Monday, October 8, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Dhaka Summons Myanmar Ambassador Over Maritime Border Dispute

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 08:02 AM PDT

DHAKA—The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned Myanmar's ambassador to protest the publication of several maps showing Bangladesh's St. Martin's Island as being part of Myanmar territory.

M Khurshed Alam, the secretary of the ministry's Maritime Affairs Unit, summoned Myanmar Ambassador Lwin Oo to the ministry in the capital Dhaka and lodged a strong protest.

The Dhaka-based New Age daily reported that the ambassador was told that the Bangladesh government had identified at least three websites run by Myanmar authorities showing St. Martin's Island as part of Myanmar, and was questioned about the motives for the publication of the maps.

The ambassador was also told that including Bangladesh territory in maps of Myanmar could harm relations between the neighboring countries.

Myanmar's Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population used doctored maps showing St. Martin's Island as part of Myanmar and shared them with several international websites, according to the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry.

All international political maps—including those drawn up in 1937; those created during the 1947 partition of India; those created at the time of Myanmar's independence from British rule in 1948; and those created at the time of Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971—have shown St. Martin's Island as an integral part of Bangladesh's territory, Bangladesh officials said.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea also showed St. Martin's Island as part of Bangladesh in its maps presented in a verdict settling a dispute on the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in 2012, the officials said.

Myanmar accepted Bangladesh's jurisdiction over St. Martin's Island in a bilateral instrument signed between the two countries in 1974, they said.

Ambassador Oo admitted that showing St. Martin's Island as Myanmar territory was a mistake, according to Bangladesh officials.

Myanmar officials in Dhaka did not respond to The Irrawaddy's request for comment.

The Bangladesh side also handed over a diplomatic note to the Myanmar ambassador demanding immediate rectification of the forged maps and an investigation to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

The row over faulty maps comes amid diplomatic efforts by the two countries to begin the repatriation of ethnic minority Rohingya from Bangladesh to Rakhine State.

About 720,000 Rohingya, mostly women, children and elderly people, fled "security operations" by the Myanmar military in Rakhine beginning on Aug. 25, 2017, after a series of attacks on Myanmar security outposts by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

The United Nations denounced the security operations as "ethnic cleansing" and as having "genocidal intent".

The Rohingya influx into Bangladesh has continued and the number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh is now over 1 million.

A former Bangladesh diplomat told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar's claims to St. Martin's Island and another Bangladeshi island, Shah Parir Dwip, date back to the time Dhaka lodged a formal complaint with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea over a dispute concerning the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal in January 2010.

The former diplomat said that issue was considered settled, however, after the tribunal delivered its judgment in March 2012.

"We suspect Myanmar wanted to test Bangladesh's reaction. And we reacted seriously," he said.

Mohammad Nurul Islam, a researcher on Bangladesh-Myanmar relations based in Cox's Bazar, told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar's intention is to distract attention from Rohingya repatriation by claiming the island as its territory.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Bangladesh has asked the country's Foreign Ministry to play an active role to ensure that Myanmar Army personnel involved in atrocities against the Rohingya are brought to trial in international courts.

In a statement, NHRC chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque called for stepped up diplomatic efforts to impose international economic sanctions on Myanmar in order to increase pressure on Naypyitaw to take back the Rohingya while ensuring their citizenship and human rights are respected.

Describing the repatriation instruments signed by the Myanmar authorities so far as "eyewash", Hoque requested the Foreign Ministry arrange an international conference and concert to mobilize global support to expedite the repatriation process.

The post Dhaka Summons Myanmar Ambassador Over Maritime Border Dispute appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Action Plan for Women’s Rights and Needs to be Implemented in Mon State

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 07:30 AM PDT

MAWLAMYINE, Mon State—Women from Mon State calling for their rights and needs in peace and development will soon have their concerns developed into an action plan, Myanmar's Minister of Pa-O Ethnic Affairs Daw San Wint Khine said.

From August through October 2017, more than 1,300 women from across the state participated in local consultations organized by the Mon State government, parliament, and civil society groups with the support of UN Women Myanmar.

Through discussions held at 10 townships in Mon State, women voiced cases of inequality they have faced and their concerns and priorities they wish to have addressed regarding peace and development in their state.

Discussion participants included administrators, village heads, officers from the department of social welfare and rural development, teachers from government schools and police officers.

Minister Daw San Wint Khine said there were demands from participants at village, township and state levels for laws prohibiting gender-based violence to be passed and for perpetrators of sexual violence to be punished without impunity.

Mon State has seen an increasing number of rape cases against minors aged 16 years old and below, according to local women's rights groups. Yet, the rights activists stressed, in many incidents, the rapists aren't punished as they are not taken to court because instead the case is settled through negotiation, often involving compensation.

During the discussions late last year, women also demanded sexual and reproductive health awareness programs and training at community level, Minister Daw San Wint Khine said.

In discussing the issue of economic challenges, women voiced demands for guarantees of equal [daily] wages between men and women, as well as to enact laws guaranteeing women's safety in the workplace.

In education, women called for an end to the practice of assessing male and female students' matriculation exam scores differently for university acceptance and to open training centers for orphaned, homeless and vulnerable youth.

A 30 percent quota of women in village administration was also demanded for the women's participation in leadership.

"We will develop an action plan to implement their demands," said Daw San Wint Khine.

The needs and priorities identified by the women regarding peace and development in their state were presented to the Union government this year and they are awaiting approval to develop an action plan, she said.

"I hope to launch the action plan at the end of this year," she added.

A regional lawmaker from Thaton Township, Daw Khine Khine Lei, who chairs the Mon State Parliament's Women and Children's Rights Committee, said education for young girls in the state should be a priority in the action plan.

Many young girls have been forced to drop out school and go to neighboring countries to work to support their families, she said, adding that this can consequently be connected with trafficking cases, forced marriage and adolescent pregnancy.

Ma Cherry Soe from Mon Women's Network said that after the action plan is drafted, she hopes it will address gender-based discrimination and violence in the state which women face in their day-to-day lives.

The women's rights activist said turning the policies into actions would be most important.

"It is important for the action plan not only to be on paper but also to be implemented," she said.

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Karen Armed Group Wants Summit With State Counselor, Military Chief Delayed

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 06:12 AM PDT

Mon State — The Karen National Union (KNU) says it wants a summit with the state counselor and military chief tentatively set for Oct. 15 delayed and the intended scope of discussion expanded.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing are to sit down with leaders of the country’s armed groups outside of Mandalay to try and break down roadblocks in the peace process dealing with the military’s demands that the groups promise not to secede from the union and agree to a single national army.

On Saturday, in a statement capping a two-day central committee meeting, the KNU said the armed groups needed more time to prepare for the summit and that the groups would meet among themselves in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Wednesday and Thursday to coordinate their position.

"We believed it is important to negotiate to overcome these deadlock issues in order to create a federal system,” the statement said.

KNU General Secretary P’doh Saw Tah Doh Moo told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the summit should specifically encompass the armed groups’ long-standing calls for a federal system for Myanmar as well as their concerns with the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), which many of them have not yet signed.

He said the NCA, for example, precludes discussion of the military’s code of conduct, which makes it difficult for the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee to perform its function of adjudicating disputes when fighting breaks out.

"We need to discuss why we cannot talk about military issues at the meeting," said P’doh Saw Tah Doh Moo.

He said the KNU also wants to ask the military why it was restricting the group’s development projects and training practices when the NCA, which it signed in 2015, allows it to play a role in the development and education, health and security sectors in the areas it controls.

"We [the military and armed groups] have different understandings, so we have not reached an agreement," he said.

In its statement, the KNU said the government should also be fostering the right conditions to allow armed groups that have not signed the NCA to take an active part in the peace process as well.

The post Karen Armed Group Wants Summit With State Counselor, Military Chief Delayed appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

State Counselor Encourages Japanese Investment in Myanmar

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 05:43 AM PDT

YANGON—Myanmar's State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has invited Japanese investors to seek investment opportunities in Myanmar as she believes that Japan has a deep understanding of the country's struggle in the Rakhine crisis and peace process.

On Monday, in her keynote speech at the Myanmar Investment Conference in Tokyo, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told Japanese business people, "Please come and visit us, and see for yourselves," saying that Myanmar has improving economic opportunities and a positive environment for businesses.

She revealed her appreciation for Japan's understanding and help during a time when tensions have been mounting between Myanmar and the rest of world, during an exclusive interview with NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, on Saturday.

Myanmar recently launched a free-visa system for tourists from Japan, South Korean and China's Hong Kong and Macau, an effort to counter the significant fall in tourist numbers to the country due to the Rakhine crisis.

The state counselor stressed that Japanese citizens no longer need to apply for Myanmar visas and she encouraged investors to come and see with their own eyes the business opportunities in the country.

The Myanmar government has been making reforms in both politics and the economic sector since the National League for Democracy took office in 2016. The government has introduced new investment laws and the Myanmar Companies Law which will give more confidence to foreign investors, she said.

She said some of the major reforms are less visible, for example, the reform to strengthen macroeconomic management which is essential for economic stability and helps to attract increased investment. Though those reforms are not visible to most people, the impact will become more obvious in the long term.

"The long-term [is] what we are thinking of all the time," she added.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is currently in Japan for the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit led by Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe. Leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam will also attend the conference. The discussion aims to focus on Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, which aims to counterbalance China's growing influence in the region via its Belt and Road Initiative. According to Japan, the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy will promote quality infrastructure development in countries along the Mekong River.

She told attendees that the Myanmar government has announced the "Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan" which includes assortments of 250 smaller plans such as state priorities for national reconciliation, economic transparency, rule of law and good governance.

The government seeks to leave the status of "least developed country" behind by making major economic reforms and reducing poverty in the country. The government has been trying to decrease inflation although it is hard to do, she added.

Economic reforms are a key goal for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government in order to complete Myanmar's democratic transition after almost six decades of isolation under military dictatorship. However, Myanmar has been facing an economic slowdown and decline in foreign direct investment since the country's image has been badly tarnished by the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State.

In August, the chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, U Thaung Tun said that foreign investments dropped by nearly $900 million during the 2017-2018 fiscal year compared to 2016-2017.

The state counselor mentioned the importance of political stability during the conference.

She said politics and economics are related and that if there is no political stability, the country will lack of economic stability.

Since Myanmar began to open its economy in 2010, Japan has been actively involved in development projects in the country ranging from financial sector development to railway, road and energy networks. The Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is the first Japan-Myanmar public-private initiative to be implemented here as a 2,342-hectare industrial area outside of Yangon.

Japanese investment in Myanmar reached $252 million in 2012, $55 million in 2013, $1 billion in 2014, $590 million in 2015 and $280 million in 2016. It peaked in 2017 at $1.48 billion. Japan is the 10th largest investor among the foreign investors in Myanmar according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration.

During her six-day visit, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has visited Fukushima Prefecture on Sunday to tour a farm, seeking solutions to tackle the serious labor shortage of farm workers in Myanmar. She also visited to the Cocoroya farmers market where a variety of organic vegetables are sold.

The state counselor will attend the 10th Mekong-Japan summit on Tuesday morning. She will hold a bilateral meeting with Japan's prime minister in the evening. The discussion is expected to focus on government reforms, development, Japan's infrastructure support, the promotion of people-to-people relations and development aid for Rakhine State.

The post State Counselor Encourages Japanese Investment in Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Scores of Arakan Protesters Rally Outside Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 05:36 AM PDT

YANGON—About 70 Arakanese staged a protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday afternoon to demand the release of two prominent Arakan figures currently detained in Myanmar on treason charges. The demonstration was timed to coincide with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to Japan.

Myanmar's de facto leader has been in the country since Friday to attend the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit.

The rally was organized by the Arakan Youth Union (AYU-Japan), which comprises university students and others residing and working in Japan. The group requested permission to stage the rally from the Japanese authorities one month in advance, in line with procedures. In Japan, protest event organizers are also required to obtain approval from residents living near a rally event.

Dozens of Arakanese protest against the Myanmar government's policies in Rakhine State in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday. / AYU

AYU chairman U Soe Naing told The Irrawaddy over the phone right after the rally on Monday that the protesters made six demands of the Myanmar government: the immediate release of Arakanese politician U Aye Maung and author and social activist Ko Wai Han Aung, who were arrested in January and charged under the High Treason Law and the Unlawful Association Act; an end to legal action against those who have completed their sentences for participating in a spontaneous demonstration in Mrauk-U which was brutally cracked suppressed by police, leaving seven civilians dead; freedom of movement for Arakanese across the country; the immediate cleanup of the contaminated Thanzit River in Rakhine State's Kyaukphyu; and the unconditional release of all Arakanese political prisoners.

