At 45, the NPAs are still a long way to ‘victory’ | Asian Correspondent

At 45, the NPAs are still a long way to ‘victory’ | Asian Correspondent
Edwin Espejo, Dec 29, 2013

They are not yet ready to show their faces – at least that’s the leadership of the Far South Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing the New People’s Army.

That is the reason they gave to explain why TV cameras were not allowed inside the ‘guerrilla zone’.  On December 26, on the day the CPP celebrated its 45^th founding anniversary, Mindanao’s fastest growing regional command of the communist underground movement opened up a little of its strongest five guerrilla fronts to a few General Santos City-based reporters somewhere in Cotabato.

Ka Efren, spokesman of the rebel group’s umbrella organization, the National Democratic Front (NDF), said the time will come when they will be ready to give their regional command a “face” – similar to the more vocal and open Ka Oris of NDF Mindanao who also held a similar press conference somewhere in Agusan del Sur.  (The Southern Mindanao region of the CPP-NP-NDF likewise invited members of the local press in Compostela Valley).

Ka Efren: "We will persevere no matter how long it takes."

He said the Far South is making inroads and rapidly expanding their influence in the region which includes the whole of South Cotabato and Sarangani, portions of Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato and Davao del Sur provinces.

The area where they celebrated their founding anniversary is part of its Guerrilla Front 72 , one of the oldest in Mindanao and is also the strongest in the Far South region.

It has a company-size formation of young guerrilla fighters, most of them sons and daughters of peasants and farmers.  

Its main regular unit, also called ‘sentro de grabidad’ or SDG, headed by Ka Dencio Madrigal, was said to be in another guerrilla front.  Ka Dencio is Far South’s most wanted man by the military.

Young fighters

Ka Jam, commanding officer of the Mt. Alip Command (Front 72), can easily pass himself off as a college student about to get his diploma.

But at 33, he is the oldest among the ‘Red’ fighters of Front 72.

“The average age is about 25.  Our youngest is 19.  I am 33,” Ka Jam said.

Jam started as a church worker and was influenced by an older brother into joining the NPA.

“I began as an activist in 1999 and got into integration with the (NPA) unit in 2000,” he narrated.

Jam said he decided he wanted to be a red fighter right then and there.  When he went home, his only purpose was to tell his parents of his decision to join the NPA.

It was a slow rise for Jam, frail at about 5’4” tall, who became the commanding officer of the Mt. Alip Command.

A political officer of the NPAs explains to Erning  and Eden the task of their son Ka Diego in the guerrilla movement.

After the anniversary program, 22-year-old Ka Diego had a reunion with his parents who had to walk, travel by bus, then walk again to meet their eldest son.  Erning and Eden came all the way from a remote village in Banga, South Cotabato to see Ka Diego who they have not seen in seven months.

Erning was teary-eyed, holding the AK-47 issued to his son.  Erning and his wife brought along their six-year old youngest son.  Their only daughter was left behind to tend to their home.

Not far away, a young woman Red fighter is carrying – nay, hugging – her son not even a year old.  She has to leave her child to the care of relatives as she and her husband have opted to pursue the 45-year-old armed struggle of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

Such sacrifices are not uncommon for fulltime guerrilla fighters.

Ka Efren and his wife, who is also a fulltime communist cadre, had their Grade 7 son as their special ‘visitor.’

Ka Jam said the biggest ‘victory’ they achieved this year was the ambush of soldiers belonging to the 38^th Infantry Battalion in Bituan, Tulunan in Cotabato province.

The NPA detonated a command controlled land mine just as a military semi-truck passed the ‘killing zone.’  Six soldiers and three militiamen were killed following a volume of fire from the NPAs waiting by the roadside as the landmine exploded.

The military claimed the NPAs used excessive fire to dismember some of the dead soldiers.

Ka Jam however said the soldiers were directly hit by the explosive and this explained the mangled faces of the soldiers.

He said they just fired three M-203 shells and used less than 500 rounds of ammunition.  In the aftermath, Ka Jam said they were able to confiscate seven high powered rifles.

Capt. Ernesto Aguilar, the highest ranking officer who was with the semi-truck, managed to survive and escape capture. 

There were at least four other major encounters in Front 72.  Ka Jam said they inflicted considerable casualties to government soldiers while suffering one ‘comrade’ killed in action in 2013.

Still a long way

In 2008, Ka Oris, NDF Mindanao spokesman, said they were aiming at a strategic stalemate in five years.

In the Rappler story by Karlos Manlupig, Ka Oris did not make any reference to his 2008 statement as their target is coming to pass this year.  

But Ka Efren said they are prepared to bring their revolution to the next level (strategic stalemate) no matter how long it will take.

Like Ka Oris, he noted the steady rise in the number of tactical offensives, new recruits and armaments over the last few years.

“Our tactical offensives will became bigger, more frequent and in more locations next year,” said Ka Efren.

It is a veiled warning shared by Ka Jam who said while the NPAs perform their revolutionary tasks of implementing the rebels’ own brand of ‘agrarian revolution’ and building their mass base, they have not lost sight of their principal function and that is engaging in guerrilla warfare.

Ka Efren later addressed their supporters, numbering about 1,000, and laid down their ‘tasks’ in the next few years to include building organs of political power – a euphemism for their “shadow government.”

NPA strength

After 45 years of guerrilla warfare, the CPP-NPA-NDF is the oldest ongoing communist-led insurgency in Asia.

It is nowhere near the strategic stalemate stage – a stage where they are supposed to be in parity with the Philippine government in warfare capability. They are not necessarily at parity in arms and strength but at the point when the government cannot defeat it while the communist is not yet capable of overthrowing the existing order.

In a statement, the Central Committee of the CPP however said it has reached a point where the military cannot sustain offensive operations “for six months to one year on more than 10% of the guerrilla fronts.”

The communist rebels said they now have a total of 110 guerrilla fronts in substantial portions in 71 of the country’s 81 provinces.  Forty-six (46) of these guerrilla fronts are in the Mindanao mainland where the NPAs are strongest.  A typical guerrilla front has at least a NPA-level company size formation which include two regular platoons and a detach unit.

The CPP said it needs to increase its armed regulars to 25,000 and its party membership to 250,000 in order to advance its ‘revolution’ to the next stage.

Ka Oris said there are now 10,000 party members in Mindanao.

But in an unprecedented admission, the CPP also conceded the communist movement throughout the world is “in a period of temporary defeat and strategic retreat…because of the sabotage and betrayal carried out by the modern revisionists.”

It took China and Russia to task for joining the world ‘capitalist order’ in full – a reality that is not lost to the military.

The NPAs claim they are getting even stronger despite military claim to the contrary.

Belittled

Maj. Gen. Rainer Cruz, head of the Mindanao Eastern Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, however belittled the anniversary celebrations of the communists,

“Are they still there?” he said in jest.

The Philippine military said the NPAs are now down to less than 4,000 nationwide and no more than 1,500 in Mindanao.  

Cruz said the rebels are no longer getting fresh recruits and have reduced themselves to thugs and extortionists.

Incidentally for the general, it is in his area of responsibility where the communists and the NPAs are at their strongest nationwide.  

The guerilla fronts of the Northeastern, Southern, Northcentral and Far South Mindanao commands of the NPAs are among the resilient and most active in the country today.

“From only 250 TOs (tactical offensives) in 2010, this has increased to 350 in 2011, to 400 in 2012 and to more than 400 in the entire year of 2013,” Ka Oris said in a statement read before members of the press in Agusan del Sur.

December 26 also marked the first time in the history of Mindanao’s communist movement that these regions – Northeast, Southern and Far South –  held simultaneous press conferences.

In 2010, Ka Oris said they have almost reached the 1980s level of armed strength when the CPP-NPA-NDF were at their strongest.  At that time, during the Marcos dictatorship, the military placed their armed strength at 25,000.

CPP statements however said, their armed regulars at that time were less than 10,000.

The communists defined the stages of their armed struggle in three – strategic defensive, strategic stalemate and strategic offensive.

