Pope urges united response to refugee 'drama', hopeful for Syria

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis called on Sunday for a united response to help flows of people into Europe fleeing war and suffering, as the region argues over sharing the burden of looking after them.

Addressing crowds in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Francis, who decried the suffering of migrants at the border between Mexico and the United States this month, said the "refugee drama" was always in his prayers.

"Greece and other countries on the front line are giving these people generous help, which needs the collaboration of all countries. A response in unison could be effective and distribute the load fairly," the pontiff said.

"To do this, we need to push decisively and unreservedly in negotiations," he added.

Greece has been inundated with refugees and migrants after Balkan countries shut their borders and Austria restricted entry for the hundreds of thousands aiming for Europe, which is in the second year of its biggest migration crisis since World War Two.

Francis welcomed a cessation of hostilities deal in Syria, where five years of civil war have killed more than 250,000 people and driven 11 million from their homes, swelling the tide of refugees.

"I have greeted with hope the news about a stop to hostilities in Syria, and I invite everyone to pray that this glimmer can give relief to the suffering population, enable necessary humanitarian aid and open the way to dialogue and longed-for peace."

Guns fell mostly silent in Syria when the truce came into effect on Saturday, but reports of violations have come from both sides.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Ros Russell)

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ELECTRO-FUSION PRODUCER DAVID STARFIRE'S NEW ALBUM FEATURES (AND HELPS) BURMESE REFUGEES

Los Angeles–/San Francisco–based producer David Starfire has been fusing Eastern and Western music for more than a decade, mixing breakbeats, bhangra, psy-trance and more on such futuristic albums as Bollyhood Bass and Ascend. But even for such a devoted acolyte of global grooves, his latest project, Karuna, takes cultural cross-fertilization to new extremes.

Karuna, out March 1, marks the first time a Western electronic artist has created an entire album in collaboration with musicians from Burma (also known as Myanmar). Even more remarkably, all of the musicians on the album are refugees from a civil war that has dragged on for decades; most of the refugees are part of oppressed ethnic groups such as the Karen and the Shan. They are now based in camps and towns in northern Thailand, a remote corner of Asia to which Starfire traveled in order to meet with and record such performers as stroh violinist Len Pong, Karen harp players Doo Plout and Chi Suwichan, vocalist Gonlao and temple drummers Wat Pa Pao and Wat Tung Salee.

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The album, which Starfire funded through Kickstarter, also features contributions from many notable non-Burmese artists, including William Close and the Earth Harp Collective, hammer dulcimer player Jamie Janover, violinists Govinda and HÄANA, and even visionary artist Alex Grey, who recites an excerpt from his book Art Psalms on the track "The One."

Karuna will be available via Starfire's Bandcamp page on March 1, but you can hear the track "Tenaku," featuring Doo Plout and William Close, exclusively below. Proceeds from the album's sale will go toThai Freedom House, a nonprofit learning and resource center for Burmese refugees and other minority groups living in northern Thailand. 

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We asked Starfire a few questions via email to learn more about how this unique project came together.

How did you first become aware of the plight of Burmese refugees and get involved with helping their cause?

I visited northern Thailand in 2012 and my partner was involved with Burmese refugees as part of her Ph.D. research. It was then that I became aware of the situation in Burma. Most people don't realize that there has been a civil war since 1962 that is still ongoing. There are refugees that are 30-plus years old that grew up in a refugee camp and that is the only world that they know. It's really a terrible situation and I felt that I had to do something to help them.

What was your visit to the refugee zones in Thailand like? Can you describe that part of the world?

It's like another existence in itself; the refugees are somewhat content being there, maybe because they know the alternative to going back is rising persecution or even death. They are very poor, but still in good spirits and have food and shelter provided by NGOs, but the conditions are not very sanitary. There are towns like Mae Sot, where it's right on the border and many refugees live there, but live there illegally. Actually most refugees live illegally in Thailand and work in construction camps and in kitchens. It's kind of like [how] immigrant workers are here from Mexico; the difference is that they can go back to Mexico without fear.

David Starfire with Len Pong, one of the Burmese musicians featured on Karuna.

The Confluence Group

• Were most of the musicians on the album familiar with Western electronic music? Was this the first time for any of them, working on project like this? 

Some of the musicians that I worked with were somewhat familiar with electronic music but didn't know any names of artists. There were some musicians that didn't know any artists at all, and some knew of only Michael Jackson and Bob Marley. This was the first time that the musicians had worked with an electronic artist and, for some, their first time ever being recorded. On the other side of the coin, most westerners haven't heard Burmese music or know about their instruments, and I hope that this album will shed some light on their culture.

• How long have you known Alex Grey, and how did you approach him to do vocals on "The One"? 

I've known Alex Grey for 10 years now and we are good friends. I performed at the last Halloween party at CoSM[the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, Grey's art sanctuary in upstate New York] and talked to him about the project and was hoping he could get involved. He had recently recorded "The One" for an audio book for Art Psalms and let me use it for this album. I'm so blessed and honored that he wanted to be a part of this project and grateful for our friendship.