Protester Ko Thaw Zin Phyo said the demonstration began at around 3:30 p.m. Tokyo time and ended at around 4.40 p.m. He said the aim of the protest was to draw attention to what he described as the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government's mishandling of the situation in Rakhine and to hold Daw Aung San Suu Kyi responsible as a representative of the government.

"We staged this protest on behalf of the Rakhine public because, as you know, there are a number of issues happening in Rakhine State… including the ban on Arakanese 11 ID holders traveling to other regions,” said Thaw Zin Phyo, referring to the numerical code that identifies the Arakan region on national ID cards.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's visit has become a source of conflict between the AYU and other Myanmar residents of Japan who support the government. The Myanmar Democratic Network (Japan) (MDN), a Tokyo-based group comprising members from various ethnic groups, released a letter on Oct. 3 regretting the AYU's decision to stage a protest. Urging the AYU to rethink its position, the MDN statement said the protest could potentially have a negative outcome and would only sow disunity among ethnic groups.

Dozens of Arakanese protest against the Myanmar government's policies in Rakhine State in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday. / AYU

It said the protest against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would only undermine the efforts of the current government to solve the current problems in northern Rakhine. MDN member U Mai Kyaw Oo said that while the elected civilian government was not perfect, it was doing what it could in the face of many constraints under the provisions of the 2008 Constitution and the group would therefore continue to support it.

U Mai Kyaw Oo claimed that MDN had learned that other groups were coordinating with foreigners, international rights groups and "Bengalis" (a contentious term used by many members of the Buddhist majority in Myanmar to refer to Rohingya) to stage protests targeting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit.

One of the State Counselor's supporters based in Japan, U Tun Wai, was quoted in a report by Voice of America (VOA)'s Burmese-language version published on Oct. 6 as saying that Arakanese youth and "Bengalis" planned to jointly protest against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to the embassy in Tokyo on Monday.

AYU members rejected the claim and accused the dominant Bamar group of defaming the AYU. Ko Thaw Zin Phyo claimed that eventually some NLD lobbyists came to observe the rally along with Muslim colleagues on Monday.

Ko Thaw Zin Phyo said that, "At first, we had great hopes for the current government, but now we expect nothing from them.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's current six-day trip is her third official visit to Japan, but her first as a state dignitary. She visited once in her capacity as chairperson of the NLD and once in 2016 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Leaders attending the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit will discuss industries and infrastructure in the Mekong region.

The post Scores of Arakan Protesters Rally Outside Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Nationalist Writer Handed 2-Year Jail Term For Incitement

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 05:12 AM PDT

YANGON/MANDALAY — A court in Minkin Township, Sagaing Region, on Monday sentenced a nationalist writer to the maximum two years in prison for incitement over a speech he made there in March, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Maung Thway Chuun, also known as U Myin Soe, had been on trial since June under Article 505 (c) of the Penal Code, which covers the incitement of conflict between ethnic or religious groups. He was sued by U Naing Naing Zaw, a local government administrator.

"The court said he was found guilty for making a speech that could stir up conflict between the different communities and that he was sentenced to two years,” said U Pyae Sone Aung, the official’s lawyer.

In his speech, Maung Thway Chuun said Myanmar was once again at risk of being colonized and that the country’s race, religion and identity were in danger of disappearing.

He also said that the current speakers of the Upper House and Lower House of Parliament were Christian, that Buddhists had no chance of gaining senior legislative positions, and that laws protecting race and religions in Myanmar would soon be repealed.

Maung Thway Chuun reportedly tried to form a political party, the Nationalist Union Party, with members of the outlawed Association to Protect Race and Religions, a nationalist group better known by its Myanmar acronym Ma Ba Tha. The Union Election Commission rejected its application in November.

Ashin Agga Dazza, a prominent nationalist monk from Mandalay Region who attending the court’s announcement, said the sentence was too harsh.

"The penalty is too much because it is the maximum penalty stated in Article 505 (c). We believe the government is intentionally persecuting nationalists and we are saddened by this," he said.

Translated from Burmese and additional reporting by Zarni Mann.

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Local Armed Groups Condemn Killing of Abbot in Northern Shan

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 04:09 AM PDT

MANDALAY– Ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State condemned the killing of a Buddhist abbot in Kyaukme Township, urging the government to investigate the case and identify the culprits, on Sunday.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) both issued statements regarding the death of U Kalayna Wuntha, the head abbot of Shwe Kyin Monastery in Kyaukme Township, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Oct. 5.

"We are shocked by the act of the gunmen who fired several shots at the Shwe Kyin Sayardaw till he died and we strongly condemn it," said the statement issued on Sunday by the TNLA.

"We urge the government and the local authorities to investigate and find out the culprit as soon as possible and to take legal action against them," said the TNLA statement.

In a separate statement issued by the RCSS faction of the Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), the group said it will join hands with locals to investigate the incident which threatens their policy of protecting race, religion, the Buddha's mission and the country.

"RCSS/SSA is strongly against any violence which is happening in Shan State and we will join hands with the local community to find out the culprit who is behind the death of the Shwe Kyin Sayardaw," said RCSS/SSA's statement released on Oct. 7.

Since Kyaukme is an area where both the TNLA and the RCSS/SSA are operating, locals believe the gunmen to be from one of the ethnic armed groups.

U Kalayana Wuntha (46), widely known as Shwe Kyin Sayardaw, was a leading Buddhist abbot who formed a charity group called Namtkhon in Kyaukme Township.

According to locals, the abbot always supported and accommodated displaced those who had to flee their homes during outbreaks of violent conflict in the area. He also stood strongly against battles in Shan State and once participated in an anti-war protest which was held in Kyaukme, as well as joining in the condemnation of the TNLA's abducting of Nang Mo Hom, a Shan woman of Namhkam Township.

A rumor spreading widely around Kyaukme is that members of the RCSS/SSA had met with the abbot, requesting him to act as a negotiator between the RCSS/SSA and the Shan State Progress Party faction of the Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), and when the abbot refused, a fight broke out between them.

However, The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm the identity of the gunmen as of Monday afternoon.

When The Irrawaddy contacted the police station in Kyaukme Township which is dealing with the incident, an on-duty officer confirmed the shooting but did not give further information about the gunmen.

"The sayardaw was shot at least seven times on his body and died due to the injuries. We only know there were two gunmen who came on two motorcycles and one [motorcycle] was left at the monastery. We cannot provide details yet as the case is still under investigation," said the officer at Kyaukme Police Station.

The Shan State Joint Action Committee and the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) also issued statements on Sunday condemning the shooting of the abbot, declaring the incident a breach of the rule of law and a threat to peace and stability in the region.

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Sculpture of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Auctioned for $80,000 at Charity Event

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 02:37 AM PDT

YANGON—A sculpture of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was auctioned at a charity event on Friday and went to the highest bidder for $80,000.

The clay sculpture by Norwegian artist Merete Sejersted Bødtker had a starting price of 50 million kyats ($33,800) and was one of four pieces auctioned at the black tie charity auction event "Music & Memories" held in aid of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation on Friday evening at the Sedona Hotel in Yangon.

The highest bidder for the sculpture was U Sai Myo Win, chairman of Excellent Fortune Development Group, which has projects in mineral production, construction, real estate trading and infrastructure projects, among others.

"This sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi was created by me—on my initiative alone—in 2012, and cast in bronze in February 2013. I have donated one portrait to the non-profit Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, in trust that they live up to their goal and vision," said sculptor Merete Sejersted Bødtker by email.

Another artwork, a portrait painting of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by local artist U Lun Gywe, had a starting price of 10 million kyats ($6,700) and was sold for $43,000 to a public company, Shin Than Thu Co. Ltd.

A portrait of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi painted by artist U Lun Gywe which was sold for $43,000 at the charity auction on October 5. / Sedona Hotel Yangon / Facebook

The Daw Khin Kyi Foundation is a charity established by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 2012 in honor of her late mother Daw Khin Kyi. It is involved in fundraising and charity projects in the areas of health, education and development, mostly in rural parts of Myanmar. Friday's event, attended by many of Myanmar's affluent and famous characters, raised a total of $154,000 for the foundation.

"We will use [the funds] for our three main long-term projects. We have a mobile libraries project which is working in 11 cities. The second project is our hospitality and catering vocational training school in Kawmhu, which has 130 graduates each year. The third major project is a wider humanitarian assistance project which involves things like disaster relief for flooding and earthquake victims, and infrastructure," said U Thant Thaw Kaung, executive committee member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation.

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Interpol Chief Meng Hongwei Under Investigation, China Says

Posted: 07 Oct 2018 09:07 PM PDT

BEIJING/PARIS — China said on Sunday it was investigating Meng Hongwei for suspected wrongdoing after the head of the global law enforcement organization Interpol and Chinese vice minister for security was reported missing in France.

The statement by a Chinese anti-graft body was the first official word from China about Meng since his disappearance was reported in France on Friday. Meng had been reported missing by his wife after travelling last month from France, where Interpol is based, to China.

“Public Security Ministry Vice Minister Meng Hongwei is currently under investigation by the National Supervisory Commission for suspected violations of law,” the Chinese anti-corruption body said in a brief statement on its website.

Interpol said later that Meng had resigned as president of the organization, and that South Korean national Kim Jong Yang would become its acting president, while it would appoint a new president at a Nov 18-21 meeting of the organization in Dubai.

Interpol said earlier over the weekend that it had asked Beijing to clarify Meng’s situation.

“Today, Sunday 7 October, (at) the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France received the resignation of Mr. Meng Hongwei as President of Interpol with immediate effect,” Interpol said in a statement on Sunday.

When asked about the Chinese announcement on Sunday, France’s Interior Ministry said it had no information.

The French ministry said last Friday that Meng’s family had not heard from him since Sept. 25, and French authorities said his wife was under police protection after getting threats.

Husband's Warning to Wife?

French police have been investigating what is officially termed in France a “worrying disappearance."

Local French media broadcast a video, which they said was from Meng’s wife Grace, in which she issued a brief statement from a hotel in Lyon to express her concerns. Reuters could not confirm the comments attributed to her.

“As long as I can’t see my husband in front of me, speaking to me, I can’t have any confidence,” Grace Meng was quoted as saying by French TV stations and Sunday newspapers.

The websites of French papers broadcast video clips showing Meng speaking in a trembling voice, with her back to a TV camera in order to hide her appearance.

“This is a matter for the international community. This matter belongs to my motherland,” she added in the video clips.

French media also reported that Meng’s husband had recently sent her a mobile phone message featuring a knife image, as a way of showing her that he felt he was in danger.

Meng, 64, was named to the post of Interpol president in late 2016, part of a broader Chinese effort to gain leadership positions in key international organizations.

Presidents of Interpol are seconded from their national administrations and remain in their home post while representing the international policing body.

Interpol, which groups 192 countries and is usually focused on finding people who are missing or wanted, is run on a day-to-day basis by its secretary general, German national Juergen Stock.

When Meng was named Interpol’s president, human rights groups expressed concern that Beijing might try to leverage his position to pursue dissidents abroad. Beijing has in the past pressed countries to arrest and deport to China citizens it accuses of crimes, from corruption to terrorism.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has been engaged in a crackdown on corruption.

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India’s Rohingya Refugees Struggle with Hatred, Fear as First Group is Expelled

Posted: 07 Oct 2018 09:01 PM PDT

JAMMU, India — Hours after Indian TV channels flashed that the country was deporting seven Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar, Sahidullah said he received a call from his nephew: “Uncle, please get us out of here. They will send us back too.”

Sahidullah, a Rohingya living in the far north of India after fleeing what he called persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar in 2010, said his relative, Sadiur Rahman, 40, was lodged in one of several detention centers for illegal immigrants in the distant northeastern state of Assam.

Rahman, he said, had been incarcerated with his brother and eight other relatives since being caught in 2012 at a railway station as they fled to India via Bangladesh. Sahidullah had taken the same route two years earlier, but like many others had escaped detection.

He said Rahman made the phone call when he was taken out for a routine medical checkup on Oct. 3, the day when India moved the seven Rohingya men out of a similar detention center and took them to the border.

They were handed to the Myanmar authorities the next day, the first ever such deportations of Rohingya here, spreading panic among an estimated 40,000 refugees who have fled to India from its neighbor.

About 16,500 of the refugees, including Sahidullah, have been issued identity cards by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that it says helps them “prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation."

India says it does not recognize the cards and has rejected the UN’s stand that deporting the Rohingya violates the principle of refoulement – sending back refugees to a place where they face danger.

