HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

500
Ks.

WWW.MMTIMES.COM

DAILY EDITION

ISSUE 37 | THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015

NEWS 2

Facebook clash over

Botahtaung jetty trash
Minister for Information U Ye Htuts
public takedown of YCDC over
a littered jetty in Botahtaung
elicited a stinging retort from a
recently elected official.

NEWS 5

Farmers rally against

seizures in Loikaw
Hundreds of farmers took to the streets
of the Kayah State capital earlier this
week to oppose land confiscations in
the state and the prosecution of farmers
who continue to work land that has
been seized from them.
BUSINESS 8

Coal-fired plants still

on government agenda
Flouting objections of environmentalists
and some community members, the
government intends to move ahead with
11 planned coal power plants, citing the
need to keep up with energy demands.

PAGE

18
PHOTO: AUNG HTAY HLAING

A pied hornbill chick is fed a piece of crushed banana by a keeper at Yangon Zoo
yesterday. The chick was the only survivor from a nest of three eggs and is the fifth to be
born at the zoo, which currently has nine hornbills. The hornbill is the symbol of Chin
State, and is noted for its loyalty and willingness to sacrifice itself for its spouse.

BUSINESS 9

Telenor reports user boost

Telenor subscribers hit 6.4 million by
the end of March, nearly double the
figure at the end of the last quarter.

Major shift for health funding

Criticised for overspending on flashy new hospitals in recent years, the Ministry of Health has promised to allocate
more of its budget to improving services, including recruiting staff and buying medical supplies. NEWS 4

2 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

Miners
seek K8000a-day
minimum
wage
KHIN SU WAI
jasminekhin@gmail.com
EFFORTS to establish a minimum
wage continued in Mandalay on May
2 and 3, when workers presented
their demands to employers and government officials.
At the high end of the scale, miners representatives staked a claim
for K8000 a day, food and beverage
industry employees wanted K5000,
and textile workers K4000.
The consultation meetings brought
together management and workers
in the Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe
regions, where employers are holding the line in favour of K3000 a day
wage.
U Aye Myint, minister for labour,
employment and social security
told participants that the majority
of respondents to a survey wanted
K3000, with others claiming K4000
or K5000.
Employers have been stressing
the need to maintain competitiveness with overseas rivals, and pointed out the non-wage benefits some
companies offer, including accommodation and transport.
No minimum wage has been set
by law since 1993, when the amount
was fixed at K20.
Employers should weigh the cost
of raising wages against the losses
they could sustain as a result of industrial action, Daw Win Maw Tun,
deputy labour minister, said.
In Yangon, the workers seem
to be protesting every day. Fixing a
minimum wage as soon as possible
would be good for both sides.
During the meeting, attendees
were told that other countries in the
region followed different practices,
with Thai authorities fixing 300 baht
as the minimum for all industries.
In Malaysia and Indonesia, there are
different minimums in the cities and
the countryside, and in Cambodia,
minimum wages have been established for the textile and garment
industry. In India, there are 1650 different minimum wages varying by
the industry of employment.
A study earlier this year by risk
analysts Verik Maplecroft found that
Myanmars wages in the garment
sector are among the lowest in the
region and in the world.

Myanmar fishermen on Tual island in Indonesia wait to be repatriated after they were rescued from forced labour, mainly on Thai-owned trawlers. Photo: Supplied

Govt not clear on how 500

fishermen will get home
As the Myanmar delegation concludes its rescue mission in Indonesia in response to an investigation exposing
large numbers of abandoned fishermen, questions over repatriation funding remain unanswered.

NYAN LYNN
AUNG
29.nyanlynnaung@gmail.com

A MYANMAR delegation in search of

formerly enslaved fishermen stranded on far-flung Indonesian islands
has confirmed that just over 500 Myanmar men have been identified for
repatriation.
The delegation was dispatched
to remote waters in the southernmost edge of Indonesia after an Associated Press investigation revealed
that thousands of foreign fishermen
largely from Myanmar had been
abandoned on the isolated islands.
The men had been forced to crew
Thai shipping vessels in slave-like
conditions, but following crackdowns on unlicensed ships in Indo-

nesia, the labourers were dumped on

the islands.
An initial rescue mission by Indonesian authorities and the International Organization for Migration
freed more than 300 men and brought
them Tual Island. The Myanmar team
screened over 250 and identified them
as Myanmar citizens, pending confirmation from the embassy in Jakarta,
according to Police Brigadier General
Win Naing Tun of the police forces
anti-human trafficking unit.
A further 196 Myanmar fishermen
were recovered during additional rescue missions to Benjina, while 22 Myanmar fishermen were found on Tual
Island and 24 were rescued in Jakarta.
The Myanmar delegation has concluded the rescue mission with over
500 Myanmar fishermen set to be repatriated, according to Pol Brig Gen
Win Naing Tun.
IOM estimated that there are as
many as 4000 fishermen stranded in

the area surrounding Benjina.

There are undoubtedly many
more that we havent yet found,
Steve Hamilton, IOMs deputy chief
of mission for Indonesia, said in a
statement from Tual after a rescue
mission in April.
This is one company, in one port,
on one island, in one province. But
we will stay here for as long as it
takes, and work with the Indonesian
government who are definitely doing
the right thing here trying to clean
up a very dirty industry.
The Myanmar government has
provided only vague details on its
repatriation plans for the rescued
men who have been identified as
Myanmar.
The return trip from Ambon Island will be supported by the Myanmar government, Pol Brig Gen Win
Naing Tun said.
He declined however to answer
further questions about the cost of

the repatriation or specify where the

funds will come from.
The United States Mission to ASEAN has pledged US$75,000 to help
fishermen return home, while the US
government separately contributed
$225,000 to support medical costs
and case workers, as well as food,
water and shelter for the victims.
According to Pol Brig Gen Win
Naing Tun, IOM has said it will help
cover the cost of transporting fishermen from remote islands to the nearest airport, on the island of Ambon.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said the men will ideally be brought
back in groups by May 15.
We cannot bring back home all
the Myanmar fishermen at the same
time and we have to confirm their
citizenship first, said U Sein Oo, director general for the ministrys consular and legal affairs department.
Also, we cannot fix a date for
bringing them back yet, he added.

www.mmtimes.com

NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com

News 3

Unlawful association
charges expected
this month: police

Armed groups, parties

to hold peace meeting

YE MON
yeemontun2013@gmail.com

Kayin and Shan armed groups will hold talks with registered political parties

MORE than 60 people arrested in

Rakhine State under the Unlawful
Association Act could be charged
this month, police said yesterday.
The Tatmadaw has accused many
of being members of the Arakan
Army, an ethnic armed group it
clashed with in Kyauktaw township late last month. Civilians have
been detained for alleged links to
the group.
Twenty people, including 17 alleged soldiers, have been arrested
in Kyauktaw, while another 43 soldiers and civilians have been detained in Kyaukpyu, Minbya, Pauktaw and Rathedaung townships.

63

People in Rakhine State who have

been detained under the Unlawful
Associations Act

Police Major Khin Maung of

Kyauktaw township told The Myanmar Times that they would
build a case against the accused
under the Act and would formulate charges within 15 days.
The Tatmadaw handed them
over to us, he said. We will charge
them under the Unlawful Association Act.
Those charged under section

17(1) of the act, for contacting an

illegal organisation, face up to two
years imprisonment.
Since the outbreak of fighting
between the Tatmadaw and the
AA, the Tatmadaw has carried out
a wave of detentions, rounding up
not only suspected AA soldiers, but
also civilians it believes have links
with them.
They arrested 12 AA soldiers
and found photos in their phones,
Pol Maj Khin Maung said, adding
that the Tatmadaw then arrested
people in the photos.
U Zaw Win, a member of the
supporting committee for the conflict-affected in Rakhine State, said
yesterday the arrests were driving
people to flee their homes. The
villagers are scared of the military
because of the arrests. Some of
those arrested are not AA and have
no links with the AA, but they were
arrested anyway, he said.
U Maung Maung Ohn, the chief
minister of Rakhine State, told The
Myanmar Times yesterday that he
had requested the military and the
police to abide by the law when
making arrests.
We are concerned that local
residents will be arrested even
though they have no involvement
with the AA. We dont want to see
people wrongfully arrested, the
chief minister said.
Police are still holding a member of the executive committee of
the Rakhine National Party, who
was arrested in Kyauktaw township on April 29.
RNP secretary U Tun Aung
Kyaw said yesterday he did not believe the EC member was linked to
the AA.

LUN MIN
MANG
lunmin.lm@gmail.com

TWO ARMED groups and political

parties have organised a workshop
on peace and national reconciliation to be held in Yangon on May
9, amid signs that the nationwide
ceasefire process may be faltering.
U Hla Maung Shwe, a senior adviser of the Myanmar Peace Center,
said the workshop was organised
by the Karen National Union (KNU)
and the Restoration Council of Shan
State (RCSS), the political wing of
the Shan State Army-South.
We are just helping them [to
organise the event], U Hla Maung
Shwe said, adding that Minister for
the Presidents Office U Aung Min
has been invited to attend.
U Aung Min led the government negotiating team in nearly 18
months of talks with representatives
of 16 armed groups that resulted in
the signing of a draft nationwide
ceasefire accord on March 31. President U Thein Sein said this week the
government was ready to finalise the
accord once it had been endorsed by
leaders of the armed groups.
Both the KNU and the RCSS attended a six-day summit of 12 armed
ethnic groups that concluded yesterday at the Wa stronghold of Pangkham
on the border with China. Details
of the final session of talks had not
emerged by yesterday evening. Earlier,

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi shakes hands

with Karen National Union leader Mutu
Say Poe in Nay Pyi Taw last month.
Photo: Office of NLD chair

three ethnic groups fighting Tatmadaw forces in the Kokang border region
had threatened to resign from the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team
that negotiated the draft ceasefire accord with the government.
U Ngai Serk, chair of the Chin
League for Democracy, said all registered parties had been invited to
the May 9 event. We will attend the
workshop. We heard that all registered parties are invited, he said.
However, there are concerns that
such a meeting could violate the
colonial-era Unlawful Associations
Act, as both the KNU and RCSS are
still technically classified as illegal
groups. Those found to have contact
with such organisations face a potential three-year jail term.
In Rakhine State, the Tatmadaw
has detained 63 people in recent

weeks for alleged links to or involvement with the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group that is party to the
nationwide ceasefire. (See related
story left)
In February, the United Nationalities Alliance, a coalition of political parties close to the opposition National League for Democracy,
was warned by the Union Election
Commission in February after inviting some members of armed ethnic
groups to a workshop it had hosted.
The UEC warned that such meetings could be banned under the Unlawful Associations Act.
But U Hla Maung Shwe said the
workshop would not be affected by
the act, which, he said, was aimed
only at those who threatened the
state. Our workshop has only good
intentions, he said.
The Tatmadaw has also cited the
Unlawful Associations Act in warning domestic media not to publish or
broadcast statements issued by the
Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Kokang armed group
that has been fighting government
troops since February 9. Members
of the KNU and RCSS, who were
attending the conference in Pangkham, did not respond yesterday to
requests for comment.
A second meeting of 10 Chin political parties is also scheduled to take
place in the second week of May. U
Ngai Serk said no specific date had
been fixed. The Chin parties met in
March for the first time to discuss
closer electoral cooperation aimed
at winning seats in Chin State in the
November general election.

Minister for Facebook, YCDC rep

trade jabs over Botahtaung jetty
KYAW PHONE KYAW
k.phonekyaw@gmail.com
A RECENTLY elected member of
Yangons municipal council has come
out swinging against Minister for Information U Ye Htut over a Facebook
post in which he complained about
garbage at one of the citys most popular riverside spots.
U Ye Htut, who is also the presidents spokesperson and has been
dubbed the minister for Facebook
due to his frequent postings, uploaded
three photos to the social media site on

May 3 showing rubbish on the ground

at Botahtaung jetty, along with the
message, At Botahtaung jetty there is
no beautiful landscape and no fresh
air, only unpleasant smells, garbage
and stray dogs that are disappointing for those people going there to
exercise.
The ministers criticism of the Yangon City Development Committeemanaged site prompted U Khin Hlaing, who was elected to the committee
in December, to respond in kind.
On May 5, he posted on his own
Facebook page that the jetty, in Seik-

kan township, had been mismanaged

by state-run Myanma Port Authority
until it was handed over to YCDC four
months ago.
Myanma Port Authority always
manipulated and give permission for
renting space to various companies
with various kinds of projects on land
[in Seikkan township], he said.
We were only able to open a YCDC
office in Seikkan township in May. If
you want to know why, you should ask
the mayor.
He continued, Why dont you
criticize allowing buildings to be

Trash lines the car park at Botahtaung jetty in the image U Ye Htut posted to
Facebook on May 3. Photo: U Ye Htut/Facebook

constructed on public land at Botahtaung jetty. [The land] is rented by a

military officer for K500,000 a month
for 10 years from Myanma Port Authority and its disturbing the public.
U Ye Htut has not responded to U
Khin Hlaings comments and did not

At Botahtaung jetty
there is no beautiful
landscape or fresh
air, only unpleasant
smells, garbage and
stray dogs.
U Ye Htut
Minister for information

The car park at Botahtaung jetty appeared freshly cleaned yesterday evening. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw

answer his phone yesterday.

U Khin Hlaing also used his rant
to discuss the role of elected representatives on YCDC, saying they had

been given little authority to make

decisions. Four representatives were
selected at much-criticised elections
in December, in which fewer than 10
percent of residents were eligible to
vote. Five other members of YCDC,
including Yangon Mayor U Hla Myint,
are appointed rather than elected.
All major projects and tasks are
taken by [the appointed members], U
Khin Hlaing said. The Yangon mayor
cannot [fight back against] the chief
minister. Mr Mayor is also afraid of the
tycoons with fangs.
Anyway, we, the four elected members of YCDC, are trying to clean up
the mess.
In May, we took responsibility for
management of Seikkan township by
force. Let us know your desires, such
as cleaning the garbage or solving the
stray dog problem. But you have to
take responsibility for the other issues,
Mr presidential spokesman.
U Khin Hlaing declined to answer
questions when contacted by The Myanmar Times yesterday.
By yesterday evening, however,
there was little rubbish and few stray
dogs to be found at Botahtaung jetty.

4 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

Chief Executive Officer

Tony Child
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EDITORIAL
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Sub-Editors Peter Swarbrick, Laignee Barron
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Yangon residents escape from the heat in the shade of a bus stand in the downtown area yesterday. Photo: Thiri

Monsoon to bring relief to Yangon in late May

AYE SAPAY PHYU
ayephyu2006@gmail.com
RELIEF from the heat should arrive
in coming weeks, with meteorologists
forecasting the monsoon will hit the
country on time this year. It is likely
to arrive in Yangon between May 21
and 26, according to the Department
of Meteorology and Hydrology.
Department director U Kyaw Lwin
Oo said yesterday that the rains should
arrive in southern Myanmar between
May 15 and 20.

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through Myanmar could be accelerated

by a storm in the Bay of Bengal.
Although no storms are forecast
in the Bay of Bengal until May 10, we
need to monitor the weather situation after that. Sometimes storms can
develop quickly in the pre-monsoon
period.
The department has forecast three
low-pressure areas during the early
monsoon period, one of which is likely
to develop into a depression.
Its forecast is for the monsoon season to finish at the end of September.

There is a 40 percent chance of normal rainfall in eastern and northern

Myanmar during the monsoon period,
a 35pc chance of above-average rainfall and 25pc of below-average rain.
In other parts of the country, there
is a 45pc chance of normal rainfall,
35pc for below-average and 20pc for
above-average.
The department has warned that
severe weather conditions, including
strong winds, thundershowers and
isolated heavy rain, could happen during the monsoon onset period.

Ministry of Health signals

shift in spending priorities
Less will be spent on hospital buildings and more on hiring staff and stocking medicine cabinets, say officials

ADMIN, FINANCE & SYSTEMS

Chief Financial Officer Mon Mon Tha Saing
monmonthasaing@gmail.com
Deputy HR Director Khine Su Yin
khinesu1988@gmail.com
Director of IT/Systems Kyaw Zay Yar Lin
kyawzayarlin@gmail.com
Publisher U Thiha (Thiha Saw), 01021
Myanmar Consolidated Media Ltd.

The forecast is for significant

moisture in the air from May 10. This
is one of the checklist items for the
monsoon onset, he said. So the monsoon wont be late this year.
According to the departments forecast for May, the monsoon will proceed from southern Myanmar to the
delta including Yangon between
May 21 and 26, and central Myanmar
between May 27 and May 31. Onset in
northern Myanmar is expected in the
first week of June.
However, the monsoons progression

HTOO THANT

SHWE YEE SAW MYINT

IN what some might see as an attempt

to present a more patient-friendly face,
the Ministry of Health will be shifting
its focus in the coming year toward
hiring extra staff and dispensing more
medicine. A still sizeable, but proportionally smaller, chunk of this years
budget will go to improving buildings
which critics say the ministry has
over-prioritised in recent years.
At a May 4 press conference called
to announce the changes, Dr Myint
Han, temporary director general of the
Department of Medical Care, said K65
billion had been earmarked to provide
medicines in public hospitals for the
2015-16 financial year, which began on
April 1. According to ministry figures
released on May 1, the total expenditure of the department this year will
amount to K503.753 billion, of which
K296.8 billion will be for capital
spending.
Last year the decision was taken to
divide the Department of Health into
two sections, the departments of public health and medical care. The split
formally occurred on April 1.
Total health spending last year was
K624.390 billion, rising this year to
K691 billion, an increase of some K67
billion, or 10.6 percent.
The increased budget reflects the
growth in the number of patients in
public hospitals, said Dr Myint Han.
In Yangon General Hospital, the

number of patients has risen almost

threefold, from 25,740 in 2008 to
62,478 in 2014, he said, adding that
because of overcrowding some patients had to be accommodated in
classrooms.
He said Yangon General would be
upgraded from a 1500-bed to a 2500bed hospital, and that new equipment
had been installed.
Throughout the country, the number of hospitals has risen from 897 in
2010-11 to 1029, though the increasing
number of patients still outstrips the
facilities available.
But facilities and medical sup-

142%
Increase in patients at Yangon General
Hospital between 2008 and 2014

plies are not the only areas where

the ministry sees room for improvement. Medical staff could also work
on their bedside manner, Dr Myint
Han admitted, adding that most
complaints received by the department reflected patient dissatisfaction with the way doctors and nurses
treated them. I accept that health
workers have to do better to take
into account patients expectations,
and remember that they are ill, he
said, adding that the increase in free
medicines and medical procedures

had attracted more patients.