• How did you record William Close's Earth Harp on "Tenaku"?

William and I have been working on recordings for the past couple of years and there will be a track on his new album. He was familiar with the project and I asked him if he would be interested in playing on one of the songs and he said that he was happy to be a part of the project. When we were working for recordings for his album, we spent some time recording "Tenaku" for my album. Tenaku is the name for the harp played by Karen people of Burma and is the lead instrument on that song by a young musician and activist named Doo Plout.

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Besides buying the album, what else can fans do to help Burmese refugees and Thai Freedom House?

Yes, 100% of the profits are going to Thai Freedom House to educate Burmese refugee children, and giving back to communities is part of my ethos. If someone visits Chiang Mai, Thailand, they can volunteer there and they can also donate supplies and money directly at this link. Also they have a cafe called Freebird Cafe that has delicious Burmese food and all the money goes to Thai Freedom House.

Luminous Movement is hosting an album release party for David Starfire at Zanzibar in Santa Monica on Wednesday, March 2. Tickets and more info.

IN THAILAND, WAITING GAME CONTINUES FOR MYANMAR REFUGEES

The political transition has brought far-reaching change to Myanmar, but for tens of thousands of refugees in camps in Thailand life remains in limbo.

By JARED DOWNING | FRONTIER

About 10,000 people came up as missing last year when Thailand and the United Nations counted every refugee left in the nine camps just across the border. They hadn’t been resettled abroad, nor had they turned in their ration cards and been officially repatriated to Myanmar.

They were just gone, slipped through a hole in an old camp fence, found a boat to take them over the shallow Moei River and vanished into the jungles of Kayin State.

Of course, they kept their refugee documents and ration cards, just in case they wanted to slip back and re-join the more than 110,000 “displaced people” in “temporary shelters” as they are called by Thailand, which never signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

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Yet these temporary shelters have been standing since the 1980s, long enough for the first comers to have children and grandchildren in the camps, long enough for countless magazine stories and documentaries, and possibly long enough even to outlast the vicious conflicts that first sent them there.

“The refugee leadership are saying, ‘It's time to go,’ but they're not saying ‘let's go,’” said Iain Hall, senior field coordinator for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at Mae Sot, Thailand.

A race against time, in which in any year or month Thai authorities will suddenly decide to shut down the camps and send everyone packing ready or not, to a wild, landmine-infested jungle, is how decades of speculation have painted the situation.

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“[Rumours are] sometimes fueled by NGOs or CBOs who hear this and they spread it: ‘Tell all the refugees that the camps are going to be closed because they’re doing the military head count!’ It’s irresponsible,” said Mr Hall.

He insisted that this is false and that Thailand has and does honour the right of displaced people to a safe, dignified and, especially, voluntary return, UN convention or not. He said the hearsay escalated after the Karen National Union signed a ceasefire with the government in 2012, and reached a crescendo after Thailand’s 2014 coup, when the military began a physical headcount of the camp residents.

“We spent a long time doing damage control,” said Mr Hall.

Instead, the decision-makers, he explained, will be the refugees themselves, especially their leaders. Each camp contains its own leadership committee, which in turn is overseen by the Karen Refugee Committee, a semi-political body with ties to the KNU.

The KRC has no authority to order anyone home, but in a culture with deep respect for leadership, a word from the top would invariably set things in motion.

Thus, the question is, what are they waiting for?

Two young children walk through one of the Mae La camp’s winding lanes. (Steve Tickner / Frontier)

Promised land

“If we go back, we won’t have the land,” said KRC chairman Pastor Robert Htwe, who crossed the border in 1975 to minister to displaced Karen Christians.

Land is a problem and a significant amount of is heavily mined. Despite the recent multi-party ceasefire, large tracts in Kayin and Kayah states remain in volatile political limbo as the KNU, Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and Tatmadaw hammer out boundaries. There are decades-old ownership and title disputes to untangle. In some places, untamed bush covers where thriving villages once stood.

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The exiles can re-plant and rebuild, said Pastor Htwe; Myanmar’s hill tribes, if anything, are capable and resilient. But ‘land’ for him and his people is bigger than titles, soil and hidden bombs. ‘Land’ means security, and within the old, tattered camp fences, people can still find some sort of healthcare, they can still send their children to school, and, most importantly, they can know that these things will probably not go away, despite the endemic rumour mill.

They cannot say the same for anywhere across the Moei River.

The signs are encouraging. The KNU and the Myanmar government finally seem to be working together and there’s reason for optimism. But after decades of having promises delivered and then broken, Pastor Htwe and his people have become accustomed to biding their time.

“Many people, they want to go back, but we don’t know our future,” he said.

Even “going back” means different things to different people. The majority want to eventually return home rather than being resettled in a third country, a consensus cited by Pastor Htwe and supported by UNHCR surveys. Some want to return to their own villages. Others want to stay together, to preserve the deep-rooted communities that have formed in the camps. Families have joined and joined again; new clans and even subcultures have emerged. Some talk about simply packing up their huts and rebuilding them on Kayin soil.

