Monday, June 8, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 59)

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DAILY EDITION
ISSUE 59 | MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

NEWS 3
Risks for NLD leader

ahead of first China visit
Analysts have warned that Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi will need to be wary on her
upcoming trip to China not to provoke
a domestic backlash, with the fighting
in Kokang and projects at Letpadaung
and Myitsone likely to dominate talks.
NEWS 3
Students shun invitation

to education law talks
At least two student unions boycotted
talks on the National Education
Law called by Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, while a third group did attend
in a reflection of divisions coursing
through the student movement.
BUSINESS 8
Labourers make do at
Kyaukpyu docks
The Ngalpwe jetty is one of the few
places where unskilled labourers of
both sexes can make money. While
workers eke out a living, a large special
economic zone is set to rise nearby.
BUSINESS 9
IN PICTURES
PHOTO: AUNG KHANT
Nervous Yangon high school students gather before dawn to check their matriculation
exam results, which were released nationally at 4:30am on June 7. Just over one-third
of test-takers managed to pass the exam, which is the sole determinant for university
admissions. The national pass rate of 37.6 percent was an improvement on last year,
when only 31.76pc of students passed.
Investors dodge ongoing

boats crisis
While the international community
follows the plight of those rescued
from smuggling boats, businesses say
the crisis does not have a direct impact
on their investment decisions.
No return in sight for IDPs

Four years after fighting resumed between the Tatmadaw and tje Kachin Independence Army in northern Myanmar,
an estimated 100,000 people in Kachin State and northern Shan State are unable to return home. NEWS 4
2 News
THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 8, 2015
Page 2
Kayleigh Long |
kayleighelong@gmail.com
THE INSIDER: Its called that because its on the inside page of the paper
Nothing can stop the elections
except the outbreak of natural
disaster of the absence of regional
security, apparently, with chair of the
Union Election Commission telling a
meeting of the UECs subcommissions
just that on June 5.
Its not quite clear if this marks a
change in policy that will also apply
to referendums, and if by region he
means Southeast Asia or something a
touch more local like Bago.
PR 101
Government departments should
adopt departmental policies for
relations with media and releasing
information, Information Minister U
Ye Htut told the opening ceremony of
the training course on relations with
media at the MoI HQ in Nay Pyi Taw
late last week, the Global New Light
reported over the weekend.
Obviously thats a move to be
applauded, and a step in the right
direction for politicians trying to get
their message across. Its also good
news for journalists.
Now, there is probably something
to be said for authorities taking a bit
more time and effort to craft their
message, with some politicians being
particularly prone to stepping out of
line and saying something a bit dumb
that doesnt reflect that well on the
government.
Case in point: Even as U Ye Htut
addressed the media relations course
in the thriving metropolis of Nay Pyi
Taw last week, Speaker of the upper
house U Khin Aung Myint attended a
conference at the Australian National
University in Canberra, Australia.
I want to urge everyone to look at

everyone among these boat people.
They cannot speak the Myanmar
language, and they dont look like
Myanmar people, U Khin Aung Myint
was quoted by ABC as saying.
He stopped just short of delving
into phrenology on the sidelines of
the conference, telling a journalist
from Australias SBS News that
the boat people are clearly and
unequivocally not from Myanmar,
inviting her to check if they look like
me [him].
To think, all that confusion
over how to determine whether
or not someones from Myanmar
could have been avoided! All those
calls for enforcement of the 1982
citizenship law from people who cant
actually explain its contents? Totally
unnecessary. All thats needed is a
picture of Khin Aung Myint. Phewf!
Its obviously a very sensitive and
infinitely complex issue, but the
stipulation about linguistics is plainly
ridiculous, with a good number
of people from other remote and
undeveloped regions having Myanmar
language skills about as good as
mine, which is to say ne-ne-makaun-bu.
When my colleague travelled to
Langkawi to cover the boat crisis
a month or so back, she went to a
detention centre where the people
identifying as Rohingya had been
separated from the Bangladeshi
migrants and that was achieved
in an afternoon by local authorities.
People talk of a regional solution
perhaps their expertise wouldnt go
amiss.
Damned if you do
Journalists formed a scrum outside
Daw Aung San Suu Kyis house
yesterday in anticipation of a protest,
after rumours began to circulate
969 and friends had deemed the
NLDs very cautiously worded open
letter on the boat crisis, which
called for rule of law and not
much else, to be a source of some
offence. Unfortunately, the protest
was a bit of a fizzler so this whole
episode may not be noted by the
international press who seem to
thrive on peddling ill-informed,
sanctimonious op-eds about Her
Silence.
Once was Burma ...

Archival material courtesy of
Pansodan Gallery
First floor, 286 Pansodan, upper block, Kyauktada township
In brief:
New local business just such
a bad idea that everyone in the
neighbourhood assumes its a
money laundering front
Northern Shan meth production
lab output soaring, says manager:
If theres one thing thats great for
productivity, its meth
Gamers reach consensus that Grand
Theft Auto: Nay Pyi Taw is pretty
boring until you find the tunnels
Next week:
John Okell reveals hes preparing
to drop new album of what he calls
educational relaxcore: Its pretty
much Burmese By Ear with panflutes
and waterfall noises
Absolutely no one clear on whether or
not the PLA-Air Force border drill is
still going on?
A grainy image graces the cover of Forward cover in 1970
www.mmtimes.com
NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com
IN DEPTH
Daw Suu risks domestic

backlash from China trip
Fighting in Kokang and controversial investments such as the Myitsone dam are likely to dominate discussions
EI EI TOE
LWIN
eieitoelwin@gmail.com
DAW Aung San Suu Kyi makes her

first visit to China this week, a trip
that analysts say could help soothe
strained bilateral relations but also
present the opposition leader with
domestic pitfalls.
The Chinese Communist Party
and the National League for Democracy have confirmed that she would
meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang during her five-day
visit, which starts on June 10.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be
joined by her chief of staff, Daw Tin
Mar Aung, and two members of parliament, U Phyo Min Thein and U
Phyo Zayar Thaw.
The Myanmar democracy icon
has made a series of high-profile
trips to Asia, Europe and the United
States since her release from house
arrest in late 2010 but this will be her
first to China. Beijing appears keen
to court those politicians seen as
likely to play leading roles after the
November elections, and has previously welcomed delegations from the
NLD, ethnic minority parties and the
Union Solidarity and Development
Party.
Her visit to Beijing comes at a
time of heightened tensions along
the shared border where the Tatmadaw and ethnic Chinese rebels
in the Kokang region have been engaged in fierce fighting for the past
four months. Tens of thousands of
civilians have fled across the border.
Last week China launched what are
believed to be unprecedented livefire military exercises along the same
stretch of frontier, in what some observers saw as a warning to the Tatmadaw to stop the conflict from spilling over into its territory.
Political commentator U Yan
Myo Thein, author of a book on the
triangular relationship between
Myanmar, China and the US, said
that China believes it can safeguard
its strategic interests in Myanmar
against competition from the West
by fostering a relationship with the
Oxford-educated NLD leader.
According to my research, it is
the first time the Chinese Communist Party has invited the leader of
an opposition party who is also a Nobel peace laureate. They never made
such an invitation before, he said.
I believe to some extent the visit
would help resolve military tensions
across the border, even if they cannot
be resolved completely, he said.
Opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to the media during a press conference at the National League for
Democracy headquarters in Yangon on July 3, 2012. Photo: AFP
He said there were high hopes

from the trip, but talks would likely
cover such sensitive and controversial projects as the Letpadaung copper mine and the Myitsone dam, as
well as the border conflict.
One of the first major acts of
President U Thein Seins new semicivilian government in 2011 was to
suspend the Chinese-led Myitsone
project, a move that Beijing interpreted as an early and alarming sign
that Myanmar intended to reorient
its foreign policy toward the US.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi must be
very cautious and clever when these
sensitive issues come to the table.
If she puts a foot wrong, she would
face challenges in local politics and
this would probably have an impact
in the elections, U Yan Myo Thein
added.
U Thein Sein suspended the dam
project until the end of his presidential term early next year. China is
already lobbying for the project to
be restarted and some politicians believe Daw Aung San Suu Kyi could be
persuaded to back it.
During protests against the
proposed dam in August 2011, the

NLD leader issued her Irrawaddy
Appeal calling for protection of the
vital waterway. Noting the established tradition of mutual regard
and friendship between Myanmar
and China, she urged both sides to
reassess the project.
Similarly, as chair of a special parliamentary commission on the controversial Chinese-backed Letpadaung
copper mine, Daw Aung Sann Suu
Kyi called for improvements and
Daw Aung San

Suu Kyi must be
very cautious and
clever when these
sensitive issues
come to the table.
U Yan Myo Thein
Political commentator
safeguards to the project but recommended its resumption. The Chinese

companies welcomed her report; local villagers were furious.
U Aye Thar Aung, a leader of
the Rakhine National Party who
was invited to China a year ago, is
convinced Beijing will lobby her to
support the restart of the Myitsone
dam.
He said that while in China his
delegation was briefed on the benefits of such hydropower projects.
They openly told us they dont
want to give up the project and must
try to implement it, U Aye Thar
Aung said, adding that he hoped she
would not accept Chinese proposals
without also considering the will of
the people.
Another project that could be up
for discussion is a planned US$20
billion railway linking Kyaukpyu in
Rakhine State with Kunming in China, which was reportedly dropped in
July 2014 due to public opposition in
Myanmar. The railway would have
broadly followed the route of newly
built oil and gas pipelines connecting
China to the Indian Ocean.
News 3
Students
divided
over talks
with NLD
MRATT KYAW THU
mrattkthu@gmail.com
AT least two student unions boycotted
a meeting in Yangon yesterday called by
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the
controversial National Education Law.
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and the Mon
State Students Union both said they
had rejected an invitation to the talks
that was issued through Pyithu Hluttaw
representative U Phyo Zayar Thaw, who
also acts as a bodyguard to the opposition leader.
But in a reflection of the divisions
that have run through the national
student movement for some months,
representatives from the University Students Union did attend the three-hour
meeting at Daw Aung San Suu Kyis residence. Ko Zayar Lwin, a union member, said nearly 20 students attended.
U Phyo Zayar Thaw confirmed to
The Myanmar Times that he had conveyed the invitation to the various student groups, making clear that the NLD
leader would be there. Commenting on
the refusal by the two groups to attend,
he said, This is their desire not to meet
with us. I have nothing to say.
ABFSU spokesperson Ko Aung Nay
Paing pointed out that almost all ABFSU students leaders were in prison for
protesting against the National Education Law. Parliament passed the law
last September and is now in the closing stages of completing amendments.
Ko Aung Nay Paing said the NLD
had left it too late to discuss the bill
with students as the hluttaw was finishing its work.
The NLD needs to agree and respect the four-party agreement on the
education law first. We understand
what they did to Dr Thein Lwin for his
association with our marches. But time
says so many things now, the student
spokesperson said.
U Thein Lwin, leader of the National Network for Education Reform
(NNER), was removed from the NLD
leadership committee while students,
the NNER, government officials and
parliamentarians were holding discussions on amendments to the law early
this year. The four-way talks reached an
agreement with the government over
the student demands, but they were
mostly rejected later in parliament.
In a sign of inconsistency within
the NLD, some party members recently
discussed in parliament the removal of
thamaga or student unions from
the text of the education bill, while others expressed their support for students
by attending the trial of those arrested
during the crackdown at Letpadan.
We dont know if Daw Aung San
Suu Kyis strategy is honest or tricky. But
I have to say that the invitation to the
talks should not have been made at this
point, and NLD MPs need to show transparency, Ko Aung Nay Paing added.
4 News
Chief Executive Officer
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Repatriation expected
to begin today as
Rakhine plan protest
LAIGNEE BARRON
laignee@gmail.com
MRATT KYAW THU
mrattkthu@gmail.com
MYANMAR is expected today to repatriate 150 Bangladeshis rescued
from abandoned human smuggling boats, while Rakhine State
nationalists have announced plans
to protest against the government
hosting nearly 800 other people
found adrift at sea.
The Myanmar navy last month
intercepted three stranded boats
collectively carrying 943 people,
including more than 100 women
and children, after a crackdown
in Thailand disrupted a regional
trafficking route, prompting smugglers to abandon their human
cargo.
Temporary shelter is being provided in a remote region of Rakhine State along the border with
neighbouring Bangladesh, where
the government has said it hopes
to quickly return those rescued.
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A Pakistani demonstrates in
support of Rohingya Muslims in
Islamabad on June 6. Photo: AFP
The rescue operations have

prompted a squabble between Myanmar and Bangladesh over the
nationality of those on the boats,
while also provoking condemnation from hard-line nationalists
in Myanmar who believe the government has saddled them with
intruders from the neighbouring
country.
Myanmar insists that most of
the people rescued are economic
migrants from Bangladesh who
need to be repatriated, rather than
Muslims fleeing persecution in
Rakhine State. At an official briefing last week, a Rakhine member
of the Yangon Region government
went so far as to blame the crisis
on an explosion of the Bangladeshi
population, alleging that those
who say they are from Myanmar
only do so for political reasons.
In response to the accusations,
Dhaka summoned the Myanmar
ambassador on June 5 to explain
his comments.
While the two neighbours continue to argue over the origin of

those rescued, the Bangladeshi
embassy has agreed to accept back
150 following a drawn-out verification process.
A spokesperson for the Border
Guard Bangladesh in Coxs Bazar,
just over the border from Rakhine State, told AFP that the first
batch of 150 Bangladeshis would
be repatriated today. A Western
aid worker confirmed the plan
yesterday.
Officials have yet to announce
what will happen to the 50 others from that first intercepted boat
who have been accepted by neither
nation.
Minister for Foreign Affairs
U Wunna Maung Lwin also confirmed last week that at least eight
people from the vessel boarded
from Myanmar.
U Zaw Htay, director of the
Presidents Office, told The Myanmar Times that they would
be sent back to their homes in
Kyauktaw township, but VOA has
since reported that the eight are
being held for questioning and
investigation.
Myanmar has come under pressure from the US and the UN to
increase surveillance and rescue
missions ahead of the monsoon
season, as well as to accept back
those from Myanmar who identify as Rohingya and provide them
citizenship.
[With the upcoming election]
it may not be the ideal time to be
discussing these things in Burma,
but it is the situation, said Anne
Richard, US assistant secretary of
state for population, refugees, and
migration.
But recent the efforts taken by
the Myanmar navy as well as the
international pressure have reignited nationalist tensions in restive Rakhine State.
Rakhine-based groups have announced plans to stage a protest
on June 14 to express their anger at
the government harbouring those
rescued from the boats.
There are three things to protest, said U Than Tun, a member
of the Emergency Coordination
Center of Rakhine State.
The first thing is that the government is making Rakhine State
a landfill of Bengalis. Number two
is that we want to know the exact
date when the government will return all boat people back to Bangladesh from Rakhine State. The
last thing is that we, the Rakhine
people, dont accept to shelter any
boat people who are floating in the
sea.
Three years ago communal violence racked the state. The fighting left hundreds dead and forced
more than 140,000 into squalid internally displaced persons camps,
where most still remain today.
Last month nationalists paraded through Yangon in an officially
sanctioned protest decrying foreign pressure over the Bengalis.
Disabled
still face
formidable
social
barriers
MYITKYINA, KACHIN STATE
CHERRY THEIN
MYINT KAY THI
newsroom@mmtimes.com
A young woman sits in the kitchen at the Gyan Maing Kaung IDP camp in Myitkyina township, Kachin State, last month. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw
No return in sight for Kachin IDPs

An estimated 100,000 are living in camps across Kachin and northern Shan states as the conflict enters its fifth year
YE MON
yeemontun2013@gmail.com
FIVE Kachin ladies sip tea as they sit

and chat, trying to forget their troubles. They live in a camp for internally
displaced persons, and they want to go
home.
Maing Naa IDP camp in Waingmaw
township, Kachin State, has already
been home for far too long, as the
renewed conflict between the Kachin
Independence Organisation army and
the Tatmadaw enters its fifth year.
Whenever a car drives up, we
think its someone coming to call us
home, said 60-year-old Daw Khawng
Noon, who was forced from Ghaa Daa
Yang village by the fighting. Weve
been here nearly four years, ever
since the conflict began. We long to go
home.
But their hopes are dim. Exchanges of fire continue as the conflict
marks its fourth anniversary tomorrow.

This is not our home, but this is
where we have to live, said Daw Htoot
Hsan, 62. Our country is not at peace
and we have to make the best of it. But
we still want to go home.
But they know that even if peace
comes, their return home might be delayed. Both sides in the conflict have
laid landmines, which will remain a
threat to life and limb long after hostilities end.
If they dont clear the mines in the
paddy fields and farmland, we dare
not go home whatever the ceasefire
agreement says, said 48-year-old Daw
Khun Gyar from Gyan Maing Kaung
IDP camp in Myitkyina township.
Despite promises from negotiators
on both sides during peace talks, nothing has been done to clear mines.
U La Nan, a spokesperson for the
KIO, said the questions of IDP return
and mine clearance could be resolved
only once the government suspends its
offensives and peace prevails.
The conflict is going on because we
are being falsely accused of smuggling
Political prisoner list grows

THE number of political prisoners
in Myanmar continued to grow last
month, according to the Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners,
although a slightly lower number
are on trial.
Forty-nine people were charged
with political offences in May, of
whom 41 have been detained, according to the rights group.
At the end of the month, 163
were in prison, up from 157 in April,

while 442 were on trial, down on
453 the previous month.
The majority of the increase
during May was due to the arrest
of 32 people in Rakhine State by
the Tatmadaw for alleged contact
with the Arakan Army. They are
expected to face charges under the
Unlawful Associations Act.
Thomas Kean
News 5
www.mmtimes.com
Residents walk through the middle of Maing Naa IDP camp in Kachin States
Waingmaw township last month. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw
timber, he said, referring to recent Tatmadaw offensives in Mansi township.

The past four years have also been
hard on the IDPs abandoned houses.
They will not be able to move back in
without extensive renovation work. U
Naw Lah, officer-in-charge of Maing
Naa camp, said displaced persons in
camps on the government side are
allowed to check on their property if
they have a recommendation letter
from the camp and a national ID card.
If they dont clear the

mines in the paddy
fields and farmland,
we dare not go
home whatever the
ceasefire agreement
says.
Daw Khun Gyar
Gyan Maing Kaung IDP camp
Some have taken up this option,

but what they find can bring back
painful memories of all they have lost.
Recently, my grandmother went
back to Kazuut village and found that
my house and garden were completely overgrown by the bush, said Daw
Htoot Hsan. It was a pleasure to work
in the garden before 2011. Will we ever
have a chance to go home?
The Kachin Baptist Convention
(KBC) has assumed responsibility for taking caring of residents in
government-controlled areas in Myitkyina, Bhamo, Namhkam, Kutkai,
and Muse, estimating their number
at more than 20,000.

