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DAILY EDITION

ISSUE 61 | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015

NEWS 2

IN PICTURES

PHOTO: REUTERS

Myanmars Min Si
Thu Tun takes aim en
route to winning gold
in the mens English
Billiards Doubles
Final last night at the
28th Southeast Asian
Games in Singapore.
The Myanmar team
came from two
frames down against
their more highly
fancied Singaporean
opponents to win
the match 3-2,
triumphing 102-90
in a thrilling final
frame. The win took
Myanmars medal
tally to 45, including
11 gold, a figure still
well down on preGames expectations.

FULL COVERAGE
SPORT 26-28

Five international groups

to monitor elections
For the first time, international political
organisations are being invited by
the Union Elections Commission to
observe the campaigning, voting and
government-forming processes during
this years highly anticipated elections.
NEWS 4

New negotiators take up

draft ceasefire accord
In the latest shake-up of the
nationwide ceasefire process to
emerge from meetings in Kayin
State, leaders of armed ethnic groups
requested 10 new negotiators replace
most of the NCCT members.

BUSINESS 8

Central Bank limits

payments to kyat
Restaurants, shops and hotels quoting
prices in US dollars will have to
change their ways, as the Central
Bank of Myanmar looks to enforce
mandatory use of the local currency.
BUSINESS 9

Pyin Oo Lwin agent sells

same property many times
Property agents in the holiday town
are trying to track down a crooked
real-estate broker who they claim has
sold the same property to multiple
sets of buyers.

MPs back constitution bill

A bill to amend the 2008 constitution has received the backing of 20 percent of MPs, enabling it to be tabled and
debated, as parliament changes tack following the failure to schedule a second round of six-way talks. NEWS 3

2 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

Ethnic parties fear

voting cancellation
SHWE YEE SAW MYINT
poepwintphyu2011@gmail.com
ETHNIC parties have expressed their
concern that the Union Election Commission (UEC) will use security concerns as a pretext to cancel voting in
areas where pro-government parties
are seen as having little chance of
winning.
U Sai Nyunt Lwin, secretary of
the Shan Nationalities League for
Democracy (SNLD), one of two main
ethnic parties in Shan State, told a
forum in Yangon on the challenges
to democratisation in Myanmar that
his party was concerned that voting
could be cancelled in conflict areas,
as happened in the 2010 election.
The UEC does not want election campaigns to be held in these
places because parties supporting the
government have no chance to win
there, he said.
Ethnic politicians were raising their concerns in Yangon at the
weekend even as talks among leaders of armed ethnic groups in Kayin
States Law Khee Lar failed to break
the deadlock over signing a nationwide ceasefire agreement with the
government.
Separately, UEC chair U Tin Aye
told a press conference on June 8 that
it was too soon to say whether elections would be held in Shan States
Kokang region under martial law
and entering a fifth month of conflict
or in the self-ruled Wa region. He
said military authorities had told subcommissions that their safety could
not be assured in those areas.
A report issued in April by the International Crisis Group, Myanmars
Electoral Landscape, said that cancellation for security reasons is a sensitive issue that needs to be handled
transparently, or disenfranchisement
could impact credibility, particularly
if it gives rise to perceptions that
minority communities are being selectively disfavoured for political
reasons or in a way that could skew
results.
The ICG noted that in 2010 the
election commission issued notifications a few weeks before the election
where voting would not take place,
explaining it was in no position to
hold free and fair elections.
Voting was cancelled in four townships where the United Wa State
Army did not allow elections to be
held, and those seats in parliament
have remained vacant.
Tens of thousands of voters in
2010 were left disenfranchised across
about 300 village-tracts in 32 other

constituencies, with Kayin State most

affected.
The ICG said that in 2010 the
military informed the election commission where voting could not take
place. However, detailed reasoning
was not disclosed, raising questions
whether political rather than security
considerations may have been behind
some decisions.
The report said that the UEC had
given two main criteria for cancelling
voting this year: whether it has been
possible to assemble voter rolls; and
whether the commission can move
freely to administer the polls.
U Sai Nyunt Lwin said political
parties were disadvantaged because
they had no say in the UECs decision
on whether voting in entire constituencies should be cancelled. He said
it was possible the SNLD would contest the elections in about 40 of Shan
States 55 townships.
A question mark also hangs over
Kachin State, where a long-standing
ceasefire agreement collapsed in 2011

The UEC does

not want election
campaigns to be held
[there] ... because
parties supporting
the government have
no chance to win.
U Sai Nyunt Lwin
SNLD party secretary

and some 100,000 civilians are still

living in displacement camps.
We have asked the government to
hold elections in all constituencies in
Kachin State because some constituencies could not open polling stations in 2010, Manam Tu Ja, leader
of the newly registered Kachin State
Democracy Party, told The Myanmar
Times.
In the April 2012 by-elections, voting was cancelled in all three Kachin
State constituencies due to security
concerns.
Manam Tu Ja had registered to
run as an independent candidate in
Mogaung prior to the announcement.
He said that his party had not
received assurances that elections
would be held in all Kachin State constituencies this year either.

A polling station official counts votes in front of the media in Dagon township in the 2010 election. Photo: Kaung Htet

International groups
to monitor elections
Five foreign elections observers from the US, the Netherlands and the EU have
been invited to monitor the campaign, voting and government formation

EI EI TOE
LWIN
eieitoelwin@gmail.com

THE Union Election Commission

will allow observers from a maximum of five international organisations to monitor the parliamentary
elections, U Tin Aye, chair of the
UEC, told The Myanmar Times.
The elections, expected in early
November, will mark the first occasion that outside foreign observers
have been allowed to monitor the
election campaign, voting and the
period leading up to the formation
of a government. The UEC set out
its regulations for local and international monitors on March 20.
U Tin Aye said official procedures had complicated the process of accepting international
observers. The UEC is required to

submit its proposals to the Union

government for approval by the
foreign ministry and the attorney
general. Once consent is given
then the UEC must sign a memorandum of understanding with the
organisation.
We cant accept all proposals
because we have to sign an MoU. It
normally takes time to make sure.
We can accept a maximum of five
for the elections, U Tin Aye said in
an interview on June 7 at the commissions office in Yangon.
The UEC signed a short- and
long-term memorandum with the
Carter Center, founded by former
US president Jimmy Carter, on May
26. Last month the Center observed
its 100th election, in Guyana, over a
period of 26 years.
The UEC says it will soon also
sign agreements with the European
Union, the Washington non-profit
International Republican Institute, and Netherlands-based Gender Concerns International. A fifth

organisation is still being processed.

U Tin Aye said all ASEAN members would be invited to observe as
well.
Observer groups that sign a
long-term MoU with the UEC will
be able to stay in Myanmar from
August, when the election date is
set to be announced and candidates
registered, through to March 2016
when the new government is to be
formed.
Observers will be allowed to
monitor vote counting but may not
engage in actions or behaviours
those could interfere or hinder the
elections process directly or indirectly. All must adhere to rules issued by the UEC, which says it welcomes their reports and advice.
This year we will allow local
and international observers and
even the media to observe [voting]
in military polling stations. They
can take pictures as long as it does
not hinder secret voting, U Tin Aye
said.

www.mmtimes.com

NEWS EDITOR: Thomas Kean | tdkean@gmail.com

News 3

Constitution
amendment
bill gains
MP backing
Bill to be tabled for debate as parliament loses
patience with stalled high-level political talks

HTOO
THANT
thanhtoo.npt@gmail.com

Members of Kachin aid groups issue an appeal for more funding for IDPs yesterday to mark the fourth anniversary of the
resumption of fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army. Photo: Naing Wynn Htoon

Kachin groups urge more aid for IDPs

LUN MIN MANG
lunmin.lm@gmail.com
AID groups yesterday appealed for
more donations to support internally
displaced persons camps in Kachin
State, where many families are reportedly in desperate financial straits.
Less than 12 percent of the humanitarian aid budget requested by the
UN to support displaced people in
Kachin State has so far been committed, according to the groups submitting the appeal.
We are extremely concerned over
the lack of funding and commitment
to resolving this problem, said a
statement released by the Joint Strategy Team, comprised of eight Kachin
aid groups.
The team expressed its concerns
over funding cuts at a donor briefing
with diplomats and NGO representatives in Yangon yesterday, as the conflict in Kachin State entered its fifth
year.

An estimated 100,000 people have

been forced into IDP camps in Kachin
State since a 17-year ceasefire between
the government and the Kachin Independence Organisation broke down
in June 2011.
The UN requested US$71 million
to assist displaced in Kachin and
northern Shan states this year, but so
far only $8 million has been committed, according to the joint team.
Meanwhile, there has been no UN
food convoy since September 2014
into KIO-controlled areas, according
to the teams statement.
Given the extremely limited budget resources, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(UNOCHA) took austerity measures
in a new plan that will see families
supplied with very little money, the
Joint Strategy Team statement said.
This will result in a family of
Kachin IDPs having to live on less
than 20 cents [K200] per day, it
said. A family of three or four cannot

survive on this amount.

Furthermore, some IDP sites,
such as Hpare Kyet camp, which is
home to more than 870 IDPs, have
never received humanitarian aid and
are in a desperate situation.
Francis Lynnpard from Karuna
Myanmar Social Services, one of
the organisers of yesterdays event,
said the funding cut may have two
causes. The first is increasing numbers of conflicts around the world
and the other is donor attention
decreasing.
In an interview in February, a
UNOCHA official said funding for
Myanmar emergencies would likely
be constrained this year due to major
emergencies in Syria, South Sudan
and other places.
In a letter sent yesterday to mark
the fourth anniversary of the resumption of hostilities in Rakhine, 84 civil
society organisations called on world
leaders to urgently provide aid to the
IDPs.

THE bill on amending the 2008

constitution is expected to be
submitted to parliament today,
according to MPs involved in the
process. The submission of the bill
follows growing frustration from
within parliament at the failure
of high-level political talks to yield
any agreement on constitutional
change, in part due to government
and military intransigence.
Under the constitution, the
bill requires a petition with signatures from at least 20 percent
of MPs in order to be accepted for
consideration.
U Tin Maung Oo, a Union Solidarity and Development Party representative, said he expected the
necessary signatures would be collected by yesterday evening, after
which they would be submitted to
the hluttaw office.
This would enable the bill to be
tabled today, he told reporters.
The petition has been organised by the Constitution Amendment Implementation Committee,
of which U Tin Maung Oo is a
member. Formed in February 2014,
it includes MPs from the National
League for Democracy and ethnic
minority parties, as well as the
USDP and military.
Committee member U Aung
Kyi Nyunt from the NLD said the
USDP had led the process of arranging the necessary signatures,
and the process had broad support
within parliament.
All MPs agreed [to support the
process] when the Hluttaw Speaker [Thura U Shwe Mann] said during a meeting with political parties
on May 29 that the USDP will lead
the process to submit the bill, he
said, adding that NLD leader Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi signed the petition yesterday.
The possible amendments

covered by the bill are likely to

include sections 59(f ) and 436,
which govern eligibility for the
presidency and the process of
amending the constitution, both
highly contentious issues.
Because constitutional change
requires the support of military
MPs, who hold 25pc of seats in
parliament, most MPs believe that
agreement to amend these sections can only be reached through
the so-called six-way talks, which
involve representatives of the
government, the military, the opposition, parliament and ethnic
minorities.
In November, the Pyidaungsu
Hluttaw passed a motion calling for six-way dialogue, but the
government delayed the talks for
almost six months before participants eventually convened on April
10. While they agreed to a further
round of discussions, these are yet
to be scheduled, despite pressure
from parliament.
With an election scheduled for
early November, time is running
out for these talks to yield fruit.
There is also a consensus in parliament that the window for holding
a national referendum to approve
constitutional changes before the
election has passed.
At the meeting on May 28,
Thura U Shwe Mann explained
to political party leaders that he
would instead focus on amending
sections of the constitution that require only 75pc support from parliament, and not also approval at a
national referendum.
In particular, he highlighted
schedules 1 and 2 of the constitution, which clarify areas of responsibility for the Union and regional
governments, including how revenues can be raised from natural
resources.
Changes to the schedules would
devolve more powers from Nay
Pyi Taw to regional governments,
which has been a key demand
of ethnic leaders, both in parliament and among Myanmars many
armed ethnic groups.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

Government plans housing for 16,000 factory workers

KYAW PHONE KYAW
k.phonekyaw@gmail.com
THE government is planning a housing rental project for 16,000 factory
workers from Hlaing Tharyar and
Shwe Pyi Thar industrial zones, according to Daw Win Maw Tun, deputy minister for labour, in the first
such move to support the private
sector.
The housing will be dormitorystyle for single men and women,
with the intention to extend the project to other industrial zones in Yangon and other regions.
In Yangon, there are three difficulties for livelihood clothing, food and accommodation.

Workers can easily afford clothing

and food but they have more problems with accommodation. Thats
why we planned this project, the
deputy minister said.
Up to 10 workers will share each
room at a cost of K10,000 to K16,000
a month, said U Nay Myo Win, director of planning and research for the
Social Security Board (SSB).
Only workers with social security
insurance from the SSB can take up
the housing offer. The 16,000 make
up 10 percent of workers with SSB
insurance in the two industrial zones.
President U Thein Sein gave the
go-ahead for the project in early May
and the labour ministry is waiting
for land-use permission from the

Yangon Region government, the deputy minister said.

Accommodation will be leased
to employers, who in turn will rent

BILLION KYAT

27

Estimated cost of the industrial zone

housing project, which will be funded by
the Social Security Board

rooms to their workers.

The ministry cant do detailed
management like cleaning and
security because of a lack of personnel. So employers have to take
responsibility for management,
U Nay Myo Win said.
The ministry has two blueprints
for the project. Workers will be allocated 60 to 80 square feet each. The
total cost is estimated at K26 billion
to K27 billion, to be met by SSB funds.
Businesses welcomed the project
at a launch ceremony on June 7.
We really appreciate the building
of housing estates. But if they are far
from the workplaces, it wont be very
convenient. The workers will have
to go back home instead of working

overtime for the extra money. If they

can work overtime, our business will
also grow, said U Myat Thin Aung,
president of Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone.
Workers at the launch were also
positive but said they expected
problems.
There are so many workers but
a supply of rooms only for 16,000
so there will be a big rush, said Ko
Thant Zin Oo, a shoe factory worker.
Ma Aye Aye Phyo, a garment
worker from the Shwe Pyi Thar zone,
said, Even if the government makes
accommodation for workers, it is
likely we will have to rent from the
employers. Then if we lose our jobs,
we will also lose the place to stay.

4 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

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A senior official from an armed ethnic group speaks during the meeting in Law Khee Lar, Kayin State, on June 6. Photo: Naing Wynn Htoon

Armed ethnic group leaders

appoint new negotiating team
WA LONE
walone14@gmail.com

LEADERS of ethnic armed groups

meeting in Kayin State have formed
a new high-level team to replace negotiators who worked for more than
18 months on a nationwide ceasefire
agreement with the government.
Participants said the decision yesterday followed eight days of heated
discussions in Law Khee Lar on the
Myanmar-Thai border between faction leaders and members of their Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team
(NCCT), which signed a draft accord
with the government on March 31.
President U Thein Sein had expressed hopes at the time that
the draft accord would be quickly

finalised by the leaders of the armed

ethnic groups.
Divisions among the armed ethnic
groups over the terms of the ceasefire
and whether it would include three
groups fighting the Tatmadaw in the
Kokang region have since held up the
process.
The latest negotiating shake-up
could give the stalled process some
impetus as the new group is seen to
be more authoritative and closer to
the ethnic groups leadership. But the
development could disappoint China
and the United Nations, who sent senior envoys to the Law Khee Lar talks to
press for an early signing of the ceasefire accord.
Kwa Uk Lian, joint secretary of the
Chin National Front, said, That high
level negotiation team has full power
of decision-making in the peace talks,
but they have no authority to sign [a
ceasefire].
The new 15-strong team is

comprised of 10 new members, some

of them regarded as more hard-line in
their approach, and five former NCCT
members, including chair Naing Han
Thar and General Gun Maw of the
Kachin Independence Army. The three
factions fighting in the Kokang region
will also be represented in the new
group.
The Law Khee Lar meeting also
discussed 15 proposed amendments to
the ceasefire draft and earlier agreed
it would not accept government demands for the three Kokang factions
to be excluded from the ceasefire
accord.
The new negotiating group will be
led jointly by Naw Zipporah Sein, Karen National Union deputy chair; La
Gya, secretary of Kachin Independence Organisation; and Pu Zing Cung,
a senior official of the Chin National
Front.
It includes one representative each
from the Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Chin,

Mon and Rakhine communities plus

the All Burma Students Democratic
Front. Shan State has three representatives and former NCCT members
make up the remaining five.
Kwa Uk Lian said that while the
new members had no experience in
past NCCT discussions they had a
mandate to make decisions and understood the policy hammered out at
the eight-day conference.
Top leaders will be on stand-by
next to the negotiators when they
have to make critical decision during
the peace talks, he said.
The existing NCCT and government representatives are due to meet
in Chiang Mai today for two days of
informal discussions, U Hla Maung
Shwe, a senior adviser at the Myanmar
Peace Center, said.
He said he could not anticipate
how the government would react to
the formation of the new ethnic negotiating team.

Regional government rejects proposal

on controversial property projects
YE MON
MYAT NYEIN AYE
AUNG KYAW MIN
newsroom@mmtimes.com
THE Yangon Region government has
shot down a proposal to suspend or
cancel controversial property projects
near Shwedagon Pagoda, as a committee of monks announced they intend
to stop the projects from going ahead.
The five multi-million-dollar developments just south of Shwedagon
were halted in January by the Myanmar Investment Commission amid
zoning concerns. Bahan representative Daw Nyo Nyo Thin submitted a
proposal to debate the high-profile
projects including the US$300 million Dagon City 1 saying they would
block views of the pagoda, detract
from the citys green space and cause
further traffic congestion in the area.
But regional government representatives said the projects falls under
Union government control, and dismissed any further debate.
These projects are not under the
region governments management,
said Minister for National Planning
and Economic Development U Thann
Myint.

Members of the Yangon Region Hluttaw stand for the start of the session
yesterday. Photo: Thiri Lu

Daw Nyo Nyo Thin suggested her

proposal was dismissed because of
government interests in the projects,
which are on military-owned land.
The regional government shouldnt
have objected [to the proposal] and
other representatives should have
had a chance to discuss it in the par-

liament. So I suspect the government

[was involved], she said.
The projects have faced opposition
from a broad range of groups due to
transparency concerns and fears that
planned towers will harm views of the
pagoda.
Continued delays in a proposed

zoning plan have resulted in a dispute

over height limits in the area, with opponents calling for a 62-foot (18.6-metre) height limit, while developers say
the area is zoned for a maximum of
190 feet (57m).
A committee of monks and nationalist organisations, including Ma Ba
Tha, yesterday added their dissent to
the mix.
We will demand officials not allow the construction of high-rise
buildings and extracting of underground water near the pagoda in
the future, as well as try to stop the
[planned] housing projects, said U
Aung Myine, a member of the newly
formed Shwedagon Pagoda Protection Committee.
The group said it plans to hand out
Protect Shwedagon pamphlets, and
also urgently petition parliament and
government ministers to reconsider
the project.
At a forum in May, civil engineers
and architects suggested any environmental damage to Singuttara Hill next
to Shwedagon could cause damage to
the pagoda.
Stakeholders from the planned
development projects could not be
reached for comment yesterday.