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It’s a pipe dream, said Pastor Htwe. He said discussions within and among the KRC, KNU, Myanmar government and other parties all prioritise sending people back to their original villages, if possible. “If we return, we cannot stay together like in the camp.”

Define: refugee

More troubling for Pastor Htwe are those who do not wish to return at all.

“[Now] there are a lot of ethnicities,” he said. “After resettlement in 2005, a lot of people came from Burma for the resettling, not as refugees.”

He is referring to when the Thai government, with UN assistance, began resettling registered camp members en masseto countries such as the United States and Australia. Supposedly to curb opportunistic migration it also limited new camp registrations to special cases, such as people with certain medical conditions or at risk of gender-based violence. It resulted in something of a divide in the camp community between the registered old guard and unregistered newcomers.

Pastor Htwe believes the unregistered population, on the whole, has strengthened the idea that the refugees are only looking for a ticket to the West. “They will tell you, ‘We don’t want to come back.’” This in turn has made it more difficult to retain the interest of outside donors and supporters.

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Daw Moe Moe Win has lived for 10 years in sprawling Mae La camp near Mae Sot. She is Chin, but her husband is Karen. She has fled conflict twice, she said, first from Chin State, and then, after studying English in Yangon, from her husband’s village in Kayin.

They are unregistered, having arrived at the camp a month before registration ended, but Daw Moe Moe Win said she was not there only because of the possibility of being resettled abroad. Even if she was, years of camp life would not be worth it.

“We don’t want to be a refugee. People look down on us,” she said. “I’ve lived in Mae La ten years and I have only been out [in the city] maybe ten times.”

She and her husband want to return to Myanmar, but they wouldn’t say “no” to somewhere else either. “Where is safe? That is the first priority.”

Myanmar is not safe, not in her mind or the minds of her fellow refugees, despite the ceasefire. “When I was growing up, I saw ceasefire. At that time they said ‘ceasefire,’ but they destroyed the Chin land, the Chin people.”

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The war in Kayin was a 70-year conflict, fraught with bullets and torched homes, as well as also broken promises and dashed hopes. The situation is tense in many of the newly-stable conflict zones. The newspapers might say peace while packs of zealous soldiers-turned-bandits seek revenge in the jungle, and old land mines still cripple children. The fear, at least, is enough to keep Daw Moe Moe Win in the camp.

Mr Hall agrees with focusing on repatriation rather than resettlement elsewhere. “Resettlement is a protection solution. We’re not a travel club,” he said.

But he believes most camp residents, including those who are unregistered, do not want to move on to a third country. About half of those left in the nine camps are still registered, yet requests for resettlement abroad have plummeted in recent years.

In other words, there are thousands of people who have been offered a free pass to a third country and said “no.”

“That told us something,” said Mr Hall. “We think the majority would like to go home.”

And the feeling is growing, especially as a new generation emerges in the camps.

“They're youth,” Mr Hall said. “They're 15, 16 and 17, and they're in a refugee camp. And they're in restrictions, they can't leave the camp, and they're going, ‘What is this life I've got? I don't want this life. Whether it's Holland or Myanmar, whether I get to Thailand illegally or whether I get to resettle in the US. I'm just a kid.”

Children reflected in a pond at the Mae La Oon refugee camp. (Vincenzo Floramo / Frontier)

Slow exodus

Ten thousand, at least, have already left.

The missing people were most likely what the UN calls “self-assisted returns,” people who just pack up and leave without alerting the KRC, the UN, Thai security or anyone else.

“They often tend to be the most successful. Why? Because they don’t need the support. Because they made the decision without anyone badgering them,” said Mr Hall.

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He said they usually keep their refugee documents and ration cards “just in case,” and sometimes drift back across the Moei River to visit friends and family in the camp and bring news from home.

This is the exodus we can expect for now: Not floodgates opening, but a trickle of people wandering over to the other side to see how things are, gradually dissolving the barrier between camp and country.

“A lot of them have just had enough.”

http://frontiermyanmar.net

Malaysian police nab 2 Myanmar men in mass graves case

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Police team chief says suspects found during search for 6 other foreigners in relation to human trafficking camps along Thai border

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian police have detained two Myanmar nationals during a search for six other foreigners wanted in relation to mass graves of human trafficking victims found along the border with Thailand last year.

The chief of a special police team investigating the case told Anadolu Agency Wednesday that the two men, both in their 30s, were found at an immigration detention center as they had been deemed victims of human trafficking.

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They were, however, named by other victims during a suspect identification process last week, Goh Kok Liang said by phone.

“They were kept at the immigration detention center as illegal immigrants, only until they were named as prime suspects involved in the mass graves,” he said.

“They are not the traffickers but should have plenty of knowledge on the actual criminals. I cannot say more because we are yet to record a statement and this is a highly secretive case,” he added.

Police are still searching for the other six suspects, included among whom are Myanmar and Thai nationals.

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“We are getting arrest warrants for the six suspects so that once we locate them, we can remand them,” Liang said.