But on its 45^th anniversary, the CPP said it is still on the verge of completing the requisites to advance its ‘armed struggle’ to the strategic stalemate.

Looking for democracy in Thailand’s Democrat Party | Asian Correspondent

Looking for democracy in Thailand’s Democrat Party | Asian Correspondent
AP News Dec 12, 2013

BANGKOK (AP) — The Democrat Party has seen the enemy.

The Democrats, whose veterans are at the forefront of the anti-government protests that have shaken Bangkok for the past six weeks, say the enemy is a brutal system that has allowed their political nemesis to remain politically powerful, even from far away in Dubai, in exile. The system has driven them to launch angry protests that have left at least five people dead and littered a few streets with the carcasses of burned-out police trucks. It has kept the party from winning a national election for two decades.

The enemy of the Democrat Party? It’s democracy.

Or as protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban calls it, “the tyranny of the parliamentary majority.”
When Thailand’s elected prime minister refused an opposition demand to step aside, Suthep’s answer this week was to effectively declare a new government, in the form of a self-appointed “People’s Democratic Reform Committee.” He ordered civil servants to answer to the committee, called for a shadow system of volunteers to replace the police and issued an order that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra be prosecuted for insurrection.

“Today will be a historic day,” Suthep roared Monday to tens of thousands of protesters crowding streets around the prime minister’s office. Suthep was a Democrat Party leader until he symbolically resigned shortly before the protests began, though he remains strongly identified with the party.

“This will be the first time that the people, the owners of the country, stood up to take back their sovereign power.”

On Wednesday, most civil servants appeared to defy Suthep’s order to report to the Reform Committee, but the move represents an uncertain and potentially dangerous division in Thai politics, which has been convulsed by repeated, often-violent protests since a 2006 coup ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck’s brother.

The coup exposed a deep division in Thai society. Thaksin’s supporters are mostly poor, rural people from the country’s north and northeast, drawn to him by government programs he created offering everything from nearly free medical care to guaranteed crop prices.
The traditional elite, meanwhile — high-level civil servants and military officers, aristocrats, professionals and businessmen — remain with the Democrat Party.

While Thaksin’s supporters are relative newcomers in Thai politics, they wield the power of numbers. Thaksin or his loyalists have won every national election since 2001.

Thaksin, a billionaire who made his first fortune in telecommunications and has been dogged for years by accusations of shady dealings, has lived in exile since 2008, fleeing a corruption conviction he insists is politically motivated.

His sister Yingluck, who is widely seen as a proxy for her brother — even by many of her own supporters — took power after a landslide victory in 2011.

On Monday, hours before Suthep announced the powers of the new Reform Committee, Yingluck dissolved Parliament and called new elections for Feb. 2. Suthep dismissed the vote a political ploy.

He also knew, however, that there was no way his party would win.

In many ways, the Democrats want a democracy that would have looked at home in 18th-century America or ancient Rome, a democracy where the uneducated masses are kept out of mainstream politics and a small corps of rotating elites sit at the top of the political pyramid.

Protesters believe in Suthep’s vision of what he sometimes calls a “perfect democracy,” where one man can simply claim the power to anoint a new government if there are enough protesters in the streets.

“Please tell people in your country that we are not crazy,” Nuanchan Poonpatana, 50-year-old Bangkok resident dressed in a pink jacket and pink shoes, said at a recent morning as she walked to an anti-Thaksin protest.

Like many of Thaksin’s opponents, she sees his government aid programs as national bribery schemes to buy votes.

“The farmers and poor people receive money from him,” she said, adding that new elections would change nothing. Yingluck would simply win again.

Suthep’s announcement of the Reform Committee was warmly welcomed among the protesters.

Ekgarin Khunchaiprasert, a thin, 27-year-old airport worker, was in the crowds at Suthep’s Monday speech. Asked if the self-appointed committee represented the abandonment of democracy, he shook his head.

“Democracy has just begun here today.”

Why are more than 250 activists facing trial in Burma? | Asian Correspondent

Why are more than 250 activists facing trial in Burma? | Asian Correspondent
Francis Wade, Dec 06, 2013

The New York Times released a timely op-ed this week warning that investment in Burma could aid the military, whose power the reform drive is ostensibly aimed at diluting. “A central policy of the regime is to attract foreign investment into the impoverished country,” it said. “At issue now is whether Myanmar’s transition will be more than a ploy to draw in foreign money to fatten the military.”

It’s a pertinent question to ask now as increasing numbers of western firms eye ventures in the country. The army still wields great clout over the economy through military-owned outfits like the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH), a vast and shady conglomerate with its roots in junta-era Burma. A quarter of the annual state budget goes to the military – any investment in Burma will inevitably contribute to this.

Seemingly being overlooked is an ancillary story to the debate over responsible business practice. In the past few weeks, courts in Burma have found more than a dozen people guilty of breaking Article 18, the bill enacted last year (to some loud clapping from abroad) to allow, and govern, peaceful protest. Some have been given months-long jail terms with labour, others have been fined. A number of the people were protesting sensitive economic ventures, like the Letpadaung copper mine in northern Burma, or criticising delicate matters like the arrest of a land rights activist, or poor workplace standards.

Increasing numbers of these stories are emerging – the woman who has been threatened with arrest for refusing to leave her land, on which a huge Japan-backed industrial zone is to be developed; the seven-month sentences yesterday given to activists peacefully protesting the Kachin conflict.  What seems to have gone largely unnoticed is that despite Article 18 and the government’s accompanying pledge to allow space for activism, protestors continue to be criminalized – in fact we’re in the thick of a major but silent crackdown on activists, with 253 people currently awaiting trial on politically-motivated charges, according to data compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The specific charge pinned on many of them is that they did not consult with the government prior to protesting.

When Article 18 was enacted last year, it was this point that critics highlighted as a cause for concern. The clause essentially gives the government ultimate control over freedom of speech, which is antithetical to the main purpose of protests – to hold the state to account. A government that curtails that right cannot be considered democratic.

The key commonality here is that many of these charges have targeted individuals and groups whose protests threaten to spotlight highly sensitive issues like the extractives industry, the Kachin conflict, meager salaries and workplace abuse of factory employees, etc – in short, the issues that are most sensitive to the government and military and its close network of business tycoons and prized foreign investors. As the brutal crackdown on the Letpadaung mine protestors showed last year, the government is willing to allow reforms to move forward until they begin to eat into the interests of this nexus. Protection of their interests currently appears to override what should be key elements of the transition.

Some will argue that things have improved for activists – what would have been decades-long sentences three years ago are now far shorter. Yet that position neglects to acknowledge the implications of the continued criminalization of protest, something that statistics prove is still happening on a worrying scale. This has important consequences, particularly if, as the New York Times warns, it stops a light being shone on the military’s continued clout over the economy and political arena. This however is evidently the precise aim of the crackdown.

Ex-PM Thaksin a saintly figure in rural Thailand | Asian Correspondent

Ex-PM Thaksin a saintly figure in rural Thailand  | Asian Correspondent
AP News Dec 06, 2013

KAMBON, Thailand (AP) — Here, in a village where electricity is still a novelty, they’ll quickly tell you who was responsible for bringing change to this long-neglected corner of Thailand.
Thaksin Shinawatra is a former prime minister, a billionaire businessman and the brother of the current prime minister. He has lived for years in luxurious, self-imposed exile in Dubai, but is still widely seen as Thailand’s most powerful politician. He is despised by his opponents among Thailand’s traditional elite, who disdain him as a corrupt leader who spent billions of the government’s dollars to amass a huge following among the poor and uneducated.

But around here he is a saint.

“Ten years ago, the road you drove on to get here was dirt. There was no electricity, there was no irrigation,” said Pichai Poltaklang, a retired primary schoolteacher and local organizer for Thaksin’s political movement, commonly known as the “Red Shirts.” He ticks off government programs: the virtually free health care, the low-cost education loans, the old-age pension. “Before Thaksin came to power we were left out.”

