The Rohingya of western Myanmar have become one of the world's most-persecuted groups of people. They continue to die in tragic circumstances, as witnessed again last week when a boat overfilled with would-be refugees capsized off the coast of Arakan State, resulting in at least 20 deaths, including those of nine children.
"This accident serves as a tragic reminder of the vulnerability that many communities and families face in this area of Rakhine," declared Janet Jackson, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar. "Their only option is to use this mode of travel in order to access livelihoods and other basic services that are essential for a dignified life." (Courtesy of The Nation)
April 29, 2016
MPC to Be Renamed ‘National Reconciliation and Peace Center’
Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s state counselor and de facto leader of the new National League for Democracy (NLD) government, has proposed renaming the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) as the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC).
The suggestion came as she met with the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC), which includes members of the Burma Army, on Wednesday in Naypyidaw, Gen. Saw Issac Po, vice-chairman of the JMC, told The Irrawaddy.
The JMC is comprised of representatives from the government, the MPC, the Burma military and the eight non-state armed groups that signed the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the former government of President Thein Sein in 2015.
Suu Kyi’s personal physician, Dr. Tin Myo Win, has been tipped to lead the renamed organization. State media on Thursday would concede only that the doctor will assume a prominent role in Burma’s peace process: Suu Kyi “announced the appointment of Dr. Tin Myo Win as the peace negotiator for the nationwide ceasefire agreement” at her meeting with the JMC on Wednesday, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
The suggestion came as she met with the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC), which includes members of the Burma Army, on Wednesday in Naypyidaw, Gen. Saw Issac Po, vice-chairman of the JMC, told The Irrawaddy.
The JMC is comprised of representatives from the government, the MPC, the Burma military and the eight non-state armed groups that signed the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the former government of President Thein Sein in 2015.
Suu Kyi’s personal physician, Dr. Tin Myo Win, has been tipped to lead the renamed organization. State media on Thursday would concede only that the doctor will assume a prominent role in Burma’s peace process: Suu Kyi “announced the appointment of Dr. Tin Myo Win as the peace negotiator for the nationwide ceasefire agreement” at her meeting with the JMC on Wednesday, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
What Hong Kong can contribute to a rising Myanmar
Whenever Myanmar made news over the past few months, pundits focused on the country’s astonishing political transition.
Clad in longyis (Burmese sarong) and ethnic dress, Myanmar’s MPs convened the first elected parliament since 1962.
But will these spectacular political developments translate into an economic miracle that is needed to lift Myanmar out of poverty?
Even in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest and most dynamic city, the economic growth of the last five years has been strikingly uneven.
Despite the mushrooming of shopping malls, condos and chic bistros, most of the city’s population remains desperately poor.
There are untold stories of deprivation in Yangon’s slums. (Courtesy of ejinsight.com)
Clad in longyis (Burmese sarong) and ethnic dress, Myanmar’s MPs convened the first elected parliament since 1962.
But will these spectacular political developments translate into an economic miracle that is needed to lift Myanmar out of poverty?
Even in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest and most dynamic city, the economic growth of the last five years has been strikingly uneven.
Despite the mushrooming of shopping malls, condos and chic bistros, most of the city’s population remains desperately poor.
There are untold stories of deprivation in Yangon’s slums. (Courtesy of ejinsight.com)
Myanmar monk builds pagodas in church and Muslim area
A Myanmar Christian leader appealed for calm Wednesday after an influential Buddhist monk built pagodas within the compound of a church and near a mosque, in a country beset with religious tensions.
The incursions began last month when supporters of the monk U Thuzana, the Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayadaw, erected a religious statue and planted a Buddhist flag on the church's grounds in Karen state.
They returned on Saturday to erect a pagoda, according to local Anglican Bishop Saw Stylo.
The supporters have since moved on to build a pagoda near a mosque in a Muslim-majority village in the same township of Hlaingbwe, he said. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
The incursions began last month when supporters of the monk U Thuzana, the Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayadaw, erected a religious statue and planted a Buddhist flag on the church's grounds in Karen state.