“They are also involved in a small way in the human trafficking syndicate.”

In May last year, 159 gravesites – some holding more than one body – were found at 28 human trafficking camps in the northern Malaysian towns of Padang Besar and Wang Kelian near the Thai border.

The discovery came after more than 30 corpses were found in jungle camps in southern Thailand.

According to Malaysian authorities, the camps on the Malay side of the Thai border had become a safe haven to temporarily house the migrants – many of them Muslim Rohingya who have been fleeing Myanmar in droves since 2012 – while Thai authorities carried out their operation on the other side.

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The crackdown by Thai authorities on the camps had also scared traffickers into abandoning their human cargo at sea.

Following a tri-nation conference on the crisis May 20, Indonesia and Malaysia announced they would take those they considered to be refugees – predominantly Rohingya – in for one year before the international community finds homes for them, while those classified as economic migrants – predominantly Bangladeshi – would be repatriated.

Since the discovery, Thai police have charged at least 88 people – including a general – with human trafficking while Malaysia detained 47 people – including four police officials – as of November.

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Amnesty: Regional solution needed for refugee problem

Amnesty International Malaysia Report for 2015/2016 talks about initial reluctance of Malaysia and Indonesia to assist boat people.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines must come up with a regional solution to the refugee problem, says Amnesty International Malaysia director Shamini Darshni.

“Each country has different laws when it comes to people on the move arriving in our countries. If a regional solution is not going to be discussed, there is not going to be a solution,” she said of the hesitation by Malaysia and Indonesia to accept inbound refugees last May.

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Speaking to reporters here after the launch of Amnesty International Malaysia’s Report for 2015/2016, Shamini noted that the Philippines was very quick to react last year, but Malaysia and Indonesia had not followed suit in their readiness to accept inbound refugees.

“They (the Philippines) said: Okay, we’re going to take in a bunch of people. Malaysia and Indonesia, however, wavered.

“We did not see them (the governments) wanting to help people arriving on our shores until there was a report mentioning international criticism.

“So what we are saying now is that you need to have a regional discussion to come up with a regional solution.”

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Shamini was referring to the refugee crisis that occurred in the middle of 2015 when some 8,000 people fled persecution in Myanmar and poverty in Bangladesh. They sought refuge in Southeast Asian countries.

The Philippines had extended humanitarian assistance to the refugees, shortly followed by Malaysia and Indonesia, which initially refused to provide shelter.

Commenting on the current issue of migrant workers, Shamini said the Malaysian government had to ensure adherence to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in its dealings with them.

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“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that you have a right to live, work and seek safety in another country if your own country cannot do that.

“What we need to do as governments on the receiving end is to make sure we follow these principles when we work with any migrant workers, whether it’s the possible impending 1.5 million workers or the ones we have at the moment.”

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-freemalaysiatoday.com

Former PM’s daughter takes joy in serving those in need

KUALA LUMPUR: Sitting cross-legged on a dusty street curb and dressed casually in a simple shirt and pants, Hanis Hussein looked like any other volunteer handing out food and drinks to children from less fortunate families.

A second and closer look however reveals her to be none other than the daughter of the nation’s former Prime Minister, Hussein Onn.

While most Malaysians were rushing off to work or still sleeping snugly in their warm beds, Hanis was stationed in front of KL Krash Pad, slotting in a good deed in her usually busy day.

KL Krash Pad is a centre where vulnerable and at-risk teens go to study, participate in positive self-building activities, take extra classes or simply hang out as an alternative to indulging in other activities that could potentially expose them to gangs, violence, crime and substance abuse, among others.

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“This centre provides a lot of good programmes for refugees and for children who can’t go into normal schools because of their refugee status.

“This is a centre for them to learn and where single mothers can rest in the comfort of knowing where their children are,” said Hanis when met by FMT during Malaysia’s first breakfast “soup kitchen” organised by Institut Onn Jaafar and Yayasan Chow Kit.

Hanis, the sister of the country’s Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was among those who had helped out with the programme that kicked-off at 6.30am today.

This was not the first time that the down to earth woman had served the less fortunate. In fact, she has been actively helping Myanmar refugee orphans through a tahfiz orphanage near the Selayang wholesale market.

“I do volunteer work on a regular basis and on my mother’s side of the family, they have a foundation named after my grandfather, Haji Noh.

“We carry out community-based activities, helping among others, orphans and the blind.”

She admitted however that she had a soft spot for refugee orphans.

“They are not only orphans, but they are also poor and homeless. It’s a multitude of disadvantages, so my heart goes out towards those kids.”

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Hanis, a grandmother to a six-month-old, said seeing the children getting excited over a simple breakfast of bread, nasi lemak and a cup of hot milo this morning touched her heart.

She said the children’s gratitude for the simple things in life was endearing especially if one considered the mounting challenges they faced on a daily basis.

“There is brightness, acceptance and joy on their faces. They get on with life and they have found a way to be happy.”

