The Tatmadaw in a democracy

Earlier in the year I wrote a column drawing attention to the vibrant Facebook presence of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. His PR team have clearly decided there is no point in avoiding Myanmar’s social media platform of choice.

The general has now clocked up almost 400,000 followers. It is a big number: bigger than the best-guess estimates of the Tatmadaw’s uniformed personnel, which is currently somewhere between 300,000 to 350,000.

On Facebook, his posts in Myanmar and English often receive dozens of comments and thousands of “likes”.

Since the election Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s statements have sought to position the Tatmadaw as the country’s primary security, rather than political, institution. This is an astute manoeuvre at a time when the Myanmar people are not going to accept the re-militarisation of their politics.

Given what happened the last time the National League for Democracy won an election, many are wary of the generals’ ambitions. Trust remains in deficit. Yet on current indications there is an appetite, among the highest ranks, for further diminishing the military’s political role. It is happening step by step, and not without some hesitation, which is why some people assert that little has changed and that the army is still in-charge. (Courtesy of mmtimes.com)

Myanmar's Suu Kyi blames lack of safety regulations for deadly landslide

Last week, Yohei Sasakawa, the government's special envoy for national reconciliation in Myanmar, met with a top NLD member and handed over a letter from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe inviting Suu Kyi to visit Japan, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

President Thein Sein and Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing have agreed to meet National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, ending almost three weeks of uncertainty in the wake of the NLD's emphatic election victory.

The Nobel Peace Prize victor also told lawmakers that they'd be taking a salary cut of 25 per cent in a gesture to the largely poor people who elected them, said an MP who attended the meeting.

But Suu Kyi is still banned under the army-drafted constitution from becoming president because she married and had children with a foreigner. (Courtesy of examinerpress.com)

End to bartering kills India-Myanmar trade

Border trade between Myanmar and India has come to an abrupt halt after authorities called an end to a popular barter system, according to a local association.

On December 1, India ended long-standing rules allowing border trade to be settled by an exchange of goods. Since then, business has almost stopped, said U Khin Mg Tin, joint secretary of the Border Trade Chambers of Commerce Association in Kalay.

India’s central bank said last month that barter trade is no longer necessary, as an adequate banking system is now in place on both sides of the border. However, banks on the Indian side are not yet issuing letters of credit said U Khin Mg Tin.

Traders don’t know when this will start, he said. “There are weaknesses in the banking systems in both countries. I think the telegraph transfer system would work in Myanmar, but they don’t have this in India,” he said.

Trade can be settled in any “permitted currency”, in addition to the Asian Clearing Union mechanism, the Reserve Bank of India said in a November circular. Under the ACU, traders can settle border transactions through their central banks. (Courtesy of mmtimes.com)

Suu Kyi seizes on trash issue to stress NLD's commitment

KAWHMU (Myanmar) • Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in a rare public appearance since her election triumph, took to the streets of Myanmar to pick up rubbish to highlight her party's commitment to public service.

Ms Suu Kyi has told newly minted MPs from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which took nearly 80 per cent of contested seats in the Nov 8 polls, that they are quite literally responsible for keeping their constituencies clean.

Garbage is a huge problem in Myanmar, which lacks regular trash collection and proper landfill sites. (Courtesy of straitstimes.com)

Japan receiving more refugee applications

TOKYO -- The number of people applying for refugee status in Japan has been increasing at a record pace this year. Most of the applicants are coming from other Asian countries, including Nepal and Sri Lanka. The influx may mirror the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East.

But things are a bit different in Japan.

"I know that these kanji characters mean yuryo, or excellent," one of two girls from Myanmar in their late teens said while studying Japanese at Support 21 Social Welfare Foundation, a support group for refugees in Tokyo. "I've seen the word on a resume. I knew the word yuryo [not free of charge], but this one is different." (Courtesy of asia.nikkei.com)

Asean awaits - nervously - a new Myanmar

Asean leaders understand too well the grouping's most famous nemesis, Suu Kyi, is going to shape her country's future with Asean in the next five years. The challenge is how Asean can interpret her complicit silence in this pivotal relationship in ways that would not undermine the full integration of the Asean Community, which begins on December 31.

 After its admission to Asean in 1997, Myanmar has been suffering from all kinds of prejudices and heavily ostracised by its members and dialogue partners due to human rights violations and political oppression within the country. When it was time for Nay Pyi Taw to chair Asean in 2005, the besieged nation opted out for good, citing unpreparedness and domestic turmoil as key reasons.

 For the next 10 years, the ruling military regime under the strongman, General Than Shwe, pursued unwaveringly the seven-point peace plan, which began in 2003 and ended with the recent election - but with extremely high casualties.

 The military crushed the Silk Revolution harshly in 2007, which drew heavy condemnation from Asean and the international community at large. Even amid the human tragedy after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008, the regime went ahead with the planned referendum on a constitution six months later. (Courtesy of nationmultimedia.com)

Myanmar garments to get US boost

Aung Thein, vice president of the Myanmar Industries Association and managing director of Nibban Electronics, welcomed the move, saying it would boost exports to the US and strengthen local industries. Garment factories would reap the most from the decision, he said.

 "For the time being, some well-known US brands like H&M have been making some of their items in Myanmar. As the restrictions are eased, local businesses will get a chance to produce more value-added products and can export them to the US," he said.

 He expected garment factories to be the main beneficiaries, as they are the biggest victims of the US sanctions.