The newly appointed permanent
secretary to the ministry, Dr Thet Khine Win, agreed that service standards
needed to improve.
Partly because the number of patients exceeds staff capacity, we must
admit we have weaknesses in social interactions [between doctors and nurses and patients]. We will give special
training to hospital staff to improve
this. But patients will have to be patient too, he said.
U Sein Win, a spokesperson for the
health ministers office, told The Myanmar Times that the ministry was
going to use the budget increase to
hire more than 100,000 extra staff this
year and to raise salaries, as well as
buy the extra medical supplies.
Dr Nwe Ni Ohn, a former director of the ministrys Health Planning
Department who retired earlier this
year, said that while the government
had devoted funds to providing free
medicines and updating old equipment early in its term, last year most
government funding had been used
to renovate hospitals and rural health
centres. She acknowledged that this
shift had attracted some criticism.
One of these critics is U Myat Nyarna Soe, a trained medical doctor who
represents Yangon Region in the Amyotha Hluttaw, or upper house.
He told The Myanmar Times last
year that much of the additional funding allocated to the ministry under the
new government was being wasted
because of the ministrys mismanagement. While the ministry has eight departments, including health planning,
medical science, medical research, traditional medicine, and the Food and

Drug Administration, 88.1pc of the

2014-15 budget went to the Department of Health, according to government figures.
This department spends a lot of
money on new buildings and renovating old ones, he said. But we need to
invest in more than just buildings. For
example, we need to improve provision of medicine, health services and
research. I cannot understand why
the government focuses so much on
buildings.
The successors to the Department
of Health, the medical care and public
health departments, will continue to
receive an out-sized piece of the funding pie this year: Medical care will get
66.9pc of the total, while public health
will receive 25pc.
Dr Tin Aye, president of the General Practitioners Society, said the government should spend more funding
on prevention through the Department of Public Health in order to reduce treatment costs down the track.
If the government invests a lot of
money in medical treatment, it will
never be able to improve the healthcare system. Other countries focus
more public funding on prevention,
he said. But I think the government
wants to spend most of its money on
medical treatment, including new
buildings, because they are tangible
things for the public to see.
Dr Win Oo, a spokesperson for the
new medical care department, said
that while more would be spent on
other areas, the department would
still devote much of its budget to
capital expenditure to improve public
hospitals.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

News 5

www.mmtimes.com

Buddhists dont
descriminate,
US envoy told
AUNG
KYAW
MIN
aungkyawmin.mcm@gmail.com

THE influential Committee for the

Protection of Nationality and Religion,
which proposed four controversial
bills to parliament, defended the policies in a meeting with the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, David Saperstein.
Sayadaw Ashin Tilawkar Bhivamsa,
a leading monk chairing the committee, said the laws and the organisation
are intended to protect nationality
and Buddhism, and are not meant for
oppressing other nationalities and
religions.
Formed in early 2014, the committee is better known by its Myanmarlanguage acronym Ma Ba Tha.
He said the international community had misunderstood Ma Ba Tha, as
well as the 969 movement, because
of what he called false information in
the media.
Buddhists in Myanmar dont discriminate and oppress other religions
as the international community is
told. Demanding to enact the Interfaith Marriage Law does not mean
getting more advantages for Buddhist
people. Christians, Muslims and Hindus also have their own religious laws.
We can be tested any time to show
that we are not extreme, the Ma Ba
Tha chair said.
The meeting took place on May
3, shortly after the US Commission
on International Religious Freedom
released its annual report which for
the 16th year in a row listed Myanmar among countries of particular
concern where severe violations of
religious rights and freedoms are
perpetuated or tolerated. Myanmar
shared the classification this year with
17 other countries, including North
Korea, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and Iran.
The report singled out Myanmars
four race and religion laws which
relate to interreligious marriage, religious conversion, monogamy and population control as well as outbreaks
of sectarian violence and a refusal to

acknowledge the citizenship of some

ethnic minorities.
Bigotry and chauvinism against
religious and ethnic minorities grew
more pervasive, in some cases provoked by religious figures within the
Buddhist community, the report said.
Mr Saperstein and his delegation
asked Ma Ba Tha about the bills from
the international point of view, Ma Ba
Tha said, apparently referring to arguments that aspects of the laws contravene international law.
A member of Ma Ba Tha, who
asked not to be named, said the US
delegation initially asked the committee not to release any statement about
the meeting. He said they mostly
discussed Ma Ba Thas stance on nationalism. After coordinating with the
US side and agreeing not to go into
details, the committee did release a
statement, he added.
The US embassy in Yangon denied
asking Ma Ba Tha not to speak about
the meeting, saying the two sides
agreed to release separate statements.
The meeting was an open, productive and useful exchange that we hope
to continue. We noted our strong support for interfaith dialogue, and the
Sayadaw expressed his openness to
engage with all religious groups in interfaith discussion, the embassy said
in a statement.
On May 4 Mr Saperstein visited a
mosque of the ethnic Chinese community in Mandalay. Two men, one Buddhist and one Muslim, died last July
in inter-religious violence that gripped
Mandalay. Other cities were also caught
up in sectarian clashes.
Ashin Wirathu, a Mandalay-based
monk and a leading activist in the
969 movement, wrote on his Facebook
page that Mr Sapersteins delegation
should have met those people who
faced problems between different
faiths. Ashin Wirathu is also a member of Ma Ba Tha.
Mr Saperstein visited Myanmar
May 2-5 together with ambassador
Andrew Bennett of Canadas Office of
Religious Freedom.
Voice of America quoted the US envoy as saying the US was pushing the
Myanmar government to more assertively protect Muslims, Christians and
other religious minorities.

A farmer takes part in a protest in Loikaw, Kayah State, on May 4. Photo: Supplied

Kayah farmers unite to fight

convictions, land confiscations
CAROLE OUDOT
MATTHIEU BAUDEY
newsroom@mmtimes.com
ABOUT 350 farmers earlier this week
took to the streets of the Kayah State
capital Loikaw to protest against the
sentencing of six people for continuing to farm land that had been confiscated from them by the Tatmadaw.
The march highlighted the growing
unity among the states dispossessed
farmers, who have recently teamed
up with activists to form a union.
The farmers gathered outside the
courthouse around noon on May
4. After the six were found guilty of
trespassing and each sentenced to 25
days in jail or a K500 fine, the marchers demonstrated through the streets
of the capital.
Led by activists from the Union of
Karenni State Youth and the newly
formed Kayah State Farmers Union,
the marchers shouted our cause
and wore straw hats with the words
save our land. The farmers came
from all eight districts of Kayah State
and were watched closely by police.
While the protest, which ended
peacefully in the afternoon, was
held following the sentencing, it also
sought to draw attention to other

land confiscations in Kayah State.

Protesters said land had been confiscated from farmers for at least two
cement factories, two hydropower
dams and several mines.
We are here today because we
want the rights of the farmers to be
respected. And still now, people are
afraid of soldiers, one demonstrator
said.
The protest received formal permission from the government, which
UKSY central committee member U
Kyaw Htin Aung said was a first in
Loikaw.
Last week, protesters marched

Many farmers lost

their land because
they felt threatened
and thought they
didnt have any
other choice.
U Than Tun
Kayah State Farmers Union

without formal permission from Hpruso to Loikaw to support other farmers convicted of trespassing. While no
action was taken, they could face up
to a year in prison under section 18 of
the peaceful protest law if convicted
of holding an illegal demonstration.
It took a lot of negotiation with
the authorities to make this happen,
Ko Dee Dee, a local activist said of the
allowed May 4 march.
The formation of the farmers
union in January has brought more
coordination and planning to the
anti-land confiscation movement in
Kayah State.
About 100 farmers who took part
in the May 4 protest signed up for the
union, which elected its central committee on February 15.
Separately, the farmers feel weak
and lack access to information on
their property rights.
Many farmers lost their land
because they felt threatened and
thought they didnt have any other
choice, said union member U Than
Tun.
Together, however, backed by local activists, they plan to hold the
authorities accountable for confiscations including some that date back
as far as 25 years.

6 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

Police identify
two men found
beside highway
Brothers from Hlaing Tharyar had been stabbed
while their hands were tied behind their backs

TOE WAI
AUNG
linnhtet.lt@gmail.com

POLICE have identified two bodies

with puncture wounds that were
dumped beside the Yangon-Bago
Highway near Intagaw in Bago Region on May 5.
The men were brothers in their
40s from Hlaing Tharyar township who worked in Sanchaung
township, police said yesterday
evening.
The pair, who had suffered
extensive stab wounds and had
their hands tied behind their
backs, were tossed out of a car
on a section of the highway near
San Pya village flanked by rubber
plantations.
Police said the vehicle had
passed through a toll gate on the
outskirts of Bago just before the

men were dumped.

The case has lit up social media over the past two days, with
images of the deceased circulating widely, but no suspects have
emerged.
A farmer reported the bodies to
police, after seeing the vehicle stop
beside the road.
A [Toyota] Probox came and
discarded the bodies. Although
this road seems to be deserted it is
not because people from Bago Region travel through here, said Ko
Nay Zaw Tun from Intagaw, who
attended the scene.
Puncture wounds made by
a saber knife were found on the
faces and necks of the bodies, he
said, adding that the men were
dead when police arrived at the
scene but the wounds were still
fresh.
The bodies were sent to Bago
Hospital. Station officers and polices are investigating, said an officer
from the Intagaw police station.
Translation by Khant Lin Oo

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Logitech International S.A., a Company incorporated in Switzerland,
of Les Chatagnis, CH-1143 Apples, Switzerland, is the Owner of the
following Trade Mark:-

LOGI
Reg. No. 3943/2015
in respect of Computer and electronic equipment, namely, computer
hardware; computer hardware for use with mobile phone and computer
tablet applications; computer peripherals, namely, keyboards, mice,
trackballs and wireless electronic controllers all for use with consumer
electronic equipment; decoding boxes; set top boxes; computer software
for classifying, transmitting, receiving, processing, reading and watching,
and controlling applications, texts, electronic data, images, audio and
video files; computer software for reproducing, processing and streaming
audio, video and multimedia content and for audio calling, video calling
and remote collaborating; computer software for controlling the operation
of audio and video apparatus and for viewing, searching and/or reading
sound, video, television, films, photographs and other digital images and
other multimedia content; computer game programs; computer software
for multimedia sharing, media-share computer software for computers;
digital electronic apparatus for recording, classifying, transmitting,
receiving, processing, reading and viewing, and examining texts, data,
images, audio and video files, namely, computer software and computer
hardware; video game control devices, namely, remote controls, joysticks,
video game steering wheels, headsets, keyboards and mice all for use
with computer and video game console platforms; computer peripherals,
namely, controllers and gamepads for mobile gaming; wireless mice,
keyboards, and remote controls for use with televisions, computers, and
set-top boxes; computer cursor control devices, namely, digitizer tablets,
light pens, and trackballs; touch pads; electronic drawing and sketching
boards; Whiteboards; computer keyboards controllers; video devices,
namely, software and hardware for audio and video enhancement sold
as an integral part of web cameras and video cameras; digital cameras
and web cameras; wearable cameras, mobile cameras, security cameras;
audio and sound system devices, namely, audio speakers, mobile speakers,
wireless speakers, headsets, headphones, earbuds and microphones;
audio conduit, amplification and monitoring units; acoustic separation
units; audio mixers; telephony equipment, namely, headsets, headphones,
earbuds and microphones for use with computers and telephones,
telephones, mobile phones, videophones; video-conferencing equipment,
namely, video-conferencing cameras, speakerphones, computer monitors,
television, and other audio-visual components; digitial writing systems
for computers and mobile phones primarily composed of digital light

YCDC proposes four night markets

KYAW PHONE KYAW
k.phonekyaw@gmail.com
NEW night markets could be set up if
plans now being considered by Yangon City Development Committee
come to fruition. YCDC wants to revitalise night life in parts of the city,
while providing a safe and convenient
service for shoppers, its markets department said yesterday.
The markets are proposed for the
corner of Thanthumar and Laydaungkan roads in Thingangyun township;
Shukhinthar Road in Dawbon township; Upper Kyeemyindaing Road in
Kyeemyindaing township; and Sanpya night market in Mingalar Taung
Nyunt township. The latter two are
already operating.
U San Shwe Tun, the head of
YCDCs markets department, said yesterday each market would cost about
K80 million to ensure proper infrastructure and electricity supply.
We have to establish whether these
are the right sites. Some vendors are not
sure of their participation yet, he said.
YCDC is also considering how the
proposed sites would affect traffic
congestion, and whether the markets
would create enough jobs to make
them worthwhile.
Ko Than Htike, who lives in Thingangyun township, said that the
night-market plan could improve
congestion.
He said vendors now block the
pavement, forcing pedestrians to walk
in the road.
But he added that he was concerned the markets could attract

A man directs a customer to rubber footwear at his store in the Kyeemyindaing

night market. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw

petty criminals, which he said was

a problem at Thiri Mingalar market,
the vegetable wholesale market that
already opens at night.
YCDC should be discussing this

pen and computer software; remote controls for controlling TVs, video
players, video recorders, stereos, speakers, amplifiers, entertainment
systems, home lighting systems, personal computers; protective cases
for computer peripherals; protective cases for mobile phones, battery
charging cases for mobile phones, car dashboard mounts for mobile
phones; mobile phone accessories; keyboards for mobile phones; mobile
keyboards and control devices for mobile platforms; protective cases for
tablet computers; keyboards for tablet computers; computer peripherals for
accessing and transmitting data and content among consumer electronics
devices, televisions, and displays; computer peripherals for digital
watches; computer software and conputer programs for use in connection
with providing an interface between a computer and a peripheral device;
computer software and computer programs for manipulating and controlling
images from web cameras and digital cameras; computer software and
computer programs for producing sound; computer software and computer
programs for handwriting and character recognition; computer software
and computer programs for use in connection with electronic transmission
of video, audio and data across local area , wide area and global computer
networks; remote control devices for home automation and control of
sensors, locks, switches, lights, radios, televisions, stereos, audio-visual
equipment, household appliances, window coverings, climate control, and
other home electronics; downloadable software for programming a remote
control for sensors, locks, switches, radios, television, stereos, audio-visual
equipment, household appliances, window coverings, climate control,
lighting and other home electronics; computer monitors; audio, video
and radio transmitters; audio, video and radio receivers; stereo tuners and
radio signal tuners; audio and video recorders; audio and video players,
namely, CD, DVD and Mp3 players; radios; microphones; wireless
presenters in the nature of witreless remote pointers; notebook computer
stands; notebook computer docking stations; computer docking stations;
number keypads, namely, number keypads on computer keyboards; battery
packs; electric and electronic cables; wearable electronics to measure
fitness, self-improvement and data-gathering; electronic temperature
sensors; lighting control systems comprised of motion-sensitive security
lights and computer hardware and software for use in activating and
deactivating electrical lights; and instruction manuals sold as a unit with
the aformentioned goods.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Mark will be
dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A.,H.G.P.,D.B.L.
for Logitech International S.A.
P.O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 7 May 2015

with the police, he said.

Union of Myanmar Travel Association secretary general U Naung Naung
Han said the markets could make Yangon more attractive to tourists.