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-FreeMalaysiaToday

The Star’s Chiam wins young humanitarian writers award

Well done: Chiam receiving her prize from ICRC’s deputy head of delegation Claire Servoin (centre) and NPC manager Steven Foo in Kuala Lumpur.

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Star’s feature writer May Chiam is the winner of the 2015 Young Humanitarian Writers Competition (journalist category).

She received RM500 cash and RM1,500 worth of electronic gadgets at a prize presentation ceremony yesterday.

The competition was jointly organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the National Press Club Malaysia (NPC) in co-operation with the Malaysian Red Crescent Society.

The panel of judges comprised academics, media professionals and experts in communications and international humanitarian law.

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Chiam submitted two articles for the competition – Floating in Limbo (published inStar2 on June 19, 2015) that looked into the lives of four refugees in Malaysia; and the other titled On a Roll (published in Star2 on Nov 6, 2015) that focused on the lives of two wheelchair-bound Cambodian women, who found new hope by playing basketball.

The inaugural competition – themed “Respecting life and human dignity” – was aimed at raising awareness on today’s most pressing humanitarian challenges.

It also hoped to encourage young people to better understand issues related to humanitarian law, work and principles.

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TheStar

Look at hiring asylum seekers

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MALAYSIA will be signing a G2G Memorandum Of Understanding with Bangladesh on the importing of 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers this month. According to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the policy was made in response to requests from employers. He also said the workers would be brought in stages to fill the demand in various sectors.

MyWelfare, a registered organisation that seeks to bring humanity, hope and dignity to the most marginalised peoples in society, urges the Government to reconsider this move. Is it wise to bring in another 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers when Malaysia already has 2.1 million registered foreign workers and over a million others who are illegal?

Furthermore, according to the UNHCR, there are 156,000 documented refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia. Those who are yet to be documented could be as many as five to 10 times this number. In total, the existing and potential foreign workers here number in the millions. They are more than 10% of the local population, or one in five.

Asylum seekers and refugees are people who escaped from genuine persecution and violence in their home country. A large percentage, the Rohingya Muslims, are denied citizenship in their home country, Myanmar.


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Look at the millions of Syrian refugees who are forced to take dangerous land and sea journeys to Europe. They are recognised as refugees and asylum seekers and given food, clothing, shelter, work and protection. Their children are given education and they can also work.

Malaysia is facing an impending refugee and humanitarian crisis. Refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and other countries also come here by dangerous land and sea routes.

However, they are not given any help or protection. They are not allowed to work legally, their children are not allowed to go to proper schools and they cannot access our public healthcare facilities. In short, they are in a state of limbo, eking out a living on the margins of society and are open to exploitation and abuse.

The reason for this travesty of justice is because Malaysia does not recognise the status of refugees and asylum seekers. They are not differentiated from undocumented immigrants. Hence, there are no laws and policies to protect refugees and asylum seekers in our country.

Without any legal recognition, if refugees or asylum seekers are robbed, raped or maimed, they cannot seek protection or obtain any recourse to justice. They are often hauled up by police or immigration officers during raids and are thrown into detention. Their children often end up without their parents or guardians, and many are orphaned.



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MyWelfare urges the Malaysian Government to look into this humanitarian crisis that could affect our society in future.Children who cannot go to school can cause social problems. People who cannot work legally are subjected to poverty and exploitation. Desperation can force a person to take desperate measures.

If Malaysia need workers, look at hiring them. They need work to survive, and we need workers for our industries.

Instead of being a burden, they can contribute to our economy. Even if the Government does not want to naturalise them, they can be given temporary work permits.

And unlike foreign workers, they are not about to run away from employers as they live here now. With their loved ones with them, like us, all they want is a job and a safe place to rest.

JULES RAHMAN ONG

MyWelfare, Kuala Lumpur



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Five killed in military plane crash in Nay Pyi Taw

A military plane crashed in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning, killing all five passengers onboard. 

The plane crashed in a field outside of Nay Pyi Taw during a test flight this morning. All 5 personnel on board eventually died. Photo: Swan Ye Htut / The Myanmar Times

The Beechcraft passenger plane burst into flames and crashed shortly after taking off from Nay Pyi Taw’s Ayelar Airport on a test flight. The plane was eventually headed to Namhsan, Shan State, to assist with the aftermath of a fire there, according to an official from the Ministry of Transport. The aircraft, registered as number 4601, was used for emergency flights.

Photo: Mg Myo Thant / Facebook

Five people were said to be on board the aircraft when it crashed south of Kyan Khin village in Lewe township. A major, two captains and one crew member were killed, while a lance corporal was pulled from the wreckage and rushed to the Defence Services General Hospital with severe injuries. He died while undergoing treatment.

The three officers killed were named as Major Aung Kyaw Moe, Captain Aung Paing Soe and Captain Htin Kyaw Soe. The lance corporal was Hla Win Tun.

“The two captains were single. The major was married and living in Yangon. He had a daughter,” U Min Min Tun, an assistant director from the Ministry of Transport, told The Myanmar Times.

The fatal incident occurred at 9:40am, but it took around an hour to put out the flames.