“Anyone who has entered the country without a valid legal permit is considered illegal,” said A. Bharat Bhushan Babu, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs. “As per the law, anyone illegal will have to be sent back. As per law they will be repatriated.”

In recent days, Reuters interviewed dozens of Rohingya in two settlements, one in the northern city of Jammu and a smaller one in the capital, Delhi, and found communities who feel they are being increasingly vilified.

Many now fear Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government is about to act on its stated position – that it wants to deport all Rohingya Muslims from the country. With a general election due by next May, they worry that targeting them will be a populist tactic used by Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Addressing an election rally in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, BJP chief Amit Shah said that all illegal immigrants were “like termites eating into the nation’s security”.

“Elect us back next year and the BJP will not allow a single one of them to stay in this country,” Shah said, without specifically mentioning any group of migrants.

Hatred Growing

Sahidullah – who like many Rohingya goes by only one name – is not just worried about his detained relatives but also his family living in a mainly Hindu region of India’s only Muslim-dominated state, Jammu & Kashmir, in the country’s northern tip.

The restive Himalayan state that borders Pakistan and is home to Muslim separatists battling Indian rule, has the biggest population of Rohingya in the country with around 7,000 people scattered in various makeshift settlements, largely in the Jammu region.

“We came to India because people told us things were better here, there’s more work and one could move freely unlike back home,” said Sahidullah, who works as a cleaner at a car showroom in Jammu city to support his aging amnesiac mother, wife and four children.

“All that’s true and we are thankful to India for letting us live here. But hatred against us is growing,” he told Reuters as he sat on a colorful linen sheet laid on the floor of his self-made wood and plastic-sheet house built on a rented plot of land.

Mohammed Arfaat, a 24-year-old Rohingya youth leader in Jammu, said that locals often accuse them of having links with militants without any proof.

“They want us out of here and that has got our families worried,” said Arfaat, switching between English and Hindi as nearly a dozen community elders seated around him on the rough concrete floor of a Rohingya house started leaving for Friday prayers. “Everybody here is aware of the deportation and is afraid.”

Indian authorities said that the repatriation of the seven was a routine procedure and that it sends all illegal foreigners back home.

But the UNHCR voiced deep concern on Friday about the safety and security of those expelled, saying they had been denied access to legal counsel and a chance to have their asylum claims assessed.

“Current conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are not conducive for safe, dignified and sustainable return of stateless Rohingya refugees,” said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.

Most Rohingya used to live in Rakhine.

In August last year, attacks by Rohingya fighters on security posts in Rakhine led to a bloody military crackdown that caused around 700,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

The United Nations has accused Myanmar of acting against the Rohingya with “genocidal intent,” a charge Myanmar refutes, saying its military did not use excessive force and was reacting to militant attacks.

Increasingly Ugly

The atmosphere facing the Rohingya in India has been getting increasingly ugly.

Jammu’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry last year threatened to launch an “identify and kill movement” against the settlers, which it said pushed the government into taking the issue of Rohingya more seriously.

The chamber’s president, Rakesh Gupta, told Reuters on Friday that there was nothing new in taking the law into one’s hands if “someone becomes a threat to our security, to the nation’s security, and the security forces don’t tackle them."

In some of the more virulent parts of India's media, the Rohingya are not only accused of being terrorists but also of trafficking in drugs and humans, and of having the money to elbow out local businesses.

The Pioneer newspaper, which supports the BJP, said in an editorial on Saturday that “the Rohingya are a problem," declaring that those that are radicalized Islamist extremists need to be dealt with ruthlessly and the rest are economic migrants that India cannot afford to help.

India, which considers itself a victim of Islamist militancy and is trying to boost economic ties with Myanmar to counter China, said late last year that it shared Myanmar’s concern about “extremist violence” by Rohingya militants.

India’s home ministry has told the Supreme Court that it had reports from security agencies and other authentic sources “indicating linkages of some of the unauthorized Rohingya immigrants with Pakistan-based terror organizations and similar organizations operating in other countries."

“It’s definitely an election issue," said Kavinder Gupta, a BJP legislator in Jammu & Kashmir and former deputy chief minister of the state.

“It’s our decision to throw them out keeping in mind the security situation of the state,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a campaign meeting for municipal elections. “We have made the home ministry aware of the need to send them back to their country.”

Senior Jammu police officials said on condition of anonymity that they had identified all Rohingya in the area in preparation for their eventual deportation. They added they had not found any link of Rohingya with militants.

Around 600 km (370 miles) south of Jammu, residents of a makeshift refugee camp in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh also said they fear deportation.

“We don’t want to leave India. Where will we go?” said Mohammed Harun, a 47-year-old Rohingya elder in Delhi. “There are refugees from other countries in India too. Why are we being targeted? Why do they send us to jail? It is only because we are Muslims. They don’t do this to the other refugees.”

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Trials and Tribulations for Myanmar’s Travel Industry

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 07:30 PM PDT

Kyaw Kha: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, we'll discuss whether Myanmar is ready to receive international travelers. I'm The Irrawaddy chief reporter Kyaw Kha and I'm joined by U Khin Aung Tun, vice president of the Myanmar Tourism Federation, and tour operator Daw Sabei Aung.

On Monday, Myanmar granted visa exemptions for some Asian countries, which I think is a good move for the country's tourism industry as tour season is drawing near. So what is your take on the visa exemptions?

Khin Aung Tun: Tourist arrivals this year have declined by about 2 percent compared to the previous year. The number of Western travelers has declined especially due to the Rakhine crisis. So, [the Myanmar government] is pursuing a “look East” policy and granted visa exemptions for travelers from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Macao and issued visa-on-arrival for Chinese citizens as of Oct. 1. Taking a look at tourist figures for our country, travelers from Eastern countries accounted for some 70 percent, and those from Western countries around 30 percent. Those from Western countries stay longer and have more spending power than their Eastern counterparts. As their numbers have dwindled this year, we can conclude that our country’s tourism industry has declined. The visa relaxation introduced for travelers from Asian countries will help increase the number of tourist arrivals, and this will make up for the decline in Western travelers, I think.

KK: The visa relaxation is good for the country. But there is a Burmese saying: Guests will only come when your house is pleasant. How pleasant is our country to attract travelers? What requirements do we still need to fulfill?

Sabei Aung: We should think from the point of view of travelers. Yes, we have to preserve our traditions and culture. But at the same time we need to think globally. Myanmar is a very beautiful country with Inle Lake, Shwedagon Pagoda, mountains, snow-capped mountains, beaches and ancient pagodas like Bagan. But it is not Myanmar alone that has those things. Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand also have them, and they are much the same in the eyes of foreigners. I have visited Europe, and churches in Belgium or England or the Netherlands are much the same to me. I could differentiate them if I were to study a lot about their history. But to my eyes they appear the same. People are the same, the food is the same, the weather and environment are the same. Similarly, Asian countries are much the same in the eyes of Western travelers. When I was a tour guide, I had to make a lot of efforts to explain that the structure of Myanmar pagodas was different from those in Thailand. While travelers have to spend about $600 to visit Thailand, they have to spend about $ 2,000 to visit Myanmar. So travelers buy the cheaper tour packages from their tour operators. Price is one of the main points. I've frequently said that Myanmar is a tiny tourist spot on the tourist map. There are many people who don't know Myanmar. The total number of globetrotters is expected to be around 4 billion by 2020. But Myanmar only receives around 3 million visitors [a year] at present. So Myanmar has huge potential to receive more travelers. How can we attract them? Suppose they pay a high price and visit our country. They walk along U Bein Bridge and smell urine and see rubbish heaps riddled with flies. And they have to stay at hotels that do not meet international standards. If they have to pay $50 to $100 for a hotel room in Myanmar while they can get better facilities for around $20 in other countries, they won't want to come to Myanmar. We have blamed the western gate problem [the Rohingya crisis] for our country’s tourist decline. But then, if you analyze carefully, the decline is 50 percent because of high prices. You go to Vietnam and there are a sufficient number of clean toilets everywhere. And it is the same in Thailand. And they smell good. It has made huge investments in tourism, and it is ahead of us by 20 years. In Myanmar there is a problem with sanitation. I think about 70 percent of the tourism budget should be spent on regional cleanliness, environmental conservation and capacity building. Thirty percent is enough for tourism promotion campaigns, and the remaining 70 percent should be spent on beautifying the country. In tourism promotion campaigns in foreign countries we advertise that our country is beautiful. But when tourists come to Myanmar they find that it is just the opposite. There is a need to clearly understand which areas the tourism budget should be spent on.

KK: If we are to increase revenue from the tourism industry, reforms are necessary. What reforms do you think should be made? Or do you think the right people are not in the right places?

KAT: I'll talk about two things — short-term and long-term solutions. As for the short-term solutions, visa exemptions can be granted as authorities have done and border gates can be opened for tourism-related businesses such as hotels, restaurants, tour companies and tour guides to recover. At the same time, we should initiate reforms at the national level. In Singapore, there is a Singaporean Tourism Board professionally managed by the chief executive officer. Even if we can't do like that, we should run a semi-government agency like the Tourism Authority of Thailand. We should reconstitute our organizations professionally and manage the budget responsibly and with accountability. But [tourism organizations in Myanmar are led by] businessmen. But we can't always make time [for the organizations], and we can't run them 100 percent professionally. So those who have time and can manage them professionally should be appointed to lead the organizations, for example a tourism authority of Myanmar. It would be better and more effective for the country. Destination management organizations might be formed in respective regions and states under the tourism authority. Only then will we be able to get close to countries like Laos and Cambodia that are ahead of us. I don't say to catch up or pass them. There should be clear policies about how to use the tourism budget systematically. And what are our weak points? The Rakhine [Rohingya] issue has had a serious impact that we didn't expect because we were very weak at crating a counter-narrative. We are also weak at digital marketing, environmental conservation, sanitation and beautification, and infrastructure including public toilets. And there must be policies on punishment for littering. An anti-plastic bag campaign has been conducted in Bagan for four, five years. But Myanmar tourists still litter. There is a need to think comprehensively to address all those problems. These are the long-term plans. Only by implementing both short-term and long-term plans will the tourism industry be the industry that contributes the most to the GDP of the country. The country's leaders should place greater focus on the tourism industry, which has high potential for development.

KK:  Daw Sabei Aung, you seem to be frustrated with the country’s tourism industry. What requirements need to be fulfilled to improve the industry?

SA: We do want to see tourism develop in Myanmar regardless of the tone we use in pointing out the shortcomings. I am frustrated with the current state of Myanmar’s tourism industry. Leaders might have difficulties. They have the right to report their difficulties like we have the right to point out [their shortcomings]. Either tourism policy makers or the ministries or the associations must be on the right track. Formed under the previous governments, tourism-related institutions have existed for a long time in Myanmar. But those institutions are not strong. Those institutions only exist as frameworks and do not have actual force. For example, an organization has a president and a secretary but lacks the workforce. So institutions are weak. But what about the [government] departments? Taking a look at the ministries, they don't function well.

KK: There is criticism that the right people are not in the right positions in most of the ministries. What do you think [regarding the Hotels and Tourism Ministry]?

SA: It is part of the problem. Another problem is they don't understand the importance of teamwork. They want to be the key actor. This is wrong. As Ko Khin Aung Tun said, we should think about how to strengthen the institutions, such as the tourism board and the ministry. The ministry has many experts who have sunk into obscurity. Why can't they display their expertise? We need to find this out. In our country, institutions are not yet strong enough and the ministry still can't function properly. At such a time, government support is important. There are two parts — technical and financial. [The tourism industry] has not yet received sufficient support either technically or financially. So on the ground, places are not beautiful and clean enough. And we are lagging behind other countries in tourism promotion techniques. In Yangon and other region and state governments, there are tourism ministers. But they apparently have no role to play. There are institutions and a tourism minister at the union level, but there is a lack of communication between them and regional tourism ministers. If regional tourism ministers have extensive knowledge of tourism, expertise and roles to play, the national tourism industry will be well connected.

KAT: But regional tourism ministers are not solely responsible for tourism. They have to serve as the municipal or ethnic affairs or construction or financing and planning minister at the same time. So [tourism] is not their top priority. Again, it largely depends on to what extent chief ministers are interested in and understand tourism. I want the government leaders to specifically state that tourism is a priority for the country the way government leaders did in Indonesia and Thailand, like what the Indonesian president said at the Indonesian investors conference, or the way the Thai prime minister intervened regarding the [boat accident involving] Chinese travelers. We want [the government] to encourage [the tourism industry] more. Much remains to be done in that regard. Cooperation from the ministry is very weak. Though there are now visas on arrival, Chinese tourists only use Alipay and WeChat Pay for mobile payments. We are not yet ready to accept Alipay. The Central Bank [of Myanmar] is still considering whether to accept it. These requirements need to be fulfilled simultaneously. Without those services, how can Chinese tourists make payments? These are the problems on the ground. This indicates that the decision-making process is very weak and that cooperation from the ministry is also weak. This is one of the reasons behind the decline of the tourism industry.