June re-run
for two seats
in Mandalay
MG ZAW
mgzaw.mmtimes@gmail.com
ELECTIONS will be held next month
for the two remaining townships
in Mandalay that failed to return
successful candidates on May 3,
the citys election commission announced yesterday.
U Khin Maung Kyaw, chair of
the MCDC Election Commission,
said fresh polls would take place
in the first week of June, at a date
to be fixed by the Mandalay Region
government.
The vacancies to be filled are in
the townships of Chan Mya Tharsi
and Aung Myay Thar San.
On May 3, voters elected three
of the six members of the 13-seat
city governing body. A fourth, U
Shwe Win in Maha Aung Myay, was
returned unopposed, leaving two
vacancies.
The two townships were left unrepresented because one, Aung Myay
Thar San, failed to produce a single
candidate, while in Chan Mya Tharsi
the number of people who voted fell
below the 50 percent threshold, rendering the election void.
The election never seemed to capture public attention, not least because all elected candidates will hold
office only until November, when
fresh elections will be held to coincide with the general election.
The low public interest could explain the small turnout, but it could
also be that voters were away on a
trip, or were deterred by bad weather, said U Khin Maung Kyaw.
Objections to the results, which
saw the election of U Ye Mon (Amarapura), U Aung Htay (Chan Aye
Thar San) and U Tin Maung Aye
(Pyigyitagun), can be lodged within
seven days of polling day, if the objector submits a K100,000 deposit.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

News 7

www.mmtimes.com

Views

Spice, intrigue as elections approach

Up to five countries in the region including Myanmar could go to the polls over the next year, with the likely results anything but clear

HE elections this region will

witness in the near future
are sneaking up on us in
such an understated way
that many people are unsure
about when and if they will be held.
Consider the one due to take place
in Myanmar, possibly in early November, or possibly not; and possibly
with President U Thein Sein and Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi as candidates, or
possibly not.
Even that revered analyst, Bertil
Lintner, whose expert insights are on
par with those of former BBC news
editor Larry Jagan, recently said there
was a 75 percent chance the Myanmar
election would not go ahead.
And in one of his episodic Bangkok Post columns last year, Jagan
said categorically that the political
uncertainty is about to end as President Thein Sein has decided to seek a
second term in office.
Well, even Homer nods, and I, for
one, have made similar declarative
statements, the memories of which
now give me severe colonic
contractions.
But when faced with towering figures like Jagan and Lintner, it is best
to genuflect and concede that the Myanmar polls are a chiaroscuro painted
in porridge frankly, we dont know
whats going to happen.
So let us move on to Vietnam,
whose opaque politics are nevertheless easier to assess and whose
coming elections are, if nothing else,
100pc sure to happen in January next
year.
At that time, the long-ruling Communist Party of Vietnam will meet
for its 12th National Congress to chart
future policy and elect a new slate of
leaders.
This five-yearly poker game has
the potential to redirect the course
of the country, as it did 30 years ago
when the then-newly elected party
bosses instituted doi moi reforms and
partially opened up the economy.
Unusually, the top four posts in Vietnam the partys general secretary,
the prime minister, the president and
the chair of the National Assembly
will all be replaced this time round.
The key thing to watch out for
is whether Prime Minister Nguyen
Tan Dung succeeds in being elected
the partys next general secretary
and then inducts more like-minded,

Malaysias Prime Minister Najib Razak (left) and Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (right) shake hands in
Singapore on May 5. Photo: AFP

ROGER
MITTON

rogermitton@gmail.com

Western-oriented reformists.
If not, the outgoing party boss,
Nguyen Phu Trong, a traditional
Communist in the Leonid Brezhnev
mould, will likely manipulate the

voting so that the status quo prevails

and Vietnam continues to wallow.
It is tempting to add Malaysia
to this intriguing election program,
though that is a long shot at the moment, despite the incandescent political climate in Kuala Lumpur.
The heat is partially due to a
campaign by former PM Mahathir
Mohamad to unseat current PM Najib
Razak, and partially, if not largely,
due to Najibs inept performance and
growing Malay chauvinism.
Already, the influential Islamic
Party of Malaysia has said that with
the countrys politics in disarray,
Najib should form a national unity
government with the opposition.
The PMs fellow party men will

never allow him to do that, but they

might force him out if things get any
worse. He may pre-empt them and
call a snap election unlikely, but not
impossible.
What is not merely possible, but
certain, is that a year from now, on
May 9, the Philippines will elect a new
leader, but there is such a horse race of
presidentiables that its wise to wait
till the field settles, while turning to
another impending poll in Singapore.
Already, the state-controlled
political editors of the islands media
have moved into election mode and
revealed that the poll will likely be
held later this year or early next.
The signs have been pretty obvious: a recent cabinet reshuffle, the

milking of former PM Lee Kuan Yews

memory, and the linking of Singapores 50th birthday bash in August to
pro-government policies.
In his May Day speech, PM Lee
Hsien Loong stressed issues that
would be important in the coming
general election, none more so than
political succession, he claimed.
Its about who will lead Singapore into the future, said Lee. And
it is our future at stake, and our childrens future, because if the government fails, what is going to happen to
you, to all of us, to Singapore?
Last week, doctors gave Lee, 63,
the all-clear after hed earlier had surgery for early-stage prostate cancer.
They said he has a 98pc chance of not
dying from the illness within the next
15 years.
As for exploiting his fathers death
in March, many think the Lee Kuan
Yew dividend may backfire as voters
view the ruling Peoples Action Party
as trying to gain political advantage
in an unseemly way.
They may also think the same
about the PAPs tactics in trying to
disqualify a quartet of opposition MPs
who have been accused by the government of mismanaging their constituency accounts.
Rather than use political debate
to discredit oppositionists, the PAP
is routinely accused of co-opting
the judiciary for this purpose and
for stifling dissident voices in other
spheres, notably social media.
Most recently, the authorities shut
down The Real Singapore website for
publishing articles that allegedly damaged national harmony and sought to
incite anti-foreigner sentiment and,
of course, anti-PAP sentiment.
Clearly, Lees party knows this
will be a difficult election, especially
since the gloss is off the Little Red
Dot, whose high-end property market
has collapsed and driven down stock
prices for land developers.
As well, anti-foreigner sentiment
still festers, and with the PAP offering
little but verbal bromides, the potential for more riots like the one in
Little India in 2013 remains high.
So, assessing all these impending
elections is a gamble. The best we
can say is that Myanmars is puzzling,
Vietnams edgy, Malaysias volatile,
the Philippiness a horse race, and
Singapores, well, Singaporean.

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

Business

ANALYSIS

Coal power continues

over local objections
AUNG SHIN
koshumgtha@gmail.com

Thingyan: Not every phone survives. Photo: Zarni Phyo

Splash for handset vendors

after Thingyan destruction
MYAT NOE OO
myatnoe.mcm@gmail.com
TOO much Thingyan revelry has
done in Ko Phoe Zaws handset.
It was damaged by water while
its owner danced during New
Years. Initially it looked like it
would survive the experience, but
now it is totally destroyed.
I went to a repair shop for my
phone, he said. But it was expensive to repair, so I decided to just
buy a new one instead.
Ko Phoe Zaws experience is
not unique among Thingyan revellers. The celebration comes late to
handset vendors and repair shops,
as the waters of New Years take
their toll on mobiles.

Businesspeople say there is a

bumper crop of damaged handset
during the Thingyan festival, as
many fail to properly protect their
mobiles.
Sales of handsets shoot up
they are being sold quickly, said
Ko Zarni, owner of a handset shop
in Thingangyun township.
Its not only water damage.
Some people change their handset
because companies give out a bonus for Thingyan. This is a popular
month to make a purchase.
Repair shops also say they face
a flood of business every year after
Thingyan.
The owner of Htun mobile shop
in Mingalar Zay said there is no
time for vacation, as 20 to 50 own-

ers drop off handsets every day after Thingyan finishes.

We are repairing a lot of handsets these days. Our shop sells
handsets, accessories and makes
repairs. If a handset cannot be
repaired, customers buy them
brand-new from my shop. Thats
why business is good, he said.
Not only phones fall victim to
Thingyan, but accessories as well.
The owner of Tar Tar mobile shop
said accessories like cases and earphones have been flying off the
shelves.
Lower-end phones that are particularly prevalent in rural areas
are often not worth repairing and
owners choose to simply replace
them, he added.

THE Ministry of Electric Power

plans to move forward with several
coal-fired power plant projects despite the opposition of some civil
society groups.
The ministry has signed memorandums of understanding for at
least 11 coal-fired projects in the
country since 2010, though so far
they are still at the early stage of
feasibility studies, with no shovels
yet in the ground.
Some local residents and civil
society groups have opposed the
plans over possible environmental
and social impacts.
Early last year, a senior ministry
official told The Myanmar Times
that the recently agreed-on projects
will not be implemented without
agreement from the public.
However, the Ministry of Electric Power also faces an urgent need
to improve electricity generation,
with demand growing by at least
an estimated 13 percent a year. Hydro power is expensive and hard to
implement, as is natural gas, while
renewables such as solar and wind
are still at the early stages of making a contribution. Therefore, coal
presents a tempting option to increase base load generation.
A ministry announcement in
2014 said it would like to increase
the amount of electricity generated
by coal power plants. It signed its
first memorandum of agreement
for a coal plant to be located in
Kengtung in eastern Shan State
in March. The company will be allowed to move to the next step in
the project with the agreement, and
will now have the project site and
area approved after the feasibility
study is completed.
A Thai-based company called
Lumpoondum is to implement the
660-megawatt coal-fired plant,
though it has generated significant
local opposition.
Since the agreement, others have

signed memorandum of agreement

to build coal-fired power projects.
Thailand-based Toyo-Thai Corporation Public Company signed an
agreement with the Department of
Hydro Power Planning, under the
Ministry of Electric Power, to build
a coal-fired project in Mon State.
The firm aims to construct a
1280-megawatt coal-fired plant using what it calls Ultra Supercritical advanced Japanese technology,
in Ann Din village of Ye township
in Mon State.
The US$2.8 billion project
would take four to six years to be
built, with a 30-year concession
under a build-operate-transfer system. Ultimately, the project is to be
transferred to the ministry.
Some local residents have vocally opposed the Ann Din coal-fired
power project. Thousands of locals
joined a May 5 rally against the
project, demonstrating with signs
reading No Coal and No ToyoThai.
Government officials say they
will continue moving forward with
coal plants.
We will sign memorandums of
agreement for other projects, said
U Aye San, director general of the
Department of Hydro Power Planning. But it will take time to get
the feasibility studies finished. The
companies need to do this to get to
the next steps of project implementation, such as investment procedures and financing.
U Aye San added that coal is
only one option, with the idea being to use of a mix of generation, including hydro, gas, coal, solar and
wind, to provide reliable electricity
output.
The government has a target of
100pc electrification rates by 2030,
and has been coordinating closer
with international organisations
such as the World Bank and Asian
Development Bank, as well as national institutions from Japan and
China, to achieve its targets for
electrification rates.

Nepal quake highlights Building Code

MYAT
NYEIN AYE
myatnyeinaye11092@gmail.com

THE Myanmar Engineering Society

is urging developers to follow the
National Building Code, after the
Nepal earthquake raised concerns
on the ability of local buildings to
survive disasters.
The code is still in draft form,
and was initially written in English
in 2012. Although it must be passed
by parliament to become law, experts say they hope it can serve as a
voluntary guide to developers until
it is approved.
Myanmar Engineering Society
(MES) spokesperson U Kyi Lwin,
who is also involved with drafting

the code, said some contractors and

developers have used the code, although awareness of it has not yet
been spread widely.
Currently weve only completed
an English draft If the code receives commitment from decision
makers, the whole country will be
using it systematically and buildings are going to be stronger, he
said.
Nepal was struck by an earthquake on April 25 that left an estimated 7500 people dead.
Experts say the earthquake has
highlighted Myanmars need to address building standards, to help
mitigate destruction in the event
of a local earthquake. The lack of
a nationwide document on construction standards results in uneven quality of buildings across the
country.
Developers often use different

international codes or locally developed practices as reference points,

which vary significantly in producing quality buildings.
When the National Building
Code official appears, every contractor will have to build systematically, constructing buildings that
are more resilient to natural disasters, said U Kyi Lwin.
The MES is currently translating
the document to Myanmar. After
that is complete, they will submit
it to the Ministry of Construction,
which will edit the code before final
confirmation by parliament.
We just drew up the code and
will wait for a decision. Currently
we are translating to Myanmar because the draft is only in English
but if it is confirmed, it needs to be
understood by everybody, he said.
Experts have also said that the
recent earthquake in Nepal has

highlighted the importance of having strong rules on construction in

Myanmar.
U Kyaw Thu, program specialist
at UN-Habitat, said there is an urgent need to get the code in place.
This code can really help for
resilience of buildings and safer
residences, rather than building
randomly, he said.
The draft National Building Code
has seven chapters, covering areas including structure, health and
safety and building services. The
structures section, Chapter 3, deals
in part with making sure buildings
withstand natural disasters.
While all buildings face a certain amount of risk, those built not
to code and with unqualified engineers are the most at risk.
We see some contractors here
who are not licensed: They build only
with carpenters. Those buildings

dont have strong resistance, so when

an earthquake happens, the buildings become dangerous, U Kyaw Thu
said.
UN-Habitat has surveyed areas
in Sagaing and Bago regions and
Taungoo city in Shan State, drafting a map showing at-risk townships. The survey was then reported to regional governments. Local
government can then refer to the
map for a locations exposure to
earthquakes when extending townships or building industrial zones
or power projects.
U Kyaw Thu said the next step
is to survey Yangon and Pyay township, aiming to complete reports on
the two by 2016.
Knowing about earthquake
faults and constructing strong
buildings goes a long way to reducing injury from natural disasters,
he said.

BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | jeremymullins7@gmail.com

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DICA calls for more

local feedback on
draft investment law
SANDAR
LWIN
sdlsandar@gmail.com

THE Directorate of Investment

and Company Administration
(DICA) has called for more local
discussion of the draft version of
Myanmars new investment law.
The new law will be a consolidation of the existing Foreign Investment Law and the Myanmar Citizens Investment Law. In theory, it
will create a level playing field for
local and foreign investors.
DICA launched a public consultation on the draft law on March
10 for 16 days. It later extended
the deadline for comments until
the end of April, following international criticism that the feedback
period had been insufficient.
The new investment law will
be a legal cornerstone of Burmas
efforts to reengage with the global economy and international
investors, yet the governments
public consultations have been
deeply inadequate, said Jessica
Evans, senior international financial institutions advocate at
Human Rights Watch in a March
statement.
However, according to Daw Tin
Aye Han, director of DICAs Investment Promotion Section, most proposals received by the directorate

to date have been from foreigners.

Weve had many suggestions
from foreigners but not from the
locals. We want feedback from the
locals, she said.
The official deadline for public
consultation has passed, she said,
but DICA will continue to accept
suggestions until the draft has
been finalised and sent to the Attorney Generals Office. It will then
be submitted to parliament later
this year.

Weve had many

suggestions from
foreigners but not
from the locals.
We want feedback
from the locals.
Daw Tin Aye Han
DICA official

The draft law has already been

updated based on suggestions received, said Daw Tin Aye Han. The
updated version was made public
on DICAs website on May 6.
We now want local feedback on
the updated version. We havent set
an exact date to finalise the draft,
but we are trying to enact it as soon

as possible. We hope to be able to

submit the draft to parliament in
the coming session, she said.
The new law was drafted by the
Myanmar Investment Commission
(MIC) in collaboration with the
financial arm of the World Bank,
the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The first draft was
made available on DICAs website
in English before it was published
in Myanmar language.
Following this, the directorate
held one meeting with a group
of local stakeholders, before the
initial deadline for feedback at the
end of March.
However, DICA director general
U Aung Naing Oo, who is also the
secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission, said that the
process has involved listening to
many ideas from local business
circles.
We drafted the law only after
consulting with the local business
community, and we took many
suggestions from them, he said.
The law should provide easier
entry to the Myanmar markets for
all investors, both domestic and
foreign, according to a Linklaters
note earlier this year.
In addition, MIC will ensure the
law complies with World Trade Organisation guidelines and the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment
Agreement (ACIA).
The Foreign Investment Law was
enacted in 2012 and the Citizens Investment Law passed in 2013.

Buying
K1187
K300
K805
K33
K1090

Selling
K1215
K312
K825
K35
K1096

Gems lab angles for

global recognition
SU PHYO WIN
suphyo1990@gmail.com
A PRIVATELY owned gems laboratory equipped with the latest technology opened its doors yesterday, but
it will take time for the industry to
receive international recognition, insiders say.
Myanmar Gemological Laboratory will be able to provide a range
of reports at a cost of K15,000 to
K150,000 to identify natural or synthetic stones, including treatment
and geographic origin, according to
its founder U Wai La Win.
If we can make hundreds or thousands of reports matching [the quality of reports by] internationally recognised labs, with local coordination,
it will be quicker to get the reputation
of local labs recognised in foreign
countries, he said.
U Wai La Win added there are
about 10 such labs in the country, but
most use somewhat outdated technology compared to his lab.
Leading Myanmar geologist Daw
Yin Yin New said she supports the
private sector as the government itself is decentralising.
By competing with the private
sector, processes on the government
side become more competitive and
qualified. There should be no more
monopolising by the government, I
think, she said.
Government gems experts should
also work closely with their private
sector counterparts in efforts to receive international recognition. Currently, local stones often must be
certified in foreign countries, but this
business could be completed locally,
she said.
The government needs to liberalise and decentralise the sector by
handing over mining processes to the

private sector and simply collecting

tax from them, like Indonesia. This
avoids conflict of interest, though
does not fully control all the countrys
resources from leaving, she said.
Gems dealers say they welcome
efforts to bring international-quality
gems appraisal to Yangon.
U Thaung Tun, owner of Yadana
Theingi Gems and Jewellery, said
when local gems are resold at international exhibitions, they must often
be re-appraised to meet their standards.
Gary Nelson, a gems businessperson, said that while some of the
laboratories here may not be globally recognised, they have a lot of experience and understand Myanmar
gemstones.
However, laboratories bring a
level of objectivity to gem appraisals.
They have necessary equipment and
can tell the characteristics of stones
and how they stack up against international gems.
They can identify stones very easily and very correctly, he said.
Part of the problem for local gems
laboratories is the world was in the
dark for so long about the industry in
Myanmar, and it was also difficult for
Myanmar people to take in international best practices.
Mr Nelson said the situation was
different for U Wai La Win, as he
studied and worked overseas for
the Gemological Institute of America, and is bringing that experience
back to Myanmar. In the past, most
Myanmar labs catered to the local
community.
Ideally, locally valued gems with a
proper certificate should be accepted
internationally, which will help local
traders have the confidence to go to
places like New York or London and
present the stone, he said.