“The plane crashed into a field. Fire engines from Lewe came right away to put out the fire but they couldn’t access the site because of the dykes in the field. Fire engines from the airport also came but could not cross the field. So it took too long to put out the fire,” the assistant director said.



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Before emergency crews reached the aircraft, farmers living in Ayelar village tract said they attempted to save the passengers. A villager who spoke to The Myanmar Times on condition of anonymity said he was pulling weeds in his field when the accident occurred. He said he ran to the wreckage and, when he saw the soldiers inside, tried to break the glass with his garden hoe. “At that time they were still alive,” he said, but the glass was too thick to break.

“Then, other villagers arrived there. The aircraft caught fire, so the farmers backed away. The soldiers died in the plane because of suffocation and burning. We didn’t manage to save them, but we did our best,” he said.

Soldiers carry the remains of the deceased from the area. Photo: Pyae Thet Phyo / The Myanmar Times

The villages said it took another 45 minutes for police and fire crews to arrive.

The Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services released a statement saying the reason for the crash is still being investigated.

But the transportation ministry said the incident was related to a circuit board failure.

Last updated: 10:20pm MMT 11 February, 2015.



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The Malaysian Insider Bakti, children's fund donate RM2.5 million to Syrian refugees

Welfare Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) president Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor hopes the money donated today will help Syrian refugees at the Lebanon and Jordan border areas.

The Malaysian Insider file pic, February 2, 2016.The Welfare Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) and the Global Children's Wellbeing Fund today donated US$600,000 (about RM2.5 million) to Syrian refugee women and children at the Lebanon and Jordan border areas.

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The Prime Minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, who is Bakti president as well as patron of the fund, handed the contribution to Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Othman Hashim at the Prime Minister's official residence, Seri Perdana.

Rosmah expressed hope that the contribution would alleviate the suffering and hardship of the refugees, particularly in facing the winter.

"I, as the patron of the Global Children's Well-being Fund, and the fund trust account committee members are happy to donate US$500,000 for the welfare of the refugee women and children.

"Some US$300,000 of the donation is for the refugees at the Lebanon border areas and US$200,000 for the refugees at the Jordan border areas," she said during the handing over of the donation. 

Rosmah said Bakti contributed US$100,000 for the same purpose, with US$60,000 of it for refugees at the Lebanon border areas and the rest for refugees at the Jordan border.

She said the contribution would be channelled through the Malaysian embassies in Lebanon and Jordan.

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"The embassies will buy the necessary items for the winter season, such as blankets and thick jackets, as well as basic clothing and infant formula for 20,000 children and women at the Lebanon and Jordan border areas," she said. 

Quoting United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees statistics, Rosmah said the number of Syrian refugees since the outbreak of civil war in 2011 had risen to 4.59 million, of whom 1.85 million were children.

"I was informed that 1.4 million Syrian refugees are now at refugee camps in Jordan and more than one million in Lebanon. Almost 300,000 of these refugees are children," she said. – Bernama, February 2, 2016.

Source : themalaysianinsider.com

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Aung Sang Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy facing impossible expectations from Myanmar public

Aung Sang Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy facing impossible expectations from Myanmar public

By South-East Asia correspondent Liam Cochrane

PHOTO: Myanmar's new pro-democracy MPs take their seats in Parliament for the first time. (AFP: Ye Aung Thu)

The housing compound for Myanmar's new parliamentarians is a bucolic, lime-green painted oasis in the middle of the country's bizarre capital, Naypyidaw.

Whether politicians are high-flying Yangon businesspeople or hail from a remote village in the mountains, they each get the same humble room, with concrete floors and no hot water.

The simplicity provides a welcome contrast to the gaudy, gargantuan and mostly empty hotels — built from scratch by paranoid generals in 2005 — that dot the capital.

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It's within this shady compound that the new members of Myanmar's historic Parliament received briefings and got to know each other this week, ushering in a new political era.

"It's good, there's a lot of young candidates, a lot of young ladies, so maybe we can work together," said Nan Moe, a female MP from the Ta'ang National Party.

Many MPs from ethnic-based parties turned up to Monday's swearing in of the lower house in traditional dress, providing a colourful show of how things are changing.

"The previous parliamentarians were from the same background, men after retirement [with a] military background," said one female NLD member, who asked to remain anonymous because she wasn't authorised to speak to the media.

"Now this new group is very diverse: We have men, women, young, old, different professions, from different areas.

"This is a strength of this Parliament, at the same time the challenge — we will have to understand each other."

PHOTO: Myanmar MPs and staff eat dinner in a compound for new parliamentarians in Naypyidaw. (ABC: Liam Cochrane)

'No quick wins in politics'

The National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, swept elections in November, winning around 80 per cent of available seats.

The landslide victory — an echo of the 1990 result that was annulled by Myanmar's brutal military junta — gives the NLD political power, but also burdens the party with huge, perhaps impossible, expectations from the public.

PHOTO: MPs arrive for the swearing-in of Myanmar's lower house in the capital. (ABC: Liam Cochrane)

"There's no way to meet the people's expectations, we will have to manage the people's expectations," said the NLD member.