6 News

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

Election commission hits back

at NLD claims on electoral rolls
LUN MIN MANG
lunmin.lm@gmail.com
ELECTORAL chief U Tin Aye has
hit back at the opposition National
League for Democracy, accusing the
party of concealing facts. He was responding to a criticism made by NLD
last week about errors in the voters
lists now being displayed in a number
of townships.
Addressing a press conference at
the Myanmar Peace Center on June 8,
the Union Election Commission chair
said the NLD had been uncooperative
when he had sought to address the
criticisms.
The NLD complained to the UEC
last week in Nay Pyi Taw about what
it said were the results of its survey
of the voter registration so far. Having compiled computerised voters
lists throughout the country, the UEC
is now displaying the lists in various
townships so that voters can check
that their details have been correctly
recorded, or have errors in the list
rectified through the local electoral
sub-commissions.
The party issued a statement on
June 3 listing what it called weaknesses in carrying out the exercise.
I asked the partys officials what
they had done as a result of these errors. But then they were not so cooperative with the UEC. I have no idea
why people usually want to blame the
commission instead of helping, said U
Tin Aye.
U Tin Aye also accused the party
of omitting from its statement points
made by electoral officials at their
meeting with the NLD. We discussed
the issue for more than two hours.
They should have reflected our discussion in their statement, he said.
The NLD statement also said that
in one village, all voters were listed as
having the same date of birth.
Instead of speaking out, they
should have helped the voters apply
for the forms so that the mistakes
could be corrected, said the UEC
chair.
NLD spokesperson U Tun Tun Hein
told The Myanmar Times that NLD
workers had helped voters correct
errors in the lists. We did this when
the lists were first displayed in the 10

Seven inmates pass matriculation exams this year,

following the prisons first two graduates in 2014

SHWEGU
THITSAR
khaingsabainyein@gmail.com

Union Election Commission chair U Tin Aye addresses reporters at a press

conference in Yangon on June 8. Photo: Aung Myin Ye Zaw

Yangon townships, and then in the second display in 14 townships, he said.

The UEC chair made no mention
of an unrelated NLD complaint about

Instead of speaking
out, they should
have helped the
voters ... so that
the mistakes could
be corrected.
U Tin Aye
Union Election Commission

UNDP Vacancy Announcement

Star-studded
party set for
Insein Prison
students

National Programme Officer, NOC

Duty Station: Home-based in Loikaw, Kayah State

International Trade Center is seeking a National Programme Officer for The

Export Sector Competitiveness Programme (ESCP), Netherlands Trust Fund
phase III Programme (NTFIII). ESCP aims to enhance export competitiveness
of selected sectors in selected countries through an integrated approach to sector
competitiveness built around one outcome and the four following outputs:

Validated plan for sector and enterprise development in place;

Export capacity of male and female owned SMEs increased sustainably;
Capacity of TSIs improved in providing sector development support services
to SMEs along the sector value chain;

Business linkages and technical partnerships/collaborations expanded.

Recruitment Qualifications
Masters Degree in business, economics, tourism management or related fields.
Bachelors degree will be acceptable if the post qualification work experience
is 7 years or more.At least 5 years of experience in project management and
hands-on business-related experience;Very good knowledge of the structure
and characteristics of the economy of Myanmar, the assets of its tourism sector
and its threats and shortcomings. Familiarity with trade issues of sectors linking
to tourism, like handicraft, agrifood and services;Knowledge of development
assistance issues and other trade-related technical assistance projects in the
country and region;Experience in working with an international technical
cooperation agency and knowledge of UN procedures would be an asset;
Experience in working in the tourism sector and knowledge of public and private
tourism stakeholders would be an asset;Knowledge of Myanmar Government
structure and requirements for implementation of activities at local level would
be an asset.Fluent written and spoken English. Fluent written and spoken
Myanmar. Knowledge of local Kayah language(s) would be an asset. To apply:
http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=57059
Applications dead line is 19 June 2015

the release of a photograph of Daw

Aung San Suu Kyi apparently intended to bring her into disrepute. The
picture, distributed by workers of the
ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party of which U Tin Aye was
formerly a senior member reportedly showed her meeting local Muslim
leaders during her recent visit to Mon
State. Though senior USDP officials
in Nay Pyi Taw acknowledged misconduct, the UEC appears not to have
taken up the issue.
In recent months, the UEC has met
regularly with political parties and civil society organisations, briefing them
on electoral laws and its activities, and
inviting their assistance. Working with
voters in spotting and correcting mistakes in the voters lists was one of the
topics discussed.

SEVEN inmates of Insein Prison

who passed the matriculation
exam on June 6 will celebrate
their results with pop stars serving time.
It is the second year running
that students at the prison have
passed the high school examination since a formal study program
was introduced in 2010.
Last years two graduates, the
first under the education program, helped 17 test-takers prepare for this years test. The seven
who successfully passed will be
guests of honour at a prison yard
party in the third week of June.
With just over 41 percent of the
prison students who sat the test
passing this year, the prisons pass
rate was better than the national
average of 37.6pc.
Last year I felt so happy when
I saw the news and cartoons about
our students passing the matriculation exam. I hope they will be
even more successful in the future, said U Tin Htay, director
of the Corrections Department in
Nay Pyi Taw.
This year is also the first time
the party will be open the media.
It will be attended by the prison
director general, who will hold
a question-and-answer session

with journalists.
U Tin Htay said last years
outstanding graduates had to
celebrate in secret, though they
were also greeted by the prisons
famous inmates, including popular singers and actors convicted of
crimes including drug possession,
human trafficking and document
forging.
The prison began offering inmates the chance to sit exams
three years ago, after a state
school was set up within Insein.
The prison education program
was spearheaded by Insein Prison
Warden U Kyaw Htay, who is also
a deputy director in the Corrections Department.
An inmate with a Master of
Sciences degree was assigned as
headmaster, and other educated
inmates work as teachers using
the curriculum and timetables
from the state school system. High
school teachers and headmasters
from local township schools also
come in on weekends to lend a
hand.
The first prisoners to pass the
exams, in 2014, were Ko Hein Htet
and Ko Myo Nyunt Oo. They were
jailed for robbing K164 million
from a house in Insein township
and had served more than two
years by the time they passed the
exam. They later continued their
studies at the University of Distance Education.
This years graduates, all aged
under 20, were sent to prison for
offences including illicit drug use,
adultery and murder.

Sagaing family rejects court eviction

SI THU LWIN
sithulwin.mmtimes@gmail.com
A FAMILY of eight who have been living
in the same house for 15 years are refusing to leave, despite a court order to
demolish their house and quit the premises. The courts deadline was yesterday.
The Myanmar Times has been unable to identify or contact the person
claiming to be the owner of the land,
who initiated the court proceedings for
trespass against the family two years
ago.
The dispute concerns a plot of land
in Sagaings Padamyar ward known as
salane 17, after the seventh character in
the Myanmar alphabet.
Daw Khin Hnin Yu, 55, who insists
she owns the land and the house, says
the plaintiff in the case is taking advantage of their inability to produce a
documentary record of ownership.
In 1997, the government seized
land belonging to 89 households in
East Padamyar ward to build the Education University, and compensated us
with land west of the road. Our family
received two plots, salane 15 and 17.
Our neighbours will confirm that we
own the land. We sold salane 15 and
built the house on salane 17, she said.
We submitted to the court the documents we had received from the former ward administrators, but we didnt

after we were relocated because my

parents were on a trip to Kathar. When
they came back, they went to the [administrators] office three times to ask
for the slip, but never received it. As they
were daily workers, they could not keep

MILLION KYAT

20

Price of a 2400-square-foot
plot of land in Sagaing

A member of a Sagaing family facing

eviction after losing a recent court
case speaks at a press conference.
Photo: Si Thu Lwin

see any changes.

Speaking at a press conference on
June 7, Daw Khin Hnin Yu said the
court had ruled against her family because they could not produce ownership documents.
Her daughter, Daw Aye Hnin Maw,
said, We did not receive documents

taking days off to go to the office. But

we thought it would be alright because
it was the government that relocated us.
Now we are being unfairly evicted.
In the past 15 years, improvements
in transportation and infrastructure
have elevated land values in the area.
The construction of Sagaing Industrial
Zone and Education University has
helped raise the price of a 60 by 40-foot
plot like salane 17 to as much as K15K20 million.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

News 7

www.mmtimes.com

Views

Quality infrastructure for Asia:

more than cash, concrete and steel
BINDU N
LOHANI
newsroom@mmtimes.com

INDING the funds to truck

in the construction materials
to build the infrastructure
that Asia sorely needs is
crucial, but far from everything. To meet the long-term needs
of a fast-changing region, funders
and builders of Asias power plants,
railways, utilities systems and schools
must also take into account economic,
social and environmental considerations. New thinking on financing is
also key.
Asia and the Pacific accounts
for nearly 40 percent of the global
economy in purchasing power parity
terms, up nearly 9 percentage points
since 2000. Much of the past growth
was built on international trade. This
will continue in the future. Clothing,
rice, and electronic goods transported
from factories and farms in Bangladesh, Thailand or China rely on swift
rural-to-city roads, and easy interconnections with railways and ports to
deliver goods to customers overseas.
The advent of trade agreements
like the ASEAN Economic Community will increase the demand for
seamless infrastructure, as well as
efficient trade services and logistics to
go along with it. Meeting this demand
will be essential if Asias economies
are to continue to grow. Planning for
infrastructure needs to look beyond
national borders to international connectivity and the efficient services to
back it up.
Asias social makeup is changing
as fast as its economy, and infrastructure will need to reflect that too.
An anticipated urbanisation rate of
120,000 people a day until 2050 will
require building 20,000 new homes,
250 kilometres of new roads and
infrastructure for more than 6 million
litres of potable water each day. Since
cities provide up to 80pc of gross domestic product in most countries, energy, transport and communications
systems must be high-tech, financially

Indian labourers carry iron rods used on construction sites for transportation from a warehouse in Kolkata on May 28. Photo: AFP

viable and flexible enough to meet

rising demand. Good governance over
all of this is key.
Infrastructure in cities and elsewhere must consider environmental
factors. Where possible, it should
benefit the environment. Clean energy
generation and public transport are
good examples of infrastructure that
reduces greenhouse gas emissions and
improves air quality. Where infrastructure threatens to damage the environment or indeed the livelihoods of
those who depend on it we must
minimise any potential harm. Not doing so means short-term gains at the
longer-term expense of the environment and those who depend on it.
Climate change is another issue.
Rising temperatures and higher sea
levels mean infrastructure must
be carefully designed as all ADB
infrastructure now is to be resilient
to changing, often extreme, weather

patterns. The recent earthquakes in

Nepal and Typhoon Haiyan in the
Philippines in late 2013 are harsh
reminders of the need to make sure
all infrastructure can withstand
potentially devastating disasters in
order to protect lives and economies.
Between 2005 and 2014, disasters cost
Asia and the Pacific US$722 billion, or
a distressing $198 million a day.
New infrastructure must meet the
needs of urban and rural, rich and
poor alike. With more than 600 million in the region lacking an electricity supply and more than 360 million
having no safe drinking water, vast
and expensive power transmission
or water networks are not always
the answer. Home solar systems or
mini hydropower may be a cheaper
and better way of powering distant
villages or poor communities unconnected to the grid.
Energy could also come from a

neighbouring country, such as Bangladeshs purchase of electricity from

eastern India. The Asian Development Banks experience in Laos, Nepal and other places has shown that
involving communities in designing
and maintaining local infrastructure
such as irrigation or water systems
makes for greater long-term efficiency
and financial viability. In short, infrastructure must also be inclusive if all
of Asia is to contribute to, and benefit
from, the regions growing prosperity.
We need fresh ways, beyond public
funding, to pay for all this. Development banks like the ADB must
continue to promote investment. Institutional investors, sovereign wealth
funds and infrastructure funds are all
potential sources of direct finance, as
are liquid local bond markets.
But attracting the private sector
means more efforts to promote
regulatory frameworks including

enforceable laws on contracts, privatisation and concessions. Guarantees

can entice pension funds and insurers
to project bonds or project financing.
Much more work must also be done
to shape the regions skills, laws and
political support for public-private
partnerships, or PPPs. Similarly,
advisory support to create bankable
projects and instil international best
practices for PPPs is crucial.
As a development leader, then, we
must consider all the inter-related
dimensions of infrastructure development technological, economic, social, environmental, governance and
innovative financing. It is beyond just
bricks and mortar, concrete and steel.
Bindu N Lohani is vice president for
knowledge management and sustainable
development at the Asian Development
Bank.

8 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

Business
Central Bank to
limit payments
to only the kyat
JEREMY
MULLINS
jeremymullins7@gmail.com

THE Central Bank of Myanmar is moving to strengthen the kyats use in the
local economy, eventually pushing the
countrys hotels, restaurants and shops
to list prices only in the local currency.
It has issued a letter directed at government ministries and regional governments, stating they must use only
local currency for charges as well as for
price quotations when selling products
or services. It also applies to private enterprise under the various national and
regional government branches, said a
Central Bank of Myanmar official.
The letter is directed at internal
payments rather than foreign purchases, and is to be followed up by more
formal rules. Yet experts say it may be a
tall order to force transactions into the
local currency.
The Central Bank official said businesses will still be able to trade internationally in US dollars.
Any company can charge [and]
quote in US dollars or in any permissible foreign currencies when they sell
[and] export abroad, he said.
However, they are encouraged to
use only the local currency for their domestic sales.
Initially, it is intended that domestic retail sales for items such as air
tickets, motor vehicles, tourist souvenirs and hotel room rentals will be
done in kyat only.
It is the same in countries like Singapore or Thailand where you can pay
only in their respective currencies, he
said.
Later, it can be applied to domestic
corporate wholesales once the currency forwards or swaps are available so
that currency risk can be hedged.
Currency risk stems from fluctuations in currency values. If a Myanmar company buys imported raw
materials in dollars, manufactures
an item, and then sells it abroad
in dollars, it faces the risk that the
dollar-kyat exchange rate could shift

AYE
THIDAR
KYAW
ayethidarkyaw@gmail.com

during manufacturing, eating in to

profits.
Hedging foreign exchange means a
different entity such as a bank is willing
to take this risk in return for a price.
The Central Bank of Myanmar official said that it is encouraged that
every domestic sale, either retail or
wholesale, should be in the local currency. However, it is understood that
enforcement could be difficult in the
initial stage. Hence, respective ministries and regional governments are
encouraged to enforce it initially for
domestic retail sales.
The May 28 letter, which was posted to the Central Bank of Myanmars
website earlier this month, said the
presidents office has agreed to the
proposal to only use kyat in domestic
transactions. It comes as authorities
are concerned about increased use
of foreign currency, which gives Myanmar authorities less direct control
over its own economy in the long run,
and may affect the local currency.
Dollarisation has become more
prevalent in Myanmar, increasing
the demand of foreign currency and
decreasing the demand and usage/
importance of domestic currency, the
letter said.
The kyat has been in decline for
much of the year. Yesterday, unofficial
exchange rates were near 1200 kyats
per dollar, representing a 17 percent
depreciation from the start of the
year. The Central Bank of Myanmars
official exchange rate was K1105 yesterday, still an 8pc drop since the start
of the year.
The US dollar has strengthened
against most currencies around the
world over the past year to some extent.
Experts say that moves to
strengthen the kyat, such as forcing
its use, may be solved if the current
problem is speculation, but will be
more difficult if the kyats depreciation represents structural weakness

Many Yangon restaurants currently display their prices in dollars. Photo: Thiri Lu

in the economy.
The problem of whether [the
kyats depreciation] is fundamental
or speculation is mixed up. Its too
early to say if the Central Banks intervention is effective, said U Soe
Thein, executive director of Asia
Green Development Bank.
The Central Bank could probably
better control the situation by selling the proper amount of US dollars rather than forcing kyats as the
immediate currency of payment, he
said. Currently, most US dollars are
obtained from the black market rather than through formal channels.
Initially, the policy will most affect
government branches, though many
private sector businesses such as hotels, branded clothing or jewellery
shops routinely use US dollars and are
carefully watching the rules.

It is the same in
countries like
Singapore or
Thailand where
you can only pay
in their respective
currencies.
Central Bank official

A serviced apartments businessperson said her company does

business primarily in US dollars, as
it is far more convenient for her longstay customers rather than carting
around big amounts of kyat.
As long as theres no leap forward
into card payments, the most effective way of conducting transactions is
with dollars. This method is suitable
for our customers, she said.
The Central Bank aims to reduce
the artificial demand for foreign currency in the country, according to a
client briefing by legal firm VDB Loi.
The mounting need for US dollars, for
instance, in the view of the Central
Bank might increase the chance of
currency destabilisations.
The letter is an announcement to
put government agencies and private
enterprise on notice.
This is not yet an order with binding force, the client brief said. The
text is fairly generally and not written
in language used for legally binding
rules. The Central Bank of Myanmar
is in fact currently preparing detailed
regulations which will be binding.
It is thus too soon for enterprises
to start refusing to pay in US dollars at
this point in time, in our view.
VDB Lois brief said that certain
transactions could to be carved out as
exceptions. Salaries of expatriate employees are not mentioned in the letter, while major transactions such as
joint ventures and property deals may
also be excluded from forthcoming
regulations.

One of the most important practical questions as we go forward in Myanmars new foreign exchange context
is the actual extent of the obligation to
use Myanmar kyat, it said.
The note said that while some
countries ban the use of foreign currencies domestically, they do allow
contract prices in a value connected to
US dollars. It is also possible the Central Bank will impose the use of kyat
for contract prices, as well as invoices
and payment. To date, there are no
such general restrictions on enterprises in Myanmar to invoice in a foreign
currency, it said.
One risk for foreign investors is
that while the Foreign Investment
Law does not guarantee foreign investors they can do business in foreign
currency in Myanmar, it does guarantee that invested capital and profits
can be extracted in foreign currency.
Yet with foreign companies having
diminished options to collect US dollars in Myanmar, companies will need
to convert their kyat profits into dollars at some stage.
The million dollar question (excuse the pun) just got bigger, it said.
Even if one makes money investing
in Myanmar, will there be US dollars
available to convert my profit into at
the end of the year? The more time is
spent between earning kyat and converting it, the greater the potential
risk.
Another question is whether existing contracts will be grandfathered,
according to the VDB Loi briefing.