Telenor racks up 6.4

million subscribers
CATHERINE TRAUTWEIN
newsroom@mmtimes.com
TELENOR Myanmar claimed 6.4
million subscribers at the end of
March, nearly double its results
three months earlier, its Norwegian
parent company said yesterday.
The firm has seen a steady increase in users since launching
in October 2014, with nearly 60
percent of its subscribers actively
using data, its first quarter 2015
report said.
In the coming quarters, we plan
to ramp up network investments
to cater for the strong demand for
digital services in this connectivity-hungry nation, Telenor Group
president and CEO Jon Fredrik
Baksaas said in a statement.
While we are encouraged by
the promising start in Myanmar, it
has to be noted that it is still early
days.
The firms local revenues came in
at US$102 million, while it generated
$4 billion across its international operations. Telenor pointed to a number of factors contributing growth,
including positive currency effects
and a significant contribution from

Myanmar, as assisting its international bottom line.

Telenors Myanmar operations
contributed about 2.5pc of total
earnings, while accounting for 10pc
of capital expenditures. Telenor
and its rivals Ooredoo and MPT
are conducting large-scale network
expansions at present.
Earlier in the week, Ooredoo
announced it had 3.3 million Myanmar subscribers as of the end of
March.
Telenor said market demand
has topped its expectations, and
it plans to boost network investments this year.
Over the course of the latest
quarter, Telenor turned on 718
sites, bringing total live sites to
1772. As of the end of March, more
than half of Myanmars townships
have Telenor service.
Capital expenditures for Telenor Myanmar at NOK 442 million
(US$59 million) trailed combined
European and Asian operations
as well as Norway and Thailands
dtac.
Telenor Myanmar also made a licence payment of $120 million this
past quarter.

Residents of Hpa-an, Kayin State, watch

a Telenor-sponsored concert earlier
this year. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

10 International Business

THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

TEHRAN

HANOVER

Iran oil show opens as

foreigners weigh return
IRAN is to outline big oil and gas projects at a major industry event beginning yesterday, ahead of a possible
nuclear deal that could allow global
energy giants to return.
The plans, which have been trailed
in the Iranian media, will likely dominate Irans 20th Oil, Gas, Refining and
Petrochemical Fair, a four-day event in
Tehran.
Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, who
has signalled Irans willingness to see
international oil giants come back, is to
give the keynote address.
The prospects for doing business
are intricately linked to whether Iran
and six world powers can conclude
a nuclear deal by a June 30 deadline
that could lift wide-ranging economic
sanctions.
Iran has the worlds fourth-largest
proven oil reserves and the second-biggest gas deposits, both of which have
long been seen as under-tapped and
ripe for exploration and a production
hike.
But major energy firms left or were
stifled from doing business after the
United States and the EU imposed
sanctions on the industry in 2012, as
punishment for Tehrans disputed nuclear program.
Iranian officials have said that while
the countrys focus is to boost domestic
production there is potential for foreign investment and cooperation, especially given modern Western industry
technology.
The oil ministry has prepared new
contracts that could come into effect
after a nuclear deal which have better
terms for foreign companies than those
offered before the sanctions era.
International oil majors have welcomed the new format of Irans contracts, ministry spokesperson Mehdi
Hosseini told the official IRNA news
agency, citing European, Russian and
Chinese firms.
They are awaiting the results of
Irans nuclear talks and the removal of
sanctions, he added.
But with crude prices hovering
around a lowly US$60 a barrel as the
market experiences a supply glut, the
chances of an economic windfall for
Iran or international companies is difficult to gauge.

While oil and gas was long the cornerstone of Irans finances, the global
fall in crude prices has led President
Hassan Rouhanis government to seek
a more varied economy.
And in the budget for this year Iran
halved its reliance on oil income to 25
percent. Foreign companies are also
weighing the cost of doing business in
Iran against the potential returns.
According to the oil ministry, 29 foreign countries including Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, Singapore
and the United Arab Emirates will
have delegates at the Tehran exhibition.

[Foreign firms] are

awaiting the results
of Irans nuclear talks
and the removal of
sanctions.
Mehdi Hosseini
Iran oil ministry

Some 1200 Iranian companies and

600 international businesses have registered, but no representatives from the
US or Saudi Arabia will attend, according to the oil ministry.
Under Iranian law, foreign companies in the oil and gas sector must partner with local firms.
The development of oil and gas
sites, including the massive South Pars
gas field, shared with Qatar, and the
West Karoun oilfield, offer significant
potential for foreign tie-ups.
Mr Rouhani has also spoken favourably about foreign investment in Iran
should there be a nuclear agreement.
Having agreed an outline framework for a deal on April 2, Iran and the
P5+1 powers Britain, China, France,
Russia and the United States, plus Germany aim to conclude a final accord
by the end of June.
Under an interim deal, Iran has
been allowed to maintain its crude oil
exports at around 1.2 million barrels
per day. AFP

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn

(left) and chair of the supervisory board
of Volkswagen Ferdinand Piech pose in
April 2012. Mr Piech has since resigned
after an apparent leadership struggle
with Mr Winterkorn. Photo : AFP

Calm after VW feud

FOLLOWING a bitter power
struggle in recent weeks, German
auto giant Volkswagen is hoping
to return to calmer waters and
concentrate on its business of
building cars, its chief executive
Martin Winterkorn said.
The past couple of weeks have
been eventful ones, to put it mildly, Mr Winterkorn told shareholders at VWs annual meeting in the
northern city of Hanover.
This is why it is good that we
have now returned to calmer waters. That we have clarity about
our future direction. And, above
all, that we can concentrate fully
on our business, he said.
Last month, Mr Winterkorn
locked horns with VWs supervisory board chief and patriarch Ferdinand Piech in a bitter battle that
spooked investors and appeared
to place a question mark over the
successful running of the group.
Seventy-eight-year-old Mr Piech,
a member of the powerful Porsche
dynasty that is a shareholder in
Volkswagen, and one of the most
important figures in German business, had sent shockwaves through

the industry by declaring that he

was distancing himself from Mr
Winterkorn.
But the steering committee of
VWs supervisory board threw its
weight behind Mr Winterkorn, 67,
saying it intended to extend his
contract.
While Mr Piech vehemently denied trying to oust his former protege, he eventually threw in the
towel, resigning on April 25.
Mr Winterkorn told shareholders it was important for me to
thank Piech not only on behalf
of all 600,000 employees, but also
personally.
Over the past five decades, Mr
Piech had shaped the automotive industry like no other as an
entrepreneur, as an engineer, as a
courageous visionary. The group
and its people have much to thank
Piech for. This is something that
will not change. And we and I
have tremendous respect for this
lifetime achievement, the CEO
said.
Mr Piech was not present at the
meeting.
Mr Winterkorn complained

that VW had seen any number of

interpretations, speculations and
unfortunately even exaggerations over the past few weeks. Its
important that you, as our shareholders, know that Volkswagen is
a fundamentally sound, well positioned company.
Looking ahead to the current
year, VW expected a moderate
increase in customer deliveries,
an increase of up to 4.0 percent in
sales revenues and an operating
return on sales of between 5.5pc
and 6.5pc, Mr Winterkorn said.
One of the issues which appeared to have caused the rift
between Mr Piech and Mr Winterkorn who had been seen as
the formers close ally and heir
apparent was the car makers
difficulties in making substantial
inroads into the US market and its
over-dependence on the Chinese
market.
Mr
Winterkorn
promised
shareholders that the Volkswagen brand is going on the offensive again in the United States.
Im committed to that.
AFP

MANILA

Philippine telco in
painful fight

IN PICTURES

A worker hauls a cart on a construction site in Beijing on May

6. China on May 1 announced measures aimed at promoting
innovation and job creation, state media said, as authorities
seek to ensure that slowing economic growth doesnt harm
employment. Photo: AFP

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone, the countrys largest telecommunications firm, said it expects to
spend nearly US$1 billion in a painful fight to survive the consumer
shift to digital from traditional
phone services.
The listed company said net
profit for the first three months of
the year was flat at 9.4 billion pesos
($211 million), and the full-year net
profit would likely fall below the 34.1
billion pesos it posted last year.
The company said the growth
in its mobile internet business had
not been strong enough to offset the
decline in its traditional revenue
sources voice calls and text messaging that account for 60 percent
of the total.
Its either we pivot or we perish,
PLDT chair Manuel Pangilinan told
reporters.
He said PLDT may exceed the record 39 billion peso ($876 million)
expansion budget it set this year to
build more 3G and LTE (Long-Term
Evolution) infrastructure and entice
more of its subscribers to go online.

In many respects, its like changing tyres while the car is moving, he
said.
The whole way into this is to implement the digital pivot ... It will be
painful.
While data and broadband revenue grew 11pc to 11.2 billion pesos
in the January to March period, it
accounted for only about 27pc of
the total.
Revenue from local voice calls
and text messages dipped 2pc to 24.2
billion pesos.
Revenue from international and
domestic long distance calls, which
account for 13pc of the total, fell
19pc to 5.2 billion pesos.
There is an ongoing evolution
of the telco subscriber into the digital consumer and there is a need by
PLDT to identify new ways of serving the customer, said company
president Napoleon Nazareno.
While Filipinos are among the
worlds most active internet users,
the country also has one of the slowest average connection speeds.
AFP

12 THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

13

World

WORLD EDITOR: Fiona MacGregor

Fears over slow

fundraising for
Nepal

Indonesias rare
birds smuggled
in plastic bottles

WORLD 14

WORLD 15

WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON

Multi-million-dollar
bounty offered for IS chiefs

MILLION US$

Highest bounty for IS chief Abdel

Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli.

Iraqi and Kurdish security forces

are fighting back, supported by Iranian advisers and a US-led air coalition,
but IS is holding on in its heartland
and allied groups have sprung up as
far away as Libya and Nigeria.
The May 6 statement from the
State Department adds four names to
the list of high-value US targets sought
by the Rewards for Justice Program.
The militant with the largest price
US$7 million on his head is Abdel
Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, who was
designated a global terrorist for the

purpose of US Treasury sanctions in

May last year.
The State Department alleged that
he had been a deputy to the late leader
of al-Qaedas Iraqi faction, Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, and had travelled to Syria
to join the IS group in 2012 after he
was freed from an Iraqi jail.
The US Treasury lists Mr Qaduli as
an Iraqi, born in either 1957 or 1959 in
the city of Mosul.
A Syrian militant, Abu Mohammed
al-Adnani, whose birth name is Taha
Sobhi Falaha and who is approximately 38 years old, is now subject to a $5
million reward for information leading to his death or capture.
The statement describes him as an
IS spokesperson who has repeatedly
called for attacks on the United States.
Tarkhan Batirashvili, better known
under his Arabic nom de guerre, Omar
al-Shishani, is also under $5 million
reward.
The 29-year-old Georgian is accused of overseeing a prison outside
the IS stronghold of Raqa where several foreign hostages were held.
There is a $3 million bounty on the
head of Tariq bin al-Tahar bin al-Falih
al-Awni al-Harzi, a 33-year-old Tunisian.
He is accused of acting as an IS
fundraiser in the Gulf states and later
as a field commander in Syria and as
head of a unit of suicide bombers.
The Iraqi leader of the Islamic
State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
was already the subject of a $10 million reward under the program.
AFP

Gerard Biard (right),

editor-in-chief of the
Paris-based satirical
weekly Charlie
Hebdo, and critic
Jean-Baptiste Thoret
(left) speak during
the annual PEN
American Center
Literary Gala on May
5 at the American
Museum of Natural
History in New York.
The PEN Freedom
of Expression award
was given to Charlie
Hebdo, despite some
prominent authors
boycotting the
award.
LONDON

UK voters turn out for election set to

change the shape of British politics
BRITAIN heads to the polls today
for the countrys most unpredictable election in living memory.
With no party expected to win a
majority and several smaller blocs
on the rise, it is feared the vote will
spark weeks of brinksmanship as
the two biggest parties struggle to
cobble together workable coalitions.
The election could also mark a
shift to a type of fragmented politics
that is more familiar in other parts
of Europe.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick
Clegg, the leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, has even warned of
another election this year if an unstable minority government takes
power.
On the final day of campaigning
yesterday, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and his chief
rival, Labour leader Ed Miliband,
embarked on frenetic tours of the
country in a scramble for votes.
A Conservative victory could
raise the risk of Britain exiting the
European Union because it would
mean a membership referendum,
while some experts warn that a
Labour win could spread unease
among investors.
The Conservatives and Labour
have sharply different views over
whether to continue austerity cuts
in the worlds fifth-biggest economy,
which have slashed the deficit but
also led to widespread social pain.
One thing analysts agree on is
that expected massive gains by Scottish nationalists will transform the
British political scene.
Yesterday Mr Cameron urged
voters to give his party a clear

mandate to govern, saying the alternative was years of backroom

deals if Labour sought to form a
government with the support of the
pro-independence Scottish National
Party (SNP).
There is still time to determine
the outcome of this election, he
said.
Labours Mr Miliband has ruled
out a formal deal with the SNP but
it is thought he could be prepared
to work with them on a vote-by-vote
basis to take power in a minority
government.
Britain faces a clear choice
between a Labour government that
will put working people first or a
Tory government that will only ever
work for the privileged few, Mr
Miliband said.
While neither of the two main
party leaders is talking in public
about the possibility of a minority

government, the polls suggest that

Britain is heading that way for the
first time since 1997.
The BBCs poll of polls puts the
Conservatives and Labour at 34 percent and 33 percent respectively, figures that have barely shifted since
the start of the election.
It is thought that neither of
the main parties will win a clear
majority in the 650-seat House of
Commons in practice 323, since
Irish nationalists Sinn Fein and the
speaker do not take up their seats.
Therefore the role of smaller
parties such as the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, which looks set
to win the third largest number of
seats, is likely to be crucial.
Liberal Democrat leader Mr
Clegg said that only his party, which
is keeping open the possibility of
backing either of the two main parties, could help create a stable gov-

UK general election

How parliament is forecast to look after May 7

In number of seats
Liberal Democrats
Centre
Labour
Centre-left

268

273
f 2010 ele
ct
lt o
su
57

Scottish
Nationalist
Party (SNP)
Greens 1

28

56

6
1

258

Source: BBC, MAY2015.com

307

650
seats

n
io

A handout provided May 5 by the US Department of States Rewards for

Justice Program shows key leaders of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group with
descriptions of their backgrounds in Bahasa Malaysia. Photo: AFP

Photo: AFP

Re

THE United States ratcheted up pressure on the leaders of the Islamic State
jihadist group on May 6, adding four
names to those targeted by multi-million-dollar bounties.
The IS group has seized a wide
stretch of eastern Syria and northern Iraq and declared it a caliphate,
within which it has enslaved female
captives, carried out sectarian massacres and murdered hostages.

IN PICTURES

21

Conservatives
Centre-right
UKIP 2
Anti-EU,
anti-immigrant

22 Others

inc. Welsh, Irish

regional parties

ernment by working with the Conservatives or Labour.

Everybody knows that no one
will win this election, even if David
Cameron and Ed Miliband wont
admit it publicly, Mr Clegg said.
The last thing Britain needs is
a second election before Christmas.
But that is exactly what will happen if Ed Miliband and David Cameron put their own political interest ahead of the national interest.
But the Liberal Democrats
could lose half their 57 members of
parliament, and Mr Clegg himself
is fighting to keep his seat.
Meanwhile, the SNP could win
more than 50 of the 59 seats in
Scotland, despite losing last years
independence referendum, providing them with considerable influence at Westminister.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon
has vowed to block the Conservatives and wants to work with Labour while extracting concessions
such as stopping austerity cuts and
scrapping Britains Trident nuclear
deterrent submarines, based in
Scottish waters.
The fact of the matter is, if
theres an anti-Tory [Conservative]
majority on [May 8] morning, I
want to see that anti-Tory majority come together to get the Tories
out, but then make sure that its replaced with something better, Ms
Sturgeon said.
Polls are due to open at 6am
GMT today and close at 9pm GMT,
with exit polls published immediately after that and the first results
coming in from around midnight.

Vote tallies for the 650 seats will

be announced during the night and
final results are not expected until
tomorrow afternoon.
Tens of millions of people are
registered to vote, and nearly 4000
candidates are in the running for
Westminster.
Ballots will be cast in around
50,000 polling stations dotted
around the country, including in
unusual places like pubs, caravans
and even garages.
If the election results are, as expected, not decisive, negotiations
between the parties could start immediately, although they may be
delayed by ceremonies for the anniversary of the end of World War
II.
The latest BBC poll of polls
average puts the Conservatives at
34 pc, followed by Labour at 33
pc, the anti-EU UK Independence
Party (UKIP) at 14 pc and the Liberal Democrats, who are currently
junior members in a governing
coalition with the Conservatives, at
just 8 pc.
But the percentage breakdown
is a poor indicator of the final tally
in Britain because of the first-pastthe-post system, which counts
the results only in individual
constituencies, not the overall vote
share.
An important deadline for any
negotiations is May 27 when Queen
Elizabeth II is due to deliver a
speech in parliament, traditionally
drafted by the winning side in the
election, followed by a confidence
vote. AFP

US and Cuba launch new era with

first passenger ferry service in 50 yrs
THE United States authorised commercial ferry services to Cuba for
the first time in more than a halfcentury yesterday another major
step in improving relations between the two countries.
In what was hailed by ferry operators as a historical event, the
US Treasury lifted a decades-old
ban and at least four Florida companies said they had been licensed
to launch boat services to the
island.
That adds to the charter air services that had been permitted until
now, focused on enabling CubanAmericans to visit their families.
The ferries will also be allowed
to carry cargo to the communist island of 11 million, which sits just
150 kilometres (90 miles) off the
southern tip of Florida.
Four companies confirmed they
had received licences from the
Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets
Control to provide ferry travel.
Todays action was a great step
forward, Joseph Hinson, president
of Miami-based United Americas
Shipping Services, said yesterday.
Havana Ferry Partners of Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, said on its
Facebook page that it too had received a Treasury licence for ferry

services from four Florida ports.