The Parliament being sworn in this week is the first democratically-elected body since 1962 in Myanmar.

Decades of sanctions, thuggish economic mismanagement and political repression mean there is a lot to do to put the country back on track, and the NLD appears keen to make the most of the low hanging fruit.

"We will have to sincerely communicate to the public [that] these are the quick wins which can be obtained during this time, [others] are for the medium-term, long-term … we will have to make people understand the real situation," the MP said.

She named infrastructure development, trade facilitation, creating favourable investment climate, and encouraging vocational training as possible "quick wins".

"[There'll be] no quick wins in politics, only economic development!" she laughed.

PHOTO: Nan Moe, a new MP for the Ta'ang National Party in Myanmar. (ABC: Liam Cochrane)

Deep ethnic divisions remain

The medium-to-long-term priorities usually cited are peace with the country's various armed ethnic groups and amending or re-writing the Constitution.

The peace process is underway, with eight armed groups signing a ceasefire in last year.

However a further 13 rebel groups refused to sign, including some of the biggest and toughest fighting units.

Deep rifts remain between some ethnic minorities and the Bamar majority, which also dominate the NLD.

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Ms Suu Kyi's party has been careful to demonstrate inclusiveness early, nominating ethnic Arakan, Kachin and Karen candidates for Parliamentary speaker roles.

Lasting peace will take time, but so may Constitutional change.

Currently the 2008 Constitution prohibits anyone with foreign children becoming President, a clause thought to have been written specifically for Ms Suu Kyi and the sons she had with her late British husband.

The Nobel laureate has said she will "rule from above" the President and NLD insiders say she will put off any immediate moves to amend the Constitution in the interests of a smooth transition of power.

That transition is a cumbersome and slow process.

Muted excitement for the victors

Later this month, a President will be elected — one of three vice Presidents nominated by the upper house, lower house and military, which holds on to a 25 per cent unelected bloc in Parliament.

That President will then form a Government and formally take over with a speech on March 31.

PHOTO: Veteran NLD member Win Htein. (ABC: Liam Cochrane)

In some ways that glacial transfer of power, from early November to late March, may help take the sting out the humiliating defeat dished out to the military, and Ms Suu Kyi appears to be avoiding an iconic "we won" moment.

It's clearly historic times in Myanmar but the mood is more sombre than may be expected.

In fact, several MPs told the ABC they were not excited about the prospect of a new Parliament.

Proud, reflective and determined perhaps, but not at all giddy over their own triumph.

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"No, no," said the NLD's jovial spokesman Win Htein, with a wry smile, when journalists prodded him for exclamations of excitement.

"This is the accumulation of our struggle for the past 30 years."

On the front porch of her MP accommodation, one NLD member said the buzz of history-in-the-making was for others to enjoy.

"It's an exciting period for the people [of Myanmar], because we are going to perform our part and we are going to carry the heavy responsibility ahead."

PHOTO: New National League for Democracy lawmakers arrive for the opening of the new parliament in Naypyidaw.(Reuters: Soe Zeya Tun)

Source : abc.net.au

Still no hope in Myanmar's Rakhine state, say parents of refugees

SITTWE, Myanmar - Mr Kyaw Hla Aung, 76, walked slowly and painfully around his house made of wood and rattan. ''Show this to my son,'' he said with a laugh as I filmed him.

The Rohingya Muslim leader, who has been in and out of jail for years, has seven children - five of them are abroad and they are not coming back.

His house is between a Rohingya village and a camp for internally displaced Rohingya, in a vast area outside Sittwe guarded by police checkpoints. Just up the road, the Thet Kay Pyin camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) has been home to around 5,000 Rohingya since 2012.

Mr Kyaw Hla Aung's previous house in the city of Sittwe was burned down in 2012 by a Rakhine mob. But he is staying on because he wants to set an example to the others. If he flees, they would as well. 

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At the Thet Kay Pyin camp, conditions are squalid. Makeshift houses huddle together in rows over open drains thick with raw sewage. Water is drawn from hand pumps.

There are some vegetable and tea stalls, and the mosque is a long, low hut. Men wash in a nearby pond before prayers.

Rohingya Muslim leader Kyaw Hla Aung is staying put in Sittwe, Myanmar, even though five of his six children are living abroad and do not want to return home. ST PHOTO: NIRMAL GHOSH

SONS HELD CAPTIVE BY HUMAN TRAFFICKERS

A crowd of children pressed around me as I sat down with a group of women, including some whose sons left for Malaysia last year.

One of them, Madam Asiya Khatoum, who lost her home in Sittwe, has eight children. The oldest, a 17-year-old boy, vanished one night late last year, she said.

Madam Asiya Khatoum sold everything she had to raise money for her teenage son. ST PHOTO: NIRMAL GHOSH

Some two weeks later, she claimed, he called her from a human trafficker's camp in the jungles of southern Thailand. He said the traffickers demanded US$2000 (S$2,820) for his release.

She scrambled for weeks, even selling the rations she got from the World Food Programme before she managed to raise the money.