But we fear the number of displaced in the areas controlled by the
KIO, along the Chinese border, exceeds
78,000, said the Reverend Samson
Hkalam, general secretary of the KBC.
To add to their woes, the financial
support for the displaced families is
also in question. Though there is talk
of delay in the provision of assistance
from the international community, the
KBC and the World Food Programme
say there is enough rice, oil and salt,
and an extra K6000 per person a
month is likely to become available,
according to the KBC.
A family could receive more than
K50,000 a month, he said.
Camp residents who live near a
town can supplement their income
through day-labour, but this is harder
to do in remote rural camps, raising
the risk of malnutrition.
In some cases they have only
leaves to eat. We have to do 10 transfusions a day, said a nurse who works at
Maing Naa IDP camp.
While the conflict in Kachin State
and the plight of those affected has
lately been overlooked for other issues ranging from preparations for
this years election to fierce fighting in
the Kokang and the migrant boats in
the Andaman Sea they have not been
entirely forgotten.
In Yangon, activists gathered on
June 6 for a ceremony to mark the end
of the fourth year of the conflict. Much
discussion focused on support for
IDPs, of which the UN estimates there
are 100,000 in Kachin and northern
Shan states.
In the camps, the wait goes on.
Mostly Christians, camp residents
gather every day at 6pm for worship.
We pray for a prompt end to the war
and a return home, Daw Htoot Hsan
said. These are our most earnest
desires.
OF all the barriers faced by people with disabilities, the most

troublesome are social barriers,
participants in a workshop on
the disabled have been told. The
Bahan township event heard a
range of speakers on the need for
change in attitudes.
Policy-making, law enforcement and legislation should be
directed toward breaking down
barriers rooted in traditional attitudes, in an effort to erode the
climate of blame for the victims,
speakers said.
The Association of Myanmar
Disabled Womens Affairs and the
Gender Equality Network jointly
organised the June 3 workshop
to highlight the challenges ahead.
Managing director of the Eden
Centre for Disabled Children in
Yangon, U Hta Oke, said building an inclusive society required
fighting discrimination. Disability is not a private or personal issue, it is a social issue. If we see
diversity as a problem, it is impossible to create inclusiveness.
We all need to change social attitudes on disability and to remove
those barriers, he said.
If there is no inclusiveness,
there is no democracy, he added.
We must change old attitudes
that marginalise people with
disabilities.
The chair of the Association of
Myanmar Disabled Womens Affairs, Daw Nge Nge Aye Maung,
said Myanmar society had long
discriminated against women,
and was particularly oppressive
toward disabled women.
Most people are superstitious. They think a disabled person brings bad luck to the family,
the workplace and the community, she said, adding that disabled
women find it harder to access
education and job opportunities.
Workplace criteria unfairly
limits disabled women who otherwise can work just as well as
anybody else, she said. When
disabled women and disabled
men apply for a job, employers
prefer men.
The co-chair of the Gender
Equality Network, Daw Nan Phyu
Phyu Lin, said it was time to create space and support for access
to education and employment for
women with disabilities instead
of blaming the government and
NGOs.
All development sectors
should adopt gender sensitivity
to reduce gender-based violence
and discrimination, she said.
The workshop, convened to
share research on social policy
and poverty among the disabled,
was organised by the Social Policy
and Poverty Research Group.
Policy group director Mike
Griffiths said a woman with a disability living in a rural area was
40 percent more likely to be poor
than if she lived in an urban area.
As President U Thein Sein
said in his address on poverty reduction and government projects
for development, it is essential
to consider the meaningful participation of women with disabilities, he said.
According to the 2014 census,
2.3 million people, or 4.5pc of
the population, are living with
a disability.
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following Trademark :-
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Used in respect of : Scientific, nautical, surveying, photographic, cinematographic,
optical, weighting, measuring, signalling, checking (supervision),
life-saving and teaching apparatus and instruments; apparatus
and instruments for conducting, switching, transforming,
accumulating, regulating or controlling electricity; apparatus
for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images;
magnetic data carriers, recording discs; compact discs, DVDs
and other digital recording media; mechanisms for coin-operated
apparatus; cash registers, calculating machines, data processing
equipment, computer; computer software; fire-extinguishing
apparatus. (International Class 9)
Advertising; business management; business administration;
office functions. (International Class 35)
Telecommunications. (International Class 38)
Educations; providing of training; entertainment; sporting and
cultural activities. (International Class 41)
Any unauthorized use, imitation, infringements or fraudulent
intentions of the above mark will be dealt with according to law.
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and having its principal office at 4-5-4, Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku,
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4/11255/2014 Intl Class 35 & 4/11256/2014 for Intl Class 41
Used in respect of:Employment agencies; agencies and office work relating to
studying abroad and working holiday; office functions, namely
filing, in particular documents or magnetic tape in Class 35
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or general knowledge, arranging, conducting and organization of
seminars in Class 41.
Any unauthorised use, imitation, infringements or fraudulent
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particular frying pans, saucepans, shallow pans, stew pans, dishes,
cake, tins- Class: 21
under Reg: No. IV/5311/2015 in respect of:Electric radiators; oil-filled radiating heaters; wall convectors;
electric water heater; electric hair dryers; domestic steam generators;
steam generating installations; garment steamers; water purifiers
for household purposes; filters for domestic water purifiers;
ventilators, fans for ventilation; air coolers; air purifying apparatus;
air humidifying apparatus; electric hot plates for cooking; electric
plate warmers; kitchen ranges (ovens); microwave ovens; electric
cooking stoves; gas stoves; induction cooker (portable); electric
frying pans; electric grill pans; electric cooking steamers; electric
pressure cookers; valves for electric pressure cookers; electric food
warmers; electric apparatus for cooking on stone; electric barbecues
grills; gas lighters; electric roasters; electric toasted sandwiches
cooking apparatus; electric hamburgers cooking apparatus; electric
kebab cooking apparatus; cooking apparatus for making naan bread;
electric pancake makers; electric waffle irons; electric yoghurt makers;
electric ice-cream makers; electric multicooker; electric rice cookers;
electric popcorn cookers; electric egg cookers; electric toasters; oven
toaster grill; electric kettles; electric coffee machines; espresso coffee
machines; electric coffee percolators; electric teapots; electric deep
fryer- Class 11
Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said trademark or
other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with according to law.
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Phone: 372416
A chinlone team takes part in the Waso festival in Mandalay on June 5. Photo: Phyo Wai Kyaw
Chinlone festival kicks off in Mandalay

PHYO WAI KYAW
pwkyaw@gmail.com
HLAING KYAW SOE
hlaingkyawsoe85@gmail.com
TEAMS have been flocking in from
all over the world to compete in this
years Waso chinlone festival in Mandalay, organisers say. Competitors
from Canada, Japan, Thailand and
the United States will face off against
sides from throughout the country in

the 60-day festival, which began on
June 3. Altogether 1800 teams are
taking part.
All the well-known teams will
participate, said U Kyaw Thein, secretary of the organising committee.
Chinlone is a traditional sport in
which teams of around five players
keep a cane ball, known as a chinlone, from hitting the ground by
using parts of their body other than

their hands.
The annual festival is being held
for the 87th year, with performances
taking place at a small stadium in
the Mahamuni Pagoda compound
from 9am to midnight daily.
A ceremony paying homage to
52 senior players will be held on the
second full-moon day of Waso, U
Kyaw Thein said.
Experts call for change

of tactics to tackle
human trafficking trade
NYAN LYNN
AUNG
29.nyanlynnaung@gmail.com
FOR Ma Nan, now 18, crossing the

border was simple enough. When she
approached the checkpoint, the broker
from Kengtung in Shan State who had
promised her a job in Thailand gave
money to officers on the Myanmar side
and their car was allowed to pass.
It was only once she was in Thailand that she realised she had been
sold into prostitution. The broker just
said I could get more money working
in Thailand than in my village. They
never told me what kind of job I would
have to do, she said.
In late 2013 she was arrested by
Thai police and sent to a detention
camp. She was finally repatriated to
her village by Myanmars anti-human
trafficking unit two months.
While she has no desire to return to
Thailand after her four-year ordeal, Ma
Nan faces the same problem she did
four years ago: lack of work.
I am not educated and I cant
speak Myanmar language. There are
many people in my village like me. We
have no job opportunities, she told The
Myanmar Times yesterday through an
interpreter. Because of this, most people in my village want to go to Thailand
just like I did.
Ma Nan was speaking at a gathering in Yangon for former victims of human trafficking, at which experts said
that human trafficking remained as
rampant as ever, despite government
attempts to rein in the problem.

Daw Ohmar Ei Ei Chaw, country
program coordinator at the AustraliaAsia Program to Combat Trafficking in
Persons, said familiar dynamics were
driving the trade in persons and a new
approach was necessary.
We cant keep using the same old
procedures. The government has tried
to tackle human trafficking for years
but it hasnt worked. A change in tactics
is needed and unless that happens we
will see little change in future, she said.
2179
People charged with human trafficking

offences between 2006 and May 2015
She said current legal migration

procedures are so complicated they encourage people to opt for illegal routes.
Trafficking victims who are rescued
face long delays before they are repatriated to Myanmar, and are given little
support, such as identity documents or
employment, after they return.
Police working on the issue insist
they are making progress, pointing to
figures that show 3500 victims have
been rescued from 2006 to the end of
May 2015, while more than 2100 people
have been charged with human trafficking-related offences. Another 1000
are on the run.
But given there are at least 2 million
Myanmar working overseas, according

to last years census, and likely many
more, this represents just a fraction of
all trafficking cases over the period.
Police Brigadier General Win Naing
Tun from the police forces anti-human
trafficking unit admitted that police
were struggling to deal with the problem. He said all stakeholders needed to
change their behaviour.
For example, we have already set
up a job-creation department for victims, but they need modern jobs, not
just sewing, he said. We need to think
about what the victims want and try
and create job opportunities to match.
Dr Zin Htwe Si, program manager
at World Vision Myanmar, said the
government needed to do significantly
more to not only assist former trafficking victims but also stop trafficking occurring in the first place.
There are many weaknesses. There
should be better enforcement and also
an investigation into corrupt government officials who are involved in the
trafficking cases, she said.
For the trafficking victims, lack of
suitable employment upon their return
remains the primary complaint.
Ma Moe The, 17, was trafficked as
a 12-year-old to Mae Sot in Thailand,
where she lived with her aunty.
Ten months ago she was arrested by
Thai police while sightseeing around
Thailand, and returned to Myanmar after spending eight months in a migrant
detention centre.
She soon found work in a garment
factory in Yangon but quit because the
job was too hard. I asked the labour
department to find me another job and
they promised that they would, she
said, but I am still waiting.
News 7
www.mmtimes.com
Views
On the border, spite is no answer

NICHOLAS
FARRELLY
nicholas.farrelly@glenlochadvisory.com
HE immediate Rohingya
migration crisis of gangster criminality, vessels
set adrift, people starving
and bodies exhumed is
galvanising action among those who
cant accept such evil. Efforts to avert
these humanitarian tragedies must be
supported.
But we cannot ignore the source of
the problem right here in Myanmar,
where northern Rakhine State has
become inhospitable to its Muslim
population. It does not help that
Rakhine State remains the secondpoorest administrative division of
Myanmar, and lacks almost all social
and physical infrastructure. Seeking
to placate a vocal and sometimes violent Rakhine Buddhist element, the
Myanmar government has disavowed
responsibility for the Rohingya.
The fact that many thousands of
Rohingya voted in Myanmars 2008
constitutional referendum and then
again in the 2010 general election
makes it hard to accept at face value
the claim that they are ineligible for
the privileges granted to the countrys
other ethnic and religious minorities.
What really sets them apart is
their Islamic faith, Bangla language
and physical appearance. They are
judged harshly as foreigners who
can never belong among Myanmars
official national race groups, of which
there are 135.
Right now, Myanmar is preparing
for what we anticipate will be elections
late in the year. A wide range of other
promising economic, cultural and
strategic developments are also gaining momentum. This means that the
overall picture of change in Myanmar
cant be painted merely in the bleak
hues of the Rohingya crisis. There is
justifiable exuberance about what the
end of military dictatorship has meant
for the countrys 51.5 million people.
Yet something is going awry:
spiteful nationalism is mainstream,
anti-Muslim talk is commonplace
and old ethnic boundaries are being
policed with renewed vigour. Many
wonder about the lack of support
for the Rohingya from Myanmars
Rescued migrants arrive at Mee Tike temporary refugee camp in Rakhine State near the border with Bangladesh on June 4. Photo: AFP
political leaders. All of them, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, are
merely responding to popular sentiment, and in a nascent democracy
the electoral mathematics is an
overwhelming consideration.
Who is responsible for fixing this
situation? It has long been clear that
neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh has
More than 1 million

Buddhists live on the
Bangladesh side of
the border, and we
guess that more than
1 million Muslims
are in Myanmars
northern Rakhine
State. Usually this
story is only half told.
any desire to absorb the Rohingya

population, with both claiming that
the other must shoulder the burden.
The Rohingya are thus left to bounce
around, from insecure camps huddled
around Coxs Bazar to open-air containment sites in northern Rakhine
State. This is a decades-long game of
pass-the-parcel, with too many lives
destroyed.
With so-called pull factors in
mind, both Bangladesh and Myanmar are deeply ambivalent about
international humanitarian responses
that could entice further population
movement. It is this double bind that
has trapped the Rohingya: unwanted
in Myanmar but discouraged from
seeking alternative opportunities
anywhere else.
A frenzy of half-information makes
it hard to disentangle the duelling
narratives, especially now that the internet raises tempers so quickly. Both
Myanmar and Bangladesh blame the
other for waves of illegal migration
and yet the fact, almost never acknowledged, is that both sides might
be right.
Over time people have crossed
what is now the Myanmar-Bangladesh border too many times to count.

More than 1 million Buddhists live
on the Bangladesh side of the border,
and we guess that more than 1 million
Muslims are in Myanmars northern
Rakhine State. Usually, this story is
only half told.
It matters that Myanmars own
economic, political and cultural transformation remains far from complete.
The country is still too poor, anxious
and insular to embrace the Rohingya,
especially while other issues require
such constant attention.
And while we may not endorse the
virulent nationalism that has taken
root, we should seek to understand
its social context. History has many
tutorials in how fearful people lash
out against their weaker neighbours.
But what can be done? The people
of Bangladesh and Myanmar should
be given a chance to understand that
their countries share a zone of cultural interchange, with Buddhists and
Muslims on both sides of the border.
Their mutual ignorance is a recipe
for hatred and violence; it should
not be allowed to fester. With todays
communication tools and our World

Wide Web there are no excuses for
surrendering the online battleground
to bigots and their cheer squads.
A big investment in better information about how the borderlands
actually work, how criminal gangs
prey on the vulnerable, and how
Myanmar and Bangladesh can work
together would be a good start toward
generating the necessary goodwill.
Bangladesh and Myanmar could
also jointly make it clear to the region
that their respective domestic challenges need a serious and sustained
international response.
They cant do this alone and
should be able to negotiate favourable
terms with donors from near and far.
In their shared borderlands it would
be cheaper to do something effective
in the short term than to wait for
things to really get out of hand.
Nicholas Farrelly is director of the
Australian National Universitys Myanmar
Studies Centre. This is an edited version
of his remarks at the 29th Asia Pacific
Roundtable held in Kuala Lumpur last
week.
8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 8, 2015
Business
FEATURE
KYAUKPYU, RAKHINE STATE
Labourers make do at the docks

SU PHYO WIN
suphyo1990@gmail.com
ONE two three
It is the end of a long day of work
for 14-year-old Ma Thida Aye. She has
been offloading bags of cement and
cases of beer from ships berthed at
Ngalapwe port since sunrise, taking
in K100 for each bag she offloads and
carries inland to a depot.
The managers give her tokens to
keep track of her wages, which she
counts out at the end of the day to see
how she has done.
Usually, she takes in K3000 to
K4000 a day from moving goods like
cement and rice bags from the jetty to
the warehouses, or more rarely in the
other direction back to ships.
She said she has been a labourer at
the jetty since her father died a couple years before, eager to make money
to help out her poor family, including
three younger siblings. She is far from
the only young woman in the business,
as others join her in the walk back and
forth along the jetty.
Are you a student, or do you have
a job? she asked reporters, keenly eyeing their electronic gizmos.
In much of Myanmar, workers
start young. Ma Thida Aye is one
of a huge number of the countrys
young people that have joined the
workforce. The 2014 census results
released last month said 12.1 percent of 10- to 14-year-olds surveyed
are labour participants. Given there
are 5.1 million people in the 10-to14 age range, according to the census, it means there are over 600,000
young people in Myanmar currently
at work.
In the next age bracket, aged 15 to
19, over 50pc of census respondents
said they are labour force participants.
Given there are about 4.5 million 15- to
19-year-olds in the country, this means
about 2.3 million of them are at work.
Ma Thida Aye is careful with her
hard-earned income. Although most
of it goes directly to her family, she
also often spends K200 at the end of
the day for Rakhines traditional rice
noodle soup, mixing in extra spicy chilis and pepper.
I am happy I am able to give money to my mother, and there are many
friends here who are like me, she said.
It is hard for us uneducated people to
get a job.
Jetty labourers unload vital supplies off of a docked ship at Ngalapwe port. Photos: Thiri Lu
Ngalapwe port is about 2 miles (3.2

kilometres) from Kyaukpyu town, also
on Ramree island in Rakhine State.
The area is set for further development, with an ambitious special economic zone slated to be built nearby.
Although there are other landing facilities on the island, Ngalapwe is more
protected from storms that frequently
blow in from the Bay of Bengal.
It was a hive of activity when
visited by The Myanmar Times.
Nearly 80 women jetty labourers
between the ages of 12 and 55 are
at the port to ferry cement bags off
a ship, slated for Kyaukpyu area
construction projects. They also
cart off consumer goods for distribution around the area and further
north in Rakhine State. Nearby, a
I am happy I am
able to give money
to my mother, and
there are many
friends here who are
like me. It is hard
for us uneducated
people to get a job.
Ma Thida Aye
Jetty labourer
man tries vainly to shoo off a pack

of stray dogs. Groups of labourers
crowd around the different vessels
or collect payments from turning in
their tally tokens.
Another jetty labourer, Daw Aung
Thein Hla, said her daily earnings
rise as high as K7000 a day if a large
cement-carrying vessel puts in at the
dock.
My husband is also a jetty labourer. We cant get good-salary jobs
with a certain level of education, said
the 38-year-old mother of three. So I
work and I allow all my children to go
to school.
Working at the jetty is one of the
few local opportunities open to people of either gender. While there is
no job security and work appears
on an ad hoc business, Daw Aung

Thein Hla said she otherwise has
limited prospects.
This is the only way to make
the living, to carry heavy bags with
strength, she said. And women are
allowed only at this Ngalapwe Jetty.
The others only use men.
Local workers like Daw Aung Thein
Hla say they look forward to further
development of the Kyaukpyu special
economic zone and deep-sea port project, though for now, they struggle to
earn a daily wage.
Daw Aung Thein Hla earns up to
K7000 on the good days, but if no ship
arrives, there is no work.
We know very little about projects
going on in our town, she said. Just
rumours.
100
Myanmar labour force

participation rates,
by age brackets.
Source: 2014 Census
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Both sexes
Labourers prepare to haul cement bags to a nearby warehouse.
Male
Female
90 +
85 - 89
80 - 84
75 - 79
70 - 74
65 - 69
60 - 64
55 - 59
50 - 54
45 - 49
40 - 44
35 - 39
30 - 34
25 - 29
20 - 24
15 - 19
10 - 14
10
BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | jeremymullins7@gmail.com
Hackathon tackles
recently released
census data
Coal power still popular in

emerging markets as Europe
ditches the fuel
BUSINESS 10
BUSINESS 12
Exchange Rates (June 7 close)