SA: Revenue from the tourism industry is flowing out of our country. Dollar revenue from the tourism industry comes into the country illegally, not through the official banks. It is because of the high money transfer charges. Millions of dollars from the tourism industry come into the country illegally. Secondly, there are online hotel booking sites like Hotels.com, Agoda.com and Expedia.com. There are millions of dollars worth of transactions via OTAs [online travel agencies]. But the money goes back to the home countries of those OTAs and doesn't get into our country’s banks.

KK: You mean money comes into our country illegally.

SA: I mean millions of dollars earned by locals businesses are not transferred into the banks legally.

KAT: Because of the high charges, money is transferred illegally.

SA: This affects our country’s dollar flow. Dollars will flow into the country if the interest rate is fixed at 1 or 1.5 percent and banks are allowed to operate freely. Then we will see an influx of dollars into the country. And there is money that flows out of the country. For example, a hotel rents its rooms, but the dollars go to other countries because [the rooms are booked] through OTAs.  We should also find ways to make the money flow into the country. Here, we need to work in cooperation with hotels.

KK: Thank you for your contributions!

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Psychologist’s Guide to Good Mental Health in Modern Myanmar

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 07:19 PM PDT

With World Mental Health Day falling next week, The Irrawaddy spoke to Dr. Hannah Kyaw Thaung, an Irish-Burmese clinical psychologist, for her advice on maintaining good mental health in modern Myanmar. Hannah gained her doctorate in clinical psychology in the UK where she worked for a number of years before coming to Myanmar in 2013 to establish a private psychology clinic, Marble Psychological Services. Now Marble is an expanding team of four psychology professionals who offer therapy to early childhood, adolescent and adult clients. She also volunteers with Myanmar Clinical Psychology Consortium in their year-long psychology diploma program which will have its first graduates, a group of eight mental health counselors, next week.

  1. What areas do you specialize in? Which psychology services are most in demand in Yangon these days?

I work with adolescents and adults and do couples' therapy. The service as a whole is in great demand and there's a need for more mental health services here. For adults' services, people mainly present symptoms of anxiety or depression. Some of the younger children have learning difficulties and disabilities and that involves more ongoing support.

  1. What is the perception of mental health and psychology clinics in Myanmar today?

When Marble first opened we had more expat clients and now that has switched over to more locals. I think what happens is there is a lot of stigma here around mental health, as in every country. When people hear one person speak about their mental health or how they got help, that encourages more people [to seek a psychologist's advice] and causes a spreading effect.

In terms of mental health in Myanmar, the approach is more of a medical model so people are usually treated with medicine. While it's not always bad to treat mental health issues with medication, it shouldn't be the first line of approach.

  1. How do you define a mental health issue? When is it time to seek professional help?

That's a great question because taking anxiety as an example, we can all experience anxiety at different times of our day and different periods of our life. It's a continuum that we should watch out for. When you notice symptoms that are preventing you from doing the things that you normally do, or your work, or interacting with friends and family in the way that you normally do, that's when it becomes a problem, and that's when it's time to get support. Otherwise, it can move further down continuum and get worse.

  1. Specifically, what does a session or set of sessions with a psychologist involve?

It will vary upon the therapeutic approach but the initial consultation is a meeting with your therapist discussing some key issues around confidentiality. This is one of the most important elements of the sessions because it gives you the sense of safety and security that what you're sharing is not going to get around. That person mostly guides the session, sharing what they feel comfortable with. We then discuss a therapy plan and that's where it can start to differ. For example, someone who's having trouble with life transitions, their therapy plan will be very different to someone who is presenting severe depression or fears.

  1. What should we look you for in children and teenagers? How about elderly people in our care?

For early childhood, if there are any changes in their play, sleep or eating, or their interactions with peers or siblings, those are helpful to look out for.  Their ability to communicate their own internal world is much more limited than adults so they express that through the basics of their world. Teenagers are more difficult because they're not telling you something's wrong. Teachers are quite well placed to share what's going on with a teenager because the friends around them will express their concern to the teacher. Within the elderly population, it's much harder to say a particular behavior is a cause for concern because there are so many aspects of behavior that change in later life. For example, depression is quite common in older ages but not often recognized because sometimes the signs are attributed to the older person losing their words and it's harder for them to communicate.

  1. How does a psychologist help someone who has had a traumatic experience? What kind of traumas do people commonly experience these days?

Often it's younger people that would present symptoms of trauma and adults, recognizing that, bring them to therapy. Trauma happens in so many different manners—road traffic accidents, abuse, witnessing death, experiencing someone else's death— it's so diverse that it's hard to say one specific trauma is more common than another. Sometimes we help them through behavioral approaches. For example, if they are experiencing flashbacks, we speak with them about ways to manage that moment, how to reduce the effects of the flashback and be able to get back to normal.

  1. Today, there are more trends and influences that negatively impact our mental health than perhaps ever before. What advice would you give readers for taking care of their own mental health on a day-to-day basis?

Sleep is key. A healthy sleep routine has huge benefits on your mental health. You know when you have a bad night's sleep, it's harder to deal with bad situations the next day. Routine is also important—ensure that you have a routine involving your sleep, regularly eating and exercise. The third this is connecting to other people, being open with difficult emotions. For a lot of people, particularly in Myanmar, there's quite a tight-knit fabric of society so people are close with one another but not always necessarily good at talking about more difficult emotions and the hard things that come up for us. If you're connecting to other people and speaking openly about these things, then it can be really helpful to your mental health.

Dr. Hannah is speaking at the TEDxYangon event this weekend with her talk entitled "Opening the Doors to Emotion."

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Friday, October 5, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

‘Safe, Dignified and Sustainable Return’ of Refugees Not Yet Possible: UNHCR

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 07:17 AM PDT

YANGON–Despite government representatives citing Myanmar's readiness to take back Rohingya refugees at the recent UN General Assembly in New York, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ spokesman Andrej Mahecic mentioned in a statement on Friday that current conditions in northern Rakhine State’s strife-torn Maungdaw District are “not conducive for safe, dignified and sustainable return” of Rohingya refugees currently in neighboring Bangladesh.

This UN agency's statement came after an informal discussion between Myanmar and Bangladesh facilitated by the Chinese foreign affairs minister Wang Yi on the sideline of the General Assembly. The meeting focused on creating a roadmap and timetable for the repatriation of the Rohingya people and implementing the repatriation of the first batch of refugees as soon as possible. After the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)—formerly known as Al-Yaqin (Faith Movement)—sabotaged several dozen government border outposts, Myanmar Army’s counter-operations caused nearly 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district.

The UN Fact-Finding Mission labeled the actions of the military during Rohingya crisis as having "genocidal intent" and called for the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw), Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, to be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court for his role in the handling of the Rohingya crisis. The EU recently imposed targeted sanctions against a number of Tatmadaw generals and is currently considering imposing trade sanctions on Myanmar over the crisis. Social welfare minister U Win Myat Aye, a key person in de-facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine, participated the UN General Assembly in New York but could not be reached for comment for this article on Friday.

The UNHCR issued two statements today relating to the recent deportation of seven Rohingya from India and explaining its very first on-ground assessments which were completed a few weeks ago. The UN refugee agency’s officials stated that they noted the efforts of authorities to facilitate initial assessment although agencies were limited in scope and in the locations visited. According to the official, the team has learned the serious effects of the communities, including on the local economy and diminishing livelihoods, which significantly increases the vulnerability of the community.

In Maungdaw post-conflict, the situation remains difficult with restrictions to travel, access to livelihoods and basic services. Residents from different communities that spoke with the UN assessment team expressed that sometimes they felt restricted because of their safety concerns and fears of neighboring communities. Particularly, Muslim communities are not allowed to move freely there. The statement also mentioned that mistrust between different groups also impacts access to education, health and other basic services.

"It also limits interactions between communities, hindering prospects for confidence-building and social cohesion,” Andrej Mahecic was quoted in the statement.

Residents from Muslim, Arakanese and non-Muslim groups, when asked by the assessment team, expressed their hope for peace in Rakhine and willingness to incrementally restore relations. The statement says that confidence-building and improving conditions will be essential to bring people together, to alleviate poverty, to oversee health and education disparities alongside making tangible progress to address root causes. The agency hopes that their assessments also help to identify community initiatives which could assist government efforts to improve the lives of conflict suffered communities, trust-building and social cohesion.

The refugee agency spokesperson added that his agency looks to have effective access and rapid expansions of assessments to all areas in Rakhine covered by the tri-parties Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). As of this morning, UNHCR and UNDP teams have been traveling in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung for their second phase of assessments after gaining travel permissions from local authorities.

Although the UN agencies partly unveiled their firsthand accounts in the statement, it did not explain the condition of physical arrangements made by the government in Maungdaw for the implementation of “model villages for returnees” or village plans for a long-term solution for the returnees. It’s unclear whether the authorities and UN agencies had talks on these issues.

Maungdaw District administrative official U Ye Htoo told The Irrawaddy early this week that they are working on two projects: building modest houses for the refugees and a new model village plan. The structures are being built in 19 locations for Rohingya and some non-Muslim groups and the government has 12 prioritized sites for new model villages with each village expected to include a market, school, public park and clinic.

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China Taking Active Steps to Counter Western Influence in Myanmar: U.S. Report

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 07:04 AM PDT

YANGON—A recent U.S. report portrays China as seeking privileged access and influence inside Myanmar in order to further its geostrategic interests, while taking steps to counter the influence of Western countries—particularly the U.S.—especially along the China-Myanmar border.

In its report "China's Role in Myanmar's Internal Conflicts", the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) mentions that a Chinese ambassador to Myanmar told his U.S. counterpart not to go to conflict-torn northern and eastern Myanmar, where China wields influence over ethnic armed organizations (EAOs).

"In early 2016, for instance, the newly arrived PRC ambassador repeatedly (and unsuccessfully) urged the US ambassador not to travel to Kachin or eastern parts of Shan states because the United States 'should respect China's interests,'" the report says.

It interpreted the statement as implying that "China deserved to have predominant presence and influence in these areas, if not elsewhere in Myanmar, regardless of the wishes or interests of Myanmar, let alone the interests of other countries."

When asked for comment, U.S. Embassy spokesperson Aryani Manring told The Irrawaddy that "U.S. ambassadors are accredited to the entire country, and regularly travel to all parts of the country.‎"

She did not deny the existence of the statement cited in the report, however; nor would she identify the U.S. ambassador to whom it was addressed.

However, the ambassador in question is likely Derek Mitchell, who was posted in Myanmar until March 2016 and was the predecessor to current U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel. Mitchell, formerly one of the U.S.'s most senior diplomats, also co-chairs USIP's China-Myanmar Senior Study Group. Meanwhile, the "newly arrived PRC ambassador" may be Hong Liang, who has been Beijing's envoy to Myanmar since July 2015.

The Chinese Embassy in Yangon didn't respond to The Irrawaddy's request for comment on Thursday.

The preface of the USIP report highlights the importance of Myanmar's position at the crossroads of South and East Asia, and its coastline stretching along the Bay of Bengal. "Myanmar's location makes the country a unique case, particularly in regard to U.S.-China cooperation," it says. "It's well known that China harbors a singular sensitivity to Western activity along its extensive border."

In 2012, Mitchell became the first U.S. ambassador posted to Myanmar after two decades of low-level bilateral relations. Five months after his arrival in Yangon, he made his first official trip to Kachin State, where fighting between government troops and the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) was raging, to learn how the U.S. might help refugees there.

He would make at least two more trips to the state, which shares a border with China.

Then-U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell visits Kachin State in December 2012.

On the other hand, with several clear strategic interests in Myanmar—ranging from stability on its shared border to access to the Indian Ocean to a wide variety of economic interests—Beijing has been playing a key role in Naypyitaw's internal security affairs and in peace negotiations with ethnic armed groups. It has both a direct and indirect influence on the dynamics of conflict and peace in northern Myanmar. Beijing supports the Myanmar government and its peace process, but at the same time provides shelter, weapons, and other assistance to some of the ethnic armed organizations, according to the USIP report.