This is a historical event.
Thanks to President Barack Obama,
to whom we are very grateful, for
his leadership, the firm wrote.
Two others, United Caribbean
Lines and Airline Brokers, a travel agency, said they also received
licenses.
But Mr Hinson suggested the
first trip would not take place for
some time yet, because other permissions were still needed from authorities in both countries.
Whether by plane or ferry,
American travellers to Cuba still
have to come under one of 12 categories permitted in the landmark
easing of US sanctions announced
by the White House in December,
including family visits, official government business, humanitarian
projects and sports gatherings.
But even under embargo restrictions, the number of Americans
travelling to Cuba has surged in
recent years, with many going via
third countries.
And in a coincidental announcement not tied to the new Treasury rules, US airline JetBlue announced yesterday it would begin
direct charter flights to Havana
from the New York City area, home

to the second-largest population of

Cuban-Americans after Florida.
The moves come amid a landmark thaw in relations initiated by
Mr Obama on December 17, when
he broke a nearly six-decade Cold
War-rooted estrangement between
the two countries by lifting sanctions on travel and some trade, as
the first step toward normalising
relations.
In another event marking the
thaw, Mr Obama and Cuban leader
Raul Castro spoke together for an
hour at the 35-nation Summit of
the Americas in Panama.
Mr Obama thanked Mr Castro for his spirit of openness and
courtesy, while Mr Castro, addressing his fellow Latin American
leaders, labelled the US president
an honest man.
A week after that event, the
White House took the first step toward removing Cubas longstanding designation as a state sponsor
of terror, which had added to the
tough commercial embargo on the
island since the beginning of the
1960s.
Cuba was added to the US terror
list in 1982, originally designated
for its support for armed revolution in Latin America AFP

US ferry service to Cuba

Commercial ferry services to Cuba authorized for the first time

in more than 50 years
UNITED STATES
200 km

UNITED
STATES

FLORIDA
WASHINGTON DC

Miami
HAVANA

CUBA

Distance:
150 km
CUBA

KABUL

Four sentenced to death for lynching

AN Afghan court on yesteray sentenced four men to death for the
public lynching in Kabul of a
27-year-old woman falsely accused
of burning the Koran.
The court also sentenced eight
people to 16 years in prison while 18
others were found not guilty.
A furious mob turned on the
woman, named Farkhunda, on
March 19, beating her in broad daylight and setting her body ablaze on
the banks of the Kabul River.

The attack came after an amulet seller, whom she had reportedly castigated, accused her of
blasphemy.
Her killing triggered protests
around Afghanistan and several
world cities, drawing global attention to the treatment of Afghan
women.
Forty-nine people, including 19
police officers accused of failing to
prevent the attack, were arrested.
The three-day trial at the

primary court in Kabul saw the suspects facing various charges including assault, murder and encouraging others to take part in the attack.
Judge Safiullah Mojaddidi, announcing the verdict, said Zainul
Abiddin, Mohammad Yaqub, Mohammad Sharif and Abdul Bashir
would be hanged.
The verdicts on the policeofficers
accused of negligence of duty will
be announced on May 10.
AFP

14 World

THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

NEPAL

Slow donations threaten aid efforts

CATHERINE
TRAUTWEIN
newroom@mmtimes.com

ONE week on from a Nepal-targeted United Nations flash appeal for

US$415 million, less than 5 percent of
funds have been processed eliciting
concerns that key relief needs will go
unmet.
According to UN figures yesterday
just $18.5 million had been raised
from global governments and agencies for the flash appeal for funds toward immediate disaster response.
Its not sufficient and it is low,
said UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
public information officer Leszek
Barczak, though adding he didnt have
a formula for how fast funds are usually pledged or delivered.
We are short on funding and we
will not be able to carry out planned
activities if the funding does not arrive
quickly.
The appeal launched on April 9 by
the United Nations and others seeks
funding to aid those impacted by the
devastating earthquake over the next
three months. An estimated 8 million
people have been affected, and food
security, health and hygiene concerns
have been named the top three funding priorities, followed by shelter and
non-food items.
While $93 million in donations

toward addressing the overall humanitarian situation, including longer-term projects, has already been
received from governments and agencies around the world, a further $250
million in pledges remains outstanding, according to the financial tracking service from UNOCHA.
Nepals information minister,
Minendra Rijal, told reporters earlier
this week that a serious reconstruction package needed to be developed
with enormous help from the international community, and quickly.
Theres a huge, huge funding gap,
he said.
Mr Barczak said that when disaster
strikes, many come forward to donate
but sometimes make promises they
cant keep, or cant keep right away.
They have a tendency to maybe ...
over-commit, he said.
Delays in fulfilling pledges dont
severely impact larger organisations
with cash reserves, but smaller agencies feel the strain. Meanwhile, some
cheques never come something
that Mr Barczak said happens quite
frequently.
And while the reporting system
used to track funding has a margin
for error, Mr Barczak said the leeway
might only change the situation by a
few percentage points.
Organisations on the ground have
noted that with monsoon season
around the corner in Nepal, the clock
is ticking on providing help.
The priority is shelter, shelter,
shelter, Mr Barczak told The Myanmar Times from Nepal, listing sanita-

A villager sits outside a makeshift tent in Barpak village in north-central Nepal on May 4, nine days after a 7.8-magnitude
earthquake struck the Himalayan nation on April 25. Photo: AFP

tion as a major concern as well.

The flash appeal requests $50 million for the category of shelter and
non-food items, and says with the
monsoon season on its way and hundreds of thousands displaced, speed in

delivery is critical. Less than $5 million has been supplied for this cause,
according to documents obtained
through UNOCHAs financial tracking
service.
With the monsoon season coming

and without proper shelter, people are

going to be susceptible to pneumonia
and health problems will generally
increase, Mdecins Sans Frontires
nurse Anne Kluijtmans wrote in an
update for the organisation. AFP

World 15

www.mmtimes.com
SURABAYA

Rare birds smuggled in

plastic water bottles

Rare Indonesian yellow-crested cockatoos are trapped inside water bottles confiscated from alleged wildlife smuggler in
Surabaya, Java, on May 4. Photo: AFP

MUMBAI

Bollywood superstar
guilty of driving death
A JUDGE convicted Bollywood actor
Salman Khan of killing a homeless
man in a 2002 hit-and-run after a
night out drinking, rejecting his claim
that his driver was to blame.
DW Deshpande found Mr Khan
guilty of culpable homicide and other
charges for driving his Land Cruiser
into a group of homeless men sleeping rough in suburban Mumbai, after
the actor had spent the evening in an
upmarket bar.
Mr Khan was sentenced to five
years in prison.
The actor had always denied being
behind the wheel, but now faces up to
10 years in prison, potentially bringing
the career of one of the Indian movie
industrys biggest box-office stars to a
shuddering halt.
Mr Khan looked dejected after
hearing the verdict, his eyes downcast
as lawyers were giving their submissions on sentencing.
Mr Khans lawyer Shrikant Shivade
argued against prison for his client.
He said Mr Khan had given generously to charity and was also suffering
from a neurological condition.
But prosecutor Pradeep Gharat
said that fines are not enough, adding that the punishment has to be a
deterrent to others.

The 49-year-old star of blockbusters such as Dabangg (Fearless) fled the

scene of the crash that left one man
dead and several others injured.
The verdict had been keenly awaited both by his legions of fans and Bollywood studios, who stand to lose millions of dollars if they have to cancel
filming for movies for which he has
been signed up.
The trial began in earnest last year
after a series of court hearings and
lengthy legal hold-ups.
Several prosecution witnesses,
including survivors of the crash, testified that Mr Khan was driving the
vehicle when it ploughed at speed into
the men sleeping on the street near a
bakery in September 2002.
When Mr Khan finally took the
stand in March, he told the court his
driver was responsible for mounting
the pavement in the upmarket suburb
of Bandra West.
The driver testified in court last
month that he had been behind the
wheel, and that the crash occurred
after the front left tyre burst, making
steering and braking difficult.
But the judge yesterday found Mr
Khan guilty of all charges including
driving while under the influence of

alcohol and without a licence.

Mr Khan is likely to appeal the
verdict.
Television news channels carried
virtually non-stop coverage yesterday,
with camera crews parked outside Mr
Khans home and surrounding the
court.
A constable attached to Mr Khans
security detail said in his statement to
police that the drunk actor lost control of the car while driving at about
90kph (55mph).
One of the sleeping labourers injured in the accident said in his statement, Salman was so drunk he fell.
He stood but he fell again and then
he... ran away.
Mr Khans lawyers said the star had
in fact been drinking water all evening and had climbed out of the drivers
seat after the accident because the passenger side door had been damaged.
They also said that the victim,
Nurulah Mahbob Sharif, was killed
during an operation to move the car,
rather than the crash itself, when the
bumper fell off and landed on him.
Mr Khan, the son of a respected
film writer, has starred in more than
100 films and television shows since
his first hit Maine Pyar Kiya (I Fell
in Love) in the 1980s. AFP

PHNOM PENH

Dismay as royal oxen snub rice

offering but relief they resist booze
CAMBODIAS royal oxen refused to
eat any rice grain yesterday during an
ancient ritual to predict the countrys
agricultural fortunes, raising fears of a
poor rice harvest among superstitious
citizens.
Thousands of people gathered to
observe the animals at the live televised royal ploughing ceremony, presided over by King Norodom Sihamoni, in a football field in northwestern
Battambang province.
After a symbolic ploughing of a
portion of the field, a pair of decorated
royal oxen were led to seven dishes,
rice, corn, beans, sesame, grass, water
and alcohol, laid out on trays.

The rice, corn, beans and sesame

represent the harvest the more the
oxen eat the better.
If they go for the grass, it predicts
illness, while drinking water signals
floods and sipping alcohol warns of
war.
Yesterday the oxen ate only beans
and corn, prompting the palaces chief
astrologer Kang Ken to declare that
this year the beans and corn harvests
will be bountiful.
This is just the prediction in accordance with the ancient royal
ploughing ceremony, he added.
The astrologer did not spell out to
the crowd the implications for the rice

harvest, but some observers voiced

concern.
Older people say that when the
royal oxen do not eat rice, the harvest
will be small, said Svay Sophoan, 56,
a driver who watched the ceremony
from a restaurant.
While still taken seriously by many
rural Cambodians in the deeply superstitious country, ploughing ceremony
predictions have been called into
question in recent years.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who did
not attend the ritual, rebuked the
royal astrologers for failing to predict
deadly floods in 2001 that claimed 59
lives. AFP

INDONESIAN police have arrested a

suspected wildlife smuggler after discovering nearly two-dozen rare birds,
mostly yellow-crested cockatoos,
jammed inside plastic water bottles in
his luggage.
The 37-year-old man was stopped
by police on May 4 as he alighted from
a passenger ship in Surabaya, a city on
the man island of Java.
Photographs show the birds, with
distinctive yellow plumage, peering
out of the bottles after being found
by officers. The bottoms of the bottles
had been cut off to squeeze the birds
inside.
The head of the criminal investigation unit at the Tanjung Perak port,
Aldy Sulaiman, said police found the
live birds stashed inside the mans
luggage.
We found 21 yellow-crested cockatoos and one green parrot, he said.
All the birds were found inside

water bottles, which were packed in a

crate.
The birds have since been sent to
Indonesias natural resources conservation office, which deals with wildlife-trafficking cases.
Mr Sulaiman said the man whose
identity was not disclosed in line with
normal criminal procedure in Indonesia had admitted to carrying two
birds for a friend but claimed to know
nothing about the other animals.
If found guilty of smuggling, the
man, from near Surabaya, could face
up to five years in prison.
Yellow-crested cockatoos are native
to Indonesia and neighbouring East
Timor and considered critically endangered, according to the International
Union for Conservation of Nature.
They are different to the larger and
more common sulphur-crested cockatoo which is mostly found in Australia
and New Guinea. AFP

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, of 7000 Portage Road
Kalamazoo, MI 49001, United States of America, is the Owner and
Sole Proprietor of the following Trademark:-

CAVERJECT

Reg. Nos. 4/4022/1997, 4/8824/2006, 4/877/2015

in respect of Class 5: Pharmaceutical preparations.
Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said
Trademark will be dealt with according to law.
For Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC
U Nyunt Tin Associates International Limited
Intellectual Property Division
Tel: 959 4500 59 247, Email: info@untlaw.com
Dated: 7 May, 2015.

TRADE MARK CAUTION

SWEETYET DEVELOPMENT LIMITED, a Company
incorporated in Hong Kong, of Unit 1704-1706, Harbour Centre,
25 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong, is the Owner of the
following Trade Marks:-

MAZOLA

Reg. No. 1307/2009

in respect of Class 29: Edible oils and fats, cooking oils, oils in
spray form, spreads made from oils and fats, butter, margarine,
vegetable ghee, ghee; preserved, dried and cooked fruit and
vegetables; chicken powder, peanut butter, fruit spread. Class
30: Salad dressings, dressings for food, mayonnaise, spices,
condiments, cereals, seasonings, preparations made from cereals,
sauces, instant noodles.

MAZOLA RIGHT BLEND

Reg. No. 1308/2009

MAZOLA NO-STICK

Reg. No. 1309/2009

in respect of Class 29: Edible oils and fats; edible oils in bottles
and aerosols.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Marks
will be dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A., H.G.P., D.B.L
for SWEETYET DEVELOPMENT LIMITED
P. O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 7 May 2015

ge
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the pulse editor: Charlotte rose charlottelola.rose@gmail.com

it

THE MYANMAR TIMES May 7, 2015

the pulse 17

www.mmtimes.com

Monks
behaving badly

When the temptations of

modern life prove too much
for monks in Cambodia,
the police, government
and clergy all have a role in
upholding the reputation of
Buddhism
As chief of Buddhist moral law, Hou Chhivneath plays a key role in decisions about
defrocking.

If a monk is defrocked, he cannot transfer to a different pagoda. Photos: Phnom Penh Post/Kimberley Mccosker

S the sun set over Phnom Pehns Royal Palace, the lawn in front is
bustling with playing children, vendors selling food, and groups of
monks talking and taking in the changing colour of the sky. Nearby
sits Pao Sun, 44, who is resting as the heat of the day began to break.
We dont respect the monk as a person; we respect the clothes
he wears because it represents Buddha, Sun said, when asked about the monks,
reflecting the sentiments of many ordinary Cambodians. Monks are normal people,
not Buddha, and the Buddhist monks just come to sit here like normal people.
When monks drink alcohol, dance with women or indulge in other forbidden
pleasure-seeking activities they demonstrate their human fallibility. And thats
when they lose the right to wear the robes, in a process known as defrocking.
In March, for example, police in Kampong Cham province arrested four monks
who were drinking and dancing with women at a karaoke parlour in regular
clothes. They were tipped off by concerned patrons, who noticed the monks
characteristic shaved heads. The police then sent the monks back to their pagoda
for discipline.
Phnom Penhs chief monk of Vinaya Pitaka (Buddhist moral law), Hou
Chhivneath, said senior monastic officials worked closely with police in cases of
monks suspected of criminal or religious offences.
Monks could not be tried in court, Chhivneath said, but if there was enough
evidence that they violated Cambodias criminal code, police could independently
defrock monks without approval from the clergy.
The police and the civil authority can arrest the monks and send them court
to have them forcefully defrocked if they have enough proof, Chhivneath said.
But in the case of suspicion that the monks violated religous laws and orders, the
civil authority and police must consult or bring the case to the Sangha [monastic
order], so that the Sangha can solve the issue including [possible] defrocking.
National Police spokesperson Kirt Chantharith said this was a
misunderstanding. Police had the right to arrest monks, but following proper
procedure, they must call a monastic official to defrock them before sending them
to court. Active monks could not be charged with a crime in court, he said.
However, Chantharith said he was not aware of a case where a Buddhist
official had refused a police request to defrock a monk.
[For] anyone, not only the monk, if they committed a crime the police have
the right to arrest and detain, Chantharith said.
[Police] must get the upper level of the monks who have the right to defrock,
and after that they detain the monk.
Police also investigated complaints that monks had committed religious, not
criminal, transgressions, he said. However, the number of cases like the Kampong
Cham monks arrested at a KTV parlour was very few.
The Ministry of Cult and Religion which is independent of the Buddhist clergy
does not have the right to defrock a monk, but in some cases they work alongside
monk superiors and compromise a monks punishment for failing to uphold
Buddhist values, said Srey Sopeak, chair of the ministrys Kampong Cham bureau.
Drinking and hugging women, as the four monks arrested in March were
doing, are not among the four offences that immediately lead to defrocking, which
are murder, sexual intercourse, stealing or falsely claiming to possess special
spiritual powers. However, all four accused had since left the monkhood.
Sopeak said the monks defrocked themselves when they removed their
robes to wear civilian clothing at the KTV bar. Also, Sopeak said, he prefers to
err on the side of forcing monks out of the monkhood for infractions that do
not automatically warrant defrocking, because he fears they may transfer to a
different pagoda and continue to break the rules.
If [monks] only drink alcohol or drive a car or sing karaoke, in Buddhist law
the monk is not guilty enough to defrock, Sopeak said. But we fear if a monk
leaves one pagoda and goes to another, then he will do it again, so we request the
pagoda chiefs to defrock that monk.
Even when the police or government officials are not involved, the defrocking
process works much like criminal trials in the civilian world, Wat Sras Chak
senior monk Bun Chhun explained. Monks are given the chance to defend
themselves, and may appeal a defrocking to the district, provincial and national
level within the clergy, he said.
Though tempted to enjoy a cold beer or a night out singing karaoke, rank-andfile monks who spoke with the Post said that they agreed with the police and the
Ministry of Cult and Religions enforcement of monk laws.
Hun Porleang, a monk at Outara Vatey pagoda, said the authorities sometimes
had monks defrocked for offences that would not necessarily call for the monks
dismissal. But, in most cases he has heard of, Porleang believes that the monk in
question should voluntarily defrock, since he has degraded the clergys image.
A monk who is guilty of even drinking alcohol and singing karaoke should
defrock himself to protect the cultural [respect] of Buddhism in Cambodia, he
said. Phnom Penh Post