Currency
Euro
Malaysia Ringitt
Singapore Dollar
Thai Baht
US Dollar
Buying
K1228
K297
K813
K33
K1112
Selling
K1249
K308
K827
K35
K1114
Businesses weigh
impact of boat crisis
JEREMY MULLINS
jeremymullins7@gmail.com
THE international spotlight has been
trained on the migrant boat crisis,
with Myanmars policy toward Muslim residents of Rakhine State coming under global scrutiny.
The states Rohingya, who are generally called Bengalis locally, have
been at the centre of tension, with
their treatment criticised by some
members of the international diplomatic community. Yet businesspeople
say that while they are closely following the crisis, it does not directly affect most Myanmar business and is
not leading them to alter immediate
decisions.
I dont want to make businessmen sound like they dont have a soul
they dont like it, said one international businessperson in an interview.
But I do not believe it affects
their decisions in Myanmar.
The boat crisis came to the international forefront last month, when
several thousand people were stuck
at sea, unable to land in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Myanmar has
been criticised for its poor treatment
of the people at home in Rakhine
State, though it has said repeatedly
that it is not the source of most people fleeing, blaming human smugglers for the situation.
While the debate continues on
an international scale, with ASEAN
holding emergency meetings and
various international organisations
weighing in, businesses are taking a
more stand-off approach.
The businessperson said that
while from a personal standpoint
he is concerned, the investments he
oversees are far from the crisis area
and unlikely to be directly affected.
While the Rohingya issue is colouring international perception of
the country, it so far has remained
contained to Rakhine State, far from
the commercial capital of Yangon or
regional trading centres such as Mandalay and Mawlamyine.
April the latest month with
available statistics was also a banner month for approved foreign direct investment. Although the Directorate of Investment and Company
Administrations figures are lumpy
and tend to vary considerably from
month to month, over US$2.2 billion
in investment was approved in April,
over one-third of the $6 billion goal
for the entire 2016 fiscal year.
The administrations figures show
approved investment of about $8 billion in the 2015 fiscal year and $4.1
billion in the 2014 fiscal year.
Sean Turnell, an expert in Myanmars economy at Australias Macquarie University, said that as somewhat unpalatable as it is, he thinks
it is indeed the case that the crisis in
Rakhine State will do little to deter
foreign investment in specific ways.
But while the crisis alone may not
be preventing many international
businesses, it does add to the countrys overall risk.
However, I think it will have
an effect in helping form the background against which foreign investors view the country. The narrative
which, until recently, was so highly
positive the new Myanmar, the potential new tiger, the story of redemption, renewal, etc. Its a reminder that
some of the countrys big problems,
its politics, remain problematic and
unsolved. All against an environment

more broadly of growing risk, he
said.
While the crisis, centred in Rakhine State, may not directly affect
international business in the rest
of the country, it does have an outsized effect on the local area, which
is already one of Myanmars poorest states. Government officials have
pushed for more investment to the
area, saying it would help to end local
poverty and lead to development.
While the area is in need of investment, businesses are likely to avoid
Rakhine if they are able to, and face
significant hurdles if they do operate
in the area.
You are unlikely to see any new
investment in Rakhine for the time
being if it is from a sector which has
the choice of investing elsewhere, for
example job-creating garment factories or beach tourism, said Vicky
Bowman, director at the Myanmar
Centre for Responsible Business.
The investment currently entering Rakhine is in the natural resource
sector, such as offshore gas, because
companies have no choice but to go
to where the resources are thought
to be. This kind of investment creates few of the jobs which are badly
needed in the area, she said.
Any company which is choosing
to invest in or offshore Rakhine State
has the issue of intercommunal tensions at the top of their risk register,
she said.
The tension could potentially impact the security of staff and subcontractors, particularly employees from
the subcontinent. It also impacts
their ability to engage with communities and employ workers in a nondiscriminatory way.
How the company goes about its
business can also bring it reputational damage either in Myanmar or outside Myanmar if these issues are not
handled carefully, said Ms Bowman.
While businesses are reluctant to
become directly involved, some say
that companies have a moral responsibility to directly address human
rights issues.
Matthew Smith, executive director
of Fortify Rights, said the ongoing climate of human rights abuses and outsized military influence has affected
foreign investment.
Ethnic cleansing, war crimes and
crimes against humanity arent good
for business, he said. If Myanmar
were in a state of relative peace
without ethnic cleansing, war crimes
and impunity I think wed see a lot
more foreign investment overall.
In short, human rights abuses
are not only inherently problematic,
theyre also profoundly bad for Myanmars development, he said.
Mr Smith said that economic development is not a panacea for all
social ills, adding investors have a
responsibility to ensure their activities dont contribute to human rights
abuses. He also pushed for more direct action by the growing number of
international investors entering the
country.
Investors cant pretend Myanmar
is the next great frontier while ignoring international crimes happening
under their noses, but thats what
many are doing, he said.
Any investor in Myanmar
should be actively promoting human rights. Human rights are everyones business.
The heritage Kyeemyindaing train station is due for a facelift. Photo: Zarni Phyo
Circle line upgrade

on track with
Kyeemyindaing tender
CLARE
HAMMOND
clarehammo@gmail.com
MYANMA Railways has invited

companies to apply to redevelop
Kyeemyindaing Station and the
surrounding area. This is the third
station upgrade tender to be issued
as part of an ambitious project to
modernise Yangons circular railway line.
The tender, published on June 5
by state-owned media, invites reputable local, international or joint
venture developers and investors to
submit expressions of interest to design, build and operate the 2.63-hectare (6.49-acre) site. The deadline
for applications is August 5.
The winning company will renovate the station and build multi-storey commercial and office complexes, hotels, and serviced apartments,
according to the notice.
The invitation to redevelop
Kyeemyindaing Station is the
third to be issued in the past year,
following tenders to redevelop

Yangon Central Railway Station
and Pazundaung Station. None of
the tender winners have yet been
announced.
The Kyeemyindaing Station
building is listed as a heritage
structure by Yangon City Development Committee, as is Yangon Central Railway Station.
In both cases, developers will be
expected to preserve the original
architecture of the building, in addition to building new commercial
and retail space on the surrounding
land. Railway employees who live
beside the stations will be moved
to make way for the new developments, as will nearby businesses,
schools and temples.
As congestion threatens to become a defining feature of Yangon,
the government has announced several large-scale infrastructure projects, in addition to smaller schemes
such as widening the roads and attempting to repair drainage systems.
In 2014, only 1.1 percent of journeys in Yangon were made by rail,
according to Takashi Shoyama,
team leader of the Comprehensive
Urban Transport Plan of Greater
Yangon at the Japan International

Cooperation Agency.
Around 11.3 million trips are
taken in Yangon each day, according to JICA figures. Of these, 4.78
million are made on foot, 3.23 million by bus and passenger truck,
1.47 million by bicycle and 71,000
by rail.
Trains are old and slow they
take three hours to complete a circuit
of the track and travel at an average
of 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) per hour.
However, once the upgrade is complete, JICA estimates that by 2040
the circular railway will account for
30pc of public transport, reducing
pressure on the citys roads.
Mitsubishi Corporation previously told The Myanmar Times that
it plans to work with Hitachi Group
to upgrade the track, though a deal
has not been signed. The cost of rebuilding the track to support modern commuter trains is estimated at
around US$2 billion.
Much of this is likely to be
funded by JICA, which is reportedly in discussions with the
Ministry of Rail Transportation,
though nothing has yet been publicly announced.
Kyat drops against dollar

TIN YADANAR HTUN
yadanar.mcm@gmail.com
THE kyat has taken another dive
against the US dollar, dropping
in value to near K1200 on local
exchanges yesterday.
The depreciation comes as the
Central Bank of Myanmar lowered
its daily reference rate to K1105
per US dollar on June 5, the first
time the official rate has dropped
past K1100 this year.
It is illegal to trade outside of a
band of plus or minus 0.8 percent
of the Central Banks reference

rate, though some traders say the
official rate has not kept pace with
the market rate.
One downtown currency trader
said that because banks and larger
institutions are now following the
official rates, they are reluctant to
sell dollars at the official exchange
rate, meaning people are having
trouble acquiring dollars.
People cant buy dollars at the
banks, they must buy them on the
black market, he said.
The price of the kyat is falling
not only against the dollar but also

other currencies like the baht, yuan
and euro.
He added that business has also
dropped off with the sudden depreciation. Last week, the market
rate for dollar-kyat was closer to
K1130.
One merchant at Mingalar Market said the weakening kyat is making business difficult for importers.
Some shops are closing because the weakening kyat makes
foreign goods more expensive, he
said.
TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that Marriott Worldwide Corporation
a company incorporated in Maryland, U. S. A. and having
its principal office at 10400 Fernwood Road, Bethesda, MD
20817, U.S.A. is the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the following
trademarks: -
(Reg: No. IV/11776/2011)
MARRIOTT
(Reg: No. IV/11777/2011)

The above two trademarks are in respect of:Hotel services; restaurant, catering, bar and lounge services; resort
and lodging services; provision of general purpose facilities for
meetings conferences and exhibitions; provision of banquet and
social function facilities for special occasions; and reservation
services for hotel accommodations Class: 43
Any fraudulent imitations or unauthorized use of the said
trademarks or other infringements whatsoever will be dealt with
according to law.
for Marriott Worldwide Corporation
Phone: 372416
TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
a company organized under the laws of Japan and having its
principal office at 1-1, Minami-Aoyama 2-chome, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 107-8556 Japan is the Owner and Sole Proprietor of the
following trademarks:-
REVERE
(Reg: No. IV/1627/2015)
FIRESTORM
(Reg: No. IV/1628/2015)
SUPER BLACKBIRD
(Reg: No. IV/1629/2015)
SPORTRAX
(Reg: No. IV/1630/2015)
PACIFIC COAST
(Reg: No. IV/1631/2015)
DYLAN
(Reg: No. IV/1632/2015)
FUNMOTO
(Reg: No. IV/1633/2015)
CHALY
(Reg: No. IV/1634/2015)
RVF
(Reg: No. IV/1635/2015)
VETRO
(Reg: No. IV/1636/2015)

in respect of: Motorcycles and their parts and fittings; automobiles and their
parts and fittings. Class: 12
Any fraudulent imitation or unauthorized use of the said
according to law.
for HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
Phone: 372416
10 Business
Civic tech hackathon

takes on census data
CATHERINE TRAUTWEIN
newsroom@mmtimes.com
ON this years National Day of Civic
Hacking, over 50 people came to
downtown innovation lab Phandeeyar
to make recently released census data
more digestible.
The day-long hacking marathon
came on the heels of the Union governments online publication of census data from last years enumeration.
While access to that information only
requires a few clicks, taking in whats
on Excel data sheets gets complicated
which is where hackers can help.
At the June 6 event, which lasted
for the working day, loose groups
worked on different projects, including an application program interface
(API) for calling up census data. Some
cleaned the information improving
its machine-readability while others
built infographics representing situations such as disability rates by age
group in one region.
Phandeeyar founder David Madden, whose organisation Code for
Change Myanmar put on the countrys
first two hackathons, said plans for
a civic hackathon last year had been
scrapped due to data constraints.
We had to redesign that first
hackathon because we just didnt
have any good data to work with, he
said. And now here we are 15 months
later and theres this data set ... which
has some really, really important information in it.
The objective of today is to make
that data more accessible and more
easily understood for the rest of the
country.
Though having more information
about whats happening in Myanmar
across issues and sectors such as economics, housing conditions, education
and migration benefits both people
and policy-makers, a data onslaught
can leave those attempting to analyse
it with their heads spinning.
Data can be overwhelming when
theres so much of it, said World Bank
senior poverty economist Reena Badiani-Magnusson. How do you portray
stories about Myanmar?
The census data especially, put
online in so many Excel documents,
makes for a difficult time pursuing a
particular direction.
Taking a closer look at census data. Photo: Catherine Trautwein
When you look at the tabulations,

the enormous number of columns, the
enormous number of rows, theres so
many cells of data that you might find
yourself going a little bit cross-eyed,
Ms Badiani-Magnusson said. You
need to work out how to use it, and
thats the hard part.
The census has made an impressive
amount of information available, and
Ms Badiani-Magnusson said that the
project had widened the possibilities
for questions and analysis in Myanmar which can lead to action.
This is how we use the data as we
look at ... [sectors] and think, How can
we use the census data to inform what
we know about Myanmar and the kind
of programs that we run? she said.
Data, as was said by David before, seems dry ... but its people like
you with your creativity, your way of
adapting, to make this data into something that is alive, into something that
brings colour and purpose to a process
of development, said UNFPA program
specialist Petra Righetti, addressing
the crowd in opening remarks at the
event.
At the end of last month, the Union
government of Myanmar released data
gathered from Myanmars first census
in more than 30 years. The project,
supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), cost more than
US$60 million and took longer than
three years to complete. The UNFPA
said that next steps include spreading
information and crafting thematic

reports on sectors such as education,
fertility and disability. Information on
religion, ethnicity, occupation and industry remains outstanding.
With the datas publication, the
floodgates have opened and on
June 6, those gathered at Phandeeyar
helped direct the flows course.
I see that the census data has a major importance for all the people here
in Myanmar. And then I see the government has released the data in raw data
tables, said 17-year-old student and
hackathon participant Ko Phyu Min
Thu. Its clear no one can easily assess
or recognise whats happening.
We need people developers and
other contributors to make apps
or websites or 3D maps that will let
people access the information. I came
here to contribute.
As hackathon director Ko Yan
Naung Oak spoke with The Myanmar
Times, two of the events participants
walked over to display the progress
they had made in the morning hours.
We just want to show off, Ma
Phyu Hninn Nyein joked. This is the
preliminary thing that were doing.
On her laptop was an interactive
Excel document that broke down population data into charts a visual representation of information that hadnt
been available days prior.
We were hoping if one of these
things came out of today it would be a
success, Ko Yan Naung Oak said.
PHNOM PENH
Cambodia takes second look at FDI

AIMING to provide quality information on the flow of investment into
Cambodia, the National Bank of Cambodia has announced it will launch a
detailed survey of foreign investors.
Speaking at a signing ceremony in
Phnom Penh last week, Chea Serey,
director general at the National Bank,
said the lack of detailed data relating
to foreign direct investment (FDI) was
a barrier for the decision-making of
both future businesses eyeing Cambodia and its policymakers.
The statistics [from the survey]
will be used as crucial input in setting
up economic policy, preparation of the
strategic development plan and other
research relating to globalisation, she
said.
Through the 2015 FDIS [Foreign
Direct Investment Survey] and other
surveys in the future, the National
Bank of Cambodia will be able to keep
track and measure the flow of value of
foreign direct investment into Cambodia and be able to check the benefit of
the foreign direct investment on the
economy, for instance the transfer of
skills and technology, she said.
The survey aims to understand
the economic value foreign investors

will bring to the local economy. It will
capture detailed business information
such as the skills and technology companies will offer, as well as the industry-specific intentions of investors.
New projects registered with the
Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC) and existing investors already in Cambodia will both be surveyed under the new project.
ANZ Royal CEO Grant Knuckey
welcomed the initiative he said would
support the business community.
I think various government agencies have consistently shown an increasing desire to get direct feedback
from both existing and prospective
investors, and this sounds like another good step in that direction, he
said.
The CDC, the governments authority to approve foreign investment, releases some information on
approved projects, but provides little
detail other than the size and origin
of the funding.
This lack of information limits
the ability of economic policymaking, according to Stephen Higgins,
founder and managing partner of

Cambodia-based investment firm
Mekong Strategic Partners.
The CDC data provides information on approvals given by the
CDC. I dont believe it shows what
has happened in terms of actual investment flows. We know for example that quite a few projects are announced, but dont actually happen,
or dont happen for several years,
Mr Higgins said.
Also, not all FDI will be approved
by the CDC. For example, if an MFI
raises additional capital from foreign shareholders, thats unlikely
to appear in CDC figures, but it is
still investment into Cambodia, he
added.
For the NBC, and economic policymakers, its important to know
what the flows of foreign capital
are into the economy each year, and
which sectors they are going into.
The NBC, in partnership with
the National Institute of Statistics,
kicked off the project last week and
expects the intial survey to be completed by the end of September.
The Phnom Penh Post
International Business 11
www.mmtimes.com
New Delhi
Unsafe Nestle noodles off Indias shelves

INDIAS food safety regulator on June 5
banned Nestle from making and selling
its hugely popular Maggi instant noodles, calling them unsafe and hazardous after tests found they contained
excessive lead.
The Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India (FSSAI) said it was
ordering Nestle to halt manufacturing
after tests by some states found lead
levels above statutory limits.
Nestle, which denies the charges
and says the noodles are safe to eat, had
already announced it was pulling the
product from sale as it seeks to contain
growing safety concerns.
An FSSAI statement said it was ordering Nestle India to withdraw and
recall all the nine approved variants
of its Maggi Instant Noodles from the
market ... and stop further production.
It said tests had found the noodles
to be unsafe and hazardous for human
consumption.
Nestle, which says the lead content
in its Maggi noodles is well below the
limit, had already announced it would
withdraw the product from sale as it
tries to contain the growing scandal.
On June 5, its global chief executive
Paul Bulcke said the product was safe
for consumption.
We decided to take off the noodles
from the shelves as there was confusion about the safety, he said at a
BaNgkok
Thailand
plans to
sell more
rice stock
THE Thai government plans to call
bids for another 2.6 million tonnes
of high-quality rice from state stocks
between now and August while transferring low-quality and substandard
grains to the industrial sector.
Duangporn Rodphaya, directorgeneral of the Foreign Trade Department, said with new output from the
main crop coming after August, the
June-August period was the right time
for the government to call two or three
bids for its rice stocks, starting with 1
million tonnes this month.
Since Prime Minister Prayut Chano-cha took office, the Commerce Ministry has called six bids to speed up
disposal of 18 million tonnes of state
stocks accumulated from previous rice
pledging schemes.
The ministry has sold 2.1 million tonnes, fetching 22.4 billion baht
(US$734 million) so far. Remaining
stocks include 2.6 million tonnes of
high-quality rice ready to sell and 13 to
14 million tonnes of substandard grades.
The Commerce Ministry will have
surveyor companies inspect this portion of rice to determine whether it
can be used as human or animal food.
If neither, it will be sold to ethanol or
alcohol factories.
Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula said the government
expected to take a month to decide
whether to sell the low-quality and rotten grains to the industrial sector.
Of existing rice stocks, the government now controls 10 million tonnes
of low-quality grade-C rice, with rotten rice making up 2 million tonnes,
he said. The decision will be based on
whether the government can secure a
good price.
Previously the private sector proposed purchasing 2 million tonnes
of rotten rice at 5 baht a kilogram,
but that offer was too low, Mr Pridiyathorn said. The Bangkok Post
We are working
with the authorities
to clear up this
confusion.
Paul Bulcke
Nestle chief executive
press conference in New Delhi.