MANDALAY

Food processors push to allow sugar imports

KHIN SU WAI
jasminekhin@gmail.com
SOARING sugar prices have
prompted Mandalay food companies to appeal to the government
for help. Myanmar Food Processors
and Exporters Association (Mandalay) has asked the commerce ministry to allow the import of sugar,
which has been blocked since the
end of April.
As world sugar prices have fallen, local prices have gone in the
other direction since Thingyan, rising by 30 percent partly because of

demand from Chinas Yunnan province, say sugar dealers.

Local prices, having risen to
K1230 a viss as of June 7, are at
their highest level since 2011 (1 viss
equals 1.6kg or 3.6lbs).
World sugar prices have fallen to
about $400 a tonne FOB at Yangon
harbour, or about $350 in London
trading.
We dont object to exporting
sugar to China. But domestic demand is high. Weve asked the ministry to resume imports as soon as
possible. This is the view of all our
members, U San Win, chair of the

associations Mandalay branch, told

The Myanmar Times on June 4.
U Win Htay, deputy chair of the
Myanmar Sugar and Sugar Related
Products Merchants and Manufacturers Association, said last week
that local production was 400,000
tonnes a year, equal to consumption. A fall in prices would hurt
sugar farmers, he said.
Prior to the shutdown of sugar
imports in April, major enterprises
had already stored up several thousand tonnes.
U Win Htay complained of the
impact of speculation on the sugar

PERCENT

30

Amount that domestic sugar prices

have risen this year on the back of an
import ban

market, adding, Yangon dealers

started to buy sugar at the end of
April. Mandalay farmers produce
the sugar, but dont get the profit.
The price difference between Mandalay and Yangon rose very fast,
two or three times a day, like the
gold price. Ive never seen this in
my 35 years in the trade. Consumers are losing out, and so are our
traders, who have to pay much
more for our raw material.
He said there were 50 million
consumers and 300,000 cane farmers, all of whom were losing money
as a result of this situation.

BUSINESS EDITOR: Jeremy Mullins | jeremymullins7@gmail.com

Investment Law to include

portions on incentives for
target areas

HSBC issues layoffs as

it marks 150 years of
operation

BUSINESS 10

BUSINESS 12

Exchange Rates (June 9 close)

Currency

Buying

Euro
Malaysia Ringitt
Singapore Dollar
Thai Baht
US Dollar

K1236
K295
K808
K33
K1112

Selling
K1256
K307
K822
K36
K1114

Pyin Oo Lwin real estate agent racks up

the sales for the same piece of property
PHYO WAI
KYAW
pwkyaw@gmail.com

A CROOKED real-estate agent who reportedly resold the same land to several different buyers could have made
off with hundreds of millions of kyat,
say those who were cheated in the
scam. The victims of the fraudulent
transactions have been meeting to try
to resolve the issue.
The fraud occurred in Pyin Oo
Lwin, Mandalay Region, and Monywa,
Sagaing Region, say local real estate
agents.
Daw Khin Than of Kaung Hein Set
Real Estate Agency and chair of Myanmar Real Estate Services Association
(Pyin Oo Lwin branch), told The Myanmar Times on June 8 that ownership disputes had broken out over the
serial sales.
She resold land in Pyin Oo Lwin to
two or three buyers. When we calculated the value of land involved in the
ownership disputes that have come
before us, it comes to about K1.5 billion. She fabricated ownership documents and practised breach of trust.
She even accepted money from people
who wanted to join the Real Estate
Services Association but she didnt
enter them in the ledger. She is no
longer a member of the association,
said Daw Khin Than.
The alleged unscrupulous agent is
named Daw Khin Win Tint, though
she so far has not been available for
comment. Daw Khin Than said land in
villages around Pyin Oo Lwin such as
Naung Lone, Naung Line, Kone Baw,
Htone Bo and Htoen Gone has been
sold repeatedly without the knowledge of first or second buyers.

Motorbike riders scoot past Purcell Tower, the landmark at the centre of Pyin Oo Lwin. Photo: Phyo Wai Kyaw

The cheat operated from a real estate agency she opened in Yay Chan
Oh village, Pyin Oo Lwin township. In
all, about 80 people have been cheated
in Pyin Oo Lwin and Monywa, she
said.
She took the Monywa buyers in
charter bus and treated them to lunch
in a pagoda before selling them the
land. Some buyers have only a sales
contract. We dont know where she is,
but she posted an announcement in
Kyei Moun daily on June 3, saying she
desired to repay those who contributed

capital to her business, and she is trying as hard as she can to do so. But she
did not reveal her whereabouts or her
phone number.
We will advertise in the stateowned media informing her she must
settle the matter within 15 days, said
Daw Khin Than.
U Kyin Khe, a real estate dealer
from Htan Taw ward in Monywa, said
that the value of the contested land in
Monywa was about K400 million. I
met her about five months ago. She
cheated me out of about K15 million,

Apex to lend against farm permits

HTIN LYNN AUNG
htynlynnaung@gmail.com
MYANMAR Apex Bank will begin allowing farmers to access bank loans by
using their work permit certificates as
collateral, according to bank chair U
Chit Khine.
The Form-7 certificates were created
with the 2012 Farm Land Law, functioning as a farmland work permit certificate for people with the right to farm a
particular plot of land.
Apex will now offer three-year loans
to farmers of K400,000 per acre using
the certificates as collateral, U Chit Khine said at a ceremony held in Danubyu
township of Ayeyarwady Region.
We havent seen enough support
to the agricultural sector to develop.
Thats why were launching this system, he said.
It should become widely adopted,
but weve launched it in Danubyu first,
as a test.
U Chit Khine is not only the chair
of Myanmar Apex Bank but also head
of local conglomerate Eden Group, with
businesses in the agriculture industry.
The program is started lending
against the Form-7 of 275 farmers in
Danubyu township, with total value of

K596 million (US$542,000). Interest

rates are 13 percent a year, the maximum allowed by law.
U Chit Khine said Apex is the first
bank to lend against Form-7. Land titles
is by far the preferred method of collateral for domestic banks, accounting for
over 90pc of lending.
Apex will try not to take possession
of the right to work the farmland if a
farmer has trouble with his or her debt,
he said. Land that is seized due to nonpayment will be sold to other farmers.
Farmland should be in the hand of
farmers. Thats why we plan to adopt a
system where default farmers land is
sold at auction to other small farmers,
who can continue their business, said
U Chit Khine.
Agriculture experts say there is a
significant need for capital in the sector, though some question on what
scale the program can be implemented.
The need for capital is the main
challenge for paddy farmers, said U
Ye Min Aung, general secretary of the
Myanmar Rice Federation. It is a good
thing to allow farmers to access loans
by using their certificate. But I dont
think Apex can do this for the whole
country.
U Ye Min Aung said more banks

and financial institutions need to be encouraged to lend to farmers, which will

strengthen the sector.
Myanmar farmers generally use the
cheapest techniques, often skimping on
inputs like fertiliser and insecticide that
would improve yields. Still, it generally
costs K80,000 to K100,000 an acre for
the difference costs, including to hire
labourers.
The number of workers for planting and harvesting paddy is growing
scarce, so we have to hire machines,
said U Thein Win, a farmer from Hti
Kway village in Danubyu. Costs are going higher thank god we are getting a
better price for paddy these days.
U Thein Win, who farms on 15 acres,
said he is keen on Apexs loans partly
due to their long, three-year term. He
added that the market price for 100 baskets of paddy is K300,000 to K350,000,
while an acres lowest yield is about 60
baskets.
While farmers like U Thein Win are
keen to try out the loans, their reach is
limited. Only a few farmers in one of
the 26 townships in Ayeyarwady Region can access the program, though
it may do something to restart Myanmars rice bowl.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

We will advertise
in the ... media
informing her she
must settle the matter
within 15 days.
Daw Khin Than
Pyin Oo Lwin real estate agent

and I have to deal with other victims

as well. I dont know what to say. Were
trying to work out a solution together.
The disputes over ownership are
hampering the victims in their efforts to work together on settling the
problem, said Daw Khin Than, who
added that in many cases the fraudulent sales contracts were witnessed by
village administrators. One solution
might be auctioning off the land and
sharing out the proceeds among the
victims.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

TRADE MARK CAUTION

TOSHIBA ELEVATOR KABUSHIKI KAISHA, a Company
incorporated in Japan, of 72-34, Horikawa-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasakishi, Kanagawa, Japan, is the Owner of the following Trade Marks:-

ELCOSMO
Reg. No. 5591/2015

SPACEL

Reg. No. 5592/2015

in respect of Class 7: Elevators.

Destination Control System

Reg. No. 5590/2015

in respect of Class 7: Elevators. Class 9: Software used for elevator
control system.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Marks
will be dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A., H.G.P., D.B.L
for TOSHIBA ELEVATOR KABUSHIKI KAISHA
P. O. Box 60, Yangon.
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 10 June 2015

10 Business

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

Incentives to be built
in to investment law
JEREMY MULLINS
jeremymullins7@gmail.com
THE combined investment law will
have built-in incentives for priority
areas and sectors, according to U
Aung Naing Oo, director general of
the Directorate of Investment and
Company Adminstration.
Myanmar previously had two
separate investment laws, the Foreign Investment Law and the Myanmar Citizens Investment Law.
Yet experts have recommended
combining the two, and Myanmar
was the only one of the 10 ASEAN
countries with two laws.
Public consultations were held
earlier this year on what form the
new combined law should take,
and the International Finance
Corporation is providing technical support on the update, which
is still a work in progress.

We will use
incentives as
a tool for the
development of the
country.
U Aung Naing Oo
Government official

It aims to end different treatment for foreign and Myanmar

firms in most areas, though some
areas, such as ownership of land,
will remain closed to foreigners.
The combined law will also provide a streamlined, automatic approvals process for some projects,
and aims to make the investment
climate more friendly overall.
U Aung Naing Oo said that
while the current publicly available
draft does not include a discussion

of incentives, they are likely to be

included in the coming weeks.
We will use incentives as a
tool for development of the country, he said during a seminar held
at Yangon University of Economics by the Centre for Excellence
for Business Skills Development,
attended by the universitys students and organised jointly with
UNESCO.
There will be two broad categories of incentives, said U Aung
Naing Oo.
Tax breaks will be lengthened
for development in targeted areas. Different regions of the country will receive different classifications developed areas like
Yangon, developing areas such
as Mandalay and Magwe, and underdeveloped areas like Chin and
Kachin states. New investment in
developed areas will be excused
some taxes for three years, while
developing area investment will
have a five-year tax break and
underdeveloped areas will be excused for seven years.
Separately, there will also be
tax incentives for promoted industries and for certain practices.
We are promoting investment
in labour intensive industries, we
are promoting investment in infrastructure development, we are
currently promoting investment
in agriculture, he said. There will
be a set list of priority sectors, and
investment in these sectors will
also receive investment. This list
can also change from time to time
depending on government policy.
Furthermore, the government
is also planning to allow certain
expenditures in areas like research and development, or training programs for staff, to be written off against taxes.
U Aung Naing Oo added that
the draft combined investment
law will be updated online shortly
to include these initiatives.

BEIJING

Inflation tumbles in
China as economy stalls
CHINESE inflation fell to 1.2 percent in May, data showed yesterday, the latest sign that growth in
the worlds number two economy is
stalling and suggesting more monetary easing may be on the way.
The consumer price index
(CPI), the main gauge of inflation,
eased from Aprils 1.5 percent, the
National Bureau of Statistics said.
It also fell short of the 1.3pc
median forecast from a survey of
economists by Bloomberg News.
Inflation has been subdued in
China as growth slows and commodity prices have fallen, prompting forecasts from some economists the country could slip into a
harmful cycle of deflation.
Concern has grown since January, when CPI hit its lowest point
since late 2009, prompting calls for
authorities to act to stave off the
trend of falling prices that can choke
consumer spending and growth.
Chinas economy expanded
7.4pc in 2014 its slowest pace
in 24 years and has shown few
signs of a pick-up this year. Gross
domestic product (GDP) growth
slowed to 7.0pc in January-March,
the worst quarterly result in six
years.
The inflation figures, which
came the day after data showing
imports fell for a seventh straight
month in May and exports also

sank, added to analysts predictions of further monetary easing

after three interest rate cuts since
late 2014.
Subdued CPI inflation reflects
still weak domestic demand and
leaves room for further policy easing, Nomura economists said in a
note.
Chinese authorities have been
trying to transform the heady
growth seen under Chinas investment-driven expansion model
to one in which consumers take
centre-stage, which they say will
be more sustainable.
The producer price index (PPI)
-- a measure of costs for goods at
the factory gate and a leading indicator of the trend for CPI -- slipped
4.6pc in May, the same as in April
and the 39th consecutive decline,
the Bureau said.
The Nomura economists said
two more interest rate cuts and
two additional reductions in the
bank reserve requirement ratio
are likely over the rest of this year,
with the next move most likely
coming in July.
The central Peoples Bank of
China has already cut interest
rates three times since November
and tried to boost lending by twice
lowering the amount of cash banks
must keep in reserve, along with
other measures. AFP

Remote villages the

priority in energy plan
Adding power is a priority,
but rural electrification will
not come cheaply.
Photo: Staff

AUNG
SHIN
koshumgtha@gmail.com

VILLAGES in remote areas will be the

priority for electricity under the National Electrification Program, according to
officials.
The government has voted to apply
for US$400 million in loans from the
World Bank for expansion of the national grid as well as off-grid electrification in rural areas.
Some $90 million of that will be
allocated to the Ministry of Livestock,
Fisheries and Rural Development for
off-grid electrification under the program, senior officials said.
The loan applications follow up the
drafting of the electrification program
last year, which was completed with extensive World Bank assistance.
An update on the project released
on June 5 said that Myanmars energy
consumption is among the lowest in
the world, with about 70 percent of the
population and 84pc of rural households without grid electricity.
Electricity is growing fast, it said.
During the last five years, the electricity supplied by the national grid grew
on average about 15pc per year and
reached 9.6 terrawatt hours in 2013.
The countrys 4255 megawatts of
installed capacity is about 70pc hydropower and 27pc gas-fired plants.
Daw Soe Soe Ohn, project manager
for the National Electrification Plan under the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries
and Rural Development, said officials
are now counting villages in Shan,
Kachin, Chin and Kayin states that will
be prioritised with the project.
A draft of the plan was presented
to the government in September. It
said that about 7.2 million new connections must be added by 2030 to achieve
100pc electrification, requiring an average of 450,000 new connections per
year more than double the current
rate, according to the June 5 project
update.
It estimated the total cost of the

16-year rollout at $5.8 billion, in addition to the generation and transmission investment required to meet
demand. The first five-year phase of the
program is likely to start in the 2016-17
financial year, with the World Banks
$90 million loan $80 million for offgrid solutions and $10 million as technical assistance, according to Daw Soe
Soe Ohn.
Meanwhile, the ministry has been
pushing for greater rural electrification
since the 2013-14 fiscal year using the
state budget. According to the ministrys statistics, only 26,357 of 64,917 villages around the country are electrified.
Daw Soe Soe Ohn said an additional

2308 villages will be electrified this year

using the state budget.
Electrification in rural areas is completed 50pc of the time by generator.
An additional 26pc of electrified rural
households are attached to the national
grid, 10pc by solar, 9pc by mini hydro
and 5pc by hydro mass.
In the future, we will use more solar and micro-hydro systems to electrify
rural areas, she said. The government
has set a target of 100pc electrification
by 2030. In January 2014, the World
Bank Group announced plans to extend
$1 billion in financial support to extend
Myanmars electricity generation, transmission and distribution.

NEW DELHI

Tax-friendly India hits major hurdle

INDIAS goal of a friendlier tax regime
for global companies to help power
China-beating economic growth is hitting a staffing hurdle.
Fewer than 20 officials face the
complex task of working with hundreds of multinationals on pacts to
avert tax rows, people familiar with
the matter said, asking not to be identified as the staffing data arent public.
Just 11 such advance pricing agreements have been struck out of about
580 applications since the program
began in 2012, they said.
The pacts clarify the levies allowed
when a foreign company transacts
with its Indian unit, deals that in the
past sparked court cases involving
Vodafone Group Plc and Royal Dutch
Shell Plc over the tax due. Japans Mitsui & Co has an agreement in place
and another with Mitsubishi Corp is
in the works, but the backlog is substantial, the people said.
We dont think the progress is
very slow, said Akhilesh Ranjan, the
competent authority on international
taxation for the Indian government in
New Delhi. But if we have more resources we could try to make it faster.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis
government has pledged stable and

competitive tax rules to woo investment as part of a broader agenda for

faster economic expansion to curb
poverty.
His cabinet in January said it would
not appeal a Bombay High Court ruling that sided with Vodafones local
unit in a case involving the issuance of
shares to its UK parent.
That may also help Shell, which
got a favourable ruling from the same
court on a similar matter. Officials
had sought income adjustments of
about US$2.7 billion in the two cases,
Bloomberg BNA reported.
International transactions involving overseas companies and their Indian units spark transfer pricing questions about how to value the deals for
tax purposes.
More than half of Indian tax litigation stems from transfer pricing,
Bloomberg BNA reported. The pending advance pricing agreements aim
to prevent such problems.
Finance Ministry spokesperson
DS Malik declined to comment on
how many applications remain to be
processed.
The mechanism stalled after a
good start, said Gautam Doshi, a tax
expert in Mumbai at the Reliance

Group, which is owned by billionaire

Anil Ambani. A hawkish tax regime,
sluggish bureaucracy and a lack of
manpower may be among the issues,
he said.
In the US, more than four times
as many officials were working on
advance pricing agreements as of
December last year, according to a
government analysis. Some 108 applications were filed and 101 executed
in 2014. The US has put in place 1401
pacts since 1991, with 336 applications
pending.
Indias tax department was scrutinising 470 billion rupees ($7.3 billion)
of multinational companies income in
the year ending March 2011 for transfer-pricing violations, people familiar
with the matter said in February. Officers have been told to avoid unnecessary litigation, they said.
Even so, the risk of tax disputes
continues to loom in India, where
there is also pressure to boost one of
the lowest collection rates as a proportion of the economy in the world.
Nokia Oyj, Vodafone, Cairn India
and Cadbury chocolate maker Mondelez International are among those embroiled in a range of spats for claims of
about $10 billion. Bloomberg