They returned on Saturday to erect a pagoda, according to local Anglican Bishop Saw Stylo.
The supporters have since moved on to build a pagoda near a mosque in a Muslim-majority village in the same township of Hlaingbwe, he said. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
ALP Spokesman: Party Members Threatened With Arrest
Central executive committee members of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the political wing of the Arakan Liberation Army, were threatened with arrest by Col. Htein Lin, the security and border affairs minister of Arakan State, ALP spokesman Khine Myo Tun said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Htein Lin summoned ALP representatives for questioning about a statement from the party on April 24. The statement lodged several allegations against the Burma Army, including accusations of the military having committing war crimes, breaking the Geneva Convention and other aspects of international law, removing locals from their land, forced labor and the capturing and sometimes killing of villagers in conflict zones.
It claims members of the ALP could act as witnesses to the alleged abuses. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
On Wednesday, Htein Lin summoned ALP representatives for questioning about a statement from the party on April 24. The statement lodged several allegations against the Burma Army, including accusations of the military having committing war crimes, breaking the Geneva Convention and other aspects of international law, removing locals from their land, forced labor and the capturing and sometimes killing of villagers in conflict zones.
It claims members of the ALP could act as witnesses to the alleged abuses. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
Chinese firm to restart Myanmar’s only coal plant
China’s Wuxi Huagaung Electric Power Engineering is upgrading the entire Tigyit plant in southern Shan State near to the famous Inle Lake, which has been out of use for several years.
Local authorities held a public meeting in a village near to the site on April 24 to explain the company’s environmental and social impact assessment activities, ahead of the power plant’s reopening, the Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE) announced on April 25.
A tender to operate the coal-fired power plant under build-operate-transfer terms was issued by the previous government and Wuxi Huagaung was selected as the winner, the announcement said. The investment agreement for the plant’s long-term operation was signed on October 22 last year. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Local authorities held a public meeting in a village near to the site on April 24 to explain the company’s environmental and social impact assessment activities, ahead of the power plant’s reopening, the Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE) announced on April 25.
A tender to operate the coal-fired power plant under build-operate-transfer terms was issued by the previous government and Wuxi Huagaung was selected as the winner, the announcement said. The investment agreement for the plant’s long-term operation was signed on October 22 last year. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Fourteen refugees found abandoned in forest a year after Thai crackdown
More than a dozen refugees abandoned by people smugglers have been found in a southern Thai forest, police said yesterday, almost a year after a crackdown which has forced traffickers to find new routes.
Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State – who are forced to live in apartheid-like conditions and are officially called Bengalis by the government – have for years fled their homeland seeking work in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
“Fourteen Rohingyas, including kids as young as a few years old, were found at around 6am,” Police Captain Panuwat Chomyong, a highway officer in central Chumpon province, told AFP.
Smugglers abandoned the group ahead of a police checkpoint, Pol Capt Panuwat said, adding they had initially entered Thailand through Kanchanaburi province, a much more northern entry point than those usually used by traffickers. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State – who are forced to live in apartheid-like conditions and are officially called Bengalis by the government – have for years fled their homeland seeking work in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
“Fourteen Rohingyas, including kids as young as a few years old, were found at around 6am,” Police Captain Panuwat Chomyong, a highway officer in central Chumpon province, told AFP.
Smugglers abandoned the group ahead of a police checkpoint, Pol Capt Panuwat said, adding they had initially entered Thailand through Kanchanaburi province, a much more northern entry point than those usually used by traffickers. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Karen Troops Fight Alongside Arakan Army
After days of traveling from Karen State, Col. Saw San Aung and dozens of troops arrived in Arakan State last week to help the Arakan Army (AA) fight the Burma Army.
The troops are Karen freedom fighters—a Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) splinter group, and other ethnic armed forces from groups that the Colonel did not specify. He described the fighters as a federal army, formed discreetly by ethnic leaders.
Making pillows of stones and singing to his troops, Col. Saw San Aung attempted to keep morale high for the soldiers he calls “freedom fighters” during the rough trip to western Burma’s Arakan State.