The safety of our consumers is
paramount. We are working with the
authorities to clear up this confusion.
At least six states including Indias
capital have announced temporary
bans on the sale of the instant noodles
in the past few days, after officials said
test results showed high lead levels.
The FSSAI said the presence of lead
beyond permissible levels could make
the product unsafe and hazardous, citing risks of damage to the kidneys and
the nervous system.
Activists in the eastern city of Kolkata on June 4 burned packets of the
noodles in protest, underscoring the
scale of public anger.
Nestle has been selling its Maggi
brand for over three decades in India,
and has 80 percent of the countrys instant noodle market.
Nestles Indian instant noodles have been pulled from the shelves. Photo: AFP
The product marketed as a quick

and healthy snack grew increasingly
popular as more and more Indians
moved away from their homes to study
or seek work.
It emerged as one of Indias five
most trusted brands in a consumer survey conducted last year.
Several celebrities have endorsed
Maggi over the years, including Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
The scare met with a mix of outrage
and disappointment in India, where it

was one of the top trending topics on
Twitter on June 5.
Many users welcomed the ban and
the best selling novelist Chetan Bhagat
tweeted that Maggi was junk being sold
as emotional nectar to Indians daily.
Others defended the product and
said they had been eating it for decades
with no ill effects.
My work often involves travel
and odd hours, which over the years
made Maggi my favourite snack, said

30-year-old IT worker Puneet Raheja.
I think that this controversy will
soon blow over.
The scare began when food inspectors in Uttar Pradesh said they had
found high lead levels in two dozen
Maggi noodle packets during routine
testing, along with the flavour enhancer
MSG (monosodium glutamate), which
is not listed in the ingredients.
The state last weekend filed a criminal complaint against Nestle India over
the findings, while a separate legal petition was filed against Bollywood stars
who have advertised the noodles.
Nestle has said it does not use MSG
in its Maggi products sold in India, but
that glutamate is a naturally occurring
substance and may be present in some
of the ingredients.
The FSSAI said Nestle had disputed
the conclusions on the basis that the
noodles and flavouring were tested
separately, even though they are consumed together. Shares in Nestle India,
the subsidiary of the Swiss giant, fell 9
percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange
on June 3 as the crisis escalated.
The company, which markets a
huge range of food items from Nescafe
instant coffee to KitKat bars, said Maggi noodles would return to the market
as soon as the current situation is
clarified. AFP
12 International Business
THE MYANMAR TIMES June 8, 2015
Paris
Emerging markets buck coal trend

COMPANIES, banks and investment
funds, primarily European, have been
coming out in recent weeks with announcements they will halt investments in coal, a new front in efforts to
reduce use of the highly polluting fuel
that faces a battle against the hunger
for power in emerging markets.
The latest move came on May 5,
when Norways parliament voted to
force its sovereign wealth fund the
worlds biggest to pull out of firms
that are heavily involved with coal.
Earlier in the week, French energy
group Total announced it would withdraw from its coal activities, notably
in South Africa where it is involved
in the production and sale of the fuel
which is important for electricity in
numerous countries around the world.
In May it was French insurer Axa
that said it would pull out 500 million
euros (US$555 million) it had invested
in energy companies that generate
over half of their turnover from producing or burning coal.
French bank Credit Agricole followed by saying it would cut funding
for coal mining projects.
Even the Church of England, which
manages some 12.4 billion euros in investments, said it would divest some
12 million (US$18.3 million) it had in
companies that generated more than
10 percent of their revenue from coal
or oil tar sands.
The announcements are an important development in efforts to reduce
the output of greenhouse gasses that
are causing global warming.
However it will be difficult to counter the fact that emerging market nations, particularly China, rely heavily on coal for meeting their growing
need for electricity.
Coal accounted for 73pc of the electricity production in China at the end
of the last year.
The International Energy Agency
estimated in December that coal demand will continue to grow by an
average of 2.1pc through 2019, even if
this is slower than the 3.3pc average
recorded in 2010-2013.
We have heard many pledges
and policies aimed at mitigating
climate change, but over the next
five years they will mostly fail to
arrest the growth in coal demand,
IEA executive director Maria van
Activists protest in front of the Manila office of construction and mining company DMCI on World Environment Day. Photo: AFP
der Hoeven said at the time.

Even if Chinese authorities want to
reduce coal use to improve air quality,
the IEA estimated that China would
account for three-fifths of the increase
in coal demand through 2019.
The country has announced 500
gigawatts of coal-fired power stations
in the years to come, said Nathalie
Desbrosses, head of energy market research at Enerdata.
That is the equivalent of more than
500 nuclear reactors.
Other emerging market nations are
following on Chinas heels.
India, which is investing massively
to expand its electricity output, saw
coal use jump by 11pc last year after
rising by nearly 7pc in 2013.
Last year it passed the United
States in coal consumption by volume to account for 74pc of electricity

generation.
Increasing reluctance by Western
banks to fund coal mining projects
has failed to curb Indias coal drive.
Earlier this year Indias Adani
Group brushed aside a decision by a
dozen European and US banks not
to fund huge coal industry projects
in Australias Galilee Basin near the
Great Barrier Reef, saying it had no
bearing on the company.
In addition to Asian emerging
markets, demand for coal is expected
to increase in Japan and South Korea
due to new power plants coming on
line.
Although the contribution that coal
makes to energy security and access to
CaPe Town
energy is undeniable, I must emphasise

once again that coal use in its current
form is simply unsustainable, said Mr
van der Hoeven.
A recent study published in the
journal Nature said that over 80 percent of coal reserves must be left untouched until 2050 to meet the UN
target of limiting warming to 2.0 degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial Revolution levels to save Earths climate
from potentially catastrophic damage.
Price continues to play in coals
favour as mining companies have cut
production costs.
So far experiments in a number of
countries to put a price on carbon in
an effort to harness market forces to
encourage efficiency and use of lesspolluting fuels have largely failed.
But six energy companies, which

usually oppose carbon pricing, in the
past week publicly endorsed such
schemes.
We firmly believe that carbon
pricing will discourage high carbon
options and reduce uncertainty that
will help stimulate investments in
the right low carbon technologies
and the right resources at the right
pace, said the chief executives of
BG Group, BP, Eni, Royal Dutch
Shell, Statoil and Total in a joint
letter.
The call by companies came as efforts were under way to breathe life
into talks aimed at reaching a deal on
a new UN climate pact ahead of a crucial conference in Paris in December.
AFP
new York
High hopes for African free trade Avon had doorbell rung
THE launch of a free trade agreement
by three African economic blocs in
Egypt this week will be an important
step toward a potentially game-changing common market spanning the continent, supporters say.
The deal between the East African
Community, the Southern African Development Community, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa will create a market of 26 countries with a population of 625 million
and gross domestic product of more
than US$1 trillion.
The Tripartite Free Trade Area
(TFTA) will be inaugurated at a summit
of heads of state and government on
June 10 in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt after
four years of negotiations to establish
a framework for tariff preferences and
other commitments. The launch of the
TFTA is a significant milestone for the
African continent, the South African
government said.
We believe that this sends a powerful message that Africa is committed to
its economic integration agenda and in
creating a conducive environment for
trade and investment.
The move was welcomed by business leaders at the World Economic
Summit for Africa in Cape Town last
week, with participants highlighting

the fact that just 12 percent of African
countries total trade is with each other
compared to some 55pc in Asia and
70pc in Europe.
The tripartite trade agreement is
really important as a first step for Africa ... which then can engage with the
European Union and others on a global
basis, Michael Rake, BT Group chair
and a co-chair of the forum, said.
Africas share of global trade stands
at around 3pc.
Boosting trade has long been an ambition of the African Union and backers
of the latest move are aware of scepti-
We believe that this

sends a powerful
message that
Africa is committed
to its economic
integration agenda.
south african government
cism surrounding its prospects.

I think Africa will surprise the
world, Fatima Haram Acyl, the African
Unions commissioner for trade and industry, said at the WEF.
Were going to have our continental
free trade area.
British colonialist Cecil Rhodes originally dreamt of unifying Africa from
Cape to Cairo in the 19th Century under imperial rule from London a far
cry for the diverse group of nations that
will make up the Tripartite Free Trade
Area.
Member states will range from relatively developed economies such as
South Africa and Egypt to countries including Angola, Ethiopia and Mozambique, which are seen as having huge
potential growth.
The United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development said in a 2013
report that one reason for weak intraAfrican trade is that the focus has been
more on the elimination of trade barriers than the development of capacity.
If African governments want to
achieve their objective of boosting
intra-African trade, they have to create more space for the private sector
to play an active role in the integration
process, the report said. AFP
from Bulgaria in hoax

US regulators say the hoax that whipsawed Avon Products last month was
hatched by a man in Bulgaria who had
fooled Wall Street twice before with
similar ruses.
Avon shares surged 20 percent May
14 after a regulatory filing purported
to show a bid three times Avons stock
price. Avon said there was no such offer, and the stock fell to earth.
Nedko Nedev, 37, hoodwinked the
stock market from Sofia, the SEC said.
Over the past three years, he allegedly
did the same thing with Tower Group
International and Rocky Mountain
Chocolate Factory. Each time, he
bought shares just before sham entities filed fake takeover announcements on the Securities and Exchange
Commissions public filing system, the
regulator said.
The Avon release contained typos,
extra spaces and even two different
names for the faux-private equity firm,
PTG Capital Partners. Still, Mr Nedev
managed to make US$5000 off the
scheme, according to the SEC.
It is highly unlikely that Nedevs
trading was mere coincidence, the
agency said in a lawsuit filed last week
in Manhattan federal court. There is no

indication that PTG Capital is a legitimate company organized for any other
reason than the stock manipulation.
The SEC described a more sophisticated scam than many suspected at
first .
On May 14, PTG Capital filed a
dummy release claiming to have made
a tender offer for Avon, and volume in
the beauty products company spiked
448pc in one day. PTG, to the extent
it actually exists, had gained access to
the SECs EDGAR system around April
21, the agency said.
Almost exactly a year earlier, on
May 13, 2014, an entity called Euroins
Insurance Group issued a bogus release claiming it had offered to buy
Tower Group, sending shares surging
32pc, the agency said.
And on December 28, 2012, a firm
calling itself PST Capital announced
what turned to be a make-believe offer
for Rocky Mountain Chocolate, and its
shares jumped 23pc after the close of
trading, the SEC said.
Mr Nedev was behind them all, the
SEC claimed. He earned $23,368 on the
Tower Group offer, it said. Bloomberg
14 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 8, 2015
15
World
WORLD EDITOR: Kayleigh Long
SEOUL
Turkey heads
to the polls in
key elections
Indias unspoken
asbestos
problem
WORLD 16
WORLD 17
HUBEI, CHINA
DHAKA
S Korea moves to curb MERS spread
Thousands have citizenship resolved
SOUTH Korea reported its fifth death

from MERS yesterday as the government vowed all-out measures to
curb the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia, including tracking mobile
phones of those in quarantine.
The number of infections rose to
64 after 14 new cases, including one
death, of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) were confirmed on the
night of June 6, the health ministry
said.
All of the 14 were among a group
of 1820 quarantined until June 6 after
being exposed to those diagnosed earlier, the ministry added.
However, Busan city authorities reported an additional case in the countrys southern port and second-largest
THOUSANDS living near the Bangladesh-India border yesterday celebrated an historic agreement that will allow them to choose their nationality
after decades of stateless limbo.
Poor villagers living in border enclaves waved Bangladeshi flags, held
street parades and broke down in
tears after the June 6 ratification of
the deal covering parts of the border
along Indias eastern flank.
I have never dreamt that I would
live to see myself become a citizen of
any country, said Moinul Haq, who
lives in one of the Indian enclaves inside Bangladeshi territory.
We have finally tasted freedom
after 68 years, he said by phone,
bursting into tears as he joined a
victory procession of more than 1000
members of his Boshpechai-Bhitokuti
enclave.
Similar celebrations were held in
other enclaves, said Golam Mostofa,
general secretary of an association of
enclaves.
All of us are now Bangladeshi citizens. Our pains and decades of frustrations are over. Were now liberated
and can now claim citizenship rights.
city, sparking alarm that the outbreak

may spread nationwide.
The case was not included among
the 14 new infections confirmed by the
health ministry.
Acting Prime Minister Choi KyungHwan vowed yesterday that all-out
efforts would be made to curb the
spread of the disease in Asias fourthlargest economy.
He urged the public not to panic,
saying all 64 patients had already
been in hospital.
We can put the situation under
control because ... the outbreak is not
spreading to the outside community,
Mr Choi said in a press conference.
People should not overreact and
should cooperate closely [with the
A South Korean police officer wearing a face mask talks over his mobile phone
during a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of Korean Memorial Day at the
National Cemetery in Seoul on June 6. Photo: AFP
government] to minimise negative impact on the economy, he said.

The government will step up monitoring on those placed under observation, including tracking the locations
of those in quarantine at home via
their mobile phones, Mr Choi said.
Please understand that it is an inevitable measure to ensure the safety
of your neighbours and families, Mr
Choi said.
The administration of President
Park Geun-Hye and health officials
have come under a storm of criticism
over a perceived slow and insufficient
response to the outbreak.
A policy not to name the hospitals
where patients were diagnosed or
treated was a major focus of public
criticism.
Mr Choi yesterday disclosed the list
of 24 such hospitals mostly in Seoul
or Gyeongi province surrounding the
capital saying it was aimed at easing public anxiety.
Bigger budget support was also
promised for those placed under quarantine and for local governments and
school authorities struggling to contain the outbreak.
The World Health Organization
said on June 5 it would send a team of
experts to South Korea for a joint mission with Seoul in collecting information of the outbreak.
MERS has now infected more than
1110 people globally, with 437 deaths.
More than 20 countries have been
affected, with most cases in Saudi
Arabia.
AFP
Chinese soldiers and rescue workers pay their respects to the victims during a memorial service in front of the raised Chinese cruise ship, in Jianli on June 7. Photo: AFP
13 dead on Mt Kinabalu after quake

HOPES dimmed yesterday for six people still missing after an earthquake at
Malaysias Mount Kinabalu triggered a
river of stones that killed 13 climbers,
with several Singaporean schoolchildren feared to be among the victims.
An 80-member rescue team was
dispatched in the morning to search a
section of trail on the popular climbing
peak that was obliterated in thunderous rockfalls set loose by the June 5
6.0-magnitude quake, officials said.
A local police official confirmed late
on June 6 that 13 bodies had been recovered and six people believed to
include some primary school students
from Singapore remained missing.
Authorities have so far given
few details on the victims or the
scenes encountered by search crews
on the mountain, a popular tourist
destination in Malaysias Sabah state
on Borneo island.
But the local Kinabalu Today news
portal quoted rescue personnel saying
that full recovery of remains could be
impossible as some were pinned under
massive boulders or possibly swept to
their deaths from the peak.
Singapores Straits Times newspaper said the body of one 12-year-old
schoolgirl from the city-state had been
identified and that six other pupils and
two teachers are feared to be among
the dead or missing.
The area is above the treeline and
would have left those in the area
exposed to falling stones and boulders.
Masidi Manjun, Sabah tourism
minister, said on Twitter yesterday that
search teams would focus on a section
that he said has been dubbed river of
stones when [the] earthquake struck
SALVAGE and rescue personnel bowed their heads yesterday

morning as ship horns blared in
tribute to the victims of Chinas
worst shipping disaster in nearly
seven decades after the death toll
reached 431.
The solemn ceremony was held
in remembrance of those who
died and were still missing after
the Eastern Star cruise ship carrying 456 people capsized late on
June 1 on the Yangtze River in a
storm.
Searchers in white hooded
surgical suits could be seen on
board the Eastern Star, while
others in work gear, orange safety
vests and military-style fatigues
formed columns on the decks of
massive crane vessels that raised
the ill-fated ship out of the water
on June 5.
The event, attended by Yang
Chuantang, Chinas transport
minister, proceeded under grey
and cloudy skies for several
minutes as cameras panned over
the area, with crews on smaller boats stopped nearby also
participating.
Officials on June 7 announced
that the death toll had risen to
431, with another 11 people still
missing.
Only 14 survivors have been
confirmed out of all those aboard,
who were mostly tourists aged
over 60, when the ship capsized
at night on the river in the county
of Jianli in Chinas central Hubei
province.
Yesterday marked a key
early on June 5 which rendered the

track impassable, trapping climbers.
Rescuers on June 6 had escorted
down to safety 137 hikers who were
stuck on the mountain for up to 18
hours by the rockfalls.
Crews and officials engaged in
search and rescue efforts have been
kept on edge by aftershocks, including
an afternoon tremor on June 6 that
officials reckoned at 4.5-magnitude.
Reports said climbers on the
mountain were from countries including Singapore, the US, the Philippines,
Britain, Thailand, Turkey, China and
Japan, as well as many from Malaysia.
Major earthquakes are rare in Malaysia and the tremor was one of the
strongest in decades.
There have been no reports of

major damage or any casualties outside
of those on the mountain.
Climbing has been suspended at
Mount Kinabalu for at least three
weeks so authorities can make repairs
and assess safety risks.
Around 20,000 people complete the
relatively easy climb each year.
Mount Kinabalu is sacred to the
local Kadazan Dusun tribe.
Malaysian social media users
and some officials have suggested the
quake was a sign tribal spirits were angry
after a group of 10 apparently Western tourists last weekend snapped
nude photos at the summit and posted
them on the internet.
AFP
A member of a Malaysian rescue team carries victims body parts inside a bag a
day after the earthquake in Kundasang on June 6. Photo: AFP
paving the way for the joint ratification ceremony.

Mr Modi and Ms Hasina signed a
series of other agreements on June 6,
including building much-needed ower
plants in Bangladesh, while India
announced a US$2 billion line of
credit to Bangladesh to deepen
relatons.
Mr Modi was slated to meet
embattled opposition leader Khaleda
Zia before wrapping up his visit, his
first to Bangladesh since being elected
in May last year.
Indian officials have played down
the idea of Mr Modi mediating in
the long dispute between Ms Hasina
and, although he might urge Mr Zia
to ensure an end to anti-government
attacks.
Scores of people have been killed
in firebomb attacks on vehicles since
Zia called a transport blockade at the
start of the year in a bid to topple Ms
Hasina.
India refrained from criticising Ms
Hasinas re-election in January 2014
in a contest that was boycotted by
opposition and dismissed as not
credible by Western nations. AFP
JAKARTA
431 confirmed dead in

Yangtze ship sinking
KUNDASANG, MALAYSIA
The enclaves will now have schools,

clinics and government offices, Mr
Mostofa said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi signed the pact with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina in
a ceremony on June 6, the highlight of
his two-day visit to Indias closest ally.
An agreement on the ownership of
the 162 enclaves essentially islands
of land located in each others country
had proved elusive for decades. They
resulted from complex ownership arrangements made centuries ago by local princes.
Around 50,000 people are thought
to live in the islands and lack many
basic services such as schools, clinics
and utilities because they are cut off
from their national governments.
Under the agreement each country
will assume sovereignty over all enclaves in its territory.
Residents will be allowed either to
stay put or to move across the border.
The enclaves will effectively cease to
exist.
Bangladesh actually endorsed the
deal in 1974 but it was only last month
that Indias parliament gave its assent,
milestone as, in accordance with

traditional custom, relatives of
the deceased should mourn their
loved ones on the seventh day by
Chinese reckoning following their
death.
The death toll on June 6 had
jumped by over 200 after rescuers
used massive cranes to hoist the
vessel out of the water and began
recovering bodies trapped inside.
The tally makes the disaster
Chinas worst in shipping since
the Communist Party came to
power in 1949. The last time a
death toll was higher came in
1948, when up to 4000 on board
the SS Kiangya were killed when
it sank near Shanghai.
Officials on June 6 extended
their search for victims that may
have been swept far beyond the
accident site.
The search scope was extended
to 1300 kilometres (800 miles) of
the Yangtze, Asias longest river, in
the hope of finding those still unaccounted for, Xinhua reported.
A government spokesperson
431
Official death toll as of June 7.