International Business 11

www.mmtimes.com
BANGKOK

Myanmar
land too
expensive
for Thai
giant
SAHA Group, Thailands leading
consumer product conglomerate,
has scrapped plans to set up an industrial estate in Myanmar, citing
high land prices in the country.
Chair Boonsithi Chokwatana
said the group decided not to develop its own industrial park on a
1000-rai (1.6-square-kilometre) plot
in Myanmar after studying the projects potential for a few years.
It wont work to develop our
own industrial park over there due
to the high investment cost, he
said. The land is very expensive.
If the group had not cancelled
the industrial park, it would have
had to spend a great deal of money
just to lease the land for 30 years.
Saha Group has altered its business strategy in Myanmar by renting some land for factories at an
industrial park to be jointly developed by Japanese investors and the
Myanmar government.
The group will also use existing
facilities in Taks Mae Sot district as
a trading centre for Thailand and
Myanmar.
Mae Sot has been chosen for one
of the new special economic zones.
Saha has three textiles factories
on a 200-rai plot in Mae Sot for
making lingerie, apparel and socks.
Although the Thai economy is
slowing, the group will continue to
explore the domestic market with a
series of fresh investments including a property development and
logistics effort with Japanese investors worth 200 to 300 million baht
(US$18.2 to $27.3 million).
Boonkiet Chokwatana, executive
chair of ICC International Plc, a
subsidiary of Saha Group, said the
group would remain committed to
investment in Thailand.
The company will sign an agreement with Tokyu Corporation to
co-develop Harmonique Residence
Sriracha, a 180-room serviced
apartment building near the J-Park
community mall in Chon Buris Si
Racha district.
Construction has begun and will
finish by year-end, targeting Japanese residents.
Consumer purchasing power is
not back to normal, Mr Boonsithi
said.
Using only low interest rates is
not enough to stimulate the economy. So far we are satisfied with the
performance of the Prayut Chan-ocha government, particularly the
corruption crackdown. We want
him to stay for another two years.
Saha Group yesterday announced the 19th Saha Group Fair
would take place from June 25 to 28
at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok.
More than 1000 booths of specially priced products will offer
complimentary home-delivery service at the fair.
Saha Group expects full-year
sales on a par with last years 300
billion baht.
Myanmars high prices for land
are a frequent target of complaint
by international investors.
Government officials have announced several initiatives to slow
land speculation and make more
land available for investment,
though success has so far been
mixed.
Bangkok Post

SAN FRANCISCO

Apple bites into online music

APPLE made its play to shake up
online music with a new subscription service allowing users to stream
songs, listen to playlists and connect
with performers.
The new Apple Music, which
could be a powerful rival to online
services such as Spotify and Pandora,
will launch June 30 in 100 countries.
It will initially be available to consumers with Apple devices and later
this year to those using Android a
shift for Apple, which aims to attract
customers from the rival mobile system which is dominant around the
world.
Chief executive Tim Cook boasted
late on June 8 that the new Apple Music service would be the next chapter
in music and will change the way
you experience music forever.
The service will be available for
US$9.99 per month, with a family
plan for up to six people at $14.99.
Apple Music is really going to
move the needle for fans and artists,
said Apples Jimmy Iovine, who came
to the California tech giant when it
purchased Beats Music.
Online music has become a complicated mess of apps, services and
websites. Apple Music brings the best
features together for an experience
every music lover will appreciate.
The service includes a live radio

Recording artist
Drake weighs in
on Apple Music
at the June 8
launch.
Photo: AFP

station called Beats 1, tools to find

curated playlists or individual songs
and a social music network on which
users can comment on music and
share it.
Beats 1 is a 24-hour listening experience led by influential DJs Zane
Lowe in Los Angeles, Ebro Darden in
New York and Julie Adenuga in London, Apple said in a statement. Listeners around the globe will hear the
same great programming at the same
time. Exciting programs on Beats 1
will offer exclusive interviews, guest
hosts and the best of whats going on

in the world of music.

We love music, and the new Apple Music service puts an incredible
experience at every fans fingertips,
said Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of internet software and services at the Apple developer conference
in San Francisco.
All the ways people love enjoying
music come together in one app a
revolutionary streaming service, live
worldwide radio and an exciting way
for fans to connect with artists.
The new service, leaked over the
weekend by a top Sony executive,

could become a major force in the

music industry and was touted as a
revolutionary step by Apple, which
shook up the sector more than a decade ago with its first iTunes digital
music store.
Apple comes late to the music
streaming business, due in part to
Steve Jobs refusal to believe that music subscription services would ever
work, says James McQuivey at Forrester Research. But the writing is
on the wall: Digital downloads dont
make sense for consumers that are
connected wherever they go.
Mr McQuivey said Apple Music
may succeed because it can build its
new music service into the hundreds
of millions of devices that its loyal Apple users already love.
Apple also announced updated
software for the iPhone and iPad as
well as for the Apple Watch and its
Mac computers.
The company unveiled an expansion of the Apple Pay service that allows iPhone users to tap their handsets at merchant terminals to Britain.
It will launch next month at some
250,000 locations in Britain including
the London transit system.
Also unveiled was the Apple News
app, which collects all the stories you
want to read in one place, in a customised news feed. AFP

12 International Business

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

HONG KONG

Troubled HSBC cuts its workforce

SCANDAL-HIT bank HSBC said yesterday it would cut its global headcount by up to 50,000 as part of a restructuring that entails its withdrawal
from Brazil and Turkey, while it also
mulls abandoning London as its HQ.
In a statement to the Hong Kong
stock exchange it also said it intends
to save US$5 billion in annual costs
within two years.
The announcement came ahead of
an investor update later yesterday in
which chief executive Stuart Gulliver
was expected to announce thousands
of job losses.
HSBC is now undertaking a significant reshaping of its business portfolio, said the bank, which this year
marks its 150th anniversary.
It is redeploying resources to
capture expected future growth opportunities and adapting to structural
changes in the operating climate, it
added.
The statement did not mention extensive job cuts, the details of which
were buried in an investor update
report.
That report said there would be
a 10 percent reduction in jobs, with
between 22,000 and 25,000 classified under transformation savings,
including streamlining IT projects.
A further 25,000 jobs would be lost
with the selling of operations in

Turkey and Brazil.

The move is the latest in a series of
swinging cuts under Mr Gulliver, who
joined at the beginning of 2011. Staff
numbers have dropped from 295,000
in 2010 and by 2017 there will be
208,000 remaining.
The statement also said it will aim
to save $4.5 to $5 billion in annual
costs by 2017 but would continue to
serve large corporate clients in Brazil
with respect to their international
needs.
The bank added that it would focus
more on Asia, particularly in the Pearl
River Delta, and set up a ring-fenced
British bank.
It also expects to complete a review
of where to locate its headquarters by
the end of this year.
Mr Gulliver has said the lender
may relocate due to increased British
regulation and taxation of the banking
sector.
Financial analyst Jackson Wong
described yesterdays announcement
as a decisive move.
Its a big cut ... [but] they havent
been able to save costs over the past
few years, said Mr Wong, associate
director for Simsen Financial Group.
He added that the bank was likely
to relocate its headquarters to Hong
Kong, owing to its low tax regime.
The chance is pretty high for Hong

TRADE MARK CAUTION

KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, also trading as TOSHIBA
CORPORATION, a Company incorporated in Japan, of 1-1,
Shibaura 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, is the Owner of the
following Trade Mark:-

Reg. No. 2381/2015

in respect of Class 2: Toners for copying machines, printers
and facsimile machines; toner cartridges [filled]; printing ink;
mimeographing ink; colors [for drawing pictures]. Class 3: Deodorants
for pets; breath fresheners; deodorants for animals; wallpaper cleaning
preparations; detergents for biochemical analyzers for medical
purposes; floor cleaning preparations; carpet cleaning preparations;
cleaners for litter trays; laundry detergents; detergents for household
use; toilet bowl detergents; soaps and detergents; body sprays;
antiperspirants [toiletries]; deodorants for personal use; cosmetics
and cosmetic preparations; air fragrancing preparations; incenses
and fragrances. Class 5: Deodorants; air purifying preparations;
antibacterial preparations; medicinal herbs; pharmaceutical
preparations; antiseptics; depuratives; mildew (chemical preparations
to treat); disinfectants for chemical toilets; deodorants for clothing and
textiles; air deodorising preparations; fumigants [only for agricultural
purposes]; fungicides [only for agricultural purposes]; rodenticides
[only for agricultural purposes]; insecticides [only for agricultural
purposes]; herbicides [weedkillers]; insect-repellents [only for
agricultural purposes]; antiseptics [only for agricultural purposes].
Class 11: Drying apparatus [for chemical processing]; recuperators [for
chemical processing]; steamers [for chemical processing]; evaporators
[for chemical processing]; distillers [for chemical processing]; heat
exchangers [for chemical processing]; industrial furnaces; nuclear
reactors [atomic piles]; solar furnaces; boilers; laundry dryers [electric,
for industrial purposes]; machines and apparatus for capturing and
storing valuable resource in wastewater; waste water treatment tanks
for industrial purposes; septic tanks for industrial purposes; solar water
heaters; water purifying apparatus; gas water heaters [for household
purposes]; ice chests [for household purposes, non-portable]; icecooling refrigerators [for household purposes]; household tap-water
filters; gas lamps; oil lamps; lamp chimneys; waste water treatment
tanks for household purposes; septic tanks for household purposes;
toilet stool units with a washing water squirter; disinfectant dispensers
for toilets; toilet bowls; seatings for use with Japanese style toilet
bowls; bath fittings. Class 12: Shafts; axles or spindles [for land

A man talks on a mobile phone as he walks past an HSBC branch in Hong Kong.
Photo: AFP

Kong, he said.
But analyst Francis Lun said the
cuts may be too severe. They may
have overdone it if you cut the jobs

any further ... you cannot get the job

done.
Mr Lun also believed Asia would be
a friendlier environment for the bank.

vehicles]; bearings [for land vehicles]; shaft couplings or connectors

[for land vehicles]; shock absorbers [for land vehicles]; springs
[for land vehicles]; brakes [for land vehicles]; two-wheeled motor
vehicles; bicycles and their parts and fittings. Class 21; Electric tooth
brushes; cosmetic and toilet utensils. Class 29: Milk products; frozen
vegetables; frozen fruits; processed vegetables and fruits. Class 31:
Fresh vegetables; tea leaves [unprocessed]; fruit, fresh; seeds and
bulbs; trees; grasses; turf [natural]; dried flowers; seedling; saplings;
flowers [natural]; pasture grass; potted dwarfed trees [Bonsai]. Class
32: Carbonated drinks [refreshing beverages]; fruit juices; vegetable
juices [beverages]; smoothies; whey beverages. Class 35: Advertising;
promoting the goods and services of others through the administration
of sales and promotional incentive schemes involving trading stamps;
providing information on issuance of trading stamps, loyalty rewards
cards and coupons; publicity material rental; retail services or
wholesale services for electrical machinery and apparatuses; providing
information on newspaper articles; rental of vending machines. Class
40: Water treating; nuclear fuel reprocessing; rental of metaltreating
machines and tools; rental of water purifying apparatus; rental of
waste compacting machines and apparatus; rental of waste crushing
machines; rental of chemical processing machines and apparatus;
providing material treatment information; rental of humidifier [for
household purposes]; rental of air purifiers [for household purposes];
rental of air conditioning apparatus [for household purposes]; rental of
electricity generators; rental of printing machines and apparatus. Class
44: Beauty salons; hairdressing salons; beauty consultancy; massage
and therapeutic shiatsu massage; chiropractics; moxibustion; treatment
for dislocated joints, sprain, bone fractures or the like [Judo-seifuku];
acupuncture; medical services; providing medical information;
physical examination; dental clinic services; preparation and
dispensing of medication; health counselling; dietary and nutritional
guidance; nursing care; farming equipment rental; rental of medical
apparatus and instruments; rental of apparatus and instruments for
use in beauty salons or barbershops; rental of lawnmowers. Class 45:
Information relating to fashion coordination services for individuals;
security guarding for facilities; personal body guarding; rental of fire
alarms; rental of fire extinguishers.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Mark
will be dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A.,H.G.P.,D.B.L.
for KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
P.O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 10 June 2015

The problem is really with the

regulators in Europe and America because they lost big during the financial
tsunami so they want to get even with
the banks, said Mr Lun.
Theres no future for major international banks in Europe and America, no matter how much money you
make or save.
Mr Lun said that the Hong Kong
Monetary Authority, the citys de facto
bank, was more relaxed.
They are not out to get the pound
of flesh, he said.
Swiss prosecutors last week closed
an investigation into allegations
HSBCs Geneva branch helped clients
evade millions of dollars in taxes, after it agreed to pay tens of millions in
compensation.
The bank agreed to pay out 40 million Swiss francs ($43 million).
Geneva authorities opened the
probe in February following the publication of secret documents claiming
the bank assisted many wealthy clients in thwarting the taxman.
Last year, it was separately fined by
US and British regulators for attempting to rig foreign exchange markets.
Shares in HSBC were 0.68 percent
higher at HK$74.05 ($9.55) in Hong
Hong trading, compared with a 1.00pc
loss for the wider index.
AFP

HONG KONG

HSBCs 150
dollar note
comes
amid cuts
AS troubled global bank HSBC announced a swathe of job cuts yesterday, thousands of people queued in
the blazing sun in Hong Kong for its
new commemorative banknote.
Crowds blocked major walkways in the city centre through the
morning and into early afternoon as
they waited to snap up the HK$150
(US$19.35) notes, released to mark
the banks 150th anniversary.
In one pickup location a large pedestrian flyover connecting major office buildings was thronged, blocking
irate morning commuters.
Those queueing had won a lottery organised by the bank allocating
them one, three or 35 notes.
Each note cost HK$380 and depicted historic scenes of Hong Kong
as well as the banks city offices.
Many sheltered under umbrellas
as the sun beat down, saying they
wanted the notes either as a collectors item or an investment.
Everybody thinks that there is
room for it to go up in price, Esther
Chan, a 30-year-old housewife, said
as she lined up in the central district
of Wan Chai.
I want one as a memento, she
said.
Margie Cosgrove, a 52-year-old
housewife, hoped the value would
rise.
Its worth it for the future ... Its
purely for investment. Everyone
comes out to make money in Hong
Kong, she said.
Around 60 traders were waiting
nearby to buy the notes one offered
HK$650 for a single one.
But local office workers were left
unamused.
I was late by at least 20 minutes
this morning, its annoying, said one
woman from a nearby building.
AFP

International Business 13

www.mmtimes.com
DJIBOUTI

ATHENS

Franco-Ethiopian
Railway back to life

Greece submits new

plan to creditors
behind its deadline

THE leaders of Djibouti and Ethiopia will oversee the completion of

a railway linking their two capitals
tomorrow, with the ambition that
the link might eventually extend
across the continent to West Africa.
Djibouts President Ismail Omar
Guelleh and Ethiopias Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will
attend the ceremonial laying of the
last track in the 752-kilometre (481mile) railway, financed and built by
China, linking the port capital of
Djibouti with landlocked Ethiopias
capital Addis Ababa.
The first scheduled train is expected to use the desert line in
October, reducing transport time
between the capitals to less than 10
hours, rather than the two days it
currently takes for heavy goods vehicles using a congested mountain
road.
Some 1500 trucks use the road
every day between Djibouti and
Ethiopia. In five years, this figure
will rise to 8000, said Abubaker
Hadi, chair of Djiboutis Port Authority. This is not possible. This is
why we need the railway.
With a capacity of 3500 tonnes
seven times the capacity of the old
line at its peak the new electrified
line will mainly be used for transporting goods to Africas secondmost populous nation.

GREECE submitted a promised reform plan to its EU-IMF creditors

yesterday, a day before Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to discuss
how to end Athens debt crisis with
the French and German leaders, European sources said.
Creditors are now in the process
of studying the list of counterproposals, which arrived two days
after European Commission chief
Jean-Claude Juncker complained
Mr Tsipras had not fulfilled a pledge
made at a meeting last week to send
Brussels the plans, one source said.
Another source said one of the
major counterproposals was an idea
first floated by Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufalks to take debt
owed to the hardline European Central Bank and transfer it to the eurozones crisis-fighting fund, the European Stability Mechanism, which is
widely perceived as softer.
Mr Tsipras warned earlier yesterday that a failure to reach a deal on
Greeces bailout which is due to expire at the end of June, leaving cashstrapped Athens with no protection
against a looming default would
be the beginning of the end for the
eurozone.
The Greek premier has sought a
meeting with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and French President
Francois Hollande on the sidelines

Work is in progress on the new

railway tracks linking Djibouti
with Addis Ababa. Photo: AFP

Ethiopias economy is growing

fast, with almost 90 percent of its
imports going through Djibouti.
Both countries benefit from economic integration, with Ethiopia
gaining access to the sea and Djibouti gaining access to Ethiopias
emerging market of 95 million
people.
Mr Hadi says the railway is a

step toward a trans-continental line

reaching all the way to the Gulf of
Guinea, in West Africa.
We are already the gateway to
Ethiopia. We intend to continue
this railway line to South Sudan,
the Central African Republic and
Cameroon to connect the Red Sea
to the Atlantic Ocean, said Mr
Hadi. AFP

Greek leader Alexis Tsipras. Photo: AFP

of an EU-Latin America summit in

Brussels today.
The EUs Mr Juncker presented
Mr Tsipras with the creditors fivepage reform plan at a meeting in
Brussels last week, but Mr Tsipras rejected the proposals as absurd and
insisted Greeces own 47-page blueprint should be the basis for talks.
Mr Juncker on June 7 accused Mr
Tsipras of failing to respect minimal rules in their negotiations and
refused to take a call from the Greek
leader at the weekend, saying Mr
Tsipras had to submit the promised
alternative reform plan first.
AFP

14 THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

World

15

WORLD EDITOR: Kayleigh Long

G7 leaders flag
possibility of further
sanctions on Russia

Blood and sweat:

the cost of
diamonds in CAR

WORLD 16

WORLD 18

KUALA LUMPUR

KATHMANDU

Malaysia to launch diplomatic protest

on South China Sea incursions

Nepalese factions strike historic deal

MALAYSIA will lodge a diplomatic

protest against an alleged incursion
by a Chinese Coast Guard ship into
its waters off Borneo island in the
disputed South China Sea, a top naval official said yesterday amid a continuing standoff with the vessel.
Navy Chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar said
that since late 2014, intrusions by
Chinese ships into Malaysian waters
have been a daily affair with Kuala
Lumpur protesting to Beijing each
time.
Mr Abdul Aziz told AFP the Chinese vessel involved in the latest incident remained in Malaysian waters.
We are maintaining our presence
there. We are shadowing the vessel
continuously. It is a case where they
want to maintain their presence there
but at the same time we are there to
make sure and tell them that this is
our waters, he said.
We have been submitting [diplomatic protests]. Every time we detect
them ... every time we sight them we

challenge them [to indicate] that they

are in our waters. At the same time
we lodge a diplomatic protest, he
added.
The latest incident is near the Luconia Shoals, an area of the South
China Sea just outside the Spratlys,
a reputedly oil-rich island chain
claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Taiwan and Vietnam.
Mr Abdul Aziz said the Chinese incursion had taken place very close to
the Malaysian coast.
Luconia Shoals lies just 65 nautical miles (120 kilometres) northwest
of the oil-rich town of Miri in eastern
Sarawak state.
Mr Abdul Aziz said in the latest incident attempts to communicate with
the Chinese vessel to state that it was
in Malaysian waters met no response.
We are on Channel 16. We are
communicating through VHF communications. We are telling them
this is our waters. [But] they do not

respond, he said.
Beijing, which claims the South
China Sea almost entirely, has built
2000 acres (800 hectares) of artificial islands in the Spratlys, including
those with facilities that appear to
have a military purpose.
Regional alarm is growing at
moves by China to stake its claim to
most of the sea, including its largescale island-building program.
The Philippines and the United
States have urged China to halt reclamation.
Malaysia, which has close economic ties with China, has traditionally
downplayed tensions in the South
China Sea and steers clear of criticising Chinas actions in the energy-rich
waters.
But Mr Abdul Aziz said that since
September 2014 there had been an increase in intrusions by Chinese Coast
Guard vessels.
We protest every time. We see
them every day, he said. AFP

AHMEDABAD

Indian city asks for flush, with funds

A CITY council in western India is
planning to pay residents to use public toilets in a desperate attempt to
stop legions of people urinating and
defecating in public.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has decided to give residents
one rupee a visit in a bid to draw
them into its 300 public toilets and
away from open areas and public
walls, which often reek of urine.
AMC health officer Bhavikk Joshi
said the offer would be trialed at 67
public facilities across Ahmedabad,
the main city in western Gujarat
state, where officers will give a coin
to each user.
Once successful the project will

be implemented in all the 300 public toilets in Ahmedabad, Mr Joshi

told AFP. The move is the latest effort to motivate people to use toilets
after Indias government announced
a cleanliness drive last year championed by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
Many people in India consider toilets unhygienic and prefer to squat in
the open, believing it more sanitary
to defecate far from home.
AMC standing committee chairman Pravin Patel said repeat offenders would be identified and encouraged to use the coin-paying toilets.
The idea behind this project is to
prevent open defecation in parts of

the city where people, despite having

public toilets, defecate in the open,
Mr Patel told AFP.
Indias government last year announced a scheme to check whether
people who were given toilets as part
of its cleanliness drive were actually
using them, by getting sanitary inspectors to go door-to-door. UNICEF
estimates that almost 594 million
people or nearly half of Indias population defecate in the open, with
the situation worst in dirt-poor rural
areas.
Lack of toilets and other sanitation problems cause huge health
problems in India by causing illnesses such as diarrhoea. AFP

Indian men urinate on a wall at the roadside in New Delhi on November 18, the eve of World Toilet Day, in 2014. Photo: AFP

IN PICTURES
Photo: AFP

An elderly resident sits in front of her demolished house during the demolition of informal
settlements in order to give way to a road widening project of the government near the fish
port in Manila yesterday. Shantytowns dot the Philippine capital where many of the citys
poor are forced to reside.

