations of obtaining secret state documents said on Monday he will deliver his verdict on Aug. 27, in a case seen as a test of press freedom in the fledgling democracy.

The judge set the date after hearing closing arguments from both sides, during which lawyers for the two journalists said they had been “trapped” by police in an effort to interfere with their reporting of a massacre of Rohingya Muslims.

“The duty of the reporter is to reveal the truth,” said lead defense lawyer Khin Maung Zaw. “Some people may not be okay with that truth.”

Khin Maung Zaw said the prosecution had failed to establish that the documents at the heart of the case were sought out by the reporters or that they were a threat to national security, crucial components of the case against them.

The court in Yangon has been holding hearings since January to decide whether, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, are guilty of breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

At the time of their arrest last year, the two reporters were working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State, during an army crackdown that United Nations’ agencies say sent some 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh.

Lead prosecutor Kyaw Min Aung outlined the state’s case against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, whose actions, he said, showed they “intended to harm” the country. By acquiring documents that could pose a threat to the state if their contents were obtained by extremist groups, he said, the pair were working for the benefit of Reuters rather than for the national interest.

“Reuters is a foreign news agency that pays its reporters in dollars,” he said. “It was found from the reporters that they sent their news to Reuters and their own evidence shows that Reuters sells news for money.”

Defense lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said it was obvious Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reporters and the court had heard no testimony to suggest they were spies.

“The government has not designated Reuters an enemy of the nation,” he added.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay could not be reached for comment on Monday. He has mostly declined to comment throughout the proceedings, saying Myanmar’s courts are independent.

Reuters said in a statement there was no basis for a conviction and that it looked forward to the reporters’ acquittal, which it said would be an important step towards demonstrating Myanmar’s commitment to the rule of law, freedom of the press, and democracy.

“The evidence before the court is clear: Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are two honest reporters who did not commit a crime,” said the new agency in the statement. “Imprisoning them for even one more day would be unlawful retribution for their truthful and important journalism.”

“Baby Girl"

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have told the court they were entrapped by police officials who planted documents on them shortly before their arrest on Dec. 12. They say Police Lance Corporal Naing Lin and another officer handed them the documents in a rolled-up newspaper at a Yangon restaurant.

A police captain, Moe Yan Naing, testified that a superior officer had instructed his subordinates, including Naing Lin, to “trap” the reporters. Naing Lin has told the court he met the reporters, but denied giving them anything.

The reporters have said they were hooded, handcuffed, and deprived of sleep during days of interrogation.

The case has captured global attention and has come to be seen as a test of press freedom and reforms in Myanmar, where the military still wields considerable influence. Senior UN officials, Western nations and press freedom advocates have called for the release of the two journalists. The courtroom on Monday was filled with foreign diplomats and observers.

Wa Lone’s wife, Pan Ei Mon, who earlier this month gave birth to the couple’s first child, was not present. After the hearing, Kyaw Soe Oo’s wife, Chit Su Win, carried their three-year-old daughter out of the court as she sobbed “papa”.

Speaking to reporters, Wa Lone said he hoped the court would rule in their favor.

“We firmly believe that the court will make a fair decision and will free us,” he said. “I firmly believe that, before long, I will be able to return to my baby girl.”

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Trump Says ‘Most Likely’ to Meet North Korea’s Kim Again

Posted: 20 Aug 2018 09:21 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would “most likely” meet again with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while defending his efforts to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

In an interview with Reuters, Trump, who held a landmark summit with Kim on June 12, said he believed North Korea had taken specific steps toward denuclearization, despite widespread doubts about Kim’s willingness to abandon his arsenal.

While insisting that “a lot of good things are happening” with North Korea, Trump complained that China was not helping as much as it had in the past because of its trade dispute with the United States.

Trump, who faced the North Korean challenge as soon as he took office in January 2017, said he had only been working on the North Korean issue for three months whereas his predecessors had been working on it for 30 years.

“I stopped [North Korea’s] nuclear testing. I stopped [North Korea’s] missile testing. Japan is thrilled. What’s going to happen? Who knows? We’re going to see,” he said.

At their summit in Singapore, Kim agreed in broad terms to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But North Korea has given no indication it is willing to give up its weapons unilaterally as the Trump administration has demanded.

Trump has hailed the Singapore summit as a success and went as far as saying North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat.

South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Tuesday Trump’s mention of the possibility of another summit with Kim could be a sign of progress in their relations.

“We think it is part of a process for achieving the two leaders’ resolve for the denuclearization and peace of the Korean peninsula,” spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed at their summit in April to push to declare an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War together with the United States.

Seoul officials see the UN General Assembly in New York next month as a desirable venue for the declaration but said they are flexible about its formality.

“We hope that North Korea-US relations would make rapid progress and bear fruit,” the spokesman said.

The Washington-based think tank 38 North reported last month that satellite images indicated North Korea had begun dismantling key facilities at a site used to develop engines for ballistic missiles, in a first step toward fulfilling a pledge US officials say he made to Trump at the summit.

However, several members of the US negotiating team, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they had seen no progress toward denuclearization and no sign that North Korea was prepared to negotiate seriously until the United States promised relief from sanctions in return.

Last month Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a Senate committee hearing that North Korea was continuing to produce fuel for nuclear bombs, and a US official said US spy satellites detected renewed activity at the North Korean factory that produced missiles capable of reaching the United States.

In the interview, Trump credited his “great chemistry” with Kim for easing a nuclear standoff that last year raised fears of a new Korean war.

“I like him. He likes me,” he said. “There’s no ballistic missiles going up, there’s a lot of silence … I have very good personal relations with Chairman Kim, and I think that’s what holds it together.”

Asked whether another meeting with Kim was on the horizon, Trump said: “It’s most likely we will, but I just don’t want to comment.” But he offered no details on the timing or venue.

Critics say Trump made too many concessions to Kim by agreeing to hold the summit in the first place and then suspending joint US-South Korea military drills while gaining little in return.

Asked whether North Korea had taken specific steps to denuclearize other than blowing up its main nuclear bomb test site ahead of the summit, Trump said: “I do believe they have.” But he did not elaborate.

He also pointed to North Korea’s pre-summit handover of three American detainees.

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