There are still 13 people missing.
said on June 4 that no further

survivors were expected to be
found.
Reports have said the
76.5-metre-long (250 foot) and
2200-tonne ship overturned in
under a minute, and weather
officials said a freak tornado hit
the area at the time.
The vessel was cited for safety infractions two years ago,
and CCTV said investigators
will probe the ships structure
for flaws.
Information about the sinking and media access to the
site have been tightly controlled, and online criticism of
the search operation quickly
deleted.
Chinas
stability-obsessed
Communist rulers often seek to
contain anger over the official
handling of disasters, fearing
that it could spiral into dissent.
Nevertheless news of the
disaster remained the top
trending topic on Chinese social media, and attention yesterday was focused on mourning.
May the dead be at peace
in heaven and the living be
strong, posted a user of Sina
Weibo, a Chinese version of
Twitter.
A petition posted by
family members on social media
service WeChat called for the
death penalty for the ships
captain one of the few
survivors of the disaster who
is in police custody. AFP
PHNOM PENH
Cambodia
signs off on
NGO law
THE Cambodian government last
week passed a controversial law regulating non-governmental organisations that activists fear could undermine their work in the kingdom.
Cambodia is home to thousands
of NGOs and civil society groups who
provide services and support in one of
Southeast Asias poorest countries.
But Prime Minister Hun Sen has
long expressed hostility towards such
groups, specifically those that defend
human rights in a nation where land
grabbing and corruption are rampant.
On June 5 he chaired a meeting of
cabinet members who passed the law,
which the government claimed in a
statement aims to protect the freedom of NGOs and associations to set
up in Cambodia as well as promoting
partnership between them and public
authorities.
The law offers freedom for NGOs
rather than restrictions, claimed government spokesperson Phay Siphan,
adding that it would be submitted
next week to the National Assembly
for approval.
But rights groups, who say they
have not been consulted over the most
recent draft of the law, as well as UN
officials and foreign diplomats, including from the US, have expressed serious concerns over the legislation.
The law will seriously undermine
the ability of national and international civil society actors to carry out their
work without interference, said Chak
Sopheap, executive director of the
Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
The Cambodian government says
it has registered around 5000 NGOs
and associations since 1993. AFP
Activists push on deforestation threat

CONSERVATIONISTS are urging the
Indonesian government to listen to
business and start taking deforestation seriously after a major paper giant
joined the growing ranks of companies
pledging to stop clearing forests.
Asia Pacific Resources International
Holdings Ltd (APRIL), the secondlargest pulp and paper company in
Indonesia, announced this week it had
stopped harvesting natural forest in a
move hailed by its former critic Greenpeace as a major breakthrough.
Indonesia has some of the worlds
most extensive and biodiverse rainforests, but huge swathes have been
chopped down by palm oil, mining and
timber companies.
As a result, Southeast Asias top
economy has become the worlds thirdbiggest carbon emitter.
APRIL and its major rival Asia Pulp
and Paper (APP), which together produce 80 percent of Indonesias pulp
products, have been accused of destroying vast tranches of the forests that are
home to endangered species such as
Sumatran orangutans and tigers.
APRIL had only last year committed to phasing out deforestation in its
supply chain by 2020, following APPs
promise in 2013 to stop using any logs
from Indonesias natural forests in its
mills.
But in what APRILs group president Praveen Singhavi called a major
step in their sustainability journey,
the company ceased forest clearing in
May and promised no new developments on Indonesian forest or peat
land.
Conservation groups, which stood
side by side with APRIL executives in
Jakarta as they made the announcement this week, said they would be
keeping a close eye on the companys
operations to ensure their promises
were kept.
I think thats where the challenge
is, WWFs Aditya Bayunanda told AFP
on June 5.
I wouldnt say I am completely
pessimistic, because I think APRIL has
taken some serious steps that were not
done before.
But far from going it alone, APRIL
and APP are part of a growing trend of
companies distancing themselves from
deforestation.
Wilmar International, the worlds
largest palm oil company, announced
in December it would adopt a zero
deforestation policy, with rival Golden
Agri Resources following a few months
later.
Resources firm Barito Pacific committed to no deforestation and no development on peat land in March.
I think that there is this positive
trend, Mr Bayunanda said.
These companies, in the end, they
do listen to what their buyers are asking for, what the markets are asking
for.
Intense pressure from consumers
and green groups has forced some to
change their business models.
APPs pledge to stop using logs from
Indonesias natural forests followed
years of campaigning by green groups,
which had led to the company losing
packaging contracts with big brands
such as food conglomerate Kraft and
Barbies Mattel.
With industry undertaking its own
reforms, conservation groups are now
ramping up pressure on the government to do more to protect the rainforest and vital peat lands.
There have been mixed signals so
far from President Joko Widodo, who
was elected in October.
Last month he extended a landmark moratorium banning new logging permits for primary or virgin
forest but did not expand its coverage,
leaving tens of millions of hectares still
unprotected.
He also allowed deforestation for
projects deemed in the national interest, crucially excluding infrastructure
projects and crop plantations from the
ban.
Forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar described the APRIL announcement as significant progress in sustainable forest management, but
Greenpeace is calling for more concrete
steps from the government as companies make the shift.
There is no reason for the government to keep continuing business
as usual, Bustar Maitar, the head of
Greenpeaces Indonesia forest campaign, told AFP.
The government of Indonesia
should support this and should accommodate the effort from industry. AFP
A protester holds a globe during World Earth Day at a street event in Banda
Aceh, Sumatra, on April 22. Photo: EPA
TRADE MARK CAUTION

NOTICE is hereby given that Honda Motor Co., Ltd. a company
organized under the laws of Japan and having its principal office
at 1-1, Minami-Aoyama 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8556
Japan is the owner and sole proprietor of the following trademarks:-
16 World
ANKARA
(Reg: No. IV/20093/2014)
(Reg: No. IV/20094/2014)

The above two trademarks are in respect of:Motorcycles; vehicles; apparatus for locomotion by land, air
or water; and parts and fittings for the above-mentioned goods,
included in International class 12 Intl Class: 12
according to law.
for Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Phone: 372416

Basic Trademark S.A., a company organized under the laws of
Luxembourg and having its principal office at 42-44 Avenue De
La Gare, L-1610 Luxembourg, Luxembourg is the owner and sole
proprietor of the following Trademark : -
Myanmar Registration Number - 4/5526/2000

Used in respect of :Trunks and travelling bags, suitcases, briefcases, purses,
handbags, sport bags, knapsacks, ruck-sacks, schoolbags, pouches,
wallets; umbrellas, parasols. (International Class 18)
Articles of clothing and sport-swear, namely, jackets, winter
jackets, wind jackets, coats, overcoats, raincoats; sweaters, vests,
cardigans, shirts, sweat shirts, plush shirts, polo shirts, T-shirts,
trousers, pants, dresses, gowns, shorts and under-wear; gloves, hats
and caps; head bands, wrist bands; belts, ties; training and track
suits; bath robes; shoes, boots, sandals, slippers, sporting shoes
such as tennis shoes and football/soccer shoes, climbing shoes.
(International Class 25)
Gymnastic and sporting articles, namely balls for football/soccer,
basket, volley, tennis and rugby. (International Class 28)
Any unauthorized use, imitation, infringements or fraudulent
Ph: 0973150632
(For. Domnern Somgiat & Boonma,
Attorneys at Law, Thailand)
A young woman casts her vote as others wait on June 7 in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. Photo: AFP
Turkey goes to the polls

TURKEY went to the polls yesterday in
a closely fought election that will determine whether President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan can further tighten his grip on
Turkey.
The legislative election is taking
place under the shadow of violence after two people were killed and dozens
more wounded in an attack on a rally
of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic
Party (HDP) in the southeastern city of
Diyarbakir on June 5.
Over 53.7 million Turks eligible to
vote and AFP correspondents reported
a brisk morning turnout.
Opinion polls predict that the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), co-founded by Mr
Erdogan, will again win the most votes,
but its share could be sharply down on
the almost 50 percent it gained in the
last such vote in 2011.
Turkeys economy is no longer firing
on all cylinders, with growth slipping
under 3pc and unemployment ticking
up.
Concern is also growing over Mr
Erdogans perceived authoritarian
tendencies.
Since his election as president in
2014, after 11 years as prime minister,
there has been an upsurge in cases
against journalists and other members
of the public accused of insulting him.
Mr Erdogan wants the AKP to win
a two-thirds majority of seats, which
would allow him to push through a
new constitution, from a parliamentary to a presidential system.
Such a system would enshrine the
head of state as number one.

He argues that this would be little
different from the system in democracies such as France and Brazil and
that changing the current constitution,
born out of a 1980 military coup, is
long overdue.
Opponents however fear it could
mark the start of one-man rule.
The opposition HDP, expected
to come fourth, could scuttle Mr
Erdogans plans if it wins over 10pc of
the vote and surpasses Turkeys notoriously harsh threshold for sending MPs
to parliament.
A strong showing from the secondranked secular Republican Peoples
Party (CHP) and third-placed Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) could even
force the AKP to form a coalition to
stay in power for the first time since it
came to office in 2002.
I voted for the AKP in previous
elections because they did a good job.
But my trust in them has waned, said
Murat Sefagil, 42, an Istanbul fruit vendor, saying he would vote for the CHP.
But Mehmet Kose, 50, a school
janitor, said, Were connected with
our hearts to the AKP. I voted for them
again this year because I want Turkey
to be ruled by a presidential system.
The attack on the HDP in Diyarbakir, caused by a bomb stuffed with ball
bearings, was the latest against the party in the campaign, as it tries to break
into mainstream Turkish politics.
Over 400,000 members of the
police and gendarmerie have been
deployed across Turkey to ensure
security, media reports said.

The election campaign has been
hugely divisive, with Mr Erdogan lashing out at enemies in all directions, including several foreign newspapers like
Britains The Guardian and the New
York Times, which he told to know
your place.
Mr Erdogans heavy involvement
in the campaign is itself controversial,
given that as head of state he is required to keep an equal distance from
all parties. But he has made no secret
of his favour for the AKP.
He concentrated his fiercest attacks
however on the charismatic leader of
the HDP, Selahattin Demirtas, belittling him as a pretty boy who is merely a front for Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) separatist militants.
Mr Demirtas has acknowledged
that the election is on a knife-edge,
with the HDPs share of the vote hovering just above or below 10pc.
I am not Kurdish but I voted for
the HDP to have a fairer parliament
and make sure the AKP obtains less
seats, said Ilker Sorgun, 27, as he cast
his vote in Ankara.
The CHP meanwhile has sought to
play on the perceived excesses of the
ruling party, even accusing Mr Erdogan
of having golden toilet seats in his new
presidential palace in Ankara.
The election is also a test for Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the former
foreign minister who took over the
reins of the AKP when Mr Erdogan became president but lacks his charisma.
AFP
MOSCOW
Kremlin draws ire of scientists

RUSSIAN scientists staged a rare antigovernment demonstration over the
weekend, amid fears that after cracking down on the media, rights activists and the opposition, the Kremlin is
now training its sights on science.
Over 2000 protesters including
scientists and intellectuals took to the
streets of Moscow on June 6 to express
fears that scientific research in Russia
faces dire prospects due to stifling bureaucracy and mismanagement.
Prominent opposition figures
joined the rally, including top activist
Alexei Navalny.
Authorities are strangling science and Nobel laureates are foreign
agents read some of the placards held
by protesters.
Putin cannot solve problems, he is
the problem, read another.
Astrophysicist Boris Shtern told
the rally, Alas, science is slowly dying. The massive advance of ignorance
is being supported by the media and
authorities.
The protest was originally called
in support of a top private foundation
whose 82-year-old founder, philanthropist Dmitry Zimin, has recently
come under fire for financing Russian
science from overseas accounts.
Discontent
among
scientists
has been brewing for months but
the crackdown against Mr Zimins
Dynasty Foundation sparked acute
anger and disbelief.
The justice ministry in late May
added the Dynasty foundation, set up
by ex-telecoms magnate Mr Zimin, to
its list of foreign agents under a law
that critics say is designed to muzzle
critics of President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Zimin, a hugely respected former radio engineer who spent millions of dollars supporting Russian
scientific research, has threatened to
shut down his foundation, demanded
an apology from the authorities and
temporarily left Russia.
Antonina Aleksandrova, a biologist

at a cancer treatment centre in Moscow, slammed the attack against Mr
Zimins foundation.
For the country to develop, it
needs education, Ms Aleksandrova
said.
The Dynasty is an egregious example of how an organisation that
played a huge role in this education
has been crushed. It is a significant
loss for us all.
Mr Putin signed the law on foreign agents in 2012, after opposition
protests rattled Russia at the time,
and described the legislation as selfdefence against the financing of political activities from abroad.
The law has already hit scores of
rights groups which resent the tag
carrying connotations of Cold War
espionage.
The Dynasty foundation will
convene a meeting today to decide its
future strategy. AFP
World 17
www.mmtimes.com
AHMEDABAD
Indias unspoken asbestos problem

GRIPPING his inhaler as he struggles to breathe, rake-thin Chinnapan
Chinnakannu blames his years spent
labouring in one of Indias scores of
asbestos cement factories for his debilitating illness.
When he first started at the factory in western Gujarat state, Mr
Chinnapan said he was given protective
clothing but later they stopped
providing us with masks and shoes.
Initially I suffered from breathlessness, but slowly the frequency
increased and reached a point where
I could hardly work, said Mr Chinnapan, who was diagnosed with asbestosis, or scarring of the lungs, in 2007.
Slowly I started losing weight, I
couldnt even drink water as it made
me vomit immediately, the 64-yearold said in his one-bedroom house on
the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
A pariah product in most of the
West, blamed for thousands of deaths,
asbestos is hugely popular in the developing world including in India,
where its a US$1.4 billion growing
industry.
Nations at a UN meeting in Geneva last month tried to add chrysotile, or white asbestos, to a list of dangerous substances subject to export
restrictions.
But the move was blocked by leading asbestos exporter Russia and other
developing nations, a stance supported by India, one of the worlds biggest
importers.
Activists and unions say Indias
government must start to recognise
the dangers posed by asbestos, whose
fibres doctors worldwide say lodge in
the lungs causing cancer and other
diseases.
More than 50 nations, including
all members of the EU, have banned
all forms of asbestos, which the World
Health Organization says kills at least
107,000 people annually.
The time has come to ban this
product outright and India must see
that. Its just too dangerous, said
hazardous materials activist Gopal
Krishna.
New Delhi defended its position in
Asbestosis sufferer Chinnapan Chinnakannu, 64, takes his medication at his residence in the village of Kaligam, on the
outskirts of Ahmedabad on May 7. Photo: AFP
Geneva, saying there was no proof

Indias asbestos factories or their
products used mainly in low-cost
housing are unsafe.
We took a call which looked proindustry but this was done in the absence of credible data [on the health
risks], Shashi Shekhar, Indias top
official in charge of hazardous materials and chair of the Central Pollution
Control Board, told AFP.
Mr Shekhar said he has commissioned a study into the possible health
effects which would take up to two
years to complete.
The whole world is talking about
it [asbestos] in a grave way, and so we
have to see whether they are right or
wrong.
TEHRAN
In Ahmedabad, business is brisk

at a huge warehouse where asbestos
wholesaler Mansur Satani has little
time to talk of health concerns, other
than to say they dont exist.
This is the peak trading period for
the year, Mr Satani said as the phone
rang constantly in his office.
The industry and other asbestos
supporters say curly-fibred chrysotile is safe, and only other forms with
more jagged fibres are dangerous.
More than 50 factories throughout
India use white asbestos as an ingredient in mainly cement roofing sheets,
wall panels and pipes. More than
400,000 tonnes of asbestos is imported every year to feed the plants.
TK Joshi, director of the Centre
for Occupational and Environmental

Health in New Delhis Lok Nayak hospital, warned of huge consequences
for the industrys workers.
It could run into thousands [of
sick]. And that [figure] could rise exponentially in future as the use of
asbestos in the last decade and a half
has gone up considerably, Mr Joshi
told AFP.
But he said exact figures on those
already suffering were unknown because of poor record keeping. Many
doctors treating patients were also
unaware of the symptoms or did not
think to ask about exposure to hazardous materials.
More than 300,000 workers are
employed in the factories, while thou-
sands more tradesmen install the

products, bought at markets and warehouses like the one in Ahmedabad.
Many cases go undiagnosed leading to an underestimate of the magnitude of harm.
Mr Joshi said he was concerned
about a lack of public awareness of asbestos dangers, and poor enforcement
of safety laws.
The industry denied its employees
were at risk, saying all precautions
were being taken, including using
machines to handle bags of asbestos
to prevent fibres escaping into the air.
Industry association executive
director John Nicodemus also rubbished WHO and ILO research on
international asbestos deaths, saying
they lacked detail.
That shows that these figures are
meaningless and the health concerns
are simply overblown, Mr Nicodemus
told AFP in an email.
Gujarat Composite, which runs the
factory where Mr Chinnapan worked,
told AFP it adhered to all governmentmandated safety requirements, that
none of its staff were sick and it was
unaware of Mr Chinnapans case.
Raghunath Manvar, whose nonprofit Occupational Health and Safety
Association fights for worker compensation, said about 30 were known
to be suffering asbestosis in Gujarat,
where some 20 factories were based.
Besides asbestosis, over 100 people are suffering from mesothelioma
which is also due to exposure to asbestos, Mr Manvar added.
After being diagnosed, Mr Chinnapan said he fought a long battle for
compensation from the state insurance scheme, and now receives 2700
rupees a month (US$42).
He also has a retirement pension
from the factory, but with most of the
money spent on medicines, Mr Chinnapan must still work to feed his family, something he finds increasingly
difficult as the illness takes hold.
I did not understand what was
happening to me. Now almost all my
money is spent on medicines and
doctors. AFP
SANAA
Mistrust blights nuclear Huthi rebels fired Scud missile: Saudi

talks, says Iranian official
A TOP Iranian official, in an unusual
declaration made on the weekend, said
there remains no trust between Tehran
and world powers and either side could
yet abandon a deal after signing.
In comments made on June 6 that
laid bare a paradox of long-running negotiations between Iran and the West,
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said an agreement due by June
30 was nearing despite neither side
trusting the other.
A final accord could rein in aspects
of Irans nuclear program while allowing it to continue to enrich uranium in
exchange for a lifting of sanctions.
Our basis is mistrust and this is
the reality, Mr Araghchi was quoted by
state television as saying at the end of
the latest round of talks in Vienna with
the P5+1 group of nations that has been
talking to Iran for almost two years.
We dont trust the other side at
all and they dont trust us either, Mr
Araghchi said, noting
snapback
provisions would be as relevant to Iran
as to the US if measures are reneged
on.
Thus all the provisions in a deal
... Whenever each party feels the other
side is violating the commitments, they
can snap back and implement whatever existed before the agreement.
We have taken every necessary
measure so this would happen for us.