As Thailand faces an immense social and political divide, a schism pitting the rural poor against a traditional urban elite that has again ignited bloody protests in the streets of Bangkok, places like Kambon are at the heart of Thaksin’s power.

There are tens of thousands of villages like this scattered across Thailand’s north and northeast, and millions of villagers who Thaksin can call upon if the scattered protests of recent weeks descend into full-scale street violence and his sister’s government is threatened.

If no one here is calling for bloodshed, a quiet threat is always implicit. Occasionally, it’s explicit.

“Across the northeast we can seize every government office in every town, in every city, in every province,” said Thongplean Boonphunga, a middle-aged rice farmer. The elite may deride Thaksin’s followers as uneducated bumpkins, but, she notes, the country people have numbers on their side.

“They can’t control the whole country. We can,” he said.

Kambon is in Thailand’s northeast, a sprawling, populous region of rice paddies and small farms that was long ignored by successive governments in Bangkok. As Thailand’s economy boomed, and the country became one of Southeast Asia’s financial powerhouses, millions of farmers struggled in villages that had barely changed since the days of their grandparents.
But that changed under Thaksin, who was born in the north, and who used millions made as a telecommunications magnate to vault himself into politics. He became prime minister in 2001.

To his rural followers, Thaksin is a man who understands their plight and looked for ways to improve their lives.

To his many critics, he took a cold look at Thailand’s demographics, focusing on populous but poor regions where he knew government spending would make an immediate impact and bring followers.

The followers came in droves.

“The Thaksin government gave them concrete moments in their lives” where they saw real change, said David Streckfuss, an American scholar based in Thailand. “They also realized their power” in electing him over and over, he said.

Thaksin quickly became Thailand’s most popular politician, with that popularity holding on tightly after he was ousted in a 2006 military coup, and then after he went into exile to avoid a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated. He has not been back to Thailand since 2008.

The 2006 coup split Thailand’s social divisions wide open, and set the stage for years of on-and-off political turmoil. Since then, elections have been interspersed with carefully orchestrated chaos, weather by Thaksin’s “Red Shirts” or by the “Yellow Shirts” of the traditional elite.

The most recent trouble began in November, when the ruling party — led by Thaksin’s younger sister, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra — tried to push an amnesty bill through Parliament. Critics said it was designed to allow Thaksin back into Thailand.

Even though the government backed down on the amnesty bill, protesters flooded into government buildings, trying to force the collapse of Yingluck’s government. The protesters, led by former Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, say Thaksin voters are easily swayed by his populist policies, and they are demanding the creation of an unelected “people’s council” to administer the country.

The political standoff resulted in three days of intense clashes between protesters and police. But the clashes abruptly ended Tuesday and both both sides called an informal truce to celebrate the revered king’s 86th birthday on Thursday.

While he used his annual birthday speech to call for stability, King Bhumibol Adulyadej made no direct comments on the political crisis.

In Kambon, like everywhere else in Thailand, they’re waiting to see what will happen Friday, when the enforced unity of the royal birthday is over and politics will again rule. The autumn harvest is underway, and in the fields the air is sweet with the smell of freshly cut rice stalks.

No one here is eager for protests now, when there is so much work to do — major Red Shirt protests tend to coincide with the spring hot season, when farmers have more free time — but protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has vowed that “our battle” will resume on Friday.

So they are closely watching what is happening in Bangkok.

Noothuan Wongthong, a 52-year-old farmer with a lilting voice and wool gloves to protect her hands from the dried rice stalks she hacked with a hand-made sickle, was working for a neighbor on a recent morning.

Like her neighbors, she can quickly list programs that have benefited her: the guaranteed price for rice, the loans, the medical care that has paid for repeated blood tests after she began to grow strangely tired. She worries what will happen if protesters drive Yingluck from power.

She’s got a new Yamaha scooter, and a 27-inch TV. She gets more money when she sells her own rice, and is paid more when she works for other farmers. She doesn’t want to lose her grip on the lower rungs of Thailand’s middle-class life.

“Before Thaksin, the money never reached us here,” she said. “Now it does.”

Malaysian envoys worldwide sought to stop Murum dam | Asian Correspondent

Malaysian envoys worldwide sought to stop Murum dam | Asian Correspondent
Rowena Dela Rosa Yoon, Nov 22, 2013

Malaysian diplomats stationed worldwide are now sought to intervene in the controversial Murum Hydroelectric Project, one of the 12 mega-dams undertaken by the Sawawak Energy Berhad.

Indigenous people around the said river are getting desperate day by day to save their land and property, but there seems to be no aid in sight to ease their suffering. They have explored all means to get the attention of the government and local media, but not enough.

A dramatic pose by an indigenous Penan protecting water resource. (Photo: Bruno Manser Fonds)

Last week, a group of about 27 international NGOs and activist organizations joined forces in an attempt to help. The office of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Rzak has remained silent despite a letter calling for his intervention. In a letter dated November 11,  the NGOs have written the prime minister expressing concern over the situation of Indigenous Penan women, men, and children who are peacefully protesting at the site of the Murum hydro power project.

The NGOs are now set to  deliver a  signature campaign against the maltreatment of indigenous Penan protestors in the Murum Dam. The campaign containing complaint against harassment, intimidation, and violation of human rights will be sent to Malaysian embassies worldwide on November 25.

Led by the Borneo Project, International Rivers, Bruno Manser Foundation, and SAVE Rivers, the complaint is part of the effort to get the direct attention of Malaysian consulates asking to intercede and to stop the ”maltreatment, abuse and disrespect of indigenous communities” protesting against the construction of the dam. According to the Bruno Manser Fonds, the indigenous groups are asking for the withdrawal of police and to allow human rights observers as well as lawyers to access the area.

The protesters have been cordoned off by a barricade of armed police since November 5, the letter added. Lawyers, human rights groups, medics, media personnel and convoys carrying basic supplies of food and water for distribution all have reported that their access to the site has been blocked.

Information regarding the health and wellbeing of families inside the security perimeter is nearly impossible, according to Borneo Project. This raises concern over the conditions of those who are vulnerable, including younger children and the elderly.
Intimidation, threat, arrest, detention and criminalization of members of the Penan families seeking justice against forced displacement are clear violation of  the rights with respect to freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, the groups said.
The list of NGOs provided by Borneo Project:

• Accountability Project, International
• Accountability Counsel, International
• Human Rights Watch, International
• Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation, International
• Green Advocates, International
• International Rivers, International
• Asian Indigenous Peoples’ Pact, Asian Region
• NGO Forum on the ADB, Asian Region
• Pesticide Action Network-Asia Pacific, Asian Region
• Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), Malaysia
• Jaringan Orang Asal Semalaysia (JOAS), Malaysia
• The Sarawak Native Customary Land Rights Network (TAHABAS), Malaysia
• Malaysian Damn the Dams Action Group, Malaysia
• Pacos Trust, Malaysia
• SAVE Rivers, Malaysia
• Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
• Malaysia Tenaganita, Malaysia
• Association for International Water Studies (FIVAS), Norway
• Borneo Project, USA
• Bruno Manser Foundation, Switzerland
• Burma Partnership, Burma/Myanmar
• Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Philippines
• Huon Valley Environment Centre, Tasmania
• Korean House for International Solidarity (KHIS), Korea
• Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens [Movement of Dam Affected People]
• Brazil Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Pakistan
• Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo
• Ecuador Shwe Gas Movement, Burma/Myanmar
• Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food, Sierra Leone

The Taliban Dilemma, the US and Pakistan | Asia Sentinel

The Taliban Dilemma, the US and Pakistan | Asia Sentinel
Salman Rafi Sheikh,19 NOVEMBER 2013


Did the US botch a Pakistan peace overture with the killing of the head of the local Taliban?

The Nov. 1 drone attack by the US that killed the Pakistani Taliban leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, appears to have paralyzed whatever prospects there were for a ‘peaceful solution’ to Pakistan’s continuing terrorism and violence and has to be regarded as a major blunder stemming from lack of communication and distrust between the two countries.