18 the pulse

THE MYANMAR TIMES May 7, 2015

The last one flapping:

Hornbill chick fights
for survival

screen scene
LOS ANGELES
Vanity Fair reveals Star Wars baddie
Vanity Fair on May 4 unveiled the first photo
of a new villain from the upcoming highlyanticipated Star Wars film on a day fans
around the world celebrate the blockbuster
space saga.
Girls star Adam Driver will portray blackclad baddie Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens
Episode VII of the mega-franchise, which is due
May the fourth be with you. Storm
out later this year.
Troopers pose at a toy shop in Tokyo
The character was featured in the first
on May 4, known as Star Wars Day
teaser trailer for the film released earlier
among Star Wars fans. Photo: AFP/
this year, carrying a controversial cross-bar
Yoshikazu Tsuno
lightsaber, but his face was not visible.
The upmarket weekly also debuted a
picture of Oscar-winning actress Lupita
Nyongo wearing motion-capture tracking dots to turn her into the CGI character Maz Kanata,
described as a pirate.
The photos in the magazines June edition were unveiled on May 4 a veritable holiday for
Star Wars fans who greet each other by saying May the Fourth Be With You a pun on the Jedi
mantra, May the Force Be With You.
Star Wars has attracted generations of loyal fans ever since the first film arrived nearly 40
years ago, recounting the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Darth Vader. It is now one
of the biggest movie franchises ever.
After a second trilogy of prequel films wrapped in 2005, the movie franchise had lain dormant
until Disney shelled out US$4 billion to buy creator George Lucass Lucasfilm in October 2012.
Disney soon announced plans for three new films in the series, with acclaimed Hollywood
director J J Abrams being entrusted with the reboot.
The Force Awakens which features classic characters like Skywalker, Solo and Princess Leia,
as well as several new faces is due in cinemas on December 18.

Hornbill keeper U Chit Sein feeds a hornbill chick crushed banana, using a pair of tweezers to represent the mother
hornbills beak. Photos: Aung Htay Hlaing

Zon Pann Pwint

zonpann08@gmail.com

HEY are legendary for

their fidelity, and for
the care they take in
preparing for childbirth.
Protected by law, the rare
hornbill inspires a powerful sense of
loyalty. Last month, a pied hornbill
residing at Yangon Zoo laid three
eggs. Vets peeping through a hole in
the nest chamber a few days later
found that only one had survived.
Yesterday, that lone survivor was
removed from the nest.
Wild creatures dont always
breed well in captivity, said
volunteer vet Dr Myint Thein. Lots
of tender loving care is needed to
help them.
U Chit Sein, the birds keeper,
made an earthen pot and designed
a lid with a narrow aperture to
harbour the new arrival. At feeding
time, he removed the lid and fed the
trembling chick on crushed banana,
using a pair of tweezers to represent
the mother hornbills beak.
This is the fifth time a hornbill
has given birth at the zoo. The vet
appreciates this dedication to the
birds he has been looking after
since 1979.
Hornbills are like my family.
They live on the food I feed them
and I look after them when they get
sick, said U Chit Sein.
The keeper even helped the
hornbill to build its home. He found
a natural tree cavity and shaped it
to accommodate the nest. He then
hunted for mud from an ant-hill
that is used to seal the nest and
watered the mud twice a day to
keep it at the right level of softness.
They use only mud from ant-hills
to seal the nest, which takes about
10 days. They dont like any other
kind of mud, he said.
U Chit Sein lives with his family
in the zoos married quarters, and
walks to work at 6:45am every
morning. He received no formal
training in caring for hornbills, but
learned from his senior keepers.
Born and raised in the quarters,
the son of a worker in the zoos
engineering department, he
himself first worked as a ticket-

seller at the zoo entrance.

The first hornbills arrived after
Id been working as a keeper for
about six years, he said.
Yangon Zoo keeps nine hornbills,
including three couples, a chick
and two single birds. They are fed a
mixture of banana, papaya, tomato,
rice and quails eggs in the morning
and on crushed beef and insects in
the evening for protein.
When the animals are taken
captive, they struggle to adapt to
their new environment. They suffer
from stress and cant breed. So the
keepers take great care to create
an environment that is as close as
possible to their natural habitat.
This is the keepers job, said Dr
Myint Thein.
He himself worked at the zoo
for 13 years, leaving to do other
work and returning as a volunteer
because of his attachment to its
residents.
I am proud of U Chit Sein, he
said.
The hornbill is the state bird of
the Chin hill tribes because of its
loyalty, willingness to sacrifice itself
to its spouse and its monogamous
marriage.
Dr Myint Thein said that among
the 55 species of hornbill nine were
resident in Myanmar, but only four
species were commonly found.
The hornbill is remarkable
because of its distinctive breeding

habits. When the female is about to

lay eggs, she finds a tree cavity or
rock crevasse. Once she enters, her
partner will seal her inside the nest,
except for a tiny hole to let him pass
food through, thus protecting her
and the eggs from other birds or
snakes, said Dr Myint Thein.
She lives inside the dark nest,
lays her eggs at the rate of one a day
and hatches them. She stays inside
the dark nest with her chicks for
more than 100 days, depending on
the species. Generally, the sound
of baby birds can be heard 45 days
after the eggs are laid. Sometimes a
mother will eat a chick for protein,
but others will survive.
The male birds sacrifice is also
noteworthy. He keeps her supplied
with food without missing a single
visit, making about 70 feeding runs,
bringing a variety of food, he said.
When the vets examined the
zoos official records compiled in
1933, they learnt that the zoo had
had a rich collection of animals on
display because at that time the
smuggling of animals or animal
parts was rare.
According to the Forestry Act,
anyone caught catching, killing,
hunting, keeping or selling any
resident species of hornbill is liable
to a prison sentence of seven years
or a K50,000 fine.
Our hornbills are long-lived.
Some are 12 or 13 years old, he said.

Hornbill keeper U Chit Sein says Hornbills are like his family.

Actor Morgan Freeman attends the 5

Flights Up New York premiere at BAM
Rose Cinemas on April 30 in New York
City. Photo: AFP/Ben Gabbe

Actress Caitlin Fitzgerald attends

the screening of Showtime and Sony
Pictures Televisions Masters Of Sex at
Cary Grant Theater on May 5 in Culver
City, California. Photo: AFP/Frazer
Harrison

SYDNEY
Outcry over Australian poverty porn documentary
An Australian mayor has accused public broadcaster SBS of promoting poverty porn in a
controversial new documentary about working class Sydney residents, as a picket line of garbage
trucks protested the program on May 6.
Broadcaster SBS is set to air a three-part series Struggle Street from May 6 night showcasing
the lives of people in Mount Druitt, one of Sydneys more disadvantaged suburbs, 50 kilometres
(31 miles) west of the city.
But the regions mayor Stephen Bali and some of the residents featured in the show are angry
at how they have been portrayed after watching a preview of the first episode and want it stopped,
with Bali saying it was a disgrace.
What I saw wasnt a documentary it was simply publicly funded poverty porn, he said on a
petition at Change.org, which has attracted almost 3000 supporters.
I share the outrage of local residents who feel they were lied to about what this documentary
would be.
This is an unethical, damaging, exploitative, trash documentary that has misrepresented
local people, and our whole community.
LOS ANGELES
Woo hoo! The Simpsons renewed for two
more seasons
Homer Simpson will be munching on donuts for
a few more years, after US television network
Fox renewed the long-running animated series
The Simpsons for two more seasons.
The decision reinforces the satirical cartoon
sitcoms status as the longest-running scripted
series in American primetime television history,
and will take it to 28 seasons and 625 episodes.
Ive outlasted Letterman, Jon Stewart and
McDreamy, because I have something they
dont a costly 200-donut-a-day addiction,
quipped Homer in a Fox press release on May 5.
Fox said The Simpsons which first aired in
December 1989 averages 7.7 million viewers
on television and online in the United States.
Millions more enjoy the show in foreign markets.
Homer Simpson has a 200-donut-aDavid Lettermans turn as host of Late Night
on CBS ends May 20, while Stewart will bow
day addiction. Photo:Wiki Commons
out of The Daily Show on Comedy Central on
August 6.
McDreamy was the nickname of the fictional surgeon Derek Shepherd, played by Patrick
Dempsey, who was killed off ABCs Greys Anatomy last month.

the pulse 19

www.mmtimes.com

Hip + hop =
revolution:
Scientists track
music trends

f all the music styles to

emerge in the last 50
years, none took the world
by storm quite like hiphop, said researchers on
May 6 who tracked pops evolution
with cold, hard stats.
More than disco, funk or heavy
metal, hip-hop and its spinoff
rap appear to be the single most
important event that has shaped the
musical structure of the American
charts in the period that we studied,
said their report.
Born as a form of expression for
disenfranchised youth in New York
Citys borough the Bronx, the arrival
of hip-hop creates a large spike on
a series of graphics illustrating the
research findings, carried by the
journal Royal Society Open Science.
It peaks in 1991, when artists like
LL Cool J burst onto the scene.
Hip-hop just sort of blasts out of
nowhere, lead study author Armand
Leroi, an evolutionary biologist with
Imperial College London, said.
In retrospect it was there all along.
It was there since the 80s bubbling

underneath the chart down there

wherever hip-hop came from in the
streets of New York and Los Angeles.
And then suddenly it goes mainstream
and its all over the charts.
Leroi and Matthias Mauch, an
informatics researcher at the Queen
Mary University of London, used
algorithms and computer analysis to
observe changing trends in pop music
from 1960 to 2010.
They used about 17,000 songs on
the US Billboard Hot 100, analysing
characteristics like the frequency of
certain chords, instruments or voice
types, whether a song was calm or
energetic, and whether it used speech
or singing vocals.
Songs scored average from
different years were compared to
one another to see how much they
differed.
Actually for the most part,
unsurprisingly, the songs of one year
are usually pretty much like the songs
of the next year, said Leroi.
But there are some times when
that distance, that difference,
becomes bigger and you have a bunch

Hip-hop is happening in Myanmar too: Myanmar hip-hop artist Cyclone performs at the Sais House Party event on April 24.
Photo: Zarni Phyo

of years [in which] suddenly all sorts

of things are changing and those are
the years around which we identify
the revolutions.
Three such revolutions were
pinpointed in 1964, 1983 and 1991
and the last was by far the biggest.
We ask whats happening there,
and for 91 its very clear: Its hip-hop
thats happening, Leroi said with a
spike in songs featuring no chords
and energetic speech.
The 1964 revolution was marked
by the expansion of several styles at

once, said the study soul, rock and

doo-wop among them.
And the 1983 spike was marked by
new wave, disco and hard rock.
for Mauch, the study provides
rare scientific data on the evolution
of pop.
It is a mainstay of pundits and
some scientists that music has
become more uniform, he said. On
our particular dataset, we could not
observe this.
The researchers method could be
used to measure the evolution of any

form of cultural expression that can

be digitised texts, paintings or films
in order to analyse and understand
trends.
Culture is not anymore about
music critics and art critics telling us
the way it was. Its going to be about
scientists telling us about what the
actual patterns are, said Leroi.
from here, we want to
understand the forces that have
actually shaped things. Now that we
get a grip on patterns. We want to
know ... why. AFP

20 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES MAY 7, 2015

DOMESTIC FLIGHT SCHEDULES

YANGON TO MANDALAY
Flight
Y5 775
W9 515
YH 909
YH 917
YJ 891
7Y 131
K7 222
YJ 201
YJ 201
W9 201
YH 826
YH 835
YH 909
YH 831
YH 911
W9201
YH 829
8M 6603
YJ 601
YJ 761
YJ 211
YH 729
YH 737
YH 727
W9 251
YJ 151/W9 7151
7Y 241
K7 224
YH 731
Y5 234
W9 211

Days
Daily
1
1,2,3,5,6
Daily
5
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
1,2,4
3
Daily
3
1,7
7
4,6
2
1
5
4
6
1,2,4
5,7
2,4,6
3,5,7
1
2,5
1
1,3,5
2,4,6,7
Daily
Daily
4

Dep
6:00
6:00
6:00
6:10
7:00
6:30
6:30
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
9:00
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:15
11:15
11:30
13:00
14:30
14:30
14:30
15:20
15:30

Arr
7:10
7:25
7:40
8:30
8:25
8:35
8:40
8:55
8:25
8:25
8:40
8:40
8:40
8:40
8:40
8:25
11:05
10:10
12:25
12:55
12:25
14:00
13:25
13:25
12:55
16:45
16:25
16:35
16:40
16:30
16:55

MANDALAY TO YANGON
Flight
Y5 233
YH 918
YH 910
W9 201
YJ 761
7Y 132
K7 223
YH 830
YH 912
YJ 202
YJ 202
YJ 761
YH 832
YH 827
YH 836
YH 910
YJ 212
YJ 212
YJ 602
YH 732
YH 732
7Y 242
YH 728
YJ 234
K7 225
W9 152/W97152
Y5 776
W9 211
8M 6604
8M 903
YH 738
YH 730
W9 252

Days
Daily
Daily
7
Daily
5
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
5
2
3
1,2,4
1,2,4
4,6
3
1,7
1,2,3,5,6
5
7
6
6
Daily
1,3,5
1
6
2,4,6,7
1
Daily
4
4
1,2,4,5,7
3,5,7
2,4,6
2,5

Dep
7:50
8:30
8:40
8:40
8:40
8:50
8:55
11:05
11:30
11:30
12:00
13:10
13:20
13:20
13:20
13:20
15:00
15:00
15:40
16:40
16:40
16:40
16:45
16:50
16:50
17:05
17:10
17:10
17:20
17:20
17:25
17:45
18:15

Arr
9:00
10:45
10:05
10:35
10:35
10:45
11:00
14:55
13:25
12:55
13:25
17:00
14:45
14:45
14:45
14:45
16:55
16:25
17:35
18:05
18:45
18:45
18:10
18:15
19:00
18:30
18:20
19:15
18:30
18:30
18:50
19:10
19:40

YANGON TO NAY PYI TAW

NAY PYI TAW TO YANGON

Flight
YJ 201
YJ 201
6T 211
ND 910
ND 105
ND 107
ND 109
ND 9109
ND 111
SO 102
6T 211

Flight
SO 101
YJ 201
6T 212
ND 9102
ND 104
ND 106
YJ 202
ND 108
YJ 212
ND 110
ND 9110
6T 212

Days
1,2
4
1,3
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5
6
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5
7
Daily
5

Dep
7:00
7:00
7:10
7:15
10:45
11:25
14:55
17:00
18:25
18:00
18:30

Arr
7:55
10:20
8:00
8:15
11:40
12:20
15:40
18:00
19:20
19:00
19:20

YANGON TO NYAUNG U
Flight
YH 909
YH 917
YJ 891
YH 909
6T 451
K7 222
7Y 131
K7 224
YH 731
7Y 241
W9 129
W9 211
W9 129

Days
1,2,3,5,6
Daily
3
4
Daily
1,3,5
2,4,6,7
2,4,6,7
Daily
1,3,5
1,3,6
4
1

Dep
6:00
6:10
6:20
6:30
6:30
6:30
6:30
14:30
14:30
14:30
15:30
15:30
15:30

Arr
8:25
7:45
7:40
8:05
7:35
7:50
7:50
17:25
17:25
17:10
17:35
17:40
17:35

YANGON TO MYITKYINA
Flight
YH 829
YH 826
YH 835
YH 831
YJ 201
YJ 201
6T 806
YJ 233
W9 251

Days
5
3
1,7
4,6
3
1,2,4
2,4,6
6
2,5

Dep
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
9:10
11:00
11:30

Arr
9:40
10:05
10:05
10:05
9:50
10:20
11:40
15:10
14:25

Days
Daily
1,2
1,3
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5
6
4
1,2,3,4,5
5
7
1,2,3,4,5
5

Dep
7:00
8:10
8:15
8:35
9:20
10:00
10:35
13:30
16:00
17:00
18:20
19:35

Arr
8:00
13:25
9:05
9:35
10:15
10:55
13:25
14:25
16:55
17:55
19:20
20:25

NYAUNG U TO YANGON
Flight
YH 918
YJ 891
YH 910
7Y 132
K7 223
6T 451
YH 910
YH 732
K7 225
W9 129
7Y 242

Days
Daily
3
4
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
Daily
1,2,3,5,6
Daily
2,4,6,7
1,3,6
1,3,5