Naturally, the other side will do the
same for sanctions, he added.
Mr Araghchi, a key figure in the
talks, also revealed the text of a final
agreement would comprise a main
document of about 20 pages accompanied by five appendices totalling a further 40 to 50 pages.
One appendix would be related to
sanctions to be lifted on Iran, while
others would document the technical
limits of Irans nuclear program.
The final appendix would lay out
the timetable for the likely 10-year
agreement showing by when the two
sides have to take the required measures, according to Mr Araghchi.
Iran maintains its nuclear program
has no military implications.
International inspections of Irans
atomic facilities will be a cornerstone
of any deal but officials in Tehran have
said military sites would be off-limits.
On April 2, Iran and the P5+1 the
United States, Britain, China, France,
Russia plus Germany agreed the
main outlines of the nuclear deal, with
Tehran agreeing to mothball large sections of its atomic program.
With the deadline approaching both
the US and Iran are under immense
pressure from respective hardliners
not to make further concessions. AFP
YEMENI rebels flexed their muscles on

June 6 by firing a Scud missile at Saudi
Arabia just days before they are to sit
down with the exiled, Saudi-backed
regime for peace talks in Switzerland.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted the
missile fired at its territory by the Iranbacked Shiite Huthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.
The launch came a day after rebel
allies killed four Saudi soldiers in crossborder attacks clouding preparations
for UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva
on June 14.
The Royal Saudi Air Defence
Forces intercepted it with two Patriot
missiles, said the Saudi-led coalition,
which has been waging an air war
against the rebels since March 26.
Coalition aircraft destroyed the
launcher used in the 2:45am (2345
GMT on June 6) attack on the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, said
the statement carried by the official
Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The missile was fired from south
of the Huthi rebel bastion of Saada in
Yemens northern mountains, it added.
A pro-Huthi military spokesman
told Yemens rebel-controlled Saba
news agency the target was the Prince
Khaled air base in Khamis Mushait.
There has been cross-border artillery and rocket fire into Saudi Arabia
but virtually no missile attacks since
the air war began.
Coalition spokesperson Ahmed al-
Assiri told Al-Arabiya television the

rebels hid in caves some of the 300
missiles they were thought to have had
prior to the campaign.
The bombing campaign was
launched in support of Yemeni
President Abedrabbo Manour Hadi,
who fled to Riyadh as the Huthis advanced on his southern stronghold of
Aden.
The coalitions latest raids targeted
rebel military sites and positions in
northern, central and southern Yemen, including Sanaa where weapons
storage depots were struck on hills
overlooking the capital.

On June 6 they carried out strikes
in Amran, Hajjah, and Saada, as well as
Lahj, where the rebel-held air base of
Al-Anad was bombed.
The Huthis overran Sanaa in September, before going on to seize much
of the country.
The interception of the Scud came
after forces loyal to Saleh attacked
several locations on the Saudi border
June 5.
The coalition on June 6 reported
the second major ground attack of the
war against Saudi territory. AFP
Yemeni supporters of the Shiite Huthi movement chant slogans during a march
in the capital Sanaa in protest to the Saudi-led military operations against
positions held by them and their allies, on June 5. Photo: AFP
18 World
ELMAU CASTLE, GERMANY
Greece is the word at G7 summit

GREECES financial woes were
set to dominate a G7 summit in
Germany yesterday, amid fears the
debt-wracked country could crash
out of the euro and rock the world
economy.
The two-day summit of world
leaders in the picture-perfect Bavarian Alps will also focus on the
rumbling Ukraine crisis and threats
to global security posed by jihadist
extremists.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a champion of tough eurozone
reform and austerity, is hosting the
other leaders of the Group of Seven
industrialised democracies the
United States, Britain, France, Italy,
Canada and Japan.
Also at the power meet will be
Greeces international creditors who
have wrangled for weeks to hammer
out a reform plan that would unlock
a final 7.2 billion euros (US$8 billion)
in bailout funds Athens desperately
needs.
European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker and EU President Donald Tusk were among those
speaking yesterday, with International Monetary Fund chief Christine
Lagarde joining them today.
In a sign of growing tensions
ahead of a key deadline at the end
of June, Greek Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras has dismissed creditors demands as absurd.
Mr Juncker on June 6 snubbed
a phone call from the radical leftist
leader, with an EU official reportedly
saying there was nothing to discuss,
although Mr Tsipras, Ms Merkel and
French President Francois Hollande
later spoke by phone.
The three leaders took stock of
the situation to help move forward
the negotiations between Greece and
the three [creditor] institutions, a
French source said.
Athens last week withheld a
300-million-euro loan repayment
to the IMF, opting instead to group
four scheduled tranches into a single
payment at the end of the month.
US President Barack Obama speaks with Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel upon arrival at a breakfast meeting in Kruen
near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, yesterday before the start of a G7 summit. Photo: AFP
Mr Tsipras on June 5 argued that

a cynical policy of economic asphyxiation and harsh austerity being
applied to Greece would ultimately
impact other European states in economic difficulty.
US President Barack Obama
touched down early yesterday morning in southern Germany swiftly followed by a procession of other leaders.
The guests were treated to a Bavarian-style welcome with children in traditional dress handing them flowers.
His administration has urged Europe to resolve the Greece issue.

Washington has also voiced strong
concern about what is set to be the
other big G7 topic, the latest flare-up
in fighting in Ukraine, which last week
claimed scores of lives and threatened
to derail a fragile ceasefire.
Russias role in the conflict will for
a third time keep President Vladimir
Putin away from a G7 summit, set to
also gather Mr Hollande, Britains
David Cameron, Canadas Stephen
LONDON
Harper, Italys Matteo Renzi and Japans Shinzo Abe.

Mr Abe and Mr Harper made a
point of stopping off in Kiev on their
way to Germany to voice support for
the embattled government of President Petro Poroshenko, which has
been fighting a separatist insurgency
by pro-Moscow rebels.
Mr Putin insisted on the eve of the
summit that Russia is not a threat to
the West.
Theres no need to be afraid of
Russia, Mr Putin told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, adding that
only a sick person and even then
only in his sleep can imagine that
Russia would suddenly attack NATO.
Ms Merkel had hoped to use the
picture-book setting of lush Bavarian
meadows and magnificent mountain
peaks to showcase the homely side
of Europes biggest economy while
searching for consensus on a catalogue of pressing global issues.
Instead, the event threatens to
be overshadowed by two leaders
who are absent, said the Munich
daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. While
the government stoically insists
everything is normal, two virtual
guests are charging up the atmosphere in a way that threatens to
dominate the summit: Russian President Vladimir Putin and some
distance behind him Greek Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras, it said.
On the official agenda as leaders
huddle in the luxury Elmau Castle
resort are issues from climate change
and Ebola to womens rights, and the
fight against Islamist militancy.
Also hoping to grab attention
will be protesters who have vowed
to march toward the venue, which is
protected by a ring of steel with more
than 22,000 police.
Around 4000 people staged
colourful and largely peaceful protests on June 6.
Police reported isolated incidents
and in one case deployed pepper
spray to disperse some protesters but
the noisy demonstration in the city of
Garmisch-Partenkirchen was mainly
good-natured with music pumping
out in sweltering temperatures.
Early yesterday morning, a handful of protesters staged a sit-in demonstration to block the main access
road to the castle, meaning journalists were transported by helicopter to
the location.
The protesters told AFP they had
managed to sneak through the woods
unnoticed by police in the early hours
to get into position. AFP
COLOMBO
Monitoring the women of ISIS, online No confidence vote

taken in Sri Lanka
IN A nondescript office in central London, researcher Melanie Smith stares

at her laptop, scrolling down the Twitter feed of a 17-year-old British girl who
ran away to join Islamic State militants.
What were looking at here is when
she announced her husbands death,
said Smith, pointing to a post from a
few months ago that says May Allah
accept my husband.
There are also lots of retweets, from
screenshots of IS propaganda videos
to news articles, particularly around
the time of the Islamist attack on the
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January.
We saw her retweeting pictures of
the cartoonists who had been killed
and also others who were celebrating
the attacks, Ms Smith said.
The account is one of several held
by Salma Halane, a schoolgirl from the
northern city of Manchester who ran
away to join the IS group with her twin
sister Zahra in July 2014.
The twins are among an estimated
550 Western women that have joined
the Islamist militants who have seized
swathes of territory across Syria and
Iraq.
Ms Smith and her colleague Erin
Saltman of the Institute for Strategic
Dialogue have profiled 108 of the women from their social media accounts, in
a ground-breaking project to understand more about female recruits and
their online footprints.
Its pretty much my life now, its
kind of an obsession, said Ms Smith

who, having just turned 23, is similar
in age to many of her subjects.
They do not interact with the women, they just watch.
Were stalkers! laughed Ms Saltman, a 30-year-old expert on radicalisation and violent extremism.
Scrolling through Twitter, Facebook,
Ask.fm and tumblr accounts for hours
on end can take its toll, however.
You are seeing very disturbing images, everything from beheadings to
dead children. Its not easy, said Ms
Saltman.
Some researchers in this field suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder
and can become targets themselves.
I personally have received a couple
of Twitter death threats, Ms Saltman
said.
Smith began working on the database about a year ago, archiving online
posts from women who have left their
often affluent Western lives behind to
become brides of IS fighters and populate the new caliphate.
One of her subjects is just 14. I
feel sympathy for the younger ones,
she said, but this fades as they become
more radical.
I dont feel much pity. But I do take
an interest in what would have brought
them to that decision.
The research, undertaken jointly
with the International Centre for the
Study of Radicalisation at Kings College London, is necessarily limited,
not least because it focuses on Englishspeaking accounts.

A recent US study identified at least
46,000 Twitter accounts linked to supporters of the IS group, with threequarters of them tweeting in Arabic.
Information gleaned from social
media can also be patchy, but what
they have found challenges the notion of naive jihadi brides, revealing
women who are just as ideologically
committed as the men.
While forbidden from fighting, the
women use open-access social media
to spread Islamist propaganda and,
through posts hailing the medical care
available or the camaraderie of the sisterhood, encourage new recruits.
We know that the lens were seeing
is the propaganda, not the reality. We
read between the lines quite a lot, said
Ms Saltman.
Negative sentiments are quickly
drowned out by positive tweets from
the users followers, however.
Many of the women use noms de
guerre and their accounts are frequently shut down for breaching rules
on disseminating extremist material.
The researchers report users to
Twitter or Facebook if postings point
to an actual attack, and the police got
in touch recently about one of their reports.
But they view censorship as largely
counterproductive. If you take one
account down, three appear in their
place, Ms Smith said. AFP
SRI Lankas opposition announced

late last week it has filed a motion of no confidence in the countrys new prime minister, a move
likely to hasten the dissolution of
parliament in the politically
divided country.
Ranil Wickremesinghe took
over this year at the helm of a
new minority government that
has depended on the oppositions
support to push through political
reforms.
But he has also launched a
series of investigations into alleged corruption by the countrys
former rulers now in opposition and would be all but certain
to lose a no-confidence vote in
parliament.
The
no-confidence
motion
already has the support of 112 of
the 225 members in the house.
We
have
listed
several
charges against the prime minister, including the use of the police
against his political opponents,
opposition spokesperson Manusha
Nanayakkara told reporters.
Analysts say President Maithripala Sirisena may now be forced
to dissolve parliament and call
fresh general elections, which he
promised when he was elected in
January.
Mr Sirisena appointed the thenopposition leader Mr Wickremesinghe as his prime minister soon
after defeating former strongman
president Mahinda Rajapakse,
who had been in power from
2004.
Mr Wickremesinghes United
National Party had depended on
opposition support to bring about
constitutional reforms, but the
two sides are poles apart when
it comes to investigating past
actions of Mr Rajapakses regime.
Mr Rajapakses younger brother, former economic development minister Basil, is already in
custody in connection with misappropriating state funds, while
several other immediate family
members are also under investigation for corruption.
Parliament passed reforms
in April to curb the powers of
the president, including restoring a two-term limit reversing
changes made by Mr Rajapakse
during his rule.
But the ruling UNP was forced
to compromise on other reforms
to secure the support of the
opposition, whose votes were
crucial to gain a mandatory twothirds majority in parliament.
AFP
World 19
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An activist supports a mock bandaged bleeding dolphin on top of his head as he attends a protest outside local theme
park Ocean Park during an Empty The Tanks Worldwide event in Hong Kong on June 6. Photo: AFP
Drive-hunt dolphins
going to foreign markets
ABOUT half of live dolphins caught
in the Japanese coastal town of
Taiji were exported to China and
other countries despite global criticism of the hunting technique used,
a news report has said.
The so-called drive hunt method
has been criticised overseas as cruel
and Japanese zoos and aquariums
were recently forced to vow not to
buy animals caught with the controversial fishing.
A total of 760 live dolphins were
sold between September 2009 and
August 2014 in Japan, Kyodo News
said on June 6, quoting data from
Japans Fisheries Research Agency
and other statistics.
They show that 354 were exported to 12 countries, including 216 to
China, 36 to Ukraine, 35 to South
Korea and 15 to Russia. One dolphin
was exported to the United States.

Eleven dolphins were also
exported to Thailand, followed by 10
each to Vietnam and Saudi Arabia,
seven to Georgia, five to Tunisia, and
four each to Egypt and the Philippines, Kyodo said.
UN data showed the export of live
dolphins from Japan between 2009
and 2013 was almost entirely to zoos
or aquariums, Kyodo added.
All live dolphins are only supplied
from Taiji which came to worldwide
attention after the Oscar-winning
2009 documentary The Cove
showed pods forced into a bay and
slaughtered with knives, in a mass
killing that turned the water red with
blood.
Some are captured alive and sold
to aquariums, fetching about 1 million yen (US$8030) each.
Last month, Japans zoos and

aquariums voted to stop using
dolphins caught by the method, as
demanded by the World Association
of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
The vote was prompted by WAZAs
suspension of the Japanese chapter
(JAZA) in April over the issue.
WAZA regards drive hunt fishing
where pods of cetaceans are herded into a bay by a wall of sound as
cruel, a charge local fishermen reject.
Many of the dolphins are butchered for food, but campaigners claim
there is insufficient demand for their
relatively unpopular meat to make
the hunt economically worthwhile.
They charge that the high prices live animals fetch when sold to
aquariums and dolphin shows is the
only thing that sustains the hunt.
AFP
JAKARTA
Australia voices disapproval as East

Timor moves to revive legal battle
AUSTRALIA has expressed disappointment that East Timor will resume a legal
battle in the UNs highest court over a
controversial oil and gas treaty
between the two countries, and vowed
to strongly defend its case.
East Timor announced last
week it would press ahead with
its case against Australia at the
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
in the Hague, after a six-month
hiatus for talks failed to settle a
dispute over the boundaries for vast
maritime energy fields shared in the
Timor Sea.
The tiny, half-island nation, which
has a sluggish economy heavily
dependent on oil and gas, wants
the treaty signed in 2006 (which
determined the maritime boundaries)
torn up, as it claims Australia spied on
ministers
to
gain
commercial
advantage.
Australia allegedly used an aid project refurbishing East Timors cabinet
offices as a front to plant listening
devices to eavesdrop on deliberations
about the treaty in 2004.
Australias Attorney-General George
Brandis said on June 5 both countries
had agreed not to renegotiate the maritime boundaries while the treaty was
still in effect.
Australia
remains
committed to that agreement and is disappointed that Timor-Leste is attempting to re-open it, he said on June 6,
referring to East Timors preferred
name.
The Australian Government believes differences between our na-
The Australian
Government
believes differences
between our
nations are best
resolved through
consultation.
George Brandis
Attorney-General
tions are best resolved through

consultation.
The treaty splits proceeds from
lucrative Greater Sunrise fields 5050 between the neighbours, despite
Australia claiming the vast majority lie
in its exclusive seabed.
East Timor wants the treaty nullified and the boundaries redefined to
place more of the oil and gas resources
within its territory, a move Australia
has vowed to oppose at the ICJ.
East Timor agreed this week to drop
a separate ICJ challenge against Australia, in which it was demanding the
return of sensitive documents related
to the long-running treaty dispute.
The documents were taken by Australias intelligence services in a 2013
raid on the office of a lawyer representing East Timor in its spying case.
Australia returned the documents
last month as an act of good faith,
without acknowledgement that Australia had violated Timor-Lestes sovereign rights, Mr Brandis said.
The 2006 treaty was signed between Canberra and Dili, several years
after East Timor won independence.
AFP
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Getting a buzz out of ink
Some of May Thaws work. Inset photos: Magic

Ink/Facebook
Photos: Aung Myin
NYEIN EI EI HTWE
nyeineieihtwe23@ gmail.com
HE needles are sharp, the concentration sharper.