Until recently, China had been worried about a possible deterioration in relations with Myanmar under the government led by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, given her longstanding ties to the West. This concern has eased of late, however, as Western governments become increasingly critical of her silence on the Rohingya crisis, while China has shielded Myanmar from international condemnation over the issue at the U.N.

Despite the ongoing peace process initiated by the previous government, several ethnic armed groups including the KIA, the United Wa State Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) have refused to joined the government's Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). Most of the non-signatories are from the northern border with China, in particular Kachin and northern Shan states.

Chinese Special Envoy Sun Guo-xiang has urged the EAOs to attend the government's peace conferences, including groups still engaged in fighting with the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and who oppose the NCA. In May 2017 and July this year, Sun flew members of non-signatory groups from Kunming, China to Naypyitaw on a chartered Chinese plane. Many representatives of the EAOs said they attended solely because China pressured them to do so, according to the USIP report.

Chinese Special Envoy Sun Guoxiang attends the Panglong Peace Conference along with other international diplomats in Naypyitaw on July 11, 2018. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

To secure its interests, China is attempting to apply pressure not on the U.S. but on the EAOs.

Brigadier-General Tar Bone Kyaw, the general secretary of the TNLA, a non-signatory to the NCA, said the group had held frequent meetings with Sun. During the meetings, he said, the Chinese special envoy stressed border stability and Myanmar's importance to the success of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, while discouraging ethnic armed groups from putting much hope in the West's involvement in the peace process.

"He pressured us to have nothing to do with the West if possible. He urged us to join Panglong [the government's ongoing peace conference] in a positive manner and get along with the government as best as we can," Brig-Gen. Tar Bone Kyaw said.

Myanmar's peace process also receives support from the wider international community, however. The Joint Peace Fund (JPF), set up by mainly Western donors including the U.S. to support peace in Myanmar, takes a holistic approach, supporting a broad range of stakeholders and projects at all levels of society. These donors have collectively pledged just over USD100 million to be disbursed through 2021.

While Chinese involvement in Myanmar's peace process has focused on border stability, as well as economic and geostrategic interests, the U.S.'s approach seems more holistic with a focus on humanitarian aid, and nationwide peace building based on a culture of dialogue aimed at an inclusive, sustainable end to armed conflict.

According to a U.S. Embassy statement issued in November last year, Washington has provided over USD60 million since 2012 to deepen and sustain reform, and to foster legitimate and inclusive peace building nationally, including support to diverse civil society groups. Ambassador Marciel has visited Kachin State at least twice, most recently in February this year to meet war victims and civil society organizations as part of the U.S. support for the peace process, according to media reports at the time.

The USIP report recommends the U.S. government encourage Beijing to be more transparent about its peace strategy and engagement with various players, including the EAOs along its border.

"In the process, China should avoid any actions or policies that obstruct or inhibit furtherance of peace inside Myanmar due to narrow consideration of its own national interests," it said.

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Govt, Military Relations ‘Good’: Govt Spokesman

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 06:37 AM PDT

YANGON — A spokesman for the President’s Office said the government and military were on good terms, citing a forthcoming meeting between State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and selected leaders of the country's ethnic armed organizations (EAOs).

Calling the meeting a “retreat” during a press conference on Friday, U Zaw Htay said the military chief's participation was a clear sign that the military’s relations with the government were positive.

"Why would he be there if the relationship was not good?" he said.

The five-day meeting set to start on Oct. 15 in Poppa, a part of Mandalay Region famous for its lush green flora and dormant volcano, is a chance for the three sides to try and settle disagreements that have lately stalled the country’s peace process.

It will be the first time the top leaders of the government, military and EAOs will have sat at one table since the peace process was launched in 2011 under then-President Thein Sein.

U Zaw Htay said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing have had prior private meetings to discuss issues ranging from the International Criminal Court to the Rohingya crisis even though no press statements were issued.

"Apart from the ‘four eyes meetings,'” he said, referring to the pair’s private talks, “there were also discussions with the president and group meetings."

The spokesman’s news of the unannounced meetings was a revelation. The last publicized meeting between the state counselor and military chief was in June to discuss the Rohingya crisis and was attended by 13 other military officers.

Before that, the two met three times in 2015 and 2016. Those meeting were made public.

In Myanmar, where the military plays a powerful role in politics, relations between the military chief and the country's de facto leader are something of a political barometer for observers at home and abroad. In the wake of the international condemnation of the army for its late-2017 crackdown in northern Rakhine State, speculation mounted that the relationship had soured.

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Rising Burmese Talent: Singer-Songwriter Youn Ni Ko

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 06:30 AM PDT

YANGON—Youn Ni Ko, fresh talent in the Myanmar music scene, is already turning heads, reveling in plenty of praise and love after the online release of her new song called "B" which fuses old school and modern hip-hop with electronic music. Her next move? Sharing stage space and the limelight with Myanmar's most famous music talent later this month.

"B," though only recently unleashed on her official Facebook page has quickly racked up 4,100 reactions, 119,000 views and over 2,000 shares.

The once little-known young singer had previously released a few songs but didn't receive much notice for her talent until she began putting herself out there, performing a series of small gigs and underground concerts in Yangon.

Following the giant leap into fame and success brought about by her latest track, she has a scheduled performance on the same stage as Myanmar's most sensational local hip-hop artists including J Me, Yan Yan Chan, G Tone and others, on Oct. 24.

So who is Youn Ni Ko?

Youn Ni Ko was born in Yangon 21 years ago and her family moved to Cyprus when she was one year old. She grew up and studied in Cyprus before moving back to Yangon three years ago.

"We moved Cyprus for my father's work and I lived there about 17 years. Now my family has moved back to Myanmar and yes, now I'm here," said Youn Ni Ko, who has long black hair, multiple piercings and lots of small tattoos on both hands.

The 21-year-old talent is a newbie in the Myanmar music industry, but a glamorous rising star who is already well-known among Youtube's Burmese audience with her song "B."

It all started out when, on her 13th birthday, she got a guitar as a gift from her dad's friend and promised, "One day, I going to play this guitar and sing my own song."

And so her music journey began.

"I had been into music before but the present made me sure I wanted to make music."

She learned to play guitar using Youtube videos and wrote her first song "Boy" on a visit to Yangon.

"I don't remember my exact age; maybe I was around 16 or 17. When I was on a visit to Myanmar, I missed the one who I had left in Cyprus and wrote 'Boy' for him," she said.

"Boy" is a pretty, indie love song with English lyrics. All of her songs are in English, exact "B" which has both Burmese and English lyrics.

"I can't read or write Burmese because I didn't have a chance to learn it as I studied in Cyprus and spoke Burmese at home only. I can speak Burmese, but not very well. That's why most of my songs are in English," Youn Ni Ko said.

Now she is learning Burmese from the basics, aiming to be able to write songs in Burmese in the future.

"I also want to sing songs in Burmese. I'm learning now. I believe I can create a really good Burmese song if I can write the language so I'll keep trying," she said.

All music and lyrics are her own creations.

"When I lived in Cyprus, I didn't have a chance to make music because I had to study. I just covered some songs and uploaded them on my YouTube channel. After coming to Yangon, my mind was messed up and upset almost all the time and those feelings came out in songs," she said.

When she moved back to Yangon, she experienced a big culture shock and found it difficult to communicate with people.

"As you know, the culture is different. People are honest but hard to communicate with. I don't mean everyone but I didn't have friends and wasn't close with my relatives, so those days were hard for me but I'm ok now. I'm used to Burmese culture now and made many friends from this music industry. I don't want to go back to Cyprus," she said.

She released about seven tracks on YouTube and Facebook in recent years and the song genres are not always the same.

"I don't want to label my music because people will judge it wrongly. I want to make a new fusion music style. My favorite genres are hip-hop and R&B but it depends on my mood," she said.

Explaining why she still hasn't made an album she said, "I have six or seven songs and want to make more. I am waiting for the right timing and a good producer to re-produce my songs. But I will release my EP at the end of this year or the beginning of 2019."

Before releasing her EP, she said she will promote herself on social media to let everyone know who she is.

"If many people don't know me, releasing an album is a waste. No one would buy my songs," she said.

Youn Ni Ko said she doesn't need much time to finish a song if she concentrates on the project.

"If I really want to make music, it won't take too long to finish a song. Sometimes my mind blows away and finishing music takes more time," she said.

She added that, "I'm not in a rush with music, I want to find out what my music taste is and I'm still in the experimental stage."

For example, when she starts out making a pop song the result might come out more R&B. Everything depends on her mood, she said.

"Even though the target and result are different, I still love the final result. That's why I make the music with my emotions and moods," she added.

Myanmar doesn't have too many girls in the hip-hop music industry and most people look down on girls who make street style music. Youn Ni Ko also had those problems at the beginning.

She said, "Hip-hop and rap don't have to be male-only. Girls can do it as well. I do whatever I want and I want to show how strong women can be. That's my main thing, that's my goal."

Even when you do good things, there are people who don't like you and will talk badly about you so do whatever you want, she said.

Currently, she is working at a music management agency called '360beatz' so music is always involved in her daily life.

"Today, the music scene in Myanmar is kind of left behind but we can't blame anyone for that. The country right now is progressing and the new generations are trying out new stuff. I feel like they have potential. Attacking each other is a waste of time and improving together is better."

Mainstream musicians are doing a good job as well, she said, but she wants to collaborate with musicians from the underground music scene because they have more potential, so much talent and passion for their music.

She will make her music as best she can and wants to reach both international and local audiences with her creations.

"I have a vision that I know I will make it someday. That's why I'm not in a rush—because I believe in myself. I try really hard and I'm not saying that I'm over-confident, but I know there's something inside me and I have the passion," she said.

Watch two performances of Youn Ni Ko's songs, "In-Denial" and "Boy," videoed live during her interview with The Irrawaddy below.

 

The post Rising Burmese Talent: Singer-Songwriter Youn Ni Ko appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

TIMELINE: Eight Decades of Myanmar-Japan Relations at a Glance

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 06:07 AM PDT

Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi left Myanmar for Japan on Friday. It is her third visit to the Land of the Rising Sun since 2013. Prior to that she had not visited the country since her sojourn at Kyoto University as a researcher in 1985-86. This year marks the 64th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Myanmar and Japan. But the two countries' modern relations can be traced back further, to the arrival of Japanese military officer Colonel Keiji Suzuki in Rangoon in 1940. The colonel met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's father, Myanmar independence hero General Aung San, who with 29 other youths would receive military training by the Japanese on Hainan Island in 1941 with the aim of overthrowing British rule in Burma. Fast-forward more than seven decades; Japan is one of the countries that has assisted Myanmar most consistently in nearly every sector from development to health to education since it achieved independence in 1948, and the countries continue to maintain warm relations. Here is The Irrawaddy's timeline of the key events that have shaped bilateral relations for the past 78 years.

1940

 

Col. Keiji Suzuki / Public Domain

May: Colonel Keiji Suzuki arrives in Rangoon on a mission that will ultimately lay the groundwork for the Japanese occupation of Burma.

November: Aung San meets Col. Suzuki in Tokyo to request Japanese support for Burmese independence.

1941

Some of the Thirty Comrades: Front row, from left to right: Bo Zeya, Bo Aung, Nagai, Bo Teza, Bo Moegyo, Bo Ne Win and Bo La Yaung / Public Domain

February: Aung San returns to Burma to recruit the Thirty Comrades, with an offer of arms and financial support from the Fumimaro Konoe government of Japan. He returns briefly to Japan to receive more military training, accompanied by the first batch of young revolutionaries, who come to be known as the Thirty Comrades.

Aung San (right) and his colleagues during military training in Japan / Public Domain

Mid-year: Minami Kikan begins training the Thirty Comrades on Hainan Island.

Dec. 8: The Burma Independence Army (BIA) is formally established in Bangkok, headed by General Aung San.

1942 

January: Japanese forces capture Kawthaung, Tavoy, Mergui and Moulmein, assisted by the BIA. Rangoon falls in March. Mandalay and Lashio are captured and the Burma Road is cut. The British end the Burma Campaign.

June: Japan establishes the provisional Burmese government with Dr. Ba Maw as chancellor. The BIA is dissolved and replaced by the Burma Defense Army (BDA), headed by General Aung San.

1943

 Aug. 1: Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo declares Burma's "independence" within the greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

1944

August: General Aung San establishes the Anti-Fascist Organization. It is later transformed into a united front, including communists and socialists, and renamed the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL).

1945

March 27: General Aung San leads the Burma National Army in an uprising against the Japanese, accompanied by the British. The day is recognized as Revolutionary Day, and later as Armed Forces Day.