Worse, the killing of Mehsud, who had expressed at least some inclination to start a dialogue with the Pakistan government for normalization -- although many believe he had no intention of seriously negotiating -- has allowed for his replacement by Mullah Fazllulah, who has vowed never to negotiate with Pakistan. Faizlullah is the hardliner who ordered the attempt to kill the schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, turning her into a world figure after she survived being shot in the head.

To the utter dismay of the government in Islamabad, the US once again has played its part in bringing the whole process of dialogue, however fragile it was, to a dead end. Not only does it reflect lack of cooperation and coordination between Pakistan and the US authorities, but also the markedly different visions and priorities they have of the region’s future.

The timing of the attack has further added to the already brewing lava of intense suspicions in Pakistan over US intentions although the killing was and is still being followed by serious attempts on the part of Pakistani authorities to prevent the breakdown of the dialogue, even in the face of doubts over the Taliban's desultory offers of negotiation as ploys to gain time.

The killing has led many to the conclusion that the US is not interested in helping to establish peace in Pakistan, at least until Pakistan helps the US to achieve its war objectives in Afghanistan.

The question of the Pakistani Taliban has thus become a very serious dilemma for the Pakistani authorities, one which demands serious political and strategic maneuvering both at the national and international levels.

One thing is becoming increasingly clear in Pakistan with every passing day – that the incumbent government is serious in a reaching a compromise with the Pakistani Taliban, perhaps because the ruling business-oriented party, the Pakistan Muslim League, has rightly realized the crucial importance of establishing peace as a prerequisite for making Pakistan an attractive place for foreign direct investment. The first thing the government had to do was to dissociate itself from this particular attack in order to maintain its credibility vis-à-vis the Pakistani Taliban, leading the interior minister to declare the attack an “ambush of peace talks.”

On the other hand, the provincial government of Khyber Pakhutnkwa Province, the most troubled and terrorist-hit province of Pakistan, also declared its intention to stop the flow of NATO/ISAF supplies through areas under its jurisdiction.

The disagreement between the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial government, formerly known as the of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or the Pakistan Movement for Justice, and the central government of the Pakistan Muslim League over the issue of NATO supplies against the backdrop of US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 has further exacerbated the political environment in Pakistan, reinforcing the fact that terrorism in Pakistan is inevitably linked with the Afghan conflict.

While the wrapping up of the Afghan conflict is on fast track, a number of bilateral and multilateral events are in process with a single objective: to provide a face saving exit to the US forces. Most recent one was a trilateral meeting hosted by David Cameron, the UK prime minister, and participated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Karzai. After this meeting, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced in London that the dialogue process with the Pakistani Taliban had begun.

Significantly, Sharif’s statement came in response to Mehsud’s interview with the BBC in October, in which he declared his intentions to start serious negotiations with the Pakistani government. It is also significant to note that Islamabad, prior to Oct. 9, the date of the BBC interview, had not formally announced the initiation of talks or establishment of contact with the Pakistani Taliban. Not only did he invite the government to engage in dialogue, but also made it clear that for the ceasefire to be credible, “it is important that drone attacks are stopped.”

The Pakistani Taliban had placed some hope on the negotiation process, especially in light of the prime minister’s assurances to terminate air strikes on FATA territory after his October visit to the US. However, why did the US kill Mehsud right after the PM’s announcement of the initiation of talks? Nisar Ali Khan, the interior minister of Pakistan said in a press conference after the attack that the strike came just hours before a delegation was supposed to travel and initiate talks with the Pakistani Taliban.

The minister added that during bilateral interactions with the US, including with Secretary of State John Kerry, Pakistan had urged that drone strikes to be halted completely, especially during the peace talks. Thus it is difficult to believe the often repeated rhetoric that both the US and Pakistan are “closely cooperating” in curbing the menace of terrorism in the region.

Mehsud was one of the US’s most wanted terrorists, with a reward on his head of US$5 million. The Pentagon suspected him of arranging the attack on a NATO base in Afghanistan, of a botched car bombing in New York’s Times Square, and of terrorist attacks against Americans in Pakistan. Nonetheless, critics say the US is seeking to keep Pakistan in line with the policy objectives of the US, which is to ensure the orderly departure from Afghanistan, and a peace with the Pakistani Taliban would have got in the way of that.

Such views are not unfounded. For example, the killing of Wali-ur Rehman, the second in command to the Pakistani Taliban also came against the backdrop of a possible initiation of negotiations between the government and the Taliban. He too was killed in a drone attack by the US, on May 29, when the governments at the center and in provinces had just been formed after elections on May 11, 2013.

During elections, all parties in general emphasized the need for engaging with the Taliban in dialogue and find a peaceful solution. Rehman’s killing within weeks after elections had the effect of postponing the talks until Sharif’s statement of Oct. 31 in the UK.

The killing of Rehman and now Mehsud is most likely to have a similar effect, or even worse since the new Taliban leader, Mullah Fazllulah, happens to be a staunch enemy of the State of Pakistan. He is the man who established his control in the Swat Valley, among other things banning the attendance of girls in school. Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck on Oct. 9, 2012 on his orders. She survived and has become a symbol of resistance to fundamentalism.

Mullah Fazllulah and his troops were eventually pushed out and forced to leave military operations in the region in 2009. Announcement of his appointment was immediately followed by an official statement by the Pakistani Taliban declaring that there would be no negotiations with the government of Pakistan since Mullah Fazllulah “is already against negotiations with Pakistan.”

The mess created after the attack has pushed the government of Pakistan to its limits. Its consequences can be very grave. One thing must be clear that one cannot hope to find solutions to such complicated problems as terrorism and insurgency merely by removing heads of such organizations and networks. And, considering the loose structure, vague ideology and motivation of the Pakistani Taliban, this strategy may not work. Such organizations are never short on leadership. Hence the killing of Hakeem may not affect the Taliban’s continuity in carrying out attacks. Therefore, the need is to take pragmatic steps to review counter-terrorism strategy in the light of Pakistan’s socio-political realities and review aspects of its relations with the US.

There is arguably no other way of dealing with terrorism than through dialogue. Pakistani authorities seem to have realized this, and their intention to go ahead with the dialogue process was reinforced in a statement by the foreign office which said that, “the government, however, is determined to continue with efforts to engage with the Pakistani to bring an end to the ongoing violence and make them a part of mainstream politics within the parameters of our constitution.”

The statement is very meaningful, not because of its content, but because of the agency through which it has been given i.e., the foreign office., giving the impression of having been specifically directed against the US’ calling the dialogue process a matter “internal” to Pakistan, and celebrating Hakeem’s death a victory of the US in the war against terrorism.

The dilemma for Pakistan is wide and open. Where it has to deal with the Pakistani Taliban, it has to handle the US as well. Lack of coordination between the US and Pakistan is becoming a major issue and a problem to be seriously reckoned with. However, how and the extent to which it would affect the approaching end-game in Afghanistan and Pakistan-US bilateral relations in that context is another question. But it is more than apparent that the damage to the Pakistan government’s efforts to establish peace with the Taliban has been done.

Uncle Sam Returns to the Philippines | Asia Sentinel

Uncle Sam Returns to the Philippines | Asia Sentinel
A. Lin Neumann, November 12, 2013


Major contrast with China’s regional profile

With US President Barack Obama having failed to show up at last month's APEC summit in Bali, the US Marines have landed again on the Philippine island of Leyte in a display of quick response to Typhoon Haiyan that seems certain to be welcomed by the storm-ravaged country and is symbolic of the continued US presence in the region.

The public relations value of the straight-talking, telegenic Brig. Gen. Paul Kennedy, commander of the Okinawa-based 3rd Marine Expedition Brigade, and his troops, unarmed, helping out in the devastated city of Tacloban soon after the storm hit could hardly be lost on Washington – or the region.

China’s response was slower but by Tuesday a flight with relief goods on board a large Chinese cargo plane arrived. Initially, though, the US was quicker and far more thorough.

The Marine operation encompasses up to nine C-130s plus four MV-22 Ospreys—tilt-rotor planes that can operate without runways—and two P3 Orion aircraft for search and rescue. It is the first of a massive response by the US to the tragedy, which is believed to have killed at least 10,000 people and probably many more.