DHAKA

Rana Plaza
fund hits target
A FUND set up to compensate the
victims of Bangladeshs Rana Plaza
factory collapse has finally reached
its US$30 million target, the UNs
International Labour Organization
has announced, more than two
years after the disaster left over 1100
garment workers dead.
With all the funding now secured, the last families still awaiting
a payout will receive their money
in the coming weeks, said the ILO,
which chairs the Rana Plaza Coordination Committee.
The committee, which was established in 2013 and represents all industry stakeholders, had estimated
it would need $30 million to fully
and fairly compensate the families
of the over-1100 garment workers
who died and some 1500 others who
were injured in the countrys worstever industrial accident.
By April 24, on the second anniversary of the disaster, the committee had raised $27 million and was
able to pay compensation to 70 percent of the more than 2800 claimants, the ILO said in a statement.
Further donations, including
one significant sum pledged late
last week, mean that $30m has now
been reached and all final payments
can be made, it added. The development was welcomed by ILO director-general Guy Ryder.
This is a milestone but we still
have important business to deal

with, he was quoted as saying in the

statement.
We must now work together
to ensure that accidents can be
prevented in the future, and that a
robust national employment injury
insurance scheme is established so
that victims of any future accidents
will be swiftly and justly compensated and cared for.
Bangladeshi police last week
charged 41 people including the
owner of the Rana Plaza factory
complex, Sohel Rana, with murder.
He was arrested on the western
border with India as he tried to flee
the country in the days after the
April 24, 2013, disaster.
Mr Rana became Bangladeshs
public enemy number one after survivors recounted how thousands of
them were forced to enter the compound at the start of the working
day despite complaints about cracks
appearing in the walls.
The
disaster
highlighted
appalling safety problems in
Bangladeshs $25 billion garment
industry, the worlds second-largest after China.
A host of Western retailers had
clothing made at Rana Plaza, including Italys Benetton, Spains Mango
and the British low-cost chain Primark. All three were among a number of international brands that contributed to the compensation fund.
AFP

SYDNEY

Australia widens probe

into illegal property deals
AUSTRALIAN Treasurer Joe Hockey yesterday widened a probe into
the illegal buying of residential
property by foreigners, with almost
200 sales being investigated for
breaching investment rules.
Prices of residential real estate
in some of Australias biggest cities, such as Sydney and Melbourne,
have soared in recent years, with
concerns growing that cashed-up
foreigners, particularly from China,
have helped inflate the market.
The Australian Taxation Office is
using all the resources of government
to fully investigate any suggestions
that come forward that a foreign person has unlawfully purchased real
estate in Australia, Mr Hockey said,
with 60 officials on the case.
This is the tip of the iceberg.
The data-matching powers of the
Australian Taxation Office are formidable. And they will give us the
power to look right across the system. The government announced a
crackdown on illegal purchases earlier this year and said it would rigorously enforce rules under which
foreigners are only allowed to buy
new dwellings, and not existing
residential property.
Mr Hockey created headlines
in March by issuing a divestment
order on a luxury Sydney mansion
worth A$39 million (US$30 million) bought illegally under foreign
investment rules by Chinas Evergrande Real Estate Group. It has
since been sold.
He said last month that some 100
cases of illegal purchases were being

probed, which has now spiralled to

almost 200. The treasurer added
that the widening inquiry spanned
the breadth of the market, from
properties valued at A$300,000 to
more than A$40 million.
In one case, an overseas buyer
was being investigated for owning
10 homes over two states.
The Australian Taxation Office
is finding increasingly that there
is a likelihood of taxation fraud,
as well as unlawful purchase of
real estate by foreign entities, Mr
Hockey told reporters. Foreign investors who have bought illegally
have a moratorium until December
1 to come forward, with Mr Hockey
adding that 24 of the cases being
examined involved voluntary disclosures by buyers.
Mr Hockey, who is a member of
parliament for North Sydney, himself reported a neighbours property
purchase over fears it was obtained
through spurious grounds.
I referred one of my own neighbours for investigation and found
out that yes, they had got approval
but on pretty spurious grounds, he
said.
Im waiting to hear back.
Sydney residential real estate
prices have jumped by 15 percent in
the year to May 31, with a median
value of A$752,000, according to
widely cited figures by CoreLogicRP Data.
Melbourne home prices have
soared by 9 percent during the same
period to a median of A$569,500,
the data showed. AFP

NEPALS rival political parties, spurred

by a devastating earthquake to end
years of deadlock, have struck a historic deal on a new constitution that will
divide the country into eight provinces.
The deal was announced after negotiations that ran late on June 8 and
comes weeks after an earthquake that
killed thousands, piling pressure on
politicians to end the long stalemate.
Lawmakers have missed a series
of deadlines to draft a new national
charter following a decade-long Maoist insurgency that left an estimated
16,000 people dead and brought down
the monarchy.
The resulting uncertainty left Nepal
one of the worlds poorest countries
in a state of political limbo for almost
a decade after the end of the civil war
in 2006.
Information Minister Minendra
Rijal said the April 25 disaster, which
killed more than 8700 people and destroyed nearly half a million houses,
had motivated rival parties to work
together.
There is a will to get this done,
said Mr Rijal, calling the agreement a
major breakthrough.
The Maoists have long pressed for
greater devolution of powers away
from Nepals capital, and the agreement paves the way for a federal
structure.
However the deal leaves the crucial
issue of the provincial borders unresolved an omission which critics said
would create future problems.
This is an incomplete deal. Its an
agreement which postpones the crucial
question entirely, said Prashant Jha, a
Nepali journalist and author.
Political parties have abdicated

their responsibility by not hammering

out a deal on internal borders.
The constitution that emerges will
be a deeply divisive and contested document from day one, he said.
The opposition Maoist party had
been pushing for new provinces to be
created along lines that could favour
historically marginalised communities,
but other parties said this would be divisive and a threat to national unity.
We took a bold decision. Not
everything on the agreement matches
our agendas, said Narayan Kaji Shrestha, a senior Maoist leader.
Under the deal, Nepal will keep its
current system of national governance
which includes an executive prime
minister and ceremonial president.
A new federal commission will be
tasked with drawing up internal borders and submit a proposal for approval in parliament.
Lawmakers said a draft of the final

constitution, which must be approved

by a two-thirds parliamentary majority,
would be ready in July.
Work on the charter intended
to conclude a peace process begun in
2006 when the Maoists entered politics
began after a 2008 election won by
the former rebels.
But political infighting confounded
efforts to hammer out a deal, throwing
parliament into disarray and crippling
the economy.
Newspaper editor Guna Raj Luitel
said the April 25 earthquake appeared
to have added impetus to the process.
Everyone was fed up with the parties, people thought the constitution
will never come because they couldnt
agree on anything, said Mr Luitel, editor-in-chief of the Nagarik daily.
After the first quake, things
changed. Parties seem to have realised
that they need to work together to rebuild the country. AFP

The Mera Glacier region of the Dudh Kosi Basin in eastern Nepal, pictured here
in 2012. Photo: AFP / European Geosciences Union

PHNOM PENH

Montegnard numbers swell in Cambodia

MORE Montagnard asylum seekers
from Vietnam arrived in Phnom Penh
over the weekend, bringing the number waiting to apply for refugee status
to 109, according to the United Nations.
Vivian Tan, regional spokesperson
for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR),
said the Montagnards an indigenous
group from Vietnams Central Highlands were awaiting registration
by the Interior Ministrys Refugee
Department.
Since October, well over 100 Montagnards have fled to the kingdom, citing religious and political persecution.
Dozens have been deported without due process and, so far, just 13
have been granted provisional refugee
status with plans to resettle them in a
third country. Last month, the Phnom
Penh Post revealed that almost 1,000
troops had been deployed along the
Vietnamese border in Ratanakkiri
province in the hope of stopping more
arrivals.
But the extreme measures have
done nothing to abate the influx of
asylum seekers.
When asked if any action would
be taken against the unregistered
Montagnards, Ouk Hay Seyla, head
of investigation at the General Immigration Department, yesterday said,
All foreigners will be arrested and
deported when they do not have any
documents.
If they know only the Vietnamese
language and have only Vietnamese
ID, without any legal documents
there is no proof to show that they are
Montagnards, not just Vietnamese,

he added.
Hul Sarith, chief of the Refugee Departments registration office, said he
had not received any order to register
the asylum seekers.
In a speech last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong defended
the governments inaction, arguing
that if it allowed the Montagnards
access to its refugee procedures, the
numbers pouring in would spiral out

of control.
If we just received them when
they enter Cambodia in terms of them
being Montagnard refugees, from
500,000 to 1 million Vietnamese could
enter, he said.
Mr Namhongs remarks came just
days before the first refugees to accept
resettlement under Cambodias controversial deal with Australia arrived
in the Kingdom. Phnom Penh Post

TRADE MARK CAUTION

OTSUKA PHARMACEUTICAL FACTORY, INC., a company
corporated in Japan, of 115, Aza Kuguhara Tateiwa, Muya-cho,
Naruto-shi, Tokushima-ken, Japan, is the Owner of the following
Trade Mark:-

PAN-AMIN

Reg. No. 2023/2005

Reg. No. 1251/2008
Reg. No. 5016/2012
Reg. No. 6210/2015
in respect of Pharmaceutical preparations.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Mark
will be dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A., H.G.P., D.B.L
for OTSUKA PHARMACEUTICAL FACTORY, INC.
P. O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 10 June 2015

16 World

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

ELMAU CASTLE, GERMANY

Sophists choice: G7 warns on Greek crisis

US President Barack Obama has
weighed on the Greece crisis, telling
Greeks they need to make tough choices to save their country from a default
and possible messy euro exit.
Mr Obama said after a meeting with
fellow G7 leaders that there is a sense
of urgency in finding a path to resolve
the situation.
But a resolution requires Athens to
be serious about making some important reforms not only to satisfy creditors but more importantly to create a
platform whereby the Greek economy
can start growing again and prosper.
So the Greeks are going to have to
follow through and make some tough
political choices that will be good for
the long term, added Mr Obama.
While pushing Greece to hold up
their end of the deal, Mr Obama also
called for flexibility from its creditors.
If both sides are showing a sufficient flexibility, then I think we can
get this problem resolved, but it will
require some tough decisions for all
involved, he said.
Germany, the host of the G7 summit, also urged Greece to speed up
talks on a loan deal with its international creditors.
Theres not much time left. We
have to work very hard on this, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at
the close of the summit.
Frances President Francois Hollande also stressed that the end of June
is the maximum deadline for a deal.
But nothing stops us from moving
quicker, and I think that its in Greeces
interest that it speeds up, to remove
uncertainties, he said.
Speaking at an event in Berlin,

A woman walks past graffiti in Athens on June 8. Photo: AFP

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis echoed calls for a swift accord and
warned it would go down as a historic
failure if EU leaders didnt agree on
a deal.
Greece needs to unlock some 7.2
billion euros (US$8 billion) in rescue
funds in order to be able to repay 1.6
billion euros to the International Monetary Fund by June 30.
A default could trigger a series of

events that could result in a messy exit

from the euro.
But after five months, the talks are
still stuck on disagreement between
Greece and its creditors on its future
budget goals, economic reforms and
tax revenues.
The radical-left government in
Athens said it would continue efforts
to reach agreement despite testy exchanges with European officials in re-

cent days.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has
sought a meeting tomorrow with Ms
Merkel and Mr Hollande on the sidelines of an EU-Latin America summit
in Brussels.
Talks are continuing in Brussels at
a political level to examine the prospects of a common agreement, Greek
government spokesperson Gabriel
Sakellaridis told reporters.

The Wall Street Journal reported

the European Commission and European Central Bank, two of the troika of
Greeces official creditors, were weighing extending their bailout program
until March 2016, when the parallel
rescue program of the third, the IMF,
also finishes.
The Journal said that a nine-month
extension would help Athens bridge a
deep funding gap that has put it on the
edge of default on its loans.
But as negotiations have dragged,
tempers have flared on both sides.
EU Commission chief Jean-Claude
Juncker criticized Mr Tsipras over the
weekend, accusing him of misrepresenting reform proposals that the bloc
had put to Athens last week.
Mr Juncker also said Athens had
failed to deliver a counter-proposal.
The EUs five-page list of reforms
includes sales tax hikes and cuts to civil
servants salaries and pensions.
But Mr Tsipras rejected them as
absurd and wants his governments
47-page blueprint to serve as the basis
for the talks.
Mr Varoufakis, however, sought to
calm nerves and move things beyond
recriminations. It is time to stop
pointing fingers at one another and it
is time that we do our job to bring to
fruition months of efforts to come to
an agreement, he said in Berlin after
meeting German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Mr Tsipras, 40, is under pressure
from hardliners in his radical left
Syriza party to reject any deal that piles
further austerity on the recession-hit
country.
AFP

ELMAU CASTLE, GERMANY

G7 leaders flag possibility of fresh sanctions for Russia

WORLD leaders have warned Russia
it would face stepped-up sanctions
for its aggression in Ukraine, as they
wrapped up a June 8 G7 meeting also
pledging strong action to fight climate
change.
At a retreat nestled in the Bavarian
Alps, the leaders of the most powerful
countries also tackled threats to global
security posed by Islamist extremism
and risks to the world economy.
For the third time, Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin was barred from a
G7 summit due to what US President
Barack Obama termed his aggression
in Ukraine, as the Group of Seven top

powers closed ranks against Russia.

We ... stand ready to take further
restrictive measures in order to increase cost on Russia should its actions
so require, said the leaders in a joint
communique after the two-day huddle.
We recall that the duration of
sanctions should be clearly linked to
Russias complete implementation of
the Minsk agreements and respect for
Ukraines sovereignty, the leaders added, referring to a peace deal struck in
the Belarus capital.
The tough line from the worlds
power brokers came as Ukraines defence minister accused pro-Russian

rebels backed by Moscow of deploying an army of 40,000 men on the

Ukrainian border, equivalent to a midsized European state.
Sanctions could also be rolled
back if Russia lived up to its commitments, the communique said.
Ultimately this is going to be an
issue for Mr Putin. Hes got to make a
decision, said Mr Obama.
Does he continue to wreck his
countrys economy and continue Russias isolation in pursuit of a wrongheaded desire to recreate the glories
of the Soviet empire or does he recognise that Russias greatness does not

depend on violating other countries

territory, he asked.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
hosting the talks, noted Russia was involved in resolving other global crises
and called for their cooperation.
Nevertheless, in a pointed barb
at Moscow, she stressed that the G7
shares common values like freedom,
democracy and human rights. Therefore one can say that the G7 is a community that assumes responsibility.
The leaders also sought to thrash
out other threats to global security over
a lunch of Thai chicken soup, trout and
a peach dessert with almonds. In an

unusual move, the G7 leaders invited

the heads of countries threatened by jihadist groups, including the leaders of
Nigeria and Iraq, both battling deadly
insurgencies.
Iraqs Prime Minister Haider alAbadi was invited to discuss the US-led
campaign to help his country fight IS
extremists who have snatched over a
third of the countrys territory.
We reaffirm our commitment to
defeating this terrorist group and combatting the spread of its hateful ideology, said the leaders, in reference to
the Islamic State group.
AFP

World 17

www.mmtimes.com
UNITED NATIONS

IS trading
women on
slave markets,
says UN rep
TEENAGE girls abducted by Islamic
State fighters in Iraq and Syria are being sold in slave markets for as little
as a pack of cigarettes, the UN envoy
on sexual violence said on June 8.
Zainab Bangura visited Iraq and Syria
in April, and has since been working
on an action plan to address the horrific sexual violence being waged by IS
fighters.
This is a war that is being fought
on the bodies of women, Ms Bangura
told AFP in an interview.
The UN envoy spoke to women and
girls who had escaped from captivity
in IS-controlled areas, met with local
religious and political leaders, and visited refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and
Jordan.
Jihadists continue to run slave
markets for girls abducted during
fresh offensives, but there are no figures on the numbers enslaved by the
fighters.
They kidnap and abduct women
when they take areas so they have I

dont want to call it a fresh supply

but they have new girls, she said.
Girls are sold for as little as a pack
of cigarettes or for several hundred or
thousand dollars, she said.
Ms Bangura described the ordeal of
several teenage girls, many of whom
were part of the Yazidi minority targeted by the jihadists. Some were
taken, locked up in a room over 100
of them in a small house stripped
naked and washed.
They were then made to stand in
front of a group of men who decided
what you are worth.
Ms Bangura gave the account of a
15-year-old girl who was sold to an IS
leader, a sheikh aged in his 50s, who
showed her a gun and a stick and
asked her tell me what you want.
She said the gun and he replied,
I didnt buy you so that you could
kill yourself before raping her, Ms
Bangura said.
Abducting girls has become a key
part of the IS strategy to recruit for-

UN envoy on sexual violence Zainab Bangura sits during a press appearance in New York on June 8. Photo: AFP

eign fighters who have been travelling

to Iraq and Syria in record numbers
over the past 18 months.
This is how they attract young
men We have women waiting for
you, virgins that you can marry, Ms
Bangura said. The foreign fighters
are the backbone of the fighting.
A recent UN report said close to
25,000 foreign fighters from over 100
countries were involved in conflicts
worldwide, with the largest influx by
far into Syria and Iraq.