Aug. 15: Japan surrenders. The British-run Civil Affairs Service (Burma) rules the country.

1947

July 19: Gen. Aung San, six of his cabinet ministers, a cabinet secretary and a bodyguard are assassinated by his political rival U Saw.

1948

Jan. 4: The Union of Burma achieves independence from British colonial rule. U Nu becomes the first prime minister of Burma under the provisions of the 1947 Constitution of the Union of Burma.

1954

Nov. 4: Two years after the end of the Allied occupation of Japan, the Union of Burma and Japan sign a peace treaty and reach agreement on war reparations of USD250 million.

Nov. 5: Diplomatic relations between Burma and Japan are established after the signing of the peace treaty between the two countries.

1960

March: The first phase of the Baluchaung hydropower project in Kayah State is completed; the project is funded through the Japanese government's Official Development Assistance (ODA) program.

1962

March 2: General Ne Win overthrows the U Nu government in a coup d'etat. The Revolutionary Council is established and presides over the launch of a state socialist economy.

1963

March 30: Japan and Burma sign the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation and Protocol, addressing Burma's claim to additional reparations. The agreement comes into force after the two sides resolve a conflict over the payment of pure reparations.

1965-77

Japan pays additional war reparations to Burma totaling USD140 million.

 1966

 Chairman of the Revolutionary Council Gen. Ne Win visits Japan, meeting with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. The meeting focuses on Japan's future support for the agricultural sector in Burma. Gen. Ne Win and Sato declare the 1963 agreement a success and hail its contribution to Burma's development.

1967

Sept. 20-22: Prime Minister Sato visits Myanmar at the invitation of Gen. Ne Win.

1970

April: Gen. Ne Win makes his second visit to Prime Minister Sato in Tokyo. They agreed to promote trade and technical cooperation.

1973

November: Gen. Ne Win makes his third visit to Japan. He requests bilateral assistance, as well as Tokyo's support in securing assistance from international financial institutions including the World Bank, the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and major donors. After policy changes in the early 1970s, Burma-Japan relations are quite active with frequent exchanges of visits by officials, business leaders and technical experts on development projects.

1974

Burma joins the ADB, in which Japan is the largest shareholder.

1981

Gen. Ne Win's government awards Burma's highest military honor to seven Japanese for their sacrifices and work on behalf of the country.

1985-1986

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi works as a researcher at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University.

1988

April: Burmese Deputy Prime Minister U Tin Tun meets the Japanese prime minister and finance minister in Tokyo.

March-early September: The 8888 pro-democracy protests erupt in Rangoon and other cities. Also known as the 8-8-88 Uprising, the protests aim to oust the dictatorship of Gen. Ne Win and climax on Aug. 8 1988.

Sept. 13: Tokyo announces an ODA "freeze" due to "political instability."

Sept. 18: The Burmese military stages a coup d'etat. General Saw Maung becomes the leader of the country and a new government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), is announced.

Sept. 28: Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Ohtaka states that resumption of ODA flows will depend on political stabilization.

1989

Jan. 4: Along with other diplomats, Ambassador Ohtaka boycotts SLORC's Independence Day celebrations.

Feb. 25: Japan formally recognizes SLORC. Some committed ODA funds are released.

July 20: The military places Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

1989-1990

The sale of part of the grounds of the Burmese Embassy in Tokyo provides SLORC with about USD435 million in much-needed hard currency.

1990

May 27: General elections are held in Myanmar. They are the first multi-party elections since the military dictatorship began in 1960. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) wins the election in a landslide, but the military junta refuses to recognize the results.

Aug. 30: Watanabe Michio, a leading member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, visits Yangon and urges Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release during a meeting with Myanmar authorities.

November: Ogata Sadako, a Japanese diplomat serving as the UN's independent expert on the human rights situation in Myanmar, visits Yangon to inspect the rights situation. An anti-Japanese campaign begins in the state-run media.

1990-2000

Japan extends debt-relief grants to Myanmar totaling USD544 million.

1991

October: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Japanese government urges her release from house arrest.

June: General Khin Nyunt, Secretary 1 of the SLORC, visits Japan.

1995 

July 10: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest.

October: Japan announces a grant of 1.6 billion yen for the renovation of the Rangoon Nursing Institute. 

1996

Direct flights between Rangoon and Kansai Airport near Osaka begin after All Nippon Airways petitions the Japanese government to open the route.

1998

Feb. 28: The Japanese government formally announces 2.5 billion yen in loans for the modernization of Rangoon airport, classified as humanitarian aid.

1997

 "Letters from Burma", a book of essays by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is published in 1997. The book is published in English and Japanese. The essays are published serially in the Monday morning editions of the Japanese newspapers Mainichi Shimbun and Mainichi Daily News from Nov. 27, 1995 to Dec. 9, 1996.

April: The Japanese government formally announces 3.5 billion yen in ODA loans for the repair of the Baluchaung hydroelectric plant following the opening of dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the SLORC.

2002

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi visits Myanmar.

2003

May 30: Foreign Minister Kawaguchi expresses disappointment over an incident in which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters are attacked by state-sponsored thugs near Depayin.

January: Japanese Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Tetsuro Yano visits Myanmar.

Then Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt (right) meets his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo on Dec. 11, 2003. / REUTERS

December: Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt visits Japan.

Then pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi talks to reporters after meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba (right) at her home in Yangon on Dec. 26. / REUTERS

December: Minister for Foreign Affairs U Win Aung visits Japan.

 2004

June: Japan provides human resource development scholarships worth about USD4.86 million.

July: Tokyo announces an ODA grant of USD3.15 billion to fund a reforestation project in central Myanmar. To date, Tokyo has provided nearly 30 small ODA grants to non-governmental organizations for various operations in Myanmar.

Nov. 5: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi holds a summit meeting with Myanmar Prime Minister Senior-General Than Shwe. Koizumi states his expectation that efforts toward democratization would continue, while noting the role of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nov. 23-24: The Workshop on Japan-Myanmar Cooperation for Structural Adjustment of the Myanmar Economy is held in Yangon. It is cosponsored by the government of Japan and the government of Myanmar.

2005

May: Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win visits Japan.

2007

Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai is shot dead in downtown Yangon as soldiers open fire on Saffron Revolution demonstrators.

2008

January: Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win visits Japan.

May: Japanese Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Hitoshi Kimura visits Myanmar.

2009

November: Prime Minister U Thein Sein visits Japan.

2010

January: Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win visits Japan.

2011

January: The Japanese-backed Thilawa Special Economic Zone is announced. Located south of Yangon, the project has an estimated cost of USD3.28 billion.

June: Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Makiko Kikuta visits Myanmar (Yangon and Naypyitaw) and exchanges views with both government officials and leaders of the pro-democracy movement including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

October: Minister for Foreign Affairs U Wunna Maung Lwin visits Japan.

Nov. 18: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda holds a meeting with President Thein Sein in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit. The bilateral meeting marked the first summit talks between the two countries since the transfer of power to a civilian government in Myanmar.

Dec. 25: Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba visits Myanmar. It is the first visit by a Japanese foreign minister in nine years.

Dec. 26: Gemba holds a morning meeting with President Thein Sein in Naypyitaw to discuss Myanmar's democratization and national reconciliation process. That evening, he meets with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss future free and fair elections, conditions attached to the NLD's political activities, and the release of more political prisoners.

2012

January: Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano meets with NLD chair Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Yangon.

March: At the invitation of the Myanmar government, Japan dispatches three electoral monitors from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Embassy to observe the legislative by-election in Myanmar scheduled for Sunday, April 1. The Japanese government announces that it expects the by-election to be held freely and fairly.

April: President Thein Sein visits Japan. Tokyo extends grant aid for two projects in Myanmar of up to 583 million yen and 251 million yen, respectively.

May: Upper House Speaker U Khin Aung Myint visits Japan.

July: Minister for Foreign Affairs U Wunna Maung Lwin visits Japan and meets with Foreign Minister Gemba.

Nov. 19: Japanese Prime Minister Noda meets with President Thein Sein in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during an ASEAN summit.

Nov. 21: Japan supplies emergency relief goods (blankets, sleeping pads, plastic sheets and generators) worth 10 million yen (around USD125,000) to Myanmar through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in response to an earthquake in Myanmar.

 2013

January: Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso visits Myanmar

February: A Japan-Myanmar Human Rights dialogue is held in Naypyitaw.

April: NLD chairperson Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visits Japan for the first time in 27 years.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (center) and his wife Akie stand with their delegation as they pay homage at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon on May 25, 2013. / REUTERS

May: Shinzo Abe makes the first official visit to Myanmar by a Japanese prime minister in 36 years. During the visit leaders agree to further promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Japan pledges USD5.7 billion in loans.

November: Lower House Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann visits Japan.

December: President Thein Sein visits Japan to attend the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting. Prime Minister Abe promises that both the public and private sectors in Japan will support Myanmar in its efforts at reform of various kinds.

2014

March: Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida visits Myanmar.

May: The second Japan-Myanmar Human Rights Dialogue is held in Naypyitaw.

The two countries exchange views on the human rights situation including the release of prisoners of conscience, freedom of opinion and expression, democratic transition and establishing the rule of law, the 2015 elections, the activities of the National Human Rights Commission and peace negotiations.

August: Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida visits Myanmar to attend an ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

November: Japanese Prime Minister Abe visits Myanmar to attend an ASEAN summit.

2015

July: President U Thein Sein visits Japan.

Then-President Thein Sein (right) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) prior to their talks at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo on July 4, 2015. / REUTERS

September: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aso visits Myanmar.

October: The Yangon Stock Exchange opens at the former Central Bank of Myanmar and Myawaddy Bank headquarters in Yangon. (Two Japanese firms, Daiwa Institute of Research—the research arm of Daiwa Securities Group—and Japan Exchange Group, established a joint venture with state-owned Myanmar Economic Bank to set up the exchange in December 2014.)

November: The NLD wins the general election in a landslide on Nov. 8. Two weeks later, U Nyan Win, party spokesman and Central Executive Committee member, visits Japan and meets with Foreign Minister Kishida. Japan seeks to exchange opinions with the NLD in order to support democratization and development in Myanmar and strengthen bilateral relations.

2016

 January: Minister for Foreign Affairs U Wunna Maung Lwin visits Japan to attend a Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

 May: Foreign Minister Kishida visits Myanmar to show support for the newly elected government, whose de facto leader is State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

June: The ADB announces it will lend Myanmar about USD1.75 billion in low-interest loans from 2017 over five years to improve infrastructure, education and rural development.

September: State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets with Japanese Prime Minister Abe in Laos during an ASEAN summit.

Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (center), accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reviews a guard of honor before their meeting at the State Guesthouse in Tokyo on Nov. 2, 2016. / REUTERS

Nov. 1-5: State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi makes an official visit to Japan. Prime Minister Abe pledges a loan provision of up to 10.787 billion yen for the Hydropower Plants Rehabilitation Project. He also announces an 800-billion-yen (USD7.7 billion) aid, loans and investment package to promote development and reconciliation in Myanmar.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands after a joint press announcement following summit talks at the Akasaka State Guesthouse in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 2, 2016. / REUTERS

2017

September: Iwao Horii, Japan's parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs, visits Myanmar to exchange views regarding the situation in northern Rakhine State.

Japan extends emergency grant aid of USD4 million through international agencies to assist those in Myanmar and Bangladesh affected by the Rohingya crisis.

Nov. 14: Japanese Prime Minister Abe meets with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during a visit to the Philippines to attend an ASEAN summit.

Nov. 20: Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Defense Services of Myanmar, meets with Kazuyuki Nakane, Japan's state minister for foreign affairs, in Naypyitaw during the ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Dec. 14: President Htin Kyaw meets with Japanese Prime Minister Abe during a visit to Japan.

2018

Jan. 12: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono meets with State Counselor Daw Aung Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw. During his trip he also meets Myanmar military chief Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

Japan extends Emergency Grant Aid of 330 million yen (USD3 million) to Myanmar to assist displaced persons returning to Myanmar from Bangladesh, in accordance with a repatriation agreement signed on Nov. 23, 2017 by Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Jan. 13: Japanese Foreign Minister Kono visits Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State. He is accompanied by Prof. Dr. Win Myat Aye, Union minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement, and Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu.

March 23: Japanese Parliamentary Vice Minister Iwao Horii holds a series of meetings in Naypyitaw with military chief Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing; Kyaw Tint Swe, Union minister for the Office of the State Counselor; and Soe Aung, deputy Union minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement. The meetings emphasize the importance of steady implementation of the safe, voluntary and dignified return of displaced persons, the easing of tensions and the promotion of reconciliation between the communities in Rakhine State.