That the Marines are in Leyte, almost 70 years after Gen. Douglas MacAthur's famous landing, displays, without much need to draw it out, the long relationship that Washington maintains with its former colony and serves as the most dramatic display possible of the region’s need for a US presence.

The Marines landed shortly after the disaster with Kennedy leading an advance contingent that will quickly grow.

"Everything's destroyed," Kennedy said Monday in comments replayed on CNN and elsewhere. "Roads are impassable, trees are all down, posts are down, power is down…We are gonna move stuff as they direct, as the Philippine government and the armed forces [ask]."

The US’s immediate response on top of the Marines’ arrival includes emergency shelter and hygiene materials from the US Agency for International Development, 55 tons of emergency food to feed 20,000 children and 15,000 adults for five days, and US$100,000 for water and sanitation support from the US Embassy in Manila. On Monday, the US announced that the USS George Washington aircraft carrier and its support fleet, numbering 7,000 sailors, has been dispatched from a port call in Hong Kong to support relief efforts.
That stands in stark contrast to the offer by Beijing of a relatively minuscule US$200,000 in cash. If Beijing were seeking to project its soft power in the South China Sea, that didn’t do it and indeed it is shown up by aid flowing in from across the world.

China, of course, has coast guard vessels not far away projecting its claim to reefs and shoals that are also claimed by the Philippines. It is unlikely those Chinese vessels will be steaming to Leyte.


To be sure, many Filipinos are still wary of Washington's intentions. But at least when it comes to disaster response, the US military's presence in the region can be greatly helpful. The US military response to the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, for example, helped to warm relations with Indonesia after years of tensions over human rights violations.

The US legacy in the region can be mixed – and lately tarnished by a massive bribery scandal going all the way up to admirals over berthing logistics fees but its ability to project force and lift into disasters is almost always a welcome sight.

Other countries have also quickly responded. According to Reuters, Australia announced a US$10 million package, including medical personnel and non-food items such as tarpaulins, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, water containers and hygiene kits; the UK announced a £6 million (US$9.6 million) package including aid for up to 500,000 people including temporary shelter, water, plastic sheeting and household items. New Zealand has offered NZ$2.15 million in aid, Japan is sending a 25-strong emergency medical relief team and Indonesia is dispatching aircraft and logistical aid including personnel, drinking water, food, generators, antibiotics and other medication.

Domestically the Philippines disaster response has almost never been adequate even in the normal disasters that occur on a regular basis. It lacks the kind of heavy-lift aircraft needed in a disaster and its outdated air force is hardly a match for the typhoon's devastating aftermath. The Marines, for example, brought in the mobile radar and lighting equipment needed to get the Tacloban airport working.

Asked by CNN what is most needed, Richard Gordon, the head of the Philippine Red Cross, said "Heavy lifting, the movement of relief goods... to deliver goods to the areas that need them."

Australia dumps carbon tax, snubs Warsaw climate summit | Asian Correspondent

Australia dumps carbon tax, snubs Warsaw climate summit | Asian Correspondent
Rowena Dela Rosa Yoon, Nov 08, 2013

It is official: Australia’s new government denies global warming.  The Coalition Government will not send its environment minister to the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 19) at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which will kick off  in Warsaw, Poland from 11-22 November 2013.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt will stay at home to expedite the processes involved in repealing the carbon tax, a top election promise made by his boss, Prime Minister Tony Abbott.




However, a representative on his behalf has been dispatched to take part in the annual event. Hunt will be busy repealing the carbon tax while the conference is underway. The carbon tax was passed by the Australian legislature in 2011 under former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Since Abbott won the federal election in September this year, scrapping the carbon tax has topped his priority agenda.

Australia will be represented by Australia’s Climate Change Ambassador Justin Lee from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will also not attend.
Climate observers said this will send the wrong signal that Australia is walking away from its commitment on climate action and it may set a precedent for other countries to backslide.

Climate skeptics and right-wingers are already cheering on Australia’s unprecedented example. Recently, former PM John Howard also scoffed at ”alarmists” in a climate skeptics’ gathering held in London and admitted he is “unconvinced” of an impending ”global warming catastrophe.”

The COP19 expects to bring together around 40,000 attendees from government, academia, business and advocacy groups to advance international agreements that aim to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects.

In the past, a government minister represented Australia to the UNFCCC.  Ian Campbell headed the delegation under John Howard’s first government in 1997.  Labor Climate Change Ministers Penny Wong and Greg Combet, respectively, attended the conference from 2007, although in  2012, the Gillard government’s parliamentary secretary on climate change Mark Dreyfus attended the conference on behalf of Combet.

Oppositions and environmental groups are wary of the bad signal Australia will be sending to the summit. Opposition climate spokesman Mark Butler told The Australian, “Other countries are going to read into it at best with confusion and at worst that the Abbott government is walking away from global action on climate change. ”

Greens MP Adam Bandt also said it was “understandable” that Minister Hunt was “embarrassed” by his government’s decision to scrap the carbon tax, but it was no excuse to skip the global summit. While no major decisions will be made at Warsaw, the meeting will build momentum in the lead-up to major negotiations for a global agreement on cutting greenhouse gases in Paris in 2015.

Businesses support repeal of carbon tax

PHP Billiton, among other businesses under the Australian Business Council,  supports the dumping of carbon tax. While backing the Federal Government’s plan, the mining giant, however, urged scrapping the price of carbon should be done as soon as possible. It warned of a possible  complications if it is not done by mid-2014. The mining firm said it still believes in having a price on carbon, but any policy should be trade friendly and revenue neutral.

BHP Billiton noted that repealing the carbon tax will get rid of the current problem of Australian firms paying a higher cost on pollution than their international competitors.  The company shares concerns already expressed by others businesses about the uncertainty that will be created should the legislation not pass by mid-next year.

Climate action nationwide rally

Amid plans to scrap the carbon tax, a climate action is brewing nationwide. Various environmental groups are set to mobilise rallies in every major city nationwide on November 17. It is a collaboration of GetUp, the Australian Conservation Foundation,  the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Environment Victoria, Fire Brigade Employees Union, Greenpeace, 350.org, Oxfam Australia and many other groups. ACF said they intend to make this event as big as they can.



The ACF wants to keep Australia’s carbon tax. It said that while the tide of history is flowing towards pricing pollution, Australia is turning back the clock. Along with the climate action rally, the Foundation also supports an online petition to the prime minister, environment minister, and environment decision makers from all parties.

GetUp who is spearheading the climate action  rally said 2011 was a turning point for Australia.  Climate scientists warned it was the beginning of the critical decade for climate change and thus required stronger action to avoid the catastrophic effects of rising emissions. Australians responded to this warming by enacting the carbon tax.

However, Australia faces another turning point this year which is poised to “go backwards on climate action at a time when the government’s own independent climate policy advisory body has warned the nation’s current emissions reductions targets are “inadequate” and what it needs is stronger and more ambitious targets.”

Anonymous Cambodia marks Million Mask March with ‘small’ online campaign | Asian Correspondent

Anonymous Cambodia marks Million Mask March with ‘small’ online campaign | Asian Correspondent
Clothilde Le Coz, Nov 06, 2013

The Cambodian government was warned by Anonymous Cambodia that “fairness, justice and freedom are more than words“, as stated by V in the movie “V for Vendetta”. On November 5, Anonymous Cambodia aimed to lead a major rally in “cyberspace” for fear that supporters marching in reality would be arrested. “I would say Hun Sen is… a dictator because if Anonymous march to the street on Nov 5 like people did in the US, I am sure they all will get arrested“, stated an Anon on November 4.

On November 5, to help LuLzSec to celebrate “Guy Fawkes Day”, Anonymous Cambodia participated in a “fun” hacking session on NASA.  It also  hacked the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia to leak data as well as the KHMAC investment website.

Anonymous

Too small?