The envoy likened the jihadists

abuse of women and girls to medieval practices and said IS wants to
build a society that reflects the 13th
century.
Despite the monstrous violence,
communities like the Yazidis are welcoming the girls back and offering
them support to pick up the pieces of
their broken lives, said Ms Bangura.
She praised Yazidi religious leader
Baba Sheikh for publicly declaring
that the girls need understanding, but

noted that no such pronouncements

had come from the Turkmen leaders.
Ms Bangura returned from a tour
of European capitals to discuss the
plight of women and girls under IS
and hopes to address the Security
Council soon to discuss what can be
done.
A UN technical team is due to
travel to the region soon to work out
details of the plan to help victims of IS
sexual violence.
AFP

GENEVA

GENEVA

Clean bill of health for

Iran will take years,
says IAEA

Damning rights scorecard for Eritrea

CONCLUDING that Irans nuclear

program is entirely peaceful will take
years and years even if Tehran and
world powers sign a hoped-for accord
this month, the UN atomic watchdog
head said on June 8.
The International Atomic Energy
Agency has for years said that, because it cannot be certain there are
no undeclared nuclear sites or material in Iran, it cannot make such a
conclusion.
I cannot say at this stage how
long it will take [to make this assessment] but it is a matter of years
at least. Not months, not weeks, but
years. Years and years, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told reporters.
Mr Amano said reaching this
broader conclusion on Irans nuclear program depended in large part on
Tehran implementing the Additional
Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as some 120 countries
have done.
Under a framework nuclear deal
agreed by Iran and six world powers
in April that is meant to be finalised

I cannot say at this

stage how long it
will take ... but it is
a matter of years at
least. Not months,
not weeks, but
years. Years and
years.
Yukiya Amano
IAEA chief

by the end of June, Iran undertook to

provisionally apply the protocol.
Doing so will oblige Iran to submit a very detailed declaration of its
nuclear facilities and to update this
every three months, Mr Amano said.
The protocol also gives the IAEA
the right to request access to sites
including military ones where it
suspects the presence of nuclear material that has not been declared to
the agency.
The broader conclusion would
also require progress in the IAEAs
stalled investigation into the possible military dimensions (PMD) of
Irans nuclear program.
The probe concerns allegations
that prior to 2003, and possibly since,
Iran conducted research into developing a nuclear weapon.
Tehran rejects the claims, saying
its program is and has always been
peaceful. The IAEAs investigation has
been stalled since August.
Earlier on June 8 Mr Amano urged
Iran to cooperate more in the probe,
which Western powers say is a vital
part of the mooted final deal.
Mr Amano said that if Iran cooperated, closing the PMD investigation would take less time than arriving at the broader conclusion about
the peaceful nature of the program.
Clarification of PMD is not an
endless process. It cannot be done in
weeks ... but it will not take years, the
veteran Japanese diplomat said.
Diplomats and experts from Iran
and the P5+1 are negotiating intensively to nail down the final deal by
the June 30 target date.
It would see Iran scale down its
nuclear program in order to make
any dash to make a bomb virtually
impossible. In exchange painful Western sanctions would be lifted. AFP

ERITREAS government is responsible for systematic and widespread

human rights abuses on an almost unprecedented scale, driving some 5000
Eritreans to flee every month, a UN investigation has found.
Wrapping up a year-long probe, a
UN commission of inquiry on the human rights situation in Eritrea on June
8 described a nightmare-like society in
the authoritarian Horn of Africa state.
The report detailed horrific torture,
including electric shock, near drowning, sexual abuse and forcing people to
stare at the burning sun for hours.
Its nearly 500-page report details how the country, under Isaias
Afwerkis iron-fisted regime for the
past 22 years, has created a repressive
system in which people are routinely
arrested at whim, detained, tortured,
killed or go missing.
A system of indefinite conscription
of all Eritreans also forces many to toil
in slave-like conditions in the military
and other state jobs.
Systematic, widespread and gross
human rights violations have been and
are being committed in Eritrea with
impunity under the authority of the
government, said Sheila Keetharuth,
one of the three commission members.
The report found that some of the
numerous abuses committed in Eritrea
may constitute crimes against humanity, she told journalists, pointing out
that the violations were taking place on
a scope and scale seldom witnessed
elsewhere.
The report provides a list of state
entities responsible for the abuse, including the military, police, justice
ministry and Mr Isaias himself.
The situation has sparked a massive
exodus from Eritrea.
Eritrea, which broke away from
Ethiopia in 1991 after a brutal 30-year
independence struggle, is ruled not by
law but by fear, Ms Keetharuth said.
That, she said, is the main reason
why hundreds of thousands are fleeing their country, risking capture and
torture by Eritrean authorities and

death at the hands of ruthless human

traffickers.
The report said some 5000 people
were flooding out of the country each
month, despite a shoot-to-kill policy
along the borders, adding to the nearly
360,000 Eritrean refugees counted by
the UN last year.
The investigators urged the international community to protect fleeing
Eritreans.
They described an Orwellian masssurveillance society, where neighbours
and family members are drafted to inform on each other, and where people
can be held for years in horrific conditions without ever knowing what crime
they allegedly committed.
The probe was ordered by the UN
Human Rights Council last year, and
the investigators will present their
findings to the body on June 23.
The report was based on 550

interviews with Eritreans living abroad,

and on 160 written submissions.
Convincing expat Eritreans to
testify was meanwhile difficult, due
to Eritreas extensive network of spies
even outside the country and fear of
reprisals against family members back
home.
That fear is justified, the report said,
stressing, There is no rule of law in
Eritrea.
The torture was so widespread that
the report concluded it is a policy of
the government to encourage its use
The investigators also found that
Eritreas economy is largely dependent on widespread forced labour, especially using people stuck in indefinite
conscription.
Women recruits meanwhile are
routinely subjected to sexual slavery,
the report found.
AFP

TRADE MARK CAUTION

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

VANQUELIS

Reg. No. 18853/2014

in respect of Intl Class 5: Human pharmaceutical preparations.
Fraudulent imitation or unauthorised use of the said Trade Mark
will be dealt with according to law.
Win Mu Tin, M.A., H.G.P., D.B.L
for Johnson & Johnson
P. O. Box 60, Yangon
E-mail: makhinkyi.law@mptmail.net.mm
Dated: 10 June 2015

18 World

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

BODA, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Blood and sweat: the price of diamonds

BAREFOOT, with sweat pouring
down their naked chests, 50 men
slave in the depths of the Central African forest digging for diamonds in
a sandy pit half the size of a football
pitch.
They all share the same desperate
hope that one day they will find a
diamond that will change their miserable lives forever.
The mine at Banengbele, near
Boda in the south of the strife-torn
Central African Republic, is one of
many in the region where groups
of diggers or Nagbata as they
are called toil like ants with shovels and spades for the equivalent of
US$3 a day.
The owner of the mine takes a cut
of that for food, with many of the
miners supplementing their meagre
rations with bush meat like snake
caught in the surrounding jungle.
Conditions in the camp are grim.
Four men sleep in a makeshift shelter no more than 1.5 metres (5 feet)
wide, made of sticks, plastic sheeting
and a mosquito net.
After long days of back-breaking
labour in terrible heat, many numb
themselves with cannabis and palm
wine.
We work hard. I ache all over,
said Jean Bruno Sembia.
Widow Huguette Zonki had no
choice but to follow the miners into
the bush to feed her four children.
I have to survive somehow,
she said, holding her baby whose
head was covered in pustules.
My husband was killed in the war. I
earn three euros ($3.38) a day cooking for the men and I spend between
five days and a month at a time out
here in the camp.
The miners sacrifice chickens and
give money to children in the hope
that the spirits will smile on them in
a country where neither Christianity
nor Islam has entirely displaced traditional animist beliefs.
Every morning I pray to God to
help me find big diamonds, said

Miners work on the diamonds mine of Banengbele, 10 km south of Boda, on May 22 in the Central African Republic. Photo: AFP

Laurent Guitili. One day for sure

I will find a big one. Then I will be
able to have my own mine and earn
all the money I need.
When one of the miners does find
a gem, the person who holds the
concession takes it and sells it, giving them back between 30 and 60
euros per carat.
Good-quality diamonds sell on locally for around three times that.
But at least in Boda miners are
paid. In the north of the country,
where some of the countrys richest
mines are still in the hands of armed
groups, they are forced to hand over

what they find at gunpoint.

Kimberley Process, the international body which tries to stop the
sale of so-called blood diamonds,
slapped a ban on the export of diamonds from CAR after the overthrow of president Francois Bozize in March 2013 by Seleka rebels
threw the country into civil war. The
mainly Muslim insurgents had allegedly funded their revolt with illegal
diamonds.
Seleka and rival anti-balaka
Christian militias have since battled to control the mines, the economic lifeblood of the impoverished

country, with smuggling booming.

If you are armed you can have
diamonds, said former prime minister Martin Ziguele. And with those
diamonds you can buy more arms
and fund your rebellion.
French and UN peacekeeping
troops have tried to wrest control of
the mines from the armed groups so
the legal trade in diamonds can restart, vital to putting the shattered
economy back on its feet.
The government hopes the embargo can be partly lifted at the next
Kimberley Process meeting in Luanda in Angola later this month.

Francois Ngbokoto, of the ministry of mines, said the export ban

may now actually be encouraging
smuggling.
Since the sectarian violence that
erupted as the Seleka rebels were
driven out, the town of Boda has
been divided in two, with Muslims
who used to control the diamond
mines in the area forced to take
refuge in their own enclave.
The mines are now held by the
countrys Christian majority having
passed through the hands of both of
the Seleka and the anti-balaka militias during the fighting.
It is better to work for someone
from here, one of the Nagbata said,
referring to Christian owners.
One official told AFP that jealousy at the relative wealth of Muslims had been one of the underlying
problems which aggravated sectarian violence in the region.
That resentment has not gone
away. At Bodas mining police office a sign shows a miner selling a
diamond to a bearded Muslim middleman with the warning Nagbata
do not sell your diamonds to illegal
buyers.
Moussa Traore, a Muslim dealer
who set up in the town two months
ago after getting a licence from the
ministry of mines, insisted he sells
his diamonds legally to the governments central office in the capital
Bangui.
However, miners and the authorities claim a huge amount of smuggling is going on, with Central African diamonds being channelled
through neighbouring Cameroon,
Chad, DR Congo and Sudan.
All agree that without the boost
in the economy that lifting the export ban would give, there will be no
peace in the country.
With the embargo the price of
diamonds has dropped, said Mr
Traore. They need to lift the embargo so proper business can start
again. AFP

BEIJING

Once-common bird eaten to the brink of extinction, says study

A BIRD that was once one of the
most abundant in Europe and Asia
is being hunted to near extinction
because of Chinese eating habits,
according to a study published
yesterday.
The population of the yellowbreasted bunting has plunged by
90 percent since 1980, all but disappearing from eastern Europe, Japan
and large parts of Russia, said the
study, published in the Conservation Biology journal.
Following initial population declines, China in 1997 banned the
hunting of the species, known in the
country as the rice bird.
However, millions of these birds,
along with other songbirds, were
still being killed for food and sold
on the black market as late as 2013,
said the study.
It said consumption of these
birds has increased as a result of
economic growth and prosperity
in East Asia, with an estimate in
2001 claiming 1 million buntings
were consumed in Chinas southern
Guangdong province alone.
The birds breed north of the
Himalayas and spend their winters
in warmer southeast Asia, passing through eastern China where
they have been hunted for more
than 2000 years, according to the
conservation group BirdLife International.
At their wintering grounds, they
gather in huge flocks at night-time

roosts, making them easy prey for

trappers using nets, the group said.
The songbird, which nests on the
ground in open scrubs, is distinctive for its yellow underparts.
The paper in Conservation Biology drew parallels between the
migratory bird and the North
American passenger pigeon, which
became extinct in 1914 due to industrial-scale hunting.
The magnitude and speed
of the decline is unprecedented
among birds distributed over such
a large area, with the exception of
the passenger pigeon, the papers
lead author, Johannes Kamp from
the University of Munster, said in
a statement released by BirdLife
International.
High levels of hunting also
appear to be responsible for the
declines we are seeing in yellowbreasted bunting.
Yellow-breasted buntings have
since 2013 been classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as an endangered
species due to rapid population
decline from trapping outside their
breeding grounds.
To reverse these declines we
need to better educate people of
the consequences of eating wildlife.
We also need a better and more efficient reporting system for law enforcement, said BirdLife Internationals senior conservation officer
Simba Chan. AFP

Yellow-breasted bunting

Emberiza aureola
Status: endangered
Population plunged by 90% since
1980, according to a new study
Main threat:
Illegal hunting
for the Chinese and
East Asian
black market

Study published Tuesday

Conservation Biology journal
Source : BirdlifeInternational/IUCN

Breeding range

Non-breeding
Hunting was banned
in China in 1997

THE MYANMAR TIMES June 10, 2015

the pulse 21

www.mmtimes.com

it

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n
i
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n

DePuTY Pulse eDiTor: ToM BArTon tom.a.barton@gmail.com

ge
t

As meditation

explodes, its purpose is debated

Sister Jenna Mahraj plays with a dog at the Meditation Museum in Silver Spring, Maryland. Mahraj
heads the museum and interactive space. Photos: Washington Post/Bonnie Jo Mount

Michelle Boorstein

NSIDE the newly opened Meditation Museum, exhibits refer

to the pursuit of God, the Supreme Soul and often The
One. A constant visual theme is orangeish-reddish light
emanating from a vague, otherworldly source. The message
is clear: Meditation is about connecting with the divine.
If the mind can be in a state of experiencing the energy of
Gods light or presence, said Sister Jenna Mahraj, a nightclub
owner turned spiritual teacher whose organisation opened
the museum this year, its like everything we tend to find so
dishevelled it starts to find its own purpose.
Yet in gyms, businesses and public schools in every direction
from the museum which sits on busy Georgia Avenue in Silver
Spring, Maryland meditation is often presented as something
akin to mental weight-lifting: a secular practice that keeps your
brain and emotions in shape. Gyms list it alongside Zumba
classes, and public schools say it can help students chill out
before tests by calming the mind and training it to look upon
disruptive thoughts from a non-judgemental distance.
This rough juxtaposition between the religious and secular
versions of meditation epitomises a key debate about the ancient

practice as it explodes: What is the purpose of meditation? And

who decides?
To Mahraj and her community, called the Brahma Kumaris,
promoting the religious component is part of the purpose of the
Silver Spring centre, which is more about spiritual advocacy than
a museum in the classic sense.
This country needs to stop thinking meditation is about
emptying your mind, she said during a recent tour. I respect all
meditation practices, but I dont necessarily believe in a practice
that tries to empty your thoughts ... I dont think thats normal.
Mahraj is not alone in her concern that meditation might
be getting too secular, which can be shorthand for saying that
today it is often taught value-free unattached to a philosophy
or worldview. Hindu and Buddhist leaders in particular have
raised concerns that meditation may be going the route yoga has
in the West, where it has largely morphed from being a tool for
enlightenment to one for a firmer butt.
What are we teaching? Thats a very serious question for
anyone who is taking these techniques out of a religious context
and into the secular world, said Clark Strand, a former Zen
Buddhist monk who now writes and lectures on spirituality and
the way Eastern philosophies are transformed in the West.

The Meditation Museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, displays artifacts and icons from a variety of religions, including
Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam.

