Kachin Clashes Escalate Following Failed Peace Talks

another officer who worked under Pol.-Lt. Maung Tint told The Irrawaddy.

Fighting between Myanmar army forces and Kachin rebels intensified after talks between the government and the United Nationalities Federal Council

Naw Kham Drug Stash Discovered in Tachilek

(UNFC), an ethnic alliance, failed to produce a longanticipated breakthrough. The talks, held in the first week of September, aimed to reach an agreement on a by the trafficking gang led by Naw Kham, a Myanmar national who was executed in China in March after being found guilty of killing 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in October 2011. nationwide ceasefire. Soon after the talks concluded, Kachin sources reported a resumption of fighting between government troops and the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a key UNFC member. However, despite reports early in the month that the Myanmar army had sent reinforcements to southern Kachin State’s Bhamo District in preparation for a fresh offensive, some 200 government troops were later reportedly withdrawn from the district’s Mansi Township, as the two sides met in the state capital Myitkyina to prepare for further negotiations, expected in early October. ers who are staying in the country without proper legal documentation. On Sept. 2, about 2,500 migrants were detained by Malaysian authorities, of whom 555 were Myanmar nationals.

Relatives and friends attend the funeral of Pol.-Lt. Maung Tint in Mandalay on Sept. 3, 2013.

Prominent Economist Dr. Khin Maung Kyi Dies

Myanmar national Naw Kham, convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in 2011, leaves the detention center for execution in Kunming, Yunnan Province on March 1, 2013.

Police in Myanmar said they found more than US $1.3 million worth of methamphetamine tablets buried by the late drug kingpin Naw Kham near the country’s border with Thailand. State media reported on Sept. 1 that a blue container with 650,000 stimulant tablets inside had been unearthed by heavy rain in Tachilek, Shan State. A police review later concluded that it had been buried a year and a half ago

Myanmar, Malaysia to Cooperate on Repatriation of Migrants

Myanmar’s government said it would work together with authorities in Malaysia to arrange for the repatriation of hundreds of Myanmar migrant workers who were rounded up during an ongoing crackdown by Malaysian authorities. “The Myanmar embassy will check the identity of those who have been detained. Then, if it’s found that they are citizens of Myanmar, they will be sent back to the country,” U Ye Htut, the President’s Office’s spokesperson, told The Irrawaddy. Malaysian authorities began a crackdown in late August targeting around 400,000 foreign-

Mandalay Policeman Shot Dead by Fellow Officer

A policeman in Mandalay is dead after being shot by a fellow officer following an argument on Sept. 2. Pol.-Lt. Maung Tint was on duty at a Mandalay Region police station when 2nd-Lt. Thein Than Soe shot him in the head with his service weapon, killing him instantly. The incident allegedly occurred after Pol.-Lt. Maung Tint asked his subordinate earlier in the day where he had been while on duty. “Thein Than Soe just came in later that evening and then shot his superior, who was sitting down after finishing some writing. They are both calm people. I don’t know exactly how the argument started,”

Highly respected Myanmar economist Dr. Khin Maung Kyi died in Singapore on Sept. 6 at the age of 87. As an advisor to the country’s former military junta, he was often critical of the ruling generals’ approach to developing the economy. In an interview with The Irrawaddy in 2003, he said the generals sought to “to attach their name as shared partners to any enterprise that has potential for profit,” but offered nothing in return. “Rather than being able to save and reinvest their profits, enterprises have to give shares to the most unproductive force of the country—the generals,” he said. A graduate of Yangon University, Dr. Khin Maung Kyi later completed a Master’s degree at Harvard and a Ph.D. at Cornell University in the United States.

CSOs Oppose Proposed Association Bill

More than 500 civil society organizations have denounced a proposed law that they say will discourage ordinary citizens from supporting their activities. The groups said that they plan to send letters to the Lower House of Parliament and foreign embassies to raise their concerns about the draft Association Law, which imposes fines and prison sentences on members of unregistered organizations. A member of one prominent group, the Free Funeral Service Society, said that after the draft law was published in daily newspapers on Aug. 27, many young people stopped volunteering. However, some legislators defended the law, saying it was needed during the current transition period.

Controversial Buddhist Group Banned

Myanmar’s governmentappointed body for overseeing Buddhist affairs has declared a ban on the monkled nationalist movement known as “969”, which has been accused of fomenting religious intolerance against Muslims. The State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee issued a directive stating that it is illegal to form monks’ networks organized around the principles of the 969 movement and bars linking the 969 emblem to the Buddhist religion. Meanwhile, U Wirathu, a prominent figure in the 969 movement, met with Muslim leader Diamond Shew Kyi in Yangon’s East Dagon Township on Sept. 10 and called for increased security at mosques and monasteries in the wake of a wave of communal violence over the past 15 months. bank accounts in Singapore. The figure was first mentioned by Jelson Garcia, the Asia Program Manager with the Washington-based Banking Information Center. Mr. Garcia told The Irrawaddy that officials from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank believed the money was being held in “three to five accounts,” but could provide no further details. In a Facebook post, Deputy Minister of Information U Ye Htut rejected the claims. “The government doesn’t stash away the national budget in foreign banks. Give us the evidence regarding the $11 billion in five accounts. The government is ready to take action on it,” he said. cording to a member of the party’s Central Executive Committee. U Nyan Win said the disappearance of sales revenues from tens of thousands of distributed copies of the newsletter had left the publication in debt. “We are now looking at some responsible people at D Wave in connection with this debt issue,” he told The Irrawaddy. The weekly newsletter first appeared on Jan. 16, 2012, when it went on sale for about $0.30. It has since become very popular with the public, with some media experts estimating it has a weekly circulation of more than 100,000 copies.

President Meets with 88 Generation Leaders

Govt Denies Reports That It Holds $11B in Singaporean Banks

Myanmar’s government has denied reports that it holds up to US $11 billion worth of foreign reserves in several

$185K Goes Missing from NLD Publication

D Wave, the widely read newsletter of the National League for Democracy, has run into financial problems after US $185,000 went missing from its books, ac-

Suu Kyi, Dalai Lama Meet in Prague

Myanmar opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi risked Chinese anger after meeting with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on the sidelines of a human rights conference in Prague. The two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, who previously met in London last year, were both speakers at the Forum 2000 Conference, inaugurated in 1997 by the late Czech President Vaclav Havel. Two days after the meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Dalai Lama urged Buddhist monks in Myanmar to recall their faith before acting in anger against Muslims. “I am sure…that would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters who are becoming victims,” he said. Beijing regards the Dalai Lama as a Tibetan separatist, and strongly opposes his meetings with foreign dignitaries.

Prague, Czech Republic, on Sept. 15, 2013.

Leading members of the 88 Generation Students group met with President U Thein Sein for the first time on Sept. 15, in the latest effort by both sides to end decades of distrust between pro-democracy forces and newly civilianized members of Myanmar’s former military junta. In a monthly radio address delivered two weeks earlier, the president said that the public commemoration in August of the 25th anniversary of the “four eights” uprising against military rule showed that “we are moving toward a new political culture where those who ‘agree to disagree’ can still work together.” The radio address came a day after U Thein Sein met with opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

In Focus

Evening Journey

As the sun sets on another day in Yangon, passengers board a ferry at the tranquil riverside. Yangon has four main passenger jetties. Longdistance ferries ply the waterways north along the Ayeyarwady River to Pyay, Bagan and Mandalay and towards Pathein and other locations on the Ayeyarwady Delta.