When reached on November 6 to assess the impact of the November 5 operation in Cambodia, one Anon stated it was small because “less than 10 people helped“, coming from different parts of the world. For example, the group aimed to target the SL garment company but was “too busy” working on other attacks. “We [did] not have enough people to help DDoS the site,” stated the Anon.

 ”A Bunch of Chopsticks Can’t Be Broken”

 

To Anonymous Cambodia, there is no good existing example of government and knowledge and information have become the prerogatives of the rich. “Freedom to us is vital to humanity. Without freedom one cannot live as a human being. Whoever is preventing human from being a human is not welcome by us,” the Anon states. To them, cyber surveillance and censorship are preventing people to be free in Cambodia. Moreover, the Cambodian elections system is something Anonymous Cambodia does not trust and, at any rate, they are “not interested” in the political situation.

 

Anonymous Cambodia believes the strength for change lies in the number of people involved. As such, their so called “western” vision of freedom and change fits into the Cambodian state of mind and could be compared to the Khmer proverb: ” a bunch of chopsticks cannot be broken”, showing strength in unity.

 

Khmer Rouge Tribunal targeted

On November 2 it was reported that hackers of the group had taken down the website of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. “ECCC has tried to silence victims of crimes against humanity. So we acted,”  states the Anon, basing this action on a report from Radio France International published in Khmer language. In it, the Paris-based media states that “some civil party lawyers complained about restrictions within the tribunal”.

Targeting a website is the decision of one Anon or the result of a collective consultation.In the case of the ECCC website, an Anon from Cambodia decided and that was followed by others globally.

Moreover, according to the Anon, the Cambodian government  computer systems are easy to reach. Information has already been taken from the Anti-corruption Unit, as well as a lengthy document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 2012.

The Cambodian government called Anonymous’ actions “terrorists acts” on September 17 after they “declared war” on the ruling CPP in a video exposing their Operation Cambodia, responding to clashes with protesters that left one person dead.

For Mike Vitale of the Chanology project,  the Anonymous group “calls itself the final boss of the Internet and sometimes it proves to really be [...] true”. But to him, “hacking doesn’t accomplish anything [...] it doesn’t send a message; it just gets more people arrested in the name of Anonymous” in a 2011 interview.

On November 15, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York will sentence Jeremy Hammond, an Anon who leaked information from the private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting (StratFor) through the WikiLeaks website, revealing the organization had been spying on human rights activists in the US.

The Mekong Under Threat

The Mekong Under Threat
ASIA SENTINE, Monday, November 4, 2013 

Nineteen local, regional and international environmental groups under an umbrella called Save the Mekong are calling for an urgent moratorium on plans by the Laotian government to build a new hydroelectric dam that they fear will do irreparable damage to the giant river’s ecosystem.

The Laos government says it expects to start construction of the Don Sahong dam this month near the picturesque Khone Falls, with commercial operation of its 260 MW of power to begin in 2018.

One of the world’s most impoverished countries, Laos has a wealth of natural resources that it is anxious to exploit in a drive to build a more sophisticated economy. With annual per capita gross domestic product a minuscule US$3,100 per year by purchasing power parity, it ranks 176th in the world. The government in Vientiane nonetheless hopes energy sales, mostly to Thailand and China, can put it on the way to lower middle income status and provide jobs outside of agriculture, which currently accounts for 75 percent of employment.
However, the dam, the environmentalists said, “will irreversibly alter the Khone Falls and Mekong River basin. It will create a non-passable barrier across the Hou Sahong channel, recognized by fishery experts as one of the worst possible sites to build a dam, as it is the passage of maximum fish migration on the Mekong, which supports the world’s largest inland fisheries.”

The Laotian government appears ready to ignore a 1995 agreement that mainstream Mekong projects can only proceed if a consensus is reached between MRC’s four member countries—Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The riparian countries are growing increasingly alarmed at Laos’s plans, which could threaten to restrict the flow of sediment to Vietnam’s rice fields and block the pathway of migrating fish, which feed millions in the Lower Mekong. Vietnam, Cambodia and seven Thai provincial governments have already objected to the construction of another dam, the Xayaburi deep inside the mountains of northern Laos on the lower Mekong, to no avail. While the Laotian government has repeatedly paid lip service to calls for moratoriums, it has continued construction work.

Environmental groups including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have also warned for the possible impact on Mekong’s unique biodiversity, second in scope only to the Amazon’s. Additionally, according to Save the Mekong, more than two million cubic meters of riverbed will be excavated from the Mekong River to increase flows into the Hou Sahong channel.

The Don Sahong, the group said, will have “serious negative repercussions on fisheries and local livelihoods, as well as the food security of millions of people within the Lao PDR and in the neighboring countries of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The project will also threaten such rare and internationally recognized giant migratory fishes as Pangasius krempfi, Pangasianodon gigas, Probarbus jullieni, and Probarbus labeamajor.”

The group said it has little faith in the Mekong River Commission or the ability of the 1995 Mekong Agreement to adequately address the threat. One clear indication, it said, is the MRC’s failure to resolve disagreement among the four member governments over whether the “prior consultation” process for the Xayaburi Dam remains open or closed.

While the Laotian government has claimed that the Don Sahong Dam is “not on the Mekong mainstream,” the group said, “we totally reject this claim, for there is absolutely no question that the Don Sahong Dam is a mainstream project that will deeply impact flows and fish migration, and have immense transboundary implications. For these reasons, we believe that the MRC will once again fail, should resolution of the Don Sahong Dam controversy remain solely in the hands of the Lao government.”

The Vietnam minister of natural resources and environment, the former Cambodian minister of environment, and members of the Thailand National Mekong River Committee have all objected to further damming of the Mekong.

“In light of the many ambiguities around the Don Sahong Dam, as well as other projects on the Mekong mainstream, deliberations over all these projects must be halted,” Save the Mekong said. “A new joint platform is urgently needed to review, clarify, and resolve outstanding issues through regional-level decision-making based on the principles of transparency and full participation of all stakeholders. Necessary studies, including transboundary impact assessments for all projects, must also be carried out in order to allow for informed decision-making.”

Analysis: Burma’s natural resources curse

Analysis: Burma’s natural resources curse
Zin Linn, Oct 18, 2013

Wealth of oil, gas and mineral resources lies at the heart of continuing civil and economic strife in Burma

Burma (Myanmar) is one of Southeast Asia’s most natural resource-rich countries. It earns billions of dollars yearly exporting natural resources such as oil and gas, teak, gems, and minerals. Sending natural gas overseas is the country’s particular prime source of foreign revenue.

Burma has been exporting gas to Thailand from the Yetagun and Yadana offshore blocks located in Mottama Gulf since 1998 and 2000 respectively. In 2008 BP ranked Burma as the largest gas exporter via pipelines in the Asia-Pacific with gas exports totaling 9.7 bcm in 2007. This made it the 11th largest gas exporter in the world that year, according to the report Burma’s Resource Curse: The case for revenue transparency in the oil and gas sector, issued by Arakan Oil Watch, an independent, community-based, non-governmental organization operating in Burma.

The bulk of profitable resources in Burma, including oil and gas, are unearthed from ethnic states and sold to neighboring countries. Local populations have never been enjoyed the benefits of these deals as the profits wend directly to the military.

Additionally, these states – such as Kachin, Shan, Kayah, Karen and Mon states – have never been repaid for the social and environmental damage that goes with the extraction and export of resources. This remains the main reason behind hostilities between the government and ethnic rebel forces today.

Nobody knows exactly how revenues from the sale of gas resources are spent.  However, it is easy to figure out that government spending for social improvement is stingy, while the military continues to enjoy the lion’s share of  state revenues.

Unfair sharing of resource benefits is also contributing to ethnic conflicts. Although a so-called civilian government is now running day-to-day affairs, the military remains unwaveringly above the law under the 2008 constitution. Many analysts believe that the role of military conglomerates in Burma’s economy and in managing country’s huge oil and gas revenues remains unfettered.