It was given to the smugglers who went to the camp frequently and offered trips to Malaysia. They handed it up the chain to the traffickers, who let her son go. Weeks later, he called from Kuala Lumpur.

A second woman whose son had similarly left home also received a call from traffickers in Thailand. But she could not raise the money and has not heard from her son since. He was just 13 years old.

Still, when asked, most of the young men in the little crowd that had gathered around us said they would rather brave the boats on the Bay of Bengal and the human smugglers, than stay in Sittwe where there is no future. 

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REJECTED AND STATELESS

The Rohingya Muslims are the scatterlings of South Asia. After the post-colonial boundary separated what was then East Pakistan - which morphed into Bangladesh in 1971 - from Myanmar, the Burmese state said the Rohingya were immigrants from Bangladesh and should go back there. East Pakistan and now Bangladesh, however, said they had been living in Myanmar for generations so they belong there. 

There are around one million Rohingya out of a population of up to three million people in Rakhine state, mostly Buddhist Arakanese who have a deep fear that the Rohingya were out to swamp them and to islamise the state.

The Rohingya are not recognised as one of Myanmar's 135 official races. Repression in Rakhine state has spawned previous waves of refugees, on top of steady migration through the years.

Up to half a million Rohingya live in Karachi, Pakistan. Bangladesh has close to 300,000 registered and unregistered Rohingya refugees in camps with permanently dire conditions, especially for those not in formal camps. There are tens of thousands of Rohingya in Malaysia.

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Since 2014, more than 100,000 may have left the coast of Rakhine and neighbouring Teknaf in Bangladesh. The number includes Bangladeshis. A crackdown earlier this year on traffickers in Thailand has temporarily disrupted the smuggling route, but there is still a great demand for the boat passage.

FROM SITTWE TO CHIANG MAI

One of Mr Kyaw Hla Aung's sons slipped away to Bangladesh in 2006 and took a boat to Thailand. Now he lives in Thailand, scraping a living and working on human rights and trafficking issues. He may never see the green fields of Arakan again, but he accepts that and may never return. His father does not expect him to. 

Mr Kyaw Hla Aung's son looking out from his balcony in Bangkok.. ST PHOTO: NIRMAL GHOSH

''There are no jobs here, there is nowhere to go. There is no education. So how can these people live here,'' Mr Kyaw Hla Aung said.

The smuggling chain is well oiled.

''Traffickers have a link with local police and military, and with the boatmen... they organise the people, then they organise small boats and take them to a big ship.''

MR KYAW HLA AUNG'S SON, who fled Myanmar and now resides in Bangkok

In Bangkok, his 37-year-old son consented to an interview but did not want to be photographed or have his name revealed, only saying cryptically: "I have enemies.''

But he spoke at length about his journey which began on Sept 1, 2006 - a date that was etched in his mind, he said with a smile.

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He crossed the Teknaf river to Bangladesh where he spent six months but failed to get a Bangladesh passport. He found out that it would cost 40,000 Thai baht (S$1,559) - at 2006 prices - to get a boat out. He gave up and was planning to return to Sittwe when a smuggler relented on the price, charging him just 12,000 taka (S$216) because he was a friend of the family. 

He took the boat, was arrested twice by Myanmar police and coast guard near Tavoy, and then towed out by them to the maritime border with Thailand.

"The tow was through the night. In the morning the Myanmar coast guard told them to 'head straight, and in a few hours you will come across Thai fishing boats, and you can ask directions from them', '' he said.

It worked out as planned, and Thai marine police and navy ships came out to intercept their boat near Phang Nga. It had been a 12-day journey since they left the shores of Bangladesh.

He was taken off with the others - 67 in all - and spent days shuttling between immigration detention centres in Thailand.

Then they were sent to cross the border back to Myanmar at Mae Sot in Thailand. But right across the border, human smugglers were waiting and organised the Rohingya into groups, asking how much they would pay to get back to Thailand or travel down to Malaysia.

It was all settled for 3,000 baht (S$117) and Mr Kyaw Hla Aung's son crossed the border back into Thailand, walking for hours through the jungle, under the cover of the night. He finally made it to Chiang Mai, and spent the next couple of years studying in a local university.

Today, he lives in Bangkok and keeps track of smugglers and traffickers, trying to help victims and surviving largely on donations and payment for translation work. 

He has only returned to Myanmar once, in 2008, as a delegate at an official conference, and got a Myanmar passport in Yangon. That was the last time he saw his father, who was in Yangon at the time. He did not go to Sittwe. 

"We can't, it is difficult, the main problem is the government's policy. I think even the government does not know how to resolve it'' 

MR KYAW HLA AUNG'S SON, when he was asked if he would consider going back to Myanmar

He has accepted that he may never go back to Sittwe - but he also has no desire to do so.

Asked if he misses Sittwe, he said he did not.

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"I do want Sittwe, and the whole society including Rakhines, to develop'' he said. ''They need development. If there is development, the people will change their minds.''

"But, I don't miss it,'' he said.