May 28: State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi talks by telephone with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono to discuss the situation in Rakhine State.

July 30: Myanmar establishes a commission of inquiry to probe allegations of human rights abuses in conflict-torn Rakhine State. The President's Office names four people to serve on the commission, include two international experts: Philippine diplomat Rosario Manalo and former Japanese Ambassador to the UN Kenzo Oshima.

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono hold talks in Naypyitaw on Aug. 6., 2018. / State Counselor's Office

Aug. 6: Japanese Foreign Minister Kono visits Myanmar. He meets with President U Win Myint and holds a joint press conference with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He also meets military chief Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Union Minister for International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin and Union Minister for the Office of the State Counselor Kyaw Tint Swe in Naypyitaw.

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appears at Naypyitaw airport prior to traveling to Tokyo for the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit on Oct. 5, 2018. / State Counselor's Office

Oct. 5-9: State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visits Japan to attend the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit.

Sources: "Burma and Japan since 1940" by Donald Seekins; the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Japan-Myanmar Relations archive; "Myanmar-Japan Relations (1962-74)" by Daw Khin Ma Ma Myo; and "Japan-Myanmar: A 'Special' Economic Relationship" by Chandrima Chaudhuri.

The post TIMELINE: Eight Decades of Myanmar-Japan Relations at a Glance appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Dhaka Roundtable Calls Out China Over Rohingya Crisis

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 05:35 AM PDT

DHAKA — Former diplomats and strategic analysts in Bangladesh on Thursday called on the government and the international community to convince Beijing to resolve the Rohingya crisis and warned that China would be among those to feel the fallout of a drawn-out debacle.

In a roundtable titled “Durable Solutions of Rohingya Crisis” hosted by Bangladesh’s National Human Rights Commission in Dhaka, the analysts and ex-diplomats vented their frustrations, claiming that neither “friendly” India nor “trusted” China” have done much to help solve a crisis that was threatening regional security.

They argued that the US and EU were the true champions of a durable solution to the problem and were doing their part.

"We must convince China," said retired Brigadier General M Sakhawat Hossain. "Though it is very difficult to convince China as it has invested a great deal of money in a deep-water port in Myanmar."

Sakhawat Hossain, now a national security and defense researcher, said India did not carry nearly as much weight on this issue as China, and that China would face problems if the Rohingya crises were to drag on for 10 or 15 years.

"If the crisis is not resolved, in 10 years this area will turn into some sort of a proxy battlefield," he warned.

"None of us know how the crisis will be solved," he added. "Myanmar is not going to resolve it unless she is forced.”

"This was a long-planned program by Myanmar," said Sakhawat, a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College.

He said the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army — which launched the attacks on security forces in Rakhine State in August 2017 that triggered the Myanmar military’s crackdown — had few resources, but noted that the country’s armed forces were contending with several other ethnic armed groups at the same time.

Former Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Mohiuddin Ahmed said Dhaka had yet to take a clear position on whether it wanted to see the crisis settled bilaterally or multilaterally.

"China is pushing for a bilateral solution to the crisis. Are we going to listen to China or will we approach it multilaterally?" he asked.

The ex-diplomat suggested that Myanmar had little reason to worry about international blowback over the Rohingya crisis so long as China was in its corner.

Though China has forged friendly relations with Bangladesh over the years, it supplied arms to Pakistan during the 1971 Liberation War that led to Bangladesh’s independence.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, the value of engineering, procurement and construction contracts going to Chinese companies in the country during the first 10 months of 2017 shot up some 24 percent year on year to $6.4 billion.

Mohiuddin said Chinese companies were winning most of the big contracts in Bangladesh but faced little criticism when they missed deadlines. And he warned that China would try to establish a strategic foothold in Rakhine State after losing one in the Maldives following recent elections there.

While making a strong pitch to hold those responsible for the violence against the Rohingya to account, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a lecture on “Global Challenges, Global Solutions” in New Delhi on Tuesday, said India could help tackle the Rohingya crisis by backing Bangladesh with humanitarian aid and using its influence over Myanmar to promote reconciliation.

"Guterres has to persuade [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi on the issue. It is assumed that our friendly neighbor [India] never pays heed to our calls," Mohiuddin said.

National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque also criticized China’s behavior over the crisis.

A former Bangladeshi envoy to China, Azizul Hoque, in turn accused Myanmar of breaking all the commitments it makes to other countries. He said Bangladesh should be encouraging the International Criminal Court to prosecute Myanmar’s military officials, believing it would make Myanmar more amenable to a speedy repatriation process.

Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Shahidul Hoque was invited to the roundtable but did not attend.

The post Dhaka Roundtable Calls Out China Over Rohingya Crisis appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Military Road Construction Through UWSA and RCSS Areas Sparks Fear of Attacks

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 04:49 AM PDT

A Shan rights group has reported that the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) is building a new military strategic road in southern Shan State which threatens the safety of 200 Shan internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Loi Lam area, near the northern Thai border.

The Tatmadaw has used a drone to fly over the area of Loi Lam which is under the control of the ethnic armed group Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), and IDPs living in the area fear fighting may break out soon, according to the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) which is based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The ongoing road-building project will connect the village of Mong Hta to the Salween River, and is expected to be complete within two months.

"The road construction has almost reached the Salween River. They have been working on it for two or three months," said Sai Yord Luen, a spokesperson for the SHRF.

The Tatmadaw took the opportunity to build this road after the RCSS signed the ceasefire in 2011. The new strategic road will link up to the town of Mong Pan, where the Myanmar army's No. 17 Military Operations Command is based.

The SHRF statement said they are concerned about the safety of the 200 ethnic Shan IDPs living in the camp at Loi Lam.

Members of the Tatmadaw's Infantry Battalion 293, used a drone to fly over the area of the IDP camp in mid-September. On Sept. 23, after Triangle Regional Commander Brigadier-General Khin Hlaing had arrived in a convoy of seven army trucks from the Infantry Battalion 249 base in Mong Taw, they again launched a drone from the same military camp.

"We are worried about the food supply and safety of the IDPs if fighting breaks out between the Tatmadaw and the RCSS," said Sai Yord Luen.

International aid organizations stopped supplying aid to the IDPs last year, he said.

There are also United Wa State Army (UWSA) bases along the new road project, reported the SHRF. The new road project will make it easier for the Tatmadaw to attack the RCSS and the UWSA outposts and could also support contentious investments such as the planned Mong Ton Dam on the Salween River, where Chinese engineers from the Three Gorges Corporation have been surveying in secrecy since early 2018, according to the SHRF.

The Mong Ton Dam, a joint Chinese-Thai investment, is the largest of three dams planned on the Salween River in Shan State. 90 percent of the power produced will be exported to Thailand.

Loi Lam is one of six IDP and refugee camps along the Shan-Thai border, which house a total of over 6,000 displaced people, mostly women and children. International donors cut off food aid to these camps in October 2017, despite ongoing militarization and conflict in Shan State, which is preventing the IDPs and refugees from returning home.

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USDP Will Regain International Respect for Myanmar: Party Chairman

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 03:19 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW—The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will ensure Myanmar can hold her head high on the international stage if it regains power, said party chairman U Than Htay.

In his address to USDP party supporters during a by-election campaign event in Magwe Region's Sagu Township on Thursday, U Than Htay criticized foreign intervention in Myanmar's internal affairs which has increased under the government of National League for Democracy (NLD).

There is international pressure and foreigners are getting involved in the Rakhine issue and other problems of the country, he said. The intervention of international agencies in internal issues of Myanmar is too large to the extent that it harms the dignity of the country, he added.

"There are many foreign individuals in the administrative mechanism of the current government. We are not the ruling party so we can't make a decision on that, so I urge the people to reassign us. We are able to make sure Myanmar can stand tall and that nobody gives us orders," the party chairman told supporters.

The generals and the military-backed USDP have ruled the country and have had a considerable length of time to develop the country if they had genuine goodwill, said a member of the Arakan National Party's central executive committee U Pe Than, adding that what the USDP party chair said is mere rhetoric.

"They have experience in nation-building, but they could not accomplish it successfully. Nobody can say if they will regain power. Even if they do, it is impossible to develop the country, which is facing a lot of challenges, overnight," said U Pe Than, who is also a legislator in the Lower House for Rakhine State's Myebon Township.

People have chosen the NLD and not the USDP mainly because they want honest people, said former Lower House lawmaker U Ye Htun.

"The NLD can have a thumbs up compared to the previous government in that regard. If you ask me if it has shortcomings and weaknesses, there are many. But in the eyes of the people, [their honesty] is the main difference," he said.

U Than Htay said the USDP government had to sell the country's natural resources because of economic sanctions and was branded by the opposition as a party that steals natural resources. He asked if the current government is not selling natural resources.

"If [the NLD] accused us of stealing those [resources], [they] can choose not to do so now. You can see many logs piled by the roadside [at present]. They are not extracted by the USDP government. The jade and gems emporium in Naypyitaw has not stopped [operating] yet. Are those not resources? And don't they sell natural gas? Why did they say USDP sold our natural resources?" he asked.

The foundations of development which the USDP government built over five years are already shaking two years into NLD's administration, he claimed.

USDP leaders told The Irrawaddy that the party would not contest in the November by-election in the ethnic constituencies but hopes to win all the seats it contests in non-ethnic areas.

It appears that the USDP is trying to make alliances with ethnic parties for the 2020 general elections as it is unlikely to win in the ethnic constituencies, said U Pe Than.

"The NLD's image regarding nationalism has not been very good as it is a party that focuses more on democracy and human rights. We rely more on the USDP than the NLD regarding nationalism, the perpetuity of sovereignty, and the Rakhine issue. I believe they will be able to make greater efforts in nationalism with a strong nationalist spirit," he said.

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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Meet With Japanese PM Abe During Summit Trip

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 02:00 AM PDT

YANGON — State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will hold a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday evening in Tokyo on the sidelines of the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The two will discuss Japan's efforts to help Myanmar develop and democratize as well as the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State.

Japan has been providing aid for the safe return of the 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya who have fled military-led violence into Bangladesh. In July it gave Myanmar a 330 million yen ($2.9 million) emergency aid grant to help the refugees who return.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi left for Japan from Naypyitaw Friday morning. On Saturday she will visit a farm in Fukushima Prefecture to learn how Japan's agricultural sector has been tackling a labor shortage, a problem afflicting Myanmar as well.

On Monday she will meet with officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the country’s official aid arm, to discuss its development assistance to Myanmar.

Joining Japan and Myanmar at the summit, to be chaired by Abe, will be Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Discussion will focus on the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, Japan’s plan to counterbalance China’s growing influence in the region via its Belt and Road Initiative by promoting quality infrastructure development in the countries along the Mekong River.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi accepted the invitation to the summit from Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono during his visit in August to discuss ways Japan could help Myanmar resolve the Rohingya crisis. At a joint press conference in Naypyitaw, the state counselor said her trip would strengthen Myanmar-Japan relations. Kono said Japan would continue to help Myanmar solve its problems.

In 2013, while leader of Myanmar's opposition, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited Japan for the first time in 27 years. She conducted research at Kyoto University from 1985 to 1986.

She last visited Japan in 2016, as state counselor. During that trip she met with Abe to discuss economic assistance for Myanmar and the country's peace process.

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Veteran Cubist Adds Street Scenes, Abstracts to His Palette

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 01:36 AM PDT

YANGON — Artist Tin Maung Oo has presented Myanmar with a world of beauty. It is a world of fluttering cubism glittering with colors and cubes. He has made his name as a cubist depicting Myanmar culture and tradition.

His cubist portrayals of rural and traditional subjects such as monasteries, monks, moorings, stilt house, lion statues, rinceau and traditional dancers have won the applause of art lovers and fellow painters alike.

Now, for his 11th solo exhibition, at the OK gallery at Yangon’s Aung San Stadium, the artist has added abstract and urban scenes to his oeuvre.

"Primarily I illustrate rural customs, pagodas, monasteries and markets. But this exhibition features a few urban scenes, for example roadside stalls beneath trees. Those stalls will not exist in the future," said Tin Maung Oo.

He has also added paintings that focus on color rather than subject. The titles he has given those works are quite simple — "Homage to Pink," "Homage to Blue," and so on.

"Sometimes I don't want to draw subjects only. There are abstract paintings focusing on colors and patterns in this exhibition," he said.

The show will run through Tuesday and features more than 30 paintings priced between 1 million kyats and 3.5 million kyats.