According to the Arakan Oil Watch (AOW), Foreign Oil Companies engaging in Myanma’s oil and gas sector also refuse to publish how much and how they pay the military regime.
The most crucial question surrounding political reform that many foreign governments overlook is the economic monopoly of Burma’s military elite. They have been exploiting the country’s natural resources under the names of the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) and the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) while the country’s average population has suffered various social miseries.

President Thein Sein’s reforms hav reached few at grassroots level as farmers and workers struggle to make ends meet and their land and properties are unlawfully confiscated by the military, local authorities and government cronies. As a result, the people are suffering severe unemployment in a country where 5 million unemployed citizens have already migrated to neighboring countries in search of work. Most of these are in Thailand and Malaysia.

(READ MORE: Burma farmers find little relief from land grabs)

Burma remains one of the world’s least developed countries, and was ranked 149 out of 187 countries in the 2011 UN’s Human Development Index concerning health, education and income. Burma was ranked 172 out of 176 of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index in 2012 – fifth from bottom above Sudan, Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia.

If the President is truly reform-minded, he needs to make sure transparency and first-rate management of the country’s largest source of foreign income – revenues from the export of oil and gas – and cope with military monopoly in the market-based economy. With military involvement in the country’s economy, regardless of good management and sustainable development, the natural resources sector in Burma will draw out the resource curse situation even longer.

In order to control extractive industries’ revenues properly, the government must provide a yardstick for checking the use of those revenues. It’s also necessary to set up a responsible revenue management system. Such a check-and balance system should take the form of a constitutional mandate followed by more specific nationwide legislation that extensively controls the use of the benefits that come out of natural resources.

Although the extractive industries’ foreign earnings are biggest in the country, there has been no revenue transparency under both the previous military regime and the current U Thein Sein government. The government’s credit-and-debit accounts concerning the extractive industries’ foreign earnings are not publicly revealed. The same is true of defense budget spending.

According to the report by the Arakan Oil Watch, billions of dollars in revenues from the sale of natural gas have gone unrecorded in the country’s public accounts and been siphoned off by corrupt military rulers, leaving the nation with some of the worst social indicators in the world and ongoing armed conflicts in ethnic regions.

384,000 People in Burma Are Modern Day Slaves: Report

384,000 People in Burma Are Modern Day Slaves: Report
TIMOTHY LARGE / THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION, October 17, 2013 

LONDON — Some 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labor, victims of debt bondage or even born into servitude, a global index on modern slavery showed on Thursday. The report estimates that 384,000 people are enslaved in Burma.

Almost half are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labor in quarries and kilns to commercial sex exploitation, although the scourge exists in all 162 countries surveyed by Walk Free, an Australian-based rights group.

Its estimate of 29.8 million slaves worldwide is higher than other attempts to quantify modern slavery. The International Labor Organization estimates that almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor.

“Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia,” the report said.

“Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through ‘marriage’, unpaid labor on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education.”

The Global Slavery Index 2013 defines slavery as the possession or control of people to deny freedom and exploit them for profit or sex, usually through violence, coercion or deception. The definition includes indentured servitude, forced marriage and the abduction of children to serve in wars.

According to the index, 10 countries alone account for three quarters of the world’s slaves.
After India, China has the most with 2.9 million, followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Nigeria (701,000), Ethiopia (651,000), Russia (516,000), Thailand (473,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (462,000), Burma (384,000) and Bangladesh (343,000).

The index also ranks nations by prevalence of slavery per head of population. By this measure, Mauritania is worst, with almost 4 percent of its 3.8 million people enslaved. Estimates by other organizations put the level at up to 20 percent.

Chattel slavery is common in Mauritania, meaning that slave status is passed down through generations. “Owners” buy, sell, rent out or give away their slaves as gifts.
After Mauritania, slavery is most prevalent by population in Haiti, where a system of child labor known as “restavek” encourages poor families to send their children to wealthier acquaintances, where many end up exploited and abused.

Pakistan, India, Nepal, Moldova, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Gabon have the next highest prevalence rates.

At the other end of the scale, Iceland has the lowest estimated prevalence with fewer than 100 slaves.

Next best are Ireland, Britain, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Finland and Denmark, although researchers said slave numbers in such wealthy countries were higher than previously thought.

“They’ve been allocating resources against this crime according to the tiny handful of cases that they’ve been aware of,” said Kevin Bales, lead researcher and a professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation at Hull University.

“Our estimates are telling them that the numbers of people in slavery – whether it’s in Great Britain or Finland or wherever – in these richer countries actually tends to be about six to 10 times higher than they think it is.”

Walk Free CEO Nick Grono said the annual index would serve as an important baseline for governments and activists in the anti-slavery fight.

“This kind of data hasn’t been out there before,” he said. “It’s a multi-year effort, and next year we’ll have a much better picture of where slavery is and what changes there are. If you can’t measure it, you can’t devise policy to address it.”

Countries With Highest Absolute Numbers of Slaves

Country Estimated slaves

India 13.9 million
China 2.9 million
Pakistan 2.1 million
Nigeria 701,000
Ethiopia 651,000
Russia 516,000
Thailand 473,000
D.R. Congo 462,000
Burma 384,000
Bangladesh 343,000

Ranking by Prevalence of Modern Slavery per Head of Population

Rank Country Estimated slaves Population

1 Mauritania 151,000 3.8 million
2 Haiti 209,000 10.2 million
3 Pakistan 2.1 million 179.2 million
4 India 13.9 million 1.2 billion
5 Nepal 259,000 27.5 million
6 Moldova 33,000 3.6 million
7 Benin 80,000 10.1 million
8 Ivory Coast 157,000 19.8 million
9 Gambia 14,000 1.8 million
10 Gabon 14,000 1.6 million

(Source: Global Slavery Index 2013, Walk Free)

Anti-Sarawak dam rallies held in Australia, Malaysia

Anti-Sarawak dam rallies held in Australia, Malaysia
Rowena Dela Rosa Yoon, Sep 27, 2013

Separate rallies are taking place in Australia and Malaysia in a collective effort to pressure the Malaysian government to stop the construction of 12 mega-dams that are underway in Sarawak.

In Malaysia, anti-dam protesters demonstrated outside Kuala Lumpur Parliament building on Thursday. They held signs against the Murum Dam and Baram Dam and called on the Malaysian government to respect indigenous peoples’ demands for a fair settlement of their rights.

Anti-dam protesters carry banners in Kuala Lumpur. (Photo: Bruno Manser Fund)

In Murum, Sarawak, over 100 Penan leaders staged a blockade to stop the flow of traffic to the dam site on the same day. Their aim was to get the attention of the Malaysian government and the state owned-power company, Sarawak Energy,  and pressure them to stop the mega-dam projects.

The protesters hope they got the message across: Respect indigenous and human rights and provide appropriate compensation for the loss of their lands and homes.

Carrying signs, and food and bedding, they have taken over the only road to and from the dam site and are not allowing any traffic through.

Brihannala Morgan, director of the Borneo Project, said in a press statement that this dam, one of 12 mega dams planned across the region, will drown over 2,750 sq km of forest and traditionally owned land.

This is the second blockade that the Penan people of the Murum area have erected. The first blockade was in September 2012 when the Penan of Long Wat village held a blockade that delayed construction of the dam for over a month.

Sarawak Energy promised the Penan compensation and prime land for relocation, but failed to deliver on its promises. Instead, they are relocating the Penan to swampy areas that are unable to support their traditional agricultural practices and way of life.

Just before impoundment began earlier this month, the longhouse of Long Wat village was burned by Sarawak Energy workers. Details are still forthcoming, yet it appears that this case of arson was committed without the prior knowledge of the villagers.

“The world needs to stand up and take action against such rampant abuse of power,” said Morgan, adding, “The plight of the Penan is a fundamental example of corporate greed steamrolling human rights.”

According to SAVE-Rivers, the statewide network of anti-dam activists, the Penan are demanding RM 50,000 per family (about US $15,500), as well as 25 hectares of land, a 10 per cent share in the profits from the Murum Dam, as well as full compensation for their lost land and resources.