Eyes focused, hands busy, The Illuminated
Woman is at work.
May Thaw, 29, takes her work seriously
enough to practise on herself, when she finds a
design she thinks will suit her skin for life.
My first tattoo was a lock and a pair of keys, she said,
showing the black design on her wrist. It was made six
years ago, done by an artist she was interviewing for Trade
Times.
Still mixing body art with journalism, she is now a chief
editor of Trend Myanmar news website.
She has added four more tattoos on her body, including
the red roses on her leg, as well as works by other artists.
None of this was done without forethought. Aware that
the image of the tattooed woman was not a particularly
respectable one among the conventional, she first weighed
her desire for adornment against the risks of disapproval.
She decided to demonstrate through her own lifestyle
that a decorated torso did not have to mean a stained
character.
I explained to my father why I had my tattoos done,

and assured him that they would not destroy my image,
she said, pointing to her arms, neck, leg and finger.
She used to draw on paper, in pencil and pen, before
graduating to the more permanent medium of her own
skin. Some designs are done by hand, others by machine.
The first tattoo I did by myself is the cassette tape on
my thigh, which I drew two years ago. When I decided to
become a tattoo artist, my body became an exercise book
for my art, she said.
When her first attempt fell below her standards, she did
it again, on the same patch of skin, sticking the needles in
deeper this time.
As the ink worked into her mind as well as her skin, she
studied tattoo websites and pressed former tattoo artists
for better designs and deeper knowledge. She took to
practising on her boyfriend, also a tattoo artist.
Last year, she started to make tattoos on other peoples
bodies on weekends, away from her day job. We artists
need to focus on painting small pictures on the skin,
without making mistakes or causing too much pain, so
that it comes out perfect. I dont mind the headache, the
backache and the eyestrain as long as my tattoo is perfect,
May Thaw explained.
The miniature artworks favoured by most women can
take 45 minutes to engrave. Bigger canvases, like someones
entire back, can take two days or more to fill.
She will take the time to discuss with her customers
the best kind of design for them, seeking to dissuade them
from images she finds ugly.
I tried to warn a girl off having her arm tattooed

because I knew it was not beautiful, but she insisted.
Luckily, she still liked it, she said.
Among the various styles now current, including Bio,
Japan, Character, Fancy and 3D, her favourite form is
character, including the cartoon images now highly popular
among girls.
For those not as committed, White tattoos, which
require a very careful scrutiny to be seen, are also in
demand.
But the tattooed woman is no longer an object of
suspicion, as doctors and teachers now sport their own
personal designs.
People used to think we were not women of good
character, but they had to change their minds, because they
saw how hard we work, said May Thaw. Even tattoo artists at
pagoda festivals now use needles only once, helping to break
the traditional link in some minds between tattoos and HIV.
When I noticed people looking sideways at me, I just
tried hard to be a smart girl. We tattoo girls understood
that we need to try harder than those polite girls in
traditional costume. We know character is not just skin
deep, she said, though allowing that it might still take
more time to change attitudes completely.
Her advice on how to choose a tattoo? Select an image
that will suit you unto death.
When my grandchildren ask about my tattoos, I will
tell them how each one has enriched my life, she said.
As fashions go, then, this one is not as superficial as it
looks.
22 the pulse
DHUDIAL
From Myanmar to Pakistan: a rustic love story

KHUrrAm SHAHZAD
ow aged in her 90s,

Ayesha Bibi doesnt
remember her real
name, who her father
was or much about her
hometown in Myanmar.
what she does remember is that in
the 1940s, as Allied forces fought one
of the bloodiest battles of the Second
world war, against Japanese forces,
she fell in love at first sight with a
soldier from what is now Pakistan.
Her parents had been buried
alive after their house collapsed in
bombardments by Japanese forces.
Distraught, she left the site and

came upon a nearby barracks where
she met Sepoy Muzaffar Khan of the
British Indian Army, which provided
some 2.5 million soldiers for the
Allies.
Eventually they married and
settled in Dhudial, a village in the
heart of Pakistans breadbasket
province of Punjab. Khan died a few
weeks ago, ending a love story that
began in the chaos of war.
when my parents died during
bombardment and nobody was left in
my family, I simply walked into the
soldiers camp and asked Muzzaffar
to take me along. Because I trusted
Ayesha Bibi sits at her late husbands grave in the village of Dhudial in Chakwal
district, roughly 150 kilometres south of Islamabad.
him, Bibi, a small sparrow of a

woman with papery skin and cloudy
blue eyes, said in fluent Punjabi.
I liked Muzaffar. we initially
started communicating in sign
language because I didnt know his
language.
More than 100,000 women,
mostly from across Europe but also
Asia Pacific, moved to the US as GI
brides after the war under a new law
for military wives.
But marriages within Asia
between colonial forces and other
subjects of the empire were far less
common.
Retired General Abdul Majeed
Malik, who joined the British Indian
Army in 1939 and later served as a
government minister, said such cases
were exceptionally unusual.
I never heard about any brides
coming here with soldiers who went
for wwII, he said. If any wwII
bride from Burma exists here that is
an individual case and I must say the
most rare one.
The couples love story spanned
more than 70 years a period which
saw both Myanmar, then called
Burma, win its independence from
Britain in 1948 and the birth of
Pakistan in 1947.
But in Dhudial time seems almost
to have stood still.
outside, farmers harvest the
golden wheat crop and cattle graze.
The tractors roar as they plough the
Ayesha Bibi displays her husbands identification card. Photos: AFP/Aamir Qureshi
fields around her house and women

collect water in a typical rural scene
that has been Bibis life as the wife of
a Pakistani farmer for decades.
Muzzaffar always wanted me to
die in his hands. He did not betray
me, its Gods order that he has
died. It would have been better if I
died before him, she sighed, gazing
into the yard, bathed in late spring
sunshine.
Muzaffar died almost a month
ago, leaving the old woman a small
landholding and a heart full of
sadness. Her family and neighbours
believe she wont last long.
Because they had no children,
the property will be divided among
Muzaffars nephews after Bibi dies.
For now she is living in the house of
their nephew Sajid Mehmood, whom
they were closest to.
And she has no fears about the
future.
I will now die with the orders of
God in the hands of these relatives. They
have taken care of me well, she said.
Manzoor Hussain, 75 and oldest
nephew of Muzaffar Khan, recalls a
happy couple who never quarrelled

during their lifetime.
They loved a lot each other. They
lived a very good life. They never
quarrelled for their whole life, he
said.
After his death, she was crying
a lot: Muzaffar Khan, who are you
leaving me with? I have nobody here
except you.
Bibi remembers little of her family
or her former life, only that her
mothers name was Sita and she lived
in a town called Meiktila, where her
father had a small grocery shop.
She remembers going to a
temple with her mother. Then there
was the bombing and their whole
neighbourhood was destroyed and
many people including her parents
died.
I had left no belongings in
Burma. I heard they even killed
children. why should I have gone
back there? I asked Muzzaffar to
marry again for children, but he
never agreed. So this was my fate, our
fate. I am happy with it, Bibi said.
AFP
Ayesha Bibis husband served in the British army during WWII.
the pulse 23
www.mmtimes.com
WASHINGTON
Shipping container transports to parts unknown
TeP inside a gold-painted

shipping container in
downtown Washington,
midway between the
White House and the
Capitol, and, for 20 minutes, you can
make a new friend in Afghanistan,
Cuba or Iran.
What would make today a good
day for you? is the ice-breaking
question that visitors to the Portals
project are invited to use to strike
up a transnational conversation via
a sometimes shaky internet video
link.
Situated in the Ronald Reagan
Buildings Woodrow Wilson Plaza
off Pennsylvania Avenue, Portals
encourages one-on-one contact
between typical Americans and folks
in Herat, Havana and Tehran.
now I have a friend in Cuba and
he has a friend in the United States,
said niloofar Jebelli, 23, as she
emerged from her virtual meet-up
with a counterpart in Havana.
This was amazing because I dont
know anyone from Cuba who is in
Cuba now, the graduate student and
Portals volunteer from Maryland said.
Im so happy this is happening.
Portals creator Amar Bakshi
launched the project last year with an
impressive US$60,000 raised through
a Kickstarter crowdfunding appeal.
His goal is to have gilded 20-foot
shipping containers everywhere,
harnessing real-time internet
A woman emerges from the Golden Shipping Container after making a free video call in the courtyard of the Woodrow
Wilson Building in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP/Paul J Richards
video technology to help strangers

in two distant places to become
acquaintances.
When you enter one, you feel as
though you are in the same room as
someone in another container, said
Bakshi, whose diverse Cv includes
stints in journalism, law school and
PARIS
Once-spurned districts of Paris, NYC,

London mount foodie revenge
Revenge is sweet. And savoury.
And several other flavours besides.
That could be the motto of a
new generation of chefs who are
turning formerly spurned outer
neighbourhoods of Paris, London
and new York into foodie havens,
replete with cafes and restaurants
whose quality rivals that of
traditional city-centre eateries for
a much lower price.
The trend being seen in eastern
and northern Paris, in eastern
London, and in new Yorks
boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens
was highlighted from June 5-7 by Le
Fooding, a respected French guide
organising a tasty three-day festival
involving some 30 of the young
chefs.
Those districts, once workingclass areas, have become thoroughly
gentrified over the past 15 years
and the food they now offer is
extremely lively, innovative, said
Le Foodings founder, Alexandre
Cammas.
Its nothing short of a cultural
revolution within those cities, he
said.
In those restaurants, there are
no tablecloths, no layers of service,
sometimes not even an entree, and
the main dish could be tapas or a
tasting menu. There isnt necessarily
a choice.
Their point in common is
dropping all that is superfluous,
trying to make good things without
adding stuff to the bill, he said.
One example in Paris is Tatiana
Levha, a 30-year-old chef whose
Polish-Filipina extraction speaks
to the cross-cultural influences
at work. She runs a bistro
called Servan in the citys 11th
arrondissement that Le Fooding has
anointed Pariss best.
With her sister leading the
waitstaff, Levha offers a creative
and inexpensive menu in a former
cafe whose tall windows give on to
the street.
She decided to set up shop in the

neighbourhood where shes been
living for 12 years.
even though theres less traffic
than in Saint-germain, Pariss
extremely touristy Left Bank
district, its one of the citys lively
eastern neighbourhoods that are
still affordable when youre young,
which lets you be autonomous and
free.
Whats more, the customers
here are really friendly, with
people who come to see us because
there are a lot of things opening
up, lots of young people setting
up.
Le Foodings festival will also be
hosting chefs from up-and-coming
areas from other cities, including
Brooklyn and Queens in new York,
Brussels, Berlin, and Londons
Shoreditch neighbourhood.
These districts start off
attracting young people who dont
have a lot of money. They are
places where you go to drink, to
party, said Cammas, explaining the
changes being seen.
Then these young people move
in, they buy an apartment, have
kids, they cant stay out as late,
they have babysitters, they dont
go clubbing any more. Then, for
these young people who dont
want to get old, the restaurant
becomes the last rallying point to
mix it up.
In new York, in Los Angeles,
were seeing exactly the same thing
happening.
The result, he said, was food
that is paradoxically both global
and localised the common
denominator is wanting to work
with local produce as much as
possible.
In Paris it has redefined what
French cooking is, Cammas argued.
Is it French cooking? Thats
impossible to say. There are so many
foreign chefs who have opened
restaurants in Paris. AFP
the Obama administration.

The goal is to place these all
over the world and sort of build the
community centre of the 21st century,
he said.
The Washington container
debuted at george Washington
University in April, with its
counterpart set up at Hariwa

University in Afghanistans thirdlargest city.
In lieu of containers, participants
in Havana and Tehran currently step
into video chat boxes in a hotel and
an art gallery respectively.
Setting up in Havana was
particularly challenging because

of Cubas sore lack of videocapable bandwidth, said Michelle
Moghtader, another member of the
Portals team.
Its just hard to find reliable
internet on the Communist-ruled
Caribbean island that the United
States is only now starting to reestablish diplomatic relations with,
she said.
And in security-obsessed
Washington, Bakshi said the
container had to be screened for
explosives before it could open its
doors in a courtyard surrounded by
federal government offices and a
farmers market.
Over the ether from Tehran,
24-year-old photographer Mahsa
Biglow said that Portals has made
her see how the US media has shaped
Americans frequently negative image
of her country.
I found that American people ...
dont know anything about Iran, she
said, after concluding a live-stream
chat. It opens their eyes, I guess.
Portals remains open at its current
Washington location until June 21.
Would-be participants can reserve
a time slot at www.sharedstudios.
com, which also has instructions for
building your own Portal.
The Portal will continue in
(Washington) DC after June 22,
states the website. Were just not
sure where yet! AFP
24 the pulse
DOMESTIC FLIGHT SCHEDULES

Yangon to MandalaY
MandalaY to Yangon
Yangon to HeHo
HeHo to Yangon
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Y5 775
Daily
6:00
7:10
Y5 233
Daily
7:50
9:00
YH 917
Daily
6:10
9:15
YH 918
Daily
9:15
10:25
W9 515
6:00
7:25
W9 201
Daily
8:40
10:35
7Y 131
2,4,6,7
6:30
9:20
W9 201
Daily
9:25
10:35
YJ 211
5, 7
6:00
8:05
YJ 891
1,2
8:40
10:35
K7 222
1,3,5
6:30
9:30
7Y 132
2,4,6,7
9:35
10:45
YH 917
Daily
6:10
8:30
7Y 132
2,4,6,7
8:50
10:45
7Y 131
Daily
7:15
10:05
K7 223
1,3,5
9:45
11:00
YJ 891
1,2
6:20
8:25
K7 223
1,3,5
8:55
11:00
Y5 649
Daily
10:30
12:45
YJ 761
Daily
12:25
17:00
7Y 131
2,4,6,7
6:30
8:35
YH 918
Daily
8:30
10:25
YJ 751
12:10
7Y 242
1,3,5
15:55
18:45
K7 222
1,3,5
6:30
8:40
6T 806
2,4,6
10:30
11:40
YH 737
1,3,4,5,6,7 11:00
3,5,7
11:00
12:25
K7 225
2,4,6,7
16:00
19:00
6T 805
2,4,6
6:30
7:40
YJ 212
5,7
10:40
12:35
YH 727
11:30
12:55
YH 728
16:15
18:25
YJ 201
1,2,3,4
7:00
8:55
YJ 202
1,2,3,4
12:00
13:25
K7 224
2,4,6,7
14:30
15:45
YH 738
3,5,7
16:25
18:35
W9 201
Daily
7:00
8:25
YJ 761
1,2,4
13:10
17:00
7Y 241
1,3,5
14:30
15:40
W9 129
1,3,6
16:55
19:10
W9201
7:00
8:25
YJ 602
15:40
17:35
W9 129
1,3,6
15:30
16:40
8M 6603
9:00
10:10
7Y 242
1,3,5
16:40
18:45
YJ 601
11:00
12:25
K7 225
2,4,6,7
16:50
19:00
YJ 761
1,2,4
11:00
12:55
YH 728
17:00
18:25
YH 729
2,4,6
11:00
14:00
W9 152/W97152
17:05
18:30
YH 737
3,5,7
11:00
13:10
Y5 776
Daily
17:10
18:20
YH 727
11:30
13:40
W9 211
17:10
19:15
W9 251
2,5
11:30
12:55
YH 738
3,5,7
17:10
18:35
7Y 241
1,3,5
14:30
16:25
8M 6604
17:20
18:30
K7 224
2,4,6,7
14:30
16:35
8M 903
1,2,4,5,7
17:20
18:30
Y5 234
Daily
15:20
16:30
YH 730
2,4,6
17:45
19:10
W9 211
15:30
16:55
W9 252
2,5
18:15
19:40
Yangon to naY pYi taw

Flight
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
MYeik to Yangon
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Y5 325
1,5
6:45
8:15
Y5 326
1,5
8:35
10:05
K7 319
1,3,5,7
7:00
9:05
6T 706
4,6
8:55
10:05
6T 705
4,6
7:30
8:40
7Y 532
2,4,6
15:35
17:40
7Y 531
2,4,6
11:15
13:20
K7 320
1,3,5,7
11:30
13:35
Y5 325
15:30
17:00
Y5 326
17:15
18:45
SO 201
Daily
8:20
10:40
SO 202
Daily
13:20
15:40
Yangon to sittwe
Days
K7 422
2,4,6
6T 611
Arr
7Y 413
1,3,5,7
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
8:00
9:55
K7 423
2,4,6
10:10
11:30
10:00
11:10
6T 612
11:30
12:35
10:30
12:20
7Y 414
1,3,5,7
12:35
13:55
YJ 201
1,2,3,4
7:00
7:55
SO 101
Daily
7:00
8:00
W9 309
1,3,6
11:30
12:55
W9 309
1,3,6
13:10
14:55
ND 910
1,2,3,4,5
7:15
8:15
YJ 201
1,2,3,4
8:10
13:25
6T 611
1,4,5,6,7
11:45
12:55
6T 612
1,4,5,6,7
13:15
14:20
ND 105
1,2,3,4,5
10:45
11:40
ND 9102
1,2,3,4,5
8:35
9:35
6T 611
12:00
13:10
6T 612
13:30
14:35
ND 107
11:25
12:20
ND 104
1,2,3,4,5
9:20
10:15
ND 109
1,2,3,4,5
14:55
15:40
ND 106
10:00
10:55
Flight
Days
ND 9109
1,2,3,4,5
17:00
18:00
ND 108
1,2,3,4,5
13:30
14:25
K7 422
2,4,6
ND 111
18:25
19:20
ND 110
17:00
17:55
7Y 413
1,3,5
SO 102
Daily
18:00
19:00
ND 9110
1,2,3,4,5
18:20
19:20
W9 309
1,3,6
7Y 413
Y5 421
Yangon to nYaung u
Flight
YJ 211
YH 917
YJ 891
K7 222
7Y 131
K7 224
7Y 241
W9 129
W9 211
W9 129
Days
5,7
Daily
1,2
1,3,5
2,4,6,7
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
1,3,6
4
1
Dep
6:00
6:10
6:20
6:30
6:30
14:30
14:30
15:30
15:30
15:30
nYaung u to Yangon
Arr
7:20
7:45
7:40
7:50
7:50
17:25
17:10
17:35
17:40
17:35
Yangon to MYitkYina
Flight
YH 918
YJ 891
7Y 132
K7 223
K7 225
W9 129
7Y 242
Days
Daily
1,2
2,4,6,7
1,3,5
2,4,6,7
1,3,6
1,3,5
Dep
7:45
7:55
8:05
8:05
17:40
17:50
17:25
Arr
10:25
10:35
10:45
11:00
19:00
19:10
18:45
Dep
Arr
11:30
13:50
7Y 413
12:05
14:20
11:00
11:50
W9 309
1,3,6
14:05
14:55
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines
1,3,4,6
15:45
16:40
Y5 422
1,3,4,6
16:55
17:50
YH = Yangon Airways
dawei to Yangon
Arr
13:25
YH 633
2,4,6
7:00
8:25
K7 320
1,3,5,7
12:25
13:35
SO 201
Daily
8:20
9:40
6T 708
5,7
14:15
15:15
6T 707
5,7
10:30
11:30
SO 202
Daily
14:20
15:40
6T 707
13:00
14:00
7Y 532
2,4,6
16:35
17:40
7Y 531
2,4,6
11:15
12:20
6T 708
16:45
17:45
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
lasHio to Yangon
Days
Dep
Arr
YH 729
2,4,6
11:00
13:00
YJ 752
3,5,7
16:10
17:55
YJ 751
3,5,7
11:00
13:15
YH 730
2,4,6
16:45
19:10
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
6T 805
2,4,6
6:30
8:55
6T 806
2,4,6
9:10
11:40
YH 826
1,3.5.7
7:00
9:40
YJ 202
1,2,3,4
10:35
13:25
YJ 201
1,2,3,4
7:00
10:20
YH 827
1,3,5,7
11:30
13:55
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
Flight
Days
Dep
Arr
1,3,5,7
7:00
10:35
YH 827
1,3,5,7
10:35
13:55
2,5
11:30
15:25
W9 252
2,5
15:45
19:40
Yangon to putao
18:15
16:45
19:40
W9 251
K7 = Air KBZ
W9 = Air Bagan
YJ = Asian Wings
Dep
15:25
7Y = Mann Yadanarpon Airlines
11:30
12:15
Airline Codes
13:55
2,4,6
2,5
Tel: (+95-1) 501520, 525488,

Fax: (+95-1) 532275
9:10
Days
YJ 234
Air Mandalay (6T)
11:35
Flight
W9 252
Tel:95(1) 533300 ~ 311

Fax : 95 (1) 533312
1,3,5
YH 634
14:25
Tel: 240363, 240373, 09421146545
2,4,6
Arr
15:10
FMI Air Charter (ND)
7Y 413
8:10
11:30
Tel: 383100, 383107, 700264

Fax: 652 533
K7 422
7:00
11:00
Yangon Airways (YH)
8:55
Dep
Tel: 656969
Fax: 656998, 651020
11:20
Days
2,5
Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999

Fax: 8604051
8:00
1,3,5,7
YJ 233
Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)
10:30
Flight
W9 251
Tel: 515261~264, 512140, 512473, 512640

Fax: 532333, 516654
Days
K7 319
YH 826
Asian Wings (YJ)
Flight
Yangon to lasHio
MYitkYina to Yangon
Tel: 372977~80, 533030~39 (airport), 373766

(hotline). Fax: 372983
Arr
Yangon to dawei
Flight
Air KBZ (K7)
SO = APEX Airlines
tHandwe to Yangon
Dep
Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102
APEX Airlines (SO)
sittwe to Yangon
Yangon to tHandwe
Air Bagan (W9)
Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (7Y)
Days
Flight
naY pYi taw to Yangon
Days
Yangon to MYeik
Flight
Domestic Airlines
putao to Yangon
6T = AirMandalay
FMI (ND) = FMI Air Charter
Subject to change
without notice
Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday
4 = Thursday
5 = Friday
6 = Saturday
7 = Sunday
Sport 25
www.mmtimes.com
1
Seeing the SEA Games
1.
Myanmars Men 6-Crew team celebrates after winning gold in the

Traditional Boat Race 500
2. Myanmars Nally (left) grapples with Thailands Chuthamat Raksat.