Dep
7:45
7:55
8:05
8:05
8:05
8:05
8:25
17:25
17:40
17:50
17:25

Arr
10:45
10:35
9:25
10:45
11:00
8:45
9:45
18:45
19:00
19:10
18:45

YANGON TO HEHO
Flight
YH 917
YJ 891
6T 451
7Y 131
K7 222
7Y 131
YJ 891
Y5 649
YH 505
YJ 751
YJ 761
YJ 233
YH 727
YH 737
YH 727
K7 224
YH 731
7Y 241
W9 129

Days
Daily
3
Daily
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
Daily
5
Daily
1,2,3,4,5,6
3,5,7
1,2,4
6
1
3,5,7
3
2,4,6,7
Daily
1,3,5
1,3,6

Dep
6:10
6:20
6:30
6:30
6:30
7:15
7:00
10:30
10:30
11:00
11:00
11:00
11:15
11:15
11:15
14:30
14:30
14:30
15:30

HEHO TO YANGON
Arr
9:35
10:35
8:45
9:20
9:30
10:05
9:10
12:45
11:55
12:10
12:10
12:10
12:40
12:40
12:40
15:45
15:55
15:40
16:40

Flight
YJ 891
6T 452
W9 201
7Y 132
YH 918
K7 223
YH 506
YJ 762
YH 732
7Y 242
YH 728
K7 225
YJ 602
YH 738
W9 129

Days
1,5
1,3,5,7
2,4,6
2
Daily

Dep
6:45
7:00
11:15
15:30
8:20

Days
1,3,5,7
1,3,6
Daily
2,4,6

Dep
10:30
11:30
11:45
8:00

Days
2,4,6
1,2,3,4,5,6
1,3,5
1,3,6
7
1,3,4,6

Dep
8:00
10:30
10:30
11:30
11:00
15:45

Arr
8:15
9:05
13:20
17:00
10:40

Flight
Y5 326
7Y 532
K7 320
Y5 326
SO 202

Arr
12:20
12:55
12:55
9:55

Flight
K7 423
7Y 414
W9 309
6T 612

Days
1,3,5,7
Daily
3,5,7
2,4,6

Dep
7:00
8:20
10:30
11:15

Flight
K7 422
7Y 413
7Y 413
YH 506
W9 309
Y5 422

Flight
YJ 202
6T 806
YH 827
YH 832
YH 836
YJ 202
YH 830
YJ 234
W9 252

Days
3
2,4,6
3
4,6
1,7
1,2,4
5
6
2,5

Dep
10:05
10:30
11:55
11:55
11:55
10:35
12:30
15:25
16:45

Arr
12:55
11:40
14:45
14:45
14:45
13:25
14:55
18:15
19:40

Flight
YH 729
YJ 751

Days
2,4,6
3,5,7

Dep
11:00
11:00

Arr
10:05
17:40
13:35
18:45
15:40

Days
2,4,6
1,3,5,7
1,3,6
Daily

Dep
10:10
12:35
13:10
13:15

Arr
11:30
13:55
14:55
14:20

Arr
8:10
9:40
11:30
12:20

Days
2,4,6
1,3,5
7
1,2,3,4,5,6
1,3,6
1,3,4,6

Dep
9:10
11:35
12:05
13:10
14:05
16:55

Arr
11:30
13:55
14:20
14:00
14:55
17:50

Flight
K7 320
6T 708
SO 202
7Y 532

Flight
YJ 752
YH 730

YANGON TO PUTAO

Days
1,3,5,7
3,5,7
Daily
2,4,6

Dep
12:25
14:15
14:20
16:35

Arr
13:35
15:15
15:40
17:40

Days
3,5,7
2,4,6

Dep
Arr
16:10 17:55
16:45 19:10

PUTAO TO YANGON

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

YH 826

7:00

11:00

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

Air KBZ (K7)

Tel: 372977~80, 533030~39 (airport), 373766
(hotline). Fax: 372983

Asian Wings (YJ)

Tel: 515261~264, 512140, 512473, 512640
Fax: 532333, 516654

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999
Fax: 8604051

Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (7Y)

Flight
YH 836

Days
1,7

FMI Air Charter

Tel: 240363, 240373, 09421146545

APEX Airlines (SO)

Tel:95(1) 533300 ~ 311
Fax : 95 (1) 533312

Air Mandalay (6T)

Tel: (+95-1) 501520, 525488,
Fax: (+95-1) 532275

Airline Codes
7Y = Mann Yadanarpon Airlines
K7 = Air KBZ
W9 = Air Bagan
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines
YH = Yangon Airways
YJ = Asian Wings

LASHIO TO YANGON
Arr
13:00
13:15

Air Bagan (W9)

SO = APEX Airlines

DAWEI TO YANGON

YANGON TO LASHIO
MYITKYINA TO YANGON

Dep
8:35
15:35
11:30
17:15
13:20

THANDWE TO YANGON

YANGON TO DAWEI
Flight
K7 319
SO 201
6T 707
7Y 531

Days
1,5
2,4,6
1,3,5,7
2
Daily

SITTWE TO YANGON

Arr
8:55
13:10
11:20
13:50
11:50
16:40

Domestic Airlines

Tel: 383100, 383107, 700264

Fax: 652 533

MYEIK TO YANGON

YANGON TO THANDWE
Flight
K7 422
YH 505
7Y 413
W9 309
7Y 413
Y5 421

Arr
10:35
10:15
10:35
10:45
10:45
11:00
14:00
17:00
18:45
18:45
18:10
19:00
17:35
18:50
19:10

Yangon Airways (YH)

YANGON TO SITTWE
Flight
7Y 413
W9 309
6T 611
K7 422

Dep
9:25
9:15
9:25
9:35
9:35
9:45
11:55
15:50
15:55
15:55
16:00
16:00
16:25
16:40
16:55

Tel: 656969
Fax: 656998, 651020

YANGON TO MYEIK
Flight
Y5 325
K7 319
7Y 531
Y5 325
SO 201

Days
3,5
Daily
Daily
2,4,6,7
Daily
1,3,5
1,2,3,4,5,6
1,2,4
Daily
1,3,5
1
2,4,6,7
6
3,5,7
1,3,6

Dep

Arr

11:00

14:45

YH 831

4,6

7:00

11:00

YH 832

4,6

11:00

14:45

YH 835

1,7

7:00

11:00

YH 827

11:00

14:45

W9 251

2,5

11:30

15:25

W9 252

2,5

15:45

19:40

6T = AirMandalay
FMI = FMI Air Charter

Subject to change
without notice
Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday
4 = Thursday
5 = Friday
6 = Saturday
7 = Sunday

the pulse 21

www.mmtimes.com

InternAtIonAl FlIGHt SCHeDUleS

Flights

YANGON TO BANGKOK
Days

Dep

Arr

PG 706
Daily
6:15
8M 335
Daily
7:40
TG 304
Daily
9:50
PG 702
Daily
10:30
TG 302
Daily
15:00
PG 708
Daily
15:15
8M 331
Daily
16:30
PG 704
Daily
18:20
Y5 237
Daily
19:00
TG 306
Daily
19:45
YANGON TO DON MUEANG

8:30
9:25
11:45
12:25
16:55
17:10
18:15
20:15
20:50
21:40

DD 4231
Daily
8:00
FD 252
Daily
8:30
FD 254
Daily
17:30
DD 4239
Daily
21:00
YANGON TO SINGAPORE

9:50
10:15
19:05
22:45

8M 231
Daily
8:25
Y5 2233
Daily
9:45
TR 2823
Daily
9:45
SQ 997
Daily
10:35
3K 582
Daily
11:15
MI 533
2,4,6
13:45
MI 519
Daily
17:30
3K 584
2,3,5
19:15
YANGON TO KUALA LUMPUR

12:50
14:15
14:25
15:10
15:45
20:50
22:05
23:45

8M 501
AK 505
MH 741
8M 9506
8M 9508
MH 743
AK 503

11:50
12:50
16:30
16:30
20:05
20:05
23:45

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

1,2,3,5,6
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily
Daily

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

7:50
8:30
12:15
12:15
15:45
15:45
19:30

YANGON TO BEIJING

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Flights

BANGKOK TO YANGON
Days

Dep

Arr

TG 303
Daily
7:55
PG 701
Daily
8:50
Y5 238
Daily
21:30
8M 336
Daily
10:40
TG 301
Daily
13:05
PG 707
Daily
13:40
PG 703
Daily
16:45
TG 305
Daily
17:50
8M 332
Daily
19:15
PG 705
Daily
20:15
DON MUEANG TO YANGON

8:50
9:40
22:20
11:25
14:00
14:30
17:35
18:45
20:00
21:30

DD 4230
Daily
6:20
FD 251
Daily
7:15
FD 253
Daily
16:20
DD 4238
Daily
19:30
SINGAPORE TO YANGON

7:05
8:00
17:00
20:15

TR 2822
Daily
7:20
Y5 2234
Daily
7:20
SQ 998
Daily
7:55
3K 581
Daily
8:55
MI 533
2,4,6
11:35
8M 232
Daily
13:50
MI 518
Daily
15:15
3K 583
2,3,5
17:05
KUALA LUMPUR TO YANGON

8:45
8:50
9:20
10:25
15:00
15:15
16:40
18:35

AK 504
8M 9505
MH 740
8M 502
8M 9507
MH 742
AK 502
AI 227

8:00
11:15
11:15
13:50
14:50
14:50
19:00
13:20

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Flights

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Daily
6:55
Daily
10:05
Daily
10:05
1,2,3,5,6
12:50
Daily
13:40
Daily
13:40
Daily
17:50
1
10:35
BEIJING TO YANGON
Days

Dep

Arr

CA 906
3,5,7
23:50 05:50+1
YANGON TO GUANGZHOU

CA 905
3,5,7
19:30
GUANGZHOU TO YANGON

22:50

8M 711
CZ 3056
CZ 3056

CZ 3055
CZ 3055
8M 712

3,6
8:40
1,5
14:40
2,4,7
14:15
TAIPEI TO YANGON

10:25
16:30
15:50

1,2,3,5,6
7:00
KUNMING TO YANGON

9:55

Flights

Flights

CI 7916
Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Flights

2,4,7
8:40
3,6
11:25
1,5
17:30
YANGON TO TAIPEI

13:15
16:15
22:15

1,2,3,5,6
10:50
YANGON TO KUNMING

16:15

CI 7915

Arr

Flights

CA 416
MU 2012
MU 2032
Flights

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

Daily
12:15
3
12:40
1,2,4,5,6,7 15:20
YANGON TO HANOI

Flights

Days

15:55
18:45
18:40

MU 2011
CA 415
MU 2031
Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Days

Dep

Arr

Dep

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

Arr

Arr

3
8:25
Daily
10:45
1,2,4,5,6,7 13:55
HANOI TO YANGON

11:50
11:15
14:30

Days

Dep

Arr

Days

Dep

Arr

VN 956
1,3,5,6,7
19:10
21:30
YANGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY

VN 957
1,3,5,6,7
16:50
18:10
HO CHI MINH CITY TO YANGON

VN 942

Flights

Flights

2,4,7
14:25
YANGON TO DOHA

17:15

VN 943

1,5
14:05
1,4,6
8:00
YANGON TO SEOUL

Arr

19:50
11:10

Flights

Days

AI 701
QR 919
Flights

Flights

Days

Dep

Dep

Arr

2,4,7
11:50
DOHA TO YANGON

13:25

1,5
7:00
3,5,7
20:40
SEOUL TO YANGON

13:20
06:25+1

Days

AI 401
QR 918
Flights

Days

Dep

Dep

0Z 770
4,7
0:35
9:10
KE 472
Daily
23:30 07:50+1
YANGON TO HONG KONG

KE 471
Daily
18:45
0Z 769
3,6
19:50
HONG KONG TO YANGON

KA 251
KA 251

5:55
5:45

KA 252
KA 250

Arr

Flights

Flights

Days

5
1,2,3,4,6,7

Arr

YANGON TO TOKYO

Flights

Days

NH 814

Daily

Dep

21:45

06:50+1

YANGON TO DHAKA

Flights

Days

BG 061
BG 061
Flights

Dep

1:30
1:10

1,6
4

Dep

15:35
13:45

YANGON TO INCHEON
Days

Dep

Arr

17:00
15:10
Arr

KE 472
Daily
23:30 07:50+1
8M 7702
Daily
23:30 07:50+1
8M 7502
4,7
00:35
09:10
W9 607
4,7
14:20
16:10
PG 724
1,3,5,6
13:10
15:05
YANGON TO CHIANG MAI
Flights

Days

Y5 251
7Y 305

2,4,6
1,5

YANGON TO GAYA

Flights

Days

8M 601
AI 236
AI 234

Days

AI 236

Dep

13:10

YANGON TO KOLKATA
Days

AI 234
AI 228
Flights

Dep

3,5,6
7:00
2
13:10
1,5
14:05
YANGON TO DELHI

Flights

Flights

Dep

6:15
11:00

1
5

Dep

14:05
18:45

YANGON TO MUMBAI

AI 775

Days

1,5

Dep

14:05

MANDALAY TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 710

Days

Daily

Dep

14:05

MANDALAY TO SINGAPORE

Flights

MI 533
Y5 2233

Days

2,6
1,2,4,5,6

Dep

15:55
7:50

MANDALAY TO DON MUEANG

Flights

FD 245

Days

Daily

Dep

12:45

MANDALAY TO KUNMING

Flights

MU 2030

Days

Daily

Dep

13:50

NAY PYI TAW TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 722
PG 722
PG 722

Days

3
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5

Dep

20:15
19:30
20:15

Arr

8:05
12:50
Arr

Flights

1,6
4

Days

Days

2,4,6
1,5

Dep

12:30
10:40
Dep

Flights

Flights

19:35

AI 675

Arr

Flights

Dep

9:25
13:45

GAYA TO YANGON
Days

Dep

2
9:10
3,5,6
9:20
5
15:00
DELHI TO YANGON
Days

AI 235

Arr

Dep

7:00

KOLKATA TO YANGON
Days

1
5

Dep

10:35
13:30

MUMBAI TO YANGON
Days

1,5

Dep

6:10

BANGKOK TO MANDALAY

PG 709

Days

Daily

Dep

12:00

SINGAPORE TO MANDALAY

Flights

20:50
14:15

Y5 2234
MI 533

Arr

Flights

Days

Daily
2,6

Dep

7:20
11:35

DON MUEANG TO MANDALAY

FD 244

Days

Daily

Dep

10:50

KUNMING TO MANDALAY

Flights

16:40

MU 2029

Arr

Flights

23:15
22:30
23:15

11:00

INCHEON TO YANGON

Flights

AI 227
AI 233

Arr

Days

Flights

17:20
19:45

15:00

Dep

DHAKA TO YANGON

Y5 252
7Y 306

Flights

Arr

Daily

Days

Daily

Dep

13:00

BANGKOK TO NAY PYI TAW

PG 721
PG 721
PG 721

Days

1,2,3,4,5
3
1,2,3,4,5

Dep

17:00
18:25
17:45

Arr

00:30+1
23:30

KE 471
Daily
18:45
8M 7701
Daily
18:45
8M 7501
3,6
19:50
W9 608
4,7
17:20
PG 723
1,3,5,6
11:05
CHIANG MAI TO YANGON

Arr

16:30

Days

Flights

Flights

Dep

22:50
21:45

Arr

22:25
23:25

TOKYO TO YANGON

BG 060
BG 060

AI 235
8M 602
AI 233

Arr

4
1,2,3,5,6,7

NH 813

8:20
14:10
15:05
16:30

Days

Arr

Arr

15:40
Arr

14:55
13:05
Arr

22:25
22:25
23:25
18:10
12:00
Arr

10:15
14:35
Arr

12:10
12:30
18:00

International Airlines
All Nippon Airways (NH)
Tel: 255412, 413

Air Asia (FD)

Tel: 09254049991~3

Air Bagan Ltd.(W9)

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

Air China (CA)

Tel: 666112, 655882

Air India

Tel: 253597~98, 254758, 253601. Fax 248175

Bangkok Airways (PG)

Tel: 255122, 255265. Fax: 255119

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG)

Tel: 371867~68. Fax: 371869

Condor (DE)

Tel: 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Dragonair (KA)

Tel: 255323 (ext: 107), 09-401539206

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999
Fax: 8604051

Malaysia Airlines (MH)

Tel: 387648, 241007 (ext: 120, 121, 122)

Fax: 241124

Myanmar Airways International (8M)

Tel: 255260. Fax: 255305

Nok Airline (DD)

Tel: 255050, 255021. Fax: 255051

Qatar Airways (QR)

Tel: 379845, 379843, 379831. Fax: 379730

Singapore Airlines (SQ) / Silk Air (MI)

Tel: 255287~9. Fax: 255290

Thai Airways (TG)

Tel: 255491~6. Fax: 255223

Tiger Airline (TR)

Tel: 371383, 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Vietnam Airlines (VN)

Tel: 255066, 255088, 255068. Fax: 255086

Airline Codes
3K = Jet Star
8M = Myanmar Airways International
AK = Air Asia
BG = Biman Bangladesh Airlines
CA = Air China
CI = China Airlines
CZ = China Southern
DD = Nok Airline
FD = Air Asia
KA = Dragonair
KE = Korea Airlines
MH = Malaysia Airlines
MI = Silk Air

Arr

12:10
Arr

13:20
18:00
Arr

13:20

MU = China Eastern Airlines

NH = All Nippon Airways
PG = Bangkok Airways
QR = Qatar Airways
SQ = Singapore Airways
TG = Thai Airways

Arr

13:20
Arr

16:30
15:00

TR = Tiger Airline
VN = Vietnam Airline
AI = Air India
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines

Arr

12:15
Arr

Subject to change
without notice

12:50
Arr

19:00
19:35
19:45

Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday

4
5
6
7

=
=
=
=

Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Johnson & Johnson, a corporation organized and existing under
the laws of the State of New Jersey, U.S.A., of One Johnson &
Johnson Plaza, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08933 U.S.A., is
the Owner of the following Trade Mark:-

DARSPONDA

Reg. No. 18847/2014

in respect of Intl Class 5: Human pharmaceutical preparations.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Mark
will be dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A., H.G.P., D.B.L
for Johnson & Johnson
P. O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 7 May 2015

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage Ltd., a Japanese corporation,
of 2-29, Sakae 4-chome, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Japan, is the Owner
of the following Trade Mark:-

Reg. No. 1500/2000

in respect of Coffee, tea, fruit drink, aerated waters and other
non-alcoholic drinks.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Mark
will be dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A., H.G.P., D.B.L
for Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage Ltd.
P. O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 7 May 2015

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Pizza Hut International, LLC, a Delaware USA Limited Liability
Company, of 7100 Corporate Drive, Plano, Texas 75024, U.S.A.,
is the owner and sole proprietor of the following Trade Marks:-

(Reg: No. IV/3813/2012)

(Reg: No. IV/3814/2012)

STUFFED CRUST

(Reg: No. IV/3816/2012)

Use in respect of: - Prepared meals, included in class 29
consisting primary of meats, seafood, poultry, mushrooms, cooked
vegetables, cheese, and preserved fruits. (International Class 29)
Pizza pies; flour and preparations made from cereals, bread, pastry,
and confectionery; spices; sauces. (International Class 30) and
Restaurant services. (International Class 42)
Any unauthorized use, imitation, infringements, or fraudulent
intention of the above trademarks will be dealt with according
to law.
Moe Mynn Thu (LL.B, LL.M, M.Res)
Rouse Myanmar
For Pizza Hut International, LLC.
Email: myanmar@rouse.com
Dated: 7th May, 2015.