The Murum Dam is one of 12 mega dams slated to be built in Malaysian Borneo by 2020. The dam will produce 944 MW of energy, energy that currently has no purchasers or identified demand. On-the-ground efforts, such as SAVE-Rivers, work to coordinate indigenous-led resistance against dam expansion and massive resettlement.

Protest held in Hobart

A rally held at Hydro Tasmania head office in Hobart. (Photo: Sarawak Report)

The Huon Valley Environment Centre (HVEC) hosted a separate protest at the at Hydro Tasmania head office in a show solidarity with the indigenous people of Murum, Sarawak.
Jenny Weber, spokeswoman of the HVEC, said Sarawak faces the dire consequences in light of the government’s failure to uphold human rights.

“Flooding of Murum Dam begun last Saturday, while six out of seven villages remain in the region, and more than 100 Penan people blockade at the Murum dam site,” she said.
Australia-owned Hydro Tasmania is implicated in the human and environmental violations by assisting Sarawak Energy.

The dam project in the area is reported to have caused flooding on the lands of indigenous peoples at Murum, although most of the affected villagers have not been resettled and their demands not addressed.

Weber also implicated Sarawak Energy workers as the suspected arsonist in a Penan village. “We have been informed that one Penan village was burnt down in a case of suspected arson by Sarawak Energy workers.” Other allegations include communities reporting the loss of fishing boats due to the impoundment. An estimated 1500 Penan and 80 Kenyah natives will lose their homes due to the Murum dam impoundment,  Weber said.

“The construction of Murum dam would not have been possible without support from Western engineers and managers. Hydro Tasmania, have staff secondments in Sarawak, including engineer Andrew Pattle who directed the Murum dam construction. Hydro Tasmania is responsible for the displacement of indigenous peoples from their traditional lands. We condemn Hydro Tasmania, as they continue to assist human rights violations and environmentally destructive practices in Sarawak,” Weber said.

“We are asking Hydro Tasmania and our Tasmanian Government to stop supporting the Sarawak government in their oppression of indigenous people in Sarawak, stop implicating our state in this humanitarian crisis.  As long as Tasmania assists the Sarawak regime they are culpable for assisting the Sarawak government’s human rights violations.  People of Murum, Sarawak and International NGOs are calling for urgent intervention and an immediate stop of the Murum dam impoundment,” Weber said.

Former Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown addresses conference delegates in Sarawak earlier this year.

Former Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown flew to Kuching, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak,  earlier this year to give his backing to a large group of local communities opposing the controversial mega dam projects in the region.

Cambodia: Human rights groups condemn excessive use of force

Cambodia: Human rights groups condemn excessive use of force
Clothilde Le Coz, Sep 25, 2013

It was 20 years on September 24 since the Cambodian Constitution was first signed, marking the end of the UN transitional authority in the country (Untac). Today’s Constitution was drafted in July and August 1993 by 12 persons. One of them told the local press on Tuesday that, while  the “essentials for democracy” are in the text, its implementation has been “completely diverted from its goal”.

Under the Constitution, the King names a representative of the party gaining the most parliamentary seats to form a government. This is how Hun Sen was appointed by King Norodom Sihamoni to do so. However, the Constitution requires 50% of the votes of the National Assembly to confirm the new government.  On Tuesday, a truncated National Assembly of 68 members re-elected Mr. Hun Sen with a new mandate as Cambodian Prime Minister for the next five years, as 68 does represent more than half the seats. Sam Rainsy, one of the leaders of the CNRP, called the Constitution a “big disappointment”, echoing the opinion of the lawmaker who participated in the drafting process of the Constitution.

Elected members of the main opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) led by Sam Rainsy and Khem Sokha, have boycotted the National Assembly this week, stating that authorities have not held any inquiry about the massive electoral frauds and calling the meeting “a violation of the Constitution”. From September 7-17, the CNRP held a number of non violent demonstrations in Phnom Penh to ask for further investigations into the results. According to Transparency International, the CPP should have won these elections with 48.9% of the votes and the CNRP with 44.2%, showing that the competition between the two parties is tighter than it actually seems and stating that the official results announced on September 8 might not be reflective of people’s will because of widespread irregularities.

A number of incidents have occurred in recent weeks that  highlight the tensions surrounding the election result. On September 15 security forces fired at civilians in Phnom Penh, killing one person and wounding several others. These practices have been denounced by Human Rights Watch.

On September 20, hundreds of armed security forces dispersed a peaceful gathering led by CNRP official Prince Sisowath Thomico, who was on hunger strike and accompanied by a group of Buddhist monks and other supporters. Two days later, at the same place, police and gendarmes armed with guns as well as civilian auxiliaries with tasers and slingshots broke up a peaceful vigil by representatives of people evicted from their homes in Phnom Penh. The participants were reiterating their demand for electoral fairness and calling for the release of imprisoned Boeng Kak housing rights activist Yorm Bopha. At least 10 community members were injured and seven journalists attacked.

These events were condemned on September 24 by a group of five NGOs – including HRW and Amnesty International – denouncing “the authorities’ unnecessary and excessive use of force” and urging “foreign governments and the United Nations [to] speak out and condemn violations of the right to peaceful assembly and related rights”. The Oversees Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC) also condemned the attacks against local and foreign journalists.

Australia: New gov’t will be disastrous for environment, warns expert | Asian Correspondent

Australia: New gov’t will be disastrous for environment, warns expert | Asian Correspondent
Rowena Dela Rosa Yoon Sep 09, 2013


A day after Tony Abbott was elected as the new Prime Minister of Australia, conservation groups are already worrying about the future of environmental protection and sustainability in the country.

Under the new “management”, a term used by Abbott in his acceptance speech at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, his government will put environmental issues on the back burner to get the business back on track.

Tony Abbott (top) won the 2013 federal election to become Australia's 28th prime minister beating Kevin Rudd who conceded defeat on Sept. 7.

Abbott won Saturday’s Federal Election to become Australia’s 28^th prime minister, beating Kevin Rudd in an overwhelming victory.

In a reaction to his election, however, Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe from the School of Science, Griffith University said Australia’s newly elected government will be disastrous for the environment. He finds the Coalition Government’s policies on environment to be depressing, The Conversation reports.

Under the Liberal Party’s plan, Abbott will seek to abolish the carbon tax immediately, which he considers toxic and destructive for Australian businesses. The new PM also vowed to suspend the operation of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Citing New South Wales as an example of bad business affected by carbon tax, Premiere Barry O’Farrell has made it clear that the state’s black coal-fired power stations will suffer a loss in value of at least $5 billion because of the carbon tax.

Abbott will also abolish the mining tax which he claims undermines investor confidence in Australia as an investment destination and as a secure “supplier of resources.” By scrapping the tax, the Coalition aims to “restore confidence, stability and security for the industry, allowing it to thrive, create jobs and contribute to the prosperity of all Australians.”

Green groups have been alarmed at the Coalition’s plan to implement a One-Stop-Shop Environmental Approvals Process. The process will cut green tape and will fast-track approvals of new mining and other projects. Once it gives  green light to the petition lodged by the Business Council of Australia, the Coalition will offer State and Territory governments the opportunity to act as a one-stop-shop for environmental approvals. The States and Territories would then administer a single approvals process including approvals under Commonwealth legislation such as the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Environment Defenders Office has already released a report that finds the One-Stop-Shop a process to streamline the process of environmental destruction. Read related article here.

Environmental groups lament the failure of Regional Forestry Agreements. (Photo: MyEnvironment)

Lowe said Abbott’s  proposal will turn the clock back 30 years on environmental protection.
“Since the Hawke government blocked the proposed Franklin Dam, successive governments – ALP and Coalition – have curbed the worst excesses of growth-oriented states, which are prepared to approve irresponsible developments. Even our National Parks are no longer safe,” he said.

Other plans in the Coalition pipeline include a go for mineral exploration activities; agricultural land exploration for seam coal gas; approval of uranium exports to India; examination of the potential of thorium as an energy source for export; and a review of the former government’s White Paper on energy and resources, among other things.
Relevant links to the new government’s policies are here, including resources and energy plans.