“At times, we did not have food and could not sleep, but this is the life of a rebel,” he said.
The trip was not smooth, as the troops trekked through the jungle from Taungoo to Pegu Yoma to Arakan Yoma, occasionally using cars and boats, but favoring walking through the jungle in order to bring necessary weapons, he added. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
The troops are Karen freedom fighters—a Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) splinter group, and other ethnic armed forces from groups that the Colonel did not specify. He described the fighters as a federal army, formed discreetly by ethnic leaders.
Making pillows of stones and singing to his troops, Col. Saw San Aung attempted to keep morale high for the soldiers he calls “freedom fighters” during the rough trip to western Burma’s Arakan State.
“At times, we did not have food and could not sleep, but this is the life of a rebel,” he said.
The trip was not smooth, as the troops trekked through the jungle from Taungoo to Pegu Yoma to Arakan Yoma, occasionally using cars and boats, but favoring walking through the jungle in order to bring necessary weapons, he added. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
Myanmar nationalists protest US use of 'Rohingya'
Around 500 Buddhist nationalists have staged an unauthorized demonstration outside the U.S embassy in Yangon to protest the use of the term "Rohingya" to describe the country's stateless and persecuted Muslim minority.
Many such nationalists refuse to even recognize the term, instead referring to the Muslim ethnic group as "Bengali" which suggests they are illegal immigrants from neighboring country Bangladesh.
Win Zaw Zaw Latt, from the Yangon-based Myanmar National Network, told Anadolu Agency prior to Thursday's demonstration in the country's commercial capital that it had been organized to tell the U.S. embassy to respect the government and people of Myanmar.
"It is already clear that there is no such ethnicity as Rohingya in our country,” he claimed. “We demand the U.S. as well as western countries and the EU to stop using the term Rohingya.” (Courtesy of aa.com.tr)
Many such nationalists refuse to even recognize the term, instead referring to the Muslim ethnic group as "Bengali" which suggests they are illegal immigrants from neighboring country Bangladesh.
Win Zaw Zaw Latt, from the Yangon-based Myanmar National Network, told Anadolu Agency prior to Thursday's demonstration in the country's commercial capital that it had been organized to tell the U.S. embassy to respect the government and people of Myanmar.
"It is already clear that there is no such ethnicity as Rohingya in our country,” he claimed. “We demand the U.S. as well as western countries and the EU to stop using the term Rohingya.” (Courtesy of aa.com.tr)
Rakhine chief minister says IDPs from all communities need aid
Rakhine State’s new chief minister says both Buddhist and Muslim communities displaced by conflict need more aid before the onset of the monsoon season.
U Nyi Pu of the National League for Democracy told The Myanmar Times yesterday on his return from IDP camps near Mrauk-U damaged by storms last week that he intended personally to visit camps for internally displaced people from both communities.
“The government has to provide displaced people with settlements that are good, safe and comfortable places for both communities,” he said by telephone from the capital Sittwe.
The international community is also mobilising aid for civilians displaced by renewed fighting this month between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group based in northern Kachin State but with its roots in Rakhine State’s Buddhist majority.
Pierre Peron, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said UN aid workers this week had visited six out of eight locations where an estimated total of about 1000 recently displaced civilians are sheltering in the townships of Buthidaung, Kyauktaw and Rathedaung. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
U Nyi Pu of the National League for Democracy told The Myanmar Times yesterday on his return from IDP camps near Mrauk-U damaged by storms last week that he intended personally to visit camps for internally displaced people from both communities.
“The government has to provide displaced people with settlements that are good, safe and comfortable places for both communities,” he said by telephone from the capital Sittwe.
The international community is also mobilising aid for civilians displaced by renewed fighting this month between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group based in northern Kachin State but with its roots in Rakhine State’s Buddhist majority.
Pierre Peron, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said UN aid workers this week had visited six out of eight locations where an estimated total of about 1000 recently displaced civilians are sheltering in the townships of Buthidaung, Kyauktaw and Rathedaung. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
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