Tin Maung Oo studied under the likes of Ko Shwe Aung Thein, Paw Oo Thet and Bo Kyi, all regarded as pioneers of Myanmar modernism. He has devoted himself to cubism for more than 30 years and has held dozens of exhibitions at home and abroad.

"His style is similar to those of Kin Maung [Bank] and Paw Oo Thet but different from them in the way that his paintings include features like romance and abstraction like Western cubist painter Fernand Léger," said veteran artist Aung Myint.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Right to Information and the Need for Reform

Posted: 05 Oct 2018 01:10 AM PDT

We call on the government to address two major issues with governance, the lack of respect for the right to information and the continued existence of unjust and undemocratic laws.

The government has a responsibility to improve access to information. The right to information is a vital part of a democracy and it is critical for civil society to keep an eye on those in power. Despite working on prison issues for almost two decades, I cannot get information on prisons from the government. Information such as prisoner numbers, the location of labor camps and even the recently announced standard operating procedures should not be secret. It is in the public interest that this information is shared with civil society and the public. Not having such information makes it much harder to analyze the situation and see changes in the prison system. Transparency and accountability are all part of good governance.

The lack of information is not just related to government institutions and developments but also laws. Article 505(b) of the widely used Penal Code has a section that states "whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumor or report, with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offense against the State or against the public tranquility."

Yet there are no criteria as to what constitutes fear or alarm to the public. Which words go against public tranquility and which don't? What can be said and what cannot? How does not knowing what a criminal act is benefit society or lead to a stronger rule of law?

These laws are vague and their ambiguity allows for a wide interpretation with the result being a stifling of media and investigative reporting. These laws are inherently wrong and completely out of touch with modern day international standards.

The main reason for this is because Myanmar's penal system is a hangover from the British colonial system, and as such is not a system designed for justice, but rather a system designed to repress and maintain the status quo. Now, 70 years since Myanmar gained independence in 1947, the unjust system remains. How can people follow unjust laws? How do they protect the people?

Reform is long overdue. In 1989, the UK repealed the Official Secrets Act of 1911, which was similar to our own 1923 Secret Act, in order to make it more equitable and to bring it up to date. Their new act still ensures state secrets are kept secret, but it stops abuses of power and the curtailment of basic freedoms under vague notions of national security. It is high time Myanmar's lawmakers do the same.

Reform is not limited to the Official Secrets Act; there is a whole list of colonial-era laws that are out of date and not fit for a democracy. For example, the Unlawful Association Act was designed to suppress rebellion by a colonial power, not with the aim of protecting the public and law and order.

Another issue is that reform takes so long. Talk of reform of the 1894 prison law has been floated, with a draft amended bill being brought to Parliament in 2015, but since then, little has been heard. Moreover, the tabled amendments still fall down short of human rights standards and leave much to be desired. Revamps of the law addressed minor concerns, leaving the anti-democratic norms of it untouched. Parliament and lawmakers must update these laws systematically. They must be updated in a timely and holistic fashion. Minor adjustments cannot turn an undemocratic law into a democratic law.

Bo Kyi is the joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

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Myanmar Torches Illegal Wildlife Stockpile Worth $1.3M to Deter Smugglers

Posted: 04 Oct 2018 09:43 PM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar authorities destroyed hundreds of seized elephant tusks, pangolin scales and other animal parts, worth a total of $1.3 million on the black market, on Thursday as part of a crackdown on illegal wildlife trafficking.

Authorities set fire to pyres stacked with 277 pieces of elephant ivory, 1,544 antelope horns, 180 tiger bones and other confiscated items weighing more than 1.4 tons at a government compound in the capital, Naypyitaw.

"It is crucial to sustainably conserve our country’s natural resources, including land, water, forest, mountains and wildlife, for the sake of our future generations," Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Ohn Win said during the ceremony.

Myanmar, which lies in the notorious "Golden Triangle" region bordering Thailand and Laos, is at the heart of the global trade in illicit wildlife, with goods smuggled mostly to China.

A report by conservation group Save the Elephants this week said China’s recent ban on the ivory trade had done little to stop the "prolific growth" in trade in the Myanmar-China border town of Mong La, where there has been a 60 percent growth in new ivory items seen for sale in the past three years.

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Pentagon Sees China as ‘Growing Risk’ to US Defense Industry

Posted: 04 Oct 2018 09:32 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — China represents a “significant and growing risk” to the supply of materials vital to the US military, according to a new Pentagon-led report that seeks to mend weaknesses in core US industries vital to national security.

The nearly 150-page report, seen by Reuters on Thursday ahead of its formal release on Friday, concluded there are nearly 300 vulnerabilities that could affect critical materials and components essential to the US military.

Reuters was first to report on the study’s major conclusions on Tuesday.

The analysis included a series of recommendations to strengthen American industry, including by expanding direct investment in sectors deemed critical. The specific plans were listed in an unreleased, classified annex.

China was given heavy emphasis in the report. It was singled out for dominating the global supply of rare earth minerals critical in US military applications. The report also noted China’s global profile in the supply of certain kinds of electronics as well as chemicals used in US munitions.

“A key finding of this report is that China represents a significant and growing risk to the supply of materials and technologies deemed strategic and critical to US national security,” the report said.

Relations with China are already fraught, with a bitter trade war between the world’s two largest economies adding to tensions over cyber spying, self-ruled Taiwan and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

The report could add to trade tensions with China, bolstering the Trump administration’s “Buy American” initiative, which aims to help drum up billions of dollars more in arms sales for US manufacturers and create more jobs.

Vice President Mike Pence accused China on Thursday of efforts to undermine President Donald Trump ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections, saying that Beijing was “meddling in America’s democracy.”

Pence’s comments echoed those of Trump himself in remarks at the United Nations last month, when Trump said that “China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election.” Chinese officials rejected the charge.

The report also examined US shortcomings that contribute to weakness in domestic industry, including roller-coaster US defense budgets that make it difficult for US companies to predict government demand. Another weakness cited was in US science and technology education.

“Although its findings are not likely to move markets, they present an alarming picture of US industrial decay driven by both domestic and foreign factors,” wrote defense consultant Loren Thompson, who has close ties to Boeing Co. and other companies.

A senior US administration official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, cited several new steps to ensure US military’s supplies. These include an effort to build up stockpiled reserves of scarce materials and expand US manufacturing capabilities in things such as lithium sea-water batteries that are critical for anti-submarine warfare.

“There have just been market failures here. And so we can create new incentives to drive investment in areas to help diversify ourselves,” said Eric Chewning, a deputy assistant secretary of defense who oversees industrial base policy.

Chinese dumping

Pentagon officials see national security risks from Beijing’s growing military and economic clout and want to be sure China is not able to hobble America’s military by cutting off supplies of materials or by sabotaging technology it exports.

The report noted that 90 percent of the world’s printed circuit boards are now produced in Asia, with over half of that occurring in China, presenting a risk to US defense.

“With the migration of advanced board manufacturing offshore, [the Department of Defense] risks losing visibility into the manufacturing provenance of its products,” the report said.

The Pentagon has long fretted that “kill switches” could be embedded in transistors that could turn off sensitive US systems in a conflict. The report cited the risk of “‘Trojan’ chips and viruses infiltrating US defense systems.”

US intelligence officials also warned this year about the possibility China could use Chinese-made mobile phones and network equipment to spy on Americans.

The report cited what it said were sometimes unfair and unlawful Chinese efforts to undermine US industry through a host of strategies, including by subsidizing exports at artificially low prices and stealing US technology.

The report identified multiple cases where the sole remaining US producer of critical materials was on the verge of shutting down and importing lower-cost materials “from the same foreign producer county who is forcing them out of domestic production.”

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Indian Campaigner Wins Award for Helping Women Facing Violence

Posted: 04 Oct 2018 09:30 PM PDT

LONDON — An Indian campaigner supporting women survivors of violence in northeast India was named on Thursday as one of two winners of an annual award recognizing female human rights workers.

Binalakshmi Nepram shared the Reach All Women in WAR (RAW in WAR) Anna Politkovskaya Award with Nobel literature laureate Svetlana Alexievich, an investigative journalist and writer from Belarus.

The award recognized the women’s bravery in speaking out and defying “injustice, violence and extremism … in ‘forgotten’ armed conflict in their regions”, said RAW in WAR, a UK-based charity supporting women human rights defenders and war victims.

Both women have suffered death threats or persecution that forced them to leave their home countries.

Nepram said she had to leave India about a year ago for her own security and now lives in the United States.

“I do not want to be a statistic in a body bag,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

Nepram, who once worked for Oxfam, co-founded in 2004 the Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI), a civil society organization working on disarmament and opposing militarization.

Three years later she launched the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, which has helped more than 20,000 women deal with decades of armed conflicts and ethnic violence in the northeast Indian state of Manipur on the border with Myanmar.

She set the group up after seeing the fallout of the killing of a 27-year-old man in a village in southern Manipur, who left behind his young wife Rebika Akham. Nepram helped Akham buy a sewing machine so that she could secure a living.

But Nepram said the group’s work has extended beyond helping those who have lost fathers, husbands and sons in the violence to also assist women and girls raped and sexually assaulted in the ongoing conflict.

“Every day the violence continues unabated … with our region seeing some of the highest numbers of rape and women trafficked in the country,” she said.

“In this conflict, a lot of girls and women are subjected to sexual abuse and there is a climate of impunity.”

Her co-winner, Alexievich, 70, won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature for her portrayal of the lives of Soviet women during World War Two, as well as the impact of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the Soviet military adventure in Afghanistan.

She lived in exile for many years because of her criticism of the Belarusian government but returned home in 2011.

The award marks the 12th anniversary of the killing of Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative reporter who uncovered state corruption and rights abuses, especially in Chechnya.

She was shot dead in the lobby of her Moscow apartment block at the age of 48 on October 7, 2006.

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Apple, Amazon Deny Bloomberg Report on Chinese Hardware Attack

Posted: 04 Oct 2018 09:18 PM PDT

Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc denied a Bloomberg Businessweek report on Thursday that said their systems had been infiltrated by malicious computer chips inserted by Chinese intelligence agents.

Bloomberg cited 17 unidentified sources from intelligence agencies and businesses to support claims that Chinese spies had placed computer chips inside equipment used by about 30 companies and multiple US government agencies, which would give Beijing secret access to internal networks.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a written request for comment. Beijing has previously denied allegations of orchestrating cyber attacks against Western companies.

Security experts who have worked for government agencies and large corporations told Reuters that they were surprised by the stark discrepancy between the claims in the Bloomberg article and the strongly worded denials from Apple and Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services. Some said that certain allegations were plausible, but that the strong denials from companies cited in the piece left them with doubts about whether the attacks had happened.

“There is no truth” to claims in the story that Apple found malicious chips in its servers in 2015, the said in a statement. “This is untrue,” Amazon said in a blog post.

Bloomberg defended its reporting.

“Seventeen individual sources, including government officials and insiders at the companies, confirmed the manipulation of hardware and other elements of the attacks,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “We stand by our story and are confident in our reporting and sources.”

The report said that a unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army infiltrated the supply chain of computer hardware maker Super Micro Computer Inc to plant malicious chips that could be used to steal corporate and government secrets.

Super Micro Computer shares fell 38 percent to $13.26 in Pink Sheet trading.

San Jose, California-based Super Micro strongly denied that it sold servers to customers that contained malicious microchips in the motherboards of those systems. It said it has never found any malicious chips, had not been informed that such chips were found by any customer, and had never been contacted by government agencies on the matter.

Bloomberg reported that Amazon uncovered the malicious chips in 2015 when examining servers manufactured by a company known as Elemental Technologies, which Amazon eventually acquired.

The investigation found that Elemental servers, which were assembled by Super Micro, were tainted with tiny microchips that were not part of their design, Bloomberg said. Amazon reported the matter to US authorities, who determined that the chips allowed attackers to create “a stealth doorway” into networks using those servers, the story said.

AWS told Bloomberg it had reviewed its records related to the Elemental acquisition and “found no evidence to support claims of malicious chips or hardware modifications.”

Bloomberg also reported that Apple in 2015 found malicious chips in servers it purchased from the hardware maker, citing three unidentified company insiders.

Apple denied the account, saying it had investigated Bloomberg’s claims.

Representatives with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. A US National Security Agency spokeswoman said she had no immediate comment.

While the companies disputed the facts in the story, security experts noted that there is growing concern that hackers could launch cyber attacks by inserting malicious chips into hardware sold to government agencies and businesses.

“Extended, complex, global supply chains create a risk for malicious cyber activity that companies must take into account,” said Michael Daniel, chief executive of the non-profit Cyber Threat Alliance.

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