Once you remove them from the spiritual context, then goals
default to those of the culture, and that could be to win a war,
or make money, or to self-medicate so you can do a job you hate
or for which you arent paid enough, Strand said. Who does
[meditation] serve today? Who does it belong to? Is its purpose
spiritual or just a commodity?
Ironically, when meditation began its expansion a decade or
so ago from Buddhist retreats and alternative communes to the
American mainstream, institutional religion was wary that the
practice was too religious but not in a sufficiently monotheistic
Judeo-Christian way.
The biblical worldview is completely at odds with the
pantheistic concepts driving Eastern meditation. We are not one
with an impersonal absolute being that is called God. Rather,
we are estranged from the true personal God because of our
inherent sin, evangelical philosopher Douglas Groothuis wrote in
Christianity Today in 2004 a piece typical of what was found
in religious media as meditation began its ascent. The answer
to our plight is not found in some higher level of consciousness
(really a deceptive state of mind), but in placing our faith in the
unmatched achievements of Jesus Christ on our behalf.
But meditation has spread too far and too successfully

into areas such as the treatment of depression, addiction and

post-traumatic stress disorder for the debate to remain simply
whether it is too secular or too religious. This is because
meditations boom comes at a time of remarkable openness to
questions about religion itself, with people particularly young
ones probing much more about what, exactly, constitutes a
religious practice, belief or prayer.
For example, while some say meditating for stress relief
is secular, doesnt that address a very modern-day type of
suffering? Or is something else theologically meant by the word
suffering? If you practice a type of focus meditation that
involves, for example, chanting a basic word such as love, is that
secular or religious?
And what is really meant by meditation leaders who tell
students to practice emptying their mind? People such as
Mahraj would see such a phrase as devoid of any philosophy,
but others would say secular-sounding phrases arent necessarily
empty.
Thats a straw man, prominent brain-science writer Daniel
Goleman said of the idea that secular practice teaches nothing in
particular. It pays to stop your stressed-out mind state, let your
psychology calm down and your mind clear. Thats just human

engineering. In the Buddhist context thats a preliminary state to

a spiritual journey.
Goleman is the author of A Force for Good, a book due out this
month about pragmatic one might say secular applications of
the Dalai Lamas teachings.
The blurry lines between religious and secular are at play in
Mahrajs work, too. The Brahma Kumaris, an 80-year-old spiritual
movement with roots in India, teaches that meditation and
prayer are about coming closer to God and that each one of us
is an eternal spirit or soul. In an effort to spread its teachings
in the Washington region, the group opened its museum in
downtown Silver Spring six years ago. It relocated to the new
space in April.
But in addition to espousing the beliefs of those behind the
centre, the museum offers a broad range of more secular self-help
activities such as courses on vegetarian cooking and budgeting.
Mahraj, whose parents were Hindu and Catholic, speaks in area
schools, to challenged youth in particular. She hosts a Web-based
talk show called America Meditating.
But Mahraj says that the purpose of the meditation her group
teaches is religious. The regular practice of the Brahma Kumaris
is to meditate at home for 45 minutes at 4am, then attend a class

together at 6am that is part silent meditation and part teaching,

she said.
Were not teaching people to empty their minds, she said. Were
teaching them to fill their minds with the right kind of things.
The soaring interest in meditation has prompted many religious
groups to revive their own ancient meditative practices. Jesuit
meditation retreats and church-run classes on centring prayers a
contemplative Christian practice are popping up everywhere, as are
programs on Jewish meditation. Muslims are discussing more if the
classic practice of reciting many names of Allah is a type of meditation.
But the secular-religious debate is appearing among faith groups,
too. Some find centring prayers which call for the practitioner to
focus on a general word such as mercy rather than liturgy too
secular, said the Rev Jim Martin, a popular Catholic writer on
spirituality who leads retreats in Catholic contemplative practices.
Some Catholics are suspicious about centring. Theyll say,
Thats so Buddhist, is that a mantra? he said.
Martin and others see meditation as perhaps a secular
societys way of tiptoeing back to God.
Some say the Christian of the future will be a mystic or not a
Christian at all, he said. You have to have a spiritual life.
Washington Post

22 the pulse

THE MYANMAR TIMES June 10, 2015

Music festival
sets the stage for
young talent
Zon Pann Pwint
zonpann08@gmail.com

ERHAPS without meaning

to, it was Heros father who
inspired her to be a rock star.
The way he smashed her
guitar to pieces, in probably
unconscious imitation of a 1970s-era
British rock icon, helped her see the light
that has guided her ever since.
The small village where she grew
up in Pakokku township, Magwe
Region, was not otherwise the ideal
cradle for a rock talent, though
no more unpromising than Bruce
Springsteens Long Branch, NJ, or John
Lennons Woolton, Liverpool. So, to
paraphrase Rod Stewart, she got out.
Now shes back. Not in Pakokku, but
as a member of a music class organised
by Turning Tables Myanmar, which
travels around the country jamming
with young people from different
ethnic and religious backgrounds.
They are now getting together to
perform at Voice of the Youth, a free
festival to be held on June 13 and
14 at Institut Franais, Pyay Road,
Yangon, starting at 4pm. The French
band My Name Is Nobody and the

Danish rock band Dune, invited by

the Danish embassy to help mark the
60th anniversary of Danish-Myanmar
diplomatic relations, will also
perform, together with more than 30
local bands. These include Side Effect,
Cyclone, Nightmare, Suicide Plan, and
Darkest Tears from My Heart.
The aim of the festival is to
provide a platform for young people
to express their dreams for their
nation through music.
While working in Singapore, I
wrote a lot of songs about unhappiness
at being away from home. In the class, I
learned how to express my feelings and
thoughts, said Hero, whose real name
is Thin Thin Swe.
I love rock music where
everything is louder than everything
else. My family and neighbours
disagreed. I had to stop, she said.
But I held on to my passion.
She joined Turning Tables four
days just after arriving back in
Myanmar.
Turning Tables, a Danish nonprofit organisation, was established
in 2009 to give voice to sidelined
youth worldwide through music and
film production. TT helps youngsters

Young musicians perform at the Voice of the Youth press conference held on June 8 at Institut Franais. Photos: Marie Torres

channel their thoughts and feelings

into DJing, rap and musical creativity.
The Voice of the Youth music festival
is one of their projects.
Darko, vocalist and guitarist of
Side Effect and manager of Turning
Tables Myanmar, said they travelled to
Loikaw, Pakokku, Myitkyina, Pathein
and Meiktila looking for young talent
eager to sing, play and write lyrics but
with little hope of finding an outlet.
Theyre buried there in the
boondocks. They dont have money or

instruments and theres no recording

studio. If they have the talent, we will
help it bloom, he said.
There are many music classes in
Yangon that help people develop their
talents, even if they have no money or
their parents dont approve, he said.
Pyae Sone, who entered the class
from Meiktila, Mandalay Region,
said most of the top musicians are
from Yangon, or have to come here to
make it big. Musical talent needs a
platform. Meiktila is not it, he said.

Nor did the good people of Loikaw,

Kayah State, like it much when Sai Lin
Lin Oo Oo used to sing the songs he
had composed. Parents should nurture
their childrens talent wherever it lies.
Otherwise its wasted, he said.
Voice of the Youth will produce an
album featuring all the original songs.
Voice of the Youth will be held on June
13 and 14 at Institut Franais, Pyay Road,
starting at 4pm.

They dont have money or

instruments... If they have the
talent, we will help it bloom
Darko
Manager, Turning Tables Myanmar

Young musicians pose at the Voice of the Youth press conference.

the pulse 23

www.mmtimes.com
KamPaLa

Rap-orters: telling the news in Uganda

NeWzbeaT makes a catchy change
from a standard news bulletin:
Ugandans call the broadcasters
rap-orters, a youth team of hip-hop
artists-turned-journalists rapping the
headlines.
Ugandas anti-gay law is making
news/Some countries have found it
befitting to accuse/Uganda of treating
gays as German Jews/Nothing to gain
from this and more to lose, rapped
the artists in one recent episode.
That song focused on a law
signed by President Yoweri Museveni
banning homosexuality, which
drew widespread international
condemnation. US Secretary of State
John Kerry likened it to anti-Semitic
legislation in Nazi Germany.
President Museveni says he wont
bow down to the West/Uganda has a
right to decide whats best, the rap
continued.
Hearing the news in hip-hop style
may sound strange. But in Uganda,
where the press faces censorship
pressures and the countrys huge youth
population often takes little interest
in current affairs, a program where
rap-orters broadcast with rhyme and
reason has become popular.
Newzbeat, screened in both
english and the local language
Luganda on the popular channel NTV
every Saturday afternoon and evening
before the stations traditional news
bulletins, took to the air last year.
The show is presented by Sharon

Bwogi, Ugandas queen of hip hop

known as Lady Slyke; the dreadlocked
and eloquent Daniel Kisekka, dubbed
the Survivor; and teenage rapper
Zoe Kabuye, or MC Loy.
It aims to promote diversity and
visibility for marginalised groups
and push the boundaries of press
limitations in Uganda, according to
Lady Slyke.
At first we had some complaints.
People were saying, Were not really
understanding what youre doing,
said the designer and artist, who was
inspired by church music to start
rapping when she was 13.
But Bwogi added that today people
from all walks of life followed the
program, including businessmen and
government ministers.
People keep asking for more
and asking me questions about
certain topics, said Bwogi, 28, who
also raps at venues across Uganda
professionally. I think they love the
whole flavour.
Newzbeat, which runs for about
five minutes an episode, usually
features about four local, regional and
international stories.
Nothing is off limits. The program
has rap-orted stories on Ugandas
anti-pornography laws, the political
situation in Ukraine and ebola
updates from west Africa.
Corruption is another favourite
topic.
All around the world this problem

yaNgoN

One of the winning entries shows a Yangon drain overflowing with rubbish.
Photo: U Khine Zaw Lin

Environmental message not

wasted on competition winners
NyeiN ei ei Htwe
nyeineieihtwe23@gmail.com
tom BartoN
tom.a.barton@gmail.com
THe secret life of Yangons rubbish
has been uncovered in a photography
competition aimed at promoting
environmental awareness in the city.
The contest Your waste of yesterday,
where is it today? was hosted by the
Solid Waste Management (SWM)
project a collaborative initiative
between YCDC, Italian NGO CeSVI,
and Torino-based NGO ITHACA.
SWM invited entrants to submit
their rubbish-related original
photographs with an accompanying
poem, essay or song describing their
reflections on themes including
recycling, garbage reduction, reuse or
beautification of Yangon.
A statement on SWMs Facebook
page gave guidance to entrants. Our
vision is to live in a clean Yangon.
Collaborate with us in order to be an
ambassador of a better environment.
The prize pool featured items
produced by KyutKyut, a Yangonbased cooperative that creates bespoke
craft items from recycled materials
including plastic bags. This small
initiative was funded by CeSVI, who
has partnered with YCDC to improve
waste management systems in Yangon.

Contestant Ye Lin Kyaw won

first prize in the contest with his
photo tutorial outlining how to reuse
broken ceramic water pots. In his
entry, Ye Lin Kyaw demonstrated
that with some creative cutting and
recombining, water pots that were
once earmarked for the garbage
dump can be given new life and
help keep city residents hydrated in
the process.
His idea involves combining the
intact bottom half of one damaged pot
with the in-tact top half of another,
filling the centre with sand and pieces
of broken pot (for water filtration and
cooling), and holding them together
with twine and coconut husks.
The competitions second prize was
won by U Khine Zaw Lin, with his
When our trashes meet together series.
His collection of photographs illustrate
the widespread pollution of Yangons
drains with waste products many of
which could instead be recycled.
The rubbish I make is pretty little,
but it is a danger for our city when
the rubbish all individuals waste
gathers together, explained U Khine
Zaw Lims entry.
Third place was taken out by U Soe
Myint, with a photo essay depicting
the life of a young rubbish collector
accompanied by an original poem.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun

NewzBeats host Sharon Bwogi AKA Lady Slyke (left), writer and producer Daniel
Kisekka aka Survivor (centre) and rapper Zoe Kabuye aka MC Loy pose at the
companys office in Kampala. Photo: AFP/Isaac Kasamani

remains/The abuse so far is keeping

people in chains, rapped Kisekka
in a bulletin on graft. But lately
some signs of hope have made the
headlines/Of corrupt officials being
handed heavy fines.
Bwogi said Newzbeat talked about
corruption since graft was a major
problem for Uganda.
Sometimes if you want to be
attended to ... you need to pay a little
something, she said.

Often local reporters run into

trouble trying to highlight this problem.
Ugandas Human Rights Network
for Journalists and other activist groups
have repeatedly warned that the space
for reporters to operate freely in the
east African country is shrinking.
Last October, one journalist was
ordered to pay damages or face jail
after accusing a government official of
corruption, and there have been other
similar cases.

Kabuye, 14, who has rapped on

everything from the egyptian single
mother who spent 43 years living as
a man to the national identification
registration, said many of her
friends are disinterested in the
news.
They used to say its boring, but
when they see Newzbeat, theyre
like, Whats the time? said the
student, who has been rapping since
2009 and now juggles her Newzbeat
commitments with her homework.
Kisekka, 40, said that in the
beginning many viewers dismissed
the show as just entertainment, but
they have come to appreciate the art
form and start listening to the news.
People were now taking rap more
seriously, the artist said.
It is not just talking about women
and booze and all that. Its delivering
the news, said Kisekka.
For the future, Newzbeat staff are
looking at recruiting specialist raporters to cover fields such as science
and technology. They are also keen to
expand across Africa.
In Tanzania, a mini-season of four
episodes recently aired and another
four are set to run in the lead-up to
the countrys elections, scheduled for
October.
Media belongs to the power of the
day, Bwogi rapped in one episode.
The Chinese have CCTV/the British
have BBC/And we too are making our
voices heard on NTV. aFP

24 the pulse

THE MYANMAR TIMES JUNE 10, 2015

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

1,3,4,5,6,7 11:00

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

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

Days

Dep

NAY PYI TAW TO YANGON

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

YANGON TO MYEIK
Flight

MYEIK TO YANGON

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Dep

Arr

Y5 325

1,5

6:45

8:15

Y5 326

1,5

8:35

10:05

1,3,5,7

7:00

9:05

6T 706

2,4,6

8:55

10:05

6T 705

2,4,6

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

Flight

Days

Dep

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

K7 422

2,4,6

8:00

9:55

K7 423

2,4,6

10:10

11:30

7Y 413

1,3,5,7

10:30

12:20

7Y 414

1,3,5,7

12:35

13:55

W9 309

1,3,6

11:30

12:55

W9 309

1,3,6

13:10

14:55

6T 611

Daily

11:45

12:55

6T 612

Daily

13:15

14:20

YJ 201

1,2,3,4

7:00

7:55

SO 101

Daily

7:00

8:00

ND 910

1,2,3,4,5

7:15

8:15

YJ 201

1,2,3,4

8:10

13:25

ND 105

1,2,3,4,5

10:45

11:40

ND 9102

1,2,3,4,5

8:35

9:35

ND 107

11:25

12:20

ND 104

1,2,3,4,5

9:20

10:15

Flight

Days

ND 109

1,2,3,4,5

14:55

15:40

ND 106

10:00

10:55

K7 422

2,4,6
1,3,5

YANGON TO THANDWE
Dep

THANDWE TO YANGON
Dep

Arr

K7 = Air KBZ

14:25

W9 309

1,3,6

11:30

13:50

7Y 413

12:05

14:20

SO 102

Daily

18:00

19:00

ND 9110

1,2,3,4,5

18:20

19:20

7Y 413

11:00

11:50

W9 309

1,3,6

14:05

14:55

Y5 421

1,3,4,6

15:45

16:40

Y5 422

1,3,4,6

16:55

17:50

YANGON TO DAWEI

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

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

YJ 233

11:00

15:10

YJ 234

15:25

18:15

W9 251

2,5

11:30

14:25

W9 252

2,5

16:45

19:40

W9 = Air Bagan
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines
YH = Yangon Airways

DAWEI TO YANGON

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

YJ = Asian Wings

K7 319

1,3,5,7

7:00

8:10

YH 634

2,4,6

12:15

13:25

6T = AirMandalay
FMI (ND) = FMI Air Charter

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

3,5,7

14:15

15:15

6T 707

3,5,7

10:30

11:30

SO 202

Daily

14:20

15:40

7Y 531

2,4,6

11:15

12:20

7Y 532

2,4,6

16:35

17:40

YANGON TO LASHIO

Dep

SO = APEX Airlines
7Y = Mann Yadanarpon Airlines

17:55

2,4,6

Airline Codes

11:30

13:30

Days

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

Fax: (+95-1) 532275

13:55

17:00

Flight

Air Mandalay (6T)

9:10

6T 805

Tel:95(1) 533300 ~ 311

Fax : 95 (1) 533312

11:35

1,2,3,4,5

MYITKYINA TO YANGON

Tel: 240363, 240373, 09421146545

1,3,5

ND 110

YANGON TO MYITKYINA

FMI Air Charter (ND)

2,4,6

ND 108

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

Tel: 383100, 383107, 700264

Fax: 652 533

7Y 413

19:20

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

Yangon Airways (YH)

K7 422

18:00

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

Tel: 656969
Fax: 656998, 651020

8:55

18:25

Flight
YH 918
YJ 891
7Y 132
K7 223
K7 225
W9 129
7Y 242

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999

Fax: 8604051

11:20

17:00

Arr
7:20
7:45
7:40
7:50
7:50
17:25
17:10
17:35
17:40
17:35

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

8:00

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

Tel: 515261~264, 512140, 512473, 512640

Fax: 532333, 516654

10:30

1,2,3,4,5

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

Asian Wings (YJ)

Days

ND 111

Flight
YJ 211
YH 917
YJ 891
K7 222
7Y 131
K7 224
7Y 241
W9 129
W9 211
W9 129

Tel: 372977~80, 533030~39 (airport), 373766

(hotline). Fax: 372983

Flight

ND 9109

NYAUNG U TO YANGON

Air KBZ (K7)

Arr

7Y 413

YANGON TO NYAUNG U

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

APEX Airlines (SO)

SITTWE TO YANGON
Arr

Air Bagan (W9)

Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (7Y)

Days

K7 319

YANGON TO SITTWE

Domestic Airlines

LASHIO TO YANGON

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

YH 729

2,4,6

11:00

13:00

YJ 752

YJ 751

3,5,7

11:00

13:15

YH 730

YANGON TO PUTAO

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

3,5,7

16:10

17:55

2,4,6

16:45

19:10

PUTAO TO YANGON

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

Flight

Days

Dep

Arr

YH 826

1,3,5,7

7:00

10:35

YH 827

1,3,5,7

10:35

13:55

W9 251

2,5

11:30

15:25

W9 252

2,5

15:45

19:40

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

the pulse 25

www.mmtimes.com

InternAtIonAl FlIGHt SCHeDUleS

Flights

YANGON TO BANGKOK
Days

Dep

Arr

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

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

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

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

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

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

8M 501
AK 505
MH 741
MH 743
AK 503

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

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

1,2,3,5,6
7:50
Daily
8:30
Daily
12:15
Daily
15:45
Daily
19:30
YANGON TO BEIJING

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Flights

BANGKOK TO YANGON
Days

Dep

Arr

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

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

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

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

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

8:45
8:50
9:20
10:25
12:55
15:15
16:40
18:35

AK 504
MH 740
8M 502
MH 742
AK 502

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

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

Dep

Arr

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

Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

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

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

22:50

8M 711
CZ 3056
CZ 3056

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

10:25
16:30
15:50

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

9:55

Flights

Flights

CI 7916
Flights

Days

Dep

Arr

Flights

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

13:15
16:15
22:15

CZ 3055
CZ 3055
8M 712

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

Arr

16:15

Flights

CI 7915

Arr

Flights

CA 416
MU 2012
MU 2032
Flights

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

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

15:55
18:45
18:40

Dep

Arr

Days

MU 2011
CA 415
MU 2031
Flights

Dep

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

Arr

Arr

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

11:50
11:15
14:30

Dep

Arr

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

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

VN 942

VN 943

Flights

Flights

QR 919
Flights

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

2,4,7
14:25
YANGON TO DOHA

17:15

1,4,6
8:00
YANGON TO SEOUL

11:10

Arr

Arr

Flights

Flights

QR 918
Flights

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Days

Dep

KA 252
KA 250

Arr

Flights

Days

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

Arr

YANGON TO TOKYO

Flights

Days

NH 814

Daily

Dep

21:45

06:50+1

YANGON TO DHAKA

Flights

Days

BG 061
BG 061
Flights

Dep

1:30
1:10

1,6
4

Dep

15:35
13:45

YANGON TO INCHEON
Days

Dep

Days

Dep

Arr

Arr

Flights

Y5 251
7Y 305

8:05
12:50

2,4,6
1,5

YANGON TO GAYA

Flights

Days

8M 601
AI 236
Flights

Days

2
1,5

Dep

13:10
14:05

YANGON TO KOLKATA
Days

AI 228
Flights

Dep

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

AI 236
AI 701
Flights

6:15
11:00

1,5

Dep

14:05

YANGON TO MUMBAI

AI 773

Days

1,5

Dep

14:05

MANDALAY TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 710

Days

Daily

Dep

14:05

MANDALAY TO SINGAPORE

Flights

MI 533
Y5 2233

Days

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

Dep

15:55
7:50

MANDALAY TO DON MUEANG

Flights

FD 245

Days

Daily

Dep

12:45

MANDALAY TO KUNMING

Flights

MU 2030

Days

Daily

Dep

13:50

NAY PYI TAW TO BANGKOK

Flights

PG 722

Days

1,2,3,4,5

Dep

19:30

Arr

Arr

8:20
15:05
Arr

Dep

Days

Dep

Flights

9:25
13:45

GAYA TO YANGON
Days

Dep

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

2
1,5

Dep

9:20
7:00

KOLKATA TO YANGON
Days

AI 227

1,5

Dep

10:35

MUMBAI TO YANGON

AI 675

Days

1,5

Dep

6:10

BANGKOK TO MANDALAY

Flights

Days

Daily

Dep

12:00

SINGAPORE TO MANDALAY

Y5 2234
MI 533

Days

Daily
2,6

Dep

7:20
11:35

DON MUEANG TO MANDALAY

Flights

15:00

FD 244

Arr

Flights

Arr

12:30
10:40

Days

2,4,6
1,5

Flights

Flights

22:30

Dep

INCHEON TO YANGON

Flights

Arr

16:40

1,6
4

AI 235
8M 602

PG 709

Arr

Days

15:40
Arr

14:55
13:05

Days

Daily

Dep

10:50

KUNMING TO MANDALAY

MU 2029

Days

Daily

Dep

13:00

BANGKOK TO NAY PYI TAW

Flights

PG 721

Days

1,2,3,4,5

Dep

17:00

Air China (CA)