 "The sanctions hurt the grassroots a lot. When the US started imposing sanctions on Myanmar, some of the garment factories here had to stop working. As a result, a lot of garment workers, mostly female, lost their jobs and faced many difficulties for their survival. So, I believe SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] will benefit a lot from this temporary easing of sanctions," Aung Thein said. (Courtesy of nationmultimedia.com)

Aung Sang Suu Kyi receives honorary NCTU degree

National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) yesterday said that it has conferred an honorary doctorate in law on Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi for her pursuit of democracy in Myanmar.

“It is a great honor for National Chiao Tung University [NCTU] to present an honorary doctorate to one of the greatest politicians in the world,” the school said in a statement.

It is the first honorary doctorate that Aung Sang Suu Kyi has received since she was released from house arrest in 2010.

Former university president Wu Yan-hwa (吳妍華), who traveled to Yangon to present the degree to Aung Sang Suu Kyi on Saturday, said she was a role model for the university’s faculty and students because of her pursuit of freedom, democracy and human rights.

The school’s statement quoted Aung Sang Suu Kyi as saying that she was happy to be awarded a degree in law, an area she cares about, since only the rule of law can bring peace to a country.

She said that her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), gave top priority to “rule of law” in its election manifesto so Burmese who see the law as an instrument to suppress uprising and to enhance the government’s power could understand that the “law is about bringing harmony and peace to a society,” the statement added. (Courtesy of taipeitimes.com)

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi leads countrywide cleanup drive

Myanmar’s Nobel peace laureate who led her opposition party to victory in last month’s election joined her campaign to clean up garbage across the country Sunday.

Aung San Suu Kyi participated in the “Environmental Beautification Campaign” alongside around 100 residents of her constituency of Kawhmu, a township of Yangon.

Than Hla, a 74-year-old local, told The Irrawaddy news service, “I have never witnessed this kind of scene in my life… We have had many leaders, but she has given excellent advice to us, to start the change with this activity.”

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is set to form Myanmar’s new government in early 2016 following a landslide win in the Nov. 8 election.

In its journal, D-Wave, the party earlier this month had called on lawmakers, its members and the public to participate in the cleaning drive set to launch on Dec. 13.

NLD member Zin Mar Aung, who is due to assume the Lower House seat for Yangon’s Yankin township, said that officials from the local government and fire station had joined Red Cross members and residents in the program.

“We plan to do it regularly,” she told The Irrawaddy. “We are not just picking up trash, we would like to be able to change behavior over the long term by raising awareness among the public.” (Courtesy of aa.com.tr)

Plight of persecuted Myanmar Muslims

GUWAHATI, Dec 13 - Two violence-hit teenage girls of the Rohingya Muslim community of Myanmar, who were arrested earlier this year for illegally entering India and later sent to an observation home in Guwahati, had a heart-rending story of human tragedy to tell.
After undergoing a series of counselling sessions, the minor girls from Myanmar finally submitted before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Assam (Guwahati), that it was after their respective parents were killed in front of their eyes during the violence in Myanmar this year that they decided to flee the neighbouring country fearing for their lives.

“The girls told the Court that they had no other choice after their families were killed during the ethnic clashes in Myanmar. They somehow managed to escape and a few days later sneaked in to the Indian side through Tripura,” said sources closely monitoring the developments of the Rohingya refugees in India.

“Our parents were killed and we would have been killed as well had we not fled the country. India seemed to be the only safe choice,” the girls, who are cousins, told the JJB on Friday. The case is now in the argument stage, sources told The Assam Tribune. (Courtesy of assamtribune.com)

How Activists in Southeast Asia Celebrated Human Rights Day

Activists across Southeast Asia marked International Human Rights Day last week, on December 10, holding demonstrations demanding more government accountability throughout the region.

In Singapore, the Maruah human rights group urged the government to ratify two United Nations covenants: the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Maruah statement reads:

"Singapore still has much to do to build political institutions, judicial systems, and economies that allow ordinary people to live with dignity. The growth of hate speech against religious and racial minorities, the justification of rights violations in the name of combating terrorism, the clawing back of economic and social rights in the name of economic crises or security, and the failure to respect the right to privacy in the digital age, show the relevance of the 2 Covenants and the need to respect them."

In Malaysia, the Suaram human rights group denounced the government for refusing aid to Rohingya boat refugees from Myanmar. The Rohingya, who are mostly Muslims, are not recognized in Myanmar as citizens, forcing many of them to seek refuge in neighboring countries. In a press statement, SUARAM Adviser on Human Rights Day Kua Kia Soong wrote: (Courtesy of Global Voices)

The Rise Of Buddhist-Muslim Conflict In Asia And Possibilities For Transformation – Analysis

Violence against Muslim minorities in Buddhist societies has increased in recent years.

The Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar are disenfranchised, and many of their candidates were rejected by the official Union Election Commission prior to the 2015 elections. Furthermore laws about religious conversion, missionary activities, and interfaith marriage are being promoted to control relations between religions and prevent conflict. The danger, however, is that increased control will lead to more, not fewer, conflicts.

Discrimination against religious minorities may lead to radicalisation. In addition minority-majority relations in a single state may have regional consequences because a minority in one state can be the majority in another, and there is an increasing trend for co-religionists in different countries to support each other. Thus protection of religious minorities is not only a question of freedom of religion and basic human rights; it also affects security and peacebuilding in the whole region. Anti-Muslim violence and political exclusion of Muslim minorities take place in the wake of increased Buddhist nationalism. This policy brief identifies local as well as global drivers for Buddhist-Muslim conflict and the rise of Buddhist nationalism. It then shows how Buddhist-Muslim conflict can be addressed, most importantly through the engagement of local religious leaders. (Courtesy of Eurasia Review)