22 Sport

THE MYANMAR TIMES May 7, 2015

FIGHT OF THE CENTURY AFTERMATH

Boxing chiefs fail

to down Periscope

HE boxing match billed as

the fight of the century is
over, but the battle over
smartphone video streaming of the las Vegas showdown is just beginning.
Revelations that dozens of smartphone users streamed the Manny
Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather weekend fight have raised questions
about how new technologies can get
around copyright restrictions imposed at live venues such as sporting
events and concerts.
There are no reliable figures,
but thousands of people may have
watched the fight via the Twitterowned app Periscope, which allows
any smartphone user to broadcast
live video, and independent app
Meerkat.
These viewers avoided the
US$100 fee for official pay-per-view
video as long as they did not mind
reduced picture quality.
Twitter chief executive dick Costolo appeared to boast about the feat
when he tweeted at the end of the
match, And the winner is ... @periscopeco.
It highlights the conundrum copyright holders could face if they lose
control of their rights to fans with
smartphone apps.
Similar questions arose last
month when HBo sent notices to
Periscope over piracy of its Game of
Thrones series. And these issues are
expected to multiply as smartphone
streaming gains popularity.
Under US copyright law, tech
firms have a responsibility to remove
copyrighted content expeditiously
when notified of a violation. But at
a live event, its not clear how fast is
fast enough.
The law really does not have the
tools for copyright owners to go after platforms that have content that
is live-streamed, said Bradley Shear,
a Washington-area attorney specialising in social media and copyright
issues.
The debate over these streaming
apps is going to restart the conversation about copyright protection in
the digital age, Shear told AFP.
Periscope and Meerkat say in
their terms of service that they do
not allow streaming of copyrighted
content. But because there is no
clear definition of expeditious the
law may have been rendered useless
by technology, according to Shear.
This demonstrates the need to
revisit our copyright law, he said.
Eric Goldman, co-director of the
High-Tech law Institute at Santa
Clara University, agreed that when

Action from the fight was streamed by smartphone users. Photo: AFP

Congress wrote the digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, it did

not contemplate live streaming.
Goldman noted that copyright
holders could in theory sue those
who carry out the streaming, the
viewers and the platforms such as
Twitter.
But such litigation is unlikely after the fact, especially since the law
allows tech firms safe harbour protections if they respond to takedown
requests.
Goldman said some technology
firms have gone beyond the law to
help copyright owners, by setting
up filters and using other means to
block illegal videos or at least prevent them from being discovered in
a search.
Periscope
founder
Kayvon
Beykpour said at the TechCrunch
disrupt conference on May 5 that his
team was completely prepared for
the welterweight mega-fight, with a
team of people scanning for emails
about potential problems.
We had 66 requests for takedown
and we took down 30 of them, all in
a matter of minutes, Beykpour said.
The others could not be removed, he
said, because they had ended by the
time the team could deal with them.
We were ready. We knew we had

to be well-staffed, he said.
on
the
broader
question,
Beykpour said the issue of copyright
infringement is overblown because
of the relatively poor quality of video
on these feeds.
No one wants to watch Game of
Thrones on Periscope, he said.
HBo and Showtime, which managed pay-per-view television for the
Pacquiao-Mayweather clash, declined to comment.
But sources familiar with the
matter said the newer platforms like
Periscope lack the systems adopted
by youTube and others where copyright owners are allowed to log in as
special users and instantly remove
content.
That means each request must
be managed individually, which can
often mean action is taken too late.
Fight promoter Top Rank meanwhile said it takes the issue seriously
and is considering legal action.
We are always pursuing, watching out for piracy, Top Rank president Todd duBoef said.
We think anyone redistributing
unauthorised streaming is cheating.
They dont have the right to distribute. We want a thorough report on
how many streams are out there.
AFP

Did someone say rematch?

Floyd Mayweather has said he is
willing to grant Manny Pacquiao a rematch following the Filipino boxers
disclosure that a shoulder injury hampered his performance in last weekends world title showdown, ESPN
reported on May 5.
ESPN reported that Mayweather
had told journalist Stephen A Smith
in a text message that he was ready to
don gloves once again after Pacquiao
recovers from surgery to repair a rotator cuff.
I will fight him in a year after his
surgery, Mayweather said in the text
message, according to ESPN.
Mayweathers apparent readiness
to step into the ring with Pacquiao

once more appears to contradict remarks he made in the aftermath of his

victory in las Vegas on May 2, when
he insisted he planned to retire after
one more fight in September.
My last fight is in September, and
then its time for me to hang it up,
said Mayweather after his unanimous
decision victory.
The 38-year-old, who is just one win
away from matching Rocky Marcianos
49-0 record, has previously said he has
no desire to move past the heavyweights
revered unbeaten benchmark.
However while it is doubtful that
any rematch with Pacquiao could generate the levels of interest and income
seen in their first encounter, it would

still earn enough to be a money-spinning duel.

Pacquiaos camp on May 5 issued a
statement confirming that the Filipino
had suffered a significant muscle
tear in his shoulder.
We have an MRI scan that confirms he has a rotator cuff tear. He has
a significant tear, surgeon Neal ElAttrache of the Kerlan Jobe orthopedic
Clinic said.
Pacquiaos camp have complained
that the Nevada State Athletic Commission barred the fighter from receiving treatment for the injury using an
anti-inflammatory injection approved
by the United States Anti-doping
Agency. AFP

Sport 23

www.mmtimes.com
GIRO DITALIA

Tinkoff give Contador big team

irO DiTAliA favourite

Alberto Contador looks
an even better bet to win
successive grand Tours
after his Tinkoff team announced their squad ahead of this
weekends start.
A trident of top-drawer climb talent in the form of double giro winner
(2006 and 2010) ivan Basso, Czech
all-rounder and 2011 giro white jersey
winner roman Kreuziger and in-form

Australian Michael rogers, winner

of two stages on last years giro, are
charged with delivering Contador to
the high summits.
Team director steven De Jongh
on May 4 outlined clear roles for the
various team members as he read off
a strong line-up for the 2015 italian
campaign,
rogers is the road manager.
With Kreuziger and Basso he will
form solid support for Contador in

the mountains, he explained.

running across the plains we have
powerful motors in (Manuele) Boaro,
(Matteo) Tosatto and Chris Juul.
And then over the rolling terrain
we have Paulinho, ivan rovny and
Boaro again.
spanish climber Contador last
won the giro in 2008 and has won
the Tour de France twice and the
Vuelta a Espana three times, most
recently in 2014.

last years Vuelta win saw Contador go head-to-head with skys Chris
Froome after both had crashed out of
the Tour de France.
neither Froome, reigning champion nairo Quintana, nor Tour de France
champion Vicenzo nibali are contesting this years giro, which makes Contador an even hotter favourite.
The giro gets underway on May 9
with a team time-trial at san remo,
and there are five mountain and sev-

en medium mountain days on the 21

stages before the giro rolls into Milan
on May 31st.
Tinkoff team for Giro:
Alberto Contador (ESP), Roman
Kreuziger (CZE), Michael Rogers
(AUS), Ivan Basso (ITA), Sergio
Paulinho (POR), Manuele Boaro (ITA),
Matteo Tosatto (ITA), Christopher
Juul-Jensen (DEN), Ivan Rovny (RUS)

UCI satisfied with Astanas

doping reform measures

Ilnur Zakarin competes in Lausanne during the Tour de Romandie. Photo: AFP

CyClings world body the UCi says

Astana, who last month were allowed
to retain their WorldTour licence despite a series of doping shocks, have
agreed to undergo a fundamental reform in order to prevent the risks of
doping.
in February, the UCi had demanded
the Kazakh-funded team be stripped
of its World Tour licence which would
have barred them from the main international races, including the Tour de
France and Tours of italy and spain.

But an independent commission

agreed to allow Tour de France champion Vincenzo nibalis team to keep
racing in a decision delivered on April
23.
Detailing its reasons for that verdict the UCis independent licensing
commission in a statement explained
that at this stage, in view of the
modifications ... and the absence of
further incidents since autumn 2014,
it is found that the sanction of a withdrawal, motivated mainly by facts of

the past would be too harsh a punishment.

Astanas place in the peloton had
been under threat since five riders
with either the professional World Tour
squad or the teams Continental Tour affiliate failed doping tests last year.
Kazakh brothers Maxim and Valentin iglinsky both tested positive for the
banned blood booster EPO while three
members of the Continental Tour
squad, also all Kazakhs, tested positive
for steroids. AFP

Romandie winner Zakarin

will race in Giro
sUrPrisE Tour de romandie winner
ilnur Zakarin is to compete in the giro
ditalia, set to start this weekend, in
what will be his maiden start in one of
the prestigious grand Tours.
The russian rider, 25, made a
name for himself on the world stage
this year with a ninth place finish in
the Tour of the Basque Country before
his unexpected victory in switzerland
at the weekend, where he finished second in a hilly fifth stage and third in
the final time-trial.
Zakarin, whose previous best results never suggested he could be

a contender in a race of this quality,

even overcame a technical problem
which obliged him to change bikes five
kilometres from the finish to take the
prestigious prize on the final day.
The Katusha all-rounder had previously been suspended for two years
in 2009 by the russian cycling federation after he had tested positive for the
anabolic steroid methandienone.
The 2007 European road junior
champion will head to italy to gain
valuable experience.
it will be seventh time Team Katusha competes in the giro ditalia. AFP

Astana take part in the team time-trial prologue as part of the Tour de Romandie . Photo: AFP

Sport
24 THE MYANMAR TIMES May 7, 2015

SPORT EDITOR: Matt Roebuck | matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

Giro dItalia
preview
SPORT 23

Brilliant Win inspires Myanmar

MaTT ROebucK
matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

IN
Theingi
Tun
opened with a brace
to help Myanmar
women overcome a
Malaysian side 4-0
yesterday at Ho Chi Minh Citys Thong
Nhat Stadium, a result that qualified
them from Group B of the AFF Womens Championship to reach the semifinals.
There they are set to meet the
unbeaten Australia U20 on May 8,
as they will have qualified in second
place unless the Philippines who lost
4-1 to Myanmar on May 4 beat Vietnam by seven. Vietnam top Group B
after their 3-2 victory over Myanmar
and a 7-0 win over Malaysia.
Australia goes into the semi-finals
with a perfect record including 11
goals for and none against over their

3 group-stage matches. Thailand has

qualified in second place and will
therefore likely meet the hosts in the
second semi-final.
Myanmar again started slowly but
dominated possession throughout the
game, eventually scoring through Win
Theingi Tun either side of half-time
before a further brace from Yee Yee Oo
in the 69th and 75th minute finished the
job.
It was the introduction of Than
Than Htwe in the 35th minute that
breathed life into a Myanmar midfield
struggling to breakdown the Malaysian defence. The return of Than Than
Htwe making her second appearance from the bench in the tournament following a protracted stint
on the physiotherapists table, will be
good news for coach Thet Thet Win
ahead of the semi-final.
With just two minutes remaining in the first half Win Theingi Tun

Grp B

Team

Pld

GF

GA

GD

Pts

Vietnam

10

+8

The 4-0 victory sees Myanmar advance to meet Australia U20 in the semi-finals. Photo: AFF website

Myanmar

10

+6

Philippines

Malaysia

14

14

Grp A

Team

Pld

GF

GA

GD

Pts

turned the pressured Malaysian defence and opened up her account for
the tournament.
As the second-half opened up, a
moment of brilliance from Win Theingi Tun saw the player react with a
right-footed back-flick to a ball that
had been squared back to her at the
near post before then lifting the ball
with her left heel over the defenders
and a stationary goalkeeper.
Win Theingi Tun was also involved
in the third goal when her free-kick

Australia U20

11

+11

Thailand

22

+18

Laos

13

11

Indonesia

19

18

from just outside the box was rebounded by the keeper for Yee Yee Oo
to react first and put the ball in the
back of the net.
The victory was made comprehensive when the Malaysian defence allowed Yee Yee Oo, now brimming with
confidence, to run at them, parting the
opposition that stood in her way before launching the ball into the roof of
the net from close range.
Hat-trick hero from the Philippine game, and goalscorer in the

Vietnamese match-up, Naw Arlo Wer

Phaw was again absent from the
starting line-up, after only entering
the fray on May 4 after the Philippines took a shock lead.
But with a number of the squad
suffering from injuries, it may be that
the decision was to rest her for what
will be a far more challenging encounter with the young Australian side.
Khin Moe Wai, Myanmars only other
tournament goalscorer before this
game, also watched from the sidelines.

gOlf

Myo Win Aung eyes

three-in-a-row
Kyaw Zin Hlaing
kyawzinhlaing.mcm@gmail.com
THE colourfully trousered Myo Win
Aung will today start his campaign to
secure back-to-back wins on the 2015
Myanmar Golf Tour which he hopes
will act as a launchpad onto the international scene.
He will join 33 fellow male professionals, 75 amateurs and 13 women at
the Hantharwaddy Golf Club in Bago
to compete in the second leg of the
tour after his opening leg victory at
the Royal Myanmar Golf Club, Nay Pyi
Taw.
On April 5 Myo Win Aung carded a
10-under-par for his four rounds at the
Royal Myanmar.
I was very happy to come away
from the first tournament of the year
with a win, especially after winning
the last tournament of 2014, Myo Win
Aung told The Myanmar Times yesterday.
His win in last years tour finale
also came at the Royal Myanmar,
in his rookie season as a golf professional, so the challenge will be for
Myo Win Aung to transfer that form
to a course that did not feature in last
years tour.
This is my first visit to the Hantharwaddy Golf Club so Im unfamiliar
with the course, said Myo Win Aung.
Myo Win Aung turned professional

in April 2014 when the Myanmar Tour

was relaunched after it folded in 2011
due to a lack of sponsorship support.
But the tour has returned in 2015
with an increased list of sponsors and
an expanded season of nine events
up from six scheduled to take place
finish in December at Nay Pyi Taws
Zayarthiri up from 2014s six.
Chan Han, president of the Myanmar Professional Golfers Association,
expressed his happiness about the upward trajectory of the tour.
We need a good number of competitive tournaments for our professional golfers to compete in and to attract an international-level field, said
Chan Han.
Each leg of the professional circuit will have a total prize pot of
K38,500,000, with the winner taking
K3,000,000 and prize money shared
among the top 20.
I want to expand the game of golf
in the country and also increase the
opportunities for our lady golfers, he
added.
Ko Ko Aye, president of the Myanmar Golf Federation, also pointed to the
importance of the amateur event running alongside the professional tour
This tournament is aimed at identifying a new generation of talent for
our national representative teams,
said Ko Ko Aye.
Maung Maung Oo carded a six-

Myo Win Aung lines up a putt during his first season win at the Royal Myanmar Golf Club. Photo: MPGA

under-par at Royal Myanmar to take

home the prize for top amateur. The
player from Pyin Oo Lwin has five top
three finishes in the 2014 Tour, including a victory in Mandalay. He also
represented Myanmar at the 2013 SEA
Games, coming 17th in the individual

competition and securing silver as

part of the team event.
Last year the top amateur for each
leg of the tour secured K750,000 while
the leading lady took home K500,000,
however this year those divisions are
played only for medals.

Golfers with a handicap of 12 or lower can enter the mens amateur competition while a handicap of 24 can secure a
berth in the ladies contest.
Yin May Myo shot 221 over three
days to win the first ladies leg of the
2015 Tour.