Tel: 666112, 655882

Air India

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

Bangkok Airways (PG)

Tel: 255122, 255265. Fax: 255119

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG)

Tel: 371867~68. Fax: 371869

Condor (DE)

Tel: 370836~39 (ext: 303)

Dragonair (KA)

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

Golden Myanmar Airlines (Y5)

Tel: 09400446999, 09400447999
Fax: 8604051

Malaysia Airlines (MH)

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

Fax: 241124

Myanmar Airways International (8M)

Tel: 255260. Fax: 255305

Nok Airline (DD)

Tel: 255050, 255021. Fax: 255051

Qatar Airways (QR)

Tel: 379845, 379843, 379831. Fax: 379730

Singapore Airlines (SQ) / Silk Air (MI)

Tel: 255287~9. Fax: 255290

Thai Airways (TG)

Tel: 255491~6. Fax: 255223

Tel: 371383, 370836~39 (ext: 303)
Tel: 255066, 255088, 255068. Fax: 255086

Airline Codes
3K = Jet Star
8M = Myanmar Airways International

BG = Biman Bangladesh Airlines

CA = Air China
CI = China Airlines
CZ = China Southern

Arr

10:15
14:35

16:30
20:50
14:15

11:00

Air Bagan Ltd.(W9)

Tel: 513322, 513422, 504888. Fax: 515102

AK = Air Asia

Arr

Y5 252
7Y 306

Flights

Arr

Daily

Dep

DHAKA TO YANGON

Flights

Arr

Arr

TOKYO TO YANGON
Days

Arr

00:30+1
23:30

18:10
12:00

AI 235
AI 401

22:35

Dep

22:50
21:45

Arr

22:25
23:25

W9 608
4,7
17:20
PG 723
1,3,5,6
11:05
CHIANG MAI TO YANGON

16:30
19:50
15:05

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

Flights

BG 060
BG 060

16:10
15:05

Days

NH 813

17:00
15:10

W9 607
4,7
14:20
PG 724
1,3,5,6
13:10
YANGON TO CHIANG MAI
Flights

Flights

Tel: 09254049991~3

Vietnam Airlines (VN)

06:25+1

5:55
5:45

Flights

Air Asia (FD)

Arr

3,5,7
20:40
SEOUL TO YANGON

KA 251
KA 251

Tel: 255412, 413

Tiger Airline (TR)

13:25

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

All Nippon Airways (NH)

Arr

2,4,7
11:50
DOHA TO YANGON

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

International Airlines

Arr

Arr

12:0
12:30
Arr

12:20
13:20
Arr

13:20
Arr

13:20
Arr

13:20
Arr

16:30
15:00
Arr

12:15

DD = Nok Airline
FD = Air Asia
KA = Dragonair
KE = Korea Airlines
MH = Malaysia Airlines
MI = Silk Air
MU = China Eastern Airlines
NH = All Nippon Airways
PG = Bangkok Airways
QR = Qatar Airways
SQ = Singapore Airways
TG = Thai Airways
TR = Tiger Airline
VN = Vietnam Airline
AI = Air India
Y5 = Golden Myanmar Airlines

Subject to change
without notice

Arr

12:50
Arr

19:00

Day
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday

4
5
6
7

=
=
=
=

Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

26 Sport

THE MYANMAR TIMES June 10, 2015

Athletics

Myanmars only medal expectation

of the first day in the track and field
events at the Singapore National
Stadium was in the Womens 5000
metres where it was hoped that Phyu
War Thet and Pa Pa could get amongst
the medals. However, after just 1000m,
it was clear that Pa Pa would not be in
contention.
By this point four athletes had
broken free: Triyaningsih and Rini
Budiarti of Indonesia, Thi Hue Pham of
Vietnam, and Phyu War Thet.
For the next 2000m, the pace slowly
accelerated, with the two Indonesians
alternating on either side of Phyu War
Thet as she sandwiched herself on the
shoulder of whoever was acting as pace
setter.
At the 3000m mark and after 10
minutes of racing, the two Indonesians
further stretched out and dropped Phyu
War Thet before Budiarti herself was
dropped by 4000m, leaving Triyaningsih
to race the clock to gold.
In the mens version San Naing set a
season-best but placed 1m 9secs behind
gold-medal winner Van Lai Nguyen
of Vietnam. San Naing will take to the
track once more today for the 10,000m
event.
In the mens hammer, Ye Hte
Aungs personal best of 50.31m was
only enough for sixth place of the six
competitors appearing in the Mens

Brazil
1E

Hammer. Gold was taken by the

American-Filipino Caleb Stuart, setting
a Games record in his quest to deliver
three golds for the Philippines in the
throwing events.
Another American-Filipino, Eric
Cray, won the showpiece event, the
100m sprint, in a national record of 10.25
seconds. Kayla Richardson then made it
a Philippine double when she came back
from a slow start to win a photo-finish in
the womens event in 11.76 seconds.

Basketball

Myanmars ballers got their competition

under way with a heavy loss, narrowly
avoiding a 100-point defeat when they
trailed 131-33 to Singapore. The home
team joined Thailand, Cambodia and
Vietnam in Group A. The Golden Land
are not tipped to reach the medal stages
of the contest on June 15.

Canoeing

Myanmars Canoeing hero Win Htike

made it two gold for his 2015 SEA
Games this morning, adding the Mens
C2 200m to his previous victory in
the C2 500m category. In Nay Pyi Taw
2013, Win Htike won two gold in the
longer distance events; the C1 1000m
and C2 1000m, as well as silver in the
C1 500m, C2 500m and C2 200m. He
added these to his 2011 silvers in the

C1 1000m, C2 1000m and C1 200m

events.
With the Olympic disciplines of
1000m dropped and Singapore instead
hosting 500m and 200m events in the
C2 classification, Win Htikes new focus
on the shorter distance led to double
gold.
His partner in C2 200m gold was
Maung Maung, who less than an hour
before won silver in the Mens C1 200m.

Petanque

Myanmars Petanque Mixed Doubles

team of Kyaw Yin and Tin Tin Wai
went undefeated in their first day
of competition on June 8, beating
Singapore 13-2, Malaysia 12-6,
Philippines 13-1, and Indonesia 13-4.
However on the second day they
came up against the former FrenchIndochine petanque players of Laos,
Vietnam and Cambodia, losing each
match in turn. Their largest defeat
of the day came to the Thai team,
though, where they failed to get on the
scoreboard, going down 13-0. Thailand
went on to win gold, Vietnam took
silver, and Laos and Cambodia were
left with bronze.
The mens and womens individual
tournaments got under way yesterday
but with low expectations for Myanmars
competitors who say they are in
Singapore to develop experience rather
than merely make up the numbers.
The competition is likely to be

dominated by Malaysia and Singapore

- the latter with a strong history in this
sport including long-term womens
world number 1 Nicol David.
All four of Myanmars players lost
heavily. Yan Naung Oo only scored 5
points to Indonesias Ade Furkons 33 as
she lost 3-0.

Shooting

The mens 50m Rifle Prone team won

Myanmars first shooting contest of the
meet when Kaung Htike, Lin Aung,
and Wai Yan Min Thu earned a bronze
medal. Kuang Htike lead the way with a
score of 617.7, the second-best individual
total of the competition, only 0.2 behind
Attapon Uae-aree of gold-medallists
Thailand. That qualifies him for the field
of 14 that this morning will attempt to
qualify for the afternoons Olympic final.

Snooker &
Billiards

Myanmars Mens English Billiards

duo of Aung Htay and Min Si Thu Tun
defeated their Vietnamese counterparts
to reach the final.
Guaranteed a silver, the duo went
into the competition targeting gold even
though that would mean defeating the
former World Champion and already
double gold-medallist from these Games,
Peter Gilchrist. Singapores Gilchrist,
partnered by Keng Kwang Chan, could

not make it three, though, as Aung Htay

and Min Si Thu Tun triumphed 3-2.
Two more medals are guaranteed on
the last day of the Billiards & Snooker
events in Singapore. At 11:30am Maung
Maung will play the gold medal match
in the Mens 9-Ball Pool Singles and the
Mens English Billiard Team who are
tipped for gold must first win their semifinal clash.
Should both come away victorious,
added to the gold of Aung Htay
and Min Si Thu Tun, the cue sports
representatives will have achieved their
pre-Games target of three golds.

FIFA U20 WORLD CUP

The Myanmar Times wallchart for New Zealand 2015

Swimming

Birthday girl Shun Lei Maw Oo, 11

years old today, celebrated the event in
the pool with the 200m Butterfly. She
finished 17 seconds off the heat winner
but her time of 2.35.10 shaves 8 seconds
off her first appearance at the SEA
Games, just over 18 months ago in Nay
Pyi Taw, when she set a 2.43.04.
At the other end of the 200m
Butterfly, Vietnams 18-year-old Thi Anh
Vien set a Games record to win her
eighth medal of this meet, including six
gold, one silver and one bronze. Despite
the victory the ambitious swimmer
looked visibly disappointed with her
2.11.12 time.
Singapores Zheng Wen Quah also
has eight medals in the pool, five of
them gold, while his compatriot Joseph
Schooling may only have six but they are
all gold.

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

Ukraine
1A
V
3

Senegal

Mali

june 14, 1pm, chRiStchuRch

Upcoming:
Wednesday June 10
Ghana 4pm Mali
Serbia 4pm Hungary
USA 7:30pm Colombia
Ukraine 7:30pm Senegal

Germany
1F
V
2E

Nigeria

Sport 27

www.mmtimes.com

1.

Nay Chi Su Su Latt holds the line during the Womens 10m platform final at the OCBC Aquatics Center on June 9.
Photo: EPA/Lynn Bo Bo

2.

Phyo Tun Aung and his steed clear an obstacle in the equestrian jumping qualifiers on June 8. EPA/Wallace Woon

3.

Myanmar made big moves on the mat yesterday, taking one gold and one silver in the womens +78kg and mens
+100kg events, bringing its judo medal total to seven. Photo: Kyaw Zin Hlaing

4.

Myanmars Win Htike and Maung Maung strong-arm their way to victory in the mens C2-200m race on June 9.
Photo: Singapores SEA Games Organising Committee/Action Images via Reuters

5.

Pa Pa took the womens 5000m foot race to new levels, finishing the contest in which fellow Myanmar runner Phyu
War Thet took bronze in sixth place without her shoes. Photo: AFP

6.

Blame it on the home court advantage Singapore smashes Myanmar 131-33 on June 9.
Photo: Singapores SEA Games Organising Committee/Action Images via Reuters

Medal Table

Results Day 4

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

SINGAPORE

52

44

54

150

THAILAND

38

40

35

113

VIETNAM

33

16

38

87

MALAYSIA

21

26

31

78

INDONESIA

17

20

38

75

PHILIPPINES

12

17

29

58

MYANMAR

11

16

18

45

CAMBODIA

LAOS

12

15

June 10 sports starting Volleyball. Archery, Water Polo, Badminton, Pencak Silat

BRUNEI

June 10 sports ending Billiards, Gymnastics, Boxing, Equestrianism, Softball

TIMOR LESTE

Myanmar Medallists
Gold
Canoe:
Billiards:

Silver
Mens C2-200m
Mens English
Billiards Double

Canoe:

Bronze
Mens C1200m (Maung
Maung)

Athletics:

Shooting:

June 9 sports started Golf, Basketball, Bowling, Squash

June 9 sports ended Canoeing, Diving

Womens
5000m (Phyu
War Thet)
Mens 50m
Rifle Prone
Team

Sport
28 THE MYANMAR TIMES JunE 10, 2015

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

SEA Games updates

on location in Singapore
SPORT 26

SeA GAmeS

Myanmar misses
on medals, but
still shooting
for the big gold

C2 1000m competitors Win Htike and Sai Min Win accept Myanmars first gold medal of the 28th annual SEA Games on June 6. Photo: Matt Roebuck

mATT ROebuck
matt.d.roebuck@gmail.com

total of 52 medals, 32 of
them gold, 6 silver and 14
bronze thats what you
were supposed to see this
morning as you opened
up The Myanmar Times to our SEa
Games coverage and turned to the
medal table. thats what was decided
back in March, when the deputy minister for sport, thaung Htike, called a
two-day meeting for the national governing bodies of sport to outline their
targets for the 28th Southeast asian
Games.
they knew the heights of 2013
when Myanmar hosted the Games and
stacked the event list, as all nations
do would remain out of reach, but a
nice round total of 50 gold medals was
agreed upon.
as The Myanmar Times reported
at the time, that total would have been
49 had the Myanmar Football Federation who had initially offered up an
aim of a semi-final appearance and a
shot at bronze not been cajoled by
the ministry into upping their ambitions.
as of the close of play on June 9,
Myanmar actually hold 11 gold, 16 silver and 18 bronze.
Had events gone to plan and Myanmar currently held 32 gold, then they
would have been at the very least fourth
in the overall medal count. More likely,
thanks to the redistribution of medals
away from Myanmar and towards thailand and Vietnam who currently sit

in second and third place respectively

they would occupy the second spot behind hosts Singapore.
Disappointment has come across
the piste. Wushu, carded to deliver
five gold, delivered three although
the kung fu artists won a total of eight
medals. Judo, penciled in for four,
came up with two; shooting, tabled
to deliver two, missed the scoreboard
altogether.
Further disappointments will hit
the medal target today, as the Myanmar Boxing Federation planned to
bring two gold from the squared circle
but despite seeing five pugilists in
June 8s semi-finals saw its contenders fall one-by-one by the wayside to
leave the Federation with five bronze
but not a single shot at gold in the
June 10 finals.
But while these have all had an impact on the count, Myanmars chances
of reaching that magic number were
drowned down around Singapores
Marina Bay on day 1 of these Games,
June 6.
that was where a tide of gold medals were supposed to flood in courtesy
of Myanmars canoeists and traditional boaters, first on the Marina Channel
and then at Marina Bay itself.
Every race is a tough one but we
should be able to able to deliver. I
am satisfied that our athletes have
the talent to win gold but I am disappointed in our ability to deliver, said
Soe aung, an official involved with the
canoe team.
We were taken by surprise by how
much thailand, Indonesia and the

hosts Singapore had improved. they

were so much stronger than in 2013,
he added.
Both canoeings gold came via Win
Htike the two-time winner of Myanmars Sports Journalists Sportsman
of the Year accolade and his respective partners in the C2 500 metres and
200m who has now won gold at three
consecutive Games.
Win Htike is an experienced athlete and delivered the nations first
medal at these Games, but our target
was six gold medals but we leave with
two gold, two silver and two bronze,
Soe aung said.

Every race is a
tough one but we
should be able to
deliver.
Soe Aung
Associated official, Canoe team

Canoeing must now regroup and

assess how best to bring future success
beyond these games.
We must now look to future
events and plan for the next Games.
We will look at our current canoeists
and bring them together with the next
generation of athletes to assess the
best way forward.
on Day 1, despite a document from

the Ministry of Sport detailing their

ambitions or expectation of four golds,
officials were discussing a more realistic number of two.
But comments arising from Phay
Win, general secretary of Myanmars
traditional boat racers, after their
June 7 events suggest it is not just unrealistic expectations but issues with
planning that have hamstrung the
ability to deliver gold.
that day, Myanmar fell well short of
their stated target of eight gold medals
from eight events, registering only one
gold, five silver and two bronze. Five of
the missing golds were rerouted to thailand and two to Indonesia.
these Games have used a much
heavier boat than we are used to.
In training we have used boats that
weigh 180kg. these were the boats
commissioned for the last SEa Games
and made in China. Singapore have
made boats for these Games that
weigh 300kg, said Phay Win.
the extra weight put additional
strain on our paddlers. they were
tired from that additional effort and
so we have missed out target.
Kyaw Saw aye, part of the mens
6-crew 500m team Myanmars only
gold winners suggested lessons must
be learnt.
We came into this championship
confident of success but the boats were
so different from the ones we are used
to, he said. But we will have to take
this experience and move forward.
the target of 50 medals will be
missed. at this stage Myanmar may
struggle to bring home half that num-

ber but, as the riots accompanying

the Myanmar football teams homefield knockout last year showed, only
one medal really matters.
Few believed when the Myanmar
U-23s target was elevated to gold that
it could be achieved.
after their performance at the last
SEa Games, Myanmars football fans
lost faith in their team I know this
is a tough ask, thaung Htike said on
March 16. But I believe they will try
their best and that is what I ask.
the U-23s were the poor relation
of their younger brothers the World
Cup qualifying U-20s and their elder
siblings, the national team, who are
now preparing for their own World
Cup campaign beginning June 11.
But since they kicked off their SEa
Games tournament by beating Indonesia 4-2 on June 2 before beating home
nation Singapore 2-1 on June 4 and
demolishing the Philippines 5-1, Myanmar is beginning to believe. already
guaranteed progression, the team will
most likely face neighbour thailand
for the chance to play for gold.
Speaking after the Philippines
game, Myanmars coach talked about
the backing coming their way in advance of the task ahead.
We are thankful for the great support our team is receiving. I promise
we will do our best to make them happy, said Kyi lwin.
If Kyi lin can lead his underdogs
to the final on June 15 and deliver
thaung Htikes pipe dream, the other
30-odd missing medals will most likely be forgiven.