3. Myanmars Soe Than Than reacts to finishing second and winning
silver in the Womens 20km Walk. m Final.
4. Myanmars Su Khin Khin celebrates beating Phillippines Jenielou
Mosqueda, and winning the bronze medal, in Womens Judo 52-57kg
on June 6.
5. The Myanmar Womens 10m Synchronised Platform dive team in
action on June 7.
All photos: Photo: Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee / Action
Images via Reuters
Brazil
1E
FIFA U20 WORLD CUP

The Myanmar Times wallchart for New Zealand 2015
USA
2A
V
2D
Uruguay
2C
QUARTER-FINAL
QUARTER-FINAL
june 14, 1pm, hamilton
Colombia
june 14, 4:30pm, auckland
Portugal
Serbia
1C
1D
V
V
3
New Zealand
Hungary
SEMI-FINAL
SEMI-FINAL
june 17, 4pm,

chRiStchuRch
Austria
june 17, 7:30pm,

auckland
Ghana
june 20, 5pm, auckland
2B
1B
V
2F
Uzbekistan
QUARTER-FINAL
QUARTER-FINAL
june 14, 4:30pm, wellington
june 14, 1pm, chRiStchuRch
Ukraine
1A
V
3
Senegal
Mali
Germany
Upcoming:
Wednesday June 10 Wednesday
Ghana 4pm Mali
Serbia 4pm Hungary
USA 7:30pm Colombia
Ukraine 7:30pm Senegal
Last Group Stage

Results Sunday June 07
Honduras
Fiji
Hungary
Brazil
1
0
0
3
-5
-3
-2
-0
Germany
Uzbekistan
Nigeria
Korea DPR
1F
V
2E
Nigeria
26 Sport
Diving
Canoeing
The young pair of Nay Chi Su Su Latt and

Saw Hla Nandar were identified as a potential
medal outsider but finished in fifth with
205.32 points, chasing the 222.12pts of the
bronze medalists Thailand. The Malaysian
couple of Traisy Tukiet and Mun Yee Leong
were untouchable from the rest of the field
with their five-dive total of 306.66pts worlds
apart from the 238.59 of second-place
Singapore.
Billiards &
Snooker
Mens 9-Ball Pool Doubles
Oh dear. Aung Moe Thu and Maung Maung
fell 9-8 in the semi-final stage to Vietnam after
winning their quarter-final June 6 against
Indonesia. That means theyll receive the bronze
not a bad consolation prize, but no cause for
celebration as the duo was tipped for gold.
Mens English Billiards (500)
Not at the table now as expected are Chit Ko
Ko and Kyaw Oo, who were targeting silver
and bronze apiece. The former crashed out
500-365 to Thanh Nguyen of Vietnam in the
quarter-final and Kyaw Oo didnt get that far,
losing to Marlando Sihombing of Indonesia
501-387. Peter Gilchrist of Singapore World
Champion in 1994, 2001 and 2013, and world
record break holder is a clear favourite for
the event.
Boxing
On June 6, New Ni Oo guaranteed herself at
least a bronze medal by winning her womens
bantamweight quarterfinal bout against
Vilayphone Tawan of Laos. All three judges gave
the fight to the girl from Myanmar with two
scoring rounds a decisive 10-8 in her favour.
This afternoon she will face Thi Bang Le of
Vietnam for a shot at the gold at 1.45pm.
In the featherweight category Ve Ro Ni Ka
overcame Singapores Nurshahidah Rosalie in her
quarterfinal, and those watching the fight live
including two of the judges agree she dominated
the bout by winning every round. The only
person who disagreed was the third Kazakstani
judge who in front of Roslies home crowd called
it a draw. Ve Ro Ni Ka will now fight Thailands
Tassmalee Thongjan in the semis.
Womens Light Flyweight Nally Nally was
Myanmars first entrant into the squared circle
earlier when she took on Chuthamat Raksat.
After a judges split-decision loss then a win in
the first two rounds, the Thai boxer closed out
the remaining two rounds to win 39-37 in the
eyes of all three judges.
Canoeing delivered Myanmars first medal

of the 2015 SEA Games with a bronze in the
Mens K4 1000m and its first gold through
Win Htike and Sai Min Wai in the Mens C2
100m. But while the paddlers scored four
medals in total with the kneeling Thant Zin
Oo in the Mens C1 1000m securing silver
and Aung Myo Thu in the Mens K1 1000m
bringing home bronze there was a hopeful
expectation of more. The winning pair said
they were very happy to have set a personal
best and to have taken the gold after being
over two seconds down at half-way.
It was an honour to win with the vice
president watching, said the pair. Vice
President U Nuan Tun returned the honour
by presenting the medals to the pair and
Minister for Sport U Tunt Hsan presented
the accompanying stuff toy, after first turning
to the crowd and raising his own arms in
celebration.
Canoeists return to the water this morning
with the womens kayakers competing over
500m before the men and women compete in
short 200m sprint events tomorrow.
Chinlone
Myanmars chinlone federation know the only
thing that is stopping them from winning
more gold medals in the national sport is the
number of events they can enter.
The Games held four chinlone events over
the weekend. We will take two medals in the
two events we compete in, said Pyae Sone
Hein from the MCF.
We introduced chinlone at the last 27th
Sea Games and this year is its debut as an
international tournament. Im satisfied that
we can make chinlone a key part of future
Games. Come the Malaysian event we hope
our traditional sport will still be on the
Games roster.
In the Non-Repetition Secondary,
Myanmar in a result that surprised no one
took home the spoils by scoring 68 in their
first set and 72 in their second. Laos made
the final alongside them and just managed to
score more in their two sets than Myanmar
did in one, with 43 and 44 making 87.
In the Same Stroke competition Myanmar
beat Thailand 250-195.
Chinlone is our traditional and strongest
sport so we have introduced it to other
nations, and now that they have taken
interest next year we hope to introduce
female events, added Pyae Soe Hein from the
federation.
Thailand secured gold in the NonRepetition Primary event, while Cambodia
narrowly outplayed Laos in the final of the
linking competition.
Equestrianism
In the team competition on June 6
Indonesia (206.579 points) and Singapore
(201.711) dominated the event occupying
the eight of the top 10 spots. The only other
riders to break the top 10 were Ravisara
Wachakorn of Thailand in fifth and ninthplace finisher Maria Angel Ayala.
Both teams trotted easily out of distance
of Malaysia (170.737 points) who took
bronze. Myanmar finished fourth with
157.027 points. Malaysias riders finished 11,
12, 13 ahead of Saw Maung on Dreamer vd
G who led the contingent from the golden
land. finishing 14th. Tun Aung Phyo on Little
Plains and Than Naing Aung on Stoneleight
Eddie finished 15th and 16th respectively
in the event that also acts as qualification
for the individual competition. Cambodia
occupied spots 17 to 19.
Fencing
The fencing competitions at the OCBC
Arena concluded on June 7 with Singapore
topping the medal count for the sport.
Vietnam won 10 medals, seven of them
gold. They were followed by Thailand
and Philippines who won six and six
respectively.
Myanmars fencers came away empty
handed and disappointed, they arrived in
Singapore with ambitions of a two medals,
one of them gold. Zaw Htet in the mens
individual epee and May Thinzar Kyaw in
the womens individual foil were expected
to provide but it they finished far from the
medals in 14th and 9th place respectively.
On June 6 in the team competitions,
both the Mens Epee and Womens Foil faced
Vietnam. The women put up a fight in the
initial stages, the scoreline reading 13-13 at
one point, but the Vietnamese pulled away
and left victors by a margin of 45-25. The
mens epee lost 45-14. Womens Team Epee
also lost yesterday in the quarterfinals to
Phlippines, 45-25.
Shooting
Naung Ye Tun, the first athlete to win
Myanmar a place in the Rio 2016 Olympics,
failed to carry on that form after he was
eliminated in sixth place during the Olympicstyle final in the 10m Air Pistol.
In a 20-shot contest, it was thought his main
rival would be Xuan Vinh Haong of Vietnam, a
shooter with several major regional titles under
his belt. But he could only manage third as his
teammate Quoc Cuong Tran took the spoils.
Results Day 1-2

Canoeing:
Chinlone:
Judo:
Traditional Boat:
Wushu:
Mens C2 1000m
pair
Non-repetition
Secondary team
Same Stroke
Mens 90-100kg
6 crew Mens 500m
Womens Duel
Event Weapons
Duilian
Womens Nanquan
with optional Nan
Quan or Nan Do
Silver
Bronze
Athletics:
Billiards:
Womens 20km
Walk (Soe Than
Than)
Canoeing:
Mens C1 1000m
(Thant Zin Oo)
Judo:
Womens 63-70kg
Womens 70-78kg
Traditional Boat: 6 crew Mens
200m
6 crew Womens
200m
12 crew Womens
500m
12 Crew Mens
500m
Canoeing:
Judo:
Traditional Boat:
Wushu:
The target at Marina Bay was clear eight

races, eight golds but the execution left
something to be desired. As the last of the
traditional (dragon) boat races saw the mens
12-crew 500m losing out on gold by 0.26
seconds to Thailand the nation that actually
turned out the dominate the weekends
events.
The 12-crew men and women were going
for gold on June 7, all the more because
on June 6 they won bronze after they fell
behind not only Thailand but Indonesia,
who appeared to focus their attention on
the larger crew at the shorter 200m distance
for they collected no further medals in these
events.
Both Myanmar and Thailand take eight
medals away from this event, but Myanmars
gold tally reads only one while the Thai
column lists five.
The Myanmar Rowing Federation that
looks after traditional boat racing will no
doubt look to run a post-mortem of what went
wrong here down at Marina Bay and why only
the Mens 6-crew 500m achieved their golden
target.
One suggestion is that the shorter length
make the event less of a test of stamina than in
Nay Pyi Taw 2013 where races were over
500m, 1000m and 2000m, with none at only
200m.
Phay Win, general secretary of the
Myanmar Rowing Federation, told The
Myanmar Times that the changed design of
the boats had been a factor in the change of
fortune.
The boat is much heavier than in the
previous SEA Games, said Phay Win. We
trained well and Im satisfied with the efforts
of our athletes, but it was only enough for
silver.
Judo
Myanmars Zaw Myo Oo defeated by judo
move Ippon at 3:33, and earned the bronze
in the Mens 81-90kg category. Well done
Zaw Myo Oo!
Meanwhile, Soe Yan Naing defeated
Thailands Niekunchon Sitthipongin
in 1:25 flat for the gold medal in the Mens
90-100kg. Congrats Soe Yan Naing, and good
effort as well to Niekunchon, who will take
home silver hardly a disappointment.
On the Womens side, both Aung Aye Aye
and Kyaw Phyo Swe Zin lost, Kyaw Phyone
Swe Zin in only 8 seconds ouch! They wont
leave Singapore without hardware, however
- both will take home silver medals. for the
62-70kg and 70-78 categories respectively,
while their challengers, Thongsri Surattana
(Thailand) and Nguyen Thi Nhu Y (Vietnam),
get the golds.
MEDAL TABLE
Myanmar Medallists
Gold
Traditional
Boat Race
Mens 9-Ball Pool

Doubles
Mens K4 1000m
Mens K1 1000m
(Aung Myo Thu)
Womens 5257kg
Womens 5257kg
Mens 81-90kg
12 Crew Mens
200m
Mens optional
Nan Quan + Nan
Gun
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
SINGAPORE
26
20
36
82
VIETNAM
21
20
48
THAILAND
20
24
19
63
INDONESIA
11
11
16
38
MALAYSIA
16
15
39
MYANMAR
10
25
PHILIPPINES
15
29
CAMBODIA
LAOS
BRUNEI
TIMOR LESTE
Sport
28 THE MYANMAR TIMES JunE 8, 2015
SPORT EDITOR: Matt Roebuck | matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com
SEA Games updates

on location in Singapore
SPORT 26
WASHINGTON
Warner siphoned off South

Africas legacy millions: BBC
isgraced former FiFa

vice president Jack Warner
pocketed a Us$10 million
payment made by south africa through footballs world
body, the BBc reported yesterday.
citing papers it has seen, the BBc
said the 72-year-old Trinidadian laundered money through a supermarket
chain, made cash withdrawals, paid
off his credit cards and took personal
loans from the sum.
Us investigators suspect the $10
million was a bribe intended to secure
votes so that south africa hosted the
2010 World cup.
south africa says the money, paid
in 2008, was intended to pay for football development for the african diaspora in the caribbean, where Warner
was the longtime football baron.
Warner has also denied any
corruption.
in three transactions on January 4,
February 1 and March 10 2008 funds
totalling $10 million were moved from
FiFas bank into an account of confederation of North, central american
and caribbean association Football
[cONcacaF] which was controlled by
Warner, then its president.
The BBc said JTa supermarkets, a
large chain in Trinidad, received $4.86
million.
The money was paid in instalments
from January 2008 to March 2009.
The largest payment was $1.35 million
paid in February 2008.
Us prosecutors say the money was
mostly paid back to Mr Warner in local currency.
The documents also show $360,000
of the FiFa money was withdrawn by
people connected to Mr Warner.
Nearly $1.6 million was used
to pay Warners credit cards and
personal loans.
The documents show the largest
personal loan Mr Warner provided
for himself was $410,000. The largest
credit card payment was $87,000.
Brent sancho, Trinidads sports
minister and a former international
footballer, was appalled by the revelations.
He [Mr Warner] must face justice,
he must answer all of these questions.
Justice has to be served, he told the
BBc.
He will have to account, with this
investigation, he will have to answer
for his actions, added sancho, who
played in all three of Trinidads matches at the 2006 World cup finals.
im devastated because a lot of
that money should have been back
in football, back in the development
of children playing the sport, said
sancho.
it is a travesty. Mr Warner should
answer the questions, he added.
Warner has proclaimed his innocence since being arrested on May 29
at the request of Us authorities who
have sought charges against 14 top
football officials and sports marketing
executives.
The former Trinidadian security
minister is currently free on bail of
$400,000 bail pending a decision in
his extradition case.
Warner still a powerful member
of parliament in Trinidad and Tobago
has taken out paid advertisements
in the Trinidadian media, published
articles in local newspapers and held
rallies with his independent Liberal
Party to defend himself.
The south african payment is a
central part of a Us case that FiFa officials took bribes totalling $150 million over two decades.
Indicted former FIFA vice president Jack Warner sits in his office on June 6, 2015 in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago. A
member of parliament, Warner has continued attending his constituencies after being released on bail from jail. Photo: AFP
The Us indictment alleged that

bundles of cash in a briefcase were
handed over at a Paris hotel as a bribe
by a high-ranking south african bid
committee official.
south africa has strongly denied
that it paid bribes to secure the 2010
World cup the first hosted in af-
rica and a key plank of sepp Blatters

pledges when he took over as FiFa
president in 1998.
We as a government and people
managing the resources of the south
african people we did not share part
of your resources with criminals, i am
saying it now and forever, south af-
rican sports minister Fikile Mbalula

said at a hastily-organised press conference on May 28.
The south african government
and its people will not stand in any
way of pursuing justice, criminality
[and] fighting corruption in sport.
AFP
WASHINGTON
Serena Williams, 17-year tennis vet, takes 20th Grand Slam

sereNa Williams has won Wimbledon five times and will be a hot favourite to make it six when the grasscourt
classic gets underway in three weeks
time in London.
if she makes the punters happy by
doing so she will, for the second time
in her career, hold all four grand slam
titles at the same time and will stand
halfway to becoming just the fourth
woman to win all four in the same year.
it is a clear sign of 33-year-old
americans dominace in the womens
game, 17 years after making her debut
in grand slam tennis.
To date she has won 20 grand slam
titles, just two shy of the Open era
record of 22 held by steffi graf, and
most worringly for her opponents, she
seems to be accelerating.
seven of those have come since she
hooked up with French coach (and
boyfriend) Patrick Mouratoglou in
June 2012 after a stunning first round
upset at the hands of Virginie razzano
in the French Open.
at that time Williams had been
beset with a succession of injuries
and lack of motivation, and she credits Mouratoglou with turning things
around for her.
Now, he says, she is perfectly capable of winning five grand slams in
a row at Wimbledon and New York,
although he cautions that it is still a
big ask.
Helping Williamss cause and
worringly for womens tennis in general the opposition is not exactly of
the highest quality.
The stage therefore looks set for
Williams to continue her domination
of womens tennis, at least for the next
couple of years, as long as she stays
healthy and motivated.
she has really dominated the sport
in the last three years, said 18-time
grand slam winner Martina Navratilova. What is impressive to me is that
shes doing it at this age.
it remains to be seen how deep
she can go into the 20s [grand slams],
depending on how her body holds up
and on motivation. even if she gets to
22, passing Margaret court [24] is still
a long way away. AFP

Monday, June 8, 2015 (MTE Daily Issue 59)

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HEARTBEAT OF THE NATION

ISSUE 59 | MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Risks for NLD leader

Students shun invitation

PHOTO: AUNG KHANT

Investors dodge ongoing

No return in sight for IDPs

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 8, 2015

I want to urge everyone to look at

Once was Burma ...

A grainy image graces the cover of Forward cover in 1970

NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com

Daw Suu risks domestic

DAW Aung San Suu Kyi makes her

He said there were high hopes

proposed dam in August 2011, the

Daw Aung San

safeguards to the project but recommended its resumption. The Chinese

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 8, 2015

Myanmar Consolidated Media Ltd.

The rescue operations have

While the two neighbours continue to argue over the origin of

MYITKYINA, KACHIN STATE

No return in sight for Kachin IDPs

FIVE Kachin ladies sip tea as they sit

marks its fourth anniversary tomorrow.

Political prisoner list grows

were in prison, up from 157 in April,

timber, he said, referring to recent Tatmadaw offensives in Mansi township.

If they dont clear the

Some have taken up this option,

at more than 20,000.

OF all the barriers faced by people with disabilities, the most

Expression of Interest to Provide Engineering Consultancy Services at

TRADE MARK CAUTION

(Reg: No. IV/6547/2007)

TRADEMARK CAUTIONARY NOTICE

Myanmar Registration Number 4/8825/2014

TRADEMARK CAUTIONARY NOTICE

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 8, 2015

Arix Co., Ltd., a company organized under the laws of Japan,

Myanmar Registration Numbers.

TRADE MARK CAUTION

Chinlone festival kicks off in Mandalay

sides from throughout the country in

using parts of their body other than

Experts call for change

FOR Ma Nan, now 18, crossing the

attempts to rein in the problem.

People charged with human trafficking

She said current legal migration

Myanmar working overseas, according

On the border, spite is no answer

More than 1 million

any desire to absorb the Rohingya

what is now the Myanmar-Bangladesh border too many times to count.

communication tools and our World

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 8, 2015

KYAUKPYU, RAKHINE STATE

Labourers make do at the docks

Ngalapwe port is about 2 miles (3.2

man tries vainly to shoo off a pack

on an ad hoc business, Daw Aung

Myanmar labour force